Motorola CEO to visit India next week

US telecom major Motorola's worldwide Chief Executive Officer Ed Zander is visiting India next week and is expected to meet IT and Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran.
Zander's visit comes within days of Motorola losing out in the race for world largest contract by a state owned company Bharat Sanchar Migan Limited (BSNL) for adding 45 million GSM lines over the next three years at an estimated cost of over Rs 20,000 crore.
When contacted, company officials confirmed Zander's visit and said he would be inaugurating Motorola's new R&D facility in Hyderabad.
Motorola has also approached the Delhi High Court challenging BSNL's decision to disqualify the company on technical grounds, in which Swedish major Ericsson emerged the lowest bidder while Nokia of Finland the second lowest.
As per the tender terms and conditions, the lowest bidder gets 60 per cent of the contract, while 40 per cent goes to the second lowest.
"Motorola is making an investment in Tamil Nadu to set up a manufacturing facility there. The Motorola chief is coming in that connection," Maran said and declined to give any further details on his visit.
Motorola had said the company should have been given a chance to explain its position on the disqualification from participating in the financial bid of BSNL's tender.
BSNL officials had said Mototrola could not clear certain parameters relating to security clauses and thus the company was disqualified and was not called for the meeting, in which financial bids were opened.

'Mumbai poised to become global financial centre'

India today said it plans to turn Mumbai into a global financial centre to provide a host of services to clients across the world.
A committee is looking into this aspect and expected to submit its report by November end, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said at the annual conference on Indian Financial Market, organised by CII and the Asia Society here.
Mumbai, he said, is geographically an ideal location for establishment of such a centre.
Pointing out that long term funds are the key issue in developing infrastructure, Chidambaram said pension and insurance reforms are overdue.
There is a need for changes in the insurance laws and insurance penetration also needs to increase, he said, adding that pension reforms is another key area.
But the government's Left allies have, however, opposed a bill to amend the Insurance Act to increase FDI cap in the sector to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent and a bill to set up a regulator in pension sector.
The Finance Minister had earlier sought political space to pass these legislations.
Chidambaram said he had absolute confidence that India could rank in the top three global manufacturing hubs for industries linked to steel, refining, textiles, automobiles, automobile parts, light engineering goods and leather and food products.
He said the capital markets in India was one of the best regulated in the world but stressed on the need for developing the debt markets, which are at a very nascent stage.
Chidambaram said it is possible for India to attain an annual growth of 9-10 per cent during the 11th Five-Year Plan with rise in the domestic savings, investment rate and fiscal prudence.
He said the economy was growing at over eight per cent with the services sector contributing more than 54 per cent. The industry is also growing by double digits at 22 per cent.
"The India growth story shall continue to do well for years to come," he said.
He said India was an emerging global player with its gross national income growing at a fast rate.
The Finance Minister said India would continue to receive demographic dividend with its working age population likely to increase till 2050. "This would be of great advantage to India over the rest of the world," he said.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said infrastructure development would be the key to sustain high growth rate for which public-private partnership projects are needed.
He said liberal policies of removing several restrictions in the Industrial Policy, lowering of tariffs and increase in FDI are key growth areas in India.
US Ambassador to India David Mulford listed energy, infrastructure and agriculture as the three main challenges for India.

Source : Hindu

Wipro Infotech Acquires for Convergence Skills

Wipro Infotech has entered into an agreement to acquire Planet PSG, and the India, SAARC and Middle East operations of 3D Networks - two subsidiaries of Singapore headquartered Planet One for approximately $23 million in cash, plus performance linked payments for a two year period. 3D Networks has specialised integration and technology management skills in Voice Integration. It is the sole platinum partner for Nortel in the entire APAC region. Planet PSG boasts of advanced skills on Nortel Periphonics platform, and is the sole Global Technical Services Provider (GNTS) for the same across APAC. It is a professional services organization with strong skills in areas of IVR / CTI / Speech.

Convergence unifies business communications for data, voice and multimedia content on a single infrastructure backbone. This emerging trend has a rapidly growing market for large enterprises across verticals including the ITES/ IT space. According to Suresh Vaswani, president, Wipro Infotech and Global IT Service Lines, Wipro Technologies, the two companies were chosen for acquisition because their skills were complementary to Wipro's existing IT solutions portfolio, and would serve to strengthen its positioning in the convergence. "Wipro Infotech is a comprehensive IT solutions organization. We are scanning the market constantly for possible purchases. Our acquisitions strategy inorganically scales complementary technology and domain practices, which in turn strengthens our solutions and services portfolio. We acquired these two companies as they were a synergistic fit," he said. In terms of revenues, 3D Networks and Planet PSG registered $38 million sales or 10% of Wipro's own $370 million during FY 2005-06. Both companies have employee strength of about 320. The buy out is expected to be completed by the third quarter of FY 2006-07.

Source : CXO TODAY

Indian films nominated for Asian Festival of First Films (AFFF 2006) awards in Singapore.

Ten Indian films and documentaries were among the 22 nominated for the second Asian Festival of First Films (AFFF 2006) awards in Singapore.
The other 12 films and documentaries were from China, France, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.
They would be competing for the best awards in nine categories: film, director, producer, actor, actress, script/screenplay, cinematographer/editor, documentary and documentary director.
The films were selected from a record 330 submissions from 60 countries, nearly 40 percent more than the total number of entries received for the inaugurated festival last year.
Indian actor Kunal Kohli, Hong Kong’s Alex Law, Philippines’ Raymond Lee, Taiwan’s Daw Ming Lee and Sirkka Moeller from the United Kingdom spent more than 300 hours reviewing the submitted films and documentaries for the final nominations.
Ramakant S Gaikwad’s film, Dombiwali Fast, has been nominated for best film, producer and director.
Mukesh Bhatt’s film, Gangster, has been nominated for best cinematographer, naming Yudhvir Singh. Kangana Ranaut from the same film has also been nominated for the best female actor.
Omkara's Tassaduq Hussain and Lost or Found's Nitin Bal Chauhan has also been nominated for the best cinematographer award, making it three of the four Indians in the category.
Singapore’s Ken Minehan is to compete with the Indian cinematographers for his film Becoming Royston, which is in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Bengali documentary Bagher Baccha by producer Bishnu Dev Halder of the Satyajit Ray Film and TV Institute, and a 20-minute Hindi documentary One Less Show by Nayantara Kotian have been nominated for the best documentary awards.
Manak Matiyani and Kuber Sharma have been nominated for best director of documentary for the 45-minute English and Hindi documentary All About Mothers.
The films and documentaries will premier at public screenings in Singapore during the week-long AFFF to be held from November 29 till December 5, 2006.

‘If you walk down the whole stretch, you will collapse due to the stench’

If you walk down the whole stretch, you will collapse due to the stench’

When it comes to answering the call of nature, the Delhi male does not look very far and relieves himself as soon as he finds a wall, corner or crevice. Perhaps no place in the Capital — dirty or clean, posh or humble — has stopped him from leaving an impression — tell-tale marks of which invite his brethren to relieve themselves at the very spot in future.
However, there are some areas in Delhi that have been the traditional favourites for people to urinate in the open.
Hindustan Times visited the top five spots in Delhi that are a hit with people who prefer urinating in public and found out what attracts people to these places:
Delhi Gate
As soon as you approach the Delhi Gate intersection while coming from ITO on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, you will find men occupying any spot they can find to urinate. The situation is worse as you reach the intersection, the pavement swerving towards the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital remains covered with urine and with the horrid stench, no one dares to use the pavement what it is meant for — walking.
“My father was admitted in the G.B. Pant hospital sometime back and I had to cross the intersection every day to reach the bus stop. Stepping on the pavement is out of question, I felt nauseous just by looking at the mess,” said Jayant Goswami, a Gole Market resident.
There is a toilet maintained by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi right next to the intersection but few use it. What is worse, people urinate right on the wall of the toilet.
“Most people here are very poor and do not want to pay to use the urinal or toilets. People defecate and urinate right next to this toilet. Even, seemingly well-off people do not want to pay and prefer urinating in full public view,” said Sunil Kumar, the toilet’s caretaker.
Jeevan Bharati, Janpath
When the Jeevan Bharati building (LIC building), a futuristic creation in stone, glass and metal by eminent architect Charles Correa came up in Connaught Place in the Eighties, no one imagined the way Delhiites would express their admiration for the structure.
The whole periphery of the imposing building remains drenched by men emptying their bladders. This, when there is a well-maintained public toilet constructed by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) at the start of the Janpath market next to the building.
At any given time of the day, the number of men who stop by next to the wall to answer nature’s call are far more than those visiting the public facility provided by the civic body for the purpose.
“The facility was opened in 1999. We charge Re 1 for the men’s urinal and Rs 2 for the women’s washroom. Everyday we have nasty fights with users who refuse to pay up for using the facility. ‘Why should we pay one rupee when we can do it for free outside’ is the general refrain,” said Kamlesh Kumar Upadhyaya, caretaker of the toilet.
He said that most users feel it is the duty of the government to provide such facilities for free.
AIIMS
There are two toilets on the Aurobindo Marg side gate of AIIMS but there are none on the Ring Road side and hence, it is a popular site for urinating. The place is near the hospital’s gate and right next to a subway. Most of the people emerging out of the subway start searching for their handkerchiefs as soon as their senses are assaulted by the stench.
“It is tough standing right next to this place but you cannot blame the people too. Hundreds of people use this gate everyday but there are no toilet facilities for them. What else can they do,” asked Ram Prasad, a water vendor.
Hindustan Times caught up with a man to ask about the compulsion to urinate at that spot, after he was finished with his business. “The toilets are on the Aurobindo Marg side and I have to take a bus from Ring Road, do you expect me to travel that far and come back just to use a urinal? The MCD should put up a urinal here too,” said Virendra Kumar, who had come with a patient.
Dhaula Kuan
The Dhaula Kuan bus stop is a hub for busses going towards Gurgaon and perhaps keeping the long haul and the crawling traffic in mind, commuters prefer to shed extra baggage here before they board a bus. Almost the whole stretch from the Dhaula Kuan flyover to the Station Road intersection (the road going towards Delhi Cantonment) is used by people to relieve themselves.
“This road is not for those with finer sensibilities, if you walk down the whole stretch, you will collapse at the end of it due to the stench,” said Jiten Sharma, who uses the bus stop frequently.
“What else can I do, there are no toilets here. The nearest one is opposite the Maurya hotel and to reach there I would have to cross the Dhaula Kuan flyover, which is not possible for me,” said Mukesh, who uses the pavement to relieve himself.
Barakhamba Road
At night, the Barakhamba Road is a beautiful sight to behold with its beautiful streetlights, freshly paved wide road and the stately high rise buildings. But if you look closer, the service lane just next to the boundary wall of the Statesman House sticks out like a sore thumb.
This service lane and its pavement are another favourite spot for Delhiites to urinate. “The stretch become a mess during the night while people working in the nearby offices relieve themselves before going to the bus stop. In fact, the whole curved pavement from Statesman House till Kasturba Gandhi Marg is used for urinating,” said Garima, a travel executive who works in Connaught Place. “It is so embarrassing, I prefer to walk on the road,” she said.
“Unlike the inside lanes, there are no shops or eateries on this stretch and people find it easy to urinate here. The stretch is almost abandoned as the stench is unbearable and only those who urinate, come here,” said Vijay Pal, a street food vendor.

