Passline Business Magazine July 2012

PASSLINE June 30-July 31, 2012

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Editor & Publisher

VARGHESE PAUL

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Chennai

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Manager-Marketing

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From the Editor

The impressive win by Mr R Selvaraj of the Congress in the Neyyattinkara byelection to the KeralaAssembly is, in Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s own words, a referendum on governance by theUnited Front Government which has completed one year in office in the state. The jubilant UDF part-ners also claim that the Selvaraj victory was ‘people’s verdict’ in support of the policies and programmesof the ruling alliance and a “fitting reply to the political violence let loose by the CPI(M) and its cronies”.There are others who say that the Neyyattinkara outcome cements the landslide victory the UDFachieved in the Piravom byelection earlier though the alliance was retaining the seat there while inNeyyattinkara it was wresting the seat from the LDF, though the candidate was the same.

Whatever one’s interpretation of the result, it has given the UDF the confidence to go ahead with thedevelopmental activities the Chief Minister and his colleagues have initiated since coming to power.The victory should hold lessons for the UDF. It must act purposively. The time to take important execu-tive decisions and move key projects or schemes, if any, that lie blocked is now when the Oppositionis unlikely to be a hurdle. The roles of the Government and the alliance parties need to be clearlydefined if they mean to give a credible account of themselves when general elections are due in 2016.

What the Government, especially its leader Oommen Chandy, should do now is to continue theambitious projects it has started and complete them according to schedule. These projects need norepetition here (they have been detailed in the cover story of this issue). Not only should the ChiefMinister see to it that the people’s dreams about these projects are fulfilled but he should also instillconfidence in the minds of the people that the Government is determined to put down violence of allkinds and that culprits in the recent killings, political and other, are brought to book soon. Here is anopportunity for him and his team to show to the world that they mean business.

There is also another task before the Chief Minister: it is not the task of the UDF but OommenChandy alone. It is that he should rein in the larger-than-life ambitions of alliance partners and those inhis own party. After the byelection, demands have been raised for the induction of a minister from aparticular community. Now that the Chief Minister commands a comfortable majority in the Assembly(72 members, against the Opposition’s 67) this should be possible. It should also give him the ammu-nition to forge ahead and achieve the development targets he has set for Kerala. The plight of theOpposition is an opportunity for him.

In the midst of the welcome trends comes a silver lining for the state—it has topped the charts ininvestment for the last quarter of the fiscal year ending on March 31. This comes as a big boost to theGovernment which is embarking on an ambitious project, ‘Emerging Kerala’, in September to attractinvestors from across the globe and later in January as it is set to hold the annual Pravasi BharatiyaDivas, a gathering of non-resident Indians. According to the Associated Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (Assocham), Kerala has emerged as the single state in the country which has seen a surgein growth in investment projects in various stages of implementation for the last quarter of 2011-12. Itsays the state had a 27.8% year-on-year rate of growth and was way ahead of the national rate of 8.1%in the last quarter, down from 26% in the first quarter.

Another advantage for the UDF Government is the regaining of confidence by the United Progres-sive Government at the Centre which could defeat the designs of partner Mamata Banerjee in thepresidential candidate selection. The manner in which she sought to overturn Finance Minister PranabMukherjee’s presidential nomination by the UPA has galvanized the Congress into coming back swing-ing as it was party President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who were respon-sible for exposing Mamata’s overreach providing added strength to their party. The nomination of Pranabhas proved a master stroke not only because he is eminently qualified for the position and stands aclear chance of winning but has created rifts in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the oppositioncombine, and the Left parties. This has made both leaders, Sonia and Manmohan, stronger. The UPAGovernment can now press home its advantage and get decision-making moving again. A strongergovernment at the Centre with the Congress-led allies as partners means better possibilities of gettingKerala’s ruling alliance its dues quicker than earlier. A few determined efforts by Oommen Chandy willkickstart Kerala’s economy and send business confidence soaring. Now is the time to act.

Time to speed up progress is now

Varghese Paul

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PASSLINEJune 30-July 31, 2012

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Heredity vitalAfter reading the write-up on the

Emmanuval brothers (June issue) andvisiting their showroom at Thrissur dur-ing my sojourn in Kerala recently Ifeel they put into practice what theypreach. The basic principle of ‘saywhat you can do and do what yousay’ is true of these enterprising fouryoung brothers and their families be-cause Emmanuval Silks waslaunched to fulfil certain principles.

The best way to predict the futureis to create it and they are creatingit.

Heredity plays a significant role in helping a busi-ness, whether it is run by a single individual or as ajoint venture, to scale heights. In Emmanuval’s caseit was the brothers’ father who was their inspirationand who taught them the power of unity.

Moreover their father instilled in them good vir-tues and taught them not to cheat anyone and notto be cheated by anyone. It is food for thought forother business people to follow. Let this power ofunity and their legacy help them to achieve their goal.-Dileep Jose, Virginia, US

Single project idealThe article on viable projects that can be

started in Kerala, especially by NRKs,(‘Projects worthy of investment inKerala’ by G Rama MohananNair) is worth reading.But it runs to pages,like papers presentedat seminars. Today’sfast life never welcomessuch lengthy articles.

However, such articlesempower readers and entre-preneurs contemplating to startnew ventures. The writer hasclearly presented the current sce-nario of political Kerala mentioningthe state as a home for more than200 brands.

The writer like a project consultantprovides information on starting a unit. Butinstead of publishing details of a fewprojects together in a single issue it wouldhave been ideal if details of a single projectwere highlighted.

It would also have been more informative andemulative if a report on the ups and downs of aplayer in the field had been given along with thewrite-up.-Usman, Kozhikode

Simple device neededIt seems innovations have become the order of

the day. With the advent of the computer, innova-tions and inventions have become far easier andspeedier than in olden days. In olden times it wasa time-consuming and risky task for scholars toinvent anything.

Computers help a lot in designing/drawing/sketch-ing or monitoring the innovation procedures. Youngpeople are more innovation savvy. Nowadays mostinnovations take place in the fields of informationtechnology and electronics whereas it was inven-tions of pieces of equipment, gadgets and medicines

in olden days.Many of the new gadgets, appli-

ances, machines or equipment in-vented are yet to come for daily useby man. One example is the coco-nut-climbing machine which is yetto come into common use. Man-power for tree-climbing is dwindling.Papaya is a common plant which isubiquitous in Kerala. Climbing theseplants is dangerous because of theirdelicate stem. Some time ago a fun-gal disease afflicted these plants inan epidemic form all over the statedevastating them. But it seems pa-paya has begun to grow on a large

scale and become a common sight again. The ironyis that there is no simple device to pluck the ma-tured/ripe fleshy fruit without damaging it.-C I Baby, Thrissur

Education thrillingWhile reading the write-up on Rev Dr Jose Aikara

of De Paul International Residential School (DPIRS)I was sur-

prised how an individual could achieve so much in alifetime to educate himself and others. One thing iscertain: we must ‘first light ourselves to enlightenothers’. Fr Aikara’s academic profile is inspirational.For those who study in the institution managed byhim, education may be not only a passion but a‘thrilling’ experience if we take it in that sense.

I began subscribing to the magazine when I firstnoticed it in a friend’s residence in Dubai with itsattractive cover featuring prominent NRK business-men and academics. As a blessing in disguise themagazine turned out to be extra study material formy wards to know more about the educational insti-tutions in our country, especially in Kerala. I hopethe magazine will continue to enlighten readers, in-cluding aspiring students, on some of the best edu-cational institutions and business houses in our coun-try.

-Prince Charles, Dubai

Decision-making haltedIt looks like India is on the path of an economic

downfall. The situation may worsen if the Govern-ment fails to act immediately.

What is most alarming is that our industrialgrowth is poor. The investment perceptive about In-dia has turned negative owing to the sharp fall in therupee. Inflation has scaled a new high and GDPgrowth has come down. So this is the time for ev-eryone, including the Opposition and states, tocome together.

If reports are to be believed top Union ministersare working hard not to work because they don’tknow where they will be in the days to come. Presi-dent Pratibha Patil is preparing to go out. Vice-Presi-dent Hameed Ansari is eyeing the post falling va-cant by the end of tenure of Pratibha. Prime Minis-ter Manmohan Singh may be waiting for the filescleared by other ministers. Finance Minister PranabMukherjee is in a wait-and-watch mood as he hasbeen tipped to move to Raisina Hill (RashtrapatiBhavan). If the Finance Minister moves to thePresident’s house there will be a cascade of changesin the portfolios of ministers. This mode will makeincumbent ministers inactive in other portfolios. De-fence Minister A K Antony is negotiating among coa-lition party chiefs to find a consensus candidate forthe highest constitutional post. So just imagine whowill clear the files accumulating on the tables of theseministers. The result: decision- making at the higherechelons of power is at a standstill. We may askourselves: how will the Government act fast?

-Shafi Rehman, New Delhi

InspiringNalina Poduval of GNS Leisure Travels may be

a lone crusader in the field of tourism and travels.She runs a venture successfully in a sector whichcertainly requires a partner. I think it may be herpositive belief that it is the power within us that helps

us to fight against odds and come up in life. Herwords that the knowledge we acquire fromour teachers make us able and efficient and

that we will reach nowhere without a teacherto enlighten us are inspiring.

-Sara Paul, Kochi

Letters to be addressed to:

The Editor,Passline Business Magazine,

38/125 1st Floor,Narakathara Road,

Kochi-682 035, Kerala, India.E-mail : [email protected]

So far,so fast

1year ofUDF Govt

Unlike his predecessors Oommen Chandy gives us a feelingthat he is in the thick of action, planning to execute the projectsalready in hand and this may be because he is not an expert inthe mesmerizing wordplay we usually associate with our politi-cians. Less talking and more action is the best tagline that suitsthe Chief Minister. It is not in many years that one gets a ChiefMinister who would prefer to spend more time among the peoplethan sitting in a plush office signing files.

By Sreejith N K

The sea is calm and the weatheris not stormy; the ship moves steadilybut the captain can’t sit complacentthough no big threat is looming largeat present. A handful of smart projects,which might herald the emergence ofKerala, are waiting to be executed asthe UDF Government led by Chief Min-ister Oommen Chandy has completedone year of ruling the state.

One year in office is the apt mo-ment to assess a government’sstrength but the true power of a leader

will be seen only when adversityknocks at his door. So far no big con-troversy has raised its head but thehope for better thingsahead is alive with anagile Chief Ministerleading from the front.And the coalition gov-ernment is heavily rely-ing on this quality of theleader as part of theprocess of image build-ing.

Unlike his predeces-sors Oommen Chandygives us a feeling thathe is in the thick of ac-

tion, planning to execute the projectsalready in hand and this may be be-cause he is not an expert in the mes-

merizing wordplay weusually associate withour politicians. Less talk-ing and more action isthe best tagline that suitsthe Chief Minister.

It is not in manyyears that one gets aChief Minister who wouldprefer to spend moretime among the peoplethan sitting in a plushoffice signing files. Ac-cording to

C R Neelakandan, social activist,Oommen Chandy is the only one inthe ministry who works almost 24hours a day for the people. “This is insharp contrast to the previous govern-ment where the LDF tried in every wayto curb the actions of their Chief Min-ister,” he says.

P G Anoop Narayanan, President,Malabar Chamber of Commerce, saysthe Government has put forward somegreat projects to develop the industrialsector of Kerala. “Everything is posi-tive at the ministry level,” he says.However his grouse is that the imple-mentation of these projects faces sev-eral hurdles and wants the Governmentto take care to ensure their success-ful completion. He cites the exampleof Karnataka where the Governmenthas been too quick to give licences toinvestors who participated in the re-cently concluded Global Investors Meet(GIM) at Bangalore. “The licenses wereissued within 24 hours. But we cannotexpect such a scenario here,” saysAnoop.

The upcoming Emerging Keralaevent is one of the best moves by theGovernment but the attitude ofbureaucrats must change for suchAnoop Narayanan

COVER STORY


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programmes to be successful, he cau-tions. He suggests that the buildingrules must be amended to help indus-tries.

Abdhal Galu, a software profes-sional, says that the Government is onthe path of development. The projectsreactivated by Oommen Chandy’sGovernment will boost the IT sector asevents like Emerging Kerala will usherin more investment putting Kerala in arespectable position on the global in-dustrial map.

Since taking charge OommenChandy has been conscious of creat-ing a positive image for his Governmentbefore the people. A 100-dayprogramme was kick-started and, aspart of it, all ministers of the Cabinetannounced various schemes for imple-mentation. Though many of them had

been launched by the previousGovernment, the move sentthe good initiatives launched

by the LDF Government.‘Transparency’ was fol-

lowed up with care andcompas-

sion.Am a s sc o n t a c tp r o g r a m m ecalled ‘ChiefMinister’s JanaSamparka Paripadi’brought in positive results.The event turned out to be a mas-sive crowd-puller as huge crowds par-ticipation was reported in the respec-tive district centres where theprogramme had been organized. It wasmeant to enable the people to meetthe Chief Minister and seek redress forgrievances. The programme was suc-

cessful because the Government wasable to aid people in dire need of help.Another campaign based on compas-sion was the ‘Karunya’ medical stores,a programme to regulate the price ofmedicines.

These projects based on compas-sion have given a human face to theGovernment’s activities. The ‘JanaSamparka Paripadi’ alsogave Chandy an edgeover his predecessors ofbeing a visible Chief Min-ister. “I would not get allthis exposure sitting inmy official residence andthrough reports and infor-mation. The ‘JanaSamparka Paripadi’ gaveme a lot of visibility andappreciation. I was ableto understand the prob-lems of the peoplethrough this programme. Besides, myvisits instilled confidence in the peoplethat there is a government which caresfor them,” said the Chief Minister later.

The Government had a good startby implementing the rehabilitation

packages for Moolampillyevictees from the

Vallarpadam ContainerTerminal Project and

Chengara agitators,who had turned hos-

tile against the pre-vious government

for allotting unin-habitable land.

“ T h eGovernment’s

e f -

for tsi nMoolampilly andChengara were promisingthough the issue still l ingers”,

Neelakandan says.A lot of popular schemes were

launched. Chandy wanted to make thepeople believe that the UDF Govern-ment is giving utmost importance toefficiency and transparency. From July1, 2011 the Chief Minister’s officestarted live webcasting, enabling thepeople to view the office live. Addition-

ally, a 24/7 call centrewas set up for peoplearound the world to reg-ister their complaints.

About the social wel-fare measures taken,Neelakandan says theGovernment’s solutionsshould not be restrictedto giving away financialaid to help the people butthe root cause of the prob-lems should also be ad-dressed.

‘Nirbhaya’, another path-breakinginitiative launched on June 3, 2012,aims at providing security to women.It operates on three points: prevention,prosecution and protection. Thescheme gained credibility as the policyrecommendations were made by acommittee headed by poet and socialactivist Sugathakumari with a teamconsisting of Lida Jacob, former Direc-tor of Public Instruction; MallikaSarabhai, dancer and activist; SunithaKrishnan, Director of Prajwala, anNGO; and Sarada Muralidharan, a bu-reaucrat. The Cabinet approved the rec-ommendations of the team.

The drive has attracted women asit addresses the most important prob-lem they face. Neeraja N K, a sociol-ogy student at St Teresa’s College,

Kochi, says that she is looking for-ward to the successful implemen-tation of ‘Nirbhaya’ which might en-sure the safety of women. Womenface threat in public as well as inhomes, she says.

Additionally, a ban on panmasala was ordered and theGovernment is planning to en-force it strictly. P T Lakshmi,a retired school teacher, saysthat the ban is a great thing

done to society. “These toxicsubstances are destroying

our youth, especially stu-dents,” she says.

The not sosmooth road:Though the

journey so far cannot be said to betough it was neither so smooth. Therewere some controversies in many de-partments. K B Ganesh Kumar, Min-ister of Forests, Environment, Sportsand Cinema, and Abdu Rabb, Ministerof Education, were in the midst of con-troversies. Gnaesh Kumar had prob-lems with his father R Balakrishna

Since taking chargeOommen Chandy has beenconscious of creating apositive image for his Gov-ernment before the people.A 100-day programme waskick-started and, as part ofit, all ministers of the Cabi-net announced variousschemes for implementa-tion. Though many of themhad been launched by theprevious Government, themove sent the good initia-tives launched by the LDFGovernment.

C R Neelakandan

N M Pearson

Chandy proved a visible CM

Pillai. Abdu Rabb received widespreadflak in connection with the Calicut Uni-versity scam and his non-secularstance on refusing to follow the tradi-tional norm of inaugurating public cer-emonies by lighting the lamp which hesays is against his faith.

Ganesh Kumar had initiated someinnovative measures in his capacity asminister of film affairs which appealedto film lovers. Vinod K V, an avid filmbuff and a freelance graphic designer,says he was happy when the Govern-ment announced classification for the-atres. “But no further development hastaken place,” he says.

P M Ali, CITU State Council mem-ber and Zonal President, Kalamassery,says that an economic slowdown issweepingacross the state in tune with the con-dition being felt throughout the nation.Industrial growth has been a marginal


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‘Development and Care’ has been the mottoof the UDF Government. Oommen Chandy hasbeen instrumental in keeping those two pillars ina fine balance. The activities based on ‘care’ haveboosted the Government’s mass appeal but theChief Minister is well aware that it is developmentprojects that will prove its mettle.

Chandy had told the media earlier this monththat the first phase of Smart City in Kochi wouldbe completed within 18 months. On June 9 helaid the foundation stone of the first phase of the3.5-million sq ft building of the project. Chandy,on the same day, also inaugurated astate-of-the-art 10,000-sq ft sales pa-vilion on the Smart City premises.

The Government is moving aheadat a swift pace and many projectsthought to be dead are getting a freshbreath of life. The Government is enthusiasticabout accelerating the work on VizhinjamDeepsea International Container Terminal Port inThiruvananthapuram. Discussions are going onwith the Mumbai-based Welspun Consortium, thesole bidder remaining, and the Government is notaverse to opting for a re-tender to prevent furtherdelays in the Rs 4,010-crore project.

The environment impact study on the projecthas started and will be completed within 18months. The construction work on the road has

begun and Rs 224 crore has been allocated forthis.

The ambitious Kochi Metro Rail is expectedto get the final Central nod any time. The studyreports on the monorail projects for Kozhikodeand Thiruvananthapuram have been completed.

Another dream project is the greenfield Kannurinternational airport. The project has got the nodfrom the Centre and the state is determined tospeed up work, the first phase of which is ex-pected to be completed in two years’ time. Bharat

Petroleum Corporation Ltd has decided to investRs.170 crore for a 21% stake and the state has26%. KMML and Kerala Beverage Corporation willalso invest in the project.

The public can have 49% shares of the valueof Rs 384 crore.

The Government has given the state an op-portunity to blaze a trail by getting the nod for abullet train service. With this, Kerala will be thefirst state in the country to have a bullet train whichis supposed to run at a speed of 350 km/hour.The train’s dream run is expected to be in 2021.The project will be guided by E Sreedharan, Prin-cipal Adviser, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. It willbe a joint venture by the State and Union Govern-ments.

Oommen Chandy displayed his quality as aleader when he roped in Sam Pitroda as thestate’s mentor. Pitroda has charted a 10-pointbusiness plan for the state based on five sec-tors—coastal waterway, high-speed rail corridor,waste disposal project, modernization of tradi-tional industrial sectors, implementation of e-gov-ernance for transparency in administration, set-ting up of a knowledge city, modernization of vo-cational education and transforming Kerala intothe capital of ayurveda in the world.

Projects to look for

'Pressure from allies should be ignored'

Focus on infra projects“After the successful completion of one year of governance, the Gov-

ernment is stepping into another year which will see new projects to en-hance the infrastructure of the state,” UDF Convener P P Thankachan toldthe media after a UDF meeting the other day. The Government’s focus thisyear would be on developing the basic infrastructure of the state, he said.He promised that the Government would work hard to complete the projectsalready in progress.

The meeting also discussed some new infrastructure projects whichthe Government will take up in the coming days. These projects will bediscussed in the Cabinet soon, Thankachan said. He said the Neyyattinkarabyelection result was proof that people recognized Government’s develop-ment policies.

The meeting decided to organize district-level conventions in the firstweek of July to celebrate the first anniversary of the Government. Bookletsdetailing the Government’s achievements will be distributed as part of theconvention.

Vizhinjam DeepseaInternational ContainerTerminal Port

0.1%. Prices of essential items likevegetables are shooting up and theState Government could not do any-thing about the recent petrol price in-crease even though a Congress-ledcoalition is at the Centre. He says anincrease in electricity tariff is about tocome and since the common man’sincome is not increasing it will putpeople to difficulty. “The condition ofthe state public sector is not also hope-ful,” he says.

