Digest

July 2010 Page No. 1Business Digest

Vol. 17 Issue 7 Kochi July 2010 R.N.I. Registration No. 62545/94

Price Rs 10/-

Snap shotsSmart phonesexposing kids tosuicide, sex

KL/EKM/637/2009-’11Licence No. KL/CR/EKM/WPP-11/2009-’11

Licensed to Post Without Prepayment

Women have a finersense of touch

Read our online edition at www.businessdigestmagazine.org

>> Turn to page 7

Coconut DevelopmentBoard (CDB) is joining handswith the National AgriculturalCo-operative Marketing Fed-eration (NAFED) to market co-conut products across thecountry as well as globally. Dr.C.V. Ananda BoseIAS,Chairman of CDB andManaging Director, NAFEDtold Business Digest that theobjective of this tie-up is toavoid intermediaries to reducethe price spread and introducecoconut products in non-tradi-tional area also.

NAFED, which is strong inmarketing, plans to market co-conut oil,virgin coconut oil, ten-der coconut water, coconut milkand desiccated coconut pow-der under the NAFEd brandthrough co- branded retail out-

Dr. Ananda Bose envisagesrelief to coconut growersthrough CDB-NAFED tie-upThe joining hands of Coconut Board and NAFED will be rewarding for coconut- basedindustries and consumes as well as NAFED is strong in marketing and internationaltrade. NAFED is planning vigerous marketing of coconut products in North India. Forthis it will tie-up with retail chains in various states

Business News Service

lets and retail chains in differ-ent states. For this NAFED willtie-up with retail chains.’ SinceNAFED is involved in procure-ment, it can supply coconuts ataffordable prices under strictquality standards. It can act asa canalising agency for the ex-port of coconut productsasNAFED is a major exporter ofonion and soya been cake andimporter of pulses. Copra canbe marketed in North India asa dry fruit. We are thinking ofmaking tender coconut water apart of the mid-day mealscheme in some schools ofDelhi and to promote refriger-ated push carts to sell coco-nut water in metros. “DelhiCommomwealth Games alsowill provide an opportunity forus to promote the NAFED

Civil Service Institute Palahas an excellent track recordin the civil service coaching.Established in 1998 by

Civil Service Institute Pala:A prestigious institution

- Tom Kuriakose -

IDCHRD Trust, the institution issponsored, jointly, by Arch-Dio-cese of Changanacherry, theDiocese of Pala and

Kanjirappally . It is approved bythe government of India as aNational Institute for Pre - ex-

Dr. C.V. Ananda Bose

brand of coconut products.Tender coconut water, we ex-pect, will be well accepted dur-ing the Games”, says, AnandaBose.

As part of this new market-ing initiatives, Coconut Board

>> Turn to page 8

Women seem to be giftedwith a finer sense of touch,thanks to their slender, smallerfingers. ‘Neuroscientists havelong known that some peoplehave a better sense of touchthan others, but the reasons forthis difference have been mys-terious,’ said neuroscientistand study author DanielGoldreich of McMaster Univer-sity.’ Our discovery reveals thatone important factor in thesense of touch is finger size,’added Goldreich.

To learn why men andwomen have different fingersensitivity, the authors firstmeasured index fingertip sizeof 100 university students.Each student’s tactile acuitywas then tested by pressingprogressively narrower parallelgrooves against a stationaryfingertip — the tactile equiva-lent of the optometrist’s eyechart.T he authors found thatpeople with smaller fingerscould discern tighter grooves.’The difference between thesexes appears to be entirelydue to the relative size of theperson’s fingertips,’ said EthanLerner of Massachusetts Gen-eral Hospital, who is not withthe study group.’So, a man withfingertips that are smaller thana woman’s will be more sensi-tive to touch than the woman.’

Smart phones such asApple’s iPhone are allowingchildren to download violentand sexually explicit gamesthat have escaped governmentclassification.T he classificationloophole means schoolchildrengiven smart phones and simi-lar devicesby theirp a r e n t sare beingexposedto materialw h i c hwould berestrictedin other forms of media, suchas video game consoles,magazines and movies. Thematerial can be downloaded on

Brittlenails, dullhair or acrease inone of theearlobes -these aresome ofthe many

signs thrown up by your bodyto indicate something is amisswith your health, according toan American expert.

Dr. Holly Phillips said thesesigns could signify underlying

Dull hair is signsthat someting isamiss with yourhealth

>> Turn to page 11

Students from Civil Service Academy, Pala who have been successful in Civil Service Examinationswere felicitated at a function held at the Academy. K.M. Mani MLA, Prof. Isaac Thomas Principal,Dr. Joseph Vettickadan, Chief co-ordinator, among others, are seen with the achievers.

LEAD College of Manage-ment, the Institute located atDhoni, Palakkad provides postgraduate education for buddingmanagers, administering stateof art teaching tools and pro-cedures for the same purpose.The institute owned by PromptCharitable Trust incubates theentrants into excelling execu-tives with an edge in their atti-tude and professional outlook.The trust is run under the guid-ance of its chairman ThomasGeorge K., & Trustees, PratheeshV. and Zacharia George.

Fully residential, Life skilltraining, Flexi timing, Student

mentoring by specialists, Outbound training,Special focuson entrepreneurship, Practicalbusiness exposure, Englishspeaking campus, Coachingfor foreign languages, Corpo-rate Social Responsibilityprojects, Earn while you learnetc, are the special features ofLead.

Full-fledged campus satis-fying all AICTE norms, 24Hours Full-fledged Online Digi-tal Library, Library with morethan 6000 books accesible

Kerala will see a new star inmanagement educationLEAD College of Management in Dhoni, Palakkad, a businessschool with many special features opens for admissions

>> Turn to page 11>> Turn to page 9 Thomas George: Innovative Ideas



I remember having pur-chased in the year 1971 a smallone bedroom and kitchen flatof 410 sq.feet carpet area @ aprice of Rs. 40/- per Sq.ft. in theWestern Suburb of Mumbai.The cost of the grill provided inthe said flat was amounting toRs.276/-, when I got the pos-session of the flat in the year1974. Today, the cost of cart-age of the grill alone will exceedthis amount. And imagine theprice for providing that type ofa box grill can exceed Rs.25 to

30 thousand these days. Tomake a comparison, the priceof pure Gold per 10 grams thenwas about Rs.100/- to 120/-whereas its price today is a pro-hibitive Rs18,000/-.

A neighbour of mine retiredfrom the services of a reputedcompany in 1974 and collectedRs 65,000/- as his all-in-alldues including gratuity andprovident fund. Having had asound knowledge of the factthat investments then in realestates would give him appre-ciable returns, I advised himaccordingly. Briefly, that was toinvest in two flats in the build-ing complex where I too had a

Inflation in layman’slanguage

- N.P.G. Nair, Mumbai -

flat. He could have bought overthese two flats for an aggregateamount of Rs. 44,000/-. In onehe could have lived and theother he could have rented outfor Rs 500/-. Those where thetimes when clerical and upperdivision level employees inbanks and private companieswere earning Rs.400 toRs.600/- per month as salary. Itried to impress on him thatproperty prices will always ap-preciate and it was a sound anda right investment for him tomake. But the advice wasturned down and the personconcerned lost his entire sav-ings in grocery business, atrade in which he had noknowledge whatsoever.

Look at the present sce-nario. The on-going averageprice of a small one bedroomkitchen flat is about Rs.50 Lacsand my friend could havefetched a price of minimum ofRs.1 crore , for the two flats thathe could have possessed asper the advise given to him in1974. Likewise, he could haveearned a minimum of Rs.65-70lacs if he were to invest in goldthen.

People tend to invest theirentire life savings, from the pro-ceeds of gratuity, voluntarilyretirement benefit, PF andother dues, the way they fancyit. I have noticed people whocollected their final dues in theyear prior to 15 and 20 werehappy enough to invest it in thefixed deposit for 10 and moreyears for which they werehappy enough to get up to 11to 12% interest. Those were

the days the proceeds of Rs.18to 20 thousand per month wasquite enough for a middle classretired family man to lead acomfortable life.

As days pass by, the costof living is moving up at break-neck speed resulting from cur-rency inflation and other fac-tors. At the same time bank in-terest rates on deposits aregetting reduced incrementally,and at aster clip. Again the in-terest incomes attract tax popu-larly known as TDS. Naturally,middle class senior citizenswho generally live on interestearnings are in a tight spot.When compared to how theylived 15 to 20 years ago.

Getting back to the realestate scenario, our friend inquestion could also have hada flat of 550 sq.ft. into 2 in thosetimes i.e. in the year 1990/1995while the value of Rs.20 lacs

V.K. Saigal has joined inNorth Malabar Gramin Bank asChairman on 20-05-2010. Theposting is for a period of 2 yearsand 6 months.

Saigal is a post graduate inGeophysics from Cochin Uni-versity. He joined SyndicateBank as an Officer in 1977 andworked in various capacities atPort Blair, Kolkatta, Delhi,

Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbaiand Bangalore. In Kerala heworked as Branch Manager atPonkunnam, Alappuzha,Sreekaryam, Trivandrum-Fortbranches. He worked as ChiefManager at Asset RecoveryManagement Branch, Mumbaiand Regional Office Mumbaiand as Asst. General Managerin Ernakulam Regional Office.He was working as DeputyGeneral Manager of RecoveryDepartment at Corporate Of-fice of Syndicate Bank beforejoining NMGB.

His wife Lissiamma isworking in Southern Railway,Divisional Office, Thiruvanan-thapuram. Both the childrenSmitha and Sudha are Soft-ware Engineers working withCognisent Technology andInfosys respectively.

V.K. Saigal appointed asNorth Malabar GraminBank Chairman

N.P.G. Nair >> Turn to page 10


General Motors India hasregistered an impressivegrowth of 61% in sales in May2010, compared to the corre-sponding period last year. Itsold 8,225 units in May 2010against 5,109 units in May lastyear.

The May 2010 sales com-prise of 2,812 units of theChevrolet Spark, 2,296 units ofChevrolet Beat, 1,418 units ofthe Chevrolet Tavera, 854 unitsof the Cruze, 396 Units ofChevrolet Aveo, 312 units ofChevrolet Aveo U-VA, 84 unitsof the Chevrolet Captiva and 53units of Chevrolet Optra.

The increase in the saleswas primarily driven by the tre-mendous response to the ex-tremely popular and muchsought after Chevrolet Beat,Cruze and Spark. TheChevrolet Beat and Cruze havebecome the industry bench-marks in their respective seg-ments and a winner amongconsumers in India, with itsbest-in-class design, perfor-

GM’s May sales growby 61% at 8,225 unitsChevy Beat, Spark and Cruze continue toevoke overwhelming response

mance and other product at-tributes. Chevrolet Spark con-tinues to register impressivesales, clearly validating it as themost sought after mini car in itssegment in terms of styling,performance, fuel efficiency,value for money propositionand other product attributes.

Commenting on the perfor-mance, P. Balendran, VicePresident, GM India said, “Weare excited by the continuedoverwhelming response toChevrolet Beat, Cruze andSpark. Introduction of best-in-segment cars from the 300 se-ries, increase in customer out-reach through distribution net-work, our unique value propo-sition like Chevrolet CashlessOwnership offer and our prom-ise to deliver quality and per-formance are the factors thathave led to the impressivesales.”

GM India recentlylaunched the Chevrolet AveoCNG in Ahmedabad. Thislaunch is a testament to the im-

Tata Motors launched theTata Winger Platinum in Kerala,a new offering in the Wingerrange. The Tata Winger Plati-num is a luxurious seven

seated, designed to provide anenhanced on-road experiencewith a perfect blend of comfort

Tata Motors introduces TataWinger Platinum

and space. The Tata Winger Platinum

has been specially designed tofulfill the needs of passengerswho look for carriers but have

to depend on utility vehicles.The innovative design ofWinger Platinum ensures that

portance that GM India at-taches to green technology andenvironment friendly mobilitysolutions. This new offering isexpected to appeal to both in-dividuals and fleet customersdue to the lower operationalcost and expansion of the CNGstations footprint across thecountry.

Honda Motorcycle &Scooter India Pvt.Ltd (HMSI)launched its CB Unicorn Daz-zler Bike. Honda entered in theMotorcycle market in India in2004 with the introduction of

Unicorn (now CB Unicorn). CBUnicorn has been refreshedregularly to meet the diversifiedneeds of customers. With oneof the most refined engine inthe segment, CB Unicorn hascreated a very premium image

Honda CB Unicorn Dazzler launchedamong the mature male cus-tomers.

Living up to the style aspi-ration of Indian two-wheeler

customers, the CB UnicornDazzler offers aggressive styl-ing, advanced equipments,blistering performance, impres-sive milege of 60 kmpl*, com-fort and convenience.

The bike has aggressive

for a similar vehicle size, it pro-vides much more space in thepassenger seating area.The seven individual recliningcaptain seats provide privatespace for each passenger.

The Tata Winger Platinumcomes in two colour options,such as Pearl White and CycusGrey. It is backed with a 1.5lakh km/ 18-month warranty. Itwould be available at a priceof Rs.6.94 lakhs (ex-show-room, Cochin)

The Tata Winger Platinumlaunched at a function heldat Hotel Le-Meridian, Kochi.Samit Langer, R.Shanker,R.Pisharady, Sanjay Misra,Debasis Ray (all are from TataMotors) were present at thelaunch event.

Aegon Religare Life Insur-ance is targeting an increasein topline to a total receivedpremium of Rs 500 crore dur-ing the current fiscal as com-pared to a total received pre-mium of Rs 166 crore achievedin 2009 -10. YateeshSrivastava, Chief Marketing of-ficer, Aegon Religare Life Insur-ance and K.S. Gopalakrishnan,Chief Financial Officer at apress conference in Kochi said

Aegon Religare Life Insurancetargets a premium of Rs. 500 crore

style with floating side cowl,aggressive front, screenlessfront cowl, 110/80 wider reartyre and half-chain case. Otherattractive features are two-toneseat, new design mirror, handlebar weights, 3D emplem, digi-tal meter and front & rear discbrake.

The CB Unicorn Dazzleravailable to the customers bythe end of May, 2010. The bikewill be available in four attrac-tive colours - Armour Gold Me-tallic, Pearl Nightstar Black,Sword Silver Metallic and PearlSiena Red. The price in exshowroom Kochi is Rs.65,395.

Komatsu (Advisor HMSI),Watarai (Advisor HMSI), P.RajaGopi (Regional Manager -South), Vivek (Zonal Manager-Kerala) were present at thelaunch event.

INVESTMENT

that to achieve this target, thecompany will add morebranches to its existing branchnetwork, spread across thecountry. These branches will bestaffed with a well-trained salesforce to provide better adviceto customers and to this endthe company plans to increasethe life advisor base to 20,000and hire over 800 relationshipmanagers in this fiscal year. Inaddition, the company will also

focus on increasing third partydistribution through fruitful busi-ness alliances.

