Powering India-4: Solar Energy and Rural India

Posted on August 10, 2007 by indra

Solar energy can be perhaps the best source of energy for rural India. I don’t know about other states, but in the villages around my own in Bihar and that of Yamuna, many petty farmers have installed the solar plates. Mostly, it provides the digital connectivity and entertainment through TVs and music system, besides lighting the home and cooling too with fans. It must be put to many more uses- pumps, airconditioning, computerization, etc.

Solar rays can be used to heat or produce electricity. Solar photovoltaics (SPV) systems transform solar heat directly into power.

Solar energy accounted for a minuscule 0.039% of the world’s total energy supply in 2004. But estimates suggest that globally, SPV power has grown by an average of 41% a year over the past three years.

PV systems in India add up to only about 245 mw in aggregate capacity as of December 2005, the latest available data with the ministry of new and renewable energy. Interestingly, India is very much well placed so far the sunlight is concerned. India receives solar energy equivalent to over 5000 trillion kWh/year, which is far more than the total energy consumption of the country.

Main challenges for solar energy technology are that of increasing the efficiency and cutting down the cost.

 The efficiency of transforming solar heat into power has improved from a lowly 6% to a more respectable 15%. Some US firm such as Sunpower produces the most efficient silicon photovoltaic cell in the world, which operates at 21 per cent efficiency (percentage of energy from sunlight that is converted into electricity). The theoretical maximum is 28 per cent. Spectrolab, a subsidiary of Boeing, makes non-silicon solar cells that reach 40 per cent efficiency.

 The other effort is to cut down the cost. The costs of SPV panels have come down from as much as $20 per watt to just over $2.5/W. One company is working to reduce the cost of polysilicon, the most important raw material from $3 (Rs 120) a kilo to $1 (Rs 40) a kilo.

Indian Players

International SPV players are very bullish on India. Domestic entrepreneurs are also coming forward.

Tata BP Solar, one of India’s first solar panel makers, with revenues of Rs 450 crore, exports 80 per cent of its products. The Bangalore-based company plans to double manufacturing capacity to 80 MW by end-2007 and scale up to 300 MW by 2010. Tata BP Solar is investing $100 million to create a solar plant in Bangalore.

Moser Baer Photo Voltaic has a 40-MW (megawatt) facility in Greater Noida. It plans to boost capacity to 300 MW by 2010. Moser Baer picked up stakes in the US-based Stion Corporation and SolFocus, and Slovenia-based Solarvalue, and had invested Rs 260 crore in setting up a Photo Voltaic (PV) business to manufacture solar cells and modules. From $100 million (Rs 400 crore) this year, the company expects revenues of $1 billion (Rs 4,000 crore) by 2010. As reported, the company is “working to bring down cost from an average of 35 cents (Rs 14) per kilowatt to 10 cents (Rs 4).” A solar panel six times larger than current models is slated for early 2009.

Overseas players are also getting into India. As reported, California-based Signet Solar will invest $2 billion (Rs 8,000 crore) over the next 10 years in three photovoltaic cell plants here. With an initial investment of $ 150 million (Rs 600 crore), each of these facilities will have an annual output of 300 MW.

Solar Semiconductor, another US-based company, is setting up an SPV unit in Hyderabad.

Efficient Indian manufacturers can get into export too, as the global PV cell market stands at $7-8 billion and is expected to grow to $40 billion by 2010. According to a report by brokerage firm CLSA, the PV sector is set to grow at 38% year-on-year till 2010 to a total capacity of 6GW, taking the industry turnover to $35-40 billion.

Currently, 60 companies are in production of PV in some way or the other. With significant incentive in new semi-conductor policy, multibillion-dollar investments may be coming. Many SPV projects are reportedly in the pipeline, with the investment running to about $5-6 billion. The manufacturing process for making silicon microprocessor chips and SPV cells is basically the same, though that for the latter is far less complicated requiring fewer steps. The investment requirement is about $300 million for an SPV unit of 100 mega MW capacity.

As reported, half the global production of photovoltaic cells goes to Japan, mainly in grid-connected homes. Japan makes 40 per cent of the $6-billion (Rs 24,000-crore) solar market, expected to touch $40 billion (Rs 1,60,000 crore) by 2010. Solar-powered homes, common in Germany (40 per cent share) and the US, give power to the grid during the day (the meters run backwards) and draw power at night. This lowers the net electricity consumed by the grid.

Future Solar stations will be connected to the grid. India still fares poorly on solar electricity generation, but the government has set a target of 10 power plants of 1-MW each. State electricity boards have been asked to use at least 0.2 per cent of the electricity they generate from grid-connected photovoltaic projects by 2011. Compare this to India’s potential for solar power generation – 600 GW.

How is India using the solar energy at the ground level? Over 500,000 solar cookers are in use around India. The Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam heats 100,000 litres of water a day using solar power. The government intends to make solar-powered systems mandatory in hotels and hospitals.

Innovatively designed solar cookers and lanterns could drastically reduce the need for subsidising kerosene (SKO) and domestic cooking gas (LPG). Solar PV water pumping systems can reduce the consumption of diesel. 7002 such pumps are already installed. And the saving in subsidy for kerosene, LPG, and diesel may be about Rs 40,000 crore per annum.

