People's Policy : Edelweiss Tokio Life- MyLife+

Abhay Singhal was a carefree man until one day his friend Akash asked him his age. A shy Abhay, who was there to offer sweets on becoming a proud father, said, “35”.

The following question was, “Do you have a life insurance policy?” Now Abhay was perplexed where the discussion was heading. He had heard the term and seen adverts but hadn’t really thought much about it.

“Be responsible and buy a life cover, my friend,” Akash said with a comforting touch and enthusiastically went ahead.  

When Abhay, an executive at a multinational company, researched about life insurance, he found he was so wrong that just the group life insurance cover provided by his company was enough.

Now Abhay has decided that he would opt for an additional insurance cover to safeguard his family’s future. He has gone through various attractive policies by different life insurance companies in the market and has finally decided to opt for a policy, launched by Edelweiss Tokio, which seems much consumer friendly as compared to other available options in the market and suits his pocket.

The new life term policy Edelweiss Tokio Life-MyLife+ brings many benefits for its consumers part from providing cheap life insurance.

Anyone between the age group of 18-60 can opt for the policy cover. Maximum maturity age is 80 years.

The policy is an online term plan with three death benefit payout options – lump sum payment, income benefit option, and a combination of the two.

Under lump sum payment option, upon the death of the policy holder, the beneficiary gets a lump sum payment. The income benefit option allows you to have monthly payments (which is 1 per cent of the sum assured for the next 130 months).  

Finally, the third option means the policy holder can combine the two to have part lump sum and part monthly payments as per his/her choice.  

For a person of about 35 years of age, the policy comes with a term of 25 years. For an annual premium of Rs8,510 one can get a life cover of Rs1 crore. If the person wants to break this under the income benefits then the beneficiary will get one per cent of the assured cover paid every month for the next 10 years. The total amount received by the beneficiary is about Rs1.3 crore under the income benefit plan but the premium is same.

According to industry estimates, this is one of the cheapest plans available in the segment. The fact that this policy can be tailored is the + factor which even reflects in the name.

In this ever changing times it may be tough to pick an easy insurance policy, which fits in all our requirements but with an option like Edelweiss Tokio Life-MyLife+ life will be an easy journey ahead for sure.

RBI rate cut likely

With the news of output of eight core industry sectors shrinking to 0.4 per cent in April now all eyes are on the Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan and the key question is if he would relent this time and come up with the long awaited announcement of rate cut.

The industry experts feel that this is the right time for RBI to come up with CRR cut as this could help liquidity ease a bit. This would help the manufacturing sector as more liquidity with banking institutions may ease heavy EMIs and would thus attract the consumer to go out and shop. 

Most analysts had forecast a 75 bps to 100 bps cut in 2015 at the beginning of the year. So far, 50 bps have been delivered. It is time to do more.   

Meanwhile, the contraction in April, was mainly on account of the poor generation of electricity and declining output of cement, refinery products and fertiliser, came on the back of March’s marginal decline of minus 0.1 per cent.

Coal and steel sectors only saw an output growth, showed official data released on Monday (June 1, 2015. )

Coal production grew 7.9 per cent, steel output grew but at 0.6 per cent in April as against 6.9 per cent in the same month last year.

The eight sectors contribute 38 per cent to the overall industrial production. Output of the core sectors had contracted 6.7 per cent in November 2014, which fell to 2.4 per cent in December 2014 and then to 1.8 per cent in January and 1.4 per cent in February.

The output of crude oil declined 2.7 per cent in April. Natural gas production was 3.6 per cent lower. Electricity generation shrank 1.1 per cent and cement output fell 2.4 per cent. The production of refinery products declined 2.9 per cent and fertiliser output shrunk marginally by 0.04 per cent.

Vodafone to launch 4G services in five circles

Vodafone India announced its plan to roll out fourth generation (4G) services in select cities during the second half of this year.

"We are conducting 4G trials and plan to roll out the 4G services in a few towns later this year," said managing director and chief executive officer Sunil Sood.

