BLOOMING INSIGHTS

The current situation of Vodafone Idea, India’s third largest telecom company, is bothering the company, its subscribers and to an extent, the government. The stepping down of Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla as the non-executive chairman of the company is the final chapter in the Birla group’s painful tryst with telecom. Vodafone merged its operations with Idea in a $23 billion deal in 2017. However, the entry of Jio in the same year made their life tough in the three-player market. With the debt of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore, Vodafone Idea is now on the edge of bankruptcy with the owners. Birla’s stake in the company is 27% and Vodafone’s stake is 44%, they are unwilling to bring in more money. With a loss of Rs. 44,233 crore in FY21, Vodafone Idea now has a negative net worth of Rs. 38,228 crore. Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla has stated in his letter that he is willing and ready to hand over his entire stake to the government to keep the company as a going concern with its 27 crore users. However o...

In today’s complex world, we often find ourselves stuck in decision-making because we pick all related information and try to analyze it without giving a second thought on whether that information is actually relevant or just seems to be relevant. To take a sound decision, we need to think upon the given situation critically. In simpler terms, critical thinking is the tool to analyze the quality and relevance of information i.e., whenever we validate the accuracy of the information or confirm the evidence to be in line with the arguments or ask ourselves "How to find out the authenticity of a given statement?”, we engage in critical thinking. In the process of looking for the validation of an argument, we encounter certain cognitive biases that occur when we process and interpret the information. For instance, you detect your mom’s fury from her speech and conclude that the only reason for her anger is your messy room. So cognitive bias is not always wrong. It helps you to proce...

Marketing has been one of the most expensive aspects of running a business. While the entrepreneurs stress over how to make the most out of their advertising budget as the competition is fierce, some businesses get people’s attention even with a minimal marketing budget. But how? One effective strategy is Guerrilla Marketing. It is an innovative and highly effective marketing strategy that helps you to stand out from the competition. What is Guerrilla Marketing? Guerrilla marketing is an innovative and highly effective marketing method to boost sales or attract interest in a brand or business. It was introduced and popularized by Jay Conrad Levinson in the 1980s. He wrote several books and articles on guerrilla marketing. These methods are often low-cost and involve the use of personal interaction. It is quite different than traditional marketing and focuses on smaller groups of promoters that are responsible for getting the word out in a particular location. It is disruptive, provocat...

Once again India is witnessing a step taken for the prevention of money laundering by business tycoons. On 4 August 2021, ED (Enforcement Directorate) arrested  Mr. Gautam Thapar, former chairman of CG Power and Industrial Solutions Limited and promoter of Avantha Group.   Before you start thinking that Mr. Thapar has a negative personality, let me tell you that it was under his leadership that the sick subsidiary of Avantha Group, Ballarpur Industries Limited (BILT), yielded profit within a year. He was able to make the business unit profitable even without having specialized knowledge or prior experience. Now, isn't this strange that such a capable man landed up in jail? To understand the entire story let us travel back to the past! Mr. Thapar, after facing employment issues and his U.S. visa being at the verge of expiry returned to India. Although he studied chemical engineering in the U.S., he shouldered the turnaround responsibility of BILT and with his success he got ...

Everyone wishes to explore trading but many hesitate due to lack of knowledge, high commission and brokerage charges, or the uncertainty in the market. To solve these problems, Mr. Nithin Kamath, along with his brother Mr. Nikhil Kamath, founded Zerodha, a Bangalore based discount broking firm, in the year 2010. Zerodha’s initial motive was to provide a reliable, user-friendly platform through which investors can trade by paying discounted brokerage fees. It has been successful in accomplishing its motive, as a result of which, today it is the number one broking firm in India having the largest active client base. Origin of Zerodha Mr. Nithin Kamath had been trading in stock markets since he was 17 years old. After trading for over 10 years, he decided to become a broker and realised that the time had come to provide a different kind of stockbroking services. He thought of starting Zerodha when he felt that digitization and an online user-friendly platform were the need of the hour...