June 2010 - Embassy of India

A Publication of the Embassy of India, Washington, D.C.
India Review
June 1, 2010
■ Vol. 6 Issue 6
■ www.indianembassy.org
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh addressing the National Press Conference in New Delhi on May 24.
‘Our medium term target is to achieve a growth
rate of 10 percent’— Prime Minister
n The Indian economy
likely to grow by 8.3
percent in the fiscal
year 2010-11, says a
UN report
n India to be among
top-5 civil aviation
markets in 5 years,
says India’s Civil
Aviation Minister
n Prof Nitin Nohria
is the first
Indian-American dean
of Harvard Business
School
Cover
STORY
‘Our medium term target is tO
achieve a grOwth rate Of 10 percent’
On the completion of one year of the Government, now in its second term, the
Prime Minister lays out a roadmap to take India to the next level of growth
rime
Minister
Dr.
Manmohan Singh on May
24 forecast an economic
growth rate of 10 percent in
the mid-term and underlined his
resolve to improve relations with
Pakistan, saying better ties with neighbors were necessary to realize India’s
development potential. Six years as the
Prime Minister of the world’s second
most populous country, the 77-yearold Cambridge-educated economist
Prime Minister stressed on social
inclusion as the core of his
Government’s agenda.
Addressing a packed National Press
Conference in New Delhi on the occasion of the completion of one year of
his Government in its second term, Dr.
Singh outlined the agenda before his
Government and also the challenges
before the country on its way towards
achieving higher economic growth.
States is concerned, it will move forward. We need to ensure that our
country does have an effective nuclear
liability compensation arrangement.
We need this if we have to become a
major nuclear energy power and for
this reason we have sent a Bill to
Parliament. I am convinced that this
Bill, which is before Parliament, will
have the support of all political parties
interested in India’s growth, interested
in ensuring that India’s nuclear power
program moves forward.”
P
2
Performance of Economy
Responding to a clutch of questions
on the state of India’s economy, the
Prime Minister said: “Inevitably, our
first priority was to protect the economy from the global slowdown and
ensure that the momentum of inclusive
growth was not interrupted... Our
annual growth rate had averaged 9
percent for four years before the crisis.
It reduced to 6.5 percent in 2008-09
but recovered to 7.2 percent in 200910. We expect 8.5 percent growth in
this financial year. This is widely
regarded as one of the best performances among the larger economies of
the world. This outcome is in large part
due to our workers, farmers and youth,
who have shown great enterprise and
worked hard to keep the engine of economic growth running.”
Referring to modernization of agriculture, he said, “Addressing key constraints in the modernization of agriculture and in the expansion of infrastructure need long-term strategies backed
by stepped up investment. We have
taken important steps in these areas,
which will continue to receive the
focussed attention of the Government.”
India-U.S. Civil Nuclear Initiative
Referring to the India-U.S. civil
nuclear initiative, Dr. Singh said:
“With regard to the nuclear issue, I
have no doubt that as far as the
Nuclear Agreement with the United
June 2010
India Review
India-Pakistan Relations
Referring to India-Pakistan relations,
the Prime Minister said: “Pakistan is
our neighbor. It is (my) firm belief that
India can’t realize its full development
potential unless we have the best possible relations with our neighbors and
Pakistan happens to be the largest
neighbor of ours.”
Responding to a question, the Prime
Minister elaborated: “It is my conviction that the major problem between
our two countries, why we haven’t
been able to make headway in the composite dialogue is that there has been
lack of adequate trust. The trust deficit
is the biggest problem and unless we
tackle the trust deficit, we can’t move
to substantive negotiations, and at
Thimpu (SAARC Summit), Prime
Minister Yousuf Gilani and I agreed
that trust deficit was a major problem
blocking progress in the direction of
moving forward and that it should be
our common endeavor to bridge or to
reduce this trust deficit. This is why we
Cover
STORY
have agreed that our Foreign Ministers
and Foreign Secretaries would meet.”
Priorities of the Government
Outlining the priorities of his
Government, Dr. Singh said: “The
agenda for our second term seeks to
strengthen the pro-people policies and
programs initiated by our Government
since 2004. The social and economic
uplift of the Scheduled Castes and
Tribes, other backward classes, minorities and women will continue to receive
priority attention in our plans. We need
a rapidly-growing economy to generate productive employment and also
resources to finance our ambitious
social and economic agenda.”
Inflation
On inflation, the Prime Minister said:
“The Government attaches the highest
priority to containing inflation so that
there is no distress to the common man.
As a result of the steps we have taken,
there are signs of prices showing a
moderating trend. We will closely monitor the situation and, together with the
state governments, take all corrective
steps to bring down prices and protect
the vulnerable sections of our society
from the impact of high prices.”
Flagship Programs
Referring to some of the important
steps his Government had taken over
the past year and also the pressing
challenges that confront the nation, he
said: “Our flagship programs such as
the Bharat Nirman, the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme, the National Rural
Health Mission and the Jawaharlal
Nehru National Urban Renewal
Mission are progressing well. We are
on a learning curve and we can and will
do more to strengthen these program
and improve delivery.”
Dr. Singh described the Right to
Education Act as “historic step forward in making every Indian a literate
and empowered citizen”. On higher
education, he said: “We are undertaking a comprehensive review of our system of higher education, including
medical education.”
3
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh addressing the National Press Conference in New Delhi on May 24.
india inc lauds pm’s inclusive growth agenda
I
ndia Inc lauded Prime Minister Dr.
Manmohan Singh’s strategy for inclusive
growth, outlined at the National Press
Conference. “FICCI is fully in agreement with
the Prime Minister’s three-fold strategy of
increasing investments in social and economic
infrastructure, enhancing productivity in agriculture and giving a fresh impetus to the manufacturing sector,” Rajan Bharti Mittal, president of the industry lobby, said. “India’s industrial sector is performing rather robustly and
Foreign Policy
Touching upon India’s foreign policy, the Prime Minister said: “In foreign
policy, it is a matter of satisfaction that
we have been able to improve relations
with all major powers. As a member of
the Group of Twenty (G-20), our
views are increasingly sought and
heard. The world looks at India with
confidence.”
Reposing faith in India’s more
than one billion population, the
Prime Minister said: “The promise
June 2010
India Review
this can be further enhanced,” Mittal added.
ASSOCHAM president Swati Piramal welcomed the Prime Minister’s twin focus of reining in inflation and achieving an 8.5 percent
growth in 2010-11. She said that for a 10 percent growth in the medium term, the reform
process should cover the social and financial
sectors. “Concerted efforts in these directions
would make the growth of the (world’s) second fastest growing Indian economy more
sustainable and inclusive,” Piramal added.
of more than a billion people, who
are better educated, better fed and
better equipped to be creative and
enterprising members of the global
community is our hope and our
inspiration.”
Assuring the people a stable and
prosperous India, he concluded: “Our
Government is united in our commitment to provide the country with a
strong and purposeful government that
can deliver on its agenda of growth,
reform and empowerment.”
Bilateral
EVENTS
Prime Minister discusses wide range of
issues with President Obama
rime Minister Dr. Manmohan
Singh on May 28 spoke with
U.S. President Barack Obama
on telephone and discussed
the forthcoming Strategic Dialogue
between the two countries in
Washington.
“Both sides attach great priority to
the dialogue as a means to strengthen
bilateral engagement on a wide range
of issues, including high-technology
trade, science and technology, civil
nuclear cooperation, agriculture,
human resource development, security
and other strategic issues,” a
Government release said.
The two leaders also took the opportunity to discuss regional and global
issues. President Obama conveyed his
condolences to Dr. Singh on the loss of
lives resulting from the air crash in
Mangalore last month.
The Prime Minister said that a warm
welcome awaited the President and his
family when they visit India.
P
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh meeting the U.S. President Barack Obama, at Blair House,
Washington, D.C., on April 11 on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit. (File photo)
Krishna heads for first India-US strategic dialogue
xternal Affairs Minister S.M.
Krishna on May 30 left for
Washington for the first IndiaU.S. strategic dialogue that will prepare
the ground for the visit of President
Obama to New Delhi later this year.
The June 2-3 strategic dialogue with
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
will cover an entire gamut of bilateral,
regional and global issues.
“The strategic dialogue will enhance
the global strategic partnership
between India and the U.S., by serving
as a very important mechanism to
review, enhance and coordinate our
broad-based cooperation,” an External
Affairs Ministry spokesperson told
reporters in New Delhi.
The strategic dialogue is reflective of
the transformed relations between India
and the U.S. and will give a direction to
this growing partnership. “It would give
E
4
External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna and U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signing an MoU
on Energy partnership in Washington on
November 24, 2009.
(File photo)
direction to the program currently
under implementation and take initiatives to further the Indian and U.S.
developmental, security and economic
interests.” the spokesperson added.
Krishna will hold delegation-level
talks with Clinton on June 3 that will
cover a wide range of areas, including
trade in high technology, civil nuclear
cooperation, agriculture, human
June 2010
India Review
resource development, security and
other strategic issues. The talks will
also cover collaboration in science and
technology between the two countries.
On the Indian side, Krishna will be
joined
by
Human
Resource
Development Minister Kapil Sibal,
Deputy Chairman of the Planning
Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia,
Minister of State for Science and
Technology Prithviraj Chavan, Foreign
Secretary Nirupama Rao, Ambassador
Meera Shankar and other top officials.
