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NATIONAL RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION ANNUAL REPORT 2006-2007 MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS: Your Directors feel immense pleasure in reporting that the Corporation continued to maintain an all round progress in its activities. A motivated strategic drive coupled with the dedication of officers and staff of the Corporation has resulted in an enhanced Surplus before Tax of Rs. 33.76 lakhs as compared to Rs. 26.05 lakhs in the previous year, an increase of 30%. Efforts are being made to clean up the non-performing assets of the Corporation by writing off the outstanding loans and equity provided to the licensee companies for development and commercialisation of technologies. Accordingly, during the year 2006-07, the Corporation had written off such loans and equity amounting to Rs. 54.23 lakhs. The highlights of the performance of the Corporation at a glance are: Rs. in lakhs 2006-07 2005-06 % Increase Premia 99.88 136.35 (-) 26.75 Royalty 312.49 244.05 28.05 Surplus before Tax 33.76 26.05 29.60 INCOME FROM LICENSING OF TECHNOLOGIES: Lumpsum Premia & Royalty: During the year, the Corporation has earned lump sum premia of Rs. 99.88 lakhs from licensing of indigenous technologies. Realisation of royalty from licensees has always been a critical issue; special efforts were made to rope in more and more parties in the list of royalty paying licensees in order to increase the royalty earnings of the Corporation. It has resulted in an all time record Royalty earning of Rs. 312.49 lakhs. WORKING RESULTS: The Gross Income of the Corporation from all sources, including premia and royalties, but excluding Grants-in-Aid, was Rs. 534.91 lakhs as compared to Rs. 501.59 lakhs in the previous year. The Department of Public Enterprises has given an Excellent rating to your Corporation for its MOU performance during last year (2005-2006), an improvement over its rating of Good in the previous year. PROCESSES ASSIGNED AND LICENCE AGREEMENTS CONCLUDED: The Corporation continued its efforts to identify new technology resources by nurturing long-term relationships with R&D laboratories, industries, universities, IITs, and individual inventors. The Corporation entered into Memorandum of Understanding with the following new organisations for assignment of technologies developed by them: * Indian Association for Cultivation of Sciences, Kolkata * Vasant Dada Sugar Institute, Pune * Synthetic Silica Products, Kanpur As a result, 39 new processes were assigned to the Corporation for commercialisation as compared to 30 processes during the previous year. Some of the commercially important processes assigned to the Corporation during the year are: * Removal of arsenic and iron from ground water Formulation for fruit and vegetable (apple, plum, orange, sweet lime, grape, lemon, tomato, brinjal, capsicum) coatings and application protocols. * UV absorbent for skin care formulations * A novel organic seed protectant of plant origin * New anti-cancer formulation based on methyl glyoxal * Multipurpose design cutting machine * Process for preparation of probiotic dahi * Synthetic milk detection kit * Cholesterol biosensor * XYLANASE-enzyme for paper and pulp industry * Process for production of red palmolein and zero shortening * Process for physical refining of rice bran oil Due to the aggressive marketing of technologies, the Corporation signed 44 licence agreements during the year as compared to 39 in the previous year. Some of the major technologies licensed by the Corporation during the year are: * Seri gold-a powerful general disinfectant for sericulture used for the disinfection of rearing houses and rearing equipments * Mulberry leaf health drink * Pithplus * Magnesium silver chloride seawater activated battery * Bio-larvicide * Porus conducting carbon paper * Night time highway systems for automobiles (Auto Dipper) * In the coming years substantial royalties are expected from these processes. The complete list of new processes assigned to the Corporation is given in Annexure 1A, while the details of the new licence agreements signed during 2006-07 are given in Annexure 1B. ROYALTY AGREEMENTS SIGNED BY THE CORPORATION FOR PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC & INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH (DSIR): DSIR has been supporting technology development projects under its Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (earlier known as Programme Aimed at Technological Self Reliance) involving industry, research institutes and consultants. The Corporation has been entrusted to manage all matters connected with the intellectual property rights generated in these projects, as also to collect the royalty revenues accruing from the utilisation of the technology by the collaborating Company and also from third party licensing. The following major projects were undertaken