During his visit to Gujarat, Prime Minister inaugurated the country’s first liquid nano urea plant at Kalol.
Liquid Nano Urea (LNU)
Urea is chemical nitrogen fertiliser, white in colour, which artificially provides nitrogen, a major nutrient required by plants.
LNU is essentially urea in the form of a nanoparticle.
It is sprayed directly on the leaves and gets absorbed by the plant.
Fertilisers in nano form provide a targeted supply of nutrients to crops, as they are absorbed by the stomata, pores found on the epidermis of leaves.
According to IFFCO, liquid nano urea contains 4 per cent total nitrogen (w/v) evenly dispersed in water.
The size of a nano nitrogen particle varies from 20-50 nm. (A nanometre is equal to a billionth of a metre.)
Significance of LNU
This patented product is expected to not only substitute imported urea, but to also produce better results in farms.
Apart from reducing the country’s subsidy bill, it is aimed at reducing the unbalanced and indiscriminate use of conventional urea.
It will help increase crop productivity, and reduce soil, water, and air pollution.
Using LNU
The liquid nano urea produced by Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) Limited comes in a half-litre bottle priced at Rs 240, and carries no burden of subsidy currently.
By contrast, a farmer pays around Rs 300 for a 50-kg bag of heavily subsidised urea.
According to IFFCO, a bottle of the nano urea can effectively replace at least one bag of urea.
How efficient is LNU?
While conventional urea has an efficiency of about 25 per cent, the efficiency of liquid nano urea can be as high as 85-90 per cent.
Conventional urea fails to have the desired impact on crops as it is often applied incorrectly, and the nitrogen in it is vaporized or lost as a gas.
A lot of nitrogen is also washed away during irrigation.
Liquid nano urea has a shelf life of a year, and farmers need not be worried about “caking” when it comes in contact with moisture.
The Ministry of Defence has signed a contract with Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) for the supply of the Astra Mark-1for deployment on fighter jets of the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.
Astra Missile
The Astra Mk-1 is a beyond visual range (BVR), air-to-air missile (AAM).
The Astra project was officially launched in the early 2000s with defined parameters and proposed future variants.
The missile has been designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
It will be deployed on fighter jets like Sukhoi-30 MKI and Tejas of the IAF and the Mig-29K of the Navy.
BVM missiles are capable of engaging beyond the range of 20 nautical miles or 37 kilometres.
Range and its Variants
While the range for Astra Mk-1 is around 110 km, the Mk-2 with a range over 150 km is under development and Mk-3 version with a longer range is being envisaged.
One more version of Astra, with a range smaller than Mk-1 is also under development.
Strategic significance
The missile has been designed based on requirements specified by the IAF for BVR as well as close-combat engagement, reducing the dependency on foreign sources.
AAMs with BVR capability provides large stand-off ranges to own fighter aircraft.
It can neutralise adversary airborne assets without exposing adversary air defence measures.
Stand-off range means the missile is launched at a distance sufficient to allow the attacking side to evade defensive fire from the target.
Astra is technologically and economically superior to many such imported missile
The missile can travel at speeds more than four times that of sound and can reach a maximum altitude of 20 km, making it extremely flexible for air combat.
Two years after they were stopped due to the onset of the pandemic, passenger train services between India and Bangladesh resumed with the Bandhan Express setting off from Kolkata for Khulna and the Maitree Express starting its run from Dhaka for Kolkata.
History of Rail Connectivity
The Bandhan Express was resumed by rebooting a long-forgotten rail link between Kolkata and the industrial hub of Khulna, the third-largest city of Bangladesh.
In 1965, this route was served by the Barisal Express, which was stopped due to the India-Pakistan war.
The Modi government along with the Sheikh Hasina regime restarted that with Bandhan in 2017.
The Bandhan Express was the second train to be flagged off after the introduction of Maitree Express between Kolkata and Dhaka Cantonment in April, 2008.
It covers the distance between Kolkata and Khulna via Petrapole and Benapole border route to cater to the demands of the people from both the countries.
The Bandhan Express was resumed in 2017 by rebooting a long-forgotten rail link between Kolkata and the industrial hub of Khulna.
