Satyam's employees told Business Standard how it would feel not to be associated with anything Satyam

Employees surprised, but reassured

Business Standard

The Indian e-commerce segment might still be niche in usage of plastic money, but it seems to be changing rapidly. Consumers are increasingly adopting technology to scout for good deals; they prefer companies that use social media and want advertisements to be specifically tailored for them, according to a study by FirstData

Smart choices

The astronomical cut-offs for admissions to Delhi University (DU) are out and the frantic annual race to get into the best colleges has begun. But amid the admission hullabaloo, there are some things that mystified many aspirants. The admission forms, for instance, require them to fill in such questions as "Father's Annual Income", or "Annual Family Income". No one has explained why admission criteria, which is supposed to be based on high school marks, requires an income declaration. Or is that just another entry barrier?

Entry barrier

The editorial "Pooling tariffs" (June 25) rightly highlights the moral hazard in the government's decision to allow pass-through rate hikes to power companies for increased cost of imported coal. The state cannot underwrite faulty business decisions in contracts awarded through a competitive bidding process. It is unfair not just to the consumer, but also to those bidders who lost out because they had bid more responsibly. Every business decision does not come with an ironclad guarantee of being profitable. The issue has arisen principally owing to Indonesia's decision to increase coal prices. In fact, some successful bidders have acquired coal mining assets in Indonesia to be captive sources of supply. It is a moot point whether some part of the Indonesian increase does not flow back to the mining arm in Indonesia, which then makes a windfall profit, while projecting a loss on power plant operations in India.Udaya Bose  BangaloreLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor,

Letters: Power plants' bailout

This refers to the editorial "After the deluge" (June 25). One must assess seismic hazards in Uttarakhand in the light of excessive tourist growth and ill-planned development. Moreover, such disasters fall under the purview of natural disaster prevention and management departments, and is dealt by civil officers and resources. The scientist community is not appropriately involved in planning better hazard reduction approach. For disaster management, we need to follow a strategy to cover prevention, precaution, protection, preparedness and mitigation. Not only these, it should include accountability, monitoring and the ability to change policy in the light of current conditions.Sushil Bakliwal  JaipurLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Dealing with hazards

Apropos G David Milton's letter "Secularism's triumph" (June 24), Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar severing ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after a 17-year-long association has nothing to do with secularism, but with his ambition for the prime ministerial job after finding a strong contender arriving at the scene. He remained a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government even after the 2002 Gujarat riots, and the chief minister of the Janata Dal (United)-BJP coalition government in Bihar since 2005. The word "secularism" in Indian politics is a disguise for unprincipled politics of opportunism. The "secular" camp always taunted Kumar for associating with the "communal" forces, but as soon as he broke up with the BJP, his credentials were instantly certified by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as "secular". Notably, in May 2009, after his handshake with Narendra Modi at an NDA rally in Ludhiana, Singh had said although Kumar professed

Letters: Nitish Kumar is not secular

The mobile phone is the centre of our existence. If you want a large screen, be prepared to carry a hefty device. But what if the screen could be rolled up?  Here's one new technology that will change the shape of display screens in everyday gadgets

Evolution of the Screen

John Kerry lobs the ball in India's court

A promising visit

Sebi reforms to foreign investment were overdue

Fruits of crisis fears

In 2001, Vedanta Resources Founder and Chairman Anil Agrawal paid Rs 551 crore for a 51 per cent stake in what was then public sector aluminium maker Balco. Guess how many times he has visited the plant, located in the Korba district of Chhattisgarh, in the past 12 years? Never. During a recent visit to state capital Raipur, journalists asked him when he planned to visit the plant, which is about 220 km away. On his next visit, he said. When was that slated? Well, it was conditional on when the 1,200-Mw power plant and a new aluminium plant would be commissioned, he replied. The message was unmistakable. The power plant had been stalled following the state government's refusal to grant approval for it to operate, so Agrawal was clearly linking its clearance with his visit. No doubt it was also a covert signal for local company executives: liaison well with the government if they wanted their boss to be there in Korba.

Power play

Bureaucrats are frequently blamed for inefficiency and corruption in the delivery of government services but they often have their hands tied by skewed policy. Or so a senior official in the railway ministry put it when he humorously described the touts who infest the railway ticketing system as "market forces". "Since the entire issue of ticket prices is highly politicised and lost in the debate driven by populism, the market takes care of the pricing," he said. Thus, he explained, if an agent sells you a ticket at a premium, that represents the true state of supply and demand sans government intervention. That is an interesting point but the fact that the bureaucratic machinery recognises it and is helpless is both amusing and worrisome.

Markets on track-II

It is well known that Indians love their food and even the most cosmopolitan of them long for desi cuisine after a few days abroad. So you can imagine the anticipation of the Indian delegation at the Cannes Lions festival when it was told that a spread of rajma, chholey, aloo-gobi and many varieties of kebab was waiting after a hard day's discussion on the future of global advertising. But when the Indian contingent trooped into the "India" party, there was more hard work to be done. Most had to stretch their ingenuity to distinguish between the rajma, chholey and the aloo-gobi, even though these are everyday dishes in north Indian homes. The mystery had to do with the fact that the meal was, quite inexplicably, produced by a French chef. As one of the delegates put it, "It was like making sense of German advertising."

