Drishti Vol 1 Nov '10

8/8/2019 Drishti Vol 1 Nov '10

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Symbiosis Institute of International Business

DRISHTI

VOL 1 - NOV 201

THE AGRI-BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE


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Dear All,

It has never been easy to start something from scratch and complete it exactly the

way it had been planned in the first place. Similarly, there is nothing more joyous

than to see an idea being executed exactly as planned. The last month or so has

been an extraordinary learning experience for my team and I. Only after countless

numbers of article revisions and design implementation, have we arrived at what

we now proudly call an AB (Agri Business) Product. I hope that this magazine not

only provides the reader with current information on the Agri Industry but also

take on the General issues of today.

I would also take this opportunity to thank our very own Bhosale Sir and Sang-

eetha Madam who always encouraged us and kept us on our toes. I would also

like to thank Team Drishti to have taken up this challenge and come up with a

quality product at the end of it. I sincerely hope that we have been able to deliver

as was expected out of us. In case there are still improvements (whether in sec-

tions/parts/articles) that you would like to suggest, I would like to assure you that

you are most welcome to do so (please shoot us a mail at the contact address pro-

vided at the end of this issue). I sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading DRISH-

TITHE AGRI PERSPECTIVE !

So, with this I would like to declare Drishti The Agri Perspective (Volume 1, Nov

2010 Issue) open to all!

Ayan Ray

Editor , DRISHTI -The Agri Perspective

MBA- AB ,2009-11

SIIB, Pune

November 2010


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FROM THE ED BOARDTeam DrsihFEATURE ARTICLETIME FOR A MAKEOVER Branding in AgriBusiness

PRAGATI the story so far.A WAY TOWARDS RURAL MARKETSAGRI DAY SPECIALALL SMOKE AND NO FIRE BiofuelsDRISHTIKON INTRODUCTION TO GREEN SCM

THE ENTREPRENEURTHEJAIN IRRIGATION SYSTEMS LTD. STORYCOMMODITY WATCHINDIAN COMMODITY MARKET A NORTHWARD

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contents


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Team Drish

Editor :

Ayan Ray

Creative Design :

Vinod Tripathi

Susrita Sen

Akansha Saxena

Research :

Rahul Sinha

Manish Raghuwanshi

Coordinators:

Ashok Venkat

Shweta Tiwari

Our Mentors

Dr. N. S Ingle

Suresh Bhosale

Sangeetha Gopikrishna


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Branding in AgriBusiness

Shweta Tiwari || MBA

AB , SIIB

Historically Agriculture has always been seen

as a traditional form of occupation. Today,

it is a multi-billion dollar industry, with both ma-

jor and minor players exporting and selling their

products around the globe. As production is now

targeted at global markets, participants are in-

creasingly in need of a global strategy. Hence,Global branding has become an essential element

of business strategy.

A sluggish economy might encourage some

industries to pull in the marketing communi-

cations reins, but with for agencies working

with agricultural companies, just the oppo-

site holds true right now. Given consolidation

among competitors and a shrinking custom-

er base, companies are as focused as ever on

managing their brands and demonstrating toproducers that their products are the right fit

for today's agricultural environment. Like

companies in any industry, agricultural busi-

nesses need to maintain brand value to re-

tain current customers and attract new ones.

It is only well known that branding doesn't

stop once the sales pitch has been convert-

ed. Agriculture can take the same strategic

approach.

Creating Value

The essence of successful branding is real-

ized only when the brand delivers consist-

ently, a clearly defined and an appealing of-

fering that sets it apart from its competitors.

Feature Article


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Branding does not work in isolation, and is

not just related to the development of a

name, logo, company terms or a combina-

tion of all three. The additional ingredient

that makes a brand successful is

differentiation or its personality. Suc-

cessful brands appeal on an intangible lev-

el and offer a range of defined repeatable

emotions to the consumer. Todays agri-

cultural producers face the inevitable chal-

lenge of how to differentiate their offer-

ings, so that their product is perceived and

awarded a premium status in the consum-

ers minds. The key therefore, is to imple-

ment a concentrated strategy that focuses

on creating real value for those customers

who are prepared to pay for it and a brand

strategy based on the product differentia-

tion.

Small farms typically won't hire workers for

this kind of a job, but food majors like Kel-

logg's, Mc Donalds, Britannia ,Oscar Meyer

and the rest want consumers to recognize

their brand. Major food corporations spend

millions of dollars every year on sponsorship

for the same. Branding is also important when

it comes to packaging and design, and this

goes hand-in-hand with advertising and di-

rect marketing efforts as well. Packaging is a

big part of retail marketing, as consumers re-spond differently to colors, shapes and other

aspects. How products are laid out at a store

also makes a difference in their sales.

Take a look at a basic generic agricultural

product such as milk. Twenty years ago, who

would have thought that it could be sold in a

such a variety of choices; low-fat, skim, fla-

vored with chocolate, fortified with vitamins

and minerals? Furthermore, who would think

that there is any more space on the supermar-

ket shelves for yet another differentiated milkproduct?

