Chennai Economy thread

[Mad 4 Madras]

Source

The 10th edition of CII's Connect 2010 will lay the road map for Information Communication and Technology growth in the State for the next 10 years, said its chairman S. Mahalingam on Wednesday.
Briefing reporters, he said “over the last 10 years, CII showcased State's immense potential in the IT/ITES sectors. Tamil Nadu can now move into the next stage of creating an eco-system for collaboration between IT and other industries and assume industry leadership in both domains. We will come out with vision ICT 2020.”
According to Mr. Mahalingam, currently the State ranks second in software exports and continues to attract greater investment and Foreign Direct Investment flow. The ICT sector has created 0.8 million direct employment and 2.2 million indirect employment.
“When we started Connect 10 years ago, we had only a few IT firms on the Old Mamallapuram Road. Today, it has become the de facto IT corridor. Connect 2010 has been broadly classified into three spheres comprising smart sourcing, ecosystem and innovation and entrepreneurship,” he said.
Connect 2010 has been broad based to include other sectors such as automobile, healthcare, entertainment, defence and security. It is all about the new trajectory of growth through innovation and entrepreneurship for IT/ITES industry.
About 200 firms are taking part in Connect 2010 to be held at Chennai Trade Centre on September 8 and 9. The annual event is organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), State government, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A. Raja will deliver the inaugural address, while Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will deliver the valedictory address.
The event will feature three keynote panel discussions on smart sourcing – the future of India, eco-system –future focus and entrepreneurship and innovation feature and theme based sessions. The theme of valedictory panel discussion will be ‘ICT 2020: Tamil Nadu surging ahead'. Lifetime achievement award, entrepreneur award and emerging entrepreneur award will be presented at CII Connect Awards function.

[Mad 4 Madras]

Cross Posting from IT Thread.

Originally Posted by shekar

http://www.hindu.com/2010/09/06/stories/2010090661401600.htm

The infrastructure is fairly stable with education system, skills availability and power

ITs beginning in Tamil Nadu was deceptively quiet, tentative, and known only to a limited circle of technical brains in the 1970s. The information technology sector has grown phenomenally in the three decades that followed to lead a commercial explosion. The State now ranks second in software exports and continues to attract larger investment and foreign direct investment flows. The information and communication technologies (ITC) sector employs around eight lakh people and provides indirect employment to a further 2.2 million in the State.

The natural choice

With its excellent education base and the innate ability of its people for mathematics and logic, the State has provided the most important resource for the sector in the form of talent pool, and organisations within and outside India have come here to lap them up. While Chennai has been the torch bearer for this revolution, other cities are opening up as well. The boom in construction, the phenomenon of retail growth and deluge of vehicle deployment show the visible impact of the change brought about by the IT industry in the economic fabric of the State. The industry has expanded itself to cover not just outsourcing of software work from global destinations but also of business processing and computing infrastructure management. The focus lights now turning on the domestic industry as the hitherto elusive Indian market is poised for high growth. This will not just be an export-focussed industry, but will be of great benefit to Indian society as well.

At the start of this decade, Tamil Nadu needed to be promoted as a destination of choice when neighbouring Karnataka had an IT.com and Bangalore was on the business map of global forces. Tamil Nadu at that time had very few players like TCS, Polaris and Pentafour, setting up their first campuses around the Sholinganallur area on the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR). As years rolled by, the path of progress was well-laid: now one can look back with justifiable pride at OMR which has transformed as the IT Highway, dotted with technology parks, campuses, colleges, and even budding townships and malls representing the neo-lifestyle of the global citizen. All leading IT players have not only set up huge shop here, but have their platters full, facing challenges of a different order in meeting the enormous demand placed on them.

Flight to future

Some factors that gave India commercial success were the competitive advantage offered by its resource pool, education infrastructure, the ease with which the people and processes operated, the English language capabilities that scored vis-a-vis China and in a way the protectionist practices in some western markets. Would the same factors drive future growth? How do we go forward to become leaders, and sustain the leadership?