The company won 5 MHz spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band in five circles-Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Karnataka and Kerala-where 4G services will be rolled.

The company will also expand its services in the North East. Sood also said that Vodafone is completely for Net Neutrality.

"We are pro-Net Neutrality and would like to see the same rule for the same services. There is a need to create a level playing field," he said. At the same time he said, "Let the government decide the rules of the game but we are open to a healthy debate on the issue."

Announcing the financial performance of the company for FY15, Sood said, "We have witnessed a year-on-year growth of 12.6 per cent in our service revenue at Rs 42,352 crore (against Rs 37,777 crore in FY14) and the company added about 17.2 million subscribers."

Operating profit stood at Rs 12,605 crore, which represents a growth of 16.2 per cent over the previous year. Vodafone has made a fresh capital infusion of Rs 6,000 crore in March to fuel its expansion plans.

It expanded its 3G services from nine to 16 circles during financial year 2014-15. "The company's customer base stands at around 184 million and the average revenue per user at Rs200 in the fourth quarter of 2014-15," Vodafone chief financial officer Thomas Reisten said.

The company made a capital expenditure of Rs 8,598 crore mainly on new site roll out in the last fiscal, he added. The net debt for the company stands at Rs 47,807 crore as of March.

Jabong has no plans to switch to 'app only' platform, says MD Praveen Sinha

Fashion and lifestyle e-commerce company Jabong has decided to buck the trend by not joining other e-tailers, especially its arch-rival Myntra, in switching to a 'app only' platform.

Jabong co-founder and managing director Praveen Sinhatold Ajay Shukla in the national capital on Tuesday, "Today is not the time to make any such move. The main aim of online retail is to provide choice to customers." Any such move would amount to killing the customer base, he further said.

"Industry estimates show that there is still about 50 per cent of the demand originating online. So, we would not consider any such move in the next two years," Sinha added.

"If app-based orders are 90 per cent or more, only then Jabong can change its mind", he further added.

The announcement assumes significance as Myntra announced on Tuesday its shift to become only an app-based store from May 15.

Myntra chief executive officer (CEO) and head of commerce atFlipkart Mukesh Bansal told reporters in Bangalore, "... we have decided that effective May 15, Myntra services will only be available through app on all smart phones."

Sinha and another Jabong co-founder Arun Chandra Mohan also announced $2-million investment as individuals in on-demand laundry service provider Wassup.

The Chennai-based start-up offers services in Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai in a managed marketplace model and will add Pune and Cochin in coming months.

"The intent is to be present in about 100 cities in next three years. We will also add personal care, home care, car care, pet care and handyman services to the portfolio through our technology platform in the near future," Wassup co-founder and CEO Balachandar R said.

The company plans to rake in another $10-$15 million in next 8-12 months as it expands its services across major cities in the country.

"We are looking to service the daily laundry requirements of middle class consumers. About 95 per cent of the market is still unorganised and there is a huge potential to move that to organised online route," Balachandar said.

Gunning with 'Slow-gun'

If cricket in India is a religion then politics is not less than a prayer with slogans as a chant of piety.

However, in recent times we have witnessed these chants, which are used to galvanize the cadre have often raked up huge controversies.

The BJP’s recent attempt to plagiarise the Shaivite chant of ‘Har Har Mahadev’ to coin the ‘Har Har Modi’ and then changing it to ‘Har ghar Modi’ saw huge criticism with detractors even tweaking the slogan against the BJP strong man to ‘Darr Darr Modi’ and ‘Thar Thar Modi’.

Some slogans we know have produced results in the past.

The famous slogan of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in early nineties ‘Tilak, taraju aur talwar ; inko maaro joote chaar’ brought it attention and there after ‘Haathi nahi ganesh hai, Brahma Vishnu Mahesh hai’ and ‘Sarv jan hitay; sarvjan sukhaya’ helped the party gain a complete majority in 2007 UP assembly elections.

The BJP slogan of ‘Ab Ki Baar, Modi Sarkar’ which is picked from ‘Ab ki bari Atal Bihari’ is seen as an attempt to get back the lucky charm of Vajpayee.

