Indian Women – Our “Pride” shaping the new world order

In the male-dominated world of Indian financial institutions, are women at the helm still a rarity? At the dawn of the new millennium, India celebrates the remarkable progress of women in business. Women made great strides in boardrooms and courtrooms, on screen and in society.  Indian women today broke the myth and emerge to the top of the corporate ladder.

Eight Indian women have made it to the Fortune list of 25 most powerful women in the Asia-Pacific region. More and more businesswomen are taking tougher jobs and helming bigger firms. More than a third of the women on our Asia-Pacific list are making their MPW (most powerful women) debut.”

Indian women who have made a mark include;

ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar, has been ranked second across the region. She is the Managing Director & CEO of ICICI Bank and also heads the corporate centre of ICICI Bank. Mrs. Kochhar was born in Jodhpur, Rajhasthan and after completion of her schooling she moved to Mumbai and did graduation from Arts then pursued ICWAI, did her Masters from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management studies, Mumbai.

Her journey in ICICI started as a Management Trainee and then from numerous promotions she now holds the chair of CEO.

Kochhar is honoured with Padma Bhushan Award for her services to banking sector in the year 2010 and also awarded the “ABLF Women of Power Award (India)” in 2011 at the Asian Business Leadership Forum Awards.

The two Indian new entrants are Arundhati Bhattacharya and Nishi Vasudeva. State Bank of India’s Arundhati Bhattacharya, and HPCL’s Nishi Vasudeva, and have earned the fourth and fifth rankings respectively.

Arundhati Bhattacharya is the first woman to hold the ‘three-year post at the country’s largest bank and oversees a 208-year-old institution with $400 billion in assets and 218,000 employees dispersed among 16,000 branches across India’. She was born in a Bengali Brahmin family in the city of Kolkata. She joined State Bank of India as a Probationary Officer (PO) in 1977. She has held several positions during her 36 years carrier with the bank.

On the other hand, Nishi Vasudeva, CMD of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) became the first woman to head an Indian oil company and one of only four women to helm a Global Fortune 500 firm in the Asia-Pacific region’. She is a MBA graduate of India Institute of Mannagement Calcutta. She started her carrier in the petroleum Industry with Engineers India Ltd. She has more than  34 years of experience in petroleum Industry.

Other Indian women in the top 25 are: Axis Bank’s Shikha Sharma (10th), Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (19th), National Stock Exchange (NSE) CEO Chitra Ramkrishna (22nd) NSE’s, Chitra Ramakrishna is the only woman on the list heading a stock exchange. HSBC’s Naina Lal Kidwai (23rd) and TAFE chairman and CEO Mallika Srinivasan (25th).

Meanwhile, Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo’s India-born CEO, She was born in a Tamil family in Chennai, and did her post graduation from IIM, Calcutta. Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994, she  has been ranked third among the world’s most powerful business women by Fortune this year. She is only Indian-origin woman on this year’s global list, which has been topped by IBM chairman and CEO Ginni Rometty and General Motors CEO Mary Barra.

It is a pride for Indians that these women have reached the pinnacle of their career in a male dominated world, it is also a hard reality of our country that still, millions out there face discrimination when they are pitched against their men counterparts when the choice finally is made due to their gender. A huge number of female working professionals when married are made to look after their families indoors by resigning. Modern world have to accept the proved fact that they are second to none, whether it is home, or outside home at their workplace. With changing time, they have risen up to the occasion and managed the work in many areas such as industry, media, IT, politics. They are growing and working shoulder to shoulder with men almost in all areas.

“Let’s support them, encourage them and let them fly to touch the sky”

-Priyanka Sharma.

iMET Global

Google + If not used yet? Go for it!

Google+ (pronounced and sometimes written as Google Plus) is a social networking and identity service that is owned and operated by Google Inc. Google has described Google+ as a “social layer” that enhances many of its online properties, and that it is not simply a social networking website, but also an authorship tool that associates web-content directly with its owner.

ln terms of social network popularity, Google+ is nowhere near the top of the list. Despite Google’s push to break into the social media game in 2011, it simply never caught on with consumers the way Twitter and Facebook did. Most businesses know this, and tend to treat Google+ as an afterthought because it’s not where most of their customers are.

