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Vol 3 Issue 6 June 2010
MINISTRY OF OVERSEAS INDIAN AFFAIRS
PRAVASI BHARATIYA
REDRAWINGA REVOLUTION
CONNECTING INDIA WITH ITS DIASPORA
Young and driven by a vision, they are empowering the villages of India bynurturing ideas, setting up enterprises and co-creating wealth
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izoklh Hkkjrh; dk;Z e=ky;Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs
www.overseasindian.in
lR;eo t;rs
GLOBAL-INDIAN
NETWORK OF KNOWLEDGEAN INITIATIVE OF THE MINISTRY OF OVERSEAS INDIAN AFFAIRS
izoklh Hkkjrh; dk;Z e=ky;Ministry of O verseas Indian Affairs
The Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) has partnered
with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to develop the GlobalINK framework.
An online web portal, it is powered by SupportCentral, a next generation knowledge
management, collaboration and business solutions platform.
The communities will also provide an array of collaboration tools:Blogs ForumsAsk an Expert Document management and sharing Online resource databases
Vol 3 Issue 6 June 2010
PRAVASI BHARATIYA
CONNECTING INDIA WITH ITS DIASPORA
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contentsontents
6
REVOLUTION ONTHE PERIPHERYThey are young and driven by a vision toempower rural India by setting upenterprises in the villages of the country
NEWSUS President Barack Obama emphasises howimportant India is to the US at the IndoUS strategicsummit that concluded recently
18ECONOMYThe Indian bureaucracy is in introspection mode.A mindset change is needed to attract privateinvestment, government officials said at a recent meet
DIASPORAKamla PersadBissessar creates history as she
becomes the first woman Prime Minister of Indianorigin of Trinidad and Tobago
THE POWER OF TWOCollaboration between academia and industry iskey to applied research and development that
makes a difference to society
28
36CUISINEMango lends its delectableflavour to anything it meldswith. Take stock of someyummy mango recipes toplease any palate
38TRAVELDebabrata Bhattacharjeetravels through Dhaka andBikramhati, exploring hischildhood jaunts andmemories...
42CINEMAThe 11th International IndianFilm Academy weekend saw afashion show, celebrity cricketmatch and a ritzy awardsceremony...
44BOOKSSudhir Sharma jots downhis thoughts and emotionsabout his life in prison inToote Armano KiAawaz
Printed and Published byMithlesh Kumar on behalf of the
Ministry of Overseas Indian AffairsAkbar Bhavan, Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi 110021Website: http://moia.gov.in
www.overseasindian.in
Consulting EditorK.G. Sreenivas
Pravasi Bharatiya is a monthlypublication. The views expressed in this
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Collaboration is all. This is the story of a bunch of young men andwomen, driven by a vision. A vision of b ringing about a quietrevolution on the margins as it were. There is no better way ofindustrialising the villages of India than the spinning wheel..., said
Gandhi. As a development metaphor, there couldnt have been a morepowerful messaging. The spinning wheel may not represent the formidablewheels of largescale industrialisation. Yet, it ably represents the power ofscalability, sustainability and selfreliance. The three today stand at a criticalcrossroads globally, in particular, for the developing world. The debate hasdeepened in philosophical force and intensity given the increasing fragilityof the worlds economic and ecosystems which di rectly impacts millions oflives and livelihoods across the world.
First principles can neither be cast in stone nor can they be sacrosanct.Hence the necessity of revisiting received wisdom as regards the foundingprinciples of development and equity. However, the spinning wheel doesntcall for a reinvention, it calls for ada ptation and scalability. Gandhi saysfurther: The charkhais intended to realise the essential and living onenessof interest among Indias myriads... To accommodate Indias myriadswould mean revisiting the constituencies of development and nationalpriority. Hence the deepening dialogue on inclusive development andequity. Which is where we go back to our original proposition of theessence of collaboration. In dozens of villages in Tamil Nadu, a handful of
young men and women are recasting the rules of d evelopment. Rather, theyare rewriting the first principles of development in an idiom bea ring close
affinity to the soil of native genius.Sreejith who heads ROPE, or
Rural Opportunities ProductionEnterprise, aims to bring manufacturing opportunities to rural Indiaand create employment opportunities for the rural unorganised sectorworkers through a replicable,scalable and commercially viableICTenabled rural distributed manufacturing model. Saloni Malhotra,who founded DesiCrew, a rural BPO,believes, In a rural context, themoney would be distributed locally,supporting the local economy andgenerating incomes.
Only a block away is Paul Basil whose Villgro is nurturing an ecosystemto incubate ideas and innovations in rural India. I was convinced that innovation and enterprise could address the rural poor, specifically, the smalland marginal farming communities, says Paul.
There is a link running through the stories of the three rural visionaries.Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala who at IIT Madras leads an iconic i nstitution, theRural Technology and Business Incubator. Ashok helps incubate ideas anddevelop fullfledged, selfsustaining rural enterprises. Until then (1990s)the whole idea of incubation was urbancentric. At the end of the 20thcentury, there was refocusing... away from urban India to rural India. It wasalso around the time that India began to make rapid strides in technologydriven development. But again it was rather urbanfocused. In a democraticenvironment it was bound to create tensions. We decided that technologypeople should focus on rural India.
This issue ofPravasi Bharatiyabrings to you this story being written onthe margins. You will also read about another collaboration, this timebetween academia and industry. Industry often needs to go back to thedrawing board for better results while researchers need to closely interactwith industry to get to know as to what is it that the community asconsumer wants in terms of better drugs, machines or technology.
Read about it all and more in the subsequent pages.K.G. Sreenivas
fromtheeditorsdesk
24
COVER STORY
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June 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya 76 Pravasi Bharatiya June 2010
NEWS
US President Barack Obama once againemphasised how important India is to the US atthe IndoUS strategic summit that concludedrecently, reports Arun Kumar
Proud to be inIndia: Obama
US President Barack Obama has said he plans to visit India in Novem
ber to together make history and progress that will be treasured by
generations to come, as he described IndoUS ties as one of the
defining partnerships of the 21st century. Our relations with India
are at the highest of priorities for my administration and for me personally as
president of the United States, Obama said at a reception on June 4 at the
State Department hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her Indian
counterpart S.M. Krishna after the inaugural USIndia Strategic Dial ogue.
I am delighted to announce tonight that I plan to visit India in early Novem
ber, he said. When it comes to building a future of greater prosperity, oppor
tunity and security for people, there is no doubt I have to go to India, but even
more I am proud to go to India. The rare gesture of attending a reception at
the State department was seen as a way to ease Indias concerns that the US
views ties with New Delhi through the prism of Pakistan and Afghanistan or a
rising China. Obama called India a responsible global power and said the un
precedented USIndia relationship will be
a defining partnership of the 21st century.
We value our partnership... because of
what we share and where we c an go to
gether, he said, adding that the two coun
tries share a vision of the future built on
security and prosperity. Obama said hehas to go to India to experience all that
India and its people and its incredible an
cient culture have to offer. Whatever sphere of the human mind you may se
lect for your special study, whether it be language or religion or mythology or
philosophy, whether it be law or customs, primitive art, or science, you have to
go to India, because some of the most valuable and instructive material of the
history of man are treasured up in India, and India only, he said while citing a
quote from an European scholar who travelled to India over 100 years back.
So I look forward to advancing our partnership, to experiencing all that
India and its people and its incredible ancient culture have to offer. So when it
comes to building a future of greater prosperity, opportunity and security for
our people, there is no doubt, I have to go India. But even more, I am proud to
go to India, and I look forward to the history that we will make together,
progress that will be treasured not just by this generation but by generations
to come. Krishna, too, stressed the importance of the USIndia relationship,
saying New Delhi can be a dependable anchor of the regions growth.
NO CHARGES FOR OLDPASSPORT SUBMISSIONThe government has acceded to the de
mands of Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs)
and has issued a clarification saying that
PIOs will not have to pay renunciation
charges while submitting old passports.
Similarly, the government has also waived
the penalty charges for retaining a passport
despite acquiring foreign citizenship for
over three years. PIOs had begun an online
petition to protest against a notification by
the Ministry of External Affairs ( MEA) issued
on May 13 that mandated that PIOs who
had acquired citizenship of other countries
would have to surrender their old passports
and there would be a penalty of Rs 10,000
for retaining the passport for above three
years. The government has now issued a
clarification that PIOs will not be asked to
pay any renunciation charges.
FUND FOR DISTRESSEDWORKERS ABROAD SET UPSetting up a fund for distressed Indian
workers abroad and a global network of In
dian origin people were among the impor
tant achievements of the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in
extending its hand of help to the diaspora
during the first year of its second term.
