Egov magazine september 2014 issue

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PSU Summit

22 August 2014, New Delhi

ASIA’S FIRST MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON E-governance ` 75 / US $10 / ISSN 0973-161X

eGov Magazine

SEPTEMBER 2014 | VOLUME 10 | ISSUE 09

PSU Growth Mantra

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september 2014

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Contents volume 10 n issue 09

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8 Sanjay Bhatia

Chairman & Managing Director, CIDCO

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26

Ganga Kumar MD, Bihar State Building Construction Corporation Limited

interviews 10

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PSU Growth Mantra: Go for IT!

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Deepak Shrivastava Chief Vigilance Officer, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited

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30

Anjum Parwez

Former Managing Director, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (currently Chairman, BWSSB, Bangalore)

A K Purwaha

Chairman & Managing Director, Engineers India Ltd

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Chief General Manager - IT, MahaGenco

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14

Nitin Chandurkar

31

Mukesh Kumar Meshram

Neeru Abrol

Chairman and Managing Director, National Fertilisers Ltd

Managing Director, Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation

Chairman & Managing Director, Instrumentation Ltd, Kota

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16

M P Eshwar

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Dr U D Choubey

Director General, Standing Committee of Public Enterprises (SCOPE)

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Vimal Wakhlu

Chairman & Managing Director, Telecommunication Consultants India Ltd

A K Nigam

Managing Director, Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited

IT shot for PSUs

A

s the Government of India seeks to lay the foundation and provide the impetus for long-term growth of eGovernance within the country through its National e-Governance Plan, there is an increased focus on the use of technology in the domestic public sector undertakings (PSUs) — the human face of industrialisation of Indian economy.

The PSUs in India have seen a glorious past and look forward to a vibrant future. But that would be more like a pipedream than a reality unless the sector goes in for large-scale adoption of information technology to make the phenomenon all-pervasive. Leveraging the power of IT becomes all the more critical in view of the urgent need to cut costs, adopt smarter ways to reach out to its clientele, increase its reach to the hitherto untouched segments of the economy, and above all, to counter the competition coming from all directions – both from within and outside the country. In fact, embracing IT can help these public sector enterprises fast-track their process of growth and further unlock the value and potential the sector holds within.

A recent study by global technology research firm Gartner Inc said that Indian public sector’s IT purchases will grow at a CAGR of 14 percent between 2012 and 2017, reaching $108.5 billion in 2017. In 2014 alone, the PSUs are likely to spend about US $9 billion on technology, which is an increase of 5.9 percent over the US $67.4 billion forecast for 2013. Driven by massive infrastructure investment plans of the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government and increasing citizen expectations will further fuel IT spending by the 229 Indian public sector undertakings. So, it is going to be IT that will power the success story of PSUs in the days ahead.

In acknowledgement of the invaluable contributions that the PSUs are making to the Indian society in general and the Indian economy in particular, Elets Technomedia is going to organise the second edition of “Elets PSU Summit” in New Delhi on 22nd August 2014. The Summit will also focus on the ICT implementations that the PSUs are doing to bring in efficiency and transparency in their operations. The event will see concerned technocrats, senior policy-makers and other stakeholders of the sector share their past experiences and offer valuable inputs to improve the future operations of the sector.

A dedicated segment of “PSU Awards” at the Summit will highlight the good work done by them in their various spheres of action. This is sure to instil in them the spirit of healthy competition that would motivate them to improve their performance and help them serve the larger society in a better way. So, do join us there.

Happy reading!

ravi guptA Ravi.Gupta@elets.in

Email at subscription@elets.in to get previous issues

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ASIA’S FIRST MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON E-governance

September 2014 volume 10 n issue 09

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cover story

PSU Growth Mantra

Go for IT! A hub of 229 public sector companies, the Indian PSU sector has started investing aggressively in information technology to cut costs and beat the global competition, finds out Nirmal Anshu Ranjan of Elets News Network (ENN)

I

ndustry is the backbone of any economy.

But reckless industrialisation can also lead to some unforeseen consequences, including the threat to the poorest of the poor or the disadvantaged sections of a society being left out of the process of development as well as its benefits. That being the reason, as India was made into a welfare state post-Independence, it was thought prudent to lay stress on industrialisation with a human face, where nation-building was given precedence over reckless profiteering.

It was in this backdrop that the concept of public sector undertakings (PSUs) was chosen

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to be embraced by the founding fathers of the nation. PSUs have been providing leverage to the government—the majority stakeholder—to intervene in the economy directly or indirectly to achieve the desired socio-economic objectives and maximise long-term goals.

The sector has stood the test of time on several occasions since its coming into being, including during the global economic downturn of 2009: even as the private sector operators started downsizing their businesses through lay-offs and other measures, the public sector undertakings stood calm in the face of the adverse scenario and waited patiently for the situation to improve without resorting to any quick-fixes.

However, based on the experience of decades of operation, there is a need for reforms to make our PSUs more profitable entities, and to bring about greater efficiency, transparency and accountability in the sector. In this context, employing information technology or IT tools is considered to be one of the most effective ways to counter the ills creeping into the system over the years and to pave the future path for these PSUs to serve the purpose these were created with.

A large number of public sector executives agree that the ability to adapt quickly to change and improve service quality using information technology will offer a greater advantage to public sector organisations, according to a Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) study published sometime back. The increasingly rapid

cover story

pace of social, political and technical change means that PSUs of the future will need to be more citizenfocussed, more businesslike and smarter in their use of technology, it said. Flexible technology solutions to quickly adapt to and support the challenges of shrinking budgets and increasing expectations for better service delivery and transparency is the call of the time.

As investment in technology is predicted to be the key to shape up the growth of the sector, there has been an increasing trend of investment by PSUs in IT during the recent past, accounting for about 2 percent of their total revenues. The 229 Indian PSUs are projected to spend about US $9 billion in 2014 on technology, which is a 5.9 percent increase from the US $67.4 billion forecast for 2013, says a recent Gartner Inc report, to help address the challenges of transition towards establishing a more transparent and accountable organisation, reduce the cost of production and enhance productivity and customer reach.

“India is a hub of 229 PSUs operating across verticals, with 16 of these companies featuring in the global list of top 2,000 companies. With their growing size and dominance, PSUs have started looking at IT to address the global competition.

Examples like SBI which has done one of the largest Core Banking Solution implementation globally or BPCL which has made early investments in Big data make the segment very lucrative for the technology companies,” says Praveen Bhadada, Director-Market Expansion of Zinnov, a market expansion and globalisation advisory firm.

On an average, the Indian public sector companies have spent about US $9 billion on information technology in the last a few years to cut costs and automate functions. This spending on IT by PSUs accounts for about 2 percent of the total revenues of the sector. A global research and analysis firm Forrester estimates that India’s public sector’s IT purchases will grow at a CAGR of 14 percent between 2012 and 2017, reaching US $108.5 billion in 2017.

Employer to about 1.5 million people, the

Employing IT is said to be one of the most effective ways to counter the ills creeping into the system over the years and to pave the future path for the PSUs to serve the purpose these were created with public sector’s pro-active adoption of IT is also seen as a move to address the global competition faced by Indian PSUs. Today PSUs are looking at IT to analyse customer information efficiently and develop targeted and customised offerings for customers. Besides, massive infrastructure investments and increasing citizen expectations are set to further fuel public sector IT spending.

Apart from the befits of technology adoption to the public sector, another positive outcome remains that the Indian private IT sector would also benefit from this increased IT spending by the government. Large Indian IT projects won by private companies include the income tax automation project by Infosys, passport registration contract by TCS, Aadhaar projects by several private players, India Post modernisation contracts and security projects bagged by TCS, to name only a few.

While India’s total IT spending has been growing with each passing year, with a technology-friendly Narendra Modi Government reiterating its commitment to metamorphose the nation into a “Digital India” every now and then, one can foresee a sizeable amount of this spending accounting for the PSUs’ expenditure towards technology adoption.

“The digital world is here and this results in every budget being an IT budget, every company being a technology company, every business becoming a digital leader and every person is becoming a technology company” is how Peter Sondergaard, Senior Vice President at Gartner and Global Head of Research, once summarised the mood of business as well as governments across the globe. And, it is going to be no different for the Indian public sector, too.

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in person

EIL - Pioneer

Since 1965

The Engineers India Ltd has come a long way since its inception over four decades back, and it continues with its consistent growth story. IT has come handy in our endeavours to stay at the top, says Chairman & Managing Director, Engineers India Limited A K Purwaha in an interview with Nayana Singh of ENN

E

IL has been consistently growing since 1965. Please highlight the journey so far.

The Government of India, together with the Bechtel International Corporation, set up Engineers India Ltd in 1965 to provide consultancy services to the emerging hydrocarbon sector. In 1967, EIL became a wholly owned company of the government under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. EIL, as an organisation, has grown from its net worth of only `25 lakh at the time of inception to `2,462 crore in 2014-15. Today, we have a market capitalisation of around `10,000 crore.

We have also contributed significantly to the growth of domestic industries. Self sufficiency in hydrocarbon industry in consultancy has grown to 95 percent and imports have reduced to around 10-15 percent of the plant cost as compared to around 80 percent in early 80s.

EIL pioneered engineering services in the hydrocarbon industry and today it is a leading Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) organisation. During the course, we diversified our consultancy to other areas, viz. non-ferrous metallurgy, infrastructure, power (solar/thermal/nuclear), fertilizers and waste & water management etc.

In 1989, we established a sophisticated R&D centre in Gurgaon for pursuing technology development both in-house and in collaboration with other research organisations. Today, EIL has in its portfolio 16 live patents and 13 patents with pending application.

A K Purwaha, Chairman & Managing Director, Engineers India Limited

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in person

EIL covers a wide range of sectors. Can you highlight some of its contributions?

In the upstream oil sector, also known as exploration and production (E&P) sector, we have provided services to more than 210 offshore platforms including 40 process platforms for clients like ONGC and we are currently working on a prestigious project of the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC).

In the mid-stream sector, which involves transportation, storage, and wholesale marketing of crude or refined petroleum products, we have helped lay down over 20,000 km of the pipelines in the country and have 42 pipeline projects to our credit.

In the Downstream sector — which refers to refining of petroleum crude oil — EIL has worked for all the major clients in the domain, including 10 refineries and 60 refinery projects delivering a combined capacity of 150 MMTPA. EIL has also played a major role in development of non-ferrous metallurgy sector especially the aluminium sector in the country, wherein we have implemented 29 mining and metallurgical projects for all the major players in this sector.

For infrastructure, we have provided a range of engineering consultancy services to at least 30 projects including airports, highways, flyovers, bridges, water and sewer management as well as energy-efficient “intelligent buildings”.

Currently we are working for Interceptor Sewer Project for Yamuna river pollution abatement in Delhi, Development of National data repository for Directorate General of Hydrocarbon, development of data centres for UIDAI and institutional buildings like those of Delhi University and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT).

In the fertiliser segment, we have worked for eight major fertiliser plants in India and currently we are working on three major international assignments in Nigeria, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

We have also tied up with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) and completed the assignments for Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project units three and four, and the Greenfield Nuclear Fuel Complex at Kota. We are currently working on a Nuclear Recycle Board assignment of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

In the field of renewable energy, we have provided our services to 5MW Solar plant of the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) and working on a 125MW Solar Thermal Power Project of AREVA/Reliance.

We have made the system more transparent, effective and paperless through an online system. Starting with enlistment of contractors, filing of applications to final approval can be done online What have been the key achievements of EIL in the recent past?

We have been granted the Navaratna status by the government and had a successful Followon Public Offer (FPO) in Feb ’14. Apart from that we were granted three patents in the last financial year. With this, the company’s patent portfolio has grown to 16 ‘live’ patents and 13 pending patent applications relating to various process technologies.

The company got major breakthroughs in various overseas projects including Dangote refinery in Nigeria, Liwa Plastic Project in Oman, Bitumen Project in Indonesia, Ammonia Plant in Indonesia and Shahjalal Fertiliser Project in Bangladesh In the current financial year, the company has already secured overseas business of `1,150 crore.

What latest technologies do you employ to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of the services provided?

The Information Technology Services (ITS) division of EIL continues to provide stateof-the-art IT-enabled Services (ITeS) to EIL’s

mainstream activities by developing and implementing leading IT solutions with an aim to deliver better quality services with increased efficiency at low costs.

For achieving improved performance on project matrices through enhanced efficiency of deliverables, EIL continues to update its IT systems to develop a networking infrastructure which enables real-time data-sharing.

Integrated online system for Structural Design and Engineering, Environment Services System, Intelligent Design Basis for standardisation of designs, Inclusion of Supplier/ contractor documentation in the Electronic Data Management System (eDMS) and a precommissioning management system are some of the initiatives undertaken during the year to facilitate improved performance across the project value chain. eDMS caters to all needs of the company for all kinds of documentation, archives, drawings retrieval/management processes. This leads to having a fast and effective communication channel across the company as well as with client/vendors leading to higher efficiency.

Currently, we have a rich database of more than 1,800 suppliers and are enlarging the September 2014 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

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in person

database for capable suppliers and contractors. Today, suppliers and contractors located worldwide can apply through an online system available 24x7 on the EIL website.

We have made the system more transparent, effective and paperless through the online system.

Starting with enlistment of contractors, filing of applications to final approval can be done online.

Brief us about the CSR initiatives of EIL. At EIL, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a commitment to operate in an economically, socially and environmentally-responsible manner to enhance the company’s overall contribution to the society.

Our CSR activities are directed towards supporting the ongoing and planned initiatives of the local, state or Central government with projects located around its work places and special focus on the backward areas and underprivileged sections of society.

An annual allocation of 2 percent of PAT (Profit After Tax) of the preceding financial year is made every year as mandated by the DPE Guidelines.

In the education sector, we are engaged in the construction and upgradation of infrastructure in various schools of Assam. Also, another major on-going project of EIL is adoption of 100 Ekal Vidyalayas in the rural villages of Dibrugarh in Assam. Under the project Ekal Vidyalaya, i.e. one-teacher school, has been undertaken in association with Bharat Lok Shiksha Parishad (BLSP) for imparting basic informal education to children belonging to the poor communities.

Under healthcare segment, we have ensured provisions of medicare units/ ambulances and other hospital equipment. We regularly organise health and eye checkup camps in backward and slum areas.

We have provided the Indian Cancer Society with fully equipped Mobile Cancer Detection Van for screening and diagnosis of cancer and support to breast cancer survivors in various hospitals of Delhi and NCR. For improvement of drinking water quality, EIL has constructed water treatment plants for augmenting potable water supply in Tamil Nadu.

EIL has also undertaken a major project in association with the Institute of Integrated Rural Development (IIRD) for installation of 93 RO systems, along with water storage tanks, in 81 hostels/ educational institutions of Bapatla town and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh.

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The Information Technology Services division of EIL continues to provide state-of-the-art IT-enabled Services to EIL’s mainstream activities by developing and implementing leading IT solutions at low costs We have also undertaken a major rural electrification project of setting up solar power plants in two remote villages of Kargil region in association with the Kargil Renewable Energy Development Agency (KREDA). This project has been initiated with active participation of the community, and maintenance and management of the Solar Power plant will be carried out by the village community post installation.

For women’s empowerment, EIL has been supporting various activities/ projects which focus on increasing women’s social participation, economic development and providing vocational training with an objective of giving an opportunity to be self reliant. We have provided equipment for vocational training of deaf women in association with Delhi Foundation for Deaf Women.

EIL provides essentials like washing machines, school uniforms, Braille sheets and cookers for underprivileged women and visually challenged children through Mathru Educational Trust for the Blind at Bangalore.