On the U.S. side, Clinton will be
joined by Commerce Secretary Gary
Locke, Deputy Secretary of Energy,
Daniel Poneman, Under Secretary of
State, William Burns, FBI Director
Robert Mueller, USAID Director Rajiv
Shah, Deputy National Security
Adviser Michael Froman and
Ambassador Tim Roemer.
Ambassador’s
ENGAGEMENTS
Ambassador visits Minneapolis and Atlanta
mbassador Ms. Meera
Shankar visited Minneapolis
on May 17-19. During her
visit, she called on the
Governor of the State of Minnesota,
Mr. Tim Pawlenty, and had fruitful discussions on matters of mutual interest,
including trade between the State of
Minnesota and India. The Governor
and the First Lady Mrs. Mary Pawlenty
hosted a reception at their residence
for the Ambassador.
Ambassador Shankar launched the
Women’s Chamber of Commerce of
the India Chamber of Commerce,
Minnesota, along with Mrs. Margaret
Kelliher, Speaker of the State of
Minnesota, and Mrs. Elizabeth Kautz,
Mayor of the city of Burnsville.
She visited the University of
Minnesota and discussed issues pertaining to higher education with the
President of the University Mr. Robert
H. Bruininks and later delivered a lecture on “Knowledge Partnership
between India and the United States”.
Ambassador Shankar also addressed
the Economic Club of Minnesota on
“India’s Growth Story — Potential for
Partnerships”.
The Ambassador met the Chief
Executives of Cargill, Target and
Meditronics. The discussions with
these companies revolved around economic cooperation, their operations in
India, and the potential for deepening
the mutually beneficial relationship.
On May 10, Ambassador Shankar
A
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Ambassador Ms. Meera Shankar lighting the lamp to inaugurate the Women’s Business Council (WBC)
under the auspices of the India Chamber of Commerce at the Radisson Plaza Hotel, Minneapolis.
visited Atlanta to inaugurate along with
Governor of Georgia, Sonny Perdue,
the US-India Business Summit
(USIBS). The other notable participant at the summit was the U.S.
Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Mr.
Suresh Kumar. About 150 Indian and
American business leaders and major
companies attended the meeting.
In his address, Governor Perdue said
that India was a growing and dynamic
country and the aim of the summit was
to deepen Georgia-India relationship.
Ambassador Shankar, in her address,
congratulated Mr. Ani Agnihotri for
organizing the USIBS meet. She said
that Atlanta had a special place in the
minds of Indians. This was where
Martin Luther King Jr., one of the
great sons of the United States, and a
great follower of the Gandhian princi-
Ambassador Shankar addressing the guests at the India Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota.
June 2010
India Review
ple of ‘non-violence’ was laid to rest,
she observed.
Ambassador Shankar also said, “We
look forward to receiving President
Obama in India next year to continue
the remarkable journey that our two
countries have embarked upon. We are
two nations built on the foundations of
democracy, pluralism, rule of law and
individual liberty. We have a strong
commitment and a historic opportunity to translate our shared values and
ideals into a mutually productive partnership. The ongoing transformation
of the Indian economy provides new
avenues to strengthen our economic
engagement in ways that advance the
economic welfare of our people and
puts our economies on a more sustainable path. Atlanta is indeed an important trade partner for India. We have a
large number of Indian companies
present in Atlanta and in Georgia. This
includes Tata Consultancy Services
and Tata Sons, Infosys Technologies,
Mahindra USA, Birla Technologies,
and HCL America.”
Ambassador Shankar also had an
one to one meeting with Governor
Perdue where they discussed ways to
intensify the engagement between
Atlanta and India.
A session with 16 Indian and
American CEOs was organized during
the summit, which was presided over
by Ambassador Shankar, Assistant
Ambassador’s
ENGAGEMENTS
Secretary of Commerce Kumar and
Governor Perdue. All the companies
spoke about their involvement in India
and expressed interest in deepening
their cooperation.
On April 23, Ambassador Shankar
visited the state of New Hampshire at
the invitation of Senator Jeanne
Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), who
accompanied her during the visit.
The Ambassador called on Governor
John Lynch, held discussions with the
senior management of three companies — ARC Energy, GT Solar and
Amoskeag Business Incubator —
addressed the State New Hampshire
University (SHNU) faculty along with
the India Association of New
Hampshire Leadership and also the
Tuck Business School.
In her meeting with the Governor,
the Ambassador discussed the links
that already exist between New
Hampshire and India and the consid-
(From Left) Mr. Ken Stewart, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Economic Development,
Mr. Sonny Perdue, Governor, State of Georgia, Ambassador Ms. Meera Shankar, Mr. Ani Agnihotri,
Program Chair, UIBS 2010, and Dr. John McIntyre, CIBER, Georgia Tech.
erable potential for deepening those
ties, especially in the fields of commerce, research and academia.
At SHNU, Ambassador Shankar
met the President of the University, Dr.
Paul J. LeBlanc, along with other facul-
ty members and learnt about the institution.
Later in the day, she addressed faculty members and MBA students at the
Tuck Business School of the University
of Dorchester.
EMBASSY EVENTS
National Cathedral’s annual flower show
n May 8, the Embassy of India participated in the National Cathedral’s Annual
Flower show in Washington, D.C.
Embassies of a number of countries presented
flower arrangements representing their indigenous
flora and fauna. Each arrangement featured a
placard introducing the country, its Ambassador
and the flower arrangement. The Embassy of
India’s arrangement included orange and red dendrobium and phalaenopsis orchids surrounded by
orange tulips and lilies, white stephanotis,
marigolds and mangoes.
O
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Embassy Adoption Program
Children from
Emery EC
School,
Washington,
DC., performing at the
Embassy
Adoption
Program event
on May 27.
Ambassador
Ms. Meera
Shankar
presenting gifts
to the students
at the event.
June 2010
India Review
Embassy & Consulate
EVENTS
Ambassador hosts reception for Pandit Jasraj
Ambasador
Ms. Meera
Shankar presenting
a bouquet to
Pandit Jasraj, the
renowned Indian
classical vocalist,
at a reception on
May 28.
Pandit Jasraj addressing the
gathering at the Embassy on
May 28. On May 30, he
performed at the National
Museum of the American
Indian, Washington, DC. More
than 300 guests attended the
concert titled ‘Aum Shanti: A
peace concert of timeless,
soulful, immortal music’.
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CONSULATE EVENTS
IRS opens office in
Houston
Salman Khurshid honored
he Consulate General of India,
in association with The
American
Federation
of
Muslims of Indian Origin, hosted a
reception for Minister of State, Mr.
Salman Khurshid on May 10 at the
New India House. The event was
attended by prominent IndianAmericans, Muslim intellectuals, professionals and members of the media.
The Consul-General of India, New
York, Amb. Prabhu Dayal, welcomed
the Minister. Mr. Khurshid spoke
about the equal opportunities India
offers minorities.
A fusion of East and West
Instrumental music show
he Consulate General of India,
New York, organized a classical
concert of Indian and Western music
on May 3 at New India House.
Ms. Charlotte White, founder of Salon
De Virtuosi, a New York-based NGO
which promotes young musicians supported the event.
Guitarist Jason Vieaux represented
the ‘Strings of the West’, whereas the
Strings of the East was represented by
K.V Mahabala on sitar and Samir
Chatterjee on tabla.
s part of the Jewels of India Series,
the Consulate General of India,
New York, in association with Mrs.
Ranju and Mr. Ravi Batra, organized
an event showcasing Indian classical
instrumental music on May 16 at the
New India House. Consul-General
Amb. Prabhu Dayal welcomed the
artistes. Pt. Kushal Das (on sitar) and
Pt. Kumar Bose (on tabla) from the
Senia Miahar Gharana of the Indian
state of West Bengal enthralled the
audience with their performance.
he Indian Register of Shipping
(IRS) has established an office in
Houston, Texas. This was formally
announced by Sanjiv Arora, ConsulGeneral of India in Houston and Capt.
J.C. Anand, Chairman, IRS, at a reception hosted by them at Hilton Post
Oak, Houston, on May 18. After opening remarks by Consul General and
Chairman, IRS, the inaugural function
was addressed by the Chief Guest
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett,
Peter H. Brown, Chairman, Executive
Board of The Mayor of Houston’s
International Trade & Development
Council, Noboru Ueda, Chairman and
President,
Madhukar
Prasad,
President, Indo-American Chamber of
Commerce of Greater Houston (IACCGH), Jagdip Ahluwalia, Executive
Director, IACCGH, among others.
House. Consul-General Amb. Prabhu Dayal
spoke about the various activities being
undertaken at the Consulate for the promotion of the Hindi language and literature. Sher
Bahadur Singh, president of IHA, referred to
his organization’s activities aimed at promoting Hindi in the United States. Prof. Surendra
Kaushik of Helena Kaushik Education
Foundation also addressed the gathering. Dr.
Alok Misra of IHA introduced the poets from
India, Mr. Arun Gemini, Mr. Mahendra Ajanabi
and Mr. Aashkaran Atal. The three poets took
turn to entertain the audience with humorous
poems and satires.
