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Indian economy to grow 7.5% in 2012 as compared to 6.9% in 2011 [ESCAP Report]

Kaushambi — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:31:15 +0000

As the markets slide to 4 month lows and poor Q4 results project a grim outlook for the Indian economy in 2012. However United Nations, Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) report outlines defining factors that project growth and stability of Indian economy and surrounding regions in the Asia-Pacific.

For India, ESCAP puts forward a positive outlook for increased GDP growth in 2012 as compared to 2011.

Inflation remains one of the key things to watch out for in 2012. Until recently RBI has increased raise policy rates 13 times in 19 months. For the first time in many months, the policy rate was reduced by 50 basis points, hinting towards an easing monetary policy. As the government and RBI loosen their death grip over monetary and fiscal policies, ESCAP has a positive outlook for growth in 2012.

On the brighter side, despite tighter monetary policies that directly impacted personal consumption and demand, GDP grew by 6.9% in 2011. The ESCAP survey talks about reducing the impact of inflation on the poor by strengthening the government’s already existing policies to increase distribution of food items at subsidized prices.

Fiscal and budget deficit are challenges that India Inc will have to deal with rigorously. The government has already put targets in place to reduce budget deficits, however failed to achieve them for 2011 due to higher than expected expenditures.

The ESCAP survey acknowledges that the growth in trade deficit combined with depreciation of the rupee against the dollar have contributed to the slowdown in India in the last few years.

Energy shortage was also highlighted as possible deterrent to a fiscal surplus on which Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, said "If the global prices are high for a product that is imported there is no way you can totally shelter the population. If you shelter it by holding that price completely constant, it appears that you are sheltering customer… but you are building on your fiscal deficit" The report talks about measures like reducing power theft, increasing exploration of oil and gas and developing renewable energy resources.

While all this does not happen overnight, India has taken massive strides in the field of solar energy. On the upside, more than 10 solar parks have been either completed or commissioned in various stages throughout India in the last 2 years.

The Indian government is currently promoting development and use of solar energy by moves such as reducing custom duties on solar PV panels, acknowledging investment in renewable energy projects and even giving subsidies of up to 70% for investments in solar PV plants in certain areas.

On an aggregate basis, inflation, soaring energy costs and poverty are dragging on the economy which grew 6.9% in 2011.

However key fundamentals of the Indian economy including a fast growing workforce, better policies, high savings / investment rates, and promotion of alternative / renewable energy will drive a projected growth of 7.5% for the Indian economy in 2012.

Most Popular Gadget Brands in India [eBay report]

Arun Prabhudesai — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:05:25 +0000

Ebay yesterday released “Battle of the Gadget” Rankings for the most popular gadget models & brands based on the transactions that happened on ebay between Jan 1st 2012 to March 31st 2012. The rankings showcases popular gadgets & brands across 4 categories of Laptops, Cameras, Mobile Phones & Televisions.

Samsung has been making huge strides in India, not only in smartphones, but in other categories as well – It maintained the tag of most popular Gadget Brand with 31% of market share all 4 categories of Laptops, Cameras, Mobile Phones & Televisions.

While Samsung was most popular brand for mobile handset and Television category, Nikon came up trumps in the Digital Camera category and Apple topped the laptop category.

eBay transactions have also been growing at a healthy pace – According to the report, a mobile handset was sold on ebay site every 3 minutes, a laptop every 13 minutes & a digital camera every 25 minutes!

Here are the details of Battle of Gadget Rankings:

Among Smartphones alone, Samsung captured over 35% of market share with Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 being the most popular Smart Phone. While Sony & Blackberry were neck-to-neck on the 2nd position. These 3 brands, Samsung, Sony and Blackberry, have together captured 87% of market share amongst transactions on Ebay in the smart phone category.

Delhi was the top city when it came to number of mobile phones bought across India.

Among the Dual Sim phones, Micromax is the leader, while Nokia X2-02 was the most purchased Dual SIM phone model. Bangalore consumers bought most Dual SIM phones on eBay India.

The sale of digital camera’s grew by 26% in first quarter of 2012 as compared to previous quarter on eBay India. Nikon and Canon topped the overall Digital Cameras category with 27% each. Sony came in at 3rd position.

Canon saw maximum growth in Digital Camera category with a growth of 84% over previous quarter and Canon EOS 550-D was the most purchased Digital Camera Model.

