Tourism Potential of Kerala

Kerala tourism holds tremendous potential for Kerala’s economy. Tourism has been one of the fastest growing and most dynamic Sector in Kerala providing impetus to other industries, create millions of new jobs and generate income. Kerala is multi-destination state with a variety of tourist attractions and facilities for a perfect Kerala travel.

Kerala tourism has developed Kerala holidays without endangering the environment and quality of life in Kerala. The bio- diversity, different type of forests, beaches, backwaters, hill stations and wild life in natural forest enhance Kerala’s potential to promote tourism.

Kerala backwaters have immense tourism potential and witness increase in tourist traffic from both foreign and domestic. Journey in backwaters stretch of Kerala is an unforgettable leaf of the Kerala tour itinerary. Scenic beauty accompanied with excellent Houseboat facilities, food, hazzle free and pollution free back water cruise attracts tourists irrespective of their age, sex and nationality.

Most of India’s finest beaches are in Kerala. Cleanliness, pollution free air, Ayurveda experience, Spa resorts, water sports like surfing, swimming, etc and other modern facilities are the main reasons that make Kerala beaches attractive. Every tourist visit Kerala beaches to savour its pristine beauty soaked with history and culture of Kerala.

Among all adventure activities in Kerala, trekking occupied a remarkable position.

Accessible Wildlife in Kerala helps the visitor to experience the beauty and diversity of rich wildlife. Kerala is known for its abundant elephant population.

Kerala hill stations are a favourite retreat and refreshing getaway for thousands of tourists each year due to its pleasant climate .

Kerala provide world class accommodation facilities. Kerala dining especially mouth watering traditional authentic Kerala style food lure tourists.

Kerala is not only famous for tourist attractions and natural scenery, it is known for its Kerala culture, folk dances, Kerala festivals, regional festivals and events, social functions, different activities in each of the region, and unique shopping products produced in different regions of Kerala which  increase visitor base .

Kerala is famous for performing arts like Kathakali, Kalaripayattu, Mohiniyattom and Koodiyattom having mass global audience.

Historical and heritage monuments like museums and palaces of Kerala stand testimony to the rich heritage .

Healthcare tourism is the new buzzword in Kerala. Foreign tourists come to Kerala for Ayurveda rejuvenation packages. Patient tourists come to Kerala Hospitals as we can provide cost effective world class treatment compared to counterparts.

There is no doubt that India’s most idyllic state, Kerala is today one of the most sought after destination In India.

UAE’s Pharma Market Potential

The United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s national fund for the purchase of medicines has doubled, from $40 million in 2010 to $80 million for 2011, according to Pharma Times.
The UAE Ministry of Health has contacted drugmakers to begin production of medicines to supply medical zones, hospitals and health facilities throughout the country, Health Minister Hanif Hassan Ali reported.

The UAE will also be using a fully-integrated health information system, WAREED, a computer records system. WAREED is the largest public health care initiative in the Middle East and aims to revolutionize health care by enabling medical staff to access medical records more quickly and conveniently. Patient safety will be improved as medication errors will be less likely, says the Ministry.

With annual growth significantly increasing, the UAE is a profitable pharmaceutical market in the Middle East; sales in the UAE are expected to increase by an average of 17% a year.  This growth rate is because of many factors including the UAE's growing population, liberal trade policies and international health care standards, according to Pharma Times.

Indian consumers to buy 12 mn smartphones in 2011

With the India mobile handsets market expected to grow 25% by volume in 2011 to 210 million units over 2010 sales of 167 million, anaysts expects the smartphone market to carve out an even more dramatic growth among Indian users.

 

The sale of nearly 12 million smartphones expected in 2011 represents a near 100% growth over sales of smartphones in 2010. The proportion of smartphones as a percentage of total mobile handset shipments in the Indian market is expected to grow from 3.6% of 167 million total units in CY 2010 to 5.7% of an estimated 210 million units in CY 2011

 

Smartphones are mobile devices with evolved operating systems that include Symbian Series 60, Android OS, iPhone OS, Blackberry OS, Linux among others. In addition to voice capability these devices have the ability to download and run applications, and store user data beyond their required personal information management capabilities.

 

These devices are able to synchronise with a desktop or laptop computer. Smartphones offer users PC-like functionality. These phones have eliminated the need to carry a separate PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and a mobile phone. Examples of present-day smartphones include Apple iPhone, Motorola Milestone, HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy Spica, Blackberry Curve etc.

