Movie Review: After Earth

Sentimental sci-fi...

Despite being far from M. Night Shyamalan’s best work, After Earth is by far one of the better films he has directed. The father son duo of Will Smith and Jaden Smith crash land on Earth, 1000 years after humanity moved to Nova Prime, due to an environmental cataclysm.

Things didn’t go that well in Nova Prime either, where humanity had to deal with S’Krell, alien creatures who intended to conquer Nova Prime. General Cypher Raige (Will Smith) learnt to ghost his fears and in turn becomes a hero as he defeated the aliens who fed on fear.

After crash landing on Earth however, he takes to the sidelines with Kitai Range (Jaden Smith), his son does all the heavy lifting of running around Earth is search of their rescue beacon. Almost all the species on Earth are now lethal to humans and Kitai needs to prove his chops as a ranger and overcome all adversities to save his father.

If you think the movie has the classic Shyamalan twist at the end, then sorry to disappoint, for it ends exactly as you would imagine.

Even though the script could have been far better - with emotions, for one, keeping the fact in mind that father and son are together millions of miles from their home planet, the film does do a decent job.

Jaden Smith is the main character in this story and he does a far better job than many older actors. Will he grow up to be as charismatic and larger than life as his father? Only time would tell.

Even though After Earth is a bit slow and prodding at times, it is nothing you can’t sit through, and the overall wonder of the storyline makes up for any poor scripting or acting. Watch it this summer, it will definitely make you feel better.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Book Review: Big Data

A look at the larger picture

From the Stone to Digital age, human civilization has processed information and data. This is starting to change, observes Viktor Mayer-Schonberger, Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University and Kenneth Cukier, Data Editor of the Economist and a prominent commentator, in their latest book, Big Data. They say that we now are entering the world of constant data-driven predictions.

The book begins by citing how Google, on its own initiative, devised means to track the spread and intensity of flu prior to the 2009 health season. Google’s methodology began by comparing 50 million of the most common American search terms with data available with Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, on the spread of seasonal flu between 2003 and 2008. Google’s software found a combination of search terms that, appropriately weighted, strongly correlated with official data. However, unlike the CDC, Google was able to make those assessments in real time, not a week or two later.

There is another interesting case of how Oren Etzioni, a leading US computer scientist was both infuriated and frustrated to learn that many passengers booking a flight after he had, were able to pay less - contrary to conventional wisdom. He then ‘scraped’ information from a travel website from a 41-day period to forecast whether a price was a good deal or not, founding Farecast to offer this new ability.

Etzioni next went on to improve the system by digesting data from a travel site that covered most American commercial routes for a year - nearly 200 billion flight-price records. Before expanding to hotel rooms, concert tickets and used cars, Microsoft snapped up his firm ($110 million) and incorporated it into it Bing.

Authors explain that ‘big data’ are things that can be done on a large scale that cannot be done on a smaller one, and see this offering as a major transformation.

To those who are not aware of the ever changing world of data mining, the duo cites how approximately 7 billion shares change hands every day in finance, two-thirds via computer model direction, Google processing over 24 petabytes of data/day, Facebook getting over 10 million new photos uploaded every hour.

In the age of big data we crunch an incomprehensible amount of information, providing us with invaluable insights about the whats rather than the whys. For those who are puzzled about the importance of big data, authors point out the scientific and societal importance of this data as well as the degree to which it can become a source of economic value. “The world of big data is poised to shake up everything from businesses and the sciences to healthcare, government, economics, the humanities, and every other aspect of society,” says the book. As a result the amount of data is not just growing fast but it is outstripping not just our machines but our imagaination as well.

A few initial chapters identifies and examines different shifts the way in which information is analysed, transformed and how we understand and organize society. This is followed by datification that refers to taking all the information under the Sun and transform it into a data format to make it quantified. Chapters Six and Seven, detail how big data changes the nature of business, markets, and society. Finally it concludes with the following observation. “It doesn’t negate the insights that big data offers, but it puts big data in its place  as a tool that doesn’t offer ultimate answers, just good-enough ones to help us now until better methods and hence better answers come along. It also suggests that we must use this tool with a generous degree of humility.....and humanity.

As every coin has two sides so does big data. The book points out how it erodes privacy and threaten individual freedom and warn us the numbers are more falliable than we think. It draws out a comparison how Apple founder Steve Jobs continually improved gadgets based on intution rather on data while Robert McNamara, US Secretary of Defense during Vietnam War, insisted on statistical rigours to arrive at a decision that led to the United States to escalate the war partly on basis on body counts, rather than to base decisions on more meaningful metrics.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Movie Review: Star Trek Into Darkness

The Enterprise Returns

Every Star Trek has an older audience which waits with bated breath for the next film to come out and a younger one which either becomes part of the Star Trek pack or think it to be bollocks meant for nerds with glasses and acne.

Thankfully Star Trek Into Darkness is not just a film which happily converts a new generation of film goers but also makes the older bunch come out happy and satisfied.

J.J. Abrams, the director thankfully kept the spirit of the earlier films alive without being slavishly tied to it. With a slick style of direction and modern production values, audiences watching a Star Trek for the first time will enjoy its CGI.

