RNI NO: UPENG/2014/62662
ISSN 2455-0426
MAY 2017 VOL. 03 ISSUE 08 `60 PR NO: UP/GBD-212/2015-17 Date of Publishing 04-05-2017 Date of Posting 07-05-2017
Gen-Next IT Destination West Bengal
Investment and opportunities
in Indian IT ITeS and Electronics Sector
India’s public cloud market gains momentum
Dr Krishna Gupta
Principal Secretary, Department of IT & Electronics, Government of West Bengal
DIT fostering IT/ITeS skills in West Bengal
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FinTech - State of Art Dr. Subir Saha, CEO, Yottolabs
4 I May 2017
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Editor-in-Chief Ajit Sinha Editor Director R. Manjushree Reddy Special Correspondent Kritinath Jha Consulting Editor Rajesh Mehta CORPORATE OFFICE Strategy Head Ajay Kumar Corporate Sales & Marketing Siddharth Verma Vice President siddharth@governancetoday.co.in I 9811561645
Set Wings to Industry 4.0
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Sales & Marketing (Corp) Vaishali Gupta vaishali@governancetoday.co.in 7840086705 Swati Sharma swati@governancetoday.co.in 7835038419 Rewanshi Singh sales@governancetoday.co.in I Alliance & Partnerships Stuti Bhushan I 9990267960 Guest Writers & Contributors
Dr Omkar Rai Director General STPI
With Skills Agenda, India to move Upward, Unhindered, Unstopped
Zebra Technologies’ Supply Chain Visibility Solutions Recognized at lobal Logistics Excellence Awards PG 46
Importance of research in an academic institution PG 47
On a Brighter Horizon
Webel Leading the Government Process IT Transformation
Kaushik Halder Executive Director (Finance) West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited.
Technology and the modern CFO PG 40
Graphic Designer Vikas Kumar Singh Web Developer Mani Dhaka FOR SUBSCRIPTION, CONTACT subscription@governancetoday.co.in 9990267960
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Aninda Chatterjee
Dr Dharminder Nagar, Nandini Sinha, Dr Rajneesh Chauhan, Dr Saurabh Arora
Managing Director,
West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited.
PG 48 IT Industry Needs To Be More Creative For UX and UI in Modern Digital World PG 18
GOVERNANCE WATCH
Published By Ajit Kumar Sinha 713, 3BA - Tower No. - 4, River Heights, Raj Nagar Extn - Ghaziabad Uttar Pradesh-201003 Printed & Published by Ajit Kumar Sinha on behalf of Odyssey Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. Printed at First Impression Corporate Services Pvt Ltd E-114, Sector-63, Noida-201301 (U.P.) Editor-In-Chief: Ajit Kumar Sinha @ All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, and mechanical, including photocopy, or any other information storage or retrieval system, without publisher’s permission.
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6 I May 2017
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Editorial
Wooing investors towards IT sector in West Bengal The West Bengal government’s effort to attract information technology (IT) companies might be moving in right direction from the perspective of improving ease of doing business, which is critical to West Bengal making it an ideal ecosystem of investment. The state government is all set to ensure that the ‘industry-friendly’ policies percolate down the government hierarchy right till the district-level. The government is offering a maximum of 50 percent property tax waiver for 12 years and a higher floor to area ratio (FAR) for companies in the segment to either expand or commence operations while maintaining its stand of not granting Special Economic Zone status. A state like West Bengal definitely needs to provide special status to IT Firms to draw in investment and generate employment, while benefits under state levies — stamp duty, property tax, sales tax, entry tax — are possible, customs duty, excise duty, service tax and income tax. The state has envisioned in its ICT policy to become one of the top three States in India by turnover and employment, both in the IT/ ITeS and ESDM sectors by 2020 and also create an investor-friendly climate in the State for increasing West Bengal’s share in production of electronic goods in India to 15 percent by 2020 in value terms. It has an actionable mission to create a robust IT eco-system for enhancing competitiveness and productivity of the key economic sectors affecting the lives of the majority of the population of the State and to provide seamless and reliable citizen-centric services and information for the public, thereby enhancing efficiency, transparency and accountability in Government. A well-planned and effective strategy is required to encourage additional investments from large IT companies, to revitalize and tap the talent of home-grown entrepreneurs in the small and medium sector and to enable the spread of the industry to Tier II and Tier III locations. Ultimately, there is a necessity to move up the value-chain from merely providing services, to the development of products and registering Intellectual Property Rights. West Bengal being the second most densely populated State, with pressure on its scarce land resource, the IT and ITeS industry provides the high employment potential per unit of land utilized and deserves to be promoted on a priority basis vis-a vis other industries. So, West Bengal could be an ideal destination for investors as it has huge market potential of low cost better quality items to replace imported products, significant product demand within the East & North East India and also at neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, & Nepal, huge supply of qualified skilled man power, large work-force of semi-skilled labour in the region, excellent supporting infrastructure for setup, proactive Government Incentive policy and commitment of Government to extend all support to make this happen.
Best regards Ajit Sinha Editor-in-Chief
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COVER STORY
Investment and opportunities
in Indian IT ITeS and Electronics Sector 8 I May 2017
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ndia is billed as the world’s largest sourcing destination for the information technology (IT) industry, accounting for approximately 67 percent of the USD 130 billion (approx.) market. The industry employs about 10 million workforces. More importantly, the industry has led the economic transformation of the country and altered the perception of India in the global economy. India’s cost competitiveness in providing IT services, which is approximately 3-4 times cheaper than the US, continues to be the mainstay of its Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in the global sourcing market. However, India is also gaining prominence in terms of intellectual capital with several global IT firms setting up their innovation centres in India. The IT industry has also created significant demand in the Indian education sector, especially for engineering and computer science. The Indian IT and ITeS industry is divided into four major segments – IT services, Business Process Management (BPM), software products and engineering services, and hardware. www.governancetoday.co.in May 2017 I 9
Market Size The Indian IT sector expected to grow at a rate of 12-14 percent for FY2016-17 in constant currency terms. The sector is also expected triple its current annual revenue to reach USD 350 billion by FY 2025. Employees from 12 Indian startups, such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, Makemytrip, Naukri, Ola, and others, have gone on to form 700 start-ups on their own, thus expanding the Indian start-up ecosystem.! India ranks third among global start-up ecosystems with more than 4,200 start-up. Total spending on IT by banking and security firms in India is expected to grow 8.6 per cent year-on-year to USD 7.8 billion by 2017. India’s internet economy is expected to touch Rs 10 trillion (USD 146.72 billion) by 2018, accounting for 5 per cent of the country’s GDP. The public cloud services 10 I May 2017
market in India is slated to grow 35.9 per cent to reach USD 1.3 billion according to IT consultancy, Gartner. Increased penetration of internet (including in rural areas) and rapid emergence of e-commerce are the main drivers for continued growth of data centre co-location and hosting market in India. The Indian Healthcare Information Technology (IT) market is valued at USD 1 billion currently and is expected to grow 1.5 times by 2020. India’s business to business (B2B) e-commerce market is expected to reach USD 700 billion by 2020 whereas the business to consumer (B2C) e-commerce market is expected to reach USD 102 billion by 2020.. Cross-border online shopping by Indians is expected to increase 85 per cent in 2017, and total online spending is projected to rise 31 per cent to Rs 8.75 lakh crore (USD 128 billion) by 2018.
Post the government’s announcement of demonetisation of specific currency denominations, digital payment platforms such as Paytm, MobiKwik, Oxigen witnessed a sharp spike in user transactions, app downloads and merchant enquiries, thereby indicating a greater demand towards digital payments by consumers. India ranks among the top five countries in terms of digitalisation maturity as per Accenture’s Platform Readiness Index, and is expected to be among the top countries with the opportunity to grow and scale up digital platforms by 2020.
