| Sajha.com Archives | |
| Username | Post |
| sh_durga | Posted
on 10-Mar-03 11:51 AM
Dell: Dell lays off 5,700 employees and sends their jobs to India. http://www.h1bprotest.com/protest/overseas/9o.asp American Express: Called American Express lately? Americans no longer answer the phone, India does. http://news.com.com/ 2102-12-964069.html Oracle: Oracle to increase work force in India http://news.com.com/ 2100-1017-935735.html?tag=prntfr Sprint: Sprint moves jobs to India. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/ 022102/ bus_8678251.html HP: Hewlett Packard is boosting its staff in India from 1,500 to 5,000. http://www.gnp.org/layoffs.htm Microsoft: Microsoft to invest $400 million in India http://boston.internet.com /news/article.php/1498941 IBM: At IBM's Bangalore headquarters, more than 3,000 developers write code for IBM customers. http://www.indiagov.org/US_Media/2001/aug/ZDNet%20Printer%20Friendly%20-%20Virtual%20India%20At%20Your%20Service.htm Cisco: Cisco, plans to invest $200 million in India. http://www.indiagov.org/US_Media/2001/ aug/ZDNet%20Printer%20Friendly%20-%20Virtual%20 India%20At%20Your%20Service.htm Intel: Intel to invest up to $200m in India. http://www.ciol.com/content /news/repts/102083001.asp Quark: http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0204/05.quark.php Network Associates: Network Associates to double India R&D staff. http://www.theworkcircuit.com /news/OEG20021211S0003 Motorola: Motorola has announced plans to invest $13m to set up an R&D facility in Bangalore, India. http://www.theworkcircuit.com/ news/OEG20021108S0006 Tech companies shipping U.S. jobs overseas: http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/ stories/story/0,10738,2856761,00.html To find more, go to http://news.google.com and search on india jobs to find 100s more like these |
| krishna | Posted
on 10-Mar-03 11:57 AM
durga ji..thanks for the links.......appreciate that.. |
| Logical Sense | Posted
on 10-Mar-03 04:00 PM
Should not we think to get fraction of these to Nepal? What can be done? What should be done? Where do we start? Who can we do? Ideas? Ideas? Ideas? |
| ashu | Posted
on 10-Mar-03 04:36 PM
Let India have those jobs. India has the name, the manpower, the critical mass of NRIs and the relatively more business-friendly Chief Ministers who can negotiate directly with Western companies without any interference from New Delhi. If some in Nepal get some of those jobs, it would be due to their own hardwork and initiative and NOT due to any governmental handout. Right now, Nepal's resources are better spent concentrating on getting its tourism business up and running, and then scaling it up and up through innovations, better services, promotions and so on. In Nepal, IT and the rest are likely to be "feeder industries" to the larger industry of tourism, a la Bali. oohi ashu ktm,nepal |
| Logical Sense | Posted
on 10-Mar-03 06:22 PM
May be Ashuji!! And we need to start thinking about employeeing those 5000 IT under-graduates who will start coming out within a year or two and every year there are after. I feel IT could be leading industry rather than feeder industry in Nepal. Though tourism can be larger industry to employee lots of people, but, IT could be bigger in per capita due to bigger margins. Tourism is very labor incentive hence has poor margins, but, IT is intellectual industry so has higher margins. Also unlike tourism, IT industry requires lot less infrastructure (all you need is good IT Policy, we already have now, and Bandwidth to get started - and Ashuji can have thriving software industry in your Buingal) is lot less turbulent due to political turmoil (hey hey comparitively matrai bhanekoni!!!). -iti |
| ashu | Posted
on 10-Mar-03 06:36 PM
LS, I agree with you 100 per cent. But sadly, in Nepal, there is this persistent, pervasive "knowing-doing gap". Even when we Nepalis KNOW what we can/should do for this and that, we just can't seem to get our act together, cobble together and lead coalitions of interested people, get the nitty-gritty details in place and just DO it. That is why, unless we have a critical mass of IT professionals like yourself -- who can help bridge this gap between knowing what's good and then doing it -- I am afraid that our IT dreams will just be that: IT dreams . . . potentals ALWAYS waiting to be realized. And I say that NOT as a critic, but as a realist. Do not expect the government to be of any help whatsoever. Whatever strides has the Nepali IT sector made so far, it has done so with with very little thanks to the government. oohi ashu ktm,nepal |
| Logical Sense | Posted
on 10-Mar-03 08:12 PM
Ashuji, Ho HMG could do lot more than what it is doing. But, you might be surprised to know that UN, and WB thinks little different and thinks that Nepal is one of the good examples of partinership between Govt and Private sector. One of the main success story is the IT Policy of Nepal. This has been completed through extensive research and involvement of IT experts from private sector (unlike Indian IT policy which was written in 3 months by ad hoc committe). Thanks to the vision of few of the Nepalese experts. Today, Nepal is advising many countries in the region in drafting IT Policy (Can you imagine this? Nepal advising other countries? Ha ha, but, this is very true....) Read on some of the interesting links if you like: http://www.panasia.org.sg/news/rnd/99153.htm http://www.nepalit.com/ithrd_npc.htm http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2000/feb/feb06/economy.htm http://www.apnic.net/mailing-lists/s-asia-it/archive/2001/02/msg00042.html |