Having said that, the most important factor which makes this film tick are the amazing performances by its lead actors. Chris Pine as Captain Kirk was excellent with a highly believable performance in a setting which can easily lose its human touch and look all futuristic and droid-like.

A special mention must be made for Benedict Cumberbatch as John Harrison, the main antagonist of the film. Every single word which comes out of his mouth is scary and without him, the film wouldn't have been so good. With his expressions and cool-gaze he might just be the most cold hearted super-villain you have ever seen.

The plot might not boldly take you to places you haven't gone before but wherever it does take you, is a wonderful place and it would be positively Vulcan to say otherwise.

Overall, it is a great action adventure for all cine-lovers, with slick production values, great special effects and quite a good story. A must watch...

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

365 Days of Solitude

Akhilesh Yadav is being written off as a failure by the Delhi media. What is the reality? Anil Pandey and Avinash Mishra look beyond the headlines 

Great expectations often lead to bitter disappointments. Contemporary political history in India is littered with examples. Back in 1977, when the badly underestimated and maligned Indian voter threw out Indira Gandhi in the aftermath of the Emergency, the new Janata Party government was expected to transform Indian politics, governance and India. Nothing of the sort happened. In 1985, a battered and bruised India looked up at Rajiv Gandhi as the new hope. Bofors killed those hopes and dreams. Then came the messiah V.P. Singh who was expected to clean up the

Augean stables and banish corruption. He turned out to be a false prophet.

Is something similar happening with Akhilesh Yadav? For most of 2011, when the mainstream media in Delhi was obsessed with Rahul Gandhi and his plans to revive the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, the 39 year old Akhilesh Yadav was touring the state on a bicycle and connecting with both party workers and voters at the grassroots level. His low profile and unsung travels were similar to what the late Y.S Rajasekhara Reddy did in Andhra Pradesh when the mainstream media was obsessed with Chandrababu Naidu and his computer gimmicks. When results of the assembly elections were announced in March 2012, both the mainstream media and Rahul Gandhi were stunned. Suddenly, hacks in Delhi "discovered" how Akhilesh Yadav promises to transform the rotten state of affairs in UP. He became Shiela Dixit, Narendra Modi, Shivraj Chauhan, Raman Singh and Naveen Patnaik rolled into one.

And now, the same set of Delhi hacks seem to have written off the man. His first year as Chief Minister has been projected as a year of communal malice, of the return off the goons, of lawlessness and of the worst kind of corruption and governance. Many think Akhilesh Yadav has missed his date with history; his ambitions and plans gobbled and crippled by contemporaries of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav who just won't allow him to deliver good governance.  But hold on, has he been a failure all the way? Is he reaping the curse of great expectations? And is he a victim of the Delhi media that applies different yardsticks to judge the Congress and other governments? As it happens, there is an element of truth in all three presumptions. How much importance you give to each presumption depends on your ideological prejudices.

In a gleaming white kurta and pyjama and his trademark black jacket and sneakers, Akhilesh Yadav greets us effusively at his home on March 15, at 10.30 AM. The walls are adorned with paintings of Lucknow chikan work and the room is very simple looking without any gaudy displays of power and wealth. That typically impish and charming smile is intact, though the eyes clearly reflect shadows of the weight of power. But even cynical journalists can see that his earnest manner and his passion for the state is not a made for camera cameo. This man is real and he means what he says.

Akhilesh is no doubt perturbed by the manner in which the Delhi media has slammed his performance as chief minister. He feels that even one law and order situation or event makes the media completely forget the intentions and achievements of his government. But in his quietly confident manner, the young leader says that the policies and steps he has initiated will have a transformative impact on the State in the long term.

Just a few days before Akhilesh met us for this story, he had unveiled one such transformative step. At a huge public function attended by thousands, he had distributed the first set of laptops to students who had finished their plus two studies. About 10,000 laptops were distributed that day. Akhilesh gets emotional when he describes to us how girls wept with joy after getting their laptops. He is hurt by media reports that highlight only things like his image on the screen savers and how some students are selling their laptops. He says, "I am convinced this step and the one to provide all class ten pass students with tablets, will bring about a massive change. But that change will not happen overnight. It will be a few years before the impact can be seen. Just imagine how the education and careers of an entire generation will be positively impacted. Not just that. The tablets and laptops will benefit entire families including poor farmers with weather forecasts." The Akhilesh government is committed to providing free tablets to all students clearing class 10th and free laptops to all students clearing class 12th. This year alone, his government will distribute 26 lakh tablets and 15 lakh laptops.

And this will happen year after year. One such beneficiary is Rambha Gupta, an 18 year-old physically challenged girl from Gorakhpur whose father Devi Prasad is a poor farmer. "I had never dreamt of ever owning a laptop," says Rambha who still cannot believe her luck. Akhilesh has a committed voter in Rambha who gushes about how the Chief Minister walked up to her and personally handed over the laptop. You can do your electoral math and figure out how educated and laptop cum Blackberry lugging aides of Akhilesh describe this as a game changer. More than 40 lakh beneficiaries a year becomes tens of millions of voters if family members are added. Seeing the passion and conviction with which Akhilesh talks about this scheme, we have to grudgingly agree that the Delhi media has only trivialized this policy.

