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Country’s inflation rate poses as a peak in front of the Union finance minister and the banking regulator (RBI)as a challenge through years. When the inflation rate stood at high pitch in view of lacklustre industrial production,high food inflation, low GDP growth, the only solace was the agricultural production at a marginal growth. However,the consumers anticipated RBI measures of revising up the repo and reverse repo rate on 25 basis points at its 13thsitting since March 2010.

But lucky or unlucky, the RBI has declared a pause for a further rate hike as it expected a decline in the inflationrate with a normal monsoon this year. However, further growth is now expected to remain below trend. Even if thecurrent rates of inflation persist till November, the likelihood of further rate hike this year is relatively low. Unlike2010, growth is no longer strong. Indeed the growth is to slip to 7% in the last two quarters of FY 12, triggering areversal in interest rates in Q2 of 2012. If this slowdown in growth is coupled with upside surprises in inflation, theconduct of monetary policy could become challenging for the RBI. The central bank has scaled down its FY12 GDPgrowth projection to 7.6% from 8% previously.

Though policy analysis at the government level has to be finally resolved to kick start the investment cycle in fullswing, an indication of a pause in interest rates by the RBI is expected to go a long way in boosting businessconfidence, at least in the near term. The key issue is whether the indication of a pause is just a breather or if wewill see a repeat of 2010 or early 2011. However, the focus now seems to be shifting towards supporting andeventually stimulating growth, from clamping elevated inflationary pressures in the economy. Unlikely the previousphases, upward revisions in headline inflation and the pace of increase in core inflation have moderated recently.

Though we forecast inflation to come down to a level of the RBI’s comfort zone by March 2012, risks fromunfavourable commodity price movements, exchange rate depreciation and the incomplete pass through of infla-tionary pressures cannot be ruled out.

In fact, RBI’s explicit measures on inflation could once again provide a dose of its ability to react quickly to asudden deviation from its base line view and prove its credibility in fighting inflation.

From the Editor

Credibility sustained, though at stake

October 31 - November 30, 2011 PASSLINE

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Readers'views

Pro-poor, eco-friendly‘Think differently, act differently’ is a common dictum

which we usually come across in advertisements. Thereare among us a few who do so. That may be the reasonwhy some unique and utility institutions and establishmentscome up in certain villages in Kerala.

The Resource Centre for Natural Fibres, located in thehamlet of Poyya in Thrissur district, is a brilliant example.In Kerala, we have very few centres like it, giving trainingand employment to the poorer sections of society and help-ing them earn their livelihood directly as well as helpingprotect the environment indirectly.

Kudos to Fr Johnson Panketh, Director of KIDS, for hisvision in making and marketing such eco-friendly productsand also to PASSLINE (August-September 30, 2011) forhaving brought to light such lesser-known places as wellas the craft to make products that can be used in place ofplastic. May Fr Johnson’s dream of a deemed universitycome true!

-N A Antony, Nayankara, Irinjalakuda,Thrissur district

TrailblazerYour column ‘CEO Trail’ (Aug-Sept 30) is a trailblazer

as it candidly projects the modus operandi of CEOs throughtheir profiles like those of UAE Exchange Country Head-India V George Antony. It may be their humble beginningand simple nature that make them capable of managing anorganization and a team.

This column is worth reading and may help people im-bibe the spirit of leadership from their exemplary lives.

-Dileep Jose, Chantily, Virginia, US

Education as passionWhile going through the feature on De Paul International

Residential School (DPIRS), I felt that we must ‘first lightourselves to enlighten others.’ Fr Dr Jos Aikkara’s aca-demic profile is very impressive. For those who study inthe institution run by him, education is bound to becomenot only a passion but also intoxication, so to speak.

I noticed PASSLINE (August-September 30, 2011) at afriend’s house at Oakfield, in London, with its elegant cover(featuring Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and team). Asfor my ward, that issue of the magazine turned out to be anaddendum to learn more about some of the best educa-tional institutions. I wish to be a regular reader of the maga-zine and hope that it will continue to enlighten readers,including aspiring students, on some of the best educa-tional institutions and business houses in our country.

-Binny Chiyarath, Birmingham, UK.

Of business heroesWhile reading the interview with V C Praveen of the

Gokulam Group (August-September 30, 2011), I felt thatthe awards for business leaders in Kerala are a right stepwith the right perspective, similar to the awards being givento the ‘reel’ heroes. However, the difference is that the ‘reel’heroes become eligible for the awards after many make-ups and mop-ups, but the business leaders achieve theirgoal by their sheer sweat and toil, without light or camerato boost their image. Hence the need to give awards tobusiness heroes.

-K K Sreenivasan, Sion, Mumbai.

5

Mr M G George, Chairman, Muthoot Group, has been listed among rich persons fromIndia published by world famous magazine Forbes in its latest issue. Mr. George, a well-known business man with a string of networks across the country, has been listed as the50th Indian business man and also the ‘Asian Forbes’ has published his photograph alongwith the cover story. The magazine describes Mr George in its cover story as ‘M G GeorgeMuthoot is a billionaire by lending against the yellow metal to Indians. The ‘Forbes’ maga-zine says Mr George, a third generation representative of Muthoot Group started in theyear 1887 shares total asset of 1.1 billion dollar with his three brothers. “ Muthoot Financehas dispersed 2.5 crore gold loans so far and holds 120 tonnes of gold jewelry. Its 3,210branches, a bigger network than ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector lender, gives70,000 gold loans daily. Muthoot’s rates are still a cheaper option than the traditionalvillage money lender.'' Magazine says in its cover story.

M G George Muthootmaking Kerala rich


6

Why not aMetro Waterwayfor Kochi?

INFRASTRUCTURE6

By Jinesh M D

Relentless increases in the num-ber of vehicles over the past few yearsand narrow and potholed roads con-ceived and built decades ago haveslowed down the pace of developmentand growth of the boom town. Crum-bling infrastructure, coupled with lackof discipline among road-users, hasworsened the situation. Amid thischaos, piles of transport improvementreports are gathering dust.

This is the situation Kochi, Kerala’scommercial capital, finds itself in. To-day, over a million vehicles jostle forspace on the dilapidated, narrow andprecarious roads of the city. The num-ber may double in another decade.

This is happening in the midst of theinfrastructure remaining almost thesame with hardly any improvement insight.

So it is not just for today that wehave to plan; it’s time for us to plan forthe future also. Certainly our town plan-ners in the past did not visualize howthe city would grow, one reason for thechaos we witness on our roads. Ve-hicles crawl at speeds of 10 km-15 kman hour in the central business dis-trict. The situation may be slightlybetter in other areas, but chaos willsoon reign even there unless drasticmeasures are taken.

So what is the solution to the prob-lems of traffic and congestion on

Kochi’s roads? One solution that wassuggested a few years ago was theElevated Light Kochi Metro Railproject. After being in limbo for sometime the project is reported to havereceived the go-ahead from the Cen-tre. Though many people, several ofthem experts, say the Metro will notbe economically viable for want of ad-equate riders and is not going to beaffordable to most people, it certainlywill help ease congestion on Kochi’sroads. It can be fast, can carry thou-sands of commuters, is comfortableand safe. Another advantage is that itwill reduce accident rates, high energyconsumption, fuel wastage and willhave no air and sound pollution.


7Agreed. But will it be the single best

project for the city? Many beg to differ.Why not think of an additional, if notalternative, mode of transport?

Experts feel that Kochiites’ com-muting can change with the introduc-tion of an attractive voyage. Boats cancarry people across the city instead ofcrowded buses, they say. It is a pos-sible supplementary travel option if theauthorities concerned open their eyes.

A voyage through canals and back-waters every day watching nature’sbeauty spots will be an exhilaratingexperience. Besides being non-pollut-ing, such commuting will be pleasantlysmooth. All it requires is the develop-ment of the waterways in and aroundthe city.

A feasible alternative transport sys-tem for Kochi to reduce traffic conges-tion has been a decades-long demand

of the people of the city. The city busesand autorickshaws having monopolizedthe city’s road transport system, Kochibadly needs alternative traffic optionsto decongest roads to become com-muter-friendly. As a city expecting tre-mendous growth in the wake of newprojects such as Vallarpadam ContainerTerminal and Smart City coming up,Kochi needs feasible and rapid trans-port systems at the earliest.

Meanwhile initial work on the much-hyped Metro project has started de-spite a series of obstacles like prob-lems of land acquisition, rehabilitationof displaced men and demolition ofmajor buildings. Of course a large num-ber of people are sceptical about thefuture of the project considering theprevailing vagueness contributed by itsconstraints. Metro rail projects (under-ground) have been massive successes

Rail and WaterwayA comparative study

Tome Jose

‘Water Metro’ is a term en-dorsed by Water Resources Minis-ter P J J0oseph. Mr Tome Jose,Chairman of KSINC, who is also theChairman of the proposed MetroRail project, says Mr Joseph hasasked for the feasibility of the Wa-

ter Metro with great interest. While Metro Rail is ex-pected to be completed by the end of 2015 (by theofficial calculation), completion of Metro Waterwayis possible within one or two years at a much lowerinvestment. Moreover, Metro Rail is likely to face ob-stacles in the form of electricity shortage. As a statewhere power shortage is acute, a massive protestfrom the public may occur in this regard if an alterna-tive energy sector is not established.

“An electric train will run between Aluva and Petta(the two desti-nations) withthree bogies atthe initial stagewhich can beincreased up tosix. Every bogiewill have a ca-pacity of 200c o m m u t e r s , ”says Mr TomeJose. He addsthat the projectwill not be car-ried out on PPPmode.

The MetroRail project wasdelayed in theearly stage be-cause of the Central Government raising seriousdoubts about its viability. The approval came onlyrecently with an agreement that the Centre and thestate will share the cost equally. Considering thestate’s financial situation and the earlier governments’negative approach to development, some people thinkthat the 50% share may be difficult to be raised. More-over, there is a possibility that the estimated costmay shoot up.

Mr Tome Jose also acknowledges that the Wa-terway can be implemented throughout the city with-out much difficulty. “Though waterways are unable to

meet the demands of commuters fully, this systemwill obviously help cargo movement to a large ex-tent. Besides, waterways can be developed in a shortspan of time,” he says.

There are also doubts about the affordability offares for Metro trains. As the very project is going tobe highly costly, it is naturally difficult to benefit thecommon people. But in a water-based transport sys-tem, operating costs and environmental pollution arelower. Moreover, unlike other modes, the main infra-structure (the waterway) is naturally available, whichonly needs to be developed and maintained.

Land acquisition and rehabilitation processes maybe the most vexing constraints in the Metro Railproject. Leading textile shops and jewelleries whichstand on the proposed route of the project face thechallenge of demolition and even the North overbridgeshould be reconstructed. Protests by merchants and

the public have already started in this regard. Thiswill probably pose problems for the smooth execu-tion of the project in the stipulated time.

Kochi is an important tourist destination in thestate with its ancient monuments in Fort Kochi andMattanchery and water-related tourism spots attract-ing large numbers of visitors. Though a few passen-ger boats under KSINC operate its service to variousislands, there is an increasing demand for more boatsfrom the increasing number of tourists and passen-gers. Waterways can to a great extent meet thisdemand.

in metropolitan cities like Delhi andKolkata. Kochi is a small city with nar-row roads and traditional buildings. In-deed a Metro Rail project may help toreduce the plight of the commuters if itis completed in stipulated time by over-coming all kinds of hindrances.

According to many, an alternativetransport mode through water is themost feasible for Kochi as the city isblessed with a network of canals,backwaters and rivers in and aroundit, they point out. This will decongestthe roads and provide an environmen-tal-friendly voyage. It is in this contextthat even though the city is all set to

welcome the Metro Rail, a Metro Wa-terway has also come up as a topic ofdiscussion.

The advantages of a Metro Water-way include potentiality, low cost, eco-friendliness, practically no land acqui-sition and consequently no rehabilita-tion problems and tourism attraction.Since no government has so far both-ered to look into the feasibility of aninland water transport system even fora city like Kochi surrounded by wateron three sides, experts exude confi-dence that the city can benefit fromthis venture.

Rear Admiral B R Menon, former

Chairman, Kerala Shipping and InlandNavigation Corporation (KSINC), formerChairman, Goa Shipyard and CMD,Telk Angamaly who is a pioneer in thesector constantly making efforts toconvince the authorities concerned ofthe feasibility of a water transport sys-tem, had initiated many steps to openwaterways throughout the state whilehe was in charge of the corporation.

NATPAC had made a comprehen-sive study of the feasibility of emerg-ing waterways in the entire state withthe assistance of Rear Adm Menon.The study clearly shows that the state

To page 9

The advantages of aMetro Waterway in-clude potentiality, lowcost, eco-friendliness,practically no land ac-quisition and conse-quently no rehabilita-tion problems andtourism attraction.Since no governmenthas so far bothered tolook into the feasibilityof an inland watertransport system evenfor a city like Kochisurrounded by wateron three sides, expertsexude confidence thatthe city can benefitfrom this venture.


8

Dr Ajith Kumar.Former Secretary,KCA

Kochi Tuskers Kerala, the dream exclusiveIPL team for Kerala, breathed its last recentlyafter the Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI)terminated it for breaching the agreement withit. The BCCI decision has caused protests fromfrustrated cricket lovers and development enthu-siasts all over the state.

What happened to our IPL teamand what led to its premature expiryare the questions fans, cricket fol-lowers and the common people areasking. Does the one-season-longIPL team deserve an end like this?Can we dismiss a possible con-spiracy to quash an emerging Kerala-based team considering the Gujarat-based lobbying before the formationof Kochi Tuskers? As the majorstakeholders belong to Gujarat, strong specu-lation is rife about a possible plot having beenhatched between the team management and theGujarat lobby.

Cricket experts do not rule out such a pos-sibility. Besides, they say a re-formation of Tusk-ers in a new name and new address in Gujarat

problems such as ownership, home ground, titleof the team and spat with Kochi Corporation.As major stakeholders belonged to Gujarat, ef-forts were made to settle Ahmedabad as thehome ground for the team. IPL founder Lalit Modiand former Union Minister Sasi Tharoor had

come face to face on the issue whicheventually led to the removal of both ofthem from their posts. Lack of specta-tors and the team management’s con-frontation with the civic body were theother reasons for the tragedy.

A cold war between the KCA andthe Tuskers franchisee was perhaps thereason for the failure of the last IPL sea-son in Kochi. The two agencies had thenblamed each other for all ills like lackof spectators and financial problems

that occurred during the season. “The failure ofIPL matches in Kochi was the result of lack ofcooperation between the franchisee and KCA,which also led to the recent disastrous termina-tion of Tuskers” says Dr Ajith Kumar.

Moreover, the indifferent attitude of KCA andthe franchisee had been widely criticized since

the starting of matches in Kerala. “Thefranchisee’s and KCA’s unprofessional mem-bers’ lack of experience in successfully con-ducting an event resulted in the season endingin heavy loss. Had the franchisee used an eventmanagement firm, it would have been a suc-cess.” Says Dr Ajith Kumar.

It is clear that either the franchisee or KCAdidn’t make any effort to pay the bank guaran-tee for the next season as they had no interestin the team. That the owners of the team failedto get a verdict in favour of their claim clearlyshows that their claim was irrational.

Under the terms of the agreement, the fran-chisee has to submit a bank guarantee everyyear that covers the fee payable to the BCCI.The 2010-founded team was bought for Rs 1,550crore and the consortium has to pay a bankguarantee of Rs 156 crore every year till2020. The consortium that owns Kochi is re-ported to have defaulted on an annual paymentof Rs 156 crore as the bank guarantee. In April2010, the BCCI’s working committee had re-jected demands from Kochi and Pune Warriorsfor a reduction in their franchisee fee.

to premature death?

Gujarat lobbyingstrangles Tuskers

What led to the team’s removal from the IPL?Was the franchisee alone responsible?

Unprofessional and indifferent attitude bythe franchisee was the main reason for thetermination. The BCCI decision came onlyafter the franchisee failed to pay the bankguarantee in time. Unlike some other teams,the franchisee comprises many individualsfrom different areas. This caused lack of co-ordination and professionalism.

The BCCI says the franchisee failedto pay the bank guarantee, while theteam owners say they have to get Rs14 crore from the BCCI. What is thetruth?

As bank guarantee, every team has to pay Rs153 crore every year. So the franchisee of Kochi

Tuskers needs to pay the amount in time. Like-wise, the franchisee deserves the amount ithas claimed as central revenue.Is there any possibility of a new teamcoming from the new franchiseebased in any other state?

Considering the failure in payment by thesame franchisee, the BCCI may probably re-ject any such bid.Will a new team come instead of KochiTuskers or will matches with the cur-rent nine teams be conducted?

A decision in this regard will be taken only at themeeting of the BCCI.

T C Mathew(Secretary,

Kerala CricketAssociation)

points to the possibility ofpowerful lobbying andnepotism behind the‘death’. “We can’t blamethe BCCI for its decisionto scrap Tuskers as it hadalready been given severalchances to pay the bankguarantee. Nothing otherthan an indifferent attitudeby the franchisee led tothis disastrous end,” saysDr N Ajith Kumar, formerSecretary, Kerala CricketAssociation (KCA). Beforethe auction for new IPLteams, a Gujarat-basedlobby had allegedly triedto hinder the formation ofKochi Tuskers. KochiTuskers, since its incep-tion, had faced a series of

ISSUES


9

Why waterway projects are delayedWaterway projects have always been ignored

by the authorities for various reasons. While bu-reaucracy is the main culprit, intervention by theroad mafia is also a factor behind the sector re-maining undeveloped. Some critics say cargo move-ment through waterways will adversely affect thepurity of water because of possibleleakages. Rear Admiral B R Menon,however, says that most of the coun-tries use waterways to move cargofrom one place to another consider-ing feasibility as well as safety. Hesuggests special routes for carryinghazardous materials for cargo vesselsthrough water. “Carrying hazardousliquids or other materials through road, rail or air ismore risky than through waterways. That’s why thedeveloped countries use waterways as the feasibleroute to carry those materials,” he says. The indif-ferent attitude by the agencies concerned has beena reason for the sector lagging behind other modesof transportation. No strong demand has been raisedby any group for the setting up of waterways ex-cept by some eminent people. While there is strongsupport from bus and lorry owners for the develop-

ment of highways, no group has yet come to putpressure for developing waterways.

KSINC, a Government agency, has been explor-ing various means for developing waterways since1975. Except tourism-related boat services and Na-tional Waterway 3 (NW3) between Kollam and

Kottappuram, the corporation has not achievedanything. Bureaucracy has always ignored themode.

NW3, though the one and only navigablewaterway in the state, has also been sufferingfrom apathy for a couple of years. The dredgingof this canal has been finished. According tothe final report, NW 3 is likely to be commis-sioned by June 2012.

Rear Adm Menon points to the possibility of morenavigable waterways throughout the state. Thelength of waterways in Kerala is believed to be 600km between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasargod. Thewhole state can be connected through waterwaysif the authorities are ready to explore the possibili-ties fully in a time-bound manner with determina-tion. Large-scale encroachment by people livingnear the canals or backwaters should be stopped.

B R Menon

From page 7

can develop this alternative traffic sys-tem at a comparatively low cost.

“There are five canals in and aroundKochi and a Metro Waterway can bebuilt by developing each,” says RearAdm Menon about the feasibility of thesystem. Edappally Canal (14.45 km),

Thevara-Perandoor Canal (9.8 km),Chilavannor Thodu (11.23 km), ThevaraCanal (1.41 km) and Market Canal(0.66 km) are the five canals identifiedfor development for water transport inthe city alone. If Kochi Metro Railproject needs Rs 4,500 crore for itscompletion, the NATPAC report reveals

that the waterway project will need amere Rs 160 crore. “Edappally Canalis considered to be the major canalamong the five because it is more ac-cessible, can be developed in the firstphase through the public-private par-ticipation (PPP) mode and it is finan-cially viable,” Rear Adm Menon says.

This project’s estimated cost is Rs4,018.64 lakh and its construction canbe completed in one year.

According to Rear Adm Menon, thewaterway projects on the five canalsin the city can become an alternativetransport mode both for passengersand cargo shifting. He says thatEdappally, Thevara-Perandoor andChilavannor canals are the three ma-jor canals in Kochi city aligned in thenorth-south direction, cutting acrossthe heart of the city. Edappally Canalprovides an easy link between the twoindustrial hubs of Kochi—Udyogamandal and Ambalamugal. Im-proving this canal will facilitate econo-mizing the transportation cost of cargomovement between these two hubs.The development of Thevara Canal willreduce the navigable distance betweenKundannur and Venduruthy backwa-ters. The Market Canal is passingthrough Broadway and Market Road,the commercial hub of the city. If devel-oped, the canal will prove a good alter-native for diversion of goods, therebydecongesting the main roads leadingto the market area. Marine Drive at thestarting point of the canal is one of themain tourist destinations. Thus, thedevelopment of all these canals willaccelerate the development of the cityby giving an option to passengers andcargo movement through waterways inaddition to the augmentation of the tour-ism potential of the city.

The two new franchisees, which madetheir debut in 2011, had sought a 25%waiver on the grounds that the BCCIhad stated in the bidding document thateach team would play 18 leaguematches in a season. The schedulewas later reduced to 14matches per team. DrAjith Kumar says theKochi team wasgiven a discount

of Rs 38crore last year by theBCCI after the team’sofficial request. TheChairman of Kochi,Mukesh Patel, however,denied that the franchiseeowed the board any money. Thefranchisee’s dispute centers on theBCCI’s decision to reduce the num-ber of IPL games from 94 to 74. Soonafter the termination of the contract,the owners of KTK threatened legal ac-tion against the BCCI. Mukesh Patelclaimed that Kochi Tuskers had neverdefaulted payments and that theBCCI would be paying them Rs12-Rs 15 crore in October 2011as part of their central rev-enue.

Earlier Rajasthan Roy-als and Punjab Kings

Eleven, IPL teams, were terminatedfrom the mega event but were reinstatedafter they paid money in the prescribedtime. However, it is learnt that theKerala team had been given an ultima-tum about the payment date which was

eventually ignoredby the team man-

agement. Thefranchise wasbought by aconsortium,compr is ings o m eGujarat-basedbusinessmen,last year for awhopping Rs1,550 crore.According to

rules, franchiseeshave to pay the

amount in 10 equalinstalments.

Who sufferedthe loss?

