From Janata Durbar to Vikas Yatra

Posted on January 4, 2009 by indra

I hardly find any news regarding Bihar these days in the national dailies or TV news channels in New Delhi. Either the reporters don’t find Lalu as zester selling any more or they are not getting the incentive they were used to receive earlier. And hardly anything significant that can be of nationwide interest happens in Patna, the only city that Bihar governments are promoting since last six decades. I don’t remember when Bihar held Indian Science Congress or even a 20-20 cricket match.

Kosi deluge and the relief work thereafter did put Bihar in news. Most of them talked about the inefficiency of the relief operation and apathy of the bureaucrats. Even recently also I came across a shocking report about many of the flood affected poor people now staying at a makeshift relief camp at Jadia Middle School under Treveniganj block in Supaul who are facing grim situation because of severe winter condition.

Bihar’s engineer-turned-politician chief minister has announced to embark on a development march where he promises to provide service to his people right at their doorsteps. Perhaps this is another experiment after his Janata Durbar to reach to the people. I wish him a success if it is not a pre-election gimmick. He should also see that all the normal work doesn’t stop in the area he visits because of the excuse of his visits. I don’t know if he will also spend his nights in the villages to understand the reality from nearer quarter or in the towns with circuit house or some other government accommodations.

I wish the government with all the aids from the centre and various international agencies and individuals would have taken up the rebuilding plan in Kosi deluge affected regions with the same planning skill and efficient execution speed as those of the relief works in the Tsunami affected areas in South. Will the relief work include the building of safe highland disaster relief centres that may have cluster of the school, panchayat bhawan, information kiosk, community centre, health care and trade training centre along the highways with multipurpose uses for all situations?

I am sure many like me must be feeling sorry and sometimes angry with the news reports of the Lalu’s childish endeavours to gain publicity or to prove his concern for the people at the cost of the taxpayers’ money. Is it prudent to spend on full page advertisements of railway functions in Jamalpur and Bhagalpur in national newspapers? As reported, the railway minister has laid the foundation of or inaugurated as many as 15 railway projects in Bihar within 28 days “to make Bihar the best”. Is it not a very late realization? Lalu claims to “have planned to spend over Rs 65,000 crore to set up railway-related factories, a wagon factory in Chhapra and Digha-Pahleja rail bridge and services” in Bihar. Can we believe this? Lalu Prasad gifted Bhagalpur a weekly train to Yashwantpur in Bangalore and announced setting up of a railway divisional headquarters. As it appears, the train will facilitate the students of the region to go to Bangalore for seeking admissions in professional colleges that the Bihar failed to set up in last sixty years. Paswan has inaugurated the revival of the moribund Baruani Fertilizer factory in north Bihar’s Begsarai district. In last few years that he is minister, he could have certainly done better for Bihar. Lalu and Paswan mustn’t take the people of Bihar as fools who can get content with these gimmicks. They will prefer to not have those projects rather than having them in chairs again.

Leave aside their constituency it is unfortunate that the politicians of Bihar starting from Rajendra Prasad and Jagjivan Ram have hardly done anything for even their own villages where they were born and the schools where they got the pre-college education unlike Mulayam and Mayawati.

Competing with each other Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan have either led foundation stones or inaugurated many ambitious schemes. No one knows if that would ever come up. As reported by many from Bihar whom I meet often, Nitish Kumar government has been working hard to improve the road, power, school and health sectors. Nitish government has also made kidnap trade slump and has also taken some tough decisions, for example, one to sack 15,000 primary and secondary school teachers with fake degrees and certificates. Some other achievement regarding encouraging clean administration is also is a good beginning.

However, I wish Nitish would have taken up some fast track projects to increase the employment of the locals that he keeps on promising to Biharis to eliminate their humiliations in far flung states where they migrate for finding their livings. Will he consider concentrating on just two sectors- food processing and tourism? Can he select few of the smartest and efficient officers for getting industries related to sugar, potatoes, licchis, and mangoes? Many a time it appears his hard work is not giving visible results as he lacks the right cabinet ministers and officers to assist him. I wish he focuses on it. He can certainly succeed but not only by vote-bank related political moves.

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Future Cars: Necessity and Innovation

Posted on January 3, 2009 by indra

2008 perhaps saw the biggest rise and fall of the stock market indexes as well as crude oil price. A priority for changing the source of energy of automobiles from fossil fuels to alternative fuels appeared to becoming a necessity. Hybrids also got a major push. I wonder if the companies will continue to push for the innovative endeavours when the crude oil has tumbled down to a low never expected and same is the case of gasoline price.

GM, the mightiest of yester years and with perhaps maximum expenditure on R&D in auto sector world over even while facing a fear of bankruptcy still pins hope on Chevy Volt to salvage the situation. Interestingly, the GM chairman drove in this hybrid to plead for the bailout second time with lawmakers in US after getting a bitter press for using expensive private jet first time. Unlike a conventional hybrid Volt uses its engine as a generator for its lithium-ion batteries and is plugged in for recharging GM is investing $1 billion or more in the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid, as a big long-term bet. According to GM, the car, which is scheduled to arrive in showrooms in late 2010 two years from now, will be able to travel 40 miles on a charge, but it will also have a small gas engine to extend the range to as much as 640 miles using both the battery and gasoline (the 1.4 liter, four-cylinder engine is intended to run a generator that will power the car and recharge the batteries once they are depleted). It may cost about $40,000.