Successfully Branding the Commodity

As there has been proliferation of consumer

marketing and branding over recent decades,

it makes sense that while branding a com-

modity you adopt the successful strategies

used by the consumer marketing industry. The

three points below are simple lessons for suc-

cessful branding:

Follow the ideas of the consumer marketer:

Implement the same approach as consum-

er marketing and identify customer seg-

ments that are willing to pay an increased

price or premium for the added value they

will gain.Define a strategy for brand differentiation:

Identify products and services that create

significant and differentiating value to buy-

ers. Do not rely on any one aspect, but

package the product to create a barrier to

entry for competitors and make it more

difficult for the customer to substitute the

product.

Implement strategies to support the addi-tional value added: Support the extra offer-

ings with the necessary business systems

including decision support tools, targeted

communications, and the tracking and

learning capabilities needed to ensure pre-

miums are justified on a long term basis.


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A Way Towards Rural Market

Susrita Sen | MBA AB, SIIB

Pragatithe story so far


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A Way Towards Rural MarketsSusrita Sen | MBA AB, SIIB

We have all realized by now that India is on the

cusp on momentous change. The economy isvibrant, incomes are rising, and the habits, pref-

erences and attitudes are changing rapidly. And

its not less evident in rural India as well.

There are three major challenges that a rural

marketer must overcome:

Reach

Influence

Awareness

Markets in rural India are small and scattered,

making them both inaccessible and unviable.

However ensuring that your product is available

is just the beginning. Large parts of Rural India

still remain out of reach of present day media. A

low literacy rate coupled with poor infrastruc-

ture acts as a limiting factor. But, it is important

for organizations to understand that it should

not let it obstruct them to try and cover these

markets. And some have actually done it with

innovation. Economic and technological pro-

gress is making it easier to communicate with

the rural consumer. The challenge however lies

in appealing to the rural population, understand

them and develop a mode of communication

that cuts through these barriers to reach them.

Across product categories, rural penetration andawareness remains low. And the need is to not

just reach or communicate but to actually influ-

ence their consumption pattern and buying be-

havior. However apart from the above three

challenges, some other minor hurdles on the

road are:

Languages and Dialect: The number of lan-

guages and dialects vary from state to state, re-

gion to region and even at a district level.

Low per capita income: Even though about 33-

35% of GDP is generated via Rural India, it isshared by 74% of the population.

Prevalence of spurious brands and seasonal de-

mands: For any branded product there is a multi-

tude of local variants which are cheaper, and

therefore more desirable to the rural segment.

Traditional lifestyle: The rural consumer valuesold customs and traditions. They often do not

prefer change.

There have been many innovative projects

which have attempted to address these chal-

lenges. A few are listed as below:

Marketing to Rural India: CavinKare

Multinational companies sold products in big

bottles and not in sachets and they sold only

from fancy stores. They did not look at the

small kirana stores, nor did they look at the

rural market. When Chik entered the Rural

Shampoo market, Velvette Shampoo was be-

ing marketed aggressively by Godrej. They

went to the rural areas of South India where

people hardly used shampoo. They showed

them how to use it. They

Did You know that an Average Sized Egg contains approximately 6.6 gms

Protein , compared to around 1.5 gms in a Banana ? More Agri Facts


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conducted live demos as to how to apply, rinse

and wash the product, on young volunteers and

then asked the onlookers to feel and smell their

hair.

Next they planned Chik Shampoo-sponsored

shows of Rajniknath's films. They also distributed

free sachets among the audience after these

shows. This worked wonders in rural Tamil Nadu

and Andhra Pradesh. After every show,

the shampoo sales went up three to four

times. But a scheme became extremely

successful -- they exchanged five sachets

of any shampoo for a Chik Shampoo sa-

chet, free. Later, they altered the scheme

-- started giving one free Chik Shampoo sachet

in lieu of five Chik Shampoo sachets only. Soon,

consumers started asking for Chik sachets only.

The sales went up from Rs 35,000 to Rs 12 lakh

( R s 1 . 2 m i l l i o n ) a m o n t h .

Brand Activation by Sangeeta Bhabhi:

P&G After a two year long push into the hinter-

land, P&G has come up with a new addition to

its marketing strategy in the form of a character

called Sangeeta Bhabhi, a dedicated housewife.

The personality was conceived to push P&Gs

leading brands, Tide and Head & Shoulders as a

dual proposition called kamyab jodi in rural

areas of the country. After much deliberation

over the eight to nine categories that P&G oper-

ates in, marketers picked the detergent brand

Tide and shampoo Head & Shoulders as the fo-

cus in this particular rural initiative.

More than 100 villages in central UP were cov-

ered as part of the pilot stage of the kamyab

jodi initiative. The exercise involved teams nar-

rating Sangeeta Bhabhis story, an educatedmarried woman, who highlights the benefits of

using the two brands. The particular style was

used to communicate the value add proposition

of the brands.

Tide being a value

added brand

priced higher

than the regular

brands, the chal-

lenge was to

communicate it to

the target audi-

ence on the ben-

efits of using a

brand superior in quality.