But ignoring or downplaying your Google+ profile could actually be a huge mistake. Because of its integration with so many other Google products, it’s actually a lot bigger than it seems, more importantly, an active, complete Google+ business profile can really boost your search rankings.

Google+ correlates with higher search rankings for users, as posts and pages shared on Google+ are more quickly indexed into the Google search engine than those on other platforms.”

Some brands choose to run keyword-based ads within Google Search, but with the right Google+ strategy, you may even see better results than paid advertisements.

“It’s not about getting people to go to Google+, “Google uses those posts in other Google properties. If you do everything correctly, that Google+ post will show up in search. There are people searching for your business or industry, and [those posts] will come up, which is borderline free advertising for your business.”

Tips to help you make the most of your business’s Google+ presence;

Complete your profile –  Google+ posts can be a great opportunity to share one’s company’s content, announcements and other brand-related information. But before we figure out our posting strategy, we should take the time to fill out our profile as completely as possible.

“The biggest mistake a lot of brands making is not fully filling out their profiles. “Each area that allows us to enter text is an opportunity to draw relevance to your Google+ profile and the services our company offers. Not entering this information is a huge missed opportunity. If we don’t tell them, how will they know?”

Encourage customer reviews –  Asking for customer review on Google can be tricky. On the one hand, it will boost our authenticity and trust among consumers, but on the other, we may invite some negative attention to our brand from one or two disappointed customers, putting ourself out there and asking for reviews anyway whenever possible, as it will be beneficial for our business’s SEO in the long run. And if we do get negative reviews, make sure we don’t ignore them.

Use Circles and Hangouts – If a “Circle” means a shape and a “Hangout” means a social gathering to you, you might want to brush up on your Google lingo. These two Google+ features can be helpful for appealing to a targeted audience and establishing brand authority for your company.

Using Google+ Hangouts, Google’s video chat service, is a great way to gain exposure for both your Google+ profile and your brand. Many companies have begun to use Hangouts for Q&A sessions, workshops, announcements, webinars and more, which can help a business stand out as an expert in its industry.

Set up connected Google+ pages – “If a business connects its Google+ profile with its Google+ Local page [or Google Maps location], Google will take away competitor ads and showcase your business when a customer is specifically looking for your page, any time you get a review or update photos, they will show up on Google Maps. The profiles that have the most up-to-date information do well.

“Google+ is Google’s product. “Since we’re all marketers living in Google’s world, we should make a strong effort in delivering content to the platform.”

Priyanka Sharma

iMET Global

 

MNC’s Seeking Their Good Market Future With E-Commerce

After getting substantial amount of Investment from TATA,  SNAP DEAL facilitating new market strategy of M&Ms- “Now book your Scorpio on Snap deal.”

 

Snapdeal is now offering car bookings. The website has tied up with utility vehicle major M&M for booking the new Scorpio SUV. The new Scorpio, to be unveiled on September 25, is being offered for a booking amount of Rs 20,000. In the automotive segment, Snapdeal currently sells after-market parts, allow wheels and accessories such as audio systems.

Snapdeal brought better result than Mahindra’s own online portal.

 

Car makers are now increasingly tapping customers online as marketers feel that a large part of the segment that buys cars uses the internet on either the computer or mobile.

“This is a very exciting development,” said Arvind Singhal, chairman of retail advisory firm Technopak. “Companies like Mahindra and Tata are now experimenting with online and that is an encouraging sign.”

The reason behind the move
Despite of selling their profitable vehicle  approximately 50,000 units annually, Mahindra is facing threat from a raft of newer, competitively priced models from car makers such as Ford, Renault and Nissan. It is an attempt to cement its dominance in the market by using of an online channel to drive sales volumes.

How it is?

After pre-booking the new Scorpio on Snapdeal by paying Rs 20,000, customers can go to a dealer to make the full payment and take delivery.

Revenue generating e-commerce vehicle.

