It surely is India's time now fair & square

In the past, India has been global number one in starvation deaths, getting food aid, getting foreign aid, and —according to Transparency International — in willingness to give bribes. But suddenly, after two decades of playing second fiddle, analysts such as Credit Suisse predict that India will grow faster than China in 2007. A country once regarded as a bottomless pit for aid is competing for the number one position in the global growth league.

Any country can do well for a year or two in ideal conditions. India’s big achievement is that it has grown at 9% for two quarters despite several weaknesses in policy and institutions. The World Bank’s Doing Business 2006 report estimates the difficulty across countries, and ranks India 116th out of 154 countries, far worse than China (91), Sri Lanka (75), Bangladesh (65) or Pakistan (50).

Enforcing contracts in India takes an average 1,420 days and involves 56 different procedures. Importing goods takes 41 days and 15 documents. Starting a new business takes 35 days of slogging. Tax payments have to be made 59 times a year and the process takes 264 hours.

Transparency International’s Perception of Corruption Index ranks India 83rd out of 133 countries, a sad commentary on our venality. Better for India is the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, which places India at the 43rd position out of 125 countries, ahead of the other BRIC countries (China, Russia and Brazil). But 43rd is a long way from number one.

The world economy is booming today, and lifting all boats. The average growth rate for developing countries is 7%, and even Africa has averaged 5.3% for four years. In such buoyant conditions, achieving 8-9% growth is less impressive than it would have been in the 1990s.

So, is India’s fast growth a flash in the pan, as in the mid-1990s? No, not at all. India is now more integrated with the global economy than ever before, and is becoming the senior partner in such integration. That represents a paradigm shift.

In the last three years, the ratio of exports of goods and services to GDP has shot up from 14.6% to 20.5%. India’s share in global merchandise exports has doubled from 0.5% in 1990-91 to 1%. Its share of global services exports too has doubled in just the last two years to 2.5%, and politicians in the US and Europe are petrified that India will grab millions of jobs from their countries.

Also, India’s growth of nominal GDP has been rising for three years at an astonishing 16% per year in dollar terms (the rupee has strengthened against the dollar). If this rate can be sustained, says Prof Arvind Panagariya, then in just 22 years India will equal the US’ GDP of $11 trillion in 2050!! Nothing remotely similar could be said of earlier business cycles.

Source : Economic Times

Vote is for the different

Novel content, presentation and treatment are the mantras for box-office successes today.

BLOCKBUSTERS: Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu

The year 2006 has been a landmark one for Tamil Cinema. Exactly 100 films have been released by December 29, out of which at least 23 have been profitable.

Most of the hits are low-budget movies with up-and-coming actors and technicians. This has come about because of the Tamil Nadu Government's path-breaking decision to exempt films with Tamil titles from the entertainment tax.

Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikesi

It has had a big impact because theatres (mainly in cities), which had earlier refused to screen Tamil films, have suddenly backtracked as they are more profitable.

Added to that Tamil cinema has become popular in the neighbouring States of Karnataka and Kerala and have a huge dubbing potential in Andhra.

And after Mumbai, Kodambakkam is the second most popular export earner among Indian films. Today there is a great demand for Tamil films worldwide, mainly due to Sri Lankan Tamils.

Thiruttu Payalae

Damp squib

Though the industry is superstar-driven, formulaic films with superstars turn out to be damp squibs but those with innovative content and presentation click at the box-office. The message is loud and clear — stars alone cannot make a film a hit, but a novel script and presentation matter.

In a way, the new trend of content-driven films with attractive packaging and essential commercial ingredients show that Tamil films have come of age.

The audiences have also matured as they have become more script-conscious and are not willing to accept a film just for the sake of a hero. They were willing to accept Vadivelu as a hero in `Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikesi' because its director Simbudevan was able to package the film with all essential ingredients.

Thimiru.

The story and a song `Vala Meenukum Vilangu Meenukum Kalyanam' made Mysskin's `Chitiram Paesuthadi,' with practically no stars, a super-hit !

