 |
|
...and dial C for confusion
|
Get
yourself a bigger telephone book, a handheld with some more MBs
of memory, and a generous dose of patience. And don't forget to
exercise your fingers. A few months from now, customers should be
able to choose their preferred domestic direct dial and international
direct dial carriers. Only, to do so they'll have to dial at least
14 digits, and, to reach certain international destinations, as
many as 23. For instance, to call a number (fixed-line) in Delhi
from anywhere else in the country a customer will have to dial 0
(the std prefix), 10 (the DDD service code), 40, 41, or any number
up to 59 (the Carrier Access Code, CAC; companies are to be given
numbers between 40 and 59), 11 (the area code for Delhi), and the
seven digit telephone number. That makes for a whopping 14 digits.
''It will cause some confusion,'' agrees N. Arjun, CEO, IndiaOne,
the country's first private Domestic Direct Dial company. But the
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India says it is the only fool-proof
system, and Arjun expresses the hope that consumers will soon get
used to it.
One possible option could have been to learn from the American experience;
the US went through a similar phase just about a decade ago. ''Most
customers couldn't remember all the digits they had to dial,'' says
Jerry Soloway, Senior Vice President, utStarcom, a provider of wireline,
wireless, and broadband access equipment. ''So, the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) mandated that the local access provider should
give customers the option of choosing a default long distance operator
and sticking to it.'' That can be done here too, argues Hughes Network
Systems President Pranav Roach, ''once the numbering plan is out
of the purview of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd''.
That should help: IndiaOne remains unable to
connect directly to customers on BSNL's network as the market leader,
with over 30 million connections, drags its feet over upgrading
its switches-a necessary step in operationalising cac. Now, that's
an innovative entry barrier.
-Suveen K. Sinha
|
CEO HIRING
Problem Of Plenty
CEO headhunters never had it so good.
These days
they're running out of elbow room at the top of the ladder.
Ask any search executive and he'll tell you how one good CEO
position gets a virtual beeline of candidates. Says Uday Chawla,
Partner, Heidrick & Struggles: ''This is a good time for
companies to hire at the top; for the same price better talent
is available.'' Restructuring and downsizing have put a lot
of good talent on the table. There are CEOs who either haven't
received their bonuses or taken pay cuts. ''Such people are
more open to talking about new positions that come up,'' says
R. Suresh, CEO, Stanton Chase. Most of the hiring at the top
is usually replacement hiring. But with the velocity of CEO
movement getting retarded, there is an effective increase
in the supply of top talent. The search industry reckons it
will be 18 to 24 months before things settle down. Until then,
headhunters will have a ball.
-Seema Shukla
|
CHANNEL [V] POPSTARS
Key audience is hooked, but...
The first
hour-long episode of channel V's on-camera search for a five-member,
all-girls band has been a huge hit with younger viewers. The
result: the host channel, Star, has seen the combined share
of viewership amongst 15-24 year old females, across its five
channels (Channel V, Star Plus, Star World, Star Movies, and
Star Gold) double to 14 per cent for the 9 to 10 PM slot.
''Popstars gives Channel V a huge leg-up over competition,''
claims Sameer Nair, Executive Vice President, Star India.
There are 13 more episodes to go and the winning band will
be made public only in the seventh episode. Expect Popstars
to become an annual ritual, since besides TRPS, Channel V
also gains from copyrights and music sale.
-Shailesh Dobhal
|
PAPER MONEY
All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go
Business dries
up on regional exchanges leaving companies and investors high and
dry.
Manoor
Ratnakar Pai is rich-on paper. The former Canara Bank exec and his
NRI nephew, Manoor Venkatesh Pai hold, between them, shares that
should be worth Rs 20 lakh. Only, they aren't worth the paper they
are printed on. Call them junk, call them-as brokers are apt to-illiquid
scrips, these are shares of small cap local companies, typically
with an equity capital between Rs 3 crore and Rs 10 crore, and listed
on regional stock exchanges.