Through this initiative, P&G is attempting to

generate user trials for both SKU pack size as

well as sachets. it is understood that after study-

ing the initial response to the pilot programme,

the company is planning to roll the initiative fur-

ther to cover nearly 5,000 villages across the

state of UP. Also, to ride on the demand gener-

ated from this exercise, P&G is simultaneously

beefing up its distribution network to ensure

reach and availability of the products.


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Reaching rural villages through Project

Shakti: HUL

In 2001 HLL initiated Project Shakti in Nalgonda

district, Andhra Pradesh, to provide microcredit

and to train women to become direct-to-home

distributors through self-help groups in rural ar-

eas. As an extension of this project, HLL set up

Internet kiosks commonly referred to as

iShaktiin these rural areas to disseminate

information in local languages, including materi-

al on health education. Today Project Shakti has

spread to 15 Indian states, reaching 85,000 vil-

lages in 385 districts through 20,000 female en-trepreneurs, or Shakti ammas. The distribu-

tion network formed by these female entrepre-

neurs could in the future distribute condoms in

rural areas. HLL estimates that by 2010 the net-

work will grow to around 100,000 trained wom-

e n c o v e r i n g 5 0 , 0 0 0 v i l l a g e s .

A true innovation through e-Choupal : ITCLimited

e-Choupal is an initiative of ITC Limited, to link

directly with rural farmers via the Internet for

procurement of agricultural and aquaculture

products like soybeans, wheat, coffee, and

prawns. e-Choupal was conceived to tackle the

challenges posed by the unique features of Indi-

an agriculture, characterized by fragmented

farms, weak infrastructure and the involvement

of numerous intermediaries. The programme

involves the installation of computers with Inter-

net access in rural areas of India to offer farmers

up-to-date marketing and agricultural infor-

mation. At the same time ITC Limited has ob-tained benefits from the programme:

1. elimination of non-value added activities

2. differentiated product through identity pre-

served supply chains

3. value added products traceable to farm prac-

tices

4. e-market place for spot transactions and sup-

port services to futures exchangeThere are presently 6,500 e-Choupals in opera-

tion. ITC Limited plans to scale up to 20,000 e-

Choupals by 2012 covering 100,000 villages in 15

states, servicing 15 million farmers

Some Interesting Sites

http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/604016-PDF-

E N G i b e f . o r g / e c o n o m y / r u r a l m a r k e t . a s p x

etstrategicmarketing.com/smJune-July2/art6_1.htm

This years Theme : AdvanTage AgriBusinessSIIBSIIBSIIBAgri Club PresentsAgri Club PresentsAgri Club PresentsAgriDay Celebrations 2010AgriDay Celebrations 2010AgriDay Celebrations 2010SIIB

NOV Update


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11Agri -Day SpecialALL SMOKE AND NOFIRE :ACHIEVING 20% BIOFUELS BLENDING

Akanksha Saxena || MBA AB (10-12)

T

he recent decontrol of fuel prices

will now make oil price spikes aregular feature which we might have

to deal with. With India fulfilling more

than half of its crude requirements

through imports which form 32% of

the total imports, biofuels are gaining

increased public and scientific atten-

tion, driven by factors such as the need

for increased energy security, and con-

cern over greenhouse gas emissions

from fossil fuels.The National Policy on

Biofuels announced by the Govern-

ment of India in September 2009 is

loosely based on the National Biodiesel Mis-

sion submitted by the Planning Commission

of GOI in 2003(Altenburg et al. 2009). The

National Policy on Biofuels clearly reflects

high expectation of GOI for biofuels to ad-

dress two important developmental prob-

lems, i.e. meeting rapidly increasing energy

demand and stimulating rural development

for poverty alleviation.

The major policy instrument is very ambi-

tious blending mandate, i.e. a minimum

20 per cent blending mandate for both

diesel and petrol with biodiesel and bio-

ethanol, respec-tively, across the country

by 2017 implying a 30 times increase in

the current plantation.

Setting minimum purchase prices for bio-

fuels and minimum support prices for

feedstock to encourage biofuels and fuel

crop production and to promote rural de-

velopment.

As a whole package, this policy clearly refle

the ambition of GOI to revitalize rural econo

through significant scale of production of fu

crops (mainly Jatropha Curcus and Pongam

on marginal land, but it entails high uncertainAgainst this high expectation, the production

biofuels in India is still at an infant stage a

the current production level is negligible.

Secondly, feasibility of fuel crop production

marginal land is questionable.


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Despite the delay in advance of the monsoon, India isexpected to get more rains this season than earlier

predicted by the weather office.

According to an update to the monsoon forecast of

the India Meteorological Department (IMD), rains in

the June-September period will be 102 per cent of

the long-period average.

According to an update to the monsoon forecast of

the India Meteorological Department (IMD), rains in

the June-September period will be 102 per cent ofthe long-period average

It will be 102 per cent, Agriculture Secretary PK Basu told reporters when asked about the quan-

tum of rainfall the country would receive this sea-

son

In April, IMD had said the country would receive 98

per cent of the long period average (LPA). LPA, at 89cm, is the mean rainfall received by the country over

a period of 50 years.