However, for exploiting the potential of solar energy better, research labs and manufacturing companies of India must take up R&D on a serious scale. The product designers must think of using solar energy as the power source. Efficient solar collectors can capture the available solar radiation and transfer it as heat to perform various useful activities, like heating, cooling, drying, water purification and sundry other industrial processes. Cost is a “significant impediment” to solar air-conditioning with capital costs several folds those for conventional electric vapour-compression systems. The innovative design of solar thermal collectors that can be used both for cooling, refrigeration and heating requirements, can reduce the costs per unit energy considerably.

Every house of India has a potential to save grid electricity from the fossil fuels for which the country is largely dependent on import and help reducing the dangerously increasing global warming. I wish India emulated Japan.

Posted in economy, industry | Leave a comment

Automobile Manufacturing

Posted on August 10, 2007 by indra

As an engineering professional who worked in an Automobile Industry for more than thirty years of my life, I used to write a lot on technical areas that were of interest to me. Many of my articles were published in trade journals and I was fortunate enough to have a few books in my name. A few months ago, I along with my son Anand decided it would be nice to digitize these writings and move it to this site. The goal is to eventually have all my writings ported over to this site. The good news is that the process has already started. The bad news is it’s going to take us a long time before we can have all my writings ported over.

Today, I would like to draw your attention to my writings on Automobile Manufacturing. Check it out under My Writings.

Here are the highlights with a brief explanation:

History of automobile manufacturing:
Exactly who invented the motor car is to a great extent lost in the mists of history. Many engineers in different countries were working on the same general lines in the middle of the nineteenth century deriving inspiration from the early steam buses and coaches. They all felt the need for a more compact and convenient prime mover to get into a horseless age. ….

Machining of major engine components – 5Cs:
The present trend is to manufacture only 5Cs – Cylinder block, Cylinder head, Crankshaft, Camshaft, and Connecting rod in-house and procure all other components from vendors. Some prefer to reduce these numbers depending on the availability of reliable vendors nearby. In a newer approach, even for these 5Cs, the roughing operations are being farmed out. The in-house facilities of manufacturing concentrate only on highly value-added, critical, high-technology operations that require high capital investment and can not be expected from vendors with limited resources…..

Transmission gears’ manufacturing:
Gear manufacturing has been one of the most complicated of the metal cutting processes. From the beginning of the century, the demand for better productivity of gear manufacturing equipment was posed by “The Machines that changed the World” i.e. AUTOMOBILES…..

Sheet metal stamping:
Ever increasing competition in automotive industry demands productivity improvements and unit cost reduction. The manufacturing engineers and production managers of car body panels are changing their strategy of operation. The days of ‘a simple washer to a very complicated fender, all in plant stamping facility’, are gone. In-house manufacturing facilities preferably produce only limited number of major car panels……

Auto Body welding:
Some 250~300 pressed panels from in-house and vendor facilities are brought to different subassembly stations of Body Weld Shop. Mainly resistance welding and other joining methods carry out subassemblies of pressed components in a planned sequence at number of stations. Some subassemblies are done in off-line manufacturing cells and fed in at appropriate locations into the main assembly line…

Automobile Painting:
All automobile users seek for a chemically resistant, mechanically durable, pleasant in appearance and finish painting. Design constraints of product, customer preferences, and local government regulations related to environmental control – all affect the painting process decisions. A close and effective interaction between the concerned experts from auto-plant, paint process plants, paint application equipment, and paint as well as chemical plant/s are essential for achieving the highest possible paint-shop efficiency…

Assembly and testing of cars:
Assembly of some 2000-3000 interior and exterior parts as well as major components are fitted on painted body in assembly plant that is generally constituted of :Trim Line,Chassis Line, and
Final Assembly Line….

Feel free to read/share the content with your friends in automobile industry.

Posted in education, manufacturing | Leave a comment

Why are we so mean?

Posted on August 9, 2007 by indra

Mumbai has a historical mansion on Mumbai’s Malabar Hill. For the last 25 years, the mansion is vacant today, gates rusted and overgrown creepers allover. Mohammad Ali Jinnah — the founder of Pakistan had built it. Jinnah wished to spend the last few days of his life. His only daughter Dina Wadia the mother of Nusli Wadia, the industrialist owning Bombay Dying wishes to spend the last few days of her life in a mansion that her father dearly loved. Dina is a British national and 88 now.

In a letter to the PM last July, Dina, who said the house bears “great sentimental value” to her, wrote: “It is now over 50 years since my father’s death and I have been deprived of my house. He bought the house in 1917 from his hard-earned money as a lawyer, got married and lived in it till partition. This is the house where I grew up and lived till I married. The property is lying idle for 23 years. It is completely neglected. I request you to return it to me after considering the two legal opinions of retired Chief Justices of India.”

According to government sources, Jinnah did not will his house to his daughter, but to his now-deceased sister Fatima, who migrated to Pakistan in 1947 and was declared an evacuee. The house was therefore taken over by the Indian government.

However, Dina has said the will was never executed and hence for all practical purposes her father died without a will. Her argument is that since Jinnah was a Khoja Muslim, who are governed by the Hindu law of succession when it comes to property and inheritance, Dina would, as a daughter, have first right to her father’s properties over his brother and sisters if he died without a will.

However, the Government of India is clearly in no mood to hand this over. Advait Sethna, GOI advocate says, “Mr Jinnah had made a will, which, according to the petitioner is unprobated and as per this will the executor is Ms Fatima who is the sister of Mr Jinnah and therefore we are saying it becomes an evacuee property. And under the Evacuee Act the ownership comes to the Government.”

