News is trickling. Now every news daily is widely covering the issue. It's a harrowing time for all customers of Apple A Day Properties. What next for customers? As far as the information that is available in the public domain, all customers can await a prolonged and unjust fight for their investment. First and foremost, all customers should come together and move collectively. Initiatives like this on Facebook  is good. If you are a customer, make good use of this and reach out to other aggrieved customers and fight for the common cause. Bring on board more customers. Hire a lawyer and seek advice. Reach out to Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and seek help from the forum. Communicate with CREDAI (real estate industry association) and get them involved in your activities. Make them understand that the incident is a blotch on the entire industry and the developers association should support the cause of suffering customers. Communicate with CII and FICCI and seek the...

'Apple A Day' properties is one of the real estate developers in Kerala who uses all mass media for their marketing activities. Today Hindu and Express  reported about a police raid at their offices. Reports indicate that there are many buyers who are waiting for their projects to be handed over for more than two years. Complete picture of the issue is not known. The company website seems to be down and a Google search indicates that there are many people with complaints about the builder. What should make buyers and public worry is not the incident, whose exact picture is yet to be known, but the attitude of mainstream media towards it. Leading Malayalam dailies, Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi have avoided this information in their dailies and found space for everything parochial and frivolous. Who are they serving, reader's interest or advertiser's interest?

As per Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, there are 1,725 registered IT companies in Kerala as on 31st January, 2011. Kerala ranks 8th among Indian states with number of IT companies. Delhi, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal and Gujarat ranks above Kerala in the same order. Totally there are 58,824 registered IT companies in India as on 31st January, 2011. That means Kerala accounts for 3% of registered IT companies in India. Kerala is well positioned to have a better figure. It is because of the lack of political will and below par outreach campaigns by the government machinery that we have fewer numbers. A conducive business environment exist in Kerala for IT companies. The general notion of Kerala as not a business friendly state is not true in the case of service sectors like IT, Financial Services and Tourism. People are still waiting for projects with magnitude as proposed by Smart City. IT parks developed as a hu...

After some rumours, it is now clear John Brittas is joining Asianet . He had announced his resignation from Kairali. Nikesh Kumar who left Indiavision is yet to announce his news channel. Meanwhile Raj TV announced Raj News Malayalam . The most awaited news channel is from Mathrubhumi, which would be announced soon. Add to it channels proposed by political parties and other media houses in Kerala. We will have a flurry of news channels . Mathrubhumi will start off with an edge because of their credibility, reputation and synergies with existing business. Nikesh Kumar could be the dark horse in the lot. It is only known that he has a different business model. In print media, Times of India is expected any time. It seems they are establishing a partnership with Mathrubhumi. Deccan Chronicle has started with lofty goals. This could be the last lap for New Indian Express. Hindu could keep their market. Kerala would be the first market in India which will see direc...

The most influential media conglomerate in Kerala, Malayala Manorama, may have to deal with 'skeleton in their family cupboard'. As per a report in Tehelka Magazine , Arun Mammen is believed to have parked illegal money (black money) in a Swiss bank, LGT Bank of Liechtenstein. If the report has some truth in it,  Manorama may have something to explain, as Arun Mammen is from the family that runs and controls Malayala Manorama group. I do not have access to exact and complete shareholding details of Malayala Manorama, but the perception of educated public in Kerala is that the Mammen family owns Malayala Manorama. Something that is in the public domain is the ownership of MRF Ltd. Arun Mammen is the Managing Director of the company that reported more than Rs.8,000 crore sales in the financial year 2010. Promoter and Promoter group shareholding pattern of the company available at MRF website shows, The Malayala Manorama Co Ltd, M. M. Publications Limited, M M Corporation and man...

Sasi is an auto-rickshaw driver at Vyttila junction in Kochi. He has seen the transformation Vyttila underwent in the last 25 years. When he started, he was the 3rd auto-rickshaw driver in the junction. Among the earlier two, one passed away and the other moved to goods carrier auto in some other part of city. Thus, Sasi would be the senior most driver in Vyttila. It was a regular on-the-trip conversation for me. My inquisitiveness, sometimes bizarre, led me to think of the Vyttila then and now. According to Sasi, Vyttila was then a 'Y' junction with roads to City, Thammanam, Aroor and Tripunithura. It is now probably the biggest traffic point in Kerala with most number of vehicles passing in a day. Vyttila now has 4 main roads connecting City, Tripunithara / Vaikkom, Allappuzha, Palarivattom and two smaller roads connecting Aroor and Thammanam. Sasi remembers 7 autos at the junction then and it is now more than 200 autos. Sasi fondly remembers listening to the songs played b...

