Category: Kharcha paani

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Kharcha paani

5 reasons to shop online

With a credit card and access to the right websites, online shopping is the smartest way to save time, effort.
by Dipen Tewari

What would you rather do – make your tired way to the shopping mall to pick out a dress by a reputed brand, or save time and pick the same dress online? As our spending power increases and more and more people get connected to e-commerce, shopping online for a variety of products is becoming the norm, rather than an exception.

Earlier, people were cautious about sharing their credit or debit card information on the Internet. However, with sites enhancing their payment gateway security, shoppers slowly started buying such items as books, perfumes and movies online. Slowly, as sites started offering photographic views of such categories like clothes, shoes and bags, people ventured into buying even these items online. Now we have reached a stage where shoppers are buying expensive diamond jewellery, home appliances, and even furniture online.

If you’re still one of those people who are not shopping online, here’s why you need to check out this option:

Save time. Let’s face it, most of us really don’t have the time to trudge to the nearest mall or department store to check out the sale for a brand that’s been advertising in the papers. We can’t say when we will be done with work, and after facing the long day in the office, how many of us are really in the mood to shop? Instead of checking out products in a physical store, we can save a lot of time by checking out the same merchandise online, comparing the best prices and placing our orders. It’s often that simple, and you save yourself a lot of precious time.

Save the effort. Bibliophiles buy books by the dozen at times, and after browsing for the correct titles and buying the books, they have to cart the heavy purchases home by themselves. Or, there may be people who are scouting for an attractive dining table and who are haggling with the store owner over the transportation costs of their new furniture. Both these categories of shoppers can benefit from shopping online. Not only do many e-commerce portals offer different views of such product categories as clothes, shoes, bags, furniture, even crockery and household utensil sets, they also ship the merchandise to your doorstep for free. It’s really not worth the effort to go to the shops to buy what is so easily available for sale on the Internet.

Save money. Shopping sites like Flipkart have regular discount days every week, if not finite sale periods where customers get very heavy discounts on products. By merely sitting at your workstation or scrolling on your mobile, you can shop on the go for a wide range of needs, compare your spends and make the best purchases. Most reputed portals these days also have tie-ups with banks for cash back offers on selected categories and brands, or on all purchases. Ultimately, you end up saving quite a lot of money with no extra associated costs of travel borne by you.

Change what you don’t like sitting at home. Most e-commerce sites in India offer a ’30-day return’ option for purchases, even for such items as clothing and bags that you may have used during this time. As long as the product is not being returned to the company in a mangled condition, it is taken back with either a full or partial refund (depending on company policy on returns, condition of the product and reasons for returning). This normally happens with categories such as shoes and clothes, where people can mistakenly pick the wrong size or colour; however, jewellery companies such as Caratlane also take back sold merchandise. The best part is, just as the product is delivered to your doorstep, so is it picked up from your home, thus making the entire process convenient for you.

The entire shopping universe at one go. Sure, a mall offers you the widest possible range of products in one spot, but no mall in the world can stock all the brands and services that you require. This is where online shopping portals do the trick – on one gadget, you can access every possible product category, the corresponding brand selling the product, the price range for it and the delivery system. What’s more, these days there are sites that even compare the prices and products across a spectrum of other e-commerce sites, so the shopper is not confused by the wide array of options.

(Picture courtesy www.kgns.tv. Image is used for representational purpose only)

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Trends

Low women’s education leads to early marriages?

A fact finding report reveals links between the level of women’s education in India and their subsequent status in life.
by Child Relief and You (CRY)

In India, all issues related to girl children ranging from female infanticide, domestic child labour to prevention of girl child trafficking are all enormously challenging tasks requiring sustained efforts on part of all duty bearers. Like all other rights viz Right to Nutrition, Development, Protection and Participation, a girl’s Right to Education continues to remain a critical and seemingly insurmountable challenge.

Last few years have seen a significant improvement in school enrollment at primary education, however, the same is not the case with secondary and higher secondary level. The Net Enrollment, which is a measure of the percentage of girls who attend school age-appropriately, is 89% at the primary level, and it drops to a meager 32% in higher secondary education (Source: Unified-District Information System on Education (U-DISE) 2014-15).

The link between low education and early marriage

Today India is leading in the total number of child brides globally. There is abundant documented evidence linking lack of education to early marriage, particularly for girls. There are also available studies showing the link between low education level of mothers and the early marriage of their daughters. NFHS-3 (2005-06) revealed that more than 85% of the surveyed girls who were married before the age of 18 had mothers who had received less than 10 years or no education.

