Cover Story
- These are the poster boys of private enterprise in higher education. And even in the densely regulated segment, there are interesting business models that are paying off.
- Investors work around regulatory controls to manage and take over private schools for long-term returns.
- The vocational and skills training market has spawned scores of successful entrepreneurs. Many are expanding into secondary and higher education, says Saumya Bhattacharya.
- Educomp has spotted opportunities in virtually every segment of education without getting caught in regulatory hassles.
From the Editor
The share of education in most household budgets has risen substantially in recent years. That's not only because Indians are getting better educated, but also because getting educated is becoming more and more expensive. Cocktail kits and glasses
If you’re serious about making cocktails at home, you’re going to need some apparatus. A cocktail is much more than just a drink. It is the by-word for well-being; for a warm, fuzzy, happy feeling. Friends, Readers, Countrymen! Listen up — I don’t have much time. You see, this is my last issue of MORE, my final hour in the editor’s chair, and I have much to tell you before I depart from these pages, and your lives, once and for all. Where to stay in Bangkok if you’ve only got a few days. Thailand’s most famous holiday island is teeming with great luxury resorts. We thought we’d test drive a couple. The cult of Bikram, having conquered Hollywood, has now come home to India. It’s time to turn up the temperature… On a flying visit to Delhi, F1 superstar Lewis Hamilton sits down with us to talk about hanging out with Yuvraj and sleeping through Delhi traffic. From Louis Vuitton luggage to chic glam glasses, take your pick from these brand new buys.Launchpad: What's new in your world
Your mini-magazine at the front with everything you need this month, including festive buys, playing with The Beatles, the hidden Sherlock Holmes, Durga Puja and Lewis Hamilton’s cricket skills... Why can’t you get a decent haircut in India and what is Looks Salon in Delhi going to do about it? As Autumn/Winter collections make their way to the stores, we take a look at two distinctly Italian styles that are coming your way. Sangre de Toro owes its name, which means ‘bull’s blood’, to its robust colour. It’s hard to find a young wine looking so definitively red. The pan-Asian restaurant can be notoriously a hit or miss. How does 19 Oriental Avenue at the Shangri-La shape up? Since winning Miss India-Universe in 2004, Tanushree Dutta (26) has moved to Mumbai and into the realm of cinema. This Bong beauty has been single for over a year. If you can’t be bothered mixing them yourself, here are the best bars to go to. There are more cocktails in the world than there are days in a year. So, we got some of the hottest bartenders to come up with the best. Enjoy! The fun part of building a cocktail bar is buying all the ingredients—the liquor, the lemons and the limes. And that’s just the Ls... Hoping for a lift-off
Being deep down in the dungeon is not stopping the makers of trade policy from aiming for the moon in the foreseeable future. When it comes to eating habits, Indian children love Indian food. ISRO's latest toy, the Bhuvan Mapping Service, promises to be better than Google Earth. In reality, however, it’s not even half as good. Kushan Mitra tells more.'US companies may reinvest more of their profits in India'
KPMG’s Global Tax Head Wilbert H. A. Kannekens was in India last fortnight. He spoke about the raging issues in cross-border taxation.'Sniper trade' hits Dalal Street
Ever tried a Guerilla or a Sniper strategy? These popular algorithms or complex mathematical formulas that determine the best buying or selling prices are being offered by Goldman Sachs India and Credit Suisse India to international clients investing in India.A chance to invest in Chinese stocks
Till now there were not too many opportunities for Indians to invest in Chinese stocks. That is all set to change thanks to the BMF exchange traded fund on Hang Seng. Virendra Verma tells more. Smokers the world over consume a staggering 657 billion cigarettes that are illegally smuggled into their countries every year.'Firm dies when focus shifts from consumer to competitor'
Gaston Legorburu, Chief Creative Officer of the global servicing firm, Sapient, spoke about how interactivity can boost a plethora of businesses. Call drops aren’t restricted to any single operator. Poor connectivity is one of the biggest irritants for subscribers. So, what’s the way out?RBI's new regulatory framework
As the world’s biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression unfolded, the mandarins at the Reserve Bank of India had their task cut out.'India needs to look at newer markets'
Here's a look at words of wisdom from some of the prominent personalities.Government mulls including muslims in OBC list
Should Muslims be considered a part of Other Backward Classes (OBC)? Or should reservation be made separately for the community? There’s clearly a healthy jostle for space in our monthly ranking of “India’s Most Watched Ads” as it’s not always the big spending FMCG sector that tops the most watched list. It was always a favourite tourist destination for Indians. And now post the ASEAN-India free trade agreement, it promises to be one of the top business destinations, too.'We're keen on M&As in the $50-500 mn range'
Paul A. Hawkinson, MD of the $8.4-billion BMO Financial Group’s investment banking arm BMO Capital Markets, spoke about developing opportunities between India and N.America. Dawn of the netbook
Cheap, svelte and robust, netbooks have reached a unique tipping point. An impending broadband revolution and rising incomes will render them as commonplace as your cell phone. The Shriram Group has a unique way of creating entrepreneurs both within and outside the organisation.Dilip Shanghvi's multi-pronged defense
India’s most valuable pharma firm has stumbled, as a US subsidiary gets on the wrong side of the FDA and a handful of exclusive arrangements come to an end. Can founder Dilip Shanghvi get Sun Pharma back on the road to supernormal profits?Baba Kalyani's new growth engines
Prompted by the sudden collapse of the global auto industry, the Kalyanis want to transform Bharat Forge — the world's second-largest forgings maker — into a high-value engineering giant. After changing its focus from enzymes to biopharma, India's best-known biotech company wants to transform itself into a truly global company. The vaccines innovator has always had foreign partners to help with funding. Is it a viable model? With village youth comprising three-fourths of its employee base, BVG India has struck upon a unique — and cost-competitive — business model in facilities management and support services. Once the world's third-largest software company, Computer Associates is betting big on India to get its mojo back.'The main stakeholders in educational institutions are children'
HRD Minister Kapil Sibal may be insisting that education cannot usher in a for-profit-participation, but entrepreneurs believe he will become flexible in time. If he can break the jinx of the Companies Act that successive governments have tried — and failed — to modernise for over a decade now, Minister for Corporate Affairs Salman Khurshid would go down in history as the one who truly liberalised Indian Inc. from the red tape of stifling rules and meaningless approvals. Leaderspeak: Analjit Singh
Here's a little insight on the founder chairman of Max India Ltd. Microsoft also joins the application marketplace for mobile products. With the BlackBerry 8520, Research In Motion (RIM) wants to change the affordability game. Here's a look at the who and what hogging the limelight this fortnight. There will be surprises in executing even a well planned project. Here is how to tackle them. The climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009 will be the most important since the Kyoto Summit in 1997. Why India-ASEAN FTA will pay off
The India-ASEAN FTA is not just an ordinary free trade agreement. It is a key that will open the door to wider strategic engagement with the region, facilitating India’s participation in efforts to build an “Asian Economic Community”.Lessons from Intel's $1.45 billion fine
There is a fine line between using discounts to promote sales and misusing such schemes to keep out competitors.Profit can coexist with quality
Most people worry about quality control in higher education, and rightly so, since there is not much to education without quality.Legally non-profit, for-profit in reality
There is no doubt that private institutions have allowed more students to pursue courses of their choice. But access to quality private education comes at a cost.Thumb rules for investment in private education
As an industry, private educational institutions in India were worth $40 billion in 2008, a figure that is projected to grow to $70 billion by 2013 and $115 billion by 2018. Index funds vs active funds
With major indices taking a breather, should you make the switch to actively managed funds?What the tax code means to you
The draft direct tax code, if implemented in its current form, promises to be a game changer for individual taxpayers as well as for personal finance. We show how. Ga-ga Google
Product innovation and understanding of the Internet has made Google the king of the search domain. But its eyebrow-raising revenues is thanks to marketing whizkids like Nikesh Arora. High on employee morale
Despite a poor job market, a majority of executives is satisfied with their jobs, reveals a survey. The advent of edupreneurs
The P-word often rises unbidden in the hallowed halls of education. But now many are beginning to shed their inhibitions about it. Shamni Pande tells more.Stop the 'war' against enterprise
India has too many illiterates but too few entrepreneurs entering into the field of education. Why is this so? The answer is simple: the country is hostile territory for educational entrepreneurship. The truth behind justice
Amartya Sen shows that the concept of justice cannot be moored to social contracts or ideal institutions but instead needs to be linked to the ground realities of society. 
