Rainbow Trouts in Bhutan

 

I guess it does not take much of marketing to sell a fish that evokes images of kisses, mountain streams and rainbows. 

The rainbow trout, aka Oncorhynchus mykiss, loves cold, clean, fast-flowing mountain streams. Native to the Americas it has, over the centuries, become a valuable table-fish - thanks to its great taste (it belongs to the salmon family), the fact that it can be reared with relative ease in fish-farms, and because it fetches a good price in the markets. In India it sells for over INR 1200/kg and counts among the 'high-value' fishes sold across the country. Globally, the top three exporters of Trout are Turkey, Chile, and Vietnam. In 2023, the rainbow trout market was valued at US$ 4.2 billion 

Inspired perhaps by the success of Vietnam, many asian countries have been trying their hand at rearing and exporting this fish. Bhutan is one of them. With its pristine Himalayan mountain streams it ought to have a natural advantage in this business but the record so far has been limited. What could be the reasons for this? 

Efforts started way back in 2008, National Research Center for Riverine and Lake Fishes (NRCRLF), at Haa. Personnel trained at trout farms in Kokernag, Kashmir, replicated a raceway at Haa, and this has been been the centre for trout farming efforts in Bhutan for nearly two decades. The Trout Breeding Centre at NRCRLF has been producing and distributing hundreds of thousands of fingerlings to affiliated farms which in turn produce around 35 tonnes of fish every year. Yet, even at the most fancy restaurants in Thimphu, you are unlikely to find rainbow trout on the menu. Why is this the case? Where does all the fish production go?

One logical answer to this could be that all the rainbow trout produced in Bhutan goes across the border to the Indian market. It takes about five hours to cross 167km of mountain roads to reach Phuensoling, the border town. Even across this border, competition is likely to be stiff from Indian trout farms. 

In Sikkim alone, for instance, there are 760 rainbow trout raceways with an annual production of 340 tonnes in 2022–23, up from 95 tonnes in 2014–15. The state also operates nine hatcheries, producing 619,000 fingerlings in 2022–23. Next door in Arunachal Pradesh, trout broodstock and seed production is being done in two main hatcheries situated at Shergaon of west Kameng and Nuranang in Tawang district. Shergaon has ova production capacity of 100,000. 

India's rainbow trout production has increased from 147 tonnes in 2004–05 to over 842 tonnes in 2015–16 (31% annual growth rate!), with a notable rise in private sector involvement. Key states contributing to this growth include Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and Arunachal Pradesh . With such competition just across the border, it is not easy for Bhutan. 

Two crucial inputs trout fish farms - eggs/ova and feed - is dependent on expensive imports. Annually about 200,000 one-eyed Ova (fertilised eggs) are imported from Denmark. Specialised fish feed, with a purported high feed conversion ratio (FCR) of 1:1 (!) is imported from BioMar in the Netherlands for around Nu.200/kg. Biomar itself learnt the ropes of the fish-feed business from American companies and is among the dominant players now. Quite amazing to think that fishes being reared in the Himalayan streams need to be fed with something that is imported from a tiny country 7,300 km away!

This brings us back to the Vietnamese. How did they make themselves one of the top exporters of rainbow trout? As in the case of cashewnuts they surely have many lessons for those who want to approach agribusiness with a clear head and a hard nose for business!

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REFERNCES & LINKS

• Global Rainbow Trout Market (2023) - https://www.factmr.com/report/2084/rainbow-trout-market
• Bongo Gewog, Chukha, to Launch Rainbow Trout Project 
• https://derafarms.com/products/himlayan-rainbow-trout

Affordable eBikes

Something unusual happened today - I stopped to gawk at a bicycle. 

It was a mildly smoggy winter morning in Noida, and I was driving down one of those long, flat, tree-lined service roads running parallel to the expressway when I went past a man riding a bicycle. On the face of it this was nothing out of the ordinary - the bicycle was one of those black, clunky, mass-produced models and the man seemed like a factory employee, with his head covered in a muffler, a small bag on his back, going down the road - except for the fact that he was not pedalling his bicycle!

