India’s CPI Target To Aid Inflation Fight

India's decision to formally implement its central inflation target of 4 percent can help moderate future price rises and support macroeconomic stability, Moody's Investors Service said on Sunday.

The government this week notified parliament that it would introduce the target of 4 percent, plus or minus 2 percent, a key confirmation of the inflation-fighting policies championed by outgoing Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan.

Moody's said an explicit target could help anchor price expectations and keep actual inflation at moderate levels. The government's implementation was "credit positive" and underlined its commitment to controlling price rises, the ratings agency said.

"Sustained moderate inflation would contribute to macroeconomic stability and help prevent a repetition of the short marked cycles of the past," Marie Diron, Senior Vice President, Sovereign Risk Group, said in a statement. The 4 percent inflation target for Asia's third-largest economy, which has a history of volatile prices, is in line with the goal the government originally agreed with Rajan.

India's inflation rate has halved in the last three years, in part thanks to policies Rajan has overseen during his time as RBI governor. His June decision to step down stunned financial markets that applauded his policies, but the ex-International Monetary Fund chief economist has sought to cement his legacy by completing the shift to formal inflation targeting before he leaves on Sept. 4.

"The changes to the monetary policy regime of the last two years mark a step towards greater policy transparency and predictability, both of which should help in policy transmission and hence monetary policy effectiveness," Moody's Diron said. 
Some senior economists, including Rajan's predecessor at the RBI, have urged India not to fixate on an inflation target given the need to ensure growth and financial stability

Crop Planting Jumps Nearly 11% On Good Rains

Crop planting has jumped 10.73 per cent in the past one week, helped by heavy rains, official data showed. Overall planting is now 5.19 per cent higher than last year at 885.29 lakh hectare. The increase was largely seen in acreage of pulses followed by oilseeds, coarse cereals, pulses and sugarcane. The total area to be planted this kharif season is 1062.50 lakh hectare.

Water levels in India's 91 major reservoirs rose 21 per cent in the last one week, as heavy rains lashed the catchment areas, but remained lower compared with those at this time last year and the 10-year average.

On Thursday, these dams together held 71.556 billion cubic metres (bcm) of water, compared with 74.285 bcm a year ago and the 10-year average of 74.920 bcm, according to data from the Central Water Commission (CWC). Last week, the capacity was 59.366 bcm.

The area under pulses has seen the maximum increase in planting. It has risen 34.98 per cent from the previous year to 121.1 lakh hectares. Planting of arhar has increased more than 54.68 per cent from last year and is expected to further increase in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

Meanwhile, rice planting has covered an area of 281.95 lakh hectares, up 2.12 per cent from last year. The acreage has largely seen an increase in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Punjab and West Bengal. This kharif season rice will be planted on 392.81 lakh hectares.

Area under coarse cereals, which includes maize, bajra, ragi, small millets and maize, has posted an increase of 3.22 per cent over the previous year to cover 163.77 lakh hectares.

Oilseeds planting has also seen a jump. It has risen 6.3 per cent from the previous year and now covers 167.58 lakh hectares. Area under groundnut has seen a significant increase from the previous year and has till date been planted on 40.92 lakh hectares. Planting of soyabean, an important commodity in the edible oil basket, has also increased and was planted on 11.83 lakh hectares.

Sugarcane planting has increased 1.65 per cent, covering 46.87 lakh hectares. The agriculture ministry has set a target of producing 270.1 million tonnes of foodgrain in 2016-17 beginning June, which is 7 per cent higher than the previous year's output. As per the fourth advance estimate released earlier this month, foodgrain production was estimated at 252.22 million tonnes for 2015-16.

How To Do SWOT Analysis For Your Business?

Performing SWOT analysis is most important for businesses to make a right decision by analyzing their internal and external factors. When making a business plan it plays a vital role. This process enables you to develop a strong business strategy and think from a different perspective for achieving the objective framed.

What does SWOT stands for?

