FO° Podcasts

Rare Story of a Global Indian Manufacturing Success

 
In this episode of FO° Podcasts, Fair Observer’s Editor-in-Chief Atul Singh is joined by Sharad Kumar Saraf, a legend in Indian manufacturing. Saraf braved the license-permit-quota raj of Indian socialism to take on an American giant and emerged as a world leader in his field. He explains how he got started and how India can achieve manufacturing success.
Sharad Kumar Saraf graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, in 1969 when IIT Bombay was churning out talent for American universities. Almost 69% of his classmates left for the US, but Saraf stayed on to achieve a rare and spectacular success in manufacturing in India.
 
Saraf himself had scholarships to two American universities. However, one night he asked himself what was wrong with his country and decided to stay back. Of course, his mother was chuffed. Saraf did not have a clue as to what to do but soon began working for his cousins who manufactured electric motors. Today, the REMI Group is recognized as a pioneer in manufacturing electric and geared motors in India.
 
His relatives packed him off to the German Democratic Republic, better known as East Germany, where Saraf learned the tricks of the trade. He stayed on after work to observe their processes and copied the industrial secrets they had not shared with this young Indian engineer. Saraf did what the Americans did to the British and what the Chinese are doing to the Americans in the never-ending cycle of acquiring technology.
 
An extraordinary entrepreneurial journey
 
Eventually, Saraf and his brother (also an IIT Bombay alumnus) decided to make closures for 200-liter steel drums, which store oil, chemicals and other liquids. Drums have two screwed openings, one two-inch and the other three-quarters-inch. The two brothers took on an American company that monopolized the drum closure market—and won. Today, Technocraft Industries India Limited, the company started by the Saraf brothers in 1972, is the only other market player in the space.
 
Making these screwed closures is complicated. Technocraft Industries’ secretive American competitors shredded their scrap to avoid anyone reverse engineering their product. The Saraf brothers nearly went bankrupt in trying to crack the code for making these closures. They made many mistakes and managed to succeed despite having no resources.
 
Saraf credits his education at IIT Bombay, which taught him and his brother to think outside the box, go deep and never give up. Both brothers plowed profits back into the business. They kept improving their technology and reducing their workforce every year. Efficiency gains helped Technocraft Industries become a world leader by 1990. They were exporting to more than 40 countries.
 
About 135 million steel drums are produced every year. Saraf’s company produces 65 million closures and, unlike their competitors, they do not make their own drums. Therefore, they have no captive market and give their customers a top product as well as many value-added services.
 
Earlier, Technocraft Industries imported its steel. Since 1995, Saraf’s company has been buying all its steel from Jindal Steel Works (JSW). Today, the company has two factories in India and one in China. This factory serves the Chinese market and produces 15 million closures per year. This figure is in addition to the 65 million produced in India.
 
Manufacturing: India v China
 
Because the Saraf brothers are in India, quality control is better, supervision is easier and volumes are higher. In China, manufacturing costs are higher. Power costs more, as does labor. Chinese steel is cheaper but medium, small and micro enterprises (MSME) pack what they produce and do not do quality control. So, Technocraft Industries Limited would have to send eight to ten people to train their suppliers. Now, things are better.
 
The biggest disadvantage in India is the bureaucracy, the red tape and the corruption. Saraf takes the view that corruption in India is far worse than in China. Thankfully, in over ten years, no inspector has ever visited Saraf’s factory in Anhui to ask for a bribe or cause Saraf any grief. In India, the laws are unclear, bureaucrats have far too much discretion and no deadlines when it comes to making decisions. In fact, India’s officials can sit on a file for years. There is no accountability for these officials. Furthermore, goalposts change constantly and decisions of officials are arbitrary. In contrast, Chinese officials make decisions in a time-bound manner. In business, time is money and India’s officials make life very difficult for manufacturers.
 
India’s colonial state was anti-manufacturing and anti-business. Its job was to cut Indian competition off at the knees so that British industry could use India as a captive market. Since independence, the government has tried to industrialize, but officials have become corrupt and want bribes. So, transaction costs have simultaneously gone up and are not accurately measurable. Manufacturers have to show false profits to pay venal officials.
 
Why are Indian bureaucrats anti-business?
 
After independence in 1947, the government turned socialist and made the paternalistic assumption that Indians were ignorant and all sectors needed regulation. This mindset is fallacious because Indians have proven themselves to be an entrepreneurial lot around the world. The license-permit-quota raj hobbled the Indian economy. Till 1991, this shackled the Indian economy. 
 