| Logical Sense | Posted
on 10-Mar-03 08:24 PM
OOPS, meant to give more links: http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2000/aug/aug20/economy.htm#2 http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2000/aug/aug25/index.htm#6 http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2000/aug/aug27/economy.htm I also wanted to make qualifying statement for why UN, and WB is interested in Nepal IT sector: 1) IT Policy developed by Nepal is an example of Government and Private sector working together. (That is why Nepal has been called time and time again to present papers in UN and WB conferences going head to head with India). 2) Nepal's IT policy focuses on development of Nepalese community rather than a policy made solely for the purpose of exprting software (inward development) 3) Nepals lack of infrastructure, and difficult terrain is unique place for challenging projects as an example. I may be biased but, I am very optimistic about future of IT industry. Unfortunately Nepalese IT industry is not flourishing as it should is because of the Political situation. As soon as the government stabilizes, I am confident that we will see the boom. -iti |
| ashu | Posted
on 11-Mar-03 06:40 AM
LS, I am NOT disputing the overall importance of IT for desh bikas per se ( though I am not sure whether the kind of mind-numbing data-entry work (i.e. what goes on in the name of business process outsourcing) is any "intellectual" a pursuit than, say, guiding Spanish tourists around the Patan Museum area, but let's not digress.) Still, your providing these links only prove my point. The knowing-doing gap: We -- meaning Nepalis and our government -- do KNOW quite a bit about the potential of IT for desh ko bikas, as evidenced by all these workshops, reports and news that appear on clicking the links you have posted here. It's just that it's NOT at all clear whether our government's KNOWING all these related issues about the IT sector has led to thriving IT industries in Nepal. If anything, I would argue that it's the ingenuity, the drive and the persistence of our private-sector players that has led to more work on IT in Nepal than the combined efforts, if any, of the government. Or look at it this way: India has a relatively -- let's say -- lousy, prepared-in-3-months IT policy, and yet has been a magnet for IT companies. Nepal, according to you, has a World Bank-certified/UN-clapped IT policy, yet most Nepali IT companies find it hard to scale up and make more money. See the paradox? But don't take my word for it. Allow me to quote an authority, Sanjib Rajbhandari of Mercantile who's been in the IT sector in Nepal for almost 20 years. "After about 20 years of experience, here is what Sanjib Raj Bhandari advises those interested to start their own businesses: First, don’t let your business depend on the government. “Don’t expect the government to help. Expect it to be an impediment rather.” MORE: "Raj Bhandari says, “If your business plans are dependent on the government making the first move, like building infrastructure or passing new laws, you have very small chance for success.” For this he gives the example of now closed National Computer Centre (NCC), and says, “The NCC did everything to kill the private sector during the first ten years of my business.” The experience is neither better with another government entity Nepal Telecommunication Corporation (NTC)." << For more on Rajbhandari, click on: >> http://www.aadhar.com.np/biz_resources/forum/2002_oct/index.htm Thank you. oohi ashu ktm,nepal |
| GyaNeX | Posted
on 11-Mar-03 09:55 AM
Oo DoSTaHaRoo KaTii GaFa MaaTra GaRChhou. KaaM PaNi GaRa ANii Po DeSa BiKaaSa HuNeChha. GyaaNeShWaRa ------------------------ Encoding: GyaTeX. KeyBoard: NePeX. 101 ओo दोस्तहरू कती गफ मात्र गर्छौ। काम पनि गर अनी पो देस बिकास हुनेछ। ज्ञानेश्वर |
| freak of nature | Posted
on 11-Mar-03 10:03 AM
Gyanex timile nai garyo j garnu thiyo |
| baljoshi | Posted
on 11-Mar-03 10:24 AM
IT and Governetment policies. my 2 cents on the issues... Finance minister needs to have background in finance and like wise IT minister or who ever is incharge is need to understand what the technology has to provide. In Nepal, unfortunately policy makers dont' have the background to understand in full depth and thus the slack in development and to be honest we can't blame them... However, my strategy is NOT TO DEPEND on them and just continue to do what you need to do. India is an excellent example on how expat indians were so heavily involved in the development of IT infrastructure and eventually govt. realized it could be a significant industry to India' Economy. And as a result every dick and harry companies are moving to India. So what can we learn from their Success? I think for Nepal to tap into this market. Nepal needs to implement IT at grass root level so that people understand the benefits it can provide locally. Then only think about creating economies of scale. I am not a big fan of outsourcing. Outsourcing is a seasonal business and and is more of a liabilty to country's human resource and capital. People who seek outsourcing are always looking for cheaper and better deal. For instance, in India, the data entry, med. transcripton is slowly changing the pace of its growth. The cost of doing business in India is getting higher and as a result their customers have started shop around in China. My questiion is what will happen