AAPI: February 2022

DELHI, 20th FEBRUARY 2022

Index of this Newsletter

INDIA

INDIA & THE WORLD

21. Is India Lacking Healthcare Data Security Guidelines?
22. Germany wants to attract 400,000 skilled workers from abroad each year
23. Will continue to see large global markets open more offshoring opportunities: Infosys
24.1. Fortune 500 companies, unicorn startups increase hiring by 3X: Report
24.2. With total of 90, Indians top list of, US unicorns' immigrant
25. An uneven recovery is not a recovery

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DELHI, 20th FEBRUARY 2022

NEWSLETTER, 20-II-2022

INDIA

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

1.1. TerraPay, NPCI International partner to enable real-time, international payments

IBEF, Jan. 28, 2022

On Thursday, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced that its international payments arm, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), had signed a memorandum of understanding with TerraPay, a Netherlands-based global payments infrastructure company, to allow Indians with an active UPI ID to receive real-time, international payments into their bank accounts using TerraPay's secure payments technology.

NIPL partnered with Western Union in December of last year to provide real-time bank account payouts in India.

"India receives approximately US$ 80 billion in cross-border remittances each year, making it the world's largest recipient. This collaboration with TerraPay aims to make cross-border remittances as simple and convenient as possible, thanks to the UPI platform's best-in-class real-time capabilities. At NIPL, we are constantly striving to improve the lives of consumers through digital payments, and we feel that this relationship is a step in the right direction. We will work together to provide a seamless user experience and expand our large user base so that instant money transactions may be received more safely and quickly," said Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NIPL.

According to NPCI data, UPI processed 38.74 billion transactions worth $954.58 billion in calendar year 2021. According to NPCI, the collaboration between NIPL and TerraPay will enable UPI users to take advantage of TerraPay's agile interoperable payments infrastructure to accept payments on a fully regulated, secure, scalable, and efficient channel.

TerraPay processes payments into over 4.5 billion bank accounts and 1.5 billion mobile wallets throughout the world. Terrapay will allow Indian residents, PIOs, and Indian diaspora to send money to India.

"India is a key market for TerraPay, and our partnership with NIPL exemplifies our mission to build a financially inclusive ecosystem," TerraPay's founder and CEO, Ambar Sur, stated, "This agreement will allow us to develop and optimise our payment capabilities, as well as open up the Indian market for our global partner networks."

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

1.2. Gender gap is closing fast across India’s top IT companies

ETHRWorld, 12 Fev. 2022

The largest IT services company in India, TCS, has consistently averaged between 34% and 40% female hires over the last four years. It currently employs more than 201,000 women, or 36.5% of the total workforce.

Companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Mphasis and Mindtree have at least three women in 10 employees as of December 31, 2021, their HR heads told ET. Most of them are now chasing a target of 45-50% for female employees in their total headcount in the coming quarters, with several initiatives lined up, like increased campus and lateral hiring, building leadership pipelines and skilling focused on women.

Professional services firm Aon's recent survey tracking 20 top IT services companies, shared exclusively with ET, also confirms the trend of companies looking to increase the number of female employees from the existing 30% to 45% in less than 24 months. Already, the number of women in these 20 companies is more than the India Inc average of 26%, said Jang Bahadur Singh, Aon’s IT/ITeS lead - human capital solutions practice.

The ball has already started rolling. For instance, Tech Mahindra improved the gender diversity ratio by 5% in the last two quarters, chief people officer Harshvendra Soin told ET. Women now account for 34.2% of its headcount of about 150,000. “The internal target is to achieve 50% woman representation in the total workforce in the coming years,” said Soin.

Wipro had 36.3% women among its employee base of 231,000. The company is now aiming to hire 50% women during its campus recruitments.

“Over the last 18 months, we have improved ethnic diversity in our senior leadership, by 20 percentage points, and gender diversity in the leadership has nearly doubled,” said Sunita Rebecca Cherian, Wipro’s chief culture officer.

At Wipro, the chief executive serves as the executive sponsor of its inclusion & diversity council that not only focuses on gender, but also geographies and ethnicity diversity. “I&D is a key point of agenda for our board reviews,” said Cherian.

“TCS is committed to being an equal opportunity employer, creating platforms and avenues to bring more women into our workforce,” said Ritu Anand, chief leadership and diversity officer.

Reasons for pushing diversity are clear. “We need to think like the people whose lives we are trying to improve. That’s why diversity of representation and ‘Diversity of the Mind’ is so critical to our strategy,” she said.

Rival Infosys is close to 40% women in the workforce at the end of the December quarter, a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Mphasis currently has a 65:35 men to women ratio in the workforce. “With our flagship initiatives and programmes, to encourage and include more women in the workplace, we are aiming to definitely increase the number many-fold in the coming quarters,” chief HR officer Srikanth Karra said.

“While 50% of women are being hired from the campuses, the number is not similar when it comes to hiring at mid-levels. Hence, there is a specific focus towards hiring across levels,” said Rosalee Kombial, VP - people function, Mindtree.

Besides the entry level, Mindtree is focusing on hiring more women at managerial positions and is building sponsorship networks for women.

2. MeitY unveils roadmap to achieve US$300 billion from electronics manufacturing and exports by 2026

ET Gov. 25 Jan, 2022

Mobile manufacturing that is expected to cross US $100 billion annual production - up from the current US $30 billion - is expected to constitute nearly 40 percent of this ambitious growth.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Ashwini Vaishnaw released a five-year roadmap and vision document for the electronics sector on Monday, titled “$300 bn Sustainable Electronics Manufacturing & Exports by 2026”. Mobile manufacturing that is expected to cross US $100 billion annual production - up from the current US $30 billion - is expected to constitute nearly 40 percent of this ambitious growth.

Released in association with India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA), this roadmap is the second volume of a two-part vision document – the first of which titled “Increasing India’s Electronics Exports and Share in GVCs” was released in November 2021.

This report provides a year-wise break-up and production projections for the various products that will lead India’s transformation into a US $300 billion electronics manufacturing powerhouse, from the current US$75 billion. Amongst the key products that are expected to lead India’s growth in electronics manufacturing include Mobile Phones, IT Hardware (laptops, tablets), Consumer electronics (TV and audio), Industrial electronics, Auto electronics, Electronic components, LED Lighting, Strategic electronics, PCBA, Wearables and hearables, and Telecom equipment.

Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, congratulated and lauded the entire team of MeitY for their efforts in bringing out the documents and policy framework items at this remarkable speed. During the event, he also addressed some points raised by industry leaders during the recent interaction with him. Addressing industry’s apprehensions over the issue of dual regulations in mobile manufacturing, the Minister clarified that the telecom department is not going to enter into mobile manufacturing and the mobile manufacturing regulatory regime will remain the same.

Speaking on the occasion, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State, Electronics & IT and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, said that MeitY is focusing on broadening and deepening of electronics industry in India in line with Prime Minister’s recent statement at World Economic Forum, where he said that India is emerging as a reliable and trusted partner in value chains.

Talking about the objective of the volume-2 of the vision document, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said, “New markets, new customers and being a player in Global Value Chain (GVC) is the goal and mission of the 2nd phase. This volume along with the 1st Volume on electronics manufacturing, represent an excellent example of goal setting, detailed strategy making after hours of deep engagement between government and industry.

He further added that the numbers in the 2nd Volume of vision document confirms that there is a real opportunity in the electronics sector, driven by 2 factors: growth of digital consumption and growth and diversification of global value chains.

The domestic market is expected to increase from US $65 billion to US $180 billion over the next 5 years. This will make electronics amongst India’s 2-3 top ranking exports by 2026. Of the US $300 billion, exports are expected to increase from the projected US $15 billion in 2021-22 to US $120 billion by 2026.

The five-part strategy to reach the US $300 billion goal, based on an “all of the government” approach, sharply focuses on broadening and deepening electronics manufacturing in India. This, by building competitiveness and scale by attracting global electronics manufacturers/brands, shifting and developing sub-assemblies and component ecosystems, building a design ecosystem, nurturing Indian champions and steadily removing cost disabilities faced by India.

The US $300 billion electronics manufacturing comes on the back of the US $10 billion PLI Scheme announced by the government to propel forward the Semiconductor and Display ecosystem. The government has committed nearly US $17 billion over the next 6 years across four PLI Schemes – Semiconductor and Design, Smartphones, IT Hardware and Components.

The vision document makes a strong recommendation on the need to focus on aggregate domestic value addition in the electronics sector, as India transforms from its current state to one that is gearing to compete with the likes of China and Vietnam. It also details the importance of the key role Indian champions will play in addition to global companies – both of whom are already part of the PLI Schemes.

The report seeks a competitive tariff structure on electronic components and removal of all regulatory uncertainty to put India on the path to US $300 billion electronics manufacturing. The report recommends a “winner takes all” strategy backed by economies of scale and global competitiveness, new and revised incentive schemes for some sectors, and the need to address issues of sustainability and ease of doing business.

3.1. India needs to pump in $23 bn in digital infra to match digital services’ demands by 2025

ET Gov. 25 Jan. 2022

By 2025 as many as 330 million people will be using 5G and sectors like e-commerce, education, healthcare will grow their presence online.

Even as the Centre’s focus on digitization remains paramount, the digital infrastructure requires a fresh $23 billion in investments by 2025 to match the growing digital services’ demands.

According to a latest EY joint report jointly released in collaboration with Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA), there is a massive need to pump in fresh capital to support the growing demand of digital services and rising online traffic.

The EY joint report also shared a data projection for investments required in physical digital infrastructure vital for connecting people online by 2025. “Whether it is health tech, edutech, consumer tech India is leading the way. We will see $200 billion e-commerce market, $12 billion edutech market,” EY emerging markets TMT leader Prashant Singhal said.

Singhal further added that “India is innovating on digital. For this revolution to happen, we need to have digital infrastructure in place. Tower companies are transforming themselves to digital infrastructure companies. This would require an investment of almost $20 billion over the next 3-5 years.”

According to the EY-DIPA joint report, as many as 330 million people will be using 5G and sectors like e-commerce, education, healthcare will grow their presence online. The EY report estimates investments in the range of $17-23 billion will be required in the segment by 2025.

These investments come in the range of $7 billion to $9 billion each for macro tower additions and fiber deployments, $2-3 billion for outdoor small cells which will be important for 5G roll out, $500-800 million in Wi-Fi and in-building solutions, $500-700 million in edge data centers and $500 million in data centers.

3.2. How the Workforce Learns: 15 Key Learning

ETHRWorld, 10 Feb. 2022

Right upskilling of the workforce allows the employees to work more efficiently and teams to work with a higher standard of agility.

Intellectuals and business veterans from around the world believe that the shelf-life of skills has drastically reduced in recent years. With digital and technological disruptions inducing paramount changes in the business and corporate world, a massive chasm prevails right now between the skills that are required by firms across the globe to survive in this volatile, dynamic and ever-changing world, and the skills that are available in the market. This huge imbalance that the world is witnessing today calls for businesses to re-engineer their corporate philosophies and promote a learning culture within the company.

Contriving an effective strategy to nourish a culture which not only facilitates the learning experience but also engages and retains the trained professionals has become pivotal. Rethinking our road map to cultivate a culture which fosters skill development, agility and responsiveness is a necessity only through which a company can accomplish its goals. A positive learning culture delivers not only courses and videos but also empowers the employee with the right knowledge of what and how to learn, diverse and interactive exercises, feedback and progress tracking, and opportunities to apply and practice the skills.

Right upskilling of the workforce allows the employees to work more efficiently and teams to work with a higher standard of agility. It facilitates the departments to adapt to new technology, which results in a faster rate of growth of the business. Additionally, creating a positive learning environment in the company keeps the workforce engaged and substantially simplifies the task of top-level management to retain the organization's talent.

The leaders of the industry need to understand the importance of a positive learning culture and should know how to implement the right strategy to reap the benefits of technology in present scenarios. In the light of these challenges, ETHRWorld presents to you the latest research from Degreed, an education and technology platform, which highlights 15 things organizations and their leaders can do to create a positive learning culture.

How to create a more positive learning culture at the organization

The report by Degreed summarizes 15 crucial points through extensive research and surveys, including the feedback of 2400+ working professionals. We have categorized them into four broad buckets to guide an organization toward instilling a healthy learning aptitude in its workforce and promoting a more positive learning environment within the organization.

A. Consistent guidance on what and how to learn

1. Tell them what, why, and how to learn: Before pushing the workforce towards a long term upskilling process, employees should be guided to know what they need to learn and how the organization is going to facilitate their learning process. A clarity of reasons and requirements with right motivation will enable the learner to stick to the learning path and achieve the purpose.

2. Motivate instead of enforce: A learning environment which motivates the learner with the right reasons is more efficient than an environment which sees upskilling as a task to be completed. The reasons which should drive the learning process could be performing better in the current role and preparing for one’s potential future roles. Right reasons will lead to right results.

3. Encourage long-term aspirations: Long-term career opportunities could be a solid reason for an employee to aspire to upskilling. A positive learning culture offers a structure and enables an employee to go for skill-based development rather than role-based development.

B. Diverse and active development experiences

4. Mix and play with different learning styles: An ever accessible learning environment which democratizes the learning for the entire workforce shows a higher rate of enrollment and completion. With the right balance of experimental, interactive and instructive learning, a digitized learning culture enables the learners to explore and choose what they want to learn. Technology must be leveraged to reduce social biases and increase the exposure in upskilling opportunities.

5. Facilitate peer learning opportunities: Humans are social animals and we need other humans to share everything we achieve. Peer learning is a tool that a leader must embrace in his workforce upskilling strategy. Increased interaction with professional networks lets the learner engage in the process of learning and creates a space for a diversity of thoughts and innovation.

6. Appeal to the young learners: Millennials think differently and the company leaders need to realign their perspective to cater the needs of young learners. They need independence within the structure and collaboration to experiment with new learning opportunities. Right content with inclusive strategy can transform the workforce completely.

7. Boost learning experiences with technology: A swift, interactive and AI enhanced technical environment which allows the learners to continue discovering new content can go a long way. It should facilitate and not frustrate the learner. Efficient platforms allow the learners to aggregate, organize and share the content independently.

C. Regular feedback and insights on progress

8. Managers must be prudent with learning plans: Allowing your managers to create developmental plans with their teams will empower them with the right strategy to handle and create an actionable plan in the time of need. Upskilling with the right exposure and experimentation is a more diverse and effective approach to learning.

9. Measure progress with regular assessments: Regular assessment and feedback in the process of learning is a tool that allows the teams to rate the skills of its members and guide them toward the right learning paths. Apart from this, informal assessments and individual feedback provide the learners a psychological safety, which nourishes a healthy mind.

10. Regularize learning frequency: Regularity in the process of upskilling not only induces a familiarization with learning as a habit, but also improves the knowledge retention and practical skills of the employees. Learning should not be an annual event, but a constant part of work culture.

11. Facilitate all-round growth: All-round growth through upskilling diminishes the authority of vertical corporate ladder and enables the employees to grow in all directions with managerial support and right resources.

D. Provide opportunities to the workforce to practice, apply, and stretch skills

12. Reward learners with growth opportunities: Frequent and constant upskilling needs the right triggers of motivation and doesn’t let the learners to lose their path in the process. Leaders have to make sure that their strategy respects the efforts and offer internal growth opportunities to the right talent. Right motivation can enhance talent retention manifolds.

13. Boost cross-team collaboration: Sharing the talent between teams, foster better collaboration and on the job learning challenges, which are an important part of an active learning process. It enhances the sense of responsibility and implants better communication skills, which promotes collaboration.

14. Facilitate learning without hampering work: A positive work culture offers the employees to learn through collaboration without forgoing their daily work. They learn the process and execution from the experts of the organization and put themselves out of their comfort zones.

15. Ensure continuous and targeted learning: Last but not the least, a combination and balance of continuous and targeted learning can create an impactful and scalable learning culture, which not only creates an agile and effective workforce, but also drives your business forward.

A scalable and inclusive learning culture not only empowers an entire generation of your workforce, but it can also fulfill your needs of highly skilled professionals. With the right leverage of technology, learning can be a tool to drive the organization towards a grand future.

