Month: March 2011

I was reading a book on India’s economic history when I started thinking about why we took the wrong policy turns we did repeatedly since Independence. My answer: it comes down to the leader at the top and his/her vision. Which, if you think about it, is not very different from what happens in the corporate world also.

A leader has great influence over the economic policy of a country. The mental models of the leader determine the direction of policy. If India has had flawed economic policy through the years, then in stands to reason that the mental models of our leaders were flawed. Also, given the position they were in, it is only a rare leader who is willing to learn and change by listening to others. Most of those around the leader are not forthcoming with dissent. As a result, what the leader thinks generally holds sway.

Look at India through the eyes of its leaders of the Nehru-Gandhi family, since they have ruled India for most of the time since Independence. Nehru had a dislike for being in anyway dependent on anything foreign, even terming it economic imperialism. Instead of integrating India into the world via trade, he cut India off through his policy of import substitution industrialisation. Indira Gandhi had a socialist bent of mind – with a focus on redistribution and equity. The outcome was all the anti-poverty programmes and various measures to ensure forced redistribution of wealth (high taxes, licence controls on big industry). Rajiv Gandhi did have some good ideas, but did not have the full understanding of the need for opening up the economy.Quite obviously, his mother was his biggest influence.

Sonia Gandhi (MMS is quite irrelevant) too has been influenced by her mother-in-law since there have been no other visible influences on her. So, we see the modern method of redistribution – take money from the middle-class and hand it over to the poor. Farms loans, NREGA, and a myriad other social sector schemes with one thing in common – handouts. What makes us think her son (or daughter) will be any different? Is this the India of tomorrow we want?

What India needs is a real leader who lives, breathes and understands development. A leader with vision who can see the future and make things come alive. Until that happens, we are not going to get out of the morass. If anything, we are digging a deeper hole and reaching a point of no return. The only two leaders who did something good were the ones who did not have the legacy of the past and the family – PV Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

From a post written a year ago:

 The Internet portals business is about three things:

1. Reach: the raw numbers for a basic free service (on desktop and mobile web)
2. Ads: how can we monetise the free services attention via ads
3. More: how the free user can be monetised either through premium products (subscriptions) or via transactions (commerce)

On the Internet, portals have mostly focused only on 1 and 2. By itself, just web ad revenue is not good enough to cover the costs or to scale operations. This limits the portals capability to scale. The challenge in India is to also think about how to build 3.

This week’s links:

• How to estimate market size: by Jeremy Liew. “TAM is really a pretty simple concept – it is what your revenue would be if you had 100% market share in your business.”
• Using Influence to Getting Things Done: from strategy+business. “Convincing senior management colleagues to follow your lead requires a blend of skills that add up to influential competence.”
• Google’s Quest to Build a Better Boss: from NYTimes. See the 8 good behaviours.
• The case against News: by Bryan Caplan. “News, I like to say, is the lie that something important happens every day.”
• Manmohan Singh Epitomizes Evil: by Atanu Dey. Read and feel the outrage. ” India’s government is the greatest evil force that is destroying India. Manmohan Singh epitomizes that evil since he heads that government. So I believe that unless we wake up and destroy those who seek our destruction, we would be responsible for our demise.”

• OPEN HIGHER EDUCATION: The states need to open up the higher education sector so world-class universities can come in and set up institutions here. This should drive research and post-graduates, so that industry gets the skillsets they need for cutting edge work in the IT area.

• INCORPORATE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION: Information technology (IT) makes the provision of education at all levels efficient, effective and affordable. Use of technology while learning makes students “digital natives” and gives them the power to be successful in the post-industrial digital age. Furthermore, use of technology boosts the demand and therefore supports the IT industry of the states.

• WORK WITH BUSINESS to SET TARGETS like KOREA’s IT839: South Korea focused on creating expertise in multiple cutting-edge targets.  Started in 2005, South Korea’s IT839 Strategy laid out a roadmap for both developing South Korean technological infrastructure, and for building an electronics manufacturing capability that would power the country’s economy for decades to come.

In this context, also see the comments I had made at CSI.

Digital India can be built around the following themes:

• BROADBAND: 100 Mbps bandwidth available for Rs 100 per month anywhere in the state. Broadband is a key fundamental requirement for building everything else on the digital side. Basically, the digital infrastructure needs to be given as much attention as other aspects of physical infrastructure (roads, ports, airports, power, etc.)

