Author: Arun Sreenivasan

Call for caution: Why the full impact of coronavirus is not yet known

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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As the head of the World Health Organisation says that the window of opportunity to contain the coronavirus is narrowing, the three people in Kerala who were infected with the nCoV-2019 have been declared virus-free. While the state of Kerala has displayed successful public health measures in early detection and containment of the virus, the spread of the virus has meant that the Indian government should actively look to mitigation strategies to prep for a global pandemic. Outside India, eight Indian nationals aboard the cruise ship the Diamond Princess and one in the Middle East have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. While this is a miniscule number, worries about the rise of non-transmissible cases as is the problem with Iran, Italy and South Korea show that India is not immune from a public health crisis as these countries are now facing. Indeed, as cases surfaced in Nepal and Sri Lanka over the last month, India should note that the public health systems across South Asia are ill-equipped to deal with a large-scale outbreak as we are now witnessing in East Asia.

As this column has discussed in earlier weeks, misinformation about the epidemic is rife. Last week, a man in Andhra Pradesh killed himself after believing that his symptoms betrayed the disease – a conclusion he reached by watching Youtube videos. While misinformation and mediation about the spread of the disease are important, the debate in India is now also taking cognisance of the economic impact that the nCoV-2019 could have not only on the global economy but also for India. One particular sector that will be impacted is the pharmaceutical industry. As Reuters points out, “An important supplier of generic drugs to the world, Indian companies procure almost 70 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for their medicines from China.” If the shutdown continues, sectors including automobiles, consumer durables and agrichemicals that depend on China for components will be forced to shut down owing to the shortages.

Another report from the Hindustan Times points out that exports to China such as human hair, crabs and cumin seeds have seen a nosedive. Similarly other reports posit that the diamond industry could also face huge loses if the situation does not improve. However, all of these reports seem to be searching for strands that support the hypothesis that the Indian economy will be affected by the coronavirus. Because of the lack of information regarding the situation in China, it is difficult to ascertain a time frame during which the economy will be affected.

Furthermore, our trade deficit with China means that we export to them far less than we import from them. 2019 figures show that Indian exports to China are around $16 billion while imports from China are around $68 billion. Therefore, in a short term, while the prices of electronics and automobiles could get more expensive, it may result in India substituting some of these imports with the same from other countries. Other experts have even made the argument that some manufacturing in China can be shifted to India for business continuity to cushion the short-term shock. However, this approach will not prove fruitful for India’s interests unless our domestic policies can prove friendly enough for foreign businesses that need an alternative over countries in South or South-East Asia.

While combating the coronavirus, there are so many variables that we simply do not know. The numbers of infected people within China are estimated to be much higher than the official estimates. The rise of cases outside the country shows that we still do not know the nature of what we are dealing with. So, I would urge caution before estimating medium- or long-term impacts to the economy.

Hamsini Hariharan is the host of the States of Anarchy podcast and is currently based in Beijing.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Budget 2020: Govt needs to focus on farmers, rural employment to reignite consumption

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The rural consumer and ‘aam aadmi’ will continue to take centre stage in India’s growth agenda. While we envision India as a $5 trillion economy in the next five years, the clear focus will be on consumption-driven growth. Here is a quick outline on some of the measures that could churn out from the budget to be presented on February 1, 2020.

Schemes to boost consumption

Programmes and schemes offering financial support to farmers by either providing additional income or financing arrangements will help drive a consumption-led growth for the rural economy. Schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), providing direct income subsidy to farmers, would improve cash flow into the hands of farmers, which will further help ignite consumption in the rural economy. The government may look at increasing this subsidy to boost rural consumption.

Schemes focused on increasing productivity and reducing cost of production

With a view to ensure farmers’ welfare and address the agrarian scenario, several efforts could be directed to provide adequate water that could be used for modern irrigation and advanced farming techniques. The budget could focus on investments in farm-friendly techniques, coupled with promoting technological advancements to help improve crop yields. The budget might also consider creating funds to ensure price stabilisation for certain crops that are out of Minimum Selling Price (MSP). However, this could also impact inflation and hence the government will be cautious before making this move.

Minimising risk of extreme weather conditions

The crop insurance scheme will continue to be a major focus for protecting the farming community from vagaries of nature. Schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, aimed at investing in crop insurance to cover farmers from losses incurred due to extreme weather conditions, could continue. However, this year it could aspire for a strong ground-level implementation focused to simplify processes for applications for the scheme and faster claim settlement for losses.

Focus on FPOs

India is slowly progressing towards building a strong network of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) in several states. Last year, the government had announced their desire to set up about 10,000 FPOs in five years. We could expect the thrust to continue by increasing investments in FPOs and some benefits like tax exemptions for FPOs, capital funding for setting up FPO, and channels for direct access to the market.

Facilitation centres for food exports

Measures to encourage food exports will continue to be a key area of focus. Facilitation centres need to be strengthened for farmers to be able to market their produce both in India and global destinations. Clusters for export-oriented products should have crop and region-specific facilitation centres, to connect farmer groups directly with global buyers.

Storage facilities and cold chain infrastructure

Various storage facilities could be proposed to be built near the farms, that would allow farmers to hold their produce without the produce getting damaged until market prices go up, thereby making it profitable enough for the farmers. Significant initiatives have been taken up to set up cold chain from farm to fork by incentivising large cold chain infrastructure across India. In order to satisfy the demand for safe and nutrition locked vegetables and fruits, the budget could focus on measures to encourage investments by both local and global fresh supply chain companies.