Beyond passenger travel
The governments of both the countries have been working towards strengthening the rail link between them, and not just through passenger trains.
In August 2021, the two sides started regular movement of freight trains between the newly-restored link between Haldibari in India and Chilahati in Bangladesh.
The Haldibari-Chilahati rail link between India and the then East Pakistan was also operational till 1965 and stopped due to the war.
This was part of the broad gauge main route from Kolkata to Siliguri at the time of Partition.
The two sides envisage at least 20 freight trains to cross the border per month on this link.
Rail infrastructure
Once part of a single, seamless railway network under British rule, trains continued to pass between the two countries even after the Partition.
The infrastructure to connect the two sides through railways was, therefore, largely present.
Policymakers on both sides viewed this as an opportunity to deepen diplomatic ties using cross-border movements of goods and passengers.
Five rail links have so far been rebooted between India and Bangladesh:
Petrapole (India)-Benapole (Bangladesh), Gede (India)- Darshana (Bangladesh), Singhabad (India)-Rohanpur (Bangladesh), Radhikapur (India)-Birol (Bangladesh) and the Haldibari-Chilahati link
By order dated May 11, 2022, a Bench presided over by the Chief Justice of India, has directed that the petitions challenging the Section 124A be listed for final determination in the third week of July 2022; and that in the meantime suspend the use of Section 124A IPC.
Historical background of Section 124A
With effect from 1870, (as amended in 1955), Section 124A of the Penal Code read:
“Whoever by words, spoken or written, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection, towards the Government established by law in India shall be punished with imprisonment for life…”.
“Sedition” is the vaguest of all offences known to the criminal law.
In colonial times, it was defined expansively in order to uphold the majesty of British power in India.
Before 1950, there were several Court decisions in operation on Section 124A; amongst them was Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s case (1897).
Absence of affection: In Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s case the Privy Council declined to grant leave to appeal, affirming that “disaffection” only meant “absence of affection in any degree towards the British rule or its administration or representatives”, and that exciting of mutiny or rebellion or actual disturbance of any sort was “absolutely immaterial”.
With the establishment of a Federal Court by the Government of India Act, 1935, in Niharendu Dutt Majumdar And Ors. vs Emperor the Federal Court held that if the language of Section 124A were to be read literally “it would make a surprising number of persons in India guilty of sedition and that no one, however, supposes that it is to be read in this literal sense”
However, in 1947 it was precisely in this literal sense that the interpretation of Section 124A was reiterated by a Bench of five judges of the Privy Council (AIR 1947 P.C. 82) in which it was declared that: “If the Federal Court had given their attention to Tilak’s case (1897) they should have recognised it as an authority… by which they were bound”.
With the advent of the Constitution of India on January 26, 1950, this interpretation of Section 124A became “the law in force immediately before the commencement of the Constitution”.
Section 124A after 1950
Article 372: It stated that all laws in force in the territory of India immediately before the commencement of the Constitution shall continue in force therein until altered or repealed or amended by a competent legislature or other competent authority.
Protected due to Article 19(2): In 1962, in criminal appeals arising from the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court held that though Section 124A “clearly violated” the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression in Article 19(1)(a), it was not unconstitutional only because it was protected from challenge by the words “in the interests of public order” in Article 19(2).
Conclusion
This background has now become pertinent and relevant, because in a fresh batch of writ petitions filed in 2021, the constitutionality of Section 124A (IPC) has been once again challenged in the Supreme Court.
India rapidly emerges as a preferred investment destination with Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows increasing 20-fold in the last 20 years.
Highest ever annual FDI inflow of 83.57 billion US Dollars were recorded in the Financial Year 2021-22.
This figure stood at 45.15 billion US Dollars.
Major feats achieved this year
In terms of investor countries of FDI Equity inflow, Singapore is at the top with 27%, followed by the US with 18% and Mauritius with 16% for the FY 2021-22.
‘Computer Software & Hardware’ has emerged as the top recipient sector of FDI Equity inflow during this period with around 25% share followed by Services Sector and Automobile Industry with 12% each.
