Speech delivered by OUR PRESIDENT Mr. N. S. SETHURAMON

at the Annual Convention of

ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS' ASSOCIATION ('A' GRADE)

Madras - Tamil Nadu 13 October 1979

Gentleman !

I am proud to be associated with the Electrical Contractors' Association, as it has been the foundation for my envisaging the possibilities of manufacturing Electrical Equipment. Having come across many varieties of Electrical Equipment both complex and intricate, it indeed gives us a wide knowledge on the possibilities of manufacturing them in India.

It gives me great pleasure to address you about the contribution of Electrical Industry to growth in India, on the centenary of the invention from which the rest of the electrical industry grew. For. exactly a hundred years ago, on the eve of October 21st, Edison succeeded in developing the world's first working light bulb From there, the applications of electricity have grown in leaps and bounds till it has become an essential part of our life, something which we painfully recognise whenever we have a power shortage.

Power, as  we all know, is inextricably linked with the economic development of any country. In our own country, in the pre-independence era. manufacturing activity was limited to small transformers and motors, conductors and lamps. Thus, the Government had to develop the infrastructure required for the construction of a power grid which would meet the increasing energy demands of the public. The main equipment required for power development programme consists of generators, switchgear. transformers, transmission towers, insulators, etc. Considering the high technological base required for the manufacture of such products, foreign collaboration was permitted in establishing the various industries.

Therefore in the early 50s, the Government of India established a Directorate to specially deal with technical development. This Directorate has in due time grown to such an extent that it has became varied in different fields of manufacture. The Electrical Directorate was established to coordinate and help the entrepreneurs in establishing a uniform code of procedure in he matter it collaboration and disbursement of  foreign exchange. Though it was felt irksome at some stages, the Government regulations greatly helped the various Electrical Industries to conduct their operation without undue competition and giving those protections that are necessary to prevent competition from import.

No doubt, in the early stages, the entrepreneurs had the double task of adapting a foreign technology to Indian conditions and simultaneously had to train man power to be capable of absorbing the imported know-how and technology at various levels from design engineering to shop floor practices. Added to all this was the problem that, as energy demands grew, voltage levels increased and the specifications became more stringent.

Power industry in India is keeping pace with technology developed in advanced countries. The time gap between the absorption of new technology has been narrowed down considerably almost in all sectors of the power industry. Participation of Indian Electrical Engineers in various international proceedings is being done at a greater scale to help the growth of our knowledge. As population density increases and energy needs grow, we are challenged to find ways of transmitting more power through a given space, higher and higher voltages have to be necessarily introduced. We are just on the verge of having a National Grid at 400 kv level which would indeed facilitate uniform distribution of power. In spite of all this, I am glad to say that the Electrical Engineering Industry on the whole has been a success story At present, barring a few sophisticated equipment, we are entirely self-sufficient in the requirement of equipment for our power development programme. We are also fully equipped to offer a complete range of consultancy services to other developing countries for the implementation of their Industrial Schemes.

As for the capability of the Industry to catch up with technological innovation, this is simply proved from the fact that most of the equipment required for the 400 kv transmission system, are being met from indigenous production.

 

The immediate future of the industry is preoccupied with reaching an aggregate generating capacity of 44.626 MW fixed for the Sixth Plan. It is proposed that this extra power will give a push to the programme of rural electrification and energisation of pumpsets. It would also mean the additional establishment of industries and" more efficient operation of the existing ones. However, shortfalls in Plan Targets have been a regular feature of the previous Five Year Plans, and only 4000 MV of capacity was added against tie postulated growth of 6000 MW in 1974-78.

 

The Sixth Plan calls for an average increase of 3.700 MW yearly. Such a task will call for Herculian  efforts. The bottlenecks in the past have been with respect to financial resources, steel. cement and electrical equipment While control of the first three parameters is beyond our means, the electrical industry must incorporate fully coordinates planning to ensure that the equipment is produced and made available on tine. To this end. we must be able to sit down with Electricity Board Representatives and work out their requirements, our capacities and an optima- plan to link both as to ensure a smooth flow of orders and goods. If such an agreement can-be worked out. it would be of great benefit to all concerned.

What are the problems which your entrepreneurs will have to face in the future ? Fuel shortages, raw material shortage, credit squeezes. In fact shortages of almost anything you can think if. This definitely does not seem the right economic climate to set up an industry. But this is not so. What we need is not better conditions, but people with perseverance and boldness, for after all. a business is merely money in the hif&£ of a creative manager. If we have more problems than ever, we also have more powerful managerial techniques to solve these problems. You entrepreneurs must keep your eyes and ears open to new developments that are taking place and must be able to adapt these ideas to the present production techniques. After all, genius is a capacity far taking pains. Walt Disney the inventor of the cartoon film was a perfectionist. His goal was producing the best cartoon he could, regardless of cost. One day. one of his associates came to him and said "Wall, we are finished. We have been declared bankrupt." Without batting an eyelid, Disney replied." So what ? I have been bankrupt sixteen times before." It was this drive which made Walt Disney a multimillionaire in the end. So, may 1 summarise by saying that what India needs are men who are driven by the feeling that good is not good enough and only the best will do.

Lastly. I would like to conclude by narrating an incident which occurred on Edison's death on October 18. 1931.lt was proposed by President Herbert Hoover that all electrical current in the United States be turned off for one minute in tribute to the great inventor the proposal was declined when its paralysing effect was realised. I think the fact that the current could not be shut down was a much greater tribute to Edison than the one minute of darkness. So. I would like to propose today in his centenary year, that we too should hopefully expect that the Electricity Authorities will keep the power flowing all the time without interruption.

THANK YOU