Plans of countries with similar advantages like China, the Philippines and Vietnam and the protectionist measures in countries like the U.S. will necessitate a change in the business model. Indian IT will have to elevate itself to the next level, move from outsourcing to smart sourcing, as the means for colossal savings to shore up top and bottom lines of companies. India needs to be designers and developers, delivering world-class products and services at low cost, and offers strategic services with integrated solutions, ranging from re-engineered internal business processes to full business process outsourcing along with IT and infrastructure services.

Opportunity

Tamil Nadu has a thriving automobile and ancillary industry; it has acquired a major name in the healthcare field; and it rivals Mumbai and Hollywood in the scale of its entertainment industry. Can all these industries reinvent themselves through a greater infusion of IT? The redefinition is imperative to succeed in the wave of smart sourcing the critical IT intervention to world-class companies. The significant presence, for example, of automotive and IT companies together in a cluster in Chennai should be used to encourage cross-functional collabo- ration. This in turn should provide stimulus to the innovation engine leading to the possible emergence of India as a frugal design centre of the world.

Healthcare for all

In this scenario, the State needs to gear up to address critical questions like providing bandwidth to offer all the players, getting research units and hardware majors to set up shop, and creating enablers for the education system to cope with the growing demand for skills, quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Government role is critical in encouraging growth and stimulating innovation.

The industry on its part will have to gear itself to handle important issues of developing sustainable growth models, identifying opportunities in the global economy, strategising to face possible backlash, and scale up to become global companies.

Delivering affordable healthcare to India's masses presents enormous challenges and opportunities for the medical community, insurers and other service providers. Innovative technologies, processes and partnerships forged by the Central Government and private companies have made a beginning in bridging the healthcare gap. The synergies of healthcare and technology will need to grow at an exponential rate in the near future, if the country is to meet the needs and expectations of people to deliver healthcare with the perspectives of inclusiveness, collaboration and innovation, using technology to reduce disparities. The country needs to make ‘Healthcare for all' a reality.

Model city

Chennai has come this far because its ecosystem including education institutions kept pace with the requirements. The IT corridor has allowed expansion of IT offices into campuses. But the next stage of growth will have to result in creation of sustainable cities with high efficiency buildings, roads and their integration with transit systems to achieve smoother flow of people, integrated townships and energy demand management initiatives.

One should recognise the right of children to free and compulsory education, while at the same time, create employable and productive workforce through the introduction of IT in education. As IT transforms the governance process, the digital ecosystem will narrow the gap between affluence and poverty.

Can Chennai be that dream city one aspires to live in, a financial city a la Shanghai or London? A livable city, green, eco-friendly, with traffic snarls dispersed? Is the city equipped to meet the challenges of a financial city in terms of growth, the latest advancements, innovation in financial products and financial inclusion? How do HR and skills, innovation and entrepreneurship contribute to making the State a forerunner for India in its growth story? What does it take to see the transformation of the city to be the services capital of India? IT companies in Chennai help the world financial centres, and can now look inwards, to help this transformation.

To promote innovation, one needs to have a highly collaborative four-anchor ecosystem, with academia, industry, venture funds and government playing critical roles. These form the classic pieces of the puzzle that fitted well to power the Silicon Valley or the Cambridge model. To create such innovation clusters, Chennai can try to garner some learning from other successful Indian examples like Bangalore, and examine what elements of this formula Chennai owns. The infrastructure is fairly stable with education system, skills availability, power, teaching-oriented research, and strong industry presence in some sectors being other strengths.

Capitalising on these, the State needs to focus on building an ecosystem around the dominant industries like automotive that would bring in world-class domain expertise as well as ready market, promoting innovative entrepreneurship.

Academia-facilitated incubators have had a welcome beginning with the IIT Research Park that houses large players as well as small venture caps that can be good candidates as co-innovation partners. With such promising start, the State needs more universities and institutions to show similar initiative inviting industry to aid incubators.

The missing pieces in the jigsaw could very well be the facilitation with finance, guidance and mentoring for venture capitalists, plus government and regulatory support to de-risk enterprise innovation and provide positive impetus to R&D through appropriate incentives.

[TShyam]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...8391323537541#

I found this video about globalization, Indian economy, American economy. Its an excellent video by economist MR Venkatesh in January 2008.

