Animation industry witnesses growth

The animation industry in India is expected to touch Rs 20.8 billion by 2015. Amongst the worldwide box office grosses of 2010, animated movies were the most successful and amounted for 45% of the ticket sales and box-office collections.

Among the top 10 box-office grosses worldwide, six were animated movies — Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland, Shrek Forever After, Despicable Me, Tangled and How to Train Your Dragon.

Experts say that several television properties from India such as Little Krishna and Little Prince got distributed worldwide and animation companies are now exploring different media platforms such as the mobile phone, tablets etc. for their content. "Government subsidies, innovative scripts, vfx pre-planning, skilled workforce, and acquisitions can lead to exponential growth," said Jehil Thakkar of KPMG India, a research company.

The upward demand for television content continues to be a key driver for this sector's growth.

With 11 of the 14 worldwide children channels being aired in India, broadcasters such as Turner Broadcasting System are working closely with Indian animation companies to create localised television content.

Several Indian studios are also working closely with writers and voiceover artists from international markets to customise Indian storylines for global audiences.

Indian animation company Big Animation has roped in New York-based writers for their popular series Shaktiman, and Big Bees.

"The quality of animation produced by Indian companies has seen a quantum leap. The Indian animation industry has moved up the value chain and into the next level, with a number of co-production agreements," said Tapaas Chakravarti, chairman of DQ Entertainment International.

Some players still believe that Hollywood has extended the appeal of animated films to a larger audience and India, being a nascent market, is yet to manage that leap. "The prominent bottlenecks for this sector are original IP creation and non-cooperation by the local exhibitors. If the government provides for 30% airing of locally produced animated movies and programmes, the sector is expected to achieve the targeted growth," said Smita Maroo, vice-president of Shemaroo Entertainment Private Limited.

Experts remain positive about the sector's performance but the next two years will be crucial for the VFX and post production business after which the floodgates will open up for major productions.

15 May 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Demand keeps diamond prices stable

The surge in demand for diamond in India and China will keep the prices of the gem stable, says a CRISIL Ratings report released this week. The report suggests that India and China, the fastest growing markets in the world, are likely to continue with their double-digit growth in 2011.

Experts say that the diamond market in India and China has grown by 25% in 2010 and has contributed to 20% of the global consumer demand for diamond jewellery in 2010, as against 12% in 2008.

"China and India are at an inflexion point and will see a structural shift in consumer preference for diamond jewellery resulting in a strong demand growth," said Gurpreet Chhatwal, director, CRISIL Ratings, a research firm.

Sale of diamond jewellery in the US market, which accounts for almost 40% of the global diamond consumption, is estimated to have increased by 7% in 2010, driven by recovery in consumer spending and inventory restocking by retailers. Price of polished and rough diamonds has increased by more than 30% over the past one year due to a strong demand and lower production cost.

During the downturn in 2008, miners especially the De Beers group, the largest supplier of rough diamonds, had curtailed supply with respect to subdued demand. "While rough diamond prices may be volatile because of temporary demand-supply mismatch, the prices will remain stable as the supply is expected to increase with the De Beers group likely to achieve full production capacity and Rio Tinto's Argyle mine commencing underground operations," said Subodh Rai, head, CRISIL Ratings.

Players believe that by 2016, India will account for 20% of the diamond jewellery consumer demand.

"The key factors for the uptrend are an increased consumer awareness supported by the enhanced promotion of diamond jewellery as a regular wear and an increase in the discretionary income and growth in the number of high networth individuals in India. This has resulted in an evident increase in the demand for solitaires. Importantly, we are seeing growth coming from not just tier I cities but even from the tier II and tier III cities," said Rajeshree Naik, marketing head, Forever mark, part of the De Beers group of companies. "The world is looking to India as a driver of future growth in the diamond industry," said an official from Rio Tinto into India.

8 May 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Rise in cost of newsprint will force papers to reduce pages

Domestic newsprint prices have surged, registering a 25-30% price hike. Publishers say they might be forced to initiate some balance-out measures, such as increasing the cover-price of newspapers, reducing the number of pages and hiking ad-rates. According to the players, newsprint accounts for 35-50% of the total cost of newspaper companies. Imported newsprint price has also seen a marginal increase of almost 5%. With the decrease in the rate gap between imported and domestic newsprint, publishers are now moving towards imported newsprint, which has led to a setback for domestic newsprint mills.

K.K. Goenka, MD, Prabhat Khabar, said that the increase in raw material prices has led to a rise in production cost. "Earlier, the difference between domestic and imported newsprint was more than Rs 5 per kg. Now we are gradually shifting towards the imported newsprint, as the price gap has shrunk to Rs 2 per kg. On the consumption front, we are reducing the number of pages to cover the losses. Some of the Indian mills manufacturing 'B' quality papers are wrapping up their businesses. However, 'A' quality domestic newsprint is still competing with imported newsprint. As per market the situation, newspapers are increasing cover prices of newspapers," said Goenka. Harivansh, chief editor of Prabhat Khabar added, "Smaller groups like ours will bear the brunt as this hike will have an adverse impact on the profits. Also, neither the government nor the private players are willing to increase the ad revenue share."

Publishers explained that availability of wastepaper, which is required for production of newsprint, in the West has reduced by 50% and in Europe by 20-30%. This shortage has had an adverse impact on the prices of raw material, thus further affecting newsprint prices in India. "This has adversely affected the language and Hindi dailies as domestic newsprint was a feasible product for them," said Sunil Poddar, MD, Poddar Global.

Since October 2010, Indian mills have increased newsprint prices by four to five times. Publishers believe that there will be an upward pressure on prices also because of loss of supply from Japan mills.

"The hike is indicative of certain parameters as prices vary by roll size, supplier, mill, opacity, GSM (weight of the paper) etc," said Mitrajit Bhattacharya, president-publisher of Chitralekha Group.

Other factors responsible for the hike include rise in crude oil prices, hike in freight charges (for import of newsprint) and the mismatch of demand and supply ratio.

24 April 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

UTV secures itself against cable piracy

In a civil suit filed by UTV, the Delhi High Court has passed an order restraining cable operators nationwide from distributing, telecasting and broadcasting any movie/show infringing the copyright of UTV. The superintendents of concerned police stations are directed to provide assistance for the enforcement of the order. This directive also restricts 1600 known Cable operators and unknown persons nationwide from showcasing their upcoming movie Thank You.

This is the first ever case of a court granting pre-emptive relief from piracy to a plaintiff and is a huge step forward in the ongoing battle against copyright infringement.

Anand Desai, Partner, DSK Legal, who appeared in the High Court on behalf of UTV, will send warning notices to the cable operators. "Cable operators have been exploiting the movie industry by illegally screening films on their networks almost immediately after theatrical release of a film. Film piracy has reached gargantuan proportions, causing tremendous leakage in revenues of film producers," said Desai. KPMG's media and entertainment report 2011 states that the piracy market in India is estimated to account for 600-700 million unit sales for DVD each year. The distribution platform for the illegitimate market is estimated to be spread over 10000 vendors. While five movies were sold on one DVD and costing Rs 50 until two years ago, the same is now available for Rs 20. "This is a very positive step for curbing growing illegal activities," said Jehil Thakker from KPMG.

Siddharth Roy Kapur, CEO, Motion Pictures, UTV, is confident that this decision is a milestone judgement to tackle piracy. "Piracy has been plaguing the entertainment industry for decades now and is one of the biggest impediments to the growth of the business. We are confident it will act as a huge deterrent to cable piracy going forward."

However, online piracy remains a huge challenge for the industry as there is an increasing trend of illegitimate movie download and streaming of films from the internet.

10 April 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Growth explosion in gaming industry

Mafia Wars, Cricket, FIFA and WWE have helped turn gaming into big business in India. The market for gaming development in India is expected to witness a growth of 30% and reach Rs 19.4 billion by 2014. The Indian gaming market includes segments like mobile, online, console and PC gaming. Mobile gaming is currently dominating the market with 57% share in the total Indian gaming market.

A recent analysis done by Netscribes India, a management company, reveals that increase in disposable income, cost competitiveness, high speed internet, increasing PC and mobile penetration and growth in mobile value added services is driving growth in this sector.

Somil Gupta, managing director of Trine Games, said, "The market share of console gaming is pretty minimal, of about 6-7%. But India is a volume market so we have scope for immense growth."

