January SPO India 2018

www.spoindia.org Vol. III | Issue 03 | January 2018 | Rs. 50

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‘We believe in giving back to the society as a sign of gratitude’

Climate Change & Humanitarian crisis is at the top of IKEA Foundation’s agenda 32PG 28PG www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 1

2 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

LEAD STORY | 30 Editor-in-Chief: Deepak Kumar Sahu Executive Editor: Dr. Vijay Anand Assistant Editor: Samrita Baruah Correspondent: Megha Copy Editor: C. M. Dutta Art Director: Rakesh Kumar Network Administrator: Ashok Kumar Singh Manager-IT: Subhash Mohanta Manager-SEO: Bidyadhar Behera BUSINESS: Vice President: Prasanna Rout General Manager: Ashok Ranjan Dash Marketing Manager: Dipendra Kumar

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News- 6-15 FACE TO FACE 28

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LEAD STORY 30

Bitcoin Volatility ….. Bitcoin loses 50% till December 2017

‘Climate Change & Humanitarian crisis is at the top of IKEA Foundation’s agenda

BUDGET 2018

‘We believe in giving back to the society as a sign of gratitude’

SKILL INDIA

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EXL looks at skill development as a sustainable prospect for the society

All eyes on Budget 2018

‘The skilling ecosystem needs a change right at the entry gate’

Kolkata: Bureau office Marketing Officer: Kiran Kumar 67 Sarada Park, Garia, Kolkata - 700 084 Mobile: 09903088480 Printed by Deepak Kumar Sahu and Published by Deepak Kumar Sahu on behalf of Deepak Kumar Sahu and Printed at Pushpak Press Pvt. Ltd. Shed No. 203 - 204, DSIDC Complex, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-I, New Delhi-110 020 and Published at A-84A/3 Rose Apartment, Paryavaran complex, Ignou Road, New Delhi - 110 030 Editor - Deepak Kumar Sahu

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COVER STORY 16

World Economic Forum 2018 - Urges joint action on climate change and protectionism

open your eyes 21

CAF India - Working towards Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Response in North East

www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 3

Digital Payments … critical challenges faced by stakeholders

The year 2018 is expected to rule the rural areas of India as the next wave in the Telecom Sector is the increase in number of internet users. As a matter of fact, 2017 has been a transformational year in the telecom sector that has witnessed a lot of change in SMEs and SMBs with changing customer preferences, access to internet and digital channels. When we study the consumption pattern of content in India, we see a mammoth growth. The survey says, about 90% of the internet users are non-English. It is absolutely true that, technologies have made an enormous impact on the growth and development of countries around the world.

We live in an age of rapid transformation—one that has witnessed disruptive innovations, rising consumer expectations and reduced shelf life of technology. Organisations have been redesigning their products, services, channels and operations in order to grow their revenue through the convergence of emerging technologies such as the Internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, cloud, blockchain, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Smaller and nimbler start-up organisations are now becoming potent challengers to the existing market leaders through innovation and the adoption of newer technologies.

To complement the growth of technology, IoT has acquired significant market traction in India over the last few years and by 2020, at least two-thirds of Indian businesses will set up an IoT centre of excellence to drive the adoption of efficiency-centric technologies and applications. With the increasing evolution of technology and with the growing digital payment and social media penetration, the country has also witnessed cyber-attackers exploiting numerous security vulnerabilities present both on devices and in the operating systems. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (ICERT) reported more than 27,000 security threat events in India during the first half of 2017.

With an increased thrust on digitisation of the Indian business landscape, about 84% of Indian organisations have been victims of security breaches over the last two years. Due to such high volume of security incidents, it has become imperative on the government’s part to help formulate an ecosystem where transactions can take place smoothly, and without large security threats. In view of the rising cyber-attacks and data breaches, it is the need of the hour for the government to strengthen the legal framework for cybersecurity standards.

The total capitalization of the crypto markets now exceeds $750 billion. With 45% market share, Bitcoin has lost 50% till December 2017. To my surprise still there are over 1300 virtual currencies in operation worldwide. India has identified 15 exchanges dealing with virtual currencies. Unfortunately, the benefit of digital payments also increases risks and the principal concern over the rush to a digital economy is resulting in growing threats of cyber-attacks and data leakage. Good news is that the Government has realised and has asked the public to give suggestions on the policy framework of data protection.

I wish all our readers a Happy Republic day.

Deepak Kumar Sahu Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, SPO India www.spoindia.org 4 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 5

NEWS/Digital India

Indian Railways to equip all 8,500 stations with Wi-Fi

Karnataka Government to use Blockchain for Governance

All railway stations, nearly 8,500 across the country, including those in rural and remote areas will be equipped with Wi-Fi facilities at an estimated cost of Rs 700 crore ($110 million).

As part of the government's ambitious Digital India initiative, the national transporter has currently commissioned Wi-Fi services at 216 major s t a t i o n s enabling about seven million rail passengers to log on to the free Internet facility.

As per the plan finalised at a recent meeting, while 1,200 stations have been identified for this facility to primarily cater to rail passengers, about 7,300 stations have been earmarked to not only serve passengers but also local people in rural and remote areas.

Karnataka Information and Technology Minister Priyank Kharge has announced to use Blockchain technology for public services. Various reports suggest that the Government is also mulling to introduce a White Paper on ‘Blockchain Use in Governance’.

The Minister was speaking while giving details on the ‘Blockchain Hackathon for Governance’ scheduled to be held from January 19 to 21.

The Minister said, “Karnataka as a leader in e-governance will bring the experts of IT to solve longstanding problems, using the latest technology of blockchain.”

Blockchain, a digital ledger can be used to track record transactions and provides multiple benefits for supply chains, including transparency. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have already announced its plans to adopt blockchain for public services.

IT minister expresses concern on vulnerable devices at Cyber Surakshit Bharat

BHIM UPI records 145 million UPI transactions

In the inauguration of “Cyber Surakshit Bharat”, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, A l p h o n s Kannanthanam expressed concern over spying via devices imported from "not-sofriendly country", especially from the neighbour countries.

The minister stated this at the in CISO conclave held in Delhi, where he launched the Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative.

Under the Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative, a consortium of tech majors led by Microsoft India will impart training to 1,200 chief information security officers (CISOs) of Central Government, State Governments, banks, public sector undertakings, technical heads from Defence, Defence Sector PSUs and technical arms of Air Force, Army and Navy to address cyber security challenges.

6 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recently launched BHIM app, a digital payments solution app based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become a success and attracted 145 million UPI transactions in December 2017, according to NPCI. Talking about the app, BHIM is based on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) from the National Payments Cor poration of India (NPCI).

If a user has signed up for UPI based payments on their respective bank account, which is also linked to his/ her mobile number, then he/ she will be able to use the BHIM app to conduct digital transactions.

According to the report, since its launch the transactions are increasing rapidly as more e-commerce players and banks are rolling out their UPI interface.

NEWS/Urban Development

Government amends PMAY guidelines to enhance coverage

The Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Ministry has amended the guidelines of housing scheme for urban areas under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to enhance its coverage.

Areas falling within notified planning or development area under the jurisdiction of an industrial development authority or special area development authority or urban development authority or any such body under state legislation which is entrusted with the functions of urban planning and regulations shall also be included for coverage under PMAY(U), according to the amended guidelines.

The housing scheme is being implemented by rural development ministry in rural areas under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) and by HUA ministry in urban areas under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban).

NDMC's Rs 3,600 cr budget features'Smart City' as the top agenda

'Smart City' project yet again topping the agenda in the budget presented by New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) for 201718, along with installation of LED streetlights, e-governance, automated parking facility and free Wi-fi.

NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar projected total receipts of Rs 3,627.08 crore against a total estimated expenditure of Rs 3,621.62 crore.

"NDMC has established a wholly owned Public Limited Company namely, New Delhi Municipal Council Smart City Limited (SPV). The SPV has received a grant of Rs 194 crore from Urban Development Ministry, and Rs 56 crore from NDMC, thereby bringing the seed capital to Rs 250 crore. I further propose to transfer Rs 44 crore to the SPV in the current financial year and Rs 50 crore in the year 2017-18," Kumar said in his budget speech.

Tata Projects to make available clean water in India with Watergen

Israel-based Watergen and Tata Projects marked the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to India, with the signing of a memorandum of understanding. The intent of the MOUs between these two organizations is to deepen business ties and help solve India’s drinking water challenge, by providing safe, clean and costefficient drinking water across India.

This first-time MOU between the two organizations is another step towards fulfilling the vision of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign. The MOU seeks to also create a mutual entity in India, to manage local operations and manufacture Watergen units in India. This process will create jobs and fuel economic growth, while providing local and regional drinking water supply when needed, as well as the deployment of a distributed water grid chain across the country.

Largest number of smart city projects completed in Surat

Surat has emerged as India's highest ranked smart city with the largest number of projects implemented and completed under the Smart City Mission.

The country's textile and diamond trading hub has stolen a march over other contenders including some state capitals in the official rankings that have been compiled about two years after the Narendra Modi g overnment announced the first 20 cities to be developed as smart cities.

A look at the rankings, shared reveals that as in the case of other flagship programmes of the Modi government, BJP-ruled states are faring better than non-BJP ones. Seven of the 10 top-ranked cities are those ruled by the BJP, including Prime Minister's home state Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 7

CSR/CORPORATE

Samsung to sensitize people under its Safe India Campaign

Samsung India has announced the next phase of its ‘Safe India’ campaign, continuing its commitment to sensitize people about responsible use of smartphones, especially when taking selfies, on the road.

The second phase of Samsung ‘Safe India’ campaign rolls out in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Lucknow through messages

being aired across radio, public information systems and LED walls as well as films and skits in schools and colleges across these cities.

In 2017, Samsung had pledged support to the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ drive to reduce road accidents, especially those that happen due to irresponsible usage of smartphones. India today has the highest number of road accidents globally.

CM Fadnavis inaugurates HCL campus at MIHAN

HCL Technologies has recently announced the launch of their campus at Mihan in Nagpur. The state-of-the-art 50-acre HCL campus in Nagpur aims to create more than 2,000 jobs after starting operations at the centre.

Union Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water

Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Nitin Gadkari said, “The state-of-the- art HCL campus would offer locals an opportunity to develop global careers right in their own city, without having a need to migrate from their hometown.”

The creation of the centre in Nagpur is in line with HCL’s strategic vision to expand and create opportunities in smaller cities across India.

8 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

TechnipFMC with Rotary Club sponsor Jaipur Foot Camps

Technip India collaborates with the Rotary Club of Mumbai to organize on-the-spot limb/caliper fitment camps in Mumbai to distribute prosthetics or artificial limbs, calipers and other physical aids and appliances at free of cost.

The first such camp sponsored by Technip India was held at Dadar on 28th December 2017. Approximately 300 physically challenged individuals visited the camp and provided measurement and placed order. The 2nd camp was held on

15th January 2018 for fitting and installation of the artificial limbs based on measurements taken. Location of the camp is at Pritam Da Dhaba, Dadar, close to the railway station and state transport bus stand to make travel easier for the people. Needy people will be provided with Jaipur Foot/ Hand (artificial limb), Calipers, Wheelchairs, Crutches, etc. during the camp.

Hearing aids will also be provided to the needy patients after medical counselling.

ofo signs MoU with PMC to support the Pune Cycle Plan

ofo, the station-free app based bike-sharing platform has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to support the Pune Cycle Plan, a comprehensive bicycle master plan for integrated city-wide cycle tracks across Pune.

Prepared with support from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, the Pune Cycle Plan sets out to create the necessary infrastructure for proper cycle tracks, a city-wide cycle network, seamless public sharing bicycle schemes and development of cycle promotion activities for encouraging the use of this eco-friendly mode of transport.