In Kerala 2 more brancheswill be added in Kozhikode andKottayam during the fiscal in-creasing the number ofbranches in the stae to 5.

Ms. Suman Purohit, SeniorManager- Branding & Commu-nication, Eagon Religare LifeInsurance was also present atthe press conference.

Yateesh Srivastava, Chief Marketing Officer, Aegon Religare LifeInsurance and K.S. Gopalakrishnan, Chief Financial Officer at apress conference in Kochi.

Audi, the German luxurycar manufacturer, has contin-ued to post impressive salesfigures with a growth of 65 per-cent in India for May 2010.Audi India’s countrywidevehicle sales in May this yeargrew to 200 cars as comparedto 121 units sold in May2009.

The recently announced

Audi India records impressivegrowth

Limited Edition offer on the AudiQ7 4.2 TDI quattro - the latestand most powerful version ofthe largest selling luxury SUVin India has received an over-whelming response from cus-tomers.

The Audi model range inIndia includes the Audi A4, theAudi A6, the Audi A8, the AudiQ5, the Audi Q7, the Audi TT

and the super sports car AudiR8. The entire Audi modelrange is available across thecountry: in Gurgaon,Chandigarh, Delhi, Pune,Ahmedabad, Bangalore,Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata,Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chennaiand Ludhiana. Further devel-opments include Lucknow,Coimbatore and Nagpur.

scheme seeks to generateregular income through a port-folio of predominantly highquality fixed income securitiesand capital appreciation with amarginal exposure to equity

and equity related instruments.The issue price for the

scheme is Rs 10 each for cashduring the NFO and applicable

NAV thereafter on an ongoingbasis. No entry and exit loadwill be charged. However, anexit load of 1% would be appli-cable, if redeemed before oneyear. Retail investors can startinvestment with as little asRs.1,000/- in multiples of Re.1/-thereafter during the NFO andon an ongoing basis. MinimumAdditional Purchase amountwould be Rs.100/- and in mul-tiples of Re.1/- thereafter on anongoing basis liquidity.

Speaking on the launch,Akshay Gupta, CEO, PeerlessMutual Fund said that Peer-less group has a captive baseof 8 million customers predomi-nantly in tier 2 and tier 3 towns.It has also serviced 5 crore cus-tomers thus far. These custom-ers are untapped for such prod-ucts and have immense loyal-ties for the trusted Peerlessbrand.

Peerless Mutual Fundlaunches Income Plus Fund

Peerless Funds Manage-ment Co. Ltd, sponsored byThe Peerless General FinanceIndia Co Ltd has an launchedtheir Income Plus fund. TheNew Fund offer commenced on9th June 2010 and closes on 8th

July 2010. Income Plus Fundis an open ended debtschemes investing in Minimum80% and Maximum of 98% inDebt & Money Market Instru-ments and Minimum 2% andMaximum of 20% in Equity andEquity related instruments. The

Cochin Stock Exchange conducts InvestorAwareness Programme on Derivatives

Cochin Stock ExchangeLtd. (CoSE) is conducting aseries of seminars on deriva-tives. Those who benefitedfrom these seminars are inves-tors, traders,sub-brokers, em-ployees of brokers & sub-bro-

kers, research students, man-agement students & faculties.

Limited Seats are avail-able. Advance registration pref-erable. Venue- CSE Institute ofCapital Market, Friday ClubBuilding, behind Cochin Stock

Exchange Ltd., Judges Av-enue, Kaloor, Kochi - 682017.Registration request can besent by email or visiting theExchange.Contact Phone [email protected]


EDUCATION

SB Global Career Enrich-ment Centre organised a one-day workshop for women en-trepreneurs at NSS College ofCommerce and ManagementStudies Chalappuram,Kozhikode.

The workshop was inaugu-

SB Global conducts Workshopfor Women Entrepreneurs

- Business News Service, Kozhikode -

rated by Dr. Jameela, Principal,Coaching Centre for MuslimYouth Puthiyara. R.Balachandran, CMD of SB Glo-bal Pvt. Ltd. presided over thefunction. Sr. Jancy George,V.U. Erady, P. Sreeja, Dr. K.S.Jayasree, P.K. Krishnan Unni,

Prof. D.D. Namboodiri, M.Sreeram, K.N. Sivasanu andSr. Catherine Chacko spoke.A book published byJanavartha publications re-leased on the occasion. Prof.Padmanabhan proposed avote of thanks.

In order to establish mu-tual ties with Universities ofEurope’s prominent country-Finland, house of great cor-porate names like Nokia,Kuoni , Lovely ProfessionalUniversity had invited thedelegates from three differ-ent Universities of Finland .To begin with senior repre-sentatives from three Gov-ernment Finnish UniversitiesVisited L P U to make Indianstudents / teachers pavetheir way through thecollaborative and multilateralexchange programmes toFinland. They purposefullymet the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and ExecutiveDean of LPU in thisregard.

Dean Elina Martin &Rector Elisabeth Malka fromVaasa University Of Applied

Lovely Professional University totie-up with European universities

Sciences; Director HarriMikkonen & Programme Direc-tor Kaija Saramaki from NorthKarelia University of AppliedSciences and, Vice- RectorMervi Vidgren & MaijaSuhonen from Savonia Univer-sity of Applied Sciences ex-plained the main areas of spe-cializations of their related uni-versities like Engineering andEnergy Industry, InternationalBusiness & Business Studies.During the discussions the uni-versities of both the sidesagreed for the collaboration ofstudents/faculty exchangeprogrammes.

One of the visiting repre-sentatives, Ms ElisabethMalka, freely said: “Inter-na-tionalization of higher educa-tion has always been one of thekey development areas in Finn-ish education policy. The objec-

tive defined by the Ministryof Education of Finland to beable to send students abroadon an exchange, has be-come necessary for Finnishinstitutions of higher educa-tion to intensify their effortsto internationalize their cam-puses.”

On this occasion, theChancellor of LPU, AshokMittal, said: “It is better to un-derstand the timely impor-tance of the trans-national-ization of education. In thepresent scenario of continu-ously increasing intelligencequotient, especially, of pro-fessional students; the keyissue for us is to produce in-ternationally relevant humanresource. This is only pos-sible if the Indian counter-parts work with foreign coun-terparts jointly.”

NIIT Technologies partners withHitachi Information Systems

PEACE (Programme onEducation and Career En-hancement) Kerala Chapterand MSM Kozhikode districtcommittee jointly conductedtwo-day seminar and educa-tional exhibition on Higher Edu-cation ,’Care Era’ at JubileeHall, Kozhikode.

The seminar and exhibitionwas inaugurated by V.S.Ramachandran, the director ofCalicut regional science centre.PEACE chairman Dr. V.Kunhali presided over the inau-gural session. ShukkoorKonickal, Syed Muhammed,C.M. Subair Madani, FaisalNanmanda, Faisal Palathu, K.

Career Seminar conductedHarshidu, Anasu Kadalundi,Shahid Nallalam, LabeedAreekkode, MajeedMoothedam and Muhsinspoke. Medical College super-intendent Dr. T.P. Ashraf, KAMAnwar, Hamsa Ansari, Adv. A.Dinesh presented papers ondifferent subjects.

As an organisation for ca-reer enhancement PEACE al-ready made its mark. Counsel-ling, training for resource per-sons, employment guidance,talent tests, personality devel-opment are conducting byPEACE. This was the 3rd ca-reer seminar and exhibitionconducted by PEACE for the

students who completedSSLC, Plus-two and Degreecourses. Interaction, counsel-ing, information about coursesavailable in and around thestate, aptitute test, moral gath-ering and exhibiting stalls ofvarious academic institutionswere the activities.

Reputed Technical Institu-tions, Medical Campuses, Dis-tant Learning Centres, HotelManagement Institutes andTeaching Centres were the keyparticipants in the programme.Hundreds of students suc-ceeded in securing their careerpaths through first two CareEra programmes.

NIIT Technologies Limited,a leading global IT solutionsorganisation announced itspartnership with Hitachi Infor-mation Systems, a leading pro-vider of IT infrastructure ser-vices in Japan, to offer servicesin Cloud Computing.

Cloud Computing is anemerging megatrend which isstandardized IT capability de-livered via the Internet in a pay-

per-use and self-service man-ner. NIIT Technologies pursu-ing its non-linear servicesmodel of business is an earlyentrant in this space. Throughthis partnership NIIT Technolo-gies and Hitachi InformationSystems will provide un-matched value based on thestrengths of both companies.

“Hitachi with its reliable andscalable infrastructure would

own the Cloud, while NIITTechnologies will harness itscompetencies and world classprocess capability in RemoteInfrastructure ManagedServices to operate the Cloud”said Arvind Thakur, CEO, NIITTechnologies Ltd. “Togetherour customers will experiencethe highest quality ofreliability, security and service”he added.

HEALTH

Dengue is a highly infec-tious disease which will betransmitted from a patient to ahealthy person through in-fected mosquito. Some placesit spreads as an epidemic dis-ease. It is also known as breakbone fever. In our country ear-lier this disease was foundonly in north India, especiallyin Delhi. Since last few yearsit spread to south India includ-ing in many parts of Kerala.Two years back a lot of peoplewere affected by this infection.Even now at the onset of mon-soon different parts of Kerala,cases of dengue are reported

Cause of the diseaseThe disease dengue is

Dengue : Prevent mosquito bites

A Physically ActiveLifestyle is very important forGood Health.

At least 30 Minutes of

Moderate to Vigorous Physi-cal Activity is very essentialfor a healthy living.

Walking briskly, swim-

ming, gardening, dancing andeven doing house work aregood.

The more you do the bet-

ter. The picture shows some

simple exercise which can bedone anytime by anyone.

For Your Good Health

Simple Exercise

So be Active and change

your lifestyle for good, for yourGood Health.

- Dr. SashikalaChandrasekar

([email protected])

caused by a particular type ofvirus. The species name ofdengue virus is known as “Arbovirus” which is an ultramicro-scopic micro-organism. TheArbro virus transmits from sickperson to a healthy personthrough a carrier. Usually a par-

ticular species of mosquitoknown as “Aedes Egypti”serves as the carrier of thisgerm. Arbro virus can surviveonly in the body of this mos-quito. When this mosquito bitesa sick person, along with hisblood the germs of dengue en-ter into its body. Once this in-fected mosquito bites a healthyperson the germs of dengueenter into his body and he getsinfected

Incubation periodAt the time of entry of the

“Arbro virus” into the body of ahealthy person no signs andsymptoms are found. Usuallyit will take five to ten days for

Mrs. Sivapriya, Corporate Trainer, SB Global Career Enrichment Centre speaking at the workshop forwomen entrepreneurs held at Kozhikode. R. Balachandran, CMD, SB Global Pvt. Ltd. is also seen.

Calicut Regional Science Centre Director, V.S. Ramachandran inaugurating ‘Care Era’, the careerenhancement seminar and exhibition at Kozhikode Jubilee Hall.

Dr. K.O. Antony Kannankeril

>> Turn to page 11


IT & TELECOM

The figures are stagger-ing. It may look like a strokeof genius by the government,and may be poised to wipeout a tenth of our fiscal defi-cit, but that is a short-sightedview. Operators are going tobe hard pressed to recoverthe money, while keepingvoice and data services af-fordable.

Affordable mobile dataservices and high quality mo-bile voice would have givena big boost to industry and theeconomy, employment, taxcollections. The finance min-istry has taken the easier wayout—taking all the moneyupfront. This is not unlikewhat hotels in India did byoverpricing phone calls (andlater wi-fi), forcing customersto use alternatives. A simpler

Spectrum Auction: Milestone orMillstone?

by Prasanto K Roy

parable is of the goose that laidthe golden eggs.

I am not suggesting thatthe operators will collapse anddie under the strain: they areinnovative, and will find waysto thrive just as they managedto remain profitable in theworld’s lowest ARPU regimewhile facing unique cost pres-sures like diesel genset backupfor thousands of mobile towers.But it will not be easy. Otherthan the nearly Rs. 70,000crore spectrum license fees,the leading telcos have to worryabout the premium they willnow pay for the 2G spectrumthey own in excess of 6.25MHz. The pressure to recoverthe investment will be veryhigh. If it could be recoveredfrom the entire mobile base, itwould be easier, but nine-

tenths of that base is low-ARPU prepaid customers.Taking the postpaid base, thetelcos have to somehow re-cover over Rs 10,000 percustomer for just the licensefees.

What we would see,therefore, is high initial pric-ing of 3G data services. Thatwould be India’s second 3Gmarket fiasco, the first beingwhen the BSNL-MTNL duowere allowed to launch 3Gservices a year ahead of therest, and failed to get anytraction. I sincerely hope thisdoes not happen, and that theoperators are able to comeup with innovative ways tolaunch affordable data ser-vices—and raise the qualityof voice service, while keep-ing it affordable.

The Indian telecom equip-ment segment maintained itsgrowth momentum clocking agrowth of 18.6% in the finan-cial year 2009-10 marginallylower than the the 20% growthin the previous year, accordingto Voice & Data100 survey

The overall telecom equip-ment revenue stood at Rs136,833 crore (USD $28.8 bil-lion) during the fiscal, asagainst Rs 115,382 crore in2008-09, This segment islargely dominated by telecomequipment providers targetingtelecom operators as well asmobile handset makers likeNokia that derives bulk of itssales from this segment.

The Voice&Data100 an-nual survey by Asia’s largestspecialty publishing houseCyberMedia, on telecom equip-ment is based on the revenueof telecom vendors in the en-terprise equipment, carrierequipment and phone seg-ments. “The telecom equip-ment segment growth is im-pressive in the backdrop of therecession-hit economy at large,and the fact that the 3G rolloutdid not happen last year,” saidIbrahim Ahmad, group editor,Voice & Data).

Telecom equipment sales inIndia grow 18.6% in 2009-10

- Sanjiv Kataria-

The telecom segment willcontinue to see robust growthin the current fiscal in the wakeof upcoming 3G and Broad-band Wirelss Access (BWA)launches and 2G expansion bynew operators.

Nokia, Huawei, Nokia Si-emens networks top the rev-enue chart

Finnish mobile makerNokia maintained its top rank-ing with revenues of Rs 14,100crore despite a decline in rev-enues as compared to lastyear, followed by the Chineseequipment maker Huawei.H.Huawei clocked revenues ofRs 11,000 crore, despite India’ssecurity concerns about China-sourced telecom equipment.Nokia Siemens Networksmaintained its third position atRs 10,824 crore, growingnearly 10%. Ericsson, whichhad been in a comfortable sec-ond position for the last twoyears, fell to the fourth place.

ITI and Tech Mahindrawere the new entrants in theV&D Top10 list of telecomequipment vendors in FY 2009-10. ITI entered the top 10 rank-ing with its spectacular 172%growth, touching Rs 4,732crore.

