Booming and Bubbling India-X

Posted on July 15, 2007 by indra

President Kalam chosen for King Charles II Medal: Kalam is only the second head of State after Japanese Emperor Akihito to be honoured with the award given by the Royal Society.

India to be hub of KPO industry: India will be the future hub of KPO sector and competitors – China, Philippines, Russia – will be spokes of the, according to a report, ‘India’s Knowledge Process Outsourcing Sector: Origin, Current State, and Future Direction’. In India, KPOs employed 75,400 generating $3.05 billion in 2006-07.

INDIA’S UPSURGE: The number of Indian companies that made it into the BW 50 doubled from 2005. Bharti Airtel at No. 13 is the India’s largest mobile operator with nearly 26 million subscribers, or about 22% of the market, and is adding new ones at the rate of 1 million a month; it will spend $2 billion on network expansions and marketing to reach underserved markets in rural areas. Even the 2006 BW Asian 150 Scoreboard shows that.

Asia’s Most Admired Companies: This year’s winners include Toyota, Lenovo, and Infosys- have been pushing to build their businesses globally. Wipro is also a class in itself.
IOC, RIL advance in Fortune 500: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Reliance Industries (RIL) advanced to the 135th (by 18 places) and 269th (by 75 places) places, respectively, in this year’s Fortune Global 500 rankings.

India added six million Internet users last year: India had 30 million internet users in April, six million more than it had a year ago, according to a survey released on Friday, and 20 million of these users are on the Net daily.

Idea Cellular awards Rs 250 cr contract to IBM: Idea Cellular, the Aditya Birla group company, has awarded a Rs 205-250 crore ($50-55 million) contract to International Business Machines (IBM) to deploy and maintain an interactive voice response (IVR) system for the GSM service provider.

Lucent bags $400 mn RCom network deal: Reliance Communications has awarded a $400 million (Rs 1,600 crore) network expansion contract to global service provider Alcatel-Lucent for expansion of its wireless network to over 20,000 towns and 600,000 villages in the country. Reliance Communications has also awarded $200 million (Rs 800 crore) network expansion contract to Chinese equipment vendor Huawei Technologies.

Aero bridge: Indian civil engineering skills have own a place with GMR having won a bid as part of a three-way consortium to build Istanbul’s new Sabiha Gokcen International airport.

India important for Boeing: Boeing has bagged orders for 68 aircraft from Air India worth over USD 11 billion at list prices. Boeing will invest USD 1.7 billion to buy goods and services from Indian companies and has already agreed to create a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Nagpur, besides set up a pilot training programme by funding some existing flying schools.

IT Sector Growth: In fiscal 2007, the ITES-BPO segment grew by 33.5%, contributing $8.4 billion to the total software and services exports of $31.4 billion from across finance and accounting, customer interaction services and human resources administration. The employee base in the segment grew to 550,000 in fiscal 2007 from from 410,000 the previous year.

Indian sugar exports seen doubling: Indian exports of raw sugar could more than double to over 3 million tonnes in 2007-08.

Samsung plans to make India an export hub: India is emerging as a major alternative export hub for Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s largest electronics manufacturer, for colour TVs, home appliances and mobile handsets.

India second in global M&A deals ranking: According to a report compiled by global consultancy firm Dealogic, Australia tops the Asia-Pacific cross-border outflow with over 125 deals worth $30 billion, followed by India with a total of 74 foreign acquisitions in the current year so far.

TVS to roll out bikes from Indonesia plant: Two-wheeler major TVS Motor Company would roll out its bikes from Indonesia plant this month eyeing a first year sales of up to 90,000 units in that market amidst plans to spread its wings in the South East Asian region.

BPOs enter tier-III cities: More and more domestic companies are setting up business process outsourcing (BPO) units in district headquarters, tier-III cities and non-IT clusters to save on real estate costs and stem attrition rates.

2 NRIs among top 100 who wield most power in UK media sector: Two Non-Resident Indians, Arun Sarin, Vodafone chief executive, and Zarin Patel, group finance director of BBC, are among the top 100 people who wield most power in the British media industry.

Bihar to help Indo-Mauritians trace ancestral roots: State Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s government would collaborate with Mauritius to prepare a comprehensive database of all Biharis who had migrated to the Indian Ocean country in an effort to help them track their roots.

India Inc sits on cash pile of Rs 3.5 lakh cr: India Inc (excluding financial services companies) is sitting on a cash mountain of Rs 3,50,000 crore, nearly three times higher than Rs 1,25,000 crore at the end of March 2006. In 2006-07, industry has declared a total dividend of Rs 40,000 crore and declarations are still coming in. In 2005-06, the dividend payout was Rs 42,300 crore.

Srei to e-link Bengal villages: SREI Infrastructure Finance Limited plans to introduce e-commerce exchange portal by 2008 under its ‘Sahaj e-Village’ programme, in an attempt to create close to 100,000 jobs for people living in rural areas with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore with a typical breakeven time of two and a half years. Srei also plans to roll out its online job portal by October this year for villagers to submit applications and resume.. Each of the kiosks or common service centres (CSCs) would be owned and managed by a village level entrepreneur (VLE).

More than 750 screens have gone digital in India with the advantages of total elimination of print costs and hence, widespread release of all movies at no extra cost, protection of the content end to end against all forms of piracy by means of a 192-bit encryption technology, good quality at every run of the movie to name just a handful.

