Desi Fun(da) ... and more.
As you all must know by now Kingfisher Airlines is my carrier of choice in the hot Indian aviation market. I love the fact that they have brand new aircraft, which gives me an added sense of safety, the fact that they have the IA engineering servicing these aircraft, who are the largest and best set of aircraft engineers around, and I love their service with a smile approach aswell.
From all the recent news we have been seeing/hearing it seems that Mr.Mallya is on a buying spree of Airbus aircraft for his airline. A320's, A319's and even A380's and now its heard he has gone for the A340-500 as well. I still wonder what the hell he is going to do with so many planes considering that he cannot fly overseas until around 2010, with the 5 year minimum prerequisite put in by government of India for a carrier to be eligible to fly abroad? But with the huge backlog of orders that Airbus has it will be able to deliver most of the long range aircraft only by around 2008-2010. Which is perfect timing for Mr.Mallya. He will be sitting pretty with his fleet as and when the government removes the stupid rule or when he qualifies for it in 2010, whichever comes first. By then the airline will have enough experience within the country and will be damn prepared to meet international standards which I have to say are not met by any Indian airline post the TATA-AI era. It will be great to wait and watch how things pan out in this region especially since the air is getting a crowded place to be right now in India.
Now all that needs to be seen is whether or not all these wonderful things about Kingfisher Airlines is actually raking in the moolah or not. We will be able to judge that once they become a listed company. Their IPO is scheduled to be out soon.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
TCS my breath away
Well the behemoths have spoken. Infosys hit the 2billionUSD mark and then TCS came out with its results showing that it had just missed the 3billionUSD mark by a whisker (figures at $2.97B). Not to be left behind TCS went out and declared a 1:1 bonus for its investors and I hope that they have a wonderful dividend coming our way soon too. In the next day of trade the share price hit an all time high playing around the Rs.2050 mark during intraday trade. And of course there was the usual analysis and data hitting the news channels. CNBC went out of the way and had an exclusive interview with Feroze (Nadrivala not sure of the surname) the head of corporate affairs. A flamboyant speaker who was ready with all the figures and facts and a sound temperament to handle the dumb CNBC journos that he had to face that early in the morning.
All in all the season has been ripe in the IT sector for the Indian companies and all have seen a steady increase in the number of clients. And more lucrative high end deals being snatched by these companies shows that they are able to compete with the global giants along the lines of Accenture et al. With recruiting in these companies on the roll there is a shortage for talent in the high end services segments and they will continue to command a high premium for their services.
That said there seems to be a dearth for aeronautic professionals in the growing aviation industry in our country and everyone is scouting out for talent. You can guess their desperation when they say "Senior ..." and the requirement states that a year of experience is all that you need to qualify to apply:). Well let the good times roll.
Apologies if you found the title a way too cocky this time:) I liked it though.. hehe
All in all the season has been ripe in the IT sector for the Indian companies and all have seen a steady increase in the number of clients. And more lucrative high end deals being snatched by these companies shows that they are able to compete with the global giants along the lines of Accenture et al. With recruiting in these companies on the roll there is a shortage for talent in the high end services segments and they will continue to command a high premium for their services.
That said there seems to be a dearth for aeronautic professionals in the growing aviation industry in our country and everyone is scouting out for talent. You can guess their desperation when they say "Senior ..." and the requirement states that a year of experience is all that you need to qualify to apply:). Well let the good times roll.
Apologies if you found the title a way too cocky this time:) I liked it though.. hehe
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Bangalore, Kannadigas and Riots
Last week Bangalore saw some of the worst cases of mob fury and public nuisance witnessed in the subcontinent. There were many aspects that surround that violence and these issues have been highlighted pretty well by the media. Just to give a headsup it started off by the death of a legendary actor in these parts of the woods Dr.Rajkumar. He was a legend in his own right and did a lot of good to forward the intentions of the local people aka the Kannadigas. He was seen as a leader amongst them and a very iconic figure to say the least. From what I have seen and heard of the person he was a pretty good guy, not politically motivated and totally non confrontationalist in his attitude right to his core. His passing away bought in a lot of people from all over the state who came peacefully to pay their respects. However this large stream of people was not expected by the local authorities and miscreants entered in torching some buses, causing a lot of damage to public and private property, putting a lot of loss on the local economy and eventually and probably the worst part being the indelible tarnish splashed on the image of Bangalore and our country.
Now all that said and done there seems to be something terribly wrong around here. Like the Sainiks in Maharashtra there are local groups who are of the opinion that outsiders aka non Kannadigas should "have" to learn the local tongue if they want to be out here. This opinion was voiced by a local, and supposedly, eminent journalist whose name I seem to forget***. His reasoning was that in France people can't do without learning French and in England people can't do without learning English. That is the word of the land is very important. I wish I was near him to smack him. Some of my counter arguments
- Essentially the analogy with France was totally uneducated. France is loosing out on investments that do not depend on the local economy due to their chauvinism. Bangalore on the other hand is based on outsourced work.
