The World is Not Flat It’s Vertical - Vipin Jain,CEO, Retrevo

I recently had the opportunity to talk about verticalization . I described what verticalization means, why it happens, where it succeeds, where it fails and how it intersects with search. The focus of my talk was on verticalization of needs, rather than segmentation of users even though the two overlap. I am particularly interested in verticalization when it comes to the web and searching the web.

Verticalization is Everywhere

Look around you and you can see examples of verticalization everywhere. From the cars we drive to the sneakers we buy, to the television channels we watch. When the first automobiles came to market, many years ago, everyone drove a model T 100 Ford. Now we drive sedans for general purpose use, SUVs or mini-vans to carry our families around, or a truck if we have to move household goods. We have moved away from watching only CBS, ABC and NBC to watching one of the hundreds of channels available with a specific focus on science, news, history, travel and food. You can find similar examples all around you, if you pay attention.

What makes this verticalization possible? Most paradigm shifts or basic innovations center on building a single product and a simple product that the mass market can adopt. I use products to also represent pure web centric innovations. Yes, we go through the adoption curve where early adopters pick up our product first. We then go through the learning and fine tuning so the product is ready for the early majority, ultimately finding its way to the late majority and such. However, in this process, we are trying to build a single product that serves the needs of the mass market.

At this point three things happen in the marketplace:
* As customers go through a learning curve and become comfortable with the product, they become more sophisticated and more demanding. In other words, they expect more from a product.
* A market develops for the product from the users perspective, usage perspective and a revenue perspective.
* Suppliers become more sophisticated and armed with the knowledge about customer usage and developing market, they move into position to introduce more vertical, more specialized, products that are economically viable because the market is now large enough

. In summary, the three ingredients for verticalization are:
1. User sophistication
2. A developed market
3. Supplier sophistication

The New Search Economy

How does verticalization apply to web search? No doubt, web search has come a long way in last fourteen years. WebCrawler and Lycos were two of the first full text crawlers but they were used by a limited number of people. Today, more than 125M Americans use search engines. Search touches every facet of our lives whether it is commerce, entertainment or education. We have all become very comfortable using search engines. As we have come to expect more from them, we have become more demanding. We use search engines and we get frustrated because too often, we don’t get what we need. This is an example of the first ingredient for verticalization; user sophistication.

Now take a look at the market opportunity: search generates more than $10 billion in revenue every year and that is expanding at the rate of more than 20 percent year over year. You can call it a developing market or a developed market depending on your perspective. I prefer to call it a developed market or the second ingredient for verticalization which furthermore offers a fantastic opportunity to grow further.

What about the third ingredient, supplier sophistication? Retrevo, for example, has developed a good understanding of consumers’ online shopping behavior. We know what their needs are on one hand, and have built a monetization model that is very lucrative on the other hand.

Vertical search has the potential to be even more lucrative than horizontal search. Verticalization around product search results in a perfect blend of ingredients; user sophistication or demand, a developed market and supplier sophistication. This environment creates tremendous business opportunity.

The Verticalization of Search

How do you go about verticalizing web search? First you look at a segment of consumer need that has deep pain or deep emotion associated with it, has enough usage to make verticalization interesting and has a good economic model behind it. You can identify these opportunities across commerce, entertainment and education. Then you build a product that offers tremendous value to consumers, a value that’s compelling enough for consumers to break away from their comfort zone and try your product.

When we started Retrevo, we wanted to make buying and using technology products simple and fun for everyday consumers. We wanted to break two barriers that prevented a horizontal search engine from delivering such an experience. We knew that breaking these two barriers would unleash such a tremendous value to consumers that they would want to use our alternative.

Our first challenge was to understand the syntax and semantics of unstructured data that would allow us to summarize and simplify what was ordinarily complex information. We knew this simplification was needed to make buying and using electronics products simple and fun for everyday consumers.

The Retrevo Value Map, is a visual representation of analysis performed by Artificial Intelligence to make it easy for consumers to spot the best values in products. (this an explanation for Map)

Next we knew we needed to break away from the current user interface paradigm that offered a flat list of raw search results. We knew that in order to remove the complexity associated with technology buying and using, information had to be presented in a way that allowed consumers to search, discover, and personalize product information, visually and naturally. This recipe has worked well.

A search for “Canon SD1200 IS review,” on a vertical search engine such as ours, returns product information including our “Real Time Review.” We processes millions of data points to create a real time review and provide simplified buying advice like whether or not a product is “in it’s prime,” or “over the hill.”

By contrast, the same search on Google’s “horizontal,” search returns a flat list of links to articles about the Canon SD1200 on other sites.

Further simplifying the advice is a single thumbs up or down recommendation by us.

Verticalization is Here to Stay

Verticalization is a fact of life. It has happened before in many industries and it will happen in the web economy. In order to take advantage of verticalization opportunities, you need to pay attention to basic triggers, identify a need that requires a specialized product and go after it.

Techie builds air-car! Refuses commercialization

Kanak Gogoi, a 12th passed entrepreneur from Guwahati, has over a dozen innovations, from gravity-operated bicycle to a car which can run on air. But he regrets the government's negligence towards scientific innovations, and refuses to commercialize any of his creations.Gogoi said, "Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offered to build a fully furnished lab for me in Guwahati. The Chief Minister had granted me about 1.6 acres of land in 2007, but the file is still lying untouched at the local administrative office."