With53 % Karnataka has received the majority share of FDI equity in the `Computer Software & Hardware’ sector.
Significance of rising FDI
This is a testament of India’s status among global investors.
It also signifies political, economic and social stability
What is Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)?
An FDI is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country.
It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct control.
FDI may be made either “inorganically” by buying a company in the target country or “organically” by expanding the operations of an existing business in that country.
Broadly, FDI includes “mergers and acquisitions, building new facilities, reinvesting profits earned from overseas operations, and intra company loans”.
In a narrow sense, it refers just to building a new facility, and lasting management interest.
Features of FDI
Any investment from an individual or firm that is located in a foreign country into a country is FDI.
Generally, FDI is when a foreign entity acquires ownership or controlling stake in the shares of a company in one country, or establishes businesses there.
It is different from foreign portfolio investment where the foreign entity merely buys equity shares of a company.
In FDI, the foreign entity has a say in the day-to-day operations of the company.
FDI is not just the inflow of money, but also the inflow of technology, knowledge, skills and expertise.
It is a major source of non-debt financial resources for the economic development of a country.
FDI in India
Foreign investment was introduced in 1991 under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), driven by then FM Manmohan Singh.
Economic liberalisation started in India in the wake of the 1991 crisis and since then, FDI has steadily increased in the country.
India, today is a part of top 100-club on Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) and globally ranks number 1 in the Greenfield FDI ranking.
There are two routes by which India gets FDI.
1) Automatic route: By this route, FDI is allowed without prior approval by Government or RBI.
2) Government route: Prior approval by the government is needed via this route. The application needs to be made through Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal, which will facilitate the single-window clearance of FDI application under Approval Route.
India imposes a cap on equity holding by foreign investors in various sectors, current FDI in aviation and insurance sectors is limited to a maximum of 49%.
In 2015 India overtook China and the US as the top destination for the Foreign Direct Investment.
Sectors that come under the ‘ 100% Automatic Route’ category are
Agriculture & Animal Husbandry, Air-Transport Services (non-scheduled and other services under civil aviation sector)
Airports (Greenfield + Brownfield),
Asset Reconstruction Companies,
Auto-components, Automobiles,
Biotechnology (Greenfield),
Broadcast Content Services (Up-linking & down-linking of TV channels, Broadcasting Carriage Services,
Capital Goods, Cash & Carry Wholesale Trading (including sourcing from MSEs), Chemicals, Coal & Lignite, Construction Development,
Construction of Hospitals,
E-commerce Activities, Electronic Systems,
Food Processing, Gems & Jewellery, Healthcare, Industrial Parks, IT & BPM, Leather, Manufacturing, Mining & Exploration of metals & non-metal ores, Other Financial Services,
Sectors that come under up to 100% Automatic Route’ category are–
Infrastructure Company in the Securities Market: 49%
Insurance: up to 49%
Medical Devices:up to 100%
Pension: 49%
Petroleum Refining (By PSUs): 49%
Power Exchanges: 49%
Sectors that come under the ‘up to 100% Government Route’ category are–
Banking & Public sector: 20%
Broadcasting Content Services: 49%
Core Investment Company: 100%
Food Products Retail Trading: 100%
Mining & Minerals separations of titanium bearing minerals and ores: 100%
Multi-Brand Retail Trading: 51%
Print Media (publications/ printing of scientific and technical magazines/ specialty journals/ periodicals and facsimile edition of foreign newspapers): 100%
Print Media (publishing of newspaper, periodicals and Indian editions of foreign magazines dealing with news & current affairs): 26%
Satellite (Establishment and operations): 100%
FDI prohibition
There are a few industries where FDI is strictly prohibited under any route. These industries are
Atomic Energy Generation
Any Gambling or Betting businesses
Lotteries (online, private, government, etc.)
Investment in Chit Funds
Nidhi Company
Agricultural or Plantation Activities (although there are many exceptions like horticulture, fisheries, tea plantations, Pisciculture, animal husbandry, etc.)
Housing and Real Estate (except townships, commercial projects, etc.)
