 Sunday, 19th November 1995
Investment in Electronics Sector in India
by N Gopalaswami, Director General,
Software Technology Parks of India,
and Joint Secretary DOE Government of India
Unfortunately, the minutes for this meeting is not
available - Webmaster
Saturday, 16th September 1995
The MBA - Applicant, Student, and
Graduate : A Business School Seminar
Panelists
Bhaskar Biswas
Dr. Biswas is a Director in the Human Resources Dept at
Hitachi Data Systems and an adjunct Professor of Management at Golden Gate University. Dr.
Biswas has over 25 years experience with Fortune 500 companies. He has an MBA from the
University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. from Golden Gate University. Dr. Biswas is very active
in South Asian community affairs.
Rob Chandra
Rob Chandra is an associate with McKinsey & Company in
their Palo Alto office. He graduated from Harvard Business School in 1993 and from
University of California at Berkeley in 1988.
Diane Dimeff
Diane Dimeff is the Director of the part time MBA program at
University of California at Berkeley.
Sandeep Johri
Sandeep Johri has an MBA from Stanford ('90) and worked in
management consulting for four years. Mr. Johri is currently employed at Silicon Graphics
where he works in the area of business development and serves on the staff of the Chairman
of Silicon Graphics on a presidential council on the information superhighway that he
chairs.
Devanand Kurbur
Devanand Kurbur is a manager of a technical consulting and
applications development group at Octel Communications. He has a Bachelors and Masters in
Engg and is currently doing a part-time MBA at University of California at Berkeley.
Nimish Mehta
Nimish Mehta is vice president of Oracle's Workgroup Solutions
Division. He is responsible for the strategy, product development and marketing of Oracle
server and middleware products for Windows95, Windows NT, NetWare, OS/2 and Power
Macintosh. Mr. Mehta has an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. He also holds
a master's and bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.
Moderator
Neeraj Gupta, SIPA.
Minutes
About 275 people turned up at this yet another
"standing-room-only" SIPA event.
Specific areas were covered to provide potential MBA
candidates with multiple perspectives from panel members. Various areas covered included
decision factors to go to business school, the process of applying for MBA education,
student life at business school, and the advantages of getting an MBA in one's career.
Dr. Bashker Biswas, who has over 25 years of experience in
management education, emphasized the need for people skills and leadership. Biswas
rejected the premise that an MBA is a necessary ingredient for success in one's career.
"In today's world of right-sizing and downsizing, one should carefully define what
one wishes to achieve by doing an MBA. It is important to make a multi-dimensional
investment in yourself - career, community activities, and people skills are all critical
for success - an MBA may or may not be the answer", said Biswas.
However, all speakers emphasized the importance of an MBA
in the initial stages of one's career. All speakers unanimously agreed that a MBA degree
from a premier school serves well in the early career stages and allows you to build
relationships in today's highly competitive corporate milieu. Panel members also agreed
that an MBA is not for everybody and that one should evaluate the reasons to go to
business school.
Unique challenges of a part-time education were highlighted
by Diane Dimeff and Devanand Kurbur. "Part time education takes a big commitment from
the individual and his/her family. Balancing a full time workload, a part-time education
along with a personal life can be very challenging. It requires a lot of stamina",
said Diane. Devanand echoed Diane's sentiments and described the financial advantages of a
part-time MBA.
The overall theme at the seminar was that management
education can open up many doors for you. Rob Chandra, a graduate of the HBS Class of '93,
described various opportunities that graduates from Harvard Business School took in areas
of management consulting, investment banking, finance, and entrepreneurship. "I
graduated only two years ago. I am already amazed at some of the success stories of my
colleagues" said Rob. Sandeep Johri was emphatic about the value of an MBA. "If
I had a chance, I would go to business school over again", he said.
Nimish highlighted the opportunities for MBA's in the high
technology industry. "There is some suspicion about an MBA in the high technology
industry in cases when the MBA does not understand the technology that goes in creating a
product. However, there is a vast potential for engineering graduates to be successful
MBA's in the technology industry", said Nimish.