I did a double-take, noticed a neat white bracket behind his seat, and realised that this one was running on a battery - an ordinary bicycle in its new avatar as an electric bike.

Having never seen such a thing before, I pulled up a little ahead, and requested him to stop. The cyclist gladly obliged, and with the pleased look of a man accustomed to such attention, explained that he had got this fitting at a workshop in Badarpur, Delhi. It had cost him about INR 15,000 and that the battery lasted him quite comfortably for his 40 km commute everyday.

These units are manufactured by new company called Accelero Cycles India Ltd., and sold under the brandname "eBik". Founded by a youngster named Anant Jain, this startup aims to make 'affordable, eco-friendly, motorised mobility for everyone'. 

How will ACIL take on established companies like Hero Cycles which has come out with a range of electric bicycles under the brandname "Lectro"? Is there sufficient demand for retro-fitted budget cycles? Does the enterprise have a network of service centres? As of now not there is not much information about this company in the public domain. 

The answers to these questions may unfold in the days to come, but one thing is sure - as of now, the company has at least one happy brand ambassador on this side of Yamuna!

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REFERENCES & LINKS

* eBik - https://ebik.in/product.html 

Pralayam - Kerala after the Deluge

Houseboats waiting to go at 11:30AM

Last year the monsoons were disastrous for Kerala. For the first time since 1924 the state saw all its rivers in spate, most of its agricultural land submerged and thousands huddled in relief camps across the state. 

There had been talk of how it would take years to rebuild and recover from the "Pralayam" - not a mere flooding ("vellapokkam") but a calamity of epic proportions for which a more potent word had been drawn from Sanskrit epics.

Seven months after the floods there is little trace of the disaster that killed over 400 people, displaced 5 million and caused economic losses of over USD 5 billion.

At Kainakary the houseboat business is booming again. These boats are usually allowed into the backwaters only after 11:30 when the fishermen have returned with their catch. Only the larger, double-deck boats have to wait longer because the quays could not be dredged last year due to a funds crunch. The locals are upbeat - this year there has been no shortage of tourists either at the Ayurvedic spas that line the Vembanad lagoon, or the toddy shops or ice-cream vendors on boats.

Not far from the banks of the Pamba river at Othera, recovery is said to have taken place within weeks of the water receding. In the words of a resident relative, "Our house, along with about 200 others, was an island for 10 days. No electricity, no tele-connectivity, or access to supply of clean water. Helicopters hovered around dropping provisions which were piled up at local shrines...and often distributed amongst those who were less than deserving."

I had expected many of the houses to be in bad shape. While on a morning walk along some of the worst affected areas, from Othera to the railway bridge over the Pamba I came across only one houses that had not been repaired. Interestingly, the low-lying areas that had been home to the erstwhile low caste agricultural labourers is now populated by groups of migrant labourers from Bihar, Bengal, Odisha and Assam. Tiny old houses along Parayanthodukuzhi with its fallow paddies and broken boundary walls is now alive with the costumes and languages of the Gangetic plains.

An irrigation project too is underway to bring 33,000 KL of Pamba water, pumped across the undulating terrain, through canals and aqueducts to the fields of Pathanamthitta district.

Will the politics of flood relief have an impact on the ongoing Lok Sabha elections? Quite unlikely say the locals. 

However, one thing is for sure - it is a great time to be in the hardware and paints and waterproofing business in Kerala! 

Toddy Shop at Kainakary duly endorsed by an aspiring MP

Preparing the paddies at Kuttanad

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LINKS & REFERENCES

* https://www.livemint.com/Politics/q7EcgaHsrardvtcNNYGYRN/Kerala-Floods-2018-2-months-later-a-tentative-recovery.html

* http://www.forbesindia.com/blog/infrastructure/rebuilding-life-in-kerala-after-the-floods/

Promising the Skyscrapers: Jaypee's Corporate Debt Burden

There was a showdown yesterday in our neighborhood yesterday. About 4000 homebuyers staged a protest against the Jaypee Group for its failure to deliver their apartments on time.