Mobility has become a major civic issue in Pune recently as facilities for public commuting have not kept pace with the city’s growth. As per PMC’s Environment Status Report 2016-17, with 700 private vehicles being added to the roads every day, the city’s vehicle population is now equal to its human population.

CSR/CORPORATE

Huawei Technologies India donate books to students in Bangalore

ASCEND team visits UMANG NGO on Makar Sankranti

Huawei Technologies India has recently announced that its employees are engaged in bringing a positive change to the government-run schools in the villages of Bangalore. The employees made generous contribution towards providing desks, benches, books and stationery items for the students of Nallurahalli Government School, and sponsored school bags and books for all the students of Varthur Government School.

The funds for the desks and benches were mobilized through a charity run for its employees, early this year, to sponsor community development activities.

Speaking on the same, Lakshman K, Headmaster, Government Higher Primary School, Nallurahalli, said, “The good quality benches provided by Huawei is benefiting about 100 children and adding to their quality of education and learning. There was a dire need for these benches before which the students sat on the bare floor. I would like to sincerely thank Huawei for providing us these benches.”

ASCEND Team visited UMANG NGO (for Multiple Disabled Children) to spread joy and spend some time with them on Makar Sankranti. Kite-flying festival spread warmth and happiness into their lives. Children got together to perform the kite flying ritual.

“It is an experience that all of us should receive because after going there we realise that the life which we have got is so luxurious in comparison of those children but still we are always complaining. It was a moment in my life where we actually felt the feeling of satisfaction because we can get every possible thing but satisfaction of doing something which can help in improving life’s of other children is just something which can’t be expressed in words,” said an employee of Ascend.

UMANG is an initiative that strives for an inclusive society that provides equal opportunity for all, by enhancing the quality of life of individuals with various disabilities. UMANG reaches out to persons with Cerebral Palsy, Mental Challenges, Autism, Multiple Disabilities.

Videonetics with Kolkata Traffic Police celebrate Road Safety Week 2018

Snapdeal and NBT Launch ‘Har Hath Ek Kitab’ at the World Book Fair

Videonetics has partnered with Kolkata Traffic Police by showcasing its complete suite of Intelligent Traffic Management System at the exhibition held from 10th to 12th January 2018 at Kolkata, in celebration of Road Safety Week 2018.

The exhibition was organized with an aim to propagate Kolkata Police’s mission of “Safe Drive & Save Life”. The exhibition was well attended by Sr Police Officials, Engineering and Technology Firms, Road Engineering, Traffic Management experts and Urban Planners from all over India, Bangladesh, Nepal and other SAARC countries.

“As our country’s mission is to build safe & smart cities and creating safer environment for all, we at Videonetics have been innovating state-of-the art technologies to meet challenging requirements of traffic management, aiming to deter traffic violations, reduce accidents and provide road safety to all,” expressed Avinash Trivedi, VP -Videonetics.

This World Book Fair at New Delhi, National Book Trust and Snapdeal have come together to spread awareness around importance of education, especially aiming to inculcate a reading habit amongst the underprivileged kids through their initiative ‘Har Hath Ek Kitab’. On this occasion, National Book Trust and Snapdeal have launched an online portal http://www. harhaathekkitaab.com to expand its outreach, so that people from across the country can support the movement by gifting books for underprivileged kids.

Under the initiative, people can choose to gift anywhere between 4 to 2000 books at the subsidised price of Rs. 25 per book through the website or the stall. Once a contribution is made, NGOs select relevant books for kids from a catalog of 600+ books by National Book Trust. These books are then dispatched to kids across India where reading among kids is facilitated by NGO staff. Several Kids from various NGOs across NCR will also be exploring the fair and attending various workshops being organised as a part of this initiative. www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 9

NEWS/GOVT.

Petroleum minister briefs about acquisition of HPCL by ONGC

Ministry of tourism organises ‘BHARAT PARV’

Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has recently briefed the media about the acquisition of HPCL by ONGC. Shri Pradhan informed that the Government of India entered into an agreement with ONGC on January 20, 2018 for sale of its 51.11% equity shareholding in HPCL at a consideration of Rs. 36,915 crore.

Shri Pradhan said this is in line with the Budget announcement 2017-18 to create oil majors in the country.

This has completed the successful implementation of the Budget announcement in a time bound manner.

Through this acquisition, ONGC will become India’s first vertically integrated ‘oil major’ company, having presence across the entire value chain. The group company will have advantage of having enhanced capacity to bear higher risk, take higher investment decisions and improve business.

The ‘Bharat Parv’ event is being organized by the Government of India at the Red Fort, Delhi from 26th to 31st January, 2018 as part of the Republic Day 2018 celebrations. The prime objective of organizing the event is to generate a patriotic mood, promote the rich cultural diversity of the country and to ensure wider participation of the general public.

The Cultural Performances include choreographed Fork/ Tribal Dances and Music arranged through the North Zonal Cultural Centre as well as performances by cultural troupes from the different States / UTs of the country.

The Craft Mela with 50 stalls will showcase the diverse handicrafts of the country, arranged by the State Governments and Ministry of Textiles through the office of the Development Commissioner of Handicrafts. There will be Theme State Pavilions where each State would showcase their strengths along with tourism products. DAVP is also setting up an exhibition on the theme “Naya Bharat Hum Karke Rahenge”.

Ministry of Railways sets Zero scrap target for zonal Railways

NHAI to start Kiosks at toll plazas

Earnings from sale of Railway scrap not only augments Railways revenue but also helps in keeping the Railway track, stations, workshops, depots neat and tidy. In this regard, Ministry of Railways has directed all Zonal Railway & Production units to achieve Zero scrap balance by end of March 2018. General Managers of all the Zonal Railways/PUs have been advised to regularly monitor this activity and to intensify supervision at senior officers’ level so as to promptly identify scrap and offer it for e-auction.

With the concerted efforts by all the Railways, total scrap sales till December 2017 of current financial year has reached to Rs. 1837 crores which is 22% higher than the corresponding sales of Rs. 1503 crores upto December 2016 of the year 2016-17.

Indian Railways have been selling its internally generated scrap entirely through online e-auction. Majority of the scrap material comprises of worn-out rails and track fittings released from track renewal/gauge conversion, steel scrap generated in course of overhaul /repairs of rolling stocks, other non-ferrous and miscellaneous scrap.

10 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

In order to provide more facility to the travellers at the toll plazas run by NHAI, it will soon have kiosks selling drinking water, tea/coffee, and packaged food for the convenience of highways users. Termed as Highway Nest (Mini), these kiosks are under construction on both up-side and down-side at all 372 NH run toll plazas. These kiosks are being built on 10mx20 m paved platforms about 200-250 m from the toll plaza. Toilet facilities for ladies/ gents and physically challenged persons are also available at these sites.

Two Highway Nests (Mini) have been inaugurated already - one at Narayanpura toll plaza on NH-76 on Udaipur-Chittorgarh-Kota route under Regional Office, Jaipur and another at Hyderabad-Vijaywada section of NH-65, Korlapahad toll plazas at km 118.250 (TP-2) under RO Hyderabad. Efforts are being made to have the Highway Nest (Mini) in place on all the remaining toll plazas by the end of March 2018.

NEWS/GOVT.

Home Minister helps to raise funds for “Bharat ke Veer”

GST data reveals 50% increase in number of Indirect Taxpayers

Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh, Ministers of State for Home Affairs participated in a ceremony organized to raise funds for the “Bharat ke Veer”, fund to assist the families of martyrs of the Central Armed Police Forces.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rajnath Singh lauded the contributions being made

by CAPFs in safeguarding the national security on various fronts. He said how much more one may say in praise of the martyrs is not enough to fully recognize their sacrifices and appealed for monetary contributions from corporate and the general public to support families of the martyrs.

On the occasion, a graphic novel series on the martyrs’ sacrifices, produced by Amar Chitra Katha Publications, was released by Shri Rajnath Singh and other dignitaries. Some families of martyrs were felicitated and a short film made in their tribute was also released. The theme video song made and sung by well known Bollywood singer Shri Kailash Kher was also released on the occasion.

A preliminary analysis of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) data reveals that there has been a 50% increase in the number of indirect taxpayers, besides a large increase in voluntary registrations, especially by small enterprises that buy from large enterprises and want to avail themselves of Input Tax Credits (ITC).

The Economic Survey 201718 presented in Parliament by the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley informs that as on December 2017, there were 9.8 million unique GST registrants slightly more than the total Indirect Tax registrants under the old system (where many taxpayers were registered under several taxes).

Therefore, adjusting the base for double and triple counting, the GST has increased the number of unique indirect taxpayers by more than 50 percent –a substantial 3.4 million.

Hamira in rural Rajasthan to have access to e-education soon – Aruna Sundararajan

Tableau of Youth Affairs & Sports Ministry adjudged best Tableau

Remote Gram Panchayat Hamira in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan will soon have access to telemedicine and e-education facilities, riding on BharatNet infrastructure, according to Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Department of Telecom. Hamira is one among the one lakh Gram Panchayats (GP) covered under BharatNet Phase 1, which was completed by 31 Dec 2017. In Rajasthan 8117 GPs are service ready under BharatNet Phase 1.

As part of Government’s focus on utilizing the BharatNet infrastructure created in different GPs to provide high-speed broadband internet and internet-based services, Telecom Secretary Ms Aruna Sundararajan visited various GPs in Jaisalmer district and held interactions with the GP authorities and the public to understand the appetite for the last mile connectivity.

Reviewing the activities at Hamira, Ms Sundararajan told that schools, railway station, public distribution system, various services under e-mitra etc can be made stronger using the 100 mbps broadband connectivity provided through BharatNet.

The Tableau of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports for Republic Day 2018 has been adjudged as the best Tableau among all the Tableaux of the Ministries/Departments of the Government of India. In a ceremony in New Delhi, Shri Rahul Bhatnagar, Secretary (Sports) received the Trophy and Certificate for best Tableau from Hon’ble Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Seetharaman.

Congratulating the team, Minister of State (I/C), Youth Affairs and Sports, Col Rajyavardhan Rathore tweeted “CONGRATS @ IndiaSports @YASMinistry @KheloIndia for being adjudged the best tableau in the #RepublicDay Parade!

It is a proud moment for team MYAS. It motivates us to keep giving our best to the nation!

A BIG thanks to the people for all their love & support!”

Theme of the Tableau of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports was Khelo India. “Khelo India, Jo Khelega Woh Khilege (Play India! The one who plays sport is the one who blossoms),” the legend on a side of the float said. A collage of photographs of India’s sporting heroes including Olympic medalists celebrated their success, inspiring millions of youngsters to take to sport was also on the side panels. www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 11

NEWS/Technology

Yepzon Oy launches new tracker Detel D1+ with its ‘talking device for woman safety in India feature’ to be a great device for Yepzon Oy, a safety technology company, has recently launched tracker device “Yepzon” visually impaired for women and children.

Together with the device and a smartphone, the person in need of help can be tracked in seconds, regardless of whether the person is indoors or outdoors or on the other side of the world. With just a push of a button, the safety alarm informs of its wearer’s accurate location through the mobile app.

Yepzon Freedom is the first independent locator and alarm device combining Wi-Fi indoor positioning with 3G and GPS technologies. Yepzon works on all key smartphone platforms, no personal information or user credentials required. The device takes hardly a minute to pair with the phone and the battery can run up to several weeks with one charge.

After the success of the D1, Detel is all geared up to launch D1+, specially designed for the visually impaired, senior citizens and kids with the introduction of ‘Talking feature’. Priced at Rs 399, the Detel D1+ will be exclusively available at B2BAdda.com, from 26th January, 2018, midnight.

