Kaytek - Mahesh Khatri's Weblog

2007-04-22T03:19:00.000-07:00

Global Warming affecting Mumbai ?

Mumbai is the commercial capital of India.

On World Earth Day 2007, some thoughts on the future impact of Global Warming on Mumbai.

2007-04-18T00:34:00.000-07:00

China beats the US in the One Million US Dollar Per Minute race.

Earlier, it was reported that the US was borrowing at the rate of 1 US Million Dollars per minute from the rest of the world.

China has beat the US in the One Million US Dollar Per Minute benchmark.

No. Not in borrowing from others.

But in ensuring that it's foreign exchange reserves increase by the same speed.

Yes.

The latest quarter's data shows that China has increased it's foreign exchange reserves at the rate of 1 US Million Dollars per minute in the last quarter.

Time to think.

Today, India claims that it is the leader in Global Offshore Outsourcing.

Will China beat India ?

2006-12-23T19:25:00.000-08:00

From 'Inc' to 'Ind'

2006 has heralded the importance of the individual.

You and Me.

Time Magazine has also named us as the persons of the year.

The 'Ind' for Individual has become more powerful than the 'Inc'.

'Inc' meaning Corporations and Organizations.

The Journey to 2007 can be thus described as the movement from 'Inc' to 'Ind'.

PS : The patriot in me is also whispering that 'Ind' stands for 'India'.

Will 2007 witness a global corporate power shift to India ?

2006-12-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

Indian Medical Education needs a surgical systemic overhaul

The Indian Express story below urgently underscores the need for the Indian medical system to work hard to ensure that it's skillsets and qualifications are harmonised with the rest of the developed countries.

Otherwise, it will cause immense damage to Indian doctors as well as prospects for medical tourism in India.

Currently the US is a world leader in this area. India has a good chance to compete with the US if similar to the Indian IT global success story, Indian medical professionals can demonstrate that just like software engineers, their skills and experience in India are second to none in the world.

However, the medical education system (along with others systems) needs to be fixed for the same to happen on a permanent sustainable basis.

Otherwise stories like the one below will cause unforseen damage to the global reputation of Indian doctors practising in India. The ones who have cleared the foreign licentiate medical boards and are staying overseas have perhaps already proved their credibility.

For the global reputational capital of medical doctors in India to increase and for medical tourism to succeed as India's next big story and for the millions of India's poor patients, the system needs to be fixed permanently.

Pharmaecutical Companies and Globally respected doctors, medical professionals and other opinion leaders should take the lead in influencing government policies in this direction.

Whatever can be done for a vision for Low cost, High Volume, High Value Medical delivery systems in India (the most appropriate model for Indian conditions) as against alternative models usually prevalent in Developed economies, we should be willing to give it a shot.

A System consists of the 3 T's - Teams of People, Tools-Technologies and Tradition (Processes of doing things). (http://www.kaytek.co.in/erp/3t/ktek3t01.htm)

We need to look at the Medical Education System from a fresh perspectives in all the T's mentioned above and identify the most demanding changes required to bring our Indian medical educational system's global reputation, perception, recognition in line with the rest of the world.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/18126.html

Interpol seeks Dr Death's academic records

Hiral DavePosted online: Friday, December 08, 2006 at 0000 hrs Print Email

RAJKOT, DECEMBER 7: The Interpol has sought information and academic records of Dr Jayant Patel, a doctor trained in India, who has been termed Dr Death in Australia, for causing deaths of at least 87 patients.
While a special inquiry committee has been set up by the Australian government against Patel's conduct, the Interpol wants to know whether the degree and other academic records he produced to practise in Australia were genuine. Patel, who hails from Jamnagar, obtained his MBBS degree from MP Shah Medical College, which is affiliated to the Saurashtra University.

A two-member CBI team from Gandhinagar today checked Patel's academic records and got the copies of necessary documents. "Interpol has asked to provide his degree certificate and related documents,'' said CBI Gujarat SP Rahul Sharma.