Revenues of e-commerce players and funding received from investors have been growing phenomenally. Online market place Snapdeal.com, in which veteran business leader Ratan Tata invested in his personal capacity, will be the first e-commerce company in India to turn profitable. One thing is for sure that it will surely be the first e-commerce company to turn profitable in India. This is because of the business model they follow and their commitment to it. Even if FDI (foreign direct investment) opens up in multi-brand e-commerce in the future, they will not start buying any inventory — they never have and never will. “We will not create our own label since that is in conflict with the relationships that we have with other brands. Why would a brand share its product roadmap with us, if we were creating our own products? They will be sceptical of us replicating their offerings and selling them cheaper. We have said no to inventory and private labels and will maintain that position” says Kunal Bahl, CEO,  Snapdeal.

Snapdeal is focusing on building the best online marketplace, along with an ecosystem consisting of sellers, merchants and courier partners.

Priyanka Sharma

iMET Global

Programmatic – The New Super Hero in Digital Advertising

The digital advertising industry is predicted to grow at lightning speed.

As online advertising technology improves, new methods are constantly being tested to create efficiencies around the buying of ad space. Recently, media buyers are moving to add programmatic buying to their online advertising tool belt.  Many agencies are leveraging tech partners with access to ad exchanges, while others have chosen to develop their own trading desks to allow them to buy media themselves.

What is “programmatic”? … For a fact, it has as many meanings, but at heart it is the new paradigm of digital media buying and selling, a marketplace for ads that moves more like Sensex than the elaborate lunches and cocktails that still run channels like television and print. Programmatic markets have three key characteristics. They are:

1. Automated— Machines make decisions on what ads will run where, based on rules (which are often set by humans, so relax).
2. Auction-driven— Although this is changing as more so-called private exchanges and “premium” inventory appears, marketers generally have to bid on impressions against other marketers (this is where the “non-guaranteed” point comes in — no one is ever guaranteed to win an auction).
3. Information-heavy— The promise of programmatic marketplaces is that they value data over deal making, providing marketers an opportunity to bid (and pay) only what they think an ad is worth in a particular time and place.

Fundamentally, programmatic buying allows the inclusion of many data sources to inform targeting and optimization decisions in an automated, real time context. Buyers can layer both third-party data, as well as advertiser first-party data, onto campaigns. It suggests that there’s little or no human intervention in the buying process.

The main advantage of programmatic buying is that it uses near-real time systems and algorithms to automate the delivery of data-driven solutions and advertising to consumers i.e. creating targeted offers and ads per individual consumer – there’s no “one ad fits all” any more.  This then has the exciting potential for marketers to, for the first time, evaluate campaign performance and make in-flight modifications to get maximum bang for the buck.

Programmatic buying is huge in the US, a $7.4-billion annual business. In India, its already worth around Rs.2,000 crores, about two-thirds of the annual Rs.3,500-crores digital advertising spend.

The benefits of Programmatic buying are not limited to the buyer. The improved effectiveness it delivers for the advertiser also translates into increased relevance for the consumer and greater revenue for the publisher. And in a world where consumers want high quality news, professional content and open forums for social interaction to be subsidized by advertising, that’s a very good thing.

While five years ago, marketing and advertising would have never been associated with technology, today technology is indispensable to any media company. To remain competitive in this day and age, successful advertising firms will need to ensure data and decisions are processed and exchanged in milliseconds. Technology is at the core of their success.

Abhishek Mehrotra

iMET Global

BIRTHDAY IS NO SPECIAL DAY FOR ME

Throughout life, birthday has been no different from any other day of my life, said Namo

“There will be no birthday celebrations”.

“My humble request- do not celebrate my birthday. Instead, dedicate yourselves towards relief work in J&K through your time & resources,” says Modi ji’s tweet

People curious to know how Modi will celebrate his first birthday as the Prime Minister got the answer from his favourite medium of interaction – Twitter.

Modi Ji will start his day by taking blessings of his 95-year-old mother Hiraba following which celebrations by state administration and BJP have been planned to mark his birthday.

Our PM. who turns 64 on Wednesday, asked people to not indulge in his birthday celebrations but instead focus on relief work in Kashmir.

Modi Ji’s another tweet said, “On 17th, President Xi Jinping will be in Gujrat. We look forward to extending a warm welcome to him but there will be no birthday celebrations.” The PM also asked people to cancel any planned parties in his honour and also request people to donate generously for relief work in the floods.

