INTERVIEW - V SRIDHARAN, ITCOT

Chennaibest.com speaks to the V. Sridharan, Senior Vice-President, ITCOT. A post-graduate from the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS), Pilani, he has 18 years of consulting experience. His specialisations include technology promotion, entrepreneurship development, skill upgradation of entrepreneurs and training managerial executives.

The objective primarily was to help small and medium enterprises in their efforts to set up industry. Most entrepreneurs do not know which industry to start, inspite of having finance. ITCOT provides these entrepreneurs assistance by conducting feasibility studies. We first have a one-to-one interface with the client to find out about his/her areas of interests, aptitudes, educational and financial background before suggesting to them an industry and providing them a specific business plan. ITCOT is with them right from the planning to implementation stage. We also do re-structuring studies for sick industrial units to rehabilitate them.

Because of continued recession, not many people are flocking to set up industry. There is a supply surplus of finance and despite this, the financial institutions providing finance are also choosy about the projects they finance. They want to be sure of their returns and are wary of casual entrepreneurs. Competitiveness and continued innovation is the need of the day. So the financial institutions look for all these factors while financing an enterprise. Earlier on, the Government was the main investor in infrastructure. But Government spending has come down now as private participation is being encouraged. Things are moving from Government initiative to private initiative, and financial institutions financing these projects are in the learning process. So the transition will take some time. There is a move away from investment in capital-intensive industries like infrastructure, as the pay back period is very long The only sector that is boosting the economy right now is the IT segment. And IT is generally financed by venture capitalists.

The Small and Medium Enterprise in Tamil Nadu today comprises automobile ancillaries, textiles and food processing. There is a growth in the automobile ancillaries industry because companies like Ford and Hyundai have come to Tamil Nadu. However there is a recession going on in the textile industry. The food processing sector again is growing as there is a demand for processed and packaged food. Entrepreneurs are setting up cold storages and exporting frozen vegetables and fruits.

As I said earlier, due to prolonged recession, there is a supply-surplus of finance and also unlike in the past, the Government has become more open to people setting up their own enterprise. There are lots of incentives provided by the Government for self-employment. Also the Government is encouraging private participation in most sectors. Red-tapism is now almost a thing of the past.

With increasing competition, there is a growing awareness among entrepreneurs of the need for technical consultancy. Also with the entry of foreign consultant groups like Arthur Anderson, KPMG, Price Waterhouse etc, awareness has grown among Indian companies about the importance of consulting.

The foreign firms are strong in management principles, but only Indian organisations have the understanding of the local problems and challenges. Things like re-structuring may not be easily implementable, as our Government has a policy of providing employment to as many people as possible. Providing employment is a major social issue. Moves such as down-sizing labour, can have adverse social effects. Labour may as far as possible be considered as a resource.

We have around 20 consultants, who are experts in economic studies, engineering, management, statistics, energy studies and software. These are full-time professionals, from IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) and other reputed and premier institutions in the country.

Address: 50-A, Greams Road, Chennai - 600 006
Phone: 829 4365 / 0324 / 5484, 822 2528 / 5561,
Fax: 823 1987

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