Investor: Merrill Lynch & Co.
Investment Value: $377 mn
Naveen Jain, Real Estate Analyst,
Emkay Research, says, “DLF, one of the largest real estate company in the country, and has huge land reserves which it plans to develop over the next 10 years or so. The company already has a large pipeline of projects, which are currently under development and require funds to meet the working capital requirements. By raising funds at the project level, as has been done in the Merrill Lynch deal, the company has not only got the necessary funds to develop these projects but it has also unlocked value in the properties for the shareholders.“
After pioneering Indian real estate domain, the richest realtor in the orb, K.P. Singh of DLF, is painting the town red by redrafting the technique to unlock value in the real estate prefecture. The company raised as much as Rs.1,481 crores by selling 49% of the promoter’s stake in eight of its residential projects to Merrill Lynch. The move comes in good time for both since, of late, DLF has increased its focus on the burgeoning housing segment and that too in the Rs.4-5 million bracket – which is the pulse of the Indian housing segment. DLF will enjoy a significant increase in its net asset value and Merrill Lynch will encash exciting returns. The housing projects in which stakes have been diluted are located in the cities of Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi and Indore. Besides, in order to re-enforce its strength in the domain, DLF recently announced a $15 billion deal with Dubai’s Limitless Group to build a township in Bangalore. Moreover, with its billion dollar projects across various segments (Hotels, Commercial, infrastructure, et al), it looks like DLF is racing against itself.
Investment Value: $377 mn
Naveen Jain, Real Estate Analyst,
Emkay Research, says, “DLF, one of the largest real estate company in the country, and has huge land reserves which it plans to develop over the next 10 years or so. The company already has a large pipeline of projects, which are currently under development and require funds to meet the working capital requirements. By raising funds at the project level, as has been done in the Merrill Lynch deal, the company has not only got the necessary funds to develop these projects but it has also unlocked value in the properties for the shareholders.“After pioneering Indian real estate domain, the richest realtor in the orb, K.P. Singh of DLF, is painting the town red by redrafting the technique to unlock value in the real estate prefecture. The company raised as much as Rs.1,481 crores by selling 49% of the promoter’s stake in eight of its residential projects to Merrill Lynch. The move comes in good time for both since, of late, DLF has increased its focus on the burgeoning housing segment and that too in the Rs.4-5 million bracket – which is the pulse of the Indian housing segment. DLF will enjoy a significant increase in its net asset value and Merrill Lynch will encash exciting returns. The housing projects in which stakes have been diluted are located in the cities of Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi and Indore. Besides, in order to re-enforce its strength in the domain, DLF recently announced a $15 billion deal with Dubai’s Limitless Group to build a township in Bangalore. Moreover, with its billion dollar projects across various segments (Hotels, Commercial, infrastructure, et al), it looks like DLF is racing against itself.
tel ad - shows kids on either side of a barbed wire fence, jump the barrier to indulge in a game of football in no-man’s land. In an extraordinarily simple but powerful way, it works as a magnificent metaphor for communication as a solution to end all conflicts, wars and battles. Says Arvind Mohan ( Chief Strategist Officer, Rediff DY&R), “ We wanted to create branding that went way beyond the purchase intent and made people proud to be associated with the brand.” Adds Amatesh Rao (National business head, Rediff DY&R), “Admittedly commercials with social messages don’t immediately bring about change, but they reflect strongly the change that is happening in society… a change that may not be perceptible or articulated but definitely taking shape in collective fashion, in the sensibilities of new age youth in a resurgent India.” The Tata Tea ad comes next. The communication thought is truly clutter-busting, attempting to migrate tea from being a physical and emotional vitaliser to becoming a catalyst for social awakening. Percy Siganporia (MD, Tata Tea Ltd) quite categorically emphasises that the focus is to emotively connect the product with issues that drives the heart, mind and soul of India’s emerging social consciousness. Executive Creative Director Amer Jaleel of Lowe (the agency behind this ad) sensed the restlessness among today’s youth and extended the concept of “waking up with tea” in a stunning communication package that embraced social awakening, giving a whole new dimension to the term ‘Jago re’.
and launched friend and Choreographer, Farah Khan as Director in 2004, with Main Hoon Na. The film was successful at the box office and ever since Red Chillies Entertainment has become his main production company. The latest flick under the Red Chillies banner has been the hugely successful Om Shanti Om, which according to Box Office Mojo has grossed $36,410,328 globally (as on February 7th, 2008), becoming the industry’s biggest grosser ever. Expectedly, the marketer in SRK pulled all stops to promote the film globally and in India, tying up with leading global distributors Eros International, and even making a controversial appearance at the T-20 World Cup in S. Africa, dressed conveniently in an OSO T-shirt. In as much, the first generation producer has successfully taken on the established Sony and Columbia banners. When awarded the entertainment business leader award last year, SRK said: “They may have big budgets, big banners, but I have Shah Rukh Khan.”
weatherman’s prediction says the dark clouds are here to stay for ICL. Let’s take the stature of players for both leagues. ICL hardly has any big names (players) playing for it, barring a few exceptions (a la Shane Bond, Brian Lara, Chris Cairns et al). On the contrary, IPL has all the current mainstream players batting for it (Dhoni, Sourav, Sehwag, Dravid, Sachin et al). Naresh Gupta, National Planning Head, Grey Worldwide India, points out, “Having the right kind of players will be one of the key factors determining the fate of ICL or IPL. If you have the right kind of players the audience will get hooked to your game and advertisers will follow them. So the success doesn’t depends on who is promoting the game (Subhash Chandra or Sharad Pawar); rather on who is playing for it.”
