Chennai Economy thread

[kannan infratech]

Originally Posted by ranga

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.

What I refered as Reliance is KG basin NGas. Already they are laying pipes to Chennai & Tuticorin, Chennai bangalore Managalore apart from to gujarat & Orissa & west bengal.

[TShyam]

Its now certain that the dollar is going to be devalued. Fed is printing currency like crazy. US is going to witness an inflationary depression sometime this decade. INR is already up 5.5% this month. Dollar index is at 78 - only 10% off its all time low. I am not sure if USD will be the world's reserve currency in 2020.

[robertashok]

Originally Posted by TShyam

Its now certain that the dollar is going to be devalued. Fed is printing currency like crazy. US is going to witness an inflationary depression sometime this decade. INR is already up 5.5% this month. Dollar index is at 78 - only 10% off its all time low. I am not sure if USD will be the world's reserve currency in 2020.

On the other hand Yen is appreciating rapidly.As all the speculators feel it is getting stronger, As Euro and $ headed for brace, everybody is dumping money as YEN. and the Japan government had to intervene buying hell a lot of $ in order to keep yen under control.

When i landed in japan 100 Yen was 33 Rs and now it is 54 Rs.

[TShyam]

Of course Dollar is falling against all major currencies which have productive economies.

[satishanu]

Some of Chennai Headquartered 500+ Crores Conglomerates based on 2009/10 revenues (not including IT and multinationals like Ford, Hyundai, Nokia etc etc):

TVS Group - 18,000 Crores

Murugappa Group - 13,617 Crores

Ashok Leyland - 7,872.60 Crores

MRF Group - 6,142 Crores

Amalgamation Group - 5,500 Crores (2008 figures)

India Cements - 4,221.69 Crores (Link)

Sanmar Group - 3,620 Crores

Aban Offshore Ltd - 3,358.66 Crores

BGR Energy - 3,092 Crores

Madras Cements - 2,821.25 Crores

CCCL India - 1,841.30 Crores

Rane Group - 1,687.5 Crores

Appollo Hospitals - 1,458 Crores

Sun TV Network - 1,437.5 Crores (Link)

Orchid Pharma - 1,343 Crores (Link)

Madras Fertilizers - 1,302.84 Crores

Hatsun Agro - 1,140.88 Crores

TNPL - 1,073.63 Crores

EDAC Engineering - 1,050 Crores

Cavinkare - 881.9 Crores

GVR Infra - 800.1 Crores

MGM Group - 700 Crores

Johnson Lifts - 600 Crores

Manali Petrochemicals - 419.96 Crores

Diamond Group - 400 Crores

TTK ??

Are there any more companies with more than 500+ C revenues?

[karthikarthik]

Some of the companies which has a turnover more than 500 crore.

Cavinkare, Hatsun Agro, Aban Offshore Ltd, Balaji Distilleries Ltd, Blue Dart Aviation Limited, Celebrity Fashions, Sanmar Group, Chettinad Group, Consolidated Construction Consortium Ltd(CCCL), Diamond Engineering Chennai Pvt Ltd(Diamond Group), Dorcas Market Makers Pvt Ltd, Empee Group, EDAC Engineering, GVR Infra, IM Gears Pvt Ltd, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Johnson Lifts, Kone Elevators, Mafoi, Marg, Pioneer Wincon,Shriram City Union Finance, Shiram EPC, Shri Gokulam Chits, Surana Industries, TNPL, Madras Fetilzers, Aavin, Tecpro, India Cements, Madras Cements, Thiru Arooran Sugars Ltd, TAFE, Tulsyan NEC Ltd, Turbo Energy Ltd, United India Insurance, Watanmal India Pvt Ltd, Jhaver Group.

Not listed IT and MNC companies. Not sure whether to include Royal enfield.

[satishanu]

Thanks Karthik for the comprehensive list.
There could be more w.r.t to leather, textile, hospitality and jewelery.

[MethodMan]

APOLLO HEALTH CARE headquartered in chennai.It is the largest healthcare provider in Asia and the third largest in the world.