In his report card to the people, Prime Min
ister Dr. Manmohan Singh noted that his
government in March last year approved
the setting up of the Indian Community
Welfare Fund i n 17 Indian missions, mainly
in the Gulf and the Maldives. Besides, a
body of prominent members of the Indian
diaspora the PMs Global Advisory Coun
cil of Overseas Indians was set up and
held its first meeting on January 7 this year.
UK HEALTH OFFICE NO TOHIRING INDIAN DOCTORSBritain wants to recruit junior doctors from
India after their exodus from the countrydue to tightened immigration rules caused
a shortage, but the Home Office is not in
agreement. The National Health Service
(NHS) is reported to have interviewed doc
tors from India and even sought the help of
the British Association of Physicians of In
dian Origin (BAPIO) in its recruitment drive.
The BAPIO stipulated that the doctors
should be allowed to stay and get training
for between three and four years, rather
than the twoyear limit currently in place.
But the British Home Office said no, pour
ing cold water on the NHS drive. The Home
Office is the lead government department
for immigration and passports, drugs policy,
crime, counterterrorism and police.
I am proud to go to India, and I look forwardto the history that we will make together, progressthat will be treasured not just by this generation
but by generations to come
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NEWS
INDIA SUPPORTS CANADA, OZ ON BANK TAX
India, South Africaink three accords
India and South Africa inked three ac
cords during the visit of the SouthAfrican President Jacob Zuma to India
recently and agreed to work jointly to
promote Africa as a global investment desti
nation, and decided to call for reforms of the
United Nations. Prime Minister Dr. Manmo
han Singh and South African President Jacob
Zuma, who was on his first visit to an Asian
country, held talks covering a wide swathe of
bilateral and global issues, including intensi
fication of economic ties and closer coordi
nation over global issues. Setting a target of
$10 billion bilateral trade by 2012, they also
focused on jointly working to promote and
develop Africa as the next global investment
destination.
Today, President Zuma and I have de
cided to impart a forwardlooking character
to these ties, and to further broadbase our
cooperation, said Dr. Singh. We have
agreed to focus on the expansion of our eco
nomic, trade and investment relationship, he
said, while underlining South Africas influ
ential role in world affairs.
The discussions were held in an atmos
phere reflective of the fraternal warmth, affection and strategic partnership that
characterise the bilateral relations, the ex
ternal affairs ministry said in a statement.
Acknowledging the rising global clout of the
two countries, Dr. Singh and Zuma called for
speeding up reform of the UN and interna
tional decisionmaking institutions to reflect
contemporary realities.
The two countries support each other's bid
for a nonpermanent seat in the UN Security
Council. We agreed to support each other's
candidature for the nonpermanent seat for
the 201112 term, the prime minister said.
while describing Zumas maiden visit to India
as a milestone in Indias relations with
South Africa.
Coming out in support of developing countries and Australia and Canada, Indias Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told his
counterparts during the G20 meeting in Busan, South Korea that India does not favour taxing banks to create a corpus for future
bailouts and that more importance should be given to regulations to detect and contain any deviation in the f unctioning of
financial institutions. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee made this clear during talks with Sakong Il, chairman of the presidential
committee for G20 finance ministers meeting, in the South Korean city of Busan. The levy idea is backed by the United States and
Europe. Developing nations plus Australia and Canada oppose it, saying their banks did not trigger the 20089 financial crisis and
should not have to pay for cleaning up the mess. Mukherjee said Indias banking system could withstand the trouble, mainly
because of wellplaced regulations. Indian banks had largely remained unaffected during the global financial crisis, which saw
many large banks based in the US and Europe go under or seek state help to stay afloat.
INDIA, SEYCHELLES SIGNTWO AGREEMENTSIndia and the Seychelles signed two
economic agreements in New Delhi
during the visit of the Indian Ocean na
tions President James Michel in the first
week of June 2010. The Seychelles presi
dent held formal talks with Indian Prime
Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh after
which they signed two deals. Michel ar
rived on June 2 on a threeday state visit.
We have signed the Non Double Taxa
tion Agreements with several countries.We have also today signed a Bilateral In
vestment Promotion and Protection
Agreement with India, Michel said at an
interaction with captains of Indian in
dustry. Delineating the areas of possible
economic cooperation, Michel listed in
dustrial fishing, renewable energy, eco
tourism projects in outer islands, retail
sector and Information Technology. But
he urged that more linkages be estab
lished between Seychelles capital Victo
ria and Indian cities. He said that
negotiations will take place for a Bilateral
Air Services Agreement later this month,
which will surely open the window to
increase in exchanges.
US-INDIA TRADE BODYSTARTS EDUCATION PLANLooking ahead to global economy of
the future, the USIndia Business Council
(USIBC) has launched a new education
initiative aimed at strengthening institu
tional linkages between academia, in
dustry and NGOs focusing on the
elementary, vocational and higher edu
cation. The US and India must be com
mitted partners in building the
workforce of tomorrow, a partnership
that will unleash opportunity, spurgrowth and sustain prosperity not just in
our countries but across the global com
munity, said Harold McGraw III, new
president of the trade promotion body
representing 300 US companies in India.
To do this, we must focus on strength
ening our educational ties at every level.
By working together, our two countries
can equip the next generation with the
education and skills necessary to com
pete and win in the global economy,
the chairman, president and CEO of The
McGrawHill Companies said while ad
dressing the USIBC 35th anniversary
meeting on June3, coinciding with the
IndoUS summit.
INDIAN-AMERICAN SMEsPLAN $320-M IT FACILITYSmall and medium enterprises owned
by IndianAmericans plan to set up an
IT incubation facility in Hyderabad with
an investment of Rs.1,500 crore ($320
million). Small and Medium Enterprises
Consortium (SMEC) made the an
nouncement when Andhra Pradesh
Minister for IT, K. Venkat Reddy, currently
on a visit to the US, met CEOs of SMEs.
According to an official statement is
sued on June 1, SMEC chairman Mahender Musuku told the minister that
SMEs would invest Rs.1,500 crore in
three phases. The CEOs expressed keen
interest in making Hyderabad the first
choice for their operations provided
they get equal playing field, i ncentives
in taxation and infrastructure. An incu
bation centre, to be set up in two years
for administrative and front offices, is
expected to provide employment to
2,000 people. While the centre will be
set up in a leased facility in Hitec City, a
permanent campus would be set up
later with an investment of Rs.1,500
crore. This will create 10,000 direct and
40,000 indirect jobs.
CEOs FORUM LAUNCHEDIndia and South Africa have launched an IndiaSouth Africa CEOs Forum.
Indias Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and the visiting
South African President Jacob Zuma formally inaugurated the forum on
June 3. Addressing top businessmen from the two countries, Sharma said
the forum would provide a platform for sustained business i nteraction and
guide policy issues. Sharma listed several potential areas of bilateral coop
eration. These include infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, mines and
minerals, oil and natural gas, banking and financial services, tourism, infor
mation technology, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and auto components.
The much anticipated IndiaSACU (Southern African Customs Union) pref
erential trade agreement will eventually lead to a free trade agreement be
tween India, SACU and MERCOSUR (South American Trading Bloc). An
Agreement for Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments is also
waiting to be concluded.
India and South Africa signed three pacts and agreed to jointly promote investmentsin Africa during President Zumas visit to India recently, reports Manish Chand
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June 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya 2410 Pravasi Bharatiya June 2010
REVISIONING INDIA
Sreejith, Saloni and Paul are driven by a shared vision.Sreejith N.N. heads ROPE International, Saloni Malhotraleads DesiCrew while Paul Basil steers Villgro. ROPE, orRural Opportunities Production Enterprise, cofounded
by Sreejith and Patrick Fischer, aims to bring manufacturingopportunities to rural India and create employment opportunitiesfor the rural unorganised sector workers through a replicable,scalable and commercially viable ICTenabled rural distributed
manufacturing model, says Sreejith.In the mid2000s, the BPO rush began in India. Saloni ob
served that though it offered an amazing rush of jobs and seemedto be an attractive financial proposition for freshers, salarieswere still small and attrition was high. It would be more usefuland productive to take jobs where it would be closer to peopleshomes. Also, in a rural context, the money would be distributedlocally, supporting the local economy and generating incomes,said Saloni whose DesiCrew today is quietly ushering in a backend servicesdriven BPO market in the rural environs of Tamil Nadu.
