Hazratganj, the heart of Lucknow, has been ailing. But that is about to change.

Back to Ganjing

Business Standard

Jason H Harper slips into Batman&rsquo;s car and gets to know what makes it fit for a superhero.

Batmobile was really a Ford

The Leela in Delhi is the most expensive hotel ever built in India. Will the bold gamble pay off.

Show me the business

The writers of the F1 rulebook certainly don&rsquo;t take their job lying down. There are plenty of other rule changes that have come into play as well. First, the ban on team orders in Formula 1 has been lifted, so we won&rsquo;t see fines slapped on teams for playing favourite any more. But there is a wider range of penalties for driver misconduct available to be dished out by stewards. Teams now have a curfew to work with &mdash; they are no longer allowed on the circuit between 12 am and 6 am when practice will start at 10 am the following day. If practice is scheduled for 11 am, there is a one hour delay in the curfew. Gearboxes now have to last a total of five race weekends instead of four. And the most important rule, certainly for newer drivers and teams, is the 107 per cent qualifying rule. A driver who fails to set a lap within 107 per cent of the fastest qualifying time will not be allowed to compete in the race.

Rule school

Intel&rsquo;s service enables users to enjoy feature films streamed to their PCs.

New chip on the movie block

Short-film buffs have a reason to cheer. Fridaymoviez.com, an entertainment portal, has launched a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) platform that empowers mobile users to access a dedicated short-film website.

Go wireless with short films

Media players have been around but there's a reason why they haven't picked steam yet. It's just too complicated to understand what a media player does differently. To decode their functions, these are stand-alone devices that can be connected to a TV set and used to play audio and video files from a PC, an external hard drive or a network location.

The new bedside media devices

There&rsquo;s an interesting section on the website of Henkel India, the fast moving consumer goods company that is in the midst of a takeover bid. It&rsquo;s called &lsquo;Responsibility all along the line&rsquo;.

How Henkel India's dream went sour

Virus Doctor, Allergy Filter, &lsquo;Eco Navi&rsquo; &ndash; Indian air conditioner (AC) companies seem to be running out of adjectives in marketing gimmicks this summer. Their enthusiasm is understandable, as the AC market &mdash; a 3.6 million unit category &mdash; is projected to touch 4.5 million units by the end of this calendar year.

AC makers pull out all the stops

Brand mascots have always been around. The iconic Air India Maharaja, the famous Zoozoo of Vodafone, the ingenious Amul butter girl, the rather ignored &lsquo;Stumpy&rsquo; the elephant of the ongoing cricket world cup: the list is never-ending.

The most unlikely brand ambassador

Cricket fever has caught Bollywood as well. While the Men in Blue are fighting it out on the field, Bollywood has decided to make the most of the cricket season by launching new promotional activities to market its movies.

Bollywood plays ball with cricket

Sometime in 2009, Raymond Apparel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raymond Limited, decided to slim down its brand portfolio. The first to come under the axe was Notting Hill, an economy apparel brand which was removed from shelves in metros and large cities, and was confined to Raymond stores in tier 4 and 5 towns. Next in line was children&rsquo;s wear brand Zapp which was pulled out in 2010, after a brief stint of four years in the market. The women and children&rsquo;s line of the casual fashion brand ColorPlus were removed recently.

Tailor-made for growth

Wipro&rsquo;s Yardley has drawn up an elaborate plan to woo the new generation of consumers.

Keeping it relevant

The volatility in commodity and raw materials prices has been a major concern for manufacturing companies globally. In a highly competitive market place, passing on the rise in input costs to the consumer is not always the wisest move. Companies are trying to absorb the rising costs by investing in consistent supplies. One of the biggest priorities is to make the supply chain more efficient and resilient. Gianfranco Casati, group chief executive (products), Accenture Global, who heads the company&rsquo;s consulting services business for sectors ranging from consumer goods, automotive and airline to health and life sciences and freight and logistics, says operational efficiencies and growth are two effective ways to counter the impact of commodity price volatility. Casati and Anish Gupta, managing partner, products operating group, Accenture India, recently spoke to Amit Ranjan Rai on the compelling issues before manufacturers and marketers today.

Q&A: Gianfranco Casati & Anish Gupta

The summer of 2011 is here and the new-age Indian consumer has got a bit more health-conscious.

Coca-Cola: Till the last drop

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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP - 2011 OFFICIAL GUIDE
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The top 10 business bestsellers

    This company has been a rumoured takeover target 21 times and its name in Hawaiian means &lsquo;intelligent&rsquo;. Name it.

The Strategist Quiz (#194)

Sports goods account for 0.2 per cent of the retail market in India which translates into $1 billion (Rs 4,493 crore).

KIT: The sports goods market in India

    On Facebook, in December 2008, by an Australian law firm Meyer Vandenberg on a couple who failed to keep up repayments on a $150,000 loan they had borrowed from a mortgage provider.

Answers to last week&#39;s quiz (#193)

The French cosmetics giant will launch a second fairness cream designed for the Indian market.

Garnier steps on the gas

Come April 15, British luxury sports car manufacturer Aston Martin, more famous for its association with James Bond movies, is all set to burn rubber in India.

Aston vs Ferrari, now in India

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

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