[slakhs]

Originally Posted by satishanu

Some of Chennai Headquartered 500+ Crores Conglomerates based on 2009/10 revenues (not including IT and multinationals like Ford, Hyundai, Nokia etc etc):

India Cements - 882.79 Crores

Are there any more companies with more than 500+ C revenues?

India cements revenue mentioned above by you is quarterly revenue. For the full year ended march 2010 is about 3800 Crores.

The biggest by revenue will be CPCL at 36,489 crores last year (though it is a PSU and part of IOC)

Also Shriram Group (of the chit funds fame) will probably rank 2nd or 3rd as a conglomerate.

Orchid Chemicals & Pharma last year was about 1200 crores

Slakhs

[satishanu]

^Thanks. Corrected with right figures in the original post.

Shriram Group total would be very huge in the range of 10K-11K Crores. Their chit fund is 3,000 Crores (link), EPC is 1,376 Crores(link), City union Finance is 2,000 crores (link)

[Mad 4 Madras]

Cross posting from Chennai Projects thread

Originally Posted by Subra

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Ch...-likely/701938

The construction of a Chennai-Bengaluru industrial corridor and a joint search for valuable rare earth materials, whose production is currently monopolised by China, are expected to be among the major strategic projects to be announced in Tokyo on Monday by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan.



The decision to build a Chennai-Bengaluru industrial corridor will mark the deepening of the Japan-India Special Economic Partnership Initiative launched a few years ago and underline Japan’s strategic commitment to India’s rapid economic development.

A new bilateral initiative on rare earths, which are needed for the production of a range of high technology goods, will help frame the convergence of the Indian and Japanese interests in securing strategic natural resources at a moment when China is leveraging its monopoly for political purposes.

Delhi and Tokyo had announced in 2005 two ambitious mega projects to modernise India’s lagging infrastructure. One was dedicated rail freight corridor (DFC) to move goods between Delhi and Mumbai. The other was an develop a Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) all along the new rail line to be built between the two cities with Japanese assistance at a cost of nearly US$90 billion.

The decision on Chennai-Bengaluru corridor will extend the concept to peninsular India. Delhi and Tokyo also plan to link this new corridor to Southeast Asia as part of an effort to integrate India into the Asian industrial production chains.

As in the Western corridor, the Southern Corridor too will involve the development of green cities, industrial parks, special economic zones and the development of new ports. This high quality infrastructure will be developed through collaboration between private and public sectors of India and Japan.

China, which today controls more than 90 per cent of world’s production of rare earths, started curbing the exports of rare earths to Japan last month after their recent spat over disputed islands in East China Sea.

Anti-Japanese rallies in China and anti-Chinese protests in Japan have showcased the enduring maritime conflict between Tokyo and Beijing.

As Singh landed in Tokyo amidst the growing between Tokyo and Beijing, the Japanese government urged China on Sunday to restart the exports of rare earths. China supplies nearly 90 per cent of Japanese rare requirement.

As Japan scrambles to find alternative sources for rare earths, it is natural that Tokyo turns to India among others. According to US Geological Survey, India has about 3 per cent of world’s rare earths reserves, located mostly in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Orissa.

Besides assisting India in the exploration of additional reserves, Tokyo could transfer technologies that can improve the efficiency of its rare earths production. The two countries could also collaborate in the exploration and production of rare earths in third countries.

[THEGREAT]

Iam new to this forum.
Iam very worried about the cost escalation in chennai...I dont think it is healthy for a budding city..Food is very costly.Even south indian foods are costly.I recently went to Saravana bhavan near satyam and I found out that 2 idlies cost 45 ruppees which is atrocious..

Actually IT companies began to invest in chennai five years ago because of low cost of living when compared to hyderabad ,bangalore or kolkata...But the cost has risen to such a level that it is costlier than hyderabad and kolkata...Many IT/Non-IT companies are entering into kerala and cities like Pune as they find it cheaper to get land and resources when compared to chennai...

