Fwd: FW: Affirmative entrepreneurship
AYUSH | Adivasi Yuva Shakti
From: Nitin Lata Waman <ni3...@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 4:28 AM
Subject: Fwd: FW: Affirmative entrepreneurship
To: bahujanstudentnetwork <bahujanstu...@googlegroups.com>, sakyagroup yahoogroups <sakya...@yahoogroups.com>, ni3_...@yahoo.co.in, gdswa <GD...@googlegroups.com>
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With large corporates recognising the need for social diversity in their vendor base, the time is ripe for a Dalit venture capital fund. The launch of a SEBI-registered venture capital fund (VCF) to exclusively finance Dalit-owned businesses is recognition of the emergence of an entrepreneurial class in this historically discriminated community that is now eyeing opportunities for further growth. The last couple of decades have seen quite a few Dalits setting up successful businesses in diverse fields — from construction, transport and hospitals to manufacture of leather goods, cranes, forgings and industrial helmets. Most of these are small and medium enterprises that have graduated beyond the stage where their funding needs can be met through term loans from the National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation and the like. It is this gap that is sought to be bridged through the newly launched fund, which plans to raise Rs 500 crore for investments in Dalit-promoted ventures whose capital requirements may typically be in the range of a few crores.
The idea of a dedicated VCF for Dalit entrepreneurs is worthwhile for two reasons. The first is that it promotes the cause of liberal, ‘inclusive capitalism’. While business in India is no longer the preserve of a few ‘vaishya’ or traditional mercantile castes, the fact remains that this widening in the social base of capitalists has not really extended to communities in the lowest rungs – including those once regarded as ‘untouchables’. Currently, there is just one listed company whose promoter happens to be a Dalit. The 1,000-odd members of the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which has initiated and lobbied for the new fund, are mainly first-generation entrepreneurs with modest turnovers and burning ambitions. They deserve encouragement, if only for the symbolic value that the diversity of its capitalists has in sounding the death knell for the country’s centuries-old caste system.
That links up with the second reason for having a Dalit-focused VCF. The basic principle of affirmation action, as opposed to blanket quotas, is that a conscious attempt is made to identify, reach out and improve the capabilities of particular sections of society – something that no government or corporate would bother to do in the normal course. A venture fund targeted at Dalits can extend the same approach, to identifying potential entrepreneurs from the community and investing in their projects. What is necessary, however, is that the fund is professionally managed and the projects being financed are fundamentally sound. It would also help if such funding is backed up by marketing support. A big chunk of Dalit entrepreneurs today are beneficiaries of outsourcing in the post-reform era, with their products forming part of the supply chains of major corporates. With the likes of the Tatas and Godrejs even making ‘supplier diversity’ a part of their vendor development programmes, a Dalit VCF is an idea whose time has come
From: R K Sinha
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2013 10:39 AM
To: CSR; Team BE
Cc: Kudalkar Dinesh S; Talwar V; Sethi Ashok S
Subject: Tata Group to invest Rs 1 cr for 33% stake in Dalit enterprise - TATA GROUP'S STEP TOWARDS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN PRIVATE SECTOR.
Importance: High
Tata Group to invest Rs 1 cr for 33% stake in Dalit enterprise
Cyrus Mistry, chairman of the $100-billion Tata Group, is set to alter the very discourse on affirmative action in the private sector, by getting into a full-bodied manufacturing joint venture with an obscure company owned by a Dalit entrepreneur. The Tata Group has made an in-principle decision to pick up one-third equity in Delhi-based Chandan & Chandan Industries, a company incorporated to manufacture industrial helmets.
Nand Kishore Chandan, a Dalit entrepreneur, will hold the remaining two-thirds in the company. The investment was personally cleared by Mistry, say sources close to the deal. The Tatas are also exploring the possibility of floating a section 25 (not for profit) company under the Companies Act to channelise more investments into several other Dalit-owned enterprises. Tata group companies could pool monies into this special entity.
Confirming this, an executive from Tata Group's PR agency said Tata companies are coming together to help Dalit entrepreneurs trying to start businesses. "This is history in the making, and most importantly, a giant step in moving from patronage to partnership," says Chandra Bhan Prasad, commentator on Dalit issues and mentor, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI).
Over the past few years, Cyrus' predecessor Ratan Tata and former director of Tata Sons, JJ Irani, have infused the conglomerate with a degree of enthusiasm and commitment to the Dalit cause. Apart from investing in Dalit enterprises, the Tata Affirmative Action Programme also works on employment, employability, and education programmes for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.
DICCI Chairman Milind Kamble said the investments were the culmination of over eight months of negotiations steered by B Muthuraman, vice-chairman, Tata SteelBSE 3.06 %, and chair of the TAAP.