T
T
Kavi Sammelan
C
onsulate General of India, New York, in
association with the International Hindi
Association (IHA) and the Helena Kaushik
Education Foundation organized a ‘Hasya
Kavi Sammelan’ on May 5 at the New India
A
June 2010
India Review
From left: J.C. Anand, Chairman, Indian Register
of Shipping (IRS), Harris County Judge Ed
Emmett and Consul-General Sanjiv Arora at the
inaugural reception of IRS office in Houston.
T
Economy
NEWS
A ROBUST GROWTH
The Indian economy is likely to grow by 8.3 percent in the
fiscal year 2010-11, as against 7.4 percent in 2009-10,
says a UN report
he Indian economy is making a robust comeback with
signs of revival clearly visible across sectors, according to a UN report titled ‘The
Economic and Social Survey of Asia
and the Pacific 2010’. The report was
released by the UN Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific (ESCAP) in New Delhi on
May 6. It said that the Indian economy would grow 8.3 percent riding on
the revival in industrial growth and
private consumption.
“With a revival in investment and
private consumption, growth in
exports and a strong expansion in
industrial production in the recent
months, GDP growth is projected to
accelerate to 8.3 percent in 2010,”
the report maintained.
The growth outlook is higher than
the Reserve Bank of India’s projec-
T
8
tion of 8 percent. The ESCAP report
further said that in the Asia-Pacific
region the developing economies
would grow by 7 percent in 2010-11,
led by China and India growing at 9.5
percent and 8.3 percent, respectively.
“Governments must embrace this
opportunity to secure the gains of the
economic rebound by investing in
social programs that directly benefit
those hit hardest by the still lingering
global crisis,” the report added.
It took note of the BSE index rallying by over 100 percent between
March and December 2009 as the FII
inflows returned to the capital markets and the rupee appreciating by
around 6 percent in 2009.
International rating agency Fitch
Ratings has also forecast an 8-percent growth in India’s GDP in 201011, with industries and services being
the key drivers.
“Emerging markets like China,
India and Brazil would drive the
world growth. Specifically, India’s
GDP growth is expected to be around
8 percent this year,” Fitch Ratings
Group Managing Director (Europe,
Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific)
Richard Hunter told reporters in
Chennai on May 10.
Stating that a combination of sectors would lead to this growth, he
said “primarily the growth in industries and services are the contributing
factors”. Richard further said that in
the emerging markets consumer
spending could grow in line with the
GDP from 2011 onwards.
The Indian industry also has projected a higher growth for the economy. The Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII) expected the country’s
economic growth to be around 8.5
percent this fiscal with a robust
recovery in the farm sector, its new
June 2010
India Review
president Hari S. Bhartia said in New
Delhi on May 13. Addressing a press
conference, Bhartia said that the
recovery in the agriculture sector
would go a long way in pushing overall economic growth.
“Industry and services will also
remain strong as capacity expansions
take place to take advantage of rising
demand,” said Bhartia.
Industrial output to remain steady
India’s industrial production will register double-digit growth in the
2010-11 financial year, according to
the Government.
“Inspite of a calibrated withdrawal
in the shape of a partial rollback of
incentives, with a view to reining in
inflation through fiscal and monetary
measures, the performance in the
industrial sector is expected to
remain steady in 2010-11,” says an
official note on industrial production.
India’s industrial output, measured
by the index of industrial production
(IIP), rose by an impressive 13.5 percent in March taking the overall
expansion for 2009-10 to 10.4 percent.
During March, manufacturing output rose 14.3 percent, mining by 11
percent and electricity by 7.7 percent.
The cumulative growth for 200910 for these three sectors was 10.9
percent, 9.7 percent and 6 percent,
respectively. “The growth in these
sectors is expected to remain strong
and with this, the overall growth in
IIP is expected to be double digit during 2010-11,” a Commerce Ministry
official said.
Business Confidence of India Inc up
Business confidence of India Inc.
for the period April-September 2010
has improved, bolstered primarily by
Economy
NEWS
9
strengthening economic recovery, as
per the 73rd Business Outlook
Survey of the CII. This reflects a rise
in confidence for the period as the
Business Confidence Index (BCI)
rose by 1.5 points for the same period last year.
The CII survey was based on a
sample of 458 companies. “The
improvement in the index reflects
better prospects for the country’s
economy in the coming six months,”
said CII Director-General Chandrajit
Banerjee.
The CII-BCI is constructed as a
weighted average of the Current
Situation Index (CSI) and the
Expectations Index (EI).
CSI has registered an increase of
5.5 points for the period AprilSeptember 2010-11, compared with
the previous six months.
Compared to the corresponding
period last year, CSI surged by 11.4
points, indicating that the economy
was reviving swiftly.
The Expectations Index reflects
the expectation of Indian industry
with regard to the performance of
companies, sectors and the economy
for the above period. While this
moderated marginally by 0.4 points
from the second half of 2009-10, it
improved by a robust 7.7 points over
the corresponding period of last
year.
The survey revealed that 73 percent
of the respondents planned to
increase investments in the coming
six months and 79 percent expected
the value of production to increase in
the next six months. On exports, 66
percent of the respondents expressed
confidence in expansion of exports
for the next six months.
Economy on expansionary mode: OECD
After recovering from the impact of
the global financial crisis, the Indian
economy is poised for more expansion, according to the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and
Develop-ment (OECD).
The OECD Composite Leading
Indicators (CLI) which provide early
signals of turning points in business
cycles — fluctuation of the economic
activity around its long term potential
level — shows India’s score at 101 at
the end of March, higher from 100.7
in February.
According to OECD, if the CLI of
a country increases and is above 100
it means the economy is on an expansionary track. However, if CLI
decreases and is below 100 it means
the country is in a downturn mode.
Among BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India
and China) nations, India and Russia
are the only ones whose CLI is above
100 and is rising. At the end of
March, CLI of Russia stood at 102.2,
higher from 101.6 in February.
Merchandise exports up 36 percent
India’s merchandise exports grew
by 36.3 percent to $16.9 billion in
April as against $12.4 billion in the
June 2010
India Review
corresponding month a year ago, a
top Commerce Ministry official said
in New Delhi on May 19.
The country’s imports also soared
43 percent to $27.3 billion in April
from $19.1 billion a year ago.
The Government has set a target of
$200 billion worth merchandise
exports for 2010-11 and wants to
double the country’s exports by
2014.
Capital flows to gain further momentum
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank’s
Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn said
that investments were expected to
gather momentum in the coming
days and the central bank would
scrutinize flow of debt funds into the
market.
“India is becoming an investment
destination. There is lot of liquidity in
the global system after governments
and central banks pumped in money
to fight the financial meltdown,”
Gokarn told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on low carbon
economy.
The central bank will have to evaluate its approach if inflows into the
debt market increase. It will also have
to look at the end use of funds and
the cost of funds flowing into the
country’s markets.
However, RBI has maintained that
among the different components of
capital flows, it would prefer longterm flows to short-term flows and
non-debt flows to debt flows.
Economy
NEWS
India sets quarterly targets for infra growth
ndia has set quarterly targets for
its infrastructure sector during
this fiscal in a bid to monitor
progress in power generation
and building of roads and ports, critical
to its economic growth.
“We will be able to tell how much we
are targeting and how much we have
been able to achieve,” Panning
Commission
Deputy
Chairman
Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters
in New Delhi on May 17.
According to the targets set by the
Commission, both the Central and
I
state governments along with private
companies, will add 20,359 MW of
power to its present capacity.
The Government had set a target of
14,507 MW of capacity addition in the
previous fiscal, but was able to add only
9,585 MW. For roads and highways,
the target is to lay 2,500 km of highways in 2010-11, compared to 2,008
km in the previous fiscal.
A total of 21 port upgradation projects are set to be awarded in the current fiscal.
To cater to rising demand in air traffic and scale up infrastructure at the
country’s key airports, the Government
wants private firms to invest $560 million in airports at Delhi, Mumbai,
Hyderabad and Bangalore.
‘India will be among top-5 civil aviation
markets in 5 years’
he Union Minister of
State
for
Civil
Aviation, Praful Patel,
has said that the country will
be among the top-five civil
aviation markets in the
world in the next five years.
Inaugurating the new
integrated terminal building
of Mangalore airport on May 15, the
Union Minister said that the country’s
civil aviation sector was not recognized
in the world until a few years ago.
Today, India is the ninth-largest civil
aviation market in the world. “Within
the next five years, India will be in the
top-five civil aviation markets across
T
the world. That, I think, is a
great achievement in a
remarkably short period of
time,” Patel maintained.
He said that the infrastructure was undergoing a
sea change under the leadership of Prime Minister Dr.
Manmohan Singh, with a
Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure
headed by the Prime Minister himself
overseeing and monitoring developments in the sector.
With substantial progress in the civil
aviation sector of the country, Patel
said that today flying was no more a
luxury for the common man.
Seafood exports cross $2 bn
10
I
ndia’s marine product
exports have for the first
time crossed $2 billion,
according to official figures for
financial
year
2009-10
released in Kochi on May 18.
The recession in the international market has not impacted
exports of marine products from the country,
the Marine Products Exports Development
Authority (MPEDA) said.
In terms of volumes, 2009-10 was exceptional, MPEDA added. Exports aggregated
663,603 tons valued at $2105.60 million.
Compared to the previous year, there was
a 10.08 percent growth in volume, 15.26 percent in rupee
earning and 10.32 percent
growth in U.S. dollar earnings.