Trading in TDR’s
Cigars, Cigarettes, or any related tobacco industry
Benefits offered by FDI
Employment generation: FDI boosts the manufacturing and services sector which results in the creation of jobs and helps to reduce unemployment rates in the country.
Economic growth: Increased employment translates to higher incomes and equips the population with more buying powers, boosting the overall economy of a country.
Human capital development: Skills that employees gain through training and experience can boost the education and human capital of a specific country. Through a ripple effect, it can train human resources in other sectors and companies.
Technology boost: The introduction of newer and enhanced technologies results in company’s distribution into the local economy, resulting in enhanced efficiency and effectiveness of the industry.
Increase in exports: Many goods produced by FDI have global markets, not solely domestic consumption. The creation of 100% export oriented units help to assist FDI investors in boosting exports from other countries.
Exchange rate stability: The flow of FDI into a country translates into a continuous flow of foreign exchange, helping a country’s Central Bank maintain a prosperous reserve of foreign exchange which results in stable exchange rates.
Improved Capital Flow: Inflow of capital is particularly beneficial for countries with limited domestic resources, as well as for nations with restricted opportunities to raise funds in global capital markets.
Creation of a Competitive Market: By facilitating the entry of foreign organizations into the domestic marketplace, FDI helps create a competitive environment, as well as break domestic monopolies.
Climate mitigation: The United Nations has also promoted the use of FDI around the globe to help combat climate change
Limitations created by FDI
Hindrance of domestic investment: Sometimes FDI can hinder domestic investment. Because of FDI, countries’ local companies start losing interest to invest in their domestic products.
Risk from political changes: Other countries’ political movements can be changed constantly which could hamper the investors.
Negative exchange rates: FDI can sometimes affect exchange rates to the advantage of one country and the detriment of another.
Higher costs: When investors invest in foreign counties, they might notice that it is more expensive than when goods are exported. Oftentimes, more money is invested into machinery and intellectual property than in wages for local employees.
Economic non-viability: Considering that FDI may be capital-intensive from the point of view of the investor, it can sometimes be very risky or economically non-viable.
Expropriation: Constant political changes can lead to expropriation. In this case, those countries’ governments will have control over investors’ property and assets.
Modern-day economic colonialism: Many third-world countries, or at least those with a history of colonialism, worry that foreign direct investment would result in some kind of modern-day economic colonialism, which exposes host countries and leave them vulnerable to foreign companies’ exploitation.
Poor performance: Multinationals have been criticized for poor working conditions in foreign factories.
Recent amendments in 2020
The govt. has amended para 3.1.1 of extant FDI policy as contained in Consolidated FDI Policy, 2017.
In the event of the transfer of ownership of any existing or future FDI in an entity in India, directly or indirectly, resulting in the beneficial ownership, such subsequent change in beneficial ownership will also require Government approval.
The present position and revised position in the matters will be as under:
Present Position
A non-resident entity can invest in India, subject to the FDI Policy except in those sectors/activities which are prohibited.
However, a citizen of Bangladesh or an entity incorporated in Bangladesh can invest only under the Government route.
Further, a citizen of Pakistan or an entity incorporated in Pakistan can invest, only under the Government route, in sectors/activities other than defence, space, atomic energy and sectors/activities prohibited for foreign investment.
Revised Position
A non-resident entity can invest in India, subject to the FDI Policy except in those sectors/activities which are prohibited.
[spot the difference]
However, an entity of a country, which shares a land border with India or where the beneficial owner of investment into India is situated in or is a citizen of any such country, can invest only under the Government route.
Further, a citizen of Pakistan or an entity incorporated in Pakistan can invest, only under the Government route, in sectors/activities other than defence, space, atomic energy and sectors/activities prohibited for foreign investment.
Various policy initiatives
The government has taken plenty of initiatives to attract FDI in India:
The government has amended rules of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), allowing up to 20% FDI in the insurance company LIC through the automatic route.
The Government of India is considering easing scrutiny on certain FDI from countries that share a border with India.
The implementation of measures like PM Gati Shakti, single window clearance and GIS-mapped land bank are expected to push FDI inflows in 2022.