India had received 11 per cent less rain than normal

in the June 1-23 period, even as the southwest mon-

soon, which had been virtually stationary in the past

week, showed signs of advancing northwards.

The weather office said the country received 97.4 mm

rainfall for the June 1-23 period, against the normal

levels of 109.6 mm. However, weather scientists havesaid there is no need for alarm, as there is still hope

for improvement in rainfall across the country.

The southwest monsoon, which is nearly 10 days be-

hind its normal schedule over North India, is ex-

pected to strengthen with the formation of a low-

pressure area in the Bay of Bengal.

Since their onset on May 31, monsoon rains have

made a staggered progress and stopped in their

tracks due to cyclone Phet, delaying their advance

by at least 10 days to the breadbasket northern re-

gion, as well as the central and northwestern parts of

the country, which mainly grow oilseeds.

Sugarcane Breeding Institute

launches CaneInfo website

The Sugarcane Breeding Institute launched CaneIn-

fo website, a database-driven website that delivers

etimely information on sugarcane to be accessed free

of cost anywhere, anytime, by all those involved in

sugarcane agriculture, on July 9, 2010. CaneInfo is

the culmination of a two-year research project enti-

tled, "Developing a user-centered website on sugar-

cane production technologies" sponsored by the De-

partment of Scientific & Industrial Research, Ministry

of Science & Technology, Govt. of India. Recognizing

that only by bringing the user into the development

process could the utility of the website be maximized,

a series of Focus groups were conducted among the

target audience, i.e., the farmers and cane develop-

ment personnel to identify the users information

needs. Developing a prototype with this information,

it was demonstrated to the target audience for evalu-

ation. All these efforts have culminated in the dynam-

ic and demand driven website, CaneInfoavailable at

http://caneinfo.nic.in.

Dr K. Jayakumar IAS., Joint Secretary, Department of

Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science

and Technology, Government of India, launched

CaneInfo amidst farmers, cane development per-

sonnel and sugarcane scientists at Sugarcane Breed-

ing Institute, Coimbatore on 9.7.2010.

Launching the website, Dr. Jayakumar in his inaugural

address said that the role of Government in socio-

economic development is that of a facilitator. The

actual work in agriculture development is through the

efforts of scientists and farmers and the launch of this

website, CaneInfo is the result of such an effort.

Technology offered immense opportunities to farm-

ers to know more about their areas of interest. Use of

information and communication technology in the

form of Web 2.0, Facebook, and video conferencing

India to getmore rains than Year.The National Policy on Biofuels assumesthat Jatropha Curcus can grow on margin-

al land without watering nor fertil-izing,

but the accumulating evidence suggests

that commercially viable yield requires

good agricultural practices as well as ap-

propriate condition of crop land (Biswas etal. 2010). The long gestation period of at

least three years (in the case of Jatropha)

is another reason for the rather slow de-

velopment of the biofuels sector in India.

Thirdly, availability of land and water are

quite severely limited in India and drastic

increase of fuel crop production may neg-

atively affect food supply.

Apart from this, the existing policies in

hand such as providing heavy subsidies

on the price of conventional fuels partic-

ularly diesel, keeping it artificially low do

not support the production and use of

biofuels in India.

The major cultivation practices for biofu-

els include:

Government-centered cultivation, char-

acterized by cultivation on government(forest and/or revenue) and communal

land, government as risk-taker, and so-

cial motivations (employment generation

for the rural poor, increasing the national

forest cover, and protection of the soil

from further degradation).

Farmer-centered cultivation, character-

ized by cultivation on private land, shared

risk between government, farmer and pri-vate processing companies, and the ob-

jective of developing additional sources of

income and/or new energy sources to

sustain farmer livelihoods without incur-

ring major investment risks.

Corporate-centered cultivation, charac-

terized by large-scale cultivation, private

oil companies as the main risk-taker, and

the objective of achieving high returns on

investment.

The main objective of corporate investors

engaging in the biodiesel sector is to

maximize productivity and returns on in-vestment. This objective implies the main

potential of corporate-centered cultiva

tion: Large-scale investments in prope

agricultural practices and R&D on TBOs

can boost the supply of biodiesel and

possibly allow for spillover effects to othe

producers.

The effects of large-scale plantations on

rural development may be far reaching

but they are ambiguous. On the one hand

they have the potential to generate employment and expand green cover sub-

stantially. On the other hand, the need fo

productivity maximization may lead to

monocultures and environmentally harm

ful use of inputs.


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should be used to create Web communities of farm-

ers, he added.

Appreciating the role of sugarcane farmers in the cre-

ation of the website, Dr. Jayakumar said: Such partic-

ipation will also aid in proficiency development of the

farming community. Focus group discussions and

collaboration with the research institutes like these

are not available in many places. Farmers should

make use of such facilities.

Additional risks relate to the possibility that

corporate investors may invest on land that

was previously used by the local poor, jeop-

ardizing income sources and local food pro-

duction.