Carrier Equipment IndustryThe carrier equipment in-

dustry showed a steady 21%growth, clocking Rs 89,476crore (nearly $19 billion), drivenby high growth of wireless in-frastructure, WiMax, transmis-sion and broadband infrastruc-ture. Even though growthslowed compared to 2008-09,due to lower operator invest-ments in the wireless infra-structure (primarily cellular ser-vice providers’ equipments forrolling out services), it was stillvery healthy. Service providersslowed down their 2G expan-sion plans, in the absence ofclarity on the 3G auctions,which finally happened in thecurrent fiscal.

Even before the auction ofBWA spectrum was initiated forprivate players, the countrysaw investments in WiMax byplayers like BSNL and TataCommunications. Despite thecautious approach by 2G op-erators, wireless infrastructuregrew 26% to touch Rs 43,200crore. The Enterprise equip-ment segment grew by 31% totouch Rs 20,007 crore. TheSwitch and Router segmentsshowed 92% and 65% growth,respectively.

This Holiday season,Vodafone post paid customerstraveling to international desti-nations can enjoy data servicesat most affordable ratesthrough Vodafone Daily andMonthly Data Usage Pack-ages. Through these Daily andMonthly Data Packs customerscan pay a nominal daily rentaland save up to 77% on theirdata usage while on interna-tional roaming.

The Daily Data UsagePackages, priced between Rs299 to Rs 1299, provide cus-tomers up to 10 MB data us-age and thereafter, customers

Vodafone customers can save up to77% through data usage packages

can enjoy discounted rates andsave up to 27% on subsequentdata usage. Additionally, theMonthly Data Usage Pack-ages, priced between Rs 1999to Rs 3999, provide customersup to 30 MB data usage andthereafter, customers can saveup to 30% on subsequent datausage.

Commenting on thelaunch, K Sundararaman,Business Head, VodafoneEssar Kerala, said, “It is anexciting offer that will best ca-ter to the needs of our post paidcustomers. These data packswill provide them with seam-

less connectivity at extremelyaffordable rates while on inter-national roaming.”

These Daily and MonthlyData Usage Packages areavailable for Vodafone custom-ers using the data servicesthrough Vodafone Mobile Con-nect or iPhone Access PointNames (APN) on Select Part-ner Networks and Blackberryon All Partner Networks whereVodafone has a Data Roamingtie-up. Customers need toSMS ACT <Package> to 111 inorder to avail the benefits onthe Daily and Monthly DataPacks.

Microchip Technology Inc.,a leading provider ofmicrocontroller, analog andFlash-IP solutions, has an-nounced from the EmbeddedSystems Conference in Chi-cago its next-generation,agency-certified MRF 24WB0MA/MB embedded Wi-Fitransceiver modules. The IEEE802.11 module firmware has aneasy-to-use API driver interface

Microchip announces certified embeddedWi-Fi transceiver modules

to Microchip’s free TCP/IP Pro-tocol stack and 8-, 16- or 32-bit PIC® microcontrollers.

Embedded designers areincreasingly leveraging theubiquitous Wi-Fi infrastructureto enable wireless communica-tion in a broad range of remotemonitoring and control, andmachine-to-machine applica-tions, such as smart-energymonitors. Microchip’s low-

power MRF24WB0MA/MB em-bedded Wi-Fi modules enablethe “Internet of Things” by re-moving the complexity and costof developing RF circuitry andobtaining agency certification.Additionally, Microchip has im-proved its free TCP /IP stack,and offers free EZconfig andZeroConfig utility protocols, tomake commissioning and con-figuring Wi-Fi networks easy.

Idea subscriber, Ms.Shalini M. from Kannur saw herdream come true as she droveaway in a swank new Car,when she was announced thewinner of Idea Lucky RechargeContest in Kerala. IDEA Cellu-lar, the pan-India mobile opera-tor and the leader in Kerala hadlaunched the Lucky RechargeContest for its prepaid custom-ers in the state, giving them achance to win exciting prizessuch as Car & Bikes, besidesother assured offers for everycustomer who rechargedthrough the portal.

Ms. Shalini M. from KannurDistrict was announced thebumper prize winner and waspresented the Car key by B.

Idea subscriber from Kannur winscar in Lucky Recharge Contest

Ramakrishna, Chief OperatingOfficer - Kerala, IDEA Cellular.Idea subscribers from acrossthe state won Bikes on aweekly basis. Hundreds ofother Idea subscribers wonmany assured prizes in addi-tion to receiving the best tariffoffer by doing the Lucky Re-charge, earlier.

An enthralled and excitedMs. Shalini M. said, “I am grate-ful to Idea for giving me thiswonderful opportunity to seemy dream come true. With thiswinning experience, I can nowsay with belief that ‘An Idea canchange your life!’”

Announcing the winner, B.Ramakrishna, Chief OperatingOfficer - Kerala, IDEA Cellular,

said, “In a highly competitiveenvironment like telecom, weneed to constantly innovateand offer something new anddifferent to reward our custom-ers for having faith in our mo-bile communication services.We believe in continuous inno-vation and work towards bring-ing great ideas to reality. Welaunched the Idea Lucky Re-charge Contest, which not onlydrove revenue but also helpedus connect better with our sub-scribers in Kerala.”

The Idea Lucky RechargeOffer started in March 2010and continued for two months.Winners were selected througha validated process.

ON Semiconductor Corpo-ration, a premier supplier ofhigh performance, energy effi-cient silicon solutions for greenelectronics, announced it hasacquired privately held SoundDesign Technologies, Ltd.(SDT) from an affiliate of Glo-bal Equity Capital, LLC, in an

ON Semiconductor acquires Sound DesignTechnologies, Ltd.

all cash transaction for initialconsideration of approximately$22 million.

Under the terms of the ac-quisition, the seller will alsohave the ability to receive ad-ditional earn-out proceeds ofup to $10 million if, amongother things, SDT is able to

meet certain revenue thresh-olds in 2010, 2011 and 2012.The initial consideration valuerepresents approximately onetimes SDT’s first quarter 2010annualized sales levels. SDTwill now become an integratedpart of ON Semiconductor’sMedical Division.

B. Ramakrishna, Chief Operating Officer-Kerala, IDEA Cellular presenting key of Chevrolet Spark toMs. Shalini.


COMMENT

The Mangalore air crashthat killed 160 people hasraised concerns about airsafety in the country. Ratherthan the journey itself, it’s thelanding and takeoff that aremore dangerous on Indianairports.After Mangalore crash,there have been a series ofnear misses happening- a tyreburst in Delhi, a go around atPatna airstrip and sudden de-scent over Muscat while thepilot took a toilet break. In 2006International Civil Aviation or-ganization rated India poorly inits safety audit. In our countrylittle attention was paid tosafety surveillance; we didn’teven fill up the essential safetyposts.

There have been severalreports of pilots who werecaught, reeking of alcohol. CivilAviation Minister Praful Patelsaid in Rajya Sabha that “39cases have been reported tothe Directorate General of CivilAviation (DGCA) from January2009 to December 2009,where pilots or co pilots were

Is air travel safe in India?Business News Service

found to have consumed alco-hol during pre-flight breath-analyzer test.”In 2009, onlyeight of the 42 pilots who werecaught in a tipsy state whilereporting to duty last year wereterminated from service, whilethe rest were either groundedor suspended for brief periods.Delhi accounted for half thecases of drunkenness amongpilots detected last year; 21cases were detected at NewDelhi airport. Another 11 werefound under the influence ofalcohol at Mumbai airport. De-spite various fleet upgradeprogrammes, several oldaircrafts are still flying in Indianskies – some well over 20years old. When an Indian Air-lines Boeing crashed at Patnaon 17th July 2000, there was ahuge uproar demanding imme-diate grounding of the ‘FlyingCoffins’ – as the ageing B737swere described by the pilots,who were wary of using an air-craft that was over 20 years old.Ultimately, the probe into thecrash identified ‘pilot error’ as

the primary cause behind thecrash. But that does not makethe old and outdated aircraftsany less dangerous for civiliansto travel in. Lack of funds hashampered the modernisationof airports around the country.Our Government needs to takeextra care of airports as betterinfrastructure will reducechances of mishaps .In the pastwe have seen many aircrashes that happened due tomiscommunication betweenthe pilot and the ground staff.

After every accident, aprobe is set up into the incidentthat takes forever to solve. Andit’s usually reactive, never pre-empted or proactive. How longbefore action is taken to avertfurther air mishaps such asthese?

But some say that safetyconcerns in India are over-played. Their question iswhether air travel in Indiaworse than rail or road trans-port in terms of accidents?. Alot of people are dying everyday in road- rail accidents.

The Tata Group oftenboasts of ‘Tata values’. In the2G spectrum controversy aswell Tata Group has justifiedcorporate lobbyist Ms. NiraRadia, who was caught in acontroversy over her allegedrole in 2G spectrum alloca-tion. The opposition was de-manding telecom minister A.Raja’s resignation over the issue.

Justifying Ms. Nira Radia,Chairperson of VaishnaviCorporate Communications,a Tata Group spokespersonsays, ‘Vaishnavi’s interac-tions with the government on

'The Tata values'behalf of the Tata Group, havein keeping with Tata values,never involved payouts orseeking undue favours.’

Raja has been facing alle-gations of distributing newtelecom licenses and spectrumat throwaway prices and caus-ing huge losses to the exche-quer. Nine new licenses wereissued in January 2008 atRs.1,658 crore, while the re-cent 3G spectrum fetchedRs.67,700 crore.

6-7 years back there wasan allegation against R.K.Krishnakumar of Tata Group

and his associates that theyhave bribed extremists inAssam, where Tata Groupowns vast tea estate, to avoidattack from them.

In Kerala as well Tatafailed to convince the publicregarding the Munnar contro-versy. Although the allegationof various groups, some ofthem having vested interests,against Tata Tea may not betrue, the persons who repre-sent the Tata in Kerala lackcredibility and they failed todefend the group successfullyin the state.

Lalit Modi, the suspendedcommissioner of Indian Pre-mier League (IPL) was, actu-ally, a prey to the high-levelconspiracy involving top politi-cians and BCCI bigwigs.

Modi, who was instrumen-tal in putting the IPL on the topof the world cricket, over nightbecame a villain after hetweeted against then Ministerof State for Foreign Affairs,Shashi Tharoor in connectionwith the Kochi IPL team con-troversy. To ShashankManohar, President, Board ofControl of Cricket in India, theaction of Modi revealing theshareholding pattern of KochiIPL team was a big sin. Tharoor

had to resign from the ministryfor his involvement in the wholeaffair. What happened, subse-quently, was the congress lead-ership gave an ultimatum tothe cricket bigwigs to removeModi as well. The media attackagainst Modi followed. Al-though BCCI owns, benefitsfrom and supports IPL, thecricket body was absolved fromall charges and Modi becamethe lone accused. As BCCISecretary, Sreenivasan him-self, owns an IPL team Modiwas accused of planting hisrelatives in various IPL teams.

After all the IPL controver-sies the BCCI failed to field abetter team in 20-20 World

Cup. Again mismanaged thingssending a weak team to Zim-babwe for the 3-nation tourna-ment. Now the BCCI is boycott-ing the Asiad. Cricket is in-cluded in Asiad for the first timeand they are not keen in repre-senting the country in China.The allegation against BCCIwas that they are not interestedin Asiad as it will not fetchmoney to them.

Here what has been hap-pening in Kerala cricket? Whilea stadium is there owned byGCDA, Cricket Association isconstructing another stadium inKochi. Corruption chargesagainst the Association may bestill fresh in minds of the people.

Who is to be blamed? Lalit Modior BCCI?


The verdict of Chief Judi-cial Magistrate’s Court ofBhopal on Union Carbide andits officials over the death ofmore than 25,000 and toxicexposure to over half a mil-lion people may not have aparallel in the world. This kindof things will happen only inIndia. The verdict, coming af-ter 26 years since the world’sworst industrial disaster saw8 former top managers of

Bhopal: Worst case of denial ofjustice


Union Carbide India getting‘maximum punishment’ of 2years imprisonment. The big-gest joke was that the judge-ment kept silent on WarrenAnderson, the then Chairman& Managing Director of UnionCarbide Corporation, who wasdeclared an absconder after hedidn’t subject himself to trial inthe case.

It was clear that politicalinterference and judicial delays

betrayed the Bhopal gas trag-edy victims.

Alongwith judicial delay, itwas the Supreme Court thatdiluted the charges againstthe accused. The trial court in1993 charged 8 Indian offi-cials under provisions dealingwith culpable homicide notamounting to murder. The of-fence carried a maximumpunishment of 10 years in jail.

FIFA World Cup and Indian FootballBusiness News Service

World’s most watchedsports event, FIFA World Cupmatches are progressing inSouth Africa. Whatever may bethe ranking of India in WorldFootball, India has been cel-ebrating the World Cup in style.

Earlier the football fever wereconfined to West Bengal,Kerala and Goa. Now thingshave changed - football’s popu-larity is rushing northward.

If the football associa-tions and the govern-ments could have shownat least one percent of thesincerity and spirit thecommon men have, to-wards this game, Indiacould have played in theWorld Cup long ago. Theassociation ‘proprietors’were engaged in spoiling foot-ball; they are interested only inensuring their position till death.

FIFA World Cup is an eventthat attracts the attention of glo-bal advertisers. Estimates indi-cate that global ad spends forthe World Cup 2010 will toucha figure of Rs. 6000 crore. Butin India football plays secondfiddle to cricket. Vested inter-ests, with the help of top ad-vertising agencies were busy toboost cricket. Their justificationwas that unlike cricket whichhas grown exceedingly market-ing friendly, football is a shortformat sport with fewer in-game

breaks. It may be true. But glo-bal companies were preferingFIFA World Cup for advertising.This time Coca-Cola has a fullyintegrated marketing campaignrunning across 150 countries.In India as well FIFA World Cup

advertising is pick-ing up with the av-erage spot rate in-creasing by morethan 250% com-pared to 2006 edi-tion. The rate to becharged for 10seconds would beRs.2 lakhs.ESPN-Star Sports

has signed on brands likeVodafone and Airtel DTH asjoint presenting broadcastsponsores almost a year ago,

with Samsung, Nokia and HeroHonda as associate sponsors.Parle Agro is also spendinghuge money forFIFA World Cupadvertising.

Coming to theaction in South Af-rica, most of thefootball lovers andcommendatorsare predicting Ar-gentina as thewinners of 19thWorld Cup. They believeArgentina’s ManagerMaradona and Star playerLionel Messi can win it. But pre-

dictions may not come true. Inthe last World Cup everyonesaw champions in Brazil. ButRonaldinho failed to deliver.The underdogs Italy won thecup. Along with Argentina foot-ball watchers see the possiblewinners in Brazil, Spain andEngland. Spain, undoubtedly,is the best team this time. Butthey were found unlucky sev-eral occasions in the past. Al-though a team from Europe,Spain was playing beautiful at-tacking game like the LatinAmericans. Holland, anotherEuropean nation is also goodball players; but they alsoproved unlucky in the past.They failed to win the cup evenat the time of great Yohan Kraif.European teams - Italy, France

and Germany can winany match with the helpof their European defen-sive style play. AlthoughAfrican nations like hostSouth Africa, Nigeriaand Ghana are in a po-sition to be giant killers,they are not expected towin the cup. Asianpower house South Ko-

rea may not repeat their 2002feat. In 2002 they reached uptosemifinals. But by beating

Greece by 2-0 in their openinggame Korea wanted to signalthat they are a force to reckonwith.

