Exhibitions and Business Events Blog

Even as world economy is in turmoil, it is a well-acknowledged fact that Indian economy has bucked the slowdown. The country is estimated to have a GDP growth rate of 6 to 6.5 percent this year. Now, you will be keenly interested in knowing the reason why? Why India is economically stable and exuberant while others are in financial disarray?

According to ‘stress test’ conducted by Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD) smaller nations that are export oriented, resilient and with stable socio-political environments are far better equipped to benefit when the economy recovers.

India has clinched 13th position among 57 countries. The ranking is based on ‘Stress Test’ which takes into consideration the future scenario alongside individual nations’ readiness and resilience during the period of global recession.

US bagged 28th position. Denmark clinched the top position, followed by Singapore, Qatar, Norway and Hong Kong. Besides, securing the 13th place, India is ahead of China (18th) and the world’s second-largest economy, Japan (26).

India is also better placed than Brazil (22), the UK (34), Russia (51).

Mexican multiplex chain to invest Rs 1,700 cr in India

The ongoing imbroglio between multiplex operators and Bollywood producers, haven’t deterred Mexican global multiplex operator Cinepolis from wanting to invest Rs.1,700 crore in India. The company endeavor’s to expand its film exhibition business in the next seven years.

The company has already set up an Indian subsidiary and is chalking out plans with mall developers for unveiling 500 movie screens by 2016. In the first phase of expansion, the company is planning to inject Rs.370 crore for opening 110 screens across eight locations. The company officials informed that in India it will open its first multiplex by the second half of this year.

The company also plans to set up its operations in the emerging markets like Brazil and Peru among other South American countries, after India.

Cinepolis is currently the fifth largest theatre chain in the world and is worth $675 million. With the fruition of these expansion plans, the company will be able to capture the fourth slot. India’s venture is part of company’s plan to expand its global footprint.

Cinepolis plans to bring in the concept of megaplex, wherein each theatre will have up to 14 screens. “We will make India the country with our largest presence outside Mexico. We will open around 500 screens in the next seven years and for every screen, we will be spending around $700,000," Cinepolis India country head Milan Saini informed.

The company is also planning to convert some of the single screens into multi-screen property.

Most of the funding would go into paying of rentals and developing of screens and the amount would be funded by internal accruals, Saini added.

After a six-month recession-induced lull, India Inc is finally heaving a sigh of relief, with its debentures and equity issues finding some takers.

If trends over the past few weeks are taken into account, it shows that banks no longer are shying away from financing new projects and more importantly, foreign investors are finding their way back to India.

Private and foreign banks are yet to come forward in a big way, however, public sectors banks are forward –looking and have already started financing projects.

As a consequence, funding to the tune of Rs.58, 000 crore for large projects has already been managed in the last six weeks.

The list includes Indian Oil’s Paradip refinery (Rs 14,900 crore), State Bank of India’s loan to NTPC (Rs 8,500 crore), Krishnapattnam Port (Rs 3,000 crore), BGR Energy’s engineering, procurement and construction work (Rs 4,000 crore), SBI’s loans to Vodafone (Rs 10,000 crore) and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group’s three projects (Rs 14,500 crore for the Sasan Ultra Mega Power project, Rs 2,000 crore for Delhi Metro Express and around Rs 1,000 crore for transmission projects in the west).

And it’s not just infrastructure developers who are profiting, companies such as Tata Motors are also finding takers. According to sources, the auto major had placed its entire debenture issue -Rs. 4,200 –crore in a day.

JP Associates, a construction major is apparently looking forward to raise nearly Rs.4,000 crore from debentures. In the aftereffect of September crises, when several global investment banks collapsed under the sub-prime loan crises in the West- companies had to go for non-convertible debentures to meet the funding requirements. In April, NCD issues worth Rs.25, 000 crore were raised collectively by the companies.

There are indications that equity market is also looking up. Bankers projected that over Rs 40,000 crore of rights, QIP and debenture issues are in the pipeline.