Bhatia evolved into a serial entrepreneur, his ‘hottest’ bet now being the newly launched conference calling solution that claims to be ‘specially developed for the Indian market’ and called SabseBolo.com. “SabseBolo.com is a great service for SMEs who can use audio conferencing without investing in expensive infrastructure. We are targeting small & medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs. But anyone can use this facility. It is absolutely free,” spoke Bhatia on SabseBolo.com. However, on the announcement, what lacked along with Sabeer’s proclamation were spirited gestures by common folks and analysts in whose eyes Bhatia’s earlier ‘hot’ achievements seem to have withered away or rather marred with all his ventures going kaput, save the free email service that now sits atop Redmond’s chart-topping menu, thanks to its image overhaul.
and Passion describe the mood of the nation. Their branding is all about India’s high economic growth and the ample opportunities available here. Today you do not have to leave the country for work. We have done brand building on all fronts and that includes not only corporate branding but product branding as well. Additionally we continue to refresh our products and offer the latest technology to Indian customers. India is virtually a Hero Honda country and Hrithik Roshan conveys that empathetically through our recent ‘Hero Honda country’ ad campaign. Hero Honda’s emotional values are conveyed through key words such as bharosa, josh and vishwas. Truly patriotic! 
units in India; Hyundai and Suzuki, undoubtedly the world’s most ingenious small-car manufacturers, intend to make India their global or regional hubs for compact cars. The two are reportedly working on products that will specifically appeal to the Indian market, and also sell in the global markets. When asked about his company’s commitment towards India, Gyaneshwar Sen, GM (Marketing), Honda SIEL, says, “Off course, I think our actions show our commitment towards India.”
Fitch Ratings, says, “India can indeed become a major player in terms of sales and manufacturing. I think that in the medium to long term, the growth looks positive.” In fact, global players who figured out India’s potential a little late now wish to enter the market through indirect means. In order to avoid delays, Renault has entered the market with M&M, and Nissan opted for a contract-manufacturing tie-up with Maruti. Simultaneously, M&M, Nissan and Renault have come together to open a manufacturing base in Chennai. Adding to this buzz is the fact that all the existing plants are operating at full capacity, and each one of them is planning to increase capacity via greenfield or brownfield expansions. After Mercedes Benz, BMW entered the manufacturing fray, and now VW is mulling over its plan to set up a base in the country. The additional advantage about India is that it has a huge domestic market. According to several studies, most emerging nations, which have become manufacturing hubs, have ridden on the domestic sales wave.
has begun chanting this slogan on a much more serious note over the last few years. The fact is manifest in the heightened noise that Videocon has been creating in 2007, and 2008 promises to be no different, going by the huge expansion plans in its kitty. Says an analyst at PINC research: “Innovation will be the key driver in the coming years for Videocon and the company will be leveraging its investment in innovation big time.”
unprecedented and huge. It’s not just about Ambani’s Rs.250 billion retail ambitions, it’s also about the $590 billion goldmine to be tapped, as that’s the estimated worth of the retail market by 2012, totalling to over 60% of all private consumption. As of 2007, retail consultancy KSA Technopak estimates organised retail to have 3.5% of the total retail share; and expects the figure to zoom up to 28% by 2017. No wonder from global retail behemoths like Wal-Mart and Carrefour to desi biggies like Mittal and Ambani, everyone is raring to bake his bread in Indian organised retail oven.
close the gap between his flagship The Times of India and the then market leader Hindustan Times. The price of The Times of India was slashed to Re.1 from Rs.2.50 per copy. Consumers were delighted; but distributors and vendors declared war on The Times of India. Their grouse: lower prices would reduce their revenue per copy, posing a threat to their livelihood. That was a classic war between a company trying to connect with consumers directly and middlemen who controlled the distribution chain. About 14 years down the road, it is clear that Sameer Jain has decisively won the war against aggrieved and angry middlemen.
way to the bank because of wretchedly low penetration & grossly underinsured population. The ‘Asian-Pacific Insurance Outlook’ report released by Standard & Poor’s on October 4, 2007 states that under-capitalisation could hinder growth prospects of domestic insurance market. Till late 1990s, insurance penetration in India was terribly low at below 2%, with LIC being the only company offering a security shield. 1999 was a watershed year for the insurance sector as the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA) Bill was passed, allowing entry of private players. Opening up of insurance to FDI, albeit with a 26% cap, obviously helped matters, as in the first year itself, 16 new insurers entered the market. Some of the prominent players who entered the sector were ICICI Prudential, Tata AIG Life, Birla SunLife, HDFC Standard and Max New York Life.
banking on Italian culinary decides to tantalise Indian taste buds and promotes its cuisine through Mexican ads? Utter chaos? Or a mouth-watering extravaganza? Or both? Well, looks like a mouth-watering extravaganza is what the ubiquitous brand – Pizza Hut from the stable of Yum! Brands has in mind while baking a recipe for its die-hard consumers.
clearly India’s time has come. The country is now universally recognised as a nation on the move. The time has come to move from small increments to bold, large initiatives.”
this year, India Inc. scripted newer and better anecdotes. Undoubtedly, these five stood out – be it in terms of growth, strategy, M&As or the big ideas. These five good men (sorry, there are no women in this list) helped India, yet again, to be more recognised as an emerging economic superpower. These five simply shocked the world, and surprised Indians