The anger and rustration of homebuyers is undertandable. Having been promising a "Wish Town" with sprawling lawns, gold courses, playgrounds and various other amenities , and having invested  their life savings to buy a home of their own, they are now being left in the lurch. Apartments that were to be handed over in 2011 are still undelivered. Across the expressway, a vast array of unfinished apartment complexes can be seen on the horizon -- empty shells of brick, cement and concrete, with no sign of life, or work-in-progress.

A number of protests have been taking place from time to time. The last one led to a blokage on the expressway, and this one was aparently triggered by a decision in the High Court. The Allahabad bench of the National Compaly Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted IDBI bank's insolvency plea pertaining to Jaaypee Infratech. The company had failed to repay a loan of INR 8500 Crores (USD 1.3 billion).

Behind the anger and frustration of the homebuyers is the larger picture of Corporate Debt in India. Thanks to poor internal controls, bad debts in Indian banks has shot up to INR 7,00,000 Crores (USD 109 billion) over the last two years. In order to defaults companies have been on fire sale of assets: Reliance Communications (RCom), which had debts of over Rs 47,000 crore sold its tower business to escape default default, the Ruias have sold their oil refining business to Rosneft, GMR and GVK parts of their airports and power businesses, and Vijay Mallya parts of his liquor businesses that were mortgaged to fund Kingfisher Airlines.

Jaypee group’s debt is over Rs 75,000 crore (USD 11b). So, according a report in the Hindu:

"... the group has agreed to sell its 20mtpa of cement assets to Kumar Birla-led Ultratech for Rs 15,900 crore. This will leave its listed entities with about 6mtpa of cement capacity, three thermal power plants, one hydropower plant, an expressway project and land parcels. It is looking to sell most of these assets at the right price, but buyers are not easy to come by. Aside from selling stake in its land parcels and the Yamuna Express Highway, the group is looking to sell its remaining cement plants for Rs 4,000 crore and its Bina thermal power plant for Rs 3,500 crore. In the last year, the group has defaulted on payment obligations worth $350 million. Analysts say its capacity to service its debt has not improved."

No wonder there are few takers when the Jaypee Group boss, Manoj Gaur, tries to tell the homebuyers that their "investment is safe".

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LINKS & REFERENCES

* (2017) - http://www.hindustantimes.com/noida/noida-authority-jaypee-tell-homebuyers-not-to-panic-assure-their-money-is-safe/story-nYjtbZb1bR6tzfYbZitI2N.html

Jaggi on the slowdown (30may17) https://swarajyamag.com/economy/not-just-demo-pm-modis-black-money-chase-is-x-factor-in-growth-slowdown

(2017, May) Financial Express - http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/banking-finance/demonetisation-impact-bank-npas-mount-to-rs-614872-crore-set-to-rise-further/558916/
- They now constitute 11 per cent of of the gross advances of Public Sector Unit (PSU) banks. In all, the total NPAs including both the public and private sector banks were Rs 697,409cr in December 2016. These figures were compiled by Care Ratings.

 - 31 May - Reliance Defaults -  https://www.bloombergquint.com/markets/2017/05/31/an-ambani-default-won-t-fly
Andy / Bloomberg - http://m.economictimes.com/industry/banking/finance/banking/at-this-rate-fintech-will-slaughter-indias-banks/articleshow/58782969.cms

The Hindu- http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/the-biggestever-fire-sale-of-indian-corporate-assets-has-begun-to-tide-over-bad-loans-crisis/article8573163.ece

Textiles and Terror

Last month a terror strike at the Holey Artisan Cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh, left 21 people dead, along with two police officers and four terrorists. Among them were nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian, three Bangladeshi's and one US citizen.

More than half the number of victims were closely linked to an industry that is critical to the country's economy: Textiles.

What has been the impact of this terror attack on Bangladesh's textile sector?

