Top News, 11th July 1)As US firms struggle with rising oil prices & weak demand, they

force Indian IT vendors to reduce billing rates by 15% 2)To check theft of subsidized foodgrains, trucks will be monitored via GPS. Move will also aid timely delivery 3)Mukesh Ambani: Businesses should be measured on social returns together with financial returns 4)Bihars farmers now supplying 14 Lakh Litre milk Per Day. The figure was just 2.8 LLPD in 2000. It targets 32 LLPD by 2021 5)Britains 168 year old tabloid, News of the World, closed due to a phone-hacking scandal. Editor arrested

1)Lokpal ke side effects: Deepak Parekh, HDFC says, Bureaucrats, bankers, everybodys scared to take decisions. Corporates prefer to invest abroad 2)Websites like mediangels.com offering specialist medical (second) opinion a hit with patients 3)United Breweries pledges entire Kingfisher stake as the airline gets trapped in a cash crunch 4)As Android & Apple eat away Blackberrys pie. RIMs market value is now $14bn, down from $83bn in June 2008 5)Global spending on gaming is expected to touch $112bn by 2015 from current $67bn. Smartphones, tablets & new devices fuel the growth Games people play!!!

1)RBI Governor says poor quality of data from Govt agencies is frustrating the policymakers 2)Breakup: As Godrej was impatient with the slow progress, Hersheys to sell its 51% stake in Joint Venture 3)Except tickets & hotel bookings, Indians are not comfortable shopping online. They research online but shop offline 4)As travel agents block tickets sold at IRCTC to sell them at a premium, Railways new e-ticketing service is designed to block the agents 5)55% Mumbaikars live in slums. Ghatkopar, Mankhurd, Bhandup &Dindoshi slums have each become larger than Dharavi

Living in a box, literally!!!

1)BP acquiring stake in Reliance, Vodafone purchase of Essar stake & Cairn-Vedanta deal help to increase FDI in India 2)Reliance investors nervous as Jaipal Reddy replaces Murli Deora as Minister of petroleum & natural gas. In 2011, RIL stock fell 18.3% 3)Revenues of Indias top 4 IT cos grew 4-6% in Apr-Jun quarter, better than 2-4% in previous quarter 4)82% of British employers rate attitude as most important. Prefer hiring immigrants as Britons lose their work ethic 5)Rs1lakh cr treasure, more than Keralas public debt of Rs70,969cr discovered in Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple Thank God!!!

Top News, 01 Jul - Vodafone warns $2.5 bln India tax bill could double - May exports up 56.9 pct y/y - govt - Apple, RIM in group buying Nortel's patents for $4.5 bln - China June PMI hits 28-month low as global slowdown bites - Russia to supply nuclear submarine to India - RIA - Fuel inflation accelerates to 8-week high - Botched replay led to Dhoni dismissal - ICC ICC to CCC (Cricket Controversies continues)

Top News, 24th June 1) Before Anna Hazare starts his 2nd agitation, Govt initiates electoral reforms. Criminals wont be allowed to contest 2) US to withdraw 10,000 troops from Afghanistan this year &23,000 next year. Till date 1,600 US troops have been killed in Afghanistan 3) 4 (Four) IIPM students have filed a petition with Karnataka High Court to close or derecognize IIPM & prosecute top management 4) ET Survey 2011: Google, Intel &Makemytrip are Indias Best Companies To Work For 5) HCLs Shiv Nadar, Wipros Azim Premji, GMRs Rao & Bollywoods Vivek Oberoi in Forbes list of Worlds Top 48 Heroes of Philanthropy

Top Mktg News 23rd June 1)Reliance ADA group promoted BigFlix video rental service to shut 24 standalone stores to reduce operational costs, will stress on call centre based sales 2)Retail major Marks & Spencers Reliance India will increase local sourcing for merchandise to 70% over next 2 years, to focus on tier 2 cities 3)Google's share of search based ad revenue increases by 38.9% to $10.92billion in US, unaffected by Microsoft's Bing Google steals Bing's Bang!!!