The mansion is historical in every respect. Jinnah played a role that India, more so Congress Party might not like. But no doubt, Jinnah remains a historical figure. The mansion has also seen Mahatma Gandhi visiting Jinnah for the final conciliation.

But why should it not be given to Dina who was born and brought up in the mansion. She must have real emotional attachment with it. Once she has appealed to the PM and gone to the court too, the mansion must go to her on humane ground, may be with certain cnditions. Why should the law that Britishers framed, decide everything? Why should India not consider Dina more as the mother of Nusli rather as the daughter of Jinnah?

Posted in indian politics | Leave a comment

New IAS: Will They be Good Public Servants?

Posted on August 8, 2007 by indra

‘Outlook’ had published one wonderfully great analytical report ‘Backwoods Babus’ by Anjali Puri on the new breed of the babus (IAS). Increasingly, the new members of the IAS cadre are coming from the lower income group of the society and from smaller places- semi-urban towns and villages. Children of rickshaw-pullers, farmers, mill workers, and clerks are getting selected in the IAS. They may have better feel of the ‘aam aadami’. The trend may be a precursor of inclusive growth and equity. It raises some questions too. How will it affect the governance? Will it become more efficient and humane? It will be if the new generation has more of Sudha Devi, one of the officer who said, “My humble background makes me better able to understand and relate to people’s problems. When I see a farmer with grievances standing in front of me, I see my father.” Will their humble background change their attitude and make them work hard for the benefits of those who are underprivileged, needy or just like their parents, or over the time they shall also get distanced from the ‘aam aadami’ with many excuses, trained and transformed themselves into the typically snobbish babus with all the shortcomings for a desired efficient and people’s government?

Some of the information is disheartening. There are hardly few such as V. Anbukkumar who doesn’t go for coaching in metro. I feel bad when I read the story of the family of Govind Jaiswal, son of a father who used to pull rickshaw at one time. It had to sell land to finance coaching classes for Govind in Delhi. The loss of land and its memory may become the reason behind Govind getting into the business of money massing that the babus are charged with by the people. However, his refusal of Rs 4 crore as dowry is a good signal. I wish he kept himself away from these allurements. Unfortunately, many can’t.

I also feel bad when I read the success story of Muthyalaraju Revu, son of a farmer in Andhra for a different reason. Revu had already done his B Tech from Regional Engineering College, Warangal, and his Masters in Bangalore. Revu topped the list of 2006 batch. Perhaps, Revu could have done well in any career he would have chosen. With his brilliant academic record, he might have gone for teaching and research, and he could have succeeded like many others and left his mark in his area of specialization. I still remember Ramakrishna and Braj Bhushan Pandey from my batch of IIT joining teaching and doing extremely well. Many as engineers have succeeded much more than even the best of IAS. But I don’t know if Revu opted for IAS on his own or because of the pressure of the family. It is unfortunate that in many cases, the young men hardly get the right advice and information about different professions. But my main question here is different: Can’t the union public service examination be made such that coaching does not help? Coaching makes the real merit secondary. Coaching is costly too. It is difficult for a poor family to arrange money for that. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, no bank provides loan for coaching.

However, the perseverance of some of the candidates is exemplary. Sanjay Kumar Singh, son of the court clerk in Sasaram district of Bihar got in on his seventh attempt. “He switched from pre-engineering to the merchant navy to build up a bank balance, doing his BA by correspondence at the same time from the Indira Gandhi National Open University. Then, he gave up his $3,000 per month salary to join the IAS-coaching class in Delhi.” Perhaps he is a typical case of ‘perseverance pays’.

I really admire V. Anbukkumar, son of a retired police constable from the backward Vanniyar community, who had his schooling in village Chinnapalli Kuppam, Tamil Nadu got into the IAS on his 7th attempt. It is really great, as he didn’t take any private coaching. But can one think about the number of the candidates who would have been failing even after all the permissible attempts and after spending the family’s fortunes in coaching? What are their numbers? How do they go in the career? Should it not be researched?

Great is M. Sudha Devi, the daughter of a farmer from TamilNadu, who cleared at the first attempt. She had also gone for a coaching institute in Delhi. But she had a reason that is worth noticing. Married at an early age, Sudha had given up her studies. When the marriage broke up after four years, she finished her BA, and prepared for the civil services. Sudha is just exemplary for the girls next door everywhere.

Muhammed Qaiser Abdul Haque, 29, one of the eleven children of a former power loom worker, now grocer from the textile town of Malegaon, Maharashtra, is another success story that must be emulated by the youngsters. Under all odds, he did his Masters from Pune. Haque came to Delhi and managed to join a civil services study circle for backward and minority students at Hamdard University in Delhi. Is his determination and success not extraordinary?

IAS was and will remain star attraction as profession for many years to come with the type of halo and respect it has among the lower echelons of the society. If media helps with right perspectives about different professions, the professionals will stop preferring IAS.

Some good news are already there. “The impact of IT on civil services aspirants can clearly be seen in Bangalore where many coaching institutes had to be closed due to lack of candidates. There has been a 10 to 15 per cent fall in the number of candidates taking the exam from Karnataka in the last five years” a civil services trainer in Bangalore is reported to have said.

