From the day I heard the news that I got offer to join PGSEM course, class of 2008 I started to think whether to accept this or not. One of the prime reasons is ofcourse the course fee. The entire course for 2.5 years costs about 7.5L. The regular PGP course offered by IIM Bangalore costs 8L for 2 years. The rising input costs, Srikrishna commissions' recommendation to hike salaries has mandated IIMs and IITs to raise the fees. The popular comment you hear anywhere to justify the fee hike by premier educational institutes of India is after completion of course, the average salaries offered are so high that students can afford to pay these fees. This fee hike definitely has a great impact on students who are fresh out of college joining the program. On the flipside there are many students who are sponsored from their companies for higher studies. The current allocation from corporates for these programs must accommodate the higher fees. One could say "no big deal, the corporates have lot of money and funds for higher education are not so much", but look at it, atleast IT companies will be thinking twice with raising dollar and shrinking margins from US projects. More-over this fee hike requires almost more than doubling the current allocation in the budgets. Assuming most of the companies finish their budget exercises before March, the academic year 2008-2009 definitely would not have got any higher allocation. Since the fee hikes (actuals) were announced in the last two months. anyway, the bottom line is, someone in my company who could do PGSEM program sponsored by my company last year could not do this year without investing remaining 50% of the course fee from his/her pocket !!! :-( :-( :-(
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
State Bank of India Recruitment Drive and Computerization
SBI has announced to recruit 20,000 clerical staff across India (here is the link http://www.statebankofindia.com/viewdetail.jsp?lang=0&id=0,15,110&dcd=1554&did=12095387224165EDAEEBEA6E967765193AECF3857CAE9). Well, this may not be the news. The news is, the entire application process is made online except for the part where you need to pay the application fee. This exception is alright, because not everyone might have access to online payment facilities in India. The application process is very very simple. Just go to any SBI Branch that is Computerised and centrally networked, (SBI calls such branches as CBS branches) and pay the application fee (which is Rs. 250) and get a journal number from them. This number has to be updated in the application while filling it online. The minimum qualification required to apply is 12th plus communication skills plus basic computer knowledge. So, this makes a lot of sense to automate the application process and make it online. Not everyone might have access to online payment facilities but almost every mandal (taluk) or a small town has atleast one cyber cafe and internet is widely available.
I would say this is a welcome step from such a large public sector enterprise and I see more such initiatives from other big public enterprises such as Indian Railways or State owned RTCs or UPSC or respective state Public Service Commissions. Such a process ensures no application is lost in post, no application is delayed, no application went un-noticed. More-over it saves paper, reduces cutting trees, saves planet earth.
I would say this is a welcome step from such a large public sector enterprise and I see more such initiatives from other big public enterprises such as Indian Railways or State owned RTCs or UPSC or respective state Public Service Commissions. Such a process ensures no application is lost in post, no application is delayed, no application went un-noticed. More-over it saves paper, reduces cutting trees, saves planet earth.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Movies delivered at home
Since the days I returned from US in 2002, I always wanted NetFlix type of service in India. I missed the quality DVDs not just movies but also other interesting programs available on DVDs. The poor quality of discs in neighborhood rental stores and high city traffic to watch a good movie made me look for alternatives. 'Cinema' at Koramangala is one such store in Bangalore and Hyderabad offering wide variety of titles for rent with best quality discs, but they dont have a door delivery service. The neighborhood stores slowly started door delivery service, but they lacked a website catalogue to choose from titles and ofcourse the quality of discs is not always the best.
Now after 5 years, www.seventymm.com is the first such site to offer DVD rentals over the web. They have good collection of titles and to start with a fairly priced plans. Recently Reliance promoted www.bigflicks.com has entered into this business. So far I have seen these two companies offering DVDs delivered to home in India and thought of comparing their plans here.
Seventymm claims service in 6 cities, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh and Hyderabad and around 15,000 titles in 14 languages. Their basic plan gives you 1 movie at a time and you could watch upto 6 movies in a month. You need to return the disc within 3 nights and 4 days. This plan costs you a basic membership fee of Rs. 250 and a registration fee of Rs. 199. You need to pay a refundable security deposit of Rs. 349. Per month it costs you Rs. 798 for 6 movies. Rs. 133 per movie. Hrm...
Bigflicks delivers movies worldwide over broadband and in India by door delivery. Being a Reliance company, they have office in Ahmedabad and also offer services in 9 other cities (Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkatta, Mumbai, Pune). Their basic plan of 1 disc at a time requires a refundable deposit of Rs 400, a monthly subscription of Rs. 250 and no registration fee. Currently none of the plans in Bigflicks have registration fee. While rental period for Old titles is not limited, new titles have to be returned within 48 hours. Bigflicks also claims over 15,000 titles in 15 languages. In total per month it comes to Rs. 750 for one disc plan and no major difference than seventymm.
