Amartya Sen on Bihar and NaMo

Posted on July 22, 2013 by indra

I wish Amartya Sen would not have gone for remarks on Gujarat and Narendra Modi. It is known to all Indians that the politicians of the two states are almost battling about its growth models. Why shouldn’t a person such as Nobel laureate Amartya Sen remain aloof? On Sunday Sen backed Bihar’s growth strategy,though Bihar had only managed to reduce the proportion of people below the poverty line from 54.4% in 2004-05 to 53.5% in 2009-10, according to the Planning Commission.

Sen further stated that without education and proper health facilities, it was difficult to achieve balanced growth. “Educated labour force is the biggest guarantor… Education and healthy labour force is able to produce everything from IT to auto parts.”

Bihar has performed very poorly even in Nitish era for providing good education. Neither the government schools are effective in educating the students nor the private sector has participated in education sector as it has done in other states. While the education in primary, middle and high schools are non-existent with no interest shown by the teachers and its so called working committees, most of the young persons are to move to other states for higher education at higher cost. Students from the poorer families canot even dream of that. Facilities for professional education is lagging badly and are of very poor standard. Unfortunately, the present government has hardly done anything for it.

Healthcare is in dismal condition as much as I know. My own village or panchayat with all the effort and the villages that I have relationship of some sorts could not get even a primary healthcare in last so many years. Bihar Model which is one built over the years Nitish has ruled is only much better than what it happened before him, but certainly it is nowhere near those of the other states and I mean it can hardly be compared even with other Bimaru states.

It is unfortunate that the impressions about Bihar is being built by the ratings of those sitting comfortably in cosy conditions far away from Bihar.

Amartya’s opinion expressing his views against Narendra Modi as the prime minister was not expected out of him. Jagdish Bhagwati never expressed his views in favour of Narendra Modi or otherwise. India is a democracy of 1.2 billion Indians. Hardly few of the voters will even know about Amartya’s views unless he goes on the digital media and campaign against Narendra Modi.

I think there is difference between Gujarat and other states historically too. How can the sensitive people of the state forget the seventeen invasions and massacres of Somnath. Amartya surely can’t appreciate that.

Posted in bihar, economy, education, indian politics | 2 Comments

Amar Bose- What Indian Professors can learn?

Posted on July 19, 2013 by indra

I wish IITs could have produced some teachers such as Amar Bose.And if I am wrong, let someone correct me. Bose was the only Indian name in US who was a great academician but for persons like me known for establishing a successful corporation that still remains unique in acoustic products and known world over. The brand ‘Bose’ is globally known something like ‘Sony’, though Bose focused on acoustics. Bose proved that one can be an excellent teacher as well as very successful business entrepreneur too. Particularly, for those educated and then pursuing a career in pure engineering, Amar Bose became a legendary figure just by his own merit.

It is unfortunate that Indian media had reported very little about the contribution of this great man of Indian origin. As Business Standard reports, “Amar Gopal Bose was born on November 2, 1929, in Philadelphia. His father, Noni Gopal Bose, was a Bengali freedom fighter who was studying physics at Calcutta University when he was arrested and imprisoned for his opposition to British rule in India. He escaped and fled to the United States in 1920, where he married an American schoolteacher.” In that way, he was not really an Indian as most of the people understand it. But it appears his father played the dominant role in deciding about his son’s name that was typically Indian. And it makes me to think over if some day some in extended family will question India ness of Emma and Zach with Sharma as the family name. Technically they will be American only. It will hardly matter. But I will always wish them to become someone like Amar Bose.

“Dr. Bose received his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate from MIT, all in electrical engineering. He was asked to join the faculty in 1956, and he accepted with the intention of teaching for no more than two years. He continued as a member of the MIT faculty until 2001.
In 1964, Dr. Bose started Bose Corporation based on research he conducted at MIT.
In 2011, to fulfill his lifelong dream to support MIT education, Dr. Bose gave to MIT the majority of the stock of Bose Corporation in the form of nonvoting shares.”

I had written about Bose during my earlier visits to US. I could read about his death only in US when Anand referred me to the article that appeared in MIT News.

