• Nestle tried to create a market for iced tea in India by launching Paloma in eighties & again with Nestea in the nineties & both the cases came up with a failure
• Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American ad campaign:
“Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”
• When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that “no va” means “it won’t go.”
• Volkswagen Schwimmwagen was an amphibious all-wheel-drive off-roaders, used extensively by the Germans during the Second World War.
• Henry Ford’s grandson (another Henry) turned down an offer to acquire Volkswagen after the
Second World War when it was under British Army control because he thought it was worthless.
• ‘Herbie’ and its three sequels (‘Herbie Rides Again’, ‘Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo’ and ‘Herbie Goes Bananas’) is a series of movies made by Walt Disney Productions starring Herbie the Love Bug, a white Volkswagen racing Beetle with a mind of its own. Another theatrical sequel, ‘Herbie: Fully Loaded’ was released in 2005 by Disney.
• William C Durant was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, the founder of General Motors and Chevrolet who created the system of multi-brand holding companies with
different lines of cars
• Prior to the manufacture of Henry Ford’s Model A, Mary Anderson was granted her first patent for a window cleaning device in November of 1903. Her invention could clean snow, rain, or sleet from a windshield by using a handle inside the car. Her goal was to improve driver vision during stormy weather - Mary Anderson invented the windshield wiper.
• Sanford L. Cluett discovered a way to pre-shrink fabrics and his invention was called the
‘Sanforized fabric’. The company he set up Cluett Peabody & Co, Inc. licensed the process and
made it available to everybody in the textile industry. The Arrow brand of shirts comes from this company.
• The Cadillac automobile was named after the 17th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, who founded Detroit in 1701. In 1912, Cadillac was the first
manufacturer to incorporate a successful electric starter on their cars equipped with gasoline
internal combustion engines, replacing the hand starting crank; the device was developed by
Charles Kettering and was marketed as a convenience device for female drivers.
• Lipton launched a tetra-packed fruit drink in India called Noga in India in the 1980s; the product was
unsuccessful and was withdrawn
• Godrej Consumer Products launched Vigil–India's first and only Grade I Health soap. The advanced
Triple Control System (TCS) used in Vigil removes germs, acts faster and lasts longer
• Hindustan Unilever product failures: Aim, 2001, Rural toothpaste; Impulse, 2002, Women’s
Deodorant; Revel, 2001, Washing Machine detergent; Calvin Klein, 2001, Toiletries
• Dandi Namak–salt brand founded by Suresh Agarwal of Kunvar Ajay Industries
• D.S. Narang of RDM Traders launched the Ayur herbal brand
• G. Munusamy founded Kaleeswari Refinery famous for its Gold Winner edible oil brand
• S.C. Sehgal, a veteran of Glaxo, founded Ozone Ayurvedics which is now famous for the No
Marks brand
• Murli Gyanchandani of Kanpur Trading Company is famous for his detergent brands–Ghadi in
economy category& Double Dog in premium one
• M. P. Ramachandran is the founder of Jyothi Labs, famous for brand like Ujala (1982), Maxo
mosquito repellent, and Exo, a washing bar
• Prakash Parakh of Parakh Foods is the founder of famous edible oil brand–Gemini
• Atul Shah of Anchor Health is the man behind the Anchor toothpaste that was focused on
predominantly vegetarian Gujarat and Rajasthan and positioned its toothpaste as a vegetarian
product
• England’s Lever Brothers began importing their Sunlight brand soap into India in the late 1880s.
By 1895, Lever had introduced another of its brands, Lifebuoy, which became the company's
longest-running successful brand in India. Other Lever brands followed into the beginning of the
next century, including the Lux soap flake brand in 1905; and scouring powder Vim as well as soap
brand Vinolia in 1913. In 1963, HLL entered the dairy industry with the launch of Anik brand of
ghee. HLL also launched but later withdrew Signal toothpaste–India’s only brand with colourful
strips in it
• HLL’s Le Sancy soap was famous for its advertisement punchline “Rahul Pani Chalajayega”
• HLL formed a joint venture with Kimberly-Clark, which began marketing the Huggies diaper and
Kotex sanitary pad brands in India.
Headline: Gates and the Great Game
Newspaper/publication: The Indian Express
Topic: Defence/Foreign Policy
Date: 25 Feb 2008
When US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates swings through New Delhi this week, India’s civil nuclear
initiative is unlikely to be at the top of his agenda. To be sure, there are growing anxieties in
Washington about the UPA government’s inability to bring around its communist allies on a deal that is
so patently in India’s favour. Gates, however, knows that there is very little that Washington can do to
change the political dynamics in New Delhi. On the other hand, he has every reason to be pleased with
the progress on bilateral defence cooperation. From expanded engagement….