Dont worry folks. Our culture will make sure that we reach the pinnacle and we will regain our rightful place in world economy. We should come out of the slave mentality and white man superiority syndrome. We may not be super agile cheetahs but are graceful elephants and nothing can stop us

[Mad 4 Madras]

Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai top employment generators

Source

Chennai: Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai ranked as the top employment generators in the country by creating over one lakh jobs during January-September 2010, a Ma Foi Randstad survey said.

While these three cities are leading job generators, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad follow closely behind by creating 30,000 plus jobs during the same period, the Ma Foi Randstad Employment Trends Survey said.


While the health sector created over 1.21 lakh jobs, the hospitality sector created close to 63,000 jobs, it said.

Some of the leading sectors included Real Estate and construction industry, Information Technology, Education, Training and consulting, it said.

In the third quarter,those working in Bangalore are expected to get a 4.9 per cent increase in salaries, Delhi 3.5 per cent and the same in Pune, it said.

Kolkata has the highest estimated percentage of experienced workforce of 82 per cent while Delhi has 35 per cent of freshers, it said.

.....

[saysenthil]

Compare Chennai to leading global cities and destinations and see where we can do better on the scorecard

In the late 1980s as TCS's growth began to pace up, we had a choice between investing in either Chennai or Bangalore. We were bringing India's first new IBM 3090 Mainframe; it was a big event for TCS and the country. What worked then in Chennai's favour was the convenience of a one-hop flight connection via Mumbai from overseas, which Bangalore did not have then. Chennai had excellent educational infrastructure so our talent pool was at hand, the educational ecosystem was good, it was a highly industrialised State, more importantly it was affordable and offered a good lifestyle including a vibrant art and culture scene. All of this together turned our vote for Chennai.

Chennai was the right choice then and it is now. And statistics say so: it contributes approximately 30 per cent of TCS' revenue. At Siruseri, Chennai, TCS is building its largest Techno Park, a LEED-certified building for 23000 associates: A magnificent architectural masterpiece, which is Chennai's signature brand.

Model state

Undoubtedly the State of Tamil Nadu leads the way in terms of development and progress, a model State to many. It enjoys a higher literacy rate of 73.5 per cent as compared to the national average of 65 per cent. It has cornered over a third of market share in textiles, IT and ITeS, leather and automotives space. With the setting up of a number of private colleges, especially engineering colleges, the State has emerged as the largest source of technical manpower in the country – with around 80,000 engineers and 60,000 diploma holders graduating annually in addition to large number of ITI students.

Chennai and Tamil Nadu have achieved a lot so where does it go from here? I hope that Connect 2010 will throw up some new ideas for Chennai's future. I for one believe the time is right to stop looking inwards and look instead to the world, compare Chennai to leading global cities and destinations and see where we can do better on the scorecard.

If we wish this city to leap frog to the next level then we need to:

1. Take a pledge to do things better – look at global benchmarks and models to adapt from;

2. We need to fix the power situation, we need to fix the quality of education where it is not up to the mark, we also need to create those centres of excellence in IT and textiles and automotives; we need to attack on all fronts;

3. The Government can take a leadership role by facilitating this and more importantly removing all hurdles in the way. I am sure I speak on behalf of all my industry colleagues that we will be shoulder to shoulder with the Government on this.

Questions to ask

So let's begin by asking ourselves some questions

Perhaps the civic authorities should ask – What makes Vienna the best city to live in the world? What can we learn from its example – in terms of citizen services, infrastructure of power, water, health education and general lifestyle?

Perhaps we should understand what makes São Paulo the 10th richest city in the world with an economy bigger than Kuwait, how did it transition from a large industrial city to a becoming a destination for services and businesses for the country?

Can the SME sector ask – What makes Austin the most conducive place for SME's how have they done it and how can Tamil Nadu learn from that model and adapt it for Coimbatore?

Alternatively should the Government be looking at the highly differentiated area of Randstad Region in the Netherlands which is a hub of activity and the motor of the economy, where knowledge industry, innovation, business and financial services and tourism in the Netherlands come together? Should they be asking – can the Chennai Coimbatore corridor be modelled in a similar fashion?