• MAKE MOBILE NUMBER as IDENTITY and WALLET (STORED VALUE CASH). Even as the Centre plans to spend tens of thousands of crores on the UID/Aadhar project, there is a simpler solution which can be deployed far more quickly and at a fraction of the cost.

• VENTURE FUND: State to do PPP for setting up a Rs 500 crore fund to invest in technology startups based in the State. Ideally, this should be done by VCs, but it is not happening. We need to make an intervention so that innovation “made/created in the State” gets a boost. One way to do this is to create the equivalent of X-Prizes for achieving specific goals in different verticals. This will also attract entrepreneurs to the state.

To be continued.

Showcasing Digital India’s ABC GIS

• By delivering results within the next 2-3 years, state governments can show how corruption can be eliminated and a true democratic platform can be created with citizen participation in local decisions. This will put development on a fast track, and excite the youth and middle India – reinforcing the message that what the state is today, India can be tomorrow.

IT-enabled Social Inclusion in Governance

• Both Central and State Governments at various levels are attempting to ensure that they are able to deliver the benefits of various schemes and program to the needy, society and monitor their effectiveness. Banks and FIs with reach and modern day technology are the most appropriate channels for delivery of these services. In this context, IT Policy and Infrastructure of the state will be very crucial.

To be continued tomorrow.

Accessible Basic Comprehensive Government Information Systems (ABC GIS)

• When citizens have information of what the government is doing, the level of trust goes up, and corruption can be  eliminated
• Government officials and bureaucrats become more accountable and therefore more effective in their functions
• The delivery of government services can be assured

Implementing the ABC GIS

• Make all government data available in real time over the internet
• Establish metrics at all levels of government – state, corporation, ward, panchayat – and track performance
• Make citizens aware of their rights and responsibilities to actively participate in governance by accessing the information and keeping abreast of progress
• Help citizens interact closely and provide feedback to their elected representatives
• Create a “Mirror World“

To be continued.

At the IMC event last week, I did not get much time to speak since the programme was running behind schedule and I had a deadline due to which I had to leave early. Had I got the opportunity to speak more, this is what I would have liked to talk.

Technology and Government: Fast-tracking Democracy

IT Infrastructure to redefine Citizen-State Relationship

Creating “Digital India” is about using Information Technology to:

• Disseminate information
• Deliver services more effectively to citizens in the State
• Encourage feedback from citizens and provide a channel for them to talk back

Information Technology enables transformation at various levels:

• Governance made “user friendly” and transparent
• Involve citizens in working synergistically with the government
• Make citizens active stakeholders in the development of the state

To be continued.

From a post written a year ago:

As one thinks about one’s business, here are five questions that one should ask:

1. Is the market that we are in large enough to ensure our growth?
2. Can we ensure that the Base business continues to grow?
3. What are the Boosters that we can add through new ideas / initiatives / recruitments to incrementally grow the current business?
4. Are there adjacent markets that we can tap into?
5. What are the Breakthroughs / disruptive innovations that we can do that can create or amplify future growth opportunities – either in the current market or adjacent markets?

One way to remember these questions is 3B (Base, Boosters, Breakthroughs) +2M (Market large, adjacent Markets).

This week’s links:

• The Coming Wave of “Social Apponomics”: from strategy+business.”The secret to profitability on the Internet has finally arrived in an innovative blend of social media, Web mobility, and creative e-commerce applications.”
• The Always Logged In Experience: by Fred Wilson.”On your mobile, you are permanently logged into every app you have on your device. When you get a notification, you click on it and are taken right to the exact part of the mobile app you want to engage with. No log in is required. That in and of itself is a big deal.”
• Three steps to building a better top team: from McKinsey Quarterly. “When a top team fails to function, it can paralyze a whole company. Here’s what CEOs need to watch out for.”
• Report on Indian Urban Infrastructure and Services: by a committee headed by Isher Ahluwalia. “Its central message is that urbanisation is not an option. It is an inevitable outcome of the faster rates of growth to which the economy has now transited. Indeed, urbanisation is itself a process that will support growth. The Committee has made recommendations on how to deal with these challenges of urbanisation.”
• Reviews of two interesting books from NYTimes: Aerotroplis and The Information.