Talking about slow moving files, another of Gogoi's invention is the speed breaker that can generate electricity simply when vehicles pass over it. Gogoi explains that a ramp under the speed breaker would absorb the static energy produced by the sheer mass of the vehicle and convert it into kinetic energy. This is, in turn, transferred into electricity and stored in a battery cell. A vehicle weighing one tonne can create electricity equivalent to one kilowatt.

When Gogoi started the journey, he had two options; pay up his children's school fees or spend the money for his scientific innovations. He opted for the latter. In the past 13 years, he has spent Rs.1.5 crore (Rs.15 million) of his own money to satisfy his scientific and engineering curiosities, but steadfastly refuses to commercialize any of them and blames the government for not promoting scientific innovations, although only a few years ago he was making a hand-to-mouth existence.Felicitated by the President of India last week for his achievements, 47-year old Gogoi is a celebrity in Guwahati's scientific and engineering circles. He has developed his penchant for creating extraordinary things from ordinary materials used for day-to-day activities during his younger days.

Among his innovations are a solar hybrid car, whose 320 watt battery is charged by solar panels and is powered by a 100cc engine. Another car that Gogoi made from integration of motorcycle and Maruti 800 engines, runs on air energy powered by a hand glider and can reach a maximum speed of 120 km per hour.

Gogoi, however, has not bothered to apply for intellectual property rights (IPR) for any of his innovations, although they have cost Rs.1.5 crore of his own money. "When anybody talks about things like IPR or patents, it is generally assumed that the person must be a Ph.D or DLitt. Who will think of an undergraduate as a genuine and worthy innovator? Besides, paperwork of the kind that is required for patent filing has always been an anathema for me," said Gogoi.

In fact it is the National Innovation Foundation, headed by noted scientist Raghunath A Mashelkar that applied for a patent on Gogoi's behalf for his gravity operated cycle, which converts gravitational force released by pedaling of the cycle into kinetic energy.

"I have a successful real estate business, which affords me the luxury of having enough spare money and spare time to concentrate on my engineering activities. I don't expect and nor do I wish for any monetary returns," said Gogoi, who had refused an invitation from a North Carolina-based organization to shift to their campus with a daily stipend of $1,000.

Companies plan retention bonuses for employees

Since the habit of hiring is making a return, companies across the spectrum such as chemicals business player SRF, auto ancillaries major Sona Koyo Steering, engineering firm Samsung Engineering, IT firm Perot Systems, Adobe, Nitco Tiles and a Mumbai-based finance company, have planned surprise packages for their employees including retention bonuses to check attrition.

MD of $200 Million firm steals Blackberry

Managing Director of a $208 million firm was arrested at the IGI Airport for stealing the Blackberry phone of another passenger on November 2nd. Sanjay Somany, the Managing Director of Hindustan National Glass and Industries allegedly picked up the phone of N K Puri at the security check point and carried it with him to Chennai. According to Times of India, he was identified by the CISF using CCTV footage after Puri lodged complaint with them.

Puri, who was to catch IC 688 to Mumbai, registered a complaint with the CISF that his phone was missing. After searching for it, the security agency decided to check the CCTV footage of the area, through which they identified a man wearing overalls and coat, picking up Puri's phone from the tray at the security check point and proceeding to board a flight to Chennai IC 429.

They then got in touch with the airline and managed to get phone numbers of as many passengers as possible who were on that flight. Initially, the crew confirmed that a man with such a description was on their flight and based on his seat number, were able to identify him as Somany, said an official.

In the evening, during the exercise of calling up passengers to confirm the identity of the accused, CISF chanced to talk to a passenger, who said that not only did he recognize the accused, but that he was also sitting with him at the Chennai airport at that time, waiting to board their flight IC 539 back to Delhi. The CISF at Chennai airport were immediately informed who kept a tight watch on Somany. However, probably getting a hint that he was being watched, just before their flight landed in Delhi, he chucked the phone in the aircraft's toilet.Somany was nabbed as soon as he disembarked, and on interrogation denied having picked up the phone. Only when he was confronted with the CCTV evidence, did he confess his act and reveal the location of the phone.

India's Financial Crisis Has Ended - RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has in effect called the end of the financial crisis in India, and is the third central bank to do so, after Australia and Israel.

The Australian Central Bank on 6 October 2009 became the first G7 monetary authority to raise its interest rates, which was a positive sign for both Australia and the world. It raised its rates to 3.25%, with the possibility of a further 50 bps raise next week. Back in August, Israel raised rates from 0.5% to 0.75%, and there are signs Norway and South Korea are set to do the same.

The RBI has not raised interest rates. Since it has kept rates higher than any other developed economy (the key lending rate or repo rate currently stands at 4.75%) it doesn't need to make a drastic change there. The consensus is that it definitely will by April next year, with a 50% chance of a move this year, according to an economist survey.

Instead what the RBI is doing is tightening some of the extraordinary measures it had put in place in response to the credit crunch. A special facility to provide liquidity (ie money) to financial firms is being withdrawn, as private funds move back and inflows of FDI and FII into the market. It has raised commerical real estate rates, worried that a new bubble is building up.
Significantly the RBI also tightening some of the capital requirements it has for Indian banks. It is raising the 'statutory liquidity ratio', the amount of money that a bank needs to keep in cash, gold or government bonds, to 25%, up from 24%.