The CBI role, however, is limited to providing the documents even amid speculation that Patel could be hiding in Gujarat, where his mother and sister live.

Patel, according to Saurashtra University examination controller Dhiren Pandya, has been holding an MS degree which he received in 1976. Grandson of Keshav Patel, deputy CM of erstwhile Saurashtra state in the government of Uchchangrai Dhedar, Jayant never practised medicine in India. Soon after his training as general surgeon, he immigrated to the US where he received further surgical training at the University of Rochester School of Medicine as a surgical intern and resident of surgery. He began to raise alarm bells in 1984 at a Buffalo hospital where New York health officials cited Patel for failing to examine patients before surgery.
Patel then left for Queensland, Australia. Till February 2005, Patel was head of surgery department at Bundaberg Hospital, but reportedly fled the country after news of his misdoings surfaced.

Fourteen members of the Patel family are doctors. Declared absconding by Australia, Patel had reportedly last visited Jamnagar in 2003 to speak on hepatobiliary ( diseases of the liver and bile ducts) at a conference of the Indian Medical Association.

Patel has been linked with deaths due to complications and negligence during surgery like accidentally severing a patient's urethra and leaving a syringe inside a patient's stomach.

According to reports, the deaths by negligence came to light after Toni Hoffman, a senior nurse in Bundaberg hospital reported them to authorities. Queensland authority has accused him of lying about his past to get the job. Reports also said Patel tried to cover up the deaths due to botched surgery by issuing false death certificates and withholding bodies from being sent for autopsy. He would later arrange for the bodies to be prematurely released to undertakers to ensure they were not examined by pathologists

2006-11-03T03:12:00.000-08:00

How to minimize problems regarding hiring and retention of software talent ?

On one of the online forums, the above has been a hot topic for discussion.

My 3 simple suggestions :

1.0 - Writing less software, by automated discovery and improved understanding of existing software programs and code via tools.

2.0 - Continously increasing Software Productivity.

3.0 - Utilising Non-Software People as Developers.

2006-10-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

Can Indian software companies produce world-class software packages ?

On one of the global electronic ERP forums, there was a doubt raised as to whether Indian software companies can produce world class ERP software packages.

Why not ?

India has the momentum currently both in terms of numbers and quality of both software developers and consumers.

IT spends in India have the world's highest growth rate - 26 % (again a Forrester figure).

The only problem is the booming domestic economy, which makes businesses complacent and reluctant to look at improvement of their internal and external systems and operations. (It it ain't broken, why fix it ? ( :- ).

The US is far ahead of India in this respect which is also reflected in the periodic Annual Global Competitiveness Rankings Reports that are published.

So as we go ahead, as India becomes more globally integrated and competitive leading to local businesses demanding world class solutions, this will trigger a demand and automatic fallout of more software companies launching original software packages developed in India, tested against a demanding domestic market and globally branded as Indian solutions.

2006-10-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

An Indian Software Company to overtake Microsoft by 2020 ?

That is the statement made by Hatim Tyabji, Founder of Verifone in an interview to Business Standard.

Hard to Believe for people in the software business ?

You can read the rest of the interview here and judge for yourself.

2006-08-30T03:55:00.000-07:00

Today, Oil is to energy what Microsoft Software was to Desktop Computing a few years ago.

A Profitable Monopoly.

Alternative Energy needs to be open-sourced.

Desperately.

Now.

Vinod Khosla has been quoted in the The Economist as saying that at the World Economic Forum in Davos a few months ago, after his presentation advocating the reduction in dependency of the US on foreign oil imports, a Middle East OPEC Country Minister came up and whispered to him "It cost us just US $ 1 to produce a barrel of oil today. The minute you come up with a viable alternative source of energy that will threaten us, we shall just drop our prices."

Just as Open Sourcing of software beginning with Linux has been a market challenge to the monopoly of a few software manufacturers, the shape and direction of the hunt for alternative energy sources needs to follow the open source platform.

