Innholdsfortegnelse for 25-Aug-19 i Business Today

VG. Siddhartha’s apparent suicide and the purported suicide note sent shock waves through India’s business circles, especially in Bengaluru from where he operated. It also left a surfeit of unanswered questions – about the exact amount of debt he was reeling under, the value of his assets, the pressures from the private equity partner and his relationship with politicians. For a man who was excessively reserved and took great efforts to shun media publicity, his death has created exactly the kind of media spectacle he tried his best to avoid while he lived. Some of the answers will eventually come out – like the amount of money he had borrowed from various sources, which is currently difficult to fully collate because of the maze of private and public companies through…

THE PROLONGED slowdown in the domestic automobile sector which shows no signs of abating has started to impact investment and expansion plans of companies. Market leader Maruti Suzuki, which registered dismal financial results in the first quarter of FY2020, has reportedly put on hold plans to expand capacity at the Gujarat factory. While it was initially planned as a 1.5 million unit per annum factory, the company may not expand it beyond the existing 750,000 units at all. Similarly, many component makers have put investments on hold due to the prevailing uncertainty over electrification in the sector. While the tarmac disappeared long time ago, the sector is now fast running out of gas as well.…

IN A WELCOME change, the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha appears to be the most productive in the last two decades. While 35 Bills were tabled; 16 are now law and 12 were passed by the lower house. There were no cases of MPs rushing to the well and no vociferous walkouts. The session commenced on June 17, but was extended to August 7. Apart from amending the existing laws governing Aadhaar identity, Right to Information, compulsory CSR for corporates, the Parliament also gave teeth to National Investigation Agency and overhauled the Motor Vehicles Act. The session passed the contentious Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, not only making triple talaq illegal, but also a criminal offence. The criticism has been that since NDA is…

US-CHINA TRADE WAR ESCALATES In a surprise move, U.S. President Donald Trump announced via a tweet that he would impose fresh tariffs of 10 per cent on Chinese goods worth $300 billion, starting on September 1. The proposed tariffs would cover nearly all Chinese goods exported to the US, pushing up prices and bringing the prospect of retail job losses. In later remarks, Trump told the media that the proposed 10 per cent tariffs could be a short-term measure, and it could be lifted to more than 25 per cent. A total of $250 billion of Chinese goods are already subject to a 25 per cent import fee. The new mandate came after teams from both countries recently resumed trade talks in Shanghai. Trump, however, said Chinese President Xi Jinping…

THE LETTER REPORTEDLY typed and signed by V.G. Siddhartha alleges harassment by B.R. Balakrishnan, the previous Director General-Investigations, Income Tax, Karnataka and Goa Range. The company’s and Siddhartha’s shares in Mindtree were attached and on two separate occasions, a Mindtree deal was blocked. He alleged that the tax department took possession of Coffee Day Global shares (CDGL) even though the company filed revised tax returns. Siddhartha called it unfair and said it had led to a serious liquidity crunch. The income tax department retorted to claims in a press release after outrage on social media under #tax-terrorism. The department said the search on a prominent politician’s case (D.K. Shivakumar) had led to credible evidence of concealed transactions by CCD and after search operations on Siddhartha’s company and other properties, he…

Government borrowings have been rising steadily… …Domestic private sector borrowings as per cent of GDP have been falling as a result OTHER OPTIONS TO INCREASE LIQUIDITY Increase in ceiling on FPI investments in government bonds Transfer of surplus from the Reserve Bank of India and use of these funds to capitalise banks A more efficient plan to divest public sector companies Speedier expenditure reforms, lowering of revenue forgone RBI OPENS ECB WINDOW FURTHER To ease liquidity in the domestic market, the Reserve Bank of India has allowed companies to raise external commercial borrowings (ECBs) to pay bank dues categorised as NPAs. The RBI has said that NPAs, or loans that are expected to become NPAs, can also be sold by banks to recover domestic rupee loans. However, there is a…

RAJAT KATHURIA Director and CEO, ICRIER PROBLEM We are increasing customs duties on primary goods. An import tariff is an export tax as, since 1995, the import component in our exports has been rising. When you have customs duty on imports (of raw material), it increases the cost of exports. SOLUTION Maintain a balance in import duty structures, especially for electronic products. Focus on ease of doing business. KRISHNAMURTHY SUBRAMANIAN Chief Economic Advisor PROBLEM The global market is extremely competitive, with firms that are able to produce at the lowest costs having the ability to gain market share in exports. So, average productivity of firms becomes crucial to export competitiveness (which India needs to improve). Capital investment enhances total factor productivity, which enhances export performance. Therefore, investment becomes crucial to…

