Officer’s Choice snatched top slot from Bagpiper

 

            Liquor baron Vijay Mallya owned Bagpiper Whisky had to end its seven year long record on the largest selling brand in the field of Indian spirits brand market. Eventually it is falling behind its smaller rival brand Officer’s Choice, which is owned by Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABD). Bagpiper ruled the market for the most of the part of the last decade, but it piped down to a shocking negative (single-digit) growth in 2011, said two very well-known digests of top selling alcobev brands globally.

            The latest estimates of a New York based Impact International and International Wine and Research (ISWR), made Officer’s Choice clear topper as the largest selling Indian spirit brands, ahead of the previous topper Bagpiper.

            Officer’s Choice, which is owned by Mr. Kishore Chabria, saw a huge growth of 7.5%, which leading to a whooping 15.8 million cases, while its rival’s number isn’t that great. Eventually Bagpiper declined 5.9% to 15.6 million cases during the last fiscal year, said ISWR.

            “We have built the future of Officer’s Choice brand, pulling it to the top slot from fourth largest selling Indian spirit brand in just four years only,” said ABD Vice-Chairman & Chief Executive Mr. Deepak Roy, who is feeling very proud for this tremendous achievement.

              Though there is some good news also for the Mallya’s company. There is something to cheer for them. United Spirits (USL), which is the world’s largest spirits marketer by volume, made efforts to check the advance of Pernod Richard with new brand variants of McDowell’s No. 1 and Antiquity whiskies showed promise. McDowell’s Platinum has reported an awesome 36% volume growth to touch 1 million cases, while Antiquity Blue made a 35.1% growth jump to 4,35,000 cases.

New modified Poverty line: Rs 66 for cities, Rs 35 for villages

          Here are a new set of official statistics that can escalate the politically contentious debate on what constitutes the poverty line.

          If average monthly consumption expenditure is taken as the benchmark of what an individual needs to survive, the poverty line would be Rs 66.10 for urban areas and Rs 35.10 for rural regions, while almost 65% of the population will be below this cut-off.

          The figures based on the 66^th round of the National Sample Survey for 2009-10, provides a more realistic market for estimating both of the poverty line and population below it than the Planning Commission’s calculation of Rs 28.65 per capita per day for cities and Rs 22.42 for village areas.

          The rural and urban all-India averages for monthly expenditures are Rs 1,054 and Rs 1,984 per person daily, respectively, and if these are projected on the expenditure-population curve, the population below this works out to 64.47% (rural) and 66.70% (urban). Official sources said the exercise was carried out as a part of a study and is based on NSSO data largely available in the public domain. While the government is revising its parameters, the monthly averages might be a useful means of estimating where to draw the poverty line.

           With almost all states showing more than 60% of populations below the monthly expenditure averages, the oft-repeated claim that 70% of India lives on less than $2 a day have a ring of truth in it. The Planning Commission said that it will set up a technical committee soon to measure the actual poverty line properly.

Account transfer within bank made easier by RBI

          Bank customers who change locations or jobs will find it easier to shift their bank account to the new location quite easily now. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made it mandatory for banks to allow transfer of accounts from one branch to another without insisting on opening a new fresh account or making the customer undergo the full know your customer process again.

          Earlier, since the account holder information was maintained with local branches, banks used to insists that customers go through the account opening procedure all over again when they shifted to a different location.

          “It has been brought to our notice that some banks are insisting on opening of fresh accounts by customers when customers approach them for transferring their account from one branch to another branch of the same bank. Such insistence on opening of fresh accounts or making the customer undergo full KYC process again causes inconvenience to them resulting in poor customer service,”, RBI said in a circular to all banks. The circular added that given that most bank branches are on Core Banking Solution (CBS), records of a particular customer can be accessed by any branch of the bank.

          An official with a new generation private bank said, “We provide ‘at par’ cheque books to our account holders, which means that the cheques will be treated as local cheques no matter which part of the country they are deposited in. So, it really doesn’t matter for the customer if the ‘home branch’ in a different city.”

          With all banks having put in place a core banking solution through which all account holder information is maintained in a centralized database accessible across branches, ATMs and Internet, the home branch concept has lost its relevance. But, some private banks charge high fees for services accessed outside the home branch. Also some lenders insist that changes on account services or document submission has to be done at the home branch only.

          In its Monetary Policy on April 17, RBI had asked banks to have a central customer ID to facilitate portability of accounts and ensure that all customer information is centralized. The central bank had indicated that some work was underway to have a common ID across the banking system. Some banks are seeing this as a precursor to having a central identity.

          “Banks are advised that KYC once done by one branch of the bank should be valid for transfer of the account within the bank as long as full KYC has been done for the account. To comply with KYC requirements of correct address of the person, fresh address proof may be obtained from him/her upon such transfer by the transferee branch,” RBI said.