We also have a high number of girls working as domestic workers and those who constantly face issues of protection. At a micro level the work demands convincing parents of the girl child to continue her schooling; changing attitude and practices of communities and closely tracking that no girl child drops from school. The need of the hour is to invest adequately in secondary and higher secondary education for this segment of population, so that our girls stay away from these multiple vulnerabilities.

The figures on the ground

The RTE Act (2009) covers children between the ages of 6 to 14 years, and enables free and compulsory education at the primary and upper primary levels. However, in absence of any legislation for children above the age of 14 years the scenario at the secondary and higher secondary level unfortunately remains dismal. The average annual dropout rate for girls rises from 4.14% at primary level to 17.8% at secondary level (Source: U-DISE 2013-14). Access to education post the elementary level continues to be a huge challenge, considering only 15.4% of schools in India offer secondary education and further still only about 7% of the schools offer higher secondary education.

Year % of Privately Owned Secondary Schools % of Privately owned Higher Secondary Schools
2010-11 54.8%
2011-12 Data not available
2012-13 52.38 54.04
2013-14 54.76 55.57
2014-15 55.52 58.79
Table-1 showing share of privately owned[1] schools in India (U-DISE statistics)

Back in 1966, the education commission (1964-66) chaired by DS Kothari recommended that India should allocate 6% of its GDP. Later this figure was challenged and revised by many scholars but the fact still remains that India is nowhere close this figure in terms of spending on education. More than 55% of schools offering secondary and higher secondary education in the country are not State-owned which renders them unaffordable to children of low income households (Source: U-DISE 2014-15). On the other hand the share of State owned schools have not seen any significant increase over the years.

STATE % OF PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS % OF PRIVATE HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Maharashtra 92 94.8
Uttar Pradesh 90.44 94.1
Gujarat 86.65 91.78
Karnataka 64.94 68.32
Kerala 67.92 64.72
Table -2-Top 5 states having private ownership of secondary and higher secondary schools (U-DISE 2014-15)

Only in 10 out of 36 States in the country does the Government currently have an ownership share of two thirds or more of both secondary and senior secondary schools. The issue of privately-owned schools needs further attention in States such as Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh where the percentage of private schools is more than 90% at the secondary and higher secondary level.

According to the 12th Five Year Plan (FYP), household expenditure for children going to private schools is higher (Rs. 893/- per month) than for Government schools (Rs. 275/- per month). The lack of access to secondary and higher education coupled with this challenge of affordability certainly impacts the girl child most since traditionally, families are more likely to invest in the education of the male child and girls tend to be married off early. There are over 4.6 million married children in India the age group of 15-17 years (eligible for secondary and higher secondary education), of which more than 70% (3.35 million) are girls.

Kreeanne Rabadi, Regional Director, CRY – Child Rights and You adds, “Mindsets to educate girl child are changing in India. Even in the most remote villages, many parents want to send their daughter to school. We need to drastically increase resources to meet these demands of making secondary and higher level education, affordable and easily accessible to girl child.”

(Picture courtesy www.realyouth.org. Image is used for representational purpose only)

 

Categories
Become

Budget stays with a smile

Mumbai-based start-up Vista Rooms has you covered if you’re looking for a brief and low-cost stay in India’s smaller towns.
by Ritika Bhandari Parekh

Picture this: You have a business meeting at Valsad in Gujarat. And for a one-day visit, you do not wish to spend on a luxury hotel. You wisely choose the option of a local budget stay, but the dilemma arises in picking the right hotel.

Enter Vista Rooms, a budget-friendly option for travellers who wish to experience low-cost branded accommodation. With rooms starting from Rs 800 to Rs 1,500, Vista Rooms is hoping to revolutionise the way a local Indian businessman travels.

An idea germinates

Vista Rooms founders (left to right) Amit, Ankita and Pranav

This Mumbai-based start-up was founded by three enterprising individuals – Amit Damani, Ankita Sheth and Pranav Maheshwari. Bidding goodbye to their jobs in the corporate sector, the trio plunged in the competitive budget hotels arena.

28-year old Pranav, who heads the Finance and Technological department says, “The genesis of the idea came from Amit, who travelled the small cities and rural areas of China in his previous job. Over there, he noticed how efficiently one could stay in low-cost hotels and became familiar with their standardisation process. Starting January 2015, he researched the Indian budget hotels domain and chanced upon OYO Rooms which had a similar concept.”

With a belief that the budget hotel market is huge and there is space for competitors to co-exist, they started Vista Rooms. Their third partner, Ankita was heading the acquisitions team for OYO Rooms before she quit and joined them.

With a focus on the Tier II and Tier III cities, she manages the offline sales and partnership domain at Vista. While 27-year old Amit is very active in the social domain and handles the marketing relationship with online travel agents.