India’s largest nuclear power station in Orissa: The Nuclear Power Corp of India (NPCIL) is planning to set up the country’s largest nuclear power station in Orissa. It has submitted a proposal to the state government for a 6000mw station with an investment of Rs 36,000 crore.

BSNL slashes intl roaming rates for global visitors: State-run BSNL has reduced international roaming tariff for foreigners using its network in the country by up to 40 per cent, a relief for tourists who often complain of high telephone charges while on move in India.

A British Acquisition: A British company Sauer-Danfoss has been purchased by the Bangalore-based Dynamatic Technologies Ltd. Dynamatic Technologies Ltd manufactures highly engineered products in the automotive and defence sectors as well as the agricultural and construction equipment industries.

Tirupur-based group takes over European company: Tirupur-based Mehala Group has taken over Sanmarco, a well known group of companies from Europe, manufacturing textile machinery, situated in Sulur.

Indians prefer buying cars: Domestic passenger car sales in June grew by 16.36 per cent at 94,002 units as against 80,784 units in the same month a year ago. According to figures released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic motorcycle sales during the month were at 4,37,776 units as against 5,28,499 units in June 2006, down by 17.17 per cent.

Flowserve Corp. opens R&D facility in B’lore: Flowserve Corporation, a global provider of fluid motion and control products and services, has opened a new research and development facility in Bangalore.

All villages to have telephones by Nov: Telephone connectivity is likely to be provided to all the 66,822 villages by November under the Bharat Nirman programme-two years ahead of schedule. The final goal is to create five crore rural connections by 2007 and increase this to eight crore connections by 2010 and provide broadband connections in every village by 2012. On the performance of rural roads, the Prime Minister was informed that around 40,000 km of new link roads have been built and 50,000 km of existing rural roads upgraded in the first two years (2005-07) of Bharat Nirman. Besides, 66,802 villages have got all weather roads and 13,831 other villages have been provided connectivity.

Oxford prof documents India’s math contribution: A BBC crew, led by an Oxford professor, was in the country last week to film a documentary revealing Indians created some of the most fundamental mathematical theories. In The Story of Maths, Dr Marcus Du Sautoy, a professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford, claims Indians made many of these breakthroughs before Newton was born. The Story of Maths, a four-part series, will be screened on BBC Four in 2008.

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Powering India-1

Posted on July 14, 2007 by indra

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. : The Culprit Can Reign

As per many reports recently, India remains starved of electricity, as Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), the sole power equipment manufacturing public sector unit in India couldn’t supply the plant machinery. So only 21,000 MW generation capacity was achieved as against the target of 41,000 MW in tenth Five Year Plan period. The planning commission lists as many as 20 projects including four hydropower projects that slipped due to constraints on BHEL’s side. Of the thermal projects, some major ones include Sipat-II (1,000 MW) and Kahalgaon I&II (1,500 MW each).

And how does it affect the national GDP? . In 2004-05, the Economic Survey of India estimated that power shortages cost the country a GDP loss of Rs 3,00,000 crore in just that year.

NTPC has decided not to partner with BHEL after it lost out to Lanco in the bid for the Sasan project in Madhya Pradesh. NTPC blamed it on the higher engineering, procurement and construction costs quoted by BHEL that was Rs5 crore per MW against when it wouldn’t have been more than Rs3.6 crore. The NTPC-BHEL bid was for Rs2.12 per unit of power generated, compared with Lanco-Globeleq Singapore’s Rs1.19.

Even the present power minister claims that. However, I don’t understand why the government couldn’t have taken a corrective measure during the last fifteen years when it had been happening.
The Eleventh Plan requires 15,700 MW to be added every year during 2007-2012. But BHEL can currently supply equipment only for 6,000 MW a year. For a long time BHEL didn’t didn’t add to its capacity. Though it is doing now, the capacity expansion takes time. By 2011, BHEL will have a capacity of 15,000 MW.

Further, the government has decided to shift to supercritical boilers for the new power plants, which produce electricity more efficiently, for 33,000 MW. BHEL has recently signed deals with France’s Alstom and Germany’s Siemens to acquire supercritical boiler technology. But naturally BHEL will have to assimilate and master the technology besides setting up the additional facilities. Naturally, it means missing of the eleventh plan target too.

I am of opinion that BHEL can speed up its expansion processes with a change in manufacturing strategy and better supply chain management. It must use the ‘Theory of constraints’.

 It starts with the mindset of the chief executive and its core team and the government that are to work together to attain the unachievable target.

 Let BHEL openly come out with its bottlenecks in manufacturing. It must be few components and few manufacturing operations that must be the bottlenecks. It must go all out for outsourcing all the components that it can get without compromising quality from the local manufacturers. If it fails to find local source, it can go for even importing the components, again without sacrificing the quality.

 All the public and private sector units such as HEC, Defense manufacturing units, HMT’s facilities, Bharat Pump and Compressors and many others in the country can be part of the process.

 BHEL must put its best talent to speed up the bottleneck operations, as many a times the potentials of the equipment remain underutilized as it was not needed.

 It must invest immediately in procuring the machine tools required for the bottleneck manufacturing operations.