Food safety initiatives for consumers

Promotion of organic farming could also be an area that the government may intend to drive, along with introducing food safety initiatives across the APMCs (Agricultural Produce Market Committee), ‘mandis’ in India, by establishing training infrastructure to educate farmers and other middlemen, on the health hazards of pesticides.

To summarise, in the short-term the government will have limited room to provide fiscal incentives to farmers and could aim to reduce personal income tax rates, which will directly and speedily impact consumption. Robust implementation of initiatives and schemes to ensure that money moves into the farmers’ hands will be the key. Announcements on efforts to increase rural employment or skill development of rural youth could be expected. Taking a long-term view, this year the focus could be to re-ignite consumption by supporting farmers and promoting FPOs as this will generate rural employment. Investments in agri-tech start-ups or agri-based innovation labs could help accelerate this further.

Harsha Razdan is Partner and Head — Consumer Markets and Internet Business at KPMG in India.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Literature: A journey along the 370-mile Grimm’s Fairytale route

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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December 20, 1812. It was on this day that the first Grimms’ Tales was published in Germany by brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Called Children’s and Household Tales, the classic collection of folklore was later revised/enlarged and translated into English as Grimm’s Fairy Tales comprising 200 stories including Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, Rapunzel, The Golden Goose, and Rumpelstiltskin. The fairytales began modestly with a measly 800 copies picked off the first 1812 edition. The fairytales collection which the Grimms called ‘manual of manners’ has been translated into 160 languages.

January 4 marks the 235th birth anniversary of Jacob Grimm. On the occasion, let’s walk the 370-mile Fairytale Route that meanders through the important landmarks of the Grimm brothers’ life from Hanau to Gottingen.

Day 1: Hanau

In Hanau, a non-descript town 28 kilometres east of Frankfurt, a boulder at No.1 Paradeplatz (now called Friheitplatz) marks the house where Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were born in 1785 and 1786, respectively. The house – and almost all of Hanau – was flattened to rubble by British bombers on March 19, 1945. A few steps away is the house of Aunt Schlemmer, the maid-in-waiting of a Landgravine (Duchess) – it was in this house that the Grimms moved after the death of their lawyer father. Hanau evidently breathes the Grimms for its existence – the reminiscence of their childhood, the stories of their tales, narratives about their pastor grandfather, the generosity of their aunt. Not surprisingly, the 1896-copper statue of the brothers lords over the town’s Main Square.

Day 2: Steinhau

The Grimm’s real story moved from Hanau to Steinhau. In Amtshaus, the half-timbered house where they lived from 1791 to 1796, is now a museum. In the kitchen hang pewter pans and muffin moulds; in the stone sink lie spatulas and ladles; another room houses three-dimensional snippets of the fairytales stacked behind glass panes. Locked in a chest with a glass top is one of the oldest English editions of the Grimms’ Tales (1823).

Day 3: Marburg

In 1802, the Grimm Brothers moved to Marburg to study law. Then, Marburg was an ugly town with 6,000 residents and 170 students at Marburg University, the world’s first Protestant university which was founded in 1527. Jacob lamented “there are more steps on the streets than in the houses”. And the brothers sure went up and down that hilly incline a million times to take lessons from Friedrich Carl von Savigny, the famous jurist. It was in Marburg that the brothers found the “first fairytale impulse”. The tiny room where the Grimms spent evenings with the Romantiks still sits in the shadow of the Marburg Castle, which “was gilded by the setting sun”.

Known as the Cindrella Shoe, a red stiletto lies at the foothill of the Marburg Castle. That, however, is not the last vignette of a Grimm tale in Marburg. There are seven goats on a wall (The Wolf and Seven Young Kids). Amorphous dwarfs plonked on a high wall (Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs). A frog cross-legged on a mossy ledge by the drinking fountain (The Frog Prince).

Day 4: Kassel

Kassel was their next destination. Jacob rented an apartment, slipped out of his flamboyant Parisian suits, slipped into stiff uniform and pigtails and took up a job as King Jerome Bonaparte’s librarian. Between 1798 and 1841, the Grimms spent nearly 30 years in Kassel, an art town. Their first home was Wildemanngasse 24 (corner of the Marktgasse) and later moved to the second floor of the Northerly Gate Watch and finally to Schöne Aussicht, which still looks stately with its Corinthic columns. Not too far away is the Palais Bellevue which now houses the Brothers Grimm Museum. In the Murhardschen library lie the manuscripts of the Children’s and Household Tales, which were admitted into the World Document Heritage of UNESCO in the summer of 2005. In Expedition Grimm inside Documenta Hall, there hangs an embroidered coat and waistcoat of Jacob, a leather bag, his handwriting digitised, his books safe behind hardened glass. There are letters from Wilhelm, a lock of hair snipped off Wilhelm’s son, paintings by Ludwig Earl Grimm, the younger artistic Grimm, coins from the era, and antiquated Grimms’ Tales sepia with age.

Day 5: Gottingen

In 1829, the Grimms moved to Gottingen to take up a position at the University of Gottingen, a place that subsisted on its reputation as the town of scholarship. They taught in the University, worked in the library and completed a large number of publications and justified the study of German language as modern literature. Jacob Grimm died in Berlin in 1863.

Good to know:

Hanau is 28 kilometres from Frankfurt airport. The best/cheapest option is to take a train from the airport (ticket: $11, time: 15 minutes); taxis/Uber cost much more.