The government is likely to introduce at least three policies as part of the Space Activity Bill in 2022. This Bill is expected to clearly define the scope of foreign FDI in the Indian space sector.
In September 2021, the Union Cabinet announced that to boost the telecom sector, they’ll allow 100% FDI via the automatic route in, up from the previous 49%.
In August 2021, the government amended the Foreign Exchange Management (non-debt instruments) Rules, 2019, to allow the 74% increase in FDI limit in the insurance sector.
In many countries, both the authorities and security agencies are beginning to acknowledge the importance of resorting to statecraft as a vital adjunct to the role played by the security agencies.
The important role of statecraft in security
Statecraft involves fine-grained comprehension of inherent problems; also an ability to quickly respond to political challenges.
It further involves strengthening the ability to exploit opportunities as they arise, and display a degree of political nimbleness rather than leaving everything to the security agencies.
It entails a shift from reposing all faith in the security establishment to putting equal emphasis on implementation of policies and programmes.
Two prime examples which provide grist to the above proposition are the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the continuing problem involving Maoists.
The need to use statecraft to deal with quite a few other internal security problems — some of which have lain dormant for years — is also becoming more manifest by the day.
Security issues in various regions
Jammu and Kashmir: While Jammu and Kashmir has been a troubled region ever since 1947, the situation has metamorphosed over the years.
No proper solution has emerged to a long-standing problem.
Irrespective of the reasons for the latest upsurge in violence, what is evident is that Jammu and Kashmir has again become the vortex of violence.
Evidently, the doctrine of containment pursued by the Jammu and Kashmir police and security agencies is not having the desired effect.
In Jammu and Kashmir today, as also elsewhere, there is no all-in-one grand strategy to deal with the situation.
The missing ingredient is statecraft which alone can walk in step with the changing contours of a long-standing problem.
Punjab: The recent discovery of ‘sleeper cells’ in the Punjab clearly indicates the potential for the revival of a pro-Khalistan movement — which once ravaged large parts of the Punjab.
While pro-Khalistani sentiment is present in pockets in the United Kingdom and in Europe, it has not been in evidence in India for some time.
Hence, the recent attack by pro-Khalistan elements on the headquarters of the Punjab Police Intelligence wing in Mohali was a rude shock to the security establishment.
The incident is a reminder that militancy in the Punjab has not been permanently extinguished, and will need deft statecraft to nip it in the bud.
North-east: In India’s North-east, more specifically in the States of Assam and Nagaland, there are again incipient signs of trouble which, for the present, may need use of statecraft rather than the security forces.
In Assam, the United Liberation Front of Asom–Independent (ULFA-I) is trying to revive its activities after a long spell of hibernation.
Likewise in Nagaland, where the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (I-M) has recently initiated a fresh push for a solution of the ‘Naga political issue’, the situation is pregnant with serious possibilities.
Both instances merit the use of statecraft so that the situation does not get out of hand.
South India: In the South, intelligence and police officials appear concerned about a likely revival of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)-sponsored activities in Tamil Nadu.
This stems from a possible revival of LTTE-sponsored militancy in Sri Lanka following the recent economic crises and uncertainty there.
This situation again needs deft statecraft to prevent a resurgence of the past.
Conclusion
India faces several challenges today, but the answer to this is neither grand strategy nor grand simplifications nor resort to higher doses of security. A properly structured set of policies, having liberal doses of statecraft in addition to a proper set of security measures, is the best answer to India’s needs, now and in the future.
A five-member Pakistani delegation has arrived in India for talks over the ongoing water dispute under the Indus Water Commission between the two countries.
Why in news?
India is building 10 hydro plant projects to cut excess water into Pakistan.
Pakistan is expected to raise the projects being constructed by India under the Indus treaty.
What is Indus Water Treaty?
The Indus Waters Treaty is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank signed in Karachi in 1960.
According to this agreement, control over the water flowing in three “eastern” rivers of India — the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej was given to India
The control over the water flowing in three “western” rivers of India — the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum was given to Pakistan.
