The unravelling of the coal scam has brought to light corruption, red-tapism and ad hocism in allocations as well as an imminent energy crisis due to the severe shortage of coal. In fiscal 2012-13, India’s coal demand was 773 million tonnes (mt). While 452 mt was produced by state monolith Coal India, 110 mt came from private players — falling short of demand by 211 mt. The Union coal ministry, on its part, has announced measures aimed at providing relief to power producers and boosting overall coal production to reduce the shortfall to around 150 mt in FY14. In a conversation with BW, Union coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal discusses the problems facing the coal sector and outlines the strategy to ensure coal security. Excerpts:Power shortages are being blamed on fuel supply. What is the coal ministry doing to keep power plants from lying idle?The coal ministry is committed to meeting 65 per cent of the requirement through domestic coal in the coming year, 65 per cent in the next, 70 per cent the following year, and 75 per cent in the last year of the 12th Five-Year Plan. This is only for plants (those recognised by the ministry of power) lying idle due to shortage of coal. What has been the increase in coal supply with this commitment?Earlier, fuel was to be supplied for 60,000 MW; now, with the revised estimates, we are going to provide coal for 78,000 MW. Supply has been started from the current fiscal year to plants that have PPAs (power purchase agreements). Those that are able to fulfil conditions in the clauses of long-term PPAs are to be supplied 65 per cent of their requirement through domestic coal with immediate effect. As soon as they sign the PPA, they will get the supply. Seventy-eight thousand MW also includes power plants that are under construction and, thus, our commitment goes beyond the current power generation.What is the status of the dispute between Coal India and NTPC?It has been resolved. The ministry said that the two parties need to sit together and resolve the issue, and that has been done. It was not the Cabinet, but the ministry’s intervention following the PM’s statement saying the issue needed to be resolved at the earliest. There was a complaint against the quantity and quality of coal. Regarding quality, third-party sampling was deployed. How bad is the current coal supply situation in India?The coal situation is such because blocks were allocated for end-use plants. At that point there was no option. Successive governments also did not have any alternatives. To ensure the maximum output/coal extraction, we had no option but to allot coal blocks to PSUs (public sector undertakings) and private companies. But those companies faced a number of problems — such as forest clearance, land acquisition, etc. — because of which the development of their blocks was stalled and delayed. Additionally, the delay can be traced to the fact that states with maximum coal reserves are also those with the biggest law and order issues.Of course, there were some companies that had submitted incorrect information to get coal block allocations and then did not develop those blocks. To look into this, an Inter-ministerial Group (IMG) was constituted. But even before the IMG was formed, when I joined, the ministry had de-allocated 25 blocks due to delays in their development — this was even before the report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Following the IMG report, a further 22 blocks were de-allocated. The IMG also suggested a half-yearly review of coal block development — a process that is continuing today. Notices are being issued, penalties are being levied and bank guarantees are being asked for. Companies as well as officials have been asked to fast-track the process. What steps is the ministry taking to improve coal production?To begin with, we have decided that all private companies will only be given blocks through the competitive bidding process. The process itself is being streamlined. Suggestions will be taken and examined, and then we will pick a process that will ensure successful continuous bidding. The framework is more or less decided. Second, blocks for PSUs and state governments will be allocated on the basis of demand and availability of coal — and not through bidding. The proposal is more or less ready. In 15-20 days, we should be able to announce such allocations.The other push is for the development of blocks through the MDO (mine, develop and operate) process. The coal secretary is to oversee the process. There are to be weekly reviews as per a decision taken over a year ago, though not enough progress has been made so far. We are attempting to ensure that such models are adopted on a wider scale at a higher rate.Another initiative for improving coal quality is through washeries. Twenty coal washeries were sanctioned. At present, only six are operational. The speed at which this work should have been carried out was not achieved. Our subidiaries did not show the kind of interest that was expected. So, at the last meeting, it was decided that the minister of state (MoS) would oversee the development of these 20 washeries, which together will have a capacity of 110 mt. The MoS is required to personally oversee their development, and to determine how they can be set up in the fastest time, as well as why enough interest is not being taken in them. He has been given the charge to intervene and ensure there is as little delay as possible.How much time will