Top News, 23rd June 1)Oil cos burdened with Rs1,20,000cr debt have no money to import crude. Govt forced to hike prices of Diesel, kerosene & LPG in July 2)Over 120 Indian companies are setting up Singapore office a month as it is the gateway to Asia-Pacific markets 3)Domain names may no longer have to end as .com or .in etc, they can be anything. This opens the floodgates to cybersquatting & online fraud 4)Tata Motors move High Court over Mamatas 2011 Land Act to take back land allotted to Tatas at Singur 5)New cost saving mantra: 50,000 employees ie 40% of IBM Indias staff work from home

Top News, 22nd June 1)Due to rising costs half of the 930,000 under construction residential units in India, to be delivered in 2011-13, will be delayed by 18 months 2)The tendency to trade up ie replace cheaper things with expensive stuff was 38% in China, 34% India, 17% US & 15% Europe 3)US works to get India into the 45 member nuclear club. The fact that India wont sign the Non-proliferation Treaty will be ignored 4)Chinas boom doomed. Soaring inflation, rising labor costs & mounting local government debt threaten growth 5)AMUL crosses $2bn sales turnover mark just 4 years after crossing the $1bn mark

Top Mktg News 21st June 1)FDI in multi-brand retail initially to be open only for top 6 metros, move taken keeping in mind impact on smaller retailers 2)Luxury Brands want to step out of Star hotels & Luxury Malls in India, looking at modernized airports & hybrid format where they share space with premium brands 3)With car sales at 20 month low, auto cos offering discounts plus spending heavily on marketing with below the line activities

Top News, 21st June 1)Sensex tanks 611 pts on fears that Govt will renegotiate tax avoidance treaty with Mauritius 2)5 years ago farmers paid Rs650, have to pay labour Rs3,500 now. They blame Govts MNREGS for shortage of labour 3)Britons without work in their own country. 87% of 400,000 new jobs have gone to immigrants 4)70 million uninhabited houses in China. Satellite images show half-a-dozen new cities are entirely empty 5)In 2010-11, profit of Emirates Airlines rose 43% to $1.5bn, when combined profits of European airlines fell by 74% to $0.5mn & American airlines by 71% to $1.2bn

Top Mktg News 20th June 1)Bharti-Walmart keeps focus on Tier2-3 cities as it opens its 7th cash & carry store in Raipur, Chhattisgarh with $7million investment. To open 12 new stores by Dec 2011 2)Apparel retailer Arvind to add 2 new foreign brands to portfolio to focus on youth segment which has higher growth rate 3)TV & mobile Cos like Onida & Karbonn Mobiles cash in on Indian love for high volume sound with product offerings like 1000 watt PMPO TVs Shor in the city!!!

op News, 20th June 1)Civil servants go slow on work, are unwilling to take risks due to fear of corruption scandals & CBI 2)Mahindras business has grown 7 times in the past decade but promoters of M&M have lowest holding amongst Indias top 100 family-run

companies 3)Indian 2-wheeler majors plan to take on their Chinese counterparts in Africa 4)Boeing & Airbus feel the heat as China seems determined to enter the civilian aircraft industry 5)As Mukesh & Anils companies market wealth fall by Rs73,000cr & Rs60,000cr respectively, Tata group market wealth now bigger than both brothers combined

Top Mktg News 18th June 1)FIAT struggles in India due to low brand recall and ineffectual marketing & distribution efforts, capacity underutilization another cause 2)Worldwide mobile ad revenue to double & reach $3.3billion in 2011. Search & Maps to generate highest revenues, video/audio ads to grow fastest: Gartner 3)Videocon backed Next Retail to foray into Southern markets with an investment of Rs100Cr, aims to cover every district in 3 southern states

Top News, 18th June 1)Due to stricter vigilance percentage of students who cleared the SSC exams fell from 78.7% last year to 71% this year 2)RBI study: Productivity of the manufacturing sector in 1980-2004 was the best in Bihar 3)10 lakh public sector bank employees across the country will go on strike on July 7 to protest privatization 4)Emboldened by the success of BMW, Mercedes & Audi, Toyota to launch its luxury car Lexus in India 5)Hammered by iPhone & Android: BlackBerry announced headcount reduction to cut costs as share prices fell 15% on reports of sinking profits

