Sunday 27 December 2015

LOW LOSS CONDUCTOR CABLE An answer to high T&D losses

  In the process of supplying electricity to consumers, technical losses occur naturally and consist mainly of power dissipation in electricity system components such as transmission and distribution (T&D) lines, transformers, and measurement systems. T & D losses have I2R losses as a major component, and if one can reduce the resistance,the losses can be reduced.So, while resistance depends upon metal area and its resistivity,there is a need to improve both without changing the physical area of the conductor. This is besides improving compaction % i.e. Metal area/Physical area. Also, normal compacted conductors have a compaction of 87-91% causing a limit on metal area that can be fitted inside the physical area. These issues have been sorted by a unique design using 2 layers of trapezoidal wires. The electricity sector in India had an installed capacity of 205.34 Gigawatt (GW) as of June 2012, the world's fifth largest. Captive power plants generate an additional 31.5 GW. Thermal power plants constitute 66% of the installed capacity, hydroelectric about 19% and rest being a combination of wind, small hydro, biomass, waste-to-electricity, and nuclear. India generated 855 BU (855 000 MU i.e. 855 TWh) electricity during 2011-12 The per capita average annual domestic electricity consumption in India in 2009 was 96 kWh in rural areas and 288 kWh in urban areas for those with access to electricity, in contrast to the worldwide per capita annual average of 2600 kWh and 6200 kWh in the European Union. India's total domestic, agricultural and industrial per capita energy consumption estimates vary depending on the source. Two sources place it between 400 to 700 kWh in 2008–2009. As of January 2012, one report stated that the per capita total consumption in India to be 778 kWh. In terms of fuel, coal-fired plants account for 56% of India's installed electricity capacity, compared to South Africa's 92%; China's 77%; and Australia's 76%. After coal, renewal hydropower accounts for 19%, renewable energy for 12% and natural gas for about 9%. Further, the 17th electric power survey of India report claims: In December 2011, over 300 million Indian citizens had no access to electricity. Over one third of India's rural population lacked electricity, as did 6% of the urban population. Of those who did have access to electricity in India, the supply was intermittent and unreliable.
 In 2010, blackouts and power shedding interrupted irrigation and manufacturing across the country. The per capita average annual domestic electricity consumption in India in 2009 was 96 kWh in rural areas and 288 kWh in urban areas for those with access to electricity, in contrast to the worldwide per capita annual average of 2600 kWh and 6200 kWh in the European Union. India's total domestic, agricultural and industrial per capita energy consumption estimates vary depending on the source. Two sources place it between 400 to 700 kWh in 2008–2009. As of January 2012, one report stated that the per capita total consumption in India to be 778 kWh.