In the meantime, on Dec. 15, the Chinese battery maker turned car company, BYD Auto went ahead of General Motors, Toyota, and Nissan by introducing in Shenzhen the first mass-produced plug-in hybrid. BYD’s new car, with a $22,000 price tag (about the same as many Chinese-made mid-sized cars), can run for up to 60 miles on a battery charged from an ordinary electricity outlet.

Toyota had been the pioneer in hybrid car with its large scaled produced Prius. Toyota has sold over one million hybrid cars across the world. It has gone further integrating solar panels in its cars of future. According to the latest report, Toyota motors of Japan that posted its loss first time in last 70 year is secretly developing a vehicle that will be powered solely by solar energy in an effort to turn around its struggling business with a futuristic ecological car. The solar car is part of efforts by Japan’s top automaker to grow during hard times.

Tesla Roadster is another innovative product, an all electric car with the aim of proving that electric cars do not have to be slow pokes. It can accelerate to 100kms per hour in four seconds and can be recharged from a wall socket.

But where are the mass produced hydrogen fuel-cell cars that have been promised for a decade. The Economist called it ‘the car of the perpetual future’. In Las Vegas in January 2008, Rick Wagoner, the CEO of GM unveiled the Cadillac Provoq, a new hydrogen fuel-cell concept car with a drivetrain emitting only water vapour, a 300-mile range and a top speed of 160kph (100mph), but again with no promise for the date of commercial introduction as usual. Interestingly, a decade earlier, in 1998, Mr Wagoner’s predecessor, Jack Smith, told the Detroit auto show that GM had a plan to produce a production-ready fuel-cell vehicle “by 2004 or sooner”. Ford also saw fuel-cell cars as being a viable alternative to petrol cars.

But another question is also quite pertinent. Why can’t a car get 50 miles per gallon? All new cars in Europe average 43mpg, or in Japan, the average hits 50mpg. The United States is stuck at 25mpg in its considerably larger and more powerful cars, trucks and SUVs. According to Don Hillebrand, a former Chrysler engineer and now director of transportation research for Argonne National Labs, “Auto companies can deliver it within a year.” The quickest way to make a car more fuel-efficient is to make it smaller, lighter and equip it with some high-tech (a.k.a. costly) propulsion system like a plug-in gas-electric system.

It will be interesting to learn of an exercise Ford just went through. It ran a computer simulation on what would happen to the mileage of a Ford Focus small car if you built it entirely out of lightweight aluminum. Losing the steel allowed the Focus to drop 1,000 pounds-30 percent of its body weight. That enabled Ford to outfit it with a tiny one-liter engine, half the size of its old engine, but far more fuel efficient because of new technology. Interestingly, the small motor goes just as fast as the big one because the car is so much lighter. The result: fuel economy on this fabulous Focus went from 35mpg to 50mpg. However, the cost of an all-aluminum car could top $50,000. GM hosts a live chat about the potential for a 100 mpg car.

And in India while M&M has its ‘micro-hybrid’, all the car manufacturers will start putting a ‘Fuel Efficiency’ sticker on all new cars after January 1, 2009 that will provide the car’s optimum fuel economy in a combined (city and highway) cycle certified by Bureau of Energy efficiency. I still wonder if Tata Motors’ Nano, waiting to get into market soon will be really fuel efficient and safe enough to enter the markets of developed countries.

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Sudden Slowdown in Indian Auto Sector

Posted on January 2, 2009 by indra

The slowdown in Indian auto sector-both for OEMs as well as auto component manufacturers, has been sudden and so is worrying for the country. Domestic sales are going down because of credit squeeze by banks financing it. Interest on loans and so EMIs has gone up. Banks are too cautious and reluctant. Banks have been tightening credit standards. Interest rates on car loans hover at around 14% to 18%, up from 10% to 12% not long ago. I wonder why the interest rate in India is so much high as against the rates charged by the banks in developed countries. Is it because of the lack of the operational efficiency or the greed to make too high profit? It has made customers to go either in saving mode or the waiting mode (window shopping) for better price.

Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland have cut production by closing for few days every month. Exports have reduced. Even Hyundai India that exports maximum number of cars has cut a shift, from three to two.

Every day one or the other news appears about the reduced sales of some companies. Is it the aftereffects of US meltdown that has made US Big Threes vulnerable towards bankruptcy? Can Bush bailout save the American auto sector? Will the managements of Detroit Three restructure enough for survival and growth? Will the new products in pipeline such as hybrid Chevy Volt save GM? How much time will it take for recovery of the economy? Auto industry in Europe, Japan, and even in China is in problem. Toyota for the first time has posted loss.

