Reliance power IPO: A bird’s eye of the financial engineering with emphasis on the agency relationship.
By R Balachandran. Section D.
The company we know as Reliance power today was started in January of 1995 as Bawana Power Private Limited. It was rechristened several times and was finally named as Reliance Power Limited in july 2007.
The company has plans to develop 4 coal fired, 2 gas fired and 4 hydroelectric power plants whose completion dates range from December 2009 to March 2014.
Prior to the mega IPO of Reliance Energy Generation Limited, as it was called then, had shareholders fund of roughly Rs. 200 Crores according to its balance sheet and total equities of roughly Rs 201 Crores.
At this point the company drew aggressive plans for the next 8 years and planned a series of power plans as mentioned above. The next step was to raise funds for all those plants. Anil Ambani renamed the company as Reliance Power Limited and sold 10% of the to investors company for Rs 10500 Crores via the biggest IPO India has ever seen. It may be noted that 10% stake of the company whose assets were just 201 Crores were sold for Rs 10500 Crores on the basis of the elaborate plans developed. The remaining 90 percent ownership remained with Reliance Energy Limited and Mr. Anil Ambani (45% each) and just 10% with investors who subscribed to the IPO.
Post IPO, the shareholders funds were roughly Rs. 13500 Crores of which Rs. 10500 Crores were raised from investors who got 10% of Reliance Power. This clearly defies logic and reason. The investors ought to have a got a substantially higher stake in the post IPO Reliance Power.
During IPO Reliance Power shares were sold for Rs 450 each. At that time market was bullish and analysts had predicted that shares would reach Rs. 650. Mr. Ambani holding 45% directly and more through Reliance Energy Limited would have become India’s richest man had the shares crossed Rs. 650. But unfortunately that never happened. In any case this analysis encourages speculation on the real reason behind the IPO.
Upon listing price of Reliance Power share price dropped 17% by end of trading on listing day. The fall continued a few days. As a stopgap arrangement, Reliance Power issued a bonus to the IPO investors 3 shares for each 5 shares they had. This brought down the cost of Reliance Power shares to IPO investors to Rs 269 from Rs 450. This move was completely arbitrary. If the real worth was Rs 269, then IPO should have been priced at Rs 269.
45% of Reliance Power belonged to Reliance Energy Limited. The bonus issue would have degraded the worth of the Reliance Energy Limited’s investment in Reliance Power, which would have degraded the worth of REL shares. Mr. Anil Ambani acted in the best interests of Reliance Power at the expense of REL’s shareholders. This is clearly an agency problem. To compensate for this and avoid lawsuits, he compensated REL’s shareholders with 2.5% stake in Reliance Power from his personal holding in the later. This move again was totally arbitrary.
In conclusion, it is obvious that the whole exercise enriched Mr. Ambani at the expense of Reliance Energy Limited and Reliance Power’s shareholders.
The gas-fired plants of the Reliance Power’s mega plans depended on gas supplied from KG Basin. The agreement for KG basin gas was drawn before the famous Anil Ambani –Mukesh Ambani spat. The price of gas decided at that point was Rs. 2.5 per MBTU. Post spat, the KG-basin went to Mukesh Ambani. The viability of the gas-powered plants depended on this pricing. But now Mukesh Ambani is unwilling to sell gas at that price. It may be noted that the market price of gas internationally is at Rs. 12 per MBTU.
The lawsuits that have currently surfaced for the gas pricing, further degrades the value of Reliance Power shares affecting shareholders.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Memorable Days in Switzerland
-R Balachandran, IIM Indore.
The wedding of my sister was wonderful. So was the feeling of being back at home. There was one thing that was making me feel less upbeat when I had reached India to attend the ceremony. That was the awareness that I would leave exactly nine days later. Nine days went without me noticing one. I had to leave back to Switzerland. I realized then that I could be a pretty good actor. Had to artificially emote being okay while fighting hard to hold back the lump in the throat. Anyway let me not delve into trivialities too long. However dramatically portrayed, these descriptive clichés are better left to Hindi movies.
So finally back in Zurich. The flight to Zurich didn’t feel that important this time for me to carefully remember each and every incident. Back in Zurich and back to office the following day.
Christmas was a week away. In Switzerland and other western countries, there is a week long vacation between Christmas and New Year. Vacation is a vacation. So even after leaving cozy comforts of Home, the impending vacation made me feel better.
There were three things in my agenda for that vacation. Experiencing nightlife, Trying out skiing and visiting Jungfrau.
Nightlife is a strict no-no for most Indians. Also there could be consequences for discussing it in a write-up for academic submission; so I shall go straight to the second item in the agenda. This way I can keep the reader(s) guessing. Guessing anything other than me meandering in the chill till dawn.
The next thing in our agenda was Skiing. Our confidence clouded shreds of fear as we took train to a place called Davos. We walked straight into a Rent-a-ski shop as soon as we reached Davos. The shoe that the shopkeeper gave us was a clear indication of things to come. The shoe was made out of some polymer that was totally inelastic, extremely hard, and unbelievably heavy. It was in the shape of a cowboy boot. It had some innovative tooling for buckle. The only problem was that the innovation was only on tightness and not a bit on comfort. It is very difficult to describe what that boot made me feel. It felt like 4 bricks tied around the calf muscle with a barbed chain. All this made me forget the six feet ski racks that I was carrying. After reaching the ice, I followed the shopkeeper's instructions and successfully clipped the ski on to the boot. What followed was a moment of insanity. Ice offers absolutely no grip to a Ski rack; I learnt this on that day. Friction was a word that seemed to have been removed from the dictionaries. All attempts to move forward slid me a few feet backwards. It made us the laughing stalk of the area. I wonder whether they had some cameras there and put us in candid camera shows. We had to move forward. A spurt in confidence enabled me to dig the stick in my hand deep and pull myself slightly forward. After a few attempts we were successful. We gained some momentum and moved into the actual skiing area. Eventually we were able to move around freely in ice in plane surface. All the speed had to be built by our strength. I wasn't satisfied.
In a spurt of overconfidence, I removed the ski from my boot and carried it to a slightly higher place some 200 feet away. I wanted to ski down. I didn’t know how foolish that decision could turn out to be as I forgot that I didn’t know how to turn or brake. In characteristic display of guts, I ignored my friend's warnings and put on the ski. Before I could balance myself with the ski, I started to move. The speed began to increase. As I reached the steepest part of the slope, the speed and balance were things I could hardly think of. All I was thinking then was how to fall with least damage. As fate would have it, I never fell till the bottom of the slope and gained maximum speed possible. At the end of the ramp, I completely lost balance and had the fall of my life. Full with somersaults and rollovers. One can imagine a typical hero heroine roll scene from Hindi films. Sans the heroine, it wasn’t funny.
