This Saturday I spent my siesta over replacing our Bescom meter to a new one, well I'm not yet done with it yet. Just thought of posting the procedure may be it will help you some day. It all started when I noticed that my current month's bill required me to pay just Rs 100 than the usual 900+ Rs. This was because meter was not ticking but we were getting electrical power as usual. Wow this was something like a new year bonanza, get power and pay nothing :-). Being an honest Indian citizen, I decided to lodge a complaint against this discrepancy and expected BESCOM officials to rush and change my meter, in a jiffy, after-all its their company which is giving away power free of charge.

From the BESCOM billing center opposite to BMS college on bull temple road, got to know that I'll have to give this complaint to the junior engineer office for my area, which happened to be right next to kammevaru kalyana manatapa in hanumanth nagar. On reaching there the assistant to JE made me realise the procedure. 
1. Fill up an application form and hand it over to JE
2. He'll direct her to raise a requisition form for purchasing a new electric energy meter
3. on which I need to take the signature of Assistant executive engineer (AEE) who sits at Avalahalli bda park
4. I'll then have to carry this signed requisition form to Bescom office beside devagowda petrol pump to buy an energy meter Rs 1190
5. Carry this meter back to JE office and get the work of replacement assigned to one of his staff. 

I got step 1 & 2 done immediately, got back home and pondered do I really need to do the rest of the steps or shall I sit back and enjoy free power for some more days, Well it was not be. After lunch I covered about 12 Kms and finished rest of the steps. Designated lineman is yet to come for replacement though!!

Movement of people, projects & processes are inevitable part of development in large corporations and cost sensitive start-ups alike. From form-factor designs to latest SoC design features are all essential properties, companies want to protect getting exposed not just from rivals but also from larger public eye. Pre-mature information leakage can be quite disastrous to business interest. The role of Indian companies and local subsidiaries of large MNCs has been growing in R&D services over the years and is slated for higher growth and higher percentage of revenue going forward, as per a joint study from wharton & economic times. about growing Indian clout in R&D services . R&D services also brings with it challenges like IP leakage & scalable quality mass of people with higher education degrees. With a mature legal system and very reasonable policies there has been lesser fears of voluntary IP leakage from Indian shores, as compared to other outsourcing destinations like China. 

However for India to continue to grow in R&D services and maintain its leadership position, involuntary IP leakge possibilities need to be plugged in a very Indian context. Below are the top 5 means how involuntary IP/information leakage is a possibility in Indian context which we all need to create awareness among the professional and student communities.

1. Discussing project details while socializing with classmatesIndian engineers take lot of pride in the type of work they are asked to do at offices during early stage of their career. This also becomes a topic of discussions during casual get-to-gathers with classmates and batch-mates. Describing their official project in graphic details often add to their social importance. sensitive information like customer name, h/w or s/w platform, project team size etc., gets leaked at such meetings. Quite often these set of discussions are harmless but often people among these gatherings work for competing companies. 

2. Resumes with vivid projects details on public job search engines
Yes this is a reality. When engineers put out their resumes in public job search portals they give out many details about the projects they worked. In some cases I had seen resumes with details about either the company's or their customer's information. 

3. Writing blogs and asking questions on open discussion forums
Many engineer's when asked to ramp-up on a new technology hit the internet button at the first instance. They look for open discussion forums/mailing lists to put out their questions. In some rare cases they give out project details to a fair degree to get their specific problem addressed from fellow programmers on a public list. There are cases when engineers set out to write blogs about the work they do at office which could also inadvertently reveal unwanted information to outside world.

4. Mixing personal and official email services
Quite often Indian engineers do not distinguish between usage of email/web and other resources for private and official purposes. Its quite common among early stage engineers to have their official mailbox and contact list with email Ids of their colleagues, relatives, friends, batch mates etc., This could lead to problems like sending official data/email to people for whom it was not intended.  This probability is higher when the contacts list is filled with more people from diverse background. 

5. Taking confidential material to public domain for study/review
Many Indian engineers migrate from smaller towns and cities to bigger cities like Bangalore. They stay with their friends in shared accommodations. Usually friends work in competing companies and they all share common reading space, browsing machines, etc., When engineers take proprietary material to their homes for extra study (yes that's a common practice among engineers in India to spend time on study and learn skills for official purposes during their personal time), they tend to leave things around in the shared spaces. This could lead to information leakage and exposure of sensitive data to unwarranted audience.   

Additional References:http://www.slideshare.net/MindTreeLtd/smart-sourcing-of-rd-services-from-india-presentation