If you see the OMR road,the drainage system sucks there and the road consitions itself shows us that the development is unplanned...No service lanes till now even after inauguration of OMR road..The sozhinganallur junction is the worst junction...I have heard that Intel rejected chennai because of slow processing in giving facilities/land to their company(might be a rumour)..
The main thing which is bothering me is that there are no footpaths in chennai...The city has become dirtier day by day....Autowallas and share autowallas are charging in excess....Whatever projects like microsoft campus which came to chennai had been lost due to corruption..
Chennai is lacking in tree cover..Chennai has a humid hot climate which can only be tolerable with increased tree cover.For example :We can see the difference in temperature when we cross the Adyar area towards guindy...
These are just some of my dissapointing views about chennai(whether it is correct or wrong)...

I would just want to know the steps taken by govt in rectifying these issuesas you guys keep track of projects in chennai....

[seku]

THEGREAT, first lemme welcome. and there separate threads for different topics.. take sometime to go around those threads, and you will get to see the updates on the ongoing projects, and discussions on most of the issues pointed by you...

[satchitananda]

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...2650070900.htm


Despite repeated talking down of inflation concerns by policymakers at various levels, inflation expectation at the household level is evidently not assuaged and seems to be headed on a steady upward trajectory.

An RBI inflation survey for June 2010, which tracks and measures inflation expectations at the household level in 12 cities across the country, shows a surge in inflation expectation to 11.9 per cent by June next year, up from the 11.1 per cent this June.

The latest survey, which tracks and measures inflation expectations across the country based on consumption basket of 4,000 urban households and is distinct from the widely used WPI and CPI estimates, throws up some pertinent side-information. Bangalore residents, for instance, have a highest inflation expectation at 16 per cent for the next 12-months and Chennai the lowest at 7.7 per cent, with Delhi, Mumbai and eight other cities recording inflation expectation of between 11 per cent and 13 per cent.

Interestingly, the trend has been also seen in the previous quarterly surveys carried out by the RBI, Bangalore at the top of the inflation expectation chart and Chennai right at the bottom. Other insights include an age group break-up, which shows senior citizens exhibiting higher inflation expectations, with those around 60 years reporting an inflation expectation of 11.6 per cent over a one year timeframe while people in the 25-year bracket peg it at a much lower 10.6 per cent.

Also, the proportion of people who think realty rates will rise faster than current trend has surged from 61 per cent in the previous survey in March 2010 to 72 per cent in the June survey. The latest survey also shows that inflation expectation among men (12 per cent for 12-months) is marginally higher than women (11.9 per cent). Among various category of respondents, daily-wage workers predictably envisage a higher inflation rate one year ahead (at 12.5 per cent), followed by housewives (12.3 per cent) and self-employed professionals (11.7 per cent).

All in all, its boils down to a far greater number of people expecting price levels to increase faster than current rates compared to the pervious survey of March 2010. While in March, around 62.8 per cent expected price to rise faster than the existing rate a year on, this figure has spiked to 70.8 per cent in the June survey. This, in large measure, could be indicative of an inherent distrust of the importunate government-speak on inflation, considering that the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman and the RBI top brass have been consistently fanning runaway inflation since the beginning of this year by way of repeated statements on how it will be brought under control “soon”.

Credibility question



How credible these surveys are, since there is a big element of subjectivity in the way respondents go about answering questions, could be a different debate altogether. However, what is of importance is similar household inflation expectation surveys are being extensively used by a number of central banks to portend the inflationary scenario. These include the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Bank of England, the European Commission, Riksbank (Sweden) and the Bank of Japan.

While inflation impacts purchasing power, inflation expectations are what influence people's behaviour in ways that have a long-term economic impact. The RBI survey provides a sort of a personal touch to the otherwise abstruse inflation conundrum.

The Reserve Bank does caution on the coherence between the general price trend and the outcome of these surveys — that projections from these surveys represent the inflation expectations of 4000 urban households based on their individual consumption basket and, therefore, these are not to be regarded as predictors of any official measure of inflation. For the record, the official WPI inflation for June 2010 was 10.3 per cent.

The RBI has been conducting its quarterly Inflation Expectations Survey of Households since September 2005. The Survey seeks qualitative responses on price changes (general prices as well as prices of specific product groups) in the next three months and the next one year and quantitative responses on current, three-month ahead and one-year ahead inflation rates.