Posted in governance | Leave a comment

Nalanda International University and Politics

Posted on August 7, 2007 by indra

Why do some people see only the darker side of any endevour to create a great thing? Why do they start having suspicion about the good intentions of some who can dream, take lessons from the failures in past and get ahead?

I came across one such article by Shri Sunanda K Dutta-Ray on ‘ Reviving Nalanda’ in Business Standard. Shri Dutta-Ray is ‘not sure whether the $1 billion Nalanda Mark II project is meant to be a temple of higher learning, a money-making investment or an exercise in soft power to strengthen ties with China and Japan, draw Australasia closer and provide a cultural focal point for ASEAN and East Asia Summit countries.’ He goes further, “With most East Asian Summit members endorsing the plan at last January’s Manila summit, it sounds even more like politics than academics.”

Why is Duta-Ray so concerned and skeptical, when Amartya Sen is not? Why can’t he wait for a year or two and see the progress, when he himself mentions of “Amartya Sen, the NMG chairman, announcing last week that Nalanda would be ‘functioning in a small way’ by 2009 with ‘a few thousand students’ from all over the world. The curriculum would include philosophy and Buddhist studies, Asian history and classical and modern languages. Scientific research will follow.”

And what is wrong if the retired South Block mandarin bubbled about six-lane highways, airports at Gaya and even Nalanda and de luxe hotels, organised pilgrim tours, crash courses in Hindu and Buddhist thought, yoga centres, ayurvedic clinics, meditation homes and all manner of facilities for rich intellectual pilgrims? Boddha Gaya is already an International airport. It can expand as and when required. It can be connected to the university site by a six-lane road. An international city can always be conceptualized and realized, though as separate project, in the vicinity of the University. It can consist of the second homes of the intellectuals of Buddhists countries who wish to spend their last part of life near a place of pilgrimage. What used to be Varanasi for Hindus, Boddh Gaya can be for Buddhists.

What is wrong if an eight-lane corridor is built by China, the master infrastructure builder, between Vaisalli and Boddha Gaya as a good gesture or a diplomatic drive? Rich Jains from Gujarat can build hotels. Buddhist industrialists from Japan and Thailand can set up a number of technical training schools and help developing a manufacturing hub along the super expressway to make the people of the state, that gave them their religion, a little more prosperous.

If one is to build a great institution, one must dream. What is wrong in expecting some benevolent India baiters from US such as Bill Gates or John Chambers to set up the best software engineering institute of the world in the campus of Nalanda International University? Why can’t some influential indologists from US, UK, and Germany make the best institutions and the governments of their countries participate in the project?

Why should Dutta-Ray be so skeptical if Railway’s initiative failed as Japanese travelers demand high standards of catering, comfort, punctuality, hygiene and cleanliness? After all our own managers have created Delhi Metro too.

I have been writing about the project myself for quite sometime. Even as a person older than Dutta-Ray, I have a hope that at least this project with interest shown by the present chief minister, with the experiences of NK Singh, and with mentors such as Amartya Sen, and blessings from the former President Kalam and others, will come up on a grand enough scale in next few years to give Bihar a place of pride in the world of education and knowledge. Why can’t Nalanda International University become the best in India and one of the best in the world? http://www.drishtikona.com/index.php?s=nalanda+International+University

Why should one bother why Singapore and China have chosen to play a significant role in the project till they keep on assisting in realizing the big dream in interest of the state and the nation?

And let Mr. Dutta-Ray understand that such a project has been successfully established in the country. ISB, Hyderabad is one such institution and the person behind that is Rajat Gupta of McKinsey. And Gupta happens to be from Bengal. Vedanta University is another project of a huge dimension coming up in Orissa.

I wish as an alumnus of IIT, Kharagpur, Rajat Gupta would have been also associated with the project of Nalanda International University to create one management school of Harvard or technological institute of MIT fame in the campus.

However, the success and uniqueness of project in depth and breadth will certainly depend on who becomes the de facto CEO, and how dedicated is he to create something that the posterity can remember and be proud of.

Mr. Dutta-Ray! Why don’t you put forward your own ideas that you shall like to get incorporated?

Posted in bihar, education | Leave a comment

Booming and Bubbling India- XII

Posted on August 6, 2007 by indra

While ‘Time’ magazine celebrates India’s 60 years of independence, Shobha De gives a ‘wake up‘ call. Some are skeptical and find Indian economy overheating. A group is worried about the falls in stock market last week. But in the last 18 months, assets under management of mutual funds have doubled. Floods are causing concerns. But monsoon is ‘mehrvan’. India is likely to witness three consecutive years of positive growth in the farm sector. Overall, the boom continues all over NEWS. So I am hopeful that series will go on.

India unveils landmark nuclear deal with publication of 123 Agreement: Finally, the suspense is over. Any one can read the agreement. It took two years to complete. It spells out how a plan for the U.S to share nuclear technology with India will work. Indian can get to the thorny issues like reprocessing rights and the creation of a fuel reserve for India. India and the US will engage in full civil nuclear cooperation activities covering nuclear reactors and aspects of the associated nuclear fuel cycle including technology transfer on an industrial or commercial scale between the governments or authorised persons. The agreement does not hinder or interfere with India’s nuclear programme for military purposes developed independent of the civil nuclear deal. Perhaps, India has tasted the major win in diplomacy for the first time.