 Bottlenecks are resolved by cutting down on the cycle time (the time between the start and the end of the operation). Many times, it may mean increasing the cutting parameters that are normally kept low to be too much on the safer side, or by adding some roughing operation on a different machine. Sometimes, it can come from dimensionally controlled castings or forgings or an extra operation at the vendors’ end. BHEL has a huge resource of talent that can resolve amicably its bottleneck. But if necessary, let BHEL be given the autonomy to employ the best consultants from inside the country or by going offshore that can solve manufacturing bottlenecks.

 Let BHEL also engage the best brains of IITs and institutions such Mechanical Engineering Research Institute and other such facilities.

With all my experiences in manufacturing over all these years, though in automotive sector, I can assure that it is possible for BHEL to build a capacity of 20,000 MW a year or more in next two years. And if that is the challenge placed before its technocrats, why should they not find a solution?

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A BBC Film Documents India’s Math Contribution

Posted on July 14, 2007 by indra

I went through this news report today that raised many questions in my mind. I am sure that many must have provided the answers of the queries raised by me today

BBC is filming a documentary film ‘The Story of Maths’ that reveals Indians creating some of the most fundamental mathematical theories. The Story of Maths, a four-part series, will be screened on BBC Four in 2008. Dr Marcus Du Sautoy, a professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford, is the man behind the project. He claims that Indians made many of these breakthroughs before Newton was born.

The film talks about Aryabhatta (476-550 AD), who calculated pi, and Brahmagupta (598-670 AD). It showcases a Gwalior temple, which documents the first inscription of ‘zero’.

Du Sautoy says, “One of the biggest inventions in India was the number zero. Indians used it long before the West did. When the West had Roman numerals there was no zero and that is why they were so clumsy. On the other hand, Brahmagupta was one of the key mathematicians in the world because he invented the idea of zero.”

The documentary also features the history of Kerala-born mathematician Madhava (1350-1425) who created calculus 300 years before Newton and German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz did. “We learn that Newton invented the mathematical theory calculus in the 17th century but Madhava created it earlier,” says Du Sautoy.

Chennai-born Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) also features in the film. “He contacted English mathematician G.H. Hardy, who persuaded him to come to Cambridge. They began a collaboration between the analytical maths of the West and the intuitive maths of India, and together produced brilliant theories and amazing results.”

Why can’t some Indian mathematician from IISc, IITs, or from so many of Indian universities where mathematics are taught, go for such an endeavour?

Why couldn’t India produce a mathematician of the reputation of Ramanujan in 60 years of post-independence period?

Who are the five top Indian mathematicians today?

Is it the lack of environment in the universities or as all our teachers have gone for making money and coaching the students to succeed in IIT’s entrance examination?

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Bihar Must Focus on Education

Posted on July 12, 2007 by indra

It is nice that Bihar government, particularly CM with support from the centre could get a number of educational institutes initialised during last one year or two that can bring a sea change in the state. I consider it a great achievement. Institutes that has been proposed and sanctioned for Bihar are:

1. AIIMS- the medical and education facilities on the line of AIIMS, New Delhi.
2. IIT
3. Chanakya Law University
4. Nalanda International University
5. National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in Hajipur initialized by Shri Paswan
6. The IIM standard management school approved by the steering committee of the Planning Commission.
7. Indian Institute of Information Technology
8. The central government university

It will be in the interest of the CM, state and the student community that these institutes start functioning fast enough. The thrust must be on the quality of faculty and education standard. The institutions can initially start functioning from some existing facilities. Simultaneously, the campuses must get built following the best standard for educational infrastructure in a maximum time frame of 2-3 years, if not less. The state must facilitate the executions by appointing some senior administrative officer of integrity such as Kunal Kishore or Avayanand to coordinate the work, and must never create speed breakers for political gains as reported frequently.

Interestingly, the list of approved projects of the state government on the website of Bihar government includes about ten or more medical and engineering colleges. I don’t know if the promoters are serious and have started execution. I request the state government and CM in particular, to get a positive commitment about the timeframe for getting the projects running, when the government has given all the approvals. A close watch will be essential particularly initially, otherwise the institutions will fail to serve the community and just be commercial units.

PM has announced the proposal of one central university in every state. The state must manage to get one or more of them. The state on its own must select some professional institutions such as engineering colleges of Muzaffarpur and Bhagalpur, Patna Science college and provide sufficient special incentive and financial support varying from Rs 5 crore to 10 crore to make them excel and to be one of 50 best in the country. MPs may be requested to fork out from their fund for these educational institutes following the example set by Arun Shourie who donated his MP fund to IIT, Kanpur to set up a world class facility.

However, I shall also appeal to the state government to avoid making all the institutes reserved for the students of Bihar only. It must accommodate sufficient number of meritorious students from different states too, to develop a cosmopolitan culture at these educational institutes and to set an example for others.

I am observing that many from Bihar are consciously concerned about the need of the institutes of advanced learning in Bihar. Biharbrains.com is doing a good work. The CM is responding.
In a letter written to the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh, CM has asked him to personally intervene on the matter of setting up of a National Institute of Science/Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) in Bihar to maintain regional balance in the field of education.

But the state must move on its own to get as many of extension centers of the best of the institutes of India in Bihar. The services of NK Singh and Muchkund Dubey or any one else can be used to get the big corporate houses that are in education sector. But for that Patna must not remain the only location of these institutes.