Thankfully snow was soft and I dint bang into the trees. So there was no collateral damage. The thrill of falling was actually nice. We skied for the rest of the day. I must have had more falls than the day I learnt to walk. But then who complains. It was a day well spent. We planned to return to skiing before leaving Switzerland.
The rest of the holidays went in healing the aches. The first week of 2007 was quite eventless. The planned follow up ski weekend hadn’t happened. Nevertheless in one of the weekends, we made it to Jungfrau. The name of the pace is pronounced as Yun-fro meaning young girl in German. It is the highest railway station in Europe about three and half kilometers above sea. I think this has to be among the most exotic places on planet Earth. I can vouch that I’ve never seen anything better. It took about five hours of train travel from where I stayed.
The last two legs of the journey were by cogwheel trains. This route should be among the most scenic rail route anywhere in the world. The last leg of the travel is through the hill. They've bored a huge hole through the hill and put a railway track through it. So the train is like a slated Lift moving through long and steep tunnel. The construction of such a track is a colossal achievement of engineering.
In its journey the train stops at couple of viewing windows. What we see outside cannot be aptly described by my meager writing skills. Through those windows wee saw clouds at a slightly lower altitude than where we stood. The monotony of cloud was broke at places by ice-capped peaks. "Breathtaking " is an adjective the only comes close to fairly describing the view.
After a few minutes of viewing, the train resumed its journey and reached its small station. Jungfrau has a large Ice palace. Ice place is the name given to a huge cave built with ice. It has some statues made completely of ice. Outside the ice palace, Heaven awaits. I mean, if someone had to shoot Heaven for a movie, then Jungfrau has to be the location. Again my descriptive abilities fall short. The ice palace opens into a rocky pathway draped in hard ice. On one side we can there are snow-covered peaks. The other side looks like abyss. It is hard to see any colour other than shades of white anywhere. If we are lucky, as we were, to be in the place on a sunny day, we would see that snow glittering like gold.
The few weeks enriched me sufficiently. I had forgotten the glum feeling that I had as I was leaving India after my sister’s wedding.
-R Balachandran, IIM Indore.
The wedding of my sister was wonderful. So was the feeling of being back at home. There was one thing that was making me feel less upbeat when I had reached India to attend the ceremony. That was the awareness that I would leave exactly nine days later. Nine days went without me noticing one. I had to leave back to Switzerland. I realized then that I could be a pretty good actor. Had to artificially emote being okay while fighting hard to hold back the lump in the throat. Anyway let me not delve into trivialities too long. However dramatically portrayed, these descriptive clichés are better left to Hindi movies.
So finally back in Zurich. The flight to Zurich didn’t feel that important this time for me to carefully remember each and every incident. Back in Zurich and back to office the following day.
Christmas was a week away. In Switzerland and other western countries, there is a week long vacation between Christmas and New Year. Vacation is a vacation. So even after leaving cozy comforts of Home, the impending vacation made me feel better.
There were three things in my agenda for that vacation. Experiencing nightlife, Trying out skiing and visiting Jungfrau.
Nightlife is a strict no-no for most Indians. Also there could be consequences for discussing it in a write-up for academic submission; so I shall go straight to the second item in the agenda. This way I can keep the reader(s) guessing. Guessing anything other than me meandering in the chill till dawn.
The next thing in our agenda was Skiing. Our confidence clouded shreds of fear as we took train to a place called Davos. We walked straight into a Rent-a-ski shop as soon as we reached Davos. The shoe that the shopkeeper gave us was a clear indication of things to come. The shoe was made out of some polymer that was totally inelastic, extremely hard, and unbelievably heavy. It was in the shape of a cowboy boot. It had some innovative tooling for buckle. The only problem was that the innovation was only on tightness and not a bit on comfort. It is very difficult to describe what that boot made me feel. It felt like 4 bricks tied around the calf muscle with a barbed chain. All this made me forget the six feet ski racks that I was carrying. After reaching the ice, I followed the shopkeeper's instructions and successfully clipped the ski on to the boot. What followed was a moment of insanity. Ice offers absolutely no grip to a Ski rack; I learnt this on that day. Friction was a word that seemed to have been removed from the dictionaries. All attempts to move forward slid me a few feet backwards. It made us the laughing stalk of the area. I wonder whether they had some cameras there and put us in candid camera shows. We had to move forward. A spurt in confidence enabled me to dig the stick in my hand deep and pull myself slightly forward. After a few attempts we were successful. We gained some momentum and moved into the actual skiing area. Eventually we were able to move around freely in ice in plane surface. All the speed had to be built by our strength. I wasn't satisfied.
In a spurt of overconfidence, I removed the ski from my boot and carried it to a slightly higher place some 200 feet away. I wanted to ski down. I didn’t know how foolish that decision could turn out to be as I forgot that I didn’t know how to turn or brake. In characteristic display of guts, I ignored my friend's warnings and put on the ski. Before I could balance myself with the ski, I started to move. The speed began to increase. As I reached the steepest part of the slope, the speed and balance were things I could hardly think of. All I was thinking then was how to fall with least damage. As fate would have it, I never fell till the bottom of the slope and gained maximum speed possible. At the end of the ramp, I completely lost balance and had the fall of my life. Full with somersaults and rollovers. One can imagine a typical hero heroine roll scene from Hindi films. Sans the heroine, it wasn’t funny.
Thankfully snow was soft and I dint bang into the trees. So there was no collateral damage. The thrill of falling was actually nice. We skied for the rest of the day. I must have had more falls than the day I learnt to walk. But then who complains. It was a day well spent. We planned to return to skiing before leaving Switzerland.
The rest of the holidays went in healing the aches. The first week of 2007 was quite eventless. The planned follow up ski weekend hadn’t happened. Nevertheless in one of the weekends, we made it to Jungfrau. The name of the pace is pronounced as Yun-fro meaning young girl in German. It is the highest railway station in Europe about three and half kilometers above sea. I think this has to be among the most exotic places on planet Earth. I can vouch that I’ve never seen anything better. It took about five hours of train travel from where I stayed.
The last two legs of the journey were by cogwheel trains. This route should be among the most scenic rail route anywhere in the world. The last leg of the travel is through the hill. They've bored a huge hole through the hill and put a railway track through it. So the train is like a slated Lift moving through long and steep tunnel. The construction of such a track is a colossal achievement of engineering.
In its journey the train stops at couple of viewing windows. What we see outside cannot be aptly described by my meager writing skills. Through those windows wee saw clouds at a slightly lower altitude than where we stood. The monotony of cloud was broke at places by ice-capped peaks. "Breathtaking " is an adjective the only comes close to fairly describing the view.