- The image of Kannadigas by us outsiders (I wish I was one even though I am not) is of the local thugs aka auto drivers taking advantage of everyone, followed by the land/home owners who charge a fortune to rent out their homes to outsiders etc. They don't paint a pretty picture of themselves so what would make anyone aspire to be like them. Noone want to be like you and therefore noone wants to take the trouble to learn your lingo either.
- Moreover the dufus made all his arguments in English on a English news channel. That shows the importance and need of English in a global economic scenario.
- And does he know that there are about a 1000+ yes one thousand plus official dialect prevalent within India today. If we need to bring reform within the country the only way is by having one common language for us all. And FOR HIS INFORMATION that language is the national language Hindi. Imagine a businessman going all through India and needing to learn the local language to fill in his paperwork. The masses will never realise the benefits of the booming economy with such an backward school of thought.
If I employed him I would fire this columnist.
***Such people by my lingo are termed as "educated illiterates". People who have formal education and possibly quite a lot of it but have not been able to utilise their minds, or whatever source of intellect they may have, to understand and put that education to some effective purpose. Will try to find his name but he is not worth mentioning in the positive.
Now all that said and done there seems to be something terribly wrong around here. Like the Sainiks in Maharashtra there are local groups who are of the opinion that outsiders aka non Kannadigas should "have" to learn the local tongue if they want to be out here. This opinion was voiced by a local, and supposedly, eminent journalist whose name I seem to forget***. His reasoning was that in France people can't do without learning French and in England people can't do without learning English. That is the word of the land is very important. I wish I was near him to smack him. Some of my counter arguments
- Essentially the analogy with France was totally uneducated. France is loosing out on investments that do not depend on the local economy due to their chauvinism. Bangalore on the other hand is based on outsourced work.
- The image of Kannadigas by us outsiders (I wish I was one even though I am not) is of the local thugs aka auto drivers taking advantage of everyone, followed by the land/home owners who charge a fortune to rent out their homes to outsiders etc. They don't paint a pretty picture of themselves so what would make anyone aspire to be like them. Noone want to be like you and therefore noone wants to take the trouble to learn your lingo either.
- Moreover the dufus made all his arguments in English on a English news channel. That shows the importance and need of English in a global economic scenario.
- And does he know that there are about a 1000+ yes one thousand plus official dialect prevalent within India today. If we need to bring reform within the country the only way is by having one common language for us all. And FOR HIS INFORMATION that language is the national language Hindi. Imagine a businessman going all through India and needing to learn the local language to fill in his paperwork. The masses will never realise the benefits of the booming economy with such an backward school of thought.
If I employed him I would fire this columnist.
***Such people by my lingo are termed as "educated illiterates". People who have formal education and possibly quite a lot of it but have not been able to utilise their minds, or whatever source of intellect they may have, to understand and put that education to some effective purpose. Will try to find his name but he is not worth mentioning in the positive.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Infosys at 25
Desi Fun(da) ... and more.
This week India's darling IT company turned a solid 25 years old. It is suprising to know that it has been nearly 25 years since Narayan Murthy and his cohorts dreamt up everything about software offshoring that is so commonly talked about all around the place. Well they did celebrate their birthday with a bang offering shareholders a 1:1 bonus and a Rs.30 dividend bonus/share to commemorate their 25 years. Pretty cool wish I had bought some of their shares on Thursday.
Well to party along the news channels went overboard on getting the Infosys board members on their talk shows and stuff. But CNBC went all the way by having multiple shows throughout the day specifically on Infosys. And the icing on the cake was an exclusive interview with the entire board of the company and then singularly with Narayan Murthy.
Among all the things that he spoke about he went out of his to repetitively state that Infosys has tried to be model citizens of the Indian corporate world. It has relied only on facts and figures and based its estimates on hard data and nothing more. Thereby following the dictum that when in doubt, disclose. He also stated that the focus of the company is its customers, followed by its employees and finally its shareholders. (Something very similar to the Tata ideology) And hey there is also some similarity with my thoughts. He clearly stated that the focus of any successful company should be "Underpromise and Overdeliver". (If you have read my previous post on suggestions for a startup you know I am not lying)
All in all it was a great interview and it was wonderful to see the picture of Mr. JRD Tata in the background while the interview with Mrs.Murthy was on. It seems the legacy of Mr. Tata lives on, in the daily work of people like Mr. and Mrs. Murthy. We need more of such people.
This week India's darling IT company turned a solid 25 years old. It is suprising to know that it has been nearly 25 years since Narayan Murthy and his cohorts dreamt up everything about software offshoring that is so commonly talked about all around the place. Well they did celebrate their birthday with a bang offering shareholders a 1:1 bonus and a Rs.30 dividend bonus/share to commemorate their 25 years. Pretty cool wish I had bought some of their shares on Thursday.
Well to party along the news channels went overboard on getting the Infosys board members on their talk shows and stuff. But CNBC went all the way by having multiple shows throughout the day specifically on Infosys. And the icing on the cake was an exclusive interview with the entire board of the company and then singularly with Narayan Murthy.