4.1. Jab HRs met Bollywood: A tale of 8 movies HR leaders can take lessons from!

ETHRWorld, 11 Feb. 2022, Tejaswini Singhal

Well, there’s a lot to learn from Bollywood movies! Movies are themselves structured in a way like an organization is. Indian movies are a mixture of hero, heroine and villain and various other relatives and everyone has a different role to play.

Can you still recall the sweet little boy- Ishan from 'Taare Zameen Par'? Well, who can forget him? But what lessons can one take from this movie?

You may find the topic a little crazy! IIT, IIM people may wonder: “Should I leave my job?”

Well, we cannot deny the fact that learning can be from anywhere. There is a popular quote by Henry Ford which says that anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty, and anyone who keeps learning stays young and the greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young!

Basically, we are talking about taking lessons from Bollywood movies which can prove to be helpful for HR professionals and in the corporate world.

(Here we are not calling anyone a villain!)

Just like in a movie, even an organization has different sets of people, with different ideologies, mindsets and backgrounds.

Besides this, in this busy day-to-day life, movies have also become a great way to unwind, relax and be entertained.

ETHRWorld interacted with HR veterans to know what their experience was while watching a particular movie and how they can relate to that movie as an HR professional. Here are some of those movies they shared:

Jodha Akbar

Ever thought that a film based on history can teach us leadership lessons? Well, Atulya B, Co-Founder and HR Head, Adeera Packaging, says that he has always been inspired by the history of India.

“I see parallels in how you run a country and how you run a company. When it comes to taking inspiration from a movie on how to handle human resources, I look no further than ‘Jodha Akbar’,” says Atulya B.

Atulya B thinks that the movie was fascinated by the idea of a Ruler himself coming down to the streets to find out the real truth of what goes on in his kingdom. “There is no better way to understand the challenges faced by the commoners than to be at ground level yourself,” he adds.

The movie guided him to be actively involved with all the staff and speak with them directly instead of getting second-hand updates from the reporting managers.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

The legendary film showcases the journey of Milkha Singh. It focuses on the impact of emotional wellbeing, morale and mental health on an athlete throughout his journey.

Suresh Kumar Chitralayam, Director - People and Operations at Vuram, says Milkha’s coach addresses these challenges without replacing the athlete, helping him to overcome and win the final race.

“Mental health and emotional wellbeing are crucial factors that determine the performance and work-life balance of employees in an organization. Similar to the coach, it is necessary for a People Manager to find ways and resources to help people in an organization to be at their peak mental health to improve productivity, job satisfaction, morale, sense of purpose, and happiness,” adds Chitralayam.

Chitralayam feels that after the pandemic outbreak, many people are struggling with emotional wellbeing and low morale due to the loss of loved ones, increasing stress levels, depression and anxiety disorders. According to him, organizations must destigmatize mental health challenges and support their people to bring their best selves not just at work, but also as individuals.

Gol Maal 1979

You must be thinking, how can a comedy movie teach us HR lessons, right? Well, the movie majorly spoke about accepting people for who they are and not judging them by their appearance. It celebrated individuality, by beautifully and subtly wrapping it in comedy and romance.

Guncha Khare, Culture Director, Dextrus, shares an example from this movie by saying, “Amol Palekar hides his ideals, his hobbies and likes, makes up facts to fit it and even changes the way he dresses to secure a job in a company whose boss, Bhavani Shankar is quite traditional in his values and judges people based on their appearance rather than skills. He thinks men without moustaches are characterless and the young generations should not spend time on sports and music.”

It shows how employees often lose their individuality when they are either forced to or they try to fit into the culture and ways of the organization. They way your policies, working style, work environment and systems are designed, impact the way you act, speak and work.

Khare says that if you look at his real individual character, Amol Palekar or Ramprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma is talented, loves football, has ideals, can sing and play the piano and is creative, yet can do his job really well. At the end, Utpal Dutt does see Amol Palekar for who he is and accepts him.

The movie surely gives us a lesson that never losing yourself or your individuality, knowing and playing to your strengths is very important in today's work environment. Similarly, creating a safe, inclusive and progressive work culture that celebrates and accepts employees as they are and focuses on their strengths, helps them grow, pays long term dividends.

Dangal

The blockbuster movie was about a man who sets a mission and gathers the courage to execute it despite all the challenges. In the movie, the father motivates his daughters and gives them valuable lessons to be a leader in their sports journey.

Akash Sapra, HR Head, Casio India, says, “Rather than complaining about the things around him, Phogat decided to make the most of what he had by preparing his daughters to achieve their goals. The key lesson that it provides to HR professionals is understanding that it is difficult to find the perfect candidate on every occasion. Therefore, the emphasis should be on their strengths and then recruit and empower them to achieve their goals.”

Sapra applied this lesson during his journey. He shares that while working from home it was difficult for him to understand people virtually and their commitment to the job role. The only thing that he kept in his mind was understanding the employee's approach towards the position and their outlook.

“In other terms, you can also consider this belief as a ‘leap of faith’ that I took while recruiting freshers virtually. Today, when I look back, some of these freshers have become an important asset because of their hard work and commitment,” says Sapra.

Taare Zameen Par

Can you still recall the sweet little boy- Ishan from this movie? Well, who can forget him? But what lessons can one take from this movie?

The movie is about a child who is as normal as the other children were but the only difference is he was unable to show his abilities or talent in front of people. Nobody understood his capabilities and why he was not performing well, in a particular activity.

Usha Mathur, Head - HR Operations, CorePeelers India, gives a professional angle to this by citing an example. Mathur says, “If we take an example of an organization, in an organization every employee wants to work and perform well but few of them perform extremely well.”

“Some are Ishan’s brother in the movie, but some of them are like Ishan who have an ability to perform but due to various reasons they are not able to give the results. Here it is the responsibility of HR to identify the talent of an individual (Like the same way Ishan’s Art teacher Aamir Khan did) in the organization and provide them a better environment to work and to enhance their productivity,” adds Mathur.

Mathur also feels that like in this movie, everyone compares Ishan with his brother and expects a high-level performance from him. This thing should not be done in organizations, as every employee has his own strength and they should always be valued.

Gully Boy

Remember the part of the movie when MC Sher (Siddhant Chaturvedi) motivated Murad (Ranveer Singh) to rap? Well, he perfectly identified the kind of skills Murad had.

Anand Bhardwaj, HR Head, Pocket Aces, says, “MC being the wise and trusting person he is, tapped into Murad’s talent and let him take centre stage in several practice sessions as well as events. MC Sher never forced Murad to change or adapt to any other style, and tapped into his true potential.”

Bhardwaj feels that this taught him to always put exceptional talent first and have faith in them.

Mission Mangal

Michael Jordan once said, “Team wins the games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” The movie ‘Mission Mangal’ is majorly based on this quote. It proves that teamwork can do wonders.

Nimisha Dua, VP - HR, Grip, feels the movie beautifully demonstrates how empowering the employees and believing in them, can empower them to put in discretionary efforts, which leads to ground-breaking results.

“This lesson from this movie becomes all the more important when we’re heading towards a remote-first culture, which often results in employees feeling disconnected or micromanaged by organisations. HR professionals should formulate strategies that empower and encourage employees to grow professionally and personally,” adds Dua.

Dua believes in giving constructive feedback to her employees and not directing them, rather coaching them to become better at what they are doing.

Border

The 90s set film truly gives a lesson on leadership! It tells professionals that a good leader works with the team, stays with them throughout their challenging time and does not make the teammates work for him/her.

Amit Madan, HR Head, Gulshan, applied this lesson at his organisation and he came up with the idea of rewarding employees and moving with them. He feels these leadership lessons helped him recognise unique efforts by the team members and appreciate them at every step.

4.2. Indian brands are clear leaders in the talent hiring game

ETHRWorld, 11 Feb. 2022

If you look at the Indian brands, particularly the three big ones—Taj, ITC and Oberoi Hotels—they did not follow the same pattern. And therefore today, they are seen as being the preferred hires for people who also want to come back,” Thadani said.

The second trend which Thadani had noticed was that a lot of people who were let go off, had found opportunities in other fields and there was a high chance that they would not come back.

A dearth of talent is something that people in the hospitality sector have gotten used to hearing. After the two pandemic years which began first with a lot of job losses, many who had been associated with the industry for decades decided to move away. ET Hospitality World spoke with those involved in the executive search sector to find out how much of this shortage of talent is actually true, as hotels and restaurants have called back furloughed staff and sent out job postings for vacant positions.

Manav Thadani, founder chairman of Hotelivate, felt there were a couple of different trends that he’s noticed.

“When the pandemic started, nearly 24 months ago, people were let go. There was a lot of rejigging that happened. But this happened at the International and the independent hotels. The international hotels were ruthless and said they would get rid of 25 to 30 percent (of their workforce)—which happened almost immediately. If you look at the Indian brands, particularly the three big ones—Taj, ITC and Oberoi Hotels—they did not follow the same pattern. And therefore today, they are seen as being the preferred hires for people who also want to come back,” he said.

The second trend which Thadani had noticed was that a lot of people who were let go off, had found opportunities in other fields and there was a high chance that they would not come back.

“I think the industry will have to live with it. But there will be further skilling and training. There are people out there who are not skilled or trained enough. Brands don't realize it, but budgets to do skill training will need to go up because the hotel schools and various institutes are not being able to produce ready to go candidates, they still would need a fair amount of training,” he added.

Neha Garg, founder director, Red Kite Consulting Private Limited, who are prominent headhunters in the sector felt that pre-pandemic many candidates wanted to join international chains because they felt there was more potential and returns. This has totally turned on its head.

“We've not had a problem in filling the positions with the people that are required, but the bigger question here is—are people wanting to continue in hospitality? They're not. Today, with an adaptable skill set, you're no longer wanting to be in hospitality. We had a huge outflow of general managers who have gone into luxury real estate,” she said.

Garg, whose company also works on immigration has also seen a huge spike among those in the general manager level applying for citizenships and residency by investment.

“The entire positioning of the mind map of people has changed today. You want to be dealing with a level of security and unfortunately, that security wasn't given by an international brand. And therefore, people lost interest. Do you think these people after losing their jobs, even if they're invited to come back, are going to switch back to the industrial? I don't see that happening. Because they've already made their intentions and decisions. And their motivations are very different today,” she said.

5.1. Dalmia Bharat to invest Rs 9,000 crore in expanding cement capacity

IBEF: January 31, 2022

Dalmia Bharat plans to raise its cement capacity to more than 48 million tonnes (MT) by the end of fiscal 2024, up from 35.9 MT now, with an expenditure of Rs 9,000 crore (US$ 1.2 billion) in new plants, expansion of existing facilities, acquisitions, and debottlenecking of production.

Puneet Dalmia, managing director of Dalmia Bharat said, “We have an ongoing project of 2.5 MT, greenfield of 3 MT, brownfield of 1.7 MT and upgradation of around 5.3 MT. This will take the capacity to 48.4 MT by March of FY24.”

According to Dalmia, the company has finalised land in Tamil Nadu's Chennai and Tuticorin for two grinding plants, and is in the final stages of finalising land in Bihar for a new project. “We strongly believe in the growth story of India and the capex cycle has begun,” said Dalmia.

On the basis of weak demand and severe cost pressure, the company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs. 103 crores (US$ 13.7 million) in the December quarter of FY22, down 44 percent year on year. “The long-term view on the sector is that demand is strong, and I'm of the firm opinion that there is going to be a huge infrastructure build in the country and big housing growth. We have been a little ahead of the curve and we announced our expansion plans in October,” Dalmia said.

In addition, the corporation is investing in cost-cutting technologies. In Odisha, the company is also experimenting with electric vehicles, including electric trucks. "If that works well, we will be investing in EVs," he said. For the next few years, the company wants to keep its net debt-free status. The company's net debt-to-EBITDA ratio is negative 0.64.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

5.2. All you need to know about Skilling, Upskilling, Reskilling, Deskilling, Cross-skilling, Learning, Unlearning and Relearning

ETHRWorld, 24 Jan. 2022

The simple cycle of learning, unlearning, and relearning encourages critical thinking skills, continuous analysis, and evaluation of knowledge.

What is Skilling?

While skill is an individual’s ability to do something efficiently, skilling is the process through which that individual has gained a particular skill or skill set. In today’s fast-paced business landscape, skilling has taken a centre stage and should be offered continuously within organizations, as C-suite executives heavily focus on skilling amidst a shortage of talent.

What is Upskilling?

The skills you have acquired six months back might not have a high relevance today due to changes and evolutions in systems and processes. Similarly, as employees take on new tasks and responsibilities, they need to be equipped with relevant skills to succeed in these roles.

With tech evolving at a rapid pace, a working professional needs to constantly acquire new skills on a continuous basis. That’s where upskilling in the flow of work comes into the picture. Organizations not only invest in skilling their talent pool but also upskill them to be future-ready. Upskilling prepares workforces and enables them to be ready for tomorrow’s opportunities, which in turn positions organizations ahead of the competitive curve.

What is Reskilling?

While upskilling is all about gaining new skills that will help individuals in their current role, reskilling is about revisiting your existing knowledge, skillset in a particular domain that may require doing so. Take for instance, a training which the compliance professional needs to retake to be able to continue to do the work. Reskilling allows professionals to remain relevant and up to date of any changes in their field. In some cases, reskilling is mandatory for organizations to retain their workforce.

What is Deskilling?

Job simplification or deskilling can be seen as a negative, but in certain situations, can allow learners to focus more on a specific area instead of gaining half-hearted knowledge about multiple fields or areas without having expertise. However, by definition, deskilling refers to an individual becoming less relevant in the hitherto job market over time. It can happen due to multiple factors. Issues like changing working fields, underemployment, staying out of the workforce for extended periods, or getting migrated from another country force people to do low-skilled jobs for which they are overqualified.

What is Cross-skilling?

Considering today’s highly competitive and volatile job market, staying relevant is everyone’s number one priority. Additionally, many employees are interested in advancing their careers. In this context, learners want to learn beyond their existing job roles. Many forward-thinking companies have started assisting their workforce in practising and learning to handle responsibilities beyond their existing job roles.

This entire process is termed cross-skilling. An employee who knows how to work with multiple technologies is far more likely to get hired or retained than a candidate who possesses credentials or expertise in a singular subject.

What is Learning?

Learning is a permanent change in a person’s behaviour due to day-to-day experience. From birth, we are learning, and it never stops. We are learning for ourselves rather than an external motivation to perform well on the job front. However, it is more than just simple thinking. In fact, it shapes your entire personality, values, and ideologies.

What is Unlearning?

Unlearning is realizing that some information or knowledge we have acquired in our lifetime is incorrect, ineffective, or obsolete. Forgetting or erasing such knowledge is crucial to evolve and store new information. Once you have unlearned all old and backwards-looking paradigms, embracing a fresh breath of skills will be an automatic process.

What is Relearning?

While learning is a continuous process, relearning is about regaining lost knowledge. Something that has been learned and yet forgotten. This knowledge may not be easily accessible, but it’s worth trying to understand what is lost. The simple cycle of learning, unlearning, and relearning encourages critical thinking skills, continuous analysis, and evaluation of knowledge. It ensures that whatever you have acquired (in terms of skills and knowledge) so far is relevant, updated, and suitable for your growth.

(Divyesh Sindhwaad is Regional Vice President, Skillsoft)

- AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

6. Handbook on global good practices released to help cooperatives become competitive and emerge into commercial entities

ET Gov. 19th Jan. 2022

The handbook is a compendium of guidelines, resources, methodologies, key learning and case studies of the best performing cooperatives in India and abroad.

A policy recommendation handbook on SAHAKAR PRAGYA Good Practices for Cooperatives has been released by National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). The handbook is intended to help cooperatives in India and abroad to innovate and adopt best models not only to stay competitive, but also distinguish themselves as successful commercial entities, said ICAAP President Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav and NCUI President Dileep Sanghani while jointly releasing it at NCDC in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The book is based on a brain storming session on 'International Good Practices Platform for Cooperatives' conducted earlier by Laxmanrao Inamdar National Academy for Cooperative Research and Development (LINAC) of NCDC.

Speaking on the occasion, Yadav pointed out that “The cooperatives have inherent advantages in tackling the problems of poverty alleviation, food security, and employment generation — a path to self-reliance. This has also been reflected during the Covid-19 times.