At least four cities in four corners of the state must be selected and developed for excellent physical and digital connectivity as well as other infrastructure-related provisions.Further, the state government must go for at least 12 science colleges or more of excellent standard in those four cities. On the same way, each district headquarters must develop an education cluster of at least 10 or more Higher Secondary schools affiliated to CBSE.

On the whole, a roadmap for expansion of education in Bihar in next five or ten years will be essential. Bihar can compete with other advanced states particularly of South only if its education facilities can compete with them in quantity as well as quality.

And I request and appeal to all the Biharis in the state and outside with wealth to help building educational institute and promoting education. And then perhaps the prediction of Ram Chandra Guha in the latest issue of Outlook can be proven right. “Who knows: a few decades down the line, perhaps historians will be asked to explain why Bihar is so much more prosperous and peaceful than Tamil Nadu.”

Finally, I make a request to the state government and its education ministry to create a website where the project status regarding the 8 institutes mentioned above is available and updated regularly.<

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Shocking India

Posted on July 11, 2007 by indra

Sometimes I wonder why do I provide only the rosy pictures from India in my ‘Booming and Bubbling India’ series. Perhaps one reason is that there are many to provide shocking silly happenings in the country. However, there are occasions when many a news items appearing on a single day perturb me and force me to think about the future of our nation. Are we moving ahead or going behind or will we reach anywhere if the conditions persist?

CPM, Presidency College, West Bengal Politics

West Bengal is a unique case. Jyoti Basu got the adulation of the majority, but Bengal became repulsive for industrialists and managers. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s entry brought a hope, but the grip of the party machinery on the system is so strong that he fails to get some thing done the way he wants. It is now more than a year and half that I was in Kolkata, my city. Buddha babu agreed to grant autonomy to Presidency College. But it is still a mirage, while St. Xavier’s has got it. UGC is in favour of granting it to Presidency, but it can’t be done without the green signal from the state government. Being one from Presidency College myself, I feel shocked and enraged to keep on hearing that. By now Presidency College would have become a deemed university and a heritage venue too.

Maya’s Vandalism

Very lately, I was arguing with my friends that Mayawati had all potential to head a government at the Centre one day. My logic is simple. If BJP because of its association with RSS, VHP and BD remains untouchable, what can be the other alternative national force? The strategies of Mayawati that own her UP with thumping majority could make her BSP win at national level too. However, she must mellow down. She must have a core group of intelligent colleagues and not sycophants. Terrorists’ way of achieving the end can’t get a lasting result. It is difficult to digest Mayawati ordering overnight demolition of Lucknow’ s premier Ambedkar Sports Complex that she herself had opened in 1994, to have a memorial for Ambedkar near her pet Ambedkar Park. Why can’t that sport complex itself be upgraded to be a fitting memorial? Why does she want to do things that spoil her image built so painfully because of the folly of Mulayam Singh and weaknesses of the national parties? What makes her feel that the building a statue of B. R. Ambedkar higher than the nearly eight-storied Statue of Liberty can only take the Dalit pride to new heights?

Lalu Backing Drunk RPF DIG

As reported, a drunken railway police deputy inspector-general traveling in the same coach molested the wife of an IPS officer in presence of her sister, an IAS officer, known as no-nonsense bureaucrat, in AC first class compartment of Sampoorna Kranti Express on the intervening night of July 8 and 9. When the sisters were asleep, the DIG went out and returned allegedly drunk and “fell on the officer’s sister”. The sisters and the fellow passengers slapped the DIG and took away his identity card. The IAS Bandana Preyashi registered a complaint in the TTE’s book and later lodged complaint with the Government Railway Police, Patna under Section 354 IPC (assault or criminal force against woman with intent to outrage her modesty). And surprisingly, in the full view of TV news channels’ camera, Lalu Prasad gave clean chit to his errant DIG. Why should Lalu consider himself knowing everything about everybody? Why can’t he treat even IAS officer’s version true? If it happens with women with so high position, how can an ordinary woman travel alone in railway?

Inefficiency Getting Burdened on TV Users
The Centre is trying to restart a television tax to make Prasar Bharati financially more viable. TV manufacturers, broadcasters or viewers will have to take the burden. Is it encouraging consumerism or the inefficiency of Prasar Bharati that runs TV and broadcasting? Why should the department be not wound up or made to run on its own by giving autonomy and good management? And if it comes to the viewers as it used to be at one time, it will be a nuisance as additional task to remember annually and pay with lot of administrative control for nonpayer like many others?

Are these not shocking and depressing enough news?

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An Appeal to CM, Bihar

Posted on July 10, 2007 by indra

I went through some reports about the conflicts and sent an appeal to Bihar’s CM.

Dear Nitishji,

A report regarding the conflict between your government and the central ministers are cause of concerns of many well-wishers of Bihar, who live outside the state. We get a shock after reading these news, as these are not such as some of the funny stories of some unscrupulous fakes are making news stories on some TV news cannels that we can overlook.

According to reports, ‘Bihar has emerged as the largest non-complying state with 36 districts not complying with the norms for Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), seven districts not complying with Indira Aawas Yojana (IAY) norms and 10 districts where proposals for district rural development agency (DRDA) administration have not been received. As a result, the Centre has withheld the release of the first instalment of funds for the current year.’

