EVENT
V i ew s fr om Ex per t s
Shri A. Gururaj Managing Director, Vittal Innovation City
“Sriperumbudur has today become an important manufacturing hub in India, but this has been possible partly due to political will. We drive home a very important experience from this – that if you put the larger interests of the country, not driven by petty differences, you can get investments into the country. Manufacturing being a capital-intensive industry, has transformed lives. Take the instance of China, revenue of electronic manufacturing in China has gone up to $ 600 billion. Though it might be a tedious process from a return on investment prospective, the impact of manufacturing on a country can be huge. The Make in India initiative by the PM will further boost this and will be a dream come true for all of us in manufacturing.”
Cmde J. Jena Director, TCOE India
“The buzzword today is ‘Make in India’ but how can that be made possible is by partnering and building an ecosystem that is apt for the growth of this partnership. Electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM) is the most important which is being talked about as this is where business is happening and lot of growth will supposedly take place. This is also one area where India has strength with respect to other countries. There are 5 important factors which are important for building this eco-system, which are R&D, skill development, financial support system, policy system and lastly entrepreneurship. The most important out of these five are the entrepreneurs who will be responsible for carrying this eco-system forward.”
Prof H. S. Jamadagni IISC, Bangalore
Exc er pt s f rom C or p or a te
“Till now urbanization has been considered as a bad thing but this is no more the thing, particularly in a developing country where urbanization has spread really fast. Better job opportunities, education and healthcare, easy accessibility to luxury and entertainment are some of the reasons that lure everyone to the city life. In fact, there has been a recent change in the thoughts of sociologists and economists who think that the term ‘urban’ is not a bad word after all. Technology has a big opportunity here and can playa big crucial role in terms of measuring and monitoring important parameters like energy demands, traffic movement, environmental parameters and so on. It can also help in legislations and its enforcement and creating awareness in general public.”
Mr Anil Sethi Director & General Manager – Channels, Dell India
“We today talk about Dell as the biggest start-up with the largest number of acquisitions. Dell chose to de-list itself due to couple of reasons. When you are a listed company, you are constantly monitored by analysts on a quarterly basis. But this becomes a hindrance on the company to enter into those spaces to where IT is heading towards in the next 10 years. In IT, innovation is always very important and has been a very continuous process. In the last 10 years, we saw outsourcing, services industry and telecom being talked about in a big way and today they have become the biggest propagator of the industry. But will these continue ten years from now; will remain as a big question in absence of innovation.”
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Mr K. Bhaskhar Senior Director, Office Imaging Solutions Division, Canon India
“Digitization is becoming a very common word off late. Government is also working towards digitization of govt. records for improving accessibility and e-governance will further bring empowerment, equity and efficiency. As Modi has stressed in his speech that the backbone of the govt’s new ways of working will be a Digital India. With the massive loss of more than 4.82 crore data pages in the Mumbai Secretariat fire, govt. establishments have become more concerned than ever before. It is same with the corporates too. An average employee wastes 35% of his work time looking for files with a 67% chance of data loss due to irresponsible handling.”
EVENT
Panel Discussion
SIITF
Southern India Information Technology Fair’14
Impact on VARs with the growth of e-commerce in the country
Left to Right: Mr Murali Krishnan, MD, N J Dataprint; Mr K. Bhaskhar, Senior Director, Office Imaging Solutions Division, Canon India; Mr Anand Rao, President, FITDAK; Mr Nalin Patel, VP, SIITA; Mr Anantharam Varayur, ECM, SIITA & ECM-FITDAK; and Mr M. A. Sathya Prasad, President, AIT
The Panel discussion moderated by Mr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, CMD & Publisher, Kalinga Digital Media deliberated on the challenges faced by the Channel by the mushrooming of e-commerce online sites and how this growing threat can be cracked down with help from corporates and government policies and thus maintain a competitive edge in today’s rapidly evolving market. Mr K. Bhaskhar, Senior Director, Office Imaging Solutions Division, Canon India points out that at the end of the day it is for the endcustomers that e-commerce continues to thrive and has had a big impact on their buying behaviour, “We are yet to bring the GST structure to the country and once this is introduced, there should probably be a level-playing field for the different market elements to function.” Mr Murali Krishnan, Managing Director, N J Dataprint believes that the tax bracket should even be higher than 12.5% on the e-commerce companies. “It is pretty much clear that partners, SIs and traders are responsible for the plight today as they run these e-commerce sites and bringing down this market to this level.” Agreeing to the fact that it is the partners who are fueling the growth of e-commerce in India, Mr Anand Rao, President, FITDAK said that if the idea behind introducing 12.5% tax is to put a check on their aggression, that alone cannot be the benchmark or parameter to stop the advances e-commerce is making at the cost of the Channel market. Referring to the price disparity that exists today in the market, Mr Nalin Patel, Vice-President, SIITA said, “E-commerce and channel are definitely going to co-exist as pointed by many but not if the former continues to adopt unethical practices to grab market share. There have been also complaints of many e-commerce companies not paying taxes. This is not what you envisage as an ideal marketplace.” Mr Anantharam Varayur, ECM, SIITA & ECM-FITDAK opines that price should never be the criteria for trading online. “An online trader cannot approach a customer saying that his cost is lower, though he has liberty to promote his products to his customers for their convenience, which will also encourage lot of our partners to go online and influence purchasing decisions.” Vouching for common trading terms for both form of business environments, Mr M. A. Sathya Prasad, President, AIT “Tax should not become a burden on end-customers; rather it should be created to give both online traders and traditional resellers a level-playing field. We are already in talks with the Govt. of Karnataka on the taxation part.” To conclude, it is high time businesses and governments must think deeply about the opportunities and risks presented by evolving trends by the e-commerce companies. Traditional retailing should not perish at the cost of new evolving business models. Strict taxation and rigid corporate policies can help mitigate this crisis to some extent.
Solution Display KIOSKS
QCS
Dlink / Pronto
Canon
NIXI
Dell www.varindia.com
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