S - Strength, W- Weakness, O- Opportunities, T - Threats

In which strength and weakness means the internal factors of business that focuses on the present while opportunities and threats means the external factors of business that predicts the future. SWOT analysis can also be termed as internal and external analysis.

Strengths are positive attributes in the internal factor of your business. Weaknesses are negative factors in your business that needs to be improved. Opportunities are external positive factors which predicts the prosperity of your business. Threats are external negative factors that may affect your business.

When can SWOT be used?

Businesses can make use of SWOT analysis to know high performing areas, explore new initiatives, make smarter decisions, identify the areas of improvement, know the opportunities and foresee the challenges. 

Knowing the strength & areas of improvement, grabbing the opportunities and facing the challenges are essential factors to be considered in a business decision making process.

Ways to perform SWOT analysis:-

To perform SWOT analysis, you need to gather right group of people who are capable of observing and recalling the positives & negatives in the internal & external factors of a business, conduct a brainstorming session and get different ideas related to the objective of business.

Objective of SWOT analysis should be made clear, research has to be made on the business, industry & market, strength & weakness of business need to be listed out, opportunities & threats for the business has to be listed down, priorities in the SWOT should be established and finally a strategy to address the problems has to be developed.

You can use SWOT analysis to develop strategies for achieving the business goal once you know to make use of strengths to take advantage of opportunities identified and to overcome the identified threats, know the things to be done for overcoming weaknesses and to take advantage of opportunities and know the ways to minimize weaknesses to overcome threats identified. 

Make use of SWOT analysis for executing balanced business strategies and to obtain the goal in an effective manner

Facebook Returns To India

After its unsuccessful last attempt, Facebook is back in India carrying, the torch of internet.  Only this time, Facebook isn’t feeling so generous!

A disappointed Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, said after his much anticipated and much endorsed Free Basics programme, “While we're disappointed with the  decision, I want to personally communicate that we are committed to keep working to break down barriers to connectivity in India and around the world.” Taking his initiative forward to spread internet in rural India, Facebook has been in touch with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to commercially launch its Express WiFi programme and expand its reach.

With Express WiFi, Facebook has been working with carriers, internet service providers, and local entrepreneurs to help expand connectivity to underserved locations around the world. This serves a two-fold purpose – first, rural areas get access to affordable internet; and second, local entrepreneurs help provide quality internet access to their neighbors and make a steady income. They have already completed a pilot rollout of 125 rural public WiFi hotspots in a tie-up with state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam.

We are testing Express WiFi program in India that allows customers to purchase fast, reliable and affordable data packages from their local ISP to access the Internet via local hotspots," a Facebook India spokesperson said according to media reports.

The ban imposed on the grounds of net neutrality proved to be a major setback for Facebook CEO, who had lobbied hard for the program as part of a campaign to expand Internet access in developing countries. However, their comeback with Express WiFi won't be free like last time. Reports say that Bharat Sanchar Nigam may deploy the offer with the assistance of the technologies Facebook's developed for its Telecom Infra Project.

Facebook is investing in the development of the connectivity ecosystem by providing techno-commercial assistance to local ISP partners and entrepreneurs," a person associated with the matter said.

For the rural WiFi, Facebook has even developed customised software suited to the needs of local entrepreneurs which will help them bridge the internet gap in India. 

Social Media Trends That Rules In 2016

Social Media plays the major role among all people. This year of 2016, Social Medias are inches away from becoming one of life’s basic necessities.

Can you stay away from Facebook for an entire day?

More and more people are discovering business opportunities solely through social media. Social media is not just for young people anymore. Considering how it encompasses everything from Facebook and Twitter to the new kids on the block such as Snapchat, it is little wonder that social media is the way to reach out to more people and redefine interactions. Here are a few trends that will catch up in a big way.

