Laptop sales doubled in India in 2008 over the previous year.

KIT: The Indian market for laptops

Business Standard

The top 10 business bestsellers

    Prior to India&rsquo;s Independence which brand used to run ads with the following lines: &ldquo;Makes white clothes stay white.

The Strategist Quiz (104)

It&rsquo;s a little-known fact that people in south India drink &mdash; quite prodigiously, as it turns out. Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu each alone guzzle some 30 lakh cases of spirits a month, with Kerala trailing far behind at 15 lakh cs/mo &mdash; together, that&rsquo;s almost 60 per cent of the total market for spirits in India! Sales of branded spirits (mostly sold at the cheaper end) took off when state governments banned sales of &ldquo;country spirits&rdquo;, and have traditionally been a cash cow for their respective states.

The southern sip

The Czechs are supposed to build value-for-money cars. But this one goes where no Skoda has gone before.

Yetiquette

Mahogany, leather, crystal, fibreglass, steel, brass: only the best goes into the finest liquor cabinets money can buy. Abhilasha Ojha opens them up.

Raising the bar

Want to run away from the sweltering heat? Good idea. Just one thing: don&rsquo;t leave without these amazing travel bags. They&rsquo;ll be your constant companions and, even if you stuff them with your belongings, won&rsquo;t complain. We suggest some sleek and stylish, classy and bold designs that you won&rsquo;t mind carrying around with you.

Carry-on companions

Sir Alec Issigonis&rsquo;s concept of a small front-engined front wheel-driven car has touched 50. The half centurion has left behind such an indelible mark on the pages of automobile history books that its influence on the modern day small car just can&rsquo;t be ignored.

Mini me

The Romanian Bazna tournament concluded with a result that would have been considered unlikely on recent form. Vassily Ivanchuk won ahead of a very strong field. He delivered an unbeaten 2875 performance that fetched 7 points from 10 games. Boris Gelfand was clear second on 6 and Alexey Shirov shared third spot with the top-seeded Teimour Radjabov on 5.5. Gelfand and Radjabov were both unbeaten as well.

CHESS #594

&hellip;Or, How I woke up much too early but didn&rsquo;t mind a bit.

Ode to dawn...

I have been driving a Maruti Suzuki Alto LX for the last five years. Now I am in the mood to change my car. I am looking for one which is bigger than the Alto and my budget is Rs 4 lakh.

Small change

Success is scientific, believes Rick Goings, CEO of Tupperware.

No plastic talk

When the editor of the American edition of Vogue, Anna Wintour, sneezes, the fashion world catches a cold, such is her clout. It is rumoured that once Milan Fashion Week was postponed because Wintour couldn&rsquo;t make those dates. There are several other such legendary stories about Wintour. But, most importantly, what makes Wintour so powerful, almost 20 years after she was appointed as the editor of the magazine, is that she has created legendary editorial content in terms of both quality and its complete hold on the fashion market. Being featured in the American Vogue is considered special because it can make or break a designer or a style. That&rsquo;s why Wintour and her product are both revered and feared. And as we all know, America is the market that dictates fashion.

Needed, game changers

Not many in India may understand it &mdash; but restaurants don&rsquo;t need to look like restaurants. In New York and London, places designed to offer an unsual,&rdquo;wow&rdquo; experience are often the most sought-after eateries: a studio apartment- restaurant in Manhattan, a restaurant under a cemetery&hellip; you get the drift. In India, instead, you know exactly what to expect when you go out to dine: A prettily done-up place but still recognisable as a commercial establishment. Now, get ready to experiment.

Step into my parlour

Legendary composer Khayyam, recently honoured with the K L Saigal Life Achievement Award, tells Neha Bhatt why songs didn't need to be &quot;promoted&quot; in his time.

Each song was poetic...

The abundance of wildlife in African reserves, beautifully captured in these two books, has lessons for our wardens in India.

Indian safaris in Africa

India's largest exhibition of contemporary art is at a museum show in Shanghai.

China's India syndrome

It could hardly be said that Delhi, this imperial capital, is rich in libraries. There must be fewer library books than there are residents, which cannot be true of any other major world capital. Apart from the few large collections, including those at the Parliament Library (inaccessible to ordinary mortals &mdash; do MPs read?), Delhi Public Library, Delhi University (DU), JNU, the rest of Delhi&rsquo;s libraries are relative midgets.

Best of Iran

The striking new Parthenon Museum embodies the Greek desire to get the Elgin Marbles back from Britain.

A plea for the stones

In Antwerp&rsquo;s highly globalised diamond industry, the Jewish diamantaires have been overtaken by Gujarati entrepreneurship, causing not a little heartburn.

The shahs of sparkle

Amul is overhauling its branding and distribution strategy to keep pace with the changing times.

Sixty, and getting younger

- Find Specials News, Features, Analysis and more at Business Standard. Full coverage of Goafest 2014

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