All panel members described the value of networking and
forming relationships with other graduates at business school. "If you believe that
business has to do with who you know as opposed to what you know, business school can help
you incredibly", added Rob Chandra.
The panel encouraged MBA applicants to be introspective and
to give themselves a lot of time for preparing their applications. Kurbur presented a
chart describing the monetary advantages of getting an MBA from a top business school.
Chandra expressed that the applications process is a serious process that requires a lot
of planning and hard work.
Life at school was described. The panel talked about
relative strengths and weaknesses of their MBA schools that included MIT Sloan School,
Stanford, and Harvard. Part-time education was suggested as an option for maintaining
momentum in one's career. Importance of time management while doing an MBA was emphasized.
The social experience of attending business school was highlighted.
Questions from the audience ranged from the corporate view
on full time to part time MBA to challenges faced by the Indian community.
Neeraj Gupta, event co-ordinator, described the event as a
huge success. "A capacity crowd of over 275 came to hear the perspectives of our
panel. It was important to choose a panel that our members could relate to", said
Gupta. Keerti Melkote, an engineer at Intel, said "I have been toying with the idea
of doing an MBA for sometime now. The seminar brought me closer to my decision. For the
first time, I understand the value that attending a top business school could add to my
career".
Saturday, 19th August 1995
Trends in India's Information Technology
Industry
A talk by Ajai Chowdhury, President and
CEO, HCL-HP Ltd., India
and Arjun Malhotra, Chairman, HCL America
About the speakers
Ajai and Arjun are part of HCL Group which is spread over
14 countries, 1994 sales revenues of over Rs.10 billion and employing over 6000 people.
HCL today is the largest Office Automation and IT company in India and HCL-HP, a joint
venture between HCL Ltd. and HP is the largest IT company in India.
Ajai Chowdhury started his career in marketing with DCM
Data Products in 1972. He left DCM with five other engineers (including Arjun Malhotra) to
start HCL Limited. In 1980 he promoted Far East Computers Pvt. Ltd., and HCL company in
Singapore. In Singapore he gained international experience in producing and marketing
products. In 1989 he came back to India to head the marketing operati- ons of CAD/CAm
division of HCL Ltd. and thereafter HCl Hewlett-Packard Ltd. Ajai holds a BE in
Electronics and Communication Eng from University of Jadavpur. He has also undergone
Executive program at the School of Business Administration at the University of Michigan.
Arjun Malhotra is one of the five engineers who left DCM
Data Products to start HCL Ltd. He has run the operations of the computer business of HCl
since it started. In 1989 he moved to setup and start the overseas business for the group
focusing on IT consulting, software development services and system integration. The group
had 1994 revenues in excess of Rs. 2 billion. Arjun got a a Bachelor of Technology in
Electronics and Electrical Commnunication Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1970. He has
also attended the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School in 1985.
Minutes
Mr Ajai Chowdhury, CEO of HCL-HP India, began the talk by
showing how the Information Technolgy Sector in India could soon become a world class
market, not only attracting the best comapanies from all over the world, but also becoming
home to world-class Indian companies.
The mood in India, as everybody knows, is currently very
upbeat.
the foreign currency reserves are comfortably high,
there is a vibrant capital market,
the inflation rate is less than 10%,
consumer confidence is growing with
a booming middle class,
India is being viewed more and more as a "trendy"
country.
However, he warned, that all is not well. Some of the
things to be cautious about are
political and social uncertainties,
unpredictable government policy changes,
ridculously high customs and excise duties,
complicated import policies,
dependence of the economy on monsoons,
the cost of money is very high.
Speaking about the IT industry in India, these are some of
the interesting statistics Mr Chowdhury presented:
the total revenues in this sector crossed $1 billion last
year.
the sector is expected to grow by about 35% this year.
momentun for exports is building up.
GSM cellular service, which has already started, is
expected to be available in all the major cities in the next 12 months. This would result
in a real boost to the telecommunications sector as that sector is already showing signs
of being privatised.