Investments/ Developments Indian IT’s core competencies and strengths have attracted significant investments from major countries. The computer software and hardware sector in India attracted cumulative Foreign www.governancetoday.co.in
Direct Investment (FDI) inflows worth USD 22.83 billion between April 2000 and December 2016, according to data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). Leading Indian IT firms like Infosys, Wipro, TCS and Tech Mahindra, are diversifying their offerings and showcasing leading ideas in blockchain, artificial intelligence to clients using innovation hubs, research and development centres, in order to create differentiated offerings. Some of the major developments in the Indian IT and ITeS sector are as follows: • Bengaluru-based fintech company ZestMoney, owned by Camden Town Technologies Pvt. Ltd, has raised USD 6.5 million in a series A round of funding led by Naspers-owned PayU; and will invest the funds in technology and product development. • Google plans to set up its first data centre in India in the city of Mumbai by 2017, to improve its services to local customers wanting to host their applications on the internet, and to compete effectively with the likes of Amazon and Microsoft, • Sagoon Inc, a social network and e-commerce start-up,
has filed mini-initial public offering (IPO) papers with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to raise around USD 20 million, which will be used to set up a campus in India, expand its team in India, the US and Nepal, and support marketing and branding and other general purposes. • SAP SE, in partnership with the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (ASSOCHAM), has rolled out a knowledge sharing resource centre which will serve as a one-stop portal for businesses looking to adopt or migrate to technology that will make them future ready for the biggest taxation reform of goods and services tax (GST). • Freshdesk, one of first companies from India to offer Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to global companies, has raised USD 55 million in the latest round of funding led by Sequoia Capital India and existing investor Accel Partners, estimating to value the company at USD 700 million. • Warburg Pincus LLC, the USbased private equity firm, plans to invest around USD 75 million in series C round of funding to buy a significant stake in Capital Float, an online credit
platform. • Helpshift Inc, which makes customer support software for mobile apps, announced raising USD 2 million from Cisco Investments, in addition to working with Cisco to integrate its in-app customer support with Cisco’s contact centre solutions. • Knowlarity Communications Pvt Ltd, a cloud telephony provider, has announced raising USD 20 million from multiple investors such as Dubai-based private equity investor Delta Partners, existing investors Sequoia Capital Funds and Mayfield Fund, apart from venture-debt from Blacksoil and Trifecta Capital. • Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce marketplace, has re-entered the private label business by launching Smart Buy, the first of two new private labels, with a view to boost earnings and fill gaps in its product selection. • Fitpass, a Delhi-based revolutionary app which offers access to gyms and health clubs membership, has raised USD 1 million in seed funding from investors in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru. • Apple’s supplier and assembler, Taiwan-based Winstron, will set up an iPhone assembly
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Market for electronics is expected to expand at a CAGR of 66.1 percent during 2015–20. The demand for electronics hardware in India is projected to increase to USD 139 billion by 2018
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facility in Peenya, Bengaluru’s industrial hub, thus making India the third country across the world to have an assembly unit for Apple’s iPhone. • Kratikal Tech Pvt Ltd, a cybersecurity start-up, has raised around USD 500,000 in seed round of funding led by Mr Amajit Gupta, former director of Microsoft India, which will be used for product development and building training modules. • International Finance Corporation (IFC) plans to invest USD 10 million as equity in Bengaluru-based Zinka Logistics Pvt Ltd, which provides a technology platform called Blackbuck for longhaul trucking market in India, estimated at USD 70 billion. • Paytm’s online marketplace unit raised USD 200 million in a funding round led by a USD 177 million investment to be made by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, and balance by SAIF Partners. • Intel Corporation plans to invest in Digital India related solutions such as India stack, Unique Identification (UID), e-government 2.0 and other government initiatives, and scale up operations of its data centre group (DCG), as per Mr Prakash Mallya, Director DCG, Asia for Intel Corporation. • Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) plans to set up entrepreneurship hubs in key cities and towns, and Rs 5,000 crore (USD 748 million) fund, under the name of Jio Digital India Startup Fund, to invest in technology based startups. • Gurgaon-based digital wallet start-up MobiKwik, which is owned and operated by One MobiKwik Systems Private Limited, has raised USD 40 million from Nasdaq-listed firm Net1, a South African payments technology company. • Orange Business Services, the business services arm of Orange Group, has launched a
state data centre for Himachal Pradesh government, which will be the first data centre in India to be designed using ‘green’ data centre concepts that minimise power requirements and increase power utilisation efficiency. • PurpleTalk Inc, a US based mobile solutions company, has invested USD 1 million in Nukkad Shops, a Hyderabad based uber-local commerce platform that helps neighbourhood retail stores take their businesses online through a mobile app. • KartRocket, a Delhi based e-commerce enabler has completed its USD 8 million funding round by raising USD 2 million from a Japanese investor, which will be used to enhance Kraftly, a mobile-first online-to-offline marketplace targeting small sellers, individuals and homebased entrepreneurs in India in product categories such as
apparel and accessories. • Xpressbees, an e-commerce logistics firm operated by Busybees Logistics Solutions Private Limited, has raised USD 12.5 million in a Series A funding, led by its existing investors SAIF Partners, IDG Ventures, Vertex Ventures and Valiant Capital, which will be used to strengthen technology initiatives and processes of the firm. • Housejoy, an online home services provider, has raised Rs 150 crore (USD 22 million) in a Series B round of funding led by Amazon, and which also includes new investors such as Vertex Ventures, Qualcomm and Ru-Net Technology Partners. • Nasscom Foundation, a nonprofit organisation which is a part of Nasscom, has partnered with SAP India to establish 25 National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) centres in 12 cities across India, as a part of Government of India’s Digital India initiative. • Government Initiatives • In the Union Budget 201718, the Government of India announced the following key proposals: • The Government of India has allocated Rs 10,000 crore (USD 1.5 billion) for BharatNet project under which it aims to provide high speed broadband to more than 150,000 gram panchayats by 2017-18. • Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi, has launched the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app, an Aadhaar-based mobile payment application that will allow users to make digital payments without having to use a credit or debit card. The app has already reached the mark of 10 million downloads. • Some of the major initiatives taken by the government to promote IT and ITeS sector in India are as follows: • Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union www.governancetoday.co.in
Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, has launched a free Doordarshan DTH channel called DigiShala, which will help people understand the use of unified payments interface (UPI), USSD, aadhaar-enabled payments system, electronic wallets, debit and credit cards, thereby promoting various modes of digital payments. • The Government of India plans to revamp the United Payment Interface (UPI) and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), to make it easier for consumers to transact digitally either with or without an Internet connection with the aim of strengthening its push towards making India a digital economy. • The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will soon release consultation papers ahead of framing regulations and standards for the rollout of fifth-generation (5G) networks and Internet of Things (IoT) in India. • The Government of Gujarat has signed 89 MoUs worth Rs 16,000 crore (USD 2.3 billion) in the IT sector, during Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit-2017. • The Government of Telangana has signed an agreement with network solutions giant Cisco Systems Incorporation, to cooperate on a host of technology initiatives, including Smart Cities, Internet of Things, cybersecurity, education digitisation of monuments. • The Railway Ministry plans to give a digital push to the India Railways by introducing bar-coded tickets, Global Positioning System (GPS) based information systems inside coaches, integration of all facilities dealing with ticketing issues, Wi-Fi facilities at the stations, super-fast long-route train service for unreserved passengers among other developments, which will help to increase the passenger
to the people using IT and to integrate the government departments and the people of India. The adoption of key technologies across sectors spurred by the ‘Digital India Initiative’ could help boost India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by USD 550 billion to USD 1 trillion by 2025. • India and the US have agreed to jointly explore opportunities for collaboration on implementing India’s ambitious Rs 1.13 trillion (USD 16.58 billion) ‘Digital India Initiative’. The two sides also agreed to hold the US-India Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Working Group in India later this year. traffic. • The Pune Smart City Development Corporation (PSCDCL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC), which will allow it to gain access to real-time knowledge of technologies, solutions and best practices from Europe. • The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has entered into a partnership with private companies, including Tata Motors Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and real-estate firm Hubtown Ltd, to open three Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), through public-private partnership (PPP), at Nagpur, Ranchi and Pune. • Government of India is planning to develop five incubation centres for IoT start-ups, as a part of Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi’s Digital India and Startup India campaign, with at least two centres to be set up in rural areas to develop solutions for smart agriculture. • The Government of India has launched the Digital India program to provide several government services
ELECTRONICS PRODUCTION IN INDIA HAS BEEN GROWING AT A RAPID PACE It has been estimated that demand of electronics products and systems in India would grow to about USD 400 Billion by 2020. At the conventional rate of growth of domestic production, it would only be possible to meet demand of about USD 100 Billion by 2020. The Government attaches high priority to electronics & IT hardware manufacturing. It has the potential to generate domestic wealth and employment, apart from enabling cyber-secure ecosystem. There have been some efforts for rapid growth of the electronics (including telecom) hardware manufacturing sector in the past like 100% FDI permitted under automatic route, no Industrial license requirement, payment of technical know-how fee and royalty for technology transfer under automatic route. However, these efforts have not led to a substantial impact; partly because of India is a signatory to the Information Technology Agreement (ITA-1) that has resulted in a zero duty regime on import of the goods covered under the Agreement. India has also executed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and
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Preferential Trade Agreements (PTA) with several countries/ trading blocks, which has enabled zero duty import of items not covered under ITA. Other factors hampering the growth of electronics includes lack of reliable power, high cost of finance, poor logistics & infrastructure, weak components manufacturing base, lack of targeted & proactive R&D in collaboration with industry etc. In March 2017, Xiaomi announced its 2nd manufacturing plant along with Taiwan based company Foxconn, in Andhra Pradesh. This will help create employment in 100 nearby villages for at least 5,000 people. According to government estimates, Consumer Electronics has the highest share (29.7 per cent) in the total production of electronic goods in India. The growth in consumer electronics over the years has been accompanied by an increase in imports in respect of certain items like LCD/LED TVs. The Electronic Components had witnessed a growth of about 23.74 per cent from the previous year which was supported by the rapid growth in domestic manufacturing of electronic components. Industrial electronics contributed 20.9 per cent of the total output of electronics goods industry in FY15. Industrial electronics is expected to grow at a considerable pace with the new plans and schemes by government Communication and broadcasting equipment constitutes 10 per cent of total production of electronic goods in India in FY15. Not surprisingly, computers are a key component of total electronics output in India (9.9 per cent in FY15). The segment’s share is likely to go up over this decade, given greater policy focus on encouraging computer hardware manufacturing. As of FY16, production of industrial electronics, mobile phones and LEDs, in value terms, stood at around USD 6887.11 million, USD 8249.31 million and USD 548.43 million, 14 I May 2017
respectively.
Opportunities MULTIPLE FACTORS FAVOUR INVESTMENT IN ELECTRONICS: Market for electronics is expected to expand at a CAGR of 66.1 percent during 2015–20. The demand for electronics hardware in India is projected to increase to USD 139 billion by 2018. Domestic electronic production accounts for around 45.0 per cent of the total market demand. Therefore, in order to reduce the import bill, the government plans to boost the domestic manufacturing capabilities and is considering a proposal to give preference to Indian electronic products in its purchases Increasing penetration in the consumer durables segment: Consumer durables market in India is characterised by low penetration in various product segments, viz. 1 per cent in microwaves, 3 per cent in ACs, 16 per cent in washing machines, 18 per cent in refrigerators, etc. Higher disposable incomes are leading to realisation of penetration potential in various product segments, especially in rural areas Policy and investment support. As per the targeted reduction in import bill, the government has proposed an investment of USD 555.0 million for semiconductor manufacturing plant. This will attract foreign companies to set up manufacturing facilities in India. In Union Budget 2016–17, inputs, parts, components & subparts for manufacturing of charger/ adapter, battery & wired handsets / speakers of mobile phones are fully exempted from Basic Customs Duty (BCD), Counter Veiling Duty (CVD) & Special Additional Duty (SAD) Growth in electronics Incentives and concessions under schemes: Export Oriented Unit (EOU) Scheme, Electronics Hardware Technology Park (EHTP) Scheme, Software Technology Park (STP) Scheme and EOU/ EHTP/STP Schemes. IESA (India Electronics and Semiconductor Association) announced the launch
of new chapters to strengthen and improve the supply chain. Chennai, also known as Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS), is one of the fastest growing manufacturing cities, with easy accessibility to seaports. It will help India in becoming a global electronic manufacturing hub to increase electronic manufacturing in the country. ERA OF DIGITISATION OPENS NEW OPPORTUNITIES: The government announced the digitisation of cable television in India in 4 phases, which was to be completed by March 2017 Digitisation will lead to complete switchover from analogue cable to Digital Addressable Systems in a phased manner The number of DTH subscribers in India is expected to increase from 84.80 million in December 2015 to 200 million by 2018 The number of active DTH for the quarter of September 30, 2016, was recorded at 1.4 million.