Jehil Thakkar, KPMG executive director, Performance and Technology said, "For 2010, the market share for games was Rs 1,000 cr. We are expecting a growth of 30% in the next five years."

Certain bottlenecks for this segment have been pulling down profits. "The main challenges ahead for this industry are lack of availability of local content, companies' focus only on mythology driven games in India and piracy which is killing 90% of the business. The minimum cost of producing a decent game amounts to $1 million. The cost recovery is next to negligible because of piracy. Companies have started producing new games for the international market for maximum returns. If companies focus on innovative themes, the market is bound to grow because this industry experiences a growth of almost 110-120% every year," said Gupta.

"High price points for console games and poor broadband quality for online games need to be catered to. Mobile phone games have been driving growth continuously. The outlook looks fairly robust and we expect console gaming prices to come down heavily within four to five years which will instigate growth," added Jehil. According to Zynga, known for social games like Farmville and Mafia Wars, the growth momentum has been terrific for India. "We have a monthly count of 4.5 million players in India. To ensure that players enjoy our games we consolidate feedbacks on a weekly basis and make changes accordingly," said an employee of the company.

3 April 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Govt wants to increase enrolment in schools

The government is targeting a hike in Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of students in schools and institutions from the current level of 13% to 30% by 2020. However, experts believe that privatisation of schools and institutes will not help in achieving this goal.

Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for HRD, Communications and Information Technology while speaking at the 83rd Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said that the quality of higher education has to undergo a sea change by allowing children to think, innovate and by allowing foreign universities and faculties to come to India. "We have brought in legislation on educational malpractices and we will ensure that every institution in this country is accredited mandatorily," said Sibal. However, the education sector feels that the minister is being ambitious.

Their argument being that many in the age group of 18-23 years who are eligible for higher education have unfortunately not had access to primary education. "Almost 50% of the population still do not have access to basic education because of monetary issues. This proposed dream can be attained only if the government aims at starting new public funded enterprises. Unfortunately, Sibal is bent on privatisation of the education sector which will not help us grow," said A. James William, president of the All India Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation.

On the other hand, Dr Amarendra Pani, assistant director and head of research, Association of Indian Universities believes that the target of 30% is not impossible to attain. "If more institutions are built in rural areas since most of the institutes are situated in the urban space this target of 30% seems achievable. Plus regulating agencies working for the education sector need to be revamped. With such initiatives we will be on the growth path," he said.

An official from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) said, "The government is hoping to build more schools and colleges in rural areas which will help in educating the deprived population."

27 March 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Companies refuse to pass on excise duty cuts to customer

Manufacturers are not keen to reduce the price of hygiene products. Manufacturers have not reduced the price of hygiene products like sanitary napkins, tissue papers rolls and diapers despite the slash in excise duty on such products by 9% in this year's budget.

Most players are sceptical about price cut considering the prices of paper pulp, used to make sanitary napkins and diapers. Analysts say that the price of paper pulp has increased by almost 25% in the last five years.

Currently the price of paper pulp is above $1,000 per air-dried metric tonne (ADMT) from under $800 per ADMT in 2006. The input cost pressure and rising prices of crude that impact packaging is also a dominating factor in the hesitation shown by the players.

"Not planning to take a price cut but we will be reducing prices of select products post the reduction in excise duty," said a Johnson and Johnson executive basing it on the inflationary trend in paper pulp. Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) has not confirmed any price cuts, but analysts believe that GCPL might pass on the excise duty benefit to consumers soon.

The Rs 500 cr baby diaper market is currently growing at 28% per annum. It is led by Pampers, with a share of 56%. Huggies, manufactured by GCPL, ranks second at 32% and Mamy Poko pants stands third with a share of 5%, followed by Wipro which comes fourth.

According to company sources, the reduction on Wipro's diapers is likely to be of 4-5%. However, Vineet Agrawal, president, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting (WCCL) said, "A price cut on Baby Soft diapers is in the offing."

The women's hygiene market stands at Rs 1,200 cr and is growing at 14% per annum. The key players include Procter and Gamble's (P&G) Whisper, Stayfree manufactured by Johnson and Johnson and Kimberly Clarke's Kotex. P&G is the only player which has declared a slash in prices of its stock keeping units — Whisper by 3% and Pampers by 15%. However, other players haven't considered any price cuts so far.

27 March 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

FDI in cable sector to be raised

The Ministry of Finance is working towards raising the limit of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the cable sector from 49% to 74%. This will help boost the media and entertainment (M&E) industry, which aims to raise foreign capital to fund its growth. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, while presenting his budget proposals for 2011-12, insisted on making FDI policy more user-friendly. He said that prior regulations and guidelines had been consolidated into one comprehensive document, which was being reviewed every six months. "The last review was released in September 2010. This has been done with the specific intent of enhancing clarity and predictability of our FDI policy to foreign investors," Mukherjee told Parliament.

"Most companies have reported massive losses in this space. Companies will get a chance to expand distribution networks if foreign investment is encouraged," said Angel Broking analyst Chitrangada Kapur.

Currently, there are different FDI limits for different segments in M&E. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in July 2010 had suggested bringing uniformity and raising FDI limits since it was as low as 20% in some cases.

Cable TV companies are talking to foreign investors to ensure that the digitisation policy framework remains intact. Direct-to-home companies are also looking at funding support as they see a huge growth in subscribers. Private FM radio firms will be able to get more foreign exchange through partnerships if the government proposal increases the FDI from the present limit of 20-26%.

However, market players believe that prevailing issues like negative return on capital, high music royalty payout and e-auctions in Phase III have to be resolved to ensure that investors would want to invest. "The critical question is 'investment attractiveness' of the medium itself, be it Indian or foreign. Any foreign investor would want to invest if important issues are sorted out before Phase III is announced. Talking of FDI in isolation for any segment is meaningless," said Vineet Singh Hukmani, managing director of Radio One.

13 March 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Schools to have anti-tobacco curriculum

An anti-tobacco curriculum to reduce the growing dependence of students on nicotine products will be circulated in schools.
comprehensive anti-tobacco curriculum and teachers' guide, to reduce the growing dependence of students on nicotine products, will be circulated in schools affiliated with the CBSE, ICSE and state boards.

The teachers' manual, developed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, is a compilation of worksheets for children on issues related to tobacco consumption, such as, how it impacts the physical and psychological health of users, how it kills, the laws that govern tobacco use in India, the agenda behind pictorial warnings on tobacco packs, the adverse effects of smokeless tobacco, and the best ways to quit. It also has chapters for parents who affect their children's health by smoking in their presence. The manual will be included in the School Health Programme currently underway in 27 states.

The manual suggests that those instructing the students on these issues should be non-tobacco users. When asked how they would ensure this, a ministry official said, "We expect schools to respect the contents of the manual, considering we have a similar objective of reversing the alarming trend of increasing tobacco use among students." The recent Global Tobacco Youth Survey for India reveals a rise in the number of tobacco-addicted students from 13.7% in 2006 to 14.7% in 2010. The addiction has been reported for all forms of tobacco, like cigarettes, bidis, gutka, etc. The percentage of students who started smoking before the age of 10 has increased from 26% in 2006 to 45.4% in 2010. The percentage of boys exposed to passive smoking is 29.3% while that of girls is 22.4%. However, Usha Ram, principal of Lakshman Public School in New Delhi, believes that it is not essential to have a different curriculum to discourage the use of tobacco products: "Students imitate whatever they see on TV or at home. With proper guidance it is possible to stop them from smoking and chewing tobacco. But a separate curriculum for anti-tobacco measures is not essential. Instead it should be woven into the existing syllabus." But Jyoti Bose, principal of Springdales School sounded positive: "Of course we do not need a separate curriculum, but maybe they are doing it for the vulnerable age group to ensure that children do not indulge in such activities in the future."

20 February 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Women insist on gender budgeting

Women want their share in the 2011-2012 Budget and have urged Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to keep gender perspective alive at all levels of government.

A coalition of different women organisations, including AIDMAM, AIDWA, AIWC, CWDS, GOS, JWP, MWF, NFIW and YWCA have given a memorandum to Mukherjee. The organisations want the government to make "adequate budgetary allocation to cover special schemes for women workers", among other things.

Sudha Sundaraman, general secretary of AIDWA, said, "Apart from women and child development and health, urban transport and civic department should also be focused upon. The picture of 30% of allocation to women initiated by the Planning Commission across ministries is extremely vague. Much greater gender sensitivity is required."