Clearly overawed, Chandan, an electrical engineering diploma holder and a veteran in plastics moulding, could only mumble homilies about being 'delighted and overwhelmed' by the prospect of working with the Tata group. The new venture, which is in the process of setting up its factory in Ghaziabad, has already received its first tranche of orders for over 50,000 helmets from a clutch of group companies including Tata Steel, Tata MotorsBSE 3.39 %, Tata Housing, and Tata Projects.
It is not yet clear how the investment from the Tatas would come about. Initially it was believed Tata Capital would be in the thick of it, but now, according to DICCI sources, there is talk about creation of a special purpose entity. This move by the Tata Group is indeed a shot in the arm for the concept of 'supplier diversity' within the affirmative action space.
Supplier diversity is the trend among large corporations to seek out, handhold, and buy products and services from entrepreneurs belonging to under-privileged and minority sections. It can be voluntary or mandated by the government. In the US, African American, women and other minority-owned companies have benefited a great deal by its proliferation.
The Tatas have added sheen to the concept by not only promising to buy but also investing in such companies. This is in keeping with Ratan
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Tata's take on social upliftment. He always underlined "the importance of facilitating integration through affirmative action programmes rather than just giving easy entitlements." He was among the few industrialists to express solidarity and visit the Mumbai DICCI Expo held in December 2011 along with Adi Godrej of the Godrej group and Farhad Forbes of the Pune-based Forbes Marshall group. A host of senior executives from the Tata group visited and held talks with Dalit entrepreneurs at the Expo.
Cyrus Mistry, on his part, at an in-house Affirmative Action Programme Assessors meet last year maintained 'the momentum should continue.' In fact, it was Cyrus who personally conveyed to Milind Kamble his sanction for the project when he happened to bump into the latter at the 25th anniversary celebrations of Sebi in Mumbai recently.
NK Chandan started his career as a shop floor employee in 1990 and by 2001, on the strength of the considerable expertise he had acquired, was inducted as a partner in the plastic moulding company he worked for. The company did well by manufacturing plastic spares for photo copying machines. In 2012 he bought out the partners, acquired the plant spread over 1200 sq metres in Ghaziabad for Rs 1.82 crore, and also renamed the company. "Except for my house, I sold off all my assets and scraped out all my savings to start afresh," says Chandan. He wanted to get into manufacture of urea bags as the volume demand was high, though margins were low. It then struck him that industrial helmets would be a safer bet.
As DICCI's Delhi chapter head, he had been mobilising support for Dalit entrepreneurs and this brought him into close proximity with large corporates, including Bombay House. This eventually coalesced into a deal with the Tatas. The helmet manufacturing project is estimated at Rs 3.05 crore, of which Chandan's contribution is Rs 2.05 crore and the Tatas contribution around Rs 1 crore. The installed capacity is around 3 lakh helmets per annum.
This initiative in supplier diversity comes at a time when things are beginning to look up for Dalit entrepreneurs. Finance Minister P Chidambaram, last Thursday, formally launched the DICCI SME Fund, for investment in companies promoted by SCs. SIDBI has already committed Rs 10 crore to the fund and the finance minister has promised to ask other financial institutions to pitch in. It also comes at a time when the central government is in the process of rolling out a 4 per cent quota in public procurement by government departments and public sector enterprises. While this opportunity is around Rs 46,000 crore, it will be a while before government departments gets it act together.
However, it is the private sector potential that can really trigger change, quickly, as seen by the Tata initiative. Even in the US, it's the private sector, through the Billion Dollar Club, that is providing heft to the supplier diversity concept. Each of the 18 member companies of the Club buy at least $1 billion worth of products or services from Black American, women, Hispanics and other minorities annually. Members include Ford Motors, IBM, P&G, Walmart, Toyota, Boeing, and Johnson & Johnson.
From: R K Sinha
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2013 6:28 AM
To: CSR; Team BE
Cc: Kudalkar Dinesh S; Talwar V; Sethi Ashok S
Subject: 'Capitalism is changing caste much faster than any human being. Dalits should look at capitalism as a crusader against caste'
'Capitalism is changing caste much faster than any human being. Dalits should look at capitalism as a crusader against caste'
In this Walk the Talk with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta, Milind Kamble, founder of the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI), and Chandra Bhan Prasad, its mentor, say “the nation should know Dalits are not only takers, they are givers”
I am at Nariman Point, the heart of corporate, super rich India. At a time when the talk is of inclusive growth, my guests today are two faces of genuinely inclusive growth in India: Milind Kamble, founder of Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI), and Chandra Bhan Prasad, its mentor. Two Dalit leaders, who don't claim to be victims, who don't claim victimhood, and who don’t ask for doles, reservations, favours, no complaints. So, are you oddballs? Are you trying to change the script?
