Interaction with the economy... - A day from your life!

It’s difficult for a layman to understand how he actually interacts with the economy in his normal day schedule. But the underlying fact is that every single person living on this planet interacts with almost all the sectors of the economy on a daily basis. How? read further.. Ofcourse, you must be wondering ..this is not possible. All you need to do is just enjoy this thought and ignore for a moment all the technical concepts of economics which you have learned in the past. Economics is a subject which has lot of flexibility, you can get as complex as making a space craft or as simple as holding a glass in your hand.

 
Contribution of service sector is maximum (56.9%) in our GDP, so let’s pick a working day from a service class employee’s calendar and understand how unknowingly Mr. Roy (dummy character in our journey) interacts with almost all the sectors of our economy. Here we Go!
 
When Mr. Roy gets up in the morning, our dear Power sector is at his service by providing electricity to him for lighting up the lamp. Thereafter Mr. Roy engages himself in the regular morning activity where he interacts with lot of consumer care products for freshening up. Once he is done with freshening up, then he interacts with the clothing and textile industry to meet the requirement of his formal office clothing. Now it’s time to take the first meal of the day ‘breakfast’ where Mr. Roy would definitely like to thank Food and Beverages industry for providing him with variety of products starting from dairy products, cereals, vegetables, juices etc. Parallely while having breakfast, Mr. Roy prefers to take a quick glance of the news by flipping through the newspaper or by watching a news channel on the TV. With this habit of Mr. Roy, he is interacting with the Media & Entertainment/Advertisement industry. After taking the first energetic meal of the day, it’s time for Mr. Roy to move out for work where he is expected to contribute to the GDP of the country. Mr. Roy generally prefers driving by his own car, so here he takes a ride in the product of the Automobile sector. Of course we all know that no car works without a fuel, so Oil & gas (fuel) sector becomes the lifeline of our roads and Highway sector coupled with Automobile and Logistics sector.
 
Once Mr. Roy reaches his office, he’s greeted by the security guard at the door who is usually an outsourced employee of a security company. That’s where he gets to learn about the outsourcing businesses and role of Manpower companies. The office in which Mr. Roy works is the product of our Construction Industry. Construction industry does not walk in isolation, rather it takes along the major chunk of the Industrial Goods sector, For example – Building Products, Steel, Aluminium, Cement, chemicals, Engineering, Furnishing etc. ( Since the classification of Industrial sector is vast, hence in the interest of the reader, the list has been restricted to the most essential ones). In office, Mr. Roy is provided with a Laptop and a internet connection as a resource to perform his job. Life becomes simpler because of the revolution in the IT (software and hardware) sector.

 After being exhausted from office, Mr. Roy is always on a hunt for some exotic leisure activities to beat the stress. So, the menu card offers him with – Play sports, go for salsa classes, go out with friends for drink/ dinner etc. If you have carefully observed here, unknowingly we have covered Sports, Re-creational activities, Restaurant and Lounges (Hospitality) industry before we end our day.

 
Needless to highlight some of the sectors that Mr. Roy carries with himself always – Telecommunication, Mobile Industry, E-commerce, Banking, Luxury Goods (Watches and apparels), Footwear, Leather Industry (Bags, Wallet etc)

Now if we look back and see what we have actually discussed is nothing but a person’s daily schedule and how he has been interacting with the building blocks of our economy on a daily basis. India is the biggest democratic country with a population of 1.25 billion people. When we choose our leaders to run our economy we should be very careful and sure, they are the ones who are going to frame the policies of different sectors and create an impact in our daily lifestyle. Also the sectors what we have discussed forms the building blocks of our major stock exchanges BSE and NSE.
 
Hope now understanding economy sounds simpler! Please provide your feedback in the comment box below.
 

Penning Down Your Goals!

When I was in school, I used to think that achieving success in life is a pretty smooth and straight forward journey. So writing goals had no significance in my mind. Honestly, I used to find it way too complicated and even laughed at those who used to keep a long list of goals. Actually, I was surrounded by the thoughts which advocated that writing goals restricts a person’s ability. Hence I wanted to be flexible in life or rather was looking for an excuse for not writing goals!

As it is rightly said, life is a journey and it teaches you lessons when you need the most.

As soon as i stepped into the real world after my high school, i was bombarded with “n” number of questions from relatives, seniors, & friends asking me things i want to aspire. Honestly, i had no answer to any of those fancy questions; all i wanted to tell them was that i aspire to live a super chilled out life, but that remained monologue. Things got tougher when i was served with the menu card of the top colleges in India with different variety of courses. And I had no clue which one to select, everything looked rosy with carrots thrown all around.

Fortunately I came across a fascinating case study conducted in 1979 by Harvard Business School where graduate students were asked “Whether they had set clear written goals with plans to accomplish them?

The result, only 3% had written goals and plans, 13% had goals but they weren’t in writing and 84% had no goals at all. Ten years later, the same group was interviewed again and the result was absolutely mind-blowing.

The 13% of the class who had goals, but did not write them down was earning twice the amount of the 84% who had no goals. The 3% who had written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97% of the class combined!

Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet – All had their goals written when they were 25.

This helped me to learn world’s most underrated yet most valuable skill … writing goals.

Since then I started off my journey and my level of achievement and motivation has gone up.

NOW the question comes – How do I start OR get more out of this golden wisdom?

Let me share what I have learned, a simple procedure that anyone can follow for a successful kick off!

