Business Today 12 March 2017

High performance, fast-growing organisations also tend to get voted among the best workplaces in most surveys. Why is this so? One reason is that high-performance organisations typically adopt the best practices in all functions – and that includes HR, and workplace practices. The other reason is that employees are prone to rate professional growth opportunities as one of the priorities when evaluating a workplace. And only a company growing fast can meet the aspirations of growth of the bulk of its employees. Steady companies are inclined to provide lesser opportunities for all but the few exceptional performers. Workplace expectations have changed dramatically over the years. From Independence to about 1980, job stability and a “professional” work culture were the most prized attributes of a job. By the 1990s, with liberalisation…

Post-demonetisation Budget Is Not Bad This refers to your cover story, The Missing Feel-good Factor (February 26 issue). The best that can be said about Budget 2017/18 is that it is not bad, which is actually a big compliment for the Modi government after its demonetisation decision. It has given a great push to affordable housing. The Budget proposal to launch a new health protection scheme is most welcome. The proposal for additional 30,000 health cover for senior citizens is good as it will reduce the burden of health-care expenditure for the aged. Special focus on digitisation will also prove to be an effective tool in shaping the future of the economy. Doubling farmers’ income is an inspiring idea. Given the fact that 56 per cent of the country's population…

QUOTE "Instead of asking us why we didn’t build another Windows, you should ask Microsoft why they didn’t build another TCS." N. Chandrasekaran , Chairman-Designate of Tata Sons, when asked why Indian IT companies did not do well in the products space. He was speaking at the Nasscom India Leadership Forum UBHL IN TROUBLE The Karnataka High Court has issued a winding-up order on United Breweries Holdings (UBHL), the company through which Vijay Mallya used to control his business empire. The court asked the liquidator to take over all the assets of the company. TAJ BRAND CONSOLIDATION Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) has said that all its hotels will be brought under a single brand — Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris. Under the proposed restructuring, the brands of Vivanta by Taj…

23 SHARING LESSONS WHAT: 10TH Assocham Higher Education Summit 2017 WHEN: February 23, New Delhi WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The summit will debate new steps and initiatives to strengthen quality in existing institutions and universities. Also on the agenda is ways to establish linkage between industry, academia and the government. The event is being organised by Assocham with Association of Indian Universities. 23 - 24 FOOD FOR THOUGHT WHAT: Food Importers Meet 2017 WHEN: February 23-24, Gurgaon WHAT TO LOOK FOR: FICCI in association with Made In World, Saudi Arabia is organising a two day buyer seller meet for the food sector. Some 80 procurement heads from around the globe are expected to attend. Indian companies will get an opportunity to showcase their products and meeting with buyers will be…

The third quarter results announced by leading airlines were anything but promising. The numbers clearly showed that the sector is going downhill due to rise in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, intensifying competition, and falling yields. In fact, most players were able to post profits only due to income from non-core areas, that is, activities other than selling tickets. Market leader IndiGo, with 39.3 per cent passenger traffic share in 2016, reported a 26 per cent drop in net profit in the third quarter of 2016/17 compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. Revenues grew 16 per cent during the period. Jet Airways, the second-largest player in terms of market share, reported a 69.5 per cent decline in (standalone) net profit; revenues grew just 0.6 per cent. Gurgaon-based…

ALL TELECOM OPERATORS HAVE REGISTERED A SHARP DECLINE IN NET PROFITS IN THE THIRD QUARTER OF 2016/17 OVER-DEPENDENCE ON PRICE-CONSCIOUS PREPAID CUSTOMERS HAS AFFECTED TELCOS ACROSS THE BOARD THE OLDER TELCOS ARE LOOKING AT JOINING HANDS TO TAKE ON THE MIGHTY JIO TELECOM OPERATORS ARE WAITING FOR JIO’S FREE OFFERS TO END, TO START GIVING IT A FIGHT The aggressive entry of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio, which is offering free voice and data services for a few months, was expected to put the older telecom companies on the backfoot. In reality, the disruption by Jio has caused severe damage to the stalwarts of the Indian telecom industry – Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. Take market leader Bharti Airtel. In the third quarter of 2016/17, the company reported a 54.9 per…