Selling through social media

The rest of 2016 has a series of festivals coming up, and as every Indian knows, festivals equals shopping. Roposo is making great strides in helping people discover more of what they like and brands that may not have otherwise gained much traction. Likewise, several Instashops have mushroomed on Instagram (where else!) that allow people all over the world to buy clothes they fancy. This year could see this trend extending further with both Facebook and Twitter trying to introduce a way to buy products directly from their platforms.
Interactions redefined

You don’t just like, retweet and re-pin something anymore. You send emojis and share Dubsmash videos. You put on a funny face and Snapchat with friends. Snapchat is proving to be a great tool for bloggers to interact with their follower base. Fashion bloggers now use their Snapchat account to share everything from the process of getting a new haircut to interacting with people at an apparel store. Depending on the niche you’re in, using a specific social media interface could help you interact with existing followers and maybe even discover new ones.

360˚ everything

With live streaming of videos emerging as a trend, most of us are now watching more videos than ever before. Couple this with the advent of 360˚ videos and photos and you have a whole new way of looking at the world. Videos of waterfalls and roller coasters that look all too real are already doing the rounds. With Mark Zuckerberg announcing that Facebook can now accept uploads of even 360˚ photos, images such as this one have gone viral. While they’re relatively new, it’s easy to imagine them being used to sell products such as cars or property or to give users a virtual tour of a shop.

Use social media tools that work for you. Don’t be afraid to try everything out. With new trends coming up every other day, it is important to be aware and pragmatic about what to use and what to avoid so that you’re not bogged down by the marketing frenzy.

Google Launches Family Library

In the old days, people would buy books and then share them with family members when they were done reading them. Or we’d get a movie or CD and get everyone in the same room to watch together. Those days aren’t over but — these days — it’s pretty common for family members to experience media on personal devices on their own and place.

 Google wants to enable that with its new Family Library that lets up to six family members share media purchased via the Google Play store for mobile devices, PCs and Macs and connected TVs such as those with Internet access or attached devices like Roku or Apple TV.

 In a blog post, Raj Iyengar, Product Manager, Google Play said “Today’s families have a lot of devices, and it should be easy to share content no matter where we are or what we’re doing.

 With the service, that’s rolling out gradually starting today, you’ll be able to chose which items to share and have the option to share some. Iyengar said “I’ll probably keep my collection of comic books in my personal library,” which means that other family members won’t be able access them.

 Shared credit card and parental approval

When an adult in the family signs up, you select a credit card as your shared payment method and any shared items you wish to purchase must be billed to that card. Individual family members also have the option to purchase items with their own cards or gift cards that won’t be shared. Parents will have the option to approve any purchases made by their children.

 Google had earlier announced a $14.95 per month  Google Play Music family planwhich allows up to six family members can stream music for $14.99 a month.

Small Business Growth Strategies To Follow

Because small businesses have shoestring budgets, they lack all the privileges large businesses enjoy. Tilting the ground in their favor is incredibly difficult for them. It’s no surprise that 90 percent of startups fail.

Expert tips can help them lower the cost while keeping the quality of the work high and meeting deadlines. Here are some offbeat growth strategies for startups:

1) Working as Outsourcing Partner :

Competition with large businesses is futile for a small business. Co-habitation, on the other hand, can drive growth. A small business can cohabit with a large business by becoming the latter’s outsourcing partner.

It’s a win-win situation for both. Large businesses have a compartmentalized work atmosphere. New departments are often set up for handling project-specific needs. Such departments are normally dissolved once the work is done. Meanwhile, people are hired and often laid off once a project is delivered. Outsourcing saves a business from such complications. It is cost-efficient. Peter Hands of Capita, a UK based IT service provider explained how remote working can save up to 30 percent of cost. Such stats indicate growth opportunities that lie ahead for small enterprises in the outsourcing landscape.

2) Moving to Cloud :

By reducing the operational cost, a business can increase its profit margin. Cloud is a great way to lower the operational cost.

Bringing the WiFi cost down is tough because setting up dedicated access points inside the office premises can be expensive. Cloud-based enterprise WiFi solutions are cost-effective and eliminate connection downtime owing to the absence of a single point of failure. The access point and the router running on the cloud makes it possible. Top hosting platforms let small business owners remotely access servers and even desktops, thereby allowing them to run the business on the go. The mobility solution is the USP of this model.

