Seasonal Magazine - RailTel IPO - Cover Story

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VOLUME 19 ISSUE 1 JANUARY 2021

18

YEARS

Rs. 50

MAGAZINE

Seasonal www.seasonalmagazine.com

Managing Editor Jason D Pavorattikaran Editor John Antony Director (Finance) Ceena Associate Editor Carl Jaison Senior Editorial Coordinator Jacob Deva Senior Correspondent Bina Menon Creative Visualizer Bijohns Varghese Photographer Anish Aloysious Office Assistant Alby CG Correspondents Bombay: Rashmi Prakash Delhi: Anurag Dixit Director (Technical) John Antony Publisher Jason D Pavorattikaran

A CULTURE OF ONE-PILL-A-DAY, ONE-VACCINE-A-YEAR With an unprecedented global vaccination drive underway, it is natural for all across the world to pin all the hopes on these new vaccines created by less than a dozen companies worldwide, two of them in India.

There is no doubt that Covid-19 is a disease that warrants a vaccine. In a world where even the seasonal flu has its own vaccine, SARS Cov-2 definitely needs one. Covid-19 is much more lethal than the flu, and it has proven itself so.

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But Covid-19 is no small pox, malaria, polio or Ebola. The death rate of 2.14% implies that the recovery rate is 97.86% and not what is commonly reported in the media like 71.42%, which includes only the confirmed recoveries at any point of time and not the on-going recoveries.

In reality, the death rate is much lesser and the recovery rate is even higher, as the actual cases are much higher than the reported cases. Many people readily develop a strong natural antibody response and therefore don’t progress to the reporting stage. This has been well documented from antibody studies worldwide.

What this points to is that vaccination is at best an essential but ad-hoc strategy. Since nearly 98% of human beings can recover from this disease on their own, the real solution is correcting and fortifying the defences of the rest 2% of human beings.

Of course, 2% of the human population is a huge number, translating to over 2 million deaths, and that is what made Covid-19 such a global catastrophe. As such, it is this 2% that needs urgent vaccination along with frontline health workers. All human life are valuable and this 2% especially so, as they are mostly seniors and those affected by multiple other diseases.

But what is unnerving about this vaccination drive is a feeling that knowingly or unknowingly gets propagated that this is the only solution to this vexing problem. Not so. Vaccinating this vulnerable 2% is essential, but also to be equally attended is fortifying the health of this susceptible population.

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All health related articles are for first information purposes only. Always consult your doctor before taking any decison affecting your health.

EDITORIAL

Why? If not for anything else, for the undeniable fact that such fortifying of the health and immunity defends them also from upcoming pandemics, not just Covid-19! But who needs such holistic solutions? Certainly not the pharma majors which are designed to profiteer from each disease. But governments should look at such holistic solutions as it is ultimately the nation which will bleed from unbearable vaccination bills.

And there are other equally compelling reasons too for fortifying the health and immunity of the vulnerable segment. It is now clear that it was not just Covid-19 that killed people, but its co-morbidities like age, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia, organ failure etc.

Most of these are bigger killers than Covid-19 on their own, and nothing makes more sense than their holistic management.

People mistake the holistic management of such lifestyle diseases, as just testing for sugar or pressure and popping a pill daily. In fact, this one-pill-a-day culture is what compounded this health crisis facing humanity today. Of course, it has revolutionized longevity to unprecedented levels with many people in Europe and North America easily living past 90 years now.

But such longevity based on chronological age was found to be so hollow when a real crisis like Covid-19 struck. That explains the high death rate in USA & Europe. What is more important is the biological age, which is all about how really aged our cells are, compared with cells from healthy people. The one-pilla-day culture can increase chronological longevity, but can’t do much for biological aging.

This is because the daily pill strategy just manages the disease but never cures it. Lifestyle diseases, as their very definition implies, are triggered by poor lifestyles and the way to cure them holistically is by replacing such poor lifestyles with healthy lifestyles like proper nutrition, proper exercising, proper sleep and proper stress management.

Unfortunately, neither doctors nor patients want to put in the hard work required to address lifestyle diseases holistically, and they both fall in for the easy solutions touted by pharma majors – have a pill a day and enjoy your food and your comforts. If you have two diseases, take two pills a day, and if you have three, three pills and so on.

And now this culture is advancing to its natural progression – one vaccine a year, because SARS Cov2 is likely to mutate enough like flu that by next year you will need another version of the vaccine. And if there are two simultaneous infections going on, two vaccines a year.

By all means get yourself vaccinated if the official medical advice for you is that, but never believe that this is the only thing you can do. The best you can do is change your lifestyle to a healthy lifestyle so that you can prevent, postpone or even reverse most lifestyle diseases.

The official advice from World Health Organization (WHO) as well as most governments is that everyone needs to be vaccinated, as the new super-spreader variant or mutation that forced United Kingdom to fully lock down again, spreads easily among children and young adults too, unlike the original Wuhan flu.

But by that same logic, everyone including young adults can also take better care of their health by adopting healthy lifestyles for reducing the chances for developing lifestyle diseases, as at the end of the day Covid-19 complications and fatality are decided by the presence of such co-morbidities.

As a beacon of hope, this week one of the largest metastudies has confirmed that the most common and most stubborn type 2 diabetes can be sent to remission by a low carbohydrate diet for just six months.

John Antony

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CONTENTS RAILTELTO BE THE DARK HORSE IN TELECOM IPOs Unknown to many, RailTel is key player in India’s fast growing broadband infrastructure. Mainly serving the telecom needs of its parent Indian Railways, its Optical Fibre network spans nearly 59,000 kms across India, and is a monopoly as it has exclusive Right of Way (RoW) along railway tracks. Profitable since 2007, it has several levers to spur on higher growth, like home broadband, educational broadband, paid high-speed WiFi at stations, and Content on Demand (CoD) across nearly 9000 trains. Under its CMD, Puneet Chawla’s leadership this PSU is set to go public soon.

INDIA GDP TO FALL 9.4% IN FY'21 & RISE BY 11% IN FY'22, SAYS FITCH

STUDY FIND 6-MONTHS OF LOW CARB DIET CAN FREE PATIENTS FROM DIABETES

The country’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is likely to expand by 11 per cent in FY22 (April 2021 to March 2022) after falling by 9.4 per cent in FY21 (April 2020 to March 2021) as the recovery phase continues, supported by the rollout of vaccines in the upcoming days, says global ratings major Fitch.

A meta-analysis study found that sticking to a low-carb diet was linked to remission from type 2 diabetes after six months. Though the evidence suggested that low-carb diets worked better than low-fat alternatives, it also indicated the benefits might diminish within a year. More research is needed to understand the diet's long-term..

ATMANIRBHAR MADHYA PRADESH

A VISION TO MAKE MADHYA PRADESH SELF-RELIANT BY 2023

Madhya Pradesh has always remained one of India’s largest states by area. As its name implies it is the center of India, giving its great logistical advantages. But the state was historically slow to lead India in many core development metrics. All that is changing now under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan with MP now leading in sectors like solar power, PPE kit manufacturing, wheat procurement, agri produce marketing, private mandis, crop insurance, labour reforms, and above all a great performance in fighting the pandemic including free Covid testing together with welfare reforms – all with a single agenda – self-dependent, Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh. The state has recently become the first state in India to bring out a detailed roadmap for Atmanirbhar implementation,

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CSB Bank 100YEARS YOUNG The way Lakshmi Vilas Bank went down and had to be amalgamated recently by RBI forcibly with an overseas bank, with no compensation to its equity investors, speaks volumes about the perfect rescue of CSB Bank in 2019. It was a rescue where all stakeholders including the bank’s new promoter entity led by billionaire investor Prem Watsa, its management led by veteran banker CVR Rajendran, its employee base, and its earlier shareholders all acted synergistically to protect the one hundred years old bank. However, the unsaid story is that much credit is also due to its customers whose two or three earlier generations have been banking with CSB Bank since 1920. The reason of course is the unshakeable trust that CSB Bank has garnered due to its steady operations over the ten decades since its inception. Now, under its promoter, the Canada based financial behemoth

TAKING GIANT STRIDES, DESPITE THE PANDEMIC

THE PRIVATE SECTOR UNIVERSITIES MOVING UP DESPITE THE PANDEMIC It took only six months for the higher education landscape in India to change dramatically. The higher education sector began 2020 in a business-as-usual manner, but suddenly it became one of the most impacted sectors in the global pandemic. With universities and colleges closing indefinitely, economy crumbling, job losses mounting, and startups melting down, everything in higher education from admissions to placements became mired in endless confusions. To add to the challenges..

IDFC FIRST BANK THE POSTIVE BANKPRENEUR Anyone who knows V Vaidyanathan, knows he is a positive thinking banker. And the bank's robust Q2 numbers had come in as yet another endorsement for the positivity and pragmatism of this bankpreneur who already had some unique achievements in his chequered careers at ICICI Bank, Future Capital, Capital First, and now IDFC First Bank. While positive thinking and its mighty power is equally attested and refuted by its believers and detractors respectively, watching the manner in which the MD & CEO of IDFC First Bank leads his organization and articulates his positive..

While many comparable private and deemed universities are struggling to adapt to the pandemic realities, Chancellor Dr Ashok K. Chitkara and ProChancellor Dr Madhu Chitkara are leading Chitkara University..

BENGALURU OVERATKES LONDON TO BECOME THE WORLD'S FASTEST GROWING TECH-HUB Bengaluru, the IT capital of India with around 10 million population, has emerged as the world's fastestgrowing mature tech ecosystem since 2016, followed by the European cities of London, Munich, Berlin and Paris.

WHAT IS WHATSAPP UP TO? WhatsApp's updated privacy policy has caused a lot of commotion for the company in the past few days. The matter reached a point where WhatsApp had to issue full front-page newspaper ads explaining their side of the story. However, most users still..

AN ANMOL RATAN IS GOING PUBLIC Government of India is simply the largest promoter of diverse enterprises in India. Once in a while, GoI takes from its deep pockets an anmol ratan or rare jewel that will surprise most Indians. This is the story of one such jewel – Indian Railway Finance Corporation - that is all set to go public now with its Rs. 4600 crore IPO. Just like IRCTC..

AN EMPIRE PRECIOUS AS GOLD, TRANSPARENT LIKE DIAMONDS Gold retailing used to be a goldmine for investors, until a few bad apples ruined the show for all. But Joy Alukkas still runs an empire that is as precious as the gold he retails, with impressive growth and admirable transparency. Within the last 32 years, it has helped Joyalukkas grow to be a 161-showroom chain across 11 countries, with 89 of them in India. With an 8000 member employee base, Joyalukkas clocked Rs. 13,000 crore in turnover last year, with Rs. 8100 crore from India. A billionaire with a heart of gold, he is constructing 250 free homes for flood victims in Kerala at a cost of Rs. 15 crore.

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PANDEMIC

BILL GATES PREDICTS WORLD MAY NOT RETURN TO PRE-COVID NORMAL Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has become somewhat of a Covid-19 authority, with his philanthropic body, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, investing billions into finding a vaccine for the deadly virus.

BOTH COMPANIES HAVE BEEN WORKING ON MESSENGER RNA VACCINES, WHICH ARE DIFFERENT TO TRADITIONAL VACCINES IN THAT THEY DON’T PUT WEAK OR INACTIVATED DOSES OF A VIRUS INTO THE BODY TO MAKE THE IMMUNE SYSTEM PRODUCE ANTIBODIES. Fauci agreed with Gates’ predictions, adding that a vaccine will only be effective if people choose to be vaccinated.

ates has previously said we will likely see a Covid-19 vaccine out in circulation “early next year”, but has now revealed exactly when life will assume its pre-Covid normality.

In the first episode of his new podcast, Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions, Gates said even if Covid case numbers reduce, as long as the virus remains in the world, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see a pre-Covid “normal” again.

“If we have the disease elsewhere in the world, it's not clear to me we can go back and do big sports events, or open up the bars, because you know, like Australia or South Korea, the risk of reinfection will be looming out there,” Gates said.

“And so, as long as it's in the world, I'm not sure we'll be completely back to normal.”

The billionaire actually sounded the alarm on Covid-19 back in 2015 in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak, saying that was a wake up call for the world on pandemic preparedness. He reiterated his calls three years later, warning that a flu pandemic could wipe out as many as 33 million people around the world SEASONAL MAGAZINE

“If you have a vaccine… that's 99 per cent effective, and 99 per cent of the people take it, then you're in really good shape. But that is not going to happen.” in just six months.

Now, Gates says many people are likely to remain quite conservative in their behavior, particularly if they associate with older people, or people whose risk of infection is high.

“If it's still out in the world, you know, even the countries that have very little virus are mostly still being very careful about public events, because it could get into their country,” he said.

Gates and Jones interviewed US infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, who said without major breakthroughs in testing or treatments, it’s unlikely we’ll see any kind of “normal”.

“We have good therapies for people with advanced disease,” Fauci said.

“What we don't have a lot of, is something you can give to someone early in the course of infection to prevent them from getting to the hospital.

“This is important, not only, for example, in the United States and in the developed world, [but] also in the developing world, where you don't have the hospital capabilities of taking care of somebody who gets seriously ill.”

There have been some positive movements in the vaccine space overnight, with interim data from US biotech company Moderna Inc showing its experimental vaccine was 94.5 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19.

The data was pulled during the company’s phase 3 trials of 30,000 participants in the US. Last week, it was also revealed that Pfizer Inc’s vaccine was 90 per cent effective, based on initial data from its phase 3 trial.

Both companies have been working on messenger RNA vaccines, which are different to traditional vaccines in that they don’t put weak or inactivated doses of a virus into the body to make the immune system produce antibodies.

Instead, messenger RNA vaccines introduce the virus into your body by giving it a genetic code, which tells it to replicate a particular protein that’s found within the virus.

This in turn activates your immune system. It’s generally cheaper and quicker to produce this kind of vaccine, which is crucial to stopping this virus in its tracks.

ECONOMY

INDIA GDP TO FALL 9.4% IN FY'21 & RISE BY 11% IN FY'22, SAYS FITCH THE COUNTRY’S REAL GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP) IS LIKELY TO EXPAND BY 11 PER CENT IN FY22 (APRIL 2021 TO MARCH 2022) AFTER FALLING BY 9.4 PER CENT IN FY21 (APRIL 2020 TO MARCH 2021) AS THE RECOVERY PHASE CONTINUES, SUPPORTED BY THE ROLLOUT OF VACCINES IN THE UPCOMING DAYS, SAYS GLOBAL RATINGS MAJOR FITCH.

GDP in April-June was 23.9 per cent below its 2019 level, indicating that nearly a quarter of the country's economic activity was wiped out by the drying up of global demand and the collapse of domestic demand that accompanied the series of strict national lockdowns.

Further, a 7.5 per cent decline in GDP in the following quarter pushed Asia’s third-largest economy into an unprecedented recession.

Fitch said the medium-term recovery will be slow. “Supply-side potential growth will be reduced by a slowdown in the rate of capital accumulation – investment has recently fallen sharply and is likely to see only a subdued recovery.”

This, it said, will weigh on labour productivity, lowering its projection of supply-side potential GDP growth for the six-year period FY21 to FY26 to 5.1 per cent per annum compared to our pre-pandemic projection of 7 per cent.

heir report said India’s coronavirus-induced recession has been among the most severe in the world, amid a stringent lockdown and limited direct fiscal support.

The Indian economy will suffer lasting damage from the coronavirus crisis and after an initial strong rebound in FY22 (fiscal year ending March 2022) growth will slow to around 6.5 per cent a year over FY23-FY26, Fitch Ratings said recently. “A combination of supply-side scarring and demand-side constraints – such as the weak state of the financial sector – will keep the level of GDP well below its pre-pandemic path,” it said in commentary on the Indian economy.

“We expect gross domestic product (GDP) to expand by 11 per cent in FY22 (April 2021 to March 2022) after falling by 9.4 per cent in FY21 (April 2020 to March 2021),” it said.

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India’s economy had been losing momentum even ahead of the shock delivered by the COVID-19 crisis. The rate of GDP growth sank to a more than tenyear low of 4.2 per cent in 2019, down from 6.1 per cent the previous year.

The pandemic bought a human and an economic catastrophe for India, with nearly 1.5 lakh deaths. Though the deaths per million are significantly lower than in Europe and the US, the economic impact had been much more severe.

The Indian economy will suffer lasting damage from the coronavirus crisis and after an initial strong rebound in FY22 (fiscal year ending March 2022) growth will slow to around 6.5 per cent a year over FY23-FY26

“Our historical analysis of India’s growth performance highlights the key role played by a high investment rate in driving growth in labour productivity and GDP per capita over the last 15 years. But investment has fallen sharply over the last year and the need to repair corporate balance sheets and firm closures will weigh on the pace of recovery,” it said.

Constrained credit supply amid a fragile financial system is another headwind for investment.

The banking sector entered the crisis with generally weak asset quality and limited capital buffers. Appetite for lending will be subdued, particularly as credit-guarantee and forbearance measures rolled out in the crisis start to be unwound.

“The economy should be able to grow somewhat faster than estimated supplyside potential over the medium term following the unprecedented downturn in FY21. But our projection for the medium-term recovery path – at around 6.5 per cent per annum over FY23 to FY26 – would leave GDP well below its pre-pandemic trend,” it said.

HEALTH

STUDY FIND 6-MONTHS OF LOW CARB DIET CAN FREE PATIENTS FROM DIABETES

not affiliated with the study, told Insider.

"This meta-analysis is just one other collection of studies that shows that it's possible to do that."

While the term doctors usually use to describe type 2 diabetes is "insulin resistance," Cucuzzella said people with the condition could alternatively be viewed as "carbohydrate-intolerant."

"Their bodies do not metabolize and respond well to carbohydrates, and the end result is high insulin levels, which precede high hyperglycemia or high blood-sugar levels," Cucuzzella said.

Fats and protein don't cause blood-sugar levels to spike as carbohydrates do, so cutting back on sweets and starches can help patients keep their diabetes under control along with medication.

Other options for managing diabetes include bariatric surgery — removing the stomach and intestines — or subsisting on an 800-calorie shake a day, so reducing carbohydrate intake is a relatively simple solution, Cucuzzella said.

meta-analysis study found that sticking to a low-carb diet was linked to remission from type 2 diabetes after six months. Though the evidence suggested that low-carb diets worked better than low-fat alternatives, it also indicated the benefits might diminish within a year. More research is needed to understand the diet's long-term effects.

A strict low-carbohydrate diet could be the best bet for patients with type 2 diabetes to enter remission, a new analysis of studies suggests.

The findings of the meta-analysis, published Wednesday in BMJ, are consistent with the American Diabetes Association's official recommendation that cutting back on carbs is the best approach for lowering blood sugar.

The analysis summed up data from 23 randomized controlled trials involving more than 1,300 participants with type 2 diabetes. Most of the studies compared a low-carb or very low-carb diet defined as less than 26% or 10% of daily calories from carbohydrates with low-fat diets.

A strict lowcarbohydrate diet could be the best bet for patients with type 2 diabetes to enter remission Overall, patients who stuck to a low-carb diet for six months achieved higher rates of remission than those who tried other dietary changes.

Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, a professor at the West Virginia University School of Medicine who has published several studies on dietary changes and diabetes, said reducing carbohydrate intake and eating more nutrient-dense foods could help patients reverse the course of the disease.

"The good news about diabetes is it's a dietary disease, so it is reversible with lifestyle measures which target the carbohydrates," Cucuzzella, who was

Most of the benefits of a lowcarbohydrate diet seen after six months — such as weight loss, improved body fat, and reduced medication use — diminished by the 12-month mark, the analysis found.

The decrease in benefits could occur because patients stop sticking to the diet over time, the authors hypothesized, but more research needs to be done to explore long-term adherence and effects. Some participants also reported lower quality of life and worse cholesterol levels after 12 months.

Keeping diabetes in remission is like holding a beach ball underwater, Cucuzzella said. If patients let their dietary changes slide, the disease can easily bounce back. He said the apparent short-term benefits boded well, however, for the diet's overall effectiveness and pointed to patient support as the next step.

"If you can show something works for six months when nothing else works other than not eating and taking your stomach out," he said, "then we have to figure out how to help support people to continue on this plan."

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DEVELOPMENT

BENGALURU OVERATKES LONDON TO BECOME THE WORLD'S FASTEST GROWING TECH-HUB Bengaluru, the IT capital of India with around 10 million population, has emerged as the world's fastest-growing mature tech ecosystem since 2016, followed by the European cities of London, Munich, Berlin and Paris.

s per new research released in London recently, investment in Bengaluru grew 5.4 times from $1.3 billion in 2016 to $7.2 billion in 2020.

Investment in Mumbai grew 1.7 times from $0.7 billion to $1.2 billion in the same period. India's financial centre Mumbai was ranked sixth.

Meanwhile, London registered an impressive three times growth between 2016 and 2020, rising from $3.5 billion to $10.5 billion.

“It’s fantastic to see that Bengaluru and London are ranked as the top two fastestgrowing global tech hubs for VC investment. Our two great cities share mutual strengths in entrepreneurship and innovation – creating lots of opportunities for tech investors and companies to do business across both regions," said Hemin Bharucha, Chief Representative of India at London & Partners, the firm which undertook the study.

“London has a strong trade and investment relationship with cities across India and today’s figures show the SEASONAL MAGAZINE

opportunities for future partnerships between the UK and India on technology. Despite the pandemic, tech companies in London and India are continuing to lead the way in creating game-changing technologies – especially in high growth sectors such as EdTech and Fintech," he said.

“The UK government's recent Brexit deal with the European Union brings certainty for Indian companies and investors looking to London and we look forward to welcoming more Indian businesses to the UK capital in the years ahead," he added.

Bengaluru is also ranked sixth for the world's tech venture capitalist (VC) investments, on a global list topped by Beijing and San Francisco, New York, Shanghai and London making up the top five. Mumbai comes in at No. 21 in the worldwide ranking, with Boston and Singapore among the other high-ranking cities.

Skillmine, a Bengaluru-headquartered tech company offering new generation IT consulting and managed services which expanded to London last year,

highlighted access to “like-minded tech entrepreneurs alongside a deep tech talent pool" as the highlight of what has been referred to as India’s Silicon Valley in the past.

“It has been exciting to be part of Bengaluru’s emergence as a world-class tech hub. From here we expanded our business operations into London in May last year, as well as into the Middle East and American markets. London is a global tech hub with access to a thriving tech talent pool alongside growth capital and a wide customer base. We are excited to grow our business in the city," said Anant Agarwal, Managing Director, Skillmine.

Behind Bengaluru and London, the other fast-growing tech hubs include the two German cities of Munich and Berlin and the French capital of Paris, all three more than doubling their investments in the 2016-2020 period. The UK capital, however, cemented its status as Europe’s leading tech hub – with London companies receiving over three times the amount of investment than any other European tech city.

“London is the global tech capital of Europe. Despite the challenges brought about by Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic, London’s tech sector continued to thrive in 2020 and has an important role to play in the city’s economic recovery. London is already home to some of the world’s best technology companies and will remain open to international investment and tech talent from all over the world," said London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and Britain's exit from the EU, London tech firms raised $10.5 billion in 2020 – significantly more than the total amount raised in 2017 ($7 billion) and 2018 ($5.9 billion) and close to the record in 2019 ($10.7 billion).