Top News, 17th June 1)To fight the inflation demon, Repo Rate-the rate at which RBI lends to banks has been raised 25 basis points to 7.5% 2)Anna to fast from 16Aug as UPA hardens its stand. Arvind Kejriwal accuses Govt of going back on its assurances, calls Govts version of the bill as jokepal 3)As Greece struggles, default is imminent. Impact on Eurozone may hurt Indias exports & make overseas borrowing more difficult 4)Toyota set to trigger hatchback price war by launcing the much awaited Liva at just Rs 4 lakhs 5)Wadias GoAir which has 10 Airbus A320 places $7bn order for 72 Airbus A320s

Mktg News 16th June 1)Cricket overdose hits ad rates, current ad rates 40-50% of world cup rates, further fall predicted 2)Future Supply chain Solutions, the supply chain & logistics arm of Retail giant Future group enters multi-brand distribution, to provide specialized services to modern retailers 3)Parker Pens to be repositioned as a premium accessory, signs up Amitabh Bacchan once again as brand ambassador with 20% hike

Top News, 16th June 1)Top bankers want Govt to resume economic reforms or current slowdown may turn into a slump 2)HRD Minister says its irrational: 100% cut off marks at Delhis Shri Ram College shows lack of quality institutions 3)Fall in number of new Management Institutes. Andhra Pradesh has 962 Management Institutes, UP 544, Maharashtra 413, Tamil Nadu 393 & Karnataka 224 4)Cyber Law Panel: Gmail, BlackBerry, Nokia email & Skype cant be banned just because they cant be monitored 5)Coke bottler signs MoU with Recyclers to recycle Plastic bottles by making rag-pickers stakeholders 6)Honda drastically reduces prices of the City a C-segment car due to burgeoning pressure from rivals such as Vento, Verna, SX4 Diesel and the upcoming Fiesta. Competition or compulsion ? A case study to Central Govt

Top Mktg News 15th June 1)P&G increasing focus on Men's skincare market to get rid of late entrant tag. Olay skincare targeting premium end & Gillette priced competitively 2)Castrol moves away from mechanical & rational advertising; trying to bring in emotional touch in latest ad campaign by Ogilvy 3)Modern retail growth outpaced Kirana store growth at 29.3% in 2010, Large store visit every month by Indian shoppers increased to 37%: Nielsen Report

Top News, 15th June 1)RBI will be forced to raise interest rates for the 10th time in 15 months to fight the inflation monster which is above 9% once again 2)Financial Stability Report highlights Indias trouble spots: High debt, bad loans, oil shock, fiscal excesses & stagflation 3)Jayalalithaa accuses that P Chidambaram won Lok Sabha seat by fraudulently defeating her party candidate 4)Obama: Republicans opposition to raise US debt ceiling up from $14.3trillion could trigger a new economic crisis 5)A wave of violent unrest over economic & political grievances in urban areas rocks China

Top Mktg News 14th June 1) Japanese Ad agency Dentsu which caters to mainly auto cos & consumer durables cos looking at bagging FMCG clients: Executive Chairman Rohit Ohri 2) Dabur's Odomos launches 'below the line' campaign on mosquito borne diseases in slum areas near NCR 3) Jewellery buyers in Southern India shifting loyalty to diamonds from gold due to rising gold prices, experts believe diamond can capture 65% market share by 2015

1) Indian mobile phone advertising mkt stymied by failure in micro segmenting & targeting of consumers, Market size a measly Rs 250Cr 2) HUL to launch 3 new products targeted at kids & homemakers to reinforce brand Kissan, products to be backed by significant ad campaigns & distribution support

3) Coke launches EKoCool solar powered cooler for its retailers in rural markets, high cost of Rs 45000 a likely barrier