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Capgemini-Kanbay merger: 23,000 jobs in India

It could soon be raining jobs in India's booming information technology sector, with the merger of French IT consultant, Capgemini and Kanbay International set to create over 23,000 new jobs in the next four years. The deal to buy out Kanbay, an IT services company that is listed in the US but operates mostly out of India, would be unlike regular mergers and acquisitions as far as job layoffs are concerned.
In fact, Capgemini which has 6,000 employees at present hopes that the proposed merger would create a multinational behemoth with a workforce of about 35,000 employees in India by 2010. The India head count of Capgemini, which on Thursday signed an agreement to acquire Nasdaq-listed Kanbay for about $1.25 billion, would increase from 6,000 to about 12,000 by the end of this year.
Currently, Kanbay has a workforce of over 5,000 in India, which represents a large chunk of its worldwide headcount of 6,900 employees.
No layoffs are expected following the merger, as the US as well as Indian operations of the two companies are spread across different cities. Moreover, Kanbay is more focused on financial services segment as compared to Capgemini, industry experts said.
The deal would also make Capgemini the largest MNC in the Indian IT services space in terms of Indian head count percentage ahead of giants like IBM, Accenture and Electronic Data Systems.
The company would become the third largest in terms of the total number of employees in the country after IBM (20,000) and Accenture (12,500), while excluding the employees in their BPO operations.

Source: Rediff

France to triple investments in India

France says it will aim to triple the number of French companies that have invested in India within the next two years. This announcement was made by Nicolas Forissier, a junior minister in the French government at an India Business Meet held on the sidelines of Salon Internationale de Agroalimentaire (SIAL) - one of the world's largest food shows - in Paris on Tuesday. "Today, there are about 270 French companies that have invested in India - from any sector of the economy. We would like to multiply this number by three times in the next couple of years and I would like to make sure that there is adequate representation from the French food processing industry in the new investments," Forissier told the gathering. He said he would visit India twice between now and the end of the year to ensure that the target was met. "I will represent France at the Green Revolution meeting in November and again in December with a large delegation of small and medium enterprises from France for a weeklong visit," Forissier said. The delegation, to be led by Christine Lagarde, the French trade minister, will have over 250 CEOs. At the meeting, Indian Food Processing Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, who is leading the Indian delegation at SIAL, announced that India would significantly increase its presence at the next fair, slated for 2008. There are about 30 Indian companies participating in the current SIAL, with basmati rice producers dominating the list. Also present at the fair, which concludes Thursday, are several producers of ready to eat foods, spices, curries and wines. Sahay emphasised the need for greater cooperation between France and India in this key sector. "We are a large agro economy and you have a lot of rich and varied experience in the food processing industry. This experience and the technology is what India needs today in order to optimise the use of its agricultural output," Sahay said. He said the government had liberalised the sector very largely and that India was seeing large companies taking active interest in the food sector. "There is a lot of interest and a lot of potential for French companies to invest in this and benefit from the booming economy," Sahay said. Earlier, the two ministers toured the fair and the Indian pavilion. Sahay had also met the senior management of Carrefour, the largest French retailer, which is now eyeing India.

Source: Economic times

Bangalore girl gets $80K job with IFC

Shruti Chandrashekhar, a 23-year-old management graduate in Bangalore, has landed a $79,231 per annum job as a financial analyst with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is headquartered in Washington.
With this job, Shruti has become the youngest Indian woman to join an international financial outfit. Shruti talks fluently about the bulls and the bears and the debt accounts of the developing countries.
A student of Sophia High School in Bangalore and the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Shruti is a graduate in electrical engineering and management sciences. Shruti said that her work is her passion and she is looking forward to working with IFC.
"This is what I have always look forward too, finding a job that truly satisfies my interest. It is my passion. I am really excited about the job and the people I will be working with. It will be an exposure to the Indian market place and as well as to markets in other developing countries. It is a good foundation for a future career with an international organisation or working with developing countries," said Shruti Chandrashekhar.
Shruti's parents said they were proud of their daughter's achievement, and said they had no problem with her decision to go out of the country for work.
"I am feeling really excited. It's really very nice. I thank God every minute and thank her also for bringing us and the country such a good name. It's all left to her decision. So, it's her life. So long as she is happy, we are happy. We can always go and see her and she can always visit us," said Kasturi Chandrashekhar, Shruti's mother.
Born in Bangalore, Shruti is the second daughter of Kasturi and T Chandrashekhar. She says she developed a passion for finance and economics in her second semester at MIT.
Shruti used her graduation years to do summer jobs in the US with Barclays Capital and Mercer Oliver Wyman among others. She also received an annual scholarship of $40,000 between 2001-2005.

Source: IBN

Indian online travel market booming

Netizens in small towns are as savvy as their urban cousins in using the web for purchasing goods and services, with 74 per cent of all online transactions traced back to non-metros.
Far from the popular perception that only people from big cities use the Internet to plan their travel, including book tickets, it has come to light that web users hailing from small cities like Surat and Bhubaneswar are second to none in using the net for e-commerce, travel portal makemytrip.com's founder and CEO Deep Kalra said at the Travel Distribution Summit 2006.
Given the high credit card usage in India, where industry estimates suggest 70 per cent of all online purchases are made with plastic money, the web marketplace is emerging as a convenient and cheaper alternative for shopping -- be it clothes or airline tickets.
Kalra said there were around 30 million credit card users and 40 million Internet users in the country.
However, the future of this market heavily depends on Online Travel Agents diversifying their service basket like offering hotel bookings in addition to e-ticket sales.
Making travel arrangements online is becoming a habit with the emerging middle class, who would grow to become 400 million-strong by 2009, and would generate an income of around 420 billion dollars, travel portal Yatra's co-founder Dhruv Shringi said, adding travelling for business is still the most frequent bookings online as leisure travel is still a fairly small but fast growing segment.
"Travel distribution in India is highly fragmented with 20,000 agents accounting for over 80 per cent of the business and online distribution mainly focussed on sale of flight tickets with hotels accounting for just 10 per cent of the business," Shringi said and added much deeper Internet and credit card penetration was required for the market to grow.
But he added that India had a huge potential in this area as 50 per cent of its considerable population was under the age of 25 and within the age of 18-35, which accounts for the highest numbers of online air tickets purchases.
"No money is to be made with low cost carriers as margins are pretty low. Although, there are volumes in selling airline tickets of LCC," travelguru.com founder and CEO Ashwin Damera said.
Travelguru is just over a year old and plans to increase its headcount from 250 at present to 350 by end of March 2007 and open 20 retail outlets in five to seven cities, especially Delhi and Mumbai, by the end of next year.
"We are about to invest 10 million dollars in the expansion plan which would be through venture funding," Damera said, adding that the company was expecting 40 to 45 million dollar revenues at the end of this year.

Source : financial express

Mumbai infrastructure - $ 5b World Bank Loan

The World Bank officials on Wednesday met Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and discussed various infrastructure development projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The Rs 2,28,000-crore infrastructural development programme includes the transformation of Mumbai into a world class city along with the physical and social infrastructure development of cities and regions around Mumbai, including Thane, Vasai, Virar, Navi Mumbai, Karjat, Alibag and Pen. The World Bank has agreed to give $5 billion for the projects.
The state government requires capital investment of $50 billion over the next 15 years to strengthen the physical and social infrastructure.

The government seeks to source funds for the projects through a mechanism of public private- partnerships and also through direct funding by the public sector. For this, the government proposes to create “Ring Fenced Mumbai Infrastructure Fund” that could be serviced by committed revenue source such as development charges and betterment levies,” said an official.
The official said that the state government was hopeful of getting World Bank funds for the development of the region.

Source: Financial express

Gates pledges $23 mln to fight AIDS in India

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $23 million to help fight HIV/AIDS in India, which has the world's highest number of people living with the disease, the health ministry said.
The funds, to be disbursed over the next three years, will enhance the capacity of the government's HIV prevention response and will target high-risk groups such as homosexuals, prostitutes and drug users, a statement on Tuesday said.
The money is part of an additional $58 million committed to the Foundation's "Avahan" project -- a $258 million five-year prevention programme launched in 2003.
According to the United Nations, 5.7 million Indians are living with the virus. But activists say the true figure may be far higher as social stigma forces many of those infected with the virus to keep their status a secret.