‘The Bihar Government has written to the Centre saying that it no longer requires the services of Central agencies entrusted to implement the scheme. It is all because RJD leaders, particularly Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh claimed credit for the scheme and often accused the state Government of not being pro-active. As reported, the State Government wrote to the Centre last month that it had enhanced its road building capacity and Central agencies need not start new works. “State Governments are doing it everywhere. The Central agencies were not efficient in any case,” claims Nand Kishore Yadav, state Road Constructions Minister.’

‘However, the enormity of the task is such that the state Government could have used its “enhanced capacity” along with that of the Central agencies. The PMGSY target is to connect all villages with a population above 1,000 to a main road. Bihar has to build 25,000 km by 2009 to meet the target of Bharat Nirman. Central agencies have finished only 1,200 km and work was under way on another 5,800 km.’

I wish the reports were wrong. Why can’t ego of the politicians be kept under control in interest of the people of Bihar? All are looking to you to present a new image of Bihar and Bihari politician. Be a real statesman, taller than all that Bihar has produced till date and give the right lead. Let not some sycophants mislead you. Both of you should pull together and serve the home state. Let the work go with quality and at unprecedented speed. The people will give the credit to the deserving person and not to one who speaks loudly.

The whole world is watching your performance. Your achievements have been rated well. Let these development plans make the largest number of the people of Bihar be benefited directly or indirectly. Let there be more world class schools, science colleges, and other professional institutes. If Andhra can have 200 plus engineering colleges, why can’t Bihar? As an engineer yourself you can appreciate and do it what others have failed.

I was really so happy to read the news that you are setting up a help line to aid our brothers and sisters of Bihar ancestry in Mauritius who are trying to know about their ancestors and villages. I wish you should not mind my suggestion.

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Booming and Bubbling India-IX

Posted on July 9, 2007 by indra

While the enemies of the nation are getting emotionally involved in acts of terror, and that too on foreign land, India and Indians at home are trying to push the boom ahead in many fields in many ways.

Sensex makes history, hits 15k: India’s benchmark share index rose above 15,000 points for the first time on Friday. At 1:23 p.m. (0753 GMT), the 30-issue BSE index was up 0.75 percent, or 111.04 points, at 14,971.14, after rising as high as 15,007.22. And the investors with financial analysts and consultants are busy in predicting the rise by March 2008. A reporter finds the rise of sensex with Sachin’s 15K in one day matches.

For investors, India a shining destination: According to the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Equity Indices, which compares the returns from various markets, India has given the annual return at 38.36% in the last five years as against the Chinese market, the largest emerging market in the world, that gave an annual return of 31.36% during the same period.

Indian Tech Revenue to Hit New Heights: The Indian technology sector will generate US$50 billion in revenues during the 2007 financial year, according to industry association Nasscom. Despite predictions that India’s tech bubble is about to burst, in terms of revenue, there is little sign of the industry slowing down. The Indian IT industry employs around 1.6 million software programmers, and contributed about 5.2% to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) in fiscal 2007

Top 10 IT majors’ exports cross $15 bn: TCS, Infosys and Wipro account for nearly $9 billion. The country’s IT software and services exports from the top-10 firms crossed $15 billion to touch Rs 68,236 crore in 2006-07.

Top 10 cos raise $3.1 billion through FCCBs: Ten Indian companies have raised a total of $3.1 billion through issue of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) in the first half of 2007, as per the financial data released by Bloomberg. The total volume of FCCBs issue is $4.8 billion.

India Too Rich for Some European Telcos: France Telecom’s CEO commented on the price of India’s telecoms companies. While France Telecom still had the option to enter India, its choice of acquisition targets was currently restricted to smaller and cheaper companies.

Kalam’s dream to come alive: Barely two weeks before he demits office, the government on Thursday fulfilled a dream of President APJ Abdul Kalam by approving a pan-African e-network project proposed by him to bridge the digital divide in that continent. India will set up an Rs 542.90 crore project to link 53 countries of the African Union (AU).

World`s study material just a few clicks away: Around 800,000 students from 1,000 colleges and educational institutions in India – including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) – will be able to connect with the world’s best online study material, research laboratories and faculty members by March 2008.

Tele-treatment on its move: Srishti Software, a Bangalore-based company in the Healthcare Information Management System (HIMS) space, has implemented the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) with high-definition television (HDTV) production facility in the President Estate Clinic, the family wing of Rashtrapati Bhawan. The facility is used for addressing the nation, tele-conferencing, and providing tele-education and tele-medicine services.

India to join ITER to boost nuclear fusion technology: India on 6 July decided to join the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project at an estimated cost of Rs 2500 crore. India’s participation in ITER would allow the country to “leapfrog in terms of our national technological capability in fusion energy“, the seventh member of an elite group of nations like China, European Union, United States, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

Japanese majors to invest $10 bn: Twenty-two Japanese companies including giants like Suzuki, Honda, Sony, Matsushita, Mitsubishi among others today committed investments worth $10 billion into India. The investments are expected to happen in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial corridor. Japanese financial services major Nomura will buy 35% in Enam Financial Consultants valued at about Rs 4,200 crore (a little over $1 billion), for Rs 1,400 crore. It’s a confidence shown in the Indian enterprises.

India ahead of China in raising syndicated loans: According to data complied by global consulting firm, Dealogic, Indian companies account for 10.5% of the total syndicated loans by BRIC nations, with borrowings of about $8.28 billion in 2007 so far, higher than China’s 7.9% or over $6 billion.