We have also constructed multi-purpose halls for old age homes in Mirzapur, UP, and provide support to HOPE Foundation for construction of girls block and additional facilities in the community care centre to accommodate abandoned HIV/AIDS-affected women and children in Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu.

Please shed some light on EIL’s vision for growth and the roadmap for development.

EIL has been an integral part of development of

hydrocarbon and non-ferrous metallurgy sector in the country and it continues to enjoy leadership position as the consultant of choice. However, the competitive dynamics have changed and today we are not only competing on cost, time and quality but also on efficiency. With a strong balance sheet and highly motivated employees, our roadmap is very clear.

Firstly, we have to maintain our leadership position in our core area of strength, i.e. domestic hydrocarbon and non-ferrous metallurgy sector.

Next, we have to expand overseas. Our endeavor is to generate 20 to 25 percent of our revenue from our overseas operations. This is going to be the key to our growth and the efforts made by us have seen some significant success.

Besides, we must diversify into areas such as fertilisers, nuclear and solar energy and water and waste management, where EIL’s core engineering strength can be leveraged. We are already working on the Sewer Interceptor project of the Delhi Jal Board. We have also entered into an SPV with some oil majors for setting up solar power projects in India.

We have tasted success with the Sardar Sarovar Project in Gujarat and the municipal sewerage recycling project of Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board. The experience that we gain from these projects will provide us the required platform to serve the nation better. Besides, asset ownership by equity participation will ensure better utilisation of EIL’s cash reserves. We have already picked stakes in two onshore blocks under the NELP.

IN PERSON

NFL – Fertilisers to Women’s Empowerment

P

lease elaborate on the mandate of your work.

We are into fertiliser sector and we are the second largest producer of urea in the country. We consume about 30 million tons of urea where 22 million ton is domestic production, and 8 million ton is imported. In all, we have four plants in India – in Panipat, Bhatinda, Nangal and in Vijaypur. Total

Neeru Abrol, Chairman and Managing Director, National Fertilisers Ltd

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Neeru Abrol, Chairman and Managing Director, National Fertilisers Ltd, speaks on the concerns of the fertiliser sector and the CSR activities being carried out by the organisation in the rural areas, in an interview with Nayana Singh of ENN

number of units is five, where Vijaypur itself has two units. Earlier, only Vijaypur plant was running on gas (natural gas) and the rest were on fuel oil. But in Jan 2010, we converted the rest of the plants also into gas-fired plants. Use of natural gas has come as a green initiative, apart from saving the government resources on subsidy. Now we are producing 102 percent of the capacity on an average.

Talking about the distribution and marketing of urea across the country, we are the lead suppliers at a number of places. We are distributing the urea and we’ve got marketing setups through dealers, which is made available to the farmers, retailers and even the government.

Our major markets are in the North – Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar – and here we are selling the maximum products.

Recently, the government mandated the National Fertilisers Limited (NFL), along with the Engineers India Limited (EIL) and the Fertiliser Corporation of India Limited (FCIL), to revive Ramagundam unit in Andhra Pradesh. It is a closed unit now.

Currently, the government is working out on the investment policy – NIP 2012. Once that comes through, we will execute the process of reviving the Ramagundam plant.

The revival will take `4,500 crore and the capacity of the plant will be around 1.27 million ton. For us and EIL, the equity participation will be of 26 percent, while for FCIL it will be 11 percent, and the remaining will be distributed among whosoever will be coming in. Other than these, we are also trading in seeds, pesticides, bio-fertilisers etc, but the major product is urea.

What benefits are you getting from the Vijyapur project?

In the Vijaypur plants, capacity augmentation was undertaken. Since we have two units there, on an average there has been an enhancement of about 20-21 percent of the installed capacity.

In terms of energy saving, Vijaypur has one of the best plants in energy consumption in the country. It consumes quite less energy, and we are implementing more energy conservation measures there.

How much has been the shift in terms of NFL’s activities over the years on account of changes taking place in the agriculture industry?

Our main product has been urea, but now we are going into DAP, MOP etc. As MOP is a product which the country cannot produce on its own, it has to import it, while 60 percent of the total DAP requirement is met through imports and 40 percent is produced within the country. But then, as energy conservation remains a focal area, the government wants to save the resources.

The government is now taking measures to promote the use of organic materials, like compost, city waste etc as energy resources.

We have also taken up the responsibility of educating the farmers. Over a period of time, the soil quality goes down because of too much use of urea and less of other products. So, if you want your soil to be good, to be giving a better productivity, the focus has to be on soil quality.

In this way, we help the farmers through our mobile as well as stationary labs. We also coordinate with them through various agriculture

IN PERSON

universities, practically showing the farmers the quality of their soil, explaining them not to over-use a particular fertiliser, and what products they should use.

How much attention does NFL pay to the emerging technologies, which have the potential to enhance productivity?

Fertiliser production requires a lot of energy, as almost 80 percent of our total expenditure goes towards meeting the energy requirements.

Hence, the entire focus is on how to reduce energy consumption, and for reducing energy consumption, we focus on making small improvements, like check on leakages, on damage, etc. Since we have switched to gas, our energy consumption has gone down substantially at three of the units.

If the energy cost comes down, so does the cost of the products, which ultimately leads to better consumer response.

Our other product is also urea based; we were the first ones to produce neem-coated urea, which now has been adopted and the government has already allowed production of the neem-coated up to 35 percent of the total production. Maybe, now they remove the cap on the production limit. One big advantage of neem-coated urea is that it cannot be used for any other purpose except agriculture, and hence, it cannot be misused. With its use, pesticides are also not required.

Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh presenting the Scope Excellence Award 2009-10 to Ms Neeru Abrol of National Fertilisers Limited at the MoU Excellence Awards & SCOPE Excellence Awards presentation ceremony in New Delhi on January 31, 2012.

four suits a day. They stay in their villages, work from their houses itself and generate income out of this.

Similarly, for young boys also, we have started three-month training in mobile repairing. We have constructed a setup with rooms.

They are using it for training and as marriage halls. So, it’s like a community hall and we’ve

Fertiliser production requires a lot of energy, as almost 80 percent of our total expenditure goes towards meeting the energy requirements. Hence, a major focus area is reduction of energy consumption NFL does a lot of CSR activities in the fields of education, health, women’s empowerment, solar energy etc. Can you elaborate on that?

We have done quite a bit in this field, especially for women’s empowerment. Close to our Nangal plant in Punjab, there’s a village called Beladhani, we went door to door there to teach the young girls how to stitch, giving them sewing machines with just one motive – to make them self-reliant. When I went there recently, they showed their work. They make pretty good suits and they stitch about three-

given it to the panchayat, so they see that it is used properly.

At some places we have even built check dams as in Madhya Pradesh because water conservation is a big issue. So, there are a lot of activities we are engaged in.

How do you see the profitability of this industry moving in the future?

For us, the Ramagundam unit will be the major project, because that involves quite a bit of funding from us. Fertilisers production is not a very profitable field, because it’s a product to be

used by farmers, so you don’t have too much of margin...it’s barely 3-4 percent.

What are your expectations from the new government?

Urea subsidy will anyways continue, so we are only asking that it should be at least supplied on time. If our requirement is about `1 lakh crore for all the products, `30,000-35,000 crore always gets carried over to the next year. Then we feel that the cost of inputs, like gas, should not go up too much.

Plus, if you want more and more fertilisers units to come in, these things should be rationalised. Taxes should also not be increased on the input and investment environment should be made more attractive for more people to come in.

What would be your vision for the growth of this industry as well as for your organisation?

India should be a self-reliant country. If we talk about the fertiliser industry, specifically about urea, we know that MOP we can’t produce, and for DAP, we have to get the inputs imported first.

But urea is an item which we can be produced on our own, so it helps in conserving our foreign exchange as well as making India self-reliant.

Now not much gap is left. With four-five units coming up, that gap can be filled. My vision for organisation is that these plants come up, and the funding is not a constraint.

September 2014 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

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IN PERSON

PSUs in Revival Mode

A

mong the large number of PSUs, only 182 of them are making profit. How do you react?

There are 277 Central Public Sector Units (CPSUs) and around 900 state public enterprises. It is true that not all of them are earning profit. That way, PSEs can be put under three categories — those earning profits, those working in reasonably good shape and those which are financially stressed (earlier called ‘sick’ units). Irrespective of this categorisation, all of them have equally major role to play in nation building.

The overall profits of CPSUs have been Rs. 1.15 lakh crore. What is remarkable is that in the last few years, the number of financially stressed units has come down from 60-65 to 35-40.

There has not been addition of any PSU in the last 15-20 years. Would you like to comment?

The government is the custodian of PSUs and it is the responsibility of the government to decide on this matter. It is true that there has been no addition of any green-field project for quite some time. But there are many PSUs, which have modernised themselves and other sectors have also helped them in capacity production. I believe that with the new government in place, we will see new additions to the PSU list.

What should be the future roadmap?

Globally, many countries are seeking to build ‘Sovereign Fund’ for effective use of their financial resources for promoting industrial development and building strong infrastructure. State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) and Temasek

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Dr U D Choubey, Director General, Standing Committee of Public Enterprise

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Dr U D Choubey, Director General, Standing Committee of Public Enterprises (SCOPE), is one of the champions of public sector units in the country. Earlier, he had also held the post of Chairman and Managing Director, Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), besides several other important assignments. In an interview with Nabin Sinha of ENN, he talks about the achievements of PSEs in the country and highlights their role in the national economy. Even during the economic recession, there was no production cut and pink slips in PSUs, he claims proudly.

Besides, he also talks about the PSEs’ social responsibility culture in the form of widespread CSR activities. Excerpts: Holdings, in China and Singapore, respectively, are allocating substantial resources in industrial hubs. Taking a cue from the other global organisations, India too can work towards creation of ‘Sovereign Fund’ for PSUs.

What is the major role of PSEs in the economy?

I would prefer not to comment on Private Sector v/s Public Sector. But PSEs’ records were quite impressive even during the economic crisis and meltdown of 2009. There was no ‘cut back in production and pink-slips’.

In 2012-13, the turnover of CPSEs stood at `19.46 lakh crore as against previous year’s Deepak earning of `Shrivastava 18.22 lakh crore. The total income was up by 7 percent. The total net profit earned was about `1.15 lakh crore and contributed about `1.63 lakh crore to the central exchequer.

IN PERSON

The presence of Indian PSEs in Forbes 2000 Annual list 2014 is a testimony of their rising status. In total, there are 30 PSEs among 54 Indian companies that are listed in the world’s 2000 powerful firms. Among them are 14 PSEs and 16 public sector banks. The globalisation of several PSEs could be measured from the increase of foreign exchange earnings, which showed a growth of over 8 percent last fiscal year.

What has been the role of SCOPE so far in the economic revival of the companies?

PSUs revival is directly related with bringing changes in work culture and resolving problems areas with leadership excellence. The SCOPE is known for providing assistance in bringing professionalism in organisation.

How has been the evolution story of the PSEs in the country?

It has evolved a major role in the economic development of nation. There were only 5 PSEs at the commencement of the 1st Five Year Plan, with only `29 crore. Now there are 277 (229 operating) PSEs with an investment of over `8.5 lakh crore.

Earlier termed the ‘Temples of Modern India, PSEs have evolved with successive industrial policies. Post-liberalisation, PSEs took the challenge and transformed to global market and sustained with growing community relations beyond business — Corporate Social Responsibility. The performance in terms of economy and productivity has been excellent.

The PSEs have helped in creating ‘Brand India’ image abroad.

Presence of Indian PSEs in the Forbes 2000 Annual list 2014 is a testimony of their rising status. In all, there are 30 PSEs among 54 Indian companies that are listed with the world’s 2000 powerful firms What are the major challenges before PSUs? There are reports of several vacant key posts?

Have you analysed some of the basic reasons for companies facing huge losses?

The government of India owns PSEs and it works under the parliamentary accountability, MoU system and performance review by the administrative ministry. Besides, we work under the Public Accounts Committee, CAG, CVC, CIC, RTI etc. Such complex situation has sometimes delayed the decisionmaking process.

The succession plan and constitution of effective board requires immediate attention and responsibility of the concerned ministry and other departments. There is a need to reform the process of selection of Directors and CEOs through robust transparent system.

There is also need for larger capacity building and strengthening skills of executives to achieve sustainable results. The selection of Independent Directors should also be on professional merit rather than any other consideration.

There are many reasons. But the most important one for companies like HMT, MTNL, BSNL, etc., are that they failed to bring required changes and modernisation in time. For example, HMT’s Janata watches were quite popular. But they did not modernise and lost the market share. An effective and rational work culture and excellence would still work out in these companies’ favour.

What about Corporate Social Responsibility?

PSEs helped create economic growth with balanced social responsibility, in line with commitment. Much before the CSR guide lines were made mandatory, it was included in their agenda. We worked on three areas—providing health, bringing education to doorstep and getting basic amenities to people in the working area. The SCOPE has brought out a compendium on CSR contribution

by PSEs, which was released recently.

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in person

Perception of people about public transport in India will change, but it will take information technology to make that happen, Anjum Parwez, former Managing Director, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (currently Chairman, BWSSB, Bangalore), tells Nayana Singh & Kartik Sharma of ENN

Anjum Parwez, former Managing Director, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (currently Chairman, BWSSB, Bangalore)

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IT Greases BMTC Wheels

in person

G

ive us an overview of the operations of BMTC.

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation or BMTC came into existence in 1997 with the initial fleet of about 2,700 vehicles, which increased to nearly 7,000 over the last 15-16 years. Looking back at the history of BMTC, we started with non-a/c standardised operation and introduced a/c buses later in 2005. Bangalore was the first city to start A/C premium segment services with the Volvo buses, and at present we own more than 800 A/C buses.

Our new initiative is focused at bringing in technology in operations, as I feel that further improvement is not possible without the technological aid. Thus, in order to improve the efficiency and provide better facilities to commuters, our team is bringing in a lot of IT applications. BMTC has emerged as an independent organisation over a period of time, running business on its own, without the help from the Central government, and doing it successfully without any problem.

Can you explain about IT integration in your services?

In 2004-05, we started thinking of IT integration, but since the technology was not as developed as it is now, the pace of IT integration was slow. However, in 2010-11, new and advanced technology entered the market that made it easy for us to conduct our operations economically. With this, we introduced vehicles with electronic number displays in front and on rear side, along with a voice-announcing system.

Now, we are working on a massive project meant for vehicle tracking. A lot of data would be generated through this project which will be utilised for mobile applications. We are also trying to bring in a system where commuters would be able to have detailed information about particular bus numbers.

Safety is another major segment where we are working to ensure protection for commuters, especially women passengers. We started with the installation of cameras in about 500 buses which are giving positive outcomes to date.

IT plays an important role when it comes to supervision and monitoring. So, we have come up with a fantastic dashboard for transport management at the top level, where one can get

all the information by sitting in one’s office itself.

We have even completed the geo-coding of all the bus stops, with the soft copies available to us.

Now, BMTC is going to introduce an electronic ticketing machine where the team is working on smart card solution to get rid of paper ticketing.

Besides, we are trying to use IT not only for communication purpose, but also as a tool for maintenance and internal discipline. So, we started a project with Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions for targeting mass transport systems.

Leave Management System (LMS) was one of the solutions developed for BMTC. This technology solution replaces the now-defunct manual leave application and sanctioning with utmost transparency in a very cost-effective manner. It is one of several solutions that Bosch offers to help modernise mass transportation systems.

Bilingual (English and Kannada) touch screen kiosks are deployed at BMTC depots and workshops across Bangalore. Employees can apply, sanction and recommend leave,

for public transport rather than using its own vehicles. Once we improve the supply side, demand will automatically come.

