Monday, August 13, 2012

Fashion files: A-listers show the way!

Actors and style icons, film stars are influencing fashion on the ramp and the city streets

“An off-shoulder, dark blue flowing satin gown, layered with black net to give it a rich feel, with pleating from the empire line and a plunging back line’ is how Natasha wanted her dress to be for her 22nd birthday bash, the theme of which she had set as Red Carpet. She went and sought the help of her neighbourhood tailor with this concept in her mind and the required fabrics in her bag, and in less than a week her own red-carpet creation was ready, for just Rs.5500! “I wanted to wear something like what Aishwarya Rai had worn at an international film festival and that is why I chose this theme for my birthday! The same dress would have costed Rs.55,000 or even more had I bought it from a designer and maybe I wouldn’t have worn it a second time, because I don’t like to repeat my dresses, and so it could have been a huge waste of money!”

Well, Natasha is not the only one bitten by the latest fashion trends. In fact, these days, fashion trends and fashion weeks are being inspired by movies and even film stars walking the red carpet. Jean Paul Gaultier was so inspired by the recent blockbuster Avatar that he decided to incorporate the untouched beauty of Pandora and its blue-skinned tribes in his couture collection. Leading fashion magazine Vogue too recently decided to dedicate nothing less than 10 pages to the Na’vis!

Back in India, actress Mumtaz had set a trend in draping saris in the late ’60s with her film Brahamchari. This figure-hugging style came to be known as Mumtaz Saris and is still a favourite with many. More recently, saris made a huge comeback post the film Main Hoon Na when Sushmita Sen looked glamorous in her chiffon saris with sexy low-cut blouses and noodle straps.


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Saturday, August 11, 2012

The real realty show

In all the talk about globalisation, being local does have a bad name. But as per B&E’s analysis, regional centres are teeming with realty potential. And regional players are proving that staying local could actually prove to be a blessing in disguise
 
Media and Real Estate – the two sectors may be largely antipodal to each other in terms of business dynamics, but there is a lot that the latter can learn from the former. You may be wondering what? Consider this: Globally, print media (to be specific) has invariably been a regional industry. So there is The New York Times dominating in New York and The Los Angeles Times, which is dedicated to LA. In India too, regions have their own unique favourites – The Hindu in Chennai, Deccan Herald in Bangalore, The Hindustan Times in Delhi, The Telegraph in Kolkata, Tribune in Chandigarh, et al. Attempts by most of these dailies to go national have not been so fruitful. Similarly, it is being observed that real estate players operating out of specific regions of the country like Jaipur, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, Chennai, et al, are showing spectacular growth. What is the basis behind this trend, and is it sustainable? B&E finds out.

The broad figures are hardly regional, as the Indian real estate sector contributes around 14-15% to the GDP of the country. The construction business’ contribution to the GDP stood at 7.95% in 2002-03 and spiralled to 16.46% by 2005-06, before showing a downward trend then onwards (t stood at 11.98% in 2006-07; 9.81% in 2007-08; and 7.24% in 2008-09). The real estate business forms over 60% of the total construction business of the country. The last 24 months have been a tough ride for national real estate players. Huge debts riding on their backs, stalled construction and instability in the global real estate market further added to the woes of the Indian realtors. Hovering at 12,727.42 points in December 2007, the BSE Realty index had plummeted to 1561.01 points by November 2008 – a drop of 87.73%, before rising up to 3361.10 as on March 15, 2010.

In the second quarter of 2009, debt liabilities on national realty players like DLF and Unitech stood at Rs.150 billion and Rs.78 billion respectively. But the downturn hit them hard as the cost of construction sky-rocketed. Sample this: for the quarter ending December 2009, the cost of construction for DLF stood at Rs.6.73 billion – a mind-numbing increase of 262.75%. Even for Unitech, the cost of construction increased by 197.57% over the last year to Rs.4.47 billion. For Parsvnath Developers, the cost of construction increased by 173.75% yoy to gross Rs.1.29 billion currently. Increase in the excise duty from 8% to 10% will further add to the woes. High property rates led to decline in sales (by almost 50-60%) and national developers were forced to stall projects. Before the slowdown struck, big developers had hastily acquired land all over India to increase their land banks. Currently, DLF has a total land bank of close to 430 million square feet, of which, only 50 million square feet is under construction. Also, a lot of space acquired for launching commercial hubs could not be developed because of a slowdown in the big ticket IT/ITeS sectors.

However, real estate players with limited diversification were not as impacted. Says Mehinder Sharma, MD, M-Tech Developers, “We were not really affected in the strict sense of the term as we did not launch any new projects and instead focused on construction and deliveries. But yes, cash flow was definitely impacted – it slowed down and reduced our speed apart from the high cost of funds that we deliberately avoided to keep our price & quality commitments in place.”