Cloud based tools ease up collaboration. More than one person accessing files from remote locations adds agility. Cloud optimizes the mobile experience by virtualizing platforms and tools for the small-screen environment. Already, 37 percent of small enterprises in the US have moved to the cloud. Intuit’s study indicates more businesses will make headway into this avenue in the near future.

3) Project Management Apps :

Managing projects is a pivotal aspect of running a business. Since manual project management is time and resource-consuming, small businesses are recommended to use project management tools. Here’s a list of project management apps that don’t burn a hole in the wallet. The list is comprehensive. The tools in the list have diverse functionalities, thereby binding almost all aspects of project management. Using more than one tool is recommended because when used collectively, the tools can supplement each other’s functionality.

Imagine one tool pins on key data related to a project while another tool visually represents complicated data sets. Using both tools, a project manager can easily understand the intricate relationship between data.

4) Embrace Automation :

Believe it or not, automation is changing the business vertical. For small businesses, automation is a window leading to a bevy of opportunities.

Automation has fully eclipsed project management. We’ve discussed that in the preceding paragraph. Project management aside, a small business has plenty of other crucial aspects such as:

* Time-tracking
* Multi-channel marketing
* Employee productivity and
* ROI calculation.

Automation can reduce the scope for manual work in all these areas. Take time-tracking for example. Apps like Toggl or RescueTime can track every minute that employees spend on websites or web-based applications. ROI tracking apps come with an analytics dashboard, offering every minute detail and solving complex calculations.Marketing apps combine creativity with technicalities. Apps like Hootsuite can optimize your social media presence and give you access to a broad spectrum of audiences. Put simply, automation saves you wads of cash and makes everything easy for you. Hence, small businesses need automation more than large businesses.

5) Webinar Marketing

We mentioned multi-channel marketing in the preceding paragraph. The webinar is a new-found marketing channel that brands can harness. Hosting a trade show or a business summit is outrageously expensive. Hosting an online seminar, on the other hand, doesn’t make one even feel the bite.

Success in webinar marketing depends on:

* Realistic registration and attendee goals, and
* Offering giveaways to attendees.

The largest webinar was held by Hubspot, which registered 31,000 attendees. A small business cannot expect so many attendees. It has to have realistic expectations. Registration headcount and giveaways are interwoven. The attendees won’t register unless there’s a payoff for them. Downplaying the webinar opt-in page is a grave mistake. The page should have the must-have elements.For a startup owner, a webinar is a platform allowing him or her to discuss problems faced by customers and assure them there’s a solution. He should be serious, or else the attendees would sense he’s doing everything to persuade them to buy from him. So all small business owners out there, assure customers that your product/service is the one-stop solution for their problems.

6) Fail Deliberately :

You must be wondering how failing can be a strategy. Let me reference the Product Hunt Singapore Meetup. The speakers at the Meetup explained with great details the benefits of deliberately letting a product fail.

What happens when you meet with failure?

You identify the shortcomings that led to failure. Because a small business is not ahead in the learning curve, facing the challenges lying ahead is hard for the business owner. Failure opens his eyes. Failure teaches him about the roadblocks to success. As the business owner internalizes the lessons, the odds of success escalate when he embarks on his next venture. And despite the fact that the word “failure” adds a negative connotation, the strategy is safe because when you proactively minimize the risks, failure doesn’t put a dent in the wallet.

7) User-Generated Content :

The importance of UGC is growing. For small-scale fashion and accessory brands, UGC does all the marketing. Fashion startups are lucky that customers are receptive to review them. But startups from various other industries are not so lucky.

Hence, they have to use automated review aggregators. Small businesses are in a greater need for positive UGC because data analytics has revealed customers, especially millennial customers, tend to ignore whether the average order value (AoV) is proportionate to the store size, but relate UGC to the brand experience. Very simply put, UGC speaks for a brand’s reputation. Since reputation matters, small brands need to cultivate UGC. Customers no longer value a product or a service alone. They value the experience too. A positive feedback loop is generated when the brand experience is positive for customers. That leads to growth.