On the other hand is Paul who through Villgro is forging anecosystem to incubate ideas and innovations, like ROPE and DesiCrew, to fuel development in rural India. Villgro stands forgrowth of villages. The dream of a prosperous rural India is whatset me on this journey a decade ago. I was convinced that innovation and enterprise could address the rural poor, specifically,the small and marginal farming communities, says Paul.
Sreejith has set up a network of rural production centres in ahost of villages in Erode, Madurai, Thanjavur, Theni and Thiruvalluvar in Tamil Nadu where artisans use locally available andenvironmentfriendly materials, such as banana fibre, elephantgrass, koraiand sisal (types of reed) to craft custom designedcomplimentary and lifestyle products. Sreejiths ROPE, whichsubsupplies to global furniture maker IKEA, today services topclients like AIIMS, FabIndia, Industree Crafts and Mihika besides
a number of overseas customers.How did Sreejith tap the social, economic and commercial con
text while setting up ROPE? Inspired by the success of outsourcing from the West to the East in creating largescale jobopportunities in Indian cities and inspired by attempts at settingup BPO centres in smaller Indian towns to bring further shift of
jobs from cities to semiurban and rural areas, a small group atthe TeNeT (Telecommunications and Computer Networks) of IITMadras thought about a similar model to bring manufacturingopportunities to Indian villages. Thus ROPE was born initially asRural Outsourced Production Enterprise in January 2007.
ROPE found rural India needs more manufacturing opportunities (as it cannot any longer depend on agriculture alone) andrural India has the potential to do largescale manufacturing. Adistributed production system, however, would be key to the entire process. ROPE decided to focus on a distributed productionsystem in the form of networked smallscale production units as
the most scalable, environmentfriendly, sustainable approach toa rural manufacturing model. Globally, too, the concept of distributed production systems is gaining ground as opposed tolarge industrial setups, Sreejith says.
Distributed production systems are more flexible, more economically resilient, less environmentally polluting, can lead tomore efficient use and value addition of local resources, createsmore equitable growth, helps greater diversity in products and
lead to greater team spirit and more product and process i nnovations within small units, he adds.
A similar paradigm was also central to Salonis model. Thequestion was how you could demonstrate a successful commercial model in smaller towns? Why or how cannot, for example,an insurance company set up backup operations in a smallvillage? Of course, BPOs are about economies of scale and dollarconvergence. But our attempt was to work a smaller but scalablemodel, say about a 2530 seater BPO, says Saloni.
The engineering and success of a vision is dependent on goalsetting. What were Sreejiths immediate and longterm goals?The immediate goal was to identify and focus on a suitable market or a dedicated buyback partner in the form of an establishedindustry, set up the first few distributed rural production centresand develop the required ITbased systems and processes forproduction and supply chain management. The longterm goalwas to pioneer this manufacturing model and establish a large
number of such networked rural production centres catering tothe demands of a number of industries, both inside and outside India.
As far as Paul was concerned, envisioning and goalsetting wasa drawnout process and work in progress. The vision evolvedover time. While the dream was to create a prosperous ruralIndia, the vision was to use innovation and enterprise for thatand the mission was to enable innovations to reach the markets.Over time, we realised that our vision should be much b roader,
that is, creating an ec osystem that favoured innovation and enterprise, says Paul. (see interview)
IDEATION AND TURNING POINT
Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a much decorated and distinguishedgrassroots visionary, and who heads the Electrical EngineeringDepartment at IITMadras and is also Chairman of the Board ofDirectors of what is now an iconic institution, the Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI), has been a common linkamong Sreejith, Saloni and Paul. The catchline of the institutionis emblematic: incubate... ideate... innovate.
Asked about what was perhaps RTBIs most outstanding success thus far, Prof Jhunjhunwala said, We would rather see it interms of having brought in a culture of entrepreneurship intorural India; of having helped in forging an academiaindustry relationship; and, of positioning technology to play a key role inthe life of the deprived. (see interview)
They are young and driven by a vision. Of empowering rural India byincubating ideas, setting up enterprises, generating employment and cocreating
wealth in the villages of the country, says K. G. Sreenivas
REVOLUTION
ON THEPERIPHERY
COVER STORY
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June 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya 1312 Pravasi Bharatiya June 2010
cation and Rural BPO. He advised us to look at the rural BPO sector. IIT Madras does a lot of work in rural areas of the country.They helped us understand the nuances of development, particularly rural development. They also helped us network with awide variety of people and resource persons. Paul acknowledgesthe importance of ecosystem and symbiosis (between Villgroand IITMadras), ideas Prof Jhunjhunwala says are crucial to incubation. We have now set ourselves in that direction [innova
tion and enterprise]. This explains why we are located at thefabulous IITMadras Research Park, an ecosystem of technologybased institutions, says Paul.
PUTTING VISION INTO ACTION
Social entrepreneurship needs to be commercially viable too, tobe of credible benefit for all stakeholders, particularly for thoseat the bottom of the pyramid who form the heart of the system.Sreejith elaborates: The search for a commercially viable business model using distributed and networked production centresled ROPE to think that we should look into the sustainable andcompetitive advantages or strengths of our villages while lookingfor suitable sectors to enter.
At the same time, a Bangalorebased organisation called Industree Crafts approached us to set up banana fibre rope production centres to meet the growing demand for this rawmaterial which is used to manufacture natural products. This
opened our eyes to the richness and diversity of ecofriendly, renewable natural fibre resources of our villages. Each and everyvillage in India has certain natural fibre resource available andthere is great diversity and uniqueness in these renewable fibresavailable in each region. As the world moves towards green natural products, ROPE decided that the use of renewable, environmentfriendly natural fibres, together with locally available skillsto manufacture custom designed products for buyers, as the bestfit for a distributed manufacturing model. With this businessmodel, ROPE was incorporated as a private limited company inDecember 2007 and soon ROPEs expansion was changed intoRural Opportunities Production Enterprise (ROPE) to represent
Referring to the process and time taken to incubate an idea,Prof Jhunjhunwala says, Typically in a rural setting handholdingis longer while in urban centers it is shorter. It is selfexplanatory.The environments are different, rural India has far more complexproblems. DesiCrew, for example, took two years. Other mentorscome in, funders come in and a lot of new ideas too come in.Ideas come in, especially from three sources: experienced industry persons; faculty with wide knowledge; and, youngsters, who
have just joined a company and come up with crazy ideas. Theyhave the ability to plunge into ideas.
Sreejith corroborates: Our evolution was a result of c ontinuous discussions held by Patrick Fischer, another cofounder ofthe company, and I with Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala and Dr. AartiKawlra, another board member of ROPE, who is an expert in design and crafts and was also a consultant to TeNeT at that time.The acceptance of our model by Dr. Jhunjhunwala and his RuralTechnology and Business Incubator (IIT Madras); support fromVillgro Innovations Foundation, Chennai; investment by NationalResearch Development Corporation (NRDC); my meeting Fischerwho joined us as my partner and cofounder of the company;and our chancing upon Industree Crafts bulk raw material requirement through the efforts of Dr. Aarti Kawlra were all criticalturning points for the company.
Saloni says: Prof Jhunjhunwala helped us in setting up DesiCrew. We had three options Rural Technologies, Rural Edu
The ROPE marketjThe Global home decor and furnishings market is
worth $1.2 trillion, including kitchen, housewares,
furniture, home textiles, appliances, outdoor living,
art/wall decor and lighting. The US market alone is
worth $270 billion
jThe global home furnishings market size is $70 bil
lion, growing at an average of 5 percent per annum.
Highvalue Indian exports in this is $1.2bn/annum,growing at 30 pc
jThough the specific market size for ecofriendly
natural products in the above segments is not avail
able, a significant percentage is available for natural
products and that market is growing at a faster pace
jThe current Indian exports of specifically noncot
ton, nonsilk, nonwool natural fibre based home
decorative accessories is estimated at just $25 mil
lion growing at 20pc per annum
j Dry flower exports from India is approximately $100
million and is another target segment of ROPE
j New and unconventional demand for natural fibre
uses are also emerging like paper manufacturing,
use in veneers, packaging, wall panels, etc. Some of
ROPEs existing customers are in these segments
Relationships matter a great deal in growing, scaling and diversifying thebusiness module that Sreejiths ROPE International (far left) and SalonisDesiCrew (above) follow.
REVISIONING INDIA COVER STORY
This opened our eyes to the richness and diversity ofeco-friendly, renewable natural fibre resources of our villages.As the world moves towards green natural products, ROPEdecided that the use of renewable, environment-friendly naturalfibres, together with locally available skills to manufacturecustom designed products for buyers, as the best fit for adistributed manufacturing model.
Sreejith N.N.
