Latest news with #Tatas
Hans India
3 days ago
- Business
- Hans India
MyVoice: Views of our readers 04th June 2025
Prop up Tatas and M&M If Tim Cook of Apple and Elon Musk of Tesla were to cease their investments in India, it would certainly have a negative impact on the Indian economy. This will also result in considerable decline in foreign direct investment, which is crucial for economic growth. As Donald Trump, President of USA, is restraining these two giants from investing in India, the Union Government must come forward to encourage Tata Motors and Mahendra & Mahendra to invest heavily in the manufacture of electrical vehicles (EVs). Meanwhile, the Centre must aggressively continue its 'Make in India' initiative and focus on attracting other global companies. R. J. Janardhana Rao, Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad-28 Manipur people need immediate help Nearly one lakh people have been affected by flash floods triggered by overflowing rivers and embankment breaches in Manipur. More than 11,000 houses have been damaged by the floods. Many persons went missing after being swept away by a river in Imphal east district on Monday, while 3000 people have been evacuated to safer locations from the affected areas. Bashikhong is bearing the brunt after Kongba river breached its embankments on Monday. At least 60 relief camps have been set up at Imphal East district, which is the worst affected district. Around 93 landslides have been reported in the last five days across the state. Several localities in Imphal, Khurai, Heingang and Checkon have been subject to massive losses. The government must take immediate action and supply essential items with the help of the army to all stranded and badly hit people. Bhagwan Thadani, Mumbai Rescue people in disaster-prone northeast Rains continue to ravage the northeast. Three soldiers were killed and six reported missing after a landslide struck an army camp at Chaten in northern Sikkim's Lachen. One man was also reported dead in central Assam's Hojai. This brings the death toll across the northeast region to 38, while four persons were rescued after a landslide struck the Chaten camp. Meanwhile, parts of Assam and the surrounding states continue to witness rainfall. The meteorological department has predicted heavy to very rainfall in some regions of Assam in the next 24 hours, while some areas will witness more moderate rainfall. The government must swing into action and intensify relief and rescue operations, particularly because Brahmaputra and some of its tributaries are reportedly flowing above the danger level in certain locations. C.K. Subramaniam, Navi Mumbai Exam failures killing our children The tragic suicides of NEET aspirants are a gut-wrenching reminder of the unbearable pressure our youth face. In a country that worships academic success, failure is often seen as a social disgrace. How did we create a system that pushes bright minds into despair? The toxic trio of coaching culture, parental pressure, and a ruthless one-exam model is costing young lives. This is not just a mental health issue—it's a systemic lack of empathy in our education system. We mourn these students today. But what about the countless others suffering silently, afraid to speak up? Hasnain Rabbani, Mumbai AP making mockery of teachers' transfers The teachers transfer process in Andhra Pradesh is making a mockery of the practice. Decisions are being taken by the government with U-turns every hour. Suggestions by the Teachers unions are falling on deaf ears. It seems like the government aims to bring disrepute to its own schools and subsequently privatise the education sector. The government always cites 'no money to even pay salaries' as a burden on the state government. Strangely, there is no dearth of money for Amaravati project, which requires astronomical amounts to fulfil the highly ambitious designs that have been on paper five years. One can only hope that better sense prevails upon the political leaders as well as the administrative authorities in order to ensure that the state is on the right path. M Chandrasekhar, Kadapa
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Tata Electronics eyes Malaysia foray via chip fab acquisition
Tata Electronics is in talks with several global semiconductor companies including X-Fab , DNeX and Globetronics to acquire a fabrication or outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) plant in Malaysia, according to people in the know. The move is aimed at bolstering the Tata Group company's knowledge and talent base before entering the semiconductor assembly and packaging business in India. KC Ang, who was appointed president and head of Tata Semiconductor Manufacturing in April this year, is driving these acquisition efforts, the people said. 'Globetronics and DNeX's SilTerra facility are among the front runners to be acquired by Tata Electronics,' said one of the people. Tata Electronics is investing more than Rs 91,000 crore to set up a semiconductor fab unit at Dholera, Gujarat, and Rs 27,000 crore in an OSAT facility at Assam's Morigaon. "Running a fab is not going to be simple and Tata Electronics is aware of that," a second person said. "These potential acquisitions are being explored in Malaysia because it is one of the most economical options and talks have been going on with different players since April this year,' this person said. 'For the Tatas, it represents an opportunity to get the knowhow on how to run a fab or advanced packaging facility while also providing a training ground for Indian talent to learn how to run these high-tech facilities." Queries sent to Tata Electronics, X-Fab, DNeX and Globetronics remained unanswered as of press time Monday. Semicon hub Malaysia's expertise in assembly, testing, marking and packaging (ATMP) along with its mature ecosystem, abundant skilled workforce, robust supply chain and government support make it a preferred destination, according to analysts. "If Tata were to have a partnership or presence in Malaysia, it would enable Tata to develop expertise in ATMP, and it would complement the wafer fabrication and OSAT (operations) in India," Counterpoint Research senior analyst Parv Sharma said. 