Lactalis India is the largest private dairy company–revenue of ₹4,000 crore. It has acquired Tirumala Dairy (Chennai), Anik (Indore) and Prabhat Dairy (Maharashtra) Companies such as Parag Milk Foods, Godrej Agrovet, Nestle, Britannia and a host of regional private players such as Milk Mantra and Milky Mist are also in the fray Parag Milk Foods is a ₹2,000 crore business while Godrej Agrovet’s dairy arm, Creamline, is around ₹1,300 crore Latest entrant is the world’s biggest dairy company, Fonterra, in partnership with Future Group All private players are in an investment mode, as setting up milk procurement infrastructure and then converting the milk into value-added products takes a long time Most are struggling to make money, but with better investment on innovations and technology, are poised to overtake the cooperatives…

While the first industrial revolution gave us the spinning wheel, the fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 is here to dismantle established systems of operations and transform the way we live, work and connect. Automation is a global phenomenon that is impacting the job market by restructuring businesses and creating new work-ecosystems across all sectors, including retail, automotive, IT-BPM, textiles, and BFSI. Though automation comes as a boon for businesses, most of the Indian workforce, which still relies on routine jobs including clerical, sales, service, and trade-related work, is threatened by rapid advancements. International Labour Organization (ILO), in its 2018 report, pointed out that approximately 51 % of jobs in India will be impacted by current technologies. The Banking and Finance (BFSI) sector is one of the main sectors that…

Key Measures Proposed • Emphasis on taking a longer term view of skills to be developed (versus being job-ready)• Stress on faculty development and autonomy in curriculum development• Creation of a National Research Foundation to focus on funding research within the education system• Simplified categories of institutions and streamlined university nomenclature• Removal of multiplicity in authority The Challenges • Estimating the funding required to cover the policy’s provisions – fee waivers and scholarships; high-quality, free education for all in the three-six years age group; access to connected personal computing devices, and more• Attracting the best talent to teaching, and freedom to fix remuneration, especially in government institutions• Addressing the complex admission architecture to make India a global hub of education…

PEOPLE ATTENDING MICROSOFT Inspire in July this year must have wondered whether they were watching a ‘Beam me up, Scottie’ type of scene from Star Trek. It started when Julia White, Corporate Vice President of Azure Marketing, showed off what the HoloLens 2 (mixed reality) headset could do in sync with other cutting-edge technologies. The result was jaw-dropping. After donning the headset, White explained how frequently she had to travel on work assignments and the big problem she faced – she could not always speak the local tongue. White then held out her palm and a green mini-me materialised on it. Next, she commanded the hologram to scale, and within seconds, a life-size clone of White stood on the stage, dressed in the same outfit (it was created at Microsoft’s…

STAY CONNECTED WITH US ON www.facebook.com/BusinessToday@BT_India NHB Directive on Subvention Schemes May Hit 10-20% Real Estate Sales The situation will get worse for the developers, who are already grappling with the liquidity squeeze caused by the NBFC crisis businesstoday.in/realestate-nhb Are Brands Overlooking the Silver Generation? Demographic projections show that India’s population growth will continue to slow rapidly over the next two decades – less than 1 per cent during 2021-31 and under 0.5 per cent during 2031-41 businesstoday.in/brands-silver.generation Time to Overhaul Mudra Scheme For many bankers, the new recommendation of giving collateral-free loans with a target is nothing but a risky proposition businesstoday.in/mudrascheme-npas NEWS VG Siddhartha’s Debt Pile May Have Peaked at Over ₹11,000 Crore, New Data Unravels The Coffee Day Enterprises stock has fallen 70 per cent from the…

HIGH FREQUENCY PMI data suggests that manufacturing is expanding but at a slower pace. The recent economic survey, too, hinted at subdued demand in textiles, iron and steel and auto sectors. The June quarter results mirror the same story. A total of 109 manufacturing companies have reported a 21 per cent drop in profit in Q1FY20 on mere 7 per cent rise in sales. Labourintensive textile and discretionary sector auto have been worst hit with sales dropping 16 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively. A 27 per cent drop in Maruti Suzuki’s profit for the quarter or flat profit growth by Bajaj Auto speaks volumes about the slowdown. A total of 23 chemical firms have reported a mere 5 per cent rise in sales but flat profit. With electioninduced slowdown…

