SPO INDIA June Issue

Vol. II

| Issue 08

| June 2017

| Rs. 50

US-India partnership gets a fillip with the recent visit of PM Narendra Modi to US. The maiden meeting was a success, according to experts www.spoindia.org junepg16 2017 | 1

2 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

COVER STORY | 16 Editor-in-Chief: Deepak Kumar Sahu Executive Editor: Dr. Vijay Anand Assistant Editor: Samrita Baruah Copy Editor: C. M. Dutta Art Director: Rakesh Kumar Network Administrator: Ashok Kumar Singh Manager-IT: Subhash Mohanta Manager-SEO: Bidyadhar Behera BUSINESS: Vice President: Prasanna Rout General Manager: Ashok Ranjan Dash Marketing Manager: Dipendra Kumar

CORPORATE OFFICE: A-84A/3 Rose Apartment, Paryavaran complex Ignou Road, New Delhi - 110 030 Tel: 011-41656383, 46061809 Email: edit@spoindia.org

US-India Strategic Partnership sees a new high US-India partnership gets a fillip with the recent visit of PM Narendra Modi to the country.

The maiden meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Donald Trump was a success, according to experts -

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LEAD STORY 30

Countries globally celebrate International Yoga Day 2017

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News- 6-15 COVER STORY 16 US-India Strategic Partnership sees a new high MARKET WATCH 20 The Past, Present and Future of Handset Market SPO CORPORATE 22 ‘Indus Tower’s sustainability journey had started since inception’ SPOI CSR AWARDS 24 SPOI CSR Person of the Year Award

PSU OF THE YEAR 31 ‘NTPC tries to give back to the society in whatever ways possible’ interview 32 "Akshaya Patra is present in 12 states, across 28 locations feeding more than 1.6 mn children" SPO ANALYSIS 34 Are you ready to migrate to GST? SPoi foundation 36 Microsoft India Launches #shedevelopstech with NASSCOM Foundation www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 3

Digital Push For A Business Transformation ...............But is this Digital safe?

With a stable, business-friendly government at the helm, India is flourishing. Radical liberalization and imaginative development programs have made it one of the most attractive destinations in the world for investors.

Modi’s brand-building exercise has been supplemented by liberalization. With the concept of Make in India, the new norms ensure that multinational corporations will manufacture in India, rather than source goods from overseas. Probably the biggest differentiator today is the current Government. Multinationals have flourished here since the reforms, and I think there is no better time to invest in India from the point of view of the policy regime.

Digital India is moving in the right direction with various initiatives with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. It has entered a new paradigm under Modi Government. Now, GST will create something like a common market, wherein all goods and services, irrespective of their point of origin or transaction, would have a common treatment and a common capped rate. With this the economy is likely to continue to grow strongly. The GST Council made it a four-tier tax structure with lowest tax slab fixed at 5 per cent followed by 12, 18 and 28 per cent brackets. GST is however kept out of purview for products like petroleum and alcohol that contribute to state revenue.

The latest global ransomware attacks are a reminder that the era of cyber insecurity is here. Last month, it was WannaCry and now it is Petya. We are facing a global epidemic of cyberattacks fundamentally because of the internet. Question is whether the internet is secure or not. The rapidly spreading cyber extortion campaign underscored growing concerns that businesses have failed to secure their networks from increasingly aggressive hackers, who have shown they are capable of shutting down critical infrastructure and crippling corporate and government networks.

About a month after WannaCry locked up thousands of computers, a new wave of ransomware attacks targeted users across the world, including India and Europe. Consumer, shipping, aviation and oil and gas companies were hit on Tuesday in the UK, Russia, France, Spain and elsewhere. Petwrap, believed to be an advanced version of an old ransomware known as Petya, locked the computer screens of as many as 20 companies globally with $300 being demanded to free them up. Mondelez, Merck and Maersk were targeted by this new ransomware. The ransomware is spreading fast across internet and taking down major firms across the globe and this is worse than WannaCry attack as it encrypts the whole disks when possible.

It is true that the next war will be fought in the cyber area. Cybersecurity is a serious business now and is growing exponentially.

Most of the governments, in fact all governments in the world today are interested in cooperation with Israel in cybersecurity. A report says, around 20% of all private investments is coming to Israel. As they have lot of start-ups and have demonstrated success, Israel has become attractive for investment in the cybersecurity space.

You don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Like that everything into online is not idle. When you don’t pay for as service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT. Get used to it.

Deepak Kumar Sahu President, SPOI | VARINDIA’s Development Initiative For CSR www.spoindia.org 4 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 5

CSR/Foundation

Vodafone Foundation to educate DLF Foundation vouches for five million children in Africa a vector borne Disease free Vodafone Foundation has announced that its ongoing education programmes in sub-Saharan Africa will expand to Gurugram benefit more than five million children who are marginalised and excluded from traditional education. This announcement comes ahead of the World Refugee Day on June 20th.

Vodafone’s charitable arm is launching ‘Instant Schools For Africa’ across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania to provide free access to quality online educational materials. Children, young people and educators will benefit from free and unlimited access to the Instant Schools for Africa online learning materials with zero mobile data charges in order to encourage widespread access to and use of the curricula on offer.

The announcement comes as the Vodafone Foundation has published its Connected Education report, which found that the online educational resources made available through the Instant Schools For Africa programme could benefit more than 50 million children across Africa, India and Egypt by 2025, as the Vodafone Foundation increases its focus on these activities.

DLF Foundation has partnered with the Directorate of NVBDCP, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, and Synergie to make Gurugram free of Vector Borne Diseases such as Dengue, Chikunguniya and Malaria. The initiative will be driven through a Task Force comprising of corporates, hospitals, RWAs, industry associations and the government.

DLF Foundation has already formed a National Core Group for Control of Vector Borne Diseases aiming to effectively involve a large number of companies in addressing the issue of vector borne diseases. The National Core Group is chaired by Dr. AC Dhariwal, Director, NVBDCP, and has representation from Municipal Corporations, Directorate of Health Services, companies including Dalmia Bharat Group, Aditya Birla Group, Jubilant Life Sciences, Ambuja Cement Foundation, Sun Pharma, NBCC, NTPC, Microsoft, and industry bodies like Confederation of Indian Industry and the UN Global Compact Network of India.

IRCS and RBU ink MoU

TISS prepares education master trainers under Tata Trusts

Indian Red Cross Society, National Headquarters, New Delhi has signed an MoU with Rayat Bahra University, Mohali, Punjab to broadly build the resilience of communities to disaster and climate change through education, research and awareness programmes, collaboration on disaster risk management on natural, manmade and related environmental, technological health hazards.

Shri Avinash Rai Khanna, Vice Chairman of the IRCS thanked Dr Raj Singh, Vice Chancellor of the University and his team for getting in to the partnership with the IRCS which shall, “Give an opportunity to the students to learn, among other things, first-aid and disaster response mechanism which shall keep them in good stead in their prospective careers and lives.” He added that such collaborations bring a lot of mutual strength and expertise which are beneficial to the partners.

The partnership also envisages covering subjects like water sanitation & hygiene promotion (WASH), climate change adaptation, environmental management & restoration, ecosystem based livelihood support, health and blood services. The two organizations also agreed to jointly design and offer certification of educational programmes in the above areas or related fields.

6 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has felicitated and issued certificates to 39 government school teachers and DIET faculty in Assam for completing the one-of-a-kind ICT and education course.

As a part of the Integrated Approach to Technology in Education (ITE) initiative by Tata Trusts, the course provides hands on experience of designing lessons integrating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in curriculum and pedagogy.

The certificate recipients, now called ‘master trainers’, have shown great commitment and already trained other 740 teachers in ITE, as part of the course assignment.

The course was of four months duration during which the teachers participated in F2F workshop, trained other teachers at district, practiced exemplary ITE lesson plans in their classroom, took two online tests, and continuously reflected on chat forums and made an electronic portfolio consolidating their learning.

NEWS/e-Governance

Punjab e-governance project offering 67 services

Tripura takes strides towards e-governance

On the lines of e-Sampark Centres in Chandigarh, Punjab has set up 2,147 "Sewa Kendras" across the state providing about 67 services, including applying for various documents at one centre with a minimal fee.

The facility was launched by the previous SAD-BJP g over nment and people using these services are hopeful that the new Congress g over nment w i l l strengthen the infrastructure and add more services to the list.

According to sources, a meeting was held in the first week of June to discuss the services provided through the project. The kendras provide services related to birth and death certificates, arms licence, power supply bill, water and sewerage bill, tenant verification among many others defined under the Punjab Right to Services Act, 2011.

In a major boost to the IT sector, the Left Front government has decided to bring about a shift to e-governance in the state of Tripura.

"Over 30 lakh people, which accounts for about 80% of the state's population, are now using mobile phone. This has led to an IT boom," said industries and IT minister Tapan Chakraborty on Wednesday.

Capitalizing on this, the government plans on moving everything from public services to internal communication online.

The state got an award for its performance in IT and e-governance last year; these facilities having been extended up to the gram panchayat level. Certificates and documents from panchayats or blocks are being issued under the e-district scheme, the Minister said.

However, the IT minister added, BSNL's infrastructure within the state has not been upgraded even though the opening of the third international internet gateway in the state was expected to boost internet service across the state.

E-governance at Rajasthan’s panchayats taking shape

Nagaland tops IT, e-Governance sector

The Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje has announced in last year’s budget that the state government's plan to expand the e-governance at the grassroots gram panchayats has begun taking shape.

The government has envisaged an Integrated Raj e-Panchayat web-based solution to e n h a n c e panchayati raj institutions' ( P R I s ) productivity and streamlining internal process of rural development and panchayati raj department.

The web-based solution is being developed by the department of information technology and communication, Rajasthan. The solution will enable the real-time processing of the activities performed at the PRIs right from the work identification, initiation to completion and payment. This would enable effective use of IT in various activities namely Planning, Budgeting, Accounting, monitoring at all the levels.

The Computer Society of India (CSI)-Nihilent Nagaland has declared Nagaland as a top performing state from among the north-eastern states in Information Technology and e-Governance sector.

"Nagaland is the only state in India where the state is acting as Service Centre Agency without engaging private companies for running Common Service Centres.

It is also the first state in India in the e-District Mission Mode Project," said Commissioner & Secretary, Information Technology & Communication, K.D. Vizo.

The Computer Society of India is the first and largest body of computer professionals in India. The award given by the CSI -- which has 72 chapters across India, 511 student branches, and about 100,000 members -- is the highest award in the county by an NGO.

www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 7

NEWS/Digital India

Samsung with Telangana Academy to launch Digital Academy in Hyderabad

Korean manufacturer Samsung has inaugurated Samsung Digital Academy in partnership with Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK), strengthening its commitment towards the Government’s Skill India mission and also bolstering Digital India initiative.

Set up in Hyderabad, the academy will train students on Internet of Things (IoT) through Tizen operating system, helping them learn industry-relevant skills and making them job-ready.

"The collaboration between Samsung and TASK in rolling out this skill initiative will play a key role in helping the government develop sustainable employment options," said Principal Secretary IT and Industries, Govt. of Telangana, Jayesh Ranjan.

Paytm eyes 3X growth in train ticket bookings this year

Digital payments platform, Paytm said that it expects to clock over 3X growth in number of train tickets booked through its platform this financial year.

The company is also strengthening its overall travel vertical and will hire more people over the next two quarters. "Paytm is booking over one million train tickets in a month and has become India's largest platform for train tickets booking, after IRCTC," Paytm said in a statement.

T h e Alibaba-backed c o m p a n y had launched online train ticket bookings in partnership with IRCTC in October last year. "Paytm is now targeting 3X growth this financial year," it said.

Currently, 90% of the train ticket bookings on Paytm are done through the mobile platform. "We are extremely overwhelmed by the response received for train ticket bookings on Paytm in the last six months. Emerging as the country's largest platform in train ticket bookings is a definitive step towards our goal of building the country's largest travel booking platform," Paytm Vice President Abhishek Rajan said.

8 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

Conference to promote digital dental implant surgery

Dental surgeons, doctors and industry experts from India and abroad gathered for a three-day conference on ways to popularise use of digital technology in dental implant surgeries in the country.

The Ninth International Conference on the 'Digitally Integrated Implant Dentistry' was organized by the Academy of Oral Implantalogy (AOI). The three-day conference hosted doctors from the speciality, showcasing how the advanced procedures can go a long way in improving dental health, and thereby leading to better overall health.

"The theme this year is 'Digitally Integrated Implant Dentistry' and the idea of this conference is to popularise the technique in small towns and tier-II cities, as this procedure offers precision, more quality and reduction in overall surgery time," said Conference Secretary Ajay Sharma. “We are also very hopeful that through this endeavor of ours, medical tourism in India will increase. By digitizing dental implants, patients travelling to India will have to incur fewer costs. Procedures that earlier took days to complete, can now be done within hours. Patients get dentally restored faster and go back home happy."