CHANDRA BHAN PRASAD: This has been the Dalit tradition—Ambedkar rose on his own, so did Guru Ravidas. There are thousands of such examples in history where Dalits have stood up and risen on their own. So there is nothing unusual about us. What has happened during the past 50 or 60 years is that the state’s welfare measures or methods or reservations got slightly misunderstood and also slightly misused by the “victims”.
Did it work well for the victims or not?
CBP: It worked well, but it has outlived its potential and power, now something else has to happen.
Milindji, you are charting a new course. You are organising Dalit entrepreneurs in this Dalit Chamber. Is there really a large enough number of Dalit entrepreneurs in India?
MILIND KAMBLE: Yes, there are. If I quote from the Census carried out by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), 10 per cent of MSMEs registered with the Government of India are Dalit-owned, which is about 1,64,000 across the country. Most of us fall within the ambit of MSMEs, there are a few who have grown into large enterprises. That is the situation.
Who are the largest? Tell me about a few.
MK: The largest enterprise that is part of our Chamber is of Rajesh Saraiya, who is from Sitapur district in Uttar Pradesh. He is currently based in Ukraine and his companies are registered in London, Ukraine and six other countries. He has a presence in Mumbai too. He is the biggest Dalit entrepreneur whose businesses have a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore.
That is almost half a billion dollars. Tell me about him.
CBP: He went to Russia on a scholarship to study engineering. When the Soviet Union collapsed, he did odd jobs to continue his education and after completing it, joined (Laxmi Niwas) Mittal’s steel company as a translator. He figured out the tricks of the trade and started dealing with steel, first with the Tatas. Today, he is worth over $400 million, owns four Mercedes Benz cars and is only in his forties. Then there is Kalpana Saroj who worked for Rs 5 a day in Mumbai in 1975 and today she owns Kamani Tubes.
I believe the silencer in the Tata Nano is produced by a Dalit entrepreneur.
MK: Yes, indeed. Not just the silencer, there are other parts as well. The perception that the country has about our community that...
...they are victims, the prey.
MK: There is a view that Dalits are the jamaais (sons-in-law) of the government. This is not true. As you said, there is (a Dalit entrepreneur) who makes silencers for the Nano, one Sushil Kumar in Ghaziabad supplies (motorcycle) stands to Hero, in Pune there is one Gokul Gaikwad who supplies parts for Tata Indigo, in Sangli there is Sadamate Industries which supplies parts to Forbes Marshall, to Bajaj.
CBP: Bajaj Pulsar has three parts supplied by Dalits. If they stop supplies to Bajaj, Hero, Honda, Tata Motors...
...the companies will close down.
CBP: No. The vehicles will stop running for want of parts.
MK: This way, we need to change perceptions.
You wish to change the story of
victimhood.
MK: Yes. Many have emerged from their circumstances and established businesses.
CBP: In Uttar Pradesh alone, 50 big hospitals are being run by Dalit doctors. Some of them were manual labourers in their childhood, during their high school and intermediate days.
The fact is, these Dalits became doctors because of reservations.
CBP: Yes.
So we cannot undermine the value of affirmative action.
CBP: Certainly. Affirmative action has given Dalits a launch pad. A launch pad is a launch pad. You need that to take off. Ambedkar gave you the launch pad. Now don’t run on the launch pad, take off.
So are you saying economic reforms and globalisation have been positive developments for Dalits?
MK: We welcome it. It has been a very positive development in India’s economic growth story. Earlier, there were only few companies that used to make cars, two-wheelers and spares, because only they had the licence. As the licence raj was dismantled, new players entered the market. The existing firms had their vendor-base fixed, and the dealings used to happen only with them. As new players entered, there was a need for new vendors, new suppliers, a new supply chain and that is how more entrepreneurs got an opportunity.
CBP: Also, earlier there was a notion of one product under one roof. Because of economic reforms, globalisation, you can’t produce everything under one roof. You will have to outsource work. Most of the Dalit entrepreneurs of today are beneficiaries of outsourcing.
Outsourcing of manufacturing.
CBP: Yes. Along with globalisation came Adam Smith to challenge Manu. So that’s why for the first time, money has become bigger than caste.
So markets have become bigger than caste, bigger than Marx.
Yes. Bigger than caste, bigger than Marx, bigger than everybody because in this marketplace, only your ability is respected.
Chandra Bhanji, you say that money has challenged caste and Marx, and you spent your youth as a gun-toting Naxalite.