Modi Ji has always chosen his birthday to surprise people. In 2011, as the Gujrat CM he began his much famous 3-day Sadbhavna fast on his birthday after visiting his mother. The fast that he said was aimed at building harmony and brotherhood was reported widely.

In 2013, incidentally, Modi Ji paid an unexpected visit to senior BJP leader Keshubhai Patel, who had rebelled against him and quit the BJP to float his own party.

Palak Arora

Imet Global

Amazon- The next Alibaba of India

Similar to what Walmart is doing online in India and what Alibaba does in China, Amazon is preparing to launch a portal for wholesale merchants in India.

India is the first country outside the US where such an initiative is being planned by the Seattle based company, Amazon.

The initiative could be lead by Mr. Samir Kumar, who is currently director of category management. The wholesale team will report to Amazon India head Amit Agarwal.

Amazon has grown rapidly and aggressively in India, challenging Flipkart for market leadership in the country. Illustrating the scale of its ambition, founder Jeff Bezos announced that Amazon would invest $2 billion (Rs 12,000 crore) in India just a day after Flipkart said it had received $1 billion in funding. “It is important to note that there is no FDI restriction when it comes to online business-to-business operations. The India wholesale portal will be similar to Amazon Supply, its online site in the US focused on business consumers.

Sources who briefed ET on Amazon’s wholesale plans said the firm wants to quickly establish wholesale operations in India before Alibaba pays serious attention to this market. Alibaba has set up offices in India but its platform is primarily focused on connecting small and medium enterprises in India to global buyers, and not on domestic sales.

In India too, the online channel is expected to be a disruptive force in wholesale. According to Singhal of Technopak “The online channel can bring in efficiency”. ”There are millions of small retailers who buy from physical wholesalers, but the system is very inefficient,” said Singhal of Technopak.

Technopak has estimated that the retail market in India is at $525 billion (Rs 32 lakh crore) at present and will double in size by 2020.

Priyanka Sharma

iMET Global

Achieving the dream – A journey from homemaker to Entrepreneur

Bindu Pallichal, a homemaker from Pravachambalam village near Thiruvananthapuram manufactures 21 ayurvedic food and cosmetic products, its mainstay an ingredient which claims to enhance memory.

If you talk in numbers, her turnover stands Rs.7 lakh, no mean achievement in a state where an entrepreneur is as rare as a teetotaller. Bindu has also bagged several awards at the state and national levels as a woman entrepreneur.

The story behind-

In 2007, she decided to turn into an entrepreneur. She began to experiment with ayurvedic oils and cosmetics because she knew Sanskrit (the oldest known ayurvedic texts were written in the ancient language). Problem was Sanskrit was her only capital or asset to speak of. There was no money to invest or land to build a manufacturing unit.

Bindu became a member of Kudumbashree, an all-women collective of members selected from poor households. The micro enterprises of members like Bindu, who have been streamlined into neighborhood groups (NHGs), are sustained by micro finance. The 2.59 lakh NHGs facilitate thrift mobilization — also known as small savings — and provide customized credit to its members.  The savings of Kudumbashree members adds upto Rs.2262 crore which allows them to access linkage banking- loan extended to self-help group or ayalkoottam, NABARD Insurance scheme, grants and the like.

To understand the impact of Kudumbashree, one simply has to look at its scope. The 41-lakh members in the movement translate into nearly 50% of the households in the state. In other words, half the state’s population makes a living out of this program. Kudumbashree’s success gains even more shine because of one constant problem in Kerala.

Initially, the Kudumbashree movement restricted itself to a few areas in farming and agri-business such as rice and vegetable cultivation and making curry powder, pickles, rice powder and so on. Members have since ventured into fields such as construction, driving, cafes, brand development , “Thanks to our huge fund, our senior officials can even think of promoting a bank,” said Sindhu K, a Kudumbashree member in Alangode, a village in Malappuram district that borders Thrissur.

Kudumshree – Today’s one of the largest women empowering project in India.

Priyanka Sharma

iMET Global

Google Brings Traffic for Facebook in India

Google and facebook are frenemies. They are friends in the sense that the success of any one company invariably yields spin-off benefits for others; enemies because all of them compete for the same users and online advertising dollars.

