Indian generic companies lash out at US pharma biggie

At a time when domestic generic medicines are helping the developed world to slash healthcare costs, big pharma has lashed out at indian manufactruers. The remarks made by chairman of one of the world’s largest companies, Sanofi Aventis, attacking domestic generic companies for exporting drugs, has created a furore. Infuriated, the industry has asked the government to step in and register their protest at an appropriate forum. Recently, Jean-Francois Dehecq, chairman of French firm Sanofi-Aventis, citing India as an example has criticised generic companies for exporting drugs rather than selling them locally. He’s been reported as saying in the media, “They make (drugs) cheaply and bring them to the North for people who can already pay. It is a scandal. They are exploiting people in the South. They should deal with their own countries first.” Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance secretary general, DG Shah, told Times of India: “This statement is indicative of the mindset of the big pharma that the third world nations should not look at them for access to medicine. It conveys a message to the trade negotiators that the developing countries like India, Brazil and Indonesia should not look at the West as a market for their generic products.” The industry has countered the charges saying that they are baseless. It has said in a letter to the commerce secretary that the domestic industry has not only made indian manufacturer self-sufficient for most of its medicines requirement but also emerged as a major source of supply for the developing countries. Such statements, if not challenged, hurt the interest of the domestic industry, it adds. One of the major generic manufacturers, Cipla’s joint MD Amar Lulla said “This (statement) reflects the insecurity of the big pharma towards India.” Generic drugs are copies of patented medicines and are sold in certain cases at even onetenth of the prices of the branded but offpatent drugs. The domestic industry wants to sensitise government to the attitude of the big pharma, whom it wants to “please through a trade related aspects of intellectual property rights plus IPR regime.” Sanofi-Aventis has two manufacturing units in India, both of which have been identified as global sourcing units, and its Indian operations recorded export revenues of 30% of its total sales in 2005

brass hardware manufacturers

AFTER bearing the brunt of the economic downturn at the beginning of this decade, the technology sector looks as if it may be among the best positioned to benefit when the global economy recovers from the current recession. Of course, that’s partly because it’s not tech’s bubble that burst this time. Real estate and finance have that distinction. Yet tech companies also appear to have learned tough lessons from the Internet bust that have helped them manage through the latest slump. Many cut costs and made other hard choices early on, and now look poised to profit if corporate and consumer demand begin to climb. “Have we learned from previous mistakes? Absolutely,” says Niklas Savander, executive vice-president at phone giant Nokia. “Not everyone has managed perfectly, but I would say the tech industry has managed it better than others.” Investors are betting that’s the case. The techheavy Nasdaq has rallied in the past month and is up 5% for the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index and Dow Jones industrial average are down. Shares in Cisco Systems, IBM, Research In Motion, and Apple have risen at least 10% in 2009. “Right now, the stocks are on the bargain table,” says Jerome I Dodson, CEO of Parnassus Investments. “If there is even a small increase in demand, I suspect that tech stocks will take off.” These could be misplaced hopes. If the economy continues to slide, tech companies won’t see much benefit from their belttightening and other moves. And the economic outlook remains cloudy. Tech retail sales, for example, slid 10% in March, according to government data, far worse than the 4.1% drop in February. “It’s still pretty ugly,” says Bill Whyman, senior managing director at International Strategy & Investment. CISCO’S INVENTORY VIGILANCE Tech companies have taken a number of steps to position themselves for a recovery. They’ve laid off workers, closed facilities, and outsourced even more of their production. Many companies have also hoarded cash for years, even in the face of investor complaints. Now as other companies scramble for financing, tech giants such as Cisco, Apple, IBM and Microsoft have billions on hand for acquisitions, research and development, and other long-term plans. Perhaps most important is how aggressively tech companies have managed production and inventories. Whyman figures that while hardware suppliers sales fell 5.8% from the third to fourth quarter of last year, inventories dropped even faster, by about 9%. It’s a sign tech companies quickly throttled back on making new PCs, mobile phones, and chips in anticipation of weak demand, saving themselves from having to write off excess inventory, as they had to do in years past. Take Cisco. In April 2001 the networking giant made one of the more painful confessions of the Internet bust: It had let so much networking gear pile up in inventory that it had to take a $2.5 billion charge for equipment no one would ever buy. Ever since, it’s been working to make sure such a thing never happened again. Supply chain chief Angel Mendez is grilled at monthly reviews by CEO John T. Chambers and other top brass, and Cisco has half the inventory it did in 2001 even though it is twice as big. “It didn’t take John eight years to start asking questions (about inventory levels),” says Mendez. “He asks about every eight minutes.” Nokia, Intel and others also slowed production last fall within weeks or even days of seeing demand slide. They brought supply chains—often involving dozens of companies—to near hibernation. A few shut down. David Yoffie, a vice-president at server maker Rackable Systems, sent an e-mail to hundreds of partners last November telling them to stop all production immediately. “Customers had hit the brakes hard,” he says. SMARTPHONES, THE SMART BET brass hardware manufacturer It takes more than a wary eye to pull off such feats. Robert B. Carter, chief information officer at FedEx, says high-tech and life sciences companies have “the most advanced supply chains of any industry,” thanks to investments in new technologies and talent. Just as Apple customers can go online to track exactly where their new iPhone is en route to their door, tech companies and their suppliers, brass hardware manufacturers, and distributors typically share the same real-time view of actual demand. That’s led to other innovations. In the past, companies only air-freighted goods when inventories of a hot product ran out. Now, that’s become quite common for small, light, high-end products. Although air mail is 10 times more expensive than shipping by boat, the products arrive in a day or two instead of three weeks, so they can be shipped after a customer places an order rather than in anticipation of demand. “If there is a spike in demand we can increase production. If not, we don’t overbuild,” says Liam Casey, CEO of PCH International, which helps Western companies produce and distribute products from China. Still, even the leanest companies need growth to turn investors’ heads. Research In Motion’s shares have risen more than 50% this year in part because of strong revenue growth in the latest quarter. And because it cut inventory so drastically, the outlook for both sales and profits is promising. Some big phone companies have no more BlackBerrys on hand for their subscribers, says Neil Mawston, an analyst at Strategy Analytics in London. “Because of the de-stocking, there’s going to be a restocking,” he says. Some see signs of better times in even the most savaged segments of tech. Take chips, where many companies took a huge hit by cutting production to less than 50% of capacity, vs 80% in flush times. BusinessWeekkey:

business services directory

SEMCOM, CVMs premiere business college takes business to a new level by offering innovative Master of E-Business degree. The programme combines marketing andbusiness dynamics with special IT training to make the student candidate a competent E-business enabled professional who can blend new age business initiatives and use the power of IT, internet and WiFi technology to increase customer base, maintain inventory, perform HR works across geographic distances, reach new markets, design innovative product promotion and use digital entrepreneurship to increase company productivity. The classroom has eminent experts like Pavan Duggal holding discussions, regular case studies and presentations, one of a kind Cyber law clinic, holding E-Business summit search engine optimisation, ethical hacking and industry internship programmes. SEMCOM also offers a 4-year BBA (Hon.) in IT Management offering dual specialisation in HR, Marketing, Management, Advanced ERP and International business. business services directory The standard 3-year BBA (General) focuses on Marketing management, financial management, exports management with practical studies. Admission to both is through a competitive test. The BCA program offers specialised overview of IT, Software engineering, System analysis, Database management etc. The BCom (General) course offers specialisations in accountancy and management. CZ Patel College of Business and Management CZ Patel College of Business and Management offers 4-year BBA(Hons) in Hospitality Management, Travel and Tourism Management and BCom (Hons) in Corporate Banking, International Accounting and Insurance. It is also offering strategic collaboration with Myers University USA and Malaspina University Canada in partnership with University of Hertfordshire UK to offer a dual degree of MBA and MSc (International Business) to BBA and BCom students. Students also get to go on study tours to events and trade shows in Singapore or Dubai to gain on hand experience. Graduates from CZ Patel College are directly eligible for admission in MBA programs of the foreign universities. The college has also tied up with Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), USA to act as a collaborating body for internships and final placements for students to top-notch hospitality providers around the world. Leading experts from the field of insurance, banking and financial management come to interact with students of BCom (Hons) in Corporate Banking, International Accounting and Insurance. Career opportunities have moved to create new niche jobs as investment analysts, management consultants, corporate governance, public sector finance, HR Managers etc. Students get an insight service providers from India into Business Law, Accounting and Auditing, Fundamentals of Banking and Insurance and are regularly taken on field visits and internship placements. business consulting firms