Moving a step ahead in its vision to ‘Connect the Unconnected’, the brand has worked to uniquely benefit various sections of the society. Detel is the first brand to offer a talking feature and a wireless FM along with other interesting features at an affordable price. The talking feature utilizes the speaker at the rear to provide audio alerts while dialing a phone number, browsing contacts, etc.

The brand aims to target the 40 crore people in India who still remain unconnected not just with the rest of the world but also within themselves.

56 new airports, helipads to be connected under UDAN 2 A total of 109 airports and heliports around the country have been awarded to various airlines and helicopter operators under the second round of bidding for the government’s Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), UDAN. The locations being linked include Kargil in Jammu & Kashmir, which will be on the air map for the first time, Tezu (Arunachal Pradesh), Darbhanga (Bihar), Hubli (Karnataka), Hissar (Haryana), Thanjavur and Vellore (Tamil Nadu), Gaucher (Uttarakhand), Jalgaon and Ozar (Nashik) in Maharashtra, and Bathinda in Punjab.

Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur and Uttarakhand will also have cities being connected by helicopter operations. Helicopter operations have been allowed under UDAN for the first time.

RN Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation has said that this increase in domestic air connectivity will not place any additional burden on existing fliers as the Finance Ministry has allowed the Ministry of Civil Aviation to retain a portion of the dividend the Airports Authority pays the Centre to meet the financial needs of providing viability gap funding (VGF) for regional flights.

While the government’s annual allocation of funds due to VGF was in the region of ₹620 crore during the first round of UDAN, it is likely to be around ₹213 crore in the second round, Choubey said.

The existing proposal of levying a fee of ₹5,000 on a flight operated by an Airbus A-320 variety of aircraft to fund the scheme will remain, Choubey added.

12 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

NEWS/eGovernance

Government to start e-auction of TN rolls out e-Governance policy Tamil Nadu Government has launched an e-governance ghats for sand mining policy that would enable public, government and commercial

The sand crisis in the state is likely to be eased shortly as the mines and geology department is to commence e-auction for sand mining rights of around 170 ghats in 12 districts from next week.

The move comes after directive by chief minister Nitish Kumar on December 20 last year to resume sand mining at all river ghats where mining rights were cancelled during the crackdown on sand mafia in the recent months.

Directives were also given for commencing sand mining from several new ghats.

The department has issued tenders for awarding mining rights of 63 ghats in Patna district alone. "The mining rights of all sand ghats will be issued through e-auction from January 8. The floor (minimum) and celling (maximum) value (per 100 CFT rates) for placing the bid has been fixed by the department. The lease of mining rights will be valid till December 31, 2019," said a senior official in the department.

establishments get all it's services through digital mode.

"The policy aims to provide all government services through digital mode and also through common service centres and mobile applications under the Government's Vision 2023 plan," an official release said.

Chief Minister K Palaniswamy released the e-Governance policy 2017 booklet, which was received

by State IT Minister M Manikandan, at a function here today.

The Vision 2023 document was released by the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in March 2012 aiming to make the State 'numero uno' in the country and set a target of 11 per cent growth in GSDP by 2023.

Army to launch online grievance redressal system based on Aadhaar

1 crore Andhra residents to get internet, rent free phone by next year

Army chief General Bipin Rawat has said that the Indian Army will launch a new online grievance redressal system which will be based on Aadhaar number. “A new Aadhaar-based mobile application is being developed, through which every soldier will be able to post his grievances online, and it would be addressed as soon as possible,� the Army chief said at the 70th Army Day parade.

T h e application will also have other useful information for the soldiers and it will be launched very soon. He also said that the Army Welfare Education Society has approved a plan for two residential schools with a capacity of 2,000 students.

One of the two schools will be near Mamun Military Station in Pathankot. A law college will also be started near Pune by the Army.

More than one crore homes of Andhra Pradesh will receive internet connections, rent-free telephone and cable TV by next year.

The Andhra Pradesh State Fibernet Limited (APSFL) will implement the AP Fibre Grid project to provide services at tariffs starting as low as Rs 149 for 5 GB at 15 MBPS speed and 250 TV channels and a free telephone connection.

Apart from households, 50,000 schools and educational institutions, all government offices, more than 5,000 government hospitals and health centres and all panchayat offices in Andhra Pradesh will benefit from this scheme. The scheme was launched

by President Ram Nath Kovind who also dedicated the Andhra Pradesh Survelliance Project, a drone project, to the nation at state secretariat in Amaravati. www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 13

CSR/PSU

HEC adds another feather to its cap

BEL displays its Capabilities at Defence Industry Development Meet

HEC has successfully manufactured and supplied most critical and stringent Heavy Forging, meeting all technical requirements and certified by BARC Mumbai for use by Indian Navy.

The item has been despatched on 24th January 2018 and flagged off by Dr Asha Ram Sihag, IAS, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry in the presence of Shri Avijit Ghosh, CMD, HEC and his team and Sri P Sreenivas, Head, LWRD, BARC & team.

Dr. Asha Ram Sihag, IAS, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry visited all the three plants of HEC and spent a lot of time understanding the working and the products being manufactured by HEC. Thereafter, a presentation was made in the conference hall wherein all the senior officials of HEC were present along with CMD and Directors. The strategic importance of HEC was explained to him.

Navratna Defence PSU, Bharat Electronics Ltd, displayed its solidarity with the Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and intent to partner with the private industry to achieve the goal of self-reliance by participating in the two-day Defence Industry Development Meet, which was inaugurated by Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, Hon’ble Raksha Mantri, at Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai on January 18, 2018.

BEL also showcased its strengths and capabilities in the area of strategic electronics at an exhibition which was organised on the sidelines of the meet, which aimed at “Forging New Partnership With Industry For Defence Production”. Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, Hon’ble Raksha Mantri, visited the BEL stall at the exhibition on the first day and was briefed by Gowtama M V, CMD, BEL, about the components and subsystems BEL has successfully indigenised through the private industry.

Mahanadi Coalfields releases “Sambalpur Itihaas”

NRDC launches Incubation Centre to support start-ups

A K Jha, Chairman & Managing Director, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited released “Sambalpur Itihaas” – a comprehensive volume on the history of Sambalpur from 200 AD to modern days on January 13, 2018.

Supported by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, “Sambalpur Itihaas” chronicles the history and has rare references such as judgments pertaining to mutiny of Veer Surendra Sai and others, diamond mines of Sambalpur, important l e t t e r s written between top government officials and instrument of accession of princely States, letters from Gandhiji and Fraser, reports On Sambalpur British Imperialism.

Having references from old newspapers on Sambalpur and other documentary evidence, the book also speaks about Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, who was Political Agent for the Britishers in Sambalpur.

14 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

To leverage the emerging start-up eco-system in the country, National Research Development Corporation opened an Incubation Centre in its premises which was inaugurated by Dr. Girish Sahni, Director General, CSIR and Secretary, DSIR on 10th January, 2018.

In his inaugural address, Dr. Sahni appreciated efforts of NRDC in establishing Incubation Centre as it fulfils the aspiration of the young entrepreneurs who are passionate to address the social problems through their start-ups.

Dr. H. Purushotham, Chairman & Managing Director of NRDC informed that NRDC received about 100 applications seeking incubation space in the NRDC Incubation Centre. Apart from the physical plug and play incubation space in South Delhi, the startups are provided with technical know-how, IPR services, prototype development and testing support, market research, business plan preparation, mentoring, handholding and connecting to Start-up India Mission, and investors.

CSR/PSU

RINL CMD expresses concern to leverage new technologies and Expanded Units

Shri P Madhusudan, CMD, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL) underscored the need to leverage several new technologies introduced in the VSP and also asked to make more and more use of secondary metallurgical facilities like RH degasser and also maximise the use of Pulverised Coal Injection (PCI), etc. This requires greater employment involvement in every aspect of the production and transformation of work culture, he added.

Sri Madhusudan made this observation during the award ceremony of “Chairman’s Trophy for Excellence”, the annual departmental competition for recognising the departments for their efforts towards business excellence. CMD and Directors presented Commendation certificates to the departments for their performance during the year 2016-17 in Ukkunagaram. Speaking on the occasion, Sri Madhusudan congratulated the winning departments for bringing incremental improvements.

Fly ash to be use in road construction as geopolymer concrete

NTPC NETRA and CSIR-Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee have jointly developed high strength fly ash based geopolymer concrete for use in road construction. Indian Road Congress (IRC), New Delhi has accredited the construction of road by “Geopolymer C o n c r e t e ” Developed/promoted jointly by NETRANTPC Ltd and CSIR-CBRI Roorkee recently.

The project can now be replicated across the country and will help in addressing the environmental issues associated with huge quantities of fly ash being generated by coal-based power plants all over India.

The IRC accreditation was based on the construction of geopolymer concrete road stretch of 50m long and 3m wide single lane at CBRI Roorkee & 100m long and 6.5 m wide double lane at NTPC Dadri as per IRC specifications using NTPC Dadri fly ash.

Amlohri NCL welcomes Industrial SJVN contributes Rs 1, 00, 00,000 Safety Drive- ‘Audyogik to CM Relief Fund A cheque amounting to Rs. 1,00,00,000 (One Crore) towards Surakhsha Rath’ Chief Minister Relief Fund was presented to Hon'ble Chief

Amlohri coal producing area of NCL welcomed ‘Audyogik Surakhsha Rath’ (Industrial Safety Drive) during the ongoing Annual Mines Safety Week. Adding a whole new dimension to safety commitment of NCL, the drive was stationed at ‘View Point’ of Amlohri mine and trained miners about the occupational health and safety.

In a bid to impart training on worker’s safety at workplace across the country, the drive was flagged off by Minister of Labour and Employment, Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar from Vigyan Bhawan Delhi on September 2017 as a part of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Factory Advice Service & Labour Institutes (DGFASLI) working under Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India and 3M India Limited.

Audyogik Surakhsha Rath (Industrial Safety Drive) is a fully equipped mobile training van through which experts demonstrate and train workers on occupational health, safety practices and usage of safety equipment.

Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Jairam Thakur by Shri Nand Lal Sharma, Chairman & Managing Director- SJVN in Shimla. The cheque was presented in the august presence of Sh Vineet Chawdhry, Chief Secretary; Manisha Nanda, Addl. Chief Secretary cum Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister; Sh. R.D. Dhiman, Principal Secretary (Power); Sh. A. S. Bindra, Director (Finance) SJVN and Sh. R. K. Bansal, Director (Electrical) SJVN. On this occasion, other officials from SJVN and Government of Himachal Pradesh were also present.

Chairman & Managing Director Sh. Nand Lal Sharma informed Hon'ble Chief Minister that SJVN is efficiently operating two Hydro Power Stations in the State of Himachal Pradesh, namely 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station & 412 MW Rampur Hydro Power Station. He further informed that Himachal Pradesh being host state and having 25.51% equity partnership in SJVN, GoHP receives 230 MW of electricity free of cost besides additional 439 MW on bus bar rates. www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 15

COVER story

World Economic Forum 2018 - Urges joint action on climate change and protectionism More than 3,000 leaders from around the world are gathering in a collaborative effort to shape the global, regional and industry agendas, with a commitment to improve the state of the world -

The 48th World Economic Forum annual meeting was held in Davos, Switzerland from January 21st to 24th with the shadow of recent attacks in France and ongoing global conflicts looming large.. The world’s most powerful leaders were at Davos 2018 for an annual four-day elite conference known as the World Economic Forum.

Over 3,000 world leaders from business, politics, art, academia and civil society had witnessed the WEF Annual Meeting in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos.

WEF’s mission statement says that it is “committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas”.

This year’s programme is focused around the theme, ‘Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World’. Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, said, “Our world has become fractured by increasing competition between nations and deep divides within societies.”

