Author: Shubhadeep B.

IT & Indian Economy

IT Services & Offshoring has done a tremendous job of putting brand India on the global map. In fact such a good job that the well being of India is very closely associated to IT services by many people. Ever so often, I am questioned about what will happen to the great Indian growth story if Indian IT exports dip?

Though the contribution of IT & ITeS (IT enabled Services) to the GDP* is increasing by the day, for 2005-06 this number was 4.8%. By 2007-08 this industry is expected to be contributing as much as 7%. It is interesting to note though that the industry has contributed up to 20 percent of the incremental GDP growth over the last 4-5 years.

As this article on the NASSCOM site explains, IT has had a much more diversified impact on the Indian economy than what the current contribution numbers indicate.

* The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world as measured by Purchasing Power Parity.

Changing Scales in India

  • Infosys took 23 years to reach a turnover of a billion dollars — the second billion took only 23 months
  • In 2003, there was 40 million sq ft of commercial space in India’s big cities — now the industry is adding 40 million sq ft each year
  • In 1991, there were 5 million telephone connections — 5 million new connections are added a month now
  • In the first decade of opening up the skies, 5 new aircrafts were added — now there are 5 being added a month
  • Steel exports were $18 billion in 1991 — the same figure is exported in less than 2 months

A board meeting of an Indian banking giant is gloomy because the annual business has grown by 36% only!!

Sustainable? Enablers? Constraints?

  1. Since 1991, the size of the Indian middle class has increased 6.5 times.
  2. India is one the youngest countries in the world contributing to a very young work force. Being a service oriented economy – this is crucial.
  3. Do the skill sets of this work force match with the requirements of the market? – the big question!
  4. If India can manage a growth rate of 7-8% with its current abysmal physical infrstructure, can you imagine what good infrastructure could do to the economy.
  5. Increasing wages could pose challenges. But then, aren’t wages of these skills across the globe increasing too? If both continue to increase at their current rates, some estimates put 2050 as the year when the wages will meet.

References:

Current Affairs – Movie


Movie: Casino Royale

Comments: I thought Daniel Craig fits in suprisingly well into the 007 mould. But the movie was short on the action front. Stunts were good ..when they were required. The Aston Martin was there. Plot & story – very ungripping.

Kaizen at Toyota

Got to read this nice writeup by Charles Fishman about Toyota‘s Georgetown Plant. The Toyota philosophy, that has paved the way for its leadership position, is simplistically captured & the article makes for an interesting read.

Some thoughts / anecdotes that caught my attention :

  • The Toyota way is a much talked about & a documented secret. Yet its competitors are struggling to emulate the same. Reason – its not about the practices, its about the obsessive & well adopted philosophy. A way of life.
  • Constant improvement is not a project or an initiative or a focus area or time boxed. Its a way of life – for all employees – at all times. The job of the managers & supervisors is to identify areas of improvement & improve it – day in & day out!
  • An employee quote – “We are all incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished. But you don’t stop. There’s no reason to be satisfied.” Its “continuous” improvement after all. Point for introspection – how many times have we set goals, reached it & plateaued. Do I immediately start looking for the next improvement?
  • The author quotes – “by constantly questioning how you do things, by constantly tweaking, you don’t outflank your competition next quarter. You outflank them next decade.”
  • There are many examples of process changes & improvements in the article. A theme that emerges across them is that most of them are based on small practical ideas – not silver bullets. And they happen very frequently – ideas are meant to be leveraged upon & they are quickly put to work by Toyota every day.
  • At Toyota, there is a presumption of imperfection. Current success is due to yesterday’s work. Look at what you can do today to bring improvements tomorrow.

Follow this link to read this Fast Company article – No Satisfaction at Toyota.