Drastic reductions in production of vehicles in US and even in Japan have shrunk India’s exports of auto components too. While the manufacturers might not have resorted to layoffs of workmen, the situation remains grim and it is difficult to predict what are in store if the global slowdown continues?

Everything was going fine. India’s auto component manufacturers had come out of the cocoon scaling up production, designing and manufacturing to the world class standard, and getting some brand name through TQM, Six sigma, TPM, Deming prizes and ISO certification. Some of the manufacturers were going in top gear with acquisitions in Western countries and export to almost all the big auto OEMs of the world.

Until a year ago, India was the fastest-growing automotive market in the world. Today the $33.3 billion Indian auto industry has slumped to an eight-year low. In keeping with Toyota’s global practice, the companies are resorting to training sessions during plant holidays to ensure that the workforce is not idle. Some may go to work on corporate social responsibility projects.
Slowdown has also slowed the companies’ investment plans to expand capacities. The company such as Nissan-Renault has decided to go slow on Greenfield projects in Chennai.

The Chinese auto component manufacturers are adding fuel to the fire through dumping, particularly for India’s auto component manufacturers. A large number of smaller companies are resorting to layoff and even shut down. Big manufacturers, such as Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra and Mahindra, TVS Motors and Ford Motor India, find it cheaper to switch over to the Chinese imports. Instead of helping the small manufacturers, many are already sourcing important components from China and reaping the benefits of globalization. The government assumes that some tax concessions are good enough for revival or to face the Chinese competition. It is unfortunate that the government and the manufacturers associations such ACMA, SIAM or CII have no strategy to make India’s small manufacturers competitive. According to the Automotive Component Manufacturers’ Association, auto component imports from China have risen by 130% in the past two years and now constitute more than 15% of the total components imported from other countries from 1.5% in 2003-04. The value of auto component imports from China stood at Rs 2,200 crore in 2007-08. Uncertainty of orders flow from US and European carmakers in trouble is also worrying the auto component manufacturers. Some good news from some OEMs in Europe such as one from German auto major, Volkswagen AG may give hope, but such news are rare.

I don’t know if the people in general realize the consequences of the slowdown. Every truck sold creates employment for 5 persons on average. Even a car provides employment, the higher end ones more. Can one tell me the number of persons in India employed as drivers, cleaners, and motor mechanics?

To keep the auto sector booming, Indian banks, most in public sector must keep the credit flowing to the genuine customers of vehicles, cars, trucks or tractors who are capable of paying back. The banks must cut down their operational costs to keep the interest rates similar to one by MNCs using IT and other technologies.

Auto manufacturers must work drastically on disruptive cost innovations along with R&D for fuel efficiency improvements and other product upgradations. Let Nano be a guiding philosophy for pricing, and not the Western pricing methodologies.

The government must be proactive in helping the manufacturing sectors through better infrastructure, government R&D facilities, and rational tax structures. I still think that the luxury cars of higher prices including Hybrid ones must have lesser tax burdens. The amount of tax collected on these cars at higher rates can’t provide any employment even if the government invests the amount for the purpose. However, each of these cars sold will need a driver or two and some more to maintain.

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India 2008-The Year That Was

Posted on January 1, 2009 by indra

The year 2008 had been volatile with India emerging high as well as seeing some low. I have here some 10 events of 2008 that gave me a lot of hope and happiness, though some even very personal.

1.Indo US Civil Nuclear Deal: Finally after almost three years or more of hard work that saw many worrying moments, on October 9 President George W Bush signed the Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement it into a law after the approval of US lawmakers. In some what exceptional way, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approved nuclear safeguards agreement with India, and then on September 6, 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group approved Indo-US civil nuclear deal. Naturally the credit of the Deal must go to the perseverance and shrewd political moves of Man Mohan Singh. And I hope by now India would have arranged sufficient of uranium fuels to run its existing nuclear plants that were starving for the fuel at the optimum of efficiency.

2.Unique Indian Innovation: Ratan Tata unveiled the world’s cheapest car, the Rs 1-lakh Nano, at the ninth Auto Expo in Delhi on January 10 and got the accolades from the auto experts from all over the globe. Tata Motors went for the speediest possible implementation for productionizing Nano at Singur, West Bengal. However, on October 3, Tata Motors had to pull out the Rs 1-lakh Nano project from Singur. Rattan Tata told the West Bengal CM, Buddhadev Bhattacharya with a heavy heart that the situation at the factory site in Singur not suitable for further work, owing to the agitation led by Trinamool Congress leader, Mamata Banerjee who had become the villain to sabotage this great national project that could have become a pride for India. On October 7, indomitable Ratan Tata signed agreement with Gujarat CM Narendra Modi to set up the Nano car manufacturing plant in Sanand, 30 km from Ahmedabad. India will have to wait till 2009 end to get Nanos in number. Singur became a part of failed India and its politicians. With the global meltdown, particularly affecting the auto industry world over, people will still wait for Nano, if it proves itself as necessity in every family.

3.Historic Waiver: Union Budget on February 29 announced the biggest-ever loan waiver for farmers in Indian fiscal history at Rs 60,000 crore (perhaps much more) benefitting about 30 million small and marginal farmers. Some have questions. Are the farmers smiling? Will it prove as disincentive for those who regularly return their loans?