Over the past weeks, Indiabulls, DLF and Unitech-all real estate players-have together raised Rs.8,000 crore by way of qualified institutional placements (QIPs).It is also estimated that less risky sectors will attract investment more easily from foreign investors.

India bulls raised Rs.2, 585 through QIP. According to top sources at India bulls, companies with good assets and good track record on returns to shareholders can easily raise funds. But the gates are not open for all and sundry.

Indiabulls Power Services is looking to raise around Rs.5,200 crore of debt in the upcoming months and has already pocked Rs. 800 crore, through equity.

Things are likely to look up in the near future. According to officials at India Infrastructure Finance Company, investment in infrastructure will pick up. It was supposed to start early, but shelved due to election process. The National Highway Authority of India had stopped awarding new projects due to the election code of conduct, but is expected to start soon.

The benign interest rates will make infrastructure projects more economically practical. And with enough liquidity in the system, there will be no dearth of resources, the official further added.

According to government projections, infrastructure projects to the tune of Rs.46,000 crore will be awarded in the upcoming months.

Though the companies will be still under pressure and demand remains passive, the bankers say that worst appears to be over, as far as the domestic market is concerned.

“The mood was really down in the last quarter of 2008. By mid-January, it had started improving and by March there was clear visibility of the mood changing,” ICICI Bank Chairman K V Kamath informed Business Standard in a recent interview.

India has emerged as the third largest steel producer, beating Russia and United States. The decrease in demand and sharp production cuts in these countries has apparently propelled India into the top league.

As per the latest reports from the World Steel Association, the US cut production 52.5 percent during quarter ended March, 2009, and Russia 33 percent.

Conversely, India saw just a decline of 7.9 percent, in the same period. China and Japan occupied the top two positions.

Healthy domestic demand has strongly supported the steel sector in weathering the downturn. In fact, Indian steel industry is not export oriented and the country is a net importer, informed the chief financial officer of one of the leading steel companies in India.

Besides, government’s stimulus packages have also worked wonder for the steel industry in India.

World steel production during January-March was 264 million tones, a 22.8 percent drop over the first quarter of 2008. Asia manufactured 173 million tones of crude oil, a decrease of 8.9 percent.

The European Union produced 30 million tones, a decline of 43.8 percent. North America showed a 52.1 percent decline. Decrease in demand across United States and Europe is said to have contributed significantly to the sharp falls in the production.

Though India’s March production was low, it was better than February 2009 performance, signifying robustness in the local demand.

Airtel, world’s third largest ‘in-country’ mobile operator

With its subscriber base crossing the 100 million mark, Bharti Airtel has reached a new milestone, as the world’s third largest ‘in-country’ mobile operator.

This landmark achievement makes every fourth mobile user in the country a subscriber of Bharti Airtel - a company founded in 1995 as Bharti Tele-ventures

The Indian telecom sector is known to provide the most affordable services in the world and has grown significantly in the last decade.

"We are proud to have led the telecom revolution that made a positive impact on the lives of people in every corner of the country as well as the Indian economy," informed Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal.

He further added "This remarkable journey to 100 million customers is a testament to the vision and commitment of the company that benchmarks itself with the best in the world".

Apart from 25 percent subscriber share, Bharti Airtel has 30 percent market share in terms of revenue. Currently it is placed behind two Chinese companies in terms of subscriber size.

Bharti Airtel has been adding about 3,000 base stations in a month, and Mittal said it is for the first time an Indian player has emerged as the major player in the telecom domain.

You may own a heavily loaded website, backed by some readable content. And you keep waiting and waiting…, but your site fails to climb up in rankings. But it won’t, say experts, until and unless you make your site Search Engine centric and make Search Engine Optimization (SEO) an integral part of your marketing strategy. Experts point out that SEO has emerged as the surefire way for good page rankings.

Several companies recruit individuals for SEO operations while few believe in hiring a specialized SEO firms for all the optimization work. But, if you are new to the internet world, it will be a herculean task for you to zero-down on the right choice. This article is an attempt to help you arrive at a right decision.

