Photo Credit: S Balakrishna

At least one property show is organised every week in some part of the City. Aparna went a step ahead and is organising exclusive property show, which is first of its kind in the State.

Are you in search of a world class property? Well, your search may end this weekend at Aparna Property Expo, which is being held at Shilpakala Vedika, Hitec City. The two-day property show, showcasing 10 properties of Aparna Constructions ranging from Rs.27 lakh to more than Rs.2 crore, will end this Sunday (today) at 9pm.

With the real estate sales back on track in the City, builders are agressively showcasing their properties to attract the customers. Almost one property show is organised every week in some part of the City. Aparna went a step ahead and is organising this exclusive property show, which is first of its kind in the State.

Talking about the show, G Sreedhar, general manager (ales), Aparna Constructions, says, “We are the first ones in the state to start an exclusive expo showcasing all our 10 properties under one roof. We also have architects, interior designers and bankers, who can help the customer in availing the loan. Aparna’s Unispace is also displaying few of their bathing solutions at this expo.”

Srinivas Diwakarla, deputy manager, Sales, Aparna Constructions is also confident about the exclusive expo model. He says, “Showcasing all properties under one roof builds confidence among the buyers and also add value of the brand. This will also help the customer to visit broad range of property stalls and get detailed explanation for each of the property. Although, organising exclusive property show is expensive affair, we tend to reach out to customers at least two-three times a year in this way.”

Asked about benefits in booking a property at the show, G Sreedhar says, “We have financial discipline and do tend to change prices often until there is a real change in the market. We simply don’t go by offers all the time to grab the customer unless it really needs it. However, ICICI Bank is offering a special concessions on loans exclusively to property buyers at Aparna.”

Explaining about loan discounts, Mohd Faheemuddin, officer, home loans, ICICI, says, “We are offering special discounts to Aparna customers. ICICI is limiting the administration charges and service tax to Rs.3,371 for the loan amount below Rs.30 lakh. Otherwise, the charges are set at 0.5 per cent of the loan amount and service tax. A customer can save around Rs.11,600 through this deal.

“For the customers who are availing loan amount of Rs.30 lakh and above, there is discount in interest rate by 0.10 per cent and fixed fee of Rs.6,180 towards administration charges unlike 0.5 per cent of the loan amount and service tax. The rate of interest (floating) is at 10.15 per cent for below Rs.30 lakh and 10.30 per cent for and above Rs.30 lakh up to Rs.3 crore.”

The organisers were expecting atleast 600 visitors to the stalls in these two days.

Properties on display at the expo

1. Aparna Aura at Jubilee Hills
2. Aparna Hill Park Lake Breeze at Miyapur
3. Aparna Hill Park Gardenia at Miyapur
4. Aparna Hill Park Boulevard (left with two villas) at Miyapur
5. Aparna Hillpark Avenues at Miyapur
6. Aparna Cyberzon at Nallagandla
7. Aparna Sarovar Grande at Nallagandla
8. Aparna Kanopy Tulip at Kompally
9. Aparna Kanopy Jasmine at Kompally
10. Aparna Kanopy Lotus at Kompally

Photo Credit: S Balakrishna

LetsDine organises events where different groups like bloggers, poets, foodies, photographers and entrepreneurs get together over a coffee, food or a beer. A common interest is the thread that brings them together.

How about meeting people who share similar interests and passions for a weekend dinner? Want to further explore this opportunity of meeting people who not only have similar food tastes but also have similar professional or personal interests?

LetsDine, a recent startup in the City, facilitates strangers to meet and build offline communities. Young entrepreneurs Akhilesh Kumar and Prashant Angyan want to swim against the tide of social media and bring a shift to make more meetings, conversations happen offline and allow new friendships to blossom.

Talking about the idea, Akhilesh says, “People got caught up in social media and they seldom meet strangers in the real world. This is an opportunity to meet, converse and make memories that can be cherished for a lifetime. Indians are losing their social skills by confining themselves to nuclear families and to their few members of office team.We want to change this and make people celebrate life with communities in the real world.”

LetsDine organises events where different groups like bloggers, poets, foodies, photographers and entrepreneurs get together over a coffee, food or a beer. Every event is driven by a theme which is catered to one section of society. Their common interest is the thread that brings them together. These random people come together and become friends at the end of the event.

The concept has got a huge response from the people of the City, which is pushing the founders to scale the business to other cities in just two months of launching. “It is a win-win situation for everyone. Even the top-notch restaurants and star hotels have unfilled seats during non-peak hours. This gives us an opportunity to request for a good deal and offer the best food variety and at the most reasonable prices. It also helps the hotels and restaurants to showcase themselves and turn these people into repeat customers.

“For instance, we are having Crazy Italiano! (Italian Cooking Classes & Dinner) at Via Milano, Jubilee Hills. This brings Italian food lovers together, helps them learn cooking and gain foodie friends. People who like the food may end up going again to the restaurant or even host parties there,” he says.

Prior to this venture, the duo started Geyser, which provided food delivery at home. Although it has got a moderate response, the founders have had to shut shop to put all their energies on LetsDine.

“We were pretty ambitious and thought of starting three projects. LetsDine is the second product in the series. We even ran both the businesses for two months. But later, we found that we should concentrate and stick with the one which gained traction from the customers. The margins and volumes are more in this venture as compared to Geyser. An entrepreneur should also know when to kill a business,” he explains.

Akhilesh also wants to explore the B2B side of venture. “We can attract sponsorship, wherein a Canon or Nikon can actually be the sponsor for the event. Generally, they spend hugely and even a pie of marketing goes waste as it could not reach the potential customers. In our case, there are group of people who can be potential customers for the business. They can get their products reviewed and can even offer discounts to promote the brand,” he says.

In the near future, the business also wants to reach out to corporate clients through team lunches and also conduct events such as birthday parties from their group of favourite restaurants and star hotels at the best possible prices.

Let’s dine!

1. Investments: `6 lakh
2. Conducted 45 events in 60 days
3. Community of 800 people
4. 30+ sign-ups every day from Hyderabad
5. Soon to start in Mumbai and Bangalore

Status along with serenity that Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills offer has ensured that property value over here is always on the upswing.

Many things have changed over the years in the City. Peripheral areas like Kondapur, Madhapur and Gachibowli have evolved as premier localities and are driving the real estate. On the other side, Abids and Koti, which are famous retail hubs, are losing their dominance of retail as shopping is developing across the City. However, Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills, premier localities of the City, continue to grow as hubs for residential, commercial and retail real estate.

“Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills did not lose their sheen even with the development of peripheral areas. They continue to attract buyers from different walks of life. Not only for politicians, industrialists and film stars, the place is an abode for successful people and HNIs of the City. Many well-known doctors, senior advocates and businessmen are choosing this place. In a way, the place represents the status of a person who lives here. Like any successful person dreams of owning a BMW or Mercedes, one chooses to live in this locality,” said M Adinarayana Rao, manager–sales, Aparna Constructions.

He added, “It is not just the brand name, the locality has its inherent strengths and adds value to the quality of life of its residents. These are well-planned plots with a minimum of 40-feet wide roads and are surrounded by greenery. The plot sizes are also large, providing enough space for gardens and lawns. The density of population is low due to the many stand-alone buildings and very few high-rise apartments,”

Available land is very less and insufficient for development of gated communities. Talking about the demand and supply ratio, he says, “A decent gated community needs around seven acres of land, which is not easily available in these localities. The mismatch in demand supply ratio is adding to the increased value of this locality. However, the real estate downturn in the City has also affected this place in terms of value. The growth in the past was not up to our expectations. But, the scenario is getting better of late with real estate getting back on track,”

Many think the place, which is at a peak in terms of value will not see any further price rise. However, executive vice-president of APREDA, R Chalapathi Rao, disagrees with this. He says, “It is a myth that a developed locality doesn’t have price appreciation. It is very difficult for a peripheral area to gain the momentum and have price rise. But, developed areas will always have a minimum guaranteed growth.”

“The property appreciation is also influenced by micro issues like construction quality, amenities, reputation of the builder along, and the locality,” adds Rao.

In terms of location, this area acts as a bridge between the central City and the IT hub. Every brand wants to be present here to attract customers. Major film studios, media houses, publishing companies, real estate developers all choose this area to have their office in. This also adds to the brand value of the company along with better accessibility to customers. “Rentals are as high as `120 per sft, whereas traditional retail hubs like Basheerbagh command only `60-70 per sft,” revealed G Hari Babu, chairman, Lahari Group.

Proximity to the PV Narishmha Rao expressway that leads to the airport is an added advantage for residents of Banjara Hills. The upcoming metro may not reach all corners of these localities but connects the Jubilee Hills Checkpost to Shilparamam via Pedamma Gudi.

Hospitals

1. Apollo Hospitals
2. Care Hospitals
3. Star Hospitals
4. NIMS
5. LV Prasd Eye Institute
6. Basavatarakam Indo American Cancer Hospital and Research Institute
7. Rainbow Hospital for Women and Children
8. Asha Hospital
9. Beam Hospital

Property Values

Banjara Hills

Retail rent

Rs.100–130 per sft per month

Retail property value

Rs.10,000–13,000 per sft

Commerical office rent

Rs.50–60 per sft per month

Office property value

Rs.4,500–7,500 per sft per month

Resdential property value

Rs.3,500–14,000 per sft

Jubilee Hills

Retail rent

Rs.110–140 per sft per month

Retail property value

Rs.11,000–14,000 per sft

Haphazard planning and whimsical decisions by the government has created a situation where neither the farmer nor the consumer benefits from regulations.

Despite India being one of the few countries which has most suitable lands and climatic conditions for agriculture, the Indian farmer struggles to survive. The agriculture experts say the Indian agriculture has lost so much due to the intervention and policies of the government rather what it has gained from it.

“India is one of the few countries which has surplus in food grains. It ranks top in the production of milk and Jute and second in rice, vegetables, fruits and cotton. However, these achievements did not benefit the farmer or the country to an extent. There is huge potential for the agriculture that has to be unleashed. The markets have opened up with WTO agreement and entire world is looking at India. But, the problem is with the government’s framework and policies. They put lot of troubles in importing or exporting agriculture produce. The process of exporting wheat from Brazil to India is much easier than to getting food produce from UP to Tamil Nadu. Even district boundaries create hassles. The state governments are empowered to issue directives on what should be exported and what not. Invariably, they all worked against the farmer.

“Few years ago, we mango growers in UP, got an opportunity to export the surplus produce due to less production in South. We could only sell mangos at `12/kg, whereas the price in Delhi was at `80/kg. The government destroyed the opportunity for farmers to make at least `50/kg by banning exports. They say that consumers in UP will not have mangoes if we let farmers sell to other states. The fate of farmer is not only determined by monsoons but also by whims and fancies of government,” says S Jafar Naqwvi, president, iFlora.

He further adds, “Indian farmer has to compete with his counterparts elsewhere in the world. Due to large acreage and technology adoption, the farmers there get better yield. If a farmer in Holland can get a yield of 40 kg tomato from one plant, why not Indian farmers?

“The farmers need to adopt technology and arm themselves to compete globally. It may be difficult for them to buy these products independently. But, they can have these machines at panchayat level and use these products to improve the methodology of farming. They should look at alternatives that benefit them being in farming.

“For instance, farmers of soybean should explore the opportunities in livestock farms. We export soybean to other countries and those countries feed their livestock with this and import meat to us. Indian farmers themselves can do this and export meat to other countries.