during the year: * Development of piezoelectrically actuated micro mechanical switches of RF application * Design and development of 6 DoF electrical motion platform * Identification, development & utilization of natural dyes from forest plants, weeds and agricultural waste * Demonstration of CRRI technologies for construction of 750 m demonstration stretch road using marble slurry dust in Rajasthan * Nano labelled DNA/RNA compounds * Microbial production of arachidonic acid INVENTION PROMOTION PROGRAMME: To promote and encourage the spirit of inventiveness amongst scientists, workers, students and inventors, the Corporation continued its programme of giving awards upto Rs. 2 lakhs for the development of novel processes, products, and inventions. During the year, the Corporation announced cash awards amounting to Rs. 5 lakhs for the following inventions: * Development & Commercialisation of Novel Process Technology for Removal of H2S and Mercaptans from LPG through Continuous Film Contactor (CFC) * Full Garlic Peeling Machine * Vivek Thresher for Mandua (Finger Millet)/Madira (Barnyard Millet) * Membrance Oxygenator, a Medical Device for Cardiac Surgery * Guard for Protecting Padlock and the Strip The Corporation also announced one WIPO Gold Medal for the best invention of the year Development & Commercialisation of Novel Process Technology for Removal of H2S and Mercaptans from LPG Through Continuous film Contactor (CFC) to Dr. R.P. Verma and Associates. The Awards were presented on 6th October, 2006 during SERVINXPO 2006- International Congress and Exposition on Trade in Services held in New Delhi. The awarded inventions were also displayed during the exhibition. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Consultancy Services: During the year 2006-07, the Corporation in its pursuit to protect inventions and technologies has filed 86 patent applications in India in various sectors of technologies for individual inventors, universities, R&D institutes and industries. During the year six Indian patents and three foreign patents have been granted. The Corporation has been catering to requests received from various R&D institutes and industries for conducting state-of-the art searches, the result of which is being utilized in many cases for submitting research projects or even initiating research projects at university level so that the project subject coverage should be novel and not a mere repetition of R&D work already done. This is in addition to the usage of these search results for filing patent application in India and abroad. During this financial year, 35 state-of-the art searches have been conducted on diverse fields, utilizing the databases like Dialog and STN. Collaborative efforts of the Corporation with Patent Offices, Universities, R&D Institutes, State Science & Technology Councils, etc. have gained momentum and resulted in enhanced demand for organizing IPR Awareness and Training Programmes. During the year, the Corporation has collaborated with various organizations and organized the following seminars and training programmes in different parts of the country: * Six regional seminars on Patenting in Biotechnology in collaboration with Department of Biotechnology and Patent Offices at New Delhi, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. * Two seminars on Emerging Scenario of Intellectual Rights Protection in collaboration with EU India TIDP, GTZ-IS under EU-India Trade and Investment Development Programme at Patna and Shillong * Four seminars on Intellectual Property & Innovation Management in Knowledge Era with Uttrakhand Council of Science & Technology, Dehradun, C V Raman College of Engineering, Bhubaneswar, S J College of Engineering, Mysore and CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur * Three training programmes on How to Draft a Specification and Prosecute Indian Patent Application at Varanasi, New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram * A training programme on How to Draft a Specification and Prosecute Indian Patent Application was organized at Hyderbad specifically for the Directorate of ER & IPR, DRDO, Ministry of Defence, Government of India * An international seminar on European Patent Laws and Exploitation Strategies in collaboration with a leading IP Consultancy Firm of Germany M/s. Serviva GmbH, Berlin to expose the Indian researchers to the international practices for protecting their inventions and innovations globally. The services of the Corporation for creating IPR awareness have been very well recognized as evident from the fact that Geographical Indications Registry (GI), Chennai sought the services of the Corporation for creating awareness about Geographical Indications Protection and Registration and collaborated to organize six GI Sensitization Workshops on How to Protect and Promote Traditional Products-Handicrafts, Natural, Agricultural & Industrial Goods at