The middle class of about 200 million are the next
potential growth area for the IT sector, especially in the home computer area. HCL has the
dominant market share in this area, beating all the others by a very wide margin.
Outlook of the software indusrty:
the fastest growing industry sector.
increasingly, the "technology" and
"quality" factors are becoming more important than the "cost" factor
for comapanies who wish to do business in india.
there are more than 100 software companies who use 64kbps
satelite hook-ups to the internet.
82% of the US companies cite India as there first option when
they decide to set up shop outside the US.
Talking about HCL, Mr Chowdhury said that HCL has been the
No. 1 computer company in India for 8 years in a row. He said, "We are the
champions, and not the challengers". He also mentioned that HCL-HP is on the path
of becoming a truly global company, having business and development centers in the US,
Europe and Singapore.
At the end of his talk, Mr Chowdhury and Mr Arjun Malhotra
(Chairman, HCL America) spent some time answering various questions from the audience.
Noting that the time is ripe for a boom in the Indian IT market, he said "If we
(Indians) cannot (succeed in becoming a world player in the IT market), we will have only
ourselves to blame".
For more information about HCL, visit HCL-America's WWW
page at http://hclggn.hcla.com/ (Note: this
server appears to be down a lot of times).
Sunday, 23rd July 1995
India: A look at the years ahead
A talk by T N Seshan, Chief Election
Commisioner, India
[Minutes courtesy of Anil Gupta, akgupta@attmail.com]
Mr. T N Seshan was the featured speaker at this SIPA
meeting on July 23, 1995. Mr T N Seshan, as many of you already know, is most well known
for having brought about major electoral reforms in India.
Mr. Seshan was appointed Chief Election Commissioner on
December 12, 1990 for a term of six years.
Mr. Seshan spoke candidly and with humor. He spoke about
the successes of India with the recent economic reforms as well as those in the election
process; he reminded us repeatedly of the grim realities for several hundred million
Indians; he pointed out specific areas where progress must occur if India is to improve
the conditions of its people.
India is one of the most stable democracies in the world.
While it is not a clean democracy, it is nevertheless the only nation that got
independence after the Second World War to remain consistently democratic.
One of the fundamental problems with elections in India is
the vast amount of money spent. The leagl spending limits are ridiculously low, and hence
they are not observed by even an order of magnitude. This has led to a situation where
parties and candidates raise large sums of money before, during, and after elections. In
many states, people with criminal records manage to get elected to offices.
In spite of these difficulties, he felt India has made
tremendous progress in ensuring a more-or-less fair electoral system. He mentioned that
spending has come down tremendously, although it is still far above the limit. This has
happened through stricter enforcement of the law. Election irregularities have also been
cut down significantly.
A major note of progress is the widespread participation of
the dalits and other lower castes in the election process. As an example, he mentioned
that about 92% of the registered voters voted in the most recent elections in Maharashtra.
He did say that significant work needed to be done in
cleaning up the list of voters. He cited his own experience from many years ago when he
wanted to vote in Dehradun. Although everything was found in order, he was unable to vote
because he was listed in the records as a female!
The task of computerization of elections remains daunting
given the sheer size of the system. India has 800,000 polling booths and even a modest
investment per booth leads to tremendous costs. He cited the example of automatic polling
machines. Although over 100,000 have been purchased, they remain unused because of
opposition from politicians.
He cited three fundamental areas of improvement that need
to be made in the electoral system:
Party accounts should be subject to audit.
Criminals should not be allowed to stand for office.
Corruption must be brought down.
India has shown dramatic economic success over the last
four years. Yet, India faces strong problems, especially in improving the basic quality of
life. India faces acute problems in housing, drinking water supply, infant mortality,
sanitation, health, education, and many other areas.
Mr. Seshan laid special emphasis on education, where the
situation has worsened. While India had a pupil to teacher ratio of 40:1 in 1947, this
figure is 70:1 today. Many of the higher education institutions such as IITs are siphoning
away funds from basic educational needs. Copying is rampant and police presence is often
necessary to enforce fair exams.