to the human capital once the jobs are gone?? Is that a sustainable, viable business? The new interesting development in India that I see creating sustainable market is DEVELOPMENT of IT products which is different from Development of OUTSOURCED products. Especially in Banking industry, India is creating some really cool products that have received International attention. I hope we can learn from our 2 big neighbors and capture a piece of this industry. We need to evaluate our current infrastructure. We are naturally blessed to understand this product and given that we implement proper strategies, I am hopeful that it will create jobs. What's lacking is "STRATEGIC THINKERS." But it has to start somewhere..and we are just in the process of doing so and hopefully people who are involved in this industry can turn this to an economies of scale. bal |
| Logical Sense | Posted
on 11-Mar-03 03:49 PM
Baljoshiji, exactly what I am trying to promote. Just want to bring your attention to: 1) "IT Minister have to be IT Professional". I think that is not a MUST (best of the both World is good but ). Leaders have to have a vision, and should be a good listner surrounded by Experts. Some of the people I look forward in Nepal is ex MOST minister Bhakta Bahadur Balayar and Ex Plannign commision member Dr. Rameshanda Viadya. It is unfortuante that Nepal does/did not have visionary leaders. Jawaharlan Nehru was no Tech Savvy but he knew what education would do to the country so, he asked for IIT from foreign countries after independence. Our leaders asked for Janakpur Churut Karkhana and Beer Factories. 2) Nepalese IT policy is designed for grass root IT development in Napal as you are mentioning and that is the point liked by UN and WB. Ashuji, I did not mean that IT policy is only key to IT boom. I meant to say it is a start and implementing now would be key to success. It is unfortunate that some of the visionary leaders in that regard could not be sustained in their position for a longer amount of time. But, things are moving in positive direction (may be as snail's speed). Examples: IT Policy, 5000 IT graduates, More than 10,000 low tech specialist, Fiber Optics cable in East West high way. I know things could be better. Even if the government let the private sector take over the communication infrastructure it will be a boom in Nepal. Rajbhandari is a good CEO, let us leave it at that.... GyaneX: Haami Ta Yo Sabai Gardai Chaun (participating in discussion itself is commendable hoina ra?), Tapai Le Ke Garnu Bha Cha Sununa Ta? - iti |
| ashu | Posted
on 11-Mar-03 05:58 PM
Andhra Pradesh has been developing so quickly that although rural areas in the state still have many problems, the departing Treasury secretary, Paul H. O'Neill, quipped in a visit here last month that the state no longer even seemed to need foreign aid. "I don't think he needs any help at all," Mr. O'Neill said. "I was really impressed with him and what he is doing." That was an exaggeration. Hyderabad, home to about 6.6 million people, has become a green, prosperous hub for computer programming, telephone call centers and drug manufacturing. But most of the state's 76 million people still live in rural villages where change has been slow, and where a two-year drought has brought considerable suffering. Andhra Pradesh is nonetheless becoming an international model for certain public policies. Some involve little details, like using automation to cut the time needed to get a new driver's license to two hours from two days, or quintupling the number of trees in Hyderabad to make it one of India's greenest, most livable cities. Mr. Naidu has also been one of the first Indian politicians to tackle a problem that has effectively bankrupted most of the country's state governments: electricity subsidies. State politicians across India have long won elections by promising cheap electricity, a middle-class subsidy in a country where the poor have no access to electricity at all. Electricity has been kept so cheap in most of the country that it has been uneconomical to build new power plants or even maintain many power cables, resulting in frequent lengthy blackouts that force businesses to buy and run their own diesel generators. Murky laws have long discouraged private investment in power generation and distribution, although efforts are now under way in New Delhi to change this. Despite sometimes-violent street protests in the late 1990's, Mr. Naidu has succeeded in raising electricity prices here by 70 percent. He has used the extra revenue not just to improve the electrical grid, so blackouts are now uncommon and brief, but also to improve many other public services and to come close to balancing the state budget. Under Mr. Naidu, Andhra Pradesh has enacted a law requiring union leaders to be workers from the factory or office they represent. Outside political activists have sometimes used Indian labor unions in struggles between political parties instead of seeking better contracts for the workers. Andhra Pradesh has also relaxed some of the restrictions on laying off workers, removing a major obstacle that has discouraged many businesses in India from hiring additional employees. To the anger of public-sector unions in a country famous for its slow-moving and often unresponsive bureaucracy, Mr. Naidu has begun measuring state employees against one another and preset targets, and he has instituted surprise inspections. He has fired 50 people just in the state's agriculture department and