this take?The allocations to the state governments and PSUs should be more or less completed in a month’s time. These are 17 blocks, which include 14 for power and three for mining. The bidding process will take another month following that. The MDO process of development should begin by the year-end. Additionally, seven open cast, captive coal blocks, with a capacity of 25 mt, are expected to start production before the end of this year.Do you think by this year-end we will be able to meet the 200 mt shortage?That we can’t say. We can’t say that we will be able to meet the shortfall. What we can assure is that whatever coal production we can increase we will. Whatever offtake we can increase, we are increasing. If we can establish all the washeries, that will have a large impact as well. We also need to adopt the MDO process. Until we adopt this method wholeheartedly, we can’t increase coal production at an escalated rate. The increasing demand and the increasing ratio of demand for power and coal can only be met through this model. It is only after its adoption that we will be able to increase production substantially.There are no legal or technical hindrances to MDO. The only challenge is that officers of our subsidiaries are not yet willing to adopt the model. That is why we have made the arrangement for our MoS to oversee its development. What will be the revenue-sharing model for MDO blocks? The revenue-sharing model will be decided by the ministry, but only after we receive proposals. We have to decide the process, revenue-sharing, tax and other nitty-gritty of this model as well as examine loopholes. We have to see that this model has no scope for cheating the government. Wherever you involve private companies you always face such problems. Precautions will be taken.Is there a deadline to bridge the demand-supply gap?No deadline has been set. In this sector you cannot assign a target date since you do not know the problems you will face. You never know where there will be an MoEF (Ministry of Environment and Forests) problem, where there will be opposition to land acquisition, or where there will be a Naxalite problem... Therefore, there cannot be a target date. But the aim is to move ahead as fast as possible and expedite coal production to the extent possible.What about imports? The decision has already been taken. You have both options of private power companies importing for themselves as well as asking Coal India to import for them. The demand-supply gap is to be bridged by importing coal. And the cost of imported coal is to be passed through to the consumers.Has there been any attempt to address issues of import/tariff with the countries that we are importing coal from?When we get such a submission from companies importing coal, we will look into it. If they ask us or tell us that we have a certain demand and issues need to be raised with the country from where the coal will be imported, we will look into the matter. So far no requests have been submitted to the government/ministry from private companies on increased import rates, etc.There is talk of privatising or restructuring Coal India. How will this help improve coal production?There is no talk of privatisation. The T.L. Shankar report mentions the need for restructuring Coal India and its subsidiaries. That is why we have set up a committee to look into this and suggest whether there is a need for restructuring. It is also supposed to suggest the kind of restructuring that is needed, what the process should be and the system to bring about this change. The committee is yet to submit its report. We will take a decision or move forward in that direction only after it submits the report.In January, the ministry floated an EoI (expression of interest) for consultants to suggest alternatives to the current Coal India structure. Seventeen firms had applied and nine have been shortlisted. Once a consultant has been finalised, only then will there be some progress on the recommendations made in the Shankar report.You say there is no deadline. But with all the issues facing the coal sector, and elections due next year, do you not feel the need to set a time frame?Elections keep happening, governments keep coming to power, but coal production continues regardless. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 27-07-2013)
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Taking the fight for access to affordable medicines a step further, developing countries including India may join hands to propose a resolution on access to medicines at the ongoing session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) this week.The move is keenly watched by members of the developed block including the US and the EU as “access to medicines” as a human rights issue, without limiting the list of drugs to the “essential medicines”, may hurt the interests of the global multinational pharmaceutical corporations.The development follows the recommendation given by Delhi-based legal activist Anand Grover, in his capacity as the Council’s Special Rapporteur. Grover, who took up this position in 2008, had submitted his report that "identifies and analyses challenges and good practices with respect to access to medicines in the context of the right-to-health framework" on May 27.The special rapporteurs of UNHRC are independent experts appointed by the Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The position is honorary and the expert is not a staff of the United