Officials gave manufacturers a license to manufacture. They set production limits. This penalized efficiency gains. The government was obsessed with controlling the economy. The Aditya Birla Group wanted to produce pulp in India, but the government refused permission, and this led the industrial group to set up its factory in Thailand. Today, the Aditya Birla Group imports pulp from its own factory in Thailand. As a result, India missed out on the multiplier effect of jobs, incomes and wealth.
 
This Kafkaesque system encouraged shady players. For example, the Steel Controller of India gave licenses for steel production. There were such controllers for all sorts of industries. Shady operators got licenses without having factories. This operator could not have used the steel he hypothetically produced because the license had a user condition: the one with a license had to use the steel himself. However, this operator was neither manufacturing nor using steel. Honest manufacturers were forced to buy steel in the black market from this operator, though, because he owned a license. The system was incorrigibly corrupt and horribly inefficient, holding India back for decades.
 
What must the government do?
 
Saraf points to the success of Indians in information technology (IT) and other sectors. In 1998, the IT industry was $40 million and today it is $200 billion, a figure IT pioneer Ashank Desai points to very proudly. Saraf attributes this success to the lack of controls over the IT sector.
 
As a man with dirt under his fingernails, Saraf proposes reforms. He advises the government to incentivize revenue collectors in each district to promote industry. If industry does not increase in their district, then the district officials should suffer. With 766 districts, India should have 600 industry clusters. The government must emulate Germany and create its own Mittelstand, the MSME of that European industrial superpower.
 
Saraf suggests simplifying extremely complicated land laws. Converting land to industrial use is still extremely hard. The government has realized the need for industrialization and brought in schemes like Production Linked Incentive. Yet, things have still not changed at the ground level. For instance, India’s forest laws are crazy, and officials are worse. They have designated land without a single tree as “forest.” This means no manufacturer can start a factory on such so-called forest land.
 
Instead of such insane classification, the government could require manufacturers who cut trees for new factories to plant and maintain 20 trees for every tree they cut down. The Chinese and, especially, the Swiss have this policy. Forest cover in European countries has increased because of incentives to plant trees, not barriers to starting factories.
 
The government must lower transaction costs as well. It must make banking policy simpler. Currently, banks ask for high collateral. This shuts out new entrants. As a result, entry barriers are the biggest obstacle to growth in manufacturing. Saraf remarks that, after a successful entry, life is easy even as compared to China, but the first five years are hell.
 
Saraf is no free-market absolutist though. He believes that there is a case for government intervention. The state has a role to play. India suffers from an extraordinary skill shortage. The country of over 1.4 billion people lacks good engineers and technicians. Currently, the government is paying dole to encourage people to get technical training, but the carrot approach is not working.
 
So, the government must use a stick instead. The government must make it mandatory for industry to employ only certified skilled labor. This would lead to the quality of masons, plumbers and electricians improving. This approach would be cheaper and better. India would produce higher-quality goods, and the economy would grow faster.
 
Sharad Kumar Saraf is an industrialist. He is the founder and chairman of Technocraft Industries India Limited, a major producer of steel hardware and cotton products for export.  Sharaf holds a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay. He has chaired the board of governors of IIT Bombay, IIT Jammu, and the Bombay Textile Research Association. He also served as president of the Council of EU Chambers of Commerce in India. A student of history and cultures, he has visited over 50 countries. He is a social activist and has taken part in initiatives including the rejuvenation of Powai Lake, improving cotton cultivation in the Vidarbha region, and technical education and skill development programs.
 
Email: sksaraf@technocraftgroup.com & ps@technocraftgroup.com
 
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Perspective on Entrepreneurship Over the Years in India

In this episode of FO° Podcasts, Fair Observer’s Editor-in-Chief Atul Singh speaks to Kartik Kilachand who has returned to give back to India after much entrepreneurial success in the US. Kartik shines the light on business climate and entrepreneurship over the years and many other aspects of life in India.
Kartik Kilachand's years of entrepreneurship and business acumen are now being put to good use. This alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay made his name in the US in the food and beverage industry and also worked in technology. Kilachand has returned to serve the country he grew up in and is now based in India.
 