disciplined many more for nonperformance. One of Mr. Naidu's early moves as chief minister was to buttonhole Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, at a dinner party at the home of the American ambassador in New Delhi. "I told him I needed 10 minutes exclusively," Mr. Naidu recalled. "I had a presentation for him on a laptop, and the 10-minute meeting stretched to 40 minutes — the dinner was late." Microsoft later opened a 150-person programming center here, and Mr. Gates announced on a visit to the city on Nov. 14 that the company would expand the office to 500 people over the next three years. That is particularly good news here because Hyderabad, like other technology centers, has been hurt by the bursting of the Internet bubble, although employers are still looking for engineers with more academic or professional experience. Chitra Sood, Microsoft's finance and human relations manager here, said that the company had 50 serious applicants for each programming job here. Although Andhra Pradesh seems to have received another windfall with the recent discovery of natural gas fields off its coast, the state, like the rest of India, still faces serious economic problems. Looking out the window of his helicopter during a recent trip across the state, Mr. Naidu pointed to several wide lines of brown mud that meandered across a drought-parched farming area. "Generally, all these rivers flow with water — you can see there is no water now," he said. A small Maoist insurgency has attacked trains and buses for years in remote jungles in the state. More disturbing, a bomb exploded outside a Hindu temple here, wounding 20 people, three hours after Mr. O'Neill left the city. Mr. Naidu reached the site in less than half an hour and publicly emphasized that there was no proof that the explosion was religiously motivated. There was no sectarian violence after the blast, as might have happened in northern India. Taking on middle-class electricity users and the public-sector unions has forced Mr. Naidu to articulate a vision of efficient government. He has also needed the uncommon political nimbleness and even ruthlessness that got him to the top in the first place. The son of a middle-class farmer from near Hyderabad, he studied economics as an undergraduate at a college outside Madras and started but never completed graduate work in the field. He was elected to the state assembly of Andhra Pradesh in 1978 as a member of the Congress Party, and he almost immediately became the minister of technical education, making him the state's youngest assembly member and youngest minister at 28. He also became a friend of Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, a famous film star from Andhra Pradesh, and married Mr. Rao's daughter in what Mr. Naidu described as an arranged marriage. Mr. Rao entered politics in 1982, setting up a regional party, Telugu Desam, and Mr. Naidu left the Congress Party to join it. With Mr. Rao's popularity from appearing in more than 300 movies, together with an appeal to regional pride, the party gained control of the state assembly, and Mr. Rao served three terms as chief minister. But when Mr. Rao, a widower, married a much younger woman who sought political power on her own, Mr. Naidu deposed Mr. Rao in 1995. He took control of the party with help from one of Mr. Rao's sons and replaced his father-in-law as chief minister. Mr. Rao publicly compared himself to Shah Jehan, a 17th-century Mogul emperor imprisoned by his son, and he vowed to return to power and destroy his son-in-law. But Mr. Rao died of a heart attack early in 1996, leaving Mr. Naidu in complete control of the Telugu Desam Party. The party's hold on power seems secure in Andhra Pradesh, partly because Mr. Naidu and his allies speak Telugu, a language spoken only in this state and by a few people in two adjacent states. He has also maintained a variety of popular subsidy programs for rural areas, even while forcing urban middle-class families to pay more for electricity. But while some corporate executives say they wish Mr. Naidu would seek national office, he disclaims any such ambition, and his party's local and linguistic roots could hinder him if he tried. Mr. Naidu's own command of English is very good but not perfect. He admitted that he spoke little Hindi, the language of much of northern India, although he understands it. Krishnamoorthy Thiagarajan, the senior vice president for corporate strategy at Satyam Computer Services, a big Indian software company based here, said that Mr. Naidu nonetheless set an example that could begin to influence other Indian politicians. "Politicians tend to look at `Can I win my next election?' and if it takes subsidies, then that is often done," Mr. Thiagarajan said. Mr. Naidu, he continued, "looks at something in business terms, in metrics, in measurable things you can improve." THE END |
| ashu | Posted
on 11-Mar-03 05:58 PM