For initiating further development of the sector, do you think PPP is a viable model?

PPP model was tried in a number of places like Bhopal and some other cities, but it has not given very positive results. Urban transport is a public property and the best organisation to provide public property is the government itself, because what it needs is better supervision and focus of both central and state governments to maintain the quality. I believe that government has the capacity to improve because it needs lots of policy interventions. But as far as the capital is concerned, it can be brought from the private sector. We can create a new company where more partners can come from private sector, so that majority remains with the government.

Private players are part of the whole operations.

BMTC is focussed to improve the planning side, optimise the operation of buses, and bring the concept of good transit locations where people can shift from one bus to another without any waiting time. The transit waiting time should not be more than two-three minutes while supervisors can manage employees’ leave records and update attendance details. This smart technology improves the efficiency and on-time performance of BMTC transport services, and thus benefits the commuters.

The whole idea is to promote public transport.

In Bangalore, we are at a stage where approximately 46-47 percent of the people are using public transport and I feel that it can go up to 65-70 percent. But that is possible only if we bring in new innovations in the transport sector.

In India, the transport sector has failed to attract people who use cars or some other personal conveyance. The point is to see from the suppliers’ perspective. Public transport is a mandatory requirement for certain segments of the society, especially the poor people. If a major chunk, which has the choice, feels safe in a public transport, with buses coming on time and no disruption in their services, it would go

Are you working on certain plans to make these services economically viable?

One thing that we have to do is to reduce the cost of operation. In urban transport sector, right now we have the concept of destinationoriented bus service. We are trying to shift from the destination-oriented bus operations to the direction-oriented operations. The moment we come to the direction-oriented bus operation, we can provide the same level of bus service with less number of buses. So, the overall kilometre count comes down, yet you get the same earning. In other words, you get more earning with lesser expenditure.

The whole focus is to improve the planning side, optimise the operation of buses, and bring the concept of good transit locations where people can shift from one bus to another without any waiting time. The waiting time to shift September 2014 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

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in person

from one bus to another should not be more than two-three minutes. All these integration is possible through IT applications. Moreover, we have to do integration of bus operations with the metro operations. Plus, autos are very much part of the day-to-day life of Indian commuters, and we cannot do away with the autos in the cities. So, we have to consider even autos as a part of our public transport.

What is your future plan for BMTC? Our emphasis is on technology aspect as the whole idea is that commuters should get all the information. For this, real-time data sharing with the commuter is necessary. Second is the grievance redressal system in case something goes wrong in the bus. My team would immediately get the information and then we can take immediate action.

We are going to install cameras inside the buses which are accessible from the head office.

At any given point of time, I can peep into any given bus to see what is going on there. So, these are the focus areas when IT part is concerned.

We are also focusing on reducing the dependency on diesel from the general perspective of our import bill. Thus, we are trying to bring in alternative options like hybrid and electrical buses, along with bio-diesel and ethanol-powered buses.

In future, we are planning to bring buses which are more comfortable, especially for commuters who are physically challenged.

Low-floor buses, with at least 650mm ground clearance, will be introduced. Other than this, we will make our bus models look more aesthetic to attract more customers.

What is the turnover of BMTC and how much are you expecting in future?

This year, the turnover will be `2,400 crore. We are on track and right now we are generating profits. But our purpose is not to make profit but to provide good facilities to public. BMTC cannot compromise on the quality of facility just to earn profit.

How do you see the future of public transport in India?

I see a bright future for public transport. Today, with all the efforts of the Government of India and the state governments, 20-25 cities have organised public transport. However, we have more than 5,000 cities in India, and it is the tier II and tier III cities which are facing major

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problems of public transport. There is nothing worthy in public transport, and I feel that plugging solutions have to come where IT applications are concerned, because every small corporation and city cannot afford to develop an independent IT infrastructure. So, plugging is in demand whether it is in the sector of vehicle tracking or the system for monitoring and supervision.

In Bangalore, we are at a stage where approximately 4647 percent of the people are using public transport and I see a potential to increase that number up to 65-70 percent. But that is possible only if we bring in innovations in the transport sector

In future, with new technologies bringing in extra safety measures, perception of people about the public transport will change.

If public transport is not perceived as a safe mode of transport, the upper class will not be drawn towards it, as safety is a major concern for them.

Do you think there is a need to make travel by public transport cheaper?

One thing I would like to add is that public transport is becoming costlier and the rate of transport in any city has grown more than the rise in minimum wages of a labourer. In all the major cities our labour force stays outside the city area and thus faces a lot of problems.

In a city like Bangalore, a person has to spend almost about `50-60/day on commuting when he is earning about `300. So, about 20 percent of his daily income is spent on public transport. I personally feel that government should come out with a scheme of direct subsidy to commuters below the poverty line.

They should be issued monthly passes by the government which would not cost much.

Even if we provide bus passes to five lakh poor people in the city, it is not going to cost more than `200 crore.

IN PERSON

UP Road Transport

Goes Hi-Tech

Information technology will bring in more transparency in Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, Managing Director, Mukesh Kumar Meshram tells Souvik Goswami & Kartik Sharma of Elets News Network (ENN) during an interaction

G

ive us an overview of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC).

Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) is a public sector passenger road transport corporation providing services in the state of Uttar Pradesh and other adjoining states of north India. With a fleet size of over 9,500 buses, UPSRTC operates over 3 million kilometers catering to the travel needs of over 1.4 million people and earning over `70 million every day. ‘Providing adequate, efficient, well coordinated, comfortable and economical services to our passengers, while earning enough for selfsustenance and growth’ is our motto.

What kind of IT initiatives are being undertaken by your organisation?

We have implemented Intelligent Transportation Management System (ITMS). The Government of India’s financial support as well as our own funds have helped us in implementing this project. The basic component of this IT initiative is Electronic Ticketing. We have already implemented electronic ticketing system in all our buses. Our conductors are providing electronic tickets to our passengers. We carry about 52 crore passengers per year and we have almost 9,600-bus fleet. The revenue collection is monitored on day-to-day basis with the help of this kind of IT initiative.

On the other hand, we have also started implementing Vehicle Tracking System (VTS).

We have installed GPS-enabled vehicle tracking system in all the buses. It has helped us in monitoring the position of buses en route. Not only this, with the help of VTS we are now able to get

know our passenger base is mostly from the rural areas or from the lower strata of the society. We have deployed 350 Yaatri Mitras (friends of travellers) to help out these passengers. They will get to know about various services related to their destination. We have deployed these helpers in almost 300 bust stations across Uttar Pradesh.

Capacity building is an ongoing process to match the demand from passengers.

We are quite hopeful that UPSRTC will become more customer-friendly in the coming years and information technology solutions are helping us to achieve the goal.

What kind of challenges you face while running a big organisation like UPSRTC?

Mukesh Kumar Meshram MD, UPSRTC alerts on continuous basis about how the buses are being driven. These all are monitored now by regional managers as well as in the headquarters.

All these measures are aimed at reduction in accident incidents and ensuring passenger safety.

Shed light on some other IT initiatives being undertaken by UPSRTC. Online ticketing is also a major area of focus for us. We have roped in a few agencies and it is kind of a green initiative. Passengers can carry their tickets in their own devices like mobile phones, tablet, etc. Paperless ticketing system has been authorised by our structure.

We are also taking up some measures to bring in transparency in the entire system. Besides, automatic announcement system and LCD panels have also been introduced at bus stations for giving proper information to the passengers.

People from rural parts of the state are one of the major groups of passengers for UPSRTC. Do you have any system especially targeting this section of travellers?

We have started a ‘Yaatri Mitra’ plan. As you

Acceptability is a major challenge for us. We have more than 50,000 field employees, of whom most are drivers and conductors. So, there is kind of resistance to these new initiatives, as these are aimed at bringing in more transparency in the system. There are sections of people who have got some kind of hidden agenda and they start opposing the IT initiatives for their petty gains.

We even faced problems of tampering of GPSenabled VTS system, buses not running according to the schedule, etc in the initial stages.

So, we started various training programs for our employees. We tried to convince them that all these measures are going to help the organisation in the long run and it is also going to benefit them. We explained to them that they will be the ultimate beneficiaries if the organisation grows.

Share with us your vision for the growth of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation.

Mobility is really an important and crucial criterion for social and economic development.

It is our duty to provide an effective system for people to move from one place to another. In rural areas, there are law and order problems, along with various safety reasons, due to which people in the rural areas are against sending their girls to distant areas even for study purposes. Unless and until, we are able to provide safe public transportation system, we will not be able to increase literacy level in the rural areas, specially among the girl children. If we have a good public transportation system and run it in an efficient manner, it will help in increasing the number of daily commuters in public transports.

September 2014 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

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IN PERSON

T

TCIL

Forward is the Way Riding the Information Technology wave, TCIL has been able to achieve several feats, both in India and abroad, and also spearhead the competition in its domain, says Vimal Wakhlu, Chairman and Managing Director, TCIL in an interview with Nayana Singh of ENN

CIL has been working since 1978 in different sectors like telecom, civil and IT. Can you highlight the contributions of TCIL in various sectors?

Since its inception in 1978, the Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL) has been primarily working in the fields of telecom and IT. So far we have worked in more than 75-80 countries. We helped countries, especially in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, in development and modernisation of telecom networks. In the IT sector, we had implemented a project in 48 countries that linked them to India for deployment of education and health services. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan are some of the few countries which were part of this project. We did another project in Madras University that included providing virtual classrooms that assisted in extending the campus by almost 10 times. So, this particular concept can be used for extending classes of other universities in the country as well.

In infrastructure segment, TCIL undertook a project called Vessel Traffic System in the Gulf of Kutch. It was a challenging project that involved erecting massive lighthouses along the marshy land of the Gulf for surveillance and ship-to-shore communications.

TCIL has formed a JV and obtained a mobile licence for operation in the states of Rajasthan and the north-east states. This is currently known as BHL (Bharati Hexacom Ltd). Apart from this, TCIL also started UTL Nepal along with MTNL and VSNL (now Tata Communications).

TCIL also formed JVs with a number of companies to enter into other areas such as cable manufacturing as TTL (Tamil Naidu Telecom). We have been diversifying and expanding into the civil infrastructure sector, where we have built roads and buildings in the country.

What are your future plans with respect to the growth of TCIL? Apart from our traditional strength, we have recently got some good projects in Kuwait. We have also bagged a `2,060 crore defence spectrum network project, which will be implemented over a period of 18 months.

We are also looking at e-waste management, which is one of the major challenges in the urban world today. In the education and health services, we feel that we can replicate our performance of Pan-African e-Network Project in our country in a big way. We are trying to convince the stakeholders in this process to use ICT for meeting various networks and infrastructure needs of the country.

Where do you see this company in the coming three years?

Vimal Wakhlu, Chairman and Managing Director, TCIL

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In the next three years, I expect the company to grow at a very fast pace and at the same time to diversify in a number of areas. We are going into high-end IT jobs like criminal tracking system and city surveillance system. TCIL also plans to enter into the smart cities segment through use of ICT in all spheres and domains of the modern-day urban space.

For this financial year, we expect the company to cross the first barrier of stand-alone turnover of `1,000 crore.

IN PERSON

TCIL is going into high-end IT jobs like criminal tracking system and city surveillance system. The company also plans to enter the smart cities segment through use of ICT in all spheres and domains of the modern-day urban space What are your plans for expansion in the human resource department?

At present, I feel that there is need and scope for optimal utilisation of our workforce.

Although the turnover per person is approximately in the range of `1 crore per annum, I feel that we can improve upon that. We are not going to increase our human resources immediately. But, for projects which are manpower intensive, we will definitely hire people on short term basis. The organisation’s basic core manpower strength is not going to increase in the next three years unless the turnover goes to the next frame.

Where are your investment plans for the coming year?

Currently, one of the major challenges is financial constraints. We have paid a dividend of more than `178 crore to the government in the last 35 years. So, we aren’t left with any surplus money for further investment. But we are looking at consolidation. If we are able to consolidate our business, we will have a re-look at all the sectors. If one is able to do

that then maybe we re-deploy those financial resources into areas which would ensure longterm stability for the company.

What all CSR activities is your company involved in?

We have done plenty of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in the past. We have provided computers in the schools of Madhya Pradesh, thus helping students with their studies. Some of our major civil works are also going on in MP that include providing separate washrooms for girls. We also plan to provide some solar power units this year in rural areas of the state in order to meet the energy requirements in its schools and other places.

Can you highlight any two major achievements of TCIL? `542 crore Pan-African e-Network Project,

which covered 169 locations in Africa and about 19 locations in India, was a complex journey as it involved custom clearance, construction of buildings in a foreign country and coordinating with multiple agencies for establishing the network to run the services.

This project has been appreciated and won some awards including French honours. The project benefitted more than 12,500 kids in Africa as against its original target of 10,000 students.

The latest figures are expected to cross 13,000 students. This project would have come to an end, but seeing its success, the Government of India decided to extend it for another two years.

This project has gained reputation not only in Africa and India, but some other countries in the developing world are also looking at this project. We feel that this has become a model for the developing nations on how we can leverage technology for education and healthcare services. We completed this project ahead of schedule and also ran it successfully.

We have also been able to double our turnover over the years. This has been possible by virtue of the hard work put in by our people.

Our work in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait has helped TCIL increase its footprints in the Middle East.

Could you share the current and targeted turnover of the company?

As per the last financial year, the current turnover is `807 crore, and it is expected to cross `1,000 crore this year. We have been eyeing this benchmark since long.

What would be your vision regarding the Telecom and IT sector and for your organisation?

Telecom and IT sector has a very bright future in India. By the end of this year, India is expected to have a good 4G network. Keeping this in mind, Reliance Jio has already started working on it.

We have done a consultancy project for Sardar Sarovar Narmada Project in Gujarat where we had provided consultancy for gate automation, so that equal distribution of water takes place. We also opened Kisan (Farmer) Call Centre, the first such centre for the government, where all farmers can interact with experts via a toll-free number. This centre was introduced to address the needs of farming community by making use of increased tele-density and information technology. Another project is aimed to ensure the entry of quality medicines in the field of chemical fertilisers. Security too will now be dependent on ICT through the same technology. TCIL would be a part of all these developments and projects.

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IN PERSON

CIDCO Focuses

Transparency With big infrastructure projects coming up across Maharashtra, introducing transparency is crucial to become citizen-friendly as an organisation, observes Sanjay Bhatia, Chairman & Managing Director, CIDCO, in an interaction with Kartik Sharma of ENN

C

an you give us an overview of CIDCO?

The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited was incorporated on 17th March 1970 under the Indian Companies Act, 1956. In 1971, CIDCO was designated the New Town Development Authority for Navi Mumbai. For our new town projects, we have undertaken areas like Navi Mumbai, New Aurangabad, New Nashik, New

Nanded, Vasai-Virar sub-region, Waluj Mahanagar, Meghdoot-New Nagpur, Chikhaldara Hill Station, Latur Fringe Area, Oros Sindhudurg, Aurangabad Fringe Area, Khopta, Jalna New Town and NAINA (Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area).

CIDCO has been declared as a special planning authority in Maharashtra for developing new towns. The biggest new town that we have developed is Navi Mumbai, which at present has a population of 20 lakh, and today it is endowed with an entire gamut of infrastructure facilities.

Please highlight any two achievements of CIDCO under your leadership as the CMD. I joined CIDCO one-and-a-half years back, and one of the biggest achievements would be to undertake the proposed development of a new airport at Navi Mumbai called Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA). It would be one of the world’s largest ‘greenfield’ international airports, with world-class facilities for passengers, cargo, aircraft and airlines.

