One of the banes of the stimulus packages unleashed by economies across the globe has been the steep hike in inflation rates. In the case of the domestic economy, the issue has reached worrying levels with inflation having settled in a double-digit range. For an economy which is used to the figure in the range of 4-6 PE )r cent, the recent spike is a worrying factor. While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been steadily pushing investors to borrow less through rate hikes, the consumer apathy towards high prices has been a worrying factor too. A decade ago, high prices meant lower demand. In the case of a growing economy, demand is still chasing supply irrespective of the cost. The classic example has been the rise in vegetable prices. Onion prices came down not due to lower demand but due to government intervention in the form of crackdown on traders and import of onions. ...

Last week marked two very important events: the anniversary of the death of Mahatma Gandhi and the beginning of the first ever United Nations World Inter faith Harmony Week. The commemoration of such a central champion of peaceful interfaith relations was a very appropriate time for this week-long promotion of interfaith solidarity. Last year, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution declaring the first week of every February as the World Interfaith Harmony Week. The resolution's mention of "love of the good and love of one's neighbour" is important because whilst for believers the Good is God, love of the good and the neighbour is the very essence of goodwill for all. Thus the resolution includes everyone in the world of all religions, faiths and beliefs, and those of no religion. World Interfaith Harmony Week has unprecedented potential to help turn the tide against rel...

About a year ago, CEAT conducted a detailed analysis of its procurement function. The tyre manufacturer studied its Rs 2,000 crore cost base in detail to streamline processes and squeeze out cost savings. Against the backdrop of a global supply crunch, natural rubber prices have been galloping towards record highs and given that natural rubber makes up about half the cost of a tyre, the industry has been grappling with dipping profit margins. CEAT was no exception. For the RPG group company, the exercise threw up a revelation: competitors were rapidly adopting information technology enabled sourcing and CEAT was way behind. It decided to adopt the e-sourcing platform and procurement efficiency is now a strategic issue for the company's C-suite. As companies like CEAT focus on costs, process re-engineering has become de rigueur. Stiff competition, increasing customer expectations and squeezed margins are forcing busine...

Brand Equity Ad Agency reckoner brings to its readers the rankings for the Best Advertisement production houses in the country. Best Ad Production Houses 1 - Nirvana Films 2 - Corcoise Films 3 - Ramesh Deo Productions 4 - Equinox Films 5 - Footcandles Films 6 - Genesis Films 7 - MAD Films 8 - Rajiv Menon Productions 9 - Black Magic 10 - Flying Saucer Nirvana films A 10 year-old production house, Nirvana was set up by Prakash Varma and Sneha Iype Varma in 2001. Our initial challenge was to get good scripts from agencies, says Sneha Iype Varma, executive producer, Nirvana. Its always difficult for newco...

As IMDb turns 20, its editor-in-chief Keith Simanton speaks to Vikram Doctor about the passion that has built this comprehensive and authoritative database on Hollywood movies. IMDb also has a more-than-impressive section on the Indian film industry that goes much beyond Satyajit Ray The sites data is vast and intricately detailed. It can be searched on the basis of films, actors, technicians, even recurring fictional characters. The Academy Awards season sees a huge amount of information put up as people access it to make their Oscar bets. TV information now makes up a significant part of the site. And most well-known Indian films are covered When the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) recently started carrying news about Bollywood, they were expecting some reactions from Indian consumers. When you load the IMDb page now, along with details about upcoming Hollywood releases, pi...

2011 seemed the best time to get the heads of our Top 3 advertising agencies and Top 3 media agencies to reflect on the decade that was and point to what lies ahead for the marketing communications industry. On a balmy Sunday afternoon though, our fellowship was missing a representative from JWT. Colvyn Harris was vacationing and none of his deputies were able to make it to Mumbai on time. However the rest of our panel comprising Piyush Pandey , chairman, Ogilvy; R Balakrishnan , chairman, Lowe Lintas; R Gowthaman , MD, MindShare; Sam Balsara , CMD, Madison World and Lynn de Souza , chairman and CEO, Lintas Media Group were all in a fine mood to debate, argue and throw down the gauntlet. It isnt too much to say that if these fine gentlemen and lady walk the talk on what they discussed, the industry is going to be a very different plac...

One fine day in 2007, three trucks from Hindustan Unilever, laden with shampoos, powders, creams and assortments for the body beautiful, arrived at the gates of ACCs Kymore cement plant, near Jabalpur. The plant head was foxed and wondered why shampoos had come to him. He quickly configured it perhaps had something to do with the companys employee welfare initiatives. But then, how was he to distribute the huge quantities; and how much for each worker? He was awestruck by the sudden bounty. He called up headquarters, only to be told that the stuff all past their expiry date was to be burned in the kilns of the cement plant to generate energy. It was then a small trial. And the technical staff had no inkling about the immense potential of waste to replace coal in cement kilns. Since then, HUL has hauled 13,700 tonnes of its waste products to ACCs Kymore plant for co-processing, a term commonplace in the cement sector across the...