Business Today, Vol-16, Issue no.-4, 5, 6, 8

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From The Editor
or the fourth consecutive year, hdfc bank has
http://www.business-today.com Fre-emerged as the #1 bank in the 13 th 6T-KPMG Best ■
Banks Survey. That shows how consistent the
Editor-in-Chicf: Aroon Purie
bank’s performance has been over the past few years. But
Group Editorial Director: Prabhu Chawla
Chief Executive Officer: Ashish Bagga the Best Banks Survey this year throws up other interesting
♦ trends. I can discern three of them that stand out: Indian
Editor: Sanjoy Narayan banks are finally taking their first small steps to go global
Managing Editor: R. Sridharan by spreading their wings overseas; foreign banks are in­
Executive Editor: Brian Carvalho
creasing their presence in India and are growing rapidly;
Associate Editors: Clifford Alvares (Mumbai), Venkatesha Babu (Bangalore),
Balaji Chandramouli (Delhi), Arnab Mitra (Delhi), K. Sai Srinivas (Delhi) and, the first signs of consolidation in the banking industry
Assistant Editors: Anand Adhikari (Mumbai), Shalini S. Dagar (Delhi), have become visible. Yet, there are challenges to be met.
Krishna Gopalan (Mumbai), Rirwik Mukherjee (Kolkata),
Anusha Subramanian (Mumbai) Our knowledge partner, KPMG’s Sanjay Aggarwal and Ravi
Special Correspondents: Shivani Lath (Mumbai), Kushan Mitra (Delhi), Trivedy’s report (Best Banks in 2010: A Look Ahead, page
Amit Mukherjee (Delhi), E. Kumar Sharma (Hyderabad), Nirya Varadarajan (Chennai)
Principal Correspondents: Deepti Khanna Bose (Mumbai), 88), does some crystal ball gazing to identify what could
T.V. Mahalingam (Mumbai), Mahesh Nayak (Mumbai), be the journey forward for Indian banks in a rapidly
Rahul Sachitanand (Bangalore), Pallavi Srivastava (Delhi)
Senior Correspondents: Kapil Bajaj (Delhi), Aman Malik (Delhi), globalising economy.
Shivangi Misra (Delhi)
By and large, Indian banks have fared well in domestic
Copy Desk: Nipa Charagi (Chief Sub-Editor), Dibyajyoti Chatterjee
(Chief Sub-Editor), Roopali Joshi, Manu Kaushik, Swapna Benjamin markets. Many of them have had a good track record in
Photo Department: Umesh Goswami (Chief Photographer), the retail banking business and, indeed, today they are the
Vivan Mehra (Chief Photographer), Shamik Banerjce, Saptarshi Biswas, Soumik Kar,
Raj Kumar, Deepak G. Pawar, Lalit Rana, Ritesh Sharma leaders in that field, although it may have been the foreign
Art Department: Safia Zahid (Art Director), Ananda Banerjee,
Vikas Gupta, Anita Jaisinghani, Ramendranath Sarkar, Randheer Vasavada banks that made the first aggressive moves in retail more
Infographics: Kapil Kashyap (Deputy Art Director), than a decade ago. The performance of one Indian
Pinaki Paul
Production Department: Dinesh Sachdeva (Chief of Production), Narendra Singh player, ICICI Bank, deserves particular
♦ mention because of its scorching pace
Publishing Director: Pavan Varshnei of growth and the volume of business it
♦
has garnered. In fact, the respective strate­
IMPACT & MARKETING
Associate Publisher (Impact): Raaju Sarin gies of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank are in a
♦ sense a study in contrasts and Assistant
IMPACT TEAM Editor Anand Adhikari’s feature (When
Regional Heads: Neeraj Sharma (Delhi), Suresh Tripathi (Mumbai),
Rajiv Nair (Bangalore), J. Chakravorti (Chennai), Srinivas Babu (Hyderabad), Attack is the Best Defence on page 78) ex­
Lopamudra Paul (Kolkata) amines how the two banks have adopted somewhat dif­
♦
MARKETING ferent paths for growth. While HDFC Bank has focussed on
Senior General Manager: Vidhu Sagar margin-led growth, icici’s strategy has been to seek vol­
♦ umes and market share. It has also been one of the few
Consumer Marketing Services: Poonam Sangha, Sr. General Manager Indian banks with an aggressive global strategy.
♦
These are interesting times for Indian banks, partic­
Newsstand Sales: Vivek Gaur, Executive Director, D.V.S. Rama Rao, Sr. General
ularly with India Inc. now realising its global ambitions.
Manager - National Sales, C.V. Vaidyalingam, Sr. General Manager (South),
Vinod Das, Deputy General Manager (North), Rajesh Menon, Deputy General Many believe big-ticket acquisitions, like the Tata-Corus
Manager (West), Rajeev Gandhi, Deputy Regional Manager (East)
Operations: S. Sridhar, General Manager deal, will be the order of the day and these would natu­
O5 30835“ rally offer Indian banks opportunities that they would
m
want to exploit. For foreign banks operating in India too,
____ _________________ growing markets have thrown up opportunities. Many for­
Vol. 16, No. 4, for the fortnight Feb. 12-Fcb. 25, 2007. Released on Feb. 12, 2007. eign banks, which had focussed on the creamy layer of
• Editorial Office (Delhi) 5th Floor, Videocon Tower, E-l, Jhandcwalan Extn., Delhi-110055; consumers and corporations, are today moving down the
Tel.: [phone]; Fax; 011-23684819; Cable: Livmedia, New Delhi; E-mail:
htodaytngiasdlOl.vsnl.iKi.m • Advertising Office (Delhi): 9th Floor, Vkleocon Tower, E-1, Jhandcwalan Exm., pyramid to explore middle-market opportunities, lending
Delhi-110055; Tel.: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; Cable: Uvmcdia, New Delhi; Trade Centre,
2nd Floor, Kamala City, Scnapati liapat Marg, Lower Parcl, Mumbai—400013; TeL; 022-24983355; Fax: 022- to smaller companies and middle-class consumers.
24982266; Cable: Livmedia, Mumbai; Impact office: Trade Centre 2nd Floor, Kamala Gty, Scnapati Bapat
Marg, Lower Parcl, Mumbai 400013; Tel.: [phone]; Fax: [phone]. Chennai 2nd Floor, 98-A, Although bank credit has been growing at a furious
Dr Radhakrishnan Salai, Mylaporc, Chennai-600004; Tel.: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; Cable;
Livmedia, Chennai; Bangalore 202-204 Richmond Towcm, 2nd Floor. 12, Richmond Road, Bangalore-560025; pace in the last few years, the recent uptrend in interest
Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; Cable: Livmedia, Bangalore; Kolkata, 52, JJ- Road,
4th floor, Kolkata-700071; Tel.: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; rates poses a macroeconomic challenge to bankers. Rising
Cable: Uvinmcdia. Kolkata; Hyderabad 6-3-885/7/B, Raj Bliawan Road, Somajiguda, Hyderabad-500082; Tel.;
040-23401657, 040-23400479; Ahmcdabad 2nd Floor, 2C, Surya Rath Building, Behind White House. interest rates could slow down the retail business and it
Panchwan, Off CG. Road, Ahmedabad-380006; Tel.: [phone]; Fax: [phone];
39/1045; Kochi Karakkatt Road, Kochi-682 016; Tel.: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; could even cause strains in their existing loan portfolios.
Cable: Livmedia Cochin • Subscriptions: For assistance contact Customer Care, India Today Cuoup, A-61, Sector-
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Vol. 16, No. 4, February 25, 2007
EDITORIALS
12 Banking Minnows
12 IT’s Product Play
14 The Doomsday Clock
TRENDS
m Cloud over the Glitter
India’s on song, but urgent reforms are
needed to keep the melody sweet.
H0 Interest Rates to Stay High
0