Road Ahead India is the topmost offshoring destination for IT companies across the world. Having proven its capabilities in delivering both on-shore and off-shore services to global clients, emerging technologies now offer an entire new gamut of opportunities for top IT firms in India. Social, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) are collectively expected to offer a USD 1 trillion opportunity. Cloud represents the largest opportunity under SMAC, increasing at a CAGR of approximately 30 per cent to around USD 650-700 billion by 2020. The social media is the second most lucrative segment for IT firms, offering a USD 250 billion market opportunity by 2020. The Indian e-commerce segment is USD 12 billion in size and is witnessing strong growth and thereby offers another attractive avenue for IT companies to develop products and services to cater to the high growth consumer segment. www.governancetoday.co.in
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INTERVIEW
DIT fostering IT/ITeS skills in West Bengal Dr Krishna Gupta Principal Secretary, Department of IT & Electronics, Government of West Bengal
16 I May 2017
Dr Krishna Gupta, Principal Secretary, Department of IT & Electronics, Government of West Bengal shares more on the development of IT and Electronics in the state‌ Do you think that West Bengal is going to transform into a knowledge driven welfare society with extensive use of IT and ITES in Governance and in the daily lives of the people of
the state? We firmly believe that IT can act as a key enabler by streamlining G2C interactions. IT interventions have the scope to bridge the gaps between citizens www.governancetoday.co.in
Why is IT hub based around Kolkata Metropolitan Area? Is there any policy with your department to enable the spread of the industry to Tier II and Tier III locations? Kolkata as the capital and largest city in eastern India was the logical location for large IT bellwethers to set up their initial establishments. This leads to a flourishing of a strong IT/ITeS ecosystem in Salt Lake Sector V, ably facilitated by Webel which lead to positive synergies. DIT&E and WBEIDC administer the West Bengal ICT Incentive Scheme 2012. To enable the spread of industry to Tier II and Tier III locations additional incentives are provided to companies investing in Tier II/III locations. The incentive scheme has been structured to promote a holistic development of all regions and to give a boost to Tier II/III locations by offering additional financial incentives. Webel on behalf of the Department of IT&E has already established 12 numbers of new IT parks since 2012 in various places namely Rajarhat, Siliguri (Phase II), Durgapur (Phase II), Asansol, Purulia, Barjora, Kharagpur, Haldia, Howrah, Kalyani, Bolpur, Taratala. Facilities under development
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The development of two Electronic Manufacturing Clusters one at Naihati and the other at Falta will be providing suitable facilities for attracting investments.
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and the government. A knowledge driven society requires as a prerequisite adequate training and skill building. Department of Information Technology and Electronics is firmly committed to fostering IT/ITeS skills in the state of West Bengal. West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited, the nodal agency of DIT&E is strengthening ICT skills by training and education, certification, skill building and incubation activities. WBEIDC annually trains over 20,000 candidates from 150 plus centers. The ICT@School initiative covers 5500+ schools. All of this will go a long way in creating a knowledge driven economy.
stages are 4 nos. of IT Parks at Malda, Bantala, Siliguri (Phase II), Krishnagar. Approval for further 7 nos. of IT parks at Coochbehar, Belur,Durgapur (Phase III), Sector V (02 numbers), Kalyani (Phase II), Rajarhat (Phase II) has been obtained for construction.
How do you plan to leverage on the premier educational and research institutions located in West Bengal to emerge as a leading State in the area of chip design, embedded software industry and areas related to very large scale integration (VLSI) technologies? DIT&E through WBEIDC is operationalizing two electronic manufacturing clusters in Naihati and Falta. Additionally hardware parks are coming up in Kalyani and Sonarpur. We foresee deep linkages including tie ups in the context of information exchange, knowledge transfer, incubation support between DIT&E/WBEIDC and premier education institutes like IIT Kharagpur, IIEST Shibpur, Jadavpur University and others. It is imperative that premier education institutions be on board as key stakeholders so that the
knowledge enshrined in such institutes may be used to facilitate the growth of VSLI and Electronic System Design and Manufacturing.
Do you think that boosting R&D activities in IT sector by giving reimbursement for patent filing in SME sectors will lead by example for other states of the country?
We feel that the ICT Incentive Scheme 2012 which permits reimbursement for patent filing is an important step in building an entrepreneurial climate in the state. This will encourage development of intellectual property in the state. We feel this is a strong pioneering move that will soon be popularized across other states.
How do you create an investor friendly climate in the State for increasing West Bengal’s share in production of electronic goods to 15% by value by 2020? A mix of initiatives have been structured to create an investor friendly climate. The development of two hardware parks at Sonarpur and Kalyani are expected to act as catalysts for the growth of the ESDM (Electronic System Design and Manufacturing) sector and develop the ecosystem for hardware manufacturing in West Bengal. The development of two Electronic Manufacturing Clusters one at Naihati and the other at Falta will be providing suitable facilities for attracting investments. IT Parks established by Webel bring best in class infrastructure in terms of state of the art office spaces, internet bandwidth and support facilities at a reasonable cost to consumers. IT Parks have enabled entrepreneurs from remote places in West Bengal including Tier II and Tier II cities to set up startups and augment employment in the state. Additionally fiscal incentives will be provided as part of the ICT Incentive Policy.
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ARTICLE
IT Industry Needs To Be More Creative For UX and UI in Modern Digital World
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ith the advent of smartphones, business goals are increasingly being accomplished through a digital website or mobile app to engage better with customers and clients. So what are the new parameters missing in the Indian IT industry? 18 I May 2017
We are good in creating websites and mobile apps but we overlook how these products can better serve the consumers. This is where User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) concept is drilled in. But instead of talking about these two elements as two entities, we should focus it more as UI+UX = Creative design. So what are the requirements? Just like a picture can speak a thousand words, a well-developed user interface and user experience can make or break your product. If a product is not good or your UI is leading to unhappy customers then your product will not get
recommended. That’s why it’s imperative to understand how to design a product that is efficient and easy to use. People are looking for the best in everything; this aspiration has to be accepted! From a marketing perspective, a good UX leads to better interaction between a business and customers who can provide feedback on further improvement. An excellent user experience means your digital product is easy to use which increases the stickiness: fun, unique ad inviting. This is what many web development and design fail to adhere to. Many researches into this has shown that better UX has lead to better financial performance. They experience higher revenues due to better retention, less price sensitivity, greater wallet share and positive word-of-mouth. In turn they lower expenses with reduced acquisition costs, fewer complaints, and fewer customer service requirements. This blends in with user interface (UI). It’s no secret that a good designed product will sell. So the hallmarks of a good UI are having a consistent theme from screen to screen which includes graphics and animations, uniform layout and ease of use. Consistency is key element as it builds credibility and keeps users happy. This structure is also true for developing mobile apps. Understanding why your business and customers would use your product and what you as a business want them to do is half the challenge when it comes to good user experience and user interface. The rest will fall into place with constant user feedback and implementing it.
Ankit Aggarwal is now a full-time entrepreneur and a part-time ‘Wordpress Evangelist’. Apart from handling all the madness at EGlogics( http://www.eglogics. com) as the CEO and CTO , he also works on his ‘secret’ communications project for students and academic institutions. www.governancetoday.co.in
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GOVERNANCE WATCH
GSLV Successfully Launches South Asia Satellite India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F09) successfully launched the 2230 kg South |Asia Satellite (GSAT-9) into its planned Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO. The latest launch of GSLV was its eleventh and took place from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota, the spaceport of India. This is the fourth consecutive success achieved by GSLV carrying indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage. In its oval shaped GTO, the South Asia Satellite is now orbiting the Earth with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 169 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 36,105 km with an orbital inclination of 20.65 deg with respect to the equator.
Cabinet approves New Central Sector Scheme – SAMPADA (Scheme for AgroMarine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters)
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for re-structuring the schemes of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) under new Central Sector Scheme – SAMPADA (Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters) for the period 2016-20 coterminous with the 14th Finance Commission cycle. SAMPADA with an allocation of Rs. 6,000 crore is expected to leverage investment of Rs. 31,400 crore, handling of 334 lakh MT agro-produce valuing Rs. 1,04,125 crore, benefit 20 lakh farmers and generate 5,30,500 direct/ indirect employment in the country by the year 2019-20. The objective of SAMPADA is to supplement agriculture, modernize processing and decrease agri-waste. The implementation of SAMPADA will result in creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet. It will not only provide a big boost to the growth of food processing sector in the country but also help in providing better prices to farmers & is a big step towards doubling of farmers’ income. It will create huge employment opportunities especially in the rural areas. It will also help in reducing wastage of agricultural produce, increasing the processing level, availability of safe & convenient processed foods at affordable price to consumers & enhancing the export of the processed foods.
Over 21 lakh LED Street Lights installed across India under Street Light National Programme Under the Government of India’s Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) over 21 lakh conventional street lights have been replaced with LED street lights across the country. The newly installed lights have led to brighter streets, feeling of enhanced safety and security among the residents and motorists. Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a Public Energy Services Company under the administration of Ministry of Power, Government of India (GoI) is the implementing agency for SLNP. EESL is also implementing a special heritage lighting project, wherein 1000 LED street lights have been installed in Kashi region of Uttar Pradesh, and another 4000 lights are being installed. 20 I May 2017
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Health Ministry launches ‘Test and Treat Policy for HIV’ “As soon as a person is tested and found to be positive, he will be provided with ART irrespective of his CD count or clinical stage.” This was stated by the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Shri J P Nadda at the launch of the ‘Test and Treat Policy for HIV’, here today. “This will be for all men, women, adolescents and children who have been diagnosed as a HIV + case. This will improve longevity, improve quality of life of those infected & will save them from many opportunistic infections, especially TB,” Shri Nadda further added. The Health Minister also announced that India will soon develop a National Strategic Plan for HIV for next seven years & these seven years will be crucial for ending AIDS. Laying stress on addressing stigma & discrimination towards HIV, Shri Nadda said that ending stigma is of paramount importance to enable persons infected & affected with HIV access health services. “To facilitate reduction in stigma & discrimination, the long pending HIV/AIDS Act has been passed very recently, which is an historical step. Very few countries globally have such a law to protect rights of people infected with HIV,” Shri Nadda elaborated. The Health Minister further informed that the key provisions of HIV/AIDS Bill are prohibition of discrimination, informed consent, non-disclosure of HIV status, anti-retroviral therapy & opportunistic infection management, protection of property of affected children, safe working environment and appointment of ombudsman in every State.
Cabinet approves Vijayawada Airport as International Airport The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for the declaration of Vijayawada Airport as International Airport, as per the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. The proposal will add to improved connectivity to the State capital. It will provide wider choice of services at competitive costs to the air-travelers and give a boost to domestic/international tourism and socio-economic development of Andhra Pradesh by bringing in international passengers and cargo traffic.