Some of his interesting observations from Bose were as follows:
“I never went into business to make money (but) so that I could do interesting things that hadn’t been done before.”
“I would have been fired a hundred times at a company run by MBAs.”

And I can’t but agree with what Narayan Murthy has said about Bose, “He is the only person of Indian origin to have established a global brand.”

But more than anything else, Bose was a legendary teacher, as many in MIT confessed.“His course on psychoacoustics was jam-packed, at times with only standing room.” How many teachers can claim such popularity?

‘Business Week’ very rightly concluded, “Bose took things that were previously considered complicated and esoteric and sold them right down the upper-middle. In doing so, his company became more than just a speaker maker; it became a brand name.”

Interestingly, the media has reported deaths of three persons- Bollywood actor Pran, Ottavio Quattrocchi, and Amar Bose on the same day. For me, Amar Bose, even if he was American was important as his success story makes him icons for the children of many middle class Indians in US as well as in India.

Posted in Tecchnology, usa | Leave a comment

On the way to US again

Posted on July 15, 2013 by indra

At this age, it is really arduous to take a flight at 1.45AM. We prefer Air India as it is a straight flight of a little over fourteen hours, and it departs at this early hours. We are to leave our Noida house at least three hours before the departure time from Indira Gandhi International Airport of New Delhi.

The driver of Jalandhar Taxi reported at 9.00PM of July 11. It took some time to lock the house and come out. The family of the neighbour was at the gate to see us off. Interestingly, they had come to know about the same day.

I have left the the security of the house this time to Shiv Kumar, the field officer of one of the many security companies that have flourished in Noida. Most of the security men that these security companies engage are neither trained nor physically very able. Shiv Kumar is charging Rs 12,000 per month. Thus I shall be spending Rs 48, 000 for the four months that I shall be away from the house. Shiv Kumar had requested me to provide my contact phone number in US, but I refused asking not to disturb me in any condition. I shall not like to take any tension when I can’t help.

I had asked the airline for a wheel chair for Yamuna. This time I found all the persons pushing the wheel chair very young unlike the crooked one that we got last year. It’s a big help in getting through the various queues for the different checks at the airport because of the special attention it gets.

Waiting outside the departure gate 22 and then 24 was torturous. For ensuring security, additional security check has been added just before the departure lounge that started only at 11.45PM. As arranged by Rajesh we had got 29b and c seats. But when it appeared that many seats would remain vacant, I asked the steward if I could use the middle row of three seats and sleep if no passengers reported for it, he agreed. Yamuna was also offered one such facility. And so after the snack provided by the air
line staffs, I slept. It was already 2.30 AM but slept well upto 7.30 Am IST. Quite a good number of passengers could get similar seats for sleeping. Commercially it must be very poor for Air India. Strangely, though the flight was for New York, there were hardly any white Americans in it. Perhaps Air India is not considered worth travelling by them. Quite a large number of the passengers were persons like us perhaps going to US to stay with their children. The rest were perhaps those who had been visiting India during marriage season to attend some marriages in the family.

Another strange thing that I noticed while sleeping was the regular announcements of bad weather and request to fasten the belt, though none was complying. How can one sleeping on three seats do that. I don’t know if it happens in the same way in foreign airlines too. With nothing much to read and as I never liked to watch the TV, I preferred to jot down this note.

Air India served snack, breakfast and then lunch, and all were of good quality. But it was difficult to enjoy it at odd time of the night and when you don’t know the time.

At JFK NewYork airport, the decision of taking a wheel chair for Yamuna has been very helpful. I still walk along with her but get all advantage of special treatment at immigration checks and even in security checks. We were overjoyed after finding Tom waiting for us in the meeting place at JFK. Rajesh had engaged Tom for helping us getting transferred to terminal 8 from terminal 4 where Air India had brought us. Tom made the transfer fast and without trouble. Tom almost did what Rajesh did when we had visited last time. Tom was very good.