automobiles manufacturers

While buoyancy in vehicle sales in India may be heartening for the industry and economy, it is also leading to a rise in road accident fatalities in the country. automobile manufacturers in india has the dubious distinction of being the second highest in the world after China in annual road accident fatalities. The number of annual road accident fatalities in India crossed the 80,000 mark in 1999 — a rising trend since 1990 when the number was 54,000 as per the department of road transport and highways data. In 2002, the number of road accident fatalities per 10,000 vehicles was the highest in China (17.10) followed by India (14.39). In most highincome countries such as Sweden, US, Australia, Japan and Germany it ranged between 1.08 and 2.58. While globally 90% of road crashes were attributed to “human error” by the World Health Organisation’s “World report on road traffic injury prevention”, in India “driver fault” was to blame for 83.5% of accidents, followed by passenger/pedestrian fault (4.7%), mechanical defect in vehicles (3%) and “other factors” (6.8%) such as cattle, fallen trees, non-functional signals and absence of reflectors. These were some details highlighted in a study published by Pune-based Central Institute of Road Transport’s (CIRT) latest edition of the Indian Journal of Transport Management. automobile supplies Society of Indian automobiles manufacturers (Siam) said sale of passenger cars in India rose by 69.23% between 2001-2005 — from 5.67 lakh in 2000-01 to 8.19 lakh in 2004-05. Siam statistics state sale of two wheelers rose by 58% during the same period, with domestic sales of two wheelers rising from 3.6 million in 2000-01 to 6.2 million in 2004-05. Based on the WHO report, the study by Alok Rawat, principal secretary with the Sikkim government notes the social cost of road accidents in the country was pegged at Rs 55,000 crore in 1999-2000, constituting 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for that year. Although road accidents have been traditionally viewed as random events “that happen to others”, according to Rawat, the new paradigm shift now views road crashes as “preventable and predictable.” This has been demonstrated in high income countries, says Rawat, where an established set of interventions through legislations and technology have led to “significant reductions in the incidence and impact of road traffic injuries.”

agricultural products manufacturers

Life’s Good” for LG India head Soon Kwon but he wishes the economy were in better health. Kwon, 55, believes that to beat the slowdown there is a need to engage a large part of the population in industriali zation. According to heavy dependence on agricul ture, and even FDI, is not right way forward if wants to return to a higher growth trajectory and, importantly, match up to China. The slowdown has already made Korean consumer giant LG Electronics rethink some of its planned investments for India. “Regarding new investments for plant and manufacturing, we would have to make necessary adjustments,” says Kwon, who has had stints at the company’s headquarters in South Korea apart from Australia, US and Canada. “The first months of this year were more encouraging than last year. During the initial months last year, everybody was worried about the overall macro-economic situation, mostly the rupee value. But now that the rupee is slowly stabilizing, LG feels a little better in the overall business sense,” says Kwon. Kwon feels the government should put more emphasis on industrialization as “India’s growth rate has fallen drastically and this has had an effect on the overall economy”. “The dependency on agriculture and FDI is too high. Until we have a global industrialization plan, I cannot see how it will be possible to achieve an economic growth rate of 8-9%. As a Agricultural products manufacturers, we want to see some radical and rational moves towards industrialization.” Agricultural equipments manufacturers He says that the poor economic performance is having an effect on how corporates view India. “Disposable incomes are not rising even though the prices of products are. Three or four years ago, everyone expected consumer demand to double in the next five years, but it seems like demand is falling,” Kwon says. LG has four major business divisions in India – television, home appliances, air conditioners and mobile phones. Home appliances contribute about 50% to its revenues, TVs about 35%, ACs 10% and mobiles chip in the least. Is the company worried that mobiles form a small portion of its business, especially considering that most of its competitors like Samsung and Sony bank so much on the mobile phone business? “Different companies may have different business portfolios. They may be more successful than us in mobiles but LG is obviously the leader in other segments,” Kwon says. LG is globally re-working its strategy on mobile phones. “The whole mobile business mechanism is more dynam- than other segments, and it is also a very global business. Last year, we shifted our mobile priorities and decided to pull out of lower-budget phones, and instead focus on smartphones. Ever since then, our mobile business has started growing. This year, we can grow it to 10% of our over- business,” Kwon says. Apart from a sluggish , corporates in India – including LG – have been having a run-in with tax authorities. “I do not think that this will impact our business at all… I do think that the government should spend more time in allocating resources for industrialization. I do not know to what scale the government would go further, but this tax issue is a worrying factor.” agricultural products exporters Kwon feels that the government needs to come out with policies that aid corporate growth, which is a necessary step to compete against China. “If you look at the global market, India may be the only country to ultimately compete against China. The role of the Indian government is very important here as the economy does not grow on its own... how to grow further and how to reduce the gap between India and China will depend on how we grow in the industrial sector.” When he is not slugging it out in the Indian market for business, Kwon loves to play guitar and join his wife for shopping. Having spearheaded the India operations of LG for the past two years, Kwon has also developed a taste for Indian food, which is evident from his fondness for chicken tikka and naan

automobiles manufacturers

While buoyancy in vehicle sales in India may be heartening for the industry and economy, it is also leading to a rise in road accident fatalities in the country. automobile manufacturers in india has the dubious distinction of being the second highest in the world after China in annual road accident fatalities. The number of annual road accident fatalities in India crossed the 80,000 mark in 1999 — a rising trend since 1990 when the number was 54,000 as per the department of road transport and highways data. In 2002, the number of road accident fatalities per 10,000 vehicles was the highest in China (17.10) followed by India (14.39). In most highincome countries such as Sweden, US, Australia, Japan and Germany it ranged between 1.08 and 2.58. While globally 90% of road crashes were attributed to “human error” by the World Health Organisation’s “World report on road traffic injury prevention”, in India “driver fault” was to blame for 83.5% of accidents, followed by passenger/pedestrian fault (4.7%), mechanical defect in vehicles (3%) and “other factors” (6.8%) such as cattle, fallen trees, non-functional signals and absence of reflectors. These were some details highlighted in a study published by Pune-based Central Institute of Road Transport’s (CIRT) latest edition of the Indian Journal of Transport Management. automobile supplies Society of Indian automobiles manufacturers (Siam) said sale of passenger cars in India rose by 69.23% between 2001-2005 — from 5.67 lakh in 2000-01 to 8.19 lakh in 2004-05. Siam statistics state sale of two wheelers rose by 58% during the same period, with domestic sales of two wheelers rising from 3.6 million in 2000-01 to 6.2 million in 2004-05. Based on the WHO report, the study by Alok Rawat, principal secretary with the Sikkim government notes the social cost of road accidents in the country was pegged at Rs 55,000 crore in 1999-2000, constituting 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for that year. Although road accidents have been traditionally viewed as random events “that happen to others”, according to Rawat, the new paradigm shift now views road crashes as “preventable and predictable.” This has been demonstrated in high income countries, says Rawat, where an established set of interventions through legislations and technology have led to “significant reductions in the incidence and impact of road traffic injuries.”

indian manufacturers

As India's sparkling growth story spreads across the world, Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG), in the north of Italy, is gearing up to be a part of this wave through bilateral economic cooperation. Industry chambers and companies of this region are looking for increasing tieups with Indian counterparts to benefit from the emerging superpower's economic boom. "Our objective is to get to know more about Indian market, companies by holding workshops in the areas of energy, heavy industries, machineries, system designing, finance, communication and technology," Valduca Bertossi, chairman, Udine Chamber of Commerce, a northern province of FVG region, told visiting journalists. And leading the pack is a leading global insurance player Assicurazioni Generali from Trieste, a southern province of FVG. The company, listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (2006 turnover 64.5 billion euros), has already got a licence from IRDA for insurance venture in the country. It has tied up with Kishore Biyani's Future Group, a retail venture, to form a JV Future Generali Insurance Life Insurance Company, where Generali holds a 26% stake. "We want to repeat the success of distribution through malls in India as we have done in Switzerland and Philippines," said a senior official of Generali. indian manufacturers The JV is also negotiating with several mutual funds and banks to give a further boost to the insurance business, though the official refused to divulge names. "At present, India and China are the two most important areas for our growth," added the official. Now, across the western part of Europe, India is getting recognition for its corporate aggressiveness and hunger for acquisitions. "India. We know that man Mittal has bought Arcelor," said a man on the street, referring to LN Mittal. Ask him about Tatas' acquisition of Corus and he nods, saying, "Of course... yes." Other companies in the FVG region, which are looking for greater access to Indian market include Fantoni Group (turnover 360 million euros), a indian manufacturer of modern age wooden furniture for business and residential projects. "We would like to share the Indian boom," said Paolo Fantoni, managing director. The company, which already has a presence in Bangalore and Chennai, is looking for tieups with real estate majors like DLF and Embassy group to bag interior business for mega residential and corporate projects. "We want to focus on the top-end of the market," added Fantoni. Another major player in line is Itema Group (sales 667 m euors), a leading player in the area of textile machinery. Its group company Savio, which specialises in making sewing and twisting machines for yarn, is setting up a production facility in Coimbatore. "The 5 million euro facility will be ready to start production in early 2008," said Mauro Moro, industrial director of Savio. Also, heavy industries player like Danieli has set up base in Kolkata and started working with Bhel. Another area of bonding will be commodities like coffee. "India is the third largest supplier of raw coffee to Italy. We are looking to increase tieups with Indian farmers and various bodies to boost the supply chain," said Furio Suggi Liverani, director of Illy, a coffee processing company. Apart from biggies, start ups like PMP Industries, which makes gear boxes for mixer trucks, is looking for a strong presence in India. The company, which is setting up a production base in China, has established a presence in Mumbai and Delhi