The promises seem to have been made, the

policies formulated and the committees set

into mo-tion, but the groundwork still seems

to be absent. A mere Rs 34 per litre procure-

ment price for biodiesel does not even cover

the production cost. Will this be enough to

increase supply by 2017? The common

sense says No but the babus beg to differ

References:

Altenburg T. et al., Biodiesel in India, Ger-

man Development Institute, 2009National Policy on Biofuels, Government of

India

Gonsalves Joseph B., An Assessment of the

Biofuels Industry in India, United Nations

Conference on Trade and Development, 18

October 2006.


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Sugarcane Breeding Institute

launches CaneInfowebsite

T he Sugarcane Breeding Institutelaunched CaneInfowebsite, a database-drivenwebsite that delivers timely information onsugarcane to be accessed free of cost any-

where, anytime, by all those involved in sugar-

cane agriculture, on July 9,

2010. CaneInfo is the culmi-

nation of a two-year research

project entitled, "Developinga user-centered website on

sugarcane production tech-

nologies" sponsored by the

Department of Scientific &

Industrial Research, Ministry

of Science & Technology,

Govt. of India. Recognizing

that only by bringing the user

into the development pro-

cess could the utility of thewebsite be maximized, a series of Focus

groups were conducted among the target au-

dience, i.e., the farmers and cane development

personnel to identify the users information

needs. Developing a prototype with this infor-

mation, it was demonstrated to the target au-

dience for evaluation. All these efforts have

culminated in the dynamic and demand driven

website, CaneInfo available at http://caneinfo.nic.in.

Dr K. Jayakumar IAS., Joint Secretary, Depart-

ment of Scientific and Industrial Research,

Ministry of Science and Technology, Govern-

ment of India, launched CaneInfoamidst farm-

ers, cane development personnel and sugar-

cane scientists at Sugarcane Breeding Institute,

Coimbatore on 9.7.2010.

Launching the website, Dr. Jayakumar in his

inaugural address said that the role of Govern-

ment in socio-economic development is thatof a facilitator. The actual work in agriculture

development is through the efforts of scien-

tists and farmers and the launch of this web-

site, CaneInfo is the result of such an effort.

Technology offered immense opportunities to

farmers to know more about their areas of in-

terest. Use of information and communication

technology in the form of Web 2.0, Facebook,

and video conferencing should be used to cre-

ate Web communities of farmers, he added.

Appreciating the role of sugarcane farmers in

the creation of the website, Dr. Jayakumar

said: Such participation will also aid in profi-

ciency development of the farming communi-

ty. Focus group discussions and collaboration

with the research institutes like these are not

available in many places. Farmers should make

use of such facilities.

Source : http://caneinfo.nic.in.
http://caneinfo.nic.in/http://caneinfo.nic.in/http://caneinfo.nic.in/http://caneinfo.nic.in/http://caneinfo.nic.in/


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Introducon to the Green Supply

Chain

By Marn Murray, About.com Guide

Introduction to the GreenSupply Chain

By Marn Murray, About.com Guide | Compiled and Edit-

ed by Manish Raghuwanshi, MBA-AB, SIIB

(This article is the work of M. Murray and Team Drishti claims no credit

whatsoever for this Article)

Listening to Environmentally Aware Consumers

As the public becomes more aware of environmen-

tal issues and global warming, consumers will be

asking more questions about the products they are

purchasing. Companies will have to expect ques-

tions about how green their manufacturing pro-

cesses and supply chain are, their carbon footprint

and how they recycle.

Profiting from Being Green

However some companies have seen that this is

not a bad thing and indeed have been able to con-

vert the publics interest in all things green into

increased profits. A number of companies have

shown that there is a proof of the link between im-

proved environmental performance and financial

gains. Companies have looked to their supply

chain and seen areas where improvements in the

way they operate can produce profits.

General Motors reduced disposal costs by

$12 million by establishing a reusable container

program with their suppliers. Perhaps General Mo-

tors may have been less interested in green issues

if they were making record profits, but in an at-

tempt to reduce costs in their supply chain, GM

found that the cost reductions they identified com-

plemented the companys commitment to the

environment.

Green Supply Chain : The Future in Logistics ?

DRISHTIKON

inspiring innovation


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16

Unaware of Potential Benefits

Companies can find cost savings by reducing

the environmental impact of their business pro-

cesses. By re-evaluating the company's supply

chain, from purchasing, planning, and manag-

ing the use of materials to shipping and distrib-

uting final products, savings are often identified

as a benefit of implementing green policies.

Despite the publics focus on the environ-

ment, benefits attributed to reducing a compa-

nys environmental impact are not in the fore-

front of supply chain executives minds. It ap-

pears that many executives are still unaware

that improved environmental performance

means lower waste-disposal and training costs,fewer environmental-permitting fees, and, of-

ten, reduced materials costs. Hopefully the in-

terest in green issues and environmental con-

cern by the public will not wane as economic

issues become more important due to the fal-

tering economy.

Green Supply Chain Best Practices

The trend towards developing a green supply

chain is now gaining popularity but most com-

panies are still coming to terms with how this

can be achieved and where do they start. For

years businesses have been concentrating on

improving supply chain visibility, refining effi-

ciency and minimizing cost. Despite the focus

being moving towards a green supply chain the

goals of visibility, efficiency and cost reductiondo not have to be discarded. By examining the

companies who have already made strides to-

wards a green supply chain, we can begin to

see some best practices that will help others to

begin their own transition.