Open sourcing is about price as well as features independence from monopolies.

In the alternative energy space, solar, wind, ethanol and other sources would make us free from the profitable oil 'Monopoly' game of a few nations.

(By the way, I love Microsoft software and am a great admirer of the company's and it's founder's marketing and technological depth.)

2006-08-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

The Other Reliance (ADAG) Arm also plans to enter India's Retail Sector ?

In today's (11th August 2006) business papers, there is speculation that the other Reliance (ADAG - Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) also plans to enter the Retail Pharmaceutical sector in India.

Also, in yet another affirmation of the prediction made on this weblog a few months ago, the idea is to tie-up with the existing Pharma Retail Outlets in India via their Trade Associations and offer them shares as equity stakeholders in the proposed joint venture.

2006-08-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

Which is India's smartest Entrepreneurial Global Information Technology and Software Services Company ?

Is it Infosys ?

Or is it Directi ?

Let me know your thoughts.

2006-07-12T00:42:00.000-07:00

We have met the enemy and he is us...

Having just returned from a visit to Cooper and VN Hospitals and having witnessed first hand the bloody carnage that Mumbai has again been subject too, one can only say that " we have met the enemy and he is us.."

Why us ?

It is our lethargy as individuals and as a nation that has contributed to this state of affairs.

Just look at the sequence of tragedies since the last few days.

Mumbai gets crippled by rains the whole of last week.

A Prime Minister who is perceived to be 'weak' , threatens to resign last week, triggering a wave of uncertainity for the entire nation.

In a neighbouring town, there is violence directed against the state police.

A statue gets desecrated on Sunday and India's premier business city starts burning with rioters all over the town.

On Sunday, India's showpiece nuclear warhead Agni III missle flops miserably after promising to target Beijing and Shanghai in it's geographic range.

On Monday, India's heaviest satellite GSLV plunges into the Bay of Bengal.

On Tuesday, Srinagar gets 6 and Mumbai gets 8 carefully planned strategically executed bomb blasts.

Who is the enemy ?

It is us.

It is you and me who along with one billion plus other Indians have contributed to this state of affairs.

Via our indifference and lethargy.

So we have no one to blame but ourselves.

2006-06-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

Did we predict Reliance's Retail Strategy ?

Reliance Industries has stunned India's Retail Sector by announcing a gigantic investment of over Indian Rupees 25,000 Crores (roughly equivalent to USD $ 5.5 Billion) in their proposed Reliance Retail greenfield project in India.

This will also entail an investment of half a million people and have a physical presence in more than 1,500 geographic locations spread across India.

In Indian business newspapers, Mr. Mukesh Ambani , the Reliance Chairman has been quoted saying that "... Reliance Retail will partner with farmers, logistics operators, small shopkeepers and traders... "

In January 2006, in this weblog, I had written ....

How would the late Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani the original Reliance patriach founder have reacted to this golden opportunity to recreate a large retail industry from scratch ?

Perhaps, he would have approached the millions of India's unorganized retail traders, offered them equity shares in the new retail business, given them training in modern retail technologies and made them Reliance's working business partners on a commission basis in it's retail locations all over India.

Going by what Mr. Mukesh Ambani has said yesterday about their proposed partnership with small shopkeepers and traders, perhaps they are intending to do what we had suggested a few months ago.

Also, in India's business newspapers dated 7th July 2006, it has been reported that through ICICI Ventures which holds a stake in the South Indian Retail Chain Subhiksha, Reliance Retail is negotiating for a possible takeover.

Earlier, we had predicted the same in this article dated 21st April 2006.

Once again, did we predict the future ?

Of Reliance's Retail Strategy ?

As we have done in software earlier ?

Something to think about.

And perhaps pat our backs.

And go back to some serious work.

2006-06-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

25th June 2006 - A Day of Emergency for the Steel Industry ?

