Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Ever since the euphemistically correct term “Non Performing Asset” (NPA) was coined to replace the terms such as bad loans, sick loans etc. which were turning the balance sheets of the banks in India red, it has been the nightmare of bankers in the country. Being the son of branch manager of a Regional Rural Bank and being born and bought up in that very banking environment, I am quite familiar with the phase through which the bankers in India usually go through. Numerous nights are spent thinking about the assets which will soon be classified as Non Performing and numerous days, trying to recover every penny that can be following a rigorous legal approach against the people with heavy political backing. Specially, the Public Sector banks where the major business is through priority sector lending and the lending in the rural areas, the condition of NPAs is even worse.

Although much has already been said about the NPAs in the banks, but still nothing seems to work for the banks in Asian countries. The last decade of the Indian Banking Industry has viewed extremely high NPAs and many banks reported negative profit. This is not the case with the performance in this decade due to the changes brought by policy of The Reserve Bank of India (India’s central bank).  With the RBI’s new definition for the NPA released in 2004, the condition has improved, and the problem of understating the NPA is no more prevalent.

The Foreign sector banks in the country have been able to keep their NPAs as low as zero, except a few. The Standard Charted bank has the highest NPA amongst the foreign sector banks. In Private sector banks, ICICI is leading from the front in terms of high NPA. Where as, amongst Public sector banks the honor for the whopping high NPA goes to the State Bank of India. The condition is reverse when viewed from the other side. These banks are the highest profit makers in their respective sectors and the Net NPA to Net Advances ratio of theirs is quite low and most of them have been constantly reducing it. All credit to the excellent and aggressive policies of these banks.

Source: Indian Banks Association (Figures in Crores of INR, 1 Crore = 10 Million)

The stats may be hurting, but it is true that the NPA of the Indian Banking sector hanged around 1% of the GDP at factor cost of the nation in the year 2004, and if we consider the other Financial Institutions then it will be 4% of the GDP at factor cost. The situation is comparatively better than those of the other Asian countries such as China and Japan, where the NPA is more than 30% of the GDP. The condition of NPA has improved over the years with Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) coming into picture in the Indian Banking Industry. But NPA is NPA, whether small or large, it is always like a body part of bank being paralyzed.

As per the current scenario in India from the coming fiscal year, there will be even more players in the Indian Banking Industry, and this fierce competition will certainly drive the Indian economy by a large magnitude, despite it will also magnify the NPA problem. This clearly means more work for the BIU of these banks, the ARCs and the consultants to reduce the NPAs by every possible bit. We at Marketelligent with expertise in Risk Management and efficient modeling techniques for NPA reduction through Profile Monitoring and Fraud detection are all set to let the Asset managers enjoy their nights.

Zishan Ansari

Consultant, Marketelligent 

……… from the CEO’s Desk
We are happy to introduce “News and Views” our quarterly News Letter. Through this news letter we hope to update you on trends and happenings in the Analytics industry. In this edition we have an article by our COO Anunay Gupta “Catching the new wave of Globalization” published in American Banker. The article captures how outsourcing plays a key role in globalization and how analytics is emerging as the new area for outsourcing. We are also introducing you to our Team by putting them in focus in the news letter. This issue we introduce Bhupendra, who is the first associate of Marketelligent. Quite a personality as you will see…..

Going forward we hope to bring you interesting news and views from the world of analytics. Analytics has become the key differentiator in an increasingly competetive world and we want to work with you to bring best practices to your business. As always, we believe in continuous improvement and look forward to your feedback on this issue.

Roy K Cherian

Catching the New Wave of Globalization
American Banker | Friday, September 28, 2007
By Anunay Gupta, COO,Marketelligent

Globalization and offshoring are two words that basically mean the same thing but have very different perceptions, depending on what part of the world you are in. Having worked in the United States for over 20 years and in India for the last three, I have seen firsthand the changes taking place in both nations. And I think “globalization” is the appropriate term to describe the offshoring phenomena occurring around the world today.