Centre of Excellence on IT for Industry 4.0 National Productivity Council had submitted a proposal to Asian Productivity Organization (APO) for establishment of Centre of Excellence on IT for Industry 4.0 (CoE: IT for I4.0). In this context, in the Governing Body Meeting of APO in Tehran on April 10, 2017, one of the agenda items was to grant approval of the proposal submitted by NPC on “CoE on IT for I4.0”. As a part of recognition of IT capacity of India, NPC proposal has been approved by GB of APO. This will ensure a number of benefits such as; Creation of roadmap for implementation of Industry 4.0 especially for MSMEs, transfer of knowledge and expertise from other 19 Member countries, one stop destination on IT for Industry 4.0 for Indian industries especially for MSMEs, capacity building, support to start-ups, etc. The total cost component of CoE will be around Rs. 4.15 Crore for a period of five years. NPC’s share in the total cost will be around Rs.1.05 Crore and that of APO will be Rs. 3.10 Crore. The approved CoE is proposed to be launched formally in the second week of June 2017. There will be participation from the various Industries, Industry Associations, and Experts. A detailed roadmap will be prepared to take forward the activities of CoE. www.governancetoday.co.in May 2017 I 21
GOVERNANCE WATCH
PM launches UDAN from Shimla
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today launched UDAN – the Regional Connectivity Scheme for civil aviation, from Shimla Airport. Under this scheme, flights have begun today from Shimla, Nanded and Kadapa Airports. The Prime Minister also unveiled an e-plaque to mark the laying of Foundation Stone of a Hydro Engineering College at Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh. He said the lives of the middle class are being transformed, and their aspirations are rising. He said that given the right chance, they can do wonders. He added that the aviation sector in India is filled with opportunity. Mentioning the scheme name – UDAN – Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik – he said that aviation was once considered the domain of a select few, but that has changed now. He said the new civil aviation policy marks an opportunity to cater to the aspirations of the people of India. He said Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are becoming growth engines, and enhanced aviation connectivity between them will be beneficial. He said the UDAN scheme will help the tourism sector in Himachal Pradesh
Urban Housing Mission now set for implementation in NCT of Delhi Issues that held back implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban)-Housing for All Mission in the National Capital Territory of Delhi for 22 months have now been resolved. UnionMinister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu approved signing of Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between the Ministry of HUPA, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) enabling implementation of the Urban Housing Mission in NCT of Delhi. The issues were resolved at a meeting taken by the Lt.Governor of Delhi Shri Anil Baijal last month. Keeping in view the uniqueness of jurisdiction of land ownership in NCT of Delhi, it was decided in the meeting taken by LG of Delhi that DDA and DUSIB will sign the Memorandum of Agreement as required under the PMAY(Urban) Mission Guidelines. As per the Guidelines, Government of NCT of Delhi was to sign the MoA. However, Minister of HUPA Shri Venkaiah Naidu now granted exemption in this regard. The MoA requires the State Governments to commit to comply with six mandatory conditions including amending the Master Plan earmarking land for affordable housing, removing requirement of separate Non-Agricultural Permission if the land falls in the residential zone, putting in place a single window time bound clearance system for layout approvals and building permissions, providing additional FAR/FSI/ Transferable Development Rights and relaxing density norms for slum redevelopment and low cost housing etc.
Remaining 4141 Villages to be Electrified by 2018, says Shri Piyush Goyal While delivering the inaugural address at the State Power Ministers’ Conference in the national capital, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Shri Piyush Goyal stressed that this conference is an ‘Outcome focused gathering’ while reiterating the resolution taken in last State Power Ministers’ conference in Vadodara to provide electricity to every household in the country by December 2018. He also noted that the challenges in achieving 24x7 Power for all are not over yet and in the next 3-4 months, a final push is needed to electrify remaining 4141 un-electrified villages in the country. 22 I May 2017
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Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra to be set up by Swachh Bharat Mission at Gandhi Smriti & Darshan Samiti, Rajghat “Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra” will be set up by “Swachh Bharat Mission” Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation at Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti (GSDS), Rajghat by “Swachh Bharat Mission” Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the vision of Prime Minister during the centenary year of Champaran Satyagraha and the Ministry of Culture is considering to provide space for the purpose..Union Minister for Culture and Tourism (independent charge) Dr Mahesh Sharma informed that to create awareness on “Swachhata”, Ministry of Culture has developed “e-guide (Audio-Visual) App e3.eguide.net. in” to create awareness for the tourists visiting National Museum.Addressing on the occasion, Union Minister for Rural Development, Pachayati Raj and Drinking Water & Sanitation Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that that Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is not only the top priority of the Government but it has become a national mission for the people of India and positive results are pouring in from every nook and corner of the country. He said that since the launch of SBM on 2nd October, 2014, till date more than 4 crore individual household latrines have been built and one lakh, 94,000 villages and 135 districts have become Open Defecation Free, ODF. He added that apart from Sikkim, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh which are ODF Sates, 6 to 7 more States will soon declare them ODF as the work is going on a rapid scale.
Renowned Film Director & Actor K Viswanath to be conferred DadasahebPhalke Award for the year 2016 Film Director & Actor Shri Kasinadhuni Viswanath is to be conferred the 48thDadasahebPhalke Award for the year 2016.. The Award is conferred by the Government of India for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian Cinema. The Award consists of a Swarn Kamal (Golden Lotus), a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakhs and a shawl.
Centre giving priority to agriculture sector by allocating maximum funds for the farmers’ welfare: Union Agriculture Minister The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh said that the central government is giving priority to agriculture sector by allocating maximum funds for the farmers’ welfare. Shri Singh said that the government aims at increasing the agriculture production, determining productivity and boosting dairy/ livestock/fisheries while promoting agriculture education, research and extension organisation. It was stated by Shri Singh while inaugurating two-day National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign-2017 in the national capital. Shri Singh said that to achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of doubling farmers’ income by 2022, Agriculture Ministry has written letters to the state governments urging them to strategise and work on it. Agriculture Minister said that while strategising, the state governments will have to closely monitor agricultural production and agricultural products processing activities. www.governancetoday.co.in May 2017 I 23
GOVERNANCE WATCH
Cabinet approves cooperation between Indian and Japan on Railway Safety The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval to the signing the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with Japan on Railway Safety. The MoC has already been signed in February, 2017. The MoC would provide a platform for Indian Railways to interact and share the latest development and knowledge in the railway sector. The cooperation under this MoC will involve: a. Dispatch of experts b. Training of core staff in Japan c. Sharing of information and best practices d. Facilitating the participation of other institutions, organization and ministries, including contribution of National Traffic Safety and Environmental Laboratory of Japan to Research Design and Standards Organisation, Ministry of Railway, Government of India (RDSO), subject to their respective national laws and regulations where appropriate and possible.
India is a natural destination for markets and business opportunities for Poland: Vice President The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that Polish business looks for markets and business opportunities beyond Europe, India is a natural destination. He was addressing the Business Summit at the Ministry of Economic Development, Poland. The Vice President said that India’s 29 states now offer a climate of both cooperative and competitive federalism, with quantum improvements in investment conditions in different Indian states. The new policy initiatives taken by the Union government, such as Make in India, Skill India and Digital India schemes, present new business opportunities for Polish companies in areas such as defence, food processing, coal and mining, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and renewable energy.
Cabinet approves MoU on Urea manufacturing Plant in Malaysia The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval to the signing of Memorandum of Understanding with Malaysia on development of a Urea and Ammonia manufacturing plant in Malaysia with off take to India and/or off take of existing surplus Urea from Malaysia to India. The project is expected to cost US$ 2.1 billion with capacity to produce 2.4 million tonnes of Urea and 1.35 million tonnes of Ammonia per annum and dedicated supplying to Indian market. The signing of MoU will ensure consistent supply of Urea and Ammonia to cater the need of the country at a lower price, if agreed to by both the participants. 24 I May 2017
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Cabinet approves signing of the Protocol amending the Convention between India and Portugal for avoidance of Double Taxation The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its nod for signing of a Protocol amending the Convention between India and Portugal for avoidance of double taxation. The Protocol will also ensure prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. Once the Protocol enters into force, both India and Portugal would be able to exchange tax related information, which will help tax authorities of both countries to curb tax evasion.
India lauds the enterprise and achievements of the people of Nepal, says President Welcoming the President of Nepal, Mrs Bidya Devi Bhandari, the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee said that he was delighted to have this opportunity to receive her as the first woman President of the country. He said her choice of India for the first State Visit abroad is appreciated. The President fondly remembered his recent visit to Nepal and meetings with her last year. He thanked the President of Nepal and the Government and people of Nepal for the overwhelming warmth and gracious hospitality accorded during his visit.
Cabinet approves signing of MoU between India and Spain on cooperation in the sphere of Civil Aviation The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in the sphere of Civil Aviation between India and Spain. The MoU signifies an important landmark in the civil aviation relations between India and Spain, and has the potential to spur greater trade, investment, tourism and cultural exchanges between the two countries.