No more ‘Buyers Beware’

Normally, a person making online bookings is solely responsible for selecting their hotel rooms based on the customer reviews and photos uploaded. But the team at Vista Rooms is looking forward to making this dubious ‘caveat emptor’ style obsolete. “We want our customers to be exceptionally confident that the room they book via our website will adhere to all the parameters set. So from a clean and comfortable room to a hygienic bathroom, free Wi-Fi, complimentary breakfast to a concierge service – Vista Rooms will make sure that your stay in the small towns and sleepy cities of India is perfect,” says Pranav.

He continues, “The key to this experience is standardisation. Once a hotel property has the stamp of Vista Rooms, they become a part of our brand and their visibility increases. We do not take over the hotel operations, but help them in the sales, marketing and branding of the services.” With the occupancy percentage increasing, it is a win-win situation for the partnering hotels.

The growth story

For Pranav, the most exciting part is the growth story of Vista Rooms. “We started with four properties in April 2015 and over the next four months added 450+ properties across 55 cities in India. This initial success is what helps us stay motivated.”

With a vision to be the number one player in the budget hotel scene, they wish to make online bookings and feedback as seamless as flight bookings. With an asset-light and operational-lean model, the start-up has 40 employees under its wings.

Pranav signs off saying, “We are forever scouting for new talent and would welcome a second round of funding.” So the next time, you are in Salem or Somnath – fret not. Just head to Vista Rooms and look for your smile-worthy accommodation.

For more information and booking details, please visit their website www.vistarooms.com

(Featured image courtesy www.asiatravel.com)

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Kharcha paani

Cheaper to buy space in city malls?

ASSOCHAM report finds that mall space in Mumbai and other metros has dropped by 30% rental value with lower footfalls.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Rising inflation and higher living costs have taken a toll on our favourite pastime: shopping. Tighter budgets are prompting many Indians to stay away from shopping malls. This has resulted in lower footfalls and high losses for retailers. On the other hand, if you are looking to buy shop space in a mall, now might be a good time to do it.

As per a new study published by ASSOCHAM (Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India), a “slowdown in consumer footfalls, coupled with online shopping that provides convenience of delivery at door steps, have led to troubles for the shopping malls which are suffering 20 to 25% vacancy rates and 30% drop in rentals in the last one year.” The study finds that this trend runs parallel to a global one, where declining footfalls in retail space in over 200 shopping malls across the US, UK and other countries has lowered commercial space rentals. In the US, the malls are facing 46% vacancy rates whereas malls in UK are impacted by 32%.

“On the other hand, the  Indian e-commerce industry appears to be unaffected by the demand slowdown and is likely to clock a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35% and cross the $100-billion mark in value over the next five years,” the study finds, pegging the e-commerce industry in India presently at $17 billion.

Continuing on the strong growth momentum of 2015, the e-commerce industry is estimated to see a 72% increase in the average annual spending on online purchases per individual in 2016 from the current level of 65%, the study said. Online shopping mainly focusses on purchasing electronics, books, music, apparel, sporting and outdoor goods.

“It is true that the online shopping has shown handsome growth while the brick and mortar malls are witnessing slowdown. It looks that the growth in e-commerce looks impressive because of quite a low base and increasing penetration of internet,” ASSOCHAM Secretary General DS Rawat said. “The brick and mortar outlets on high streets and inside malls are trying to hold on through lower prices and deals. In India, sales in shopping malls have dipped by 25 to 30% and footfalls by 15 to 20% compared to the same period last year.”

There were around 50 operational malls in 2005, a number that rose to 610 in 2015 in top 10 cities. Additionally, with improvement in infrastructure such as logistics, broadband and Internet-ready devices, there is likely to be a significant increase in the number of consumers making purchases online, the study said. It estimates around 65 million consumers in India to buy online in 2015, as against around 40 million in 2014.

“The challenges of suburban sprawl, worsening automotive traffic, rising fuel prices and the increased difficulty of time management in modern families have made going to the mall a planned activity,” adds the paper.

Mobile technology is also having a huge impact on brick and mortar retail. Amazon recently reported that roughly 8 to 10% percent of their total sales are being generated by mobile devices, and expect this trend to continue upwards.

(Picture courtesy www.indiantravels.com. Image is used for representational purpose only)

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Kharcha paani

5 ways to ‘read’ your employees

You’ll know what your employees are like if you observe, communicate and listen constantly for information and read the signs.
by Reyna Mathur

Consider this situation: you are the leader of a team of young trainees, and you are entrusted with the job of finding out the strengths of each person and fit them to the correct role. How do you achieve this? Do you take one-on-one interviews and ask them point blank what role they would like to do? Or do you opt for a more creative approach to find the answers more effectively?