One element of particular concern here is population
growth. He felt if there was a way to bring more information and resources to the rural
areas so they developed faster, the birth rate will fall. Female education is another
central element to reduce birth rates.
Urbanization is a major problem in India today. He felt if
there was a way to offer infrastructure to the rural areas, there was less of a chance
that they would come to the cities.
Mr. Seshan urged SIPA members ( and expatriate Indians in
general) to come up with ways in which high technology can be used to benefit the poorest
sections of the society.
Mr Seshan said that a special trust, called the Desha
Bhakta Trust, has been recently established by him and his supporters. The trust has
many purposes, but the most important one in the immediate future is that of fighting
corruption.
He urged the attendees to form a chapter of the trust in
the Bay Area, and to recommend ways to fight corruption. Anyone who is interested in
finding out more about this should contact Usha Nilakantan usha@aimnet.com.
Mr Seshan listed the following four areas in which India
needs to devote its energy:
Elimination of rampant corruption.
A two-part economy--one that caters to the upper segment, but
another that provides a safety net for the poor and disadvantaged.
The civil service needs to learn to exercise control
without ownership.
The legislature needs to do a better job of watching over the
executive branch.
On being asked if he ever wanted to stand for public
elections, Mr Seshan left open the possibility. He said that if he decides to stand for
elections, he would do so only after he was convinced he could maintain his integrity.
Also, he would have to resign from his current job if he stood for office prior to the
expiry of his term. He said he has not made up his mind on this issue.
Saturday, 17th June 1995
Economic Reform in India - The Past, The
Present and The Future
A talk by P Chidambaram, Union Minister
of Commerce, India
Thanks again to Anil Gupta, akgupta@attmail.com for preparing the minutes.
This meeting of SIPA was a "standing room only"
affair as over 175 people showed up to listen to the Commerce Minister visiting from
India. It may be recalled that this was Mr. Chidambaram's second appearance at SIPA, the
first one being 3 years back.
Mr. Chidambaram gave this talk as a part of his visit to
the United States to encourage U.S. investment in four key infrastructure areas: power,
telecommunications, transport, and agro-processing. In addition to a program (co-sponsored
by SIPA) on June 19-20 in Santa Clara, he will also meet a number of Congressmen,
Senators, and others.
At the SIPA talk on June 17, he was accompanied by Mr. C.M.
Vasudev from the Ministry of Commerce, Ms. Meera Shankar from the Indian Embassy in
Washington, D.C., and Mr. Ravi Thapar, Commercial Consul, San Francisco.
Where India is Today
Mr. Chidambaram began his talk by comparing the changes
that have taken place in the Indian economy since the last time he addressed SIPA 3 years
back.
In July 1991, when the current government took over, India
had Rs. 2,100 crores of foreign exchange reserves--only 15 days of imports. The Rupee was
weak, the country were sinking deeper into debt, and the economy was extremely fragile.
With the structural reforms since then, the economy has
achieved significant macro-economic stability. Foreign exchange reserves now stand at $20
billion ($25 billion including gold reserves). India now even permits liberal foreign
currency allowances for Indians wishing to travel abroad.
Exports cover about 94% of the imports now, as against 66%
in 1991. In dollar terms, exports grew about 4% in the first full fiscal year of the
reforms (1992-93), 20% in the following year, and 18% in the third year. In the latest
fiscal year ended March 31, 1995, India's exports were $26.2 billion, while the imports
were more than $28 billion.
India's current account deficit is about 0.5%. Thus India
is not in any way in the danger of repeating an economic crisis of the kind faced by
Mexico recently.
Historically, the economy was highly regulated, directed
and driven by the government. Through taxes and borrowings, the government was a large
investor and entrepreneur. The government managed as many as 234 public institutions from
Delhi. With poor management and little autonomy, the results were obviously dismal.
Mr. Chidambaram stressed that there is nothing wrong in
principle with the idea of the government running large sectors of the economy. He cited
the Port Authority of Singapore and Singapore Airlines as prime examples of efficiently
run government owned (or partly owned) organizations.
