Sunday, December 31, 2006

31st Dec 2006





























ISKON temple, a movie ( Bhagam Bhag, Govinda's return to the box office after a hiatus of 4 years ? ), Juhu Beach, Lunch at Oh! Calcutta ( Mochar Ghonto, Fish Chop, Pabda Shorsho ), Mishti Paan, Hypercity, Crossword, Inorbit Mall, Sweet Bengal ( Kochuri, Lobongo Lotika ) ... kind of summarises what I was upto on the last day of 2006.

Missed Piya & Deep who are in Kolkata.

The multi-plexes, malls and food-courts were choc-a-bloc with people jostling to splurge ... the current meccas of entertainment ... the beach and temple were relatively less crowded at least in the morning !!! Returned home at 8pm and just about managed to beat the peak traffic of revellers going to their respective bashes.

All signs that the Great Indian Consumer is flexing its purchasing power ... should be a good year ahead !!!



Sunday, December 24, 2006

India warning on globalisation

There has been speculation if an economic meltdown is in the offing in India ... here's my 2 cents worth :

All this speculation of "meltdown" is hogwash ... India's libralization has been more organic and controlled than most other economies. I really dont think there is any risk of repeat of a South Asian crisis OR Latin American volatility out here ...

Early growth did come due to internal ( to India ) restructuring eg. the dismantling of the licence raj, increasing the sectors where private businesses could participate etc ... this was true more in the 90s ... not anymore.

True, the growth here has not been broadbased ... but really it cant be expected in a country of our size in such a short time ... even in China there is a clear divide one u move out of Beijing/ Shanghai / Guangxhao which are their economic showcases ... only we dont get to see / hear too much about it.

Till date liberalization has impacted the service / mfg sectors and urban india, say 200 mill of our 1bill + population ... gradually the govt is focusing on agriculture / rural india ...
In fact this "phased" nature of liberalization to my mind is the best safety valve against a potential meltdown.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Deep completes 3 months !



Deep is 3 months old on 22nd Dec ... what a bundle of joy :-))

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Biz Quiz 1

The other day I picked up a quiz book ... found some interesting trivia -->

Vindhya Valley is the brand of spices co-created by Hindustan Lever and the MP government.
Parle G is the world's largest brand of biscuits.
Tata India is repackaged as City Rover in the UK.
Common to Ajile, Shristi and Annabelle : Store brands of Pantaloon.
China Garden : First Indian Chinese restaurant with a franchise outside India owned by Nelson Wang.
Dandi Namak was the salt brand launched by Kunwar Ajay industries after their Sari business stagnated.
"Balance" is the name of Rohit Bal's pret & accessories line.
GM launched Daewoo Nubira as the Chevrolet Optra in India.
Bombay Dyeing aired the first color ad on Indian Television in the year 1982.
Tommy Hilfiger helped design the "Flying Machine" jeans by Arvind Mills in India ... also their first brand. Later brands : Ruf & Tuf, Newport, Excalibur.
Bijlee is the brand of refrigerator launched by Electrolux Kelvinator for the rural market ... can work without electricity for upto 12 hrs.
Ramco Software's "Marshall" ERP package was endorsed by Bill Gates.
Cibaca is now owned by Dabur.
Hertz - Carzonrent, Avis - Mercury Car Rentals
"Expressions Matrubhasha" the range of vernacular greeting cards launched by ITC.
Yogi Deveshwar, CEO ITC served as CMD of Air India from 91-94.