Dehradun, Bhubaneswar, Palampur, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Mysore. All these seminars, workshops and training programmes were widely appreciated and rated excellent. The Corporation has reached out to various R&D institutions and universities for educating intellectuals about the importance of protection of IP assets in the knowledge era by delivering lectures on focal areas of importance such as Patenting System in India, The Rationale of Protection of Geographical Indications of Goods, State-of-the art Searches, Trade Marks Registration Procedure, IP Valuation and Management, Agricultural Biotechnology and many more. New initiatives taken during the year: All out efforts are being made to expand the area of operations of the Corporation. Further, services of a few Experts and Consultants are being utilised to avail higher degree of technical expertise for evaluation and value addition of various technologies. Some of the initiatives undertaken by the Corporation during the year are: Basic Engineering Design Package (BEDP): During the financial year 2006-07, the Corporation has initiated developing Basic Engineering Design Packages (BEDP) for up-scaling the lab scale technologies; it will add immense value to technologies. Initially, the Corporation has been availing the services of consultants for developing BEDP; simultaneously, the Corporation has been developing skill and knowledge amongst its own officers on the software used for development of BEDP. Angel Funding by way of Equity: In order to promote fruitful utilization of the results of research work carried out in the country and to enlarge the technological entrepreneurial base in the country, the Corporation with the support from the Administrative Ministry initiated a new activity, viz. Angel Funding for financing by way of equity, the small and medium size companies. The financial presence of the Corporation in the venture not only lends credibility to the project but also instills confidence in the promoters, industry and other financial institutions in the prospects of the technology. During the year 2006-07, the Corporation subscribed Rs. 30 lakhs in the share capital of a software product based company. The Corporation proposes to expand this activity in the coming years. TECHNOLOGY PROMOTION PROGRAMME: Development & Promotion of Rural & Household Technology: The Corporation continued to pursue its programme of Development and Promotion of Rural & Household Technology to use modern science and technology for the following: (a) To improve the living conditions of people in rural areas (b) To generate employment opportunities in rural areas (c) To upgrade the traditional skills, and (d) To improve rural sanitation and health care The methodology adopted by the Corporation is to demonstrate the utility of its rural technologies and ensure their faster dissemination by setting up Rural Technology Demonstration cum Training (RTDT) Centres in collaboration with voluntary agencies in various regions of the country. Pursuant to following this approach, the Corporation has strengthened 7 Centres at Faridabad (Haryana), Tirupathi (AP), Ghazipur (UP), Chickballapur (Karnataka), Mandhar (J&K), Jagdishpur (Jharkhand) and Kundrakudi (Tamil Nadu) with new emerging technologies as per the need of the specific area. Training Programmes on live stock development, blue green algae, soya and bio-fuel processing, coir retting and electronics design up-gradation were conducted in collaboration with local NGOs. Further, the Corporation has participated in various exhibitions, rural fairs and Pashu Kisan Melas. INFORMATICS FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: Exhibitions and Publicity: Participation in exhibitions, seminars, workshops and entrepreneurship development programmes are of vital importance for the creation of awareness about the role of the Corporation in technology transfer. With this end in view, the Corporation participated in exhibitions, seminars and get-togethers in India and abroad organised by various agencies as detailed below: * Hannover Fair, Germany 24-28 April, 2006 * 7th SAARC Trade Fair, Karachi, Pakistan 16-18 June, 2006 * 9th Rawanda International Trade Fair, Rawanda, Kigali 25 August-4 September, 2006 * Made in India Show, China 8-11 September, 2006 * Minerals, Metals, Metallurgy & Materials, New Delhi 11-14 September, 2006 * CSIR Rural Exhibition, Dhanbad, Jharkhand 26-31 October, 2006 * Pashu Kisan Mela, Bareilly 28-30 October, 2006 * Technology Summit, New Delhi 6-7 November, 2006 * 10th India Tech 06, India International Trade Fair, New Delhi 14-27 November, 2006 * Dairy Expo, Chandigarh 1-4 December, 2006 * Mind to Market, New Delhi 4-6 December, 2006 * Science Congress, Chidambaram 3-7 January, 2007 * Consultancy Congress, New Delhi 15-16 January, 2007 * Mint To Mint, Kanyakumari 18 January, 2007 * Pharm Expo 2007, Mumbai 6-10 February, 2007 * Technovation, New Delhi 13-16 February, 2007 * Vendor Dev. Programme Cum Indus. Exhibition, Hubli 22-26 February, 2007 * Commercialisation of Chemical Technologies, Mumbai 16-17 March, 2007 Publications: Dissemination of information on new processes to industry, entrepreneurs and the general public plays an important role in the process of technology transfer. One of the means of doing so is through publications of various types. During the year, the Corporation continued to bring out the regular publications Awishkar (Monthly in Hindi) and Invention Intelligence (Bimonthly in English). Apart from this, during the year, the Corporation has also brought out special publications viz. NRDC-Your Technology Partner, NRDC Meritorious Invention Awards and a Folder on Technology Trade Facilitation Centre being operated by the Corporation. Market Surveys: Detailed market information makes the technology package more attractive to entrepreneurs. With this end in view, the Corporation commissioned professional market surveys in respect of the following technologies: * Probiotic food * Anti reflective coating on circular glass lens * Anti glare coatings on sheet glass * Auto dipper * Porus carbon paper for fuel cell applications * Low cholesterol ghee * Shelf life extenders for fruits and vegetables Technology and Project Export: Our technologies are appropriate to the needs of many other developing countries. The Corporation, therefore, considers it an important part of its charter to seek out and seize opportunities in those countries for technology and project exports. The Corporations concerted and energetic efforts to export Indian Technologies have resulted in excellent contacts in Africa and signing of several Agreements. Strategic alliances have been made with local consultants in the countries of potential business to secure business in those countries. A few such agreement are listed below: * Agreement for setting up of Demonstration Centre for Small & Medium Machines with Social Fund for Development, Cairo, Egypt * Representative Agreements with (a) Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd., Dhaka, Bangladesh, (b) Bangladesh Development Resource Group, Dhaka, Bangladesh, (c) Millis Consult, Ethiopia, (d) Rwanda Private Sector Federation, Rawanda * Cooperation Agreement with Serviva Gmbh, Germany * Agreement for transfer of technologies with Agricultural, Industrial Finance. Group of Democratic Republic of Congo During the year several delegations from other developing countries were received and the Corporation was able to generate interest of major international companies in indigenous technologies. Demonstration Centre of Small & Micro Machineries in Ivory Coast: The Corporation with an objective to promote Indian technologies & machines suitable in West African Countries has been setting up a Centre for Demonstration and Promotion of Technologies at Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with funding from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The Corporation has signed an MOA with Ivorian De Technologic Tropicale (I2T), engaged in the manufacture of agricultural machines in Ivory Coast, for implementation of the project. The Corporation has jointly formed a non-profit organization named Centre for Demonstration and Promotion of Technologies (CDT). The procurement of identified machines for the Centre is in progress. Foreign Exchange Earnings: The foreign exchange earnings of the Corporation amounted to Rs. 18.47 lakhs in 2006-07 as compared to Rs. 0.38 lakh during the previous year. Knowledge Management System (KMS) for Technology Promotion: The commercialisation of unproven lab scale indigenous technologies involves high risk and therefore, the entrepreneurs are generally not keen on endeavouring a venture based on such technology. In order to overcome this difficulty, the Corporation has introduced the Knowledge Management System (KMS) in 2004-05. It is a self-propelled mechanism for systematic evaluation of the technologies, by a team of experts for value addition to the extent possible for making a complete technology package for setting up commercial plant and the chances of its success become high. The Expert Panels also suggest strategies for marketing of technologies and sources for scouting of new technologies. Technology Development Programme for Priority Projects: The Corporation has been promoting and financing in collaboration with industry and R&D institutes, technology development projects for further development, setting up pilot, semicommercial or demonstration plants. The progress on the major technology development projects is given below: ON-GOING PROJECTS: In-vivo evaluation and further development work on Targeted Gene Delivery System: The know-how for virosome based Targeted Gene Delivery System, a platform technology, was developed by University of Delhi. It is highly target (liver cell) specific and has a strong potential to develop various therapeutics for a