• Write down an exhaustive list of things that you wish or aspire e.g earn Money, good health


• Filter down your list by narrowing it down on the scale of priority


• Once you have a defined list in place – Try to be specific around each goal. Ask yourself a series of question until you drill down yourself to convert a raw thought into a crystal clean one. E.g. How much amount of money, time frame etc


• Against each goal write down How you are going to achieve it. E.g Blueprint of your execution


• Finally arrange them on the scale of time - 3 month, 1 year 5 year ( Short term, long term and very long term)

Wow! Isn’t it simple and interesting but now we have to make it a Habit? Again let me share the secret of how!

Here are few ways one can follow

• Whenever you get a good idea, immediately write it down in your SMART mobile– This will help you to not lose on thoughts worth investing time into


• Download applications, web based tools which offers user friendly platforms to write & track your goals


• Make a habit of paying a visit to your bucket list on a regular basis

Of course, most of us don’t bother to write down our goals. Instead, we drift through life aimlessly, wondering why our life lacks that purpose or significance. Remember committing our goals in writing is not the end of the game rather it’s just the beginning!

Sun Rise in the Indian Sports Industry

India is a land of opportunities and a home for 1.25 billion people. Globally, the sports sector is estimated to be worth USD 480-620 billion and contributes about 1-5 per cent to the GDP's of some countries. In India, Sport is yet to be recognized as a sector and there is no comprehensive study which talks about the dynamics of this sector. Generally the definition of sports differs from one country to the other. Generally, sports industry consists of several different segments, including sports tourism, sporting goods (manufacturing and retail), sports apparel, amateur and professional sports, recreational sports, high school and college athletics, outdoor sports, sports businesses such as marketing firms, the sport sponsorship industry and sport governing bodies. The industry not only operates in isolation but also supports the other industries like education, real estate, infrastructure, tourism and manufacturing.

In India, Draft National Sports Development Bill, 2013 recognizes 66 kinds of sports. Even if few are developed and monetized then sports as a sector can significantly contribute to the country's GDP. The young mushrooming middle class of India with their increasing disposable income offers huge consumption potential for the business of sports. It is expected that the middle class as a percentage of total population is estimated to increase from 4 per cent in 2005 to 41 per cent by 2025. In a country like India, 29.3 per cent of the population is in the age group of 0-14 years which itself is the indication of opportunities for the Indian corporate houses. The viewership of sporting events is rising in the country with such events like Leagues similar to IPL in other sports like Hockey, Football, badminton, golf and Kabbadi, Hosting of global sporting events such as Common Wealth Games 2010, Cricket World Cup (2011), Formula 1 Grand Prix (2011 onwards) and the World Chess Championship (2013).

 

Key issues

One of the biggest and the most important concern with sports in India is the lack of sports culture. Very few parents are encouraging their children to pursue sports as a career. Some of the key issues of our sports industry are:

• Limited Funding pathways in sports

• Sports Governance: Lack of transparency

• Lack of interest of corporate houses in sports infrastructure

• Scarcity of spaces and high capital expenditure required to establish private training academics.

• Few specialized courses in nutrition, sports medicine and psychology.

• Limited implementation and follow up on existing schemes.

• Lack of transparency in the governance of sports leagues. No regulatory framework for governance.

• Lack of policy ensuring financial security post- retirement for some players.

• Lack of coaches and technical know-how on sports in India and Lack of coordination among the concerned bodies affecting professional uptake of sports.

• Imposition of custom duty on training equipment imported by private academies vs duty exemption on the same import by government.

Recommendations:

The government and sports organizations should start nationwide campaign to raise awareness on sports and its contribution to the economy. Active regional/ local media can play an important role in spreading the word across for sports in India. Sports as an industry should be given a separate industry status so that it can be created as an avenue for sports funding. Implementation and compliance of the Sports Bill, 2013 will resolve some of the major issues involving lack of transparency across all levels. Policies should be focused towards promoting collaboration among all concerned stakeholders to encourage more innovative business collaborations and better opportunities for the players. Private training academics should be given

access to the public infrastructures to train in lieu of reasonable fees. The Government (Central and State) and National Sports Federation (NSF's) may promote awareness on opportunities for sports coaches by providing case studies on typical career paths, opportunities for further development and companies' recruiting coaches. The government should come up with innovative PPP models to attract investments from corporate houses. Also an archive of case studies of acknowledged instances of corporate investments in sports infrastructure can be used as an important tool to assist corporates in decision making.

 

Conclusion

Sports can make significant impact on the socio-economic dynamics of a nation. It plays a crucial role in ensuring physical fitness and healthy lifestyle amongst the citizens of a country. It unites people from different background and hence promotes peace and harmony in a nation. It is alarmingly important to build a dynamic sporting culture in India and the need for the government and the private sector to collaborate to strength the bones of the sports industry. Corporate funding in sports may therefore be the trigger to ignite sports development in India. The gestation period for realizing return on such investments may be long, but eventually the results are awarding. Nonetheless, it has been observed that investment in sport provides private organizations with significant return on Investment (ROI) in terms of enabling brand recongnisation and brand building by reaching out to the masses. Moreover, with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) becoming mandatory under Companies Act 2013, business houses are increasingly considering sport as an option for CSR initiatives due to its significant social ROI.

We all have played one or the other sport in our lifetime and we also understand the importance of sports in one's life. So, why not start supporting the cause from today! # Indian Sports - A brand that each citizen of democratic India should be proud off!