It is expected to absorb 10 million passengers annually in its first operational year in 2017 itself. This project had been languishing since 1997 and we were able to push it last year.

Secondly, we are working on lot of transparency issues through e-governance. Earlier, CIDCO was not a very citizen-friendly organisation, but now we are going for citizen-centric programmes. All the files for land allotment have been put on kiosks and our board resolutions and agenda notes are now available online. Thus, nobody needs to file an RTI now to get any facts from us.

Can you provide details on your smart city initiative?

Sanjay Bhatia, Chairman & Managing Director, CIDCO

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Under the smart city initiative, we have 14 new towns and out of them 10 are in advanced stages. There is another huge city coming up, which spans across 600 square kms. It’s called

IN PERSON

viding vocational employability programme to 8,000 village youths, between 18 and 35. To promote this programme, many education institutes and job agencies have also tied with CIDCO.

What are future plans for CIDCO? NAINA project is our biggest venture as of now. Airport project in Navi Mumbai is another and we think that we would be able to finalise our partner by coming March-April.

There is another project connecting Mumbai to Navi Mumbai, a sea link, a length of about 20 kms. We are also working on a project jointly with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for an EPC project so that this sea link can take place when the airport work is happening. If by 2019, the airport works get ready, by 2020, the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) will probably take place. We are also developing number of new metro links in Navi Mumbai.

NAINA and it would be a smart city from the very start of its development.

At all our locations we are going in for smart city initiatives. We started with Geographic Information System (GIS) of land records as there was no mapping. When we acquired the land, nothing was regulated. We are relating everything through the GIS mapping so that there is a complete record of every property.

Second thing we are focussing on is implementing CCTV surveillance system within the city of Navi Mumbai to help police maintain law and order, attain faster turnaround time for crime resolution and investigation, and improve traffic management.

What are your expectations from the government when it comes to policies that would provide ease of operation?

The new land acquisition act has come, but in NAINA project we are not undertaking land acquisition because we are going for a joint venture. But if we do not get partner for joint venture we will opt for land acquisition. If the current land acquisition act is simplified, then it would bring speed to the process.

Are there any specific CSR initiatives of CIDCO? Our activities under the Corporate Social Respon-

sibility initiative was the reason we got the airport project rolling. When the land was acquired from the project-affected people, it became our duty to fulfil our responsibilities towards them. So, we started the GIA programme. We are constructing basic infrastructure like roads, primary health centres, schools, water, sanitation and other basic amenities in every village. This is how project affected persons got convinced. Shortly after I joined, we invested `200 crore for CSR and development in their areas.

We have also taken up another programme called Employability Programme. We are pro-

We are focussing on implementing CCTV surveillance system to help Navi Mumbai Police to maintain law and order, attain faster turnaround time for crime resolution and investigation and improve traffic management

What is the current turnover of your company and how much are you looking forward to?

We can do as much sales as we want, but it depends upon our expenditure requirements.

Last year our expenditure was Rs. 1,200-1,300 crore, but now it is increasing with airport and metro projects. In the next 2-3 years we will be able to reach Rs. 5,000 crore in revenues also.

We are also targeting economically weaker sections (EWS) and Low Income group (LIG) housing. We started EWS and LIG housing scheme, and during the inaugural ceremony, within the first hour 7,000 booklets were sold for 3,000 houses. This clearly shows that there is tremendous need for such houses. So, we have decided that every year, we will be constructing 10,000 houses for EWS and LIG housing plans.

How was your experience at the Lonavala Knowledge Exchange?

I attended the first session and it was very interesting as I came to know about certain new things. Shikhar Pradeshi told us about the grievance redressal system called ‘Saarthi’. I am going to pick that initiative and apply in CIDCO directly. So, with the help of this initiative I am already in talks with Shikhar to bring in his initiative to my organisation. Besides, CIDCO is partnering with ICICI for e-payment system.

So, I would like to thank Elets for organising this forum where enterprises can meet and discuss not only issues but also potential solutions.

September 2014 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

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IN PERSON

Building Future, Conserving Past Bihar State Building Construction Corporation Limited is shifting from e-governance to m-governance step by step, says Managing Director, Ganga Kumar in conversation with Souvik Goswami of Elets News Network (ENN)

G

ive us on overview of the Bihar State Building Construction Corporation Limited (BSBCCL).

The mandate of the Bihar State Building Construction Corporation Limited (BSBCCL) is to administer the government buildings and to make new government buildings. Mostly, we look after constructions, repair, maintenance, beautification and any kind of new technological advancements that can be employed for government buildings. We also do it for the private sector. But our primary mandate is to look after the government buildings. Apart from construction, renovation, upgradation and maintenance of residential and non-residential government buildings, planning and design of building network to provide optimised connectivity to residential and non-residential government buildings of various departments are also some of the important activities of BSBCCL.

What kind of ICT programmes are being undertaken in BSBCCL? In ICT, there are various components, like e-governance, e-health, etc. But we are mainly focussing on components of e-governance. Latest architectural advancements like AutoCAD and several other technological advancements for better delivery of services are being used by us.

Project Management Information System, with

Ganga Kumar, Managing Director, Bihar State Building Construction Corporation Limited

ICT brings in transparency and accountability.

For example, in e-procurement system, everything remains same...the only change is that the process has to go through e-mode

the help of mobile and tablet-based applications, government finance and accounting system, e-procurement, etc are the focal areas for us when we talk about ICT initiatives in the Corporation.

It is often said that the use of ICT brings in transparency and accountability in the system.

What is your take on that?

Without any doubt I can say that ICT brings in transparency and accountability. Let’s take the example of e-procurement. Procurement system remains the same...the only change that comes in is that the entire process has to go through e-mode. It has brought transparency and accountability in the entire procurement system. Same is with project management information system. These simply ensure that activities are on time and projects are moving as per the guidelines.

But experience shows that the moment steps are initiated to bring in accountability and transparency in the system, there is resistance from the system. What do you think are the challenges ICT implementation?

When we talk about ICT, we actually talk of information being sent by one person to another, and that is done through a medium.

Problem is that this process actually causes problems to the various sections, who are ineligible or inefficient. If we take the instance of building construction segment, I can tell you that there also must be some people, who do not want transparency. But, at the end of the day, the government is all powerful and if it decides to do something, it gets it done. No one can stop it. We can see it happening even in the state of Bihar.

What is your vision for eGovernance in India?

I think humanity and ICT should move together. We should behave like leaders and try to create milestones. On the other hand, I think transition from e-governance to m-governance has to happen and that should be the ultimate vision. In Bihar, we look forward to step-bystep growth — first e-governance, then shift to m-governance.

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IN PERSON

Vigilance Integration

Picks Up at MCL

With an apparent shift in the approach of various managements, their vigilance wings are being integrated into the mainstream activities, feels Deepak Shrivastava, Chief Vigilance Officer, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited. An interaction with Nayana Singh & Kartik Sharma of ENN

T

ell us about the mandate of your work as the CVO of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL).

When we talk about coal sector, two things instantly come in mind – one is theft and another is mafia. As Chief Vigilance Officer of a coal company, it becomes mandatory for anybody working as CVO to think of ways and means of improving transparency in the field of operations to avoid any malpractices. I believe a CVO is expected to have a focussed intervention to curb the malpractices to ensure smooth functioning in the management.

Can you brief us about the latest IT tools in use at MCL and other tools you intend to introduce?

CVOs do not actually head IT activities, but they follow it. They do constant follow-ups and monitoring of all the IT initiatives taking place in the company for the betterment of operational efficiency. In MCL, it is being done by the

systems department and by the management, since those IT initiatives are likely to reduce corruption. That is why, a CVO has to play an important role there.

Several key initiatives like introduction of in-motion roadway bridges with RFID tag, auto refund of EMDs and geo-fencing of the mine area are some of the key initiatives which

In any organisation, CVO has to face a management that is antivigilance. How do you strike a balance?

There is always a perception disconnect between the management and the vigilance.

People think vigilance is anti-management, and thus, sometimes CVOs are treated as villains.

But things are changing as both the Central Vigilance Commission and the Union Ministry of Coal have been emphasising on how vigilance acts as a management tool and vigilance activities are required to be integrated with the management’s goals. Somehow, with the IT intervention taking place in the Coal India Ltd and its subsidiaries, it has made people realise that vigilance is not anti-management. Thus, perception is changing now, as there have been some welcome changes on the part of the management to get the vigilance integrated into its mainstream activity.

A CVO is also concerned with the IT operations of an organisation.

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Deepak Shrivastava, Chief Vigilance Officer, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited

IN PERSON

are taking place in Coal India and its subsidiaries in order to improve not only the operational efficiency, but also transparency and accountability on the part of the officials.

Please brief us about the CSR activities undertaken by MCL. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is totally management-related activity. But as the CVO, I am informed that a sizable amount of funding, that is `100 crore, has been contributed towards CSR activities. This funding is utilised to improve education, empowerment, promotion of sports, healthcare, sanitation, drinking water and other important segments.

As a CVO, I have the responsibility of not only keeping track of the funds that we utilise for a particular organisation but also make sure that those utilisation certificates should be there with the funding organisation, so that we are 100 percent sure that funds are being utilised for a specified purpose. For promoting corporate social responsibility, it is mandatory for big organisations like MCL to make available necessary funds for social sector programmes, but at the same time, we also need to make sure that funds have been utilised for the right purpose.

For promoting corporate social responsibility, it is mandatory for big organisations like MCL to make available necessary funds for the social sector programmes; but at the same time, we also need to make sure that funds are being utilised for the right purpose What is the reason for your success and how you address the mindset that has already built up?

After being in bureaucracy in public life for 18 years and working outside your home state to with different cadres, you develop a kind of perception that you cannot be treated as an outsider anywhere. Thus, it becomes important to ensure that people are integrated into your scheme of things. The main mantra behind is that whoever comes to you, you should listen, try to sort out the problem, share your views with the management and be open minded.

This kind of behaviour on your part changes people’s perception towards you. I believe that as a CVO, one should try to help as many employees as possible, so that they refrain from going in the wrong direction. This can be done by sensitising and educating them on important issues. Vigilance should also be the best friend of the management.

What have been you key achievements?

My key achievement would be how I changed the perception of the management regarding a CVO. CVO is not an outsider and he too can think of the betterment of the company.

Key initiatives have been implemented in all the system-driven technology like introduction of in-motion roadway bridges with RFID tag, geo-fencing of the mine areas, vehicle tracking machine in providing drink-

ing water to the peripheral villagers, redressal of the grievances of public on an expeditious basis and system-driven refund of EMDs, which has resulted into drastic reduction in the corruption-related complaints in refund of EMDs. This has boosted the morale of contractors and improved their participation in e-procurement.

At the end of the day I feel satisfied because when I joined MCL, there were certain apprehensions in my mind. But after working for three years, I realised that if you work with a positive frame of mind, then things will change.

MCL has come to that phase where there will be more e-initiatives and IT implementation for the better of the company.

How was your experience at the Lonavla Knowledge Exchange?

I must congratulate the Government of Maharashtra, e-Gov team and all the media partners for giving me a wonderful opportunity to realise various e-initiatives that others have implemented in their organisation. This is the best knowledge-sharing platform where people across all the segments are participating. Many positives can be taken out of issues like financial inclusion, economic empowerment, IT intervention, healthcare. IT is a common thing which can be implemented anywhere. I have learnt a lot by attending this conference and I will disseminate the information for the betterment of my company.

September 2014 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

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IN PERSON

W

hat are the aspects that Mahagenco is covering with respect to IT implementation?

Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Ltd or MahaGenco is the second-largest electricity generation company across India after NTPC. Moreover, the company has the highest overall generation capacity and the highest thermal installed capacity in India.

Mahagenco is the only state utility with wellbalanced generation portfolio involving thermal, hydel and gas stations.

Keeping up with the performance is not an easy task and thus after carefully analysing the challenges, we have decided to go for IT implementation.

Mahagenco has established centralised generation control room at corporate office for monitoring online real-time parameters for economical load dispatch. There are around 144 parameters which we are sharing online.

It assists in monitoring the performance of the company. We have centralised generation room where we can monitor all these parameters on a regular basis.

We have also adopted SAP-ERP for smooth functioning of our system, which makes Mahagenco the first public sector undertaking (PSU) in the country to undertake SAP implementation. It took us about 18 months to implement around 11 models of SAP for 1,800 users and across 34 locations of Mahagenco. Through the implementation of SAP, we managed to synchronise our human resources, finance, procurement, land maintenance and operations.

We have integrated all the solutions of SAP. Thus, SAP implementation is one big project that we are undertaking.

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Nitin Chandurkar, Chief General Manager - IT, MahaGenco

IT Tools as Performance Monitor A huge organisation like Mahagenco, with the highest overall electricity generation capacity, has to constantly fall back on IT to keep up its performance, observes Nitin Chandurkar, Chief General Manager - IT, MahaGenco, in an interaction with Kartik Sharma of ENN

How was your experience of the Lonavala Knowledge Exchange forum?

The event was a big success and I congratulate Elets on organising this forum. Personally, I feel there could be more additions, so that we can become aware of the challenges faced by the different public sectors.

During the event, everybody discussed about the technology aspect of operations. But if you could also include sessions where we can focus on not only technology but also how that technology can assist in overcoming certain issues, so that public sector can address other important things. Still, this forum really helped me in knowing the importance of networking and cloud industry.

IN PERSON

B

rief us on the operations of IL? How has the journey been so far?

Instrumentation Limited (IL), Kota is a PSU set up in 1964 under the Department of Heavy Industries, with the prime objective of attaining self-reliance in the field of Control and Automation Instrumentation for the process industry. IL has its headquarters and plant in Kota, Rajasthan for electronic and other product lines and another manufacturing plant at Palakkad (Kerala) for control valves and related products.

Starting with Russian technologies, over the years, IL has kept up with technology changes in the commercial and industrial field by having technical collaborations with world leaders and enjoyed the position of being one of the leaders with world class technical know-how. During the 1990s, with the opening up of the economy, IL faced stiff competition from private and multinational companies and was unable to keep up the pace with the times and hence started incurring losses. With its negative net-worth, IL was referred to the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) and declared sick in 1994. A Modified Revival Scheme (MRS) was approved and sanctioned by BIFR in Mar 2010.

The most critical MRS clause on which the complete revival package hinges was the disposal of surplus assets at Jaipur. This had been inordinately delayed due to various reasons. Even though more than three years had passed, no real progress was seen on this front as a concentrated effort needed to pursue this matter with the Government of Rajasthan was missing. The non-availability of funds resulted in severe cash flow problems for the company.

As the new CMD, what are the challenges you are facing?

When I joined IL as the CMD, it was in the worst

Teamwork Does Wonders for IL When Instrumentation Limited had reached the brink of collapse, through his hard work, determination and teamwork, its new Chairman & Managing Director M P Eshwar put IL back on its feet. An interaction with Nayana Singh of Elets News Network (ENN)

M P Eshwar, Chairman & Managing Director state any organisation could be. The company had descended to doom as the main strength of IL – its human resource – had no specific HR division and as such no HR culture, only the routine administration and personnel division.

As an exponent of global HR practices and an ‘executive coach’, I knew well that ‘people’ are ‘the key’ to any successful business. And so, I took on the mantle of HR upon myself and my first focus became to arrest the decline, of both — corporate as well as people.

I started the process of reversal by changing the momentum and empowering people anew, replacing secrecy and denial with dialogue, blame and scorn with respect, avoidance and

turf protection with collaboration, and passivity and helplessness with initiative.

