Teradata Talks Apps, But Don't Think AppExchange - Iweek

Teradata Talks Apps, But Don't Think AppExchange - Iweek

   February 19, 2015       prabhakardalvi

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Teradata Aster App Center is a collection of app templates, not a platform-as-a-service developer community. Here's the lowdown on 29 apps for six industries.

What if big data could be app easy? Teradata thinks it can be, as it announced with the launch of the Teradata Aster Apps Center this week, but be sure you understand the kind of apps it's describing.

As you might suspect, Teradata's not talking about apps you can download onto a smartphone. Big data can't be that easy. The Aster Apps Center is also not a Force.com-like app-development platform-as-a-service (PaaS) or a Salesforce AppExchange-like community where companies can offer their own apps built on a PaaS platform.

The Teradata Aster App Center is a place where you can get templates for analytic applications designed to run specifically on Teradata's Aster database management system. The center is launching with 29 app frameworks in six industries: retail, telco and cable, healthcare, travel and hospitality, entertainment and gaming, and consumer financials.

Teradata has custom-built these sorts of apps in the past, so it decided to turn them into repeatable templates, including pre-built application logic, data visualizations, and configurable user interfaces, according to Chris Twogood, Teradata's vice president of product and services marketing.

"Think of it as pre-built services," Twogood told InformationWeek in a phone interview. "Instead of writing multiple authentication services for each individual app, for example, we wrote one service that all of the apps use."

Each app template gets you about 80% of the way to a finished application ready for production use. The remaining 20% of the work entails configuration and custom integration work that's handled through Teradata consulting services.

"We want to get more adoption of Aster, and we think scaling out apps faster is the way to do it," said Twogood. "In the future we may get to a point where customers could configure these app templates themselves, but we're not there yet."

You say you're not an Aster DBMS customer? Teradata offers the option of deploying Aster and related apps on its private cloud. That cloud runs in a third-party data center and offers elastic (spin-up, spin-down) deployment in monthly increments (though not by the hour or day).

Keep in mind these are analytic applications. If you want to actually deliver product recommendations in retail, prevent churn in a telco scenario, prevent fraud in a consumer financial services scenario, or execute on whatever the analytic insight might be, you'll have to connect these analytic apps to customer-facing transactional applications or to frontline human decision-makers.

In other news from Teradata this week, the company announced support for JSON objects, metadata partitions, and international currencies in the 2.4 release of Teradata Loom. Loom is the metadata-management, data-lineage, and big data-wrangling tool for Hadoop that Teradata acquired in last year's acquisition of Revelytix. Teradata says it's making Loom available as a free download on its Hortonworks Data Platform-based cloud sandboxes, but the software also works with Cloudera and MapR Hadoop distributions.

In yet another announcement, Taradata's Think Big big data-consulting unit, which was acquired last year, has launched an eight-week, fixed-cost Data Lake Optimization Service. Aimed at companies that have deployed Hadoop-based data lakes or that are contemplating doing so, the service is designed to improve data governance and establish best-practices for structuring metadata and other data-management processes for Hadoop.

Emerging with the last two years, data lakes (or data hubs, as Cloudera describes them) serve as catch-all repositories for long-term storage of all enterprise data. In practice, however, data lakes have yet to be designed or managed consistently, according to Twogood.

Teradata Aster App templates are available immediately. Teradata Loom 2.4 will be available in March. Teradata said pricing for Think Big's Data Lake Optimization service is still being finalized. No doubt the more data and data sources filling your lake, the more costly the fixed-cost, eight-week service is likely to be.

Just 30% of respondents to our new Big Data and Analytics Survey say their companies are very or extremely effective at identifying critical data and analyzing it to make decisions, down from 42% in 2013. What gives? Get the The Trouble With Big Data issue of InformationWeek Tech Digest today. (Free registration required.)

Doug Henschen is Executive Editor of InformationWeek

{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

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India not expensive, to thrive if earnings deliver: Baring

India not expensive, to thrive if earnings deliver: Baring

   February 02, 2015       prabhakardalvi

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Indian markets are on the path of improvement and if earnings growth are delivered as per expectations, then it will continue to remain buoyant, believes Ajay Argal, Head of Indian Equities at Baring Asset Management (Asia). Argal doesn’t feel that Indian markets are expensive from a 3-4 year horizon but says that one needs to take a stock-specific approach this year as many stocks still look fairly valued. He remains bullish on banks and expects a pick-up in growth in four-wheelers.

Below is the transcript of Ajay Argal's interview with Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy on CNBC-TV18. 

Latha: Let me first start with the global cues. We have seen a bit of a negative growth numbers or pessimistic growth numbers coming in from both the United States and China if you please, the purchasing manager’s index (PMI) numbers are not looking too hot. Do you think we are going to see a longish bit of risk aversion or is this going to be just a brief dip and equities will be back in fashion?

A: You have to separate the various markets. The Indian markets are on the path of improvement and the market is always looking for direction of improvement in the economy and the direction of improvement for India is definitely positive. So India might be in a different position compared to some of the other leading markets. When you talk about the US, the US markets have already done phenomenally well last year and as most of us know, most of the performance came from the rerating of the markets rather than the improvement in the earnings growth and somewhat similar things have happened in India in anticipation of the earnings growth this year. So if the earnings growth which is anticipated in India is delivered then the Indian markets will continue to remain buoyant.