ANOTHER RESEARCH LAB: H-P'S
H-P Labs India is truly a research facility
of a different kind. |
|
Research labs are so prevalent
in India that reports on two often appear on consecutive pages
of magazines (like the ones on H-P and IBM have done in this
section). Still, h-p India Labs, established in February this
year is different: it is exclusively focussed on usable, economically
sustainable technology solutions for the third world (See
Interview With Debra Dunn, Page 72). ''The effort of this
lab will be to build technologies, which are relevant to local
needs at affordable costs,'' says Srinivasan Ramani, Director,
h-p Labs India. The lab will initially focus on language technology,
such as speech communication interfaces for computers, and
low cost access devices. Maybe, India can still be a laboratory
to the world.
-Venkatesha Babu
|
In the case of the Pais, the exchange is Hyderabad.
''Nationally, there are thousands of companies listed on regional
stock exchanges,'' says Rajendra Naniwadekar, a former President
of the Hyderaabd Stock Exchange. ''As a result of business drying
up on these exchanges, investors who've put their money into these
companies are left with illiquid shares.''
These companies do not meet the listing requirements
of Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange, the only two
bourses that matter in the country. Result?
Naniwadekar claims close to Rs 30,000 crore
in investor funds is stagnating in regional exchanges. Fifteen of
the regional exchanges promoted the Interconnected Stock Exchange
to create a national market for companies listed on regional exchanges,
but while the initiative helped retail investors across the country
access the markets, it did little to further the cause of 'illiquid
stocks'; as for ISE much of the trading on it today happens on its
subsidiary, which is a member of NSE.
Regional exchanges are willing to try other
options as well: Madras Stock Exchange's President D.N. Das says
he has explored the possibility of companies listed on it appointing
a broker who can play the role of market maker by providing two
way quotes (bids as well as offers). That has not worked; perhaps,
because some pundits believe there's a thin line between company-initiated
market making and insider trading.
India's stockmarket watchdog SEBI has yet to
tackle the issue. ''Liquidity is a function of the market and the
role of SEBI is to ensure that there is a fair market,'' says a
SEBI official cryptically. Take that to mean the Pais have to leave
the determination of their virtual wealth to the forces of notional
demand and supply.
-E. Kumar Sharma
NDTV
End Of News...
NDTV is preparing for life after Star, with
an emphasis on producing dollops of entertainment-led programming.
 |
| Prannoy Roy: Gearing up for 2003 |
You
probably expect anything coming out of Prannoy Roy's television
content company, New Delhi Television (NDTV), to either have a strong
current affairs focus or at least an alignment with Star Television
network, right? Wrong.
NDTV is, at once, trying to find takers for
its news programming, once the fate of its reportedly tumultuous
relationship with Star News (it comes up for review in 2003) becomes
clearer, and identify new genres of programming.
So, it came as a surprise to no one when Zee
Telefilms announced a 52-episode mega celebrity-led show, Jeena
Isi Ka Naam Hai (jiknh), produced by NDTV, to go on-air next weekend
on its flagship channel Zee. Although Zee and NDTV officials refuse
to comment on the long-term implication of the union, the move is
seen by media industry analysts as a precursor to a tripartite alliance,
between the two companies, and AOL-Time Warner, which is being courted
by Zee.
For the record, Zee's Director (Marketing),
Partha Sinha, says it picked NDTV as: ''We needed to be sure of
the production house's research capabilities.''
NDTV isn't new to non-news programming: it
has produced Chupa Rustam and Ji Mantriji for Star Plus, but nothing
on the jiknh scale. Does that mean that NDTV is changing tracks,
and will now compete with the likes of Balaji Telefilms (of the
Kyunki... fame)? Yes, admit sources within the company, but with
plans of launching an infotainment channel, NDTV World. That could
cause some conflict with Star's cash cow Star Plus, but to avoid
the risks associated with being over-exposed to one channel (Star
News) and one kind of programming (news and current affairs), NDTV
has little option but to position itself as an independent television
software house. ''We can still keep working with Star for entertainment
software,'' adds K.V.L. Narayan Rao, Director, NDTV. We're all agog.