Nations.According to Geneva-based officials, Brazil, in its intervention on Grover’s report, stated that developing countries including India, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt and Thailand will take forward the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur and introduce the draft resolution at the Council meeting. The draft resolution may request the States, the UN and other inter-governmental organisations to address the existing challenges with regard to access to medicines in the context of the right to health, and the ways to overcome those challenges.Taking cue from Grover’s report, it is expected to use the key human rights framework on access to medicines, i. e. availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality to analyse the international and national determinants to access to medicines.In the first section of the report, the Special Rapporteur reviews the international legal framework as it applies to access to medicines. In the second section, he identifies key determinants of access to medicines and discusses challenges and good practices with respect to each aspect. The key determinants identified in the report are: local production of medicines, price regulations, medicines lists, procurement, distribution, rational and appropriate use and quality of medicines.The report wants the States to ensure transparency of data related to quality, safety and efficacy of medicines, including the mandatory publication of adverse data; increase budgetary support for national regulators and increase recruitment of inspectors at competitive salaries; improve South-South cooperation to conduct joint inspections of manufacturing facilities and share information and good practices; and avoid conflation of poor-quality medicines, a quality control issue, with counterfeit medicines, a trade issue.The 23rd session of the Human Rights Council is taking place from 27 May to 14 June in Geneva and the draft resolution is expected to come up for consideration during the week.joe(dot)mathew(at)abp(dot)in; joecmathew(at)gmail(dot)com(at)joecmathew
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The 3 per cent additional excise duty imposed on SUVs/MUVs has brought the gravity-defying growth of the SUV/MUV market to a grinding halt. This is the first evidence that the fast-growing segment of the Indian auto market has also been engulfed by the slowdown. Between April and May this year, the SUV segment grew at an average of just 4.08 per cent to register sales of 82,893 units, vis-a-vis, 53.91 per cent growth in the same period last year. The SUV segment in India consists of models like Maruti Suzuki’s Ertiga, Renault’s Duster, M&M’s Scorpio, Bolero, XUV500, Quanto and Xylo, and Toyota’s Innova among others. In the more premium part of the market, fall models like Toyota’s Fortuner and Mitsubishi’s Pajero, beside the Q-Series offerings from Audi and the X-Series offering from BMW.Moreover, even month on month, the segment has faced sharp decline due to the hike in excise duty that made SUVs/MPVs much more costly. For example, till March till 2013, the segment was growing at 54.46 per cent at an average sale of 4,99,794 units.“We had predicted this when the government had levied the additional tax on SUVs in the budget. Anyways the sector overall isn’t doing too well. Taxing the only segment that was growing rapidly has put additional burden on the auto industry,” says Vishnu Mathur, director-general, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam).Overall passenger car sales fell 8.56 per cent at 4,09,823 units in April-May this year. Commercial vehicles continued their bad run as well and fell 12.11 per cent at 37,129 units vis-a-vis 42,247 units in the same period last fiscal. Even light commercial vehicles that were doing brisk business last year fell this month to register sales of just 75,007 units, a decline of 1.36 per cent.“It’s not just a question of interest rates. The overall sentiment in the economy continues to be gloomy. When people aren’t sure about whether or not they would have a job next year, it is natural that they curb discretionary spends like a car. We see no recovery in the immediate future,” says Mathur. swati(dot)garg(at)abp(dot)inms(dot)garg(dot)swati(at)gmailTwitter: (at)swatigarg
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Hounded and harassed, more and more companies are rushing for advance rulings on tax matters to avoid a potential Vodafone-like conflict with tax authorities in the future.As of March, over 150 companies are believed to have applied under a new scheme (Advance Pricing Agreements) to negotiate their Transfer Pricing liability with the government. More and more consultants now advise companies to go for an Advance Ruling to get an idea of tax potentially payable on transactions more frequently. “These days I spend more time speaking to company Boards than to CFOs”, says a top tax consultant in Mumbai, only half jokingly. The Board of Directors summon him to gain an understanding of the implications of the tax planning the company is engaged in. (Usually tax advisors interact with the CFO’s team). With the trend moving towards naming and shaming tax avoiders globally, companies are worried now that their brand image may be eroded. Multinationals are getting reconciled to an era where they pay more as taxes than they used to”, says the consultant. Read Also: Hide And Seek?Read Also: 'Expect Much More TP Litigation Globally' Read Also: The Transfer