Rapid developments in telecommunications and the adoption of Internet technology have enabled fast-moving companies to leverage globalization to their strategic advantage.
Many of the largest U.S. banking companies have worked with an Infosys or a Wipro on software. The bankers can discuss their business requirements and software specifications in the United States, the development takes place in India, and the delivery and execution occur across the globe.

This model affords two significant advantages: It’s a 24/7 working model, allowing for development to occur seamlessly around the clock; and there are significant cost advantages in using a competent, low-cost talent pool that is well versed in engineering and technology. Companies that do not take advantage of this phenomenon will slowly but surely find it difficult to survive in an increasingly competitive global economy.

Consider the amazing growth of Infosys Technologies, a Bangalore, India, company that provides consulting and information technology services to clients around the world. Established in 1981, it needed almost 25 years to reach $2 billion of annual revenue, a level it reached in 2005. It then took just one year to cross the $3 billion threshold. This growth is being generated from a global set of clients, 60% of which are based in the United States.

As the globalization of software-related services grows and matures, companies will look for the next area where they can improve their productivity. I predict that will mean adopting the globalization model in analytics operations. From a consumer banking perspective, analytics encompasses any functional area that requires leveraging available data and information, along with talent well versed in statistical and econometric skills, to make better business decisions. These functions are usually called risk management, decision management, customer relationship marketing, database marketing, etc.

A few U.S. financial services companies have ventured down this path. General Electric Co. was one of the first movers, setting up its back-office company, GE Capital International Services, in India 10 years ago with operations that initially focused on “business processes.” A few other large firms have since followed, including American Express Co. in 2001 and Citigroup Inc. three years later. GECIS also started working on many analytic functions, including risk and decision management for GE’s consumer and commercial lending operations.

Globalizing analytics will be possible essentially for the same reason Infosys has done so well in technology: the global availability of affordable analytical talent well versed in statistics and econometrics, leadership talent with deep domain knowledge, and a business model that provides round-the-clock delivery.

But working on information-related processes requires a set of controls: selective access to sensitive customer level information as well as tight data security. In addition, a significant part of analytics involves understanding the local economy and its consumer mindset. Although this issue is more challenging than data security ones, companies in India are tackling this by sending employees to host countries for two or three months for “immersion” assignments. Moreover, the ready availability of global news across television and the Internet, as well as the significant number of expatriates, are helping bridge the gap between the data analyst working in Bangalore and the U.S. consumers shopping their local malls.

We are in the initial stages of a renewed wave of globalization. The success and rapid adoption of technology, combined with the globalization of software and business process-related services, will help companies move up the value chain of information-based services.

Meet Some of Our Associates — Bhupendra Khanal

Bhupendra Khanal is involved in Analytics Consulting and Business Development for Marketelligent. He has rich experience in Analytics including Customer Segmentation,
Predictive Modeling, Competitor Analysis and Business Restructuring, Marketing Campaign Design, Capital Planning and Financial Forecasting, and Decision Control System Design and Implementation.

He specializes in designing Business Rules and Predictive Models based Marketing Strategy. He has been involved in various Analytic Consulting projects from different sectors
like Marketing and Branding, Risk Management, Collections, Human Resources etc. and has worked in variety of Industries including Banking, Insurance, Retail, Gaming, Debt Management and Charity.

His achievements include designing and implementing Decision Control System for the Sub-Prime Loans Market in US, and building Multiple Objective Decision System
for a Banking Client.

Prior to joining Marketelligent, he has been with Global Analytics and Fair Isaac Corporation. He holds a B. Tech. (Computer Science and Engineering) degree from NIT Durgapur, India.

His hobbies include Biking, Trekking, Mountaineering, Adventure Sports and Photography. He is interested in travelling new places, knowing new cultures, exploring nature’s beauty and capturing it in camera. He is also a passionate blogger and maintains blog “Business Analytics” at www.analyticsbhups.blogspot.com and “Global Thougtz India” at http://india.globalthoughtz.com/.