Farmers take recourse to social media for redressal of their problems

Farmers in Uttar Pradesh are increasingly adopting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's digital India initiative and taking help of social media to seek redressal of their problems, according to State Cooperative Minister Mukut Bihari Verma.

Referring to a recent incident to stress his point, the minister said a local farmer facing some problems in selling wheat to cooperative societies wrote about his grievance on Twitter.

"Mansa Ram Verma, a local farmer tweeted about his problem and the department not only solved it but also took action following an inspection of the concerned purchase centre," the minister told.

The department has made available a toll free call centre from 8 AM to 8 PM and these measures have helped in the working of the department. “Because of the extensive use of social media, we have been able to achieve a record procurement of wheat till May 29,” the minister said.

NEWS/Urban Development

$275 Million Loan sanctioned for Rs.11, 421cr announced for Upgrading Urban Services in MP urban infrastructure in UP

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India have signed a $275 million loan for improving urban services in 64 small towns in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

The signatories to the loan agreement for the Madhya Pradesh Urban Service Improvement Project included Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Multilateral Institutions, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, who signed on behalf of the

Government of India, and L. B. Sondjaja, Deputy Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission, who signed for ADB. The project agreement was signed by Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary, Urban Development & Housing Department on behalf of the Government of Madhya Pradesh.

“Madhya Pradesh needs substantial investments to keep pace with rapid urbanization. Availability of continuous piped water supply is vital for improving the urban infrastructure, and it will facilitate improved access to safe drinking water for residents in the project area,” said Raj Kumar.

Project worth Rs 15,000 crore to develop Delhi’s Ghitorni

The Centre plans to develop 240 acres of land at Ghitorni district in south Delhi with smart city features worth over Rs 15,000 crore.

A proposal in this regard is at an advance stage of consideration at the Ministry of Urban Development (UD), sources said.

The 240 acres of land belonging to Central Public Works Department (CPWD), which functions under the UD ministry, has been lying vacant at Ghitorni since 1971.

Sources say that the project, estimated to cost over Rs 15,000 crore, is proposed to be jointly developed by CPWD and state-run construction firm NBCC on self-financing basis with no cost to the government.

As part of the project, the CPWD will construct about 6,500 residential units for government employees, besides developing office space for public sector firms.

On the other hand, NBCC would construct about 500 houses and develop substantial office and commercial space for sale to mobilise resources for financing the project.

Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), a total expenditure of Rs.11, 421 cr will be incurred in Uttar Pradesh on improving basic urban infrastructure in 61 cities and towns with a population of above one lakh each by 2019-20.

To this effect, the Ministry of Urban Development has approved AMRUT Action Plans of Uttar Pradesh for the next three years i.e.

2017-20 in one go involving an expenditure of Rs.4, 239 cr. Annual Action Plans for 2015-16 and 2016-17 were earlier approved by the Ministry. Uttar Pradesh has got the highest investment in the country under Atal Mission.

Under AMRUT, launched on June 25, 2015 by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, providing water taps to all urban households and augmenting water supply to the level of 135 litres per capita per day is given first priority followed by sewerage and drainage networks, non-motorised urban transport and development of green and open spaces in 500 mission cities during the mission period of 2015-20.

Rajasthan to develop smart villages

Rajasthan will develop 3169 smart villages, which will have clean drinking water, roads, sewerage system, Wi-Fi facility, e-library, sports ground, street lights and health facilities.

State Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Rajendra Rathore said that 3169 villages have been selected for the year 2017-18, which will be developed into "smart villages".

This comes along the lines of smart cities project.

The villages will have all such facilities that any city has, Rathore said while giving a presentation during review meeting of smart village scheme.

The meeting was chaired by state Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Departmental officials said that eligible individuals will be provided accommodation on priority basis under PM Aawas Yojna (rural) in smart villages. Works including farm pond, cattle shed, levelling of farms, etc., will be completed on priority under the MNREGA.

www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 9

NEWS/GOVT.

GST Council forms 18 Sectoral Groups for smooth GST implementation

In line with the decision made at the 14th Meeting of the GST Council held on 18th-19th May, 2017 in Srinagar, to ensure smooth roll-out of GST 18 Sectoral Groups have been constituted representing various sectors of the economy. These 18 Sectoral Groups representing various sectors of the economy and containing Senior Officers of the Centre and the States are being set up to ensure smooth implementation of GST by timely responding to the issues and problems of their respective Sector(s).

The officials of these Sectoral Groups will deal with the issues and the problems of the respective sector(s) they represent.

Concerned industry Groups/Associations or even individual industry representative(s) may approach the respective Sectoral Group officers with their problems, if any, relating to GST implementation, who in turn will try to guide and help them in resolving the same. This exercise will help in dealing with most of the sectoral problems and issues at the local/regional level.

NITI shortlists States for transformative change in Health and Education

NITI Aayog has initiated SATH (Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital), a unique and novel initiative to catalyse transformational change in key Social Sectors. Under this, NITI Aayog and its knowledge partners will provide strategic, technical and implementation support to three states for each sector.

A Committee comprising of Shri Bibek Debroy, Member – NITI Aayog; Amitabh Kant, CEO – NITI Aayog; Advisers of NITI Aayog and representatives of Health and Education Ministry spent two days assessing and vetting presentations by 14 States for each of the two social sectors.

In Health sector, five States have been shortlisted as run up to the final selection of three. These are, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Karnataka and Gujarat. Similarly in Education, the shortlisted States are Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. In both sectors, the States have to commit to a time-bound focus, governance reforms and delivery of outcomes for final selection for the partnership.

10 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

PM Modi to distribute aids to Divyangjans in Rajkot

The biggest ever Samajik Adhikarita Shivir for distribution of Aids & Assistive Devices to Divyangjan (PwDs) will be organized at Rajkot on 29th June 2017 by ALIMCO, under the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. The camp is being conducted under the ADIP scheme of Government of India.

The main objective of the scheme is to provide modern aids mainly manufactured by Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO).

The distribution camp at Rajkot wherein 18,430 beneficiaries are going to be served is the biggest camp in the history of the nation in terms of beneficiaries. Out of this 10,100 beneficiaries have been assessed by ALIMCO to whom 14,828 number of appliances will be distributed at an estimated cost of Rs. 5.60 Crores.

5,330 beneficiaries have been assessed by National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (NIEPID), Secunderabad for distribution of TLM Kit for persons with intellectual impairment. 3,000 beneficiaries have also been identified by district administration for distribution of various appliances.

International Airport to come up at Jewar, Greater Noida

The government has announced that an international airport with a capacity to handle 30-50 million passengers per year will come up at Jewar in Greater Noida in the next five to six years to ease the load on the Delhi airport.

“In-principle clearance has been granted” for the greenfield airport at Jewar, Uttar Pradesh, said the Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju. The Airport will be located 72 Km from IGI Airport and 65 Km from Hindon Air Force station, Ghaziabad. Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) is the implementing authority of the project and the area will be spread across 3000 hectares.

This has been notified for the airport which will be developed in phases.

An area of 1,000 hectares will be developed in the first phase at an estimated cost of Rs 10,000 crores. There will be one runway in the first phase. Three more runways will be developed in subsequent phases. The total cost of development of all phases is expected to be around Rs 15-20,000 crores. The airport is expected to cater to 30-50 million passengers per year over the next 10 to 15 years.

NEWS/GOVT.

“Hill Area Development Programme” announced for Northeast

MOU signed to impart skill development programs to CISF personnels

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has announced the launch of, “Hill Area Development Programme” (HADP) for Northeast in Imphal, (Manipur).

Dr Jitendra Singh was addressing a meet of Investors and Entrepreneurs, organised by NEDFi (North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd), with joint participation of the Union Ministry of DoNER and the Government of Manipur represented by Chief Minister, Shri N Biren Singh and other senior State functionaries. Secretary NEC Shri Ram Muivah and a large number of prominent prospective entrepreneurs were present on the occasion.

Figures were cited that pointed out that 80 districts of Northeast, 3 districts of hilly areas, which ranked lowest in the composite district infrastructure index, belonged to Manipur and these were namely, Tamenglong, Chandel and Churachandpur.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Ministry of Home Affairs, the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) and the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) here. The Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge), Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy and the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju were also present during the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Kiren Rijiju said that India can become a world power if the youth of the country develop the attitude towards skill development.

He expressed happiness that in the last two and half years, skill development has led to employment of large number of youth in different areas, thereby strengthening India. “It has brought a revolution under the guidance of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The signing of today’s agreement has added a new chapter to it. The dignity of labour and value of hard work is losing importance in the country, which needs to be addressed and the attitude towards labour needs to be changed.”

Rural LED Street Lighting Project implemented in Andhra Pradesh

Piyush Goyal announces ECBC 2017

Government of India, through the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) under the Ministry of Power, would be retrofitting 10 lakh conventional street lights with LED lights in Gram Panchayats of 7 districts in Andhra Pradesh. This is the first project for rural LED street lighting in the country under the Government of India’s Street Lighting National Project (SLNP). In the first phase, the replacement will be undertaken in gram panchayats of the districts of Guntur, Prakasham, Nellore, Kurnool, Kadapa, Ananthapur and Chittoor.

This replacement drive in rural areas will help the gram panchayats to cumulatively save approximately 147 million units of electricity annually and lead to reduction of 12 crore tonnes of CO2. The entire upfront capital cost of this project is being funded by French Development Agency Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

Earlier this year, CM of Andhra Pradesh, Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu, had stated that approximately 30 lakh conventional street lights across villages in the state would be replaced by LED street lights by 2018. EESL has assured the State government of approximately 59 percent savings in electricity.

Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines launched the Energy Conservation Building Code 2017 (ECBC 2017).

With the adoption of ECBC 2017 for new commercial b u i l d i n g construction throughout the country, it is estimated to achieve a 50% reduction in energy use by 2030. This will translate to energy savings of about 300 Billion Units by 2030 and peak demand reduction of over 15 GW in a year.

ECBC 2017 was developed by BEE with technical support from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the U.S. India bilateral Partnership to Advance Clean Energy – Deployment Technical Assistance (PACE-D TA) Program. www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 11

CSR/CORPORATE

GKEL organizes animal health camp in Mangalpur Panchayat

Nissan’s innovative car foam saves 6.1 million litres of water

As part of Livelihood Restoration Project (LRP), GMR Kamalanga Energy Limited (GKEL) has organised an animal health camp in association with Veterinary Department, Dhenkanal.

The employees of GMR Varalakshmi Foundation, the CSR arm of GMR Group, invited government veterinary doctors to conduct the camp at Manpur village in Mangalpur Panchayat of Dhenkanal district.

Block Veterinary Officer and all staff of Odapada Block Veterinary Office and Sub-Divisional Veterinary Officer, Dhenkanal attended the camp.

The veterinary doctors treated 60 cows, 130 goats & sheep in the camp. They provided de-worming medicine, lever tonic, antibiotics, mineral mixtures as per requirement of the animals.

Microscopic observation of stool carried out and accordingly treatment done. About 56 project affected families benefitted in the camp.

Nissan in India has conserved 6.1 million litres of water over the past three years by using an innovative car wash technique.

The substantial water savings were achieved thanks to Nissan’s advanced Foam Wash technique to clean cars at its service centres across India, and underlines the company’s commitment to deliver sustainable mobility to customers and society.

Car washes at service centres are a major component of after sales and servicing of customers’ vehicles which require a large amount of water. Traditional car washes generally require around 160 litres of water to clean one car. The Foam Wash technique, introduced in 2014 at Nissan service centres, uses only 90 litres of water per car which reduces water consumption by 45 percent. The amount of water saved by the company is equivalent to the water consumption of around 25,000 households in India for one day.

Commenting on this eco-friendly achievement, Sanjeev Aggarwal, VP- After Sales, Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd. said, “Nissan always aims to deliver innovative and best-in-class sales and after sales service to its customers. Using the foam wash technique for our customers’ cars saves their time and a significant amount of water. That’s a winning combination for both Nissan and Datsun customers and for the environment.”

HDFC and OXXY introduce program for every Girl Child born in India

Hyundai Launches Save Water campaign

Announcing the joint effort, from now on every girl child born in the country will be given a Free FD of Rs. 11,000 in HDFC Bank powered by OXXY. In the initiative every girl born on OXXY Network which is 1.8 lac hospitals, diagnostics and pathology labs across the country can avail the benefits of the program.

The program is absolutely free for everyone to enrol in the country.

O x x y Girl Child Development Program is available for every expecting mother to save for the bright future of her child. Oxxy will educate the mothers about the timely tests and precautions as per global standards. These steps will also help in bringing the infant mortality rate down in the country.

HDFC will help the process of opening a Fixed Deposit for Girl child. The girl child will be able to encash the FD when they turn 18.

