First place went to E-Parisara, a waste recycling company. Third went to Netcarnation, a company that is into social media. Others in the competition were Metaome (a bioinformatics company), Ecologin (Eco tourism) and Vpaycash (online cashback shopping).

Genesis is a competition held within Eximius, the Entrepreneurship Summit at IIM Bangalore. In Eximius’ words, “Genesis provides a platform for startups to pitch their business ideas to venture capitalists, in a one-on-one session. Genesis is an excellent opportunity to get real time feedback from multiple VCs. The risks are capped, and the rewards in terms of learning are immense. In these sessions, participants simulate real-life situations, test their ability to think on their feet, convince the panel and make their business plan a true success”.

This event will provide Enlen an opportunity to further improve its objectives and would additionally provide a great opportunity to connect with really interesting people. Ashwin and Anil will also be participating in most of the events at Eximius.

First some facts:

1. Since 2004 (when they started the energy efficiency program) till 2009, the energy efficiency achieved was 48%.
2. The company now uses Karnataka state electricity only as a backup and otherwise is self-reliant for its energy needs.
3. Production in their company has increased 40% since 2004 and yet, the energy requirement dropped.
4. Till 2004, the company used to obtain water with the help of 7-8 tankers per day. Now, the company is self-sufficient in water.
5. Since the company started such activities, borewells in sorrounding villages are now yielding better.
6. Many employees of the company now have implemented similar measures at their own homes.

The details of these facts and methods used to achieve these are even more interesting. For example, the company invested 18 lakhs in rain water harvesting. That included 2 lakes, soak pits near borewells, inverted barrel techniques etc so that every drop of  rain that falls in the 29 acre campus is soaked up in the campus soil itself. The savings: 12 lakhs per annum. Another interesting thing for example is the payback period of the amount invested in replacing old lighting systems with new GE T5 lighting and its optics. The payback it seems was just 1.5 years! And they are now saving about 20 lakhs per annum on lighting costs alone. Heat recovery systems, LAN connected electronic energy meters, variable frequency drive feed water systems and many more improvizations have resulted in a savings of Rs.5.5 crores per annum to the company.

Apart from direct savings to the company, the brand image of the company as a eco sensitive company would be impossible to measure. Hundreds of industrialists, institutions, entrepreneurs and even common people around the factory have been inspired by the work done here. One small task by a company benefited everyone including themselves.

Also, do read about Ayyappa Masagi, a grassroot worker in rainwater harvesting who was responsible for the rainwater harvesting methods employed at Kennametal: http://www.waterliteracy.org/about%20us.htm

1. Increasing demand - Government statistics attribute this to growth in economy, population etc. However, there are other factors too which are contributing which cannot be quantified. Most important is changes in lifestyle of people. For example, a city like Bangalore doesn’t really require air conditioners but the changing lifestyle of the people certainly demands air conditioners.
2. Supply not being able to catch up with demand -The per capita electricity generation which was 639KWh in 2005 is one of the lowest in the world, comparable to countries like Vietnam and Mozambique. Although it is set to grow to 1900KWh by 2030, it will still be very low by international standards. This just means that supply will not be on par with demand even  after 20 years!!

Such supply demand imbalance obviously attracts the attention of capitalists. However, India has a separate set of challenges for those planning in the power sector.

1. Power prices are fixed by the government and hence red tape becomes an issue.
2. Power prices are frequently used for political purposes and again works against power generating companies.

However, the situation has improved since 1991’s market reforms and has further improved since 2003’s electricity act which made it easier for private bodies to sell electricity.

Total electricity generation is set to increase 400% by 2030 and this would attract investments of $1.25 trillion. This definitely is an opportunity much larger than India has ever seen. I think the next generation of entrepreneurs would be mostly in the power sector just like it was IT till now.