The Indian public sector has invested over Rs. 150,000
crores ($50 billion). The total return on this investment is a poor 3%, and is in fact
negative if one excludes the oil and natural gas sector. This way, the public sector is
caught in the vicious cycle of investing money, losing money, and investing further, only
to lose more money! Mr. Chidambaram joked that if the government controllers had access to
fax and e-mail, they would have likely run these units further into ground.
Even the private sector suffered - the licensing system
penalized someone who produced output that exceeded the licensed quota. As a result, the
industry often did not achieve the economy of scale necessary for efficient production.
Some industrialists acquired licenses simply to prevent others from producing. This led to
a close, inefficient, and uncompetitive industry.
The structural reforms have now opened the economy. The
industry has been delicensed, export/import restrictions have been abolished, and foreign
entrants in the market are being permitted (and encouraged) to improve efficiency in
India.
The results of these reforms are obvious. The Indian
economy generated 3 million jobs in fiscal year 1992-93, followed by 6 million in each of
the following two fiscal years. While these figures are good, the economy really needs to
generate 10 million jobs per year to account for the backlog from the past. Industry has
been growing at 8% per year, and the capital goods industry is growing at 22% per year.
The growth in GDP has been at 5.3% per year.
The information technology industry has done particularly
well, with $1 billion turnover in 1994-95. Human resource is the key capital of this
industry, and India has a really good pool of human resources. This industry is expected
to continue to grow at 45 to 50% per year, reaching $10 billion by the end of this
century.
The Long Road Ahead
After providing a report card on the economy, Mr.
Chidambaram stressed that we must consider the India of today before we can dream of an
India of tomorrow.
India's population of 917 million can be classified
approximately into the following categories: 10 million who are extremely well-off, 300
million who do well, have a productive job or business (though they may have only small
savings), 300 million who eke out a living in a low wage job or a small business; and
another 300 million who live in terrible poverty.
It is this last 300 million that the India must address.
This part of the population has close to no skills or vocation, lives from day-to-day,
often in the driest parts of the nation. These are India's forgotten people.
Every year, 25 million children are born in India. Two
million die before they reach their first birthday; another 3 million die before reaching
their fifth birthday. Twenty million enter school in Grade 1 each year, but only 10
million make it to Grade 2; the others drop out. We have a large population of disabled
persons, including blind people.
These statistics give us a glimpse of the long task ahead.
It will require the approach of a long-distance marathon runner to make a difference, not
a short-distance sprinter. If the road is 1000 miles long, India has only reached
milestone number 10 or 12, he remarked.
Some people claim that India's population is simply
unsustainable. He refuted this myth, pointing out that while Japan has one seventh India's
population, its area is one ninth of India. Yet Japan is a prosperous nation. It is the
poverty of India that makes it appear unsustainable, not its population. If this
population can be channeled into an efficient system of production, people will not
question whether India has a sustainable population.
Other factors that hurt India are the fragmentation of the
population by caste, religion, superstition, political allegiances, and economic strata.
Referring to the tremendous need for infrastructure
development, he brought out the following statistics: India has 1 phone for evry 100
persons. It would require about $60 billion in investment to bring the telecom network to
world-class levels. India has 35,000 km (about 22,000 miles) of so-called National
Highway--it would require a $50 billion investment to upgrade it to reasonable standards.
India's power needs will require another $140 billion in investment.
In closing, he mentioned that during this visit to the
United States, he will meet many Senators and Congressmen to encourage U.S. investment in
power, telecommunications, transport, and agro-processing. Fortunately, he said, today he
speaks from a position of strength, unlike the situation 3 years ago when he only had
promises.
The reforms are now in their last fiscal year prior to the
elections scheduled next year. In terms of the elections, he was confident that the party
would be brought back to power. Even in the event of a loss, he stressed that what is
important is that the reforms continue (it is just that the others will manage them less
competently, he quipped).