In this episode of FO° Podcasts, he gives an intimate perspective on India's economic choices after independence in 1947, India’s IIT experience, and his own entrepreneurial journey. He points out how India has come a long way from the days of Nehruvian socialism but still has a long way to go. 
 
About one million people enter the workforce every year. Many people with higher education, including PhDs, take up low-skilled jobs and struggle to have decent careers. Kilachand believes that India can do much more to drive growth and jobs. Its teeming millions could contribute to national growth with the right policies and investments.
 
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The Revealing Story of the Changing Map of India

 
Since 1954, the internal borders have changed more in India than in the rest of the world. The retired director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, which trains Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, explains the story of the formation of new states and India’s changing internal borders.
 
Even before independence, linguistic identity mattered to Indians. In fact, the independence struggle became a mass movement because leaders even before Mahatma Gandhi adopted their native tongues to rouse the masses. Gandhi himself ran three newspapers, one in English, another in Hindi, and a third in his native Gujarati.
 
Chopra argues that India’s earliest self-conception is a union of diverse cultures. The British divided the country into 11 provinces for administrative convenience. Linguistic considerations did not matter to them. Of course, there were over 500 princely states as well.
 
In 1947, India inherited nine provinces from the British. The incorporation of princely states by this young country was a feat of extraordinary statesmanship by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. For a while, the country retained the borders of the imperial states until linguistic identity asserted itself.
 
This identity led to new linguistic states. Most recently, the formation of Telangana after splitting up Andhra Pradesh has boosted the demand for smaller states. 
 
The formation of states is a story of the growing democratization of Bharat, as Sanjeev Chopra’s book, We, the People of the States of Bharat. You can buy the book here. 
 
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What You Need to Know About Start-Ups in G20

Over 90% of start-ups fail. To say they are a risky business is an understatement. For the first time, G20 has put startups on the agenda. India has led that move and Chintan Vaishnav of NITI Aayog—the Indian government’s public policy think tank—discusses startups in India and the G20.
 
This edition of FO° Podcasts examines start-ups. Historically, the US has given birth to this strange beast. Since the 2007-08 crash in Western economies, things have changed. Start-ups are starting to take off in poorer economies, especially India. As chair of the G20 this year, India has put startups on the agenda for the first time. 
 
In emerging markets, start-ups were not always popular. People were afraid to take risks. With economic growth, broader access to technology, and changing demographics, start-ups are on the rise in many G20 countries.
 
India has been a shining example of rising entrepreneurship. Forbes estimates that there are now 100 unicorns in the country. As per Pew Research Center, 40% of India’s population is under 25. This population is more educated and technologically savvy than ever before, producing a huge demand for goods and services. Naturally, entrepreneurs are emerging to serve this demand.
 
Vaishnav takes the view that entrepreneurship is just getting started in India and many other G20 countries and start-ups have a long way to go. He explains what makes a healthy start-up ecosystem possible, the national and international forces that influence such an ecosystem, and how it can be a driving force for economic and social good.
 
Vaishnav also outlines why India has placed start-ups front and center of the G20 agenda.
 
Author Bio
 
Chintan Vaishnav is a socio-technologist, an engineer trained to design and build large-scale systems that possess both human as well as technological complexities. Presently, he serves as the Mission Director for the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), a flagship initiative of the government of India under the auspices of the NITI Aayog. Chintan is on leave from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for his present assignment. As a teacher, innovator, and entrepreneur, he has split his time between teaching and research at MIT, and living and working with rural communities in India to build solutions that improve living conditions despite resource constraints.
 
Photo: https://aim.gov.in/chintan-vaishnav.php
Email: chintan.vaishnav@gov.in
Social Media:
- Linkedin
- Twitter
 
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[Matthew Knudson produced this podcast.]

What You Need to Know About Cryptocurrencies

To most people, cryptocurrencies are an abstract and complicated financial system. So what exactly are they, who uses them, and why? Former British MP Oonagh McDonald, awarded the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for her contributions to financial regulation and business, makes sense of cryptocurrencies in 2023.
 
This edition of FO° Podcasts examines the rise of cryptocurrencies and their place in the international banking system. Crypto set itself as an alternative to banks and regulation, promising anonymity. Over the years, the value and success of crypto skyrocketed. However, scandals like the collapse of the FTX demonstrate have taken the sheen off crypto recently. Clearly, these new currencies have unique pitfalls and are hence increasingly volatile.
 