Source: Reuters

Chennai Police gets Diwali ..........Amazing Hyundai

Chennai police gets a make over. Hundred spanking new upgraded cars gifted by Hyundai complete with revolving lights, loudspeakers and soon – digicams.
We like our cops to be fit, young and stylish. But that is not going to happen in a hurry. For now the cops will have to do with a stylish set of wheels.
The Chennai police will now go after lawbreakers in Hyundai Accents. Hundred upgraded Accents have been gifted to the police force by Hyundai. This is expected to reduce the response time of the police from four minutes to less than three minutes.

Chennai Police Sub Inspector S Jyothi says, “It's useful because we can get anywhere quickly. Sub inspectors with driving licenses have been asked to drive now."
And if the cops decide not to enjoy the A/C too much, the diesel engine might give at least double the mileage the old Jeeps used to give.
Seventy-five of these slick Accents will be used for patrolling while 25 will be deployed by the traffic police. So if you are jumping a red light or crossing the speed limit, expect to hear a shrieking siren from an Accent that will make you pull over. As for the wild police chases you're hoping to see live.
Chennai Traffic Police Sub Inspector Ravichandran says, “We hardly do any chasing inside the city. But if we do, then this can go at really high speeds compared to our old jeeps."
Chennaiites are loving the NYPD image – also because the tax payer didn't have to pay a penny for the new cars. But there will always be skeptics.
Also when large mobs are to be rounded up, thrown into the car, and taken to the station, it's going to be a tight squeeze. If not space, what the cars do have now are revolving lights, sirens, loudspeakers and fire extinguishers. And coming soon are mounted digicams.
It's still a novelty to the cops themselves and though they are enjoying every minute of it, they are still getting the hang of it.
Anyway the Chennai police is the only police force in the country to use this kind of car. At lease, now no one will say that criminals are getting more stylish than the police.

Source: IBN

Need to build bandwidth to absorb young talent

In terms of her demographic composition, India is, and will be the youngest country in the world.
The challenge before us therefore lies in helping the future generations acquire skills that will enable them to compete in the global workplace.
How do we convert this massive pool — presently over half a billion people under the age of 25 years — into a resource? Only a common minimum program for education, at all levels, from primary education to vocational training will convert India's youth into an asset rather than a liability.
Western countries as well as China and Japan have an increasingly ageing population. Accessibility to learning English and vocational skills will enable India's Generation Next to service the needs of these nations where labour is scarce.
Today, BPOs allow India to service global requirements in areas like IT, healthcare and other strategic processes while maintaining Indian "ownership". In addition to creating employment opportunities, the sector is bringing more people into the mainstream by raising their disposable incomes, contributing to the nation's exchequer and growth story.
Employees of BPO outfits, for instance, are not only catering to the global demand for goods and services, but are themselves consumers of these items. Therefore, the multiplier effect is much larger as domestic demand also increases, leading to the need for more investment and industry fuelling employment generation.
While we must expand this talent pool in order to support foreign and domestic demand, increasing access to education will be futile if after completing their education, these young and talented professionals take their expertise elsewhere.
A NASA scientist educated at IIT does precious little for India. And the return on investment on education is poor in the same example. In order to retain our brightest, we have to create compelling reasons for them to stay in India. They must continue to be Indian, not just culturally (celebrating Diwali in New Jersey) or economically (occasionally remitting money to their relatives back home), but physically by living in India, paying taxes here, participating in India's democracy. This is key.
Government research shows that in less than a decade approximately 10 million people will be added to the workforce every year. India must have the capacity to absorb them. In addition to providing India's youth with relevant skills, the fundamental challenge still is how to make them employable.
So how do we expand the talent pool? Institutes of higher learning like IITs and IIMs do exist but they are exclusive and very few in number. Also, basic education is no longer good enough. Broadening the ability to access high quality education and vocational courses will improve India's economic fundamentals, which already look promising. While the political leadership is focused on education and related areas, we must also ensure that India is able to fix problems in key areas that generate employment, particularly agriculture and manufacturing.
We have a vibrant services sector but if we don't increase the opportunity in the other two sectors, which employ a vast majority of our population, India's demographic advantage could become a problem. It is all very well to speak of building the talent but we do need to build the bandwidth for absorption of this talent.
All in all, I am confident that our tag as the world's youngest country will yield us many dividends in the long-run.
(Milind Deora is among the younger Congress MPs in Lok Sabha. He has been Chairman of the Indian Merchants' Chamber Young Entrepreneur's Wing.)

Kevin Lalrinmawia is already India's youngest kickboxing titleholder

He is only six years of age but Kevin Lalrinmawia is already India's youngest kickboxing titleholder. Armed with a black belt, this power-packed champion has a dream - to dominate the world ring.
Born in a middle class family in the northeastern state of Mizoram, Kevin grew up with an obsession for stunts. His father Joseph encouraged him but mother Lalrinawmi was not so thrilled.
Despite being a bright student, his teachers at Gospel Centenary School feel his natural skills should not hamper his studies. He is a Class 2 student.
Coached by Lalkhuma Colney, Kevin became a national sensation by winning three gold medals - the youngest to do so - in the 18th national kickboxing championship held in Orissa earlier this month.
In July 2005, he became the youngest kickboxer to be awarded a "dan black belt" by the Indian Association of Kickboxing Organisation.
Kevin has won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal at the 15th and 16th National Kickboxing Championships in Jammu and Kashmir (2004) and Tamil Nadu (2005). This apart, he has won 10 gold medals in state-level competitions.
Kevin says he wants to derive fame and fortune from this fragile sport.
Although kickboxing has struggled to obtain a prominent place in the country's sporting landscape, Kevin does not want to abandon his dream of becoming the youngest world champion one day.
"I've really been looking forward to step into the world kickboxing ring. I've trained hard and I want to win," Kevin, looking very shy, told IANS.
He has been preparing hard for the world championship to be held at Hungary next month and another tournament at Croatia in December.
However, his dream of becoming an international champion has hit a roadblock, with the World Association of Kickboxing Organisation's decision to stop children of tender age from competing in this highly dangerous sport.
Coach Colney seems to be undeterred by it.
"I'll continue training Kevin so that he finds his way to the world championship some day," says the coach.