indian manufacturer

As India's sparkling growth story spreads across the world, Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG), in the north of Italy, is gearing up to be a part of this wave through bilateral economic cooperation. Industry chambers and companies of this region are looking for increasing tieups with Indian counterparts to benefit from the emerging superpower's economic boom. "Our objective is to get to know more about Indian market, companies by holding workshops in the areas of energy, heavy industries, machineries, system designing, finance, communication and technology," Valduca Bertossi, chairman, Udine Chamber of Commerce, a northern province of FVG region, told visiting journalists. And leading the pack is a leading global insurance player Assicurazioni Generali from Trieste, a southern province of FVG. The company, listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (2006 turnover 64.5 billion euros), has already got a licence from IRDA for insurance venture in the country. It has tied up with Kishore Biyani's Future Group, a retail venture, to form a JV Future Generali Insurance Life Insurance Company, where Generali holds a 26% stake. "We want to repeat the success of distribution through malls in India as we have done in Switzerland and Philippines," said a senior official of Generali. indian manufacturers The JV is also negotiating with several mutual funds and banks to give a further boost to the insurance business, though the official refused to divulge names. "At present, India and China are the two most important areas for our growth," added the official. Now, across the western part of Europe, India is getting recognition for its corporate aggressiveness and hunger for acquisitions. "India. We know that man Mittal has bought Arcelor," said a man on the street, referring to LN Mittal. Ask him about Tatas' acquisition of Corus and he nods, saying, "Of course... yes." Other companies in the FVG region, which are looking for greater access to Indian market include Fantoni Group (turnover 360 million euros), a indian manufacturer of modern age wooden furniture for business and residential projects. "We would like to share the Indian boom," said Paolo Fantoni, managing director. The company, which already has a presence in Bangalore and Chennai, is looking for tieups with real estate majors like DLF and Embassy group to bag interior business for mega residential and corporate projects. "We want to focus on the top-end of the market," added Fantoni. Another major player in line is Itema Group (sales 667 m euors), a leading player in the area of textile machinery. Its group company Savio, which specialises in making sewing and twisting machines for yarn, is setting up a production facility in Coimbatore. "The 5 million euro facility will be ready to start production in early 2008," said Mauro Moro, industrial director of Savio. Also, heavy industries player like Danieli has set up base in Kolkata and started working with Bhel. Another area of bonding will be commodities like coffee. "India is the third largest supplier of raw coffee to Italy. We are looking to increase tieups with Indian farmers and various bodies to boost the supply chain," said Furio Suggi Liverani, director of Illy, a coffee processing company. Apart from biggies, start ups like PMP Industries, which makes gear boxes for mixer trucks, is looking for a strong presence in India. The company, which is setting up a production base in China, has established a presence in Mumbai and Delhi

chemicals manufacturers

An international treaty that had seemed unreal and remote until now, has suddenly rattled the chemical industry in India, especially Gujarat. In the last few months, the Central government has suspended the export licenses of four companies for violating the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) by selling restricted chemicals to Israel. It has also slapped a prohibitive Rs 20 lakh fine. Shockingly, two of these companies are from Gujarat, specifically Vadodara. Officials refused to divulge the names of the companies, saying it would be unfair, as the offences were minor and “would give a bad name to India”. chemical exporters Senior officials from New Delhi said that unless companies start adhering to the CWC, they could find themselves in deep trouble, as the Parliament has ratified the convention, making it an enforceable Act. “The chemicals that the four companies exported to Israel, fall under schedule II of the CWC. They are widely traded, but are listed in the CWC,” said joint secretary and director of the National Authority for CWC. He was in Vadodara on Thursday to attend an awareness programme organised by the Gujarat chapter of the Indian chemicals manufacturers Association (ICMA). “Although we know that these companies did not have bad intentions, they were penalised for violating the CWC by exporting to Israel.” The Jewish state is considered a non-state party, as it is yet to have the CWC ratified by its Parliament. ,chemical manufacturers directory , Gujarat has found special focus on the CWC radar as 60 per cent of the industry is located here. The National Authority has already drawn up a list of 525 companies from Gujarat that potentially need to make declarations under the CWC. Sources in ICMA say the number may be much higher given the plethora of small and medium companies in Gujarat. Officials complain that many of these companies have not made declarations despite being contacted repeatedly. The CWC is a universal, multilateral, disarmament treaty, which bans the development, production, acquisition, transfer, use and stockpile of all chemical weapons. The CWC Act, 2000 came into force on 1st July 2005. Sharma added that the violators have escaped with mild punishment. However, given the atmosphere today, any violation could lead to much higher penalties, even imprisonment

business consulting firms

These payments were “invisibles” in RBI books. Indians spent 70% more in 2004-05 on travel abroad and on sourcing foreign transport, engineering, constancy and distribution services to cope with growingbusiness needs. business consulting firms Also, India’s external sector current account slipped into a deficit of $6.4 billion in 2004-05 after a three-year span of continuous surpluses, preliminary RBI data showed. Non-capital receipts from abroad exceeded payments made overseas by $10.5 billion in the current account in 2003-04. Significantly, as more and more Indians travel abroad and Indian businesses avail of foreign services, payments on these counts are increasing sharply. These payments, categorised as “invisibles”, rose sharply last fiscal to touch $45.8 billion. India’s strength in its external sector in recent years has been “invisibles.” Invisible receipts due to foreign tourists coming to India, Indian workers sending in remittances and exports of services, especially computer software, have been robust and have provided a surplus over invisible payments. In 2004-05 too, invisible receipts were in surplus by about $31.6 billion. business services directory But the growth in invisible payments at 70% in 2004-05 was much stronger than the 48% growth in invisible receipts, thereby opening up the possibility of the invisible account getting into the red in coming years. As such the trade account, representing merchandise exports and imports, went deep into the red in 2004-05, showing the deficit at a historic high of $38.1 billion. But for the surplus in the invisibles, India’s current account gap would have been much larger than a modest $6.4 billion. But if invisible payments continue to grow faster that invisible receipts, the possibility of a deficit in the coming years cannot be ruled out. service providers from India Huge net capital inflows in 2004-05 amounting to $32.5 billion meant that India could easily negotiate the modest current account deficit of $6.4 billion and yet add over $26.1 billion to its forex kitty. The viability of India’s external balance of payments would, therefore, depend on invisible surpluses and net capital inflows. The good news is that in 2004-05, receipts grew by 25% from international tourist traffic to India. Private transfers, comprising primarily remittances from Indians working abroad, remained sizeable at $20.9 billion. IT services exports too were buoyant, touching $17.3 billion.

business consulting firms

LET’S face some facts about McDonald’s: It does not offer the best burger, there are better available; the service is no different from any other self-service restaurant; and, the ambience of the place is in close competition with those offered by, say, Burger King, Wendys, Wimpys, KFC and the like. So what is it that really makes McDonald’s one of the most popular eateries in the world? What is it that attracts us to the American fastfood joint that is run by mere school kids? Is it the food? Is it the service? Or is it the ambience? Perhaps, it is a winning combination of a simple menu, a speedy preparation and delivery system based upon assembly line techniques, and more importantly, a system so well-defined that anybody, even teenagers, can run it to such perfection as to deliver a high-level of consistency that has become the trademark of each of its restaurants around the world. It is franchising at its best! business management service Origin of franchising It all started in the 1800s, in England. In those days, due to the rampant alcohol abuse by the public, the sale of liquor was restricted by a system of licensing. It became essential for inns and taverns to obtain licences to sell liquor. But only a few could afford them, while the rest found it difficult to maintain their premises. At this juncture, the brewers came forward to help the innkeepers financially. In return they asked that only their brands be sold by the inns. This gave the brewers a guaranteed distribution system for their ale, and the tavern owners procured an unfailing supply of brew by owning exclusive distribution rights on their specific brands of ale. This actually proved to be a win-win situation for both. Old England may have taken the lead in instituting franchising, but if one were to award the crown for the father of franchising, the United States would be the recipient! These and more interesting facts are revealed about franchising in the first book on the subject in India, The Science of Reproducing Success. The basics of franchising are simple. A franchisor is one who has a successfulbusiness model and wants it to further grow and expand. The method of expansion here is through opening more similar units, called franchises. For this, the franchisor accords the right to another entrepreneur, i.e., afranchisee, to replicate the franchisor’s business model with his own capital. For this transfer of rights and also the blueprint of the successful business model, the franchisor charges the franchisee a fee and, later on, royalty. The former also provides the latter support in the form of training, advertising, marketing campaigns and so on. business services directory Franchising as a concept Franchising is one of the fastest growing methods of doing business in the world today. It begins with a vision, of growth and expansion. With the addition of the franchisee in the franchise chain, the franchisor gets more of these resources. This is because the franchisee uses his own capital for the franchise, and addresses the issues of recruitment, retention and motivation of staff or agents and of overall management of the business. The franchisor also gains time as the allotment of franchises helps in expanding his business more rapidly than other traditional methods of expansion. Thus, franchising has outgrown the narrow concept of marketing a product or a service through its distribution channels. Today, it provides a complete business solution that involves m a n a g e m e n t , accounting, finance, e c o n o m i c s, quantitative analysis and marketing. Company-owned versus franchising An entrepreneur might ask, “Why should I go in for franchising when I can open my c o m p a ny - ow n e d units.” It is true that that companyowned units display some clear advantages, when compared to franchising, such as: • More control over units. • No sharing of profits. • Ease of instituting changes in units. • Ease in testing new products or services. • Ability to change the basic products • Ability to even change the mission or goal of the organisation. • By virtue of ownership, company headquarters can easily control the reporting system, managerial system, and marketing system of all its units However, there are disadvantages of company-owned units: • Company-owned businesses require lots of capital due to cost of maintaining and developing units. • Business partnerships that look fruitful in the beginning, quite often do not work in the long-term. • They require a fairly extensive managerial team to oversee and control them and their activities. • Difficulty in finding and keeping good motivated managers. • The age-old marketing channel of distributors, aamong others offer no control and little influence over how the products and services are being distributed. Franchising advantages • The franchisor provides the franchisee an opportunity to operate a tested, proven, and profitable business and in addition provides him support services and training that increase his chances of success. business consulting firms • Franchising allows for intensive and rapid expansion of a regional or national business system. • A franchise generally requires fewer management personnel than a chain organisation and therefore, has a lower staff payroll and problems. • When a franchisee invests his own money in a f r a n ch i s e, c o m m i t m e n t follows. Unlike a salaried manager, a franchisee generally prides his ownership and is self-motivated in operating a successful business. Franchising disadvantages • Franchising is not a miraculous problem-free solution to business expansion. It is an excellent opportunity to expand with the assistance of other individuals, their investments and drive. • Net receipts from franchisees could be less than net receipts from company-owned operations. Only a few new franchises break even immediately, most take up to six months to a year. • Business skills required to operate a franchise are at variance with those required for running a retail store. • A franchisor needs to realise that they are now working with several independent business people who have their ideas and ways of doing things.