We had a great experience at terminal 8 where we met two ladies from Kolkata. Anuradha, a scientist at SNBose Institute was going to Boston to attend a conference where she was to present her paper. The other lady was a doctor educated from RGKar College and her husband was working in Boston. Both the ladies came on their own and started talking with us. I felt so good when Anuradha touched my feet before leaving for her flight. I wished her t o become a great scientist. Anuradha has already found a suitable match for her in her institutes itself and will be married in coming December.

And after awaiting for almost five hours or more, finally we got into small American Airlines Eagle aircraft to come to Raleigh where Zach and Anand received us. All tiredness vanished.

We are here in US for the next four months.

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Manufacturing India: News and Views-4

Posted on July 10, 2013 by indra

1. According to a new plan,Triumph Motorcycles will start assembling completely knocked-down (CKD) kits at a factory in the Gurgaon-Manesar area in Haryana. The company’s manufacturing plans in Karnataka will also be implemented . Almost all the high-end models are to get launched in India.

2. Using the expertise of its nearly 2000 engineers at Philips Innovation Centre (PIC) in Bangalore and three other R&D sites in India, and aligning the marketing and sales teams with them, Philips, the Dutch electronics company in India has launched a complete set of products that also create a new segment under its Critical Care Unit. It is branded as Philips Efficia and consists of infant Warmers and Incubators and a sophisticated, first-of-its-kind, respiratory device – NeoPAP (neonatal continuous positive airway pressure) delivery system.

3. Isuzu Motors India Pvt. Ltd, which started selling its utility vehicles in India this year, said it had entered an agreement with Hindustan Motors Ltd for contract manufacturing of sports utility vehicles and pickup trucks.I wish Hindustan Motors would have been a serious player. I still think that the news is for share market.

4. Fiat Group India has a manufacturing facility near Pune with a capacity of producing 1.60 lakh units and three lakh engines.Italy-based Fiat group, which has tied up with the US-based car maker Jeep, will launch the first model under the brand in the country during the last quarter of 2013 as a “completely built unit”. Reasons unknown, Fiat failed to be steady player in India with many of its attempts that failed.

5. Exports from special economic zones (SEZs) grew by about 31% year-on-year to Rs 4.76 lakh crore during 2012-13, compared with shipments worth R3.65 lakh crore in 2011-12. As per the Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs (EPCES), out of 389 SEZs notified, 170 are operational and these exports are helping in the reducing the widening current account deficit (CAD). During 2012-13, SEZs have attracted a total of R2.36 lakh crore investment and provided direct employment opportunities to over 11 lakh people. SEZ could have pushed the exports tremendously, if the government would have been proactive and consistent with its policies.

6. A car production line is typically divided into three sub-lines — a weld line, followed by a paint shop and a final assembly line. “The assembly line typically needs the most number of workers. At Maruti’s newest line in Manesar, the weld line is 100% automated, while the paint shop has about 70% automated. Customers are demanding better quality products today and higher automation helps in maintaining consistent quality.

7. On July 15, everybody who matters in Nissan Motor Company will be in New Delhi for the global unveiling of the Datsun by Carlos Ghosn, 59, chief executive officer of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.The 500-odd engineers at Renault-Nissan Technology Business Centre, located south of Chennai, are rushing against time to put together the final touches to the Datsun they will unveil before their boss in July. Given the potential size of the sub-Rs 4,00,000 car market, Nissan wants to grow its dealerships more than three-fold, from 97 right now to about 350 by 2016. The Datsun (priced under Rs 4,00,000) is going to be the new entry-level car in India.

8. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) Private Limited would enhance the production capacity to 4 million with the commissioning of its Narsapura plant in Karnataka. Motorcycles remain the biggest success story for India’s manufacturing strength. Other sectors must take lessons.

9. Himachal based forgings and gear maker Him Teknoforge together with another Baddi-based autocomponent maker Globe Precision Industries Pvt Ltd and other associates has entered into an agreement with Vadodara-based gear maker Gujarat Automotive Gears Ltd (GAGL) to acquire 55 per cent stake in the company. Smaller manufacturers are also doing their bit.

10. According to the proposal, the design and development of the aircraft is expected to cost Rs.4,355 crore and series production would entail further expenditure of Rs.3,200 crore. The aircraft is to be built through a collaborative venture of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and DRDO. It will be take some years to be ready for flight.