The general feeling is that the Gov-ernment has been enthusiastic aboutintroducing many positive initiatives butfails to go ahead with them after a par-ticular stage. N K Mohandas, StateSecretary of the BMS, says that theGovernment won the elections with athin majority and this led to immensepressure from the other parties of thecoalition. This is seen clearly reflectedon governance. “The Government couldnot successfully endorse manyprojects because of this pressure fromthe allies,” says Mohandas.

N M Pearson, political observer andauthor, says the Chief Minister has leftmajor portfolios for alliance parties andthis has negatively impacted the Gov-

ernment. He says the Opposition hasfailed in its duty to direct or correct theGovernment. “The major constituent isbusy solving the issue of infightinghaunting the party.”

Both Pearson and Mohandas agreethat the Government has done somecommendable work, especially in re-gard to the recent political murders

which shocked Kerala, though on im-mense pressure from the people.

But the Chief Minister is well awarethat administering a coalition govern-ment, where each partner has its pri-orities and ideology to look after, is notan easy task. But his determinationhas so far kept the Government fromsuccumbing to pressures from the al-

lies even though it had, at times, suc-cumbed to their demands as in thecase of the fifth Minister. Being able todeliver under such pressure and politi-cal play is the biggest plus point aboutOommen Chandy.

‘Athivegam, Bahudooram’ wasOommen Chandy’s motto when hetook charge. Looking back after oneyear it is clear that he has travelled along way in a short time. Strong pres-sure from the allies, problems in theindividual departments and the go-slowattitude of the bureaucracy have actedas strong hurdles in the way ahead.But an agile leader who is ready to workrestlessly for the people can easilysurpass the obstacles. TheGovernment’s attitude to solving theproblems of the nurses and the swiftaction taken on the Chandrasekharanmurder case prove this.

Things are falling in the right placeat the right time for the UDF Govern-ment as its candidate, Selvaraj, regis-tered a convincing victory in theNeyyattinkara byelection. With an ad-ditional member, the Government,people hope, is poised to move aheadwith its development agenda.


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The road tochaos—and disaster

Frequent petrol price increases andthe exploding vehicle populationon our roads are national issuesaffecting all sections of people.There must therefore be concertedefforts by all to find a permanentsolution. The main thrust should be toeducate the public on a war footingabout the urgent need to conserveoil and explore the possibilities ofalternative sources of fuel.Everyone should realize thatfossil fuels are finite.

Passline News Service

US President Barack Obamamade two almost identical statementsrecently. In the first, he said the grow-ing demand for petroleum in India,China and Brazil would be the majorreason for an increase in oil prices inthe long run. In the second, made at arally, he argued in favour of the publictransportation system and added thata mass transit way would be good forthe environment. Here again he re-marked that in the long run, China’sand India’s craze for automobiles wouldlead to a strain on petroleum re-sources.

Though it is ironical that it is theUS that consumes more than a fifth of

the world’s oil with just 2% of the world’sreserves, there is a point in what itsPresident has said, a point which In-dia should take serious note of. All ofus should pause and look at someunpleasant realities that are going tounfold very soon. First, the era of cheapand abundant oil is over. Secondly wemust find ways and means to reducethe dependency on foreign oil. This canonly be done by reducing oil consump-tion, especially for personal transport.It is imperative to preserve it from be-ing excessively consumed. Thirdly theGovernment must devise suitable

transport policies that take off the mostnumber of personal vehicles from pub-lic roads.

The basic reason why a non-renew-able resource such as oil should bejudiciously used is that it will run outsoon if not used properly. Rather thanblame the Government or the oil com-panies for increasing prices at frequentintervals, we should think of alterna-tive resources such as solar energy,biofuels etc. The Government shouldencourage research in this field. More-over, if we fail to make suitable adjust-ments to our lifestyles, the transitionto a less carbon-intensive era is boundto be chaotic and disruptive. It is sur-prising that the Ministry of New andRenewable Energy is keeping quiet inthis area.

Meanwhile, the number of motorvehicles, essential for some and a sym-bol of prestige for others, has been in-creasing alarmingly, posing a threat tothe nation’s energy, particularly petro-leum stockpiles. Declining stockpile isnot the sole problem that demands im-mediate attention but the pollution be-ing caused by the excessive use ofpetroleum products should be linkedwith it.

Kerala is a comparatively smallstate where infrastructure growth, par-ticularly roads, is slow but the numberof vehicles per capita is perhaps thehighest in the country. While the num-ber of cars on US roads is dropping (itdeclined by 4m, 2%, in 2009 becauseof the global economic crisis, thoughthis number is almost equal to the to-tal number of vehicles in Kerala), it isincreasing at more than 10% yearly inKerala. According to Mr T J Thomas,Regional Transport Officer, Ernakulum,the vehicles on Kerala roads are 600times more than the capacity of its in-frastructure!

At the end of March 2007 Keralahad about 4.02m vehicles. Today thishas crossed the 6m mark. About 15%of these are cars. True, Kerala, or forthat matter India, is nowhere near theUS regarding the number of vehicleson the roads. Our car population is onlya miniscule compared to that in thedeveloped world. Yet we have reasonsto worry about the growing number ofprivate vehicles on the roads.

How can the Government rid itselfof this difficult situation? And how canwe preserve fuel, the lifeblood of manythings?

According to a study, for the lakhsof vehicles on its roads Kerala has acarriageway that is only 21,347 kmlong. The increase it recorded in thenumber of vehicles during the 1975-2002 period was an astonishing2,000%—from 1,19,720 in 1975 to23,15,372 in 2002! At the same time,the rate of increase in road length wasjust 44% during this period, reachingonly 21,347 km from the 14,870 km of1975. Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram andKozhikode account for nearly 40% ofthe vehicles registered in the state. Per-sonal transport vehicles constitute 72%of the total, of which 77% are scootersand motorcycles.

There is more than one car in everythree families out of 10 in the state.Presumably, each person has a car totravel resulting in traffic congestion,common in cities. People alwaysstruggle to reach their destination ontime. The increasing number of luxurycars, always long and spacious forcomfort, consume more fuel and claimmore space than ordinary ones. Somepeople think that it is ridiculous to al-low owners of luxury cars to pay thesame price for fuel as owners of ordi-nary cars because the former

The number of motorvehicles, essential forsome and a symbol of

prestige for others,has been increasing

alarmingly,posing a threat to the

nation’s energy, particularlypetroleum stockpiles.

Declining stockpile is notthe sole problem thatdemands immediate

attention but the pollutionbeing caused by the

excessive use ofpetroleum products

should be linked with it.

Oil drilling

ENERGY


1 0

What Govt and people should do

are enjoying more comfort ridingthem. They also point out that whenowners of big cars are paying highertaxes for their comfort and luxury, theyshould be denied access to fuel at thesame rate as is being charged for oth-ers. Only the public transport systemshould get fuel at cheap rates and itshould be encouraged so as to reducethe traffic crunch and excessive use ofprecious energy.

Mr Thomas says car pooling, facili-tation of a comfortable public transportsystem and special even and odd num-bers for regular private vehicles are theonly feasible ways that can solve thetraffic problems. “Car pooling is a sys-tem by which more than one persontravels in a car instead of one individualtravelling in a single car to a particularplace or on a particular route. It can bedone on shift basis. In many countries,car pooling is a must even for minis-ters to attend parliaments. The Gov-ernment must issue fuel austerity mea-sures for all. Allowing even and oddnumber vehicles on the road on alter-nate days will reduce congestion. Thethird is a comfortable public transportsystem, such as Volvo and low-floorbuses, reaching every part of the cityso that a commuter will be tempted tochoose it. “However, we have to strivefor getting these implemented and theGovernment should take measures tobring down the use of private vehiclesas well as fuel,” says the RTO.

“In addition, high-speed rail corridorsand metros ought to be developed fast.Accidents are increasing in the statealso because of the poor condition ofroads. Road development is becomingincreasingly difficult because of prob-lems in acquisition of land. NH 47 andNH 17 are proposed to be developedwith a width of just 45 metres whilethe national norm is 60 metres. Beforecars become a habit for Keralites, likeAmericans, public transport should bedeveloped to satisfactory levels.”

More vehicles also mean more pol-lution. According to the State of Envi-ronment Report Kerala, vehicular emis-

sion and noise pollution from automo-biles are high in Kochi,Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.Vehicles and industries are mainly re-sponsible for the deterioration of airquality in the state as both create noiseand emit air pollutants, says the re-port. But the impact of vehicular emis-sion and noise is widespread whereasindustrial emission is limited to theareas around industries. Though ad-vanced manufacturing techniques haveconsiderably reduced noise and emis-sion from automobiles and cleaner pro-duction process emission from indus-tries, the benefits are offset by the rapid

Alarming rise in Kerala’s vehicle populationKerala is a comparatively small

state where infrastructure growth,particularly roads, is slow but thenumber of vehicles per capita is per-haps the highest in the country. Thenumber of vehicles on Kerala roadsis increasing at more than 10%yearly. It is reported that they num-ber 600 times more than the capac-ity of the state’s infrastructure!

At the end of March 2007Kerala had about 4.02m ve-hicles. Today this hascrossed the 6m mark. About15% of these arecars. True,

Kerala, or for that matter India, is no-where near the US regarding the num-ber of vehicles on the roads. Our carpopulation is only a miniscule com-pared to that in the developed world.Yet we have reasons to worry aboutthe growing number of private vehicleson the roads.

According to a study, for the lakhsof vehicles on its roads Kerala hasa carriageway that is only 21,347km long. The increase it re-

corded in the number of ve-hicles during the 1975-2002

period was an astonish-ing 2,000%—from

1,19,720 in 1975 to 23,15,372 in2002! At the same time, the rate ofincrease in road length was just 44%during this period, reaching only21,347 km from the 14,870 km of1975. Kochi, Thiruvananthapuramand Kozhikode account for nearly40% of the vehicles registered in thestate. Personal transport vehiclesconstitute 72% of the total, of which77% are scooters and motorcycles.

There is more than one car inevery three families out of 10 in thestate. Presumably, each person hasa car to travel resulting in traffic con-gestion, common in cities. Peoplealways struggle to reach their des-tination on time.

More vehicles also mean morepollution. According to the State ofEnvironment Report Kerala, vehicu-lar emission and noise pollutionfrom automobiles are high in Kochi,Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.Vehicles and industries are mainlyresponsible for the deterioration ofair quality in the state as both cre-ate noise and emit air pollutants,says the report. But the impact ofvehicular emission and noise iswidespread whereas industrial emis-sion is limited to the areas aroundindustries.

increase in the number of vehicles andindustries, adds the report. The ever-increasing use of fossil fuel in trans-portation and industrial sectors is ad-versely affecting air quality and increas-ing ambient noise. The ambient airquality in Kochi has been adverselyaffected by the presence of the largenumber of major and medium-scaleindustries and the increasing numberof vehicles. Of the 640 large or mediumindustries in the state, 510 are locatedin Kochi.

The common people are bearing theburden created by the unimaginativemanagement of the transport system.

Despite paying good amounts on pub-lic transport for travel they are not get-ting the comfort they deserve. The eliteamong the people are reluctant to usethe public transport system and de-pend on their own vehicles. The Gov-ernment should discourage by lawluxury-seekers on the road and ensurepeaceful passage to all people.

The indiscriminate increase in thenumber of vehicles and poor infrastruc-ture could likely make the state im-movable in the years to come. Besides,fuel, scarce and therefore expensive,is leaking out of the national stock, af-fecting all. There are concrete mea-sures to check the country’s popula-tion but not a single step is there totackle the vehicle population.

The Government should implementausterity measures quickly before mat-ters go out of hand. It is sad and makesone anxious that everyone, from thelocal politician upwards, is wasting thetaxpayer’s money on unnecessaryevents while the Government is unableto ensure the basic comfort of the com-mon man.

There are people who question theGovernment’s priorities. Why does itencourage automobile manufacturerswhen it knows the situation in thecountry, they ask.

All of us should pause and look atsome unpleasant realities that are go-ing to unfold in the future. The era ofcheap and abundant oil is over. Wemust find ways and means to reduceour dependency on foreign oil. This canonly be done by reducing oil consump-tion, especially for personal transport.The Government must devise suitabletransport policies that take off the most

To page 15

Everyone should realize that the era of cheap andabundant oil is over.

Ways and means to reduce the dependency on for-eign oil should be found. This can only be done byreducing oil consumption, especially for personaltransport.

The Government must devise suitable transport poli-cies that take off the most number of personal ve-hicles from public roads.

We should think of alternative resources such as so-lar energy, biofuels etc. The Government should en-courage research in this field. The Ministry of Newand Renewable Energy should take the initiative inthis regard.

Car pooling should be introduced by which more thanone person travels in a car instead of one individualtravelling in a single car to a particular place or on aparticular route. It can be done on shift basis. In manycountries, car pooling is a must even for ministers toattend parliaments.

An efficient and comfortable public transport systemshould be put in place and all should be encouragedto travel by this except in cases where use of privatetransport becomes absolutely necessary.

The Government must issue fuel austerity measuresfor all.

Dependence on foreign oil should be reduced. (Thiscan only be done by reducing oil consumption, es-pecially for personal transport).

There must be concerted efforts by both the rulingand opposition parties to find a permanent solution.The main thrust should be to educate the public on awar footing about the urgent need to conserve oil andexplore the possibilities of alternative sources of fuel.

The Government should make a study of how fuelconsumption can be brought down by a judicioususe of its own vehicles which alone account for amajor portion of petrol expenses. Every day one seesGovernment vehicles belching fumes and running onworn-out, underinflated tyres—factors that also in-crease fuel consumption.

Automobile manufacturers should be forced to comeup with dual-engine technologies as a criterion be-fore they set up manufacturing units in the country.

Awareness must be created among all that fossil fu-els are finite.


1 1

Petrol priceincrease: the

positive side

On the face of it anybody would feel really annoyed at this deci-sion since the rate of increase was a virtual record and not sincethe days of the 1970s had we witnessed such a whopping increase.But a careful analysis of the reasons for the increase and its im-pact on both the consumers and on inflation will show that theincrease was the least which could be done in the prevailing cir-cumstances, and we can find that the least number of people areaffected by this increase.

When the petroleum companiesin the country led by some public sec-tor giants succeeded in convincing theGovernment of the necessity to raisethe price of petrol by a whopping Rs6.28 (which with taxes would come toabout Rs 7.50) it led to real pandemo-nium for some days. But when thecompanies reduced the price by nearlyRs 2 after international prices tumbledthe same publicity was found wanting.A lot of negatives were aired by the poli-ticians and many among the learnedfraternity, but one cannot blame themfor it. On the face of it anybody wouldfeel really annoyed at this decisionsince the rate of increase was a virtualrecord and not since the days of the1970s had we witnessed such a whop-ping increase. But a careful analysisof the reasons for the increase and itsimpact on both the consumers and oninflation will show that the increase wasthe least which could be done in theprevailing circumstances, and we canfind that the least number of people areaffected by this increase.

The petrol price increase is the natu-ral corollary of the pronouncements inthe budget and the publication of thecredit policy. With subsidies rising toa whopping 2.5% of the GDP, effortsto reduce them were essential. TheGovernment was paying the petroleumcompanies a subsidy of nearly Rs 8for one litre of petrol. With 70% of ourrequirements of petroleum dependenton imports the import bill was escalat-ing because of the falling value of theIndian rupee. In fact the companiesreported that for every Re 1 fall in thevalue of the rupee against the dollarthe loss was to the tune of Rs 8,000crore. So when the value of the rupeenosedived by nearly Rs 9 in the pastone year the accumulated loss sufferedby the companies on this accountalone came to Rs 72,000 crore. Sodespite all the criticisms levelledagainst the companies for the price risethere did seem to be a case for a priceescalation. On the one side the Gov-ernment was badly affected by risingsubsidies and on the other the mainbeneficiaries of the subsidies were fac-ing huge under-recoveries.

If we reviewthe usage of petrol

we can find thathardly 10% of the vehicles

in India use this fluid andthat more than 90% are run

with diesel. So the impact of anincrease in petrol prices on inflation isnegligible. The inflation rates for Mayalso bear testimony to this. The ratewhich was 7.23% in April 2012 had in-creased to 7.55% in May. This in-crease is primarily due to the increasedimports accompanied by rising food

prices. Thestatisticians whocompiled this have alsogiven the petrol price in-crease only as a minor rea-son for the increase in infla-tion. Further, petrol is usedmainly by two- and three-wheel-ers and cars. Here also we findthat three-wheelers have increasinglyshifted to diesel. These vehicles arebigger and offer more space to travel-lers. In fact they are increasingly be-coming family vehicles and the inci-dence of privately owned autos for per-sonal use is certainly on the increase.

Maximum tears were shed for thetwo-wheelers when the price increasewas announced. But is the modern two-wheeler a poor man’s vehicle as isbeing projected? The average price ofa two-wheeler now is Rs 65,000 to Rs1 lakh. That means a person with anaverage annual income of over Rs 4lakh alone can afford to buy this ve-hicle. By no stretch of the imaginationcan such a person be deemed to bepoor. The average use of petrol by atwo-wheeler owner has been put at 15-

20 litres a month. So when petrol priceswere first increased the maximum ad-ditional expenditure would only be inthe range of Rs 100 to Rs 150. For aperson who earns Rs 25,000 to Rs30,000 a month this hardly makes anydifference. As petrol bunk owners hu-morously remark the impact of thepetrol price increase is only for a maxi-mum of one week and after that eventhose who squealed the most are back

with a bang. The fact thatthe consumption of petrolhas not come down atall even after this in-crease and the numberof two-wheelers has notcome down one bit only

shows that the protests af-ter the increase in the petrol

price were more politicalstunts than genuine eco-

nomic concerns.Petrol is used mostly bythe owners of costlycars. For them thisprice increase does notcause any concern. Aperson who spends overRs 5 crore to buy a car isleast affected. Most carsin the premium categoryare today petrol-driven.These car owners and the

two-wheelers pay the sameprice for petrol. Here arises a

grave discrimination.With almost all petrol bunks

keeping separate bays for two-wheelers and cars a dual system of

pricing can be considered. The petrolprice increase could be so adjustedthat petrol for cars and other premiumvehicles could be imposed a higherprice while the smaller vehicles couldbe either spared the increase or besubject to a marginal increase. Thiswould also greatly reduce the heart-burn among the two-wheeler ownerswho are the most volatile in the com-munity. It is true that there are practi-cal difficulties, but if a system is put inplace the advantages are innumerable.The petrol companies would be ableto increase the prices in such a waythat nobody is likely to know since thepremium car owners are least affectedby the increase.

One fact about this increase hasto be mentioned. The Government isquite aware that any decision to in-crease the price of diesel and LPG islikely to have debilitating effects. Ev-erybody knows that the system of ad-ministered prices is applicable to die-sel and cooking gas. The Governmentis currently subsidizing LPG at the rateof Rs 466 a unit. Diesel subsidy is alsoin the range of Rs 25 a litre. So thiswhopping petrol price increase hashelped the Government to postponeany increase in the other two. Thesetwo items are unlikely to change in thedays to come. In short the petrol priceincrease was a means to keep the ma-jority happy at the expense of a smallminority. After all we are living in a de-mocracy!(Dr Ajith Kumar is a freelance writer)

By Dr N Ajith Kumar

If we review the usage of petrol we can find that hardly10% of the vehicles in India use this fluid and that morethan 90% are run with diesel. So the impact of an in-crease in petrol prices on inflation is negligible. The in-flation rates for May also bear testimony to this. Therate which was 7.23% in April 2012 had increased to7.55% in May. This increase is primarily due to the in-creased imports accompanied by rising food prices. Thestatisticians who compiled this have also given the petrolprice increase only as a minor reason for the increasein inflation.


1 2

Kerala is not without violence. In fact it has become hard to imagine Keralapolitics without violence and goons. The scale may be less perhaps than insome other states. But it is becoming clear that there are private armed groupsled by politicians in various parts of the state. Successive governments thatmight have disbanded these armed groups have failed to do so—mainly be-cause they have benefited from their existence.


The killing of Revolutionary Marx-ist Party (RMP) leader T PChandrasekharan on the night of May4 this year suggests a worrying resur-gence of Kerala’s political militants. Itis not the first time that the northern

part of the state is seeing such a kill-ing. Earlier too there were suchplanned murders in the area. ButChandrasekharan’s killing was a bi-zarre incident. “It was like watchingsomething like a Hollywood film,” saidone reading the next day’s newspaper.

