Anoothi Vishal meets Fortis mentor Harpal Singh to find out about his campaign that unites religion with the girl child.

Mentoring a sapling

Business Standard

A personalised, luxury store for diamond jewellery, Ceres, launched in Mumbai with a big society turnout.

A necklace for Rs 7 crore plus

Transparency and the honest expression of views are central to any democracy, so it was with a sense of national pride that I read this mail forward: &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t these elections rock? The common man is throwing footwear at politicians and the politicians are responding by giving us the finger. Mutual disrespect all around. None of that fake politeness and genuflecting we see so much of in public life.

Flip the bird, fling a shoe

Mimlu Sen and her lifemate Paban Das Baul have had an unusual journey, she tells Anand Sankar, and her book is an intimate account of Baul life.

The heart of the matter

I suppose fate could have worse things in store than having to read (and re-read) Khushwant Singh, even though the thought of another collection of his columns, articles or essays is fatiguing. The Sardar has his legion of fans, and has managed to enchant India with his weekly columns translated even into Urdu, as we learn from editor Sheela Reddy who recounts a visit to her butcher&rsquo;s shop where the writer is feted with his own account of his long hair unfurling in a London swimming pool.

The importance of being Khushwant Singh

Aman resort in Delhi chooses the iconic Indian brand &mdash; the Ambassador &mdash; to build its limousine fleet.

Vintage car's luxury avatar

Looks like, the marketing community has had an infestation of Zoozoos. Most ad folks are going, &lsquo;******od, why don&rsquo;t we have clients who let us do this kind of work?&rsquo; Clients are loudly wondering why their agencies can&rsquo;t bring them such breakthrough ideas, maybe they need added motivation in the form of a reduction in fees.

Planning ahead to win

Restrictions on billboards pushes the brand to explore digital media.

Amul gets a Second Life

Giorgio Armani SpA, the Italian fashion company which designs fashion accessories, apparel, cosmetics, fragrances, home interiors, eyewear and watches, among other things, opened its store in India in the middle of a slowdown. The company&rsquo;s deputy managing director John Hooks who has considerable experience in luxury retail in Asia was in India some time ago and spoke to Anoothi Vishal on Armani&rsquo;s India plans.

'Indian customer is the most discerning in the world'

Companies can ill-afford to ignore consumer issues raised online, say experts.

Make or mar brands in cyberia

Consider the last 130 days that we have come in 2009, and you will realise that a global slowdown has not affected the mounting number of mobile phones that can easily put last year&rsquo;s phone models to shame. While the most important decision is how much to spend on a new phone and what features to watch out for, remember that more features also mean a higher price tag.

Handy handsets

Exactly two years ago, IIT graduate Saurabh Bhatia received a call that changed his life. It was two of his fellow alumni, Chhavi Upadhyay and Srikanth Kakani, calling from Stanford, the US. Upadhyay and Kakani had just won a coveted award for their business plan.

Success, bit by bit

Free social networking and micro-blogging service Twitter recently announced a new commercial venture &mdash; ExecTweets &mdash; aimed exclusively at the corporate sector. Sponsored by Microsoft, it allows users to find and follow top business executives on Twitter. Several top CEOs, who are already Twitter enthusiasts, include Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson, AMD's CMO Nigel Dessau, Cisco's CTO Padmasree Warrior, Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. They are all accessible through the service.

When twitting turns serious business

Uncertainty has made conserving cash a high priority not only for businesses but also consumers. Globally, and more so in Asia, consumers appear more inclined to bolster their savings accounts than spend spare cash.

Savings up, spends down

How long can one escape the clutches of recession? While the world went into an economic slowdown towards the end of 2008, Indians have just started losing confidence in their economy. In recent times, consumers have experienced an onslaught of bad news in the form of job cuts, company profit plummeting, bankruptcies and foreclosures, which has led to a reduction in consumer confidence and people&rsquo;s spending power.

Downturn takes its toll

Mahindra Xylo targets one bird too many with its sedan-killer strategy.

Out to kill?

In 2008, when commodity prices were going through the roof, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) decided it needed to up prices to protect its margins. After all, margins, more often than not in the past, had been the FMCG major&rsquo;s priority. So it reduced fill levels (the net grammage of packs was reduced) and also upped prices on some products. Not surprisingly, customers stayed away.

Hindustan Unilever: Volume vs value

This summer, Dabur is all set to challenge the might of beverage majors PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. The homegrown FMCG major, which has a bevy of juices under the Real brand, has forayed into the flavoured fruit beverage category with Real Burrst. A bold move, because Dabur&rsquo;s brand promise is a fully natural experience.

Dabur: Real goes flavoured

When 3i Infotech, incorporated by ICICI Bank in 1993, recently bought JP Morgan&rsquo;s national retail lockbox business for $10 million (around Rs 50 crore), it took its acquisition tally to 40. The Rs 1,700 crore spent on these acquisitions has made 3i Infotech a global player with close to 1,000 clients and 13,000 employees.

3i Infotech: Inorganic tonic

The Indian hospitality industry, which includes hotels and restaurant chains, is valued at $23 billion (Rs 113,976 crore).

KIT: The Indian hospitality industry

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