Latha: Are you not worried about the current valuations of the Indian market considering that Q3 numbers are worse than expected especially when you looked at the bank earnings, ICICI Bank  and Bank of Baroda  two big banks reporting 14-15 percent rise in non-performing loans (NPLs) in just one quarter, not giving you a feeling that markets are running ahead of themselves?

A: Definitely this year you need to focus more on the stock specifics. There would be differentiation in the stocks even within the same sectors, so the stocks which continue to deliver better growth which are more efficient when you are talking about the banks, the efficiency in terms of the asset quality and some of the banks are definitely growing faster even with better asset quality so even in the banks, there could be differentiation. So when you look at valuations, the valuations you have to look at it a bit longer-term. The valuations might look expensive on the near-term but that is because the earnings have been depressed in India over the last three-four years, we are just coming out of the huge downcycle. So when you need to look at valuations at a low point of the downcycle, you need to build in what the growth is possible, what the potential is over the next two-three-four years if not longer. From that perspective, the markets are not that expensive, they are definitely not as cheap as they were at the beginning of last year but definitely they are not on the very exorbitantly expensive zone.

Sonia: Automobile sector is one pocket that has delivered very good returns to shareholders in the last many years but now there is a big slowdown that we are seeing especially in the two-wheeler space, how would you approach this sector now?

A: If you look at the automobiles, even the four-wheelers, there should be a pick up in growth going forward. We have seen some of those things in the passenger car manufactures especially the market leader there is showing better growth numbers compared to the industry and gaining market share. Similarly, here, we have seen that some of the two-wheeler manufactures are gaining market share. Even if you look at a company like Bajaj Auto , you have to look at the entire business and in that business of Bajaj Auto for example there is predominance of exports. So the exports continue to do well but as far as the domestic two-wheelers are concerned, it is again part of the trend, which we have witnessed in lot of industries in India in the last three-four years that there has been a slowdown but if the economic growth picks up, which is what we are anticipating then definitely the two-wheeler industry as such will be showing healthy growth in times to come. So this is a sector definitely one should be present in as far as the portfolio is concerned.

Latha: What would be the other sectors that you are bullish on at this point? 

A: We are bullish on the banks and within the banks as I mentioned, the banks which are more efficiently run which are growing faster, which are gaining market share as a result and at the same time they are amply funded, they have good capital adequacy ratios and on top of that their current account/saving account (CASA) growth is pretty good and we have seen that over the last few months because the inflation has come down, the real rates are very healthy and that is why the deposit growth has also picked up. So funding would not be concerned for the efficient banks so we are very positive on these efficient banks and more of them are in the private sector space. 

We are also somewhat positive on industrials because going forward the order book of some of the industrials is going to pick up again you have to differentiate and you cannot put a broad brush and say the entire industrial sector would do well but we try to focus on the better companies there because as the economy picks up, there are already some signs of execution improving from the e-government side in terms of the bottlenecks, which were there but it will be slow and gradual process and that is why it is best to stick to quality and look at it from a three-five year perspective rather than try to time the stocks for the next one year only.

Sonia: I was looking at some of your stocks in the holding and you have from the IT space, Infosys  and TCS  that you hold but interestingly this time around it is HCL Technologies  and Tech Mahindra  that have performed well of course the others have as well but on the relative basis, what is your expectation of the IT sector and would you churn now to some of these stocks like HCL Technologies that have done so well this quarter? 

A: The individual stocks we keep on changing. So we held HCL Technologies for most of last year and that was the best performing stock within the IT sector for the first half of the year and we continue to participate in that. After that we shifted more our weight towards, Infosys, which we thought was discounting a lot of pessimistic projections and most of the bad news was there in the price and that is the reason we increased our position there. We also hold Tech Mahindra and in fact within the IT and that is the biggest overweight for us at the moment. If you look at the entire IT sector as a whole, again we are very positive on it but the thing is some of these companies have become so large that the growth rate will not be what it used to be in good times five-ten years ago when the US economy picks up. So because of the large size, the growth rate would come down and we think that the growth rate for the larger and better run companies will be between 13 and 16-17 percent but the opportunities are much better in some of the other sectors. That is why we are underweight in the IT sector.

{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

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how Database Audit Can be Helpful for Maintaining Data Cleanliness

how Database Audit Can be Helpful for Maintaining Data Cleanliness

   January 12, 2015       prabhakardalvi

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Believe it or not there is always a need of maintaining hygiene of your existing contact data, keeping your data well maintained is very essential for sales cycle. You or your sales teams surely don’t want to waste your time by cleaning and updating your database. 

Definitely you will need someone who can keep your data well maintained. Here, SMART can help you in keeping your contact database hygienic. We cover the entire gamut of marketing & sales data that is stored and managed through tools like emails marketing, marketing automation or CRM systems. 

Be it incoming leads data from website, landing pages, download forms, tradeshow data, etc. SMART technology and domain expertise to slice and dice your data and provide you meaningful insights and recommended approach for data cleansing and management. 

Approach for Data Audit:-

• After your data is received which needs overhaul, the first thing we do is set up the critical criteria like your database marketing objectives, Ideal Prospect Profile (IPP) – both firmographic and contact level, segmentation factors, etc.

• Then your database is analyzed and scrutinized to identify gaps, categorize as per your business relevancy and tabulate as Good Data, Filtered Data or Bad Data. 

• After the above steps, according to your database we recommend the appropriate approach for data cleansing and enrichment. 

How is SMART Data Audit useful for you?