'It would also de-risk Tata from current semiconductor tariffs and provide a risk-free supply chain to serve a wider customer base globally," he added. Also, the Malaysian government's National Semiconductor Strategy, announced in May 2024, offers a significant incentive structure to attract investments. Indian companies are aiming to acquire manufacturing grade technology (MGT) from Malaysia for OSAT projects in particular, as it is the longstanding hub for both legacy and advanced packaging. "MGT can only come from an established player in the semiconductor industry who has IP defensibility for its technology and has the legal rights to license it to India," consultancy firm Fab Economics' CEO Danish Faruqui said. Malaysia holds 13% of the global market for chip packaging, assembly and testing services, as per a February 18 report by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority. Ripe for acquisition Typically, semiconductor businesses that are financially stressed and are looking to get a boost by licensing technology and/or expanding packaging capacity with new partners, are the most preferred targets by Indian players. "Globetronics, an OSAT player from Penang, Malaysia, has suffered multiple financial blows as recently as in 2024,' said Faruqui. Key public and private stakeholders had rolled back their positions in the company, necessitating boardroom changes and strategies for new partnerships and revenue streams, he added. As per Fab Economics, DNeX's SilTerra facility in Kulim is also being deemed a 'lucrative target' for Indian players for low-cost, high-fidelity technology licensing on the fabrication side. SilTerra is a semiconductor wafer foundry offering fabrication and design support services for integrated chips in various technologies. DNeX acquired a 60% stake in SilTerra in 2021 while the remaining 40% was acquired by Beijing-based Integrated Circuit Advanced Manufacturing and High-End Equipment Equity Investment Fund Centre (CGP Fund), which is a Chinese investment fund focused on the semiconductor industry. The total acquisition cost was 273 million Malaysian ringgit (about $64 million now). X-Fab is a German specialty foundry group that has six wafer fabs located in Malaysia, Germany, France and the US. Located in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak, the X-Fab facility in Malaysia manufactures wafers on modular CMOS technologies in geometries ranging from 350 nm to 180 nm. CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) is a type of technology used in computer processors, memory chips, and other electronic components.
Hindustan Times
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
What Air India is getting right, and where it is losing the plot
I recently wrote about the horrifying experience of 180-odd passengers bound for Bengaluru from Delhi on an Air India flight on the night of Delhi's unexpected dust storm that threw schedules into disarray. The flight in question remained attached to the aerobridge and on the tarmac for 10 hours, a nightmarish experience. Many readers expressed horror and some in the government declared, as they are apt to do, that Air India was better managed under their control — a refrain that reeks of bureaucratic insecurity and seems to have stuck since the Tatas took charge of the airline in January 2022. I also received at least five messages from readers on the airline's improved services on both domestic and international routes. Although in dribbles rather than a flood, many reports of the airline's improvements on both in-flight service standards, including food quality, and on-time performance are coming in, albeit mostly with respect to the newer-leased planes. Almost universally, the reports are positive on the airline's in-flight cabin crew and their handling of passengers and situations. Given the airline's losses have fallen (as per recent reports), I beg to differ with those who argue that the government was managing the airline better than the Tatas. The we-did-it-better brigade also conveniently forgets the fact that under government control, you and I were footing the bill for the airline's inefficiencies and inability to compete, not to forget all the excesses and frills employees, MLAs, MPs, and their kith and kin enjoyed. Now that it is the Tatas, it sounds better to me as a taxpayer. Nobody is denying that it has taken inordinately long to get here, but Air India does seem to be on the path to some sort of recovery. There is no denying, though, that almost no week goes by without some politician, celebrity, or business or media personality taking to social media to air grievances against perceived unfair treatment or poor-quality service. The barrage of complaints has been incessant since the beginning of the year. Many members of the Air India senior management privately believe that there is a sustained campaign to malign their efforts, but even they can't deny that things are far from perfect. I believe Air India is currently going through a phase of bipolarity wherein, on some days and certain aspects, things seem to have fallen in place, while on others, all hell breaks loose from time to time. The latter is particularly acute when other factors that need to be in harmony and do their bit go awry — such as a dust-storm or dense fog or torrential rains. In short, the airline's standard operating protocol seems to fall apart in crises, and the carrier resembles a headless chicken at such times. This, despite a new state-of-the-art emergency control centre and integrated operational