W i t hthe termi-nation of

Kochi Tusk-ers Kerala, the

state has lost itschance to grow in

many development sec-tors especially in the tourism

sector. The state also lost theopportunity for a possible branding

of its culture and heritage. Besides,Kerala’s emerging cricket players havereceived a terrible setback as they losttheir entry through the IPL. Rify VincentGomez and Prashanth Parameswaranhad been given chances in the matcheslast year and they had proved their tal-ent. Though the BCCI promises thatthe players Kochi Tuskers will be auc-tioned in the coming bid, local playersfrom the state won’t probably have thisprivilege. “The BCCI assurance will cer-tainly help major players like MahelaJayawardana, Muthaya Muraleedaranand S Sreesanth, but many Keralaplayers like Sreekumaran Nair,Abhishek Hegwi and Sony Chruvathoorhave lost a possible debut to the inter-national cricket through IPL,” says DrAjith Kumar.

K L Mohanavarma(Writer and former Editor,

Veekshanam daily, Kochi)

The termination of Kochi Tuskerswon’t be the end of cricket in Kerala.As a fast-growing city, Kochi won’thave any trouble in its overall develop-ment even if IPL doesn’t exist here. As

Kerala players were noted for their per-formance in the last season, they willget berths in other teams. It is alsolikely that one or two teams may cometo Kerala in the coming season. Forthe state, especially Kochi, the losswill be compensated in the very nearfuture.

Vinu Mohan(Actor)

As a cricket fan and a Malayalee, Ifeel the termination of Kochi Tuskersis disappointing. The team came intoexistence to fulfil the dreams of cricketfans in the state.

The team had performed exception-ally well in the last IPL in spite of lackof many international players.

As the major stakeholders belongto other states, the team managementmight not have taken interest to retainKochi Tuskers Kerala for the comingseason.

However, I am optimistic that a newteam for Kerala may come up for thevery next season if some eminent menlike director Priyadarshan and actorMohanlal take the initiative.

"Kochi won’thave anytrouble in itsoverall devel-opment"

"Scrapping isdisappoint-ing, but I’amoptimistic."


10

Poverty lineReality or myth?

The Government hasto accept this fact andredraw all its exagger-ated figures and startbelieving that India be-longs not only to theelite few but also tothe majority of the un-derprivileged. Onlythen will all theseachievements thathave been acquired inthe economic fieldbear fruit.

By Dr N Ajith Kumar Ever since the Planning Commis-sion gave a submission in the SupremeCourt about the country’s ‘poverty line’,a very hot debate has emanated all overthe country related to its pros and cons.The commission’s submission was thatany person earning less than Rs 26 aday in the rural areas and Rs 32 in theurban areas alone could be consideredto be below the poverty line. This virtu-ally opened a Pandora’s box and the verycredibility of one of the leading econo-mists of India, Dr M S Ahluwalia, theDeputy Chairman of the Planning Com-mission, was questioned. Politicians inthe opposition parties screamed for hisblood and even Congress ministers ex-pressed their displeasure though not insuch strong terms. A national debate en-sued and the commission beat a hastyretreat soon by stating that it had de-pended exclusively on the ‘provisional’reports of the National Sample SurveyOrganization and they were subject tocorrection and change. Despite the hul-labaloo, this seems a very good issue tobe discussed in the present context.

Poverty is social phenomenon wherea section of the population is unable tohave sufficient money to fulfil the neces-sities of life. The concept of ‘poverty line’has always been looked upon as a goodmeans to measure the extent of povertyin a country. It was the first President ofthe World Bank, Sir Boyd Orr, who

coined this term. He used two measuresto determine poverty—daily income of anindividual and the calories consumed perday. The interesting fact is the lattermeasure which saw the light of day in1993 in India and serves as the criterioneven now. The expert group of the Plan-ning Commission in its report submittedin July 1993 recommended that any per-son who consumedless than 2,400 calo-ries in his daily in-take of food in the ru-ral areas and 2,100calories in the urbanareas is deemed tobe below the povertyline. The PlanningCommission ac-cepted this criterionand according to itsrecommendationsthis calorie con-sumption pattern wasextended to all thestates of India.

October 16 is cel-ebrated all over the globe as ‘World FoodDay’. Figures released about India arequite flattering. It is estimated that by2015 only 5.3 crore people in India willbe there who will have a daily income of

less than $1.25, the figure given bythe United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) as the incomeindicating poverty line worldwide. Atthe rate at which India is develop-ing, by 2020 there will only be 2.6crore who can be put in the categoryof below the poverty line. Anotherparadoxical statistic which is beingprojected by several economists jus-tifying the decision of the PlanningCommission runs along the follow-ing lines: Rs 32 per person in theurban areas means that for a familyof 5 it is Rs 160 per day per house-hold. The corresponding sum in therural areas is Rs 130 per day perhousehold. On a monthly basis it isRs 4,800 for an urban household andRs 3,900 for the rural areas. But aglaring omission in this calculationis that it is solely dependent on con-sumption expenditure and does notinclude provision for education andhealth facilities. Worldwide povertyline calculation is based on the sum-mation of food, education andhealth. Small wonder the US pov-erty line is estimated at $130 perday and the US has reported that4.68 crore are below it.

There is another side to this veryamusing picture. The UNDP has reportedthat the per capita income of India for2010-11 is Rs 55,462. Goa, Delhi andHaryana have reported a per capita in-come exceeding Rs 1 lakh. Kerala is oneof the nine states with a per capita in-come exceeding the national average atRs 59,000. In terms of GDP India has

the fourth largest GDPat $1.01 trillion. All overthe world India is beinglooked upon as a vi-brant nation. A refer-ence was made in therecent G-20 summit re-lating to the role of In-dia, Brazil and China inhelping the worldeconomy to grow. Thehuge consumer base ofIndia cannot just be ig-nored and it is the poorwho are willing to spendmore than the rich. It isalso reported that thereare at least 40 crore

Indians who are well off and when thepopulation of the third most populatedcountry in the world, the US, is only 30crore, India’s potential to become a worldleader is imminent. It is in this contextthat reformers feel that the prestige ofthe nation will be at stake if there is toomuch discussion related to poverty inIndia. Small wonder they are trying tounderplay the poverty issue and projectthe fact that the number of poor is muchfewer than what is projected from certaincorners.

So do we conclude that the povertyline is a myth? Certainly not. At the cur-rent inflation rate of 9.72% (September2011 figures) the purchasing power ofmoney is on the decrease. In the nameof food security rice and other essentialsare being supplied at highly subsidizedrates. But poverty levels have by nomeans diminished. The Government con-cedes that nearly 36 crore people aredependent on the public distribution sys-tem. If the figures given by state govern-ments are any indication this figure goesabove the 40-crore mark. At least 30crore are outside the purview of the mar-ket and this makes it a total of 70 crore.The Government has to accept this factand redraw all its exaggerated figures andstart believing that India belongs not onlyto the elite few but also to the majority ofthe underprivileged. Only then will allthese achievements that have been ac-quired in the economic field bear fruit.

ISSUES

Dr M S Ahluwalia


11

Tenancy ActBid to balance conflicting interests

The rental units ownedby the Central or stategovernments, local au-thorities, public sectorundertakings, religiousand charitable institu-tions specified by thestate government,Wakfs registered un-der the Wakf Act andPublic Trusts regis-tered under the PublicTrust Act are exemptedfrom the purview of theproposed Model Ten-ancy Act for obviousreasons. Likewise, therental units owned bya company, universityor organization andgiven on rent to its em-ployees as part of ser-vice contracts are alsoexempted.

By Bobby JohnPulickaparambil

It is widely agreed that the rent con-trol or tenancy laws in India are tilted infavour of the tenants. The lawmakers ofthose old statutes in their wisdom feltthe need for giving protection to the ten-ants even at the expense of sacrificingthe valuable rights of the building ownerswho often invested their money, time andenergy for constructing the buildings. Theexistence of a controlled economyand socialist ide-

ology which pre-vailed at that time might have influ-

enced the wise men to think so. How-ever, the inadequacies in the legislationcaused serious repercussions in the field.The people tend to resort to extra-legalremedies in the absence of an efficaciousand speedy remedial mechanism in thestatute. The building owners on their parttried to counter the imbalance of the leg-islation by collecting hefty amounts assecurity deposit. This led to a situationthat the needy found it difficult to get abuilding on lease without spending a hugeamount as security deposit. Later, thecourts appreciating the ground reality,strived to mitigate the imbalance in therent control/tenancy legislation by judi-cial pronouncements, which granted con-siderable relief to the building owner.

According to a recent study, the esti-mated shortage of houses in India is 25-30 million. This wide gulf between thedemand and supply of housing will havea negative impact on the economicgrowth of the country. Availability of suffi-cient rental space is essential to smootheconomic growth. Therefore, public policydemands a change in law to encouragethe creation of more housing facilites.Rent control is a state subject under theConstitution and, hence, it is for the statelegislatures to pass appropriate changesin the existing laws. Yet, the Union Hous-

ing Ministry prepared a Model Residen-tial Tenancy Act. It is expected that thestate governments will pass appropriatelegislation in their states in tune with thismodel Act.

The rental units owned by the Centralor State governments, local authorities,public sector undertakings, religious andchari- table institutions

specified by the stategovernment, Wakfsregistered under theWakf Act and Pub-lic Trusts registeredunder the PublicTrust Act are ex-empted from thepurview of the pro-posed bill for ob-vious reasons.Likewise, therental unitsowned by acompany, uni-versity or orga-nization and

given on rent to itsemployees as part of service con-

tracts are exempted from the Act.A rental unit is defined in the Act as a

unit in a building or part of a building in-cluding land appurtenant thereto, rentedor available for rent for residential use andoccupancy together with all housing ser-vices connected with the use and occu-pancy of such unit but does not includehotel, hostel, a boarding house, touristhomes or guest houses. The Act stipu-lates that every tenancy agreement shallbe in writing and in the prescribed for-mat. It should be either registered or no-tarized within three months. The Act saystwo copies of the tenancy agreementshould be made in original, one each forthe landlord and the tenant. In case ofany changes in the terms of the tenancyagreement, they will be incorporated ina new agreement, which shall be regis-tered or notarized as prescribed within30 days of the changes having occurred.In case of joint tenants, the tenancyagreement may be entered into with allthe tenants jointly or with each tenantseparately. In case of joint tenancy agree-ment all tenants will sign it and receive acopy of it. In case of unregistered exist-ing tenancies, the landlord and the ten-ant shall record terms of tenancy as sub-sisting on the date of commencement ofthis Act and get it registered or notarizedwithin six months from the commence-ment of the Act.

The proposed bill says once the Actcomes into force, all tenancy agreementsshall be for a period as agreed betweenthe landlord and the tenant and as notedin the agreement. The tenant may ap-proach the landlord for renewal or exten-sion of the tenancy not less than twomonths prior to the end of the tenancyperiod and if agreeable to the landlord,may enter into a new tenancy agreementwith the landlord. If tenancy for a fixedterm ends and has not been renewed orthe premises have not been vacated bythe tenant at the end of such tenancy,the tenancy shall be deemed to be re-newed on a month-to-month basis on thesame terms and conditions as were inthe expired agreement subject to anychanges that may be made in the rentcharged.

Every tenant shall pay rent and othercharges within the stipulated period asin the agreement or in the absence ofsuch stipulation by the tenth day of nextmonth, failing which he will be liable forinterest also. In the event of non-accep-tance of rent and other charges by anymode of payment by the landlord, thetenant may deposit rent and othercharges with the Rent Tribunal. The Actdeals with the question of inheritabilityof tenancies. In case of existing tenancy,in the event of death of the tenant, theright of tenancy shall devolve to his suc-cessors in the following order: spouse–children–parents–daughter-law being thewidow of predeceased son.

The Act contemplates that a landlordcan terminate tenancy by giving a threemonths’ notice if the landlord bona fiderequires the building for residential oc-cupation by him, spouse, child or par-ent. Likewise, the landlord can exercisethis power if he requires the rental unitfor repair, renovation, conversion or demo-lition. Further, the landlord can terminatetenancy by giving 15 days’ notice if thetenant:a) has not paid rent for two months

consecutively;b) has sublet the premises without per

mission of the landlord;c) caused substantial damage to the

rental units;d) caused nuisance or annoyance to the

neighbours;e) used the premises for illegal or im

moral purposes;f) violated any condition set in the ten

ancy agreement. A landlord is entitled to get a com-

pensation of double the monthly

ISSUES

To page 13


12

Waste management:

By K Vijayachandran

Waste management:Unless an apex organization with minimal expertise is created,at the state level, for providing professional support to thelocal bodies in the disposal of municipal wastes, it will beimpossible to manage the problem. Such an organizationhas to help the corporations and municipalities to build uptheir own public engineering departments, to be directlyin charge of waste handling in their respective territories,as in the good old days.

Waste and waste managementhave turned out to be a serious prob-lem for Kerala. There is waste every-where: we produce much more thanwhat we are equipped to handle anddispose of. The basic reason for themismatch is the rapid increase in pri-vate consumption on the one hand andthe deterioration of infrastructure on theother due to the planned withdrawal ofthe public sector. Programmes for de-veloping infrastructure through publicprivate participation (PPP) and foreigninvestments have failed and the peopleare paying a heavy price for this mis-adventure.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy re-cently held a high-level meeting on theproblem of municipal wastes as partof his government’s 100-dayprogramme. We have been hearing, allthese years, about the high-tech wastedisposal programmes implemented bythe four corporations and numerousother municipalities. But the reports onthe review meeting by the Chief Minis-ter indicate that the bureaucrats andthe usual peddlers of technologycheated the people.

There were all sorts of promises inthe past for making the wastes disap-pear leading to generation of power andlighting up streetlights, plastic recyclingand resurfacing of roads and supply oforganic manure and fertilizers to thefarming communities etc. But nothingmuch has really happened and largesums were wasted or swindled throughthe PPP route, and even the bestamong the auditing teams of the LocalFund Audit or C&AG are not in a posi-tion to fix the responsibility for failureson anybody. The only grace point isthat the land procured for these scan-dalous projects has greatly appreci-ated in value over the years, and theywill be registering big cash gains onliquidation.

Technology talk is a very commontechnique for fooling the gullible andswindling of public money. Handlingand disposing of municipal wastes does

ISSUES12

not call for any high technologies. Inthe good old days even septic tanktechnology was not available for pro-cessing and disposing of human ex-creta. Municipalities used to have pub-lic health engineering departments re-sponsible for the collection and dis-posal of wastes. Scavengers andsweepers used to work under the su-pervisors and engineers of this depart-ment, and public health engineering isan honourable profession in developedcountries even today.

True, public health engineering de-partments, in those countries, usemore machines than men and havetaken to better technologies. However,public health engineering departmentshave mostly disappeared from our mu-nicipalities along with the scavenging

and sweeping communities. The ques-tion how and who will keep the townsclean remains mostly unanswered. Inthe good old days, this was the pri-mary responsibility of civic bodies andlocal governments. Media discoursesand public debates on technologicalchoices have helped them to evadethese fundamental civic responsibili-ties. The review meeting by the ChiefMinister has only reinforced this trend.

There are three basic approachesto disposing of municipal wastes, andthese are well known. The first is tobury them deep, the second to simplyburn it off and the third to segregate itinto compostable and non-compostable components and thentreat the two parts separately for mak-ing organic manure or for burning and

recycling. The third route was thefavourite choice with most municipali-ties and corporations. The local gov-ernment institutions hardly had any ex-pertise for evaluating the process tech-nologies offered by outside consultingfirms and contractors. Neither had thetechnical departments of the state gov-ernment, like the PWD, Health Depart-ment etc, any expertise. Decisions, inthis regard, were taken by bureaucratsand politicians without any techno-eco-nomic evaluations of the proposals pre-sented by the external agencies.

There was little clarity on the scopeof deliverables, performance specifica-tions, time schedules, guarantees,warranties etc and most parts of thecontracts were not even legally enforce-


13

able. Most of the plants didnot work and many have tobe demolished and machin-ery scrapped. There wereenormous delays in projectimplementation, and politicalleaderships at different levelshave changed in the meanwhile.Many places have reported accidentsand explosions due to unsafe design andoperation, leading to even loss of lives fromcriminal negligence. The bureaucrat-politiciannexus, which is fairly widespread in Kerala, couldeasily contain such mishaps. However, problemshave now worsened and there was a massive wasteof public funds (of much lower scale than the Spec-trum scams) that need to be accounted for.

The Chief Minister has taken his review meetingwhen the overall situation has turned desperate be-cause of prolonged heavy rain all over Kerala. How-ever, even at this moment of crisis, right lessonswere not being learned. According to news reports,the focus of consensus at the CM’s meeting wason the choice of technology. It is now unanimouslydecided that hereafter municipal wastes will beburned and no efforts made for recycling of materi-

als or making of organic manure, as in the past.The old plants and machinery will be mostlyscrapped. Now the focus is on using the waste heatfor generating electric power, which may turn out tobe costly and need to be supported by public policy.It has to be accepted that electricity from wastescannot compete with electricity from conventionalsources and need to be subsidized.

In fact, it was the refusal to subsidize the wastedisposal programmeas a matter of

public policythat had led to the breakdown and scrapping of thecurrent projects. Cost of collection, handling, trans-portation, segregation and processing of waste werequite high compared to the income generated fromwaste products, and subsidies were inevitable tosustain the operations. Even in the burning-off route,most items of costs will remain unchanged, mainlythe cost of collection, transport, handling and seg-regation, unless these operations are extensivelymechanized. This part of the job was left to the ill-paid informal-sector labour, including theKudumbasree for some time, and they were not pro-

integrated approach neededintegrated approach needed13

From page 11

rent for the use and occupation of arental unit by a tenant who does notvacate the unit after his tenancy hasbeen terminated by order, notice oragreement. If the landlord intends tosell the rental unit, he shall give thetenant notice of 14 days before therental unit is to be made available forinspection of proposed buyers.

The proposed Act contemplatesRent Tribunals and Appellate Rent Tri-bunal at appropriate places. Both theRent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tri-bunal shall consist of one person each.The state government in consultationwith the High Court shall appoint thepresiding officers of the Rent Tribunalsas well as Appellate Rent Tribunal. Noperson shall be eligible to be appointed

as Presiding Officer of the Rent Tribu-nal unless he has at least 10 years’practice as an advocate. No personshall be eligible to be appointed asPresiding Officer of the Appellate RentTribunal unless he is a member of thestate’s higher judicial service having notless than 15 years’ experience assuch. The landlord or tenant may filepetitions before the Rent Tribunal. TheRent Tribunal on application by thelandlord or tenant will fix or revise rentand other charges payable by the ten-ant. The Rent Tribunal and AppellateRent Tribunals are not bound to followstrict rules of procedure as laid downin the Civil Procedure Code, but shallbe guided by principles of natural jus-tice. From every final order of the RentTribunal an appeal shall lie to the Ap-

pellate Rent Tribunal within 30 daysfrom the date of order. Such appeal shallbe disposed of within 120 days fromthe date of service of notice of appealon the respondent. The Appellate RentTribunal may confirm, vary, set asideor modify the order of the Rent Tribu-nal .It can also remand the case forfresh disposal. The Act says no civilcourt shall entertain any suit or pro-ceeding on any matter over which therent tribunal has jurisdiction. Thus, thedraft bill, once implemented, will reducethe workload of the ordinary civil courtat one hand and at the same time ex-pedite the disposal of rent related dis-putes by constituting special tribunalsfor that purpose.

The new Act evoked mixed re-sponses. The provision for exempting

religious and charitable institutions,public trusts etc invited criticism fromdifferent corners for lack of clarity. It ispointed out that such ambiguous pro-visions may cause misuse of the ex-emption clause and result in unendinglegal battles. Similarly the provisionsgranting vast powers to the landlord forexercising the option of termination oftenancy raised many eyebrows. Theprovision for termination of tenancy forcausing nuisance or annoyance to theneighbours is prone to misuse by thegreedy landlord. It is pointed out thatthe Act in this aspect is tilted highly infavour of the landlord. Anyhow, it appearsthat the proposed bill is an attempt tobalance the interest of building ownersand potential tenants and also to mod-ernize our Rent Control Laws. Thus far,it is a welcome initiative.

vided with proper tools and safety gadgetsneeded for performing a quality job. They werethe weakest link in the system and the real causefor its inevitable breakdown.

The experts’ team that met under the CM’sinitiative has, it appears, failed to take a whole-some integrated approach to the problem of ur-ban wastes. And, unless an apex organizationwith minimal expertise is created, at the state

level, for providing professional support to thelocal bodies in the disposal of mu-

nicipal wastes, it will beimpossible to man-

age the problem.

Such an organi-zation has to help

the corporations andmunicipalities to build up

their own public engi-neering departments,to be directly in charge

of waste handling intheir respective territories,

as in the good old days.

That sort of extensive programme for capac-ity building is the need of the hour. All talk aboutsolving the problems through the PPP route ismere humbug, if we judge it based on the expe-rience of other countries, developed as well asdeveloping.

Now the focus is on using thewaste heat for generatingelectric power, which mayturn out to be costly andneed to be supported by pub-lic policy. It has to be ac-cepted that electricity fromwastes cannot compete withelectricity from conven-tional sources andneed to be subsi-dized.

New Act evokes mixed responses


14

It was in February 2010 that CitiesDevelopment Initiatives for Asia (CDIA)had sent a team of its consultants,headed by Mr Peter Turner, to find vi-able solutions to the transport and al-lied challenges Kochi faces.

CAFE means Clean, Affordable,Fast and Efficient. The details of theircooperation were:

Pre-feasibility study (PFS) in ur-ban transport

Assistance for tie-ups with poten-tial financiers and

Assistance to the City Corporationto plan any institutional strengtheningrelated to project programming andimplementation.

There was promise of $3,87,000(Rs 1.93 crore) for meeting preliminaryexpenses. Kochi and Rajkot were theonly cities selected from India.

There has never been a dearth ofsimilar studies here. Previ-ous ones made byNATPAK, RITES etc havebeen lying in the shelves ofGreater Cochin Develop-ment Authority (GCDA) andthe Cochin Corporation. Dis-trict Collector Beena,Mayor Mercy Williams andNodal Officer T K Jose ex-pressed satisfaction overthe way the pre-feasibilitystudy of the team pro-gressed fast at that time.Its methodology in formulat-ing consensus by active in-teractions with all stake-holders concerned wasalso highly appreciated.

CDIA is a regional initia-tive established in 2007 bythe Asian Development Bank (ADB) andthe Government of Germany, with addi-tional core funding support of the Gov-ernments of Sweden, Austria and Spainand the Shanghai Municipal Govern-ment. It provides assistance to medium-sized Asian cities to bridge the gapbetween their development plans andthe implementation of their infrastruc-ture investments. CDIA uses a de-mand-driven approach to support theidentification and development of urbaninvestment projects in the framework ofexisting city development plans that em-phasize environmental sustainability,pro-poor development, good governanceand climate change.