Global experience

On the global experience, different countries use a bevy of varied methodologies to conduct similar inflation expectation studies, such as mail surveys, telephonic surveys, Internet surveys and face-to-face interviews. Some central banks do independent surveys — Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Bank of England, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, South African Reserve bank, Czech National Bank — while some as a part of their consumer confidence survey — European Commission, Riksbank, Bank of Japan and Australia.

Varied designs, such as independent sample in each round, pure panel and repeat panel, are used by different countries for such surveys. The RBI uses the quota-sampling, survey-based method to insightful effect.

[TShyam]

I will try to explain inflation from what I understand.

Annualized M3 (total money supply) growth in India - 17 - 18% p.a.

M3 = GDP growth + Inflation.

When GDP growth reaches 17%, There will be no inflation. But both need not be concurrent. For example, GDP growth(around 7%) and inflation (6%) was low in 2009 because money flow was conservative and its "velocity of flow" was less. But as it started flowing into the real economy, both went up to 9 and 11% respectively. This basically compensates for FY2009.



What RBI should do?

Print (or create) no more money than the actual GDP growth. This is necessary for price stability.



Why is it printing a "bit extra"?

Its the government's wish. By printing more, it creates inflation which is a silent blanket taxation on everybody holding cash and cash equivalents. The government always runs a deficit budget, borrows the money from RBI, pays back in inflated rupees. This way the government is taxing in a blanket way rather than in a differential way. This is one of the reason why rich gets richer and poor gets poorer. The central and state government has absolutely no motivation to run a budget surplus. This is also the reason why government often projects inflation as a good thing "necessary for growth". No matter what the "experts" in media tell, this is not true. In reality all it does is silently rob the people.



Have minimal level of cash, cash equivalents and cash linked instruments (FD, RD, bank deposits, bonds, insurance plans). Always convert currency into tangible assets. Go for high yield yet safe money market instruments. There are lot of such hidden instruments available in India which are not mainstreamed.



What is wrong with U.S?

Since M3 is GDP growth plus inflation, they think by increasing M3, they can somehow kick start GDP growth. What is really happening is that the money is flooding the consumer part of the economy and government spending on unproductive economy. Since all the money created is based on debt, it only pushes the country deeper and deeper into debt which the future generation cannot afford to pay. The recovery which is statistically projected in the US is nothing but accounting fiction. In reality, foreclosures are increasing, capital is scarce, economy is deteriorating, and the US government thinks printing money will solve the problem.



Why there is no Inflation then?

Because the money created is sitting on bank balance sheets and has not yet entered the economy. As the velocity of flow picks up, the west in general and U.S in particular would enter a period of persistent stagflation (economic stagnation+high inflation). Coming out of the stagflation, U.S economy will be much smaller w.r.t the world's economy (currently its around 25% ), the standard of living of Americans would have been substantially reduced. Everyone wouldn't be able to afford large independent homes in sprawling suburbs. People will be forced to move closer to their place of work and live in high rise apartment blocks closer to CBDs. The cost of fuel would be much higher. As a result, although most will have personal vehicles, a considerably higher proportion wont be driving it like they do it now. Either they will be closer to work or will start using electric vehicles/public transport. Reverse migration of not only foreigners but also native Americans to emerging economies particularly to Asia and Brazil will increase. It will also be forced to change from a consumption driven to a production driven economy.



All these, I foresee happening within the next 10 to 15 years.

[seku]

Originally Posted by TShyam

I will try to explain inflation from what I understand.

Annualized M3 (total money supply) growth in India - 17 - 18% p.a.

M3 = GDP growth + Inflation.

When GDP growth reaches 17%, There will be no inflation. But both need not be concurrent. For example, GDP growth(around 7%) and inflation (6%) was low in 2009 because money flow was conservative and its "velocity of flow" was less. But as it started flowing into the real economy, both went up to 9 and 11% respectively. This basically compensates for FY2009.



What RBI should do?

Print (or create) no more money than the actual GDP growth. This is necessary for price stability.



Why is it printing a "bit extra"?

Its the government's wish. By printing more, it creates inflation which is a silent blanket taxation on everybody holding cash and cash equivalents. The government always runs a deficit budget, borrows the money from RBI, pays back in inflated rupees. This way the government is taxing in a blanket way rather than in a differential way. This is one of the reason why rich gets richer and poor gets poorer. The central and state government has absolutely no motivation to run a budget surplus. This is also the reason why government often projects inflation as a good thing "necessary for growth". No matter what the "experts" in media tell, this is not true. In reality all it does is silently rob the people.