Hi Bal and LS, Thanks for your thoughts. I am not sure that a Finance Minister must know finance or that an IT minister must know programming. But I think we all benefit if those who lead us are intelligent, curious learners, are able to bring disparate people together to work for common goals and quick to spot opportunities that can be turned into bikas achievments. Meantime, here's this piece from The New York Times, dated Dec. 27, 2002 -- about CB Naidu and Andhra Pradesh. I recently read a longer, a bit more critical profile of Naidu and his mission to turn Hyderabad nto Cyberabad in Mark Tully's book "India in slow motion" (pages 123-153). Meantime, enjoy this piece for lessons it holds for our own netas. oohi ashu ktm,nepal ******************** http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/27/technology/27RUPE.html A High-Tech Fix for One Corner of India By KEITH BRADSHER HYDERABAD, India — Soon after N. Chandrababu Naidu became chief minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh in August 1995, he ordered that a partly built and abandoned government building here on the edge of the city be finished and turned into a college for computer software engineers. Today, the building houses one of 300 institutions of higher learning in a state that graduates 65,000 engineers a year, compared with 7,500 when Mr. Naidu took office. The institute is one example of how Mr. Naidu has moved decisively to transform Hyderabad from the quiet administrative center of an agricultural state into a computer programming and pharmaceuticals hub that is trying to rival Bangalore, nearly 300 miles to the south. With a businesslike, long-term approach to public policy in a country long bedeviled by populists pursuing short-term fixes, Mr. Naidu, who is 52, has become the darling of Western governments and corporations. He has emerged in their eyes as one of the most promising local leaders not just in India but in the developing world. Big international companies like Microsoft and Oracle have been setting up operations here in Hyderabad, even though Andhra Pradesh has long been one of the poorest states in India. "It's only the last four or five years that this place is booming," said Maruvada V. Raman, the executive officer of the college, the International Institute of Information Technology. "These things might not have happened if someone else were in his place." Mr. Naidu's successes have made him a hit for the last six years at World Economic Forum meetings in Davos, Switzerland, and elsewhere, where he has moderated panels and been praised as an example for other leaders of poor regions. His agreeing to appear is a breakthrough of sorts for the chief minister of an Indian state. Other chief ministers — whose responsibilities are similar to those of a governor of an American state — have avoided the event for fear of hurting populist credentials by hobnobbing with corporate leaders. "They are all thinking, `We will get a negative image,' " Mr. Naidu said. "It is not true." Mr. Naidu added, "If you do not meet business people and rich people, you will not get investment." He has watched the success of Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, and tried to turn Hyderabad into sort of a Route 128 high-technology region to match. |
| Sujan | Posted
on 12-Mar-03 06:03 AM
Hey All, There are a couple of reasons why IT is flourishing in India: (i) India had the fortunate guidance of top class Universities in the US aka Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, Berkeley, U of M, etc. in setting up the IIT's in the 1960's. (ii) The abundance of IT human resources at cheap labor. (iii) Substantiated technological know-how. (iv) Ex-Indians networking with their counterparts at their firms to bring the business to India in the means of savings (mostly labor) which may inflate the firm's bottom line. Unless Nepal has some other means to compete with the Indian market in IT outsourcing/development I don't see any reasons for North American/European/Australian firms to even consider Nepal as the alternative. There is a lack of huge technological talent in Nepal, and the pool is still way too small. I think one way to get around this is to focus on a niche. Or for the long term- foreign educated IT professionals should donate their time and effort in setting up some sort of scheme :-) A lot of friends I 've spoken to do not see private sector risking their investments without the governement taking any of the slack. The governement's role is critical in setting up the foundation for an immature industry. Unfortunately, the government has yet to understand what the word 'innovation' means in the facets of competitive global market. -Sujan (Currently in Melbourne) |
| ashu | Posted
on 12-Mar-03 08:28 AM
Don't forget that India has this body called Nasscom, which is very, very aggressive about selling Indian IT companies' offer to Western firms. http://www.nasscom.org Until his untimely death more than a year ago, Nasscom's Dewang Mehta was an ubiquitous, indefatigable and relentless salesman who sold the image of "India as an IT player" to the world. In Nepal, the level of trust among private-sector players -- and between them and the government -- to get together to build up the "public benefits" aspects of their industry is too low for something like Nepal's version of Nasscom to come up and sell Nepal's image, if that's what it is, as an IT player. We have a long, long, long way to go . . . oohi ashu ktm,nepal |
| baljoshi | Posted
on 12-Mar-03 10:48 AM