DEMAND TRENDS As in previous years, during the year 2010–11, the demand for electricity in India far outstripped availability, both in terms of base load energy and peak availability. Base load requirement was 861,591 (MU[) against availability of 788,355 MU, a 8.5% deficit. During peak loads, the demand was for 122 GW against availability of 110 GW, a 9.8% shortfall. In a May 2011 report, India's Central Electricity Authority anticipated, for 2011–12 year, a base load energy deficit and peaking shortage to be 10.3% and 12.9% respectively. The peaking shortage would prevail in all regions of the country, varying from 5.9% in the NorthEastern region to 14.5% in the Southern Region. India also expects all regions to face energy shortage varying from 0.3% in the North-Eastern region to 11.0% in the Western region. India's Central Electricity Authority expects a surplus output in some of the states of Northern India, those with predominantly hydropower capacity, but only during the monsoon months. In these states, shortage conditions would prevail during winter season. According to this report, the five states with largest power demand and availability, as of May 2011, were Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
According to 17th EPS
Over 2010–11, India's industrial demand accounted for 35% of electrical power requirement, domestic household use accounted for 28%, agriculture 21%, commercial 9%, public lighting and other miscellaneous applications accounted for the rest. The electrical energy demand for 2016–17 is expected to be at least 1392 Tera Watt Hours, with a peak electric demand of 218 GW. The electrical energy demand for 2021–22 is expected to be at least 1915 Tera Watt Hours, with a peak electric demand of 298 GW. Also, if the current average transmission and distribution average losses is around 32% then India needs to add about 135 GW of power generation capacity, before 2017, to satisfy the projected demand after losses. Item Value Date Reported Total Installed Capacity (GW) Available base load supply (MU) Demand base load (MU) Demand base load (GW) Available base load supply (GW) 201.64 837374 118.7 933741 136.2 April 2012 May 2011 May 2011 May 2011 May 2011 Electricity sector capacity and availability in India (excludes
McKinsey claims that India's demand for electricity may cross 300 GW, earlier than most estimates. To explain their estimates, they point to four reasons: sterlitetechnologies.com India's manufacturing sector is likely to grow faster than in the past Domestic demand will increase more rapidly as the quality of life for more Indians improve About 125,000 villages are likely to get connected to India's electricity grid Currently blackouts and load shedding artificially suppresses demand; this demand will be sought as revenue potential by power distribution companies THE CAUSE FOR LOSSES A demand of 300GW will require about 400 GW of installed capacity, McKinsey notes. The extra capacity is necessary to account for plant availability, infrastructure maintenance, spinning reserve and losses. India currently suffers from a major shortage of electricity generation capacity, even though it is the world's fourth largest energy consumer after United States, China and Russia. The International Energy Agency estimates India needs an investment of at least $135 billion to provide universal access of electricity to its population. The International Energy Agency estimates India will add between 600 GW to 1200 GW of additional new power generation capacity before 2050. This added new capacity is equivalent to the 740 GW of total power generation capacity of European Union (EU- 27) in 2005. The technologies and fuel sources India adopts, as it adds this electricity generation capacity, may make significant impact to global resource usage and environmental issues. India's network losses exceeded 32% in 2010 including non-technical losses, compared to world average of less than 15%. Both technical and non-technical factors contribute to these losses, but quantifying their proportions is difficult. Some experts estimate that technical losses are about 15% to 20%, a high proportion of non‐technical losses are caused by illegal tapping of lines, but faulty electric meters that underestimate actual consumption also contribute to decrease in payment collection. A case study in Kerala estimated that replacing faulty meters could reduce distribution losses from 34% to 29%.
In 2010, electricity losses in India during transmission and distribution were about 24%, while losses because of consumer theft or billing deficiencies added another 10–15%. Power cuts are common throughout India and the consequent failure to satisfy the demand for electricity has adversely effected India's economic growth. SUSTAINABLE OPTIMAL REDUCTION OF TECHNICAL LOSSES Optimization of technical losses in electricity transmission and distribution grids is an engineering issue, involving classic tools of power systems planning and modeling. The driving criterion is minimization of the net present value (sum of costs over the economic life of the system discounted at a representative rate of return for the business) of the total investment cost of the transmission and distribution system coupled with the total cost of technical losses.Technical losses are valued at generation costs. Technical losses represent an economic loss for the country, and its optimization should be performed from a country's perspective, regardless of the institutional organization of the sector and ownership of operating electricity utilities. LOSSES - RESISTIVE Transmitting electricity at high voltage reduces the fraction of energy lost to resistance, which averages around 7%. For a given amount of power, a higher voltage reduces the current and thus the resistive losses in the conductor. For example, raising the voltage by a factor of 10 reduces the current by a corresponding factor of 10 and therefore the I2R losses by a factor of 100, provided the same sized conductors are used in both cases. Even if the conductor size (cross-sectional area) is reduced 10-fold to match the lower current the I2R losses are still reduced 10-fold. Long distance transmission is typically done with overhead lines at voltages of 115 to 1,200 kV. STERLITE's SOLUTION Sterlite ULTRAEFF low loss MV Power Cables consist of conductor made from very compactly packed trapezoidal cross-section aluminium strands which are prepared from specially treated aluminium having improved conductivity, high performance XLPE insulated, armoured and unarmoured power cables as per IS-7098-PII and equivalent standards.
METHODS TO REDUCE RESISTANCE As resistance of a conductor is dependent on resistivity, length and area, we can improve the resistance by following: Improving the conductivity of aluminium by annealing and heat treatment. The metal is heat treated for a preset amount of time at a preset temperature improving the conductivity to 62.5 %. 1) Putting more metal area in the same physical area by improving the compaction of the conductor. 2) A stranded circular compacted conductor is made of wires, stranded and compacted to a form of conductor.Two methods of conductor making are prevalent: die compaction with a maximum possible compaction of 90-91 %, Roller compaction for sizes of 240 sq.mm and above with a max possible compaction of 92- 93%. This leads to presence of air gaps and limits the amount of metal area that can be put in the same physical area. If trapezoidal wires are used in place of circular wires, this compaction can be increased to 97 % increasing the metal area and thus effectively reducing the resistance and hence the losses. Sterlite with its background in metallurgy and conductor making adapted this concept for overhead conductors as well as underground cables. With enhanced conductivity and higher compaction, 300 sq.mm conductor with trapezoidal wires was produced to have a conductor resistance of 87% value of that specified by IS 8130.