THE CASH-STRAPPED Andhra Pradesh under new chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is keeping investors in a wait and watch mode with clarity yet to emerge on the way ahead on infrastructure, renewable energy and education. It has already cancelled construction work orders issued prior to April 1 but not grounded so far. That has, in turn, impacted several companies such as NCC and L&T, among others. It has, for instance, cancelled work orders worth around ₹6,100 crore for NCC alone. In solar and wind energy, the government wants to re-negotiate power purchase agreements (PPAs) already approved by the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC), which the Andhra High Court has now stayed till August 22. The state wants to withdraw the other PPAs (around 21) that are pending…

IN A RECENT affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has pegged dues from telcos at ₹92,642 crore on account of licence fee and spectrum usage charges (SUC). Airtel owes the most, followed by Vodafone and bankrupt Reliance Communications. For nearly 16 years, DoT and telcos were at loggerheads as they differed on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) calculations. Telcos pay licence fee and SUC to DoT as a percentage of their AGR. DoT says this includes a wider range of components such as interest income, dividend, profits on sale of assets, insurance claim, and forex gain. Telcos say these are non-telecom revenues and should be excluded. In a 2006 judgement, telecom tribunal TDSAT termed inclusion of non-telecom revenues by DoT as illegal. The final order…

OPPORTUNITIES GLITTER WHAT: Gem & Jewellery India International Fair WHEN: September 13-15, Chennai WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The business-to-business jewellery trade show will offer an opportunity to domestic and global jewellers to network and explore various dimensions in the gems and jewellery sector. BUSINESS STUDIES WHAT: MBA & Business Master’s Conference WHEN: September 16, Gurgaon WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Organised by The MBA Tour, the conference will provide a platform where prospective MBA students, business school admission representatives, alumni and other education enthusiasts will interact with each other. PHARMA CONNECT WHAT: Pharmatech Expo WHEN: September 17-19, Kiev WHAT TO LOOK FOR: FICCI is organising India Pavilion in Ukraine with support from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Over 20 countries will participate in the expo where the entire pharmaceutical production…

6 DEC 1993 Siddhartha sets up Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Co 1995 Coffee Day Group opens stores to sell coffee powder and beans under ‘Fresh & Ground’ label 1996 The first Café Coffee Day (CCD) outlet opens on Brigade Road in Bengaluru’s central business district 8 MAY 2000 Way2Wealth Securities is set up to provide financial intermediary services by spinning off the securities broking division of Sivan Securities 2005 Goes global with first international café in Vienna 2010 Standard Chartered Private Equity (Mauritius) II Limited, KKR Mauritius PE Investments II Limited and NLS Mauritius LLC invest $210 million 2011 Group acquires Sical Logistics in 2011 for ₹200 crore 20 MAR 2015 ABC changes name to Coffee Day Global NOV 2015 Coffee Day Enterprises’ IPO of ₹1,150 crore receives tepid response…

There’s a recurrent theme in ace investor Warren Buffett’s communications to shareholders of his holding company Berkshire Hathaway – a disdain for private equity (PE) firms. From accusing PE firms of charging unreasonable management fees to alleging that they are “lying a little bit to make the money come in”, Buffett is one of the biggest critics of PE investors. Before 2016/17, Indian promoters too felt the same way. “Bringing them onboard is akin to signing a slavery bond,” the CFO of a large auto component firm had once said. That perception is changing. With the economic slowdown hurting earnings of companies, traditional sources of capital drying up and debt rising, PE firms are now the only silver lining for cash-starved Indian companies. Once confined to funding smaller promoters, start-ups…

The formative years of BDL witnessed a high degree of Transfer of Technology (To Tl from foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to produce the much needed weapons required by the Indian Armed Forces. India’s thrusttowards achieving self-reliance in critical technologies in Defence gave birth to the nation’s ambitious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme during the late 80s in which BDL was nominated as the 'Prime Production Agency'. This paved the way for BDLto initiate its indigenization efforts and later advance to embark upon the journey of "Make in India" as well as to establish itself as a manufacturer of both tactical and strategic missiles. The programme gave BDL abundant opportunities to develop its manpower into a highly skilled and specialized workforce and adopt the state-of-the-art technology available worldwide. BDL, while…