An estimated 5 crore (50 million) people undertake the 68-day Sabarimala pilgrimage every year. Pilgrims donated a staggering Rs.120 crore (Rs.1.2 billion) last year and is estimated to have crossed Rs.130 crore (Rs.1.3 billion) this year. It is a huge business. Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) is the administrative body of as many as 1,208 temples across the Kerala State and the board manages Sabarimala too. People in the board are often known for their proximity towards either of the two large political parties in Kerala. Corruption, embezzlement and misappropriation of funds are alleged against all successive boards. Makaravilakku (a light seen on another hilltop from Sabarimala on one of the last few days of annual pilgimage season) is indeed a man-made phenomenon . Pious people throng Sabarimala on that particular day believing it as an act of a supreme power. Railway board ran 674 special trains this Sabarimala season. This was in addtion to 660 sleeper coaches and 30 AC sl...

Dear Friends, We have enough jokers around us here in Kerala and we do not want the service of Kochi IPL team management. I'm convinced that IPL team for Kochi is not for Kochi or Kerala for the following reasons. You can be aware and make your own choices. Indi Commandos - All teams in IPL have their city name part of the team name. One exception could be Deccan Chargers, but Deccan clearly display the region they represent. Why Indi Commandos? Management immediately corrected saying the name essentially is Indi Commandos Kerala. My question is why then the logo they released didn't have Kerala in it? We are not children to believe this. Venue Changes - The management has already requested for Ahmedabad to be its permanent venue . They seem to have several issues with Kochi - quality of the pitch and outfield, no permanent stadium, 36% entertainment tax, poor air connectivity. Hello my dear, Kochi was like this only. Why didn't they do their due diligence ? Kerala is ...

According to this report in Times of India , promoters of Varkeys Supermarket are open to sell 35% to stay afloat. They are primarily looking at Private Equity [PE] for the immediate fund infusion and to consolidate business. Nothing much has changed since the earlier post on this blog. It has been more than 5 months since they reported to be looking for fund infusion . Executive director seems not being open to a buy out from another chain. It is probably a brave decision, which only time can tell. Every one in Kerala seems to be waiting for their revival. Shopping experience has not been the same here since the 84 year old brand went 'out-of-stock'.

In the month of November '10 National Consumer Helpline [NCH] recorded 5413 calls. Maximum number of calls were received from Delhi followed by Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Kerala, even with high literacy and consumer awareness, is probably not making use of this service well. Call 1800-11-4000 (from MTNL & BSNL lines). Toll-free helpline provides information, advice or guidance for dealing with his/her consumer problems in the following sectors/products: LPG, Electricity, Telecom, Banking, Insurance, Credit cards, Automobiles, Postal, Courier, water, Transport, Education and Medical etc. Domestic Home Appliances in the range of computers, handycam, Acs, Microwave, Television, Coolers, Fans, Washing Machines, Gas burner, Water Purifier, Mobile Phone, VCD/DVD/CD Player, Food Processor, Invertors and Shoes etc.

Here are select posts from the year 2010. Hope you like them. Karunakaran, a far sighted economic reformer and institution builder Cosmetic creams made out of rubber latex New Kerala Tourism campaign fails in multiple ways Kerala, after K. M. Mathew Varkeys Supermarket: Is end nearby? Innovation Varsity in Kerala Gold loan business minting money for investors Read this before you are in Dubai Muziris Heritage and Culture Circuit: New dimension to Tourism in Kerala GKSF has more to do to convince corporates

K. Karunakaran, the politician also known as 'Leader', is the best institution builder we had in Kerala. No politician supported industries and encouraged private enterprises in Kerala like he did. The wily politician is but known more for nepotism and corruption. A list of projects which would not have realized without Karunakaran are, Cochin International Airport Ltd [CIAL] - India's first airport under Public-Private Participation - Also the project that showed us the real potential of Non-Resident Keralites Kayamkulam Thermal Power Plant Technopark, India's first Technology (IT) park Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology Pariyaram Medical College Keltron Guruvayur railway line Self-financing educational institutions for higher education But, his biggest contribution to the Kerala economy remains how he curtailed Naxalism. This attains importance as it is still a nagging issue hindering economic development in...