4.Indian Automaker Becoming Global Player: Tata Motors on March 26 acquired Jaguar and Land Rover of UK from Ford Motors for $2.3 billion in cash, the largest acquisition by an Indian company in the automobile business. Will Tata Motors succeed where Ford with all its technical strength and deep pocket failed? Perhaps it will be a challenge as well as an opportunity to the Indian entrepreneurial and managerial talent? Ratan Tata has become one of the most visible CEO in global media titles. No one could even dream the height he has reached when he took over from legendary JRD Tata with so many dissenting oldies heading Tata enterprises.

5.Expanding Mobile Market: July saw the addition of mobile users at 9.22 million. Some considered that as record. But now the monthly figure of additions has gone up to 10 million or more. Indians bought 5,000 mobile phones every day of the year total number of mobile phones subscribers in the country reaching to 325 million. And it is not only mobile phones, even the shipments of consumers notebooks grew by 141% during the first quarter of 2008, according to International Data Corporation, India.

6.Maiden Lunar Mission: On November 8, Indian maiden unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan-I of ISRO entered the lunar orbit. On November 14, Chandrayaan-I sent exploratory stick on the moon. India becomes the fourth nation to mark its presence on the lunar surface. And the scientists and technocrats of ISRO are making the organization globally important and earning revenues too. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully conducted the flight acceptance “hot test” of an indigenous Cryogenic Engine. ISRO has already completed the design of Chandayaan-II ISRO is earning about Rs 10 billion (Rs 1,000 crore) annually from its commercial wing. This is expected to grow at 20 percent per year. Can some of the researches and innovations at ISRO be transformed into products in demand world over?

7.A World Class Company: Reliance Petroleum commissioned a second refinery in Jamnagar on December 25. The Rs 25,000-crore refinery, with processing capacity of 580,000 barrels a day, is the sixth largest refinery in the world. Together with the existing Reliance Industries’ refinery, the total capacity of the complex will go up to 1.24 million barrels a day making it the largest in the world at a single location. The refinery, with a Nelson complexity index of 14, is capable of refining low quality crude oil and producing high quality fuels, which will boost its margins.

8.Envious Neighbour 26/11: In multi-location attacks in Mumbai at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower and the Oberoi Trident, and the Orthodox Jewish-owned Nariman House, Pakistani terrorists armed with machine-gun and grenades killed at least 183 people and injured 308. Will the people protests end with the resignations of ministers or the country’s government come out with long-term measures that don’t allow it to happen again? Will the neighbour have its change of heart without any punitive action from India? Will it take a lesson from the exhilarating participation of the people of J&K in its recent assembly election and its message? (Read Prem Shankar Jha’s views. ‘A new way has dawned’.

9.Barrack Obama Win and America: On November 4, Barack Obama, 47, got elected the 44th president of the United States becoming the first African-American to hold the post. Americans proved their liberal and secular depth and took its democracy at its unprecedented height. Will it be a lesson for Indians? Can Indians prioritize their identity as Indian and the interest of India over all other practiced in reality?

10.And a personal event, Krish Arrives: And on September 25, Krish arrived. We became 13 because of the grace of the Almighty whatever may be His name.

So thus ended 2008.

Let 2009 see the end of the global slowdown fast. With so much of talent available, it will be really a sad thing if the people who matter can’t find out an effective and fast solution to overcome the misery of the meltdown.

Wishing A Happy New Year 2009 For All.

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Developing India-A New Measure

Posted on December 31, 2008 by indra

Technology can solve many of India’s problems easily and effectively. Most of the universities are functioning with fewer than desired number of teachers. Even among the available ones, many are poorly qualified and can hardly meet the desired standard of teaching of their subjects. How can then India’s education standard equal that of the developed countries? Similar situation prevails even in school education. Internet can help in mitigating the problem to certain extent.

More and more Indians now find learning made easy and interesting by their tutors online. Subjects may be anything, be it physics, electronics, or French or Japanese. I have written about Salman Khan who has done a great work to teach mathematics through video clips on You Tube. Huge number of students is getting benefitted through similar endeavours of many enthusiast teachers. Do-it-yourself learning is becoming a trend through Internet connections with broadband in increasing number of houses. Today an engineering student of any college across India can get access to whatever the teachers in IITs are offering to their students without going to IIT. The student might have failed to get admission into the elite institutes. But nothing stops him to get access to the lectures that IIT and IISc professors have posted on YouTube in a project funded by the Indian government. Following US universities, teachers of IITs have begun posting course content on YouTube. Already 40 streaming hours of IIT teaching video is available free for anyone, be he in Nagpur or New York. Even with huge shortage of teachers, the project will give engineering students a chance to access quality peer-reviewed course content for free. It’s been quite a success judging from the fact that one lecture on basic electronics has been viewed by a whopping 100,000 viewers. Under Phase 2 of the project, quality teachers from other institutes besides the IITs and IISc will also be roped in to prepare lecture videos. Potentials are great.