After a few minutes of viewing, the train resumed its journey and reached its small station. Jungfrau has a large Ice palace. Ice place is the name given to a huge cave built with ice. It has some statues made completely of ice. Outside the ice palace, Heaven awaits. I mean, if someone had to shoot Heaven for a movie, then Jungfrau has to be the location. Again my descriptive abilities fall short. The ice palace opens into a rocky pathway draped in hard ice. On one side we can there are snow-covered peaks. The other side looks like abyss. It is hard to see any colour other than shades of white anywhere. If we are lucky, as we were, to be in the place on a sunny day, we would see that snow glittering like gold.
The few weeks enriched me sufficiently. I had forgotten the glum feeling that I had as I was leaving India after my sister’s wedding.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
PGP1, 2008, IIM Indore
Organisational Behavior
Assignment 2: Case Study
Pritam’s Dilemma
Instructor: Prof. Sumit Kumar Ghosh
By,
R Balachandran
Santhosh Kanna
Shakthi Kumar S
Yashwanth Kumar
Section D
Pritam’s Dilemma
“I shall grab a bite at the cafeteria”, shouted Pritam to his wife as he hurried to his office in his car. His Santro was quick enough to get him to his office in 25 minutes. As he drove through the familiar busy streets of Mumbai, he screeched the brake at the crossroad signals, almost jumping them. He had always loved his city. But, today everything seemed out of place, the disorderly traffic, the long 185-second waiting time that seemed like eternity. He cursed himself under for not starting a few minutes early, given the importance of the meeting that he was to attend. He had waited for this very opportunity for the past 1.5 years for which he has been with Advaith Private Ltd.
Pritam Chakraborthy was a graduate from IIT Delhi and had done his MBA from a prominent business school in central India. He was always a go-getter. He was the secretary of the entrepreneurship club at IIT. He never let others mention what he should or shouldn’t do. He had his own beliefs and values, which he always lived up to. He didn’t think of himself as an extrovert, but others thought of him as one. He was known to invest in stocks of companies that were not mentioned in the TV shows and made good money. He was a prominent member of various interest groups and was known for the initiatives that he had taken. He has always been a self-confident individual who would take responsibility for all outcomes, be it positive or negative.
As Pritam waited for the signal to turn green, he checked out the other vehicles waiting along with him. There was a young man dressed uncomfortably in business formals with tension conspicuous in his appearance. “First day to work”, he thought. This reminded him of how excited he had been when he joined Advaith.
He was working in a large company prior to joining Advaith. He didn’t see himself growing in the company. He was looking for a change.
Advaith products were doing extremely well in the market and they were known for the exciting and creative advertisements. The company had gone through a, what was written about in magazines as, remarkable turnaround. A job in Advaith’s marketing team was just what Pritam had been looking for. He expected his job to be challenging; one that would make full use of his potential and he expected to make rapid progress in his career. Things were on expected lines the first few months. He often identified opportunities and took initiatives in the right direction and also voiced his opinion on significant issues, which reflected well on leadership abilities.
Of late, He always had a nagging feeling that he was not getting what he deserved.
Last week, Pritam was elated when his manager, Alok Gupta, managed to secure an appointment of Ashok Gaekwad, the CEO of Advaith products. Pritam has been working on this idea for the whole of the last one-month. He had carefully analyzed all the pros and cons and had come up with mitigation strategies for all the risks. While he was working on it he was having a constant feel of a funny churn in his stomach. He knew that no one could stop him this time.
After joining Advaith, Pritam had developed many ideas that would reduce the time to market considerably. He had prepared what he thought as, watertight cases twice and had presented them to Alok. Although Alok could not point out any shortcomings with the plans he still rejected them. “Ashok will not be impressed” was what he had said more than once before, whenever Pritam requested to meet the CEO.
Now when after this latest presentation when Alok said, “Be ready to meet Ashok on Monday”, Alok thought he had finally won. He knew that Ashok was a smart man. His colleagues often credited Ashok for the turnaround that the company had gone through. Pritam did not know what he should feel. Before joining Advaith, he had always been impressed by what he had read about Ashok. But after working in the company for all this while his adoration had reduced to just a formal appreciation due for a company head.
“Come right in. I was waiting for you”, said Ashok.
Not bad. Not bad at all “Thank you, Sir. I wouldn’t take much of your time. I would like to share with you a marketing plan for the our new product Sinewii”
“Your name is…” tapping vigorously the keys of the Laptop “Pritam Chakraborthy, is your name, right”
“Yes sir, sorry for not…”
Interjecting, “Come to the point…Why is Alok not here”
“Sir, I thought, well, Mr. Gupta asked me to meet you. I didn’t know you expected to have him as well”
“Pritam, I generally don’t meet people who don’t report to me. Anyway
tell me why you are here”
“Sir, I have this developed strategy that we could use for the introduction of Sinewii which I think would make it capture the market before Tuilio and Zufor could even launch their products.”
Searching for the files in his Sony Vaio.. “I would like to take you through this presentation”
“Am I the first person seeing this”
“No Sir. Mr. Gupta liked it when he saw it last week. He suggested I should meet you”
“Ahem… very well, go on..”
The meeting went in these lines. Ashok seemed impressed but not excited.
“Pritam, that was interesting.”
“Sir, I am glad that you felt that w...”
Interjecting, “But the idea is not something that we have done before. We will not risk everything just to try out a new way of selling”
He was dull throughout that day. He did not have the courage to reflect upon the events of the day. That evening as he was driving back, he thought about what he could have done better. The meeting had obviously not gone the way he planned. The CEO remained passive about the concept he presented, though occasionally, looked keen. He couldn’t figure out what would it take convince the CEO. “The idea was just perfect!”... he found himself stamping the accelerator hard.
He felt a lump in his throat as he tried to sleep that night.
“Wake up ! You are already late” shouted Sheetal when the clock struck 8:30.
He replied in a sleepy tone. I’ll probably go late or may be take the day off. Lets discuss the vacation you were talking about last week.
Pritam found himself unable to concentrate on work. He was staring at his table for a very long time. He had analyzed the market for the last 5 months and he knew that this particular initiative, a little risky though it was, would make them the clear market leaders within the next 3 months. Everything that Ashok and his top brass would need had been minutely researched and documented. He knew there was no reason this idea should have been shot down. Every interaction with Ashok only strengthened his belief that Ashok was very close-minded about the way the company should be run. While Pritam had a lot of respect for Ashok about how he had built this company from scratch by following a measured approach, Pritam believed that these were in fact what were making him closed to others’ opinions. Instead of adapting with the times and implementing advanced strategies and expanding, he felt that Ashok was adamant. He was the sole decision making authority and his emphasis on a sometimes-overcautious approach were holding the company back.
Pritam also felt that Alok was not backing him enough. As his manager, he had seen first-hand the thorough efforts he had put in. Also as someone who had been in Advaith’s marketing division for more than 3 years, Alok also understood what this would mean for the company. And yet, as with everything else that Pritam had asked of him, the reply here too was that there was nothing he could do. Pritam often felt that Alok was not assertive enough and blamed somebody or something else for things that didn’t go as planned. When he had talked about this to Alok, he had responded that with experience Pritam would also understand to what extent results are controllable.