HR professional Mayank Shetty advises, “The best way is to get the team together for a tea session in the canteen, where we would all get to know each other’s names and break the ice. Then I would suggest a bonding activity like going for a film.” He suggests that putting a new group in a situation where they have to share information with each other and even possibly pay for travel, food and entertainment goes a long way in telling the leader about each person. “For instance, I would notice at once if somebody is unwilling to pay for food, or is not forthcoming with information when asked which film they want to see. I would also note if somebody takes more initiative and plans for the whole group.”

You might want to note these 5 potential ‘red flags’ in your employees:

1. Reserved, uncommunicative employees. There may be at least one person on the staff who is silent most of the times and prefers to be by himself even in a group. Many people suffer from shyness which is often mistaken for aloofness. Try and get the person to speak up more, but don’t get pushy. It is normal for new joinees to be quieter than the rest of the staff, but if the employee has been with the office for over six months and still does not have an office friend, it means that the person functions best when left alone and should not be forced to participate unless ready.

2. The ‘funny’ employee. Every group has at least one ‘office clown’ who can be relied on to keep the atmosphere light. This person will have a joke ready for every situation. However, observe the person’s interpersonal communication with others – does he or she make hurtful comments about the others under the guise of a joke? Does he or she make racist, sexist or obscene comments that may embarrass others? You should clearly indicate that any hurtful or vulgar conversation will not be tolerated in the office. On the other hand, if the employee is also seemingly popular with the staff on an individual level, it means he or she is a good listener and employs humour to make friends.

3. The backlog employee. Your staff will have one person who habitually carries today’s tasks over to the next working day. Observe this person’s working habits for a while to judge why this happens. It might be as simple as plain procrastination, or it may be that the person is so burdened with tasks that he or she runs out of time to complete them. Speak to them if you find that he or she doesn’t finish the work out of laziness. If you need to reassign duties to this employee, do it at the earliest before the backlog increases. If necessary, team up this person with another team member who is finicky about finishing all tasks on deadline.

4. The give-me-everybody’s-work employee. Some members of the staff like to assist others on their projects, but very soon find themselves in a situation where they are doing all the work. This sort of employee is unable to say ‘no’ and hence, gets taken advantage of by the others. Clamp down on this situation at once, and take the employee aside to know why they are doing work outside their own ambit of duties. At this point, they should be able to communicate their problem areas clearly with you, provided you create a non-threatening discussion environment. If they still cannot speak up after gently probing, it simply means that they lack the gumption to defend themselves. You should think twice before putting this person in charge of a team or a project.

5. The ‘It’s not my problem’ employee. This kind of employee cannot be a team player, because he or she does not believe in rolling up their sleeves and getting down to completing the job. Their overall outlook is that they will do only as much as they are paid to do, and will categorically refuse to assist another team member or own up responsibility for an issue. This employee will also refuse to work beyond the stipulated working hours and make excuses to skip all-nighters. The best way to get this person to be productive is to put him or her in charge of a project and convey that the team’s progress will reflect in his KRAs.

(Picture courtesy www.wsj.com. Image is used for representational purpose only)

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Learn

Mumbai gets country’s first digital training centre for the disabled

Helen Keller Institute and NASSCOM join hands for country’s first NDLM centre to impart digital literacy training to the disabled.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The Helen Keller Institute for Deaf and Deaf-blind (HKIDB) and NASSCOM Foundation yesterday jointly opened India’s first ever NDLM centre dedicated to training Persons with Disabilities in Digital Literacy. This will also be the first NDLM centre based out of Mumbai.

HKIDB will facilitate the training infrastructure and the trainers at the centre. Special care has been taken to make sure that it remains accessible to Persons with Disabilities. The computers inside the centre have been loaded with the latest accessibility hardware and software like Job Access with Speech (JAWS), speakers, mics, power braillers – braille keyboards and braille embosser (braille printer) etc. The course material has been fully tested for W3C level 2 accessibility level.

The centre will have beneficiaries trained on all digital devices, specifically, computers and mobile phones. Once trained, the beneficiaries will be able to send emails, connect on social media, buy from e-commerce websites, and even use the Internet to avail various Government services such as registering for Aadhar cards, ration cards, PAN cards, and others.

On the occasion, Yogesh Desai, CEO, HKIDB said, “Our aim is to develop the Deaf & Deaf-blind into self-sufficient human beings and integrate them into the regular stream of society to perform to the best of their abilities. The NDLM centre will address digital literacy needs of persons with other disabilities also. WE believe that no one is incapable of being taught and no one can do without education.”

Shrikant Sinha, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation said, “Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities has been one of the top priorities for NASSCOM Foundation. We are attempting to close the digital divide by helping Persons with Disability to harness the power of computers and mobiles and develop necessary skills to start using them with confidence.”

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