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FOR ANECO-SYSTEM OFINNOVATION ANDENTERPRISE
INTERVIEW / PAUL BASIL
June 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya 1514 Pravasi Bharatiya June 2010
Villgro seeks to adapttechnologybasedinnovations to offer newsolutions to an existingproblem or an existingsolution to a new problem.Left: Various Villgro ruralenterprises.
a broader approach to huge opportunities presented by theunique strengths of our villages.
Leveraging the strengths of the rural local communities obviously is of the essence. Saloni says, As a business, the BPOs area proven model across the world. It is scalable too. We have atthe moment around 170 people, we now plan to scale up to1,000 to 2,000 in the next couple of years. Till last year, we hadoperations in Tamil Nadu alone but this year we are looking atAndhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Tamil Nadu is progressive, hasexcellent infrastructure, good literacy and internet penetrationup to the taluka level. Even in rural areas, people understandEnglish, they may not be proficient but they can communicate.
In fact, Saloni makes a deeper sociological point, which is alsocritical to the success of the idea of rural entrepreneurship. People in small rural communities are committed. They may be lacking in communication skills and exposure that urban youngstershave in abundance. Traditionally, BPOs are well established,
mostly run like factory floors. We decided to do it differently. Wehelp establish a certain comfort level for our employees, especially socially and culturally. Team leaders or managers go outand build relationships with the local community.
Obviously, relationships matter a great deal in growing, scalingand diversifying a business model that Sreejith, Saloni and Paulhave embraced and are nurturing. Saloni elaborates: In ruralcommunities, for example the microfinance model has workedexceedingly well. Repayments are as much 99 percent as opposed to urban credit card payments where default is very high.There are strong moral and social sanctions that bi nd the communities together. So, people take pride in their work and areconscious about how they are seen by the community. Socialcommitment and commercial viability are no contradiction in terms.
Sreejith says: Our philosophy for social impact is to maximiserural employment in our villages through our distributed production centres instead of the maximising profit motive of nor
mal private enterprises. At the same time to be commercially viable we focus on being competitive in servicing our customersin terms of our pricing and consistently achieving quality andquantity targets. Marrying these two objectives, we are targetinghigh volumemanufacturing opportunities for large key ac countcustomers. These high volumemanufacturing opportunities willnot give us high margins as we are competing with manufacturers from China, Thailand, Vietnam and other South Asian countries. So we target a commercially viable margin and maximiseour returns and rural impact by the scale or volume of the unitsmanufactured.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Resourcing is key seed capital, human resources and training.At DesiCrew, Saloni says she made a modest start but went on toexpand. As far as funding was concerned, I put in some of mypersonal funds while Prof Ashoks Rural Technology and Busi
ness Incubator (RTBI) at Madras IIT helped us with the rest. Thenin mid2008, we had an angel investor in Rajiv Kochhar, an exInfoscion, who came on board. We now run on our own revenues.
Eventually, running on ones own steam would be critical toany selfsustaining venture. Serendipity could help occasionally,but there is little substitute for hard planning, envisioning andthe right mix of people and resources. Sreejith elaborates onROPE: Patrick and I became cofounders and the senior management team. Dr. Aarti Kawlra was another promoterdirectorof the company. Patrick also invested in the company and apartfrom that we received an initial debt funding from LRAMP, whichwas an innovation nurturing and development programmefounded by IIT Madras and Villgro Innovations Foundation withsupport from Lemelson Foundation, US.
Referring to the management side of it and oversight, Sreejithsays, We set up a Board of Directors comprising Kunal RSachdev, Founder and Managing Director of Caravan Crafts Pvt.
REVISIONING INDIA COVER STORY
helped IITMadras to set up a
new Centre for Social Innova
tion and Entrepreneurship with
the objective of increasing re
search and education in the
field of innovation and social
entrepreneurship.
On the innovations route
Technologies and technology
based innovations have always
changed lives, impacted mil
lions, such as mobile phones to
ATMs to credit cards. However,
when it comes to those who
cant afford them, we keep away
from even attempting to de
velop marketbased solutions.
Innovations like microfinance
have made millions bankable
and have transformed their
lives. In the initial years we were
focused on product innova
tions, we still continue to do so.
But increasingly we have started
pilots with services, innovations
around business models. Inno
vations challenge the status
quo, new solutions to an exist
ing problem or an existing solu
tion to a new problem both
ways, opportunities are plenty.
One defining characteristic of
incubatees
Our incubatees are committed
and visionary innovators and
entrepreneurs whose ideas are
compelling and can impact the
rural poor in a commercially vi
able manner and have the po
tential to scale. The markets
that they have chosen to serve,
perseverance in doing so, the
ability to embrace uncertainty
makes them unique. Incuba
tees are both urban and rural.
Example of a rural entrepreneur
is P.Vivekanandan of Vivega En
gineering Works who has de
veloped the Pin Pulveriser.
Scouting for innovators
Scouting is through multiple
means. Wantrapreneur, our an
nual business plan competition,
discovers innovative entrepre
neurs. We sponsor other busi
ness plan competitions such as
Sankalp and Genesis. Our team
reviews the patent applications
and discovers compelling ideas
from that pool. Our partnership
with the AgriBusiness Incubator
and ten other leading research
institutions under the Indian
Council for Agricultural Research
gives us access to hundreds of
new product ideas. We provide
seed funding, networking, men
toring, talent, gotomarket serv
ices etc. We exit when the
incubatees have a good man
agement team, sales turnovers
look poised for growth and they
have raised the first round of
institutional investments.
A new idiom?
The poor have problems and
these problems bring with it
opportunities for solutions. The
poor do not need charity. They
need access to affordable and
reliable products and services.
By incubating such innovations,
we bring to rural India a new
wave of social capital, prod
ucts/services, talent and an
ecosystem that furthers inno
vation and enterprise leading
to rural prosperity.
Founding vision of Villgro
Villgro stands for growth of vil
lages. I was fairly convinced that
innovation and enterprise could
address the rural poor, specifi
cally, the small and marginal
farming communities.
The vision evolved over time.
It was to use innovation and en
terprise for that and the mission
was to enable innovations to
reach the markets. Over time
we realised that our vision
should be much broader, that
is, creating an ecosystem that
favoured innovation and enter
prise. As we were incubating in
novations, we found a few
pressing challenges. The first
being lastmile access to the
end customers of ours, the rural
poor. All entrepreneurs that we
were incubating had to set up
their own marketing channels.
Imagine the cost and time it
would take to build channels
among the poor. Thus came
the vision of Villgro Innovation
Marketing Private Limited, a for
profit chain of stores in villages,
supported by a network of vil
lage level entrepreneurs.
Incubation is a very time
consuming, costly and risky ac
tivity. We realised that to
nurture this model, we need to
partner with other players. And
thus was born our coincuba
tion approach to incubate
more and more enterprises. Co
incubation is nothing but two
incubators coming together to
offer services to the same incu
batee. This way we leverage
each others strengths and
make the best use of each
others geographical locations
while serving incubatees.
Around 2004, after C.K. Praha
lad had written The Fortune at
the Bottom of the Pyramidand
at a time when microfinance
had really matured, a number of
social venture funds were set
up. However, few could fund in
the range of $50k150k. This
seed capital was necessary to
kickstart these enterprises. Our
vision was to set up the Villgro
Fund for Innovation and Rural
Enterprise.
Putting together the human and
financial resources
The start is a point of challenge
for any organisation limited
resources and blurred vision.
With regard to financial re
sources, Villgro was fortunate to
have a twoyear funding sup
port of Impact Partners and lots
of personal support from its
founder Deval Sanghavi. Subse
quently, we attracted grants
from foundations in India and
the US. The new entities in the
form of Villgro Marketing Pvt
Ltd and Villgro Fund will attract
patient commercial capital in
the years to come.
Our formative years were
chaotic. Serving the rural poor
through innovation and enter
prise is not something that has
been clearly structured in terms
of formal training, though there
are rural marketing courses. This
need motivated us to inspire
IITMadras to set up a credit
course on Innovation and Social
Entrepreneurship for its under
graduate students. We also
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SHIFTINGSERVICES ANDMANUFACTURINGTO RURAL INDIAWOULD BE THEMOST DEFINING
IDEA OF THEFUTURE
June 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya 1716 Pravasi Bharatiya June 2010
PB: When did the idea of incu-
bation strike you? What was the
founding vision of Rural Technol-
ogy & Business Incubator?
The idea of incubation began
forming around the mid80s. I
had joined IIT and had also
begun consulting with industry
who would often come to us
with questions on machinery
and technology. Could we fix
this part of a machinery or could
we finetune this part of a tech
nology? Such were the queries. I
found that generally innovation
was missing in Indian industry.