Basis of the treaty: Equitable water-sharing
Back in time, partitioning the Indus rivers system was inevitable after the Partition of India in 1947.
The sharing formula devised after prolonged negotiations sliced the Indus system into two halves.
Equitable it may have seemed, but the fact remained that India conceded 80.52 percent of the aggregate water flows in the Indus system to Pakistan.
It also gave Rs 83 crore in pounds sterling to Pakistan to help build replacement canals from the western rivers.
Such generosity is unusual of an upper riparian.
India conceded its upper riparian position on the western rivers for the complete rights on the eastern rivers.
Water was critical for India’s development plans.
What were the rights accorded to India?
The treaty allowed India to use western rivers water for limited irrigation use and unrestricted use for power generation, domestic industrial and non-consumptive uses such as navigation, floating of property, fish culture, etc.
It lays down precise regulations to build any water or hydel projects.
India has been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through run-of-the-river projects on the western rivers subject to specific criteria for design and operation.
The pact also gives the right to Pakistan to raise objections to designs of Indian hydroelectric projects on the western rivers.
Significance of the treaty
It is a treaty that is often cited as an example of the possibilities of peaceful coexistence that exist despite the troubled relationship.
It has survived 3 crucial wars.
It may be listed among the most successful international treaties as it has withstood the test of time.
Why has the treaty survived?
It is for India’s generosity on Pakistan for sharing waters of its own rivers.
India has refrained from weaponizing waters. Pakistan cannot survive without this treaty.
About 80% of Pakistan’s agriculture depends on Indus and the riparian rivers waters.
Backtracking on the treaty could affect India’s stand as global reliable partner who disrespects bilateral agreements.
A tacit nerve of terroristan
Responding to state sponsor of terrorism by Pakistan, India can escalate a water war , which can kill the crippling economy of Pakistan.
If India wants, it can either flood or drought-starve Pakistan by not obligating to this treaty.
Need for a rethink
But PM Modi’s words equally hold relevance that “Blood and waters cannot flow together”.
There is no reason to believe that India could start a water war with Pakistan on humanitarian grounds.
Floods and droughts will starve ordinary Pakistanis while their politicians would still live in luxury.
Way forward
The role of India, as a responsible upper riparian abiding by the provisions of the treaty, has been remarkable.
However, India needs to rethink or re-negotiate this treaty.
Just like water affects ordinary Pakistanis, so does terrorism affects Indians.
Prime Minister has praised India’s startup ecosystem as he highlighted that the country has reached a landmark figure of 100 unicorns with a valuation of more than $300 billion.
What is a Unicorn Startup?
Unicorns are privately held, venture-capital-backed startups that have reached a value of $1 billion.
The valuation of unicorns is not expressly linked to their current financial performance.
This is largely based on their growth potential as perceived by investors and venture capitalists who have taken part in various funding rounds.
Some of the successful Indian unicorns:
Lenskart
Cred
Meesho
PharmEasy
Licious
Grofers etc.
When was the term first used?
American venture capitalist Aileen Lee is credited with coining the term in 2013.
It was used to emphasize the rarity of the emergence of such startups.
Unicorn boost in India
The growth of Unicorns in India has been phenomenal in the past two years.
From 17 Unicorns in 2018 the number went up to 38 in 2020 and it’s 71 and counting in 2021.
Many of these unicorns, which have cumulatively raised more than 9 billion dollars till date, have also seen a surge in valuations.
Features of a unicorn Start-up
To be a unicorn is no cakewalk and each unicorn today has its own story with a list of features that worked in its favour.
The few pointers that are commonly seen across all the unicorns is as under:
Disruptive innovation:Mostly, all the unicorns have brought a disruption in the field they belong to. Uber, for example, changed the way people commuted.
‘Firsts’:It is seen that unicorns are mostly the starters in their industry. They change the way people do things and gradually create a necessity for themselves.
High on tech: Another common trend across unicorns is that their business model runs on tech. Uber got their model accepted by crafting a friendly app.
Consumer-focused:Often, theirgoal is to simplify and make things easy for consumers and be a part of their day-to-day life.
