| Shobhana Subramanian: Who'll finance 'affordable' housing? | 20-NOV-09 |
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| Brotin Banerjee is happy. He has been able to sell a fourth of the 1,500 apartments of his affordable housing project in Boisar, about 100 km from Mumbai, to people who he describes as belonging to the “informal sector”. These are buyers, the managing director of Tata Housing explains, who don’t have a bank account and, therefore, wouldn’t qualify for a bank loan. |
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| Shobhana Subramanian: When shoppers don't stop | 06-NOV-09 |
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| Another one almost bites the dust. Vishal Retail has been bailed out by its bankers who have put together a corporate debt restructuring (CDR) plan for the beleaguered company, which has piled up a debt of Rs 700 crore. It’s a fresh lease of life but suppliers will be wary and will demand immediate payments which, in turn, will pressure the balance sheet. |
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| Shobhana Subramanian: What're the builders so worried about? | 23-OCT-09 |
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| It’s a pity that home buyers in this country have got such a raw deal all these years while developers have been almost a law unto themselves. Finally, the ministry of housing is trying to help protect consumers and keep a check on the construction of residential property with the proposed Model Act for Real Estate (Regulation of Development). |
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| Shobhana Subramanian: The margins can wait | 09-OCT-09 |
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| It's almost alarming to see how fast HUL is letting go of its consumers—the loss of share in toilet soaps, for instance, in July-August has been over 500 basis points. |
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| Take two | 01-SEP-09 |
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| Jaago Re (awaken) is back. After a point-blank shot at politicians’ qualifications to do their job and a stirring campaign urging the youth to vote, Tata Tea now wants a pledge from you against corruption. Last week, the country’s largest tea brand rolled out its new television commercial targeting the rampant problem. |
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| Shobhana Subramanian: AMCs: Time for a shakeup | 28-AUG-09 |
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| In July mutual funds saw the amount of money that they manage hit a new high — the assets under management (AUM), according to rating agency CRISIL, hit a new peak crossing the Rs 7,00,000 crore mark for the first time ever. That should have been reason to celebrate but, ironically, funds have probably never felt gloomier. But first a closer look at the numbers. |
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| Shobhana Subramanian: When expressways take their toll | 14-AUG-09 |
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| A colleague recently confessed he’d hit a speed of 90 km on the Bandra Worli Sea Link one night. Of course there’s very little traffic after 10 pm so that’s not surprising. But what has taken MSRDC (Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation) by surprise is that, even during the day, traffic isn’t really picking up. Just about 27,000 cars and buses are using the bridge which is considerably less than 45,000-50,000, the numbers MSRDC had been budgeting for. |
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| Take two | 02-AUG-09 |
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| The odds are against Schumacher in his second coming. |
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| Shobhana Subramanian: The woes of the big screen | 31-JUL-09 |
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| Much like last year, the first half of 2009 hasn’t seen too many big hits from Bollywood. The IPL and other cricket tournaments apart, there was also the spat between film distributors and exhibitors that left theatres empty for nearly three months. |
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| Shobhana Subramanian: The battle for the GEC space | 17-JUL-09 |
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| It started out as the tenth general entertainment channel but after a year in that space, Colors has ended up at the top, first upstaging Sony, then Zee and ultimately Star Plus. That’s remarkable really because Star TV occupied the number one spot for nearly ten years. The Viacom 18 venture’s strategy has been near-perfect—launch with a blockbuster show, even if it’s a loss-leader, and follow it up with what Indian viewers love most—soaps. |
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| Shobhana Subramanian: Jerry Rao's nano-housing dreams | 03-JUL-09 |
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| It’s wonderful that Jerry Rao is planning to build houses that cost Rs 700,000 or less. The former Citibanker’s model is simple enough: land is bought with the equity capital while construction is financed through bank loans at market-related rates currently anywhere between 11 and 13 per cent. The key to the success of the project is the time taken to complete it. |
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| Shobhana Subramanian: Live and let live | 19-JUN-09 |
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| The Parliamentary Committee report on foreign and domestic investment in the retail sector raises concerns that if foreign direct investment is allowed in multi-brand retailing, it would lead to job losses in the unorganised retailing space. In fact it doesn’t even want big domestic players in the sector. |
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| Shobhana Subramanian: 'Warrant'ing a change in rules | 05-JUN-09 |
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| With share prices having retreated from their bull market highs, a whole host of promoters have obviously decided not to convert warrants that they had allotted themselves in 2007 or 2008. That’s not surprising because sixteen or eighteen months down the line, the conversion prices appear stratospheric compared with the reality in the markets, even after the recent rally. |
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Content Guide