Above everything else, Pritam felt that his personal career growth was being obstructed here in Advaith. While his classmates from IIM who had joined other companies now headed entire divisions, he was still yet to see his first idea implemented. While he felt very strongly about Advaith’s work culture and identified in particular with their policy on social responsibility and social inclusion, he sometimes thought if it was worth it to sacrifice his personal and social growth.
His suddenly realized what his unfocussed eyes had been on, a printed sheet of an email that he had taken two weeks back. With the suddenness of movement of someone who wants to start some action, he pulled the sheet toward him. It was from a friend of his who worked at H2O, a relatively new drinking water bottling plant that was starting to expand. His friend had talked of how H2O’s business interests were expanding and about how the position of Vice-President of Marketing & Branding had suddenly become vacant. He had forwarded Pritam’s profile and both the President and the Vice-President for Personnel Management had been impressed. They had expressed a desire to meet Pritam in person and everything looked to be a mere formality if Pritam decided to take up the offer.
H2O was one of the new plants that had come up to tap the growing market of bottled drinking water, particularly in urban India. Compared to the other entrants, H2O had shown startling success till date and the market generally expected H2O to soon become the market leader. A position such as the Vice-President of Marketing and Branding would pitch Pritam right into the center of this upward spiral where his ambitious nature would fit right in. However, not all was as glossy as it seemed. There had been some rumours about how H2O was not meeting some of the conditioning and treatment regulations in the manufacture of the bottles. The bottles were mostly manufactured from recycled plastic which came from a variety of sources. The industry specified several steps of processing to make sure the plastic that was finally used to make the bottles was not toxic on account of the number of types of plastic in the mix. The rumours were about this pre-processing and how H2O reportedly expedited the entire process by skipping a couple of conditioning and treatment steps.
His friend had also hinted that these rumours might be true. However, he also negated any prospect of danger by stating that there could be problems, if at all any, only when the bottles had been stored without selling for long durations. There was no need to worry at all as the government routinely made up regulations to take care of even very rare contingencies and in the current environment bottled drinking water, H2O’s in particular, was routinely out of stock in stores let alone being kept long enough for any danger. Pritam knew this wasn’t always true since bottled drinking water was often stored in warehouses for weeks sometimes during transport or delivery. As someone who had grown up in a small town, Pritam identified very strongly with social ethics and responsibilities and this was in fact one of his primal reasons in opting for Advaith.
Pritam spent the whole evening contemplating what he should do at this juncture of his career.
Organisational Behavior
Assignment 2: Case Study
Pritam’s Dilemma
Instructor: Prof. Sumit Kumar Ghosh
By,
R Balachandran
Santhosh Kanna
Shakthi Kumar S
Yashwanth Kumar
Section D
Pritam’s Dilemma
“I shall grab a bite at the cafeteria”, shouted Pritam to his wife as he hurried to his office in his car. His Santro was quick enough to get him to his office in 25 minutes. As he drove through the familiar busy streets of Mumbai, he screeched the brake at the crossroad signals, almost jumping them. He had always loved his city. But, today everything seemed out of place, the disorderly traffic, the long 185-second waiting time that seemed like eternity. He cursed himself under for not starting a few minutes early, given the importance of the meeting that he was to attend. He had waited for this very opportunity for the past 1.5 years for which he has been with Advaith Private Ltd.
Pritam Chakraborthy was a graduate from IIT Delhi and had done his MBA from a prominent business school in central India. He was always a go-getter. He was the secretary of the entrepreneurship club at IIT. He never let others mention what he should or shouldn’t do. He had his own beliefs and values, which he always lived up to. He didn’t think of himself as an extrovert, but others thought of him as one. He was known to invest in stocks of companies that were not mentioned in the TV shows and made good money. He was a prominent member of various interest groups and was known for the initiatives that he had taken. He has always been a self-confident individual who would take responsibility for all outcomes, be it positive or negative.
As Pritam waited for the signal to turn green, he checked out the other vehicles waiting along with him. There was a young man dressed uncomfortably in business formals with tension conspicuous in his appearance. “First day to work”, he thought. This reminded him of how excited he had been when he joined Advaith.
He was working in a large company prior to joining Advaith. He didn’t see himself growing in the company. He was looking for a change.
Advaith products were doing extremely well in the market and they were known for the exciting and creative advertisements. The company had gone through a, what was written about in magazines as, remarkable turnaround. A job in Advaith’s marketing team was just what Pritam had been looking for. He expected his job to be challenging; one that would make full use of his potential and he expected to make rapid progress in his career. Things were on expected lines the first few months. He often identified opportunities and took initiatives in the right direction and also voiced his opinion on significant issues, which reflected well on leadership abilities.
Of late, He always had a nagging feeling that he was not getting what he deserved.
Last week, Pritam was elated when his manager, Alok Gupta, managed to secure an appointment of Ashok Gaekwad, the CEO of Advaith products. Pritam has been working on this idea for the whole of the last one-month. He had carefully analyzed all the pros and cons and had come up with mitigation strategies for all the risks. While he was working on it he was having a constant feel of a funny churn in his stomach. He knew that no one could stop him this time.
After joining Advaith, Pritam had developed many ideas that would reduce the time to market considerably. He had prepared what he thought as, watertight cases twice and had presented them to Alok. Although Alok could not point out any shortcomings with the plans he still rejected them. “Ashok will not be impressed” was what he had said more than once before, whenever Pritam requested to meet the CEO.
Now when after this latest presentation when Alok said, “Be ready to meet Ashok on Monday”, Alok thought he had finally won. He knew that Ashok was a smart man. His colleagues often credited Ashok for the turnaround that the company had gone through. Pritam did not know what he should feel. Before joining Advaith, he had always been impressed by what he had read about Ashok. But after working in the company for all this while his adoration had reduced to just a formal appreciation due for a company head.
“Come right in. I was waiting for you”, said Ashok.
Not bad. Not bad at all “Thank you, Sir. I wouldn’t take much of your time. I would like to share with you a marketing plan for the our new product Sinewii”
“Your name is…” tapping vigorously the keys of the Laptop “Pritam Chakraborthy, is your name, right”
“Yes sir, sorry for not…”
Interjecting, “Come to the point…Why is Alok not here”
“Sir, I thought, well, Mr. Gupta asked me to meet you. I didn’t know you expected to have him as well”
“Pritam, I generally don’t meet people who don’t report to me. Anyway
tell me why you are here”
“Sir, I have this developed strategy that we could use for the introduction of Sinewii which I think would make it capture the market before Tuilio and Zufor could even launch their products.”
Searching for the files in his Sony Vaio.. “I would like to take you through this presentation”
“Am I the first person seeing this”
“No Sir. Mr. Gupta liked it when he saw it last week. He suggested I should meet you”
“Ahem… very well, go on..”