 

Users can browse the Internet, check mail, blog, share photographs, update their status on social networking sites, play games, download applications with their smartphones. Till the end of 2010, a top-end smartphone used to be equipped with a 1GHz processor. Starting 2011, with the use of dual core processors in smartphones, these devices have become more powerful as compared to their predecessors. CyberMedia Research telecom anlysts label these smartphones as the 'second wave' of smartphones as they become capable of performing multiple functions. Going forward these devices will become as powerful as present day laptops.

 

Smartphones like Motorola Atrix 4G, LG Optimus X2 use dual core processors. A dual core processor is a combination of two 1 GHz processors, which can be used in parallel giving more power and speed to the device. Though these processors enable more power, but a smartphone’s overall performance still depends on the integration of its software with its hardware. For example, how closely the phone’s software and applications can interact with its hardware taking out the maximum advantage of hardware abilities of the phone. The best example is Apple iPhone 4, which runs on a single core processor but is able to take full advantage of its hardware abilities.

 

Some of the applications where multi-core processor- based smartphones can provide a boost to usage are Gaming, Autostereoscopic 3D enabled handsets, video streaming, HD (high definition) video recording and playback, video conferencing, HDMI user interface. Autostereoscopic technique is a method of displaying images with perception of 3D depth without requiring the viewer to wear any glasses. This activity needs extra power, which the new generation of smartphones can deliver.

 

Dual core smartphones

The dual core smartphones will also allow users to play advanced games, which need more power. Users will be able to enjoy games or videos on a bigger screen by connecting the smartphone output to an HDTV through HDMI ports. Again, the increased power of a new generation smartphone will prove helpful in running HDMI applications.

 

Dual-core processors will enable full HD video playback and recording at 1080p resolution, which is a big leap forward from the 720p video playback currently available in top present day smartphone models. Beyond full HD support, dual-core processors would enable smartphones to run more demanding applications like videoconferencing and video streaming. These smartphones will also provide a significantly higher speed and performance for multitasking in comparison to 'first generation' smartphones.

 

The market is expected to witness more excitement on the CPU front, with the launch of multi-core processor based smartphones by a number of mobile phone vendors by end 2011.

India Will Ship 210M Mobile Handsets In 2011

India’s mobile handset market is expected to grow by 25 per cent in volume this year to reach 210 million units, market researh reveals.

According to the firm, the number of handsets shipped in India in 2009 was 119 million and in 2010 it was 167 million units.


Smartphones will form only 5.7% of the handset market in 2011 and will reach 12 million (compared to the 210 million handsets overall) units, the research says. It defines smartphones as mobile devices with “evolved” operating systems, including Symbian Series 60, Android OS, iPhone OS, Blackberry OS and Linux.

These devices run applications faster and offer users PC-like functionality. These phones have ended the need to carry a separate PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and a mobile phone. Users can browse the Internet, check mail, blog, share photographs, update their status on social networking sites, play games, and download applications with their smartphones. Till the end of 2010, a top-end smartphone used to be equipped with a 1GHz processor. Starting 2011, we will see more dual core processors, the research says.

Telecom analysts label these gadgets as the ‘second wave’ of smartphones as they become capable of performing multiple functions. The market will witness more excitement on the CPU front, with the launch of multi-core processor based smartphones by a number of mobile phone vendors by end 2011.

'Dual Core' smartphones to make a mark in 2011

Sales of nearly 12 million smartphones expected in 2011 represents a near 100 per cent growth over sales of smartphones in 2010. The proportion of smartphones as a percentage of total mobile handset shipments in the India market is expected to grow from 3.6 per cent of 167 million total units in CY 2010 to 5.7 per cent of an estimated 210 million units in CY 2011

With the use of dual core processors in smartphones, these devices have become more powerful as compared to their predecessors. 

CyberMedia Research telecom anlysts label these smartphones as the 'second wave' of smartphones as they become capable of performing multiple functions. Going forward these devices will become as powerful as present day laptops.

Smartphones like Motorola Atrix 4G, LG Optimus X2 use dual core processors. A dual core processor is a combination of two 1 GHz processors, which can be used in parallel giving more power and speed to the device. Though these processors enable more power but a smartphone's overall performance still depends on the integration of its software with its hardware. For example, how closely the phone's software and applications are able to interact with its hardware taking out the maximum advantage of hardware abilities of the phone. The best example is Apple iPhone 4 which runs on a single core processor but is able to take full advantage of its hardware abilities, the research firm said in a release.