Another game changer is something that Akhilesh seems to have borrowed from  Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan of Madhya Pradesh and Nitish Kumar of Bihar. And that is provision of cash incentives to girls for higher studies. One scheme is called Kanya Vidyadhan Yojana under which all girls from economically backward families will get a sum of Rs 30,000 on clearing plus-two. This is indeed a huge incentive. In the long run, tens of millions of young girls and their families will benefit from his scheme. According to aides of Akhilesh, Rs 30,000 may seem a small sum to Delhi media, but has the potential to transform lives in rural UP. Another scheme for the girl student called "Padhen bitiya, badhein bitiya"  will have an even bigger impact. All girls from poor families will get a cash scholarship of Rs 30,000 on making it to class 11. These two moves will have a tremendous impact on human development indicators in the long run.

Says Abhishek Mishra, former professor of IIM, Ahmedabad and a Cambridge University alumni who is now a minister in the Akhilesh government, "Parents used to traditionally stop the education of their daughters after class 7 or 8. This one scheme will transform an entire generation." According to Mishra, all poor girls getting admitted in engineering and medical colleges in UP will be exempt from fees, apart from getting cash scholarships. Quite clearly, this is a win-win situation for everyone and will definitely change the social structure of the State in about a decade. And of course, Akhilesh and his team are banking on the fact that like laptops and tablets, cash scholarships for girl students will create a constituency of committed voters.

Yet another potential game changer is the unemployment allowance that is being provided to the youth of the State. According to this scheme, all educated and unemployed youngsters are entitled to a Rs 900 per month allowance till they get a job. This will be applicable to all those who have registered themselves as unemployed with the State. There is little doubt that this is a populist move aimed at creating new vote banks for the Samajwadi Party.  Says Professor A. P. Tiwari, Dean Academics of Dr. Shakuntala Mishra Bishwavidyalaya, "The dole is a good idea. But in the long term, what will really matter is the creation of employment opportunities that can come manly in the farm sector." Many analysts think that this dole will reduce frustration and crime, and create a positive scenario for volatile youngsters.

Akhilesh, who is himself a computer and Internet buff who likes sending mails and Blackberry messages, seems to have learnt some historical lessons from the experience of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu whose political career seems to be in the doldrums. While emphasizing the importance of computers and e-governance and e-initiatives, Akhilesh seems to be betting on agriculture and the farm sector to boost the economy of the State. Says Akhilesh, "In our budget, we have allocated 74 percent of funds for poor farmers and villages." With this move, he seems to be taking a leaf out of the book of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh who has invested heavily in agriculture and reaped handsome electoral dividends. Also taking a leaf out of the UPA regime, the Akhilesh government has waived off farm loans worth about Rs 1000 crore.

Read more.......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Omar Abdullah ko gussa kyon aata hai?

By questioning his state’s accession to India, the Jammu and Kashmir CM is only continuing with a time-tested family formula, reports Haroon Reshi 

The Abdullahs of Kashmir have a long and distinguished history of issuing intriguing statements and adopt seemingly contradictory postures. The great Sheikh Abdullah, reigning Chief Minister Omar’s grandfather and the state’s first head of government, kept New Delhi guessing about his true intentions. A patriotic statement issued in the Indian capital, a not-too-subtle statement underlining the disputed status of Kashmir in the valley and at another time, an unilateral discussion with Chinese Premier Chou en Lai in a third country on an independent status for Kashmir. So which was the true Sheikh?

Farooq Abdullah toed his father’s line. Loyalty to India was balanced by some pretty anti-Indian statements when the need arose – and there were plenty of those occasions. Omar Abdullah, therefore, is just following a hoary family tradition. Two weeks after Parliament unanimously passed a resolution affirming Jammu and Kashmir, including Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK), as an integral part of India, Omar Abdullah argued that the state's accession to India was conditional. On March 25, he told the state assembly said, “Those who repeatedly claim that Jammu and Kashmir is ‘atoot ang’ (integral part) of India forget that the accession was only on three subjects; communication/currency, defence and foreign affairs.” Without naming New Delhi, the young CM alleged that the state’s special status had been eroded by successive Indian governments.

Omar Abdullah’s assembly sermon was delivered in the backdrop of the controversial arrest of former Kashmiri militant Syed Liyaqat Ali by the Delhi Police, which claimed that Ali had hatched a conspiracy to carry out a suicide attack in Delhi on the eve of Holi to avenge the hanging Afzal Guru. Omar Abdullah’s government has refuted Delhi Police claims, saying that the former militant was living in POK for the last 16 years and he along with his wife and children were heading to his native place under the government-backed surrender and rehabilitation policy.

 Be that as it may, the CM has a track record of questioning the state’s accession to India – particularly when his chips are down. In 2010 when people were protesting alleged killings by security agencies, Omar told the state assembly that ``Kashmir acceded to India, unlike Hyderabad and Junagadh it did not merge with India.”  On March 5, when a youth was reportedly killed by the Army in north Kashmir’s Baramullah District, Omar hit back, ``What answer will I give to the people. Have we held the Indian flag in our hands for this?”

In his moment of agony, Omar uttered the ultimate truism:`` Somebody (Afzal Guru) is hanged somewhere. The decision is taken by someone else (Government of India) and the mercy petition is rejected somewhere else. And the incident comes knocking to my house as if I have hanged him.”

