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Higher Revenues But Also Higher Costs For Indian IT Players

Posted on Tuesday, May 18th

Gartner estimated recently that worldwide IT services revenues declined 5.3% over the year in 2009 to $763 billion. Revenues for all players in the industry declined, with HP and Accenture reporting the biggest drops of 10.4% and 11.8% respectively. But India-based service providers saw revenues increase 3.6% for 2009 in dollar terms. However, growth was

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Vision India 2020: Doctor On Wire

Posted on Sunday, Aug 10th

In Doctor At Hand, we addressed the opportunity of building a network of pharmacies to address the common illnesses that a few hundred million people face in rural India.

Vision India 2020: Thakur

Posted on Sunday, Jul 6th

In June 2008, I was in Kolkata for my aunt’s funeral. As ever, our (very large) family congregated over several meals. Whether it was birth or death, or any other family event, these meals had always acted as catalyst for our bonding, and held for us a place of supreme importance.

Vision India 2020: Bioscope

Posted on Sunday, Jun 29th

Professor Raj Reddy at Carnegie Mellon University first urged me to look at micro-franchise as a vehicle for economic development. Today, micro-finance has become a world-renowned phenomenon, especially with Dr. Yunus’ Nobel Prize two years back. [You can read my interview with Raj here.]

McKinsey Study on the Growth of India’s Middle Class

Posted on Saturday, Jan 19th

Republishing this piece to remind readers why urban congestion is a danger that the Tata Nano aggravates: Great article from McKinsey Quarterly, that offers the following projections: * Over the next 20 years, India will likely grow to become the world’s fifth-largest consumer economy, up from 12th now. * A study by the McKinsey Global

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Social Entrepreneur: Harish Hande (Part 14)

Posted on Wednesday, May 23rd

We continue our discussion on India’s economic development, and the gaining affluence of the middle class. Harish challenges the common statements that there is high economic growth, countering that the growth only affects a very limited portion of the population. SM: So the middle class has created affluence. HH: 18% of the wealth is with

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Social Entrepreneur: Harish Hande (Part 13)

Posted on Tuesday, May 22nd

Here Harish and I begin a more philosophical discussion regarding the recent economic development of India. SM: Of course the people you are dealing with are operating in a capital market, and they get rewarded by maximizing shareholder value. The solution you need does not exist. HH: The logic that we are doing it in

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Social Entrepreneur: Harish Hande (Part 12)

Posted on Monday, May 21st

The recent solar energy boom in Germany has placed a significant strain on Selco. Selco will need to face the possibility of continued high demand in developed countries which are already highly industrialized, can pay big dollars, and suck up the supply of solar panels. SM: One of the points I would like to discuss

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