We then thought we could per
haps tap our alumni who could
devise and design products as
solutions to questions industry
often posed. They even set up
two companies Benchmark Sys
tems and Comportex Electron
ics geared towards innovations.
Towards the mid1990s, we set
up Midas Communications to
devise wireless (local loop) sys
tems at a considerably lower
cost. Subsequently, we helped
incubate as many as 12 compa
nies. Until then the whole idea
of incubation was urbancentric.
At the end of the 20th century,
there was refocusing... away
from urban India to rural India.
As of now, we have incubated
30 companies, 15 urban and 15
rural. It was also around the time
that India began to make rapid
strides in technologydriven
development. But again it was
rather urbanfocused. In a
democratic environment it was
bound to create tensions.
We decided, therefore, that
technology people should
focus on rural India and its
concerns in a serious manner.
PB: The single most defining
feature of the proposals you
have received and incubated?
The key focus was to signifi
cantly reduce cost price. The
price point needs to be right for
customers to be able to afford
technology or innovation. The
order of magnitude was key. For
example, telephony cost Rs.
40,000 in the 1990s, we inno
vated and made it available at
Rs. 10,000. An ATM typically
then cost Rs. 500,000. We de
vised one called Gramateller
for Vortex Engineering Pvt Ltd
at below Rs. 100,000. In terms of
vision, DesiCrew and ROPE, for
example, wanted to create and
sustain employment in rural
India. So we went from telecom
to education to energy and so
on. Today, as you see develop
ment has rapidly moved from
the West to the East. Similarly,
we should be able to shift serv
ices from urban to rural India.
PB: Typically, how long is the
guiding, funding and hand-
holding stage of the incubatee?
Typically in a rural setting hand
holding is longer while in urban
centers it is shorter. It is selfex
planatory. The environments
are different, rural India has far
more complex problems. Desi
Crew, for example, took two
years. Other mentors come in,
funders come in and a lot of
new ideas too come in. Ideas
come in, especially from three
sources: experienced industry
persons; faculty with wide
knowledge; and, youngsters,
who come up with crazy ideas.
They have the ability to plunge
into ideas.
PB: What have been some of
the most outstanding successes
you have helped forge?
We would rather see it in terms
of having brought in a culture
of entrepreneurship into rural
India; of having helped in forg
ing an academiaindustry
relationship; and, of positioning
technology to play a key role in
the life of the deprived.
PB: On auditing projects and
re-engineering project models
We meet every month to evalu
ate these projects. The general
success rate has been 10 to 15
percent. We plan to raise it to
25 percent. However, newer
business models and newer
business leaders emerge. So,
there are a slew of ideas.
PB: The defining ideas for the
future, with reference to rural
enterprise, innovation and
development
Shifting services and manufac
turing to villages would be the
most defining idea of the fu
ture. The direction of DesiCrew
and ROPE is one such.
Ltd., Bangalore, who came on board as a representative of NRDCand who was previously CEO of the famous leather accessoriesbrand Hidesign apart from Dr. Aarti Kawlra, Patrick and me.Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala and Paul Basil, Founder and CEO ofVillgro, comprise the advisory committee and they both arepermanent invitees to the board. Using the investments wereceived from Patrick, NRDC and Villgro and under the guidanceof the Board and advisory committee the management teamhired the other required human resources.
TRAINING
For success on the ground, training is critical. Saloni keeps it simple, effective and customer/product oriented. Our training isspread across three months. We have modules in English, Mathematics and Analytical Skills. We also impart training in manage
ment, essentially in acquiring a client perspective and knowledgeabout product management. Their competition is with BPO markets like Vietnam and Philippines, Saloni says.
At ROPE, Sreejith has outlined essentially two main types oftraining. It is interesting to note that again the training iscustomer oriented and order specific. Much if it is also gainedon the job itself. One for existing artisans like handloom weaverswhere it is mainly product specific and order specific trainingduring which we educate them on the particular design andquality requirements of a product. A major portion of thistraining will be on the job i tself, Sreejith says.
A second area of training focuses on unskilled workers, mostlyfor handdriven production skills like crochet or basket weaving.Classical assemblyline principles also come into play.We have arranged professional trainers and conduct
classroom/formal training sessions. Later, they will be engagedto work on simple designs, gradually increasing the complexityof the product and their skill levels. In most of the ordersfor handmade products we adopt an assemblyline systemthrough division of labour so that productivity is enhancedby specialisation while reducing the level of skill required bythe worker/artisan.
Have these rural entrepreneurs developed or evolved anew management idiom or a new management philosophy?Sreejith invokes C.K. Prahalad. We believe we have notdeveloped any new management idiom or philosophy. It wasalready identified by many that rural areas present uniqueopportunities for businesses. Prof. Prahalad visualised thepotential of the bottom of the pyramid primarily as a bigmarket. At the same time many others were considering
the bottom of the pyramid as possible supply sources for theurban market or for urban industrial companies. We were abunch of people interested in the idea of wealth generation inrural areas and developing supply bases in rural areas forurban markets. Then found that given the enormity anddiversity of our rural areas a decentralised approachsuits it best.
Paul puts it rather evocatively: The poor have problems andthese problems bring with it opportunities for solutions. Thepoor do not need charity. They need access to affordable andreliable products and services.
By incubating such innovations, we bring to rural India anew wave of social capital, products, services, talent and anecosystem that furthers innovation and enterprise leading torural prosperity.
INTERVIEW / ASHOK JHUNJHUNWALA
We would rather see it (successes of incubation)in terms of having brought in a culture ofentrepreneurship into rural India; of having helpedin forging an academia-industry relationship; and,of positioning technology to play a key role in thelife of the deprived
Ashok Jhunjhunwala
REVISIONING INDIA COVER STORY
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ECONOMY / INFRASTRUCTURE
Mindset MattersThe Indian bureaucracy is in introspection mode.A mindset change is needed to attract privateinvestment and bridge the infrastructure gap,senior government officials concluded at a recentseminar, reports Arjun Sen
This is constructive selfcriticismat its best. The biggest hurdlestanding in the way of rapid development of infrastructure is the
incumbent mindset of government institutions and officials which tends to discourage private investment, seniorgovernment officials concurred at a recent conference in the national capital. Inthe conference Infra Vision 2020 jointlyorganised by the Union Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways and the IndianChamber of Commerce, the common refrain of almost all the speakers was thatrapid infrastructure development is notpossible without massive private sectorinvestment and this in turn is not possibleunless the existing statistmindset ofgovernment institutions and officialschange. The speakers included the RoadTransport Minister Kamal Nath, Ministerof State for Planning and ParliamentaryAffairs V. Narayanasamy and several senior serving or retired public servants.
Just look at the documentation andred tape involved in exporting from India.Most exporters will simply give up giventhe time he has to spend running frompillar to post to get his work done, saidthe Minister of State for Planning andParliamentary Affairs V. Narayanasamy.We have to speed up government work,he declared.
Road transport minister Kamal Nath explained the numerous steps the government has taken during the one year thatit has been in power after being reelectedto a second term in office. He said as a result of these steps, the private sector isnow showing increasingly greater interestin road and highway development projects.
The average subsidy sought by privatedevelopers has come down to only 19percent of total project cost against thecurrently permissible 40 percent, KamalNath said, adding that for projectsawarded to private bidders so far in200910 and 201011, as much as 25percent of the bids needed no government funding at all which proves that thesector is now very attractive for privateinvestors. This is also reflected in the factthat the average number of bidders forroad projects has again begun to pick upwhile more and more bidders are nowopting for revenue sharing arrangementswith government rather than seekinggovernment grants as viability gap funding.
Both these developments a realisationnot only at the highest echelons of government but also now trickling down torelatively lower level officials that attracting private sector investment, especiallyforeign direct investment, is the only wayto speed up infrastructure development,and the fact that effective steps have already been taken to make at least theroad sector attractive to private investment auger well for the country.
The road transport minister and otherministry officials are at least very confident. We will meet our target of building
20 kms of roads a day, said Kamal Nathwhile the Director General (Road Development) and Special Secretary Ministry ofRoad Transport and Highways, A.V. Sinhadeclared We have now created a perfectlaunch pad for PPP projects to take off ina big way, Most speakers at the conference, whose objective was to deliberateon implementation bottlenecks in infrastructure development, however, admitted things were not so hunky dory inother areas such as the railways and portand airport development.