Bengaluru followed by Delhi and Chennai were the top three cities respectively, who bought maximum number of Digital Cameras.

Sony was the most popular brand when it came to compact camera’s, while Canon was the brand most bought in Digital SLR Category.

Apple jumped to top in first quarter of 2012 in number of transactions of eBay putting Dell in the 2nd position. Tablets dominated the category with 44% share and iPad 2 being the most purchased Model. Bangalore was once again forefront as the city that bought maximum gadgets in laptop category on eBay.

In the netbook category Acer was most popular with Aspire One being the most sought after netbook model. Netbook demand is now currently going down with market share now shifting towards tablets. Among the tablets, iPad 2 was the leader.

The demand for 3G enabled tablet was on rise with 30% of all tablets purchased were 3G enabled.

Television Category Rankings

Top TV Brand: Samsung
Top LCD Brand: Sony
Top LED TV Brand: Samsung
Top TV Model: Samsung 40D5000
Top LCD Model: Sony Bravia KDL 32CX520
Top LED TV Model: Samsung 40D5000
Top TV City: Bengaluru

Samsung ruled the television category with Samsung 40D5000 being the most purchased television by Indians on eBay. LCD TVs led with 55% market share followed by LED TVs with 38% market share. Bengaluru bought the most TVs in India.

eBay’s Battle of Gadget survey clearly shows that ecommerce is on the rise in India and reiterates the fact that Indians love buying gadgets online.

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Smartphone usage by Indians: Women love to Chat, Men love Apps

Kaushambi — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:43:29 +0000

Last week, Google did a survey with Ipsos which showed that percentage wise there were more active smartphone users in India than in US. Now, information and media giant Nielsen used ‘smartphone metering technology’ to survey smartphone usage habits of Indian men and women. Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights throws light on how men and women respondents in India are using their smartphones.

While it may be hard to believe, the average smartphone user in India clocked 81 hours of smartphone usage in March 2012. That’s more than two and a half hours daily in a 31 day month.

It is also noted that women and men spend the same amount of time on their smartphones. So the notion that Indian men are more gadget friendly than their female counterparts is definitely a thing of the past.

However the difference between the usage trends of Indian men and women is quite evident. Men spend 50% more time than women to surf the internet via their smart phones. This may very well be a blaring cue to online advertisers, hinting at the higher probability of smartphone using males looking at their advertisements on websites than females.

Men are also more likely to install and download apps. In the survey, men respondents downloaded an average of 16 apps during the month while the women downloaded 11. A characteristic male trait is to refrain from asking for directions. Apparently to avoid doing the same, men seem to prefer using the Google Maps app to look for directions. So much so, 45% of men accessed the app as compared to 32% of women.

At 29% of total usage, women spent most of their time using smartphones to access online apps.

On the contrary, men only spent 16% of their time using online apps. Aptly titled gossip queens, Indian women spent 4 times the time men spent on Instant Messaging (IM) apps.

So much so, women respondents spent on an average of 32 minutes per day using IM apps as compared to 8 for men. These apps include but are not limited to WhatsApp Messenger and Google Talk. Social Networking apps came in at second place but their usage in terms of time spent per day was nowhere near to IM apps.

A finding that didn’t come across as very surprising was that women spent 3 hours more on calls during the month than men. From 81 hours, women spent 20 hours on calls as compared to approximately 15 for men. This means that 25% of the total smartphone usage during the month by women is for calls and messages as compared to 19% for men.

It would be fair to draw a conclusion from Nielsen’s survey that men are more likely to use their smartphones to surf the internet and use utility driven apps like Google Maps. On the other hand, women are more likely to use their smartphones to communicate, use IM and social networking apps, and spend more time talking on the phone. So, women like to chat, what’s new?

How well do you know Indian North-eastern states? [Survey]

Kaushambi — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:16:02 +0000

Can you name all the states that fall within the title The Seven Sisters? Which is the second largest city in North East India after Calcutta? Mawsynram may be one of the places in India that received highest rainfall each year. But which state is it in? What it the capital city of Arunachal Pradesh? Which North Eastern states share a border with Myanmar?

Don’t shrug off these questions just because they seem like they are straight out of a GK book. Go ahead and test yourself. If find yourself fumbling with most of them, you could very well be amongst the 87% of working professionals in India who can’t even name all the states of North East India.

