Imagine what a movie would be like if it has won the following Filmfare awards: best director (Rajiv Rai), best film (Gulshan Rai), best music director (Viju Shah) and five others. Add to it an indomitable star cast like Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Raveena Tandon and Naseeruddin Shah. The result, undoubtedly, is one of the major hits of Bollywood in 1994. The film’s story is about a convict (Sunil Shetty) who was imprisoned on four murder charges but had a socially justified reason behind the act as they victims were rapists of his wife and her sister. A journalist (Raveena Tandon) decides to seek justice for him after hearing his story and brings the story before the masses among who is her boss (Naseeruddin Shah) who is also a hidden drug dealer. He helps Sunil in regaining freedom and encourages him to join him in his self-proclaimed secret fight against corruption and crime in the Metro which Sunil blindly buys. Raveena’s boy friend and the male lead, a police inspector (Akshay Kumar) suspects Sunil for the ever increasing murders in the city and this finding and Raveena’s involvement in his freedom sours their relations as well. The movie takes a lot of dramatic turns but eventually, when Raveena is kidnapped by her boss; both Akshay and Sunil get together and fit the pieces of the puzzle to discover the true identity of Naseeruddin Shah. They, ultimately, succeed in putting an end to him and his criminal life. The movie is a very intriguing thriller where the viewer is open to conclusions till the very end as the story writer has introduced subtle dramatic turns at crucial junctures of the movie. The film’s music was the most successful albums of the year and contributed healthily to the film’s popularity. The actors involved did very convincing roles making the movie a must watch for all Bollywood fanatics.
Archive for March 18th, 2008
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RETENTION: A CHALLAGE FOR BPO’s IN INDIA
March 18th, 2008 
Tejinder The call centre employees in India are the most frequent job- hoppers among their Asian peers with an average job tenure of as low as nine months, a new survey says. Wire money online to India with Xoom.com for as low as $4.99. According to an annual report for the Asian contact centre industry released by callcentres.net, the average job tenure of call centre agents in India is the lowest at 11 months, while it is even lower at nine months for those having left their jobs in the past one year.Identifying attrition and hiring as their top challenges for 2008, call centres in the country are now focusing on financial incentives and other rewards in their bid to retain the right talent, said callcentres.net, a leading Asian research firm focused on contact centres and outsourcing industries.The study found that absenteeism or sick leave in the Indian call centres has declined to an average of nine days per annum this year from 15 days in 2007, but employee tenure is still a major issue.Stating that the average tenure of nine months in India is the lowest in the region for those having left jobs in past one year, the report said that comparable figures at other places are 22 months in Philippines, 20 months in Malaysia, 18 months for Singapore, 17 months for Thailand and 12 months for China.The study also found smaller call centres in India, or those having less than 100 seats, have a lower average agent tenure of 10 months, as compared to the larger centres where the tenure is dose to 15 months. This may suggest that larger centers are recruiting agents from smaller centers, or that they are able to provide greater investment in human resource management, thereby holding onto agents for a longer time.The average age of workforce in contact center is far below 30 years. This age group takes up a job in call centers for earning quick money. They don’t look at it as a serious carrier.However, close to an70% of Indian contact centre agents who left their jobs in the last 12 months chose to work in another contact centre, instead of leaving the industry altogether. This compares with 50-76% of agents leave the industry in countries like Singapore, Philippines, China and Malaysia. The study said that Indian players have identified their primary challenges for this year as employee attrition, recruitment, [...]
The Spectre of Stagflation
March 18th, 2008 krishna Stagflation is back in the headlines but the term is being misused. We’re told by eminent commentators that stagflation is the messy mixture of both high inflation and high unemployment. It isn’t. Stagflation, at least as the concept was initially understood in the 1970s, meant something different. Yes, it signified the simultaneous occurrence of high inflation, high unemployment and slow economic growth; but its defining feature was the persistence of this poisonous combination over long periods of time. Let’s see why this is a distinction with a difference. The coexistence of high (or rising) inflation with high (or rising) unemployment is not an abnormal event. But it’s usually temporary, because the higher unemployment-stemming from an economic slowdown or recession – helps control inflation. Companies can’t pass along price increases; they’re stingier with wage increases. It’s only when this restraining process is not allowed to work that inflationary psychology and practices take root, creating a self-fulfilling wage-price spiral. Higher wages push up prices, which then push up wages. Then we get stagflation-a semi permanent fusion of high joblessness and inflation. Naturally, no politician acknowledges the self -evident implication: That recession, though unwanted and hurtful to many, are not just inevitable; sometimes they’re also necessary to prevent the larger and longer-lasting harm that would result from resurgent inflation. Interestingly, many academic and business economists who have more freedom to speak their minds suffer the same deficiency. They treat every potential recession as a policy failure when it is often simply part of the business cycle. They thus contribute to a political climate that, focused on avoiding or minimizing any recession, may perversely aggravate inflation and lead to much harsher recessions later. The stagflation that began in the late 1960s and resulted from this attitude was indeed dreadful-from 1969 to 1982, inflation averaged 7.5% annually and unemployment 6.4%. What’s renewed interest in stagflation is the latest consumer price index (CPI), the government’s main inflation indicator. For the year ending in January, all prices were up 4.3%. Excluding the temporary surges after Katrina, inflation hasn’t been higher since July 1991. Even eliminating food and energy prices (about a quarter of the index), January’s year-to-year increase was 2.5%. All these figures exceed the Federal Reserve’s informal inflation target of 12% a year: a range deemed so low that it constitutes effective price stability. And these aren’t the truly disturbing numbers. The more upsetting [...]
TAKE OVER ARTISTE PACKS A NEW PUNCH
March 18th, 2008 krishna From Citibank to Standard Chartered Bank and now as the head of Sabre Capital- a fund he spearheads, Rana Talwar‘s appetite for M&A deals does not seem to be sated. Wire money online to India with Xoom.com for as low as $4.99. Being the first Asian to become group CEO of a multi- national bank (Stanchart 1998 and 2001) was by itself newsworthy enough, but it was his serial M& A deals in a conservative industry that got Talwar the headlines. After his exit from StanChart, Mr Talwar made a dramatic re-entry into banking by leading investors to acquire the troubled Centurion Bank. Sabre took over the bank after big banks such as HDFC Bank and Citi decided to give it a pass viewing as a basket case. Talwar’s strategy was to first pump in funds through Sabre and brings in Bank Muscat as an investor by merging its one branch operation into the bank. A year later, he snapped up Bank of Punjab – another shaky bank – and within 12 months, took over the Lord Krishna Bank. While these deals gave CBoP some mass, it was still not sizeable enough. CBoP began the year by initiating talks with IDFC for a merger, which had it gone through, would have got IDFC its much-coveted banking licence and CBop, a much juicier valuation. However, regulators had other plans. One of the main reasons behind the deal seems to be the logic that RBI is unlike to open up the industry in 2009. In that case, it would be better to be a pan of a bigger bank. Talwar’s strength has been his ability to carry people along with him. Despite a talent crunch, he managed to draw a host of ex-Citibankers from across the globe. A look at the employee stock options would see that many of these officials received one of the most generous options in the industry. Investors who invested along with him at Rs 4 in Centurion Bank would have seen among the highest returns ever and an opportunity to hold a sizeable chunk of HDFC Bank. For the son-in-law of India’s construction czar, KP Singh, money is not the issue. He will be 60 this year, but still travels 15 days a month. He is on the board of Schlumberger and Portis Bank. A keen golfer, many of his deals are discussed during [...]