From page 1

medical problems that needattention.She said it’s “incred-ibly important” to carefullycheck your body for such indi-cators and recognize subtlechanges.Phillips advises

people to check their bodyhead-to-to for any tell-talesigns.

Eyebrows: If you noticeyou’re losing the hairs on theouter corners or they appear to

be shortening, that could be asign of low thyroid hormone.Eyelids: Tiny yellow bumps inthe inner-corner of the eyecould actually be fatty depos-its-an important sign of highcholesterol.

>> Turn to page 13

- A.M. -


Redefining television view-ing , Dishtv, India’s largest Di-rect-to- home company, hasannounced the launch of HighDefinition (HD) Service - DishTru HD on its platform. This of-fers the best high definitionaudio video experience to itsviewers and takes televisionviewing to an entirely new para-digm.

Krishnakumar, Dy. VicePresident, Dishtv in a pressconference in Kochi said thatthe Dish Tru HD creates an

Dishtv launches Tru HighDefinition Service

audio visual sensory experi-ence that is far richer, deeperand more panoramic than stan-dard definition viewing. Itcomes with the latest MPEG4DVBS2 technology, which pro-vides the best of digital enter-tainment in HD quality. DishtvHD brings exceptionally clear,crisp pictures with vivid colors,upto five times more picture de-tail and upto 3 times enhancedsound quality, than standarddefinition.

At the commencement ofits HD service, Dishtv has anexclusive tie-up with Zee En-tertainment Enterprises Ltd. tooffer its flagship channel ZeeTV and the most popular Hindi

Movie Channel Zee Cinema onits HD platform.

In another first, Dishtv willoffer football aficionados thehighly anticipated FIFA WorldCup 2010 on High Definition,which offers viewers a near-stadium experience with 1080iresolution.

The channels which DishTru HD offering includes ZeeTV HD, Zee Cinema HD, Dis-covery World HD, NationalGeographic HD and FIFAWorld Cup broadcasted byESPN on HD.

P.B. Radhakrishnan, Re-gional Manager, Dishtv wasalso present at the press con-ference.

Akzo Nobel’s DuluxWeatherShield SunReflect is aunique product which has beenformulated to combat the In-dian climatic conditions. Regu-lar Emulsions absorb the heatcausing infra red rays of thesun, causing the inside of thehouse to heat up. DuluxWeatherShield on the otherhand, created usingSunReflect technology hashigher Solar Reflective Index(SRI)-the ability to reflect theheat causing IR rays. Becauseof this technology, Weather

Akzo Nobel India Pvt Ltd launchestwo new innovative products

Shield can reflect IR rays byupto 90% higher* as comparedto regular exterior paints. DuluxWeatherShield has been certi-fied by the Centre For EnergyStudies and Research (CESR),as being a paint which reducestemperatures of walls by uptofive degrees. Not only that, thecooling effect that Dulux cre-ates on the walls turns out tobe an energy saver if the paintis used as per prescribed sys-tems.

The Dulux WeatherShieldRange is one of the strongest

players in the exterior paintsmarket in India. It is a completepackage of protection for exte-rior walls. The WeatherShieldSunReflect is equipped with aunique Colour Lock Technol-ogy which makes colour last fora longer period of time.Weather Shield is a superiorexterior paint that prevents thegrowth of fungus and algae, is100% waterproof and has afive year weather protection. Italso has the lowest VOCamong all the existing paints inthe market.

LAVA International has un-veiled its new handset A9,loaded with advanced multime-dia features and latest tech-nologies. LAVA has entered thearena of mobile phones withhandsets which have ability tostand out of the crowd.

This mobile is designed forstyle conscious consumerswho are active on social net-works. LAVA A9 is a smallmobile computer with silvercues featuring a 2.4 inchesTFT display. The product givesthe user a truly personalinternet experience in a com-pact handset. With many otherdifferent applications and ser-vices available in LAVA A9 likehigh speed web access facil-

Lava handset

Delhi-based Padmini Ap-pliances has launchedCountry’s first ISO certified In-duction Cooker in Kerala mar-ket. A patented product of thecompany, Padmini’s inductioncookers are available in 3 mod-els, priced between Rs. 3000/-and Rs.4800/-.

Mohammed Thajudheen,Marketing Head, Kerala,Padmini Group, M. Imran,Managing Partner, Sibga Trad-ing , Habeeb Rahman, Partner,Sibga and Praveenkumar,Business Development officer,Padmini told press personsthat these induction cookersare many-fold energy-efficientthan the traditional heatersand gas cook tops . The com-pany offers 2-year service

Padmini Appliances launches InductionCooker

guarantee for these productswith ISI mark. According toMohammed Thajudheen thecompany is thinking of market-ing the product through‘Kudumbasrees’ in the state.

Apart from the Kochi-based C&F agent Sibga Trad-ing, Padmini Appliances have6 regional distributors. and300 dealers in the state.

Padmini Appli-ances with 35years pres-ence in theI n d i a nhome

appliances segment has morethan 80 products in the mar-ket such as mixer grinders,cook tops, cooker hoods, de-signer hobs series, dry iron,glass top series, electric kettle,food processor ,cooking range,built-in –ovens, mixer grinder,juicer, insect killer, gas heater

etc;.

Green issues are todayplaying a huge role in con-sumer choice in the watch mar-ket. Seiko has long been thepioneer of an ecological ap-proach to the production ofwatches. Their facilitiesstopped using CFS gas asearly as 1993 and achieved fullcompliance with EU Nickel,packaging and waste directivein early 2000’s.

In 2006, they eliminatedminute traces of lead from theirsoldering in quartz watches onIC board, an achievement that

Environment-friendly watchesfrom Seiko

many companies are yet tomatch. Seiko set up the stan-dard for environmental protec-tion again in 2008. Seiko was

Its celebration time for allHotmail users. you can getHotmail alerts on your SMS inthree simple steps - no GPRSconnection required and what’smore it’s absolutely free! Withthis fun and simple service, youcan forget about going to thecyber café or logging on to yourcomputer every time you wantto check your mails. This ser-vice makes checking yourmails as easy as checking yourSMSs. So what are you wait-ing for, to get ahead and getgoing with the cool new Hotmailon your SMS, log on towww.mobile.live.com.

Hotmailalerts onSMS

the first company to offer mer-cury- free batteries, and thecompany made this possible bymaking them themselves. Theyhave completed a shift in theirproduction and all their quartzwatches produced since 2008use mercury free batteries. ButSeiko knows it needs to go fur-ther. They are expanding theproduction of Spring Drive, Ki-netic and mechanical watches, so as to reduce the damag-ing environmental impact ofdiscarded batteries. RetailPrice in India: Rs 55,800/-

ity, media player, games, willcreate a buzz in the market withits astonishing features that willtake the company to newerheights.

has convened a meeting ofcoconut processers recently inKochi. Addressing the meetingAnanda Bose called up on theprocessers to introduce newtechnologies including packag-ing for manufacturing diversi-fied coconut products.TheBoard is mandated with en-couraging production and pro-ductivity improvement of coco-nut, product diversification,value addition and providingsupport to coconut industries.India is the highest producersof coconut in the world. But interms of volume of coconutproducts traded in the globalmarket, India is far behindcompared to other major coco-nut growing countries. It was inthis context, CDB and NAFEDdecided to join hands for in-creasing productivity and ex-porting of coconut products. Itis helpful to the coconut grow-ers of the country, especially,those from Kerala . Accordingto Ananda Bose NAFED is alsoconsidering supplying the pro-cured copra to coconut millersand buy back the oil for mar-keting under NAFED’s brand.NAFED will procure the prod-ucts from the manufactures

under “Farm gate to the Homegate” scheme. It helps to avoidmediators.

Coconut DevelopmentBoard notified as Export Pro-motion Council

The Department of Com-merce, Ministry of Commerceand Industry, Government ofIndia , last year, notified Coco-nut Development Board as anExport Promotion Council(EPC) for all coconut productsother than those made fromcoconut husk and fibre. A size-able quantity of coconut andcoconut products are exportedfrom the country with registra-tion from various Export Pro-motion Councils. In pursuanceof the above notification coco-nut products such as tendercoconuts, tender coconut wa-ter, packed tender coconutwater, nata-de-coco, coconutwater based vinegar, coconutwater based soft drinks/bever-ages, raw coconuts, partiallydehusked coconuts, desic-cated coconut powder,skimmed milk powder, coconutmilk/cream, coconut oil, drycoconuts, ball copra, cut copracoconut flakes, coconut chips,

coconut gratings, coconut par-ings, coconut chutney powder,medicated coconut oil, coconutoil based hair/massage oils,virgin coconut oil, coconutbased convenience foods, co-conut shell, coconut shell pow-der, coconut shell charcoal,coconut shell- based activatedcarbon, handicrafts made outof coconut shell and parts ofcoconut tree, coconut woodfurniture etc. fall within the ju-risdiction of the Coconut Devel-opment Boardl.

Dr.C.V Ananda BoseDr.C.V Ananda Bose IAS

took charge of the Chairman ofCoconut Development Boardon 30th April 2010. He is theManaging Director of the Na-tional Agricultural CooperativeMarketing Federation(NAFED). Dr Bose, is a 1977batch officer of the Indian Ad-ministrative Service (IAS),Kerala cadre. Dr Bose bringswith him vast administrativeexperience. During his longyears in government, he hasoccupied important positions inKerala including Kollam DistrictCollector, Principal Secretary tothe state chief minister, Addi-

From page 1

tional Chief Secretary andChairman, Atomic Energy Edu-cation Society. It was he whoconceptualised and imple-mented Kerala Nirmithi Kendrato promote low cost Housing.His administrative initiativeshave brought him many na-tional and international awardsincluding the Jawaharlal Nehru

Fellowship, the United NationsGlobal Best Practice Awardand the Singapore Govern-ment Award for Urban GreenManagement Excellence. Hehas addressed the UN GeneralAssembly on Housing andHabitat Development and rep-resented India in the Interna-tional Atomic Energy initiatives

such as the InternationalThermo Nuclear Organisation,France and the EuropeanCouncil of Nuclear Energy(CERN – Geneva). Dr Bose isalso an award-winning authorand has published nine booksin English and Malayalam in-cluding a novel, short storiesand poems.


THE LIFE

People are like stainedglass windows: They sparkleand shine when the sun is

People are likeout.

But, when the darknesssets in, their true beauty is re-

vealed only if there is a lightfrom within.

One day a father of avery wealthy family took hisson on a trip to the countrywith the firm purpose ofshowing his son how poorpeople live. They spent acouple of days and nights onthe farm of what would beconsidered a very poor fam-ily. On their return from thetrip, the father asked his son,“How was the trip?” “It wasgreat, Dad”. “Did you seehow poor people live?” thefather asked.

“Oh yes”, said the son.“So, tell me, what did you

Perceptionlearn from the trip?” asked thefather. The son answered, “Isaw that we have one dog andthey had four. We have a poolthat reaches to the middle ofthe garden and they have acreek that has no end. We haveimported lanterns in our gardenand they have the stars atnight. Our patio reaches to thefront yard and they have thewhole horizon. We have asmall piece of land to live onand they have fields that gobeyond our sight. We have ser-vants to serve us, but theyserve others. We buy our food,

but they grow theirs. Wehave walls around our prop-erty to protect us, they havefriends to protect them.”

The boy’s father wasspeechless. Then his sonadded, “Thanks, Dad forshowing me how poor weare.”

Isn’t perspective a won-derful thing? Makes youwonder what would happenif we all gave thanks for ev-erything we have, instead ofworrying about what wedon’t have.

In Ramayana, after thedeath of Ravana, Vibhisbanafell at the feet of Rama andsaid, “Swami, I never aspiredto be the King of Lanka. Ionly wanted my brother togive up his bad qualities. Ipray to you to take over theKingdom of Lanka.”All therakshasas also came andprayed to Rama that heshould become King ofLanka. Lakshmana also sup-

Lord Rama and Ayodhyaported them saying, “O brother,Bharatha is already ruling overAyodhya. Even if you return toAyodhya, you may not becrowned as the King. So, I re-quest you to take over this king-dom and transform all therakshasas.Lanka is full ofgolden mansions. Where elsecan you find such a beautifulplace? I will be very happy ifyou rule over this Kingdom.”Rama lovingly took

Lakshmana close to him andsaid,” Lakshmana, howcould you get such a silly de-sire? Just because one’smother is ugly, can he callany other beautiful womanas his mother? Even thoughmy country is poor comparedto Lanka, I still consider it asmy mother. Lanka may befull of gold, but I don’t wantit”!!

It is impossible to worrywhile you’re laughing. Hu-mor cuts stress levels in half.Laughing helps you to stayhappy and healthy and helpsyou return to good healthwhen ill. Laughter increases,by 20%, the activity of killercells within the body whichserve to destroy viruses andtumor cells. Train yourself tolook for the comedy in yourchaos.

A sense of humour is thenumber one survival skill

Why invest in laughter?George Bernard Shaw oncesaid, “When you find some-thing funny search it for hiddentruth.” “The art of medicine con-sists of amusing the patientwhile nature cures the dis-ease.” Voltaire

Humor helps us cope, con-quer, and carry on. A goodlaugh is not only the result ofhumor, it is often also thecause. The body heals withplay, the mind heals with laugh-ter and the spirit heals with joy.The best exercise is jumping

for joy.” Joy is the seriousbusiness of heaven.” C.S.Lewis. We begin to solve ourproblems when we begin tosee the humor in them.

“Time spent laughing istime spent with the gods.”Japanese proverb. When wefeel like laughing the least ,we need it most.

If it feels good to laugh,then laugh to feel good.Asense of humour is not inher-ited, it is learned.

IAS( Retd.) serves as the Di-rector and Prof.Issac Thomasis the Principal of the institution.Dr.Joseph Vettickad is theChief Co-ordinator andLt.Col.(Rtd) N.J Francis is theCourse Co-ordinator.

CoursesCivil Service Institute Pala

offers full time civil servicecourse for graduates & Postgraduates and add-on course(part time) for degree & PG stu-dents. With the aim of pre-paring more candidates forcivil service examinations, theinstitution started foundationcourse for higher secondaryand degree students. It pro-vides crash programs in op-tional and general subjects,preliminary and main exams.Pala Civil Service Institute con-ducts PSc coaching classesalso, covering all KPSC &CPSC tests.