11. Audi, the Volkswagen Group-owned luxury car maker, is considering manufacturing certain models of its luxury cars in India instead of assembling them here, reflecting its confidence in the Indian luxury car market.

12. With an aim of boosting manufacturing and exports amid sharp fall in the rupee, the government has decided to take a slew of steps, including enhancing steel production capacity to 300 million tonnes and raising textile exports by 30 per cent this year.

Indian manufacturing sector is slowly and steadily moving to find its place. It is high time that Indian government creates a ministry for manufacturing sector after defining ‘manufacturing’ correctly. One could take lessons from China even if one doesn’t want to compete.

Amitabh Kant, CEO & MD of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation narrates in a lead column in Times of India, ” The world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, Foxconn, is holding trade union “elections” at its gigantic factories in China which employ 1.2 million workers. This is a radical change demanded by an increasingly restive workforce. The company had moved from Taiwan to Shenzhen at the end of the 1980s. They are beginning to reverse the process and are now opening factories in Brazil and Indonesia. As wages rise and China evolves into a high-cost economy, will India be able to fill the vacuum to become the global centre of manufacturing?”

India has the potential to be one of the top three manufacturing nations, but for its very peculiar mind sets of the politicians who decides the government policies.

Posted in industry, manufacturing | Leave a comment

Education and Nitish

Posted on July 7, 2013 by indra

Nitish boasts of his growth model. His education minister P.K. Shahi highlights the issue of poor quality of education. “Bihar is “sitting on volcano” and corrective measures must be taken to improve the system.”

Nitish, an engineer by education, could not do much in so many years for educating the deprived class to come out of poverty in real term. But why should he? The school children are not voters, nor their parents appreciate what good education means. They are happy enough with midday meals. The boys and girls in the rural primary schools of the state hardly learn even the basics reading and writing of the languages taught, may it be Hindi or English. Arithmetics end with some numbers and tables. However, I give Nitish credit for building school buildings that are pretty visible because of its shade of paint. But all these buildings miss a boundary wall with gates and locks and do not have security arrangement to avoid pilferages. Under the present conditions, no school can have a library or laboratory of any kind. Panchayats in Bihar are only on paper. There are hardly any meeting where all the villagers assemble and discuss the issues such as education in the local schools or other development plans of the village.

According to education department sources, though the enrolment rate of students in government schools is as high as 90 per cent, the attendance is less than 50 per cent. In some districts, it is even less than 30 per cent. “The biggest reason behind poor quality education in government schools is lack of insufficient teachers. The student-teacher ratio in high schools (classes IX, X) is 163:1, which is huge. Moreover, contract teachers account for more than 70 per cent of the total number of teachers in Bihar.”

In last May, I was in few villages of Bihar. As usual, I kept on talking about the education with many acquaintances who are teachers. As I understand, the students of the poorer families get themselves enrolled in government upper schools in the towns, but they are hardly any teachers taking classes in these schools. In most of the cases, the students are prodded to join the coaching centres there manned by the same teachers who are employed in the schools. The government education system is dead. It has become a business where there are coaching centres that take responsibility for getting the attending students passed in various examinations, board or competitive ones. Unfortunately, Nitish Kumar whom everyone in Bihar thought will contribute in improving the quality of education in Bihar didn’t contribute significantly.

And the lesser is said about the institutions of higher education in Bihar, the better it will be. There are hardly any state colleges of engineering worth any value. It is only Bihar that could not get good private professional colleges of management, engineering or medicine established, so a large number of the students are to go out of the state for higher education and are forced to spend much more that what they would have done with those institutions in their own state.

Bihar under the two term rule of Nitish Kumar could have done a lot for skilling its young men and women by establishing a large number of private training schools, but Nitish couldn’t go beyond few ‘Hooner’ established for the girls of minority community. I don’t understand why

I know it will hardly bother Nitish. Nitish knows how to collect fund for his party’s election fund. Bihar’s growth story is that of construction sector and roads carried out by the contractors. Each contract contributes to the election fund, as I was told by someone engaged in this job. Recent grant by the centre of Rs. 4130 crore for rural road construction will be a boon for the survival and prosperity of Nitish’s party and party men. I don’t if it is bribe of a sort by the party ruling at the centre.