Q. What is happening to our exports? A. Our exports have been decelerating for almost three years since 2014. We started analysing each and every sub-sect of the export basket. We mapped entire geographies and created new metrics to see which product can go to which geography. The result was that we could reverse this declining trend and we achieved highest exports in 2018/19. I was also working on reducing our trade deficit with China. For the first time, we reduced it from $63 billion to $53 billion. Our exports to China have increased by almost 30 per cent during this period. Q. What can be done to re-accelerate exports? A. We have been trying several things, but not everything has succeeded. For instance, I had suggested that banks create…

BHATIA CAMP STAKE IN INDIGO: 37.9% RIGHTS Appoints three out of six directors, chairman of the board, managing director, CEO and president of IndiGo GANGWAL CAMP STAKE IN INDIGO: 36.99% RIGHTS Appoints one non-independent director In the third week of July, IndiGo reported its highest-ever quarterly profit of ₹1,203 crore, a staggering 4,230 per cent jump over the first quarter of last year. The strong performance came in the backdrop of the slowdown in the aviation sector as passenger growth plummeted to a multi-year low in the first six months of 2019. The airline also reported its highest ever market share of 49 per cent in quarter-ended June. All this called for a grand celebration at the Gurgaon-headquartered carrier that has grown from a single aircraft to over 238 in…

When Volkmar Denner, the Global CEO of Bosch, the world’s largest automobile component manufacturer, visited India in June 2018, it was his first visit in four years. When he came again last month, it was his third visit in just over a year. This time, he was accompanied by all the board members of the company. This reflects the growing importance of India’s market, but more importantly, he wanted to understand India’s nascent but fast-emerging electric vehicle market. Denner talks to BT’s Sumant Banerji about the impending disruption due to electric vehicles, the future of the combustion engine and impact of the global trade war on the industry. Edited excerpts: There is a lot of talk on EVs in India. The government has set ambitious targets. What do you make…

FLAME SCHOEDER, a professional certified coach based in Omaha, Nebraska, admits she is a “recovering perfectionist”. While perfectionism has helped her excel professionally, it has also contributed to feelings of insecurity. Earlier in her career, for instance, she noticed that she sometimes had the tendency to “freeze up” when talking to clients. “I’d get so in my head,” she says. “I’d have something to say and then I’d think, ‘That’s not a smart enough or insightful enough comment,’ and so I wouldn’t say it.” A similar thing happened when she had a big client proposal to write. Beginning the project was hard because she “had a ton of self-doubt.” The solution: “I realised that all I needed to do was ask for help,” she says. Flame discovered that reaching out…

How has management education changed over the years in the context of Asia, especially India? A. The demand for management education is amazingly stable. Even though there is a lot of churn happening with different kinds of formats, the same number of people are applying to business schools as before. But under that calm surface, there is a fair amount of churn in a couple of dimensions. One, we are seeing globalisation of the candidate base. Three or four decades ago, management education was largely a western phenomenon; today, it is across the world. China and India together take as many tests as the US. So, the demographic base is shifting to Asia, and there is growth of candidates from Africa and Central Asia as well. Globally recognised brands in…

Chittaranjan Sahoo, 34, had joined IT major Tech Mahindra as a software developer. But when he saw the demand for data science skills growing exponentially, he decided to upskill via RIDE, the company’s learning and development platform. Sahoo pursued an edX course on data science, developed by the University of California at San Diego. After completion, he was selected to work for a telco client and will soon move to the US to work onsite. According to S.V. Nathan, Partner and Chief Talent Officer at Deloitte India, “Employees today are as good as their last learning. With the rapid pace of technological advancements, companies are expecting far too much from its workforce in too little time.” However, most companies do not have the resources to ensure that up-to-date, quality content…

ELON MUSK IS AT IT AGAIN. His start-up called Neuralink is exploring the ultimate in the brain-machine interface (BMI) – humans controlling computers with their thoughts. By way of proof of concept, a chip with 3,000 electrodes, all fitted with an array of ultra-thin polymer threads, has been developed so that it can be implanted into the brain by a robot. Once that is done, the device can analyse neuron activities in a specific area and stimulate a limited set of neurons by using artificial intelligence (AI). But the chip would, by no means, control or affect the entire brain. Details of how the brain-technology connection takes place are sketchy. But Musk hinted at a Bluetooth-like activity and said that “a monkey has been able to control the computer with…