Finding the stories

• Lauterbach: Snowhite & the Seven Dwarfs
• Ziegenhain/Schwalmstadt: Red Riding Hood
• Rheinhardswald, a forest area 30 km in length where stands the 650-year-old castle in which Sleeping Beauty slept for a 100 years.
• Trendelburg Turm (Marburg District) where Rapunzel was asked to let down her hair.
• Hameln: The Pied Piper of Hamelin
• Bremen: The town of musicians 

  Photo credit:  Preeti Verma Lal.

  Preeti Verma Lal is a Goa-based freelance writer/photographer.

  Read her columns here. 

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Here are the top human resources trends to look out for in 2020

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Advancing the emphasis to enhance work-life balance and personalise employee-related services, role of human resources will continue to evolve in 2020. From mere gatekeepers of an organisation, HR is seeking to become the conscience-keepers of its strong workforce. In coming years, HR will enjoy the Veto Power at the high tables of the organisations. With senior management highlighting the need for employee loyalty, the often ‘overlooked’ workforce is in for a treat. What is even more heartening to see is the willingness of HR to use technology to accentuate this transition. Here are some key HR trends to look out for in 2020:

Internal communication

Moving forward, organisations will become more open and honest with their internal communications. Using social media tools to communicate directly with employees, delivering company news on a real-time basis will gain traction among employers. Involving and engaging employees to better their existing knowledge-base, the health of the project and subsequently the organisation will be a key challenge. Such applications tend to measure the absorption of any training programmes accurately. Creating adaptive systems, which map the behaviour of its users and adapt according to the data provided, will definitely act as a relief for the employees, at the same time they will decrease wastage of resources. Thus 2020 will see employers investing heavily in virtual and augmented reality, gamification and other systems to provide an enhanced training experience to their workforce.

Analytics for the people

As the theme of employee-centric organisation continues to soar into 2020, applying any technology for the sake of control and efficacy will invite suspicion and rejection from employees. While it is true that organisations have to justify investing in such applications, employee welfare must remain the fulcrum for such decision-making. While HR sits on a war chest of employee data, making sense of it in order to overcome loss of trust will remain the key. Utilising the data at hand to identify and analyse employee-related issues shall be the right application of HR Analytics. HR must start by asking the right question – about their organisation and long-term strategy. Using Analytics to implement the best-proven recruitment practices, improving employee satisfaction and productivity, reducing employee attrition will ensure organisations remain one-step ahead of their competition.

Employer branding

While Employer Branding is a relatively new term, the cluster of organisations implementing serious initiatives to alleviate it is becoming denser. Employer Branding shall continue to rise in 2020. As the key to success in coming years lies in keeping employees interested and satisfied; developing a positive image of one’s organisation towards its clients, employees and prospects will need a great deal of planning. Employees-considered our first customers are natural promoters of the organisation. Having said that, one has to tread the path carefully. Social media platforms, QnA websites like Quora, Glassdoor etc. can destroy an employer’s positive image within a matter of days. Thus, in order to realise the best from Employer Branding, HR will have to work closely with their colleagues from Marketing as well as PR.

Continuous performance management

The legacy system of the annual performance review is detrimental to the morale of employees. No wonder, organisations see a surge in attrition right after this process. Organisations can keep their employees engaged through continuous performance management. Periodic feedback and performance management will act as a catalyst for enhancing the quality of both training programmes as well as employee productivity. Tools motivating continuous skill development, comprehensive reviews through mentoring and providing constructive feedback are set to become a norm. With the employee becoming more aware and ambitious, it bodes well for organisations to acknowledge this through Continuous Learning programmes. Employees who benefit from these initiatives are bound to adapt themselves against future challenges in their roles. Thus, strengthening their loyalty towards one’s organization.

Equal opportunities

In the past few years, there has been a sustained effort to close the gender gap within the workforce. 2020 will see organisations answer this shortcoming on war footing. Encouraging diversity and equal opportunities remains the key transformation of workplaces in the past decade. Organizations are earmarking job opportunities for returning mothers, the differently abled, establishing entry of women within Senior Management through quotas, providing paternity leaves etc. HR is not only ensuring the office space is safe and secure, but also setting up committees to investigate, resolve and redress conducts of sexual abuse. Finally, 2020 will perhaps see the biggest push towards increasing the salaries of women on par with those of their male counterparts.

2020 will bring in ‘Digital Transformation’ for a majority of industries and a shift in approach from ‘pleasing the manager’ to more inclusive employee experience.

Nilesh Gaikwad is Country Manager at EDHEC Business School, France. He can be reached at nilesh.gaikwad@edhec.edu

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Why vital drugs are turning costlier

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Indian government’s failure to adopt timely measures to reduce the country’s over-dependence on active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) imported from China has resulted in the much-decried decision to steeply increase the price of 21 essential drugs, industry observers say. The substantial price rise will further increase the already-high out-of-pocket healthcare cost of millions of Indians and may push more into debt and financial distress.

In a rare move, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on December 13 used its emergency powers to raise ceiling prices of 21 essential medicines by 50 percent. As per the NPPA notification, the life-saving medicines on the list include Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine, anti-malaria drug Chloroquine, anti-leprosy drug Dapsone, and vitamin C among others.

The regulator noted that the price rise was on account of a sharp increase in the cost of APIs or bulk drugs from China. However, industry experts blame neglectful attitude towards the domestic bulk drug industry and bureaucratic foot-dragging for the present plight.