12 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

Hyundai Motor India has launched Save Water campaign by promoting Dry wash on the occasion of World Environment Day. The 45 day long campaign “Save Water” in association with Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) started from June 5 and will go on till 19 July 2017 at 1,254 Hyundai Dealer workshops across India.

Commenting on the initiative Rakesh Srivastava, Director, Sales & Marketing, HMIL, said, “Being a socially responsible & environmentally conscious manufacturer, Hyundai believes in the philosophy of preserving the environment and its resources for a better future. As a part of our CSR activations, we regularly engage in environment friendly initiatives to create strong awareness among the communities. On World Environment Day, we pledge our sensitivity towards the environment and this campaign is one such”.

CSR/CORPORATE

Snapdeal Ties Up with The National Book Trust

Uber Unveils Green Index on World Environment Day

Snapdeal Sunshine, a CSR initiative run by Snapdeal has announced the launch of ‘HarHaathEkKitaab’ campaign, in partnership with The National Book Trust (NBT). The campaign is a nationwide online books donation drive especially targeting underprivileged children and aims at inculcating a reading habit among them. Snapdeal’s partnership with the NBT is the first time the latter has come on-board an e-commerce platform.

Uber has released a Green Index on World Environment Day. The launch of uberPOOL across seven cities in India, helped save 3449000 litres of fuel, 73381000 kms travelled, curbing 8122000 kg CO2 emissions in India.

According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the average occupancy of a car is just 28%. Meaning, while a car can carry 4 people, it only carries 1.15 persons. With an aim to

Snapdeal will encourage its customers to buy and donate books published by the National Book Trust India. People can choose to donate anywhere between 10 to 2000 books by simply visiting https://www.snapdeal.com/offers/har-haath-ek-kitaab and clicking on the donation plan one prefers. NBT will dispatch books to NGOs across India working towards educating India’s underprivileged children including Teach for India, Goonj, Bhumi, Aarti, Idea, Impact, 17000 ft, Books For All, Turnstone Global, Guzarish, Educate Girls, PYDS, Pratham, Vimukti Sansthan, Deepalaya, Shikshanandan and the Indian Dreams Foundation.

make every ride a shared one and increase the adoption of public transportation through first and last mile connectivity, Uber aims to significantly reduce carbon footprint in India.

Shweta Rajpal Kohli, Head of Policy, Uber India said, “The growing adoption of uberPOOL across the country is very encouraging. The fact that millions of people are willing to share their rides gives us the confidence that we are collectively driving a positive change to reduce carbon footprint. We will be able to fight against rising congestion and pollution in our cities through our partnerships with public transit systems coupled with our effort to use private cars for the public good in the future.”

Wonder Cement launches new facility at Nimbahera

32 families to get electricity connectivity

Wonder Cement has added one more facility for the resident of Nimbahera by contributing for the construction of ‘Wonder Cement Town Hall’.

A cheque of Rs. 2.39 crore was handed over by Sh. S. M. Joshi (President – Works) and Sh. Nitin Jain (AVP – Commercial) to Sh. Shrichand Kriplani (Hon’ble Minister, UDH & LSG and Chairman, RUDSICO) and Dr. Manjit Singh (Principal Secretary, LSG VC & CEO, RUDSICO) in a programme organized by Nagar Palika – Nimbahera.

This is a much needed facility for the residents of Nimbahera.

Many cultural programme, meetings, conference, seminar etc. programme will be organised. It is a first of its kind project for the town with all modern facilities with equipment, big garden with ample of parking space etc. The total cost of the project is Rs. 4.79 crore. WCL has given its 50% share under Shahari Jan Sahbhagita Scheme of Rajasthan Govt.

Jindal Steel & Power Barbil unit has installed an HT and LT power line, equipped with a 25KVA S/S (11/0.4 KV) transformer, to electrify Gate Sahi in Deojhar GP of Keonjhar District.

The Electrification work has been inaugurated by G Suresha, EVP & Unit Head JSPL-Barbil in presence of Mangal Munda, Sarpanch, Deojhar GP & other dignitaries.

The Electrification work will benefit about 200 people of the village, dominated

by Tribal Families.

“We are happy to mention that now our children will get enough time for their studies in the evening and we thank JSPL, Barbil for supporting us getting the facility,” said Kadambini Naik, resident of Deojhar, on the occasion.

Addressing a gathering of villagers, G Suresha, EVP & Unit Head said, “At JSPL, we believe in growing with the community and improving quality of life of people in our periphery areas.

This electrification work will definitely enhance living conditions of people in Deojhar village”. On the occasion an awareness session on safe and proper use of electricity was organised for the villagers.

www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 13

NEWS/Technology

SAP India signs MoU with Ministry of MSMEs

On the occasion of International Day for MSMEs, SAP SE has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to jointly launch Bharat ERP – an exclusive program to empower MSMEs with next-gen technology to fuel their digital journey. The MoU was signed in the presence of Shri Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India.

As a part of the MoU, SAP India and the Ministry of MSMEs will collaborate to enable MSMEs become future-ready by helping them focus on innovation and business profitability.

The initiative aims to digitally enable nearly 30,000 MSMEs and youth in the next three years as the program expands.

Through this program, MSMEs will be able to access cutting edge, next generation technology from SAP that can streamline and integrate key processes such as financial, sales, inventory, and more – with a single business software.

“As per a recent report commissioned by SAP, SMEs across the world who have embraced digital technologies have shown faster growth than companies that have not,” said Luis Murguia, Senior Vice President and General Manager, SAP Business One. “As India prepares for a more robust trade environment, MSMEs will need a digital platform and the skillsets to help them gain scale, be more competitive and leverage new technological tools to compete in the digital economy.”

Thales Foundation and President of India launches GeoHazards Society launch mobile app ‘Selfie with School Safety Mobile Application Daughter’

Thales Foundation and GeoHazards Society (GHS) have announced the nationwide launch of a first-of-its-kind School Safety Mobile Application that will allow school administrators to ‘write’ a School Disaster Management Plan (SDMP).

The pilot testing of the application took place in schools in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, Patna in Bihar and Aizawl in Mizoram before the formal launch.

This mobile application has been developed as part of the project undertaken

by GHS with the support from the Thales Foundation – an initiative that aims to draw on Thales’s innovative flair and technological expertise to benefit society in the areas of education and humanitarian crises. It focused on various aspects of school safety in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district. GHS conducted staff preparedness training programmes, students training programmes, developed school disaster preparedness plans and tested these plans with preparedness drills.

14 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee launched a mobile Application ‘Selfie with Daughter’ at Rashtrapati Bhavan (June 9, 2017). The President congratulated Shri Sunil Jaglan on the launch of the mobile-app ‘Selfie-with-Daughter’.

Speaking on the occasion he said that Shri Jaglan’s efforts in initiating this campaign in Haryana are praiseworthy. “‘Selfiewith-Daughter’ has become a world-wide movement against female foeticide and sex selection. This would eventually help in dealing with the problems arising out of gender imbalance. The App is an innovative concept and an act of gentle persuasion.”

The President urged people to take photographs with their daughters and upload on the App to make the campaign a success.

The ‘Selfie with Daughter’ campaign was started by Shri Sunil Jaglan in June 2015 in village Bibipur, Jind, Haryana. A former Sarpanch, Shri Jaglan has been working in the field of women empowerment and village development.

NEWS/Business

Niti Aayog pushes for sale of Air India, Tata Group may buy stake

Sebi eases norms for lenders buying stake in stressed firms

Niti Aayog has recommended strategic disinvestment of loss-making Air India so that the Centre does not have to sink in more money into the airline and can allocate more funds for health and education.

The report completes the groundwork for the Centre to initiate the sale of the airline and comes in the wake of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley stating on June 1 that he favoured selling Air India, although a formal decision on the sale has not been taken.

In another development, The Tata group, which founded India’s first commercial airline, Air India, which was later nationalised, is believed to be considering buying a stake in the debt-laden national carrier in partnership with Singapore Airlines, a person familiar with the matter said.

Lending a helping hand to the government and the RBI's move to reduce the huge pile of bad loans, markets regulator Sebi made it easier for lenders to buy stakes in distressed listed companies by exempting such buyers from making open offers to shareholders of the troubled companies.

Under normal circumstances, any lender buying more than 25% stake in a company has to compulsorily make an open offer to the rest of the shareholders.

Earlier, only banks and financial institutions were exempted from such open offers.

The Sebi decision came within a week of the government and the RBI forwarding a list of 12 companies to banks to start insolvency proceedings under the Bankruptcy Code. Sebi's relaxed norms will apply to listed companies which go under this code. The regulator has also eased norms for preferential issue to lenders which are involved in restructuring of distressed companies under RBI guidelines.

Retailers need to file single GST return every month: Govt

RCom to monetise real estate assets to clear off debt

Days before the rollout of the landmark GST, the government has sought to dispel the notion that the new tax regime will be cumbersome and compliance- heavy, saying taxpayers need to file only one return every month, similar to what they presently do.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said the notion retailers

will have to file three returns every month is unfounded and retailers or B2C dealers need not give invoice wise details every month.

"Eighty per cent of the businesses will have to simply file total turnover detail in return because they are all B2C dealers or retailers. Return filing is very easy, people need not worry about filing process, it is very transparent and is done by machine," Adhia said.

Reliance Communications has started the process to monetise its real estate assets in Delhi and Mumbai as part of its efforts to pare its Rs 45,000-crore debt.

Following the development, shares of Reliance Communications surged 4.56 per cent to Rs 20.65 on BSE. For the financial year ended March 31, 2017, the company reported net loss of Rs 1,283 crores.

T h e company is targeting an overall 80 per cent reduction in its debt

by December, two people aware of the developments said.

Reliance Communications is looking to raise nearly Rs 11,000 crore by monetising prime properties in Mumbai and Delhi. This, combined with the Rs 25,000 crore that it expects to garner from the wireless business merger with Aircel and the tower business stake sale to Canada’s Brookfield, will be used to cut its debt down to roughly Rs 9,000 crore by the year-end.

www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 15

COVER STORY

US-India Strategic Partnership sees a new high US-India partnership gets a fillip with the recent visit of PM Narendra Modi to the country. The maiden meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Donald Trump was a success, according to experts The objective behind Modi’s fourth visit to the United States along with the group of delegates was to establish a personal equation with US President Donald Trump. Five months in his office and Trump has made it clear that no international relationship can be taken for granted, and it will be difficult to predict which American foreign policy principles will be adhered to in the new administration.

But the result of the bilateral discussions however seems to be positive with the PM saying there was a perfect meeting of minds between the two.

The two leaders spent a little over four hours, which also happened to be Trump’s first working dinner with a Head of State and discussed a wide range of issues including trade and terrorism and strengthening energy strategies.

Some of the highlights from the bilateral discussions Stand on Pakistan

According to a joint statement released, the two world leaders called on Pakistan to ensure that its territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries. They further called on Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai, Pathankot, and other cross-border terrorist attacks perpetrated

by Pakistan-based groups.

Combat global Terrorism together

Stressing that terrorism was a “global scourge that must be fought and terrorist safe havens rooted out in every part of the world,” Trump and Modi said that they were “committed to strengthening cooperation against terrorist threats from groups including al-Qaeda, ISIS, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, 16 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

D-Company, and their affiliates. India appreciated the United States designation of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen leader as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist as evidence of the commitment of the United States to end terror in all its forms.

Sale of 22 Guardian unmanned aerial systems

Sources said that the US has cleared the sale of 22 unmanned Guardian drones to India, with the deal being termed as a “game changer”. Estimated to be worth $2-3 billion, the deal has been approved by the State Department.

Maritime security and data sharing

The two leaders also touched on the topic of maritime security. Modi and Trump announced their intention to ‘build on the implementation of the “White Shipping” data sharing arrangement. The agreement allows countries to share data on maritime traffic and domain awareness.

The two countries have earlier signed the White Shipping Agreement (WSA) as it establishes an information network protocol that allows the navies of both countries to exchange information about ships in their oceanic territories.

Noting the importance of the upcoming MALABAR naval exercise, the leaders determined to expand their engagements on shared maritime objectives and to explore new exercises.

Flow of LNG to India from US

According to Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US will start flowing to India from next year. In the next coming years, the Indo-US LNG trade is expected to be in excess of $40 billion.

Discussing North Korea

The two leaders touched on the topic of North Korea and condemned the country’s “continued provocations”.

They emphasised that North Korea’s “destabilising pursuit of nuclear and ballistic missile programs poses a grave threat to regional security and global peace.” “The leaders pledged to work together to counter the weapons of mass destruction programs, including holding accountable all parties that support these programs”, read the statement.

Ivanka to lead US delegation to GES

The President’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, will lead the US delegation to Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) later this year. GES is a key foreign policy initiative of former President Barack Obama to bring together global entrepreneurs and innovators, and India will be hosting its next edition.