-Shailesh
Dobhal
 |
| Vivek Jetley: In search of a new challenge |
MAX
INDIA
Jetley At It Again
The Max India MD seeks to take another venture
home.
It's
a time for change in the life of Vivek Jetley, the 44-year-old managing
director of Max India. He has lost 10 kilos since January and is
off ashtma medication for the first time in 15 years. But Jetley,
who, while at the wheel at Max India, steered it into insurance,
healthcare, and it, is readying for the biggest change of them all.
Max Ateev, the fledgling it services arm of
Max India, is entering the lucrative areas of enterprise software
solutions and offshore product development. Jetley says he is trying
to take a route that is a little different than that adopted by
Indian software companies. In enterprise software, Ateev's focus
will be on enhancing the value of existing applications so that
investments already made can be optimised. And in offshore product
development, Ateev will try to become part of the client's development
process. ''The idea is to look at all the three aspects: maintenance,
sustenance, and development,'' says Jetley.
Can Ateev, which earned Rs 96 crore ($2 million)
in revenues in 2001-02 on investments of Rs 30 crore, do it? ''Company
building is not a 12-month exercise,'' says Jetley. And Max India
chief Analjit Singh is unlikely to fret over time as long as Jetley
can make a success of yet another new venture.
-Suveen K. Sinha
ELECTROLUX
Seeking Cure For Frost-Free Bites
Electrolux pulls out all stops to focus on
the growing frost-free segment.
Having
trailed rival whirlpool by a whisker in the refrigerator market
sweepstakes, Electrolux Kelvinator, fully-owned by Swedish white
goods giant AB Electrolux, is pulling out all stops to make that
little-big leap to go into the lead.
Ram S. Ramasundar, the CEO of Electrolux, has
come to the conclusion that the company needs to reduce its reliance
on the direct cool segment and focus more on the faster-growing
frost-free. According to org figures, Whirlpool accounted 26.7 per
cent of all frost-free refrigerators sold in December last year;
Electrolux did a measly 5.5 per cent.
Electrolux is, therefore, setting up a plant
in Varora, near Nagpur, with a modular capacity of about 100,000
frost-free refrigerators a year.
According to Ramasundar, it couldn't have been
done earlier. ''Historically, we have acquired a lot of bits and
pieces companies in India and my first priority was to put them
together.'' The frost-free gambit, he says, is his first major move
post-consolidation.
Part of the consolidation remains branding.
Ramasundar is planning to unite two of Electrolux's brands, its
eponymous one and Kelvinator, while the third-Allwyn-will remain
separate and position itself at the lower price points. Is Whirlpool
listening?
-Moinak Mitra
THE
RIGHT DOSE
The joining of hands of Ranbaxy and Wockhardt
makes cool business sense.
  |
| Wockhardt's Habil F. Khorakiwala and Ranbaxy's
D. S. Brar: Right move |
It
is a victory for common sense. Aspiring MNC Ranbaxy Laboratories
has a strong distribution network in the US, but cannot produce
enough to meet demand for Enalapril and Ranitidine tablets. Mumbai-based
Wockhardt has surplus capacity and wants to tap the unfolding generic
opportunity in the US, but has negligible presence there. They join
hands.
Wockhardt benefits from increased sales. Ranbaxy
makes money on reselling the purchases in the US market. Wockhardt,
according to general manager V. Gopalakrishnan, expects its current
income of Rs 30-40 crore from the US (mainly from bulk exports)
to rise by Rs 15-20 crore once sales under the new deal begin. Ranbaxy,
(US-sales: $112 million) expects a significant surge in its share
of the market for Enalapril (size: $610 million) and Ranitidine
($500 million). That must be a welcome cure in these unhappy times.
-Suveen K. Sinha
|
