A report of the Confederation of Indian Industries about the Indian the consumers differ here from other part of the world

The confederation of Indian Industries(CII) along with the Boston Consulting Group(BCG) have recently presented a report which 

examines in detail the shape and size of consumption expenditure in India, and its expected evolution over the next decade. While India’s robust consumption growth presents attractive opportunities for companies, its unique diversity and variety makes it challenging to capture these opportunities. Towards that end, this report presents a framework and approach on how to de–average the opportunity to better segment consumers and effectively understand their buying preferences.

It takes an in–depth look at how these consumer segments shop for key categories of food and groceries, consumer durables and apparel. This has been achieved through an extensive on–the–ground consumer research covering a broad cross–section of over 12,500 consumers across segments in India. This report highlights key trends — both in stated consumer preferences, as well as in the actual execution of the purchase decision — and the resulting implications for companies that sell to consumers in India.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed organisation, seeking to play a proactive role in India’s development process. The organisation works to create and sustain an environment conducive to the growth of industry in India, partnering industry and government alike through advisory and c

onsultative processes. The confederation is headquartered in New Delhi.

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm with 77 offices in 42 countries. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious management consulting firms in the world.It is one of only three companies to appear in the top 15 of Fortune's "Best Companies to Work For" report for seven consecutive years. In the 2011 and 2012 lists, BCG is listed as the second best company to work for, and is the only top-tier consulting firm to appear in the top 100. BCG is also the only firm to have been listed every year in Consulting Magazine's "Best Firms to Work For" list, since the magazine's inception in 2001.

Link to the actual pdf version of the report:-http://bit.ly/PXDba3

Internet connection in India among the worst in the world

Akamai technologies Inc a company which manages Internet content delivery system, publishes a quartely report of the state of internet connection. this quarter's report revealed an awful information about the internet connection speed of India. But apart from slow internet connection speed there was one very interesting information to be sought after in India, it was about the voice traffic in the cellular Networks, in this reign India was one of the best countries in the world to have the highest voice traffic in the cellular traffic.


Summary of the report:-

The report reveals that despite 3G rollout in India in 2011, the overall state of internet connections in India continues to be poor with average speed of just 0.9mbps. This puts India at 114th position in the list prepared by Akamai on the basis of average internet speed in quarter 4, 2011.

In India all 3G connections are sold with a promise of an internet connection with a speed of at least several mbps. But it seems the reality is different. And with the growth in wired internet connections lagging behind, the average internet speed in the country remains poor.

In comparison, China is 86th on the list with the average speed of 1.5mbps. Brazil has an average speed of 1.8mbps. For Asia-Pacific, Akamai said "India remained the only surveyed country within the region that has an average connection speed below 1mbps".

The report says that South Korea has world's best internet infrastructure with average speed of over 17mbps.

For India, the Akamai report reveals the speed has gone up by 13% in the last one year. But at the same time, the country has just 8.4% internet connections with speed of over 2mbps. In comparison, over 20% internet connections in china offer actual speed of over 2mbps.

The number of internet connections that have less than 256kbps speed is even more alarming. Akamai report states that nearly 27% connections in India have less than 256kbps speed. Only four other countries in the world - Libya, Nigeria, Nepal and Iran - fare worse than India on this parameter.

Incidentally, many internet service providers (ISPs) in India continue to define a connection with a minimum speed of 256kbps as broadband connection. The number is abysmally low and web activists and users argue that at a time when services like YouTube are part of life on the web, the minimum speed should be improved.

After consulting with various ISPs, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had raised the minimum internet speed to 512kbps from January 1, 2011. But ISPs in India continue to sell connections with a minimum speed of 256kbps as broadband internet. Also most of the ISPs sell the broadband plans where only a limited amount of data can be downloaded at higher speed. Once the limit is reached, which in many cases is as low as 3GB per month, the speed is reduced to 256kbps.

In its report Akamai also listed 100 cities with fastest internet connections in the world. None of the Indian cities are on the list.

Copy of the report issued by Akamai:-http://bit.ly/R2EXGH

Domino's India website attacked, 37k accounts revealed!

The website of domino's India website link(click here) was hacked by a Turkish group called TurkishAjan.The message posted by the group can be seen here.

Screenshot of domino's India website

The website is operational and a user can place an order.The hacker's got access to over 37,000 accounts on the website has revealed the account information in plain text.

The Indian cyber security has been once again into limelight by this incident.The information includes names, contact numbers, email addresses, residential addresses and passwords in plain text.The attack was carried out by using popular SQL injection method and remote file inclusion. SQL injection attacks take advantage of the lack of filtering of user-input text, allowing attackers to trick the website’s database into revealing information through SQL commands supplied from input areas. Remote file inclusion is a type of attack that allows hackers to upload malicious scripts to be executed at the web server; again, improper input field validation makes a site vulnerable.

The logo of TurkishAjan hacker group.

Earlier this year famous hacker group Anonymous attacked Indian websites.