While the price rise came as a bitter pill to swallow, many in the industry who were sounding warning bells over the country’s growing dependence on imported Chinese bulk drugs, are not surprised. And the official data from Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, recently tabled in the Parliament, underscores their fears. The figures show that in 2017-18, India imported $2,993.25 million worth bulk drugs and intermediates, and the share of China increased to 68.36 percent or $2,055.94 million. Chinese imports stood at 67.56 percent or $2,405.42 million in 2018-19, still the largest share in total Indian imports worth $3,560.35 million. Moreover, India’s overall dependence on imports has gone up by 23 percent from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Why API prices have gone up

Against this backdrop, what is the reason for the sharp rise in API prices? It all started with a Chinese crackdown on its polluting industries. Beijing’s decision to implement rigorous standards has taken a toll on API companies there and many were forced to down shutters. Though many of them have now reopened, the prices of some APIs have gone up by around 50 percent in the last few months in the Indian market and many drug manufacturers, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), were forced to cut production.

“I would say the NPPA’s decision to raise prices came quite late. But it is better late than never. This will help improve the availability of these drugs in the market,” Sanjiv Rai, president of Bihar Drugs and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association, told CNBC-TV18.

In fact, the prices of many critical APIs were on an upward spiral for some time. They include key bulk drugs such as rabeorazole, esomeprazole magnesium, pantoprazole sodium, methylcobalamine, losartan potassium, sildnafil citrate, montelukast, telmisartan, cefixime, cefpodoxime proxetil and cefuroxime axetil.

“With the current API price structure and the government-rate contract supply, the manufacturers are facing severe cost woes. Without a rise in prices, many key medicines will vanish from our pharmacy shelves. It will also ring the death knell for our pharma SMEs,” Rai observed.

Regulatory challenges 

Indian drugmakers have long been demanding a policy to attain
self-sufficiency in the manufacturing of APIs. Way back in 2013, the government formed a panel headed by the then director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research VM Katoch, which submitted its report in 2015. Last year, the government formed a high-level task force to study global practices and draw up a plan aimed at boosting domestic production of APIs. However, the recommendations of the Katoch panel are yet to be fully implemented and, according to sources, the task force has not taken any concrete actions. Another proposal announced by the government, a Centre-state financial aid initiative with a budget allocation of Rs.200 crore to develop common facility centres at bulk drug parks, is yet to take off.

“We are critically over-dependent on China for APIs and several key-starting-materials. I’ve conveyed my concerns to the government as it is a matter of national health security,” a top official of the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association pointed out.

Despite this dire scenario, inaction by the government is causing disappointment among domestic API industry representatives who have been pitching for conducive laws and hand-holding. While China regularly tweaks rules to give a fillip to its industry, India lags behind in this area. Registration and inspection fee for pharma exporters to India still remains extremely low. On the other hand, China charges hefty registration fee and takes many years to grant permission.

“The existing Indian regulations don’t allow a domestic manufacturer to go for capacity expansion or diversification to meet market demand without prior consent from pollution control boards even if there is no change in pollution load. The approval can take up to six months to arrive,” a senior pharmaceutical company executive pointed out.

What patient advocacy groups say

The latest price increase was based on a recommendation by the Standing Committee on Affordable Medicines and Health Products under Niti Aayog, which had suggested a one-time price increase some key medicines to overcome shortage.

Patient advocacy groups and health activists point out that the 50-per cent price rise is arbitrary. “The NPPA did not take the essential parameters into account and had not put out the analysis transparency to justify its decision,” said Malini Aisola, co-convenor of All India Drug Action Network (Aidan), a consortium of non-profits in the health sector. Aidan is currently studying the price rise in the API sector.

Some opposition lawmakers have also prompted the government to withdraw the drug price hike. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 15, the Communist Party of India’s Rajya Sabha member Binoy Viswam called for an outright withdrawal of the decision. “While you have repeatedly made a call for ‘Ayushman Bharat’, the reality is that even today the burden of healthcare is a cause of great indebtedness to millions of people across the country. To increase the price of essential lifesaving medicines is only going to make this worse,” the letter, a copy of which was reviewed by CNBC-TV18, reads.

It’s advantage China in API

India produces a fifth of the world’s generic drugs and has a strong presence in the global pharmaceutical market. But when it comes to bulk drugs segment, the picture is not so rosy. So, what is wrong with the Indian API sector? A study commissioned by the commerce ministry and the Indian embassy in Beijing has the answer. As per the study report, which paints a bleak picture of the country’s overdependence on China, India imports around 80 percent of APIs from the neighbouring nation on a volume basis. “Cost between India and China is highly competitive with the only difference of 3 percent i.e. in labour cost, rest remains in competition with the Indian market. Though the material, depreciation and indirect personnel cost remains the same as of India, there is an upsurge in the imports of APIs from China,” the study noted.

The report also lists reasons for this upswing. “They (Chinese companies) have huge capacities built up by the government and are now managed by the private industry. There is also significant bank support in the form of loans at negligible interest rates. They also have freedom, in terms of pollution norms and effluent treatment compared to our units. Another major issue is India’s liberal approach in approving registrations for Chinese products. The Chinese take two to five years to approve Indian products and India takes two to five months to approve Chinese products. All these are resulting in a cost differential. When an intermediate product is available at a lower cost, the manufacturer would definitely take it,” the study noted.