Wasim Akram’s wife dies in Chennai

Wasim Akram’s wife,Huma Akram dies in Chennai...

She was in the intensive care unit (ICU) since then and died Sunday without regaining consciousness. With her the chopper left from India around 1pm to lahore...

Dr P B Salim takes charge as Kannur Collector

Dr P B Salim, Collector of Kozhikode, took additional charge as the Collector of Kannur on Saturday following the directive of the Central Election Commission to shift the incumbent V K Balakrishnan from the post.

കമ്മ്യൂണിസ്റ്റ്‌ പാര്‍ട്ടിയുടെ മനുഷ്യ ചങ്ങല

കമ്മ്യൂണിസ്റ്റ്‌ പാര്‍ട്ടിയുടെ മനുഷ്യ ചങ്ങല കണ്ടായിരുന്നോ ? നമ്മള്‍ പൊതു ജനങ്ങള്‍ കാണേണ്ട ഒരു കാഴ്ച തന്നെ ആയിരുന്നു അത്റെ.

എത്രപേരുടെ സമയം നഷ്ടപെടിതികൊണ്ടേ റോഡ്‌ ബ്ലോക്ക്‌ ചെയ്തെ ആണേ ഈ അട്ടഹാസം എന്നേ നമ്മള്‍ ഓര്‍ക്കണം.ഇതിനേ നമുക്കേ പ്രതികരിക്കനവുമോ ?

Jobs,Salary hikes are back again

After months of an economic slowdown, corporate India has started hiring again. While layoffs and salary cuts may not be the order of the day anymore, employers continue to be cautious.

The latest data with job portal naukri.com shows that hiring activity has picked up 13 per cent in the first half of September and it is in double digits for the first time since last year. While some sectors like FMCG and healthcare are hiring in big numbers, others like IT,real estate, retail, media, advertising and exports still need to catch up.

പോള്‍ വധ കേസ്

അങ്ങനെ പോള്‍ വധ കേസ് ഒരു പരുവത്തില്‍ എത്തി കേട്ടോ!! നമ്മുടെ അഭ്യന്ധര മന്ത്രി ആഗ്രഹിച്ചത്‌ പോലെ തന്നെ എല്ലാം നടക്കുനുണ്ടേ.സ് കത്തി പോലീസ് പറഞ്ജ് ചെയ്ച്ചതല്ല കേട്ടോ.അതുപോലെ ഓം പ്രകശും,പുത്തം പാലം രാജേഷും കുട്ടകാരല്ല.

ഇത്തരം തരാം താഴ്‌ന്ന രീതിയില്‍ നമ്മള്‍ പൊതു ജനങളെ മണ്ടന്മാരാക്കി കോണ്ടേ അന്നെഷേണം പൂര്‍ത്തിയാക്കിയ പോലീസ് ഫോര്‍സിനും പോലീസ് മേധാവിക്കും എന്ന്ടെ അഭിവാദ്യങ്ങള്‍.കാക്കയ്ക്കീ തന്കുഞ്ഞേ പോന്കുഞ്ഞേ എന്നെ പറയുന്ന പോലെ തന്‍റെ മോനെ വിട്ടു കൊടുക്കാന്‍ അയല്‍കെ പറ്റില്ല.

എന്തൊരു ജെനാധിപത്യം ??

Abaya case..?

After sixteen years of attempts,now it has been found that nun named abhaya has been murdered ...............

the godman confessed under narco-analysis, ie. truth serum, that abhaya happened upon him and another nun in a "compromising position". thereupon he hit her on the head with a blunt instrument. when she fell down unconscious, he thought she was dead. so he dumped her in a well, where she drowned......

Even thought the narco-analysis cd has been visualised..in a channnel!! our judiciary itself is having an opinion that will this be digestible for our community ??

My personal opinion will be to drop this case,as it will be the most respectable was to memorize this nun...................................
Have your comments!!!!

PR RETAINER FEE ?

PR RETAINER FEE,it won't be a new word who are live in the market to uplift their bussiness entity.PR means Public Relations. Public Relations are needed positively as well as continually with the public through advertising, marketing, promotions and community service.

Public Relations are expensive.PR firms are typically engaged by business for a monthly retainer fee, under the terms of a contract which runs a minimum of three months and often as long as a year or more.In 1992 the charges where $200-$500. PR agencies often pass along to the client all "hard copy" costs - the costs of photography, printing, postage, telephone, and other fees related to production of material for the client.

Sound sleep 'adds better exam results'

A new study by University of Pittsburgh has revealed that a night of "high quality sleep" sleep adds up to better exam results.

The researchers have based their findings on an analysis of the sleep patterns
of 56 adolescents and comparing their sleep patterns with their exam grades. They found that higher scores were related to greater sleep quality, less awakenings rather than actual length of time asleep.

Free breakfast for school kids in Thiruvananthapuram

The Trivandrum city corporation here has launched a free breakfast scheme for school children up to the eighth standard.

The scheme called 'Unarvu" (awakening), which got underway yesterday, covered around 25,000 children studying in government schools and 15 aided schools in the coastal stretch of the state capital. The project is mainly financed by the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation with the support of the Parent-Teachers Association of the respective schools.