Vikas Vasal, executive director of KPMG India said, "While the points raised by the women for allocation of funds are indeed laudable, government has its own constraints.

20 February 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Youngsters shop online for lifestyle products

Online shopping websites offering designer wears at a discounted price are getting popular with the Indian youth. Experts say that these sites have registered a 30% growth in recent times.

The age group between 18-36 years is said to be hooked to online shopping. "The younger generation is super active. Our main focus has been life-style products and food deals. As of now the maximum traffic has come from food and health services with a price band between Rs 250-1000," said Sandeep Komaravelley, the head of marketing of snapdeal.com.

While shoes top the chart for yebhi.com, apparels come a close second. "We have almost 70,000 visitors a day. The growth can be attributed to a variety in choices and good customer service. The speed of delivery of products — which has come down from two to three weeks to around two days — boosts sales. Unique schemes also help in building relations with customers and boosting their confidence," said Manmohan Agarwal, spokesperson of yebhi.com.

According to Ishita Swarup, CEO and co-founder of 99labels.com, accessories such as fragrances, watches, jewellery, wallets, bags and home décor products with an average ticket price of Rs 2,500 have become popular. "The buyer's buying behaviour is what guides most of the decisions like pricing, selection, brands etc," she said.

These websites also market themselves through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. With features like flash sales, huge discounts on label prices, the choice of shopping at any given time and personalised services, they attract more customers from Tier II and Tier III cities.

"We have over 1.3 billion subscribers over 45 cities," said Komaravelley of snapdeal.com. "The order intake is of two orders per minute and the number of shipments has increased to 1 lakh per month for yebhi.com," said Agarwal.

Players believe that this space will attract modern retailers online as a market is still being created for the

category of discount event sales. "The Indian consumer loves bargains, deals, discounts on quality branded merchandise. The lifestyle, fast pace, lack of time and the traffic conditions are enticing the Indian consumer to explore efficient ways of getting information and shopping," said Swarup of 99labels.com.

13 February 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Wines use fruits to attract youngsters

Traditionally, wines were made from grapes but now wine manufacturers in India are producing wines from fruits and flowers like litchi, mango and rose to attract consumers
ruits and flowers like litchi, mango, rose are being used by wine manufacturers in India to produce flavoured alcohol to attract the new generation of wine drinkers. Experts, however, believe that this experiment will not work as consumers prefer the traditional grape wines.

M.K. Rustagi, joint ­managing director, Nirvana Biosys, who initiated the concept of fruit wines in India, said, "Wine is ­unfortunately considered as liquor, but it is not. The alcohol content in wine is extremely low and it is a ­social drink. Besides, it has health benefits because of its anti-oxidant ­properties. It helps in reducing heart risks and minimising blood clots, fights obesity, is good for gums and reduces, if one glass of wine is taken per day. Unfortunately, ­Indians are not really aware of these benefits."

On the other hand, Sonal Holland, India's premier wine consultant and ­advisor, doesn't believe that this segment has potential. "Only wines made from grapes can be legally termed as 'wine' in the EU. Wine made from any other product like apples, litchi and mango must be termed as 'apple wine or mango wine or litchi wine'. I don't believe the market for such ancillary products will be huge anywhere in the near future. Regarding health benefits, there has been a lot of contradicting reports dismissing the overplayed role of wine as a health drink," said Sonal.

Cecilia Oldne, head, ­international business, Sommelier, prefers ­traditional grape wines to fruit wines. "In Asian ­countries, especially China, fruit wines is a big hit, but I personally feel that it is not the traditional form of wine. These are two ­different products. Best wines are made out of vitis vinifiera which offers ­significant protection against certain types of ­cancer, arthiritis, cataracts etc."

The wine industry in India is experiencing a rapid growth phase. ­According to an industry report, the current size of the total wine market in India stands at 1.2 million cases. The industry is growing at the rate of ­25–30% per annum.

"It is not a very ­romantic figure considering the per capita ­consumption is only nine millimetres per person per annum. In China, it is four litres per person per annum and America it is nine per person per annum. But, India has a huge growth potential," added Rustagi.

6 February 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Special law against child abuse soon

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has proposed to enact a stringent law for "protection of children from sexual offences". The law wants cases of child abuse to be followed up by the police diligently, evidence recorded and investigation and trial conducted. However, child rights activists complain that the proposed bill does not address important issues, such as, cases within the family. According to Krishna Tirath, Union Minister for Women and Child Development, the main aim of the bill is to address sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

"We have tried to cover all aspects to provide better protection through stringent punishment. Below 16 years will be a sexual offence irrespective of whether there is consent or not. I would like to mention that an earlier news item (in another newspaper on the age of consent being 12 years) seems to be quoting provisions of a draft bill prepared by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is not the final draft," she told this newspaper.

Certain important aspects of sexual offences covered under the bill are: Sexual assault, aggravated penetrative sexual assault, sexual harassment, assault by armed and security forces and school authorities; inflicting HIV/AIDS or any other life-threatening disease will be seen as an aggravated form of sexual assault; the punishment for penetrative sexual assault has been proposed as at least five years in jail and a minimum fine of Rs 50,000; for speedy trials state governments have been mandated to designate a special court in each district to try offences under the bill. Amod Kanth, chairperson of Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights, believes that the bill does not address the real issues: "Nearly 52% of children suffered child abuse in India in 2007 and Delhi was on top. Nearly 75% of the cases are from family and close associates and 80% of such cases are not reported. Penetration cases have increased by nearly 20-30% in a span of two years. Will this be addressed? I don't think so."

6 February 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Multiplexes likely to gain from 3D boom in 2011

Close to 40 3D films are likely to hit the screens this year with the rise in the 3D movies being released in 2011, the multiplex owners expect a rise in the average revenue per user (ARPU) by 10-15%. Close to 40 3D films are expected to hit the screens this year. This implies that multiplexes can expect to earn 50% more profits. The total estimated market share of 3D movies in 2011 is expected to be 10% of overall Indian box office.

Half of the revenues of 3D films come from Hollywood films dubbed into Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Out of the 2010 collections of movies, approximately 65% revenue came from 3D versions as per industry reports. Sunil Punjabi, CEO of Cinemax India says that 2011 will by far be the largest in terms of 3D films. "This year didn't have large 3D releases but has contributed 3-4% of the total collections for 2010 for us. Going forward for 2011, the releases line-up is strong with franchises like Harry Potter 7, and 22 3D English studio releases with all major franchises like Spiderman et al," he said. However, Timmy S. Kandhari, India leader entertainment and media practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) says that the revenue earned has been minimal compared to the estimated market potential. "Unfortunately the number of theatres to screen 3D movies is less. Of course revenue can be generated through high ticket prices but that is also limited," he said.

India has seen a stark increase in the number of movies released in 3D format driven by customers willing to pay for the enhanced experience as the ticket prices are as high as Rs 500-800 compared to Rs 100-300 for normal multiplex movies. There are, currently, approximately 3,000 digital cinema screens in India put up by UFO Moviez and Real Image for 3D viewing. "We plan to convert 1,000 screens (into 3D) by 2012," said a source in UFO Moviez. With the success of Avatar, 3D cinema in India has received momentum. "On account of Hollywood movies doing well we are making a live 3D sequel ­expected to release by the end of 2011," said Siddharth M. Jain, head of animation, Adlabs films.

The number of 3D screens in larger and smaller towns has leapt significantly. "There are close to 100 cineplexes in India that are 3D enabled. I see the numbers go up at least 5 times by the end of 2011 with the release of Bollywood 3D movies," added Ranjit.

"Currently we have 28 3D enabled screens. We are likely to close the year with double the number of digital screens," added Sunil Punjabi. "Indian Production Houses are shooting their next movie in live action 3D. The only thing to see is how smartly do Indian directors and production houses work on storyboards and shots that will be suitable for 3D live action," added Ranjit.

16 January 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Fly to Agra at night from this month

Tourists may now regularly fly to Agra as the the Union Ministry of Tourism and Culture has cleared night landing of flights at Agra's Kheria airport starting from this month. The move aims to promote tourism in the city of the Taj Mahal. At present, Agra has only one domestic flight by Kingfisher in operation.

According to the ministry officials, it's been a pending demand of the tourism industry to allow flights, particularly international, to land at night in Agra. The Kheria airport, which is a Civil Enclave controlled by the Indian Air Force, is currently partially used for civilian flights.