I wish Nitish takes some lessons from the teleconferences used by his today’s political opponents and use the technology in extensive way for rural education- formal for the poor and deprived students and informal for their parents.
—-

Posted in bihar, education, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Manmohan’s Era: Vote vs. Growth

Posted on July 5, 2013 by indra

I don’t blame Manmohan Singh. This government failed to do much during its last 9 plus years. It must be a great opportunity lost for a person if he is of a mental faculty of Manmohan Singh. But it doesn’t appear that Manmohan minds it. After all he has created record of a sort by holding the highest post of the country for the maximum number of years by a non- Nehru-Gandhi Indian.

Unfortunately, Manmohan has not left a stamp of his own on any of the economic reform. Manmohan could have saved the country with his prudent and authoritative decisions from the low growth rates of the last two years. But he had been forced to follow the dictates of Sonia that are focused only for getting her government back in power. Latest of her dictates is the decision to go ahead with the right of food security that is hundred percent for getting the votes.

Would not an ordinance on the land acquisition have pushed up the growth of the country better by accelerating the setting up of new projects worth Rs few lakh crores that are languishing for getting the land? That might not have the similar impact on garnering the votes. That was the reason the subject of land acquisition didn’t get the priority.How can there will be development if the land acquisitions for any project is so difficult? Let us see the examples of these delays. Odisha took eight years to acquire 2,700 acres to enable South Korean company to set up the first phase of the project, of 8-million tonne steel capacity. It took seven years for Tata Steel to start work on the Kalinga Nagar steel project and almost two decades for Utkal Alumina to construct an alumina plant in south Odisha.

Food security is certainly an excellent idea, but all similar entitlements must somehow be linked with work responsibility too for the benefectors, otherwise what will be the incentive for working sincerely and hard enough to get better remunerations and improving the quality of living.

Sonia has gone by her advisors to see her party voted to power again through the food security and cash distribution legalising the bribes of a sort.

And as I completed this write-up, the confusion over the signing of the ordinance is over. The President has signed the ordinance, the game changer as per the prince of the ruling party. It gives a legal right to monthly food handouts to 67% of the population – about 800 million Indians – at a fraction of their market price. According to experts, including Ashok Gulati, chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), the actual cost of implementing the right to food and putting in place a sustainable food security programme could be as high as Rs.2 trillion per year for the next three years.

Is Congress nearer to winning 2014 general election?

Congress or UPA may come in power again through these doles, but the country’s economy will be under serious strain and cost thousands of development projects that create employment for millions.

Posted in economy, governance, indian politics | Leave a comment

Himalayan Deluge:some views

Posted on July 4, 2013 by indra

Indian defence forces have completed the evacuation of pilgrims. As claimed, it was the biggest such operation by the forces. However ever, as it appears, we as nation have never learn any useful lessons and do hardly plan and take actions that will avoid or reduce the impact of similar disasters as and when it happens in different parts of the country.

Char Dhams– Gangotri, Jamunotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath are important pilgrimages from perhaps epic period. And the people from even the remote villages have been visiting them. As child I had heard about them from my great grandmother who had visited these shrines in group, perhaps in early 90’s. I have also seen some priests from these shrines coming to our village in every summer to collect the annual donation promised by the visitors during their visits. It used to be wonderful time with their performing aarati and bhog every day in the morning and evening in the main front court yard of our house.

We also visited the dhams few years ago. It was a difficult trip even for us when a lot of work such as road construction has been done over years to make them more accessable since my great grand mother’s days. Kedarnath was still the most difficult part with no road between Gauri Kund and the main shrine at Kedarnath. The governments at centre have been neglecting the developments of the pilgrimage centres of India.

Here are some views based on this year’s worst deluge in my memory.

1.Char Dham yatra is pilgrimage and not pleasure holiday spots. People must avoid taking Little kids and full family to enjoy the trip as pleasure trip. The younger ones can visit the places in different programmes for trekking etc.