RIVERSIDE RETREAT PLUSH AND PEACEFUL TAJ HOTELS has added another feather in its cap with the launch of a new property on the banks of the River Ganges. The Taj Rishikesh Resort and Spa is around 30 km from Rishikesh and offers magnificent views of the river and the Himalayan range. The resort syncs well with its pristine surroundings, and many natural elements have been incorporated to give the guests an authentic Garhwali experience. Gourmet dining, the magical Jiva spa and ample open space all around will help you enjoy all that is plush and peaceful. This is an ideal getaway for those looking to spend their vacation in the lap of nature. COLLABORATION Food, Drink and Décor FASHION designers are known to collaborate with big brands, but a similar…

Crash: Lessons from the entry and exit of CEOs By R. Gopalakrishnan Publisher: Penguin Portfolio Pages: 288 Price: ₹499 I HAD MIXED FEELINGS after going through Crash, penned by a prolific writer with vast industry exposure. Books on leadership come a dime a dozen and they usually fall in two categories. The pedantic ones, written by academicians (like me), belabour platitudinous points. Others, often written by practising managers, narrate and sermonise strategy success or shortfall and turf wars. This book is neither. The author’s insights are drawn from his rich corporate experience, and he backs them up with further research in diverse fields such as economics, mathematical biophysics and psychology. That the book focusses on CEO exits also aroused my interest. Job exits, from a typical perspective, are often considered…

MASTERING THE MARKET CYCLE: Getting the Odds on Your Side BY HOWARD MARKS Publisher: HACHETTE INDIA Pages: 336 Price: ₹699 ALL THAT goes up must come down, and vice versa. This is how governments, economies, companies and financial markets work. Be it stock, debt, credit or property market, the upswing and the downturn always follow each other – nay, one event ‘causes’ the other. Understanding that market ebb and flow and developing a suitable plan will make you a better investor than most, says Howard Marks in his latest book Mastering the Market Cycle. The investor-writer (he is also the Co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management) explains how a cycle in the financial market moves from aggressive buying to distress selling and how every time the community chanting ‘this time, it…

HARKIRAT SINGH MD, AERO CLUB (OWNS FOOTWEAR MAJOR WOODLAND) Singh entered the family business in 1993/94, scaled up the brand to ₹1,250 crore and ventured into new categories. Its sub-brand Woods emerged as a disruptive lifestyle package with a standalone retail chain and global presence, growing at 15 per cent YoY and accounting for 25 per cent of the group’s annual turnover. “DEVELOP AN INNOVATIVE PRODUCT THAT WILL MAKE YOU A DISRUPTOR. THEN YOU CAN PUSH MARKETING TO CREATE AWARENESS AND GENERATE DEMAND.” Q. The biggest challenge in your career A. When I took the reins, customers wanted us to create a product line for formal and party wear as they appreciated the quality of Woodland products. The domain was different, and eventually, we launched Woods, a sub-brand with its…

THE PARLIAMENT RECENTLY passed amendments to the Companies Act that aim to strengthen laws that govern corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is now not only mandatory, like tax, there is also a regulator that will arm twist companies in case of non-compliance and penalise them, taking us back to inspector raj. Now, unspent CSR funds of that fiscal have to be transferred to an escrow account to be spent within the next three financial years. Any unutilised amount in the account will be transferred to a government fund. There are penal provisions for non-compliance of CSR provisions. Violation will lead to fines for the company and defaulting officers ranging from ₹50,000 to ₹25 lakh. Officers can also be imprisoned for up to three years. Such an approach will hamper companies…

AMID TALK about recent amendments in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, what got missed was the fight over authority between the judiciary and the government, an issue on which the latter seems to have prevailed. The amendments have overturned two important orders passed by the National Companies Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in the Essar Steel insolvency case. The position that emerged from the orders was that financial and operational creditors must be given similar treatment, which means both taking similar haircuts, and that the Committee of Creditors (CoC) has no role in distribution of proceeds of the resolution plan among financial and operational creditors. The amendments proposed by the government contradict the NCLAT positions on both counts. It says the CoC has the final say in commercial consideration in the…

5% India’s sovereign external debt to GDP ratio, one of the lowest in the world On July 20, Argentina moved towards an effective default after failing to reach an agreement with vulture funds demanding full payment of their $1.3 billion dues. This is its second brush with a sovereign debt crisis since 2001/02 when it too had been engulfed by what was then called the Latin American contagion, a direct result of huge foreign currency borrowings that the countries in the region had made in order to finance their deficits and huge infrastructure projects in last few decades of the 20th century. A fear of a repeat might be playing on the minds of economists watching Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech on July 5 where she announced an intention of…