Ernst and Young European Attractiveness Survey 2007: India’s popularity is rising as 26 per cent respondents said the country is amongst their top three preferences in 2007 whereas the figure was just 11 per cent in 2004. One company in five intends to relocate all or part of its European activities outside the region and for this they look forward to the Asian countries. “China attracts the interest of 50 per cent of respondents currently undergoing a relocation search, while India is considered by 30 per cent of voters.”

Time to rewrite notions about rural India: According to a new report by Roopa Purushothaman of BRIC fame, currently chief economist at Future Capital Holdings, titled ‘Is Urban Growth Good for Rural India?’, “There are several things about rural India that aren’t true anymore… The non-farm economy is driving growth in rural GDP.” In 2000, the rural economy accounts for 42% of total manufacturing output and 27% of services.

Indian family values intact: According to a 57-nation survey, nearly 84% of the Indians questioned isay spending time with their families is their favourite pastime. Sixty-eight per cent of the adult urban population in India is married and less than 1% is divorced or separated.

What’s Next for Outsourcing? A new report, “China’s Diminishing Offshore Role” discusses China’s slow progress as an offshore outsourcing destination. Two years ago, experts predicted China would soon overtake India as the world’s leader offshoring destination, but in relative terms China’s position has weakened.

Telcos plan Rs 60,000 crore expansion: Indian telecom companies are investing over Rs 60,000 crore in 2007-08 to finance a massive expansion of their mobile networks, infrastructure and subscriber numbers. The money being invested in just 12 months is equivalent to 60 per cent of the cumulative investments in their wireless mobile business since the sector was opened up for private investment in 1995. 80,000 new towers are being built across the country.

Inventor doc’s breakthrough: Jaipur-based surgeon Atul Kumar’s patented invented device could potentially reduce the risk involved in endoscopic surgeries – a minimally invasive surgery employed to operate such vital organs as the brain, spine and uterus. The invention could enable even relatively inexperienced surgeons to perform complex endoscopic surgeries. Dr Kumar has obtained a patent in India for the device and has patent applications pending in the US and UK.

India’s handicrafts are going upscale: Non-profit firms and manufacturers are better organizing their operations and vouching for the quality of their goods. India currently accounts for about 2% of the total international handicrafts and folk art industry estimated at $235 billion in 2005, but wants to double its share, according to the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts. India’s handicrafts exports grew 16% to Rs17, 288 crore in year ended March 31, 2007 compared with Rs14,526 crore in the year earlier period.

Ramon Magsaysay award for Palagummi Sainath: Reformative Indian journalist Palagummi Sainath and author of the 1997 best-seller book “Everybody Loves a Good Drought”, was among the seven people selected on 31 July for the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award.

RIL may become India’s first $100 bn mkt cap firm: Reliance Industries, India’s most valued firm, may become the first in the country to achieve a market capitalisation of $100 billion, according to international brokerage and equity research major Morgan Stanley.

Arcelor Mittal plans to advance Orissa construction date: Lakshmi Mittal’s global giant Arcelor Mittal is planning to advance the construction at its 10 million tonnes Orissa plant and hopes to begin initial construction by mid-2008, as against the earlier date of 2009.

India to become hub for sanitaryware: India could soon become a manufacturing hub for international sanitaryware brands. International brands like Roca, Kohler and H&R Johnson plan to expand their scale of operations in India.

Hindalco plans Rs 30K crore capex: Hindalco Industries Ltd will incur a capex of around Rs 30,000 crore ($6.7 billion) over a period of five years towards its brownfield and green-field expansion.

Nokia sets up design studio in Bangalore: Nokia Oyj, the world’s largest phone maker, has set up a studio in Bangalore to design new mobile phones in partnership with local design house, Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. India is the third largest market for Nokia after the US and China. The’satellite’studio, the first outside of Espoo, Finland, where Nokia is headquartered, will focus on research into colour and material trends and also how phones could be better used to access the Internet.

Daimler set to drive luxury buses into India next year: DaimlerChrysler India Ltd, the wholly owned subsidiary of German auto major DaimlerChrysler AG, is close to launching luxury buses inIndia as early as next year, making it the second major international bus maker toenter India after Volvo AB.

IT industry crosses $50 bn mark in FY07: The Indian information technology industry crossed the $50 billion mark in 2006-07. Dataquest’s annual “DQ Top 20” survey of the Indian IT industry revealed that the IT industry recorded a growth of 32 per cent in rupee terms and was a little shy of 30 per cent growth in dollar terms during the year.

MICO starts CRDi manufacturing at Nashik: Motor Industries Company (MICO), the Indian subsidiary of the global leader in automotive and industrial technology – Robert Bosch GmbH, commenced the commercial manufacturing of the complete common rail diesel (CRD) injectors at its Nashik facility to cater to both domestic and export markets.

Bangalore, city of millionaires: Bangalore, the IT capital of India has the largest number of households with income of Rs 10-lakh (per year) and above. With 3.3% of the total 31,17,843 households in the country earning Rs 10 lakh and above, Bangalore ranks No 1 in the list.

Japanese PM to fund DMIC: The proposed $90-billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project is likely to emerge as the hot-spot for Japanese investors over the next few years. Mitsui, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Honda and Orix have already started identifying potential areas of investment around the corridor.