Loans likely to get cheaper as Govt prods banks to cut rates

Home and other retail loans and industrial lending may become cheaper soon as public sector banks are likely to cut interest rates after the government prodded lenders to provide credit at reasonable rates to spur the economy.

3G spectrum auction deferral leads to $16 Billion loss

The continuous deferral of 3G spectrum auction has resulted in a loss of $16 billion, as per a study. The losses are incurred in terms of direct investments and notional productivity gains.

The findings are based on study conducted by LECG, a global consulting firm. "The Indian market has been ready for 3G for a long time. Many of the operators have been planning to launch 3G services since 2005," Jaikishan Rajaraman, Senior Director with the GSM Association told Mint. The delays are mainly caused due the difference between the government and the department of telecom (DOT) on the reserved price, which has to be charged. "The more you delay the auction, the greater is the cost of capital at a later time when the auction does happen," said Rajaraman. According to him, investments in 3G in India would lead to an economic benefit worth around $70 billion.


The onset of 3G services is usually accompanied by an increased usage of mobile broadband (or high speed Internet services). For every 10 percent increase in the broadband penetration, there is an increase of 0.1-1.4 percent in the country's gross domestic product (GDP). There are a number of variables that can be included in losses due to the delay in auctioning 3G services said an expert. "These could be revenues that could have been garnered from subscribers added, licence fees, spectrum fees, direct and indirect employment, revenues to the value added services operators, handsets sales and even income tax to the government," Mahesh Uppal, director with Com First (India).

Firing.....

With 5 jobs lost globally every minute, little surprisingly the number is piling up in the Indian IT industry too.

Neutral Referee

When 14th Lok Sabha draw to a close, it was also the last day in office for Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. This Lok Sabha will be remembered for many things, including a new law in parliamentary behaviour when MPs waved wads of cash inside the House during last year's trust vote.

Like a good headmaster, Chatterjee was always coming up with measures to discipline MPs who disrupted proceedings in the House. He had controversially proposed that MPs who forced adjournment of the House should not get their daily allowance. He had also suggested invoking certain parliamentary rules that are rarely enforced. He talked about enforcing Rule 373, which allows the Speaker to throw out any member whose conduct is "grossly disorderly", and Rule 374A which provides for "automatic suspension of a member" for causing "grave disorder" and "wilfully obstructing" the business of the House.

There were times when he went over the top, only to regret it later. Just days before his term as Speaker ended, an exasperated Chatterjee said that MPs don't deserve even "one paisa" of public money after members of several political parties stormed the well and disrupted the question hour. He added for good measure that they did not deserve to be elected in the next polls. But like a good Bengali bhadralok, he later regretted his comments saying that he had made them out of "frustration".

The best thing about Chatterjee was that he was by and large a neutral referee, as a Speaker should be, and mindful of the importance of the post. Even after his party, the CPM, had withdrawn support from the UPA government Chatterjee refused to step down, arguing that as a Speaker, who was elected unanimously, he did not owe allegiance to any political party. Whether Chatterjee's interventions will have any long-term impact on the way business is conducted in the House remains to be seen. But he brought the issue of parliamentary norms and behaviour to centre stage. As we bid Chatterjee goodbye, let's hope that some of his concerns will rub off on his parliamentary colleagues.

Housework and raising children are jobs that have no end.

Innovative mother... Garbage collector Lakshmi pulls her garbage collection tricycle along with some schoolchildren as she transports her daughter Mounica to school in Hyderabad . Lakshmi earns Rs 2,000 a month, a chunk of which goes towards her daughter's education, who studies in an English medium school.

Pakistan should co-operate with India in 26/11 trial

With the filing of the chargesheet in a Mumbai court in the November 26 terrorist attack case, the legal process of fixing responsibility and dispensing justice in the country’s one of the most heinous and well-planned crimes with international ramifications has started. The nature of the chargesheet, in which the surviving Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab and 35 other Pakistani nationals and two Indians have been named as accused, underlines the trans-border roots of the crime.The document, which runs into 11,280 pages with details of how the action was planned and executed, supported with evidence and witness statements, is the result of meticulous investigation. The investigating team deserves credit for putting it together and presenting a case, working against difficult odds. Only Kasab, among the Pakistanis, will be on trial in person and the fact that the 32 Pakistanis are yet to be apprehended, shows the challenging task of bringing to book all those involved in the crime. The names of even two serving officers of the Pakistan army figure in the chargesheet though it stops short of pointing to the involvement of any Pakistani official agency. A fair and speedy trial would strengthen India’s case, and it is still not late to ensure that Kasab is legally represented in the court.

While the judicial process has started in India, it is still not known at what stage the investigations that the Pakistan government has claimed to have started in that country are. Pakistan had admitted, probably under international pressure, that the conspiracy was hatched in that country, but it has not disclosed whether it has launched criminal proceedings against those involved, who include senior leaders of the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Some of the clarifications it has sought from India create doubts that the Pakistani authorities are deliberately resorting to delaying tactics or trying to bring in extraneous issues within the purview of the investigation. The internal political situation in Pakistan and the government’s dubious policy on militancy might limit its ability to pursue the case and therefore there is the need for continued efforts to prod Islamabad in the matter.