At present, Agra has only one domestic flight by Kingfisher and that too may be suspended after February.

"Foreign tourists are surprised when told Agra, the most important tourist destination in India and land of the glorious Taj Mahal, does not have a civilian airport. The main problem is that they do not allow parking of planes," said Federation of Tourism Associations president Rajiv Tiwari.

Lack of equipment to facilitate night landing has been one of the major reasons behind the delay. Local Congress leaders and representatives of the tourism industry met party general secretary Rahul Gandhi in December to look into the matter.

Airport Authority of India's general manager, public relations, G.S. Bawa, said, "Now three flights can operate at the same time. One is already operational so from now onwards, we can handle two more flights simultaneously. Airlines are most welcome to bring additional airlines as soon as they complete the required formalities with the DGCA." There are 28 civil enclave airports in the country out of which 20 are operational in tourist spots. "Only when there is a need to build or work towards controlling air traffic we build additional airports apart from civil enclaves in small towns," added Bawa.

However, some airlines haven't considered flying to Agra. "Although we continually evaluate sectors that we can add or enhance on our network, at the moment Jet Airways may not have plans to fly to Agra," said the spokesperson of Jet Airways.

AAI has undertaken the development of 58 airports which includes 35 non-metro and 23 airports in three-tier cities. Work has been completed in 27 airports which include tourist places like Amritsar, Dehradun, Jaipur, Shillong, Port Blair, Srinagar and others.


9 January 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Hindi channels a bigger hit on DTH

People watch more Hindi movie channels on Direct-to-home (DTH) than cable channels and the Analog space. In absence of Cable Channels on the DTH platform, reach for Hindi Movie Channels has increased to about 34.5% on DTH as per statistics provided by aMap — Audience Measurement and Analytics — an overnight TV Audience Measurement System.

Cable Channels get a 29.3% reach and Hindi Movie Channels garner about 26.5% reach in the Analog space. The reach for the same set of Hindi Movie Channels has increased to about 34.5% on DTH. Even the time spent has increased for this genre on DTH. These include channels like Filmy, Set Max, Star Gold, UTV Action, UTV Moviez and Zee Cinema.

"The Hindi Movie Genre reach is much higher in The DTH space for both mid-size towns and metros. Distribution issues are eliminated on the DTH platform and hence, these channels have a better reach on the DTH platform," said Jinti Shah, Vice President, aMap, Audience Measurement and Analytics. "DTH platform gives better clarity and the audio and video perception is much better. Digital clarity enhances the view and customers experience superior quality viewing," said Sanjay Behl, chief executive of Reliance BIG TV.

TAM Media Research's, TV Viewership analysis firm of India, spokesperson agrees that the reach in terms of minutes is more for the DTH space than cable and satellite homes, "Average weekly time spent by viewers watching Hindi movies is 190 minutes for the cable and satellite homes and 218 minutes for the DTH homes."

9 January 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Register online and adopt a child

People wanting to adopt children will be able to register ­online from January 2011. The Central Adoption ­Resource Authority (CARA), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, has developed a web portal, "Carings" to ensure more transparency in domestic and inter-country adoptions.

"The portal will provide provisional online registration of Indian parents for domestic adoption and also status tracking by parents," said an official from the ministry.

"The main agenda is to encourage domestic ­adoption in the first phase of the project. Through Carings we will be able to provide a better platform to parents to register themselves with adoption agencies. Since it is the first phase we are focusing on registered RIPAs (Recognised Indian Placement Agencies). This website will help in numerous ways: channelising adoption procedures since relevant data will be managed by CARA; registration of parents will become systematic; delays will be taken care of; post adoption information from each parent will be monitored. We will also be able to track agencies in remote areas. If any agency does not follow the mentioned guidelines, its licence will get aborted. Parents will be able to view the details of the children only after the right match has been found depending on their background and requirements," said Anu J. Singh, secretary of CARA.

2 January 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

www.adoptionindia.nic.in

CBSE gives students more options

Those CBSE school students who are not very academically inclined will be able to study any of the following professionally oriented courses: hotel management, healthcare, design, fashion, journalism, garment technology, heritage craft, visual and graphic arts, travel and tourism. These courses will be elective.

Courses that are popular and have a higher scope of employment opportunities have been given preference.

"Children should be given more options to choose from subjects according to their taste and aptitude," said Vineet Joshi, chairperson of CBSE.

The CBSE will form ­suitable syllabi with the help of the tie-ups it has with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for healthcare, National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFT) for fashion design, and Hotels Association of India (HAI) for hotel management.

Cynthia Manoharan, manager of St, Thomas School, New Delhi said, "It is an excellent move by the board to encourage students to explore options beyond medicine and engineering. We already have a professional course in food and nutrition for Classes XI and XII where students' performance is excellent. Professional courses are like stepping stones for children and will set a firm ground for them to decide which course they would want to pursue after school."

"It is a 101% successful and positive step towards creating a better future for children. Vocational courses should be included in schools as no student is interested in doing a plain BA these days. Earning money is the main criterion for children. Students who are good academically should opt for these courses as this will help them get a wider choice of career alternatives," said Neelam Bali, a senior ­psychology lecturer in St. Bede's college, Shimla.

The CBSE has also teamed up with the National Stock Exchange for a joint certificate programme in financial market management.

"We also plan to introduce courses like web technology, biotechnology, multimedia and creative writing soon," said a CBSE official who wanted to remain anonymous.

2 January 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Green train toilets likely to have 90% success rate

Environment-friendly toilets will be built for trains to ensure better waste disposal. The Ministry of Railway has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for joint technology development using the bio-digester technology developed by Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE).

Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur have jointly built suitable designs for the project, based on the bio-digester technology, known as the zero discharge toilet system (ZDTS). Zero discharge toilets means nothing is discharged on the track or anywhere else. ZDTS has the added advantage of lower capital cost and higher net present value as compared to conventional wastewater treatment system.

K.H. Muniyappa, Minister of State for Railways, said in the Lok Sabha recently, "Trials of vacuum retention toilets on Shatabdi trains are also underway. Suitable technology option for Indian Railways operating conditions are yet to be established." An official from the RDSO said that with the growing railway network and increase in the number of passengers open discharge of waste has become a big problem, "When we initiated this concept in 2006, infrastructure and funds were prominent issues. The results of the trials in railway coaches today are satisfactory with 90% success rate."

Dr Vinod Tare, a professor working on the project at IIT, Kanpur explained the benefits of such toilets, "It will avoid filthy conditions on the track; prevent corrosion of the underside of the toilet portion of the coach and rails leading to substantial savings; and maintain hygienic conditions. The estimated cost is approximately Rs 10 lakh per coach, and the annual operating and management cost is Rs 35,000 per toilet."

He added that the Railways would have to spend a substantial amount to ensure that proper infrastructure is in place. "It will be successful as we have already done trials on one coach on a train running between Chennai and Lucknow, and Chennai and Jammu Tawi. We have to build capacity for large scale adaptation, which will take one or two years. We have been given orders by RDSO to implement the ZDTS on 14 coaches of a train from the southern region," he said.

19 December 2010 — The Sunday Guardian.

Delhi wants poor quota, schools want fees

The Delhi government has announced that under no circumstances will private schools be allowed to increase their fees after implementing the 25% admission quota for the economically weaker sections (EWS). As per the Right to Education Act (RTE), it is mandatory for schools built on public land allotted to them at throwaway prices by the government to provide "freeships" and reserve 25% of seats for the EWS. Some private schools have opposed the step, contending that providing 25% reservation for the EWS category this year is difficult.

The schools also said that if the quota had to be imposed, then private school fees should be increased.

Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely has said that 25% quota in private schools "will be implemented at any cost and action will be taken against any school which increases the fees without prior permission from the education authority".

On the other hand, Public School Association ­president R.C. Jain said that the 25% quota in private schools should not be applied at all. "Under the Act and the court decision, schools can increase their fees provided they give ­appropriate justification. However, the main ­problem is that there are no new schools being built for students who will not be given admission in these schools. Government is saying that it will ­reimburse the amount

but there are other ­maintenance expenses as well. We have sent 80,000 fax sheets from across the country to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to protest against this quota system in the private sector. Government had given land to only 250 schools and the remaining 1,700 schools were built on private land. It will be easier for the owners to shut down schools and sell the land at a profitable price in the future if the quota system is implemented forcefully," he said.