Pricing TerminologiesTax avoidance, as the critics love to call aggressive tax planning, is casting a dark shadow on the ethical values of corporates globally. Google (Google with the Don’t Be Evil motto) has been at the receiving end of some tough questions from the UK Public Accounts Committee on its low tax payments in the UK. Google insisted that its UK arm only provided support services to its European HQ in Ireland, and hence did not qualify as a business to pay taxes in the UK. Ireland, where the company claims it should be taxed, has a minimal corporate tax rate. This comes after another damning report by the PAC last December naming Starbucks & Amazon, along with Google as tax offenders.On the other side of the Atlantic, a US Senate Sub Committee is investigating how Apple shifted profits to potentially avoid taxes due in other countries. This month, Citizens for Tax Justice an American left-leaning research group found that at least 18 large companies including Nike, Microsoft & Apple are shifting taxes abroad. If companies brought that money, it found that they would pay more than $92 billion in additional taxes. Even Indian companies in industries like Pharmaceuticals are known to transfer most of their patents to a subsidiary in a foreign low-tax jurisdiction, so that it can shift its taxable profits to that country in the form of royalties.But now corporates are getting worried about the hit their brand is taking. A lawyer recently remarked that Vodafone is now known as the ‘company that didn’t pay taxes’ just as much as the telecom company. “We are in a situation where companies are worried about the negative impact to their brand image on account of tax litigation”, says Sanjay Tolia, partner at PwC. After the Starbucks report in December, the company faced the threat of a boycott in the UK, before it agreed to pay $20 mn in taxes over the next two years. Companies would rather pay money as taxes rather than losing it in the form of sales foregone due to the negative publicity. "Tax is no more a compliance issue but a business issue", says Tolia.Not everybody is amused. “This is like saying that you shouldn’t do tax planning, and companies should pay taxes based on ethical and moral principles”, says Shefali Goradia, partner at Mumbai based tax advisors, BMR. “You can’t wish away the step of making the laws up-to-speed with new business models”.And that presents the biggest challenge governments are facing. Shifting of profits to low tax countries happens because it is overtly encouraged by the country as a way of attracting investments. Much of that was sought to be remedied by the General Anti Avoidance Rules mooted by the government last year, but with the onslaught of criticism, has been postponed to 2015-16.So is smart tax planning about to disappear? No, say experts, as the savings are too substantial to be foregone. But with the new wave of scrutiny, the approach towards tax planning is undergoing a change, as evidenced by the concern of company Boards. “The focus will turn to substance-over-form”, says Sanjay Tolia, citing an old tax concept that says tax planners can’t hide behind legal transactions, if they can’t substantiate a non-tax business rationale for the same. “Aggressive positions by tax administrations around the world is encouraging taxpayers to use Advance Rulings and Advance Pricing Agreements to achieve certainty". The cost of impudence could be severe.You could probably say, the party has ended. They will have to pay for the drinks from now.abraham(dot)mathews(at)abp(dot)inmatabrahamc(at)gmail(dot)com (at)ebbruz
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Sometimes, a writer has to eat his own words. When Businessworld wrote about the 1-litre EcoBoost engine of the Ford Motor Company, it hailed the engine as a miracle for petrol cars because over the last year the Indian Market skewed towards diesel engines and 55 per cent of the sales came from diesel vehicles. We claimed that the mileage from this engine would be above 20 kilometres to a litre and revive interest in the petrol class of cars. But after subjecting the new Ford EcoSport's EcoBoost petrol engine to six hours of heavy traffic in Bangalore, for five days, the car's mileage on an average was just 10 kilometres to the litre and on the highway it was around 14 kilometres to the litre.The vehicle has considerable lag, at second gear, and needs to be throttled at higher RPMs, which means more fuel is consumed by the vehicle. We can safely assume that this variant of the car is only for long drives because when the roads are empty the vehicle does perform efficiently, at high speeds, and makes you forget your city drive. We pushed it to 180 kilometres per hour and the vehicle does not shake or wobble and the well engineered body does take care of your young family at such speeds. Ford has priced this for the family that wants to feel the safety of an SUV and yet it offers the ease of driving a small car. It is a fitting answer to Renault's Duster. Also remember that the EcoBoost is a world class engine; for such a low displacement, it drafts at 125 bhp with 170 Newton Meter of torque at 4000 rpm. This engine is also green as it emits only 109 to 114 grams per kilometre to pull such a large car. The average hatchback emits 100 grams of carbon per kilometre. The high end version, which for an EcoBoost variant is the only one and has no lower variant, has the best interiors in it's class, within Rs 12 lakh, and the