‘Manage the present industrial scenario well’

Speakers at the Young Leaders Global Conclave 2010 on Saturday said that if India’s past industrial scenario can be considered ‘good’, to make the future ‘beautiful’, the present scenario should be managed well.Speakers Arvind Kaul, Chief Executive of Vestas and Manickam Ramaswami, Chairman of Loyal Textiles made this observation and spoke on ‘What should young leaders do to achieve this’ at the plenary session I held at PSG College of Technology.

Addressing students, Mr. Kaul recalled his student days and said now youngsters are more independent, take decisions on their own and are able to decide the path they want to choose unlike in the past when decisions were made by parents and elders in the family.Calling upon students to have a vision and clarity to achieve their goal, he stressed the importance of team work and the need for sharpening communication and presentation skills. The country needs good leaders to move forward in its growth path.

“Life may not be smooth, but my experience outside India has showed that Indians manage pressures much better than others”.“Indians learn the hard way, but have risen to great heights,” Mr. Kaul said and advised the students to make sure that they understand what job they were looking for, before jumping the gun.Mr. Ramaswami, on the other hand, took the students through the current politico-economic situation.

Asking the students to visualise a truly developed India, free from poverty and hunger, excellent education and infrastructure, he said “to support this, a rapid pace of growth, a transformation in the real sense is necessary.’” He pointed out that to achieve 8-9 per cent growth in GDP, industry and services would have to grow 12 – 13 per cent. “Country needs a sustained growth rate with a good tax regime. It is a delicate balance, but not impossible,” Mr. Ramaswami said, before adding “we have strengths, but the system is highly corrupt.”

Highlighting the strengths, he said “human resource is our greatest strength, followed by a stable government. Mobilisation of resources would therefore not be an issue. The weak point though is our infrastructure and logistics cost,” observed Mr. Ramaswami.

He urged the students to tap the domestic market opportunities both in the manufacturing and services sector. “One should use imagination and change the style of lobbying by being more creative. Don’t ape the West. Instead rediscover the indigenous Indian concepts and come out with compatible solution.”

Consumer body opposes ‘illegal, excess bus fare’

Coimbatore Consumer Cause has “strongly opposed” the strategy of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation in collecting more revenue against the interests of the people, by introducing over 200 semi-low-floor buses.These buses, flagged off recently, collect “exorbitant and illegal excess fare” more than twice that of the ordinary fare, it was pointed out.

In a memorandum to the Chief Minister, the Secretary of CCC, K. Kathirmathiyon said that the Chief Minister had said that despite severe financial constraints to the Transport Department the Government never wanted to increase the bus fare since 2001.It is a fact that the bus fare is lower compared to that in many other States.

It is a policy decision taken by the Government in the interest of the people.But unfortunately TNSTC officials were collecting “excess bus fare” from the people in recent days by adopting different “unethical, illegal and unfair methods”.By mere replacement of existing vehicles, they had started collecting more than double the regular fare.As on date more than 200 buses are already collecting such “illegal fare”.

By merely claiming the buses as ‘Deluxe’, fare collected is close to 250 per cent more.If buses were to be operated as ‘Luxury’, permit for the same has to be obtained from Regional Transport Authority (RTA) for the same.

Replacement

The Regional Transport Officers had said that they had not issued any new permit for the buses and all the buses were only replacement for old vehicles and only ordinary permits were issued for those buses.If the same irregularity had been done by a private operator, the permits would have been cancelled.Unfortunately this unethical practice is being adopted by TNSTC buses and hence officials are not taking any action on the same.

As per the Motor Vehicle Rules the buses have to be operated as per the condition of the permit issued.Many old buses are being regularly replaced with new ones, both by TNSTC and by private operators.But now TNSTC is in the habit of claiming all the new buses as ‘Luxury’ for the sake of collecting excess fare.

In such case, private operators might also start claiming luxury fare since they too have new buses.The people are totally against the action of TNSTC, since their interests are affected.The association had been continuously representing the matter for the last two years.The issue has emerged as widespread agitation because more buses were named as semi low floor and luxury buses.

Coimbatore Consumer Cause had specifically pointed out that the officials were not bothered about the disrepute caused to the Government.The Government could verify the complaint by calling for a white paper from all Regional Transport Officers and District Collectors (Regional Transport Authorities) in respect of the “illegal excess fare” being collected now. Coimbatore Consumer Cause has urged the Chief Minister to intervene and stop this practice.

Coimbatore identified for lean manufacturing programme

Coimbatore is among the 60 clusters identified for the National Programme on Lean Manufacturing for micro, small and medium-scale units.Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Micro and Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME) Anil Bhardwaj told here on Wednesday that the Union Government launched the National Programme in 2009 and issued detailed guidelines about a couple of months ago.

The FISME, which was a member in the steering committee for the programme, in association with the Southern India Engineering Manufacturers’ Association (SIEMA) had recommended that Coimbatore should be among the first 100 clusters for the programme and Coimbatore was among the 60 approved.

Of the approved projects, six were under different stages of implementation.The scheme was designed for mini clusters of 10 to 12 units each.The units should form a special purpose vehicle and identify a consultant to implement the lean manufacturing programme in the cluster for a year.The National Productivity Council was the nodal agency for disbursement of funds to the clusters.

