Help! Call 108!(Emergency Management Research Institute)(Company overview)

Byline: Clint Witchalls

Being able to dial a toll-free number in an emergency is something most of the world takes for granted. The United States has had 911 since 1968 and Britain has had 999 since 1937. India, however, has had one number to dial for police, another for fire and a different number for each hospital. Change, however, is starting to come--from the private sector rather than the government. Since August 2005, a nonprofit private company has begun rolling out an emergency phone system in Andhra Pradesh. So far 25 million are covered. The firm, Emergency Management Research Institute (EMRI), in Hyderabad, plans to cover the entire state's population of 76 million by May 2007. "We want to roll out EMRI to the rest of India," says Venkat Changavalli, EMRI's CEO.

The task of creating an emergency-management service that is toll-free and can be dialed from a fixed line or cell phone fell to Changavalli a few years ago through an act of charity. Ramalinga Raju, founder and chairman of the Hyderabad-based IT firm Satyam Computer Services, donated a $25 million property and $12 million in cash to create a public-private partnership with local government to start an emergency service. The easy part was choosing a number--108. "Krishna danced with 108 ladies," he says. "Hindu gods have 108 names. In ...