25.08.2008

• Rural India shows more appetite for goods
• Data for the January-July 2008 period shows that growth has been higher in rural markets across each of the categories by value and volume. The growth is being attributed to factors like higher prices of farm produce and farm loan write-offs, resulting in consumers upgrading to branded products.
• Firms are addressing the increased demand by introducing SKUs (pack sizes) only for rural pockets, beefing up their distribution footprint and tailoring promotional and ad strategies specific to rural consumers — an example being upping the celebrity connect.
• Look at this graphic to know the trends.
• The travails of the non-life insurance companies
• It is a very good story that tells how the non-life insurance companies are feeling the heat. Take a look.
• For those of you that don’t have the patience to read it: know that over 70% of the revenues for non-life insurance companies come from motor and health insurance — both segments where there is very little left after paying out claims.
• The gradual introduction of free pricing has shrunk the once-dominant and once profitable fire insurance business to less than 15% of the overall portfolio.
• Political round-up
• Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP says that India should decide whether it wants to restore the land to the SASB (Shri Amarnath Shrine Board) or it wants to retain Kashmir.
• Shibu Soren gets ready to occupy the CM’s gaddi in Jharkhand.
• Third front to come up in two weeks; with Mayawati in the lead role.
• Mobile internet penetration across the world
• Look at this graphic.
• There is a huge opportunity waiting for Indian telecom companies (telcos) to tap into this market. As mobiles are much cheaper than PCs, it makes sense to make internet on mobile very affordable and generate revenues.
• Olympic performance shows that the not so rich and poor nations are bridging the gap when it comes to getting medals
• The low- and middle-income nations are catching up with the rich countries at Olympics over the last two decades, with their gold haul moving from 38% of the total at Barcelona (1992) to more than 46% at Beijing. Also, the performance of the not-so-rich nations is consistently improving over the different editions of the Games.
• Look at this graphic.
• Olympics conclude
• After speeches from Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Organising Committee, and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, the Beijing Games were officially declared to be over.
• The Olympic flag was handed to London mayor Boris Johnson, with organisers briefly showcasing the 2012 Games.
• British singer Leona Lewis (top) and musician Jimmy Page performed at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics at the Bird’s Nest Stadium. They combined for a rendition of "Whole Lotta Love".
• The last gold medal of this Olympiad was won by France's men claiming gold in the final of the handball.
• Read this piece on the best moments of this Olympics.
• Take a look at the final medal tally in this version.
• Interconnection issue among telcos solved amicably
• Following the resolution of the interconnect issue between GSM operators and Reliance Communications (RCOM), all telcos have now signed an agreement to resolve all other pending issues related to linking their networks.
• The agreement was signed in the presence of telecom regulator Trai over the weekend. The agreement envisages that telcos mutually settle all other interconnect requests (outside the recent controversy) by October 15. It also envisages that telcos settle pending payments for existing interconnect agreements within the next seven days.
• Besides, all operators have also agreed to renew all interconnect agreements that have expired.
• More importantly, operators have also agreed that in case of similar disputes in their future they will adhere by Trai’s decisions on the issue.
• I believe this is a very good step and is in the larger interests of the country. TRAI should be commended for resolving the dispute amicably.
• Freedom summit: It is about zero regulatory regime in global aviation.
• Civil aviation authorities from across the globe are meeting in Istanbul in October to discuss the modalities of a zero regulatory regime.
• Some of the key areas to be discussed during this ‘freedom summit’ are liberalising the norms for foreign direct investment (FDI), simplifying cross-border consolidation in the sector and doing away with bilateral aviation service agreements.
• The meeting to be held under the banner of International Air transportation Association (IATA) is expected to stress on free market access for airlines and simpler rules for change on ownership.
• An excellent piece on foreign investments
• In today’s ET in the class room column. Read it here.
• We have noted time and again about FDI, FII etc. This is a very good piece which serves a recap of what we noted earlier.
• A good debate on ‘treaty shopping’ and ‘round-tripping’
• Read this. It is only a few days ago that we noted these two concepts. This piece will give a deeper insight into the issues.