The Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corporation is back to in the race as it has resumed the fertiliser production that was stopped two years ago. The plant which is placed in Tuticorin was shut down two years ago and has been out of function due to some economic constraints. The production in the unit resumed this November and has successfully produced and supplied about 5, 000 tonnes of complex 20:20 fertiliser in Tamil Nadu. The production process of these 5, 000 tonnes of the complex 20:20 fertiliser was going on during the month of November from 21st to 30th the products seemed to be sold out completely in Tamil Nadu itself. Heard of coming back with a bang? This is what is known as striking back strongly. Previously the company had announced that the urea and ammonia plants were only closed down. The company which is led by Mr. A C Muthiah was expected to restart after the maintenance work as said but the company could not resume its production due to the shortage in the running capital as it had problem in coming to an agreement with its lenders. But now the company seems to have made all the necessary arrangements in order to run the unit on a low cost basis. In December month alone it has got orders for supplying 25, 000 tonnes of complex fertilizers in the Tamil Nadu state itself. Though it has got the quota it is not sure as to what extent the plant will be able to quench the need. The firm had agreed upon the quota it was asked to supply first but later it has informed the government that it will not be able to produce the asked quantum. SPIC is holding a meeting regarding this and once if it is finalized that it will not be able to produce its quota, then the government would give its quota to Zuari or Coromandel Fertilizers.
The Air India plans to reduce the fuel surcharge by Rs.400 on its flights. This action is in effect from today, the 2nd of December 2008. This step from the side of Air India will force the other players in the markets to reduce the rates to be in competition. Air India domestic which was previously known as Indian Airlines does not charge the customers with the congestion taxes and from now on the fuel surcharges has also been cut down. This will lead to a difference of Rs.550 in the ticket price. The other full service Indian carriers like the Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines charge the customers with both the fuel surcharge and the congestion taxes as well. Thus the surcharge of Rs 2, 350 for short flights has been reduced to Rs 1, 950. The other long fights which includes the domestic flights from Delhi to Mumbai or vice versa would be charged Rs 2, 700 as surcharge instead of the previous charge of Rs3100. This action from Air India is mainly to boost the air travel this season which has come down drastically, even though this is a peak travel season.
The cutting down of the fuel surcharge has been possible only due to the depreciation of the crude oil prices globally. Though the crude oil prices are volatile, it is expected to stabilize at the present rate. The airlines are going through a very bad patch and this step is expected to soothe the present situation hopefully. While the low cost carriers like the Spice Jet and Indigo do have plans of cutting down but are yet to make a final decision, Jet and Kingfisher are in no mood at all to do so as of now. The aviation turbine fuel has also come down drastically from an all time high of Rs 71, 028 per kilolitre in august by almost 48%. In the near future, other full service carriers following the Air India are expected to cut down the rates in order to boost the traffic which is now ready to set a negative growth this year over the previous year. Unless the fares are reduced, they cannot expect good domestic air traffic.
The bad run of the auto industry about which I had discussed already in the blog continues as the second largest car manufacturer the Hyundai has reported a sharp fall in the sales. As Honda had escaped the fall, Hyundai was also expected to report a growth in sales but what happened is a 23% fall in the sales in the month of November. The sales in the domestic market in the month of Nov last year amounted to around 19,000 units where as this year’s sales has come down to around 14,500 units. It has become very difficult for the company’s sales and marketing vice president to keep the sales ticking during this time of the year when the economic downturn has caused the interest rates to crop up which has continually prevented the public from going for automobile purchases. This is not the scenario which is prevailing for Hyundai alone but this is the same for each and every showroom of each and every auto manufacturer big and small leaving behind the very few exceptional cases like the Hondas who have shown a growth of fifteen percent. This growth of 15% as their report shows is in the same November month when other car manufacturers have suffered a lot. This has been possible for Honda because of the dispatch of the city’s new model Honda Siel. The sale of this new four wheeler resulted in the total sale of about five thousand units in the month of November this year against the reported sale of 4,425 units as sold by the manufacturer in the same month the previous year. This year’s sale of the Honda units was mainly because of the city’s new model which itself amounted up to around four thousand and three hundred units in itself of the total of 5,000 units in all sold by the manufacturer in November this year.
TATA steel has reported an increase in its net profit which is a whooping 215%. This is the company’s net profit for the second quarter. To be exact with the numbers, the company’s net profit has increased from 1, 489.56 crore in the second quarter of last year sky rocketing to this year’s net profit of 4, 703.64 crore in the same period. The net profit of the company has been boosted up to this level due to its international operations. In the same period, the sales has also been boosted from Rs. 32, 441 crore to Rs.44, 198 crore this year. Even though TATA has reported an up in its net profit, Corus which is capable of producing above two thirds to TATA steel’s output, is on the verge of a lower profit growth as the demand for the company’s finished products has come down. For TATA steel, the net profit from the Indian operations as reported recently was an increase by 50%. The reason for this general up in the net profit of the company is mainly due to the good steel prices and other cost control measures. TATA steel which stands sixth in the world’s largest steel makers has plans for the performance improvement or even cost cutting to put it directly has set a target of Rs. 890 crore from its Indian operations for 2008-09. The company is stepping towards its goal as it has managed to reach the Rs. 450 crore till September and is hoping to add to it another 300 crore by the end of this fiscal year. The steps that are being taken by the company in order to achieve their target seem to enhance the capacity of some of its high return plans and also by cutting down the overhead costs. The company’s UK counterpart Corus is all set to improve its performance by £350 million in the next six months. Thus TATA is on the up.