For many years, Chinese imports have been cheaper and more cost-effective for Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers. “But times are changing, and the current plight shows why we need to learn to stand on our own feet,” an industry lobby group representative opined.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

2020 US elections: Meet the boss ladies who are changing the narrative of political leadership

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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‘New Immigrant’ and ‘women of colour’ may be disparaged words in the vocabulary of the current White House Administration but these could hold the winning answers in the 2020 elections.

According to an analysis of a new report by New American Leaders (NAL), a progressive group founded by political activist Sayu Bhojwani, naturalised citizens make up a potent untapped source of hundreds of thousands of eligible voters in key presidential swing states such as Georgia, Arizona and Michigan.

The report, conducted by University of California San Diego professor Tom Wong and researcher Nura Sedique, used micro-level data from the US Census American Community Survey, which provides five-year population projections, as well as the Cooperative Congressional Election Study to make its estimates.

As noted in Politico, in Georgia, new citizens constitute more than 440,000 potential voters; In Arizona, naturalised citizens make up more than 300,000 eligible voters, more than half of whom are not registered; And in Michigan, new citizens make up 64,000 eligible voters as of 2016.

Bhojwani, who herself is an immigrant, knows that this is a vast power just waiting to be harnessed, and the beginnings were seen in the mid-term elections.

“New Americans ran for and won local and state office in unprecedented numbers,” she noted. “From Regina Romero becoming the first woman and Latina mayor in Tucson, Arizona, to Safiya Khalid becoming the first Somali American and hijab-wearing official on the Lewiston City Council, immigrants and people of colour are knocking down long-standing barriers and claiming their spot at every level of government. Regardless of their office, they are united around a single message: that people like us are the leaders our communities have been waiting for.”

Of the 264 New American candidates tracked in 2019, 66.67 percent of first-generation Americans who ran for office in the general election won, while 73.68 percent of second-generation Americans who ran in the general election won. These candidates represent a wide range of ethnicities, including South Asian, Hispanic, Asian American, and Black.

To many ‘people like us’ Senator Kamala Harris was the image in the mirror which showed that they could become players in America. As Bhojwani says, “Senator Harris broke boundaries and found the greatest campaign success when she leaned into her experience as a woman of colour, and especially her experience as a Black woman.”

Her quitting the race, she says, once again sets up a debate stage of only white candidates in December. “That’s not just about identity, but also about democracy and perceptions of electability. While we are seeing some shifts in who we consider electable, this is emblematic of the money, media and connections that have eluded People like Us from the beginning.

“But, as a community of New Americans and people of colour, we remain determined to ensure that elections are won in the field and that we elect a president who can help us be the America that is inclusive and just.

While her campaign was cut short, Senator Harris represented a part of America that had never before seen itself on a presidential debate stage. Regardless of the outcome, she has paved the way forward for others from immigrant backgrounds to recognise that our voices too are essential to American democracy.”

It is ironic that women who make half the voting bloc in America are not being used effectively in organizing and getting out the vote or even trained to run for office. New American Leaders is leading a movement for inclusive democracy by preparing first and second generation Americans to use their power and potential in elected office, and to target female power and support and nurture ‘Boss Ladies’ who can help change the face of political leadership.

NAL has started partnerships with the group Ignite to train and inspire immigrant leaders of all racial and ethnic backgrounds to enter political life and run for office and create coalitions among New American elected officials. The New American Leaders Action Fund (NALAF) is a resource that supports New Americans as they run for office, engage new voters, and expand civic engagement.

It also offers Ready to Win, a two-track advanced campaign training for New American Fellows who want to be leadership staff on campaigns in the next two years. During this “boot camp” style programme, participants prepare for real-life campaigns. One of the fellows, Felicia Singh recalled of her experiences, “These are people who understand your story, who want you to lead, and want you to win. They will be there to support you on your journey to run for office or lead a campaign because they fundamentally believe in your purpose and your mission.”

Boss Lady trainings are immersive one-day events focused on preparing young women to serve as campaign staff on races across the country. The goal in 2020 is to take the training to different cities, and in the first six months the cities include Phoenix, AZ, Detroit, Michigan, Atlanta, GA, Las Vegas, Nevada, Fresno, CA and New York, NY.

“If we want our democracy to represent and work for all of us, then we need young women of colour from all backgrounds and ethnicities to take leadership roles on campaigns,” says Bhojwani. “In our first three Boss Ladies trainings, we’ve welcomed young women of colour from Black, Latin, Asian, and indigenous communities; empowering them to use their authentic experiences to shake up politics as usual. Our diversity is what strengthens our country and our democracy.”

Bhojwani, who herself is an Indian immigrant from Belize, has walked the walk of immigrants and knows the hardships they undergo every day. She went on to be appointed by Mayor Bloomberg as New York City’s first Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs. Her goal is to prepare for immigrant leaders to run for public office.

People like Us, her 2018 book documents the new wave of candidates knocking on democracy’s doors: She writes: “Engaging new voters and contributing to the policy conversation are key strategies that immigrant candidates employ to strengthen American democracy and ensure that the progressive movement continues to be fueled by new voices and vantage points.”

So how does NAL go about harnessing the power of these new immigrants, many of whom are not registered to vote and come from diverse backgrounds? As she points out, NAL teaches new emerging leaders to connect with voters, expand the electorate, and encourage communities to engage in the democratic process by using their own powerful, authentic voices and experiences.