Frozen shrimp continued to be
the major export item, accounting for 41.74 percent of the
total dollar earnings.
Fish, the principal export item in terms of
volume and the second largest in value terms,
accounted for 38.37 percent in quantity and
20.09 percent in dollar earnings.
Exports of live lobster, live crab and Baigai
(little water snail) also registered higher
growth.
June 2010
India Review
India to set up
manufacturing zones
I
ndia will set up national manufacturing
and investment zones (NMIZs) which will
help make the country a manufacturing hub
for both domestic and international markets, Commerce and Industry Minister
Anand Sharma said in New Delhi on May
14. “We are planning to launch a national
manufacturing policy by the end of this year.
We also intend to establish NMIZs to push
the manufacturing share in our GDP,”
Sharma said, while addressing the members
of the consultative committee attached to
his Ministry.
“The proposed national manufacturing
policy for these NMIZs would act as key
enablers in driving the growth of the sector
in India,” the Minister added.
The Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion (DIPP) has recently floated a
paper for setting up NMIZs which would
provide a package of incentives and policy
reforms to stimulate the sector. Each zone
would have production units, public utilities, logistics, environment protection mechanisms and residential areas.
Sharma said that the NMIZs would
increase the share of manufacturing in the
country’s GDP to 25-35 percent by 2022 and
double the employment level in the sector.
Economy
NEWS
India targets $45 bn
from engineering
services by 2020
R
CaR expoRtS up 28 pC, bIkeS
zoom 96 peRCent In apRIl
xports of passenger cars
from India rose 27.88 percent in April, while that of
motorcycles zoomed by
95.71 percent as the country’s auto
makers continued to cash in on the
recovery in the global automotive market. According to the Society of India
Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM),
India exported 37,479 cars in April
against 29,307 units in the same
month last year.
Motorcycles exports during the
month jumped 95.71 percent at
127,336 units, against 65,064 units in
the same month last year.
During the month, overall exports
of vehicles across all categories rose
87.61 percent at 201,543 units as
against 107,424 units in the same
E
month last year, SIAM said.
According to SIAM’s latest data, the
overseas sales of the country’s largest
carmaker Maruti Suzuki India jumped
89.55 percent to 12,937 units in April,
compared to 6,825 units in April last
year.
The country’s largest car exporter,
Hyundai Motor India, reported an
increase of 6.31 percent in overseas
sale during April at 23,519 units,
against 22,124 units in the same
month in the previous year.
Tata Motors’ passenger car exports
soared by 96.30 percent at 424 units,
against 216 units in the year-ago period. Bajaj Auto registered an over twofold jump in its monthly exports at
88,101 units, compared to 43,217
units in the year-ago period.
Revenue from 3G auction touches $15 bn
T
he auction for allocation
of 3G Spectrum closed on
May 19 after 34 days
and 183 rounds of intense bidding. The price per block of 2x5
MHz Pan India spectrum is
approximately $4 billion. 3G
spectrum auction including
amount payable by MTNL and
BSNL will earn revenue of
approximately $15 billion to the government.
All 71 blocks that were put for auction across
22 service areas have been sold. No unsold
lots were left. Reliance Communications,
Bharti Airtel and Aircel won the largest number of 13 circles each in the auction. Bharti
won circles such as Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra
Pradesh and Karnataka.
In all, as many as 71 slots were put on the
block for 22 circles across India for 3G servic-
es that will facilitate faster connectivity and applications such
as Internet TV, video-ondemand, audio-video calls and
high-speed data exchange.
Nine companies — Bharti
Airtel,
Reliance
Communications, Vodafone
Essar, Idea Cellular, Tata
Teleservices, Aircel, Etisalat, S
Tel and Videocon Telecommunications —
took part in the online auction.
According to the auction documents issued
in February, of the 22 telecom circles, five
states — Punjab, Bihar, West Bengal,
Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir
— were to have four private players. Other
circles, including the Delhi, Mumbai, Tamil
Nadu and Kolkata, were to have three private
players.
June 2010
India Review
iding high on its success in software
and back-office services globally, India
has set a $45-billion revenue target from
engineering research and development
(ER&D) services by 2020.
“The resilient Indian engineering industry
is poised to achieve $40-45 billion by 2020,
with $35-40 billion from exports. It will be a
quantum jump from $8.3-billion in 2009
from exports, growing at a 40-percent average during the last three years,” National
Association of Software and Services
Companies (NASSCOM) president Som
Mittal said in Bangalore on May 20.
Export revenue from ER&D services grew
by a whopping 700 percent during the last
five consecutive years from $1.2 billion in
2004 despite cyclical contractions and the
global meltdown of 2008-09.
Unlike the software services segment,
ER&D deals with hardcore design, development and manufacturing of products and
services across diverse sectors, including
infrastructure, aerospace, power, automotive, oil and gas, consumer electronics and
utilities.
A study by NASSCOM and management
consulting firm Booz & Co says that global
ER&D spend crossed $1 trillion in 2009 and
is projected to touch $1.4 trillion by 2020.
“The engineering services landscape in
India has evolved significantly during the
last four years, reflecting maturity, diversification and enhanced verticalisation to partner with global corporations,” Mittal told
reporters at a conclave on ER&D services in
Bangalore.
Besides IT bellwethers such as TCS,
Infosys, Wipro and HCL, multinationals and
their captives are scaling up capacity to cash
in on the emerging opportunities in existing
and new verticals.
NASSCOM has estimated that the industry would require about 500,000 engineers
to generate the targeted $45 billion from
ER&D services by 2020, up from 150,000
engineers in 2009.
11
Economy
NEWS
India aims to export $1 bn organic
products in next 5 years
ndia aims to export organic
products worth $1 billion in the
next five years as there is greater
demand for non-food products
such as organic cotton.
“Five years from now, we should aim
at achieving $1 billion in organic products export by harnessing the potential
in other products like organic cotton
and others,” Commerce Secretary
Rahul Kullar said after inaugurating a
software called ‘Tracenet’ in New
Delhi on May 15 on the occasion of
the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the National Programme for
Organic Production (NPOP).
India’s organic products exports
jumped to $125 million from $12 million in a span of eight years, he added.
Khullar also urged stakeholders to
focus more on promoting organic
products in the domestic market.
So far, the focus in exports has been
on organic food items, such as tea and
spices. But there is greater scope in
A
I
non-organic food items as well,
Khullar added.
Tracenet, the user-friendly webbased traceability system, has been
developed by APEDA, a statutory body
under the Commerce Ministry, to
streamline and hasten the process of
organic exports.
According to the Agricultural and
Processed Food Products Export
Development Authority (APEDA),
Tracenet is the world’s first software
dealing with organic products that can
trace details of each consignment up to
the farm level.
Abbott to buy Piramal’s branded drugs
business for $3.71 bn
llinois-based pharmaceuticals major
Abbott on May 21
said it was acquiring
Piramal Healthcare’s formulations business for
$3.72 billion, to make the
combined entity one of
the largest players in the country’s
generic drugs market.
Abbott, which is celebrating its 100th
year in India and owns brands such as
Creamffin, Brufen and Digene, will
make an upfront payment of $2.12 billion to the Ajay G. Piramal-led firm,
apart from $400 million annually for
four years, the two companies said.
“With this deal, the combined
healthcare solutions of Abbott businesses will become the clear market
leader in India, with a market share of
around 7 percent,” said Piramal, chair-
I
12
GM aims to cross
100,000-unit sale
man of the group. Abbott
estimates the growth of
its pharmaceutical business in India after the
Piramal acquisition to
touch 20 percent annually and log $2.5 billion by
2020.
“This strategic action will advance
Abbott into the leading market position
in India — one of the world’s most
attractive and rapidly growing markets,” said Miles D. White, chairman
and chief executive officer of Abbott.
The two companies estimate sales of
branded pharmaceuticals in India to
touch $8 billion this year, making it
one of the fastest-growing markets in
the world.
The pharmaceuticals industry in
India is the third largest in the world in
terms of volume.
June 2010
India Review
midst robust car
sales, General
Motors India on May
13 set an ambitious
target of crossing the
100,000-unit sales
figure this year and
said towards this, it would expand its dealerships to 300 from the existing 206 by the
end of the calendar year.
“Last year we sold close to 70,000 units
and this year we plan to sell around
100,000 units,” GM India managing director Karl Slym told media at the launch of the
CNG version of mid-size sedan Chevrolet
Aveo in Ahmedabad on may 13.
Slym further said that in the first part of
the year, GM had registered a 139-percent
growth in sales against the industry growth
of 37-38 percent.
“Our effort is to put in place around 300
sales points from the existing 206, and also
have an equal number of authorized service
outlets from the existing 200,” Slym said.
Launching the CNG Aveo, Slym said that
the new model, which is BS-IV-complaint, is
being manufactured at the Halol facility.
This new Aveo is a bi-fuel car and comes
for $13290 and will be competing with the
CNG models of the Logan of MahindraRenault and the Accent of Hyundai.
Avantha acquires US
healthcare BPO firm
G
autum Thapar’s Avantha Group on
May 19 announced that it had
acquired Florida-based Pyramid Healthcare
Solutions. The deal amounts to $20 million.