Real Estate Act comes into force; A new era begins
Ending the nine year long wait, regulation of real estate sector involving over 76,000 companies across the county becomes a reality from tomorrow i.e May 1, 2017 with the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act,2016 coming into force. With all the 92 Sections of the Act coming into effect, developers shall get all the ongoing projects that have not received Completion Certificate and the new projects registered with Regulatory Authorities within three months i.e by July end. This enables the buyers to enforce their rights and seek redressal of grievances after such registration. As per industry information, between 2011 and 2015, real estate projects in the range of 2,349 to 4,488 projects were launched every year amounting to a total of 17,526 projects with a total investment of Rs.13.70 lakh cr in 27 cities including 15 State capitals. About ten lakh buyers invest every year with the dream of owning a house. www.governancetoday.co.in May 2017 I 25
ARTICLE
FinTech - State of Art Dr. Subir Saha, CEO, Yottolabs
N
ot many times, the last benchers get an opportunity to be in the first bench. But fortunately for India, the technology-last-bencher of sixties, have already catapult itself into the country with most Mobile Internet Users than the landline broadband. We have more mobile than America has and we are doing much more transactions from our mobile than American’s doing today. What a transformation! This obvious transformation which we all have the proof in this room as most of us in this room are likely to just have a What’s App or Email or Skype with our family or colleagues or 26 I May 2017
even just probably transferring few thousands bucks from our account to our Mom’s in the rural Malda village for her to pay for her monthly grocery bills. This is in stark contrast when in our graduation class, we had to bunk a class to withdraw money from the fearful SBI branches. Going to movie was another exercise that used to demand the role of the most notorious man in the class who otherwise had to keep his silence in the fear that he had hardly any clue what was going in the class. He had the right skill to buy the ticket in “Black”. This is Human Civilisation 1.0. And today, do you remember when you did visit your bank
to withdraw money? How that torture has dramatically reduced? Who did sober this DhotiCladded gentlemen - Union or Government? And what happened to those poor “Black” ticket sellers? Why they vanished? Who killed them? How many police did we put to destroy that nexus? The answers to this is hidden in our common eyes - it is the INTERNET and nothing else - not the govt or the union nor the citizen’s movement. And this tremendous power of INTERNET drives from its fundamental nature of connecting anyone with anyone and GETTING RID OF ALL THE MIDDLEMEN. Albeit it took good www.governancetoday.co.in
spirit of every stakeholders to adopt the INTERNET. So that is why we have those “Black” ticket sellers are gone as we and the movie hall is directly connected and that is exactly how the “Dhoti-Cladded” clarks had been sobered as they realised they have lost their venom as people can go to ATM to withdraw cash or even can use their own phone to pay at any point and and any place! Ladies and Gentlemen, we the authors take pride as Indian to see our rocket reached the Moon and the Mars. What a dream come true! We are now at the same technology league that only few other country have done. Ladies and Gentleman, we do take much more pride as Indian in seeing that today our Mobile Payment Technology is just not much ahead but the MOST AHEAD. With 1.3 Billion’s market now India is ready to take this next generation mobile payment technology to the world. IT and Software has transformed this country in last few decades as “Developed Country” [disagree? Just note that England cricketers are competing to play in IPL and their ladies are
coming to entertain us!]. Albeit we had taken advantage of our low cost economy to become the largest Software Service destination for the world. And today we are transforming into the Best Software Product source (not destination) for the world. The wheel of fortune is turning in our favour! But the most exciting transformation today is the Mobile Payment technologies enabled by the so called UPI - the Unified Payment Interface that National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) has initiated few months back and that has catapult India into the GLOBAL FIRST of payment technology. The concept of UPI Is that any entity having account in any one bank will be able to pay to another entity in any other bank in India. As India has, in comparison to most developed countries, the highest number of independent banks and hence unified payment was not an easy to achieve feet. You must note that even with fewer banks, America could not have offered seamless unified payment for its citizen. It took visionaries in the Government to visualise the role of NPCI much like what the country
did with NSDL in the context of Dematerialisation of Stock Market two decades back. Albeit UPI could not even be possible had we not have this billion+ mobile phone penetration and had not the Internet so widely available. But the government that we continuously moan about being “good for nothing”, the same government could form NPCI and could even offer the BHIM App or mandate all BANKS to offer UPI App is nothing less than revolutionary. Albeit this not 1st revolution, as we have seen such few more revolution in last few decades. One more such revolution that we have seen is Adhaar by UIDAI (Unique Identity Authority of India). Despite highest number of independent banks, India yet has one of the lowest number of bank/ ATM per capita and the situation is much worse in rural areas. Albeit the vast “unbanked” population is not just due to lag of bank but also due to cost of banking (cost of opening account) and affection of citizen and business towards cash. So it was essential for Government to bring those “unbanked” population into the
www.governancetoday.co.in May 2017 I 27
banking network and that was done through the “Jan Dhan” initiatives. So the launch of UPI was planned accordingly and very timely. We know that you are now excitedly waiting to hear the “Demon” word and we are sorry to shun the topic as for us as technologist, we do believe that Digitisation is the only way forward and we do not prescribe or subscribe to any specific model of encouraging citizens and business to adopt new technology. Opponents of financial digitisation brings us back to the old memories of opposition against “Computerisation of Banks” in seventies. It has proven times and again that going back is not a solution nor is to create islands of our own. Let’s now revisit the “Get Rid of Middlemen (GRoM)” power of Internet. We have already said the vanishing “Black” ticket sellers in the movie halls. This was possible as the consumer could buy the tickets directly from the hall without even being there and hence making the role of this middlemen redundant. In the same manner all those agents who used to crowd the railway reservation counters gone. Gone 28 I May 2017
are the middlemen in college admission or the agents asking 2% of property value for connecting barely connecting the owner with you. The list is too long to continue… In essence what Internet is doing is connecting directly the 2 parties who want to do some transactions… any kind of transactions. In more social terms we can say that : 1. “Hey, I have this thing to offer, would you like to buy it?” the Seller driven model 2. “Hey, I am looking for this, do you have this?” - the buyer
driven model. May be we can terms this with a nice name - “Social Capitalisation” [or “Sharing Economy”] where everybody has something to offer for someone else to consume. Be it labor, skill, love, hate or products. And some this transformations already widely known to us… OYO Rooms, OLA, Practo, Makemytrip, Bharatmatrimony, Flipkart…….. And as you can rightly visualise that all these transaction were possible to happen because the required payment technologies evolved equally - Card payments, Payment Gateways, Online www.governancetoday.co.in
Banking, Mobile Wallets and then finally UPI. If you look at all these platforms they do offer few major value additions. 1st and foremost the discovery capability which leads to connection of the 2 parties of the transactions and 2nd the payment enablement. And for products oriented platform like Flipkart they also do enablement of physical delivery of the goods. As we already know that the pervasiveness of this platforms are huge yet mostly limited to Urban regions and that is mostly because of the limitation of the payment technologies and logistics required for product oriented platforms. The next phase of the growth of these platforms will need enrolment of the Next Billions into these platform who have no card, no online bank and hence cash continues to be sole model of transactions. While “COD” works for physical product platforms like Flipkart etc, it utterly limits growth of platforms where no physical goods are exchanged like Practo or Makemytrip. And also “COD” has huge cost due to higher risk and hence must be reduced for the next level of growth.
We visualise that UPI has arrived just in time when without it these platforms would stop reaching to the Next Billion. We envision that UPI can unleash a new revolution where a farmer in remote Sundarban can buy life saving medicine online or sell his anti-carcinogenic rice directly to someone in Bangalore and get paid instantly. That is Human Civilisation 2.0. UPI have enabled this even today. Why we will not consider these platform as “Middlemen”? While indeed they are connecting the buyers and the sellers with much better efficiency than the past model of middleman, yet there is clear equivalency that indeed all these platforms are for sure nothing but a huge “SuperMiddlemen”. If we truly believe in this POWER of INTERNET in GRoM, we must agree that at some point in future all these “Super Middlemen” must vanish or have much reduced clout or needs. In that future of ours, we all are digitised ourselves and our future search engine connect any person in one country with something to offer with another person in another country who is interested in that offer and
allow them to close the transaction in blink of an eye. That is Human Civilisation 3.0. What will the currency of that boundary-less, border-less world? One of the major challenge of the current digital payment technologies is that there is no way we have privacy of the transacting parties which cash had been providing. As we all know that lag of such privacy in digital payment is tantamount to same risk as compromise of freedom of speech for the future of globalised world of Human Civilisation 3.0. The transition to 3.0 from 2.0 is imminent even if the border continue to exist, transaction will certainly be cross-border and we are lucky that such payment technology has arrived and maturing very fast to be ready for 3.0 days. Here comes the Cryptocurrency - the BLOCK -CHAIN technologies with their most popular baby BITCOIN. In that world of Cryptocurrency, our current Banks are redundant. Probably in the true spirit of the Internet, the last Middleman in the transaction which has been adding almost 3% to 5% overhead on economy has to go….. Civilisation 3.0 arrived. It is 2025.
www.governancetoday.co.in May 2017 I 29
CLOUD
India’s public cloud market gains momentum
H
igh rates of spending on cloud services in India to continue through 2019 when the market is expected to reach USD1.9 billion, according to a report. The revenues are expected to be driven by high growth rates in key market segments like cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS), cloud management and security services and software as a service (SaaS), it added. “The forecast for cloud services vary based on local factors, including supply and demand within the local markets, countryspecific economic conditions, currency exchange rates, and other global market factors,” said the report. The explosive growth of IaaS and SaaS in the India market is 30 I May 2017
an indication that enterprises in India are moving away from building their own on-premises infrastructure, as well as migrating from the traditional software licensing model, to a SaaS model served up by cloud providers. The public cloud services market in India is projected to grow 38 percent in 2017 to total USD1.81 billion. The highest growth will continue to be driven by infrastructure as a service (IaaS) which is projected to grow at 49.2 percent in 2017, followed by 33 percent in software as a service (SaaS) and 32.1 percent in platform as a service (PaaS). The increase of SaaS and PaaS are indicators that the migration of application and workloads from on premises data centers to the cloud, as well as the development of cloud ready and cloud native
applications, are fueling the growth in the cloud space. According to experts, this has been predicted for a while, and the momentum continues to sustain in 2017 eventually plateauing through 2020 as the market further matures. As buyers intensify and increase IaaS activity, they will be getting more for their investment: ongoing enhancement of performance, more memory, more storage for the same money (which will drive increases in consumptions) and increased automation in traditional IT outsourcing (ITO) delivery. The major players holding the global cloud computing market share include Amazon, Akamai Technologies, Hewlett Packet, VMWare, Yahoo, CA Technologies, Caspio and Dell among others. Major competitors for PaaS www.governancetoday.co.in
India Public Cloud Services Forecast (Millions of U.S. Dollars) 2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Cloud Business Process Services (BPaaS)
88
113
145
186
236
Cloud Application Services (SaaS)
396
527
675
824
1006
Cloud Application Infrastructure Services (PaaS)
107
141
182
230
287
Cloud System Infrastructure Services (IaaS)
486
725
1051
1473
2028
Cloud Management and Security Services
116
152
190
234
281
Cloud Advertising
123
158
189
223
266
Total
1,316
1,817
2,432
3,169
4,104
Source: Gartner Report, 2017
include Microsoft, Google and IBM among others. Key SaaS players are Google, Cisco, Demandware, Adobe and Hotmail among others. IaaS providers include Akamai, Joyent and GoGrid among others. Despite optimistic predictions and clear interest from global players, a variety of challenges have shown that India’s cloud potential continues to persist. These have contributed to a situation in which, regardless of significant awareness, most large Indian enterprises host less than 15 percent of their ICT processes in the cloud. For example, while analysts have long predicted a boom in the country’s cloud market, in 2013, growth slowed likely due to a flagging currency (which effectively shrank budgets
for foreign ICT services) and pregeneral election reluctance among government departments to make new ICT-related investments. A lingering problem is the country’s insufficient Internet infrastructure (e.g., bandwidth constraints and fiber optic weaknesses) and the inconsistency of its power supply in some areas. According to the United Nations, India meets the minimum Internet infrastructure standards necessary for only basic cloud services, with bottlenecks impacting download speeds, upload speeds and network latency. Further, the World Economic Forum ranked India a dismal 113 out of 142 countries with the availability of international Internet bandwidth, a measure
of the amount of Internet traffic that can be exchanged between countries. Various other rankings and indicators focused on Internet penetration, cloud readiness and other factors confirm a sub optimal state of affairs. When combined with ongoing shortfalls in the steady electricity supply needed for data center operations, it is likely to continue to limit cloud growth. Fortunately, the government is acutely aware of these challenges. India’s ambitious Digital India programme aims to address some of the weaknesses in its infrastructure, though it remains to be seen if this will lead to significant improvements. Moreover, the interest expressed by major cloud providers in establishing Indian data centers
www.governancetoday.co.in May 2017 I 31
suggests that their electrical infrastructure is either improving or they are becoming better at managing it. For example, some firms have implemented redundant power equipment setups and even rooftop solar panels to ensure an adequate supply of electricity. Another possible step to curb the challenges is placing data centers in areas with more consistent power capacity and better Internet infrastructure. Another key issue is concerned with security, especially around the use of foreign providers. While there is great interest in cloud based solutions, apprehensions remain about whether cloud services (and particularly public cloud) can ensure adequate protection of sensitive information. Industry participants report that current adoption focuses on noncritical business workloads and SaaS applications, which are unlikely to host particularly sensitive data, although “people are not as hesitant as they used to be” when it comes to cloud deployments overall, according to one industry expert. In some sectors with traditionally large IT budgets 32 I May 2017
(e.g., financial services and telecommunications), an especially strong emphasis on data security or regulations mandating domestic storage of customer data limits interest in cloud usage, especially with a foreign provider. India also presents an ambiguous policy setting for cloud services. Some elements of the environment remain undefined (e.g., India lacks a formal data breach notification rule), while others are clearly positive (e.g., there do not appear to be tariffs on software downloads) and some negative (e.g., government procurement, which though a major source of IT spending is reportedly a complex, multifarious process). Citing the need to monitor domestic Internet traffic for national security reasons, concerns over foreign surveillance and a desire to ensure that data is subject to local laws, the Indian government has for years supported the idea of foreign firms storing data within the country. One clear example of the push for data localization is in the Department of Telecommunications’ study from January 2015, “National
Telecom M2M Roadmap” (referring to machine to machine data transmission of the sort expected to increase substantially as Internet-connected devices become more common). The guidelines call for “all M2M gateways and application servers” used in providing services to individuals in India to be physically located within the country. Although, cloud vendors would not be the main focus of this provision, its inclusion points to the acceptance of data localization policies among some in the Indian government.