According to the firm, some of the applications where multi-core processor based smartphones can provide a boost to usage are Gaming, Autostereoscopic 3D enabled handsets, video streaming, HD (high definition) video recording and playback, video conferencing, HDMI user interface.


Autostereoscopic technique is a method of displaying images with perception of 3D depth without requiring the viewer to wear any glasses. This activity needs extra power and the new generation of smartphones is able to deliver this. The dual core smartphones will also allow users to play advanced games, which need more power. Users will be able to enjoy games or videos on a bigger screen by connecting the smartphone output to an HDTV through HDMI ports. Again, the increased power of a new generation smartphone will prove helpful in running HDMI applications. 

Dual-core processors will enable full HD video playback and recording at 1080p resolution, which is a big leap forward from the 720p video playback currently available in top present day smartphone models. Beyond full HD support, dual-core processors would enable smartphones to run more demanding applications like videoconferencing and video streaming. These smartphones will also provide a significantly higher speed and performance for multitasking in comparison to 'first generation' smartphones. The market is expected to witness more excitement on the CPU front, with the launch of multi-core processor based smartphones by a number of mobile phone vendors by end 2011.

Business Potential of Chinese IT Industry Worth Three Trillion Yuan

The business revenues of the Chinese software industry in the first quarter of this year increased to 345.4 billion yuan (US$53.04 billion), representing a year-on-year growth of 27 percent. Chinese software exports in the first quarter also totaled US$6.75 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 24.3 percent, according to official data.

By 2015, the expectation is that revenues of the software industry will rise above three trillion yuan (US$460.67). The figures suggest significant opportunities in related industries.
With the global information technology industry continuing its pace of growth, global IT expenditure in 2010 is expected to exceed 5.1 percent.

This growing trend is particularly apparent in emerging countries, such as China, where the IT industry and IT-related sub-industries are experiencing rapid growth. Indeed, in 2010, several software companies in the mainland increased the number of employees to keep up with growth. While the pace of employee expansion is expected to slow down in 2011, companies could report an improvement in profits as employee costs stabilize.

With government and corporate demand for IT products on the rise, various technologies and applications have been developed to meet demands. New applications and domestic alternative products are expected to be the two main areas for industry investments. Moreover, there have been calls for increased investments in EMV IC cards, information security, the "network of things" and cloud computing.

The Securities Times reported that the major opportunities offered by IT industries depended on the trend of developing domestic high-end IT alternatives; applications of emerging new products; and long-term potential demand.


Even as the overall IT industry expands quickly, some related sub-industries are also poised to benefit hugely. The first sub-industry that is likely to benefit is the aviation management software sector. Currently, there are only four civil aviation airports in China that use locally developed aviation management systems. The market for this type of software could expand by several times.

The second sub-industry with good potential involves the computerization of the architectural services industry. There is still ample room for companies specializing in this area to develop, and sales in the sector are expected to hit record highs during 2011.

Moreover, with a recovering economy, the operations of small- and medium-sized enterprises have improved significantly; their IT expenses are also expected to increase in tandem, providing a good opportunity for IT product manufacturers.

Indian Non-Life Insurance Sector is a Goldmine

The Indian non-life insurance sector has substantial growth potential because market penetration remained low--leaving significant room for further growth, said an article published by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, titled "The Indian Non-Life Insurance Sector Is A Goldmine Of Growth Potential."

India's insurance industry has emerged as one of the fastest developing markets of the global insurance industry. "However, its non-life sector, which includes property/casualty and health insurance, has one of the lowest penetration rates in Asia," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Damien Magarelli. India has the second-largest population in the world.


From 1994 through 2008, Indian regulators phased out price controls for the major insurance segments, shifting the industry's dynamics and creating both opportunities and challenges for the non-life insurers. Private insurers took advantage of the opportunities and consistently improved their market share and emerged as serious competitors to the public insurers. And, during the past 10 years, the non-life sector maintained--on absolute levels--an impressive growth momentum.


But despite these improvements, the non-life sector continues to face significant challenges relating to underwriting discipline, growth policies, and risk management. In addition, the sector continues to operate an unsustainable business model of relying on investment income which is vulnerable to market volatility to offset underwriting losses. "We view the insurers' persistently poor underwriting performance as a negative factor that could potentially stunt the industry's growth if it remains unchanged," said Magarelli.