31 years ago, on this very day 25th June 1975; a State of Emergency was declared in India.

Is the Arcelor-Mittal merger on 25th June 2006 sounding similar bells of emergency for the rest of the global steel industry ?

10% of the global steel output in the hands of Arcelor-Mittal will drive consolidation in the steel industry.

Further, China's consumption of steel is expected to slow down before the Beijing Olympics in 2008, further aggravating the situation.

A couple of weeks ago, I was advising a Steel Entrepreneur who wanted to implement an ERP solution to consider the impact of the forthcoming Mittal takeover of Arcelor in his business dynamics planning.

Also, an Indian owned multi-national taking over an established European giant may also trigger some alarms of emergency in other non-steel sectors.

Indeed, Indians are starting to set the world on FLAMES.

2006-06-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

Willingly waiting for Walmart ?

15 months ago, I had written as to how Indian consumers were willingly waiting for Walmart with their wallets.

Fortune Magazine in their May 22nd issue, have a story titled Waiting for Walmart in India.

The title is tantalising similar to what we had written over a year ago.

Once again, you read it here first.

Like our Walmart like Indian Technology Giant Prediction.

2006-04-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

India's Organized Retail Sector is Red Hot.

Just started a periodic (random) snapshot of the activities and analysis of the activities happening in the Indian Retail sector.

2006-04-15T05:01:00.000-07:00

Will Offshoring from the US be bad for the Indian Economy ?

Even though Offshoring of IT (Information Technology) and ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) has catapulted India to the top of the Global Offshore Services marketplace, there could be some areas where it will perhaps hurt India.

2006-03-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

2 questions to ask for a China Strategy.

Many organizations are considering setting up shop in China either via a 'Captive' Mode or via a 'Contractual Arrangement'. These 2 questions must be asked.

1.0 - Does China have an IPR (Intellectual Property Right) Legal Framework in place ? How effective is the same in a 'Contracting Situation' ? Are there any positive and negative experiences ?

2.0 - In the case of a 'Captive' Model, are there any general Chinese conditionalities attached for foreign (non Chinese owned) companies or does it depend on each unique negotiated situation in every specific local province ? (Since the local officials have strongly delegated powers).

Also, An Indian automobile industry executive has posted his China experiences here.

It may be useful to first time Indian manufacturing background visitors there.

2006-03-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

Beginning of the end of Google ?

Someone posted a weblog suggesting that Google's problems have just begun.

My take on the same is as follows :

Google's global brand dominance cannot be easily replicated.

Also, it has become the Universal 'Assistant' for all sorts of daily search related tasks for billions of people.

Plus it's proposed extensions into multiple language search. (Useful in countries like India with more than 25 + Official languages).

The trend towards Advertising-Revenue driven Software-As-A-Service business models has Google at the forefront. Others are just beginning to copy the same.

Plus you have a huge mobile-using population that has not even seen a PC (like in India and China) and Google's services towards the same.

Google will extend their dominance from PC's to other devices (including mobiles) using simplicity as their driving strategic metaphor.

PS : Because Kaytek has a Google Adsense based website, there could be some possible bias in my viewpoints.

2006-03-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

Globalization does hurt !!!

In one of US Magazines, I was reading about a disgruntled reader's dismay at being without a paycheck for more than 200 weeks due to offshoring of his job.

However, even though he has mentioned China as the 51st state of the US, he has forgotten to mention that because of China's low cost manufacturing and supply chain to the US via WALMART, Americans are able to enjoy one of the world's lowest inflation rates, inspite of the US dollar being so weak.

In my humble opinion, the answer for such scenarios is more education to provide the right perspective and correct wrong misconceptions about Offshoring.

You may find some articles that will (hopefully) help correct many mis-perceptions about Offshoring here.

Also, lastly as any major US outsourcing organization will tell you, it starts with low costs, but remains offshore due to perhaps better quality.

Our website has such stories and experiences of American business leaders and organizations.