“I am certain that this handbook will be a beacon of light for many cooperatives looking to contribute to Atmanirbhar Bharat, a self-reliant India.” he added.

A compendium of guidelines, resources, methodologies, key learning, case studies of the best performing cooperatives in India and abroad and the outcome and impact, the handbook would serve as an action plan that can help these entities to achieve the goal of self-reliance.

NCDC-LINAC and International Co-Operative Alliance Asia and Pacific (ICAAP) have come together to set up a platform to share their wide experience and ideas for transmitting Indian good practices of cooperatives abroad and vice versa, he said.

NCDC-LINAC and ICAAP signed an agreement intending to assimilate and develop further on the core strengths, experience and institutional objectives of all the parties in the interest of advancement of research, study, documentation and training for development of the cooperative sector. On behalf of LINAC, Lt Col Dr Baljit Singh, Chief Director, LINAC, Gurugram signed the pact while Balasubramanian Iyer, Regional Director, ICA AP represented the other party.

7.1. This agritech company plans to hire 300 professionals in 6 months

ETHRWorld, 13 Feb. 2022, Avanthika P

Agritech industry is leveraging technology and skill development to overcome the disruption caused by the pandemic and also to scale up activities of the farming ecosystem.

Agritech appears to be the new face of India’s farming landscape. Incentives from the AatmaNirbhar Bharat have led to revolutionising the agritech startups in the country. Gramophone, an Indore-based agritech company, is planning to double its headcount in the next 6 to 8 months.

ETHRWorld interacted with Tauseef Khan, Co-Founder and CEO, Gramophone, to get more insights on the company’s hiring strategy, upskilling programmes and the pandemic’s impact on the organisation.

“It was an uphill task to bring a senior hire to the team. We got good talent from IIMs, IITs and NITs. Along with this, we focused on relevant agri-focused courses and always looked for the right attitude rather than experience,” Khan said.

Hiring strategy

On the back of growing demand, Gramophone is looking to hire about 300 professionals across technology, product, operations and marketing in the next six months. Some of the roles for which the company is looking to hire include Data Scientists, Data Engineers, Product Managers and Technology. Currently, Gramophone has a staff strength of about 450 people, out of which around 150 were added in the last 12 months.

The company plans to hire resources through employee referrals, digital hiring platforms, recruitment agencies and with the help of its in-house sourcing team. Sharing insights on the hiring strategy, Khan said, “We have a scoring methodology for all roles in various functions within the organisation. Candidates are ranked according to the role requirement and at each stage of evaluation and interview, we follow an objective methodology for evaluating candidates.”

Gramophone has also allotted a panel of interviewers for each role to ensure objectivity in candidate selection and to minimise individual biases that occur while hiring. “We are cognizant of people's time and effort while going through the process of hiring. In most of the cases, we try to close the loop soon with the candidates who were not found to be fit for a role,” Khan said.

The pandemic’s impact on the organisation

Though the pandemic caused disruption and havoc in all industries, operations had to be carried out in agritech as it is an essential service. In fact, the pandemic made the agritech companies to increasingly leverage the technology, which played a crucial role in supporting the farming community.

Khan counts the pandemic as a blessing in disguise, as the company witnessed higher adoption by farmers and other players in the ecosystem like agrochemical manufacturers, agri input retailers and output processors.

“The pandemic has been tough on the operating front due to the health risks involved, but the entire ecosystem has started looking at technology-led offerings more seriously and in the last 24 months of the pandemic, we have witnessed a growth of more than 10x in monthly revenue which is backed by 7x growth in MAUs (monthly active users) and 6x growth in digital adoption,” Khan said.

Inside the upskilling strategy

Gramophone follows a three-fold strategy to prioritise the learning and development at the organisation. The skill development issue is addressed on three fronts. For the Agriculture graduates, the company runs an upskilling programme on business and Agronomy. It is an in-house programme in which a candidate has to undergo six months training after joining the company.

For junior & middle management, the company focuses on Analytical Skill and Managerial Skill training which is done via in-house and external trainers. Lastly, Gramophone mandates upskilling for the rural entrepreneurs on digital literacy, usage of in-house tools, email communication, basic skills of accounting and how to use technology to provide input advice and help farmers sell their produce digitally.

Khan said that monetary growth and livelihood improvement of their on-ground partners has always been the company’s key focus. “We would invest more on their upliftment as we want to double down on onboarding these entrepreneurs in the next couple of years. We want to be digitally and socially present in nooks and corners of rural India!” he asserted.

7.2. New venture to grow avocados in India

Asiafruit Magazine, 28 Jan. 2022, John Hey

IG International establishes JV with Deccan Exotics to develop avocado production with investment in plant nursery

Leading Indian fresh fruit importer IG International has announced a 50:50 joint venture with independently owned orchard and research centre Deccan Exotics to fast-track the development of Indian-grown avocados.

The joint venture company – IG Deccan – will be based in the Hyderabad region and make an initial US$1m investment to establish a plant nursery for growing avocados, with plans to generate 5m trees over the next five years, according to a media statement from IG International.

IG Deccan plans to handle a full range of new varieties from international avocado breeding companies and sublicense them to growers in India. The joint venture’s long-term goal is to become the largest avocado nursery in India.

Orchard and research centre Deccan Exotics specialises in cultivation of dragon fruit and runs a 30-acre facility close to Sangareddy Fruit Research Centre near Hyderabad. The company says it offers the largest selection of dragon fruit varieties in India (27 varieties), including hybrids and seven commercial varieties. Its services to growers include supply of seedlings, farming consultancy, post-harvest management and buyback of produce.

Hailing the new initiative, Tarun Arora, IG International’s director of finance and operations, said: “Growth is vital, and when to cascade to the next level is even more important in the D2C [direct-to-consumer] market.

“Our joint venture with a pioneering company like Deccan Exotics will help us create a blooming biome for avocados exclusively for our buyers in India, and it will also create an opportunity for India to become the next big avocado [sourcing] market for importers abroad.”

Deccan Exotics CEO and founder, Srinivas Rao Madhavaram, said the company was excited by the potential to make avocados “a native commodity” for Indian consumers.

“At Deccan Exotics, we are a very farmer-spirited company looking to cultivate the best fresh produce. We are thrilled to form a new joint venture with market leaders like IG International to bring the taste of home-grown avocados to every plate in India. Their flawless distribution coupled with our R&D capabilities will form a perfect synergy to create the best product.”

India’s avocado imports have been showing promising signs of growth although trade is at the early stage of development, with less than 500 tonnes imported in 2021.

8.1. Inside Amazon’s plan to hire 25,000 military veterans by 2025

ETHRWorld, 27 Jan. 2022

From the Military Veterans Employment programme to the Military Ambassador Programme, Amazon is keen to leverage the wealth of experience and diverse talents of retired veterans that are an incomparable addition to the company.

Swati Rustagi, Director - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, International Markets, WW Consumer, Amazon

According to statistics, around 70,000 military people leave active duty every year. Owing to this fact, the unemployment rate of military veterans is extremely high. Having said that, most companies try to utilise the military skills and expertise of the veterans in the corporate world.

Also, hiring military veterans is a major part of an inclusive and diverse workplace and giants like Amazon are taking steps towards it. For instance, Amazon already has a ‘Military Veterans Employment’ programme in place.

Launched in 2019, the programme creates work opportunities for military veterans and their spouses. Amazon India Operations partnered with the office of the Director General of Resettlement (DGR), Indian Naval Placement Agency (INPA), Indian Air Force Placement Agency (IAFPA), and Army Welfare Placement Organisation (AWPO) to ensure continued work opportunities for military veterans in the country.

The Military Veterans programme enables the veterans to explore corporate life and bring their experience to serving the country in a unique way.

Swati Rustagi, Director - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, International Markets, WW Consumer, Amazon, says that armed with invaluable experiences and unique skills, Amazon’s military veterans make up a diverse talent pool that strengthens the company’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

“As an organisation, Amazon relates to and respects the principles and work ethics of those who have served the nation and believes that they have the ability to think big, invent and simplify on behalf of its customers,” Rustagi adds.

Idea behind the Military Veterans Employment Programme

Rustagi says that Amazon’s mission is to be the ‘Earth’s most customer-centric company’, and this mission is central to Amazon’s work in diversity, equity and inclusion. Therefore, this made Amazon curate initiatives that cultivate talent across multiple communities, including hundreds of Military Veterans who work in Amazon India Operations.

Military Veterans bring in a wealth of experience and diverse talents that are an incomparable addition to any company. Rustagi says, “We are constantly looking for leaders who can invent, think big, have a bias for action, and deliver results on behalf of our customers. These principles resonate with the veterans who have served our country in the Armed Forces. They have priceless traits that are ingrained in them, including self-discipline, ownership, and process-oriented thinking, among others that are invaluable for a fast-paced work environment that runs on precision.”

Rustagi also feels that even Amazon customers benefit from the diversity of thought and the company found that military veterans’ experience in leading people, ability to make quick decisions and consistently delivering results are propelling the company’s efforts.

Further, to invest behind this programme, Amazon recently appointed a veteran from its Operations team as the dedicated programme manager leading this veteran programme.

Moreover, as a part of its global vision, Amazon is also looking to hire 25,000 military veterans by 2025. Commenting on this, Rustagi says, “We have seen one of the fastest ramp-ups in terms of our veteran hiring versus industry benchmark.”

Creating employment for Military Veterans and their spouses

Rustagi claims that Amazon’s hiring practices and processes are inclusive and equitable. The company has reverse-engineered practices to ensure that recruiters and hiring managers can make the hiring process easier for military veterans and their spouses.

“We work with our teams to give them a holistic understanding of the background and roles veterans come from. This training enables the latter to ask the right questions in the context of the veterans’ experiences and gauge the roles that these veterans would be best suited for,” Rustagi adds.

Amazon also has special programmes designed for Military Veterans such as the Military Ambassador Programme (MAP) curated for the specific development needs of veterans. The programme provides a network of support and tailored training experiences to support veterans in their transition to Amazon.

The critical components of MAP are identified by researching military talent at Amazon and understanding their needs and challenges. According to Rustagi, with MAP, veterans are able to better leverage their military experience to lead their team at Amazon, become more effective as leaders and executors, while they also get a mental framework to navigate the career development and promotion process,

The programme consists of three key components: Training Modules, Manager Connects, and Leadership Talks.

“We have military veterans working across functions in our operations network such as Customer Fulfilment, Facilities Management, Transportation and Last Mile logistics functions, among others, in leadership and managerial roles,” Rustagi says.

Meet Amazon’s new military veterans

Harish Gaudi, Site Lead, Fulfilment Centre (Amazon Fresh): After serving in the Indian Army for more than 11 Years, Major Harish Gaudi decided to take the plunge and join the corporate world. Gaudi joined Amazon in August 2020.

Hailing from Rayagada, a small town in Odisha, Gaudi was the second person in the town to aim for UPSC and cracked CDS in the first attempt. During his term with the Army, Gaudi held various appointments and locations across the country in the Artillery Division of the Army.

Being a Gunner officer, he served in high altitude (18,000 ft) areas and operations in the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh region. Driven by a curious mind and nature, Gaudi decided to explore civilian life after seeing the inside of the Indian Army. He is one among the hundreds and thousands of veterans working as a part of the company’s Operations Network.

Neha Patel, Capex Procurement Lead, Amazon India: After serving the Armed Forces for more than 12 years, Patel decided to switch her career and pave the way to another successful one at Amazon. During her tenure with the Army, she held various appointments and locations across the country, including Dras, ground zero in the Kargil district of the union territory of Ladakh in India.

She was appointed as the first Woman Staff Officer and Advisor to a Commander of the Field Forces at Dras, where she managed logistics of the area, including transport and ordinance stores. She achieved ‘Battle Casualty Status’ for the area – an honour which provided benefits to the next of kin to any casualty in the area for serving at the inhospitable, uncongenial terrain and succumbing to death with or without Hot War situation.

Patel held different roles in procurement and sustainability at organisations before she joined Amazon as a Capex Procurement Lead in June 2021, as a part of the Operations India team. In her current role, she is responsible for Safety, Sustainability, Facility items and Signage items in the procurement department for all miles. She believes that her military training equipped her to perform and execute her role better and parallelly, enabling her to transition into her role in a structured manner.

Satish S, Senior Manager - Operations, Last-Mile Delivery, Amazon India: After serving the Indian Navy for more than 20 years, Commander S Satish (Veteran) joined Amazon India’s Last Mile Operations team last year. He joined the Naval Academy immediately after schooling in 1990 and for 23 years, he handled many leadership and operational roles and missions, including the Kargil War, for which he was awarded the Operation Vijay Medal and Operation Vijay Star.

For him, the transition from managing maritime and aviation operations in the Navy, and handling electronic warfare systems, communications and weapon systems across various levels for the Indian Navy to managing Amazon’s delivery operations was seamless.

Over the last seven months, Satish has managed a large part of Last Mile delivery operations in Mumbai.

Shivani Bhatia, Programme Lead for Easy Ship team, IN Marketplace (Amazon): After serving in the Indian Army for more than five years, Bhatia decided to take the plunge and join the corporate world. Having worked across multiple industries in a variety of roles, Bhatia joined Amazon in 2015 to support the company’s last-mile operations.

Bhatia strongly believes that joining the Olive bandwagon in September 1998 was the best thing that happened to her. She could efficiently leverage the discipline, flexibility, time management and inherent team-building skills, the qualities she imbibed from her military experience, into her responsibilities within various roles at Amazon.

8.2. How Tesco Bengaluru transformed Tesco’s retail experience in UK

ET CIO, 1 Feb. 2022

The retailer saw a major push towards omni-channel retail which was only made possible by the company's Bengaluru team

Over the past two years of pandemic and through several phases of lockdowns, shopping is no longer what it used to be. Online shopping has become the go-to option for purchasing essentials and grocery for most customers. For physical retailers that called for a massive shift.

UK-based retailer Tesco, which operates over 3,000 superstores, was confronted with the same challenge. While traffic was shifting online, physical stores also requires major overhaul to incorporate quick check out options so that people are not forced to stand close to each other in check-out queues.

While the pandemic changed shopping patterns, Tesco Technology bridged the gap between in-store and online by making it a seamless omni-channel experience for its customers.

“We had to make heavy investment in cloud technology - Enterprise API, service-oriented architecture, cloud methodology to boost our technology stack that was required to meet the changing customer requirements. For instance, our 2020’s peak season over Christmas saw over 1.1 million online orders daily, with over 7000+ orders per minute, that’s thrice the number of orders from 2019,” explained Vidya Laxman, Technology Director, Tesco Bengaluru, said.

Lockdowns also made it hard to cater to the customers as staff availability was also a challenge. That’s when Tesco Bengaluru took up the charge for the digital transformation for the UK retailer.

Boosting self service

Customers needed self service capabilities at the Tesco store and they were also looking at an omni-channel experience, which was still hard to find at a physical retailer. And, to offer that experience, Tesco required to revamp its point of sales equipment or tills.

“When you walk into the stores, you have these big, bulky systems when you go to the point of sale, it's called the tills. And these tills are managed by third party vendors. So when we want to ask them to make any change, it takes a long period of time. And it's very expensive. Also, each tills costs around 1200 plus pounds. We have around 3000 plus stores and imagine 30,000 plus stills and for any small change, we are dependent on a third-party vendor who's well known in the industry,” Laxman explained the challenge.

To smoothen things out and to make the till more adaptable, Tesco Bengaluru built software tills that could be quickly deployed and modified when required.

Digital PoS

“We have created the software tools, where we have control more on the software, we have a control on the look and feel, because we all know how important customer experience is. This way it is easy for both our colleagues and customers. And by far, the customer experience on our tills is supposed to be the best in UK as we speak,” Laxman said.

Tesco Till is based on Tesco’s “Retail Platform,” powered by a multitude of enterprise APIs. This solution is a significant step in digitising the store shopping experience. Using Tesco Till, Tesco is already offering its in-store customers options like digital receipts instead of paper receipts, the ability to pay using digital wallets, and selecting language during the checkout process. The user experience on the till is intuitive for the customers can be altered for differently-abled customers and requires minimal intervention by store staff.