control centre. To understand the problem, I spoke to some former and present management members, and here is what I gathered. The overwhelming consensus appears to be that the carrier is yet to fully get a grip on its operations — particularly, in crisis situations. The two mergers, the breakneck speed of expansion, and several changes at the management level are yet to settle into an equilibrium. While Air India did have SOPs in place before the sale, those have been upended now, to some extent. Those vested in the airline say that the top management seems more preoccupied with fighting the perceptions battle and is excessively focussed on visible and on-the-surface changes rather than on taking the bull by its horns. The massive, expensive rebranding exercise undertaken in 2023 was labelled by most as putting the cart before the horse. An even bigger problem identified is the failure to fix responsibility and establish a clear line of accountability: Who takes the final call and are they available to take it during crisis situations? During the Delhi dust storm fiasco, the head cabin crew member said that she had no clear instructions and they were unable to get hold of those who could take the final call. A more serious failure to fix responsibility within the airline was cited by sources recently when the airline fired a simulator trainer instructor and removed 10 pilots trained under him from flying duty after finding evidence of poor training practices and flouting of standard procedures. Many argued that the instructor was made a scapegoat while those senior to him, who were equally culpable, went scot-free. Observers say that fixing responsibility has never been a strength for the airline, and this aspect has not changed despite the new ownership: Old habits die hard. What has flummoxed many is the studied silence from the Tata stable on the never-ending bloopers since these reflect directly on the group. Why the Tata leadership has given the airline such a long rope and for how long this would continue is the question many ask, but no answers are forthcoming — at least yet. If the screws are indeed being tightened on the Air India management, it is happening behind closed doors and with plenty of discretion. The group's role in the whole exercise has come into sharp focus with respect to another aspect. Many aviation industry insiders question the filling up of several top-level positions with people from non-aviation backgrounds — Tata-trusted aides and professionals, most of whom don't know too much more than a regular flier about the business. Other airlines have demonstrated the benefits of putting the right people in the cockpit — and the cost of putting the wrong ones. The Tatas don't need to look too far: AirAsia India is a glaring case in point. Anjuli Bhargava writes about governance, infrastructure, and the social sector. The views expressed are personal
The Print
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Print
It doesn't end here. India must prepare for mightier neighbours
Nationalising HAL in the early years after Independence was a mistake. Walchand Hirachand had built a great company, which decayed after nationalisation. On the other hand, countries like Brazil, once nowhere on the horizon, started making better aircraft than India. While HAL has not been privatised, it is now a strong player—no longer a forlorn child abandoned on the outskirts of Bengaluru in Jalahalli. Kudos to former defence minister Manohar Parrikar, who made these two acquisitions possible after a decade of atrophied indifference. Kudos to Rajnath Singh, who was not churlish and did not abandon his predecessor's good steps. Instead, he built upon them and carried on bravely, soberly, and sensibly with multiple modernisation programmes. Kudos to the Modi government, too, which had the courage to reverse decades of stupidity in defence procurement. It has sought to revitalise the DRDO and breathed new energy into HAL. Iran may have dismissed the S-400 in favour of domestically developed weapons, but the Russian missile system certainly worked for India in the recent escalation with Pakistan. And thank god for the Rafales. The country might have been weak without them, as it was some years ago. Meanwhile, ISRO has been acquiring one strength after another. The government also bit the bullet on ordnance factories. They are no longer 'departmental' outfits bogged down in bureaucratic miasma. They are companies subject to external operating guidelines and financial judgements. And this was done despite stubborn, Luddite trade union obstruction. However, it pales in comparison to the open and welcoming involvement of the private sector in defence manufacturing. Today, we are finally seeing the emergence of world–class defence manufacturing units in India, whether it is from the Tatas, Mahindra, L&T, the Adanis, or Bharat Forge. The country is also giving rise to startups producing muscular drones, thermal imaging, and even low–publicity items such as body armour. These developments give us insight into what we have to do next. Learn from Roosevelt About 50 years ago, Indian automobile companies required foreign collaboration. We simply could not design our cars. Today, the Tatas, the Mahindras, and Maruti (more an Indian company than a Japanese MNC) conceptualise, design, and produce world–class cars. And therein lies an opportunity. During World War 2, US President Franklin Roosevelt appointed former head of General Motors, William Knudsen, to figure out how to make military equipment for the country. He did not advocate the creation of public sector behemoths. Instead, he sought a series of public-private partnerships. It turned out that private auto manufacturers did make better tanks than those specified by the inertia-laden Pentagon bureaucracy. The US out-innovated and out-produced not only Germany and Japan, but