service providers from India

Business Analysis is the next big career opportunity in Information Technology and Management as business environments are undergoing various metamorphic changes. “The future will be a globally connected and automated environment where intelligent people, both from IT and non-IT backgrounds, will be required to create this complex, sophisticated and highly productive business environment," envisions Ms Sandhya Jane, Director, ANISAN Technologies. Ms Jane adds, "Advanced Certificate in Business Analysis is designed to provide in-depth knowledge and real life professional skill to enhance the acceptability of the participant. It is also invaluable for the non-IT professional to improve the 'system thinking' to make his/her team more effective and productive to achieve organisational and professional goals as well." service providers from India A Business Analyst acts as an excellent bridge for this environment that caters to the need of the business services directory as well as technical team members to achieve the organisational goal and objective. One can be from either Management or IT-technology background - it will benefit both. ANISAN Technologies, a global consulting organisation with offices in Jersey City, USA and Mumbai, India, specialises in providing training and consulting services in theBusiness Analysis field. ANISAN offers various highly specialised training programs for fresh graduates as well as experienced professionals who would like to leverage their skills and boost their career prospects in the areas of Business Analysis, Project Management, Software Quality Assurance, Process Engineering, Data Management, Business Intelligence, Domain Knowledge for IT and Green IT. Their courses are designed to accommodate students from various backgrounds and prepare them for a real-life experience through comprehensive training, assignments, projects, case studies and valid certification from globally recognised business consulting firms. ANISAN Technologies is an "Endorsed Education Provider" of International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), Canada, and offers an approved certification program inBusiness Analysis which is recognised across different industry verticals in India and abroad. ANISAN’s USP The entire training program is based on International Standards and is approved by International Institutes. Well experienced faculty with average 15 years of industry experience in Information Technology and Management in India and abroad. Successful completion of ANISAN's certification has enabled participants join corporate giants like Oracle, TCS, L&T Infotech, Accenture, NSE, BSE, HDFC, Morgan & Stanley, Well Point, Credit Suisse, Novartis, among others.

business services directory

Business Analysis is the next big career opportunity in Information Technology and Management as business environments are undergoing various metamorphic changes. “The future will be a globally connected and automated environment where intelligent people, both from IT and non-IT backgrounds, will be required to create this complex, sophisticated and highly productive business environment," envisions Ms Sandhya Jane, Director, ANISAN Technologies. Ms Jane adds, "Advanced Certificate in Business Analysis is designed to provide in-depth knowledge and real life professional skill to enhance the acceptability of the participant. It is also invaluable for the non-IT professional to improve the 'system thinking' to make his/her team more effective and productive to achieve organisational and professional goals as well." service providers from India A Business Analyst acts as an excellent bridge for this environment that caters to the need of the business services directory as well as technical team members to achieve the organisational goal and objective. One can be from either Management or IT-technology background - it will benefit both. ANISAN Technologies, a global consulting organisation with offices in Jersey City, USA and Mumbai, India, specialises in providing training and consulting services in theBusiness Analysis field. ANISAN offers various highly specialised training programs for fresh graduates as well as experienced professionals who would like to leverage their skills and boost their career prospects in the areas of Business Analysis, Project Management, Software Quality Assurance, Process Engineering, Data Management, Business Intelligence, Domain Knowledge for IT and Green IT. Their courses are designed to accommodate students from various backgrounds and prepare them for a real-life experience through comprehensive training, assignments, projects, case studies and valid certification from globally recognised business consulting firms. ANISAN Technologies is an "Endorsed Education Provider" of International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), Canada, and offers an approved certification program inBusiness Analysis which is recognised across different industry verticals in India and abroad. ANISAN’s USP The entire training program is based on International Standards and is approved by International Institutes. Well experienced faculty with average 15 years of industry experience in Information Technology and Management in India and abroad. Successful completion of ANISAN's certification has enabled participants join corporate giants like Oracle, TCS, L&T Infotech, Accenture, NSE, BSE, HDFC, Morgan & Stanley, Well Point, Credit Suisse, Novartis, among others.

business consulting firms

Business Analysis is the next big career opportunity in Information Technology and Management as business environments are undergoing various metamorphic changes. “The future will be a globally connected and automated environment where intelligent people, both from IT and non-IT backgrounds, will be required to create this complex, sophisticated and highly productive business environment," envisions Ms Sandhya Jane, Director, ANISAN Technologies. Ms Jane adds, "Advanced Certificate in Business Analysis is designed to provide in-depth knowledge and real life professional skill to enhance the acceptability of the participant. It is also invaluable for the non-IT professional to improve the 'system thinking' to make his/her team more effective and productive to achieve organisational and professional goals as well." service providers from India A Business Analyst acts as an excellent bridge for this environment that caters to the need of the business services directory as well as technical team members to achieve the organisational goal and objective. One can be from either Management or IT-technology background - it will benefit both. ANISAN Technologies, a global consulting organisation with offices in Jersey City, USA and Mumbai, India, specialises in providing training and consulting services in theBusiness Analysis field. ANISAN offers various highly specialised training programs for fresh graduates as well as experienced professionals who would like to leverage their skills and boost their career prospects in the areas of Business Analysis, Project Management, Software Quality Assurance, Process Engineering, Data Management, Business Intelligence, Domain Knowledge for IT and Green IT. Their courses are designed to accommodate students from various backgrounds and prepare them for a real-life experience through comprehensive training, assignments, projects, case studies and valid certification from globally recognised business consulting firms. ANISAN Technologies is an "Endorsed Education Provider" of International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), Canada, and offers an approved certification program inBusiness Analysis which is recognised across different industry verticals in India and abroad. ANISAN’s USP The entire training program is based on International Standards and is approved by International Institutes. Well experienced faculty with average 15 years of industry experience in Information Technology and Management in India and abroad. Successful completion of ANISAN's certification has enabled participants join corporate giants like Oracle, TCS, L&T Infotech, Accenture, NSE, BSE, HDFC, Morgan & Stanley, Well Point, Credit Suisse, Novartis, among others.