Meeting with top American CEOs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also met top American CEOs of global giants, including Apple, Microsoft and Google on issues ranging from visas, investment and job creation occupying the centre stage.

The CEOs round table was attended

by Apple chief Tim Cook, Walmart head Doug McMillon, Caterpillar’s Jim Umpleby, Google head Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. India's growth is a win-win situation for India and US, and companies have a great opportunity to contribute to that, Modi told the CEOs. The response from the CEOs was positive, with many signalling continued investment in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump also addressed reporters at a joint press briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House.

PM Narendra Modi’s speech “My visit and our talks today will mark a very important page in the history of the collaboration and cooperation between our two nations. The talks between his Excellency, President Trump, and myself today have been extremely important from all points of view, for several reasons: Because they were based on mutual trust; because of the convergence and similarities they revealed in our values, and our priorities, and in our concerns and interests; because they focused on the highest levels of achievement in our cooperation, and mutual support, and partnership; because our two countries are global engines of growth; because the all-around or comprehensive economic growth and joint progress of both countries and both societies is the main objective for both the President and myself, and will remain so; because the top priority for both President Trump and myself is to protect our society from global challenges like terrorism; and because our aim is the strengthening of India and the USA — two great democracies in the world — friends. Our robust strategic partnership is such that it touches upon almost all areas of human endeavor. In our conversation today, President Trump and I have discussed all dimensions of India-US relations at length.

In this relationship, in both countries, increased productivity, growth, job creation, and breakthrough technologies — an engagement towards all these are, and will remain, strong drivers of our cooperation, and will give further momentum to our relationship. We consider the USA as our primary partner for India’s social and economic transformation in all our flagship programs and schemes. I am sure that the convergence between my vision for a “new India and President Trump’s vision for “making America great again” will add new dimensions to our cooperation."

President Donald Trump’s speech “It’s a great honour to welcome the leader of the world’s largest democracy to the White House. This summer, India will celebrate the 70th anniversary of its independence, and on behalf of the United States, I want to congratulate the Indian people on this magnificent milestone in the life of your very, very incredible nation. During my campaign, I pledged that if elected, India would have a true friend in the White House. And that is now exactly what you have — a true friend. The friendship between the United States and India is built on shared values, including our shared commitment to democracy. Not many people know it, but both American and the Indian constitutions begin with the same three very beautiful words: We the people.

The Prime Minister and I both understand the crucial importance of these words, which helps to form the foundation of cooperation between our two countries. Relations between countries are strongest when they are devoted to the interests of the people we serve. And after our meetings today, I will say that the relationship between India and the United States has never been stronger, has never been better. I am proud to announce to the media, to the American people, and to the Indian people, that Prime Minister Modi and I are world leaders in social media — we are believers — giving the citizens of our countries the opportunity to hear directly from their elected officials, and for us to hear directly from them. I guess it’s worked very well in both cases.

I look forward to working with you, Mr. Prime Minister, to create jobs in our countries, to grow our economies, and to create a trading relationship that is fair and reciprocal. It is important that barriers be removed to the export of US goods into your markets, and that we reduce our trade deficit with your country." www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 17

CSR/PSU

GAIL sets up Free Car Pollution Check-Up Camps

ONGC felicitates its victorious Everest Expedition Team

As a part of its commitment to change the air quality level with collective societal effort, GAIL (India) Limited has hosted free car pollution check-up camp on the occasion of World Environment Day. This further reinforces the organisation’s commitment towards taking positive action to keep environmental degradation in check.

Recent reports show that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has marked the air quality for both Delhi and Gurgaon as poor and the Air Quality Index (AQI) for Particulate Matter (PM) is alarmingly higher than the safe levels here. In light of this, taking necessary measures to check air quality across both Delhi and Gurgaon are of critical importance. GAIL’s initiative of setting up these camps is aligned to the immediate need of the hour.

These camps, set up at the Fuel Station next to Safdarjung Airport at Jor Bagh Station and HP Fuel Pump next to Hotel Ashoka, checked and serviced cars, enabling their emissions to be within the permissible levels. GAIL is committed to enabling a cleaner greener India and ensuring an ecological balance.

The ONGC management including CMD D.K. Sarraf; Director (HR) D.D. Misra; Director (Offshore) T.K. Sengupta; Director (Exploration) A.K. Dwivedi; Director (Finance) A.K. Srinivasan; ED Chief Security D.C. Srivastava welcomed the victorious Everest Expedition Team by presenting them plaque and a plant in New Delhi.

CMD D.K. Sarraf, while speaking about the importance of this mission to ONGC and its employees, remarked that this mission proves that adventure is part of ONGC’s DNA and that dreams do come true with perseverance and hard work.

He further added, “We all learn a lot of management lessons from how the team of young amateurs could scale the highest peak on the planet. Dreaming is very important and this dream became a reality due to grit of team members, blessings of family and support system as every ONGCian hoped for their successful return.”

He congratulated the Team leader and support provided

by IMF, HR and Coordination teams to make this mission a resounding success.

HAL dedicates Kumudvathi River Project to the Villagers

IGL Sponsored Students qualify JEE Advanced Examination

T. Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL handed-over the Kumudvathi River Rejuvenation projects to village panchayats of Bengaluru rural district. “This was implemented as part of CSR activities of 2016-17 for Teppadabeguru mini water shed benefiting 35 villages. These projects will help in reviving dried natural water resources and the natural habitat of the region,” he said.

The rejuvenation work at Teppadabeguru included planting of saplings (5000), recharging of wells (79) and borewells (9), creation of water pools (15) and boulder checks (79). In all, in the past three years, HAL planted 20,000 saplings, built 50 water pools, recharged 36 borewells and 281 wells besides carryingout boulder-checks (281) in the region that covers Tavarekere, Thyamagondlu, Mondigere, Teppadabeguru mini-watersheds.

HAL as part of its CSR has been sponsoring rejuvenation work of Mini Watersheds through International Association of Human Values (IAHV). Rejuvenation helps in revival of defunct borewells and open wells, protect drinking water sources, leads to agro-horticulture developments, increases natural vegetation leading to eco-hydrological conservation.

18 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

11 students belonging to economically weaker sections of the society sponsored by Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) under its CSR programme, have qualified JEE Advanced examination 2017 as per the results declared.

IGL had sponsored a total of 18 students who are meritorious but lack the means to obtain coaching for admission to prestigious IITs. All 18 of IGL sponsored students had qualified JEE Main 2017 examination .These students had been provided free coaching for 10 months along with food, lodging, text books and other basic needs at Abhayanand Super -30 Delhi Centre being run by Centre for Social Responsibility and Leadership (CSRL) in Noida under the mentorship of Mr. Abhayanand, Co-founder Super -30 Patna.

Congratulating the students, E. S. Ranganathan, Managing Director, IGL said IGL has continuously been making efforts to engage with the community and will continue to do so in the future as well”.

CSR/PSU

GSL National Vendor Development Program

Goa Shipyard Limited has organized National Vendor Development Program exclusively for Micro & Small Industries owned by SC/ST Entrepreneurs on 16th June 2017 with an aim to promote increased participation of SC/ST entrepreneurs in Ship building sector.

The program saw overwhelming response with over 150 SC/ST Entrepreneurs from all over the country attending the program.

CIL enriching lives

Various CSR works undertaken by Coal India Limited were showcased in a show “Enriching Lives” at its Corporate Headquarters. This was presented by Karmyog in a special Omni DEL show.

Shri S.N. Prasad, Director – Marketing, CIL speaking on the occasion highlighted the important role that CIL plays in the lives of people by implementing its CSR initiatives even in far flung areas of India.

Padmashree Milind Kamble, Chairman - DICCI inaugurated the programme. Shekhar Mital, CMD - GSL RAdm, highlighted the present government’s commitment for promotion of MSEs and SC/ST entrepreneurship in particular. GSL at the behest of MoD has initiated various measures for ease of doing business, particularly for MSMEs.

The program highlighted how CIL is making a difference in people’s lives by investing in infrastructure, healthcare and sports. The show also screened short films on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan undertaken by CIL and also showed how CIL is empowering the underprivileged by developing their skills.

Govt to assess impact of CSR activities undertaken by PSUs

NBCC employees contribute to ‘Bharat Ke Veer Corpus’

For the first time, the NDA government is planning to conduct a study for assessing the impact of corporate social responsibility projects undertaken by various public sector firms. The study, to be carried out by the Department of Public Enterprises, will cover 134 central public sector enterprises including BHEL, BPCL, Coal India, ONGC and NTPC, among others.

It will identify the lack of initiative and implementation gaps by CPSEs in the projects and the reasons for such acts, besides tracking the status of unspent CSR funds in a year.

Based on the study's findings, a report will be prepared by the Department of Public Enterprises that will recommend measures to be taken by defaulting CPSEs for bridging the gaps.

"Under the present government, such a study is being carried out for the first time," said Seema Bahuguna, Secretary in the Department of Public Enterprises.

The report will assess the CSR practices being followed by few leading private sector companies in India and some leading overseas companies and conclude whether they can be emulated by state-run firms in India.

The Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation and Information & Broadcasting, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu handed over a cheque of Rs. 1 crore to the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh, for contribution to ‘Bharat Ke Veer Corpus’ on behalf of NBCC (India) Ltd. The contribution has been made by the employees of NBCC (India) Limited, from their Performance Related Pay for the FY2015-16, for the welfare of the family members of the Armed forces and paramilitary forces who have sacrificed their lives for the nation.

The CMD, NBCC (India) Ltd Dr. Anoop Kumar Mittal was also present during the occasion.

www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 19

MARKET WATCH

The Past, Present and Future of Handset Market I

ndia is currently the second-largest telecommunication market and has the third-highest number of Internet users in the world. Overall, mobile handsets and the smartphone segment witnessed a healthy growth of 6 per cent and 15 per cent YoY, respectively in Q1 2017, and, with the availability of 4G data, consumption on handheld devices is increasing significantly. With this, the mobile services market revenue in India is expected to touch US$37 billion in 2017.

With the government’s favourable regulatory policies, smartphone subscription in India is expected to increase four-fold to 810 million users by 2021, while the total smartphone traffic is expected to grow seventeenfold to 4.2 Exabytes (EB) per month by 2021, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report.

The Indian smartphone shipment to India was up by 15 per cent in March quarter, reaching 29 million units. The Chinese brands have taken 50 per cent of the market share, as the market recovered from the effects of demonetization in the quarter ended March 2017.

According to IDC India, China-based vendors captured 51.4-per cent share of the smartphone shipments, while the share of Indian vendors dropped from 40.5 per cent to 13.5 per cent in the same quarter year on year.

Worldwide, smartphone shipments have grown to 4.3 per cent in 1Q17, which was slightly higher than IDC's previous forecast of 3.6-per cent growth.

The data from IDC claims that a total of 347.4 million smartphones were sold in the first quarter of 2017 worldwide.

Though the market had been deemed sluggish, consumers continue to show demand for smartphones, flagships in particular.

It is true that the smartphone market is growing at a rapid pace – penetration 20 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

in the rural areas is much higher than urban areas registering a y-o-y growth.

There is also an increase in the mobile Internet users, but no mobile phone company takes the responsibility to educate on the awareness of app-based security and privacy issues are still quite low in the country. No company writes about the statutory remarks on the precautions to be taken on downloading multiple apps. According to experts, while such behaviour is understandable, such ignorance poses numerous threats to smartphone users.

The evolving landscape of cybersecurity as mobile (Android smartphone) and IoT are increasingly at the risk of attack and this will impact the growth of smartphone business globally. Smartphones were by far the most vulnerable devices, with infections that rose nearly 400 per cent in 2016.

Attacks on smartphones represented 85 per cent of all mobile device infections in the second half of the year, according to the report by Nokia.

Ransomware attacks are joining a growing list of threats to mobile phone security. Imagine turning on your smartphone to send a text and finding this threatening notice instead.

Smartphone penetration is likely to grow by four times over the next decade. With the emergence of various Chinese players having come here, there will be a downward push in the pricing of smartphones. With the rise of digital communications by e-commerce and digi payment, 70 per cent of India’s population is in the rural areas and is below the age of 45. There is very less awareness about the mobile phone security in the tier-II and tier-III cities and rural areas.

