The J wave: J-soaps are pushing the K variety off the charts

Going by the names of popular soaps on Indian television, you would think it's astrologers and not creative directors who christen their fantastical fare. And, obviously, the astrologers are dishing out the same advice indiscriminately. Until recently, if your serial's name didn't start with a K, you might as well not bother airing it. Hence you had Kumkum, Kkusum, Kasauti Zindagi Ki, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kahin to Hoga...

But now the stars (astral) that govern the idiot box seem to have realigned themselves. A new crop of J-serials are stealing the thunder, i.e., TRPs, from the K-soaps. Top of the charts: Sony's runaway success, Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin (based on Colombian network RCN's Yo Soy Betty La Fea), which boasted a rating of 5.9 mid-October. That apart, two prime-time J serials that Star launched in October, Jeet (a one-hour show revolving around college life) and Jaaduu (a magic show), have notched up matching TRPs minus the buzz. Contrast this to the fate of K-soaps between October and now: Kyunki... is down from 14.8 to 13.2, Kkusum has slipped from 3.3 to 3.1, Kahaani... from 14.8 to 12.9. Boasts Sunil Lulla, Vice President, Sony: "Jassi... has broken the myth that only family drama can succeed."

Will the J fad grow stronger? Possibly, but like with K, it's unlikely that all J serials will be blockbusters. And telling you so is none other than the numerologist who named the Jassi... show thus. "In Jassi's case, the numbers reflect universality and that's the reason behind its success," says Sanjay B. Jumaani. "The sum of the words must be in harmony with the story line, and K is not everything," he warns. And you thought we were kidding about soothsayers running the show on Idiot Street.

-Dipayan Baishya

D-STREET
Taking Stock

The more the sensex goes back and forth on the 5,000 mark, marketmen are back to playing their jittery selves again. The question that everybody's asking, but dare not answer-at least with a definite yes or no-is, "Is the Indian stockmarket becoming expensive?", meaning will the bull run of the last few months last? Rating agency Crisil, for one, thinks that Indian stocks have gained too much, too quickly, and its mid-year economic outlook states as much. "Given the current dynamics of the economy and the broader Asian context, the stockmarket is beginning to look somewhat expensive," it states. But does it mean Crisil expects the indices to tumble? "No," says Subir Gokarn, Chief Economist, Crisil. "We only expect that the rate of increase will not sustain in relation to the other Asian markets that look more attractive at this point," he explains. Expect that trend to intensify if the recovery in America gathers steam. Foreign institutional investors will not only go back to betting on American stocks and bonds, but step up bets in bigger Asian economies like Korea, where valuations are beginning to look attractive compared to India. In any case, as their financial year ends in December, almost all the FIIs will book profits by selling at every market rise. Ergo, some amount of volatility is expected in the days ahead, although not all experts are as cautious as Crisil. Says Jigar Shah, Head (Research), H.R. Choksey, a Mumbai-based broking firm: "The stockmarket is not expensive from the point of view of future earnings, since the economy is doing well and there is plenty of liquidity." But this being Dalal Street, you'd do well to err on the side of caution.

-Shilpa Nayak

DASH BOARD

A
The firm is back where it belongs, as the most sought after company on Indian campuses, according to ORG MARG's annual Campus Track survey. Blame it on a secular upsurge in consulting's fortunes: management consulting is the most preferred vocation.

McKinsey & Company

C
Not only is Punjab & Sind Bank's Chairman N.S. Gujral the first bank chairman in a long while to be asked to go on leave, but his abrupt departure also puts a question mark over the bank's (rank: 55 on BT-KPMG Best Banks list) IPO and proposed diversification into life insurance.

Who Is Nandkishore Rathi?
Answer: An unlikely HR guru for IT firms.

Nandkishore Rathi: Stirring things up in IT HR

On November 11, when Nandkishore Rathi, went up to the dais at Bangkok's Regent Hotel to make a presentation at the 12th Roundtable of Mercer hr Consulting, everybody in the audience (mainly comprising hr honchos) listened. For the cleanshaven and bespectacled Rathi was the winner of Mercer Award Asia 2003, selected from 100 entries sent in by 38 top universities from 12 countries. So, just who is Nandkishore Rathi? And what was his presentation about? The 42-year-old Rathi is a placement officer at IIT Mumbai, and his award-winning study is on employee churn in the IT industry. Based on a survey of 1,028 participants across 14 software firms, the study is being described in hr circles as a ''wake up call'' for hr and business managers in it firms.

So what does the study reveal? That there is a sea of difference between what the software professionals expect of their employers and what the hr managers think retains and motivates their nerdy hires. For example, while the techies give priority to personal and cultural job-fit, the hr managers believe that the key is salary and career satisfaction. Rathi's research also points out that while salary may be the prime motivator of young professionals, it is the least important factor for people who are into their third or fourth job. For them the kind of value-addition they make at the organisation is more important.

Besides, Rathi's study points out, while personal job fit is important for services- and applications-based companies, which typically recruit 58 per cent of their employees from it-related fields, for product and system companies, where nine out of 10 employees come with it background, job satisfaction is of utmost importance. Says Rathi: ''Retention and motivation of software professionals is the most important hr challenge in the industry today.'' And guess when Rathi, who has a doctorate in hr from Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Mumbai, hit upon the study idea? Not surprisingly, during a placement season at the institute.

-Dipayan Baishya

LOOPHOLE
Pantaloon's Biyani Cashes In

In India, promoters cashing in on their own stock is nothing unusual. But sometimes their gains can be so glaring that small investors can't help but feel stiffed. Like they are right now with the Pantaloon stock. On November 4, 2003, the retail chain's promoters, including MD Kishore Biyani, bulk sold 8.50 lakh shares of Pantaloon at Rs 270 apiece to some FIIs. But to make sure that their holdings didn't fall, the promoters bought 9.53 lakh shares a week later. Except that this time, they paid only Rs 112 per share. In other words, they made a cool Rs 13.43 crore in these transactions. Illegal? Surely not. For, SEBI's regulations only require the preferential purchase to be priced at the average of previous two weeks or the previous 26, whichever is higher. And the preferential issue price of Rs 112 was fixed on SEBI guidelines at the time of initiating this in July. "Nobody expected the price to go up like this during the last three months,'' defends Biyani. His argument would have sounded more credible if the promoters hadn't increased and decreased their holdings in the chain-first from 38.78 per cent in June 2001 to 42.39 by December 2001, then to a high of 51.95 per cent, before it dropped to 41.04 per cent this September where it currently stays.

-Narendra Nathan