The meeting went in these lines. Ashok seemed impressed but not excited.
“Pritam, that was interesting.”
“Sir, I am glad that you felt that w...”
Interjecting, “But the idea is not something that we have done before. We will not risk everything just to try out a new way of selling”
He was dull throughout that day. He did not have the courage to reflect upon the events of the day. That evening as he was driving back, he thought about what he could have done better. The meeting had obviously not gone the way he planned. The CEO remained passive about the concept he presented, though occasionally, looked keen. He couldn’t figure out what would it take convince the CEO. “The idea was just perfect!”... he found himself stamping the accelerator hard.
He felt a lump in his throat as he tried to sleep that night.
“Wake up ! You are already late” shouted Sheetal when the clock struck 8:30.
He replied in a sleepy tone. I’ll probably go late or may be take the day off. Lets discuss the vacation you were talking about last week.
Pritam found himself unable to concentrate on work. He was staring at his table for a very long time. He had analyzed the market for the last 5 months and he knew that this particular initiative, a little risky though it was, would make them the clear market leaders within the next 3 months. Everything that Ashok and his top brass would need had been minutely researched and documented. He knew there was no reason this idea should have been shot down. Every interaction with Ashok only strengthened his belief that Ashok was very close-minded about the way the company should be run. While Pritam had a lot of respect for Ashok about how he had built this company from scratch by following a measured approach, Pritam believed that these were in fact what were making him closed to others’ opinions. Instead of adapting with the times and implementing advanced strategies and expanding, he felt that Ashok was adamant. He was the sole decision making authority and his emphasis on a sometimes-overcautious approach were holding the company back.
Pritam also felt that Alok was not backing him enough. As his manager, he had seen first-hand the thorough efforts he had put in. Also as someone who had been in Advaith’s marketing division for more than 3 years, Alok also understood what this would mean for the company. And yet, as with everything else that Pritam had asked of him, the reply here too was that there was nothing he could do. Pritam often felt that Alok was not assertive enough and blamed somebody or something else for things that didn’t go as planned. When he had talked about this to Alok, he had responded that with experience Pritam would also understand to what extent results are controllable.
Above everything else, Pritam felt that his personal career growth was being obstructed here in Advaith. While his classmates from IIM who had joined other companies now headed entire divisions, he was still yet to see his first idea implemented. While he felt very strongly about Advaith’s work culture and identified in particular with their policy on social responsibility and social inclusion, he sometimes thought if it was worth it to sacrifice his personal and social growth.
His suddenly realized what his unfocussed eyes had been on, a printed sheet of an email that he had taken two weeks back. With the suddenness of movement of someone who wants to start some action, he pulled the sheet toward him. It was from a friend of his who worked at H2O, a relatively new drinking water bottling plant that was starting to expand. His friend had talked of how H2O’s business interests were expanding and about how the position of Vice-President of Marketing & Branding had suddenly become vacant. He had forwarded Pritam’s profile and both the President and the Vice-President for Personnel Management had been impressed. They had expressed a desire to meet Pritam in person and everything looked to be a mere formality if Pritam decided to take up the offer.
H2O was one of the new plants that had come up to tap the growing market of bottled drinking water, particularly in urban India. Compared to the other entrants, H2O had shown startling success till date and the market generally expected H2O to soon become the market leader. A position such as the Vice-President of Marketing and Branding would pitch Pritam right into the center of this upward spiral where his ambitious nature would fit right in. However, not all was as glossy as it seemed. There had been some rumours about how H2O was not meeting some of the conditioning and treatment regulations in the manufacture of the bottles. The bottles were mostly manufactured from recycled plastic which came from a variety of sources. The industry specified several steps of processing to make sure the plastic that was finally used to make the bottles was not toxic on account of the number of types of plastic in the mix. The rumours were about this pre-processing and how H2O reportedly expedited the entire process by skipping a couple of conditioning and treatment steps.
His friend had also hinted that these rumours might be true. However, he also negated any prospect of danger by stating that there could be problems, if at all any, only when the bottles had been stored without selling for long durations. There was no need to worry at all as the government routinely made up regulations to take care of even very rare contingencies and in the current environment bottled drinking water, H2O’s in particular, was routinely out of stock in stores let alone being kept long enough for any danger. Pritam knew this wasn’t always true since bottled drinking water was often stored in warehouses for weeks sometimes during transport or delivery. As someone who had grown up in a small town, Pritam identified very strongly with social ethics and responsibilities and this was in fact one of his primal reasons in opting for Advaith.
Pritam spent the whole evening contemplating what he should do at this juncture of his career.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Kamal Hasan's Dasavatharam
The title of this blog is incorrect. It should have been named KS Ravikumar's Dasavatharam. Take a bow Mr. KS Ravikumar. Take a bow Kamal Hasan. Many congrats to the art directors the stunt director and to the talented cinematographer.
Dasavatharam rocks. It rocked big time for me. I have never seen a movie like this in any Indian language. Don't read me wrong. I am neither an ardent Kamal Fan nor someone who thinks Kamal is in the league of global actors of the caliber of the Al Paccino and co. I also didn't like the movie for its purported USP, i.e the ten made up Avtars played by the actor who played Avtar Singh. Yet Dasavatharam worked for me. If you need to learn more, read on.
The movie starts with a surreal aerial shot of Chennai. Chennai looks like Chennai in that shot (sounds trivial ? ). The bird eye camera captures the sky line (Earth-line is more appropriate) I mean the rooftops of the millions of two story buildings that inundate the city. The scene offers first glimpse of the non ordinary nature of the camera work in the movie. The shot zooms into a brass idol in a filled stadium and a Kamal's voice takes you to an episode of the 12th century.
If some understands the consequence of the events of 12th century to the rest of the movie, please tell me. I thought if one went to the movie 30 minutes late and missed all that, nothing would change. Anyways the shots of that part of the movie is has great camera work. The scene where kamal hasan is put through crucification inspired torture looks so real for an Indian movie.
This is the first Avtar of the ten. Kamal looks normal though one wonders how a 12th century pious brahmin who lives out of vegetarian food collected by Biksha (begging), as brahmins of those days lived, develop those well chiseled muscles. In one scene Kamal pushes a big statue of Perumal (Vishnu) which is shown to be too heavy for 6 people just seconds before. Aspiring for international standards Mr. Kamal Hasan?
The narrative returns to the stadium and quickly moves on to a biotechnology lab somewhere in US where a bio equivalent of nuclear weapon is being developed. The weapon is sold by the corrupt boss of the project to some international terrorist. This is where the protagonist Kamal, the 2nd Avtar who is the the top scientist of the project gets involved and steals the weapon in question to destroy it.