To meet the rising demand in the Indian smartphone market, Xiaomi has invested in its second manufacturing unit at Foxconn’s Sri City facility in Andhra Pradesh. With this, Xiaomi has entered to the top Five club. Indian companies, which have traditionally dominated the feature phone market,

now face challenges from the Chinese players in this segment, too. The biggest question is on how the Indian market holds the potential for Indian smartphone manufacturers. For most Indian handset makers who are facing survival challenges, the only option left is to raise funds to build local capabilities and marketing, although it may be a difficult option. All the Indian brands Micromax, Intex, Karbonn and Lava were pushed out of the top five smartphone rank by Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Lenovo. Samsung continued to retain the top spot, followed by Xiaomi, Vivo, OPPO and Lenovo. The top five brands contribute about 70 per cent of the total smartphone market. LTE is now a default feature for smartphones in India. Samsung has shipped close-to 80 million devices in the first quarter of 2017, up from 77.5 million in the previous quarter. However, Apple remains as the premium brand.

According to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service, smartphone shipments in India grew by a healthy 15 per cent annually in Q1 2017. Commenting on the findings, Karn Chauhan, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said, “India’s smartphone market is witnessing a focus shift in distribution strategy by major brands. Offline brands like OPPO, Vivo and Gionee have now started focussing on online channels as well to gain extra market share. Online only brands like Xiaomi and Motorola are moving fast into offline markets to widen their reach to the mass market, addressing consumers in the tier-II and tier-III cities.” He further added, “While the Chinese smartphone brands are adopting multiple channel strategies to maximize growth, another Chinese brands iTel is disrupting the other half of market (feature phones) by climbing to the number two overall mobile phone brand for the first time. iTel, which is also the number one mobile phone brand in Africa, is now leveraging its successful low-cost strategy, effective distribution and scale to grow in the Indian market.”

The BBK Electronics-owned both the Chinese handset brands Vivo and Oppo are relying heavily on sports to penetrate into their targeted market –

Catch 11

Owning Apple iPhone is a matter of pride and possession, Apple accounted for 83 per cent of the total smartphone industry profit share. According to the report, Apple’s smartphone division garnered an operating profit of $10.18 billion in Q1 2017. This is almost 83.4 per cent of the $12.21-billion total smartphone operating profits globally! the Indian youth. “Vivo with sports has been able to penetrate into its targeted segment, which is youth, in India,” says Vivek Zhang, Chief Marketing Officer, Vivo India. The companies were founded separately and compete against each other.

Certain aggressive strategies done by the mobile phone vendors like Gionee play with "Battery and Selfie", OPPO sells on "Selfie expert" and Vivo focusses on "camera and music".

Mobile manufacturers to continue to get incentives, Government assures industry

There is a growing challenge for the local manufacturing capabilities. Government has to come out with policies for the local manufactures, on how could they give them a price edge and provide opportunities to bounce back. The Indian brands are expanding to overseas markets for growth as they are losing their footing in the home market, as per Counterpoint Research

The GST Council has fixed the tax rate on handsets at 12 per cent, which will raise the prices of handsets by 4–5 per cent. It will have an impact on domestic manufacturing and the Government will need to continue incentives for locally manufactured mobile phones to further push the domestic manufacturing ecosystem. An assurance has been given by the Government to the handset industry that making phones in India will continue to be incentivized even under the Goods and Services Tax regime.

According to Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, IT and Telecom, “The Ministry is pushing hard to come out for imposing a basic customs duty (BCD) on top of GST rate on imported devices to ensure that making phones locally would continue to be cheaper for companies compared with imports.

Secondly, as per the Indian Cellular Association (ICA), 17.5 crore handset units valued at Rs.90,000 crore were produced locally in 2016-17, compared with 11 crore handsets worth Rs.54,000 crore in the previous year. The growth is expected to accelerate if the incentives continue. As much as 80 per cent of the phones sold in India during the JanuaryMarch quarter were locally made, as per Counterpoint Research. n www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 21

SPO CORPORATE

‘Indus Tower’s sustainability journey had started since inception’ Indus Towers is well positioned to play a key role in transforming the telecommunication sector and contributing towards its sustainable development agenda. The company has come a long way from being a start-up to becoming one of India’s largest telecom tower companies. Manoj Kumar Singh, Chief of Technology, Regulatory Affairs & Sustainability - Indus Towers in a chat with SPO India recounts why and how the company considers itself as an enabler and catalyst for farreaching change We continuously work on transforming our customers experience with Indus. We are always geared up in embracing data explosion and technological advancement where we keep on exploring our readiness on every technological development including digital infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT), fuel cells, drones to deliver the future-ready solutions to our Customers. Be it the Smart Cities Mission, Digital India – Indus is prepared to stay ahead of the curve.

What is the Sustainability agenda of Indus Towers for 2017 and what would be the main focus this year?

The sustainability agenda for Indus Towers has been designed to include technology and innovation as the fundamental elements that will guide the company’s transformational journey. Over the last few years and going forward, technology has penetrated through each and every function at Indus, driving efficiency, performance improvement and sustainable outcomes. Innovation has also helped us continue our journey towards our endeavour to reduce diesel consumption at tower sites and progressively increasing the number of Green Sites. This has been a significant move in shifting from diesel to grid and other forms of energy, eventually helping in deploying innovative solutions for lowering the carbon footprint. In a nutshell, sustainability to Indus means making operations greener and moving towards zero diesel; providing innovative, efficient and environment friendly solutions to customers; working towards creating even greater impact through our CSR initiatives and intend to create thriving communities around our tower operations;minimizing waste and fostering a zero harm safety culture.

How do you try to reflect the sustainability efforts put in by Indus Towers in the products and solutions you introduce?

Technology and Innovation are fundamental to Indus’ business and help us achieve enhanced uptime, efficient service, smart solutions, and low operational costs for our customers. We always try to introduce best-in-class innovative products and solutions by blending world22 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

What has been your biggest success in sustainability and how would you like to take this legacy forward?

class technology, business requirements, aesthetics, environmental and sustainability considerations.

Building on our philosophy of innovation and sustainability, we have evolved a wide variety of design concepts around aesthetic towers catering to the needs of ground-based and rooftop installations. Our solution portfolio comprises of various options such as camouflaged monopoles with day and night views, street light cum telecom poles, palm trees, rooftop grills, and water tanks, aesthetic small cells solutions for bus shelters, public restrooms, footover bridges, flyovers and metro pillars.

These solutions are designed to suit site deployment in public places, gardens, parks, municipal areas, residential and commercial complexes, metro stations, shopping complexes, malls, SEZs, highways, institutional areas, etc. These aesthetic sites have approximately 80-90% lower footprint and most sites ensure diesel free power back-up.

Since the inception of our sustainability journey, we are continuously switching the power source from diesel to grid electricity and making the sites diesel free. In the journey towards providing green telecommunication, this year, we achieved the milestone of crossing 50,000 diesel-free sites across 15 telecom circles by utilising non-polluting backup sources of energy and multiple energy efficiency measures.

How can your employees, stakeholders and most importantly the customers benefit or drive value from your sustainability agenda?

We are a driven entrepreneurial and innovative organisation committed towards growing our business in a sustainable manner, while remaining accountable to all our stakeholders. Our ExCITE (Excellence, Customer, Integrity, Teamwork, Environment) values define the way we work and the way we maintain relationships with all our stakeholders.

Our values ensure that we deliver best-in class, reliable and high quality services to

our customers, conduct our business with utmost integrity, encourage innovation and collaboration across functions, ultimately leading to our endeavour towards protecting the environment, and being socially responsible. All our initiatives are in line with our core value of ‘Putting India First’.

keep enhancing our safety norms through a variety of customised initiatives with our Employees and Partners. As we continue to grow as an organisation, our responsibility towards the society and its communities grows manifold.

What are the challenges and risks in business sustainability?

In the Indian context, do you see sustainability as an important agenda in the businesses running here?

Significant increase in mobile data usage and the advent of high-speed networks exerts tremendous load on power consumption leading to higher costs for our customers and greater environmental impact. So, the need to consistently work towards energy management prevails.

We have also felt that setting up passive telecom infrastructure entails different procedures and clearances/permits from multiple stakeholders, lack of uniform policy, RoWrule policies, erratic power cuts etc. leads to slower turn around for installation of new tower sites.

While keeping pace with fast network rollouts for the telecom operators, we feel the need to work towards skill upgradation and deploying field staff who effectively adopt new technologies to contribute towards safer environment and engage with customers and landlords to provide high-quality services. We use the ‘Hierarchy of controls’ to reduce risk constantly and

With the global agenda being set for 2030 by the adoption of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the signing of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the enormous local thrust on sustainability by the Government of India through its numerous schemes like Swach Bharat Mission, Smart Cities, Digital India etc., we can only be excited by what lies ahead. Being India’s largest telecom tower Company, Indus is set to contribute meaningfully to both the global and Indian development agenda through our business and our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. “Connecting Everyone and Everything to a Better Future” was launched as the purpose of the telecom industry at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016 in Barcelona and this sums up the role we and our peers can and will play in achieving the sustainable development goals.

In many Indian organisations,

Environment-friendly initiatives at Indus • Usage of Solar Cooling Units (SCUs) and Simple Power Panels (SPSs) at sites - An SCU is a smart and innovative solution that runs independent of power from a grid, battery or diesel and is charged with solar energy. It also uses natural air as its coolant, with zero cost of cooling. Through this, Indus has been able to save 25-30% energy consumption.

• Replacing air-conditioning with Free Cooling Units (FCUs) and Natural Cooling Units (NCUs) - Another accomplishment towards reducing significant power consumption for Indus, which helps it to maximise the conversion of Indoor (ID) sites to Outdoor (OD) sites as a part of its SHUT AC initiative.

• Partnering with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) for the Lighting a Billion Lives Program (LaBL) - To facilitate clean energy access and delivery of last mile energy services for basic and productive use, Indus has partnered with TERI. As part of the association, it is providing solar lanterns to households and sponsoring rural entrepreneurship. The LaBL programmes in villages are managed by women and through this program, Indus Towers & TERI support the community through Energy Enterprises (EEs) at the village level which are owned and operated by independent rural entrepreneurs.

“From a start-up to becoming India’s largest telecom tower company – we have always seen ourselves as an organisation whose success directly contributes to nationbuilding by connecting people.

We will continue to view our business operations through the lens of sustainability in whatever we do.” strategy and sustainability work in two different silos, as sustainability is seen as a peripheral issue. A business strategy with sustainability as a goal will definitely create a more sustainable business. In a longer run, challenging the current mindsets and accelerating the current environmental and social trends will help the companies and governments address the world’s biggest social and environmental issues.

What is your roadmap in terms of creating a positive impact on both society and environment?

Going forth, our concerted efforts will reflect in our unfaltering pursuit of reducing our diesel consumption to deliver even greater cost efficiencies to our customers and reduce our environmental footprint. Technology and Innovation will continue be at the heart of everything we do. We further intend to scale up our community initiatives and leverage the spirit and commitment of our employees to drive the next level of employee engagement through volunteering.

Will individual companies put themselves at risk if they follow sustainable practices and their competitors don’t?Corporates might foresee short-term gains by not running business operations sustainably, but in the longer run, it cannot be the right way to build an ecosystem. Environment is and continues to be an integral part of the network. If you look at our business goals and our sustainability vision, you will see that they are completely integrated.

In times to come, sustainability will be a fundamental pillar of growth for any company operating and contributing to the world economy. We must realize our responsibility to give back to the communities we operate in. n www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 23

SPOI CSR AWARDS

SPOI CSR Person of the Year Award In today’s world, though leadership and CSR are increasingly talked about separately, in reality they both go hand in hand. Most of the traits that are usually associated with a leader can be seen going with CSR too.

Companies who make the most progress towards sustainable practices have leaders who believe that the right thing to do is good for business. However, solving sustainability problems require working across functions. This can only happen if the senior team have collaborative leadership styles. Also there are challenges involved with influencing decision makers and getting sustainability strategy into the picture.

Realizing that there is a need of CSR leaders who with their collaborative leadership styles can work in a culture to drive sustainability and good governance, SPO India as one of its many initiatives chose to recognize and honour 5 charismatic CSR Leaders from the industry. These leaders, who have been awarded with the India CSR Person of the Year Award at the CSR Summit and Leadership Awards 2017 held in New Delhi last month, have made outstanding contributions to the society and proved themselves as strong leaders driven by commitment and passion in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility.

24 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

The Leaders were judged on the parameters of – • Having made a positive impact on the CSR sector • Served 15 years, or more of sustained service to the CSR • Having earned recognition by other industry, training, education or employer groups • Having demonstrated, over an extended period his/her contribution which has included either research, achievement, professional leadership and service to the CSR community The CSR Leaders recognized are – • Shrikant Sinha, CEO - NASSCOM Foundation • Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder & Executive Trustee – Smile Foundation • Mathew Cherian, CEO, HelpAge India • Meenakshi Batra, Chief Executive - Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India • D R Sarin, CMD – ALIMCO

‘We look into changing the lives of beneficiaries through our projects’ Shrikant Sinha, CEO - NASSCOM Foundation in a chat with SPO India shares how the organization has been working towards impacting the lives of its beneficiaries by skilling them and making them digitally literate to bring them closer to today’s digital society -

How do you empower the corporate in the country?