M.I. Hussain, the ­principal of Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, however, said that RTE was the wake-up call to address the inequality in the education system: "Fees should not be increased. There should be no segregation between children from the weaker sections and other students as every child has the right to basic education."

12 December 2010 — The Sunday Guardian.

Increase in AIDS among drug users

There has been a significant increase in the number of HIV-infected transgenders in India as per the UNAIDS Global Aids report 2010. The report also found that the number of HIV-infected female sex workers has been decreasing but more transgenders and drug-abusers are succumbing to the disease.

Dr Charles Gilks, UNAIDS Country Coordinator, emphasised on the importance of looking into this segment at the UNAIDS conference. D.C. Reddy of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said some steps towards deriving more information about the segment is already underway after seeing a significant increase of infected patients in this group. "We are expanding the round of surveillance for transgenders as we have set up two more centres in Mumbai and Delhi."

"As per 2010 statistics, 9.2 % people are infected with the disease through drug usage, 4.9% through sex workers and 7.3% through sexual intercourse between men. Transgenders need more work as we do not have proper information on the statistics. It is the most probable group that tops the list and is at risk," said Gilks. "We are working towards new methods to derive more information about how many people are infected and living with HIV in India in this group. The second group at risk is that of drug addicts," added Gilks. In 2010, WHO issued revised treatment guidelines recommending earlier initiation of antiretroviral therapy at a CD4 count of less than 350 cells. This increased the total number of people medically eligible for antiretroviral therapy by roughly 50% — from 10 million to 15 million in 2009. Mariam Claeson, regional programme coordinator, HIV/AIDS South Asia of the World Bank, said this growth can be attributed to all successful interventions working towards spreading awareness about the disease. "All cost-effective interventions have worked well in India such as pure educators, use of condoms, drug reduction encouragement and will work well for transgenders too," said Claeson.

India had coverage of less than 40% eligible adults who were receiving antiretroviral therapy. Dr Charles said the rate of new HIV infections decreased by more than 25% in India in the last decade. "The challenge India will face will be to prioritise prevention when costs are going up," said Claeson. Mihir Mankad, Deputy Country Director, William, J. Clinton Foundation, said funds provided for people living and infected with HIV are insufficient. "There will be shortage of funds globally, and it isn't about subsidy but proper planning," said Mankad.

28 November 2010 — The Sunday Guardian.

Consumer durable players see growth in rural market

Consumer durables companies like Samsung India expect the rural market to contribute 24-25% of their full year sales post Diwali. However, a majority of consumer durables companies in the metros are yet to tap the highly-lucrative rural market after enjoying superb sales during this festive season.

Most players like LG, Haier and Akai, believe that the rural markets have huge potential and they only see it growing from here onwards.

Shanta Roy Sanjeev, Head-Marketing, Haier Appliances India, reckons that they are working out strategies to tap the rural market but currently have no exposure to it. "The rural market remains untapped and we are working towards strategies which will cater to the specifications in this space," said Shanta. For LG, which occupies a majority of consumer durables market, has 5% rural penetration. However, it is going to see it increasing. "Rural market contributes to 15-20% of our total revenue. Currently, LG has 5% penetration in rural market and 34% penetration in urban areas and we plan to further increase its reach to 15% in rural and 40% in urban markets by 2015," said Moon B. Shin, Managing Director, LG India. According to Crisil, a credit rating agency, the consumer durables industry is Rs 25,000 crore in size and growing at 17-18% per annum. However, the rural sector's contribution to the industry could not be ascertained.

Akai India, relatively a new entrant, has a very negligible presence in the rural markets. However, it is also very confident about potential of the rural market. Pranay Dhabhai, Managing Director, Akai India, says, "Indian rural space still emphasises on buying new items during festivals which implies that the market has a lot of potential." He also adds that the over-all rural penetration has been pretty high for the entire consumer durables sector. "It normally changes from product to product. For example, CRT TVs have contributed about 80% of the total sales. And LEDs and LCDs contribute only 20%. Going forward, the rural market will grow for all products considering the market remains untapped." For an early entrant in the market like Samsung, which has been able to get more time to study the rural sector, has found the rural space contributing as much as 25% to their overall sales for the company. Ravinder Zutshi, Deputy Managing Director, Samsung India observes that the rural market seems positive on the growth front and "rural sales should contribute 24-25% of our full year sales in Consumer Electronics."

Shantanu Das Gupta, Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Strategy Asia South says that the rural market is hit by food inflation which has affected sales, "If we look at India as divided by income, and not urban and rural, then there are two distinct trends that we are witnessing over the last two or three months. Households with a limited budget have been impacted by food inflation and we are seeing a softening of growth in segments purchased by them, such as low capacity single door refrigerators and semi-automatic machines.

The other half, the relatively wealthier household, continue to buy as usual. Hence, we have seen a slowdown of growth in the mass segments - driven, we believe, by food inflation - while the premium segments continue to thrive."


21 November — The Sunday Guardian.

Workers want regular NDMC muster roll

A union of 6,500 workers is protesting against the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) for not regularising their jobs. A majority of them are enrolled in the temporary muster roll (TMT) and want to be on the regular muster roll (RMR). Under the TMR, they are given jobs for four to six months, but under the RMR, they are employed throughout the year. A regular position under the RMR assures them of jobs at construction sites, and as drivers and peons, among others.

Some of the workers have been protesting from as far back as 1989. Sunil Kumar, who works at construction sites, said, "I have been protesting for the past 15 years. For six months I work and for the next six months I have nothing to do. How can they deny us what we deserve? We are devoid of all benefits. This is dirty politics. We worked for 15 hours a day during the Commonwealth Games hoping that our demands would be fulfilled. But Diwali is here and we have no work, which means no money. If they do not meet our demands within a week we will protest outside the NDMC chairman's house."

Another worker, Mukesh, who has been protesting for the last seven years, alleged that some workers had been given regular positions internally. "We get Rs 203 a day and on Sundays, we get nothing even if we work long hours. We are scared to raise our voice because this is our only source of income and we don't have any security. "What if they remove us?" he asked. Sachin, a driver of taxis for NDMC, said it was the same story every year. "The authorities make false promises and persuade us to work for some time. I am not asking for a permanent position but a regular one so that my job is secure," said Sachin.

Anand Tiwari, public relations officer with NDMC, declined to comment on the matter, but said, "A committee was formed last month to look into the matter. We are waiting for the findings, which are expected soon."

7 November 2010 — The Sunday Guardian.

Determined NGO helps end scourge of scavenging

Safai Karmachari Andolan, an organisation working to abolish manual scavenging from India, may actually succeed in eradicating the practice by 31 December this year. The SKA has already put an end to manual scavenging in states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Haryana by demolishing "dry latrines", the old-style non-flush toilets. The SKA wants the 1993 court order declaring manual scavenging "unlawful" to be implemented. Accordingly, it has filed a plea in the Supreme Court, where the matter will come up for hearing in the first week of November.

Since 30 September, the SKA has started bus yatras across 20 states to force the Governments there to make manual scavengers leave the illegal profession. The yatras will culminate in Delhi on 31 October. Bezwada Wilson, who initiated the movement, says that manual scavenging still exists in some states: "It is most prevalent in UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir. But Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are some of the states that have agreed to abolish it."

The SKA is also carrying out an all-India survey to build a database of the people who are still in the profession so that they can be persuaded to leave and be rehabilitated. The SKA wants to take the help of the women who have left the profession to fulfil its goal. "When I initiated this drive, people were ashamed to talk about it. But now they recognise the importance of protesting. The women have started protesting and shouting slogans like 'We are not dirty'," said Wilson. He adds that it is strange that most people are not even aware that manual scavenging is illegal. "What is important is that the Government considers the first step. We are not expecting too much to happen. People do not appreciate these karmacharis' work and look down upon them. This has to change."

The demands made by the SKA include an official apology from the Indian Government for violating the human dignity and rights of safai karmacharis, a rehabilitation package that includes an immediate relief of Rs 10,000, a minimum of Rs 5 lakh, five acres of fertile land, special pension for single women workers, pension for the aged workers, free education for children and job-oriented technical education for the youth.

"On 1 November we have a culmination meeting where we will talk with the Government about our demands," said Wilson.

