Now, your rights face inflation!

New RTI rules introduced by the Chhattisgarh government come across as blatant misuse of power and undermine the very essence of the act


Once again, the much hyped Right to Information Act (RTI) has returned to the headlines. And this time, it is due to the outrageous hike in RTI fees by the Chhattisgarh government. While all states charge Rs.10 as fee and Rs.2 per print page of the RTI response, Chhattisgarh has increased the fees to Rs.500 and Rs.15 per print copy. The main reason cited is reduction of frivolous applications (interestingly, official sources have stated that the number of applications filed in Chhattisgarh since RTI got enforced is just around 50!). Furthermore, they have made it mandatory to cite reasons for filling applications, restricted the number of queries per applicant to one and also limited the word count to 150. The move has been taken after the Karnataka government took a similar step in 2008 with respect to number of queries and word count and the UP government hiked RTI application fees.

This fee hike would deprive people who seek information especially at a time when the Chhattisgarh government is undertaking face saving measures in the light of the paddy procurement scam. The Central government has given the power to revise fees. But as per sub-section (1) of section 6 and sub-sections (1) & (5) of section 7, “The fee shall be reasonable and no such fee shall be charged from persons who are of below poverty line as may be determined by the appropriate government.”


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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting

Chinese Fire vs Indian Thunder

Considering how they made The Incumbents Bleed, both Micromax and G’Five have been Revelations in The Indian Mobile handset Industry. Now they are Increasingly getting in each Other’s Way

Ages ago, Charles Darwin coined the phrase “survival of the fittest”. His words make all the more sense in today’s era where change happens overnight. And verdicts are given on the victor and the vanquished in much lesser time. In fact, one can safely adapt Darwin’s theory and say that this is the era of survival of the “fittest and the swiftest”. The Indian handset industry, with estimated sales of around 10-12 million units every month, currently has its hands full with a number of players already in the race for a slice of the pie; of course, the larger, the better. But with that perspective, comes the fact that there are always newer players looking to get their foot inside the doorstep. This market, which earlier boasted of only a handful others, was redefined a few years back by a clutch of companies, which made the incumbents bleed, and profusely. Micromax and G’five are two brands, in particular, that emerged from the resultant hostilities to become prominent players in their own right. And while they both have benefitted from attacking the leaders, they are off late increasingly finding themselves in each other’s way. And given the fact that they perhaps are the most acerbic competitors in the market front, 4Ps B&M decided to cover them in this section of Marketers@War..

Micromax established a new business model in India by importing handsets – as there are no duties levied – and selling them in the Indian handset market. Most imports are occurring from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other east Asian countries. Off late, the Chinese players have also realised the potential and growth opportunities and entered directly. And Honk Kong based G’Five, irrespective of its lineage (how many of us associate Hong Kong with consumer electronics?), is playing on similar tunes.

Micromax and G’Five are competing in the Indian market on a common principle – offering exceptional value for money to their users and becoming the alternatives to the incumbent MNCs. However, they are not similar in their actual method of approach. Micromax, since its inception, has adopted an aggressive marketing campaign to promote its brand. It has leveraged both cricket and Bollywood (it roped in Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, a testimony to its ambitions) and indulged in a number of visibility campaigns. “Our target audience identifies itself with cricket, Bollywood and music. That is why we have been marketing our product around them,” points out Pratik Seal, Head Marketing, Micromax.

On the other hand, G’Five has remained a silent killer in the industry and hardly promoted its products or its brand at the national level. It therefore came as a shock when IDC reported that G’Five has emerged as the largest handset player in India after Nokia for the quarter ending September 2010. Nokia further slipped by around 5% to post a market share of 31.5% and G’Five took the second spot with 10.6%; beating Samsung at 8.2%.“Yes, I agree that G’Five as a brand was not visible in the Tier I cities and metros. But we have been doing enough branding and marketing campaigns in Tier II and III cities,” says Arshit Pathak, Managing Director, G’Five. In the initial stages, the company has been targeting Tier II and Tier III cities, and 80% of sales of G’Five handsets are coming from these cities. After having reached a formidable position, G’Five is now positioning itself in metros and Tier I cities. It is also looking forward to tie-ups with some of the large format retail outlets.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again.....
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS
Planman Technologies

An expression that changed India

Amidst all the tumultuous times that telecom saw in India, the Bharti Airtel brand has managed to stay on top. But things are getting even tougher...

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Chairman and Group CEO Bharti Enterprise Sunil Bharti Mittal’s entry into the telecom business was accidental. Mittal, an importer of portable electric generators, was overnight out of business in the early 1980s when the then government banned imports of generators in India. It was his sheer enterprising ability and sensing of opportunity in difficulty, which took him ahead. While roaming around in Taiwan, he happened to notice the popularity of push-button phones. At that time, Indian users were still struggling with rotary dials phones with no speed dials or a redial button. He sensed the opportunity and started promoting push button telephones, answering and fax machines under the Beetel brand. Mittal’s vision turned the Rs.20,000 investment, which he had borrowed from his father to start the manufacturing of bicycle crankshafts for local manufacturers, into a $ 8.3 billion company (as per Forbes India).