This team structure suited IL, a multi-product, multi-services organisation with various units which are away from each other not only geographically but also in product ranges, services and functioning needs.

IL organised a ‘Vision and Strategy Workshop’ for the top management. The workshop enabled the top management to collectively chalk out ‘IL Vision 2016’, co-creating IL’s goal by year 2016 and to draw collective action plan for realising the same.

I incorporated the concept of team learning in the organisation. Team learning is different from team building and that is continuously happening in IL. It is evidenced by the fact of continuous positive outlook of all employees/ teams and results despite many challenges.

When team members learn from each other, fast-paced results are achieved.

What have been your key achievements so far?

IL has successfully been able to synergise different capabilities and competencies of the employees in effective team work, which has produced much better and faster enhancement in performance in span of only one year.

The performance of 2013-14 is evidence of the positive results, with order bookings increasing by 61 percent and turnover contained at the same level despite very critical fund shortages.

With sustained and effective ‘teamwork’, the positive change in work culture will become even more evident. Prospects of FY 2014-15 are looking very bright. Q1 has shown encouraging results with an order booking of Rs 45 crore. Our clients especially in the steel and thermal sectors have returned, reposing faith in IL’s capabilities by giving prestigious orders.

September 2014 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

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IN PERSON

‘We Save Land for Landscapes’ Utilising emerging technologies for the overall management of forestry to bring about transparency and better governance to the system is crucial, tells A K Nigam, Managing Director, Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited in an interview with Kartik Sharma of ENN

W

hat are the overall aspects of FDCM?

The Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited is primarily into production forestry, plantation and a lot of other activities. The Corporation was born way back in 1969 as the Forest Development Board, then registered under the Companies Act, 1956. After 5 years in 1974, it became a public undertaking.

It was set up in line with the recommendations of the National Commission on Agriculture to raise manmade forests. It works towards saving land for the Forest Department for plantation purposes. The Corporation controls 6 percent of the land area, which works out to about 3.5 lakh hectares. We have the experience of raising plantation in these past years to the extent of 5.25 lakh hectares, which is an achievement in itself.

Primarily, we are into teak forestry because teak is the predominant and natural species in most parts of Maharashtra. We can also call it ‘green gold’ as it is an ideal timber species.

However, in addition to that we have also raised lots of miscellaneous crops. We have undertaken lot of turnkey projects for other agencies like Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), defence, film cities, etc. In addition to all that, we are also involved with plant conservation and wildlife management; we are developing a project Gorewada International Zoo and Rescue Centre in Nagpur.

For the last three years, we have also been undertaking eco-tourism activity, through which we try to provide a wide variety of experience-based informal learning oppor-

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A K Nigam, Managing Director, Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited tunities about nature that result in increased awareness, enhanced knowledge and positive action by people for nature.

How was your experience at the Lonavla Knowledge Exchange conference?

It was a good learning process for me because when you deal with people, forests and wildlife, then the issues are slightly different. How you apply the emerging technologies for the overall management of this system to bring transparency, better governance to the system is more important. From this point of view, it was a very good experience.

Our organisation is working to bring all this to our company as well and by attending this event I see lot of opportunities for every sector

to find solutions for their respective problems.

By attending this event, policy makers have also become aware of the certain changes that they can bring in so that companies can bring about operational efficiency.

Our honorable prime minister has given the slogan of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’. So, with fewer people in the organization, how to deliver the goods and services in an efficient and transparent manner is the real challenge.

Any feedback regarding this event?

Elets is doing an amazing job and you should continue with that. Interact with more and more government agencies, which will benefit both parties.

news

Movements Shakuntla Jakhu is new Chief Secretary, Haryana Shakuntla Jakhu has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Haryana. Jakhu, a 1978 batch IAS officer, was earlier serving as Additional Chief Secretary and Financial Commissioner, Revenue and Disaster Management and Consolidation Departments.

Gokul Chandra Pati appointed Chief Secretary of Odisha Gokul Chandra Pati, a 1978 batch IAS officer, has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Odisha. Pati, currently holding the position of Union Secretary, Defence Production, is set to retire from service in November 2015. He is likely to take over as the new Chief Secretary of the State on August 1.

Parthasarthi Sen Sharma appointed Secretary to UP CM Parthasarthi Sen Sharma, 1994 batch IAS officer, has been appointed as Secretary to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Sharma was on study leave and had recently reported for duty.

Ahmad Nadeem to be new TRANSCO CMD Ahmad Nadeem has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director, Telangana TRANSCO. Nadeem, the 1997 batch IAS officer, will have the full additional charge of TRANSCO CMD. Presently he is serving as the Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise.

Vinod Agrawal appointed Adviser, Inter State Council Secretariat Vinod Agrawal has been appointed as Adviser, Inter State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs in the rank of Secretary. Agrawal is a 1980 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre.

Ajay Bisaria appointed Ambassador, Republic of Poland Ajay Bisaria, who is currently serving as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Poland. Bisaria is a 1987 batch officer of Indian Foreign Service.

Syed A M Rizvi appointed Director, Cabinet Secretariat Syed Ali Murtaza Rizvi, 1999 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, has been

appointed as Director in Cabinet Secretariat.

Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma relieved Mr. Rizvi of his present responsibilities with immediate effect in the State cadre to enable him to take up his new assignment. Rizvi is directed to hand over the charge of the post of CMD of Telangana Transco to Ahmad Nadeem, Commissioner of Prohibition & Excise, who is full additional charge, until further orders.

Dr Arvind Gupta appointed Deputy NSA Dr Arvind Gupta, who is presently Director General in the Institute of Defence Studies & Analyses (IDSA), has been appointed Deputy National Security Adviser in place of former police officer Nehchal Sandhu, who had resigned last week. Gupta, a 1979 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, will also be secretary, National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).

Sanjay Kothari takes over as DoPT Secretary Sanjay Kothari, senior IAS officer, took over as Secretary of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). 58-year-old Kothari, a 1978-batch IAS officer from Haryana cadre, was serving as Secretary of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, and Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare. He has taken over the charge from S K Sarkar, who has retired.

Rajni Razdan appointed UPSC Chairperson Rajni Razdan will take over as Chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on August 17. Ms Razdan, Haryana cadre 1973 batch retired IAS officer, would succeed D P Agrawal.

Navtej Singh Sarna appointed Secretary (West), MEA Senior Diplomat Navtej Singh Sarna has been appointed as Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs. Sarna, a 1980 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, is working as Special Secretary in the ministry and will succeed Dinkar Khullar.

S K Sharma joins as Member of UN Board of Auditors Shashi Kant Sharma, Comptroller & Auditor General of India, has assumed the office as Member of the United Nations Board of Auditors for a six year term till June 2020. He took over the charge from Liu Jiayi, the Auditor General of the People’s Republic of China at the United Nations Headquarters at New York.

Sharma is a 1976 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre.

September 2014 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

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new initiatives

All plans look great and initiatives undertaken up to the mark, but without connectivity, financial inclusion is like a superbly designed car without a road to run on, writes Sahaj Palla of Elets News Network (ENN)

Technology to Push

Financial Inclusion

F

inancial inclusion in India has been both a success and a failure — successful because it has reached those who suffered endlessly for the basic need of banks, and a failure because there are millions who still do not have access to financial services.

But as times are changing, so is the scenario.

The advent of information technology is bringing about a revolution in the way banking services are offered in far-flung areas. And, the trend is set to continue, more so because the incumbent Narendra Modi-led NDA Government is laying more emphasis on financial inclusion than ever in the past. In his maiden Independence Day speech, the Prime Minister announced financial inclusion schemes, under

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which bank accounts would be provided to 15 crore poor with an overdraft facility of `5,000 and accidental insurance cover of `1 lakh each.

The project is slated to kick off by the end of this month.

Some of the major efforts towards financial inclusion made in the past include nationalisation of banks, building up of robust branch network of scheduled commercial banks, cooperatives and Regional Rural Banks, formation of Self-Help Groups, permitting Banking Correspondents/business facilitators to be appointed by banks to provide doorstep delivery of banking services etc. The fundamental objective of all these initiatives is to reach the hitherto financially-excluded Indian population.

Aadhaar, an initiative of the previous government to link beneficiaries directly with the banks to provide them the government benefits, is one major step in the direction, and the new government is continuing with the plan. The

Reserve Bank of India plans Aadhaar-linked bank accounts for all Indians above 18 years

by January 2016 to meet its financial inclusion commitment. This will help transform the lives of the poor by saving them from falling prey to unscrupulous money-lenders, getting them the benefits of cashless transactions, and eliminating poverty and corruption in the long run.

The rural ‘disconnect’ Ensuring financial inclusion would be a tough task, given the hurdles of connectivity.

However, the government has come up with a project called the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) to provide connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats in the country. And, if and only if all these villages were reached and ensured financial inclusion, then only the bridging of the banking divide would happen.

All plans look great and the initiatives undertaken up to the mark, but without con-

new initiatives

nectivity, financial inclusion is like a superbly designed car without a road to run on.

The scale of the problem of financial exclusion can be daunting. Nearly half of the population and a majority of rural people do not have bank accounts, while less than 10 percent of India’s 600,000 villages have a bank branch.

Also, financial literacy levels are extremely low.

Even though microfinance institutions have expanded very fast in the recent past, they still cover only about a fifth of the low-income households and meet only one 10th of the credit needs of the poor.

While the challenges are great in size and scope, IT has contributed immensely to enhance the availability of banking and financial services to a wider population base in the country. Mobile phones have emerged as one such prospective mode of initiating financial inclusion. Technology has the potential of furthering financial inclusion by making retail transactions cheaper, easier and faster for the banking sector as well as for the small customers.

Moreover, with an unprecedented rise in cell phone penetration rate in India, mobile phones can, perhaps, be the answer to financial inclusion. Mobile banking has the potential to emerge as a game changer in terms of cost, convenience, and speed of reach. Keeping this in mind, banks, telecom operators and other stakeholders are increasingly incorporating the dynamics of mobile banking in their business models.

However, merely having a plan and infrastructure for financial inclusion is not the end of the task, as the delivery of that commitment is necessary, so as to reach financial services in every nook and corner of the country.

Role of institutions Financial institutions are the delivery agencies that reach financial services to the people at the grassroots level. Regulated by the government, those are responsible for facilitating the flow of money through the economy. The major financial institutions engaged in providing financial inclusion are: (i) Commercial banks are an institution that play an important role in mobilisation and allocation of resources in any country. Unlike the informal sector, which gives loans at very high rates of interest, the commercial banks offer the same credit at much lower rates. (ii) Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) that were created with a view to serve primarily the rural areas with basic banking and financial

services, and to accomplish this, they have local level banking organisations operating in different states of India. (iii) Self Help Groups (SHGs), a non-institutional channel of microfinance, are voluntarily formed cohesive groups. The group members use collective wisdom and peer pressure to ensure proper end-use of credit and timely repayment thereof. (iv) Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) facilitate/ provide provision of credit, other financial services and products of very small amount to the poor. MFIs operate in a limited geographical area and have better understanding of the issues specific to the people.

These institutions play a key role in ensuring financial inclusion as most of the banks do not have the network to ensure comprehensive financial inclusion. The Government of India, Reserve bank of India and NABARD have developed various schemes which enable the MFIs to access commercial and other funds from banks to provide financial services at an affordable cost to the poor.

What will it take?

So, going by the need of the time, it is imperative for the financial institutions to have a multichannel approach — through handheld devices, mobiles, micro-ATMs, branches and kiosks.

However, it should be ensured that the transactions put through such front-end devices should be seamlessly integrated with the core banking solutions (CBS) of the banks. Besides, steps need to be taken up to educate the masses about the benefits of availing banking services to make financial inclusion all-pervasive.

September 2014 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

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one on one

Incredible

benefits

of Credit Information

I

Harshala Chandorkar, Senior Vice President, Consumer Relations, Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd, outlines the evolution, penetration level and benefits of having credit information, which paves the way for lenders confidently approving a loan or credit card to a borrower

n India, the need for a credit bureau was felt first in 1997, when there was a South Asian financial crisis. Then banks were flushed with liquidity and traditionally financial institutions lent to corporates enabling them to extend credit.

At that time, individuals could not just walk into a bank and seek loans as they were unsure if banks would provide loans to those individuals, unless they were proved to be credible.

This period saw a drop in corporate lending as capital was available to big houses at cheaper rates outside the country. Banks, thus, realised that it was necessary to have retail lending which would act as the growth engine of the economy in the way forward.

It was then that the leading financial institutions, under the guidance of the RBI, decided to establish a credit bureau, and based on the recommendations of the N H Siddiqui Committee

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Harshala Chandorkar, Senior VP, Consumer Relations, CIBIL

one on one

established India’s first Credit Information Company (CIC) - Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd or CIBIL - in 2001. CIBIL started operations and launched its Consumer Bureau in 2004 with 4 million records and 13 members.

Over the years, CIBIL has scaled milestones of growth and strengthened its membership base, database and solution offerings, and is today the preferred risk management partner of the credit industry in India. CIBIL has also gradually expanded its solution offerings and today provides multiple products across the credit lifecycle like credit scores, portfolio analysis, fraud detection and collection.

Credit information services Use of credit information for lending has contributed to drive credit growth and penetration. Today a lender can confidently approve a loan or credit card to a borrower within few minutes.

A consumer can apply for a credit card online, or consumer durable loan at a store, and a lender can do a fair and objective on-thespot evaluation of the borrower and provide an in-principal approval. This is a win-win situation for both lenders and borrowers.

Lenders benefit from increased volumes, higher efficiencies and lower costs of acquisition while minimising risk of default.

There are some tell-tale and compulsive proofs that indicate how bureau usage has contributed to credit growth while controlling asset quality and reducing NPAs. Growth of credit over the past three years has been across all product types. The index has recorded 37 percent CAGR growth since 2006.

With availability of timely and reliable credit information on the borrower, banks today are more confident to lend and this in turn increases credit growth. There has been a yearon-year increase in the usage of CIBL reports across private and public sector banks for consumers and commercial lending.

In addition, the growth of credit over the past three years has been across all product types. In 2006-2007, unsecured loans dominated the market and the 2010-12 period saw secured loans playing a superior role. However, with the availability of timely credit information, the loan lending volumes are again picking up, and we have seen an increase in credit cards and personal loan bookings in the recent past.

Moreover, an increase is also seen in the geographical dispersion and penetration of credit through the usage of credit information, wherein the regional credit penetration has been on an ascending scale since 2008.

While 2008 shows credit lending focussed in metro cities such as Mumbai, Delhi etc, the situation in 2013 also saw credit penetration in tier-II cities due to the market driver sourcing strategies and leading to a significant shift from credit cards to two-wheeler and auto loans.

Benefits of credit information Credit information availability facilitates efficient credit distribution by creating a sound lending environment by helping credit institutions in containing NPAs and improving asset quality. Over the years, banks and lending institutions that are members of CIBIL have significantly benefitted from the use of credit information.

The major benefits gained by lending institutions are objective and informed credit decisions, speedy loan process ensuring efficiency and low operational costs, improvement in credit portfolios of lending institutions and reduction in NPAs. In addition, the usage of the credit information for lending has also created direct benefits for the consumers, particularly in gaining speedy access to credit and availability of affordable credit at better terms.

Credit penetration is achieved by significantly identifying ‘good borrowers’ with lowrisk credit, which otherwise would have been misidentified as ‘bad borrowers’ or high-risk credit and, therefore, would have been denied

credit. At the same time, bad borrowers now have credits denied to them or are no longer subsidised by lower-risk individuals. In short, with credit information, lending has increased, leading to greater economic growth, rising productivity and in turn greater financial inclusion.