Conclusion With new dispensation at the centre to ensure that Internet companies adhere to Indian laws and cultural expectations, Indian ISPs have cited privacy concerns in lobbying the government to require data localization. But the government, it seems likely to introduce those additional rules. These measures would address policies on domestic data routing proposed by India in other forums and with the Modi government’s recent moves to exert greater control over online content. www.governancetoday.co.in
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STORY
I
n India Computerization and its Application started gathering momentum from mid of 90’s decade. West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation - Webel, a nodal agency of Department of IT&E, Government of West Bengal foreseen the need of computer literate manpower to support the upcoming proliferation of computerization all over the industries and in almost all facets of life and human activities. Webel management decided to address the need of computer literacy and started Education and Training initiative way back in the year 1993 from its office in Park Street, Kolkata. The computerization and its applications opened up enormous opportunity and IT Industry started blooming up and created opportunity for employment. Webel introduced training courses on Computer Fundamentals, Basic Electronics, 34 I May 2017
MS DOS, Wordstar, Lotus123, DBaseIII Plus and on programming languages viz BASIC, FORTRAN,C, UNIX, etc. also, on System Design and Analysis, Microprocessors & PC Maintenance. Subsequently Webel opened another centre at Asansol in the same year. The demand for Training on computer literacy started swelling up. Webel Management decided to spread the Education and Training on computer literacy to meet the aspiration of urban & rural youth and opened training centres up to the District level and introduced additional courses as per the industry need. By the year 2002, Webel had established around 46 nos. of authorized training centres in various districts of West Bengal and in Kolkata. The demand for Computer Training continued to be increasing and accordingly Webel has established more training
centres at other districts and locations. Today we have around 150 nos. of training centres spread across the state. We are imparting training to more than 20,000 candidates in each year on various basic and advance courses on IT H/W & Networking, S/W Programs and on Multimedia & Animation. Also conduct project training to the Engineering students to make them ready for professional placements on completion of Graduation. Specialized courses are conducted on Industrial Automation, Embedded systems, GIS Software & Systems, VFX and Motion Graphics etc Webel is one of very few organizations in the country, in the Education and Training activity for more than two decades. Webel Training centres support living of around 500 families. Webel is the CISCO Networking Academy and RedHat Training partner since 2002. We conduct www.governancetoday.co.in
CISCO certified Network Associate (CCNA) programme and host of RedHat Training courses viz RedHat Certifed Engineer (RHCE), RedHat Storage, Open Stack cloud platform, Virtualisation and all other RedHat certifications for individuals and corporate clients. Webel is the RedHat authorized global exam centre at its premise since 2002. We also conduct customized training programs as per the requirements of clients/ student. Very soon we are planning start courses on Big Data, Data Analytics, Cyber Security & IOT. Webel has imparted training to around 8000 participants from around 35 nos. of Government and PSU Clients. Webel is considered to be one of the preferred Training Provider to participate in State and National level Skill development programs. Webel has imparted training to the beneficiaries of more than ten (10) nos. of different State level and National level Government sponsored skill development programs. Many of these National level skill development training programs are conducted in other states also viz Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh etc. Webel delivers Skill development training to unemployed Registered Job seekers in association with Directorate of Employment, Department of Labour, GoWB, since 2007, to unemployed youths under municipality area in association with State Urban Development Agency, Department of Municipality Affairs, GoWB, since 2013, to minorities candidates through Minorities Finance & Development Corporation, GoWB, to Women candidates under Swawlamban project, under Women Development undertaking, GoWB, to local residents of Sunderban under Department of Sunderban Affairs, GoWB, to SC/ST candidates under SCST Development Finance Corporation, GoWB, to unemployed youths under Department of SHG&SE,
GoWB. Webel also deliver Skill development training to SC,OBC & PwD candidates under Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, GoI, to OBC candidates under National Backward class Finance & Development corporation, GoI, to PwD candidates under National Institute for the Orthopedically Handicapped, GoI, to SC candidates under National Scheduled caste Finance & Development Corporation, GoI, to the families of Safai Karmacharis under National Safai Karmachari Finance & Development corporation, GoI, to PwD candidates under National Handicapped Finance & Development Corporation etc. The Education & Training unit of Webel is entrusted as Project Implementation and Monitoring Agency by School Education Department, Government of West Bengal for ICT@School Project for more than 2000 schools, ICT project to 3586 schools and introduction of Virtual classroom in 2000 educational Institutions in West Bengal.
We wish to bring out some of our observations regarding Skill development training initiatives in India. 1. Different segment of our youth, according to their academic competency, financial strata, has different level of aspirations which we need to recognize and measure. 2. At present in our country we have conventional method of learning in colleges, Universities & Institutes and also non conventional method of learning in different Training Institutes. In all these methods the theory and application based practical content varies. Both these kind of learning has their merits. Theory and practical orientations are complementary to each other and to be combined in right proportion specific to each
subject and courses. 3. Skill is more about ‘know how’ on a particular activity/ operation and conventional learning is more about ‘know why’ on a broad base about the subject. Most of the candidates with lower academic competency and financial strata choose skill building for self actualization and earning. 4. Unfortunately skill is short lived and has a shelf life, becomes obsolete with change in technology/process/equipment unless these skills are adequately backed up with theoretical knowledge and ‘know why’. Opportunity for re-skilling and up-skilling is essential. 5. The entire range of skilling requirement is classified into different skill sectors. Under each sectors the corresponding Sector Skill Council has identified Qualification Packs (QP) for each job role. Each QP comprising a set of National Occupation Standards (NOS) which defines performance criteria, knowledge and skills pertaining to a job role. At present there are more than 30 nos. of skill sectors identified with around 6750 nos. of National Occupation standards (NOS) attached to around 1400 nos. of QPs defining Job roles. 6. Qualification Packs (QPs) for a particular job role needs periodic review for any change requirement for right mix of theoretical and practical knowledge , particularly the technology sectors where changes in technology/ Equipment/ process happen very fast. 7. National Occupation Standard (NOS) based skill building prepares a candidate for a specific job role. Change in technology and process may bring challenge to eliminate the particular job role. QP & NOS requires to be kept broad based to overcome such challenges.
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candidate may be allowed to cover up the attendance by extra classes in extended period. With the introduction of third party assessment and certification, minimum mandatory attendance criteria for the candidates may be relaxed. This will allow more candidates to be eligible for assessment and thereby help both candidate and training provider.
Training Delivery:
There are Skill Development programs sponsored by various Government Departments, as per Common Norms of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Perspective of various stake holders with respect to Eligibility, Mobilization, Stipend distribution, Attendance, Training Delivery, Assessment, Certification and Placements are captured for consideration in policy making.
Eligibility of candidates:
Certifying authorities for various eligibility related documents of candidates such as income certificate etc to be defined in the Policy document. There is a possibility that a candidate is not gainfully employed after completion of a training program. The candidate may be allowed to take admission to another course in any other skill sector after a minimum period of two years irrespective of completion of previous course.
Mobilization of Candidates:
State Government departments may be requested by the Sponsoring agency to take part and extend help in mobilization of candidates by providing database of target group. Web portal may be developed for enrolment of candidates for target group. Training providers may be given the access to such candidates for selection. In addition to the 36 I May 2017
Training providers, sponsoring agency also to participate in propagating awareness about the training programme.
Stipend to the candidates:
Stipend and course fee is paid only for the successful candidates. If stipend to the candidates is distributed during the course period and some of them are not finally eligible for assessment due to shortfall from minimum mandatory attendance and also some of them do not become successful after assessment, then the stipend amount will be a loss to the Training provider. Hence, either the stipend to be paid to all enrolled candidates or to be paid to the successful candidates on completion of the course.
Attendance of Candidates:
Fully sponsored skill development training programs does not draw desired commitment from the candidates. Since they do not lose anything, the chances of dropouts and irregularity is high. Generally, most of these candidates belongs to lower economic strata, their families prefer them to earn rather than spending for Tiffin and conveyance for attending the training program. In case a candidate falls short of minimum mandatory attendance Criteria due to certain reasons, the
Adequate measures to be put in place to assess the Physical & Technical infrastructure qualified and experienced faculty and has undergone Training of Trainers (ToT). During the course mid-term assessment to be put in place to monitor effectiveness of teaching & learning.
Assessment & Certification:
It is difficult to re-assemble the candidates for assessment after the course is completed. On line Assessment and Certification may be explored. This will enable the candidates to appear for Assessment & Certification without any delay after the course is completed.