No one knows what made the gangattack the victim. Perhaps no one everwill. But what is clear is that the trag-edy will go down in history alongsidesuch grim tags as CPI(M) leaderAzhikodan Raghavan’s murder in 1978and the murders of several others af-terwards.

Kerala is not without violence. In factit has become hard to imagine Keralapolitics without violence and goons. Thescale may be less perhaps than insome other states. But it is becomingclear that there are private armedgroups led by politicians in various partsof the state. Successive governmentsthat might have disbanded these armedgroups have failed to do so—mainly

because they have benefited fromtheir existence.

What is intriguing and perhapsmore bizarre about the incidents isthat these killings, political ones, donot seem to matter to the people ofKerala. They take these in their strideas if such violence does not affectthem in any way. This passive andcavalier attitude to an issue that hastremendous bearing on, or threatensthe very social fabric of, society ispainful and unexplainable. It is there-fore hard to know what lessons thepeople or politicians of the statemight learn from incidents like themurder of Chandrasekharan. Per-

haps we should prepare ourselves forthe answer to be ‘none’.

Still the murder sparked active dis-cussions across the social media, innewspaper columns and on TV chan-nels. Keralites concerned about theimpact such incidents will have on thesocial life of the largely cosmopolitanstate are truly worried. They have con-demned the killing. Shashi Tharoor,Member of Parliament fromThiruvananthapuram, twitted againsthis party, the Congress, calling ahartal in protest against the killingand stated that the ruling UnitedDemocratic Front should, instead,have taken steps to keep Kerala safeby ending political violence. Twittersaw similar opinions saying thatKerala is not safe. One man tweetedthat the brutal murder shows that thestate is still under mafia influenceand exhibits fascism. Another statedthat ideology should be fought withideology and not weapons. Severalexpressed the view that if a particu-lar party is involved in the murder they

would be ashamed to be part of thatparty. Some thought that since abyelection was due in Neyyattinkarathat party would not have sanctioneda plan to do away with a political op-ponent as it would affect its chancesat the hustings.

The fact is, most of Kerala’stroubles are acts of man, not God, and

most of them are homegrown. Eco-nomically Kerala is (was) almost amess of inadequate growth, corruptionand bureaucracy; politically it seemsto be going backwards.

Why has Kerala never become thejust, modern and progressive state thatwas the dream at its founding? Be-cause the powers, elected andunelected, who run this state of 33million have far too much invested inthe status quo to wish to see it change.And the culture of corruption and nepo-tism that defines even trivial transac-tions—and discourages legitimate

T P Chandrasekharan Azhikodan RaghavanWhat is intriguing and perhaps more bizarre about the in-cidents is that these killings, political ones, do not seem tomatter to the people of Kerala. They take these in theirstride as if such violence does not affect them in any way.This passive and cavalier attitude to an issue that has tre-mendous bearing on, or threatens the very social fabricof, society is painful and unexplainable. It is therefore hardto know what lessons the people or politicians of the statemight learn from incidents like the murder ofChandrasekharan. Perhaps we should prepare ourselvesfor the answer to be ‘none’.

THE POLITICAL SCENE


1 3

Shashi Tharoor K M Roy

V M Sudheeran

Anoop NarayananC R Neelakandan

enterprise—remains deeply embed-ded.

Social thinkers say the socio-po-litical scene in certain parts of thestate, the northern centres in particu-lar, lends itself to people, especiallythe youth, being easily attracted to thepath of violence.These areas are com-paratively backwardeconomically and so-cially though it is stilla mystery why they re-main so despite thefact that they have hadsubstantial represen-tation in the ministriesand thus governance.

Political violencehas earned Kerala adistinctive notoriety,similar to that in some turbulent partsof the country. The violence is eitherplainly criminal, as in Bihar andMadhya Pradesh, or are akin to theatrocities committed in Maoist-strong-hold states. People are killed becauseof their political persuasions. The kill-ings are condoned by political partieswhich have developed a vested inter-est in perpetuating violence. Party cad-res are formed and deployed for thepurpose of containing political opposi-tion without, or dissidence within.

However, blame games are continu-ing between the two fronts, one ofwhich is in power in the state alter-nately. Successive governments inpower have failed to introduce concretemeasures to tackle such violence.

Apart from the social impact mur-ders of any nature create, they alsoaffect investment for the growth of astate which is badly in need of it. Keralais far behind its neighbouring states indevelopment. The slow growth can betraced to various reasons. Political un-certainty is certainly one of these.However, no measures have been takento tackle the issues so far. Though wellknown for its communal harmony,Kerala is politically sensitive. Eventrivial issues lead to hartals and strikeshere. For some years ithas also found a placeon the list of states withhigh criminal activity.Can one hope for invest-ments in a socially andpolitically insecurestate?

Though the phenom-enon is not restricted toKerala alone, it has nothit development in othersouthern states as wellas northern and easternstates where rapidgrowth has been witnessed for the lastfew years. “It is bad to compare otherstates with Kerala,” says AnoopNarayanan, President of the MalabarChamber of Commerce. “The peopleof Kerala are far more advanced thanthose in other states. What attractsinvestment in other states is cheaplabour and availability of land. Despite

the inaccessibility of cheap labour andland, people are coming forward to in-vest in Kerala ignoring concerns aboutits disadvantages,” says Narayanan.

Narayanan however agrees thatpeace and security of life have a vitalrole to play in attracting investment.

“Nobody wants to in-vest in a state wheresocial harmony is atstake. Every entrepre-neur prefers a placewhere he or she coulddo business withoutany hindrance. But un-like those in otherstates, people inKerala are vigilant andaware of things happen-ing around them. Be-sides, exaggerated ver-

sions by the media will equally createadverse impacts on investment. Themedia is today celebrating the politi-cal killings. It is a bad precedent toallow the police to raid houses of emi-nent industrialists in connection withthe killing of Chandrasekharan on meresuspicions. All this will adversely af-fect growth of the state,” saysNarayanan.

“Don’t think allthis is Kerala-centric.Violence is a univer-sal phenomenon,”says K M Roy, jour-nalist and politicalanalyst. Compared toother states in thecountry, the recentmurder in Kerala isan odd thing. On theother hand the num-ber of atrocities iscountless in otherstates. The only difference is that amidall the violence other states have beenregistering remarkable economicgrowth. Hence there is no correlationbetween attracting investment and so-cial harmony. In Kerala only two sec-tors, health and tourism, are witness-ing rapid growth,” says Roy

“Power and infra-structure are twothings that attract in-vestment to a state.Unfortunately, Keralais poor in providingboth these basic ele-ments. We also don’thave leadership with vi-sion. Only politicalleaders with a stain-less reputation and vi-sion can place thestate on the develop-ment track. The nexusbetween corrupt bu-

reaucrats and politicians is anotherhurdle in the way of development. Any-how, development will definitely takeplace but it will take time,” he says.

But V M Sudheeran, senior Con-gress leader, says it is not a matter ofleadership with vision, rather it is theapproach that matters. “Approach is

as important as vision. The prevailingundesirable trends are an undeniablereality. This undoubtedly is a stigmaupon the state. Even amidst these po-litical uncertainties, investment andgrowth are happening in other states.What we lack is transparency. Newprojects are never dis-closed to the people. TheGovernment should takeconcrete and bold deci-sions on projects thatbenefit the state. Detailsof all projects should bemade known to thepeople,” says Sudheeran.

Criminal activities inthe state have beenalarmingly high during thelast 10 years, especiallyafter private financial insti-tutions set up shop here.‘Quotation’ gangs are being employedby private financial institutions to re-cover loans or vehicles from people whofail to pay instalments. “In fact, increas-ing numbers of criminal activities arethe byproduct of private investors whoentrust gangsters with their protectionand money collection. And they ex-

ecute the wishes oftheir masters to afault. Instead of trust-ing the state police,business giants al-ways go for privatepolicing for things tobe done wherever theformer fail. Thuspeople have lost faithin the police,” says CR Neelakandan, so-cial activist. This canbe said to be the in-ability of the Govern-ment and the sys-

tem.“The term ‘development’ is misin-

terpreted. There is no connection be-tween development and investment.Development is a process which de-mands state mechanism more thananything else. Investment does notmake any sense in development. Ear-lier the state had provedeconomically stable with-out private participation.Development or growth iscalculated in GDP rates inthe country. Higher growthis registered if the GDP isup. Hence governmentsare keen to raise the GDPby inviting business ty-coons to the state. Allthese and politics are in-terconnected,” saysNeelakandan.

C o u n t e r i n gNeelakandan’s views on development,Sudheeran says the state cannot at-tain development without public-privateparticipation. He says that stringentmeasures should be formulated tomake it transparent and effective. “It isa simple fact that we cannot grow with-out private participation. Again, there

is also the problem of transparency.Even though we have a land acquisi-tion policy now, we cannot say it iscomprehensive and fool-proof. Stepsshould be taken to speed up land ac-quisition. The Government often failsto ensure proper rehabilitation of evict-

ees. Kerala is a statewith very little land.Investment will comeonly when land isavailable for differentprojects. The Govern-ment should keep aportion of investmentfor land acquisition,”says Sudheeran.

Unrest, whether itis of a large or smalldegree, will slowdown any movement,particularly economic

progress. It is evident in countrieswhich have been hijacked by anarchyand terrorists: they make tardy or no

progress. There have in the recent pastbeen more then 300political murders inKerala and the num-ber of deaths in otherincidents has beenhigher. How can thestate progress in thisanarchy. Where isKerala heading? Whatis in store for it in thefuture?

Violence can bemitigated only in twoways: one by strongaction by the law-en-

forcing authorities on policies emanat-ing from a determined government, andtwo by a change in the mind set of thepeople. People in Kerala are far toomuch preoccupied with politics that itis difficult to have a change in attitudeall of a sudden. This must howeverhappen. Otherwise the future of thestate will be in stake.

Apart from the social impactmurders of any nature create,they also affect investment forthe growth of a state which isbadly in need of it. Kerala is farbehind its neighbouring statesin development. The slowgrowth can be traced to variousreasons. Political uncertainty iscertainly one of these. However,no measures have been takento tackle the issues so far.Though well known for its com-munal harmony, Kerala is politi-cally sensitive. Even trivial is-sues lead to hartals and strikeshere. For some years it has alsofound a place on the list ofstates with high criminal activ-ity. Can one hope for invest-ments in a socially and politi-cally insecure state?

Politically Kerala is going backwards


1 4

UNEP has now prepared a report card for different sectors and published it as areport titled From Rio to Rio+20 for discussion and review at the Rio-2012 meet.Barring a couple of fronts like ozone hole, precious little has been achieved at theglobal level during the past two decades. The massive project for saving the earthhas fallen by the wayside, and the question who will bear the cost of saving theearth remains unanswered even after 20 long years of intense debates. The globalperception that environmentalists are mostly pseudo-intellectuals has now hard-ened further. Possibly that is why there is very little of media hype around theongoing Rio-2012.

By K Vijayachandran

On the World Environment Day, K B GaneshKumar, Kerala’s Minister of Environment and For-ests, made a provocative remark: the state has toomany pseudo-environmentalists. According to him,many of them illegally possess rare animal hides.There are reports of legal initiatives against the min-ister and Sugatha Kumari, noted environmentalistand poetess, who was sharing the podium with theminister, had staged an instant walkout in protest.

It was the 20th World Environment Day and the40th anniversary of the United Nations Environmen-tal Programme (UNEP), founded on June 5, 1972,as a product of the so-called Stockholm Declara-tion. These anniversaries were being observed in Rioin grand style by the UNEP and its global associ-ates. Rio had witnessed the first world environmentmeet on June 4, 1992 and the global media had cel-ebrated the event under an exciting banner ‘LastChance to Save Earth’! Environmentalists the worldover had paraded themselves as saviours of human-kind, with a new type of religious fervour. And, de-tailed work programmes were drawn up by UNEP,with well-defined goalposts and targets on severalfronts.

UNEP has now prepared a report card for differ-ent sectors and published it as a report titled From

Rio to Rio+20 for discussion and review at the Rio-2012 meet. Barring a couple of fronts like ozonehole, precious little has been achieved at theglobal level during the past two decades. Themassive project for saving the earth hasfallen by the wayside, and the questionwho will bear the cost of saving the earthremains unanswered even after 20 longyears of intense debates. The globalperception that environmentalists aremostly pseudo-intellectuals has nowhardened further. Possibly that is whythere is very little of media hype aroundthe ongoing Rio-2012.

According to a new and wide-rang-ing assessment coordinated by UNEP,“the world continues to speed down anunsustainable path, despite over 500internationally agreed goals and objec-tives to support the sustainable manage-ment of the environment and improve hu-man well-being.”

The fifth edition of the Global Environmen-tal Outlook (GEO-5), launched on the eve ofthe Rio+20 Summit, assessed 90 of the most-important environmental goals and objectives andfound that significant progress had only been madein four. These relate to eliminating the productionand use of substances that deplete the ozone layer,removal of lead from fuel, increasing access to im-proved water supplies and boosting research to re-duce pollution of the marine environment.”

“Some progress was shown in 40 goals, includ-ing the expansion of protected areas such as na-tional parks and efforts to reduce deforestation. Littleor no progress was detected for 24, including cli-mate change, fish stocks, and desertification anddrought…Further deterioration was posted for eightgoals including the state of the world’s coral reefswhile no assessment was made of 14 other goalsbecause of lack of data. The report cautions that ifhumanity does not urgently change its ways, sev-eral critical thresholds may be exceeded, beyondwhich abrupt and generally irreversible changes tothe life-support functions of the planet could occur. “

UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Execu-tive Director Achim Steiner had stated: “If currenttrends continue, if current patterns of production andconsumption of natural resources prevail and can-not be reversed and ‘decoupled’, then governments

will preside over un-precedented levels of dam-age and degradation.” He has reminded world lead-ers and nations meeting at Rio+20 why a decisiveand defining transition towards a low-carbon, re-source-efficient, job-generating Green Economy isurgently needed because “the scientific evidence,built over decades, is overwhelming and leaves littleroom for doubt.”

The report also called for “a greater focus on poli-cies that target the drivers of environmental change—such as population growth and urbanization, unsus-tainable consumption patterns, fossil fuel-based en-ergy consumption and transport and globalization.In particular, globalization has made it possible fortrends in drivers to generate intense pressures inconcentrated parts of the world very quickly, as inthe case of increased demand for biofuels

The fifth edition of the Global Envi-ronmental Outlook (GEO-5),launched on the eve of the Rio+20Summit, assessed 90 of the most-important environmental goals andobjectives and found that significantprogress had only been made in four.These relate to eliminating the pro-duction and use of substances thatdeplete the ozone layer, removal oflead from fuel, increasing access toimproved water supplies and boost-ing research to reduce pollution ofthe marine environment.”

THE ECOLOGY


1 5

Kyoto Protocol givena decent burial

leading to land clearance and conver-sion.” The report concedes that policyshifts away from globalization will bepolitically difficult and suggests minormeasures by way of compensation.

Perceptions and concerns aboutthe environment differ and the 500points covered by the UNEP report re-lated to numerous issues of varying im-portance and relevance. But the majorenvironmental issue, pursued by UNEPafter Rio-1972, was the climate changeissue. A separate programme waslaunched and institutionalized for thispurpose, under a new organization,called Intergovernmental Panel on Cli-

There are people who question the Government’s priorities. Whydoes it encourage automobile manufacturers when it knows thesituation in the country, they ask. All of us should pause and lookat some unpleasant realities that are going to unfold in the fu-ture. The era of cheap and abundant oil is over. We must findways and means to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. Thiscan only be done by reducing oil consumption, especially for per-sonal transport.

'Alternatives should be thought of'From page 10

number of personal vehicles from pub-lic roads. If we fail to make suitableadjustments to our lifestyles the tran-sition to a less carbon-intensive era isbound to be chaotic and disruptive.

A non-renewable resource such asoil will run out soon if not used prop-erly. We should first think of alterna-tive resources such as solar energyand biofuels, rather than blaming theGovernment.

It is also sickening to see TV chan-nel reporters standing outside petrolstations and interviewing vehicle own-ers whenever there is an increase inpetrol and diesel prices. What theviewer gains from this is not clear. In-stead, these channels and the othermedia should take the time and en-ergy to do in-depth stories on solutions

to the crisis.It seems we have already learnt to

live with increases in prices of all com-modities and people have still not beendeterred from buying cars and bikeswhose sales have been increasing ev-ery quarter.

This is a national issue affecting allsections of people. There must there-fore be concerted efforts by both theruling and opposition parties to find apermanent solution. The main thrustshould be to educate the public on awar footing about the urgent need toconserve oil and explore the possibili-ties of alternative sources of fuel.

It is also time the Governmentmade a study of how fuel consump-tion can be brought down by a judi-cious use of its own vehicles which

alone account for a major portion ofpetrol expenses. Every day one seesGovernment vehicles belching fumesand running on worn-out, underinflatedtyres—factors that also increase fuelconsumption.

Automobile manufacturers shouldbe forced to come up with dual-enginetechnologies as a criterion before they

start setting up manufacturing units inthe country.

The writing on the wall is clear.Unless viable and alternative sourcesof energy are found and put into useimmediately, the country will grind toa halt soon. Awareness must be cre-ated among all that fossil fuels are fi-nite.

At the end of March 2007 Keralahad about 4.02m vehicles. Todaythis has crossed the 6m mark.About 15% of these are cars.True, Kerala, or for that matterIndia, is nowhere near the USregarding the number of ve-hicles on the roads. Our carpopulation is only a minisculecompared to that in the devel-oped world. Yet we have reasonsto worry about the growingnumber of private vehicles onthe roads.

mate Change (IPCC). This was spon-sored as a joint programme of two UNorganizations, UNEP and World Me-teorological Organization. The bulk ofthe financial and organizational re-sources of UNEP during the last twodecades was used up by IPCC, and

the numerous other issues of the envi-ronmental agenda of Rio-1972 were ne-glected, and as admitted by the reportFrom Rio to Rio 2012, very littleprogress registered.

IPCC itself was hijacked by bigmoney and the high politics of OECDcountries. Its chief obsession was en-ergy and energy-related technologies.It has produced four voluminous reportswithin a short span of 10 years. Thefirst volume of the series had soughtto establish that anthropological activi-ties or more precisely the burning offossil fuels lead to global warming andthat atmospheric temperatures wouldturn unbearable by 2010. Then, therewere predictions on polar icecaps melt-ing, ocean waters swelling and flood-ing of the low-laying coastal areas, de-forestation and extinction of speciesand pull-down of biodiversity to danger-ous levels.

The Kyoto Protocol of 1996 was theoutcome of all these elaborate globalresearch. It was meant for salvagingthe earth from global warming, by cut-ting down and regulating energy con-sumption by nation states. The targetwas to hold the temperature rise within

two degree C by the turn of the cen-tury. But no legally enforceable agree-ment could be reached even in the lastclimate meet, held at Durban on De-cember 11 last year. It appears theKyoto Protocol is now given a decentburial. In fact, by the time climate talkshad reached Durban, the voluminousIPCC reports and the Kyoto Protocolhad lost most of their credibility.

In October 2010, an expert com-mittee of the Inter Academy Council(IAC-www.interacademycouncil.net)had gone into the methodologies andprocedures used by IPCC in its re-search and reporting. This IAC reportwas quite damaging, and the IPCC or-ganization is now in limbo. Moreover,a parallel organization under the ban-ner of Nongovernmental InternationalPanel on Climate Change (NIPCC-www.nipcc.org) is now in position, andits studies are continuously question-ing and exposing the numerous hy-potheses and recommendations madeby IPCC task forces on the strength ofstatistical computer models.

Climate change and biodiversityhad made little sense for most people,who suffered from lack of housing,drinking water, sanitation, healthcareand other civic amenities. The envi-ronment and global warming are hardlythe agenda for the Rio-2012 meet ofUNEP, as it celebrates its 40th anni-versary. It has changed its focus tosustainable development and globalgovernance!


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To give direction to the state’s development the Governmentapproached the legendary Sam Pitroda, currently the Chair-man of the National Innovation Council. Pitroda, reputed forhis Midas touch and a clear vision on development, agreedto be the state’s mentor. Team Pitroda will identify 10 busi-ness plans from five business sectors—coastal navigation,Knowledge City, ayurveda, waste management and e-gover-nance—covered by Pitroda’s programmes.

"Welcome to the new Kerala.A Kerala that you are yet to explore.Teeming with opportunities, prospectsand potential. Where business andpleasure exist in perfect harmony.Spearheaded by a pro-active govern-ment and famed the world over for itsnatural resources. This is the Keralawhere the future is emerging. Come,be a part of it.”