“The Tills have been extremely successful and we’ve already incorporated them in around 10,000 stores already. The customer experience on our tills is supposed to be the best in the UK. And, we can proudly say that the major development of tills was being processed and handled from India,” Laxman said.

9.1. India to convert 150 villages into 'Villages of Excellence' with technical help from Israel: Tomar

PTI, 28 Jan.2022

The Israel government has established 29 Centre of Excellence (CoEs) in 12 States

The Centre on Friday said it has decided to convert as many as 150 villages into 'Villages of Excellence' in 12 States with technical assistance from the Israel government.

Already, the Israel government has established 29 Centre of Excellence (CoEs) in 12 States, which are producing more than 25 million vegetable plants, over 3,87,000 quality fruit plants and can train more than 1.2 lakh farmers per year.

The 150 villages that are located around CoEs will be converted into 'Villages of Excellence.' "Out of which, 75 villages are being taken up in the first year to commemorate the 75th year of India's independence, where India and Israel will work together," Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar conveyed in a meeting with new Israeli Ambassador to India Naor Gilon on January 27 here.

The Minister expressed joy over the completion of 30 years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel and said that the government is satisfied with the functioning of 29 CoEs, according to an official statement.

The Ambassador of Israel, Mr. Gilon, said these CoEs are a great example of cooperation between the two countries and proposed the certification of CoEs to further enhance the standards and quality of services being provided to the farmers.

He also evinced interest in further collaboration with agri-research body ICAR and making available the latest technologies available with Israel.

Mr. Gilon also invited Mr. Tomar to visit Israel.

9.2. Big Basket establishes presence in 18 tier-2 and 3 cities across India

IBEF, Feb. 03, 2022

Big Basket, an online supermarket, stated that it has expanded its pan-India presence in the last year, now delivering in 18 new Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. The corporation processes around 7 million consumer orders per month, and demand has increased significantly since the Covid debacle.

Bhubaneswar, Jamshedpur, Anand, Rajkot, Ambala, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Raipur, Bhilai, Allahabad, Kota, Kakinada, Nashik, Kolhapur, Rajahmundry, Amravati, and Tumkur are among the new cities.

During the Covid-19 epidemic, there was a shift in consumer purchasing habits. The transition is especially pronounced in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, where individuals prefer to order online for safety reasons. Aside from the safety and short delivery window, BigBasket offers over 30,000 products, including fruits and vegetables, pulses, meats, juices, spices, and tea, as well as toiletries, household essentials, gadgets like LED bulbs, baby products, and much more.

"The demand for doorstep delivery of high-quality goods and fresh food items surged enormously during the epidemic," said Shashi Shekhar, National Head–Tier 2 cities, BigBasket. "Our on-time delivery, no-questions-asked return policy, and cheap rates, in addition to the availability of a wide range of products, have made us the preferred option for millions of clients in Tier-1 cities. Customers in Tier 2- and 3-city areas can now receive the same service, and we will continue to develop this network in the future."

BigBasket's reach is also being expanded through Fresho stores, which are physical retail outlets that the business has developed. The first store opened in Bangalore in 2021, and the company plans to add 200 more by the end of 2023, before expanding to an 800-outlet network by 2026.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

10.1. Walmart invites Indian sellers to expand overseas via its US marketplace

IBEF, Jan. 21, 2022

Walmart, the world's largest retailer, is now accepting applications from chosen Indian vendors to join Walmart Marketplace, a curated sellers network that serves over 120 million US customers each month. This effort builds on Walmart's 20-year relationship with Indian exporters. Walmart has set an ambitious target of exporting $10 billion from India each year by 2027, making it one of the company's top sourcing markets.

Walmart is looking for new Indian merchants as part of a global push to entice overseas sellers and increase the Marketplace's product offerings. Walmart Fulfilment Services will allow selected sellers to access Walmart's warehouse and delivery infrastructure in the United States, as well as platform features to assist them simplify their operations and manage promotions and feedback. Walmart also helps its Marketplace vendors succeed in the United States by sharing US customer insights, worldwide supply chain practises, and business planning techniques.

"Walmart is now offering Indian entrepreneurs the option to advance their export goals as Marketplace sellers, building on our long history of relationship with Indian exporters," said Michelle Mi, Walmart Vice President, Emerging Markets and Business Development – Global Sourcing. "They will be able to take use of our global supply chain infrastructure and receive assistance in reaching millions of daily customers in the United States."

Flipkart's chief corporate affairs officer, Rajneesh Kumar, believes that having easy access to global consumers can be revolutionary for Indian sellers. "As they take on the world, outstanding 'Make in India' firms can engage with Walmart to develop their worldwide networks, learn the best export practises, and diversify their product categories," Kumar said.

In India, a specialised Cross Border Trade team has been established to assist sellers with their on-boarding and growth on the platform. It assists local sellers in complying with applicable international regulations and Walmart Responsible Sourcing standards, as well as developing new product lines and improving their packaging, marketing, supply chain management, and other capabilities in order to upgrade their operations for export success.

Delphi Leather India, Mahi Exports, Touchstone Gems & Jewelry, and Welspun are among the pioneering Indian companies now flourishing on Walmart Marketplace.

"I am pleased by the possibility for my fellow female entrepreneurs from India as I promote Touchstone to a bigger U.S. audience on Walmart Marketplace," said Archana Garodia Gupta, Founder of Touchstone Gems & Jewelry. "The global expansion of e-commerce provides an opportunity for women to achieve their own goals of financial independence, support their families and communities, and contribute to India's long-term success as international sellers."

Walmart's efforts to promote small sellers in India through its company are being bolstered by the Marketplace opportunity. Walmart and Flipkart's Walmart Vriddhi supplier development programme is assisting Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with export goals in preparing to engage in the global supply chain. It assists MSME sellers in developing appropriate competencies, such as a digital supply chain, in order to start selling internationally.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

10.2. Farm production rose, agri exports touched record Rs 3 trn in 2020-21: Prez

IBEF, Feb. 01, 2022

Despite the epidemic, President Ram Nath Kovind stated on Monday that the country's farm output and procurement grew during the 2020-21 crop year, and agricultural exports hit a new high of Rs 3,00,000 crore (US$ 40.19 billion). Kovind said the government is focusing on making the country self-sufficient in edible oils, as well as making special efforts to encourage organic farming, natural farming, and crop diversification, in his address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament at the commencement of the Budget session.

Despite the epidemic, farmers produced more over 30 crore tonnes of food grains and 33 crore tonnes of horticulture output in the 2020-21 crop year, according to the President, who highlighted the Modi government's achievements in the farm sector (July-June). During the 2021-22 rabi marketing year (April-March), the government made a record purchase of 433 lakh tonnes of wheat, helping roughly 50 lakh farmers.

During the 2020-21 kharif marketing (October-September), a record amount of around 900 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured, benefiting 1.30 crore farmers, he noted. Kovind said, “Our agriculture exports have also reached a record level due to the efforts of the government. Agricultural exports registered a growth of more than 25 per cent in 2020-21, and have reached nearly Rs 3 lakh crore.” He was talking to the 2020-21 crop year. Domestic honey output climbed by 55% to 1.25 lakh tonnes in the 2020-21 crop year, compared to 2014-15, thanks to government incentives, he said, adding that honey production is a vital way for farmers to generate new forms of revenue.

In comparison to 2014-15, honey exports have increased by more than 102%, he added. The President stated that the administration has endeavoured to develop new channels of wealth for farmers by introducing Kisan Rail Seva in order to ensure that farmers have access to the correct market and remunerative pricing. “During the corona period, Indian Railways operated over 1,900 Kisan Rails on over 150 routes to transport perishable food items such as vegetables, fruits, and milk, transporting about 6 lakh tonnes of agricultural produce,” he said, adding that this is an example of how new avenues can be created from existing resources if innovative thinking is applied.

The President stated that small farmers, who make up 80% of the farmer community, have always been vital to the government, and that the government has contributed Rs 1.80 lakh crore (US$ 24.11 billion) to more than 11 crore farmer families through the PM-KISAN scheme. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme provides qualifying farmer families with a financial reward. “With this investment, the agriculture sector is witnessing major transformations today,” he said, adding that small farmers in the country have also profited from the new crop insurance system modifications.

Furthermore, the government is attempting to conserve rainwater. Special activities are being carried out in the country to build rainwater gathering infrastructure and restore traditional water sources. With the support of various initiatives under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana and Atal Bhu-jal Yojana, 64 lakh hectares of land with irrigation facilities have been constructed across the country, according to the President.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

- INDUSTRY and MANUFACTURE

11.1. 14 products to drive $1 trillion export aim, defence, green, digital new export areas: CII

ET CIO, 15 Feb. 2022

In its roadmap to achieve this target, the industry chamber said that India requires a 14% CAGR over 2022-2030 and its share in global exports must be pegged at 5% in 2030 entailing 11x growth over 0.55% share in 2019.

Pharma products, electrical machinery, vehicles, plastics, furniture and textiles are among the 14 product categories that the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has identified for India to clock $1 trillion merchandise exports by 2030. These would contribute over half of the target while the rest would be met fuels and gems & jewellery, among others.

“It is critical to liberalize imports at the same time to ensure that India is able to leverage imported inputs for competitive value-added exports,” CII said in its report ‘Achieving $1 trillion in merchandise exports: A Roadmap’, suggesting India to integrate closely with global value chains and to attract foreign direct investment inflows in its key sectors.

Besides, three other specific areas where new goods are emerging-defence, sustainability and digital technology-can be promoted to develop manufacturing and export capabilities, it said.

In defence manufacturing, the target is to achieve $5 billion exports from the level of $1.2 billion in 2021 can be further doubled $10 billion by 2030 while solar panels, electric vehicles and green products should be focused on. Drones, robotics and automation, and smart products can be given a boost through sector specific policies on the lines of the Production-Linked Incentive schemes where these are not in place.

Moreover, 41 countries including China, the US, Indonesia, Russia, Argentina, Ukraine, and various European countries have been identified where there is scope to expand exports.

“An overarching Technology Commission of India can coordinate, integrate, synergize and manage all technology funding, policy, procedures, development and deployment,” CII said as it pitched for a lower corporate tax rate on products with an Indian patent and targeted investments in research, innovation and technology at 3% of GDP by 2030.

Year Exports ($ billion)

2025 target 210

2028 target 349

2030 potential 520.84

Demand: Global market access

CII called to expedite Free Trade Agreements with large markets such the UK, Canada, European Union, Australia, United Arab Emirates, and the GCC countries along with resolving non-tariff barriers and linking investment agreements with trade pacts.

Though India withdrew from bilateral investment treaties in 2016, CII said protection from disputes and changes in policies is an important consideration for investors and it is “critical for India to be seen as a destination that affords investors’ confidence” and that “investments should be considered as a key chapter” in its trade pacts.

To improve the effectiveness of Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) programme,

it has suggested creating a special window ‘Accelerated APA’ similar to Vivad se Vishwas scheme to address pending cases. India should set up a dedicated internationally recognized marketing agency for export promotion in key markets, CII said.

Supply: National competitiveness

The chamber has sought extension of the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products scheme to all sectors, Special Economic Zones and aligned to taxes and additional costs.

To build manufacturing competitiveness, CII has suggested a 3-slab structure with nil or minimal duty for raw materials, a low slab for intermediate goods and a standard slab for final goods under a graded roadmap to shift duty slabs to a competitive level over a three-year period.

“A modal mix of roads at 25-30% share, railways at 50-55% and waterways at 20-25% should be the target,” the chamber said on easing logistics movement.

The fourth supply-side issue pertains to trade facilitation under which 28 areas have been identified to create a paperless trade regime and streamlining procedures such as standardization of customs regulations across ports, and independent working of container freight stations and customs work.

On labour reforms, CII said the rules of the four Labour Codes should be framed in consultation with industry, the threshold limit for certain labour laws be increased, states should create a single labour authority and special labour enclaves be created with easy labour regulations that also promote employment at scale.

11.2. Google to build more products in India for the world: Sundar Pichai

IBEF, Feb. 03, 2022

Mr. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, reiterated his commitment to helping India join the digital revolution through continuous investments showing the company's faith in India’s future and digital economy.

The firm established a US$ 10 billion Google for India Digitisation Fund in the previous year, and has already invested US$ 4.5 billion in Reliance Jio Platforms for a 7.73% interest, as well as investing up to US$ 1 billion in Bharti Airtel most recently.

Mr. Pichai said the business is thinking more about emerging markets like India as part of its payment strategy because it aligns with their aim of delivering a more egalitarian Internet for everyone. Mr. Pichai is also optimistic about YouTube's prospects in China.

"When I look at YouTube in India, some of the commerce ideas we discussed earlier, you might view India as the first stride because we can get faster feedback, and we have a very active, youthful population," he explained.

"So we will start there (in India) and expand from there. We are always on the lookout for chances like this" Mr. Pichai went on to say.

YouTube Shorts continues to be a major source of engagement for the company around the world, especially in India.

"We recently surpassed 5 trillion total views and receive over 15 billion daily views around the world. This allows our creator community to reach out to new and larger audiences," Mr. Pichai went on to say.

"In 2022, we will continue to focus on improving our knowledge and information products, such as Search, Maps, and YouTube," he added.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

12.1. Kotak Mahindra MF launches Manufacture-in-India scheme

IBEF, Feb. 03, 2022

The Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company (AMC) has announced the creation of the Kotak Manufacture-in-India Fund, which would invest in India's listed manufacturing companies.

Companies that directly engage in manufacturing activities, export goods manufactured in India with the potential to increase employment, firms that benefit from the government's manufacture in India initiatives, businesses that assist in the manufacturing of new-age technology solutions, and companies that invest in new manufacturing facilities are all included, according to the AMC.

The NFO is an open-ended equity scheme that is benchmarked to the Nifty India Manufacturing Total Return index and is available for subscription till February 15th. During the NFO period, the minimum application amount is US$ 5,000.

The manufacturing sector, according to the fund house, will benefit from the phased manufacturing programme, the PLI plan, 100% automatic FDI, tax reduction, single-window clearance, electronic clusters, and import tariff protection.

Mr. Nilesh Shah, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company's Group President and Managing Director, stated, "In the 1980s, India missed the manufacturing bus. We excelled in services such as software to become the world's back office. With China+1 becoming a geopolitical necessity, this is a good time to strengthen our manufacturing sector and increase our export market share. We anticipate that by issuing this NFO, we will be able to capture this manufacturing renaissance in our portfolios, allowing investors to profit from India's economic storey."

The fund manager also emphasises the theme's danger. It encompasses a variety of factors affecting the Indian economy and corporate sentiment, such as high commodity prices and inflation, which raises the cost of capital, government policy reversals, and geopolitical developments that affect the availability of raw materials and intermediates.

Mr. Harish Krishnan will be in charge of the equity portion of the fund, while Mr. Abhishek Bisen will be in charge of the debt portion.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

12.2. How this 125-year-old company creates intrapreneurs among its workforce

ETHRWorld, 19th Jan. 2022

The 14,000 employees-strong company has created intrapreneurs among its workforce through the 'Sprint' initiative. The programme has always emphasised agility, and even during the Covid-19 pandemic, it remained relevant to the times.

Mehernosh Pithawalla (Left), SVP & Head – Brand & Strategic Insights, Godrej & Boyce, and Harpreet Kaur, SVP & Head - Corporate Personnel & Administration, G&B

It was Ardeshir Godrej’s entrepreneurial enthusiasm that made him try his hand at manufacturing various items that would benefit the people of India. Godrej & Boyce (G&B), the flagship company of the Godrej Group began with the manufacture of locks in 1897 and since, has grown to include thousands of products spread across 14 businesses covering 10 industries.

Over the years, Mehernosh Pithawalla, SVP & Head – Brand & Strategic Insights, Godrej & Boyce, asserted that G&B has put a lot of effort into maintaining the culture of innovation established by its founders.

The 14,000 employees-strong company has created intrapreneurs among its workforce through the 'Sprint' initiative. The programme has always emphasized agility, and even during the Covid-19 pandemic, it remained relevant to the times.