Why is Omar Abdullah getting desperate? Kashmir watchers believe it has deep roots. ``National Conference (NC) and the Abdullahs, unlike other mainstream parties, are deeply rooted in Kashmiri nationalism. It goes back to the Sheikh’s Quit Kashmir moment and the autonomy resolution passed by a two-third NC majority in the assembly in 2006,’’ Noor Baba, head of the Political Science department, Kashmir University, told TSI.

Baba’s argument seems legitimate. Omar’s father Farooq Abdullah, currently a union minister, is a former member of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation front (JKLF). Nearly 26 years after the accession, Farooq had formally joined the JKLF, when he had visited POK in 1973.

Mustufa Kamal, Sheikh Abdulla's nephew and Omar’s uncle, told TSI: ``You may or may not like it but Kashmir is an unsolved dispute. When Omar Abdullah says that Kashmir had acceded to India only on three counts, he is reminding you of an undeniable historical fact. What is wrong ? Truth should prevail. Kashmir is not an integral part of India like the other states.''

It would appear that public opinion is on his side. Says Sheikh Abdullah's biographer and well known scholar Muhammad Yusuf Teng, ``The NC has never accepted J&K as an integral part of India and I believe this is the only reason why it is the only grassroot-level cadre-based regional political party in the state. Omar wants to refresh the party’s basic position by challenging the ideology of the Indian state.''He should know.

However, some other political observers attribute more than just nationalism to this Abdullahspeak – more specifically the 2014 assembly elections. ``The fact is Omar Abdullah and his party are going to face a tough situation in the 2014 elections. To convince the people, NC seems to have nothing in its hand to sell. It has lost its ground in Jammu to the BJP and in Kashmir to the PDP. Now their leaders are trying to allure Kashmir’s Muslim sentiment by questioning the accession to India,” Zareef Ahmad Zareef, author and President, Valley Citizens Council, told TSI, adding, ``The ground reality is that Omar Abdullah has failed to deliver. He could not even fulfill the promises he had made to the people in terms of the revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the implementation of the recommendations of the working group on centre-state relation headed by Justice (retd) Sagir Ahmed, who has recommended more autonomy for the state.”

Apart from the mysterious deaths at Shopian in 2009 and the killing of 100 people during the stone pelting agitation next year, Omar's tenure has been marked by relative calm until the Afzal Guru hanging this year. That has been a signal for another round of curfews, arrests, an unofficial media gag and detention of popular separatists. Concurrently, militants appeared to be beginning to reassert. Half-a-dozen panchayat members have been killed in the past six months. There have been frequent skirmishes and casualties between militants and Indian security forces.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
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IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
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Goodies and not-so-goodies

the sixth edition of the DSC Jaipur literature Festival had, as always, much going for it, with many sessions leaving the audience asking for more. But there were moments during the event that one had a nagging feeling that it was probably beginning to bite off more than the organisers could chew
 
Merely six years or so ago, when the inaugural edition of Jaipur Literature Festival was held, no one, not even the optimistic organisers, would have thought that it would go on to become arguably the biggest literature event in Asia, if not the most serious one. And it is in its sheer size that lies both its attraction and repulsion. The sixth annual DSC Jaipur Literature Festival, in more ways than one, has added up on that reputation.

The 2013 edition of the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival was launched with a keynote speech by celebrated author and activist Mahasweta Devi. In her speech, she reflected upon her long career as an author and described how regional writing draws its inspiration from the rich world of ideas and incidents that mean so much to people who are not in the limelight. "The air I breathe is full of words," she reflected, and I am sure no one in the crowd would have disagreed.

Speaking about thetribal and rural cultures from which she draws the inspiration of her writing, she maintained that a writer must deal with the “culture of the downtrodden” to get a proper grounding in literature. In fact, she proposed that the “right to dream” should be made the foremost fundamental right for all human beings.

In the keynote address, titled O to Live Again, Mahasweta Devi revealed, “My early years proved to be formative for my future work as a writer and activist. I also have a different approach to my writing process and I mull over the subjects in depth before setting out..."

The festival, down the years, has developed a clear pattern on which it pushes itself beyond the limit. There is a potent mixture of debates, readings, recitation and exchange of ideas. Normally, a topic is proposed and writers whose works have revolved around these topics are asked to strike a conversation, quite often, but not always, through a moderator.
The festival has the distinction of bringing together people with extreme and contrasting ideologies on a single stage to explore new ideas. And it has served the festival and the audience well in all these years. So you have “Godless Commies” rubbing shoulders with religious gurus and thinkers, and the spirited proponents of free market capitalism taking on leftists on a single stage.

This year, the festival explored themes as distinct as the history of miniature painting and war reporting, Sharia law and LGBT literature, the art and state of the Jewish novel, the 18th century sexual revolution, and the literature of 9/11.

Seperate sessions also focussed on the new writings in Latin America and among both Iranians in exile and the domestic Iranian readership. Domestically speaking, sessions focusing and critically analysing the economic prospects of India as well as on an exploration of the mixed legacy of the British Empire drew the biggest crowds. And, like most literature festivals worldwide these days, it had something to add to the much explored theme of the decline of America and the rise of China.