• To understand current health of your contact database

• To identify data to be refreshed, enriched, trashed, etc.

• Plan out future data sourcing /Appending strategy as per your specific requirement

• Pay only for clean-up of relevant data vis-à-vis entire current database

Source : Data Audit Helpful Database Cleansing

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Fund raising via NCDs dives 58% to Rs 7,300 cr in Apr-Dec

Fund raising via NCDs dives 58% to Rs 7,300 cr in Apr-Dec

   December 30, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Fund raising by Indian companies through retail issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) plunged by 58% to about Rs 7,300 crore in the first nine months of the current fiscal.

In comparison, firms had collectively raised Rs 17,426 crore via 14 issues in the April-December period of 2013-14.

Most of the funds have been raised to support the working capital requirements and for other general corporate purposes.

NCDs are loan-linked bonds issued by a company that cannot be converted into stock and usually offers higher interest rate than that of convertible debentures.

According to latest data from Securities and Exchange Board of India, firms including Shriram City Union Finance, Kosamattam Finance, SREI Infrastructure Finance, ECL Finance and Muthoot Finance collectively raised Rs 7,348 crore via NCDs in 2014-15 through 19 issuances.

This was more than the initial target of Rs 3,075 crore.

Market experts said that fund raising via NCDs has been less compared to the year-ago period as companies have preferred QIPs (Qualified Institutional Placement)and rights issues route to garner funds.

"Institutional investors were bullish on equity market and preferred to tap QIP route during the year instead of debt instrument, mainly on account of sustained rally in the stock market supported by change in government at Centre," Geojit BNP Paribas Research Head Alex Mathew said.

Individually, Shriram Transport Finance Company raised Rs 1,975 crore, as against a target of Rs 500 crore; IFCI mopped-up Rs 1,209 crore against a base size of Rs 250 crore

Muthoot Finance mopped up Rs 466 crore against a base size of Rs 250 crore and again Muthoot Finance garnered Rs 436 crore as against a target of Rs 200 crore.

Moreover, SREI Infrastructure Finance, Shriram Transport Finance Company, Kosamattam Finance, Muthoot Finance, Muthoot Fincorp and Muthoottu Mini Financiers tapped the NCD route more than once.

In the previous fiscal, about Rs 42,383 crore was generated through 35 issues of NCDs.

Fund raising via NCDs dives 58% to Rs 7,300 cr in Apr-Dec | Business Standard News

{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

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Gold, silver Weaken on Low Demand, Global cues

Gold, silver Weaken on Low Demand, Global cues

   December 30, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Livemint - Gold prices eased by Rs60 to Rs27,150 per ten grams on Tuesday in Delhi bullion market owing to slackened demand from jewellers and retailers amid a weak global trend. Marketmen said besides low demand from jewellers and retailers at prevailing levels, a weak global trend as the dollar touched a five-year high, damping investor demand for the metal as a safe-haven, weighed on gold prices. Globally, gold in New York, which normally sets price trend on the domestic front, fell by 1.1% to $1,181.90 an ounce and silver by 2.3% to $15.77 an ounce in Monday’s trade. In Delhi, gold of 99.9 and 99.5% purity declined by Rs60 each to Rs27,150 and Rs26,950 per ten grams respectively. Sovereign, however, enquired at last level of Rs23,700 in limited deals. In line with weak trend, silver ready fell by a whopping Rs600 to Rs36,650 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs630 to Rs36,620 per kg. Silver coins also plunged by Rs1,000 to Rs59,000 for buying and Rs60,000 for selling of 100 pieces.  - DEC 30 2014. 03 41 PM IST

Gold, silver weaken on low demand, global cues - Livemint

{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

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Bankers not expect Some Hard Questions from PM Namo in Next PSB Meeting

Bankers not expect Some Hard Questions from PM Namo in Next PSB Meeting

   December 29, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold discussions with public sector banks (PSBs) and financial institutions to draw up an action plan for banking reforms in "a top-level, two-day retreat for banks and financial institutions" branded "Gyan Sangam" in Pune on January 2-3.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan, the minister of state for finance, Jayant Sinha, and top officials of the finance ministry, including Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and Financial Services Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, will be there, too.

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Tips to Improve Your Email Click Through Rate

Tips to Improve Your Email Click Through Rate

   December 19, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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The best way to connect to your clients directly is email marketing, emails are more personal, unlike to other more impersonal online marketing tools, your emails lets you speak directly to your prospects and clients in the web space they visit most often, their email inbox.

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5 Keys For Data-Driven-Sales Team Manager

5 Keys For Data-Driven-Sales Team Manager

   December 04, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Sales professionals and the general data-driven public, we decided to highlight the absolutely essential traits and their associated applications to sales. Here are 5 key traits of the data-driven sales manager.

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What is Marketing - Four "p"s explain Everything

What is Marketing - Four "p"s explain Everything

   December 04, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Most business experts agree that there are four "Ps" of marketing. Those are product, price, place and promotion. The following will describe each of the four "Ps" in detail.

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Geo Target Marketing – Marketer Funda for increase Conversation

Geo Target Marketing – Marketer Funda for increase Conversation

   December 04, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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The question is: Was this valuable? Target marketing is perceived to work by the sheer fact that the practitioner has done their research and therefore, the lead is warmer. However, no one wants to be spammed, even with the best of content. And, P.R. pros: No one wants a black hole pitch: ("Where does this go? Where did this come from? Am I on some sort of list now?") If we're not making someone's workday better, easier or of a higher quality, we're doing the process in entirely the wrong way.