Lower I2R losses for the transmission /distribution network for the same transmitted current. Higher current rating for conductor temperature of 900C. Higher short circuit rating because of higher metal area in the conductor. CONCLUSION With the extensive use of electricity, and the wide geographical distribution of users, an effective transmission and distribution system is essential. The history of electricity transmission can be dated back to 1883, when Thomas Edison first introduced an economically viable model for generating and distributing electric power. Edison's greatest achievement was perhaps not the invention of the light bulb or any other single application, but the universally applicable electricity transmission system which has lit up the whole world. Modern electrical transmission and distribution systems are the result of conscientious efforts and design skills of engineers to ensure high energy efficiency and safety. Thus, high energy efficiency means the loss of power through transmission is minimized.[  Pranav Vasani is Head – Quality Assurance, Power Cables Business, Sterlite Technology & courtesy-sterlitetechnologies.com]

Wednesday 14 May 2014

Accuracy of Energy Meters

                       Reliable and accurate metering system is a vital link between a power utility and consumer, acquiring more significance day by day. In terms of Electricity Act 2003, CEA has notified a metering code for all the utilities to adopt appropriate metering technologies together with various associated methods to reduce commercial losses. Hence it is pertinent that the power utilities have to upgrade their metering system with the state-of-art technologies which are accessible, for reducing losses, improving financial status and better load management.
                        It is a standard utility practice to test consumer's metering equipments in situ and has many advantages over laboratory tests .The meters need not be de- installed and transported to other locations in order for the necessary tests to be performed. This is particularly important for transformated metering installations. If the measuring circuit is faulty the electricity meter receives voltages and currents which differ phase and/or amplitude from those it would receive. Faults may occur when metering equipments are under ongoing operation also. The surest way to find such faults is to check the meter as well as the associated instrument transformers.
                          The specification of LT, HT and EHT metering system in India are based on the guidelines of Central Electricity Authority (Installation and operation) Regulations (2006) which are already in practice all over India. Few area where electricity metering needs attention are
 1 3 phase 3 wire measurement system instead of 3 phases 4 wire meter.
2 Poor accuracy standards of Instrument transformers and Energy meters.
3. Installation of same rated CTs irrespective of contract demand.

1.  Effects of selection of higher burden values of   instrument transformers than actually required.


It can be seen that  at many instances the burden of CT is very high when compared to that of the associated metering equipment. (2-2.5VA).In EHT consumers, a slightly higher burden can be expected for pilot wires. However, a very high burden of instrument transformer gives a prima facie indication that the CT is not working in the defined accuracy range described in the IS. For eg. for a 20VA CT with a secondary current of 1A,  the load must be 20 Ohm. If only 3 Ohm loop resistance and digital relays with almost 0 Ohm impedance is connected, the accuracy may be outside specification since the accuracy is only guaranteed when the load is nominal (20 Ohm) or 1/4 of the nominal load (5 Ohm).Using CTs of burden values higher than required is unscientific since it leads to inaccurate reading (meter) or inaccurate sensing of fault / reporting conditions. Basically, such high value of design burden extends saturation characteristics of CT core leading to likely damage to the meter connected across it under overload conditions.
The CTs designed with a particular burden connected with lower burden application results to erroneous measurements. With the advent in technology, the burden of individual instrument has come down considerably.
                     It can be seen that for  indoor CTs, though the burden(VA) specified for the metering Core is 10-15 VA, it is unlikely to exceed even 3 VA. Hence, it is suggested that the rated Burden for the Metering Core of the CT may be a standard value as close to the connected Burden as possible. Even though a direct conversion of this abnormality into loss is not accurately estimated, a marginal error of 0.25 %   results into a substantial loss of revenue .

