Ability to handle millennials and being digital-savvy newest traits for new top executives
Ability to handle millennials and being digitally savvy are two of the newest traits that Indian industry is increasingly looking for in top executives, as both workforce and customers are getting younger. This is driving demand for CEOs in their 30s and 40s. Leading headhunting firms such as EMA Partners, Hunt Partners, Korn/Ferry, Global Hunt and Transearch have close to 20 mandates in their hands to recruit CEOs, where the preference is for young blood. “Many leaders fall into the trap of assuming they are ‘appreciating asset’ and start living in history and soon become one. Organisations do not want to hire them; instead they prefer leaders who are working hard to invest in themselves to stay relevant,” said Vineet Nayar, former CEO of HCL Technologies and founder of Sampark Foundation. This is attitude bias, not age bias, he said. Executive search firm EMA Partners currently has 30 mandates for CXO-level positions chief executives, chief financial officers, chief operating officers, etc. where the clients want leaders in their 30s and early 40s with a strong understanding of the digital needs of companies. One such young CEO (below 45 years) is B Gopkumar, in charge of broking and distribution business at Reliance Capital who is busy driving a change in the company by experimenting with mobility-led applications. “In our industry, this (mobility) is quite nascent. But I am taking a risk to bring in a radical change and probably we would be the first ones to do so,” he said. His main aim is to cash in on the new opportunities available with the digitalisation. “We are reaching a generation shift at leadership roles as more and more of the new generation of managers is entering the corporate world. Leaders in their 50s are slowly fading away even in traditional sectors,” said K Sudarshan, managing partner-EMA Partners India. Retaining and attracting young talent is becoming a challenge for companies as their demand has gone up, he said. “Most of our clients are willing to take a chance on a younger CEO or No. 2 executive. This was not the case about two years ago,” said Korn/Ferry India chairman Navnit Singh. Established companies like Infosys, KPMG, P&G and Hindustan Lever are all intentionally scouting for talent in their 30s and early 40s who also understand the digital world, another leading head hunter said. TV Mohandas Pai, chairman of Manipal Global Education and former director at Infosys, confirmed that the CXO talent pool is getting younger. “Massive increase in new companies and more competition is leading rise to young leaders. These young leaders are also in tune with the digital disruption and hence valuable to most of the organisations.” Board advisory and leadership search firm Hunt Partners is also seeing a rising demand for young leaders, predominantly in sectors like consumer, IT and financial technology, apart from new age sectors like ecommerce. “Companies in these sectors are looking for younger CEO’s perhaps 30-35% jump from a few years ago,” said Sunit Mehra, founder and managing partner at Hunt Partners. “The leadership age is being pushed down to now to early 40s (on an average) from 55 years about three years ago,” Singh added. Josh Archibald Womens Jersey
Government to terminate three highway projects due to poor performance of the developers
The government will terminate three highway projects – Ranchi-Jamshedpur, Rohtak-Jind and Haridwar-Dehradun due to poor performance of the developers, NHAI Chairman Raghav Chandra said today. The cost of these projects is said to be around Rs 7000 crore. The government will soon start the process of rebidding these projects. Road transport and highway minister Nitin Gadkari had said that his ministry has proposed the formation of dispute resolution mechanism to the finance ministry for projects that are stuck. “We have requested the finance ministry to form a four-member dispute resolution cell for road projects for early implementation of stuck projects,” Gadkari had said. About 15 road projects with an investment of over Rs 25,000 crore are stuck due to various reasons including cost escalation. Carolina Panthers Womens Jersey
Vistara, TCS enter into strategic partnership for IT services, airport infrastructure support
Full service airline Vistara has entered into a strategic partnership with TCS for a broad range of information technology services, including application maintenance services and airport infrastructure support. Vistara is a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines. The carrier and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have entered into an agreement for a “long term strategic partnership”. “TCS would provide a broad range of IT services in the area of IT management, application maintenance and application development to help Vistara achieve its goal in customer experience, operational excellence as well as cost leadership,” Vistara said in a release today. As per the agreement, TCS would manage the operational aspects of the airline’s IT including application maintenance services, network maintenance, end user computing and airport infrastructure support. Among others, both entities would develop “state-of-the art digital solutions which can be taken to other airlines, leveraging TCS’ prior track record in this area for Singapore Airlines and other leading global airline brands”, the release said. Vistara CEO Phee Teik Yeoh said TCS has been a key technology partner for the airline since its start. “Both parties will now see greater synergies as the expanded partnership will extend many benefits to Vistara from TCS’ vast airline domain capabilities as well as help us leverage its world-class technology and innovation competency,” he noted. The airline operates around 400 weekly flights. Marcus Peters Authentic Jersey
India exploring long-term gas contracts at $5/mmbtu: Piyush Goyal
India is exploring gas purchase contracts spanning 10-15 years for power projects at a fixed price of $5 per mmbtu, power, coal and renewable energy minister Piyush Goyal said. Goyal said with about 28 GW of stranded gas assets, the country is a huge and promising market as long as the prices are right. “Given the current Baltic index, I believe this is a viable proposition,” the minister said at a renewable energy investors round table co-hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the US India Business Council in New York on Thursday. Goyal projected India’s growth to be in double digits by next year, the caveat being that the country needs to get a strong monsoon. The country is open to help power sector investors hedge risk by linking the debt to a basket of currencies or exploring inflation linked tariffs,” he said. During his visit to the UK and the US, the minister discussed the need for a stable and simplified policy and regulatory regime, standardised power purchase contracts and equipment standardisation with the investors.
Give-it-Up: Over 1 crore LPG users gave up their subsidies
More than 1 crore LPG consumers have given up their cooking gas subsidies in one year since Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a call to the well-heeled to give up the same. Since Modi made the appeal in March last year, 1,00,06,303 LPG consumers have stopped using subsidised cooking gas, helping the exchequer save a few thousand crores of rupees in doles, oil ministry officials said. Consumers are currently entitled to 12 cylinders of 14.2 kg each or 34 bottles of 5 kg each in a year at subsidised rates. A subsidised 14.2-kg cylinder is currently available at Rs 419.13 per bottle in Delhi while the 5-kg pack costs Rs 155. Market-priced LPG is available at Rs 509.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder. Giving up subsidised LPG will help cut the government’s subsidy bill, which was at Rs 30,000 crore on the fuel last fiscal. Those who have decided to give up their subsidies have to buy the product at the market price. The surrendered subsidy is used by the government to provide cooking gas connection to the poor in rural households free of cost, the official said. On March 27, Modi had officially launched the ‘Give-it-Up’ campaign, urging the well-off to surrender their LPG subsidy so that it can be targeted for the needy. The aim is also to bring down the country’s dependence on energy imports by 10 per cent by 2022. The country has 15.34 crore LPG connections, of which 1 crore have now given up subsidies. LPG subsidy is transferred to beneficiaries directly in their bank accounts in advance. “Gas cylinders surrendered by them would be transferred to the poor who use wood for cooking. If one crore people give up their LPG subsidy, one crore poor people will benefit as they will be given new LPG cylinders instead,” he had said. Consumers can opt out of the subsidy by submitting written request to the distributor or electronically at mylpg.in.
India agrees to ink bilateral air service agreement with Fiji
As per a Financial Chronicle report by Nirbhay Kumar, India has agreed to sign a bilateral air service agreement (ASA) with Fiji, paving the way for direct flights between the two countries. According to a Ministry of Civil Aviation official, the two sides recently agreed to ink an agreement in this regard under which designated airlines from the two countries could operate thrice a week. “Besides cities like Delhi and Hyderabad, Varanasi has also been added as a point-of-call for Fijian Airlines in India. Indian carriers can operate to anywhere in Fiji,” the official said.
Delhi HC restrains Snapdeal’s arm Unicommerce from using data derived from sellers on Paytm
The Delhi High Court has granted some relief to mobile marketplace Paytm by restraining a unit of rival Snapdeal from using any information derived from sellers transacting on the Paytm platform. Paytm, which counts Alibaba as an investor, has filed a suit alleging that confidential data relating to Paytm has been accessed by Snapdeal through its unit Unicommerce, allowing it an unfair advantage. Also read: Snapdeal co stole biz data: Paytm Unicommerce denies the allegation. The court also directed Unicommerce to pull down its YouTube advertisement and/or modify it to remove the Paytm logo. Unicommerce, which provides the software that helps operate online marketplaces, however, claimed that the “reliefs sought (by Paytm) have not been granted. We welcome the honourable court’s interim order. While the matter is sub-judice, we believe that the allegations made are clearly unfounded and speculative.” The case will be heard next on July 11. Snapdeal’s main investor is Japan’s SoftBank. It competes with Flipkart, Amazon, Shop-Clues and Paytm. It did not immediately comment. Ecommerce companies, particularly online retailers rely heavily on data and view it as a source of competitive advantage. If forms the basis of strategy, is a source of revenue, and can even make the difference between the success and failure of business. While data is guarded jealously, new-economy companies have shown that they are not shy of legal fights to secure or protect what they believe are their rights. Last month, ridehailing app Uber sued rival Ola, accusing it of a campaign of dirty tricks designed to subvert its business, allegations that Ola denies. Hotel rooms aggregator OYO went to court alleging that rival ZO was stealing its software, but the two of them later decided to merge. In blog post on its website headlined, “We discourage the use of Unicommerce!” Paytm said it has informed sellers transacting on its platform that using Unicommerce was prohibited. “If we find any of our partners using Unicommerce services, we would take strict action including but not limited to imposing penalties or blocking the concerned partner entirely,” Paytm said. It did not immediately provide comment on Thursday’s court hearing.
Airlines clock good growth; carried over 78 lakh people in March 2016
With the aviation sector continuing to see a spurt in traffic, many domestic airlines posted good growth as they ferried 78.72 lakh passengers in March with no-frills carrier IndiGo carrying most passengers during the same period. While the overall passenger growth stood at around 5.3 per cent, the market share of IndiGo jumped to 38.4 per cent in March, followed by Jet Airways at 17.6 per cent and Air India (14.7 per cent). Latest data from aviation regulator DGCA released today showed that local airlines carried 78.72 lakh passengers last month compared to 74.76 lakh in February. Over the past several months, more number of people have been travelling by air. In terms of Passenger Load Factor (PLF) — an indicator of filled seats — SpiceJet was on top with 91.1 per cent, followed by GoAir (86.3 per cent), IndiGo (85.1 per cent), AirAsia (82.7 per cent) and Air Costa (82.1 per cent). Among other airlines, the PLF of Jet Airways was at 79.1 per cent while that of JetLite and Air India stood at 77 per cent and 75.7 per cent respectively. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), PLF of airlines slightly decreased last month, primarily due to the end of tourist season. Except for IndiGo, GoAir and Trujet, rest of the carriers saw their market share either decline or remain flat in March. IndiGo’s market share rose to 38.4 per cent compared to 36.8 per cent in February while that of GoAir rose to 8.3 per cent from 8 per cent during the same period. Market share of Jet Airways fell to 17.6 per cent from 18.4 per cent. Air India saw its share drop to 14.7 per cent last month from 15.4 per cent seen in February. In the case of SpiceJet, the market share slipped to 12.8 per cent in March from 13.1 per cent in the previous month. Start-up carriers AirAsia and Vistara’s market share remained unchanged at 2.2 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively in March. “Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-March 2016 were 230.03 lakh as against 185.46 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 24.03 per cent,” DGCA said. The figures are based on passengers carried by 11 airlines — Air India, Jet Airways, IndiGo, JetLite, SpiceJet, GoAir, Air Asia, Vistara, Air Costa, Air Pegasus, and Trujet. Meanwhile, the overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines stood at 1.29 per cent in March. “During March 2016, a total of 737 passenger-related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of March 2016 has been 0.9,” DGCA said.
Deal signed for development of occupational map in aviation
The Indian arm of global consultancy KPMG has collaborated with the Aerospace and Aviation Sector Skill Council (AASSC) to develop occupational map for the aerospace and aviation sector. The agreement, signed between KPMG India and AASSC, provides for design and development, manufacturing and assembly, airline operations, airport operations and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhauling), a statement by the consultancy said today. The occupational map will list the possible job roles along with the skill levels in each sub-sector, the statement said. Subsequently, KPMG will develop National Occupational Standards (NOS) for 70 job roles where there is high demand, it said. “This is a humungous task as there is a need to work with various industry players in the aerospace and aviation sector while drafting the NOS and getting their validation. After going through an elaborate process, the NOS for each job role shall be notified by the Central government,” the statement said. According to a study instituted by the Civil Aviation Ministry, the domestic aviation sector is projected to employ nearly four million people in two decades, driven by improved economic activities and labour productivity. “Our estimate indicates that by 2035, the Indian civil aviation sector (across the study segments of airport, airlines, cargo, MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) and ground handling) will employ 0.8 to 1 million personnel directly and another 3 million indirectly (for 1 direct job about 3.5 indirect jobs are created),” the study said. While emphasising the need for having skill development programmes across various levels in the sector, the study suggested setting up of the National Civil Aviation Training Entity (NCATE). Formed under the government and industry led initiative of skilling Indian labour force, Aerospace and Aviation Sector Skill Council (AASSC) is the apex body in skill development.
India’s crude output falls but consumption soars
Domestic crude oil production fell for the fourth straight year in 2015-16, even as oil consumption rocketed 11%, pushing up India’s import dependence. A collapse in oil prices coupled with a rapid economic growth helped push up oil consumption at home. More vehicle purchases, increased use of diesel for irrigation due to weak monsoon and rising air traffic chiefly drove up consumption to 183.5 million metric ton (mmt), compared with 165.5 mmt in the previous year. In comparison, India produced just 36.9 mmt of crude oil in 2015-16, lower than 37.5 mmt in the previous year. The country’s largest oil producer, state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), witnessed an output decline to 18.5 mmt from 18.6 mmt in the previous year. Oil producers have been struggling with ageing fields where outputs have been falling. Their inability to bring fresh big reserves into production lately has kept production stagnant. “The bigger problem is that the exploration activity didn’t pick up in the last decade,” said Gaurav Moda, consultant at KPMG, underlining the need to enhance exploration activity in the country to be able to accelerate output in the future. Without which, Moda says, India’s dependence on overseas oil will only grow in future. India’s import dependence in oil rose to 81% in 2015-16 from 78.5% in the previous year. Just last year Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set a target of bringing this down to 67% by 2022. The government has unveiled new exploration policies for its oil and gas blocks lately, aiming to plug loopholes in its previous policies that encouraged only limited participation of resource-rich foreign oil companies and couldn’t dramatically boost the domestic output. India imported 202 mmt of crude oil in 2015-16, nearly 7% higher in volume, but paid just $64 billion, 43% lower due to the global oil collapse. Natrural gas consumption marginally rose to 52 billion cubic meters, aided by 14% rise in imports while domestic production fell 4%. Lower prices have raised consumption of gas by industry and the transport sector. The consumption of petrol and diesel rose 14% and 7.5% respectively even though the government imposed more taxes and didn’t pass on the entire benefit of crude oil plunge to the consumers. The consumption of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), which contribute about 40% of airlines’ operating cost, grew 8.8% as airlines lowered fares and attracted more passengers.