She is one of those rare women executives, who have thrived in a man’s world. And she has helped HDFC perform better.
Last week, as Renu Sud Karnad, Executive Director, HDFC,
winged her way to yet another visit to the US, she had already taken a decision that thrilled the hearts of individuals who had taken retail loans from the corporation. Despite the fact that the Reserve Bank of India refused to lower the prime lending interest rates, Karnad had announced that HDFC would lower its home loan rates. Her’s was one of the first financial institutions to do so in recent times, when home loan rates had zoomed and lenders had been saddled with huge EMIs or increasing repayment periods.
In fact, Karnad, in her personal capacity, feels that interest rates have already peaked, and there are no macro reasons for another hike. But she was unwilling to say it on record. Instead, she said that RBI’s Governor has the unenviable task of balancing growth and inflationary pressures. “RBI Governor Y. V. Reddy is doing a great job, and has managed to achieve the objectives that any central bank would wish to. India is on a sustained growth path, and inflation seems to be under control,” she explains.
In the past year or so, Reddy has been worried about the unusual rise in asset prices across categories, he has felt that there is a bubble building up in sectors like real estate, and has tried his best to control the increase in prices without sacrificing on the growth front. For example, he has tightened the norms for real estate and home loans, thereby creating a sort of a slowdown at least in the small towns. But, at the same time, he doesn’t want investments to slow down considerably in the housing or real estate sector.
It is in this regard that Karnad’s move should be appreciated. If banks and institutions like HDFC can still lower interest rates, it will still spur demand despite the tight monetary policies of the RBI. It will create a win-win situation that will help the retail consumers as well as the policy makers. It will also turn out to be a relief for individuals, who have been saddled with huge outgo as home loans rates have steadily climbed from less than 8% to over 11% in the past couple of years.
Last week, as Renu Sud Karnad, Executive Director, HDFC,
winged her way to yet another visit to the US, she had already taken a decision that thrilled the hearts of individuals who had taken retail loans from the corporation. Despite the fact that the Reserve Bank of India refused to lower the prime lending interest rates, Karnad had announced that HDFC would lower its home loan rates. Her’s was one of the first financial institutions to do so in recent times, when home loan rates had zoomed and lenders had been saddled with huge EMIs or increasing repayment periods.In fact, Karnad, in her personal capacity, feels that interest rates have already peaked, and there are no macro reasons for another hike. But she was unwilling to say it on record. Instead, she said that RBI’s Governor has the unenviable task of balancing growth and inflationary pressures. “RBI Governor Y. V. Reddy is doing a great job, and has managed to achieve the objectives that any central bank would wish to. India is on a sustained growth path, and inflation seems to be under control,” she explains.
In the past year or so, Reddy has been worried about the unusual rise in asset prices across categories, he has felt that there is a bubble building up in sectors like real estate, and has tried his best to control the increase in prices without sacrificing on the growth front. For example, he has tightened the norms for real estate and home loans, thereby creating a sort of a slowdown at least in the small towns. But, at the same time, he doesn’t want investments to slow down considerably in the housing or real estate sector.
It is in this regard that Karnad’s move should be appreciated. If banks and institutions like HDFC can still lower interest rates, it will still spur demand despite the tight monetary policies of the RBI. It will create a win-win situation that will help the retail consumers as well as the policy makers. It will also turn out to be a relief for individuals, who have been saddled with huge outgo as home loans rates have steadily climbed from less than 8% to over 11% in the past couple of years.
Over the past many years, such decisions have defined the achievements of Karnad, who has maintained HDFC’s Numero Uno position in the housing sector. But it has not been an easy climb to the top of the corporate ladder. Especially for a woman, who has fought it out in a hitherto man’s world of Indian financial and banking services. “I was just lucky. I joined HDFC at the right time. So, it was slightly easy for me to reach the top. May be, the women who have joined in recent times, or my daughter if she joins the corporate world in the near future, won’t find it so easy,” explains Karnad.
What she means is that when she joined HDFC nearly three decades ago, the state-owned entity was on a growth path. So, anyone who joined at that time inevitably grew with the company. It was like joining a startup. Since you were one of the first to join, you participated in the successes – right from getting employee stock options, whose value jumped after the initial public offering, to grabbing a designation as you were one of the few who understood the philosophy and the strategy of the company.
eling in the corporate circles that women are better workers than their male counterparts. A senior woman executive contends that women tend to work harder as they have to prove that they can be as good, if not better, than men. So, HDFC sources explain how Karnad spent more hours in the office. In her early days, there were no fax machines, laptops and Blackberry mobiles, so one had no option but to be in office to receive communication on the telex machine.