“Government says that it should look at consumer interests before farmer interests. But neither the consumer nor farmer is benefit from its policies. After WTO, we agreed to reduce the taxes on Soybean oil that was imported from US from 100 per cent to 40 per cent. This has drastically affected the Indian soybean farmers. At the same time, Malaysians over produced palm oil and wants to export to India at `12. This would have benefited the consumer but the government put 300 per cent import tax on it,” he says.

When asked about the price that has to be determined by government, he questions, “Why government has to determine the price for the produce? They agree that farming is a loss-making venture but still decides the price that makes it unsustainable. Let the price of the produce is determined by world markets. When the price of gold, fuel is determined by world markets why not agriculture produce? They simply show the interests of the consumer as a reason to hurt the farmers. Wherever there is less intervention of government, the sector will grow in the country. For instance, Indians are the world leaders in software exports due to low interference of government. Intervention will only breed redtapism and corruption making the sector inefficient and handicapped.”

The subsidy alloted through government and public sector institutions alone cannot meet the huge demand across the country.

Any subsidy scheme promoted by government should reach the needy. If it reaches only certain section of people, the purpose of the scheme can not be achieved. The proposed Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission to encourage off-grid applications through subsidy could not reach the domestic users who want to be self dependent for their energy needs in this huge power crisis.

“One roadblock in the process is the amount of subsidy allocated under scheme. The MNRE allocated `46.8 crore from national clean energy fund to NABARD with effect from March 2012 for period of one year. This capital amount is low compared to the demand. This has to be significantly increased for this current year to reach the large number of rural and urban population,” says NMKD Sarma Ambatipudi, founder, Bharat Synergy.

“The power crisis is so huge in states like Bihar and UP compared to South Indian states. Many villages in there can only count the number of hours they get power than vice versa. This gave rise to huge response from the rural people of UP to buy applications under the scheme. For instance, in our own state, there is heavy demand for solar PV system from the villagers of Chittoor district whereas less than 200 consumers only can buy solar systems under subsidy scheme through Saptagiri Gramin Bank due to least allocated subsidy.

“Irrespective of state, consumers want to get out of this power crisis by installing own solar PV systems. However, the limit to benefit few people worries them. In order to benefit large section of people, there is desperate need to increase the capital subsidy amount allocation,” he says.

He further adds, “This benefit can be linked to Aadhar and has to be scaled like subsidy benefit while buying LPG cylinders.”

As the scheme is implemented through banks, it only benefits the customers of the banks who are actively implementing the scheme. (like Regional Rural Banks in this case). If banks show disinterest, people around the area will have suffer from it.

“There is greater need for even the private banks to actively offer such schemes. They can charge the PLR interest for such loans under priority sector lending, which will be profitable,” he adds.

“Initiative taken by Indian Overseas Bank to lend for solar systems under the name of IOB Surya is laudable. Now, it’s a matter of other banks to follow the suit. For instance, it was only after HDFC which has belled the cat first to offer housing loans, other banks have realised the need to offer loan for buying a home. Today, housing loans is one of the biggest portfolio of any bank. We should see such change ,” he says.

“Banks can learn from the success of IDCOL loan programme in Bangladesh, which is in fact the world’s largest solar loan programme. In a small country like Bangladesh, more than 50,000 systems get financed every month on month through a vast network of more than 300 plus loan providers who get funds from IDCOL. Likewise, active participation from banks coupled with increase in capital subsidy amount will bring light and suffice the energy needs of the masses of this country,” he concludes.

Giving up a lucrative career, Deepak Madabushi started an organisation to help elderly people get their regular health checkups on time.

An entrepreneur does a lot of brainstorming before starting up a venture. At times, this over-thinking may kill the business in the ideating sta­ge. Many ideas are often overloo­ked due to fewer margins and non­-scalability. It is rare to see so­meone starting a business to che­ck the viability of an idea altho­ugh it doesn’t offer great margins.

Deepak Madabushi is one such entrepreneur who started MediTrack in a small way in June 2011. His idea is to help elders in getting their health checkups done and to try and fill the emotional gap of their children.

On the birth of the business idea, he says, “I was working with D.E. Shaw and could not get my mother to her health checkups due to my busy schedule. Although it was a regular checkup, I kept on postponing. Even I looked out for a service which can help elders to get their regular health checkups, but did not find any. Being here, if I could not get the regular health checkup in time, how about the parents of NRIs who are staying here all alone? The idea is to help elders in the process of getting their health checkups on time without postponing it.”

The main target customers are NRIs who are looking for health checkups for their parents. “Most of the time, parents of NRIs tend to stay back here due to many reasons. They do not want to depend on relatives or friends for such help. They want somebody to whom they can talk to and take help from in the process of checkups,” he says.

Deepak gave up an enticing career to pursue this idea. He worked with various MNCs like Bank of America and DE Shaw. “After working for five years with D.E. Shaw, I wanted to take a sabbatical for few months. The business idea which I had long ago was still fresh in mind. I started in a small way by doing it all myself. Eventually, I took it off seriously and resigned from my job. I had invested gratuity amount in the business to develop the website and keep it running by mid 2011.”

When asked about the background research he did on his business idea, he says, “I had informal conversations with NRI friends about the idea. They all encouraged me in going ahead with it. I am operating it as a not-for-profit organisation where I keep my needs and spending away from business. I do not want to tap into the emotional and health needs of a person and make money out of it. We charge around $80-$100, which includes the costs for heath checkup, pickup and drop (travelling) and breakfast. Mostly, I take them in my car and get the health checkup done and drop them back safely,” he says.

Explaining the process, he says, “The child or parent can call our helpline number and can request for a health checkup. They can also choose the type of health checkup and stipulate a time for it. An attendant goes to the patient’s house, picks them up and takes them to the hospital. He is with them throughout the process, helping them, and drops them back home. Once the health reports are out, these are delivered at the customer’s home and are also emailed to the NRI children. If they want, we can upload and maintain their health records online at our website.”

The company also wants to expand into other operations like helping pregnant women in getting their health checkups once it reaches sufficient numbers. “With the growth in volumes, we even can request for discounts in these health checkups and get it passed on to the customers. This will also help in bringing down the fee and also help locals who are looking for such service,” Deepak adds.

]]> http://postnoon.com/2013/06/08/lending-a-helping-hand-to-the-elderly/129444/feed 0 http://postnoon.com/2013/06/07/unexplored-kompally-holds-promise-for-all/129295 http://postnoon.com/2013/06/07/unexplored-kompally-holds-promise-for-all/129295#comments Fri, 07 Jun 2013 08:43:18 +0000 Prudhvi Raju http://postnoon.com/?p=129295

Decent amount of green cover and comparitively cleaner air and water makes Kompally a major attraction for buyers and developers. Good roads and proximity to industry hubs are added advantages.

Property buyers are keen to move towards the suburbs of the City for the greenery and lesser pollution, and to live in large and open spaces they offer. As long as the roads are wide and there is less traffic to their place of work, residents do not mind travelling those extra kilometres to live in their dream house. Real estate developers are also coming up with world-class gated community projects mostly in the outskirts of the City due to the availability of large spaces.

Kompally is one such suburb located near Secunderabad, which is attracting both the developer and the buyer thus driving the real estate market here. “This is one of the best residential zones in the City because of abundant greenery, water, clean and fresh air,” said an early settler of the area.

Earlier a village, many residents in the City set up large farmhouses in this area for its picturesque beauty. Even now, many hold large spaces, which support plentiful greenery. There also is a reserved forest in the area that is under the control of government, adding to the greenery.

“Not just that, the locality also houses pharmacy majors like Aurobindo, Dr Reddy’s and Gland Pharma in close proximity. Most of these companies have their R&D centres in this area while their manufacturing units are either in the outskirts or in other districts. The water is clean and non-contaminated and the air is fresh due to the greenery around,” said Srinivas Diwakarla, deputy manager, Sales, Aparna Constructions, when asked for the secret to the real estate demand here.

In terms of costs, real estate values in the area are low compared to south-west Hyderabad areas like Gachibowli, Kondapur and Jubilee Hills. “These days, people are not averse to buying property a few kilometres away from business hubs. They are willing to buy property in secondary pockets like Chandanagar and Miyapur due to the lower cost. For instance, the price of real estate property in Chandanagar sells at half the price of similar property in Madhapur. Such a trend is noticeable across the City where people are inclined to buy decent property if it comes with amenities in the suburb rather than opting for costlier ones in that one gets in business hubs,” he added.

The infrastructure in this area is better compared to other newer locations in the City. “The roads are wide and well connected to areas Like Secunderabad and Miyapur. Kompally is also very close to the outer ring road and is adjacent to NH7. Gundlapochampaly, which is near Kompally, also has an MMTS station, from where trains ply as frequently as every 45 minutes to Secunderabad. Also, an ongoing development of the railway line is likely to increase this frequency,” he said.

A property appeals to a buyer only when it attracts tenants and its value appreciates over time. “The demand of this zone is driven by pharmacy majors that are close by, followed by many seed research companies. The founders of small and medium enterprises in Medchal and traders in Secunderabad are also choosing this area for Kompally is not too far from these areas,” he explained.

Stressing on the buyers, he said, “There are many seed research companies in this area, which are propelling the realty growth. Like we have IT in the south-west Hyderabad, biotechnology is evolving in this area. Scientists who work in these companies are paid at par with IT employees. Most of these people are migrants and want to buy or rent property in a gated community. Natives of Karimnagar and Nizamabad also prefer this locality since visits to their families during weekends is easier from here.”

Most properties are single tower apartments developed by organised players. The locality also prides itself of projects by Aparna, Koncept Ambience and ARK Builders. The base price is around `2,300 per square foot for a flat in a gated community here. According to realtors, one may expect this price to appreciate between 10 and 15 per cent every year.

Attractions

1. Industries
2. Bio-Tech Park
3. Jeedimetla Industrial Estate
4. Medchal Town
5. Mahindra Satyam
6. Hospitals
7. Ram Hospital
8. Narayana Hridayala
9. Balaji Multispeciality Hospital
10. Usha Mullapudi Cardiac Hospital
11. Harsha Hospital

Aparna Kanopy Tulip

1. 12 towers in 14 acres (Out of which six have been constructed)
2. Size: 930-1,495 sft
3. Street furniture, signages and road lighting.
4. G+2 level, 12,000 sft AC clubhouse, community hall, cafeteria
5. Crèche, gym, aerobics centre, spa and indoor games.
6. Car parking
7. Swimming pool
8. Basketball and lawn tennis courts
9. Children’s play area
10. Sewage treatment plant
11. Water softening plant
12. Manjeera water
13. Base Price: `2,299 per sft

ARK homes

1. Beside MMTS Railway Station, Bolarum
2. 560 flats, 9 towers in 7.5 acres
3. Area: 1,075 sft to 1,510 sft
4. 100 per cent vaasthu
5. Car parking
6. Swimming pool
7. Jogging track
8. Landscaping
9. Children’s play areas
10. 24-hour security at main gate
11. Yoga and meditation hall
12. Libraryl
13. Air-conditioned gymnasium
14. Supermarket
15. Base Price: `1,949 per sft

Aparna Kanopy Lotus

1. 91 villas in 10. 5 acres (Part of the 72 acres of Gated Community)
2. Plot size: 200 syds
3. Villa sizes: East-facing: 2,010 sft, West-facing: 2005 sft
4. Model villa available
5. Snooker/Billiard tables
6. Basketball practice court
7. Health and fitness centre
8. Spa with separate massage rooms for ladies and gents.
9. Sauna and jacuzzi
10. Air-conditioned crèche
11. Walking and jogging pathways
12. 24-hour security surveillance
13. Price: `70 lakh upwards

The challenge for the industry is making Indians understand the value of paid apps and make them pay for it.

is booming in the country, driven by business applications. Consumer applications have not taken the momentum despite the huge number of smartphone sales. Indians are more inclined to free mobile apps than pay for quality apps.

“Mobile apps industry is set to grow. The usability, accessibility and mobility are driving the growth of mobile phones and tablets. For instance, an elder may find it hard to use laptop. But, he or she can easily operate a tablet if you show it once or twice. The growth in the smartphone sales will continue even in the coming years. On app front, the mobile app development here is at par with its global counterparts. Developers here are targeting global mobile customers,” says Vijay Kallepalli, MD, AppThoughtz.

The only challenge for the industry is making Indians understand the value of paid apps and make them pay for it. “Westerns are more adaptable to paid apps. However, the Indians are hesitant in this front. The only option for the developers here is to rely on advertisement revenues. These revenues are not enough for the sustenance. In addition, Indian mobile users do not have the Internet connectivity to their mobiles. Some has a habit of disconnecting with the data connection and play the game or use the app offline. This will further weaken the revenues of the developers who provide these free apps. On the whole, the advertising revenues are minimal, “ he says.

About infrastructure, he says, “It is not supportive for the app downloads. Each mobile users has to have an internationally acceptable credit/debit card to access Google play store. There is a large section that may not have these. Some of the people may be suspicious in giving these details on the mobile.”

“Hopefully, this will change in the future. For instance, people were hesitant to buy online few years ago. Many e-commerce players with sufficient financial backing from investors have removed the fears of online buying. The same has to happen for mobile apps industry. When businesses see the potential of making revenues, they would definitely jump in this segment and educate customers. As and when the market sees one or two companies successful, the rest will follow and create a healthy industry,” he says.

In terms of operating systems, “The iOS, Google Android, Windows are the popular among the crowd. Earlier, iOS was the market leader. However, today in terms of device sales, Android has overtaken it. There is also tough competition between the iOS and Windows for the second place. In terms of revenues, iOS is still the leader and Android is trying to catch up. Indians fancy brands like Samsung and Sony, who mostly use Android. This also pushed the Android market growth to an extent,” he adds.

About the availability of human resource, he says, “There is huge demand for mobile app developers. It has become difficult to find talent. With the ample amount of opportunities students can build a successful career in this field.”

Tab for intermediate students

AppThoughtz, a Hyderabad-based start-up company, has launched an innovation tablet “iTopper” for the Intermediate students (MPC and BiPC) which helps students develop deep insights into various subjects like mathematics, biology, physics and chemistry.

iTopper comes with bundle of in-built apps that no­t only enables students to access quality content from top class publishers but evaluate their own performance through self-test method. The content has been curated and aligned specifically to the teaching curriculum and appr­oved by Cambridge Univ­ersity Press, VGS and other content providers. Stu­dents can also prepare and ta­ke unlimited mock tests and perform better in the real time environment while preparing for intermediate, JEE, EAMCET and NEET with out having internet

Many shady companies and unscrupulous elements are present in the market to take advantage of government subsidies.

India, being a tropical country with abundance of sunlight, solar energy is apt to meet its energy requirements. The Centre recognised its value and started the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission to encourage off-grid and on-grid solar applications to make the country a global leader in solar energy.

Despite the policy seeking to encourage Indians to be self-dependent on energy needs using sunlight, many roadblocks need to be cleared.

“There are many solar companies listed as authorised vendors to offer solar energy products under the capital subsidy scheme. Some of them are selling the products without proper quality and service.

“Bringing inverter into the solar off-grid application bracket has helped these companies to push solar panels with lower capacity to charge batteries. The consumer does not get the chance to find whether the battery is getting charged from solar panel or grid, as it draws electricity from the grid as and when required. This is a logic the customer never understands clearly and transparently. Customers are getting cheated and are spending on high electricity bills despite their investments in solar applications,” says NMKD Sarma Ambatipudi, founder, Bharat Synergy.

Unlike solar panels, charge controller, battery and lights, these so called hybrid inverters do not have approval from Product Approval Committee (PAC) nor are they tested and certified by the Solar Energy Centre or accredited laboratories of SEC, MNRE.

He further adds, “Although, there is a 5-year warranty on the product provided by authorised vendor under NABARD loan scheme, the existence of some of these companies is doubtful.

“If they shut operations during the warranty period, the customer cannot do anything. Even, there are cases where the buyers stopped paying the loans to the banks when they discover non-performing products and did not get service for such products under the scheme.

“For instance, Shell Solar India’s exit has brought many difficulties to the buyers in getting service and warranty from that company under bank loan scheme.

“There is a need for thorough checks for the products and company reputation in terms of service and quality by the banks. Failing in doing so, will not only bring loss to the banks but also put the reputation of the scheme and solar products at stake,”

In this regard, Pragathi Gramin Bank of Karnataka has taken a bold step to review and revise its existing authorised vendors under NABARD loan scheme for the purpose of fresh empanelment.

“Although, it restricts companies that do not have registered offices in Karnataka from being empaneled in the scheme, on the whole, it evaluates and helps as only reputed companies can be part of the much-in-demand NABARD loan scheme with subsidised benefits. Such steps by other banks in the state and in the country will filter the suspicious companies and give impetus to the real long term players,” he adds.

Eligibility criteria for Pragathi Gramin Bank scheme

1. Should be original equipment manufacturing of solar lighting and heating devices.
2. Need to have their registered office in Karnataka state.
3. It should be in the approved list of MNREP, and NABARD.
4. Equipment should have ISO certification.
5. It has to be in profit making business in the same field for at least past three years.
6. Should have minimum average business turnover in the past 3 years.
7. Average production of 2,000 units per annum
8. Sales turnover – Rs. 5 crore and above
9. It must have the sales cum service outlets of their own or by authorized dealers/outlets in the districts for which empanelment or supply is done.
10. Preference will be given to companies that have established their own post sales service points in the districts covered by the bank.

Krishnapriya (second from left), Sneha (third form left) and Arpita Soma (fourth from left), Founders with their team.

Internfever.com acts as a bridge between students and companies to help students get the apt internship and companies get the right intern.

Three childhood friends, Krishnapriya, Arpita Soma and Sneha got together to solve a problem. It was not just their problem but also the problem of the student community.

In 2009, Arpita Soma, who was in the US studying her Masters in Environmental Engineering from University of Cincinnati, came back to India on a family visit. Her casual discussion with friends gave birth to the business idea. Their discussion was about the problem of getting internships.

Sneha says, “Krishnapriya and I were in our final year of MBA, trying hard to get an internship as part of our course. On the other hand, in the US, Arpita had two to three internships in hand and had to choose one. In US, companies visit universities for intern placements, whereas in India, students have to go around offices for placements. This deep contrast between the two countries pushed us to start www.internfever.com, that helps a student to get an internship in an easy way.

Explaining the problem, Arpita says, “In AP, students get an opportunity in their final year to work with the industry. Due to lack of proper structure, students tend to move towards buying projects from consultancies and miss the opportunity to get hands-on experience. This will not only make them lose the internship opportunity but also leave them unprepared for a full-time job.

The trio did a lot of research to start the business. Sneha says, “We even conducted a survey to see the feasibility of the business model. Most of the students do not even know about internships and they are more than happy to join and work as interns. Based on this research, we started the business in December 2010 with a joint investment of `2 lakh. For the first six months, we worked from Krishnapriya’s home to check the viability and later rented an office after the numbers were encouraging.”

She adds, “First, we approached companies and found their needs. We then went to colleges and conducted workshops imparting the importance of doing internships. In a way, we act as a bridge between students and companies and help them (students) in getting apt internships and the right intern for the company.”

On their business model, Krishnapriya says, “We charge around `2,000-`5,000 per student based on the requirement. We also charge a basic fee of `500 from each student. Earlier, we were not charging students but found there were many out there who came here to test themselves and said no when we offer them internships. A lot of time and effort goes waste on these students. Putting a price filtered non-serious students and also made them value the internship.”

Although there is a good response from the industry, the business had to undergo challenges like any other. “Some parents do not want their children to work in their final years. They want them to study and get good marks rather than spend time to get work experience.

“Although many students are interested to work with these companies, they backed out at a later stage after discussing it with their parents. We tried to convince the students and further, they used to convince their parents. However, the scenario is changing now and even parents are encouraging their children to go for work experience,” says Arpita.

“Entrepreneurship is satisfying and encouraging. Students are very happy after getting their internships. They even scan their paycheque and tag us on Facebook. Their thanks and well wishes give us a high and motivates us,” she says.

Talking about the industry scenario, Sneha says, “It was the time when start-up culture was blossoming in the City. Most of them could not afford senior people for their roles. These internships provided them the right people at a salary of `4,000-`6,000 a month. Even some big companies want to manage the workload of their employees by hiring these people. Students not only get experience but also get pocket money for their everyday needs. In a way, it creates a win-win situation for both of them.”

On opportunities, she says, “Often, it is surprising. There are more opportunities as compared to the number of students who want to do an internship. There is a skill gap in the IT industry and they want students who have strong technical knowledge. There are more opportunities in marketing and management field. First, we do online screening and conduct an aptitude test to get right candidates. The selected ones will be sent to the company for interviews. We also give feedback to the ones who did not find their way. And at times, we even give them the opportunity to join us and later apply for them.”

In long term, the company also wants to start their offices in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.

The strengths of this area are great connectivity to the City and proximity to retail shops. Affordable property values and less commuting time to the nearby industrial units give it an edge over other localities.

Any growth in residential property sales is driven by employment and industries in that area. Quthubullapur, a prominent industrial zone of the City, has pushed the growth of residential zones in nearby localities. With this industrial growth, many areas like Chintal, Balanagar and Gajularamaram in this mandal have become crowded and busy localities. The place, which was once known for manufacturing and pharmacy industries, is now turning into residential colonies.

“There are not many large empty spaces, especially to develop gated communities in Chintal. However, one can find vacant lands beyond Gandimaisamma Chowrasta (after the Jeedimetla industrial area) and in the Gajularamaram stretch,” said PV Ravindra Kumar, CEO of Vasathi Housing.

The strengths of this area are great connectivity to the City and proximity to retail shops. Affordable property values and less commuting time to the nearby industrial units give it an edge over other localities.

“The real-estate property values in this locality are inexpensive and also have great connectivity. For instance, if you take Chintal, It is around eight kilometres from Kukatpally and seven kilometres from Balanagar. Unlike, the evolving residential areas in IT zones, a resident from here does not need to commute long hours for entertainment or for shopping. Every locality has ample number of retail shops and schools that serve the needs of the locals. They can also enjoy movies in nearby film theatres rather than travel long distances to multiplexes,” he explains.

“Kukatpally and Quthbullapur mandals have similar facilities but their connectivity have brought difference to these areas. Real estate growth in Kukatpally is majorly driven by its proximity to IT industry whereas the in adjacent Quthbullapur, real estate is driven by demand of employees working in industries nearby,” he says.

Explaining about the buyers, he says, “Unlike Kukatpally, most of the buyers here are blue-collar workers. Most of them are in senior level positions and earn decent incomes. Added to this, some of their children living here work in the US and in developed countries. They want to buy flats and settle in the area where they spent a majority of their life.”

Though many manufacturing and pharmacy industries have shifted from this place, there effect is still felt in these zones. In a few areas like Jagadgirigutta, which has a high concentration of industries, there has been pollution of underground water. “It is important to test the water before using it for any purpose. We checked the quality of the water, found it safe for domestic usage and only then went ahead with the . If you take the whole Quthbuallapur mandal into account, the underground water levels are low and there is water scarcity in many places. A steep growth of high-rise buildings and apartments in small areas have lowered the underground water levels and brought scarcity in summers,” he added.

Although, places in the locality are well connected by City buses and autos, there is no MMTS or Metro connectivity. One has to go either to Kukatpally (upcoming metro) or Secunderabad to travel by train.

Property values in the area ranges anywhere between `1,500-2,500 based on the type of the property and the amenities it offers. The property values are around `2,350sft in gated community.

The surge in property values in this locality reflects the City’s real estate growth. There has been an appreciation in the property values in last two months.

According to developers, the property value will continue to grow in the future and one can expect at least a 10 per cent growth every year. This is a place that one should not ignore if one wants to own a house close to their workplace.

]]> http://postnoon.com/2013/05/31/affordable-chintal-a-boon-for-industry-staff/128203/feed 0 http://postnoon.com/2013/05/29/rising-inflation-is-starving-budget-hotels-in-hyderabad/127848 http://postnoon.com/2013/05/29/rising-inflation-is-starving-budget-hotels-in-hyderabad/127848#comments Wed, 29 May 2013 08:43:09 +0000 Prudhvi Raju http://postnoon.com/?p=127848

Budget hotel owners blame increase in food prices and a fall in disposable incomes among the middle class for the woes of the industry.

The budget hotel industry is being crippled by high food inflation, economic slowdown, fall in tourists inflow and competition. According to industry experts, almost 50 per cent of the budget hotels in the State are on sale and are not finding buyers. Segments of the hospitality sector such as restaurants, hotels and lodges are hugely affected with the rise in input costs.

“Hospitality industry is one of the worst performing industries in the last fiscal year. Budget hotels, which constitute around 95 per cent of the industry are seriously affected by rising costs. For instance, rice, which was priced at around `25 three years ago, is now at `48 per kg. The provisions costs grew by more than 50 per cent in the last three years. The industry, which is operating 20 per cent margins, could not survive if there is 50 per cent growth in input costs in few years. Unavailability of human resources, high provision rates and low occupancy rates have hit the industry. Occupancy rates continued to be at around 25 per cent for last three years in many hotels, whereas to get a breakeven they needed to have at least 60 per occupancy rate,” says GV Krishnaiah, president, AP Hotels association.

“The vegetable prices grew by 200 per cent in almost three months. For instance, Soybeans cost as much as `100 in normal super markets. Rising fuel and labour costs and other taxes have been worrying hoteliers for the past few years,” he adds.

Despite growth in all these input costs, hoteliers didn’t dare to increase tariffs and food prices. “Middle class Indians do not have decent disposable income to spend on hotels. Most of their income goes to food, rent, education and health. With the fall in disposable incomes, they prefer to visit an affordable restaurant if at all. Most of the times they don’t even bother having food from roadside stalls. They are even ready to skip a weekend restaurant visit if they fall short of money. In this scenario, any increase in tariff or price seriously affects volumes of the business. Hotels and restaurants that are already suffering with shrinking margins cannot exist if they don’t have enough people coming in.”

“Almost 50 per cent of the hotels are on sale in the City. The fall in incomes is not attracting any buyers either. Even banks that gave loans to these hotels could not take over due to fall in values of the mortgaged properties (hotels) and increase in loan amounts with addition of interests,” he says.

Krishnaiah says that hoteliers should rethink their investments and overheads. “Only a business with reasonable investments and low overheads, which offers food in hygienic conditions, can sustain in this situation. The industry, which provides food and shelter to the common man, should not be taxed at all. The government can fix the tariffs and prices for food and shelter which industry is ready to abide. In every aspect, we are paying heavily to the government from fuel, to current taxes. It should seriously look at the condition of the industry before levying taxes. Any tax wave offs would give some relief and help the industry come out of this crisis,” he adds.

They make grocery shopping much easier and all this at the click of a mouse. Vipul Parekh of Bigbasket.com tells us how it is done.

Business should be in sync with time and never should be ahead or fall behind it. VS Sudhakar, Hari Menon, Vipul Parekh and VS Ramesh started Fabmart in 1999, one of the first e-commerce stores in the country. Despite the popularity, the business was unable to tap the large Indian retail customers, who were mostly offline due to poor Internet and e-commerce infrastructure. As the founders realised how unfavourable the e-commerce ecosystem was, they moved to physical retail to tap the larger market.

After more than a decade, in September 2011, the same group of people along with Abhinay Choudhari reunited and started Bigbasket.com, an online grocery store, to offer home delivery for groceries and vegetables. However, this time, the business took off well and is growing by around 25 per cent (month on month) as it was in sync with the times. They also have plans to scale up their operations to tap the large Indian retail customer base. The business is actively operating in Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Talking about the idea, Vipul Parekh, says, “Although, there were many online grocery stores in 2011, they were unable to deliver the entire range to all the localities. We aimed to offer the entire range of products and deliver to every nook and corner of the City. The idea is to bring a hypermarket online, which will enable the customer with great choice and they also have it delivered at home free of charge. As of now we charge

`25 for delivery if the order falls below ` 1,000.” The founders invested $1 million to fund the business initially. They further raised $10 million from Ascent Capital in February 2012. Unlike, the big e-commerce start-ups, the business did not spend aggressively on marketing or on discounts. “Our focus is to provide quality products and grow by word of mouth. For instance, when a big van goes to an apartment, a few people see and want to try it. Once the buyers see the value in getting the products delivered at home, they turn into regular customers.

“We tend to focus on quality and not on discounts. The products are similarly priced as a normal supermarket chain but are fresh comparatively due to fast and efficient sourcing and deliveries. We source the products based on the system forecast and mostly finish the supply and delivery cycle in 24 hours whereas the products in general super markets reach customers anywhere in between 48 to 96 hours,” he explains.

The company invested heavily on technologies for fast and efficient deliveries. “Every van is connected to GPS and the system decides the route and deliveries for each of it. The technology also manages the inventory level and the orders,”he adds.

The 600-employee company is also planning to expand its operations to Chennai and Delhi by March 2014.

While there is no dearth of support measures for domestic solar power on paper, ground reality is different.

Growing awareness on solar and renewable sources coupled with long power cuts have given a thrust to the sales of domestic solar inverters and appliances. This has pushed the domestic solar products sales by around 30-40 per cent in last six months. On flip side, the government’s strong initiative to promote domestic solar power usage through NABARD and MNRE 30 per cent subsidy scheme did not benefit the industry to its fullest potential.

“Many retailors (manufactures, dealers) are selling solar units (inverters) with out Central government subsidy due to heavy documentation and delay in repayment of subsidy procedures. They are coming forward to provide the solar units by offering discounts rather than availing and promoting the central government subsidy scheme.

“For the benefit of the customer, the MNRE also dictated various terms like giving 10-year warranty on panels and 5-year warranty on the products to drive the demand for quality products and to benefit the customers who avail scheme. In order to escape those regulations in offering the warranty, many manufacturers are not showing keen interest towards selling the products through subsidy scheme,” says D Venkat Rao, secretary, Quality Development Society.

Explaining about the procedure in offering subsidy, he says, “First, the respective solar unit manufacturer or dealer has to be empanelled under subsidy scheme implemented through NABARD. Any solar dealer or manufacturer cannot provide the subsidy through this scheme unless it is the approved channel partner. The respective subsidies are implemented through all commercial and rural banks in India through loans.

“On the customer side, he has to first check whether the solar manufacturer is a channel partner for the respective scheme before buying the product and then he has to approach the bank to get subsidised loan. The bank not only provides 30 per cent subsidy scheme but also let the customer to pay back the loan on solar unit in simple instalments.

“However, in reality, the banks are prudent in providing loans under this scheme. They are offering these subsidised loans to the customers who have strong relation with banks. The common man is finding difficulty to avail the benefit of subsidy,” he says.

“As of now, the manufacturers under this scheme are not getting the complete amount immediately from the banks. The subsidised amount is on hold for some time to authenticate the sale. This delay is one of the other reasons why manufactures are reluctant to be channel partners of this scheme,” Rao says.

“In order to make the subsidy scheme successful, the banks have to pay back the entire amount to the manufacturer or dealer and get the stipulated subsidised amount refunded by MNRE at a later time. The government should also need to reduce the documentation procedures for solar unit manufactures to be empanelled in this scheme,” he adds.

In order to curtail people from unnecessary spending and guide them in achieving their financial goals in life, Nitin B Vyakaranam and Sunil Lingareddy started Artha Yantra in 2007.

Many of us commit financial mistakes in terms of unnecessary spending or buying financial products that are not really required. In order to curtail people from unnecessary spending and guide them in achieving their financial goals in life, Nitin B Vyakaranam and Sunil Lingareddy started Artha Yantra in 2007.

The company, through its product Arthos (an online platform), aims to provide personal financial services to the huge untapped market of middle-income professionals in India.

Talking about the inception of the company, Nitin says, “We initially started Tax Yantra in 2007, India’s first online tax filing platform. Eventually, we developed Arthos application, which also integrates the tax-filing concept. This will help individuals to plan, manage and execute finances in achieving the financial goals.”

The idea took birth from a problem that Nitin encountered in terms of buying ULIP. “I was misguided into purchasing the policy. I was told something about the policy but actually it ended up as a different thing. When I discussed this issue with other friends, they also shared similar experiences. In India, people don’t buy insurance. They are sold insurance. It is not just misselling; a common Indian does not have access to financial knowledge or education about personal finance. Neither can they continue making financial mistakes with unnecessary investments. For instance, if an individual buys a product that he doesn’t need, the damage continues for a longer time.”

Artha Yantra started doing research in 2009 by focus group studies and producing white papers. “This research took us lot of time, effort and money to eventually create Arthos, an online product where a customer can get transparent, free and unbiased advice. Generally, the personal finance market is driven by products and not by the need. We aim to change this through this online platform. Until there is a need, we don’t recommend buying a product. We recommend a product in a democratic way, wherein the customer has a choice to buy one among the best. As of now, we are selling personal finance products offline but soon will bring them online.”

Talking about the industry, he says, “Generally, an HNI (high networth individual) has access to personal advice and a normal middle-class man does not have access to this personal advice due to its costs. Being online helps us reach the untapped masses that need advice even to the corners of the country. The company has developed Arthos through proprietary service personal financial lifecycle management (PFLM) through a well-designed algorithm.”

The platform was launched in November 2012 and got its first 300 customers in January. Today, the company has 10,000 customers from 350 cities. “There are not many businesses, where you get well-wishes and blessings from the customers. In a way, this is a democratisation of personal finance solutions wherein quality advice is offered to numerous people irrespective of their income, race or locality through this online platform,” he adds.

Nitin says that the accolades from the middle-income people keeps them moving. “We have customers who bought 36 insurance policies. They were sold and mislead in the name of tax saving without the real need for it. A typical employee loses `30,000 per year in terms of wrongly investing in personal finance instruments without proper planning. This number grew with the increase in income levels. However, the application plans, executes and manages it with a feedback loop that effectively guides in renewing the investments. The platform suggests, recommends in fulfilling the financial goals by guiding in terms of spending and savings,” he explains.

“In terms of value, we can make the customer save whatever he spends or invests unnecessary. That can be anywhere from `30,000-40,000 for a normal employee. The proper guidance in terms of investing the saved income will lead to huge returns over time for the customer,” says Nitin.

The company has plans to convert this free platform to a paid platform over time. “We want to charge nominally from the customers and do not want to price it in a such way that prevents customers in using this platform. As of now, we also provide Arthos lite and Arthos plus products wherein we charge customers `2,500 and `10,000 per year respectively.”

Bandlaguda (adjacent to Chevella Road) and APPA junction are evolving as hotspots for development due to large space availability. The abundant green cover is an added advantage.

Real estate is flourishing along the Outer Ring Road with buyers preferring to own a house in the outskirts. Developers are looking for large spaces around these areas to develop gated community projects with world-class amenities.

Bandlaguda (adjacent to Chevella Road) and APPA junction are evolving as hotspots for the development due to large space availability. With the flats priced at less than `3,000 per sft and at the distance of 13-15km to Hitec City, the place is attracting buyers.

“It is at a distance of 13km from Assembly and centre of City and around 10 km from Mehidipatnam. It is also almost at equal distance from Hitec City and Gachibowli Stadium (13-16km). The location is well connected with the City through the 200feet-wide radial road that goes to the ORR. Buses and auto rickshaws are available to these localities till late night. According to recent media reports, the State government has plans to revive Kokapet SEZ. Many global and national companies taking office space in that SEZ will push the demand and values around this area,” said PV Ravindra Kumar, CEO of Vasathi Housing.

“Due to natural green cover, the air quality here is better than many other areas in the City. Due to GO 111, one cannot expect further real estate development beyond the Outer Ring Road in this stretch. This will retain natural greenery and keep the traffic levels low,” Kumar said.

Falling groundwater levels is one of the most common concerns in the City. However, lakes like Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar are keeping water levels in these areas stable. “Buyers in this area do not need to worry about water problems. For instance, we have not purchased a single tanker during the construction of Anandi and found water at a depth of 200-300feet by sinking a borewell,” he said.

“In terms of value, there is an appreciation in property values over time. The values grew from `5,500 syd to `15,000 syd in last six years. For instance, our flats are priced at around `2,800 per sft with all the amenities. The prices are reasonably low considering its proximity to many retail and commercial areas of the City. In the western part of the City, one should go beyond Patancheru to find a house with all these facilities in a gated community at this price. In the past, growth did not reach our expectations due to real estate downturn.

“However, this is changing. In terms of buyers, around 50 per cent are from the IT sector and there are also considerable number of North Indians who are buying flats and settling in this area,” he explained.

Although the locality has decent roads, the water pipelines in this areas do not reach interior pockets. “The government has to lay proper infrastructure according to growth in population. This is a definite challenge for developers who construct single tower apartments. However, the gated communities can provide drinking water by installing proper RO purification facilities as they deal with large volumes,” he added.

Traditional retailers face strong challenge in urban areas as younger generation prefer buying from branded retailers.

The fall of gold prices coupled with festive and marriage season have increased the gold sales last month. “Indian customers saw gold price touching `32,000 per 10g few months back and they are confident thatthe price would bounce back at some point of time. On the other side, some jewellers are on the verge of finishing stocks and few could not supply or get stocks as per the demand. On the other hand, the Western economies are getting better and people are bullish about other investment options that buying gold,” says Kranti Nagvekar, group director (jewellery exhibitions portfolio) of UBM India. “The huge growth in jewellery sales by around 130 per cent also pushed the sales of gems, precious stones to an extent. However, the gems and jewellery industry grew more than 15 per cent in last fiscal as compared to previous fiscal.”

On potential of export gold jewellery manufacturing, she said, “India is a hub for diamond polishing and cutting. But, the numbers are not encouraging in terms of gold jewellery exports. Because of huge market in the country, the retailers are not focusing in the global markets.

With quality and cheap human resource, India can definitely be among the top manufactures and exporters of gold jewellery. “We organise meetings with international manufactures and arrange visits to their factories to understand the intricacies and to reach out global markets. International brands are eyeing Indian jewellery market for expansion and growth.”

Talking about Indian jewellery market, she said, “There is a gradual shift in buying from unorganised retailers to organised ones. Retailers are also looking at building and promoting their brand value. It has become very important to have marketing strategies and brand awareness in place to sustain the competition. Some traditional unorganised retailers are confident they have repetitive customers who sustain their business. This attitude has to change and it is high time that they have to get organised and compete with branded retailers.

“However one cannot undermine the importance of traditional retailers and growth of tier-2 and tier-3 city markets. Parents with younger generation still visit these shops and buy decent amounts of gold at these traditional retailers for marriages and other auspicious occasions. On the other hand, the younger generation shop at branded outlets. The tier-2 and tier-3 cities will be the future hubs with the City markets reaching a saturation.”

Asked about trends in buying, she said, “They’re buying and choosing trends varies according to the location. For instance, customers in Chennai opt platinum, where as people in Kerala buy pure gold and people in North buy commercial diamonds and white gold. There is huge variance in choice but the younger generation is fancy about gold jewellery with diamonds.”

On industry growth and value of gold, she said, “According to traders and sellers, the prices may go down to `23,500 and bounce back to the peak prices in a year time. Despite the downward trend globally, Indians continue to buy gold due to their rich tradition and they cannot neither exclude it from investment portfolio nor from important occasions of their life.”

Jewellery Fair

India’s leading gems and jewellery fair is going to be back in the City once again in June bringing together the finest jewellers from India and abroad. The Hyderabad Jewellery Fair will be held at Hyderabad’s HITEX exhibition centre from June, 7-9 and will witness participation of over 125 jewellery manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, importers, exporters, diamond and gemstone suppliers and representatives from trade and governmental organisations.

MD Bhagavantha Rao outlines the bank’s policy and vision for the industry.

Hyderabad: The slowdown in the economy is a temporary phase and banks can successfully overcome this, says State Bank of Hyderabad managing director M Bhagavantha Rao. In an exclusive interview to Postnoon, he explains about the current challenges and future prospects of banking industry and SBH in particular.

Growing NPAs or slow growth in the industry did not stop Rao from being bullish on future prospects. “With great supervision and policies from the RBI, there is no need to be apprehensive. The efforts of financial inclusion are pushing up the demand for banking. We expect to see a major growth in banking especially in rural and semi-urban areas. As more people graduate and get jobs, this will push growth. The slowdown is temporary and I don’t see any dip in banking industry.”

“Why are so many applicants queueing up to start banks if the situation is fragile?” he bolsters his argument. “Undoubtedly, we have to be prudent in the current scenario. But we will overcome this situation in near future.”

Asked how can banks balance prudence and extend helping hand to the sectors in this tough times, he says, “It is not difficult. The bottom line is that the productive sectors of the economy should not suffer. In terms of infrastructure, we are not going to back off from the committed projects but however may not take fresh exposure till this scenario change. However, this is a dynamic situation, which will change every 3-6 months. Likewise, our policy is not decided for the whole year. What I say is determined as we see it today. However, we will change this according to the need,”

SBH announced this fiscal as a MSME year, where in the bank wants to increase its exposure to MSMEs by sanctioning considerable number of loans. “We want to give more emphasis on micro industries in this. This idea took birth from the Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs), which are initiated in each district of the country to impart training and skill up gradation of rural youth towards employment and entrepreneurship development.

“Banks manage RSETIs with active co-operation from the Centre and respective state government. We trained around 7,000 rural people. With this priority lending, the people who are unable to get employment can start their own micro enter prises.”

Clarifying on MSMEs still facing difficulty in getting loans with out collateral security despite Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises scheme, Rao said, “Generally, a bank manager is more happy with the security than with insurance. However, we see a gradual improvement in this scenario in the last six months. We started this in June last year and covered around 100 units in the first month. There is considerable growth in numbers over time and we covered around 1,000 units in March. We want to make clear from this month there would be action if the bank authority asks for collateral security.”

The bank is also taking stringent action against willful commercial loan defaulters, “By taking action and announcing them as willful defaulters, they can not get loans from any of the other banks. With such actions, we could recover `7crore in April. We issued notices for around 20 people and will continue with stringent actions,” he concludes.

Sanjiv Singhal (left) and Atul Shinghal, founders of Scripbox.com.

Sanjiv Singhal’s and WS Ravishankar’s Scripbox enables you to invest in mutual funds with the click of a button sitting at your home or office.

Want to invest in mutual funds but worried about the complexity in choo­sing the right fund and the credibility of the seller/advisor? Here is a chance to invest in mutual funds with the click of a button through Scripbox by sitting at your home or in office. Atul Shinghal, Sanjiv Singhal and WS Ravishankar started scrip­box.com late last year to make in­vesting simple and transparent.

Talking about the strength of idea, Sanjiv says, “The core idea is to simplify mutual fund investing. Most of the customers find mutual fund investing too complex and face difficulty in understanding the jargon, type of funds and at times, they fall prey to misselling. With this service, the customer gets an opportunity to invest in four scientifically selected mutual funds effortlessly online. We leverage the power of technology to filter the top performing funds and use the power of internet to distribute the same, making investing in mutual funds simple and convenient.”

The business took birth in a way to find a solution to an existing problem. “Most of the times, the distributor sells the mutual funds, which gets him higher commissions. The idea is to bring transparency in selling and build trust with customers over time. Investing, withdrawing and getting statements are all at the click of a button. The performance of selected funds is monitored and reviewed regularly,” explains Atul.

Attracting first customers is always a challenge for any business. “By word of mouth, the spread of trust will bring more customers over time. Our focus is to tap the investment potential of common people who have decent amounts of money but do not know how to go about investing in mutual funds. They can start investing with amounts as low as `4,000 per month. With our offering, online investing can become part and parcel of life as social media and e-commerce have become today,” says Ravi.

Atul Shinghal, Sanjiv Singhal and WS Ravishankar are alumni of IIM Bangalore. Their long experience with finance and technology industry is proving to be an advantage in building the business. “The selection of funds is based on an algorithm developed using historical data. The back-testing of the algorithm has shown that funds selected through it could have outperformed the market since 2005. With over 5,500 mutual funds, selecting the best out of them is definitely a difficult task.

“We are working with 35 companies, each of which has around 40 funds. Thus, we have a list of 1400 funds. Out of them, we select only four funds. We work on a revenue model wherein the company does not charge the customer but gets between 0.3-0.7 per cent commission from the mutual fund companies,” says Sanjiv.

On future prospects, he said, “The potential is huge in the country with only 2 per cent of the population having invested in mutual funds. The strength of the idea along with the potential for growth in mutual fund investing will grow the business.” The company is aiming to be among the top 100 distributors by the end of this financial year and is expecting operational breakeven in next 18 months.

Businesses are increasingly using cellphones to get feedback, market their products and measure the popularity of their services.

The mobile is no longer just a device to talk, chat or send pictures. For enterprises, mobile capabilities are great avenues to build and grow their business through effective use of various mechanisms such as marketing; customer service and feedback.

“Successful business marketers know that it’s critical to take the time to get customer feedback and if implemented in the right manner, it will help in enhancing the customer experience. Allowing customers to voice their opinions gives enterprises a chance to measure the popularity of their products and also understand what customers think about the products and services,” says Vishwanath Alluri, founder and executive chairman of IMImobile.

Further explaining various ways this can be achieved, he said,“Social media sites on mobile phones also have tools to quickly create a survey or poll and the results are displayed in real time as people answer the questions. Customer feedback via mobile phone is generally obtained in three ways — via SMS text messages, WAP or mobile Internet — or by downloading a small application onto the phone that collects survey or passive data. Enterprises can also easily implement this technique by making use of platforms offered by companies like us.”

A missed call model is also turning out as an effective tool of communication, especially while providing information or services. “The model, which originated as a cost-minimising strategy, may in fact now have become a strategy of convenience. It’s a win-win situation for the enterprises and the users, as the former doesn’t have to develop complex infrastructure for the service while the latter is not paying anything for the engagement. It is convenient, with no cost to end consumers. They never have to hear busy tones, as there is no holdtime on IVR. This leads to an overall customer satisfaction and ease of use which, in turn, benefits the business,” he explains.

In rural India, the missed call model is being used innovatively. There have been instances of regional dailies asking their readers to give a missed call to a particular number to renew their subscriptions. People seeking prompt response to their grievances are also using the missed call model. Rural citizens have been connecting to utilities assigned for a number of sectors ranging from governance to education, social to cultural issues as well as entertainment.

Talking about the costs involved in availing these services, Alluri said, “There is no upfront CAPEX (capital expenditure) involved. Customers can pay as they go. They are charged only for renting numbers and for each missed call received. Customers simply need to create an account, login and configure the service with the capabilities and services provided by us. For instance, users who have a query can simply place a missed call. Backend systems verify whether the caller is an existing customer, prospect, etc. Once this is done, different workflows can be defined accordingly; whether it is connecting to a sales or service centre and so on.With the increased usage of smartphones, tablets and similar mobile devices, mobile marketing has become a must for many businesses.

“Today, companies need to adopt innovative ways to reach out to the customers and create an edge over others. A business can use different ways of mobile marketing such as SMSes , mobile banners, in-app ads and in-video ads. The idea is to choose which medium works best and accordingly, optimise the usage of the particular medium. They have a range of uses across the entire customer lifecycle — driving awareness, customer acquisition, transaction, service, engagement, retention and loyalty. The appropriate channel mix needs to be employed during each stage,” he explains.

However, businesses need to understand and be aware that a mobile is a personal device and bombarding the customer with irrelevant marketing messages can backfire. They should know their target customers and do relevant and permission-based marketing to attract them.

“Mobile technologies can be used by businesses through consent-driven or permission-based marketing. They can build an opt-in database with subscriber preferences. They can even provide subscriber gratification (such as airtime recharges) as part of marketing and acquisition strategies,” Alluri adds.

Mobile data (analytics and insights) can be very useful in designing strategies or while taking business decisions. “Basically, network intelligence is the data analytics and insights that can be drawn from data sitting within operator networks. This can all be done while keeping the subscriber’s privacy intact. Data can be aggregated, anonymised and made available to businesses; for example, store location planning using mobility patterns of subscribers. Thus, businesses are exposed to rich CRM (customer relationship management) data. Also, opening up these existing network assets will result in new revenue streams for mobile companies and thus will help them combat the decline in ARPU (average revenue per user) from traditional consumer services,” he concludes.

This model residential area, made famous by participative governance and eco-friendly initiatives, beckons those looking for a quality neighbourhood which is centrally located.

What can be more beautiful than to live in a place without plastic bags, gutka packets, fizzy drinks and alcohols shops? Pragathi Nagar, located near KPHB colony, is one such rare place in the country. The conviction of the locals with the effective village administration helped the place to achieve to achieve ISO 9001-2000 standard certification. Many eco-friendly initiatives and effective clean and green governance helped the place to achieve many awards.

The village panchayat also built numerous temples, marriage hall (converted in to indoor stadium in normal days), multi-purpose halls, and a swimming pool for the locals. It is also known for its recycling plant for sewage water — the first one in the City. This water can be used for watering plants. There is also segregated collection of biodegrable and non-biodegradable garbage.

“In terms of real estate, it was dull for few years like any other place in the City. However, the sales have picked up in recent months. An HUDA approved apartment flat may range anywhere between `2,400-2,500 per sft. But here, the panchayat approved flats range around `2,000 per sft. However, villas price can be anywhere between`90 lakh to `1.25 crore,” says PJR Krishna, proprietor, JRK Properties.

The only major issue for this locality is the low underground water levels. “Each are in this locality has different water levels which may range anywhere between 200-600 feet. Many residents are dependent on water tankers for regular supply, especially during summers. To an extent, Manjeera connection has come as a relief. The water problem may be solved to a certain extent with the locality getting merged to GHMC,” he explains.

It is no longer a panchayat but a developed colony with retail and commerical outlets like supermarkets, curry points and banks. Most major banks have their branches in this locality. People’s Speciality Hospital and Pragati Vidya Niketan (school), managed by People’s Progress Trust is also known for their service in their respective fields for this colony. ALEAP industrial estate is also at close proximity from the colony centre.

Connectivity is another strength of this locality. “With its proximity to KPHB colony, the area has access to major upcoming shopping malls, multiplexes and the Metro. It is also very near to Medak Road and Outer Ring Road, which will help the residents to go to other localities and Cities bypassing City traffic. It is also adjacent to Mumbai Highway and is 5 km from Bachupally, an educational hub. The students have accesses to premier education institutes at within a radius of 8 km,” he says.

Pragathi Nagar has an edge over other localities like Nizampet, Bachupally and Miyapur due to its clean and green environment. Infrastructure or village development happened in a systematic approach unlike other panchayats. The services and active involvement of the panchayat for solving the colony issues cannot be ignored. “There will be definite growth in this locality with the growth of the City. In another 3-4 years, this will emerge as a major centre with the growth of other areas around Inner Ring Road,” concludes Krishna.

Amenities

1. Pragatinagar Sewage Treatment Plant
2. Pragathi Cricket Academy
3. Pragati Nagar Tennis Court
4. Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao Park
5. Ambedkar Park
6. Krishna Garden Function Hall

Sunshine Avenue (Sri Balaji Builders & Developers)

1. Flat size: 1,000 sft
2. Double bedroom flat
3. Clear title
4. Vaastu compliant
5. Pleasing elevation
6. Ideal location for morning walks and visit temple.
7. Continuous water supply
8. Near to schools, colleges and hospitals
9. Pollution-free green environment
10. Power back-up
11. Reserved parking
12. Waste disposal
13. Price: `2500 per sft including amenities

Bhagawan Arcade (Anu Sai constructions)

1. Located at Gajularamaram road
2. Clear title
3. Flat size: 850 sft
4. Vaastu compliant
5. Good ventilation,
6. Pleasing elevation
7. Abutting main road
8. Near to Kukatpally, Balanagar and Pragathi Nagar
9. Continuous water supply
10. Centrally located
11. Generator
12. Car parking
13. Near to schools, colleges and hospitals
14. Basic Price: `2,150 per sft

Rashmi’s Sankalp city

1. Flats ranging from 720 sft to 1,611 sft
2. 15 different size flats
3. Club house, Gymnasium, Yoga
4. Meditation hall, Amphitheatre
5. Swimming pool for adults and kids
6. Children’s play area
7. Indoor games: Table tennis, board games
8. Badminton/ lawn tennis
9. Cricket net practice
10. Jogging track
11. Multi-purpose hall,
12. Round-the-clock security,
13. Power back-up
14. Gas pipeline
15. Supermarket
16. Basic price: `2,700 per sft

Its connectivity and proximity to Gachibowli, Hitec City and Kondapur has made it a choice for residents who do not want to spend long hours commuting to work.

Hafeezpet, set adjacent to Gac­hibo­wli-Miyapur road, was once a small village, has grown to residential and commercial centre today. Its connectivity and proximity to the Gachi­bowli, Hitec City and Kondapur has made it a choice for residents who do not want to spend long hours commuting to their work. The transport facilities like APSRTC buses, MMTS trains also connect it well to other parts of the City. It is also adjacent to Miyapur and is at a close proximity to Mumbai Highway at a distance of half a kilometre.

Talking about the strengths of the location, Atul J Trivedi of Rashmi Srisairam Property Developers, says, “Hafeezpet has two main roads passing on the either sides. One is Miyapur to Gachibowli road and other is Manjeera Pipeline road, which starts from Lingampally crossroads and ends at Hitec City railway station flyover.

“The Centre is expanding it to 100 feet wide two-way road. The locality is also close to proposed metro station at Miyapur with a travel time of 10 minutes.”

The location does not have much pollution and traffic as compared to near by locations like KPHB, Nizampet and Miyapur. However, one can not undermine traffic in peak office hours on Miyapur-Gachibowli road, due to commuters travelling to the IT hub choose this way from Miyapur. “The new 100 feet wide road to Hitec City railway station will decrease the traffic. This road will enable the commuters to choose Manjeera pipeline road rather than the main road (Gachibowli-Miyapur road),” he says.

Developers are confident about underground water levels. “We have decent underground water levels as this is not hilly area. For instance, we found water at the depth of 450 feet but went up to 800 feet. The gated communities are also offering Manjeera connectivity for drinking water,” says Atul.

For entertainment, the residents have to depend on Miyapur, which is of 10 minutes journey. Rashmi Srisairam Property Developers is planning for shopping complex and multiplex theatres in this locality, which may take more than three years for availability.

The locality also has schools, hospitals and hotels. As of now, there are not any major villa development happening in this locality but there are high-rise gated community projects. In future, there will be many more gated communities in this locality as there is an ample land space. Almost 80 acres is set for development in this area.

Most of the real estate market is driven by the IT crowd, who work in nearby locations, followed by investors, business people and film stars.

There is also appreciation in the property values by around `500 per sft in last eight months with the real estate back in the growth track. “The price may range anywhere between `3,500- 4,000 depending on the construction quality. The price is almost similar to the nearby localities like Miyapur and Chandanagar. Less pollution with no major industries in surroundings and proximity to financial district give it an edge.

“A customer can get stand-alone apartments in near by localities at lesser price (`800 per sft). However, a gated community will not only provide facilities and amenities but also continue to drive the demand and have a decent growth in values,” he concludes.

Aditya’s Imperial heights

1. 9 towers in 10.5 acres
2. Flat size: 1,250-2,000 sft
3. Bedrooms 2-3
4. Intercom facility
5. Power back-up
6. Automatic lifts
7. 2-level parking system
8. 2 car-parking bays per apartment
9. Air-conditioned club house
10. Health and fitness centre
11. Swimming pool
12. Children’s play area
13. Central park
14. Landscaped garden
15. Round-the-clock security
16. Shopping area
17. Basic price: `3,600 per sft

Rashmi’s Lake City

1. 4 blocks in 2.5 Acres (Lake City Phase -1)
2. Unique payment with huge savings on interest cost (40 interest-free installments)
3. Club house with gym
4. Yoga and meditation hall
5. Jogging track
6. Multi-purpose Hall
7. Children’s play area
8. Round-the-clock security
9. Indoor games facility (table tennis, board games)
10. Outdoor Games (badminton, lawn tennis, cricket practice net
11. Basic Price: `3,300 per sft

Sri Sairam Towers

1. 8 blocks on 7 acres with 74 per cent open space
2. 3-level car parking
3. Clubhouse and gym
4. Swimming pool for adults and kids
5. 24*7 security with CCTV and intercom
6. One flat exclusively for ladies gym, yoga and aerobics in each block
7. Jogging and cycling track
8. Courts for basketball, lawn tennis and badminton
9. Laundry facility in basement floor
10. Approximately 45,000 sft built-up area for amenities
11. Basic Price: `3,600 per sft

Business establishments have adapted to the advances in technology and are tapping internet and social media to push their offers.

Discounting strategy continues to stay strong online despite raising concerns by the e-commerce companies that these are eating away their decent margins. Over time, discounting has matured with voucher and coupon codes, which should be redeemed while buying online or during an offline sale.

“This is more of an advertising mechanism and a reward for the buyers. Today, it is very common that you find these discount vouchers not only discount coupon sites even when you recharge your phone online through various sites like Paytm. Various brands are offering these discount vouchers for segments like online shopping, travel, Gifts and flowers and Food. They display varied offers ranging from flat discounts to buy one get one free. It is amazing to see even the offline sales are pushed through this online discount voucher mechanism,” says Rama Raju R, CEO, Upto75.com.

“Price is definitely a key factor in deciding the purchase online. It is turning out as a competitive advantage for a specific brand over the other in this cutthroat competition. If the discount is of real value, it definitely attracts customers,” he says.

“It is not a new phenomenon. Discounting is always there to attract buyers during festivals or sale period. Even now, when a customer buys from Dominos Pizza, he gets various coupons that attract customer to revisit the outlet. Over time, these discount vouchers took an online medium with the ease to download and browse through variety of offers,” he explains.

When asked about its effectiveness in driving sales, he says, “This discounting strategy is very effective and at least drive 10-15 per cent of the overall e-commerce sales. There are ranges of sites like us who offer these discounts codes for customers. It not only acts as a lead but also makes customers happy at the end of the sale. That also gives an opportunity for a customer to explore and find the value of site, which help in the future sales. Very few companies tend to give discount on the product itself than to attract people with vouchers. But, this has become the way for many online sellers to grab the customers.”

The discounting depends on the products and their margins. They are ready to give deep discounts if they have decent margin on that specific product. Generally, they range from 10-30 per cent and may go higher during a sale or in festive season like offline outlets.

“The brands pay these coupon websites for visibility and driving the sale. Their marketing budget for discounts many range any where from `10,000-`20 lakh depending on the brand. Each of the brands generates a specific code to each of the discount coupon site, which helps in assessing the ROI of the whole campaign or on each of the discount coupon sites,” he says.

The restaurant deep discount model has become popular with sites like Snapdeal, where in the customer buys the deal with the limited amount online and the rest he pays in the Hotel or restaurant. This even pushed the middle class couples or families to try out dinners at expensive restaurants. This hashelped hotels to increase their revenues and footfall despite compromising on their margins.

However, discounts did not limit to online but also have gone mobile. Mojostreet took this discounting model to mobile; where in the mobile app will not only act as gateway in finding the nearest outlets (Coffee shops, Hotels and Multiplexes) but also let the customers know if there are any discounts on offer in these outlets exclusively to the application users.

Many experts warn brands should be cautious in using discounting strategy to drive sales. They also say that the buyers are loyal to discounts not to brands, which are offering them. Brands can neither ignore the discount strategy nor fall prey for it by compromising heavily on margins. They should evaluate the costs for each of the discount and the returns that they get out of it than to be and lead the discount race for the sake of luring customers.

In several companies, marketing may not get its due while delegating resources or time. This is where Bijoy Babu comes in.

As a young boy, Bijoy Babu did not see the value of studies. For him, marketing became the path of life.

The youngster did not know much about the field but he knew it was a practice by which one could seel products and make a profit margin. He sold belts and bats not only within his friends’ circle but also to outsiders when he was in senior secondary school.

Over time, marketing became a passion and this drove him to understand the real value of education. He completed an MBA through correspondence.

His passion took him places. Bijoy worked with various MNCs like Acer, IBM and Wipro. Eventually, he sacrificed his job as practice manager at Wipro to start his own enterprise.

In July 2012, Bijoy started Green Apple Marketing and Consulting. Talking about his business idea, he said, “For any company, marketing is a real challenge. Hiring, managing and driving the team not only takes investments but also takes valuable time and resources. For instance, manufacturing companies put a lot of time and effort in the operational issues. Marketing may not get its due while delegating resources or time. When companies outsource their marketing, the marketing company takes care of everything from training, infrastructure and resources.”

He adds that marketing should be conceptualised from the inception of the product.And one may wonder, how can an outsider explain the value addition of the product? “We get training about the product for two to three days before taking up the job. We do not accept products which are complex in nature and need strong understanding before marketing.

“Marketing outsourcing is very common in the West. As of now, we have more IT clients but soon we will reach out to manufacturing and other sectors. We take different approaches in reaching the customer — road shows, field sales, tele-marketing and channel sales. We don’t go blindly for any marketing approach. For instance, brands spend money to get likes on Facebook. Some people who like these pages are not real customers. Each of them have given almost thousand likes to different companies. We don’t follow such techniques but go with a strategy in reaching right and valued customers,” he added.

“We generally take 15 days to streamline the marketing after sealing the deal. The idea is to limit the costs of the company. We hire experienced people according to the need and give them thorough training before placing them in the job. Even when the project finishes, we try to place them in various other projects,” Bijoy says.

The business had gone through a tough time in the initial phase. There were very few clients turning up in the first months. However, Bijoy did not lose hope but gave time for business to pick up. “We know that business needs time to gain momentum. We even did consulting to manage our costs. At a point of time, I even doubted the timing of the inception of the company. It is important for any business to give time for incubation,” he explains.

On challenges, he says, “Hiring people is definitely a tough task. Marketers have lot of opportunities and getting them to stick to a job is challenging. There are times when recruited people did not turn up on the reporting date. Over time, we streamlined the process and there is enough capable human resource to take up any work.”

The business guarantees sales for the client and shares profits if it crosses the target. “We take payment upfront and guarantee minimum basic target according to the product or service. However, we go on with profit sharing if we do sales beyond the basic target. This will push us to go beyond targets and take the business to the next level. Each client approaches us only based on the sales that we bring to other clients. In a way, there should be sustainable sales, which will help us to get more clients.”

Talking about future prospects, he says, “There is a lot of opportunity in the segment as there are very few players. I personally get involved in designing or monitoring the marketing performance for each client. To expand the business, we are also looking for an active partner who has similar expertise. He could handle a few more companies and help us double revenue and clients.”

This one of the very few places in the City where one can either buy a economical flat at less than `20 lakh or buy a luxury villa with just over `50 lakh. Availability of water is the only major problem.

Over the years, Bachupally has emerged as an educational hub of the City. The children or the residents here do not need to travel long hours to reach world-class educational institutes. Be it play school or an engineering college, education institutes for any level is in the radius of around 0-5 km in this locality.

The real estate slump in the City after 2007 affected the real estate market of this region too. The property prices have been almost stagnant for years and there were not any new project launches during this time. But with recent real estate recovery, many developers in and around have initiated new projects. Developers say that the real estate market in the locality is back on track with moderate growth in prices over last few months.

This one of the very few places in the City where one can either buy a economical flat at less than `20 lakh or buy a luxury villa with just over `50 lakh.

Talking about strengths of the locality, D Ramchandra Varma, manager (sales), Praneeth Group of companies, says, “The children of the residents around this locality enjoy the accesses to all levels of education in close proximity. Many buyers are ready to take the pain of travelling to office but want their children to have the luxury of their school within walking distance. The prices are moderate as compared to KPHB Colony or Miyapur. A buyer can buy villa here at a price of flat in KPHB Colony. If a buyer is ready to travel for another 5-6 km, he can own an asset, which will stay valuable for a lifetime.”

Explaining further, he says, “A flat is a place just to live but doesn’t appeal as a valued property as compared to a villa. Neither the floor nor the roof belongs to the resident. The undivided land share, which he gets, is very minimal and not really useful for any future construction. On the contrary, the buyer gets a specific land in the case of villa, which can be used by his heir for future construction. Land value continues to grow with the time, whereas the apartment flat may have the growth momentum for the first five years but gets lower with the construction getting old.”

Bachupally falls under panchayat and there is also a proposal to merge this locality with GHMC.

However, falling under a panchayat created certain issues for the flat buyers. Most of the developers, constructed apartments with just panchayat permissions, have to undergo BPS and LRS schemes to regularise their property. A buyer in this locality has to be careful and cross check the legal validation of property before buying it.

On the negative side, the locality also doesn’t have Manjeera connection for drinking water. Due to very low underground water levels, except for few villas and apartments, most of the residents rely on water tankers. Builders hope the scenario of drinking water may change with the availability of Krishna water in to the City.

However, the developers in the locality are confident about future potential. “The locality is well connected with the city. There will be two metro stations and one Inter-city bus terminal (ICBT) with in 6 km. With the merger to GHMC, the village will definitely gain sheen. One can expect a growth of 20-30 per cent in next two to three years,” Varma adds.

Educational institutes

1. Ambitus World School
2. VRS & VJ
3. Residential School
4. Surya Academy
5. The Global School
6. Geetanjali IIT
7. Olympiad School
8. Kennedy High
9. The Global School
10. Oakridge
11. International School
12. Vikas The Concept School
13. Sri Chaitanya college
14. Narayana college
15. GRIET
16. Vignan Jyothi
17. BVRIT

With the growth of human resources, businesses may not have the equipment to manage these services. The solution? Outsourcing.

Businesses do not need to bother about managing or optimising HR services anymore. With the growth of outsourcing HR services, there is a win-win situation evolving between the HR solutions providers and businesses.

“This will be a cost-effective and efficient way forward for business. HR outsourcing and payroll BPO is emerging and growing in the country like in the West,” says Raghuram Janapareddy, centre head (operations), NorthgateArinso, Hyderabad.

“Today, businesses can pick and choose varied services in the mode of on-premise and on-demand from the range of products and service portfolio. For instance, our products like euHReka, ResourceLink are well-connected to back-end operations like SAP. The companies can also avail solutions, products and support from us,” he says.

“With the growth of human resource, businesses may not have the bandwidth or the equipment to manage these services. The processes will be outsourced to other organisations based on the cost analysis,” he explains.

“Generally, small companies have to afford wide-ranging human resources like admin manager, HR manager, recruitment manager irrespective of the size of the company. They tend to outsource these processes to small content companies, who work on simple softwares like MS Word and MS Excel.

“However, if businesses think that they have to manage their own taxation and employee welfare with the growth of human resources and accountability, they can choose companies like us to maintain their entire HR operations. They also have an option to have their own software or buy on premise software, solutions and services from us,” says Raghuram.

“Business management softwares in certain segments like materials management; purchase and sales do not require frequent updates. However, accounting and HR softwares have to be up to date with the taxation and other rules of each country. For instance, if there is a change in the deductions to an allowance, the software has to be immediately updated with the change and the next pay roll has to be generated with the new rule. Very few companies have that capability to constantly monitor and update the changes quickly. They are other difficulties like financial year of the country may not be same as of the organisation, which needs to be integrated in the application.

“The complexity of managing will further increase if there is mistake in deductions for PF or while paying salaries late. These applications on cloud can help in easing the complexity through a solution,” he says.

Various HR processes

1. Workforce administration
2. Payroll
3. Time and Attendance
4. Performance management
5. Compensation & reward
6. Recruitment
7. Succession planning

Various HR solutions

1. Cloud Transformation
2. Consulting
3. Application maintenance
4. Testing
5. Reporting and Analytics
6. Custom Product development
7. Internal Productivity tools
8. Project accounting and Reporting
9. Mobile applications
10. IT infrastructure management
11. Managing Global QMS
12. Implementation of business excellence framework

When a consumer is looking at investing in a water purifier, the water condition and source of the input water should be kept in mind.

A plethora of advertisements on various media platforms about different water purifiers and their technologies are leaving customers more confused, rather than helping them choose the right one. First, the customer has to see the real need for a water purifier before deciding on the technology. The taste, colour, smell and TDS levels can easily determine the quality of water.

“The quality of water being supplied to our homes is deteriorating day by day. With all kinds of new chemicals being produced in the industries, sooner or later, they make their way into the water supply and pose a risk to health,” says Marzin R Shroff (in pic), CEO (direct sales) and senior vice-president (marketing), Eureka Forbes.

In most areas, the water we get at the turn of the tap is not safe for consumption and can lead to water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera or jaundice. To make it potable, it is mandatory to treat it for the present impurities such as bacteria, virus, volatile organic compounds and heavy metals. Water purifiers not only eliminate chemicals from the water but also retain the minerals essential for safe drinking water. “Water is healthy when it has the right amount of minerals and nutrients that will help our body,” he says.

When a consumer is looking at investing in a water purifier, the first thing to be kept in mind is the water condition and source of the input water. “Knowing the condition of your water input will help you choose the right purification technology for your homes. Not only will you get safe drinking water but you will also avoid wasting water using the wrong technology. For instance, if you receive water from the corporation and the total dissolved salts (TDS) level is below 200 mg/lt, then a UV purifier will be the most apt technology. But if the source of your water is borewell or the TDS level is higher than 200 mg/lt, then RO technology will be the best solution to your water woes,” Shroff says.

He further adds, “Another aspect to keep in mind while purchasing a water purifier is whether there is constant supply of running water and if there are power shortages in your area. If there is an erratic supply of water, you can consider a storage water purifier, which can provide you with drinking water constantly.”

“The customer can choose one or combination of technologies based on his need. For the quality of water, Eureka Forbes has mapped over 7,000 pin codes, and the information is available on www.waterwonderfulworld.org. The site recommends the best water purification technology suited for a consumer based on his area of residence,”said Shroff.

Technologies and their uses

1) Ultraviolet (UV) Technology: Purifies the water to prevent contamination and keeps it pure and fresh. UV purifies water by removing all disease-causing microorganisms. It is the most appropriate and effective technology for water that has low TDS (under 200 mg/lt). Consumers whose source of water is from the municipal/corporation should use an UV water purifier.

2) Reverse Osmosis (RO) Technology: Removes all harmful chemicals, water-borne disease-causing bacteria and heavy metals like lead and iron from water. This technology is best used when the TDS level of water is high (more than 200-500 mg/lt). When the source of water is borewell, consumers should opt for RO purifiers to remove the excess TDS, pesticides and other impurities from water.

3) Ultra Filtration (UF) Technology: Is a type of membrane filtration which is employed in water purifiers to remove bacteria and other microorganisms, particulate material, natural organic material, which imparts colour, taste and odours to the water.

His love for music and quest for the perfect sound led GVN Bobby to set up The Audio People in Hyderabad, which offers tailor-made solutions for all your audio needs.

Want to enjoy and experience sound in your home as it was recorded in a world-class studio? Want to replicate the big screen viewing experience in your living room? The Audio People, the largest retail store in the City offering high-end audio and video equipment, can be a one-stop shop for home theatre needs.

The founders of the store stress that it is not sales that drives them to be in business but the passion to educate and to offer customised and finest video and audio solutions to the customers. The business, which was started by GVN Bobby and Jalal in February 2012, grew over time and made its mark in the hearts of music lovers. Explaining the reasons behind kick-starting the business, Bobby says, “It’s the love for music that pushed me to start the business. I am a music enthusiast from childhood but did not get into composing or the learning part of it. However, I had a desperate urge to listen to sound at its best quality. I used to experiment for the right sound quality by changing different components of home theatre systems — amplifiers, speakers, sub-woofers and equalisers.”

After doing a diploma in audio engineering from SAE College, Chennai, in 2003, Bobby retuned to the City and worked as an assistant sound engineer at Prasad labs. Later, he started to work as an acoustic consultant (freelancer), wherein he used to provide video and audio solutions on his own. He is also one of the few individuals in the country who got Level 2 THX certification for providing quality sound.

On the inception of the company, he says, “To take my work to the next level, I partnered with Jalal from Chennai, who owns distributorship of many international brands under the brand name of The Audio People. We started The Audio People store in the City, and later brought many other international brands to the country through our distributorship.”

He adds, “There’s a desperate need to bring these companies to the country. This will enable customers to have a world-class sound experience. For instance, we are the sole distributors of MK Sound (in India). The brand is known world-wide for its presence in various studios like DOLBY Laboratories, DTS, Universal Studios, Disney and Lucas Films. The sound recordings of many Hollywood films like King Kong, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings were made and tested on these speakers at studio level. Now, customers can exactly experience sound as it was heard in these studios.”

Any audio or video product can optimally deliver its value when the technicalities and installation is appropriate. Moreover, the choice or selection of a sound system or a screen should also be based on various parameters. The company is trying to get this in place to attract customers.

“We don’t just sell products to customers like any other store but offer solutions based on the customer’s budget, room and taste. We try to enhance the experience of sound by providing acoustics — wall proofing, ceiling, flooring — based on various techniques of absorption, reflection and positioning of speakers. We aim to see a happy customer with our sound solutions, which in turn will provide us with word-of-mouth publicity and eventually turn into revenues,” said Bobby.

The business also offers turnkey solutions and works with architects and interior designers from the construction phase. “We will provide customised solutions based on the client’s requirement. For instance, a large screen can be too big for a small room or vice versa. An angular positioning of seating in the room can bring a lot of difference in the process. Each amplifier or speaker has its own sound, which may or may not be liked by the buyer. Customers’ tastes should be kept in mind before offering the solution. The reason to start this store in a huge space was to fit in a wide variety of products like Horn speakers and Tube amplifiers, which enable a customer to have an ear for different sounds irrespective of whether he is buying the product from us or not,” he says.

About the business prospects, Bobby says, “Today, entertainment has become part of everyone’s life. After a lot of stress and hard work during the day, the couple or family want to enjoy a movie or an IPL match on their large screen. The frequency of going out for seeing a film has fallen with the advent of home theatres. We can recreate the experience and allow people to enjoy without stepping out of their home.”

The biggest challenge for the company is to educate customers.“Many have a good ear for music but are unaware of these technicalities. We make them understand the importance of each product, from cables to speakers, and its value in creation of quality sound,” said Bobby.

With the growth of economy and real estate market in the City, the company is upbeat about the home entertainment industry. It plans to expand its network to other tier-2 cities in early 2014 with proper demo rooms and technical teams.

The average property rates in the City grew by about 12 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 (January- March, 2013) when compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year (January-March. 2012), according to the report released by 99acres.com.

The Indian real estate market in 2013 continued to grow despite subdued GDP trends and economic conditions. However, drop in home loan rates and dip in domestic inflationary numbers has infused a sense of buoyancy among buyers. The property market of Hyderabad has been upbeat for a while.

The Hyderabad Information Technology Engineering Consultancy City, abbreviated as Hitec City registered the highest growth of over 29 per cent. With increasing presence of corporate offices in Hitec, the demand for property in and around Hitec has drastically increased from both buying and renting perspective.

Commenting on the report,Vineet Singh, business head, 99acres.com, said, ”Hitec City and Gachibowli have emerged as the best investment bets owing to increased presence of corporate offices. Prices are currently attractive for projects near completion, offering ready to move-in in next three tofo4 months. However, the developers are not very keen on launching new projects as the demand is not very high.” Hyderabad saw the highest average increase in rentals across seven major metros. Banjara Hills showed the maximum increase in rentals over the past year with an average growth of 47 per cent.

 Some of the other metros have also witnessed double digit percentage growth in property prices. Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai have witnessed property price appreciation in the range of 12-15 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in the last year.

Hyderabad’s IT corridor becomes the new hotspot for young people looking to lay down roots. All this thanks to the excellent connectivity, amenities and infrastructure.

Properties around the IT belt such as Gachibowli and Kondapur continued to grow over years. Even during recession, they achieved significant growth and brought decent returns to buyers. However, today these property values have reached sky high and are only affordable to higher income groups.

“Flats range anywhere between `3,500- 6,500 per sft depending on the quality of construction.  There is also property appreciation over the years. For instance, individual villas that were once priced around `80 lakh eight years ago today cost around `4 crore in these areas,” says G Hari Babu, chairman, Lahari Group.

The development of infrastructure in these areas has added further impetus to the growth, say developers. “Ring roads, radial roads, connectivity to the airport sets it apart from other regions. Also, universities, schools, hotels, retail stores here are top notch and superior compared to other regions in the city,” says Sunil, assistant manager marketing, Aparna constructions.

Another reason cited for the gradual rise in the value of these properties is said to be Hyderabad’s increasing IT population. “Undoubtedly, the growth of IT industry in the City pushed the growth in this area too. Around 3,50,000 IT employees work in this part of the City. With more than 10 per cent growth in the IT industry every year, further growth will continue to take place in the area. Retail and entertainment also flourished with the growth of residential and commercial real estate,” explains Hari Babu.

One may assume that there cannot be further growth in this area as the values of villas in these areas almost reached that of the properties in Jubilee hills and Banjara Hills. However, real estate developers in the area disagree and claim that they can indeed expect further growth. “The prices in Hyderabad are low as compared to other metropolitan cities due to political agitation. Once there is clarity on the T issue, there can be further push to these prices,” he says.

Once considered suburbs, areas such as Gachibowli, Nanakramguda and Kokapet have now assumed the status of prime localities. Large swathes of barren land have now given way to acres of gated communities which are increasingly becoming the preferred choice of property for the HNIs and NRIs. Developers further add that unlike other matured premium localities in the city, these up and coming properties offer unmatched amenities further upping their price tags. “Usually, surrounding areas bring value to a property. If there is a property in a premium locality which is closer to the slum, its value gets affected. However, there is a fixed standard and quality in large gated communities. The surroundings, green cover and other world-class amenities in the gated communities have an edge over premium localities of the City. The availability and quality will make these properties an obvious choice for the customers in the near future,”

According to the Hari, there are around 12-15 major projects with huge acreage that are set to come in between Cyberabad and Tellapur that will aim to be self-sufficient. “Entertainment, education and all retail needs will be taken care in these high-end gated communities.”

But still, these areas are not without problems. One major limitation is underground water, especially in summers when the underground levels touch bottom. Major realtors are drilling around 700 -1000 feet for water. And the residents can’t rely on Manjeera water either as its frequency is limited to 2-3 times in a week. Proper rainwater harvesting systems, recycling and purification are the only ways forward to solve this issue, say developers.

Aparna Sarovar Grande

1. Located at Nallagandla
2. Flat size —1920-3750 sft
3. A world class fully-fledged club house with state-of-the-art amenities
4. Table Tennis, GYM, Library, Crèche
5. Open Party Area,
6. Swimming Pool
7. Indoor games,
8. Shuttle Courts
9. Squash Court, Restaurant, SPA
10. Guest Rooms, Yoga/Meditation
11. Home Theater, Aerobics, Shallow pool
12. Grocery/Pharmacy, Multi purpose Hall
13. 24-hour Power back-up
14. 24-hour Surveillance and Security
15. Basic Price: `3849 per sft

Rajapushpa Cannon Dale

1. Located at Kokapet
2. 37 high end triplex villas
3. Plot area 322 sq yards
4. Buildup area 4200 sft
5. Luxury gated community
6. An exclusive clubhouse
7. Indoor Games facilities
8. Health spa
9. 24 hour security with intercom
10. Solar water heating
11. Piped cooking gas
12. 37 high end triplex villas
13. Vaastu compliant
14. Swimming pool
15. Jogging track
16. Basic Price: `2.5 crore

Rajapushpa OPen Skies

1. Located at Kokapet
2. Plot area 450 sq yards
3. Buildup area 5100 sft
4. Gated community with round the clock security
5. Air-conditioned club house with Gym
6. Indoor Games facilities
7. Health spa
8. Amphitheatre
9. Tennis courts
10. Children’s play area
11. Air-conditioned guest suites
12. Mirror effect Swimming pool
13. Well-stocked library
14. Basic price `4.35 crore