Infosys selected as best outsourcing partner: Infosys Technologies Ltd was selected as ‘Best Outsourcing Partner´ by readers of ‘Waters´, a leading publication covering the needs of Chief Information Officers in today’s global capital market firms. Waters ranking recognises the outstanding achievements of solution providers that help financial institutions generate revenue and service their clients efficiently. Infosys was named the ‘Best Outsourcing Partner’ over nine competitors and by a margin of more than double that of the closest competitor in the survey.

Cognizant to hire 7,700 in India: Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp plans to spend Rs 1.88 billion (USD 46 million) building a new facility in India and also hire 7,700 employees, the head of its Indian unit said on Tuesday.

Animation industry to create upto 3 lakh jobs: According to a survey carried out by Assocham on “Will animation industry emerge as the next knowledge destination for jobs”, the findings revealed that the parks could alone generate employment opportunities for two lakh skilled animators within the next three years and a business worth $1billion (Rs 4,000 crore) by 2010, with a CAGR of 30%.

Pvt security firms to create 10m jobs: According to Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI), annual turnover of the segment has touched Rs 22,000 crore last year and is growing at a rate of 25-30% growth per annum, and is poised to employ over 10 million in the next 5 years. Interestingly, the segment is providing job opportunity to people of below poverty line; most of them are from villages and doesn’t have any skill. It is certainly not a jobless growth.

Nokia Siemens to invest $100mn in India: Nokia Siemens Networks today announced its plans to invest $100 million (Rs 410 crore) in the country over the next three years as a part of its commitment to develop a strong telecommunications environment in India including a telecommunication equipment manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu for wireless network equipment.

Premji among top 30 world entrepreneurs: Azim Premji and Bangladesh’s micro-credit leader and Nobel Prize winner Mohammad Yunus are among the all-time top 30 entrepreneurs, identified by leading business magazine Business Week.

Wipro to acquire Unza Holding: Wipro Ltd, with interests in software, consumer products and energy, would buy Singapore consumer goods company Unza Holdings Ltd for Rs1,010 crore in its biggest acquisition ever that gives Wipro market access in Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia and Malaysia, where Unza has its own operations, and factories as also manufacturing bases to source soaps and toiletries from at a lower cost for the Indian market.

Welspun-Gujarat to build manufacturing unit in US: Metal pipe manufacturer Welspun-Gujarat Stahl Rohren is planning to build a $100 million manufacturing facility at Arkansas in US and expects to start production by spring of 2008 with a capacity of 3,00,000 net tonnes of tubular steel pipes annually for use in the oil and gas industry, and would hire about 300 workers.

Patni Computer acquires European telecom consulting company: Software services provider Patni Computer Systems Ltd has acquired European telecommunications consulting services company, Logan-Orviss International (LOI), for an undisclosed amount.

Accentia Tech to acquire two US firms: Accentia Technologies Ltd has signed agreements to acquire U.S-based G.S.R. Physicians Billing Service Inc. and GSR Systems Inc. that would add $2.5 million to its revenues in 2007.

Spentex acquires Czech firm: Country’s largest yarn manufacturer Spentex has acquired Schoeller Litvinov k.s. in Czech Republic for $25 million that would give the company a footprint in Czech Republic, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg with an access to a large customer base in over 30 countries, adding an annual volume of about 19,000 tonnes.
Textile design and manufacturing company Himatsingka Seide has acquired 80% stake in US-based bed linen products distributor Divatex Home Fashions, Inc, for $53 million (around Rs 215 crore). In February, the company had acquired Italy-based Giuseppe Bellora Spa and is looking to strengthen the Bellora brand in Italy and the US

Bharti Airtel, the largest GSM- based cellular player, awarded to Nokia Siemens Networks a $900 million contract for expansion of its mobile, fixed lines and next generation network.

Delhi-Mumbai corridor to attract $90 bn: The proposed industrial corridor is 1,483-km-long and 300-km-wide and will have the Delhi-Mumbai railway freight corridor at the centre. The $90-billion, 1,483-km dedicated freight corridor coming up with Japanese help is to pass through six states-Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, hardly touching Madhya Pradesh.

Growth in passenger car production: According to the International Organisation of Automobile Manufacturers (OICA), India posted a growth of 16.5 per cent in 2006 compared with 7 per cent in 2005.In absolute terms, India, with a production of 14.73 lakh cars, moved up one place to the seventh position in 2006 replacing the UK, which produced a total of 14.42 lakh cars, recording a drop of 9.7 per cent from the previous year. India manufactured 14.73 lakh cars growing at 16.5 per cent.

Calcutta-educated, Indian-American scientist solves a quarter-century-old riddle: Sankar Chatterjee, curator of paleontology at the Museum of Texas Tech University in the US, has determined just how a bird that weighed around 70 kg and stood 3.5 metres from beak to tail with a wing span of 7 metres could actually fly.

And finally, Taj is selected among the seven wonders. It is again a result of booming India, and its younger generation’s strength, as the win has come through SMSs and e-mails, 100 million in number. India’s story of telecom sector is unique for those who have first hand experience. It has now 200 million plus subscribers. It is a rightful place for this wonderful creation.

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Strangely Americans Work without Holidays

Posted on July 8, 2007 by indra

Even with my three sons and their wives working in US, I did not know that in US, an employee does not get any mandatory annual holidays with full pay.