The growth of broadband Internet must reach in every nook and corner of India. The scope for the entrepreneurs to create contents of every subject, be it language, mathematics, or science, and provide to millions of students in schools and colleges of India, is really wide.

According to Akamai Technology’s Quarterly State of the Internet Report for the third quarter of 2008, India had 2.6 million Internet protocol (IP) addresses-up 23 per cent over the second quarter this year. However, most Indians continued to use the internet for e-mail and social networking. Again, India ranks a lowly 153 in the number of IP addresses per capita, with around 2.3 IP addresses per capita, compared to 30 for China and 360 in the case of the US.

According to the report, only 5 per cent of browsers surveyed had connection speed of 2 mpbs or more, compared to 64 per cent for the US.

India is at number 4 among the top 10 nations of the world with 81 million Internet users as against United States with 220 million, China 210 million and Japan 88.1 million

The internet emerged this year as a leading source for campaign news in US presidential election. It has now surpassed all other media except television as a main source for national and international news. For more than a billion people on the planet, the Web today is an alternate, digital universe that is gradually overtaking the analog, physical world as a source of information and connections.

Shopping in India is also going online in big way. More than a billion hits were registered on the top online buying and selling site eBay in 2007 with shoppers bidding on everything from phones and diamonds to stamps and lingerie. I bought Imagining India of Nandan Nilekani while I was in US from online. The book was waiting when I entered my premises. It is already helping the youngsters in match making or searching for homes for rental or purchase. There are many more areas where Internet will be of immense help.

Internet penetration and the number of its users will be a good measure of the development index of a country in years to come.

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Salman Khan: a math teacher with difference

Posted on December 28, 2008 by indra

I came to know of Salman Khan through a report in Times of India. He is a hedge fund manager of Indian origin in California, USA. His 700 videos on You Tube have become quite a hit with students abroad and in India.

I visited the site of this math tutor, and then to the site of his Khan Academy. It is a great work done for the student community. American students and their parents, rather the whole lot of student community over the world that can understand English should be happy to know and use his endeavour to teach different topics of the subject. One can check it by going to the site.

It’s often embarrassing for a student to ask a teacher too many questions, especially when it is about something basic that he or she is expected to know. On Internet, the student can choose his own time that he finds best to learn better. He can also pause a video or watch it as many times as they like.

Salman Khan has established a not-for-profit Khan Academy. Educated at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Khan developed his tutoring hobby when a younger cousin was having trouble with sixth-grade math. As word of his knack for teaching spread among relatives and family friends, Khan got tired of explaining the same things over and over, so he created videos and posted them on YouTube. He formed the Khan Academy.

Khan’s video clips have developed a following far beyond that immediate circle of relatives and friends. Internet has made him a global guru for maths. He gets e-mails from around the world – including requests for videos on specific topics and help solving particular problems. He now claims about 600 videos on subjects spanning math, physics and even the tanking economy.

A YouTube tutorial on calculus integrals has been watched almost 50,000 times in the past year. Others on angular velocity and harmonic motion have gotten more than 10,000 views each. Khan keeps churning out the clips for which he works on for about three hours a night. According to University of Miami education professor Walter Secada, who specializes in how math is taught, ‘The Khan videos he reviewed are accurate.’

I am sure the media of You Tube and Internet will make the learning easy for billions of children all over the world. I wish Indian teachers use this medium to spread the knowledge. Let many more Salman Khans come forward to spread the knowledge about the various subjects. Should we still worry of the shortage of teachers?

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India: Challenge of Innovation

Posted on December 27, 2008 by indra

According to the Booz & Company’s annual Global Innovation 1000 study, the top 80 U.S. corporate R&D spenders deployed an estimated US$80.1 billion of their $146 billion R&D funds overseas in 2007. The top 50 European companies spent $51.4 billion of their $117 billion total outside the continent. In Japan, the top 43 Japanese firms exported $40.4 billion of their total $71.6 billion to other countries. The Global Innovation 1000 companies are spending an average of 55 percent of their innovation dollars outside their home country. And the companies are doing this for a reason.

Companies that invest wisely in a multinational innovation footprint are gaining far better returns on their R&D investment than companies that exclusively keep their laboratories at home – or that fragment them across a wide variety of locations.

The Booz study provides an insight into the potentials for the R&D in India that if snatched can engage the students passing out after higher educational institutes. Indian scientists and technocrats are in demand. Many companies from the countries all over the world are trying to attract the best brains of India to use their talent. No good and sincere students should be in doubt about the employment today.

I quote from a recent Prime Minister’s speech about the encouraging work being done in India that must be inspiring for those who wish to go for knowledge sector to pursue R&D.

“The Diamond Jubilee Technology Award to Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. symbolizes the importance we attach to commercialization of scientific and technological research. The Rural Technology award given jointly to the National Research Centre on Yak for improvement of sustainable Yak husbandry practices in the Himalayan Region and to the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute along with the National Chemical Laboratory for genetic improvement of Deccani breed of sheep recognizes the difference these innovations have made to the livelihoods of the people in rural areas.”