The team organized two workshops,which were attended by 51 communityleaders from the Government and the

private sector. Government agencies in-cluded the Cochin Corporation, the De-partment of Local Self-Government(Collectorate), the Roads and BridgesCorporation, the Department of Trans-port, GCDA, the Pollution ControlBoard, RDI, Gosree Islands Develop-ment Authority, Kerala Sustainable Ur-ban Development Project (KSUDP),corporation councillors, police officers,consultants, architects, business lead-ers, chambers of commerce and manynongovernmental organizations’ repre-sentatives. The workshop sought adviceon identifying and prioritizing key urbantransport projects in various locationsof the city to achieve the vision forCAFÉ Transport.

The projects proposed and the pri-orities are: intermodal interchanges, pe-destrian overbridges, pedestrian pre-cincts, road and rail overbridges, ferries,buses, traffic engineering, bus priority,

park and pay stations, roads, city busstop upgrades and traffic management.

There was consensus on creatingan integrated transport system connect-ing water, road and rail transport. (Witha single ticket one can travel by ferry,road and rail).

Detailed proposals were there for cre-ating park-and-pay stations, from wherepeople can take public transport suit-ing different pockets, safe pedestrianpathways, exclusive tracks for cyclists(pollution-free healthy transport system),correcting all the gutters and drainingall water into wide canals from wherewaste water can be pumped into thesea. Kochi has got a natural network ofcanals conducive to an efficient andcost-effective water transport system.The canals have to be cleaned and

broadened wherever necessary. Exist-ing ferries have to be expanded andmodernized to take care of larger traf-fic. Construction of toilets of global stan-dards also found a place in the PFS.

Regarding project management andimplementation, it was decided to es-tablish an autonomous body on themodel of the Cochin International Air-port Authority Limited (CIAL).

The consultants submitted their re-port in May 2010. Then there was theelection and a new Corporation Coun-cil took charge. The report went under-ground. During the ward committeemeetings this author had brought it tothe attention of the councillors in writ-ing that such an excellent report sopainstakingly prepared should not meetwith the same fate as the previous re-ports of RITES, NATPAK. KITCO andothers.

A recent media report revealed thatthe PFS has come to light andthat with some modificationsthe corporation is trying toimplement the project. Thepresent Chairman of the Stand-ing Council for Development ofthe corporation, Mr K J Sohan(former Mayor) was an activeparticipant in the deliberationson the study report. When con-tacted, he said that the corpo-ration is trying to get Govern-ment sanction for formation ofa Special Purpose Vehicle(SPV) on the model of CIAL.But he is personally not infavour of the Metro Rail project.Let us hope that it is not goingto affect the rail project as theGovernment is already commit-

ted to it and much headway has alreadybeen made.

If the Government is serious aboutimplementing any schemes for upgrad-ing the transport system in the city intune with the gigantic developments inthe pipeline, it has to go ahead with thisproject wholeheartedly. There is noneed to waste time and money in anymore studies and reports.

Let’s hope that the present Gov-ernment and the Corporation Councilwill rise up to the realities and withoutmixing party politics at least in thisproject cooperate to see that our cityremains a livable one.

(The author is a former General Man-ager, Kerala SIDCO, and the Chief Con-sultant, Industrial Consultancy Ser-vices, Kochi)

CAFE transport solutions for KochiAn excellent project in cold storage?

By G Rama Mohanan Nair

If the Governmentis serious aboutimplementing anyschemes for up-grading the trans-port system in thecity in tune withthe gigantic devel-opments in thepipeline, it has togo ahead with thisproject whole-heartedly. There isno need to wastetime and money inany more studiesand reports.

PROJECTS


15

The burgeoning crisis in

“Water, water everywhere,nor any drop to drink” adopted from,Rime of the Ancient Mariner by thepoet Samuel Taylor Coleridge talksabout the experiences of a marinerwho returned from a long sea voy-age. The ship accidently reachesAntarctica where they were trappedwith no water but plenty of it in adifferent form, Ice!

The second largest country in theworld with a population of 120 croreis going through a similar state onthe employment situation. Let uslook at some real-life situations. Ihave been trying to get a carpenterto fix a door at my home for abouttwo months without success. At thesame time some of our clients inthe high technology industry grumbleas they are not getting good R & Dresource in design and engineering.The list can be gruellingly long. Withsuch a huge population why is itthat we are not able to get peopleto work? Are we experiencing ‘theparadox of plenty’?

There seems to be more buyersfor few supplies. The carpenter’s isnot a sophisticated job unlike the R& D resource, but we end up withsimilar concern. The carpenter be-longs to the bottom level blue-collarworkforce; let us call it the bottomof the pyramid resource. On theother hand R & D resource belongsto the top portion of the pyramid ofthe total workforce pyramid. Theresource availability at the bottomof the pyramid should be more, es-pecially in a country like India evenwith current effective literacy at74.04% up by 9.2% from last cen-sus. The irony of it is that if Ramcan write his three-letter name, heis considered to be effectively liter-ate. Literacy is not a guarantee foremployment; it merely pushes himup the value chain. If Ram appliesfor even a carpenter’s job, thechances are that he won’t get it,

because he does not have theknowledge and employable skills fora carpenter. This ‘education-knowl-edge-skill’ mismatch with jobs isone of the primary reasons for per-ceived shortage of employees in In-dia.

Sixty years ago we needed en-gineers as we just started buildingour infrastructure, factories etc. Adecade later the need started for fi-nance and commerce professionalsto build banks and finan-cial institutions. Once weopened up our economythe global opportunitiesand demand for new busi-nesses made way for ahost of new educationalfields like computer sci-ence, biotechnology andMBA. However, this alsoresulted in a majority ofstudents migrating tothese high-demand areas,ignoring the market de-mand for other jobs. Mostof the students ended up in theseeducational courses even withoutany basic interest in or passion forthem. Unlike in the developed coun-tries we depended more on the per-centages of our students’ scores intheir studies than in the developmentof high qualities of application andinnovation. All this gravitated to-wards ‘quickfix’ courses selling onimmediate jobs.

For easy understanding of thesituation let us create two indepen-dent blocks, one for job seekers andthe other for the employers. In thejob seekers’ block you start with thebottom consisting of manpower withbasic education or no education orskills, say the factory workers. The‘middle portion’ consists of semi-skilled, educated manpower. The‘top’ consists of people with supe-rior education, skills and experi-ence.

When the job seekers at thebottom block match the bottom ofthe employers’ block, it is the per-fect start, but practically it is notquite so. They mismatch, and di-verge to form irrationally moving pat-terns. When we experience thesekinds of patterns, there could becrunches in each segment. Butsince the world is moving very fastthis kind of behaviour is normal. Infact it is not this pattern which is

the problem, it is the incapability ofbuilding the necessary skills andknow-how to justify it. This is verysimilar to Ram getting the job of acarpenter without receiving criticalskills for the job. Temporarily em-ployed, with consequences of nooutput and hence back to the jobmarket! It is also analogous whenRam tries to apply for any job whichis not equal to his job worthiness.The solution hence should be peopletrying to apply for jobs in which theyare qualified to perform and employ-ers only hiring the job matching jobseekers. The real solution shouldcome as future-covered educationpolicies, creating future markets forsuch education and skills as we canlearn from the Chinese experience.

In the The Chinese situation,most of the population belong tomanufacturing. First they realizedwhere they want to be by end of thecentury, say, to become the world’s

manufacturing hub; and then aneducation policy (or the lack of it!)to create more technically(un)qualified manpower for it! Let usdo a bit more thinking on those lines,if they knew that the world wouldopen up for global trade, and cheapmanufacturing will become easy forthem with very large population, andalso knew how to create a betterimage for a blue-collar worker (sothat people work with pride), put a

policy framework to promote tech-nical education and in the end be-come the world’s largest manufac-turer! Now it looks simple.

We in India still have a problem:there is no change in mindset, ofboth job seekers and employers tocorrect the situation. The solutionis not to create artificial inflation ofthe job-worthy population by meansof effective literacy. It is by calibrat-ing both sections of job seekers andemployers towards a more benefi-cial situation so that both of themwin. We have to start thinking nowas to what to do towards creating abalance between demand and thesupply, which indeed should startfrom grassroots levels, but for im-mediate correction we should startmaking Ram learn, educate andacquire skills and also to carry apositive attitude towards work, withequal respect for any job. Let Ramwin, because if he wins India wins.

I have been trying to get a carpenter to fix a door at myhome for about two months without success. At the sametime some of our clients in the high technology industrygrumble as they are not getting good R & D resource indesign and engineering. The list can be gruellingly long.With such a huge population why is it that we are not ableto get people to work? Are we experiencing ‘the paradoxof plenty’?

HUMAN RESOURCE

By Sundaresh G


16


16

Health insurance portabilityA changing phase

By A Special Correspondent

After mediclaim portability become a reality,the Insurance Regulatory and Development Au-thority (IRDA) is now prepared to introduce no-frills policies in health insurance.

According to IRDA, no-frills products will helpin delivering affordable healthcare to a wider set ofpopulation and change the whole scenario of thesector. Earlier, the Finance Ministry had askedstate-run general insurance companies to launchno-frills policies products targeting India’s poor –

a part of its agenda of taking financial inclusion tothe masses.

A no-frills product will be available at a lowerpremium as it will exclude low-probability dis-eases. It will also impose restrictions on reim-bursements to ensure that hospitals do not over-charge patients under the scheme. The premiumis expected to be 15%-20 % lower that similarother policies.

Even though no-frills products are more ben-eficial to costumers, they also will open a vastmarket to insurance companies.

According to some estimates, there are be-tween 60 crore and 70 crore people in India whodo not have any medical cover. Insurance compa-nies have realised the business potential in thissegment – Rs 70,000 crore by way of premium.

To tap this new potential, at least two insurers arein various stages of launching a basic policy tocover this group. And, more companies are plan-ning to come up with such products.

At the same time, in order to limit underwritinglosses in the health sector, companies are takingsome strong steps. General Insurance Council(GIC) has put a cap on brokerage fee paid to bro-kers on group health insurance policies. Broker-age fee on group policies has been capped at 5% from the prevailing 15%-20% a annually of thepremium. After the cap, the brokerage commis-sion has fallen by 10%-15%. New brokerage ratescame into effect on October 1, 2011.

At present, cap on brokerage is limited to grouppolicies, but GIC is likely to extend it to individualor retail policies shortly. Losses in the group healthinsurance policies have been going up steadily.Group health insurance has been a bleeding port-folio for general insurancecompanies as the claimratio has been as high as150%. Insurance compa-nies have been takingsteps to reduce losses byincreasing the premium under group plan,but the losses continued to remain high.

In the last few years, in order to increasegrowth, companies have been offering huge dis-counts on group policies. But, now, most insur-ers have become very cautious about this portfo-lio as the losses are high.

A circular issued by General Insurance Coun-cil to all general insurance companies says thatintermediary cost should not exceed 5% in groupmedical business and 10% in all other lines ofbusiness such as fire and engineering insurance.The Council has arbitrarily reduced brokerage.Now, the average brokerage is 17.5%-20%. Thisis a significant fall.Portability needs more clarification

Even though portability becamea reality on October 1,2011, confusions remain.This is because theguidelines issued byIRDA are not clear on sev-eral conditions, especiallythose related to no-claim-

bonus and pre-existing diseases.No-claim-bonus allows a policyholder to get

an increased sum insured, usually 5% for aclaims-free year without paying additional pre-mium. Clarity is needed on whether the new in-surer will allow the bonus sum insured, withoutextra premium. Not addressing this issue will en-sure that the new insurer will charge premium onthe bonus sum insured as well. Consequently,the policyholder will lose the real benefit of no-claim bonus.

IRDA has failed to address another major is-sue: the medical conditions developed by the poli-cyholder during the period he was with the previ-ous insurer. The net effect is that the policyholdermay end up with a lot of pain and only some gain.

Companies have not been able to evolve a stan-dard product. There are variations in the policiesacross insurers, and porting to a new policy means

accepting everything it had to offer.

INSURANCE

Clarity is needed onwhether the new insurerwill allow the bonus suminsured, without extrapremium. Not address-ing this issue will ensurethat the new insurer willcharge premium on thebonus sum insured aswell. Consequently, thepolicyholder will lose thereal benefit of no-claimbonus.


17

George NambuserilChairman

Joshy PannarakunnelPresident

Jobinson KottathilGen. Secretary

Joseph ParukanilTreasurer

The World Malayalee Council(WMC) Swiss Province is an organi-zation of Indians from Kerala(Malayalees) living in Switzerland. Itwas inaugurated on July 3, 1995 at thefirst-ever World Convention of Non- resi-dent Malayalees. Its main objective isto provide a non-political forum to bringtogether the widely scattered commu-nity of people of Malayalees/people ofKerala origin and strengthen their com-mon bonds of culture, tradition and wayof life. The charter of the organizationrecognizes the revolutionary transfor-mation taking place at global levels asa result of quantum leaps in technol-ogy. WMC works towards an interna-tional brotherhood of Malayalees/people of Kerala origin to bolster theircultural, artistic and social uniquenessand give resilience and understandingtowards other cultures with which theyhave to co-exist and interact.

WMC has made the promotion ofyoung talent in its Europe Region asone of the key areas of activity. Thecouncil believes that the future rests

with the youth. In order to support theyouth in their quest for excellence andidentity, the province is in the planningstages of its annual signatureprogramme,‘Youth Festival andKeralappiravi Celebrations’, on Novem-ber 5, 2011 at Zurich/Switzerland, that willbring together theyouth of Germany,Austria, the UK, Hun-gary, Italy, Holland,Ireland and Switzer-land. During the event10 reputed businesshouses and imminentbusinessmen who didKerala proud throughtheir entrepreneurialspirit, performance,strategic direction,innovation and per-sonal integrity over 25 years will behonoured. Kerala Finance Minister KM Mani will be present at the cer-emony. Actor Suresh Gopi is also tobe present. Many prominent person-

alities from the fields of culture, artsand politics will also be there. Everyyear the money thus raised has beenused for charity purposes, especiallyfor education of needy students inKerala.

The WMC wasformed in April 1995to networkMalayalees aroundthe world and wasinaugurated on July3, 1995 at the first-ever World Conven-tion of Non-residentMalayalees in NewJersy.

WMC also hasinternational fo-rums. The Youthand Women's Fo-rums have been

formed in all provinces, which havethree-tier structures.

WMC has formed a chamber ofcommerce and has registered it withthe Government of India as Indian

Worldwide Chamber of Commerce.WMC also has initiated several em-ployment projects to empower women.

Women’s Forum: The Women’sForum in Switzerland has been con-stituted with a Provincial Committee.Considering the scattered Malayaleecommunity in various regions of Swit-zerland, it has been decided to havedivisions in Basel, Zurich and Tessin.

Youth Forum: The Youth Forum inSwitzerland has been constituted witha Provincial Committee and is function-ally divided into three geographical di-visions—Basel Division, Zurich Divisionand Tessin Division. WMC Swiss Prov-ince has delegated a parental commit-tee to guide the Youth Forum.

Engineering and TechnologyForum: The World Malayalee Engi-neering & Technology Forum is an in-dependent member organization ofWMC. Membership is open toMalayalees living in Switzerland andworking in the fields of engineering, sci-ence and technology.


17

Mermer Italia forgenuine imported marble

A person who is always obsessedwith the purity of white and seeks trans-parency and trust in business as wellas in personal relations, Mr K V ZakirHussain, the Chairman and ManagingDirector of Mermer Italia, will impressyou when you first meet him. Zakir’sdebut into business starts with the in-heritance of Swadeshi Granite Pvt Ltdfrom his father Avarankutty Haji whofounded the first full-fledged tile unit inMalabar, the Swadeshi Group of Com-panies.

Retaining the legacy of his family,he has elevated the company into aninternational brand.

Now Mermer has factories inThalavadi and Hosur in Tamil Nadu ,Banglore and Jaloor in Rajasthan apartfrom Feroke in Kozhikode. MermerItalia is the only company in Keralawhich imports marble directly fromcountries like Italy, Greece, Turkey andSpain. It also provides its customerswith the facility of getting importedmarble from anywhere in the world ac-cording to their choices,” says Zakir.

But the industry faces challengestoo, says Zakir. “Availability ofgenuine Italian marble importers is abig problem. Now the bulk of the marbleand granite requirements by Keralacome from other states of the country,only a small portion being importedfrom other countries. Some people di-rectly import them. There are certainregulations governing imports like aspecial import licence. The tax is alsohuge,” points out Zakir.

“There is also a tendency amongsome people to bring low-quality prod-ucts and sell them. But Swadeshi is

particular about quality since we im-port the item directly. First-qualitystones are thick and are known for theirdurability, though the price is high. Alot of people get cheated when theybuy marble and granite, not knowingwhether the items come from withinthe country or are im-ported. Consumers areunable to differentiatebetween good and bad.In many cases they areinduced to buy productsof low quality at lowprices.”

What is shocking,says Zakir, is that agentsfrom Kerala are playingthe role of mediators indeceiving customers in big markets likeBangalore. The Government also en-courages illegal activities through itsnew tax norms. As a result, merchantsbring marble and granite from differentstates in the guise of consumers in or-der to evade taxes.

Since its launching, Mermer hasensured that it sells only the best-qual-ity marble. “We are committed to in-creasing the awareness of peopleabout the quality of imported marble,”says Zakir. “According to internationalcriteria, quality marble has to be pol-

ished and must have a thickness of20mm. Genuine Italian marble can bejoined with ease if it cracks. But, un-fortunately, most vendors make avail-able only second-quality products witha thickness of 14mm.” A frequent trav-eller, Zakir has visited many countries,

mainly to gain interna-tional know-how. His en-ergetic nature and histremendous effort hasbrought many laurels tohimself and Swadeshi,like the Krishna MenonSmaraka Award for bestmanagement expert andthe Nehru Peace Foun-dation Award for out-standing contributions inthe field of industry and

commerce. The Rotary Club hashonoured him with the OutstandingPresident Award and the Indian Junior

Chamber with the Kamal Patra Award.Zakir’s wife Niza, who is the daughterof Eastern Group Chairman (Late) ME Meeran, is a master’s degree holderwith ranking from Mahatma GandhiUniversity. She has always been asource of inspiration and strength toher husband. Apart from being his lifepartner she is a Director of MermerItalia Building Products and SwadeshiImports and Exports. She is also aDirector of the Eastern Group of Com-panies, Adimaly.

“I got my initial training at home. It ismy endeavour to keep my legacy andtraditions alive, and one way of doing thatis to teach our children about them,” hesays. He continues his journey to ex-pand the boundaries of success.

The Zakir-Niza couple have threechildren—Aarzoo, Aamiya and Aman.They reside at Swadeshi Bungalow,Feroke.

Supra reigns overpower spectrum

Supra Group, pioneer in the powertechnology, has been a brand namesince its inception in the year 1988under the exuberant leadership of theManaging Director, Mr T J Subhash.It has carved a niche for itself in thefield of power in a short span with itsquality products. Powercontrol equipment, includ-ing Uninterruptible PowerSystems (UPS), Inverters,Servo Stabilizers, ConstantVoltage Transformers andElectronic Stabilizers areproduced under the cel-ebrated banner of Supra.Supra still stands as thelone brand in the market among itscompetitors by supplying its productsof quality and durability. The solarrange of products from LineOn includesSolar Panels, UPS, Inverters, LightingSystems, DC Power Supply, DC-DCConverters, Battery Chargers, SMPSand Energy Saving Systems.

Supra Group had dominated thespectrum quickly after it began opera-

tions 23 years ago by using the higherdemand and lack of competitors. Thegroup has gained considerable experi-ence and deep insights in to powercontrol technology and has emergedas one of the largest and most innova-tive designers and manufactures of

power control products in India.Besides being headquartered inKochi, Supra Group has a stringof independent offices and facili-ties throughout India. The mottoof the company has always beenthe highest level of customer sat-isfaction through quality and reli-ability of its products as well asthe service provided to its cus-

tomers. Now the group is enriched withmillion strong customers includes bothpublic and private sectors. Supra Groupconsists of six companies includingthree manufacturing units--Supra HiTech Electro Equipments (P) Ltd,Powerlink Technologies (P) Ltd,SupraElectronics, LineOn Power Technolo-gies (P) Ltd, Supra Power ResearchCentre and Supratronics(P) Ltd.

T J Subhash

K V Zakir Hussain


18

Passline News Service

Anna Properties, the realty wingof the famed Anna construction group,is building a high-profile superluxury vil-las complex near Lakeshore Hospitalat Panangad, near Kochi. The Rs 22-crore project named Eden Garden pro-vides Western-style posh-villa living,each villa costing Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1.8crore.

The realty sector too had a harrow-ing time when the economy of the coun-try was going through a difficult pacefollowing the recession. Unable to copewith the situation, some left the scenein search of greener pastures. Someothers quit the field in the name of di-versification and a few existing onesput a break to their projects and areleft in the lurch.

Taking the recession time as a chal-lenge Anna Properties ventured into thefield announcing a novel method ofchanging the lifestyle of Malayalis.Many were sceptical about the sectorachieving any growth. But this did notdeter Mr Dileep Jose, Chief ExecutiveOfficer (CEO) of the firm, from goingahead with his project. Customerswarmly welcomed the ‘limited-edition’project with most of the 28 villas in ithaving already been booked. By year-end the villas will be handed over.

The energetic and enthusiastic en-trepreneur Dileep Jose, whose guts andgrit enabled him to climb the steps ofsuccess, entered the real estate sec-tor by a strange quirk of fate. Initially itwas property development that he fo-cused on. Then he moved into construc-tion. Till now four projects, all budgetones, have been completed. It was thedesire to do something different thatmade him think of building high-endvillas. After months of planning he pre-pared the blueprint of Eden Garden,which is spread on a 2.5-acre site. The

project, one would agree, isa world of wonders, adream world. It offers thosewho wish to enjoy every

minute of their life everything—yes, al-most: indoor swimming pool, club-house, gymnasium, playgrounds forchildren and adults, shuttle court, videogame room, CCTV camera, high-endvideo system room, door camera, in-tercom…

For those who crave Western-styleliving, Eden Garden is the place. Thereare strict security and vigilance mea-sures adopted here. “We are select-ing a negative-model marketing sys-tem for the project. It is its drawbacksthat are projected to customers first.Initially customers may be reluctant.Later, thinking of theproud status of liv-ing in such villas,they will becomeeager to own one.This has beenthe experiencewe have had”,says Jose.