“Immigrants, people of colour, and other people like us have been traditionally excluded from positions of power and are ignored by establishment politicians and strategies; hurting our communities and taking away our political power,” she concludes. “Boss Ladies and all New American Leaders’ trainings work to change the narrative and usher in a new generation of leaders.”

Lavina Melwani is a New York-based journalist who blogs at Lassi with Lavina.

Read Lavina Melwani’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Daewoo founder Kim Woo-choong, a symbol of its rise and fall, dies at 83

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The founder of the defunct Daewoo Group, Kim Woo-choong, has died after watching the conglomerate he built into a symbol of South Korea’s manufacturing prowess become one of its biggest corporate failures, crushed by debt.

Kim, who died on Monday at 83 after battling chronic illness, had led what was once the nation’s second-largest conglomerate, symbolising South Korea’s meteoric rise from the ashes of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

“We have never forgotten his expansive vision that if we get out of this small land, there is hope in the world,” said Huh Chang-soo, chairman of conglomerate GS Group and the head of a lobby group, the Federation of Korean Industries.

But Kim leaves a mixed legacy that underscores the activities of the conglomerates or chaebol dominating the economy, said Park Sang-in, a specialist in corporate governance at Seoul National University.

“The late Kim epitomises the good and bad sides of South Korean chaebols,” said Park.

Fall from grace

The country’s conglomerates grew through cozy relationships with authoritarian governments, focused on growth over profitability, and made excessive investments that resulted in the Asian financial crisis, he added.

Kim began as a fabric salesman who invested about $5,000 in a textiles company to start Daewoo in 1967.

Pouring in enormous energy and exploiting close ties to South Korea’s leaders, he parlayed it into a behemoth that employed more than 300,000 people in 110 countries at its peak, with interests ranging from automobiles to construction, shipbuilding, trading and securities.

In 1989, Kim published a book that galvanised a new generation of South Koreans with bright dreams for the future. Titled The World is Wide and There is a Lot to Do, its English version was called Every Street is Paved With Gold.

But Kim’s aggressive leveraged expansion, which swelled the group to 41 affiliate companies, helped push South Korea to the brink of national default during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.

Once admired as a hero, Kim fled South Korea in 1999 when Daewoo collapsed with debts of more than $75 billion, forcing the government to step in and take control, leaving taxpayers holding the bag.

Arrest and imprisonment 

Daewoo Motor, part of Daewoo Group, was acquired by US automaker General Motors in the early 2000s. In 2005 Kim returned home from years in exile, only to be arrested and sentenced to 10 years in jail for embezzlement and fraud for covering up the debt.

But in 2007, an appeals court cut 1-1/2 years off the term, saying Kim had done South Korea a service by forming the group. That year he also received a presidential pardon.

Business groups regretted Kim’s death. “What he started bore fruit,” said Huh of the business lobby group. “We now stand as a nation with global trade that makes its way through oceans and continents.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

To cut or not to cut: RBI should slash rates by 75-100 bps with a clear ‘whatever it takes’ message

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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There is near unanimity amongst forecasters over the likely decision of the RBI on policy rates. The overwhelming consensus on any issue involving human intervention is always bewildering, but consensus on economic issues is even more perturbing as it is against the basic concept of the market. It is like a stock that has only buyers or only sellers on all days.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the RBI is presently faced with unprecedented complexities in policymaking. The global economy is witnessing a slowdown that threatens to be protracting and deflationary. The global growth this time has retreated from the lowest peak in many decades. The intensity of deflationary pressure could be gauged from the fact that despite unprecedented liquidity infusion and negative interest rates, both ECB and BoJ have failed in achieving their inflation targets for almost a decade now.

In a world struggling with deflationary pressures and slowing growth, MPC might end up spending a significant amount of time bothering about the onion prices and fiscal pressures due to tax rate cut and a shortfall in GST collections.

Besides, the MPC is faced with the unenviable task of maintaining the competitiveness of Indian rupee to protect exports; need to augment US dollar reserves to protect the economy against a possible BoP crisis, protecting the interests of importers and borrowers in foreign currency, and at the same time keeping real rates supportive for domestic savings which have been on the decline since past one decade.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has asserted on more than one occasion that there is adequate liquidity in the system and banks are in a position to cut rates without any change in the policy rates. However, by maintaining the interest rates on EPF, the government has given a confused signal on the trajectory of rates it wants. Given the fiscal constraints and need to create investment demand, bringing down the real rate to neutral or even marginally negative territory is desirable. Pushing inflation higher may not be a viable method of attaining this goal. So the rates need to be cut drastically to make the real rates neutral.

Rate cut needs to be dramatic

In my view, the economic viability of a nominal rate cut is arguable at this point in time. The rate cut is needed presently more from the sentiment viewpoint rather than anything else. Therefore it has to be dramatic with a ‘whatever it takes’ promise to have any meaningful impact on the economy. We have seen the government and the RBI wasting too many scarce bullets, without an aim. It must be recognised that we are running desperately short of time and tools for tackling the economic slowdown. The fiscal space is almost exhausted.

Remember, mere rate cuts are not necessarily positive for the economy and markets. The policy-driven change in interest rates has in the past impacted the domestic currency rate. On many occasions interest rate cut by the RBI have been followed by depreciation in Indian rupee. As per various research studies, over half of the BSE500 constituents, which account for 70 percent of the balance sheet debt, have historically suffered a 1.3 percent EBITDA (by value) erosion for a 1 percent rupee depreciation. The benefit of a lower interest rate is thus often muted, and in some cases, the impact on credit metrics such as coverage ratio is actually negative.