"The sector can overcome some of these hurdles in the years to come," said Magarelli. "Provided that the insurers focus more on key factors to determine performance and sustainability of profitability," he continued. These factors include efficient claims management, cost control, superior customer service, product innovation, and timely regulatory reforms.


Further, Standard & Poor's expects that some upcoming developments will change the Indian insurance industry's dynamics within the next five years. These include the potential increase in foreign direct investment, which would provide long-awaited infusion of capital, and favorable policy changes such as initiatives for public awareness and increasing transparency, and infrastructure and operations development. "We believe that these factors would facilitate further growth of the non-life insurance sector," said Magarelli.


In addition to the regulatory actions and progressive policies, Standard & Poor's believes that favorably macroeconomic factors will also facilitate the sector's growth in the long run. The population demographics in India create a favorable environment for the insurance industry's growth. This and other factors such as raising income levels, increased demand for vehicles, increasing health awareness, a shift towards an industrial and service-oriented economy, and a demand for more customized and sophisticated risk solutions enhance the non-life sector's long-term growth prospects with increase in penetration levels.

Current Scenario of Outsourcing In India

Outsourcing is one of the most important income sources in India that has changed the status and placed India amongst the International standards countries. Along with the improvement in the Information Technology, outsourcing has also improved a lot and has been working out hand in hand with the technology development in India.

According to the National Association of Software and Services Company, BPOs and IT compactly fetched an income of $12 billions this year, and is expected to fetch around $148 billion by the year 2012. Around 200,000 Indians are employed in this sector and fetch very good incomes too.

Outsourcing has given India a very effective impact of the international standards and also has placed India as one of the quick growing countries across the globe. India came into existence for the other countries as well and the outsourcing business started blooming to heights.

With outsourcing, not just the business sector, but also the cultural sector of India has developed so much that the standard of living, adaptation in the technologies, etc have immersed very effectively India. The welfare management of the very highly talented and experienced developers, programmers and virtual assistants has taken place quite successfully, with which not only the IT sector, but also all the business sectors have groomed a lot.

Outsourcing, though being in pits for a while due to recession, has started gaining its pace back into action more effectively than before. The talent recognition has also improved to a very high extent and also, the companies have started gaining more success and place in the international markets. The biggest example of such great success is Infosys, which has recently bagged a 3 years outsourcing deal from Microsoft which covers 104 countries across the globe.

Outsourcing is thus very beneficial and has been a boon as a very good income source to India.

What Is The Scope Of Social Networking In Future?

This is the age of contacts for interaction between people to people through social platforms in the web. The tremendous popularity of using the social media networking could never have been realized before. In fact, social media have become an important tool of marketing in true sense of customer orientation. The scope of social networking is widening, and today it offers a strong support to the companies in providing the much desired touch of concern. Future of social media networking brings exciting promises as expected from the experience of limited users from a few companies in the top bracket.

This is the beginning of interweaving social media networking as a positive business process bringing two people together than merely two organizational entities. People can communicate their message to the suppliers or customers and also convey any difference of opinion over the social networks. The business community has started to take a keen interest in the enormous possibilities of reaching and serving the buyers in this emerging domain of marketing.

Social media networking is a more practical approach for dealing with the consumers. It may be for improving the products listening to the customers’ views with critical appreciations. It may also help improving the ways of dealing with buyers using them as ears and the eye of the organizations.  All the big companies are quite optimistic about the positive impact of Social media networking and gone into developing fully integrated processed with a holistic touch.  Take the example of activities the companies like IBM, Microsoft and Google performs to strengthen their networking platforms via social networks like Twitter and Facebook.

The bright future prospect of social networking is also proven with the fact that the technology is integrated in the mobile phones as well. Look at the devices designed with powers of interpersonal communication on a globalized outlook. These devices are now being created to with the perspective of global interaction and messaging across geographical boundaries. The concept is one, wherever on the earth; reach the common platform of the people for everybody’s benefit.