Have minimal level of cash, cash equivalents and cash linked instruments (FD, RD, bank deposits, bonds, insurance plans). Always convert currency into tangible assets. Go for high yield yet safe money market instruments. There are lot of such hidden instruments available in India which are not mainstreamed.

interesting. i dont know much about these theories, and just curious to know little more.

1. If it's so simple and clear (i mean the steps to be taken) to reduce the inflation, then why these points are not put forward to govt in sound manner. say, even the opposition should be aware of these facts. other than, blaming the govt's failure to control the inflation, i dont see much is being done by opposition.

2. is it that worth to risk their govt, by not controlling the inflation. coz, almost everywhere and all opposition parties are taking the word inflation against the govt (though not constructive). and its not a problem only with india, even other countries also face this. there should be a strong reason / show stopper for the govt to control, i feel. else, if its controllable only by stop printing currencies, then at least few countries would have done.

3. in recent days we see INR value is raising against many other currencies, in particular USD. does it has anything to do with inflation?

may be i'm missing some basic points behind.

[TShyam]

1. If it's so simple and clear (i mean the steps to be taken) to reduce the inflation, then why these points are not put forward to govt in sound manner. say, even the opposition should be aware of these facts. other than, blaming the govt's failure to control the inflation, i dont see much is being done by opposition.

Its a simple case of "kada thengaya eduthu vazhi pullayarukku odaikara kathai" (Rob paul and pay peter). The government in India basically survives on spending taxpayers money on vote yielding policies. What successive governments does is simply a little more than cash for votes. If the opposition comes to power they should also do this. That is why they dont prescribe these things. Another thing is our opposition (BJP) itself runs some state governments which run budget deficits. So congress can quickly rebuff if BJP raises these points. By introducing a mild inflation (say 2 to 3%), it has a policy tool to silently rob our peter (vazhi pullayar in Tamil example) too without peter himself knowing it. The problem arises only when it shoots up as it is now. You see no party will raise these issues unless the people in mass demands it. But our people are more interested in 1000 rupees + chicken biryani + 1 quarter policy. So dont expect any change. As Frederic Bastiat said "The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else."

Unless this mentality changes, budget deficits will continue.

2. is it that worth to risk their govt, by not controlling the inflation. coz, almost everywhere and all opposition parties are taking the word inflation against the govt (though not constructive). and its not a problem only with india, even other countries also face this. there should be a strong reason / show stopper for the govt to control, i feel. else, if its controllable only by stop printing currencies, then at least few countries would have done.

As I have said, if inflation is less than 3 or so percent, its almost imperceptible in day to day life. So government always prescribes those kind of inflation as it would seem the people are also earning more and more each passing year. Its only when the velocity of flow increases dramatically from one point of time to another, that we see such sustained periods of inflation as we are seeing now. And regarding your last line, government need not stop printing currencies, but it should be in line with the increase in produce of a country.

3. in recent days we see INR value is raising against many other currencies, in particular USD. does it has anything to do with inflation? may be i'm missing some basic points behind.

INR is raising only with respect to USD and GBP, its falling w.r.t all the other major floating currencies. for example it has fallen 6% against euro in the past 3 months, similar against Canadian, Australian, Singapore dollars, Japanese Yen, Brazilian rial etc. Yes, it has to do with inflation in an indirect way in that both are a function of money supply. Typically over a long period of time currencies of countries having higher inflation would progressively lose its value although it may not be the case in the short term. Exchange rate also depends upon other factors like our trade deficits (import-export), FDI and FII inflows and outflows etc.

[Zailsingh]

I did not know where to post this info. I saw a thread on how chennai is not able to attract major software companies into its fold.

Actually chennai does attract lot of software companies in the small and medium range. Most of founders/directors seem to have their origin from the state and their first preference seems to be chennai.

Here is one. Please ready the whole story. It is very interesting and not sure how the local govt can tap this company to take education to various remote corners of the state with the help of technology.
I am no way related to this company except it interviewed with this company few years back in US and turned down a job offer from them. Now i do regret the decision.