We are now into the first 40 minutes of the movie. Here a chase begins where the ex CIA agent now hitman, another Kamal in a foreigner getup is after the scientist Kamal. The make up of the hitman is okayish. It is very difficult to see Kamal in him so it is good but the man doesn't look like a human being, so make up is bad. But going by the standards of make up in this movie, this character is passable. During the course of the movie this character looks progressively less repulsive.
What I liked most about the movie is the lack of story in the plot. There is no clichéd hero vs villain both scheming against each other or superfluous romance or anything. There is just a chase. Plain and simple. The chase goes on for the next two hours and one is taken through a joy ride with so much comedy, nail biting stunts and 7 more Kamal Hasan's. This is where this movie stands out. This movie seems to be in the genre of Rush Hour or may be James Bond ones. Where the chase, the twists and turns form the plot. The movie could have been named Joy Ride as well which would have been more appropriate. The first half of of the movie is stunning without a single moment of slackness. A scene that involves an elephant, close to the interval, should be one of the best scenes that I can recollect in movies in general (not just Indian movies). Chidamabaram town is made to look so very lively with effervescent splendor and the song Mukunda Mukunda is beautifully picturised.
The post interval parts of the movie is slightly sluggish. It has typical Crazy Mohan's crazy dialogs. I am assuming the dialog writer is Crazy Mohan. Some scenes seem to last longer than required and some scenes seem avoidable. The movie would have been better if some 20 minutes of un-necessary footage second half were chopped. Any ways, I am still happy with the movie in general. attempts like this need encouragement and a bit leniency if one has to hope for Tamil movies to move out of Punch dialog and exaggerated nonsensical stunts of Vijay/Ajit/Captain movies.
My biggest criticism of the movie is its pathetic make up for some characters of Kamal. Almost all characters are played well and are lovable. But many look so un natural as if those characters were performed after sticking a department store mask on Kamal Hasan. For example the 90 year old lady Kamal Hasan is so endearing. It would have been brilliant had it been played by a lady. The make up for that role is pathetic. The worst among the ten. It is difficult to even keep the eye on the character. One wonders why Kamal had to endure it. Hours and hours of effort for such a trite looking result. Avoidable.
Same can be said of the 7+ feet tall Kamal. Again the character is endearing but un human looking. The Japnese Kung-fu artist is slightly better. So is the Poovaragavan character, although the entire character has no strong link to the story. The Raw agent kamal (Strong, extremely likeable Telugu accent and brilliant steriotyped mannerisms) looks okay. I already spoke about the ex CIA Hitaman. The two Kamal Hasans that look real good are the 12th century vaishnavaite and the scientist (protagonist). Avtar Singh is the best Kamal with a make up but the character was un necessary considering the plot.
One wonders why take the pains when technology has not matured enough for convincing (if not breathtaking) results. The dinosaurs of Jurrassic Park looked more convincing as earthlings than a few Avtars of Kamal. If Kamal had to show his penchant for doing different things neither the concept nor the results were worthy of praise (in my honest opinion).
Coming back to the good things of the movie (there are many), Mallika Sherawat is perfectly cast. I've not seen a better suiting character that Mallika Sherawat has played. Brilliant choice of the actor and a good performance here. Asin is too good. If the movie is lovable, which it is, then Asin is an important reason that the movie is that way. She looks honest, pesky, cheerful, and lovable. This is what acting is.
The Tsunami scenes are brilliant. Good CG. Best that I have seen in Indian movies. The link of Tsunami to the plot is good too. I thought it wouldnt be, but it was. The fight between the Japanese Kamal and the hitman Kamal is terrific, again the best that I have seen in Indian movies. Finally there is a subtle underlying acknowledgment of God , in a most logical manner. Good. Himesh Reshammiya is average. Mukunda number stands out. BG score is barely noticeable.
In the final analysis, I would say it is a collossal effort. And I give a thumbs up to its makers and actors (most of whom are Kamal Hassans :) ) and the art directors and the camera people and the stunt coordinators and the script writer (Kamal again- for having nail biting string of lively scenes in spite of the absence of any story as such). It is a risk taken and there are takers, like me, for the product. Congrats, Team Dasavatharam.
The title of this blog is incorrect. It should have been named KS Ravikumar's Dasavatharam. Take a bow Mr. KS Ravikumar. Take a bow Kamal Hasan. Many congrats to the art directors the stunt director and to the talented cinematographer.
Dasavatharam rocks. It rocked big time for me. I have never seen a movie like this in any Indian language. Don't read me wrong. I am neither an ardent Kamal Fan nor someone who thinks Kamal is in the league of global actors of the caliber of the Al Paccino and co. I also didn't like the movie for its purported USP, i.e the ten made up Avtars played by the actor who played Avtar Singh. Yet Dasavatharam worked for me. If you need to learn more, read on.
The movie starts with a surreal aerial shot of Chennai. Chennai looks like Chennai in that shot (sounds trivial ? ). The bird eye camera captures the sky line (Earth-line is more appropriate) I mean the rooftops of the millions of two story buildings that inundate the city. The scene offers first glimpse of the non ordinary nature of the camera work in the movie. The shot zooms into a brass idol in a filled stadium and a Kamal's voice takes you to an episode of the 12th century.
If some understands the consequence of the events of 12th century to the rest of the movie, please tell me. I thought if one went to the movie 30 minutes late and missed all that, nothing would change. Anyways the shots of that part of the movie is has great camera work. The scene where kamal hasan is put through crucification inspired torture looks so real for an Indian movie.
This is the first Avtar of the ten. Kamal looks normal though one wonders how a 12th century pious brahmin who lives out of vegetarian food collected by Biksha (begging), as brahmins of those days lived, develop those well chiseled muscles. In one scene Kamal pushes a big statue of Perumal (Vishnu) which is shown to be too heavy for 6 people just seconds before. Aspiring for international standards Mr. Kamal Hasan?
The narrative returns to the stadium and quickly moves on to a biotechnology lab somewhere in US where a bio equivalent of nuclear weapon is being developed. The weapon is sold by the corrupt boss of the project to some international terrorist. This is where the protagonist Kamal, the 2nd Avtar who is the the top scientist of the project gets involved and steals the weapon in question to destroy it.
We are now into the first 40 minutes of the movie. Here a chase begins where the ex CIA agent now hitman, another Kamal in a foreigner getup is after the scientist Kamal. The make up of the hitman is okayish. It is very difficult to see Kamal in him so it is good but the man doesn't look like a human being, so make up is bad. But going by the standards of make up in this movie, this character is passable. During the course of the movie this character looks progressively less repulsive.
What I liked most about the movie is the lack of story in the plot. There is no clichéd hero vs villain both scheming against each other or superfluous romance or anything. There is just a chase. Plain and simple. The chase goes on for the next two hours and one is taken through a joy ride with so much comedy, nail biting stunts and 7 more Kamal Hasan's. This is where this movie stands out. This movie seems to be in the genre of Rush Hour or may be James Bond ones. Where the chase, the twists and turns form the plot. The movie could have been named Joy Ride as well which would have been more appropriate. The first half of of the movie is stunning without a single moment of slackness. A scene that involves an elephant, close to the interval, should be one of the best scenes that I can recollect in movies in general (not just Indian movies). Chidamabaram town is made to look so very lively with effervescent splendor and the song Mukunda Mukunda is beautifully picturised.