CBP: Yes...I think I was a fool.
You were an actual Naxalite, a part of the underground. Tell us that story.
CBP: I was a young man then, studying in JNU and I thought we must change India. Then, somebody said the gun is the best thing to overthrow the system, and I said I will be part of it.
And JNU is a place where the CPM is considered a dangerous right-wing party.
CBP: Yes...and I went in the field and saw violence is no way to change society. It is now outdated to have a view that a weapon or a people’s army can overthrow the present regime and trigger a revolution. So I got disillusioned and I thought everybody makes mistakes, and I too made a mistake.
You came back from there and made a complete turnaround?
CBP: Yes. Earlier, I completely went by ideas and thoughts that I was told. Later, I started thinking and saw changes. When I saw a Dalit in Bahadurgarh manufacturing cranes with a polytechnic training, I thought India is changing. When I saw a Dalit in Khurja running the biggest sweet shop and people buying sweets from him, while knowing he is Dalit, I thought India is changing. Now Dalits in several parts of India are running good restaurants. People are eating there. So I thought India is changing. So I thought let us go with the change.
Milindji, you came to the city, to Pune, started your venture. Were people still reminding you of your caste? Or were they ignoring your caste?
MK: In Maharashtra, your surname often gives away your caste. Look at my name: Milind Kamble. Kamble is a known Dalit surname. In the business I work in, construction...
...you have a turnover of Rs 80 crore.
MK: Yes, across all the businesses I am engaged in...So in the construction sector, over 80 per cent of the labour force belongs to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The work involves hard labour, which is possible only by us, which is why, we did not see discrimination.
...And you were an engineer, an added qualification.
MK: Yes.
Let me put this metaphorically. If market is a better equaliser than Marx, is the market a better equaliser than Mayawati?
CBP: Most certainly. So far, we held a belief that only an individual can liberate society. Now we see that there is an economic process, that capitalism is changing caste much faster than any human being. Therefore, in capitalism versus caste, there is a battle going on and Dalits should look at capitalism as a crusader against caste.
...As a force multiplier.
CBP: Yes. Dalits don’t succeed in villages. Dalits don’t succeed in traditional trades where you have a wide gadda and a white pillow. That’s why we say bring in FDI in retail and destroy this traditional system where Dalits can’t even step in.
This caste-denominated monopoly over money and over transactional benefits...
CBP: Yes. That is why I say, what man failed to do, capitalism is doing. Let us go with capitalism that is changing caste faster than your reforms.
Milindji, you speak of empowerment and that June 6, the day on which we are recording this, is going to be a turning point in the history of Dalit evolution. Why do you say so?
MK: Today, we are launching our own venture capital fund of Rs 500 crore and it will be an alternative fund registered with SEBI. This is India’s first social impact fund that will cater exclusively to enterprises run by Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. We, the entrepreneurs from the community, are endeavouring to make a mark on the business landscape—and many are making a mark. Today is a day when we are making a mark on the country’s capital markets.
Your slogan is, Dalits should become job givers, not job seekers.
MK: Yes.
CBP: And every follower of Bhimrao Ambedkar should become job givers, not job seekers.
Tell me, how did the two of you meet? Chandrabhanji is from a backward region in Uttar Pradesh—Azamgarh—and Milindji is from Maharashtra.
CBP: I went to him and saw that he had formed DICCI and is uniting Dalit entrepreneurs nationwide. His interest was that there should be business advocacy among Dalits. I have only one interest: to survey Dalit entrepreneurs and calculate the tax they pay the government and show that the taxes they pay are far greater than the money the government spends on the welfare of the Dalits. I asked him, can I join you? And I joined him.
When I heard you say that—as I also have my mind conditioned by stereotypes—I thought you were about to say that all the tax Dalit entrepreneurs pay the government, should be spent back on Dalits.
CBP: We are saying that Dalit entrepreneurs are giving more in taxes to the state than what the state is spending on Dalits. We want to prove this. I am not a businessman, I am a writer. That’s how we came together. Our interests match. The nation should know that Dalits are not only takers, they are givers.
Did people laugh at you when you started this (DICCI)?
MK: Yes. When we began this, people felt that he is out of his mind. What is this SC/ST chamber of commerce and industry? Can there be anything like that? Can people from our community become businessmen? This was the mindset then and people laughed at me. During the period 2003-2005, we formed DICCI. In 2010, we organised our first trade fair in Pune. It was then that we got the attention of the media and word spread nation-wide that Dalit entrepreneurs have formed a forum. Last year, we organised a trade fair in Mumbai, at the Bandra-Kurla Complex.