Top News, 11th June 1) Mukesh Ambanis RIL buys out Bharti from insurance JVs with AXA. Brothers now in direct competition 2) The Bureau of Energy Efficiency wins battle with auto giants. All new cars will eventually carry fuel efficiency labels 3) 30% more British sellers than buyers of top London property. East Europeans, Russians, Arabs, Indians & Chinese move in 4) Under Fiats management control Chrysler makes a turnaround & manages to repay the entire $7.6bn of bailout loans from the US Govt 5) Out of Delhi, Babas campaign loses momentum, ends in a whimper as the yoga guru is admitted in ICU

Top News, 10th June 1)Unions of neighboring Honda, Rico & Lumax to strike for a day to support Maruti workers 2)After her lecture in Harvard on her unconventional business methods, Shahnaz Husain has become a favorite in phoren B-school circuit 3)CEO angrily refutes reports, says Nokia not for sale. CTO leaves over disagreement on strategy 4)Tokyo is Asias most expensive city, Singapore 6th, Beijing 8th, New Delhi 38th, Mumbai 43rd & Pune 50th 5)MD Hiranandani Group: Real estate is sinkhole of black money & epicenter of corruption due to hundreds of approvals required from Govt agencies

Top News, 9th June 1)FM warns Govt may miss revenue growth target as tax collections may fall due to economy slowdown 2)As granaries are overflow & millions go hungry, Govt appoints a 15 member panel to find better storage & distribution methods to minimize food waste 3)Apple announced plans to launch iMessage to challenge BlackBerry Messenger. RIM stock falls by 3% 4)Armsdev Baba: Smarting from the June 4 lathi charge Baba to form an army of 11,000 volunteers 5)Infosys puts the lifetime value of its 1,30,000 employees as intangibles on its Balance sheet. Each employee worth more than a crore

1)LG India to enter Rs2500Cr commercial display market.To target retail, hotels & banking. 2)Premium fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger latest entrant in Rs3000Cr children wear market, to not dilute premium positioning, sales rising 50% annually due to rising incomes 3)Indian Cos leveraging social media sites to win new businesses. 83% Cos believe marketing strategy can't be successful without social media: Survey Facebooking is work now!!!

Top News, 8th June 1)Baba Ramdevs Rs1,100cr empire which includes medicine, food, cosmetics &real estate under tax scanner 2)Vertex BPO, UK to hire 14,000 in 2 years to ramp up its India operations to reach revenue target of Rs450cr by 2013 end 3)Ford on its way to cut debt from $33bn in 2009 to $14bn by June 2011. It aims to regain investment-grade debt rating before resuming paying dividend 4)Indias 1st desi cruise liner Amet Majesty to make its 1st voyage next week from Chennai 5)Vodafone faces huge social media backlash after it sent a legal notice to a customer for defaming it on Facebook

Top News, 7th June 1)Supreme Court asks Centre, why was Baba evicted? Hazare team boycotts Lokpal Bill meeting 2)Sivasankaran told CBI that Minister Kalanithi & Sun TVs Dayanidhi Maran forced him to sell his stake in Aircel 3)In US Satyam pays a fine of $135mn for falsifying accounts, its auditor PwC pays $33mn & Ranbaxy to pay $1bn for compliance issues 4)No filing of tax return: If salary is below Rs 5lakh then Form 16 will be treated as Income Tax Return 5)A bumper wheat crop when Govt granaries are overfull forces farmers to sell at just Rs 1000/quintal below Govt set price of Rs 1750

Top Mktg News 3rd June 1)Indian internet usage growing more pre-planned and time efficient: Study by Microsoft Advertising & Mindshare 2)Largest food retailer Reliance Retail to launch whole sale cash & carry format stores soon: Mukesh Ambani 3)Budget brands like Koutons, revisit sales strategy to combat rise in input costs, declining investor confidence and dip in retail industry. Closing non viable stores and discount revision planned

Top News, 3rd June 1)Shares of Maran Family's Sun TV crash by 28% & Spice Jet by 16% as CBIs 2G scam investigations corner Dayanidhi Maran. He was Telecom Minister till May 2007 2)ISRO bags multi-million dollar contracts to launch 12 foreignsatellites in 2 years 3)Moodys warned it would cut USs' top-notch credit rating if White House did not raise US debt limit from current $14.3trillion 4)Global wealth is now $121.8trillion. It increased by $9trillion in 2010 5)A virulent new strain of E.coli bacteria that has killed 17 people in Europe may be the deadliest yet in human history Humans evolve, so do bacteria!!!