The Beginning

Godrej & Boyce's Sprint initiative began in 2014, and over the years, more than 1300 employees from departments like HR, Marketing, Manufacturing, Sales, Finance, among others, have engaged with it.

Harpreet Kaur, SVP & Head - Corporate Personnel & Administration, G&B, revealed the programme has resulted in the development of 60 product ideas and process advances, 41 of which have been carried forward by the company to be sold to customers.

“A total of eight patents have been filed, as well as a design registration,” she said.

One of the achievements of the Sprint initiative is the Tea Brewer launched by Godrej Prima in 2016. The product idea was proposed by an employee from the design department in 2014.

“Over the course of the programme, the idea was converted into a prototype through intensive research, analysis, exploration of the concept’s solution, and realization of its offerings,” Pithawalla said, adding, “It later was adopted by Godrej Prima, developed by in-house experts, and the product was launched in the Indian market.”

An interesting anecdote from this success story - while the prototyping was still on, one of the international associates visiting the business saw the prototype and insisted on carrying it back for use locally. Recognizing the potential of the product and the need it served, he placed an immediate order for over 100 machines!

Running non-stop

In 2020, the year of the Covid-19 pandemic's start, Kaur revealed that G&B relaunched Sprint in a new avatar, 'Sprint-a-thon,' with ambitious intrapreneurs focusing on generating ground-up ideas around the Covid-19 problem.

The programme, in a virtual edition, garnered 426 ideas from over 700 participants in 21 locations, with the various business units eventually pursuing seven of them.

“In the current edition, from a total of 51 ideas, 20 participants are pursuing six ideas,” Kaur said.

Further, in 2021, G&B launched 'Sprint+', a 90-day innovation initiative aimed at bringing breakthrough tactics from the company's first 125 years into the present and propelling them ahead for the next 125 years.

“The core concept was to bring value to G&B to prepare it to face challenges in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world,” Pithawalla said.

He further said that ‘Sprint+’ delved deeper into developing better products for the Indian market, reinventing brand trust, and improving customer experience in an increasingly digital world.

Pithawalla said design and innovation are deeply embedded in the culture of Godrej & Boyce. “G&B operates initiatives like Sprint throughout the year to pursue human-centred, structured innovation and design outlined by our founders,” he added.

G&B has over 209 patents, obtained through various initiatives.

Helps in talent acquisition

Every year, Kaur said the company engages with over 150 educational institutes pan India, across 7,000 students for campus placements and inducts over 600 employees across the company as freshers and laterals.

“In each of these exposures, we showcase key initiatives of the organization of which Sprint is one that always excites the interest of the candidates,” she said, adding, “Godrej & Boyce seeks to hire talent that shows interest to learn or discover something new every day, as one of our founders taught us.”

Kaur believes the Sprint programme is certainly one that ties in well with this philosophy and G&B would like to nurture it for the years to come.

13.1. Budget: Indian mobile handset industry wants ecosystem for domestic manufacturing, exports

ET Telecom, 27 Jan. 2022

There is scope for more as it still has some 350-400 million feature phone users who can be upgraded to smartphones. The industry wants an ecosystem to push exports and support the resurrection of home-bred brands.

Apple started the trend of offering non-removable batteries to phones with iPhones. Phone makers had no choice but to comply with the latest trends and make sacrifices as consumers wanted more sophisticated smartphones. It was normal for phones to have removable batteries up until early 2010. Even laptop manufacturers gradually stopped making devices with removable batteries. Let us discuss whether removable batteries are good for consumers. Let’s start with the advantages of non-removable batteries that made them a necessity for modern smartphones.

Advantages of non-removable batteries

- Safety of the batteries and consumers

Batteries have a thin electrolyte that separates the cathode and anode electrodes which store the energy. The electrodes can generate a lot of heat by causing a short circuit if it comes into direct contact. Moreover, this can lead to more internal thermal reactions that could eventually lead the battery to explode or burst into flames. Battery technology has developed batteries a lot in the past years, yet they are inherently dangerous.

To prevent accidental damage removable batteries need a hard plastic case, especially when they are not connected to a phone. Plastic cases add to the weight and bulk of the smartphone. So, engineers thought of installing a permanent battery when consumers demanded slimmer, lighter designs. They ensured that the smartphones should be able to protect the batteries as they are non-removable.

- Improvement in battery technology

Modern smartphones last longer on a single charge as they come with lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries. This development of battery material and capacity helps phones to last all day even after consumption of battery increases for better displays and more powerful chips.

The increase in capacity also means that users don’t need to have a spare battery to swap out in the middle of the day. Moreover, there have been improvements made in charging speeds as most modern phones take less than an hour to get fully charged.

- Protection from wear and tear

Smartphones are getting more expensive every day as they are getting more sophisticated. So, consumers want these devices to last longer and have a lot of protection. Consumers want these devices to withstand regular wear and tear and protection against occasional spills and drops.

So, smartphone makers have sealed the outer case to make their devices more durable. But, users lost access to replaceable batteries as they got sealed. Furthermore, it is tough to design a slim and light device with a removable outer case.

- Providing tracking abilities to the device

Premium smartphones lure thieves as they are expensive and are easy to steal and resell. Not just the device, but users also lose some highly sensitive data including financial information. So, smartphone makers allow passive phone tracking even if the device is switched off. This feature allows users to track their devices which acts as a defence against smartphone thefts.

But, the tracking capability can be killed by removing the smartphone’s battery, which is its power source. It becomes impossible for thieves to remove the batteries without equipment and expertise if it is sealed inside your phone’s case. The non-removable battery helps you to track your phone if it is missing and even switched off.

Disadvantages of non-removable batteries

The non-removable batteries come with a lot of advantages, yet users still lose out on some functions and features with them. Now let’s talk about some drawbacks of non-removable batteries.

- Swapping batteries vs Charging batteries

Charging outlets and power banks takes time to charge your devices, especially if they are older ones. You have to wait about 15 -30 minutes to get your phone fully charged, even if both your power bank and smartphone have the latest fast charging.

On the other hand, replacing an empty battery with a fully charged one will most likely take a minute. Moreover, slim spare batteries are way lighter than smaller mid-sized power banks. Power banks add more weight and use more space in your luggage.

- Possibility of batteries bloating up

Smartphone batteries can also bloat up and this problem still exists even after all the advancements in battery technology. In such cases, the battery's safety is compromised and users have to replace it immediately.

Replacing the old bloated battery with a new one is an easier process for removable batteries. But, most modern users have to take their devices to an authorized service to replace it as they usually come with non-removable batteries. Whenever a non-removable battery bloats up, it forces the case to crack open and can damage your phone’s protection.

- Gets tougher for third party shops to repair phones

Non-replaceable batteries give us sleek and modern devices but the design makes it harder for third-party repair shops to fix broken phones. The manufacturers these days want the batteries to permanently bond with the phone’s chassis. Meanwhile, a removable battery is easier to repair.

What do consumers want?

Most consumers are happy with the non-replaceable battery set up on their devices, but some complain about the lack of removable batteries. Losing the removable battery is a small price that most consumers want to pay for features like the slimmer form factor and IP ratings.

13.2. Why India’s building a mega semiconductor fab facility

ET Telecom, 3 Feb. 2022

Even a year ago, the majority in the industry believed India needn’t be in a hurry to set up a new-age fab. It’s expensive – at least $4-5 billion. Previous attempts to set one up had failed. Globally, there seemed to be enough capacity.

India is going all out to build a world-class semiconductor fabrication facility. The plan is to initially build one mega semiconductor cluster, like Hsinchu in Taiwan or Woodlands Wafer Fab Park in Singapore, Saurabh Gaur, joint secretary in the ministry of electronics & IT, said last week at our webinar in association with the semiconductor industry body VLSI Society of India.

But there’s been a dramatic months. Chips are in short supply. Far more importantly, every major country is trying to build its own semiconductor capability – because chips are the foundation of today’s digital world, and everyone’s wary of being too dependent on Taiwan, given particularly China’s position on the region. Boston Consulting estimates Taiwan accounts for 92% of the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing capacity.

Gaur said there’s enough economic rationale now for India to build a modern fab. Going by the interest companies like Apple, Samsung, Dell, HP, Acer and Asus have shown in manufacturing their electronic products in India – following the government’s recent production-linked incentive schemes – Gaur estimates India’s share of global electronics manufacturing will rise from 3.5% now to 10% (or about $300 billion) in 4-5 years, by the time the fab is ready. He said these manufacturing of semiconductor components from the India fab to have better control of their supply chains.

There’s also optimism because larger semiconductor policy that will be driven in a mission mode by a professional body, with guidance from Indian and global exwhich the government has allogovernment is prepared to take that up to $40-50 billion when necessary. There are plans for smaller fabs and chip packaging units, there are attractive incentives for chip design – an area where India is already very strong – and incentives for research in semiconductors. A lot of this is directed towards creating Indian companies in chip design and semiconductor products.

Satya Gupta, president of the VLSI Society of India, which is holding a major design conference later this month, said there’s a perception globally that India does not have good infrastructure, so it’s important to pre-build a fab park in one location, “where we build power, water, place for gases, for chemicals, easy customs, easy logistics, transportation. ” And while the fab is getting ready, he said, India should identify and focus on some areas of good market demand, where India also has the technology and some level of manufacturing capability. LED driver chips, he said, is one such – we already consume almost 600 million such chips each year, and it can be manufactured with technology India has. Gaur said the SCL (Semiconductor Laboratory) in Mohali is being upgraded to deal with precisely such requirements.

Sambit Sahu, VP of the network and edge group at Intel, said applications around AI, 5G and IoT will need more and more differentiated chips to be built. AI, he noted, is trying to mimic the human brain, but it still doesn’t match even 1% of the brain. “So you can imagine how far we have to go. India can lead in product development in areas where there is huge domestic demand, particularly in the areas of healthcare, education, and agriculture,” he said.

Balajee Sowrirajan, MD of Samsung Semiconductor India R&D Centre, said companies like Samsung, Intel, Qualcomm are all in the midst of these core technologies. All of them have massive R&D centres in India. “We have the right innovation knobs, and we’ve been innovating for many, many years to bring about a fundamental change for the global market. Now, coming closer to home, this is going to be important, if you look at smart cities, smart factories (in India),” he said. The global companies, he said, can also play a big role in collaborating with Indian entrepreneurs to create products for India and the world.

14. India's textile industry revs up, giving hope on jobs

ETHRWorld, 12 Fev. 2022

After being outpaced in recent years by neighbouring Bangladesh and then hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic, India's garment factories are now humming near full capacity - a rare labour market bright spot for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling party as they head towards an election in 2024.

HINDUPUR: At Texport Industries' factories in India's south, thousands of mostly women workers are busy converting yarn and fabrics into T-shirts, shirts, spaghetti tops and kids' clothes for U.S. customers of Tommy Hilfiger and Kohl's Corp.

"We have been so busy," said Parashuram, the head of one of the Texport factories who goes by one name, as a batch of 60 new women recruits practiced stitching. "We are constantly looking to hire workers."

The company is scouting for land to add new factories around its main production base in Hindupur, about 100 km (60 miles) north of tech hub Bengaluru.

Sustained success for the textile and apparel (T&A) industry, the country's biggest employer after farming, is crucial if Modi is to succeed in taming unemployment.

India's jobless rate is above 7% and estimated to have exceeded the global average in five of the last six years - a massive problem for a country that must create millions of jobs each year just to keep pace with the young people joining the labour market.

HIGHER LABOUR COSTS

India is the world's fifth biggest T&A exporter with a 4% share of the $840 billion global market, while China controls more than a third of it. India's exports were on a par with closest rival Bangladesh about a decade ago but have lagged in recent years - especially on garments - partly due to higher labour costs that make Indian clothes some 20% costlier.

Indian T&A companies say they are now adding new clients, selling more to old ones and raising production capacity as foreign buyers seek to diversify their supply chains.

Other than China, only India has a big supply chain of everything from cotton to garments.

Still, some industry leaders said that unless India signed free trade agreements with Western countries - which New Delhi says it is working on - it would not be easy to outsell Bangladesh, which also enjoys preferential export terms from many buyers as a least developed country.

Indian companies such as Texport, Welspun India and Raymond - whose buyers include Western retailers Amazon, Target, Costco, Walmart Inc, Tesco and Macy's - have managed to lift sales in recent quarters.

Modi wants them to create some 1.5 million jobs in the sector over the next five years or so.

India's junior textiles minister, Darshana Jardosh, on Wednesday listed recent announcements to support the industry, such as setting up seven huge all-in-one textile parks for about $600 million to further increase employment and make it easier for foreign buyers to place orders and monitor supply chains. The government has also proposed production-linked incentives worth $1.4 billion.

The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) said India's ongoing and planned investments had resulted in "more companies looking at India as a potential source of growth over the coming years", without giving specifics.

Two industry sources with knowledge of the matter said both Fast Retailing's Uniqlo and Gap Inc were in talks to expand purchases from India. The companies, who source from India mainly from the country's biggest garments exporter Shahi Exports, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Shahi Exports Managing Director Harish Ahuja declined to discuss individual buyers but said demand was high from its existing customers.

CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS?

India's April-December T&A exports soared 52% to $30.5 billion from the year-ago period, and the government has set a full fiscal-year target of $44 billion, which would be a record.

While global textile exports recorded a compounded annual growth rate of 2% between 2015 and 2019, India's shrank 0.8%, according to an industry report. Both Bangladesh and Vietnam grew at 10% or more.

One factor behind the surge in sales for Indian companies to the United States and Europe in the past few quarters has been alleged rights abuses in China's main cotton growing province of Xinjiang, where the minority Muslim Uyghur community lives.

U.S. President Joe Biden in late December signed into law legislation that bans imports from Xinjiang. China has rejected accusations of forced labour or any other abuses in Xinjiang.

The China Cotton Association referred Reuters to a December statement that warned of "severe impact" on its cotton textile industry because of the U.S. move.

Raymond, an Indian exporter of men's suits, jackets and denim, said the China factor helped it recently sign up new clients that it had long pursued.

"At current capacity, we may not be able to pick up as much as the orders coming our way, as much as buyers want to ship away from China," said Narendra Goenka, chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council of India and a founder of family owned Texport.

Goenka said his company was spending some $25 million to raise its capacity by more than a quarter over the next two years, with the addition of 8,000 jobs on top of its current workforce of more than 10,000.

For 19-year-old Lopamudra Patel, from the eastern state of Odisha, whose family struggled to survive on her father's income as a part-time driver, the industry has come as a saviour. She joined Texport a few weeks ago for a monthly wage of $100.

"It was very difficult at home," she said, standing next to whirring sewing machines in the training room. "I will now be able to send some money home."

15. How to get more done with less using a data warehouse

ET CIO, 7 Feb. 2022

Data in the warehouse is subjected, structured, and sectionalized so the consumption of the data for AI and analytics is easy.

Organizations today want data warehousing capabilities that enable centralized data analysis with near-unlimited efficiency, flexibility and power while safeguarding their most valuable data assets. The value of data is amplified further when enterprises can process it concurrently and extract deep business insights from it.

Modernized data warehousing brings an array of capabilities that were simply not possible with legacy systems. They eliminate the need for manual administration, management costs and infrastructure acquisition costs, meaning that varied data resources can be scaled with confidence and without added hardware or staff.

But implementing a data warehouse is a huge investment for any business and the decisions involved will most likely impact the business value and IT costs for the years to come. So how do you decide to invest and if you do, how do you justify the costs and ROI?

Pawan S Kumar, Partner & Leader, Technology Consulting from PwC India considers data warehouse as an information infrastructure for a company. Having this infrastructure setup becomes important to have to scale the speed of analytics and to run AI models.

"Companies have ERP to capture financial data, CRM for customer data, HCM for human capital data. But if the company wants to do something from an enterprise level, it will need an infrastructure layer to do that," he explained.

Data in the warehouse is subjected, structured, and sectionalized so the consumption of the data for AI and analytics is easy. Hence if a company does not have an information infrastructure i.e, data warehouse, it will spend more time and cost on finding the right data for the AI model to work than the team has spent on actually creating the model.

