below the line. Blind buy

At a insurance seminar, a senior regulatory official who was addressing the contentious issue of mis-selling, which has become the bane of the insurance industry, remarked that people spend hours analysing which gadget to buy and never go by what the sales agent says. But when it comes to insurance products, even financially literate people do not want to spend 15 minutes reading the policy document; they blindly sign as the agent directs.

Dhaba deal

Bandhan’s Chandra Shekhar Ghosh chanced on a business idea at a roadside eatery. When he was chatting with an Ola driver, who was excited that the cab service provided him with a regular income, it struck Ghosh that Ola drivers would require savings bank accounts for the money to come in at regular intervals. This led to a discussion with Ola for vehicle financing, as well as captive driver accounts with his bank.

A VIP survey

A team of MPs was in Kolkata recently for an airport audit. Were they studying the problems of passengers? Not quite. They were seeing what mechanisms could ease air travel for MPs including easier check-ins and boarding.

Business spirit

The Kerala Bar Hotels Association has split. A section of the association last week floated the Kerala Hotel Industrialists’ Association. It appears the new association is hoping the LDF will come to power after the Assembly election. The LDF is believed to be toying with the idea of watering down the liquor policy by allowing four-star hotels also to serve liquor. Most of the members of the new association are either four-star hotel owners or have applied for four-star status. This is what you call the business spirit!

Big ben

Chief Minister Anandiben’s Patel daughter, Anar, and son,Sanjay, seem to have emerged as parallel power centres. Last week, Anandiben had invited journalists to announce Gujarat’s new film promotion policy. At the last moment, however, she cancelled, perhaps fearing questions about her children’s activities, and ministerial colleagues Nitin Patel and Saurabh Patel had to step in to fill the breach.

Adding a local flavour

Foreign dignitaries and politicians from other States visiting Tamil Nadu often start their speech with a “Vanakkam” to impress the local audience, and later switch to either English or the mother tongue.

However, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar surprised mediapersons when he started a press meet in Chennai last week with the customary “Vanakkam” and then went on to read a couple of long sentences in broken Tamil welcoming investors from the State to Happening Haryana, a Global Investors Meeting in Gurgaon next month.

Án official accompanying Khattar, who had worked in the State as a deputy collector, had helped the CM with the Tamil. Although there were some laughs, the effort was well appreciated, and Tamil language television channels got their sound byte!

Playing with words

A recent survey by a real estate consulting major claims that the market is much more stable in Bengaluru because the unsold inventory is coming down rapidly. The only problem seems to be the way the inventory has been classified as to be sold and unsold. If the to-be-sold inventory remains unsold, will Bengaluru remain stable?

Don’t forget your roots

American ambassador Richard Verma recently revealed that his father had taught him to be proud of his Punjabi roots. Then, later, when he was part of an American delegation that met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the PM had echoed the same values — be proud of your roots. When, at end of the event, an exporter offering the vote thanks wound up saying that he too hailed from Punjab, the gathering was in splits.

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