We from the IT industry – let's ask ourselves, can we become a Silicon Valley with a difference, can we put Chennai on the global map as the city for frugal innovation out of India?

Yet another idea which I find personally very exciting and doable, is to think about what makes Chennai unique, highlight that, position it well and market the city. For instance, the enormous cultural heritage arts, craft and music, which is alive and thriving, the zeal and passion it inspires, how it helps Silicon Valley deputes connect with their roots. It is a rare phenomenon for any city.

How can this character be played out to attract tourists, historians, art lovers? Can the tech talent and the film industry here, drive the development of Chennai as an animation hub?

I don't know of any other city in the world that has such an interesting mix of IT and culture.

With all these suggestions, when all of us work towards raising the bar in our own areas, we will discover the need to partner and collaborate to a much greater extent and create a vibrant ecosystem that fuels further growth.

(The author is Vice-Chairman, TCS.)

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...1053280700.htm

[H Factor]

The Financial Express

The National Capital Region (NCR) has emerged as the highest job-generating city among the four major metros in India in April-August 2010, industry body Assocham said. According to a survey by the chamber, NCR has created 34.2 percent employment followed by Mumbai (12.70 percent), Chennai (6.12 percent) and Kolkata (4.19 percent) in a sample of 2,40,314 employment opportunities generated in 60 cities during the period.

[TShyam]

@ Kronik

Continued from Chennai Airport thread.

Have you considered that natural gas might replace oil as humankind's main energy source in the future? Already it is fast growing as a source of fuel in power plants around the world, including India, with a number of power plants coming up which will use gas as a fuel.

Yes and biofuels too. But these are nowhere near to replacing crude in the near future and anyway it will take a big oil shock and recession to make these sources as mainstream particularly in aerospace.

Why are India and China frantically making overseas acquisitions now? For the same reason - to ensure a steady supply into the future.

Exactly! why this mad scramble if oil is in plenty? The writing is on the wall. There is not much oil left and the emerging economy is desperate to secure whatever is available.

While onshore drilling produces the majority of oil today, the trend is changing towards offshore drilling, with new regions being tapped, including in India. These reserves are still not entirely proven, and we do not know how much oil and gas there is on the planet.

But the fact of the matter is that only 4 billion barrels of oil was added to proven reserve from 2004 - mere 45 days consumption.

Of course, I still believe that we will doom the planet with our current consumption and lifestyle, but more so because of climate change and environmental pollution, and that is the reason that humankind must earnestly embark on finding sources of clean energy before we kill all the other species and choke ourselves to death.

I agree

I am sorry but what is your assumption that a US citizen would easily be able to manage a rise of USD 100 for a flight ticket?

As I have said, I have to oversimplify certain things to keep it short in that thread. That was based on the assumption that the western govts will blow up the bubble with its "easy money" monetary policy (more on that later). Ofcourse it wont last beyond 5 to 10 years.

I am positively certain that the age of the gratuitious lifestyle of the developed WASP world is coming to an end.

That was my point. We would never be able to live the same life the westerners lived the last 50 years (neither would they). Please go a few posts back in that thread and you will find me saying just that. The world would be radically different in 2025 compared to now. That was my argument against a new airport so ahead of the curve when efficient use of the resources in the current one itself will be enough for the foreseeable future.

However, they have made the rest of the world believe that materialism and consumption is modernism, and the developing world will follow the same path in the future, while the developed world will slowly adapt to a more meagre lifestyle.


I agree.

[Ved Vedamanikam]

Fossil Fuels & Other Energy Resourc

Mr. Shyam & Ms. Kronik:

You both have made reasonable arguments on various issues. Let me provide some additional information. The issues raised thus far are:

1. Fossil fuels, especially crude oil, being non-renewable and finite, will run out in around 40 years at the current rates of World consumption. [Proven reserves of crude of 1350 billion barrels divided by the annual consumption of crude which is around 32.5 billion barrels.]

2. The World cannot sustain (in future) the life-styles of Western nations. Therefore, the third World (Africa, Asia and S. America) and the West themselves have to plan for a more sustainable life-style.