“CSIR has undertaken a number of important initiatives over the past few years. We are the first country that has successfully mapped the entire genetic diversity of its population. This will lead to the identification of populations that are genetically at risk of various complex and infectious diseases including adverse drug responses. Another initiative that has immense economic importance for our farmers is a path breaking scientific discovery that enables mass propagation of even asexually produced seeds.”

However, it appears a lot of gap between the industry and the research institutes. According to officials in the Ministry of Steel, there are hardly any proposals from any research agencies, steel manufacturers or the engineering colleges for taking up steel-related research projects.

I request B Muthuraman, managing director, Tata Steel, and an IITian to take a note of it and take some initiative to prove the officials of Steel ministry wrong. Muthuraman while addressing Pan IIT Global Conference had given some information. According to him, ‘innovation will help cut inventories by as much as half and add value. For every tonne of steel produced, 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide is emitted. Every year, the steel industry across the world emits more than 2.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide’.

I wish the government officials get into proactive mode and start interacting more effectively with the right people in the steel industry. Similar actions are necessary in all the sectors to make India a knowledge power and that is where India can lead. All the stakeholders are to use the opportunity of global melt down and innovations in millions can find solution rather than those unscrupulous minds of financial wizards such as Bernard Madoff.

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Clean Car Technologies: Can Indian innovators contribute?

Posted on December 26, 2008 by indra

It was interesting to hear Ravi Kant of Tata Motors suggesting that ‘India should focus on producing cheap, efficient and small electric cars over the next five years’ at Pan-IIT Global Conference 2008. Why didn’t Tata Motors, the only Indian car manufacturer in real sense, take that initiative? Why was it left to Maini and its Reva?

Ravi Kant and the whole lot of auto enthusiasts globally understand this global necessity in the interest to cut down the global warming. The same is true for all the IITs and many nationally known institutes such as Central Mechanical Engineering research Institute at Durgapur. Don’t the scientists, technology researchers and the policymakers in India know how successful has been the Toyota Prius in US? American Big Three missed on the opportunity because of the powerful oil lobby and the world knows why the US has lost the lead in auto business to Japanese. However, very lately all the three are working hard for developing a viable hybrid, more so electric cars. GM perceives its Chevorlet Volt as savior in competition as well as for its survival. Ford is also in the queue for electric cars.

I don’t know if the three will continue with the focus or give up as the price of oil has come down again, as one report says, it has gone cheaper than even mineral water.

Interestingly, the Chinese have already launched their electric car that is technically competitive with the other available product. The Chinese company has a superior battery technology.

With almost very little fossil oil of its own, India would have done a serious work on alternative energy sources for auto application. Indian policy makers must appreciate how automobiles decide the economic growth and employment of a country. Every car produced generate on average employment for at least two persons. Today perhaps the country must be getting a large number of semiskilled persons engaged as drivers every year. Here are some alternate technologies at which Indian industry and policy makers must focus.

1.Plug-In Hybrids. Plug-in hybrids, with 40-mile all-electric range and the ability to recharge from standard house current, will be on the market in the next two or three years. The leading (and only) mainstream players are General Motors (which plans on introducing a Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid) and Toyota (with an adapted Prius). Ambitious startups (Fisker, BYD) are also planning to field plug-in hybrids. All of them are developing lithium-ion battery packs that can stand up to repeated discharge and recharge cycles and still demonstrate the longevity that today’s nickel-metal-hydride hybrid battery packs have had.

2.Battery Electrics. Lithium-ion is the current leader, but is it ready to carry four passengers in a fully featured, crashworthy sedan more than 200 miles? Nissan has plans to bring an electric car to the U.S. by 2010. Chrysler has also surprised the world by suddenly announcing a concept car known as the Dodge EV, a sports car. It claimed 150-mile range and blistering acceleration of zero to 60 in less than five seconds. The sports car was clearly aimed at the Tesla Roadster, a California-built $100,000 exotic which (like the Chrysler) sports a Lotus-designed body.

3.Range Extenders. General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt, with production slated for the end of 2010 is something new: an electric car with a gas motor whose only function (it’s not connected to the wheels) is to keep the electric motor spinning after the batteries are depleted. As with plug-in hybrids, 40 miles can be enjoyed in battery-only mode, but the gas engine extends that to 400 miles or more.

4. Very Small Cars. High fuel prices have created a strong market for very small cars. Tiny, fuel- and space-efficient cars once relegated only to Europe or Asia will enter US too. Toyota iQ, the minuscule car is just 118 inches long, but can carry three adults (plus a child) and reportedly achieves 60/51 mpg fuel economy. Tata Motors’ Nano can join the competition.

5. Fuel Cells. Hydrogen can be the fuel. The possibilities are endless, since hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. Big drawbacks now are the cost of the fuel and, of course, the cars themselves. Manufacturers are General Motors ( Sequel and Equinox SUVs under test) and Honda (FCX Clarity).It is interesting to know that ISRO is working on fuel cells for auto application.

6. Salad Oil. Companies such as Massachusetts-based Greasecar have found a niche converting diesels to run on 100 percent biofuel.