According to the report, compiled by the Washington-based Centre for Economic Policy Research, the US is the only country where employees have no statutory leave, and they get about half as much time off in reality as Europeans get. “The United States is in a class of its own,” the report says. “It is the no-vacation nation.”

A report published by the European Trade Union Institute provides an international snapshot of how much paid leave people get by law and in practice in 21 countries.

Finland, followed by France, offers working people the most statutory vacation, at more than six weeks per year. Canada and Japan require employers to give at least 10 days paid leave to their staff. The Europeans get at least four weeks by law and often much more in practice.

India appears to be much better in this respect. Even in our own days, we used to get one month PL (privileged leave) and 15 days of SL (sick leave) every year all paid. We could accumulate them for years. Many a times, we could encash them too. And at the time of retirement, I got a cheque for the holidays not availed. Were we not lucky? I am sure the norms would have continued in manufacturing sector, if not in IT about which I don’t have much information. However, I could never enjoy my holidays in real sense, and that may be true for many other Indians too. But in my case, I was myself responsible for that. Here is my story.

In the first five years of my job at Hindustan Motors (HM), I remember to have taken to two short holidays to visit my village home. The occasions were the marriage of the cousin sister of my father, and then the death of my grandfather. When Yamuna joined me at HM, we went on a long leave to Bodarhi, my mother’s village where she used to live in December 1966. That was the time when I went for a volunteer work with Jai Prakash Narayan’s Bihar Draught Relief Association for almost 20 days and worked with some Peace Corps members from Australia and US in Noorsarai (Biharsarif). That was the time when I visited Patna, Nalanda and Rajgrih for the first time while returning from Noorsarai.Thereafter, we visited Bodarhi number of times to fulfill the wishes of my mother. We built a country house there according to our test. I had to work hard for that and go there many a times. It was outside the village with a good courtyard with number of mango and other fruit trees. Then the whole family visited Bodarhi to have the religious function when the house was complete. That was the time when our car fell far deep into the ditch near Asansol. We escaped any major injury. The Ambassador car was damaged, but we traveled in the same car for about 450 kms to reach home the next day. I still remember my father waited for us for the first time. When we didn’t reach in time, he returned. We took the car right up to Bodarhi in the same condition. It was a weeklong religious function worshipping Shiva. On the final day, as usual there was a big party in which all the people of the village and my relatives participated. I had gone door to door to invite them.

Unfortunately, I got busy thereafter in factory. It was a madness of mine to prove myself extraordinary. I hardly availed my holidays but for once when we went for a week or so for a trip to Orissa- Bhuvaneswar,(Udaigiri, Khandagiri) Konark, and Puri. The family still remembers those wonderful days.

However the statutory holidays got accumulated and helped me many times in many ways. When I went to England in 1982 with my wife, we took a long holiday. Besides my official work at Cam Gear in Cardiff, and Vauxhall Motors in Luton, we stayed for a week or more in Birmingham and visited a number of factories including Jaguar and the Motor show going on there at that time. I got the accumulated leave encashed too once when I was building my house at Salt Lake. In those days, the task of construction of a house was a difficult project as there were no cheap loans available, neither was there any tax rebate on house loans, as it is possible today.

I still wonder why American workers have not got these statutory holidays. I think it may be happening in individual contracts that an employee signs with his employer. However, I am sure Americans enjoy holidays regularly and better. I would love if someone let me know more about it.

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Doubtful China’s Quality

Posted on July 6, 2007 by indra

I have been writing about the quality of the Chinese products for long. When I was in US, my children used to joke that whenever I was in any shopping center I kept on moving around looking at the tags for the country of origin. I found, over the period because of intensive consumerism Americans hardly bother about the quality of household goods. Americans buy without any reservation about its quality. American housewives keep on stuffing their house with clothing, toys, and other decorative items mostly manufactured from China. The Chinese goods are certainly cheap, but very poor in quality in most of the cases. During my short stay itself I found many instances of its poor quality. That was the reason that I couldn’t dare to buy a Haier air conditioner though it was cheaper. I bought a Samsung one, as Hitachi was too costly. Perhaps the Chinese manufacture with a ‘throwaway’ concept- use once and discard. Technically speaking, the Chinese perhaps have not been able to build quality in the manufacturing processes. And with so huge a scale, the quality can’t be inspected that they try to maintain quality.

Quality in many cases demands perception about the damage its deviation from the target can do to the consumers and society. That was the principle of Taguchi’s Quality Loss Function. The whole lot of quality tools and techniques- from zero defect to six sigma, from statistical quality control to total quality management and then Quality Function Deployment– evolved first in US and then in Japan to produce the quality first and in all coming out of the mass production lines. The people from the top management to the first line operators must believe that quality can neither be compromised nor inspected. For making easy money, many short cuts may be alluring but the 100% quality assurance is tough task, and must get into the national culture.

Unfortunately, the unscrupulous traders from India are taking advantage of the free trade and globalisation, and even the government machinery that controls import aids them I unscrupulous practices. The traders buy all the poor quality products of all kinds, sometimes even those rejected by the western customers, at throwaway prices. Taking advantage of the ignorance of the Indian consumers, they market it in all corners of India making huge profits. It will be prudent for everyone to avoid buying Chinese unless the quality is assured.

Yesterday I came across two reports- one in ‘Economists’ and second in ‘New York Times’. I could never believe that Chinese were exporting s much of food and drugs too to US. The reports talk of the shoddy rather dangerous quality of the Chinese stuffs.