Schroders to buy 26% in Axis MF

          Global fund management major Schroders Investment Management is buying 26% stake in Axis Mutual Fund for anything between Rs 175 crore and Rs 250 crore, valuing the asset management company (AMC) at Rs 700-1,000 crore.

         The deal is expected to be announced on Friday when the board of Axis bank, the sole sponsor of the fund house, meets to consider the bank’s financial results. Schroders is entering Axis MF as strategic investors. Axis Bank could not be reached for comment on this deal. 

          According to the January-March 2012 figures released by the fund industry trade body AMFI, average assets under management (AUM) of Axis MF was close to Rs 8,900 crore. At the upper end of the price range being talked about, Schroders would be paying about 11% of the AUM. Schroders is the 206-year old UK-headquartered firm and currently has presence in 35 different countries around the world, managing nearly $300 billion worth of assets.

Completely Objective-type questions in NET from this year

 

          The National Eligibility Test, conducted by University Grants Commission (UGC), will be completely objective-type from this year only.

          The first objective-type NET exam will be held on June 24 and will comprise three papers. According to the new exam pattern, there will be no negative marking. Moreover, the candidates will be allowed to carry the carbon print out of the OMR Response Sheets with them on conclusion of the examination.

          The National Educational Testing Bureau of UGC conducts NET to determine eligibility for lectureship and forward of Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) for Indian nationals in order to ensure minimum standards for the entrants in the teaching profession and research.

          So far the pattern of the exam has been subjective, where aspirants have to write detailed answers in order to crack NET. “The Commission decided to change the pattern to objective-type. All the three papers will be objective and will be held on the very same day in two separate sessions. The syllabus though, for all the three papers remains the same as that of the previous years,” said Surinder Singh, deputy secretary (NET), UGC.

         Meanwhile, the changing of paper III to subjective type has confused a lot of aspirants as how to prepare for the exam. According to a history student from JNU, “It’s a confusing scenario right now. The first paper is on general aptitude, whiles the second and third is specific. Till December 2011, paper III has been a subject one. Now, we are appearing for the two objective type papers on the subject and the UGC claims the syllabus and the structure remain the same?”

          The test is conducted in Humanities (including languages), social sciences, forensic science, environmental sciences, computer science and applications and electronic science. According to the new scheme, paper I will comprise 60 questions of two marks each and candidates have to attempt 50 questions. All the 50 and 75 questions of paper II and III are compulsory for the aspirants.

8% profit rises for Wipro in Q4

         One of the leading IT Company Wipro has announced flat revenue guidance at 0.6% for Q1 in 2012-13, below the market expectations. The markets were expecting a bold guidance from the said company. 

         The company also reported a flat sequential growth for fiscal 2012 at 2% in dollar terms. The company said its June ending quarter revenue from IT services are expected to be in the range of $1,520 million and $1,550 million, indicating a decline of 1% in a growth rate of close to 1% range.

         Wipro chairman Mr. Azim Premji said despite the overall macroeconomic environment continuing to be volatile, Wipro had achieved 8% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,481 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31. Its total revenues grew by 19% at Rs 9,869 crore in the mentioned quarter.

          The flagship IT services business which accounted 76% of the company overall revenues, posted 13% growth in operating profit at Rs 1,573 crore when compared with the same quarter in the previous fiscal. The IT services revenues in the quarter grew by 21% to Rs 7,590 crore on year-on-year basis. When compared with the previous quarter, the operating profit and revenues of IT services business dropped marginally by 0.63 and 0.23% respectively. “We have been seeing some signs of positivity in the market in the last three months. However, customers continue to be cautious,” Premji said.

Romney is all set for the big battle

         

           After sweeping five Republican primaries to effectively clinch the valuable Republican nomination, Mr. Mitt Romney prepared to challenge US President Barack Obama in the general election, which will be held on November. 

            “A better America starts tonight,” the former governor of Massachusetts told to the cheering victory rally in New Hampshire on Tuesday after building quite a big lead in delegates with victories in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

            “The last few years have been the best that Barack Obama can do, but it’s surely not the best America can do,” he said. “Tonight is the beginning of the end of the disappointments of the Obama years and it’s the start of a new and better chapter that we will write together.”

              Far ahead of the field in the battle for delegates Romney became the presumptive nominee April 10 after his closest rival former senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, suspended his campaign.

              Santorum has yet to endorse Romney and also declined to do so despite repeated prodding on a TV show Tuesday saying he hoped to meet with Romney “in the coming next week or two”.

             With the nominating fight virtually over, Romney’s campaign has already been working to build up its general election organization, and engaged in a “rapid build-out”, a Romney adviser said. Romney plans a series of fund raising events on Wednesday and Thursday in New York and New Jersey to build up his war chest for the vital November election.