Align Your Green Supply Chain Goals

with Business Goals

Creating a green supply chain that has little to

do with your business will not help your com-

pany to achieve its business objectives. For ex-

ample, if a company decides to use biode-

gradable packaging for its products that costs

25% more than traditional packaging, this goes

against the businesses goals of reducing costs.

If a business has an overall goal to reduce costs

then the move to a green supply chain should

dovetail with the business goal. A company

should look at its overall business goals and

identify how a transition to a green supply

chain can help achieve those goals. For example

if a business wants to reduce its energy costs it

should start by looking at the consumption tosee if a reduction can be made by using more

energy efficient and greener equipment.

Use Green Supply Chain to Improve Pro-

cesses

Companies do not often change their business-

es processes and it is this attitude allows ineffi-

cient processes to continue unabated causing

unnecessary waste and pollution. For example

ineffective processes in the US automotive in-

dustry allowed the innovative Japanese au-

tomakers to become market leaders.


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17

Green Suppliers and Material Refurbishment

Companies reviewing their business processesshould look beyond their factory walls. When

reviewing purchasing processes the aim of any

company, looking to transition to a green supply

chain, should be to find suppliers who have min-

imized their environmental impact without re-

ducing the quality of their product or significant-

ly raising costs. By purchasing products from

green suppliers businesses can then begin their

green supply chain before any material reaches

their site.

At the opposite end of the supply chain

businesses should look at their return

process. Many businesses have not de-

veloped a successful refurbishment pro-

gram for their products that have been

returned or exchanged. By offering re-

furbished items businesses can increasepurchasing options to their customers

and widen their customer base, whilst

improving the environmental impact of

their products.

There are many ways in which businesses can

transition to a green supply chain; however it is

important to realize that it is difficult to achieveresults without strong focused leadership. Senior

management has to lead the effort to move to a

green supply chain and provide the resources for

the transition. Many businesses have document-

ed an intent or plan to implement a green sup-

ply chain, but without the necessary resources,

both financial and manpower, any impact will be

minimal.


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18

.

tributed by: Prof. Suresh Bhosale, HODAB , SIIB

e : Table Top, Panchghani, Maharashtra

Contributed by: Vinod Tripathi, MBA-AB (9/11), SIIB

Place : Pune

THE DRISHTI PHOTO BLOG


19/25

19

Agriculture not only gives riches to

a naon, but the only riches she

can call her own

(Samuel Jonson, English Poet, Cric and Writer. 1709-

1784)

This statement is truly portrayed in a countrylike India where even today almost 60% of the

population is dependent directly or indirectly on

agriculture and its allied sectors. We have many

great examples of entrepreneurs who have

made riches for not only themselves but helped

build riches for the nation by venturing into ag-

ribusiness.

One such example is Mr. Bhavarlal Hiralal Jain,

(often known as Bade Bhau - Big Brother or

Bhumiputra - Son of the Earth) the Founder

Chairman of Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd.(JISL).

The journey began in 1887 when his forefathers

left the deserts of Rajasthan, their home

state, in search of water and food and reach

Wakod, at the foothills of the famous Ajan

Caves. They started farming as a means of live

hood. Here with a meagre Rs.70

(accumulated savings of three generations)

capital Mr Jain decided to take a small agen

for light diesel oil in 1962 ,needed by farmers

pumping of water as electricity was not avai

ble.

Inspired by a quote, "Agriculture: a pr

fession with future" young Jain added dealship of tractors, sprinkler systems, PVC pip

and other farm equipment. In order to bro

base the agri-business, agencies for farm inp

such as Fertilizers, Seeds, Pesticides were a

added.

The Entrepreneur

Priyanka

SIIB, MBAAB


20/25

20

Sales grew from Rs.1 million in 1963 to Rs.110

million in 1978, a phenomenal increase of 110

times. These formative years helped him to

build a unique and lasting enterprise. This

was achieved through consistent high stand-

ards of performance and personal discipline

on the one hand and a strong sense of com-

mitment for meeting targeted volumes andfor payment of debts in time, on the other.

He took over a 14 year-old sick Banana Pow-

der Plant in April 1978 at a high auction price

of Rs. 3 million while he only had Rs.0.2 mil-

lion as inevitable surpluses. In December

1978, the founder travelled to New York in

search of customers for Jain Papain. They de-

veloped purified Papain through ceaseless in-

house R&D and emerged as the `Number

One supplier of the highest purity refined Pa-pain. Thus Papain put them on the interna-

tional map.

In 1980, manufacturing of PVC Pipes com-

menced with a small annual capacity of 300

MT's which was increased to over 35,600 MT's

per annum by 1997, making Jain Industries

the largest single producer of PVC Pipes in

the country. A close-knit dealer distribution

network in the rural areas coupled with con-

tinuous automation and up gradation of

product facilities and in-house R&D for maxi-

mum capacity utilization has kept them at the

forefront.