These impressive words are fromthe ad that the Government of Keralahas put out for the coming ‘EmergingKerala Global Connect’ planned forSeptember. Of course, this is one moresincere attempt from the Governmentto catch the development bus, which,Kerala, despite its formidablestrengths, missed many a time in thepast. There is no denying that Keralais full of opportunities, prospects andpotential as the ad claims. But, whatabout the perfect harmony that the adis so eloquently claiming?

These days Kerala has been in thenews for wrong reasons. God’s OwnCountry has been plagued by devil’swork. The cold-blooded murder of T PChandrasekharan who quit the CPI (M)to form a new revolutionary outfitevoked widespread condemnationacross the nation. The outrageouslydreadful remark by a CPM districtleader that the party had eliminatedthree rivals invited not just revulsion butanger and shock across the country.Ill news travels apace! Kerala came tobe reported even by the BBC for thewrong reasons. Unfortunately, this hascome at a time when the Governmentis making plans for the EmergingKerala event.

Meanwhile, the UDF Governmentheaded by Chief Minister OommenChandy has quietly completed oneyear in office. Though constrained bya slender majority, the Governmentstarted off well with the CM leading fromthe front. His people-oriented approachand his programme of meeting peoplein district headquarters and deliveringsolace on the spot came to be appre-ciated widely. The transparency in ad-ministration and the e-governance ini-tiatives are, indeed, laudable. The an-nual celebration of the UDF Govern-ment, however, was marred by the bick-ering over an additional ministry to theMuslim League which skewed the deli-cate religious balance in the Cabinet.

The Oommen Chandy Governmentis turning no stone unturned to catchthe development bus, which the statemissed on previous occasions. TheState Planning Board, headed byformer Cabinet Secretary K M

By Dr V K Vijayakumar

Chandrasekhar with members like MrE Sridharan and former TechnoparkCEO Vijayaraghavan, is a team whichhas enormous talent. The PlanningBoard, it appears, is pursuing a seri-ous agenda for the state’s develop-ment.

The Pitroda initiativeTo give direction to the state’s

development the Governmentapproached the legendarySam Pitroda, currently theChairman of the NationalInnovation Council.Pitroda, reputed for hisMidas touch and a clearvision on development,agreed to be the state’smentor. Team Pitroda willidentify 10 business plansfrom five business sectors—coastal navigation,Knowledge City,

ayurveda, waste management and e-governance—covered by Pitroda’sprogrammes.

The Pitroda programme comprises:Coastal navigation

Coastal navigation will be the firstamong the projects. For a state like

Kerala blessed with abountiful coastal

line, this can bea very cost-ef-fective methodof transport-ing goods.Developmentof minor portsalong thec o a s t a lroute will fa-

cilitate linkages with inland water trans-port. Since water transport is hugelyenergy-efficient, this can facilitate sub-stantial reduction in energy costs apartfrom decongesting the roads in Kerala.Knowledge City

This has been proposed as a self-contained city of trans-disciplinarystudies encompassing holistic medi-cine, archaeo-metallurgy, genomicsand green energy. Development of theKnowledge City based out of the capi-tal city Thiruvananthapuram can con-tribute substantially to the promotionof gaming, animation, genomics andmedical sciences in which Kerala hasthe potential to excel.A global centre for ayurveda

The plan here is to integrate themany traditional systems of medicinegiving priority and importance toayurveda. The vision is to market anintegrated and holistic system of medi-cine globally.Waste management

Kerala needs a waste disposalprogramme akin to those developed byEuropean countries having high popu-lation density similar to Kerala’s.E-governance

Under this project, the state will beconnected to the national knowledgenetwork and rural broadband.

Apart from these, the State Govern-ment will implement the followingprojects:

* Harnessing the services of theretired personnel

* Giving training to those withoutprofessional education with the help ofIT

* Modernization of Kerala’s tradi-tional industries like coir, handloom etc

* Health insurance* High-speed north-south rail corri-

dorIn the 10-point programme Pitroda

promised his team’s full cooperationfor five; out of the remaining five onecan be executed jointly while the otherfour can be planned by the state.

These programmes, though not al-together novel, if implemented in a time-bound fashion, along with the bold ini-tiatives in the budget, will certainly bemilestones in the path of the state’sdevelopment. The million-dollar ques-tion is: “Will the famed Pitroda magicwork in the complex political and so-cial environment of Kerala?” Let’s keepour fingers crossed.(The author is Investment Strategistat Geojit BNP Paribas)

THE ECONOMY


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The life of Alippu seems likethe kind of an inspiring story a script

writer for a film would dream up. Theman behind Al Bassami Transports

and Cargo Express has an eventful storyto tell—a tale of commitment and hard work.

The story dates back to the mid-1980s. Ali,as Alippu is endearingly called by friends and

acquaintances, set out on his journey in 1986 toJeddah, Saudi Arabia, in search of his fortune. He

had a humble beginning, starting his career as anoffice boy. After a few months, Ali donned the roleof a salesman. Later, during the 1990s, he went towork in a chocolate manufacturing company.Though all these jobs were small he never got frus-trated as he had unflinching faith in Allah and uttercommitment to whatever he did.

Gradually he turned his attention to business. Thefirst step was the setting up of a bakery items supplyunit. This experience of the food industry and the suc-cess he achieved in the venture led him to launch a fastfood-cum-supermarket named ‘Fabin’ in 1994. Inspiredby the success of this firm he switched over to a newplatform—transportation—by starting Al Bassami Ex-

press Cargo in 2000, though with a very limited capital.Because of its timely delivery and quality cus-

tomer service, the name ‘Al Bassami’ traversedacross the globe. The firm now provides a series ofcargo services based on customer requirements.

The service packages include door-to-door service, trucking and road transpor-tation, vehicle transportation, domestic and international courier service, pro-fessional packing, international freight forwarding and customs clearance anddocumentation. Unlike other cargo services companies, Al Bassami employsthe newest technology for its services. A confirmation message is sent to theconsignor via SMS at the moment delivery is made. Through the provision ofonline tracking, it is easy for customers to track the position of the consign-ment through the Al Bassami website. This instant message servicing systemhelps customers to be tension-free.

Quality of packing is what endears Al Bassami to its customers. Extremecare, professionalism and expertise can be seen in each package deliveredfrom the company. Besides, the company is very particular about the minutestpoints. As the service network is spread all around, this attention helps couri-ers to reach their destinations without any delay after all customs clearances.

The company also has a network of warehouses located in the vicinity of

international airports which have experienced personnel and are supported bythe latest inventory management, security and specialized storage systems.They are specially designed to handle large volumes of international freight andare open round the clock. Customs clearance and documentation is anotherservice offered. The company itself clears all issues relating to customs docu-

mentation, clearance and forwarding for importers and exporters at low cost.Initially Al Bassami had only a limited number of employees and just one

truck for cargo services. But as the time passed, the group grew into a high-profile establishment with 3,000 trucks and 5,000 employees. Today it has 64offices of its own in the GCC countries. In India it has offices in Mumbai,Hyderabad, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. There arealso service points spread throughout the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia,the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, and also in India.

Chick Hut, near Kadavu resort in Kozhikode, is another popular venture of thegroup. Chick Hut’s chicken is very famous and is perfectly baked using first-class natural ingredients and techniques. The outlet provides an exciting rangeof delicious, spicy, mouth-watering chicken. Like all other ventures of the group,Chick Hut also earned instant popularity owing to its tantalizingly tasty dishesand great hospitality. Chick Hut has six outlets in the Gulf, three in Saudi Arabiaand three in Jeddah, and is planning to open more in other places.

Alippu is proud of his Kerala, especially Malappuram, roots. Apart frombusiness, family is his strength. Rasia, his wife, has always remained a greatsupport through thick and thin. The couple have four children—Ramshi, Rabeela,Nishal and Shadh. -Response Feature

The largest logistics network in the Middle East

SAUDI ARABIA _ Customer Care 92 000 6313 P P Alippu_ Head Operations Saudi Arabia

DOMESTIC CARGO SERVICE (By Road) I DOOR TO DOOR CARGO SERVICE (By Air & Sea) I AIR FREIGHT & SEA FREIGHT


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The first step by Alippu towards entering the field of businesswas the setting up of a bakery items supply unit. This experi-ence of the food industry and the success he achieved in theventure led him to launch a fast food-cum-supermarket named‘Fabin’ in 1994. Inspired by the success of this firm he switchedover to a new platform—transportation—by starting Al BassamiExpress Cargo in 2000, though with a very limited capital.

PRIDE OF KERALA IN SAUDI ARABIA (Logistics)

P P Alippu


P A Abdul Rahman is a well-known figure among Keralites in the King-dom of Saudi Arabia. Managing Director of Shifa Jeddah Polyclinic and Diag-nostic Center, Abdul Rahman perhaps is known more as a great humanitarianthan as a businessman. He believes that serving the poor is serving God Him-self. Though his business empire stretches across Saudi Arabia, it is his hu-manism that has taken him to heights in his life. For him, his business is notjust livelihood but a true path to God.

Hailing from a very ordinary family of Malappuram, Abdul Rahman com-pleted his schooling from Chenmankadavu School and graduated fromMalappuram Government College. Even as a college student he was interestedand active in social service. His interest did not wane with the passage of time.

It was this ideology of charity that took the shape of Shifa Jedda Polyclinicin 2005 at Jeddah, the land of two holy mosques. Until a few years ago, anaverage Malayalee there found it difficult to meet hospital charges, with lowincomes and high food and accommodation charges. It was Shifa which cameup with a helping hand to them. Now the seven-year-old institution has grown tobecome the topmost hospital in Saudi Arabia. His total dedication to his causeand deep empathy for the poor and underprivileged have earned widespreadacclaim and made his endeavour an extraordinary success.

In word and deed, Abdul Rahman wants his venture to be entirely differentfrom a mere money-making institution. “We never provide service according tothe weight of the patient’s pocket and have never denied treatment to the poor.Our clinic has always welcomed and supported the initiatives taken by varioussocial and welfare associations in providing healthcare services to the weakersections of society. We believe service is a token of charity,” says Abdul Rahman.It is this devotion and compassion that have been rewarded.

Today Shifa also tops the list of speciality hospitals in Jeddah. “We started

Shifa when 16 other speciality hospitals were already there in Sharafiya, Jeddah.The attempt was based on a realization that I had got my own space in the sectorand had the strength to convert my vision into a mission. Today it has grown tre-mendously with the status of being a hospital with the largest number of specialistand Indian doctors. Since inception we have been a trusted name in quality healthcareservices in Jeddah. It is our eminent panel of highly experienced and skilled medi-cal practitioners and our most sophisticated and state-of-the-art infrastructure thathave made us unique,” says Abdul Rahman.

The hospital was launched with a mission to provide first-rate treatment facilitieswithout pinching the client. Excellent customer care management and dedicatedstaff support set the hospital apart. Shifa today has 18 departments including Car-diology, Urology, Internal Medicine, General Medicine, General Surgery, Ortho-paedics, OB & Gynaecology, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, ENT, Pathology andRadiology with sophisticated modern diagnostic services such as echo and TMT. Italso has a modern 24-hour laboratory with the latest automatic equipment.

Shifa also undertakes Iqama Baladiya medical services. Further, the clinic hasgot a well-equipped family clinic with two eminent gynaecologists and paediatricians.It has been set up to give special attention to the health problems of women andchildren. With the capacity to hold a customer base of over 1,00,000 pa-tients with 16 insurance companies, it deals with over 9,000 corporateclients and acts as a single-stop healthcare solution to clients.

Shifa Jeddah Optical is the preferred choice of many forprofessional eye care and is considered to be one of thebest and most complete optical stores in theregion. Shifa’s pharmacy always possesses large stocksof medicines round the clock. It provides health check-up packages too.

Highly conscious of its social responsibility, Shifais keen to make people aware of their health. For

this, it conducts seminars and awarenessclasses to enlighten them on health issues.

“We strongly believe that prevention isbetter than cure. Towards this we

organize various seminars andhealth awareness programmes oncommon ailments like cardiacproblems and diabetes,” saysAbdul Rahman.

Shifa is a fully IT-enabled medi-cal centre. Patient records including

case history are maintained by elec-tronic methods. This enables retrieval

and maintenance of the records mucheasily and effectively.

Shifa Al Aziziya Medical Cen-ter, a branch of Shifa Polyclinic,is located on Prince Miteb Street,Jeddah. It was launched with theaim of making available qualityhealthcare services to the pub-lic at affordable rates. It has aclinic in almost every special-

ity, manned by experienceddoctors of different nationalities.It provides free consultation ingynaecology and paediatrics every yearfor the first 100 patients who apply. It alsooffers attractive discounts on all other ser-vices.

Famous for its dealings with clients, Shifa re-spects and values their time. To minimize the pa-tients’ waiting time the clinic has introduced an e-filling system which ensures effective coordinationbetween


18 PRIDE OF KERALA IN SAUDI ARABIA (Healthcare)

Abdul Rahman with IUML presidentSayyid Hyderali Shihab Thangal

and amongthe doctors,laboratory, X-ray, reception andthe medical approval de-partment.

Shifa is planning to open a branch inMakkah as well. “Our clinics are much ahead of manyother health service providers in terms of service. The secret of our

success is that we anticipate changes instead of reacting to them”, saysAbdul Rahman, who was a successful entrepreneur in the field of travel

and tourism before entering the medical field. He owns one of the best touropera t ing agencies in India, ‘Fayeda Travel Agency’. The group has branches in almostevery major city in India and also in Dhamam, Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

Abdul Rahman holds several positions. He is the President of the Jeddah Chapter of MalappuramCollege, a member of the India Forum and Kairali and General Manager of Middle East Trade Lines.

“An organized and punctual person will never fail in life. One can be successful in life onlythrough truthfulness and sustained hard work,” says Abdul Rahman. It is adherence to this principle

and the distinctive perspective he has on life that made him what he is today.The Abdul Rahman-Shahina couple have four children—Neshma, Rizi, Shaima and Sheihzad.

-Response Feature

Until a few years ago, an average Malayaleein Jeddah found it difficult to meet hospi-tal charges, with low incomes and highfood and accommodation charges. It wasShifa which came up with a helping handto them. Now the seven-year-old institu-tion has grown to become the topmosthospital in Saudi Arabia. Abdul Rahman’stotal dedication to his cause and deep em-

pathy for the poor and underprivilegedhave earned widespread acclaim and made

his endeavour an extraordinary suc-cess.


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2 0


20

Team SamAcademy forbuddingsportspersons

Sports and games for many are a wonderfulpastime, pleasure and playful experience while forothers they turn from a passion into a lifeline for acareer, an exclusive profession and even for achiev-ing pinnacles of success. In Kerala there are streamsof such events for both kids and adults. Some havefound official sanctions and others support from pri-vate realms to move forward.

Team Sam Academy came into being with theintent of backing up existing events and individualslacking proper support and introducing new itemsto create venues for budding young players to shine.The academy works on the ‘Principle of Synergy’combining facilities and resources both human andotherwise to create opportunities for the sports andgames lovers of the land. Clubs, schools, collegesand institutions willing to share their sportingfacilities with the public in a limited fashionwithout inherently disturbing their own inter-nal systems to a great extent are the back-bone of the development process.

Sam Joseph, Director of the academy, en-visages much more professionalism in thetraining and teaching of various programmesas well as regular and systematic organiza-tion and promotion of tournaments and cham-pionships. The programmes have alreadystarted from Kochi in Ernakulam district andwill permeate to other districts of Kerala inphased manner.

Racket sports (tennis, soft tennis, table tennis,squash, badmintion; cue sports (billiards, snooker,pool); iron sports (powerlifting, weightlifting, armwrestling, body building); board games (scrabble,checkers, chess, carrom, darts); water sports

(scuba diving, kayaking, sailing, snorkeling, swim-ming); ball sports (basketball, football, handball,volleyball, throwball, softball) and others (tenpinbowling, bridge etc) have already commenced inleading clubs of Kochi open to members and non-members, like Regional Sports Centre, Cochin Club,Lotus Club and Boomerang Klub at OberonMall. Many schools and col-leges are waiting to join thebandwagon.

Training is provided at differ-ent levels for beginners, inter-mediates and advanced play-ers. Coaches are provided ac-cording to their availability.Sports and games are thrownopen to genuine enthusiastswilling to follow all standardrules and regulations. TeamSam Academy, headquartered

in Kochi, has links to a wide number of coaches,trainers and sports-related persons who can assistupcoming talents to achieve a higher level of perfor-mance than was ever conceived before.

The approach is highly knowledge-based with alot of emphasis on theory. The importance of fit-ness and physical training is one of the prime as-pects of the programmes. Video presentations forma vital part of the training schemes. Visualizationsadapting deep focus and meditative techniques area key to the mastery of the respective sporting sub-ject.

Projects for NRI promotionA large population of children have never had the

opportunity of coming into mainstream game-play-

ing situations mainly because of study pressuresand financial restraints. We can give them a chancewherever possible to test their skills and help de-velop their sporting ambitions.

Separate camps and tournaments can be orga-nized in each school, college or district/state withindividual NRI promotion and sponsorship. For 2012-2013, 10 schools and colleges each and five clubsand institutions are proposed to be brought in thispromotional purview.Talent scout camps: Rs 5000 (to find promisingplayers for a particular sport or game)School/college championships: Rs 10,000District-level tournaments: Rs15,000 to Rs 25,000State-level championships: Rs 30,000 to Rs1,00,000.

Funds will be utilized for the conduct of the event,the publicity, prizes, trophies, certificates, game bro-chures, training pamphlets, remuneration of officials,coaches and staff, refreshments, travel and trans-port, buying and renting equipment etc.

Sherin AshrafInnovator in

tissue cultureSherin Ashraf’s entry into the field was not

accidental. An ardent lover of flowers from child-hood, she was keen to nurture this passion whichinspired her to start a business of her own, ‘HafiTissue Culture World’. The nursery had a humblebeginning in 1994 inside the compound of herhouse at Kalamassery, Kochi. At the beginning,she learned the techniques of tissue culture fromtwo scientists in the field. Later, it was her hardwork and ambition that turned her into one of themost accomplished women entrepreneurs of hertime. “You can be innovative and productive only ifyou love what you are doing, else you simply worklike a machine”, says Sherin.

Sherin’s insistence on the quality of servicewas her driving force to learn tissue culture. It is awonder that she, a mathematics graduate, learnedbiotechnology by herself, she thinks.

Today Hafi Tissue Culture World is sprawledin three acres of land at Pukkattupady, nearKalamassery. The enterprise has grown muchmore than a nursery. With an output of 50,000plants a month, it now comprises Hafi Orchids,Biotech, Aquatics, Floritech and Agrotech. Sincethe business needs considerably large investmentand attention, she literally has no competitors.“Contaminated climate here, scarcity of workersetc are some threats we confront. Every businessis prone to failure but learning from each problemstrengthens and equips you to track it the nexttime”, says Sherin.

A well-equipped has also been set up at thenursery. The group mainly deals in tissue-culturedvarieties of bananas along with orchids of around40 varieties, aquatic plants, anthuriums, medici-nal plants etc.

The centre imports and exports rare plant spe-cies to meet the demand. “Specialist knowledge anduncompromising attitude towards quality have madeHafi top the choice list of leading growers, farmersand various Government agencies”, says Sherin. Thisenvious success is not a miracle that happened over-night. It was the wholehearted support extended byher husband and two sons that enabled her to getthe present boost in her career. The growth is alsodue to excellent teamwork, she says.

IDEAS

Sam Joseph


2 1

The changing trendThe new ads are targetingthe conscience of the con-sumers and emotions play asecondary role. It seemsconscience is much in de-mand these days. AamirKhan, the Bollywood super-star who used to keep awayfrom the public in the past,has come out with a TVshow that deals with socialproblems. The new show’sinstant popularity hasboosted the star’s image.The thinking actor hasproved he is also a thinkingman. Be it ads or celebritytalk shows social activism isthe buzz word.

Angry young ads


The clamour for social change isgetting louder and louder nowadays butit is surprising that these voices areemanating from unlikely quarters.These calls for reformation may reachyou while you watch your favouriteprogrammes on TV. Come the breakhour, the small box will be flooded witha slew of advertisements meant to in-fuse a sense of social awakening inyou. Do not get the wrong idea thatthey are the usual Government cam-paigns talking about birth control, orthings you should care for while apply-ing for a job in the Gulf countries. Theseare some real corporate ads intendedto market products.

Another ironic fact is that the mes-sage they are delivering is in no wayconnected to the nature of the productthey are marketing. For instance, a hairoil ad may urge people to rise againstabuse against women.