PIYUSH GOYAL, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, recently cancelled a trip to China as the Budget Session of the Lok Sabha got extended until August 7 instead of ending on July 26 as scheduled. Such cancellations happen all the time, but this one was different. Goyal was expected to represent India in a key ministerial meeting – the 8th round of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial in Beijing – to stitch together a 16-nation free trade agreement (FTA) that covers 45 per cent of the world’s population and 40 per cent of global trade. Although high-level officials represented India, the absence of the political leadership only deepened the suspicion that India is reluctant to open up its economy to global free trade, but the country is not…

Poor turnaround time at ports causes delays and leads to order cancellations Logistics is key to export competitiveness and lack of good road infrastructure is a major hurdle Inadequate power supply plus high cost of power make production expensive Skewed tax policies can be counterproductive, especially when import tariffs on raw materials are higher than import duties on finished goods Liquidity is important for exporters and delays in GST refunds make cost of funds unsustainable Weakening rupee is good for exports, but RBI is conservative in managing the rupee India’s Free Trade Agreements with many countries have been more focussed on imports…

Nandhini is one of the better run dairy co-operatives but has limited reach REVENUE: ₹ 15,000 crore The MD is usually a bureaucrat Lack of professional thinking and planning Short of resources Plants are outdated No expertise available to market and distribute Has 250 value-added products but these are available only at Nandhini booths, and only in Karnataka Has excess milk production, which has lowered retail prices (₹35/litre; among the lowest) Is not allowed to increase milk prices…

IN SIMPLE TERMS, a strategy is an overarching plan to achieve a vision through a skilful interplay of ends, ways and means. Ends are the goals or objectives which must be realised to achieve the vision; means are the resources available to pursue these ends and ways are the most efficient and effective methods for application of resources. From its initial military-centric usage to define the ‘Art of the General’ in ancient Greece, strategy has acquired, over the years, a universal acquiescence with a much wider scope. Since the 18th century, strategy has enabled countries to protect, pursue and promote their national interests and helped public and private sector organisations realise their long-term goals and visions. Winning strategies provide clear pathways for achieving goals by assigning strategic and operational roles,…

IN THE PAST, Stacy Caprio’s perfectionism led her to avoid certain tasks. “I never wanted to start something unless I knew exactly how to do it,” she says. “It was a roadblock. It literally stopped me from doing new things.” Earlier in her career, she worked for an online marketing agency. One of her tasks was to add tracking tags to client websites, which would allow her organisation to gather more information about their customers’ revenue and sales. Stacy had never added a tag before and was petrified of doing it wrong. “I wanted my work to be good, and I wanted to be seen as doing a good job,” she says. “I didn’t want to mess up.” Instead of trying and risking imperfection, Stacy busied herself with e-mail, building…

“I am not underestimating the challenges. But there is a committed environment today, and if this can be leveraged along with tapping into the three wings of funding – the government, the private sector and philanthropy – I am sure the challenges can be overcome.”Dr K. Kasturirangan, space scientist and head of the committee that made the draft National Education Policy SPACE SCIENTIST K. Kasturirangan points out that sky is the limit and there is enough room to drive growth in the Indian education sector. Anyone who has read the 400-page draft of the National Education Policy 2019 (NEP), authored by the nine-member team headed by him, will not only agree with him but also find that the draft is an excellent text on what needs to be done for…

The biggest threat facing our educational system today is relevance. How do we keep the curriculum relevant for our rapidly changing world? We speak with Sriram Subramanian, CEO of Callida Learning, an organisation at the forefront of curriculum in this domain. ■ Callida works with schools in 14 countries. What differences do you see in the curricula in schools overseas and in India? Indian students have always flocked to the US and UK for education. It surprises me that we just accept that those systems are better, but not ask what about those systems is better. We have studied the educational systems of many countries extensively and the one thing that strikes us is the focus on developing students' thinking skills in progressive systems. In India, we focus on learning…

REMOVING THE AFFECTED parathyroid gland/s is the only solution today, but better diagnostic tools and nonsurgical options may not be far away. According to a recent article published in the Science Daily, the discovery of a signalling protein could lead to drug-based therapies for treating hyperparathyroidism. Led by the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, researchers have discovered a signalling protein (semaphoring 3D or Sema3D) secreted by the parathyroid glands that seems to protect them from excessive activity. This could be a breakthrough, opening up a new channel for drug development to treat the ailment. As of now, get a simple blood test done to check blood calcium and vitamin D. It is the best initial screening and costs around ₹1,500.…