India‘s show of strength at WEF The strong Indian presence with the largest over 130 participants has made India the talking point. Especially the presence of PM Narendra Modi has made the WEF more interactive. He is the first prime minister to represent India at the WEF in more than 20 years. The last visit by an Indian prime minister was by H.D. Deve Gowda in 1997 - long before India became a world economy to reckon with. The country’s top businessmen had also joined PM 16 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

Modi at the Summit.

Apart from PM Modi, six other Indian ministers - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar and Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh - also had sessions lined up at the forum.

In recent years, India's engagement with the outside world has become truly and effectively multi-dimensional covering political, economic, people to people, security and other spheres.

PM Modi said in a series of tweets hashtagged "IndiaMeansBusiness" on Sunday ahead of his visit “At Davos, I look forward to sharing my vision for India's future engagement with the international community."

In his plenary address, PM Modi called for countries to unite to tackle what he called the three big challenges that the world faces - "climate change, terrorism and an increased selfcentredness."

“Climate change and terrorism are grave concerns before the world,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while also asserting that terrorism is dangerous but what is equally dangerous is the "artificial distinction" made between 'good terrorist' and 'bad terrorist'. The prime minister, who arrived in Davos on Monday, said issues of peace, security and stability have emerged as serious global challenges. He also noted that the last time when an Indian prime minister came here in 1997, India's GDP was a little more than $400 billion, but now it has increased more than six-times.

PM Modi has showcased India as one of the main drivers of global economic growth with its market of more than a billion people and detailed the steps he has taken to make the country Asia's third-largest economy, after China and Japan. He further said, “Let us create a 'heaven of freedom', where there is cooperation and not division, fractures".

“In India, Democracy, Demography, and Dynamism are giving shape to development and destiny. We believe in

progress in a true sense when everyone can walk together to achieve this," the Prime Minister said in his speech.

India currently is a US$2.3 trillion (S$3 trillion) economy and is poised to be the fastest growing economy in 2018 with a projected growth of 7.3 per cent, ahead of China, according to the World Bank's Global Economic Prospects report released earlier this month. PM Modi spoke about the flagship Makein-India programme and some recent investor-friendly reforms that have made the country a favourite with many.

Besides addressing the WEF, Modi also attended a round table dinner organised for interaction with 60 CEOs, including some from India. Of the 60, 40 of them were from 18 different countries and 20 from India. These 60 companies are across 26 different sectors and the market cap of all these companies is US$3.3 trillion. The list includes Airbus group CEO Dirk Hoke, BAE Systems chairman Roger Carr, IBM chairman, president and CEO Ginni Rometty, Carlyle Group co-founder and co-CEO David Rubenstein and other top executives of General Motors, Salesforce.com, Royal Dutch Shell, BASF, Nestle and JPMorgan Chase. A report said that business leaders who were present at the round table dinner are all members of the International Business Council, which is part of the WEF. The four-day event concluded with a closing addressed by US President Donald Trump. Listed as the Special Address by Donald Trump, President of the United States of America’ on the WEF programme, the speech became the final address made by any world leader at this year’s event.

In a statement on its website before the closing ceremony, the WEF said, “The engagement of the President will allow participants to get a direct perspective on US political and economic priorities. According to White House officials, Trump will tell the gathering in Switzerland that “America is open for business” and that the President “wants the world to invest in America and create jobs for hard-working Americans”.

Other world leaders expected to be at the WEF include German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister

Vodafone CEO compliments Indian Government for marked improvement in ease of doing business During his speech at a WEF Governors meeting, Vittorio Colao, Vodafone Group Plc‘s CEO, complimented India and Prime Minister Modi’s government for a marked improvement in the ease of doing business in the country during the last four years.

After the meeting, Colao elaborated and said, “Digital India and Make in India are transformational initiatives. The focus of Prime Minister Modi’s government and India’s new progressive policy framework are ensuring their successful execution.

India’s enhanced economic liberalisation will bring more international investment into its growing economy, which will in turn generate exciting opportunities and boost job creation.”

Within the telecom sector specifically, Colao said “India has significantly increased the amount of spectrum which is now available to operators. The proposed increase in spectrum caps will further hasten the roll out of networks to the benefit of customers, government and industry.”

“Simplicity and transparency are key to the reforms introduced and this has been recognised by the significant improvement in India’s position in the Ease of Doing Business global rankings. The swift progress we have made in just under a year towards the completion of our merger with Idea Cellular is testimony to this fresh approach. India has a clear set of well-defined M&A rules and we are seeing their fair and speedy implementation,” said Colao. www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 17

Paolo Gentiloni, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

China has welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Davos speech against protectionism, saying the two countries can join hands in fighting such practice.

Beijing also said that the two countries share common interests in promoting globalisation and steering the world economy towards betterment.

WEF calls on Global Leaders to put an end to Sexual Harassment A panel of leaders from government, business and civil society as part of a panel at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2018 agreed that stemming sexual harassment is a global issue that requires collaboration between the public and private sectors to empower women. The panel of experts discussed behavioural and social changes that are most effective in fighting abuses of power and sexual harassment.

“This is not an issue that one sector can challenge and tackle and resolve. It is not up to the NGOs to do this work alone, it is not up to governments to do this work alone, nor is it for the private sector to do this work alone,” Maryam Monsef, Minister of Status of Women of Canada, said. “The only way that we are going to be able to get there is if it’s a cross-sectoral approach, if it’s intergenerational, multicultural, multi-faith.”

While the #MeToo movement has certainly brought renewed attention to this topic, panellists agreed that sexual harassment, power imbalance and abuses of power are not new, and affect women worldwide.

“We interviewed hotel housekeepers in the Dominican Republic, in Thailand and in Canada, developed and developing [countries]. All of them told us that they had faced sexual harassment or known someone who had faced sexual harassment,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International.

Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, argued that power corrupts men more than women, which can lead to abuses of power in the workplace. For men, power tends to amplify their tendencies to sexualize interactions, which can lead to abuses of power. For women, power tends to enhance their tendency to be more collaborative. While progress has been made towards more collaborative models of leadership, Keltner underlined that “our concepts of who should be a leader are lagging behind.”

A critical first step to address sexual violence and exploitation, according to Byanyima, is to disrupt traditional power imbalances and put women in leadership positions. “Powerless people cannot challenge sexual exploitation and abuse,” said Byanyima. “That’s important first, to shift power, to give women power in institutions.”

If women are to be empowered in the workplace, leadership qualities must be redefined. Peggy Johnson, Executive VicePresident, Business Development, Microsoft Corporation, agreed that businesses should highlight leadership characteristics such as collaboration and empathy to expand the notion of who a leader could be. “I think for too long we were weighted towards the more aggressive [qualities] and so, if you had those, then you were put into positions of power; and, if you didn’t have those, you weren’t, and that affected females far more than men.”

One concrete action that can help redefine leadership is changing the way women are represented in the media. “If you can’t see her, you can’t be her,” said Lisa Sherman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Advertising Council. “Images in the past were perpetuating stereotypes. I think now there is a real pressure for that content to reflect the reality that women are very diverse in every way, and we should continue to put positive, empowering images of women out there.”

“There need to be more women in power. Both the private sector and the government need to do their part,” summarized Elisabeth Bumiller, Washington Bureau Chief, New York Times.

18 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

CSR/NGO

Deccan Heritage Foundation collaborates with Sonata Software

HackerEarth along with 6 NGOs host Rural Development Hackathon

Bengaluru based Sonata Software has announced its collaboration with Deccan Heritage Foundation, India (DHF India) with the development of an unique platform ‘www.bidarkarez. org’ which will support DHF India’s project for restoration and revitalization of the Karez at Bidar, Karnataka.

This new platform developed by Sonata Software was formally launched at the Annual Mirella Petteni Haggiag Lecture Series that was conducted by DHF India at Bangalore recently. Once restored, the karez is expected to significantly improve the quality of life of the local population by increasing access to clean drinking water with minimum energy costs, and improving agricultural productivity as well.

“The collaboration with DHF India is aligned to our Social Responsibility mission – ‘Impact lives through Technology’ – with our continued commitment to sustainable cultural heritage and traditional craft practices. Our support of the Bidar karez revival will help amplify efforts towards preservation and use of a historic system,” said Srikar Reddy, CEO, Sonata Software.

HackerEarth has announced the commencement of their Rural Development Hackathon. Supported by six NGOs; Teach for India, Sattva Group, I DO, Digital Green, U&I and Nirmaan Organization, this unique hackathon has been curated by HackerEarth to find technical solutions for challenges faced by rural India in agriculture, education and healthcare.

The registrations for the hackathon began on December 8th, 2017 and over 1000 participants have already registered. The winning team will be granted INR 50,000 as prize money and the most viable solution will be given a chance to work with the respective NGO for implementation.

According to a report by TRAI, there are 499 million mobile subscribers in rural India of which, 109 million use smartphones.

Keeping this in mind, the rural development hackathon will favour solutions which have an SMS component along with a partner app for smartphone users.

EdelGive Foundation with Genpact hosts forum to transform non-profit sector

Supertron Foundation organizes Walk for Cancer Awareness in Kolkata

Genpact has hosted a leadership forum with EdelGive Foundation to discuss how companies can join forces to transform the non-profit sector. The event featured Genpact Social Impact Fellowship (GSIF) as a successful, scalable program that serves as a model for many other organizations seeking to make a lasting difference in the social sector.

“By bringing together the best of Genpact and EdelGive, Genpact Social Impact Fellowship has transformed leading non-profits in India and demonstrated how solving the biggest problems needs the best minds to work together,” said Tiger Tyagarajan, CEO, Genpact. “Our fellows created process-efficient solutions for the non-profit organizations, leading to an amplification of their social impact targets. We are excited to see the program grow and touch many more lives in India.”

Supertron Foundation and We Can Cancer Cannot, a cancer awareness society jointly organized a walk in Kolkata for cancer awareness called “colourwalk”. This is the second year Supertron has organized the walk for a social cause as a CSR activity. Supertron Foundation is focusing on major areas of the society such as Health, Education and disability for underprivileged children. There were more than 250 children, the parents of whom too joined the walk.

“God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with” – is the philosophy that V.K Bhandari, CMD – Supertron Electronics Pvt Ltd believed right from his early days of entrepreneurship. SEPL actively involved in many social projects much before Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) became a buzz word. www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 19

ROUND ABOUT

Are Japanese and Chinese Companies riding roughshod over US IT Behemoths in India?

One thought has been coming to me time and time again concerning American investments to India. I believe that the relationship between the two countries should incrementally go up with every passing year. I still remember that in the initial stages of liberalization, hardly a day went by without a mention about some new investments coming into India from the US – be it in IT, telecom, biotech, aerospace, or defense. The US was the largest trading and investment partner of India and it continued for quite some time.

I want to dwell on lacklustre economic engagement between India and the US. First, I believe the current trend is not in the interest of both countries, which have a long history of working together in the economic fields, even when the political and diplomatic affinity was not very conducive. Yet, it did not deter both countries to work together in strategically important avenues to further the economic interests of both countries.

Why there is a blip now?

The other argument is that since the US is the only country that has come out of financial meltdown blues, there is a groundswell of opportunities awaiting investors there. American companies are now looking more inwards to reap the opportunities. Investing abroad, they feel, is a bit risky – and not that rewarding. The recent significant tax cuts announced by the Trump Administration, particularly corporate tax cuts, are aimed at attracting more investments. Coupled with Trump’s America First or Buy America, the tax cuts can and will make a difference and are attracting more investments into the US. The other reason for the US developing cold feet on India is seemingly a reaction to some of the unsavoury decisions India had taken recently. This includes a cap on the prices of some of the life-saving medical devices like stents and various stands taken by India, particularly relating to compulsory licensing of patents of certain high-priced medicines, which did 20 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

not go well with the US companies.