31 October — The Sunday Guardian

Workers’ body unhappy with NMIZ policy

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) has submitted a protest memorandum to the Ministry of Commerce and Labour to oppose the creation of National Manufacturing and Investment Zones. The NMIZ is an initiative by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, to push the share of the manufacturing sector in the GDP.

Miffed members of the organisation, which fights for the rights of workers, say that the NMIZ policy takes away their Constitutional right to form trade unions. The BMS members are also opposing the hire-and-fire policy and the non-applicability of Contract Labour Abolition Act in these special zones.

"Such policies of hire and fire cannot be accepted. We want to remove poverty and unemployment through developmental plans and programmes," said Baij Nath Rai, all India general secretary of the BMS.

However, ministry officials say that NMIZ is a positive step toward strengthening the economy.

"The proposed policy will help achieve higher GDP by exempting labour laws and prohibiting formation of trade unions in the zones," said an official from the ministry. Officials say that the idea behind the policy is to initiate flexible labour laws, while providing excellent infrastructure and easier environment norms to the manufacturing sector.

"This will help in increasing the share of the manufacturing sector in the GDP from the current level of 16-17% to 25% by 2022," the official added.

Published on 1 May 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

The HUL-P&G war: Who’s tiding over whom?

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Procter & Gamble (P&G) India have been washing each other’s dirty linen in public for quite some time now. But, as the dust settles down in this no-holds-barred clash between the two multinationals, some interesting facts are emerging out of the whole imbroglio.

According to informed sources in the advertising industry—who spoke to Moneylife on conditions of anonymity—HUL had been pulled up by the Madras High Court for using an off-white shirt for P&G’s Tide detergent and a brand new white shirt for its own Rin detergent, when the commercial was filmed to ‘judge’ the comparative whitening qualities of both detergents.

HUL has withdrawn the commercial, but the reasons for the same were not publicly known till now. Our sources said that if this ad had been aired with two similar shirts which were either off-white or white, the advertisement would have been justified. Plus, if HUL had backed the advertisement with laboratory data and certification that Rin is a product of superior quality, it could have been accepted by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) as per its standards and code of conduct.

P&G refused to speak on this issue, saying that it does not “comment on its competitor’s strategy.” On the other hand, the HUL spokesperson said that the final court orders are still pending and will be announced in a day or two. In its defence, HUL said that these claims are “quite mischievous in nature” as the court had enquired about the difference in the greyness rather than the colour of the two shirts used in the commercial.

After the Madras High Court passed an order directing HUL to stop airing its ad, the multinational decided to move court again, on P&G’s advertisement which had scenes which seemed to suggest that ‘Tide Natural’ contains “natural sandalwood and lemon.”

In an interim order, the High Court asked P&G to remove those scenes. The Court had also asked P&G to carry a disclaimer saying that Tide Natural “does not contain lemon and sandalwood” throughout the commercial and these modifications were supposed to be implemented by 3 May 2010.

Industry sources claim that P&G is pleased with the order, since the High Court did not agree to HUL’s request for modifying the brand name or packaging of Tide Natural.

P&G told Moneylife, “We have never tried to communicate in our Tide Natural advertising that our product contains lemon and chandan (sandalwood). Our packaging continues to say ‘The freshness of lemon and chandan’, which we do have in the product through the fragrance of lemon and chandan. Usage of terms like these is industry practice and P&G is not drifting (away) from the norm. The Madras High Court believes that a few frames in our TV commercial misrepresent the presence of these ingredients and therefore need to be dropped from the commercial. We respect the court order and will fully comply with the actions and modifications requested of us.”

Interestingly, a decade ago, Unilever also faced flak for its Rin ad which claimed ‘nimbu shakti’ (lime power) when it had no lime, but only the fragrance of lime. Unfortunately, these companies manage to hoodwink customers because the law gives them a lot of leeway in making such claims that may be legal—but not quite ethical.


This appeared on Moneylife's website on 3 May 2010.

Talent crunch hampers international growth of the Indian animation industry

Hollywood is increasingly knocking at the doors of Indian animation studios, but the industry is suffering from high tax rates, dearth of talent and lack of international focus

Indian animation studios are doing a lot of work for Hollywood productions. But why is the Indian animation industry not making any kind of a mark on the international front? Despite great opportunities at hand, the industry continues to remain the back-office of the world as far as animation is concerned.

In India, although several animated films were to be released in 2009, they didn’t make it to the screens because of limited screen space and lowered risk appetite of production studios. Pre- and post-production animation work is mostly driven out of US and Europe, but the script-to-screen journey with a ‘Made in India’ stamp may just take a little longer.

P Jayakumar, CEO, Toonz Animation India, spoke on some bottlenecks which are hampering the growth of the industry. He told Moneylife, “Primarily, the domestic market is a growing one and as such is not established. There is apprehension about how people would take to a particular animated movie, which deters investors. Secondly, lack of skilled animation professionals impacts quality in-house productions. Animation institutions currently produce software professionals who can use the tools of animation, but are not creatively-inclined individuals who understand the nuances of animation from script-to-screen (production).”

Jehil Thakkar, executive director, media and entertainment, KPMG echoed the same views, “We are not equipped to make an end-to-end product. We won’t be able to make another Toy Story.”

Apparently, outdated animation content is literally dumped on Indian networks as there are no potential buyers for domestic content in India. Mr Jayakumar added, “As a growing industry and in the backdrop of a growing market, the emphasis is on producing movies that base themselves on familiar themes—and mythology is an area where the focus is. This may not suit the international market where a general theme may work well.”

The government is doing its bit, but taxation is also killing the industry. The ministry of information and broadcasting is looking at making it mandatory for all children’s channels to telecast local animated movies on a daily basis during specific slots.

However, the entertainment tax rate—which is different from state to state—varies from 20% to 40%. If you look at Asia, entertainment tax is almost 3% in Japan and Singapore; 7% in Thailand and zero in Hong Kong.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has requested the government for an exemption of entertainment tax on all animation feature films and movies meant for children. Mr Thakkar explained, “I think the waiver is warranted to improve this industry. This will surely help in raising the standards (of the animation industry) across all media platforms.”

The animation and visual effects segment of the entertainment industry registered a growth of 13.6% in 2009 and is expected to grow at a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of 18.7% in the years to come to attain Rs4,660 crore by 2014.

Most of the business will depend on outsourced work and co-production deals. But the fact remains that US studios are falling back on Indian talent. According to media reports, companies like Fox, Walt Disney and Warner Bros are using domestic talent to produce Indian-language films. India sold more than 3.2 billion movie tickets in 2009, which amounts to more than double that of the box-office sales in the US and Canada combined, in terms of number of tickets sold. Mr Jayakumar added, “To sum up, I think it’s not too far when we will see Indian studios churning out animated content for the international market.”

This appeared on Moneylife's website on 19 May 2010.

The show must go on: The multiplex growth story remains intact

Over the past few years, multiplexes have helped in bringing back audiences to the theatres. They remain ambitious on their plans for doing the same in the long run

Over the past one-and-a-half years, falling consumer confidence and a slowdown in the real-estate sector has led to many major multiplex chains delaying their expansion plans. But the long-term multiplex growth story remains intact, as by 2013, the number of multiplex screens in India is likely to cross 1,600, according to the FICCI-KPMG ‘Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report’. Convenient geographical locations, tax exemptions and good positions in places like malls are encouraging people to spend more on recreation, which is subsequently leading to the growth of multiplexes in India.

While earlier, a film was released in approximately 250 centres, increased penetration of digital screens has enabled filmmakers to release their movies in 700-800 centres now. This can be due to lower costs per print and ease of transport of prints to remotely located screens. Multiplex owners have announced aggressive growth plans not only in the metros but in regional markets as well.

Jehil Thakkar, executive director, media and entertainment, KPMG said, “This (multiplex) market depends a lot on the real-estate sector. There is room for improvement and growth seems likely for multiplexes. Expansion plans are mainly for regional markets like Tier-II and Tier-III cities. There is a thirst for regional cinema and with more multiplexes in these regions, it will only boost the market.”

Small players are also keen on expanding their horizon as Prem Sadhwani, operational manager, Movietime Cineplex Private Limited told Moneylife, “Currently we have only three multiplexes in the two big cities, Mumbai and Delhi. We plan to come up with two more in Mumbai, and depending on the business and circumstances we might look at expanding more.” Satyam Cineplexes had plans to reach the target of 100 screens by 2012—targeting metros and Tier II cities, and its plans seem to be on track.

