Coffee bars, are in but the beverage, alas, is down and out

It's the cup that cheers, and it could surely do with some cheering. Sample this: coffee prices in the global market have hit a 30-year low of Rs 50 per kg or 49 cents per pound in international market for Arabicas coffee; the domestic market has remained stagnant for the past decade; and Brazil and Mexico are growing their coffee exports at India's expense. Exports have already dropped 14 per cent in volume-terms.

	The Siamese Imperative
	Interview: Aart J. de Geuss
	Did X just become 2X
	Asian Dreams

That leaves plantation owners of south India in a fix. They can't shift to tea or rubber-it would take time; besides, both are reeling under excess supply. Coffee Board head Laxmi Venkatachalam believes the key lies in domestic consumption. That's strong medicine. Of the 300,000 tonnes of coffee produced annually in India, less than 48,000 tonnes is consumed in India. Per capita consumption is less than 100 grammes and Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, account for half the domestic consumption. The Coffee Board has presented a plan to the Commerce Ministry on how consumption can be raised. But given the fate of a similar-1999 plan-rejected on grounds of financial constraints-things don't look good.

For coffee farmers, nothing seems to be going right-this, despite growing the globally preferred Arabica strain. And you thought the mushrooming of coffee bars-an estimated 100 came up in the past year, across 10 Indian cities-meant coffee was a growth sector.

-Ashish Gupta

TECHNOLOGY
The Siamese Imperative
It wouldn't exist without smaller, lighter new tech. The new Apple i-Mac showcases how design and technology are increasingly interwoven.

It looks like those retro half-helmets worn by classic Enfield bikers. The stunning-and strange-new i-Mac is a computer like no other we've seen before. Its vitals reside in a smooth 6-inch-high dome, seemingly merged with the desk surface. From the dome springs forth a shiny stainless steel arm that can bend and rotate its very thin, very bright 15-inch flat-panel screen in almost any direction. Like the older i-Macs, only two cords-for the power and keyboard-emerge from behind the base, leaving your desk freer from wired clutter. But not only does this new i-Mac occupy lesser space than anything built before, its radical design is a function of the continuing miniaturisation of circuits and components.

It all starts with that feather of a screen. The support strut is usually hidden from view, and so all that you seem to see is a screen that could be floating in midair. All you need is a finger to gently push the screen to a side, down to simply swivel it away completely if it happens to be blocking your view. Apple has now sworn never to again use the bulky cathode ray tubes (CRTs) that we all know so well. CRTs are the past: they flicker, they emit radiation, the colours they produce are often dull, and they guzzle electricity. The new flat screens are the antithesis of all this. Here's where the march of technology is integral to the new design. There is no way Apple could have used a CRT on that cute i-Mac hemisphere. And of course, the little computer itself wouldn't be there if all those silicon pathways couldn't be packed into the smallest little hemisphere ever. Apple has used some of these tricks before, notably when it tried to pack a computer into the eight-inch G4 cube. But the G4 was simply strange without offering any elements of stunning.

Don't forget that this isn't about looks alone: the new i-Mac has all that great new tech in its guts. You can burn and create your own DVDs and CDs and create some of the most versatile digital photo albums online at speeds greater than the best Pentiums. Apple also introduced new software intended to extend the company's ''digital hub'' strategy. Known as iPhoto, the programme allows digital camera users to store, edit, print and share their images. The system will permit users to use the internet to order photographic prints of their digital images from the Eastman Kodak Company, or order custom photo albums directly from Apple. That of course won't work immediately, if at all, for Indian users. And oh, in the best traditions of Apple, a single button turns on the entire system.

INTERVIEW
"India will be a Design powerhouse"
A tete-a-tete with Aart J. de Geuss, the CEO of Synopsys Inc.

Art J. De. Geuss: leveraging design for growth

In Bangalore to address the 15th international conference on VLSI design Aart J. de Geuss, the Chief Executive Officer of one the world's leading EDA companies, Synopsys spoke to Business Today on the chip design business.

Dr Geus, what is the electronic design automation industry all about?

Millions of transistors (and soon billions will) reside in ICS that once housed only thousands. This complexity can only be harnessed with sophisticated Electronic Design Automation tools.

This is a bad time for hardware. How is the EDA industry doing?