When you set up a business, you see to it that you have assembled the best in the industry. So if you appoint an SEO firm, then you already have your hands on a team of experts, who are well-aware of all the nitty-gritty’s of SEO work. In case, you opt for a single person for the entire work, you cannot be sure that he/she will deliver, though he may showcase ample amount of confidence. And this can turn out to be risky business proposition. Following are three distinct advantages, which you stand to gain in case; you decide to outsource your services to a dedicated firm.

Knowledge

SEO is an ever-evolving business. So, it is said that more the knowledge you have, the more your business gains. And yes, there isn’t any step-by –measured step for search engines operations, that’s why SEOs need to be watchful all the time. So if you’ve hired a particular SEO firm, then it is their job to keep themselves abreast of all the latest SEO trends. But for a single person doing all the research work along with its implementation, becomes a tad tedious.

Group effort

Several companies opt for professional SEO services than hiring an SEO company, taking into account the cost-efficiency factor. But appointing a single individual means he/she will take more time in execution and you know time is money. Also, you’ll end up bearing the cost of the total time taken by him. While in case of a company, many professional will help in getting the work done in a single package.

Fewer headaches

If you recruit a single SEO professional, then your entire work is dependent on him. How much he/she can deliver. Will he/she stretch? Sometimes your work reaches a stand still that will keep you awake at night. But if you hire a dedicated SEO firm then you pay them on monthly or yearly basis, this relieves half of your stress.

To sum up, SEO is a critical requirement for the growth of your business, hence it is important for you to be careful while selecting SEO professionals or company.

The small car being a volume seller in India, host of foreign car manufacturers are planning to make big-bang entry in India. Plans are afoot to set up new manufacturing operations and even roll out new models, despite economic recession and flat auto sales. Courtesy, Tata Nano. With Nano becoming a trendsetter of sorts, especially its low-cost factor, manufacturers like GM, Honda Siel, Toyota Kirloskar are all rolling up their sleeves to make a big ticket entry into India

In the recent past, overseas car manufacturers have announced plans to add 1.02 million units to the current capacity. Experts point out that by putting together the current and future capacity- including that of Tata Motors- India’s car manufacturing output will double in the coming four to five years. Of course, the biggest boost, the auto segment, including auto components, will receive foreign direct investment to the tune of Rs.14, 680 crore. This will be the biggest achievement, considering that just a few years back autos failed to even make it to the top list of industries receiving FDI.

No doubt, India has emerged as hub for all automakers. Even struggling US auto giants General Motors (GM) has unveiled a new plant in Talegaon near Pune with a capacity of 1.4 lakh vehicles in September last year. The company has already spent more than $1 billion into two of its plants in India and in a technical centre in Bangalore, and in fact intends to introduce three new cars this year.

Toyota Kirloskar too is coming up with another plant at Bidadi near Bangalore. The plant will fully focus on making compact cars. The plant reportedly has an annual production capacity of 70,000 units.

The Toyata car will be out in the market by the end of calendar 2010. The company may bring in more products to the Indian market in the medium to long term and thereby expand their presence.

European car producer Renault has committed to spend around nearly Rs.5,000 crore in the next seven years. However, the company for the time being has decided to shelve its operations plans, because of the global slow down.

Even beleaguered Ford is crafting a small car for the Indian market. The small car is Ford’s first entry into the value segment globally. The company plans to first launch its small car in India and then cover other Asia-Pacific and African markets.

Also, Volkswagen Plant in Pune will be rolling out its brand new line of white Skoda Fabias in May this year. The company will begin rolling out 1, 10,000 cars every year, including the popular Polo hatchback scheduled to be launched next year.

Like Maruti and Hyundai, Volkswagen is intending to expand its operations and introduce new product lines in India. According to high-placed company officials, India is hot car market, and has massive potential in the form of the upwardly mobile Indian middle class consumer, who is still not affected by the slowdown as his western counterpart.