number of diseases originating from liver cells- Hepatitis, Liver cancer, Hemophilia, Malaria, etc. This process know-how has a very good opportunity for licensing in other countries, provided in- vivo data is available on the process. Accordingly, the Corporation signed a Collaborative Agreement with Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York (AECM), University of Yeshiva, New York for further research and in-vivo trials of F-Virosome based Target Gene Delivery System and released Rs. 10 lakhs towards collaborative research cost. The work is going on satisfactorily and results are expected during the current financial year 2007-08. Optimization of New Anti-Cancer Formulation using Methylglyoxal as a lead compound: An anti-cancer formulation using Methylglyoxal as a lead compound for the treatment of cancer has been developed by Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata. The formulation has broad applications and it can cover many aspects using imino acid conjugates of methylgyoxal. Methylgyoxal acts selectively against malignant cells. Its effects can be significantly augmented with natural compounds, ascorbic acid and other vitamins. Methylgyoxal is a potent anti-cancer agent through both in-vitro and in-vivo routes. The following studies are being further carried out for the formulation: (a) To test the toxicity of single and multiple dose treatment to animals (acute and chronic toxicity study). (b) To study the anti-tumor effect on Sarcoma-180 cell bearing mice and on carcinogen induced solid tumor bearing mice. (c) To monitor the biochemical parameters in relation to these toxicity studies. The Corporation provided a fund of Rs. 4 lakhs to carry out the work on the above. The formulation when tested on normal tissues, showed no effect. A preliminary study on the possible toxic effect of methylglyoxal plus melatonin indicated that it has no apparent toxic effect on the host. The work is going on satisfactorily and results are expected during the current financial year 2007-08. TECHNOLOGY TRADE FACILITATION CENTRE (TTFC): The Corporation under the support from the Administrative Ministry has been successfully running the TTFC at the Corporations registered office, to facilitate the exports of technology intensive products, technologies, services and projects. TTFC is truly helping SMEs to identify potential importers, in the international market for their products. During the year 2006-07, several foreign dignitaries and business delegations visited the Centre and a large number of enquiries have been generated from them. The Corporation along with its TTFC supported companies participated in various international fairs. Enquiries received during the fairs are at various stages of maturity. HUMAN RESOURCE: The real asset of any company is its human resource. The total manpower of the Corporation as on 31st March 2007 was 98 viz. (Group A-29, Group B-37, Group C-24 and Group D-8). The employee management relationship was cordial throughout the year. During the year under review, there were no employees receiving remuneration of or in excess of Rs. 24 lakhs per annum or Rs. 2,00,000 per month, requiring disclosure as per the Provisions of Section 217(2A) read with the Companies (Particulars of Employees) Rules 1975. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT: Training and development at all levels of employees was given due priority by the Corporation to increase effectiveness. Special emphasis was given to organisation building and shaping right attitudes, team building and work culture, besides preparing employees to understand the trends in fast changing technology and switching over to latest technology for achieving higher results in productivity and profitability. During the year 34 executives and 4 staff of the Corporation were deputed to various training programmes to further develop their skill in various areas of management, communication, vigilance and advancement of technology. The thrust for better utilisation of Human Resource and improvement in work practice continued during the year. IMPLEMENTATION OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: The Corporation continued to make efforts to fulfill the targets prescribed by Govt. of India in the Official Language Act and Rules framed there in with regard to increase the use of Hindi Rajbhasha in office during the year 2006-07. Employees were motivated to use their working knowledge of Hindi in day-to-day official work. All the Standard Forms, Files, etc are bilingual. Significant progress has been made in the field of correspondence, noting and drafting in Hindi. All Hindi letters are being replied in Hindi only. The Annual Report of the Corporation is being published in diglot form in both Hindi & English since 1986-87. The Corporation also publishes a popular Science & Technology monthly magazine in Hindi, entitled Awishkar. To popularise the use of Hindi, the Corporation