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Snapdeal Share Who Privately Held

Snapdeal Share Who Privately Held

   November 28, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Snapdeal.com, owned by Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd, was valued at about $1.76 billion (`10,562 crore) after SoftBank Group’s $602 million (`3,612 crore) investment in October, which means the Japanese investor acquired almost a 33% stake in one of India’s largest e-commerce marketplaces, according to the latest filings with Registrar of Companies (RoC).

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Petrol, Diesel Prices May Go Down Below Rupees 60 - Why

Petrol, Diesel Prices May Go Down Below Rupees 60 - Why

   November 28, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Petrol, Diesel Prices May Go Down Further - why 

Crude oil prices fell more than $3 to a fresh four-year low under $75 a barrel on Thursday after OPEC decided not to cut production, despite a huge oversupply in world markets. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which account for nearly 40 per cent of global oil output, met on Thursday to decide whether to cut production, after oil prices dropped over 30 per cent in just six months. 

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Top 10 Women Handle the Advertising Industry Successfully

Top 10 Women Handle the Advertising Industry Successfully

   November 25, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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This resulted in a recent survey conducted by the agency association GWA . This downward trend has even increased in the past five years. So sit only 2.9 percent of women in general management. 2009, the proportion of female agency chiefs still four percent. A shameful development, the entire industry wasted potential. It is they, the  candidates who take their chances and have the potential to shake up the Boys Club. 

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Calculate Business ROI for Measuring Marketing Campaign

Calculate Business ROI for Measuring Marketing Campaign

   November 24, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Calculate business ROI for measuring marketing campaign

Some goldy-oldy said about Marketers mission 

Calculate business ROI for measuring marketing campaign

“marketers must prove that they able close business in a market for own company. With global economy and company financials periods up & down. Marketers find out Good timing to prove they reach to bottom line for closing business. Vice versa in bad time they have big challenge and company expectations from marketers and set a miles-stone meet in given period. Goals and marketer’s contribution in marketing activities “engaging”, “developing customer strategy”, “handle customer experience for improve business”.”

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Effective ways of Lead Generation through Content Marketing

Effective ways of Lead Generation through Content Marketing

   November 21, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Content marketing plays an important role in Lead Generation. In today’s world B2B buyers have changed a lot. B2B buyers have lot of information available online at their fingertips.

So most likely B2B buyers prefer getting product/service information online rather than approaching a person. So as it is always said that every coin has two sides, on one side it provides an excellent opportunity for marketing team but on other side it can also lead to information overload where many brands, products and services get lost.

Now what’s the right way to do it? It’s time to get more relevant and precise. We have to change the concept of one-size-fits-all mentality and should realize that every time we need to customize our content for every buyer at different levels.

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Setup the perfect email campaign for industry and Target Audience - 2

Setup the perfect email campaign for industry and Target Audience - 2

   November 06, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Continue from : 

Setup perfect email campaign for industry and Target Audience

Summary : - 

With web research, web leads, subscriber database & perfect prospect data (contacts) we start contact all person with perfect modem OR medium. In this blogs, we talk about email campaign.  I already told about in my previous post “how create email newsletter content”. 

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Setup perfect email campaign for industry and Target Audience

Setup perfect email campaign for industry and Target Audience

   November 06, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Summary : - 

With web research, web leads, subscriber database & perfect prospect data (contacts) we start contact all person with perfect modem OR medium. In this blogs, we talk about email campaign.  I already told about in my previous post “how create email newsletter content”. 

This content related “how set up email campaign for better return-on-investment from specific region OR targeted people and improve business relation with decision for future expansion of own business."

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Marketer Tips for Layout of Email Content

Marketer Tips for Layout of Email Content

   November 05, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Summary : - 

In this blog article, some Business Marketer explains how making easily format OR Layout for Email Content sending to SOMEONE.

Email Newsletter helps mail Receiver understand your business. Its make convert into business / Leads through emails.

We start with “Subject”, its help to get clicked on email, in other word CTR (click-through rate). The Subject is brand images for our details showing what we are.

Low impressive subject like Hi, this is, for earning money, RE:

Email subject same as Title of Articles, this explains what we type in the content body. Select subject for purpose “receiver click on email & gets information of our product OR something else “ 

By research; we receive the most emails get better CTR more than business emails.

Images – some biggest use images of explaining own products, services. In emailing doesn't use high quality or resolution images because they don’t load, and you don’t get any result. You can track through some software who helps in designing templates, track it.

Images explain your business, products, services and take 20% to 30% business leads from an email campaign. Marketers suggest the use image for E-commerce web, educational, shopping web, etc. Business news, Health web doesn't use the image in email. Reader doesn’t click on product images. Why?

Content OR website promotional link

In intro para, welcome notes with company information, services, product bio for increase interest of reader OR receiver.

Give to explain about subject of products in two lines for making easily simply mail. Give company detail for contacting you and its convert into business.

Don’t forget to give a link for Unsubscribe, why? Some countries not allowed emailing without receiving permission.

Conclude –

Use perfect, popular tools for campaign in bulk, they track your sent mail for business ROI. You have any suggestion send me on johnwriter82@gmail.com OR comment on this post.

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Goa fried fish safari with Us - IANS

Goa fried fish safari with Us - IANS

   October 17, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Under clay-tiled roofs, dodging tendrils of smoke in dim light and occasionally holding your breath to avoid breaths reeking of feni, pans laden with coarse flour-coated fried fish sizzle in delight in Goa's taverns.