"It's brilliant to see how resilient London's tech sector has been, despite all the challenges of 2020. International investors have shown real confidence in London, with new venture capital funds setting up here to invest in highgrowth companies in sectors like fintech, cybersecurity and health tech. This is because London continues to be the gateway to the European market and a fantastic place to set up and scale a tech company," said Laura Citron, CEO of London & Partners.

The new research from Dealroom.co and L&P also reveals that mega funding rounds for London-based tech companies increased VC investment levels for UK tech in 2020, with British tech firms raising a record $15 billion in 2020. Additional findings show that London is now home to 1,252 VC firms – more than any other European city.

Following the outbreak of the global pandemic and an increase in remote working in 2020, enterprise software technologies emerged as a top sector for VC investors. London saw an 82% increase in enterprise software investments last year, with the UK capital's firms raising a total of $1.9 billion.

Meanwhile, another report on global traffic congestion ranking, has three Indian cities in the top 10. Mumbai ranked second in the world, Bengaluru sixth, Delhi eighth and Pune at number 16 among 416 cities across 56 countries on traffic congestion level parameters.

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TECHNOLOGY

WHAT IS WHATSAPP UP TO? WHATSAPP'S UPDATED PRIVACY POLICY HAS CAUSED A LOT OF COMMOTION FOR THE COMPANY IN THE PAST FEW DAYS. THE MATTER REACHED A POINT WHERE WHATSAPP HAD TO ISSUE FULL FRONT-PAGE NEWSPAPER ADS EXPLAINING THEIR SIDE OF THE STORY. HOWEVER, MOST USERS STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT EXACTLY THEY ARE SHARING WITH WHATSAPP FROM THEIR SMARTPHONES.

eading through WhatsApp's privacy policy, the first section that caught our eye was "Automatically Collected Information".

This is the set of information that WhatsApp collects from your device automatically when you are using their services.

The first set of information that WhatsApp collects is your usage and log information. What this means is that WhatsApp collects information regarding how you use WhatsApp, how you interact with personal contact versus business accounts, as well as the time, frequency and duration of what you do on the app. Essentially, WhatsApp knows how much time you spend on voice calls, video calls, or viewing other users' status. In addition to this, under this section, WhatsApp also says they collect information about your group name, group description and the picture you use on the group. They might not be able to see your group messages, but they can find out what the group is from via the name and description if they wish.

The next set of information is of your device and the connection you use on your smartphone. WhatsApp can access information regarding your device's hardware specifications, battery level, as well as which mobile operator or internet provider you use on the phone.

The trouble is that if you view permissions that WhatsApp takes on your device, you will realise that WhatsApp has access to a lot of features.

It can pair with Bluetooth devices, change your network connectivity, disconnect you from WiFi, control NFC on your phone and even change your audio settings if required. You can manage these permissions and deny SEASONAL MAGAZINE

access. However, most smartphone users won't know how to do that, thereby sharing all this information and control of the device with WhatsApp as they have agreed to this privacy policy.

The third significant information which is automatically collected by WhatsApp is your location information. WhatsApp says they only use precise location information if the user enables this

feature for this specific function.

However, WhatsApp also says if the user does not use the location feature on the device, they still use the phone's IP address along with other information to track your location on a more 'general' note. This essentially means they can pinpoint your location if they want without your approval.

Another loophole with WhatsApp's

privacy policy is under the 'Businesses on WhatsApp' usage. In this section, WhatsApp mentions that if you use WhatsApp to interact with any Business, the business might work with third parties, including Facebook, to manage your communication. In this scenario, WhatsApp is not responsible for any information you share with such business. Data can be read, collected or processed by the third party as per their policies.

So if you are dealing with a business on WhatsApp, anything you share can be accessed and used if the third party's policy allows for the same. You will need to reach out to the third party involved to understand if your shared information is protected or not, and that is thus your responsibility for your privacy.

Now you know what all information WhatsApp collects, but what information is shared with its parent company Facebook and its other services?

WhatsApp links that as well in their privacy policy smartly with a hyperlinked section.

WhatsApp shares your phone number, transaction data for payments, device details and any of the information mentioned above with Facebook companies. WhatsApp says any information obtained upon notice sent to you or based on your content can be shared with Facebook companies. Of course, this is all shared under the idea of helping improve and support services.

However, there is a subsection in this section of the policy that says the information WhatsApp collects can be used to make personalised suggestions for friends, groups, or content and show relevant offers and ads across Facebook products. This brings up the question that if all of your messages and media that you share are encrypted and cannot be read, how is WhatsApp able to offer personalised suggestions?

SIGNAL MAY BE THE BEST WHATSAPP ALTERNATIVE GLOBALLY, SIGNAL HAS SEEN ITS DOWNLOADS INCREASE BY 4,200 PER CENT WITH THE APP BEING DOWNLOADED AROUND 7.5 MILLION TIMES BETWEEN 6 AND 10 JANUARY. Signal downloads were likely spurred by several endorsements, including from Musk, whistleblower Edward Snowden and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

While Musk directly urged users to switch apps, Snowden, who is wanted in the US on espionage charges, tweeted: “I use it every day and I’m not dead yet”. Dorsey was slightly more cryptic, and posted a heart emoji with a picture of Signal topping an app download chart.

Based in California, Signal was launched in 2014 by Open Whisper Systems, a collaborative software development project to which engineers are said to voluntarily contribute their efforts.

Since 2018, the app has been financially sustained by a nonprofit organisation that WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton helped create.

Both Signal and WhatsApp use the same encryption protocol developed by Open Whisper Systems.

Acton’s last tweet, in March 2018, says: “It is time. #deletefacebook.”

Oddly enough, there is one more line in the privacy policy that reads, "In fact, Facebook will not use your WhatsApp messages for any purpose other than to assist us in operating and providing our Services." So with this, it's clear that Facebook does get access to the encrypted messages in WhatsApp, even if it's under the notion of being used to help provide WhatsApp services.

WhatsApp collecting your information and how it uses the information has many contradictions in the company's privacy policy. On the one hand, WhatsApp says it does not share information with Facebook, but it also says Facebook can access messages to "improve" services.

WhatsApp needs to clarify these loopholes in its policy instead of issuing full-page newspaper ads.

However, going through the privacy policy, it is clear that WhatsApp does share some of the user information with third parties.

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RAILTEL TO BE THE DARK HORSE IN TELECOMIPOs

UNKNOWN TO MANY, RAILTEL IS KEY PLAYER IN INDIA’S FAST GROWING BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE. MAINLY SERVING THE TELECOM NEEDS OF ITS PARENT INDIAN RAILWAYS, ITS OPTICAL FIBRE NETWORK SPANS NEARLY 59,000 KMS ACROSS INDIA, AND IS A MONOPOLY AS IT HAS EXCLUSIVE RIGHT OF WAY (ROW) ALONG RAILWAY TRACKS. PROFITABLE SINCE 2007, IT HAS SEVERAL LEVERS TO SPUR ON HIGHER GROWTH, LIKE HOME BROADBAND, EDUCATIONAL BROADBAND, PAID HIGH-SPEED WIFI AT STATIONS, AND CONTENT ON DEMAND (COD) ACROSS NEARLY 9000 TRAINS. UNDER ITS CMD, PUNEET CHAWLA’S LEADERSHIP THIS PSU IS SET TO GO PUBLIC SOON.

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ailTel Corporation of India Ltd., a "Mini Ratna (Category-I)" Central Public Sector Enterprise, was founded in the year 2000 with an aim to modernize Signal & Telecommunication of Indian Railways.

But RailTel soon diversified in a number of ICT & Telecom projects and emerged as one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country within two decades of operation.

RailTel owns a Pan-India Optic Fibre Network (OFC) of 58742 RKM (and growing) on exclusive Right of Way (ROW) along the railway route. RailTel’s OFC network penetrates deep into the country’s hinterland touching not only cities but also a number of towns and remote villages. RailTel’s strong and reliable OFC network is supported by 6925 Point of presence, two UPTIME USA certified Tier III Data centres and a number of towers across the country.

RailTel’s transport network is built on high-capacity Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing Technology and an Internet protocol/ multi-protocol label switching (“MPLS”) network over it to support mission critical communication requirements of Indian Railways and other customers. RailTel plans to invest substantially in upgrading and expanding its network to provide better services to its clients.

RailTel’s service portfolio includes Information and Communication Technology and Information Technology services like Internet leased Line, MPLS-VPN, Data Centre Services, Security Operation Centre as a Service, NIC e-Office, Tower and Rack and space collocation, Wi Fi services, HD video conferencing, IT consultancy, retail broadband and more. The company has also developed expertise is project delivery such as implementing IP based Video Surveillance System, Content on Demand, Railway Signalling, Hospital Management Information System etc.

Additionally, RailTel is a key partner to the digital transformation taking place at Indian Railways and is also continuously engaged in executing SEASONAL MAGAZINE

mission critical projects for the Government of India such as National Knowledge Network, Campus Wi-Fi at Universities & Bharat Net. RailTel works closely with a wide range of clients from different sectors and regions and RailTel’s key clientele includes major PSUs and corporates like Ministry of Railways, Major telcos, Govt ministries, state govts (Rajasthan, Kerala, Haryana, etc.), PSUs RBI and various public sector banks.

RailTel believes in diversification so that their profitability is not dependent on ups and downs in one industry. That is why, despite operating in a very competitive scenario, RailTel has reported the highest net profit margin amongst key telecom companies in Fiscal 2020. RailTel is a debt free, dividend paying company which has been profitable since FY 2007.

RailTel’s operations have been funded entirely by Internal accruals since Fiscal 2013. Its revenue from operations have grown at a CAGR of 7.47% from ?

9,767.79 million in Fiscal 2018 to ?

11280.54 million in Fiscal 2020. In the FY 19-20 RailTel has recorded its highest ever consolidated income (Rs. 11,660.05 million) which is a growth of 12.3% over consolidated income of Rs. 10382.66 million in FY 18-19. The company have also posted a profit before tax amounting to Rs. 1,847.60 million and net Profit of Rs. 1,410.66 million on consolidated basis.

RailTel has 2 Tier III Data Centers accredited by UPTIME USA at Gurugram and Secunderabad through

RAILTEL OWNS A PANINDIA OPTIC FIBRE NETWORK (OFC) OF 58742 RKM (AND GROWING) ON EXCLUSIVE RIGHT OF WAY (ROW) ALONG THE RAILWAY ROUTE.

WITHIN TWO DECADES OF ITS OPERATION, RAILTEL HAS DIVERSIFIED INTO A NUMBER OF ICT & TELECOM PROJECTS AND EMERGED AS ONE OF THE LARGEST NEUTRAL TELECOM INFRASTRUCTURE PROVIDERS IN INDIA. which it offers a range of data center services including Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS, dedicated hosting, managed services, cloud storage, managed e-Office services, disaster recovery services and Aadhar authentication services.

Given the current scenario of enterprises shifting their business on digital platforms, Data Centre business is more likely to see demand which is going to further aided by the fact that Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, Big Data and Digitalization will become the necessary tools for companies to thrive in a competitive market. RailTel sees an opportunity to use its RailCloud as cloud computing becomes a pre-requisite and basic requirement.

RailTel has also set up a specialized Security Operation Centre (SOC) to provide customers with centralized and consolidated cyber security incident prevention and security event

connectivity to the nearby villages by laying aerial OFC or leasing existing OFC. The deployment is proposed to be done in two phases. In phase-I, the villages within the 10km vicinity of the Railway stations will be targeted and in phase-II, remaining villages of the state will be connected using existing block to gram panchayant network of Bharat Broadband Network Limited.

RailTel has submitted a proposal to Department of Telecom to utilize its existing station Wi-Fi infrastructure to bring connectivity to nearby villages. In the current proposal to department of Telecom, RailTel has proposed to connect feasible villages of Jharkhand and Maharashtra. monitoring services. With detection response capabilities, RailTel’s Security Operations Centre as a Service (SOCaaS) proactively tackles the growing threat to Data Security. RailTel provides both offsite and onsite security solutions for government organizations that cannot send data offsite due to compliance purposes.

Considering the constraints in rural areas particularly in Jharkhand where poor power availability and low purchasing power will take time for the business to become sustainable, the proposal and the detailed project report has been submitted for a viability gap funding and

RAILTEL’S OFC NETWORK PENETRATES DEEP INTO THE COUNTRY’S HINTERLAND TOUCHING NOT ONLY CITIES BUT ALSO A NUMBER OF TOWNS AND REMOTE VILLAGES.

opex support for initial 6 years for Jharkhand and 4 years for Maharashtra With the global pandemic forcing people to confine at houses, the demand for Digital services has seen an unprecedented growth. Some of the services of RailTel like HD Video conferencing, retail broadbandRailwire, Virtual Private Network, eoffice extra has grown multi folded owing to this situation.

RailTel has also undertaken the responsibility to transform Railway stations into Digital Hubs by providing public Wi-Fi at railway stations across India. As on 31 December, 2020, RailTel has provided state of the art public Wi-Fi facility at 5,848 Railway stations across country. (These wi-fi provisions at the station premises are accessible to anyone with a smartphone and an active connection (post verification through OTP sent via sms).

This initiative has received phenomenal response from the users and their interest towards the service offering has seen an uptrend. As of fiscal 2020, RailTel recorded over 14 million unique users per day with an average of 29 million user logins per month. In the same period an average of 8200 TB of aggregated data consumption per month with an average data usage per user amounting to 283 MB per month was also recorded.

RailTel now proposes to use this Wi-Fi infrastructure at stations to extend fiber SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Indian Railways has been one of the biggest clients of RailTel’s HD video Conferencing service for regular meetings and inauguration event for a few years now. During lockdown, majority of their operation shifted on video conferencing platform for coordinating and managing the critical movement of freight and Shramik special trains.

The usage of RailTel’s HD video conferencing service by Indian Railways grown multiple times during this period.

RailTel was also implementing e-office project for Indian Railways and lockdown forced Railway officials to completely shift to digital filling mode.

As on January 1, 2021, a total of 1030897 e-files, and 4660346 ereceipts, i.e. emails, bills, office orders, generated by 120649 users of Indian Railways, are hosted at RailTel’s data centers. Use of the NICs eoffice platfom

by Indian Railway employees has increased by 6.29 times for e-files and 9.23 times for e-receipts between April and December 2020.

RailTel’s retail broadband 'Railwire' also saw a major growth in subscriber numbers due to people working from home and schools & colleges starting online classes over the past few months.

As on 31 December, 2020, Railwire had a Subscriber base of 2,96658 Users.

Between the period of March 2020 to December 2020 Railwire Subscriber SEASONAL MAGAZINE

base has grown by almost 2.25 times.

Along with providing cutting edge telecom and ICT service to its clients, RailTel is now focusing on a number of projects like Content on Demand in trains, IP based Video Surveillance Systems etc. In Content on Demand project, RailTel will provide pre-loaded multi lingual content to passengers in premium/mail/express/ suburban trains pan-India.

With COD, passengers will be able to enjoy free or subscription based high quality streaming service on their personal devices during their train journey. RailTel has already partnered with a Digital Entertainment Service Provider for this project. This is being implemented for 8731 trains and all WiFi Stations.

RailTel is also in process of implementing the Railway Display network project which is an initiative

APART FROM ITS CORE INITIATIVES FOR INDIAN RAILWAYS, RAILTEL IS A KEY PARTNER IN EXECUTING MISSION CRITICAL PROJECTS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA SUCH AS NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE NETWORK, CAMPUS WI-FI AT UNIVERSITIES & BHARAT NET.

to provide relevant railway information to rail users along with public awareness messages and entertainment content and use digital technologies. RDN is planned to be built and operated on a selfsustainable model and it will generate revenue by displaying contextualized advertisements for pre-agreed duration and frequency. It is eventually expected to cover all A1, A, B, C, and D category stations of the railways.

To ensure proactive high-tech security at railway stations, Indian Railways has allotted the work of providing IP based Video Surveillance System at 6,049 stations to RailTel. The company will provide VSS at A1, A, B, C, D and E category stations, coaches of premium trains and suburban EMU coaches. As part of the project, CCTV cameras are networked and the recording of the video feeds form CCTV cameras will be stored for 30 days for playback, post event analysis and for investigation purposes.

RailTel has already completed work at 250 stations across country.

With an aim to explore new revenue stream RailTel has also diversified into health sector. Indian Railways with the objective of bringing hospital management on a single architecture to prevent pilferage and making operations seamless has entrusted RailTel with implementation of hospital management information system (“HMIS”) an

integrated clinical information system for its 125 health facilities and 650 polyclinics across India for improved hospital administration and patient healthcare.

The features of the software extend from customizing clinical data according to the departments and laboratories, multi hospital feature that provide cross consultation, seamless interface with medical and other equipment’s and the patients will have the benefit of accessing all their medical records on their mobile device. RailTel and Ministry of Railways have signed an MOU with regard to the modalities for execution of the work. The open source HMIS software is to be deployed over the cloud.

RailTel has already implemented HMIS in 5 hospitals /polyclinics of South Central Railway and 2 hospitals of Northern Railway. Pan India deployment is being considered in a phased manner. A traditional form of record keeping has its own limitations and the integration of technology is the only way to achieve scale, cost efficiencies, ease of access besides other benefits.

Strong economic growth, aided by shift to digital and on-demand business models with a growing need for any time anywhere connectivity for enterprises and the GoI’s push for digitization, are fuelling demand for telecom services from enterprises. RailTel intends to continue adopting the ready business solution approach enabling RailTel’s customers to scale and enhance their operational efficiencies. The Indian Railways currently uses GSM-R based network and intends to migrate to the LTE network.

RailTel intends to work with the Indian Railways to develop and manage their proposed LTE network that will create a private network along a railway tracks.

This network will provide connectivity for IoT initiatives of the Indian Railways.

RailTel also intends to work with the Indian Railways to meet their current and emerging communication infrastructure requirements by implementing the High-Speed Mobile

Communications Corridor (“HSMCC”).

The proposed HSMCC will cater to current and future voice and data needs of train-ground and train-train communication of rail assets, automatic train operations and on-board passenger services. RailTel has been managing IPMPLS infrastructure for several years and believes that they are well positioned to execute this project, as LTE will require an underlying IP-MPLS infrastructure (over DWDM and OFC) which RailTel already has and can be augmented at short notice.

RAILTEL HAS ALREADY IMPLEMENTED HMIS IN 5 HOSPITALS /POLYCLINICS OF SOUTH CENTRAL RAILWAY AND 2 HOSPITALS OF NORTHERN RAILWAY. PAN INDIA DEPLOYMENT IS BEING CONSIDERED IN A PHASED MANNER.

RailTel is also trying to spread its operation beyond border by offering diversified service and solutions in ICT fields selectively in jurisdictions outside India. RailTel has participated in a project bid in Kenya and currently evaluating Railway project in Bangladesh and various business opportunities in Mauritius (particularly in the healthcare segment). The company intend to become a platform for regulators and fintech providers and implement these applications in other developing countries.

The company is scheduled to hit the stock market with their Initial Public Offering of 8,66,53,369 shares soon.

The DRHP was already filed on September 30, 2020 with the Securities Exchange Board of India and currently the company team is in the process of meeting institutional investors. The date of the IPO launch will be subject to receipt of requisite approvals, market conditions and other considerations.

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BANKING

IDFC FIRST BANK

THE POSTIVE BANKPRENEUR Anyone who knows V Vaidyanathan, knows he is a positive thinking banker. And the bank's robust Q2 numbers had come in as yet another endorsement for the positivity and pragmatism of this bankpreneur who already had some unique achievements in his chequered careers at ICICI Bank, Future Capital, Capital First, and now IDFC First Bank. While positive thinking and its mighty power is equally attested and refuted by its believers and detractors respectively, watching the manner in which the MD & CEO of IDFC First Bank leads his organization and articulates his positive thinking is enough to make anyone a believer. Vaidyanathan’s positive thinking is not something hollow like the ‘Law of Attraction’, but is based on a simple yet profound premise, that, one needs to be positive enough to see the hidden opportunities first, so as to capitalize on them! And apart from such opportunities in the bank's core activity of deposits and lending, some unique opportunities are emerging for the bank as it is a prime beneficiary of possible reverse mergers of banks with their parents as per a recent regulatory suggestion

by Reserve Bank of India. Based on this, IDFC First Bank can reverse merge with its parent IDFC and that is sure to unlock valuations, and already multiple brokerages have revised their targets for the bank based on this. However, Vaidyanathan is not oblivious of the dangers ahead –in fact he would be the first person to warn you about it – but he is so positive that he doesn’t miss any of the hidden opportunities ahead, which is a prime reason why IDFC First Bank is the mid-sized bank to watch out for.

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tock markets across the world are soaring after the late March rout, and the Indian bourses are no exception.

Every steep technical correction is again being brought into by investors. The rally has so far been powered by stimulus packages announced by all leading economies across the world. And stock market is always the most leading indicator, which means the collective intelligence of the market is betting on an economic recovery within the next few quarters.

S

IDFC First Bank’s stock too has made a smart recovery. The scrip has gone up as far as 2.5 times within the eight months since the markets crashed in late March. The recovery was powered by the bank’s turnaround to profits in three consecutive quarters, Q4 of FY’20 and the first two quarters of this fiscal.

The bank’s Q2 numbers were robust as the private sector lender had been racing to normalcy all through the second quarter. IDFC First Bank reported a net profit of Rs. 101.47 crore in the second quarter of the fiscal, as against a net loss of Rs. 679.50 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. For the quarter ended September 30, the bank’s net interest income grew 22% to Rs. 1,660 crore as against Rs. 1,363 crore a year ago.

Apart from such headline numbers, the fine print was also fine. Net interest margin rose to 4.57% in the second quarter of this fiscal. The provision for the second quarter was at Rs. 215.84 crore as compared to Rs. 317.35 crore a year ago. Continuing its conservative stance, the bank has taken additional provision of Rs. 1,400 crore towards Covid-19 to strengthen its balance sheet further. Including this, as of September 30, 2020, the bank holds such provision of Rs. 2,000 crore which is 2.21% of its standard advances.

There was good news on the asset quality front too. The Gross NPA of the bank eased to 1.62% as of September 30, from 2.62% a year ago. The net NPA was at 0.43% at the end of the second quarter as against 1.17% as of SEASONAL MAGAZINE

September 30, 2019. While this was after the the impact of the Supreme Court's notification to stop fresh NPA classification post August 31, 2020, till further orders, the performance in asset quality was still good, as without this impact the GNPA as on September 30, 2020 would have been 1.87% and the NNPA as on September 30, 2020 would have been 0.60%.

All these are more than enough for any banking sector CEO to turn positive. But V Vaidyanathan is not feeling positive for these factors alone. In fact, he regularly cautions those who ask him about what lies ahead for the banking sector. According to this young but veteran banker, who proved his mettle at ICICI Bank before turning into an entrepreneur, the real impact of the moratorium on the books of all the banks would be known starting in Q3, and fully only by Q4 end.