7. Liquid Hydrogen. BMW’s Hydrogen 7 can run on a tank full of energy-dense liquid hydrogen. Hydrogen is expensive to begin with, and it liquefies at -423 degrees Fahrenheit, meaning a super-cooled cryogenic tank is obligatory. If a car left alone for too long, much of the hydrogen will return to a gaseous state and vent out. The big challenges: affordable hydrogen production and liquification; easy refueling; and answering safety questions.

8. Ethanol. GM and Ford are world leaders in producing “flex-fuel” vehicles that can run on ethanol or gasoline. While America is stuck with a “food vs. fuel” controversy, Brazil has become pioneer in using ethanol from sugarcanes. India can and should go Brazil way

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Booming and Blooming India-XXXII

Posted on December 24, 2008 by indra

font color=”#FF0000″ size=”3″>Tata set to clinch Jaguar-Land Rover deal: Indian conglomerate Ta><tas are the top choice for buying the US auto giant Ford’s iconic British brands Jaguar and Land Rover, according to a media report here.

L&T in power business: L&T has entered into a joint venture agreement with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for setting up a manufacturing unit in India for super-critical steam turbine and generator facility, investing about Rs 880 crore and having a product configuration catering to plant capacities ranging between 500 Mw and 1,000 MW. L&T also has a joint venture with Japan’s Toshiba to manufacture power plant equipment in India.

L&T to pump in Rs2,000 cr in 3 shipyards: Engineering and construction company Larsen & Tuobro has shortlisted three locations for its next shipyards on which the company will invest up to Rs2,000 crore.

LG India to invest over Rs 1,100 cr: LG Electronics India Ltd, the local unit of South Korean consumer durables maker, will invest over Rs 1,100 crore in the next three years.

Tatas world’s 3rd most accountable group: The Tata Group, easily India’s most respected business house, has been named the world’s third most accountable and transparent company by Britain’s One World Trust. The report ranked GE number 1 and GlaxoSmithKline number 2 among the most transparent and accountable companies.

India Inc signs deals worth $68.32 b in 2007: India Inc was on a shopping spree in 2007, striking deals including merger and acquisition (M&A) and private equity investment worth $68.32 billion against $28.16 billion last year, a rise of 142.61 per cent, according Grant Thornton’s Dealtracker.

Boeing signs $1 bn outsourcing deal with HAL: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has signed a $1 billion (Rs3,949 crore) manufacturing outsourcing contract with American aerospace major Boeing over ten years.

Danone enters Indian market: French dairy giant Group Danone kicked off its joint venture with Yakult of Japan to manufacture probiotic drinks in the country and has already invested Rs 136 crore in setting up a dairy product manufacturing facility in Sonepat, Haryana.

India sees 10% growth by 2012: Economy could be growing by 10% a year by 2012 with the right set of policies, but the US sub-prime crisis might trim exports and capital flows.

Welspun acquires Portuguese bath rug firm: Welspun India, a home textiles firm and a part of Welspun group, has acquired 76% stake in Portuguese bath rug firm, Sorema-Tapates e Cortinas de Banho at an enterprise value of Rs 60 crore.

Direct tax mop-up rises 42.5%: The Centre’s tax kitty continues to swell. Direct tax collections grew 42.5% for the period April-December to Rs 1,64,407 crore, compared to Rs 1,15,377 crore during the same period last fiscal.

ONGC joins Fortune’s most admired list: Natural Gas Corp Ltd (ONGC) has become the first Indian company to feature in Fortune magazine’s annual list of the world’s most admired companies.

Tata Motors to display Rs 1 lakh car next month: The four-door car, which will have a rear engine and seat at least four passengers, is expected to go on sale in the later part of 2008. According to the company chairman Ratan Tata, the car will be the least polluting vehicle on the Indian roads and meet necessary safety standards.

Tata Motors` Rs 1 lakh car a trendsetter: Tata Motors’ Rs 1 lakh car would represent a paradigm shift in the low-cost transport segment, not only in India, but across the whole world, said R A Mashelkar, the former chief of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

ISRO plans colony on moon: In what may well be the first step towards establishing the first “human colony” on the moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is examining the possibility of establishing a robotic set-up or unmanned mission on the moon.

Wal-martisation of healthcare: Narayana Hrudayalaya performs close to 30 open heart surgeries and almost an equal number of catheterisation procedures a day, which is eight times the average at other Indian hospitals.

Taj expressway: The Rs 2,250-crore Taj Expressway project, which envisages a six-laned 165 km stretch connecting Greater Noida to Agra, would reduce travel time between Delhi to Agra from the current four hours to around two hours.

Auto part investments to treble in 3 yrs: Domestic auto component companies are investing Rs 30,000 crore to cash in on the automobile boom. Automobile capacity in the country will double from 2.2 million unit per annum to 4.4 million by 2010.

India Pistons to invest Rs 200 cr: Following the announcement of its 50:50 joint venture with the Germany-based Mahle GmbH, auto component manufacturer India Pistons is drawing up an expansion programme involving an outlay of about Rs 200 crore over the next 2-3 years.

