Business & Finance

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 aug 2015

India's agriculture sector becomes important to the economy due to the workforce employed, nearly half of the total, and contribution of 17% to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The sector has gone through many transformations - 'Green Revolution' of 1960s, improvement in the yield of wheat with introduction of high yielding varieties and establishment of research facilities and use of better fertilizers and irrigation in the early 1970s, and subsequent transformation in the output of rice due to large-scale use of tube wells, and post-1980s saw the shift in focus towards increasing yields and production of oilseed, fruits and vegetables. During 1960s and 1970s the growth of agriculture was 3-4% while during 1980s it became 5-6%. In 1990s it reached 6-7% but during later part of 1990s and post-2000 it declined to 1-2%. Amit Kapoor and Sankalp Sharma of Institute of Competitiveness in India, explain the various aspects of Indian agriculture and provide recommendations to improve and grow the agricultural economy. According to them government should focus on areas like rural infrastructure, better access to credit and enabling value addition by farmers. They highlight four aspects of Indian agriculture - (1) Overdependence on monsoon for irrigation: There is need for better irrigation policy, utilization of rivers, rural tourism and infrastructure development. (2) Inhibition to technology adoption: Research community has to play a better role in guiding farmers and learning about their challenges and advocate technological solutions. Agricultural policy should make farmers as the focus of every policy action. Farming in India has to move beyond 'subsistence' level. (3) Lack of availability of formal agricultural credit to farmers: Requires better insurance schemes, behavioral interventions to make farmers aware of their decisions, promotion of financial planning, and making farmers feel financially secure and independent. Venture finance can be considered for agricultural producers who want to do value addition for their agricultural produce. (4) Inefficient market conditions: Although government procurement at MSP (Minimum Support Price) is beneficial to farmers but they cannot command the price that they could in a free market. Moreover inefficient storage leads to wastage of produce. Farmers should have the flexibility to sell directly to interested foreign buyers. Read on...

Business Insider: Here's why we need to focus on agriculture in India!
Authors: Amit Kapoor, Sankalp Sharma

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 jul 2015

The US-India Business Council (USIBC) expects collaborative opportunities between India and US in the medical devices sector. This will boost investments and skilled human resources to the sector. USIBC seeks from the Indian government to remove barriers to doing business in India and proposes a separate regulatory framework for medical devices, that are currently considered as pharmaceuticals under the Drug and Cosmetics Act of India. It estimates the Indian medical devices industry to grow from the current US$ 4.4 billion (4th largest in Asia) to US$ 7 billion by 2016. 'Make in India' have potential to drive the sector through innovation and investments and developing an ecosystem for medical devices industry. According to Maulik Nanavaty, SVP of Boston Scientific and the head of the USIBC delegation visiting India, 'India has made considerable strides in developing innovative industries across a number of sectors and maintains strong potential to do the same in medical devices.' USIBC Director and Legal Counsel Amy Hariani says, 'Medical devices industry is going through rapid transformation in India and is projected to grow at a higher rate as health insurance becomes more widely available and the country's consumers continue to demand better healthcare services.' Read on...

Moneycontrol: Indian medical device industry can grow to $7bn by 2016: USIBC
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 jul 2015

According to the recent report by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), India's healthcare sector is expected to grow to Rs. 9.64 lakh crore by 2017 while the incremental workforce requirement is estimated to reach 74 lakh in 2022. In 2013 healthcare human resources requirement figure was 35.9 lakh. There are 11 lakh allied healthcare professionals in diverse fields and 6.21 lakh allopathic doctors and the sector is still quite short of the current demand. The report further states that there are only 356 registered medical institutions with the total admission capacity of 45000 at undergraduate level and about 24000 at post-graduate level. Dilip Chenoy, MD and CEO of NSDC, says 'There is a need for both qualitative and quantitative skill development initiatives in the healthcare sector. We also need to focus heavily on upgrading technical skills of the workforce for advanced healthcare services.' Read on...

The Economic Times: India's healthcare sector to require 74 lakh employees by 2022: NSDC
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 15 jul 2015

There seems to be lack of commitment by companies regarding the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) rules, that came into effect from 01 April 2014, and were introduced in the new Companies Act of 2013. Only 1/3rd of the top listed companies, from the half of the BSE-30 that have disclosed their CSR spending figures for 2014-15, were able to spend the required, minimum 2% of the profits, on CSR activities in the first year. Those taking their CSR with the proactive approach include RIL, Wipro, ITC, Hindustan Unilever and Mahindra & Mahindra. And the corporates that missed the 2% spending mark include Infosys (marginally), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, Dr. Reddy's and Bajaj Auto. The total amount spent by the 15 companies was a little more than Rs 2100 crore. The government in its efforts to improve monitoring of social welfare activities of companies under the companies law has set up a six-member panel and asked it to provide suggestions. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website, members of the panel include - Anil Baijal, Former Secretary of Govt. of India; Prof. Deepak Nayyar, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Onkar S. Kanwar, Chairman & MD of Appollo Tyres; Kiran Karnik, Former President of NASSCOM; Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises; Additional Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Read on...