business services directory

THE CURRENT SCENARIO .Ajay Unni is a busy man. The Indian-born Sydney representative of the Federation of Indian Students (FISA) has been fielding calls all day from bewildered students, distraught at the sudden closure of the city’s Sterling College (on July 28). About 500 students, mainly Indians, who were undertaking vocational courses in hairdressing, cookery, community development and accounting, have been affected. Informs Unni, “Students arrived at the college to find it closed and are now left in the lurch.” Some, including Pinky Minhas, 28, were close to graduating. In her interview to a local newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald, Minhas said, “There’s nothing. The money is wasted, our future is going down.” Affected students will now be placed in another college, where they will be able to finish their courses under an industry agreement. But the shutdown of Sterling College is not an isolated case; it is the latest in a string of controversies concerning Indian students in the land Down Under. Assaults, public protests by Indians, perceived lacklustre policing, unscrupulous migration agents and substandard colleges, have all contributed towards a growing unease about education in Australia. This situation may be about to get worse. In a recent report, Dr Bob Birrell, an academician at the country’s Monash University, warned of a ‘powder keg situation’ due to changes in Australia’s migration laws. Announced by the Australian government late last year, the changes make it more difficult for overseas students, who undertake vocational-training courses to qualify for permanent residency. Around 90,000 Indian students have flocked to Australia’s educational institutes over the past few years, and now call it home. A huge swell in student numbers has occurred in the vocational-skills training field - courses run by private companies or state-run TAFE colleges that provide trade or technical skills - where threequarters of the Indian student body are being educated. The number of enrollments to Australian institutes by Indian students has tripled from 4359 in 2002 to 12,102 in 2008. However, this change has been even more dramatic in the training sector - from less than 1000 from 2002 to 2004 to almost 3000 in 2005, 7400 in 2006, 18,600 in 2007 and 32,771 in 2008. The surge in the number of Indian students applying to institutes in Australia occurred after the government made changes to its migration laws in 2001 that made it easier for students trained in designated skilled areas to secure permanent residency. The Migration Occupations in Demand includes hairdressers, cooks and community development workers. “For an increasing minority, the point of study in Australia is to gain permanent residency,” says Dr Birrell. “Whatever the motive, those seeking permanent residence will find that the migration selection landscape has changed. Just as the number of students pursuing their courses, or those who have recently completed their courses, reaches a peak, the doors for former overseas students who are general skilled migrants are now closing.” Since the start of this year, Australia’s Immigration Department has stopped processing applications of migrants with general skills, who do not have at least a year-long work experience in the field. The department instead, is focusing on workers sponsored by private companies or government agencies, and this change is set to have a profound effect on the number of Indians/ non-nationals who will actually receive permanent residency. WHO IS TO BLAME? business consulting firms FISA founder Gautam Gupta, 24, a former student from Chandigrah, says the Australian Government is at fault for the explosion in student numbers. “Most of the training courses are made to suit the Australian criteria. Take, for instance, a course in commercial cookery. The training can prove to be useful only for someone who stays back in Australia. In such a situation, a student is bound to feel cheated, when halfway through the course, the government changes its mind and says, ‘We don’t need you anymore’. Who is going to pay AU $40,000 (INR 1.59 million) only to become a hairdresser?” Adds Unni, “A number of universities and educational institutes have been luring students on the pretext of permanent residency in Australia; that is the only goal of most students pursuing an education there.” Many believe the problem lies at the start of the chain, with misleading advertisements and aggressive recruiting. The burgeoning discontentment and indecisiveness can ultimately lead to existential neurosis, which mimics clinical depression. Advertisements and education agents label courses ‘permanent residency courses’ and ‘guarantee’ work-experience hours and job placements. Students are tricked into pursuing such courses that claim there would be people waiting for them at the airport to offer them jobs, that job-seeking would be easy, and migration paperwork would be a breeze. WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE? The Australian Council for Private Education and Training announced last week, it would create a register for education agents overseas in a bid to stamp out rogue agents. In a recently made statement, CEO Andrew Smith said, “Education agents play an important role in providing information to students, but it is critical that students know where to find reliable, trustworthy agents who meet the highest standards, in order to make informed decisions about their studies.” In the past, anecdotal reports suggest the government has failed to act on substandard education providers, in a bid to stop the disruptive closures, such as Sydney’s Sterling College and two others that closed last week. They vow now, they will act. The peak body for migration agents is also calling for a crackdown. Says Maurene Horder,business services directory CEO, Migration Institute of Australia, “We’ve been asking the government to sort out problems with education agents and illegal or unscrupulous operators for an extended period of time. The announcement that education agents will have to register is a first step, but doesn’t go far enough in reforming the sector.” Since the Indian student protests erupted in recent months, the Australian government has launched a blitzkrieg of activity to quell the anger and introduce changes - but not to migration laws. All levels of government have been tasked with finding solutions - a security hotline was established and there are increasing links between students and government. India has been especially targeted. In a recent visit to New Delhi, Immigration Minister, Chris Evans, announced a Working Group on migration issues would meet for the first time this month, but reiterated the government’s stance on the migration policy, when he said, “A key challenge for the Australian government remains to communicate clearly that there is no automatic link between studying in Australia and getting access to permanent residency.” Highlighting the links between the countries (India is now the highest source of skilled migrants to Australia and the secondhighest source of temporary business visas), he announced another review of the skills list that is critical to the chances of Indian students’ success in gaining permanent residency. This list is expected to be completed by October. service providers from India PARTING SHOT Concludes Gupta, “Students should be extremely cautious while applying for a course, as there are chances they might end up being exploited and cheated. They should understand that Australia is a very beautiful country, but it is not a bed of roses.”

agricultural products manufacturers

Gujarat has taken rapid strides in economic growth, particularly in manufacturing and service sectors. Yet the role of the agriculture sector remains crucial because it is the main source of employment for a majority of the population. An extension of the relevance this sector holds in the Indian economy is 'Agritech Asia 2012 - an international exhibition and conference on agriculture industries.' An event of Vibrant Gujarat 2013 activities, in partnership with iNDEXTb, the exhibition will begin on 3rd September, 2012, at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.agricultural products manufacturers Agritech Asia 2012 is an endeavour by Agritech NPO Israel, Radeecal Communications (India) and Kenes Exhibition (Israel) to bring together all the constituents of the agriculture industry under one roof to create a neutral platform for the players of the industry and consumers, to share information and knowledge, to understand the market dynamics - existing and future (short term, mid-term and in the long term) and thrash out the issues In the current year, the government of India has called for new 'Green Revolution' for the agriculture sector with higher investment and introduction of latest technologies, leading to an increased demand in the irrigation technology, seeds and bio-technology, agriculture equipment and dairy technology industry.Indian agricultural products Agritech Asia 2012 is anticipated to attract major participation by the established national and international players. "For entrepreneurs with vision and seamless ambition, Agritech Asia provides a unique opportunity to see, learn, sell, buy and tie up," says Neeraj Shah, CFO, Radeecal Communications. With a participation profile of more than 150 companies from India and atleast 40 companies in the top league of the agriculture sector, Agritech Asia 2012 promises to generate tremendous business worth.agricultural products exporters Agritech Asia majorly covers 25 sectors of agriculture as well as livestock and animal husbandry industry and many countries are participating in this premier event on agriculture. It offers an ideal launch pad for new ideas, products and services, a conducive platform for forging joint ventures and collaborations and an open marketplace to source ideal solutions. The varied participants' profile includes agri ecology, agricultural building contractors, agricultural machinery, aquaculture, biotechnology, fertilizers and chemicals, floriculture, fork lift & handling equipment, greenhouses, irrigation and water technologies, livestock and dairy farming, marketing and export services, organic agriculture, seeds and plant propagation material, plant protection, plasticulture, post harvest treatment, poultry, precise agriculture, R&D, renewable energy, rural development, software & hardware, veterinary, turnkey projects and knowledge transfer products. Truly, Agritech Asia 2012 is the open-access doorway to the global marketplace and a business solution.