2. The government must record the persons in the habitation and separately all the pilgrims that visit these shrines.

3. A national volunteer force well trained in various activities is required for facing disasters and they may come from all fields including religious bodies and NGOs. Why should not the Congress Seva Dal and RSS cadre or senior NCC cadets under the guidance of army personnels be trained for helping the society in such situation? I wish the political parties with so much resources could do some social service too instead of focusing all their energy on nurturing the vote banks with false promises and useless doles.

4.I feel India must use the best possible technology and even set up a research institute for the roads to be built for the geological condition as it is there in Himalayas and use of the best materials and practices in building the hill roads of the desired quality and for reducing land slides from the hill sides. It is a technical problem and we must find the best engineering solution. The national calamity should be taken as the challenge by our governments for better work and the future must prove that we didn’t sleep again.

Posted in governance, management | Leave a comment

ManufacturingIndia: News and Views-3

Posted on June 20, 2013 by indra

1.The Danish company Danfoss will invest close to $100 million in India over the next two years. The $6 billion company makes components that help improve energy-efficiency and are used in various industrial applications like air conditioning, heating buildings, controlling electric motors and powering commercial vehicles.

2. Engineering exporters are targeting up to 10 per cent exports’ growth in the current fiscal, the Engineering Export Promotion Council said today.Engineering exports include transport equipment, capital goods, other machinery/equipment and light engineering products like castings, forgings and fasteners. During 2012-13, engineering exports amounted to $56.7 billion.

3. Ford Motor Co. will make India an export hub for its compact sports utility vehicles, chief executive Alan Mulally said.Ford has invested a total of $2 billion to set up manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat besides an engine facility in Gujarat.Mulally was in Chennai to start production of the company’s compact SUV EcoSport at its Chennai factory, where it has invested $142 million to create a new production line that can produce as many as 10 variants of the model. The Chennai facility is one of the five plants that will produce this model, Mulally said.

4. Sanand has attracted investments from Tata Motors Ltd, followed by Ford India Pvt. Ltd and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. Non-automobile companies,the likes of Hitachi Ltd’s Indian unit Hi-Rel Power Electronics Pvt. Ltd, Colgate Palmolive (India) Ltd, Nestlé India Ltd and Bosch Rexroth India Ltd, too, have flocked to Sanand.

5.Central public enterprises (CPSEs), like BHEL, Power Grid, Indian Oil, Steel Authority as well as defence PSUs,are aggressively investing in applied research and development (R&D) projects to improve their efficiency and keep up with competition.

6. HAL is a premier aeronautical complex in Asia with 19 production divisions and 10 R&D centres. Its expertise encompasses design, production, repair, overhaul and upgrade of aircraft, helicopters, aero-engines, accessories, avionics and systems. The 19 divisions of HAL are equipped with modern infrastructure for production of fighter aircraft, trainer aircraft, transport aircraft and helicopters. It provides one-stop solutions for all the design needs of aircraft and helicopters in airframes, airframe systems, avionics, mission & combat systems, using advanced design tools.
The defence major, being a technology driven company, continues its thrust on R&D, by incurring R1,749 crore, or 12% of its turnover, towards it. The company has filed a record 32 patents in 2012-13.
The year witnessed landmark events such as handing over of the first weaponised advanced light helicopter (ALH) “Rudra” to the Indian Army, exports of Cheetah helicopters to the Republic of Surinam and Do-228 light transport aircraft to Seychelles as well as the first flight of Jaguar DARIN-III and light combat aircraft (LCA) naval prototypes.
HAL has a workforce of around 33,600, with over 50% having more than a decade of aircraft industry experience. It has also diversified into manufacture and repair /overhaul of industrial and marine gas turbine engines, and manufacture of structures for aerospace vehicles.

7. A clutch of car makers with parent companies operating out of Japan, have lined up investments of about Rs 13,000 crore to enhance capacity. While Maruti Suzuki is set to invest about Rs 6,000 crore to add capacity of about 500,000 units across Haryana and Gujarat by 2015-16, Honda Cars India has commenced work to double production by making operational a second facility at Tapukara (Rajasthan) by 2014. Nissan, set to debut the Datsun brand in India later this year, is learnt to be evaluating possibilities to expand capacity to about 600,000 units at its Chennai unit.