In a wide-ranging conversation with editor-in-chief Atul Singh, McDonald explains the workings of crypto, its counterculture origins, recent scandals, and these currencies are being used today. 
 
Author Bio
Dr Oonagh McDonald CBE, author and international expert in financial regulation, was a British Member of Parliament, and Opposition Spokesman on Treasury and the City. She subsequently became a board member of the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission and worked under the auspices of the Asian Development Bank, advising newly established financial regulatory authorities in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nepal, Brunei, and Mongolia. Onnagh has also worked with USAID, more recently in Ukraine and Moldova. She has written numerous articles, published in leading academic Journals and The Times and The Financial Times. Oonagh’s books include Lehman Brothers: A Crisis of Value and Holding Bankers to Account. In 1998, she was awarded the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by the Queen for her services to financial regulation and business. Oonagh now resides in Washington, DC where she swims almost every morning and cooks exotic curries for friends.
 
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Why is the Pakistani Economy Imploding Now

 
As Pakistan’s inflation rate soars, retired US Treasury economist Nasir Khilji discusses the country's dire economic crisis with editor-in-chief Atul Singh. The two dive deep into history and envisage what lies around the corner for this deeply troubled nation.
 
This edition of FO° Podcasts examines Pakistan’s turbulent past and current economic crisis. Nasir Khilji has five decades of experience as an economist. He worked in many departments for the US government before retiring as a senior economist from the Treasury. 
 
Although Khilji is American, he grew up in Pakistan. He has been a regular visitor to the country and has observed the Pakistani economy closely.
 
In a wide-ranging conversation with Fair Observer’s editor-in-chief Atul Singh, Khilji addresses Pakistan’s struggles with its political leadership, military involvement in politics, persistent instability, and rampant corruption. The two also discuss inflation, brain drain, and more.
 
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The Hot Mic: US Debt Ceiling, Ukraine and Trouble in the Arctic

In this not-so-new series for FO° Podcasts—The Hot Mic—Atul Singh and Christopher Roper Schell examine the US debt ceiling, the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine War, and the new great game over the melting Arctic.
 
The two hosts are back after a hiatus to dive into things that matter.
 
US Debt Ceiling
 
The debt ceiling is in the news again. Fundamentally, the US has a legal mechanism that caps the total amount of debt that the US Treasury can issue. Congress has to approve spending beyond the debt ceiling and this sometimes causes friction with the president.
 
Republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives. They want the government to cut costs. Democrats in the White House want the House to raise revenues by raising taxes. If the two cannot agree, the government can grind to a halt and it has in the past.
 
This podcast examines the hullabaloo about the debt ceiling and makes sense of it all.
 
Russia-Ukraine War
 
The Russia-Ukraine War has been in a stalemate for a while. In the early phases of the war, the Russians got a beating. Then, they regrouped and made some advances. For months, there has been a stalemate.
 
With spring thawing the snow, a Ukrainian offensive seems to be in the offing. Some believe that Ukraine has the advantage. After all, the country will be getting F-16 fighter jets. The US is still pouring in aid and arms. Others argue that there are too many different weapons needing different types of ammunition. The Russians are using prisoners as cannon fodder and killing the flower of Ukrainian youth.
 
The next few weeks might be a critical period of this war. 
 
The Arctic Great Game 
 
Once, great powers played the great game over Afghanistan. Now, it has shifted to the Arctic. As Atul Singh wrote in an earlier piece, “The melting of polar ice caps opens up new opportunities for resource extraction and sea routes. This has sharpened rivalries between the US-led West and a China-backed Russia. Tensions are increasing and so are the possibilities of conflict.”
 
Russia has used the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) astutely to claim the continental shelf. Note that the US does not recognize UNCLOS. Other Arctic powers such as Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland have been late to the party. So, Russia has the legal lead.
 
At the same time, Russia is building military bases in this region. As Singh wrote, “Russia has seven nuclear-powered icebreakers and around 30 diesel-powered ones. The US and China have just two diesel-powered icebreakers each in operation. The US is the global superpower but Russia is the Arctic superpower.”
 
China claims to be a near-Arctic power and is funding Russian military development. China is looking to bypass two choke points that could cut off its energy supplies, block its exports and bring its economy to a standstill. These choke points are the Suez Canal and the Straits of Malacca. China desperately wants another sea route.
 
