Consumer Voice May-Jun 2006

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Dr.Roopa Vajpeyi
Hony.Editor

Editorial

This issue of Consumer VOICE is the last of our bi-monthly editions, which has had a good innings of around a decade. The efforts to steer our magazine towards the acquisition of a clear identity and presence have been continuous. It has also sought to redefine and reinvent itself several times over. Our journey in this direction has continued to gain momentum and a strong impetus was provided by the support that the Department of Consumer Affairs was able to extend to VOICE in 2005. This process was actually initiated by GTZ in 2001, when the German organisation saw great potential for Consumer VOICE and lent financial assistance for institutionalisation of the magazine. In 2006, we are now poised to launch this magazine as a monthly in full colour— India's first consumer magazine to take this leap into otherwise unexplored territories for consumer magazines in India. Our readers have already seen the first colour issue of Consumer VOICE (Vol 7, Issue 2), and we have received some very positive feedback for it.

What remains to be acknowledged is the continuous support and encouragement, whether it was during a series of regional meetings with our readers, which the Consumer VOICE CEO has successfully negotiated, or the readers' support to the Editorial Corpus Fund floated by the Editor, where our members have doubled up as 'friends of the magazine' for further enhancing the magazine. Both these initiatives are as recent as the last year but the results they have borne have given us clear signals of appreciation and encouragement. Our marketing division has also honed and extended its outreach and new subscriber response has been heartening.

Currently, we are a family of over 15,000 subscribers and we have set ourselves a target of a 30,000-readership base by 2006 end. We hope our knock at your door every month will bring more members to help us to carry forward the task of consumer empowerment with renewed vigour. We look forward to our member support for our revised subscription rates. This has been the natural fallout of increased frequency and a more colourful avatar of Consumer VOICE.

So even while we wrap up the final issue of our bi-monthly, which brings you a first-ever comparative study of customer satisfaction in the Indian insurance sector. Our July issue, packed with more product tests, is already in the pipeline, featuring tests of leading brands of phenyls and potato chips, the findings of which have been interesting, and the results are sure to surprise you.

Dr.Roopa Vajpeyi
Hony.Editor