Referring to the telecom revolution in
India, Member, Planning Commission B.K.Chaturvedi, said: In the telecom sector,85 percent of the investment has comefrom the private sector whereas privatesector contribution in the Railways is onlyabout 4 percent. He felt that unless ef
forts were made to attract private sectorinvestment in the Railways, it would continue to lag behind in development work.
Incidentally, the current policy framework for road and highway developmentis largely based on the recommendationsof the B K Chaturvediled Committeewhich was formed by the government in2009 to identify and resolve proceduraland regulatory issues that were holdingup the National Highway DevelopmentProgramme (NHDP).
In the port sector too, the EleventhPlan target was to increase port capacityto 1500 million tonnes, but so far additional capacity has been created only inthe minor ports that have come up on pri
vate investment, Chaturvedi said.He pointed out that under the Eleventh
Plan, major ports, which are all in thepublic sector, were supposed to increasecapacity from 730 million tonnes toabout 1200 million tonnes while minor
ports were supposed to add another 300million tonnes. But so far it is only the private sector funded minor ports that havebeen able to add about 330 milliontonnes during the Eleventh Plan while themajor ports are still working out publicprivate partnership projects for port development, he said.
Apparently, however, policies, procedures and rules and regulations havebeen tweaked to make port developmentthrough the PPP route attractive to private investors. Investors are showing alot of interest for PPP projects, said K.Mohandas, Secretary in the Ministry ofShipping. The Secretary, Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways, Brahm Dutt,
also seemed quite clear that attractingprivate sector investment was the onlyway out. We plan to spend $75 billionin the seven phases of the NHDP. Of thiswe are expecting $30 billion to comefrom the private sector while the balance
$45 billion will come from the government, market borrowings etc., he said.
To achieve this level of private investment we have to provide a more stableregime so that the risks and uncertaintiesassociated with road development aremitigated as much as possible, Dutt said.
The governments willingness tochange policy to suit private investors hasled to the current framework. Even nowthe government is mulling a few additional changes to remove the remainingirritants. In fact, one road transport ministry official said during the seminar thatthe road transport minister has famouslysaid: Except for the Bible and the Gitaeverything else can be changed.
For projects awarded to private bidders so farin 2009-10 and 2010-11, as much as
25 percent of the bids needed no governmentfunding at all which proves that the sector is now
very attractive for private investors
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ECONOMY / INDUSTRY
Nanorevs up.To drive into Taiwan
Tata Motors new manufacturingfacility for the Nano, the worldsmost inexpensive car, opened inSanand on June 2, nearly two
years after the company was forced toshift out of Singur in West Bengal over aland row. The new plant was inaugu
rated by Gujarat Chief Minister NarendraModi and Tata Group Chairman RatanTata, who seven years ago had dreamt ofmaking the affordable family car. Webelong to Gujarat and are happy to return to Gujarat, said Tata. I am glad thatwe will now be abl e to manufacture theNano across the country. Spread over1,100 acres, the Sanand plant has beencreated at an investment of aboutRs.2,000 crore.
Speaking on the occasion, Modi saidevery middleclass familys dream toown a car was being fulfilled with the in
auguration of the Nano plant.The revolution brought by Ford in the
early 20th century with its small car isbeing replicated now by Ratan Tata withhis Nano, he added. The new plant willdeliver 250,000 Nanos a year. Tata hadto find a new home for his Nano plant
after Tata Motors was forced out of Singur in 2008 by a campaign led by Mamata Banerjee and her TrinamoolCongress. They alleged that farmerswere being forced to surrender theirland at unfair rates by the Left Frontgovernment for the car plant.
A company spokesman said deliveriesfrom the plant, including BS4 TataNanos, will begin later this month. Theoutput, supplemented by the facility atPantnagar in Uttarakhand, will completepending orders from the bookingprocess of 2009. Built in a record time
of 14 months starting November 2008,the integrated facility comprises TataMotors own plant spread over 725acres and an adjacent vendor parkspread over 375 acres to house keycomponent manufactures for the Nano.
The plant has stateoftheart equip
ment. These include sophisticated robotics and high speed production lines.Conscious of the critical need for environmental protection, the plant has energyefficient motors, variable frequencydrives and systems to measure and monitor carbon levels. These are supplemented with extensive tree plantation,sustainable water sourcing and harnessing solar energy for illumination.
The plant has already directly employed 2,400 people and on capacity expansion may eventually generate about10,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Tatas new Sanand plant for makingthe worlds cheapest car goes onstream, reports R.K. Mishra
Tata Nano, the worlds cheapest car made
by Indias Tata Motors, is set to drive in to Tai
wan, a manufacturing hub of iPods and
green technologies, later this year. Theodore
Huang, chairman of Taiwans TECO group, is
upbeat about the prospects of the Tata
Nano in the Taiwan market, but says it may
have to be modified to suit the islands highenvironmental standards. Huang, who vis
ited New Delhi in January and went on a test
drive in a spanking new Tata Nano, said he
was impressed by the small car and found
the ride comfortable and satisfactory. It ac
celerates smoothly and can exceed speed of
100 km per hour, he said.
Huangs company is interested in becoming
Tata Motors agent in Taiwan and s elling the
Nano car in the prosperous island, the worlds
17th largest economy that has identified India
as a focus market. The prospects of Tata
Nano in the Taiwan market are bright, Pradeep
Kumar Rawat, directorgeneral of IndiaTaipei
Association that serves as Indias consular of
fice in the Taiwanese capital, told IANS.
Taiwan, the selfruled democratic island
claimed by China, boasts of $17,000 per
capita income, but has a burgeoning middle
class that is stuck to scooters and now wants
to move on to economy cars. Tagged as thepeoples car, the basic Nano model costs
around $2,500. Tata Motors is eying a global
market and planning a new model for the
European market to satisfy its stringent
emission standards.
Huang, however, feels that price alone
would not guarantee Nanos success in Tai
wan and said that the TECO Group, better
known for its industrial motors and home
appliances, will only sell the car if i ts specifi
cations conform to Taiwans regulations.
TECO has provided Tata Motors with Tai
wans automobile safety requirements.
Every middle-classfamilys dream to own acar was being fulfilled withthe inauguration of theNano plant. The revolutionbrought by Ford in theearly 20th century with itssmall car is being replicat-ed now by Ratan Tata withhis Nano
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Karnataka has managed toreap a bonanza with investors
inking agreements to implement 400 projects in the stateduring the next fourfive years at a totalcost of $85 billion.
The Memoranda of Understanding(MoUs) for these projects were signedduring the twoday Global Investors Meet(GIM 2010) held in the state capital Bengaluru on June 34. The projects are expected to generate employment for about865,000 people.
The mega event, held for the secondtime after a decade, witnessed agreements being signed even at the valedictory function by seven firms and 20staterun and private banks with the stategovernment committing funds for infrastructure. On the first day itself, MoUs for208 projects were signed involving a totalinvestment of about Rs.3.29 trillion($70.2 billion), while the balance 192projects worth a total investment of about$15 billion were signed on thesecond day.
The iron & steel sector attracted 38
proposals worth Rs.2.21 trillion ($47 billion), followed by the cement sector withnine projects worth Rs.36,991 crore($7.9 billion) and energy sector witheight projects worth Rs.25,214 crore($5.4 billion). Among the major steel projects are those of ArcelorMittal, Posco andBramhani Karnataka Ltd, which have proposed to set up six mtpa plants each at anestimated cost of Rs.30,00036,000 crorein Bellary and Bagalkote districts.
ArcelorMittal chief executive LakshmiN. Mittal said he will give priority to itsKarnataka steel project, as its two othersimilar projects in Jharkhand and Orissaare bogged down by land issues andother approvals. The GIM was inaugu
rated by senior Bharatiya Janata Partyleader and Leader of Opposition in theRajya Sabha Arun Jaitley in the presenceof Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa, hiscabinet colleagues, central ministersM.Veerappa Moily and Subodh Kant Sahayand a galaxy of high profile investors.
The GIM, twice postponed once inview of the global economic slowdownand the second time following the devastating flood in OctoberNovember last
year in large parts of north Karnataka has been inspired by the success of Gu
jarat in snapping up Rs.7 trillion ($149billion) investments in 2009.
During the meet, state government officials announced that the governmenthad received 88 fresh proposals worthRs.90,000 crore in the infrastructure sector under the publicprivate partnership(PPP) mode. These proposals are nowbeing processed, they said.
June 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya 2322 Pravasi Bharatiya June 2010
Kannada khazanaInvestors have signed MoUs worth $85 billion during the second Global InvestorsMeet in Karnataka, reports Fakir Balaji
ECONOMY / INVESTMENTS
(Top) Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddiurappa addressing delegates at the second Global InvestorsMeet, 2010 in Bengaluru on June 3. (Above) ArcelorMittal Chairman Laxmi Ratan Mittal shares a lightmoment with Wipro Chairman Azim Premji during the meet.