Beginning in 1989, he toiled and struggled to

pioneer Water-management through Micro

Irrigation in India. He has successfully intro-

duced some hi-tech. concepts to Indian agri-

culture such as `Integrated System Approach,

One-Stop-Shop for Farmer, and

Infrastructure Status to Micro Irrigation &

Farm as Industry.Entering in the era of bio-technology, he in-

troduced in 1993 a variety of Tissue Cultured

Banana known as Grand Nain. This has mul-

tiplied the farmers yields, unfolding vast vis-

tas for export of fresh banana fruit. Through

these technological innovations, Mr. Jain has

reached the hearts of millions of farmers

across the country. The Fruit and Vegetable

Processing Plants headed by him are com-

pleting the value chain for the farming com-

munity furthering the cause of upliftment of

farmers.

Mr. Bhavarlal Hiralal Jain, (often known as Bade Bhau -

Brother or Bhumiputra - Son of the Earth) the Founder Ch

man of Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd.(JISL) has been awarded w

22 International and National Awards for his exemplary w

and social work.


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21

In 1994 he set-up world class food pro-

cessing facilities for dehydration of onion,

vegetable and production of fruit purees,

concentrates and pulp. He has been striving

hard to earn a place of pride for Indian agri-

culture by augmenting yields and adding val-

ue, through scientific inputs of technology.

Today owing to his dedication and vision,

Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd. (JISL) is globally

second and the largest irrigation company in

India.

Since 1978, he has painstakingly promoted

adoption of innovative PVC piping systems,

replacing the outmoded, wasteful open -

channel furrow irrigation or non-pressure ce-

ment piping practices. He then founded a

Public Corporation, to pioneer Drip Irrigationand there by harbingered a new era for con-

servation of scarce water resources and also

for achieving higher yields, early maturity,

better quality and increase in cropping and

irrigation intensity.

Indeed, by heralding cutting-edge mod-

ern agricultural technologies such as Drip-

Irrigation and Tissue Culture, he provided

crucial assistance and impetus to an average

tradition-bound Indian farmer leading him toself-reliance.

He has been awarded with 22 International

and National Awards for his exemplary work

and social work. He was conferred the pres-

tigious UNESCO-West-Net "Water Conserver

of India" award in November 2007 by the

Hon'ble Union Minister of Water Resources,

Prof. Saif-Ud-Din Soz at a function held in

New Delhi attended by eminent delegates

from the World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, Cen-tral Water Commission and TERI . The nation

honoured him in 2008 with Padma Shri, In-

dia's fourth highest civilian award by the

Government of India . The North Maharash-

tra University awarded him with the degree

of Doctor of Letters (Honoris causa) for

"Remarkable achievements in the field of ag-

riculture, industry and social work".

He has also received the prestigious Craw-

ford Reid Memorial Award instituted by Irri-

gation Association, U.S.A. for "Significant

achievements in promoting proper irrigation

techniques and in fostering major advance-

ments in the Industry outside the United

States of America" in 1997. He was the first

Indian and the second Asian to receive thishonour.

The crusader continues to scale new territo-

ries like application of Bio-Technology for

micro propagation (tissue-culture) and intro-

duction of new varieties of Banana and On-

ion, preparation of vermicomposting, bio-

fertilisers, organic manure, bio-pesticides in

the service of Organic Farming. He offers

'total solution' from Wasteland Reclamation

to Watershed Development and sustainablehi-tech precision farming - an honest striving

to enhance GNP by helping advance second

green revolution. Symbiosis between devel-

opment and environment is an ever-

continuing passion for him. One can see him,

feel him and know him only through his

work.

The purpose of his life is truly depicted in his

belief: Earn a pride of place for Indian Farm,

Farming and Farmer.


22/25

22COMMODITYWATCHRahul Kumar MBA AB

SIIB, Pune

THE COMMODITY MARKET IN

INDIA: A NORTHWARD RALLY

M andis in the Indian markethave always existed from time immemorial.

These have been providing a platform for

businesses across the country by facilitating

barter tradebetween the buyer and the sell-

er. Later on, mandis came up in the agricul-tural hubs, in almost all the states in India.

But then, it was still difficult for a farmer to

select the best buyer for his produce. What

was needed was a platform where a buyer

and seller could buy and sell at the best rates

possible. Organized trading started in the

country with the establishment of the Bom-

bay Cotton Trade Association Ltd in 1875.

Subsequently the first futures trading in

oilseeds came up in 1900 with the establish-

ment of Gujrat Vyapari Mandali, which car-

ried out futures trading in groundnut, castor

seed and cotton. Later on, trading in bullion

and jute was also started at Bombay and Cal-

cutta. The Government came up with the For-

ward Contract Regulation Act in 1952 and

established the Forwards Marketing Commis-

sion (FMC) in 1953. The basic idea was to

provide the farmers with a standardized, reg-ulated and transparent trading system.

Currently, a total of 21 Commodity Exchang-

es are on floor across the country. These in-

clude the Multi Commodity Exchange, Mum-

bai; the National Commodity and the Deriva-

tive Exchange of India and the National Multi

Commodity Exchange, Ahmedabad.