A survey carried out by Northeast India Image Managers or NEIim revealed some shocking facts about what the rest of India thinks and knows about its North Eastern parts. NEIim is a group of North East Indian PR, Media and Brand Management professionals that operates from Indian metros.

NEIim carried out the survey amongst 400 respondents from the communications and service industry in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. This perception survey is one of the first of its kind in India. And it has carried out a purpose that needs to be addresses seriously.

The survey seems to highlight the notion that this region is often seen as an alien / foreign culture. Everyone knows about the current affairs in Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal, but beyond those borders, facts seem to be blurred. It surely does not help when Naxalite activity in Bihar, Uttaranchal and other nearby areas have aided bad publicity for the North East.

52% Indians have negative perception about the North East not because of particular instances of political instabilities there, but because they equate peace disrupting activities and characteristics of underdevelopment to the North East.

Highlights of the survey

76% respondents are clueless about the political situation of North East India. They are unaware that peace talks are going on between the Central Government and military groups of the North East.
91% respondents have no knowledge about the North East Industrial Policy. This policy essentially gives special grants and incentives for industries setting up base in this region.
75% respondents had no idea that currently the UPA coalition has a few ministers who hail from the North East.
30% professional respondents would not choose to live in the North East even if they found ideal career prospects that. This owes to the primary belief that North East India is not very developed, has less connectivity and is generally unsafe. Interestingly, 61% respondents thought that the North East could make for a good platform for corporate and multinationals to invest in.
56% respondents had no idea that the North East houses the IIT and IIM.
70% respondents couldn’t find it believable that 3 states from North East India have a higher Per Capita Income than the national average. The sentiment and confidence towards these regions was evidently low.

Reacting to such blaring figures of ignorance NEIim responded "This testifies the fact that the picture has not really changed over the years. The stories of progress and peace from Northeast have not reached the people in the rest of the country yet." Source

However the bright side of the survey was that 93% respondents wanted to know more about North East India. 42.7% respondents also endorse that the education system in India should include more focus on North Eastern states. Taking a cue from this, it would be great if the Indian media started showcasing more of North East India.

Say for instance, NDTV Good Times runs a program called The Warriors and Tribes of Nagaland. Shows like this may help influence the perception of 30% Indians who would not choose to take a vacation to the North east even though they know that it is extremely scenic. Wilson College in Mumbai hosts a college festival called Rainbow Festival. It aims to further the interests of North Eastern students enrolled in Wilson College and other colleges of Mumbai.

As far as the question of acceptance of such programs is concerned, the survey already pointed out that 56.3% respondents wanted the media and the Government to run special awareness campaigns that create positivity about this region.

It would be fair to assume that the media consumption of this set of professionals is higher than the average citizen. And if this is the state of the apparently well-informed urban respondent, we can only wonder what it’s like with the rest.

Microsoft is “Most Attractive Employer” in India [Randstad Survey]

Arun Prabhudesai — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:28:57 +0000

Microsoft was ranked the Most Attractive Employer to work for in 2012 by Global HR services company Randstad. Microsoft has won this award 2nd year running!

The survey by Randstad was conducted amongst a large audience of 8,500 respondents from over 150 biggest employers in the country, to find India’s most attractive employer brand. The rankings were based on 10 following parameters like Financial health of the company, Good training opportunities, Long-term job security, Opportunities for career advancement, Strong management, Interesting job content, A pleasant and stimulating working environment, Competitive salaries and employee benefits, A good work-life balance and Progressive policies concerning the environment and society (CSR).

So, on what basis do employees find employers attractive? According to the survey Financial Health of the company is the biggest influencing factor – More than 1 in 3 respondents of the survey said that Financial well being of a company was the biggest attractive factor to get employed. It is followed by Long Term job security (15%), career progression opportunities (8%), competitive salary & employee benefits and international career opportunities(8%).

However, the influencing factors change by Gender, Age, education & marital status. The survey clearly shows that men tend to prefer innovative companies that are financially healthy and offer quality
products and services, good training and career prospects, whereas women prefer factors such as easy accessibility, flexible work arrangements, pleasant atmosphere and interesting job content.

There is a greater concern for strong management, values and image, quality products and good work atmosphere among older respondents while the younger workforce looks for technological innovativeness, good training, flexible working arrangements and global career opportunities.