Need for better credit awareness Consumer awareness and education on credit discipline and history is the foremost challenge not only for credit penetration but also for driving holistic financial inclusion. It is imperative for consumers to understand the impact of their credit behaviour on their financial health and also the benefits associated with a good credit history.

CIBIL is working on several consumer education programmes to drive awareness on credit among consumers. The second challenge for driving financial inclusion through credit information is the quality of data submitted in the bureaus’ database. CIBIL is working closely with its member banks on data quality improvement initiatives. Also, the silver lining is that today an increasing number of co-operative banks and credit institutions are taking bureau membership.

As these banks start contributing information to the database and increase usage of credit information across their lending decisions, the depth of data will increase. We are confident that this will have a significant macro impact on improvement in asset quality and credit penetration and eventually help drive financial inclusion.

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one one on on one one

NSE Treads the IT Path Talking about the potential of technology and techno-enabled services in the finance sector, Umesh Jain, Chief Technology Officer, National Stock Exchange of India Ltd, shares his thoughts over mobile money, internet trading and security concerns in online trading in an interaction with Veena Kurup of ENN

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one on one

T

echnology has been accelerating the operational pace of country’s financial sector. Being a vital organisation in the sector, how does the National Stock Exchange of India exploit the potential of IT?

Technology has been the prime driver of the finance sector around the world and is a key enabler when it comes to economic development of India. In the field of governance, technology has played a significant role in bringing about transparency and accountability. It has made similar contributions in the fields of finance, education and health. Specifically speaking from economic and financial perspective, by cutting out the middlemen, schemes like direct benefits transfer (DBT) will help in uplifting the poor and increase efficiency and returns on spending. The ability to replace cash with mobile money ensures that cash is eliminated and brings the ‘undisclosed’ money back into the system. Moreover, bringing the economically weaker sections into the mainstream financial system will ultimately induce savings and encourage investments.

Technology has also played a great role in the evolution of stock exchange business. Today, people can access, trade and invest much more easily than before. In addition, the securities market today enjoys an extended reach and serves investors significantly. In India, the National Stock Exchange has been the harbinger of technology in the securities market, with investors as the ultimate focus. In the last two decades of National Stock Exchange’s existence, technology has contributed to the development of securities market much faster than what it had done in the preceding decades. The National Stock Exchange has used technology effectively to expand reach, provide access in remote areas and bring down the costs of trading.

Brief us about the IT-enabled financial initiatives undertaken by the National Stock Exchange in escalating the operational presence?

In the age of satellites, networks, mobile telephony and the Internet, distances have become irrelevant and transactions instanta-

neous. At the same time, the need for secure, reliable and continuously updated databases has become an absolute necessity. The technologies employed by the National Stock Exchange, such as screen-based trading systems (SBTS), V-sat, leased line connectivity and dematerialisation of shares has increased transparency and helped members across the country trade in real time. Today, the National Stock Exchange has millions of users – members, financial institutions and investors – spread all across the country. Towns with a population of over 10,000 have at least one National Stock Exchange trading terminal for doing business, which was unthinkable 20 years ago. Currently, more than 3,000 towns

investors. While the volume of internet traders has been increasing gradually but consistently, mobile trading has also seen a significant jump, recording more than 100 percent rise last year.

But there is tremendous scope for this service to grow, as the number of subscribers of mobile trading is very high. At present, many investors are trading through mobiles using the applications provided by the National Stock Exchange.

We are also providing applications to facilitate mobile trading in even basic phones with GPRS connections.

Cyber crimes are on the rise these days. How well equipped is the National Stock Exchange to tackle such hurdles?

The challenge with cyber security is that the landscape for such cyber threats is changing dynamically. Hence, from that perspective, it is important to have flawless policy procedures, rigorous training of people and ensuring a prime position in a dynamic landscape.

We have made significant investments for

Internet trading has helped eliminate manual order inputs by members or brokers and enabled straight processing of orders, which has significantly helped in provide more transparency to retail investors are seamlessly connected. Even a remote small town like Lumding in Assam today boasts of a National Stock Exchange member, who trades regularly. SBTS together with V-sat technology has raised tremendous transparency in the system, minimised errors in the execution of trade and reduced transaction costs for brokers, thereby benefiting the customers.

How has been the contribution of Information Technology towards the equities and capital market?

Internet-based trading has helped eliminate manual order inputs by members or brokers and enabled straight processing of orders. I believe that this has significantly helped in providing more transparency for the retail investors. Due to its ease of access, it has also facilitated wider participation from small

creating an independent IT risk-fighting team, which is equipped with latest and the best in class tooling facilities. Governance mechanisms like the Information Security Forum are dealt with highest leadership levels to ensure top priority.

Are more such technologyenabled initiatives streamlined for the near future?

The National Stock Exchange has back-to-back projects to keep pace with the latest international developments. We are bringing in cutting-edge technologies to expand our investor base, provide an eco-system, which can take orders up to 2 billion messages a day and is scalable in a short span of time. From our side, investor protection is always ensured and upheld while implementing any such initiative.

September 2014 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

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one on one

Mahindra Finance

Financial Inclusion with a Difference Upholding the need for grassroot-level connectivity, Mahindra Finance is focussed to mark its presence at the village level, says Ramesh G Iyer, Managing Director & CEO – Financial Services Sector & Member of Group Executive Board, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd, in an interaction with Veena Kurup of ENN

F

Do you believe that effective utilisation of technologies like mobile phones can be useful in establishing effective connectivity?

inancial inclusion has opened new avenues for banking and finance sector, particularly NBFCs, to expand their reach to the unbanked population. How do you view the scenario and do you suggest any changes in the banking approach?

I feel the entire approach towards financial inclusion needs a change. The shift in the approach is suggested, as people still look upon financial inclusion as a regulatory requirement rather than prospective business opportunity. Mahindra Finance realised the need for this change when we ventured into rural India by financing vehicles like tractors to marginal farmers. The entire business model in terms of delivery, channel developments, service standards and product designs need a considerable change. According to me, the focus needs to be on the customer’s capability rather than the financier’s. The banking system today is based on the regulatory framework models and not dependent on the consumer requirements.

What is the approach practised at Mahindra Finance?

Our approach has always been to establish close relationship with our customers. We primarily focus on initiating branches at the district level.

Currently, we have further deep-rooted our approach by opening branches at the village level. If you want to understand the customer

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and their requirements then you need to make your services available within their vicinity.

In addition, we recruit employees for such branches from similar localities. This enables the staff to understand the customer, his language of communication, respective demands and address the concerns better. Such staff help the banks or financial institutions in gaining a crystal clear image of the customer’s prevailing situation and challenges. We at Mahindra Finance always uphold this policy and will further enhance it by expanding our presence through village level branch networks, connectivity within the pockets and by recruiting and training local people to deliver our products and services to the customers.

Ramesh G Iyer, MD & CEO – Financial Services Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd

The entire approach towards financial inclusion needs a change, as people still look upon financial inclusion as a regulatory requirement rather than prospective business opportunity

Definitely, technology plays a very crucial role in better service delivery and in expanding the reach to customers located in unbanked regions. Mahindra Finance is one of the leading NBFCs and we have our own people on the street. We never adopt or follow an intermediary approach. We will definitely utilise and implement technologies which can further benefit our operational process. However, I see a need to train the staff who function at such the grassroot level with our customers and deliver such services. A partnership approach is needed rather than a regulatory one while exploring the apt potential of such services.

Moreover, while offering such technologyenabled services, the bankers or financiers need to primarily focus upon the products put forth for such customers and on the ability to win customer confidence. You need to ensure that you are looking forward to a long-term presence in the region. Trust building is a vital aspect for the success of such initiatives.

How do you look upon the opportunities from Retail and SME segments in India?

Both retail and SME segments enjoy robust potentials in India. However, a clear gap exists in the demand and availability of the credit resources. Opportunity is not a concern, but the product designs to suit customer’s cash potentials and choice are a prime factor that need more focus.

banker’s corner

Financial Inclusion Vital for Emerging

Economies

Financial inclusion is a practice that enables us to expand the reach of financial services to unbanked areas, observes Rajeev Rishi, Chairman & Managing Director, Central Bank of India, in an interview with Veena Kurup of ENN

B

rief us on the shift in the approach towards your investments in Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).

The Central Bank of India had to invest in RIDF as we were not able to complete our allotment towards the agricultural and priority sector. However, as soon as we achieve 40 percent of our Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC), there would not be any requirement to further make investments in RIDF. We are quite optimistic of achieving 40 percent of ANBC this financial year as this will open new avenues and enable more savings from the investments into other arenas, which otherwise would have been allotted for RIDF initiatives.

What is the bank’s approach to the opportunities in the infrastructure sector?

Infrastructure is one of our country’s core economy drivers. The sector has a vital importance in our socio-economic and political eco-systems. The Central Bank of India has always looked upon and continued to view infrastructure as one of the prospective economic sectors. Although the sector had witnessed a slowdown in the last fiscal, due to uncertainties in the project execution and developments, I am sure that our country does

Rajeev Rishi, CMD, Central Bank of India

Along with financial inclusion, the need for financial literacy and awareness about the banking services is also crucial

need more infrastructures and the sector will only develop further in the years to come.

Also, with our country witnessing a constant rise in the population, the demand for infrastructure is only going to ascend. However, the sector is still witnessing few operational hurdles, but such hiccups prevail in all economic activities and we are quite confident about the situation to improve in the coming years. The Central Bank has always maintained a positive approach towards lending for the infrastructure sector and we are optimistic to continue with the same approach.

Please share with us your outlook on banks utilising technology and tech-enabled services for implementing financial inclusion activities.

Financial inclusion is of vital importance for any emerging economy and our country definitely requires it. There are no two opinions about the importance and need for financial inclusion in India. We cannot have a huge segment of our society excluded from the formal financial ecosystem. Hence, it is imperative to have initiatives like financial inclusion in practice which enables us to expand the reach of financial services to the population residing in unbanked areas.

We welcome any effective way to adopt and implement financial inclusion. Technology has only contributed to enhance the availability of banking and financial services to a wider base of population in our country. Mobile phones have emerged as one such prospective mode of initiating financial inclusion. However, along with financial inclusion the need for financial literacy and awareness about the banking services is also crucial.

Tell us about the newly-launched Mobile Banking Application and EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa)-compliant RuPay debit card.

The Mobile Banking Application focusses on promoting environment-friendly banking channels and facilitates all types of customers to gain our banking services. On the other hand, the debit card helps the traders draw `40, 000 per day or `1 lakh in cash for international transactions. The card is acceptable at all financial channels involving ATMs, PoS machines and e-commerce activities.

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banker’s corner

Financial Inclusion

It’s All About IT IT has enabled the financial inclusion programme to take off and provided banking in the hitherto unbanked areas, thus helping both bankers as well as those accessing the services, explains Animesh Chauhan, Executive Director, Central Bank of India, in a conversation with Veena Kurup of ENN

Animesh Chauhan, Executive Director, Central Bank of India

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banker’s corner

O

perating Systems (OS) play a vital role in reforming the banking operations. Please share with us your views on the same.

Operating Systems (OS) play a crucial role in utilisation of IT services, though I do not see the expiry of Windows XP as a major hurdle before the banking sector despite the fact that it is still being used at a number of places in the banking sector. However, if Windows XP’s expiry poses certain issues, then one needs to understand that it is this very technological advancement that also makes the banking sector today capable of handling such situations.

There is not much cause of concern over the issue because the entire core banking solution (CBS) platform is working on two major operating modules — one is Finnacle and other is provided by the Tata Consultancy Services or TCS. These companies are well-aware of the changing requirements and keep us informed on the need to update to new software. Once the updating process is accomplished, it is implemented across all the branches. Moreover, we have an effective IT team and the IT companies, who advise the banks on technical aspects enabling us to tackle such situations.

Microsoft has been giving regular updates to all its users about the issue and is amply spreading its message on the need to update the current operating system. The Central Bank of India is definitely not facing any such obstacle in its operations due to this issue, and we are capable of adapting to the technical needs as per time’s requirements.

How do you see the role of IT in adding efficiency and security to banking operations?

The concern of cyber crime and burglaries has always been there. The banking system today functions through IT-enabled platforms.

Developing hardware and software as per the situational demand is an ongoing process and is constantly evolving. However, nobody can assure a cent-per-cent foolproof system, though strict filters can certainly be utilised for curbing these crimes through the help of technology.

Any bank today which has a server-based technology, i.e. a CBS solution, has various attachments or delivery channels related to it, i.e. ATM machines, internet or mobile banking

Information technology is the backbone of financial inclusion programme…IT has leveraged the banking services available today and made the financial inclusion programme more viable to the masses

operations etc. The threat of such crimes is over all such services and multiple delivery channels.

Although the technical progress achieved today has loopholes, but it also enables in installing strict filters to curb such crime incidents. Hence, it is the need of the hour to install such filters in our operating systems. Additionally, today we also have the banking representatives or the banking business correspondents operate through distinct handheld devices like laptops or inter-operable machines.

Hence, the importance of such technologies is immense and those are already implemented in banks like the Central Bank of India, which enjoys a pan-India presence, with 4,500 branches and more than 3,300 ATMs and numerous internet and mobile banking users.

How do you see IT as an effective tool for implementing financial inclusion initiatives?

Information technology is the backbone of financial inclusion programme. It is only through IT and IT-enabled services that we have been able to map the unbanked regions or

population in offsite banking areas. Moreover, through these technologies we have able been to make our banking services reach the rural population. IT has incredibly leveraged the banking services available today and made the financial inclusion programme more viable to the masses.

I feel that such initiatives are gaining increasing momentum and acceptance due to the existence of such technologies and have contributed in a bigger way towards the success of numerous financial inclusion programs.

However, there are hurdles involved while utilising such technologies, like the concern of bandwidth availability in the rural areas. However, such issues are getting gradually resolved through the assistance of technology and telecommunication service providers.

Brief us about the financial inclusion programs in the pipeline for the current year.

We are currently running several financial inclusion initiatives, which involve expanding our kiosk connectivity network (inter-operable delivery channel), allowing Aadhaar payment bridges to customers from different banks.

The Central Bank of India today is successfully operating more than 2,000 inter-operable units in rural areas. Besides, the presence of over 3,000 other banking business correspondents has also ensured consistent expansion of our banking services amidst the population residing in these areas.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)-enabled Aadhaar-based eKYC (Electronic Know Your Customer) service is another initiative we have to take up. We will be closely observing the effectiveness and success that can be brought through this initiative and we are planning to implement it soon.

September 2014 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

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news

news

second grid

Kalraj Mishra launches NSIC’s online shopping portal

eGovernance is ‘easy Govt amends All governance’: PM Narendra Modi India Services

Union Cabinet Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Kalraj Mishra launched the online shopping portal of National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), on which MSMEs will be able to sell retail products as well as industrial equipment.

The business to consumer website, www.msmeshopping.com, is restricted to products sourced from Indian MSMEs and will serve as a low-cost marketing platform for them. After the launch Mishra said, “This portal is exclusively dedicated to Indian MSMEs. Our cost is low that is why people will prefer buying from us. We need to spread awareness about this portal.”

NSIC CMD H P Kumar elaborating on the portal said, “There are other portals available in the country, but their (registration) cost is very high, it is prohibitive.

We have cut down the cost; the registration fee is `5,000 for one year, irrespective of the number or value of products sold. We don’t charge transaction charges”. Adding on the marketing plans, Kumar said that they were looking forward to launch countrywide publicity campaigns.