The Congress party is also not far behind in reframing the old lucky slogan ‘Congress ka haat aam admi key saath’ to ‘Har Haat Shakti, Har Haath Tarakki’.

Today slogans no more remain a catchy political jingle for entertainment but a tool to connect to the masses. Slogans have even emerged as a catalyst to understand the popular mood in the country.

It was ‘Sheila Dixit wapas jao’ slogan that set the agenda against once popular three time chief minister of Delhi during the protest of brutal gang rape in Delhi. Sheila Dixit had to go packing her bags after the humiliating defeat in the elections thereafter.

May be this is the reason why the political parties do not relent and answer back in slogan against a slogan these days. The Aam Admi Party (AAP) slogan in Varanasi ‘Abhi to Sheila hari hai ab Modi ki bari hai’ was instantly replied with ‘Jo lad na saka apni khasi se vo kya larega Kashi se’.

Aam Aadmi’s Khaas aspirations may boomerang

Not many years ago, a ‘giant killer’ of its kind in information technology (IT), the infamous B. Ramalinga Raju—the founder of Satyam Computers (now Tech Mahindra)—in his last communiqué to then Board members had said, “It was like riding a tiger not knowing how to get off without being eaten.” It was as a confession of his ambitious virtues that marked the fall of one of the biggest IT giants unearthing one of the gravest corporate frauds in the country.
Raju was riding the IT wave high and became the pioneer of outsourcing but had to step down after admitting to faking financial figures of the company to the tune of Rs7,136 crore of non-existent cash and bank balance.
The recent rise of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at times reminds of a similar stellar rise—he is riding a wave of aspirations of millions of Indians with his way of politics suddenly becoming a ‘route’ to bring change. The urge is monumental. However, how far this would last is another question.
AAP’s big promises during the Delhi elections are being pushed through quickly keeping in mind the due date of the general elections. Populist measures like the water subsidy will impact the exchequer, which will finally hit the taxpayer’s belly. Is this not the same method used by the other political parties in power? Besides, his alliance with the Congress was akin to what other political parties do to the electorate after winning elections.

Kejriwal’s idea of governance is appealing and his style dynamic. His rise as a politician is spectacular. But his over-ambitious moves reminds of Raju’s fatal tiger ride without being aware of being gobbled up—though one thing is for sure that Delhi’s Khaas AAdmi has rewritten the rules of the game.

 

Match-fixing scandal gives respite to scam-hit UPA

The scam-hit UPA gets some space to breathe easy as the cricket scandal takes focus away from the recent corruption charges.
In a nation where questions in Parliament and top government jobs can be fixed it does not come as a surprise that a ball or two in the game of cricket is also on sale.
The recent fixing allegations have led to a lot of hullabaloo giving an opportunity to a few foes (politicians) to unite, while granting the ruling coalition some space to breathe easy (to take focus away from recent corruption charges).
Not surprising is the swiftness the government has shown to fix the fixing case before another scam rolls out from the UPA closet and takes center-stage.
Taking a proactive line it has even indicated that it would table a Bill against fixing in the coming monsoon session of Parliament.
But, surprisingly all this does not seem to matter so much to the game lovers.
What does this mean? Are there no moral or ethical values left among people of this country or is it that in a country infamous for corruption people have come to live with such malpractices?
Politicians suddenly seem over-sincere about restoring credibility in the game of cricket.
Unfortunately, such sincerity was nowhere on display while Railgate or the infamous Coalgate rocked Parliament recently.
It may be true that recent events have hurt the image of the game, but it is truer that what we get to see in the political domain is far worse.
It took the use of water cannon and tear gas shells against Delhi rape protesters for the government to gauge public mood.
Somewhat similar was the case during the Lokpal protests.
While the concern of our politicians for the gentleman's game is understandable, they would do well to focus on something closer home: the total disconnect between the elected government and its electorate and the rampant corruption which has marred every aspect of the state's functioning.