Near Panaji, Kuttikar Bar lies at the end of a loose-gravel road behind what was once a stone mine. But for sea food aficionados it's a gold mine as far as fresh fish is concerned.

Run by former legislator Krishna Kuttikar, the bar serves some of the best fried fish this side of the river, whether it's filleted Red Snapper, Rock Fish, Bombay Duck or Mussels. But the sweet and sour vinegar-kissed squid rings are the most sought after.

If you ever want to eat the best fried fish in Goa, you gotta do one thing for sure: Head inland away from the sea, away from the fancy beach-belt diners and those beach shacks offering hyped, assembly-line food.

"It's the sweetness of the masala which makes the squids unique here. In most other places it is just hot and spicy," Kuttikar expalined. On most days, getting a seat here can be a problem with the 10 or so tables packed to capacity with binging junior bureaucrats, off-duty policemen, local residents and journalists among others which even includes staffers from the chief minister's office. (Kuttikar Bar and Restaurant. San Pedro, 8 km from Panaji)

Over in Siolim, 25 km north of here, the Amancio Bar overlooks a picturesque river and an abandoned ferry ramp. The only aberration to this otherwise placid environment is the pissed drunk patrons of this bar and others nearby, who perilously walk up to the edge of the concrete ramp to relieve themselves.

Amancio's has a quaint wooden balcony with tables overlooking what was once a busy market place. But once the crusty fish lands on your plate, your attention doesn't get anywhere else.

"The palu (perch) marinated fried with recheado (red chilli paste, spices and vinegar) masala is mouth-watering and priced affordably too," says Ashley do Rosario, who swears by the place. (Amancio Bar, near Siolim, Tar, Bardez)

Sheela Bar, located off the St. Jacinto island along the airport road has grown over the last couple of decades from a shack to a bar and restaurant almost threatening to go the fine dining way.

Unlike most fried fish haunts which use a red chilli marinade before slipping the fish into the pan, Sylvester D'Souza uses a unique green chilli paste.

"This is our trademark. It's what makes us unique. But we have a lot more offer in terms of fish, oysters, crabs and meats," says D'Souza.

His relatively sweet crab is unique too, as against the fiery garam masala spiced variants found in other restaurants. The preparation may not be to everyone's liking, but the crabs are more often than not bursting with flesh and that sweet, fresh flavour. (Sheela Bar and Restaurant: Opp St. Jacinto Island, Cortalim, 25 km from Panaji)

And then there are really rustic taverns like the one run by Madhu Halarnkar right next to a popular medicinal spring in the village of Pomburpa, 15 km from Panaji.

His small operation reflects the quintessential soul of a Goa tavern: Four tables, animated conversation, mingling odours of stale sweat, spilt feni and the fish frying in the kitchen.

Halarnkar offers the more humbling varieties of fish like sole, milk fish and prawns, which are obviously fast-moving amongst his more than modest clients. If you are a diehard regular, he would even allow you to fetch your own fish, which he will cook to your liking.

"Oh. You must have a bath at the spring after your meal. It's healing," Halarnkar often recommends midway through the meal. If you aren't so drunk, why not give it a try?

(Waterfall Bar, near Pomburpa spring, 15 kms from Panaji).

{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

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Special Food on special occasional for loves ones

Special Food on special occasional for loves ones

   October 17, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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From India Today

The caterer you call on might make that tandoori chicken or chicken razalla pretty well, but your regular guests must be knowing the menu by heart. As busy schedules increasingly keep us away from the kitchen and social obligations make us throw parties too often, it is time to move away from the old menu and show the guests how much of a food connoisseur you are.

To help set the table are a bunch of upcoming home delivery services that offer exclusive cuisines, fresh menus and healthy food. So, the next time you are craving for some dhansak, patrani macchi, Kolhapuri mutton or misal pav, there is no need to look up on Zomato how far a restaurant serving Parsi or Marathi food is. 

Just call Jyoti Watchmaker, whose delivery service Entertain@Home specialises in Gujarati, Marathi and Parsi cuisine. "Gurgaon and south Delhi is fast becoming home to young corporate professionals and couples, who are adventurous with their food and love to socialise, but don't always kitchen. Being increasingly health conscious, neither do they want to eat out at every occasion.

We offer them variety and nutrition in food," the homemakerturned-entrepreneur Jyoti explains. "Several Gujarati and Maharashtrian families have also started calling on us for the traditional weekend lunch, instead of dining out," she adds. Adding a twist to the usual north Indian fare is Megha Tuli's The Leaping Caravan. Another Gurgaon-based home delivery service that also caters to south Delhi, this Caravan journeys down Sher Shah's Grand Trunk Road to bring flavours from Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

If there is one thing Delhiites love as much as partying and good food, it is a great house party with plenty of yummy bites. As house parties get more creative and exciting, with professionally managed bars and kitchens, photo booths and DJs, the only thing lacking is variety in food. 

"As one of the most important trade routes, the road has inspired a great fusion of food and culture. The colourful caravans travelling along this road brought with them influences that helped shape what we today recognise as great food. The recipes we use are all hand-medowns from older generations," Tuli adds. While the Railway Chicken Curry on the menu has been prepared under the guidance of a gentleman who actually worked in the Railway kitchen back in the colonial days, the recipe for Dahi ke kabab is a well-guarded secret from a family in UP.

