Pravasi English June10

8/9/2019 Pravasi English June10

1/25

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


2/25

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


3/25

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


Consulting EditorK.G. Sreenivas

Pravasi Bharatiya is a monthlypublication. The views expressed in this

journal are those of the contributorsand do not necessarily reflect the viewsof the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs

(MOIA). All rights reserved. No part ofthis journal may be produced, stored, or

transmitted in any form or by anymeans electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording, or otherwise,without the permission of MOIA.

Editorial correspondence andmanuscripts can be addressed to

[email protected]

Designed and produced by IANS(www.ianspublishing.com) on behalf ofthe Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.

Printed atAnit Printers

1811, Gyani Bazar,Opp. D56 N.D.S.E Part 1,

Kotla Mubarkpur,New Delhi 110003

* ' --/" /)"

*/)$)!!,&0")20&-&*).%"2,""(+*1",&)$.%"0&''$"-*#)!&2)/,./,&)$&!"--"..&)$/+").",+,&-"-)!*,".&)$1"'.%

izoklh Hkkjrh; dk;Z e=ky;Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs


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

10


4/25

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


5/25


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


6/25


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

June 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya 11


7/25


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.


8/25

FOR ANECO-SYSTEM OFINNOVATION ANDENTERPRISE

INTERVIEW / PAUL BASIL


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.


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


9/25

SHIFTINGSERVICES ANDMANUFACTURINGTO RURAL INDIAWOULD BE THEMOST DEFINING

IDEA OF THEFUTURE


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



10/25


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


11/25


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


12/25

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.


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


13/25

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.


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.


14/25

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


15/25

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.


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

Documents

Pravasi English June10