the whole world. It won the war and ensured enduring dominance. India should learn from this anecdote, especially because it is already on a similar path. It can become the world–class provider of missiles, air defence systems, robot soldiers (future wars may not involve human soldiers), and multi-purpose drones. Software will be the critical factor in the battlefields of the future, and India can gain a competitive advantage. Thanks to ISRO, it can become the cheapest provider of satellite coverage and related technologies. We have been told that we can never make aircraft engines. What about a 1,000-crore or even a 10,000-crore public-private initiative to crack this problem? Of course, it is not that simple. We have to fix our administrative logjams. A complex RFI/AFP/tender process with delays in its DNA will never work. But Parrikar and Singh have shown that India need not forever be a prisoner to its bureaucratic apparatus. It can tap into its human capital wisely. Engineering colleges across the country may be invited to apply to become defence technology partners in research and in placements for their graduates. There will be problems. Two out of 50 selected colleges will get themselves into the list by bribing someone. The media will make a lot of noise—this will have to be ignored. Because there are 48 good partners. President Roosevelt never took the position that there was no corruption in the procurement process during World War 2. The important thing is what was achieved. India can, and it must, support startups. And many of these might fail. But instead of a national witch hunt over these failures, we need TV coverage for our successes. Another myth is that even if India has software skills, it lacks manufacturing skills, which are important for producing robots and drones. This is simply not true. We have the skill; we have merely not scaled like China due to a hostile business environment. In Coimbatore alone, there are dozens, probably hundreds, of foundries that closed down due to electricity issues in the pre-Kudankulam days. The skills exist. The entrepreneurs exist. The administration just has to see them as partners and not adversaries, which is what the tax bureaucrats are doing today. If even 10 Indian manufacturing entrepreneurs scale, the country would be in good shape. Also read: Pakistan can't test India's strategic patience anymore. The doctrine has flipped Establish escalation dominance India must focus on creating an ecosystem that dominates the technologies of future wars. By doing this, it can achieve strong 'escalation dominance', a much-abused phrase of recent origin. And the country can achieve this through meaningful public-private partnerships, and by taking risks (for instance, not getting hysterical if a startup fails). India must continue to export—this will ensure that its equipment is as good or better than what the world makes. In the 1980s, we imported world–class artillery from a small country like Sweden. Within the next five years, we should be in a position to sell next–generation military equipment to Sweden. At that stage, the declining economy of Pakistan will face immense trouble. India grows at a rate of 6-7 per cent. Pakistan grows at 0 per cent. India's fiscal deficit is manageable and declining. Pakistan's fiscal deficit is astronomical and growing. Indian reserves are in the hundreds of billions. Pakistani reserves are technically negative. India's national debt is reducing. Pakistan is drowning in debt. In India, inflation is quite low. In Pakistan, it is out of control. Islamabad has neither the money nor the human capital to invest in technology. In future encounters, India must establish escalation dominance more than in recent times. It does not end here. One day, we will perhaps be confident enough to resist mightier neighbouring powers. Jaithirth 'Jerry' Rao is a retired entrepreneur who lives in Lonavala. He has published three books: 'Notes from an Indian Conservative', 'The Indian Conservative', and 'Economist Gandhi'. Views are personal. (Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)
Hindustan Times
09-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Gates Foundation to be remain ‘engaged deeply' in India: CEO Mark Suzman to HT
Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Thursday pledged to donate almost all his wealth over the next two decades, including around $200 billion, through his foundation, the Bill Gates Foundation, which he plans to close by December 31, 2045. That commitment to the foundation is around twice what he ploughed into it in its first 25 years of existence. The foundation has been very active in India and in the context of the announcement, Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman spoke to HT's editor-in-chief R Sukumar. Edited excerpts: Apart from the fact that this is 25 years of the Gates Foundation, you were also an early entrant into India. India was probably the first overseas operation for the Gates Foundation, 2003. And back then, the Indian philanthropy sector was pretty much in its infancy. Sure, there were always people who were giving, but I don't think it was formalised. I don't think people were looking at the outcomes. Can you tell us a bit about how you see the space having changed in this period, and also the role that the Gates Foundation has played as a catalyst in facilitating this change? Yes. India was the first country where we established an office outside the United States in the early 2000s, initially working on HIV/AIDS, and then broadening into the full range of work we do across health and agricultural development, financial inclusion, sanitation, a wide range of priorities, all very aligned with the government's priorities. And also, India was one of the earliest places where Bill and Melinda started focusing very much on, how can we help support and build a