NASSCOM Foundation has been running various programs supporting the beneficiaries on the ground in terms of digital literacy, skilling the 1st generation of graduates, working with persons with disabilities, ensuring that new technologies can be implemented for large scale fuel innovation based projects across India as well as working in the public lively space. NASSCOM foundation is a platform where on one side we have the government, the corporate we work with, the advocacy part of it and on the other side we have the NGOs. NASSCOM foundation is able to offer to the corporate the programmes, implementation partners ensuring that the money they are wanting to spend on CSR is able to reach the right beneficiaries by providing them right kind of inputs with maximum social return on investment. ROI is calculated by looking at the impact itself. For instance, we have various examples for a project like digital literacy. Today we are close to 150 digital literacy centres across India where we are training people who are digitally illiterate so that they become digitally literate and take advantage of the internet. The impact here is measured in terms of such beneficiary actually talking about how life has changed.

Of course we as part of this digital literacy talk about paying bills online

and applying for your ration card and so on. But that’s not where the impact is; rather we look at how the lives of people are being changed. In the skills area again, we look at 1st generation graduates, train them at no cost and then conduct job fairs for them so that they get employed by the industry.

The entire activity is funded through the corporate CSR of various corporate. We work with CSE and co-created the curriculum along with them and are also working together on various “PMG DISHA PROGRAM” going ahead.

When is you thought on the awareness of cyber security?

Cyber security is a very vast field and is an important part and it’s been covered in a portion where the do’s and don’ts are been discussed. Of course we cannot go in the depth of the entire thing because then the duration of the program goes beyond 20 hours, but at least the initial do’s and don’ts are been covered as per the fact itself.

Have there been any efforts on the part of the government to tackle cyber threats?

We were privileged because in NASSCOM event itself the prime minister spoke about the Rakht Vihin Yudh or the blood less terrorism which is cyber terrorism and he encouraged India to show the way and say that yes

we will create cyber security experts.

In fact NASSCOM foundation along with Symantec has been working on a program similar to it, where we have ensured that anyone who does a program on cyber security women would be given a scholarship and thousand such women would be given scholarships, once they become cyber security specialist. So such initiatives are already been run by the some of the corporate to ensure that the number of cyber security specialists in India increases.

Is there any exclusive tie-up with NASSCOM foundation for training the cyber security professional?

We are ready to work with anyone because the need is such huge. For instance if I talk about child protection online, with more and more phones being available, more and more internet being available, the vulnerability of our children online is on the rise. And that’s where you know lot of efforts need to be done to ensure that our future generation is protected and that our children don’t get exposed to material which they should not be doing.

And that’s where we are working along with NCPRC and UNICEF etc.

NASSCOM foundation is looking at corporate partners who can actually scale up and launch programs across India, educating people on the ground.

www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 25

SPOI CSR AWARDS

‘The present government is looking at empowering the disability section’ D R Sarin, CMD – ALIMCO in a chat with SPO India talks about how the current government is working towards revolutionizing the CSR scenario in the country by making it mandatory under Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 and how by providing the word DIVYANG to the disabled section of the society, the honorable PM is doing his best to uplift them -

How does ALIMCO see CSR as an opportunity?

In a country like India, where we have 2.68 crore disabled people as per census 2011, the government is doing utmost to cater to this segment of people. I strongly feel that the initiative of the government and provision of funds are quite insufficient and inadequate. Here the corporate bodies have to come forward and invest in the upliftment and the empowerment of people with disabilities. We are here because we are mobile; the first and paramount reasons to invest in CSR are to make people mobile. Once the people are mobile, they will become productive by providing aids and devices. So ALIMCO is funded directly by the government of India through its Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase (ADIP) Program, but in order to cater to more people we should have these CSR initiatives to be taken. The best thing is that the government has now made CSR mandatory under Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 and this we find an opportunity to serve these people.

What are the initiatives ALIMCO has taken across the country for the disabled people?

ALIMCO is a major implementing agency for government programs for providing aids and assisting devices, but as far as CSR is concerned, we have taken last year an initiative to provide 26 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

cochlear implant to children with hearing impairment. In our country there are 35,000 children born with deformation.

But now we rehabilitate such people with the intervention of new implants by which we can eradicate the disability by providing cochlear implants to children below the age of 6 years. Last year we took up a very ambitious program by approaching various corporate bodies including our public sector undertaking. The public sector has come and we are able to mobilize around 250 cochlear implants, where one cockier implant surgery costs around 6 lakh.

Can you brief about the initiatives?

The present government in the center as well as the government in various states has now taken up disability as a vulnerable section of the society, where government has to intervene and support them. Our present government in the center is very pressed on providing need to these kinds of people. The honorable prime minister has done great services by providing these people with the word DIVYANG, instead of disability and he himself presented among the disabled people in 3 mega camps - one organized in Varanasi, other in Navsari and another one in Baroda.

He is likely to be presenting one of the campaigns in Rajkot very soon on 29th of this month. We are in the process of preparing to attend the program. That shows the commitment of the honorable prime minister at that level about this section of the society. Over a period of 3 years, the budget under the ADIP scheme for providing aids and assisting devices have been made triple from 50cr to 250 cr.

Every year it has been increasing.

How has been your journey in the CSR field and what is your vision?

CSR is going to make a very big difference in time to come. As per the estimate around 18,000cr will be available among the corporate body in a year which is to be invested into CSR. But the problem here is corporate world is searching for partners who are reliable and they are little apprehensive about going to NGOs as they don’t know the liability of such NGOs. Some of the NGOs are doing wonderful job, but they still have some apprehensions. As far as funds are concerned, there are 18,000cr, available and I think this is the biggest opportunity and a game changer particularly for the social sector where the funds are not coming very easily. Again CSR funding with becoming mandatory will be a game changer with times to come.

What is the message you want to communicate to the corporate world?

CSR has become mandatory and everybody has to invest money. I think the Institute of Corporate Affairs has done a tremendous job in devising the guidelines.

There is long list of activities under schedule 7 of the Companies Act where in certain activities CSR can be invested. But my request to the corporate world will be that we should invest into the field where the vulnerable section of society can be served. Disabilities is one such area where investment can be done through CSR and we can bring smiles to the people.

SPOI CSR AWARDS

‘CAF works for a winwin situation between NGOs and corporates’ Meenakshi Batra, Chief Executive - CAF India in a chat with SPO India shares the initiatives carried out by the Foundation, the CSR model that it designs for both its client group of corporates & NGOs and what she feels is the corporate perspective of CSR in the country -

What are the activities CAF INDIA doing in the country?

At Charity Aid Foundation, we are working with a number of corporate CSR donors to enable them to design and deliver on their CSR programs.

So our journey with them starts to understand what they want to do in the CSR field and what their budgets are. We start off by supporting them with their policy development and then we move on to program development, when we find NGOs, validate those NGOs and then also of course hand holding the entire implementation process on behalf of the corporate.

We also work on the other hand in the NGO partners; we have validated about 2100 NGOs till date across the country in almost all the states. We also understand their needs - what they are doing, what they want to do, what kind of preferences, capacity, capabilities these NGOs have and then we also try to bring on board the NGOs which are capable of delivering the projects that have been designed. We also do a lot of capacity building of the NGOs. So we help them to understand the legal requirements in the country. All our NGOs are compliant with the law of the land.

Do you have any standard model to design the program for the corporate vision?

So we understand what they want to do. If they have a geographical preference or a thematic preference, we first try to understand what they want

to do and then we relate it to the ground reality. All of us working in CAF have extensive experience in the NGO field; people here have worked in a number of thematic areas, right from old age to agriculture, sustainable agriculture and ecological issues to children abuse. So people understand the ground reality here and we are able to very well relate their preferences to reality on ground and we do undertake baseline service as well. Baseline service always helps us to look at understanding the beneficiary’s situations and also helps us monitor their progress that the projects make over the period of time later on.

outside the mainstream and are unable to benefit from the govt.’s programs. It’s a win-win situation for both, if there is a match in the interest areas between the corporates and NGOs. The govt. also schedules and basically advises and asks the corporates to contribute in the social development sector activities.

So NGOs are able to benefit from this new resource that has become available and it is meeting corporate purpose as well.

What is you take on corporates saying that CSR helps brand and positioning in the market?

It is something that needs to be shaped further, so we do look at the objectives and the outcomes that we want to achieve. In terms of the monetary calculations, very little work is happening. But of course there is definitely a lot of social impact that can be very easily demonstrated and we show that through our monitoring and reporting process to the corporate.

Someone doing really good CSR wanting to tell their story brings a positive perspective to their products in the market. Of course it is an additional add-on activity when they do branding and PR etc. But that itself is not counted as CSR, but if internally their market and communication departments understand their CSR story and are telling their customer base the impact that they are achieving for the social good that is something pretty good.

Is CSR for charity or for the business?

What is your message for your corporate customers?

It is for both, definitely it is the responsibility of corporate to support social development of the country and NGOs play a very vital role in it. Of course the government is doing it’s bit, but NGOs are also contributing quite significantly in terms of innovating, reaching out to people who remain

We want to make both our corporate and our NGO partners successful and for that we bring a lot of innovation.

We are very flexible in our approach and we really adapt to the requirements of our client groups, both NGOs and corporate. So we are committed to bringing a lot of quality to our work.

When Corporate invest in CSR, how do they calculate ROI?

www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 27

SPOI CSR AWARDS

‘Our role is to analyze what is the need of the society’ Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder & Executive Trustee – Smile Foundation in a casual chat with SPO India recounts the CSR landscape in the country, of what it had been a decade back and how it has shaped now, besides speaking about Smile’s initiatives and activities -

Please tell us something about Smile Foundation?

Smile foundation is a national level development organization reaching over 400,000 beneficiaries across 29 states and we work with more than 900 villages. We started with the concept of education as the means as well as the end, but while we work on the ground we realised that without health education cannot happen. So we started extending our thought from education to include health as a part of education.

We also realised that one the family members getting consistent economic support to the family will help the children go to school. Along with that empowering a mother to make the children go to school is also important.

So we created a concept on the basis of lifecycle approach where a child will go to school, the sibling will be working in a place, the mother will be empowered and the father will be the supporting figure. So we extended from children to the family. We are into education, healthcare, livelihood and women empowerment.

How have you structured your manpower?

We have a lot of our own employees across the country, more than 460 employees in 16 offices but more than that we actually have more than 250 community based organizations spread across the 29 states. We work through community based organisations; they are the linkages with the community on 28 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

who people trust.

We work together with them to plan the strategy and try to find out from the ground what is the need of the community. Our role as a mother organization is to see what the necessity of community is and what the gap is.

There is a government which provide the social need of a community but there is a gap, which either the community is not aware of or the government system is not able to fill the gap. We as an organization we try to model certain things and after going back, try to replicate and represent it for the right kind of policy making.

We do not have the bandwidth to solve all the problems of the society, but we can be a complementary agency to e government. (1:51-4:28)

Do you get funds from government or corporate?

Smile’s 95% funding is from corporate and though we work with government, we have not taken funds from them. Our model has been from day one corporate funded because if you analyse and should learn from the corporate world is the return based objective approach. This is the most efficient way of realising the potential of any resource and its optimum utilization.

Our idea is, if you can develop a model and can satisfy corporate, then you can satisfy any other nomenclature.

Do corporates believe contributing towards CSR?

in

Earlier CSR was not taken seriously because they were concentrating on delivery of quality products and services to the customers, which was the first priority for them. Quality was a privilege 20 years back; if any organization is giving quality then it was a privilege to the customers. But today if you analyze the situation, quality is not only the distinctive factor; for growing a business you need to think of your employee base and take care of them and so employers started thinking about their employees’ good too. However gradually the thought has come of whether you are a socially responsible organization or not, which was not there in India. But in the last one decade the idea has changed and now every company tries to do some good to the society through its products and services.

What type of you associated activities?

corporate with for

are the

We are majorly working with the multinational corporations, but a lot of Indian good brands who believe in good governance also associate with us.

Now CSR is taken by corporates as a strategic investment for the brand.

Ultimately it is the brand that sells.

Corporates like Ericson, big financial institutions, and airline companies like Indigo are some of the big brands we are associated with. A lot of IT and telecom companies are also there on our list.

www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 29

LEAD STORY

Countries globally celebrate International Yoga Day 2017 In its third year of having announced 21st June as International Yoga Day, practitioners from more than 100 countries had celebrated the day. Millions of people from around the world were seen rolling out their yoga mats to celebrate Yoga day.

The prime minister, to celebrate the occasion of International Day of Yoga, participated in a mass Yoga demonstration event in Lucknow, amidst pouring rain. Thousands of people gathered for the event at the Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan despite continuous rain in the city. Addressing the enthusiastic and vociferous gathering, the Prime Minister conveyed his greetings from Lucknow to all those joining the Yoga Day celebrations across India.