3. Environmental issues due to burning of fossil fuels (including coal).

4. Climate change (read global warming) due to burning fossil fuels (including coal).

Due to the above, Mr. Shyam says lets not get carried away in terms of advanced planning of construction of greenfield airports in Chennai (and elsewhere), that will likely be wasteful.

Ms. Kronik brings out some good points re. the huge recoverable reserves of natural gas available, while at the same time agreeing that the West cannot sustain its thirst for fossil fuels and that the 3rd World should not travel the Western route in terms of economic development.

Let me deal with each issue raised.

Fossil Fuels

With improved technology (deep sea drilling etc.) and economic viability, the proven reserves of conventional crude oil could at least be maintained at current levels, if not enhanced. Currently non-proven reserves become proven over time, whild currently speculative (or non-discovered) reserves will likely move to the non-proven category. The 40-year window could then be a 50-year window or beyond.

And we have not accounted for bitumen, heavy oil, shale oil, and synthetic oil from coal itself. [The Germans distilled fuels for IC engines using coal. South Africa (before apartheid) did the same to beat sanctions.]

Assuming that these non-conventional sources of crude oil have clean-burning technology and are economic, you are now pushing the depletion date to possibly 150 years at current consumption rates!

And we have not considered conventional fossil natural gas - their reserves are huge. With proven reserves of 5650 TCF (trillion, yes) and annual world consumption of 90 TCF, we have 63 years of conventionel nat gas supply. If you add coal bed methane (again assuming the technology and economics), there could be an additional 7500 TCF reserves (proven and non-proven). And what about shale gas, which will likely be a cartel buster, and has reserves of the order of 5000 TCF. We are talking about a supply lasting 300 years based on current consumption.

Issue # 2 - World Cannot Sustain the Lifestyle of the West

With abundant supply of energy (see above, and I have not even taken non-fossil fuels into the equation), the third world should be able to eventually attain the current living standards of the West. Mr. Shyam, lets think big and let us not shortchange our kids, grand kids and beyond.

Ms. Kronik, the West has enjoyed prolific energy consumption, that was necessary for improving living standards. If the West wants to level off its energy consumption, fine. But please do not tell the third world to lower its aspirations. Unless of course you are worried that increased consumption of energy in India and China will render energy too expensive for the West to maintain its sumptious life-style.

Issue # 3 - Environmental Issues

We have today, clean burning coal technology. I am assuming that further technologies either exist or can be developed to protect the environment from increased fossil fuel burning - shale oil, shale gas, coal be methane etc.

Issue # 4 - global Warming

According to a lot of eminent scientists, this issue is a red herring and a hoax. GB has become a religion and scientists who oppose this new religion are black-balled and their careers destroyed.

Trust that the above is useful.

Ved Vedamanikam
Austin, TX

[dis.agree]

Originally Posted by Ved Vedamanikam

Fossil Fuels

With improved technology (deep sea drilling etc.) and economic viability, the proven reserves of conventional crude oil could at least be maintained at current levels, if not enhanced. Currently non-proven reserves become proven over time, whild currently speculative (or non-discovered) reserves will likely move to the non-proven category. The 40-year window could then be a 50-year window or beyond.

And we have not accounted for bitumen, heavy oil, shale oil, and synthetic oil from coal itself. [The Germans distilled fuels for IC engines using coal. South Africa (before apartheid) did the same to beat sanctions.]

Assuming that these non-conventional sources of crude oil have clean-burning technology and are economic, you are now pushing the depletion date to possibly 150 years at current consumption rates!

i don't understand your choice of words such as non-proven reserves etc. i have heard proven (1p/90%), probable (2p/50%), possible (10%) but not unproven reserves - what exactly is that? and is that how you plan your life -based on unproven data, figment of someone imagination.

what do you mean 50 years, 150 years etc? these numbers mean nothing because every such finite resource has a peak production and then falls. so, for instance conventional oil resources would probably be mined for lot more than the 50 years. what is relevant if we could predict when oil production would peak and not how long it will last. and where did you get that r/p ratio 150 years?