Interesting discussions so far. Just in a very short period of time in these discussions we have identified some of the weaknesses Nepal has. So why not the grass root level Nepali IT entreprenuers or businessmen with similar interest form a coalition to find the resolutions for these challenges we have. If we do already have these organizations, lets find out what is not working? I think we can go on and on about the lack of govt. policies etc. etc. but why not have a talent pool of strategic IT Entreprenuers to start developing the foundation that's missing. There are Nepali companies using IT in very unique ways and maintaining profitability in mircro scale and employing some bright kids. I think we can learn a lot from these sucessful Micro Entreprenuers and start paving the road to turn it into an economies of scale. We don't have to recreated TATA or wipro in Nepal. But why not start laying foundation to start something small, have interested people involved and evaluate the results. Have a company that sustains for more than 1 year..Instead of trying to give jobs to 5000 grads, why not try for 5 grads.. We don't have to worry about marketing the IT products beyond our borders. There are industries with in Nepal that can be consumers to IT products. There are companies whose operations are in mess due to lack of IT tools. My suggestion for IT Development in Nepal: (if any body is interested pls add to the list) Form Collaborative IT Coalition with the best and the brightest young entreprenuers, Social Scientists and Economists. Evaluate current Infrastructure (production, Operation, Marketing) & find the missing link First focus on products that can be developed for local consumption Before we talk about export export export.. we need to understand the product inside out and then seek market beyond our borders. Everything takes time but somebody has to start somewhere. IT may not be the revenue generator like the toursim or handicraft industry. But it certainly can help these industries grow. Peace! bal |
| Logical Sense | Posted
on 12-Mar-03 08:53 PM
Sujaji, Ashuji and Baljoshiji, Good points. Let me add these: Statements: 1) Let us not have a competing with India slogan, but, let us talk about how to leverage from Indian and Chinese dominance in IT market hence shorten the development path by leaning and leveraging from their know how and mistagkes. 2) Blaming Government only does not help. Government is part of 'us' also. So, part of our mentality get's reflected in part of government. 3) It is give and take, compromise and Sam Dam Danda Ved (?). Government has to make some progress (concession), and Private sector has to make some and then we go further side by side. Going Forward: 1) Instead of having too many Nepalese associations arround the world talking only about how to organize Dasain bhoj (or Changing Nepal Overnight), we need to concentrate on establishing 'Forums', 'Business Associations', 'Brain Storming Meetings' , Lobbying group, etc. 2) Nepalese experts outside/inside must think of contributing right away. I have found TOKTEN a great way of satisfaction. I feel every Nepalese expatriate needs to take this advantage. If you don't know what I am talking about send me email. In essence, you get $124/day DM while in Nepal (not exceeding 3 Months) and plane tickets. You need to organize this with some organization in Nepal. 3) I have found yet another idea which is working great for me. I have contacted an IT company in Nepal and asked them to hire 5 IT graduates as Interns for 6 months. I pay for three of them. They will be working on a concept I have for a product with joint venture scheme with that IT company. This is win win for all of us. I am planning to do this every 6 months. At least 10 graduates (in one year) will get most important experience and they may get hired permanently if they 'perform'. 4) All of us when we go Nepal, must meet with organizations, School, College or University and deliver lectures, or mentor or just have talk with them. Remember my slogan, never say 'When I was in Amrica....'. Nobody is going to listen to you in that case. Keep a low profile, and humble attitude. They will love you. - iti purane kedar khande mag mahatme antimo adhaya sapaptam |
| czar | Posted
on 12-Mar-03 08:54 PM
HOW NEPAL SUBSIDIZED INDIA’S IT SUCCESS In the late 80’s some enterprising ‘businessmen’ discovered that ‘re-export’ of computer parts to the southern market was an extremely profitable venture. With Rajiv Gandhi leading the charge by ostensibly lugging around a portable computer and Arjun Singh opening up India’s market, the boom was on. A nearly insatiable demand saw computer parts and accessories imported by the container load from Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, arrive at Calcutta port and head straight for New Delhi. The wholesale market in Nehru place in south Delhi was the distribution point that played a pivotal role in seeing the ‘grey market’ computers take nearly 80% of the total market in the by late 1995. Able compatriots operating out of porous ports in Maharastra, Gujurat, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal too further augmented the supply. Indian customs and duties at that time were over 150% on computers, parts and accessories. In Nepal it was 10% thanks to enlightened policy makers now toasted by the WB and IMF. How much of that policy was paid for by the crore of rupees worth of lobbying done by the traders amy need to be considered as well. In 1996, IDC data reported over 30,000 fully loaded brand name computers were shipped from Singapore to Nepal. Consider what came from Hong Kong and Taiwan too. A leading printer manufacturer was delighted to have shipped 14,000 laser printers from its regional HQ in Singapore that year to Shangrila. The CAN estimate for the domestic market in 1996 was something like 8000 machines, including assembled machines. Less than 1500 printers were sold in Nepal that year. The Nepalese importers opened Letters of Credit at local banks and happily used the forex earned partly on the sweat of porters ferrying luggage of tourists on treks to Annapurna. Parts were mostly paid for in Indian Currency to the traders, but Nepal’s foreign currency reserves were tapped. The full extent of it became apparent when the multi-billion rupee banking scandal erupted in the 90’s. |