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/276727.html
Headline: Incredible don’ts
Newspaper/publication: The Indian Express
Topic: Travel & Tourism
Date: 25 Feb 2008
If only tourists into India would be more diligent and read carefully before catching a flight to this diverse
land the diaries left by the memsahibs of the Raj. But try telling that to the new-generation tourist,
arming herself with nothing more than a Lonely Planet guide and its daredevil exhortations to venture
forth into magnificent ruins and the unruly countryside, with the added globalising order to seek
bonhomie with local residents. No wonder the tourism ministry has had to step in and moot a set to
guidelines for the foreign tourist. Read them, and begin your discovery of India, as told by the
authorities. Here are some cautionary notes from the ministry. Take precautions ….
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/25/stories/2008022553701000.htm
Headline: Incredible don’ts
Newspaper/publication: The Indian Express
Topic: Travel & Tourism
Date: 25 Feb 2008
If only tourists into India would be more diligent and read carefully before catching a flight to this diverse
land the diaries left by the memsahibs of the Raj. But try telling that to the new-generation tourist,
arming herself with nothing more than a Lonely Planet guide and its daredevil exhortations to venture
forth into magnificent ruins and the unruly countryside, with the added globalising order to seek
bonhomie with local residents. No wonder the tourism ministry has had to step in and moot a set to
guidelines for the foreign tourist. Read them, and begin your discovery of India, as told by the
authorities. Here are some cautionary notes from the ministry. Take precautions ….
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/25/stories/2008022553701000.htm
Headline: General in the east
Newspaper/publication: The Indian Express
Topic: Defence/Foreign Policy
Date: 25 Feb 2008
The week-long India sojourn of General Moeen U. Ahmed, the army chief of Bangladesh, is doubly
significant. For one, it is the first ever visit by an army chief of Bangladesh to India. Since the
assassination of its founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in 1975, four years after New Delhi helped
liberate the nation, the army in Bangladesh has tended to be an institutional opponent of cordial
relations with India. The very fact that Moeen has chosen to travel to India opens the door for a
productive engagement between the security forces of the two countries. The Indian army’s gift of six
thoroughbred horses to Moeen is hopefully a symbol of South Block’s …..
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/276723.html
1.Bharti Enterprises Group Chairman and CEO Sunil Mittal has been awarded global telecom industry’s highest honour — GSM Association Chairman’s Award 2008, for his contribution to the development of India’s telecom sector. The award coincides with Bharti Airtel achieving the 60- million subscriber mark, both in mobile as well as fixed line telecom services.
2 French bank Societe Generale lost 4.9 billion euros ($7.2 billion) in unauthorized trades by 31- year-old Jerome Kerviel, a junior trader whose job it was to capitalize on small price differences between European equity index futures contracts. Analysts are wondering as to how a junior-level employee, albeit someone familiar with the bank’s “processing and control procedures”, managed to elude risk-management systems in amassing such a huge position.
3 Real estate major DLF bagged the title sponsorship rights for Indian Premier League (IPL) promoted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India for an amount of Rs 200 crore across five years (Rs 40 crore annually) 4 Sony Max (SET Max) will be the official broadcaster for BCCI’s Twenty20 tournament for the first five years. SET has signed a back-to-back agreement with WSG for the TV broadcast rights while the on-ground rights and new media rights will remain with WSG. The Sony-WSG combine
has committed an additional promotional spend of $108 million for the tournament. The contract begins with the inaugural tournament in April this year and will extend till 2017.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died in the Dutch town of Vlodrop at the age of 91 years. Maharishi, famous for his Transcendental Meditation centres that sprung up across the world,
was born as Mahesh Srivastava in Jabalpur in 1917 and studied physics at Allahabad University. He became the foremost disciple of the Shankaracharya
of Jyotir Math Swami Brahmanand Saraswati but could not succeed his Guru because he wasn’t a Brahmin; being born in a Kayastha family. Social worker and reformer Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as Baba Amte, who spent his life serving eprosy patients and working for their rehabilitation at his commune for leprosy patients ‘Anandvan Ashram’ at Warora village in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra passed away at the age of 93. He received many national and international awards, including Padma Vibhushan, Gandhi Peace Prize, Ramon Magsaysay and Templeton Prize.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a slew of development package worth Rs.10000 crore for Arunachal Pradesh that includes a Rs. 5,500-crore 1,840-km trans-Arunachal Pradesh highway; the 3,000-MW Dibang power project, the country’s biggest hydel project; the 110-MW Pare power project and a new airport for the State capital Itanagar.