INVESTMENTS GALORE
Brahmani Steels
36,000Posco
32,336ArcelorMittal
30,000Bhusan Steel
27,928Mangalore Refinery
15,798JSW Steel
15,131Aditya Birla Group
8,500Infosys
2,250Company l
Investment (in Rs Cr) l
New Finance Ministry guidelines requiring all listedcompanies to maintain apublic shareholding of at
least 25 percent will lead to stake sal esby 183 companies to raise an expected$32billion, according to research doneby Delhibased sharebroking firm SMCCapitals Ltd.
There are 183 listed companieswith public shareholding less than 25percent. Hence, the new guidelines willtrigger a host of stake sales throughvarious routes such as followon publicoffers (FPOs), qualified institutionalplacements (QIPs) and open marketsale by promoters, said JagannadhamThunuguntla,equity head of SMC Capitals, the countrys fourthlargest sharebroking firm.
Of the 183 companies, 148 companies are from the private sector, whilethe remaining 35 are public sector undertakings (PSUs), Thunuguntla toldIANS. Of the total amount that is ex
pected to be raised through these stakesales, the 35 PSUs will raise the bulk ofthe amount, $26.5 billion or 83 percentof the total, while the private sector willraise about $5.5 billion or 17 percent ofthe total, he said.
Further, as the requirement is thatevery year there is at least 5 percent dilution, the total stake sale would bephased out and will be $13 billion (between June 2010 to June 2011), $10 billion (between June 2011 to June 2012),$5 billion (between June 2012 to June2013), $2.5 billion (between June 2013to June 2014) and $9.14 billion (between June 2014 to June 2015), he said.
Some of the prominent PSUs that willneed to come out with stake sales areHindustan Copper, MMTC, Neyveli Lignite, NMDC, Engineers India, NTPC,NHPC, and SAIL. In the private sector,companies like DLF, Wipro, ReliancePower, Godrej Properties, Jaypee Infratech, Jet Airways will have to offloadtheir stakes.
The companies, of course, mayadopt alternate modes of increasingtheir public, but Indian markets shouldget bombarded with a series of stakesales. One may call the first half of thecoming decade of the Indian captialmarkets as the Era of FPOs, he said.
Stake Surge
AMOUNT TO BE RAISED IN $BN
No of Comp Tota l Yr 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
PSU 35 $26.5 $9.38 $8 $4.79 $2.44 $2
Private 148 $5.5 $3.65 $1.31 $423 mn $94 mn $45 mn
Total 183 $32 $13 $10 $5 $2.5 $1.94
The Finance Ministrys newpublic holding norms will see 183
companies raise $32 billion in the nextfew years, says Arjun Sen
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international levels. The kinds of difference that we are talkingabout are really diverse. For example, research on novel metalcomposites and carbon fibre will create materials that willreduce the weight of planes and cars and be used inwind turbine blades, with potentially large contributions to global energy savings. Our newresearch in bionanotechnology has greatimplications for enhanced agriculturalproduction and targeted drug delivery... (see interview)
THE INDIA ENGAGEMENT
The India story took shape whenHodgson was collaborating with someof the IITs and was encouraging interns to come to Australia. In fact, hewas also looking for future PhDs to cometo Australia as we have a great shortage inmetallurgy, materials science and engineering.
The process gave him insights i nto some of theissues that would exist with such an education system. He beganvisiting and interacting with Indian. It became evident to him thatthere was an enormous gulf between the two sides evengreater than what existed in Australia. It struck Hodgson thathe could possibly tweak some of the Australian models, particularly those that involved students being placed in industry forresearch. The incentive? We also committed significant fundsto make it attractive, says Hodgson, adding that, in our development of research partners we have wanted to always work
with the best as that provides the best chance for success.However, it also called for establishing specific R&D strategies
for different clients to make it work, examples being Indian OilCorporation and lifesciences major Bicon. This again was
a rather slow and careful process where we had numerous visits and interactions to assess where
were the best matches. Some of it was alsoserendipity! It was not an overnight successfor it took almost three years before we gotour first research collaborations nailed downand with students in place, says Hodgson.
June 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya 2524 Pravasi Bharatiya June 2010
COLLABORATION
THE POWEROF TWOCollaboration between academia and industry iskey to applied research and development thatmakes a difference to society besides translating it
into commercially viable and sustainable products,be it better drugs, machines or technology, forconsumers, says K. G. Sreenivas
Writing in EduTech recently, Dr. Ganesh Natarajan,ViceChairman and CEO of Zensar Technologies,says, ...there is a considerable gap between thequality of students graduating and the kind of talent
that industry needs. As businesses propose to double and trebletheir workforce and Indian companies strive to maintain theirposition in the global marketplace, it has become imperative toprepare and plan for a worldclass, skilled,competent, and innovative workforce.
In India, thus many publicprivate partnerships have been forged to advanceclose collaboration between industry and
academic institutions. The Confederationof Indian Industry (CII) has launchedinitiatives to promote industryacademiacollaboration by identifying four keyareas of cooperation: developing newknowledge as a longterm investment;helping faculty upgrade knowledge,preferably in an industry environment;fostering Centres of Excellence to makefinalsemester students industryready;and, deepening the involvement of technology in the pedagogies of Indian colleges and universities.Australias Deakin University too has been forging such reciprocal research and educational partnerships with industry majorsand academic institutions in India. In an interaction with PravasiBharatiya, Prof. Peter Hodgson, who heads the universitys Institute for Technology Research and Innovation, says, I moved
from industry to academia in 1996 and had been funding suchprojects when at BHP. At Deakin we took the model a step furtherby really creating a culture of applied research linked to industrythat was underpinned by high quality fundamental research. Forindustry not only were they getting solutions to problems but theywere also training high potential students in their business and general industry needs.
Referring to the principles underpinning Deakins initiative in forging vitalrelationship, he says, Australia wentthrough a change process from the early1990s to now. Generally, Australia outper
forms most developed nations on a percapita basis for fundamental/discovery research in the basic sciences. However, thetranslation of this into economic and social outcomes has not been as strong. Anumber of initiatives were thus developedto encourage industry and academia towork together. A key element was to haveresearch students focused on moreapplied research where they would havedirect contact with industry.
Prof. Lee Astheimer, Deputy ViceChancellor, Deakin University,who was also on a visit to India with Hodgson, adds, At Deakin,we have a very strong tradition of research collaboration withindustry, businesses and governments, with the underlyingphilosophy that these partnerships will result in research thatmakes a difference in communities at local, national and
At Deakin, we have a traditionof research collaboration withindustry, businesses andgovernments, with theunderlying philosophy thatthese partnerships will resultin research that makes adifference in communities
Innovative leader...
Professor Hodgson, currently head of Deakin
University's Institute for Technology Research
and Innovation, is a globally acknowledged ex
pert in innovative lightweight metals and advanced
materials, especially for the automotive and aerospace
industries. His core work around innovative process technolo
gies and product approaches aim to minimise the environmen
tal impacts of both production and application of metals.
Hodgsons research, which will help develop new metal manu
facturing processes and products, will contribute to a more sus
tainable metal industry. In 2009, he was appointed to the highly
prestigious position of Australian Laureate. More recently, he
was appointed to the Australian Government's Green Car Inno
vation Committee of Innovation Australia.
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IDENTIFYING THE GAPS
Hodgsons clientpartners cut across sectors from TATA Steel,
SAIL and General Motors to Bhaba Atomic Research Centre,Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and TERI to NationalAerospace Laboratories. How did he identify the need gap indifferent industry segments?
The gaps in many industries are common around the worldbut in India there are some interesting local dynamics. One isthat a large proportion of engineering students have been drawnto the IT sector and so other sec tions of industry have suffered.This has impacted manufacturing and infrastructure development projects. In biotech, India is moving from a producer ofcheap generics to developing their own drugs. However, thischange requires a large number of highly skilled scientists. Itwould not be unrealistic to suggest that India will need between1,000 and 2,000 Ph.D graduates as a minimum each year in therelated fields and it also takes some time to build the capacity toproduce them (i.e. academic supervisors and infrastructure).