In the same vein, women are known to be great multi-taskers. Unlike most men, who think and act sequentially, who complete one task at a time, women can tackle 4-5 issues at the same time. One of the reasons may be that women do it all the time at home – look after kids, listen to their in-laws, interact with their husbands – all at the same time. Therefore, they are adept at solving 4-5 problems at the same time. In financial services, where everything has become globalised, and where problems crop up at regular intervals, the art of multi-tasking turns out to be an advantage for women executives.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus
Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
With access to high-end diesel technology, and several options to locate its ‘cheap car’ factory (or assembly units), the Tatas seem to have got their back-end in place. Simultaneously, they had to look at the front-end; after all, Tata Motors wanted to sell the Rs.1 lakh car in as many markets as possible. It was meant to be a global car for global consumers. It is in this context that the Jaguar-Land Rover deal will immediately help it to tap the European market.
Finnish giant Nokia? Obviously handsets, right? Yes, and that its ride in this regard of late has been wonderful is undeniable (with a global market share of 32.6% being proof). However, there is much beyond just handsets that this Finnish giant is in for these days. Putting words to practice comes its latest revelation to move into unlimited music downloads to its subscribers in collaboration with Universal group, through a venture called ‘Comes with Music’ announced on December 2, 2007. So is this move well-toned with the changing scenario in the cellphone industry?
they have allowed these products to be traded in India. If the trading environment is open, global investors would always prefer to trade derivatives in the home market and this psychological advantage is sought to be converted to a real one,” says Rajiv Shastri, Head – Business Development and Strategic Initiatives, Lotus India Mutual Fund.
vision in direct response to movement of certain body parts, such as the head or hands. Turn the head, and the scene shifts accordingly. The sensation is like being inside an artificial world the computer has created. As the user moves his head to look around, the images shift to create an illusion of movement. The user moves while the virtual world is standing still. The glasses also sense the user’s facial expressions through embedded sensors, and that information can control the virtual version of the user’s body. Most current VR systems provide only visual experiences created by computer-assisted design or other graphics/animation systems, but researchers are working on interface devices that add sound and touch. Experts agree that MMORPGs are our current epitome of VR. Various technologies (communications, AI, computing, interface) will affect us, and together these will shape society in the future. Eventually, VR may be delivered through direct computer-to-brain connections. This means that you could probably “jack-in” to a virtual world using a mechanism that connects the world with your brain. Sounds familiar? Yeah, that’s what the characters in the movie Matrix did all the time.
will bring to Hollywood? Industry experts believe that production houses like Big Motion Pictures, UTV, Percept Pictures, et al, can bring a lot of differentiation to Hollywood in terms of content. They will bring Asian perspective in American movies, which can make them more appealing. More importantly, they will bring a lot of cost benefits to Hollywood, which is very much needed at this point of time, when the US economy is going through a lean period. However, one question that is troubling the experts is: will these Indian production houses be successful in their Hollywood stint? “It’s better for them (Indian production houses) to start with co-productions and that’s exactly what they are doing,” says a media analyst. Tying-up with Hollywood studios like George Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions, Tom Hanks’ Playtone Productions, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures, Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Productions, et al, will make them understand the market better. Whatever they do, the road to Hollywood will not be an easy one as Publicis’ Gupta feels, “America is very America-centric… The perceived notion of low quality for any product from a third world country may create some initial hurdles for them.” Be that as it may, the ‘big’ money lies overseas only. And if the corporate production houses need to compete with their global counterparts then the only way for them is to think local but act global!
a few intelligent ones like RPG Cellucom have latched on to an innovative business model to succeed in the mobile retail sweepstakes. In Feb. 2008, RPG Cellucom launched their own private labels for mobile accessories, willing to make additional profits through this route. Says Singh, “Our core target audiences are the tech-savvy people and we would continue to leverage through cross-selling and up-selling of our offerings.”
side and are major deterrent to big deals. Besides, apart from M&As, companies are also on a lookout for brand acquisitions to enhance their presence in respective therapeutic segments,” reasons Nangra. Also, with concerns related to economic slowdown and a history of failed overseas acquisitions, Indian companies now seem to have realised that though it’s exciting to buy big companies abroad, the real synergies are hard to achieve. Moreover, the competition from small generic drug-makers has stiffened too forcing these big pharma companies to re-think their strategies. “Develop new business models… on the basis of strengths & revenues – this is the most important factor that will decide the competitiveness and sustainance of Indian companies in the future,” agrees Dr. R. B. Smarta, MD of Interlink, a pharma and healthcare consultancy. Even Sujay Shetty, Associate Director, Financial Advisory Services Pharma & LifeSciences, PwC shares the same view. “This will not only provide the required size and expertise to the domestic companies (so that they can compete globally) but will also certainly improve efficiency; provide economies of scale; and strengthen their product portfolio, eventually benefiting the industry as a whole.”