brass hardware manufacturers

India’s unique capabilities in the IT and ITES sectors are well documented. There have been multiple surveys endorsing India’s dominance and pegging India’s market share at over 50% of the global outsourcing industry. Nearly 75% of Fortune 500 companies rely on Indian software expertise to make them competitive. The growing concentration of the software services industry in India and lack of further financial incentives from the government have prompted global companies to adopt a de-risking strategy and look at other viable locations for growing their business. The “India+1” model for software outsourcing is a reality – and Indian companies are seeking to adapt to the changing world order. More and more of them are adding global operations capability to offer this diversification themselves. Most countries wanting to position themselves as an India+1 destination offer strong incentives to invite Indian IT players and others to set up shop on their shores. The Greater China region, the number one destination for hardware electronics manufacturing today, is well ahead of any other country. It offers unmatched scale, skills and infrastructure. Interestingly, there also seems to be a similar sense of risk awareness among electronics manufacturers and their customers along the China-Taiwan belt – constituting nearly 56% of the global electronics manufacturing industry. There is definitely room for a second destination for risk diversification and keeping costs under check. Multiple survey reports from service providers in India and China demonstrate the large gap now between China and India in terms of business expense. Salaries in China are shown to be double those of India; property prices also have crept ahead. A ‘China+1’ strategy seems to be taking shape and India could well be the beneficiary if it gets its act together in the electronics manufacturing space. Apart from the opportunity the ‘China+1’ position offers, there is a bigger challenge of increasing domestic consumption which should force us to look at this space very aggressively. Today, the global electronics hardware industry ishardware suppliers reportedly $1.75 trillion and is projected to reach $2 trillion by 2014. Demand in the Indian market stands at $45 billion and is projected to grow to $125 billion by 2014.brass hardware manufacturers In India, there is a massive mismatch in demand and supply, with domestic production catering to less than 45% of domestic consumption. This gap will only get wider with increased consumption and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 22% between 2009-20. At this rate and without scaling domestic manufacturing, the foreign exchange needs are estimated to be as big as what we spend on oil by 2020.brass hardware manufacturers Clearly, building India’s manufacturing capability is critical. In addition to reduction in technology costs that a full component ecosystem would generate, it would also contribute significantlyby creating high quality direct and indirect manufacturing and service jobs in the hi-tech field; giving India greater standing in the global IT manufacturing industry; stimulating increased technology and knowledge transfer to domestic firms; lowering the price of information infrastructure/PCs and other electronic equipment for Indian consumers; and making locally produced electronic hardware more competitive globally. To better understand the factors keeping the electronics supply chain from being established, a survey was conducted by a leading hardware vendor in which feedback of 35 suppliers was collected and analysed. It found that more than half had never considered India for investment. Of those that had, opportunities for sales within India and the possibility of realising operational cost savings were the primary drivers. Of those that had not invested in India, concerns over infrastructure, taxes, labour issues and lack of incentives were primary deterrents. High transaction costs – driven by cumbersome documentation and inordinate delays – owing to a complex process are another problem. While infrastructure remains a long-standing issue with enough written about the need to improve in that area, here are the top five enablers we need to work on immediately. These short-term measures can give a boost to us to get this industry started similar to software services in the late-1980s. One, the government should offer a long-term, stable tax structure and a comprehensive range of incentives to instil confidence among potential investors. Introducing GST and having a unified tax structure for states would lead to ease of conducting business. Two, labour laws should be made more flexible to help reduce overall cost of employment. It is important that India formulates a more liberal contract labour procedure and strives to establish a meaningful skills development programme in partnership with the industry. Moreover, industrial relations, a sensitive aspect in the manufacturing sector, should be made more conducive and cordial by a proactive set of policy measures. Three, create strong demand generation for technology by expanding e-governance initiatives and IT investments in healthcare and education. Four, reduce steps and extensive documentation requirements. Finally, industry and government should collaboratively launch a communications campaign targeting electronics manufacturers and help resolve misconceptions about doing business in India. It is heartening to see the government move to address these issues. Apart from creating a multitiered special incentive package scheme for electronics manufacturers, the government is also considering the setting up of a special purpose vehicle under a National Electronics Mission, which would act as a nodal agency for the electronics industry. Time is of the essence and we need to act fast. The writer is president, Dell India.

automobiles manufacturers

From the time he was in high school in New Delhi’s Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Sanjay Mehrotra was clear that he wanted to go to the US. In 1974, the system involved only 11 years of schooling, and US universities told him he needed to do 12 before he could apply. So he joined BITS, Pilani. At the end of the first year at BITS, he applied again US universities. They said could come as a freshman but he could not get credits for his year at BITS. He declined, and reapplied in the second year. This time, University of California, Berkeley, gave him admission with full two years’ credit in the electrical engineering and computer sciences programme. He joined, went on to do a Masters at Berkeley, and then worked for four Silicon Valley semiconductor companies, including Intel, between 1980 and 1988. Mehrotra was working specifically in the then nascent area of what is known as flash memory — the storage technology that involves no moving parts and where the chip retains the stored information even when its power source is removed. In 1988, Eli Harari, a former Intel colleague, approached him with the idea of founding a company focused on flash memory, and that’s what they did later that year, together with Jack Yuan, a colleague of Harari’s in Hughes Microelectronics. “We believed that in the future there would be applications that would need flash storage,” Mehrotra told us on a visit to Bangalore recently. “And 25 years ago, when we founded the company, we had said in one of our publications that in the future there would be phones like cellular phones and light computing devices that would need this technology.”automobile manufacturers in india That proved prophetic. Flash memory is today ubiquitous — it’s the memory that is used in cellphones, digital cameras, USB drives, external hard drives, set-top boxes, tablets and increasingly in servers and PCs (traditional servers and PCs run on hard disk drives that have spinning disks and other mechanical/moving parts and are therefore more prone to disruptions and higher energy consumption). With flash memory’s success, the company they founded — SanDisk — became a household name, and last year had revenues of $5.7 billion. “Globally and in India, we have a third of the retail market in flash products,” says Mehrotra. SanDisk’s early success was with camera makers. Cameras then used chemical films. “We worked with Kodak, Nikon, Polaroid and converted the industry to digital film,” says Mehrotra.automobile supplies Then came USB flash drives that toppled the floppy disc drives industry. And then flash in audio players and mobile devices. These have made countries like India particularly important for SanDisk. “Just look at India: Half the population is less than 25 years old and a big chunk of it is tech-savvy, digital media-savvy. They know how to use these things better than you and I, and they are much faster at it. They are capturing more data, sharing more data, they want to be able to access their data fast and anytime, anywhere. That’s driving increased local storage in mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets,” says Mehrotra. Within Asia, India and China are SanDisk’s fastest growing retail markets. The big push now is into laptops and enterprise servers, where solid state drives based on flash technology is replacing traditional spinning hard disk drives. Flash is enabling sleeker, lighter, more power-efficient and reliable laptops. Flash is also faster, giving fast boot up times and instant access. Mehrotra says solid state drives in computing is the biggest growth driver for the flash industry and for SanDisk.automobiles manufacturers Prices of solid state drives are still high, so last year only about 10% of the notebook computers had such drives in them. Estimates are that in another three years, about one-third of notebooks will have solid state drives in them. “But I won’t be surprised if the penetration rate is even higher by then,” says Mehrotra. All MacBook Air laptops and many of Intel’s ultrabooks today come with solid state drives. SanDisk’s Bangalore R&D centre, which has 350 engineers, or more than a tenth of its global R&D strength, works on the design of memory chips and controllers that go into flash memory products, as also on software development. It is integral to SanDisk’s operations. Would the company now be willing to do some manufacturing in India? The question was repeatedly put to Mehrotra during his Bangalore visit, given the Indian government’s recent push for electronics manufacturing. Mehrotra, who became SanDisk’s CEO on January 1, 2011, when Harari retired, would only reply that the company’s plants in Japan and China were currently sufficient. Is manufacturing in India a challenge? Mehrotra says the most important things are to make sure that the skilled resource pool is available, and that the infrastructure and the ecosystem needed to become a world-class supplier is there. “I can see that India is working towards attaining that,” he says.

apparel manufacturer

The apparel manufacturers in south Gujarat’s first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for garment and textile are at the receiving end as the denotification of apparel park hangs in balance. While the unit owners in SEZ are willing to wind up their manufacturing facilities following the steep decline in export orders from key markets like US, Europe, Germany and Japan, the concerned departments in central and state government are yet to take any decision.apparel manufacturers india The Surat Apparel Park Association (SAPA), apex body of garment manufacturers in SEZ, has urged the central and the state governments that SEZ should be denotified and converted into a regular apparel park so that the units can face the onslaught of dwindling demand from key export markets by selling their garments in domestic market. According to the data released by Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), India exported garments worth $ 2.41 billion in the quarter that ended on June 30 as compared to $ 2.85 billion it earned in the previous year. In June, garment exports fell 10.15 per cent from $ 968 million to $ 870 million due to the dwindling demand from key foreign markets and the trend continued in the first quarter of 2010. Secretary, SAPA, Nilesh Mehra told TOI, “About 41 stakeholders in SEZ have sent letters to the concerned departments seeking de-notification of the apparel park from SEZ. In the last few months, around 20 per cent of the garment workers have lost their jobs due to the cut in production of garments.”apparel manufacturer According to Mehra, Surat Apparel Park in Sachin was converted to SEZ in 2006. Out of the 128 demarked plots inside the SAP-SEZ, developed by GIDC, only 66 plots are sold to 42 unit holders. Only 11 units have started so far employing more than 3,000 workers from nearby villages, while the construction of other eight units are going on. There are some 23 units owners who are not ready to invest in the park following the low sustainability. The total investment by 11 units so far is around Rs 195 crore and the export in the last three years since August-2006 is hardly Rs 60 crore. This shows that the Apparel SEZ in Surat is a loss making venture and thus, we are not interested to continue in it for long,” said managing director, Saffari Apparels, Kirti Patel said.