Tuli, a former hospitality professional, counts several young professionals among her frequent clients, some of whom even order twice a day.

 "When specialised cuisines are just a phone away, many prefer to eat at home," she says. The Sunday brunch may soon be an alien concept, with Nashta, the breakfast delivery chain, now open in Gurgaon. 

With a menu that covers Indian traditional dishes, english and continental cuisines, fresh juices and a whole lot of health and yummy options, few would now be willing to step out of home to get breakfast on a weekend. While these delivery chains function within the space between restaurants and momand-pop delivery outlets, the efforts involved are no less than that of a restaurant.

{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

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Cook with Own Hand and Enjoy Foods - HUNGER GAMES with Seema Chowdhry

Cook with Own Hand and Enjoy Foods - HUNGER GAMES with Seema Chowdhry

   October 17, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Cook with Own Hand and Enjoy Foods - HUNGER GAMES with Seema Chowdhry

In the last few years, since my 10-year- daughter and I have been cooking together, she gets to do only the things she likes—choose the recipe, measure the flour, pour the batter in the cupcake moulds. When it comes to the ‘dirty work’ (read that as breaking eggs, cleaning the batter off the whisk rod of the hand mixer), then the little madame is always on a break.

To break this habit of shying away from the real work that cooking involves, I decided to teach her how to make tomato chicken curry dish. I had learnt this dish, Tamatai Murg, about 5 years from Kulsum Begum of Hyderabad, who at the time was a consultant chef with ITC Welcomgroup. I am not sure if the relationship still exists.

Born in the royal household of Salar Jung III, the erstwhile Nawab of Hyderabad, Kulsum Begum draws on her lineage to present the delicate flavours of the Deccan.

This is one of the simplest dishes to make and Kulsum Begum had dug this one of out of her repertoire to convince me that not all Hyderabadi or Deccan cooking was necessarily time consuming and tough. Over the years, of course I have made my own minute changes to the recipe, but some things that I learnt from her still remain a part of my cooking. One that I have taught kiddo to follow—always put salt in the dish after it has been cooked, never while it is on the fire, cooking.

{Seema Chowdhry} My 10-year-old had great fun collecting all the spices—nigella sativa, fenugreek cumin, and mustard seeds—together for this recipe. She spent a good 10 minutes identifying what spice could be nigella sativa and what was fenugreek seeds. Google of course was a big help since she could see the images and then look for them on the spice rack. Even as she learnt about spices she had never used before in her cooking, the big push was yet to come.

She had to dice tomatoes and puree them, peel the ginger and grate it and the hardest of it all, cut boneless chicken breasts into small pieces.

She dealt with the tomatoes with a little murmur, washing her hands after every tomato chopped. When it came to peeling the ginger stub and then grating it, she was not very happy with the smell it left on her hands. But it was the chicken which drew maximum protest. She refused, requested for help, bargained that she should be asked to cut only one piece, negotiated that it would be faster if we all cut chicken, threatened that she would cut one piece so badly that we would not ask her to do the rest...her pleas fell on deaf ears and the only thing I kept telling her was that we would not eat lunch that day unless and until she cooked this chicken recipe, which she loves, from scratch. I was there to help with the fire, but all the chopping, cutting and collecting of ingredients had to be done by her.

The first chicken breast was held between the tip of her forefinger and thumb and plonked on the chopping board. She tried to cut the chicken with one hand using a sawing motion with the knife over the chicken and thought that it would help. But when she realised it would not, she asked for a glove so that she could wear it on the hand that would hold the chicken down while it was being cut it. We don’t have one at home and the request was denied. In all, it took her 23 minutes to cut the first chicken breast and about 6 minutes to do the last one.

Before you think it was unnecessary and cruel to put my 10-year-old through this exercise, let me just say that I was in the kitchen with her all the way and I truly believe that if she wants to learn cooking then she should be involved in all aspects—including chopping, grating, measuring etc. That is the best to learn about the ingredients and cooking.

For the rest of the recipe, she did nothing more than pour in the seeds, puree and chicken in the hot oil in the wok, and once or twice stirred the simmering wok. But for her this chopping, cutting and working with the ingredients was the first step towards actual cooking.

Below is the adapted Kulsum Begum’s Tamatai Murg recipe. For the original, please visit

Tamatai Murg (Tomato chicken)

Ingredients

• 3 pieces chicken boneless chicken
• 4-5 tomatoes (puree in a blender or grate)
• 1tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1/2tsp coriander powder
• 1/2tsp roasted cumin powder
• 1/2tsp chilli powder
• 1/2tsp fenugreek seeds (methi)
• 1/2tsp nigella sativa seeds (kalonji)
• 1/2tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2tsp mustard seeds
• ½ cup curry leaves
• 4 red chillies
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• Salt to taste

Method

              I like to grate the tomatoes for this recipe to avoid using the tomato skin. Oil in heated in a kadhai (wok). I first add whole red chillies and when they start crackling, add the cumin, nigella sativa, fenugreek, mustard seeds. Then I add the grated ginger, and when all the ingredients crackle turns brown, add half of the curry leaves. Then I add the coriander, cumin and chilli powder. Next I add the tomato pulp and cook on high heat. I finally add the chicken pieces and keep stirring till the oil floats on top. Sometimes I add a little water if the chicken looks dry, though Kulsum Begum never does. I finally sprinkle the salt 10 seconds before switching off the flame and mix well.