Questions and Answers
In response to a question about the refusal of the
Department of Telecommunications to allow commercial providers to directly use Videsh
Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) international leased lines to provide access to the Internet: He
commented that this was an area where he did not have direct knowledge, but that he will
look into this matter. However, in the Trade Points being set-up in India, subscribers
will be able to access the Internet and other Wide Area Networks.
Regarding the efficacy of the reforms in helping the bottom
300 million: He mentioned that it would be unrealistic to expect major improvements in 3
years, given the enormous task ahead. He did say that rural farm wages have gone up a good
bit over the last 2 years. In polls, while 80% of the people say the reforms have not yet
benefited them, the same 80% still want the reforms to continue.
Regarding a question on India's image: He said that India
has more of a problem of no image, rather than a negative image. One of the issues that
keeps coming up is doubt about the continuation of reforms. This is natural, given the
diversity of voices coming out of India.
Responding to question aboui special incentives for NRIs:
He replied that it would be best for a potential investor from abroad to consider pure
return on investment, rather than special incentives. He did say that there are some tax
incentives for NRIs.
As for the controversy on the Dabhol power project: He felt
that the fallout from the controversy will depend on the decision. At the end of the day,
he said, the project will go ahead. He suggested this question be asked to Manohar Joshi
(the Chief Minister of Maharashtra) during his visit to Houston later his month.
In response to a complaint about poor quality of power,
lack of phone lines, and poor e-mail facilities: He said that the task of infrastructural
development remains daunting. There will be no shortcuts to solving this problem and the
only answer is long-term investment in these sectors of the economy. He was hopeful that
the telecom situation will be fixed before the power and transport problems will be.
Finally, when SIPA President Pran Kurup asked how a person
of his caliber ended up in politics, he responded that politics should not be considered
"the end". He is happy to be in politics, and this is a channel that provides
the only way to make change at a "global" level. "In fact, I think some of
you should get into politics", he added. Responding to two or three questions about
the constituency he plans to run from in the next elections, he jokingly said if anyone in
the audience was registered to vote in the Shivaganga constituency of Tamil Nadu, he would
welcome their votes.
Saturday, 20th May 1995
The Ins and Outs of Starting a Business
in India
A talk by Arun Todarwal
Todarwal and Todarwal
Chartered Accountants
112 Maker Bhavan No. 3
21 New Marine Lines Bombay 400 020
Phone:
+(91) (22) 206 8264
+(91) (22) 208 3115
We would like to thank Arun Gupta, akgupta@attmail.com for graciously volunteering to
write the minutes of this meeting.
Mr. Todarwal began by providing a background of his
company. It was founded in 1952 by his father, and now has offices throughout India. They
have a staff of about 70 now, including several Chartered Accountants. Business Today
listed them among the top 150 audit firms in India. They are also registered as Merchant
Bankers with SEBI.
The investments in India can be classified into two
categories: active, and passive.
For Active Investments Mr. Todarwal mentioned five
key areas for a potential entrant: market research, choosing a location, government
approvals, joint ventures, and financing.
For Market Research, he gave examples in the soft
drinks industry which showed excellent penetration of Campa brand name in Northern India,
and Thums Up in Southern India (before Coke and Pepsi came in). He also mentioned a
company that came in to setup English Leather Products in India, but the venture failed
for lack of good market research.
For Location: infrastructure in the key. The
availability of power, telecom facilities, water, etc. is a bigger problem in some areas
than in others. This can be a major issue if it is not considered carefully.
One can setup the business as a Limited Co. (either private
limited or public limited), Partnership, or Proprietorship. The latter two are easy to set
up. A Limited Co. takes 3 to 6 weeks to set up and requires name approval (the name must
be indicative of the business, and unique), and other filings such as the Articles and
Memorandums of Association.
Financing is a somewhat complicated area where one
can obtain direct investment, loans, or go to the public with an issue.