The textile sector constitutes around 80% of Bangladesh’s total exports providing direct employment to 4 million people. This $19 billion-a-year, export-oriented ready-made garment (RMG) industry accounted for 45% of all industrial employment in the country, and yet, only contributed 5% of the Bangladesh's total national income.

Over the past few years, Bangladesh had surpassed India in the export of RMGs - thanks to cheaper labour, better support from the government and a favourable global trade-quota system. In India around 12 percent of exports are from the textile sector and it employs more than 38 million people. Since there are nearly 10x more people in India dependant on the textile sector any change in trends was bound to have a cross-border impact.

This point hit home when I ran into a neighbour who works with an RMG export firm. He was unusually upbeat. "Things are now looking up", he said, grinning happily, "Our industry is not getting the attention it deserves!" INR 6,000 had been allocated in the latest Budget for financial incentives, along with a move towards flexible labour laws. "Now, with the Europeans and Americans getting wary about Bangladesh, we sure to bounce back!"

It seems the global textile-RMG market is not very different from the local subzi-mandi's (vegetable markets). Frequent meetings and the perception of safety, and the assurance of having a glass of chai in peace and quiet, are all confidence builders for both buyers and sellers...

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LINKS & REFERENCES

- Dhaka - The Attack Victims (CNN - 6 July 2016) - http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/02/asia/bangladesh-dhaka-attack-victims/
- http://www.iipnetwork.org/CaseStudy_Compendium.pdf2

- ET, 23 Jun., 2016) - http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/cabinet-clears-rs-6000crore-package-for-textile-sector/articleshow/52876601.cms

- (IBT 23 June 2016) - http://www.ibtimes.co.in/cotton-production-holds-key-textile-policys-multi-billion-dollar-export-push-684011#6FoGIRr5mbh5L9mf.97

Crowdfunds at Work

What is common link that connects Glif, a nifty stand for smartphone cameras, a wooden remote-control stand, a touchscreen stylus and a whole range of cocktail party accessories?

The latest issue of Wired profiles a two-man company called Studio Neat which is focused on "solving interesting problems and delighting customers". For the past five years they have been creating and selling a diverse range products out of a garage in Austin, Texas.

However incredible this may sound, the fact is that Studio Neat has been one of the pioneers in a space that is now known as "crowdfunding". It all stated with a video pitch posted by the duo on Kickstarter, an online forum that helps 'bring creative projects to life'. When the crowd response turned out to be three times more than anticipated, the founders decided to meet the demand by outsourcing everything.

Manufacturing went to Dragon Innovation, and then to a more value-for-money outfit called Premier Source. A company called Shipwire was contracted for order-fulfilment; Shopify handles all of the shopping carts and credit card numbers, and Amazon acts as the main shopfront on the global marketplace.

Does such an ecosystem exist in India?

According to Quora, we do have a dozen crowdfunding platforms in India but obviously it takes more than just crowdfunding to get an innovative product on the market-shelf.

Dragon CEO Scott Miller conveys this gap very eloquently:  “If A is the idea and Z is the product in somebody’s hands...everyone assumes that by the time they have a prototype they’re at M. In practice, they’re at D. At every one of these steps, a small miscalculation or oversight can cost a company money."

We have a long, long way to go.

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LINKS & REFERENCES

• WIRED - Kick Starter Kings - http://www.wired.com/2016/03/studio-neat-kickstarter-kings-taught-world-how-to-crowdfund/#slide-1
• Studio Neat - http://www.studioneat.com/
• Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/about?ref=nav
• Dragon Innovation - https://www.dragoninnovation.com/
• Premier Source - http://www.premiersource.us/

BP vs. Bhopal

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"It is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease"

This familar adage is taking a new meaning for those who have been comparing the recent BP oil leakage with the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984.

The comparison presents interesting insights into the relationship between MNCs and governments in developed countries, and of the difference in the way MNCs respond to their blunders in developed vs. developing countries.

The possibility of a squeaky wheel getting greased does seem to depend more on the importance of the wheel than on the loudness of the squeaks...

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