Posts from — January 2010

In February 2009, The NYC Next Idea competition was announced by the city of New York,  as part of a suite of initiatives dedicated to strengthening New York City ’s entrepreneurial community. Fifteen leading business and engineering universities from countries across Asia, Latin America, and Europe signed up to participate in NYC Next Idea 2009-2010, and ten teams submitted final proposals. The three teams of finalists representing business and engineering schools in France , Spain , and India were in New York City this week to present their plans.

The winner is Team Greenext Technology Solutions from the Indian Insitute of Technology Madras, located in Chennai, India. They  devised a new system to allow utility companies and energy producers to store and distribute energy through remote sites across the five boroughs safely and efficiently, and were selected by a panel of judges from New York City ’s venture capital community to receive a $20,000 cash prize. The team members are Aashish Dattani, Sriram Kalyanaraman and Vinayshankar Kulkarni.

Greenext Technology Solutions is a clean-technology proposal that is pioneering specialized software and hardware solutions to utility companies, renewable energy producers, energy storage manufacturers, and energy traders. Their product, XEstor, serves as a common interface to store energy from any source across New York City into large battery storage sites. The product communicates with the electric grid and combines real-time consumer demand information with current energy prices to charge or discharge electricity into the grid. This flexible mechanism to produce or store energy based on demand can act as a backup power source to bridge supply gaps and maintain the grid’s reliability through ancillary services such as regulation and emergency response.

It’s been said that for every true statement about India, you can also make the opposite statement and it can also be true.  For example, India is a poor country with 700 million citizens making less than $2 a day. But India is home to four of ten richest people in the world, per the Forbes billionaires list.  Western media often describes India as a “Hindu” country (80% of the population is Hindu); but in fact India has more Muslims than most of the Middle East put together (only Indonesia and Bangla Desh have more Muslims).  As the “The India Expert” my job and my company’s job is often how to explain and resolve these apparent conflicts. I advise Western executives on how to behave and what to expect from their Indian counterparts.

Tailgate: "Horn Please"

To put it in pictures (and sounds), most visitors in India are overwhelmed by the cacophonous traffic everywhere in India. Observant ones notice and chuckle about the painted directive on the back of most six-wheeled trucks in India, the invocation “Horn Please.”.  This is to encourage a driver who wants to pass a truck to honk (loudly, repeatedly and randomly). See photo above.

But as I said, the opposite is also true.  Last month in Delhi, I noticed the visible signs of a campaign to discourage tooting the horn. Rather than use the older Indian-English word “horn”, this campaign uses the newer American-English word “honk”.  I saw “Do Not Honk” signs on bumper stickers.  I saw similar sign on electric utility poles.  So what’s an Indian to do? (No foreign visitor who is sane attempts to drive on their own in India!).  In this case, I am rooting for the “do not honk” 21st Century crowd.

Do Not Honk Sticker, Delhi December 2009

Look at the sticker on the pole in the background!

The latest Global Relocation Report from Brookfield GRS shows that China is the top relocation destination, cited by 19% of respondents. This was followed by United States cited by 17% and India ranked third at 11%.  But many such expatriate placements fail.  China also had the highest falure rate for expatriates, an incredible 22%.. India ranked second among repatriation failures in 2009 at 10%. And the united States was ranked Number 4, at 7%.

Preparation, selection, training and ongoing monitoring can reduce the failure rate dramatically. So can hiring the India Expert .

In the recently published Hindustan Times-MaRS Consumer Satisfaction Survey covering 1,330 respondents across 10 Indian cities, Kingfisher Airlines barely edged past rival Jet Airways to the top position.   In my experience, both now airlines offer excellent service despite challenging conditions in India.  I have also had occasion to fly on another highly-rated carrier, Indigo Air, which a low-cost carrier on the Southwest Airline model.  Any of those three companies far exceeds the pathetic standards of service that we put up with in the United States.

India’s historically horrible airports have been improving steadily. Bangalore stands out, although it seems to be occupy far more land than neccessary, especially the complex approach roads (reminiscent of Denver).   The Hindustan Times reported that Bangalore (or Bengaluru, the new name) is rated at 4.17 on a scale of 5 in a study conducted by Airports Council International. The airport’s punctuality stands at 85 per cent and baggage often arrives on the belt prior to the passengers getting there.  Bangalore airport currently has free wi-fi internet access (as do Delhi and Mumbai).  If you fly business class, the passenger lounges are excellent, although curiously located at the back of the large shops inside the secure areas.   Here are reports on some other major airports in India. There’s no mention of Hyderabad or Trivandrum, two airports I am told are good too, but have not had recent occasion to fly through.

Even at their best, Indian airports will not compare to Changi in Singapore or to Dubai. And getting out of the airport will be a shock to most first time visitors.  You won’t see a superfast train as in London’s Heathrow or in Shanghai.  Metro trains will eventually connect some airports (Delhi in 2010 and Bangalore/Hyderbad/Mumbai at some time in this new decade if all goes well).  But as points of transit within India, its major airports will no longer be a nuisance for foreign visitors.

Tata Chemicals is challenging Unilever’s India unit for the world lowest cost home water purifier, based on a rice husk ash filter. With a starting retail price of $16 for the unit, it costs less than half of Hindustan Unilever‘s breakthrough PureIt unit which has been a runaway success in India with $40 million in sales and three million units delivered already. The replacable filter for the Tata unit costs $6.

Tata "Swach" low cost water purifier

Tata’s Rallis Kisan Sansar and Tata salt’s distrbution network will distrbute the product.Built around a bulb-like water purifier made of rice husk ash filled with nano-silver particles, the Tata “Swach” can function without electric power or running water. The cartridge bulb has a purification medium that kills bacteria and disease causing organisms. It can purify up to 3,000 litres of water, after which the cartridge stops water flow. Fifteen patents have been filed for the technology and product. The filter was designed in a Tata Consultancy Services lab in Pune, while the silver nanotechnology was added by Tata Chemicals. Titan, Tata’s watch subsidiary, made the precision machine tools to manufacture the filter. Pune based Design Directions Private Limited provided industrial design services.Among the features of Swach which Design Directions added was pattern of the upper chamber which will facilitate manual  cleaning,and the stackability’ of the two chambers which reduced the height of the box used for packaging (this makes it possible to fit one inside the other ensures that more packs can be carried in one truck). The current model doesn’t neutralize some contaminants such as arsenic.

Ratan Tata shows off Tata "Swach"

Initial production will be one million units a year from a Tata Chemicals plant in Haldia, West Bengal, with a planned ramp-up to three million units annually within five years.

Safe clean water is in dire shortage in India and other developing countries. Without it disease is rampant: typhoid, cholera, jaundice and diarrhoea (which will kill about 380,000 children in India alone this year). Almost 80 per cent of diseases in developing countries are associated with water, causing some 3 million early deaths. Tata expects to sell this unit in Africa and other parts of the world eventually.