Google with its upcoming series of low cost phones under the Android one program apparently helped facebook to grow their traffic population of India. Next Monday, Google is highly expected to launch a range of Android one smartphones in collaboration with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice mostly priced under Rs. 6000 ($100). The Smartphone will be having top end features like dual core chip, 5 MP camera and 4-5 inch display. As according to survey in India 108 million of population use facebook and out of that 94 million access it on mobile and due to Android phone carrying low rate in the market it will apparently increase the number of facebook user. As whosoever buys the smartphone tends to get themselves engaged in facebook.

“A low-cost smartphone which allows a good user experience will accelerate adoption of Facebook,” says Jessie Paul, CEO, Paul Writer Strategic Advisory, a marketing consultancy. “In fact, it could take Facebook’s access on mobile devices to 100 per cent from about 93 per cent at present.”

The Vice-president, growth & analytics of Facebook had himself made this statement that “We are now looking forward to one billion users in India. That is a different focus and challenge but Google’s Android will make the challenge easier..

“But Android One will provide a consistent user experience across all devices,” he adds. Adds Mohammad Chowdhury, leader, telecom, Price waterhouse Coopers (PwC): “Android One will shake up the low-end to midtier smartphone market,” Google finished the second quarter with $14.3 billion in advertising revenues compared to Facebook’s $2.68 billion.
Facebook’s mobile ad revenues accounts for more than 60 per cent of its overall ad revenues, while Google’s earns only 12 per cent of its advertising dollar for mobile.

Priyanka Sharma

iMET Global

Helping the helpless: Social Media makes inroads into disaster struck terrains

    

Share it and make it viral,” as I scrolled my FB page, the Post screamed at me. “If anyone in Kashmir has a working MOBILE other than Aircel….tell them to go to Settings>Network>Manual Search….then Select Aircel from the networks….Companies have come together…Aircel will work on all SIMS….Share like wild fire…” For me, it looked like the business promotion of the telephone service provider. Then, I heard my WhatsApp alerting me on my handset and I saw another similar message flashing on it. I became curious.

It was morning and I wanted to read the latest news and as I clicked Google news, it said, “Indian papers highlight social media’s role in Kashmir flood rescue.” It was a BBC news item and it said, “Media in India are highlighting the role of social media websites in reaching out to people stranded in the flood-hit parts of Indian-administered Kashmir where 200 people have already lost their lives and 400,000 stranded. In the absence of phone lines and power supply, social media updates from outside and inside the state are playing a major role in tracing people trapped in the flood-hit areas.

Kashmiris living in other parts of India are posting details about their stranded relatives on various flood-related social media accounts…”

I switched on my TV to watch the current news on Times Television, “15,000 people who were stranded out in the flood have been identified by the Indian Army who used the Twitter messages of their relatives and evacuated them.  Indian Army is also posting the complete details of these evacuees on Army Twitter handle bringing happiness to their nears and dears who now know they are safe,.” stated the news anchor. “WhatsApp group of senior Army commanders are continuously transmitting the messages received by them on to their ground troops which is further displayed on the Twitter handle of army,” continued the Anchor.

Of late, I have been reading a lot about how big Corporations are using Social Media for the required “connect and continued engagements” with their customers and to devise strategies for expanding their business……I had seen how big companies were virtually hunting for qualified social media professionals offering fat salaries (Social Media: Surging, Surging and Surging Ahead!)….I had seen celebrities searching for social media companies for building their “personal brand”….I had seen how “Poptip” a US Social Media startup company that is said to have helped Obama Administration to locate Bin laden in Pakistan was bought over by Plantir Technologies Inc for US$ 9 Billion (Riding a New Wave: Social Media) and I knew that there is a huge surge in demand for Social Media Professionals.  But then, I saw Social Media now entering into unchartered and ”un-thought-of” territories bringing in human aid and the country was looking for “Social Media enabled” professionals to do that.

Guys, watch out, Social Media is the next big thing waiting to happen…..achieve proficiency in driving it, as professionals.

C Devidasan,

September 11, 2014