Source : HT

How IT is changing rural India

Farmers in a remote village in Honavar, 600 km away from Bangalore, are using ATM machines to open a bank account. Believe us - it's true.
An ATM machine loaded on a van winds its way through the dusty roads of over five villages offering 22000-odd farmers perhaps their first experience with a bank - they can open an account, request for a loan and be able to deposit as well as withdraw cash at will in the near future.
The ATM machine is linked wirelessly through Reliance Infocomm's network to the backend server of the participating bank, which includes Syndicate Bank and State Bank of India. The software on the ATM is simple - in regional languages and very easy to decipher.
Says S S Satchidananda, professor in Indian Institute of Information Technology who piloted the project with funds from a consortium lead by Microsoft: "What we wanted to demonstrate is a cost saving solution for banks that are seeking to expand their rural reach but have no other choice but to set up a branch which is expensive and unviable".
For the last few years state governments, NGOs and some pioneering companies have tried to crack the technology barrier - by developing pilot projects to showcase the marvels of IT in a rural setting. The phenomenon is better known as "Bridging the Digital Divide".
The success of ITC's 6000 odd e-choupals covering over 35000 villages, has made many believe that this model can be made viable. Big boys are jumping onto the bandwagon - ranging from top IT companies, NGOs, technology providers and the government.
Need to scale up
The name of the game is clear: how to scale up and still be viable. Microsoft, for instance, has set up an ambitious target. It hopes to set up over 50000 broadband connected kiosks across villages covering over 50 per cent of the rural population in the next three years under the "Saksham" scheme. The company is funding NGOs as well as local companies with an undisclosed budget to make the project a reality.
Says Ranjivjit Singh, group director, consumer business: "In the last three months, we have rolled out over 300 kiosks and our studies have helped us build a self-sustaining model to enable the kiosk owner make money."
Not to be left behind, Intel recently joined the club announcing a new program "Jagruti" whereby it will offer PC makers an innovative platform developed exclusively for the rural market. Points out Bill M Sui, vice president, Intel: "The requirement for rural India is not cheap PCs, but PCs which work in that setting."
Intel has developed a rugged chassis to withstand dusty and extreme temperatures. It has also integrated a UPS as well as an AC\DC converter in the machine so that it can work on a car battery for six to eight hours, to tackle the lack of electricity in many villages. Moreover, it has also tied up with Microsoft in an "affordability alliance" which will look at partnerships to provide solutions for rural India.
Yes, the ministry of Information Technology has set up an ambitious target to set up one lakh "common services centres" across villages where e-governance services will be available by August 2007. It has tied up with ILFS to manage the roll-out with support from NGOs, ISPs and others. The government has also earmarked Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) to fund this Mission 2007.
Local Indian companies who have pioneered the rural move, but have had problems of scaling up, are now embarking on an expansion spree. Jai Kisan - an NGO set up to introduce rural IT technology in Uttaranchal - is hoping to put up over 3000 Kisan Soochna Kendras (a digital hub) across the state.
But tobacco giant ITC is concentrating on creating a physical infrastructure to support the 6,000 e choupals - which are run by entrepreneurship-driven sanchalaks (organisers).
It is now creating a second tier of entrepreneurs by appointing up-sanchalaks (deputy organisers) in over 14000 villages (it has already appointed 15000) who would directly interact with the e-choupal owners. Also it is planning to set up over 50-choupal sagars, which will have hypermarkets, fuel stations, restaurants and even an educational service centre.
Says ITC's S Sivakumar, chief executive, international business division: "Till date, the sanchalaks were looking after six villages. We will soon have a digital infrastructure here in these villages too once more low cost communication solutions are available".
Chennai-based n-Logue Communications - part of the Telnet group, which was floated by professors in IIT Chennai, wants to replicate the PCO model to increase per capita incomes in rural India. It has already rolled out over 2500 kiosks across the country using C-ordect technology (wireless and local loop) to provide broadband connectivity to the villages.
Says Ashok Jhunjhunwala, who leads the Telnet group: "Our aim is to replicate the PCO model in rural India so that we can double the rural per capita GDP through IT. We want to set up a kiosk within 500 metres of everyone's home".
The model
Ensuring a connected kiosk model as a viable unit is not an easy task. That is why despite all the noise, there are not more than 13000 connected kiosks across the country (a large chunk of which is run by ITC's e-choupal). Jhunjhunwala admits that out of the 2500 kiosks that they have installed, only one-third works regularly.
Microsoft, for instance, undertook a study of over 350 kiosks, involving 4000 users in six states to understand user habits, which could throw up a viable model. Singh says the study threw up some interesting insights: kiosks, which only offered e-governance services (like registration of life and death, land records etc) were unable to sustain themselves very long.
The reason was simple: while 70 per cent of the revenues when the kiosk was launched came from e-governance, in six months it dropped to 20 per cent. So there was need for offering more comprehensive services in the kiosk for farmers to come in.
That is what Microsoft is doing. Says Singh: "Our approach is to bring different kinds of offline as well as online services together to make the kiosk viable."
The company has developed educational content online for children in local languages, which is available for a subscription of Rs 50 to Rs 100 a month. A printer and software for desktop publishing ensures that you can publish marriage or invitation cards or even a CV for a nominal Rs 10 to Rs 12 a piece.
And as PCs our loaded with Windows Media Player - many local kiosks owners have converted themselves into mini movie halls - offering movie shows at a nominal Rs 2-3 a show.
How does Microsoft ensure that the model is viable? Take, for instance, its tie up with Dhristee - an NGO, which has perhaps the cheapest-priced kiosk model. Kiosks are not cheap - one connected with a VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal), battery pack and printer, requires an investment of over Rs 70000.
The method is straightforward: the entrepreneurs have to pay Rs 20000 upfront. The rest comes from bank loans. Kiosks owners need to pay about Rs 1666 per month to pay off the loan but Drishtee offers them a minimum income guarantee of Rs 3000 a month.
Says Singh: "Our experience has shown that the entrepreneur is cash positive within the first two to three months." He points out that an average in a village of 5000 homes at least 20 people go to the kiosk everyday - and that is enough to break even and make money.
Microsoft of course funds Dhritsi lumpsum or with software support - which can be used to subsidise the overall investment, reduce his upfront cost, or his loan burden depending on individual needs.
There are other models too. And many are using innovative ways to generate revenues. Jai Kisan has, in fact, gone up-market by creating a "Kisan Soochna Kendra" in far-flung villages of Uttaranchal where road communication is not at its best.
The kendra has swanky styling - it is built with glazed tile floorings and equipped with the latest gizmos - laser printers and scanners and even a movie video camera and PCs connected by VSAT to the outer world. But is also costs money - an investment of a steep Rs 510,000.
Challenges
However, Sanjiv Sharma CEO of Jai Kisan.org says that despite the high cost, the model works. The owner of the Kendra - who is generally the gram pradhan puts Rs 25000 upfront. Jai Kisan (which gets funds from various agencies including companies like Microsoft) forks out Rs 40000, and banks fund the remaining portion.
Then you also get grants from the Khadi Vikas Industry Board - which use the kiosks for selling and promoting khadi products. To add to the viability, Jai Kisan guarantees the owner Rs 11,000 a month - which ensures that even after paying back the loan instalment (Rs 7500) he is making money.
The question, though, is how does Jaikisan afford to provide such a high level of guarantee? Well, simply put, it has innovative ways of getting in revenue.
The NGO for instance has roped in companies ranging from Pepsi to Coke to advertise by using the walls of the Kendra to sell their products.
Last year, it generated at an average Rs 5000 a month from selling advertising space. This year, it expects to hit Rs 11000 - which will take care of the minimum guarantee it offers the entrepreneur.
Secondly, the NGO has helped in floating Jai Kisan Foods (made out of farmer enraptures in the village), which sell farm products ranging from mangoes, herbs, medicinal plants through the Jaikisan portal to potential buyers - dispensing with the middle men. Already companies like Dabur are using the structure to buy medicinal plants directly from the farmers.
No doubt communication costs - through VSATs - are a key impediment in proliferation of the kiosk model. But as Jaikisan executives tell you, telephone connectivity of BSNL is unreliable (exchanges don't have power for days), private sector wireless connectivity is conspicuous by its absence - so there is no choice but to go for a VSAT even if it is not cheap.
Singh says if wireless connectivity was available, investment costs would fall by more than half and kiosk owners would have to pay only a monthly running cost of broadband connectivity. That, of course, remains the biggest challenge.
Solutions
Some are trying to get over the problem. Intel is pushing for Wimax as a cheaper solution but with its standards still not been fixed, this might be a while away. n-Louge, has deployed cordect (wireless and local loop) technology to bring in connectivity to the villages. And it charges between Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 monthly to ensure uninterrupted connectivity.
Says Jhunjunwala: "It is a much cheaper option virtually one sixth the cost of a VSAT connection. And the bandwidth which is not shared is far superior in quality than VSAT".
This would require a cluster of kiosks in a 25-50 kilometre area to justify the initial investment, which could be around Rs 40 lakh (after all you need to put in a couple of base stations around).
So Jhunjunwala says you need at least 200-300 kiosks to make it viable. At the moment with most companies spreading the kiosks over a larger geographical distance - it might not be the best option.
Agrees ITC's Sivakumar: "At the moment, only a VSAT is viable because you don't have the concentration of digital infrastructure in a small geographical distance".
But that is not deterring many companies and researchers to work out niche applications - which can be converted into a viable business model. One such area is banking. Mobile wireless ATMs-developed by IIIT Bangalore is one such solution.
Satchidananda points out that it costs a bank Rs 12 lakh (Rs 1.2 million) to set up a one- man branch in rural India, add in the huge running cost and it is unviable. But a mobile ATM operator invests Rs 12 lakh - and the infrastructure could be used for many villages, across talukas and many banks. So it is surely a cost-effective solution.
Satchidananda and his team are also working on creating a databank of village homes - information any bank, insurance company or even an FMCG would pay for - to process a loan application, an insurance claim or target a product.
The solution, underway in Karnataka, aims to encourage entrepreneurs to invest in a PDA and go to each home to collect information on topics like assets, livestock, crop patterns and income (they are paid for this collection of course by the bank or by the data center which wants to collect this information). This information is then sent wirelessly to data centers, which are owned by telcos.
Companies can tie up or pay for this information available with telcos. Says Satchidananda: "A bank can use this information to do individual credit rating and it can outsource the loan recovery work to the PDA owner. So it is a win win for both". Surely even telcos can make money-by selling this valuable information to potential clients.
Bridging the "digital divide" might not be as easy as it sounds. However, companies are taking the first steps to work out viable and scaleable models to make it a reality.

Source : Rediff

Finnish teens crazy over B'wood tunes

In the heart of the Finnish capital a few hundred people cheer a group of teenaged girls who set the ramp afire with their "Helsinki-Bollywood" dancing - the latest fad here.
"This is just the beginning, we are expecting many more such shows. The craze for Bollywood dancing is spreading like wild fire," said Linda, owner of High Heels dance studio here.
High Heels is the first dance studio to start a six-week "Bollywood dancing" course. Many more dance studios are likely to follow suit if one goes by the response to the fashion show held last week.
Those who had come to see the show clapped as passers-by stopped to look and the crowds swelled covering almost the entire floor of the shopping mall.
"The music is really peppy but the steps are a bit difficult. I had also enrolled in this course but dropped out after a couple of classes," Laura Maanavilja told a visiting IANS correspondent as she listened to the latest Bollywood songs.
"This course is mainly meant for those who have some training in dance. We have filled up all 20 seats in this course. The response is extremely good and we are thinking of taking in more students as the demand is growing," Linda said.
Interestingly, Linda who teaches Bollywood dancing draws a blank as one tries to inquire about her views on Bollywood's mega stars, including Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan.
"I have never heard these names but I do listen to some Bollywood music, and that is what I like. I am trying to increase my knowledge about Bollywood but that will take some time. What matters right now is not Bollywood films but their music and dance," Linda said.
Linda was trained by sports apparel company Nike under a special training course in "Bollywood dancing".
"The six-week course is also sponsored by Nike and we are not charging anything from the trainees. But going by the response of this promotional course I am sure this course has a huge market potential," she said.
"I would definitely start one on my own if the response continues to be as great."
Said Jeanette Ohman, a postgraduate in political science: "Bollywood dancing is different from all other forms of dance. The music is wonderful. I am learning some intricate steps."
Jeanette is one of the 20 girls learning Bollywood dancing in High Heels. All those who have enrolled are Finnish. Helsinki has about 500 Indian families. "No one from an Indian family has enrolled yet," Linda said.
"Right now we only have girls. In future we could enrol men too. Finnish men are a little shy but I am sure once they get the taste of Bollywood dancing, they would love it," she added.