Dr. John Francis “Jack” Welch, Jr, shortly called as Jack Welch is well known as the world’s best CEO. Jack Welch wa
s born in the land of the best university in the world “MIT”. He was born in Salem, for a Railroad conductor. He was born and brought up in a very austere and disciplined family. He finished his high school in the Salem High school. This man had convinced me that whatever you study is just for studying but your going to achieve something that is going to be a complete contrary on what you haev studied. And that is proved by Welch, who was a chemical engineer and became a CEO and an author who loved Management and being a journalist.
The later part of his life, gave him a great fortune. This changed him as well as the status and working conditions of all the Multi National Companies. Jack became the CEO of the General Electric. GE was the leading company and is the ever growing company which hired him as a CEO. He was called as a Neutron Bomb as he has the routine of “firing” atlease ten percent of the mangagers every year depending on their work and dedication to the company. At the same time, Jack will reward the best managers with twenty percent of the bonuses and promotions (Remember getting a job in GE is very difficult, so even when you are fired you have a great future ahead with your profile).
Once he joined the company and started following strict rules and regulations his company started earning share holders, earning projects and importantly the market value of the GE grew from just 14 million dollars to an outstanding 210 million dollars. And now at present the company made an increase of around 400 million dollars. And the value of Jack is around 720 million US dollars. And this is too much for a CEO but he deserves more. He used the Six Sigma rule of quality policy.
Jack Welch is the Neutron Bomb, who fired many, hired many, awarded few, and earned so much. You can read his book “Jack Welch and his wife Suzy Welch in WINNING”.
There has been a sharp decline in the air traffic following the economic meltdown and also the terror attacks. The players in aviation industry are desperate to reverse the situation. The first step taken to proceed towards this was taken by Air India when it announced it cut on the fuel surcharge by Rs. 400 very recently. The same was expected from others too including the likes of Kingfisher and the Jet airways. They both were yet to make a decision after Air India had taken the step. Now to follow it up, the Jet too has slashed its fuel surcharge by Rs. 400. This surcharge cut down is in effect from 6th December this year on all the domestic routes. The step was forced by the government which put pressure on Air India to cut down their fuel surcharge as the jet fuel prices had come down to almost half of its price in august this year. The ticket sales for the Jet had also become very problematic as the air travel agents boycotted the high priced tickets. This brings the fuel surcharge down to Rs. 1, 950 from the earlier Rs. 2, 350 for travel less than one hour. For all other domestic routes the rates are down to Rs. 2, 700 instead of the previous rate of Rs. 3, 100. After all these hungama he only full service carrier in India who is reluctant to bring down its rates is the Kingfisher. The Kingfisher airlines already charge an extra congestion fee of Rs. 150 like the Jet which the Air India does not charge its customers. Earlier the owner of Kingfisher, Mr. Vijay Mallya had announced that his company would lower the rates once the government declares the air turbine fuel as good. Now as the government has declared this, it is expected that the wings of the Kingfisher too becomes cheaper.
We have been wondering so much on how a poor man can become the richest. We found that it is mainly because of their hard work and determination. But, there should also be something in the blood called as the “business knack”. That was what made a very poor Carnegie to become the emperor of steel. In our list of great moguls he is the oldest man born in 1835 in a small village in Scotland and died in 1919.
His career:
He started his career as a telegrapher messenger boy who earned just $2.5 a week (this is the money that a beggar of today gets in a minute). I say this comment just to show you all as how a person getting a very petty wage can become a richest man in the world. His education was not from school but from the voracious reading of the books from the libraries nearby. Then due to his great, sincere work in the telegraph office he was appointed as the Secretary of that office with just an increase of 1.5 dollars a week. Then his life started when his neurons helped him to find a key to his success by looking at the civil war and the need for steel. He started a steel roll mill in 1864 by investing a sum of $40,000 which gave him a million dollar in that same year. He sold his steel to lay the rail road for his country trains during the civil war.
The other side:
Carnegie started doing so much of investment and he rolled all his mills not with steel but with money. He became the richest man. But, apart form being a business man he was also a activist and had helped people and refugees around the world during the war. He was known for his generosity and political egalitarianism.
The end:
His quote “A richest man dies with disgrace”. Just as he said he donated all his money (350 million dollars) which is worth Bill Gates Money in today’s scenario of economics to the growth of Higher education and construction of numerous libraries around UK. Honors and Homage to Carnegie.