1) Social media a major & effective tool for supporting causes and social issues due to great reach & accessibility: WPP Study 2) IPL 4 recorded lowest ever ratings of 3.91 vs. 5.51 of IPL 3, viewer fatigue, greater number of matches & changes in teams likely reasons

3) Airbus corporate jet business goes for rebranding, introduces new colors to highlight innovation and adds common nomenclature ACJ to corporate jet names

Top News, 2nd June 1)Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal meet Ramdev Baba at Delhi airport to persuade him to give up 4th June mass Satyagraha against black money 2)After success in Delhi, Mumbai & Bengaluru, HealthLine 24x7, Indias 1st phone& web-based healthcare info service to be in Kolkata, Chennai & Pune 3)As drinking becomes more socially acceptable, India to unseat Russia as the 2nd largest spirits market by 2013 4)Toyota recalls 105,784 Prius cars in US & Japan to fix faulty gearbox, steering 5)US smart phone survey: 36% use an Android device, 26% iPhones & 23% Blackberrys

Top Mktg News 1st June 1) Targeting semi-urban markets, Pepsi launches Lehar potato chips, 40% cheaper than flagship Lays, to expand in the Rs 2,500 Cr chips market 2) Godrej Properties launches YouTube Channel on its projects to bolster interactive marketing efforts 3)Aditya Birla Retail mulls entering new specialty segments, planned addition of 160 stores to the flagship 'More'

Top Mktg News 31st May 1)Since website content is available on social media like facebook,twitter. Users do not go to the homepage of these websites leading to a loss in ad revenue 2)3G mobile ads dominate airwaves in April, Vodafone ad tops with 86% brand awareness & 98% brand recall 3)The Advertising Standards Council of India finds 34 ads misleading. American Touristers tagline, Survive Istanbul, Survive the World mars Turkeys reputation as a tourist destination, it said

Top News, 31th May 1) Indian Oil Corp to borrow $1.3bn a month to offset revenue loss of Rs2.6bn/day bcoz of state set fuel prices 2) To boost employment opportunities for locals, Saudi Arabia to put 6 year cap on expat workers. 2 million Indians work in Saudi 3) U-turn: Following Japans nuclear disaster, Germany becomes first country to shut all nuclear power plants by 2022 4) Yamaha which sells scooters in US & Europe, to invest $10mn to produce scooters in India 5) Nokias Facebook campaign, KKR tension mat le yaar, a hit. For brands advertising is communication but social media is engagement

1)Aircels iphone4 launch campaign uses look-walkers (lightweight portable LED lit billboards carried by people) who move in crowds to get highest visibility

2)Rising input costs forces HUL, Indias largest advertiser to cut ad spends from 15% of sales in the first nine months of 2010-11 to 12.7% in this quarter 3)Brand Dhoni sky-rockets after IPL win, core of the brand is a cool determination to win overcoming all odds Top News, 30th May 1) Food Security Bill guarantees 7 kgs of grain/person/month to the poorest rural 46% &urban 26% 2) Launch of Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industries marks the success of entrepreneurs from backward classes 3) CEO Maruti: World over we were always No7, No8 so we have no experience of leadership, but in India we are No1 4) From facing bankruptcy a few years ago to plans of rapid expansion. 80 year old Bata to open 100 stores of 5,000 sqft every year 5) Rice output in Andhra Pradesh is up 30%. As price fell to Rs 8/kg angry farmers dumped paddy into the Krishna river

Top News, 27th May 1) No more subsidy, direct cash to poor. From April 2012, LPG to increase from Rs 345 to 675 & Kerosene from Rs12 to 40 2) Arresting Somali pirates backfires. 43 Indian sailors in pirate custody. India not to arrest any more pirates 3) Google launches StreetView cars in India. Now we can virtually explore a city through street-level images 4) 75% in US & China say their country values innovation & creativity, 85% in Indonesia, 67% in India, 54% in Brazil &26% in Russia 5) Top honchos of Wipro, Genpact, Patni &Microsoft India have retired in their early 50s to follow dreams outside IT