Avantha has paid $14.5 million upfront and
the balance will be paid after two years for
a 100-percent stake in Pyramid. Avantha
Group CMD Gautam Thapar said, “Avantha
has an established presence in the IT & ITeS
space in the U.S. This acquisition will
strengthen our global presence in the niche
healthcare solutions sector.”
The Pyramid acquisition will help the
company mark its front-end presence and
leverage the Pyramid Healthcare Solutions
brand and relationships and provide a key
platform to scale up domain expertise in
the U.S. healthcare market. It will also help
offer customers cost-effective end-to-end
revenue cycle management services,
enabling hospitals to streamline patient
billing and collection processes.
Diaspora
NEWS
IIT alumnus Nohria named next dean of Harvard
rofessor Nitin Nohria, an alumnus
of the Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT) Mumbai, has been named the
first Indian-American dean of the
prestigious Harvard Business School, a role he
will take up from July 1.
Currently, the Richard P. Chapman
Professor of Business Administration at the
century-old institution and co-chair of its
Leadership Initiative, Nohria will serve as the
10th dean of Harvard Business School.
“I feel a profound sense of responsibility for
continuing Harvard Business School’s proud
P
Nitin Nohria
legacy of ground-breaking ideas and transformational educational experiences,” said the
chemical
engineer-turned-management
expert who has co-authored 16 books.
Nohria received a degree in chemical engineering in 1984 from IIT, Mumbai, which
also awarded him with its distinguished alumnus medal. He received his doctoral degree in
management from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of
Management in 1988 where he earned an
outstanding doctoral thesis award in behavioral and policy sciences.
(IANS)
Three Indians among Forbes 500 top paid CEOs
epsiCo’s Indra Nooyi, Quest
Diagnostics’
Surya
N.
Mohapatra
and
Adobe
Systems’ Shantanu Narayen are three
Indian-Americans figuring in the
Forbes list of highest-paid CEOs of the
500 biggest U.S. companies.
Nooyi (93th) earned a compensation of $10.66 million, Mohapatra
(96th) got $10.29 million and
Narayen at 425th slot took home a pay
packet of $1.88 million, the U.S. business magazine said.
With a total compensation of
P
$141.36 million, H. Lawrence Culp Jr,
the chief of the diversified manufacturing and technology firm Danaher, is at
the top of the list.
At the second spot is Oracle’s
Lawrence J. Ellison with a pay packet
$130.23 million, followed at the third
place by Chesapeake Energy’s Aubrey
K. McClendon with $114.29 million.
“For the third consecutive year, the
chief executives of the 500 biggest
companies in the U.S. (as measured
by a composite ranking of sales, profits, assets and market value) took a
Indra Nooyi
Surya N. Mohapatra
cut in total compensation,” Forbes
added.
Together, these 500 CEOs earned
$4 billion in 2009, which averages out
to $8 million apiece.
(IANS)
Scientists create ‘first synthetic cell’
Veena Rao enters record book
T
S-based Veena Rao, the editor
and publisher of NRI Pulse, has
been recognized by the Limca
Book of Records as the first non-resident
Indian woman to edit and publish a
newspaper outside India.
Rao launched NRI Pulse in 2006. It is
a free monthly newspaper that serves
the Indian-American and other South
Veena Rao
Asian communities of Georgia and other
southeastern states of the U.S.
“It is important that people know what’s happening in their community, and the country they live in. It is important that they stay
abreast of happenings in India. This is vital for the socio-economic and
cultural growth of the community as a whole,” a statement quoted
Rao as saying.
Rao has a master’s diploma in journalism and communication from
India’s Symbiosis International University. She also has a master’s
degree in economics.
(IANS)
hree Indian-origin scientists
are part of a team that has for
the first time created a synthetic cell, controlled by man-made
genetic instructions, which can also
reproduce itself. The 24-member
team included Sanjay Vashee, Radha
Krishnakumar and Prashanth P.
Parmar. “We call it the first synthetic
Radha Krishnakumar
cell,” said genomics pioneer Craig
Venter, who oversaw the project. Developed at a cost of $30 million
by the researchers at J. Craig Venter Institute, the experimental onecell organism opens the way to manipulation of life on a previously
unattainable scale, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The new cell, a form of bacteria, was conceived solely as a demonstration project, though several biologists were certain that the laboratory technique used to birth it would soon be applied to other
strains of bacteria with commercial potential, the paper said.
(IANS)
U
June 2010
India Review
13
Science
NEWS
INdIa tests agNI II mIssILe
ndia on May 17 successfully
test-fired its nuclear-capable
intermediate range Agni-II missile, with a range of over 2,000
km, from a launch site in Orissa.
The surface-to-surface missile was
tested by army personnel as part of a
training exercise from Wheeler’s Island
in Bhadrak district, about 200 km
from state capital Bhubaneswar.
“The vehicle lifted off at 9.18 a.m.
and was tracked by various downrange
stations. It was a very successful
launch. It met all the mission objectives,” S. P. Dash, director of the test
range, said.
The Agni-II missile, part of India’s
Integrated
Guided
Missile
Development Program, is 20 meters
I
long and can carry a payload of 1,000
kg. The missile weighs 17 tons and its
range can be increased to 3,000 km by
reducing the payload. It can be fired
from both rail and road mobile launchers.
It takes only 15 minutes for the missile to be readied for firing, officials
LCH unveiled for armed forces
New fast-breeder on track
ndia on May 23 unveiled its indigenously-built Light
Combat Helicopter (LCH) with a successful flight
demo of its first prototype in Bangalore for the armed
forces. Designed and developed by the state-run Hindustan
Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), the 5-ton class LCH makes India a
member of the select club of a few advanced countries that
have a similar chopper.
The 20-minute inaugural flight at the high security HAL
airport was witnessed by Defense Production Secretary R.
K. Singh, Vice-Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal P. K. Barbora,
top officials of the three services, and dignitaries from the
defense establishment.
The black sleek copter was initially escorted by two
Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) ‘Dhruv’ on a bright
sunny day.
The twin-engine chopper was flown by Chief Test Pilot
(Retd.) Wing Commander Unni Pillai and Test Pilot (Retd.)
Group Captain Hari Nair.
As a derivative of HAL’s flagship product Dhruv, the agile
LCH boasts of excellent maneuverability, nap of the earth
(NoE) flying capability, air-to-air armament for air defense
role, anti-armor capability and operation during day/night
under all weather conditions.
ndia’s $1.25-billion fast-breeder reactor (FBR) at
Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, will be up and running, as
scheduled, by September next year.
With the installation of a thermal baffle inside the main
vessel recently, the project crossed yet another milestone.
“The 60-ton thermal baffle, measuring some 12 meters in
diameter and more than 6 meters in height, is made of
stainless steel,” Prabhat Kumar, project director of the
power plant, said. The sodium-cooled fast reactor,
designed by the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research
(IGCAR), has three vessels — a safety vessel, a main vessel and an inner vessel, all of which are critical to keeping
the FBR cool.
“The thermal baffle acts as a buffer wall against the radiation from the inner vessel, which holds liquid sodium at
550 degrees Celsius, and helps maintain the temperature in
the main vessel at 400 degrees Celsius,” said
P. Chellapandi, Associate Director-Design, IGCAR.
Officials said that the fast-breeder reactor, being built by
Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd, or Bhavini, is one
of the key projects of India’s three-stage nuclear power
program.
India became the sixth country to have such technology,
way back in 1985. Officials said that more than 55 percent
of the work was over, with 425 people, out of the 525
employees sanctioned so far, already on the payrolls of
Bhavini.
S.C. Chetal, Director, Reactor Engineering Group,
IGCAR, said the PFBR would have a life of 40 years. “We
have been able to demonstrate to the country that we can
build this reactor with high standards of safety,” he said.
I
I
14
said, adding that the Agni-II version of
the Agni series of missiles was first
test-fired in 1999 from the same location. With the test, the Strategic Forces
of the Indian Army have carried out
the launch of all three versions of Agni
within three months. They had earlier
tested the 3,500-km range Agni-III in
February and the 700-km range AgniI missile in March.
The test was witnessed by more than
100 defense scientists, including
Defense Research and Development
Organization (DRDO) chief Dr. V. K.
Saraswat and Director of the Agni program Avinash Chandra.
Defense Minister A.K. Antony congratulated Dr. Saraswat for the successful launch of Agni-II.
June 2010
India Review
Science
NEWS
India to design, develop aircraft
for feeder service
ndia will design and develop a
civilian transport aircraft which
will be used for a feeder service
connecting towns and cities
across the country, a top scientist said
in Bangalore on May 8 .
“The civilian transport aircraft will
I
be designed and developed under public-private partnership to meet national
requirements with the support of the
Government,” said Indian space
agency ISRO’s former chairman G.
Madhavan Nair, who heads the ambitious project.
The Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR) on May 7
constituted a 15-member high powered committee under Nair’s chairmanship to launch the National Civil
Aircraft Development Project.
“The Government has recognized
the need for such an indigenous civilian aircraft with 90-100 seater capacity for passenger service or freight service of equivalent capacity. A feasibility
report will be prepared in a year to execute the project,” Nair told reporters
after the committee’s first meeting.
The National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) under the aegis of CSIR
will be the main agency to implement
the project.
“The design center for the regional
civilian aircraft project will be set up in
Bangalore under the supervision of
NAL,” CSIR Director-General Samir
Kumar Brahmachari said. NAL has
demonstrated design and development
capabilities with the production of
Hansa trainer aircraft and prototype
versions of 14-seater Saras aircraft for
military and civil purposes.