Fun Multiplex Pvt Ltd operates 81 cinema screens in 24 locations. Talkie Town, the cinema exhibition brand of Fun Multiplex Private Limited, has plans to roll out 150 value screens in Tier II & Tier III cities by the end of 2011. Vishal Kapur, COO Fun Multiplex Private Limited said, “We recently opened a five-screen multiplex in Amritsar—the largest in the city. Apart from this, we will be opening new multiplexes in Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Cochin, Chennai and Kolkata.”

PVR Cinemas, the leading player in this segment, has around 32 cinemas with 136 screens spread across the country. Reliance MediaWorks, which operates through Big Cinemas, currently has 500 screens spread across India, Malaysia and the US. Cinemax, a Kanakia group company, currently operates through 29 locations with 94 screens operational and has plans to expand and increase the number to 400 screens across the country.

The industry has also seen the commencement of miniplexes, which are multi-use theatres with two screens and a seating capacity of 75 per screen. These miniplex owners are also aggressive on expansion plans and aim at setting up over 500 miniplexes in the coming years.

Devang Sampat, senior vice president, Cinemax India Limited said, “We are aiming to launch 11 locations with 44 screens spread across the country in cities like Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi and other cities.”

The only worry for multiplex owners is the waiting period for operations to begin. On an average, a multiplex requires at least 40 licenses to start operations and the period of acquiring these licenses takes around three months. Mr Kapur explained, “Licensing is a State subject. In general, an approval of the plans and inspection on completion is needed from the following departments in the local administration—town planning, public works department, electrical department, fire department, health department and the police. Post these approvals, the local administration head (the district magistrate or the district collector) issues a licence. In metros, the final licence is given by the office of the police commissioner.”

Multiplex owners feel that a single-window clearance mechanism would work wonders in encouraging the industry to prosper and grow.

This appeared on Moneylife's website on 24 May 2010.

India’s oldest consumer body faces a loss of credibility

Consumers and activists are upset at CGSI’s decision to severe its connection with London-based Consumers International

The Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI), India’s oldest consumer body, continues to be roiled by controversies, this time over its decision on 16th April to terminate its association with Consumers International (CI), a global federation of consumer organisations.

CGSI is the only Indian consumer organisation which has been a council member of CI for 25 years. Unfortunately, this association has now ceased due to issues pertaining to Dr Manohar Kamath, CGSI’s general secretary (who has been in the saddle for four years). CI’s regulations forbid its members from accepting monetary help from private organisations except government bodies for their activities. This is to avoid allegations about bias or influence by sponsors and advertisers.

Things came to a head when Dr Kamath decided to start accepting advertisements in ‘Keemat’, a monthly magazine produced by CGSI for consumers. Some CGSI life members filed a complaint with CI, following which Joost Martens, director general, CI, wrote to CGSI on 3 March 2010 regarding breach of CI membership rules. The formal review of the complaint was done by the Membership Rules Committee of CI.

Members of CGSI have been raising objections since 2006, saying that Dr Kamath violates CGSI’s articles of association and rules and regulations. Dr Kamath has been fighting cases on behalf of insurance companies against consumers, whom he is supposed to protect by virtue of his position. The South Mumbai District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in August 2006 had prohibited Dr Kamath from appearing before it after receiving a confirmation that he was using his appearance before the forum as his profession. Vijay Chheda was the complainant and his lawyer brought forward a statement made on oath by Dr Kamath. “I am on the panel of Opposite Party’s Insurance Company. I am being remunerated by (the) insurance company on being on its panel for (the) past three-four years. I have given opinions approximately in five-six matters to the opposite part per month. I am practicing as a family physician and also as a Medico-legal Consultant having completed Master-in-Law. I am remunerated in those matters where I appear on behalf of this opposite party.”

CGSI chairman, professor NM Rajadhyaksha, replied to CI’s complaint on 23 March 2010 denying all charges levied against CGSI and Dr Kamath’s activities. Anticipating ouster from the membership of Consumers International, CGSI’s letter converged ‘withdrawal’ of CGSI from CI’s membership.

Indrani Malkani, a CGSI life member and an activist, told Moneylife, “Since the time Dr Kamath has been associated with CGSI, there have been many controversies. Two years ago, Keemat started accepting advertisements and corporate sponsorships for its seminars and public meetings in contravention of the rules of CI. Hence it was their (CGSI’s) fault.” Dr Kamath explains that CGSI had to accept advertisements for the payment of outstanding rent, “We are sure you will accept that as part of Corporate Social Responsibility and keeping in mind the fact that grants from government organisations are acceptable, this activity should not violate any norms of ethics and/or morality of consumer organisations.”

Krishna Basrur, CGSI’s senior-most member and former president, wrote a letter of appeal on 5 May 2010 to all CGSI members to ensure that every member is informed about CGSI’s problems. The letter of appeal from Mrs Basrur informed CGSI members about two modifications in the pipeline. “The Managing Committee is proposing to delete the rule in our constitution which makes businessmen ineligible for election to the Committee. The second amendment proposed is that the Board of Trustees should be dropped.” However, the Charity Commissioner has issued a stay order on the same.

Dr Kamath denies that CGSI’s Managing Committee was considering deleting the rule which makes businessmen ineligible for election to the committee. “The removal of Trustees from the constitution was to correct an anomaly and get rid of the decorative post which played no role in the development or management of the Society.”


This appeared on Moneylife's website on 11 May 2010.

New ASCI guidelines likely for insurance companies soon

The entity will look at implementing the standards set down by the insurance watchdog, by the second half of 2010

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has plans to include guidelines for the insurance and financial sectors soon. Considering that there have been many complaints filed against insurance advertisements, the council aims at modifying the guidelines further. Alan Joseph Collaco, secretary general of ASCI said, “We will do it (the modifications) once we get a consensus from insurance companies, probably around the second half of 2010. At present, the percentage of complaints received (concerning insurance companies) is 10% (of the total number of complaints being received). However, more insurance companies are advertising with every passing day.”

However, the implementation isn’t likely to happen immediately but is on the cards. Mr Collaco further added that the complaints received by the council are on these lines: “In one advertisement, fixed deposits are compared rather unfairly with insurance. In another advertisement, insurance is shown as a route to fulfil your child’s dreams.”

There are some minimum standards advertisers and brands need to adhere to, which is in compliance with the IRDA (Insurance Advertisements and Disclosure) Regulations, 2000 referred to as ‘Advertisement Regulations’ and the code of conduct formulated by ASCI and any other regulations as applicable.

Clyton Fernandes, a research analyst (banking and financial services) with Anand Rathi Financial Services, believes that it is a positive move for the insurance industry, “It is good and more about awareness, more than anything else. At least it will make insurance and financial companies more cautious; people are often mislead about products. This might not be good news for financial companies in the beginning as it will impact their profit margins, but it will be fruitful for customers as they will get a better perspective about different products.”

SBI Life Insurance is in favour of this move initiated by the advertising council. Chandramohan Mehra, head (Brand and Communications), SBI Life Insurance told Moneylife, “Any move that is in the interest of the customers will always be welcomed. The basic ingredient to keep the customers’ trust intact is to initiate honest communication.”

In the month of March 2010, the council had implemented specific guidelines on the auto and food & beverage sectors. Mr Collaco had said, “ASCI realises that cutthroat competition among products and the need for uniqueness can sometimes lead to senseless exaggeration and depiction of unsafe practices.”

ASCI is a self-regulatory voluntary union of the advertising industry that plays the role of a body that receives complaints from consumers and the industry with the help of its Consumer Complaints Council (CCC), against advertisements which are considered false, misleading, indecent, illegal, leading to unsafe practices, or unfair to competition. ASCI had upheld complaints against six advertisements in February. These advertisements include brands like Dabur Chyawan Junior, Shanti Badam Amla Hair Oil, Maruti SX4, IMS CAT Approach Program, Tata AIG Insurance, and Mahindra Flyte Power Scooter. More documents on complaints are expected in the near future.

This appeared on Moneylife's website on 30 April 2010.

Broadcasters apprehensive over proposed govt watchdog for TV ratings

The government has plans to form a broadcasting regulator which will cater to TV channel registrations, licences and ratings. The industry is not amused

The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), an organisation set up by advertisers to oversee television audience measurement and ratings for broadcasters, will most probably be in place by next month. However, the government has decided to form a different broadcasting watchdog which will cater to registrations, licences and ratings. So is it time for the TV industry to get its act together?