As far as Indian Oil was concerned, Hodgson sees a numberof potential areas. I have visited their laboratories a number oftimes and we will be hosting a team from there in the next fewmonths. While we have started with lubricant development wecan see this broadening into other areasaround nanotechnology and biofuels too.Hodgson, however, has a different modelfor R&D organisations. India has excellent research facilities and top re
searchers. In this case we are looking atprobably more fundamental research thatbuilds on the strength of the twopartners. For the students there is againthe potential to be awarded an overseasPhD and as part of this spend a significant time in Australia. In the longer termwe aim to develop larger collaborativeresearch programmes. For example, wenow have four large projects under theAustralian India Scientific ResearchFund (AISRF).
Referring to how Deakin structures and plan R&D work to becarried out in India by students enrolled at Deakin, Hodgsonsays, A Ph.D programme in India with Deakin is the same as aPhD programme in Australia. There is the same level of academicrigour but the real difference is that each student will have an
international supervisory team. Onedifference in Australia is that there is nocoursework and so we are often lookingfor candidates for the Indiabased PhDswho have prior research experience and we must say we are extremely impressed and happy with the quality ofstudents who have been attracted to thisprogramme. The programme has an induction phase where the student becomes familiar with the field andcompany/institution followed by a critical
review of the literature followed by the research. We have aformal meeting of students and all supervisors regularly usingSkype or other communication media. Students are encouragedto write papers and to present their work at national andinternational conferences. Our Ph.Ds are examined by an
What I dream about is a modelwhere we can have a seamlesspipeline of ideas and researchflowing between the countriesthrough such a venture. Wecan help make the connectionsbetween leading technologycompanies in Australia andglobal producers in India
June 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya 27
international panel of three experts in the field there is no assessment by the local or Deakin supervisor ensuring that all workis at a truly international level in the field.
What of collaborations with academic institutions? Academiccollaborations are based around more fundamental topics of mutual interest. However, to promote this we have recently established with a number of IITs and NITK a model based around theM.Tech thesis. We identify around two topics of mutual interestand during the M.Tech thesis component (i.e. 1 yr). The studentswill spend 50 percent of their time in India and 50 percent inAustralia. Again our focus is on good papers. Where possible weencourage the academic supervisors to travel to Australia andsupport their local costs while their institution covers the airfare.
Asked about the commercial viability of R&D tieups withindustry partners, Hodgson hastens to say that as a universityour priority is not on commercial outcomes but on researchtraining and the quality of the research we undertake. Our focus
is on research that makes a difference in both countries. This isa longterm partnership and there is no better way todemonstrate this than through research.
However, he wants to go beyond what he calls the simpleacademic realms and think about broader collaborations.Hodgson says, Australia is renowned for discovery science andeven applied research up to the point of commercialisation. Butwe dont often go that next step sometimes because our localmarket is small or the investment is not there.
In the context, he says giving a free flow to ideas is of theessence. What I dream about is a model where we can have aseamless pipeline of ideas and research flowing between thecountries through such a venture. We can help make theconnections between leading technology companies in Australiaand global producers in India. Our university is named after oneof the fathers of our Federation Alfred Deakin and he hada strong belief in connecting with India.
26 Pravasi Bharatiya June 2010
Prof. Lee Astheimer, Deputy
ViceChancellor, Deakin
University, Australia
On the philosophy that
underpins the initiative
Australia unfortunately doesnt
have a strong companybased
R&D tradition in its homebased
industries, but as a nation we
have been very proactive in es
tablishing incentives for industry
to engage with researchers in
universities. Deakin University has
really embraced this approach to
research in all discipline areas
but its not just about contribut
ing to applied research
Deakin professors and their stu
dents are also conducting cut
tingedge discovery research.
The difference is that we support
and encourage connections
across the full research contin
uum, from highly applied,
commercial research through to
bluesky discovery, within our in
stitution, within our research
centres and even within the re
search portfolio of individuals.
We really try to identify and re
cruit people who can think and
work across the full spectrum of
research. Professor Hodgson is a
wonderful example of someone
who has this unique ability. This
philosophy also underpins our
undergraduate teaching pro
grammes at Deakin University in
terms of producing graduates
who are both jobready and in
novative thinkers, so I hope that
there will be more people with a
seamless approach to research
innovation in the upcoming
generation!
Evaluating the Indian market
in terms of commercialisation
of R&D collaborations
One of the great attractions of
conducting innovative research
in India is that India is so incredi
bly entrepreneurial and is grow
ing at such a rapid rate that there
is real interest in and potentially
rapid uptake of innovation. It is a
really exciting time for new and
even for old established markets,
and India represents a really new
approach. Look at pharmaceuti
cals for example there are
huge changes in the market
forces globally as well as in ethi
cal approaches to drug availabil
ity that are likely to seriously
reconstruct the industry land
scape in the next five years.
Deakin has only really been ac
tively engaged in research with
Indian industry for the past 23
years though, so at present most
of our research is precommer
cial. This is certainly a very attrac
tive aspect of our collaborations
and one that our industry part
ners are very interested in.
The way forward
Deakins partnerships with Indian
institutes and industries are all
based on interpersonal interac
tions, discussion and real under
standing of the synergies and
contributions the parties each
brings to the relationship. There
has been a great deal of interest
in our ideas about industryuni
versity collaboration, but not all
companies immediately see the
benefit of conducting collabora
tive R&D. I think once we have
some real success stories, our
Ph.D students graduate and the
value of their research is realised,
further opportunities for indus
tryuniversity R&D will only grow.
We have based a lot of collabo
rative activity around Ph.D stu
dentbased projects. I think this
is a great way to develop inter
national understanding and re
search collaborations that can
become deeper in the future, es
pecially as our Ph.D graduates
take up leadership positions with
Indian companies and in gov
ernment. Its about building cul
tural understanding as well as
scientific and research connec
tions and Deakin is making the
investment for the long term.
On cross-cultural learnings and
defining differentiations
I guess that one of the things I
have been impressed by person
ally in almost all the interactions I
have had with leaders and
researchers in industry, institutes
and universities in India has been
their serious and very personal
sense of responsibility for mak
ing India a better place for its
people in terms of health,
education, lifestyle and
environment. This sort of na
tional duty of care at such a
personal level is very heart
warming and humanist. It
certainly places a sense of ur
gency and significance on the
research that is being done to
achieve these improvements,
but also a sense of making an
important contribution. For
Deakin University it really fits
into our philosophy of doing
research that makes a difference.
INDIA IS SOINCREDIBLYENTREPRENEURIAL
Australias Deakin University has been forging reciprocal research andeducational partnerships with industry majors and academic institutionsin India. (Above) Prof. Hodgson with researchers at Deakin University.
Deputy ViceChancellor (Research), Deakin University, Prof. Lee Astheimer, andDr. R.K. Malhotra, Executive Director, Indian Oil R&D, sign the research protocol.
COLLABORATION
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over the last eight years was also anissue. COP chief Winston Dookeran said:Everyone who wants a change, wants abetter Trinidad and Tobago is welcomein the Peoples Partnership. Today, webegin the business of government as webuild a partnership of interests on awide range of national issuessafety and
security, economic development, justiceand the wellbeing of our citizens, andintroduce a new face of governance forour beloved country.
A former Spanish colony, Trinidad andTobago is an archipelagic state in thesouthern Caribbean, lying northeast ofthe South American country ofVenezuela and south of Grenada in theLesser Antilles. It is mainly made up oftwo major islands Trinidad and Tobago and covers over 5,120 sq km.Nearly 44 percent of the countrys 1.3million population is of Indian origin.
June 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya 2928 Pravasi Bharatiya June 2010
DIASPORA
Historic arrivalHer victory marks the beginning of a new era... Kamla PersadBissessar creates historyas she becomes the first woman Prime Minister of Indian origin of Trinidad andTobago, says Paras Ramoutar
Kamla PersadBissessar, a
descendent of an indenturedlabourer, broke the glassceiling when she became the
first woman Prime Minister of Trinidadand Tobago. The leader of the UnitedNational Congress, PersadBissessar ledher Peoples Partnership to win 29 outof the 41 parliamentary seats in theelections held on May 24 and ended theruling partys 43 years in power. Shewas sworn in as the prime minister onMay 26 by President George MaxwellRichards. PersadBissessar, 58, a grandmother of two and a devout Hindu, said:I am grateful for the immense supportfrom women and womens groupsacross the country and to the extent thatthis helps to break the barriers so manycompetent women face. I celebrate thisvictory on their behalf. But the picture ismuch larger than any single group andthose very women would be the first toacknowledge that.
PersadBissessar, who was born onApril 22, 1952, was a topper in law
school and did her masters in businessadministration and diploma in educationfrom the University of the West Indies.She was the first woman attorneygeneral and also served as minister of legalaffairs as well as minister of education.Her forefathers belonged to the firstwave of indentured labourers broughtinto Trinidad in the mid 19th centu