Here are how respondents ranked the Top 3 Indian companies. The results are separated by Gender, Age, Education and Citywise.

If you see, most of the respondents ranked Microsoft as the most attractive company for all the factors except Long Term security, which obviously will go to a Public sector Undertaking company. However, Microsoft was a overwhelming winner in all other factors. Google could be rated as the 2nd most attractive company in India followed by Hewlett Packard.

For me personally it is a bit surprising that Microsoft has been preferred over Google, which is probably far more financially healthy right now and offer great benefits to its employees!

[Read the entire Randstad report pdf]

India rated 2nd most economically confident country in World

Kaushambi — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:26:00 +0000

Recent research figures released by Ipsos, a world leader in market research, for the month of March 2012 pegged India to be the 2^nd most economically confident country. More Indians believe that the current economic situation in India is good and are upbeat about the progress of the Indian economy in 6 months. This puts India ahead of USA, Australia, Canada, Great Britain and even China.

The survey called – Global @dvisor: Economic pulse of the World – interviewed 18,775 respondents via the company’s online system called the Ipsos Online Panel System which is used every month to collect information from respondents in 24 countries. Respondents assessed the current state of their country’s economy for a total global perspective.

The survey quizzed respondents regarding views about their country’s current macroeconomic state, how they perceive the state of their local economy and their outlook for their local economy in 6 months time.

A massive 79% of the Indian respondents said that India’s current macroeconomic state was somewhat good or very good. In simple words, nearly 4 out of 5 Indians think that the current economic situation in India is either very good, or somewhat good. In July 2011, only 62% of the Indian respondents felt the same, improving slightly to 65% in January 2012. Ipsos marked out India specifically as a country that was experiencing improvement in this regard. In fact, India tops amongst all other Asian countries in this survey.

% respondents who thought state of economy was “Very Good/ Somewhat Good”

India fared 2^nd, only after Saudi Arabia (89%) amongst all 24 countries including China (71%), Canada (64%), Australia (62%), USA (22%) and Great Britain (14%). Portugal (2%), Spain (4%), Hungary (4%) and Italy (6%) are the countries whose citizens are least confident about the current economic situation of their local economy.

That’s not the only reason for India Inc to rejoice. As compared to the previous months, India is the 2^nd most improved country whose respondents have confidence in the local economy. China was the most improved with 10% of the respondents having increased confidence in the local economy, as compared to 5% for India.

Most improved over previous month

The big question is, how do Indians feel about the local economy 6 months from now? As per the Ipsos survey, 57% of Indian respondents believe that the Indian economy will get much or somewhat stronger in the next 6 months. Going back to July 2011, only 43% felt the same while 50% of the respondents echoed similar opinion in January 2012. 71% of Brazilians and 29% of Saudi Arabians think that their local economies will fare much better in the next 6 months.

% respondents saying Economic State 6 months from now will be “Much Stronger/ Somewhat Stronger”

The fact that 4 out of 5 Indian respondents rate the current macroeconomic situation in India as very good or somewhat good, is a record highest. March proved to be a stellar month for Automakers in India as Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki India and many more saw record jumps in sales. Recently, the RBI relaxed lending rates and some of the banks have already happily passed on these cuts to customers.

As RBI announced the 50 basis point cut in rate, analysts and experts came out with high hopes for GDP growth, business, housing and an overall better economic environment. The AGNI-V launch was a display of strength as India flexed its muscle to join the few other countries in the world which are capable of launching an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Despite all the positivity, the movement in the markets have remained nearly status quo since the budget was announced more than 5 weeks back.

The market has been choppy and as this post come to you, BSE lost nearly 1.6% as it fell 277 points to 17,096 and the NSE lost about 1.71% as it fell 90 points to 5200 today. Year end results are coming out and major players like HDFC and TCS have posted stellar results while Infosys has disappointed. We are yet to see something that triggers a trend, whether upward or downward. If the Ipsos survey is anything to go by, at least the morale of Indian respondents seems high and their confidence in the Indian economy is rising.

Ipsos Global @dvisor: Economic pulse of the World [Full report]

India shining? Wait and watch.

Average IT / Software Salaries in India [Report]

Arun Prabhudesai — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:20:27 +0000

If you are an IT professional and in midst of a change of job or an appraisal, this report may be very beneficial for you. ZDNet Asia conducted an online survey between March 2011 and March 2012 to find salary packages of IT professionals from India.