Jamia gets grant for nanotechnology
amia Milia Islamia University in
New Delhi will carry out
advanced research in nanotechnology, the only university in the country to do so, a university statement said
on May 17.
Given the growing applications of
nanotechnology, the varsity has been
given approximately $2 million government funding for carrying out two
projects in the field.
The 91-year-old Jamia will carry out
research in ‘Synthesising Single Wall
Carbon Nanotubes’.
The funds sanctioned by the
Department of Information Technology will be used by the university’s
departments of physics and applied
sciences.
The university also runs an M.Tech
J
program in nanotechnology. The university has been carrying out cuttingedge research in the areas of
nanoscience and nanotechnology and
in recognition of that it has already
been awarded a project on Carbon
Nanotubes by the Defense Research
and Development Organization
(DRDO), the university said.
June 2010
India Review
delhi gets advanced radar
for weather forecast
M
inister of State for
Earth Sciences
Prithviraj Chavan on
May 20 inaugurated
India Meteorological
Department’s
(IMD)
advanced doppler radar
in New Delhi. The new
radar is expected to
make more accurate
weather forecasts for
Delhi and adjoining areas. According to IMD
director B.P. Yadav, the department is replacing its old and conventional radar with the
new S-band doppler weather radar (DWR).
“The DWR will make things easier for the
weather department to predict weather conditions, such as thunder storms and heavy
rains, in Delhi and adjoining areas,” Yadav
said.
The DWR will make accurate short-range
weather predictions for a 500-km radius
area, the official added.
Fifteen locations across the country will be
equipped with this new system.
government okays next
generation arjun tanks
T
he Indian Government on May 13 decided to go for the second generation of
the Indian army’s main battle tank ‘Arjun’
and surface-to-air missile ‘Akash’ to be
developed by the Defense Research and
Development Organization (DRDO).
Announcing a slew of measures to revitalize the DRDO, Defense Minister A.K.
Antony also approved the continuation of
Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) for
design and development of combat aircraft
and of the Kaveri aero-engine program, a
defense spokesman said in New Delhi.
The decision also includes development
of main battle tank (MBT) Arjun Mk-II and
Akash Mk-II by the DRDO and selection of
industry partners by DRDO through a transparent process by evolving a suitable mechanism.
The decision was taken after Arjun’s performance in the comparative trials with
Russian T-90 tanks came in for praise as it
proved to be a superior tank.
15
Trends in
SOCIETY
Fast Food: Rapid GRowth
More and more US fast food giants are cashing in on the huge Indian
market by offering a range of menus to Indian consumers
ndian consumers are spending
more and more on eating out
with family and friends on
weekends and holidays, churning up a huge appetite for the global
quick service restaurant (QSR) and
casual dining restaurant (CDR) business.
Young as well as old Indians can be
seen spending several hundred dollars
on fast food at shopping malls, multiplex complexes, metro stations, highway eateries, and even in office blocks,
as the eating-out culture spreads
across urban India. Even many tier-2
and tier-3 cities are witnessing this
gastronomic revolution, much to the
delight of QSR and CDR majors.
According to a survey conducted by
AT Kearney, a global management
consultancy firm, the Indian QSR
I
16
According to a survey
conducted by AT
Kearney, a global
management
consultancy firm, the
Indian quick service
restaurant (QSR)
market is growing at a
compounded annual
growth rate (CAGR) of
10 percent and is
expected to touch the
$6.5 billion mark
in 2011
June 2010
India Review
market is growing at a compounded
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10 percent and is expected to touch the $6.5
billion mark in 2011.
The fast food or QSR format took
off in India around 15 years ago with
the arrival of multinational majors such
as McDonald’s, KFC, Domino’s Pizza
and Pizza Hut. To begin with, these
players had some problems understanding Indian consumers, as their
home-market models didn’t go down
well in India.
Over the last one decade, though,
many of these players have got their
acts together through a better understanding of the Indian market in the
form of Indianized menus, breakfast
menus, sit-and-eat formats, and positioning their outlets as destinations for
family outings.
Trends in
SOCIETY
17
Leading the charge is McDonald’s.
The brand has been growing from
strength to strength on the back of its
customer-friendly pricing (a chicken
burger starting at Rs. 20, which is less
than 50 U.S. cents) and an Indianized
menu that includes the McAloo Tikki
Burger. McDonald’s today operates
170 outlets across 30 Indian cities.
The company plans to invest more
than $32 million to open an additional
30-40 stores this year and hiring 2000
more employees.
And over the next five years, the U.S.
fast food giant plans to invest $125
million to expand its store count by at
least 180.
Vikram Bakshi, Managing Director,
McDonald’s India, (north and east
region), who also runs Connaught
Plaza Restaurants Pvt., Limited, the
franchisee for the region, says sales
have grown by 25 to 28 percent yearon-year (y-o-y). McDonald’s invests,
on an average, $650,000 on each
restaurant.
Another American QSR major,
Pizza Hut, which operates a chain of
123 outlets in India, plans to double
this number over the next few years.
According to Anup Jain, marketing
director, Pizza Hut, it opened a dozen
outlets in 2009 and plans a similar
increase in 2010.
KFC, which along with Pizza Hut is
owned by Yum! Restaurants, is also
McDonald’s plans to
invest more than $32
million to open an
additional 30-40 stores
this year and hiring
2000 more employees.
And over the next five
years, the U.S. fast
food giant plans to
invest $125 million to
expand its store count
by at least 180
planning a major expansion in India. It
currently operates 72 outlets, with
more than a third having opened in
2009.
Domino’s Pizza is also looking at a
significant expansion of its outlets.
Ajay Kaul, CEO Jubilant Foodworks,
the master franchisee for Domino’s
Pizza India, says it operates 280 stores,
with almost 70 having been added in
the current fiscal. Jubilant Foodworks
plans an initial public offering (IPO) to
raise funds for its ambitious expansion
plans.
The Jawad Business Group (JBG),
Bahrain, has also entered the Indian
QSR segment in a big way. It has also
tied up with the U.S.-based Brinker
June 2010
India Review
International and introduced its Chili
brand in the country.
Other American and international
QSR brands are also eying the growing
Indian market and are showing lot of
interest.
According to Aileen Crowe Nandi,
principal commercial officer, U.S.
Consulate General, Chennai, several
American players including Church’s
Chicken, Round Table Pizza, CKE
Restaurants Inc and Tropical Sno are
planning to establish presence in India.
Indian QSR players have also put in
place ambitious expansion plans. Cafe
Coffee Day, a leading domestic player,
plans to raise its store count from 600
to 950 in a few years.
The QSR business is also attracting
bigger players. Amit Burman, vicechairman, Dabur India, launched a
start-up, Lite Bite Foods (LBF), which
is focussed on the food and beverage
services retailing space.
With an initial investment of $45
million, LBF has tied up with international majors including Subway of the
United States.
With rising disposable incomes and
a young workforce earning relatively
high incomes, India offers excellent
growth opportunities for the QSR and
CDR business. And both international
and domestic fast food chains are realizing this and are rolling out major
expansion plans.
Short
STORY
CLOUDS
By Saurabh Bhattacharya
he Clouds had arrived earlier than promised. Much
earlier. And that was bad
news.
Senior meteorologist Sandeep
Desai stared at the satellite images
for the tenth time, wearily took off
his glasses, and rubbed his forehead.
What do they want now? Hadn’t they
done enough damage already? What
more could we give to placate them?
Desai’s reverie was broken by the
sudden entry of Suman Dutta, his junior and one of the Indian
Meteorological Institute’s brightest scientists.
Dutta’s unruly salt-and-pepper
locks were shaking in agitation.
“You’ve seen the images?” he
blurted. “This is preposterous! After
all those negotiations. They’ve broken their promise, I tell you!”
Desai looked up at the rotund,
slightly pudgy and now completely
furious face of his friend and colleague, and managed a wry smile.
T
18
“I know, I know. It’s all very
unethical and unsporting.”
“Unethical?” fumed Dutta, as he
dragged a chair towards him. “Who’s
talking of ethics? I’m talking loss of
lives, crops. I’m talking massive disasters!”
Desai raised his hands in a calming
gesture.
“I get your point,” he said, his
voice throbbing with barely-suppressed anger. “But what can we do?
Do you think we like this position of
vulnerability? You know more than
anyone else how we tried to break
out of this stranglehold. All those
meetings, bargaining, pleading. All
we gained was an uncomfortable
truce of sorts. Frankly, I’m surprised
that you even expected such a weak
truce to last forever. Face it, Suman,
we’re on the losing side. So let’s not
waste time screaming at the preposterousness of the situation and get
down to doing something in the time
that we have!”
June 2010
India Review
“Okay,” Dutta said, after a
thoughtful pause, “what do we do
now?”
“I’ve already fixed a meeting at the
conference hall in about 15 minutes.
Let’s see if some brainstorming
can help,” Desai said, mentally wincing at the unintended irony of the
statement.
II
The conference room was brimming with angry murmurs when
Desai entered. All the senior scientists were there, irritation writ large
on each face. Desai took his chair
and began: “Friends, you all know
the scenario by now. But just for the
record, I would like to do a recap.