India’s trade with the US is miniscule compared with China, Japan and even Russia. Even with China, despite acrimonious relations at times, the US maintains a good trading relation. The only explanation which can be offered is that India still has to emerge as an equal partner in our commercial relations with the US. In the latest security perceptions and tasks ahead published by the US, China and Russia are categorized as competing nations and India as a global ally in the making. It may be a charitable reference to India, but clearly indicates that India is not treated with the same seriousness and awe as they treat China or Russia.

We see that Softbank and Alibaba are making inroads into Indian economic landscape. The Japan-based Softbank is picking up stakes in Indian companies, particularly in the e-commerce, digital payment, and taxi aggregating segments.

Flipkart, Paytm and Ola are some of the entities which received handsome investments from Softbank. In the same way, the Chinese digital companies such as Alibaba and Tencents are gobbling up stakes in many Indian companies operating in sectors like logistics, manufacturing and even e-commerce.

The interest of the Japanese and

Chinese in the e-commerce space is rather intriguing. Only Amazon India is reported to be making profits and the rest are in deep red. Also, e-commerce space is not growing in India, as was expected.

Still Softbank and Alibaba are gung-ho about India’s e-commerce space.

So why is the sudden interest of the Japanese and Chinese in the Indian landscape? I have a few explanations.

The first is the importance of India as the reservoir of soft skills like proficiency in English, flexibility in adapting to crosscountry mannerisms and cultural mores.

Internet makes distance neutral. For e-commerce and taxi aggregators, artificial intelligence can help in automating a lot of things. But there are certain critical services which people with good mix of soft skill, can only undertake. In India, one can find a pool of such talented people. Not very long ago, India had the maximum number of call centres catering to the customer relations in most of the English-speaking countries.

Secondly, India’s potential in IT is much more than that of Japan and China.

Japan has the technical manpower, but the domestic e-commerce market is limited due to its small population and that too is ageing. China has a large population but is more focussed on manufacturing.

Thirdly, India has a better rapport with the West than China or, for that matter Japan, partly due to English advantage.

It has never been seen as a competitor to the West and that way, the people in the West may feel more comfortable in dealing with the Indians. Last but not the least, India’s young population is an important catchment for the e-commerce and internet companies. The future potential of the internet is also a deciding factor. In India, a host of sectors which are are going to be digitally connected in the coming years generate a lot of business opportunities. The Japanese and Chinese companies are there to take advantage of the groundswell of business opportunities that are evolving. n

open your eyes

CAF India - Working towards Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Response in North East Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India, a not-for-profit organization, offers strategic giving solutions to NGOs, corporates and individuals, for a more equitable and sustainable society.

Humanitarian response for Disaster relief is one of the key areas in which CAF India works.

Natural Disasters have profoundly affected North- East India.

Prominent among these natural disasters that afflict this region are destructive floods. Every year, states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Meghalaya are affected by these and the humanitarian crisis that often follows such events.

When floods created havoc in the North East in 2017, CAF India through its network of validated and credible NGO partners was swift to reach out to the affected communities in the region.

The organization coordinated relief efforts with the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) and District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) of the affected States on this relief project.

Corporate partners also extended whole hearted support to the rehabilitation programs.

CAF India provided each affected family with a family kit, comprising basic amenities like a blanket, mosquito net, medicines, hygiene kit, food, solar lamp and tarpaulin sheet. The family kit helped affected families in meeting their basic needs in the troubled time.

To quote a beneficiary story, Champa Doley is a widowed senior citizen from the Mising Community from Golaghat district, Assam, living with her son and his family. The family depends on the meagre income of seasonal cultivation. Her son and his wife also work as daily wage labourers on agricultural farms in nearby villages to enhance the income. The dreaded floods disrupted the lives of every member of the family, especially Champa who requires chronic medication. The family kit was able to take the family through this testing time.

There are many challenges in implementing relief and rehabilitation initiatives across remote villages. The transportation of relief materials to the village with roads and other modes of commute often compromised during natural disasters is one. Ensuring seamless communication with and between the community members is another. CAF India is working with government agencies towards finding new ways to overcome these challenges.

To ensure that the funds meant for flood relief reaches the affected, a stringent process is followed. This begins at the village-level with the formation of VDCs (Village Development Committees) to oversee and monitor the relief activities. In addition, CAF India conducts a baseline survey with information about each and every household, among other checks and balances.

Besides relief efforts, CAF India is also involved with rehabilitation projects in flood-affected areas. Utilizing CSR funds of its corporate partners, CAF sought to restore the livelihood of the worst flood-affected families and improve disaster preparedness in the villages of North East.

Manoj K Dash, Team Leader, Humanitarian Response Arm - CAF India Manoj possesses over 19 years of rich experience in sustainable development issues related to social sector particularly in Disaster Management, DRR, Climate Change, and Information Technology. He has previously worked with the Government of India, UNDP, PCI India, Centurion University, Sphere India and Integrated Volunteers Network.

He has been involved in more than 31 disaster response, rehabilitation and recovery projects in different situations such as flood, cyclone, tsunami, drought, earthquake and landslides in states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Kashmir, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Bihar. He has also worked in Sri Lanka and Nepal in Humanitarian situations. He has successfully handled India’s largest air relief operations in Bihar Floods in the year 2004.

www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 21

BUDGET 2018

All eyes on Budget With the Government set to present its fifth and the last comprehensive Budget in February 2018 before the polls of 2019, the industry, particularly the IT & Mobility industry has its hopes high. A common belief is that the Government is likely to come out with a populist budget that would tie all the loose ends and something that will provide relief to the “aam aadmi”. The budget is also going to be a significant one for the simple reason that, it will be the first budget after the revolutionary GST law was implemented last year. The Gujarat election results will also play a part in the formulation of this year’s Budget.

From the ‘Make in India’ perspective, the budget needs to make it easier for companies to shift their manufacturing into India. Right now neither the infrastructure is in place nor there is 100% clarity in the rules. There need to be some clarity in the taxes which can promote trust and allow people to invest into manufacturing. The same goes with the Digital India initiative that needs to have a continued focus on more technology adoption to encourage digitization and shaping the IT infrastructure and the Government needs to keep this in mind this while drafting its budget for the year.

In terms of digital payment, the government must try to address demand-side concerns and continue to incentivise digital payments and their providers to help the ecosystem gain greater adoption and synergy through the budget. While digital payments are now projected to supersede cash by 2022 according to industry reports, this momentum in the digital payments ecosystem will be needing more policy support to be sustained.

Industry Reaction Rajiv Bhalla Managing Director Barco Electronic Systems (Smart Cities and Manufacturing) “With the Smart Cities Mission being a priority for the government, we can expect increased capital allocation towards projects in this direction in the budget announcement with a vision to develop the essential smart infrastructure. As India makes its way towards becoming a digital-first economy, we can also look forward to a sustained push aimed at enabling more businesses to make a seamless digital transition.

It would also be interesting to see what financial, infrastructural, and regulatory provisions are made for the ‘Make in India’ initiative. For India to become a global manufacturing hub, the government will have to ramp up its efforts to provide essential support for the ‘In Country, For Country’ companies. Creating an environment where businesses can thrive will encourage more players – both indigenous and international – to explore the possibility of manufacturing within India.”

22 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

Ravi B Goyal Chairman & Managing Director, AGS Transact Technologies “The last few quarters have been transformational for the FinTech and Banking Payments Services industry in terms of increased governmental policy push such as Aadhar pay, UPI and others. These policy initiatives have not merely encouraged consumers onto digital platforms but have also promoted financial inclusion. However, it would be appropriate to point out that cash would still co-exist along with increased push towards digitization. As cash continues to be the preferred mode for transactions, especially in semi-rural & rural areas, we strongly believe that the government’s pro-business policies will usher in a new era of prosperity providing stimulus to cash and digital payments alike.

As India’s leading end-to-end payment solutions provider, our ardent belief is that the ‘Make in India’ initiative holds huge potential for spurring economic upliftment of the people and enhancing national development.

Furthermore, the forthcoming budget should announce measures to upgrade digital infrastructure, especially with regards to the protection of data stored online so that consumer confidence is enhanced.”

Sanjay Kumar Kalirona CEO & Director, COMIO

Rajan S. Mathews Director-General COAI

“India is currently the fastest growing smartphone market in the world. The upcoming Union Budget should support the growth of this industry by smoothening GST (from 12% to 5%) and offering tax reductions, especially towards the budget category as it will make mobiles much more affordable for the consumers. There is an enormous scope for India to strengthen its manufacturing capabilities and create a self-sufficient eco-system for component manufacturing. The incentives provided by the government will help build India as a manufacturing hub, complete the mobile supply chain and further support the ‘Make in India’ vision.”

“In the upcoming Union Budget, telecom sector is eagerly waiting for some breather. The telecom sector is the biggest supporter of indigenous manufacturing. However, till such time as quality products at a competitive price are available in the country, the government needs to rethink its stand regarding customs duty on equipment, to ensure timely roll-out of networks. The issue of tax withholding on discounts extended to pre-paid distributors needs immediate attention. It is important to understand and appreciate that the discount extended to prepaid distributors is not a commission, as these distributors do not act as agents of telecom companies.”

Upasana Taku Co-Founder MobiKwik “The Union Budget for 201819 must announce robust incentive plans for women so that they can harness the potential of new digital technologies and evolve a large ecosystem of entrepreneurs.

Comprising nearly half of the population, women can bring about a transformational change by contributing to innovation, inclusive development and nation building.”

Bipin Preet Singh Founder & Chief Executive Officer MobiKwik “The Union Budget for 201819 must announce measures to accelerate the pace of India’s migration to digital platforms.

People in urban and rural areas should be able to easily access financial services like loans and investment products on their smart phones. The benefits of digital services value chain must percolate to the un-banked and under-banked population as the country transforms into a knowledge-driven economy.”

S. Sundararajan Executive Director, i-exceed “Ours is a country that has realized the significance of digitization and acted on it. The demonetization act set the wheels rolling in a big way for Digital India.

The growth of digital payments has accelerated since then. However, there is still a large section of population, especially from rural areas, who are unable to get the best out of these digital initiatives.

Fintech players are coming up with interest innovations to support regional languages, voice based transactions and AI powered natural language processing to facilitate financial inclusion. With the 2018 fiscal budget, we expect the government to take more active steps in encouraging such innovations.”

Rakesh Dugar CMD Mitashi Edutainment "Post GST, the budget has lost a lot of its importance as a large part of the expectations from the budget were related to Indirect taxes, we think that the government will go for a modest / populist budget to ensure a balanced / positive sentiment before the elections. The budget needs to make it easier for companies to shift their manufacturing into India, right now we see a lot of companies scrambling to shift their base without the infrastructure in place or 100% clarity in the rules. We will need long term clarity in the taxes which can promote trust and allow people to invest into manufacturing, we believe India has the capability to become a major export hub for consumer durables but needs good and stable policies to ensure that we can explore this potential." www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 23

BUDGET 2018 Alok Dubey CFO ACER “With the introduction of GST, year 2017 has been an eventful year across economies and industries. For the year 2018, we are optimistic that the union budget will focus more on Digital India initiative in order to shape the IT infrastructure and increase adoption of technology to encourage digitization. We are also expecting that the government may slash corporate tax for the larger companies in the upcoming budget. It may/should help Indian companies to compete globally and attract more investments to the country. Besides this, we are also expecting that the budget will be centered around lowering personal income tax slabs, and tax savings schemes which would lead to higher disposable income and directly benefit the normal taxpayer.”

Dr. Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar, President Aeris India “As far as IoT deployments are concerned devices form a key input. To bring down capital investments, we need seriously look at lowering tax on hardware from 18 to 5 percent. This will give a fillip to IoT projects in the country. Another area that needs attention is the need to rationalize the spectrum license fees so that more MVNOs can enter and reduce connectivity bottlenecks. Banks should look at relaxing their norms for start-ups (as a subsidy or by offering soft interest rates for loans). This will improve access to working capital for vendors and eco-system participants involved in IoT projects.