Veteran actor-director K.Bhagyaraj introduced his daughter Saranya in a role that suited her and the audience accepted `Parijaatham' and made it a hit.

Similarly, director Susi Ganesan's `Thiruttu Payalae,' was noticed for its bold script and he points out: "It is the unexpected twists and turns plus the content and treatment that matter. `Thiruttu Payalae' worked at the box-office due to its daring theme. The sparks between Jeevan and Malavika, both [with] negative shades, made the film different from the usual run-of-the-mill variety.

Even star-oriented films which have a novel content and presentation worked wonders at the box-office.

The year's biggest blockbuster, Kamal Hassan's `Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu,' has the actor in a very different role, something he has not done before and Gautham Menon's treatment and packaging along with Harris Jayaraj's music clicked.

Again, K.S.Ravikumar's `Varalaaru,' is an unusual Ajit film in which he does triple roles with style. What catches the audience's imagination is Ajit's body language, especially the effeminate character he plays, and the director does a good job in providing the correct commercial mix to it. Both `Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu,' and `Varalaaru' turned out to be Kamal Hassan's and Ajit's biggest hits respectively.

As leading producer and distributor Oscar Films, V. Ravichandran says: " ... Audiences are on the look out for fresh and innovative ideas and not necessarily stars. I agree that star [-oriented] films take an extraordinary opening but they will not sustain, if the content is not good".

A reason for the box-office boom is the opening weekend high admission rates. This has helped many films to collect their cost of production even in the first week.

Chennai city, which is the smallest, area-wise, in the trade, generated huge revenues due to high admission rates. Now with the Government slashing the ticket prices by more than 50 per cent, it remains to be seen whether big films will take big openings!

* * *

Box-office bonanzas

Top 10 grossers: `Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu,' `Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikesi,' `Varalaaru,' `Chithiram Paesuthadi,' ` Unakkum Enakkum,' `Thimiru,' `Thalai Nagaram,' `Thiruttu Payalae,' `Em Magan,' `Dishum.'

Profitable ones: `Thambi', `Kokki', `Kovai Brothers', `Pattiyal', `Paerarasu,' `Parijaatham' and `E.' `Thiruvilaiyaadal Aarambham' has shown signs of becoming a super hit.

Song of the year: "Vala Meenukum Vilangu Meenukum Kalyanam... " sung by Gana Ulaganathan for the film `Chithiram Paesuthadi.'

Source : The Hindu

DMK's free colour TV scheme sparks election populism

These days, it seems, the huddled masses are yearning to get free TVs.

Declaring colour television a basic necessity, M. Karunanidhi promised free sets to the poor and swept to power in May in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. So far, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, or DMK, has handed out 60,000 sets and plans to give away 30,000 more in coming months.

As far as political platforms go, this one clearly has been a winner.

''I will always vote for DMK,'' said Parimala, a 51-year-old widow who like many in these parts uses only one name.

Peeling onions on the bare floor of her tiny, 2-by-1 metre (6-by-4-foot) living room, her eyes hardly wavered from the soap opera playing at full volume on the 14-inch (36-centimetre) box adorned with a purple sticker reading: ''Government of Tamil Nadu Colour TV 2006.''

An electoral stunt for sure, but one that illustrates how populism has emerged as the default position of parties across India's political spectrum as they contend with the fading of once-dominant ideologies.

The Congress Party, which has dominated India for much of post-independence history, is struggling to find a new path since abandoning the socialism espoused by the nation's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Hindu nationalism also is not the force it was just a decade ago.

Many areas have seen the rise of populism, with politicians offering a mishmash of social programmes and other promises to the masses.

But no one has gone as far as Tamil Nadu's DMK. Part of the reason is money: Tamil Nadu is one of India's wealthiest states, giving its government full tax coffers.

''In other states the populism is mainly rhetoric, but in Tamil Nadu they can afford to give out so much,'' said Kamal Mitra Chenoy, a political scientist in New Delhi. ''The kind of material benefits to the voters in Tamil Nadu are unprecedented.''

