Exim Academy

Micro Fulfilment Center (MFC) – The Current Reality Last week, I visited my daughter living near my residence.  It was a evening and we planned for dinner at her home.  I felt like having banana after my food in the night.  My son in law searched for banana at home and found that they ran out of stock. So, he ordered bananas online.   In another half an hour so, bell rang.  The bananas were at the doorsteps.  How was that possible?  Micro Fulfilment center is the answer!   Large e Commerce companies like Amazon and Flipkart hire warehouses to stock their goods. Since volumes are big, huge spaces are required and such large spaces are available only in suburbs or outskirts of main cities.  While this is feasible under the present circumstances, it presents logistics challenges.  Last mile delivery takes extra time to reach.  Particularly, in India, when we order online, the time promised is 4 to 5 days, but we do get the products within 2-3 days.   Our shopping habits are changing v

Economics of Cow You may be baffled by the fact that India is home to maximum cattle population in the world.   The country is so diverse that it is reflected in the varieties of cattle.   This post is all about indigenous cows native to India, Tamilnadu in particular.   There are 38 districts in the state of Tamilnadu.   Each district has its own variety.   But it is also a pity that slowly these indigenous varieties are on the way to extinction because they are bad in economy and maintaining is no longer sustainable.   Why? Because they yield less milk and hence, they are not viable as a economic unit.   There are many organisations trying to save these varieties but I came across a couple so passionate about saving these cows through a sustainable model based sound economic principles.   The farm is located on suburb of chennai, Pallikaranai!   It is really hard to believe that a cattle farm of this size (1 acre) exists!   This social enterprise breaks all conventional ways of mak

Driver’s Day (17th September)  The inspiration for this post is from Mr Ramesh Kumar, Drivers’ Duniya.   He almost singlehandedly espouses the cause of Drivers. Just this morning, I came to know about Driver’s Day.   I decided to pay my respects to the Drivers community.   I am pretty sure that unless we, the community recognize the role of drivers and acknowledge their contribution, pretty soon, you may have to import drivers from somewhere (I don’t know from where). We are already short of 50% less of requirement. By and large, the society has certain stereotypes of them:        01.                     They are rude and uncultured      02.                     They have no background      03.                     They have no ambitions      04.                     They are irresponsible      05.                     They are not clean      06.                     They are drunkard   The whole of yesterday, I was on road travelling from Madurai to Tuticorin, on an official work on behalf

Teacher’s Day Today, September 5 th is being celebrated all over India as Teacher’s Day.  Most of us would recall with fervor our times from schools as kids to high schools and to colleges.  Most certainly, there would be a teacher who would have touched our hearts by their gestures and approach.  This you can recall not only in your primary schools but also in colleges.  I recall my Mathematics professor in my first year MBA, Mr Lakshmi Narayanan in PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore (fondly called as LN), He removed my fear in Mathematics by making do sums repeatedly.  This training helped me in good stead even in my profession as a consultant.   In one of International Conferences that I attended; I was having a chat with a delegate from Ghana.  He said with reverence that his maths teacher was an Indian in his school.  This is our power and the strategy to be adopted to earn more dollars.  World over, there is dearth of teachers who can teach English and Maths to non-English

 Can Used Laptop/Computer be imported? Every now and then, I get calls from people saying that they have been advised by the courier companies to find Customs agent to clear their laptops.   People are taken aback by the advice of the courier companies as it was in their contract to deliver the laptop to their premises.   But Courier companies shy away from clearance. Then consignees start looking around for people who would do customs clearance part.   Why these courier companies advise to get the laptop customs cleared by consignees?   Because, in terms of Foreign Trade Policy, import of used laptops is restricted for imports.   It means one has to obtain a valid licence from the Government.   Approaching the Government for a single laptop is not worthy and you may not even succeed.   Of course, there are exception to this rule, but we will dwell in to it in another post.   The said policy is reproduced below: Import Policy for Second Hand Goods: 2.31 Second Hand Goods S.No. Ca

Legalisation of Documents Legalisation of documents mean document issued with correct stamp in order to be recognised in another country.   In India, whenever, goods are shipped to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)member states, the importers require trade documents to be legalised before sending to them.   The member countries of GCC are Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain.   While Legalisation can be sought by any country, GCC countries are more specific and demand the same.   These are the countries that are not part of Hague Convention, 1907.     According to Wikipedia, “ The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, the Apostille Convention, or the Apostille Treaty, is an international treaty drafted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law”   Since these countries are not in the Hague Convention, the documents from India are to be attested or legalised by their respective consulates/embassies in India. Th

 What do we learn from the Chinese? Ever wondered how China has become such a major power in economy, sports or in diplomacy in a matter of roughly 2 to 3 decades. This question always used to bother me a lot. A country which was equal or less than in India till 1978 leap frogged in to world stage. In the process lifting out 50% of its population from poverty and subsistence living. The only country that can be compared with India is China, no body else in terms population and concomitant problems.  Yes, the differentiating factor is democracy in India and dictatorship in China. But that also does not explain their economic miracle! If democracy is the factor, both India and US are democracies, where are we? The distinguishing factor is the work culture of the Chinese people. I attended Canton fair in 2011. The sheer size of the fair is mindboggling. As one stands in queue to enter you can hear voice as 'name cad, name cad'. Actually it is visiting card, that they were saying i