Some of the writers that attracted massive viewership included Commonwealth Prize winner Aminatta Forna from Sierra Leone, Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson, and two Orange Prize winners Linda Grant and Madeline Miller. It also saw some of the most respected novelists in the Arab world, including Ahdaf Soueif and Tahar Ben Jalloun.

In spite of the threats from the Hindu right wing, quite a few Pakistani writers managed to attend and enthrall the audience, including Nadeem Aslam and Jamil Ahmad. From Latin America, Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman, the playwright known for the much appreciated work Death and the Maiden, carried the flag. No literature festival can function without some quintessential Brits. Here too, the audience got the taste of celebrated historical novelist Lawrence Norfolk, as well as three of Britain’s arguably most popular literary writers, Sebastian Faulks, Deborah Moggach and Zoe Heller, whose award-winning books have been mounted into critically acclaimed and intellectually layered cinematic adaptations such as Birdsong, The Exotic Marigold Hotel and Notes on a Scandal. On the poetry front, the audience had the chance to listen to some of the most prominent poets from Europe, including the highly acclaimed Simon Armitage and John Burnside. The session featuring Armitage drew an unparalleled crowd.

If the sessions on fiction writers and poets drew huge crowds, the sessions featuring the non-fiction writers and writings saw even bigger ones. And why shouldn't it,considering this year's edition featured as many as three winners of the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction, Frank Dikkoter on Mao, Wade Davis on Everest and Orlando Figes on Stalin’s purges? On the other hand, Pulitzer winner Andrew Solomon enthralled the audience on his acclaimed new book, Far From the Tree.

For public consumption, the festival had Diana Eck from Harvard, whose book India: A Sacred Geography has caught the nation's imagination. On the other hand, philosopher Michael Sandel brought his immensely popular BBC Radio 4 series, The Public Philosopher.

If Harvard sent its best bet forward, then Columbia was not far behind. The audience enjoyed the session of the much-appreciated post-colonial and post-modern literary critic Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Rivals Oxford too sent one of the most potent weapon from its arsenal; acclaimed authority on Eastern Europe, Timothy Garton Ash and the Shakesperean Christopher Ricks. On the arts front, the conversation between Anish Kapoor, Marc Quinn and William Kentridge left the audience clamouring for more.

The more nuanced among the readers particularly loved the sessions by Elif Batuman of the New Yorker and Ian Buruma of the New York Review of Books.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
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IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

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Mind your Language

Even police should be made accountable for their sweeping remarks

Controversial remarks from responsible citizens are not something very new to the society. However, a big question today is, do we also hold police officials accountable for their sweeping statements that malign individuals. Although the Indian Constitution clearly allows a citizen to seek punishment on anyone who shows the citizen disrespect “on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever”, sweeping remarks are still not considered as a part of hate speech and, thus, go unprosecuted – and more so if the commenter belonged to the police.

The country was furious when Asaram Bapu, a self-proclaimed Godman  blamed the recent rape victim herself for her plight; and a case was registered against him in Bihar. All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM or MIM) MLA, Akbarrudin Owaisi was sent recently to Adilabad district jail for spreading communal hatred. Very recently, Swami Kamlananda Bharati was arrested on January 14 in Hyderabad for making a hate speech against Muslims. In 2007, the authorities had charged the late Maqbool Fida Husain for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus when he had painted Mother India as a nude woman. Likewise, in 2007, Pune police arrested four software-engineers for posting an obscene profile on the Internet.

In this context, an example is the recent remark of the Thane Police Commissioner that women should keep red chilli powder and should not venture out late night to avoid rape. Another example is when in January 2013, the Punjab police heartlessly revealed the name of a gang rape victim. The contentious statements coming from persons who upon joining their service pledge to keep the nation and its citizens safe has outraged many. But the moot point is, when all of the above instances against citizens ended up in the police taking action, then why not hold police officials also accountable and responsible for their inept comments. In a sting operation conducted by Tehelka across 23 police stations of NCR, the shallow attitude of police officers and their stance on rapes in the city was revealed. The investigation exposed how certain police officers blame women equally if not more for the crime and concluded that some police officials think that “almost all women deserve to be raped.” Such a comment shows abysmal lack of thoughtfulness on the part of police officials. The situation is somewhat similar in the US where NYPD warned women not to wear short skirts because they could get raped.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

Parties Play The Caste Trump Card

With national political parties finding themselves out on a limb in Karnataka, it’s the caste-based regional outfits that are calling the shots. Will the political cookie in this southern state crumble the way of Uttar Pradesh?

Karnataka is gearing up for Assembly elections in April. With the fortunes of the ruling BJP and the Congress hitting the skids in the state, caste-based regional formations are likely to gain in the post-poll scenario.

Karnataka is set to go the Uttar Pradesh way. UP is India’s largest state and is accustomed to electoral fragmentation on caste and community lines. Karnataka, only one third the size of UP, is not. So, if a hung Assembly is what the April elections yield, the development would mark a paradigm shift in Karnataka politics. Congress, BJP and Janata Dal are the three parties that have traditionally jostled for seats in the Vidhana Soudha. Two new forces have lately jumped into the fray. Former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa’s Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) and Badava Shramika Raitha Congress (BSR Congress), led by B Shriramulu, the right hand man of jailed mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, are likely to queer the pitch for the national parties by taking away a chunk of their votes.