The study findings are based on 508 Indian participants. Of these, 176 of them had less than 5 years of experience in IT industry and 254 had between 5 and 10 years, while 78 had more than 10 years’ worth of experience. Although this is definitely not a very large size, it is enough to draw broad conclusions about the salaries that IT professionals get in India.

So, if you are currently unsure of if your salary is more or less compared to your peers across IT Industry – This should definitely give you a good pointer at where you stand.

Average annual salary by IT skills & Experience (in rupees)

IT skills	Years of Experience
IT skills	Less than 5 years	5-10 years	More than 10 years
Application Development	431,616	881,376	1,364,788
Desktops/Software	318,395	640,154	949,618
System Administration	295,679	617,957	979,079
Servers/Networking	349,295	666,986	1,073,571
Web Development	447,126	-	-
Operating Systems	293,032	661,507	954,408
Database Management	386,741	685,909	1,214,667
Web Services	421,458	-	-
Infrastructure Management	334,958	781,422	1,209,714
IT Outsourcing	419,391	-	-
Consulting/Business Services	-	993,250	1,326,471
Web Development	-	798,637	1,271,278
Enterprise Applications	-	892,982	1,292,105

It is clear that if you are less experiences IT professional, Web development is currently the hottest thing. With everything moving on cloud, there is no doubt that web development is only going to grow. While if you are a senior IT professional or a consultant, you stand to earn higher than you peers who have other IT skills.

On the other hand system admin & Operating system jobs are lowest paid in the IT Industry on whole.

Average annual salary job function and industry (in INR)

Job Function
	IT, Web & Telecom	Government, Education & Health	Legal & Finance	Media, Marketing & Sales (non-IT)	Manufacturing, Services & Others (non-IT)	Overall


IT Management	1,000,012	574,091	986,500	794,667	874,444	903,216
Project Management	965,149	632,500	453,333	923,488	772,143	930,901
Systems Development	585,276	385,250	688,000	-	492,727	574,525
Communications	722,750	423,667	-	-	384,667	603,281
Support	462,599	234,000	482,500	300,000	438,143	440,505
Administration	489,936	408,700	591,400	320,000	452,100	484,854
Other IT Professionals	834,250	-	-	-	220,000	766,000
Overall	731,996	478,827	667,800	744,217	564,922	695,236

If you are an IT professional working in IT or Telecom Industry you stand to earn much more than your peers in other Industries. Government, Education & health are the worst paying Industries for an IT professional.

Read the entire survey by ZDNet Asia who also have benchmarks based on various IT Job functions, years of experience & IT skills

Indians buy Smartphones for Apps & Faster Internet Access [Report]

Kaushambi — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:19:51 +0000

Ericsson announced the results of a research that they conducted in high growth markets like India, Brazil and Russia in April 2012. These economies are experiencing a massive surge in smartphone usage with one beating down the price of the other.

With every new smartphone model being packed with fancier and niftier features, the competition in the smartphone segment is getting tighter and tougher. The Ericsson research identifies that the near future will see these high growth economies using smartphones as the primary means of internet access rather than broadband or fixed line connections.

Ericsson Consumerlab research was carried out amongst consumers between the ages of 15 and 54. In all the three key economies identified, consumers accessed internet through their smartphones at least once a week. Quantitative research using on-device measurements was carried out amongst 5,000 smartphone users in India in late 2011 along with in depth interviews for the qualitative part.

What are the key findings of the research pertaining to India?

The usability, functionality and a fast internet connection are a few of the main reasons why consumers are adopting smartphones and apps so quickly.

Apps are seen by users as tools that make them independent. They serve as a guiding light to complete any given task. That’s why there is a certain amount of loyalty and emotional connection that Indians have to particular apps that they use.

Many first time smartphones users are unable to separate the concept of apps from their smartphones. For them, apps are the reason why they purchased their smartphone in the first place!
Indians use apps that particularly help them to strengthen their identity or enhance their mobile browsing experience. Games and social media apps remain increasingly popular for Indian smartphone users, with a special interest in downloading wallpapers, screen savers and other such media. This make Indians stand out in their smartphone usage.
GPRS is the most preferred form of Internet connection in India amongst smartphone users as compared to Brazil which prefers Wi-Fi and Russia which prefers 3G.
In India, an average of 16 Android apps, 11 Symbian apps and 8 Blackberry apps are downloaded per user on a monthly basis, depending on which platform they use.