Nonetheless, many companies have scaled back their operations— and have shelved expansion plans and are concentrating on optimum utilization of current capacity, till the market shows some positive sign. As Vitamin M dried up beginning October 2008, automobile sales has taken a beating, remaining flat at 1.55 million passenger cars for the period 2008-2009.

Not so long go, a well-known newspaper tabloid regularly splashed a sequence of socially conscientious stories, as to how some kids from a renowned school were planning to redefine the way we Indian shop vegetables. Yes, vegetable shopping became focus point, given the fact that many of us fail to carry bags from home when it comes to buying vegetables. And therefore purchase vegetables in plastic bags that’s freely available with vendors

So, these school kids , well-aware of the disastrous consequences of using plastic bags, did what the adults should have done way back… design paper bags from newspapers and sell them to the vegetable vendors at an affordable rates.

But as they, old habits die hard; we are back to ground zero, as people have gone back to their bad old ways of using plastic bags. So what went wrong with the children’s campaign of popularizing paper bags? Why did the concerned newspaper cease to carry more stories on it? We don’t the reason why?

As of now, what we know is that the use of plastics have increased like never before and this can wreak havoc in the environment as most of them are not biodegradable, therefore not environment-friendly.

But living in a world without plastic is an unimaginable prospect; given the fact plastics over the years have become a fundamental part of our living.

Advantageous of plastics

The significant growth in use of plastics is due to its favorable properties. These include:

• It’s Versatility and can be customized to meet very specific technical needs.

• Light in weight as compared to other materials, leading to less fuel consumption during transportation.

• Very durable

• Resistant to chemicals, water and impact.

• Hygiene properties in terms of food packaging.

• Thermal and electrical insulation properties.

• Inexpensive to produce

As per the latest reports, people world over manufacture and use 20 times more plastic today than we did 50 years ago!

Plastic products are used for all and sundry purposes. The kind of products produced from plastics include, Industrial Plastic Products, Plastic water tank, Pet Preforms, Plastic Aircraft Products, Plastic Automotive Parts, Plastic Bags, Plastic Balls, Plastic Barrels, Plastic Basins, Plastic Baskets, Plastic Bins, Plastic Bottles, Plastic Bowls, Plastic Boxes, Plastic Buckets, Plastic Prefab Homes, Plastic Canisters, Plastic Cans, Plastic Capacitors, Plastic Caps, Plastic Clothings, Plastic Coatings, Plastic Mugs, Plastic Packaging Products, Plastic Panels, Plastic Pallets, Plastic Pipe Fittings, Plastic Pipes, Plastic Sanitaryware, Plastic Sheets, Plastic Stationary, Plastic Straps, Plastic Strips, Plastic Tanks, Plastic Tapes, Plastic Toiletries, Plastic Toys & Games, Plastic Trays, Plastic Tubes, Plastic Tumblers, Plastic Vases, Plastic Yarns …the list is long. So it is plastic and plastic everywhere.

So it is safe to surmise that plastics have made their presence felt in a big way in our daily lives. Packaging industry is reported to be the single largest sector using plastics. So doing away with them completely is not that easy, considering its significant influence in our daily lives, however, one can chalk out various strategies to make the most use of them, thereby restrict their production.

There are 50 groups of plastics with hundreds of varieties. The best thing being all varieties can be recycled. However, reusing plastic is preferable than recycling as it uses less energy and fewer resources.

Degradable plastics

Numerous retailers in UK have recently come up with degradable carrier bags. These bags are made from a special type of plastic that degrades under certain conditions. For instance, degradable plastics are of two types, bio-degradable plastics and photodegradable plastics. Bio-degradable plastics contain only a small amount of non oil-bases material, like corn starch and photodegradable plastics will break down when kept under the sun.

Degradable plastics are widely being used in countries like Austria and Sweden, where fast-food retail chain McDonalds has been using bio-degradable cutlery since three years. Plastic which photo-degrades in six weeks are been used in manufacturing carriers for beer cans.