The full extent of the conspiracy will be known and retributive action possible only if there is unreserved co-operation from Pakistan, the investigations on both sides complement each other and the judicial processes proceed simultaneously. It is more a matter of Pakistan’s will and sincerity than India’s readiness.

The Kashmir Issue-Views

Former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri's said that most of the negotiations on Kashmir were successfully completed during his tenure as foreign minister under Pervez Musharraf and draft agreements were ready to be signed. They were to have been signed during the visit of the Indian PM to Pakistan which did not take place, according to Kasuri, because of elections in India.

There is another view that the Indian government backed off at the last moment. Some informed observers in India maintain that developments in Pakistan came in the way of the agreement being finalised.

Is this the Honour given for our Military Personnels

Rashtrapati Bhavan, the august premises where the supreme commander of the Indian armed forces awards highly coveted medals to select members of the military, witnessed an unusual, unprecedented and ignominious scene recently. An anguished delegation of military veterans returned over 2,000 gallantry and distinguished service medals to the president to register their protest over the government's stubborn denial of the long-promised one-rank-one-pension (OROP) dispensation for retired faujis.

More than the status of the serving community, it is the plight of the retired military personnel that has triggered the unseemly returning of medals by the veterans. As per current pension norms, all military personnel receive different pensions for different ranks depending on when they retire. This, incidentally, is true for the civilians also and only those who attain the pay scale of secretaries to the government of India have the benefit of OROP.

But given the fact that military personnel retire at a very early age harmonisation was sought and successive governments since the days of Rajiv Gandhi have promised to do so, but never delivered on the promise. Consequently many pension asymmetries prevail. For instance, a sepoy who retired before 1996 gets a pension that is 82 per cent less than a post-2006 retiree.

Are you all aware of Rule 49-O ?

Rule 49-O is a rule in The Conduct of Elections Rules.It describes the procedure to be followed when a valid voter decides not to cast his vote.Well,I invite you all to the different angles of this.

Text of Rule 49-O says If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.

Current scenario implies Since the ballot paper / Electronic voting machine (EVM) contains only the list of candidates, a voter cannot record his vote under Section 49-O directly. He must inform the presiding officer at the election booth. This violates the secrecy of the ballot. However, with paper ballot a different method is used to "waste" ones vote, which is stamping on multiple candidates.

Negative / Neutral Voting is there in the proposals of the Election Commission of India.

Satyam to exercise cost-cutting, relocate onsite staff

Satyam Computer on Thursday announced cost-cutting measures including relocating onsite support staff to tide over the current financial crisis in the company and meet the challenges posed by the global economic slowdown.

The company has also put a freeze on expenses relating to internal issues. "All capital expenditures, unless required to meet customer deliveries, are being suspended till further notice. This includes renewal of laptops, office renovation.

The company has suspended external training as well as the advertising and marketing co-lateral expenses for the time being.

Azharuddin to join Congress

Former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin is all set to join the Congress party.
He wants the Congress to come back to power.

Gold touched a record high above Rs.15,000 per 10 gm in Mumbai

Taliban plan to target India

After Pakistan agreed to enforce Islamic law in large areas of its restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP), including Swat Valley, in a concession to buy peace in the region, intelligence sources confirmed the threat that Taliban actually poses to India which is not far from the Indian boundary.

Government may ban FDI in cigarettes

The commerce ministry is considering a proposal to ban foreign direct investment in the manufacture of cigarettes for sale in the country.

A proposal to prohibit FDI in the manufacture of cigarettes, where it is manufactured for domestic consumption, has, accordingly, been initiated by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and is under consideration of the government.

Satyam recalls 1,500 onsite staff

Satyam Computer Services has called back more than 1,500 overseas employees, attached to projects that are shut down due to termination of contract by clients.The first batch of 170 employees who were attached to State Farm Insurance, an Illinois-based insurance company, that terminated its contract with Satyam, has already returned to Satyam headquarters in Hyderabad.

The Ford Story 2.0 Web Site Launches

Ford created TheFordStory.com Web site in December to help show the public that the company is different – Ford has a plan centered around great new products that deliver on fuel economy, quality, safety and smart technologies.

Now the company is introducing “version 2.0” of this social media Web site. Highlights of the updated site include:

· Daily updates of fresh content, showing the progress on Ford Motor Company's plan. A particular emphasis will be on fuel economy and quality, as Ford tries to make the reality of where we stand competitively match the perception the public has today.

· An Outside Voices area, providing visitors the ability to not only see what Ford is saying about itself, but also what consumers and the news media are saying about the company directly.

· Easier ability to share individual articles and videos, allowing visitors to spread Ford's story and progress to others.

· Connection with other external social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr – and it now can be browsed on iPhones.

3G auction may fetch only Rs 20,000 cr

The Finance Ministry has sharply scaled down the estimated income from auctioning 3G spectrum. The Budget estimate for the year 2009-10 pegs revenues from the auction, expected to be held later this year, at Rs 20,000 crore only.

The total income from collecting telecom licence fees, entry fees and spectrum charges from the operators for the year 2009-10 is estimated at Rs 33,335 crore compared with the revised estimate of Rs 13,174 crore during 2008-09.