Among all the things that he spoke about he went out of his to repetitively state that Infosys has tried to be model citizens of the Indian corporate world. It has relied only on facts and figures and based its estimates on hard data and nothing more. Thereby following the dictum that when in doubt, disclose. He also stated that the focus of the company is its customers, followed by its employees and finally its shareholders. (Something very similar to the Tata ideology) And hey there is also some similarity with my thoughts. He clearly stated that the focus of any successful company should be "Underpromise and Overdeliver". (If you have read my previous post on suggestions for a startup you know I am not lying)
All in all it was a great interview and it was wonderful to see the picture of Mr. JRD Tata in the background while the interview with Mrs.Murthy was on. It seems the legacy of Mr. Tata lives on, in the daily work of people like Mr. and Mrs. Murthy. We need more of such people.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Our fascination with bandhs/strikes
Bandhs aka strikes seem to be the way of life out here in our great country. If someone from a union is fired there is band. If a minister dies or is put in jail there is bandh. If a political party is in the minority it seems duty bound to call a few bandhs during their tenure in opposition. If India loses a pesky cricket game there is a commotion. And now this nuisance about actors dying and bandhs. What is going on with us? Heck I think soon there will be bandhs when people fall sick.
It is good that we adore and respect people who we carve out to be idols for us in our lives. But what is the length to which our patronage to the same person goes. Are we not duty bound towards our nation and therein directly to our jobs to observe any such action of grief on our own time rather than have the phobia of being stoned by rowdy so-called fans of these same people and running away from our jobs?
If any of these people are worthy of being treated as stars/idols etc it is only because they performed their duty ie. did their jobs well throughout their lives without flinching or taking time off for free siestas. If people are truly fans of the same they should pay respect to the dead by going on with their jobs and hey if need be donating something to their local non-profit.
All that said there is much to be done if we want India to be a truly global place and labour reforms seems to be topmost on the agenda. Unionisation is killing the economic progress made by the country and getting a bad rep., especially for outsourcing derived business, throughout the world. Come on people we have nearly 20+ official state and central bank holidays combined. Then most organisations give a healthy addition of nearly 30 odd paid leaves. Do you think we are going to be able to compete in a flat world with this lethargic a workforce? I doubt it.
SC/ST/OBC Reservations in specialised courses
Desi Fun(da) ... and more.
It has been a raging debate during the past couple of weeks wherein the latest moron of a minister Arjun Singh has gone ahead to propose that the educations such as the IIT, IIM and IISc, to name a few, should have reservations for SC/ST/OBC candidates. While I truly understand the need for furthering the cause of underprivileged classes of society by due representation I am totally against minister toying with institutions of such a high stature just to further their political vote banks. It would be more appropriate to maintain the status quo on quotas per se. With the current system these classes are given due opportunity upto graduate degree levels and sometimes further in particular institutes. Now if they are truly capable and have made use of these resources they should be given able to get into these prestigious institutes by nature of merit rather than caste or otherwise. If the government truly wants to help them out here they should provide these students with something along the lines of interest free loans on education fees etc. This will truly help these students.
All that said and done we Indians have probably the best minds in the world to work around the system. Once these quotas are in place be assured that a parallel industry of sorts will rise up from the earth for fake OBC certificates etc, which are available even today. There is absolutely no way of checking the autheticity of these certificates and that itself should discredit the introduction of such a quota based system at these institutes.
I hope one day we can have our institutes proclaim on their prospectus' that they do not discriminate on bases of caste, color, religion etc as all American institutes do. Ironically all American institutes also go ahead and try to maintain black/white, men/women, local/alien ratios.
It has been a raging debate during the past couple of weeks wherein the latest moron of a minister Arjun Singh has gone ahead to propose that the educations such as the IIT, IIM and IISc, to name a few, should have reservations for SC/ST/OBC candidates. While I truly understand the need for furthering the cause of underprivileged classes of society by due representation I am totally against minister toying with institutions of such a high stature just to further their political vote banks. It would be more appropriate to maintain the status quo on quotas per se. With the current system these classes are given due opportunity upto graduate degree levels and sometimes further in particular institutes. Now if they are truly capable and have made use of these resources they should be given able to get into these prestigious institutes by nature of merit rather than caste or otherwise. If the government truly wants to help them out here they should provide these students with something along the lines of interest free loans on education fees etc. This will truly help these students.
All that said and done we Indians have probably the best minds in the world to work around the system. Once these quotas are in place be assured that a parallel industry of sorts will rise up from the earth for fake OBC certificates etc, which are available even today. There is absolutely no way of checking the autheticity of these certificates and that itself should discredit the introduction of such a quota based system at these institutes.
I hope one day we can have our institutes proclaim on their prospectus' that they do not discriminate on bases of caste, color, religion etc as all American institutes do. Ironically all American institutes also go ahead and try to maintain black/white, men/women, local/alien ratios.
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