Gaurav Hinduja Cofounder - Capital Float “For the Budget 2018-19, we hope that the government will continue to push digitization of financial services and encourage consumers to use digital platforms for transactions. Initiatives such Aadhaar and UPI provide a good opportunity for banks, insurers, and fintech players to expand India’s efforts towards financial inclusion. Another area of focus should be reducing the cost of capital for the MSMEs by improving lenders access to low cost funding sources such as MUDRA & SIDBI and relaxing securitization norms.”

Aniketh Jain CEO & Co-Founder of Solutions Infini "This year budgets are going to be significantly crucial as they happen post the year of notable reforms like Demonetization, GST implementation and insolvency & bankruptcy policy. This year budget also marks significant impact on the way our ecosystem functions. Bringing in policies that foster growth in employment, direct tax reforms, creating more clarity on the way bitcoin operates and its significance on Indian economy can be familiarized for smoother functions. The last year's budget has taken various initiatives to improve the ease of doing business, controlling inflation, digitizing the financial and individual records. Increase in FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) is a pragmatic initiative that has opened up investments from various sectors."

Swetang Vin Corporate Vice President and Regional CFO – AMD “Supply of goods and services to units registered under STPI should be GST exempted. Entities registered as STPI units have fuelled the economy for almost a decade by bringing in convertible foreign exchange into India and have proved themselves as partners the nation building. Though there are schemes supporting the STPI units, claiming GST/Service tax refunds for the unutilized credit is not an easy task. Amendments in the Law exempting levy of GST on services rendered to STPI would enable release of unwarranted pressure created on the working capital.”

Vivek Agarwal Co-founder M-tech Informatics Ltd “The upcoming Union Budget 2018 will be a significant one as it will be the first budget after a bold economic measure like GST has been implemented. With the Make in India initiative which encouraged local manufacturing and augmented production, India has emerged as the second largest mobile phone market in 2018. As the country eyes the top position, the mobile phone industry expects the government to maintain and introduce more favourable policies for domestic manufacturers.”

24 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 25

SKILL INDIA

‘The skilling ecosystem needs a change right at the entry gate’ The last few years has seen skill education gaining lots of interest. It interestingly commands almost 31% of the CSR funds that corporates have at their disposal.

Corporates are either setting up trusts to run these programmes or are tying-up with NGOs to support the same. This has of course evolved into outcome based skilling programs where corporates are not just looking at skill development but also employment.

Sumit Kumar, Vice President, NETAP -TeamLease Services in a chat with SPOI tells our readers of how it is addressing the skilling needs of the industry and how it is bridging the skill deficit by partnering with NETAP -

What kind of challenges does persist in skill training in India? How can these challenges be met?

With the growth and evolution of industries, the need for skill training is increasing constantly in India. The need for up-skilling and re-skilling the workforce has become crucial.

However there still are a few challenges when it comes to skill training in India.

• There is still a social stigma attached to vocational courses and hence students prefer higher education over vocational training courses • There is lack of relevant skill sets available in the industry • Lack of infrastructure and trainers to help strengthen the skill training models The skilling ecosystem needs a change right at the entry gate where the focus should be on creating awareness and removing the apprehensions among the youth about vocational training. Vocational training should be a course of choice. Another challenge that needs to be addressed is the way training is imparted. It is still largely done through classroom. It is not easy to impart skill training only through classroom. We need to re-look at the learning delivery framework and should be an ideal mix of classroom education, on-site learning and on the job training.

What are some of the trends in the skilling industry today?

Traditionally

skilling

was

largely

26 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

related

to

the

manufacturing sector, but of late it has been gaining significance in the services sector as well. Services sector has been adopting skill training initiatives to not only as a CSR initiative but more as a tool to create skilled talent pool.

NETAP is one such program which has gained momentum amongst services sector. It gives them flexibility to design program as per their needs and is fully compliant with regulations.

Fresh pass outs and students pursuing studies are inducted as apprentices to groom them as per the need of the organization by subjecting to real work environment. This helps them build not only technical skills but also ability to reason and apply logic. Employers look forward to cognitive skills.

How is Teamlease addressing the skilling needs of corporates today?

TeamLease is India’s largest people supply organization that focuses on 3Es – Employment, Education and Employability.

Our focus is not just to help organizations find talent, but to assist them in creating a productive workforce using multiple comprehensive learning programs. At TeamLease, we integrate class room training for the candidates along with on the job exposure through apprenticeships. We not only rely on conventional classrooms but have also introduced digital classrooms which have given candidates easy access to the skilling programs.

In partnership with the Government of Gujarat, TeamLease had set up TeamLease Skills University (TLSU), India’s first vocational university, at Vadodara. In FY2015, we rolled out NETAP (National Employability through

Apprenticeship Program) to provide on-the-job training to apprentices that help organization bridge the skill gap by enhancing the employability quotient of the youth through on the job training.

What is NETAP? How does tying up with NETAP helping corporates to address training and skilling needs of its employees?

NETAP is an apprenticeship program we are running through TeamLease Skills University in PPP with Ministry of HRD, Ministry of Skills & Entrepreneurship, CII & NSDC. The objective of the program is to bridge the skill deficit in industry by enhancing the employability quotient of the youth through on the job learning. Over last three and half years over 75000 apprentices have been trained by over 400 employers across industry sectors. Through NETAP, employers are able to prepare a pool of employable candidates that can potentially become their prospective employees. Also, with advent of automation employers are looking at the model to reskill people at mid level to keep them updated with technology.

How far are technologies like cloud and AI used to prepare training modules and impart them to employees?

Air India employees may get absorbed in public sector enterprises

Amidst opposition from union workers and the government’s plans to disinvest in Air India, options are being explored to absorb Air India employees in public sector enterprises. The possibility of having a VRS package is also under consideration, with sources saying that a final decision is yet to be made.

While foreign direct investment of up to 49 percent has been allowed in the debt-laden carrier, efforts are on to ensure a smooth strategic disinvestment. Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had said permitting 49 percent foreign direct investment in Air India brings the airline at par with other domestic carriers and does away with the preferential treatment that was extended to the national carrier.

Sources say that a group of ministers are weighing various options. They are in the process of finalizing the modalities for the proposed strategic stake sale and bidders are likely to be invited soon.

Air India and its subsidiaries have around 29,000 employees, including those on contract. The national airline is estimated to have a debt burden of more than Rs 50,000 crore and is staying afloat on taxpayers’ money and the divestment plan is aimed at reviving the airline’s fortunes.

Meanwhile, various Air India unions are opposed to the divestment plan. The move has also been opposed by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, among others. A parliamentary panel is also likely to suggest that Air India should be given at least five years for revival.

TeamLease is India’s largest people supply organization that focuses on 3Es – Employment, Education and Employability. Our focus is not just to help organizations find talent, but to assist them in creating a productive workforce using multiple comprehensive learning programs. At TeamLease, we integrate class room training for the candidates along with on the job exposure through apprenticeships.

We are redefining class room by emphasising on digital technology and IoT to make learning accessible, interactive and affordable. Digital class room allows trainers the flexibility to attend the learning sessions at their convenience. Also, there is a strong Learning Management System is in place to manage the progress and evaluation.

What is your future roadmap with regards to skilling in India?

Going forward Industry and Skills Universities will play an important role in improving the skilling ecosystem.

Workplace will be the new classroom and employer the trainer. Skills Universities will work along with the industry in the process of execution of skill training as well as the evaluation and certification of candidates.

Govt to soon invite applications for the post of RBI Deputy Governor

The government is planning to soon invite fresh applications for the post of RBI Deputy Governor. The position has been vacant after S S Mundra retired on July 31, 2017 after completing his three-year term. Advertisements seeking application from eligible bankers would be issued soon.

Despite conducting interviews on July 29 last year, the government has decided to start the process all over again.

The Financial Sector Regulatory Appointment Search Committee (FSRASC) headed by the Cabinet Secretary will select a suitable candidate to succeed Mundra. The members of the search committee include the RBI Governor, Financial Services Secretary and three independent members.

The central bank has four deputy governors – two from within the ranks, one commercial banker and one economist – to head the monetary policy department.

According to the earlier notice put up on RBI s website, applicants should have extensive experience as a full-time director or board member and possess understanding, at a very senior level, of supervision and compliance in the financial sector.

The appointment will be made for a period of three years and the person will be eligible for reappointment, it had said.

The deputy governor will draw a fixed salary of Rs 2.25 lakh per month plus allowances, it added. www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 27

FACE TO FACE

Climate Change & Humanitarian crises is at the top of IKEA Foundation’s agenda The IKEA Foundation is the philanthropic arm of INGKA Foundation, the owner of the IKEA Group of companies. The main aim of the Foundation is to improve opportunities for children and youth in some of the world’s poorest communities by funding holistic, long-term programmes that can create substantial, lasting change. Speaking on the kind of work that it is doing worldwide, Radu Dumitraşcu, Communications and Media Relations Manager – IKEA Foundation tells SPOI of how it has been impacting millions of lives and will continue to do so in coming times -

Can you share with us the Ikea Foundation’s journey, its philosophy and its vision?

Our current work at IKEA Foundation grew from IKEA’s efforts to fight child labor. Early on in the endeavor, we learned that to prevent child labor, it is vital to address the root causes of why children work.

We realized that if we wanted children to be kept out of factories, we also have to make sure that children can go school, so they don’t end up working again, elsewhere.

It didn’t take us long to realise that if we wanted children to stay in school and out of factories, we also had to improve their health, so that easily preventable diseases would not keep them out of school. Today, the IKEA Foundation supports projects that change attitudes towards child labor and that provide education and support so children and families can break the cycle of poverty. We also fund programmes to empower women.

What are the key focus areas and what are the implementing methods?

The IKEA Foundation works with strong strategic partners applying innovative approaches to achieve large-scale results in four fundamental areas of a child’s life: a place to call home; a healthy start in life; a quality education; and a sustainable family income, while helping these communities fight and cope with climate change.

We are a grantmaking organization and do not implement programmes directly. In 2016 we made grants of €142 million and have over 60 partners.

28 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

Per Heggenes, CEO, IKEA Foundation Per Heggenes is the CEO of the IKEA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of INGKA Foundation, the owner of the IKEA Group of companies. As CEO, Per sets and drives the Foundation’s funding and innovation strategies, and is a tireless advocate for children living in some of the world’s poorest communities. Since becoming the Foundation’s first CEO in 2009, Per has presided over the Foundation’s evolution into a global, grant-making philanthropy that funds programs in more than 35 countries.

In 2012, Per was appointed to the UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, who created the commission to increase access to lifesaving medicines and health supplies for the world’s most vulnerable people.

On the newly constructed solar plant in Jordan’s Azraq refugee camp, funded by the IKEA Foundation’s Brighter Lives for Refugees campaign, Per Heggenes remarked -

"The world’s first solar farm in a refugee camp signals a paradigm shift in how the humanitarian sector supports displaced populations. UNHCR Jordan will save millions of dollars, while reducing carbon emissions and improving living conditions for some of the world’s most vulnerable children and families. We are very grateful to everyone involved—especially the IKEA customers and co-workers who took part in the Brighter Lives for Refugees campaign, the UNHCR, the Jordanian government,

EDCO, and most of all, the Syrian and Jordanian people who made this project a reality."

based on input from our trusted NGO partners Conflicts and natural disasters cause humanitarian suffering and record high numbers of displaced people. Climate change is threatening the world’s most vulnerable communities. These are two focus areas that drive our grantmaking. In some cases, we can help influence the root causes of these challenges. In others, we support our partners to help people deal with the symptoms and the consequences.

