Showing posts with label Bangalore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bangalore. Show all posts

Friday, February 12, 2016

Silicon Dhanush, Silicon Crescent




Silicon Crescent: Delhi - Ahmedabad - Mumbai - Bengaluru

Janakpur to Patna: 180 KM
Patna to Kolkata: 580 KM
Kolkata to Dhaka: 250 KM
Dhaka to Mandalay: 1100 KM
Mandalay to Kunming: 760 KM

2870 KM = 1780 miles

That's two and a half hours on a hyperloop.

The Janakpur to Dhaka stretch is barely 1000 km. That's an hour and a half on a hyperloop. That entire stretch could be one big city.


Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Silicon Boomerang? Silicon Crescent?

How Startup India will transform the country
The US and Israel have successfully played the role of catalyst to do this and the Rs 10,000 crore fund-offunds will do the same. It would not invest in ventures itself but contribute to, say, a fifth of the corpus of India-focused and professionally-managed venture funds. They will have to raise five times that amount from non-government sources, making Rs 50,000 crore available for startups and early-stage companies. As these companies grow, they will typically raise at least 10 times that amount from later-stage global investors before going public. Hence the government’s Rs 10,000 crore may result in attracting almost

Rs 500,000 crore

for innovative Indian companies, helping create possibly the next Google or Facebook. ..... Our information technology industry, driven predominantly by startups and first generation entrepreneurs was backed by the STPI scheme and tax-breaks that helped reinvest earnings for growth. The industry has grown from $50 million to $150 billion in 25 years, becoming the largest employer in the organised private sector and accounting for over a fifth of our forex earning!!


Silicon Boomerang: Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bangalore
Connected by Hyperloop 900 KM + 500 KM + 900 KM = 1400 miles. That is two hours on a hyperloop. That would make for just one big city. From Delhi to Bangalore. Call it the Silicon Boomerang, or the Silicon Crescent. ...... Crescent bol do Pakistan se dosti bhi ho jayegi.

Solar State: Rajasthan (10,000 GW of electricity, phase 1)



Waise main Bihari hoon. To bias to rahega hi. Jaise ki 2014 mein main Nitish ke liye rooting kar raha tha. Soncha, chalo koi Bihari bhai aa jayega to acchha hi rahega. To Modi ne Nitish ko Jharkhand Mukti Morcha bana ke rakh diya. Khair bit gayi so baat gayi.

Ek aur Crescent hai. Boomerang. Janakpur - Patna - Kolkata - Dhaka - Kunming. Industrial potential vast hai uska.


Janakpur Patna Kolkata Industrial Corridor
Patna Kolkata Industrial Corridor (PKIC)



The idea behind something like a Silicon Crescent is, this is where nanotechnology happens. The industries of tomorrow seem to want a geography.

Zuck, Free Basics, India (2)

Free Basics And Facebook’s Waterloo In India
What is limiting the spread of the Internet in India isn’t the cost of mobile data. Cell phone plans and data access are really cheap there. The problem is that most people can’t afford smartphones or tablet computers. But this is changing because prices of computing devices are dropping......Lower-end smartphones can be already purchased for around $50 in India and data access costs as little as 50 cents for 100 MB. A farmer who can afford to buy such a device can certainly afford the data.
Zuck, Free Basics, India

How about this? Any entity, be it Reliance, Facebook, Google or Flipkart, may pay for and make available Free Basics to anyone. There would be a consortium of the leading 20 corporate players that would decide on the details. Any site/app/service may compete to be listed. But since there are only 100 slots available, it will have to meet the data requirements and will have to be sufficiently popular. Free Basics must come with some free data, the amount of which can increase over time. Users may use that free data to go to any site/app they want. The list of 100 itself should be competitive. Unless you stay in the top 50 by usage, you drop off. If you are not in the top 50 for 90 days in a row, you are no longer on the main list, making space for other sites/apps the user might choose. Also, the user should have the option to actively rearrange their list. They might add and delete as they please. A user will also have the option to get Free Basics from multiple providers on the same phone/device.

The upside is you end up with a billion users. I can't think of a better gift to the tech startups in India. So, don't oppose, instead negotiate.


Saturday, December 06, 2014

Europe, Japan And Immigration

Relative proportions of immigrants from Northw...
Relative proportions of immigrants from Northwestern Europe (red) and Southern and Eastern Europe (blue) in the decades before and after the immigration restriction legislation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I think one big reason Japan has been in the doldrums for decades now, and why Europe continues to be in a funk is that both are kind of hostile to immigration. And so you end up with skewed demographics, and you hurt the economy.

For its entire history, immigration has been America's number one strength. The president's recent positive step aside, Washington DC's hostility towards immigrants is a resolve to take America down the Japanese/European path.