Bajaj plans Rs 1,600-cr facility in Uttarakhand: Bajaj Auto is pressing ahead with plans for a Rs 1,600-crore plant in Uttarakhand to take advantage of the state’s tax breaks.

Seven IIMs, three IITs in the offing: The government is planning to set up seven more IIMs, three new IITs, and 20 more NITs in the next five years at an investment of Rs 5,000 crore to meet the growing manpower requirement of the industry. 30 CUs, three IITs, seven IIMs, 20 NITs, five Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and Indian Institute of Information Technologies (IIITs) and two schools of planning and architecture (SPA) are envisaged to come up during 2007-14.

Govt nod for Rs 1,581 cr plan for ITIs: Government approved World Bank-funded Rs1,581 crore vocational training programme for upgrading quality of education at 400 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), to improve the employability of their students.

Electronic equipment prodn to hit $32 bn by ’11: The total electronic equipment production sector in the country is likely to reach $32 billion in 2011, compared to $14 billion in 2006, a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18%, according to Gartner Inc. Semiconductor consumption in the country will more than double from $2.8 billion in 2006 to $7.2 billion in 2011.

Tatas plan to foray into aircraft component manufacturing: Tata Group is understood to be planning a foray into manufacture of aircraft components for exports and is acquiring land at a Special Economic Zone in Nagpur for setting up the component manufacturing plant.

The Last Rajah- India’s Ratan Tata: The market value of the 18 listed Tata companies has swelled to $62 billion, from $12 billion, since 2003. Group sales and profits have doubled, to $29 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively. The three big companies that account for 75% of sales-Tata Steel, Tata Motors, and Tata Consultancy Services-are enjoying some of their best years ever.

Record M&A by India Inc. on foreign turf: Domestic companies acquired companies abroad with a war chest of 11.37 billion while the foreign firms invested much less $2.06 in buying out the Indian firms in the first quarter of fiscal 07-08, according to industry chamber Assocham’s Eco Pulse Study (AEP) on “Mergers and Acquisitions in First Quarter 2007-08”.

Indian techies log in to elite global R&D: Indian technologists are gradually making a name for themselves as they “drive innovation” in the global research and technology divisions of information technology (IT) giants like IBM, HP, Microsoft, and Motorola. Of the 67 current IBM Fellows globally, five are from India. India’s contribution to the labs is the largest from Asia.

Suzlon targets 5000 mw capacity: Suzlon Energy, India’s leading wind energy equipment manufacturer, plans to reach 5000 MW capacity installation from the current 2700 MW by the end of this financial year, to become one among the top four integrated wind energy manufacturers in the world.

Tata Steel buys stake in African coal mine: Tata Steel has entered into an memorandum of understanding (MoU) today with Australia-based Riversdale Mining to buy 35% stake in Riversdale’s Mozambique Coal Project for A$100 million.

Tata Motors set to drive in world’s largest bus plant: Tata Motors is setting up the largest fully-built bus plant in the world, which will make it one of the leading global bus manufacturers, initially with an annual capacity of 7,000 fully-built buses and luxury coaches, for which the Tatas have entered into a joint venture with Brazil-based Marcopolo-the largest mass manufacturer of fully-built buses in the world.

Reliance Ind weighs $6-b semi-conductor foray: Reliance Industries is planning to invest up to $6 billion over five years to set up a facility to manufacture not just silicon chips used in devices such as mobile phones and computers, but also liquid crystal display units and solar photovoltaic cells.

‘IT jobs will double to 3.2 m in four years’: Employment generation by IT and ITES sectors will double to 3.2 million within the next four to five years, feels Mr Nandan M. Nilekani, Co-Chairman, Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Microsoft India centre working on Windows 7: Designers and engineers at Microsoft R&D centre in India have a new mandate for development of Windows 7, the next generation operating system from Microsoft Corporation, slated for release in 2009-10. This new operating system will have in-built features to address networking-related issues, virtualisation that helps create separate machines within a PC and various plug-ins for accessories for the new OS.

And the stories of booming India goes oon.

Posted in economy, industry | Leave a comment

The Wonder that is India

Posted on August 5, 2007 by indra

It was ‘Seven Wonders of the World’ till 070707, and now it’s ‘the wonder that is India’ a ‘Times of India’ initiative.

List of the monuments in ‘the wonder that is India’ includes:
Taj Mahal, Victoria Terminus, Lotus Temple, Hampi, Darjeeling Toy Train, Fatehpur Sikri, Charminar, Bhimbetka, Howrah Birdge, Kumbh Mela, Brihadeswara Temple, Ajanta, Qutab Minar, Konark, Ghats of Benaras, Golden Temple, Khajuraho, Shravanbelagola, Kailash Temple (Ellora), and Nalanda Ruins.

To be frank, I don’t know the intention of this intiative of SMS- based selection or election that has become a common practice these days. However, it becomes a good guide to plan an outing to see something that we inherited from our history ancient as well as modern.

In my opinion, Kumbha Mela would not have been part of it, as all the Kumbha Melas are not similar in variety and size of crowd attending it. It depends on many other factors.

I am to still cover some from the above list that I would love to do at the earliest: Hampi, Darjeeling Toy Train, Bhimbetka, Kumbh Mela, Brihdeswara Temple, Ajanta, Golden Temple, Shravanbelagola, and Kailash Temple (Ellora).

To one of my friends with whom I was discussing this expressed surprise that I had not been able to make it up to even Darjeeling when we are basically a Calcuttan in every respect, spending major part of our lives there.