Add-on courseCivil Service Institute Pala

designed a new Add-on coursefor College students,both Pro-fessional and Arts and Science,to be conducted on holidays soas to enable them to preparefor civil service exams at theearliest. This course is spe-cially meant for those brilliantstudents who are ready to takeup the task of preparing for IAS,IPS etc. along with their under-graduate studies. The durationof the course is three years.The course covers all the threeparts of the civil service exami-nation - Prelims, Mains and In-terview.

OFF - Campus centresCivil Service Institute Pala

drawn up a plan to provide civilservice orientation coaching toschool students in accordancewith the proposed restructuringof the Civil Services Examina-tion Schemes. The coachingpackage consist of 30 weeklyclasses, for the benefit of stu-dents from 8th class to 11thclasses. The institute will setup

off-campus centres in suchschools as have atleast 40 stu-dents to attend the coachingclasses.

Intensive training programThe Intensive training pro-

gram has been designed toequip Civil Service aspirants forthe All India Aptitude Test, pro-posed to be introduced from2012 onwards. The duration ofthe program is 3 years consist-ing of annual workshops dur-ing summer vacations, periodicget together for evaluation ofassignments and projectworks.

Women empowerment programIn turn with the national

policy of women empower-ment, this institution launchedWomen empowerment pro-gram to provide all possibleassistance to those womenparticipants in the fields of Lo-cal Self Government, socialwork, education, self employ-ment, private enterprise etc.

amination coaching.Out total 17 candidates

who passed civil serviceexamnations this year fromKerala, 12 were studied inCivil Service Institute Pala. 4thrank holder Miss Anupama T.V. was among them. HariKishor - 14th rank in 2008,S.Aswathy- 3rd rank in 2002and S.Suja - 4th rank in 2003were the other remarkableachievements.

Situated at Pala inKottayam district, this is theonly institute for teachingMalayalam as optional subjectand Malayalam as the mediumof instruction. In the past few

years, Civil Service InstitutePala achieved excellent per-formance and brought outsparkling result in civil serviceexaminations. Classes areconducted by highly qualifiedresource persons with vast ex-perience in civil service coach-ing. The tie-up with a reputedDelhi Institute brings addedquality to the course contents.

Civil Service Institute Palaoffers optional subjects for civilservice examination such asEconomics, Political science,History, Sociology, Public ad-ministration, Geography, En-glish and Malayalam. It alsoprovides personality develop-

ment classes, spoken English,and phonetic classes. The in-stitution got a well-equipped li-brary with course - specifiedbooks and internet facility.Separate hostel facilities areprovided for both boys andgirls.

Mar Joseph Perumthottam(Arch Bishop of Changana-cherry), Mar JosephKallarangattu (Bishop of Pala),Mar Mathew Arackal (Bishop ofKanjirappally) are the Patronsof this institution. Rev. Msgr.Joseph Naduvilezham (VicarGeneral, Arch-Diocese ofChanganacherry) is the Chair-man of this trust. K.J Mathew

From page 1

My wife’s expecting

A young private soughtpermission from his Com-manding Officer to leavecamp the following weekend. “You see,” he explained, “mywife’s expecting. “Oh...” saidthe Officer, “I understand. Goahead and tell your wife thatI wish her luck. “The follow-ing week the same soldier

was back again with the sameexplanation: “My wife’s expect-ing. “The Officer looked sur-prised. “Still expecting?” hesaid, “Well, well, my boy, youmust be pretty bothered. Ofcourse you can have the week-end off.”

When the same soldierappeared again the third week,

however, the Officer lost histemper. “Don’t tell me yourwife is still expecting!” he bel-lowed .”Yes sir!” said the sol-dier resolutely, “She’s still ex-pecting. “What in heaven isshe expecting?” cried the Of-ficer.

“Me.” said the soldier sim-ply.

Only questions

The average man’s lifeconsists of :

Twenty years of having

his mother ask him where heis going,

Forty years of having his

wife ask the same question;And at the end, the

mourners wondering too.

Men’s logic

A man and his wife werein a court for their divorcecase. The Problem was whoshould get custody of thechild. The wife screamed andjumped up and said: “Your

Honor. I brought The child intothe world with all the pain andlabor. The child should be in mycustody.” The judge turned tothe husband and said: “Whatdo you have to say in your

defense?”The man sat for awhile contemplating... thenslowly rose. “Your Honor... IfI put a dollar in a Pepsi vend-ing machine and a Pepsicomes out... Whose Pepsi isit... the machine’s or mine?”

Making a million friends

Making a million friendsis not an art, but the real artis to make a friend who willstand with You when millionsare against You.

Do You know the relationbetween your twoeyes?.They blink together,they move together, they crytogether, they see things to-

gether and they sleeptogether,even though theynever see eachother.Friendship should be justlike that.

When I was walking aloneI wished that

I can reach the end of theroad.

But when friend like You

joined meI wished the road would

never end.Friendship is just not like

rainIt come soon and goneFriendship is like a airWe can’t see it’s only feelFrienship is like a airWith u ever and ever.

Advantage of keeping mouth shut

A woman goes to thedoctor, beaten black andblue... Doctor: “What hap-pened?”. Woman: “Doctor, Idon’t know what to do. Everytime my husband comeshome drunk he beats me toa pulp....” Doctor: “I have a

real good medicine againstthat: When your husbandcomes home drunk, just take aglass of green tea and startswirling it in your mouth. Don’tdrink it, just swirl it around andaround”... 2 weeks later shecomes back to the doctor and

looks reborn and fresh again.Woman: “Doctor, that was abrilliant idea! Every time myhusband came home drunk Igargled repeatedly with greentea and he never touchedme.” Doctor: “You see howkeeping your mouth shut issuch a good idea !!!”


HAPPENINGS

Need for forest certificationstressed

- Business News Service, Kozhikode -

Two day workshop on Re-sponsible Wood Trade andForest Certification conductedat Kozhikode stressed theneed for forest certification forresponsible wood trade. Theinternational workshop wasorganised by Global Forest andTrade Network India in asso-ciation with Malabar Chamberof Commerce and OISCA Inter-national South India Chapterwith the support of SWITCHAsia programme. M.K.Raghavan MP inaugurated theworkshop and Malabar Cham-ber of Commerce PresidentP.V. Gangadharan presidedover the meeting. Dr. T.R.

Manoharan, Aravind M. Singh,Principal Chief Conservator offorests T.M. Manoharan IFS,Dr. Alan Smith and C.Jayarajan spoke.

Aspects of forests and re-sources, environment andwood trade were discussed indifferent sessions of the work-shop. Forest certification is aprocess that leads to the issu-ing of a certificate by an inde-pendent agency, which verifiesthat the area of forest fromwhere these products aresourced is managed to a de-fined standard. Forest certifica-tion refers to two separate pro-cesses one, forest manage-

ment unit certification (FMU)and chain of custody certifica-tion (COC). The Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests hasrecognised the need to pro-mote forest certrification in thecountry and has constituted acommittee to develop a na-tional forest certification sys-tem. The success of such asystem largely depends on iscredibility in both local and glo-bal contexts.

Textiles and handicraft ex-porters, timber merchants,traders, wood processors andother national and internationaldelegates attended the work-shop.

Banking sector needs to beadequately sensitized aboutthe need and urgency for ad-vanced risk management sys-tem and a smooth conver-gence to the IFRS framework.This was the unequivocal sen-timent expressed at the one-day Workshop on Risk Man-agement and IFRS hosted byVijaya Bank at Bangalore. TheWorkshop, a post-AnnualPolicy initiative of RBI and IBA,was graced by Dr KRamakrishnan, Chief Execu-tive of IBA, Vijay Bhaskar, Re-gional Director of RBI- Banga-lore, Ravi Mohan, Chief Gen-eral Manager from RBI Central

Risk management & IFRS -key challenges for banks

Office, Albert Tauro, C&MD andS A Panse, ED of Vijaya Bank.

In his Welcome Address,Tauro spoke in detail about thetwo important challenges i.e.,Risk Management and IFRS,and underlined “Skill Sets,Technology, Data and an en-abling infrastructure as the cor-nerstones for smooth migrationto such best practices as ad-vanced Basel II and IFRS”. Dr.Ramakrishnan, while maintain-ing that risk management is notsomething new to bankers, yet,he felt, “the complex operatingenvironment has made bank-ers conscious about it.” VijayBhaskar while mentioning

about the proximate and corecauses of recent global crises,advocated for “evolving a fitand proper risk managementarchitecture suiting specificallyto the Indian context.”

The workshop featured ex-ecutive participation from thefunctional departments ofVijaya Bank, Andhra bank, Cor-poration Bank, Canara Bank,Syndicate Bank, ING VysyaBank, Karnataka Bank, NHBand the Indian Banks’ Associa-tion. Participants of the Work-shop also had the benefit ofpresentations made by consult-ants of repute in the areas ofrisk management and IFRS.

As part of its ongoing mis-sion towards industrial and in-vestment promotion in theState, Kerala State IndustrialDevelopment Corporation(KSIDC), the premier promo-tional agency for industrial de-velopment has started acouple of new initiatives for ef-

KSIDC sets up NationalResource Centre; MonthlyNewsletter released

fective dissemination of infor-mation for development of in-dustries in the State. They areopening a National ResourceCentre for Industrial Develop-ment (NRCID) facilitating dis-semination of industry-relatedinformation to stakeholdersand launching a monthly news-

letter - ‘Enterprise and Indus-trial Update-Kerala’.

Elamaram Kareem, Minis-ter for Industries, Governmentof Kerala inaugurated the Na-tional Resource Centre. TheMinister also released Enter-prise and Industrial Update-

Elamaram Kareem, Minister for industries releasing the KSIDC news letter by handing over to P.T.Nandakumar, T. Balakrishnan, Secretary, Industries Dept. and Alkesh Kumar Sharma, ManagingDirector, KSIDC are also seen.

Vijaya Bank, the Banga-lore based Public Sector Bankand United India Insurance Co.Ltd, another major Public Sec-tor organization in the generalinsurance sector, signed aMemorandum of Understand-ing for the distribution of thegeneral insurance products ofUnited India Insurance Co.Ltd., by Vijaya Bank on referralbasis. At a function held at Ban-galore to mark the occasion,the heads of both the organi-zations were present to formal-ize the MOU.

Speaking on the occasion,the Chairman & Managing Di-rector of Vijaya Bank, AlbertTauro said that the MOU offersimmense scope for value ad-dition to the customers as wellopportunities for the optimumuse of bank’s existing infra-structure, apart from providing

Vijaya Bank - United India tie-upadditional revenue. With morethan 7.5 million customersspread across several seg-ments and with a pan Indiapresence of over 1160 CBSnetworked branches, Bank willhave considerable scope forcatering to all types of generalinsurance requirements of itscustomers through the qualityproducts of United India Insur-ance Co. Ltd., one of the big-gest and most reputed Pub-lic Sector general insurancecompanies of India, he added.

G. Srinivasan, Chairmancum Managing Director, UnitedIndia Insurance Co. Ltd., saidthat the coming together of thetwo major entities would enablethem to combine and utilize theBank’s and the insurance com-panies’ synergies for enhanc-ing customer satisfaction andserving social objectives of the

nation. He informed the gath-ering that United India Insur-ance, today, is the fastest grow-ing non life major in India andalso had recorded the highestbusiness increase in the Indus-try. It is foremost in rural, so-cial sector & Micro Insuranceand has the largest networkamong all non life insurers inIndia. The Company hasBancassurance as a majorcomponent t of its businessstrategy for the future.

The brief, but grand func-tion was attended by Ms.Shubhalakshmi Panse, Execu-tive Director, Vijaya Bank, K.Sanat Kumar, GM, United In-dia Insurance Co. Ltd., apartfrom other General Managersand executives from both theorganizations, in addition to alarge number of well wishers ofboth the organizations.

M. K. Raghavan M P inaugurating the conference on “Responsible Wood trade and forestCertification “ organised by Global Forest and Trade Network India at Kozhikode. P.V.Gangadharan, President, Malabar Chamber of Commerce, among others, are also seen.

Albert Tauro, Chairman & Managing Director, Vijaya Bank and G. Srinivasan, Chairman cumManaging Director, United India Insurance Co. Ltd. exchanging MoU. Ms. Shubhalakshmi Panse,Executive Director, Vijaya Bank and K. Sanat Kumar, General Manager, United India Insurance Co.Ltd. are also seen.

From page 1

this vast variation of peopletend to invest their retirementincome in the property even ina small way.N.P.G. Nair(Tel:. 022-28798211 /28781270 / 28778350Mob : 09322501290 /09869422733 /09892979749Email :[email protected],[email protected])

comes to hardly anything todaythat he cannot even purchasea one room and a kitchen of300 sq.ft. Look at the real valueof money that is diminishingyear by year. The man whoused to invest like this musthave been repenting now. Ihave few friends who are vic-tims of such and similar targetstruggle enough to make andmeet their both end enoughhappy or else they have only

alternative to tighten their belt.One thing we can conclude

from this is that depending onone’s earnings derived out ofhis fixed deposit is just a tem-porary benefit. It has got nomeaning as the value of thedeposit amount virtually dimin-ishes very fast. And the pro-ceeds of interest of this long-term deposits become non-de-pendable for one’s gradual fu-ture planning. On account of

>> Turn to page 15


Indian Overseas BankErnakulam region has installed3 on-site ATMs recently atEdappally, Kayamkulam andNyettoor-Kulanada branches,increasing the total number ofATMs in the region to 18. Ac-cording to M.S. Ramani, Chief

IOB opens 3 more ATMsunder Ernakulam region

Regional Manager, 10 moreATMs will be opened in the re-gion in the near future.

IOB, one of the majornationalised banks in the coun-try have 3 regions in Kerala,viz. Ernakulam, Kozhikodeand Thiruvananthapuram.

Ernakulam region headed byChief Regional Manager withits headquarters at Ernakulamis having 60 branches spreadin five district - Pathanamthitta,Ernakulam, Alappuzha,Kottayam and Idukki.

A Regional Seminar on‘Resurgence of State OwnedEnterprises - The Kerala expe-rience’ was organised by theDepartment of Industries, Govt.of Kerala in Kozhikode. Theseminar was inaugurated byMinister of IndustriesElamaram Kareem and differ-ent trade union leaders ,repre-sentatives of different industrialorganisations, managementexperts and government offi-cials participated. The regionalseminar was conducted as partof the continuation of the Na-tional seminar held on this sub-ject on 16th November 2009 atNew Delhi.

Kerala is the state whichhas more number of state levelpublic sector enterprises.There are 114 public sectorunits in the state, among which28 units have been lying closedfor several years. It was due tomismanagement, absence ofprofessionalism and wrongeconomic policies of the Gov-ernments. Especially from1990 onwards the public sec-tor institutions were lookedupon with contempt as they re-main liabilities to the exche-

quer. It was the period ofvigerous privatization. This ex-periment of un restrictedprivatisation and free flow ofcapital influenced our govern-ments against the PSUs. Butthe present Left DemocraticGovernments of Kerala whichassumed office in 2006 timelyintervened to save the publicsector units from pathetic con-dition. The success of this in-tervention made fruitful resultsand now majority of the PSUsare working profitably andgovernment is making everyeffort to save remaining aswell.