stronger domestic philanthropic sector? And you're right, there were long traditions of philanthropy that the Tatas, in particular, have long established history of philanthropic leadership in India. But I think what the Gates Foundation and Bill and Melinda, personally, were able to help provide was catalysing more of a dialogue among many of the wealthy in India about their wider philanthropic opportunities and ways in which they could work together. And that's certainly been one of the signature things that we've observed in India over the last 20 years now, is a significant expansion in the philanthropic sector, and an energy and attention and great leadership, a number of people joining the Giving Pledge, including Nandan Nilekani, Azim Premji, others who have become truly global leaders and global examples of how to do effective and smart philanthropy. And that's something we're continuing to build on. We're working on a couple of exciting new partnerships, which we hope to be able to announce in the near future that are philanthropic partnerships. And we've developed strong partnerships with other groups, like the Piramal Foundation. We work extensively in Bihar, specifically, but also a range of other districts where we've been working with – directed by NITI Aayog, many of the poorer and most destitute districts in the tribal areas and elsewhere. And so, India has been a great example and a model of how philanthropy can work closely with government and generate and support the private sector and deliver outcomes. And in fact, India overall has been an amazing model over the past 25 years of how it can successfully look at the needs of its citizens in areas like health and agricultural development. It's an amazing story. What are the really big successes that you think you've managed to achieve in this period, two or three things that really stand out? Well, first, I just want to emphasize that we don't do anything on our own as the Gates Foundation. All our successes – are very much done in partnership with the government, with other philanthropists, with private sector partners. But in a number of areas, India's successes that we've helped contribute to include your massive scale up and improvement in Indian vaccination and the reduction in child mortality across India. We helped work and develop new vaccines, like the rotavirus vaccine that was developed with Indian expertise and Indian knowledge. And that's a vaccine which is also now being used globally by the GAVI vaccine alliance that helps bring down childhood deaths from diarrhoea. We helped expand access to a range of other vaccines as well. We worked with Prime Minister Modi when he made a signature commitment around the Swachh Bharat program. I think the sanitation work that we've done together – we awarded the Prime Minister a Goalkeepers Award several years ago at the United Nations – has been an area where India has really shown massive global leadership, and we've been proud to contribute to. More recently, there's been some really good work being done in agricultural development. There's the work we've been doing with the government of Odisha, now the government of Bihar about developing, pioneering new AI-enabled apps that are helping small holder farmer development, helping them get access to prices, to understand what services they can get from the government, to figure out, get real-time analysis, satellite data on weather forecasts, their soil, what they can be used for fertilizer. Those are pioneering activities that India is now leading the world on. And the other area, big area has been the whole expansion of digital public infrastructure and inclusive financial services, where India, with the universal ID system, that's now become a global model. Again, we've helped provide some technical support, but the real leadership's come from India, first from Nandan Nilekani and then with the government. Those are a number of the areas that I think we're very proud of having helped contribute to, and we can see the results in the massive improvements that India has had, in more than halving preventable child mortality over that period, and significant reductions of maternal mortality and huge reductions in extreme poverty. At the time we started the Foundation, India and South Asia actually had the largest number of extreme poor in the world, and that is no longer the case. And so, it's been a remarkable quarter century in Indian development, and it's part of what's made us excited about what's possible, and it's helped inspire both our work elsewhere in the world, elsewhere in Asia and in Africa. And as we think about the next 20 years with the announcement we're making, the model of India is very much one we have in mind that we hope some of those successes can be replicated elsewhere. When you speak about these successes, and I guess what you were referring to is the fact that if something works well here, you could take the model elsewhere in the world, and see whether it works there, what are some of the things that have worked in India which you've managed to take out and use in other parts of the world? Initially, we were very focused on what we could do within India, and now that shift in the last five to 10 years has really been shifting into where are some of those lessons? Some of them have happened just…well, I would say naturally, because we've helped engage, but that India has already provided global public goods, and that is in the area of vaccine manufacturing. We did a lot of the original partnerships, both through ourselves, through the GAVI Vaccine Alliance, which we helped form, and our major funders of, with the original contracts with companies like Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech and others in the sector, who are now the largest global vaccine manufacturers and the largest supplier of vaccines all across