So what is it that makes regional real estate players less vulnerable? “To begin with, it’s their area of operations that favours their model,” says Vivek Mittal, CEO, Realty Stocks. Cost of land in small towns and cities like Vadodara, Thane, Lucknow, et al, is 15-20% lower in comparison to metros. Cost of construction, labour, and other ancillary services too is 30-40% lower. “Price-Value matrix (at a regional level) is definitely more realistic compared to the metros where the international influence makes any average project a huge investment proposition,” says Sharma. To the advantage of regional players, the demand for their housing projects did not decline. Sushil Mohta, MD, Merlin Group, who is operating out of West Bengal says, “Roughly one can say that about 10,000 apartments are on sale annually in Kolkata.” According to CREDAI Bengal officials, the annual growth rate in the real estate sector in Kolkata and adjacent areas is about 20%. In Rajasthan, the sector is poised to witness a growth of 10-15% in the coming year. Also, the boom in the affordable housing segment, pegged at Rs.3 trillion by 2011, helped regional players.




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Friday, August 10, 2012

AN APPEAL TO LATA MANGESHKAR AND . . .

...Asha Bhosle and Nana Patekar and Madhuri Dixit and Ritesh Deshmukh and Amol Palekar and Madhur Bhandarkar and Ashutosh Gowariker and Mohan Agashe and Sai Paranjpe and Rohini Hattangadi and dozens of other illustrious and not so illustrious people who have won hearts, minds, fans and big bucks in Bollywood. Just in case you failed to notice, all these personalities are Marathi Manoos. Some are legends who have already become immortal and most have enriched Bollywood with their incredible talent and performances. I am deliberately appealing to Ritesh Deshmukh instead of his father Vilasrao Deshmukh because neither you or I really expect politicians to stand up and be counted when it comes to defending the idea of India.

But I earnestly appeal to these theatre, film and music personalities to defend colleague Shah Rukh Khan. As things stand now, the movie My Name is Khan will probably not be screened in any theatre or multiplex in Maharashtra unless Shah Rukh Khan apologizes for a crime he has not committed. Just as Amitabh Bachchan was forced to apologize in the recent past when the screening of The Last Lear was disrupted in Mumbai. This madness is going too far and now threatens to destroy the very foundations of India where all citizens have equal rights to talk, work and pray. Shah Rukh Khan the individual or the superstar or the icon is not really the issue here. The issue is far bigger and demands artistes to finally decide that enough is enough.

I doubt if there ever was – or will be – a better singer than Lata Mangeshkar. But just imagine Lata tai: if this kind of parochialism had prevailed even in the past, would you have sung haunting melodies written by Sahir Ludhiyanvi and composed by Madan Mohan. Would you have captivated us with the delightful duets that you sang with Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar? And Madhuri Dixit, would you have delivered hits like Dil Toh Pagal Hai and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun without co-stars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan? I can cite such instances ad nauseam and it won’t make a damn difference unless Marathi artistes come out and support not Shah Rukh Khan, but his freedom to work and speak. Many of the personalities in the ‘appeal’ list are quite well read and will know that this demon will sooner or later devour even their freedom to work and speak.

I think they need to be inspired by the words and deeds of another icon, arguably one of the greatest Maharashtrians of modern times. Yes, I am talking about Sachin Tendulkar. More than his centuries and records, he really made India proud the day he rebuffed narrow-minded parochialism by publicly defending the idea of India. That one gesture made a world of difference. Imagine the difference it will make if legends like Lata Mangeshkar, Nana Patekar also step up and publicly defend the idea of India.

I think the Shiv Sena and the MNS have every right to espouse the cause of Marathi Manoos. They have every right to publicly protest and criticize anything and anyone they think is infringing on the rights of Marathi Manoos.


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Thursday, August 09, 2012

GREEN TRANSPORT: WATER TRAVEL

The shipping industry pollutes dramatically more than other modes of transport. It’s in dire need of revival

Over one in ten children are suffering from asthma in the world’s major port cities. Shipping is not regulated and taxed as needed; similar to aviation, since it transports about 90% of all world’s traded goods. Governments in different countries have initiated programs though without major success.

For example, UK proposed a cap-and-trade to encourage companies to follow environment protection guidelines. The World Port Climate Change Declaration conference also emphasised on the importance of greening the shipping industry. Seatrade Middle East Maritime unveiled new innovations in green shipping in 2008. Even companies like Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines are installing smokeless gas-turbine engines or biofuel engines. Many have undertaken research to develop engines to fuel environment friendly CNG and LNG vehicles to avoid harmful emissions like NO2 and SO2. While regulation is imperative, focusing on a few other areas will greatly help.

Primarily, the oil that the ships use is of a very low grade. Technological innovations (use of hydrodynamics in propellers, replacing fossil fuel by renewable sources, and taking care of speed reduction and fleet maintenance) can reduce emissions. But the scale of these initiatives has to be far grander than it is today.


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