Doing Business In India

The World Bank studies relative ease of doing business in different countries. In the 2008 edition, India ranks 120 out of the 178 countries surveyed- an improvement over the 2007 rank of 134.

The top 5 countries are Singapore, New Zealand, the United States, Hong Kong and Denmark.

The biggest negative in India was in the ease of starting a business. Entrepreneurs are required to go through 13 procedures, double that of the average for developed countries and 50 % higher than its regional peers, to start a business.

India’s ranks for the year on various factors( best rank=1, worst rank=178 !):-

• Doing Business 120
• Starting a Business 111
• Dealing with Licenses 134
• Employing Workers 85
• Registering Property 112
• Getting Credit 36
• Protecting Investors 33
• Paying Taxes 165
• Trading Across Borders 79
• Enforcing Contracts 177
• Closing a Business 137

India’s best scores were in Protecting Investors and Getting Credit but Enforcing Contracts is still an eye sore ! The highest gains with reference to the last year came in Trading Across Borders and Getting Credit.

Leadership the Reuben Marks Way

At the time I read it this article in Knowledge @Wharton had been read 31, 985 times. I am sure many more will read it for the insights provided.

This is on leadership by Reuben Marks, the veteran Chairman & CEO of Colgate Palmolive.

An alumnus of Harvard (MBA, class of ’63), Reuben Mark has spent his entire career in Colgate Palmolive rising from advertising trainee in 1963 to being CEO & Chairman of the Board since 1986. He is slated to continue as Chairman in 2008 after handing over his CEO responsibilities.

Key points that emerge are:

• Leadership is an on-going process with incremental improvements being key for organisational growth
• Integrity in leaders is of the essence
• Leaders maintain business focus
• Leaders are strong in maintaining financial discipline
• Practicality and common sense are more important than we think
• Leaders create a caring environment and appreciate contributions

As a point of interest, I also liked the “Living our Values” section in the Colgate Palmolive website.

Help Eradicate Hunger

I was moved to read an article in the Times Of India which says India fares very poorly compared to many countries in eradicating hunger.

India may be the second fastest growing economy in the world but it still has a long way to go in eradicating hunger where it is ranked at 94th position well behind neighbouring China and Pakistan, a global report says.

According to the latest Global Hunger Index 2007 from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), although India has improved its score of 25.03 on the index compared to 33.73 in 1990, it is lagging behind China and Pakistan ranked at 47th and 88th positions, out of the total list 118 countries, respectively.

The index is mainly based on proportion of undernourished in the population, prevalence of underweight in children under 5 years and under-five mortality rate. “1 in 7 people go to bed hungry every day. That’s 854 million people worldwide. Hunger is one of the world’s major problems and therefore one of its most important challenges,” say the report’s authors.

What irks me in particular is the wastage of food amongst some of the affluent. A few days back I saw a few youngsters eat in a mall. The amount they wasted was shocking. Almost entire portions was dumped. Do we waste food because we don’t know what to do with the money we earn?

Likewise I have seen huge amounts of food wasted in some company cafeterias. People take big helpings but end up shovelling a lot of it into the waste bin. Do we waste because it is a “free” lunch? Do we do this at home ?

Can we do our bit to eradicate hunger?

More Stress through Emails

Emails are very much a part of our work life. We can no longer imagine a world without email.

Researchers at Glasgow University and Paisley University in the UK, found that 34% of the workers questioned as part of their study admitted to checking their inbox every 15 minutes.

Though 64% of the workers said they looked at their emails more than once an hour, monitoring software showed that it was more like 40 times an hour. At least 34% of the workers also said that they were stressed by the sheer number of emails that come in, and the need for a speedy reply. Another 28% admitted that they were “driven” after checking their mails because of the pressure to respond.

“Our survey indicates the astonishing extent to which email is embedded in our day-to-day lives,” the researchers, are quoted as saying. “Females, in particular, tended to feel more pressure to respond than males,” they added.

Some figures about stress inducing emails:

• 6 trillion business email messages sent worldwide in 2006
• 49 minutes spent managing emails each day by the average office worker
• 4 hours spent managing emails per day by senior management worker
• 80 % of emails sent are actually ‘spam’ – unsolicited adverts, many of which are fraudulent or otherwise illegal
• 62 % of workers check business emails while at home or on holiday

Use email as a productivity and convenience tool. Don’t become a slave to it!