An Indian auction house of art works has closed the first half of the 2004 auction season with a sale of almost Rs 7.2 crore (almost $1.7 million), thus doing better business than established western art houses like Christies or Sothebys. Over 80 per cent of the art exhibits with saffronart action were sold out, crossing the higher price estimate and just over a quarter of the lots that sold exceeded the higher price estimate by at least 50 per cent. In comparison to the sales figures of Saffronart in May, the figure for Christies in March was Rs 5.01 crore ($1.15 million) and for Sothebys was Rs 3 crore ($690,000). Some of the art works auction set world price records, especially the S H Raza works, with the sale of "Bindu Bija Mantra" selling for over Rs 67.9 lakh (approximately $158,000) -- the highest price ever paid for Raza's work in a public auction. The sale also saw a record price for Jagdish Swaminathan's bird and mountain series work, lot 55, which sold for almost Rs 20 lakh (over $45,000). The cover work for this sale's catalogue, a 1963 "Samurai" by F N Souza, sold for Rs 61.4 lakh ($143,000).

Courtesy: The Pioneer, May 10, 2004

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Summer time is when domestic travel peaks. According to figures released by the department of tourism, 270 million people undertook domestic travel in 2002. Since then there has been a minimum 15-20% growth in domestic travel in the country. "Domestic travel will drive the Indian tourism market up as it is by far the largest segment of the market with 300 million domestic tourists travelling annually as opposed to 4.5 million outbound tourists," feels Mahesh Shirodkar, COO, SOTC. His estimate is that over the past 4 years there has been a 30% growth in domestic travel. Two trends stand out this summer for the domestic market. Hotels have hiked prices and improved yields as a result of the summer rush. Second, people have started bookings in advance, especially for the long weekends. The improvement in the highways has increased the response to weekend packages. "Specialised tours are gaining momentum and there are comparatively larger number of travellers opting for health holidays, spiritual getaways, adventure and wildlife vacations," says Shirodkar. Besides domestic destinations like Shimla, Kangra, Palampur and Patnitop, airline packages to Nepal, Goa and Kerala have received good response. "Air seats are booked and hotels have no vacancy in these destinations. There is a week-long waiting list for airline bookings," says Balbir Mayal, president, Travel Agents Association of India.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, May 08, 2004

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Indians have always been great travellers. From the Taj Mahal and the Ajanta-Ellora Caves to Darjeeling, Mamallapuram and Ladakh, one encounters a representative cross-section of a nation literally on the move. Bengalis, Tamils and Gujaratis, among others, have a reputation for being inveterate explorers. Initiated by the government, and emulated by the private sector, leave travel allowance (LTA) schemes gave an impetus to domestic tourism. Travel abroad, however, was for the privileged few - for not only were long-haul airfares beyond the reach of the middle class, stringent foreign exchange curbs made it difficult for even the well-heeled to effect a passage from India. Today, the limit for non-business travellers has been raised to $10,000. The Indian package tourist today is an increasingly valued customer. And as diverse destinations from New Zealand to Alaska - vie with each other to attract this market, they cause prices to drop even further. Even as the outbound market is expanding, in a complementary development, India's prospect as a favoured destination is looking up. The World Travel and Tourism Council at the Doha summit this week projected Destination India's global marketshare as 8.8 per cent per annum. What has caused this optimism, when India's share in global tourism arrivals has been below one per cent for years? Improved marketing, increase in budgetary allocation for tourism, reduced taxes on travel and tourism services, more charters, more open skies, improved airports, hotel packages and private sector involvement, are some reasons why Brand India is gaining currency.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 08, 2004

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The commercial success of Bollywood ventures in the overseas market is making several production houses nurture dollar dreams with renewed vigour. Of the half-dozen odd corporates currently eying the overseas distribution market, one of the first off-the-block is Mumbai-based content company, UTV, which has presence in television software, film production and animation businesses. UTV would test the international waters with two of its forthcoming co-production ventures, Farhan Akhtar-directed Lakshya and Ashutosh Gowarikar's Swades, slated for June and August release respectively. UTV plans to co-produce at least a dozen movies over the next three years, with a project cost of around Rs 100 crore. Of these, three - Lakshya, Swades and, D , Ram Gopal Varma's prequel to Company - are slated for release in calendar year 2004. There are three forthcoming projects for STAR India - Chandan Arora's comic caper Chote Babu, Bari Bahu, Tigmanshu Dhulia's take on illegal immigration racket, Dharti, and another comedy from Aatish Kapadia. The company already has presence in the US market with an office in New York, with plans to have presence in United Kingdom and other markets that has sizable presence of Indian Diaspora. The company is banking on revenues generated by its forthcoming ventures, Lakshya and Swades , and its co-production agreement with STAR India to fund its Rs 100 crore movie-making and distribution venture. Other production houses which are setting up their film distribution network across the country and overseas include Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Telefilms, and the Ram Gopal Varma-K Sera Sera combine.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 06, 2004

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After decades of mutual mistrust, the moviemakers and filmstars of Pakistan and India are interacting, buoyed by a belief that South Asia's most popular medium can propel the fledgling peace process. Cross-fertilisation between the Lahore-based film industry now dubbed Lollywood and the Bombay-based Bollywood has begun, replacing the old politics of envy. Leading the collaborations, Lollywood's Muammar Rana, 30, was scooped up by Bollywood in March for a supporting role in the film do bara. Now it is the turn of Pakistan's screen goddesses to dip their toes in Bollywood. Top actress Meera has signed deals to act in two Bollywood films, Allah Malik, to be produced by Bombay-based PD Mehra, and Lal Haveli, to be produced by Bollywood's famous Bhatt family. Pakistan had long been a whipping target of Bollywood directors, who used the unrest in Kashmirthe at the center of a tug-of-war between Pakistan and India since partition in 1947 as the ultimate dramatic backdrop for their richly coloured plots. But the trend has changed under the new environment of reconciliation initiated by President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in January. Both countries' film industries signed a memorandum of understanding in March vowing to refrain from making movies hostile to each other.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, May 06, 2004

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