outsourcing which would have been a cheaper option for these companies. Tim Sarnoff, President Sony Pictures Imageworks, reason, “This way we would have a better control over the output of the product. Also, our staff in Culver City (Los Angeles) and India can work on different parts of the same projects making use of the same kind of infrastructure…” There are also some other advantages that these companies would be looking at gaining. With the boom that has been there in the animation scenario, there is plenty of trained staff that would be working at almost less than half the price. Well, it would mean higher investments now, but the bigger studios would now be looking at churning out greater outputs. Hence, in the long run, they would be able to save greater costs.
space, with channels like Meow from Radio Today’s stable. The channel flaunts the idea of being the first and the only radio channel for women. “Going by the international trend, niche radio stations have a bright future in India, provided some policy changes are incorporated like multiple frequency allotment to every player,” says S. Keerthivasan, Business Head, Fever 104 FM. Agrees Anil Srivatsa, COO, Radio Today, “Niche radio will affect mass radio channels a lot because people will move on to specialised channels and hardly any audience will be left over for general channels.” Industry veterans believe that keeping in mind India’s diversity, niche stations can even be in regional languages, news focused, sports centric, business news driven, or even themed on the various music genres (rock, pop, jazz or classics), a la World Space on FM. Media planners agree that the expansion into niches will make business sense too as the advertising pie for the entire medium will expand substantially. They add that niche stations will also boost the entry of non-traditional advertisers on the radio bandwagon.
venture capital itself! Some of the best known technology brands globally have been seeded by Bessemer Venture Partners–the oldest VC firm in the United States. Bessemer steered its way into India in 2003 and made its first investment in year 2005. While the biggest of big, share this regret of “we should have invested much before in India,” this fund has no regret. According to Bessemer, the India growth story has just about begun and that they are a long-term and patient fund. In an exclusive tête-à -tête with 4Ps B&M, Devesh Garg, Head of Bessmer’s India practice, dwells at length on the correct recipe of creating a world-class company...
Intelenet Global Services, explains the key rationale behind the Blackstone and Intelenet deal to 4Ps B&M: “We wanted to retain our third party BPO focus and wanted to grow into a global brand. From the outset, we were very clear about what we were looking for in a potential partner. This deal with Blackstone will enable us to continue to grow as a third party BPO service provider and will also help our multi-pronged growth strategy. The association with Blackstone is a mutually beneficial one where Blackstone leverages Intelenet’s delivery capabilities for all its portfolio companies. Intelenet aims to optimally leverage Blackstone’s financial backing to improve and expand its operations. These acquisitions will enable Intelenet to expand its delivery footprint from solely offshore centres, to an on-shore and near-shore capability based out of the US and Latin America. Blackstone is lending its global brand and ready access to its investee portfolio.”
tools for retirement planning. Policyholders make contributions over a period of time (or even a one-time contribution) to form a corpus. This corpus is used to generate regular income for policy holders from the retirement age. The pension plans are flexible, whereby income can be received either for a fixed tenure or till death. In the majority of cases, investors avail of tax rebates under section 88 in the range of 15 % to 30% of the premium paid during the year depending on the total income. Tax benefits are also offered when medical riders are added to the policy as per section 80 D.
from the last 50 years, remains ever contemporary & evergreen. The punchline is same from such a long time because we have the same advertising agency, same people at the top and the same product positioning. I don’t understand why Bajaj changed their tagline from ‘Hamara Bajaj’ as there was no need to do so because it was working well for them. These things change when people in the top management change. The tagline has definitely helped us grow. Today, we are the number one food company in India & market shares are consistently improving. 
simply been mind-blowing and have only got bigger during the past two years! The reasons for the same are intensive asset utilisation (track, wagons, coaches, locos), increase in axle load, improvement in turn-round of wagons and also lowering of unit costs through higher volumes. The railways also used differentiated strategy for social and commercial segments of operation and a dynamic and market-driven tariff for freight and premium passenger segments. The railways also made the reduction of tariffs in real terms. The railways is also utilising its real estate to earn revenues. To begin with, it is roping-in real estate developers and utilising PPPs as part of its makeover plans. While the former are a part of the modernisation plan of 225 railway stations across the country, the PPPs focus will fund a major portion of the dedicated rail freight corridor and high speed passenger corridors. PPP options are also being explored to by holding auction for the private sector to build malls, cineplexes and shopping arcades. Finally, the PPPs will also help develop energy-efficient trains with the state-of-the-art facility & controlling.