Luxury cabs now available for daily city commute

Chennai’s infamous auto drivers have another reason to worry as they will soon find high-end cars competing for commuters on city roads. Luxury cab service Uber officially launched in the city on 27th February, after four weeks of testing the market and garnering some buzz via social media.

The company operates through a mobile app that allows users to arrange rides in luxury cars (imagine a Mercedes picking you up after work). Customers can log in and see exactly how far the nearest cab is and the maps system allows drivers to figure out the pick-up location without needing explanations and directions. In a country where language can be an issue when travelling from state to state, the app has the natural advantage of skipping the confusion. A simple 3G positioning will allow the driver to figure out where to come, while giving you the option of figuring out where exactly the driver is as well.

The USP of the brand is the luxury on offer, high-end cars operating at regular cab rates, but according to their Head of EMEA & India Expansion Jambu Palaniappan, Uber’s focus is on providing reliable service every single time. “We’ve seen an amazing response in Chennai,” Palaniappan said, “that surpassed Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad. Adding that the brand saw response from all demographics, it’s the ‘Mylapore maamis’, he said, who had been his target audience. “We want Uber to be your go-to call taxi even when you want to go grocery shopping,” added Allen Penn, the Head of Asia for Uber.

Talking about their competitive pricing, Palaniappan says that the company remains profitable because the number of rides is higher when there is availability at such short notice. Between theonline system that instantly connects customers to the nearest available cab and the tracking process on a smooth mobile app, Uber seems to be targeting the average city goer giving them a choice between a luxury chauffer service or navigating traffic.

What works in Uber’s favour is the simplicity of the process – you can book a cab on your phone, alert is via a simple SMS and information like the driver’s present location, name and photograph are instantly accessible.

Payment is automatically credited to the credit card used while registering for the app, making sure hassles about having the right change are eliminated, but it also narrows down availability to only those with a credit card.

Those used to booking a cab a couple of hours in advance will have to risk it with this app, since you can only ask for one on the spot.

With its network in more than 70 cities, Uber has had its fair share of criticism in the States for theirpricing strategy that increased rates during peak hours.

Palaniappan says that this strategy doesn’t apply to new markets but explains that customers are informed about the price changes in advance and it is only done to ensure that the reliability that Uber promises isn’t compromised.

Services are currently limited in Chennai as Uber is still expanding their fleet. But, the brand promisesthe city a 24-hour luxury cab on-call, at par with any other place in the world.

In Chennai, where the auto rates are among the highest in the country and cab companies that are still struggling to match demand with supply, Uber comes with the definite potential to add some luxury to city commuting.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> News / by Elizatbeth Mathew / Chennai – February 27th, 2014

Forty stores across Chennai, 120 shop-in-shop outlets and more than 100 years of being in the business…Venu Srinivasan of Leo Coffee shares the company’s bean and brew story with Shonali Muthalaly

Venu Srinivasan looks perplexed. “A davara and tumbler?” We nod enthusiastically. “Now?” We nod again, determined to get a striking picture for this story. And, what could be more appropriate than a portrait of the young scion of Leo Coffee enjoying a hot cuppa in his century-old office.

Except, there’s one small hitch. “We drink from paper cups here,” smiles Venu sheepishly. We look appropriately horrified. This, after all, is the heart of Chennai’s filter coffee culture: South Mada Street, Mylapore. From where we are standing, in a conference room on the first floor, we can look into the Kapaleeshwarar temple tank. A couple of buildings away, in the company’s oldest store, dark peaberry beans are being ground into a fragrant powder. You just have to lean out of the window to soak in that signature Mylapore scent of coffee, fresh jasmine flowers and ripe fruit, sold by chatty vendors sitting cross-legged along the road.

Right now, however, we’re busy tut-tutting at poor Venu. “But really, does anyone use the davara-tumbler anymore?” he counters. There’s a quiet gasp from his older employees. “Of course,” says one firmly, adding “I’ll find one.” In 10 minutes, he’s back with a shiny set, filled to the brim with steaming coffee. Venu obediently picks it up and poses, stopping only for a quick sip.

It’s an appropriate metaphor for the space the gracious old company now occupies. After more than 100 years in the coffee business, the family that runs Leo is finding ways to be relevant in a contemporary coffee culture, without compromising on their heritage and tradition. While Venu’s father, grand-father and great-great-grand father spent their lives creating a brand that in many ways represents Madras, Venu’s role is to find ways for Leo to connect with Chennai. On the face of it, this means finding ways to reconcile two completely different worlds: Its filter coffee versus espresso. Decoction versus vending machines. Davaras versus paper cups. In reality, however, as with most challenges in life, it’s not so black and white.

“The bottom line is we are very traditional,” he says, discussing how working in a family-owned company means staying true to the ideals of the founder. “So although we advocate change, we don’t want it to happen too fast. Nor do we ever want to become ultra modern. The idea is to be classy, but still faintly rustic — so people remember our roots.” This is why the office — a charming collection of rooms of varying sizes, arranged higgledy-piggledy, connected by random teak-lined corridors and punctuated by placidly rotund wooden pillars — has not changed in 100 years.