At a conclave in Mumbai on 11 June 2010, LV Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media Research, said, "In our last meeting with the ministry last week, they did mention forming of a broadcasting body like TRAI to monitor the ratings and licences given to channels, in the near future. We need to work faster as the government has (alternative) plans."

TAM has certain guidelines to ensure that its sample TV ratings are measured accurately. It is in favour of working with the government as long as the intervention isn't too blatant.

"The government can surely help if they don't take an anti-industry stance. It can play a vital role in aiding or at least helping in reducing the taxes imposed on the expensive equipment required for measurement," said Mr Krishnan.

Does the industry feel that the government's intervention is required? "Actually there is a vested interest of the government (in intervening in the ratings of TV channels). DD believes that whatever ratings are done by TAM are under-measured," said Paritosh Joshi, CEO of Star CJ India. Sam Balsara, chairman, Madison World, agrees, "By regulation we mean self-regulation and not government intervention. Our fear is that if government gets involved, vested interests will also be involved because many members of Parliament also own channels."

The industry's inability in creating a responsible body to cater to ratings and licences has been hampering its own growth. The advertising industry is an almost Rs22,000-crore market whereas the TV ad market is only about Rs9,000 crore.

What is the main reason? "As far as ad agencies and advertisers are concerned, these kinds of conflicts are not persistent. And more than anything else the TV industry is dependent on advertising more than ratings," said Mr Balsara.

Broadcasters still argue that ratings done by TAM and other agencies are accurate because the goal is clear-measurement of viewership to help them work towards creating better content. As Mr Krishnan said, "As complexity of measurement increases, industry involvement also becomes essential. If the industry comes along and works hand-in-hand, we can work in a much better fashion." Unfortunately, the industry doesn't have a plan or blueprint of what the solution can be. Coming back to where we started-is government intervention really required?


This appeared on Moneylife's website on 14 June 2010.

Is Piramal Healthcare in an exit mode?

The company says that it has no plans to exit the diagnostics space altogether. However, as we had earlier reported, its plans of acquiring smaller labs for growth does not seem to be working

Piramal Diagnostic Services Private Ltd (PDSL), the diagnostics service unit of Piramal Healthcare Ltd, has shut down its diagnostics operations in Delhi. A few company officials say that this step is being taken due to losses the company has incurred over two to three years. Apparently, 60 people have also been retrenched with a compensation of three months’ salary at the Delhi unit. PDSL’s operations are estimated to be around Rs200 crore.

Moneylife had reported earlier (http://www.moneylife.in/article/8/4344.html) that the company’s strategy of buying a large number of smaller players (called ‘roll-ups’ in the US) might not be successful. PDSL had plans of acquiring 10 pathology labs across the country, from which it was targeting a minimum turnover of Rs5 crore each from these units.

Dr Swati Piramal, director, Piramal Healthcare, informed Moneylife, “The Delhi unit was located out of the way, which made it difficult for customers to access it. So we decided to close it.” However, she denied that the company had plans to exit the diagnostics space altogether. “We would like to clarify that the news appearing in certain sections of the media about the Piramal Group planning to close its diagnostics operations is completely baseless and untrue. We have expanded rapidly till 2009 and will continue to expand after consolidating and strengthening business processes.”

Metropolis Healthcare and Piramal Healthcare are among the most competent players in the pharmaceutical space. Metropolis started its operations in 1981 and has 50 plus state-of-the-art laboratories across the globe. Ameera Patel, CEO and executive director, Metropolis Healthcare Ltd said that Piramal’s unit in Delhi was a greenfield project, which could be the reason for the closure.

“Greenfield projects in general are difficult as trust and credibility have to be established from scratch in that location,” Ms Patel told Moneylife.

Piramal Healthcare had recently acquired ‘I-Pill’, an emergency contraceptive pill brand from Cipla and the anesthetic product operations of Bharat Serums, a plasma derivatives manufacturer.

Sapna Jhawar, a pharmaceutical analyst from ShareKhan explained, “A lot of news has been on and off in the media about Piramal’s selling plans. Piramal has not been that aggressive with acquisitions lately—especially after their plans to acquire 5-10 path labs earlier. It (the diagnostics business) has been a steady source of income for Piramal; it could have made about Rs250-Rs300 crore by 2012. It doesn’t really make sense for Piramal to shut down its diagnostics operations until and unless it has got a good value for the business from a private player. Plus, even if this is the case, it will not affect Piramal’s business to a great extent, considering that it (the diagnostics business) is a small part of its (overall) business.” The Delhi unit contributed around less than 1% to Piramal Diagnostics’ revenues, and its closure is not expected to impact its overall operation in a significant way.

First story — appeared on Moneylife's website on 6 May 2010.

A Lifeline for Mumbai’s Slum Women

About a voluntary organisation that is dedicated to helping Mumbai’s slum women help themselves

With a beautiful smile on her face, Shanta, a junior supervisor at the Centre for the Study of Social Change’s (CSSC) Deepakwadi clinic in Bandra, proudly claims, “I have been here for 18 years, and I love to work for CSSC because I work for my own people.” CSSC has 21 Women of India Network (WIN) clinics spread across Bandra, Khar and Santa Cruz in Mumbai. Registered as a public trust in 1972, CSSC was started by intellectuals like Govindrao S Talwalkar, NV Sovani, GD Parikh, AB Shah and the late Tarkateerth Lakshmanshastri Joshi. The late
Dr Indumati Parikh, a distinguished humanist, had guided the activities of CSSC from the 1970s. The Centre is now headed by Dr Ramesh Potdar, who is the honorary general secretary and a committed medical practitioner.

WIN is CSSC’s flagship project. It covers areas like reproductive health, child health, family planning, water & sanitation, empowerment through non-formal education, skill development programmes, income generation and formation of self-help groups (SHGs). Dr Potdar says that the nature of their work allows health workers to first bring these women to the clinics, which then opens the door to other initiatives to empower them. CSSC is in touch with nearly 200,000 families through its health workers and mainly helps slumdwellers. “Our health workers are in touch with every household in the slums of Bandra, Khar and Santra Cruz. They bring women and children to the clinic for regular check-ups.

This helps make a big difference in the lives of these people,” says Dr Deepali Prabhat of CSSC. Using health as an entry-point was a helpful tool in motivating slum women to accept non-formal education and training for income generation.

Dr Potdar says, “We help people to be well-informed and not follow blindly what everybody says. It is always better to ask ‘why’. It has been an uphill task to inculcate an enquiring approach among these people and make them listen.”

CSSC has undertaken several projects. These include strategic research, customised training and capacity-building for government departments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs); skill-training for income-generation; awareness campaigns on development issues; and knowledge management and partnership between policymakers and grassroots workers. CSSC has also conducted community-based interventions for urban and rural poverty alleviation and training of trainers (TOT) in health & development.

A research project named ‘Saras’, a trial intervention for food-based micronutrient supplements, is currently under way. It will monitor the health of 6,000 women during the pre-conception and pregnancy period to ensure an increase in the birth-weight of 1,500 newborns and reduce neonatal problems and deaths. Vanitha, a junior supervisor on this project, said, “I am never tired of my work as I get to know the patients and understand their problems.”

CSSC also holds ‘Special Clinics’ for children who are below five years of age and ‘Gynaec Clinics’ for women once a month at each WIN centre.

There are plans to initiate a project called ‘Salaamat’ which involves setting up a primary healthcare hospital on the CSSC campus and transit emergency medical services with emergency ambulance access.

CSSC also plans to create a cropus for healthcare and set up a federation to help poor communities to cope with the burden of rising healthcare expenditure. This initiative will involve the local, state and central governments and a host of other government bodies.

Initial funding for CSSC was provided by ICICI Bank, Mumbai. The International Fund for Population Development, based in Lausanne (Switzerland), also provides support to WIN. CSSC is seeking to raise funds for its projects through grants and support from a group of regular donors (in cash and kind). Donations to CSSC are tax-exempt under Section 80G

Centre for the Study of Social Change (CSSC)
MN Roy Human Development Campus
Opposite Govt. Colony Building 326
Bandra (East), Mumbai 400051
Tel: 91-22-26570924/ 26570973
Email: rdpotdar@wincssc.com
rdpotdar@snehamrc.com
Website: www.cssc.org.in


This appeared on Moneylife's website on 3 June 2010.