For non-Mumbaikars, BKC is the new banking district of India.
MK: Yes. We organised a trade fair in which 150 Dalit businessmen from all over the country exhibited. Adi Godrej was present at the inauguration and among the visitors were Ratan Tata, Sushilkumar Shinde and Sharad Pawar and many others. After that, those who laughed at me and doubted my endeavour, even the Dalit entrepreneurs who used to hide their caste until then, when they saw that DICCI had forged an alliance with Corporate India—50 corporates came there—the hesitation ended and today it has become a platform throughout the country. There are DICCI chapters in 17 states, and our membership has swelled to 3,000.
Chandra Bhanji, you are a traveller, an analyst, a writer, a scholar. Do you see Dalits and even tribals changing as you go through the countryside?
CBP: Yes, the biggest change that has occurred and which I thought would never happen in this country—that food sources have become common for Dalits and upper castes. Earlier, Dalits mainly ate millets...
...what is called coarse grain
CBP: That was a low social marker—this is Dalit food or cattle feed. Now Dalits and upper castes and OBCs have common sources of food—wheat and rice. And jeans and T-shirts have become new weapons of emancipation. I see in villages Dalit youth sporting jeans and T-shirts. Something is happening in the countryside. Dressing well, eating well. They are also migrating from the countryside to cities like Mumbai and Aurangabad and Ahmedabad and elsewhere. Something new is going to happen in a month or two. A big Indian company is going to form a joint venture with a Dalit entrepreneur to produce a common product. This will shake the old consciousness. This would show how India is integrating, how a new process has started.
...And how capitalism is achieving what Marx and Mayawati could not?
CBP: Yes. Capitalism cannot survive without finishing feudalism and destroying caste. It is in the interest of capitalism to destroy caste, and that is happening, whether we like it or not.
You keep saying that the ideological mentor of DICCI is Montek Singh Ahluwalia. That will alarm many people because he is supposed to be a man of the Washington Consensus—anti-poverty, anti-poor, etc.
CBP: Montek is a friend of Adam Smith and Adam Smith is an enemy of Manu, so therefore, Montek is our friend.
Enemy’s enemy is your friend. What happens to this discourse on poverty—that you need a direct attack on poverty, that poverty is the problem, poverty is there forever, poverty has not come down...?
CBP: People who are working on poverty have a better life than people like us, because if you work on poverty, then you fly. You work on poverty, you live in five-star hotels. If you work on poverty, you are in touch with big foreign funding agencies. So, talking poverty makes you strong, makes you rich.
I say sometimes in my cynical moments that we Indians have invented a new ideology, it’s called povertarianism. And then central principle of that ideology is that poverty is my birth right and I shall make sure you have it.
CBP: The benefits are enormous. The fellow who sells poverty himself leads a rich life.
Now your alma mater, JNU, is the Dalal Street of poverty, rather povertarianism.
CBP: JNU creates people who see every human being incapable of rising on his own. That is JNU’s DNA.
Milindji, If JNU is the Dalal Street of poverty, you are now aiming for this (the real) Dalal Street. Where does the inspiration come from?
MK: The inspiration behind DICCI is the economic thought of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The second is the black capitalism in America.
It says so in your mission statement.
MK: Yes. I asked my friend how was it possible that Barack Obama could be President of the United States? A black man in the White House! So he told me, there are thousands of “business Obamas”, that is why you have one Obama in the White House. There are thousands of black entrepreneurs in the United States who have made their presence felt on Wall Street. Till the day Dalit entrepreneurs make their presence felt on Dalal Street, let growth be how much ever it is, it won’t be sustainable.
Nobody could have put it better than that. Milindji, thank you very much, it has been so inspirational to have this conversation with you. Chandra Bhanji, you are a wonderful mentor. Fortunately, you picked the right cause. Had you stayed on with Naxalites, you might have been a bigger problem there
From: R K Sinha
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2011 7:32 AM
To: Lakra Cosmos D; B Khalkho; Sengupta Sujit; Kumar Barun
Subject: A Dalit success story - live mint
A Dalit success story
Dalit entrepreneurs lack the social networks or organizational backing or access to credit to compete with non-Dalit businesses, and this is precisely where the state can intervene by, for instance, prioritizing procurement from Dalit-run companies by public sector enterprises
In just about every way that can be measured, prejudice, both social and economic, against Dalits has reduced since independence. Since 1991, after liberalization, some Dalits have been able to take advantage of the new opportunities offered by the growing economy just as others have. This was in evidence at the first-ever national trade fair organized by the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries in Mumbai a few days ago. The fair was supported by corporate heavyweights such as the Tata and Godrej groups, and found support from the Confederation of Indian Industry as well. There is a move on the part of industry to encourage Dalit enterprise, which wants to embrace the concept of “supplier diversity” and promote Dalit entrepreneurship. No less than titan of industry Ratan Tata called upon corporate India to use its economic clout in pursuit of social justice.