interactive telematics system from Microsoft makes it worth a buy. The phone can be synced via bluetooth and its intelligent voice command modules allow you to control the phone without having to take your eyes off the road.The car's interiors are thought through with Indian conditions in mind. It's slanted back seats are for those of us who like to crouch. Its leatherette seats compliment the spacious cabin. It has nicely designed arm rests for those long traffic jams. It also has a power socket at the back to charge your phones. The boot has space for two large suitcases and is good for a five day vacation. The driver also has an arm rest, to his left, making the drive even more comfortable.There are several variants of the EcoSport and certainly the 1.5-litre diesel and petrol engines should be driven before choosing the EcoBoost model. Remember that this is an imported engine and you would have to wait six to eight months for delivery. You should also note that although this vehicle looks like a big SUV, but it will fit in easily in your garage, provided there's space for 4000 mm length and 1800 mm width. While driving in the city, one is reminded of a hatch. It can turn in to small roads and can get out of them easily. A perfect match as an "urban SUV" — as the company likes to call it. The ground clearance of 200 mm or eight inches makes it better than your average hatchback. The branding and the PR have pushed hard to position the vehicle as such. The messages does influence you, but don't be impulsive. Test the dealers to the maximum before you pick the vehicle. The Ford EcoSport is here to stay and its success will depend on service and fuel efficiency vis-a-vis its other variants.vishal(dot)krishna(at)abp(dot)invishalskrishna(at)gmail(dot)comtwitter(at)vishalskrishna
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“If there is one business function you could rebuild completely, which one would it be?” We posed this question to 152 business executives and 162 IT executives in four countries — the US, UK, France and India. The top pick by far — especially among IT executives — was the IT organisation itself. Half of the survey’s respondents further said they are, or will soon be, revamping enterprise IT. More executives want to rebuild their IT organisation from scratch than any other function.Who Needs IT?The role of the IT department is under more intense scrutiny than ever before. Analysts and executives are asking with rising insistence whether we even need IT departments anymore.There are several reasons for this, including the ever increasing power and utility of consumer technology. Employees are getting their work done using free Web applications as well as their own laptops and smartphones. The increasing penetration of smartphones in India and mobile broadband (3G and 4G) will continue to drive this phenomenon.In addition, the traditional IT function is being displaced, with executives and even users making many of their own technology decisions. Future UncertainBut what will tomorrow’s IT organisation look like? What will its roles, responsibilities and priorities entail? In our research, most respondents (68 per cent) admit to not having a clear vision of what the IT function will look like by 2016. Even more (73 per cent) cannot envision the future role of the CIO.One can hardly blame them. Many questions remain unanswered about how mega technology trends such as cloud computing, mobile and IT consumerisation will continue to affect IT organisations.The wave of consumer technology could continue to transform everyday life and IT expectations, or data security and privacy worries could drive people and companies away from its enabling touch. The uncertainties extend well beyond technology. An oft-ignored truism is that IT organisations are affected by the same mercurial social, political and economic forces that shape the business world. Planning for future IT organisation without considering the role of shifting external influences is at best naïve and at worst dangerously myopic.Most IT organisations today operate on the assumption of an indefinite continuation of a flat, connected and tech-enabled future, with significant implications for their own future state. None of these are given. We hope global integration and economic cooperationcontinues, but we may not be so lucky if today’s economic crises and geopolitical tensions intensify, ushering in a more fragmented world. Twenty seven per cent of the executives we surveyed expect companies will start seeking alternatives to the Internet by 2016. Many things could affect the flow of information online, such as data privacy regulations, industry-specific laws, some of the country’s limiting access on the Internet and push to monitor online and mobile communications.Dilution of transnational bonds would force change on a grand scale, which will include companies having to cut back on foreign IT labour and vendors, even restructuring business and IT operations. 