The post interval parts of the movie is slightly sluggish. It has typical Crazy Mohan's crazy dialogs. I am assuming the dialog writer is Crazy Mohan. Some scenes seem to last longer than required and some scenes seem avoidable. The movie would have been better if some 20 minutes of un-necessary footage second half were chopped. Any ways, I am still happy with the movie in general. attempts like this need encouragement and a bit leniency if one has to hope for Tamil movies to move out of Punch dialog and exaggerated nonsensical stunts of Vijay/Ajit/Captain movies.
My biggest criticism of the movie is its pathetic make up for some characters of Kamal. Almost all characters are played well and are lovable. But many look so un natural as if those characters were performed after sticking a department store mask on Kamal Hasan. For example the 90 year old lady Kamal Hasan is so endearing. It would have been brilliant had it been played by a lady. The make up for that role is pathetic. The worst among the ten. It is difficult to even keep the eye on the character. One wonders why Kamal had to endure it. Hours and hours of effort for such a trite looking result. Avoidable.
Same can be said of the 7+ feet tall Kamal. Again the character is endearing but un human looking. The Japnese Kung-fu artist is slightly better. So is the Poovaragavan character, although the entire character has no strong link to the story. The Raw agent kamal (Strong, extremely likeable Telugu accent and brilliant steriotyped mannerisms) looks okay. I already spoke about the ex CIA Hitaman. The two Kamal Hasans that look real good are the 12th century vaishnavaite and the scientist (protagonist). Avtar Singh is the best Kamal with a make up but the character was un necessary considering the plot.
One wonders why take the pains when technology has not matured enough for convincing (if not breathtaking) results. The dinosaurs of Jurrassic Park looked more convincing as earthlings than a few Avtars of Kamal. If Kamal had to show his penchant for doing different things neither the concept nor the results were worthy of praise (in my honest opinion).
Coming back to the good things of the movie (there are many), Mallika Sherawat is perfectly cast. I've not seen a better suiting character that Mallika Sherawat has played. Brilliant choice of the actor and a good performance here. Asin is too good. If the movie is lovable, which it is, then Asin is an important reason that the movie is that way. She looks honest, pesky, cheerful, and lovable. This is what acting is.
The Tsunami scenes are brilliant. Good CG. Best that I have seen in Indian movies. The link of Tsunami to the plot is good too. I thought it wouldnt be, but it was. The fight between the Japanese Kamal and the hitman Kamal is terrific, again the best that I have seen in Indian movies. Finally there is a subtle underlying acknowledgment of God , in a most logical manner. Good. Himesh Reshammiya is average. Mukunda number stands out. BG score is barely noticeable.
In the final analysis, I would say it is a collossal effort. And I give a thumbs up to its makers and actors (most of whom are Kamal Hassans :) ) and the art directors and the camera people and the stunt coordinators and the script writer (Kamal again- for having nail biting string of lively scenes in spite of the absence of any story as such). It is a risk taken and there are takers, like me, for the product. Congrats, Team Dasavatharam.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
IIM Indore Group discussion and PI Experiance
I am a compt Engg. 29months exp. 99.01 in Cat. IIM Indore call.
GD
Case.. Transport company meeting. Company in some issues due to recession.
2 proposals with the company:-
1. To go for a new client in existing business, investment need 8-9 lacs
2. to go into a new business area for an existing client, investment needed 5 lacs.
GD was relatively good. everyone had the opportunity to participate. I felt I did well.
After the GD I was asked for the photocopies of the marklists, I had left that at home. I had to let them know about it as it was asked in the GD hall itself... embarrasing. Since I had already called someone, it reached soon. So no fatal damage... I hope.
PI
There were 2 panelists, lets say p1 and p2.
P2: Who is infy CFO
Me: I am unable to recollect the name sir. Mohandas Pai handed it over to this person.
P2: His name is similar to yours
Me: I remember now, It is Balakrishnan.
P2: U r guessing based on the hint.
Me: No Sir, now I remember seeing the name in a quaterly results presentation.
p1: You have written that "Listening and Analysing AR Rahman music" is an interest. What do you men by analysing. Have you ever worked with a synthesiser.
Me: Said about how I feel Rahmans music has been evolving for Raw and electronic kinda music to more classical , Live orchestra music. And how unlike his earlier days it takes few listenings to like his music.
P1: Fav subjects
Me: OS, C programming
P1: What is shell
Me: Said
P1: Whats is kernel
Me: Said
P1: Data warehouse
Me: Said what I know.
P1: What is Queuing System
Me: Guessed. Told something about Queues in batch processing systems.
Thats the end of Acads. Thank God.
P1: What is Capital Expenditure
Me: (I had mentioned CAPEX in the GD and the summary). Said what I know.
Long silence. Then P1 walks away, switches on something and adjusts some GD seats.
P2: You have mentioned Investing in stocks is your interest. Tell me abouyt the current crisis.
Me: Subprime, Slight cool off in Asia, Flight of FII capital, Possible US recession.
P2: Tell about subprime crisis
Me: Done. (I had collected some info about it. I was happy about it being asked)
P2: No No . Tell me what the word Sub Prime Means
Me: Did
P2: Then what is "Prime"
Me: Some guesing. Should be right
P2: How is prime lending rates decided in India
Me: RBI fixes after Credit Policy review every quarter (eeeeh.... shouldnt have been so naively incorrect).
P2: Seems like you are just guessing and dont know exacltly
ME: Sir, Although I am not very well versed with this topic, I know some facts.
P2: What is Bank Rate
Me: Interest rate given to banks on their deposits with RBI.
(This is wrong. It is the interst charged on RBI lending to banks... another mistake. Got confused btn Repo rates and Bank Rate)
P2: Avg PE ratio of sensex stocks
Me: Said
P2: Chairman of US federal reserve.
Me: I know the name, But am not able to recollect.
(He gave hints, still couldnt recollect.)
P2: Previous
ME: Alan Greenspan
P2: RBI Deputy Governor
Me: I dont know Sir.
P2: RBI Gov
Me: Y V Reddy
P2: Planning commision Deputy Chairperson
Me: I dont know, Sir
P2: Chairperson
Me: Ahluwalia.
p2 mentions He is the deputy.
(I guess PM is the chairperson)
P2: Any extra curricular that u want us to note
Me: Used to assemble and sell computers
P1: That is not very technical. Something else
Me: I agree it is not that technical. I was interested in programming.
P1: Any achievements, Country, Dist or col level.