Read on...

From studying under the streetlights to CEO of a US firm!

Here is the rags-to-riches story of an extremely talented boy from a small
village in Tamil Nadu who has risen to be the chief executive officer of a
company in Seattle, USA.
It is also the story of how Kalyana Raman Srinivasan, who was so indigent that he had to study under a streetlight, but then managed to score excellent marks, rose in life and became today's Kal Raman.
At every turn in his life, he took the difficult path and it turned out to
be the right one and in the right direction. His rise to the top is more
dramatic than a thriller. Today, he is a very successful entrepreneur and the
founder-CEO of GlobalScholar.

Read his extraordinary story of triumph and determination . . .

Difficult childhood

Kal Raman was born and brought up in a small village called Mannarakoil in
Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. It was a comfortable normal middle class
life for him and his siblings as his father was a Tahasildar there.
But the sudden death of his father at the age of 45 changed everything
overnight.
Kal was 15 then. "My mother got a pension of Rs 420 a month and you can imagine how tough it is to educate four children and feed five mouths with Rs 420?"
Hi life changed dramatically after his father's death. The family moved from
the rented house to a hut that had no proper water supply or electricity. Kal
Raman remembers, "All of us used to study under the streetlight and, thank god,
the streetlights used to work those days! MGR (M G Ramachandran) was the chief minister then. We had to sell the plates to buy rice to eat and my mother used to give us rice in our hands. That bad was our situation."
But his mother, who had studied till the 8th standard, was very particular that
her children studied. "All our relatives wanted my elder brother to stop
studying and take up the small job offered by the government but my mother
wanted him to continue studying."
"Then they wanted me to learn typewriting and shorthand so that I
could get some job after the 10th standard. But mother said, 'My children are going to get the best education I can offer. Education is our salvation.' She was my hero for her vision and she still is my hero."
What kept the family going? "We were sad but because we accepted our fate, we were at peace with whatever that happened to us. We knew our father would not come back to lift us up from poverty. We also knew our salvation was a long way away."
He didn't know why he used to tell his mother, "One day I will give you so much money that you will not know what to do with it!" Years later, he did exactly that!

First turning point in life
Kal Raman believes that God played a hand in all the major turning
points in his life. The first turning point in life was after his 12th standard. He got good marks in both the engineering and medicine entrance exams, and for engineering, he got admission at the Anna University in Chennai while for medicine, it was in the Tirunelveli Medical College.
"While going in the bus with my mother to join the medical college, I told her,
"If I join for medicine here, the high probability is that my life may
begin and end in Tirunelveli. I really want to see the world.' She agreed with
my decision to go to Chennai and join Anna University and study Electrical Engineering and Electronics."
So, he stepped into a new world outside Tirunelveli, and that was Chennai.
Though he had got merit scholarship and a lot of good people helped him pay the initial fee,the scholarship amount never used to reach him regularly or on time."The mess fee was Rs 250 a month and I used to be a defaulter in the mess at least six months in a year. Till you pay the mess fee, you cannot eat in the mess. So, I used to live on day scholars' lunch boxes and also use to
fast. That is when I learnt to fast ! I must say a lot of friends helped me with money and food."
Scarcity of money was so bad that he had no money to buy food just before the final semester exams. When he gave his final semester exams, he had not eaten for a day-and-a-half. "After finishing the exam, I almost fainted."
The day after the exams came all the scholarship money that was due and it was around Rs 5,000. "So, I went home a rich man and that helped us repay some loans."

First job
Like opting for Chennai and joining Anna University instead of a college in
Tirunelveli, Kal Raman took another risk with his first job also. His first job
was with Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE), and he had a choice of joining either Chennai or Mumbai.
Although he knew nobody in Mumbai, he chose the capital of Maharashtra.
He remembered the first day. "It was interesting. With bag and baggage, I went to the TCE office after taking a shower at the railway station as I
had no money to go to any hotel. After the first introduction at the office,the
manager noticed that I was wearing slippers to the office. He called me and
said, "I don't care which college you are coming from but this is not
acceptable. You should come in shoes tomorrow."
I said I couldn't come in shoes the next day and this the manager construed as arrogance. "How could you talk like this?" he asked me. I said, "Sir, it is not
that I don't want to, but I can't afford to buy shoes. Only after I
get my first pay cheque, can I buy shoes. Sir, I request you not to terminate my job because of this. I and my family need this job."
Shocked to hear the explanation, the manager asked, "Where are you
staying?" and the reply was, "Dadar Railway Station."
So distressed was the manager to hear Kal speak that he immediately released a month's salary in advance and also arranged for him to be at his friend's place till he could find a place to stay.
"He bought me a pair of shoes and those were my first shoes. The next day, I
sent Rs 1,500 from the advance to my mother."