There is some evidence to suggest that the expanded set of opportunities offered in the post-liberalization economy flattened the playing field for aspiring Dalit entrepreneurs. A rapidly expanding economy opened up new jobs and careers to people who were otherwise pushed to the margins of private industry. Liberalization upended the status quo and a number of Dalits were able to take advantage of the resultant chaos to acquire capital like never before. The market could thus be said to be levelling historical disadvantages more effectively than caste-based reservation has done.
The necessity of affirmative action—or, in the Indian context, caste-based reservation—has long been a matter of debate. Enshrined in article 15(4) of the Constitution, the quota system is intended to provide equal opportunity in education and employment to scheduled castes and tribes. How successful such a policy is in equalizing the playing field for Dalits is highly contentious —and, indeed, it has been argued that such a policy is more effective as a political tool to gather votes than to make available educational or professional opportunities that would have otherwise been closed to them. Certainly the idea of extending quotas to the private sector to increase Dalit economic achievement has merited strong opposition.
However, this does not mean that the government cannot incentivize private enterprise to promote social justice, or aid in removing some of the barriers that Dalit-owned businesses face. Dalit entrepreneurs lack the social networks or organizational backing or access to credit to compete with non-Dalit businesses, and this is precisely where the state can intervene by, for instance, prioritizing procurement from Dalit-run companies by public sector enterprises.
From: R K Sinha
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 9:04 AM
To: Lakra Cosmos D; B Khalkho; Sengupta Sujit; Kumar Barun
Cc: Manjrekar Pradeep L
Subject: Ratan Tata asks India Inc to help dalit entrepreneurs grow - THE TIMES OF INDIA
MUMBAI:The Tata group chairman Ratan Tata today said India Inc should assist the small entrepreneurs, especially those from the dalit community, to become global entrepreneurs.
"We should all assist in letting small enterprises, especially those from the dalit community, to become big and global enterprises. Everyone in the country should help the young entrepreneurs and help them share the prosperity of the country," Tata said at the first national trade fair organised by the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DICCI) here.
The two-day national trade fair focusing on dalit entrepreneurs -- first ever -- began yesterday. It is supported by Tata Group, Godrej Group and industry body CII.
The Tata group chairman also said the corporate India should use products manufactured by the small enterprises, and also help them increase their exports.
"I am happy to endorse and support the cause of the dalit entrepreneurs," Tata added.
Godrej Group chairman Adi Godrej had yesterday appealed to the corporate India to help dalit entrepreneurs as a part of the corporate social responsibility.
Nearly 200 dalit entrepreneurs from Maharashtra, Haryana, UP, Delhi, MP, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have participated in the trade fair.
DICCI chairman Milind Kamble today said objective behind the fair was to prove that the dalit community was not just a seeker, but also a giver.
"We have been fighting the caste system for long. But now we want a Tata, a Birla and an Ambani among us. We want to embark on a movement to create dalit capital," he said.
Kamble said the association of companies like Tata and Godrej with the DICCI had not only given inspiration to the young entrepreneurs but had raised the status of its members.
From: R K Sinha
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 7:07 AM
To: Lakra Cosmos D; B Khalkho; Sengupta Sujit; Kumar Barun
Subject: Dalit bizmen are India Inc’s poster boys - The Times of India
Dalit bizmen are India Inc’s poster boys
MUMBAI: Neglected for years, Dalit entrepreneur are now gaining momentum and getting ready to expand their horizons and do business with industrial houses.
The Dalit India Chamber of Commerce and Industries ( DICCI), inaugurated by industrialist Adi Godrej on Saturday, held its first expo in the city to showcase products of member-entrepreneurs. The association has also decided to create a venture capital fund with a corpus of Rs 500 crore.
Cottage industries like handicraft, T-shirts and leather products were showcased at the event. Firms engaged in construction and manufacturing industrial products also featured prominently. Many Dalits beat the odds to become successful entrepreneurs in their own right. Yashodhan Ramteke, an electronics engineer, set up a private institute to train engineers in maintaining thermal power plants in Nagpur. Dr Nanda Kishore runs a 100-bed hospital in Hyderabad are success stories from the community.
"I was lucky to get good education and a job with the Union ministry of agriculture. However, I would back reservation since it would provide the impetus to my community," said Natha Ram, the director of Steel Mont Private Ltd-a Rs 600-crore company set up by Rajesh Saraiya (Natha's son).