The interview begins at Venu’s office downstairs, where he tells me about his great-grand father P.R.K. Nadar. “We’ve been in the coffee business since 1910. My family is originally from Pattiveeranpatti… My great-grandfather was a trader for the European missionaries. He ended up buying estates from them in Palani Hills.” Nadar gradually expanded his estates to over 2,000 acres, then set up coffee processing and curing facilities. The family still owns the plantations — Little Flower Estates and Sancta Maria estates — which at an altitude of 4,500 ft above sea level are ideal for growing specialty coffees.

“My grandfather came to Chennai and started the brand Leo. It’s named after a former French Archbishop of Madurai, called Father Leonard,” says Venu, adding, “When my father said he was going to name the company after him, the Archbishop said, ‘Call it Leo instead of Leonard’. It’s easier to remember.” The first move was to buy an old Mylapore house, and turn it into the office. “Well, at that time it was a multi-functional space,” says Venu, guiding us through the quirky building. “Workers would sleep here in dormitories. They even kept cows at the back!”

Today, Leo has 40 stores across Chennai, as well as 120 ‘Shop-in-Shop’ outlets in big supermarkets and department stores. “We began these three years ago, to take coffee to the younger customers,” says Venu, explaining how freshly roasted beans are dispatched to every store and outlet, where they are then ground on demand for customers. “We source our beans from Karnataka through agents who have been working with us for decades. Our main coffee roaster has been with us for almost 40 years,” he adds, attempting to explain why their coffee is so special.

The packaged coffee comes in about seven varieties. “Including coffee with chicory,” Venu groans. “Till four years ago we never sold it. It’s a root, which when roasted and ground has the texture of coffee powder. Highly solvent, chicory gives colour and thickness, which a lot of people like… It’s also much cheaper than coffee.” He adds, “My dad hates it!” However, in an attempt to cater to a fast-changing market, they started experimenting with various blends, from Madras Blend, with 20 per cent chicory to their Breakfast Roast, which has 40 per cent. “We used to look at it as a bad, evil thing,” says Venu, “But the market is too big to avoid. Especially in Andhra, where they love the taste…”

At home, however, his parents still drink a classic Leo blend: “All old customers order this in our stores, a mix of Special Pea Berry and Special A. It’s only available loose and fresh ground.” Their packaged ‘House blend’ is also obstinately still ‘pure coffee’. “Now we’re selling Espresso Beans, targeted at all these trendy new cafés. We’re also planning to start marketing single origin coffee from our own estates, even though that’s a niche market.”

Venu’s immediate plans involve vending machines, which explains the profusion of paper cups. “We are consciously expanding our base. We find that many people prefer to drink filter coffee outside instead of making it at home, so we are now targeting that market.” He adds, “We intend to put them in our stores, in hospitals and malls… But we’re moving cautiously, it has to be good coffee. Our brand, after all, is at stake.”

In the end, it’s clear that the family’s loyalties lie with their traditional customer base, which is probably what keeps the brand so strong. We end the interview at Leo’s dim store in Mylapore, dusty with coffee, watching customers line up. “We have people who come here every morning to buy 50 gm of coffee for the day,” says Venu, adding with a grin that he too believes that nothing beats freshly-made decoction. “After all, filter coffee is just not a two-minute drink. It’s an early morning ritual.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Shonali Muthalaly / Chennai – February 27th, 2014

On the eve of International Women’s Day, the Managing Director of TVS Srichakra Ltd., Shobhana Ramachandran, shares with Soma Basu the story of her journey on a less travelled path for women and how she made it to the top staying in small town Madurai

There are no two ways about Shobhana Ramachandran, a scion of the powerful TVS family that runs the country’s largest automotive conglomerate company. Strongly opinionated, she never sways from decisions once taken. The firm person that she is it reveals the clarity in her thoughts and actions that follow.

Yet, feels Shobhana, feared as a boss for her aggressive temperament, “Clarity is a struggle.”

“I want to be slim but I also want to eat,” she explains in simple terms to underline if you are clear about what you want and let go of the other, you can understand your role better and deliver far better. The belief in the process of ‘letting it go’ has helped Shobhana take many more definitive steps in herjourney from being the great granddaughter of iconic industrialist T.V.Sundaram Iyengar and daughter of R.Ramachandran to the straight talking no-nonsense businesswoman who has taken her Madurai-based tyre company to a premium position in the world market. Yet, not many know much about her. She is a woman impacting on people. But, she says, gender does not matter to get to any position. “Your commitment and achievement matter.”

In the male dominated automotive industry, one would presume a woman is likely to feel diffident. But Shobhana Ramachandran believes in producing great results and tirelessly works towards the goal. Did she ever think of working anywhere else? “It never crossed my mind when I was in school or university. But my father surely did not want me to be in business,” she says.