In his maiden Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a special reference to India’s IT power and role of eGovernance and mGovernance in the coming times. Explaining his vision of “Digital India”, the Prime Minister said every village of the country would be connected with broadband and other online facilities, including distance education in the schools. He also spoke about a network of telemedicine in places with shortage of doctors. With the citizens of India having an easy access to mobiles now, Modi also expressed his opinion in favour of Mobile Governance. He also talked about the times when every poor person would be able to operate his bank account from his mobile phone and access other government services like submitting applications, clarifications and approvals online. eGovernance, according to the Prime Minister, refers to “easy governance”, “effective governance” and also “economic governance”. eGovernance paves the way for good governance, he stressed. Similar to the railways that provides connectivity to the country, it is IT that has the power to connect with each and every citizen of the country, he said.

Andhra Pradesh Government announces IT and electronics policy The Andhra Pradesh Government has announced its IT Promotion Policy for 2014-2020.

According to the IT, Electronics and e-Governance 2014, the state government has laid down objectives and targets for the next five years to turn the state into ‘Silicon Corridor of India’.

The policy aims to make AP the leading state in the country in providing e-services, attract investments of $2 billion in IT and $5 billion in electronics manufacturing, get a 5 percent share in the national software exports, create an additional direct employment for 5 lakh people, take Gigabit to all villages and make at least one person e-literate in every household, among others.

The blueprint has identified a set of 18 policies and frameworks to realise the vision and goals.

Universities will be advised to

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change the curriculum in tune with emerging technologies and aligned to industry’s requirements and to introduce courses in entrepreneurship development.

The government will support opening of premier IT institutes in partnership with top IT companies and foreign universities. All educational institutions offering undergraduate courses in software engineering, electronics and computer sciences shall implement a

mandatory scheme of internship/ apprenticeship in the fourth year of the course in association with the industry.

The government will endeavour to establish state-of-the-art infrastructure suiting the requirements of the IT/ITeS industry.

Visakhapatnam will be developed as a mega IT hub, through an initial effort of developing an IT township with a built-up space of 5 million square feet.

rules to boost efficiency, transparency With a view to revamping bureaucracy and promoting efficiency and transparency, the Narendra Modi Government has amended the conduct rules for its top bureaucrats and introduced 19 new guidelines to ensure that they maintain political neutrality and high ethical standards, among other things.

The amendments state that every member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and other central services shall maintain honesty, integrity, accountability, fairness and transparency in the discharge of their duties. The amendments also say that bureaucrats will be responsive to the public, particularly to the weaker section, and extend courtesy and good behaviour during the discharge of their duties.

The bureaucrats will have to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and take steps to resolve any conflicts in a way that protects the public interest.They shall not place themselves under any financial or other obligations to any individual or organisation which may influence them in the performance of their official duties, the amendments specify.

emerging trends

‘Farmers Turning to

NBFCs, Pvt Banks’ More and more farmers are now approaching NBFCs and private banks for meeting their financial requirements, thus giving a go-by to their traditional financiers — PSU banks and co-operatives, analyses Dhrubashish Bhattacharya, Vice President & National Sales Head - Tractor Finance, Magma Fincorp Ltd

I

ndia’s arable land area, used for growing various crops, spans across 159.7 million hectares (394.6 million acres), which is the second largest in the world, only next to the United States.

To meet the agricultural demands for such a large area, the country requires about 16 million tractors for farming and commercial purposes. But, currently there are only about 4 million tractors used for agriculture purposes in India. The situation, therefore, opens immense growth scope for companies involved in the business of tractor financing.

The process of allotting the credit to reach a farmer needs to be looked at. It begins with the farmer mortgaging his land to get loan for the tractor. A public sector bank will then processes the loan, which takes about 45-50 days for disbursal after an exhausting process of paper work and collateral securities. The situation is further pressured with the marginal farmers being offered unattractive propositions for the business after this prolonged process.

However, with the advent of private banks and Non-banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) like Magma Fincorp Limited, the loan disbursal process has become almost hassle-free and those have successfully registered shorter turnaround time (TAT) for loan disbursements. For instance, Magma Fincorp Ltd can disburse loan for six tractors by the time a public sector bank executes a single application with simplest paper work and no collateral deposits. Although banks offer a lower rate of

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emerging trends

interest, the lower turnaround time induces the dealers prefer availing loans through NBFCs. Moreover, contrary to the practice in banks, NBFCs offer the loan as a non-mortgaged product. Thus, lower interest is not a critical factor.

Doorstep service, flexibility of repayment and no land mortgage are the prime elements leading to the growth of NBFCs in the tractor loan segment. Considering the prevalent situation, the share of NBFCs is only expected to rise in the years to come.

The focus area of all NBFCs is to assist the marginal farmers in becoming owner of a tractor. This forms the very essence of financial inclusion. Magma has a corporate philosophy of financing disenfranchised customers in rural and semi-urban areas. Tractors and agricultural loans befit corporate philosophy. Magma intends to grow this business in the years to come. Apart from tractor loan, Magma is also looking at opening other facets of agriculture credit, like crop loans, warehousing finance, implement finance, drip irrigation, refinance of old tractors, etc. By doing this, Magma also intends to improve customer connect in the rural space.

Nearly, 25 percent tractors are sold in cash, while the balance are financed in other ways varying from region to region. In the last five years, the share of NBFCs and private banks has doubled. This is witnessed by the growth of private players like Magma which was non-existent till five years back. Magma has garnered a market share of 7.5 percent over the years.

The faster availability of funds enables the farmer to buy the resources, deploy them immediately and start production. The situation has enabled a faster realisation of funds and a considerable reduction is achieved in the cycle of gaining financial assistance. The scenario has ultimately resulted in traditional financiers, public sector units, and co-operatives losing business on a faster scale as farmers are becoming more inclined towards NBFCs and private banks for meeting their financial needs.

Although the result is a major positive step for farmers in meeting their financial requirements and for the country as a whole in achieving the agricultural productivity, a major concern is raised about the capability

Dhrubashish Bhattacharya, VP & National Sales Head - Tractor Finance, Magma Fincorp Ltd of the farmers to repay the loans and achieve farm profitability. While the country’s climatic condition, especially monsoon, has been above normal this year, the situation also demands for an active approach from the government in enhancing the potential of the agriculture sector. Agriculture is a major source of livelihood for a large section of our country’s population, and therefore, the government must play a pivotal role in pushing the profitability of farmers through a slew of positive measures.

Some issues that call for urgent attention of the government are: • Inputs cost: Regular price rise in various inputs materials has affected the earning capacity of the farmers. Food grains, diesel

prices, labour cost and the farm equipment like tractors witnessed an upward revision of around 5 percent every year.

• Export policies: The government needs to make its export policies more farmer friendly. The step can ensure in giving a positive edge to the farmers for achieving greater profits through agriculture.

• Middlemen aplenty: A robust distribution channel needs to be adopted and implemented in the trading system, particularly focussed towards minimising the involvement of middlemen. While the net realisation of farm returns is estimated to be 62 percent, as much as 38 percent of the revenue is being gulped down by the channel of middlemen.

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low-cost banking

Stash Cash in Your Mobile Phone An Australian technology futurist, international best-selling author and the Founder of the world’s first direct mobile-only bank Moven, previously known as Movenbank, Brett King dwells upon the opportunities for mobile phones as effective banking tools in India during a conversation with Veena Kurup of ENN

Y

ou launched a reformed approach towards the banking and financial sector through your books ‘Bank 2.0’ and Bank ‘3.0’, which focus on shifting technologies, customer behaviour and new banking models. Considering all this, where do you see India on a global scale?

India, I think, is still at the Bank 2.0 stage, as

the country is still in its emerging phase. While Bank 2.0 is about multi-channel banking, Bank 3.0 focused on the fact that customer can do banking without actually visiting the banks. The situation in India, as I see, is on an evolutionary path, wherein the awareness and expectation level of the masses is on a constant rise. Yes, India is witnessing a technical transformation, but the real challenge is on the time involved in actual adoption and implementation. When we look at the financial inclusion initiatives in the developing economies as a whole, the usage of mobile phones has grown phenomenally and much faster than the establishment of any physical banking networks.

Brett King, Founder of world’s first direct mobile-only bank Moven

What is your outlook on the acceptance of mobile phones as a tool for delivering financial services by the Indian banks?

The acceptance of mobile phones as a mode to provide financial services is still poor among the Indian banks. This is primarily due to the false belief that Smart-phone banking or mobile banking is suitable only for the western or developed economies, and is not applicable in India or Asian regions. India, however, is one of the fastest growing economies in the world in the adoption of Smart-phones.

Hence, the situation is considerably changing and will be dynamically on a technical shift in the years to come.

How prospective are such opportunities for the telecom industry?

Telecom providers will play an active role, especially in establishing distribution networks, Know Your Customer (KYC) initiatives, data plans etc. The participation of telecom companies can help in bundling banking services in the modes which are yet unexplored. The platform opens inter-dependent opportunities for the banks and telecoms.

While telecoms need the banks to venture into new business opportunities, banks need telecoms to establish close customer relationship networks. I believe that financial inclusion

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low-cost banking

“Regulators need to understand that mobile is the only technology which can efficiently assist in achieving the core objective of financial inclusion...they need to be more adaptable to utilising such technologies, especially for the low-value bank accounts� will offer robust opportunities to establish and expand for banks and telecoms. However, the banks and telecoms should not consider themselves as competitors while executing such initiatives and rather see it as co-operative opportunities ahead.

Share with us your views about the role of a regulator in encouraging these prospects?

Regulators recognise and monitor financial inclusion, but a more focussed approach for achieving the desired output is required. The regulators need to understand that mobile

is the only technology which can efficiently assist in achieving the core objective of financial inclusion. The regulators here need to be more adaptable to the advantages of utilising such technologies, especially for the low-value bank accounts. In addition, clear guidelines need to be issued to ensure that opening a bank account through a mobile phone is acceptable. All these measures have to be positively adopted and implemented by the regulator. Thankfully, India today seems moving on this path gradually.

Which according to you is the

fastest adopting economy to such technical advancements of all the emerging markets?

China has the fastest growing mobile payment networks in the world today and the Chinese banks are quite progressive about utilising such technologies. Also, the approach from the Chinese government towards promoting such initiatives and encouraging such channels of financial services is much appreciable.

The case of Kenya, which embraced technological advancements for adopting m-Pesa services, is a perfect example of practising a successful e-banking model. Before the introduction of m-Pesa, only about 20 percent of Kenyan population had a bank account. But today, with m-Pesa the index has escalated to 60 percent of the Kenyan population having a mobile m-Pesa money account.

Can we expect Moven to venture into India soon?

India is definitely a prospective economy for Moven, but the country is not yet fully ready for us. However, we expect that by 2016, with the acceptance of universal bank accounts, positive RBI mandates, payment banking licences and demand for advanced banking technologies in place, Moven can expand its base in India. We will be looking forward to a banking partner who can help us in establishing our presence in the country.

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KE Lonavla 2014

event report

Knowledge Exchange through lens eye

Dr Shrikar Pardeshi, IG-Registration and Controller of Stamps, Govt of Maharashtra, addresses the gathering

50

Ganga Kumar, MD, BSBCCL, shares his experience of implementing IT in his organisation

Satish Mittal, Sr VP, Vodafone Business Services, addresses the gathering

Hosts accord traditional reception to guests at Lonavla Knowledge Exchange

A guest lights the traditional lamp to inaugurate the Knowledge Exchange forum

Guests at the forum release August 2014 issue of the eGov magazine

A long shot of the forum in progress

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / September 2014

event report

KE Lonavla 2014

Rajesh Aggarwal, Principal Secretary-IT, Govt of Maharashtra, felicitates a speaker with a memento

KP Bakshi, Addl Chief Secy and Development Commissioner (Planning), Govt of Maharashtra, responds to an audience query

Rajesh Aggarwal interacts with a co-speaker

Audience all ears to a forum speaker

Dr. Ravi Gupta, CEO, Elets Technomedia, presents memento to a speaker

Guests at the forum pose for a group photo at the end of a session

A snapshot of the cultural night at the Lonavla Knowledge Exchange

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KE Lonavla 2014

event report

Lonavla Knowledge Exchange, 2014

Ideas flow amid meadows Elets Technomedia, in association with the Directorate of Information Technology, Government of Maharashtra, organised Knowledge Exchange, Lonavla in the scenic location of Lonavla in the state. The forum turned out to be a blend of formal as well as relaxed discussions between the key policy makers, who assembled from all over the country at Hotel Farias on the 1st, 2nd & 3rd of August. What emerged from the meet was a plethora of ideas on how to strengthen the eGovernance ecosystem in the country across all verticals of public governance.

One hopes that these ideas will culminate into actions soon and bring revolutionary changes to our day to day lives.

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event report

KE Lonavla 2014

K Shivaji, Principal Secretary, Finance (Expenditure), Government of Maharashtra We have been talking about financial inclusion (FI), but FI is only in the financial sector. Supposing we achieve FI, then we will talk about economic inclusion. I ponder if we keep everything on the incremental side, then will it work?

Post-1991, it is believed that India is shining in the financial sector, but a large number of people say that they are not getting the sun shine. I wonder why is that happening. I have seen that majority of people are unaware of India’s growth story, and I want to know why is not that happening.

K P Bakshi, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra I feel that e-governance has tremendous scope in public administration/government activities. But the problem that we face is of our own recruitment system where qualifications are not updated. Even if the present setup allows us to recruit highly qualified people, we do not have the system of recruiting those qualified people in the government setup. And unless they recruit updated IT-qualified people, they won’t be able to take e-governance forward. Therefore, the eligibility criteria for recruitments need to be changed. The government should make IT knowledge a compulsory requirement at the entry level so that everybody has some basic knowledge of IT. Every employee must be exposed to IT as then only they can take up IT initiatives and e-governance on a larger scale. As of now, we have started to implement it, but still a lot needs to be done.

Ajay Bhushan Pandey, DDG – UIDAI, Mumbai With the UID, the government has built a robust eKYC system which is rolled out to various states government departments; as a result when a resident walks into a government office, he does not carry any document or proof of identity with him. All he has to give is his fingerprint or the iris and the UID No. for identification, and the identity is confirmed or declined based on the details with the authority. The best part is that it can be done even on the mobile devices which have android operating system, making the services easy to deliver and to use. The government has also started to link the various beneficiaries database like scholarship, pension, etc with the Aadhaar numbers.

Rajesh Aggarwal, Principal Secretary, IT, Government of Maharashtra If you go back to the time when we were getting started on NeGP, various consultancy firms gave overly well defined RFPs as we wanted the work to be done by the best IT companies in India. Companies which had an yearly turnover of 500 crores picked up most of the projects. But there were other IT companies in the world as well which had benefitted from outsourcing. So, through multiple levels of outsourcing, our project was completed. Outsourcing could also be seen in the production of passports, UIDs etc and they all would be having multiple partners. Everybody has a value addition, and we are working with NASSCOM to involve the smaller players as well, so that in their CVs it shows that they have also worked for government projects.

Dr Omkar Rai, Director General – STPI Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) was established and registered as a society under Societies Registration Act, 1860 under the then Department of Electronics, Government of India, on June 5, 1991.

Initially, software technology parks were established at Hyderabad, Noida, Gandhinagar and Thiruvananthapuram. For achieving a balanced growth of the IT sector, STPI with 53 centres has now reach to every part of the country. Out of these centres, 46 centres fall in the tier-II and tier-III cities. By developing an ecosystem congenial for IT start-ups in these areas, STPI has helped the overall development of these regions. STPI has also helped in the proliferation of private IT parks across the country which in turn has contributed to the growth of the IT industry as a whole.

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Mukesh Meshram, Managing Director, UP State Road Transport Corporation UPSRTC, like any other PSU, is struggling for sustainability.