As theresidents ofthe villas arepeople who fol-low the sameliving stylesand status, thecompany isable to fulfil themain purpose ofthe project. For fiveyears, occupants arenot allowed to under-take any repair workor alterations eitherinside the villas or onthe frontage. Land-scaping is fully doneby the company. Nofresh plants and alsopets will be allowedin. There is a specialarea meant forclotheslines. To thoseclients who complain

that if there is no freedom to plant evena hibiscus on their own yards afterspending crores of rupees what free-dom they enjoy, the CEO has a clearanswer: “If one plants a jasmine onone’s yard the neighbour may plant ajackfruit sapling on his/hers. Laterwhen the branches of these treesstretch out to or fall on other dwellings,altercations may arise, leading to theproject losing its charm. But alterationscan be effected if the residents’ asso-ciation comes to a consensus.”

The villas are so designed as to suitthe tastes of kids, the youth and theaged. From the entrance the conve-niences offered are strikingly differentfrom those available in other suchprojects. Either side of the 300-foot

road is lined with majestic pavingtiles. And Cuban palms are usedas ornamental trees. The 28-

foot-high Royal and

Cuban farms are imported.Sitting inside, inmates can watch

each movement outside the villasthrough special cameras. It is possibleto watch the outside activities of chil-dren and their talks with people throughthese cameras. From the main en-trance, everything is under the controlof the camera. There is provision forseeing guests from inside the houseand giving the necessary instructionsto let them in. If guests are not to beinvited inside, arrangements can bemade to have talks with them in thelounges. There are also strict arrange-ments for preventing strangers from get-ting inside the complex.

Eden Garden will be active till lateat night. Kids and the aged can as-semble, talk or play during the time.As the electric lights are arranged insuch a way as to flash the beam tothe floors there is no disturbancecaused to those in other villas duringparties etc.

The swimming pool is built in sucha way as the whole family can use itconveniently. There are separate tim-ings for men and women and shallowspaces for children. It will be under-ground cabling for electrical work. Fa-cilities like 24-hour security, guest carparking, utility bill payment, driver’s restroom, caretaker, LPG supply throughpipes, power transformer, solar waterheater etc will be available in the vil-las.

There won’t be walls around andgates for villas. Instead, it will bedwarf iron fencing that will decide theboundaries. In cases where occu-pants go abroad after buying theirvillas, a special team of workerswill be deployed to maintain themand nurse the gardens.

“Another project of AnnaProperties is Queenslands, com-ing up near Amrita Hospital atEdappally. As a builder my as-piration is to build a few qualityhousing projects, projects witha rural touch and backgroundhaving pocket roads, ponds,wells etc’’, reveals Jose.

-Response FeatureDileep Jose Yogyaveedu with wife Suja Dileep, daughterChristeena Dileep and son Emmanuel Dileep.

Dileep Jose


19

World-class swimming pools make waves in KeralaDesjoyaux Pools, the French mul-

tinational company headquartered inFrance, is spearheading a revolutionKerala vis-à-vis branded world-classswimming pools.

Desjoyaux Pools has an enviabletrack record of having built over2,00,000 swimming pools worldwidesince 1966. With 650 branches in 80countries, this French global giant hasthe biggest swimming pool factory inthe world – spread across 40,000square metres.

The world’s leading manufacturer ofhigh-end, customised swimming poolshas been certified by Bureau Veritas,which is considered as the ultimateglobal quality certification.

Desjoyaux pools are built to last,and carry a guaranteed performancefor 10 years.

Desjoyaux Pools has the widestsales and service network throughoutthe world. It is manned by the com-pany-trained professionals with yearsof experience in setting up pools, in-corporating the most advanced tech-nological know-how, which has helpedreduce the time span for the pool con-struction to 10 days. Each componentused in the construction of Desjoyauxswimming pools conforms to impec-cable international quality standards,thereby ensuring hassle- free perfor-mance.

Desjoyaux swimming pools haveunique features such as silent andlower power consumption pumps thatsave on electricity and are high on per-formance. The sophisticated concretecasing technology makes possible anadvanced structure.

Desjoyaux claims one of the mostadvanced filtration unit that is environ-ment-friendly as well as the most so-phisticated and economical systemthat leaves you with a filtration of 6-15microns. It is superior, active and itspermanent casing, along with the mostadvanced liner, gives you trouble-freepool performance.

Desjoyaux pools do not require aseparate pump room. Less piping re-quirements, along with eco-friendly andcompact filtration techniques, give youthe purest water in your swimming pool,lending credence to this global brand’squality assurance.

Desjoyaux Pools operations (mar-keting and service) in Kerala is headedby Regional Manager Jafar Ali, a thor-ough professional, who had an earlierstint with the global giant’s corporateoffice in France and was at the helm ofaffairs of the Desjoyaux operations inPhukhet (Thailand), before moving backto Goa (India) and thereafter assum-ing his present assignment in Kochi(Kerala). He was able to establish theDesjoyaux Pools brand in Kerala in a

leading position as a brand toreckon with within a short timespan of six months.

At present, Desjoyauxhas sales and marketing cen-tres in Thrissur, Malappuram,Kozhikode, Kochi, Kottayam,and it is in the process ofopening centres in Ramanathapuramand Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. Thisunexpected success in sales has beencontributed by the Keralites’ changing

lifestyles of the large numberof NRI Malayalees who aspirefor high living standards.

Jafar Ali candidly says: "Re-quirement for Desjoyaux Poolscomes from far-flung places inMalappuram, Kozhikode,Thrissur and Kottayam. This,

in fact, was beyond our expectations."Desjoyaux has built swimming

pools for leading clients like Hi-LITEBuilders, National Builders, BCG, and

Taj Group of Hotels.A world-class branded Desjoyaux

swimming pool can be installed at alocation of your choice at a modestprice range starting from Rs 5 lakh (de-pending on pool size). It also carriesthe best-in-class after-sales service,fully conforming to its global standards.

For query or estimate preparationfor a Desjoyaux swimming pool, con-tact Jafar Ali, Regional Manager,Desjoyaux Pools, Kochi, Kerala.

Jafar Ali

-Response FeatureOctober 31 - November 30, 2011 PASSLINE

20

Infopark intends to ‘sell’Kerala as an IT brand


The Kochi-based Infopark,which has contributed in a big waytowards state-of-the-art infrastruc-ture development for IT and ITEScompanies in Kerala, will continueto do so, in fact in a bigger way.

‘Athulya’, the last complex in thefirst phase of the development, has

been completed,and the oval-shaped buildinghas already beenrented out for oc-cupation. The sec-ond phase isplanned on 160acres of land andexpected to create

80,000 jobs in eight years. Thework, started according to the can-non designer’s master plan, includesbuildings of 80 lakh sq ft. The firstbuilding of 4 lakh sq ft is expectedto be completed by December 2012.Infopark is looking for co-developersand IT companies to develop their

own campus in the second phase.The companies giants like TCS,

Wipro, Ernst & Young, ACS andCognizant show how well the brandInfopark Kochi has positioned itselfon the global IT map.

The Central budget of 2011-12has anticipated GDP growth of over9%, considering the pace of growthin the sectors like service, manu-facturing and agriculture. Infrastruc-ture development has been given alot of fillip in the budget with an allo-cation of Rs 2,14,000 crore for de-velopment and promotion, and Rs30,000 crore as tax-freeinfrastructural bonds. The budgethas also raised the limit of foreigninstitutional investment (FII) in thereal estate sector to $25 billion from$5 billion. These measures will stepup the private participation in the realestate sector to contribute to the pro-posed growth to $1 trillion during theTwelfth Five-Year Plan.

The spurt in the demand forspace was witnessed in 2010, too,

despite a slowdown in the economy.The supply of the space in the firstquarter of 2011 was 7.07 million sqft, out of which 6 million sq ft wasabsorbed. Bangalore, the hub of thecountry’s IT activity, led transac-tions by absorbing 36% of the sup-ply, followed by Pune, Noida, NewDelhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad andChennai.

The scenario is not different atInfopark Kochi. The demand for built-up space is increasing. Infopark isnot in a position to cater to the built-up space needs according to the de-mand. As a part of the ‘hub andspoke’ model, Infopark is also ex-panding its operations to Korattyand Cherthala. In Koratty 50,000 sqft has been developed so far fore-seeing a special economic zone(SEZ). Cherthala will be an idealdestination for BPO companies be-cause of low cost of operation. Thereare 15 colleges and 10 schoolsin and around Cherthala. Hence,the availability of human resourcewill not be a problem for BPO

companies.According to NASSCOM, the IT

and ITES sectors are poised to growat the rate of 16% to 18% in 2012.In 2010, Kerala’s export earnings inIT amounted to Rs 3,500 crore, outof which Rs 850 crore was Infopark’scontribution. This means thatInfopark has to add more space tocope with the demand. Athulya wasfully taken up even before itscompletion. A lot of enquiries fromthe SME and MSME sectors are inthe way for built-up space. The sec-ond phase is expected to addressthe huge demand.

Mr Gigo Joseph, CEO ofInfopark, makes it clear that as apart of the future plans for the ITsector in Kerala in general andInfopark in particular, he “intends topromote a council to ‘sell’ the stateas a brand to destinations such asAustralia, the United Kingdom andthe United States.” Trade shows androad shows have been planned inthese countries to promote Kerala.

KSFE poised to becomeglobal brand of Keralites


Kerala State Financial Enter-prises (KSFE) has an enviable po-sition among the public sector com-panies in the state. Unlike other pub-lic sector companies, it has beenmaking profit right from its incep-tion and it enjoys the privilege of hav-ing supported the state’s succes-sive governments by meeting theirfinancial needs from time to time fordevelopmental activities. The non-banking finance company (NBFC)also extends its services to the gen-eral public including financiallyweaker sections of society with anumber of financial products apartfrom chitties, which is its core areaof operation. Setting up standardmethods for the chitty business inthe state, it has entered the field ofgold loans, housing finance, per-sonal and vehicle loans, car loans,trade loans and bridge funds –popu-larly known as chitty loans with areasonable and affordable interestrate.

Mr P Rajendran, the new Man-aging Director of KSFE, is a person

with a lot of innovative ideas and plansto take the organization to new heightsand make it a global brandamong non-residentKeralites (NRKs) for safeinvestment. The well-ex-perienced Mr Rajendran isa total professional whojoined KSFE as a SeniorManager and was headingits Northern Region with40 branches. He ex-panded the branch net-work to 60 within a short period. Hisadministrative acumen and thoroughknowledge of branch-related affairssaw him shifted to the Head Office in1995, and he was promoted as Gen-eral Manager Business.

About his priorities and plans, MrRajendran tells PASSLINE: “When I as-sumed charge as GM Business thetotal business was Rs 700 crore andnow it is Rs 12,500 crore. Accordingto our Vision-2015, a road map for2015, we anticipate further growth inthe business to the tune of Rs 24,000crore.” KSFE, he says, was estab-lished with certain objectives, the mostimportant being to provide a reliable and

alternative platform for the common in-vestor community of the state with ac-

cessibility to funds at reason-able interest for their financialneeds. During the budgetsession, Finance Minister KM Mani announced up to Rs1 lakh as education loan forthe weaker sections of soci-ety at 12%, out of which 4%would be subsidized by theGovernment, the net rate be-ing 8%.

KSFE, says Mr Rajendran, is in theforefront in different areas. “Figuresalone will reveal the facts. As an orga-nization and a PSU it is number one inthe state. We made the chitty busi-ness a decent and transparent one in-ducting professionalism into it. As aPSU, KSFE is the only state organi-zation providing Rs 1,500 crore to theexchequer, which is being used for de-velopmental activities. We also paid Rs230 crore as income tax last fiscal,”

Besides the core business, KSFEhas its footprints in all the areas of fi-nancial activity. The Suvarana VarshaChitties launched

on the first day of the Malayalammonth of Chingam has received tre-mendous response. There are a lotof additional prizes announced withthis chitty. For the well-being ofMalayalees abroad KSFE hasplanned many products includingchitties for construction of houses,educational purposes, marriagesetc. Pravasi Bandhu Chitty is themost prominent among them. Thekith and kin of NRI Malayalees inlarge numbers are investing in thischitty. Mr Rajendran says 25% ofthe total clients of KSFE are NRIs.

Vision-2015 envisages unprec-edented growth for KSFE in all ar-eas. The number of branches is ex-pected to increase to 560 from thepresent 400 by 2015 with employeestrength of 5,000. The number ofaccounts is expected to grow from21,35,000 to 25,00,000. Advancesand deposits are likely to go up toRs 4,300 crore and Rs 5,300 crore,respectively, by 2015.

Mr Rajendran thinks that apply-ing for a banking licence now is notfeasible. “We will keep our identityas one of the best NBFCs in thecountry for the time being and wewill strive hard to make KSFE amore visible brand amongMalayalees all over the world,” hesays.

Gigo Joseph

P Rajendran


21

23


22

Seldom has a builder carved a niche for itself in the building industrywithin 48 months of inception. Seldom has a builder been loved by itscustomers for the projects delivered. Seldom has a builder been looked upto for the high standards it has set in construction and service. If there’sone builder that has done all these and more it is Asset Homes.

Asset Homes owes its birth, growth and success to three gentlemen.K A Mohammed Saleem, the founding visionary of Asset Homes, and hispartners Sunil Kumar and Anil Varma.

Today Asset Homes is one of the most trusted builders in Kerala andalso the most awarded. It has won several awards and accolades since itsinception in 2006. To a name a few, it has been honoured with the realestate industry’s most prestigious award - International Property Awardsin association withBloomberg TV andGoogle 2011. AssetHomes is also the recipi-ent of the coveted CNBCAwaaz Crisil CredaiAward in 2010, forIndia’s most innova-tive project.

Apart from thenew standardsset in the in-

dustry and the awards gathered, what has made Asset Homes a success story is its humanetouch. As a responsible corporate citizen, Asset Homes has always given due importance tothe community and environment.

Another factor that contributed to the success of Asset Homes is the segmentation of theproducts delivered. Asset Homes has developed different products to cater to customers fromdifferent market segments. In fact Asset Homes has been able to accomplish many projects,simultaneously, in different locations across Kerala and perhaps it’s the only builder that hascompleted 24 projects in a record time of just 48 months since its inception.

Providing value added service to customers is another key feature of Asset Homes. Therebyit has diversified its brand with Asset Care for value added customer care, Zing for lifestyleinteriors & Summit Suites business hotel. Asset Care takes care of any need in interiordesigning, property management, rental services and maintenance. Zing offers a wide rangeof exclusive lifestyle interior furnishings and decorative. These valueadded services are offered from the time the customer gets in

touch with Asset Homes to the time the customer owns anAsset home and settles down.

If Asset Homes has grown to be a trustworthy and re-spected brand today, it’s because of the four pillars associ-ated with it — Good Location, Quality Construction, Qual-ity Service and On-time delivery. And along with this un-precedented growth, the brand positioning too has movedfrom ‘Celebrating Relationships’ to ‘The Responsible Builder’for a simple but solid reason- because the ultimate cus-tomer delight can be provided only by a responsible builder.

And the responsibility is not just confined to the customerbut also to the environment, the society and the em-

ployees. Asset Homes devotes a considerableamount of its resources to community de-

velopment. Saleem is an active Rotarian,one of the key initiators for

the Cooperative Hospital, Kakkanad,the Founder Member of the Pain and

Palliative Clinic, Kodungallur, andthe Director of Organic Kerala.These roles have given him an op-portunity to fulfill his social respon-sibilities and contribute towardsempowering the society. “The com-pany has formed a charitable trustto support education, health and en-vironment. These activities help usachieve excellence, while contribut-ing to the environment we live in,”says Director Sunil Kumar.

Through quality construction, in-novative design, on-time delivery andenvironment friendly initiatives, AssetHomes has built a solid reputationand aims to be a benchmark in theindustry. The group’s dream is tospread its wings to more towns in

Kerala. And it will soon be venturinginto automated construction with ad-herence to government policies, addsanother Director Anil Varma.

Anil VarmaSunil Kumar K A Mohammed Saleem


24

Why will Kochi remain buoy-ant? Mohamed Saleem says: “Thelevel of house purchase in Kochi willremain healthy for two main rea-sons: One, Kochi is a growing city.Its growth can’t be stopped. There-fore, the demand for homes will per-sist. There is no proof of the landand flat prices falling. Two, there isvery little land remaining vacant oravailable for construction in Kochi.As land prices increase, so willapartment prices. Hence, many feel

that there is no point in putting offbuying a flat.”

Another key factor that booststhe real estate market is the growthin job and in-come. Tourismand IT especiallyare stimulatingthe growth of Kochi. Smart City isexpected to create 45,000 jobs. Theexpansion of Infopark will also cre-ate more jobs.

The International Container

Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) atVallarpadom also is contributing tothe demand for more houses.

Yet another deciding factor inhousing isthe non-resi-dent Indians(NRIs). Not

only non- resident Keralites (NRKs)but also NRIs belonging to otherstates are either buying land or flatslike never before. NRIs from otherstates are finding the real estate

sector in Kochi a good sector to in-vest in.

Kochi has advantage over citiessuch as Bengaluru and Hyderabadas Bengaluru and Hyderabad havealmost reached, or are reaching,saturation point in building activity.Kochi being a rather late entrant, canexpect to be buoyant for another 2-3decades.

Demography also adds pressureto housing in Kochi. With about 30%of the city’s population being below15 years old, there will be thousandsof young people reaching their mar-riageable age and wanting their ownhomes, for many years to come.

Awards, honoursand recognitions

CNBC Awaaz-CRISIL Award: Asset Homes bagged the CNBC Awaaz-CRISIL Award, which is for the most innovative project. Asset Silicon andCyber Heights, at Kakkanad, were identified for the prestigious award.Asset Homes is India’s first builder to be honoured with this award, whichis one of the six major national awards of CRISIL-CREDAI for excellentperformers in the building sector. The award was handed over by UrbanDevelopment Minister Kamal Nath to Asset Homes Managing Director K AMohamed Saleem And Directors Sunil Kumar and K Anil Varma at theCREDAI NATCON 2011, the National Convention of Confederation of RealEstate Developers Associations of India, held in Singapore.

Asset Silicon and Cyber Heights were selected for the award consider-ing the innovative use of digital technology, construction technology andfunding mechanisms. The property is also Kerala’s first digital home thatcombines the most innovative and contemporary trends in digital technol-ogy and architectural design to provide a new perspective to living.

The Realty PlusExcellenceAwards 2011

Asset Homes bagged the Realty Plus Excellence Awards 2011, pre-sented by Realty Plus, the widely circulated national magazine on realestate. This award is given to the region’s top property-market playersfor their outstanding contribution to the industry.

The Realty Plus Excellence Awards 2011 was handed over by R Ashok,Minister for Transport and Home, Government of Karnataka, at a functionheld in Bengaluru. The awardees were chosen after a rigorous selectionof developers from the entire Southern India region.

Managing Director K A Mohamed Saleem And Directors Sunil Kumarand K Anil Varma with Minister Kamal Nath.

Asset Homes was honoured with Seven-Star rating by the presti-gious rating agency CRISIL in 2010 for its project Asset Signature, thedigital homes project in Thiruvananthapuram. The company was cho-sen for the award after considering its excellence in parameters suchas Developer Quality, Construction Quality, Legal Documentation, Fi-nancial Planning, and Innovation. This is Kerala’s first and only com-pleted CRISIL Seven-Star-rated project.

VocationalExcellence Award2009-2010

Asset Homes Private Limited was selected by Rotary InternationalDistrict 3201 for the Vocational Excellence Award 2009- 2010 in recogni-tion of excellence shown by the company in its chosen field. Asset Homeswas acknowledged as a renowned builder that has achieved excellencein sales, after-sales service and on-time project completion.

Directors of Asset Homes receiving the award from Stuart Shield, Chair-man, International Property Awards in Shangai, for the highly com-mended architecture of Casa Grande.

Seven-Starrating

-Response Feature

Advantage Kochi

NeST InfratechPioneering the concept ofintegrated townships

Shamier Marickar

Althaf Jehangir

JehangirDr Javad Hassan

NeST Infratech is the realty andinfrastructure division of the multina-tional, billion-dollar NeSTgroup conglomerate, head-quartered in Chantilly, Vir-ginia, the United States. Ithas offices in locationsacross Europe, Japan, India,the Middle East and Austra-lia.

Founded in 1991 by broth-ers Dr Javad K Hassan andN Jehangir, the NeST Group has helpedcompanies across various industriesleverage technology to implement so-lutions that dramatically increase em-ployee productivity, reduce cost of op-erations and ensure the highest levelof security for their business data. To-day, it brings the same dedication inexcellence and innovation in creatingthe finest homes across India.

NeST has been able to gain a firmfoothold in the IT sector, which, in turn,has spurred it to diversify into otherfeasible sectors. The group today is awell-diversified global company havingestablished businesses in manufactur-ing various verticals like electronics, RFand wireless, cable and wire harness,fibre optics, sheet metal, plastics, boxbuild, IT and ITES, expertise in engi-neering software applications, busi-

ness applications, insurance, GIS andcall centres.

The group has forayedinto non-technology busi-nesses like food processing,mineral water and distribu-tion.

Every division of thegroup has a success storyto tell. The group has its ownengineering college, schooland a finishing

school for fresh engineers andMCAs.

It was after setting bench-marks in other segments thatNeST entered the realty sec-tor with the launch of NeSTInfratech, which offers exclu-sive living options at plannedlocations across India. It ispowered by the dynamic character andvision of its directors Dr Javad Hassan,Chairman, Jehangir, Manag-ing Director, F M ShamierMarickar (Director and CEO,NeST Infratech), and AlthafJehangir (Executive Director,NeST Group).

NeST Infratech is pio-neering the concept of inte-grated townships in the name

and style ‘The World.’ These world-class integrated townships comprisevillas and apartments start-ing from Rs 10 lakh onwards.A unique feature is the inter-national model of inclusivedevelopment with Mediterra-nean, English style, contem-porary and traditional Keralastyle Nalukettu villas.

The Contemporary stylevillas at ‘TheWorld’ cater to a new andfashionable trend in livingand offer privacy, space andcomfort and the security ofa gated community living.

A villa was originally anancient Roman upper-classcountryhouse. Since its ori-

gin in the Roman villa, the idea andfunctions of a villa have evolved con-siderably.

Mediterranean villas arecharacterised by their pala-tial interiors and imposingfacades. They do not haveopen terraces but have roof-ing.

English villas were basedon the Roman villas of earlier

times, and gradually they also evolvedfrom their earlier vast sprawling areas

to suburban bungalows.The conventional Kerala

Nalukettu villas have alwaysfigured in the dreams ofKeralite home-seekers, moreso if they are non-resident,since they are often nostal-gic about the bygone days.Nalukettu villas, meticulousin their details, are NeST’s

glowing tribute to Kerala’s rich archi-tectural tradition.

