Fashion Journalism?

When I wrote a book of fashion, an erstwhile favourite aunt from Kolkata said, “Today our ancestors want to rise and spank you!”

I’m linking to an excellent post on Hindol Sengupta’s blog on what it’s like to be a fashion journalist today in India – link

Cheaper Bank Loans

JK Bank reduces interest rates on student loans while other banks raise theirs.

When all other banks are increasing their lending rates, JK Bank reduced the rate of interest on its Education Loan scheme from 10% to 9% for loans up to Rs.25,000; from 11% to 10% for loans over Rs.25,000 and up to Rs.5.00 lakh; and from 11.50% to 11% for loans above Rs.5 Lakh. The cut in interest rate on this scheme is despite the fact that the Bank revised its prime lending rate (PLR) and increased it from 11% to 12 %.

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As envisaged in the scheme, for studies in India, loan is granted for school education including plus 2 stage, graduation courses and post graduation courses (Masters & Ph.D.). Professional courses including engineering, medical, agriculture, veterinary, law, dental, management, etc., computer certificate courses of reputed institutions accredited to Department of Electronics or Institutes affiliated to University and courses like ICWA, CA, CFA, courses conducted by IIM, IIT, IISC, XLRI, NIFT etc.

– Greater Kashmir, Aug 22nd 2006

Read the entire story

Interesting Statistics on the Indian Designer wear market

THIS WEEK: THE INDIAN DESIGNER APPAREL MARKET

The Indian apparel market was worth Rs 88,340 crore last year. The total market for designer apparel was Rs 9,835 crore.

Currently, the global designer wear market is worth about Rs 1,62,900 crore. It is growing at 9 per cent every year.

The Indian fashion industry accounts for barely 0.1 per cent of the international industry’s net worth.

Indian designer wear commands a category engagement of 66 per cent for male customers and 57 per cent for female customers. The category engagement in western designer wear is 5 per cent.

Excluding western wear, the per capita per annum spends on designer wear for men is Rs 42,627 and Rs 48,271 for women.

About 58 per cent of male shoppers and 69 per cent of female shoppers prefer shopping for designer wear in departmental stores. Comparatively, 42 per cent of male buyers and 34 per cent of female buyers vouch for exclusive brand showrooms.

The frequency of purchase is the highest amongst youngsters. However, women in the 41 to 50 years age group are also big shoppers.

The northern and western regions of India account for the highest shopping of designer apparel. – Busines Standard, Aug 22nd 2006

From this article in the Business Standard, (which was about management tips) we can see that the Indian Designer wear market still has a lot of scope to expand and grow. Although one may hear that the designer wear market is becoming saturated, that there are too many design institutes, I think there is huge potential in the market as India continues to become a developed country and as the market becomes more and more professional in it’s outlook. The need for trained professionals with experience in the Indian market can only grow as more and more international brands and companies come into India.

Careers in Multimedia: Part 2

Wigan and Leigh http://www.wiganindia.org/

SAE India http://www.sae.edu

National Insitute of Design http://www.nid.edu

Arena Multimedia http://www.arena-multimedia.com

Zed Career Academy http://www.zcaonline.com

Toonz Animation http://www.toonzanimationindia.com

Asian Academy of Film and TV http://www.aaft.com

Picasso Centennial Canadian Animation College

Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics http://www.maacindia.com

Centre for Developement of Advanced Computing http://www.cdac.in

Careers in Multimedia

The Numbers:

* According to a NASSCOM study on Animation and Gaming, the Indian animation market is expected to see a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 35% from 2006 – 2009
* The Indian animation market is expected to grow to USD 950 million by 2009
* The Indian Gaming market is expected to grow to USD 300 million by 2009
* The IT Enabled Sector ( interactive/digital multimedia, animation and gaming etc) is expected to employ 1.1 million professionals by 2008
* There are 80 – 100 million TV homes in India, demanding 24 hour information and entertainment services.

What is Multimedia and why is everybody so excited about it?

Multimedia is exactly what the name suggests. It is an amalgam of different media elements, such as graphics, animation, audio/video text and computer integration.Multimedia can be used to create applications that are used from industries as diverse as education and entertainment. It involves creating
special effectts, virtual reality, animation, interactive multimedia programming and web content development.

The primary segments of the market are Entertainment, Publishing and IT.

The Indian entertainment industry is growing at the rate of 20%. With the increasing number of cable TV operators there is a clear need of trained professionals. Game development for computers, mobile phones and video games is another promising market. In the world of IT there is a clear need for professionals who can create web content, develop animation techniques and software, specialeffects etc. As more and more functions go on-line such as banking, communications and shopping it is no longer possible to specialise in either media, or technology or product design alone. These days an integrated approach is required for most industries.

Multimedia professionals also find their calling in the world of publishing – in the print media, web publications and broadcast media (who do content for TV channels/advertising and films).

Other applications of multimedia can be in the field of defence – creating virtual reality simulations, or in fashion or in mobile content – creating contestsring-tones etc.

What are the careers available in multimedia?

Jobs that are in demand in the multimedia sector are writing, editing, being a content provider, animation, designing, illustration, multimedia development, system analyst, publishing, programming, audio and video.

Where you could find those jobs depend on where you look. Currently the best jobs are being offered by MNCs, who have set up business operations in India. Other place to look for jobs are production houses, media houses, e- learning and software companies.

In the next post we will talk about where to stidy if you wish to take up Multimedia.
[This information has been summarised from Matrix of Design, from the Education Times, April 5th 2006]