With a data warehouse the entire data will not sit on various computers but will be at one place. That gives a company a lot of power to massage the data. It will also help make quicker and better decisions because now the leaders are not waiting for their data or reports, the dashboards and predictive analytics are available almost in near-real-time. And if all the data resides in one place, sorted and structured, Mukul Srivastava, Partner, Forensics and Integrity Services, EY, feels it helps the company to identify the critical data and will also help to scale the business.

The most important benefit of a reliable data warehousing solution is that it empowers users at all levels, regardless of organization size, products or services, to make data-driven decisions with quality data and focus higher in the value chain. Therefore, maximizing the capabilities of data teams and enabling them to focus on other important tasks, which saves time and reduces overall system complexity and cost.

Initially, when the data warehouses were built, most of the investment went into building storage, computing power but now in the age of the cloud the cost has reduced drastically. We now have the ability to do more. So the cost proportion of what a company would spend on the core infrastructure for building storage and compute has decreased hence money is saved now to do more analytics. This, and data warehouse being offered as a service has created a movement from CAPEX to OPEX which has made companies do more with less.

“With a modern data warehouse, data team leaders can create access to secure, near limitless, low-cost storage and pay only for the storage capacity and computing resources used. “By outsourcing data warehousing management, they can concentrate on leveraging data more strategically and in a more business-centric manner, without worrying about overhead costs and efforts surrounding manual creation and maintenance of the warehouse infrastructure setup, and therefore, build for greater organizational success,” said Vimal Venkatram, Country Head of Snowflake India.

Modern data warehousing architecture offers agility and economy, enabling companies to scale compute and storage up or down based on their needs, thereby enhancing the use of costly resources—both computing and human resources.

- SERVICES (Education, Healthcare, IT, R&D, Tourism, etc.)

16.1. Reliance Retail buys 54% stake in robotics startup Addverb for $132 mn

IBEF, Jan. 19, 2022

According to a top official of Addverb, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail has purchased a 54 percent share in the domestic robotics startup for USD 132 million (about Rs 983 crore).

Sangeet Kumar, co-founder and CEO of Addverb Technologies, told PTI that the company will continue to function independently and that the cash obtained from Reliance will be used to develop the company's business worldwide as well as to build one of Noida's largest robotic production facilities.

The company already has a factory in Noida that manufactures 10,000 robots every year.

"With this investment, Reliance will own around 54% of Addverb. They become the company's major shareholder. Reliance was already a valued client with whom we had collaborated on the design and delivery of highly automated warehouses for their Jio-Mart grocery business. There was already a level of familiarity and trust in place, which led to this association," Kumar explained.

He went on to say that the strategic alliance with Reliance Retail will allow them harness 5G, battery technology through new energy initiatives, and improvements in material sciences (carbon fibre) to offer more advanced and inexpensive robots.

"We are a successful business. The cash will be used to expand our manufacturing facilities and extend our operations in other countries."

Currently, India accounts for 80% of our revenue; but, in the next 4-5 years, this mix is likely to shift to a 50-50 split between India and global operations. "Our software revenues account for 15% of our entire income, and they are likely to expand dramatically," Kumar said.

Addverb, which was founded in 2016, hopes to close the current financial year with a revenue of Rs 400 crore, up from Rs 200 crore a year ago.

"We hope to be a billion-dollar firm in sales in the next 5-6 years. Everything is done in India: design, manufacturing, and delivery all around the world," Kumar explained.

Addverb has four subsidiaries: one in Singapore, one in the Netherlands, one in the United States, and one in Australia.

"In terms of employment, each of these subsidiaries will grow. Manufacturing will take place in India, with our overseas business assisting in the design of the robots," Kumar stated.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

16.2. Indian Staffing Federation partners with Nasscom to bridge IT skills-jobs gap

ET Gov. 10 Feb. 2022

FutureSkills Prime is the National Digital Skilling platform of India led by the ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) and IT-BPM industry body Nasscom.

Indian Staffing Federation (ISF) said on Tuesday that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nasscom FutureSkills Prime to address the Indian IT/ITeS sector’s demand for skilled professionals and to bridge the demand-supply asymmetry between skills and job opportunities. The partnership builds mechanisms for FutureSkills Prime learners to find employment opportunities through the staffing industry represented by Indian Staffing Industry members.

FutureSkills Prime is the National Digital Skilling platform of India led by the ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) and IT-BPM industry body Nasscom.

“This partnership will enable Indian Staffing Federation members to leverage Nasscom’s reach in the education and skilling ecosystem to recruit students from colleges and vocational training institutes. This could include assessments that students can take to demonstrate proficiency, thus enabling them towards appropriate employment opportunities to improve their career options and growth,” said Suchita Dutta, executive director of the Indian Staffing Federation.

“ISF and Nasscom will also work on joint research on critical workforce related subjects, given the importance of contract staffing as a dominant model in the ‘Workforce of the Future as a way forward to work through the staffing industry,” she added.

In order to facilitate Career Services Support (CSS), the ISF-FutureSkills Prime partnership would include demand aggregation by ISF through its network of 100 plus members.

“With technology becoming even more intrinsic for tech and non-tech sectors, digital fluency and skilling must be the prime priority for individuals to remain competitive and future-ready. The staffing industry is a huge employer of the IT-ITES workforce. This partnership will help improve the employability options as well as provide an insight into the nature and shape of upcoming demands,” said Kirti Seth, CEO – IT-ITES Sector Skill Council, Nasscom.

The partnership will also create enabling factors for staffing companies to have their employees (especially IT-ITES white collar) get upskilled on new, emerging technologies and the related professional skills, leveraging the FutureSkills Prime ecosystem among others. The SSC Nasscom will be additionally curating special DeepSkilling programs in aligned courses for the staffing industry workforce with the FutureSkills PRIME ecosystem partners, including OEM and Training Partners, in specific areas of new, emerging technologies.

“The signing of this MOU between ISF, which provides daily employment to over 1.15 million workforces (in both IT and non-IT segments ) and FutureSkills Prime that focuses on reskilling/upskilling in niche and emerging technologies, brings the best of available jobs and candidates on to one platform,” said Lohit Bhatia, president, Indian Staffing Federation.

17. Budget digitisation initiatives could lead to $10.7 billion spend on technology services

ET Telecom, 10 Feb. 2022

The government could spend more than $10 billion on technology solutions across IT, data centres, platforms, software and telecom, the technology forecaster has said. Around 50% of this investment will be directed towards IT services and software solutions, it said.

The budget’s proposals on digitization and technology revamp could result in a multi-billion-dollar opportunity for India’s big IT services providers such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra, according to Gartner India.

The estimates were shared exclusively with ET.

The government could spend more than $10 billion on technology solutions across IT, data centres, platforms, software and telecom, the technology forecaster has said.

Around 50% of this investment will be directed towards IT services and software solutions, it said.

TCS is expected to lead the charge in digitisation and technology revamp projects, while Tech Mahindra may do so in telecom and 5G opportunities.

In newer segments like logistics, agriculture and health-tech, the government tenders may go to smaller domain-specific companies and startups, according to research by UnearthInsight, which corroborates Gartner's estimates.

Government initiatives like setting up 75 digital banks in 75 districts or using smart meters to ensure equitable access to utilities inch toward digital inclusion in service delivery, said Apeksha Kaushik, principal analyst, Gartner Research.

“Digital government offers opportunities to optimize existing citizen services and transform how the value of government is measured and delivered,” she said.

As of 2021, government spending on technology stood at $9.6 billion. This is expected to grow 11.6% in 2022 to $10.7 billion, Gartner said.

Around $5.5 billion of this will be directed towards software and IT services.

“As mobile became the primary channel of service delivery, industries stepped up digital to continue operations. A rapidly growing technology industry and initiatives like Make in India and production-linked incentive schemes are making India lucrative (technology spenders) among the emerging markets,” Kaushik said.

Currently, Indian public sector projects generate around $2.4 billion in revenue for the IT sector, according to Gartner.

While this is a minuscule share of the $195 billion Indian IT-BPM industry revenue, it has grown rapidly over the past five years, said Gaurav Vasu, founder, UnearthInsight.

Vasu said the government's IT spending had been increasing at a rate of 8-10% over the past five years compared to about 2-3% previously.

“Based on the digitisation initiatives announced, there is a potential revenue opportunity of $4-$5 billion for IT services from the public sector (including the Navratna PSUs),” he said.

The budget has proposed several digital initiatives ranging from hi-tech services to farmers, digitization of land records and drones for agriculture to an ecosystem for upskilling citizens for digital jobs and digital universities.

It has also announced an open ecosystem for health, electronic passports; measures for establishing 75 digital banking units, launching a digital currency, digitization of state and central level systems through single-point access IT bridges and launching an e-bill system for suppliers to submit paperless bills to central ministries. Moreover, it also plans to tax virtual digital assets, which will also require extensive technical intervention.

These massive projects will help shore up revenue of Indian IT companies from the domestic market, which has remained in the low single digits.

For instance, TCS, which has been very aggressive in the domestic market, gets 5.5% of its $25 billion annual revenue from the domestic market, but has grown 15% year on year as of the third quarter.

For Infosys, this stands at about 3% but has grown 40% year on year as of the third quarter. While HCL Tech does not share its India business breakup, it earns 8% revenue from markets outside Americas and Europe.

HCL Tech has said in the recent past that it does not focus on public sector deals in India although it works with a number of domestic customers and services global customers from India.

With technology underpinning all key developmental projects, it may bring about a change in the way companies approach the India market.

Rajesh Nambiar, chairman and managing director of Cognizant India, told ET that the Indian market is one that the company will be looking at more closely. He said the company has ‘big plans’ for India and will be looking to capitalise on opportunities.

“We do have a thriving domestic business,” he said. “It is small, but it's still very robust and it's grown pretty well in the last couple of quarters. So, I'm very bullish about that piece of our business. Serving Indian customers is a delight and we've continued to do that. When we look at the Budget and then the economic growth that the country is going to have, we cannot ignore that.”

While large digitisation projects will be led by traditional IT majors due to their experience in working with government tenders, niche requirements will see the government tapping smaller players, Vasu of UnearthInsight said.

“We believe, in areas like healthcare, logistics and agriculture, they could reach out to mid- to small-size health technology companies and healthcare startups and also partner with companies through the Nasscom centre of excellence,” he said.

TCS has traditionally been strong in offering enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions for state governments through both products and platforms. It will benefit from broader digitisation initiatives, said Vasu.

With CMC (former government-owned IT services provider) under its belt, TCS has an advantage in initiatives that require technology revamp and record digitisation as in the case of Indian Railways and Passport Seva projects, he added.

TCS recently bagged the second phase of the Rs 8,000 crore Passport Seva project.

The Ministry of External Affairs’ contract for delivering electronic passports - valued at around Rs 1,200 crore – which was announced in the Budget, may also be serviced by TCS.

Companies like Tech Mahindra and KPIT have been strong in the telecom space and will benefit from the 5G initiatives.

Blockchain offerings like TCS Quartz and Infosys' India Trade Connect can also be expected to vie for the central bank’s digital currency opportunity.

Budget 2022 proposed plans to introduce a Digital Rupee, “using blockchain and other technologies”, to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India starting 2022-23, leaving the field open for IT service partners.

“We believe that India will be a platform-driven market, be it consumers or institutions and corporates, everybody is used to a platform,”' said N Ganapathy Subramaniam, chief operating officer, TCS during its third quarter results announcement in January. “They are going after digital in a big way and are consumers of digital platforms in a big way.”

TCS is positioning itself to provide apps and platforms that can integrate with India’s digital stack and provide solutions to customers across government, industry or even B2C.

It is also investing in platforms in banking, Application Programming Interfaces for microservices that can connect to the India digital stack.

India stack refers to a number of APIs that allow governments and businesses in the country to offer services to users digitally.

18.1. After saturation in US, media giants are looking to India for growth

ET CIO, 12 Feb. 2022

Global demand for Hindi-language programming is the highest by far among non-English content, according to data from Parrot Analytics, despite losing some ground to Japanese content in recent months.

New Delhi: Facing saturation in the US, media giants are looking abroad for growth, and India -- the second-largest internet population globally -- is ripe for disruption, Axios reported.

Global demand for Hindi-language programming is the highest by far among non-English content, according to data from Parrot Analytics, despite losing some ground to Japanese content in recent months.

Disney on Wednesday revealed for the first time a geographic breakdown of Disney+ subscribers, and India -- not North America -- is currently its biggest market, the report said.

At the end of last year, Disney had 45.9 million subscribers to Disney+ Hotstar, its Indian premium streaming platform, compared to 42.9 million North American subscribers.

Subscription growth in India was by far the highest last quarter for Disney+, compared to North America and the rest of the world, the report said. Disney acquired Hotstar from 21st Century Fox in 2019.

Hotstar is currently the largest streaming platform in India, and is especially popular thanks to its exclusive Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket rights, which expire this year.

Because cricket rights are a huge entry-point to the Indian media market, entertainment giants are already preparing competitive bids, per The Wall Street Journal.

On an earnings call Wednesday, Disney CEO Bob Chapek confirmed that the company is trying to extend its current IPL rights, but noted that if the company didn't win them, its investments in localized entertainment content would help them remain competitive in India.

Big money is flooding the Indian market, as investors rush to cash in on the region.

On Wednesday, Lupa Systems founder and CEO James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, the former chairman and CEO of Star India (an Indian subsidiary of Disney) and the former president of Disney's APAC region, announced the formation of a new venture called "Bodhi Tree," an investment platform focused on Southeast Asia and India in particular.

The venture is backed by the Qatar Investment Authority (the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar) with $1.5 billion.

18.2. Multinational telecom gear makers say PLI for 5G equipment to position India as global manufacturing hub

ET Telecom, 3 Fev. 2022

“Design-led initiatives for 5G under the PLI scheme and 5% of USOF for R&D purposes will strengthen the ‘Make in India’ initiative, and contribute to making India a global manufacturing hub,” said Nitin Bansal, MD, India & Head-Networks - Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India at Ericsson.

NEW DELHI: Multinational telecom gear makers said that the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for design-led 5G manufacturing will position India as a global manufacturing hub and will allow them to deepen their manufacturing capabilities in the country.

Finnish telecoms equipment maker Nokia said it is exploring opportunities to manufacture more products in India in a cost-competitive manner to serve both the local and global market.

Nokia’s India spokesperson said that the company was on track to fulfill its investment and production commitments under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson, in a separate statement, said 5G spectrum auction with 100% fiberization with Public Private Partnership (PPP) model by 2025 will help bridge the digital divide for an inclusive development of the nation in-line with the ‘Digital India’ vision.

The government will likely allocate around Rs 4,000 crore for a production linked incentive (PLI) scheme to encourage 5G design-led manufacturing, the announcement for which is expected later this week, ET reported on Tuesday.

The finance minister on Tuesday announced the launch of a PLI scheme towards design led manufacturing of 5G equipment in her budget speech. A senior official told ET that the funds for the PLI scheme would come from the already existing telecom equipment PLI scheme. The corpus for the telecom equipment PLI is Rs12,951 crore but the government expects to offer incentives worth only around Rs 7,400 crore, leaving surplus funds.

Japanese conglomerate NEC Corporation, in turn, observed that fiberization will bolster telecom infrastructure to support fifth-generation telecom technology. “The proposed PLI scheme for design led manufacturing for the 5G ecosystem will also fast track rollout,” said Aalok Kumar, President and CEO, NEC Corporation India.

“It also looks at boosting the economy with provisions for the start-up ecosystem, infra, clean energy. The focus on skilling, digital learning and clean mobility will create opportunities for Indian youth and will also go a great way in addressing the skill gap in various industries leading to an inclusive development,” said David Li, CEO, Huawei India.

KG Purushothaman, Partner and Telecom Sector Leader, KPMG in India, said the Budget 2022 has brought in optimism for the telecom sector. “The commitment of the government towards the launch of 5G by FY23, new PLI schemes to promote manufacturing of 5G equipment and strengthening of digital infrastructure will boost the momentum in the sector.”

19.1. How Intelligent Edge can improve business efficiency

ET CIO, 25 Jan. 2022, Anusha Rammohan

The real potential of Edge Intelligence lies in its ability to tap into the unrealized productivity gains that are beyond the reach of cloud only applications. As the intelligent edge starts to become an integral part of every industry, the possibilities are indeed limitless.