2) Adverse effect of using 3 phase 3 wire meters instead 3 phase 4 wire meters

Three phase three wire System of power measurement is in vogue in many utilities .This is two watt meter system of power measurement in which current of R& B phases are measured along with three line voltage. This system measures energy accurately both in balanced and unbalanced load conditions provided there is no neutral current flow. This system is just right so long as the conditions behind it are meticulously followed. However field conditions are entirely different. The present day practice of using star-star solidly earthed transformer permits the consumer to load on each phases heavily (for eg. single phase furnaces etc.) thus making erroneous reading, as current in Y phase of high voltage side is not recorded. If the consumer is intelligent enough to add single phase load deliberately at Y phase in above such condition, it is as good as a power pilferage situation. If a three phase four wire system is adopted, this tricky condition can be avoided. More ever, when CT/PT units of one phase becomes faulty, the total consumption of the system can be arrived more accurately. Hence it is high time for utilities to adopt three phase four wire system as already done elsewhere to plug the drain of revenue leakage.
3. Effects on adoption of Poor accuracy standards of Instrument transformer and Energy meters.

As per regulations 2, 5,8,12 and 16 of Central Electricity Authority (Installation and operation) Regulations (2006) and the schedules, the standards of measuring equipments have been specified. For HT consumers, class 0.5S or better is specified where as for EHT consumers its Class 0.2 S. The accuracy class of Current Transformers and Voltage transformers shall not be inferior to that of associated metes. The regulation states that the existing CTs and VTs not complying with these standards shall be replaced by new CTs and VTs. Thus the regulation is very specific in defining the accuracy class of both instrument transformer and Meters. However superior an energy meter may be, if the associated instrument transformers measure the actual energy with an element of error, the same will be replicated. The current transformer is Class 0.5 (HT) and Class 1.0 for EHT which is not in line with the standards of Central Electricity Authority, 2006.Though a direct conversion of this non compatibility is hard to achieve, revenue loss per month on installation of lower accuracy class CT and Energy meters on the EHT / HT consumers are significantly high.




Sunday 10 November 2013

Ezhilampala

 Ezhilampala (Indian Devil tree.)

The smell, that, comes from a tree named Alstonia Scholaris or Saptaparni or Ezhilampala (Indian devil tree) attracts the people of Delhi on the onset of winter. The presence of this tree just near to my office attracts people by smell of flowers and can be felt even 100 meters away. The tree bears a fruit which ripens and break open at night, spreading the aroma and the pollen. In Indian mythology, Yakshi the female goddess associated with the fertility of the earth, love, and beauty lives in Ezhilampala

                       In Kerala Yakshi is a very popular folklore character. Similar characters are known in many parts of the world. While the Yakshi of Kerala folklore prefers white robes, similar characters, the Scottish and Malaysian prefer green apparels. It is said that whenever a Yakshi appears there would be fragrance of Jasmine or Pala (Alstonia scholaris) - common name Indian devil tree.
                                                 A soft-stemmed tree with highly fragrant tiny flowers that open during night. Seven leaves arise from a single nod and several braches start from the same joint giving the tree a particular shape. Fruits are long shell that hangs in clusters. Ezhilampala is believed to be the habitat of fairies by Indian myths! The fragrance of its flower is sweet when light but causes giddiness when smelled; may be the reason for this innocent tree being called devil tree!

                                                                                                                              
This Ezhilampala is a dwelling place for parrots, dove, squirrel, crows, humming bird, pea cock apart from  Yakshi!!.