It is hoped that this project will her-ald a revolution of sorts by makinghousing affordable to all. These town-ships will have all modern world-classfacilities, including superior landscap-ing by international architects, largeopen spaces for recreation, tennis,badminton and squash courts, swim-ming pool, and jogging tracks. ‘TheWorld’ concept is being launched inAluva and Thalassery and shall soonbe replicated in all major cities acrossKerala.

JKH SignatureNeST JKH Signature is an ultra-

luxury waterfront apartment project onthe banks of the Periyar that is claimed


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to be unparalleled in the finishes and amenities of-fered. It is a dream project of NeST Chairman DrJavad K Hassan and will have 2 penthouses and 46residential apartments.

It is packaged with gold-class amenities likecentralised air-conditioning, personalised lift, videodoor-phones, private landscaped gardens, infinitypool with waterfall, sky squash, tennis/badmintoncourts, private boat jetty, and home automation sys-tems.

Orchid Park

NeST Infratech is also building Orchid Park, a2BHK and 3BHK super-luxury apartment project,situated at Kalathippady, in the heart of Kottayamtown. Located in the land of letters, latex and la-goons, Kottayam is a vantage point to places of rel-evance and reverence, be it educational institutions,religious shrines, conveyance or convenience stores.

Electroville

The first special economic zone in the privatesector in Kerala, the Rs 2,500-crore, state-of-the-artproject is coming up in 30 acres of land at KinfraPark at Kalamassery, Kochi.

It will comprise 2 million sq ft of notified SpecialEconomic Zone space for electronics hardware manu-facturing, software and information technology-en-abled services and 1.5 million sq ft of world-classshopping mall space with multiplex, an internationalexhibition and convention centre, 5-star hotel apart-ments, commercial office spaces and residential con-dominiums of which Electroville is one. Once com-

pleted, it will be among the most-sought-after cen-tres of activity to dot the Kochi skyline.

NeST property management servicesNeST’s Project and Asset Management Agency

offers a complete range of services, namely, han-dling township management, including housekeep-ing, security, mechanical and electrical services, en-vironmental health and safety management, horti-culture, club management, mall management, pestcontrol services, landscaping services, and wastemanagement.

The primary objective of the services will be toreduce operating costs, enhance property values and

simultaneously maintain a superior living environmentfor the residents.

The home care division will take care of any prob-lems that may be faced by property owners and willoffer solutions like remittance of statutory paymentsto local bodies, taxes, telephone/electricity/waterbills, rental division/assess rental value/advertise/show property to potential tenants/draw up rental orlease agreement/follow-up, collect security deposit,monthly rental payments and account the same. Inthe rare likelihood of necessity of sale of a property/advertisement/show around property to prospectivebuyers, the home care division will provide completeend-to-end solutions. -Response Feature


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Mr K Paul Thomas, Managing Di-rector of ESAF Microfinance, had thoughtthe people of Kerala are self-sufficientand capable of eking a living withoutanyone’s help. ‘‘But I found to my sur-prise that out of 4.50 lakh of our clients, 3lakh were from Kerala”, he says.

That was in the initial period after thelaunching of ESAF. Today, however, MrPaul Thomas and his team can proudlyfeel that their initiative has changed thefate of their clients and helped them standon their own feet.

Established in 1992 as a responseto the social and economic needs of thepeople. ESAF, a charitable society bornout of the deep conviction of its foundersthat one’s deeds should match one’swords, stands for sustainable holistictransformation of the priority sector for ajust and fair society.

ESAF has been registered under theTravancore Cochin Literal and ScientificCharitable Societies Act of 1955 and theForeign Contribution Regulation Act,1976. ESAF Microfinance and Invest-ments Private Limited, whose main pro-moter is the ESAF Self Help Group inwhich Mr Paul Thomas is the major stake-holder. It has a network of 150 branchesspread across 35 districts in Kerala, TamilNadu, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,Madhya Pradesh, New Delhi andHaryana. The number of its clients as onMarch 31, 2011, stood at 4.50 lakh andthat of borrowers at 3.22 lakh, with a loanportfolio of Rs 2,095 million.

Mr Paul Thomas, who has 15 years’experience in social work and in runningNGOs, tells PASSLINE that most of itsclients are poor and marginalized withhardly any access to formal banking fa-cilities. “Our operations are aimed at pro-viding them with credit, supplemented bynon-financial support for holistic devel-opment, thereby minimizing exploitationby moneylenders. We are associatedwith 4.50 lakh families and we renderservice to them. By 2015 the number will

be 1 million families. Most of the poorand downtrodden people in villages donot even know about the schemes andfacilities provided by the Government andother agencies from time to time for theirwelfare. We are working as an agent forthem and help them familiarize them-selves with those schemes.”, Mr PaulThomas says.

Beginning with a single product theorganization has now rolled out multipleproducts to cater to the diversified de-mands of its clients. It also extends smallloans to entrepreneurs who are too poorto qualify for traditional bank loans. Themajor credit products it offers are IncomeGeneration Loan (IGL), General Loan(GL), Nirmal Loan (NL)-Sanitation Loan,Jeeva Dhara Loan (JDL)-Water Loan,Vyapar Vikas Yogna (VVY-trade loan),House Construction Loan (HCL) andHouse Repair Loan (HRL).

ESAF Healthcare seeks to build anequitable and healthy society by makingworld-class healthcare services available,

accessible and affordable to the rural andsemi-urban poor. It delivers excellenthealthcare services to the poor throughhealth education, counselling, health in-surance and a chain of hospitals, clinics,pharmacies, diagnostic labs, ayurvedictreatment and training centres in locationswith least healthcare facilities.

“As a committed social entrepreneurthe organisation is running two hospi-tals and a nursing school. The nursingschool will be upgraded to a nursing col-lege in the current academic year. Weare admitting the children of our mem-bers’ families. The organization is alsorunning three state-of-the-art clinics withoutpatient wings, pharmacies and diag-nostic centres, having a total turnover ofRs 10 crore,” says Mr Paul Thomas.

ESAF launched Swasraya ProducerCompany Ltd (ESPCL) during 2005-06to encourage the entrepreneurial skillsof rural women. In no time the new enter-prise proved to be a success as its busi-ness development services played amajor part in linking the primary produc-ers with the market, assuring the qualityof the products. It also helped the self-help group (SHG) members in sharpen-ing their skills through training and us-ing other back-end support for income

generation activities. Community owner-ship is the major characteristic of thisbusiness model, as all the producer-members are given a chance to invest inthe company.

ESPCL markets the products madeby the members through ‘PreranaLifestyle’, the retail outlet for marketinghandicraft items.

“ESAF always strives to develop in-novative designs in handicrafts usingbamboo, screw pine and natural fibres.The organization has about 250 full-timeartisans at 12 work centres, and morethan 1,000 families benefit from this ini-tiative. International Labour Organisation(ILO), as part its international project—microfinance for decent working environ-ment, recognised ESAF as one of the twomicrofinance companies in India. ESAFregularly updates the skills of artisansthrough training-cum-entrepreneurshipdevelopment programmes. There arethree designers who come out with newtrendsetting designs”, remarks Mr Sony

V Mathew, Head Corporate Communica-tions of ESAF.

ESAF Swasraya Bazaar (ESAF Retail(P) Ltd) has branches at Thrissur,Mannuthy, Pattikkad, Wadakkanchery,Nellangara and Villagannur having sixstores and one warehouse at Pattikkad,Thrissur.

“The establishment aims at promot-ing locally produced food and articles bymembers by linking them to marketsthrough the supermarkets and other re-tailers. The company ensures that all theproducts are sourced from primary pro-ducers avoiding intermediaries and passon the price benefit and value to the con-sumers.

ESAF plans to open more supermar-kets soon by raising equity and with sup-port from like-minded institutions andsocial investors,” avers Mr Paul Thomas.

The group has a team that inspectsthe quality of the sourced products andalso provides training wherever neces-sary in packing, branding, grading, clean-ing etc, thus ensuring locally sourcedproducts are made available to be soldin mainstream retail supermarkets.

ESAF Retail provides employment tothe local community through its super-markets and warehouse where theSangam members are offered employ-

ment on contract basis for cleaningand packing the products that

are sourced locally.

The Sangam members, when linkedto mainstream retail supermarkets, getan opportunity to increase the produc-tion capacity resulting in increased busi-ness volumes. Since the volume of pro-duction is comparatively high, they cankeep the cost of production minimal (lawof large numbers) which results in higherprofit margins for them. The retail divi-sion of the organization had a turnover ofRs 250 crore last year. It aims to increaseit to Rs 350 crore this fiscal.

The SHG Federation of ESAF is anetwork of several SHGs and a structureevolved by SHG members consisting ofrepresentatives from different geographi-cal settings with a motive of supportingmembers to attain the goals of economicand social empowerment of womenmembers and their capacity building.

The vision of SHG Federation is tobuild self-help communities of love, con-cern and solidarity among the poorwomen irrespective of caste, creed orcolour and to empower themselves eco-nomically and socially whereby they canlive with dignity. The Natural ResourceManagement (NRM) division of ESAFaims at making the natural resources ac-cessible to everyone.

ESAF has constructed biogas plantsof varying capacities for Southern NavalCommand, Kerala Hotel and RestaurantAssociation (KHRA), hospitals, educa-tional institutions etc, keeping the pre-mises clean through controlling un-wanted growth of weeds, maintainingnatural flow of drainage andsafe disposal of garbage generated fromthe compounds. It also helps promotionof vermi compost, the easiest way of de-grading biomass and ensuring the avail-ability of organic manure; rural water sup-ply and sanitation projects for KeralaGovernment undertakings and WorldBank-aided projects such as Jalanidhiand Jeevadhara for ensuring the avail-ability of drinking water and various live-lihood means to rural people. Planningand consultancy services for launchingnew buildings, designing and undertak-ing interior works and assisting tsunamirelief works by constructing low-budgethouses, utilization of solar energy as analternative energy source for humansand promotion of smokeless ovens formarginalized communities are otherworks undertaken.

At present ESAF ‘Kids for Kids’ oper-ates 9 childcare centres and looks after482 children, provides food, uniforms,books, 6-month medical check-up, childdevelopment programmes etc.

Anyone can be a part of this projectby contributing monthly/yearly support fora kid or a Child Care Centre (CCC) inJharkhand.

-Response Feature

K Paul Thomas

Most of ESAF’s clients are poor and marginalized with hardly anyaccess to formal banking facilities. Its operations are aimedat providing them with credit, supplemented by non-financialsupport for holistic development, thereby minimizing exploita-tion by moneylenders.


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Intersight—for enrichingyour travel experience

Abraham George nonovice at business

Mr Abraham George(Johny), Chairman and Man-aging Director of IntersightTours and Travels, is no nov-ice at business. After passingout from Pala St Thomas Col-lege in 1974 Johny joined withthe business doyen,Manarcad Pappan. His asso-

ciation with Pappan lasted for about 20 yearsduring which period he had overseen the cor-porate affairs of the business. The experienceand trust he gained during the period of hisservice with Pappan gave him the knowledgeand confidence to start his own venture,Intersight Tours & Travels Pvt. Ltd, in 1995.

Besides the stewardship of Intersight,Abraham George is the President of ADTOI(Association of Domestic Tour Operators ofIndia), President of CATO and Vice-Presidentof KTM.

Abraham George


India is a land of enchanting beauty,offering myriad attractions for an enthusi-astic traveller. Intersight Tours & Travels (P)Ltd keeps its efforts ongoing in improvingyour travel experience. Intersight maintainsliaison with some of the best airlines andhotel chains across India, thus guarantee-ing you a memorable and hassle-free vaca-tion! Driven by the mission to provide com-prehensive holiday experiences, Intersightpromises quality service at the best rates.

The tour operator has the credit of intro-ducing the concept of inbound tourism andoperation by chartering trains for the firsttime in India. Intersight has bagged the

KTDC Best Seller Award for five consecu-tive years.

Air India, Indian Airlines and Indigo areits tour handling partners. Intersight is alsooperating from Manchester in the UK. Itsregistered office is at Vyttila, Kochi, and ithas branch offices in Mumbai, Delhi,Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Kovalam.Intersight Holidays (P) Ltd, Intersight Hos-pitality, Intersight Foundation and IntersightVacations are the other names affiliated toIntersight Tours and Travels Pvt. Ltd.

Intetsight employs about 500 people di-rectly and indirectly. “It is the loyalty and unityof my employees that has helped the com-pany to achieve great goals,” says Mr AbrahamGeorge, Chairman and Managing Director.

Technopark will achieveprojected growth: CEO

Mervin Alexander


Technopark, the country’s firstIT park, is on the growth path despiteeconomic slowdowns in the US andEurope. In an email interview withPASSLINE, Mr Mervin Alexander, itsCEO, talks about Technopark’s per-formance this fiscal and its futureplans. The following is the text of theinterview:

How is Technopark faringduring this fiscal? Will it achieveits targets despite the US and Eu-ropean slowdown?

The performance ofTechnopark in the cur-rent fiscal continues tobe good. We had in thecurrent fiscal Oracle,the third largest ITcompany in the world,starting its operationsin Technopark. TCStoo is starting the con-struction of its devel-opment centre on the 26 acres of landin the SEZ allotted to it. IT firms likeCapGemini India and ITC Infotech arealso likely to start their operationssoon.

The projected growth will beachieved in spite of the slowdownsin the US and Europe as experiencesand history have shown that growthin the IT sector is by and large notaffected by economic slowdowns.

Major Indian IT companiesperformed well during the lastquarter by taking advantage ofthe dollar appreciation. How farhave companies in the park been

able to utilize the situation? The dollar depreciation will favour

Indian IT companies uniformly andTechnopark IT companies are not anexception to this.

Indian IT companies are fac-ing tough competition in the in-ternational market from otherAsian countries. Don’t you thinkthat it is high time our ITcompanies tapped domestic op-portunities by introducing moresolutions to exploit the untappedareas in the country?

While the domestic mar-ket is important and is boundto grow, the internationalmarket is a bigger pie whichwill offer greater opportunityto Indian IT companies.Therefore we have to inno-vate continuously on thecompetitive cost range to re-main a major player.

What are the importantdevelopment plans of

Technopark during this fiscal? Isthere a plan for developing newcampuses in other places?

This fiscal, operationalizingPhase III campus of Technopark andTechnopark- Kollam are the impor-tant development plans. Apart fromthis, Technocity will be put on trackfor getting the infrastructure devel-oped on the Fast Track basis.

Do you think that the changeof guard in the state will acceler-ate growth?

The new Government is perceivedas more industry-friendly and accel-erated growth is expected.


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Heera Homes, which startedfunctioning two decades ago in Goawith diverse business activities likeproperty development, hotel opera-tions, civil contracting, education andtourism-related projects, has sinceextended its wings to Kerala and otherstates too.

Abundant experience in the realestate sector has helped Heera to for-mulate and comprehend the conceptof a home. It thinks that a home is notjust a place, but an expression of one’sindividuality. It has a soul, a characterand a personality all of its own. SoHeera gives utmost importance toimplementing this concept, focusingmeticulously on every detail and theclient’s needs. Quality, economy andcomfort are the factors that Heera re-lies on to achieve the needs of its cli-ents. The success it has achieved isevident from the fact that it has com-pleted more than 30 lakh sq ft of floorarea in 1,700 happy homes in a short

span of time.

The Heera Home Care Division is aspecial wing of the firm’s services thattakes care of maintenance,emergency repairs, bill/taxpayments etc. The 24-hourdivision for the Residents’ As-sociation also provides otherservices like customizingapartments according to theowner’s requirements andrenting them out in their ab-sence.

Heera apartments are made to sat-isfy varying customer requirements.Projects like Heera 4 Pillars atKillippalam and Heera Dreams atSreekariyam in Thiruvananthapuramare focused on clients who seek luxury

at affordable prices. Both the apart-ments are located near hospitals, edu-cational institutions, banks, restau-

rants and shopping malls. Fa-cilities like well-equipped fit-ness centre, children’s playarea, reticulated gas connec-tion, air-conditioned lobby,proximity censor entry card,swimming pool, jogging tracketc make these projects dif-ferent and add value formoney.

Another aspect that sets Heeraapart is the selection of location. HeeraCrescent at YMR Junction,Nanthancode, Heera Golden Hills atNanthancode near Kanakakkunnu Pal-ace, Heera Highlife at Devaswom

Board Junction and Heera Blue Bellsat Vellayambalam, all inThiruvananthapuram, are marvellousexamples of peaceful city life. They areright in the heart of the city but least0affected by its hustle and bustle.

Projects like Heera Lake Front andHeera Towers are for those who seeka peaceful environment. Facing theAkkulam Lake, one of the tourist at-tractions of Thiruvananthapuram,Heera Towers is a unique combinationof natural beauty and luxuriouslifestyle. Heera Info City is another hi-tech project, which is located nearTechnopark, one of the largest tech-nology hubs in the country.

Dr A R Babu is the Managing Di-rector of the Heera Group.

Heera’s homes for quality,economy and comfort

Dr A R Babu

Kerala is witnessing unprec-edented growth in the retail indus-try with the mall culture catching upfast. Kozhikode had emerged as theleader when HiLITE Builderslaunched Focus Mall, the first of itskind in the state. To cater to the ever-growing demand for world-class liv-ing experience, HiLITE, the lifestyletrendsetter, is gearing up with itslatest project HiLITE City with HiLITEMall as its centre of attraction await-ing completion in 2013.

HiLITE City is being designed asthe first-of-its-kind integrated town-ship in the state spread over 15.6acres of land. The project comprisesresidential (400 luxury apartments),commercial (1 million sq ft) and re-tail spaces (1 million sq ft).

On completion, HiLITE Mall willbe the best mall in Kerala with theright blend of retail and entertain-ment spaces that include a 60,000-sq ft hypermarket, 50,000-sq ft de-partment store, 35,000-sq.ft gamingzone and indoor fun area. The mallwill have a total built-up area of onemillion square feet with 200+branded retail outlets, three starbusiness hotels, eight-screen mul-tiplexes, food courts, a convention/expo hall and more.

Being a seasoned player in the in-dustry, HiLITE Builders had openeddoors to various brands to Keralathrough Focus Mall in 2007. HiLITEMall will be the first to introduce someof the premium lifestyle brands likeLifestyle, Spar, Cinepolis and Amoebain Kerala.

Lifestyle: A youthful, stylish brandspread across 15 countries and part

of Landmark Group, Lifestyle has aloyal customer following ever since itset shop in India in 1999. Mr MickyJagtiani heads the retail giant whichhas its headquarters in Dubai. Thestore provides apparel, footwear,children’s wear and toys, furniture, fur-nishings and personal grooming prod-ucts under a single roof.

Spar: A global brand with presencein 34 countries, Spar is the world’s larg-

est independent retail chain. It offersworld-class shopping experience withvalue for money. Shoppers have theoption to choose from a wide variety ofquality products in every category. Sparhas a record of one crore customer vis-its per day worldwide.

Cinépolis: A Mexican brand, it isone of the biggest multiplex chains inthe world. The brand is foraying into

the Indian market providing superiorambience backed by over four decadesof cinema experience. The eight-screen multiplex at HiLITE Mall will of-fer a never-before experience toKerala’s moviegoer.

Amoeba Leisure Zone: India’slargest importer and distributor ofamusement machines, H.M Group’sAmoeba Leisure Zone brings forth a newage in leisure and entertainment. HiLITE

Mall will have a Bowling Alley andgaming zone. The people behindAmoeba have over 20 years of expe-rience in the leisure industry.

Strategically located at the NHThondayad bypass, Kozhikode,HiLITE Mall is sure to attract hugefootfalls. On completion in 2013, itwill be the best lifestyle destinationin Kerala.

HiLITE Builders Private Limitedhas been developing property since2003 with its headquarters inKozhikode and over a short span ofeight years has matured enough tobecome one of the most trustedbuilders in the region. From tower-ing up of some of Kerala’s finest resi-dential apartments to giving life toworld-class shopping malls, HiLITEBuilders has come a long way up inthe Kerala real estate scenario.

The builder has by now com-pleted many landmark projects likeHiLITE Metromax, the first CRISIL-rated project in north Kerala, and TheFocus Mall, Kerala’s first shoppingmall, which brought about nothingshort of a revolution in the shoppinglandscape of the state. The ongoingand upcoming project line is evenmore breathtaking with some of thefinest plans the state has ever seen.

HiLITE Mall to be launch pad for foreign brands in Kerala


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ED PASSLINE,

Kerala’s only business magazine in English, with a 17-year track record,needs professionals for the following posts:

ReportersAssistant Advertisement Managers(Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode)

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Keethara Publications Pvt Ltd 38/125 Ist Floor, Narakathara Road, Kochi-35.Ph: 0484 4027002Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

'Noel homes for agreener life'

Noel Greenature is the pioneer in green building in Kerala which provides eco-friendly projects conforming to the ‘green’ concepts that are rapidly catching on inthe building industry. With two decades of experience, Noel is today being ac-knowledged as one of the most credible builders in Kochi. Noel Serenia is theperfect setting for a greener life.

During the course of a busy life there are moments whereeverything seems to be just as it should be. The sun shines.The air hums. You treasure these moments because they arerare. Now they can be yours always and easily. And you arecalmed by the harmony of urban refinement and suburban style.

As part of Noel’s vision to create the way of quality life,Noel Serenia, premium apartments, promises to be a greencommunity designed for contemporary living in a natural set-ting—a modern lifestyle in a haven of peace and tranquillity.The design approach is to unify a contemporary architecturewith green features and all matching amenities. A neighbourhood that will be de-fined by wonderful greenery, wide open space, and an uplifting sense of safety,security and community.

With an uncompromising passion for quality, Noel re-scripted the dynamics ofthe builder-customer relationship by making the aspiring buyer an active partici-pant in the art of house-making. Unrelenting commitment to providing immaculatedesigns and unique projects took Noel a notch higher. Noel attributes its successto the rightful mix of integrity, reliability and technological brilliance. “Noel initiatedthe green living concept for the first time ever in Kerala by introducing GreenatureVilla apartments. This green initiative from Noel is aimed at fulfilling its social andcorporate responsibility in a meticulous manner,’’ says Mr John Thomas, Manag-ing Partner, and Ms Geetha John, Executive Partner, Noel Villas and Apartments.

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Trinity forgracious living

Trinity Builders and Developers, aunit of Trinity Arcade Pvt Ltd, offers a com-prehensive portfolio of villas and apart-ments in Kochi’s finest locations. Knownfor its speedy quality construction, Trin-ity homes are fast altering the cityscape.The company has nine projects at vari-ous stages of completion in three ofKochi’s prime locations, including two inKakkanad, to cater to a large chunk ofthe IT and IT investment crowd.