Bio-plastics

As hazardous chemical additives are used in plastics, leading to health and safety concerns, manufacturers are gradually shifting to plant-based plastics. For instance, world’s largest toy manufacturer Mattel had announced that company will be using plant-based plastics for manufacturing of toys. Similar promises were also made by companies like LEGO, IKEA, Nike and The Bodyshop. So hopefully, within few decades, we could expect the whole world shifting towards using plant-based plastics.

One of the leading car suppliers had plastered his website with a slew of hot selling cars. Then he single-mindedly focused on attracting more customers to the site. And as logical extension of his services, he wanted to enlighten them, on the cars, which were in demand and which weren’t. For this, he asked almost all his employees to pitch in, especially whose English was under the acceptable limits. And guess what the employees were forced to do—regardless of the fact whether it was ethical or not— quite a few staff members were asked to cook up hundred’s of reviews for each set of cars. And guess what, today his website is overflowing with reviews and array of products, as well.

This supplier knew to harness the power of online reviews. So naturally, he suggested his employees to research and rewrite to the maximum. And the results are there for everyone to see.

According to one of the leading consultancies in US, online reviews are second only to word of mouth in terms of purchase decisions. And as per the survey carried out by a major corporation, nearly 84 percent of Americans say they seriously look for online reviews before narrowing down on the product of their choice, though majority of them don’t actively contribute to the review writing process on the web.

So it won’t be wrong to infer that a minority few who seriously take pains and post product or service feedbacks on various sites, end up influencing a majority of people. The accuracy of the feedback is not the topic of discussion here, anyways.

In case, a negative feedback is dished out in a public forum, it won’t be wrong to say that the reviewer is literally pulling the rug from under the supplier’s feet. His sales might suddenly plummet.

According to the survey, around 55 percent of the respondents relied on on-line reviews in their earlier stages of their buying cycle. So, the companies should now know where they should seriously look for, as they vigorously explore and exploit different mediums to make their presence felt. Involving themselves proactively as well as observing and controlling these on-line reviews will help them to tapp more buyers.

The popular products and services, where the customers have the tendency to surf the websites for online reviews include food, clothing, personal care, automotive, household products and services, electronic goods, travel, recreation and leisure. So the companies dealing in such products and services should vigorously chalk out strategies to make the most of these forums and make them work to their advantage.

Some of the frequently checked online forums include, company websites, online rating systems and government/consumer advocacy sites. Even Google, Yahoo, Youtube, Wikipedia, Myspace, Orkut and Facebook have large and dependable fan following. And apparently young people are the ones who flock to these websites in sizeable numbers. And so companies who want to make the most with small marketing budgets, should target the on-line communities

Moreover, with world going through the worst economic crises, and companies cutting marketing and production related costs in a big way, the best way to move ahead is to target on-line communities.

However, manufacturing a quality product and service in itself, invites good online reviews. So concentrate on product efficiency, and just watch positive on-line reviews flowing in.

The verdict is out. The common man has fallen to the cherubic charms of Rahul Gandhi. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is all set to form the government, after putting up an impressive performance in states like Andhra Pradesh Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

The young Gandhi scion has stepped from the shadows and has emerged as a leader in his own right, helping his party add those magic numbers to the Congress tally in Uttar Pradesh and across the country as well. However, the jubilant Congress President Sonia Gandhi has categorically stated that Manmohan Singh would be the Prime Minister. Though Prime Minister has said “It’s my wish Rahul should be in the cabinet”.

Gandhi informed that people of India has always made the right choice.

Prime Minster Manmohan Singh said that with the results, the people of India have expressed confidence in the Congress and faith in Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. Congress has got enough majorities to form a government on its terms, informed top sources in the party.

Manmohan Singh will be the first Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after having served a full five-year term with the Congress.

The Congress performance was brilliant in Kerala where it defeated the Left Front and even gave a good drubbing to the Marxists in West Bengal with help from ally Trinamool Congress.