What in your opinion is the most ideal way for industry and civil society to combine and form a formidable force to leverage the global development agenda?

On a more general note, we often encourage our peers in the philanthropic sector to engage with issues that are not getting sufficient support, often times these are humanitarian crises. We do this part of our agreement with Doctors without Borders, whom we supported around humanitarian crises in DR Congo, Yemen and Nigeria. We often engage with other foundations to see where the need is higher and also coordinate funding efforts.

More recently we ran a campaign with IKEA, called Let’s Play for Change. We have granted a total €45 million to support the work of the six campaign partners: Handicap International, Save the Children, Special Olympics, Room to Read, UNICEF and War Child. The funding is being spent on projects such as creating safe play spaces for child migrants, bringing sports to children with disabilities and nurturing a love of reading among children living in poor communities.

On the sustainability front, one example is our partnership with We Mean Business. The We Mean Business coalition works with thousands of the world’s leading businesses to encourage governments to meet their commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement and so avoid dangerous climate change. Our recent grant to We Mean Business is a strong vote of confidence in the power of the coalition to encourage business action, drive policy ambition and speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy.

With Ikea going toward 100% renewable by 2020, what are the strategies, methodologies and implementations that are helping achieve the same?

Our experience at the foundation tells us that people in some of the world’s poorest communities are also those most affected by, and vulnerable to climate change events. In general, we will be looking to strengthen resilience building measures to help children and families recover from natural disasters, or lessen the severity of

What are the three national priorities for you in India?

In India we work on issues around children’s human rights, such as health and education, as well as women empowerment.

Radu Dumitraşcu is a communications professional, aspiring wine maker and environmental advocate, with extensive experience in mobilising support for climate action, sustainability, biodiversity and the environment. His past experiences range from nature conservation work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to environmental campaigning and philanthropy. Radu joined the IKEA Foundation in 2015 and oversees external communications, bringing years of experience in marketing communications and public relations, with a focus on sustainability, environmental justice and international developmental issues.

likely disasters. As you can see, we work on different sides of the same issue, and our work here at the foundation will focus at the intersection between children’s rights and climate change and looking at how to leverage energy access to improve these basic children’s lights.

What are the various setbacks to implementation in the country?

Our work is not always clear cut for us and we often deal with similar challenges, regardless of the geography where we are focusing on. It is the nature of doing development and humanitarian work.

Kindly highlight the outcome of the various initiatives undertaken by Ikea Foundation?

One recent example is the first solar farm in a refugee camp. This solar farm in Jordan was built part of our partnership with the UN Refugee Agency, and 20,000 Syrian now have access to electricity.

We also ran a climate change design competition, trying to engage the designer professional community on the issue of climate change. We have just chosen the winning ideas which will receive additional support to materialize. We were glad to see designers from India engaging with the competition and we will see how far the winning ideas will get at the What Design Can Do Live conference in Amsterdam, in May.

How is the foundation complementing the business and enhancing its core values?

What is the message that Ikea Foundation would like to give to our readers?

The IKEA Foundation is a charitable foundation separate from the IKEA retail business. That said, we do share the same values. We make our own decisions about what to fund, based on our strategy and

As Ingvar Kamprad, the founding of IKEA, said – ‘most things remain to be done. We hope that your readers will continue to be stay engaged with the causes and partners we support’. www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 29

LEAD STORY

Bitcoin Volatility ….. Bitcoin loses 50% till December 2017

Bitcoin has been gaining popularity in one of the most populous countries in the world, India. However increased scrutiny from regulators is resulting in Bitcoin losing $140 billion from its record of $19,511 on Dec. 18 India being the home to the secondlargest population (1.2 billion) in the world with 63% of its population under age 35, it has seen a phenomenal rise in interest among its people for Bitcoin. Blockchain is the technology that enables the existence of cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is the bestknown cryptocurrency, and eventually led to the invention of blockchain technology, which has established itself as the driver and backbone in many fields.

Blockchain is a book of records that stores all kinds of data. A blockchain database, in contrast to all other databases, is stored in real time, and anyone can access its entire history of data. Bitcoin transactions have many advantages 30 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

including ease of transfer, freedom from regulation, security, transparency, low fees, and reduced risks. India has been pushing the digital payments agenda rather strongly.

There are over 1300 virtual currencies in operation worldwide. In the present time,

As valuations reach new highs, the mood in cryptocurrency markets is increasingly being compared to the craze for dotcom companies at the turn of the century. Some Indian companies have already begun providing financial services through blockchain technology, a digital platform secured by cryptography, amid an ongoing debate on the usage of cryptocurrencies like Geocoin and Healtherium.

there are more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies with a combined market capitalization of almost $700 billion, with Bitcoin dominating 43%. The world’s leading trading firm Goldman Sachs is getting into cryptocurrencies soon.

But apart from Bitcoin, there are more than 900 cryptocurrencies in the world. Now let’s take a look at the List of Cryptocurrencies in India. Indian entrepreneurs have been rushing to register businesses with the word “Bitcoin”, “crypto”, or “coin” in their names. Based on the Registrars’ data, “the registered entities include Bitcoin Bazaar, Bitcoin Exchange, Bitcoin Finconsultants, Bitcoin India Software Services, Bitcoin Services India, Bitcoiners India, Bitcoins India and Bit Coin Infotech. Other names include “Crypto Advisors, Crypto Futuristic Trades, Crypto Infotech, Crypto IT Services, Crypto Labs, Crypto Mining, Crypto Yo Coin India, Cryptocoin Solutions and Cryptomudra Digital Services.

Among the various crypto start-ups

SPOI ANALYSIS in the country, BitIndia is an exchange that brings Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin to the masses. BitIndia also has a Wallet. John McAfee, founder of McAfee, well-known eponymous antivirus company, is also an advisor and partner at BitIndia. BitIndia is the most convenient and secure way to buy, sell and secure cryptocurrencies in India. Due to the high banking rates prevailing in the country, people are moving towards digital currencies such as Bitcoin, ethereum and ripple. BitIndia would add huge diversity to the existing banking system prevailing in the country.

It’s no wonder that investment firms are trying to bring cryptocurrency investment to as many people as possible.

Whatever the risk in Bitcoin over the long term, there’s plenty of money to be made now. Let us take the instance of India RBC Capital that estimates of a future of $10 trillion market for cryptocurrencies and Sanjiv Bajaj, Director, Bajaj Finserv are also using blockchain technology to improve customer service.

Can BitIndia be the Paytm of digital money in India?

BitIndia is emerging as a total financial platform that provides users with a mobile wallet for their Apple and Android devices as well as their web browsers and allows them to store cryptocurrencies securely.

They are also working on building an ‘instant exchange,’ which will allow people to transact between digital currencies and the local currencies -- this even as the user will have complete control over their private keys.

India has identified 15 exchanges dealing with virtual currencies. There is some interesting news related to cryptocurrencies coming in from India.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited is planning its own cryptocurrency, dubbed as JioCoin.

Reliance Jio has been instrumental in changing the landscape of India’s telecom sector with its discount offers and very competitive tariffs. The company plans to hire 50 young professionals in an average age of 25 years for Akash Ambani to lead. There are multiple applications of blockchain (for the company). The team would work on various blockchain products.

Another corporate house in India, Sahara India is too going to launch its own crypto currency Healthureum, whose launch is expected soon. This crypto currency is based on Ethereum. The Healthureum is designed on the Ethereum based blockchain using smart contract technology to improve efficiency and interoperability of healthcare services.

The setback...

After extreme variations in Bitcoin price, everyone is getting interested in the topic of cryptocurrencies! As a matter of fact, as part of the government’s cashless initiative, there has been ‘notable growth’ in the Bitcoin market in India. Till then wait and watch for the new policy and guideline to come from the Government on the legal trading of the cryptocurrencies.

Out of the total digital money in the world – roughly $84 trillion – Bitcoin accounted for $41 billion add other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Monero, Ethereum and others to that number and the total amount in cryptocurrencies comes out close to $100 billion.

However, the increased scrutiny from regulators around the world that spread across the digital-coin realm in recent days, is wiping out more than $300 billion in value just since Jan. 13. Bitcoin’s losses reached $140 billion from its record of $19,511 on Dec. 18. It’s still higher by 1,000 percent in the past year.

Amid the dwindling prices of cryptocurrencies, the cybersecurity expert John McAfee has suggested the investors to not panic. McAfee who is also a cryptocurrency enthusiast blamed the crackdown on exchanges by Indian banks for the slide in their prices.

In a tweet, McAfee said, “Again...don’t panic. Banks in India are cracking down on accounts connected to crypto exchanges, causing the dip. But distributed exchanges are only a few months away. Impossible to crack down on.”

McAfee expressed his confidence in Bitcoin and said that it will be back in a month from whatever low it gets.

Earlier, top banks of the country which include State Bank of India, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Yes Bank had suspended some accounts of major Bitcoin exchanges in India on suspicion of dubious transactions. www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 31

FACE TO FACE

‘We believe in giving back to the society as

a sign of gratitude’

It has been just 4 years that the CSR rules have been implemented in the country, but in case of Hero MotoCorp, CSR has been a part and parcel for many years now. Vijay Sethi, Chief Information Officer & Head – CSR, Hero MotoCorp shares some insights of how the CSR journey has been for the company and how the various programmes & projects impacted the society -

32 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

“CSR is important but one of the key things that I have seen over the years is that it’s not really about money. When you go to any under privileged part of the society, you will realize that they want us to give them time –to sit with them and care for them. Money is not always the solution or final aid for them.”

How has been the CSR journey for your company so far?

We at Hero MotoCorp actually wanted to do something for the society, that’s our key thing. Our motto says that we must give back to our society from whose resources we generate wealth. The objective was that while as a company we makes profits from what we sell, but at the end it also our duty to give back to the society. This is what our company has been doing in CSR for the last many years. The law has only 3-4 years back but CSR has been there for us for many years.

How you have designed your CSR project around your vision of greener, safer and equitable world?

If you look at CSR, you can work in any of the areas. But we wanted to focus on three key areas -which is greenery, safety and equitability. When we say greenery the key thing was the environment and we wanted to do something for it. We are in two wheeler business and we know that Indian roads are not considered to be very safe; the number of deaths in Indian roads is very high. We wanted to do something for road safety and that’s the 2nd piece.

The 3rd area is equitable where the key thing was to do something for the under privileged and girls. And that’s where we thought we can concentrate and leverage our CSR skills.

How have these programmes impacted the lives of people?

We have programs in various areas.

The programs that we do on road safety come under ‘Ride Safe India’ and there are lots of activities done where we teach people how to ride safely, right from young kids to old people. We do lots of awareness programmes in terms of movies, local natak etc. We also work with various govt agencies to ensure that we help in policy making for Indian roads. Our thought is if we can bring some behavioural changes at a young age, it would be of help to them when they will attain their driving age.

The second initiative is ‘Hamari Pari’ which is about empowering young girls and now we have also taken women into

it. So it’s about providing livelihood, training, skills, education to young girls.

There are close to 2000 girls whom we have supported under this programme.

We are also giving training to girls in specific areas like tailoring, courses like beautician, computer and even two wheeler mechanics.

In the area of greenery, we have our initiative - Happy Earth in which we do lots of activities. We have also planted more than 7 lakh trees and our focus is not just on plantation but also survival.

We also do lots of work on solar, so there are lots of villages where we are putting up solar street lights. Many such villages are in the remotest part of the country that has never seen light. So putting up solar lights in their areas was seen as From an equitability perspective, we have worked for specially-abled people.

We were the only one who supported the Paralympic athletics who went to participate in the World Para Athletics Championships in England a few weeks back and they won many medals there.

So our focus is to do something for these people. We also do a lot of works for various other communities like providing mobile medical van, mobile science labs in schools etc. While it is true that we do not restrain to these areas alone, there are other works that we take up as well, but these are primarily the areas where we channelize our CSR funds.