The seminars held at NewDelhi and Kozhikode dis-cussed the aspects of this suc-cess in detail. The financialsupport the state governmentgiven to the public sector un-dertakings played a major rolein it. Healthy co-operation be-tween central government andstate government remain theanother reason. During theseperiods joint ventures betweenstate and central PSUs wereencouraged widely. Union De-fence Minister A.K. Antony’srole was remarkable in this de-

Seminar appreciatesGovernment's role in theresurgence of PSUs

- V.V. Divakaran, Kozhikode -

velopment. The willingness ofthe State Industries Minister tohear the advice of the officials,experts and his action plangave momentum for this. Gov-ernment did not allow deliber-ately an industry to die. Minis-ter Kareem took keen interestin reviving sick industries. Eachmonth a full day has been de-voted to review the perfor-mance of the industries by theMinister. Apart from thesemonthly meetings quarterly re-views and annual reviews werealso conducted.

More investments were at-tracted in capacity building.Measures were taken to en-hance productivity. The jointventure with central PSUs,were crucial. TELK, with NTPC,SILK and Autocast with rail-ways, KEL with BHEL andSteel complex with SAIL wereproved successful. KELTECwas taken over by Brahmos.This strategic tie-ups with cen-tral PSUs/Institutions made re-markable achievements.

Regional seminar upheldall these achievements andpledged for co-ordinated effortsto sustain this in future also.

M.S. Ramani, Chief Regional Manager, IOB inaugurating Bank’sATM in Edappally

Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem inaugurating the regional conference on “Resurgence of Stateowned Enterprises - the Kerala experience” at Kozhikode

From page 1

round the clock, more than 50National & International jour-nals, Dedicated Leased LineInternet (1:1)- unlimited con-nectivity, student run canteen,WIFI campus with 24 hrsinternet connectivity, Ultramodern computer lab, Facilityfor online share trading andExcellent atmosphere includ-ing provisions for sports andarts are the excellent facilitiesoffered by this B-School.

The trainings at Lead areadministered by a team ofhighly professional trainerswho have set their footprints inthe educational training sce-nario. The methods are rigor-ously time- tested through thesuccessful training sessions ofTurning Point. Turning Point isthe lifeskill training endevour ofPrompt Group.‘Turning Point’has guided thousands of youngprofessionals towards their ca-reer heights and is successfulin instilling the passion orientedmind set into young graduates.In the past five years TurningPoint trained above fifty thou-sand professional students andexecutives through more thantwo hundred intensive trainingsessions. Turning Point’s clientbase spread all over the world.Many of the MBA Colleges andEngineering Colleges of Keralaincluding NIT Kozhikode areclients of Turning Point.

Learning becomes funonce filled with activities andthe concepts and ideas aretransmuted to specific skillswhen it is made to practice.This philosophy is practicedthrough out the designed activi-ties. The students themselvesget opportunity to design theirown course according to theirtaste under proper guidance.Getting ready to the new cor-porate environment needs spe-cific skills to handle odds.Through getting stretched intrainings one gets prepared tohandle difficult situations and

meet bench marks A relaxedmind learns 10 times fasterthan a tensed mind. Fun is ac-cordingly incorporated in activi-ties and classroom sessions tomake use of our minds to itsoptimum level.

Palakkad being the secondlargest industrial hub of Keralaprovides ample opportunitiesfor an MBA student to learn livebusiness. Live managementactivities is a routine in indus-try. Various industries atKanjikode Industrial Area isclosely associating with LEADfor different activities like Place-ments, Industrial visits,Projects, Consultancy, and

to iPhones from Apple’s AppStore in as little as 60 seconds,and only a credit card or debitcard is needed to create aniTunes account to downloadthe apps.

An example of such gamesis the ‘5 Minutes to Kill (Your-self)’ game, which has an im-age of a man with a knifethrough his head as a logo, andwhere players have the optionof a number of weapons to “getthe job done”. Another is the‘Girls And Drinks’ game whereplayers are encouraged todrink excessively to attract“sexy” barmaids, with a spielsaying, “Choose a sexy bar-tender. The more you drink, thesexier she gets”.

From page 1this germ to become virulent.This period is known as the in-cubation period of dengue.The signs and symptoms of thepatient begins after the incuba-tion period. Fever, generalweakness etc. are the initialcomplaints. Head ache ,bodyache, pain in the joint, tremor,sleeplessness, loss of appetiteetc are other difficulties of thepatient . The body temperatureof the patient may increase inbetween 103-105 degreeFahrenheit.The location ofhead ache of dengue patientwill be above and behind theeye. This patient also feelspain and tenderness ofmuscles and tendons in thebody. Occasionally there will besoreness in various parts of the

body, especially in the eye .Some times there will be nau-sea and vomiting. Sweating isthe another symptoms of thepatient. Red coloured rashesappear on the skin three or fourdays after the infection. In thiscircumstance there will bethickness on the skin. The bonepain of the patient will be sosevere that he will feel thathis bone will break into pieces.As a result the disease dengueis also known as” break bonefever.”

ComplicationIn addition to the normal

type of dengue, certain seri-ous type of dengue are alsoseen. Out of that denguehaemorrhagica is very danger-

From page 5

>> Turn to page 13

Case studies.Thomas George, Chair-

man Prompt Charitable Trust isalso the founder, Managing Di-rector & Chief Architect ofTurning Point. He is B.Tech inElectronics & Communication,Master in Business Administra-tion, Master in Psychology,MPhil in Management, MPhil inPsychology, Currently doingPhD in Psychology, Interna-tional Trainer of Junior Cham-ber (Excel), Guest faculty forMBA at Bharathiar University &Calicut University, Resourceperson & Coordinator of “GoodGovernance” a training pro-gram for Government Officialsin the Palakkad District underInstitute of Management inGovernment, Project Directorof AIDs Intervention in Indus-tries under KSACS/NACO/USAIDSISO 9000:2000 LeadAssessor / Auditor by BritishStandard Institute ans ThomasGeorge Won “Kamal PatraAward” from Indian JuniorChamber XXI for “professionalexcellence”


Panasonic, the GlobalTechnology leader is the pri-mary sponsor of the IndianNational Football Team and byway of this promotes the gameof football in India. To leveragethis association, Panasonichas planned attractive offersand schemes for its customersduring FIFA World Cup season.

Panasonic’s road show byway of a mobile cantor whosetheme is that of a football sta-dium was flagged off at Kochiby players from the Indian Na-tional Football Team fromKerala, namely N.P. Pradeepand Mohammed Rafi.

Panasonic unique offerswill compliment the football fe-ver which its customers are sopassionate about during thistime of the World Cup whichcomes only once in four years.Panasonic has introduced aunique “Panasonic SoccerMania 2010” offer on theirrange of ‘Viera’ Plasma andLCD TVs whereby the custom-ers can get a chance to win

Panasonic launches FIFAWorld Cup promotions inKerala

assured gifts. This is aimed tomaximize the wave of excite-ment and joy during the foot-ball season. Consumers get achance to win an assured gift,which include Adidas T-shirts,Reebok footballs and evenPanasonic Products.

Introducing the offers,Kunal Dua, Marketing Manager(Consumer Sales Division)Panasonic India (P) Ltd. said“Panasonic Soccer Mania2010” will bring in a never-be-fore opportunity to all thePanasonic Viera Plasma TVand LCD TV buyers to try theirluck with football shapedscratch card and win assuredgifts.

“With these interesting of-fers unveiled by Panasonic, weintend to connect with footballmore closely and strengthenour link with our consumers.We have introduced excitingrange of products backed byspecial offers and we look for-ward to make this FIFA WorldCup time more meaningful and

special for our customres”,says Baburaj A. Menon, Busi-ness Manager, Panasonic..Thecustomers will be able to availthese offers till end July atPanasonic Authorised dealersacross India.

Kunal Dua said thatPanasonic consumer divisionhas achieved Rs.900 croreturnover last year and the tar-get for the current year isRs.1600 crore. According toBaburaj Menon, in Kerala theturnover of last year was Rs.70crore and expecting Rs.100crore this year.” In Kerala wehave double dhamaka this timeas world cup, apart from Onam,will boost the sales. We are tar-geting a sale of Rs.70 croreduring this 4 months”, addsBaburaj.

Ms. Radhika, Manager,Corporate Communications,Panasonic India Pvt. Ltd. (Con-sumer Sales Division) and Ms.Richa Sethi, PR Executivewere also present at the pressconference.

Funskool (India) Ltd.,India’s largest toy company hasattained exclusive distributionrights from LEGO Group to dis-tribute the complete range ofLEGO toys in India.

John Baby, CEO, Funskool(India) Ltd said that in the ini-tial phase Funskool will offerthe main categories of toys likeLEGO Duplo, LEGO City,LEGO Creator, LEGO Technic,LEGO Atlantis, LEGO Racers,

Funskool ties up with LEGOLEGO Mindstorms, LEGOStarwars etc. the companyaims to add on more catego-ries in the longer run depend-ing on the market demand andrequirement. Distribution ofLEGO toys commenced in Apriland products are now availablewith all leading retailers of toysin India.

Funskool (India) Limited isa leading player in the Indiantoy industry. In addition to the

complete range of toys from itsjoint venture partner Hasbro Incof USA, the company also rep-resents Tomy, the well knownJapanese toy maker in India,and has licenses from WaltDisney for board games andWarner Bros for board gamesand puzzles. Board gamesand puzzles of Dora,Doraemon and Noddy are alsopart of Funskool’s portfolio inIndia. In addition to Imports,the company manufactures awide range of toys at its manu-facturing units at Goa andRanipet. Transformers, NERF,PlayDoh, Playskool, Monopolyare all among prominentbrands from Hasbro Inc whichFunskool markets in India.

The company is on an ac-celerated growth path and reg-istered a growth of 28% in itsdomestic business in 2009 -10over the corresponding periodof the previous year.

A workshop on “ExportDocumentation & Marketing”has been conducted by IndianChamber of Commerce andIndustry, Mattancherry to im-part knowledge and create anawareness among potential ex-porters of Kochi and peripheralareas.

The 2-day workshop wasinaugurated by Smt. V. RamaMathew IRS, Commissioner ofCentral Excise, Customs &Service Tax. In her inauguraladdress she stated the impor-

Indian Chamber conducts workshop on‘Export Documentation & Marketing’

tance of export business of acountry in general and its docu-mentation process in particular.Most companies have much tolearn about selling the productsto a particular market, sheadded.

Jasbir Singh Chawla,President, Indian Chamber ofCommerce & Industry spokeabout the Government ofIndia’s initiatives in promotingexports which will ultimatelyfetch foreign exchange infavour of the country. Smt.

Shipra Chatterjee, ExecutiveDirector, FICCI LadiesOrganisation, New Delhi, ex-plained how this workshopwould help in enhancing theprofessional skill of exportersof this region. N.Radhakrishnan, former ICCIPresident, also spoke on theoccasion. Dr. KalyanaChakravarthi, Lecturer in Inter-national Business, GSIB,Visakhapatnam, was the fac-ulty in the technical sessionsthat followed.

Smt. V. Rama Mathew, Commissioner of Central Excise, Customs & Service Tax, inaugurating a two-day workshop on “Export Documentation & Marketing” organised by FICCI Ladies Organisationsupported by Hanns Seidal Foundation of Germany in collaboration with the Indian Chamber ofCommerce & Industry, at Kochi. Others in the picture are N. Radhakrishnan, ICCI Former President,Smt. Shipra Chatterjee, FLO Executive Director, Jasbir Singh Chawla, ICCI President and Faculty Dr.Kalyana Chakravathi.

In the wake of the final ad-ditions being made to India’sfirst transhipment terminal, theCochin port Trust for very firsttime in the history of the Indianport industry, made a bold de-cision to review its vessel re-lated tariff. In a board meetingthe board of trustees passed aresolution to match competi-tors’ tariff for all mainline ves-sels that will now use ICTT astheir transhipment hub in theregion.

In April this year, the TariffAuthority of Major Ports hadpassed an order increasing

CoPT already high tariffs fur-ther upwards by 40%. TheEXIM trade expressed surpriseat the increase, describing it asa major blow to the competi-tiveness of the Port and saidthat the timing was ill-advisedsince it was close to the com-missioning of the DP World’sICTT. Associations like CSLAwrote letters to the port re-questing CoPT not to imple-ment the increase.

The CoPT Board of Trust-ees has reviewed the VRC forICTT and approved a lower tar-iff for mainlines at ICTT effec-

tive from the date of commis-sioning till 30 September 2011.The revised tariff is in line withthat at transhipment hubs likeColombo, Port Klan, TanjungPelepas etc. Anil Singh, Sr, VP& Managing Director, DP WorldSubcontinent said that “ Thedecision taken by CoPT is ofgreat significance to the chang-ing face of India’s port indus-try, and is a testament to CoPTand DP World’s commitment tothe success of ICTT and giv-ing our customers and thetrade at large a true valueproposition.”

Progress at ICTT hasquickened over the last 3months. Earlier May theproject completed two signifi-cant milestones – the comple-tion of all 11 bridges on the newhighway connectivity, and thearrival of ICTT’s 11 latest tech-nology eco friendly RTG’s thatare going to service the termi-nals’ 1 million TEU capacity

ICTT is getting ready forthe launch

Anil Singh, Senior , Vice President & Managing Director, DPWorld Subcontinent, DP World and Suresh Joseph, Head of DPWorld, Kochi interacting with media in Kochi

Footballers N.P. Pradeep and Mohammed Rafi flagging of Panasonic’s FIFA World Cup roadshow in Kochi. Kunal Dua, Marketing Manager (Consumer Sales Division) Panasonic India (P) Ltdand Baburaj A. Menon, Business Manager are also seen.

>> Turn to page 13


In view of the increasing,global acceptance of Chitosanas a natural food supplementagainst obesity / overweightand high blood cholesterol leveland also extending furthervalue addition to the exoskel-eton of fresh marine prawns,crabs and lobsters, the KeralaState Cooperative Federationfor Fisheries Development Ltd(MATSYAFED) has started itscommercial production, underthe brand name Chitone. Theproduct is extracted hygieni-cally from the exoskeleton offresh marine prawn, crab andlobsters in technical collabora-tion with the Central Institute ofFisheries Technology, Kochi.The quality control is also main-tained by the Institute.