In the latest Economist there is a report on the Chinese manufacturing, ‘The diddle kingdom’:

“In May the head of the agency that regulates Chinese food and drugs, Zheng Xiaoyu, was sentenced to death for accepting bribes in exchange for licences to produce fake drugs and medical devices. And this week a report from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, China’s standards watchdog, said that 20% of domestic products tested had failed to meet safety standards.”

“On July 1st Charles Schumer, an American senator, issued a report noting that 60% of goods recalled by America’s main safety regulator came from China. In June alone, the report says, dangerous faults or poisons prompted the recall of 68,000 folding chairs, 2,300 toy barbecue grills, 1.2m space heaters, 5,300 earrings, 1.5m “Thomas the Tank Engine” toy trains and 19,000 children’s necklaces. America’s Food and Drug Administration has also rejected several shipments of contaminated food from China this year, and a wholesaler in New Jersey has recalled Chinese chocolates containing potentially carcinogenic ingredients.”

The NewYork Times has another article ‘China Finds Poor Quality on Its Store Shelves’ By DAVID BARBOZA.

“China said on Wednesday that nearly a fifth of the food and consumer products that it checked in a nationwide survey this year were found to be substandard or tainted, underscoring the risk faced by its own consumers even as the country’s exports come under greater scrutiny overseas.”
“The government said, for instance, that canned and preserved fruit and dried fish contained excessive bacteria; that 20 percent of the fruit and vegetable juice surveyed was deemed substandard, and that some children’s products were defective or laced with harmful chemicals.”

However, US manufacturers can’t give up its preference for the Chinese friends to have the short-term profit even after the doubts about the quality. The latest news comes from Chrysler, one of three biggies of yester years’ US automobile industry. “The Chrysler Group signed a deal with China’s biggest automaker, Chery Automobile, for a production venture that could export the first Chinese-made cars to the United States. The alliance offers Chery, a 10-year-old company based in the eastern Chinese city of Wuhu, an opportunity to realize its longtime ambition of entering the American market. Chinese automakers already export low-price trucks and buses to Africa and other developing markets. But analysts say the automakers lack the technology to meet American and European safety and pollution standards on their own.”

It appears that the days of ‘Made in America’ are dead.

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Noida- Unscrupulous by Nature

Posted on July 5, 2007 by indra

On a relaxed Sunday a month and half ago, I returned home after my morning walk. My wife informed that someone had come and asked me to attend a meeting of the Block A residents in Park at 6.30 PM. Since last year, I avoid these meetings, as I find them as useless. But in evening my advocate friend, YP Singh perhaps wanted a company and so dropped in to take me to the meeting. As usual, it took more than an hour that some 20-25 residents got collected. The meeting started. After the latest change in the constitution of RWA regarding the election of executives, the block didn’t get any representative. The President of RWA has agreed to get a person from the Block nominated. The meeting was called to select a person to represent the Block A so that the problems of the block could be taken up in the meeting of the RWA (Residents Welfare Association).

Surprisingly, even after my showing hesitation, all the residents present in the meeting unanimously selected me to represent them. I asked the organizer of the meeting to send the minutes of the meeting with this decision and the signature of the attendees to the President. I can only consider myself a representative if the President invites me based on the will of the people of the block. As informed, it was done in the following week. Once in between someone stopped me while I was coming back from my walk and asked if I have withdrawn my name as representative. I denied.

Today in the morning I found the latest newsletter from the RWA President giving a number of information. The newsletter also had names of Block representatives. But the representative of our block was Chopra. Chopra was the gentle man who most vocally went for my name on that Sunday meeting. He didn’t think it his duty to inform me about the development himself that he could have done. I would not have called him unscrupulous.

Perhaps, the builder President of the RWA feels more comfortable with a builder to represent our block instead of an IITian with 42 years of experience as senior executive with many ideas that can help the sector. Is it a usual case of inferiority complex in leaders who prefer to work with sycophants?

However, my interest to be representative was to take up certain issues that are dear to me, may be to many other residents too, officially with the executives of RWA and Noida Authority:

Monthly subscription and cable rental: As for many retired residents the finance is constraint, RWA must explore all possibilities to cut down the subscription (Rs 150 per month) as well as the high rental of the cable operators (Rs 310 per month).

Library: An enthusiast resident, Sanjay Sehgal has discovered the library plot in the sector and is trying to help building the library. The story got published in ‘Sambad’ as well as ‘Noida Plus’ of TOI. RWA must pursue it honestly and earnestly. It can get the sector an important landmark.

Integration of Agahpur village: Instead of looking down upon the villagers and creating the strong dividing wall, the RWA must take all possible initiative for its inclusive growth and integrating it with the sector.

Web of the sector: It was nice to read the last President’s newsletter that has already a mention of that. It must come fast. It must be interactive to solve residents’ problems and provide the transparency of accounts of the RWA.

Playground for children: It is unfortunate that the master plan of the Noida Authority doesn’t take care of this very important need of the community. But it is possible even now. RWA must take it up to create as some playground in the different blocks as it is possible on the vacant plots.

An aesthetically designed boundary wall: that provides safety of the residents without appearing as an eyesore.

Better involvement of residents particularly at block levels as the sector is too big to have a desirable level of fellowship.

Will it happen? I am sure it will. And my friends in executive committee will take it up seriously.

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