A fully automated manufacturing plant running itself and optimizing its output without human supervision; a retail store that monitors and automatically adjusts its product placement, display and restocking; an energy ecosystem that tracks and predicts consumption and balances it against the amount and mix of energy production. A couple of decades ago, these might have sounded like scenes out of a science fiction movie. In fact, sci-fi movies of the past often used the tropes of AI, robots and automation to indicate a technologically advanced but distant human future.

While some of them were surprisingly accurate in their depiction of future technology, where they went wrong was how “distant” that future was likely to be! For here we are, already witnessing science fiction become reality. Sitting at the intersection of advanced sensors, rich and vast sensor data, powerful compute devices and complex AI algorithms, Edge Intelligence promises to deliver some truly remarkable outcomes for businesses.

Edge intelligence refers to data collection, analysis and insight generation, all performed in proximity to the origin of that data. In general, data sources can be either machines and processes or sensors tracking a machine or process. “Edge” refers to being as close as possible to where an activity is happening, or an action needs to be taken. This could be a power plant, the shelf of a retail store, inside a vehicle or a sensor equipped smart home. “Intelligence” or the process of analyzing and generating insights or actions without human intervention is by no means a new concept. While computer algorithms have done this in some shape or form for decades, newer and more capable AI/ML algorithms in recent times have pushed the envelope in terms of accuracy and prediction capability.

The rise of edge intelligence is the result of two major technology shifts – cheaper and more powerful edge devices along with improved and efficient algorithms. But it is also a confluence of two organizational paradigms – IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational technology). Traditionally, Edge intelligence has been thought to be of three categories – OT edge, IT edge and IoT (Internet of Things) edge. OT edge refers to the layer closest to physical processes or machines such as in power plants or oil fields. IT edge refers to the edge of the network layer such as in telecommunications or in the media industry.

IoT edge refers to the layer of devices generating data with the ability to both measure and affect physical and digital processes. But the lines between OT and IT are not as stark anymore, as more devices, processes and people are now “connected” to each other and the network. Edge intelligence for many applications is starting to resemble IoT Edge, connecting operations with enterprise applications and overlapping with both IT and OT.

There are obvious advantages to building intelligence on the edge as opposed to a centralized server or the cloud. The biggest factor that tilts the scales in favour of edge intelligence is the cost and bandwidth required to transmit large amounts of sensor data to the cloud or server. On top of that, in applications that require low latencies, data upload and download can become severe bottlenecks for time sensitive actions such as alarms and critical notifications. Moreover, security and privacy considerations are paramount for applications that deal with user data governed by privacy requirements or sensitive organizational information.

Edge intelligence can address and alleviate these challenges related to bandwidth, cost, latency and security while still delivering accurate and reliable results. However, businesses need to weigh the advantages of edge applications against the upfront investment that is needed for edge deployment. The actual hardware cost depends on the application but will likely include sensors, connectors, data acquisition units, edge compute devices and edge gateways.

This boils down to whether the value provided by edge intelligence justifies the investment in edge infrastructure. In most applications, the answer is yes. The value add from edge intelligence can be broadly categorized into three areas:

Process or operational optimization: Improving the efficiency of a process or operation resulting in increased productivity or yield. Examples include manufacturing automation, chemical processing optimization and smart farms for agricultural yield improvements.

Quality control and anomaly detection: Automated defect and anomaly detection for averting failures or raising alarms. Applications include remote surveillance, healthcare diagnostics and disease detection with wearables and asset management

Personalized user experiences: Targeted and more personalized services for users in applications such as media and entertainment and personalized product offerings in retail and e-commerce

In short, edge intelligence enables faster, efficient and more localized decision making while increasing enterprise-wide visibility and transparency. There is no doubt tremendous potential for improved efficiency as existing applications become more edge focused. But the real potential of Edge Intelligence lies in its ability to tap into the unrealized productivity gains that are beyond the reach of cloud only applications. As the intelligent edge starts to become an integral part of every industry, the possibilities are indeed limitless!

The author is Member of The IET and Senior Technology Leader, Myelin Foundry

19.2. Skilled manpower demand in telecom sector rises to 1.3 million

ETHRWorld, 15 Feb. 2022

India's telecom sector currently employs nearly four million workers. With the government’s Telecom PLI scheme into effect and the focus on the 5G network, the sector is anticipated to be left with a huge void for a skilled workforce in India’s economy.

Currently, the telecom sector workforce in India is estimated to have four million workers – 2.2 million direct and 1.8 million indirect.

In the past decade, the vibrant telecom sector has suffered due to an unstable regulatory regime. The industry also saw prominent events like spectrum and the case of Vodafone Idea, when around 1,500 employees got laid off. But unlike in 2021, the hiring sentiment in the telecom industry has gained momentum. According to data by Naukri.com, hiring activity for the telecom sector has seen a 48 per cent uptick when compared with January last year.

With the announcement to conduct 5G spectrum auctions this year, in addition to announcing a PLI scheme for 13 key sectors which include electronics component manufacturing, the government of India has already indicated its plan to renew operations in the telecom sector. “This will increase consumer consumption across multiple metrics like data consumption, increase in 5G smart devices and boom in the IoT segment,” says Arvind Bali, CEO, Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC).

“Companies are already focussing on technologies like drone, cloud, and ML/AI with Airtel bringing in satellite communications with OneWeb and international organisations like Google increasing hiring in the ICT domain,” Bali adds. Meanwhile, Jio has also invested in two major deep tech startups targeting tech like AI/ML, AR, Metaverse and web 3.0. All these indicate a promising FY22-23 for the telecom sector.

The need for skilled labour

There are various government schemes in the skilling ecosystem that have been designed to increase the employability of candidates in six months. The projected demand in the industry can be offset with the right skilling initiatives across the industry.

According to Bali, there is a need to reskill or upskill the existing workforce and create multi-skilled candidates that can manage the interim demand for manpower. Further down the line, new manpower can be identified in specific clusters and freshly skilled as per local or regional demand.

For instance, TSSC has identified the pain points for skilled manpower in all four sub-segments of the telecom sector and is already reaching out to organisations to create visibility of these various state and central government schemes and encouraging industry to use the benefits these schemes offer for capacity building in the telecom sector.

While the steady influx of new technologies necessitates consistent reskilling and upskilling, companies in this space believe that the Indian workforce is poised to bridge the skilling gap and emerge as frontrunners in the global telecom landscape. Major players in the sector are already joining hands with educational institutes and training centres to help boost employability while also offering constant skilling opportunities at the workplace.

For instance, MediaTek upskills and trains the future workforce through a two-pronged programme wherein it partners with external teams and also creates internal training modules.

“We also offer the employees internal e-learning platforms that everybody across the board can access to upskill themselves. Our training modules include everything from professional skills and technical training to sessions in particular programming languages and hardware design,” says Anku Jain, MD, MediaTek India.

Given the huge entry-level workforce in India, MediaTek’s campus to corporate programmes are aimed at helping freshers transition to workplace culture.

Considering skilling as the need of the hour, Nokia also launched the 5G Certification Programme, in collaboration with NIIT and COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India), which is available for individuals and organisations across India to get a grip of the new-age technologies. The telecom giant also runs a university connect programme to impart knowledge to emerging talent and make them ready for the digital world.

“We, at Nokia, understand the need for upskilling and reskilling to keep pace with the technology advancements and lead in the digital ecosystem. We are continuously taking actions to enhance and expand the skillset within our organisation and also help businesses, organisations and individuals accelerate their upskilling journey,” says a Nokia India’s spokesperson.

Hiring Outlook FY 22-23

Currently, the telecom sector workforce in India is estimated to have four million workers – 2.2 million direct and 1.8 million indirect. There is high demand in the industry for jobs in telecom, and according to the ASEEM portal, the telecom industry has close to 1.3 million skilled manpower demand in the country. Bali of TSSC estimates incremental workforce demand in the sector from last year at 38,000 new workers for the period 2022-23. TSSC already has mandates of skilling three times that number which includes fresh skilling, reskilling and upskilling.

The latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey suggests that India’s hiring sentiment is currently the strongest reported in eight years and anticipates a 49 per cent rise in net staffing levels. A majority of this hiring will be in the telecom and IT sectors and there are reports of mega hiring occurring in the months ahead. MediaTek India is already in line and hiring aggressively to strengthen and expand its R&D facilities in the country.

“We are hiring engineers across offices in India, with a focus on artificial intelligence technologies, smart home and enterprise segments, 5G and wireless communications, among others,” says Jain.

Industry leaders also expect 5G and AI to boost digitisation and equality, thus making diverse workforces a reality going ahead.

The challenges

Given the huge demand for talented and innovative employees across the industry, one of the biggest challenges faced by the telecom industry is the search for the right fit, in terms of knowledge, skillsets and mindset. Further, the huge competition within the industry also makes it difficult to hire and retain the right talent.

According to Jain, the changing work parameters and the hybrid ecosystem also pose a challenge if we stick to the old methods. The only way to meet the challenge head-on is to focus on employee wellbeing and to realise that employees are the biggest assets for any company.

Jain feels that making the hiring process more holistically technology-driven and offering potential employees the opportunity to grow with the industry are some ways in which the challenge can be overcome.

Upskilling and reskilling loyal employees is another important aspect for MediaTek and the telecom industry as a whole. In fact, Jain says, “Once our employees take up leadership positions, we provide the technical training sessions relevant to their responsibilities, in addition to conducting tech talks within teams and across teams.”

Furthermore, the majority volume of the telecom sector workforce is in the form of frontline workers. These are jobs that have historically shown high attrition. There are many reasons for attrition but one of the key reasons, according to Bali, is dissociation from the vision and mission of the organisation in which the workers are hired.

“Everyone wants to be in synergy with the work that they are doing. An effective way to foster this emotion comes in the form of the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS). This scheme was designed keeping both the industry and workers in mind. Apprenticeship helps in understanding the job while being trained in it,” Bali adds.

20. The biggest software trends to look out for

ET CIO, 13 Feb.2022, Patrick Jean

As companies grow increasingly dependent on all things digital, India will play an even bigger role in shaping development trends in 2022.

India has long been home to one of the largest developer bases in the world, with Meta Platforms forecasting that it will become the largest app developer base by 2024. As companies grow increasingly dependent on all things digital, India will play an even bigger role in shaping development trends in 2022. Here, we explore several trends that will affect engineers in India and globally, and how businesses can identify the best strategy for their organizations.

#1 Focus on developer productivity will increase

As companies continue to transform, the demand to hire experienced developers will rise, as well as an emphasis on improving theproductivity of current developers to improve margins. To do this, businesses will need to put in place secure and reliable development platforms so that their teams can focus on building creativity and innovation instead of the tedious aspects of software development.

Development platforms should leverage containers and Kubernetes so that they can scale up automatically. This will help development teams deliver world-class application architectures while moving fast enough to meet changing business needs, all without being hindered by unnecessary maintenance and technical debt.

#2 Every company will feel the need to reduce technical debt

In recent years, we have observed technical debt taking up a huge percentage of company budgets. An OutSystems report showed that 28% of businesses devote more than a quarter of their IT budgets to address technical debt compared to about a third to innovating and building new capabilities. This problem is more pronounced for enterprise companies as they spend about four out of 10 dollars in their IT budgets on technical debt. In terms of actual spend, it results in a serious drain on resources, especially with the amount of money these companies dedicate to IT. The report further details the challenges that IT leaders face, citing examples like programming languages/frameworks (52%), high turnover within the development team (49%), and accepting known defects to meet release deadlines (43%). To reduce technical debt, organizations must deploy development platforms that have the capability to orchestrate the entire deployment process using a combination of automation, AI, and analytics to identify architecture errors, faulty logic, and broken dependencies during development and in real-time.

#3 Demand for cloud-native app development platforms will increase

In India, cloud is powering a host of innovative business models. Research firm Gartner for instance predicts that end-user spending on public cloud services in India will reach $7.3 billion in 2022, an increase of 29.6% from 2021. Gartner believes that the next step in the growth of cloud in India will be the adoption of cloud native technologies. Indian enterprises will hence look at re-architecting their applications to take better advantage of the capabilities of the cloud. As a result, the demand for cloud-native app development platforms will escalate.

Additionally, we have noticed the “build vs buy” pendulum coming back from “let users buy any SaaS they want”. SaaS is not only costing businesses a large portion of their budgets, but also becoming another form of technical debt: an entanglement in the required integration among hundreds of systems. To recover business agility with fit-to-purpose enterprise systems used among employees, partners and customers will demand a new type of cloud-native app development – one that is highly distributed and scalable, and enables the creation of resilient, custom enterprise apps that increase the agility of the organization.

# 4 Developers will demand tools that can help them deliver secure code

Today’s software developers are under increasing pressure to create programs that are free of vulnerabilities, particularly in light of the high profile ransomware attacks that occurred in 2021. A joint survey by security firm CrowdStrike and market research firm VansonBourne found that 49% of Indian businesses with an online presence recorded multiple ransomware attacks in 2021. The report further highlighted how Indian enterprises suffered more ransomware attacks than any other country, putting additional pressure on software developers and inhibiting developers’ ability to write and create programs. As companies seek assurance that custom software development provides similar levels of security and compliance as SaaS, developers will demand reliable development tools that can be trusted against vulnerabilities.

Between the uptick in ransomware attacks, lack of clear boundaries for organizational data, and increased risk with collaborative citizen developments, data, privacy and regulatory requirements are challenged more than ever before. CISOs and CIOs are gradually preferring to create new digital experiences based on platforms that systematically manage all stages of app development & delivery for each new app, instead of depending on the non-systematic nature of different teams with different maturities of secure software development.

#5 Companies will accelerate efforts to be more inclusive

This year, we will see more pressure on IT decision makers to be accountable and meet diversity, equity, and inclusion goals when it comes to developer talent. As developers solve the world’s most complex problems, companies must examine hiring processes to improve the recruitment of diverse IT candidates.

In India, there has been a strong focus on encouraging diverse talent. Nasscom, the premier association representing the IT services industry, has seen a strong focus on gender diversity within the IT-BPM industry, with women representing 34% of the workplace, amounting to roughly 1.3 million employees. The rise of women in engineering roles marks a sharp change in the mindset of gender inclusivity in a traditionally male-dominated sector.

#6 IT and app development budgets will reflect hybrid work mindset

We have started seeing IT and app development budgets reflecting the growth of hybrid work models, especially as the employee and partner experience become as critical as the customer experience. With new tools allowing a deeper integration between design thinking and front-end development, businesses can now use DesignOps playbooks to increase adoption. By observing end-user behaviour and tapping into an open source project like Open Telemetry, they provide digital product teams with a way to measure performance, and allows data to be collected and tweaked for better user adoptions, a feat that is historically hard to achieve.

#7 Distributed development teams will be common but more challenging to manage

A new reality for most software engineering teams coming out of the pandemic is that their software developers are increasingly operating in more distributed organizations, bypassing many of the controls that used to be in place. This makes it much harder to onboard, coach, monitor, and even audit the quality and the performance of the teams and individuals.

Software engineering leaders face new challenges every day in ensuring the security, compliance and governance of people that their teams often never meet in person. Organizations, managers and even peers in CI/CD prefer to operate on platforms that increase their ability to closely monitor the entire development lifecycle, from work being done to security being applied. Given that many of these features are only available in highly-advanced modern app development platforms, the adoption of these platforms will expand in comparison to conventional development platforms.

The author is CTO, OutSystems.

INDIA and THE WORLD

21. Is India Lacking Healthcare Data Security Guidelines?

ET CIO, 18th Jan. 2022, Ashish Kaushik

If India can establish itself as a HIPAA compliant country, there is more potential for business opportunities from other countries.

Data is being stored and managed in the cloud at what feels like alarming quantities – and the exponential rise is on track to continue. A large proportion of this is sensitive healthcare data (especially with the proliferation of mobile health apps) which should be governed by the most stringent data security regulations. So, when it comes to protected health information (PHI) and data security, what policies come to mind? It’s likely HIPAA will feature high on your list. While HIPAA Law is primarily designed for US citizens and healthcare organizations, regardless of where in the world they are located, other countries have also developed HIPAA equivalents for healthcare data protection and privacy. For example, EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in Canada, or The Privacy Act 1988 in Australia.