While none of the five contenders are in a position to sweep the polls, KJP and BSR Congress could both wrest enough seats to give the principal parties a run for their money. But in the run-up to the elections, none of the political formations is keen to get into any alliances, preferring to wait and watch the for eventual outcome. For Congress and Janata Dal (Secular), the April polls could be just another electoral battle. But for BJP and KJP, it would be an acid test. The BJP would be out to demonstrate that it has the strength to live down Yeddyurappa’s exit. For the party leaders who have been instrumental in pushing Yeddy out of the BJP, the likes of KS Eeshwarappa, Ananth Kumar, Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar, the upcoming election would be an opportunity to prove a point.

Yeddy too, would be determined to make the BJP, a party he served for four decades, pay for the folly of neglecting a regional mass leader with the backing of the dominant Lingayat community.

The BJP will also have to contend with the BSR Congress. Yeddy’s mass support and the Reddy’s money power had catapulted BJP to power in Karnataka in 2008. With both now gone, it would be an uphill task for the party to retain power. BJP is unlikely to win more than 50 to 60 seats. In that eventuality, it would be back on the Opposition benches.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Is Wal-Mart Losing The Plot?

The US retailer has turned soft on its initial aggressive plans for India. Are infrastructure bottlenecks and a far-from-ideal FDI policy in retail thwarting its growth ambition?

The government’s decision to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail and 100% FDI in single-brand retailing, though subject to riders, have brought good tidings for large international retailers eagerly waiting to tap into the estimated $500 billion Indian retail market. But even three months after the announcement of the policy, the Bentonville, US-based Wal-Mart, which has been plying wholesale retail in India since 2009, has not disclosed any concrete plans about how it intends to move forward on capitalising on the new retail regime. The company currently operates only wholesale stores in India via its joint venture with Bharti Enterprises, but it has so far been the most aggressive foreign supermarket operator in India, operating 18 cash-and-carry stores, selling to smaller retailers such as vegetable vendors, hospitals, restaurants and other firms.

The company expects to open its first consumer retail store selling directly to the public in 12-18 months, aiming to turn a profit in 10 years, something it could manage in China only after 12 years, where it operates over 350 stores. As of December 31, 2011, the overall losses of Bharti Walmart totalled Rs 7.65 billion. During the year, it posted over 140% increase in sales y-o-y at Rs 18.76 billion, but its net loss rose 66% to Rs 2.77 billion. The company is targeting $1 billion in sales in India by 2013-14.

According to the Investment Commission of India, the retail sector is expected to reach almost $660 billion by 2015. But instead of seizing on this consumer retail opportunity, the American retail giant finds itself entangled in an unsavoury controversy related to alleged payment of bribes in the country, which is a violation of US anti-bribery laws. The payments involve forking out “facilitation payments”, or “speed money” – or bribes – to advance the process to obtain 40 to 50 government licenses to set up retail stores. The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it a crime for US corporations and their subsidiaries to bribe foreign officials to win or retain business abroad.

With allegations flying thick and fast, and to avoid getting sucked into this vortex deeper, the company instituted a probe, which has led to the suspension of its chief financial officer as well as its entire legal team in the country. The development comes at a challenging time for Wal-Mart in the country, with political pressure mounting against the Congress-party’s drive to open up the retail sector to foreign investment.

To compound Wal-Mart’s woes, its investment of $100 million in a domestic unit owned by its wholesale joint-venture partner Bharti Retail is also being investigated by India’s Enforcement Directorate for possible infraction of the country’s foreign exchange rules. Wal-Mart’s investment in Bharti Retail has come under the scanner amid allegations that the former may have entered India’s front-end multi-brand retail business surreptitiously two-and-a-half years before the government actually permitted foreign investors in the sector.
 

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

HPV; worse than HIV!

If you’re reading this, there is an 80% possibility that you may have already contracted or will contract the deadly Human Papilloma Virus, which is the root cause for many fatal cancers in both sexes. Spreading awareness should be the top priority in the HPV saga!

In the mainstream medical fraternity, HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) is widely considered as the most threatening among all Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs); as a consequence, there’s little dramatics given to the alarming rise in incidence of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which can match the former in scale, intensity and fatality.

Gabrielle Doewney, a consultant gynecologist at BMI, the Priory Hospital in US, opined, “Around 30% of the female population is HPV positive at any one time, and 80% of all women will contract strains 16 or 18 (the ones that can/lead to cervical cancer) at some point over their sexual life.” In 90% of the cases, the immune system fights off the fatal strains of the virus naturally and normalises its effect in around two years. However, in cases when the immune system fails to clear the virus naturally – mostly due to continued exposure to HPV – the same can then lead to diseases like genital warts and more alarmingly, cervical and some other types of cancer.

A general estimate is that a woman can be infected seven times in her lifetime starting from the year after she starts to have sex. Prof. Sean Kehoe, gynecological cancer specialist for UK Charity Well being of Women, has stated that HPV infects men as well and “[the infection rate] is more than likely equivalent between the genders.” There are over 100 subtypes of HPV, but the ones that are causes for concern are subtypes 6 and 11 that cause genital lumps and 16 and 18 that cause cervical cancer in women and many other types of cancer in both sexes.