computer manufacturer

From the time he was in high school in New Delhi’s Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Sanjay Mehrotra was clear that he wanted to go to the US. In 1974, the system involved only 11 years of schooling, and US universities told him he needed to do 12 before he could apply. So he joined BITS, Pilani. At the end of the first year at BITS, he applied again US universities. They said could come as a freshman but he could not get credits for his year at BITS. He declined, and reapplied in the second year. This time, University of California, Berkeley, gave him admission with full two years’ credit in the electrical engineering and computer sciences programme. He joined, went on to do a Masters at Berkeley, and then worked for four Silicon Valley semiconductor companies, including Intel, between 1980 and 1988. Mehrotra was working specifically in the then nascent area of what is known as flash memory — the storage technology that involves no moving parts and where the chip retains the stored information even when its power source is removed. In 1988, Eli Harari, a former Intel colleague, approached him with the idea of founding a company focused on flash memory, and that’s what they did later that year, together with Jack Yuan, a colleague of Harari’s in Hughes Microelectronics. “We believed that in the future there would be applications that would need flash storage,” Mehrotra told us on a visit to Bangalore recently. “And 25 years ago, when we founded the company, we had said in one of our publications that in the future there would be phones like cellular phones and light computing devices that would need this technology.”computer parts suppliers That proved prophetic. Flash memory is today ubiquitous — it’s the memory that is used in cellphones, digital cameras, USB drives, external hard drives, set-top boxes, tablets and increasingly in servers and PCs (traditional servers and PCs run on hard disk drives that have spinning disks and other mechanical/moving parts and are therefore more prone to disruptions and higher energy consumption). With flash memory’s success, the company they founded — SanDisk — became a household name, and last year had revenues of $5.7 billion. “Globally and in India, we have a third of the retail market in flash products,” says Mehrotra. SanDisk’s early success was with camera makers. Cameras then used chemical films. “We worked with Kodak, Nikon, Polaroid and converted the industry to digital film,” says Mehrotra. Then came USB flash drives that toppled the floppy disc drives industry. And then flash in audio players and mobile devices. These have made countries like India particularly important for SanDisk. “Just look at India: Half the population is less than 25 years old and a big chunk of it is tech-savvy, digital media-savvy. They know how to use these things better than you and I, and they are much faster at it. They are capturing more data, sharing more data, they want to be able to access their data fast and anytime, anywhere. That’s driving increased local storage in mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets,” says Mehrotra. Within Asia, India and China are SanDisk’s fastest growing retail markets. The big push now is into laptops and enterprise servers, where solid state drives based on flash technology is replacing traditional spinning hard disk drives. Flash is enabling sleeker, lighter, more power-efficient and reliable laptops. Flash is also faster, giving fast bootcomputer manufacturer up times and instant access. Mehrotra says solid state drives in computing is the biggest growth driver for the flash industry and for SanDisk. Prices of solid state drives are still high, so last year only about 10% of the notebook computers had such drives in them. Estimates are that in another three years, about one-third of notebooks will have solid state drives in them. “But I won’t be surprised if the penetration rate is even higher by then,” says Mehrotra. All MacBook Air laptops and many of Intel’s ultrabooks today come with solid state drives. SanDisk’s Bangalore R&D centre, which has 350 engineers, or more than a tenth of its global R&D strength, works on the design of memory chips and controllers that go into flash memory products, as also on software development. It is integral to SanDisk’s operations.laptop manufacturers Would the company now be willing to do some manufacturing in India? The question was repeatedly put to Mehrotra during his Bangalore visit, given the Indian government’s recent push for electronics manufacturing. Mehrotra, who became SanDisk’s CEO on January 1, 2011, when Harari retired, would only reply that the company’s plants in Japan and China were currently sufficient. Is manufacturing in India a challenge? Mehrotra says the most important things are to make sure that the skilled resource pool is available, and that the infrastructure and the ecosystem needed to become a world-class supplier is there. “I can see that India is working towards attaining that,” he says.

indian manufacturer

What are your views on the penalty to Ranbaxy and do you believe the $500 million payout was too harsh? It’s unfortunate. The company lost over $500 million in business opportunities, which may be the highest for any generic company, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) penalty has been higher for many global leaders, like GlaxoSmithKline (British) which signed a consent decree in 2005 to post a penal bond of $650 million for violation of manufacturing standards. In 2011, the FDA issued a consent decree to McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a Johnson & Johnson (US) subsidiary, over its repeated manufacturing problems (for drug Tylenol), indefinitely closing one plant and placing oversight over the two others. In another consent decree, Ben Venue Laboratories, a subsidiary of Boehringer Ingelheim (German), was restrained from manufacturing and distributing drugs from its Ohio facility until FDA determines that its operations are compliant with the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act. The loss of business and reputation is a greater risk than the penalty payable. Does the closure of this case impact the Indian generic drug market?indian manufacturers The consent decree puts a lid on the case. The company (Ranbaxy) can now start afresh and focus on its business. It is unlikely to have any spillover effect on other Indian companies. The US FDA processes are very objective and thorough, but unbiased. The fear of collateral damage is from the foreign competition. They may use this episode to contain the challenge of safe, affordable and quality generics from India. What are the learnings Indian companies can take away from Ranbaxy’s issues with the FDA? The first and most important lesson is not to compromise quality and safety of medicines. The second and more important lesson is not to cover up, even if the error is inadvertent. In this context, Johnson & Johnson’s response to owning up to the responsibility for manufacturing and quality defects in an over-thecounter drug Tylenol is noteworthy. Has the case damaged the reputation of the Indian generic drug market, and Ranbaxy in particular? Will exports from other Indian companies gain from their disgrace? One cannot rule out collateral damage by foreign competitors, but all Indian companies will have to work together to prevent such damage. After the consent decree, when the company (Ranbaxy) is able to resume supplies,indian manufacturer it is unlikely that other Indian companies can take away their business. Whatever was lost, was lost before the consent decree (was signed). Falsification of data and violation of manufacturing process guidelines were charges leveled against Ranbaxy. Are those widespread problems in India? Regulators from different jurisdictions have not come across such practices which confirm it is not a widespread problem.,indian suppliers Cases of adulterated medicines have been reported from the Indian market as well. Why aren’t our norms as stringent as the FDA? The National Drug Regulatory Authority is a product of the milieu. It evolves by national priority and is generally in conformity with the standards of general hygiene, sanitation and drinking water. India is moving towards improving these standards and has made significant progress in the last decade. However, we still have a long way to go. In the meantime, companies looking at the developed markets adopt appropriate standards to suit their business requirements. In the US and other developed markets, there is a robust system of recalling all consumer goods, including medicines. What do we have in India? Rules 54 and 55 of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act have provision for freezing and destroying stocks of sub-standard medicines. Rule 74(j) of the Act empowers the licensing authority and obliges the manufacturer to recall medicines not conforming to the standards. Companies follow strict guidelines for the export of medicines. Why can’t they then abide by the same standards in their home market? India does not have different standards for different markets. However, the manufacturers comply with the standards of the respective markets where they are selling their products. The h a r m o n i z at i o n o f standards is a major challenge. Political leadership and drug regulators need to work on it. Some progress is made under the ICH (Inter national Conference on Harmonization), but there is still a long way to go.

Weakening trade barriers boon for Indian agri biz

Ahmedabad: India’s agricultural produce may have to wait a while before it tastes the fruit of global success, but Indian agri-business players are certain it is only a matter of time as western trade barriers are living on borrowed time. Inspite of pre-conference signs indicating that ensuing round of World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) ministerial talks at Hong Kong may yield little in terms of concrete advances, there is overwhelming optimism that American and European trade barriers will collapse over next two-three years. India is a force to reckon with, says icecream manufacturer Vadilal’s Rajesh Gandhi, adding, “India’s bargaining power on the WTO has never been greater.” Indeed, with allies like China, Argentina, Brazil and Australia, India now packs considerable muscle. But, like other developing nations, India is unable to export its agricultural produce due to colossal western trade barriers. For instance, despite being the world’s largest milk producer, its milk exports are negligible. RS Sodhi of dairy giant Amul feels western governments are losing patience with their uncompetitive farmers. agricultural products manufacturers In the European Union, for example, with almost half the budget being pumped into agricultural subsidies, citizens and politicians alike are now recognising that supporting productive industries could fetch better returns. agricultural products exporters With its low-cost economy and the highest irrigated land-surface in the world, India is in a prime position to become a leading exporter of agricultural produce in an open world market, which also has major consequences for overall development. Indian agricultural products “The quality of life in Indian villages stands to improve drastically within the next three years if western barriers continue to fall as expected,” says Piruz Khambatta, chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) food-processing committee. “Agriculture has a lot of social ramifications. Half the population is made up of the poor living in villages, working as casual labour on the farms,” says Khambatta. With agricultural exports as core strength, Khambatta is confident that the “forgotten” part of India’s recent economic success will get a chance to compete. Sodhi too estimates an end to western subsidies to translate into a 20 per cent increase in the local milk producer’s income. “A fall in subsidies would create big opportunities at a rural level and a reduction in migration to urban centres like Ahmedabad.” Such opportunities would help India allay its growing urban-rural divide. Unfortunately Indian villages will have to wait a little while longer before their agricultural produce goes international.