These new ads are targeting theconscience of the consumers andemotions play a secondary role. Itseems conscience is much in demandthese days. Aamir Khan, theBollywood superstar who used to keepaway from the public in the past, hascome out with a TV show that dealswith social problems. The new show’sinstant popularity has boosted thestar’s image. The thinking actor hasproved he is also a thinking man. Be itads or celebrity talk shows social ac-tivism is the buzz word.

The trend reached Kerala only re-cently with hair oil manufacturers likeIndulekha coming up with visual adsshot in a manner as if they are captur-ing real life happenings without muchmanipulation. The ad grabbed attentionbecause of its closeness to the realapproach, provoking tone and harsh,unrefined accent of the actors.

The ad shows a nameless, not soyoung, lady with long untied hair (stageactress and activist Sajitha Madathil)standing amid a crowd at a bus sta-tion and talking loudly in an angry toneabout the men who get sexually stimu-lated by the long hair of women. Thesemen try to abuse them in buses bytouching their hair, she says. She urgesthe crowd that women should face thesituation bravely. Women need not cutshort their beautiful hair to keep awayfrom those men.

The advertisement concludes likethis: A young woman with long hair issitting on a bus and a man tries to pho-tograph her hair through his mobile

phone camera. Seeing this act, anotherlong-haired woman takes away hisphone. And a voiceover follows: “Thingsare changing”

G Sunil, a creative artist at Firewoodad agency who developed the conceptfor the ad, says that the idea was toproduce an ad with a different approachin style and content. He says the In-dian market has been ruled by inter-national brands as far as beauty andhealthcare products are concerned.Then about three or four years ago themarket became open for manufactur-ers in Kerala. This brought in tight com-petition among the brands and newerways had to be sought out to marketthe products. It is this situation thatresulted in ‘ads with a difference’.

“Beauty gives confidence; a strongand beautiful hair will impart the bold-ness to face tougher situations,” heelaborates on the concept and the mes-sage embedded in their ad.

The ad was scripted by Sunil andKumar N M with A K Vinod being thedirector. The team say they wanted tobreak away from the well-trodden path.That’s why the film was shot in a rawmanner without opting for any glam-our. This might have helped to bring inan element of reality to add to the in-tensity of the situation narrated in thefilm, they say.

The flip side

Though the ad gained immediateattention it was not free from flak. Mendisapproved of it the alleging that itdepicted them as obsessed with thelong hair of women. And it failed to gainthe support of women because of itsemphasis on the need to grow long hair.

Eble Elisha, a student, says that itis a woman’s choice to have long hairor short hair.

“The national campaigns expresssincerity and social commitment butthe new Malayalam ads are producedjust to grab the attention of the people,”says O G Sunil, a media critic andsenior copy editor at KPB ad agency,Kochi. He says the national campaignslead us to great truths or moral valueswithin the timeframe of a few seconds.These ads effectively convey the feel-ings of love, compassion and patrio-tism to the viewers.

He cites the examples of CadburyDiary Milk, Idea, Airtel and Pears, Ideaads with Abhishek Bachchan as ‘SirJi’ tackled issues like corruption and

the increasing population in India.“Those ads were appealing be-

cause of their simplicity with a lighttouch of humour and satire.”

“On the other hand Malayalam adsbased on indirect concepts are disap-pointing. But, the ads of Kalyan Groupare an exception to this, especially thead with actor Dileep,” says Sunil.

The Facebook factor

Rakesh R Menon, a software pro-fessional at Infosys and a short filmscriptwriter, says the emergence ofsocial media is indeed an influencingelement. Anything, no matter how greator trivial it is, gets instant attention onsocial networking sites like Facebook.“Once a new ad is aired on television,chances are high that multiple num-bers of discussions will be taking placeon Facebook about it. The brandsmake use of this possibility and optfor more socially responsible ads to

attract the attention of armchair activ-ists roaming in and around Facebookand Twitter.”

Everyone likes to be an activist onFacebook. A glance at the status up-dates of individuals or the commentsthey post testify this. A user who shiesaway from commenting on socially rel-evant topics is usually regarded asdumb. “But it is interesting that youdon’t need to be an activist in real life.Just share something which is relevantand comment on it, or be part of anonline activist group and take part indiscussions, that’s enough,” he says.

Rakesh says that when people startpretending to be activists you have toprove that you also belong to the sameleague to ensure the better marketingof your brand. By their ads, brandsexpress their solidarity to the sociallyalert consumers. It seems the brandsrely on the ‘thinking man’ image to woothe audience.

ADVERTISING


2 2


In an age when remixes and remakes rule theroost, the beauty of the original is hard to experi-ence. Following this trend, creativity has found itsmeaning changed and a work of art has becomemore like a pastiche.

Overshadowed by the snazzy look of these mash-ups, the original is being forgotten and pushed awayas outdated. The practice of remixing and unabashedplagiarism has become commonplace in the nameof trend.

The latest mantra is that ‘the genius of artistslies in their ability to hide the original and not in theircreativity’, a statement made by Bollywood film-maker Mahesh Bhatt a few years ago to justify thefilms he produced. But, with the evolution of the so-cial media, the copycats are easily brought beforedaylight. Yet, the less stringent provisions in theIntellectual Property Rights (IPR) in India help themgo scot free.

The music industry has long been in the midst ofcontroversies related to unauthorized remakes andremixes. But strict laws are absent in India. The cre-ative people in the film and music industry want somerigid laws like those in Hollywood.

On May 22, the Indian music Industry witnesseda historic initiative which might redeem its statureand elevate the industry to match international stan-dards. An amendment to the Copyright Act of 1957passed in the Lok Sabha proposes that lyricists andcomposers can now claim royalty for their creations.

The new bill would bring about a paradigm shiftin the industry as it will result in a shift of power fromthe producer to the artists. Earlier, when a song wasaired on television or radio, only the producer gotbenefits from the royalty of the work. But, under thenew bill, which is awaiting President’s nod to be-come law, the writers and composers are entitled toclaim royalty.

Bijibal, who stole hearts with the melodious songshe composed for Arabikkatha and Salt-n-Pepper,

s a y sit is the triumph

of music itself. “Thefinancial benefits only

come second but it is the ethi-cal and moral aspect of the bill that

makes me happy,” he said. A work of art is itscreator’s ‘baby’ and there is a lot of pain behind ev-ery creation. “With the new amendments in the bill Ihope the creator’s labour will get recognized.”

Writers and composers have long been raisingtheir voice to change the Copyright Act to favourthem. They say there are many musicians who werecelebrated in their heyday but had to undergo thefate of being forgotten by the industry and forced tolive in abject poverty later. If they were entitled toroyalty when they were alive, their story would havebeen different.

With the onrush of new-generation FM stations,reality shows and the social media, music is in muchdemand these days. But, the creators are nevergetting any benefit. Once a song is released, the

work becomes the property of the producer or themusic company, whose contribution in making thesong rests solely on the financial part.

With the new amendment, the authors will bedeclared owners of the copyright of their creative workand this cannot be assigned to the producers. Thecreators will get their due each time their work isbroadcast on television or radio.

On the other hand, the amendment causes anxi-ety to aspiring musicians and singers. They fear thatthe new amendment will adversely affect the free-dom they have enjoyed so far. Rakesh Kesavan, anaspiring singer, whose team won the Season 2 ofSurya TV’s musical reality show ‘SangeethaMahayuddham’, says he welcomes the new amend-ment but is sceptical about certain aspects of it.

He supports the royalty for lyricists and com-posers but differs on the ban on cover versions. Hefeels that the law should not prevent a singer from

performing a new song onstage shows or putting his own

version of that particular song onYou-tube.

“When a new song is released, aspiringmusicians usually create their own versions ei-

ther by lending their voice to the original track or byremixing it to display their talents. I have sung forsuch versions which never caused damage to theoriginal. People never stick on to the secondary ver-sions. After listening to them they immediately goto the original,” says Rakesh. “Look at the way themultiple versions of Dhanush’s ‘Kolaveri’ song helpedit gain a wider reach.”

DJs also remix songs, he says, but it is done togel with the hyper-energetic mood on the dance floorsand people also demand such foot-tapping mixes.

“Royalty for musicians is a welcome move. I hopeit would be flexible to stage and reality shows,” thewannabe singer-composer says. According to him,laws should take care not to disrupt the democraticair prevalent nowadays to encourage budding tal-ents.

Bijibal says he is not fully aware of the other pro-visions in the bill, but adds that it is highly ethical ifcomposers give royalty to the original creators of anold song when they want to remix it for a film or analbum. “Composers, including me, have made re-mixed versions but the royalty went to the produc-ers of the films who played no part in the birth of thesongs,” the composer, who remixed the evergreensong ‘Alliyambal kadavil…’ for the Mammootty starrerLoudspeaker (2009), confesses.

He says that sometimes the lyricists and com-posers will come to know about these remixes onlyafter their release. And when the new versions topthe hit charts, it is saddening that the old mastersare put in the shade, says Bijibal.

Bobby, a leading lawyer in Kochi, says that if theamendments become law it will be the victory of theIndian judicial system. “The Copyright Act in Indiawas insufficient to block many negative practiceslike piracy; the new amendment will be the first steptowards strengthening the IPR,” he says.

He cites the piracy row created by the JaswantSingh book Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence.The controversy the book created attracted the at-tention of pirates. The pirated copies, printed in Pa-kistan, were available at the black market in Indiafor Rs 200, while its original copies were priced Rs1,350.

“Many provisions in the Copyright Act were ob-solete, and new amendments are needed to keepup with the changing times,” says Bobby.

As of now, it is not clear if the new bill has provi-sions to curb piracy, but there is hope that it willhelp the starving musicians.

The music industry has long been in themidst of controversies related to

unauthorized remakes andremixes. But strict laws are

absent in India. The creative people in thefilm and music industry want some rigid

laws like those in Hollywood.

MUSIC


2 3


2 3

New website byyoung Keralites explores

online deal spaces


They deal with deals andthey believe a deal is a deal.Two young MBA graduatesfrom Kerala are about to datewith success in the world of e-biz with their novel ideas whichprove to be timely.

One year ago, Anish KPrakash and PrasobhVeluthakkal, two Bangalore-based Keralites, posted some-thing on their Facebook pro-files that was about to bringchanges in their lives and atti-tude. The status update wasabout the announcement of anew website calleddealspace.in, which aggregateddeals from a few major dealsites. In no time the newsspread across the social me-dia and people searching for dis-counts and offers began to rushinto the site. According to offi-cial data, the site used to re-ceive more than 5,000 hits.

The huge response todealspace initially surprisedthe young men who then be-gan to think seriously aboutthe project. That thought re-sulted in a new online deal sitenamed Offerkraft which waslaunched on June 1.

Anish Prakash elaboratedover the phone from Bangaloreabout their e-ventures. Whenthey started dealspace, hesaid, there were only a fewsites operating on the conceptof deals. But they were mainlyconcentrating on a restrictedrange of products. But, withdealspace, a consumer wasable to check the detailsabout the discountsand offers on a varietyof products online.

“What we were do-ing was channelizingthe online deals andbringing together all thedeals under a singleroof. To put it simply,dealspace was like amap showingwhere to gofor a bet-ter offeron aparticular product, or who is of-fering the best deal of the day,”Anish said.

Deal of the day

Before starting dealspace,the duo had no great plans andthey did it just as a part-timeactivity as both of them wereworking in reputed MNCs. Ac-cording to Prasobh, whatprompted them to take such

an initiative was the huge suc-cess of the deal of the day con-cept introduced first in the USby the website Groupon. Intro-duced during the time of reces-sion, Groupon gained wide ap-preciation and immense profitduring 2010.

In 2011, the deal of the daycaught the attention of Indian

close within one or two weeks.But, if the customer reallyliked the product or company,they would stick on even afterexpiry of the offer. “Thus it’s awin-win-win situation for thethree parties,” said Prasobh.

Dealspace exploited thegreatest weakness of the dealof the day trend that they can-

rectly approached them. Thecustomer, named Praveen,asked them to expand theirventure and offered his help.So, they decided to do thebusiness on a serious note.

Dealspace required an in-vestment of only Rs 1 lakh,and that without any externalaid. But, Praveen came in will-

the idea of integrating bothonline and offline discountsmade this site unique. “It isthis strong desire for unique-ness that keeps these guysstand out. Offerkraft is a su-permarket of offers,” he said.

The product list encom-passes a wide range of catego-ries like apparel, camera andaccessories, dining and nightlife, health and beauty, books,DVDs, travel and stay, mo-biles and internet and com-puter services. Offerkraft hassigned contracts with variousvendors and once a productgets sold it gets its share ac-cording to the agreement.

“Offerkraft is still in the betaform and we have kick-startedour ride from June 1 onwards,”said the enthusiastic Anish.The site has options like free-bies, where the customer canbuy those products which thecompanies offer for free. It is aprivate registered companywith the name ‘Offerkraft WebSolutions Private LTD’, headded.

Offerkraft will feature someadditional applications whichwill be the first of their kind asfar as the Indian e-biz marketis concerned.The young guns

Anish and Prasobh be-came buddies while doing theirBTech in FISAT, Kochi. Lateron, Anish went on to pursueMBA in Marketing at the Na-tional Institute of Industrial En-gineering, Mumbai. Praveen,who joined them later, is an

alumnus of IIM-Bangaloreand he is the only

married man in thegang. The othertwo are just 25years old.

Anish is re-turning to Kochi,

his homeland, andplans to explore new

businessmen and online dealsites like Snapdeal came intoexistence.

Prasobh said that thesesites were directly imitatingGroupon. Businessmen, to at-tract customers, would put uptheir offers on these websites.The offer would be handsomeenough to lure them. A cus-tomer, looking for offers, hadto purchase the discount fromthese sites. But the offer might

not display all the offers on allthe products. Dealspace aggre-gated all the info on deals fromall the sites and thus it was ahit, Anish said.

Offerkraft: how theycrafted offers

Anish and Prasobh felt theneed to take their small ven-ture to the next level when oneof the users of their site di-

ing to contribute more.Dealspace was recon-

structed with a new brandname ‘Offerkraft’ and a newconcept. They shifted fromtheir strategy of aggregatingoffers and started direct tie-upswith those who offer discountson products.

Anish said discounts wereeverywhere and most of themwere offered offline. That wasthrough shops, malls etc. And

business ventures which will bebased on art.

Prasobh, born in Palakkad,has resigned from his job tofully concentrate on Offerkraft.They are more hopeful now, asmore people are coming for-ward to offer angel funding.

With the help of the inno-vations taking place in the techfield the trio realizes even thesky is not the limit for theirdreams.

E-BIZ

Offerkraft will feature someadditional applications which

will be the first of their kind asfar as the Indian e-biz market

is concerned.AnishPrasobh


2 4INVESTMENT

Volatility prevailsover stock markets


The Indian stock market is play-ing truant because of several factors.Inflation is the main villain. As if to addinsult to injury, GDP growth is goingdown and industrial growth and exportsare tumbling. Imports devour a majorchunk of our foreign exchange espe-cially at a time when the rupee is de-preciating. Rating agencies evaluatethe Indian economy as poor makingforeign investors look askance at thecountry’s performance. The ReserveBank of India had earlier cut rates. Butthis had no far-reaching effect on curb-ing inflation. Above all, the uncertaintyon the political front about the presi-dential election makes the situationmessy. It is necessary in these con-texts how the stock market is perform-ing because it is the barometer of theeconomy.

The Indian economy is witnessingits darkest era ever after the 2008 glo-bal meltdown. “Frankly speaking oureconomy fared well compared to anyother country at the time of the globaleconomic recession. India is consid-ered to be the Asian Tiger and one ofthe most important players among theBRICS countries. Now the glory of theIndian economy is dwindling and thecountry is proving a nightmare for theinvesting community everywhere. Stan-

dard & Poor, the international ratingagency, downgraded India twice con-secutively within two months. Theagency labelled our economy a junkdestination for investment and termedthe country a ‘fallen angel’ among theBRICS nations. The reasons are policyparalysis, ineffective leadership of UPAGovernment II, melting rupee value andthe recent imbroglio of Vodafone, infla-tion, slackening of GDP growth, deple-tion of our foreign currency due to highdependence on imports etc coupledwith the Eurozone crisis”, according toMr Raghavan V, Regional Head ofNirmal Bang. Fitch, another agency,downsized India by saying that it is ina state of being ‘out of the frying paninto the fire’. However there are chancesof the IT, pharma and banking sectorstocks showing an uptrend.

Mr Ignatius Kulirani, Regional Head(Kerala) of Karvy Stock Broking Ltd,says the stock market is undergoinga crucial phase. The high inflation is ahard nut for the RBI to crack becausethe central bank cut the rates in itslast sitting to curb inflation. Again, in-flation remains a stumbling block be-fore the bank. The prices of essentialitems have gone up. Market expertscannot predict whether the bank willcut rates or not again. The stock mar-ket will show a bullish trend if ratesare cut again.

Mr Kulirani says the outcome of theGreek poll may have some impact on

the international market which maygoad foreign investors into retractingfrom the Indian market. That dependson the party that wins the election. Ifthe party which leaves the EuropeanUnion wins then the outcome will bebad for the Indian market too. Theweakening of the rupee has more re-percussions as India is an import-ori-ented country. The Standard and Poorrating of the Indian economy also willpresent a dismal picture of India to for-eign investors which will adversely af-fect the Indian stock market. The oc-casional uptrend that the market showsis due to the good performance of thelarge-cap shares. Mr Kulirani expectsno major breakthroughs in the Indianstock market for the next two-threemonths unless any major developmenttakes place in the Indian economy.Until then the market will project a dullface.

Mr Varghese Mathew, former Direc-tor of the Cochin Stock Exchange(CSE), sees a positive sentiment in themarket which, he says is showingsigns of a bullish trend as foreign insti-tutions (FIs) show interest in buying.

He says that crude oil price will retainthe current level and the pace of rupeedepreciation has been arrested. As thelarge-cap shares are trading at a mod-erate level these shares sustain thetrend of the market. Mid-cap and small-cap shares keep a low profile. TheEurozone crisis may have some im-pact on the international market whichwill have its reflection on the Indianstock market too. The presidentialelection imbroglio and the rating agen-cies’ assessment of the Indianeconomy will have their impact in theIndian stock market. This will reflecton the foreign investment in the mar-ket. Foreigners will eye India as a weakeconomy. The market might have ral-lied if the RBI had cut the repo rate.Inflation in the meantime shows analarming trend.

Climate is also favourable factor thatinfluences the stock market as it helpsto increase agricultural productionwhich brings down prices of essentialitems. Predictions and forecasts maygo haywire in these circumstances. Inshort uncertainty rules the roost in thestock market.

Investment upsurge in Kerala: studyPassline News Service

In spite of the political andeconomic imbroglio that labelsKerala as an unfriendly statefor investment, a silver lininghas appeared on the business/industry horizon indicating thatits investment climate ischanging.

With 27.8% year-on-yeargrowth in investment projectsin the implementation stages,Kerala has emerged as thesingle state in India which hasa surge in growth of invest-ment projects at the stage ofimplementation during the lastquarter of FY 2011-12 as com-pared to the previous threequarters. This is the finding ofa study conducted by the As-sociated Chambers of Com-merce and Industry of India(Assocham).

According to the study, thestate is way ahead of the all-India growth rate of 8.1% in thefourth quarter of fiscal 2011-12,significantly lower than over26% in the first quarter.Kerala’s investment projectsgrew by 27.8% on a year-on-year basis, the report says af-

ter analysing investment andgrowth patterns across 20major Indian states.

The study says the rate ofgrowth of the implementationof investment proposals inKerala was about 9% in thefirst quarter of last fiscal anddipped to about 6.6% in thesecond quarter, but rose ex-ponentially to about 21%in the third quarter. Whilethe rate of growth of invest-ment projects under imple-mentation in Kerala in-creased gradually duringthe last fiscal, it has dippedin other states. Karnataka(15%), Andhra Pradesh(11%), Madhya Pradesh(11.7%), Chhattisgarh(13%), Uttarakhand (28%),Bihar (22%), Jharkhand(15.5%), Gujarat (12.5%)and Orissa (9.8%) were thestates where the rate of growthshowed a gradual decline dur-ing the Q1-Q4 of the last fis-cal, but stayed above the all-India growth rate in the fourthquarter. In Haryana (2.1%),Punjab (0.13%), Uttar Pradesh(0.79%), Tamil Nadu (-2.55%),West Bengal (-12.59%) and

Maharashtra (7.41%), thegrowth rate declined signifi-cantly in the fourth quarter andremained below the all-Indiagrowth rate, according to thestudy.