Source: HT

Americans head to India for high-tech jobs

Where once the brains of India left for more lucrative pastures in the United States, today a handful of fresh American college graduates are trickling in to sample the fruits of the Indian economic boom.
The change testifies not only to the fact that India, long idolized as a spiritual mecca, is emerging as a place to fulfill material aspirations. It also signals the efforts of Indian companies to extend their global reach and recognition, particularly as they face a crunch in finding qualified homegrown talent.
David Craig, 23, is one of the new American imports.
He had never left home in Tucson, Arizona, when the Indian software outsourcing giant, Infosys, came calling at a job fair earlier this year at the University of Arizona, where he was majoring in engineering management.
Encouragement came from his career adviser, who as it turned out, had just bought Infosys stock. Stinging reproach came from his uncle: Why, his uncle wanted to know, would he want to work for an Indian company and take jobs away from Americans?
In the end, tucking away apprehensions, Craig took the plunge. International experience, he decided, would look good on his résumé. And Infosys would put him through a six-month training course on its campus here in southern India before dispatching him to its development center in Phoenix, Arizona. Craig would be one of its American faces.
But Infosys is not alone in its quest to draw talent from abroad.
A handful of other Indian companies are also making an effort to add foreign faces and accents to their rolls.
Roughly 1 in 10 of the 72,000 employees of Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest software firm, are foreigners, and many trained here before being sent to one of the many countries where Tata has its operations.
Air Deccan, the largest low-fare airline in India, is growing so fast that it simply cannot find sufficient numbers of trained Indian professionals.
And Mahindra & Mahindra, one of India's largest car and tractor manufacturers, has begun to scour Ivy League colleges in the United States for management trainees. The company said it is designed in the short term to expose its Indian employees to foreign colleagues, what Rajeev Dubey, the company's human resources chief, called "globalizing our work force."
Today, eight trainees are scattered across its Indian operations, with another half-dozen expected to come on board later this year. In the long term, the company said, it is to expand its global footprint.
For the job-seekers, India represents a new kind of ticket.
Katrina Anderson, 22, a math major from Manhattan, Kansas, accepted an offer from Infosys because, she said, it offered her the most extensive training of any company that offered her a job.
An added bonus was the chance to travel halfway around the world.
"Some people were scared by the India relocation," she recalled. "But that pretty much sold it for me."
When she finishes the training in January, Anderson, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, will return to the United States, to work in the Infosys office in Phoenix.
For the Americans at Infosys, culture shock combines with surprising discoveries.
Both Craig and Anderson admitted to having their stereotypes of India quickly upturned. Craig expected elephants and crowded sidewalks; Anderson expected stifling heat and women who covered their heads.
The Infosys training center, with its 300 acres of manicured shrubbery, is a far cry from much of this country. There is a bowling alley on campus, a state-of-the-art gym, swimming pool, tennis courts and an auditorium modeled after the Epcot Center.
The American trainees are housed in single rooms, instead of the shared doubles that Indian trainees get.
One restaurant on campus has a French chef that caters to the non-Indian palate. The supermarket stocks peanut butter.
Craig, who still calls home nearly every day, said he has made an effort to teach himself a few things about his new, temporary home. He has learned how to conduct himself properly at a Hindu temple. He makes an extra effort to be more courteous. He has learned to ignore the things that rattle him in India - the habit of cutting in line, for instance, or the ease with which a stranger here can ask what he would consider a deeply personal question.
"I definitely feel like a minority here," he said, sounding surprised at the very possibility.
Anderson has tried to ignore what she sees as a penchant for staring, especially by men. She has pushed for and won a coed basketball team. She has donned Indian clothes in hopes of deflecting attention, only to realize that it had the opposite effect.
She has given up brooding quietly when someone cuts in line. "I say, 'Excuse me, there's a line here.'"

B'lore knowledge SEZ to raise $25 mn

BANGALORE: The 1,000-acre knowledge SEZ near Bangalore, Gandhi City for Advanced R&D, is in early talks with global infrastructure funds like the Singapore-based Jurong and Macquarie to raise $25 million by divesting 5 to 10% stake. Sources said the project was carrying a valuation of $500 million with Avendus holding the mandate for raising funds. The project floated by a group of technocrats led by Ivega founder Giri Devanur is expected to spend $150 million in the first phase over the next three years. The promoters are limiting the equity fund raising to $25 million as they are likely to go in for debt financing of $100 million, and would bring the remaining part of the cash for the first phase as seed capital on their own or through associates. “The idea is not to offload equity at the early stage, and wait for the project to stabilize,” sources said. However, sources declined to divulge names of the funds with whom discussions were on. “‘We are talking to most of the infrastructure funds from overseas and these are in early stage,” they added. The project is expected to close the equity deal only after the State clears the decks for land acquisition at Ramnagaram, which is about an hour’s drive from Bangalore. While Gandhi City has received the Centre’s clearance, the state government deferred the decision to grant it regular clearance for want of certain details. According to sources, the project will come up for clearance at the next meeting slated for after a month. Gandhi City is seen as a project that seeks to leverage Karnataka’s quality manpower to emerge as a R&D hub for global players. The R&D SEZ proposes to rope in leading pharmaceutical, automotive, aviation and technology giants to put up their research and development units. An incubator is also likely to be provided for scientists who lack financial backing or infrastructure for research in their specific areas. While Karnataka is witnessing a host of IT/ITeS projects, this is the first such project to seek clearance under the SEZ scheme.

Source : Economic Times

Isha Foundation's attempt to enter Guinness Book

Isha Foundation, a Coimbatore-based NGO, will attempt to enter the Guinness Book by planting 700,000 saplings in the State in a day.
Project Green Hands will be inaugurated on Sunday by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
The event will conclude with Governor Surjit Singh Barnala planting the last sapling. Seven hundred saplings will be planted in the Raj Bhavan in Chennai.
The valedictory function to be held at the Music Academy will be attended by Jaggi Vasudev, founder of Isha Foundation, and Union Ministers G.K. Vasan and R. Velu, and lyricist Vairamuthu.

Source : hindu

India's incredible tourism story only gets better

With Conde Nast Traveller ranking India as the fourth most preferred travel destination and Lonely Planet selecting the country among the top five destinations from 167 countries this year, India has finally made its mark on the world travel map.
Global recognition is evident from the rising number of India-bound tourists. From just 17,000 international arrivals in 1951, the number has grown to 39 lakh in 2005. According to the Ministry of Tourism, we have already clocked almost 30 lakh foreign tourists between January and September, as compared with 27 lakh during the same period last year.
In the past three and half years there has been a 45.5 per cent growth in foreign tourist arrivals, pushing India's foreign-exchange earnings from $3.5 billion in 2003 to $5.7 billion in 2005. Foreign tourists in India spent an average of $1,470 per person last year; nearly double the global average of $844. France, the top tourist destination in the world, earned only $556 per tourist last year. The ministry estimates that by the end of 2012, India's foreign-exchange earnings from foreign tourists will cross $12 billion. In fact, the World Travel and Tourism Council estimated that Indian tourism industry would grow annually at 10 per cent over the next decade.

Tourism in India is the third largest net earner of foreign exchange and contributes 6 per cent to our gross domestic product (GDP). It also employs the largest number of people. In 2003-04, according to the National Council for Applied Economics Research, the industry employed 4 crore people directly and indirectly, which was 8.78 per cent of the total employment in the country.
Packaging India
Much of the credit goes to the Ministry of Tourism's high-decibel 'Incredible India' campaign launched towards the end of 2002. The campaign mounted a concerted effort in international print, electronic, and Internet media besides outdoor advertising and road shows to showcase the country's tourism-friendly aspects. "It helped create high visibility and brought in high-value traffic into the country," says Amitabh Kant, joint secretary, Ministry of Tourism. Earlier, the ministry was solely dependent on its overseas offices to promote India as a tourist destination.
As the world is waking up to an India beyond the Himalayas, or the enchanting Thar Desert, the ministry is now focusing on niche areas like medical, ecology, rural, golf, wellness and spiritual tourism. With about 1.5 lakh foreign patients coming in every year, the medical-tourism market in India is now estimated at over $300 million and by the end of this decade it will grow up to $2.3 billion. Last month, the ministry partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to develop 71 villages across the country to showcase our unique traditions.
Spot the problem
While there is enough for the ministry to feel proud of, several problems like shortage of hotel rooms, delay in the issue of visas, a slew of taxes and poor infrastructure have yet to be sorted out. The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India estimates that there are at present 97,000 hotel rooms in the country. It says if foreign-tourist arrival grows at 8 to 10 per cent over the next three years, India will need 30,000 additional rooms in various categories.
The Planning Commission estimates that India will need 1.6 lakh rooms more to accommodate the projected 58 lakh tourists by 2010, and 3 lakh rooms by 2020 to meet the projected tourist arrivals of 89 lakh.
The current growth of hotel rooms is less than 2,000 rooms a year, forcing hoteliers to double room tariffs in the past two years. Also owing to high land prices, there are more five-star hotels than budget hotels, making India a high-cost destination. Tarun Thakral, chief operating officer of Delhi-based Le Meridien hotel, says the land for hotel construction should be given on long-term lease as in countries like China and Malaysia.
Taxes — like luxury, service and transport tax — which total about 25 per cent do not help either. And then there is the visa issue. While countries like Malaysia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka have initiated visa-on-arrival scheme, a foreign tourist to India has to wait for a month to get an Indian visa. "If we do not implement a similar scheme foreign tourists with a South Asia itinerary will skip India," says Subash Goyal, president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators.

Source: HT

'Rang De Basanti' wins Best Film award in Sydney

India's official entry to the Oscars - Rang De Basanti - has won the Best Film Award at the Indian film festival in Sydney.
"Rang De Basanti was adjudged the best film from among several Indian films screened during the fourth edition of the Indian film festival at Sydney, by an all Australian jury," the director of the film, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, said in a release here.
Other films in the offering were Vishal Bhardwaj's 'Omkara', Rajkumar Hirani's 'Lage Raho Munnabhai', Rohan Sippy's 'Bluffmaster', Apurva Lakhia's 'Ek Ajnabee', Karan Johar's 'Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna' and Kunal Kohli's 'Fanaa'.
"What was heartening to note was the fact that most of the people watching the movie were Australians and not local Asians. Normally when an Indian film is screened at a film festival abroad, there are more Asians in the audience than locals," Mehra said about local receptivity to the festival which concluded a couple of days ago.
Mehra said the response to the film as well as other Indian films like "Being Cyrus" showed that Indian films with a universal theme and content were getting acceptance from people other than Asians.
"In 2006, the festival featured the biggest range of Indian cinema we have ever presented -- from the most mainstream commercially successful Hindi films to the most experimental and interesting films coming out of India at the moment," Festival Director, Mitu Bhowmick Lange, was quoted as saying.