Under the scenario of a 25-35 bps interest rate cut followed by a 2 percent depreciation in the currency, the amount of stressed debt within BSE 500 corporates may increase materially.

In my view, therefore, the question before the RBI is not the simple one, i.e., ‘cut or not to cut’. It is rather complex, i.e., how to ensure rates that would support economic growth, improve the asset quality of banks and still be remunerative for savers.

I would like to see the RBI taking a strong definitive stand on supporting the growth by making a categorical and loud ‘whatever it takes’ statement. To make a meaningful impact on sentiments, it should cut rates by 75-100 bps. This should be followed by forcing the struggling private sector banks and NBFCs to immediately write down assets assuming the worst case, and yield control and merge their businesses with larger peers, just like the US Fed did with Merrill Lynch in 2008. The policy statement must omit any reference to inflation to make the growth focus unequivocal and unapologetic. I am sure we shall live for another day to bother about inflation and fiscal challenges.

Vijay Kumar Gaba explores the treasure you know as India, and shares his experiences and observations about social, economic and cultural events and conditions. He contributes his pennies to the society as Director, Equal India Foundation.

Read his columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Artificial intelligence to spruce up your looks: Co-founder of tech startup SkinKraft on data-enabled personal care

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian cosmetics industry is going through an unprecedented growth phase. The country is expected to constitute five percent of the total global market and will be the fifth in revenue terms by 2025.

It is estimated that one in three women will move towards customised products by 2025. The trend is slowly catching up in India and it is not restricted to the affluent metro dwellers. As more and more people are moving towards customised beauty care products, a handful of innovative startups across the globe are exploiting the potential of data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to transform skincare solutions.

In India, this transformation is spearheaded by SkinKraft, a Hyderabad-based startup. Established in 2017 by three resourceful technology entrepreneurs Chaitanya Nallan, Veerendra Shivhare and Sangram Simha, the company has already assisted more than four lakh women. Data is at the core of SkinKraft as it customises each kit according to the individual’s needs through its proprietary ‘SkinID’.

Nallan, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and International School of Business Hyderabad, has years of experience in building and growing high-performance tech startups. In an email interaction with CNBC-TV18, the young entrepreneur talks about the concept of SkinKraft, its business strategy and the road ahead.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

Artificial intelligence and data analytics are reportedly revolutionising the cosmetics industry. What are the latest technology trends? What is the role of technology in enabling personalisation of skincare and wellness products?

With AI and customer insights, companies are now able to get unique information about an individual’s skin — skin characteristics like type, skin issues, lifestyles, environment, and geographic location, that give an accurate picture of the individual to base their customised solution on.  At SkinKraft, data is at the core. Data aids us in understanding the skin profiles of individuals better and match it to the right set of products. It also assists us in further improving the efficacy of our products and further expand to new products that a particular skin profile needs. Technologies like ML will further change the landscape of skincare, haircare and the beauty industry in the next three-four years leading to even more personalised choices.

Customised beauty products regime is an innovative concept in India. How did you come up with the idea of launching SkinKraft? Could you explain the concept of customised skincare solutions?

SkinKraft was born out of two undeniable truths about the current skincare industry. First, women trying to find even basic skincare products are often caught in an unrewarding cycle of experimentation. Second, despite growing levels of frustration among their consumers, skincare brands continue to churn out generic formulations catering to the mass market. Skin type, skin issues, skin support systems, pigmentation levels, skin damage levels, hydration levels, and several other aspects make an individual’s skin unique and have to be catered uniquely. So, a generic product, mass-produced by an FMCG company cannot be the most effective way to care for your skin. In fact, these products encourage trial-and-error skincare which in the long term leads to premature aging of the skin. This led us to build our customised skincare brand – SkinKraft.

At SkinKraft, skincare starts with the customer. Through a holistic assessment of the customer’s skin, similar to a dermatologist assessment, we create a skin profile. A detailed analysis is given to the customer in which we explain the problem areas and also the ingredients required to manage their skin. Along with this, we recommend a customised skincare regimen that includes the ingredients corresponding to the specific requirements as outlined in the customer’s skin profile. SkinKraft has generated over a million skin profile records until now.

What were the initial challenges you encountered when entering this segment?

When we initially started, the main challenge was to create awareness around the new and innovative concept of ‘customisation’. It was about breaking the current habit of buying generic, off the shelf product, or ‘keyword’-centric product. Instead of positioning ourselves in the market, what we did was drive awareness and conversation around the subcategory of customization itself — how it differs from the traditional setup and more importantly empowering the customers with the knowledge and hence the confidence of picking the right products.

Where does India stand in the global cosmetics sector? In fact, India’s plan to introduce an exclusive set of regulations for cosmetics remains snarled in red tape. Are there any regulatory challenges?

The Indian cosmeceutical and cosmetics industry currently has an overall market standing of $6.5 billion from a global market of $274 billion. It is expected to grow to $20 billion by 2025. The regulatory framework around cosmetic products came to place in India in late 2011. It came as a measure to regulate and prevent the offering of low quality and false cosmetic products in India and to convey consistency to the import arrangement of such items.

Till now, we have not faced any regulatory challenges.

Could you tell us about the services of SkinKraft?