While about 53.4% of in-vestment projects across Indiawere under implementation asof the fourth quarter of the last

fiscal, the top five states withmaximum number of invest-ment projects under implemen-tation were Haryana (83%),Assam (74%), Chhattisgarh(70%), Punjab (69%) andKerala (68.5%). In order to le-verage growth Kerala has totap many opportunities thatcome its way. The three-day-

long Pravasi Divas (PBD)which expects a turnout of2,000-3,000 NRI delegatesfrom all over the world to Kochiin January next year is agolden time to showcaseKerala as an investment andtourism destination. On theother side it will also provide aplatform for drawing attention

of authorities to thetrials and tribula-tions being facedby nearly 2.3 mil-lion non-residentKeralites earning atdifferent levels invarious countries.

There is a quali-tative shift happen-ing in the field of mi-gration from Keralato the Gulf coun-tries. The profiles of

migration are increasinglychanging from unskilled andsemi-skilled to skilled labour.The growing opportunities andwage levels within the statecould be a major factor con-tributing to this change. Withconsolidation on the infrastruc-ture front, the job profiles in theGulf countries are also trans-

forming from unskilled toskilled.

Kerala’s position has beenpushed down to third or fourthlevel among Indian states ac-counting for migration of un-skilled workers to the Gulf.Kerala was at the top earlier.Now states like Bihar, UP,Punjab and Tamil Nadu haveovertaken it. Keralites areclimbing up the ladder and va-cating the emerging set of un-skilled job opportunities to as-pirants from other states andcountries. However it shouldnot overlook the fact that un-skilled workers still form alarge chunk of migrantKeralites. The PBD shouldhave space to discuss theirproblems. Similarly the smalland medium-scale NRI inves-tors, and not just the tycoons,should also be lured to par-ticipate in the event. PBDwould provide an excellent op-portunity for showcasing awhole lot of emerging invest-ment opportunities in the state.On the other side, NRIs canexplore for themselves whatare the avenues in Kerala.


2 5

Fitness centres and health spas help one to get a perfect,long-lasting figure.The mushrooming of thesewell-care centres shows theirpopularity and admirationamong the people.These centres offer a variety ofhealth packages that aid in retaininga good physical condition.The customer can customizethe packages offered.Besides the health packages,the spas also provide beauty,hair-care and therapeutictreatments.

Spas and slimming centres

A new health culturePassline News Service

Just have a look. The world aroundyou seems to be a fashion ramp andthe people appear like the flamboyantmodels. Everyone including you andme wants to delve into the glitz of fash-ion. So what’s needed most to gainthe status of a diva? A beautiful phy-sique and style to project. Style is notwhat you wear, but how you carryyourself. But is it a hard task to be an-eye catching model?

Fitness centres and health spashelp one to get a perfect, long-lastingfigure. The mushrooming of these well-care centres shows their popularity andadmiration among the people. Thesecentres offer a variety of health pack-ages that aid in retaining a good physi-cal condition. The customer can cus-tomize the packages offered. Besidesthe health packages, the spas also pro-vide beauty, hair-care and therapeutictreatments.

These fitness centres enable oneto reduce weight without much sweat-ing in a gym. Most of them addressthe obesity problem with a holistic ap-proach and utter professionalism. Thereare some special packages too whichare designed to meet customer needs.Body composition analysis is the firstand foremost part of the treatment.Body analysis helps to determine thedegree of obesity and percentage of

fat deposit in one’s body. The treatmentthen is started according to one’s bodycomposition. Most fitness centres arewell equipped with a team of doctors,psychologists and even counsellors.

Many slimming centres now offerexclusive packages for to-be brides andgrooms, besides the weight-losingprogrammes. This helps to cut downthe extra fat from the body within a veryshort span of time: marriage is such aheavenly dream that no one wants tolook bulky and sulky in their sizzlinggorgeous outfits. Along with these novelservices, fitness centres also provideall skin and body-care treatmentswhich rejuvenate mind and soul.

Spot fat reduction is a new treat-ment available at the health centres. Ittrims down the specific fatty areas ofthe body. Normally fat deposition in ahuman body increases with age to cer-tain specific parts like abs, hips and

thighs. Still many doctors and physi-cians believe that spot reduction is justa myth. The only way you can get ridof a trouble spot is by losing weight allaround or you can attain it throughliposuction surgeries, they say.

“Liposuctions are not easy as theythink. It is a major surgery and the af-ter-effects would be too serious tohandle” says Dr Grinto DavyChirakkekaran, renowned physiothera-pist and founder of Smart Escaso Club.Natural methods are always good andsafe to lose the extra pounds,” hesays. But an alarming aspect is thereabout these slimming and weight losscentres. After the treatment, most gettheir hourglass frame. But unfortu-nately after a few months, when theyare back to their sedentary routines,most of them gain back double theweight they struggled to lose.

Today, many health centres’ claimis that a person can lose 5kg to10kg in 15 days by just attend-ing the sessions without anyexercise and strict diet. But ithas been scientifically provedthat losing more than 5kg-10kgin a month will adversely affectthe health. Shedding poundsgradually by following a healthydiet and regular exercise is thebest proven way of weight loss.

In this busy world, everyoneneeds an instant solution to alltheir body problems. But fortu-nately or unfortunately, the tech-nology is now far advanced tomeet their pressing needs. Be-fore taking a decision, oneshould be aware of the pros andcons of these procedures tokeep one’s body fit.

Spot fat reduction is a new treat-ment available at the health cen-tres. It trims down the specificfatty areas of the body. Normallyfat deposition in a hu-man body increases withage to certain specificparts like abs, hips andthighs. Still many doc-tors and physicians be-lieve that spot reductionis just a myth. The onlyway you can get rid of atrouble spot is by losingweight all around or youcan attain it throughliposuction surgeries,they say.

HEALTH CARE


2 6

Australia seeks moretie-ups with Kerala

Australia has welcomed the Government’s Emerging Kerala Global Con-nect initiative as an opportunity to strengthen engagement with the state in anumber of sectors, particularly education, agriculture, energy and waste man-agement.

A high-level Australian diplomatic delegation led by High Commissioner Pe-ter N Varghese recently met Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, senior ministersand officials to discuss the possibility of new trade and business partnerships.

During his meeting with Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty, Mr Varghesesaid Australia’s private sector has expertise and capabilities in all 10 focussectors identified for showcasing at Emerging Kerala 2012, which takes placein Kochi from September 12-14.

Agri-businesses and agro-based services are among the key areas identi-fied by Australia which wants to partner Kerala in deep-sea fishing projects.The country is offering services, including the training of fishermen and promo-tion of sustainable, environment-friendly practices, to boost the agricultureindustry’s contribution to the state economy.

Mr Varghese promised to make private industries in his country aware of theconnect opportunity and said the Australian Government would be happy tobring trade delegations and make presentations at the event.

Mr Kunhalikutty said the response from Australia to the Kerala Government’sefforts has been very positive. “Our meeting clearly showed the great synergyof ideas we have. There is so much Kerala can offer that Australia wants, andvice versa.”

The meeting was attended by senior Government officials including VSomasundaran, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries, and Mr Alkesh Sharma,Secretary (Industries-IP). The Australian delegation included Consul-Generalfor South India David Holly.

As a world leader in vocational education and training, Australia has offeredto collaborate with the Kerala Government in improving technical education inschools and ITIs through projects similar to the ones it has already completedin Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The projects propose capacity building of existing educational institutionsand improved skills training, with the goal of making the graduating studentsmore employable.

Among the mega-projects that have attracted Australia’s attention are theproposed Oceanarium and LNG Terminal at Kochi.

“Australia has some of the world’s best aquariums and oceanariums. It isalso a country with very large reserves of natural gas. They are naturally inter-ested in sharing their technology and resources for the projects that leveragetheir strengths,” said Mr Alkesh Sharma, who is also Managing Director, KeralaState Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) which is involved in the man-agement of both projects.

Australia, which set up a trade office in Kochi in 2010, has also offered itsexpertise in the field of food processing, medical equipment and healthcare,water management and desalination, sports management, infrastructure andrenewable energy.

Mr Varghese has accepted the invitation from the State Government to at-tend Emerging Kerala 2012, which will feature B2B and B2G meets. KSIDC isthe nodal agency for the event while the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)and National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) arethe trade and industry partners.

M P Babu, Chairman, Orion Batteries, Kozhikode, receiving the Pollution Control Board’s awardfrom Chief Minister Oommen Chandy recently. The award, intended to recognize the pollutioncontrol activities initiated by the small and medium-scale industry sector, is in recognition ofOrion’s substantial and sustainable efforts in the field.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Thrissur Zonal Council is organiz-ing an interactive session on ‘Goods and Service Tax and Direct Tax Code’ onJune 27, 2012, at Casino Hotels, Thrissur.

According to CII, it is a ‘must attend’ session for CEOs, CFOs, financedirectors, tax directors, analysts, accountants, investment bankers, corporatebankers, strategic planners, auditors, HR professionals, consultants, practis-ing CAs, CSs, CWAs and business planners across all industrial and servicesegments and professionals from Indian companies with a global presence.

The session will be addressed by Mr A Gopalakrishnan, Senior Partner, KVenkatachalam Aiyer & Co; chartered accountants; and Mr Deepak V Rao,Senior Manager-Tax & Regulatory Services, Ernst & Young; Bangalore.

The interactive session is being held against the background of the intro-duction of the Goods and Service Tax (GST), one of the biggest taxation re-forms in India, which is all set to integrate state economies and boost overallgrowth. GST will create a single, unified Indian market to make the economystronger. The implementation of GST will lead to the abolition of other taxessuch as octroi, central sales tax, state-level sales tax, entry tax, stamp duty,telecom licence fees, turnover tax, tax on consumption or sale of electricity,taxes on transportation of goods and services etc thus avoiding multiple layersof taxation that currently exist in the country.

Interactive session on GST

Ms Leela Samson, Chairman,Sangeet Natak Akademi and Chairper-son, Central Board of Film Certifica-tion, said in Kochi the other day thatIndia as a nation “gives a wonderful op-portunity to its citizens to be who theyare. It’s all about how you balance theexplicit with the subtle that will helpyou win many battles in life”. She wasinaugurating the ‘Convention onWomen Leaders’, organized by theConfederation of Indian Industry (CII).The keynote address was delivered byMs Jennifer McIntyre, Consul General,United States Consulate General.

The programme comprised four ple-nary sessions and one panel discus-sion. Renowned personalities from dif-ferent walks of life took part in the ple-nary sessions making the programmelively. The sessions dealt with ‘Lead-ership in Healthcare’, ‘Women in So-cial Entrepreneurship’, ‘Women inLeadership’ etc. The panel discussionwas on ‘Women as Leaders forChange’. Ms Rekha Menon, Head–Media and Public Relations (Asia),UST Global; Ms Sheila Kochouseph,Managing Director, V-Star Creations PvtLtd, and Ms Bhadra B, Deputy Mayor,Cochin Corporation; took part.

Other key speakers at the functionwere Dr B Sandhya, Inspector-Generalof Police, Kerala; Anjali Menon, film di-

rector; Dr Vijayalakshmi G Pillai, Medi-cal Director, Vijayalakshmi MedicalCentre; Sabriye Tenberken, ManagingTrustee, Kanthari International; MsParveen Hafeez, Managing Director,Sunrise Hospital; Ms AnuradhaSriram, Co-founder and Joint Manag-ing Director, Integra Software ServicesPvt Ltd; Ms Letika Saran, former Di-rector General of Police, Tamil Nadu;Ms Shani Prabhakaran, Chief NewsProducer, Malayala Manorama News;Dr S Saji Kumar, Chairman and Man-aging Director, Dhathri Group; Mr TomJose, Principal Secretary, Departmentof Transport, Government of Kerala andManaging Director, Kochi Metro Rail;Jose Dominic, Immediate Past Chair-man, CII Kerala State Council and Man-aging Director, CGH Earth; and Mr AjayKumar Menon, Bureau Chief–Kochi,Deccan Chronicle; and Ms RekhaBabu, Chief Executive Officer, BCGGroup.

The programme was attended bymore than 200 delegates fromcorporates, academia, faculty, re-searchers, CEOs, analysts, strategicplanners, auditors, HR professionals,consultants, business planners andstudents. Women representatives ofcompanies like IBS, UST Global, Fed-eral Bank, Geojit BNP Paribas Finan-cial Services P Ltd, AVT Natural Prod-ucts etc also attended.

‘Opportunitiesfor all in India’

NEWS


2 7

UK shows keen interest incore-sector projects

In a major boost to the ‘EmergingKerala’ Global Connect campaign,Britain has shown keen interest insome big-ticket projects in the IT,healthcare, infrastructure and educa-tion sectors of the state, and promisedto share the project profiles with majorcompanies in the UK.

Mr Mike Nithavrianakis, BritishDeputy High Commissioner inChennai, held a string of high-levelmeetings with Chief Minister OommenChandy and his senior officials inThiruvananthapuram the other day todiscuss investment opportunitiesKerala has planned in the core sec-tors to accelerate its economic growth.

The Kerala team apprised MrNithavrianakis of a number of major up-coming projects, including NIMZ (Na-tional Investment Manufacturing Zone),development of minor ports, excellencein higher education, LNG-based powerplants and development of inland wa-terways.

“The British official expressed keeninterest in the projects and also prom-ised to share these project profiles withtop companies in the UK,” said Mr VSomasundaran, Additional Chief Sec-retary (Industries). “Plans are also onto bring in someone from the ministe-rial level from the UK,” he added.

In particular, the British teamevinced interest in sectors like infor-mation technology, healthcare, infra-structure and education, which inciden-tally are the core sectors of the ‘Emerg-ing Kerala’ Global Connect event be-ing held in Kochi during September.

“The UK team was very impressedwith the positive response and appre-ciated the interaction with the ChiefMinister and his team. In particular,they noted the highly skilled workforceand the quality of life in Kerala,” saidMr Alkesh Sharma, Secretary, Indus-tries (I&P) and Managing Director,Kerala State Industrial Development

Corporation (KSIDC), who held a meet-ing with the visiting team.

The British team held separatemeetings with Mr K Jayakumar, ChiefSecretary, Mr Rajeev Sadanandan,Principal Secretary, Health, and Mr TK Manoj Kumar, Principal Secretary,Tourism.

Parleys were also held with theChief Executive Officer, Vizhinjam In-ternational Seaport Ltd, the ManagingDirector, Kochi Metro Rail, and the Di-rector, Asian School of Business. Theteam also visited Technopark,Thiruvananthapuram, and Technocity,

posal for tie-ups came up for discus-sion during a meeting between Mr MikeNithavrianakis and Prof S Rajeev, ASBDirector, recently.

“The British Deputy High Commis-sioner visited the ASB campus andtalked about introducing us to Britishuniversities which have specific com-petencies relevant to the ongoing‘Emerging Kerala’ campaign,” ProfRajeev said.

Britain is also keen to increase theengagement of its universities and com-panies with India and is looking for col-laborations and tie-ups, he added.

the experiences of British institutions.“Surely there are things we can learnfrom UK companies and universities,”he said.

During the meeting, the UK officialshowed interest in agriculture and ru-ral areas and mentioned the researchwork being carried out by British uni-versities in the area of climate changeand its impact on agriculture.

“There is scope for some collabo-ration between ASB and British univer-sities in this area,” Prof Rajeev said,and mentioned the research work be-ing done by ASB on the impact of cli-mate change on agriculture in theNortheast region and South India.

ASB has already forged a string oftie-ups with some top-notch universi-ties like Kansas in the US and InstytutOrganizachi Zarzadzania W Przemysle(ORGMASZ) of Warsaw (Poland). Itis also to establish professional alli-ances with management institutions inCentral Europe and East Asia.

“We are keen to explore potentialtie-ups. A tie-up with some major Brit-ish university will be a testimony to thehigh degree of academic excellence ofASB,” said Prof G Vijayaraghavan,Member-Secretary, ASB Board of Gov-ernors, and Member, Kerala StatePlanning Board.

Mr Nithavrianakis said that his of-fice in Chennai is the fifth largest UKvisa granting office in the world. “Thereis a lot of demand from South Indiansfor British visas,” he said.

ASB, which has emerged as aleader in management education withinnovative programmes and collabora-tions with international academic insti-tutions, has one of the first academiccampuses in the country which con-forms to Smart Building Protocols andis eligible for the LEED Green Cam-pus Certification.

For several years, American studentsand faculty from Kansas have been vis-iting the ASB campus for study andteaching. This has also facilitated ASBfaculty and students to visit Kansas tolearn from each other on managing glo-bal companies and enterprises.

Pallipuram, to get first-hand knowledgeof the activities and business opportu-nities there.

“Singapore, Taiwan and Canadahave already shown interest in Keralawith a number of investment propos-als. The interest shown by Britain willgive a major fillip to achieving the ob-jectives of the Emerging Kerala brand-ing exercise,” Mr Sharma said.

Move for tie-ups with ASB:Britain has shown tremendous in-

terest in forging tie-ups with the Kerala-based Asian School of Business(ASB), a premier B-school in SouthIndia, for conducting collaborative stud-ies in areas like climate change, agri-culture and energy relevant to the‘Emerging Kerala’ campaign. The pro-

“Britain has shown interest in bring-ing its students to India for working inspecific competencies which are in tunewith the objectives and initiatives of the‘Emerging Kerala’ branding campaign,such as infrastructure, healthcare andICT,” said the ASB Director, who is analumnus of IIT-Madras and the StanfordBusiness School.

“ASB is working on the ‘EmergingKerala’ effort, and we would be de-lighted to collaborate with the UK HighCommission to see how we can useUK expertise in fields such as climatechange,” he added.

Prof Rajeev, who chairs the KeralaState Higher Education Council’s Com-mittee on Industry-Academia Link-ages, said that India could benefit from

Oil Palm India ondiversification path


Oil Palm India Limited (OPIL) wasestablished in 1977 to promote oil palmcultivation in the country, especially inKerala. Since 1983, it has become ajoint venture of the Central and KeralaGovernments. With a total planted areaof 3,646 hectares spread over in threeestates at Yeroor, Chithara andKulathupuzha in Kollam district, OPILhas 948 employees.

Modern rice mill: OPIL haslaunched a modern rice mill in the up-per Kuttanad region at the initiative ofthe state Agriculture Department. Theproject, a part of OPIL’s diversificationplan, is meant to help the farmers ofKuttanad area. Presently the mill hasa capacity to process 12,000 tonnesof paddy annually, which it plans to in-crease to 30,000 tonnes in the sec-ond phase. Equipped with facilities toproduce parboiled rice, the mill canprocess the rice produced by farmersin Kuttanad. OPIL pays Government

support price for the rice it collects fromthe farmers.

“The main objective of the mill is tosupport the farmers of North Kuttanadand a dozen panchayats of Kottayamand Vaikom. More than profit, what weaim at is the uplift of the farmers. Themill has also succeeded in liberatingthe farmers from the influence of pri-vate millers,” says Mr K N Raveendran,Managing Director of OPIL. The rice isprocessed and marketed under thebrand name ‘Kuttanad Rice’. The millis designed to be the core of the pro-posed comprehensive food processingunit of OPIL, from where recognizedand branded products will come out

soon, according to Mr Raveendran.Seed Garden: OPIL’s Seed Gar-

den at Thodupuzha has today becomea leading establishment in the countryfor production of high-quality seeds.The commencement of the projectbrings in a positive change that hasreduced the dependence on importsbeing resorted to now. Thus the ven-ture plays a pivotal role in the develop-ment of oil palm cultivation in India.Presently, the garden produces around5.50 lakh seeds.

Cultivation of oil palm is commer-cially viable in comparison with othercrops like rubber and coconut. Antici-pating a bright future in the develop-

ment of oil palm cultivation and the in-creasing demand for hybrid seeds,OPIL has established a most modernoil palm germination centre at the SeedGarden. “Our prime motive is to pro-mote oil palm cultivation among thesmall holders in the state. Both theState and Central Governments extendsubsidy for this. The programme is be-ing successfully implemented in thestate. We directly buy crops from thefarmers and thus around 3,000 smalland marginal farmers are benefited bythis scheme,” says Mr Raveendran.

From 1987 OPIL had been makingmarginal profits and since 1992 itsperformance has been quite encourag-ing. The hard work put in by the em-ployees and cost reduction measuresof the company have been the reasonsfor its growth and expansion.

OPIL hopes that its novel ventureswill bring about a favourable change inthe sphere of oil palm cultivation in thecountry.

Oil Palm India ondiversification path


2 8

Geojit revenues, PAT down; dividend retained

The consolidated revenues of Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services forthe fiscal year 2011-12 came down by 8.58% from Rs 281.29 crore to Rs257.14 crore. Consolidated PBT also declined to Rs 47.59 crore from Rs 50.25crore, while consolidated net profit was Rs 19.45 crore as against Rs 29.02crore. The company has provided Rs 24.27 crore for taxes for the fiscal yearbecause of additional tax provision of Rs 9.63 crore relating to an earlier year.