A strict upbringing kept Shobhana confined to the house. She and her three brothers had to strictly follow the rules. The children were not allowed air conditioners or mattresses to sleep on, had to fold their beds every morning, finish every morsel that was served to them on their plate, never went on a holiday even though their cousins came visiting them from other cities and pushed off to Kodaikanal.

“My father did not like being in limelight because he felt it would drift us away from family values,” she says. But then he allowed her the freedom to do what she wanted to — play boys’ games! The girly presents and dolls gifted to her just lined up the shelves. The cricket and badminton coaches came home to train them and she would play with her brothers’ friends as a team.

Shobhana says she always made best use of the choices available without ever feeling bad or complaining. She wanted to do her under-graduation in psychology but her father told her she is “supposed to study literature”. After her B.A. English from Fatima College, Shobhana did M.A. Psychology from Lady Doak College.

“I never pushed myself, but remained among the top 10 in class, and had much interest in sports and drama,” she says. She would have loved to dance away too but for the lack of partners as tall as her. Shobhana taught English for a year at Fatima College and resigned hurt when told that the job should go to someone needy and not somebody as affluent as her.

It is not in her nature to ever fight or rebel. “I always move away from those who pick up fights and find a way to get around the blocks to do what I want to do,” she says. If there was anything that she ever refused, it was marriage. “It was a choice I made early in life. My parents did not object,” she says.

Left to her father, says Shobhana, she would have never got into family business. It was her grandfather T.S.Rajam, who brought her on board in 1982 when she started taking interest in the TVS school at Palanganatham. Shobhana who attended Noyes and OCPM School, apparently used to tell her friends that one day she would build the best school in Madurai with the best infrastructure.

“I never had a perfect dream project to execute,” she adds, “but one thing led to another.” Her love for children and passion for education turned the Lakshmi Vidya Sangham (LVS), a registered society formed by members of TVS family, into a leading education group in Madurai.

As the LVS chairperson, Shobhana is constantly expanding and innovating to provide quality education to 12,000 plus students enrolled in the nine institutions including exclusive rural and primary schools, one for children with special needs, a finishing school for engineering students, teachers’ training school, and those under the various boards (State/Matriculation and ICSE).

Always attentive to others, Shobhana’s plans and projects are need-based and well-calibrated and the single thought that drives it is ‘why should her city Madurai be deprived of it?’ In her business Shobhana oversees each detail to improve the quality of service — from introducing modern technologies, encouraging performance-based work culture, recruiting youth and more women, establishing sustainable and profitable relationship with customers, suppliers and stakeholders.

In the schools that she runs she is equally sensitive and particular about providing the best infrastructure, faculty and child-friendly atmosphere. Her practical approach and financial prudence have only led to growth of the academic institutions and the company over the years. She joined the latter in 1986.

Shobhana inspires girls to think forward and create options for themselves. She is ever-willing to help and support women who seriously want to come up in life. “Women should be clear of what they want and break the glass ceiling. They should have emotional intelligence and not an emotional reaction to everything,” she says.

“A lot of it is your personal choice on how you interpret your responsibilities and what you view as your obligation,” says Shobhana, who also finds sympathising with women all the time is being unfair to men.

In sync with TVS family thinking, she desires a corporate culture of giving, rather than only earning profits. Professional to the core, she has everything in her — honesty and humility, feelings and cravings to do something for others. Beneath her so-called hard exterior, Shobhana is very human and humorous. She laughs off her “Female Hitler” tag. “I am aware of the epithets I have earned being a non-conformist and a very blunt person,” she says and adds, “I appreciate people who have the guts to speak out.”

Though hard pressed for time, Shobhana does not neglect other social responsibilities. She founded the Arogya Welfare Trust to facilitate inclusive and participative community development through health care, education, skill development, general hygiene and women empowerment in villages around Madurai. Her love for light, Western and Classical music also made her take charge of the Madurai-based Sathguru Sangeetha Samajam encouraging younger artistes and honouring senior vidwans for their contribution to Carnatic music.

There is a soft and gentle side to the bold Shobhana, who is much in love with simple things in life. Recently when she went visiting the Table Mountain with her cousins, while everybody went gaga over the view of the city of Cape Town from the top, Shobhana yearned to return to her home in Madurai. “I have not known any other city better,” she says, “and I like being with myself.” Shobhana loves watching movies but hates visiting malls or partying. She would rather meditate to keep her focus and read books on philosophy and management. A nature lover, Shobhana draws comfort in being alone. But right now she has found new companions to share much of her time with at home. “Till two months ago I was scared of dogs and would jump on to a table seeing them,” she admits. But after her brothersgifted her two golden retriever and labrador pups, she is herself bemused at the changing equation!

Success doesn’t just pick a lucky few. It chooses those who make conscious decisions and seize the opportunities and implant their ideas for others to notice. Shobhana is one of them. Her success and her relative anonymity stem from the same source — a steely resolve. “Everything comes to you with a purpose,” she says.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Society / by Soma Basu / Madurai – March 06th, 2014