The state's two main political parties – the DMK and the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam – face the problem of not being very different from one another.

Both push regional Tamil rights and champion the poor. And both are led by film industry celebrities – DMK has Karunanidhi, a flamboyant former screenwriter; its rival has former Tamil star actress J. Jayalalithaa.

The two parties have traded leadership of the state for three decades, and ''since the battle is so tight they resort to these kind of promises,'' Chenoy said.

Thus, the free TVs – and houses and stoves and whatever else can be used to lure voters.

Parimala's tiny house in Samathuvapuram, a village on the outskirts of Kanchipuram, a city famed for its temples and silks, is one of about 100 homes built here by DMK for supporters in a key election district after the party came to power in 1996.

DMK was voted out in 2001 but staged a comeback in last May's elections, and now voters like Parimala are eager for the goodies they were promised during the campaign.

''In January, they are giving us gas stoves,'' she said with a grin.

Politicians wrap such giveaways in the justifying language of social welfare.

Television, ''nowadays, it is not just entertainment, it is more, it informs about health, politics and public awareness issues,'' said DMK's party secretary, T.K.S. Elangovan.

Farm workers could not afford to buy a TV set on the Rs. 60 a day most earn, he said. Besides, the sets are no burden to state coffers, bought at bulk for about Rs. 3,000 each, he said.

Not everyone sees the giveaways in such altruistic terms.

''The problem is that the bulk of the money goes to freebies instead of to development,'' said S. Viswanathan, editor of Tamil Nadu's Industrial Economist magazine.

Critics also note that relatives of Karunanidhi, the party leader, own the region's main cable company, Sumangali Cable Vision, and the free TVs have helped boost subscriptions.

The cost – an initial payment of Rs. 550 plus a monthly charge of Rs.100 – is steep for the poor, but 30 of the 100 households that got TV sets in this village have signed up.

Perhaps that will provide the party with a new opportunity to make promises.

''Tell the government they must reduce the rate,'' said Alamelu, a 35-year-old housewife, waving her TV remote control in the air. ''I had to take out a loan for the deposit.''

Source : www.Sify.com

IT, BPO sectors grow higher profile in GDP Charts

INDIA’S software and ITeS industry has together contributed 4.8% to the gross domestic product in 2005-06, according to a year-end review released by the ministry of communications and information technology. The industry’s contribution to GDP stood at 1.2% during 1999-2000.

Strong demand over the past few years has placed India among the fastest-growing IT markets in the Asia-Pacific region, says the year-end report. The industry has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28% during the last five years.

The business process outsourcing (ITeS-BPO) sector has emerged as a key driver of growth for the Indian software and services industry, says the report. The ITeS-BPO industry is likely to grow by about 37% in 2005-06 to reach $6.3 billion. In 2004-05, the industry grew by 48% to $4.6 billion.

The software and ITeS exports from India grew from $12.9 billion in the year 2003-04 to $17.7 billion in 2004-05. The total software and ITeS exports from India is estimated at $23.4 billion during the year 2005-06. Software and services exports have grown at 32% in dollar terms during 2005-06. The report also indicates a significant growth in the total number of IT and ITeS-BPO professionals employed in India. According to the report’s estimates, the number has grown from 284,000 in 1999-2000 to 1,287,000 in 2005-06 - growing by over 230,000 in the last year alone.

In addition, Indian IT-ITeS is estimated to have helped create an additional three million job opportunities through indirect and induced employment. Indirect employment includes expenditure on vendors, including telecom, power, construction, facility management, IT transportation, catering and other services.

According to the report, as of December 2005, over 400 Indian companies had acquired quality certificates for internal processes and practices. Of these companies, 82 are certified at SEI CMM Level 5 - this number is higher than that of any country in the world. Today, many Indian companies align their internal processes and practices with international standards such as ISO, CMM and Six Sigma, says the report.The report also projects a 21.8% growth in the production of software and electronics hardware.


Source : Economic Times