On a standalone basis, the gross income went down by 13.22% from Rs271.40 crore to Rs 235.51 crore and the profit after tax by 18.48% from Rs48.73 crore to Rs 39.72 crore.

Though the profits were down, the Board of Directors has proposed to retainthe dividend of 75 paise on the paid-up value of Re 1 per share for 2011-12, asit is the silver jubilee year of the company.

Mr C J George, Managing Director of the company, said,“The topline performance was negatively affected, resulting in the decline,

because of the sluggish market volumes and poor macro-economic environ-ment. During the next quarter, our two joint venture partnerships in Kuwait andOman will become operational, enabling us to further consolidate our presencein the Middle East. I believe that it will help us reach out to more NRI customersin the region.”

SBI ties up with Geojit onnew service to NRIs

Geojit BNP Paribas FinancialServices Ltd and State Bank of Indiarecently inked an agreement to ex-tend portfolio investment services(PIS) to non-resident Indian custom-ers, mainly from the Gulf region. Thedeal was signed inthe presence of MrV Murali, DeputyManaging Directorof SBI, inThiruvananthapuram.

Using the SBIPIS account,NRIs can pur-chase and sellshares/convertibled e b e n t u r e sthrough stock ex-changes, subjectto limits prescribed by the ReserveBank of India. The investments canbe on repatriable or non-repatriablebasis. NRIs can visit any SBI branchin the Middle East to open a NREPIS account for repatriable and NROPIS account for non-repatriable invest-ments to commence investing in thestock market.

Following the opening of the PISaccount, NRIs who wish to trade canopen a trading and DP account withGeojit BNP Paribas Financial Ser-vices Ltd through the offices of jointventures in the Middle East at Dubai,Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras al-Khaimah,

Al Ain, Riyadh, Muscat, Damam andJeddah.

Mr Murali said the joint initiativewas a major step taken by SBI in pro-viding PIS service to a large numberof NRI customers in the Gulf region,

particularly from Kerala. ”SBI with itswide network of branches across In-dia and Geojit BNP Paribas with itspresence across the Gulf countries willform the ideal combination in extend-ing PIS to NRI customers,” he said.

Mr C J George, Managing Directorof Geojit BNP Paribas, said, “This part-nership will help NRIs to look beyondbank deposits and traditional invest-ments in physical assets. At a timewhen the Indian rupee has depreciatedand the valuations are relatively inex-pensive, this service will be of immenseuse to NRIs to grow their wealththrough the Indian stock market.”

Service for QFIsGeojit BNP Paribas has launched its Qualified Foreign Investors

(QFI) investment service. As a Qualified Depository Participant (QDP) approvedby the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) across the two deposi-tories, CDSL and NSDL, the company will cater to the investment needs offoreign investors through its network of joint ventures in the UAE, Saudi Arabia,Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Recently, Geojit BNP Paribas in alliance with the Union Ministry of Financeorganized a road show titled ‘India—the Incredible Investment Destination’ inDubai, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain which turned out to be a huge success anddrew the attention of several high-net-worth Arab investors across the regionwho evinced keen interest in investing in India’s $1.7-trillion economy. TheIndian delegation consisted of senior officials of the Department of EconomicAffairs, Department of Disinvestment, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT),SEBI, Reserve Bank of India, National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BombayStock Exchange (BSE).

Says Mr C J George, Managing Director of Geojit: “The Indian economyoffers tremendous long-term investment opportunities to foreign investors whoare looking for diversifying their investment portfolios. Geojit BNP Paribas hasa distinct advantage in that we have a strong presence in the Middle Eastthrough our partnerships and this new investment service will attract manyinvestors into our country.”

Geojit will cater to the needs of foreign Investors by providing astute invest-ment advice in the UAE through Barjeel Geojit Securities LLC, its joint venturethere, and through Aloula Geojit Capital Co in Saudi Arabia, BBK Geojit Secu-rities KSCC in Kuwait and Bahrain and QBG Geojit Financial Services LLC inOman.

Through QFI route, both institutional and retail investors, including privatebanks and their clients, hedge funds, pension funds, family offices, broker-dealer for proprietary trading desks, partnerships, firms and individuals caninvest in the Indian stock, bond and mutual fund market. Investors from 45countries can enter via the QFI route including China, Hong Kong, the UAEand Oman.

Massive fillip on eve of ‘Emerging Kerala’

MOUs signed for first Chinese investmentKottayam-based rubber products

manufacturer TJP Group has signedmemoranda of understanding (MOUs)with China’s Jingdong Rubber Com-pany for two joint ventures (JVs), sig-nalling the first Chinese investment inKerala.

The tie-up provides a massive fillipto the state as it gets ready to hostthe high-profile Emerging Kerala 2012Global Connect with the aim of pitch-ing itself worldwide as a business huband preferred investment destination.

The agreement was signed follow-ing the recent visit of a high-level offi-cial delegation to China to explore thepossibilities of Chinese investments inKerala. The delegation visited the ex-isting facilities of Jingdong to assessthe technology and other infrastructurefacilities available there.

Jingdong, a private company basedin China’s Hebei province, specializesin rubber waste recycling, productionof rubber sheets and mats and sportsgoods.

It proposes to partner the TJPGroup in setting up a white reclaimrubber production facility and a sportsinfrastructure firm in Kerala.

“We applaud the TJP Group for bring-ing in the first Chinese JV investmentin Kerala. We hope to see more suchpartnerships that will help create morejobs and take our business and indus-

trial sectors to greater heights,” accord-ing to Mr Alkesh Sharma, Secretary (In-dustries-IP). “It is also a ringing endorse-ment for the State Government’s poli-cies and efforts to create an enablingenvironment for investment.”

The TJP Group’s first MOU withJingdong is for a white reclaim rubberproduction unit with an annual capac-ity of 1,200 tonnes. White reclaim rub-ber, which is produced from the wastematerial from latex factories, has highdemand overseas, especially in China.

Jingdong, which will invest 30% to-wards the share capital of the proposedJV, has offered to buy the bulk of theproduction, while the surplus is to bemarketed within India and in other coun-tries.

The second proposed JV, in whichthe Chinese partner will invest 49% ofthe equity, will take up construction ofindoor stadiums, synthetic tracks andcourts and similar sports projects. TheGovernment of Kerala has provided 10acres of land in Kasargod district forsetting up the factory.

Jingdong has considerable expertisein construction of sporting arenas, hav-ing implemented more than 30 projects,including for the Beijing Olympics. Itmakes sports courts and artificial turfand synthetic tracks and has the ap-proval of the International Associationof Athletics Federations (IAAF).


2 9

Natural reportsrecord net profitAVT Natural Products Ltd, a

member of the A V Thomas Groupof Companies and a key playerin the dietary supplements andfood ingredients segments,posted an all-time record net profitof Rs 54.78 crore for the yearended March 31, 2012 as againstRs 11.11 crore logged in the sameperiod last year. Sales were upby 62% at Rs 238.6 crore (Rs147.5 crore).

The Board of Directors hasrecommended payment of a finaldividend of 50%—Rs 5 per share.This is in addition to the silver ju-bilee dividend of Rs 2.5 (25%) pershare and further interim dividendof Rs 5 (50%) per share. The ag-gregate dividend for the year2011-12 is Rs 12.50 (125%) pershare.

All the three product catego-ries of Marigold oleoresin, spiceoils and oleoresins anddecaffeinated tea did exceedinglywell for the year both in terms ofvolumes and gross margins.Favourable prices of Marigoldoleoresin in the global market dueto China’s crop failure helped thecompany to post record salesand net profit. The demand forall the three product verticals re-mains high and the company ex-pects a reasonably good year in2012/13 subject to a favourablesouthwest monsoon.

BIS lab for Kochi

Prof K V Thomas, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution,launching the logo of Kerala Bottled Water Association (KBWA). Mr Shafi Mather,Chief Minister’s Economic Adviser and Member of BIS, Mr M E Muhammed, KBWAPresident, and Mr K S Sanjith, KBWA Secretary, are also seen.

Spices Board awardgoes to Eastern again

Eastern Condiments (P) Ltd, aleading spice powder and masalamanufacturer in the country, hasbagged the award for performance inexport of spices powders and masalamixes during the financial years 2009-2010 and 2010-11 from the SpicesBoard. Eastern was bagging the awardfor the 14th year in succession, saysgroup Chairman Navas Meeran. “Theaward is a testimony to our global stan-dards in quality and manufacturing pro-cesses,” he says. Eastern is the firstcompany in the curry powder sectorwith ISO: 22000, the highest qual-ity certification in foodsafety which also com-prises HACCP stan-dards. The certificationunderscores the foodsafety procedures thecompany follows,which is todaythe largest ex-porter of currypowders tothe entireMiddle Eastand Europeancountries.

The company has taken several ini-tiatives to expand the footprint of theEastern brand to other parts of thecountry as well. “We are currently dis-tributing our products to over 3,50,000outlets in the country,” says Navas.

The company has already com-pleted its capacity enhancementprogramme which has made it one ofthe largest spices processing plantsin the region for spice powders, headds.

The Eastern Group has diversifiedbusiness interests in areas such as

pre-cured tread rubber,rubberized coir mat-tresses, apparel, pack-aged drinking water, edu-cation and wind energy. Aprofessionally managed

o r g a n i z a t i o nwith a turnoverof Rs 70- billion,the group iscommitted toexcellence andleadership inevery segment

of its business.

Union Minister of Consumer Af-fairs, Food and Public DistributionK V Thomas said in Kochi the otherday that the latest lab of BIS wouldbe set up in Kochi soon. Launch-ing the logo of Kerala Bottled Wa-ter Association (KBWA), Prof Tho-mas lauded the association’s ac-tivities and hoped that consumerswould benefit from its measuresaimed at providing pure bottled wa-ter.

Mr Shafi Mather, the ChiefMinister’s Economic Adviser and

Member of BIS, spoke about thecommunity drinking water project.

Mr M E Mohamed, President,KBWA, said the association aimedat introducing a common retail pricefor packaged drinking water and en-suring high quality standards anda distinct identity to the product.

KBWA is the only body thatunites packaged drinking watermanufacturers in Kerala.

Mr K S Sanjith, KBWA Secre-tary, proposed a vote of thanks.

‘IREL disinvestmentplan reports untrue’

The reports appearing in a section of the media about the proposeddisinvestment plans of the Chavara unit of Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL),a profit-making public sector undertaking, are “absolutely untrue and base-less’’ and there is not an iota of truth in it, according to the management.“The management is extremely concerned about the misleading mediareports which have led to the workers to intensify their strike that is threat-ening to completely cripple its production schedule due to severe short-age of raw sand. The company is losing Rs 3 crore every month on ac-count of this strike’, says a release by IREL.

The Chavara unit is emerging as a leading global player in sand miner-als on the strength of its robust functioning, but the lingering strike threat-ens to throw a spanner in its plans as the company’s production is on theverge of a standstill, says the release. “Despite the extra efforts by themanagement to meet the demands of the striking miners and resolve theissue in the interest of the nation, stiff trade unionism is being abetted by`wild allegations and twisted facts’ in the form of media reports by thevested interests to create a smokescreen and aggravate the situation.”

“We would like to assert that there has been no talk of disinvestmentas we are committed to safeguarding the interest of the people and thenation at any cost. We have taken all possible efforts to hammer out asolution and have even walked extra mile for our workers, but the man-agement is distressed to note that the employees are being misled bythe vested interests,” says the release.

The management has appealed to the striking workers to be guided bybetter sense so that the impasse is resolved at the earliest and the com-pany resumes its full-scale operations without any let or hindrance.

Dr K Rosaiah, Governor of Tamil Nadu, inaugurating the ‘Logicity’ of Shri Kailash LogisticsPark at Oragadam. Mr S Raj Kumar, Chairman, Sri Kailash Logistics Park, is also seen.

IT Keralaproject gets

award‘Intelligent Enforcement Automa-

tion System for Kerala’, a project ofthe Kerala State IT Mission developedfor the Motor Vehicles Department forenhancing road safety and for detect-ing and booking traffic rule violatorsautomatically, has been adjudged thebest project by eWorld Jury ChoiceAwards for the ‘Best Initiative for Useof ICT in Public Safety, Security andDisaster Management’.

The project aims at enhancingroad safety by ensuring that the rulesand regulations mentioned in theMotor Vehicles Act, 1988 are strictlybeing adhered to by drivers and ve-hicles on road.

If a citizen is found offending anytraffic rule like driving without licence/permit or breaking traffic rules, appli-cable penalty is enforced on the driverof the vehicle. The project enables theenforcement of road rules by meansof automatic capture of traffic offenceslike red-light violation, speeding andwrong direction driving in addition tothe 24X7 surveillance using ‘virtualloop’, a video analytics solution withautomatic number plate recognitionand utilizing mobile-wireless technolo-gies, geographical information sys-tems (GIS) and global positioningsystem (GPS) technologies.

The eWorld Awards 2012 werepresented at the eWorld Forum 2012held at New Delhi during June 15-16,2012. Mr Sabarish K, Mission Coor-dinator, received the award on behalfof the Kerala IT Mission.


3 0

Mr Sunil Dutt speaks at a media meet announcing the launch ofthe BlackBerry Innovation Zone at Startup Village. Also seenare Mr Sanjay Vijayakumar (left, standing) Mr Alec Saundersand Mr Nicolas Lepage

BlackBerry Innovation Zone in Startup VillageStartup Village in Kochi, India’s first telecom

technology incubator, has now become the home ofthe first BlackBerry Innovation Zone in the Asia Pa-cific region.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM)launched the first-of-its-kind centre on May 31 in aneffort to showcase the latest in BlackBerry technolo-gies to inspire future entrepreneurs.

Present at the launch ceremony and a mediainteraction in Kochi were Mr Alec Saunders, Vice-President of Developer Relations and EcosystemsDevelopment, RIM; Mr H K Mittal, Adviser and Head,National Science & Tech-nology EntrepreneurshipDevelopment Board; MrSunil Dutt, Managing Direc-tor, RIM India; Mr NicolasLepage, Consul and SeniorTrade Commissioner,Western India, ConsulateGeneral of Canada; MrSanjay Vijayakumar, Chair-man, Board of Governors,Startup Village; and Mr SijoKuruvilla George, CEO,Startup Village.

RIM said it hoped tolaunch two such centressupporting innovationzones in India this year.

Mr Alec Saunders said that according to statis-tics, over the next three to five years most of theworld’s software developers in the mobile industryare going to be in India. “So India is a tremendouslyimportant country if you are a company that builds amobile applications platform. The reason why cen-tres such as Startup Village are so exciting is thatthe most interesting and innovative companies to-day are the ones that are being started by young

entrepreneurs, the ones that are being created fromscratch to try new things in the market.”

Mr Mittal said: “While you are trying to promotebusinesses you have to have a partner who under-stands businesses. We value partnerships with busi-nesses such as RIM because through these we gainthe vital knowledge and mentorship that our startupsneed.”

Mr Sunil Dutt said: “Startup Village provides bud-ding entrepreneurs with all the facilities they need—knowledge, physical infrastructure and cutting-edgetechnology support. Our new BlackBerry 10 plat-

form is ready to meet thechallenges of ever-chang-ing consumer needs. It isfocused not just on im-proving productivity, butenhancing the entire con-sumer experience.”

“BlackBerry Innova-tion Centre will help firethe imagination of stu-dents in 126 engineeringcolleges in Kerala. Weknow it will create thebase for a whole lot of newideas on the mobile plat-form.”

According to MrSanjay Vijayakumar, Startup Village hoped to pro-vide direct technology exposure to young minds thatwill go on to innovate and create new things. MrNicolas Lepage hoped that initiatives like Rubus Labswould help build bridges between innovation ecosys-tems. “Linking Canadian and Indian technologies issomething the two countries have been working to-gether on. Partnerships such as these are the foun-dation of a knowledge economy, which is the future,”he said.

School buildingdonated

As part of its corporate social responsibil-ity, V-Guard Industries Ltd, the electrical andelectronics major, has donated a 3,000-sq ftbuilding to Government Higher SecondarySchool, Vennala, Kochi. The building was inau-gurated by V-Guard Vice-Chairman KochousephChittilappilly and wife Sheela Kochouseph. Thetwo-storeyed building will house four classroomsfor +1 and +2 students.

Mr Benny Behanan, MLA, and Mr MithunChittilappilly, Managing Director of V-Guard, werealso present during the function. Councillor N AShafeek presided over the function. SchoolHeadmistress A Vasanthakumari, Kochi Corpo-ration Education Standing Committee ChairmanThyagarajan, District Education Officer Margretetc were also present.

CII to bring outbook on successful

entrepreneursIn an effort to celebrate the entrepreneurial

spirit of Kerala, the Confederation of Indian In-dustry (CII) Kerala will come out with a bookthat will profile the successful entrepreneurs ofKerala. Called Made in Kerala, the book is likelyto be available on stands early next year. Thecore theme of the criteria is ‘Diversity of Innova-tion’.

The aim of the book, according to CII, is tomotivate, publicize and showcase innovation inKerala. According to Mr Navas Meeran,

Co-Chairman, Taskforce on Entrepreneur-ship, CII Kerala, and Managing Director, East-ern Condiments, “CII recognizes that innovationis often the bridesmaid of entrepreneurship andthat paradigm-shifting entrepreneurial venturesthat bring about economic, social and environ-mental change are often accompanied by path-breaking innovations. This book intends tochronicle the novelty and imagination of the en-trepreneurs in Kerala”.

CII invites entries to be a part of the book.The criteria for applying are: innovation in prod-ucts, process and business models and sociallyrelevant innovations and social entrepreneurialventures. The key criteria for entries are that theentrepreneur should have started the businessin Kerala and should also have its presence cur-rently. The nominations can be submitted by theentrepreneurs themselves or can be nominated.

Entries have to be registered on thewebsite www.ciimadeinkerala.com.

ABCDE Congresscomes into beingABCDE Congress, an initiative of the Indian

Institute of Architects aimed at bringing the as-sociations of architects, builders, contractors,designers and engineers under one roof, wasinaugurated in Kochi the other day by MrManjalamkuzhi Ali, Urban Affairs and MinoritiesWelfare Minister. The chief aim of the congressis to adopt a corporate approach to meet theever-growing demands of the industry and pro-vide a transparent and ethical platform to solvemany issues faced by the respective associa-tions.

The congress will feature some major eventsincluding a three-day exhibition from November30 to December 2 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Inter-national Stadium in Kochi. A two-day seminarwill be conducted at the IMA House on Decem-ber 1 and 2.

For more details contact,Lathika Mathew @ 95442 02274

Q4 net up by 70%;dividend at 35%Electronics and electrical major V-Guard

Industries Limited has reported a profit aftertax of Rs 19.17 crore for the fourth quarter offiscal 2011-12, 70% up over the figure of Rs11.29 crore, without considering exceptionalprofit, for the corresponding quarter of the pre-vious year. The company’s net turnover for thelast quarter was Rs 276.46 crore, an increaseof 24% over the Rs 222.35crore in the previ-ous quarter.

The profit after tax for the fiscal year 2011-12 was Rs 50.80 crore, 28% up over the fig-ure of Rs 39.70 crore, without considering ex-ceptional profit achieved during the previousyear. The gross revenue from operations forthe financial year was Rs 1,006.53 crore, anincrease of 36%, from Rs 737.47crore for theprevious year. The Board of Directors has rec-ommended a dividend of 35%, ie Rs 3.50 pershare.

Mr Mithun K Chittilappilly, Managing Di-rector of the company, said that margins forthe quarter under review had improved mainlybecause of better product mix and cost con-trol measures. Demand for all product verti-cals was good and contributed to the robustsales growth, he said.

The company was planning to spend Rs25 crore as capex for the current financial yearwhich included doubling its wire plant capac-ity at Kashipur, he said.


3 1

WMC office-bearersMr Gopala Pillai (US) was elected Advisory

CommitteeChairman and Mr Jolly Thadathil (Ger-many) Global Chairman of the World MalayaleeCouncil (WMC) at the WMC Global Conferenceheld in Dallas, US, recently. The other office-bear-ers are: Mr A S Jose (Bahrain)—Global President;Dr Polly Mathew Arampankudy (Germany)—Glo-bal General Secretary; Mr Moosa Koya(Damam)—Treasurer; and Ms Cicily Jacob (Nige-ria)—Women’s Forum President.