Two years ago, sometime around the
month of March, the coast of Kerala
saw the influx of a freak bevy of monsoon Clouds. These Clouds brought
with them an unprecedented amount
of rainfall that continued to swamp
the whole of India for more than four
Short
STORY
months, causing floods in Rajasthan,
West Bengal, Kerala, and ravishing
the agricultural produce of the rest of
the country. Our government rushed
Army and paramilitary forces all over
the country for relief measures and
declared a national emergency.
More than 100,000 people died in
the deluge, property worth millions
was laid waste, and the whole nation
was hit by a massive food crisis bordering on famine. Needless to say,
the Meteorological Institute bore the
brunt of the criticism, on grounds
that we had not predicted the freak
weather in advance. Heads rolled.
Mine was one of them.”
Desai paused for effect. “But then,
around the first week of August,
things took another bizarre turn. On
August 2, a coastal observation tower
of the Institute in West Bengal
received a strange message. It
seemed to have been transmitted
electrically through the lightning rod
into the tower’s computer, and it
read,” here Desai paused and indicated that the lights of the room be
dimmed. A slide projector lit up one
end of the room and on it appeared
the words:
“WE WISH NO HARM”.
Desai
turned
towards
the
slideshow and resumed, “Of course,
the message you see now was not the
form in which it was transmitted. It
came in a basic mathematical
code — a binary stream of positive
and negative ionizations, that was
cracked by some of our scientists.
However, the cryptic tenor of the
message forced us to check and recheck the interpretation. This took
another week, during which time the
rains suddenly stopped. The Clouds,
however, kept hovering over the
country. Initially, we could not see
any connection between the cessation of rainfall and this message,
which we had assumed was just some
hacker playing a prank. What
intrigued us was that despite the rain
having stopped, the Cloud formations remained exactly like monsoon
Clouds. We sent up weather balloons
to check their density and volume.
The cryptic tenor of
the message forced us
to check and re-check
the interpretation.
This took another
week, during which
time the rains
suddenly stopped.
The Clouds, however,
kept hovering over the
country. Initially, we
could not see any
connection between
the cessation of
rainfall and this
message...
The results left no doubt whatsoever.
These Clouds were monsoon Clouds.
It almost seemed that they had willed
themselves from breaking into rain!
“Exactly a week after the first message, on August 9, another observation tower, this time in Madhya
Pradesh, received the same message.
This time, it was followed by a shower for two days — but only on the
tower top and nowhere else! Again,
we would have relegated the incident
as yet another in a series of already
bizarre weather events had not the
head of that observation tower made
an intuitive connection between the
message and the rainfall. This scientist, to his credit, refused to brush off
the coincidence and directed the
tower’s computer programer to type
June 2010
India Review
a message using the same mathematical code. The message read.” the
slide changed to show:
WHAT ARE YOU?
Desai continued, “The instant this
message was typed on to the computer screen, the rainfall on the tower
top stopped. What followed was
another message.” This time the wall
lit up with the words:
WE ARE THE CLOUDS.
“And as you know, from that point
on we had no option but to refer to
the clouds as the ‘Clouds’.”
III
As Desai spoke on about the events
following first contact, Dutta took
advantage of the dark room to close
his eyes and take a personal trip
down the same path. He still could
not get over the initial chill of the
words as they appeared decoded on
the tower’s computer screen. WE
ARE THE CLOUDS. Baffled, Dutta
stared at the screen as his hand desperately sought his coffee cup, hit it
and got scalded by the hot brew.
Only then did he jump up from the
terminal. His passionately logical
mind simply refused to believe what
his eyes had just seen. How can this
be? How can a natural body made
largely of vapor and water ever communicate? Dutta was definite that
there was some trick involved. Some
computer glitch probably. But how
does one account for the ceasing of
rain on the tower top? Coincidence?
Perhaps. And then, perhaps not!
Somewhere in the back of his
mind, Dutta vaguely remembered a
strange email exchange he once had
with a British meteorologist. It had
something to do with similar freak
weather conditions abroad. Perhaps
that could hold a key to this mystery.
Dutta feverishly sifted through the
archived correspondence on his
computer.
And there it was — a mail dated
two years ago. It had been sent by
David Simms, a noted meteorologist
whom Dutta had met at a weather
conference in New York years ago.
Simms, Dutta recalled, was working
19
Short
STORY
20
on a forecast technique more sophisticated than the present satellite system — a technique that would,
Simms had declared, use the intuitive power of nature to track rain
Clouds with pinpoint accuracy.
Nature, Simms had stated in the
paper presented at the New York
conference, had a basic rhythm to it.
And despite man’s tremendous
efforts to break this rhythm, nature
had always corrected it at the last
minute. However, each of these corrections had come in an apparently
irrational form — such as snowfall in
Somalia, a tidal wave engulfing
Washington, or an earthquake in
Beijing. No meteorologist worth his
or her salt is unaware of such freak
occurrences in Nature, but Simms’
argument went a step further. The
problem with forecasting weather, he
had argued, lay in the human incomprehension of this ‘freak’ element in
Nature. Once humans understood
the mechanics that Nature utilizes to
correct its rhythm, they would automatically be in a better position to
figure out the weather’s next move.
Simms had termed this aspect of
forecasting as the Freak Principle.
Simms’ theory had intrigued Dutta
enough to dash off a couple of emails
to the Brit. Simms had explained the
principle to Dutta thus in one of his
emails: “In a game of chess, often
one player deliberately makes a move
that appears apparently illogical and
irrational to his opponent. This generally happens when the player seems
to be losing ground. The idea is actually two-fold — one, to break the
opponent’s chain of thought, and
second, to regain one’s own rhythm.
Now, just place Nature on one side
of the board and humanity on another. Whenever humanity begins to
comprehend the ways of Nature and
take preventive action, Nature
throws in a completely bizarre move,
leaving humanity baffled. This, my
friend, I call the Freak Principle of
Nature in a game of cosmic oneupmanship.”
The Freak Principle! Is that what
these Clouds personified? Cloud
All of a sudden,
a searing flash of
lightning shook Dutta
— a flash that his
eyes didn’t see but his
mind reeled under,
a brutal, telepathic
brilliance that no
human brain could
stand up to for long!
Senses overcome,
he barely had the
strength to stand up...
For what he had
understood in that
microsecond of a flash
could, if it was true,
change the destiny
of earth and all its
inhabitants!
now? He imagined the trillions of
tiny electrical operations that were
taking place every second in this
immense, intelligent, planetary-scale
computer — how could humanity
compete with such raw processing
power?
All of a sudden, a searing flash of
lightning shook Dutta — a flash that
his eyes didn’t see but his mind
reeled under, a brutal, telepathic brilliance that no human brain could
stand up to for long! Senses overcome, Dutta cringed and fell down in
a heap on the roof. He barely had the
strength to stand up, but some part
of his numbed brain still managed to
urge him to pull himself back
towards the safe confines of his
room. Dutta crawled along, his eyes
squeezed shut, his groping hands
seeking the ladder rungs.
He had to, he must, reach the
room. For what he had understood in
that microsecond of a flash could, if
it was true, change the destiny of
earth and all its inhabitants!
intelligence evolving from the random interaction of charged, finely
dispersed water droplets lying suspended in the Clouds. Water droplets
as neuron analogues, now suddenly
bursting into intelligent, coherent
thought? The mind boggled.
Still mulling over Simms’ words,
Dutta climbed up to the roof of the
observation tower. The rains had
stopped, but the sky was ominously
overcast. Dutta walked up to the
center of the roof and gazed up at the
Clouds hovering like so many layers
of darkness — silent, ponderous,
with not even a lightning flash or a
thunderclap, as if awaiting some
inscrutable signal to pour their load
on him. An unknown fear slowly
crawled up Dutta’s spine. He felt as
though he was being watched. He
wished to avert his eyes from the
black nothingness but couldn’t. He
stood as if petrified, staring up at the
black mass of vapor above, questions
racing across his stunned mind like a
herd of wild stallions: What are you?
What do you want? Why us? Why
IV
“What do you mean, population
problem?” Desai had asked incredulously. “How can a natural phenomenon have a problem like that? Have
you been drinking?”
“You must believe me, Sandeep,”
Dutta pleaded over the phone.
“However implausible and unnatural
this may sound, it is what the Clouds
have communicated. And they have
added that if we don’t take them seriously, they will be forced to wreak
havoc, for only by offloading their
surplus burden and reducing their
number can they hope to survive as a
‘species’.”
“Okay, even if for the sake of argument I say that I believe you, what
purpose will that solve? I’m out of
the fray, and there’s no way you can
sell this preposterous idea to the
powers-that-be. And even if you can
do that, how will it solve the problem
at hand?”
“But that’s the point, Sandeep!
You haven’t heard the whole story
yet. The Clouds want to bargain!”
June 2010
India Review
Short
STORY
WE WISH NO HARM
21
V
What followed was
an
unprecedented
amount of international
diplomacy and discussion, for
apparently India was not alone in
the predicament. And, because of his
unique position of having comprehended the Clouds’ message, Dutta
was in the middle of all of this.
Sandeep Desai also returned as head
of the Indian weather section.
The Clouds had posited a menacingly simple quid pro quo — ample,
on-time rainfall all over the world in
exchange for specific areas where
the Clouds could safely offload
extra moisture. There was only one
added condition to the bargain: that
the areas earmarked be arid and
ecologically non-raincloud generative.