10 Questions Get You ThereWith so many possible futures, each of which could affect IT priorities and operations, it’s no wonder it’s so hard to visualise the future of the IT organisation and the CIO.So how can your IT leadership team start planning their future IT organisation? To begin with, they must work with other executives to envision the possible future business environments. Then consideration must be given to the pressures each will place on the IT organisation, and the different decisions they will compel the IT leadership to make.The following 10 questions will help executives form rational visions of the future and map them to basic IT decisions about organisational structure, IT investments, skills and technologies. Some focus on the fundamentals of how IT creates value. Others are more timely questions for running tomorrow’s IT organisation. Together, they can help you envision a revamped IT organisation, anticipate possible changes, and build for agility.Question 1: Why will IT matter to my company? Companies can do more with IT than ever before, but are becoming less reliant on their ITorganisation to provide IT direction. Clarifying the purpose of the ITorganisation will focus the redesign effort. If the future is globally connected and extremely competitive, IT will help industry leaders stay on top through innovation and analytics. There is a high likelihood that multinationals based in the developing world, including Indian multinationals, will challenge established companies and the way they manage IT. Forty-two percent of the IT executives we polled think global multinationals are likely to radically lower their IT costs. In addition, back-office IT will become a globally-managed commodity.But if the world becomes fractured, disconnected and more embattled, IT can still earn its keep—by helping companies restructure, reducing their business costs and keepingthem operating through their transitions.Question 2: What would our IT organisation look like if we could rebuild it from scratch? Would any company design their IT organisation and systems to look just as it does now? Probably not, given the amount (and accelerating pace) of change since inception of operating models. Think of an organisational structure that best fits the possible futures you foresee. Depending on your legal, political and technical dynamics, it may range from a streamlined global IT organisation supervising a cloud-and-outsourcing services model to a decentralised IT department with powerful local IT units in which the security function has a more controlling hand. Question 3: How will our IT executives and other executives share and approve IT decisions? The IT chain of command is getting crowded. Social media and analytics are pulling chief marketing officers into more IT decisions. Companies are hiring chief innovation and chief digital officers. In addition, employees are comfortable making IT decisions for themselves.In this dynamic milieu, executives need to focus on governance, not fight for power. Asking this question will help withpredicting which IT decisions need to be made on global or country level, and which ones are best made by employees and line managers instead of the IT function. It also helps answer questions about the CIO’s role, and whether IT needs to be overseen by a particular executive, such as a chief strategy officer or chief risk officer. Question 4: How do you get all available data anywhere it’s needed? In the current era of smartphones and analytics, people expect all kinds of data to be available everywhere, on any device. Whether structured transactions or unstructured video, massive databases or a few key insights, IT’s job is to figure out how to bridge old and new architectures,getting useable data where it needs to go, securely and reliably.Plan for more of the same if the future is anything like today, but where legal restrictions, security problems and service disruptions get in the way, users will have to scale back those expectations.Even so, it is hard to imagine them doing so without a fight, so IT will need to find a way, in any future, to come as close to the ideal of ubiquitous data and insight as possible without flouting the rules. Question 5: Are we winning or losing the fight for information security? IT’s future will be greatly affected by the severity of the cyber security problem. If companies and governments manage to keep cybercrime a manageable problem through technological advances and international cooperation, security will fade into the background.But what if cybercrime—or even cyber warfare—grows out of control? Then, naturally, it’s no longer business as usual for companies, their customers and IT functions.As with all things, the outcome may be somewhere in-between. If things get bad enough, companies will cut back or redesign many Internet-dependent activities and processes.Most jarringly, IT departments will have to focus on creating alternatives to today’s Internet-based network infrastructure and minimising the damage. Question 6: What kinds of cloud services will dominate? While some of the futures imagined above are friendly to cloud services, others are hostile.A flat, connected, unregulated world favours public cloud computing and services.Nothing will stop companies from using global cloud services anywhere high speed broadband is to be found. But such a scenario is no longer guaranteed. If tight data regulations, protectionist economic policies or the establishment of national Internets interfere with using global cloud services, companies that seek to benefit from the many benefits of cloud will be forced to use private clouds or local services. Question 7: How urgently must we accommodate consumer technologies? Consumer IT is where lifestyle, business and innovation intersect, and this complexity is what makes it an especially unpredictable phenomenon for IT departments. It’s hard to know what social networks and smart phones will be able to do in five