This weekly series, which appears on Tuesdays, looks at what’s new with food and drink, and how we are interacting with it. - Mint

{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

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Starter Papdi Pizza for Special occasion with Saneev

Starter Papdi Pizza for Special occasion with Saneev

   October 17, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

Starter Papdi Pizza for Special occasion with Saneev

INGREDIENTS

• 20 flat crisp puris (maide ki papdi)
• 1 large onion
• ¼ cup pizza sauce
• 2 medium potatoes, boiled and sliced
• ¾ cup grated mozzarella cheese
• 2 medium green capsicums, seeded, sliced horizontally Nylon sev, as required

PREPARATION

• Preheat oven to 180°C.
• Cut the onion into thick roundels and separate the rings.
• Grease a baking tray and arrange the papdis on it.
• Spread the pizza sauce on the papdis. Place the potato slices on some and onion rings on the rest.
• Place grated cheese in small heaps on each papdi and place green capsicum slices on some of them. Sprinkle nylon sev. Put a little pizza sauce on top of some of the pizzas.
• Bake in the preheated oven till the cheese melts.
• Serve hot.

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Quick Jeera Chicken by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, Taste Eat

Quick Jeera Chicken by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, Taste Eat

   October 17, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Jeera Chicken INGREDIENTS

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1 chicken, cut into 1½ inch pieces on the bone
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 4-5 green chillies, sliced
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
• 1 tablespoon hand torn fresh mint

PREPARATION

• 1Heat oil in a non-stick kadai. Add the cumin seeds and sauté till they begin to change colour. Add green chilies and onions and sauté till golden brown.
• 2Add chicken and stir. Cover and cook on medium heat for ten minutes.
• 3Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt and mix well. Cover again and cook for another ten minutes or till the chicken is completely cooked.
• 4Add lemon juice, chopped coriander and chopped mint and mix.
• 5Serve hot with rotis.

{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

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How you serve Boneless Goat Curry to Guest

How you serve Boneless Goat Curry to Guest

   October 17, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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ABOUT THE RECIPE - Chef Vikram Vij

The following recipe is based on my memory of long-ago stews. Although Chef have toned down the spiciness a little bit for the North American palate, this is a rich meal and robust of flavour, so be prepared to sweat a little bit.

INGREDIENTS

• STEWED GOAT
• 1/2 cup ghee or butter
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 6 pounds goat meat, bone in, cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch dice
• MASALA
• 1 1/2 cups cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 10 cloves garlic
• 1 3-inch cinnamon stick
• 5 black cardamom pods, lightly pounded
• 1 pound red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons chopped garlic (9 medium cloves)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger
• 3 cups pureed ripe tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cayenne pepper
• 1 cup plain yogurt (as fatty as you can get)
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 6 cups water

PREPARATION -

STEWED GOAT

• 1For the goat, combine ghee (or butter), salt, goat meat and water in a large pot on medium high heat.
• 2Stir regularly for 10 to 15 minutes or until the meat is browned and begins to release its juices.
• 3Cover and reduce heat to low, then cook for 1 1/4 hours, stirring every 15 minutes. The goat meat and bones will release water and should not stick to the bottom of the pan. If the meat is sticking, add 1/2 to 1 cup more water.
• 4While the meat is stewing, make the masala in a separate pan.
• MASALA
• 1For the masala, heat oil to medium high for 1 minute in a large pot.
• 2Add cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon and black cardamom, stir and allow cumin seeds to sizzle for 30 seconds; stir in the onion and sauté for 7 to 8 minutes or until crispy brown on the edges.

{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

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Bollywood King Shah Rukh Khan to promote online Fashion brand

Bollywood King Shah Rukh Khan to promote online Fashion brand

   October 17, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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The brand will introduce Shah Rukh as its brand ambassador through an extensive television campaign for its upcoming autumn-winter collection 2014. He make promotion of some show for dancing on TV.

This is the first time that I am endorsing an online fashion brand and I am very excited to partner with Yepme for this, King Khan said in a statement. For fashion to be impactful, it has to evolve with time and maintain freshness. Yepme, with its focus on fast fashion is an extremely innovative and fashion right brand, offering the most current fashion trends. I look forward to join the fashion revolution that they have started which is taking the youth across the country by storm, he added. 

Hindi film industry's 'Badshah' Shah Rukh Khan has been roped in to lend his star power to Yepme.com -- his first association with an online fashion brand. He's excited to join the "fashion revolution". King khan alrady promote lux brand, home decoration paints ads. His popularity count better sales roi for companies who hire him.

Sandeep Sharma, co-founder and chief operating officer, Yepme.com, said the team is equally excited to have the superstar on board, and feels that association will definitely help build a strong connect between the brand and his fans across the country.

"Shah Rukh commands a huge fan following across all age groups in India and abroad and his presence will drastically increase the aspirational value of Yepme, Sharma said.

Earlier this year, Yepme had signed some of the other known faces of Bollywood like Farhan Akhtar and Sonu Sood its brand ambassadors.

{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

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Sonali Cable movie review - Rhea Chakraborty is over the top

Sonali Cable movie review - Rhea Chakraborty is over the top

   October 17, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

Star Cast: Rhea Chakraborty, Ali Fazal, Raghav Juyal, Anupam Kher, Smita Jaykar, Swanand Kirkire

Director: Charudutt Acharya

The evil corporate's job is to gobble, grunch and munch. The feisty underdog's is to stand up and be counted, and refuse to become easy meal.