Social networking has tremendous prospects in future

Indian Gold Market

Indians have a huge fascination for gold. This is evident in the fact that India is the largest consumer as well as importer of gold in the world. Gold plays a very important role in the social, religious and cultural life of Indians. India Gold Market looks poised to achieve greater heights given the fascination for gold in the country. India consumes about 800 MT of gold which accounts to about 20% consumption of gold globally. More than 50% of this is used for making gold jewelry.
The domestic India gold market is estimated to be more than US$15 billion and is expected to rise significantly in the coming years. United Arab Emirates imported more than 30% of gems and jewelry from India, making it the largest importer from the country. Hong Kong was the second largest importer with 25% followed by United States with 20%. The gem and jewelry industry accounts for more than 10% of India's total commodities exports.
The government has taken steps to protect the public from buying adulterated gold; Hallmarking of gold jewelry is one such step. Hallmarking of gold jewelry indicates the accurate finding out and official recording of the proportionate content of precious metals present in gold. The marking is done either by laser marking machine or by punches. Hallmark is the official mark used in several countries across the world as an assurance of purity or fineness of gold jewelry. The Bureau of Indian Standard or BIS was named by the Government as the lone agency in the country for providing hallmarking of gold jewelry under the provisions of the BIS Act, 1986.

IS 1417 Grades of gold and gold alloys, Jewelry/Artefacts-Fineness and Marking

IS 1418 Assaying of Gold in Gold Bullion, Gold alloys and Gold Jewelry/ Artefacts - Cupellation (Fire Assay Method)

IS 2790 Guidelines for manufacture of 23, 22,21,18,14 and 9 carat gold alloys

IS 3095 Gold Solders for use in manufacture of Jewelry

Though India is the leading consumer of gold in the world, the gold market in India is largely fragmented and unorganized. Due to the non availability of a benchmark price, the gold prices in India vary very much from region to region. The festive and the wedding season in the country witnesses a heavy demand for gold. Despite the global economic recession, the gold consumption in the country during these times has not abetted.
The monsoons and the harvest of the country have a significant affect on the sale and purchase of gold in the country. Both these factors determine the amount of purchasing power that people will have, which in turn decides on the amount of gold consumption and other consumptions as well. Purchasing gold and other precious metals on occasions like Akshaya Tritiya is considered to be auspicious.

6 Signs That a Product Will Succeed

Products that stand the test of time stand on their own merit. They literally sell themselves.

Evaluating the potential of a product or service is tricky business. What makes one product stand out from another in the market? While there are many qualities that make a good product, there is one thing that separates the stars from the wanna-be’s… The product must speak for itself. If a product can quickly and easily demonstrate to a potential customer why the customer has to buy now, that’s a winner.

Want to know if a product will sell? Use these six points to evaluate its potential.

#1 What Problem Does the Product Solve?

This is the first question to consider because without a problem there’s nothing that will sell any product. People act to avoid pain or seek pleasure. A product must easily show prospective customers that their lives will be better, substantially better, simply because they bought it. Just a word of caution here… the problem must be compelling. People have to feel like the problem is huge, overwhelming, and that this product is the only way to solve it. They need to know that without it, their lives will be miserable. This is the USP (unique selling position) and it is essential to know this before taking any other steps.

#2 Can the Product Give Instant Gratification?

The world is fast-paced. Waiting isn’t an option. TV dinners, the microwave, and drive-thru restaurants are evidence of this reality. To be a success a product must promise instant results. Back it by a money-back guarantee and it has real potential.

#3 Is the Product Demonstrable?

It solves a problem instantly. That’s great. But the reality is that a picture is worth a thousand words. People believe what they see. Show folks what the product does in a compelling, dramatic way, so they want to buy.

#4 Can it Be Manufactured at a Price Consumers Can Afford?

It’s important to consider manufacturing costs when designing a product. Products that do well create a perception of value without breaking the bank.#5 Does the Product Have High Perceived Value?
Perceived value is an important motivator. Does the product do more than one thing? Can it do the job of seven different gizmos? Does it look like a million bucks but sell for five? If not, change the design.

#5 Does the Product Have High Perceived Value?

Perceived value is an important motivator. Does the product do more than one thing? Can it do the job of seven different gizmos? Does it look like a million bucks but sell for five? If not, change the design.

#6Are there Similar Products in the Marketplace?

Be sure to research the competition during the product development phase. While there are new ideas, many products simply improve on an existing concept. They do more, better, faster than their predecessor. Is the product one of a kind? Or is it a me-too? It's important to know the answers to these questions from both a legal and marketing perspective.

Pay attention to need when designing any product. Start with a solid idea then connect to a need in the customer. Take the time to test the product and be willing to listen to prospective customers when they evaluate the product for themselves.