Jolly Thadathil A S Jose Polly Mathew

Moosa Koya Cicily Jacob

SBT CGMMr Sajeev Krishnan

has taken charge as theChief General Manager(CGM) of the State Bankof Travancore (SBT). MrKrishnan was GeneralManager (Operations) ofSBT. He was earlierChief Vigilance Officerwith the CorporationBank and had alsoserved in the Maldivesand Toronto with theState Bank Of India(SBI).He has alsoworked in State Bank ofIndore and State Bank ofSaurashtra.

Shaffi Mather CM’s Economic AdviserMr Shaffi Mather, eminent eco-

nomic and common law analyst,has been appointed Economic Ad-viser to Chief Minister OommenChandy. He will bein charge of thenovel schemesenvisaged by thementor of Kerala’sdevelopment, MrSam Pitroda. MrMather is the Eco-nomic Policy andPlanning Committee Convener ofthe Kerala Pradesh Congress Com-mittee (KPPC).

A successful young entrepre-neur, he had brought a family-runreal estate business to the forefrontof the local market before movingon to take major positions at two ofIndia’s largest communication cor-porations—Essel Group and Reli-ance Industries. However, after aperilous ride to hospital with hismother he was forced to confront

India’s need for a dependable am-bulance service. He left his careerat Reliance and founded an emer-gency medical service ambulance

with a sliding scalepayment systemthat has revolution-ized medical trans-port in six states in-cluding Maharashtraand Kerala.

A Master’s inPublic Administra-

tion from Harvard University and anMBA from the University ofPittsburg, Mr Mather has baggedthe Chevening Scholarship from theLondon School of Economics wherehe is a Visiting Lecturer. He waselected Global Young Leader of theGlobal Economic Forum in 2010.

He is the son of KPCC Execu-tive Member K M I Mather andgrandson of former KPCC PresidentT O Bava and former Treasurer K CM Mather.

Mallika SrinivasanTata Steel Addl Director

Tractors and Farm EquipmentLtd (TAFE) Chairperson MallikaSrinivasan has been appointed Ad-ditional Director on the board of TataSteel.

Ms Mallika Srinivasan isconsidered to be one of themost successful womenCEOs in the country andhad levered TAFE to the$1billion league in 2010.

The company, under herleadership, is now amongthe three largest tractormanufacturers in the world with $1.6billion revenues in the last fiscal.

Mr Cyrus Mistry, who is set tosucceed Mr Ratan Tata as Chairman

of Tata Sons in December, has beenappointed Additional Director on theboard of Tata Steel.

Mr Mistry is the Deputy Chairmanof Tata Sons, the hold-ing company of the TataGroup of Companies.He joined the board ofShapoorji Pallonji andCompany as Directorin 1991 and was laterappointed ManagingDirector of theShapoorji Pallonji

Group in 1994.He is also a Director with Tata In-

dustries, Tata Consultancy Services,Tata Power and Tata Teleservices.


KSSC—leader in powerdistribution items

Kerala Switchgear SalesCorporation (KSSC), dealer inswitchgears, has a very goodreputation in the power distribu-tion industry. The firm mainly pro-vides varieties of all high-and low-tension switchgears.

For more than a decadeKSSC has catered to the require-ments of Government, semi-Gov-ernment and private institutions,buildings and flats and commer-cial complexes. It is also famousfor its expertise in panel build-ing. The expert team in KSSCdesigns and manufactures spe-cial panels according to cus-

tomer requirements.“In service lies success” is the slogan of KSSC. Its success is

the proof. Here customers can choose a variety of items under thesame category with different price tags. The firm is an authorizeddealer for all switchgear ranges of Larsen & Toubro Limited and italso has an authorized service centre for all ranges of switchgearsunder the name J&M Switchgear Service Centre.

KSSC can supply all types of transformers, generators,switchgears and other electrical items under one roof. In short thecustomer need not approach different sources for their needs.

Panel building is another area of expertise of KSSC, which evendesigns and manufactures special panels according to the require-ments of customers. All items of equipment are subject to stan-dard work checks and inspections throughout and to a final test inaccordance with the standard procedures, a committed service tocustomers.

With an established name, KSSC and its service centre renderall electrical and electronic services for industrial and commercialestablishments. “Our motto is to render user-friendly high-qualityproducts and maximum service for the products”, says Mr Mohanan,Managing Director.

Mr Mohanan is a former L&T professional having about two de-cades of service in that company and 35 years of experience in theelectrical field. He had also worked with Wilson and Company Ltd, aBritish firm, for about six years and was with Dorman Smith Ltd,England, now Legrand (I) Pvt. Ltd, for some nine years. KSSC islocated on the premises of DD Vyapar Bhavan on K P Vallon Road,Kadavanthra, Kochi.

Mohanan


3 2

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3 3

M P JacksonChairman

Jackson combinesbusiness skills,political acumen

Born in a business family, MrJackson is the eldest son of Mr M CPaul, Chairman and Managing Direc-tor of KSE Ltd and also a former Chair-man of the Irinjalakuda Municipality.

That heredity plays a pivotal rolein one’s life has been proved doublycorrect as Jackson was MunicipalChairman for two terms. During hissecond term Irinjalakuda witnessedthe Chairman laying the foundationstone and opening the new munici-pal building in six months. Earlier,he had proved his mettle by buildingthe Town Hall for which he laid thefoundation stone and completed thework at the same pace as the mu-nicipal office.

Besides being the ITC BankChairman, Mr Jackson is the Presi-dent of the Irinjalakuda CooperativeHospital and President of theIrinjalakuda Chamber of Commerce.Combining business skills and politi-cal acumen he is now the DCC (I)Secretary with an MLA’s stature.

By Antony Ooden

What is the focus of the bankfor the future? “I look forward to mak-ing it a Rs 1,000-crore multi-statebank,” says Mr M P Jackson, Chair-man of the Irinjalakuda Town Coopera-tive Bank, now known as ITC Bank,which is forging ahead with plans tocomplete its century, garnering thetrust and goodwill of the natives andcontributing to the overall progress ofIrinjalakuda.

Irinjalakuda, a town situated nearly20 km south of Thrissur city, is famousfor big brands in banks and cattlefeedand coconut oil production and is theland of eminent personalities in arts,literature, business and science. Theworld-renowned Koodal ManickamTemple has its legacy of drawing tour-ists from far-flung corners of the worldand is one of the temples for‘Nalambala Darshanam’ (visit to fourtemples for the darshan of the deitiesof Sri Rama, Bharatha, Lakshmanaand Shatrughna on the same day) dur-ing the Ramayana month. If Thrissuris famous for its ‘Pooram’, what addscharm and popularity to Irinjalakuda isthe 10-day ‘Utsavam’ at KoodalManickam beginning on the day afterthe Thrissur Pooram.

The people of Irinjalakuda have forlong mingled with those on the fourborders of Mukundapuram taluk, ofwhich it is the headquarters. The town’smarket is the rendezvous of peoplefrom all parts of the taluk. Naturally thepeople here have cultivated an urge fortrading in products and earning money.Earning leads to saving. That may bethe reason why the town witnessed thebirth of small business firms and soci-eties. The trading and investment cul-ture led some people to establish chittyfirms also. Irinjalakuda, like Thrissur,is also known for multiple chitty com-panies. It has a history of setting upchit firms and having bank brancheslike Bank of Cochin and Catholic UnionBank, which later merged with somenationalized banks. Now the townboasts branches of almost all nation-alized, new-generation, scheduled andcooperative banks and reputed col-leges for men and women. Among thecolleges, Christ College has the creditof grooming eminentlitterateurs, journalists, edu-cationists, artists, scien-tists, sports personalitiesand bank executives whohave done Irinjalakudaproud.

ITC Bank took shapefrom a society which al-ready existed there. Knowl-edgeable sources say thatthe idea of the society wasmooted by the then parishvicar, Rev Fr Pious Akkara,who took the initiative toprop up the affluent groupin the town for investingmoney in forming a societyin 1918 in a modest halljuxtaposed with the church. The soci-ety later became Irinjalakuda Town Co-operative Bank in 1969 and became

Societies have given permission toopen six more branches—at Aloor,Annamanada, Kodaly, Kattoor, Korattyand Karuvannur of which work on threehas started, says Mr T K DileepKumar, General Manager of the bank.

The number of employees todaycomes to about 90, those above theclerical level being appointed by theCooperative Service ExaminationBoard. “All the branches have corebanking facility. The bank has beengiven the RBI nod to open onsite ATMsfor which testing is on. Soon there willbe onsite ATMs at all branches,” saysMr Dileep Kumar.

The bank has more than 25,000 ‘A’class members from whom the direc-tors are elected. A share costs Rs 100and the minimum number allotted is 10(Rs 1,000). ‘B’ class membership willbe offered to those customers takingloans and depositing money. Now thereare 11 directors on the board. The num-ber is to be raised to 13 including twoprofessional directors, like a charteredaccountant and a bank professional.

ITC Bank has an insurance schemein tie-up with the IFFCO-Tokio insurancefirm. ‘A’ class members are entitled toa medical benefit scheme implementedwith the help of Irinjalakuda CoopertaiveHospital where these members can getup to Rs 5,000 a year for hospital ex-penses. For money transfer, ITC Bankhas an RTGS-NEFT tie-up with HDFCBank. ITC Bank is the first urban bankto have the facility to trade in Govern-ment securities.

The Bank offers all types of depositschemes like savings accounts andfixed, recurring and cumulative depos-its. It provides term, gold, housing,educational, hire-purchase and busi-ness loans and overdrafts. The limitto a business loan is Rs 200 lakh.

''Total deposits amount to Rs 380crore. A sum of Rs 246 crore has beendisbursed as loans. Net profit was Rs 2crore as on March 31, 2012. The rate ofdividend given is 10%. The bank had

0% NPA as on March 31, 2012. Vol-ume of business ran to Rs 600 crore. Itmaintains a capital adequacy ratio of

an urban bank in 1996. But before be-coming an urban bank the bank hadopened five branches in 1994 and two

more next year. “Now the bank haseight branches spread acrossMukundapuram taluk. The ReserveBank and the Registrar of Cooperative


3 3MONEY & FINANCE

L D Anto

V S VasudevanVice_Chairman

C R C Menon P J Thomas

K K Johny Philo Mathew K S Kabeer

Directors

K O Jose T I Joseph

T K Varghese

10% against the RBI stipulation of 9%.ITC gives priority to gold loans, whichrun to about Rs 47 crore, at an interestrate of 13%. Nearly 85 % of the marketrate of gold is given as loan, with pay-ments being in cheque above Rs50,000, according to the RBI norm.Besides gold loans, home, educationaland other loans are provided on moder-ate scales’’, says Mr Dileep Kumar.

The bank plays a prominent role inserving the local populace. Residentsof the area have developed a strong at-tachment to it as it is their ancestors’bank. Year after year, the bank’s an-nual reports show increase in assets,equity capital, deposits, lending, profit-ability, number of members and staff,business and introduction of innovativeproducts and services. In view of in-creased deposits, higher rates of inter-est are paid. Shareholders get good divi-dends. They are highly satisfied with thebank’s overall performance. The proce-dure for taking loans is very simple. Sothere is great possibility of all applicantsgetting loans. All customers are givenadequate consideration. Loans carrycomparatively low rates of interest.

“When I took over as Chairman in1991 the bank had a deposit of Rs1 crore out of which Rs 60 lakh wasadvances,” says Mr Jackson.

Why doesn’t the bank have NRIservices? “It has to obtain the RBI-stipulated net-worth norms to adoptNRI/E services and we hope to getit soon,” says the General Man-ager.

Besides providing first-ratebanking services, ITC Bank caresfor the wellbeing of its employeesand shareholders. In addition to thefitness/yoga centre and guesthouse meant for the staff there is alibrary for them and their families,besides an air-conditioned mini-au-ditorium. Recently the logo of thebank was changed. “If we succeed

in maintaining the brand image andpublic confidence there will be furthergrowth,” asserts Mr Dileep Kumar.

T K Dileep KumarMr T K Dileep Kumar, the Gen-

eral Manager of the bank, hails fromChalakudy. He holds a degree fromChrist College, Irinjalakuda, an MBAfrom Cochin University of Scienceand Technology (Cusat) and aPGDCA from LBS Centre.

Of the natives, by thenatives and for the natives

Kumar Taxis—a journeythrough history

Kumar Taxis is well known for its courteous dealings with customers. Rather than a meresupplier of taxis, it provides ultimate travel solutions whether by rail, road, air or water. “Weare fully equipped with complete information of any kind of travel and tourism within India.We undertake booking of air tickets, railway travel reservation and booking of bus ticketsand reservation for all sorts of water transport,” says Chairman Mohandas.


Completing 84 years of glory, KumarTaxis still continues its victoriousjourney. Its tale begins in the pre-independence era when SKrishnan, a textile merchantfrom Kochi, happened tobuy a car. OverlandWhippet, the firstcar he bought,remains thelucky charm ofthe firm till today.

As the years passed the enterprise alsogrew. It was creating history. Today it hasfascinating and eventful stories to tell ofits travel experiences. Nowhere in theworld might a country’s Presidents andPrime Ministers have travelled, while in of-fice, in cars belonging to a taxi concern. Butmany did in Kumar Taxis’.

It was in 1928 that the famous PierceLeslie company imported about a dozencars to India. The Overland Whippet, oneof them, remained unsold for some timeand Krishnan bought it for 825 rupees and 12‘annas’. The car was the first in the fleet of Kumar Taxis.The Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi travelled twice in Kumar’s carduring his visits to Kochi (then ‘Cochin’).

Today it is the fifth generation that witnesses the success expedition ofKumar Taxis. K K Mohandas who belongs to the third generation is the Chair-man of the enterprise. This true Gandhian is the son of Krishnan. After the deathof K B Kumaran, his maternal uncle, he took over control of the business. Underhis leadership, the trade developed and the number of the fleet increased. It washis hard work and clarity of thought that enabled the firm to raise its fame andconfidence. “We have a fleet of brand-new cars that suit the tastes and require-ments of customers. They comprise luxury cars, vans, tempo-travellers andcoaches. Our team of skilled drivers with pleasing personalities is proficient inMalayalam, English and Hindi. Being familiar with every nook and corner ofKerala, they satisfy our customer needs. Moreover, they are given special train-ing on safety driving from ‘Suraksha Defensive Driving’, sponsored by HindustanUnilever, to serve our clients better”, says Mohandas.

The milestones in its history are endless. Being the oldest operators in thetravel trade in India, Kumar Taxis has carried six Indian Presidents, Chief Minis-ters, Central Ministers, foreign diplomats in India, Indian Ambassadors abroad,Presidents of foreign countries, Kings and Queens, Sheikhs of Gulf countriesand industrialists right from J R D Tata, the Birlas and the Dalmias to VijayMallya. It was privileged to carry political leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru to A KGopalan, Morarjee Desai to Atal Behari Vajpayee and religious heads fromSankaracharya to Archbishops of Rome.

“In the history of Buckingham Palace, the Kings or Queens might not havetravelled in a car belonging to a taxi concern anywhere in the globe. We had theproud privilege of carrying Prince Phillip and Queen Elizabeth in our MercedesBenz Executive class on his journey to Kochi on October 17, 1997,” Mohandassays. Its association with reputed organizations like the Travel Agent Associa-tion of India Ltd (TAAI), Indian Tourist Transport Association (ITTA) and TrumpsInternational (TI) of Saudi Arabia etc has enhanced its reputation and goodwill.It is also associated with State Bank of India to provide credit card services toimprove digital cash dealings.

Kumar Taxis is well known for its courteous dealings with customers. Ratherthan a mere supplier of taxis, it provides ultimate travel solutions whether byrail, road, air or water. “We are fully equipped with complete information of anykind of travel and tourism within India. We undertake booking of air tickets,railway travel reservation and booking of inter-state coach tickets and reserva-tion for all sorts of backwater cruises,” says Mohandas.

Presently, there are Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi Lancer, Maruti Esteem,Ford Ikon, Opel Astra, Fiat Sienna etc in its fleet owned and operated by Kumarassociates.

The head office of Kumar Taxis is at Mattancherry, Kochi. It also operatesfrom four other branches in and around Kochi. One could easily say the serviceof Kumar Taxis is better than the best. It has won the ‘State Award in Tourism’for Excellence in Tourist Transport from the Kerala State Tourism Minister.

With decades of experience in the field, the firm, says Mohandas, is veryconscious of the twists and twirls in the industry. He is not just a tour operatorbut indeed an expert in the field. “Kerala has got immense potential in tourismand its performance is excellent compared to other states but the frequenthartals, strikes and bandhs are of course hurdles in the way of its growth.These affect tourists and mess up their schedules. Tourist taxis must be ex-cluded from hartals to safeguard our own interests,” he says.

Mohandas is the recipient of the most coveted ‘Excellent Performer in Tour-ist Transport’ Award from the Government of Kerala.

Besides Kumar Taxis, Kumar World Travels, Kumar Fuels, IOC petrol sta-tions, Kumar Auto Spares and Kumar Travel Bureau are the other group firms,which are under the charge of K M Santhosh Kumar and K M Ajith Kumarbelonging to the fourth generation. K S Vipin Kumar of the fifth generation is inoverall charge of Kumar Enterprises.

Kumar Taxis are the only people in Kerala who have revolutionized the taxitrade by directly importing new cars like Toyota from Japan, Benz from Ger-many and Chevrolet Impala from the US paying 160% duty.

It was in 1928 that the famous PierceLeslie company imported about adozen cars to India. The Whippet, oneof them, remained unsold for sometime and Krishnan bought it for 825rupees and 12 ‘annas’. The car was thefirst in the fleet of Kumar Taxis. TheFather of the Nation Mahatma Gandhitravelled twice in this car during hisvisits to Kochi (then ‘Cochin’).

K K Mohandas


34TRAVEL & TOURISM


''Every art form is a rep-lication. It reflects what ap-peals to our senses”, saysPascal James. Pascal, an ad-mirer of the legendry artist M FHusain, is a self-taught painter.Though it has been only sevenyears since he started to draw,his paintings show incredibleprecision and perfection. ‘A trib-ute to MF’, at Durbar Hall ArtCentre, Kochi, was his homageto MF, the world-renownedpainter. The five-day exhibitionwas inaugurated on June 10 byProf K V Thomas, Union Min-ister of State for Agriculture.

Every artist has some inspi-rations that evoke the skill inthem. It was ‘horse’ that musedPascal. The exhibition show-cased about two dozen draw-ings and most of the canvas hadmighty horses. It was a humbleattempt to convey human emo-tions using the steeds. Four ofhis paintings stood out from theothers as the mode he used todraw them was exceptional.

These paintings were drawnusing kulaseri or palette knife.Inspired by the outstandingworks of MF, Pascal had recre-ated some of the works of thedistinguished painter. “The re-sponse to my effort is really in-spirational. A number of paint-ings were sold within the firsttwo days,” he says. Similar tothis, his first exhibition, EQUIin 2008, too had received greatresponse from admirers. The

word ‘equi’ refers to horse andthe theme too was the same.

Thinking of the commercialside of the exhibition, it was sig-nificant to ask about themethod by which he fixes theprice of his paintings. Pascalsays, “I came into the fieldpurely out of passion. So I be-lieve that it is the audience whoshould fix the price of myworks. The money I spend onthe paint, canvas and on fram-

ing my paintings is not paltry. Ishould cover up my expensewhile I sell it. But the point isthat in the eyes of the beholdera painting worth Rs 10,000 mayhave more intrinsic value thanif it is sold for Rs 2,000. Themore the cost, the more is itsartistic value.” He is emphaticabout his views and thoughts.

This shows the drift in theattitude of art lovers too andthus it is the right time to think

about the investment strategiesin art. While major Indian cit-ies like Mumbai and Kolkatadiscover the newer possibilitiesin art, Kerala still shows an in-hibition in promoting budding aswell as professional artists.Besides, the lack of promotersand the dearth of infrastructurelike exhibition galleries or the-atres make the state infertilefor artists here. Presentlymany youngsters are comingforward aspiring to flourish inthe field even in the midst ofthe financial crunch. Earlier, artwas for art’s sake. The timeshave changed, so have prin-ciples and thus the idea of artsas well. Exploring the trendsthrough better initiatives in thesphere of art could foster thelife of artists as well as promotearts themselves.

However, Pascal, an ACmechanic by profession, is aself-promoter. In spite of beinga beginner he has received ap-preciation from arts lovers. It ishis passion that he transfersonto the canvas. And it is hisdedication that must be praised.

Pascal James,an AC mechanicby profession,is a self-promoter.In spite of beinga beginner he hasreceivedappreciation fromarts lovers. It ishis passion thathe transfersonto the canvas.


3 5THE ARTS

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