Placement:
For fresh candidates/entrants percentage of employment and self employment may be considered for review. The objective of Skill training is capacity building. There are certain skill sectors where percentage of wage employment is very less as compared to self employment. In some skill sectors the employment opportunity exists mostly in metro cities. Candidates having below average academic competency undergo these kind of training and thereby wage offered on completion of these courses are not adequate to sustain if placement is in other cities. This does not encourage the candidates to accept such offers. A portal may be developed where the candidate, prospective employer, and training provider can converge to explore the placement opportunity. www.governancetoday.co.in
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INTERVIEW
With Skills Agenda, India to move Upward, Unhindered, Unstopped
Dr Omkar Rai Director General STPI
38 I May 2017
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has been working with distinct focus to promotion of IT/ ITeS exports from the country by providing single window regulatory services under STP and EHTP schemes, plug and play incubation facilities for the start-up companies and young entrepreneurs as well as high speed data communication services for a seamless access for offshore IT/ITeS exports. Dr Omkar Rai in a conversation with Governance Today... www.governancetoday.co.in
Of course. See statutory support means we have strictly regime, warranted policies and special economic zones (SEZs). The SEZs provide world- class infrastructure to small and startup companies for software and hardware exports. The IT and Electronics industries use the SEZ and ISPP (infrastructure service provider policy) and the centre incentivize by creation of infrastructure for the use by IT and Electronic industries. The main services rendered by STPI for the software exporting community are statutory services, data communication services and incubation facilities. There is lot of actions being taken by various ministries. Ministry of Electronics & IT is taking measures like electronic development fund, modified ships, electronic manufacturing clusters, and promoting incubators in ESDM sectors to ease out the things and working for removal of inverted duty structure. We have promotional measures, infrastructural policy in place to take care of the needs of country even in times to come.
Where do you find expression and Greater of software technology parks five year down the line? Do you view India have huge potential in growth of software park than electronic hardware park? STPI has 57 centres, out of which 49 such centres are based in tier-II and tier-III cities. STPI is also taking care of promotional needs, infrastructure needs of the north east states with an objective of a uniform and overall development of IT/ITeS exports across the country. They have not been able to take the benefits of IT
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single window service provider.
A fact that is aptly proven by the stupendous growth in exports of STP units from Rs 52 crore in 1992-93 to more than 3 lakh thousand crore in 2015-16. This fiscal, it will also move ahead and so also in times to come.
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Do you think India have stateof-the-art infrastructure and statutory support aimed at furthering growth of information technology in the country?
revolution So, our focus is to open more and centres in these states. A fact that is aptly proven by the stupendous growth in exports of STP units from Rs 52 crore in 199293 to more than 3 lakh thousand crore in 2015-16. This fiscal, it will also move ahead and also in times to come.
The policy of software technology parks of India is to continuously strive and upgrade total quality performance of all its services in terms of quality culture, quality cost and quality delivery schedule ? Your views on this. We are adhered to the timeframe to monitoring the projects for its users. If the some centres in IT/ITeS and related sectors are exceeding the time-frame, they should think about it. It is out r focus to complete the all projects at our end in stipulated timeline. We promote and administer the EHTP scheme. This is a hundred percent export-oriented scheme, but it has a component of local manufacturing in terms of Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) permissions and guidelines. We are committed to providing quality delievery and quality cost in enhanced manner as a major success of testimony of STPI as
Do you see India’s growing prominence in terms of intellectual capital with several global IT firms setting up their innovation centres in India as fuelling more job creation both direct and indirect? India has moved up the value chain. It started with nearly coding India is certainly a fast growing in IPR and it is the capability of performance that we have, the services were earlier being outsourced to Australia. India is very capable in research and development (R&D centres and technology development centres located in India). India is all set to become an ideal destination as it requires long term vision, the land of laws, and provide conducive atmosphere to IT sector to grow. And thus it would result in minimise the payout wealth creation; plough it back to job creation that would sustain the virtual cycle going on.
How MSMEs could achieve optimum level of skill upgradation and entrepreneurship in the field of IT/ITeS As far as promotion of MSMEs, it is prime focus of us. The industry, the newly growing industry will pluck the benefits of the ecosystem in terms technical know-how of market, market – linkages, component industry and availability of venture capital to say. The government of India has come up with skill programmes. We have moved ahead and I am sure, India will in accelerated manner reach to spot number 2 and finally numero uno in times to come. Right now we are at number 3. India is growing upward unhindered and unstopped. 80 percent of start up from IT sector that is full of talent. we have capability to make india a dream destination to work and move up the ladder.
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TECHNOLOGY & CFO
Technology and the modern CFO The role of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is rapidly evolving in today’s technology and data driven business environment. In such a dynamic scenario it is relevant for CFOs to arm themselves with the latest and greatest technology tools to better deliver customer satisfaction and ultimately drive the enterprise goals. Aninda Chatterjee CFOs can no longer afford to be inward Executive Director (Finance) looking and it has become imperative to West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited. adopt modern information technology (IT) tools.This article looks into how CFOs can leverage information technology toolkits to make better disclosures, decisions and partner the business to derive sustainable growth. 40 I May 2017
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he chief financial officer’s (CFO) role is evolving. It has become more strategy-focused, more value-focused and more future-focused. In today’s dynamic market the CFO needs to think more widely and look deeper at a wider range of issues to evolve a winning game plan. While the CFO may not be principal architect of the corporate strategy, the focus provided by this position on the financial sustainability of the corporate’s future roadmap gives immense perspective to the CEO and the board. The CFO will be particularly focused on creating alignment between the strategies developed for the enterprise and the financial imperatives established for the business. Today’s CFOs are under an incredible amount of stress. There is the constant pressure to adhere to newer regulatory standards and at the same time CFOs are expected to provide strategic insights into business.
The new regulatory changes and evolving accounting standards may not be supported by existing Management of Information System artifacts precipitating the need to quickly evolve new platforms. More often than not the accounting team is still struggling to cope with the last
Figure 1 CFO roles
financial year’s mountain of data when we have a new year rolling in. The role of the CFO is tough and it is getting more challenging day by day even with the Information Technology revolution. On the bright side CFOs may soon be able to access cutting edge technical tools to ease their burden. Investment in financial technology venture firms grew 10% in 2016 to $23.2 billion. These companies are expected to revolutionize the marriage of finance and technology to ultimately empower CFOs with the toolkits to enhance productivity and drive stakeholders’ value. Before we deep dive into how and why CFOs can and should leverage technology let us briefly glance through the typical roles that a CFO must perform. This will help us to better map the digital tools that can be customized to the workflows of a typical CFO. A CFO must first and foremost preserve and nurture stakeholder’s and shareholder’s value in an
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ethical way. He is the ultimate safeguard of the financial position of a company and the guardian of its working capital. Reporting, controls governance in a financial context are the CFO’s prerogative. He is also responsible for return on assets andarchitecting a financing mix within the risk appetite of the company. Lastly but perhaps most importantly the CFO is the finance domain subject matter expert who should groom the talent pool in the finance and accounting teams. Now that we have a clear understanding of the role of a CFO let us analyze the typical challenges that they face. On the internal side, CFOs have increased profitability, earnings and budget targets to meet with scarce resources. Business processes may not be streamlined and teams may be working in silos. This leads to coordination challenges. The existing information technology tools may be legacy systems and probably do not offer adequate decision making insights. On the external side there are new accounting and disclosure standards. There is increased governance and oversight. In light ofour revised understanding of the CFO’s role which has always ranged from a fiduciary one (a custodian 42 I May 2017
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Figure 2 CFO challenges
Investment in financial technology venture firms grew 10% in 2016 to $23.2 billion. These companies are expected to revolutionize the marriage of finance and technology to ultimately empower CFOs with the toolkits to enhance productivity and drive stakeholders’ value. protecting value) to a visionary one (an architect creating value) let us see how they can be empowered by technology. An enterprise resource planning software or a software platform with similar functionality including a robust finance module can empower a CFO considerably. The consensus for integrating finance and technology is a shared one. There is also an understanding within the industry that technology is here to stay. A survey was carried out by CFO Research and an astounding 93% of the senior finance executives surveyed believe that the CFO of the future will need a much stronger technology skill set than is currently required for the job. The first boon of technology is granular reporting. A CFO can have real time data on key financial and business indicesat
his fingertips. Modern big-data algorithms allow business users to crunch data at the most granular level to derive actionable insights. Down to every stock keeping unit, the CFO should have access to the latest data which will ensure that conclusions are data driven and decisions are fact based. It is imperative to useanalytical tools to hasten the speed of reporting and dissemination of information. The second key impact area is automation. The accounting team and finance team will be able to spend more time on strategic projects as they will be freed up from the tedious task of collecting and collating data which will be done by an enterprise wide financial software. Technology also plays a key role in boosting transparency. By using digital tools like Electronic invoicing a company can engage suppliers and vendors in a better way. Big data analytics are a significant tool to help the CFO mine through and discover actionable insights from the stacks of information that most firms possess. Data visualization techniques can be used to present complex information in a template that lay users can better grasp. It helps the organization analyze key metrics, indices and trends, and thus determine new financial levers. Thus we see that several current and emerging technology applications can enhance value within the finance/accounting function and other key horizontals of the corporate, aiding to further elevate the CFO as a leader within the organization. These tools will be apt to meet both the internal and external challenges enumerated above. Many leaders now recognize the need to take advantage of these emerging technologies for stronger financial/business processes and analytics. This will help a CFO to better manage costs, expand EBITDA margin and drive overall performance. www.governancetoday.co.in
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QCI
Set Set Wings Wings to to Industry Industry 4.0 4.0 44 I May 2017
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workshop titled ‘Set Wings to Industry 4.0’ was jointly conducted in the national capital jointly by the NABET and QCI. The highlights of the workshop included discussions on the zero effect zero defect (ZED) model, cognitive computing, impact of digitization in manufacturing, IOT in manufacturing. The participants from Mckinsey India, KPMG India, IBM Watson, and CII amongst others dwelt upon the role of cyber-physical systems in manufacturing sector. The speakers were also on the same page with the concern raised by the chief guest of the occasion, Union Minister for MSMEs, Kalraj Mishra over the deplorable primary education system. They were unanimous that without setting things right in the primary education system in government’s domain, it will not be possible to achieve the ideals and goals under ‘Industry 4.0’. The speakers particularly mentioned the poor state of affairs in primary education for which an NGO has come out with a report. The speakers were of the view: “if India had to make use of its young, inexpensive workforce – the catch phrase was ‘demographic dividend’ – it had to improve the quality of education, beginning at the elementary level.” In his address Mr Mishra said that wherever our prime minister, Narendra Modi goes particularly the developed countries, he describes 125 crore people of the country, out of which 65 percent represent the young generation as a resources and a powerful workforce. The investment is needed in manufacturing sector especially in small manufacturing to grow it further and achieve its full potential but not endangering the environment. “We have to work with in tandem with the environmental norms. The motto of the prime minister, who is man of vision with action and his zero effect zero defect is possible in manufacturing
sector without compromising on quality,” said Mr Mishra. “There are already 50 parameters set for certification and out of which we have met till date 30 parameters. Technology Upgradation and Quality Certification (TUQC) is working in that direction. Technology and Quality upgradation support
(TEQUP) is also contributing its mite towards MSMEs for their optimum growth trajectory” said Mr Mishra. He said that when MSME will grow, no body can stop India from becoming a developed country. India will walk the path of digitization and innovation to become Industry 4.0.
