Thursday, July 31, 2008

Home Shop

Another instance is that of Home Shop 18, which actually happens to be the brain child of SAIF and, therefore, calling it an investee company won’t be right. It’s a JV between SAIF and Network 18, and an example of an idea that the Fund was sure about. The reason: SAIF had already successfully invested in Acorn, China’s largest home shopping firm, which recently got listed on NASDAQ. If one looked at the enablers for home shopping – like TV penetration, telecom penetration and spending power – it seemed the right and opportune time to tap the Indian market. India has approximately 105 million TV households, and mobile penetration of 281 million.

“SAIF partnered with Network 18, one of India’s most reputed media houses, to launch a home shopping channel with our learning and knowledge that we had in China. We knew how to source, what kind of product to sell, how to package it, and so on and so forth. We gained traction by partnering with TV-18, and we targeted TV, which had all the ingredients of success. This company is doing phenomenally well and the rate at which it is growing, it will emerge as one of the largest retail company in India in couple of years across categories, even accounting for offline players,” boasts Vibhor.

However, like all PE/VCs, Vibhor is hesitant and apprehensive to disclose SAIF’s average returns from India investments. “We are the best kept secret in India, both in terms of our returns as well as the size of our non-sponsored fund,” he says. But sources contend that the portfolio that Vibhor has been associated with has appreciated 2.5-5 times in a span of less than two years.

Entering high-growth markets like China & India is a dream for every company. The GDPs of both China & India have risen 120% in the past five years (according to IMF data). With dedicated local offices in China, India and South Korea, SAIF currently manages over $2 billion of portfolio. And as far as India is concerned, SAIF is all poised to be the next big thing, or rather, the biggest PE/VC player. Beware Blackstone and Temasek!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus



Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Investee: India Cements Ltd.

Investor: Fidelity, ABN Amro, HSBC, et al

Investment Value: $137.67 mn


The capital raised through this deal will give the much-needed impetus to ICL’s expansion plans. Substantiates V. M. Mohan, ICL, Joint President (Corporate Finance), “We are in the process of raising capital to fund a Rs.1,450 crore expansion plan that would double its cement production capacity to 18 million tonnes over the next two years, and to set up a 40-50 MW captive power project and buy two ships for coal transport. The QIB issue is a part of that.” The company may also reduce their debt balance through these issues.

Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) – Fidelity, HSBC, ABN Amro, among others – in a deal worth Rs.592 crores bought 7.5% stake in India’s third largest cement firm, India Cements Ltd. (ICL) in December last year. Considered to be the largest cement player in South India, the company boasts of seven manufacturing locations, spread over Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. ICL issued 20.78 million shares at Rs.285 per share, including premium, to these QIBs. With an objective to become a pan India cement manufacturer (and plans to increase capacity to 18 MTPA by December 2010), the company wants to use the net proceeds of the issue primarily for capital expenditure and other expenditure support. They also plan to finance new projects through this issue. The cement maker is setting up two plants in Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, besides having several mining leases in these two states. Considering the boom in the domestic infrastructure and real estate market, the demand for cement has been going up for some time; and ICL is poised to benefit from this latent potential.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Number of designs

But we wanted more dope; and dope was what we got when we found that it was J Walter Thompson that was the agency credited to have coordinated with Bobby Kooka to create the Maharaja! We scurried out Ivan Arthur, former National Creative Director, JWT and current Vice Chairman, Aicar, who gave some eye-openers, “One day, simply looking for an interesting letterhead, Bobby Kooka phoned the agency and promptly received a number of designs, all done by this talented young JWT Art Director named Umesh Rao. One of these designs had a neat line-drawing of some Maharaja bowing in a gracious welcome. Kooka liked it a lot and the letterhead was finalised.”

But remaining confined to the letterheads wasn’t supposed to be the fate of our prince, there was more to come Initially introduced merely to ornament the Air India letterhead. As Arthur reveals, “Sometime later, the ever-inventive mind of Bobby Kooka asked why that cute little drawing could not step out of the letterhead and be used in the advertising as an add-on. ‘But of course, it could’, said the agency and the next advertisement had the little bowing Maharaja signing off above the Air-India International logo. (The airline was called Air-India International then). Kooka was pleased. And the Maharaja continued to sign off on some of Air-India International’s advertisements, till on another inventive day, Kooka asked why the little fellow could not grow bigger and actually take centerstage? He did. And so was born the Maharaja as mascot.”

Soon the Maharaja won many hearts and became one of the most important members of the Air India family. And since then, he was seen in all their advertisement campaigns; and for over sixty years, he continued to remain Air-India’s surrogate salesman, selling tickets not by hawking but by being charming. Rohit Manchanda, CEO, Planman Life, comments to 4Ps B&M, “The Maharaja usage was the first example of non-advertising icons used as advertising, in the Indian ad industry. A breakthrough!”

Could anyone have then imagined that this royal ad-king would subsequently gel not only with Indians, but most brilliantly with foreigners as well? Ergo, it seems more surprising that such an emblazoned iconic creation’s dominance has now ended, and that too because of competition. Bharghav diplomatically explains, “No doubt, Air India has been a conservative advertiser in the past; but now, as the environment has changed to become much more competitive... the need of the hour is to move on...”

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Peer-to-Peer

Despite initial hiccups in its plans, who symbolises peer-to-peer marketing better than Amway in India

As a multilevel marketer, we’ve4psbusinessandmarketingalways focused on expanding our membership & not just the consumer base. It’s all about connecting people who share common goals & aspirations. So, introducing world-class products at competitive prices and adequately training our distributors is what drives the organisation. As all Amway products are concentrates, we literally have to ‘train’ our distributors ‘how’ to use these products. All this is to ensure that they are armed with adequate product knowledge when they go out in the field. Because at the end of the day it’s a people business – it relies on the most important personal touch as its main promotional tool – word of mouth.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative