Cover Story
- Public sector banks dominate the best banks rankings, with a clutch of them making big gains.
- The data for the study is based on the published annual reports of banks and the Reserve Bank of India's publication
- The top rankers since the inception of the listing.
- Quick takes from the CEOs of some of India's most respected banks.
- Foreign banks have a substantial part of their operations locked in their non-banking arms.
- Smaller foreign banks seem to have reconciled themselves to becoming niche players.
- A non-banking finance company may be almost like a bank, but can it be remodelled into one?
- Performance-linked compensation is a significant step for an old private sector bank to achieve - not because it is rocket science but because it calls for reorienting employee mindsets to the new realities of the marketplace. Some of India's oldest banks are thus beefing up their top brass with MNC talent in a bid to stay competitive.
- Kotak Bank and YES Bank started about the same time and are growing smartly - but with distinct strategies.
- Unswerving growth in loans, fee income and mobilisation of low-cost deposits propel Axis Bank to top our list of best banks once again.
- The BT-KPMG study of the strongest, fastest growing and most efficient banks.
- Indian banks stand tall in a world still recovering from a global credit crisis, but now may also be the time to push the envelope.
Rural retail: To touch $25 bn by 2020
The rural Indian economy, growing at 8-10 per cent every year, will be adding $90-100 billion of new consumption in the next five years, over the current base of $240-250 billion. Brands set up their own retail outlets as they make a beeline for the aspirational small towner. Local retailers in Alwar, Rajasthan, are fighting Big Retail and have lessons for their kirana brethren elsewhere. The rapid income expansion in small towns and villages is pushing retailers to tap opportunities away from the big cities.
The brand called you
Talent is fine, but articulating your achievements is vital. Speakers screwed into a bulb holder and connected without wires. Welcome to 3D sound courtesy Snap Networks.
Look ma, no clock
More firms adopt flexible work hours to secure talent and improve productivity but mindsets remain the challenge.
So far so good
Industrial growth will moderate but the economic recovery will now be driven by agriculture and services.
Etcetera
Jetpacks are back in the news with Time magazine ranking Kiwi inventor Glenn Martin's jetpack as among the best inventions of 2010.'Our strategy is based on market leadership'
Jim Quigley, CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, one of the global Big Four accounting firms, spoke to BT's Suman Layak during his recent India sojourn. Edited Excerpts: A chronology of events in mobile number portability roll-out. Building a car for Rs 1 lakh, or even about, is much harder than it is romantic. For, everything about the car must be worked backwards from the self-set price target. India's economic resurgence, it is said, is driven by domestic consumption. Look at the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, which has more than trebled in the last decade to Rs 1,300 billion, according to a study by the CII. The relative underpenetration of FMCG products, though, shows that the Indian consumption story is still in its early stages. India Inc gears up for heavy-duty brand promotions.Do emerging economies like India need capital controls to check inflows and prevent asset bubbles?
The majority feels that there is need for capital controls to regulate inflows. Some economists feel that the monetary easing in the United States could cause "imported" inflation in developing countries like India. Already, Brazil and Taiwan have imposed controls. I wish the government would... stop this sort of Banana Republic kind of attack on whoever one chooses to attack on a basis unsubstantiated. Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Group, on the 2G spectrum scam, in The Indian Express This issue we review Samsung's answer camera to the iPad and the new Apple notebook Airfares have dropped after soaring in November but will continue to be volatile a while.Find out the meaning of a new business word: Tweetup
What it means: Tweetup is an organised or impromptu 'meeting' between people who are on Twitter. Cash in on Limited Liability It was one of the important policy initiatives of the United Progressive Alliance government in its first term, particularly for small and medium enterprises or SMEs. Systemic corruption in India can be fixed by making public servants accountable, argues Nagarajan Vittal. Rs 2,200 cr The estimated value of online shopping for consumer goods like electronics and chocolates during Diwali, according to Assocham Reader's forum
Pester Power (BT cover, December 12) is a vivid account of the consumerist culture casting its spell on our children and teenagers.
People Business
Starring Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission; R.H. Patil and H. Patil, Jalgaon farmers; Tomasso Cavalli, Promoter, Roberto Cavalli Vodka; Y.V. Reddy, Former RBI Governor; Prasoon Joshi, Executive Chairman, McCann Erickson Worldgroup India; Anshul Singhal, President, Commercial, JSW Severfield Structures BT-Ernst & Young Deal Watch
Energy and environment solutions provider Thermax acquired Danish boiler and waste heat recovery systems maker Danstoker A/S and its German subsidiary Omnical Kessel for Rs 187 crore ($41.4 million).
Scam around the corner
The loans scam grabbed eyeballs in late Nov as the CBI arrested officers of banks and housing finance companies. But the more disturbing instances that have come to light are of companies raising deposits claiming approval from one regulator or the other. After winning in premium pumps, Grundfos is ready for the value-for-money segment. Replicating its success will be tough.Scrabbling away from the abyss
Nitish Kumar's victory in last month's Bihar election celebrates the triumph of economics over feudalism, but the climb out of poverty will be steep and hard. This is about the first family of the DMK, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, which grabbed eyeballs because of the alleged involvement of one of its ministers in the Union Govt in the 2G scam. The fastest expanding business in the Indian accounting fraternity revolves around fraud. Fraud is ballooning so fast in corporate India that audit firms cannot keep pace.
A paltry price for protection
Your life is not cheap, but term policies are. They make the best sense if you are looking for peace of mind. 