CMO For a Few Eyeballs More

CMCM WTO Talks: All Sound and Little Heat

CM Can the FM Wield the Knife?

CMCD Top of Mind
Focus on sharp cards; and imported booze
may cost less.
CM00 Policy Watch
A bird’s eye view of what’s hot and what’s
not on the government’s policy radar.
00O Newsmaker Cover by Kapil
This fortnight’s hero is Ram Shriram, who has
emerged as the top-ranked Indian in Forbes' 2007 FEATURES
listing of Top 100 people with the Midas touch.
126 He Didn’t Blink
CURRENT
Winning the battle
42 Back from the Brink for Corus may have
Tier-11 IT services player Polaris is on the mend. been the easier part
of Ratan Tata’s job.
43 STAR’S New Formation
The broadcaster’s acting CEO has his task cut out. Convincing investors
that it is worth $12 Ratan Tata (L) & B. Muthuraman
44 Is Teledata a Bubble? billion will be harder. Winning Duo
The company’s spectacular growth doesn’t
convince The Street. 132 Psst... Want a Piece of Paradise?
46 Dash for Cash Everybody wants
Airlines need truckloads of investments to an outpost in Goa.
finance growth. Everybody, except
55 Rebel With a Cause the people who
Investors love the controversial Harish Thawani. already have it—the
local populace.
56 PE's in the Picture
Many Goan activists
Private equity continues to chase the media sector.
are against develop
58 Danger on Two Roads
ment of any kind. Is
Hyundai thuds into potholes in India, and
there a middle path?
back home.
62 Can You Spot the CFO? 140 India’s Hottest Software Product
Most media finance heads are obscured Companies
by their bosses.
An Indian Windows Vista may take years in
68 Banking at the Back End coming, but here are 10 home-grown software
Now, agri-retailers eye the microfinance route. product companies that could make it big.
w
e can't spell success withou
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