October 2013

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 oct 2013

According to Professor Douglas McWilliams of Gresham College in UK, India will become the world's largest economy by 2048 by surpassing China which will displace US from the top slot in 2023. He points out that the pace of change in the Eastern economies is so fast that the population of these economies have not become used to prosperity and their employees still work more then their Western counterparts (Singapore - 2307 hours/year; Hong Kong - 2287 hrs/yr, UK - 1625 hrs/yr). Moreover Singapore's GDP is 30% higher then UK and Hong Kong's 50% higher. These figures indicates resurgence of the East and the West has to be prepared to compete with these economies and adapt to the new realities or there is a probability of stagnation and later on economic collapse. Read on...

The Telegraph: India 'will become world's biggest economy in less than 40 years'
Author: Emma Rowley

---

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 oct 2013

E-Commerce is growing in India and in future there are possibilities of substantial contribution to it through mobile transactions. According to a management consulting firm, e-commerce is expected to grow from US$ 6.3 billion in 2011 to US$ 23 billion. With 900 million mobile phone subscribers, India is the world's second largest mobile market after China. In another report by a consulting firm, Internet users will increase from 125 million (45% of which are mobile-based internet users) in 2011 to 330 million in 2016. Professor Kartik Hosanagar of the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania points out that mobile is the key to the growth of e-commerce in India as traditional e-commerce's reach is limited with substantial percentage of internet access through mobile only. Similar sentiments are shared by industry leaders and experts. Moreover Prof. Hosanagar also mentions the challenges mobile e-commerce might face due to small screen size of mobiles. He views education and healthcare areas to benefit the most through mobile internet in India. Read on...

Little India: Mobile's Dramatic Growth in India Spurs a New Era of E-Commerce
Author: NA

---

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 oct 2013

Although Jugaad's (Indian creative or innovative way that provides a quick or alternative way of finding solutions) value in the Indian design space is often considered and mentioned but when it comes to high-end and brand-worthy design requirements India is often found lacking in aesthetics and design sensibility. Author, an innovation and design consultant, explores Indian design processes and how they compete with global design standards and what can be possibly done if India has to upgrade its design offerings. Some suggestions offered - Incorporate 'design thinking' principles in the ideation and design process; Start with a vision or goal as this approach focuses on the improved future state and work back to get the solution thus making the elegant design inherent part of the solution process. Read on...

The Economic Times: The obviousness of 'jugaad': India's aesthetically challenged industries
Author: Roopa Unnikrishnan

---

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 oct 2013

The recent study conducted on 40 hospitals with innovative strategies in India by Prof. Vijay Govindarajan and Prof. Ravi Ramamurti of Harvard University, advocates emulation of low-costs and technology innovations happening in Indian hospitals. Considering that the global economic slowdown is affecting the healthcare delivery it is valuable to understand and apply these cost saving methods that are a result of constant experimentation, adaptation and necessity. Some of these methods include - shortening length of sutures to reduce waste by doctors; low cost manual small incision cataract surgery; reducing heal-time by performing angioplasties through the wrist rather than the groin; use of technology that allows a single cornea to be sliced and used for more than one transplant patient; mix of low-cost healthcare workers and highly focused specialists; surgeons performing more procedures annually as compared to US; use of beating-heart method of surgery without shutting down patient's heart during operation. Read on...

The Times of India: Emulate India's innovation in healthcare: Harvard study
Author: NA

---

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 oct 2013

India's green architect, Ashok Lall, believes that ethics should be the guiding force in architecture and consideration should be given to address environmental impact, social inequity and cultural subversion in architectural practice. According to him architectural design had to be about resource conservation, efficiency, economy and affordability. He says that urban planning in India and other developing Asian countries should focus on integration and inclusion of marginalized residents within the urban economy. The urban housing and public transport policy should work towards affordable housing and travel for them. Moreover it should consider environmental sustainability as one of the key factor for better urban future. Read on...

Eco-Business: Building green starts with citizenry and cultural shifts
Author: Elga Reyes

---

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 oct 2013

Social entrepreneurship has the potential to solve many issues that India faces in the field of education, healthcare, agriculture, employment etc. With combination of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programs, government funding, independent NGOs, social entrepreneurs etc, a social development ecosystem can be created to support such efforts at the national level. Successful social entrepreneurs can mentor and guide the young and inexperienced social entrepreneurs that have implementable ideas to solve the social issues and problems. Read on...

CoolAge: Social Entrepreneurship - Transforming India
Author: Shreya Dalela

---

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 oct 2013

Indian entrepreneurs have consistently made their mark globally in various fields and industries. In recent times technology is one of the sector where their contribution has received most attention. Both within India and abroad they have created businesses that have achieved extraordinary successes. The few great ones mentioned in the article are: Amar Bose - founded Bose Corp., the provider of some of the most innovative sound systems in the world; Ram Sriram - the serial entrepreneur and technology investor most known for his involvement with companies like Google, Amazon, Netscape; Vinod Khosla - co-founder of Sun Microsystems and well known technology venture capitalist with current interest in clean energy technologies; Sabeer Bhatia - founder of Hotmail that popularized email communication service; N. P. Narayana Murthy - co-founded Indian global IT major Infosys and is often considered as the father of the Indian IT industry; Arjun Malhotra - co-founder of Hindustan Computer Ltd (HCL) and later involved with the founding of a successful IT services company. Read on...

tech2: India's greatest tech entrepreneurs
Author: NA

---

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 12 oct 2013

Higher education is one of the most important thing on India's development agenda. In 12th Five Year Plan, the Planning Commission has a target to create capacity for additional 10 million students above the 25 million that are in the education system in 2011-12. One of the main focus of the plan is to improve the quality of education and skill development that would have an impact on the growth of the economy in the future. Industry experts expect technical talent coming out of Indian educational institutions should also have soft-skills for better overall value. Planning Commission mentions that Indian education system have variety of challenges like trained faculty shortage, inadequate infrastructure, outdated curricula, lack of quality research even in prestigious institutions etc. Academic experts also mention low funds and sub-standard research facilities and labs as one of the reasons for poor quality research. Moreover certain educational regulatory policies particularly in the creation of private educational institutions are restrictive for attracting private investments in the sector. Educational expert mentions the 'not-for-profit' clause as one of the main hindrance for the development of private education sector in India. Also entry of foreign educational institutions in the Indian education sector has to be considered with a balanced view and should encourage collaborations and partnerships for the mutual benefits. Read on...

Times Higher Education: India's higher education sector focuses on standards
Author: John Morgan

---

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 06 oct 2013

According to a research report, private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms have invested US$ 126 million in the Indian agri-business companies in the first half of 2013. This is about 75% more then what was invested last year within the same period. The companies that attracted the chunk of this investment include those that - develops technology and machinery for milling and agri-processing plants; provides seasoning and flavors to mainly quick service restaurants (QSR) in India, Middle-East and Africa; export rice; soybean, oilseeds and spices company; agricultural logistics. Read on...

Business Standard: PE, VC firms increase investment in Agri business
Author: Gireesh Babu

---

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 oct 2013

In a recent study by School of Pharmacy at University College London it was mentioned that the healthy life expectancy in India is only about 55 years due to the high residual rates of infection in poorer communities and increasing prevalence of disabling chronic diseases. The research estimates that non-communicable diseases already cost India equivalent to 12.5% of GDP in lost welfare terms. According to Prof. David Taylor, the co-author of the study, India currently spends a bit more than 1% of GDP on publicly funded healthcare and only about 0.1% of GDP on publicly funded medicines. He recommends that India should seriously focus on universal healthcare coverage and increasing the supply of essential medicines for its poorer citizens. Considering India's global strategic importance the healthcare issues here may have larger impact on the world. Read on...

Pharma Times: India urged to prioritise healthcare for citizens
Author: Kevin Grogan

---

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 oct 2013

It is challenging for faculty to impart quality education to their students if their salaries are comparatively low. The case particularly in question is that of Madurai district in India where self financing arts and science colleges face a deteriorating education standards due to the meagre salaries they provide to their faculty, even the qualified ones. Faculty needs resources to upgrade their skills and competencies and continue to inspire and motivate their students in the best possible way. According to an expert, government has to intervene both financially and in faculty selection process to ensure better quality of education. Read on...

The Times of India: Poor salaries for faculty depriving quality education
Author: V. Devanathan

---

the3h | glomc00 | ilmeps | mawdesigns | anasmark | ilmeds | read | contact