Saraiya is India's first Dalit billionaire. Born in a middle class family in Dehradun, Rajesh studied aeronautical engineering in Russia and is now based in Ukraine. Kalpana Saroj has done what no Dalit woman in the corporate world could. A school dropout, Saroj is the chairperson of Kamani Tubes Limited. The company, which makes non-ferrous tubes, had a troubled existence over the past two decades, requiring constant assistance by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, following internecine feuds in the Kamani family.
"Supporters and investors turn up if you are focused on what you want," said Saroj. J Nandakumar has craved a niche for himself in the art world. Having completed his Master's in fine arts from Aurangabad university, Nandakumar held many exhibitions of his paintings at J J art gallery. Many corporates have purchased his art works.
Dalit entrepreneurs meet at Bandra-Kurla Complex | ||
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Credit disbursements to dalit entrepreneurs drops 33.8% this fiscal
MUMBAI: Lack of adequate credit — the lifeblood for any company is threatening to derail fledgling attempts by hundreds of dalit entrepreneurs to overcome deep socio-economic barriers and break into mainstream business.
Without credit, such entrepreneurs would also struggle to cash-in on the Rs 7,000-crore business opportunity opened up by the central government's new dalit-friendly sourcing plan, unveiled last month.
Credit disbursements to dalit entrepreneurs through 20-odd schemes run by the Ministry of Social Justice have dropped 33.8% to Rs1,670 crore between April and October this financial year, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India.
The ministry had lent Rs2,524 crore to companies run by members of scheduled castes and tribes during the same period last year. Though data on bank loans to dalit entrepreneurs are not available, evidence suggests the trend may not be any different there too.
Last month, the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises mandated 4% of government purchases be made from units run by dalits and tribals.
According to government estimates, central government procurement from small enterprises is expected to be worth Rs35,000 crore annually, of which Rs7,000 crore will go to SCs/STs. (This scheme is similar to the affirmative action in the US where the Federal government procures 30% of its materials from minority communities of Afro Americans and Latinos.)
The dip in credit availability has marred an otherwise tumultuous year for dalit enterprises. In 2011, about a hundred such men and women running successful businesses formed the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DCCI), a lobby to nurture entrepreneurship; the body is growing in recognition and clout and is now putting together a Rs500-crore venture capital fund.
A series of stories done by The ET earlier this year profiled a dozen such dalit businessmen who had built large companies. But credit problems still continue to haunt dalit entrepreneurs, even more so than other businessmen, members of the community claim.
"It has become just too difficult to apply for loans from the SC/ST lending organisations," says Milind Kamble, chairman, Dalit Chamber of Commerce and Industries. Delays and stringent collateral norms add to the borrowers' woes, and even if you manage to pass through these hurdles, it takes minimum one year for loan to get cleared, Kamble says.
"As a businessman I have a certain time limit for my projects, I cannot wait endlessly." "Access to credit for a dalit remains one of the biggest hurdles," adds Kalpana Saroj, managing director, Kamini Tubes and one of the earliest dalit entrepreneurs.
"It was just too difficult to get a loan, I almost gave up (seven years ago)," she says. It took her six months just to get a certificate that made her eligible to access these loans as a dalit. Things haven't improved much since then.
Disbursement from many schemes — crafted intentionally to provide credit to dalit businessmen — is slowing down. 'The Special Component' plan floated by the Ministry of Social Justice is one example. Under this scheme, a group of 15 members are eligible to receive a loan up to Rs7 crore.
The members form a co-operative society and the loan is given to that society. But in the last one year, over 125 applications are pending, because of 'shortage of funds', Kamble claims.
Similarly, dalit entrepreneurs are entitled to get loans up to Rs30 lakh under the National Schedule Caste Finance and Development Corporation, but only if they get a guarantee from government servants.
"There is no access to credit for those who have no money," says Arun Khobargade, MD, RAS Frozen Foods, a Rs 20-crore firm. Khobargade, a member of the Dalit Chamber, has been lobbying for easier lending norms and higher credit limits.
Khobargade says the quantum of loans given by the NSFDC is too low to start a business. And nationalised banks lend to small business only on the basis of credit ratings. And for someone starting a new business, getting a rating is not always possible.
Swwapnil Bhingardevay, who runs an LPG distribution business in Pune, alleges an inherent bias among the lenders. "They won't say it to your face, but there is an unwritten policy against sanctioning loans of dalit applicants," alleges Bhingardevay.
"The banks feel what would a dalit know about the business, and this attitude prevails in smaller towns, irrespective of what the policies or guidelines suggest," he claims. He came to this conclusion when a loan request to set up an ethanol factory was turned down by a public sector bank in Pune.