Sunday 25 August 2013

GOD'S OWN TRAIN



                                                              The northern state of India - Himachal Pradesh have the benefit of two narrow gauge Rail tracks - Kalka/Shimla and Pathankot/Jogindernagar. Kalka Shimla toy train run on these treks popularly called 'Toy Trains' by the tourists. Roundabout on Shimla toy train is a stimulating experience as one passes through the breathtaking landscapes of splendid Himalayas, tunnels, bridges and fertile green dale embroidered with pine, oak trees, leaving a long lasting memory of ecstasy and accomplishment.


At Shimla Station
                                                 The longest tunnel in the route is named after Barog, the engineer, responsible for scheming a tunnel near the railway station. He started digging the tunnel from both sides of the mountain, which is relatively common as it hustles up construction. However, he made mistake in calculation and the two ends of the tunnel did not meet. Barog was fined an amount of 1 Rupee by the then British government. This is equivalent to millions of dollars today. 
                                     Unable to withstand the embarrassment, Barog committed suicide. He was buried near the incomplete tunnel. The area came to be known as Barog after him and the tunnel is called unlucky tunnel. It is said that his dog upon seeing his master bleeding profusely ran in panic to a village, near the present Barog railway station, for help. However, by the time people reached the spot, Barog had breathed his last. There are different versions about the suicide as some say the dejected engineer shot his dog before he shot himself. He was buried in front of the tunnel, near the Kalka-Shimla national highway, about 1 km from Barog. It is now even difficult to locate the whereabouts of the dejected tunnel which has now been closed.

IN FRONT OF BOROG  TUNNEL

Later the mantle fell on Chief Engineer H.S. Harrington's supervison escorted by a local learned, Bhalku, in a short period from July 1900 to September 1903 at a cost 8.40 Lakh rupees (Rupees 840,000).This tunnel is the longest of the 103 operational tunnels on the route of the Shimla-Kalka Railway, which is 1143.61m long. Barog station is right away after the tunnel. Barog tunnel is the straightest tunnel in the World.Trains takes about 2.5 minutes to cross this tunnel, running at 25 kilometres per hour.Trains take about 2.5 minutes to cross this tunnel, running at 25 kilometres per hour.

MOTHERHOOD

                                                 JOURNEY THRO' JUNGLE.
Kalka Shimla Toy Train has about 7 coaches that can accommodate least 200 passengers in a single trip. The diversities of challenging weather do not extricate the pertinacity of the 700 horsepower B-B type diesel engines. They run vigorously taking up the hazards of adverse weather conditions - temperatures ranging from 0 to 25°C, heavy snowfall -average recording 2 feet during winters, and the annual rainfall of 2000-2500 mm, professed by the valley. The train acquires up a moderate average speed of 25-30 km throughout its passage imparting its travelers to delight in the full magnificence of the pleasing valley. 
                                                                                                            


Perhaps this is the only train in India which waited for me to finish my refreshments at Barog station  !       





Sunday 28 April 2013

The Past, Present and Future of Single Phase Metering In India.


With the implementation of RGGVY scheme, the requirement of single phase meters has become more and more. The financially crunched utilities are struggling hard to buy good quality meters  with communication  facility , as returns from these meters are meager ,but at the same time they have to come up with the technology for electrical meters underway  in  many  other  countries.  Here an attempt is made to go through various phases of this sector over the past few decades and years to come.
                  From the century old rotating wheel or Ferraris meter or    electro mechanical meter,   Utilities   in   India are following the trend in utilities in other parts of the world. With the advent of electronics and IT, the technology behind electrical meters underway tremendously but there is still many unanswered questions surrounding the best implementation system.
          The statistics about metering in India is quite astonishing. One of our neighboring states has about 5 million mechanical meters still in service.30 per cent of the meters in India are still with counter type display system on which any tampering can be done. Many utililities have just only stopped purchasing electro-mechanical meters. Now the utilities are considering LCD meters as the most sophisticated one’s as many readings can be obtained at the same time. With this background an effort is made to analyze the latest status of metering in India .Since India lives in villages and electrification of villages have not landed up anywhere, only single phase metering are discussed.
                                 From electro mechanical meters the first development was static meters with ADE 7751 chips., being the first tolerant electronic meters by Analog Devices, monitoring both phase and neutral current and billing is based on the larger reading. Indian market also attracted towards it, by utilities changing their specifications to incorporate such features into tender documents. It also became a way for utilities to improve efficiency and for meter manufacturers to differentiate their designs.
          The next development was ADE 7761 meter in which brought new concept of attending neutral missing. During these days the meters were neither electromechanical nor electronic but ‘hyrid’  in nature having the draw back of both.
          By this time, Indian Power sector has adopted a new concept of AT&C losses leaving behind the age old concept of T&D losses.Low metering efficiency, tampering etc. were the main loss for the utilities. Through out the development of electronic energy meter, India has stood out as a feature rich, cost driven market where producing a meter that meets the advanced specifications the lowest cost is essential for the success.