Source :Hindu

CEO pay gets fatter, Indian employers get hotter

There are downsides to a job that earns a cool Rs 3.5 crore a year. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Indian unit of a global company, wishing to remain unnamed for fear of penalty, talks of the bother of proving his worth each time there is a shuffle in the American headquarters and he gets a new boss.Such experiences among CEOs today, as they move jobs on an average every three to five years, are dictating terms and modifying the classic CEO package. CEO pay packets have zoomed and Indian companies are often hotter than multinationals as employers.CEOs increasingly want opportunities with fast-growing Indian companies. The glitz of foreign shores is fading. Even South East Asia, attractive until recently, is now taking a backseat. Dinesh Mirchandani of head-hunting firm Boyden International receives 200 resumes weekly from senior-level managers of Indian origin wanting to return.Indian top jobs are getting increasingly attractive on both the crucial fronts: compensation and opportunity. Even five years ago, a CEO hire for Rs 1 crore a year made news. CEO compensation has now touched international levels and fast-growing industry players are paying up to Rs 4 crore for the best man.Shashi Kalathil, CEO, Nimbus Sports Broadcast, says, "Jobs today have more accountability, shorter delivery time with no job security. Newer industries and players lead to more fluid projects. So the employer has to compensate."Kalathil started RPG Cellular, India’s first cellular company that did not really take off then.This year India has hired about 500 CEOs, according to industry sources. As the economy grows, it could hire up to 5,000 in five years. The high packages — as the cost of living here is relatively low on a global scale — could yet see no correction as long as the economy booms.
"We will see many professional millionaires soon,” says Mirchandani. Telecom, retail, information technology and IT-enabled services (ITES) are the leading pay masters. Something like US-style signing bonus seems to be in."The new package now includes a joining-in bonus or a ‘golden hello’ to compensate the losses of exiting the previous job," says K Sudarshan, managing partner, EMA Partners. This did exist earlier also but now it is almost mandatory.The amount has grown manifold from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh on an average, and in some cases, even a year’s salary. This is because employers, to curtail attrition, are designing packages with staggered compensation, especially the returns on stock options.So the exiting CEOs stand to lose a lot more than they did earlier. Then there is the ‘golden parachute’, or the risk compensation factor, to ensure a soft landing if a project does not take off.

Source: HT

FDI inflows to India up 20% in 2005: UNCTAD

Inflows of foreign direct investments to India have risen by more than 20 per cent to $6.59 billion in 2005, but this was a fraction of the total global foreign investments of $916 billion, according to a UN report released on Monday.
Total foreign direct investment inflows into the country since 1990 stands at $45.274 billion, while outward flows were at $9.569 billion till 2005, as per the World Investment Report 2006 of the United Nations Centre for Trade and Development.
The report said FDI inflows into India during 2005 stood at $6.598 billion compared to $5.474 billion in 2004. Outward flows by Indian firms declined 32 per cent to $1.364 billion from $2.024 billion in 2004.
India received more than two-third of the total FDI coming to South Asia. The region received $9.765 billion of FDI last year, the report, which was released in India by UNCTAD's country coordinator Veena Jha, noted.
Although FDI inflows into the country has risen, it is still far less than China, which received $72.406 billion in 2005. In fact, China was the largest recipient of FDI among all developing countries worldwide.
At a global level, FDI inflows have increased for the second consecutive year. Investments went up by 29 per cent to $916 billion in 2005, the report said, adding while inflows to developed nations rose by 37 per cent to $542 billion, that to developing countries have increased by just 22 per cent to $334 billion.
According to the UNCTAD report, United Kingdom was the largest recipient of FDI flows in 2005. UK received $164.53 billion of foreign investments, followed by US with $99.44 billion, China $72.406 billion, France $63.57 billion and the Netherlands $43.63 billion.
In terms of outward FDI flows, the Netherlands emerged on top of the list with $119.454 billion dollars of investments made overseas. France comes next with $115.668 billion, followed by UK with $101.099 billion, Japan $45.78 billion, Germany $45.6 billion and Switzerland $42.9 billion of investment outflows.
The report said the growth in FDI inflows was spurred by cross-border mergers and acquisitions, which reflected strategic choices by transnational corporations following increased corporate profits and the recovery of stock markets.
UNCTAD said services sector, particularly finance, telecom and real estate, gained the most from the surge in FDI flows. The share of investments in manufacturing declined, but there was a steep rise in FDI in natural resources, especially oil and gas, the report said.
On the prospects for 2006, the UN body said FDI flows are expected to rise further. This expectation was based on continued economic growth, increased corporate earnings and policy liberalisation.However, factors such as high oil prices, rising interest rates and increased inflationary pressures, which restrain economic growth, may dampen the increase in investments, UNCTAD added.

Source : Rediff

Indian firms facing talent crunch

Friday afternoons at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai are a time to relax for Ankit Jain, a final-year engineering student.
In between his rigorous exam schedule, Ankit takes some time off from competing with his friends in the classroom to compete with them on the basketball courts.
IIT is one of the hardest schools in India to get into. Every year, 200,000 of India's brightest students try and get into this school. Only 2% of them make it.
Ankit and his friends at the elite institute are considered some of the brightest brains in India. And they have found that they are in hot demand from Indian and foreign businesses.
"There are a lot of recruitment fairs on campus. IBM, Accenture, Google, UBS, Infosys, TCS - all the big companies, Indian and Western are here," Ankit said as he took a break from his basketball game.
"And the salaries they're offering us are amazing. American firms are offering us up to $100,000 (£53,000) a year - and Indian firms are competing to hire us - with higher wages, housing incentives, car loans, the works."
Rush for talent
Ankit is one of 3 million university students that graduate from schools in India every year. Gone are the times when the only jobs in store for them were careers in the Indian civil service.
Prospects for the Indian professionals are on the rise, thanks to the boom in India's economy. The last set of growth figures showed that India's economy grew by almost 8% in the first quarter of this year - beating expectations.
Thousands of thousands of employees... are being hired in a really short space of time, and there just aren't enough skilled graduates in India to fill these jobs
R. Sankar,Mercer Human Resource Consulting
This has led to a rush for talent. ICICI Bank, one of India's biggest private lenders, is planning to hire 40,000 people over the next few years.
Reliance, India's biggest conglomerate, has announced its gargantuan retail plans - it will be setting up a chain of supermarkets Wal-Mart-style across India - and is poaching the best and the brightest employees from other firms.
But the frenetic pace of expansion in Indian businesses is leading to a very real problem: there are not enough bright Indian school-leavers to fill the vacant spots in India's corporate payrolls.
'Not enough graduates'
According to Mercer Human Resource Consulting's country head in India, R Sankar, India is facing an imminent talent shortage.
"Just look at the technology sector," he says. "Look at the numbers they're trying to achieve. Thousands of thousands of employees - Tata Consultancy Services has over 70,000 employees - are being hired in a really short space of time.
"And there just aren't enough skilled graduates in India to fill these jobs."
Keeping India's workers interested is key, Mr Deosthalee says.
India's software trade body, Nasscom, says that there could be a shortfall of half a million professionals in the IT sector by 2010.
And it is not just the technology sector that is experiencing a talent crunch. Keeping good staff is a challenge for many other Indian companies too.
The country's top construction and engineering firm, Larsen & Toubro, has seen a 10% drop in employees, losing workers to the fast growing technology and retail sectors.
Those industries are tempting workers with salaries that are a third higher than they were used to. But L&T's Chief Financial Officer, YM Deosthalee, said his firm had found a solution.
"We provide our employees with challenging, dynamic work - work that will keep them interested in what they do," he said.
"It's one of the ways for us to retain competent staff - but it is a challenging environment. Besides the financial ones, 0pportunities to be trained and to travel, though, and work on big projects is what we offer in terms of incentives."
'Curious'
And it is these opportunities that are drawing foreign workers to India's shores. They are being recruited to help offset the challenges of India's talent crunch.
India's booming economy is attracting a lot of foreign interest
Denis Mercier came to Mumbai a year ago to work for the country's biggest software firm, Tata Consultancy Services. He is one of thousands of TCS's foreign employees, many of whom are from Eastern Europe, Brazil, Germany and the UK.
"Every day when I would read the front page of my newspaper in France, I would read about the Indian economy," 24-year-old Denis said, as he lunched with a mixed crowd of foreign and Indian TCS workers in their canteen.
"I was curious - what is happening in this culturally vibrant, fast-growing country? I wanted to find out for myself. And now, to have Indian experience on your resume looks really good too."
Importing skilled workers may be one way for the Indian economy to solve its talent crunch, but it cannot be the solution for long.
The irony is that there are millions of Indians who remain unemployed, working in the informal economy, on odd jobs in construction and building.
The big question is whether India can solve its growing labour crisis by finding a way to get them trained and into the formal labour market, alongside Ankit and his friends.

Source : BBC

Govt to issue Rs 5,000-cr oil bonds next week

The Government will issue the first instalment of Rs 5,000 crore oil bonds to public sector oil marketing companies on Monday.The bonds are expected to offset losses suffered by them due to a cap on retail fuel prices. The Finance Ministry has decided against giving statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) status to the oil bonds, which would have enabled demand from banks that must buy SLR securities as a part of their deposits.However, pension funds would be allowed to invest in the new bonds, a senior petroleum ministry official said.The second instalment of Rs 5,000 crore could be expected in November and the remaining amount of Rs 4,150 crore, the last tranche, could be given in December. The official said the Rs 14,150-crore bonds would cover revenue losses suffered by oil companies on oil product subsidies in the first half of the current financial year that began in April.