Each cluster would get Rs.10 lakh to Rs. 24 lakh for a year as subsidy and 20 per cent of the project cost would be borne by the units.Mr. Bhardwaj said lean manufacturing was a continuous programme that was accepted globally to reduce cost and improve quality.It was adopted by automobile component manufacturing units and was yet to be implemented widely in industries manufacturing capital goods, engineering products and machinery.

On the need for such practices, he said the Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) were exposed to phenomenal competition because of trade agreements the country had and lowering of import duties on a number of products.“We have to be cost-wise competitive and improve quality to take advantage of opportunities in the Indian market,” he said.

Jayakumar Ramdass, president of the SIEMA, said it organised a meeting on Wednesday for its members on the scheme to create awareness on lean manufacturing and about the opportunities available under the programme for the MSMEs here.The association proposed a special purpose vehicle to implement lean manufacturing programme for a group of units here.

Trial run on New Irugur - N.cbe Track !!

To check track stability of the newly-laid second railway line on the Coimbatore North – Pilamedu – Irugur section, a loco trial run was conducted on Wednesday.The single line between Irugur and Coimbatore North had been a major bottleneck leading to increased pathway congestion.As a result, all along the Southern Railway administration was handling some of the important trains on the Kerala – Chennai sector via Podanur and Irugur sections skipping Coimbatore Junction, which had been a major revenue spinner next only to Chennai in the Southern Railway.

The single line bottleneck not only led to trains skipping Coimbatore Junction but also hampered timely operation of trains departing from and arriving at Coimbatore Junction. During peak hours, there had been instances of trains being held up at Junction.Hence, the second line had been a major demand for several years. Initiated about two decades ago, the project is almost nearing completion. While lines had been laid, connecting them at a few places and installation of new manual signal points and linking them to stations are pending.

The authorities hope to complete the same within another 45 to 60 days, so that the second line could become fully operational.Only a couple of days ago, the authorities constructed a local trial run on the Coimbatore Junction – Podanur second line.On Wednesday, the loco trial run was initiated from Coimbatore Junction and it covered a distance of 6.7 km from Coimbatore North to Pilamedu and another 4.8 km from Irugur – Pilamedu. The loco trial run was specifically for the Pilamedu – Irugur section.

The Deputy Chief Engineer, Construction, Rajagopal, Pilamedu Station Inspector Thomas and a couple of other officials supervised the trial run.Authorities plan to complete even the other remaining works so that the entire stretch of the second line from Irugur – Pilamedu – Coimbatore North – Coimbatore Junction and Podanur could be put into use well ahead of the World Classical Tamil Conference in June 2010 thereby ensuring timely operation of trains besides handling more trains without facing pathway congestion.

‘Medical Transcription Outsourcing Capital !

There is more to Coimbatore than just being the ‘Manchester of South India' with its burgeoning textile and engineering industries. This third largest city in Tamil Nadu and home to the Formula 3 circuit has, over the years, emerged as one of the top destinations for the IT-BPO industry.

In fact, according to a recent study by Cyber Media's Global Services and investment advisory firm Tholons, Coimbatore has been ranked in the 17th position in the list of the top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing cities. Industry associations have been making concerted efforts to turn this industrial hub into another Silicon Valley. The Coimbatore zone of the CII has been, for nearly a decade now, promoting this industrial hub as an ‘ideal IT destination' for engineering process outsourcing (EPO), among others. The region has carved a niche for itself in engineering, auto components and machine tools space.

Industry experts say the locational advantage that the city enjoys, its proximity to Chennai and Bangalore, the huge talent pool and its entrepreneurial culture differentiates Coimbatore from other destinations. A number of companies across the gamut of outsourcing (from EPO to legal and medical transcription) have started their operations to capitalise on the rich pool of talent and resources readily available here.

Statistics reveal that there are over 27 engineering colleges, 70+ arts and science colleges and 18 polytechnics in and around here, making it an ideal recruitment destination as well. Retention of talent pool has been a strong point for most of the players establishing a presence here.

IT major Cognizant, for instance, was one of the first major players to start a development centre here and has since expanded rapidly. Its Vice-President and Head, Vishnu Potty, admits to Coimbatore being a strong sourcing base for its operations across India. Cognizant's Coimbatore centre focuses on financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and retail, media and entertainment.The city is set to emerge as the ‘Medical Transcription Outsourcing Capital of India', say leaders in the medical transcription space.

Players such as CBay Systems and Spheris have expanded their operations here rapidly. CBay, for instance, has its largest facility here in an area of about 20,000 sq.ft. The company has, in the last eight months, opened up two centres, initiated tie-ups with local colleges to rope in students. A few others are exploring opportunities across the landscape as this (medical transcription) industry is predominantly South-based.

Being the chosen hub for MT, the city also has a number of people travelling from smaller towns such as Salem, Erode, Pollachi and Udhagamandalam attracted towards this steadily growing industry.

“The availability of quality manpower, large talent pool of almost 28,000 non-graduate engineers passing out every year from the 260-odd institutions has made Coimbatore an attractive destination for us,” says Suresh Nair, CEO and Managing Director, Spheris.

Industry leaders believe that with requisite training, the prospective candidates could be groomed to become world class medical transcriptionists to cater to the $200-billion healthcare outsourcing business world-wide.