But, Yes.

Globalization does hurt ordinary folks all over the world.

Whether in Boston, Beijing or Bangalore.

Who cannot keep pace with Global Change.

The answer for them is perhaps higher value-add, more relevant local skill levels.

Not protectionism.

2006-03-01T20:54:00.000-08:00

Visiting China's manufacturing factories ?

Check out an Indian Manufacturing Executive's experiences on his first visit to China in our Offshore Outsourcing Section.

2006-02-28T21:10:00.000-08:00

India FBT - Fringe Benefit Tax Union Budget 2006 Changes

Changes in Fringe Benefit Tax announced in today's Union Budget are posted here.

2006-02-27T14:50:00.000-08:00

The 3 risks of China.

These are mainly in 3 strategic areas :

First, Understanding as to what is their strategic superpower intentions as a country vis-a-vis the developed nations like the US and others. To me, it is absolutely clear about their long term intentions. There is no rocket science here.

Second, the absence of a democratic system right from the grass-roots level upwards. Democracy cannot be driven from Beijing downwards in a top-down fashion, it has to work upwards in a messy slow fashion (like India.)

Third, absence of accurate, reliable, verifiable information as regards their economic and other business indicators as also absence of free market legal, banking and other financial market systems.

India has a lot to learn and emulate from China.

Perhaps our horrible physical infrastructure vis-a-vis China can be a lever for a long term strategic advantage in the IT usage space ? An introductory thought on the same here.

2006-02-25T15:30:00.000-08:00

Overcoming China's Looming Lead in Infrastructure.

In my consulting work with individuals and organizations, the most frequent complaint that I hear about India is our pathetic infrastructure in our cities and how China has managed to leap ahead of India in this respect.

Indians should take two initiatives to ensure that our bad urban infrastructure does not necessarily become a drag on our progress as we move ahead.

First, start or get involved with a local community group like an ALM - Advanced Locality Management in Mumbai and strive to improve the immediate geographic area around your neighbourhood. If every one of India's 1 Billion People started collaborating and contributing to improving their local communities, our physical infrastructure would improve.

Second, if China has beat us in physical infrastructure, remember they still perhaps lag behind India in our Information Technology and Software skills. So, perhaps, in all operations involving our own lives and work in our organizations, we can strive to improve our virtual Electronic and Computing Infrastructure better than China's.

Automate all manual work, and continue doing the same relentlessly.

So, China's lead in infrastructure can be leaped by community collaboration and implementing computing solutions on a war footing in our daily affairs.

2006-01-25T19:20:00.000-08:00

The Reliance Retail Revolution against WALMART ?

It is understood that Reliance is planning to spend upto Rs 100 Crores
(Approximate 25 Million USD $) just on their top management salaries during the first year of their new Retail venture.

How would the late Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani the original Reliance patriach founder have reacted to this golden opportunity to recreate a large retail industry from scratch ?

Perhaps, he would have approached the millions of India's unorganized retail
traders, offered them equity shares in the new retail business, given them
training in modern retail technologies and made them Reliance's working
business partners on a commission basis in it's retail locations all over
India.

India's unorganized retail entrepreneurs may be uneducated.

But they are not street-stupid, but street-smart.

Who know and sense every pulse and breath of the Indian consumer.

Just as the capital markets small investors revolution was triggered by
Reliance a few decades ago, a golden opportunity to trigger the movement from India's large parts of 'unorganized' retail trade (over 98 % plus) to the
organized one (2 %) lies ahead of it.

If it can seize the opportunity.

That also would perhaps be a street smart uniquely 'Indian' Reliance
revolutionary strategy to beat the foreign majors (like WALMART) who would soon be knocking on India's retail doorsteps in the near future.

Be local, to beat global.

Also, see a Periodic (Random) Snapshot of India's Organized Retail Sector.

2006-01-23T20:25:00.000-08:00

Can anyone explain what is happening in the Topsy-Turvy World of Business ?