But it is faring better than other PSUs in the state. Our mission is to have economic, efficient coordination, provide adequate services to passengers, and ensure their safety and comfort, environment conservation and regulated services.

There have been a lot of problems like revenue pilferage by our field staff. Ticketless travelling is also another concern. We are looking to solve these problems through IT. Diesel pilferage is another sector where we lose revenue. In a survey, we found out that around 10 percent of the diesel pilferage is done again by our field staff. To reduce all this, we are thinking of putting IT solutions in place.

Deepak Shrivastava, Chief Vigilance Officer, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited We have taken various IT initiatives in our company, like e-procurement, in which all security norms of CVC are fulfilled. There is an online receipt of EMD and tender fees, no offline document by bidder for evaluation etc. We started this in 2009 and till date we have finalised 6,000 tenders worth `6,400 crore.

We have ensured that our entire 2,700 square kilometers of area is covered by IT initiatives through the MCL network, which covers project to the headquarters and even remotelylocated mine areas.

Dr Dinesh Tyagi, CEO, CSC eGovernance Services India Ltd The structure of the government is horrible and the people at the lower levels make meeting with an official a nightmare, while the official is good, passionate person.

In fact, it’s the structure in place that makes the reception horrible.

So, why not remove the people like the peon and the PA involved, who make the experience unpleasant? There should be a system where a person can book an appointment online, and at the stipulated time go and meet the officer without the hassles of a PA or a peon.

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Aneesh Dhawan, Regional Manager North and East, VMware Software India People adopt cloud for security and same is the reason for people not adopting it. VM Ware provides agile infrastructures, making the infrastructure agile enough to capture a threat at the point it surfaces, stop it there and stop it before it spreads.

For example, when one registers for an email, does one bother about the server?

I don’t think so. And, that is how I believe IT should be. Complexity should be left to the people who deal in it.

V Giriraj, Principal Secretary, Water Conservation & EGS, Government of Maharashtra The problem which I faced in using the IT initiatives was the use of technical jargon, and very frankly, it was very difficult for me to adapt to them. So, if we think about the people involved at lower levels like tehsildars, BDOs, they cannot understand even a simple word like ‘server’. I think the terminology should be simple.

The other thing I faced was the communication issue, and not the technology itself. Proper communication is required not from higher level but from lower levels like data entry and small operators.

Satpal Gulati, Additional Director Systems, Department of Income Tax, Government of India We have three types of users in India: the first one is the generation which relies on online technology - comprising youngsters; the second is the generation which relies on someone to use the technology - they are the middle-aged people; and lastly, the older generation, which does not trust technology and instead relies on hard copy work/procedures.

That is why, we at the Income Tax Department have not only online portals but also a document system for receiving the letters.

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MS Padhi, Secretary, Food & Consumer Welfare, Government of Odisha Odisha has successfully used the mobile technology in the food supply dept. We produce paddy in a large quantity and are a surplus paddy state. Previously, we had many paddy procurement problems, but we did not have timely information regarding the paddy procured, which affected the proper allocation of money to farmers. There were mismatches between the target allocated to a mandi and the paddy actually arriving there, among others. We thought of having computers to track all the transactions, but it could not be implemented owing to electricity issues. So, we came up with the idea of using mobile phones which were available with all the stakeholders. This has made the procurement of paddy easy, efficient and transparent.

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Geetanajali Mishra, GM – Government Business, SBI SBI stands behind the government as it itself is a part of the government. SBI has various customers from different walks of life. Our customers can be anyone ranging from a person owning a bullock cart to a person owning a private jet. SBI had started using IT in banking much before the government did, and by the time the government started using IT, SBI had a stable in CBS (core banking solutions).

While implementing new technologies, more than the technology, it is the people’s issues which matter as people might not like to go for new technologies.

Sabyasachi Das, Senior Product Manager, IMI Mobile The government in implementing initiatives like m-governance should consider a fully integrated platform and a platform on a cloud. The platform provided to the governments should not have complications, instead it should be very easy to use. M-governance platform should be integrated with multiple payment modes to deliver payment services, so as to reach people where banking has not reached through mobile.

NK Verma, CGM, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers Limited Ours being a commercial and manufacturing organisation has to depend on IT for various business processes, transactions etc. RCFL is a pioneers in using IT in a fertiliser company. Before the introduction of ERP, we had two data centers which did their own data compilation and consolidation at the corpoarate level and finally brought out the annual results. Since 2005 we have adopted various IT initiatives like T:18.9 cm SAP, ERP with all modules, and various other initiatives for better working.

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Atul Gotsurve, Regional Passport Officer, Pune I think people should appeal for the redressal of their grievances through proper channels, which would cut down much of the problem relating to poor response on the part of the authorities. Ever since the Passport Seva project started two years ago, 1.5 passports have been issued to date. The system is online and one can seek appointments from there.

The normal tendency is to chuck what cannot be understood and give it to someone who can do it, even for a price, like touts. So, the issue of digital illiteracy is to be tackled for the betterment of the services.

Ganga Kumar, MD, Bihar State Building Construction Corporation Limited The reason we used information technology in some of our major programmes and works was to ensure transparency, timeliness and accountability. Other than that, IT was also used to counter various other challenges which prevail in other state governments as well.

We majorly used information technology for eGovernance, so as to strengthen our system.

Through the computerisation of government functions, we have linked all the central and state governments systems for better operability, to have a real time operating mechanism and computerised registrations, and made online all kinds of public utilities.

Through various IT initiatives, my corporation has achieved an annual outlay of Rs 4,000 crore, compared to previously puny amount of Rs 3 crore. We have also received an award from the state government for the initiative.

S Muthukrishnan, Commissioner, MGNREGA We faced many problems like money lying parked and money not reaching the worker, there were many problems, bottlenecks with the previous system of transferring wages to a worker. To counter the challenges we came up with Electronic Fund Management System which is being used by everyone today, the advantage is that one doesn’t have to be attached to any particular financial institution to gather his payment it can be any. And all the transactions are now done electronically which ensures that the money reaches the right hands.

Rajeev Aggarwal, Sr DDG, Department of Telecommunications, Government of India The various techniques and technology applied for eGovernance have one goal in common, and that is to reach the user.

Mobile banking can be a showcase model for the likes of G2C transactions as there are more than 35 crore mobile connections in rural areas, and this can be used to provide banking services, as these subscribers don’t have banking facilities.

Transactions, if done through mobile phones, will be much more economic compared to those done through bank branches.

On the other hand, mobile banking would make banking much more affordable and accessible. By leveraging mobile telephony, the goal of financial inclusion can also be achieved.

L K Gupta, Chief General Manager, Cotton Co-operative of India Limited When we introduced a sales system based on the IT platform, there was resistance. As the traditional sales system was a century-old one, there were suggestions as to re-introduce the old system for a few days more and then go with the new system. But we knew that once we are in the new system, there is no going back. So, to implement it we had a meeting with the buyers and apprised them about the benefits of the new system. Within a month, we got 175 buyers registered in the new system compared to the previous four and in a span of three months we had sold 18 lakh bales.

The key benefits of the new system were convenience to the buyer and the sellers, more transparency and better price realisation due to competitive bidding. We are efficient and have a real-time bidding process. We are also thinking of implementing the e platform for our by-product, which are cotton seeds.

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Bharath Kumar, Associate Director, NPCIL We design and engineer power plants, do analysis of the design, and manage projects and plants through IT. For power plants’ maintenance, we have Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS), wherein the entire maintenance procedure, work permits and shutdown maintenance planning is done. We also have the Event Reporting System in case of a reactor trip. For safety of employees, we have Dose Management System, which keeps in check the radiological doses of all employees.

Earlier, NPCIL depended on paper management where signatures were essential, emails also followed, but were eventually not accepted. So, NPCIL came up with the concept of e-letter which would have a number and also tell from where it is coming and to whom it is concerned. This will be authenticated without signatures.

K V Varkey, Managing Director, Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd mHealth, which stands for mobile health, is a subset of eHealth. Although functionally both are same, technically they are different. In eHealth infrastructure is traditional - that is wired networks, while in mHealth, there are wireless networks and mobile devices.

Through this there are various services which can be delivered to the people. The health information system gives information of the health departments right from the primary health centers to the administrative head of the department.

If the Aadhaar number could be linked to the health information of citizens, the doctor could easily access the patient’s medical history and thus a lot of time would be saved in patient diagnosis.

Dr Nomal Chandra Borah, CMD, GNRC Hospitals Ltd Healthcare is basically about one human being helping another. In the North East, health services are in a poor condition. So, I came up with a solution for the poor to have affordable healthcare and now I have two super specialty hospitals. I am still unsatisfied, unhappy as I see that we have lots and lots of private healthcare, which is unavailable to 80 percent of the population because of the cost it involves. This results in over-crowding of the public healthcare hospitals and many patients don’t get the medical attention they require.

My model is an inverse pyramid model— where most of the private hospitals rely on their in-patient department for profit and also indulge unfair practices like keeping the patient beyond the stipulated time, so as to gain more profit. My model gains from the out-patient department and that too from minimum costs of Rs 60, 100 and 120, I say this because my hospital has recovered the capital invested through this model only.

If we become successful, this model will solve a big problem across the globe.

Sujata Saunik, Principal Secretary, Public Health Department, Government of Maharashtra mGovernance is the adoption of mobile technologies to enhance and support government performance and foster a more connected society. It is emerging as the next big wave of information and communication technology (ICT) use in the public sector.

It ensures innovations in service delivery by increasing access to existing services and enabling design and delivery of new services. It empowers digitally deprived citizens by providing them access to information and services. Besides, it intensifies partnerships and exchanges between public and private sectors.

We use pull SMSes for public health centres (PHCs) and mobile medical units, while we use bulk messages for providing information to the public.

Compared to conventional governance and eGovernance, mGovernance has seamless integration and linkage for wireless devices. It is available for 24 hours a day and 365 days non-stop, and one doesn’t have to have necessarily a computer or an internet connection. In fact, one’s physical location is enough to get the services in mGovernance model.

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Sanjeev Tyagi, Sales Director, Juniper In India, the mortality rate is higher in hospitals than in a plane crash, and the survival rate after a motor accident is very low as the ambulance doesn’t reach on time.

But IT can help prevent all this. A case in point is that of the US where the country spends 41 billion dollars on diabetes, but if remote monitoring is used, 15 percent of the expenditure can be saved. A dedicated frequency is required for mobile health application and the simple application can be downloaded on the mobile phone, and the person is ready. For this to be successful, digitsation of all patient records and easy accessibility is necessary.

Zia Sauqib, Executive Director, C-DAC, Mumbai C-DAC has helped startup pharmaceutical companies to design drugs at a much lesser rate compared to the costs in the earlier days.

In eHealth, we have the e-Sanjeevani project in Kerala which is a mobile bus with all medical facilities. It helps detect and initially treat women having cervical cancer, and through this project we have been able to save hundreds of lives.

With the Government of India, we have an initiative called Mobile Seva, which integrates information from the government and disseminates it to the citizens through various channels such as SMS, IVR system, USSD, etc.

Subrata Gupta, CGM, NABARD Technology is the base for financial inclusion, but we are missing out on the user part, as our focus is based on providing technology. It takes time for a person to get used to technology.

For example, it takes a period of three months for a person of rural background to feed the numbers in the right way in a device for remittance.

Connectivity is a major problem in far-fetched areas. The technology might be there but the prohibitive cost to serve customers might be absent. It is very essential to take care of the connectivity part in the rural areas, otherwise financial inclusion in the way we are thinking might not ever see the light of the day.

L M Deshmukh, DGM-FI & SLBC/IT, Bank of Maharashtra

Arun Thukral, Managing Director, Credit Information Bureau Limited CIBIL believes that retail is the growth engine for the economy, and the simple solution to increase the expansion is to increase the number of people to get credit, and we are working towards it.

We also have plans for the BPL people and will very soon work towards it.

I think UID should be used to identify people when performing any bank related procedure, as it is the most foolproof identity.

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The Government of India has come up with ‘Sampoorna Vitiya Samaveshan’, which is a comprehensive financial inclusion plan, which was talked about by the Prime Minister on August 15. The focus area of financial inclusion has changed and now families will also be in focus along with villages. Apart from opening of an account, families will also be able to avail credit through the financial inclusion services.

We will also start urban financial inclusion, which previously has not been thought of.

Ram Rastogi, Head - IMPS, NPCI When we talk about movement of funds, Aadhaar-enabled payment system etc, NPCI is there at the back to look after all this like an unsung hero. We do about 20 million transactions a day and are geared up for 50 million more. NPCI is committed to provide services to 65 crore people listed with Aadhaar.

NPCI is committed to provide technology to people which is safe, simple, secure and robust. A transaction of 1.46 trillion dollars Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) will happen through us, and it will reach about eight billion transactions a year. On the other hand, 145 million households will have an account. We have developed a platform where a customer can dial a number and he can avail information of his account and the last five transactions.

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Technology for safety, speed Satish Mitta, Sr. VP - Vodafone Business Services, Technology

Let’s start with an example: there is a security company which gives salaries to its employees in cash, as they do not have a bank account.

Now, if that money has to reach the employees house, for example to his wife, the cash has to pass through various people and changing many hands, which is a time-consuming process. It will take a few days’ time to reach the person concerned. Besides, there is no guarantee that the exact amount will reach

there. So, that process involves two-pronged risk: chances of losing both money and time.

Now consider replacing the whole process with mobile money, which is actually showing results today. So, now the employee registers himself, his location and gets his attendance marked – all though his mobile. And, so do the other employees.

Now, as the records of the employees are online and they have got mobile money accounts, their salaries are transferred online from the head office directly to their mobile money accounts. The same can be done by the employee to transfer money elsewhere, such as his home. So, in this process, while there is no need for the cash to change hands, the money is

also transferred within minutes.

The previous method is discontinued and replaced with the new one, which is faster, cheaper and safer. This, I believe, is where IT and mobility come into play for financial inclusion. I think this and many other ways/ideas are there through which we can make IT work in the larger interest of the masses.

The Vodafone Business Solution (VBS), as a front runner in Enterprise business, aims to position itself as a technology partner to Centre & state departments with an ICT vision. With a rich experience that spans across the globe and an incomparable service culture, VBS Government aims to support various G2G & G2C projects through its suite of solutions and services.

Distinct solutions for marked problems Avinash Mathur, AVP - Marketing, Vodafone Business Services I am very pleased to see the strides the government has made in the field of eGovernance. It is a pleasure to see so much innovation being employed by the government of the day.

People look at telecom companies as providers, who would provide people with a specialised solution for a specific problem.

Vodafone is not just providing mobility services today, but much more than that, like wire-line. We are also starting to offer Cloud services. All in all, we are starting to provide solutions to business problems.

Vodafone would like to hear the exact problems people face before they go for its services. The more precisely you are able to tell us about your specific problems, the better would be the solutions we come up with.

In overseas markets, we have done this very successfully. In New Zealand, we worked with

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police to see how they can serve the citizens better, while in India wherever we had the opportunity, we created solutions to specific business problems, like for a couple of jails we have created a solution whereby the prison-

ers can call a specific number of phones with prepaid credits.

We have also worked with a couple of governments that were concerned with the US snooping their calls. We are building secure voice calling solutions for them.

There are the solutions we are working on for other governments for their mobile data security, while we are ensuring security of tablet and mobile phone data of a number of Indian corporates. The ICICI Bank’s tab banking initiative is a perfect example of it.

For solutions requiring SMS and USSD, we have launched *99# code and a few other codes that have helped give service for G2C requirements.

I feel having a connection between the government companies and the telecom companies is required for a greater understanding of the issues.

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