Our customers are taken through SkinID, a dermatologist-approved questionnaire pertaining to their skin type, skin concern and lifestyle choices which has a direct and indirect implication on their skin health. Once the responses are recorded, the algorithm evaluates all the parameters and the customer is classified into one of 72 broad profiles, each of which breaks down into thousands of combinations. Depending on the individual’s current skin health and needs, a customised kit is then created to include a customised cleanser and moisturiser. Currently, we are catering to skin issues such as dark spots, dark patches, skin lightening/tanning, and acne. We have recently expanded to anti-aging products and will be adding customised sunscreens to the regimen next. We will also launch customised shampoos and conditioners by December.

There are many companies offering similar solutions. How do you stand out from the crowd? Who is your biggest competitor?

Indian beauty and personal care industry is estimated to be worth $8 billion. Overall we are witnessing the market moving towards ‘premiumisation’, with the premium segment growing at 6.3 percent, as compared to 1.1 percent for the mass market.  Indian brands have a sizeable presence in the mass category, while premium markets are largely dominated by international brands.

Some of the customised skincare brands abroad that have been disrupting the skincare market include Skinsei, Skin Inc and Function of Beauty. Data-driven customisation as a concept has emerged only in the last few years in the country. In India, Clinique has introduced custom-blend hydration systems that offer unique combinations that enable personalisation.

There are few players who are working in the ‘customisation’ category, but nobody is doing at a mass scale as we are. Our biggest competitor is the current behaviour of customers — buying mass-produced products.

Investments into cosmetics and beauty startups are going up in the recent past. What are your future plans?

We believe that in the next 5-10 years, consumption pattern in the beauty industry will shift significantly from mass-produced products to customised products across segments like skin, hair colour, etc. This is because of the confluence of three significant trends: Mass internet adoption enabling feedback loops and user input, AI-enabled understanding of ingredient effectiveness and modern manufacturing technologies.

We are expanding the lineup of our skincare range to include customised sunscreens, anti-aging products with more powerful and efficacious ingredients. We are also set to launch our customised hair care products by December 2019.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Why you should choose mutual fund over individual stock

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Whenever investing is talked about, you would probably hear stories about how much the stock of Wipro or Infosys has risen since their inception. You might also get to hear that if you would have bought shares of Eicher Motors instead of buying a Bullet, or shares of Page Industries instead of Jockey products, you would have made a lot of money. However, have you actually seen people make this kind of money? Are these stories fake? Not at all! What you need to think about is that the time to invest in these stocks was different. Did you have the time or money to do that investment in the past? Was your risk profile suitable for such an investment at that time?

In addition to this, these are just success stories that you hear. You have also heard of Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Satyam, etc. as the other side of the coin.

Investing in stocks 

You cannot predict the future, so at the time of investing, you would not know whether the stock that you are investing in is going to provide great returns in the future or crash and make you lose your hard-earned money. If you wish to invest in the stock market, you should do so only if you tick the following three boxes:

1) You have around Rs 25 lakh to invest in the stock market which is not more than 5 percent of your net worth. Though there is no fix formula for this but the logic is to withstand any major loss in your stock investments and restricting it to 5 percent of your total net worth in the initial phase of your stock market investment will make you handle any negative situation without losing your sleep.

2) You have enough time to do your research and understand the stock market.

3) You have enough experience to be able to know when to buy and sell in the stock market.

It might not be so that everyone can tick these three boxes. However, this does not mean that equity investment is out of the picture. If you want to go in the stock market, then you can start off with blue-chip stocks. Most of these companies are too big to fail, so it is hard to go wrong here. You can diversify to mitigate your losses here too, in case even a blue chip company fails. The strategy to employ here is that you buy these stocks, and your children will sell it. The point is to invest for the long term, following the principle of buying a stock, not renting a stock, as said by John Bogle, former CEO of the Vanguard Group.

Looking beyond blue chip stocks, investing in small-cap or mid-cap companies through stocks is very difficult. Regular tracking, and knowing how much and when to buy or sell is difficult when you are not doing this full time. Mid-cap and small-cap shares can help you make a lot of money, but you may also lose a lot of money if you don’t play your cards well. This is where mutual funds can come to your rescue to help you make money from this sector with a reduced element of risk.

Benefits of mutual fund investment

Diversification is built into mutual funds by default. They can invest in different securities by aggregating the money of a pool of investors. Mutual fund investment is professionally managed by a fund manager on behalf of the investors, where each investor holds a particular share of the entire portfolio and is a participant in any losses or gains of the fund. The fund’s portfolio is structured to match the objectives stated in the prospectus.

Since a mutual fund manager has access to market information and manages funds professionally, it is of great benefit to smaller investors. Mutual Funds can trade cost-effectively and help to mitigate risk because of the number of stocks they invest in. Even if one or more stocks tumble, other stocks can help to cover up for that loss.

Mutual funds also give access to the equity market at a lower price, for as low as Rs 500 per month, where you can gradually build up your corpus by increasing your investment and investing slowly but steadily.

You should go ahead and invest in the stock market only once you have a sizeable chunk of investments ready in mutual funds. If your expectation of returns from the equity market is 12-13 percent, then mutual funds are the way to go.

Keep in mind that you can lose money even in mutual funds if you have the wrong strategy, or choose the wrong schemes to invest in. Going with multi-cap or index funds is a safe and easy choice for those looking to start off with mutual fund investment.

Rishabh Parakh is a personal finance strategist and Chief Gardener of Money Plant Consultancy, an established firm providing tax and wealth management services across Maharashtra, Singapore and the UK.

Read his columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow