Faith Healing

Walk into any ‘Art of Living’ centre (an NGO started by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar that claims to uplift humanity by bringing peace at the level of the individual, society and the world as a whole) and what startles you is the number of youngsters gathered there for spiritual healing, shattering preconceived notions that it was a place for ‘senior citizens’ who want to make the best of their retired life by enhancing their spiritual self. “Why don’t you opt for the YES+ course?” was the question that was thrown at us no sooner we walked into one such centre in South Delhi. Straight from a marketing text book, eh?

In fact, not only Art of Living, even institutions like International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON), OSHO World, Patanjali Yogpeeth (Baba Ramdev), et al, are all places where gurus claim to offer peace of mind for battered souls. Girish Bhardwaj, a new entrant to the Art of Living course who has already undergone two stages – the Basic and Advanced Courses – avers that “his perception towards life has changed” after attending these sessions. And if you thought that spirituality comes free, welcome to the world of materialistic spiritualism - the course fee ranges anything from Rs.1,500 to Rs.3,000 (for a week long session).

So, what is it that prompts a Gen-X youngster to be a part of such centres. And more importantly how do centres attract such huge crowd?

Well, if you market your courses with tags like ‘Self Development’, ‘Stress Management’, et al, any person in the present scenario would be sure to lap it up. Don’t mistake us. We don’t disagree with the basic premise of such courses, which have almost become food for many souls in today’s stress filled society. What we are only bringing out is the manner in which modern marketing techniques are now being applied to this otherwise spiritual journey! Despite being low on ads in mainstream media, these centres have a huge presence on the Internet and that is one way they manage to attract tech savvy people like Girish. “Having read some books I got all the more confused. Thanks to the Internet, I chanced upon Art of Living,” points out Girish. Moreover, word-of-mouth certainly seems to be one of their key marketing strategies. “You become happy and you would like your near and dear ones to become happy too and that is how it’s marketed” he adds. There’s even a fair bit of showbiz involved in the business because many gurus spend big bucks to buy TV time that allows them to reach out to masses, organise mass jagrans in well-off neighbourhoods and even hire PR agencies to spread their enlightened word to the stressed out world!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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INDIAN BANKS GETTING SET FOR A WHIRLWIND GLOBAL TOUR?

But therein rises a devil’s advocacy question: Is it really essential for Indian banks to go the M&A route? As Jagannadham Thunuguntala, Equity Head, SMC Capital comments, “It’s better to first scale up in the Indian market, before trying uncertain terrains in the global market. India itself has a huge potential. Considering the banking penetration rate, banks do have a huge opportunity to grow organically within India than without...” There is surely weight in the argument that for banks that have not yet leveraged their competence within India, it’s senseless just to shore up foreign operations simply to play to the gallery. Vaibhav Agarwal, Senior Analyst-Banking reiterates, “I believe that the domestic market in India is amongst the attractive markets globally, offering far higher profitable growth opportunities. On the other hand, the risk-reward trade-off and avenues for profitable growth in competitive global markets do not appear to be the best fit for Indian banks in this phase of their growth. That’s why we prefer banks (at the market place), which are more inward-focused.”

Moreover, the possibilities of inorganic growth within India are also endless. With a lot many small banks still existing in the market, the industry is due for a serious phase of consolidations as shown by the recent merger of HDFC Bank and Centurion Bank of Punjab. The marriage pushed HDFC Bank to the position of India’s third largest bank in terms of market value. But, it’s not only the potential of the domestic market that is keeping Indian banks away from tasting global waters. There are more roadblocks on this global path. The foremost concern is in the lack of advanced risk management systems. Experts believe that Indian banks lack adequate skill to even adopt these systems quickly. Technology too plays a vital role, not only because it has a direct impact on a bank’s business model and process quality, but as it also affects the bank’s distribution channels radically. For Indian banks, which still trail their global counterparts in application of advanced technologies, handling the global consumers would certainly be a tough call. Besides, adoption of new technologies itself will end up increasing costs and besides, they’d also have to invest in changing their accounting principles to adhere to international standards. Adds Bimal Jalan (see interview on page 64-65), Ex-Governor, RBI, “For going global, banks must also follow India’s regulatory system to ensure that the main company remains safe.” But that is business logic put simply. The fact remains that with international valuations languishing at brilliant lows, there is no better time to takeover a foreign bank than now. And then, not every deal is as bad as Jaguar, is it?

In the meantime, some Indian banks are doing all in their means to entice the global customer (not just NRIs), offering attractive interest rates and unique banking options through multi-channel strategies. For instance, ICICI Bank Canada and UK offer unique HiSave accounts to customers. True to name, these accounts offer a higher interest rate on deposits than prevailing rates, ensuring a virtual flood of applications to the bank. When launched in 2005, ICICI UK had to even turn many applicants away as it had not expected such rave response to its HiSave ads. If Indian banking’s baby steps into global stardom are having such an impact, wonder what the full stride will bring in its wake?

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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