Mittal also learned that while your first venture is the closest to your heart, it is rarely your big bang. In 1995, Mittal entered into the telecom services space with Airtel, which ultimately became the big bang he was looking for. At that time, the cost of handsets was around Rs.45,000, equivalent to the price of a pre-owned Fiat; and call charges were as high as Rs.16 per minute. But Mittal was confident about the services as it had given Indians the “Power to keep in Touch” with their loved ones, friends and business associates 24X7. And that is the reason why Bharti Airtel launched its first positioning as ‘Power to keep in touch’. At that time the target audience of the services was the elite group of age 25 years and above. This positioning was retained for over five years.

In 1999, when the new National Telecom Policy (NTP) was announced, the rules of the game suddenly changed. The new policy replaced the license fee with a revenue sharing scheme and extended the period of license to 20 years from 10. The service provider passed the benefits to users, resulting in cheaper tariff rates and greater penetration into Tier I cities. Mobile tariffs had come down to Rs.4 per minute and handsets became available at around Rs.15,000. Handsets became slim and SMS was introduced as a service. Pre-paid services were born, helping users to keep a tab on the usage. Bharti then repositioned itself with the punch line – Touch Tomorrow – and also started targeting youths below 25 years with handsome purchasing power.

Come 2002 and Airtel roped in A. R. Rehman. It was the first and last brand that A. R. Rehman got associated with. At the same time, Airtel also repositioned itself on the emotional plank with ‘Live every moment’. Since then, Bharti’s branding exercise has retained an emotional appeal. “Over the years, the brand has evolved to reflect the changing environment and customer preferences. In 2002, we introduced the current identity of our brand and since then, the revenues of this brand have grown by nearly 50 times, with our customer base increasing by 80% year on year,” says Mohit Beotra, Head- Emerging Business, Bharti Airtel.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again.....
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS
Planman Technologies

Chinese Fire vs Indian Thunder

Considering how they made The Incumbents Bleed, both Micromax and G’Five have been Revelations in The Indian Mobile handset Industry. Now they are Increasingly getting in each Other’s Way

Ages ago, Charles Darwin coined the phrase “survival of the fittest”. His words make all the more sense in today’s era where change happens overnight. And verdicts are given on the victor and the vanquished in much lesser time. In fact, one can safely adapt Darwin’s theory and say that this is the era of survival of the “fittest and the swiftest”. The Indian handset industry, with estimated sales of around 10-12 million units every month, currently has its hands full with a number of players already in the race for a slice of the pie; of course, the larger, the better. But with that perspective, comes the fact that there are always newer players looking to get their foot inside the doorstep. This market, which earlier boasted of only a handful others, was redefined a few years back by a clutch of companies, which made the incumbents bleed, and profusely. Micromax and G’five are two brands, in particular, that emerged from the resultant hostilities to become prominent players in their own right. And while they both have benefitted from attacking the leaders, they are off late increasingly finding themselves in each other’s way. And given the fact that they perhaps are the most acerbic competitors in the market front, 4Ps B&M decided to cover them in this section of Marketers@War..

Micromax established a new business model in India by importing handsets – as there are no duties levied – and selling them in the Indian handset market. Most imports are occurring from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other east Asian countries. Off late, the Chinese players have also realised the potential and growth opportunities and entered directly. And Honk Kong based G’Five, irrespective of its lineage (how many of us associate Hong Kong with consumer electronics?), is playing on similar tunes.

Micromax and G’Five are competing in the Indian market on a common principle – offering exceptional value for money to their users and becoming the alternatives to the incumbent MNCs. However, they are not similar in their actual method of approach. Micromax, since its inception, has adopted an aggressive marketing campaign to promote its brand. It has leveraged both cricket and Bollywood (it roped in Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, a testimony to its ambitions) and indulged in a number of visibility campaigns. “Our target audience identifies itself with cricket, Bollywood and music. That is why we have been marketing our product around them,” points out Pratik Seal, Head Marketing, Micromax.

On the other hand, G’Five has remained a silent killer in the industry and hardly promoted its products or its brand at the national level. It therefore came as a shock when IDC reported that G’Five has emerged as the largest handset player in India after Nokia for the quarter ending September 2010. Nokia further slipped by around 5% to post a market share of 31.5% and G’Five took the second spot with 10.6%; beating Samsung at 8.2%.“Yes, I agree that G’Five as a brand was not visible in the Tier I cities and metros. But we have been doing enough branding and marketing campaigns in Tier II and III cities,” says Arshit Pathak, Managing Director, G’Five. In the initial stages, the company has been targeting Tier II and Tier III cities, and 80% of sales of G’Five handsets are coming from these cities. After having reached a formidable position, G’Five is now positioning itself in metros and Tier I cities. It is also looking forward to tie-ups with some of the large format retail outlets.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again.....
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS
Planman Technologies

Special Cell to probe blast outside Delhi HC

Delhi Police's elite anti-terror wing Special Cell will investigate the explosion outside the Delhi High Court on Wednesday.

A senior police official said the investigations of the "low intensity explosion" near a car outside the High Court has been transfered to Special Cell as they were better equipped and trained to investigate such cases.

The explosion also prompted Delhi Police to sound an alert in the city and strengthen security by deploying more personnel on streets and crowded places like markets and to intensify checking of vehicles.

The explosive kept in a white polythene bag near a lawyer's car parked at Gate No-7 on Service Road went off at around 1:25 pm, causing panic, and three minutes later, police received the call regarding the blast.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
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IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again....