The MD & CEO of IDFC First Bank is positive despite these upcoming storms.

The reason is that he is seeing a lot of opportunities for the banking sector and especially for IDFC First Bank. This is what makes his positive thinking robust and worth analysing.

A most promising development for IDFC First Bank would be the possible reverse merger of the bank with its parent IDFC which is also a listed entity. This now looks possible after a proposed change in the NOFHC structure by RBI. There are several advantages if such a merger happens, with the prime being that it will do away with an expected future reduction in stake by parent IDFC in the bank, and the resultant selling pressure, to comply with regulations. Secondly, it opens up the possibilities for other key stakeholders like Warburg Pincus to up their stake if they desire so.

On the core business side, the first

AS PER A RECENTLY PROPOSED CHANGE BY RBI, IDFC FIRST BANK CAN REVERSE MERGE WITH ITS PARENT IDFC AND THAT IS SURE TO UNLOCK VALUATIONS, AND ALREADY MULTIPLE BROKERAGES HAVE REVISED THEIR TARGETS FOR THE BANK BASED ON THIS.

development that makes Vaidyanathan positive is the green shoots he is seeing in the rural market. According to him, the government spending in the rural sector is already spurring on demand.

While the same cannot be said of the urban markets, especially the metro cities, he is hopeful of the same happening sooner rather than later, as it is always the rural market that leads in demand recovery.

Secondly, though IDFC First Bank had started out the post-lockdown phase with a slightly higher moratorium percentage than some of its peers, all through the second quarter and beyond the pace of collections have steadily grown, making him hopeful that performance on this front will be at par or better than most peers in the upcoming quarterly results.

He is also a person who nurses no regrets regarding his strategies.

Vaidyanathan says that the bank started off with a slightly higher moratorium than peers simply because it did not resort to any kind of talking-them-outof-it strategies with customers. This liberal stance was in perfect alignment with IDFC First Bank’s core strategy of putting customers first.

Thirdly, even though IDFC First Bank was the first bank to raise equity capital to weather the likely pandemic storm, during the lockdown period itself, by raising Rs. 2000 crore from core promoters as well as blue-chip institutional investors, the bank still hasn’t dipped into it to make up for any losses. Vaidyanathan also doesn’t foresee such losses in the near term now,

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which means that the bank can use those funds purely to fund the growth ahead.

Next in line comes the bank’s fundamental performance on its real engine of growth – CASA Deposits (Current Account Savings Account Deposits). For any young bank, CASA Deposits, or better put, the lack of CASA, is one of the main reasons hampering unlimited credit growth. IDFC historically being a wholesale lender before it received a banking licence, IDFC Bank had this issue, but under Vaidyanathan’s leadership and as IDFC First Bank, the lender has made giant strides on this front.

By Q1 end or June 30th 2020, IDFC First Bank’s CASA deposits have increased by an impressive 145% to reach Rs. 23,491 crore, from just Rs. 9,594 crore as on June 30th, 2019. Contributing to the growth has been the bank’s industry leading savings bank interest rate that now stands at 7%, which is double that of what many peer banks offer their customers, and even higher than some banks’ Fixed Deposit rates!

Apart from bolstering CASA, this single move has made IDFC First Bank a dearly loved brand among retail customers, which will help the bank in the long run while pursuing retail loan growth.

Recent figures show that due to the uncertainties and risks with stocks and mutual funds, investors are making a beeline for bank deposits, especially to those banks that offer the best rates.

IDFC FIRST BANK’S STOCK HAS GONE UP AS FAR AS 2.5 TIMES WITHIN THE EIGHT MONTHS SINCE THE MARKETS CRASHED IN LATE MARCH, POWERED BY THE BANK’S TURNAROUND TO PROFITS IN THREE CONSECUTIVE QUARTERS.

IDFC First Bank is perhaps the only universal bank that offers 7% for SB accounts now, as all others with high interest rates are Small Finance Banks (SFBs).

And if anyone thought that offering such high interest rates to Savings Bank customers would affect the bank’s margin, IDFC First Bank can disprove it too. It has exhibited high growth in Net Interest Margin (NIM) and has improved its Cost to Income Ratio too. The bank’s incremental lending on the retail side being at 15-16%, according to the different products, it still translates to an average 7-8% of incremental net interest margin. The bank’s Fixed Deposits enjoy the highest level of safety, being AAA rated by CRISIL. While the full impact of the Covid-19

moratorium on the asset quality will take two more quarters to unravel at all banks, for the time being, IDFC First Bank has been performing impressively on the NPA front. The bank saw its Gross Non Performing Assets (GNPA) reduce sequentially from 2.60% as of March 31, 2020 to 1.99% as of June 30, 2020.

IDFC First Bank also saw its Net NPA fall sequentially from 0.94% as of March 31, 2020 to 0.51% as of June 30, 2020.

This gives confidence that the bank can effectively overcome any new asset quality issues caused by the moratorium’s longer term impact.

On the credit side, IDFC First Bank has been steadily improving its disbursals which had come to a standstill in April and which has now surpassed 60% of what it was pre-Covid, that is, in January & February 2020. With this kind of momentum in place, it is now only a matter of time before the loan book records significant growth again, feels Vaidyanathan.

The bank has been witnessing strong growth on the consumer durables lending business, which is one of the two strongholds of the bank on the credit side. Lending for the consumption of appliances like televisions, air SEASONAL MAGAZINE

conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines etc has witnessed a strong rebound of 80% of pre-Covid levels at IDFC First Bank.

This is especially important for the new generation lender as retail loans accounts for 61% of the loan book and consumer loans comes to 17% of the book.

However, the same can’t be said about the other leg of credit growth at the bank, which is MSME credit, and which is now only 20% of the pre-Covid level.

But here too, Vaidyanathan is optimistic as he knows that MSME has been the most affected sector and as consumption demand grows beyond a level, MSMEs would bounce back to expansion plans and credit growth.

Vaidyanathan feels that the government’s Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme for MSMEs has been a good success. IDFC First Bank has utilized this scheme for delivering credit to small entrepreneurs. But he strongly feels that more should be done for MSMEs like cutting their tax rates and favourable treatment to them vis-à-vis

large corporate companies.

Finally, what the IDFC First Bank CEO sees as the most powerful opportunity is that with such an unprecedented crisis, a large part of the banking system has gone into a coma. For lenders like IDFC First Bank that have both the capabilities to lend judiciously and the capital to support the same, this presents an unlimited opportunity.

The bank continues to be a leader in technology deployment. In association with payments leader Visa, IDFC First Bank has launched SafePay, a digital facility that allows contactless debit card payments by simply waving your

smartphone against a Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled Point of Sale (POS) terminal. SafePay will enable contactless payments of up to Rs 2,000 per transaction and up to a limit of Rs 20,000 per day, making everyday purchases easy.

Before Covid-19 struck and disrupted all sectors, including banking, IDFC First Bank has been growing its retail loan book admirably. The private sector lender, which was formed by the merger of IDFC Bank and Capital First, has a loan book that has two streams – the legacy infrastructure loans that basically came in from IDFC Bank, and the newer

IDFC FIRST BANK REPORTED A NET PROFIT OF RS. 101.47 CRORE IN Q2, AS AGAINST A NET LOSS OF RS. 679.50 CRORE IN THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD A YEAR AGO. NET INTEREST INCOME GREW 22% TO RS. 1,660 CRORE AS AGAINST RS. 1,363 CRORE A YEAR AGO.

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IN Q2, CASA RATIO HAS COME UP TO THE BEST INDUSTRY STANDARDS, NET INTEREST MARGIN HAS RISEN TO TO 4.57%, AND ASSET QUALITY BY WAY OF GROSS NPA AND NET NPA HAS IMPROVED OVER THE CORRESPONDING YEAR-AGO PERIOD. retail loan business that the combined entity has been pursuing. During the past year, the bank could grow its retail loan book by an impressive 30%.

The bank’s stated aim is to grow this retail loan book to a dominant position and phase out the legacy loan book gradually. Before the lockdown came, this seemed achievable by IDFC First Bank, given how well its retail loan unit had performed over the last year, and even before it as the NBFC, Capital First.

While Covid-19 and the resultant lockdown has thrown most banks into disarray, there is a high chance that IDFC First Bank would be among the first few banks to rebound in lending activity, due to its particular expertise in MSME credit. The mainstay of its retail loan book as well as of its former avatar Capital First, has been MSME loans.

Since this sector has been one of the hardest hit in the lockdown, government support to revive it too has been to the

maximum extent, with the government facilitating a package of Rs. 3 lakh crore as additional debt for MSMEs. The government is also extending credit guarantees for all eligible MSME loans.

And when that growth phase kicks in shortly, which Vaidyanathan expects to happen with a 3-6 months lag, IDFC First Bank would be one of the most ready banks to tap into it. And even if it takes more time than expected, the recent equity raise of Rs. 2000 crore would serve to meet any contingency arising from Covid-19.

The bank’s Rs. 2000 crore equity raise was subscribed by two of its major stakeholders, IDFC and Warburg Pincus, which also served to maintain their stakes in the bank at the previous level.

While the main promoter IDFC invested Rs. 800 crore, the US based private equity giant Warburg Pincus invested Rs. 200 crore. The other half of the issue was subscribed by noted institutional investors, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance which invested Rs 600 crore, and HDFC

Life Insurance and Bajaj Life Insurance which invested Rs. 200 crore each.

Apart from its equity raise of Rs. 2000 crore and its fast growing CASA deposits, IDFC First Bank has enough headroom to raise further capital if growth warrants it, as the bank is yet to raise any significant Tier-II Capital.

However, for the time being, Vaidyanathan is not eyeing any more fund raise, as it is still to use the Rs. 2000 crore it raised during the lockdown.

IDFC First Bank grew its net profits for the quarter ending June 30, 2020 (Q1 FY’21), to Rs. 94 crore as compared to a loss of Rs. 617 crore for Q1 FY20 and as compared to a net profit of Rs. 72 crore in Q4 FY20, up by 31% (QoQ). The bank had thus reported its second consecutive quarter of profits in spite of providing liberally for COVID. Earlier, the new age private sector bank had also come out with an excellent set of numbers for Q4 that signal a positive turnaround on yearon-year basis. It had reported a net profit of Rs. 72 crore for the quarter ended March 31, compared to a loss of Rs. 218 crore a year earlier in the corresponding quarter.

The turnaround was holistic as it was led by a 40% rise in net interest income, as well as fees.

The young bank and its young CEO continue to capture mindshare across the young and older India. While the bank is doing it with its leadership in deposit rates and its hassle-free credit for consumer durables and MSME, Vaidyanathan is doing it with his positive thinking and much more.

Recently, he stunned the nation and captured all hearts when he hunted down and gifted Rs. 30 lakh worth of his shares in IDFC First Bank to a former teacher who had given him Rs. 500 that enabled him to travel from Chennai to BITS, Mesra, where he had gained admission after his predegree, which eventually paved the way for his leadership role in the banking sector.

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100 YEARS YOUNG CSB Bank

The way Lakshmi Vilas Bank went down and had to be amalgamated recently by RBI forcibly with an overseas bank, with no compensation to its equity investors, speaks volumes about the perfect rescue of CSB Bank in 2019. It was a rescue where all stakeholders including the bank’s new promoter entity led by billionaire investor Prem Watsa, its management led by veteran banker CVR Rajendran, its employee base, and its earlier shareholders all acted synergistically to protect the one hundred years old bank. However, the unsaid story is that much credit is also due to its customers whose two or three earlier generations have been banking with CSB Bank since 1920. The reason of course is the unshakeable trust that CSB Bank has garnered due to its steady operations over the ten decades since its inception. Now, under its promoter, the Canada based financial behemoth FairFax, and the expert leadership of its MD & CEO CVR Rajendran, the bank is on a transformational journey from being an Old Private Sector Bank to a full-service New Age Private Bank which deploys latest technologies like Whatsapp Banking as and when it happens. Confirming its turnaround in FY’20, the bank has put up a stellar performance in H1, growing not only headline numbers, but almost all core operational metrics. This centenary year will indeed go down in the history of the bank as the year in which it was truly reinvented.

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CSB Bank, formerly Catholic Syrian Bank, and Lakshmi Vilas Bank are classified by Reserve Bank of India as among the twelve remaining Old Private Sector Banks (OPSB), along with their peers like Federal Bank, South Indian Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, City Union Bank, Karnataka Bank, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank etc. While there are some outperformers among OPSBs, generally most of them share problems more similar to India’s stateowned public sector banks like significant NPAs and poor profitability. OPSBs also have the issue of poor geographic spread.

Not that India’s new private sector banks (NPSBs) are totally in the green.

While some of the best managed banks in India belong to this category, it also gave rise to troubled players like Yes Bank, which is yet to find significant traction in the market even after being taken over by banking behemoth State Bank of India (SBI) and attracting investments from several other banks. Problems at such NPSBs tend to be scam-scale corruption at the highest offices that would continue to send shockwaves as they are unearthed.

In sharp contrast, the problems at OPSBs like CSB Bank tend to be more manageable issues like stagnant strategies or lacklustre operational efficiencies from the past. In fact, after

being taken over by Canada based Fairfax India Holdings Corporation (FIHC) led by Prem Watsa, the bank has been transforming vigorously under the visionary leadership of its MD & CEO CVR Rajendran, a banking sector specialist. The bank which went for its successful IPO and listing in December 2019, suffered the worldwide setback in stocks due to the pandemic, but has since then risen by 2.8 times, calculated from its April 2020 lows.

The recovery in the CSB Bank stock was driven by soaring fundamental performance in recent quarters. The bank had turned around to profit in FY’20, ending a streak of losses for the past several years. CSB Bank posted a modest profit of Rs. 12.72 crore in last fiscal, but then accelerated its performance in Q1 and Q2 of this fiscal. In the June quarter, its net profit more than doubled to Rs. 53.6 crore from the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. And in Q2, the

AFTER BEING TAKEN OVER

BY CANADA BASED FAIRFAX INDIA HOLDINGS CORPORATION (FIHC) LED BY PREM WATSA, THE BANK HAS BEEN TRANSFORMING VIGOROUSLY UNDER THE VISIONARY LEADERSHIP OF ITS MD & CEO CVR RAJENDRAN. bottomline has soared to Rs. 68.9 crore, which is a three-fold rise from the previous fiscal’s September quarter.

Apart from such headline numbers, the finer details also speak strongly about the total turnaround happening at the Thrissur, Kerala, headquartered lender.

The most crucial CASA (Current Account, Savings Account) ratio of the bank had improved from 27.84% of total deposits in FY’19 to 29.17% at the end of FY20. The bank is now in the process of augmenting this further by launching more CASA centric branches, as cheap source of funds like CASA deposits are crucial for driving credit growth and profits.

The bank recorded strong growth in all core operational metrics including Net Interest Income (NII), Fee or NonInterest Income, Net Interest Margin (NIM) and Pre-Provision Operating

Profit (PPOP). While NII grew by 56%, NIM expanded by 81 bps to reach 4.5%. Supporting the higher NIM was the rise in yield on advances which increased from 10.33% to 10.94%, fall in cost of deposits from 5.91% to 5.18% and the rise in yield on investments from 6.52% to 6.74%, all on a YoY basis.

The bank has now become an agile player in the Fee or Non-Interest Income business with 80% growth witnessed in Q2, driven by increased treasury profits, processing fee and PSLC income. Growth in both interest and non-interest incomes helped the bank’s operating profit to surge by 172.6% in Q2. Other core metrics where the bank improved include Cost to Income Ratio, Return on Assets (RoA), Return on Equity (RoE) Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) and Capital to Risk Assets Ratio (CRAR).

CSB BANK WHICH WENT FOR ITS SUCCESSFUL IPO AND LISTING IN DECEMBER 2019, SUFFERED THE WORLDWIDE SETBACK IN STOCKS DUE TO THE PANDEMIC, BUT HAS SINCE THEN RISEN BY 2.8 TIMES, DRIVEN BY STRONG FUNDAMENTAL PERFORMANCE.

CSB BANK HAS RECORDED STRONG GROWTH IN ALL CORE OPERATIONAL METRICS INCLUDING NET INTEREST INCOME (NII), FEE OR NON-INTEREST INCOME, NET INTEREST MARGIN (NIM), CASA RATIO AND PREPROVISION OPERATING PROFIT (PPOP).

CSB Bank is also steadily improving its asset quality. In Q2, Gross NonPerforming Assets (NPA) as a percentage of Gross Advances fell by 47 bps sequentially to 3.04%, while Net NPA fell 44 bps QoQ to 1.30%.

Slippages in Q2 came in at Rs 3.7 crore, declining sharply from Rs 5.5 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 60.7 crore in the year-ago period.

Provisions and contingencies increased significantly to Rs 80.72 crore in Q2, up by 40.3% QoQ and 228.5% YoY. The Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) improved to 84.24% from 81.7% in the June quarter.

The bank utilized the pandemic to start new branches and 35 new branches were opened, taking advantage of the availability of furnished office space that was coming cheaper than earlier.

CSB Bank is now on track to start 101 branches before the end of FY’21.

Apart from boosting CASA, such branches are also beneficial for the bank to grow gold loans, one of its core credit products. Being based out of Kerala, which is the stronghold of gold loans, CSB Bank is already a significant player in gold loans.

The bank is leaving no stone unturned in its drive to boost this traditional strength in lending against gold. CSB Bank’s gold loan portfolio has grown 47% year-on-year to touch Rs 4,938.98 crore during the second quarter. Signalling strong momentum, it has grown sequentially too, registering over 28% growth. During the first quarter of the current fiscal, the bank had reported gold loan advances at Rs 3,843.50 crore. The bank now plans to grow its gold loan business elsewhere in India too, as the whole of the country is waking up to the utility and safety of gold loans.

The importance of gold loans in CSB Bank’s portfolio is evident from the fact that gold loans accounted for 31% of the bank’s total advances of Rs 12,240

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crore as at the end of FY20. This was after the bank’s gold loan portfolio increased 28% year-on-year to touch Rs 3,799 crore in the last fiscal. In Q2 of this fiscal, the bank’s gross advances increased by 11.92% year-on-year to touch Rs 12,761.91 crore, and it was largely driven by the strong uptick in gold loans. The bank is utilizing the higher Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio allowed by RBI in gold loans to grow this segment.

The bank is on a strong wicket on the deposits front too. Including the growth in Current Accounts & Savings Accounts (CASA) mentioned earlier, the total deposits of CSB Bank in Q2 has increased year-on-year by 12.63% to touch Rs 17,468.73 crore, in which

IN THE LATEST Q2 QUARTER, CSB BANK'S BOTTOMLINE HAS SOARED TO RS. 68.9 CRORE, WHICH IS A THREE-FOLD RISE FROM THE PREVIOUS FISCAL’S SEPTEMBER QUARTER.

term deposits accounted for Rs 12,334 crore. The bank is now in the process of setting up an NRI Vertical to grow its overseas remittances and Non Resident External (NRE) deposits which account for 25% of its deposit base. While this has been a traditional stronghold, in recent years more room for growth has emerged in NRI deposits.

The overall direction of the bank is clearly along the most prudent retail path followed by some of India’s best run banks. This was as per MD & CEO CVR Rajendran’s vision, and the twowheeler vertical which was established in 2018 is growing rapidly, registering over 265% growth in Q1.

THE BANK HAS RECENTLY INDUCTED PRALAY MONDAL AS THE BANK’S PRESIDENT FOR RETAIL, SME, OPERATIONS & IT. MONDAL WAS EARLIER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & HEAD OF RETAIL BANKING AT AXIS BANK.

THE BANK UTILIZED THE PANDEMIC TO START 35 NEW BRANCHES, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE AVAILABILITY OF FURNISHED OFFICE SPACE THAT WAS COMING CHEAPER THAN EARLIER.

But much more is being planned by CSB Bank in this regard, as so far this vertical has concentrated only on the hometurf of Kerala. With demand for two-wheelers surging across the country, CSB Bank is in the process of offering these loans in other states and cities where it has a sizeable presence.

The one hundred year old CSB Bank has 411 branches across India. Out of these, 90% of the branches are in the four states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. While it is not too bad as these states are home to India’s most buoyant metros like Mumbai, Chennai & Bengaluru, the bank has plans to target a wider geographic area and the new branch expansion plan in the current fiscal will greatly aid this. The bank which recruited 866 new employees in FY’20 is likely to recruit much more in the current fiscal due to this expansion plan.

However, for a bank which is aiming to be a new-age private sector bank, it is acutely aware of the more effective expansions possible in the digital realm. Hence, be it in gold loans or

two-wheeler credit, a priority focus of the bank is in sourcing retail loans digitally from across India. Towards this, the bank has tied up with the leading NBFC, IIFL to originate gold loans from those regions where it doesn’t have its own branch presence.

IIFL will act as a Banking Correspondent for CSB Bank and will also help the bank in sourcing from lower economic strata where there is more growth potential.

The bank’s retail push has received significant momentum by the recent induction of Pralay Mondal as the bank’s President for Retail, SME, Operations & IT. Mondal has 30 years of experience in private sector banks, is a noted performer in growing retail & SME banking, and was earlier Executive Director & Head of Retail Banking at Axis Bank. His other noted assignments include a 12-year stint with HDFC Bank. According to CSB Bank’s MD & CEO CVR Rajendran, Pralay Mondal can be a candidate to eventually takeover as the Chief Executive Officer of the bank, when Rajendran retires by the end of 2022.

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ATMANIRBHAR MADHYA PRADESH

A VISION TO MAKE MADHYA PRADESH SELF-RELIANT BY 2023 Madhya Pradesh has always remained one of India’s largest states by area. As its name implies it is the center of India, giving its great logistical advantages. But the state was historically slow to lead India in many core development metrics. All that is changing now under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan with MP now leading in sectors like solar power, PPE kit manufacturing, wheat procurement, agri produce marketing, private mandis, crop insurance, labour reforms, and above all a great performance in fighting the pandemic including free Covid testing together with welfare reforms – all with a single agenda – self-dependent, Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh. The state has recently become the first state in India to bring out a detailed roadmap for Atmanirbhar implementation, which envisages that the state will be Atmanirbhar by 2023.

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hile all major states have started pursuing Atmanirbhar initiatives, Madhya Pradesh has become the first state in India to bring out a detailed roadmap for implementation of the program in the state.

This was done in mid November after a mammoth exercise involving discussions, debates, webinars etc involving all ministries and departments of the state. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s aim is to make Madhya Pradesh self-reliant or Atmanirbhar within the next three years.

MP’s roadmap is comprehensive in that there are clear strategies on all domains including infrastructure development, agriculture, healthcare, education, economy, employment, good governance and more. The preparation of the roadmap had active support from Central Government’s NITI Aayog, and its Chief Executive Officer, Amitabh Kant himself participated in the release of Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh Roadmap-2023, and was appreciative of MP’s pioneering step.