Top Mktg News, 27th May 1) New joint venture between rivals Star & Zee create a monopoly which will eat away a large chunk of the Rs16,000cr television distribution market 2) UTV Bindass research on its core audience found that relationships& financial independence are the key factors impacting todays youth 3) PepsiCo launches new range of Kurkure, with dal as major content. Since dal is boring, ads are based on the theme, Badal Ja

)Standard Chartered: In next 20 years on an average China to grow at 6.9% & India 9.3% 2)Rich, non-urban young are lapping up 45% of India sales of super luxury cars Aston Martins, Bugattis, Maseratis & Ferraris worth more than Rs1.5cr each 3)80% of the $30bn revenues of Aditya Birla Group come from commodities. In 4 months it has spent Rs6,300cr in acquiring commodity firms 4)New MBA mantras are mentoring slum students, stints in villages, lessons from Bhagavad Gita & building emotional & spiritual quotients 5)India ranks 135 out of 153 countries in the Global Peace Index 2011

1) Parle launches new biscuit, Milk Power at Price points Rs5&10 to corner 30% of the 80,000 tonnes a year market. Launch is in Tamil Nadu as its share is 50% of the Indian market 2) Based on research hair colour Godrej Expert has been relaunched with a new mission to make hair happy for its 4cr consumers

3)To overtake rival MTV in brand space Channel V plans to open 30 cafe-bars,[V] Spot across India in 3 yrs

) Fashion brand Blackberrys has awarded its creative mandate for its Autumn-Winter Collection to T.A.G Ideation of McCann Worldgroup India 2)J ustDial releases 4 ad films trying to promote its USP; Any contact,Anytime, Anywhere casting Big B, across viral media i.e. internet 3) Pepsi with its 360deg marketing campaign Change The Game, stood 1st in a survey of consumers brand awareness during the Cricket World Cup ? 1)Desperate for funds: Last year Govt made Rs65,000cr from 20MHz 3G auction. Finance Ministry wants speedy auction of remaining 20MHz of 3G spectrum 2)The US imports 30% of its apparel requirements worth $11bn from India. But, India has been blacklisted as US believes Child labour is used in apparel industry 3)Indias largest online travel co MakeMyTrip announces Public Offer. The company expects to raise Rs814cr at Rs1180/share 4) Lokpal bill proposal: Assets amassed through corrupt means by a public servant will be frozen during investigation & liquidated on his being proved guilty 5)Minister Jairam Ramesh: IITs & IIMs are excellent because of the quality of students not because of quality of research or faculty

Top Marketing News, 23rd May 1)Last year Dabur had acquired Egypytian cosmetic group Hobi Kozmetik for $69mn. Now it is launching Hobis brands Hobby and New Era in the premium end of Indian personal care market 2)Godrejs mini refrigerator Chotukool targetted at rural markets, priced at Rs 3500 launched. It does not have a compressor & can also be run on battery 3)In a case of unfair trade practice, Coca Cola to pay Rs 7,000 as compensation to a man after he found a dead fly inside a sealed Limca bottle

1) Cadbury Kraft India to position iconic biscuit brand "Oreo" on a "Togetherness Quotient". Thru this social movement, parents to spend more time with kids. 2) Apple, Google -- world's best brands, was determined by 2 mn in-depth consumer interviews & financial analysis of Cos. Rankings based on Millward Brown Optimor model. 3) Now Godrej to launch music-refrigerators. Can listen FM, MP3 Songs or charge mobiles.

Top Marketing News - 19th May 1) Levis plan to trigger demand with "Going Viral" marketing. 8 brand ambassadors called "Denizen 8" selected from diverse fields' blog about the brand on social media like FB & Twitter. 2) Mitsubishi Motors looking for a creative partner for its entire product portfolio. Two rounds of presentations by ad agencies included not only advertising related ideas but also media planning & buying inputs. 3) Stationery stalwart Camlin to tie up with a foreign partner; planning to move from mass range to premium range of products to improve margins.