India Inc is hiring in 2013. The confidence index seems to be stable as of now. Although it has slipped 4 points since October, but the Regus global business confidence index for India is currently at 137 points for April. In a survey by workplace solutions provider Regus which spanned more than 26,000 businesses in nearly 100 nations – including India – gave an insight into the hiring patterns of the global companies. For India, 94 per cent of the... Read more
Cancer in India is growing fast and drugs aren’t there. Ninety percent of children with leukemia in high-income countries will be cured, but 90 percent of those with that disease in low-income countries will die from it. The drugs are being developed by the companies in the West and these companies, using the reasons that they spent millions developing the drug – charge exorbitant prices. Prices that Indian consumers cannot pay. Nor of other developing countries. India – more importantly,... Read more
India has 18 million deaf people but only 250 practicing sign language interpreters! There are no TTY (Text Telephone) in the country, of course no deaf news, no closed captioning, and no Government recognition for ISL yet. What can the society do to engage with and make space for the deaf ? Read more
As Indian masses come online, Warren Buffett, the master of traditional businesses, is betting big on Indian consumers. Ironically. He wants to sell insurance online. Currently, Berkshire India sells motor, travel and health insurance products online at BerkshireInsurance.com. Now it wants to market life insurance as a corporate agent of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance. It started with just 8 employees and in 2011 and is already upto 100 employees in India. Headquartered in Gurgaon, the company uses internet as the... Read more
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” – George Orwell In September 1999, Dr. Manmohan Singh was addressing the Press Club of India as a candidate from South Delhi. Being a Sikh, and that too from Congress, he wanted to make a statement about the Sikh Massacres of 1984. It should not have happened, he said. However, the entire massacres were orchestrated by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and not Congress, he suggested. After all, why would Congress,... Read more
This past week has been a treasure trove of Wikileaks information for Indian politics. And interestingly, it leaves the “First Family” of Indian politics – the Gandhis – in a dump. Wheeling-dealing Rajiv Gandhi, Authoritarian Sanjay Gandhi, a corrupt household, and unpredictable Indira Gandhi. The Congress in general has come out to be a cesspool of betrayal and corruption. First, Rajiv Gandhi was said to be the middleman for the Saab-Scandia deal as early as the 1970s (Rajiv Gandhi played a... Read more
This conference appearance and interaction of and with Narendra Modi is special. In this, the attempt of the organizers was to discuss substantive stuff and not keep harping on the same “Gujarat 2002”. Honestly, that has become the lamest kind of discussion around Modi. Had Modi been in business, by now, he would have been in the league of Jack Welch and the Tatas of India as far as the ways of doing business is concerned and his popularity. People... Read more
Rawal TV in Canada has been hosting discussions – primarily – by Pakistanis, on topics which are important to the Pakistanis. These discussions are substantive and informative. The most important part of these discussions is that the people called have done remarkable amount of thinking and reading on these subjects and have a “point of view”. And, this point of view is not the run of the mill view that mostly emanates from Pakistan and elsewhere. This is a discussion... Read more
India’s Salon and Spa industry is growing at 33% annually these days. Most of it is unorganized, but with more and more investment into the organized sector, their piece of the pie will grow. (Click here for TOI site) Read more
Tim O’Reilly is someone who identifies trends early and has been at the forefront of the internet revolution. He is the founder of O’Reilly Media (formerly O’Reilly & Associates) and a supporter of the free software and open source movements. Here he discusses some great lessons for startups. Sharing inspirations from both innovative companies and works of art, entrepreneur and technology sage Tim O’Reilly weaves together a series of thoughtful lessons for startups. From rethinking workflows and experiences to the valuable role of idealism in business,... Read more
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