On the agricultural front, focus would

NITI AAYOG CEO AMITABH KANT HAS APPRECIATED MP'S ATMANIRBHAR INITIATIVES. SEASONAL MAGAZINE

be on making the agriculture sector a profitable initiative by a total overhaul in irrigation management and by construction of supporting infrastructure like roads. Proper utilization of each drop of water including the Narmada water is targeted. For this, a network of small water structures will be laid and irrigated area will be increased to 60 lakh hectares from 31 lakh hectares.

Farmers Producer Organizations (FPO) will also be expanded in the form of a movement.

While the strengthening of FPOs will result in doubling of farmers’ income, extensive use of modern technology will be deployed in every activity of agriculture. Thus farming will be modernized and increased production and productivity ensured in a sustainable way that would benefit the large number of people involved in the farming sector in the state. Also, Rs. 10,000 of Samman Nidhi will be given to farmers every year in the form of PM Samman Nidhi and Mukhya Mantri Samman Nidhi.

On the education front, MP had historically lagged and this roadmap has identified one important reason for

MP IS THE FIRST STATE TO PUBLISH A ROADMAP FOR ITS ATMANIRBHAR PROGRAM.

the same, especially at the school level. Students from deprived sections of the society have been finding it difficult to travel to their schools and back. Hence Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has highlighted that bus services would be provided to for the students to commute to their schools. This will ensure that access to quality education is provided to even the deprived section of society.

One of the largest initiatives in Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh Roadmap-2023 is in power generation.

In a pragmatic way, CM Chouhan is targeting significant growth in both thermal power and renewable power.

In renewables, MP will be continuing its sharp focus on solar that was earlier seen in setting up the mega solar

project in Rewa. The new solar project will be at Omkareshwar, where extensive solar panels will be laid around the dam there to make the state Atmanirbhar in power.

As a good administrator, who is forever pressed from all sides for resource allocation, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also set the ball rolling on a new scheme for equal distribution of resources among all sections of the people. The government is working on a new formula according to which funds will be distributed in proportion with the population, so that precious funds and other resources reach every villages and community equitably.

BY NETWORKING WATER BODIES, IRRIGATED LAND IN MP TO BE DOUBLED TO 60 LAKH HECTARES.

On the industrial front, Madhya Pradesh has drawn up a mega plan to SEASONAL MAGAZINE

make the state self reliant. Remarkably, taking a deviation from many of its peers, MP’s plan is to promote all kinds of industries - big, small and cottage industries. For taking cottage industries to the next level, clusters would be developed at village level and special focus would be on developing food processing industries, so that farmers too will gain additional income from such small-scale industries.

A complementary call for Atmanirbhar Bharat by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been his Vocal-for-Local initiative, which implies that not only local productivity but local sourcing and a passion for locally made products should be promoted. Madhya Pradesh is putting its whole weight behind this program too with special efforts made to market local products thereby realizing Vocal-for-Local. Also, private sector participation will be ensured at and special support given to women entrepreneurs.

MP TO HAVE SECOND MEGA SOLAR PROJECT AT OMKARESHWAR DAM.

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CM HAS ENTRUSTED CHIEF SECRETARY IQBAL SINGH BAINS FOR MONITORING THE ATMANIRBHAR PROGRAM

Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh has also become Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s personal vison and mission statement that he has articulated impressively. The Chief Minister said that the people of Madhya Pradesh is God like to him, and the state itself is his Temple. And he considers himself to be the Priest of this mega temple. Such a benevolent vision is very much needed for the state to effectively tackle the challenge of helping people come out of the economic crisis in this pandemic period.

Despite an impressive roadmap, CM Chouhan realizes that no plan is complete without proper and effective implementation. To ensure this, as part of the roadmap, CM has also drawn up an effective framework for implementation and accountability, in which everyone from ministers to department heads,

MP WILL PROMOTE ALL INDUSTRIES - LARGE, MEDIUM AND COTTAGE INDUSTRIES INCLUDED.

to committees, to district and village level officials will be assigned responsibilities. However, CM’s masterstroke has been Deendayal Samitis, to be constituted at grassroots level to monitor the schemes and ensure community participation in development of state.

With such diverse initiatives and framework to monitor the same in a transparent way, there is no doubt that not only will Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s plans for an Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh be a reality by 2023, but that it will also be one of the best states in the whole of India, in sync with its size and central location in India.

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BUSINESS

RISE OF INDIAN AMERICANS AS GLOBAL BUSINESS LEADERS Indian Americans have done exceedingly well in almost all walks of life. However, their relative success took many years to catch the attention of the world. In today’s climate, Indian-origin individuals are regarded as an integral part of American life.

While the world is aware of the likes of Sundar Pichai (Google) and Satya Nadella (Microsoft) there are many more who have

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shown their exemplary traits in building businesses. A proud feat is the growing number of women business leaders, like for instance, Reshma Kewalramani (Vertex Pharmaceuticals) and Sonia Syngal (GAP Inc). This is an inspiration for the community’s next generation to achieve greater heights. Under the leadership of Indian Americans, these companies collectively employ more than 3.6 million worldwide and account for a combined USD $1 trillion in revenue and $4 trillion in market capitalization. The prestigious Indian American forum Indiaspora, in July 2020, published a list of business leaders of Indian Americans highlighting their contributions in business, government, philanthropy, academia and other areas.

uring my rise as a young business entrepreneur in the 1970s and beyond, this was scarcely imaginable. But I was always of the firm belief that with the right conditions and network, the Indian-origin entrepreneurs could turn the tide in their favour. In the 1990s, one could see the shifts in both the business and demographic landscapes. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 1990 and 2000, the Indian American population in the U.S. grew 130% – 10 times the national average of 13% while they comprised 16.4% of the AsianAmerican community. The community was not only providing its famed highskilled labour, but also showcased its prowess as a leading contributor to the development of American society. One of the ways in which the community made its mark was through social impact work, donations and fundraising for charities, the acute need for which precipitated the current COVID-19 struggle for communities.

Over the past several years the IndianAmerican diaspora through philanthropic activities have had a tremendous impact on the American soil. The COVID-19 pandemic has further made a systemic call to the diaspora to extend their Philanthropic arms. Indiaspora in its 2020 report, ‘Indian Diaspora in Action- Tracking the Indian American Response to COVID19’, has mentioned the unique ways Indian American Diaspora has adopted to come together and show their dedication in assisting those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Highly qualified medical professionals like Dr. Ashish Jha, Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and Seema Verma, Administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Trump Administration, along with many other doctors, nurses, researchers and other health professionals have been in the forefront of this crisis. Apart from contributing in the efforts of the medical sector, many philanthropic organisations have been contributing in some or the other way in the time of

pandemic. Sewa International has been championing in the efforts of providing masks and PPE kits to those in need and by far they have distributed more than 625,000 surgical masks made by over 1000 volunteers.

Wadhwani Foundation, founded by Dr. Romesh Wadhwani- a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and philanthropist, has made a significant contribution during the pandemic. The foundation has committed $26 million to assist MSMEs and public health workers affected by the pandemic through its ‘Sahayata COVID-19 Skilling Program’.

In terms of their political influence, Indian Americans in the early part of 1960s had limited representation. A notable exception was Dalip Singh Saund, Democratic Congressman from California who was also the first Indian American elected to public office. This was largely to do with the low political mobilization as the community did not regard itself as a voting bloc. There was not a single representative for almost three full decades before Bobby Jindal in 2005 became the second Indian American in Congress. Today, the veritable list includes the likes of Ami Bera (elected in 2013), Pramila Jayapal (2017), Ro Khanna (2017), Raja Krishnamoorthi (2017). Speaking to their Indian descent, Krishnamoorthi fondly refers to the quartet as the “Samosa Caucus”. But it is Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris, the first Indian American to be elected to the Senate, whose initial candidature for U.S. President made the community the cynosure of all eyes.

When I look back at the time when the community remained largely neglected in the political realm, the current situation has been a remarkable turnaround.

“Whenever I’m asked about Indians taking away our jobs, I want to say, you know what... they’ve just created 50,000 jobs,” former U.S. President Barack Obama had once quipped in reference to Indian Americans. This statement of validation, coming from a shrewd politician and master communicator like Obama, did not surprise me at the least. He could have SEASONAL MAGAZINE

played to the stereotypical and xenophobic narrative of “the outsider” stealing away American jobs. The reason he didn’t is borne by hard evidence. While India earned the reputation of being the “back-office of the world” (a reference to its highly skilled workforce engaged in outsourced activities on the payroll of global firms), Obama’s impassioned appeal was in the context of the unprecedented rise of Indian-origin CEOs in America’s leading corporations. Be it Pao Alto Network’s Nikesh Arora, IBM’s Arvind Krishna or Berkshire Hathaway’s Ajit Jain, the Indian American executive is at the forefront of America’s economic progress through job creation.

However, the Indian American community’s outsized influence that came to fruition was not always destined to happen. Coincidentally, Bob Dylan’s famous track released in 1964 “The Times They Are a-Changin” perhaps captures the impending change in fortunes that was in store for Indian immigrants in the years to come.

Indian immigration to the U.S. had its share of enablers – some organic and the other accidental. Then U.S. President Lyndon B Johnson’s landmark Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 heralded one of America’s biggest success stories of the Cold War era: the ability to attract skilled labour for the country’s famed corporations. It had put an end to the long-standing nationalorigin quotas that favoured Europeans over people of colour. It was somewhat coincidental that this period also marked a boom in technical and medical education in India as prolific graduates from reputed institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) became attractive to global corporations and centres of excellence. In sum, the need for India’s highly skilled talent laid the foundations for today’s significant demographic shift in America that is emblematic of the community’s successful integration into a hitherto alien land.

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In the immediate decades following India’s independence, the movement of the country’s brightest minds to the farthest corners of the world including the “land of opportunity” underlined two things: firstly, the well-educated Indian was representative of the early globalization wave that broke cultural and geographical barriers and secondly, despite the need for a technically skilled workforce to drive the newbie nation’s growth, there was a perceptible lack of professional incentives that matched their talent capabilities.

While Indians form a greater share of population in the UK (2.3%) as compared to the US (about 1%), however, the achievements of Indian Americans in businesses seem better as compared to others. The post World War II era enabled the U.S. to become a technological superpower and the growth of corporations acted as a magnet for Indian immigrants perhaps more than the U.K. which had a historical connection. On the other hand, the Indian diaspora in the Middle East constitutes approximately 9 million people and is one of the largest in the world in terms of immigrants. However, they mostly constitute low paid migrant workers in the oil fields and refineries.

In the case of Africa, Indian-origin communities constitute 12.3% of the total population but are employed in relatively low-skilled sectors. The enabling environment for business opportunities provided by America is unmatched compared to these regions where the per capita income continues to remain low. Therefore, highly skilled

Indian immigrants graduating from institutes such as IITs favored the U.S. for its vibrancy and potential for growth.

The relatively free environment to pursue employment and studies provided a perfect springboard for the community to achieve the success that we witness today. IITians have gone on to become CEOs of some of the top companies in the U.S. which shows that they are probably some of the most valuable imports by the U.S. from India.

As a gutsy 22-year old, I was enthralled by the opportunities that a higher education degree in the U.S. would bring. The reputation of America’s great institutions left an imprint on me although my career trajectory was different from most who set foot on the land of opportunity. I decided to pursue a business career after completing a Masters degree in Operations Research in 1969 from Cornell University. I bucked the otherwise popular trend of desis who largely came here to continue their medical or engineering pursuits. I shall divulge my reasoning for this risky decision later in the article.

The post-1965 wave witnessed the inflow of scientists, doctors and engineers (some still raw albeit armed with elite degrees along with seasoned practitioners, both lured by the common ideal of the American Dream) who went on to serve the country with utmost dedication. Fast forward to the present: Indian Americans have a critical role to play in America’s battle against COVID-19 with every 7th doctor supposedly of Indian-origin, a statistical

In another prestigious U.S. institution – NASA – the Indian connection stretches back to the time of 1983 Nobel Prize laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, an eminent astrophysicist and nephew of the illustrious C.V Raman. A year later, a little known Kalpana Chawla completed her degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington and applied to NASA’s famous Astronaut Corps in 1995. In the following year, she became the first woman of Indian-origin to travel into space.

enormity that would raise few eyebrows! A large number of scientists with Indian heritage are steadfastly working towards the development of the vaccine that earned special mention from the U.S. President. This is least surprising given that, almost a decade ago, as many as 12% scientists in the U.S. were Indians. Today, around 50,000 Indian-American physicians ply their trade while 10% of medical students are of Indian descent.

Over the years, scientists and doctors of Indian-origin have been at the helm of America’s cutting-edge scientific and research institutes like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF). For instance Dr. Subra Suresh, one of the many beneficiaries of the 1965 immigration reform, came to the U.S. in 1979 to pursue his graduation and went on to become the first Asian-born scientist to lead the prestigious NSF from 20102013. Even first generation Indian Americans, like Dr. Vivek Murthy who served as the 19th Surgeon General and first of Indian-origin, have done exceedingly well in recent times.

Perhaps the most famous of them all was Dr. Har Gobind Khorana, the pioneering biochemist and 1968 Nobel Prize winner who independently discovered that genetic information was stored in our DNA.

While the profiles and backgrounds of Indian Americans largely comprised of those in the highly skilled technical sectors, there was significant churning taking place in corporate America.

Therefore, my professional career took a trajectory that may not resonate with many of my contemporaries of the time.

A sizeable number of feisty and ambitious Indian Americans began to assume corporate roles in finance and marketing and some even pursued MBA at night schools. In my first job, I joined Scott Paper Company in 1969 as a scientific analysis manager.

Unfortunately, the company went through a rough patch and eventually started to lay off employees. Being one of the newest employees, I feared that my job was in jeopardy. Then, I got my lucky break: I joined Rohm and Haas as a financial analyst that would commence my 39-year long association with the chemical manufacturing giant.

Even though I was only one among the handful of Indian immigrants that took the gamble of a business career, there was a notable trailblazer from a decade ago who set the precedent. If you grew up in the 1980s and 1990s and heard sound blaring from an audio/speaker system, chances are that it was a product of the famous audio equipment

company, Bose Corporation. At a time when stethoscopes and seminars were preferred over profits and products, the Indian-origin founder of Bose Corporation stood out from the crowd!

Founded by Dr. Amar G Bose in 1964, a former Professor at MIT, Bose Corporation was born with initial funding from angel investors and currently employs over 10,000 people with revenue upwards of $3 billion.

This trend remains unchanged with Indian Americans regularly featured as top innovators in the technology segment, especially those under the 35 age bracket. Sonia Vallabh, Maithilee Kunda, Dinesh Bharadia and Jagdish Chaturvedi are the four Indian American innovators under 35 on the MIT Technology Review list.

Suhas Patil, also with an MIT connection as a graduate and professor, founded the semi-conductor supplier Cirrus Logic in 1984. He was one of the co-founders of TiE (The IndUS Entrepreneurs), the renowned not-forprofit organization that mentors young entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Another Silicon Valley blue chip company, Sun Microsystems that was acquired by Oracle Corporation, was co-founded by Vinod Khosla in 1982 who then went on to become a leading venture capitalist. By the late 1980s, Indian American entrepreneurs and their companies started to acquire a household name in the tech arena. The likes of Sanjay Mehrotra (co-founder of SanDisk) and Pradeep Sindhu (cofounder of Juniper Networks) were among the many Indian-origin entrepreneurs who rose up the corporate ladder to lead global tech firms. Soon, Indian Americans established themselves in mid and senior-level leadership positions of companies mostly in the East Coast while a major chunk of the successful entrepreneurs and investors earned their reputation as leading voices in the West Coast. Today, Rajan Anandan, Nikesh Arora are among the many who provide support and guidance to the start-up ecosystem while the likes of Salil Deshpande (Bain Capital) and Sameer Gandhi (Accel Ventures) among many others who have reached top echelons of various investment arms.

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would, in fact, go to the extent of saying that a company’s long term performance is linked to the nature of diversity it offers. This requires the ability and fortitude to overcome biases about diversity. The Indian immigrants benefiting from the 1965 reforms formed a considerable knowledge bridge for later immigrants. The shared sense of community provided a social as well as professional bond that enabled valuable mentorship to successive generations of Indian Americans.

My own climb to the top rungs of the Rohm and Haas corporate chain brought me to head the Asia-Pacific operations in 1993.

Apart from Rajat Gupta’s appointment as Managing Director of McKinsey & Company in 1994 (he holds the distinction of being the first Indian-born CEO of an MNC), it was not until the latter half of the 1990s when we witnessed the rise of Indian Americans to CEO/executive positions. My own rise from being an assistant to the CEO to becoming CEO myself was a byproduct of the times. Between Hartford Insurance, US Airways Group, Rohm and Haas and Quest Labs, the common factor in each of these giant corporations was an Indian American at its helm. Heading a Global Fortune 300 company from 1999-2009, I realized the enabling level-playing field I was exposed to at Rohm & Haas. I was never made to feel that I had barriers to overcome and I can safely say that my distinguished compatriots in the industry felt the same. For the generation of Indian American leaders that rose to prominence in the succeeding decade, only the sky was the limit.

The mid-2000s brought India and the U.S. to achieve close cooperation at the governmental level, culminating in the signing of the historic civil nuclear agreement. In business terms, a more accurate indicator of the growing clout of Indian-origin executives was their appointment as top honchos of some of America’s most profitable companies. Indra Nooyi (appointed CEO of PepsiCo in 2006), Francisco D’Souza (appointed President and CEO of Cognizant Technology Solutions in SEASONAL MAGAZINE

2007), Vikram Pandit (appointed CEO of Citigroup in 2007), Shantanu Narayen (appointed CEO of Adobe Systems in 2007), Sanjay Jha (appointed co-CEO of Motorola Inc in 2008), Deven Sharma (appointed President of Standard & Poor’s in 2010) and Ajaypal Banga (appointed President and CEO of MasterCard in 2010) catapulted the Indian American community into instant stardom. Today, 7% of Silicon Valley hi-tech firms have Indian CEOs. This broadly covers sectors ranging from finance to FMCG and technology to pharma.

There is always something poignant yet compelling about the story of an Indian immigrant in the United States. Making the long voyage traversing thousands of miles, having to leave every cherished childhood memory behind, is no small effort. It was perhaps this disposition for making hard choices and unwavering sacrifice that shaped the archetypal Indian American of today.

Indian Americans provide the clearest example of how the diversity factor needs to be an important consideration for companies. In my view, diversity is not just a moral imperative but a business goal in many ways. It provides the opportunity to draw from the broadest possible talent pool.

Personally, working in diverse environments like Rohm & Haas expanded my notion of mentorship. I

The reason for success of Indian CEOs as compared to others such as Chinese and Jewish can be attributed due the availability of market relevant IT skills that enabled their growth in this sector.

One of the personal attributes is the ability to communicate in English, where business leaders of Chineseorigin fall short, and the other is the ability to argue and debate ideas as a part of assertive communication which is an intrinsic aspect of American culture. As Nikki Haley, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, says in her recent book With All Due Respect that ‘there are a number of reasons for Indian Americans’ success in the United States’. “But mostly, we’re just good at being Americans. And that says as much about America as it does about us,” she says.

Indian-Americans now make up the largest PIO community anywhere in the world with estimates showing around 4 million live in the U.S at present.

Additionally, the diaspora community is also one of the wealthiest sub-groups by income, a testament both to their relative success and the hallowed tenet of the American Dream. This makes the Indian American story one for the ages.

However, this journey was not an easy one. The acts of sacrifice, resilience and kindness jointly contributed to our achievements. However, most importantly, my sense is that the authenticity of Indian Americans is what has put us in good stead despite all the challenges along the way. My hope is that the future generation of Indian Americans can similarly become an exemplar for the larger society they live in. It is this quality that marks the globally-recognised Indian American.

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IRFC IPO

Government of India is simply the largest promoter of diverse enterprises in India. Once in a while, GoI takes from its deep pockets an anmol ratan or rare jewel that will surprise most Indians. This is the story of one such jewel – Indian Railway Finance Corporation - that is all set to go public now with its Rs. 4600 crore IPO. Just like IRCTC is in the ticketing and catering of Indian Railways, IRFC has a near monopoly status for extrabudgetary funding for Indian Railways. Market values monopolies highly, and that is what played out in IRCTC's blockbuster IPO and listing, and IRFC too may benefit from the monopoly status. This state owned NBFC also enjoys a risk-free lease rental business model, budgetary guarantee,deprecation of assets, nil NPAs, a robust Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) and almost fixed margins in their core business of lending. The IRFC model of funding its parent is so robust that now India's defence wing, Indian Navy, is mulling the setting up of such a dedicated financing arm. IRFC is led in this crucial IPO phase under the visionary leadership of its Chairman & Managing Director and Indian Railways veteran Amitabh Banerjee, who has handled topmost financial duties in Konkan Railway and Delhi Metro.

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he much anticipated IPO of Indian Railway Finance Corporation may be coming soon.

The state-run market borrowing arm of the Indian Railways, has indicated that it is likely to go in for its Rs. 4600 crore IPO by the end of December if market conditions are favorable or by the first half of January.

Out of the issue size of Rs 4,600 crore, fresh issue of shares will comprise Rs 3,100 crore, which will come to the company and the rest will be an Offer for Sale (OFS) by its promoter Government of India, of its existing shares, worth Rs 1,500 crore. For the first time, a government company’s IPO will also feature an anchor book portion for renowned institutional investors to come in as anchor investors.

IRFC will be the fifth Indian Railways company to hit stock market since 2017. The earlier listed entities are IRCON International, RITES, Rail Vikas Nigam and Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

IRFC’s IPO follows the blockbuster success of the IRCTC IPO, which was

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OUT OF THE ISSUE SIZE OF RS 4,600 CRORE, FRESH ISSUE OF SHARES WILL COMPRISE RS 3,100 CRORE, WHICH WILL COME TO THE COMPANY AND THE REST WILL BE AN OFFER FOR SALE (OFS) BY ITS PROMOTER GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, OF ITS EXISTING SHARES, WORTH RS 1,500 CRORE. subscribed nearly 112 times last October, and quickly climbed to nearly three-times the IPO price, and is now trading even much higher, despite the pandemic and a further massive share sale by the Government in the company recently. IRCTC is a consumer facing business, while IRFC is a B2B lending business. While the former has operational leverage, the latter has financial leverage.

The domain of Non-Banking Financial Companies or NBFCs is dominated by the private sector in the country. But unknown to many except their employees and financial sector

experts, Government of India also runs a few large NBFCs. Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) is one such NBFC recognized by the sector regulator Reserve Bank of India as a Systemically Important Non–Deposit taking Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC – ND-SI).

Owned 100% by the Government of India and coming under the administrative control of Ministry of Railways, IRFC is also an Infrastructure Finance Company (NBFC- IFC) under RBI regulation.

IRFC works as the dedicated market borrowing arm of the Indian Railways and it finances the acquisition of both powered and unpowered vehicles such as locomotives, coaches, wagons, trucks, containers, cranes etc, apart from its services in in leasing of railway infrastructure assets and national projects of the government, and financing to other entities under the Ministry of Railways. As one of the major financial providers for Indian Railways, IRFC is always on the lookout for fund raising plans and has been tapping even overseas markets successfully.

IRFC WILL BE THE FIFTH INDIAN RAILWAYS COMPANY TO HIT STOCK MARKET SINCE 2017.