And we have not considered conventional fossil natural gas - their reserves are huge. With proven reserves of 5650 TCF (trillion, yes) and annual world consumption of 90 TCF, we have 63 years of conventionel nat gas supply. If you add coal bed methane (again assuming the technology and economics), there could be an additional 7500 TCF reserves (proven and non-proven). And what about shale gas, which will likely be a cartel buster, and has reserves of the order of 5000 TCF. We are talking about a supply lasting 300 years based on current consumption.

conventional natural gas of about 6000 tcf you have quoted are proven reserves. shale gas of 5000 tcf is not proven reserves? please provide apples to apples comparison and source for shale gas & cbm. even usgs & other government agencies that have a penchant for inflating such numbers and paid for doing so, would be surprised with the numbers you have written.

i'll just refer to people who are interested in learning energy to theoildrum or energy bulletin. geologists, oil engineers, advisors to government, senior management folks who worked in top 5 finance services companies all write there.

[TShyam]

@ Mr.Ved Vedamanickam
And we have not considered conventional fossil natural gas - their reserves are huge. With proven reserves of 5650 TCF (trillion, yes) and annual world consumption of 90 TCF, we have 63 years of conventionel nat gas supply. If you add coal bed methane (again assuming the technology and economics), there could be an additional 7500 TCF reserves (proven and non-proven). And what about shale gas, which will likely be a cartel buster, and has reserves of the order of 5000 TCF. We are talking about a supply lasting 300 years based on current consumption.

Thank you for this information. I was totally ignorant about coal bed methane and shale gas. I have to study about them. There is a total of 18000 TCF (what is the volume of earth btw ) according to this data (200 years of consumption at current rate). But don’t you think once natural gas becomes mainstream, it will run out much faster? Imagine all the present and future ships, cars, heavy vehicles running on natural gas! I won’t give it more than 30 or 40 years. Right now its only used for heating purposes and some power stations. Anyway it would require an oil shock for that to happen. I don’t think it would be smooth. It would be disruptive (we are actually through that disruption - high oil prices and the recession are all signs of it).

About the environmental issues and global warming, I totally agree with you. I have always had this suspicion about global warming - that it’s a ploy used by OECD countries trying to scuttle the growth of emerging economies (pls dont call it third world - I think it’s a little derogatory) so that they can enjoy the resources longer. It is totally unfair to develop first with all the resources at their disposal and then turning back and asking those which are developing to not use the cheapest and fastest way to develop giving some weird scientific terms as an excuse. For all the hullabaloo about China and India developing, OECD is still consuming 40% of world's renewables. Let them control their consumption first. US don’t even want to sign the Kyoto protocol. What kind of attitude is that?

Anyway what is this global warming? And what are its effects? If they say polar ice caps are melting, atleast that is understandable. Temperature increases --> ice melts. Ok fair enough. But they are attributing thunderstorms, droughts, and desertification, basically everything on global warming. How to believe these things? Earth is a dynamic planet whose temperature is known to change over time. We had ice age just 10000 years ago. My Rajasthani friends says Thar desert was once a forest and Akbar used to hunt there (I dont know how much is true). So my point is how can they attribute even Katrina on global warming?

I am not saying they are wrong. But the way the western governments behave gives rise to a legitimate doubt in the minds of developing countries. If they are so serious, why dont they change? After all they are the biggest carbon emitters.

@ Disagree

what do you mean 50 years, 150 years etc? these numbers mean nothing because every such finite resource has a peak production and then falls. so, for instance conventional oil resources would probably be mined for lot more than the 50 years. what is relevant if we could predict when oil production would peak and not how long it will last. and where did you get that r/p ratio 150 years?

Correct! I actually wanted to type this in my previous post itself but forgot. Thanks for posting it It’s not that we will run out of oil in 40 years. We may have it for 100's of years but the problem is we can’t get it at the rate we want. They peak and then taper off. One look at the Mexico production will give you jitters. It was rising till 2005 and then within 6 months, started declining. It is declining at an annual rate of 13%. Its now producing only 60% of what it produced in 2005. It turned from an OPEC country (producing close to 4 million bbl/day) to an oil importing country. Of course Mexico is an extreme case. But it gives an indication of how dramatic these things can be. Another example is the fact that the Arabs have told Europe that they wont be getting medium and heavy oil henceforth. It has stopped trading it in the oil exchange. From now on all the heavy and medium are going to Asia and its own local industries. This is another extreme example. The total exports of this type of oil to Europe were almost half a million barrels in 2006 and within 5 years it fell down to zilch.
2006: 320,000
2007:170,000
2008: 140,000
2009: 45,000 - first nine months only
And 2010 apparently will be zero.

