Future of payment method !

How you choose a method for payment is changing drastically over the last 5 to 10 years.    Demand Draft was the secured and most preferred method of payment for quite few decades.  And also Cheque Deposit - Bank transfer - Credit Cart - NEFT - has played a great role, and now just "Wave and pay" with your mobile.

Recently, i happened to read an article on how the next generation of people will use money transaction.

You know, online payment Stalwarts like Visa and biggies like At&T, T-Mobile,and Verizon announced a joint venture called “Isis”, which will use a technology called Near-field communication to allow consumers to pay at checkout by "waving their phone near a terminal".

What it does ? when you go to shopping, while paying, you just take your mobile or such device to a proximity less than 10 centimeters of the terminal and wave it. It will grab the data, and process it.

Really interesting, isn’t ?

And to make the point more louder, Google's chef Executive , Eric, E, Schmidt, has also demonstrated how phones with a new version of Google’s android system would do this.

Its been believed that, next generation of people will never know what will be a "Cheque", because this conventional system of paper instrument called Cheque might have dead by then.

Few doubts arise in our mind, on these new technologies.

Will it really bring a transformational change in the way people do payment ?
Will this make people to spend more securely ?
Will the Retail segment will see the major shift to this technology ?
Will there be a new generation of websites, which can be embedded with this technology ?
Will the Plastic money will be wiped out from the scene ?

What we call it ? "X" Money ?

Lets hope all these changes will bring good the MAN KIND.

Indian Middle Middle Class, who exactly is this ?

This title contains two "middle" , not written out of accident, but i am mentioning about the real center portion of the Gravity point in india.
Read an article on the myth called Indian middle class, and after reading that, lot of questions passed through my mind.


Why the middle class segment in india is ever growing in the last few decades ?
How do you classify if a person is Middle class ?
What is the criteria for sub sections in middle class called, Lower middle class , Middle middle class and upper middle class.
Which class i belongs to ?


The ADB report defines the middle class as those earning between $2 and $20 per person per day, measured in international dollars, ie adjusted for purchasing power parity. The ADB does add further nuance by splitting the middle class into three sub-sections:


lower middle class ($2 - $4), ( approx INR 88 - INR 180)
middle middle ($4 - $10) (Approx INR180 - INR 450 )
and upper middle ($10 - $20). ( Approx INR 450 - INR 900)


The current population of the world is 6.8 billion, while India has a staggering graph of 1.2 billion, a place behind China with 1.3 billion. World's population is expected to reach 9.3 billion mark by 2030 and the ADB's "Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2010" report also mentioned that, in india, by the year 2030, there will be a Billion ( 1 billion) people in this so called middle class. Which means, Indian middle class will be more than 10% of the entire population in the world.


Do you belong to this ever growing Indian middle class ?

Branding strategy - TAJ

Branding: one of the hot words in the corporate board rooms. I was reading through the article about the strategies of Indian hotels company in today's newspaper and thought of sharing some points which you might have missed reading. In that, Indian Hotels co.’s MD & CEO, Mr.Raymond Bickson was explaining the strategy of TATA on its hospitality business.

One of the main things which i was so impressed with is, their long term strategy. They are foreseeing the market for another 30 to 40 years and describes how its been sealed from competition in the coming decades.

In the next five years the group is planning to have 200 hotels and 24000 to 25000 rooms. that is a short term plan ( for five years )

Their branding strategy is nicely balanced with different brands in the basket.

1. Two star Economy - GINGER
2. Upscale segment - The Gateway,
3. Four Star segment - Vivenda by Taj
4. Five star segment - Taj Hotles.
5. Resort - Taj Exotica ( you have to pay $1000 a night )

This is how Indian Hotels co. cover all segments of Hotel business area.

Another strategy is to have presence in different geographical locations that it doesn’t affect from any geographical vulnerabilities like, Tsunami or chikungunya. Mr. Raymond bickson is of the opinion that, by keeping geographically scattered, they have protected at least 1/3 of their revenue.

They already have 16 properties overseas and planning to add up more to in the coming years.

Mr.Bickson states that, They have 25% market share in india, and they are the largest player in india, in all the segments they operate.

Teamwork - a story from nature

I was on a nice journey through the NUTS - ( one of the most famous book on Southwest Airline's success story) spotted one interesting story about teamwork, which we all can inculcate in our life. lets dash through the story without wasting much time.

This is the actual story from nature, by naturalist Milton Olsen's work on the behaviour of geese.

This spring when you see geese heading back north for the summer flying along in "V" formation, you might be interested in knowing what scientists have discovered about why they fly that way. It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following.
By Flying in "V" formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

Basic truth #1. People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are travelling on the thrust of one another.
Basic Truth #2. There is strength and power ( safety, too) in number when travelling in the same direction as others with whom we share a common goal.


When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.
Basic truth # 3. It pays to take turns doing hard jobs-with people or with geese flying north.

These geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
Basic trough #4. Those who are exercising leadership needs to be remembered with our active support and praise.

Finally when a goose gets sick or is wounded by gunshots and falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow him down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly or until he is dead, and then they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their group.
Basic truth #5. We must stand by those among us in their times of need.

Lets learn from these real time stories and implement at least points from them.