Now, to what makes IRFC an Anmol Ratan from the government stable. The moment an analyst hears of a lender – be it a bank or an NBFC – the first concern would be their Non Performing Assets or NPAs. Because, most banks and NBFCs have been reeling from staggering NPAs since 2009. How does IRFC fare on this front? Well, it has 0% NPAs. Yes, nil or no NPAs at all.

The second concern with lenders would be something called Capital Adequacy Ratio or CAR. It signals how financially stable is a bank or NBFC when it comes to growing it’s loanbook. International Basel regulations as well as RBI stipulates stringent CAR norms for different kinds of lenders, and most of these fall in the double digit teens. Lenders literally struggle to keep up with regulatory norms for CAR as either it requires highly profitable operations or frequent Tier-! Capital rises. Here also, IRFC comes out with flying colours with a CAR of 355%.

The third concern would be the operational profits, as with everything else like NIMs and yields getting to be equal, lenders differentiate more through their better operational efficiencies. Here also, IRFC has no competition as it is a lean operation, having only one owner and one client – Indian Railways!

IRFC has a risk-free business model in which the company is not directly lending to Indian Railways but acquiring assets of Railways and keeping it in their books, with the revenue source being the annual lease rentals. Because of this IRFC also gets the benefit of depreciation on those assets. Any default in the lease rental is ruled out as it is earmarked in the budget itself, as something the Government would provide without fail.

The growth prospects are also very robust. The expected capital outlay on SEASONAL MAGAZINE

the infrastructure development of Indian Railways is around Rs 14 lakh crore by FY25. IRFC hopes to disburse 50-60% of it in the next five years.

In FY20, IRFC contributed about Rs 71,000 crore to Indian Railways capex outlay plan and it hopes to meet 70% of total capex requirement of Railways in FY21 too. IRFC had disbursed Rs 3.4 lakh crore as of March 2020 to Indian Railways. So far in FY21, it has disbursed Rs 30,000 crore.

Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) was set up in 1986 as the dedicated financing arm of the Indian Railways for mobilizing funds from domestic as well as overseas Capital Markets. In more than 30 years of existence, IRFC has played a significant role in supporting the expansion of the Indian Railways and related entities by financing a significant proportion of its annual plan outlay.

The primary objective of IRFC is to meet the predominant portion of Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR) requirement of the Indian Railways through market borrowings at the most competitive rates and terms. The Company’s principal business

IRFC'S FUNDS ARE UTILIZED FOR ACQUIRING ROLLING STOCK ASSETS AND ALSO BUILDING UP INFRASTRUCTURE, CONSTITUTING SIGNIFICANT PART OF ANNUAL CAPITAL EXPENDITURE OF INDIAN RAILWAYS.

therefore is to borrow funds from the financial markets to finance the acquisition / creation of assets which are then leased out to the Indian Railways.

IRFC's funds are utilized for acquiring rolling stock assets and also building up infrastructure, constituting significant part of annual capital expenditure of Indian Railways. So far, it has funded acquisition of around 8998 locomotives, 47910 passenger coaches, 2,14,456 wagons, which constitute around 75% of the total rolling stock fleet of Indian Railways.

From 2011-12 onwards, IRFC has forayed into funding of railway projects and capacity enhancement works. With such growth prospects, but tempered by Railway’s highly economical services, this NBFC has been growing its topline steadily with a revenue CAGR of 20%. IRFC is also a noted issuer and pioneer of bonds in the Indian and overseas market, having successfully done some of India's largest dollar bond issues in foreign markets.

GREEN ENERGY

NO MORE PETROL / DIESEL CARS IN UK FROM 2030 BRITAIN WILL BAN THE SALE OF NEW GASOLINE AND DIESEL CARS BY 2030, A DECADE EARLIER THAN ITS PREVIOUS COMMITMENT, THE PRIME MINISTER SAID ON NOVEMBER 17, 2020. BORIS JOHNSON MADE THE PLEDGE AS PART OF PLANS FOR A "GREEN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION" THAT HE CLAIMS COULD CREATE UP TO 250,000 JOBS IN ENERGY, TRANSPORT AND TECHNOLOGY. | PHOTO CREDIT: AP

UAE WOMAN TRAVELS TO ALL 7 CONTINENTS IN LESS THAN 87 HRS, SETS GUINNESS RECORD UAE's Dr Khawla AlRomaithi managed to break Guinness World Record for fastest time to travel to all seven continents in 3 days 14 hours 46 minutes 48 seconds. During her trip, which ended in Australia on February 13, AlRomaithi visited 208 countries and dependent territories. "[It] demanded...patience...in airports as well as having to deal with constant plane rides," she said.

COVID-19 MINK MUTATIONS DISCOVERED IN HUMANS IN 7 COUNTRIES utomakers have expressed concern about the target, saying the previous goal of 2040 was already ambitious. Britain will ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars by 2030, a decade earlier than its previous commitment, the Prime Minister said Tuesday.

Boris Johnson made the pledge as part of plans for a green industrial revolution that he claims could create up to 250,000 jobs in energy, transport and technology.

The government said sales of new gasoline and diesel cars and vans will end in 2030, though hybrid vehicles can be sold until 2035.

Automakers have expressed concern about the target, saying the previous goal of 2040 was already ambitious.

The government’s green plans also include investments in hydrogen energy and carbon capture technology, and an ambition to generate enough wind energy to power every home in the UK by 2030. To the chagrin of some environmentalists, plans also include a new generation of nuclear power plants.

The environmental push is part of Mr. Johnson’s efforts to move beyond the tremors of the coronavirus pandemic and Britain’s divisive exit from the European Union, and to bring new jobs

to struggling former industrial regions of central and northern England.

Although this year has taken a very different path to the one we expected, I haven’t lost sight of our ambitious plans to level up across the country, Mr. Johnson said in a statement.

Our green industrial revolution will be powered by the wind turbines of Scotland and the North East, propelled by the electric vehicles made in the Midlands and advanced by the latest technologies developed in Wales, so we can look ahead to a more prosperous, greener future. Mr. Johnson also has made a shared commitment to fighting climate change part of his pitch to Joe Biden as he seeks to convince the U.S. President-elect he is not a carbon copy of Donald Trump, who has downplayed the threat posed by global warming.

The UK is due to host the COP26 global climate conference next year, after a 12month delay because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Britain has also pledged reduce its carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.

Denmark, the Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, the Faroe Islands, Russia and the US have reported mink-related novel coronavirus mutations in humans, according to new scientific analysis. Most of the cases were recorded in Denmark. Denmark launched a nationwide cull of its farmed mink after scientists said that a new strain among them posed a potential threat to COVID-19 vaccine efficacy.

CHANGE 'KARACHI SWEETS' TO SOMETHING IN MARATHI: SENA LEADER TO SHOP OWNER A video that shows Shiv Sena leader Nitin Nandgaonkar allegedly asking the owner of 'Karachi Sweets' in Mumbai to change the name of the shop has gone viral. In the video, Nandgaonkar purportedly says, "You have to do it, we are giving you time. Change 'Karachi' to something in Marathi."

Rebecca Newsom of Greenpeace UK said the landmark announcement was a big step forward, although she regretted the inclusion of speculative solutions, such as nuclear and hydrogen from fossil fuels, that will not be taking us to zero emissions anytime soon, if ever.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

GADGET

8 GB PHONES UNDER 25K Gone are the days when 8GB RAM came only in high-end Android phones. Now there are quite a few smartphone options available in the mid-range segment (under Rs 25,000) that pack 8GB RAM, in fact you can find some options under Rs 20,000 as well. Brands include Redmi, Samsung, Oppo, Realme, Vivo and Poco. So, here are 13 smartphones priced under Rs 25,000 that offer 8GB RAM.

OPPO RENO 3 PRO

Available at a starting price tag of Rs 25,990, the Oppo Reno 3 Pro packs 8GB RAM. The smartphone comes in two storage options-- 128GB and 256GB. The device is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio P95 processor and sports a 44MP selfie camera and four cameras at the back.

It comes with VOOC Flash Charge 4.0.

SAMSUNG GALAXY M51 The big battery smartphone from Samsung also comes in 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage option. Priced at Rs 24,999, the Samsung Galaxy M51 houses a massive 7,000 mAh battery with 25W fast charging. The smartphone runs Android 10 operating system and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor.

SAMSUNG GALAXY M31S Samsung Galaxy M31s packs 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage and it can be purchased at Rs 20,499. The smartphone is powered by an octa-core Exynos 9611 processor and houses 6,000 mAh battery with 25W fast charging support.

OPPO F17 PRO

Priced at Rs 22,990, Oppo F17 Pro packs 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. The smartphone sports a 6.43-inch Full HD+ display and runs Android 10 operating system.

Powered by MediaTek Helio P95 SoC, it comes with a 16MP selfie shooter and an in-display fingerprint sensor.

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POCO X3 Priced at Rs 19,999, the Poco X3 packs 8GB RAM. The handset is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G processor and runs Android 10 operating system. It features a 6.67-inch full HD+ display with 120Hz refresh rate.

REALME 7 PRO

Realme 7 Pro packs 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage and it can be bought at Rs 21,999. It is the only phone in this price range to offer 65W fast charging support. The device sports a 32MP selfie camera and runs Android 10 operating system.

REALME NARZO 20 PRO Realme Narzo 20 Pro is powered by MediaTek Helio G95 processor coupled with 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. The smartphone is priced at Rs 16,999 and houses a 4500 mAh battery. It comes with 4 cameras at the back and one 16MP selfie camera in the front.

REALME X3 SUPERZOOM Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ processor,Realme X3 Superzoom is available at Rs 24,990. The smartphone packs 8GB RAM and 128Gb internal storage. It comes with a 64MP quad-rear camera setup and is backed by a 4,200 mAh battery.

VIVO V19

REDMI NOTE 9 PRO MAX The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max can be purchased at Rs 19,499 and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor paired with 8GB of RAM. The smartphone comes with a quadrear camera setup with 64MP main sensor. The device is backed by a 5,000 mAh battery.

Available at a starting price tag of Rs 24,990, this 8GB RAM smartphone comes in two storage variants -128GB and 256GB. V19 runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 processor. It is equipped with an indisplay fingerprint sensor and sports a dual-front camera with 32MP main sensor and 8MP secondary sensor.

VIVO V20 REALME 7 Selling at Rs 16,999, theRealme 7 is one of the cheapest smartphone to offer 8GB RAM in our list. The smartphone is backed by 5,000 mAh battery with 30W Dart charge support.

The handset sports a quad-rear camera setup and offers 16MP selfie shooter.

Vivo V20 comes at a starting price tag of Rs 24,990 and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor. The device runs on Android 11 out of the box, comes with triple rear cameras and 33Watt charging. Its key highlight is its 44MP selfie camera.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

THE PRIVATE SECTOR UNIVERSITIES MOVING UP DESPITE THE PANDEMIC took only six months for the higher education landscape in India to change dramatically. The higher education sector began 2020 in a business-as-usual manner, but suddenly it became one of the most impacted sectors in the global pandemic. With universities and colleges closing indefinitely, economy crumbling, job losses mounting, and startups melting down, everything in higher education from admissions to placements became mired in endless confusions. To add to the challenges in the sector, the new National Education Policy (NEP) was also implemented. But for the most well-prepared private universities which had pursued lofty goals diligently throughout their young existence, the pandemic and NEP proved to be blessings in disguise. Within days into the lockdown, they got their act together and started rolling out the best in technology deployment for online classes, pandemic specific research initiatives, strategies to renew their candidates’ skills for the emerging tech-led workspace, and startup incubation for the new emerging world order. The gap between public universities and private sector universities has narrowed due to the latter’s proactive initiatives in dealing with the pandemic. And inside the private sector itself, a handful of universities have hogged national and international limelight due to their timely initiatives in furthering online education, vaccine trials, interdisciplinary patents and world-beating startup innovations. Seasonal Magazine identifies the traits that helped such private sector universities move up despite the pandemic. Also featured in this cover story are a handful of such select private sector universities.

It

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EDGE IN UPDATED & INTERDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION

Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a renowned teacher at IIT Madras was asked about what all would be the hot jobs emerging in the coming years. Though he didn’t mention any specific jobs, his answer was telling regarding the relevance of interdisciplinary education. Says Prof. Jhunjhunwala, “If you are studying engineering, I’d tell you that the most important thing to learn is the power of being interdisciplinary. Because anything that you can do will require interdisciplinary knowledge.” And the reality is that the same truth applies to other higher education domains like management and even medicine, not to speak of research which has turned truly interdisciplinary in recent years. The pandemic has only driven up the need for interdisciplinary research, and it is also a core feature of NEP. While Prof. Jhunjhunwala didn’t speak about private universities, it is a known fact that many private universities are already focusing on updated and interdisciplinary education and research, as they have learned of its importance due to their better connectivity with international universities and corporate recruiters. While public universities take years or even decades to update their curriculum, even in fast emerging fields like technology, it is not uncommon for leading private universities to offer degrees in emerging fields like artificial intelligence, automation & data science. Apart from a handful of renowned IITs and similar such premium public institutions, most other conventional public universities and colleges tend to fare poorly in updated & interdisciplinary education as it is an unconventional step. This is not to say that all private universities excel in this field either, but that there are some private universities that hold an edge in updated & interdisciplinary education.

EDGE IN MEANINGFUL RESEARCH Prof. R Limbadri, Vice Chairman of State Higher Education Council of Telengana, is one academician who has already spoken about the public-private divide in research. He said that as private universities were being launched as competitors to government institutions and that if quality research was not taken up, there was a danger of government varsities losing their relevance. Now, such a warning from a public higher education official would not have happened ten years back. Because, most private and deemed universities had just started or started in their new avataars, and pursuing research was the last thing in their minds. But times have changed rapidly during this past decade, and with industry preferring more mature candidates with in-depth knowledge in their domain, and not just fresh BTechs and MBAs, many of these private universities have rapidly embraced SEASONAL MAGAZINE

research as one of their core focus areas. This is also immense common sense, as Prof. Limbadri pointed out, universities can become reputed and earn a good name by taking up research activities that benefit society. That is how all the most renowned universities in the world has advanced their global reputation, be it Harvard or Cambridge. While not all private and deemed universities excel in research, some of them have already made their mark, and have been winning research grants from various government agencies. Some of them have hogged national and international limelight in recent months by participating in clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccine and by developing innovations for the pandemic stricken world.

EDGE IN FACULTY-TOSTUDENT RATIO

This has been an edge that was always there in most reputed private and deemed universities, when compared with public universities and colleges. It is also getting formalized as All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has fixed 1:15 faculty-student ratio for deemed universities, autonomous colleges and accredited engineering colleges. And most notably, AICTE has a solid logic for implementing such a significant step. Says a senior AICTE official, “Deemed universities and autonomous colleges are not the same as other institutions. They were given special status for providing quality education. So, they need to ensure 1:15 faculty-students ratio.” For those deemed universities which had only a 1:20 faculty ratio as per earlier norms, this would amount to 25% additional recruitment of faculty. In any case, students in such private institutions are going to be the winners, as this will translate to smaller class strengths, and students learn better in smaller groups. This is because of more individual attention to students as well as better interaction between teacher and students as well as among themselves. Also, such a generous faculty-to-student ratio would mean that more dedicated faculty members would be available to assist students in various co-curricular activities including events, seminars, workshops, industry visit etc. And needless to say, if the pandemic and its social distancing norms drags on, institutions with smaller class strengths is going to cope much better in managing classes effectively.

EDGE IN GLOBAL MOBILITY OF STUDENTS With the emergence of worldwide challenges like global warming, forest fires spanning from Amazon to Australia to USA, and pandemics like Covid-19, just to name a few global problems, there is a growing concern across the world about the need to address issues jointly, across the borders. “If we are to tackle problems like climate change, global public health or even global inequality, we need to know how to do this across national borders,” said Nicholas Dirks, former chancellor of the University of SEASONAL MAGAZINE

California, Berkeley. “There is no wall, barrier or national agenda that can stop a pandemic or rising sea levels,” says Dr. Dirks. While the rapid dissemination of information across borders is helping in this digital age, much more is needed, for instance the dissemination of culture. This is why global mobility of students assumes paramount importance. This is another area where private and deemed universities hold a natural edge over their public counterparts. Many noted private universities tend to have effective student and faculty exchange programs. India Director for British Council, Barbara Wickham says that, “One ambition is to promote the mobility of students in both directions. We want to massively move young people here and in the UK to have international experiences.” She said that the British Council’s ‘Study in India’ programme, has received “overwhelming response from dozens of UK and Indian universities.” While the pandemic will temporarily affect global mobility of students, it is going to rebound to an even greater degree in the coming years due to its pressing need in the globalized environment.

EDGE IN BETTER INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES From day one, private and deemed universities had started competing with their public counterparts on the basis of better infrastructure and facilities. This was only natural as other strengths like faculty quality and student talent were not achievable overnight. Today, most private and deemed universities worth their name have distinctly better

infrastructure and facilities than their public peers. However, when the competition intensified between such private universities, there have been efforts to build and tout superlative facilities that are often unwanted by most students, but result in overcharging. Even though state and central governments have different mechanisms to sanction universities in the private sector, all such regulations explicitly forbid profiteering. However, in practice, the race for superior infrastructure is often resulting in not only overcharging but profiteering by at least some of the institutions. Touting of superior infrastructure has also caused a return of capitation fees in certain institutions. But the advent of the pandemic has ensured a more level playing field as what now matters is more of digital infrastructure and creativity in the teachinglearning process. This has come as a positive development for those private institutions that charge reasonably and steer clear of practices like capitation fees.

EDGE IN STARTUP INCUBATION As in most countries, India’s startup revolution started just outside its college campuses, from fresh engineers and MBAs, and as the market matured, rapidly spread to inside the Indian campuses. In this initial spread, there is no doubt that IITs and IIMs stole the thunder, but gradually startup culture spread to NITs and reputed b-schools. Meanwhile, most private and deemed universities were just getting set up, and hence they could not focus on this revolution. But five to ten years down the lane, the scenario has changed drastically. Many private and deemed universities have effective startup programs, while some of them boast of specialized or even full-fledged

incubators. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and today it is not uncommon to see many private and deemed universities confidently name the startups they have helped or incubated. Some such universities even report that some of their startups have scaled sufficiently that they had returned to the campus as recruiters in recent years, in a Silicon Valley like scenario where students get hired by their one-time seniors for their own companies. In the startup world, where global visibility is everything for attracting funds as well as markets, many Indian startups are winning global competitions for startups, and quite a few of them have been incubated by private or deemed universities. While it may be years before any private university incubated startup becomes a unicorn, they are definitely on track to attract serious investments from major players. At the same time, apart from the IITs, IIMs, NITs and the like, most other public universities and colleges are lagging far behind in startup promotion. This is in sharp contrast to the incubators of some private universities that have matured so much that they are official partners for the startup initiatives of various state governments.

EDGE IN ATTRACTIVE PLACEMENTS It is remarkable that by the time the first batches of most new private and deemed universities are coming out, these institutions have roped in enough corporate recruiters. It is a feat that many public universities and colleges have not achieved even after decades in operation. The reason is simple enough. While public universities and colleges always had their reputation to fall upon, private and deemed universities had nothing much but campus placements to offer as testimony. With this in mind, they roped in the necessary managerial talent to run dedicated placement centres, and where they might have lacked in reputation or student talent, they more than made it up by focusing on imparting soft skills and industry certifications.

Even with things being so, in the initial years, the placements were more about quantity rather than quality.

But a pack of private and deemed universities have broken out from this mould and are now leading recruiting grounds for IT majors like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, TCS, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant, Wipro etc as well as financial giants like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank etc and majors in FMCG, healthcare etc. Today, some of these private and deemed universities even hold a distinct edge over their public peers due to their proactive liaisoning work with such corporate recruiters. It is not uncommon now to see private university candidates with multiple offers from blue-chip companies, that too at pay-scales at par or even better than public institutions, except for premium institutions like IITs and IIMs. The progress of private universities in this regard is evident from the fact that a few of them have become so confident in their ability to attract more than sufficient number of recruiters, that they are nowadays conducting not just campus placement drives, but job fairs that are open to students from all institutions, including public institutions!

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PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

SRM UNIVERSITY, AMARAVATI, AP

THE MAKING OF A WORLD CLASS UNIVERSITY Seasonal Magazine in conversation with Prof. VS Rao, Vice-Chancellor, SRM University, Andhra Pradesh.

Prof. VS Rao, Vice-Chancellor

SRM, founded by educationalist and

Member of Parliament Dr. TR Paarivendhar in 1969, is one of the most accomplished educational groups in India. SRM’s flagship institution, SRM Institute of Science & Technology (SRMIST), a deemed university near Chennai, is one of the largest and most renowned universities in the private sector with over 50,000 students and over 3200 faculty, with one of the broadest portfolio of subjects including a medical college and hospital, which has attracted international eyeballs for their contribution in the testing of India’s Covid-19 vaccine. By 2015, SRM Group has also been home to two more private universities, SRM University Haryana and SRM University Sikkim. When such a Group ventured out into building its fourth SEASONAL MAGAZINE

university at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh, what could be expected?

100% of the faculty having international exposure.

It would be anyway difficult to surpass the achievements of the massive SRMIST. Yet, the visionary he is, Dr. P Sathyanarayanan, Founder, Chairman & President of SRM University, AP, decided to build not one of India’s finest universities, but one of the world’s finest. Every policy taken and every stone laid at SRM AP is as per worldclass standards, nothing less. In a move unheard of in India, SRM AP commissioned UK & US based global executive search firms Perrett Laver and Society Search to recruit faculty for the new university. This was in Dr. Sathyanarayanan’s firm belief that, above all, faculty makes a university.

The result speaks for itself. SRM AP is perhaps the only university in India with

It also resulted in SRM AP attracting one of the finest academicians in India, in the mission-critical executive post of Vice Chancellor, Prof. Vajja Sambasiva Rao, who studied at BITS-Pilani and University of Bielefeld, Germany, and who has served as the President of NIIT University and Acting Vice-Chancellor and Director at BITS-Pilani. The university also has two world-renowned academicians as Honorary Pro Chancellors – Dr. Nicholas B Dirks, former Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley and Prof. Bertil Andersson, President Emeritus of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and a former Chair of Nobel Foundation’s Chemistry Committee.

SRM AP also made a world-class move in infrastructure when it recruited Perkins + Will, world renowned American architectural firm, which has designed some of the leading universities in the world, including Cornell University, Duke University, Tufts University, University of Illinois, University of Pennsylvania, Texas A&M University, besides global corporate landmarks like Boeing International Headquarters. The grand result is a 200 acre custom designed campus well-built for luxuries like 10:1 students to faculty ratio. The vision of Dr. Sathyanarayanan is to scale up SRM AP to 20,000 students and 1500 faculty within its first 10 years, and above all to make a mark as the finest world-class university from India.

SRM University AP's faculty have been at the forefront of research and innovation since the university's inception in 2017.

Given his illustrious academic background, Vice-Chancellor Prof VS Rao wants to promote SRM AP as a world class research-intensive university. He has also rightly recognized the need for industryready graduates who can employ their knowledge & skills for 21st century jobs.