Source: Hindustan Times

Branded car rentals take on old-world taxis

Those black-and-yellow taxis are heading for nostalgia zone, as smart car rentals gather pace. With the entry of more organised players like SIXT and Europcar, the country's car rentals business is in for a shakeout. The last 10 months saw three organised players entering the business: Sona Group's Sanjay Gupta brought in German car rental major SIXT while Naresh Goyal's Jetfleet introduced Europcar's rental services in India last month. In July, fleet management major LeasePlan, which mainly leases out cars, also entered the car rentals business.
What is driving these branded firms in an industry traditionally associated with small taxi services is the growth in travel and hotel stays that form part of a buoyant economy.
Somewhere between 90 to 97 per cent of the Rs 9,000-crore car rental market is dominated by unorganised players and that could change soon.
"The travel space is evolving as a whole and this is a great opportunity for the organised sector. Travel into India as well as within India is on the rise and the customer is looking for a secure and reliable service," Sunjay Kapur of Sona Mobility Services, the national master franchisee for SIXT, told Hindustan Times.
There is an emerging demand from multinationals entering India who are used to dealing with car rental majors in other markets. "With infrastructure improving, there are more motorable roads today. In business, time is the essence. There's a huge opportunity for car rentals. Even a city like Dubai has 25 to 30 organised players," says Pankaj Jain, head of car rentals at Orix India, a joint venture between Orix Corporation of Japan and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS).
Multinationals also have global contracts that need to be serviced in India—a corporate giant like Siemens, for instance, has a global contract with Europcar.
Also, inbound tourists, who use car rental services when they travel abroad, would like to make use of these services when they visit India, says Gautam Nath, country manager in India for Jetfleet which is a master franchisee for Europcar.
While branded rental firms gather momentum, the government is also tightening regulations: it plans to introduce 2,000 radio taxis in Delhi that will replace the black-and-yellow cabs and make it tougher for private cabbies.
To start with, the organised players are focusing on the corporate segment, which industry officials say accounts for a tenth of the market. Here, established players like Hertz, AVIS, and International Travel House already enjoy half of the corporate business; the other half is with the less organised players, who compete on price.
But corporate clients are beginning to see the benefits of working with a single vendor. Airtel, for instance, was using a local vendor till January when it moved all its businesses to SIXT.
Similarly, advertisement firm Ogilvy & Mather has started using Europcar. If that works out, Europcar could get business from other WPP Group companies.
The organised players are also pushing corporate clients to lease out vehicles from them, which could be cheaper and provide them more flexibility.
In a lease, the corporate gets the re-sale value of the car upfront. So, for a Rs 10-lakh car, the re-sale value could be as high as Rs 3 lakh. The monthly instalments would be lower as it pays back only Rs 7 lakh of the principal (though it pays interest on Rs 10 lakh).
This allows the corporate to go for a better vehicle at the same monthly-instalment level, without the hassles of buying or selling cars.

Source : Hindustan Times

Indian entrepreneurs have learnt to think big

Indian entrepreneurs have learnt to think big Uday KotakNew Delhi, October 9, 2006
The integration of India's economy into the global canvas has made a major impact on Indian entrepreneurs. It is a shift from the incremental to the aspirational.
Historically, Indian entrepreneurs were in an incremental mode, where they were looking at increasing their business from a base of 100 to 120 or 130. Now, they are in the aspirational mode, where they want to grow in geometric progression from 100 to 200 or 300.
The driving force
Therefore, the challenge to have an aspirational mindset is to get to a scale that is global in size, without compromising on quality. In the global economy, two factors – scale and quality – will not only be the driving force, but also help rule the world.
Companies likes Infosys and Wipro have demonstrated that it is possible to scale up operations and maintain quality at the same time. If you have aspiration and the management bandwidth, you can be a force to reckon with in the world, which is currently dominated by multinational powerhouses.
The message is clear: Quality is non-negotiable. There is no dearth of capital. However, the core issue is: Does the management of a company have the required mental bandwidth to face the challenges thrown up by globalisation?
I strongly believe that globalisation is a reality. One has to embrace it. To make the integration process less painful, it is important for them to use the opportunities, which are immense. Future success depends on the companies and business that can manage scale and quality at the same time.
The biggest challenge
Capital is not the issue. Execution is the biggest challenge. Many of India's industrial sectors are in the forefront of globalisation and have managed to raise resources at the most competitive rates. The success of these companies depends upon executing the projects and meeting the expectations of investors.
Compared to other emerging markets, India has a better-regulated and efficient financial market. But the size is much smaller in comparison. The total size of India's financial market is between $50 and 60 billion as against China's $750 to 800 billion.
In the times to come, I expect a few Indian financial institutions to compete in the global market with the likes of Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch. I strongly believe that some Indian financial institutions would scale up and become world class.
Source :HT

Indian businesses going global

When the Tatas emerged as the frontrunner to take over UK-based tea major Tetley in 2000, the global business community was skeptical. Tetley, now a part of Tata Tea, is today picking up global assets for the parent company. The Aditya Birla group, led by Kumar Mangalam Birla, now owns copper mines in Australia and a BPO company in Canada.
Emerging MNC Bharat Forge has three plants in three continents.
If all goes well, Tata Steel will snap up UK-based steel major Corus for $9 billion. Six years after the Tetley takeover, skepticism is giving way to confidence.
Global business finally accepts Indian companies can acquire and successfully manage global assets. This is based on one premise. "India is slowly emerging as an economic superpower. This builds a lot of confidence. Indian companies have created an enviable track record by improving the prospects of global companies," says TV Raghunath, executive director, investment banking, Kotak Mahindra Capital Co Ltd.

More acquisitions will happen

Indian Inc's appetite for global assets is growing daily. Some factors encourage this trend. The availability of assets, especially in Europe and the US, are rapidly increasing.
Galloping costs and declining bottomlines have made promoter families look at divesting their holdings; the Birlas, for instance, recently bought BPO firm Minacs. Private equity funds, which had invested in US and European companies, are increasingly encashing their investments. And in most cases, these funds are finding a preferred suitor in India.
Easy access to funds from overseas banks is reducing the time lag for acquisitions. For instance, Standard Chartered Bank is in the process of arranging part of the $9 billion to be raised by Tata Steel for the Corus acquisition. Globalisation is forcing Western financial systems to fund Indian acquisitions of Western MNCs.
And India Inc is confident of expanding its global footprint. Says Birla: "Nearly 25 per cent of our turnover today comes from overseas businesses and I believe the number will be in the ballpark of 40 per cent by the turn of the decade. And that too, on a larger base because growing across the globe is the corollary of the growth plans of several of our businesses."
Small steps to giant leaps
Three years back, Indian companies were going for smaller acquisitions with costs ranging between $50 million and $100 million. Things have changed now with mega acquisitions becoming a reality. "Our self-confidence is improving with each global acquisition. India is taking thoughtful and measured steps. We have to build on this," says R Gopalakrishnan, executive director, Tata Sons.
Ranbaxy is a classic example of how small steps can lead to giant leaps. After taking over small global companies in the beginning, Ranbaxy recently acquired big pharma companies including Romania's Terapia for Rs 1,500 crore.

Long-term benefits

Nimesh Kampani, chairman, Morgan Stanley feels global acquisitions will lead to technological growth and penetration into new markets. To be precise, India with a low-cost manufacturing base will get access to global markets. He feels a company has to go through a learning curve before it becomes a multinational.
Even cultural integration is critical to achieving long-term success and in this, Indian firms have been successful. "It is better to retain the existing management. Indian companies are doing that and getting results," says Raghunath.

The roadblocks

While easing of regulations have played a role in accelerating global acquisitions, mega mergers like the one consummated between Arcelor & Mittal Steel will happen only with clearer laws.
Presently, a company gets automatic approval for investing up to 200 per cent of its net worth on global acquisitions. But the law does not permit mega mergers that don't involve big cash transactions. This will become a reality only if the capital account convertibility regime comes into force. Dilip Choksey, joint MD of consulting firm Deloitte Haskins & Sells, feels the Companies Act is not friendly to all types of cross-border amalgamations. "But it is possible to structure a deal in making a mega merger happen. We need to substantially step up the execution of the law. If this happens, India can become an economic superpower."

Source :HT

Overseas Indians turn to Web for festival prayers

Thousands of Indians living abroad are logging on to religious Web sites in the run-up to the main Hindu festival of Diwali, courtesy of a stream of portals offering services like online praying and blessings.
October 20 marks the beginning of the three-day Hindu festival of light, and some of the millions of Indians living in countries like Britain, the United States and Canada are joining in the celebrations back home electronically.
For prices ranging from $8 to $15, religious portals are offering prayer sessions for IT-savvy devotees at temples in India, sending them a DVD of the prayer and offerings like dried flowers or vermilion, blessed by the priest.
Worshippers can also pick up idols, incense sticks, religious books from these holy Web malls all at the click of a mouse.
"(The number) of people registering online for puja (prayer) during this festival season has surged almost three to four times from the normal days," said Mervyn Jose of Saranam, an India-based site ( www.saranam.com).
Around 60 percent of Saranam's clients are living overseas, the majority of whom are Indian IT professionals in their thirties, who are too busy or too distant to get to a temple.
"It is technology which is enabling us to reach the Gods at the click of a mouse," says Jose, himself a former engineer.
But despite most major temples and religious organizations having their own Web sites, many are not happy with the modern version of worshipping God.
"Though priests perform pujas for our clients they are not all happy doing it, even the temple authorities and trusts are not very encouraging," says Jose, who offers clients a list of about 150 temples across India to do their prayer sessions.
However, some priests are sympathetic to the new breed of devotees."Time is changing and so are devotees, they don't have so much time and they live very far," said Gopal Pujari, a priest at the revered Vaishno Devi shrine in India's northern state of Jammu and Kashmir."But they have devotion in heart and despite all the constraints, they still remember God in any which way they can.

However, some priests are sympathetic to the new breed of devotees.
"Time is changing and so are devotees, they don't have so much time and they live very far," said Gopal Pujari, a priest at the revered Vaishno Devi shrine in India's northern state of Jammu and Kashmir.
"But they have devotion in heart and despite all the constraints, they still remember God in any which way they can."