The Economic Times: CSR regime begins on disappointing note; two-third companies miss target
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 jun 2015

In addition to 'Make in India' initiative, it would be the right opportunity and strategy for India to also promote arts, design, and other creative concepts and activities. The creative community in India holds a view that 'Make in India' campaign should be complemented with participation in international art shows and cultural reach-out campaigns and also an upgrade of India's design standards. Feroze Gujral, philanthropist and art enthusiast, says 'The world now considers India to be the most important market for art and it would be prudent to participate in art fairs and organise cultural reach-outs that would tell the world about contemporary India.' Peter Martin of APCO Worldwide considers India's soft power potential as significant and suggests that more emphasis should be given to tap it. According to Latheesh Lakshman, artist and designer, 'India needs to set up art fairs and participate in such events abroad...such events would also promote a design revamp in India. There is a significant lag in the design potential of India and the standards that are in operation today.' Product designer Satish Gokhale says, 'Make in India campaign must have a design component that will focus on making manufacturing design-centric. In India, we have not fully understood the significance of design and application of design thinking. The Make in India campaign can even change the way of green growth of our country if synced with design and design thinking.' He further points out that India's creative potential will get a boost by adding a cultural reach-out and design platforms as part of the campaign. Although national design policy was brought out in 2007 that considered a need for design overhaul in India to improve manufacturing competitiveness, there is a lot that is expected from the present government to lead India towards a design-enabled economy. Read on...

The Economic Times: Why 'Make in India' should be complemented with participation in global art shows & upgrade of design ecosystem
Author: K. P. Narayana Kumar

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 jun 2015

Developing a design ecosystem in India is critical for the effective implementation of the 'Make in India' concept. Recent announcement by the Government of India regarding smart cities and housing for all by 2020 will provide a boost for the design industry. In an interview, Pradeep Nair of Autodesk, explains how his company would participate in 'Make in India' and Digital India' initiatives, what are opportunities in India in the design space and how the company plans to evolve in the Indian market in future. According to him, 'Our go-to-market strategy constitutes of having a strong and expansive partner ecosystem spread across multiple cities. With the aim of democratising technology, we provide the best of design innovation solutions to large, mid-size and SMBs. We also ensure that our partners are trained requisitely with the apt skills to provide these solutions to the customers.' While mentioning the company's focus in India he explains that automobile design, manufacturing, architecture, infrastructure and the media & entertainment sectors, will be the main thrust areas. He further elaborates, 'We have been advocating Distributed Manufacturing as the key to the Next Industrial Revolution and encouraging companies, individuals to developing groundbreaking hardware, software, materials, marketplaces and maker spaces through 3D technology.' He sees cloud as the future of design. According to him, 'Leveraging the power of cloud can help in democratising design technology and enable the future of making things. Every software provider, whether it be design or IT, is undergoing a massive transformation where users are opting for cloud as the preferred platform for computation. Pervasive connectivity enabled by software that tap into cloud, lets project teams tap expertise globally...we're seeing the digital and physical sides of products and projects become more deeply entwined. Autodesk will be playing a pioneering role in driving this evolution by harnessing the power of cloud, leverage connected desktops and cloud experiences tailored for designers, engineers, visual artists worldwide.' Read on...

The Financial Express: We see cloud as the future for the design industry - Pradeep Nair
Author: Sudhir Chowdhary

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 jun 2015

India's technology industry landscape was earlier driven by export of software and services, but now it is undergoing accelerated transformation through mobile phones. There are 969.89 million wireless phone subscribers in India at the end of March'2015, with 862 million of them being 'active users'. About 100 million access internet through mobile devices like smartphones. Tech-driven companies attracted US$ 2.36 billion during first quarter of 2015. Recently there has been high profile mergers and acquisitions in the mobile and internet space. E-commerce is going through a boom and disruptive phase with dynamics of industries being reshaped and remodelled. Millions of users are thronging on to online marketplaces to buy whole gamut of products and goods, and avail various services with just clicks and swipes. Professor Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University says, 'India will see a technology boom over the next 5 years that will make the US dotcom boom look lame.' Software product business ecosystem is taking shape in India. iSpirt (Indian Software Product Industry Roundtable) is a step to nurture software product ideas and entrepreneurs. India evolved new ways of bridging the digital divide and create domestic demand for applications and services. This can be a lesson for companies that serve the digitally poor around the world. Read on...