This area is already being addressed by the university through its international collaborations with reputed institutions like MIT & UC Berkeley. The IDEA center established in collaboration with UC Berkeley has supported multiple student entrepreneurs and incubated their ideas.

Students at SRM-AP also benefit from study abroad programs, research internships and placements. On the placements front, the inaugural batch has recently been landing top notch job offers that received personal praise from Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and State Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh.

Seasonal Magazine's John Antony and Carl Jaison recently caught up with SRM University AP's Vice Chancellor, Prof VS Rao for this interview.

You come from a long background of academic, research and managerial experience as both a former student and senior faculty at BITS-Pilani as well as experience as a scholar from University of Bielefeld, Germany.

What are your first impressions of SRM AP? My association with BITS Pilani started

Dr. P Sathyanarayanan, Founder, Chairman & President, SRM University, AP

as a student and then went on to become its Vice-Chancellor. I held various administrative positions, including Deputy Director, Off-campus programme & Dean, Practice School Division, amongst others. My responsibilities included many, to name a few - student care and mentoring, managing Practice Schools in India and abroad, and Work Integrated Learning Programmes at BITS. I have played a crucial role in the establishment of BITS Pilani, Hyderabad campus in terms of strategy and conception. I have worked very closely with Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, the then Chief Minister, in realising his vision of establishing BITS Pilani campus in Hyderabad, state-of-the-art campus with innovative ideas. I was credited with building a green campus within eighteen months replicating all the notable features of BITS Pilani with the help of the faculty, staff, alumni & students.

As SRM University-AP embarks on an exciting period of development in an immensely challenging and competitive environment with an ambitious strategy that builds on the well-established reputation for ground-breaking research, innovation and cross-disciplinary academic activity, I feel SRM AP has demonstrated the capability to make a difference and provide quality education and will definitely evolve as a worldclass institution.

I consider myself fortunate to have this opportunity to be part of such a worldclass institution in the sphere of higher education, that has been delivering

quality teaching and learning, and research relevant to the societal and national needs. We are creating an academic revolution led by SRM University-AP and striving to make better citizens for our country irrespective of the cultural and financial background who will contribute to the welfare of society and country’s development.

I would like to emphasise on our faculty members having PhDs from institutions of national and international repute.

With their international experience/ exposure, they are able to give the best learning experience to students. The infrastructure is of international standards, with many research labs and state of the art facilities for academic and research activities. The unique collaboration with UC Berkeley provides an extraordinary opportunity for our students to study a semester there. Students also join the SCET (Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology) Bootcamp. Students are involved in research projects, and during the last three years, 23 besttalented students were sponsored to study one semester at UCB. Students are given the opportunity to contribute to research and publish the papers.

As the Vice-Chancellor of the University, I am looking forward to contributing to the internationally acclaimed SRM Group, through my best efforts. We at SRMAP would like to see that every student graduating from here would be industry-ready and get numerous opportunities during their career.

What are your thoughts on the SEASONAL MAGAZINE

National Education Policy and its impact on higher education since the implementation directions are less clear as compared to the K-12 schooling system?

The National Education Policy 2020 is full of provisions that may place India on the global map for the sought-after educational haven of the world. The National Education Policy 2020 supersedes the old education policy, framed in 1986 and ushering in an era of new educational reforms. As the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi said, “The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 laid the foundation for a ‘New India’. We can see that the new education policy is designed with several important factors to address the current challenges in the higher education sector.

One of the main objectives of NEP is to create vibrant multidisciplinary institutions of high quality that increase the capacity of Higher Education in India and ensure equitable access. A significant objective of NEP is the move towards a more imaginative and broadbased liberal education as a foundation for the holistic development of all students with a rigorous specialisation in chosen disciplines and fields. NEP2020 allows the institutions and faculty with the autonomy to innovate curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment within a broad framework of higher education qualifications which will ensure consistency across institutions and programmes. Institutions can now integrate its academic plans into its comprehensive Institutional Development Plan (IDP), committing to the holistic development of students and create robust internal systems for supporting diversity among students in academic and social domains.

NEP-2020 also strives to utilise Open and Distance Learning and online education to its full potential. ODL is being renewed through concerted, evidence-based efforts towards expansion while ensuring adherence to clearly articulated standards of quality.

The Open and Distance Learning (ODL) programmes will aim to be equivaent to the highest quality in-class programmes available. Under the new policy regulations, better norms, SEASONAL MAGAZINE

standards, and guidelines for systemic development and accreditation of ODL will be prepared, and a framework for ensuring the quality of ODL will be recommendatory for all HEIs will be developed. MERUs (Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities) is another essential aspect of the new pedagogical policy. With an aim to attain the highest global standards in quality education, MERU will also help the education sector to set the highest standards for multidisciplinary education across India. I am glad to mention here that we have established SRM University – AP as a multidisciplinary research-intensive University. I am also glad that in the year 2020, we have established the School of Management (SOM) at SRM –AP. Starting out in 2017, the first batch of SRM AP BTech students will be graduating in 2021. We hear that the initial round of placements has started and that it has been good for a first batch. Can you shed more light on this?

The campus recruitment drive has just begun for the inaugural batch of 2017 or Class 2021 with 13 toppers landing top-notch job offers. Our students are already being placed in top companies with the highest pay package of 39.5 lakhs so far. The students undergo sufficient and different training sessions/ programmes to help them receive jobs of their dreams. Career counselling is also done on a regular basis.

I am confident that our B.Tech students will find their place of choice in reputed Software and Hardware Companies, Aerospace, Automotive, Robotic, CAD, Control and Instrumentation, Automobile, Electrical Companies, EPC Contractors, Petro Chemical Construction, Public Health,

Transportation, and Urban Planning companies of both India and abroad.

Massive job opportunities are awaiting BBA and MBA graduates in the domains of Marketing, Finance and Human Resource Management, Banks, Financial Institutions and Insurance, E-Commerce Companies. A management degree along-with some years of work experience will surely take them to the leadership position in any organisation.

Liberal Arts and Basic Sciences graduates will have the option to choose from various opportunities for employment in Government, Education Sectors, Research Laboratories, Industry, Hospitals, Banks, Insurance Companies, and Non-Profit Organisations. They can work as a Scientist, Teacher, Zoologist or Wildlife Biologist. Ample career options exist in the fields of Social Media Manager, Technical Writer, Public Relations Specialist, Counsellor, Librarian, Editor and Content Manager, Human Resources Specialist and the Civil Services.

Despite its young age, SRM AP has taken some significant strides on the research front. Can you walk us through some of the highlights of the research achievements?

The world-class faculty of SRM University-AP are widely engaged in research. Since its inception in 2017, the University has published 216 research papers in reputed journals with 51 as the highest impact factor. The number of funded projects at present in the University is 24 with an outlay of 13 crores of rupees. The total number of patents filed and published by the University is 13, of which one is a student patent. Quite recently, Dr Sutharsan Govindarajan, from the Department of Biology, has been

T. R. Paarivendhar, MP. Founder, SRM Group

awarded the prestigious ‘Early Career Fellowship’ grant by DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance, funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom.

The fellowship supports outstanding young scientists to pursue high-quality research in the field of biomedical science and establish themselves as independent researchers in India. Dr Sutharsan sought a total research grant of 1.1 crores for a period of 5 years as a DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Early career fellow.

Our industrial research collaboration with Indian Railways, Amara Raja Batteries Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tanishq and Titan speak for the University’s hunger for quality research.

SRMAP’s Meteorological Centre, another Centre of Excellence, is one of a kind.

The consortium of SRM IST, SRM University AP and Integral Coach Factory, of the Ministry of Railways, Chennai is developing a prototype of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) coupled with Lithium-ion batteries driven switcher for locomotive applications.

SRM AP had made some impressive academic tie-ups with some of USA’s top universities. How are these tieups helping SRM AP students in bettering their vision and prospects?

We have academic collaborations with world’s highly renowned universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT); The University of California, Berkeley; Illinois Institute of Technology; EFREI, Engineering School of Information and Digital Technology, Paris, France; The University of

Wisconsin-Madison. MIT provides us with licensed MITx courses to design our curriculum in a modernised and pragmatic way. They also support us in choosing ideal course contents and conducting design camps, learning activities, assessing particular degree objectives and accreditation standards.

The MOUs with Illinois Institute of Technology, EFREI, Engineering School of Information and Digital Technology, Paris, France and the University of Wisconsin-Madison encourage visits by faculty from one University to the other for the purpose of engaging in research or other educational activities; facilitate the admission of qualified students from one University to the other for the purpose of enrolling in undergraduate and graduate programmes, and in the case of advanced graduate students, participating in research; foster the exchange of academic publications and scholarly information, and promote any other academic activities which enhance the above-mentioned goals.

The Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) is a novel idea that has been introduced in the NEP where a student can accumulate credits across multiple HEIs to go with the multiple exit and entry options. However, do you think it is a case of putting the cart before the horse as the industry needs to be appraised and prepared for the eventuality of this new job market dynamic?

A degree is not synonymous with education. Especially, in this era, it will be highly unwise to share an opinion like that. Academic Bank of Credit is indeed a novel and great idea that recognises and protects a student’s

struggles and endeavours. In my long career as an academician, I have seen many students who could not pursue their passion due to the difficulty of changing courses or personal problems and lost precious academic years. The credit bank is very much student-centric and certainly bears an important message that every bit of education is essential. Education cannot be contained within a specific time.

SRM AP has plans to set up Centres of Excellence in some superspecialised areas of manufacturing and information technology. Can you explain these projects?

In the next three to five years, we also have plans to establish Centres of Excellence – Centre for Additive Manufacturing, Centre for Cloud Computing, Centre for Internet of Things (IoTs), Centre for 5G Technologies, Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI & ML), Centre for Satellite Technology, Centre for Renewable Energy – Offshore Wind Farms, Centre for Blue Economy, Centre for Gene Editing – CRISPR, Centre for Materials Genome.

We wish to establish Industrial Research Park at SRM University AP, to provide opportunities for the faculty members, research scholars and students to carry out research in front line, emerging technologies and also to cater to the future needs of the Industries. Students of SRM University AP, will have industrial exposure and industrial experience by working as interns in the research park. SRM AP plans to set up 20 such Laboratories in the next 5 years in association with some of the industries.

In addition to these, we also have a plan to establish Space Work Center.

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PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

ICFAI IN ACCELERATING MOMENTUM yderabad based ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE), the flagship deemed university of the ICFAI Group, as well as ICFAI Business School (IBS Hyderabad) which is a constituent of IFHE, are unfazed by the pandemic and moving into higher orbits. Armed to the teeth now with the coveted AACSB accreditation, which is considered as the gold standard in management education worldwide, IBS Hyderabad, already a global leader in the Business Case Study approach, is now in a position to attract the best of students and faculty. Only 14 B-Schools in India have so far succeeded in getting this accreditation including some of the IIMs. Other constituents of IFHE like ICFAI Law School is also upping its game with several initiatives including a recent landmark MoU with Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), a unit of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, by which IBBI will become the deemed university’s knowledge partner in offering specialized LLMs and MBAs in Bankruptcy and Insolvency, which is now a sunrise sector in corporate law and management in the country. At the university level itself, IFHE is forging new strategic alliances with industry bodies, one of the most notable and recent ones being with ASSOCHAM for Green and Eco-Friendly Movement Sustainability Certification Programme. The deemed university and especially its B-School, IBS Hyderabad, excel on several fronts like updated and interdisciplinary education, meaningful research, global mobility of students, and ever improving placement metrics.

Dramatic changes are being witnessed in the higher education landscape this year. The challenges brought forth by the pandemic as well as the opportunities unleashed by the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP 2020) have ensured that only universities with visionary minds at the helm would survive.

Fortunately for IFHE, it is blessed with a stellar leadership team, led by Dr. C Rangarajan, renowned economist, former Governor of RBI and former Chairman of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council under former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh as its Chancellor and renowned academician Prof. J Mahender Reddy as its Vice-Chancellor.

NAAC, an autonomous body of University Grants Commission has accredited the IFHE with ‘A+’ Grade with an impressive score (institutional CGPA) of 3.43 out of 4.

The Students come from all over India representing every state and the campus resembles like a mini India. The strength of the girls form about 40 percent of the student population.

The various schools of IFHE - ICFAI Business School (IBS), IcfaiTech, ICFAI Law School and SEASONAL MAGAZINE

ICFAI School of Architecture - are all similarly led by visionary leaders and are thus well-placed to meet both the current and future requirements.

With an excellent track-record in placements and with average CTC steadily rising, IBS Hyderabad has now become even more fighting fit with the highly coveted international accreditation from AACSB, which has elevated it into the top 5% league of worldwide institutions.

Among other management programs, IBS, Hyderabad, offers a 3-year campus-based BBA program designed to enhance the skills and competencies of talented and ambitious young aspirants.

IBS Hyderabad is a model to emulate for not only other ICFAI Business Schools, but for most other B-Schools in the country and even abroad. One prime reason is that IBS follows the business case study pedagogy, and is the world’s third largest creator of business case studies.

Despite the acute challenges of online modes of education, ICFAI Business School (IBS) Hyderabad, through its e-Learning Department has taken rapid strides to provide blended online learning. Towards this, IBS had conducted a 10day capacity-building programme for 250 faculty

members in three cohorts to equip them with skills and knowledge required for online teaching.

IBS also realised the need to integrate virtual meeting and learning platforms for the conduct of online classes and wasted no time in utilising platforms like YouTube, Moodle, Vimeo and its own in-house LMS software, ‘Quicforce’, to record and publish lectures for the benefit of students.

Along with this, IBS made use of another in-house application that generates reports from the LMS to help track the activities of students and faculty. In this way, IBS Hyderabad adapted well to the circumstances and ensured that its stakeholders were adequately trained to meet these challenges as well.

Certainly, a mark of a true high-achiever in the higher education sector.

In fact, IBS Hyderabad had imbibed the basic tenets of the NEP 2020 much before it came into fruition, through its case study pedagogy that does away with rote learning. The world renowned IBS Case Research Centre is a state-of-the-art resource library with over 6500 cases, and provides online programs to B-

Schools from around the world. In a definite testament to the outstanding activities done by the IBS Case Research Centre, the institute recently topped a business case writing competition organised by EFMD, an accreditation agency for management schools.

An IBS Professor was adjudged as the #1 bestselling case author for the year 2019-20 and also for the fifth consecutive year out of more than 8,000 case authors worldwide. The rankings are given by the UK based entity, The Case Centre, an independent assessor of the case method, which publishes the Top 40 Bestselling authors.

IBS is also one of the first business schools in South Asia to receive the prestigious SAQS accreditation.

IBS is a member of renowned international bodies like Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) USA; The European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD); and the Association of Management Development Institutions in South Asia (AMDISA), India.

IFHE has established The Center for Entrepreneurship Development which aims to foster the culture of

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DR. C RANGARAJAN, CHANCELLOR

entrepreneurship among the students and epitomizes the power of innovation. IFHE also established the Center for Women Development, to conduct Business Training Programs for Rural Women Entrepreneurs.

UPDATED & INTERDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE) and its constituent, ICFAI Business School (IBS), regularly interact with industry experts to help frame the curriculum based on industry requirements. Unlike in many peer universities, IBS doesn’t wait for 3 to 5 years to update the courses, but updates it even every semester if needed. For example, since analytics and artificial intelligence are key components in industry jobs now, IBS is offering 11 analytics courses as well as modules in Artificial Intelligence. Interdisciplinary education is given great thrust, as IBS believes that it is essential for grooming versatile managers. IBS also takes feedback from industry through its alumni network and vast internship programs, where the faculty or mentors of the students interact with industry executives. All the best global knowledge resources are used, including those by Harvard Business School and other such globally renowned business schools. To ensure interdisciplinary knowledge and versatility, MBA students are offered electives like public policy, politics, governance, taxation & GST etc. This helps remove the one-dimensional nature of an MBA degree. Through 30 student clubs, IBS had organized around 975 guest lectures mainly by industry experts, last year, and helps to transform the ideas of students into actionable projects, for which it spends around Rs.1 crore annually.

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PROF. J MAHENDER REDDY, VICE-CHANCELLOR,

MEANINGFUL RESEARCH Research is not just one of the objectives at IFHE & IBS, but a top priority. Apart from the highly developed PhD programs available they offer, their research orientation permeates every dimension of the education it delivers.

In the case of IBS, this research orientation is best demonstrated in its sharp focus on business case studies.

It stems from IBS’ belief that research in management education is best exemplified by case studies and that a world-class business school shouldn’t be removed from the reality of industry trends. This focus has resulted in IBS’ Case Research Centre becoming the third-largest across the globe. In the first semester of its MBA, the case studies from this own research centre is used, whereas in the second semester IBS uses the case studies that are taught at Harvard Business School. IFHE and IBS are mature players in PhD programs too and are now looking into promoting inter-disciplinary PhDs. The institute looks to offer inter-disciplinary PhD programs and expand the pool of students who come from nonMBA backgrounds like M.Com, MSc etc so that they can be familiarized to conduct research on MBA subjects.

Practicing professionals are also doing PhD at IFHE in advanced subjects, with one example being research in blockchain technology by professionals working in Accenture. All said and done, faculty members well accomplished in research is necessary to attract research scholars, and this is an area where IFHE and IBS excel.

The faculty members here have published more than 500 research papers since 2014. Around 50 of the faculty members hold editorial positions in about 196 journals across the globe. They either work as consulting editors, reviewers or scientific advisory members. IBS faculty especially excels in inter-disciplinary research, as 15.43% of their total output is inter-disciplinary in nature; and over 50% of them have collaborated with other researchers, both from India and abroad. To emphasize on the inter-disciplinary nature of IBS’ work, for instance,

it is relevant to note that the economics faculty members teach finance courses especially those who are strong in the quantitative aspect. IBS conducts Doctoral Thesis conference every year to assist PhD aspirants who are in the initial stage of their program to present their proposals, to help them streamline research thoughts.

Recently, the 13th edition of the conference was held virtually. During the conference papers were accepted from all over the world for presentation after review by an expert committee. The Faculty members of the IFHE are expected to present at least two Research papers in a year in the reputed journals.

GLOBAL MOBILITY OF STUDENTS While many of its peer universities and B-Schools are focusing on student exchange programs, IBS has gone several steps ahead and bagged the highly coveted international accreditation of Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB).

While student exchange programs touch only a few students in a batch, the B-school itself getting this coveted global certification, greatly enhances the future global mobility of IBS students. With the AACSB accreditation, IBS has joined a select league of 874 universities across the globe, which is less than 5% of all the worldwide universities. Founded in 1916, AACSB is the oldest global accrediting body for management schools and is the largest business education network connecting students, educators and businesses worldwide. Only 14 B-Schools have achieved this status in India now, including some IIMs, and another ten management schools are now known to be in the fray. But it is not an easy process in any way, as on an average it may take 5

About ICFAI Group ICFAI Group is a pioneer in the field of education for over 35 years. It has carved a niche for itself in delivering quality education through its innovative and in-depth knowledge programs to the students enabling them to match with the best in the global arena. ICFAI Group is present across 16 states with 17 campuses. The group comprises of 11 ICFAI Universities, 9 ICFAI Business Schools (IBS), 7 ICFAI Tech Schools, 7 ICFAI Law Schools and an ICFAI School of Architecture. In all the programs offered across these units, the emphasis is on academic rigor and differentiated curriculum that bridges the industry – academia gap. The ICFAI Group’s culture of teaching and learning supports and fosters intellectual and personality development among its graduating students. The program as a whole is designed in a way that it makes the students DO and ACHIEVE and not just limit themselves to ivory tower thinking.

or more years to achieve this accreditation. At IBS too it was a challenging and long drawn out process, started in November 2013 with visits from global mentors from renowned institutions including Monash University and Bond University, and completed only recently. This accreditation has become the best calling card for a BSchool, before both students and faculty, as it is wellknown that an AACSB accredited school would have gone through a rigorous examination to acquire that stamp of approval. Much earlier to this too, IBS has been in the forefront of implementing international best practices so that global mobility of its students is facilitated. IBS was a pioneer in implementing the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) way back in 1995 within the MBA program itself.

This global culture continues even now with the institute’s proactive support given to students in doing Coursera courses and other Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) modules, which is the global trend for high

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achievers. IBS has also established networking with international academic institutions such as, Bentley University, MA, USA, Syracuse University, NY, USA, University of Toledo, Ohio, USA, Michigan State University, USA, Oklahoma State University, USA, University of South Memphis, Tennessee, USA, Macquirie University, Sydney, Australia, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, University of Delawara, USA, University of Newcastle, Australia.

POWERFUL PERFORMANCE IN PLACEMENTS IBS is one private sector B-School that has improved tremendously in placements during the last decade. IBS now has 2500 students, and the placement percentage is over 95%, with average package increasing to Rs. 8 lakhs. Placement opportunities are plentiful with the salary packages for the MBA graduates ranging from Rs. 7.42 lakhs to Rs. 11.52 lakhs.

The broad sectors that recruit from IBS include: Banking, Consulting, E-Commerce, Education, Financial Services, FMCG / Retail, Insurance, Infra, Telecom, Real Estate, IT / ITES, Construction, Manufacturing, Media & Research, Healthcare etc. Some of the top national and international recruiters for IBS are - HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, TCS, Deloitte, HCL, Capgemini, Maruti Suzuki, Amazon, Cognizant, Nestle, EY, Airtel, KPMG, JP Morgan Chase, Wipro, Oracle, Redington, Coca-Cola, PWC, ITC, Nielsen, S&P Global. The focus at IBS is not on quantity or profits but on the quality of the final outcome. The admission process is comprehensive in judging aptitude, transparent in ensuring fairness, and SEASONAL MAGAZINE

purely based on merit with no role for capitation or any such ills. IBS has well-designed processes to groom students and they are not just on paper, but in action from day one of new admissions. IBS first trains all management students for ELPT (English Language Proficiency Test) and soft skills for which it has highly experienced faculty members. And needless to say, when it comes to core management education, IBS students have a huge advantage as the institute delivers the case pedagogy approach. This takes the focus from the conventional 3R (Read, Repeat, Reproduce) approach to the highly effective PPL (Prepare, Participate and Learn) method in which students are enabled to see themselves as owners of their own learning instead of a conventional top-down approach. IBS also delivers on the crucial aspect of teaching values and ethics. An HR person is taught basic aspects about the company balance sheet and likewise a finance person is taught fundamentals of HR. Thus IBS succeeds in grooming well-rounded professionals who understand the often competing needs in their companies, and thus become coveted ‘servant leaders’ whose first and foremost priority is to serve the cause of their work, which is a trait that recruiting companies have now come to appreciate about IBS.

PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

4 Reasons to Choose SCSVMV ith the long-running admission season soon to conclude, the incoming batch of students increasingly need to adjust to the new COVID-19 reality. The hope is that university campuses would be allowed to open by the end of September, although these students are likely to undergo a new experience of classroom learning in the era of social distancing. However, universities like Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Viswa Mahavidyalaya (SCSVMV) are leaving no stone unturned in its quest to be fully prepared to meet the challenges of the prevailing situation. The SCSVMV community thrived even under the exceptional circumstances of the pandemic that led to the shutting down of campuses across the country. Even before the full brunt of the lockdown impacted higher education institutions, the Chennai and Kanchipuram-based varsity made a seamless shift to online learning through the adoption of Google Classroom, TCS iON, M-Tutor to name a few, thereby becoming one of the handful of universities well-equipped to deal with the disruption. Additionally, throughout the lockdown period, SCSVMV continued to impart its cutting-edge knowledge & expertise in its core disciplines like Engineering and Management via webinar sessions for the benefit of its prospective students. As a mark of their commitment to social service, the SCSVMV Kanchipuram alumni distributed essential groceries that include rice, dal, oil and vegetables to the needy community. They even collected more than two lakh rupees from the

SCSVMV community and distributed these packages to more than 225 families. Further, volunteers and representatives from the university raised awareness on COVID-19 as part of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (a flagship scheme of MHRD, Govt. of India).

Offering a wide variety of courses from Engineering & Technology; Management, HR, Commerce; Arts & Humanities; Science; Education; Health Science; Sanskrit and Indian Culture, SCSVMV is more than prepared to rise up to the challenge and provide its students with the appropriate skill-set through new and innovative methods of teaching. Being a stateof-the-art university teaching modern disciplines, even while it is committed to transmit India’s ancient heritage and values to its students, SCSVMV is fully focused on its future trajectory. With the NEP 2020 giving a huge fillip to HEIs, universities like SCSVMV is sure to grab these growth opportunities and provide the best outcomes to its students, faculty and wider community. The deemed university with its two campuses at Kanchipuram and Chennai, has invested heavily in physical infrastructure as well as facilities like network backbone and digitization and is home to a large contingent of scholarly professors. Its researchers are doing groundbreaking research work funded by central government agencies, some of which are now in the marketing stage. The departments here compete with each other in staying industry connected through consultancy works and internships. The university is also steadily moving up in placements with many major recruiters in IT, Banking, Financial Services, Pharma etc, recruiting SCSVMV students.

The university is led by its Chancellor, Prof. Dr. S Jayarama Reddy, its Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. SV Raghavan and its Registrar Prof. Dr. G Srinivasu.

SCSVMV’s EDGE IN BETTER INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES Everything about Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam speaks volumes about the ancient wisdom of India. Yet, the deemed university started by its venerable seers, Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Viswa Mahavidyalaya (SCSVMV), even while dispensing the fundamental values of India, has taken immense care to offer state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities. This is as per its unique focus on integrating traditional knowledge with modern and global scientific practices. Its main campus is located in a sprawling complex of 50 acres at Enathur, just 4 kilometers from Kanchipuram.

SCSVMV also has a campus in the Chennai suburb of Poonamalle, housing its Ayurveda College, Research Centre and Hospital. The custom-designed and well-appointed main campus is a selfsufficient educational township with everything the students will need like gym, bank, medical centre, WiFi, transport facilities etc, as well as extensive hostels. The academic facilities too are top-notch at SCSVMV. For instance, the university’s IT Infrastructure & Solutions are comprehensive with 1 GB Internet connectivity through the National Knowledge Network, a campus-wide Optical Fibre Network, and WiFi access throughout. Apart from the Central Computing Facility, all academic labs and centres of the university are provided with ample computer hardware, software and services that enable teaching-learning, research and development. Long before the pandemic disrupted classroom teaching and lectures, SCSVMV had already entered into extensive arrangements with global software majors like Microsoft, Oracle & Amazon to ensure that there is seamless access to all professional software, both desktop and cloud based. Apart from such campuswide agreements, each department of SCVMV has its own software tie-ups with various niche partners for providing the latest development tools and software. There are multiple elearning facilities available including NPTEL lecture videos, Spoken Tutorial initiative, SWAYAM, Virtual Labs and SEASONAL MAGAZINE

other e-learning platforms. The university Library is comprehensive with an Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) and access to over 1000 journals from the world over. There is a high degree of digitization in academics at the university, with the best examples being an automated tool for question bank preparation & a just-in-time question-paper generation system called “Prashna Manjusha”. There is also the digital valuation software, “Yantrankani”, which facilitates onscreen evaluation of answer scripts. Such innovations by SCSVMV make it amply clear that online teaching in the time of COVID-19 requires not just investment, but imagination. The foresight shown by the university management to equip the campus with the latest digital technologies would help SCSVMV achieve its long-term goals.

SCSVMV’s EDGE IN UPDATED & INTERDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION Next to its edge in infrastructure and facilities, come SCSVMV’s initiatives in promoting updated and interdisciplinary education. An updated curriculum is never possible without industry interactions, and there are several ways in which the university achieves this for its students and faculty. The university hosts national and international level conferences and workshops that are well attended by industry experts. It didn’t matter that a pandemic put a stop to these enriching exercises.

Throughout the lockdown phase, SCSVMV conducted well-attended seminars and webinars to keep itself and

Prof.Dr.S.Jayarama Reddy, Chancellor

the industry abreast with the latest innovations and trends. Faculty Development Programs and Workshops are frequently conducted for the faculty to be updated in fledgling fields like Open Source and Big Data Analytics.

Each department of the university, which has a scope for industry interaction, is forging ahead on their own in ensuring industry interactions, promoting internships, and doing consultancy work. Department of Computer Science & Engineering is, for instance, has been conducting events on contemporary topics like Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing, R Programming, and lots more. It has impressive ongoing projects like in Image Processing and Android Customization for Sensors. The CSE Department is also quite active in promoting internships for its students in various industries. Its Department of Management Studies has done consultancy work for Indian and overseas companies, in both public and private sectors. It has a pool of Visiting Faculty members who are drawn from the industry, and from whom management students obtain a real understanding of what is happening in the management practice across various industries. SCSVMV’s Department of Physics is known for its consultancy work for industries using its good collection of scientific equipment. Its collection include Thin Film Coater, Brookfield Viscometer, Ultrasonic Interferometers for both liquids and solids, Sieve Shaker, Gaussian software etc. The Department of Chemistry also undertakes various consultancy projects for industries, as it is fully equipped to do so by way of equipment as well as experienced faculty. The student clubs are also very active in the university and is often sponsored and monitored by industries like in the case of Cognizant Student Club. Whenever needed, the various departments of SCSVMV collaborate with each other to bring out interdisciplinary work. At the doctoral level, interdisciplinary PhD programs are encouraged with the availability of supervisors for both major and minor courses to guide the research scholars.

Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Ayurveda College and Hospital (SJSACH), a constituent of the university, also conducts workshops and camps for outreach.

SCSVMV’s EDGE IN MEANINGFUL RESEARCH SCSVMV offers part-time and full-time PhD programs in almost all its academic disciplines including Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science / Applications, Ayurveda, Mathematics, Management Studies, Education, Library & Information Science, Sanskrit, Tamil, Hindi and English. In recent years, SCSVMV has been moving up steadily in the field of research, both fundamental and applied. This is no accident due to various initiatives by the management. The university has established four Centres of Research, which are Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Centre For Advanced Research (SJCAR), Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Centre For Advanced Computing (SJCAC), Advanced Management Research Centre (AMRC), and Centre For Advanced Manufacturing and Material Processing (CAMMP). Based on such infrastructure, the university’s researchers have been able to take up formidable projects funded by various central government agencies, which are cutting-edge research organizations in their own right. These include Government of India’s Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO). One project SCSVMV did with DST funding even resulted in impressive import substitution. Many universities need scientific equipment called Differential Thermal Analyzer (DTA) for use by PG students, which was usually imported from developed nations until SCSVMV researchers developed an indigenous version. Based on the success of this project, an additional equipment to accompany DTA, called Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) is also being developed by the university’s researchers. And under a DRDO funded program, researchers at SCSVMV are developing the electronics for the operation of a customized oxygen gas sensor. Apart from such externally funded projects, the university also funds many key projects. One such project that has been used by higher education labs is called Absorption Spectro-photometer. A student version of this equipment was successfully developed. An innovative design and fabrication method was used for this

resulting in much easier and cheaper mass production of this vital equipment.

The product is now being launched in the market. Another university-funded project has been the development of a low-cost yet automated pH meter. The automatic operation of this product does away with the difficult manual operations of temperature correction and pH calibration. Other technologies developed by the university’s researchers include a multi-zone ventilation system for radiological facilities, and an automated precleaning system for used plates in industrial canteens and restaurants.

SCSVMV’s EDGE IN BETTER PLACEMENTS Campus placement is another domain where SCSVMV has been improving steadily over the years. The university has a dedicated Training & Placement Division that not only enhances institute-to-industry linkages, but equips students to be recruited by blue-chip organizations, both of Indian and overseas origin. Major recruiters including TCS, Infosys, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra, HCL, Amazon, Mphasis, CSS Corporation, NTT Data, Zoho, Bank of America, General Electric, Royal Bank of Scotland, Robert Bosch, IDBI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC Ergo, ICICI Bank, ICICI Prudential, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Airtel, Godrej, Sutherland Global,

Prof. Dr. S.V. Raghavan, Vice Chancellor

Sify, Dr. Reddy’s, Syngene, Bata, City Union Bank, Exide Insurance, Indian Navy, Steel Authority of India, and lots more have recruited SCSVMV students through both on-campus and offcampus modes. The Training & Placement Division arranges for the campus visits as well as coordinates for off-campus drives. It has signed MoUs with several leading companies so that they visit the campus every placement season. These tie-ups have been possible, as SCSVMV has emerged as a mature player in placements, with these companies confident of the quality of the candidates coming from this deemed university. Quality in placements is a long drawn out affair as it starts from the quality of input students. This is an area where SCSVMV has carved out an edge for itself. The university operates in a geography where many engineering colleges and b-schools are finding it difficult to fill admissions, let alone induct quality students. How the university has achieved this is unique and impressive.

Instead of the usual process of giving statutory advertisements for admissions and waiting for the students to come in, SCSVMV conducts an Admission Yatra that spanned 45 days last year. A high-level team of administrators and faculty members from the university visited 54 schools across Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, addressing approximately 10,000 students directly, and interacting with over 4000 students who were about to take their plus-two examination, and returned with expressions of interest from over 3800 students. Such proactive measures ensure that the input student quality is maintained. The rest is very well handled by the highly qualified and experienced faculty of SCSVMV, many of who are renowned research guides. And completing this process is the overall grooming of the students by this university in values based education, which is not something lost on the recruiters who are looking not just for academic brilliance but well-rounded personalities.

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PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

NITTE (DEEMED TO BE) UNIVERSITY

NOW ON THE FRONT FOOT AND NO LOOKING BACK

At a time when universities struggle to conduct online classes and resume the new academic session smoothly, Nitte (deemed to be) university has gone one step ahead. Being one of the handful of universities to have completed their admission process well ahead of the scheduled resumption of classes from end September, Nitte (deemed to be) University once again witnessed a strong showing in the number of applicants for their premier courses. In spite of the COVID crisis hitting the education sector, for the likes of Nitte University, it was business as usual. After much preparation, Nitte university will now conduct its 10th annual convocation ceremony albeit on a virtual platform next month.

primarily health sciences university, it has also diversified impressively into science education, architecture and communication studies in recent years. Nitte (deemed to be) University is a group of eight premier institutes - K.S. Hegde Medical Academy, A.B. Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences, Nitte Usha Institute of Nursing Sciences, Nitte Gulabi Shetty Memorial Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nitte Institute of Physiotherapy, Nitte University Centre for Science Education and Research, Nitte Institute of Architecture, and Nitte Institute of Communication.

For the fourth successive year, Nitte (Deemed to be) University has been ranked among the top 100 universities ( 74th spot) in the country by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), an initiative of the Ministry for Human Resources Development, Government of India.

The National Institutional Ranking Framework was launched in 2015 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to rank higher educational institutions based on objective criteria. The rankings consider parameters like teaching-learning resources, research productivity, student outcomes, outreach, inclusivity and peer perception.

Three of the constituent colleges of the university also feature amongst the top SEASONAL MAGAZINE

50 institutions in their respective disciplines— AB Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences has been ranked 5th among the dental colleges; KS Hegde Medical Academy has been ranked 36th in the country among medical colleges and Nitte Gulabi Shetty Memorial Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (NGMIPS) is ranked 49th among Pharmacy colleges.

Based on the QS Asia University Rankings 2020, Nitte (deemed to be) University was ranked in the band of 451-500 in its very first year of participation. It finished within the 5560 band in the QS India University Rankings 2020 with a Diamond rating

K S Hegde Medical Academy

in the QS I-Gauge Indian Universities Rating.

The varsity was also awarded the ‘ELEAD’ (E-Learning Excellence for Academic Digitisation) certification by QS I-GAUGE in recognition of its technological capabilities in support of online learning. Awarded by Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in an online event, Nitte is only one among the 12 institutions in the country to receive this recognition. In the times of COVID-19, Nitte (deemed to be) University has taken a proactive approach to develop e-learning capacity and also scale up its online reach.

Students are sent e-learning modules both

for self-study and live online classes with regular teacher training sessions as well.

Nitte (Deemed to be) University also did their bit to alleviate the suffering of those hit by the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition to the daily support provided to the underprivileged communities, the NITTE group contributed Rs. 1.25 crore out of which Rs. 75 lakhs was offered to Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) while the remaining 50 lakhs went to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund in the state.

The institute also made significant contributions in the field of COVID-19 research with The Nitte University Centre for Science Education and Research (NUCSER) endowed with a grant to develop a test kit that would work equally well for nasal swab and saliva samples. The centre hopes to present the prototype to ICMR for validation in 6 months. Further, the Justice KS Hegde Charitable Hospital of Nitte (deemed-to-be) university at Deralakatte has started the Covid-19 RTPCR testing facility with NABLaccreditation and ICMR approval. The same hospital also obtained approval to open coastal Karnataka’s first plasma therapy unit with single donor platelet facilities. There were also two healthscience related patents recently published as the university looks to promote technology transfer. Towards this, the Department of Science and

Vinaya Hegde, Chancellor

Technology, Government of India, has sanctioned a Technology Enabling Centre at Nitte (deemed to be) University's Center for Science Education and Research.

In addition to this, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India has approved Nitte University Centre for Science Education and Research (NUCSER) to offer MSc in Marine Biotechnology. The DBT will award 10 students with a national fellowship of Rs. 5000 per month. The K S Hegde Medical Academy has also introduced a new 2-year Master of Hospital Administration & Health Systems Management (MHAHSM) programme. The objective of the course is to prepare job-ready graduates for the burgeoning hospital industry that is in

Vishal Hegde, Pro Chancellor

dire need of professionals in its management and administration functions. The medical college has been ranked 36th by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2020, government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

Few years ago, the varsity had introduced the following Master of Science programs: MSc in Anaesthesia & Operation Theatre Technology, MSc in Medical Imaging Technology and MSc in Medical Laboratory Technology (Haematology & Blood Transfusion).

The results have been encouraging.

These two-year master’s degrees equip candidates to work in teaching and technician posts in allied health sciences institutions and hospitals in the country and abroad. At hospitals, they will work as the assistants of surgeons and

A B Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences

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NITTE Usha Institute of Nursing Science

physicians and Nitte has carefully chosen these specializations so that these are in rising demand in the hospital sector. This is no surprise as Nitte (deemed to be) University continues to be a leader in introducing rare courses in emerging areas of high demand.

Throughout the lockdown period, Nitte (Deemed-to-be) University was setting new benchmarks in the space of higher education through innovative tie-ups and industry partnerships. For instance, the AIC NITTE Incubation Centre, supported by NITI Aayog under the Atal Innovation Mission, was officially launched with the aim to promote entrepreneurship in the rural areas.

Eleven promising startups and five mentors have already been onboarded as part of the initiative. Keeping true to their social service commitment, Vinaya Hegde, Chancellor, NITTE (deemed-tobe) University said that "it is important to provide these young students and budding innovators with an opportunity".

NITTE has also been making giant strides as far as international partnerships are concerned. The institute entered into a MoU with Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom for scientific cooperation with the Center for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), an EU Reference Laboratory for Biotoxins and FAO Reference Centre for Bivalve Molluscs.

The Mangalore-based university also signed a MoU with the National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NI-MSME) for the promotion of the sector through collaborative efforts such as conduct of executive education programmes, research, Nitte College of Pharmaceutical Science

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Nitte Institute of Physiotherapy

training etc. Its other international and national MoUs continue to be with the best institutions in their fields like Gothenburg University, Sweden and Bangalore Bioinnovation Council.

On the academic side, NITTE deemedto-be university signed a MoU with i6TG, a leading human resource company headquartered in Japan for the benefit of its students who will be provided with training, internship and placement opportunities, soft-skill development programmes with a Japanese language component. The

varsity also inked an agreement with the St Marianna University School of Medicine for mutual cooperation on student and faculty exchanges and collaborative research. Earlier this year, one of its constituent colleges - Nitte Usha Institute of Nursing Sciences, jointly with International Skill Development Corporation, UK announced the roll-out of a 4-year integrated program on International Certification in Healthcare Practice to promote the career advancement and placement of the students in European countries.

PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

PANDEMIC MAKES JSSAHER FLY HIGHER It is only when a crisis hits, the resilience of universities is really known. JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research (JSSAHER), the Mysuru based leading deemed-to-be university has come out in flying colours in this regard during the pandemic, by an outpouring of new initiatives that has further increased its leadership gap with peers. JSS Hospital has been one of the 17 prestigious institutions in India which has been selected by ICMR for under taking Oxford University's Covishield clinical trial. Despite the pandemic, the university continued its focus on Faculty Development Programs, Entrepreneurship Development Programs, creation and upgradation of specialized infrastructure, and creation of new sunrise sector courses. The university emerged on the forefront of combating Covid-19 by developing five innovative biomedical equipments that are vital in the fight against the pandemic. It also continued its focus on academics and research activities without much disruption and emerged as a national leader in this regard by conducting over 16,427 vir tual classes. JSSAHER is breaking new ground in attracting highquality students for graduate, postgraduate and research programs due to its distinct edges in updated and interdisciplinary curricula, meaningful research, better student-to-faculty ratio, global mobility of its students, and better infrastructure & facilities. No wonder then that JSSAHER has moved up one more notch in this year’s

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NIRF rankings, and is now the 33rd topranked university from 1667 universities in India. The primarily health sciences oriented university is led by accomplished academicians like Dr. B Suresh as Pro Chancellor, Dr. Surinder Singh as Vice Chancellor and Dr. Manjunatha B as Registrar. Dr.B.Suresh, M.Pharm., Ph.D., D.Sc., is a renowned leader in medical and pharmacy education, and has been the President of Pharmacy Council of India for multiple terms. An internationally acknowledged expert in this field, Dr. Suresh is also the Chairman, Scientific Body, of Indian Pharmacopoeial Commission. Dr. Surinder Singh, MBBS, MD Microbiology, a renowned expert in biopharmaceuticals and vaccines, has been formerly Drugs Control General (India), Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), New Delhi, and Director, National Institute of Biologicals (NIB), Government of India.

JSSAHER’S EDGE IN COVID-19 MANAGEMENT Apart from its pivotal role as one of the 17 hospitals for testing the Oxford University vaccine for Covid-19, JSSAHER has achieved unparalleled success in innovating and implementing several pandemicmanagement projects. These include advanced biomedical devices for combating Covid-19. DentiSafe Dental Chair Sanitizer, Multimode Air Sanitizer, Isolation-ICU (I-ICU) on Wheels, Low Cost Ventilator, and Handheld UV Surface Sanitizer. JSSAHER achieved this through its own innovators in the faculty as well as through partnership with Mysuru based firm Ideas Unlimited. Dr. Balasubramaian S, Director (Research) of JSSAHER; Dr. Srinivasa Murthy, Professor, Department of Paediatrics, JSS Medical College; and Dr. B Nandlal, Professor, Department of Paediatric & Preventive Dentistry, JSS Dental College, were the main innovators from the university’s side in developing these path-breaking biomedical devices that are so essential for resuming the functioning of hospitals, dental clinics, colleges and companies, and for them to combat the pandemic effectively. Apart from these special achievements, a most noteworthy point about JSSAHER during the pandemic is that it made sure that its regular activities of teaching and research were least affected. The university conducted 16,427 virtual classes, 2820 internal assessments, and 61 webinars.

Almost all examinations including PG, Fellowship, & PhD exams including viva voce were conducted either online or in regular mode with adequate protections.

No wonder then that JSSAHER bagged the QS I-Gauge’s ‘E-Learning Excellence for Academic Digitization’ certification. On the research side, projects worth Rs. 2 crore were submitted including the 5 biomedical devices developed, and JSSAHER scholars published 50 research papers during this period.

Dr. B Suresh as Pro Chancellor

JSSAHER’S EDGE IN MEANINGFUL RESEARCH The selection of each of the 17 institutions in India for the clinical trial of Covishield vaccine was after a detailed inspection of the infrastructure and clinical research facilities. The vaccine has been developed by Oxford University, manufactured by India’s Serum Institute and marketed by MNC pharma major AstraZeneca. Being an issue of national and international importance, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) is directly supervising the trials, and when ICMR selected JSSAHER for this crucial trial, it became one among 17 handpicked institutions including AIIMS, New Delhi and PGIMER, Chandigarh. While many leading private and deemed universities in the country are now warming up to research, JSSAHER has already covered long distance in the field. This stems from the university’s vision that

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teaching and research should go hand in hand, and that research should be encouraged in every student and faculty.

Apart from this, JSSAHER offers PhD programs under various faculties, mainly oriented towards health Sciences. Over 300 research students conduct their research work in the constituent colleges and JSSAHER Departments. They get opportunities to interact with faculty from Medicine, Dental, Pharmacy, Life Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Natural Sciences and Management Sciences and work on interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research projects.

JSSAHER has been in the field of research from the 80’s onward and accounts for 7,225 publications by authors affiliated to the university, with more than half of it coming in during the last five years, signalling gathering momentum on research. To strengthen the research infrastructure of the

Dr. Surinder Singh, Vice Chancellor

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university, Centers of Excellence were established in the constituent colleges which were also subsequently recognized by Government Agencies and international bodies. These centres include, Center Of Excellence In Molecular Biology And Regenerative Medicine (CEMR), Center For Clinical Research Excellence, Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring And Regional Training Center, Center For Training On Pharmacovigilance, TIFAC Center Of Relevance And Excellence (CORE), Center Of Excellence In Nano Science & Technology, Molecular Diagnostic Lab For Infectious Diseases, and Center Of Excellence In HIV/AIDS Medicine.

JSSAHER’s Edge in Better Infrastructure and Facilities JSSAHER had recently renovated the Anatomy Museum of JSS Medical College. The university has also launched HIDI, a mobile application for medical students in learning Histology and Bar Codes of Museum specimens.

