Road transport: Standstill

Just how tied the Indian economy is to road transport was demonstrated last fortnight when truckers went on an indefinite strike. With some 2.7 million trucks coming to a standstill, prices of consumer products shot up and industries were paralysed. After all, some 70 per cent of all goods is transported over roads. Why aren't alternatives like coastal shipping, rail transport, and internal water transport (IWT) being exploited? Because of administrative apathy and some stupid regulations. Take coastal shipping, for example. The customs department requires even ships used for domestic shipping to be checked. ''Besides,'' points out K.L. Thukral, Senior Research Fellow, Asian Institute of Transport Development, ''domestic shippers have to pay the same berthing charges as international shippers.'' In the case of railways, the lack of wagon availability and parcel booking restrictions are the main reasons for the weakening demand. If the paralysing effects of transport strikes are to be avoided, India has no choice but to develop a well-oiled multi-modal system.

-Sahad P.V.

DECIBEL
Silence Is Golden

Acoustic ceilings: Getting heard

The mushrooming of call centres and multiplexes is proving to be a windfall for a business relatively unheard of in India: acoustic ceilings. Although the traditional soundproofing technique using plaster of Paris and gypsum still accounts for three-fourths of the estimated Rs 4,000-crore market, hi-tech acoustic ceilings are slowly becoming popular. Says Suman Bhargava, gm (Operations), Satyam Cineplexes: ''When you are playing an action-packed film in one auditorium and a romance in the next, you don't want any sound leakages.'' There are several vendors in the Indian market today, including home-grown India Gypsum, America's Armstrong, Cellotex and USG; and AMF and Ova Acoustic from Germany. Here's one industry you'll hear more and more of in the days to come.

-Moinak Mitra

DASH BOARD

A
Lemon, most people scoffed when the Tata Group bagged VSNL. But the company's decision to offer cellular companies domestic long-distance carriage at Re 0.40 a minute (they currently pay Bharti Rs 1.50 a minute) indicates that VSNL is now ready to be as aggressive as need be. It is definitely an A for group chairman Ratan Tata.

C--
Young and forward-looking? Forget it. When it comes to protecting his turf, Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain likes to play it the old-fashioned way, which is to cling on. Last fortnight, the 34-year-old Minister managed to get the government to clip disinvestment plans of Indian Airlines and Air India. Talk about public service.

Back To Old Economy
The tech magic begins to dim, making old economy happy.

Late last year it was a sinking suspicion, now it could well be a trend. Tech companies are losing steam, and those of the old world gaining some. A BT analysis of the corporate results for the quarter ended March 31, 2003 (based on the results of 70 companies) shows that old line companies such as HDFC Bank, MRF, and Gujarat Ambuja were able to maintain their topline and bottomline growth. Even HLL, squeezed by last year's drought, maintained its revenues through aggressive marketing and reported a less-than-expected fall in profits.

In contrast, the IT companies-including leaders Infosys and Wipro-reported slower growth and tighter margins. For the tier two companies, the issue is not of decelerating growth, but of any growth. So the point is, if tech companies start reporting growth rates of old economy companies, why would anybody value them at astronomical levels?

-Narendra Nathan