And for the real movie buffs, Bigflicks lets you take a maximum of 3 discs at a time with no upper limit on total number of movies per month. This plan costs you Rs. 5000 per annum and a security deposit of Rs. 1000. Where as in Seventymm, one can rent a maximum of 2 discs at a time with no limit on the number of titles you can rent in a month. Their annual plan costs you Rs. 5490 per annum with no security deposit. Their one time registration fee of Rs. 199 is to be paid. This turns out to be Rs. 5689 per annum again not so much of difference from Bigflicks. The advantage here is one can keep the disc for unlimited number of days. Assuming a new title can also be kept.
Ofcourse what needs to be seen to compare these two services further is on the following parameters....
1. The availability of titles
- Once you place the request, what is the number of days you need to wait for that title
- This parameter can further be for old titles and new titles
- The title itself in their catalogue
- When delivered, the contents of the case has same movie as you requested
2. Turnaround time of your requests for pick up and delivery
- Lets say you place a request to pick up the disc, how many hours or days they take to pick up the disc.
- If the disc is available at the time of placing request, when does it get delivered
3. Transparency in Billing
- Are you charged as promised?
- are there any hidden charges like late payment fees or service charges
4. Quality of titles
- Condition of discs
- You get a good movie watching experience without any missing parts due to scratches on discs
- Sub-titles in the language you need
- For higher customer satisfaction - original discs with supplement information like making of the movie etc.
May be the blog viewers can comment their experience with any of these services. I am still not a subscriber to any of these services.
Now after 5 years, www.seventymm.com is the first such site to offer DVD rentals over the web. They have good collection of titles and to start with a fairly priced plans. Recently Reliance promoted www.bigflicks.com has entered into this business. So far I have seen these two companies offering DVDs delivered to home in India and thought of comparing their plans here.
Seventymm claims service in 6 cities, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh and Hyderabad and around 15,000 titles in 14 languages. Their basic plan gives you 1 movie at a time and you could watch upto 6 movies in a month. You need to return the disc within 3 nights and 4 days. This plan costs you a basic membership fee of Rs. 250 and a registration fee of Rs. 199. You need to pay a refundable security deposit of Rs. 349. Per month it costs you Rs. 798 for 6 movies. Rs. 133 per movie. Hrm...
Bigflicks delivers movies worldwide over broadband and in India by door delivery. Being a Reliance company, they have office in Ahmedabad and also offer services in 9 other cities (Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkatta, Mumbai, Pune). Their basic plan of 1 disc at a time requires a refundable deposit of Rs 400, a monthly subscription of Rs. 250 and no registration fee. Currently none of the plans in Bigflicks have registration fee. While rental period for Old titles is not limited, new titles have to be returned within 48 hours. Bigflicks also claims over 15,000 titles in 15 languages. In total per month it comes to Rs. 750 for one disc plan and no major difference than seventymm.
And for the real movie buffs, Bigflicks lets you take a maximum of 3 discs at a time with no upper limit on total number of movies per month. This plan costs you Rs. 5000 per annum and a security deposit of Rs. 1000. Where as in Seventymm, one can rent a maximum of 2 discs at a time with no limit on the number of titles you can rent in a month. Their annual plan costs you Rs. 5490 per annum with no security deposit. Their one time registration fee of Rs. 199 is to be paid. This turns out to be Rs. 5689 per annum again not so much of difference from Bigflicks. The advantage here is one can keep the disc for unlimited number of days. Assuming a new title can also be kept.
Ofcourse what needs to be seen to compare these two services further is on the following parameters....
1. The availability of titles
- Once you place the request, what is the number of days you need to wait for that title
- This parameter can further be for old titles and new titles
- The title itself in their catalogue
- When delivered, the contents of the case has same movie as you requested
2. Turnaround time of your requests for pick up and delivery
- Lets say you place a request to pick up the disc, how many hours or days they take to pick up the disc.
- If the disc is available at the time of placing request, when does it get delivered
3. Transparency in Billing
- Are you charged as promised?
- are there any hidden charges like late payment fees or service charges
4. Quality of titles
- Condition of discs
- You get a good movie watching experience without any missing parts due to scratches on discs
- Sub-titles in the language you need
- For higher customer satisfaction - original discs with supplement information like making of the movie etc.
May be the blog viewers can comment their experience with any of these services. I am still not a subscriber to any of these services.
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