At 27, M Thiagarajan started Paramount Airways in Madurai with an all-business seat configuration. The idea was to tap corporations that need people to travel frequently between southern cities like Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Madurai, Trivandrum and so on. While others decided to start big, he took small steps. Paramount started with just five aircraft. The move seems to have paid off. Last month, Paramount had the highest load factor of 87 per cent among Indian carriers.

'The downturn actually helped us to an extent'

Business Standard

Airtel DTH has high hopes from a market that offers scope for exponential growth but is already packed tight like a can of sardines.

Airtel, Act II

To answer critics of the recently-conducted computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) for admission to business schools, how it was put together will be disclosed. Prometric, the American company that conducted the test, is doing this to dispel doubts on the question pattern. It will make oublic th details on how the content was developed.

Prometric to open up on CAT content development

A few days back, if you were at Mumbai&rsquo;s Dadar Railway Station or at Delhi&rsquo;s Rajiv Gandhi Chowk Metro Station, you could not have missed a man sprawled on a sofa with a cushion that read: &ldquo;Reserved for Abhishek Bachchan classes&rdquo;. Is Bachchan Jr preparing for an alternate career? Not really. This is on-ground activation aimed to create a buzz for the newest reality show on Colors, National Bingo Night. It will of course be anchored by Bachchan Jr.

Bachchan Jr to rouse the aarami in you

Hopes to capture 7-10% share of the multimedia segment.

Karbonn leaves its print on the handset market

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) may have a new worry on their plate, with a Common Admission Test (CAT) taker from Bangalore filing a writ petition in the Karnataka High Court, seeking cancellation of CAT 2009 and a re-test in the paper-pencil format.

CAT taker files PIL against computer-based exam failure

Companies from sectors like FMCG, consumer durables, telecom, automobile and insurance are invading rural markets, and have consequently increased their rural marketing budgets significantly. Given the growth in rural advertising, Xpanse, the rural marketing arm of Starcom MediaVest Group, is planning to expand its reach to more villages across India. Xpanse Country Head Sandip Bansal reveals his plans in a chat with Seema Sindhu.

'I hope to reach 150,000 villages by 2010'

Four students of the city-based Asian School of Business Management (ASBM) have bagged international job offers in the second phase of campus recruitment process. These international job offers have come from Hyderabad-based IT services firm Dhanush Infotech Ltd. Apart from international offers, the IT firm has also recruited two ASBM students for its domestic operations.

Four ASBM students bag international job offers

After closing the credit controversy surrounding the popular Aamir Khan-starrer 3 Idiots, Chetan Bhagat made a visit to his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), today. The visit resulted in a teacher inviting him as visiting faculty for a day, said Bhagat, whose book Five Point Someone inspired the film.

Chetan Bhagat to be IIM-A prof for a day

The premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have managed to place between 50 and 70 per cent of students till date. During the same period last year, these institutes had managed to place only around 35 per cent of their students due to the global economic slowdown.

IITs double pace of final placements this season

With nearly 1,450 attacks on Indians in Australia reported last year followed by the closure of a dozen colleges, many feel there&rsquo;s reluctance on the part of the Australian government to safeguard the interest of Indian students. The Federation of Indian Students of Australia Inc (FISA) is one such body. In a telephonic interview from Australia, Amit Menghani, president, FISA, shares his views on the subject with Chitra Unnithan.

'Attacks can be avoided if  the system takes things seriously'

IIT-Kharagpur, the oldest IIT in India, is in the process of setting up a number of centres of excellence (CoE), with financial support from its alumni. The move is expected to help IIT-Kharagpur to develop products of global competence. The institute is also setting up &lsquo;innovation centres&rsquo; to encourage research and promote flexibility in curriculum.

Alumni help IIT-Kgp set up research centres

Radico Khaitan&rsquo;s attempts to make its flagship 8PM whiskey &ldquo;contemporary&rdquo; seem to be paying off. Within six month of launch, the grain-based variant of the whiskey has sold about 2 million cases. This move is expected to take 8PM volumes to 5 million cases by the end of 2009-10. All told, the Indian whiskey market is estimated at 160 million cases.

In high spirits: Grain-based 8PM attracts consumers

A new decade has begun. Needless to say, many of you have made resolutions in the spirit of making a new start, or even turning a new leaf. The more ambitious among you may well be thinking about turning the page and starting a new chapter. Since my mother raised me well and she will most certainly be reading this, I wish you all good luck.

Happy 2011

Sugar, unlike commodities like salt, tea and milk, has failed to achieve a successful transition from loose sale to a branded commodity.

Sugar takes its own sweet time to enter the branded space

At 7, Race Course Road, the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, you can find a glittering array of cars. They are all fitted with post-modern gizmos and security gadgets, and their armour is thick as a tank&rsquo;s. There is also a small electric car which is used to carry passengers, one at a time, from the high-security gates to the house.

Charge of the green knight

    During Christmas 2009, who placed &ldquo;plastic red kettles&rdquo; that accept debit and credit cars in 120 cities in the US? The new kettles have wireless card readers attached to them; such kettles have been used to collect coin donations earlier.

Answers to last week's quiz (#130)

History is replete with the horrific consequences unleashed as a result of the cognitive mistakes of the smart set.

When intelligent people make poor decisions

    This company is driven by the ______ Spirit created by its founder on the following three key values: Creative Wisdom, Unwavering Drive and Positive Thinking. Name the company and its founder.

The Strategist Quiz (#131)

Ramesh Chauhan&rsquo;s Bisleri comes out with a new brand of natural mineral water sourced from a spring in Uttarakhand to take on Tata Tea&rsquo;s Himalayan.

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