organised a Hindi Workshop. During the workshop, information was given regarding Official Language Act, Rules, and drafting & noting. To enrich Hindi vocabulary of the employees of the Corporation as well as visitors, an English word with its Hindi meaning is written daily on a writing board as Todays word at the reception of the Corporation. DIRECTIVES FROM THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA: Under Clause 127 of the Article of Association of the Corporation, the President of India is authorised to issue directives to the Corporation. During the year under review, no directive was received from the President for compliance. VIGILANCE: During the year, Vigilance Division has functioned as an effective part of management. For effective control, surprise checks and regular inspections were conducted. Returns and Reports were submitted to the statutory agencies and the CVC guidelines, received from time to time, were followed and adhered to as precautionary and preventive measure. Existing systems and procedures were reviewed for further improvements and all out efforts were made to ensure transparency in the working of the Corporation. There has been no vigilance case during the year. Annexure 1A: Details regarding processes assigned and agreements concluded with entrepreneurs during 2006-07 2005-06 2006-07 A. Processes Assigned 30 39 B. New Licence Agreements Concluded 39 44 PROCESSES ASSIGNED: Central Glass & Ceramics Research Institute, Kolkata: * Removal of arsenic & iron from ground water M/s. Sanmotech Labs Pvt. Ltd., IIT (Delhi) Campus: * Isolation of fruit coating active * Fruit coating machinery * Formulation for fruit and vegetable (apples, plums, oranges, sweet lime, grapes. lemons, tomatoes, brinjal, capsicum) coatings and application protocols * UV absorbent for skin care formulations GB Pant University, Pantnagar: * Novel plant dye * Novel phytogenic organic seed protectants * Novel synergistic pesticidal composition of plant origin * A novel organic seed protectant of plant origin * Novel organic seed protectant Indian Association for Cultivation of Sciences, Kolkata: * New anti cancer formulation based on methyl glyoxal Central Silk Board, Mysore: * Hydrodynamic incubator * Cocoon harvester (Manual, Pedal and Motorized types) * Plastic rotary mountages * Seri gold-a powerful general disinfectant for sericulture used for the disinfection of rearing houses and rearing equipments Shri M.M. Arif, Individual Inventor: * Multipurpose design cutting machine NDRI, Karnal: * Process for preparation of probiotic dahi * Antibiotic residues in milk using dormant bacterial spores as biosensor * Synthetic milk detection kit * Acido byfidus dahi * Ready to reconstitute rasmalai mix Whey based lassi like beverage NPL, Delhi: * Cholesterol biosensor * Long after glow phosphor * Porous carbon paper for fuel cell application M/s. Synthetic Silica Products, Kanpur: * Highly abrasive silica * Precipitated silica-thickening grade * Precipitated silica-equivalent to VN3-rubber grade RRL, Thiruvananthapuram: * Software package on virtual casting * XYLANASE-enzyme for paper and pulp industry Manufacture of biodiesel, tocopherol and phytosteroi from the deodorized distillate of vegetable oil, a by-product obtained after refining * Swing technology for spice oils and oleoresins * Process for making white pepper from black pepper * Modern beneficiation flow sheet for the processing of mammura china clay * Process for production of red palmolein and zero shortening * Process for physical refining of rice bran oil * Bio-filter for odour control * Process for rare earth added aluminum alloys for conductor applications Raman Centre for Applied and Interdisciplinary Sciences, Kolkata: * A process for slow release zinc fertilizer Annexure 1B: LICENCE AGREEMENTS CONCLUDED: Central Silk Board, Mysore: * Seri gold-a powerful general disinfectant for sericulture used for the disinfection of rearing houses and rearing equipments * Hydrodynamic incubator * Motorised cum pedal operated spinning machine * Reeling cum twisting machine * Mulberry leaf health drink * Production of labex * Production of cocoon harvestor * Production of morizyme-B 2 * Plastic rotary mountages DRDE, Gwalior: * Test kit for micro-biological quantity of drinking water 3 IVRI, Izatnagar: * Crystoscope Coir Board: * Pithplus * Coco lawn CECRI, Karaikudi: * Magnesium silver chloride seawater activated battery SERC, Chennai: * Fibre reinforced concrete manhole covers (Heavy Duty) 10 * Fibre reinforced concrete manhole covers (Light & Medium Duty) 10 VCRC, Pondicherry: * Bio-larvicide 2 NPL, New Delhi: * Porus conducting carbon paper IARI, New Delhi: * Alkane polyols alkanoates CCRAS, New Delhi: * Ayush 64 Raman Centre for Applied and Interdisciplinary Sciences, Kolkata: * A process for slow release zinc fertilizer Individual Inventor (Dr. Lalit Mohan Sharma): * Night time highway systems for automobiles (Auto Dipper)