Despite this, India, one of the most populous places on earth generating vast volumes of healthcare data, has yet to define its own guidelines governing the protection and security of healthcare data. Software developers in India, building applications for the healthcare industry, will almost definitely process or manage PHI, which automatically makes them business associates.

The good news is that there is something in the pipeline. But in the meantime, unless Indian Business Associates can demonstrate HIPAA compliance, it could prove a set-back to the Indian IT industry if US organizations are cautious about engaging their services. Therefore, if India can establish itself as a HIPAA compliant country, there is more potential for business opportunities from other countries, including the US.

The Future Looks Bright for Indian PHI

The current legal framework in India, relating to protected health information, is governed by Information Technology Act 2000, along with Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures, and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules 2011. Together, they provide a degree of PHI protection, but with rapidly advancing IT technology there are potential data security ‘gaps’.

In view of this, the Indian Government are working to enact the Personal Data Protection Bill, along with the proposed Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act (DISHA). DISHA, being India’s HIPAA equivalent, could enforce the implementation of enhanced data security solutions. While this may require additional investment, the need to protect personally identifiable information (PII) and PHI cannot be underestimated.

The Benefits of Being HIPAA Compliant

While the Indian Bills are still under debate in parliament, HIPAA Compliance is mandated for organizations working in healthcare, not just in the US but many globally. Therefore, India can benefit from the direction on data security and privacy rules and regulations derived from this statute:

● HIPAA Security Rule sets out administrative, physical and technical safeguards for electronic PHI in order to ensure digital PHI is secure, reliable, and confidential. It focuses on the protection of data from unauthorized access, internal or external, as well safe storage and transfer

● HIPAA Privacy Rule concentrates on the rights of patients as to how their PHI is used, in strict accordance with confidentiality. Only patients can grant permissions for their PHI to be disclosed with ancillary services or third parties. It also gives patients the right to obtain copies of their health records.

In order for Indian software developers to achieve HIPAA Compliance, there are some overarching factors that need to be addressed:

● Regular self-audits – to assess the strength of admin, physical and technical safeguards. Any identified data security vulnerabilities should be rectified immediately.

● Documented Policies – to demonstrate how an organization complies with the HIPAA Security and Privacy Rules, and states appropriate uses and disclosures of PHI. This includes incident management procedures, in the event of a data breach.

● Staff Training – any employee associated with handling PHI needs to complete annual training to keep them up-to-date with cybersecurity and HIPAA basics, internal policies and procedures, and their individual responsibilities.

● Business Associate Agreements – outsourced service providers that your organization works with must also be HIPAA compliant if they handle any client’s PHI on your behalf. For example, cloud platform provider, communication provider, data processors, etc.

Bottom line:

Once the Indian bills, currently in debate, are passed, there will likely be a roll-out timeline, by which time healthcare organizations and healthcare technology solution providers must be compliant. DISHA, the closest thing to Indian HIPAA Compliance, will certainly help set standardized benchmarks. In the meantime, steps taken now to increase responsibility for healthcare data security and compliance will ensure the future of IT technology businesses are not left behind.

Ashish Kaushik, CISO, SourceFuse

(DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETHealthworld.com does not necessarily subscribe to it.)

22. Germany wants to attract 400,000 skilled workers from abroad each year

ETHRWorld, Jan. 21, 2022

The shortage of skilled workers has become so serious by now that it is dramatically slowing down our economy, according to statement.

The employer-friendly German Economic Institute estimates that the labour force will shrink by more than 300,000 people this year as there are more older workers retiring than younger ones entering the labour market.

BERLIN: Germany's new coalition government wants to attract 400,000 qualified workers from abroad each year to tackle both a demographic imbalance and labour shortages in key sectors that risk undermining the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

"The shortage of skilled workers has become so serious by now that it is dramatically slowing down our economy," Christian Duerr, parliamentary leader of the co-governing Free Democrats (FDP), told business magazine WirtschaftsWoche.

"We can only get the problem of an ageing workforce under control with a modern immigration policy... We have to reach the mark of 400,000 skilled workers from abroad as quickly as possible," Duerr added.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats, Duerr's libertarian FDP and the environmentalist Greens agreed in their coalition deal on measures like a points system for specialists from countries outside the European Union and lifting the national minimum wage to 12 euros ($13.60) per hour to make working in Germany more attractive.

This gap is expected to widen to more than 650,000 in 2029, leaving an accumulated shortage of people of working age in 2030 of roughly 5 million. The number of Germans in employment grew to nearly 45 million last year despite the coronavirus pandemic.

After decades of low birth rates and uneven migration, a shrinking labor force also poses a demographic time bomb for Germany's public pension system, in which fewer employees are burdened with the task of financing the pensions of a growing mass of retirees who are enjoying longer life expectancy.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber, Editing by Victoria Waldersee and Toby Chopra)

23. Will continue to see large global markets open more offshoring opportunities: Infosys

ETHRWorld, 24 Jan. 2022

"In the long run, if you see, COVID-19, while it had a huge impact on demand, the entire ability for the supply side to deliver in a remote environment really will shine up, and that has opened up the eyes of many of our clients that every work does not have to be done onsite.

Infosys CEO and Managing Director Salil Parekh said the mix has changed over the past 18 months with a lot of the remote working that was put in place and work from home allowing the work to be delivered from a different location with tremendous yields and efficiency.

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed demand and clients understand that every work does not have to be done onsite, which is expected to open a lot more offshoring opportunities from large global markets going forward, according to a top Infosys' executive. The Bengaluru-based company, which logged a 23 per cent jump in its December 2021 quarter revenue, also said its portfolio of services and capabilities, especially on cloud and digital, are resonating well with clients and it sees a good pipeline for that.

"It can be done in a near-shore location, it can be done offshore," Infosys Chief Financial Officer Nilanjan Roy said during an analyst call.

He added that this will help the industry in much larger offshoring at an overall level, and part of that benefit will be shifting more work to offshore locations.

"I think there can be short-term impacts like we saw this quarter, 10-20 basis points here and there, but the secular trend - we think we will continue to see that the large global markets will open a lot more offshoring opportunities," he said.

"What we saw in the last quarter was, some things have opened up in terms of travel and we are also being extremely optimal in what we have done in the previous quarters and this is something that has given us more ability to drive connects with clients and growth.

"We see in the medium term tremendous opportunity for an efficient mix because clients have also seen that once the work is done remotely or work from home that more opportunity exists, there are works to be done from a location further away," he said.

Parekh added that as a medium-term trend, the company sees that as a positive trend and there will be ups and downs each quarter but as a longer-term trend, it sees that as a positive trend.

On the back of strong demand from businesses going digital, the country's second-largest IT services firm has raised its revenue growth outlook to 19.5-20 per cent on a constant currency basis in the financial year ending March 31, 2022, up from 16.5-17.5 per cent forecast of October.

Parekh said the demand environment remains strong and Infosys' portfolio of services and capabilities, especially on cloud and digital, is resonating well with clients, so it sees a good pipeline for that.

"We continue to see a good large deal pipeline. We have seen a steady expansion of our clients over USD 50, USD 100, USD 200 million and so on.

"We have seen that expansion within clients is working well and also our new client wins and new accounts are working well. So, overall, we have the various elements of continuing this demand environment strongly," he added.

24.1. Fortune 500 companies, unicorn startups increase hiring by 3X: Report

ETHRWorld, 27 Jan. 2022

As per the survey findings - distributed workforce management tools spend have increased by 56 per cent in forward-moving organizations. Apart from this, 73 per cent of the companies have also increased their recruitment spending as they reported increased productivity.

The trends have been observed in new-age enterprises and startups that provide an opportunity to employees to balance their work lives.

A survey with 1378 companies including Fortune 100 enterprises to high-growth unicorns and startups has shown that 97 per cent of companies have expanded and hired 3X as compared to the previous year as they have expanded during work from home.

For some employees, working from home has served several opportunities to work independently in more flexible hours. This has a positive impact on the productivity of employees as the survey states - 87 per cent of the companies have noted that there has been a 36 per cent increase in productivity per employee from work from home, according to a study by hiring platform Instahyre.

Given these opportunities, software development, product management and digital marketing roles have thrived in this environment. As per another survey with 923 companies conducted by Instahyre, 92 per cent of the companies prefer targeted hiring as they expand and strengthen their teams on the above roles.

According to the survey - 12 per cent out of 12,698 employees have mentioned fatigue in their present work environments whereas 62 per cent have been promoted and learned new skills. And 78 per cent of the respondents prefer flexible work hours vs 26 per cent who prefer scheduled hours.

A very interesting trend is that 49 per cent of these companies using Instahyre have expanded their talent pipeline to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities - as remote work is adopted. Further, 26 per cent of these companies have hired talent from overseas like South-East Asian countries and other countries of the Indian Subcontinent.

Considering the dynamics of work from home models amid the ongoing pandemic, Instahyre analyzed the impact of work from home on business practices and employees’ productivity. Out of 516 enterprises from the IT products and IT services domain (more than 1,00,000 employees) and 1348 high-growth startups and unicorns, 60 per cent have said that onboarding under remote work conditions has helped to connect with senior leaders better and get a vision of the company.

Now that the predictions have been made that hybrid and work from home models are likely to continue, organizations are investing in workforce management tools to help supervisors lead the workforce in the new normal.

Amid the Covid-19 crisis, organizations have to face an entirely new spectrum of issues such as ensuring the mental health of employees. A sense of helplessness, insecurities and isolation has caused issues of stress, anxiety and depression in employees. To be more people-centric, mental health practices and spending have been increased by 98 per cent and organizations have drafted new policies for the wellbeing of their employees.

The trends have been observed in new-age enterprises and startups that provide an opportunity to employees to balance their work lives. It has helped the companies in engaging superior talent for productivity-oriented outcomes. Moreover, these trends have successfully brought newer competencies and skills in employees to benefit organizations. This seems to continue even after the pandemic subdues.

24.2. With total of 90, Indians top list of, US unicorns' immigrant

IBEF: January 17, 2022

Not only in India, but also in the United States, Indians are creating unicorns.

According to a study conducted by Ilya A Strebulaev, a finance professor at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, 90 of the 1,078 founders of 500 US unicorns were born in India. Between 1997 and 2019, Strebulaev's data covers unicorns in the United States. "Over four out of ten unicorn founders are first-generation immigrants," he tweeted. With 52 and 42 founders, respectively, Israel and Canada came in second and third.

Among Indian founders of prominent unicorns – past and present – are Baiju Bhatt of Robinhood, the commission-free stock trading app, Rohan Seth of Clubhouse, Apoorva Mehta of Instacart, Dheeraj Pandey, Mohit Aron and Ajeet Singh of Nutanix, Arun Murthy and Suresh Srinivas of Hortonworks, Aayush Phumbhra of Chegg, Gagan Biyani of Udemy, Dhiraj Rajaram of Mu Sigma. Fractal Analytics, which turned a unicorn this year, was founded by Nirmal Palaparthi, Pradeep Suryanarayan, Pranay Agrawal and Ramakrishna Reddy.

Last year, Mohandas Pai's investment firm 3One4 Capital estimated that at least one Indian-origin founder was involved in 67 of the 288 American unicorns at the time.

Kanwal Rekhi, Pramod Haque, Kumar Malvalli, Sanjay Malhotra, Gururaj Deshpande, B V Jagadeesh, and Sabeer Bhatia are only a few examples of exceptionally successful Indian-origin entrepreneurs in America. Many of them may not have launched projects worth more than US$ 1 billion at the time, but there were "unicorns" back then.

The Kauffman Foundation in the United States reported four years ago that Indians made up 33.2% of the co-founders of engineering and technology enterprises created by immigrants in the United States since 2006. The Chinese came in second with 8.1%.

Another study published in 2007 found that Indians made up 26% of co-founders between 1995 and 2005. According to the Kauffman Foundation, the contribution of Indian immigrants was the only one that rose; most other immigrant populations saw their contributions fall, resulting in a general stagnation in immigrant entrepreneurship in the United States.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

25. An uneven recovery is not a recovery

ACCION, 8 Feb. 2022, Michael Schlein

The global recovery is failing low-income people, but digitization offers powerful solutions.

For the first time in our lifetimes, and after decades of progress, poverty and hunger are on the rise. Families and small businesses are dealing with sharply rising costs, reduced income, and uncertainty, causing food insecurity to increase globally, affecting billions of people.

Meanwhile, the gap between the wealthy and the poor is widening. The World Bank is calling this “The Inequality Pandemic.” Wealthy nations are building their resilience to the ups and downs of the pandemic while vulnerable communities continue to struggle. By 2023, all advanced economies are projected to return to pre-pandemic output levels, but emerging economies will remain four percent behind where they were.

The global recovery is failing, and low-income people, families, and small businesses are facing the most devastating economic consequences. If we want to build a truly effective and inclusive recovery that lasts and avoid a cruelly divided world with different realities for rich and poor, we must empower the hardest-hit groups with the tools of resilience.

The digital path to an inclusive recovery

The challenges of the pandemic have opened doors to powerful solutions. At the base of the economic pyramid, more people and small businesses than ever are using digital payments, often for the first time. This presents a once-in-a-lifetime moment to build on these rails and introduce a broader array of tools that are vital to deepen resilience and create opportunity. If we do that, we can ensure that accelerating digitization truly empowers vulnerable people—and that’s what we’re working to do at Accion.

We are driving the digital transformation of frontline financial service providers, who have already weathered storms caused by the pandemic to provide a lifeline of support to struggling small businesses and families.

With new digital tools, inclusive financial service providers can provide personalized support that people need to adopt and apply digital tools to improve their financial outlook. Then, these newly digitized providers can collect and analyze data to better understand their clients’ needs.

In India, Accion is working with our partner Dvara KGFS to leverage high rates of digital and mobile phone adoption to connect more people to digital financial services, which they can use to build their financial health. With our support, Dvara is taking a hybrid approach that blends both tech and touch components to meet clients where they are on their digital journey.

In Latin America, with support from MetLife Foundation, we partnered with fintechs and financial service providers to develop new digital financial products specifically geared to improve clients’ financial literacy and health. One client, Karolayn Opazo, used a new digital revolving credit line from RedCapital to successfully grow and strengthen her wholesale avocado distribution businesses in Chile.

Three priorities for a more equitable world

First, we need to remain focused on inclusion: As we enter the third year of the pandemic, the world is fatigued. Those in wealthy nations can easily become complacent or lose sight of how the pandemic is creating extreme hardships for people in other parts of the world.

Leaders whose work touches the lives of vulnerable people—including leaders in development finance, regulation, financial services, and impact investing—can’t lose sight of this challenge. These leaders should maintain policies that ease pressure on low-income people, including easy access to credit and capital for MSMEs and their lenders, flexible repayments, forbearance for those facing difficult circumstances, and extra support for those unfamiliar with digital platforms.

Second, we must expand digital access and equity: While the digital horizon is expanding, many still lack access. Financial service providers, ecommerce companies, and others on the front lines of the digital economy should focus on reaching and including groups with limited tools and skills, like cash-reliant businesses, women, and those in rural areas.

But access is only part of the solution. While more people are using digital tools, it’s not guaranteed they are using them effectively. Research by the Center for Financial Inclusion shows that many small businesses have been slow to go digital, or they are trying out digital tools only to stop using them. Companies can apply a tech-touch balance to support those who are using digital tools for the first time.

And third, we need to create financial tools that build financial health: We must also think beyond access when expanding the reach of financial services to underserved groups. Financial service providers should build products that are specifically geared to improve clients’ financial health, as well as their understanding and awareness of their own financial situation. This is a win-win for both providers and clients.

Together, we can build a recovery to open opportunity for everyone, but only if we focus on uplifting and empowering the people who are being left out today.

* * *

AAPI

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Monday 21 February 2022

NEWSLETTER, 20-II-2022

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

– AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

– INDUSTRY, MANUFACTURE

– SERVICES (IT, R&D, Tourism, Healthcare, etc.)

NEWSLETTER, 20-II-2022

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

- AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

- INDUSTRY and MANUFACTURE

- SERVICES (Education, Healthcare, IT, R&D, Tourism, etc.)

INDIA and THE WORLD