This is noteworthy. In 1953 after the Korean armistice South Korea was an impoverished country that stood way lower than even India at the time in income, productivity, GDP and any other measure one cares to name.
@SJha1618
@smita1900
@SJha1618
@smita1900
@SJha1618 @smita1900 And yet here they are in 2019 exporting large numbers of Main Battle Tanks of their own design to a European country, while we bought T-72 recovery vehicles from that selfsame European country some years ago, though we've been licence manufacturing the T-72 for three + decades.
@SJha1618 @smita1900 We're forced to import 1500 HP MTU engines from Germany for our Arjun MBT because we never developed high power engines indigenously (or any other modern engine for that matter). The South Koreans OTOH have developed state of the art engine tech.
@SJha1618 @smita1900 Their Doosan Infracore is a global scale designer and builder of engines for automotive and industrial applications, including high power applications such as the K-2 MBT. This video summarizes their achievements succintly. Please watch till the end.
doosanengine.com/doosan-infra-e…
doosanengine.com/doosan-infra-e…
@SJha1618 @smita1900 Sure, they faced multiple problems in the engine business, but had the grit and tenacity to succeed. When their original engine for the K-2 had issues, they temporarily substituted a MTU engine and continued to work on their own product, which has now been launched successfully.
@SJha1618 @smita1900 While we talk a lot about #MakeInIndia in over 70 years we have not managed to walk that talk, at least in this arena. Diesel Loco Works Varanasi (DLW) has been manufacturing diesel locomotives and engines from the early 60s. They started off with licenced build of the WDM-2 ->
@SJha1618 @smita1900 locomotive which was a licenced build of an ALCo type. ALCo itself is long dead but DLW continued to soldier on building the same damned thing without innovation of improvements, for decades. Their new models too are licenced from other foreign vendors.
@SJha1618 @smita1900 From 1964 to now, a span of fifty six years, they don't seem to have learned a damned thing. BHEL's steam and gas turbine saga is a very similar story. Will we ever learn?
@SJha1618 @smita1900 One might argue that the private sector may have done better if given the support. My point is, private or public does not matter. South Korea's government financed, hand-held and directed their companies, from Doosan to Hyundai to Samsung, in a bid to attain global competencies.
@SJha1618 @smita1900 The Indian public sector failed, not because of lack of funds, of which there was no lack. They failed because of the Industries Ministry treating these companies like private fiefdoms that existed to provide them free cars, accommodation and other perks, productivity be damned.
@SJha1618 @smita1900 This led to the filling up of PSUs with pliant folks who were selected for how deep they'd bow while kowtowing to the Ministry babus, not for their technical or managerial skills. There was much money to be made out of purchase, recruitment etc.
@SJha1618 @smita1900 Vote bank politics played a key role in the destruction of PSU capabilities and morale, deciding everything from unit location, staffing and salaries. The story was completed by a bunch of unions which behaved like spoilt brats fighting over the will of a rich uncle.
@SJha1618 @smita1900 This has led to a complete lack of accountability in the PSU world. Products are built to imported designs on a build to print basis, with no local generation of knowledge. Most PSUs if not all, have become rent collectors that subtract from rather than add to the economy.
@SJha1618 @smita1900 It is not as if the concept of PSUs itself is bad, but the way we've implemented it and protected the whole decayed system from competition and completely destroyed accountability, is.
@SJha1618 @smita1900 The clear option in this case, of building a viable engine design and build capacity, is to empower and deeply fund a competent industrial house such as Bharat Forge or L&T that has a stellar delivery record, and let them get on with the job, subject to agreed accountabilities.
@SJha1618 @smita1900 And stop the rent collection. BHEL for example builds naval guns under licence; they have no background or experience in weapons systems, and this is just another random build to print operation to shore up their balance sheet. By rights this should be given to Bharat Forge, ->
@SJha1618 @smita1900 who have unequivocally demonstrated their capability in the design and manufacture of artillery. Should we be encouraging this stellar performance, or continuing to support the operation of a rent collecting PSU that is assembling guns from a SKD kit?
@SJha1618 @smita1900 This will happen only if we have an Industries Ministry that is proactive about developing skills, technologies and manufacturing, on the lines of Japan's MITI. The current Industries Ministry won't cut it in any way, from technical competence to the will to get things done.
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