As per the FMC, the commodities aregrouped into 8 categories: fibres, spices, edi-

ble oilseeds and oil, pulses, energy products,

vegetables, metals and others. At present, a

total of 105 commodities are in the regulated

list under the FMC i.e. these commodities

have been notified under section 15 of the

Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act. Forward

trading in these commodities can be con-

ducted only between, with, or through mem-

bers of recognized associations. The com-

modities other than those listed under Sec-

tion 15 are conventionally referred to as

'Free' commodities. Forward trading in these

commodities can be organized by any asso-

ciation after obtaining a certificate of Regis-

tration from the Forward Markets Commis-

sion.


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23

The delivery and settlement procedure differs for

each commodity in terms of quality implications,

place of delivery, options, penalties and margins,

and are defined comprehensively by the ex-

changes. Members of an exchange can perform

and clear transactions in only those contracts

which are exchange specified and approved bythe Forward Market Commission (FMC).

GROWTH RALLY IN COMMODITY MARKETS:

The total trade volume of all commodities at the

Multi Commodity Exchange in 2010 (till the lat-

est data available as on 09.09.2010) went up by awhopping 59 times (from 9343219.46 lakhs to

555095789.27 lakhs) as compared to its 2004

figures (shown in graph). If we see in totality

from all commodity exchanges, the market ex-

panded by 50 times in a span of 5 years from

Rs.66530 Crores in 2002 to Rs.3,3753,36 Crores

in 2007, according to findings of the AS-

SOCHAM. Also, this sort of upward trend means

that there will be an increase in the institutional

as well as non-institutional participation in such

trades would continue to grow over the coming

years.

Chart 2

Chart 3

Chart 4


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24

(The graphs shown here shows only MCX

data whereas in comparison further the total

traded volume in all exchanges has also been

taken. Since data prior to 2005 in some com-

modity sector, we will compare from 2005

onwards for inter-commodity group compar-

ison.)

Although agricultural commodities led the

initial spur in the chart shown here and con-

stituted the largest proportion of the total

value of trade till 2005-06 (55.32%), this

place was taken over by bullion and metals in

2006-07. The growth in 2006-07 was almost

wholly (88.7%) accounted for by bullion and

metals, with agricultural commodities con-

tributing a small fraction (10.7%). This was

partly due to the stringent regulations, like

margins and open interest limits, imposed on

agriculture commodities and the dampening

of sentiments due to suspension of trade in

few commodities. Futures market growth in

2006-07 appears to have bypassed agricul-

ture commodities.

Four commodities (wheat, rice, urad and

tur) were de-listed for futures trading to-

wards the end of financial year 2006-07. This

de-listing has been held responsible in many

circles for the recent general downturn in fu-

tures trading in agricultural commodities. But

these four de-listed commodities together

accounted for only 6.65% of the total value

of futures trading in all agricultural commod-

ities in 2006-07. Thus, although this may

have affected market sentiments adversely,the delisting did not have

any major direct contribution to the de-

cline in trading observed during 2007-08.

In fact, except chana and urad, the share

of sensitive commodities in total value of fu-

tures trade in agricultural commodities has

so far been quite insignificant. The combined

share of other foodgrains (i.e. wheat, rice,

maize and tur) peaked at 5.0% in 2005-06

and of sugar at only 2.2%. This is in line with

what various Committees mentioned earlier

had foreseen regarding prospects of futures

trading in commodities with significant gov-

ernment intervention. If, nonetheless, de-

listing has adversely affected market senti-

ment regarding futures trading more gener-

ally, this must be because of the go-stop

nature of government policy on the matter.

Chart 5

Commodity Group-Wise Value Of Trade

Value in ` lakhs

Commodity futures markets are the strength of an

agricultural surplus country like India. Commodity ex-

changes play a pivotal role in ensuring stronger

growth, transparency and efficiency of the commodity

futures markets. This role is defined by their functions,

infrastructure capabilities, trading procedures, settle-

ment and risk management practices

References:

The Forward Marketing Commission Of India

http://www.banknetindia.com/banking/80628.htm

www.fmc.gov.in/htmldocs/Abhij it%20Sen%

20Report.pdf
http://www.banknetindia.com/banking/80628.htmhttp://www.fmc.gov.in/htmldocs/Abhijit%20Sen%20Report.pdfhttp://www.fmc.gov.in/htmldocs/Abhijit%20Sen%20Report.pdfhttp://www.fmc.gov.in/htmldocs/Abhijit%20Sen%20Report.pdfhttp://www.fmc.gov.in/htmldocs/Abhijit%20Sen%20Report.pdfhttp://www.fmc.gov.in/htmldocs/Abhijit%20Sen%20Report.pdfhttp://www.banknetindia.com/banking/80628.htm


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Contact Team Drish

For Submission of Arcles:

Ayan Ray [email protected]

Trina Bhagat [email protected]

For Submission of Pictures:

Vinod Tripathi [email protected]

Drishti Vol 1 Nov '10

Documents

Transcript of Drishti Vol 1 Nov '10