The Museum exhibits a wide collection of specimens ranging from dissected human parts, foetuses showing different stages of development and rare congenital anomaly specimen, skeletons, embryology models, charts and plastinated specimens. Bar Coding provides details about the specimens through audiovisual modes. The JSS Anatomy Museum is not only for medical students but also for the public,

especially school children, and it is accessible free of cost by all. Earlier, the university had also launched a new stateof-the-art Skill & Simulation Center for providing hands-on training for medical and para-medical students, which is also open for students from other medical universities if needed. Indeed, when it comes to infrastructure and facilities, JSSAHER has been one of India’s leading deemed universities. This has been made possible primarily by having separate and sprawling facilities for its various constituent colleges like JSS Medical College, JSS Dental College & Hospital and JSS College of Pharmacy at the main campus in Mysuru as well as another pharmacy college in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu. Similarly, when new departments like Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Faculty of Management Studies were added to the deemed university, these too got their own ample facilities.

Now, JSSAHER is in the process of taking this edge in infrastructure and facilities to new levels by developing the new JSSAHER Global Campus on over 100 acres of land out of which 30 percent will be utilised for construction and the rest will be covered with greenery giving importance to rain water harvesting, pollution-free and noise-free campus, zero wastage, bio-conservation and recycling process. The campus will have state-ofthe-art buildings for academics, research, residential and recreation centre with an auditorium of 2,000 seating capacity.

When the new campus is completed,

Low - Coast Ventilator

JSSAHER’s Edge in Student-to-Faculty Ratio

Dr. Manjunatha B, Registrar

initially, out of the 148 courses offered

by JSSAHER, 48 courses, mostly Life Sciences and Natural Science, will be moved to the new facility.

JSSAHER’s Edge in Updated & Interdisciplinary Education On the transdisciplinary front, JSSAHER is starting a two-year Master’s Degree programme in Sports Nutrition and Management from this academic year.

The course will cover subjects like Sports Physiology, Sports Specific Diets, Nutritional Biochemistry, Human Nutrition, and Basic Management subjects, among others. JSSAHER has been a leader in updated and interdisciplinary education with nearly 60 collaborations with nationally and internationally acclaimed academic institutions, industry partners, health

Testigng Lab

service providers and research centres.

It has signed a Collaborative Research Agreement to establish a “Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Health Sciences” at JSSAHER with iMERA.ai Limited, a London (UK) based health care company focused on developing clinical decision-making tools using Artificial Intelligence (AI). The deemed university has a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline for collaboration in training and research in Pharmaceutical Sciences, and with Seragen Biotherapeutics for technology advancement in stem cell research, stem cell banking and novel therapeutics for regenerative medicine. JSSAHER is also working with Accreate Additive Labs for innovative 3D printing and design services, model making for use in academics and healthcare, bioprinting for tissue 3D printing, drug transportation studies and developing contemporary smarter devices and solutions. Triphase Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd, Mysuru is another partner with whom JSSAHER is collaborating for R&D in biotechnology and probiotics, and development of new methods and technologies in prebiotic and probiotic research. Other such industry collaborations include with Philips India for medical devices and data analytics, with Scitus Pharma for clinical research and development in generic drugs, and with Juggat Pharma for consultancy, training and research in pharmaceutical sciences and formulation development for drugs. Such collaborations ensure that JSSAHER’s curriculum and training is updated and interdisciplinary in tune with industry needs.

From its ground up, JSSAHER’s focus in education has been on quality rather than quantity. This has been especially so as JSSAHER has been primarily a health sciences university where quality is paramount to emerge as a leading university in India and the world. With this lofty aim in mind, JSSAHER has one of the best student-to-faculty ratio in the country. Today, more than 600 faculty members instruct approximately 2000 undergraduate and graduate students and 300 research scholars. Even though JSSAHER now has ambitious plans to scale up its student intake, this focus on superior student-to-faculty ratio will be maintained. With its new campus getting ready, JSSAHER plans to grow up to 20,000 students within the next five years, but will then have an impressive faculty count of 2000 members.

JSSAHER’s Edge in Global Mobility of Students

While most private and deemed universities have made several tie-ups with international universities of repute, very few universities have progressed it to meaningful student exchange programs. JSSAHER is one such exceptional university that has been running student-exchange programs with multiple international universities for several years now. This ensures global mobility of students both outbound from India and inbound to the country. Some of the universities with which JSSAHER has signed MoUs in recent years include Edge Hill University, United Kingdom, Pacific University, Oregon, USA, Texas Southern University, USA, UCSI University, Malaysia and The University of Bolton, United Kingdom.

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PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES CHITKARA UNIVERSITY

TAKING GIANT STRIDES, DESPITE THE PANDEMIC

W

hile many comparable private and deemed universities are struggling to adapt to the pandemic realities, Chancellor Dr Ashok K. Chitkara and Pro-Chancellor Dr Madhu Chitkara are leading Chitkara University to unbelievable heights in every domain that matters for a university, including co-branded degrees with leading national and international industries, globally competitive startup incubation, international academic tie-ups with leading universities and funded research projects by even European agencies. Chitkara University’s Covid19 innovations attracted national eyeballs as it started the world’s first 24x7 dedicated community radio channel and telecast for the pandemic and developed an advanced face shield for Covid-19 through state-of-the-art 3D Printing technology. Chitkara always encourages its students to compete with Asia’s and the world’s best students. In student competitions in India and abroad, Chitkara is often seen emerging as the only non-IIT and non-NIT institution leading the fray. With such 360 degree momentum, it is no wonder that Chitkara University is bettering its position in all renowned rankings including India’s NIRF and the UK based ranking of global universities, the Times Higher Education Rankings.

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Despite the struggles of the education sector in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chitkara University is leaving no stone unturned. The Punjab-based varsity made no excuses, as a result of the pandemic, in its march to become one of India’s top private universities. The signs are encouraging to say the least.

The University made a mark in the technology space when it became shortlisted as one of the top 8 finalists for ‘Technological Innovation of the Year’ for the world-famous “Times Higher Education Asia Awards 2020” and that too as the only Indian university. Pro-Chancellor Dr Madhu Chitkara credits the university’s cuttingedge AVR lab that is a pioneer in affordable and accessible technologies.

In the startup ecosystem, Chitkara University was among the select group of finalists in the 10th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition, which is widely regarded as Asia’s most exciting startup competition. Chitkara University students won the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) Award 2020 in the field of Agricultural Innovation, becoming the only non IIT, NIT, and IISc institution to make it to the award list while a team of its Bachelors students featured in the global top 50 in the famed 11 Second Club global animation contest.

Like many of its peers, Chitkara University made noteworthy contributions in the country’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The entire Chitkara family – administration, faculty and support staff – pledged their one-day’s salary to the PM Cares Fund, the Punjab CM Relief Fund and Himachal Pradesh CM Relief Fund. The gesture was complemented with the world’s first 24x7 Community Radio Broadcasting on COVID-19 – Radio Chitkara FM 107.8 - that provided community awareness including through web telecast. Chancellor Dr Ashok K. Chitkara and Pro-Chancellor Dr Madhu Chitkara, under whose leadership the varsity provided funding support of Rs. 1 Crore through the Chitkara University Research and Innovation – Centre of Excellence, made this possible. In a move that firmly established its research credentials, the university also developed a lightweight, robust, and uniquely designed face shield using 3D printing technology that can be very effective in preventing the spread of viruses.

It is perhaps in the area of industry collaborations where Chitkara University is a class apart from the rest.

The recent collaborations with Lenskart to offer high-quality Bachelors in Optometry, with Automotive Research

DR ASHOK K CHITKARA, CHANCELLOR

Association of India (ARAI) to offer Masters in Automotive Engineering, with Virtusa to offer a two-year MTech in computer science & engineering with specialization in Full Stack Web Development, with Paraxel International to offer a two-year MSc program in pharmacovigilance & clinical research, with Wizcraft to launch an MBA in events, media and entertainment, with KONE Elevator to offer a diploma program in mechanical engineering with specialization in Vertical Transportation and with Coding Ninjas to provide coding classes to its first year B.Tech students are a testament to its high quality research output. These initiatives not only provide its students and graduates with information on the latest trends in the industry but also

DR MADHU CHITKARA, PRO-CHANCELLOR

prepare them for jobs due to components like research internships, skill development etc.

Chitkara University has also inked academia-centred partnerships with Bow Valley College based in Alberta, Canada and Deakin University in Australia. With the former, the pathway programme offers students the opportunity to transfer to the health and human services management postdiploma certificate program while the latter developed a four-year bachelors course on software engineering that will permit Chitkara’s students to study in its campus for two years. The university also leads the illustrious international project “Risk Management and Prevention of Antibiotic Resistance – PREVENT IT”, which is a three-year

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Erasmus+ innovative project but crucially Chitkara’s fourth such project with the EU’s famed agency.

Along with regular interactions with industry and academia leaders for its students, the varsity also organized exclusive webinars and conferences with various other thought leaders.

Some of the notable speakers were Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh who spoke on the necessity of virtual education platforms to prepare them for future jobs and WNS Global Services group CEO & former NASSCOM chairperson Keshav R Murugesh who delivered a masterclass on career building and up skilling. Another gamechanging initiative was The Global Week, a platform that is a one-of-its-kind global engagement for professors from around 40 top international universities that cultivates cross-cultural exchanges, knowledge transfer, industry linkages and phenomenal networking opportunities.

Chitkara University shone admirably in the recent NIRF ranking, the government’s annual higher education ranking framework. The Chitkara Business School was ranked among the Top 75 Business Schools in the country while a similar feat was achieved by Chitkara College of Pharmacy in the pharma category. Keeping with its multi sectoral presence, the varsity’s engineering programs also ranked highly, featuring in the top 200 out of 1600 institutions in the country.

The most notable ranking was its 59th position globally in the SDG-07 ‘Affordable and Clean Energy’ segment.

In a separate ranking, Competition Success Review – GHRDC Engineering College Survey 2020, the university was placed in the 2nd position in the ‘Top Engineering Colleges of Eminence’ in All India category and in the ‘Top Engineering Colleges’ in the state of Punjab as well. In addition to this, the university ranked 14th in the placements, USP and social responsibility categories and also in the faculty, research categories. The university also made history in the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings 2020 when it became the only university from Punjab to feature in the list. The ranking is based on assessments of universities against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

With the emphasis on online education gathering steam, Chitkara University wasted no time in gaining first-mover advantage. In recognition of its efforts to impart not just timely but quality online education, QS IGAUGE (the Indian arm of the global rankings agency Quacquarelli Symonds) awarded the ELEAD certification. Thus, it became only one of 12 institutions in the country to receive the honours in a felicitation ceremony done by the Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal. With an eye to provide relevant skillsets to cloud professionals and further industryacademia connect, the university has adopted Amazon Web Services (AWS) Educate cloud computing curricula in BE CSE specialisation in cloud

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computing and virtualization.

In spite of its thrust for online education, Chitkara University’s Vice Chancellor Dr Varinder S. Kanwar believes that it cannot fully replace traditional learning methods and instead suggests a blended learning model that benefits all stakeholders. However, he wants Chitkara University to compete with the Western world. “The pandemic has taught us to think out of the box and bring more innovations to classroom.

We need to change ourselves as this is the need of the hour.” Chitkara University looks grounded and cleareyed on their vision and is not content with resting on their laurels. One can make this assessment only about a handful of Indian universities in the current climate and that is a validation of the giant strides taken by the Punjabbased varsity.

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PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES SASTRA DEEMED UNIVERSITY

PROVING ITS UNIQUE CALIBRE EVEN IN A MOST DIFFICULT YEAR SASTRA Deemed University continues to lead its peers by launching online degree programs, by transparent merit-based admission processes, globally recognized research achievements, bestowing international research awards and having the best in online educational infrastructure.

Founded by Prof. R Sethuraman and headed by Dr. S. Vaidhyasubramaniam as Vice-Chancellor, SASTRA is a Category 1 University as per UGC Graded Autonomy Regulations and accredited by the National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC) with “A++” grade with CGPA: 3.54 /4.00. With its government sponsored Centres of Excellence in meaningful research, to the global mobility of its students, to its excellence in placements and with its world-class technology business incubator focused on 3D Printing and Internet of Things (IoT), this deemed university in Tamil Nadu is grooming its students to be scientists, technocrats, CEOs, and startup founders, as it has already been demonstrating since the 90s.

pandemic, but surpassed itself in each of these domains. On the teaching front, SASTRA had deployed TCS iON Digital Glassroom, an online classroom technology for educational institutions.

Complying with UGC’s guidelines, this leading deemed university in the private sector has rolled out 12 well-thought of graduate and postgraduate degree programs in buzzing segments like BCom+CA, BBA in Logistics, BCA, BA, MSc, MBA, MCom, MFA, MA etc.

Of these, the online BCom+CA is with an industry partner KS Academy and BBA Logistics is in collaboration with Logistics Skill Council of the Union Ministry of Skill and Entrepreneurship. All online courses make use of the globally recognized methodology of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

The University shot into global academic & research limelight recently when the 2020 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize was announced for Shai Evra of Princeton University, U.S., and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, as selected by a renowned panel of global experts.

The university had a rocking convocation on a virtual platform, with valedictory speech by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan. While 81 scholars physically received their PhD degrees, over 4800 graduands were conferred their UG & PG degrees virtually. Interestingly, the best outgoing student, came online from South Korea, where she is already pursuing her PhD.

2020 will go down in modern history as the toughest year that humanity faced, and one of the sectors most affected by the pandemic and the lockdown has been higher education. As universities & colleges remained closed, economy crumbled and jobs evaporated, almost everything related with higher education came to a standstill – admissions, classes, internships, exams and placements.

But at Thanjavur based SASTRA Deemed University, it was yet another opportunity to prove its unique calibre, which had already catapulted it to the premium league of Indian universities. Everything SASTRA does is on purpose with high SEASONAL MAGAZINE

objectives for its students. There are no gimmicks or accidents over here, but only serious initiatives that many peer universities have either not thought of, or would struggle to implement.

Right from the rapid and first implementation of TCS’ digital learning platform among all Indian institutions during the national lockdown itself, to its recent launch of online degree programs, SASTRA has been quick to adapt to the unprecedented changes in the operating environment.

The university has not allowed any of its core activities including admissions, placements, teaching, research or convocation to be affected by the

Rising up to the challenges posed by the pandemic, SASTRA researchers are also garnering the world’s attention by their achievements. Sasikala Devi, a PhD holding researcher and academician at SASTRA, has developed LungXpert, an affordable AI-based prognostic tool for cardiovascular diseases & Covid-19, which won an award at global AI summit

by Indian Government recently.

In the early months of Covid-19 too, SASTRA researchers had risen to the occasion with world-beating innovations like split-ventilators for hospital ICUs and an Ayurvedic formulation to fight the disease, both of which have attracted government interest.

And on the admissions front, SASTRA Deemed University continued its highly transparent processes with two purely merit-based streams, which did justice to

both JEE Main and Plus Two marks.

Seasonal Magazine takes an in-depth look at what makes SASTRA Deemed University a leader among its peer universities in India.

SASTRA's Edge in Meaningful Research

It is doubtful whether any other comparable private or deemed university has made as much as progress as SASTRA in meaningful research, especially in its core engineering and technology domains. This is because the university has been built from the ground up, not just for teaching and learning, but for research and consultancy. This has resulted in impressive achievements in the field of applied research and SASTRA getting recognized as a Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (SIRO). And befitting this recognition, SASTRA’s research scholars are engaged in research for various government agencies including Department of Science & Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Defense Research & Development Organization, Indian Council for Medical Research, Council for Scientific & Industrial Research, and AYUSH, among others. The maturity SASTRA has shown in such work has encouraged Government of India to set up even a few Centres of Excellence in the campus. These include, three technology centres - Centre for Relevance & Excellence (CORE) in Advanced Computing & Information Processing, Centre for Nanotechnology & Advanced Biomaterials (CeNTAB), and National Facility in Mechatronics Centre, as well as two health research centres - Centre for Advanced Research in Indian Systems of Medicine (CARISM), and National Facility for the Scientific Preparation of Ayurvedic Drugs. Of these, while CeNTAB is engaged in research in the frontier areas of Nanotechnology, one of the most promising sunrise sectors today, CARISM has been recognized as a Centre of Excellence by Indian Government’s Department of AYUSH and certified by the Drug Licensing Authority, Government of Tamil Nadu, as a Drug Testing Lab for Ayurveda and Siddha Drugs. Apart from these applied

research activities, SASTRA offers PhD programs in Science, Engineering, Law, Management, Education and Arts. More than anything else, what exemplifies the university’s dedication to research is its promotion of the works of Srinivasa Ramanujan, last century’s native mathematical genius. SASTRA established the Srinivasa Ramanujan Centre, an offcampus centre at Kumbakonam, his native place, in the year 2000, which was dedicated to the Nation by then President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. SASTRA also purchased the house of Srinivasa Ramanujan and has been maintaining it as an International Monument and has also established the House of Ramanujan Mathematics which is a Museum on Ramanujan. The Srinivasa Ramanujan Centre conducts academic programmes besides pursuing research in areas influenced by Ramanujan.

SASTRA's Edge in Global Mobility of Students

Three benchmarks with which universities ensure global mobility of their students are international accreditations for courses, student exchange programs and global rankings.

Impressively, SASTRA, a deemed university comes across with flying colours on all three. One of the world’s most renowned accreditation bodies in engineering is the venerable UK based professional organization, Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET), which traces its history to the 1800s.Several universities in India have been trying to get IET accreditations for their courses with varying levels of success. But among these universities, SASTRA has emerged as the clear winner, having won the maximum number of accreditations from IET for their courses.

Across their two campuses at Thanjavur and Kumbakonam, SASTRA has 12 courses accredited by IET. What this accreditation primarily ensures is that these courses are adhering to internationally recognized standards, thereby opening up avenues for global mobility of SASTRA students both in overseas and MNC jobs as well as in postgraduate or research programs overseas without the need for bridge courses etc. When it comes to student exchange programs too, SASTRA has one of the largest working Semester Abroad Programs among all universities in India. While many universities have such tie-ups, the proof of the pudding is in how many overseas internships a university’s students are able to bag. For instance, the university’s 2020 batch got Semester Abroad internships from over 30 universities from across the world.

And these include universities from developed nations like USA, UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Singapore etc as well as select developing nations like Poland, Malaysia & Ecuador. And in most of these nations, SASTRA students bagged internships from some of the best universities like Harvard-MIT, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, John Hopkins, University of Texas & University of California, all in USA, University of Lincoln and Plymouth University, in UK, Oslo University in Norway, Kyoto University in Japan, and NUS in Singapore etc. Apart from tying up with these universities and arranging the internships, SASTRA also provides financial assistance to students for undertaking these international internships. And this global mobility doesn’t stop with internships. The university is a leader in overseas academic placements, and interested students of the 2020-graduating batch have also secured admissions to various graduate programs in prestigious global institutions. SASTRA is also getting featured in all renowned global rankings including Times Higher Education and QS.

SASTRA's Edge in Better Placements

SASTRA has always been an undisputed leader in campus placements, especially SEASONAL MAGAZINE

in placing graduate engineers, often setting records with recruitment majors like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

Quality is never an accident, and placement quality even more so. At SASTRA it starts from the admission process itself, when student talents are screened. The university is known for its transparent and solely merit-based admission process with no role for capitation fee. Even more, the university runs a reasonable scholarship program to attract and retain those students with merit but lacking in funds. Around 1000 students receive merit scholarships worth about Rs. 1.60 crore through well thought of measures like Deans’ List, tuition fees refund and mess fees reimbursement. This ensures that needy students with merit don’t go back in studies due to economic worries. Next comes the way SASTRA nurtures its entire pool of meritorious students.

Instead of leaving them to progress at their own pace, or not at all, they are continuously challenged and motivated to do their best. The university also stresses a lot on imparting professional and humane values, not just because it is needed to excel at the workplace, but to make them well-rounded adults in society. SASTRA is also a mature and seasoned university when it comes to placements, as many of its alumni are in coveted positions in the industry, making the university requiring no introduction to either older recruiters or newer startups. For instance, SASTRA conducted a Global Alumni Meet earlier this year, where it felicitated three distinguished alumni - S. Pazhanikumar, a 1992 batch SASTRA mechanical engineering graduate and now a senior Scientist at DRDO; SV Ramanan, a 1994 batch electrical engineer and now CEO (India and Asia), Intellect Design Arena; and Girish Mathroobootham, a 1996 batch electrical engineer who founded Freshworks and now its CEO. With such a track-record, there is no wonder SASTRA is continuing to excel in placements year after year. In the 2020 graduation batch, 3253 offers have been made to 1938 students by over 114 companies including Amazon, Google, Cisco, PayPal, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Thorogood, VMware, Publicis Sapient, Mind Tree, Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant, Infosys, Zoho Corporation, Deloitte, Dr.Reddys, SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Accenture, IBM, Ashok Leyland, Hyundai, Ford, TVS Motors, Bosch, Freshworks, Musigma, L & T, Rockwell Collins, Tata Communications, Tiger Analytics, Biocon, Novozymes, Zifo R&D, Caterpillar, Sanmar, Wipro, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, City Union Bank, etc.

SASTRA's Edge in Startup Incubation

Entrepreneurship Development Cells have been a passive feature of at least some engineering colleges since the early 90s. Recently, it gave way to Startup Incubators in the campus, although most of them are at a very nascent stage, especially when it comes to funding and scaling the college startup projects. However, this is yet another area in which SASTRA is years ahead of competition. The university is home to a Technology Business Incubator (TBI), set up by Government of India’s National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board. NSTEDB, coming under Department of Science & Technology, has established this at a cost of Rs. 15 crore. Named as Foundation for Innovation & Research at SASTRA: Technology Business Incubator (FIRST), this TBI at SASTRA also has an impressive focus – the fast emerging tech domains of 3D Printing and Internet of Things (IoT). During these times of COVID-19, SASTRA researchers have risen to the occasion with world-beating innovations like split-ventilators for hospital ICUs and an Ayurvedic formulation to fight the disease, both of which have attracted government interest. Being done by FIRST’s incubated companies, the successful

idea to 3D print 2-way and 4-way split ventilators will help double or quadruple ICU ventilator availability in Indian hospitals. The project has already been appreciated by Indian HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal. The Ayurvedic formulation from SASTRA labs use three medicinal plants to block the primary mode of Covid-19 transmission. The infrastructure and facilities at FIRST is second to none in India, as it has 32 machines for all kinds and sizes of 3D Printing, which makes it the largest such academic setups in the country. In the field of IoT too, FIRST has impressive facilities by way of embedded computers, sensors and equipment. This TBI has also added on to its capabilities by diversifying later on into two more domains, Robotics and Virtual Reality. Across these domains, there are around 24 incubatee companies, mentored by five senior industry leaders, well versed in the startup ecosystem. FIRST is professionally managed by its own CEO, assisted by managerial and technology executives. The FIRST incubator is structured as two separate centres – the Innovation & Training Centre and the Rapid Prototyping Centre. While the innovation and training centre is like an entry level facility for people to get exposed to 3D Printing &IoT, and carry out research and experimentation processes, the rapid prototyping centre features more advanced and expensive machines.

SASTRA has already delivered a major product in 3D Printing when its Tissue Engineering & Additive Manufacturing (TEAM) group delivered SHRISTI, one of India’s first 3D laser bio-printers.

Efforts are now on to market this unique product with an industry partner.