years, and even harder to anticipate what new applications employees will want to use. But IT planners can think about whether demand for consumer IT will requireorganisations to accommodate employees and experiment with new trends—or not.Cost, broadband and mobile network access, access to consumer applications and data from other countries, the pace of innovation, censorship and confidence in IT security all factor into supply and demand for consumer IT in the workplace and the market. Question 8: Which IT skills will we need to succeed, and where will we need them? Ask this question after answering the others. Start by breaking IT activities into leading, managing, designing, building, analysing and operating. Then ask what needs to be done, and which skills will be needed where. For example, what needs to be managed — service providers? Infrastructure? Where are they managed—globally or locally? And with design: what skills will architects and network engineers need to design a cloud-server hybrid or migrate to a proprietary network? Also: what combination of backgrounds best prepares a leader for fostering innovation, leading a centralised or decentralised environment, or managing a security crisis?Question 9: Where will IT talent come from? Today, businesses assume they can tap into a pool of IT professionals in low-cost locations or easily move IT employees across borders. But what if globalisation unravels, new regulations prevent you from tapping foreign talent pools, or long distance collaboration becomes difficult?What happensif you can’t find local workers when required for security or cultural reasons? If companies aren’t permitted to import IT talent or use foreign services, they will need to invest more in training at home or relocating workers. More companies will turn to universities and work with them to produce job-ready graduates.Question 10: How will our spending priorities change? At the end, step back and confirm what each future means for your budget.Where will you need to invest to achieve business goals, meet operational needs or legal requirements? Will it be in infrastructure, applications, services and the workforce? Where can you reduce spending, either because lower cost options are available or because the need has declined?In some futures, reducing IT expenses or giving employees and managers direct control of IT-related spending will become an important priority in its own right. Don’t assume tomorrow’s business and IT environment will be a continuation of today’s. The world often changes in unpredictable and unlikely ways, and it’s not just technology that changes. Planning your future IT organisation on a single future, without considering others, is a dangerous move.(The author is Managing Director—Technology, India, Accenture)
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Weeks after the government announced a new policy to bring all essential medicines under price control, All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), the NGO that fought for the policy through a decade long public interest litigation (PIL), has opposed its implementation.The NGO, along with its co-petitioners, such as Jan Swasthya Sahayog, filed a fresh intervention application on July 5 in the PIL pending before Supreme Court to quash the government's National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy 2012 and the subsequent Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 2013. Click on the image to view enlarged graphicStating that the simple average formula (notified under the new policy) to determine the ceiling price gives high ceiling prices and legitimises the high profit margins already present in the market, AIDAN wanted more stringent regulations to turn medicines affordable.The move, if approved by the Supreme Court, will pose fresh trouble to the pharmaceutical industry, as DPCO 2013, which replaced the old system of price fixation — based on exact input costs to the simple average of medicine retail price -was considered industry friendly in the long run. Even the short term hit to the profits, as claimed by the industry, are being refuted by AIDAN in the petition. The petitioners have sought SC directive to bring all fixed dose combinations, patented drugs including drugs under voluntary license, life saving drugs, and molecules in the same therapeutic class in all their presentations and dosages under price control. It also wanted the government to set up a committee of experts to list crucial, life-saving medicines that enumerates drugs that have been left out of the current list of National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM 2011), to enumerate drugs that have been included in the Essential Drug Lists of States but which are not currently included in the NLEM 2011, and bring out a new comprehensive essential, life saving drugs list for the purpose of price regulation.It also wanted to cap the ceiling price of all drugs of the same therapeutic chemical class — wherever possible at the same level as the price controlled drug being migrated from — so that "migration" from drugs under price control to "me too" equivalents outside the basket of regulated drugs is discouraged.joe(dot)mathew(at)abp(dot)injoecmathew(at)gmail(dot)com(at)joecmathew
