JULY 30,2002 CHEMICAL WEEKLY 129 INTERVIEW WITH DR. S. SIVARAM, DIRECTOR, NCL NCL looking to 'relationship model' to enhance association with Indian chemical industry Dr. Swaminathan Sivaram, a gradu- Dr. Sivaram has authored over 175 ods: the first being 1900-95, and the ate of IIT, Kanpur and the most authori- papers in peer reviewed journals. He second being 1995-2000/01. In 1990 tative polymer scientist in the country, has 75 patent applications to his credit, we were confronted with a challenge, did his Ph.D. from Purdue University, and has been cited as inventor in 35 US which happened to be coincidental with in 1971. Following a brief stint at The patents. In addition to doing research, the economic crisis that the country was Institute Polymer Science, Akron, Dr. Sivaram is also an excellent re- going through in terms of balance of Ohio, USA, he joined Indian Petro- search organizer having developed a payments, foreign exchange and eco- chemical Corporation (IPCL) in 1973 highly motivated and productive team nomic factors. where he held senior level positions till of polymer scientists at NCL, collabo- he shifted to NCL in 1989 as Head of rating with industry, both in India and These had its own impact on labo- the Division of Polymer Chemistry. abroad, as well as government bodies. ratories like ours. In the year 1991-92 a laboratory, which was being financed His research interests are predomi- Dr. Sivaram serves on the editorial and funded exclusively by the govern- nantly in Polymer Synthesis which in- board of several international journals ment, in the 80s, found itself in a posi- clude anionic, GTP, Ziegler Natta, free in polymer science. These include, tion where the resources were suddenly radical and step growth polymerization; Polymer International (Society of Che- lacking. high performance polymers and surface mical Industry, UK), International Jour- chemistry of polymers. He has success- nal of Polymeric Materials (Gordon & I actually recall, in 1991-92, when fully blended his research interests with Breach, USA) and Designed Mono- Dr. Mashelkar was the Director of the commercial realities and has contrib- mers and Polymers (VSP Publishers, laboratory, we had to even request uted significantly to the Indian and glo- The Netherlands). He serves as a Di- MSEB to collect the payment for their bal industry. He has over 200 publica- rector on the Board of Asian Paints In- bill on a deferred basis. This was the tions in international journals and 70 dia Ltd. and Apcotex Lattices P. Ltd. extent of the crisis that we faced, be- patents and has guided 23 PhD and sev- cause we did not have money to pay Dr. Sivaram took over as Director, eral M.Sc. students. our utilities bill. We requested the NCL, Pune early this month, following MSEB to reschedule the payment. the retirement of Dr. Paul Ratnasamy. Dr. Sivaram has received several In a brief interview with Chemical awards and honours including the It dawned on many of us, including Weekly he muses about the past per- Vasvik Award, FICCI Award in Physi- the then director Dr. Mashelkar, that if formance and future directions of NCL. cal Sciences and the Om Prakash this lab has to survive we have to learn Excerpts from the interview: Bhasin Awards for Science and Tech- to bring in our own resources. At that nology, the Millennium Medal of the Dr. Sivaram, How would you sum up time money was indeed a crucial fac- Indian Science Congress Association the 90's from NCL's standpoint? tor. We felt and expressed the need to and the Silver Medal of the Chemical go back and get income to the labora- Research Society of India. I look at this 10 years in two peri- tory from non-governmental sources. He is a fellow of all the learned sci- "It dawned on many of us, entific societies in India, such as, the including the then director, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore; the Indian National Science ' Dr. Mashelkar, that if this lab Academy, New Delhi; the National has to survive we have to learn Academy of Sciences, Allahabad and to bring in our own resources" the Indian National Academy of Engi- neering, New Delhi. He is also a fel- low of the Third World Academy of -- S. Sivaram Sciences, Trieste, Italy and the Asia- Director Pacific Academy of Materials. National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 130 CHEMICAL WEEKLY JULY 30, 2002 Interview This model of leveraging external enabled us, within a short span of two "Even at its peak the R&D resource to grow the internal years, to scrap every obsolete facility, resources generated R&D of a corporate entity became im- especially in polymers, catalysts and to portant in the 1990s. The fall of