The Hindu Business Line : One business newspaper

There is however, one, just one business newspaper, that has shown a pretty swift increase in readership. Just one business newspaper that has bucked the downward trend.

In case you haven't guessed by now, it's your very own The Hindu Business Line.

Readers, take a collective bow. Your discerning taste is impeccable!

Forget English

In case you find us lapsing into `Hinglish,' please forgive us. We are only reflecting the current trend reported by the IRS that the readership of non-English newspapers has registered the real growth all round. Dainik Jagran still rules at No.1 and the one change is that Malayala Manorama slips to number five from number four. Well, the only way they can climb now is to increase the population in Kerala. (Just kidding!)

Mumbai movements

A little bird reports to us on the phone from Pattaya, Thailand. Spared by the tsunami, this little infamous tourist resort was hit by a welcome wave of advertising people last week. The annual AdFest (Asia Pacific Advertising Festival) was held there and one is told that India picked up some silver and bronze awards. O&M evidently bagged some silvers and bronzes and McCann picked up one silver and one bronze. It seems some other agencies like Mudra were among the awardees. Congrats all round.

Who was there?

The same little bird whispers in my ear that Thai Airlines did brisk business with a lot of interesting advertising people deciding that Pattaya was the place to be in. Elsie Nanjee was there as a member of the jury. Ashok Kurien was there too, evidently to attend a regional conference of Publicis. Prem Mehta of Lowe with Pranesh Mishra and Ashish Bhasin in tow was also attending a regional meeting of Lowe there. Arvind Sharma of Leo Burnett marked his attendance too, probably for yet another regional conference. Goutam Rakshit and Ramesh Narayan were sighted. They were not there for a regional conference of their respective agencies, but for a council meeting of Asian Federation of Advertising Associations. Young Awasti of O&M was there to pick up his award booty, no doubt. Well, one is told that Pattaya is a really economical place to hold conferences and meetings. Goa had better watch out.

Businessman of the year

Business India will always have pioneer status. It set off a new generation of business magazines and also presented the first business person award 23 years ago.

This year, it presented its Businessman of the Year award to Mr Ramadorai of TCS. The who's who of business turned up exactly on time at the Crystal Room at the Taj Mahal Hotel. Roger Pereira, the master of ceremonies, switched on his mike exactly at the appointed moment and a clockwork-precision programme followed. Very impressive that people can and do stick to time these days. Kumar Birla spoke about Ramadorai, and F.C. Kohli, the grand old man of the software industry (who stood in as Guest of honour after the last minute cancellation from the Governor) spoke about Ramadorai. Ramadorai spoke about himself, and his journey through life. It was wonderful hearing the simple, straightforward speech. It captured the essence of a man who has played a great role in building the largest Indian IT services company. The speech was marked by humility, humour and some straight-from-the-heart talk. Just what one expects from an inspiring acceptance speech. One was particularly touched by his reference to social responsibilities like education and conservation of the environment. And he finished exactly on time.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Building muscle into reach

Average is Great!

`Sun is not in TV, but communications'

Throwing out the baby with the bathwater?

Speaking a new lingo

One business newspaper

It pays to get into the affluent mind

Harsell

Chat up