Unlike HIV or Syphilis, HPV can be contracted even with the use of condoms as it spreads through any form of genital skin-to-skin contact! Even though it has not yet been accorded epidemic stature, certain estimates say that around 288,000 women are likely to die because of the disease by this year end. As per Center for Disease Control and Prevention figures, around 20 million people in America carry this virus (2005 figures) with another 6 million people getting infected each year. The incubation period for HPV ranges from a few weeks to a full year. What is even more ominous is that the strains of HPV that cause cancer do not get detected early, as the symptoms are not visible until advanced stages. Worse, there is no general test for men or women to check their ‘HPV status’. This fact makes HPV even deadlier than perceived.

According to the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, more than 5,000 women in US die due to HPV infection every year. Further, HPV is the cause for not just almost all kinds of cervical cancers, but also an overwhelming majority (80%) of vaginal cancers and anal cancers. And that’s not all. Dr. Nigel Carter from the British Dental Health Foundation opines that HPV will cause more oral cancer deaths than smoking in the next decade!

A vaccine has been developed for girls and medical practitioners are extensively advising boys to also take the shot too, as one of the main reasons women contract HPV is because men living with HPV have no qualms in having unprotected sex.
 

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Classifications

Business & Economy presents an in-depth analysis of India’s 100 most profitable companies for the financial year 2012

The ruling trio
Combined together, three sectors – BFSI, Metal & Mining and Engineering – represent 60% of India’s most profitable companies in FY2012. Engineering corporations have made the most of growth opportunities. Their sectoral share increased from a paltry 3% to a substantial 14% within just one financial year.

Changing equations
As of now, the Indian economy is experiencing significant pressure. But with last year’s recovery, the B&E Power 100 list has seen some change, and most of it for the better. As compared to 30 companies last year, 58 companies have moved up in the list during FY2012, while only 27 have gone down compared to 49 last year.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

India’s sorrow: Crony socialism & crony secularism

There is a chilling story in our sister publication The Sunday Indian from Srinagar that tells a lot about how Indian intellectuals, journalists and pundits practice secularism. Kaiser Bhatt runs a school for kids called Orange International Playschool in the outskirts of Srinagar. In April, 2012, he invited some Muslim friends from Malaysia to visit his school. They sipped tea, exchanged pleasantries and soon left. Within minutes, the playschool was surrounded by an angry mob that had gathered in response to a rumour that the playschool was actually a ‘Christian’ outfit and that the visiting Malaysians were Christian missionaries. Scared stiff, Kaiser desperately pleaded with his Malaysian friends to come back to scotch the rumours. The Malaysians returned and were forced by the mob to ‘prove’ that they were Muslims. Only then did the violent mob disperse. But Kaiser’s troubles were not over as worried parents wanted to withdraw their kids. Worse, school staff were reluctant to come to the school since they were scared a mob will pounce on them.

Sensing financial ruin, Kaiser pleaded with Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to come to his rescue. The separatist leader ‘pronounced’ that the playschool is Muslim enough for parents and the staff not to be worried. After assuring angry Muslims of the neighbourhood that Orange International Playschool (meanwhile, the playschool plastered its walls with Quranic verses) was not a Christian conspiracy, the ‘separatist’ and ‘spiritual’ leader told The Sunday Indian, “We have strong evidence to suggest that Christian missionaries are working to convert Kashmiri Muslims using unfair means”. In November, 2011, a Christian priest Chandar Mani Khanna was accused of proselytizing. Someone called the Grand Mufti of Kashmir ‘summoned’ the priest for interrogation and ordered him to cease and desist. The priest was arrested and allegedly beaten up and tortured and remained locked up for about 20 days. Of course, he was then ‘banished’ from the valley. The so-called Grand Mufti now routinely ‘summons’ alleged offenders to his Sharia court.

In case you don’t know or have deliberately chosen to forget, the Kashmir valley is overwhelmingly Muslim majority (most Kashmiri Hindus were forced out of the valley in the 1990s and now live in wretched refugee camps) with Hindus, Christians and Sikhs being insignificant minorities. In case you have chosen to forget, India’s secular warriors ceaselessly cry themselves hoarse – while raving and ranting against all things and symbols Hindu – that it is the duty of the majority Hindus of India to protect its secular identity and Constitution. Very unpalatable question that even those who have not been blinded by Marxism and secular fundamentalism feel uncomfortable about asking: where are the loud ‘secular’ voices when Christians are being so ruthlessly targeted in the only Muslim majority state in India? What happened to the vocal chords of Jholawala Leftists who never give up an opportunity of pointing out how intolerant, obscurantist and ‘fascist’ Hindus are when it comes to dealing with minorities? Would they have adopted a self imposed vow of silence if Christian priests were similarly harassed in Gujarat?
 

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

“India is the single-most important defence partner for US”

William H. Avery, who served in the US diplomatic service as an Economic Officer, is a master at trade development and commercial advocacy, and is a three-time recipient of the US State Department's Meritorious Honour Award. A prolific writer on international affairs, Avery tells Mayank Singh how India needs to start thinking beyond just Pakistan and China and take interest in building a strong military base in the Asian region. India has the potential, he says!