He said that today, Yoga has become a part of many people’s lives. “Yoga's popularity is high even outside India; and Yoga has connected the world with India. I am glad to see several Yoga were organised in 70 places, with a week long campaign. institutes taking shape over the last three years, and the demand To mark the occasion, the UN has released ten stamps. A for Yoga teachers is increasing. In addition to fitness, wellness is ‘Yoga Session with Yoga Masters’ was also organised at the UN important and Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness.” headquarters, where the staff of the UN and diplomats from “Many countries which do not know our language, tradition, across the world participated. or culture, are now connecting to India through yoga," Modi told a crowd of tens of thousands in the city of Origin of Yoga Day...

Lucknow, where he performed poses. “Today, “Yoga is an invaluable gift of There was once a time when yoga was there is no question mark over yoga in any India's ancient tradition. It embodies practised only by sages and monks, but it part of the world. Changes occurred with has now become a part of daily life. Not time; different societies in the world made unity of mind and body; thought and only in India but Yoga Day has now become additions to yoga and led to its improvement action; restraint and fulfillment; a worldwide phenomenon, thanks to PM as per place, time, situation and age.” harmony between man and nature; a Narendra Modi.

Urging everyone to make Yoga a part of Modi, who credits his strict yoga regime their lives, the Prime Minister said that Yoga holistic approach to health and well- for his ability to work long hours on little is about health assurance, and it is not even being. It is not about exercise but to sleep has been spearheading an initiative expensive to practice. discover the sense of oneness with to reclaim the practice as a historic part Earlier, welcoming the Prime Minister of Indian culture since his government to Lucknow, the Chief Minister of Uttar yourself, the world and the nature. By came to power in 2014. He has set up a Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, said that Yoga is a changing our lifestyle and creating ministry dedicated to promoting yoga and part of our tradition and it integrates us. consciousness, it can help in well other traditional practices and persuaded Celebrity yoga guru Baba Ramdev led a the United Nations to create a dedicated crowd of 125,000 at an open-air ground In being. Let us work towards adopting International Yoga Day in 2015. Modi in his the western city of Ahmedabad to try to set an International Yoga Day.” UN General Assembly address suggested a new Guinness World record for the largest — Narendra Modi’s speech the date of 21 June for celebrating Yoga session.

Day, as it is the longest day of the year in the at UN General Assembly Outside India, Yoga was practiced on Northern Hemisphere and shares special the Great Wall of China, and on the World significance in many parts of the world.

Heritage site of Machu Picchu in Peru, at 2,400 metres above The UNGA held informal consultations on the draft resolution sea level. In France, yoga was performed in the vicinity of the entitled "International Day of Yoga", on 14 October 2014. The Eiffel Tower. In Abu Dhabi in UAE, more than 4,000 persons draft resolution received broad support from 177 Member States participated in mass yoga. In Herat, in Afghanistan, on the India who sponsored the text and was adopted without a vote. This Afghan Friendship Dam, Salma Dam, Yoga added a new aspect initiative found support from many global leaders. to India’s friendship. In a small country like Singapore, programs 30 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

PSU OF THE YEAR

‘NTPC tries to give back to the society in whatever ways possible’ D K Sood, Regional Executive Director (DBF) & Executive Director (CSR) – NTPC Ltd. speaks to SPO India on the key CSR initiatives at NTPC and how it is helping start-up NGOs by associating in different programs for building a better society -

we seek for. That is the kind of change we are putting in our policy that whatever CSR budget we spend, it will have meaning in a way people actually benefit out of that. If we find any NGOs really serious and will meet the results as per our expectations, we are open to working with them.

What are the key activities that NTPC undertook last year?

Last year the key focus was on the toilet construction under SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAN for which we have gone for construction of around 24,000 toilets. With this vision we had also spent good amount on the education, sanitation aspects and also building infrastructure in various villages. More emphasis was also on drinking water facilities to be developed in and around NTPC plants.

What are the key areas that you have identified in FY 2017-18 and how would you be implementing those?

In this current year our focus will be mostly on the education sites, sanitation sites and also on SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAN. We will provide all these things and also we are focusing on the skill training of the people so that we can develop the skills of the youth around the stations wherever we are with the sole aim that it should be sustainable. Our idea is that whatever trainings we impart, the skill should be sustainable and the youth really gets employed in the long run and serve this country.

Have you identified any specific cities or states for implementing these projects?

NTPC is spread all across the country and therefore our strategy is that wherever we have our plants we provide them the annual budget to look after the people around the stations. We give the budget at the start of the year; the only difference this year was that we are trying to give them the budget for the activity which will be sustained for at least 2 to 3 years.

We have also started mapping it with the present level wherever the people are and

then focusing towards where will reach.

We have put our focus on the education and on the sustainability side on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, so that wherever the money is spent, it benefits the people around individually and for self sustaining purposes.

Can you tell us about key parameters for an organization to partner with NTPC for implementing their CSR projects?

Under our new policy modifications, we are planning now to rope in the NGOs who will be partnering with us in our progress in CSR. The selection of the CSR activities has also been added in the policy as criteria so that we have a meaning development of people around. We will be looking for the support of the government on prioritising the activities on CSR front. As a part of our criteria we would be rating the NGOs and whatever support they will give us and engage them accordingly.

Do you have any strategy to focus on the start-up sector within the NGO space?

We are open to work with such NGOs. The only thing is that we will have to assess the seriousness in actually doing the work and coming forward with the results which

What is your key mantra for these start-up NGO’s so that they get highlighted and get recognition from the industry?

Many NGOs are approaching us on a daily basis. After analysis of their functions of whatever they are doing, if it is matches with our policy guideline, we will seek their support.

How is NTPC taking CSR to the next level and how you would want to contribute towards development of this sector?

NTPC has a very good budget to support CSR; 2% fund comes roughly to 250cr. The only challenge is to actually execute the work, so since we are not directly involved in the execution of work we look for the support of NGOs who will support our policy guidelines in the time to come and we will try to support them.

Along with the NGOs, we sometime get requests from the state govt. too coupled with the local politicians and leaders. We look into them as well.

Any changes you believe is required in the current CSR Act? I think the present Act is definitely supporting the corporates in a big way and whatever fund is generated, if this gets channelled in a proper way and little focus, I think we can change and really support the society. n www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 31

interview

"Akshaya Patra is present in 12 states, across 28 locations feeding more than 1.6 mn children" Shridhar Venkat, Chief Executive Officer, The Akshaya Patra Foundation has over 23 years of work experience and has been associated with leading multinationals like Philips, ABB, Webex Communications (now Cisco), etc. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Management. Shridhar is an Eisenhower Fellow 2014 and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program from Wharton Business School 2014. In Akshaya Patra, Shridhar oversees all the executive functions such as resource mobilization, communication, finance, HRD, IT and operations excellence Initiative.

Speaking to Pravin Prashant, Shridhar Venkat talked about vision, automation, secret of ICAI felicitation every year and future plan with respect to feeding 5 million children by 2020. Excerpts of the interview: What kind of automation has Akshaya Patra done to feed a child for a meagre Rs950 per year?

Akshaya Patra’s Mid-Day Meal Programme is a perfect example of how technology can be leveraged for a good cause. We feed more than 1.6 million children of over 13,000 schools across 12 states. For this, we rely on our state-of-the-art centralised kitchens. Of the 28 locations in which we operate, 26 have centralised kitchens (Bengaluru has two centralised kitchens, which puts the total number of centralised units at 26). These state-of-the-art units are equipped to prepare food in huge quantities in as little as four hours. Everything is prepared at a huge scale without compromising on the quality. The rice cauldrons used in these kitchens can prepare 500 litres of rice, while roti making machines can dish out thousands of rotis at a time. Some of these units are equipped to prepare meals for 100,000 children at a time.

In two locations, i.e., Baran in Rajasthan and Nayagarh in Odisha, it is not feasible to set up centralised kitchens. So we have adopted the decentralised model. As a part of this, Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) are assigned the task of operating small kitchens, which typically cater to one or two schools in the vicinity. In this system, supervisors appointed by Akshaya Patra is monitoring the entire process. In Nayagarh, we feed 23,976 children, and in Baran, we feed 11,020 children.

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Feeding over 1.6 million children every school day is not an easy task. It is a cumulative result of innovative technology, smart engineering, and good management. We believe in leveraging technology to make the best possible use of resources and reach as many children as possible. Some of our state-of-the-art centralized kitchens are equipped to prepare meals for 100,000 children at a time in just under four hours.

Our state-of-the-art centralized kitchens have served as a blueprint for the expansion of the programme, which has helped us reach over 1.6 million children in 28 locations across 12 states of the country. The technology and experience garnered over the period of 17 years, has put us in a better position in the pursuit of our mission to reach 5 million children by 2020.

To aid us in fulfilling our mission, we also rely on IT infrastructure and automations. Use of cloud, MPLS connectivity, ERP, CRM among other tools are used for day to day operations.

ICAI has been felicitating Akshaya Patra with Gold Medal for Financial reporting for the last 5 years. What is the secret of ICAI's success?

We are of the firm belief that transparency and accountability are key to trust and reliability, and therefore, we make it a point

to ensure that we don’t fall short in this context. While the annual report, audit reports, internal and third-party evaluation reports, impact studies, etc., help us in ensuring transparency, adherence to the food safety and management system (FSMS), standardized recipes, beneficiary feedback, the use of best raw material, etc., help us in guaranteeing quality.

We comply with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Indian Accounting Standards issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

Awards for excellence in financial reporting given by institutes like ICAI and South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) and awards for food safety given by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Quality Mark add to our credibility.

Akshaya Patra vison is "No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger". How are you planning to achieve your vision?

We have come a long way since our collaboration with the state government of Karnataka for Akshara Dasoha back in 2003. We are open to the possibility of tie ups with other state governments. Our association with the states with which we have already partnered can serve as a template for future collaborations. In fact, with the support of MHRD, we are already in talks with other state governments to extend our services. In addition, we are also in the process of setting up new kitchens in the state of Uttar Pradesh where we already operate.

Our mission is to reach 5 million children every school day by 2020 with a vision of "No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger".

We have galvanised strategic partnerships with corporates for acquiring and upgrading physical assets required for setting up of new kitchens, food distribution vehicles, for procuring lab equipment, and for Go Green initiatives like the Biogas Plants, Effluent Treatment Plants, and Solar Kitchens. Corporates have also given us pro-bono consulting services. These partnerships have facilitated Akshaya Patra to maintain and amplify the scope of the operations.

We also constantly strive towards improving the service levels for our beneficiaries. We have taken certain measures to ensure timely delivery of food in all our 13,529 beneficiary schools. Akshaya Patra believes that there is always a room for improvement. Therefore, improvement strategies like kaizen, continual improvement projects and six sigma are constantly being implemented in our kitchens across the country to ensure food safety and efficiency at all times.

Operational sustainability, resource mobilization on a larger scale and creating a pool of talented individuals to drive the NGO, form a part of the strategy to energize Akshaya Patra for realizing the mission to reach 5 million children by 2020.

The rate at which we are expanding our footprint in the midday meal space, we are confident that we will be able to do so.

Slowly and surely, we will be able to eradicate classroom hunger, altogether.

Akshaya Patra Achievements • Akshaya Patra feeds more than 1.6 mn children every day to over 13,000 schools in 28 locations across 12 states.

• Of the 28 locations in which we operate, 26 have centralised kitchens and some of these units are equipped to prepare meals for 100,000 children at a time.

• The foundation also rely on IT infrastructure and automations. Use of cloud, MPLS connectivity, ERP, CRM among other tools are used for day to day operations.

• The organisation has won awards for excellence in financial reporting given by institutes like ICAI and South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA). Also won awards for food safety given by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Quality Mark.

• Focuses on improvement strategies like kaizen, continual improvement projects and six sigma are constantly being implemented in our kitchens across the country to ensure food safety and efficiency at all times.

• Akshaya Patra's mission is to reach 5 mn children by 2020 and the rate at which we are expanding our footprint, we are confident that we will be able to realise it.

Akshaya Patra is providing mid-day Meal at 13,360+ schools in 26 locations across 11 states covering 1.6 million children every day. What's your plan for FY2017-18?

Akshaya Patra is currently present in 12 states, across 28 locations feeding more than 1.6 million children every day. There are nine new kitchens in the pipeline, which are expected to add close to 0.4 million children to our beneficiaries list. We are also in talks with other state governments for possible partnerships.

What are your future plan in terms of building assets for new or existing kitchens for technology update, equipment, vessels and distribution vehicles?

As of now we cater over 1.6 million children from across 12 states. There are nine new kitchens in the pipeline, which are expected to add close to 0.4 million children to our beneficiaries list. We are in also in talks with other state governments for possible partnerships. Our mission is to reach 5 million children by 2020 and the rate at which we are expanding our footprint in the mid-day meal space, we are confident that we will be able to realise it.