Aluva, one of the fastest-developinglocalities around the city, is the other lo-cation with Trinity having a waterfrontapartment project as well as a super-luxury villa project.

Its project at Edappally is at one ofthe most vantage points of Kochi.

Trinity has grown steadily since itsinception. The company’s intention is tohave sustained and managed growth bymaintaining a low debt-to-equity ratio. Thecompany’s success lies in its ability toattract and retain experienced personnelwith its good HR poli-cies. It is also ex-tremely price-com-

petitive and highly quality-conscious, ex-ecuting only premium projects packedwith modern living amenities and provid-ing world-class sales and after-sales en-vironment to all, small or large. GreenSprings at Kanjiramattam, Mercury pre-mium apartments at Kakkanad, TrinityWorld Jupiter at Kakkanad, The Garden,Aluva, Trinity Periyar Sands, Aluva, andTrinity High Grove, Kakkanad, are the on-going projects.

All Trinity projects incorporate facili-ties like fully vitrified flooring, clubhouse,health club, swimming pool, indoorgames, party area, business centre,guest room, intercom, driver’s room, cen-tralized gas supply, home theatre,Internet broadband connectivity and sov-ereign quality.

The reputation and credibility of thecompany’s promoters have assured buy-ers that Trinity’s projects are first-rate in-vestments as well as gracious lifestylestatements. Drawn primarily from realestate and construction, Trinity’s men-tors are well respected in their own fields.C J Mathew is the Chairman. Roy Jo-seph is the Managing Director and M JLuiz the Director. They have united witha vision to bring quality housing to Kochi.Made up of a team of individuals, pas-sionate about making excellence in thehousing scenario, Trinity is the vision ofits able directors, well respected in theirown fields.

M J LuizDirector

Roy JosephManaging Director

C J MathewChairman

John Thomas


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China International Food Exhibition(CIF) 2011Dates: November 14-16, 2011. Venue: Beijing China

Malayasia International BrandingShowcase (IBS 2011)in conjuction with 8th Malayasia China Import& Export Commodities ExhibitionDates: December 8-11, 2011. Venue: Kuala Lumpur,

Malaysia

Jaffna International Trade Fair (JITF)Date: January 20-22, 2012. Venue: Jaffna, Sri Lanka

MAFPEX 2012, KenyaDates: February 9-11, 2012. Venue: KICC, Nairobi,

Kenya

interfood, St Peterburg16th International Specialised Exhibition ofFood Products, Drinks & Ingredients16th International Specialised Exhibition ofEquipment, Technologies & Packaging forFood IndustryDates: 24 – 26 April 2012. Venue: Lenexpo Fair-

grounds, St. Petersburg, Russia

Indomax 2012(Indonesia International Machinery Exhibition)Dates: May 31-June 3, 2012 . Venue: Kemayoran, In-

donesia

23rd Malaysia Food Processing & Packag-ing Exhibition (M’SIA-PACK) 2012Date : 21-24 July 2012. Venue: Putra World Trade Cen-

tre (PWTC), Kuala Lumpur

Hotel Show 2012Dates: 13th–15thJuly 2012. Venue: SBMEC, Colombo,

Sri Lanka

Pro food pack 2012Venue: SBMEC, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Dates: July 6-8,

2012

Indexpo to unveil state’sindustrial achievements

Indexpo Kerala 2011, a mega-industrial ex-hibition to be held from November 24 to 27, atthe Municipal Stadium premises, Palakkad, fo-cuses on unveiling the developmental initiativesof the state to the rest of the world. Jointly or-ganized by the Palghat Management Associa-tion (PMA) and the Kanjikode Industries Fo-rum (KIF), the expo is supported by the Minis-try of Industries, Kerala State Industrial Devel-opment Corporation, NSIC and other Govern-ment and non-government organizations.

While Federal Bank, the MPS Group, OgunSteels and Paragon Steels are the key spon-sors, KSIDC, Kinfra,Malabar Cements, SBIand the Ministry of Com-merce and Industry alsosponsor the event. “Itgives a good platform forpurchase managers, pro-curement agencies, con-sultants, industrialists,dealers and distributorsbesides key Governmentofficials and engineering and management stu-dents to experience the latest developments inthe industrial sector with focus on furthergrowth”. Mr K S Mani, Chairman of the event,says. “ It will be a window on B2B and B2Cactivity for industrial exhibitors and industrialvisitors to Palakkad and other districts of Keralaand other states and will also help Palakkad toachieve overall economic development throughrapid and eco-friendly industrialization,’ says MrK Pankajakshan, General Convener of the event.

The exhibits will include machine tools andaccessories, hydraulics and pneumatics, ma-terial handling equipment and machinery,foundry equipment, pumps and fittings, preci-sion tools, cutting tools, dies and moulds, in-strumentation and automation, industrial com-

ponents and consumables and industrial elec-trical items and electronics.

“ Indexpo Kerala 2011 is all set to make anew benchmark for the exhibitions in Keralafocusing, for the first time, exclusively on theindustrial activity of Kerala and the rest of In-dia,” Mr. K S Mani says. ‘This exhibition is toput back the intelligent Kerala into the array ofthe industrial states of India and announce thearrival of the resurging industrial Kerala to therest of the world assuring them that we havemuch beyond tourism.” Says Mr. KPankajakshan. “A Window for B2B (Businessto Business) activity for industrial exhibitors

and industrial visitors inPalakkad and other dis-tricts of Kerala and alsoother States. An excellentwindow for industrial frater-nity to establish vendorrelationships in a wide rangeof domains.” says MrMani. It will enable thegeneral public to see

ûnished goods/materials, technology and ser-vices. It also aims to drive home the message‘Destination Palakkad’ by creating aware-ness of strategic beneûts of Palakkad as aninvestment destination.

The exhibition aims to help Palakkad makeoverall economic development through rapid andeco-friendly industrialization and generate arenewed industrial spirit to scale up industries’effort to upgrade existing manufacturing capac-ity and technology. It will also try to get theapproval of the Government for the district to bedeclared the Industrial Capital of Kerala, to ob-tain land for constructing a permanent Conven-tion/Exhibition Centre in Palakkad and to moti-vate the state Government to utilize tourism topromote industries in the state.

‘AC is no longer a luxury but a necessity!’Philip Thomas owns the

country’s leading exclusive single-branded Voltas air-conditioners out-let Multi Sales at Valanjamblam inKochi.

His earlier stint with a leadingMNC, as regional service head, hadenriched him with enough valuableexperience and skills that had helpedhim to notch up an impressive turn-over of Rs 10 crore in a reasonablyshort span of time. He had been cata-pulted to the position of the best-sell-ing dealer of the Volta’s segment withan impressive business track recordover the past 10 years. The preva-

lence and spread of high humidity inthe state, even during the rainy sea-son, coupled with the seasonal va-garies, had made purchasing an air-conditioner no longer a luxury but anindispensible necessity for a com-fortable living.

The recent introduction ofthe Voltas series of energy-efficient and certified air-con-ditioners, coupled with ever-attractive finance schemesviable for large and smallfirms as well as households,has made the prospect ofpurchasing an air-conditioner an ir-

resistible option. Voltas, the country’s oldest and

leading brand, had garnered an im-pressive 30% market share of thecountry’s air-conditioner sales, asjudged from the past five months’ to-

tal national sales of air-conditioners. The promptafter-sales service net-work that had beenspanned throughout thecountry and statemanned by company-trained experienced ser-vice personnel, had gone

a long way in ensuring customer

satisfaction and thereby repeat sales.This excellent after-sales service isthe reason for the brand’s increasingdemand by leading MNCs, public sec-tor undertakings, banks, business es-tablishments and households alike.

Citing a recent study report Tho-mas remarked that even now an AChad only reached a penetration levelof just 3%-4% of India’s total house-holds which light up the huge un-tapped potential still existing inKerala, and a major reason for moreand more global brands to make aforay into this state.

Philip Thomas

Exhibitions and Events

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For your eyes only!

Clean India YathraThe World Malayalee Council

(WMC) and Youth India, Green KeralaFoundation and Labour India PublicSchool had undertaken a ‘Clean IndiaYathra’ from Kashmir to Kanyakumarifrom the Gandhi Jayanti month of Octo-ber, concluding in November. Politicaland social leaders, activists, studentsand youths took part in it.

The aim of the Yathra with the mes-sage ‘Clean India…Green India’ was toconvey to the public, youth and studentsthe idea and necessity of scientificallyrecycling waste materials. Plasticbottles co0llected from houses by stu-dents in each state were gathered bythe Yathra team at public functions,

dumped in lorries and taken to recyclingfactories.

The Yathra which commenced fromDelhi traversed through Srinagar,Jammu, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Haryana,Jaipur, Agra, Ahmedabad, Porbandar,Pune, Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad, Ban-galore and Chennai via Kanyakumariended in Thiruvananthapuram.

Dignitaries from different walks of lifein Kerala including WMC office-holdersSoman Baby, Bahrain; V C Praveen,Chennai; and George Kakkanadan,Huston; MPs Jose K Mani and AntoAntony, MLAs Monce Joseph, RoshyAugustine, Hibi Eden and Vishnunathled the Yathra.

Ranjith A K

Our culture and attitude take us to the brink ofrisk and danger at every moment. Our security andlongevity is always at stake. So closed-circuit sur-veillance has become an inevitable need of humanliving. Apart from frontiers, airports, public/private in-dustrial establishments, gold, textile showrooms,banks, financial firms, hospitals, educational insti-tutions, residences, vehicles, individuals, and evenplaces of worship at any place or any time are allvulnerable to burglary, robbery, theft,snatching and molestation. Developedcountries have adopted this device of sur-veillance even earlier. We are yet to getmore accustomed to this system. Ran-dom offices, shops, business houses andresidences use the system of surveillance.But we are yet to be more familiar withthese gadgets. The updated mode of surveillanceby digital technology provides fast and perfect re-sults for its end-users. CCTV is a prominent one inthis category.

CCTV Technologies Pvt Ltd provides not only sur-veillance, but also hardcore Evidence. With its head-quarters in Bangalore, CCTV Technologies Pvt Ltdhas introduced various state-of-the-art, digital secu-rity surveillance gadgets, which have provided im-mense relief to various big and amall establishmentsand households alike because of the rising robber-ies, thefts, molestations, embezzlements, looting,industrial pilferages etc, which have increased in therecent times.

These latest digital surveillance gadgets provide

not only hardcore evidence, but also effective deter-rence against committing crimes. No wonder thatdigital surveillance has become an indispensable op-tion even for places of worship, with the requirementsof keeping their treasure vaults intact, which require24-hour effective surveillance, highlighting the in-creasing demand for these digital surveillance mecha-nism for establishments and households alike.

CCTV Technologies Pvt Ltd provides digital sur-veillance cameras to various ATMs of SBT,IOB and to Manappuram, BheemaJewellery, KTDC etc. Ranjith A K, head-ing the Kerala operations of CCTV Tech-nologies from its Kochi office, points outan ever-increasing demand for such lat-est digital surveillance systems suitablefor household flats, individual houses, in-

dustrial establishments, places of worship andplaces of strategic importance. Recently growing re-ports of nabbing of criminals from ATMs and indus-trial establishments, along with evidence, underlinethe effectiveness of this technology. Recently intro-duced ‘plug n’ play’ IP camera is the latest sought-after item in the market, says Ranjith.

CCTV Technologies provides various pieces ofsurveillance equipment like Dome Cameras, IRDome Cameras, IR Bullet Cameras, Glass MountBox Cameras, IP Camera, DVRs 4,8,16 chnls, DVRCards, Speed Dome Cameras (PTZ), Access Read-ers (PTZ), Power Supplies, Spy Cameras, ButtonCamera, Sunglass Camera, Fujinon Lens, PTZ Key-

board, Pan/Tilt Head, Brackets, Enclosures, VideoServer, Amplifier, Video Balun, Audio TransmissionEquipment etc.

Nimesh Paul

for manpowersolutions

STRINGZ is a manpowerconsultancy firm that operates inend- to-end manpower solutions tomeet the clients’ need throughout.The firm based in Kochihas significant operationswith customers across dif-ferent sectors and indus-tries profile. With assortedservice in ManpowerSearch, Temporary Staff-ing, Staffing Solutions,Statutory Compliance andother value-added services the of-fering covers a complete range andassists customers to raise the pro-ductivity through improved strat-egy, quality, efficiency and cost re-duction.

The recruitment processoutsourcing implicates the entiremanagement of recruiting/hiringprocess from job profiling throughthe onboarding of the new hire, in-cluding staff, technology, methodand reporting. It thus improves acompany’s time to hire, increasethe quality of the candidate pool,provide verifiable metrics, reducecost and improve governmental

compliance.Occasional recruitment support,

for example temporary, contingencyand executive search services is

more analogous to out-task-ing, co-sourcing or justsourcing.

Through the STAFFINGOUTSOURCING Stringzcreates a pool of employeesfor organizations who arestrategically hired and man-

aged by it to increase theorganisational effectiveness.

Through the STATUTORY COM-PLIANCE OUTSOURCING Stringzoffers knowledge and insights thatare imperative to manage employ-ees statutorily and legally compliant.

Through its PAYROLLOUTSOURCING, it does the routinework of managing salary, its calcu-lation and payment, along with anyother related functions.

Stringz thus aims to improvisethe productivity of the organizations,through quality services which freesthe company from non-income gen-erating tasks.

Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani Inaugurating KSFE's Swarna Varsha 2011 chitties inThiruvananthapuram. Kerala Minister for Transport V S Sivakumar and Vattiyoorkkavu MLA KMuraleedharan are also seen.

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Domestic tourismmay save the sector


The tourism sector in the stateis second to none in contributing tothe global branding of Kerala as‘God’s Own Country’ both by en-abling it to earn global attention andby generating foreign and domesticfunds. Its fascinating natural beautyspots, ancient monuments and en-thralling backwaters and canals havebeen attracting tourists from all over.Besides the health and educationsectors, tourism has been a majoridentity of the state. Compared toother states in the country, Keralahas tourist destinations in all partsof the state.

Being the tourist hub of SouthIndia, the state is eager to welcomethe tourism season. But it is appre-hensive about a possible fall in in-bound tourism in the aftermath of theeconomic slowdown in many foreigncountries. What however gives ithope is the possibility of domestictourism compensating for the ex-pected fall of inbound tourismconsidering the increasedpaying capacity of Indi-ans. Another hopefulsign is that India hasnot yet come under theshadow of recessionyet. Experts in thetourism sector pointout that the possible fallin inbound tourism hashappened in the wake ofthe recent depression inEuropean countries, WestAsia and the US which hasforced foreigners to cut off leisuretrips. According to a recent survey,Kerala tourism will witness a 25%fall in foreign tourist arrivals in thecoming season. They add that theremay not be a reduction in the totalnumber of tourists considering thelikely growth in the number of do-mestic tourists. In other words, do-mestic tourists will compensate forthe shortage of inbound tourists. Sur-veys also reveal that 90% of Kerala’stourists are domestic. “The growthof domestic tourism shows the finan-

cial stability of the people in thecountry and it will help to bring moretourists to Kerala,” says Mr JohnyAbraham George, Chairman andManaging Director, Inter Sight TravelAgency.

The tourism sector has been con-tributing considerable revenue to thestate government from both foreignand domestic tourists. The back-bone of Kerala tourism is foreigntourists in spite of the fact that thenumber of domestic visitors is grow-ing. It is estimated that the total num-ber of visitors to Kerala last year wassix lakh against 5.5 million all overthe country. Tourism experts say thefall in the number of tourists fromabroad will adversely affect thebranding of Kerala tourism.

Although Kerala has high tourismpotential, the sector has not beenbenefiting enough from the agenciesconcerned.

“Dam-aged and water-logged roads, frequent hartals andlack of hygiene are the enemies ofour tourism sector. No governmenthas taken enough initiatives to de-velop the tourism sector in thestate,” says Mr Johny Abraham. Ex-perts say the backwardness ofKerala tourism is the result of lackof proper management by the au-thorities concerned. Inbound tourism

is to a large extent restricted to NewDelhi or Mumbai because of the ig-norance of tourists from abroad.“Most foreign tourists are unawareof the southernmost state in thecountry. Only awareness and knowl-edge about Kerala will bring morevisitors to the state,” Mr JohnyAbraham says.

There is also the heavy airfare toKerala that prevents tourists fromskipping the state. Most companiesoffering air transportation imposecostly packages during the seasononly eyeing profits. It is learnt thaton average Rs 50,000 was the air-fare between Delhi and Kochi lastyear, which might have reduced thenumber of both foreign and domes-tic tourists to the state.

Development of tourism is alsoconnected with the travel habit of thepeople. A recent study says only

1% of the total popu-lation in the

coun-

try makesregular leisure

trips. Kerala’s tourismsector has hardly undergone any de-velopment, except that the state gov-ernment has published some adver-tisements. A package of ayurvedaand tourism is a long-heard demandfrom the sector.

Leading hotels in the hospitalitysector are all set to open theirbranches in Kochi. Some 3,500rooms are expected to be added

soon. Only growing demands fromtourists will help to sustain thesehotels and avoid unhealthy compe-tition among players. Even thoughthe tourism scenario shows growthevery year as a result of increase inthe number of domestic tourists, thesector badly needs thorough devel-opment. Experts say connectivityand infrastructure are the main fac-tors that help to accelerate the flowof tourists. A combined effort by thegovernment and society is neededto change the bad image of the statein the development field. Hartals arethe most vexing problem being facedby tourists. Experts suggest acolour code for people connectedwith tourism to avoid problems dur-ing days of hartals.

Recent trends show that touristsfrom China and Australia have be-gun travelling to India widely, a goodomen for the country’s tourism sec-tor.

However certain initiatives by thestate government have created someenthusiasm for the overall develop-ment of Kerala tourism. The Govern-

ment has announced Rs 35 crorefor the development of backwa-ters in the state. Along withthose initiatives, the much-hyped monsoon tourism and re-sponsible tourism minimize thenegative economic, environmen-tal and social impacts, gener-ate greater economic benefitsfor local people and enhance the

well-being of host communities,improve working conditions and

access to the industry, involve lo-cal people in decisions that affecttheir lives and life chances, makepositive contributions to the conser-vation of natural and cultural heritageembracing diversity, provide more en-joyable experiences for touriststhrough more meaningful connec-tions with local people and a greaterunderstanding of local cultural, so-cial and environmental issues, pro-vide access for physically chal-lenged people and those who areculturally sensitive, encourage re-spect between tourists and hosts,and build local pride and confidence.

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RavindranathSreenath

''Estimates show that 70% of globalgrowth over the next few years will come fromemerging markets with China and India ac-counting for 40%. India has a very strong do-mestic market and Indian companies are do-ing well. So no recession will have a seriousimpact on our advertising industry.”

You may be amazed by the stunning cap-tion or the novel idea used for pushing the saleof a product. A beautiful advertisement maycause you to choose a product from a heap ofits alternatives. Advertising has been playing avital role in the marketing of a product or a com-pany since globalization. It has a big role informing the mindset of the consumer. Unlikein the past when companies were scepticalabout the role of advertising in selling, todaythey spend huge amounts on it to attract con-sumers. And advertising agencies are there toserve their clients with vivid and novelideas.

Being a consumer state, Kerala hasalways been a big market for almostall products. This has led to a largenumber of advertising agencies settingup shop here. Recent years have wit-nessed a boom in advertising with therapid growth of television channels andnew advertising methods. As a result peoplehave begun to discuss the role of advertisingand started watching attractive captions withgreat interest. Besides, many firms employmodels, in most cases film actors and cricketplayers, in advertisements, which prods peopleto choose a product.

With the number of clients growing tremen-dously, the advertising field is also looking up.Growth in the last couple of years has particu-larly been significant. But along with the mush-rooming of agencies and their clients a pos-sible economic slowdown has cast its shadowon the ad industry.

It is estimated that 400 agencies are work-ing in Kochi alone, but very few of them ac-credited and having the INS certificate. Eachof the rest is functioning with a small numberof clients. The indiscriminate growth of agen-cies results in unhealthy competition andraises the question of market potential. “The

principal problem facing the advertising indus-try is the disorganized way the agencies arefunctioning and the unfair competition amongthem,” says Mr R Ravindranath, Principal Con-sultant, R K Swamy BBDO, Kochi. “Unhealthycompetition will obviously reduce the qualityof advertisements,” Mr Sreenath, CEO, Ham-mer Advertising Agency, acknowledges. Ex-perts in the field warn of the unhealthy compe-tition and the resultant quality of products. Thenotion that designing a print ad is advertingand anyone who has designing skills can setup an agency has also resulted in the enor-mous increase in the number of small agen-cies in the country. There is neither a regula-tory body to scrutinize the entry of ill-equippedagencies nor any Government control over theirmushrooming. Compromising on cost to fetchnew clients is another threat. Clients opt for

low-cost products or services tosave money. Experts also saythat even major clients aretempted to change their agencyfor ‘better offers’. “Unhealthycompetition neither helps theadvertising industry nor the cli-ents. The ad agency is the cus-todian of the brand and hence

the agency is equally responsible for its suc-cess.” Mr Ravindranath says.

What the client and the ad agency need isto maintain quality and service. Experts saythere are some clients who do not acknowl-edge the power of good advertising, and aremore focused on the cost, fuelling competitionand compromising on quality. They warn thatthis tendency will create trouble in the sectorin the long run.

Another question is the market potential.Does the large number of players createenough demand from clients? Many in the fieldare doubtful. Mr Ravindranath, however, thinksotherwise. “The increasing number of ad agen-cies clearly shows there is huge potential forgrowth in the industry”, he says. Mr Sreenathalso agrees, saying, “As more and more com-panies that are coming up are ready to spenda part of their turnover on advertising, there isdemand and hence the industry will remainstable.”

But any economic slowdown is always athreat to advertising agencies as happened in2008. The only consolation, according to ex-perts, is that recession is not something to beafraid of as the domestic market in the coun-try is getting stronger. “Estimates show that70% of global growth over the next few yearswill come from emerging markets with Chinaand India accounting for 40%. India has a verystrong domestic market and Indian companiesare doing well. So no recession will have aserious impact on our advertising industry,”says Mr Ravindranath. “Of course the 2008 re-cession hit the industry hard and many com-panies were forced to reduce costs to survive.However, now we are looking forward to a bet-ter future and the industry does not face anyrecession threat with the domestic marketpoised for growth,” says Mr Sreenath. “An ad-

vertising agency with most of its cli-ents being foreign companies mayface problems because of a reces-sion, but one dealing with domesticclients will have a smooth run,” saysMr Ravindranath.