Outlook: The Changing Landscape of India's Tech Industry
Author: Dinesh C. Sharma

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 jun 2015

With 55% increase in smartphones and numbering 140 million in 2014, India is rapidly transitioning into a smartphone driven internet and ecommerce market. According to report 'Internet Trends 2015' by Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, smartphones are the main source of 65% of the internet traffic and 41% of e-commerce in India. Professor Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University explains how the next technology revolution is brewing in India with smartphones as the main catalyst. India's mobile leap is more direct and speedy as compared to the evolved transition of technologies in US, from mainframes to PCs to tablets and then finally to smartphones. According to him, 'The capability of these devices will keep increasing as prices drop. Indians will benefit from the same developments in technology as the West, with smart watches and fitness-tracking wristbands and smart glasses and connected contact lenses. Smartphones will be used to order goods, read news, monitor crop growth, access government services, report corruption and crime, and manage smart cities and health. Mobile computing will be everywhere.' To benefit from this wave of smartphone penetration, Indian developers and entrepreneurs have to find innovative solutions to old problems. He suggests, 'They need to take advantage of the unique properties of smartphones and tablets, such as the ability to gather data via sensors and lightweight user inputs, and hyper-personalisation of content and operation.' Read on...

The Economic Times: India, now get ready for next tech revolution
Author: Vivek Wadhwa

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 may 2015

Entrepreneurship is a critical component of economic growth and contributes to development, industrialization and employment generation. For entrepreneurship to thrive requires a facilitating ecosystem with government's proactive business policies, participation of private sector, accessible markets, availability of venture capital, readily available skilled human resources, and environment of risk taking. In 2015 GEI (Global Entrepreneurship Index) India is ranked 104th and trails all BRICS economies. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study in 2013 pointed out that entrepreneurial attitude is relatively low in India when compared to other BRICS countries. Only 61% of the adults (age 18-64) surveyed looked at entrepreneurship as a desirable career option. Moreover the enterprise surveys from World Bank reveals that the new firm density, described as number of new corporations created per 1,000 working age (16-64 years) individuals, is found to be dismally low in India. Although recently constituted Ministry of Entrepreneurship (with Skill Development) by the Government of India is a step in right direction to boost entrepreneurship focused policy and decision making but concrete visible actions are to be taken soon considering the highly competitive and fast paced world of entrepreneurial ventures. Amit Kapoor, President & CEO of India Council on Competitiveness and Chairman of the Institute for Competitiveness, points out the issue of entrepreneurship clusters and why India has faltered in a coherent cluster approach that enables enterprise creation. According to him, 'The fact that exports from the country have not been able to keep pace with the imports points to rising domestic demand. In addition, it also points to a failure on the part of India to 'make' and equally importantly 'market' our goods and services well in the global economy.' He further adds, 'The thrust on Make in India is thus understandable. Augmentation of large corporations with the development of MSME clusters, especially with newer enterprises and entrepreneurs, will go a long way in bettering prospects for the future.' He suggests the following key elements to nurture an entrepreneurial ecosystem in India - Education that promotes independent thinking and risk taking; Expand the funding opportunities; Technology development by talented and expert individuals; Improved access to infrastructure like electricity, internet, land etc; Social and cultural support by accepting failure as an inherent part of learning; Better regulatory environment; Stringent IP (Intellectual Property) protection regime; Collaborative environment with trust and teamwork between institutions, networks and people. He finally adds, 'In our view, specialization, innovation and marketing (SIM) should be the basis of entrepreneurship that would drive more value creation in the Indian context. Newer business models that focus on society, scale and simplicity would better the outcomes for India in the future.' Read on...

moneylife: Building an entrepreneurial ecosystem in India
Author: Amit Kapoor

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 may 2015

According to S. Ayyappan, Secretary of Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE) and Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), 'Multidisciplinary research and applications are required to improve agriculture in India.' He suggests, 'The future of India and the world lay in everyone becoming interested in the outcomes of agriculture, since it's everybody's business.' Vijay Chandru, Chairman and CEO of Strand Life Sciences, says 'Innovations are happening in genome sequencing and it might soon become personalized and a precise way of diagnosing diseases. There is need for biologists, bioinformaticians and information scientists to collaborate in this regard.' Read on...

The Hindu: Research needed to improve agriculture, says expert
Author: NA

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