If Foreign Investment is 51% of less, approval is
automatic. Even with greather than 51%, approval is automatic for priority industries and
for export oriented activities (75% or more of your revenue must be from exports to
qualify as an export activity). In terms of repatriation of capital and profits, for most
activities, current laws permit repatriation of two-thirds of the profits but not the
initial capital investment. Next year, 100% of the profits will be repatriable. In some
industries, such as Air Taxis, Sick Units, Residential Housing Development, etc., 100% of
the capital is also repatriable.
There is a Direct Tax Agreement between the U.S. and India
that prevents double-taxation of profits. In most cases, if a person of Indian origin has
lived abroad for two years or more, they can avoid taxes on foreign income for a long time
while living in India.
For Loans, there are a variety of options in India,
including private loans, NRI loans, banks, financial institutions, venture capital funds,
mutual funds, and the capital market via public issues.In general, interest rates in India
are quite high unless one borrows from a bank or a financial institution. The typical
private loan rate in the market will run 20%+ per year, while a bank may charge 15% to
16%. Public Issue remains an excellent borrowing vehicle for any company that has
shown profits for at least two years. For a public issue at premium, one must go through
some formalities with SEBI. If one wants to have a public issue without a premium, this
can be done at any time. However, "at-par" issue obviously does not give benefit
of appreciation to the promoters.
Historically, virtually every public issue over the last
few years in India was oversubscribed. However, the investors are becoming picky now.
Mutual funds remain active investors in public issues, even for small companies. The
promoters of the company must retain at least 25% ownership after public issue. To prevent
price rigging and protect the public, promoters cannot sell their shares for 5 years after
a premium public issue.
For Passive Investments, there are a number of
options such as equity shares, debentures, immovable assets, etc. As a point of
information, the share price increase on the Bombay Stock exchange has averaged 30% per
year over the last 10 years. This translates to a gain of over 14 times in 10 years!
Mr. Todarwal concluded by saying that his company can help
clients in all areas, including marekt research, financing, etc. For example, they can
talk to private placement sources, mutual funds, etc. for financing. As Merchant Bankers,
they can place a premium public issue in the market. Mr. Todarwal encouraged anyone with
specific questions to contact him. (Contact address and phone number given above)
Saturday, 25th March 1995
Calls for support for the National
Science University (NSU)
Prof. Swadesh Mahajan of the University of Texas at Austin
addressed a meeting of the Silicon Valley Indian Professionals on Saturday, March 25.
Prof. Mahajan spoke at length about his proposal for a National Science University (NSU)
in India. He has been diligently pursuing this proposal for the last 10 years with several
successive central governments in New Delhi. The NSU will promote the co-existence of
teaching and research for the enhancement of the scientific mind.
"The success of an effort of this nature depends
largely on the assistance and co-operation of overseas Indians", he said. The
proposed university will have a provision for 20% visiting faculty from across the world.
During his visit to the Bay area, Prof. Mahajan met with several successful entrepreneurs
and businessmen to enlist support for NSU. Speaking with a lot of energy and passion, he
appealed to the audience for active support from the NRI community. "We must make
a conscious effort to create an environment which promotes creativity and a genuine
interest in science in our future generations" , he said.
Prof. Mahajan can be reached via e-mail at mahajan@hagar.ph.utexas.edu .
For more information on the National Science University
initiative, check out http://hagar.ph.utexas.edu/~valanju/NSU.html.
Other Speakers
The meeting also included brief presentations by other
organizations of interest to the south asian community -
Information Technology Seminar
Rajesh Srivastava - Vice President of SIPA announced about the
upcoming Information Technology Seminar sponsored by Electronics and Computer Software
Export Promotion Council of India.
Indian Community Career Fair
Dr. Bhasker Biswas of IARC spoke about the Indian Community
Career Fair being organized in April. SIPA is a cosponsor of the event. Dr. Biswas
appealed to the audience to participate in the fair.
The Stanford Chapter of ASHA
ASHA is a non-profit organization supporting education at the
grass roots level in India.
The Indus
Entrepreneurs(TiE)
Dr. Suhas Patil, Chairman of TiE and Chairman of Cirrus Logic,
Inc spoke briefly about the proposed annual TiE event to be held in May. "This
year's annual TiE event will focus entirely on Marketing. We are working on bringing
together experts in all fields of Marketing" , he said.