Humanity, obviously, had no
choice but to agree. As a result, all
the desert areas and arid plateaus of
the world became dumping grounds
for the Clouds and life went on fairly smoothly...
...But all that was two years ago,
and now the Clouds were back,
more menacing than ever, ever
more unpredictable in their offloading of excess moisture. Worse —
this time, they had not even bothered to communicate.
VI
Dutta’s reverie was broken by
someone calling his name. He
turned to the speaker’s podium and
heard Desai say, “and we all agree
that it’s time Dr. Dutta met the
Clouds once again. What do you
think, Dr Dutta?”
“I frankly don’t see much point in
that exercise,” Dutta said wearily.
“But we don’t seem to have much
of a choice either, Suman, and
nobody knows this better than you,”
Desai persisted. Dutta felt the eyes of
the room upon him.
The Clouds had
posited a menacingly
simple quid pro quo —
ample, on-time rainfall
all over the world in
exchange for specific
areas where the
Clouds could safely
offload extra
moisture. There was
only one condition:
that the areas earmarked be arid...
Humanity had no
choice... All the desert
areas and arid
plateaus of the world
became dumping
grounds for the Clouds
and life went on fairly
smoothly...
June 2010
India Review
And so it was decided that Suman
Dutta, weather scientist, would don
the mantle of negotiator once again.
The meeting was over and Desai
and Dutta went busily about the task
of sending emails across the world,
asking various governments to ready
themselves for yet another bout of
uncertain bargaining. Bargaining
when the weaker party, humanity,
did not even know what the demands
would be this time.
VII
Several nights later, on the eve of
what would be an epic war of negotiations between humanity and the
Clouds, Suman Dutta, Senior
Meteorological scientist sat before
his telescope on the roof of his
house.
The dark air was unnaturally cold
and clammy with the humid taint of
excess rainfall — it was like breathing liquid. Moss grew ever thicker,
slippery, on the tiles underfoot. And
the sky above was almost totally covered with the brooding, threatening
Clouds.
Almost totally. For as Dutta looked
through his telescope, a tiny break in
the dark and overcast sky appeared
and he found himself gazing yearningly at a planet that had not known
rain for a hundred million years. Not
a single Cloud obscured the fine,
magnified red disk of the desert
planet Mars, as it seemingly stared
back, rather pityingly, at the cold and
wet-wet Earth
Cinema
NEWS
THe JoNeSeS To be mAde IN HINdI
romantic comedy The
Joneses starring Demi
Moore
and
David
Duchovny will be remade
in Hindi at an estimated budget of
$13 million, though not in the same
A
Sukhwinder to go
‘Jai Ho’ in USA
B
22
ollywood playback
singer Sukhwinder
Singh is set to enthrall
American audiences
with his concert ‘Jai Ho’
in Washington on June
5.
The singer, who
crooned the Oscar winning number ‘Jai Ho’ in
Slumdog Millionaire,
will perform live with an ensemble of leading Bollywood musicians at the DAR
Constitution Hall in Washington.
The singer, who earned fame after the
success of songs like ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya
(from the film Dil Se), has given hits like
‘Chak De India’, ‘Dard-e-disco’, ‘Beedi’,
‘Jalwa’, ‘Aaj mera jee Kardaa’, ‘Ramta Jogi’
and ‘Dhan te Nan’, to name a few.
The Center for Social Change, Kingfisher,
Hilton Hotels, TV Asia and Zee TV are some
of the sponsors of the concert. The organizers are also promoting a new reality talent show ‘Your Minutes of Fame’, where
individuals of the South Asian Diaspora will
get a chance to showcase their talent in
juggling, magic tricks, stand-up comedy
and beat boxing besides singing and dancing. Nikkitasha Marwaha, Miss India
Worldwide 2009, and participant in the
second season of the dance reality show
‘Dance India Dance’, will host the show.
style as the original. It will be produced by Sheetal Talwar and Madhu
Mantena’s company Vistaar Religare
Film Fund (VRFF). Vistaar Religare
has invested in the Demi Moore-starrer film. It premiered at the 2009
Toronto International Film Festival
on September 13, 2009.
Bhavna Talwar will direct the Hindi
version and she intends to completely
turn the American film around.
This is the first time that a
Hollywood release is being remade in
Bollywood so soon after its original
release.
Bhavna says she fell in love with the
storyline the minute she read the
script. It was her husband Sheetal’s
idea that she should remake it in
Hindi.
“At first I baulked at the very idea of
doing a remake, and that too of a
Hollywood rom-com. Both my films
so far Dharm and the about-torelease Happi are original works. I
reluctantly read the script for The
Joneses. I loved the material, not the
way it is, but in the way it can be
modified, restructured and adapted
into our own style and environment.”
While the focus in The Joneses is on
the couple played by Moore and
Duchovny who move into an
American suburb, Bhavna’s instant
adaptation would shift the focus from
the couple to their son.
Kites premiered in New York
he Hrithik Roshan and Barbara
Mori-starrer Kites was premiered at the BIG Cinemas
Manhattan in Midtown East to an
audience of competition winners on
May 16 at the AMC Empire theatre in
Times Square.
Produced by Rakesh Roshan and
directed by Anurag Basu, Kites is a
mega-budget venture in two versions
— English and Hindi.
The film also stars Kabir Bedi and
Kangana Ranaut who makes a cameo
appearance in the movie.
Releasing simultaneously on more
than 2,300 screens worldwide, including over 500 overseas in over 60 countries, it has been distributed by
T
Reliance Big Pictures.
The film was a runaway hit in the
U.S. becoming the first Bollywood film
to make it to the U.S. Top 10 list in its
debut weekend opening at the number
10 spot. It was ranked ninth.
The film’s international version Kites
Remix presented by Hollywood director Brett Ratner was opened worldwide
on May 28.
Salim-Sulaiman to perform at FIFA World Cup
I
ndian music composers
Salim
and
Sulaiman
Merchant, who collaborated
with South African singers
Loyiso Bala and Eric Wainaina
to record the anthem for FIFA
World Cup 2010, will perform
at the opening and closing ceremonies of the
football event.
“It’s definitely an honor to get the oppor-
June 2010
India Review
tunity to perform at such a
huge platform.”
Later the duo will also perform for the fund raising concert for Nelson Mandela
Foundation.
The opening ceremony of
the football World Cup will be held on June
10 at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg,
South Africa.
Travel &
TOURISM
23
IN NATUre’S lAp AT KAIrAlI
R
ead a book, sip herbal tea,
ponder upon life and soak
in a relaxing ayurvedic massage. Kairali health resort,
set amid 55 acres of lush green land,
provides a cure for the ailing body and
mind in nature’s lap. Nominated for
the 2010 World Travel Awards in the
category: “India’s leading Resort”,
Kairali is located in Palakkad, about
380 km from Thiruvananthapuram,
the capital city of South Indian state
Kerala. World Travel Award is one of
the most prestigious comprehensive
and sought after awards in the travel
and tourism industry.
Earlier, the resort received the 2005
SpaAsia Crystal Award for Best
Ayurvedic Centre in Asia-Pacific.
Here you can enjoy the lush greenery, where the sun is shy to peep
through and the enchanting beauty of
this ayurvedic resort will rejuvenate
your mind and soul. The resort houses
30 pyramid-shaped cottages with
structures based on Vastu Shastra —
an ancient Indian building text — with
red soil roof tiles that are common in
Kerala and known as odu in
Malayalam.
A two-km-long artificial water
stream flows through the resort that
has as many as 700 coconut trees, 600
mango trees and a few medicinal trees
like neem and pepper. Shielding the
grounds from the sun are the branches
of these trees, allowing one to take a
walk even on a hot day and enjoy the
serenity of the place. And of course
there are the chirping birds, croaking
frogs and the sounds of flowing water
and breeze.
The resort offers treatments for ail-
June 2010
India Review
ments like sinusitis, migraine, arthritis,
skin diseases, infertility, slip disc and
spondylitis. It also has wellness packages for obesity, de-stressing and rejuvenation.
Apart from the resort area that also
has an ayurvedic center, library, yoga
and meditation center, swimming pool,
tennis court, the land also includes a
vegetable and herbal garden and a
paddy field. Each villa in the resort is
equipped with air-conditioners, refrigerators and bath tubs. But surely
nature scores over all of it. Starting and
ending your day early is the mantra of
the resort that witnesses an influx of
foreign tourists. Simple food is served
and vegetables come from the inhouse garden. They only serve pinkcolored lukewarm water that has
some herbs in it.
Out of the 30 cottages, two fall in the
Maharaja category, four in the royal
villa category, 17 in the classic villa category and seven in the deluxe villa category.
Their prices fall anywhere between
Rs.7,000 ($147) per day for a deluxe
villa and Rs.25,000 ($526) per day for
a Maharaja villa.
This includes the price of a massage,
breakfast, dinner, lunch, yoga and
meditation classes.
n
Remembering Rajiv Gandhi
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh paying homage at Vir Bhoomi, the Samadhi (memorial) of Late Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 18th Anniversary of Martyrdom, in Delhi on May 21. Rajiv Gandhi, India’s youngest
Prime Minister, was assassinated in Sriperumbudur near Chennai during an election rally on May 21, 1991.
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