Metering today
The  need for rich specification meters at very low cost has driven the single-phase metering market to widely adopt the system-on-chip (SoC) solution, which has rapidly become more popular than a two-chip solution .  SoC technology combines the metering metrology with a low cost microcontroller and peripherals into a single package, thus reducing the overall cost of the meter. The SoC has met mixed success in various regions of the world.

          A full range of measurement of active, reactive and apparent energy measurement is required to be done to prevent the various malpractices adopted by the consumers. This may be added up with a LCD driver also as a precaution. The presence of external battery input and related circuits ensures the system function in the absence of voltages also. Thus the simplified design along with ability to note down reading even in the absence of power has made the system acceptable to all utilities. Many meter manufacturers have come up with design suitable to above solutions.
The future
The automated meter reading (AMR) network have provided sufficient incentives for many utilities to  commence    wide - scale  deployments of such technology. KSEB is yet to commence AMR. Apart from metering cost, removal of existing meter, replace with AMR etc will be saved by the savings in man power required to manually read the meter. But due to the comparatively less labour rate in India, it’s possible when many utilities abroad done with high labour cost. A two way communication would also help to facilitate whether a particular consumer has to be disconnected or not. A lot of man power can be effectively utilized by adopting to AMR. When communication is incorporated, memory requirements also comes to play. This may be arrived in consultation with utility as it may vary from place to place. Thus before Indian utilities a number of options are available as far as single phase energy meter is concerned.
The reality
                                             The RGGVY scheme has revealed astonishing figures in certain states like Arunachal Pradesh, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Orissa etc. where majority of the house holds are still not electricfied. This shows the  future of single phase energy meter is quite reasonable in India. But it remains to be seen that how many   financially crunched states and utilities would change to such high end meters at the expense of few thousands and  that would fetch only  a couple of hundreds as revenue and this I apprehend  may lead to again hybrid meters and Ferrari meters to trust worthy consumers which will  continue to play a key role at least for a decade in Indian power sector. 


Friday 28 December 2012

FDI –To kill middle man or middle class?