Aurobindo to invest $1billion: Hyderabad-based pharma company Aurobindo Pharma, which has plans to emerge as a billion dollar company by 2009-10, is enhancing its presence in Europe by investing $100 million in phases.

Mahindra World City: New Chennai, one of the first private SEZs to come into operation in the country, expects to attract investments to the tune of $1-1.5 billion over the next five years. It also expects to generate job opportunities for over 50,000 people during this period and houses three sector-specific SEZs – information technology and electronic hardware, apparel and fashion accessories, and auto components.

India ‘rules’ IBM: IBM Corp’s expansion in developing countries shows no sign of relenting. The technology company revealed that it now has 73,000 employees in India, almost a 40 per cent leap from last year.

India growing as preferred destination for clinical trials: India is growing as a preferred destination for global clinical trials and research, with the market being estimated to reach $1.5 billion by 2010, which may trigger a shortage of around 30,000 to 50,000 clinical research professionals by then.

PC market grows by 25%: IDC The Indian notebook PC market grew almost 85% to cross the 500,000 shipments mark in a single quarter, according to IDC’s India Quarterly PC Tracker, Q3 2007.

CII to pool in India Inc`s education initiatives: Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is bringing all industry initiatives in education on one platform.

Israeli firm to invest $2 b for building township in Jaipur: Fishman Holdings, a leading Israel-based firm is planning to invest $2 billion in a project in Jaipur to build a four million square metre township.

Dupont’s R&D centre to conduct crop research: DuPont’s first research & development centre in India, which is coming up in Hyderabad early next year, will for the first time see basic research in areas like crop genetics head to an offshore centre. The Indian centre, which has some 300 scientists, will deal in developing biotech traits and technologies that will be incorporated into multiple crops for the global market.

Indians key to next billion mobile users: Although only about one in 20 of the world’s first two billion mobile subscribers live in India, as many as one in every four of the next billion subscribers will be an Indian, a report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said.

Under the shadow of slowdown, Indians are moving ahead to bloom. Let the new year bring a new drive to move faster towards the goal of ‘propsperity for all’.

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Entrepreneuring India

Posted on December 22, 2008 by indra

Economist in its latest edition has an unusual story of IRFAN ALAM, a 27-year-old from Begusarai in Bihar and his typically Indian thirsts of entrepreneurship exhibited through his company SammaaN Foundation that he established in Patna in 2007.

Irfan Alam, the founder and chairman, SammaaN Foundation came out with an innovative idea and transformed it into a business model. It relates to the cycle rickshaw pulling business where the men engaged hardly made a respectable earning. Alam’s idea made it profitable and honourable with small but innovative changes. In Alam’s business plan, rickshaw puller makes the ride for the commuter more comfortable and enjoyable with provision of music, magazine/news papers, and even first aid. He designed the rickshaws in such a way that it gives ample space to put the advertisement on the side, front and back panels of the rickshaw. Rickshaw puller additionally earns from various value-added services such as sale of mineral water, juices, mobile recharge, courier collection, bills collections. The company intrudes for the first time prepaid rickshaws in India.

This is the story of one of the 30 Indian enterprises shortlisted in a competition to find the country’s “hottest” start-up. The contest attracted over 500 nominees. The National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) and the Tata group have promoted the contest to catch up with the spirit of enterprise on India’s campuses.

More than 75% of the nominees are, like Mr Alam, first-generation entrepreneurs who do not hail from business families. Two-thirds of the final 30 have masters degrees. In short, they have plenty of options. Their enthusiasm for entrepreneurship represents a growing willingness on the part of highly educated Indians to turn their backs on careers in brand-name companies and strike out on their own.

Is it not heartening in a country where media keeps on providing stories of depressing political terrorism such as one of promoting another Rabri Devi in Rajasthan or mischievous move of AR Antuley?

PS:
I see the entrepreneurs in India all around; in Sunday bazzar, on the footpaths and highways, around malls and multiplexes. The stories of many entrepreneurs of India are interesting and may inspire many more. It appeared in one recent ‘India Today’s special issue. Open the link and see under the main caption ‘The lotus in the swamp’. Some that I got impressed with are:

The spice king Sadananda Maiya (MTR Foods) , medical device manufacturer, flower seller S. Ramakrishna Karuturi ( Karuturi Global) , household baker Rajni Bector (Cremica), Education service provider Shantanu Prakash (Educomp Solutions), Alok Jalan (Laqshya Media), Deepak Puri (Moser Baer), R K. Sinha ( Security and Intelligence Services), Porus Irani (Handiman Services Limited), Bangaruswami Soundarajan (Suguna Poultry), Sushil Kanubhai Shah ( Metropolis Health Services), VG Siddhartha (Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company), Mahendra Vinayak Vichare (Vichare Courier Services), Snack charmers Haldiram, Vandana Luthra (VLCC), Panda Rajan (MA FOI Consultants) , Natesan Murugan (Rajathi Group), Goutam Adani and beekeeper Jagjit Singh Kapoor (Kashmir Apiaries).

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