And that took me to the memory lanes of yester years. However, we always keep on missing the opportunities. We missed the opportunity to ride Shimla Toy Train, when we went to Shimla. As per newspaper report, it is India’s entry for World Heritage this year. We took the trip in my car. Initially, the idea was to leave the car at Kalaka. But we changed the idea when I found Sirohi’s keen interest and preference for driving. I always prefer car, as it provides flexibility.

The 104-year-old Shimla toy train is considered the greatest narrow gauge engineering feat in the country. The train covers its 96-km journey starting from Kalka and runs through 102 tunnels, 20 sleepy hill stations and over 900 bridges before reaching Shimla.

Interestingly, Indian Railways have already contributed three world heritage sites: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and Mumbai’s VT Station are Unesco’s world heritage sites. As per a railway executive, “Simla toy Train is not just a railway but a cultural corridor. That’s why during his six-day stay in Shimla, Lee will be given a complete feel of KSR – its heritage value, the cultural richness of the communities living along it, the stunning terrain and the immaculate engineering.”
And I feel bad that we had missed the opportunity.

PS. You can click to see the images from the google sites, if you are planning to take a trip to the ones I have not done:
Hampi, Darjeeling Toy Train, Bhimbetka, Brihadeswara Temple, Ajanta, Golden Temple, Shravanbelagola, and

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

‘Time’s Special Issue on India

Posted on August 4, 2007 by indra

‘Time’ has come out with a special issue on India ‘ 60 years of Independence’ India Charges Ahead: It faces challenges the size of an elephant, but the world’s largest democracy is living up to the dreams of 1947

Indian Summer
By SIMON ROBINSON
Many of the years since independence were ones of promise undelivered. But India is beginning to live up to its dreams — perhaps encouraging neighbors to emulate its success

A Family’s Journey
By SIMON ROBINSON/NEW DELHI
Three generations of the Malhotra clan have shared their country’s tears, happiness and triumphs

Beyond Faith
By ARYN BAKER
On the subcontinent, Islam is more than a creed. It possesses the power to unite a nation — yet divide a people

Soldier of Fortune
By SIMON ROBINSON/NEW DELHI
To strike it rich in India’s changing economy, follow the trail of ex-cavalry officer K.P. Singh, who used insight, guts and luck to build a real estate empire — and reaped a $20 billion bonanza

The India Advantage
By ISHAAN THAROOR
Democracy is loud and messy, but its resilience in India shows that it is neither alien to Asia nor an obstacle to prosperity

Essay: Business as Usual
By WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
India’s rise isn’t a miraculous novelty, it’s a return to traditional global trade patterns

Rising Star
By MICHAEL ELLIOTT, EDITOR, TIME INTERNATIONAL
To write about the 60th anniversary of India’s independence from Britain is to notice something different in the air. Doubt is out; confidence is catching on

Chidanand Rajghatta for ‘The Times of India’ reports from Washington:

India and the US are all set to begin exceptional civilian nuclear cooperation – overturning three decades of mistrust, heartburn and antipathy – under the terms of a landmark agreement released simultaneously in the two capitals on Friday,

Unique and far-reaching in its scope and latitude, the socalled 123 Agreement, kept under wraps since its finalisation last week, carves out a special place for New Delhi in the international nuclear architecture. The agreement virtually recognises India as a de facto nuclear weapons power, implicitly bringing it into the tent of five permanent nuclear powers. There are explicit assurances of non-interference in India’s weapons programme arising from Indian commitment to firewall its military and civilian nuclear programmes.

Why did US go out of the way to accepts all the India wanted in the Agreement? Will India loose anything in bargain? Is it a realistic US appreciation of democratic India and its age-old value based diplomacy?

‘Time’ magazine’s special issue is to recognize the place of India in global village.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Noida And Lucknow

Posted on August 3, 2007 by indra

I was surprised when Mr. Arora informed us that some new person has replaced Monica Garg, the CEO of Noida Authority. Mayawati government had appointed Ms Monica recently, when it came in power after defeating Mulayam. Why do the person in Lucknow keep on changing the CEOs of Noida so often? Every one knows the answer, but no one can dare to speak of that. Noida is the golden goose. CEO must keep on handing over the golden eggs to the master. When he or she fails, someone else replaces the failed person with a clear understanding to meet the target of golden eggs. Manmohan Singh was trying to fix up a minimum tenure for all IAS assignments to bring in some accountability. But the state chief ministers need not follow the wishes of the prime minister, particularly when they know that the PM hardly matters politically. How can one expect Noida to compete with Bangalore or Hyderabad with CEOs getting shifted so often? How can the people of Noida expect some lasting improvement in civic services in the township under this condition?

However, my grievances are related to some inconveniences of Noida that can be helped by any one who comes to hold the chair in Noida Authority.

Staffs from Noida Authority dismantled the soft barriers that the residents of Blocks A &B of Sector 41 facing the road dividing the sector from Sector 39, had raised to protect themselves freely from external extrusion. We were told that it was done by an instruction of Monica Garg. There was also a promise of a boundary wall. It appeared in local media too. Unfortunately nothing has happened as shown in photograph above. The residents live unprotected. I really pity some, who own factories and are susceptible to many types of harassments and embarrassments from some insane employees including, as I was told, sometimes threat of kidnapping of their kids.