Although small, the Electronic Design Automation Industry has the distinction of never having shown negative growth. From $3.04 billion last year, the worldwide EDA industry revenue is projected to grow by 20 per cent to $3.65 billion in the current year.

According to Gartner Group, the projected turnover for 2003, is around $4.35 billion. Four players, Synopsys, Cadence, Mentor Graphics, and Avanti-together we command nearly 90 per cent of the marketshare-dominate the market.

What role can India play in the global chip design industry?

India is emerging as an important design hub with a number of IC design companies being located in Bangalore itself. Compared to my first visit to India in 1996, Indian companies have evolved a great deal. Earlier, Indian companies used to do auxiliary work for MNCs like Texas Instruments, Intel, ST Micro Electronics, and IBM. They have now graduated to simple chips. A few Indian players like Wipro and Ittiam are even competing with the best in the world. Given the kind of talent available here, I believe that along with China, India will be a global powerhouse in design technology in the near future.

-Venkatesha Babu

PAY-CHEQUE
Did X just become 2X?
Amidst speculation that its new compensation norms allow chief executive salaries to be doubled, the Department of Company Affairs ploughs a silent furrow.

Did you know that a new telecom company with a capital base in excess of Rs 100 crore can't pay its chief executive more than Rs 2 lakh a month? No TELCO starting operations can expect to be profitable-the industry-norm is a seven to eight year run up to profits-and according to norms laid down by India's Department of Company Affairs (DCA), Rs 24 lakh a year is what the CEO of a Rs 100-crore plus non-profitable company can make. Companies have, even while clamoring for an increase in this limit worked out innovative ways to pay their CEOs more money.

The DCA says its move is driven by the desire to uphold the finer principles of corporate governance-if a company isn't profitable, why should the CEO be paid an obscene salary?-but fact is, for Rs 2 lakh, you'd end up with a very poor telecom CEO. Profitable companies don't really have a problem. According to Schedule XIII of the Companies Act, 1956, ''for profitable companies, the remuneration of a managerial person (someone employed by the company, and serving on its board, typically the CEO) is restricted to 5 per cent of net profits''. ''If there is more than one managerial person it is enhanced to 10 per cent.''

For companies in emerging areas, the cap has always been a hurdle. ''Talent is scarce today,'' says Shailesh Shah, the CEO of hr consulting firm Watson Wyatt. ''These figures are out of sync with market realities.'' The DCA says it is working on revised limits, but the larger issue concerns its role in dictating salaries-in the US, this responsibility devolves on shareholders. With reports in the media suggesting that the DCA will recommend a doubling of existing limits, companies should now breathe easier. ''Companies will hopefully have the opportunity to reward their executives handsomely without seeking permission from the government,'' says Nishchae Suri, Head (Measurement Practice), India and the Middle East, Hewitt Associates.

-Seema Shukla

MIGRATION
Asian Dreams
The global recession and the local slowdown makes job hunters look again at Asia.

The Gulf dreams are back: the return of the old favourite

It's a full circle fostered by the slowdown. West Asia was a preferred destination for a certain breed of Indian job-seekers-variously, those keen on money more than job-profile, and others who couldn't really make it in India-in the 1980s. Then, liberalisation created exciting opportunities in India; the West discovered Indian managers, courtesy a few like Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Muktesh Pant; and Indian execs stopped looking to West Asia. In recent months, though, the region has emerged a favourite. At one level, this is a result of what termed as the 'global employability' of Indians. ''For MNCs that have Indians who are doing well in their system, they are an ideal choice for regional postings,'' says Atul Vohra, a partner at Heidrick and Struggles. At another, in the absence of a vibrant job market in the West, professionals are re-looking at West Asia. For instance, when Unilever acquired International Best Foods, it meant the CEO of the latter's Indian operations, Salil Punoose, a former Leverite, would have to move on. It was in West Asia, as the CEO of a JV between General Mills of the US and Alanas that he found the ideal opportunity. The story of Prakash Nanani, the ex-ceo of Xerox Modicorp isn't different. With Xerox calling the shots, Nanani-a B.K. Modi man-opted out. The best option turned out to be the Gulf as CEO of Manu Chhabria-promoted Jumbo Electronics.

Says R. Suresh, CEO, Stanton Chase: ''The number of outstanding people available today in India is more than the number of available jobs. And that is why Indian execs are more open to options in nearby countries not being considered before.'' Inshallah.

-Seema Shukla