| czar | Posted
on 12-Mar-03 08:58 PM
I can cover other aspects of Nepal's IT scene as and when I have more time to write. Provided, of course, anyone is interested in hearing what I have to say and it adds to this discussion. Meanwhile, very encouraging thinking for all here. |
| czar | Posted
on 12-Mar-03 09:00 PM
Meant to say "Very encouraging thinking from all here." |
| ashu | Posted
on 12-Mar-03 09:49 PM
Czar, Yes, I would like to hear more about this how Nepal (unwittingly) became a half-way house for computer parts between India and Singapore. I havd heard about it on and off, but do not know the details. One thing I have observed is that almost all of today's leading IT players in Nepal started out as TRADERS of computer part-poorja, and many of them remain just that: traders. They still very much have a "trader mentality", going for short-term bucks than making long-term investments. [On another note, I am very much fascinated by how car dealers are actually considered respected/thulo businessmen in Nepal, but let me not digress.] Though the computer people here appear friendly to one another, there seems to be a lot of distrust among them -- and that hurts their ability to pool together resources and strengths for IT-friendly "public benefit" kind of activities such as, say, influenecing the government with one clear voice to establish an IT Park (an idea that was first proposed in 1993, and has yet to be go forward) and so on and on. oohi ashu ktm,nepal |
| czar | Posted
on 12-Mar-03 10:18 PM
The boondogle of the IT park ! What joy ! I couldn't resist that one, pardon my insouciance on tragically missed opportunities. Ashu, I have a fairly clear picture of what conspired then. I will continue on the topic once I have finished writing it in the spare moments I have in the next day or so. I look forward to hearing from all the folks here. |
| Sujan | Posted
on 13-Mar-03 01:14 AM
Good points guys. I just want to emphasize the role of the goverment a bit more. What fuels an immature industry? Money. And lots of it. IT is still very much in its infancy in Nepal. Most entrepreneurs and businesses lack funding in starting/expanding their IT business. They simply don't have the resources- no VC's, no angel investors, and certainly most families don't have the kind of money to fund a risky venture. There isn't a single investor who is willing to take the risk. But funding is an absolute necessity if Nepal wants to compete in a global market place. Among other things, it is needed for future growth and possibly R&D. I am not talking about the mom-pop type outfits- there are plenty of them in KTM, someone here labeled them as 'traders'. Their horizon for profits is two months and most of their services are very limited and only marketable to the residents of KTM. Let's bring in the foreign investors. Well, one look at the infrasture of IT business in Nepal and they turn their heads. So, who is left? Who is the only capable body that has the resources to tap on the IT boom? The government. It needs to allocate some percentage (possibly more) of the fiscal budget to the IT industry in Nepal. This is the only way I can see Nepal's IT business going forward. The business culture in Nepal is different than the Western world, so it needs to be treated differently at least for now. To start, the government can certainly establish a dedicated department of Computer Science and Engineering within an existing University or form a new one, which would have the capability for advanced research and R&D. When will the bureacrats learn that the key to raising the standard of living, and not only for the sake of IT, is education? -Sujan |
| czar | Posted
on 13-Mar-03 09:12 PM
MISSED BY AN INCH, BUT MORE THAN A MILE.. In the mid 80’s, Miller an American arrived in Nepal to establish a computer consultancy, Data System International or DSI as it was commonly known. He found a plenty of young people with strong math and analytical skills who took to programming like ducks to water. These were the first nerds in town. Golly, they even used IBM PC’s! Miller loved Nepal, for which he envisioned a high-tech Shangrila. It was reputed he had pull at Intel and other IT bigwigs back then. He established the foundation of an IT industry in Nepal and he hoped to capitalize on it to form a viable offshore base. That he failed is no surprise. All it took was the intransiengence and utter lack of vision of the politicians and bureaucrats he had to deal with and to whom he presented his plans. No surprise, he left. The DSI crew then spread out and formed most of the IT industry the country now has. Some of the most successful software architects and company owners emerged from this corp. Some left for better opportunities overseas. All thanks to Miller’s handiwork. Singha Durbar’s National Computing Centre had a group that toiled at producing the SLC results. They programmed the old ICL mainframe to eke out some decent data processing results, but clearly, they were flogging a dead horse. While they were at it, those old fogies with their mainframe centric views of computing completely sabotaged any useful IT policies or programs that might have emerged. Job security, you know? The rest of the world raced to embrace the personal computer and distributed model of computing. Technology mavens existed then in the oddest places in 1987. An army general skilled in Dbase programming and a National Planning Commission member who programmed using artificial intelligence tools were some folks around then. Adoption of high tech was quicker than some may think: Lotus 123 was used to create Nepal’s budget in 1988. One week before the broadcast date, the first virus to hit town very nearly scrambled the aforementioned budget. An incomparable Kodak moment. Compared to India, Nepal enjoyed a six-month lead-time regards access to top of the line hardware and software up until 1995. Yet, no one could capitalize on it. We let the opportunity slip by. |