Affordability: Keeping things affordable is another key highlight of these startups. Spotify, for example, made listening to music easier to the world.
Privately owned: Most of the unicorns are privately owned which gets their valuation bigger when an established company invests in it.
*Mostly software based: A recent report suggests that 87% of the unicorns’ products are software, 7% are hardware and the rest 6% are other products & services.
Entrepreneurship today is ‘survival-driven’ self-employment, formed out of necessity, as well as opportunity motivated, largely because poverty and lack of formal employment opportunities rear their ugly head in striving economies.
Reasons for sudden success
COVID pandemic: The pandemic accelerated adoption of digital services by consumers helping start-ups and new-age ventures that typically build tech-focused businesses delivering an array of offerings to customers.
Boost in online services: Many Indians who had traditionally been subscribers of brick-and-mortar businesses moved online and explored a host of services ranging from food delivery and edu-tech to e-grocery.
Work-from-home culture: This added significant numbers to start-ups’ user base and expedited their business expansion plans and attracting investors.
Inherent challenges to Start-ups in India
Financial scarcity: Availability of finance is critical for the startups and is always a problem to get sufficient amounts.
Lack of Infrastructure: There is a lack of support mechanisms that play a significant role in the lifecycle of startups which include incubators, science and technology parks etc.
Regulatory bottlenecks: Starting and exiting a business requires a number of permissions from government agencies. Although there is a perceptible change, it is still a challenge.
Compliance hurdles: For example, earlier Angel tax, which stands removed no, falls under corruption and bureaucratic inefficiencies.
Low success rate: Several startups fail due to shifting away the focus on the fundamentals of business grows.
Lack of an Innovative Business Model: To be successful a start-up must be innovative. Unfortunately, Indian startups are less innovative than startups elsewhere.
Non-competitive Indian Markets: Too many startups serving too few consumers are saturating the Indian market. Most startups serve the fraction of Indians who live in urban India.
Digital divide: The majority of Indians who live in rural areas and small towns remain untouched by most startups.
Various initiatives by the Govt.
There are numerous government initiatives to assist start-ups:
MUDRA Scheme: Through this scheme, start-ups get loans from the banks to set up, grow and stabilize their businesses.
SETU (Self-Employment and Talent Utilization) Fund: Government has allotted Rs 1,000 Cr in order to create opportunities for self-employment and new jobs mainly in technology-driven domains.
E-Biz Portal: It is India’s first government-to-business portal that integrates 14 regulatory permissions and licenses at one source.
Credit Guarantee Fund: launched by the GoI to make available collateral-free credit to the micro and small enterprise sector.
Fund of Funds for Start-ups (FFS): 10,000 Rs corpus fund established in line with the Start-up India action plan under SIDBI for extending support to Start-ups.
Tax Sops: Tax exemption on Capital gain tax, Removal of Angel tax, Tax exemption for 3 years and Tax exemption in investment above Fair Market Value.
Roadmap for the future success of start-ups
Start-ups can judiciously take cues from unicorns in understanding the ecosystem and building a business model that adds value while being sustainable.
New-age startups should devise a customer-centric business model.
Through proper branding and strategy, they should make sure that this value proposition reaches the end-user.
What brings startups closer to success is the execution and customer acquisition strategy, where all the action occurs.
Notably, technology (rather deep-technology) has played a key role in the making of pioneer business models.
Attracting venture capitalists
VCs are actively looking for investment opportunities in early-stage startups.
They possess the selection ability to effectively screen startups having a higher potential to succeed.
VCs primarily look for a mindset alignment with promoters and companies where they, as investors, can add value by leveraging their industry experience, expertise, network and reputation.
Conclusion
The current economic scenario in India is in expansion mode. Indian Startups are now spread across the length and breadth of the entire country.
The word ‘unicorn’ has come a long way from just being a mythological creature to a regular feature in business and finance discussions.
Innovation and economic growth depend on being able to produce excellent individuals with the right skills and attitudes to be entrepreneurial in their professional lives.
The Indian government’s policies like Make in India, Digital India, Atmanirbhar etc. shows the enthusiasm to arrest this talent.
Param Ananta, a state-of the art Supercomputer was commissioned at IIT Gandhinagar.
Param Ananta
Param Ananta is capable of offering peak performance of 838 teraflops.
It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Department of Science and Technology (DST).
This facility is established under Phase 2 of the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).
The system is equipped with a mix of CPU nodes, GPU nodes, High Memory nodes, High throughput storage and high performance Infiniband.
The supercomputer will rank behind C-DAC’s Param Siddhi-AI, which as of November 2021 was the 102nd most powerful supercomputer in the world — with peak performance capability of 3.3 petaflops.
What is a Supercomputer?
A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer.
The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instructions per second (MIPS).
Since 2017, there are supercomputers which can perform over a hundred quadrillion FLOPS (peta FLOPS).
Since November 2017, all of the world’s fastest 500 supercomputers run Linux-based operating systems.
Specific features
Param Ananta system is based on Direct Contact Liquid Cooling technology to obtain a high power usage effectiveness and thereby reducing the operational cost.
Multiple applications from various scientific domains such as Weather and Climate, Bioinformatics, Computational Chemistry, Molecular Dynamics, Material Sciences, Computational Fluid Dynamics etc. have been installed on the system for the benefit of researchers.
This high end computing system will be a great value addition for the research community.
Back2Basics: National Supercomputing Mission (NSM)
NSM is a proposed plan by GoI to create a cluster of seventy supercomputers connecting various academic and research institutions across India.
In April 2015 the government approved the NSM with a total outlay of Rs.4500 crore for a period of 7 years.
The mission was set up to provide the country with supercomputing infrastructure to meet the increasing computational demands of academia, researchers, MSMEs, and startups by creating the capability design, manufacturing, of supercomputers indigenously in India.
Currently there are four supercomputers from India in Top 500 list of supercomputers in the world.
Aims and objectives
The target of the mission was set to establish a network of supercomputers ranging from a few Tera Flops (TF) to Hundreds of Tera Flops (TF) and three systems with greater than or equal to 3 Peta Flops (PF) in academic and research institutions of National importance across the country by 2022.
This network of Supercomputers envisaging a total of 15-20 PF was approved in 2015 and was later revised to a total of 45 PF (45000 TFs), a jump of 6 times more compute power within the same cost and capable of solving large and complex computational problems.
When did India initiate its efforts to build supercomputers?
India’s supercomputer program was initiated in the late 1980s, when the United States ceased the export of a Cray Supercomputer due to technology embargos.
This resulted in India setting up C-DAC in 1988, which in 1991, unveiled the prototype of PARAM 800, benchmarked at 5 Gflops. This supercomputer was the second-fastest in the world at that time.
Since June 2018, the USA’s Summit is the fastest supercomputer in the world, taking away this position from China.
As of January 2018, Pratyush and Mihir are the fastest supercomputers in India with a maximum speed of Peta Flops.
What are the phases of the National Supercomputing Mission?
Phase I:
In the first phase of the NSM, parts of the supercomputers are imported and assembled in India.
A total of 6 supercomputers are to be installed in this phase.
The first supercomputer that was assembled indigenously is called Param Shivay. It was installed in IIT (BHU) located in Varanasi.
Similar systems, Param Shakti (IIT Kharagpur) and Param Brahma (IISER, Pune) were also later installed within the country.
The rest will be installed at IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad and Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Studies (JNIAS).
Phase II:
The supercomputers that are installed so far are about 60% indigenous.
The 11 systems that are going to be installed in the next phase will have processors designed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and will have a cumulative capacity of 10 petaflops.
These new systems are to be constructed more cost-effectively than the previous ones.
One of the 11 proposed supercomputers will be installed
at C-DAC exclusively for small and medium enterprises so that they can train employees as well as work on supercomputers at a very low cost.
Phase III:
The third phase aims to build fully indigenous supercomputers.
The government had also approved a project to develop a cryogenic cooling system that rapidly dispels the heat generated by a computing chip. This will be jointly built together by IIT-Bombay and C-DAC.