It also swept Delhi, did remarkably well in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, , Uttarakhand and more than doubled its tally in UP leading in 20 of the 80 seats there.

Highlights

• Renuka Chowdhury loses in Khammam

• Shatrughan Sinha wins in Patna Sahib

• Kapil Sibal wins in Chandni Chowk

• Naveen Jindal wins in Kurukshetra

• Ram Vilas Paswan loses in Hajipur

• Ajay Maken defeats Vijay Goel in New Delhi

• Sajjad Gani Lone loses in Baramulla

‘Results unexpectedly low’ said BJP president Rajnath Singh. ‘We accept the verdict of the people’, said BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley.

Tata groups super computer ‘Eka’ is going Eka plus, plus (Eka++). After being ranked as the fourth fastest computer in the world by the US-based International Conference for High Performance Computing, and fastest in Asia for networking, storage and analysis, Eka was apparently pushed down to 13th position, in the recent years. Thanks, too many US companies devising faster super computers.

Not one to take things lying down, Tata is reportedly pulling up its socks in an attempt to enhance the supercomputer’s processing power by at least five times. Under the project titled Eka plus plus (Eka++), the company’s subsidiary unit-The Computational Research Laboratories (CRL)-is said to have geared up its operations towards this end.

The officials at CRL confirmed that it won’t be an easy process, considering that such kind of processing will require a lot of software and hardware and more importantly compatibility between these varied systems. The official, however, ceased to disclose the time taken to complete the up gradation process of Eka.

According to Industry analysts the project will take at least two or three to get completed.

Meanwhile, the Tata Group has already been offering supercomputing as a service on Eka. Nearly 40 organizations-rights from aerospace to automobile and life sciences to manufacturing-are using Eka’s services. The leading aviation company Boeing and Tata Motors are among those using the services. Previously, group company, Tata Elxsi used Eka to cut production time for the animation movie Roadside Romeo. Employing Eka helped in reducing time to six months from 36 to 40 months.

Eka put India and Tata on the global map-employing around 1,800 computing nodes and has a peak performance of 170 teraflops. It has been using Linux operating system, and CLOS architecture (which is used for large-capacity switches), with off-the-shelf servers and infiniband interconnect technologies.

But the question doing the rounds is, will Eka++ project give back Tata its lost ranking. With research and development taking place all-round the world at break-neck speed, it seems to be a quite a difficult proposition, informed an industry analyst. Besides, of course other companies won’t rest on their on their laurels, and will be surely mapping out strategies to accelerate their product processes. So, all the best to Eka++

The recession-hit diamond units in Surat are basking in new-found glory with around 500 units resuming operations in the past month. Now the units are looking for more workers now.

About 40,000 diamond workers in Surat lost their jobs owing to the global recession that badly hit the state’s Rs.50, 000-crore industry.

Before Diwali around 2500 to 3000 units were operational, however, only 1000 units resumed their operations after Diwali, informed the President of Surat Diamond Association (SDA)

Now, with 500 units re-opening this month, almost 1,500 units are now back in business.

An improvement in the domestic demand has encouraged the closed units to re-start their operations.

It is said that the units that re-opened after Diwali had cleared the raw material stock, despite incurring losses. So at present there is no stock in the pipeline and so units are aggressively purchasing raw materials as the trading activities pick up, informed the former President of SDA.

Trading has also resumed in Surat. Consequently prices of rough diamonds have increased 20 percent recently. Though prices of polished diamonds have not improved, as compared to the rough diamond, there is great amount of optimism in the market that prices of polished diamonds will also increase in the coming days.

Nearly 90 percent of the diamonds cut and polished in Surat are exported. “Recession has not hit India as much as it has affected the western countries, informed an official of SDA

He informed that Indian consumers have started buying diamond for investment purposes, a change in stand as earlier they were inclined to buy only diamond jewelry.

However, the situation is not that upbeat. Cutting and polishing units that resumed operations are operating with only 50 to 60 percent of the workforce, since many of those who were laid off had switched over to other industries, like textile and agriculture