Returned Non-Resident Indians (RNRI)
Mr. H.R. Pradeep, Treasurer of RNRI, an organization based in
Bangalore, India, spoke briefly about the newly formed association of Indian
professionals. The association is comprised of about 200 Indians who have returned to
India after having lived overseas. Mr. Pradeep is a former Bay-area resident and SIPA
member who returned to India to settle in Bangalore.
For further information, contact:
ReturnedNon-ResidentIndians
30NehruCircle
Bangalore560020
INDIA
Fax:+(91)(080)2220806
Saturday, 18th February 1995
Job Opportunities in India
The first meeting of SIPA (Silicon Valley Indian
Professionals Association) in 1995 held on Feb 18 in HP OAK Room in Cupertino was
addressed by Sandeep Guliani, Manager, IC Design of Usha Matra MHS Ltd. (UML). UML
is a joint undertaking of Matra MHS, a European leader in submicron VLSI technologies with
a world wide distribution network and Group Usha, a Rs. 900 crore group of companies
having major interests in steel, electronics and software. Group Usha was founded in 1945
and has a workforce of over 3500 and has several joint ventures and customers all over the
world. UML is located in Gurgaon, near Delhi.
Sandeep Guliani talked about job opportunities in IC
Design/CAD software in India, especially with regard to currently available opportunities
with UML. He talked about UML's current projects, vision and organizational structure.
UML's mission is to be a leader in Semiconductors in the world. In addition to IC Design
which is their primary focus, they also develop CAE/CAD software to support their efforts
in IC design. UML has state-of-the-art development environment with the latest computing
and communication facilities including a dedicated satellite link. Quality is a prime
focus of UML and is aiming for ISO 9000 certification by April `95. UML is currently not
limited by the number of projects, but by availability of technical manpower.
Mr. Guliani also talked about the growing presence of India
in the hi-tech areas, especially software. According to a 1992 World Bank study, India is
the country of choice for on-site and off-shore development. Several multinational
companies including Matra MHS, IBM, Motorola, Texas Instruments, HP, AT&T etc. have
their presence in India. There has been a 50% growth in the software industry in the last
4-5 years. The government of India, as part of its liberalization process is trying to
accelerate the growth of hi-tech industries by giving several incentives and providing
infrastructure like satellite links.
When asked about his experiences of going back to India, he
said "I always wanted to return to India. Then I found UML with excellent US-like
working conditions and interesting job opportunities and chose to join them".
UML offers excellent compensation packages and a
stimulating environment for growth. Those interested in applying for jobs with UML can
contact UML. UML is currently setting up an office in Santa Clara, and they can be
contacted at:
UshaMatraLimited
2201LaurelwoodRoad
P.O.Box54951
SantaClaraCA95056
Fax:(408)7480439
Email:hrd%umlin@delhi.uunet.in
New SIPA Programs
The meeting began with Pran Kurup, the new President of
SIPA, discussing SIPA activities and its plans for year 1995. He introduced the SIPA
committee members and announced SIPA's plans to establish a job referral scheme to assist
indian professionals seeking jobs in the bay area. "There are so many qualified
indian professionals in the bay area, besides, there are so many exciting job
opportunities; SIPA can leverage its large member base and serve as a catalyst to assist
indian professionals in seeking new and exciting job opportunities".
India Literacy Project
Venkat Boinapally, Treasurer of SIPA and also an active
India Literacy Project (ILP) volunteer spoke about ILP's current activities and its fund
raiser cultural event scheduled for the 18th of March. ILP is an organization dedicated to
making India 100% literate. It has a Bay Area Chapter. For more information contact, .
IndiaLiteracyProject
P.O.Box361143
MilpitasCA95035-9998
(408)985-6843
Email:ss@advent.com
WebSite:http://www-plateau.cs.berkeley.edu/people/radhika/ilp/ilp.html
|