'Sonali Cable' has a nice premise, especially relevant in this age of the permanently wired universe, soulless corporations, and the scams that come out of acquiring spectrum. But its execution is much less so.

Spirited Mumbai girl Sonali (Rhea Chakraborty) is the Girl With The Cable in her locality. Her love interest Raghu (Ali Fazal) is the son of an ambitious local corporator (Smita Jaykar), and her (Sonali's) aim is to keep doing what she does because she connects hearts, not just wires. A spanner in the works arrives in the shape of a greedy old tycoon (Anupam Kher), who likes crunching 'khakras' and who wants to grab 'akkhi Mumbai' in the manner of old- style dons.

There are some vivid patches in this David-Goliath war, but overall consistency and credibility is a problem. The leading lady tries for perkiness but comes off as a weak link, her foul-mouthedness more forced than natural. Kher is over-the-top. Fazal is a good addition to the team, even if he is in the same mode as he was in 'Bobby Jasoos'. And I like Swanand Kirkire in his acting gigs: he makes things believable even when he is patently on a set.

This could have been a modern day fable, but 'Sonali Cable' is not that film.

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Modi is Taking Crucial Decisions for Economy

Modi is Taking Crucial Decisions for Economy

   October 17, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B, Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}(M.K. Venu is Executive Editor of Amar Ujala publications group)

Domestic and global investors looking at India with renewed interest had, of late, begun asking this one leading question - when will Narendra Modi return to proper economic management and start taking critical decisions relating to the economy? The Prime Minister has partially answered them with finance minister Arun Jaitley  appointing a new Secretary to head the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and finally picking a Chief Economic Advisor known for his strong reforms credentials. The NDA government had oddly been without a Chief Economic Advisor after the post fell vacant last year.

Rajiv Mehrishi, Chief Secretary in Rajasthan, will soon take over as Secretary, DEA and US-based economist Arvind Subramanian will take charge as Chief Economic Advisor. As a matter of protocol, the CEA works very closely with Secretary, Economic Affairs on all macro policy matters. So Arvind Subramanian will work with Rajiv Mehrishi on a day-to-day basis.

Mehrishi also has formidable reforms credentials going by the big policy initiatives he took in Rajasthan under Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. In fact, Mehrishi is credited for much of the economic reforms initiative undertaken by the chief minister, both in her current term as well as her previous stint in office. In many ways, she found Mehrishi indispensable as her policy advisor. So after taking charge as Chief Minister last year, Vasundhara promptly asked Mehrishi, who was then Secretary, Department of Fertilizer at the Centre, to join her government. He could not say no.

Within months of moving to Rajasthan, Mehrishi made waves with his Labour Law reforms. He also rewrote the newly-amended land acquisition law which many argue is procedurally difficult to implement. Since land is a state subject, the Vasundhara Raje government is rewriting the law without diluting benefits for farmers.

Since States also have concurrent jurisdiction over labour laws, Mehrishi made creative changes in various provisions without losing the essence of the legislation. For instance, the Industrial Disputes Act says a formal trade union can be formed with a minimum 15% of the work force. This resulted in a messy situation of multiple trade unions getting formed with 15% of the total workers. This minimum limit was raised to 30% so that the Labour Union is of a reasonable size and scale. Of course it could still result in two unions getting formed, but it will not be as messy as before.

Mehrishi also tweaked the Factories Act which currently says any establishment with 100 workers or above will mandatorily require government permission before shutting down. Rajasthan has now raised the minimum number of workers' limit to 300. So only factories with 300 workers and above need to take permission from the government before shutting down. These amendments are currently awaiting the President's assent. The spirit of these amendments is now being followed by the Centre which announced changes in labour laws yesterday. Vasundhara Raje will not be very happy to lose Rajiv Mehrishi. But she can't do much about it, as it is her own party which rules at the Centre.

Arvind Subramanian, the former Chief Economist of ADB, is also an interesting choice. Subramanian is a firm believer in the rapid rise of Asia, led by China, in the coming years. While most US-based economists tend to argue that the United States will sooner or later bounce back to its position of economic primacy, Arvind argues that the world may be at an inflection point where China's economy and currency will start to dominate much faster than we all imagine. In his much talked about book, "Eclipse: Living in the shadow of China's dominance", it is argued that just as the United States' economy and currency overtook that of England early 20th century, China might do the same to the US in the 21st century. In fact, Modi may have chosen him partially to understand how China and other emerging Asian economies can convert their economic dominance to a strategic advantage.

Arvind Subramanian also believes in pragmatic reforms. For instance, he has argued India is right to assert its position in WTO in relation to the agriculture sector but says it was a tactical mistake not to sign the Trade Facilitation Agreement. Subramanian believes there is enough scope to transfer cash to our farmers without falling foul of the WTO provisions.

Subramanian is also a strong proponent of shutting down public banks rather than recapitalising them, if they cannot stand on their own feet. He has said the good assets of bad banks must be transferred to other well-run private banks - this, he holds, is preferable to injecting loads of  additional capital in government-owned banks which cannot sustain themselves. He is a strong critic of Indira Gandhi and her policy of bank nationalisation. The Sangh Parivar, however, may have different views in this regard. The RSS always admired Indira Gandhi for many things she stood for. Subramanian may have to wade through these complexities which oversimplified western analyses sometimes do not grasp adequately.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. NDTV is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

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