USO fund
----------
While the Universal Services Obligation fund has collected nearly Rs 20,000 crore for rolling out telecom services in rural areas, the Finance Ministry has allocated only Rs 1,800 crore for 2009-10.

Rs 100-cr tax concessions in TN budget

The Tamil Nadu budget, presented by the State Finance Minister, Mr K. Anbazhagan, on Tuesday, shows a deficit of Rs 11,823.64 crore, chiefly on the back of tax concessions worth Rs 100 crore and interest-free crop loans to be given to farmers wh o repaid their loans on time from this fiscal.

Land tax for dry land would be reduced to Rs 2 from the present Rs 15 a acre, and to Rs 5 from Rs 50 for wet land.

Pakistan army vows to hold fire in Swat

Pakistan's military on Tuesday vowed to hold fire and respect a controversial agreement signed between the government and militants to enforce Islamic law in the violence-torn Swat valley.

Why Economy melt down !!!

The Economic Base Theory (EBT), owing its origins to the debate between Charles Tiebout and Douglass North, provides a useful framework to understand the Indian growth story and predict future growth prospects. North argued that an exogenous world demand creates direct, indirect, and induced effects and leads to local political, economic, and social growth. Moreover, government decisions, investment decisions (e.g., housing) at least in the short-run, and export decisions may lead to the outside demand.

The direct effect is the initial immediate effect of the demand on output, employment, or income. For instance, output in the manufacturing sector will increase by, say, $5 million to meet the increased export demand of $5 million. To meet this additional output the manufacturing sector has to buy additional inputs from other industries, pay additional salaries to households, or import additional goods and these changes in output, employment, and income that occur as a result of the direct effect are called the indirect effect. Another round is the induced effect and measures the increase in household incomes and spending caused by the direct and indirect effects.


Moreover, the direct effect stimulates the economic base, or export sector; in contrast, the indirect and induced effects exist only to serve the basic sector. The EBT and the simple Keynesian model differ slightly. In the EBT the endogenous flow remains consumption, redefined now as “domestic expenditures”, which ignores savings and hides investment expenditures within it. Furthermore, external demand, the driver of the economy, assumes the function of investment in the Keynesian model.

Positive, high correlation between foreign direct investment inflows and India’s GDP growth provide some evidence for the operation of the EBT. During the last five years the aggregate FDI inflows have increased nearly seven times from Rs 95,639 crore in 2003 to Rs 6,54,949 crore in 2007. The service sector has the largest share (22%) followed by the software industry accounting for 15.6%. GDP growth rates show a corresponding increase — an average of 9.3% during the three years ending March 2008, compared with an average of 6.6% and 6%, respectively, in the preceding three and five years.


India’s rise as a dominant actor in the service outsourcing sector is partly explained by the Theory of the New International Division of Labour, associated with Frobel. Technological advances permitted splitting of production processes and China became a manufacturing centre, followed by the spread of information technology, during the 1990s, and the main beneficiary was India. Additionally, India was well placed to derive the full benefits of globalisation due to an unintended convergence of events.


First, India was fortuitously placed twelve hours away — while the west slept, India worked. Second, the Y2K scare focused research attention on IT and led to the creation of tools that accelerated services outsourcing. Third, privatisation of higher technical education during the 1990s fulfilled the desire of Indian parents to make their children engineers, ensuring that sufficient numbers of willing technical personnel were available to work in the IT sector.
When will the world demand revive again? Analysis of the depth and duration of 14 ‘severe’ meltdowns by Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart provides some insights into the possible timeline for demand regeneration. The sample includes the depression, the recent ‘big five’ crises in the developed world (e.g., Norway — 1987, Japan — 1990s); and crises in emerging-market economies. Generally, financial crises are long-drawn out affairs.

Speech of Shri Lalu Prasad introducing the Railway Budget 2009-10

1. Mr. Speaker, Sir I rise to place before the House, the Revised Estimates for 2008-09 and the estimated receipts and expenditure for 2009-10 for the Indian Railways. The estimates for 2009-10 are for the whole year, but, at present I seek from the august House, a vote on account, sufficient to cover the estimated expenditure for the first four months of the fiscal. The requirements for the remaining part of the year are to be voted separately, later on.

2. Speaker sir,

Shukriya se main shuroo karta hoon apni bat aaj,
Sath lekar main chala hoon desh, duniya aur samaj,
Main chukata he rahoonga desh ki mitti ka karj,
Rashtra sewa reet meri aur yahi mera rivaj.

3. I have great pride that, in its journey of service to the nation, the Indian Railways have reached an important milestone. Being an integral part of this journey for the last five years, I can proudly say that Indian Railways scaled a new pinnacle every year and now stand at the zenith of success from where, without imposing any burden on the common man, the railways are set to establish the historic landmark of earning a cash surplus before dividend of more than Rs 90,000 cr, in five years. The same Railways which faced a paucity of funds for replacement of over aged assets in 2001 and which had to defer payment of Rs. 2,800 cr as dividend to General Revenues, have now surprised the whole world with a historic financial turnaround. Sir, the year 2008 witnessed a financial turmoil and worldwide recession making it difficult for even Fortune 500 companies to raise debt from the international markets. This august House would be pleasantly surprised to know, that even in such adverse times, the Indian Railway Finance Corporation, in November 2008, has successfully raised a 10 cr dollar loan, equivalent to Rs 500 cr, at a rate of only 4 percent, from the international market.