This actually came in Financial Times. Here is the link.
http://blogs.ft.com/energy-source/20...edium-for-you/

These are extreme examples. But gives you an indication of what is to come in the next decade.

[kannan infratech]

Apart from natural gas, which is not fully utilised in India due to lack of infrastructure, shale gas has much great potential.

After Reliance pipelines are finished, South and west India and to some extent East India will have NG and it is quite cheap.

The supply and utility infra have to be developed meanwhile so that the received gas is properly utilised.

[satchitananda]

Originally Posted by TShyam

@ Mr.Ved Vedamanickam
About the environmental issues and global warming, I totally agree with you. I have always had this suspicion about global warming - that it’s a ploy used by OECD countries trying to scuttle the growth of emerging economies (pls dont call it third world - I think it’s a little derogatory) so that they can enjoy the resources longer. It is totally unfair to develop first with all the resources at their disposal and then turning back and asking those which are developing to not use the cheapest and fastest way to develop giving some weird scientific terms as an excuse. For all the hullabaloo about China and India developing, OECD is still consuming 40% of world's renewables. Let them control their consumption first. US don’t even want to sign the Kyoto protocol. What kind of attitude is that?

Anyway what is this global warming? And what are its effects? If they say polar ice caps are melting, atleast that is understandable. Temperature increases --> ice melts. Ok fair enough. But they are attributing thunderstorms, droughts, and desertification, basically everything on global warming. How to believe these things? Earth is a dynamic planet whose temperature is known to change over time. We had ice age just 10000 years ago. My Rajasthani friends says Thar desert was once a forest and Akbar used to hunt there (I dont know how much is true). So my point is how can they attribute even Katrina on global warming?

I am not saying they are wrong. But the way the western governments behave gives rise to a legitimate doubt in the minds of developing countries. If they are so serious, why dont they change? After all they are the biggest carbon emitters.

While I am against tagging every weather phenomenon as climate change, I am gravely disheartened by the shallow use of these grave changes happening around.

Climate change is a very serious topic. Just take the overall global ocean pH in the last century you will know the difference Shyam. A slightly acidic ocean is an indication that it is increasingly acidic and the entire ecosystem therein cannot sustain. Just to give an example.

Secondly I find folks using the word desertification very loosely. Still is one of my fave topics so if I may tell desertification is not the process of desert making.. Large parts of deccan plateau and increasingly parts of TN are getting more desertified. (means that the land is not able to sustain any plants and therefore animals.. hence the mental equation with a desert)

One of the theories of sudden decline of Indus valley civilization is also due to large scale deforestation. But lets leave the hypothesis aside.

Does it mean that all the proponents are correct .. NO.... there are so many unknown variables which we will have to discover.. Usually the opponents of climate change tend to brush aside any observation by the usual comment.. its part of natural cycle..

Natural cycle didnt emit the unusually high CO2 ...

Anycase.. the bone of contention is always when west has developed why not us..

Please let us learn from their follies.. We need not ape them... We can pioneer in other technologies which are more eco friendly..

I know the thread is headed to a very heated climate debate.. Let me remind myself that Chennai economy thread is getting super heated..

[dis.agree]

Originally Posted by kannan infratech

Apart from natural gas, which is not fully utilised in India due to lack of infrastructure, shale gas has much great potential.

After Reliance pipelines are finished, South and west India and to some extent East India will have NG and it is quite cheap.