Sim Card cloning a new mass Cyber attack being experienced by Indian Telecom users

India a country with second largest number of mobile phone subscriber's having more than 965 million mobile phone user's(July 2012).India has a teledensity of more than 80% and an average monthly addition of mobile phone user of around 50 million users currently (July 2012).

These Huge statistics of Indian cellphone users also increases risk of Cyber attacks.Such a recent case of Cyber attacks are being experienced by cellphone user's since a year.User's in India are always being prone to cyber attacks by various organisation which sometime attack for own sake or for the sake of the people of the country(Anonymous India attacks).One such Cyber attack related to cellphone user's is being reported in various parts of the country.

In the advent of such attack first a person receives a missed call from a number starting with +92.calling the number back makes a person susceptible to SIM card cloning. According to various resources cloning a SIM card requires physical access to the SIM card or interception of the communication between caller and it's cellphone operator.

A yogi using a Mobile phone

Over a hundred thousand user's have fallen prey to this scam.Anyone can clone a SIM card by using a hardware tool that can read and copy information from it. But wirelessly or remotely intercepting information contained within the SIM, though theoretically possible, is considered extremely difficult. It may require hacking into the telecom operator's network or using very expensive tools. An article on eHow, a website that explains how users can performs various tasks using several gadgets, says that the SIM can be cloned using a cheap hardware tool that can extract the authentication key from one SIM and copy it to another. But it doesn't mention any method that can make use of missed calls to clone a SIM.In case the subscriber takes the call before it is dropped as a missed call then the caller on the other end poses as a call center executive checking the connectivity.The caller then asks the subscriber to press # 09 or # 90 call back on his number to establish that the connectivity to the subscriber was seamless.

When the user redials the number then a huge sum of money is deducted from the mobile phone if the mobile phone connection is prepaid and if the connection is a postpaid one then a number calls to different numbers creep in the bill of the user.This activity is becoming a lot common these days and is spread across all parts of the country.The intelligence agencies of the country is still skeptical about such a big hacking/cracking attempt being going on.

<toi>  

Eurozone problems will dampen global markets, impact India: PM

Prime Minister  of India Manmohan Singh on Saturday voiced concern that continuing problems in the eurozone will further dampen global markets and adversely impact India's own economic growth.

Singh also said that the need to revive global growth should be an issue of immediate concern which must be addressed by world leaders.

He made these remarks prior to his departure for Mexico and Brazil to attend the seventh summit of the Group of 20 developed and developing countries (G-20) in the Mexican resort town of Los Cabos on June 18 and the Rio+20 Summit in Rio De Janeiro.

Observing that G-20 Leaders will meet once again in the shadow of the economic crisis in the Eurozone and a "faltering" global economy, Singh said the situation in Europe is of particular concern as it accounts for a significant share of the global economy and is also India's major trade and investment partner.

"Continuing problems there will further dampen global markets and adversely impact our own economic growth. It is our hope that European leaders will take resolute action to resolve the financial problems facing them," he said.

Singh emphasised on the need to revive global growth.

"It is imperative that the G-20 countries work in coordination to implement policies that promote sustained growth. India has been pursuing this objective in its capacity as the Co-Chair of the Working Group on the 'Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth'.

"I will stress the need to ensure primacy of the development dimension in G-20 deliberations and the need to focus on investment in infrastructure as a means of stimulating global growth," he said.

Singh also noted that BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries have been the new growth poles of the global economy

"BRICS leaders have agreed to work with the global community to ensure international policy coordination to maintain macroeconomic stability conducive to healthy recovery of the global economy," he said.

As current chair of BRICS, India will host an informal meeting of BRICS leaders prior to the commencement of the G-20 Summit to exchange views on the agenda of the Summit.

On the Earth Summit in Rio, the Prime Minister said the cardinal principles of Rio 1992 must not be diluted, particularly the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities as well as equity.

"We have come a long way since the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. Environmental concerns today occupy the centre-stage of global discourse. Yet, we are far from pursing a truly sustainable path towards development," he said.

Indian PM Manmohan Singh.

The UN Conference on Sustainable Development is an historic opportunity to give meaningful content to paradigm of sustainable development. At its heart lies the imperative of moving away from a resource intensive development path while ensuring inclusive and balanced development for eradicating the grinding poverty that afflicts millions.

The Rio+20 Conference is likely to debate complex and contentious issues such as green economy and Sustainable Development Goals.

"I will emphasise that we must not dilute the cardinal principles of Rio 1992, particularly the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities as well as equity, which have been at the core of global sustainable development efforts.

"We must acknowledge the continuing differences in levels of development across the world, and the need for provision of financial and technological support to the developing world if we are to work together as a global community to address our most pressing environmental challenges," he said, adding India will work with like-minded countries to forge a consensus in this endeavour.

During his visit, the Prime Minister is expected to hold separate meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Nepalese Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and other leaders.

<hindustan times>