Me: Wont 2nd price in open softwarte inter collegiate contest orgnsd by my col.
(The frowning look in P1's face doesn't change)
P1: You may leave
Me: Sir, I am unable to recollect the name of the US federal reserve, But I know he tutored under the current head of the central Bank of Israel.
P2: One more hint, His first name is Ben
Me: Ben Bernanke
Me: Thanks you sir.
----------------------
Update: This interview has been good enough. Will be a member of Class of 2010, IIM Indore.
I am a compt Engg. 29months exp. 99.01 in Cat. IIM Indore call.
GD
Case.. Transport company meeting. Company in some issues due to recession.
2 proposals with the company:-
1. To go for a new client in existing business, investment need 8-9 lacs
2. to go into a new business area for an existing client, investment needed 5 lacs.
GD was relatively good. everyone had the opportunity to participate. I felt I did well.
After the GD I was asked for the photocopies of the marklists, I had left that at home. I had to let them know about it as it was asked in the GD hall itself... embarrasing. Since I had already called someone, it reached soon. So no fatal damage... I hope.
PI
There were 2 panelists, lets say p1 and p2.
P2: Who is infy CFO
Me: I am unable to recollect the name sir. Mohandas Pai handed it over to this person.
P2: His name is similar to yours
Me: I remember now, It is Balakrishnan.
P2: U r guessing based on the hint.
Me: No Sir, now I remember seeing the name in a quaterly results presentation.
p1: You have written that "Listening and Analysing AR Rahman music" is an interest. What do you men by analysing. Have you ever worked with a synthesiser.
Me: Said about how I feel Rahmans music has been evolving for Raw and electronic kinda music to more classical , Live orchestra music. And how unlike his earlier days it takes few listenings to like his music.
P1: Fav subjects
Me: OS, C programming
P1: What is shell
Me: Said
P1: Whats is kernel
Me: Said
P1: Data warehouse
Me: Said what I know.
P1: What is Queuing System
Me: Guessed. Told something about Queues in batch processing systems.
Thats the end of Acads. Thank God.
P1: What is Capital Expenditure
Me: (I had mentioned CAPEX in the GD and the summary). Said what I know.
Long silence. Then P1 walks away, switches on something and adjusts some GD seats.
P2: You have mentioned Investing in stocks is your interest. Tell me abouyt the current crisis.
Me: Subprime, Slight cool off in Asia, Flight of FII capital, Possible US recession.
P2: Tell about subprime crisis
Me: Done. (I had collected some info about it. I was happy about it being asked)
P2: No No . Tell me what the word Sub Prime Means
Me: Did
P2: Then what is "Prime"
Me: Some guesing. Should be right
P2: How is prime lending rates decided in India
Me: RBI fixes after Credit Policy review every quarter (eeeeh.... shouldnt have been so naively incorrect).
P2: Seems like you are just guessing and dont know exacltly
ME: Sir, Although I am not very well versed with this topic, I know some facts.
P2: What is Bank Rate
Me: Interest rate given to banks on their deposits with RBI.
(This is wrong. It is the interst charged on RBI lending to banks... another mistake. Got confused btn Repo rates and Bank Rate)
P2: Avg PE ratio of sensex stocks
Me: Said
P2: Chairman of US federal reserve.
Me: I know the name, But am not able to recollect.
(He gave hints, still couldnt recollect.)
P2: Previous
ME: Alan Greenspan
P2: RBI Deputy Governor
Me: I dont know Sir.
P2: RBI Gov
Me: Y V Reddy
P2: Planning commision Deputy Chairperson
Me: I dont know, Sir
P2: Chairperson
Me: Ahluwalia.
p2 mentions He is the deputy.
(I guess PM is the chairperson)
P2: Any extra curricular that u want us to note
Me: Used to assemble and sell computers
P1: That is not very technical. Something else
Me: I agree it is not that technical. I was interested in programming.
P1: Any achievements, Country, Dist or col level.
Me: Wont 2nd price in open softwarte inter collegiate contest orgnsd by my col.
(The frowning look in P1's face doesn't change)
P1: You may leave
Me: Sir, I am unable to recollect the name of the US federal reserve, But I know he tutored under the current head of the central Bank of Israel.
P2: One more hint, His first name is Ben
Me: Ben Bernanke
Me: Thanks you sir.
----------------------
Update: This interview has been good enough. Will be a member of Class of 2010, IIM Indore.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Education for Prosperity
I am writing this to share with you a dream that I saw. A dream to that would create a revolution in our country and around the world. A dream that could put a smile on millions of faces. A dream that could enable millions more to dream.
Read further if you are interested.
Not long ago a survey by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OEPD) was published. The survey was on the state of jobs in BRIC countries. The survey finds that 11 million jobs were created in India per year during the period from 2000- 2005. This no., according to the survey, was significantly higher than the no. of jobs created in developed countries and more developed developing countries. Of this figure, the survey says, 85+ percent of the jobs were in paltry waged informal and unorganized enterprises. Probing for reasons the survey finds out startling facts of state of education in India.
It finds, In India for every 21 year old who has cleared secondary education, there are four who haven't. For every single person who has a completed some higher education, there are 12 who haven't. We are not even talking about the standard of education that produced those 8 percent who have completed something after secondary school. Isn't this startling? Unfortunately government hasn't been able to or been concerned to do anything to change this situation. These meager percentages represent people who are less than 21 years old. Don't even dare to look at numbers considering the full population. Given the incapable government, the onus rests on us, the socially conscious ones blessed with education and technology, to solve the problem.
What if we share our education using technology? In a few years from now Internet is going to reach India's villages. Our telecommunications companies and MNCs will find ingenuous ways to monetize a huge untapped market. Of course there wont be internet connection for all homes. May be there won't even be a computer or even telephone or still even electricity for all. We are assuming none of it. All we are assuming is that the companies will put Internet in places reachable by the poor millions, like corporation schools, panchayat kiosks and so on.
Our idea is to create a portal. Something like a free online university. A university that will not involve itself with providing degrees. But it would offer free education to anyone who seeks it. It will utilize all forms of media (text, Audio, Video, Flash,etc) to teach lessons that are taught in the best of schools, to all. The content in the portal will be at least as high in quality as what the best of school offers. All this and more without charging.
We feel such a portal will help everyone. The students in cities will use it to overcome their inability to study in the best school of town. The students and teachers in smaller towns will be abreast with the most modern concepts and ways of expressing them. The teachers of village and corporation schools will have a place to look for when they are unsure of what and how to teach. And so on. This portal will make it possible for anyone to have access to the best education, wherever he is, whenever he wants it.
Using this technology, over a period of time, more people will be employable and the country can get out of the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer syndrome.
Evolving this idea and contemplating its practicalities are part of my first feeble steps towards the realization of my dream. Please let us know what you thing of it, so that our next steps could be surer.
Yours,
A fellow citizen.
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