4. Sir, the transformation of the Railways is fundamentally different from the financial turnaround witnessed in private sector companies. While private companies resort to anti-people measures like increase in prices, retrenchment of employees and lockouts, Railways have kept the human aspect as the central focus and achieved an extraordinary feat without putting any extra burden on the common man or the employees. In the last five years the Railways have stepped up the annual growth rate of freight loading from an average of 3 percent during the decade of 90’s to an average of 8 percent. The declining trend of railways share in transportation of steel and cement, witnessed during the past several years has also been arrested as the Railways increased their share in transportation of these commodities, over the last five years. This transformation has been possible through the significant improvement in productivity of railway assets and efficient working by railway employees.

Sir,

Karigari ka aisa tareeka bata diya,
Ghate ka job hi daur tha beeta bana diya,
Bharat ki rail vishwa me is tarah ki buland,
Hathi ko chust kar diya cheeta bana diya.

Painless CyberKnife kills cancer

Cruise missile technology will now be used to treat cancer. An artificial intelligence-enabled robot performs the revolutionary CyberKnife treatment, a bloodless and painless surgery. It allows doctors to treat tumours in brain, lungs, liver, prostate and spine without causing any damage to other organs.

The Rs 30-crore CyberKnife arrived in Bangalore from the US last week at the Health Care Global (HCG), a network of cancer care units.HCG is the first Bangalore hospital to procure the CyberKnife. Its computer system not only tells the robot where the tumour is but where it is in relation to the breathing cycle.

CyberKnife uses two cameras and infrared technology with absolutely no human intervention during surgery. The treatment is reduced from 5-6 weeks to a maximum of five days with 45-60 minutes per session.

Govt, RBI in talks on more borrowing

The Government and the Reserve Bank of India are in discussion on additional borrowing programmes and the two together will ensure that they are managed in an efficient and orderly manner

High forex reserves can worsen recession

High reserves promise safety in a storm. But, beyond a point this safety becomes illusory, because rising forex reserves worsen the global imbalances that have precipitated the recession.

YSR seeks votes at pension scheme launch

The government function meant to launch `Abhayahastam' pension scheme for women self help groups (SHG) turned out to be a political propaganda platform with chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and Congress MP U Arun Kumar openly seeking votes for the Congress party.

The contributory pension scheme for the SHG members was launched on Friday at the Agriculture University in Rajendranagar.

Satyam scam to be included in B-schools

The Satyam scam is now going to be a part of most B-school curriculum, including Hyd's Indian School of Business. The life and times of fallen IT czar, B Ramalinga Raju, will figure among the list of case studies on fraudulent business practices.

SEBI sets $8-bn open bidding cap for FIIs in corp debt

In a move aimed at creating more transparency in the allocation process for investments in the corporate debt market,the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday said it would allocate $8 billion debt investment limit to foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in an open bidding platform.

Sebi said that all bidding for the limits would be through the stock exchanges and the window for bidding would remain open for two hours. The minimum amount that an FII can bid is capped at the lower end at Rs 250 crore, with a minimum ticket size of Rs 100 crore. The bid price will be expressed in basis point and a minimum flat fee of Rs 1,000 per successful bid shall be levied for the allocated amount.

Fish oil prevents cholesterol ......Have a ride..thru the topic

Scientists at Columbia University Medical Center have found yet another reason why eating fish can be beneficial.

Dr. Richard J. Deckelbaum, Director of the Columbia Institute of Human Nutrition, has found that a diet rich in fish oils can prevent the accumulation of fat in the aorta, the main artery leaving the heart. The researcher says that the beneficial actions of fish oil, which block cholesterol build-up in arteries, are even found at high fat intakes. Fish are generally rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to provide many health benefits, such as helping to prevent mental illness and delaying some of the disabilities associated with aging.


Eating tuna, sardines, salmon and other so-called cold water fish seems to protect people against clogged arteries. Omega-3 fatty acids are also known to lower triglycerides, a type of fat often found in the bloodstream.

The researchers observed that the fatty acids contained in fish oil markedly inhibit the entry of "bad" cholesterol (LDL) into arteries, and, consequently, much less cholesterol collects in these vessels.

Kingfisher cuts its pilots' salaries by Rs 80,000

Private air-carrier, Kingfisher Airlines, has effected a Rs 80,000 cut in the salaries of all its pilots.Earlier, they were paided a salary of Rs 4.30-lakh per month. Now it has been cut to Rs 3.50-lakh.

The salary package is mainly based on the flying hours of about 70-hours.

Light aircraft lands in Australian harbour

A light aircraft made an emergency landing in shallow water in an Australian harbour on Friday and the pilot and five passengers are safe.

There was an engine trouble which made them to land.

KP, Flintoff became the most expensive players

England players Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff became the most expensive players of the Indian Premier League after being sold for a whopping $1.55 million (appr Rs 7.35 crore) in the second edition, getting Rs 1.35 crore more than what Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni got in the first edition.

Pietersen, who was England's captain till recently, was bought by Bangalore Royal Challengers while Flintoff went to Chennai Super Kings at the auction.