the some extent in the area of organic proc- from contract research Berlin wall was to some extent ex- ess development, in terms of pilot plants with international tremely symbolic because the West and analytical equipments. companies was no started reaching into East Europe and Russia, and I think that they also started We have been repaying the princi- more than 18% of our looking at India at that time. ple and interest since 1995 from our own total budget" industry earnings. I feel that we have Thus the five years, 1989-95, paved been able to fulfil all the commitments Industry being the key source we had the way to the prosperity that Paul made to the lending agency. to reach out to it. [Ratnasamy] has talked about in his de- scription of the period 1995-01. These We asked ourselves two key ques- tions: Do we have any global opportu- That was not easy as the Indian in- initiatives were taken because we were nities to perform research? And if we dustry was also going through a period pushed into a corner and needed to sur- do, then can we have the facilities up of readjustment to a more liberalized vive. I believe that when pushed to the and running in the shortest possible economy. In fact, I remember Dr. corner human beings survive and, gen- time? The amount of Rs. 5 to 6 crore Mashelkar in 1992 telling me and my erally, survive well. needed could not have been obtained colleague, Mr.R.R.Hirwani, to write a from the government at that time and position paper on how NCL would cope Did your efforts pay off? this where the loan from ICICI helped. in an economy that is opening up. Yes, indeed. In fact when I came into this laboratory in 1989, most of How were these initiatives translated What about your strategy? the facilities had become obsolete. into business in the second phase be- tween 1995-01? During this period bringing in re- We had to take a loan from ICICI/ sources into the lab was a key focus as World Bank for something close to Rs. This was the pay back period. We it was vital for our survival, at least on 6 crore because there was no money had a steady flow of income from com- a short-term basis. Many of us went available from the government to pay panies outside India and within India. aggressively out in order to bring in this for refurbishment of research facilities. Our extra-budgetary earnings steadily money into the lab. increased over the years. This additional We realised that if we don't do that income enabled us to add new R&D At that time, many of us, and espe- we have no way of getting into indus- facilities. cially Dr. Mashelkar, articulated at sev- trial and contract research. These as- eral public platforms that Indian labo- signments come your way only when The Division of Polymer Chemistry ratories can perform world class re- you have the right facilities at your dis- was a special beneficiary because we search and, therefore, organisations posal. Customers pay for the services, successfully negotiated in 1994 a ma- from outside India can come to do re- not for capital investments. jor research contract with GE, USA. search in labs like NCL. He made his This relationship grew over the next first such speech in 1992 in Patiala, Taking a loan from ICICI was a seven years and ultimately led to a de- major step. The credit for this signifi- where he predicted that India will cision by GE to set up their own Corpo- cant decision goes to Dr. Mashelkar. emerge as a platform for global R&D. rate R&D centre in India at Bangalore. At that time it was unheard for research This was the opening up of yet an- laboratories to take a soft loan from in- We also have several research con- other window of opportunity. At least ternational lending agencies. tracts with companies from the US and that is how I look at it. The time was opportune because at the same time It was a kind of deal — you give us across the globe many companies were a loan using which we create new fa- "We could translate downsizing their own internal opera- cilities, which will, in turn, enhance our the learning from tions. They felt that it was a better op- ability to do more research for Indus-tries. This will generate an income tion to outsource their research opera- global companies to tions to labs and universities that have which will help pay back the loans. Indian companies" the requisite skills. This decision was taken in 1992 and JULY 30, 2002 CHEMICAL WEEKLY 131 Interview Europe. However, I wish to emphasize felt that if we could do it for interna- If you ask an average scientist to put that this was not done at the cost of other tional companies, we could do it for in a commitment regarding the success activities at the lab.