The advertising industry has un-dergone many revolutionary changes

in recent years as it has been using social net-works and other groups for its selling campaigns.Experts say companies are shifting from tradi-tional media and giving more attention to events,public relations campaigns, online media, be-low-the-line activities and customer relationshipmanagement for brand building.

Various research findings show that whatconsumers trust is no longer ‘well-known’ and‘established’ brands but qualities such as ‘re-liable’ ‘open’ and ‘honest’. This has significantimplications for marketers as brand communi-cations will now have to focus more on integ-rity and transparency and less on heritage.

With professionalism growing in the adver-tising sector, the future holds opportunities forprofessional people and agencies because thebig challenge ahead is to explore new media.Agencies which have the ability to explore in-novative business ideas for their clients arecertain to survive.

Ad agencies keeprecession away

“Estimates show that 70% of global growth over the next few yearswill come from emerging markets with China and India accountingfor 40%. India has a very strong domestic market and Indian com-panies are doing well. So no recession will have a serious impact onour advertising industry,”

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Srinivas Gopala is a Research Sci-entist at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute forMedical Sciences and Technology(SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram. Hegraduated from Jawaharlal Institute forPost Graduate Medical Education andResearch (JIPMER, Pondicherry) andobtained PhD in Biochemistry from Re-gional Cancer Centre. He started hiscareer as a Lecturer in NSS College andlater on joined as a Scientist at RajivGandhi Centre for Biotechnology. He ob-tained IndoUS fellowship to undergoadvanced training and research in MayoClinic, Rochester MN, USA. He mentorsstudents for pursuing research leadingto PhD in pathobiology of non communi-cable diseases.

For the enlightened few who come into thisworld, the number of years they spent in this worlddoes not seem to matter. They appear quietly andstart functioning and create wonders (they do it forthemselves and yet most of us think they had doneit for others!) and then, one day, disappear. The birthand beginnings of Steve Jobs had not been in thelimelight, unlike his work and, now, death! “The lossof such a man is mourned by all, for it is not in thepower of nature to create another”, laments the world.Steve Jobs was indeed a visionary with no bounds.I think the essence of his genius was his power ofimagination and the continuous quest for inventinghimself, his ability to learn from life and his willing-ness to challenge fundamental assumptions andpreconceptions. In the history of mankind every cen-tury witnesses a couple of them, and in this cen-tury Steve Jobs was surely one. His capacity tomix art and technology to create beautiful technol-ogy is something we will miss for some time. But Iam sure some prodigy will rise soon creating beau-tiful orange, .....

In a book called Think Like Da Vinci the authorsummarizes the seven Da Vincian principles thatmade the greatest genius of all time, Leonardo daVinci. An analysis of the facts reveals that SteveJobs had, most, if not, the entire recipe for becom-ing enlisted in the ‘Book of Genius’. For the sakeof the readers, I would describe them in short.(i) A childlike curiosity that helped him to learn

even on his death bed(ii) Testing knowledge through experience, perse

verance(iii) Being able to see things both at macro and

micro levels

(iv) A willingness to embrace the ambiguity anduncertainty of life

(v) The delicate balance between art, logic andtechnology with the help of a bounty of imagination

(vi) The cultivation of grace, poised approachtowards life

(vii) And finally, the most important, systems thinking, or otherwise called whole brain thinking.

In other words he was a possessee with the ut-most clarity of thought about most, if not, every-thing he wanted to do. He had successfully imag-ined, imbibed, ingenious technology and interfacedit with art and successfully impressed the people;and yet he did not fail to improvise the gadgets withinfinite possibilities and became epitome of how aman with passion can influence and inspire the world.He ensured that the common man will idolize hisinventions, for which, he gave them exceptionalthings that they could not dream off. He never askedus what we wanted, and yet we adored whatever heoffered! He never gave us multitude of options thusrelieving us from the choice paradox. He was theperson with most confusion endurance, an appar-ent mark of most creative people.

We know now that he admired Thomas AlvaEdison, the reason I believe probably is that, Edisonchanged the way how common man benefit fromtechnological advancements. While Edison madethe first record of sound on a drum, Steve Jobsbrought it near the ear drum! Both of them wereconstantly inventing, initially out of curiosity, laterfor specific purposes and eventually for the entiremankind. Both of them worked themselves in labo-ratories, both of them had initial failures and later

successes in life. Both of them believed that it isgreat to have ideas, but it is incredible to have ittransformed into products. It is very important toknow to do things yourselves, so that you don’twant someone else’s help when you brew it. Thegreatest advantage being, no one will know aboutyour failures, except when you decide to tell theworld about it. At that time it will no longer be fail-ures, but rich experiences that shaped the genius.

About the apple with a bite; an apple is some-thing you start your learning with, whether you arein Europe, US, India, Africa or in Siberia. So thelogo suggests that it is just the starting point. Youcan only experience the taste of it once you take abite of it, and implies the good feeling …

Steve had absolute belief in himself. He adoptedgood things from everywhere, adopted Buddhismas his way of life, but did not become a monk.Wandered and explored India, but did not come-back afterwards, not him, nor his company. He gotousted from the company he co-founded! Yet hedid not hate it. But when an opportunity came heenthusiastically took up task of rebuilding it. He didnot stop for a moment. He was in constant motion,without emotion. Like a child collecting pebbles andshells from the sea shores, he picked up the goodthings from wherever he could find them.

He changed the speed with which ‘changes’happen. This accelerated change helped us to feela never before seen burgeoning of individual happi-ness and comfort; societal connectivity and awak-ening; global awareness on renaissance of tech-nology. While he was alive he did the thinking, andmade us use his products! And in his death, we stilluse his gadgets, but are making us to think. Maybe this is what he wanted us to do… we have tothink like Steve.

The Jobs That Steve Left to Us

By Srinivas. G., PhD

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Nagarjuna: Kerala’s first corporateayurvedic firm

Dr Devadas NambuthiripadManaging Director

The first corporate house inKerala’s ayurvedic sector, theNagarjuna Ayurvedic Group is one ofthe best solution providers in healthcarethrough the ancient system of medi-cine and treatment. In its search forexcellence, Nagarjuna has brought to-gether the ‘Ashta Vaidya’ and the ‘AryaVaidya’ schools of thoughts of Kerala’srich ayurvedic tradition. It has also suc-cessfully integrated ayurveda’s tradi-tional values with the modern ethos andcontemporary technology.

The Nagarjuna Group is involved inpopularizing authentic ayurveda, con-ducting product and clinical research,manufacturing and marketing ayurvedicproducts, providing holistic ayurvedictreatment services, assisting in settingup ayurvedic treatment centres, propa-gating medicinal plant cultivation, pro-moting ayurvedic studies, impartingtraining in treatments and therapies

and publishing scientific journals andbooks on ayurveda. For achieving thesegoals, the group presently has six en-tities: Nagarjuna

Herbal Concentrates Ltd (NHCL),the flagship company running an ISO-and GMP-certified manu-facturing facility;Nagarjuna Ayurvedic Cen-tre Ltd (NACL), providingauthentic ayurvedic treat-ments and allied ser-vices; NagarjunaAyurvedic Treatment Ser-vices (NATS); NagarjunaResearch Foundation(NRF); Nagarjuna SocialService Society (NSSS)and Nagarjuna Ayurvedic Institute(NAI).

The main manufacturing unit ofNHCL is situated at Thodupuzha incentral Kerala, which manufactures

about 600 products, marketing themin 18 States and exporting them to 20countries, thus becoming the secondlargest product manufacturer amongthe 2,000-plus ayurvedic product manu-facturers in Kerala.

The products manu-factured are traditionalayurvedic medicines, pro-prietary brandedhealthcare and curativeproducts, FMCG/OTCayurvedic herbal prod-ucts, export portfolio ofspeciality healthcareproducts including dietarysupplements, singleherbs, herbal teas, mas-

sage oils, personal care products,herbal cosmetic products and herbaltoilet soaps.

NHCL’s R & D has been recognizedby the Central Department of Scien-

tific and Industrial Research, the firstand only R & D certified ISO in Kerala.Its animal testing laboratory has beenapproved by the Central Government’sCommittee for the Purpose of Controland Supervision of Experiments onAnimals (CPCSEA). Nagarjuna is theonly ayurvedic company in Kerala withsuch a facility.

The group’s ‘Green Leaf’-certifiedNagarjuna Ayurvedic Centre, theawardwinning ayurvedic hospital atKalady in central Kerala, imparts au-thentic ayurvedic treatments.

Nagarjuna Ayurvedic Institute is theeducation and training wing of thegroup, which undertakes ayurvedanursing as well as therapist trainingprogrammes along with orientationprogrammes on the Kerala ayurvedicsystem and specialities for ayurvedicdoctors from outside Kerala as well asfor international students.

Read them all and advertise in PASSLINE. The magazinethat helps you keep pace—with events and happenings.

PASSLINE—your path to business and the business path to success.

The magazine that purveys ideas. Ideas to help you bettermanage your business. Ideas to understand the vast changesreconstituting the economies—of both Kerala and the coun-try. Ideas to entertain you—and to prod you to see things indifferent ways.

Some of these ideas, we believe, come out of how peopleand companies are pushing themselves to become morecompetitive or turning themselves around.

Keethara Publications Pvt Ltd38/125 1st Floor, Narakathara Road, Kochi-682 035, Kerala, India.Ph : +91 484 4027002, Marketing : +91 484 3043325, Editorial : +91 484 3043572 e-mail : [email protected]

www.passlinebusinessmagazine.com

Nagarjuna: Kerala’s first corporateayurvedic firm


3737

Federal Bank posts36.16% more net profit

Aluva-based Federal Bank has posted a net profit with an increaseof 36.16% at Rs 191.16 crore. ln the corresponding period of previousfiscal it was Rs 140.40 crore.

Total income of the bank stood at Rs 1484.79 crore with a hike of32.29% from Rs 1122.38 crore in the same period last year. In thesecond quarter of this fiscal the income on interest is Rs 1367.83 croreas against Rs 978.34 crore in the same period previous fiscal. Net inter-est income increased by 8.22% from Rs 438.37 crore to Rs 474.41crore.

Total business pegged at Rs 80,870.15 crore up by 26.85%. Totaldeposit stood at Rs 47,263.46 crore with an increase of 30.87%. Totaladvances stood at Rs 33,606.69 crore with a hike of 21.61%. Retailloans are 27.92% of total loans. Priority sector loan amounted to Rs12,342.97 crore. Agriculture loans mounted to 4368.58 crore with a hikeof 28.18%.

NPA stood at 0.58 %. It was 0.68% in the corresponding period lastfiscal.

Capital adequacy ratio is 15.05% as against the stipulation of RBIat 9%.

Earnings per share(EPS) is Rs 44.70. Book value of share is Rs318.39. In 2010 September it was Rs 32.83 and Rs 290.16 respectively.

In the second quarter Federal Bank has superseded other publicsector and private sector banks in Kerala. Fereral Bank hopes to achievethe front row position in the Indian banking sector.

Bank has 757 branches and 832 ATMs(Sept 30,2011). In view of the66th Founder’s Day of the bank on October 18 the bank has opened 66branches and 34 ATMs all over India.

SIB sends GKSF onlineDiwali video greetings

Online Diwali video greetings through internet, sponsored bySouth Indian Bank(SIB), was inaugurated by Mr A P Anilkumar, Min-ister for Tourism, at a function held in Thiruvananthapuram. TourismSecretary T K Manoj Kumar, Tourism Director Rani George, GKSFDirector Rathan Gelkar, SIB Assistant General Manager GNandakumar were present on the occasion. This facility is expectedto give the opportunity for the public for sending video Diwali cel-ebration visuals and messages of the sender to his kith and kin.SIBsends the greetings to 3 lakh persons as a part of a campaign forGrand Kerala Shopping Festival(GKSF). This facility will be avail-able at the official website of GKSF www.shoppingfestival.in and theofficial website of Kerala tourism www.keralatourism.org.

Corporation Bank cutsinterest rate on loans

As all banks banking upon an interest rate hike in all loan seg-ments Corporation Bank has put the mode of operandi in a reversegear. As a result the interest rates on all loans has come down virtu-

ally. This comes as a grand fes-tival offer from the bank from Oc-tober 1 to December 31, 2011.The interest rate reduction is ap-plicable to Home Loans, VehicleLoans and Personal Loans for aperiod of 3 months. The specialoffer is available to its clients .

Housing Loans have reductionin interest rate between 0.35% to

1.00% p. a. in different tenors under floating and fixed rate options,50% waiver of processing charges on all housing loans, 60% waiverof processing charges under Ghar Shobha Scheme (finance for re-pairs/renovation/extension/ improvement/ furnishing of house/flat).

Vehicle loans have reduction in interest rate by 0.25% on all loanswith tenor upto 3 years i.e. from 12.25% to 12% p.a. Personal Loansbring reduction of interest by 1.75% i.e. from 14.75% to 13% p.a.(where the salary is routed through the bank).

The bank expects to mobilise approximately new business of Rs1,500 crore due to this initiative in the next 3 months under the RetailLoan segment.

Kerala Minister for Tourism A P Anilkumar, inaugurating GKSF online Diwali video greetingslaunched by South Indian Bank at a function held in Thiruvananthapuram.


38

Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani unveiling Vision-2015 document of KSFE. KSFE Chairman V P Joy, IAS and MD in-chargeP Rajendran are also seen.

Tomyas award forAkkitham andartist Namboodiri

Poet laureate Akkitham AchuthanNamboodiri and the renowned painter and art-ist Namboodiri(Karuvatt VasudevanNamboodiri) have been selected for the 14th VA Kesavan Nair Memorial Award for 2010. Theaward was instituted by the Thrissur-based

Tomyas Advertising Agencyin honour of noted freedomfighter, journalist and authorV A Kesavan Nair for his richcontributions towardsIndia’s freedom struggle,journalism and literature. Both the award winners areaged 86.

The award consisting ofRs 50, 000 each and statu-ette would be presented byeminent litterateur M TVasudevan Nair to the duoat a Kesavan Nair com-memorative function atKerala Sahitya AcademyHall in December firstweek, Award Committee

Chairman Thomas Pavaratty said. MrKesavan Nair, who was editor of‘Swatantrabharatham’ (Free India), a clandes-tine publication at the time of Quit India move-ment for promoting India’s independence cam-paign.

A post- graduate in Economics, Nair hada stint with ‘Bombay Chronicle’ and then wasthe first Bombay-Madras reporter ofMatrubhumi daily. Kesavan Nair and Prof MP Sankunny Nair have jointly translated Nobelprize winner Pearl S Buck’s novel ‘The GoodEarth’.

Among the earlier recipients of the awardwere prominent personalities like SwamyRanganathananda, O V Vijayan, BishopPoulose Mar Poulose, Prof G Kumara Pilla,Swamy Moodananda, MRB, K P NarayanaPisharody, Kunhunny Master, C SGangadharan, Jos Alukkas, Kovilan and well-known institutions like ‘Mathrubhumi’ andSOS Children’s Village, Mr Pavaratty added.

Karuvatt VasudevanNamboodiri

Akkitham AchuthanNamboodiri

KTM Societyoffice-bearers

The 11th annual gen-eral meeting of the KeralaTravel Mart Society(KTMS) recently re-electedMr Riaz Ahmed as Presi-dent.

The other office-bearersare Vice-PresidentAbraham George, Secretary Sajeev Kurup V,Joint Secretary Anish Kumar P K and Trea-surer Jose Mathew.

The members elected are Mr E M Najeeb,Mr Baby Mathew, Mr Dilip Pottamkulam andMr George Dominic.

Riaz Ahmed

New style of film exhibition,new style of viewing

Film viewing is going to be a new experi-ence for theatre-goers as Prasad Group has ven-tured into a new style of exhibition withPanavision Film 3D/E-Cinema 3 D-polarized.

Prasad Group is a pioneer in the field of digi-tal post-production, having introduced most of thedigital post-services in India. Prasad Group’sservices cater to every area in-volved in film and video post-pro-duction, equipment rentals, DVDauthoring, Blu-Ray compressionand authoring, digital cinema, digi-tal film restoration and stereo-scopic conversion. The group has major produc-tion facilities and offices in India (Chennai,Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore,Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar, New Delhi,Kolkata), Singapore and Hollywood. Prasad op-erates one of India’s multiplexes in Hyderabad,which includes an IMAX theatre, 5 screens withdigital projection, shopping mall, food court, res-taurants and entertainment zones.

Now Prasad Group has introduced PrasadXtreme Digital cinema network (PXD) 3D . PXDdigital prints are made at Prasad Film Laborato-ries (PFL), the most trusted name in the Indianpost- production industry for over three decades.

PXD benefits all. It is cost-saving with the fa-cility for wide release and curbs piracy. For pro-ducers and distributors it is a nominal one-timeinvestment for digital prints. It is easy to be ex-tended to further screens without time delay.Timely release in all centres is possible. And itprotects films from piracy and adverse publicity.

Digital encoding and encryption re-stricts piracy.

For the exhibitor there is no in-vestment except a minimum amountfor the white screen, if desired. Theycan enjoy increased box office po-

tential. More audiences visit theatres to view films.More shows in multiplexes from single digitalprints, hence more savings.

For audiences no increase in ticket cost, betterquality and clarity of content. Enhanced movieexperience in theatre.

The audience views the cinema by means of3D goggles which will be distributed at the timeof entrance to the cinema hall. After the moviethe spectacles will be recovered from the spec-tators. The glasses are costly. The distributorrents the spectacles to the theatres at half thecost which are to be arranged by the exhibitors.

KSFDC office-bearers

Edavela BabuSabu Cherian

Film producer Sabu Cherian is the Chair-man and film artiste Edavela Babu the Vice-Chairman of the Kerala State Film Develop-ment Corporation (KSFDC).

Sabu Cherian is the producer of films likeChandamama, 4 the People, Bythe People, Thriller and Dreamsand also the President of theFilm Producers Association.

Edavela Babu is also theSecretary of AMMA (Associa-tion of Malayalam Movie Mak-ers Association).

Cinema artistes Dileep, Salim Kumar,Maniyanpilla Raju, Siddhique, Captain Raju,Ibrahim Kutty, Kalady Omana and Seema GNair, directors Shaji Kailas, K Madhu andSuresh Unnithan are the board members.

Cinematographer SKumar, editor Baiju Devaraj,producers K S Balagopal andKalyanaraman are also mem-bers.

The office-bearers includepersons from both the cinemaand serial fields.

38


39

Jaguar showroom in KochiLeading luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has launched its

first showroom in Kerala at Muthoot Motors near the Gold Souk on NHBypass near Vyttila in Kochi. Mr R Ramakrishnan, Vice-President, Pas-senger Car Business Unit, Tata Motors, inaugurated the showroom the otherday. Petrol and diesel variants of Jaguars with XJ Jaguar, XF, XFR and XKRCoupe models and Land Free Lander 2 from Rover and Discovery 4 andRange Rover will be made available through the showroom, according toreports. Mr Rohit Sury, Head of Premier Car Division, Jaguar Land RoverIndia, and Mr Thomas Muthoot, Executive Director, Muthoot PappachanGroup, were present on the occasion.

All Tata mobile servicesunder DoCoMo brand

To make its products and services available through a single, strongnetwork, Tata Teleservice has migrated all its Tata Indicom customers un-der the banner of Tata DoCoMo. Announcing this, Mr Vinod Goyal, ChiefOperating Officer, Kerala Circle, Tata Service Ltd. Told reporters in Kochi

recently that CDMA, GSM, 3G andPhoton platforms would also be avail-able under the new unified brand.

The company unveiled cutting-edge CDMA handsets, smart phones andvarious Deepavali offers at the function. Officials said the company hadconsolidated all organizational assets—Spectrum, retail touch points, digi-tal footprints and consumer franchises across technology platforms underthe single brand of Tata DoCoMo. The company was also planning signifi-cant investments to upgrade its CDMA network to deepen and widen theexisting footprints.

Sakthi Paper expansionnearing completion

The Rs 20-crore expansion of Sree Sakthi Paper Mills Limited is ex-pected to be completed by December this year, according to Vice-Chair-man and Managing Director S Rajkumar. The company is already gainingfrom the expansion project. Mr Rajkumar told the company’s 20th annualgeneral meeting (AGM) in Kochi recently that the modernization has notonly improved productivity but also enhanced the quality of the products.It has resulted in higher realization, significantly boosting profitability.

Besides modernization, the company’s investment in green technol-ogy is likely to generate a steady income stream from Carbon Credits inthe coming years, Mr Rajkumar said.

The company achieved 29% growth in turnover at Rs 147.53 crore toreach Rs 190.82 crore, and capacity utilization improved from 85% to91% (71,926 MT to 77,385 MT). Net profit went up by 51% (Rs 4.64 croreto Rs 7.01 crore) in 2010-11. Return on net worth increased from 12.7% to17.7%, and the earnings per share (EPS) rose by 51% to Rs 4.27 from Rs2.83 in 2009-10.

Buoyed by the robust financial performance in fiscal 2011, the boardrecommended a dividend of 21% (including 8% interim), as against 18%in the previous year, to its equity shareholders whose names appeared onthe register of members of the company as on September 2, 2011. Thecompany’s dividend yielded a post-tax return of 7.5% on the current mar-ket price of about Rs 28, which, incidentally, is the highest yield in theentire paper manufacturing industry.

The AGM generated a lot of interest among the company’s sharehold-ers, with a record number of about 1,000 shareholders attending it.

‘V Guard Big Idea Business Plan’contest prizes distributed

Kochi: Prizes for the winners of ‘V Guard BigIdea Business Plan’ contest for MBA-B Tech stu-dents, organised by V Guard Industries were givenaway by Mr V A Joseph, CEO and Managing Direc-tor, South Indian Bank, at a function held in Kochi.Mr Kochouseph Chittilappilly, Managing Director,V Guard Industries, presided over the function.

Krishna Kishore and team (I IM, Indore) hasbagged the first prize worth Rs 1,00,000 whileSivaharsh S and team (IIM, Kozhikode) andHeyrab S and team won the second (Rs 50,000)and the third prize(Rs 25,000) respectively. Spe-cial jury prize was given to Juby Varghese andteam (Saint Gits Institute of Management,Changanassery) and Faiq and team (DCSMAT,

Vagamon). More than100 entries received from vari-ous business and technical schools including IIMand IIT. The winners were selected from 20 entriesshortlisted. The V Guard ‘Big Idea Business Plan’contest was organised to promote the spirit of en-trepreneurship and innovation among students ofthe country.

The five- member jury under the chairmanshipof Mr Shivaram S( Director, Deloit, Chennai), MrMithun Chittilappilly(Executive Director, V Guard),Mr George Sleeba ( Joint Managing Director, VGuard), Mr Nandagopal Nair ( Head, Corporate,Communications, V Guard) and Mr SatyanarayanK (Partner, Varma and Varma) selected the win-ners after judging the overall performance.