This article is also to highlight the lack of certain basic planning by the Noida Authority in providing the basic infrastructure for living properly for the residents in Block A of sector 41 from plot number A-45 to A-59.


The photographs above show the accumulation of water soon after it rained on August 3, 2007 in Noida. There is no drainage provided for this. It always happens, but with rain god not very generous with Noida, the residents forget. It requires a new drain along the stretch.

Another sore point is the construction of a service lane along the side of the main road connecting Choura Mor to Dadri Road that is going on for last few months causing inconvenience to all those, particularly senior citizens who use the road to go to the nearby markets. It is bound to take some more months as a number of electrical installations, including poles and transformers are to be relocated. Many of the residents feel that the service lane will not serve any useful purpose. They don’t understand for whom the service lane is being built, once the gates of the sector are as it is placed today remain closed.


Water will accumulate on the service lane as shown in photographs above, unless proper drain is incorporated along it. It may affect even the foundation of the houses near it. Why can’t Noida Authority take the technically active people of the affected areas in confidence before designing and building such roads?

There are some more things to highlight:

Can Noida Authority do something about open defecation along many roads?

Can Sector 18 be declared no car movement zone as the shopping area in Sector 17 of Chandigarh?

Can Noida Authority encourage the shop owners to make the markets look good and tidy, say by having some uniformity of signage?

Can Noida Authority establish some good libraries proposed so seriously by the National Knowledge Commission?

Can Noida Authority encourage some private entrepreneur to set up a captive power plant for Noida?

Can Noida Authority get the project of City Centre with all its components executed fast?

Can Noida Authority get some more Science Colleges for the children of its residents?

Can Noida Authority ban plastic bags?

Surprisingly, whenever the government in Lucknow changes, the important projects get suspended. With coming of Mulayam, the work on Taj Expressway and the flyovers got stuck. Now the Mayawati government has scrapped the land allotment to 14 hotels of Noida that were expected to be operational by 2010 to meet the requirements of Commonwealth Games. Noida suffers in process.

Can something be done by the center to do away with these bad practices affecting the city and its growth? Nothing can ever happen if there is so much interference from Lucknow and CEOs are kept under the constant threat of transfer.

Posted in governance, indian politics | Leave a comment

Mauritius and Bihar CM

Posted on August 2, 2007 by indra

With mention of Mauritius, I get reminded of my grandfather. He was the first who got me introduced to some Mauritian medical students. They were studying in Calcutta Medical College when I was in Presidency College for my Intermediate Science. It was sometime between 1955 and 1957.Those young men had told my grandfather about their ancestry from some villages around Dawath and Kwath that happened to be near Bodarhi, the village of my mother, where I had some years of my childhood with my mother. I don’t remember how my grandfather came in touch with those young men. Perhaps it was through one Arya Samaji educationist who happened to live in College Street those days. My grandfather had a great ability to network with many people. Unfortunately, I could learn that trait from him. My grandfather got emotionally attached with those students because they came from our home district. The young men perhaps went to their ancestor’s villages also.

Very lately, Yamuna keeps on asking me to visit Mauritius. I had been telling her about story of those old days when many from Bihar went there as contract workers to work in the sugarcane fields that were being developed by the western masters. The descendants have prospered, and are affluent living adapting to western style. However, culturally they have kept alive some of the old rural rituals and religiosity of Bihar, and also the Bhojpuri language. They do also celebrate ‘Chhath’ in a famous water body of Mauritius.

With the visit of Nitish Kumar, a mature statesman, things will improve. The visit will not only serve the developmental goal of the state, but also go a long way to establish a close relationship between its people for mutual benefits. Bihar government has committed to open an assistance center that will help finding the ancestral background of any family of Mauritius that seeks that. A ‘Bihar Bhawan’ in Mauritius and a ‘Mauritius Mahal’ in Bihar is expected to come up. However, both the government must not be miserly in these projects. Its size and architecture must be as good and as large as the intention.

I have some more ideas:

1. I wish Nitish Kumar would have gone with a group of good chefs who could in ‘Bhojpuri Week’ prepare ethnic Bihari cuisines such as Litti /chokha, dalpuri/ gurmha, baddi/ phulawar and ghughani/ horha on one side and sweets such as Khajjha, Khajjhuli, Khurma, lakatho, lawanglata and piao to sweeten the atmosphere. I am of an opinion that one can reach to the heart of the people more easily through their bellies.

2. A group of women from Bhojpuri region would have accompanied Nitishji. It would have served to strengthen the brotherly bondages; and these women would have laid foundation to have marriage relations in future.

3. I would also request Mauritius and Bihar governments to create some voluntarily agreed bed/breakfast facilities with the willing families to receive the guests from Bihar and Mauritius.

It is really unfortunate that the national dailies have hardly covered the Nitish Kumar’s visit of Mauritius, though they have all the resources to cover Sanjay Dutt and Prativa Patil episodes in many paged features day after day. Bihartimes.com has been the pioneer in covering Nitish Kumar’s vist in detail.

P.S: I tried to get to some links of the newspapers of Mauritius to find out about their coverage of Nitish Kumar’s visit, I failed. I wish if someone who succeeded would let me know.

I requested one of my readers in Mauritius to send some clippings that she collected painfully and forwarded. And I feel obliged.

Posted in bihar | Tagged | Leave a comment