The Supreme Court has reversed an earlier order banning Jallikattu, a festival involving bull
fighting in two villages near the town of Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The Union govt has issued a notification for implementing the ‘Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition Of Forest Rights) Act, 2007’ which gives the forest
dwellers exclusive rights over its resources, essentially aims at
providing a framework to recognise these rights. The Karunanidhi government in Tamil Nadu has threatened to take over the plants of the 13 private cement manufacturers in the state if they fail to reduce prices, which are currently ruling between Rs 245
and Rs 260 per 50kg bag. The Karunanidhi government is backing up its threat with plans to import cheap cement which will be sold directly to consumers. The Manmohan Singh Cabinet has approved a central scheme to provide 25 lakh pre-matric
scholarships to students from minority communities in state-run and private institutions for which Rs 1,868.50 crore during the 11th five-year plan has been approved. The Union government will put in 75% while the states are expected to invest 25%.
Chandrasekhar Bhaskar Bhave is the new
Chairman of the capital market regulator
Securities and Exchange Board of India. He
takes over from M Damodaran, who
completed his three year term as the
Chairman of SEBI in February, 2008. This will
be Bhave’s second stint with SEBI. The 1975-
batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre
was the executive director in charge of the secondary and later the primary
markets between 1992 and 1996.
That was the time when the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was taking its initial steps
to reform the stock exchanges and putting in place systems that help in investor protection. The
Bombay Stock Exchange was then known as a brokers’ club and Bhave was on the board of the
exchange in his capacity as a representative of Sebi. It was during his stint in Sebi that his boss, G V
Ramakrishna, banned badla. Bhave also played a pivotal role in ensuring that market players get
sophisticated hedging tools and are properly regulated.
Bhave maintained that the capital market regulator’s primary job is to protect individual investors and
simultaneously develop systems that take care of the interests of issuers — companies and
intermediaries. He also ensured that the new National Stock Exchange’s surveillance systems were top
class.
Bhave is known to be a tough administrator. As the head of the National Securities Depository Ltd
(NSDL), he revolutionised the capital market by getting market players to accept the new system of
dematerialised shares and debentures.
He won buyers' support by arguing that demat would eliminate bad deliveries of shares and impressed
upon the sellers that this would facilitate early settlement and early payments. Setting up of a
depository that converts physical share certificates into electronic form was a challenging task but the
NSDL achieved paperless trading within just three years, the fastest in the world.
All this experience will come in handy when Bhave takes over as the sixth chairman of SEBI. For, the
challenges are many as the investment climate is much more dynamic now than when he was the
executive director.
He is also coming in at a time when the market sentiment is not favourable for small investors and
many of them have had huge losses in some of the recent high profile IPOs. Short selling and physical
settlement in derivatives are the other issues that Bhave will have to grapple with soon. The allotment
and listing process also needs to be speeded up to safeguard the interests of small investors. Analysts
say his predecessor M Damodaran has ensured that the homework for all these is ready and it is up to
Bhave to “implement” them.
1 TV rights of $1.026 billion for 10 years from Sony-World Sports Group (WSG).
2 Team franchises: $726 million for 10 years Teams: 8, to grow to 12 soon
3 Matches in inaugural season (from April 18, 2008): 59 comprising 7 home and 7
away matches for each of 8 teams, 2 semifinals and a final (to be played in
Mumbai)
4 Prize money: 16% of TV revenues, with winner taking purse of $4 million (about
Rs 16 crores)
5 Venues: 8 cities
6 Franchisees: 8 who will get 64% of TV revenues to begin with, share becoming
less as teams are added and tapering down over the 10 years of the contract
7 Players: Up to 130 players, including 32 from a foreign pool of 84 IPL contracted
cricketers, are likely to get sums ranging from $1 million to a minimum
8 Every squad of 16 must have a minimum of four Indian and four under-21
players, with no more than four international players allowed in any one game.
9 Four "iconic" players - Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid (Bangalore), Sourav Ganguly
(Kolkata) and Yuvraj Singh (Chandigarh) - cannot be traded for three years and
they will be paid 10% more than other team members.
Newspaper/publication: The Hindu
Topic: World Economy
Date: 25 Feb 2008
A recent decision of the British government to take over the ailing Northern Rock Bank, has predictably
raised a storm. Until September 2007, when its main sources of funding dried up owing to the turmoil in
the global financial markets, Northern Rock was the country’s largest, high profile mortgage lender,
although in hindsight it seems to have indulged in some reckless lending, very much like the global
banks across the Atlantic. The loss of depositors’ confidence caused a run on the bank, the first for a
British bank since the 19th century. To prevent the run from spreading to other banks, the government
intervened aggressively by pumping in a colossal amount of tax-payers’ ….
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/25/stories/2008022553701000.htm