It is just 6 PM only but pitch dark outside. The entire North India is celebrating Deepavali and the sound of crackers and cold wave penetrating into ears and body. My evening walk land up me at a local market where millions of porcelain Lakshmi and Ganesh idols, made in China are flooded. Last month only I blamed US for getting its flags from China, but now the elastic purchasing power of middle class welcomed these Chinese products in Deepavali. Even the crackers could not divert my attention from the cute idols, thanks to the FDI. What is FDI? Is it something to be scared of or a phobia induced by something? Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is direct investment into production in a country by a company located in another country, either by buying a company in the target country or by expanding operations of an existing business in that country. FDI is done for many reasons including to take advantage of cheaper wages , special investment privileges such as tax exemptions , as an incentive to gain tariff-free access to the markets or the region. This is contrast to FDI in portfolio investment in the securities of another country such as stocks and bonds. Like every issues, political parties agrees to disagree for all issues. And there is no national consensus on allowing FDI in retail. Supporters of FDI push it as a much-needed policy drive that could arrest the economic recession, bringing in not only foreign funds but advanced technology and expertise, create infrastructure, offer better prices to farmers, generate ancillary industries ,create millions of jobs, and what not. However, majority of Indians, being skeptic, consider FDI as something like end of the world and will wipe out small farmers and traders, results in job losses and will wide open gates for cheap goods from countries like China, adversely impacting Indian industry. While both arguments have some legality, the two sides err on the side of extremes. FDI in retail is not an unmitigated disaster as projected by some, nor a magic rod leading to instant economic growth. If allowed with professional care and safeguards, it is in the country's national interest to allow FDI in retail. The both side are partially true only. I remember, two decades back, when I was employed in Bangalore, I’d to travel 2-3 Kms to just make a telephone call to my home which we cannot imagine now. Opening up the telecom sector to foreign investment has brought a communication revolution that embraces everyone. We make the advantage of this giant leap to canvass against the very same policy which brought telecom revolution. For decades, Indian roads have the privilege to see just 2-3 types of scooters and four wheelers. Similarly, there was the long wait even for outdated scooters and cars. When Pizza Hut, Domino's, McDonald's, KFC and other such international brands were allowed, there were stiff opposition and they were highlighted as anti-people and anti-Indian enterprises. We were told and in turn we conducted campaign that the local Haldirams, Bikanerwalas, Nathus ,Bengali sweets etc will soon vanish. Presently All these Indian companies have multiplied their outlets, spread their production line, upgraded their packing and presentation, and are doing exemplary business and many have Indianised their products also. Where else in the world would other than Connaught Place you find a McDonald burger with paneer and potato patties and coriander sauce? Even in a small city like Trivandrum we find Spencer’s, dominos etc. Have they wiped out any indigenous companies? Have they brought reduced business to any margin- free markets? While many starve, millions of tonnes of grain become rancid for want of adequate storage facilities. Ask how farmers in Punjab feel when their produce is not picked up and lies unsold. Can they negotiate higher prices? When the mercury rises, fruit don't last more than two days. Why we can’t find a solution till date? Recently we have seen series of raid in food outlets in many parts of Kerala.This includes shops in private, foreign and government sector. Who is to blame? FDI in retail or the shop owners? No one should underestimate the creativity of ordinary hawkers and small grocery owners. They know how to reach out to their potential customers. Today, in many areas of Delhi, vegetable vendors present their carts, laden with fresh stuff straight from the farm, as early as 6:00 am and this helps many joggers to pick up their daily requirement of vegetables from these vendors. Small grocery shops realize the value of home delivery; small stores also reduce a rupee or two on most items. This demand-and-supply relationship will remain unchanged in spite of the entry of big wheel like Wal-Mart. Even without FDI in retail, more than half of electronic and electrical items, machine tools, hardware, fittings and sanitary ware, lights and chandeliers etc sold in India are made in China. The Government can ask FDI to undertake R&D for better and higher-yielding seeds, build connecting roads, set up a chain of warehouses, cold storages, food processing plants and create green belts in the vicinity of stores as also schools, hospitals, sports and recreational facilities for their employees. The list is endless. Anyone claiming that FDI in retail will not create jobs is being dishonest. If there is a will, there is a way. Now its high time to think of the benefits of FDI. It will kill the middle men and not the middle class .At the same time we should understand that FDI retail come to India to make profit and not to donate money or achieve the good will. They should be allowed to make reasonable profit within the laws and frame work and in return we get more job opportunities and diverse products. I’m not overlooking the fact that when coca cola was banned in India in seventies, it gave opportunities to a number of indigenous drinks. This has given opportunities to many companies to improve their products also. Those who staunchly argue against FDI may please examine what effort done by authorities to boost up the market of coconut or even coconut farmers, who are lucky if at least five rupees is obtained. ? Mega stores of FDI in retail can also co-exist with small traders, grocery shops and corner vendors; they will attract customers from different sections, as has been the case in the restaurant business. Those raising the trouble against FDI in retail are the same persons who opposed FDI in the telecom, automobile and restaurant sectors. We had seen the same faces when computers and television came to this country, but with only one difference: there was no TV channel to air their discussion against it. I am writing this article with a hero pen made in China which costs about twenty in Bengali Market. Its presence has no way affected the sector, but only the FDI-the Fear Dominated Indians.