Schedules forming part of the Financial ... - Thomas Cook India

10
SPECIAL GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
The reform measures and policy initiatives taken by the Ministry of
Tourism in the areas of public private partnerships, alternate delivery
mechanisms, social and gender empowerment processes, greater
decentralization and transparency are as follows:
� In order to give greater impetus to development and promotion
of tourism through public private partnership, a National
Tourism / Advisory Council which includes officials of various
Ministries and Departments concerning tourism and experts
in the field of travel and tourism management from private
industry continues to play its advisory role for the important
aspects.
� For promotion of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and
Exhibitions) the Ministry of Tourism has decided to provide
assistance for construction of one convention centre at any well
connected and accessible tourist destination in each State/UT.
� For opening up of destinations in inaccessible remote areas,
the Ministry of Tourism has decided to provide assistance for
construction of heliports.
� The Ministry is taking initiatives for development of nationally
and internationally important destinations and circuits through
Mega Projects. To date 38 mega projects have been identified
and of these 23 projects have been sanctioned. Efforts are
being made for convergence with JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru
National Urban Renewal Mission, a massive city modernisation
scheme launched by the Government of India under Ministry
of Urban Development, as a programme meant to improve the
quality of life and infrastructure in the cities) and development
programmes/projects of other Ministries.
� The Ministry of Tourism is focusing on development of
infrastructure in the identified destinations and circuits all over
the country with due focus on North Eastern Region and Jammu
& Kashmir. The new emerging areas like Rural Tourism, Heritage
Tourism, Eco-Tourism and Wellness Tourism are getting priority
under this scheme.
� The Ministry of Tourism is continuing its efforts for providing
assistance to tourism infrastructure in rural areas including
capacity building of rural inhabitants to ensure development
of rural tourism products, which fall on the way to well-known
tourist circuits in the country. The aim of this initiative is to ensure
social and gender empowerment and greater decentralization
for the tourism products in the country.
(Source: Outcome of Budget 2011-12, Ministry of Tourism)
PRESENT SCENARIO
India’s GDP growth for 2011-12 is estimated to be lower than the
previous period. The Reserve Bank of India has cut the baseline
projection of GDP growth for the year 2011-12 from 7.6 per cent
to 7.0 per cent in the wake of the increase in global uncertainty,
weak industrial growth, and slowdown in investment activity and
deceleration in the resource flow to the commercial sector. (Source:
RBI website).
The year 2011 witnessed rupee depreciation against major currencies.
Net FII inflows turned negative from ` 1796.7 billion in 2010 to `
393.5 billion in 2011 (Source: SEBI website).
The national Indices, BSE SENSEX and NSE S&P CNX NIFTY, decreased
Thomas Cook (India) Limited
from 20,509.09 and 6134.50 at the beginning of the year to 15,454.92
and 4624.30 points respectively (Source: BSE & NSE websites).
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Forex market in India is a regulated market and volumes are closely
tied up to Dollar-Rupee exchange rate.
Your Company is the market leader in forex and offers various
services like currency exchange, money transfer, remittance, Travelers
cheques, pay orders, wire transfers and pre-paid cards. It caters
to the forex needs across various segments of customers such as
business travelers, leisure outbound travelers, travelers for migration,
employment and medical treatment, students travelling abroad for
studies, inbound tourists, persons who want to remit money overseas
for maintenance of family and relatives residing abroad, banks, non
bank retailers and money changers.
Your Company remains as one of the largest exporters in the world for
currency notes. It also imports currency notes to fulfil the demand for
certain South East Asian currencies in the country. It handles majority
of India’s foreign currency bank notes. It has a largest distribution of
174 locations in 77 cities amongst the forex players in the country.
The year 2011 too like the previous two years witnessed a volatility
in Indian Rupee (INR) Vs all the major currencies (Vs USD 24%, GBP
22% and EURO 23%). The year 2011 saw INR at its life time low at
54.30. Global sentiments due to the European economic crisis and
the subsequent pulling back of Foreign Institutional investors inflows
coupled with the economic challenges on the domestic front led to
the weakening of Rupee. During this period various forex players
witnessed a surge in the currency purchase and consequently bulk
volumes increased due to INR weakening.
On the retail side, there was a moderate rise in demand of foreign
exchange by corporate. They remained cautious in spending monies
on overseas travel due to challenging economic environment both in
India and in European and USA markets. Students who travel to UK
and Australia for higher studies witnessed a reduction due to stringent
visa norms as well as racial attacks. Leisure outbound travellers
segment witnessed a surge in demand for overseas holidays in 2011.
Your Company took various initiatives during the year 2011 such as
network expansion, investment in marketing and visibility of products
offered, product innovations, new corporate customers etc. To delight
the customers, the Company took various initiatives on improving
customer service and training the employees on various skills.
Overall, your Company handled 1.6 million transactions in 2011
representing a growth 17% over 2010 for all the customers. The
Company continued its focus on margin and cost management during
the year.
In addition to the above, your Company strengthened its inward
remittance business. According to the latest issue of the World Bank’s
‘Migration and Development Brief’, released on December 1, 2011,
India is expected to receive USD 58 billion this year and expected to
remain the top recipient for the fourth consecutive year. Company
took advantage of this boom and increased the distribution channels.
It has appointed State Bank of India, a largest public sector bank
in India as a sub-agent to MoneyGram which will enable their huge
network of about 13,000 branches to receive the inward remittance.
Your Company for the third year in a row won the “Best Forex
Company” award by CNBC Awaaz.