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The wheel of innovation in mobile technology has embarked on a never ending journey to evolve the mobile phones into smart devices and the momentum of this phenomenon has been increasing exponentially. Any and every kind of technological advancement in mobility has become synonymous with the term Upgrade associated with the three important aspects of every smartphone; Hardware specification, Operating System, and Applications. Today, the core focus of all mobile phone manufacturers is to undertake extensive R&D in all the aforementioned aspects and develop smartphones with progressively sophisticated mobile technology embedded in them.The chief components which make up the essential hardware of a smartphone and determine the capabilities include the processor, the battery and the screen. The industry has witnessed a surge in the complexity of processors. We have smartphones running on dual-core, quad-core, octa-core processors and the next generation will see a lot many cores powering the devices. The performance of any processor depends on two major factors - architecture and clockspeed. These two factors are considered together and not individually while building the best possible processor for a required output. If a processor has a higher clock speed but low-power architecture, then it may not be able to carry heavy processing tasks as a high-power yet moderate clockspeed processor would. Multi-core processors give a push to user experience where the device could easily carry out multi-tasking with a few apps running in the background. It goes without saying that higher the number of cores, higher is the battery consumption. Due to higher power consumption, phone makers are developing higher mAh batteries to fuel the efficient operations of their smartphones. Modern day processors have also started featuring power management and power control features built-in which further boost the life and strength of the phone battery. On top of that, we also have various power booster apps which help in optimising the battery usage and ensure a longer operation time of the smartphones subjected to heavy usage. There are two challenges which exist with regard to the power consumption of the phones. The devices either drain their batteries at ever-increasing rates while continuing to get faster or they maintain their current, not-great-but-acceptable battery life while sacrificing huge increases in speed. So, there is a need for striking balance between these two extremities and develop the best combination of processor chipset and battery. Unlike mobile phones of yesteryears, the display in today's phone is the primary point of interaction with the user. If it's not up to the mark, chances are high that the user will end up frustrated and dissatisfied with the device. Touch screen smart phones started with resistive screens and moved onto capacitive screens. Now we have numerous types of smartphone displays like TFT, IPS, OLED, AMOLED, Super AMOLED, Retina Display, Gorilla glass and the list to lengthen every day.HD displays seem to be the order of 2013 and every major smartphone manufacturer has jumped on to the wagon by aggressively churning out phones with HD display. Simply having an HD resolution doesn't always guarantee that the display will be good, since it all depends on the type of panel used and the touch sensitivity. Another important aspect is the ability of the display to cope under sunlight. Users tend tousetheir phones as much outdoors as indoors, so it's important that the display is legible even in bright daylight.Anyone who is an avid smartphone user will always be keen about new software upgrades for the operating system. Upgrades add new features, fix bugs, enhance security protocols, increase the efficiency of existing features, and provide a fresh, new and better user experience.Software updates are no longer limited to fixing small bugs but rather adding up more innovation into the operating system. They boost the 3G and Wi-Fi performance, increase the efficiency of battery, introduce new improved UI, enhance camera operations and lot more. A powerful OS should also have the capability of enabling smooth operations of the latest applications without any snag or glitch. There is a galaxy of applications available today for both consumer and enterprise usersand there is a growing need for upgraded apps to sustain user interest in the face of technology advances. The application ecosystem can make or break the positioning of an operating system in the market as it is one of the primary factors which determine the purchasing decision of a potential smartphone buyer. For any smartphone manufacturer, it is imperative that they live up to the expectations of their target market and in order to do that, they need to ensure that they innovate their products at a healthy rate. The process of improvising the features and capabilities of the devices which includes upgrading the Operating System, the existing Apps and the hardware specifications helps in developing better devices and meet the aspirations of users.With the fast paced evolution of smartphones, the devices have become more sophisticated and laden with high end capabilities of multifarious functionality. This evolution has now become a self-sustaining process and thus a tri-pronged approach is required to ensure simultaneous upgrade of the hardware, operating system and the applications ecosystem. A lag in any one of these three aspects will pull down the entire prospect of developing a cutting-edge up-to-date smartphone. Sunil Lalvani, Managing Director, BlackBerry India
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