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PRESS RELEASE
Zebra Technologies’ Supply Chain Visibility Solutions Recognized at Global Logistics Excellence Awards
Zebra’s achievements as a hardware solutions provider in the logistics sector
Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA), a global leader in solutions and services that provide real-time visibility into organizations’ assets, people and transactions, has been recognized as the Supply Chain Technology Achiever of the Year for Hardware at the inaugural Global Logistics Excellence Awards, organized by Tata Strategic Management Group in association with India’s CNBC TV18 network. The awards ceremony was part of The Economic Times Global Logistics Show in Mumbai.
KEY FACTS
»» The Global Logistics Excellence Awards recognizes the achievements of enterprises in the logistics sector, and award entries are reviewed and judged by a distinguished jury panel comprising industry stalwarts and leaders. Industry peers are also able to endorse and vote for award nominees. »» The coveted “Supply Chain Technology Achiever of the Year” award highlights Zebra’s achievements and commitment to the logistics sector through the development of new and innovative solutions, expansion of solutions and service offerings, and increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. »» Zebra’s commitment to innovation addresses its customers’ business challenges and needs. Zebra’s award-winning solutions include mobile touch computers, ultra-rugged scanners, and industrial printers for the transport and logistics sector, empowering enterprises with real-time operational visibility. Reacting on the recognition, Deep Agarwal, India Regional Sales Director, Zebra Technologies Asia Pacific, said, “We are delighted and honored to be recognized in the inaugural Global Logistics Excellence Awards as the Supply Chain Technology Achiever of the year. This recognition is the testimony of Zebra’s continuous innovation in the logistics sector, through our solutions that make organizations as smart and connected as the world we live in. With the hardware, talking to software, talking to the cloud, Zebra’s intelligent and enterprise-level solutions are the answer to instant connectivity and unrivalled visibility. Zebra will continue to offer revolutionary solutions in Asia and around the world.”
COWS & THEIR PROGENY MUST HAVE UID FOR TRACKING: GOVT TO SC The Centre has submitted a report before the Supreme Court on cow protection and smuggling which says that “each cow and its progeny across India should get a Unique Identification Number for tracking”. The Centre also recommended special care for cattle beyond the age of milking and stressed on the launching of a scheme for distressed farmers in the report. The move will help in tagging and tracking cattle so that they are vaccinated on time and scientific intervention is made available for better breeding and increasing milk production, doubling income of dairy farmers in the process by 2022. Retina scanning is one of the most viable, instant and high-end technology in today time. Present cattle identification / verification methods like Ear Tag, Tattoo, Branding, Microchips etc., are unsecured, unsafe and harmful. In order to overcome these drawbacks, biometric retina scan is extremely secured, safe and harmless for cattle identification or verification for building services and applications and facilitating greater support to the rural economy. Biomatiques is the only manufacturer of Retina Cattle UID (Pashu Aadhaar). They are persistently involved in focusing the growth plan considering the existing market of beneficiary authentication for the delivery of govt. Biomatiques is the first and only Indian company in this field which has received the Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) from Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY). Biomatiques have successfully managed to offer the Iris Recognition Technology at the cost of finger print technology. Currently there are only 12 other companies in the international market. 46 I May 2017 www.governancetoday.co.in
RESEARCH
Importance of research in an academic institution
Dr Jitendra Kumar Das, Director, FORE School of Management, New Delhi
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n a globalized world, role of research in an academic institution is very significant for its sustainability and development and it is imperative to have knowledge driven growth based on innovation. The quest for knowledge is the basic principle behind research. The quality of research work directly translates to quality of teaching and learning in the classroom, and thereby benefiting the students and the society as a whole. The promotion of research in a populous country like India will help the nation surely to arise as a knowledge reservoir in the international arena. Indian education system faces a number of constraints and challenges; quality research is one among them. Barring a very few prestigious institutes in India, most of the others lag behind in achieving their planned objectives and display dismal picture in terms of quality and quantity research. Not many institutes have mandatory research goals for individual faculty. Most of these institutions do not have adequate systems or infrastructure for quality research.
Lack of encouraging academic environment, ill-equipped libraries, inadequate infrastructure, lack of research labs and equipments, lack of funds, faculty crunch, etc. are some of the major factors contributing to the dismal picture of research in the academic institutions in India. It is very well accepted that academic research has contributed enormously to find solutions to many problems faced by our society and industries. There are many instances in the past when the industries turned to academics for finding solutions to vital issues. The need for sharing knowledge between research institutions and industry has become increasingly evident in recent past. The emerging importance of interdisciplinary fields has given rise to institutional collaborations that allow knowledge to be pooled together. Very often it is the industry which is the beneficiary of several research efforts. Research provides basic inputs that can be used for planning and policy decision making. Knowledge generated through researches constitutes the basis for
sustainable development. Many of the research activities undertaken by the academic institutions are also used to support the government and influence public policy. Research insights emerging from academia helps to solve many organizational problems. Market research facilitates companies to make projections and formulate strategies for their business success and growth. Needless to say that academic research is an integral part of global development. At this juncture, as our nation is spearheading for innovation and skill development, the Indian academic research forum has a significant role to support the potentials and endeavors of the country. It is very pertinent to develop an inbuilt research mechanism inherent in our higher education system. The higher education system needs to commit themselves to both research and teaching excellence. In view of the fact that India possesses globally acclaimed brain-power, the need of the hour is to create a encouraging environment for academic research in all centers of higher learning. All this leads us to have the right policy frameworkwhich is missing as of now-to be able to develop an appropriate research mechanism for finding solutions to multifarious issues facing our society.
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INTERVIEW
On a Brighter Horizon
Webel Leading the Government Process IT Transformation
Kaushik Halder Managing Director West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited.
48 I May 2017
West Bengal is moving towards being one of the hottest destinations for both software and IT-enabled services (ITeS) companies. The infrastructure is improving considerably. IT and electronics sectors as well as the industries are performing well. In an interview with Governance Today, Kaushik Halder, MD, West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited shares more about the new horizon they are about to reach with the IT development plans... www.governancetoday.co.in
Webel is an ideal entity to partner West Bengal Government departments in their attempt to go digital. We have proven competencies in project management which we can leverage to meet the demands of government process IT transformation. Webel has flawlessly executed key IT transformation projects on a pan West Bengal basis with excellent client feedback. Ranging from supply of hardware and software to mission critical IT solutions, Webel offers the full spectrum of IT services. Webel has already started the process of government transformation by evolving to e-Governance from governance.
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Webel has created over 1.1 million square feet of furnished IT space across IT parks as well as hardware parks and electronic manufacturing clusters. These spaces have affordable rates to attract startups
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How was the overall experience for Webel to take upon responsibility to go digital for all the Government offices and departments incorporating citizen and investors-centric services? Is there any timeframe set for turning governance into e-Governance in the state?
As the custodians of the e-District project and other initiatives like online single window Webel has pioneered and accelerated eGovernance in West Bengal.
IT enabled services have now become the order of the day for the progressive and responsible governance. Do you think that there are more challenges ahead with coming up new issues and expectations? Webel has strong risk mitigation strategies to counter visible challenges. We have a diverse talent pool for devising solutions to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations. Webel solutions will incorporate scalability and redundancy to best take care of upcoming issues. We are also cognizant of the voice of the customer to deliver bespoke solutions and keep ourselves tuned to future expectations. Along with our Information Technology promotion activities we will continue to concentrate on innovation as a business driver and attempt to stay ahead of the curve.
Do you see West Bengal as an ideal investment ecosystem providing all required services under single window support center in place?
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What are you doing to have the state of the art infrastructure to generate optimum use of skilled manpower? Webel has led the creation of best in class physical infrastructure. Webel has created over 1.1 million square feet of furnished IT space across IT parks as well as hardware parks and electronic manufacturing clusters. These spaces have affordable rates to attract startups Webel on behalf of the Department of IT&E has already established 12 numbers of new IT parks since 2012 in various places namely Rajarhat, Siliguri (Phase II), Durgapur (Phase II), Asansol, Purulia, Barjora, Kharagpur, Haldia, Howrah, Kalyani, Bolpur,Taratala. Facilities under development 50 I May 2017
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The development of two hardware parks at Sonarpur and Kalyani are expected to act as catalysts for the growth of the ESDM (Electronic System Design and Manufacturing) sector and develop the ecosystem for hardware manufacturing in West Bengal. The development of two Electronic Manufacturing Clusters one at Naihati and the other at Falta will be providing suitable facilities for attracting investments
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Webel is consciously taking steps to increase the ease of doing business in West Bengal. About 140 services are under consideration for integration with single window with a further 59 as standalone services. This will ensure that setting up a business becomes considerably more streamlined thereby giving an impetus to investments. You have deployed “Computer aided Text to Braille System’ to enable the visually impaired to access and read documents from the internet, How was the response so far from the concerned group of people? Webel is committed to the cause of bringing benefits of Information Technology to the differently abled and is working on development and commercialization of a host of systems for Visually Impaired, Cerebral Palsy affected, Hearing Handicapped and Autistic persons. Such software is appreciated by stakeholders as it bridges a long felt need.
stages are 4 nos. of IT Parks at Malda, Bantala, Siliguri (Phase II), Krishnagar. Approval for further 7 nos. of IT parks at Coochbehar, Belur,Durgapur (Phase III), Sector V (02 numbers), Kalyani (Phase II), Rajarhat (Phase II) has been
obtained for construction. The development of two hardware parks at Sonarpur and Kalyani are expected to act as catalysts for the growth of the ESDM (Electronic System Design and Manufacturing) sector and develop the ecosystem for hardware manufacturing in West Bengal. The development of two Electronic Manufacturing Clusters one at Naihati and the other at Falta will be providing suitable facilities for attracting investments. Thus in summary Webel has been instrumental in setting up the infrastructure backbone which can be leveraged by skilled man power to create value.
What are the major projects you are focusing right now to develop the state IT hub and how is the funding being sourced for the same? Major projects include development of new IT Parks, two electronic manufacturing clusters and two hardware parks. Additionally Webel is expanding the network of centers providing IT training. Webel is also hosting NASSCOM’s 10,000 startup initiative. As a demonstration of our commitment to emerging technologies we are conceptualizing a national level institute dedicated to data science. We have also initiated proceedings to setup a Cybersecuritycenter of excellence. A groundbreaking event supported by Webel isBengalathon – a state level hackathon with a vision to develop solutions for typical citizens’ pain points. This event is expected to attract wide participation and foster coding and programming skills. Webel is being supported by the Government of West Bengal for operationalizing the projects. www.governancetoday.co.in
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