8.Italian auto maker Fiat SpA is looking to make 600,000 units of Chrysler’s brands in India and 90% of the production will be exported, mostly to the Asia-Pacific region.Chrysler has a research and development centre in Chennai, the company’s third-largest after Detroit and Turin. The centre works on vehicle interiors, body and chassis, and engineering services for its global operations. It employs at least 1,200 engineers.

9. SECO shifted its operations from Singapore to India recently, now Swedish metal cutting tools manufacturer is planning to expand its base in India to capture business in the Asia Pacific region. Considering the demand for cutting tools, it is gearing up the investments in infrastructure, manpower and marketing as well as in research and development. The company has acquired around 25,000 square meter land adjoining its existing production facility in Pune to expand its production capacity in the state. Seco exports 70 per cent of its production from India and the company registered a turnover of Rs 230 crore in 2012. Currently, the Pune R&D centre works in close association with Seco’s other R&D units in Sweden, Czech Republic and France.

10. The gun being offered by the Indian firm L&T is learnt to have been built and developed in collaboration with South Korea’s Samsung Techwin and is based on its “K9 Thunder” self- propelled howitzer. According to the contract between the two firms, the Korean firm would provide key technologies to L&T for local production of the howitzer.

9. Over the last decade, India’s output per worker almost doubled, according to the International Labour Organisation. The do-more-with-less mantra affects the nation’s elite employees as well, whether bankers or engineers. Consider the challenges facing India’s bellwether $108-billion information-technology sector. To earn $1 billion in 2003, India’s large software companies needed 37,798 engineers, according to calculations done by Mint and Nasscom, a lobby group, earlier this week.In 2012, no more than 19,783 engineers were needed to earn $1 billion.

10. In a bid to rev up sagging sales, Tata Motors today launched eight upgraded models of its different passenger vehicles, including the CNG version of its entry level small car Nano. This is the first time that the company has introduced such a large number of new vehicles on a single.

11.Over the past two decades, there have been around 750 R&D centres established by MNCs in India, employing over 400,000 professionals. A recent survey of senior business innovation strategists by GE ranks India higher than the US on interest in innovation.

Posted in industry, manufacturing | Leave a comment

Nitish Kumar out of NDA -an overview

Posted on June 16, 2013 by indra

I am sorry for the future of Bihar once Nitish walks out of NDA alliance. Nitish had been working overtime to build his sole image and to be independent one day. He has done that.

Nitish hardly bothered about the well beings of Mushahars or Muslims. His extensive yatras were not to educate the people in making Bihar exemplary with growth to take out the maximum mass from extreme poverty to a better living standard, but to keep his election campaign a permanent feature of his governance and policies to win election and to be in power.

Can Nitish answer why not the name of a single college of the state appear in any study appearing in media about the better ranked colleges of India? Why does anyone from other states not like to take admission in any of the state’s college? How is today UP having more than 600 professional colleges of engineering, management and even medicines? And Biharis in lakhs even today move to different states for higher education. The government schools of the state from primary to high schools hardly impart any education, and who but the lower deprived classes are falling behind.

I think Nitish Kumar made two biggest mistakes as a minimum of decency expected out of a so called good man in dealing with a chief minister of an important state. How can any one stop entry of a person from campaigning in any state of the country ?Does Nitish own Bihar through any inheritance deed? How can he publicly ask BJP leaders to announce that Modi will not be BJP’s PM candidate? His demands were unethical. Nitish is no less dictatorial than Modi. Modi is much more a representative of Adam aadami of India with his background. Does Nitish envy Modi as he is from a backward caste, son of a tea stall owner even though not an engineer by qualification, but with much bigger and popular image among the people of India?

With the breakup from NDA, Nitish has done the immense damage to Bihar. The next election will not be that easy for Nitish Kumar. And the losers will be the people of Bihar. I wish the people of Bihar could have some alternatives.