He finally managed to raise funds from Karad Urban Cooperative Bank. He claims this came through because the bank's head was from his community. Banks typically lend to only those dalit business, which symbolises their caste identity, says Aseem Prakash of Institute of Human Development, a think tank.
Hence someone who has tanning business might find it easier to get a loan, than an entrepreneur who wants to start a coaching class. PSU banks say that they would never deny loans to any genuine borrower.
"If the priority sector loans have come down, it's because of the farm loan waivers, but we have never denied loan to the needy," says A A Taj, Executive Director, Andhra Bank. Bureaucrats like Dinesh Waghmare, secretary, Ministry of Social Justice, say that mere improvement of credit access will not solve the problem.
"There is a need to develop a market for dalit entrepreneurs," says Waghmare. The government's new dalit-friendly sourcing policy is a step in that direction.
From: R K Sinha
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 9:37 AM
To: Sengupta Sujit; Kumar Barun; Lakra Cosmos D; B Khalkho; Pradhan Sanjaya; Choudhury Jayashree; Jha Uday N; Mukherji Supratik
Subject: New policy assures Rs 7,000-cr business for Dalit, ST entrepreneurs - BUSINESS STANDARD
Some Dalit businessmen plan to launch a Rs 500 crore venture capital fund — India’s first community-focused fund.
The Central government’s new procurement policy will open business opportunities worth Rs 7,000 crore for Dalit and s (ST) entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs are now gearing up to tap this opportunity by launching their own venture capital fund and increasing their production capacities.
The proposed Rs 500 crore venture capital fund will be the country’s first community-focused fund, according to industry representatives. It will help entrepreneurs from the community, from whom financial institutions are shying away, said a senior official.
Milind Kamble, chairman, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI), said that the association has approached the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), with the proposal. The fund will be launched through a special purpose vehicle.
“The first round of funding will be from domestic investors and businessmen from the community and during the second round we will look at international investors,” said Kamble.
Under the recently announced Public Procur-ement Policy for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE), a minimum of 20 per cent of total annual purchases of Central ministries, departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs) has been reserved for procurement from MSEs.
Of the 20 per cent share of annual procurement from MSEs, a share of four per cent (or 20 per cent of 20 per cent) has been reserved for procurement from MSEs owned by Dalit and ST entrepreneurs.
To enhance the participation of Dalits and ST in government procurement, all Central ministries, departments and PSUs will have to organise special vendor development programmes and buyer-seller meets. They will have also to report their targets and achievements with respect to procurement from MSEs in their annual reports.
Ministries, departments and PSUs which do not meet the mandatory goal of the public procurement policy will be required to provide reasons to a review committee headed by the secretary to the MSME ministry.
However, the ministry of defence, on account of its unique nature, had reservations about implementation of the procurement policy for MSEs. Keeping this in view, defence armaments and weapons systems have been kept out of the purview of the policy.
Kamble of DICCI said that every year the government procures products and services worth Rs 1.75 lakh crore. Four per cent of this, amounting to some Rs 7,000 crore, will be reserved for the Dalit and ST entrepreneurs.
“We are happy, since we now know there is an assured market. With this we can now go in for expansion and other new initiatives,” said Kamble. Entrepreneurs from the community are already suppliers to big brands such as Tata, Bajaj, Hero Honda and Kirloskar, among others.
Besides, there are also successful businessmen from this community, who include Ashok Khade, chairman of Das Offshore Pvt Ltd, who presides over a Rs 550 crore business empire; Natha Ram, who runs Steelmont Pvt Ltd, a Rs 600 crore company that makes steel converter machines; Devjibhai Makwana, whose Rs 300 crore company, Suraj Filament, makes flat and twisted high-tenacity polypropylene multi-filament yarns.
The Dalit population in the country is estimated at 200 million, or one-sixth of India's population, of which 15 per cent are entrepreneurs, said Kamble. However, according to him, they control only one per cent of the country’s wealth.
“Our community members want to grow, but cannot find anyone to lend them money to start a unit,” he said. Being a Dalit means virtually no assets, so people from the community end up going to private lenders. Credit facilities to start a business are hard to come by for the community, he added.
“Trade and enterprise have never been part of our tradition. The only trade traditionally linked with Dalits is leather work,” he noted. Dalits need support in terms of training, identifying the market and financial help, which DICCI provides, he added.
There are no problems that are peculiar to the Dalits once they get to the market. “But reaching there is a problem, given that they are educationally and economically backward.” To address this lacuna, DICCI counsels entrepreneurs, provides them with support, and identifies markets for them.
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