Jan - May 2011 - S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research

EquinoxMeeting of MindsJanuary 16, 2011Ms Niyazee, P & G interacts with participantsMs. Balaka Niyazee, an SPJIMR alumnus working withProcter & Gamble as an Associate Director, interactedwith PGP students on the 'Future of Modern Retail inIndia'. The discussion started with an introduction ofIndia-a hub of unorganized retail dominated by wetmarkets and kiranas, which are still a majorcontributor to the topline for many strong brands fromP&G and HUL. She explained as to how organizedretail in India started with the adventof hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience/departmental stores and cash & carry stores. Therobust growth story of modern retail was reiteratedthrough its strong CAGR of 43 per cent compared to12 per cent for total retail, although modern retailpenetration in India is only about 10 per cent. Shetalked at length about the 'modern retail shopper' whois constantly on the lookout forvalue for money, more choicesand basically everything underone roof. In her opinion, someof the possible avenues forgrowth at a store are attracting more shoppers byspreading awareness, buying more often by means ofloyalty programmes or increasing the basket size perconsumer.Ms. Niyazee also brought in focus the challengesfaced by modern retail such as governmentregulations on FDI, infrastructure issues, talent crunchand appropriate store formats. She highlighted thatalthough the future of modern retail is quite bright,'general trade stores' and 'high frequency stores' areexpected to continue dominating the retail industry inthe near future.Economic Forum EventsMarch 5-9, 2011The recently held Panel Discussions on the 'Analysis ofthe Union Budget' by The Economic Forum wastelecast on Bloomberg, UTV on the weekend of March5-6. The eminent panelists included: Dr BrindaJagirdar - Chief Economist, SBI; Mr Amit Dalal - HeadTATA Investments; Dr Ashima Goyal - Professor ofEconomics, IGIDR; Mr Ravi Mahajan - Partner, E&Y; MrRamasubramanian Kuppusubramanian - Faculty,SPJIMR & Ex GM, Forex Dept, RBI. The discussion wasmoderated by Ms Aparna Mehta from Bloomberg,UTV.Challenges of Monetary Policy:Economic Forum 2010-11 presented a talk on'Challenges of the Monetary Policy' on 9 March atSPJIMR Auditorium. The speaker for the event wasnone other than Mr Sitikantha Pattanaik, Director,Division of Money and Banking, Reserve Bank of India.FMB Seminar of Niranjan Hiranandani &Dilip PiramalA Family Managed Business (FMB) is really more thana simple business involving all kinds of family issues.To address family issues in FMB and open them fordiscussions, seminars are organized by Centre forFamily Managed Business. One such seminar that wasorganized by four students of FMB 13 (Sept) batch. Thespeakers were Mr. Niranjan Hiranandani, owner ofHiranandani Group & Mr. Dilip Piramal owner of VIPIndustries. The session was moderated by Prof. ParimalMerchant, Director FMB.Some of the key learnings from the seminar were:1. Family should support the new generation to setuptheir own businesses and enterprises.The audience at FMB seminarJanuary 26, 20112. Alongwith the rules of business, outlook of theyoungsters have changed. They are more extrovert,challenging and risk takers.3. Family businesses should not be afraid to hireprofessionals, who are more enterprising.4. India is a fast growing economy and the youngstersshould seek business opportunity in this country.The two-hour interaction ended with Prof. Parimalsummarizing the learnings with an insight into hisexperience of other family businesses.Prof. Merchant, Mr. Hiranandani and Mr. Piramal at the seminar12 SPJIMRnews