I don’t know how Nitish will react if, by some chance, the people of India elect and make Modi the prime minister of India

Posted in indian politics | Leave a comment

ManufacturingIndia: News and Views-2

Posted on June 14, 2013 by indra

1. Bajaj Auto has developed a quadricycle, RE60. The quadricycles can ply now as public transport vehicles within municipal limits. I fail to understand why some big names in industry are trying to discourage this innovative product when Nano got so much of applause though has failed to be a commercial success.

2. Daimler, the world leader in commercial vehicles, recently announced that its Indian operations — Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) — will manufacture trucks for export markets under the brand name ‘Fuso’ and will start exporting five models from June to 15 countries in the Asia and African regions. Is it an indication that India is becoming a manufacturing hub?

3. With eight NIMZ under consideration as part of DMIC, cooperation between the defence ministry and DIPP will yield rich dividends. The Defence Procurement Policy is a step in the right direction but has many audits to undergo before it can contribute significantly to defence production. DMIC may help India to become a manufacturing power. I wish the government could invite someone like Ratan Tata to help India in becoming a manufacturing power.

4. Construction equipment manufacturer Tata Hitachi, a joint venture between Tata Motors and Hitachi Construction Machinery of Japan, plans to make the Kharagpur plant in West Bengal a global source for small and medium sized excavators. Can Tata Hitachi be the largest in India?

5. Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles, VECV has invested Rs 1,300 crore in India since the JV’s formation in 2008. The plan is to infuse another Rs 1,200 crore till 2015 to meet the requirement of ongoing projects, in setting up an engine manufacturing unit, a bus body building facility, in developing new products and in expanding capacity expansion by 45 per cent to 8,000 units a month by 2015. Here is another competitor to Tata and Ashok Leyland for commercial vehicles.

6. It pays to listen to your employees, literally. Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest car maker, could save a handsome Rs 354 crore in FY13 by paying heed to their workers’ suggestions to improve productivity and cut wastage.During the last financial year, it received over 396,000 suggestions from its employees, which eventually resulted in the savings. In the previous year (FY12), there were 320,000 suggestions, which led to cost savings of over Rs 294.2 crore. I get reminded of the Suggestion Schemes and Quality Circles of our days in industry. The Japanese had been the leader in the world in participative management with its production management practices.

7. Tetra Pak, a food processing and packaging solutions company has invested Rs 700 crore in Chakan facility near Pune and will have a straw production unit, a processing systems workshop, a filling machine renovation and a technical training academy. India is expanding manufacturing in every field.

8.Here is another good news:Pilgrims to the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, once took long journeys by foot to the site in Amritsar, in Punjab, northern India. But now plans are in place to allow them to travel there in a fleet of driverless cars, the first of their kind in India. The driverless cars, also known as pod cars, are set to run on a dedicated double-decker roadway around Amritsar by mid-2016, according to Ultra Fairwood, a tie-up between a U.K-based and an Indian company, which is developing the cars for the city.

9. Voltas and LG are the top two AC makers in India, according to industry estimates. Smaller companies such as Haier and Carrier Midea are also contributing significantly. Air coolers are also making progress.Experts say the Symphony brand, market leader in the air cooler category with a 45 per cent share, grew ahead of the industry on the back of a range of products priced between Rs 6,000 and Rs 15,000. Kenstar and Bajaj, other key players in the air cooler market, also saw brisk sales this summer.

10.Apollo Tyres Ltd, India’s second largest tyre maker by market value, has agreed to buy Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. for $2.5 billion (around Rs.14,575 crore) to gain access to the US, the world’s second biggest auto market. After the acquisition of Cooper Tire, to be carried out through Apollo Mauritius Holdings Pvt. Ltd, Apollo Tyre will become the seventh largest tyre company in the world. Its turnover will rise almost three times to $6.6 billion from $2.4 billion in the year ended March. The company will also gain access to markets in China, Africa and Latin America, besides brands that include Cooper, Avon, Roadmaster, Mickey Thompson, Starfire, Mastercraft and Chengsan.

I wish the politicians make their own contribution. However, I doubt if they will change.

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