State to introduce bill on Medical Care

The state government will introduce, in the forthcoming budget session, a bill on emergency medical services with an aim to extend unrestrained medical care to patients unescorted by relatives. The bill seeks to make it mandatory for all private hospitals to admit and treat victims of accidents, natural calamities or terror attacks.

The new bill makes a provision for punishment and penalties for hospitals not abiding by the directives on treatment of patients during any emergency.

Hatts off for Bhushan Gagrani, secretary for medical education and drug department (MEDD).

Kampani gets bail !!!

Justice K C Bhanu of the AP High Court on Thursday reserved his orders on the petitions filed by Nimesh N Kampani, former non executive director of Nagarjuna Finance Ltd (NFL), who sought quashing of the criminal proceedings against him in a lower court and grant him anticipatory bail.

The case against promoter directors of NFL and Kampani is for committing a fraud on the public to a tune of nearly Rs 100 crore.

Twin degree programme

When it comes to twinning programmes, they're mostly distributed evenly of half and half - one semester in the foreign university and the rest in India. But the masters programme in MS embedded systems offered at the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, designed and developed for working professionals in semi-conductor is held in the weekends. Another programme offered in the same way is the MBA-MS-MITS.

After signing a collaborative twinning engineering programme with University at Buffalo, New York, the course is structured in such a way that students have to spend only a month away from home.

All courses will be taught only on weekends for up to six weeks. Each of these days will comprise full-day instructions. The first batch of both the twinning degree programme will start in July.

USA Swimming bans Phelps for three months

Record-setting Olympic champion Michael Phelps has been banned for three months by USA Swimming amid controversy over a photograph published in a British newspaper purportedly showing him smoking marijuana.

Michael has voluntarily accepted this reprimand and has committed to earn back our trust.

Satyam shares up; market cheers new CEO appointment

Shares of Satyam Computer were up 4% at Rs48.10 at 10:00 AM on Friday, after the company announced the appointment of a new CEO.

World's Top 3 Wealthiest CEOs

Warren Buffet

Larry Ellison

Mukesh Ambani

ICICI fires dealer for forex fraud

ICICI Bank has sacked one of its dealers who had entered into improper forward trades by executing deals to favour four Kolkata-based Top 20 Global Fin Brands 19 Indian banks in Top 500 Global Financial Brands corporates.

These companies could buy or sell currency at exchange rates which were more attractive than what they would have been offered in the regular course of business.

The employee had struck deals by ensuring that the corporates received favourable rates by tinkering with the last two digits in the forex rates, which is typically as 46.4534 or 28.6751. The software did not throw up an alert when these transactions happened since the first four digits were not changed. The deals were done in Japanese Yen, Euro and dollars.

A senior bank official said the bank got suspicious when it spotted that the dealer, who was a relationship manager for the global market division in Mumbai, was carrying out trades for a bunch of Kolkata corporates. This never happens unless the company concerned is very big.

Books.....The Knowledge Point

The New Age of InnovationCategory : Non-Fiction

Author : C.K. Prahalad and M.S. Krishnan

Publisher : McGraw-Hill Education India Pvt Ltd

Bipin Kabra joins Dhanalakshmi Bank as CEO

Mr Bipin Kabra has joined the Thrissur,Kerala-based Dhanalakshmi Bank as the Chief Financial Office He worked both as chartered accountant and a cost accountantand has over 16 years of experience in financial services sector.

'Slumdog Millionaire' now in Tamil

Valentine’s day ( February 14) and Kollywood will see the release of not a romantic film, but of the dubbed version of one of cinema’s biggest dramas – Slumdog Millionaire. K Natarajan, of Falcon films, has bought the Tamil rights for the Oscar nominee, paying a sum of over Rs.50 lakhs.

Slumdog Millionaire has been dubbed as " Naanum Koteeswaran" (I am a millionaire too), with popular Tamil actor Simbu lending his voice for the lead role played by Dev Patil, and veteran playback singer S P Balasubramaniam dubbing for Anil Kapoor.

3 Indian women entrepreneurs among third IWEC awardees

Three Indian businesswomen are among the 15 women entrepreneurs who have been awarded the third La Caixa International Women Entrepreneurial Challenge Awards (IWEC) this year.

The three Indian women entrepreneurs are Dipali Goenka, Director of Welspun Retail, Vasundhara Mantri, professional Jewellery Designer and Anita Lal Creative Head, The Goodearth Company.

Iran launches home-built satellite

Iran has successfully placed into orbit its first domestically made satellite, using an indigenous launcher. It is the Safir-2 rocket.
The lightweight satellite can carry out remote sensing and satellite telemetry operations. It is expected to have a maximum life of three months and will orbit the earth 15 times per day.

A S Murthy appointed as Satyam's CEO

Satyam Computer's A S Murthy who was heading Satyam's global operations was appointed as the new CEO.Company board Satyam has also got a Rs 600 crore breather from the banks for immediate working capital requirements.

Infosys freezes recruitment, mulls pay cuts

Employees of Infosys Technologies may have to live with a salary cut and without any significant increment, even as the IT bellwether has virtually frozen fresh recruitments on account of the global meltdown.

Sensex, Nifty end in red

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Thursday fell nearly 111 points on heavy selling by funds in bluechips led by Reliance Industries and Infosys Technologies.

The Sensex, which gained 135 points in the last two sessions, fell by 110.97 points to 9,090.88.