B&E: Asia is constantly represented on the international fora and its position is factored-in by different countries in their policy making. Your assessment?
William H. Avery (WAH): All the action is in this part of the World. We are seeing a shift of economic activity, which will be followed by military activity and military strength from the trans-Atlantic to the Pacific region, including China and India and all the regions that fall in-between. With regard to the subcontinent, principally, India and China are the places that are going to be significant. US also because it is a continent with 300 million people. So I think a new structure is emerging where there are three potential centres of power – US, India and China.

B&E: You have been talking of India becoming a superpower. Yet, you say that it will have to ‘achieve’ this position. What shortcomings on India’s part do you observe here?
WAH: I think India has many natural advantages. It has a demographic advantage. It has skill base, which is not just a technological skill base. What is missing in India is a recognition of how you build power in this World which requires military and economic strength, not just at home but overseas. And it requires a willingness to use power. If you look at India’s experience with Sri Lanka, it is very instructive. I think Rajiv Gandhi knew that for India to get to the next level, it had to be willing to play a strong regional role. But the problem is that when the LTTE assassinated Rajiv, India withdrew. So what you had for the past 20 years was not only India not becoming a global power but also failing to become a regional power! Another element is a kind of obsession with Pakistan. Pakistan, a barely functioning State, is quite clever in a way to bring India down to its level. India fell into that trap. And it was with the advent of the Indo-US Nuclear deal that India began to rise above it and perhaps only because of India’s economic growth was it was able to pull away from Pakistan. So some things are beginning to happen. But India needs to take a more activist approach to becoming a strong military power.

B&E: You have called the withdrawl of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) from Sri Lanka as India's mistake. Also, you say that it should have been redeployed after the unfortunate assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Your thoughts...
WAH: I do feel it was a mistake. I understand why it was made. And it is always easy to go back 20 years and look at it in retrospect, but the fact that a country allowed a former prime minister to be assassinated on its own soil and then nearly asked for the extradition of the assassins is pretty amateurish. And there’s nothing we can do to change that. However, it should serve a lesson. We should look at it critically and make sure that India does not make the same mistake again. I think the IPKF episode was one that pushed back India’s emergence as a global power by many years. However, it should be acknowledged that India did recover by 1998 – the series of nuclear tests was a huge step forward. So where India has been conventional in defence matters or rather meek, its nuclear diplomacy and its nuclear policy have been much stronger.

B&E: Do you see a bigger ploy of China in keeping India busy with Pakistan while increasing its arsenal and technological knowhow and economic opportunities, and then using them as pressure tactics?
WAH: It could be a Chinese strategy. I don’t know whether it is a conscious strategy or not. Having said this, I believe that India should not remain busy with Pakistan because there is a much wider world out there. The cross-border terrorism issue is significant and has to be monitored by India. At the same time however, India’s emergence as a global power will not come true if the Indo-Pak equation remains the key agenda on the diaries of India’s foreign policy agents for ever.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Where’s your online arm?

The growth of online business is ushering in a quiet revolution in the retail industry in India as young consumers are adopting it in large numbers, drawn by the convenience and other advantages it offers.

Even as India Inc. keeps its fingers crossed on the eventual outcome of foreign direct investment in retail, a quiet revolution is already brewing in the sector. With FDI in retail still on tenterhooks, foreign mega retailers such as Wal-Mart, Tesco and Carrefour are still waiting in the wings. On the other hand, things aren’t exactly hunky-dory for domestic retail giants like Future Group, Spencer’s and Shoppers Stop. Other than having to constantly juggle around to maintain healthy bottom lines, these players are also beset with rising commodity costs, high rentals and squeezed profit margins. But away from the glare and glitz of Big Retail, the likes of Ebay, GroupOn and Amazon, not to mention a host of homegrown online shopping portals like Flipkart and Snapdeal, have been slowly and steadily upping their business stakes in the flourishing Indian Retail Bazaar.

Desi e-commerce sites like homeshop18.com, snapdeal.com, Mydala & futurebazaar.com are all mopping up significant growth in sync with the growing trend towards online retail in India, which is clocking over 40% growth yoy. Already, flipkart.com has achieved a billion dollar valuation, and is registering 15,000 units in daily sales. In fact, the popularity of online shopping sites in India reflects international trends. In America, during the annual shopping spree prior to the Thanksgiving season in November, a study revealed that 39% of consumers bought goods online compared with 44% who visited local stores and hypermarkets. Clearly, online retail has emerged as a huge disruptive force for retail worldwide.

According to various reports by industry bodies like Assocham and IAMAI, the market size of the Indian e-commerce industry is expected to be around $10.3 billion by December 2011 (of this online retail is still a small part at around $800 million, and predicted to reach roughly $1.5 billion by 2015). The size of e-commerce globally is well over $700 billion. The online retail market is worth over $240 billion in Europe, over $170 billion in the US (expected to touch $250 billion by 2014), and roughly around $76 billion in China.

In India, the share of online retail is currently modest in comparison to the roughly $520 billion Indian retail space - the largest contributing sector to the Indian GDP with over 15% share. But as 3G mobile and broadband penetration grows, and people’s (especially youths) shopping behaviour evolves, consumers will increasingly opt for online shopping to save time and convenience. A further allure in the form of good discounts adds to the attraction. Already India’s internet penetration has crossed 120 million or about 10% of the population, though in-home Internet usage is still low.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face