Q1 2008 Highlights

• Designed & developed a first pay default model for a large US Consumer Finance company
• Partnered with a leading Indian Beverages Manufacturer to put in place an on-demand market
share& industry sales tracking mechanism
• Initiated a transportation optimization study for the Indian operations of a global Chocolates
manufacturer
• Delivered on an unique CRM initiative for a leading Middle-East based Database Marketing Company

www.marketelligent.com

Please send us your feedback at info@marketelligent.com

In India there are four to five online media companies which are operating on greater level.

I would like to share a trend in India in Online Media sphere.

Most of the big companies having headcount 100 - 200 are producing new islands.

Some smart delivery heads, VPs, are opening their own companies. I have seen some companies taking birth in this sector.

Search Avenues, Resultrix are one of them. I personally feel that though these new companies are not as much branded

as big companies but they really produce the result, which is more important in Online Media field. The dynamics of this field is changing so dramatically that every MD’s of big companies are filling their strategic position from altogether diffrent field.

There are few companies which has 2-3 projects are really performing better than bigger brands.

The expertise of SEM, SEO, PPC, Web Anlytics are not now arcane things for even midle level employees of the companies. In nut shell i would like to sum up ” India is now in great transformational phase of Online Media.

(NIT Durgapur Welcoming The Participants for Aarohan 2008)

Analytics summit at the NIT Durgapur campus went well along side their technical festival, Aarohan. It was a fantastic day, Feb 15th, when students, professors and Industry leaders sit together and talk about Analytics.

(Stage Set for Aarohan and Analytics Summit)
The competition on the Business Case studies sponsored by Marketelligent went well and students gave their views on either of the two case studies.

Events that happened:
1. Speak on Retail Analytics by Bibek Karmakar from Wipro.
2. Future of Analytics Industry in India and World, from Anunay Gupta, COO, Marketelligent.
3. BI Tools Distribution to all participants from Salford Systems
4. Fight for Consulting Space, a comparison of Management Consulting, Market Research and
Analytics, from Bhupendra Khanal, Sr. Consultant, Marketelligent
5. Other speeches and case study presentations from Students.

(Anunay with his Presentation)

(Bhupendra with his talk)

(Bibek Karmakar presenting Retail Analytics for Wipro)
Major take-aways from the NIT Summit.
1. India is a virgin market for Analytics.
2. People don’t understand Analytics but are very receptive.
3. The player which teaches Analytics, teaches the mass and with speed will lead the Industry.

(Lokesh, the man behind the Summit)

Some pitches for download.
1. Case Studies 1
2. Case Study 2
3. Presentation : Fight for Consulting Space
4. About Marketelligent

(Relaxing after the summit; Ranjan from AdapChain and Hanumesh from Satyam Software)

(Sponsors Marketelligent and Salford Systems; partnership that made the Summit Happen)

Today I was going through the Google Trends and I happened to search for keyword “Business Analytics”. The result surprised me.

The keyword is frequently searched in India than US. And more to that 4 Indian Cities top the chart for frequently searched destinations. The picture will say more.

Top 10 Countries.

Here goes the list of Top 10 Cities.

He

I take the pride of informing you all about the First Ever Analytics Summit in Eastern India this February. Marketelligent presents “Analytics Summit India 2008” along with Salford Systems, Us and NIT Durgapur at the NIT Durgapur campus.

It is scheduled for February 15th, 2008 alongside the National Level Technical Festival of NIT, the Aarohan 2k8.

For participation or sponsorship in the event please contact:
Bhupendra Khanal
khanal[dot]bhupendra[AT]gmail.com

Lokesh Awasthy
lokeshawasthy[AT]arhn.in, awasthy.lokesh[AT]gmail.com

For more details and registration purposes, please visit Aarohan Website.

Hope to get your help to make this event a grand success. See you there.