Amongst the three countries identified for the research, India emerged as the winner in the measure of how much time users spent on their smartphones. 68 percent of new users spent at least 50 percent of their time online on their smartphones. Android users in India spent almost 3 times of their time on apps than their Symbian counterparts. Android users also installed more apps on their smartphones than their Symbian or BB counterparts, consuming 23 percent more data than the latter. In summary, Android emerged as a clear winner in India.
The research pointed out that in all the three countries, new users and mature users were gradually moving from using social interaction apps to downloading very specialized apps. Also, new users ended up sourcing apps via search engine results and third party reviews rather than the official app marketplace. This is something that app makers could look at rectifying in the future.
In India, Brazil and Russia, an average of 20 percent smartphone users started using data intensive apps related to video, TV, maps and navigation after purchasing their smartphones.

An earlier report on mobile broadband usage in India released by Ericsson ConsumerLab in March 2012 interestingly stated that users confessed smartphones having affected their private lives. It encroached upon the time that they could otherwise spend with loved ones.

A similar Nielsen Informate Mobile Intelligence report on smartphone usage in India in 2011 stated that users spent more time on entertainment and internet based content as compared to voice calling and text messages.

The bottom line of all these reports is that Indians are consuming more content, more Internet and more mobile services that ever before. With banking, shopping, medical services, entertainment and social interaction made easily available on smartphones with a tap, there’s no reason why Indians should not subscribe to the ‘anywhere-anytime’ policy.

Another reason why many Indians in the 40+ age category are adapting to preloaded smartphones is because it doesn’t even require basic computer literacy. It’s all self guided and self intuitive. And with Android smartphones as cheap as Rs. 6,000 flooding the market, who wouldn’t use them? As more and more mobile users in the world’s second most populous country take on to using apps and smartphones, one wonders if India will become the focus of all research and production of mobile phones in the future.

Clean Energy Economies: India ranks 6th!

Kaushambi — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:02:40 +0000

India Inc is on a roll. After claiming the second spot in the Regus Business Confidentiality Index 2012, the Pew Energy report recently announced that private investment in clean energy in India increased by 54 percent in 2011, which amounts to 10.2 billion dollars.

This places India at the sixth spot amongst the Group of Twenty (G-20) nations. Clean energy is another name for renewable or alternate energy.

What places India amongst the top clean energy economies of the world?

The Pew report stated that India is the one of the top performing clean energy economies in the 21st century. The report recorded the fifth highest 5 year rate of investment growth and eighth highest installed renewable energy capacity in India amongst G-20 nations.

So, what made India tick? The report stated that India’s National Solar Mission led to a 7 times increase in solar energy investments. The aim of this mission is to generate 20 gigawatts of solar power 2020. This led to an increase worth of 4.2 billion dollars.

India received 4.6 billion dollars as private investment and an additional 2.8 gigawatts worth of capacity was installed through 2011. The report noted that India is now richer with 22.4 gigawatts of installed clean energy generating capacity.

US claimed the top spot, having attracted a whopping 48 billion dollars worth of investment for the clean energy sector. China followed the top league by having the largest amount of wind energy investments and solar manufacturing. Germany ranked third with a total of 30.6 billion dollars of investment.

The report gave an interesting insight on the difference in which both America and China attracted investment. China attracts investment by its green energy policies to reassure investors, by deploying renewables, manufacturing them and exporting them, BBC News reported. On the other, United States offers tax breaks. The report also went on to confirm that Germany officially obtains more energy from renewable sources than it does from nuclear power, coal or natural gas.

The report further stated a few reasons that could be determinants of accelerating installation of clean energy generating capacity worldwide. Falling prices of photovoltaic modules was stated as being the most important of them.

If India continues its competitive spirit of increasing the use of alternative and renewable energy, it could easily join the ranks of nations like Germany who are now replacing their use of traditional energy with alternative sources of energy. But just like every other change takes time to percolate within the Indian economy, the use of renewable and clean energy too, may take a while to reach the common man.

Here’s hoping that more projects like the National Solar Mission are sanctioned and implemented by the Government. And the aim should be to not just enter the top league of a ranking or a report, but to truly make a difference to the environment.