Advo. V.V. Saseendran,Chairman,Matsyafed at apress conference in Kochi saidthat the co-oprative movementhas established a hi-tech plantin - Neendakara, Kollam- withcapacity to produce 1.5 lakhcapsules per day with an in-

Matsyafed starts commercialproduction of Chitone capsulesThe most efficient & safe fat-absorbing food supplement tocontrol obesity

vestment of Rs. 1.10 crore.Speaking on the occasion,

Dr. Meenakumari, DirectorCIFT said that apart from itsrole as a fat binder, Chitosanis most effective in reducingblood cholesterol levels.Chitosan is able to reduce thebody’s accumulation of lowdensity lipoproteins (LDLs)which are harmful from of cho-lesterol. Body’s natural produc-tion of High Density Lipopro-teins or good cholesterol is notaffected by chitosan’s fat block-ing action. Gross reductionLDLs can keep the ‘Heart andArteries’ healthy.

Dr. D. M. Vasudevan M.D,FRC Path; Department of Bio-chemistry, Amritha Institute ofMedical Science & Research,Kochi said that taking Chitosanbefore the meals will reducethe amount of fat being ab-sorbed by the body. It will trapthe beneficial fat soluble vita-mins also. Prolonged use ofChitosan (4-5 months) can leadto deficiency of these vitamins.

Various toxicological studiesalso show Chitosan is a safefat absorber. The extensive useof Chitosan as a OTChealthcare product in all thedeveloped and developingcountries without any side ef-fects is the proof of its safetyand effectiveness, he added.

The Federation has en-sured availability of Chitonecapsules in medical stores aswell as shopping malls, coop-erative outlets etc. Being anOTC product, consumers canbuy it from any of these outlets,without doctor’s prescription.

Adv. Saseendran said thatMatsyafed is planning to starta Glucose Amine plant atChantiroor, alappuzha District.Glucose Amine is a medicinefor arthritic paients.

P.Kesavan Nair, ManagingDirector, Matsyafed and Ms.Dhanalakshmi, Dy. GeneralManager,Extension and MassCommunication were alsopresent at the press confer-ence.

Pioneers in crafting worldclass gold bangles; ORO hasunveiled five exquisite banglesto their latest collection. Thebrand ORO epitomizes purity,quality and value of gold whereevery product is hallmarked for

ORO presents an exquisitecollection of gold bangles

quality. Creating masterpiecesfor the past three decades withsuperior craftsmanship, exclu-sive designs and guaranteedproduct quality, ORO has madea name for itself in the jewellerybusiness.

ORO is an ex-clusive range ofb a n g l e sshowcasing aperfect blendof latest

trends with traditional designs,personifying elegance andstyle. The new range includesGold, Rhodium, Enamel, En-graving and Stones. The entirecollection is made of pure 22Karat gold.

Plain Gold Bangles: This isa stunning collection of goldbangles crafted in pure 22Karat gold designed in a tradi-tional style. Rhodium Bangles:Beautifully crafted gold bangleswith rhodium plating, designedin white or black colour, per-fectly blending traditional andcontemporary styles.Enamellieur Bangles: Theenamel collection is stylized intraditional meenakari designspersonifying elegance andcolour. Engraving: A trendy col-lection of colourful and vibrantprinted bangles for the genera-tion next. The Move Collection:It is an exotic collection ofbangles designed with pre-cious stones, highlighting awoman’s inner beauty.

This collection is pricedfrom Rs. 40,000 onwards.

Elaborating about the col-lection, Avinash Pahuja, Man-aging Director, ORO said“ORO’s blend of traditional andcontemporary designs offersomething for every woman.The entire ORO collection ishallmarked, ensuring purity inquality with genuine 22 karatgold used in all our creations.”

“By 2015 all villages in In-dia should have booking ser-vice and all households in thecountry should carry a bankaccount,” said Dr. K.C.Chakrabarty, Deputy Governorof RBI. He was releasing the14th issue of the India microsmall and medium enterprisesreport 2010 by Institute of SmallEnterprises and Development(ISED), in Kochi.

“Todays micro enterprisesare tommorrow’s small ones,and then they grow to medium,later to national and then to

Banking service in allvillages by 2015

multinational levels.” In this eraof globalisation, organisationscan’t attain growth if they ne-glect micro, small and mediumenterprises (MSME). Loans toGDP ratio in India is 55%,where as it is 155% in manyother countries. That accountfor the lack of banking servicein 90% of the total 600,000 vil-lages in India.

The Federal system whichoffered on inherent strength tothe Indian economy, saves usfrom the worst of melt downcrisis. A major contributory fac-

tor was the cushioning pro-duced by MSHE’s.

“The report is an aperturefor the vast population who aresocially excluded and the vic-tims of the catching-up syn-drome”, said Prof. KamalNayan Kabra, who spoke onthe occasion.

The report was introducedby Prof. Yerram Raju, SeniorFellow ISED, T.O. Sooraj, Di-rector of Industries, Kerala, Dr.P.M. Mathew, ISED, Directorand KSSIA representativeFrancis Mundadan also spoke.

Dr. K.C. Chakrabarthy, Dy. Governor, RBI releasing the 14th issue of the India Micro Small andMedium Exterprises report in Kochi. Prof. Yerram Raju, Dr. P.M. Mathew, Prof. K.N. Kabra and T.O.Sooraj are also seen.

Confirming the centralgovernment’s interference, theCBI never persued to getAnderson extradicted after heleft to U.S. Anderson was ar-rested on December 7, 1984and was released on bail thesame day. CBI investigationofficer B.R. Lal was saying thathe was under pressure fromthe external affairs ministry notto pursue the case againstUnion Carbide Chief WarrenAnderson.

Abhishek Singhvi, the vo-cal spokesperson of Congress(I) and the legal advisor ofSonia Gandhi has given legaladvice to Dow Chemicals,again a US multinational whichtook over Union Carbide Cor-poration after the Bhopal trag-edy. It was in 2006. Singhvi wasasked to offer advice to Dow byPrime Ministers’ Principle Sec-retary, T.K.A. Nair. Singhvi toldDow that it cannot be in any-way held accountable for what

happened in Bhopal as it hasacquired Union Carbide IndiaLtd. years after the tragedy. Healso told Dow that it will not beliable for the contamination andits clam-up as it can’t be seenas the successor-in-businessof Union Carbide. Before thisincident Andrew Liveris, CEOof Dow Chemicals met PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh inNew York in 2005. Letters writ-ten between 2006 and 2008 in-dicates that ministers in theUPA Government supportedthe Dow Chemical’s plea thatit was not responsible for clean-ing up the Union Carbide site.The then Commerce and In-dustries Minister Kamal Nathhad asked the Prime Ministerin 2007, requesting him to con-cede the plea of Dow as thecompany was willing to play alead role in the flow of FDI InfoIndia. The same year the Cabi-net Secretary wrote to thePrime Minister supporting theview of Kamal Nath.

The accused moved theMadhya Pradesh High Court,challenging the lower court’sdecision to try them for cul-pable homicide. Their plea wasthat they could atmost be triedfor committing the milder of-fence of causing death due toa rush and negligence act,which entails a maximum sen-tence of two years. AlthoughHigh Court rejected their pleain 1996 Supreme Court benchchaired by the Chief JusticeAhamadi acceded the versionof the accused.

It was evident that the thencongress government underlate Rajiv Gandhi was behindthe safe passage of Andersonfrom India after the incident.Even AICC General SecretaryDigvijay Singh has made astatement confirming this. 4days after the gas leak Ander-son was flown to Delhi in thenMadhya Pradesh Chief Minis-ter Arjun Singh’s official plane.

From page 7

ous. In addition to the usualsigns and symptoms this pa-tient would have bleeding fromvarious part of the body espe-cially from nose, gum etc.

DiagnosisVarious tests are done in a

clinical laboratory for the di-agnosis of dengue fever. Usu-ally routine blood test likePlatelets test, Elisa test etc maybe performed. In a positivecase total count of WBC will becomparatively very low. Total

number of WBC will come be-tween 2000- 4000 cells per cu.mm of blood. This is known asleucopoenia. In differentialcount test usually the numberof granulocytes cells will bemuch decreased. The plateletcount also will be very low.There will be elevation in the Liverfunction tests of the patient .

Preventive measuresSince Dengue is a mos-

quito -borne disease if one livevery carefully it can be avoided.To control this infection we

should take certain precau-tions. Preventing mosquitobites is the most important andeffective step against this in-fection. Avoid stagnation ofwater around the dwellingplace. Spray DDT in the drain-age. Use mosquito net whilesleeping. If one follow such pre-caution against mosquito bit-ing, it is possible to controlspreading of this infection.

If the patient is in a seri-ous condition he should betreated in a hospital under theguidance of a specialist doctor.

From page 11

(Phase 1A). Capital Dredgingwork is to be completed by Julyequipping the terminal with a14.5 metre draft, giving Kochithe ability to handle the largestvessels afloat today.

Suresh Joseph, Head ofDP World Kochi said that “ thisis what we needed and it isgreat to see the Government’sunrelenting support to this

project. India’s marine relatedport costs have always beensome of the highest in the worldand a bone of contention formany shipping lines to growbusiness in India. CoPT haschallenged the status quo. Byoffering the trade competitiveprices at Cochin Port, we areconfident that ICTT will attractIndia cargo back to homeground”.

From page 12


K.U. Balakrishnan, vibrantGeneral Secretary of the StateForum of Bankers' Clubs,Kerala as well as the Secretaryof Greater Kochi Bankers' Clubwho retired from the servicesof Corporation Bank has beengiven a touching send-off bythe members of Greater KochiBankers Club. AsBalakrishnan's continued ser-vice will be available for theclub, his send-off functioninfact, turned in to a felicitationby his colleagues.

Speakers after speakersstressed the fact that althoughK.U.B. served CorporationBank for a long period of 38years, he spent more of his

Bankers' Club felicitatesK.U. Balakrishnan

time for Bankers' Club than theBank. L.R.R. Warrier presidentof the Club said that K.U.B. isa visionary and State Forum ofBankers' Club Club was hisbrain child. Abraham Thariyan,Executive Director, South In-dian Bank and Chief Patron ofthe Club pointed out thatBalakrishnan became undis-puted leader of the Bankers'Club movement because of hishardwork and he was success-ful in co-ordinating with juniorstaff of the banks to top man-agement bringing them underone umbrella.

Abraham P. Kurian, Dy.General Manager, CorporationBank, M.S. Ramani, Chief Re-

gional Manager, IndianOverseas Bank, N. Devadas,Dy General Manager, VijayaBank, V.I. Mathew, Dy. GeneralManager (Retired), Union Bankof India, Thomas Mathew,Ex-president, Bankers' Club,Palakkad, P.V. Surendranath,Asst. General Manager,Catholic Syrian Bank, CaptainPremnath, Chief Manager,SBT, S.P. Pillai, Senior Man-ager, Bank of India, Kollam andT.V.G. Ramanathan felicitatedBalakrishnan. K. Surendran,Joint Secretary of the Clubwelcomed the gathering andK. Rajeev, Vice Presidentproposed a vote of thanks.

Abraham Thariyan, Executive Director, South Indian Bank and Chief Patron, State Forum of Bankers’Club presenting memento to K.U. Balakrishnan. L.R.R. Warrier, President, Bankers’ Club and Mrs.Shailaja Balakrishnan are also seen.

State Forum of Bankers’ Clubs: L.R.R.Warrier and K.U. Balakrishnan re-elected

The An-nual Gen-eral bodymeeting ofThe StateForum ofB a n k e r s ’C l u b s ,Kerala ,theapex bodyof Bankers’

Clubs in the stateheld in Kochi re-elected L.R.R a m a c h a n d r aWarrier as Presi-dent and K.U.Balakrishnan asGeneral Secretary.Other office –bear-ers are K.Surendran, Kochi(Treasurer), M.V.Shyam Sunder,Thrissur (JointTreasurer), N.B.Viswan, Kochi,K . T . P .U n n i k r i s h n a n ,Kozhikode andSivadasan P. Pillai,Kollam (Vice Presi-dents), K.T.S u d h e e r ,Kozhikode, Peter

Sebastian, Kochi and TineyDev, Palakkad (Secretaries).

Manoharan - Guruvayur,K.V. Suresh - Kozhikode, RoyXavier - Muvattupuzha, An-thony Johnson - Thrissur,P.A.Premkumar - Kannur,P.K.Sugathan - Thrissur,K.L.Tomy - Kothamangalam,

L.R.R. WarrierPresident

K.U. BalakrishnanGeneral Secretary

K. SurendranTreasurer

V. Shyam SunderJoint Treasurer

N.B. ViswanVice President

S.P. PillaiVice President

Tiney DevSecretary

Birth World, wholly ownedsubsidiary of Med TreeHealthcare pvt Ltd is launch-ing an innovative range of ma-ternity and infant care servicesthat specializes in meeting theunique and ever-changingneeds of pregnant women and

Birth World: The heaven formothers and their babies

infants. Birth world services in-cludes Birth spa which focus oninfant massage therapy and

Birth academy for child birtheducation. It also providesother variety of pregnancy sup-port services . It’s like get to-gether place for pregnantwomen, moms and babies, aplace where they can relax and

Rajeev Satva lauds the philanthropicactivities of Madhavrau Scindia Trust

Rajeev Satva, President,All India Youth Congress saidthat the philanthropic activitiesof Madhavrau Scindia Chari-table Trust of Kannur, targetingthe poor and the deprived werecommendable.

Launching the Ambulancewith freezer facilities to markthe 9th anniversary ofMadhavrau Scindia CharitableTrust, Rajeev added that the

activities of the Trust weremore remarkable consideringthe backwardness of the re-gion.

The ambulance was dedi-cated to the memory of lateMercy Ravi.

K. Pramod, Chairman,Madhavrau Scindia CharitableTrust presided over the func-tion. K.P. Anilkumar, formerYouth Congress State Presi-

dent, P.K. Vijayaraghavan Mas-ter, Brijesh Kumar, PradeepVattipram, Adv. RasheedKavvai, Rigil Makkatti, JaisonThomas, Shaji Chaliloth,Abdulla Blathur, KallikkodanRajesh, Kookkiri Rajesh, Sajith,Rajeevan Elayavoor, RajeevPuthalath and K. Lakshmananspoke on the occasion. Adv.Sajeev Joseph welcomed thegathering.

Rajeev Satva, President, All India Youth Congress inaugurating the ambulance with freezer facilityintroduced by Madhavrau Scindia Charitable Trust, Kannur to mark its 9th anniversary.

>> Turn to page 15

K.T.P. UnnikrishnanVice President >> Turn to page 15


be pampered while simulta-neously getting educated withthe information and servicesthey need. Birth world providesservices for women still tryingto get pregnant, and those intheir postpartum months andoffers almost everything a

woman could need or want inrespect to pregnancy. BirthWorld aims at making strong,competent, capable mothers.

“Birth world will be the firstcentre in India to provide sci-entific infant massage therapyin an organised manner , withhighly qualified physiothera-pists and clinical child develop-

ment specialists” Said,Dr.M.A.Babu,Managing Direc-tor of Medtree Healthcare PvtLtd. The stateof -the art facil-ity at Panampilly Nagar, Kochiwill be officially opened duringthe first week of July’10.