| ashu | Posted
on 14-Mar-03 05:10 AM
Czar, A fascinating account. More, please. I have heard that at one point the employees revolted against Miller, and that led to Miller's leaving Nepal. Is that true? oohi ashu ktm,nepal |
| ashu | Posted
on 14-Mar-03 05:12 AM
Czar, A fascinating account. More, please. I have heard that at one point the employees revolted against Miller, and that led to Miller's leaving Nepal. Is that true? oohi ashu ktm,nepal |
| Logical Sense | Posted
on 14-Mar-03 12:52 PM
Czarji, any affiliation with CIS? Hmms that famous Stone virus ('you pc is stoned!' was the message)? Norton utilities was the only help. Arupani Jawosna! Do you have vision for going forward? I feel it is mportant to think how to leverage form our wisdom for not making same mistakes and people like you who were the active actors of that time should talk/act for future of IT in Nepal. I am assuming here!!!!! -iti |
| czar | Posted
on 14-Mar-03 06:44 PM
Ashu, I am unaware of the circumstances that prompted Miller to pack his bags. Yes, there was a situation where the young Turks and the CEO of DSI all ended up cross-eyed. Logical Sense, Excellent recall ! My memory reported “File not found” when I tried to remember that infamous “your PC is stoned” message. As you correctly said, the only fix for it was to overwrite the boot sector with 0 or 1 using the very same Norton Utilities. Aah, the days of “Debug C800” eh? Imagine the effect of that on an IDE drive !! I wasn’t associated with CIS. Lets just say I knew most all the players and was privy to near everything that went on in the IT sector of Nepal. I’d prefer to leave it at that. :) More later.. |
| czar | Posted
on 15-Mar-03 08:54 PM
IF YOU ONLY PAY PEANUTS, ALL YOU GET IS MONKEYS.. The withdrawal of DSI left a vacuum in leadership and changed the direction the IT industry took. Up until that point Miller, with his knowledge of developments in the US, had the market headed in the right direction: value creation. Some overseas software projects were handled, but with DSI falling apart, the market changed tack. New entrants into the IT market raced to gather up brand dealerships and push boxes to customers. It was a low volume high margin business till the early 90’s. It was then that the ‘traders’ sending parts to India joined the game and wrecked the party for the established ‘name brand product’ vendors. The interlopers flooded the market with inexpensive parts and complete assembled PC’s. Prices and margins crashed. Adding to the strain on profits was the practice of providing free operating systems, applications, training and support as part of the purchase. Wild promises were made to clinch deals mostly followed by erratic service doled out grudgingly later on. Some customers were furious and felt cheated. Vendors saw margins shaved as they spent considerable amounts of time providing technical support for no remuneration. Some enterprising companies offered maintenance and support contracts. It never took off. Even the internaional donors and funding agencies turned a blind eye to rampant piracy. Customers continued to demand and receive free software and technical support that frequently meant many machines were either inoperable for long periods or were underused. Just buying PC boxes doesn’t do it: it needs skilled users, the right product mix and deployment, top management commitment and alignment with business objectives to get results. No one knew then how, or even tried, to calculate a return on investment. There was no examination of under/over investment and technology mix. Nepal needed better knowledge of technology management that perhaps the diaspora might have provided. India tapped into that expertise and prospered. Some viewed IT as a necessary evil that often ended up as an expensive boondoggle. It served as a fine means for ‘hakim sahebs’ to raise cash for ‘naati ko bratabandh’ with cynical suppliers playing the game to survive. All that investment and processing power was hardly tapped. A few vendors attempted to leverage their relationships with clients by expanding into software development. Again, the former DSI crewmembers were the early players. With more computer engineers arriving from India and Russia, it looked like things might take a turn for the better with a critical mass starting to form. Till the late 90’s the government was the biggest consumer of IT. When the demo-crazys’ heady days arrived, funds provided for IT adoption by foreign donors was not tapped with many projects being placed on hold. The revolving door governments meant there often wasn’t anyone around long enough to sit down and do serious business with. India raced ahead. |
| salakjith | Posted
on 15-Mar-03 10:39 PM
interesting account indeed... |