The White Tiger wins the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction

The thirty-three year old novelist was presented the prize at an awards ceremony at Guildhall, London. Adiga becomes the fourth debut novelist, and the second Indian debut novelist, to win the award in the forty year history of the prize. The three other debut novelists to have won the prize are Keri Hulme for her novel The Bone People in 1985, DBC Pierre in 2003 for his novel Vernon God Little and Arundhati Roy in 1997 for The God of Small Things.

GLOBAL SLOWDOWN IMPACT ON B-SCHOOLS PLACEMENTS

Business schools anticipate a reduction in recruitment this coming placement season.Students especially in tier 2 and 3 B-schools campuses ,are likely to witness far fewer companies seeking them out,primarily as a fallout of the turmoil in the US markets that brings with it layoffs and a freeze in recruitments.
With supply of fresh MBAs far exceeding the demand ,recruiters are likely to eye only in the top rung institutes .HR personel believe there will a 50 per cent decline in the number ofcompanies.
Courtesy : Business Line .

INFLATION FALLS TO 11.99 %

After staying over 12% for 12 weeks, inflation for the week ended September 20 moved down to 11.99%, following a drop in prices of primary articles. In the week before, the year-on-year inflation was 15 basis points higher at 12.14%.While the wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation has moved below the 12% mark, it still remains way above 3.5% for the corresponding week last year. Inflation has touched a high of 12.64% on August 9.

PORTRAIT OF A POLICE OFFICER

Tr.R.Nataraj, I.P.S, DGP Prisons.Tamil Nadu.

He hold a Masters degree in Physics from university of Madras. After joining the Police Service in 1975, he obtained Masters Degree in Public Administration and a Degree in Law. Currently Pursuing PhD in Madras University. In his First Charge as Sub-Divisional Officer in Tirunelveli, a notorious outlaw “Sivalaperi Pandi” who was evading the police for nearly a decade was nabbed by a Special Party under his Command.
He distinguished himself as the Head of the Combined Police Expedition to hot springs in Ladakh in September, 1980.He served as District Superintendent of Police in various districts and held charge as Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch in C.I.D. He hamdled several sensitive cases relating to Terrorism including the bomb blast case in Chennai Airport in 1984.
He was deputed to Government of India in 1986 and served as First Secretary in the Embassy of India, Kathumandu, where he co-ordinate several security related issues. He served as Deputy Inspector General of Police, C.R.P.F from 1994 – 1996 and supervised the Operations of C.R.P.F troops deployed in terrorists affected areas in Jammu & Kashmir and in North East India.
He was Posted as Additional Director General of Police, S.T.F., in December 2001. He evolved a Tribal - Friendly approach as a focal point of overall strategy to nab the Veerappan gang through the willing cooperation of the people in over 400 villages spread over the districts of Nilgris, Coimbatore, Erode, Salem and Dharmapuri.
He served as Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai from November 2003 to April 2006, when he initiated a scheme to make ‘Chennai City’ the safest and ‘Chennai City Police’ the most efficient. He is presently heading the Prison Department of TamilNadu.
He was awarded President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1993. He was awarded President’s Police Medal for Distingguished Service on the occasion of Independence Day -1999. He was awarded S.T.F Gallantry Medal in 2004. He has maintained professional ethics of a high order.

TAMIL NADU'S ECONOMY

Tamil Nadu is one of the leading industrial States in India. Situated at the southern tip of India over an area of 1.3 lakh sq km Tamil Nadu has a population of 6.34 crore. It is the hub of Indian automobiles industry. Several automobile and automobile ancillary units are located in Tamil Nadu. The State is also famous for its garments industry. This is located in Tirupur, Coimbatore and Chennai, the capital.
Tamil Nadu has been an aggressive and successful promoter of the State to attract investments. The State ranks third in terms of FDI and fresh investments.
Tamil Nadu is one of the most urbanised States in the country. The rate of urbanisation rose from 27 per cent in 1961 to 44 per cent in 2001. In terms of Human Development Index (HDI), the State moved from seventh position in 1981 to third position in 2001.

Courtesy : CMIE

THE GREAT RETAIL ENTREPRENEUR Mr.RAMASWAMI SUBRAMANIAN

LESS IS MORE - SUBHIKSHA:
Ramaswami Subramanian has geared his business for the consumer who demands value for money. 41-year-old Ramaswami Subramanian, Managing Director of Subhiksha, So, what is the strength behind this retail business model which locks in nearly 6.5 lakh bills every day and that has saved almost Rs 250 crore for its customers last year? "Plain logic", says Subramanian. In 1997, he chose to enter the retail market, choosing it over software as he would be an early entrant and have the first-mover advantage. From initial research, he discovered that the reason a customer would abandon his existing store and come to Subhiksha "was price. So, we decided to sell branded products at a lower price."And, consumers prefer buying groceries from closer home, so "we decided to set up 1,500 sq ft shops across the city", quite unlike his competition with outlets almost twice as big. Today, the chain boasts 1,381 stores, with 135 stores in Delhi where there are just 110 post offices. "There are more Subhiksha stores than there are post offices in Delhi. So, everyone can find one in their neighbourhood. It's the survival of the fittest.
Also, what has clicked for Subramanian, apart from his strong reasoning, is his in-depth understanding of the ethos of the Indian consumer. And it is not just the name which was derived from the Sanskrit word Subhiksham (which means 'Giver of all good things') or the soft carnatic music which is the ambient music at the modest corporate office in Chennai when nearly 90 per cent of the 1987 IIT-Madras batch, to which he belonged, went abroad. "I took a call that I didn't want to go abroad and do something here," he reminisces.

VENTURING INTO THE UNKOWN:
He passed out of IIM-Ahmedabad with a gold-medal and the best job on campus with Citibank's investment banking division.In those days, "Salaries were bad. My first was Rs 5,500 and that was the best salary that year." That apart, "it was doing more and more of the same thing," that made him quit that coveted job in three-four weeks.Was it a decision that came easy to him? "While the monetary risk was only Rs 5,500, the social risk of failure was far greater. Entrepreneurship was not an accepted way of life 20 years back. As a failed entrepreneur, would you have place in corporate India was a big question mark. I didn't think about it much."So, after a short stint at two-wheeler maker Enfield, Subramanian told S. Vishwanathan, its Chairman, that he wanted to be on his own. Vishwanathan lent him Rs 2.5 crore and he launched Viswapriya, a financial services company. When he started Subhiksha with a capital of Rs 5 crore in 1997, Viswapriya was a Rs 100-crore company. Currently, Viswapriya is an NBFC with interest in real estate as well, but Subramanian is hands-off that business.What he is hands-on is growing Subhiksha to 3,000 stores in two years and doubling its turnover to Rs 4,500 crore (Rs 2,305 crore currently), saving nearly Rs 500 crore for his customers. He also has aggressive plans to expand the most recent venture in mobile phone retailing to 700 stores by 2010. So, does the logic-driven retailer believe in lady luck, at all? "Luck is being at the right place at the right time. Yes, it has played a huge role — getting financial support at the right time, getting into retail just before property prices shot up, and entering mobile phone retail on a national scale, when the concept was still raw…" he says.

TOUGH ON AMBITION:
For Subramanian, who reads almost 10 newspapers every morning, "work itself is unwinding." He followed the Indian Premier League, not really for the cricket, but because "we advertise during IPL and I wanted to check if it was working." He reads widely on the Internet on supermarkets, consumer industry trends and financial markets, which he is still passionate about. He works six days a week for an uninterrupted 12 hours a day. When he walks on the road, he is busy "noticing the changes in the Indian consumer" and how he can respond to it .His recommended list of reading includes Alfred P Sloan's My Years with General Motors, where the author describes his systematic and of course the "logical style" in which he built the business. At the end of the day, what keeps this Geminian going is, "The vindication of the path I've taken. I like what I do and work with people I like. We are headstrong and steadfast in achieving our goal; we are tough and rational. There is no soft side to us…" Subhiksha has forayed into the consumer durables retail business at an investment of Rs 600 crore. The company plans to launch 150 stores by June 2009. The company also plans to raise $80-100 million by an investment from three foreign institutional investors (FIIs). The investment will come through the listed-arm Subhiksha India Ltd. It was reported that the deal, which will give the FIIs a 9 per cent stake, is on the verge of being inked.