The supply and utility infra have to be developed meanwhile so that the received gas is properly utilised.

i doubt natural gas production in india would rise any more than 200 mmscmd. reliance i think as already reached peak production and i doubt they would be able to sustain that even for a decade. i think they are producing at 80 mmscmd and at that rate they would consume all the recoverable reserves of 9 trillion cu.ft in 10 years at kg-d6. infact we have started importing lng. most of the gas is used for power plants with a small part used for public transporation in delhi & mumbai and for cooking in gujarat where they have extensive gas distribution through a private company (gujarat gas). but then there is plenty of gas available in qatar, iran & russia that we can import once more lng regassification terminals are setup. i don't think it is important if india has a lot of gas or not. there is a price that global markets will determine and gas would be sold by producers (even if it is from india) to consumers who are willing to pay the highest price.

issue we are really talking about was with airports & airlines. they & most transportation run on liquid fuels. building infrastructure to run them on gas (basically electricity - initially from gas fired power plants and transition to renewables) at a global level is a huge task which would take a decade, on a very optimistic basis. replacing the old infrastructure built on cheap oil is all going to take a lot of energy too and question is can we transition to non-oil based economy (& eventually to a non-fossil ecnonomy) without going through a major depression. more & more governments & their departments have started to acknowledge this disrputive issue including iea, doe, pentagon but they continue to paint rosy future scenarios.

[TShyam]

@Sachitananda

Yeah I was a little brash and I concede I dont know much about the climate change. I am sorry. But my point is the developed world did most of the damage and if there should be change, its them who should be at the forefront and they should not burden the developing countries. These countries are trying to pull out 100s of millions of people out of poverty and starvation and integrate them into the mainstream and its only fair that the cheapest and easiest resources are available to them to do that.

[kannan infratech]

@ disagree:

Once NG ia made available all over India, the natural market forces will make it happen. Just by converting major portions of the public transport sector, industrial and power sector, we can transform the economy. I have been an exponent of NG based industries all along the coast of TN - the economy of the region will improve tremendously.

Apart from Reliance, Essar has struck gas in Burma and east coastal states can hugely benefit.

[ranga]

Originally Posted by kannan infratech

@ disagree:

Once NG ia made available all over India, the natural market forces will make it happen. Just by converting major portions of the public transport sector, industrial and power sector, we can transform the economy. I have been an exponent of NG based industries all along the coast of TN - the economy of the region will improve tremendously.

Apart from Reliance, Essar has struck gas in Burma and east coastal states can hugely benefit.

You have forgotten Krishna-Godavari offshore of the coast of A.P where huge deposits of natural gas have been discovered Will it not be much more beneficial for the east coast states of the country as the finds belong to the country and the distance is nearby than the far off Mayanmar. BTW why no surveys made across the palkstraits as there may be huge deposits of Natural gas between the shores of India and Srilanka waiting to be trapped.

[satchitananda]

If we focus on renewable energy mechanisms, we will have the first mover advantage and also we can capitalize by marketing in bigger markets. Also focussing on local indigenous technologies (even if they were centuries old) will give us the much needed cost advantage. Also the entire continent of Africa & Latin america can be our market.

By chasing the oil & gas based technologies, we will be stuck in a rat race.. the sad part is even the winner will still be a rat.. Am not saying turn off the oil spicket tomorrow. Just focus on renewable technologies and also in energy efficiency.

There is growing momentum even in the west, for example, tapping geothermal heat to keep the icy cold winters warm (Cuts energy bills) and likewise with more nature based technologies to eliminate excessive cooling bills in hot places (or summer). No doubt I got a fridge, but I still pine for the good old pot of my childhood days.. Eco friendly and just quenching every sip.. (Dont mistake me .. am just emphasizing the importance of low cost energy efficient technologies)

We have the biggest strength - human potential.. what we need is focus and vision.

[TShyam]

@Sachitananda

Take a look at my post in Salem thread of Tamilnadu subforum

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...postcount=6573

If we develop our rare earths, it will truly be a magnet for high end industries to set shop here. We can surely become a formidable force in renewables.

[satchitananda]

Any addition to our economy is welcome, but I guess this is a case of real David and Goliath..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_ea...t#cite_note-22

We sure do have meagre reserves.. maybe enough to sustain our explosive growth.. China has like 97% of proven reserves and export market..

I think unless some major reserves are found the equation is heavily against the world .. in favor of China...

[TShyam]

What I mean is that we should ensure that the downstream industries stay here. These are really hitech and means serious white collar jobs. Right now we are only exporting the ore which benefits very few people.