Kerala got three international airports now at Cochin, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. Another airport is being built at Kannur for which the work is expected to begin soon (or has it started). With 4 million Non-resident Keralites , Kerala can accomodate an airport each in every district. This used to be a joke but may become a reality with fifth airport on its way at Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district. KGS Aranmula Airport is being promoted by KGS Group with a significant investement coming from Anil Ambani. The plans are ambitious as the airport could serve a large population from the belt regularly traveling to US and Canada. Backwaters nearby can bring in tourists from across country and world. Airport also could be a boon for more than 40 million Sabarimala pilgrims. As with any other industrial projects in Kerala, this too has to be approved by political, social and environmental activists first. 

The latest Kerala Tourism Ad campaign - "Your Moment is Waiting" - is evoking mixed responses from the ad fraternity. As Gopinath Menon said in Business Line - "It is tangentially different from all that has been done on Kerala Tourism till now. There are two kinds of mindsets that visit Kerala: There is a ‘traveller' mindset and a ‘tourist' mindset. The traveller is the intelligent guy, the explorer instincts are strong and the journey is as important as the destination. The other one, with the tourist mindset, is the LTC traveller, the pre-decided one. This communication is clearly talking to the traveller mindset." and adds "if you look at the thousands visiting Kerala every year, the traveller mindset is unlikely to fall into the majority." This campaign is predominantly targeting foreign visitors. But what do they come for? It is for the unique Kerala experience and the ad would disappoint them for sure. Their experience in Kerala is bound t...

Manorama paper reports that, in 2010 Onam season household goods clocked a record sales turnover of Rs.700 crores. The report says almost 2 lakh refrigerators were sold in three months from July to September. Washing Machines, LCD TVs, Mixies, DVD players, Induction Cookers and Digital Cameras also recorded good sales. Onam remains to be the biggest shopping season in Kerala. Refrigerators and Washing Machines would keep riding the market with good numbers as there exists a big market for them to penetrate.

Rubber latex is found to have applications in the cosmetic industry. Rapepun Wititsuwannakul, a researcher and professor in Biochemistry at Prince of Songkla University in Thailand holds Intellectual Property Rights on the use of latex as an effective agent in whitening products. More about this can be found here . Rubber latex is found to have inherent abilities to make skin brighter or darker! This is interesting and holds huge economic prospects for rubber growers in Kerala and India.

Smoking in public places is a punishable offence in Kerala since 1999 following a High Court directive. It is strictly followed inside public places like hotels, cinema halls, hospitals, bus stands, railway stations, airports, shops, malls, etc. But not on roads. This is a good law but almost impossible to implement. Policemen enforces this law mostly for some petty personal gains. The trick lies in making public knowledgeable about harmful sides of smoking rather than enforcing it by law. Yes, law is needed to punish people smoking in places but, policemen should not invest their time and energy to stop every smoker. Policemen have better things to do on their job.

Kerala is gearing up for a flurry of news channels. As per this  report  by Ajayan in today's Mint paper, there will be at least a dozen news channels launched in next few months - some supported by politicians and  political parties (Muraleedharan, Muslim League ), some by print media houses (Mathrubhumi, Kerala Kaumudi, Madhyamam, Mangalam) and another interesting venture by Nikesh Kumar  touted to be called 'Reporter'. The Mint report is not going to challenge business acumen of people behind these ventures as they are only  keeping up with the Joneses . A news channel would be justified for a political party. For others, this will be a learning experience they will not forget easily. If they are able to prove something special, the entire media industry across the world will take notice of it.

Government of India has proposed a Mass Communication Institute in Kerala and it seems 10 acres of land earlier allotted for the purpose is already under Kerala Governement's posession in Kottayam . Indian Institute of Mass Communication [IIMC] is a national institute for training, teaching and research in mass communication. It augur's well to have an IIMC at Kottayam, identified as the literary base of Kerala. It would be a proud moment for every Keralites, particularly people predominant in national Media, Advertising and Public Relations industry.

If everything goes well for Kunnath Pharmaceuticals and Musli Power, we might see Musli Power on Indian Cricket Team jersey and before that it will be Musli Power sponsoring Kerala IPL [Indian Premier League] team. For now, Musli Power is a leading sponsor of various sports events and teams in India and abroad.  Musli Power is the title sponsor of cricket team Wayamba Elevens of Sri Lanka at the Champions League T20 in South Africa and an Indian football club, Churchill Brothers Sports Club . Musli Power was one among the seven sponsors of Hockey World Cup 2010 broadcasted on Ten Sports and among seven sponsors of Kerala's Nehru Trophy Boat Race 2009 . It is also reported that Musli Power is the health power licensee of Common Wealth Games 2010 . None of the deal values are announced in public domain. Musli Power from Kunnath Pharmaceuticals is an over the counter aphrodisiac product claiming to cure infertility and impotency. As per a report in Tehelka , Musli Power is giving...