Reliance Ind. becomes India's most valuable firm

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd. edged past Oil and Natural Gas Corp. on Thursday to become India's most valuable company with a market capitalisation of $35.2 billion.
Shares of Reliance Industries, which operates India's biggest refinery and owns the country's largest gas field, were trading at 1,153 rupees at 0553 GMT, having risen 0.9 percent.
Shares of state-run ONGC, India's biggest oil exploration and production firm, were down 0.35 percent at 1,125 rupees in a flat Mumbai market.
Infosys Technologies, India's second-largest software exporter, ascended to the third position on Wednesday after it reported strong quarterly earnings, beating forecasts.

Mumbai airport kicks off first phase of revamp plan

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's GVK Group-led consortium in charge of modernising the Mumbai airport on Thursday laid out phase one of the project that would remodel terminals, build roads, and create infrastructure over the next 5 years.
The project, to cost 52 billion rupees, is part of a larger 20-year, 70-billion-rupee plan to double capacity to 40 million passengers at one of India's busiest airports by 2014.
"As an interim measure, we are upgrading terminals at both domestic and international airport complexes, by 2008," Sanjay Reddy, managing director of Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (MIAL), told reporters.
A new international terminal, multi-level car parks and new access roads would also be completed by 2010, Reddy said.MIAL is a 74:26 joint venture of a consortium of India's GVK group, Airports Company South Africa Ltd. and Bidvest Group Ltd. with the state-run airports operator. The consortium won the contract in February.Reddy expects about 70-80 acres of land to be available for commercial development, but said this could increase once detailed plans are drawn up."Our first priority is development of terminals. We don't want to block land right now for commercial development," he said.MIAL aims to finish the first phase by 2010, and has tied up funds from domestic institutions, led by Unit Trust of India and Industrial Development bank of India, Reddy said."MIAL will bring in 20 percent equity, while the balance will be loans from these institutions," he said.
MIAL is a 74:26 joint venture of a consortium of India's GVK group, Airports Company South Africa Ltd. and Bidvest Group Ltd. with the state-run airports operator. The consortium won the contract in February.
Reddy expects about 70-80 acres of land to be available for commercial development, but said this could increase once detailed plans are drawn up.
"Our first priority is development of terminals. We don't want to block land right now for commercial development," he said.
MIAL aims to finish the first phase by 2010, and has tied up funds from domestic institutions, led by Unit Trust of India and Industrial Development bank of India, Reddy said.
"MIAL will bring in 20 percent equity, while the balance will be loans from these institutions," he said. He ruled out a public offer in the near future.

Source : Reuters

Posco enters pact for rail project in Orissa

South Korea's Pocso, the third largest steel maker in the world, on Wednesday signed an agreement with the state-run Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) to become a shareholder of the holding company that is building a railway line between Haridaspur and Paradeep in Orissa.
RVNL heads consortium of nine companies to build an 82-km broad gauge rail line between the Paradip port and Haridaspur - an extension of the iron ore belts of Bansapani to Tomka in Keonjhar district- where Posco captive mines are located. The shareholders' pact will allow Posco to become a part of the holding company - or special purpose vehicle - that has been set up by RVNL to operate the rail line in a public-private partnership on build-operate-transfer basis, officials said. Pocso's Indian arm has acquired 10 per cent stake with an investment of Rs 275 million ($6.1 million) and will nominate one director on the company's Board. The railway project envisages a total capital expenditure of Rs 5.98 billion.The other investors include Paradip Port Trust (10 per cent), Essel Mining (10.9 per cent), Rungta Mining (10.9 per cent), MSPL Mining (5.45 per cent), Jindal Steel (1.8 per cent), Steel Authority of India ( 1.8 per cent) and the Infrastructure Development Corp of Orissa .The debt-equity ratio of the project is pegged at 1:1, where the holding company will have an equity base of Rs 2.75 billion. Out of 11 board members, six will be from RVNL, officials said.The proposed rail line will help these companies transport raw materials such as iron ore, coal and imported coking coal, as also and finished goods to and from the steel hub at Duburi in Jajpur district.Though the line was sanctioned in 1996-97, work on it has not progressed much due to fund constraints, officials said.This new rail link will reduce the distance by almost 41 km from the existing Haridaspur-Cuttack-Paradeep line. The company guarantees 6.48 million tonne per annum traffic in the first phase, increasing the viability of this venture."This infrastructure will not only help our project but also prove crucial for the entire steel sector in the state," a statement issued by Posco said, adding the project will also help to secure stable and competitive rail transportation."Participation in the SPV is yet another step towards our commitment to support the steel sector on a long term perspective," Posco's India chief Soung-Sik-Cho was quoted as saying."We are very happy being a part in the emergence of Orissa as the steel hub of the world in the coming days."Posco India is setting up a $12 billion steel plant at Paradeep in the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur in one of India's largest projects with foreign investment(0.66 per cent).The debt-equity ratio of the project is pegged at 1:1, where the holding company will have an equity base of Rs 2.75 billion. Out of 11 board members, six will be from RVNL, officials said. The proposed rail line will help these companies transport raw materials such as iron ore, coal and imported coking coal, as also and finished goods to and from the steel hub at Duburi in Jajpur district.Though the line was sanctioned in 1996-97, work on it has not progressed much due to fund constraints, officials said. This new rail link will reduce the distance by almost 41 km from the existing Haridaspur-Cuttack-Paradeep line. The company guarantees 6.48 million tonne per annum traffic in the first phase, increasing the viability of this venture. "This infrastructure will not only help our project but also prove crucial for the entire steel sector in the state," a statement issued by Posco said, adding the project will also help to secure stable and competitive rail transportation. "Participation in the SPV is yet another step towards our commitment to support the steel sector on a long term perspective," Posco's India chief Soung-Sik-Cho was quoted as saying."We are very happy being a part in the emergence of Orissa as the steel hub of the world in the coming days." Posco India is setting up a $12 billion steel plant at Paradeep in the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur in one of India's largest projects with foreign investment.

Source : Indo Asian News

Honda plans Rs 400 cr expansion in India

Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Ltd will invest around Rs 400 crore for capacity expansion of its Manesar plant and product development over the span of next 2-3 years.
The proposed investment will come from internal accruals. The company has already invested Rs 600 crore in setting up the fully owned manufacturing facility.
The bike-maker will expand its capacity to 1.2 million from the current 9 lakh.
The expansion will be done for motorcycle and scooter equally. In the 2005-06 fiscal, HMSI sold 6 lakh units of motorcycles and scooters with total turnover of Rs 1,500 crore.
N K Rattan, general manager, Sales and Marketing, HMSI, said, "The company would further strengthen its position in 125-150cc segment and launch new product shortly. We are also studying the scooter market and would bring suitable product in the future. Some models could also be launched during this fiscal."
Rattan said they have already started sharing market research information and other key strategies among the Honda group companies and have formed joint committee to develop the future plans for the entire group.

Source : Business standard

Aircel launches WiMAX technology , Chennai goes Wireless

Aircel Business Solutions (ABS), a unit of Aircel, has launched its wireless Internet services in Chennai using Worldwide Interoperability for MicrowaveAccess, popularly known as the WiMAX technology, which enables 'last mile' connectivity using 'near line of site' (NLOS) wireless equipment."Initially, ABS aims to make Chennai 'wire free' using WiMAX technology enabling wireless Internet connectivity for SME, enterprise and residential use," said Ram Shinde, Senior Vice President, Aircel Business Solutions. "ABS is also positive about the commercial viability and acceptance of WiMAX across varied user profiles and geographies considering the substantial growth rate of Internet subscribers in recent times."

ABS said that as of now, it can provide pan-city coverage (more than 90%) across commercial areas in Chennai and has already enabled wireless connectivity for SME and Enterprise clients through WiMAX based on 802.16d standards at a speed range of 2 Mbps to 10 Mbps. This would help the end user to stay connected to the Internet and Intranet with high uptime. These WiMAX deployments use NLOS wherein the customer premises equipment (CPE) does not have to face the base station (BTS). The forthcoming 802.16e standard will be even capable of mobile Internet.The company has also deployed WiMAX Networks beyond Chennai with limited coverage in many other prominent Indian cities such as Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi, Cochin and Ahmedabad and would extend its pan-city coverage in a phased manner. Apart from these, ABS also plans to WiMAX another 26 cities in the near future."For the past three years, a dedicated team of ABS professionals have been doing rigorous research at our WiMAX Expertise Center at Chennai, in terms of technological, commercial and operational feasibility, and arrived at a blue-print for the WiMAX launch," said Shinde. "A systematic approach along with our commitment to deliverables and ability to constantly come up with cutting-edge solutions has enabled ABS to make an early entry into the WiMAX domain."With WiMAX, end users can have Internet accessibility based on portable technologies at an affordable price. WiMAX is unaffected by environmental or climatic disturbances and provides relief to organizations from 'last mile' connectivity concerns both in urban and rural areas with limited network infrastructure.

ABS said its backend systems and processes (OSS/BSS) are highly sophisticated with end-to-end manageability from Sales Prospecting to Order Management and Internet Protocol (IP) Provisioning. All these systems are developed in-house and have the capability to accommodate future business requirements of ABS.

The company is also identifying and deploying Wi-Fi 'hotspots' throughout the Chennai city with indoor and outdoor points backhauled with WiMAX. Internet services at these 'hotspots' will be enabled through pre-paid cards integrated with Payment Gateways for on-line registration and subsequently activated using the 'Authentication, Authorization and Accounting' (AAA) mechanism."With several state governments planning to create wireless cities to increase Internet penetration besides initiating e-governance projects, Aircel is keen to be part of the wireless revolution in India not only by offering wireless Internet access through WiMAX, but also by providing a gamut of best-of-the-breed enterprise services on WiMAX platform with built-in service level agreements (SLAs)," said Shinde.

Source : IT News Online