Do you have plans to develop collaborative CSR projects?

We are open for it because 1+1 is always 11. But as of now we haven’t done any. Recently we however have launched a programme called ‘Hero Plantathon’ in which we take any area and ensure that if 1 tree is planted there, we will plant 10 more trees. Having said that lots of agencies and corporates have approached us to work collaboratively with them but these are all in the discussion stage.

How has Hero MotoCorp’s perspective and planning for CSR changed after the ‘CSR mandate’?

We have been doing CSR for many years but when the law came, lots of things got changed. We made our CSR policy which was drafted in accordance with the law. We then clubbed them

into these 3 areas and put into different projects and programme mode. We also got into more rigorous auditing, impact assessment and reporting. So that’s how it has changed.

How have you integrated CSR with business strategies that contribute to the company’s bottom line?

While profit is one part of the bottom line but sustainability and equitability are equally important components a corporate. So that’s where CSR does play a huge role and the organisation itself plays a big role, right from leadership to an individual. So I see that CSR has become an integral part of our organisation and we have gone beyond CSR to involve our internal employees which we call it as ISR (Individual Social Responsibilities).

So by this each of the employees are doing their bit for CSR and when we take up sudden projects, there are people who come and aid us to implement the work. So these are the kind of things that people are doing. It gives the satisfaction though it is beyond the CSR mandate or CSR funding.

What are your views on integrating CSR with corporate communication in marketing, HR? That is a part of life. So for me, it is like integrating those things which are different - CSR, HR, Sales, because at the end of the day when I go for a particular project, I don’t differentiate the person who is doing the work or from which department is he. Because we are going as a CSR team, it does not make any difference. CSR is now an integral part of the organisation and so I do not find any wrong in integrating these departments for CSR work.

How do you see the evolution of CSR in the country?

After the law came, there has evolved a structure and people started giving CSR more attention.

People have started formed a CSR community and started making a CSR structure in their organisation. So there is a huge amount of work that is happening. What I have seen in the last 3 years is that things have continuously improved a lot in terms of making CSR a formal thing in the organisations. www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 33

FACE TO FACE

EXL looks at skill development as a sustainable prospect for the society It is a belief at EXL that in order to be successful, one should have focus. And the focus when it comes to its CSR strategy is purely developing market skills. At the graduation ceremony of the trainees from its Noida center as part of its Skill Development initiative, SPOI met with Pavan Bagai, President & COO – EXL; Manishi Saxena Bansal, Global HR Leader Travel and Transportation Business and HR Leader UK and Europe - EXL and Shailendra Singh, Vice President, Communications – EXL to discuss various aspects of skilling in India and about the company’s focus areas

Could you tell us more about your initiative with NASSCOM Foundation?

Shailendra - This initiative in partnership with NASSCOM Foundation is all about skill development and that’s entirely derived from our CSR strategy which is to develop market skills in the communities around us. And we chose skills which will make people successful in the new digital world.

What is your take on skilling India? How serious is the challenge in the country?

Pavan – If you ask me how many people need to be skilled, the number is really huge. But it is possible to overcome that challenge and we have had some evidence after opening this center in Noida. Many more such kinds of initiatives from more companies and groups need to come up.

What would be the step after this? Are you looking for more centres?

Manishi - This is an on-going initiative. This is not going to end with just one batch as this is a long term initiative with fresh batches on a recurring basis. We also have more centres like this and therefore the program is running on a decent scale as of now, with plans to further expand the reach. They are then deployed in different organizations. Our endeavour now is to go ahead and ensure that these trainees are equipped with skills sophisticated enough to deploy them in EXL. We also fully intend to expand the courses that we are running so that they are more market relevant.

We want this program to be extremely valuable in helping ensure gainful employment opportunities to our candidates by adding new verticals to the course and, keeping pace with changes in market demand with respect to skills.

What kind of response do you get from people who have joined these courses?

Shailendra - Typically we start with the target of training at least 70% of the people. So far we have been able to achieve the target and we want people to be successful. This means that this initiative doesn’t just end with the placement, but we also keep a track of these people who have taken up jobs for the next 34 | January 2018 www.spoindia.org

Pavan Bagai President & COO – EXL 6 months. Doing so helps us know if post joining the job, the trainees actually continue to work or drop off. These insights ensure that our effort continues in a productive manner.

Talking about CSR and sustainability at EXL Services, how you will leverage the same while planning CSR strategies for the company?

Pavan - It’s our belief that in order to be successful we should have a focus. There are a number of players with whom we could have got involved with but we rather decided to focus on two areas - education and skill development as they are related in

many ways. Within that we further sharpened our focus to areas that are relevant to our business. Now from a business point we understand what the skill requirements of the market are and therefore we manage to play a very meaningful role in shaping and delivering the curriculum. Under the ambit of skill development, we have focused on business process management related skills and analytics skills. So our CSR initiatives actually extend far beyond than what we are seeing here. We link this initiative with what we do and what’s required for people to succeed.

It’s again not the corporate resource or money dedicated to CSR that matters, but a very large component of the CSR initiative is to motivate our own employees to volunteer. The second thing is that while we say education and skill development, we don’t just restrict ourselves to the functional skills but we also talk about life skills. What we are trying to do is that, for our trainees to have a successful career, we are also helping them gain life skills that are going to help them succeed, inculcate certain qualities in them and so on. Not everyone becomes successful, but we have witnessed pretty good success rates.

Have you set any target of how much of the youth or people you would want to skill through this centre?

Manishi - In India and globally, we want to have sustained impact and whatever initiative we take up is close to our office premises so that our employees are able to make a difference to the initiative through volunteering and participation.Employee engagement is a very important part of our overall strategy towards CSR. Pavan - We have got couple of programmes in United States, Philippines, and different states of India. So it’s not just restricted to one place.

Which is your flagship CSR initiative?

Shailendra - We are very much focused in skill development and whatever we do, we do it with complete dedication. Ensuring quality education is non-negotiable requirement across all our centers.

Manishi - The focus is not only on the CSR team but our involvement runs deeper. The focus starts right from the board to the CEO and to the executive committee and the impetus is more on the quality and making a sustained difference. For us it is not about the number but the kind of impact that we are able to achieve, sustain and grow it and also to ensure that at every point of time we are innovating. People we are working with are domain experts and that combined with our industry expertise ensures that we are able to offer a very potent solution.

Any other initiative beside this on which you want to throw some light?

Manishi - I want to talk about the nursing initiative that we do where lots of people get inspired to join the nursing profession.

This is a profession that is witnessing a lot of demand. Currently, we are running this project in the Philippines. Then we have lots of schools that we are working with in the area of education and it’s not only us but our clients also who have adopted one school and they are making a huge amount of difference. School based association is happening in the Philippines and in the US. We have

Manishi Saxena Bansal Global HR Leader Travel and Transportation Business and HR Leader UK and Europe - EXL worked very closely with VETRIX and now we are looking at penetrating into providing education in analytical space.

Shailendra – Another initiative of ours is an analytics program focused on ‘emerging skills’. This is a far-sighted program. Given the digital age, as data is core to everything, this program will equip trainees with skills to manage and draw insights from realms of big data. Many of our colleges are unable to prepare the students for jobs as they do not impart the skills relevant in the industry.

We are therefore launching a few initiatives that are in partnership with engineering colleges in Noida and Bangalore. We are also doing assessments of the students. So those are some of the new initiative in which we are involved.

What kind of challenges do you face while taking this kind of CSR initiatives?

Shailendra —The problem usually arises in implementation and in finding the right partners. Especially in the case of some of the new initiatives that we are getting into, it is difficult to find partners who have done the kind of work which we are looking at. But overall it is a good learning process.

According to you, what is the biggest social challenge that needs to be addressed urgently through CSR and why?

Pavan - We believe out of all the sustainable development goals given by UN the most important is education and skill www.spoindia.org January 2018 | 35

FACE TO FACE development, not to say others are not important. Access to quality education and market relevant skills are the two most important measures to ensure a chance at gainful employment to people thus building a more inclusive and balanced economy.

What is your perception about Government of India’s emphasis on CSR? Pavan - It is good to see the Government’s focus. This will not only develop the country but will also help organizations grow in a sustained manner

How has CSR been integrated with the business strategies for effective and contribute to the company’s bottom line?

Pavan - Our main focus is on education and skill development and we have been able to create jobs for people in EXL. In addition, participation in CSR initiatives gives our employees anexcellent medium to contribute and in the process develop themselves while contributing to the community.

What is your 5-year vision for the company?

Pavan - We aspire to have a fully evolved CSR initiative in every geography and ensure 100% placement for of all skill development programs. Our top priorities for CSR are as below • Enhance the impact globally • 100% placement • Continued effort to support towards Education and Skill Development.

Shailendra Singh Vice President, Communications – EXL

Union Oil Minister participates at ‘Saksham Cyclothon’ The Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan rode a bicycle at "Saksham Cyclothon" in Indore to send the message of saving fuel and environment. The Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) and the Indore Cycling Association (ICA) claimed that nearly 30,000 cyclists participated at the event.

On the occasion, Pradhan said cycling promotes healthy life and also helps in conservation of energy. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also appealed to the countrymen to save energy and towards this objective I would ask every citizen to cycle to their place of work," he said.

Pradhan said PCRA and ICA would shortly sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the promotion of cycling throughout the year in the city.

BJP general secretary and Cycling Federation of India (CFI) chairman Kailash Vijaywargiya and others also rode bicycles at the event.

At the event, Pradhan said that his Ministry is trying to bring petrol and diesel under the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). "We are trying that petrol, diesel and kerosene should also come under the ambit of GST. We are hopeful that the GST Council will agree to it shortly," the Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister said.

Responding to a query, the minister said the spike in petrol rates in the international market has impacted the cost of the fuel in India. "Besides, the state governments too levy cess on petrol," he said.

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MOVEMENT Dr Sivan K, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, known as the "Rocket Man" for his significant contribution in the development of cryogenic engines for India's space programme, has been appointed as Secretary in the Department of Space and Chairman of the Space Commission.

Dr Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, IAS, has been appointed as Private Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Development Shri Prakash Javadekar in the Department of Higher Education at the level of a Director.

Shri O P Rawat, IAS, takes over as New Chief Election Commissioner of India. He assumed charge as Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India succeeding Shri A.K. Joti. Shri Joti.

Shri Ashok Lavasa, IAS, has been appointed as New Election Commissioner of India. During his tenure at Election Commission there would be General Elections to Legislative Assemblies of almost 28 states.

Shri Krishna Kishore Govindarajula, Indian Ordnance Factory Service officer, has been appointed as Director in the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.

Shri Pradip Kumar Mishra has been selected as Director (Commercial) NALCO. He has been working with Steel Authority of India as Executive Director since December 2, 2016.

Shri S Gopu appointed as CMD of ITI Limited. The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Director (HR) Indian Telephone Industry Limited as CMD ITI Limited.

Mrs. Rajni Hasija has been selected as Director (Tourism & Marketing) IRCTC.The Public Enterprises Selection Board has recommended the name Mrs. Rajni Hasija for the post of Director (Tourism & Marketing) IRCTC. Shri S K Roy appointed as Director (Projects) NTPC Limited. Shri Roy held the post of Executive Director (Projects), NTPC. Shri Roy has a rich experience and exposure of entire life cycle from concept to commissioning of projects.

Ms. Indu Malhotra, first women lawyer to be directly promoted as Supreme Court Judge. She is the first woman lawyer to make it to the Supreme Court without having served in a high court.

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RNI No.: DELENG/2016/69058 Printing Date 27 & 28

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Reg. No.: DL-SW-1/4197/17-19

40 pages including cover

Date of Posting Date 29 & 30 Every Month