From electrical engineering to programming

Kal's rise in career was meteoric in a short span of time. Within a month, he
got a chance to move to Bengaluru (then Bangalore) and also to programming.
Soon, he was in Chennai with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Within a few
months, he was sent toEdinburgh, UK.From Edinburgh, his next stop was the United States. In 1992, he went to the US as an entry level contractor with Wal-Mart. In two years, he was a director running a division.
When he left Wal-Mart after six years, he was a man running the information
systemsfor the International Division of the retail giant.
In 1998, he joined drugstore.com Online Pharmacy as the chief information
officer and in 2001 at the age of 30, he was the CEO of the company.
He was at the right place at the right time. "God was there at every step
guiding me to take the right decisions. I was also willing to take risks and
tread new paths," Kal says.

Starting GlobalScholar
Philanthropist Mike Milken who had donated more than a billion dollars to
education, wanted to use technology so that high quality education was
accessible to ordinary people.Milken convinced Kal to join him. That was the time Kal was building schools in his village for poor students.
In October 2007, GlobalScholar was launched targetting both teachers and
students by acquiring four companies -- National Scholar (USA), Classof1
(India), Excelsior (USA), and Ex-Logica (USA) -- that were into education.
"Three months after the launch, I travelled all over the US,India, Singapore and China talking to teachers and companies and the public. I found that the only way to impact education was by impressing teachers. The biggest scarcity in the world is good teachers. We decided to help tchers with
teaching practices and kids, learning practices."
Kal Raman decided to concentrate on the US market as the US is more advanced in using technology. "They are also willing to pay money for technology. At present, schools buy the material which can be used by teachers, students and parents."
Today, they have 200 people working for GlobalScholar in Chennai and 150 in the US. The study material is prepared in the Chennai office.
The company that was started with $50 million will have in excess of
$32 million and will generate $5 million of profits. In 2008, the turnover of the company was Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million) and in 2009, it was Rs 80 crore (Rs 800 million). In the current year it will be 150-160 crore (Rs 1.5-1.6 billion).
"GlobalScholar is growing at 200 per cent every year. We have 1,000 schools and 10 million students, which is one out of 10 kids in the US, using our study
material. This is almost 18 per cent of the US population. We are the fastest
growing education company in the US."
GlobalScholar will soon introduce a pilot project in India and China. In the
course of all this, Kalyana Raman became Kal Raman. "The country gave me
everything and took half my name."

Giving back to society
Kal Raman is in India now for the Kumbhabhishekam of the temple at his village Mannarkoil. "It is taking place after 500 years. It is the culmination of
two-and-a-half years of work. I have spent more than one and a half
crore rupees (Rs 15 million) to renovate the temple and do the Kumbhabhishekam. More than anything else, I have given jobs to all my friends in the village who are masons and carpenters."
Other than this, he has also adopted all the orphanages around his village and
he takes care of around 2,000 kids, some of whom are physically handicapped.
"I feel if I can educate these children, eventually we can make a difference in
the society. We also help 100 children in their higher education. Around my
village, everyone knows that if a kid who studies well cannot afford to pay
fees, he has to only come to my house; his education will be taken care of."
"I do not do this as charity; its my responsibility. I am giving something back
to the society that fed me, taught me, and took care of me and gave me hopes. "

[darkprinz]

Thanks for sharing .. it was so inspiring

[ranga]

There are no words to describe this extraordinary guy.It is very very rare that GOD has bestowed all the good qualities in this man.Some incidents in his life is very moving.A true story ideal to be a box office hit if made in to a movie.