The melting of the Arctic is opening up new trans-Arctic routes that China desperately craves. In the past, a Russian tanker sailed from Norway to South Korea in 19 days. A passage through the Suez Canal would have taken over 50 days. As the factory of the world with an insatiable appetite for commodities, the oil, gas, and minerals along with a shorter sea route is China’s wet dream. No wonder the stage is set for yet another great game.
 
Learn more about Atul and Christopher, and read their work on the two links below:
https://www.fairobserver.com/author/atul-singh/
https://www.fairobserver.com/author/christopher-schell/ 
 
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Paint it Black: Lebanon’s Failures and How to Save it

In this episode of FO° Podcasts, Fair Observer’s Editor-in-Chief Atul Singh is joined by Jean AbiNader, a veteran expert on the Middle East and a Lebanese American who is closely connected to his ancestral land to analyze Lebanon’s endangered economy and political instability. 
Jean AbiNader was born in Lebanon and has spent the last 40 years traveling and working in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. He has worked in marketing, public affairs, and project management. AbiNader has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the MENA region.
AbiNader paints a dire picture of Lebanon’s current problems. He makes sense of Lebanon’s gutted and struggling economy, entrenched government corruption, identity politics and instability.
For nearly three years, Lebanon has suffered the most devastating, multi-pronged crisis in its modern history. The unfolding economic and financial crisis started in October 2019. COVID-19 and the 2022 explosion in the Beirut port exacerbated this crisis.
The World Bank’s Spring 2021 Lebanon Economic Monitor found that Lebanon’s crisis ranks among the worst economic crises since the mid-19th century. Nominal GDP plummeted from $52 billion in 2019 to $23.1 billion in 2021. The GDP per capita fell by 36.5%. Incomes fell and jobs vanished.
Lebanon was an upper middle-income country despite the ethnic conflict and the refugee burden. In July 2022, the World Bank reclassified it as a lower-middle income country.  Such a brutal contraction is usually associated with conflicts or wars.
AbiNader makes sense of Lebanon’s crisis, examines why things have come to such a pass and posits solutions for the future.
 
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A Canadian Perspective on Ukraine, Iraq and Afghanistan

In this episode of FO° Podcasts, Canadian Defense Attaché Major-General Michel-Henri (Mike) St-Louis speaks to Fair Observer’s Editor-in-Chief Atul Singh about conflicts in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq, the changing nature of war, and more.
 
Major-General Michel-Henri St-Louis is an experienced soldier. He has deployed on missions in Bosnia, Croatia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. In this podcast, Major General St-Louis shares his insights from his distinguished military career to analyze the Russia-Ukraine War. He talks about the lessons of this war from proper training and sensible doctrines to empowering field commanders and maintaining morale.
 
The eloquent general goes on to share his insights on the complex political and military situation in Afghanistan over the past 20 years. He served twice in the country and shares his rich insights here. The Canadian Defence Attaché also speaks about Iraq, the rise of ISIS, the Syrian civil war, and Qasem Soleimani of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He shares many lessons relevant for military members, diplomats, and all students of history, geopolitics, and international relations.
 
 
Author Bio
 
Major-General Michel-Henri (Mike) St-Louis currently serves as Canada’s Defence Attaché to the United States. His career highlights include serving as the Acting Commander of the Canadian Army, Commander of Canada’s Joint Task Force—IMPACT—in the Middle East, Deputy Commanding General for Operations of America’s First Corps, command of 5e Groupe Brigade Mécanisé du Canada, and the last Canadian Battle Group overseeing combat operations in Afghanistan. Maj Gen St-Louis is a graduate of the National War College (US), Canadian Forces College, Canada’s Collège Militaire Royal de Saint-Jean, Royal Military College in Kingston, and the Canadian Army Command and Staff College. He is an officer within the Legion of Merit (US) and Canada’s Order of Military Merit and also received the Meritorious Service Cross and Medal.
 
 
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The Hot Mic: Trump’s Fraud Charges, Taiwan’s Defiance, and OPEC’s New World Order

In a new series for FO° Podcasts—The Hot Mic—Atul Singh and Christopher Roper Schell examine Donald Trump's falsifying business records, Taiwan's precarious relationship with the U.S., and how the Russia-Ukraine war is causing OPEC to reevaluate its relationship with the West. 
 
Learn more about Atul and Christopher, and read their work on the two links below:
https://www.fairobserver.com/author/atul-singh/
https://www.fairobserver.com/author/christopher-schell/ 
 
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