The Pope’s moral blunders on outsourcing

Religion and business rarely mix well. This shows up in the encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI. The encyclical0 generally supports globalization, but criticizes western companies that outsource business to developing countries. This criticism has an unfortunate ethnic slant. The Pope echoes the wish of a white labour aristocracy in the West to snatch jobs and income away from much poorer but more competitive workers in Third World countries. That is repugnant in both economic and moral terms.brass hardware manufacturers The western argument cannot quite be called racist. Politicians and workers in the West are not all white — some are black or brown. Yet, the ethnic implications of the western protest against outsourcing cannot be ignored. The protest rarely focuses on outsourcing to white countries like Poland, Latvia or Bulgaria. It focuses overwhelmingly on outsourcing to black, brown and yellow nations. This is mainly on economic grounds — wages are lower in Asia than in Eastern Europe, and so, the scope for outsourcing is far greater. Yet, the ethnic implications cannot be ignored. The mainly white labour aristocracy of the West is clamouring to get companies to shut down jobs and production in countries with black, brown and yellow workers. This means impoverishing poor workers to subsidize the labour aristocracy. Instead of being ashamed of trying to rob the poor of jobs, the labour aristocracy talks in high moral tones, as though it has a God-given right to jobs that have actually gone entirely on merit to the Third World. For most of history, China and India were the richest countries in the world, with the most advanced technologies and best jobs.hardware suppliers The Industrial Revolution changed that — the best jobs moved to the West, and millions of Indian textile workers were rendered unemployed by British mills. The western labour aristocracy never complained of that shift of the best jobs from the East to the West, but cannot countenance a shift in the opposite direction. One valid western objection, on both economic and moral grounds, relates to the use (mainly by China) of prison labour, forced labour and child labour to produce cheap goods for export. Such exports have largely been checked, and now constitute a negligible part of outsourcing. This objection does not apply at all to India’s burgeoning exports of software or BPO, or to the shift of 80,000 IBM jobs or 35,000 Accenture jobs to India. China has become the world’s biggest supplier of manufactured goods, while India has become a major exporter of computer software, back-office services and R&D. This has transformed the economies of the two most populous countries in the world, made them the fastestgrowing in the world, and helped hundreds of millions of poor people to rise out of poverty. You might think that the Pope would hail this as a great development for humanity. Instead, he has parroted the bogus claims of the white labour aristocracy. His encyclical says, “the so-called outsourcing of production can weaken the company’s sense of responsibility towards the stakeholders — namely the workers, the suppliers, the consumers, the natural environment, and broader society — in favour of the shareholders, who are not tied to a specific geographical area and who, therefore, enjoy extraordinary mobility.” The racial implications of this leave me dumbstruck.brass hardware manufacturers The Pope has posed the issue as one of stakeholders versus shareholders. But are white stakeholders the only ones that matter? When IBM shifts 80,000 jobs to India , 80,000 Indian stakeholders replace American ones. Are the rights of 80,000 Indian stakeholders any less than those of the Americans they replace? When Chinese suppliers outbid American ones in supplying hardware to IBM, are the Chinese lesser stakeholders than the Americans they replace? The Pope is simply wrong in posing outsourcing as a conflict between shareholders and stakeholders. Outsourcing merely globalizes stakeholders across the world instead of leaving them within narrow national walls. And as a believer in one world, the Pope should be encouraging this spread of stakeholders across all humanity. Shareholders are getting globalised no less than workers, suppliers or consumers. Many shareholders of Citibank and IBM come from the West Asia, China or Japan. Are they not stakeholders on par with American ones? There is no moral imperative at all for Japanese or Arab shareholders of IBM to try and shift jobs from the Third World to the US. Yet, US politicians and trade unions talk as though morality lies in US jobs alone. In truth, it is a perversion of morality to penalize non-American workers and shareholders just to promote US jobs. Hopefully, Pope Benedict will have the courage to say so in his next encyclical.

Automobile sales plunge to multi-year lows in Nov,Sector Bears The Brunt Of Economic Turmoil, Witnesses Major Downfall

New Delhi: Poor retail finance and negative sentiment worsened domestic auto sales in November which plunged to multi-year lows as customers postponed new purchases in view of uncertain economic situation. Car sales, which had been slipping, crashed by record levels with major companies like Maruti and Hyundai leading the downfall. According to sales numbers released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), November car sales dropped 19% to 83,059 units against 1.03 lakh units in same month last year. The year-onyear percentage drop was biggest in last five years since a 31% fall in February 2003. The situation has been no better in eight months of this fiscal as car sales growth shrunk to a mere 0.48% in April-November ’08 period. The numbers appear alarming as except for scooters that came up with positive numbers, all other segments were down. Worst fall was noticed in commercial vehicles, where sales plunged by 49.5% at 20,637 units (40,879). The slowdown has already seen companies like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Eicher announce major production cuts and even close plants temporarily. automobile supplies Within commercial vehicles, medium and heavy vehicle category was the worst hit as sales slipped by 63% and closed November’08 at 8,325 units against 22,453 units with both Tata and Ashok Leyland slipping. and automobile manufacturers in india Fall in economic activity has been a big dampener and freight operators are not willing to make any new purchases, analysts said. “In our history, all segments have never been down so badly together in a month,” Siam’s director general Dilip Chenoy said after releasing the sales numbers. automobiles manufacturers Motorcycle sales were also down and fell 20% at 4.3 lakh units against 5.4 lakh units in November last year. A sharp decline in sales of heavyweights like Bajaj Auto and TVS pulled the numbers down. Scooters, however, remained the sole category, where numbers grew, as sales were up 12%. Good growth reported by Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India and Hero Honda led to this increase. Analysts feel that the 4% excise duty cut announced by government would not immediately revive auto sales. “While it will make cars cheap, real booster will come when financing becomes easy and interest rates climb down,” the analysts said. “Banks must cut their rates and start lending more,” Chenoy said.

Tough measures to cure garment sector’s Re woes

Mumbai: These days, it is easy to get an appointment with chief executives of garment manufacturing firms. They want to talk at length of their woes, mainly due to the declining dollar and even large firms have been forced to send home workers. Two large Mumbai firms, which have been in the business for over two decades, claim they have sent home 600 workers. Coming in the back of a year when the garment industry received record orders from foreign buyers, the reversal seems to suggest that something is seriously amiss. Says Vijay Agarwal, chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council, and owner of Mumbaibased Creative Garment: ‘‘The sudden depreciation of the rupee hit the industry like a tsunami. A short term relief is much in need to stem the closure of units.’’ apparel manufacturer Agarwal paints a grim picture. He shows statistics that the export has actually declined in the first few months this year. Though he is unwilling to talk about his company, as the chief of the industry association, he laments that many firms across the country have shut shop. In fact, firms in Tirupur have given their employees extended holidays in the festive season as Indian orders have been diverted to Bangladesh and China, where the local currencies have not appreciated like in India. The change in the attitude of garment manufacturers is quite dramatic. As early as 2004, they wouldn’t want to talk about their business. wholesale apparel manufacturers Mostly family-owned, garment manufacturers were then making money hand over fist, thanks to firms quotas they held to export to developed countries like the US, Europe and Japan. Larger firms broke down their business into smaller ones and ran them under different names to benefit from government regulations. A large manufacturer in Tirupur, who spoke at length at his current problems, had then said: ‘‘We have nothing to say to the media.’’ apparel manufacturers india What changed? The WTO abolished quota in 2005, making it a free-for-all. Existing players had a head start, but months into the free market the cracks began to show. Bought up in a tame environment, Indian companies were highly inefficient in managing capital and manufacturing productivity. An Indian worker made 40% fewer shirts than their Chinese and Thai counterparts. Says a Delhi-based consultant: ‘‘Margins in the quota era was 30% plus, there was no incentive to be efficient.’’ Again as an export industry, the industry was pampered by the government with further tax and credit concessions. Even today, textile and garment firms wanting to expand their business can get a 5% special discount on the interest rates available to other industries.

Dell plans to sell computer plants worldwide

Dell Inc is seeking to sell all of its manufacturing plants worldwide and has approached contract computer manufacturers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The proposed factory sales, intended to slash costs, mark a significant shift from Dell’s long-standing strategy of making its own products, the Journal said. Instead, Dell plans to have contract manufacturers make all its computers, the paper reported. Dell, the world’s second-biggest maker of personal computers, is seeking to raise profitability after reporting earnings that missed analysts’ estimates as it cut prices to take market share from industry leader Hewlett-Packard Co. computer parts suppliers Selling its production sites to focus on sales and marketing may aid efforts by the Round Rock, Texas-based company to expand its product range. “As the company moves away from its direct sales business model, it needs to offer a wider range of products and respond more quickly to market demand,” said Wang Wanli, a technology analyst at HSBC Holdings Plc in Taipei. computer parts suppliers “Outsourcing production to third-party manufacturers will help them become more flexible.” Dell would ensure that any contract manufacturer who purchased a factory would agree to make hardware for the company, according to the Journal report. indian manufacturersDell may sell all of its plants within 18 months, the newspaper said. Last month, Dell introduced new notebooks with longer battery life aimed at business users. The company also started selling a slimmer laptop weighing 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) after Hewlett-Packard offered a similar model in June. Now available in stores Dell, which in 2007 abandoned selling PCs only via telephone and the Internet, has forged agreements to sell its computers through retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc in the US, Gome Electrical Appliance Holdings in China, Carrefour SA in Europe, Bic Camera in Japan, and the Croma chain of electronics stores of India’s Tata group. T R Reid, a Singapore-based Dell spokesman for Asia Pacific and Japan, declined to comment on the report, citing company policy not to comment on speculation. “We have said repeatedly there are opportunities to use third-party manufacturers to reduce costs and increase efficiency,” Reid said. Determining “how best to do that is something that is in process now.” Dell increased PC shipments 21% in the quarter ended June 30, compared with Hewlett-Packard’s 17%, and 15% for the market overall, according to research company IDC. BLOOMBERG