Canned food

This refers to Shyamal Majumdar's column "Succession plan: What's that?" (Human Factor, June 21). The government is toying with the idea of raising the retirement age for central government employees from 60 to 62 years. However, several pulls and pushes are making this decision difficult. The need to retain talent and unemployment are just two. Ironically, most people who matter and are going to be a part of the decision to raise the retirement age are above 65 themselves. If that is the case, then why not consider an alternative solution to problems being posed by retirement age and succession plans? One such option could factor in the following suggestions:1. Keeping the retirement age across public and private sectors at 60, and making it obligatory to retire from regular employment after that age. This could be even extended to candidates contesting elections;2. After crossing the retirement age, allowing individuals to continue in positions on a contractual basis, subject to fitn

Letters: Retire at 60

This refers to the editorial "Pooling tariffs" (June 25). The plea for a review of the Cabinet decision "to allow the increased cost of imported coal as a pass-through on a case-to-case basis" and the apprehension that this would enable power producers to make a "tidy profit" are both flawed. An investment of nothing less than Rs 5 lakh crore is required to create 78,000 Mw of capacity; and almost 90 per cent of this amount is leveraged. With the controlled rates of power, the scope to make profits is limited. Then again, what is the measure of this "tidy profit"? If pass-through is permitted, the rates would go up by 25 paise per unit, by your calculation. How much of this would go to the owner and to public shareholders? After all, the shareholders have not invested their money under a charitable scheme. The concern for the consumer is well taken, but it is not sound economics, rather a political gimmick. In any case, someone has to pick up the tab. Ultimately, it will again be the h

Letters: The coal price conundrum

Dear Students,Â LAST WEEK WE ASKED:  Do you think IIMs should accredit other B-schools?BEST RESPONSE A B-school accrediting other B-schools would affect its independency and generate controversies. Alternative is MHRD must focus its efforts to set up an special committee consisting of competent members, which will independently concentrate and make concrete efforts to guide all B-schools (including IIMs) and address all research related issues, motivate & thoroughly develop, in all aspects, the country and its B-schools on global footings and carry out accreditation job too. It must be nationally recognized and empowered to draft & demand incentive schemes & resources for breeding high research work.- Priya Rajesh Dhruv, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.OTHER RESPONSESAs the standards of IIMs are better, they may compare standards of other B-schools with their own. They may ask other institutes to improve wherever required. Based on the assessment, IIMs may think

Students' corner

Less than a year is left for the term of the 15th Lok Sabha to get over, but there is a significant backlog of work to be commissioned by MPs under their ambitious MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) Scheme. In the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who represents Assam, may have the highest unspent amount since 1993, but has utilised as high as 84 per cent of the released funds. An MP can allocate work worth Rs 5 crore in a year, that include developmental task with emphasis on creation of durable community assets. A reason for spending less than what has been released, according to experts, is the lack of co-ordination between MPs and the local administration.

MPs lag in MPLAD

At the press conference, it was announced brand Satyam would cease to exist and the merged entity would continue to be known as Tech Mahindra. Vice-chairman Vineet Nayyar and Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director C P Gurnani answered questions on what the merger means for the company. Edited excerpts:On the merger process:It started four years ago, with the acquisition of Satyam in April 2009. The first year was spent on restoring its health, the second on containing the damages, the third on consolidation and the fourth on levels of competence and financial management above board. Tech Mahindra and Satyam were like modern-day couples, living in for four years. But they were merged officially yesterday.On the merged entity's business targets:The combined revenues of the company stand at $2.7 billion. It has 84,000 employees. Earlier, Tech Mahindra was entirely focused on telecom, but now, with Satyam's integration, that has been reduced to about half. We will focus on buildin

No weight left to be shed: Vineet Nayyar & C P Gurnani

The Indian mutual fund industry, in the shape that exists now, is twenty years old

The glass is more than half-empty: Dhirendra Kumar

1993n  Sebi MF Regulations 1993 formulatedn  First private sector MF Kothari Pioneer registered in July 93n  First open-ended scheme launched by a private sector player (Kothari )1994n  Morgan Stanley launched a fund on a "first-come, first -serve" basis leading to unprecedented response from investors.Also, for the first time, lead managers were appointed for a mutual fund scheme1995n  Reliance Growth and Reliance Vision were the first  schemes launched by an MF with "no load"n  Incorporation of AMFIn  First instance of a promoter misusing an MF comes to light. CRB mutual fund barred from launching new products1996n  Sebi MF Regulations substituted by a more comprehensive regulation, that is, Sebi MF Regulations, 19961997n  First merger in the industry- HB Asset Management  merged with Credit Capital Asset Management1999n  Union Budget 1999 made dividends tax-free in the  hands of investors2001n  First ETF launched by Benchmark MF2002n  Registration of MF distributors made compulsory

Business Standard

Business Standard

Page 716 - Business Standard

Employees surprised, but reassured

Smart choices

Entry barrier

Letters: Power plants' bailout

Letters: Dealing with hazards

Letters: Nitish Kumar is not secular

Evolution of the Screen

A promising visit

Fruits of crisis fears

Power play

Markets on track-II

Canned food

Letters: Retire at 60

Letters: The coal price conundrum

Students' corner

MPs lag in MPLAD

No weight left to be shed: Vineet Nayyar & C P Gurnani

The glass is more than half-empty: Dhirendra Kumar

20 years events that shaped private mutual funds industry

Insular Britain