Speaking on the benefits of

infant massage training, ChiefProgram officer, Dr.SuryaSubhashini said that infantmassage emphasis on mom’sloving touch and through thisbabies learn the comfort of lov-ing and of being loved. Infantmassage also helps baby learnto relax, enhances bonding andcommunication between the

child and the mother,aids growth and devel-opment of the baby,improves immunesystem,promote posi-tive body image,helpsto regulatedigestive,respiratoryans circulatory sys-tems, improvesbaby’s sleep,helps inrelieving discomfortfrom gas, colic, con-

gestion and teething,decreaseproduction of stress hormones,strengthens the parent’s un-derstanding of their baby’scues and increases parent’sconfidence in infant care.

‘In a study conducted

Touch Institute of US it wasfound that the children whowere undergone massagetherapy were 41% moresmarter and energetic thanothers’, says, Rafeeq, Director,Med Tree. The Clinical childdevelopment specialists fromBirth World were trained in Ma-laysia by Sister Choon, Re-gional Director,Asia-Pacific, In-ternational Association of In-fant Massage, USA.

Birth World, promoted by agroup of NRI doctors and busi-nessmen will initially extendtheir services to Kochi and hasplans to set up 25 centers inIndia including Delhi, Mumbai,K o l k a t t a , B e n g a l u r u ,Hyderabad, Kozhikode andThiruvananthapuram, in the

first of year operation, mainly,through franchising. A largeportion of the investment of thecenter will be done by the fran-chisee. The investments re-quired for setting up a centeris around 15 lacs. MedTree will

concentrate mainly in conceptdevelopment, setting the stan-dards and creating a brand.According to Dr. Babu arrange-ments have been alreadymade to launch Kozhikode andThiruvananthapuram centres.

Child Birth Education andInfant Massage courses areconducted in 4 sessions each.Rs.500/- to be charged for eachsession.

For more information con-tact:Ms.Sajeena Rafeeque,Corporate office, Birth World,27/292, 7th cross, KrishnaViharColony, Panampilly Nagar,Kochi-16,Tel:0484 4062220Email: [email protected]

From page 14

Try to bring investments from Gulfcountries: Capt. Krishnan Nair

Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair,Chairman, Leela Group saidthat investments from MiddleEast will be helpful for the de-velopment of Kerala. Headviced those concerned to tryfor it as the present situation iscongenial for the developmentof the state.

Releasing the manual

broughtout in connection withthe Gobal NRI Meet being heldin Kannur in July by handingover it to A.P. AbdullakuttyM.L.A., Capt Krishnan Nairpointed out that the newprojects such as Kannur Air-port, Azheekal Port and PowerPlant are able to change thevery face of Kannur.

At a function held in Kannur, Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair releasingthe Silver Jubilee Manual brought out in connection with theGlobal NRI Meet being conducted by Indo-Arab ConfederationCouncil, by handing over it to A.P. Abdullakutty, M.L.A. (Fromleft): Mahesh Chandra Baliga, T.K.C. Ahmed, AattakoyaPallikkandi, Assinar Thalankara, Shukkoor Nangarath, RemsyHassan and K.K. Subair are also seen.

Aattakoya Pallikandi,Chairman, Indo-Arab Confed-eration presided over the func-tion. Mahesh Chandra Baliga,President, North MalabarChamber of Commerce wasthe chief guest. T.K.C. Ahmed,Assinar Thalankara, ShukkoorNangarath, Remsy Hassanand K.K. Subair spoke. T.K.C.Ahmed proposed a vote ofthanks.

Kerala, a monthly newsletterbeing brought our by the Cor-poration. Dr PT Nandakumar,President of the TrivandrumManagement Association re-ceived the fist copy form theMinister. T Balakrishnan IAS,Additional Chief Secretary,Srinivas IAS, Additional Secre-tary-Industries and AlkeshSharma, IAS, Managing Direc-tor-KSIDC attended the func-tion.

National Resource CentreThe National Resource

Centre for Industrial Develop-ment (NRCID) has been set upat the KSIDC headquarters atKeston Road, Kowdiar,Thiruvananthapuram, for thebenefit of the investor commu-nity, academia and research-ers. The platform can also bemade use of by governmentdepartments, State PSUs andnew entrepreneurs.

NRCID will provide ser-vices towards economic re-search and collection of reliabledata on industry and economyin India, including Data Analy-sis and Forecast. Services oftrained professionals will alsobe made available, to ensureefficient use of databases andto help the users. The Centrewill have the central Terminalset up by the Centre for Moni-toring Indian Economy Pvt Ltd(CMIE) for providing authenticinformation on different fields,including Macro Economic Da-tabases, Firm Level Data-bases, Sectoral Databases andRegional Databases.It will alsooffer a State Analysis Servicethrough which the economicdevelopment of the state isclosely monitored, major sec-tors and industries are trackedand the results presented in the

form of a “State Analysis Ser-vice”. The centre will help ad-dress problems such as ab-sence of knowledge about theright source for data, non-uni-formity of available data, diffi-culty in comparability, hin-drances for standardization ofdata etc., which are essentialfor drawing inference andwhich also would help to framepolicies and guidelines.

Such centers are alreadyfunctioning in the Statesof Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh, Gujarat, and in insti-tutions such as IIM –A, IIM- C,large corporates like HUL Ltd,ITC Ltd and financial institu-tions / banks. The Ministry ofFinance and the Ministry ofCommerce and Industry, Gov-ernment of India also avail suchservices.

NewsletterThe monthly 8-page En-

glish newsletter - ‘Enterpriseand Industrial Update-Kerala’will seek to create and enhanceKerala’s image as an investor-friendly state. It will report thedevelopments on the industrialand investment front of Keralaand feature the latest trends,industry-specific reports andinterviews.

The newsletter will bemailed to decision-makers, ad-ministrators, CEOs of promi-nent industries/organizations inIndia and abroad, educationalinstitutions, research institu-tions, banks/financial institu-tions, editors/correspondentsof Indian and foreign newspa-pers and journals. The e-ver-sion of the newsletter will beavailable on the KSIDCwebsite www.ksidc.org and willalso be mailed to various stake-holders.

From page 10

T.G. Balakrishnan - Ernakulam,Ravi Mohan - Kollam, K.Mohanan, Kothamangalam,Raj Mohan- karunagappally, T.Mukundan- Kannur, G.Madhusudanan Nair-Kayamkulam andRamachandran Ernakulam arethe Executive Committeemembers. President and Sec-retary of all affiliated clubs willbe the members of ExecutiveCommittee.

Returning officer N.R. Pillaiconducted the election pro-ceedings. L.R. R. Warrier Pre-sided.

K.U. Balakrishnan pre-sented the annual report.

From page 14

With the Housing market inrecovery mode, SundaramBNP Paribas Home Finance(SBNPPHF), the Housing Fi-nance Subsidiary of SundaramFinance Ltd., which achieveda 39% growth in disbursementsin 2009-10, is now looking toexpand and strengthen itspresence with increased in-vestments in the four SouthernMarkets this year. SundaramHome will be adopting the ‘Huband Spoke’ model for expan-sion as it enters the next phaseof growth.

Srinivas Acharya, Manag-ing Director, Sundaram BNPParibas Home Finance Ltd saidthat over the next 12months,the company will be specifi-cally targeting the Karnatakaand Kerala markets and ex-

Sundaram BNP Paribas HomeFinance to strengthen presencein South India

pects contribution from thesemarkets to rise from the currentsingle digit levels. SundaramHome’s expansion inKarnataka and Kerala will in-clude opening up new officesin Hubli, Mangalore andMysore regions in Karnatakaand in Kollam and Malappuramdistricts and theThiruvananthapuram market inKerala, among other locationsin these two states.

In addition to the above,Sundaram Home will also ex-pand its already strong pres-ence in Tamil Nadu and AndhraPradesh by penetrating intomore Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns inthese two states. Going for-ward, the company will alsoexplore the possibility of ex-panding into other locations in

India.As part of this growthstrategy, SBNPPHF will alsoleverage the strong SundaramFinance branch network andexisting customer base to ex-pand its presence in thesemarkets. Currently, about 25%of the Home Finance custom-ers are existing customers ofSundaram Finance. SundaramHome has over 23000custom-ers.

Sundaram BNP ParibasHome ended FY10 with NetProfit of Rs.27.72cr. Similar tothe parent company(Sundaram Finance), theHousing Finance subsidiary,too had an industry best inclass Net NPA of just 0.11%,again reflecting the focus oncustomer quality.

Microsoft Corporation IndiaPvt. Ltd. announced the avail-ability of Office 2010,SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010and Project 2010 for businesscustomers in India and across

the world. More than 90 millionexisting business customersworldwide can start taking ad-vantage of the latest office pro-ductivity suite from Microsoftthat delivers the best unified

productivity experience acrossPC, Web and Mobile.

‘When we set out to rein-vent the world’s favorite pro-ductivity suite, we discovered

Microsoft launches Office 2010 System

>> Turn to page 16

Dr. Surya Subhashini conducting baby massage classes Birth World Team (Team of Physiotherapists and ChildDevelopment Specialists)


Edited, Printed and Published by P.V. Radhamani, Printed at Printers Castle, Kochi - 16. Published at Journalist Nagar, Thrikkakara P.O., Kochi - 21.Chief Editor: A. Madhavan (Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act). Tel: 98471 78836, 90482 11587, 0484-4025403/3240781. Fax: 0484-2357581

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Web: www.businessdigestmagazine.org

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“Though IIM Kozhikode isthe fifth IIM in India, it is the firstfor many initiatives. It will be thefirst B School to induct close to100 women students, this year.Assuming 25% qualify to be-come CEOs then 15 years laterwe are looking at Indian andGlobal women CEOs who havetheir origin in IIM K. The Insti-tute seeks to inculcate the spiritof social sensitivity and envi-ronmental consciousness in itsmanagement students. IIMKozhikode is committed to thedevelopment of communities ofdependable, capable, caringand fair-minded people who willlead India and the world in thefuture, adds Dr Chatterjee.On 28th June, IIM Kozhikodeis set to create history and in-duct nearly 100 women stu-dents in 2010 batch. The insti-tute aspires to create the firstbatch of women leaders for glo-bal and Indian businesses inthe next 15 years and createpathways for the young andnew IIMs to follow.

T.T. Thomas, Board mem-ber, IIM-K was also present atthe press conference.

IIM Kozhikode, one ofIndia’s top business school,credited with so many firsts isonce again at the core ofchanging Kerala’s businesslandscape. IIMK will take thelead and partner with the Govtof Kerala to create leaders ineducation, tourism and health.Initiatives will be taken towardscharting a course with differentministries and IIMK will be theepi centre for repositioningKerala and be a catalyst in thestate’s resurgence. IIMK fo-cused on creating true leadersis organizing a LeadershipClinic, a 3 day workshop inMumbai. IIM K hopes to global-

IIM Kozhikode to partner withKerala government in highereducation, tourism and healthTo offer management training programe in Kochi

ize Indian wisdom and createthought leaders for domesticand overseas businesses.

The institute plans to be-come a ‘centre of differentiatedlearning’ and is exploring thepossibility of offering a new pro-gram in Kochi for driving itsvarious initiatives. The Kochimanagement trainingprogramme will target manag-ers working in different organi-zations who possess a chanceto become the Chief Executiveof the respective organizationsin future. Prof. DebashisChatterjee, Director, IIMKozhikode at a press confer-ence in Kochi said that the In-stitute is planning one yeartraining programme as well asshort-term programmes.

According to Dr. SanalKumar Velayudhan, FellowIIMA Professor- Marketing Area& Dean (Development) Mem-ber, Board of Governors theIIM K is also expanding its ho-rizon to foreign shores throughManagement DevelopmentPrograms and Interactive Dis-tance Learning and pushing itsagenda of creating leaders.

Debashis Chatterjee

The Coir Board has drawnup an elaborate action plan tocelebrate the “Year of Coir-2010” at the national level in abefitting manner in order toenhance the share of coir andcoir products in the domesticmarket following its recent ap-proval by the Union Ministry ofMicro, Small and Medium En-terprises.

As part of the year longcelebrations, the Board willundertake aggressive publicitycampaigns throughout thecountry to create an awarenessamong the public on the di-verse utility of the eco-friendlycoir and coir products for floorfurnishing, soil and water con-servation, and as an ideal sub-stitute for wood products be-

Coir Board to celebrate “YEAR OFCOIR 2010” in a befitting manner

sides for agriculture and horti-culture purposes, Coir BoardChairman V S Vijayaraghavansaid .

The governmental declara-tion to this effect was formallylaunched by Union DefenceMinister A.K.Antony, by hand-ing over its copy to Kerala Min-ister for Co-operation and CoirG Sudhakaran at the functionorganized in connection withthe inauguration of thePalakkad Coir Cluster .

The Board has also identi-fied various activities includingorganization of workshops andseminars in various parts of thecountry, conduct of school levelcompetitions, as also architectsand interior decorators meetsbesides participation in major

trade fairs within the countryand abroad to popularizethe utility of coir and coir prod-ucts.

Intensive campaigns aboutthe technological innovationsand research findings of theCentral Coir Research Institute,Kalavoor and the Central Insti-tute of Coir Technology, Ban-galore, in order to improvequality of products would alsobe undertaken in an aggressivemanner during the period.

The growing global de-mand for coir and coir productsbecause of its eco-friendly na-ture, vouched by its enhancedexports to the global markethas prompted the governmentto launch the Year of Coir-2010,Vijayaraghavan added.

that seamless collaborationand anywhere, anytime accessto documents are crucialenablers of the next generationof productivity gains. The lat-est wave of Office 2010 and re-lated products delivers exactlythat, along with a host of sev-

eral other features and en-hancements that allow busi-nesses save, innovate andgrow.”, said Ravi Venkatesan,Chairman - Microsoft India

As per a Forrester Re-search, companies deployingOffice 2010, SharePoint 2010,

Exchange 2010 and OfficeCommunications Server 2007R2 can expect more than 300%return on investment in lessthan a year; see more than $13million in savings over a threeyear period and an averagesavings of more than two workweeks per year.

From page 15

The Government of In-dia decided to appoint M.Narendra, Executive Direc-tor, Bank of India as the nextChairman & Managing Di-rector of Indian OverseasBank.

6 more public sectorbanks will get new CMDs.H.S.U. Kamath, ED, CanaraBank will be the CMD ofVijaya Bank, S. Raman, ED,

Bank will assume charge asthe CMD of Andhra Bank,Ramnath Pradeep, ED, Cen-tral Bank of India will takecharge as the CMD of Cor-poration Bank, NageshPydah, ED, Punjab NationalBank will head Oriental Bankof Commerce as CMD andArun Kaul, ED, Central Bankof India will move to UcoBank as CMD.

Union Bank of India will moveto Canara Bank as CMD, R.Ramachandran, ED, Syndicate

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