Friday, September 30, 2011

NEWS & VIEWS Dt: 30.09.2011 = MOST TRUSTED BRANDS OF 2011 = INCLUSIVE GROWTH = GAIL IN SHALE GAS = M&M GLOBAL AMBITIONS = GOVT BORROWING EFFECT

NEWS & VIEWS
(CORPORATE & ECONOMIC)
(Dated 30.09.2011)

1.   Economic Times  has declared its list of TOP 100 MOST TRUSTED BRANDS FOR 2011. The TOP 10 in are (1) Colgate (2) Lux (3) Airtel (4) Lifebuoy (5) Nokia (6) Dettol (7) Britannia (8) Vodafone (9) Maggi (10) Close-up.
2.   The brand Attributes considered are (1) Always Maintains a High level of quality 92) It is worth the price it commands (3) It is the one brand that I would definitely consider if I have to buy that product or service (4) It is a very popular brand (5) This brand is Unique and has something  that no other brand has (6) It evokes a feeling of confidence and pride among its users (7) It is a special brand with unique feelings associated with it. Interestingly, Airtel has moved from 129 in 2010 to 3 in 2011.
3.   India’s Most trusted (Top 10) service Brands are  (1) Airtel (up from LY’s 10) (2) Vodafone (down from LY’s No.1) (3) BSNL (down from LY’s No.2) (4)Idea (up from LY’s No.15) (5) SBI (down from LY’s No.3) (6) Big Bazaar (same as LY) (7) Tata Docomo (up from LY’s 12) (8) Tata Indicom (down from LY’s No.5)  (9) Aircel (up from LY’s No.19) (10) ICICI Bank ( down from LY’s No.7)
4.   The Individual segments present a very curious mix of results in top 3 spots as follows :. (a) Beverages(Hot) :– Bournvita, Horlicks and Tata Tea; (b) 4 wheelers (auto) :- Maruti, Tata Motors and M&M; (c) 2 wheelers (auto) :- Hero Motocorp, Honda, Bajaj; (d) Consumer Durables :- Samsung, LG, Godrej (e) Beverages cold :- Coca-cola , Thums Up, Mirinda (f) DTH :- Tata sky, Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV (g) Apparel :- Raymond, Lee, peter England (h) Hair Oils :- Dabur, Parachute, Himani NavRatna (i) Oral Care :- Colgate, Close-up, Pepsodent (j) Food Products :- Britannia, magi, Tata Salt (k) Mobile Handsets :- Nokia, Samsung, LG (l) Retailers :- Big Bazaar, Reliance Fresh, Pantaloons (m) Fabric Care :- Surf, Rin, Ujala (n) Personal care : Lux, Lifebuoy, Dettol (o) Household care : All Out, Good Knight, Vim
5.    Investors need to keep in mind, the moving positions of the Brands – as this will translate into sales and profits finally – in the Market place.
6.   AIMA (All India management Association) had its 38th National Management Convention at Delhi on 28th and 29th, of September, 2011. The theme was “Inclusive growth : A Challenging Opportunity.” The AIMA feels Inclusive Growth must be the vision the country must have now. While the theme is very attractive in itself, one expects a plethora of Ideas from Industry Managers – for achieving such Inclusive Growth, which is a significant Goal for India.
7.   GAIL (GAS AUTHORITY OF INDIA LTD) has acquired 20% stake in Houston based firm, Carrozo’s Eagle Ford Shale acreage for $ 95 mn. GAIL Global now wants to – pursue various upstream and mid-stream  opportunities including LNG export to India. This experience will help GAIL  in the future Indian shale gas bidding rounds opening in future.
8.   Mahindra & Mahindra – rolled out its first Global SUV at a cost of around Rs.10.8 lakhs to Rs.12.88 lakhs. Apart from Indian market, it is aiming at South Africa, Australia and Latin American Markets. Anand Mahindra wants M&M to be seen as a Global company with a Global product line up.  He says – his focus will be on bottom line which he will not compromise.
9.   Govt’s borrowing needs in the second half of this year is likely to go up by 13% or by Rs.52.8 thousand crores – to a total of Rs.2.2 lakh crores. Small savings had a net outflow of Rs.26,000 cr in the 1st Qtr. So, states also may need to borrow more. Private credit also may pick up during the second Half. The yields on Bonds may therefore rise. Cost of borrowing may go up for Government and private borrowers. With Inflation not coming down – but Growth figures clearly depressed – we need to see what RBI will do next. Inflation has not been responding to RBI interest rates increases during the last 2 years – as this inflation can only be managed by Government control measures etc and not by RBI monetary Policy alone. This has been pointed out in this blog also much earlier and is now being voiced by many experts. India can not afford to stifle its growth path at this point of time – and RBI will need to chip in by rolling back its interest Rates. But, Government will need to micro manage inflation through specific product related measures. But, periodically, we are witnessing an unwitting logic that India is better off than many other countries on these parameters. This is not correct. Those countries are reeling under past lapses – which are just not present in the Indian context. India can afford to grow at double digit rate – even if RBI cannot bring down inflation from double digits. Both Growth and Inflation control must be looked at seriously by all economic Ministries of Central and state governments together. We are not seeing many such agricultural, Industrial and other economic ministries meets (centre and states) for such specific Agenda for quite some time.

* * *  E N D  * * *

No comments:

Post a Comment