Investing Almanac

Software industry has instilled healthy disgust for checklist as we were using checklist for various activities in the project development life cycle. I am not sure if anyone had (has) done the study to measure the improvement from uses of checklist in software development process. Irrespective, people on the ground used to, I think they continue to, treat using checklist as grunt work. Invariably checklist used to have over 25 points and people just used to check it without much thought. But people had to use as most of the software company were on journey to become CMM-5 certified and had to ensure they have processes defined and tracked as per guidelines. With this background, when I first saw the book ‘Checklist Manifesto’ by Atul Gawande I thought it is another book with all the nice sounding tools and techniques to make your life easy, theoretically, but quite unpractical. But when I read few positive reviews about the book, I decided to read it. I just finished it reading and am...

Swaraj Engines Ltd. (SEL) is a joint venture between erstwhile Punjab Tractors Ltd. (PTL), which has since been merged with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) and Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd., now known as Kirloskar Industries Ltd. Originally set up to manufacture engines for PTL, SEL has also been a supplier of hi-tech engine components to Swaraj Mazda Ltd. (SML). Since start of commercial operations in 1989-90, SEL has supplied around 3,57,000 engines for fitment into “Swaraj” tractors. SEL’s engine business currently constitutes some 93% of Company’s product revenue. Balance 7% represents value of hitech engine components being supplied to SML for assembly of commercial vehicle engines. Industry Analysis Despite a low penetration level of tractors, Indian tractor market is one of the largest markets in the world in terms of sales volume. The domestic tractor industry is fragmented, with about 13 national players and some regional players. The domestic tractor market is traditional...