We are open to the possibility of tie ups with other state governments. Our association with the states with which we have already partnered can serve as a template for future collaborations.

In fact, with the support of MHRD, we are already in talks with other state governments to extend our services. In addition, we are also in the process of setting up new kitchens in the state of Uttar Pradesh where we already operate. n Pravin Prashant pravin@spoindia.org www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 33

SPO ANALYSIS

Are you ready to migrate to GST?

The idea of “one country-one tax” was brought closer to reality when the GST Bills were passed in Rajya Sabha in August last year. If implemented well, GST will go down in India’s financial history as the largest tax overhaul that will create great opportunities for the citizens After the passage of India’s biggest tax reform, the GST Bill in the Rajya Sabha on 3rd August, 2016, the Government has rolled out its sleeves to replace all the indirect taxes levied on goods and services by the Centre and States with just 1 tax – the Goods & Services (GST) Tax. The Bill was once again introduced in the Lok Sabha for ratification of the amendments, followed by its ratification by at least 15 states.

A 21-members select committee was then formed to look into the proposed GST law. This resulted in the State and Union Territory GST laws being passed by all the states and Union Territories of India eventually, except Jammu & Kashmir, paving the way for smooth rollout of the tax from 1 July 2017. The idea of “one country-one tax” is seen becoming a reality gradually.

Talk of any industries, be it automobile or ancillary industries, FMCG, telecom, real estate, financial services, heavy machineries, exporters and importers or garment manufacturers, this taxled change is seen to be having a wide-ranging impact on their business decisions and structures in the near future.

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A peek into GST...

GST will be a game-changer in the Indian economy as it is going to develop a single Indian market and reduce the cascading effect of tax on the cost of goods and services. It will impact the Tax Structure, Tax Incidence, Tax Computation, Tax Payment, Compliance, Credit Utilization and Reporting, leading to a complete overhaul of the current indirect tax system.

GST will subsume various indirect taxes including central excise duty, services tax, additional customs duty, surcharges, state-level value added tax and Octroi. It is also estimated to boost GDP by 1-2 per cent and bring down inflation by 2 per cent over the long term.

All goods and services have been put in the slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent, with the exception of gold and precious metals, which will attract 3 per cent GST, and rough diamond at 0.25 per cent GST. Items like salt, milk, gur (jaggery), egg, curd, unpacked foodgrain and paneer, fresh vegetables, unbranded atta, maida, besan, honey, besides education and health services, have all been exempted from GST. According to the fitment of rates in various tax brackets, 81 per cent of the items will fall in/below 18 per cent slab. Only 19 per cent of the goods will attract GST above 18 per cent. While tea, sugar, coffee beans, edible oil, packed paneer, milk powder, brooms, domestic LPG and kerosene have been put in the 5 per cent bracket, hair oil, soaps, jams, soups, ice cream, capital goods and computers will attract an 18 per cent levy. Those placed in the 28 per cent slab are custard powder, shampoo, perfume, make up items, chewing gum, motorcycle, cement and consumer durables.

On speaking on how GST will be beneficial in promoting a level playing field, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Hon’ble Union

Minister of State for Finance, Government of India, said, “GST will give an overall boost to supply. With India’s biggest tax reforms of the 21st century, the country will be known for its leadership, and the year 2017 will be marked for bringing wholesome economic betterment.”

GST will also require a very high level of compliance. The introduction of the new tax reform is drawing Indian businesses into digital economy, which is further pushing traders and business owners to brace IT infrastructure, in order to fulfill the compliance needs for GST. Gone are those days when hand-written ledgers, accounting books and notepads used to rule a taxpayer’s tax rulebook. With GST, everything will now be online and will need to be updated regularly. A business will have to file 37 returns in a year (three returns per month and one annual return) per state. If it does business from offices in multiple states, the number of returns will go up accordingly.

Electronic matching of input tax credits all across India would also make the process more transparent and accountable.

For filing GST and doing business in the GST regime, the government is made it mandatory to register with the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN). Businesses will have to upload monthly supply data as well as file return forms on this portal.

The GST portal has already opened two windows for enrolments - first between November 8 to April 30 and then from June 1 to June 15. This is to allow all taxpayers enough time to migrate to the new regime.

It is also said that in future, the government will start rating companies and businesses on the basis of how well they have complied with the GST rules.

GSTN is a non-profit organization formed to create a platform for all the concerned parties i.e. stakeholders, government, taxpayers to collaborate on a single portal. The portal will be accessible to the central government which will track down every transaction done while the taxpayers will be having a vast service to return file their taxes and maintain the details.

Preparedness for GST roll-out...

Come July 1st and the new GST regime will be rolled out as planned across the country. To cope up with the transition to a completely new tax environment, corporates and business are getting ready and helping its customers and partners migrate to the new GST regime by either introducing GST ready products or organizing GST training sessions for a smooth transition.

Same goes with the different ministries in the government. For instance, in order to ensure preparedness for GST implementation, the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology has launched a dedicated Webpage for facilitating taxpayers with regard to addressing issues related to Information Technology Services & Electronics goods. Individuals, Companies and Entrepreneurs in IT & Electronics sector can visit the webpage for sector-specific information and can also file grievances in relation to implementation of GST.

For smooth roll-out of GST, 18 Sectoral Groups have also been constituted representing various sectors of the economy.

These 18 Sectoral Groups representing various sectors of the economy and containing Senior Officers of the Centre and the States is believed to timely respond to the issues and problems of their respective Sector(s), try to resolve them and highlight specific issues for the smooth transition of the respective sector to the GST regime. Concerned industry Groups/Associations or even individual industry representative(s) may approach the respective Sectoral Group officers with their problems, if any, relating to GST implementation.

The 18 sectoral Groups include Banking, Financial & Insurance, Telecom , Exports (including EOUs and SEZs), IT & ITeS, Transport & Logistics, Textiles, MSMEs (incl. job work), Oil & Gas (upstream & downstream), Gems & Jewellery, Services received and provided by Government, Food Processing, E-commerce, Big Infrastructure (Airport & Sea ports including Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul, Power Sector, Housing and Construction), Travel & Tourism, Handicrafts, Media & Entertainment, Drugs & Pharmaceuticals and Mining.

To help the people register themselves to the new GSTN portal smoothly, GSTN has also released three videos just after the opening of the portal for GST registration.

However, insiders say that 70% of India’s small, mid-sized firms are yet to start GST preparations. Due to uncertainty in the rules and compliances, these small companies had been postponing the exercise required to move towards adopting the new system.

And so...

It has been a long arduous journey before the GST Bill could see the light of the day. During its journey, the bill had been in the cauldron of political and economic debates several times, even stalling Parliament sessions on several occasions over refusal to pass it without further ratifications. The GST Council Meets for the last 6 months thrashed out solutions for a smooth rollout, but now the decks are cleared for its imposition. It is left to be seen of what its implications would be post July 1st and how soon the business houses, both large and small come to terms with this new regime and support its implementation with heart and soul. n Samrita Baruah samrita@spoindia.org www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 35

SPoi foundation

Microsoft India Launches #shedevelopstech with NASSCOM Foundation Sticking to its commitment to empower and enable girls through technology and build greater diversity and gender equality in the IT sector, Microsoft India dedicated its YouthSpark Live to #shedevelopstech to encourage young girls toexplore Computer Science as a future employment opportunity.

The event was hosted in partnership with NASSCOM Foundation and Girls in Tech Foundation and supported by Governments of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and the US Consulate, Hyderabad. #shedevelopstech workshop hopes to help young girls between 18 to 22 years of age, belonging to underserved communities, learn computational thinking – an essential life skill and become equipped with knowledge of computers and coding, further enhancing their career prospects in the ICT industry.

Through the two-day workshop, the girls will be encouraged to find technology based solutions to real problems they face in their community on a daily basis.

They will start with developing the logic behind the proposed solution and will be formulating the final workflow for it. The girls will be supported by Girls in Tech Foundation and Microsoft mentors and facilitators helpingthem develop the final solution. At the end of the event, the girls will present their solutions to a jury.

Speaking on the occasion, Manju Dhasmana, Director, Microsoft Philanthropies, India, said,"Participating in coding and computer science is important

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to support women’s and girls’ role as users and innovators of technologies as well as researchers, scientists and technologists. At Microsoft, when we create technology and tech products, we create for the masses.

By having a male perspective consistently leading and developing tech, we are building this through the lens of men and their perspective not the masses. Microsoft YouthSpark seeks to empower all young people, especially those who are at greatest risk of being left behind, by providing access to computer science education and digital skills they need to participate in a world that’s being transformed by technology."

Today, the IT industry in India has approximately 34% of women employees and there is still a lot to be done to erase this gender disparity. NASSCOM Foundation therefore has been a keen and active partner in this initiative.

Shrikant Sinha, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation, said, "Today, more girls and women are using technology than ever before. But relatively few are playing a role in

creating this technology or are pursuing studies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). NASSCOM Foundation, through initiatives like #shedevelopstech, wants to encourage as many girls as possible to take up computer science as a career choice and accelerate their growth, not just in basic coding but also in new age technologies like Big Data, IoT and Artificial Intelligence."

Girls in Tech Foundation, has been working hard to empower girls of underserved communities to move towards digital awakening and realize their true potential.

The #shedevelopstech is a part if the larger, Microsoft YouthSpark initiative.

Since it was launched in 2012, Microsoft YouthSpark has created educational, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for more than 300 million youth around the world.YouthSparkseeks to deliver deep and impactful experiences by enabling young girls to collaborate, inspire and support each other, while using technology to spark change. Microsoft continues to work in partnership with governments, nonprofit organizations and businessesto ensure that all youth have the opportunity to learn computer science. n

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MOVEMENT • Shri N.K.Sinha, lAS (BH 80), Secretary, Ministry of Culture as Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in the vacancy caused due to appointment of Shri Ajay Mittal, lAS (HP 82) as Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training.

• Shri Rajiv Gauba, lAS (JH 82), Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development as Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of Home Affairs. The officer will take over as Home Secretary on completion of tenure of the present incumbent Shri Rajiv Mehrishi on 30.08.2017.

• Shri Ajay Mittal, lAS (HP 82), Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting as Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training in the vacancy caused on superannuation of the present incumbent Shri B.P.Sharma, lAS (BH 81) on 30.06.2017.

• Smt Aruna Sundararajan, lAS (KL 82), Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology as Secretary, Department of Telecommunications in the existing vacancy.

• Shri Avinash K Srivastava, lAS (UP 82), Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries as Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs in the vacancy caused due to appointment of the present incumbent Shri Jagdish Prasad Meena, lAS (AM 83) as Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

• Shri Yudhvir Singh Malik, lAS (HY 83), Chairman, National Highways Authority of India as Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways in the existing vacancy.

• Shri Subash C Garg, lAS (RJ 83), Executive Director, World Bank as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in the existing vacancy.

• Shri Jagdish Prasad Meena, lAS (AM 83), Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs as Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries in the vacancy caused due to appointment of present incumbent Shri Avinash K Srivastava, lAS (UP 82) as Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs.

• Shri Rajeev Kapoor, lAS (UP 83), Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy as Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals in the existing vacancy.

• Shri Deepak Kumar, lAS (BH 84), Director General, ESIC as Chairman, National Highways Authority of India in the vacancy caused due to appointment of the present incumbent Shri Yudhvir Singh Malik, lAS (HY 83) as Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.

• Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, lAS (UP 84), Additional Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development as Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development in the vacancy caused due to appointment of the present incumbent Shri Rajiv Gauba, lAS (JH 82) as OSD in MHA. • Shri Arun Kumar Panda, lAS (OR 84), Additional Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare as Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the vacancy caused due to superannuation of the present incumbent Shri K.K.Jalan, lAS (HY 82) on 30.06.2017.

• Shri Anand Kumar, lAS (KL 84), MD, National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited as Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy in the vacancy caused due to appointment of the present incumbent Shri Rajeev Kapoor, lAS (UP 83) as Secretary, Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals.

• Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, lAS (AP 84), Additional Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas as Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology in the vacancy caused due to appointment of the present incumbent Smt Aruna Sundararajan, lAS (KL 82) as Secretary, Department of Telecommunications.

• Shri Ajay Kumar Bhalla, lAS (AM 84), Director General, Foreign Trade as Secretary, Ministry of Power in the vacancy caused on superannuation of the present incumbent Shri P.K.Pujari, lAS (GJ 80) on 30.06.2017 38 | June 2017 www.spoindia.org

www.spoindia.org june 2017 | 39

RNI No.: DELENG/2016/69058 Printing Date 27 & 28

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Reg. No.: DL-SW-1/4197/17-19

40 pages including cover

Date of Posting Date 29 & 30 Every Month