the world. India has shown it can be a global leader in a space, and we fully expect that to continue. A lot of what we were looking at in our recent trip was in areas like diagnostics now. Low-cost diagnostics for diseases like tuberculosis, or new tools that are actually able to monitor pregnant mothers. We have a fetal monitoring system that's quite robust, but technically accurate and informed by AI that's being piloted in India. And the key thing with the Indian innovations, and one of the reasons why they are so rapid, is they're actually – the phrase we like to use is frugal innovation. India is a place where we've been able to drive down the cost and make these cost effective, because there are lots of interventions we know are successful on their own, but are just far too expensive to be scaled up across low and middle income countries. But the Indian models are really about how you do this in a high quality, but very cost effective way, that that's where they led the way in vaccines. And then, above all, the most important area where India is truly a global leader, is around the digital public infrastructure agenda. We've already worked and we helped cofound the institute called MOSIP, which I also visited when I was in Bangalore. MOSIP now helps provide, I think it's over 20 countries with their own digital identity systems building on the Aadhaar system, or the model of the Aadhaar system. And now there's other partnerships, like the Co-Develop partnership that we're also partnering with Nandan Nilekani on, that are helping with a wide range of additional tools. And this was a priority of the Indian G20 where we help provide some support to the government on shaping that agenda, and that's been taken up through subsequent G20s, both the Brazilian G20 last year and the South African G20 this year. And there'll actually be a major event on digital public infrastructure in Cape Town later this year, which is very much building on that Indian model. And that's the area we're very excited about, going forward. In the context of the announcement on doubling the investment that you've made so far and the Foundation, as you go forward, are there any new focus areas that are going to come in India, because you spoke about agriculture, and I know you've been doing some work there? One area which I think would be of special interest to India is climate adaptability, given the fact that we are already seeing some of the impacts of the climate crisis play out in various parts of the country. Could you just tell us a little bit of what the Foundation is doing in that area? Effectively, in our first 25 years, we've spent $100 billion and the commitment now is over what will be our final 20 years as a foundation, we will spend on the order of an additional $200 billion. And the intent is, we do not intend to focus on new areas. It's very much going to be focused on the existing areas that we've been prioritizing, helping drive preventable child mortality as close to zero as possible, helping really eradicate or control the world's deadliest infectious diseases, like polio. Actually, I forgot to cite that. India's great success on polio eradication, which came in 2011, which we helped support, it's the biggest milestone in polio eradication. We always thought India would likely be the last country to eradicate polio. And in fact, it's now still endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where it's well over a decade since India successful eradicated polio. We hope we can eradicate malaria. Add malaria to that list and bring HIV and tuberculosis fully under control. And both of those are core priorities for Prime Minister Modi as well and the Indian government. And then the third category is helping ensure that those are able to thrive, and that is continuing to focus in the key areas of digital public infrastructure and agricultural development, with a strong focus on gender equality and women's economic empowerment. And that definitely does include climate adaptation. Our big focus on climate adaptation is really how you do more effective agricultural use? We do that in a couple of ways. One is in research and development, and we are working with ICAR, the Indian Center for Agricultural Research, which we also visited when we were in India recently, in a number of areas, including more resilient crops and livestock that can help withstand floods and droughts and more frequent weather events. And we've had some success in India over the last decade or two, in particular, a breed of rice that can stay fertile when it's submerged after flood waters for twice as long as regular rice. And so, we'll keep doing those investments and scaling them. The app I mentioned, the AI app that helps smallholder farmers, actually also works with climate adaptation by allowing much more targeted use of fertilizer and irrigation, because it's able to use these advanced technologies to both do digital soil health mapping. Climate adaptation will remain a high priority for us going forward, but very much with a focus on the agricultural development space, because that's such a critical engine for both poverty reduction, but also, more broadly, economic growth. The one point I wanted to make on that was just our, now, date of ending the Foundation, which is the end of 2045, is pretty close to the 2047 Viksit Bharat, a date that the Prime Minister and the government has set for India becoming a middle income nation. And so, certainly, our intention is to stay engaged deeply in India for our entire lifetime as a foundation. We're very proud of the work we've done. We look forward to doing a lot more work together, going forward. And we hope that the work we're doing together with the philanthropic sector, with the government, with our private sector partners, will make a critical contribution to the Viksit Bharat goal, going forward.