V- Guard: total salesup in second quarter

V -Guard Industries has announced its un-audited financial results for the second quar-ter ended September 30, 2011. The companyhas registered a total sale of Rs 219.02 crorein the period with 38 per cent increase fromRs 158 crore last quarter. The net profit of thecompany is Rs 6.84 against Rs 8.78 crore inthe same period of the previous year. Totalsale for the second quarter ended September30, 2011, was 459.09 against 326.95 for thequarter ended September 30, 2010 with anincrease of 40 per cent.

Mr Mithun Chittilappilly, Executive Direc-tor, said that electric water heater, cable, sta-bilizer, pumps were reported increase in salesand the company would abide by its capexplans to complete various projects in time.

39

Capexil Award forNitta Gelatin

Nitta Gelatin India Ltd (NGIL), a KSIDCjoint venture, has bagged the Capexil Awardfor Best Exporter. The award is in recogni-tion of NGIL’s export achievement in respectof ossein and gelatine panel.

NGIL Managing Director G Susleean re-ceived the award from Union Minister of Statefor Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya MScindia in New Delhi recently.

SIB posts Rs 95 crore net in Q2South Indian Bank(SIB) posted the highest net profit of Rs 94.95 crore

for the second quarter ended September 30,2011.The total business of the bank has increased by Rs 13,297 crore from

Rs 43,089 crore to Rs 56,386 crore on year-to-year basis registering agrowth of 30.86 pre cent. The deposits have gone up by Rs 7,978 crorefrom Rs 25,060 crore to Rs 33,038 crore registering a growth of 31.84 percent.

The advances have increased by Rs 5,319 crore from Rs 18,029 croreto Rs23,348 crore registering a growth of29.51 per cent. CASA of the bank hasincreased by Rs 1,059 crore from Rs5,979 crore to Rs 7,078 crore showing agrowth of 17.72 per cent.

Bank’s MD and CEO V A Joseph said that the bank could achieve thebetter result because of the better return on NPAs. The bank has earneda total income of Rs 1,751 crore during the half year as against Rs 1206crore in the previous half registering a growth of 45.14 per cent. Earningsper share increased to Rs 3.13(30.9.11) from Rs 2.39(30.9.10).The Capi-tal Adequacy Ratio (CRAR) of the bank, computed as per Basel-2 guide-lines, stands at a very comfortable level of 13.48 %.

The bank plans to increase the number of branches to 700 and ATMsto 600 this fiscal.

South Indian Bank has been chosen as the title sponsor of the GrandShopping Festival-2011 organising under the aegis of the Kerala Govern-ment.

Federal Bank’s newinitiative on CSR

Federal Bank has always been in the forefront insetting new examples of corporate social responsibility(CSR). Besides giving scholarships by the Fed BankHormis Memorial Foundation to students of professionalcourses, the bank has fared well in this category by col-laborating with different agencies. Renovation ofErnakulam General Hospital, new building complex forAluva Taluk Hospital,rehabilitation centrefor AIDS victims atMuthalamada andSwanthanam projectfor the protection of orphaned children at Kalamasseryare only a few instances among them.

Since its inception with the opening of a branch atAluva in 1945 Federal Bank has completed 66 meaning-ful years. To cherish the memories of the 66 years thebank’s retired and service personnel planted 66 saplingsat the birthplace of the founder of the bank, K P Hormis,at Mookkannur on October 18. In protecting the environ-ment this may be the first step initiated by a corporateestablishment. The bank’s MD and CEO, Mr ShyamSrinivasan, inaugurated the programme.

This October 18 was the 95th birthday of K P Hormis.To focus more on matters of social responsibility thebank has formed a corporate social responsibility wingheaded by Mr Raju Hormis. With this, the bank plans toengage itself in more corporate social activities in thefuture.

Forex Card from Dhanlaxmi BankDhanlaxmi Bank has launched

Dhanlaxmi Bank Forex Card, a foreign cur-rency-denominated, reloadable prepaidcard.

International travellers can now load thecard in US dollars, Great Britain pounds(GBP) and euro in India and use it to makepurchases at more than 27 million VISA-enabled point-of-sale terminals or withdrawcash at any of the 10,00,000 VISA ATMsworldwide.

With the Forex Card, overseas travellershave a secure, hassle-free and cost-effec-tive option vis-à-vis travellers’ cheques, in-ternational debit andcredit cards and physi-cal currency notes. Thecard available overbranch counters allowscustomers the flexibility to conduct trans-actions at merchant establishments orATMs without any additional foreign conver-sion charges. Customers can change theATM pin, block or unblock the card or re-quest a replacement of lost or stolen card.Apart from viewing online balance availabil-ity and transaction history, customers canalso use the 24/7 call centre facility.

Mr D A Dhananjaya, Head, ForeignExchange, says: “With the launch of the

Forex Card, Dhanlaxmi Bank will offer in-ternational travellers not only a seamlesspayment experience but will also providethem with a complete array of foreign ex-change-related products and services.”

Dhanlaxmi Bank offers customers a bou-quet of foreign exchange services like for-eign currency cash services, foreign cur-rency cheque deposits, foreign currencydemand drafts and remittances.

Total business Rs 23,000 crore: Dur-ing the last three years, the bank’s totaldeposits increased from Rs 3,829 crore ason June 30, 2008 to Rs 12,904 crore as on

June 30, 2011, ad-vances rose fromRs 2,207 crore ason June 30, 2008 toRs 9,675 crore as

on June 30, 2011. The bank had a total busi-ness of Rs 22,579 crore as on June 30, 2011with a total asset base at Rs 15,036 crore.

The shares of the bank are listed on theBombay Stock Exchange Limited, the Na-tional Stock Exchange of India Limited andthe Cochin Stock Exchange.

The bank has 275 branches and 460ATMs covering 160 centres across 14states with a customer base of 1.6 million.

Muthoot Fincorpopens 5 branchesin Jaipur

Muthoot Fincorp has madeits entry into Rajasthan by set-ting up five branches in Jaipur.

With this, the MuthootPappachen Group will have2,000 branches across the coun-try by March 2012, according toMr Thomas John Muthoot, thegruup’s CMD.

ICCI, Cochinoffice- bearers

Mr P L Prakash James ofP L Lawrence & Co, Cochin, andMr NIshesh Shah of UniversalOleoresins, Cochin, have beenunanimously elected presidentand vice-president respectivelyof the Indian Chamber of Com-merce and Industry, (ICCI)Cochin, for the year 2011-12.

The following have beenelected to fill up the vacanciesin the 18-member managingcommittee:

Mr R Radhakrishna Kamath,Mr Raj Kumar Gupta, MrRajesh Asher, Mr RajeshAgarwal and Mr A A AbdulAzeez.

Antony JobsonFBOA President

Mr Antony Jobson has beenelected President of the FederalBank Officers’ Association(FBOA). He hails from Melatoor.

Sudhir VasudevaONGC chief

Mr Sudhir Vasudeva has beenappointed Chairman and Manag-ing Director of State-owned Oil andNatural Gas Corporation (ONGC).Vasudeva, 57, is currently Direc-tor (Offshore) in ONGC.

Mr Vasudeva will head thenation’s highest profit-making firmtill his retirement on January 31,2014. This follows Prime MinisterManmohan Singh’s clean chit ap-proving the appointment after theCentral Vigilance Commission(CVC) finally cleared all com-plaints received against Vasudeva.

Geojit Q2 net downGeojit BNP Paribas Financial Services has registered a lower

net profit of Rs 6.05 crore for the quarter ending September 30,2011. The consolidated net profit declined by 22% to Rs 10.3 crorefrom Rs 13.3 crore and the consolidated income by 8% to Rs 125.38crore from Rs 135.84 crore. The consolidated revenues fell by 11%to Rs 63.57 crore from Rs 71.38 crore for the corresponding quarterof the previous fiscal.


40

N R SubramaniamTCCL chief

Mr N R Subramaniam hastaken charge as the Chairmanand Managing Director ofTravancore-Cochin ChemicalsLimited, Udyogamandal. He wasthe Managing Director of KeralaMinerals and Metals Limited,Chavara, Kollam.

A home for knowledgeGarden City College

Dr Joseph V GChairman, Garden City Group of Institutions

Education primarily moulds hu-man character, leading to quantumchanges in a human being’s quality ofthinking. This changed entity is bet-ter placed to successfully relate to co-habitants of the medium that he is apart of. Thus, education is a task thatneeds to be handled with care, as it isa process that defines an entire gamutof generations to come and is a heraldto the ‘not so distant future’.

Epitome of successA few years ago, a well-educated,

highly determined and self-motivatedindividual gave serious thought to thistask and decided to put his thoughtsinto action. That was the beginning ofGarden City College.

Dr Joseph V G, Chairman, GardenCity Group of Institutions, insisted on

imbibe in them the skill to capture theirdreams.

About Chairman: Dr Joseph V G isthe Founder of Garden City Group ofInstitutions, which has carved a nichefor itself by providing quality educationin India. Today students from 70 coun-tries and from all the States and UnionTerritories of India havemade Garden City Col-lege their home for knowl-edge. The reason is thatthis visionary geniusimplemented highly effi-cient academic practicesat a very young age.

The principles of Gar-den City College laid downby him, with The 'Empha-sis On Life', have made itone of the most-sought-af-ter institutions for higherlearning. In the last twoand a half decades Dr Jo-seph V G has crossedseveral milestones in thearena of education andhas stood witness to theimmense growth of Gar-den City Group of Institutions, becom-ing its major inspiration.

A thought to establish an institu-tion that would serve mankind for hun-dreds of years crossed his mind dur-ing 1985 which sowed the seed for thebeginning of Garden City EducationTrust. The Trust was established in1992 with the intention of establishinginstitutions of global standards.

Garden City College was the firstinstitution that had shaped up from hisvision to serve the needy with qualityeducation. His intention was to elimi-nate unemployment to the maximumextent and thus introduce job-orientedcourses. His emphasis was always onquality education and hence in1995, Garden City College witnessedthe introduction of highly acclaimedcourses in Science and ManagementStudies with new combinations that areapt for the industry and a new sylla-bus has seen light after a long gap.

Facilities @ GCC:GCC Library: The library at GCC

offers you access to printed itemsacross all subjects and several peri-odicals, an extensive and rapidly ex-panding collection of electronic re-sources including thousands of elec-tronic journals and materials in audio-visual formats.

The library, a modern state-of-the-art building on campus, comprises col-lections in all subjects. There are largecollections of print and electronic ref-erence material. The library aims at tai-loring services to the needs of the us-ers. The library is open late into theday to enable students to have accesswhenever they require.

Hostel: A home away from home,that’s the GCC hostel for students whohave come from across India and evenfrom around the world. GCC’s basketof nine hostels addresses the insecu-rity by completely understanding thefears of the students and parents. GCChas taken sincere efforts to bring thebest of facilities to their hostellers withthe provision for storing valuables intheir individual lockers. Besides, thereis medical help and counsellors on call,saloons, internet stations, conveniencestores, pharmacy kiosks, multi-activ-ity playing grounds and a fleet of busesconnecting the city. Security on thehostel campus is tight.

ATMs are present for quick accessto cash. The hostels here cater to theneeds of stu-dents, both interms of

board and lodging. Laundry facilitiesare available. Hot showers are a given,with Bangalore having cool tempera-tures for the greater part of the year.

GCC Hospital: The GCC Hospital,a unit of Garden City College of Phys-iotherapy, has been functioning for adecade. The hospital not only catersto the 4,500 students of GCC Group ofInstitutions but also serves the socio-economically weaker sections ofpeople hailing from an area of 5-km ra-dius around the institution. The hospi-tal is not confined to local servicesalone, it has also extended servicesand help to people affected by naturalcalamities such as the tsunami in TamilNadu and Kerala, rain-flooded areas invillages of Tamil Nadu and earthquake-affected populations in Kashmir.

Transportation: A fleet of well-keptbuses ply to and fro to the campus andto all GCC hostels from different partsof Bangalore. These buses are alsoavailable for all academic-related work.

Placement Cell: At the end of theday, what counts is the student’s po-tential to be placed in the finest orga-nizations as a first step towards alonger career development. The place-ment cell conducts supportprogrammes that enhance theirchances for a smooth transition froma Student to an Executive. The Place-ment Cell holds workshops for the fi-nal-year students to zero in on theirskills and aptitudes, strengths andweaknesses, fine-tune presentationtechniques and network with the GCCalumni and the leaders in industry toprovide them with the opportunity tofind a suitable placement.

The Placement Cell has been suc-cessful in bringing the best of organi-zations to the campus head huntingand is a matter of pride that GCC alumnican be found working for the bestcorporates in the country and outside.

The Gardenia FestTalent in full bloom

The annual fest of Garden City Col-lege, Gardenia, always lives up to itspromise as the biggest fest on the col-lege calendar of Bangalore. Being a na-tionwide buzz, colleges across Indiatake part in the events with studentscoming from far-flung places like Delhi,

Mumbai, Chennai and Coimbatoregiving the fest a national out-

look.-Response Feature

A permanently affiliatedinstitution of BangaloreUniversity, approved byAICTE-New Delhi, Gov-ernment of India, re-ac-credited by NAAC with'A' Grade and an ISO9001:2008 - certifiedinstitution

shaping GCC into an institution thatinstils in every young mind, who hasspent a few years at GCC, all ingredi-ents that make him/her a success inevery facet of life.

The institution has, in the past de-cade, brought about innovations thatstrengthen and build an ambience forlearning. GCC has always striven tostand apart, and be counted among thetrend-setters in the field of educationin the country. At GCC, no stone is leftunturned in ensuring that quality edu-cation is imparted with passion.

As the young ones take their stridealong this journey of life, we can onlyhold their hands and be a facilitator intheir journey to success. As they marchalong the present, we apprise them ofthe possibilities that the future holds.We inspire them to aim higher and


41

SATHEESHPOTTEKKAT

Managing Director

Aiming at retail & SME sectorBank of Baroda (BoB) will open

more branches and ATMs in Kerala bythe end of this financial year to expand itsbusiness in the state. Now it has68 branches and 29 ATMs andthe plan is to add 15 morebranches and 10 ATMs. The BoBconsists of 49 regional offices in-cluding Kerala as a region hav-ing a pan- India presence. Keralaregion has 12th position amongregions considering the growthin different areas, said Mr J GaneshKumar, Assistant General Manager.

“We are in fairly good position inbusiness with a total turnover of Rs4,400 crore for Kerala region only. Out of

that Rs 1,605 crore are advances andRs 2,750 crore deposits. We also antici-pate a total growth of 30% in this finan-

cial year. This year we had atremendous growth in our goldloan portfolio. Gold loanslinked with agricultural purposeare in priority sector with subsi-dized interest rate of 4%. In theretail sector our total businessby September was Rs 800crore and out of this 50% was

housing loans, Mr Kumar added. TheBaroda Paramarsh , an innovative cen-tre by the bank working in Vadakkancheryin Palakkad district provides advisoryservices to the small traders and agri-

culturists regarding the market con-ditions and available financial optionsfor them from the bank time to time.BoB is also having two centersnamed Retail loan factory and SMEloan factory for speedy scrutiny anddisbursal of loans for retail and SMEsector.

Bank of Baroda is known asIndia’s International bank with 86branches spreading 26 countries in-cluding places like Uganda andKenya. The bank has a slew of prod-ucts and services fine-tuned exclu-sively for NRIs. A service calledRLFCD is one among them. As perthis mode the account holder canconvert the proceeds into Indian ru-pees as well as any foreign curren-cies of any denomination. BoB is alsoproviding loans to their account hold-ers abroad based on their collateralsin India.

J Ganesh Kumar

RMCo Infrastructure DevelopersPvt Ltd has made the concept of com-munity living possible in its idealprojects with its 23 years of immacu-late experience in the real estate sec-tor of Thrissur. RMCo has reachedgreat heights under the stewardshipof Managing Director Satheesh Pottekkatwho has been working in the real estate fieldfor years. He has so far delivered 4,000 houseplots to property seekers, enabling them tolive in a conglomeration as a community. Itis the mode of 200-300 families living in har-mony. It is for the first timethat Thrissur, emerging as animportant city, is experienc-ing community living, a sys-tem highly acclaimed in de-veloped countries, becauseof the farsightedness of Satheesh.

RMCo housing colonies have all facilitiesfor community living, like swimming pool,health club, boundary compound wall, 24-hour security and generator backup. RMCoprovides housing plots at a price affordableto the average income group: each plot costsRs 5 lakh, where the dwellers can experi-ence amenities worth Rs 2.5 crore usuallyavailable in a resort. Global standards, qual-ity and trust are the hallmarks of RMCo.

A highly qualified engineering team, ex-perienced professionals and an expert mar-

keting wing are also RMCo’sspecialities. Moreover, timelyexecution and authentic plan-ning are its notable features.The housing plots are locatedin prime areas close to educa-tional institutions, hospitals and

traffic spots. Moreover, an RMCo project isalso an investment because the plots aresituated in and around the city where landvalue is going up day by day. A five-cent villaplot viable for all the city amenities is nowavailable for Rs 3.5 lakh.

Poomala Resort, Chuvanna MannuEvershine City, Akkikkavu Evershine City,Rose Garden, Ramavarmapuram, RoyalSquare, Tirur, Pearl Park, Karayamparambu,and Green Country, Koratty, are the placeswhere RMCo has projects. Besides, hous-ing plots are available in Kochi and Palakkadin prime locations. With the idea of providingplots for common people, RMCo has plansto launch projects in all districts of the stateand also in major cities of the country.

It is timely delivery, quality, the friendlyattitude of Satheesh and the involvement of

the staff that have helped the company toreach the forefront of property development."The new policy of the ISO 9001-2008-certi-fied company is to make Rs 6-lakh housesa reality’’, reveals the Managing Director.

Contact:Ist Floor, Presidency Shopping Com-

plex, Parayil Lane, Poothol Road,Thrissur, Kerala, India 680004. Ph: 0487-3256723, 0487-2385479.

Email: [email protected]

-Response Feature


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Coordinator-philanthropist

Special invitees will honour the occasion

Suresh Gopi Remya NambisanK C Venugopal A P Anil Kumar

The Swiss-Province of the World MalayaleeCouncil (WMC) was started in 1995. WMC hasmade the promotion of young talent in the Eu-rope Region as one of the key areas of activity.

The Council believes that the future rests with theyouth. In order to support the youth in their quest forexcellence and in their search for identity, WMC isin the planning stages of the annual signature youthprogram “Youth Festival and Keralapiravi Celebra-tions” on the 5th November 2011 at Zurich/Switzer-land, that will bring together the youth of Germany,Austria, the United Kingdom, Hungry, Italy, Holland,Ireland and Switzerland. The honourable Union Min-ister of State for Power, Mr K C Venugopal, and theMinister for Tourism and Welfare of ScheduledCastes and Backward Classes, Kerala, Mr A P AnilKumar, will attend the celebrations.

Super star Bharath Suresh Gopi ofMalayalam filmdom will be the chief celebrityand silver screen’s favourite Remya Nambisanwill add glitz and glamour to the event by theiraugust presence.

Santy Mathew

Santy Mathew with wife Lovely in front of St Peter's Basilica, Rome

Santy addressing the audience at WMC Meet in Switzerland

Organizing an event or a programme may be ahectic task for many. However, a few people are en-dowed with such professionalism and apt talent toconduct such events. Mr Santy Mathew, a residentof Thodupuzha, is one among the latter categorywith his exceptional talent and craftsmanship as agood organiser. He has closely been associated withmany agencies working in social as well as eco-nomic spectrum in society.

Besides holding a number of prestigious posi-tions, he has also received a number of awards andaccolades for outstanding performance in businesssector. He has proved his mettle in various sectorsincluding business, charity, social activity and edu-cation.

Mr Santy is the Founder- Director of Global In-dian School; President, Global Malayalee Counciland Vice-president, Energy Conservation Society(NGO). He is also a state council member of Resi-dents Associations of Kerala, the apex body of resi-dents’ association. Mr Santy has visited many for-eign countries and actively involved in conductingnumber of events. He has been associating withWorld Malayalee Council celebrations for the last

couple of years and also got opportunity to visit Aus-tralian Parliament. He had the chance to meet PopeBenedict 16th.

He is now the Indian coordinator ofthe Youth Festival and Keralapiravi Cel-ebrations, organized by Swiss Provinceof World Malayalee Council at Zurich inSwitzerland on November 5, 2011.

After his schooling at IMHS, Kaloor,Thodupuzha, Mr Santy was actively in-volved in many social and general issuesat his college where he was also theunion chairman. Entrepreneurship in himcame to the fore during his college daysas he recognised his acumen both as abusinessman and a social activist. Be-cause, after education Santy started hisfirst business venture— an aluminum fab-rication unit at his home town as smallscale industry which helped more than60 people to get jobs which eventuallyled him to open two showrooms for two-wheelers of reputed brands at Muvattupuzha andThodupuzha.

He bagged a series of awards forentrepreneurship in business includ-ing ‘Outstanding dealer award 2002’,and ‘Best businessman award 2004’.

The self-made entrepreneur hasother area of interest which led himto spread the message of environ-mental protection and pollution-freestate under the banner of Energyconservation society since his entryinto the distinguished agency. Hehad served as the PRO before he waselected its vice president.

Although he was eco-friendly hehas a soft corner towards the poor

and marginalised to actively associate with manycharitable organisations and charitable activities. Hewas an active member of ‘Divyarakhshalayam’, acharitable organisation running at Thodupuzha for

many years. Rehabilitation of AIDS victims, aware-ness drive against pollution are the areas which heactively associated with.

The entrepreneur cannot be counted among thenormal commuters who usually turn a blind eye to-wards accidents frequently occurs on roads. At thosecritical moments he turns a philanthropist of the help-less victims to rehab them without being a mere on-looker to such pathetic sight. His humane attitudehas helped many victims to get a second lease oflife after facing such fatal moments. The dictum thatbehind the success of a man there is a woman.That woman is wife Lovely backed by their 3 chil-dren Linta Mariya (Engineering student), Minta Rose(Seventh Standard) and Emmanuel Mathew (FirstStandard).Santy and wife with V D Satheesan MLA, Thomas Chazhikadan Ex MLA,

and Playback singer Remi Tomy.

RN 65561/94 Reg. No. KL/EKM/116/2009-2011PASSLINE44 October 31 - November 30, 2011

Printed and Edited by Varghese Paul for Keethara Publications Pvt Ltd. 6802, Convent Road, Kochi-35 Tel 3043572 Email:[email protected] and Printed at Ayodhya Printers Pvt Ltd., Cochin-26 Design & Layout by johnson

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