India, Russia vital for Volkswagen's future

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Germany's Volkswagen sees growing markets like India and Russia as vital for its long-term future and aims to produce up to 110,000 vehicles a year from 2009 in India, a company official said on Wednesday.
But chasing new opportunities would not be at the expense of jobs in Europe, Hans Dieter Poetsch, Volkswagen's chief financial officer, told reporters in New Delhi.
"Volkswagen is going through a difficult phase in Western Europe, as automobile markets there are largely saturated," he said.
Targetting fast-growing markets "is the only way to make sure the entire company has a good economic foundation and the only way to safeguard the long-term future of the Volkswagen Group," he added.
The company signed an agreement with the government of Maharashtra to build a $530 million factory in Pune.
It will also design a new car loosely based on its Polo model but tailored to the $7 billion-plus Indian auto market, which Volkswagen expects to more than triple to annual sales of 3.5 million units within the next decade.
Volkswagen's Passat model will be produced from mid-2007 at its plant in Aurangabad, currently dedicated to making cars for Skoda, its Czech unit.
In India, the German giant has to compete with the small, cheap cars built by market leader Maruti Udyog Ltd. -- 54.2 percent owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp -- and those of South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. and Tata Motors.
Poetsch would not comment on recent reports he was likely to be forced out of the company when his contract expires next year.
But he did stress that expansion in emerging markets would "strengthen" the jobs of its unionised European workforce.
"Some of the components and models used and sold in these two countries (India and Russia) will be imported from Germany, and thus help safeguard jobs in Germany too."
Volkswagen said last week it planned to stop making its best-selling Golf at its Brussels plant to cut costs, reducing the factory's staff from 4,900 to 1,500.
But it later suggested it may build 100,000 units of the small Audi car at the plant from 2009.

Source : Reuters

Taqa to invest up to $1 bln in Indian power plants

By Stanley Carvalho

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (Taqa) said on Wednesday it would invest up to $1 billion in a joint venture to build power plants in India, where electricity demand outstrips supply by as much as 10 percent.
United Arab Emirates-based Taqa's venture with India's Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. will add a total of up to 7,000 megawatts to generating capacity in Asia's third-largest economy, Taqa Chief Executive Peter Barker-Homek told Reuters.
The power plants will be built in the next three to five years across India, where the government plans to invest 8 trillion rupees ($283 billion) by 2012 to add about 100,000 megawatts of power generating capacity.
"There will be up to $1 billion in equity from Taqa, and Infrastructure Leasing will invest alongside," Barker-Homek said in an interview in Abu Dhabi, the largest of seven emirates in the oil-exporting UAE federation.
"We will identify power-deficient states to build independent power plants in the coming months."
Less than half of India's 138.27 million rural homes have power. With economic growth surging, electricity demand in the country of 1 billion people exceeds supply by 10 percent during peak hours.
Infrastructure Leasing said in a joint statement that investments with state-controlled Taqa would include a 750 megawatt gas-based power project in Tripura.
India was one of the countries Taqa cited when it announced in October it was planning to make energy acquisitions worth up to $3.5 billion in the next two years.
Taqa, which has controlling stakes in five power and water stations in Abu Dhabi, said on Tuesday it would buy Dutch gas exploration and production assets of BP for $694 million.
Gulf Arab companies are scouring the globe for investment opportunities after a tripling of oil prices since 2001 powered economic growth in the world's top oil-exporting region.

© Reuters

TCS says signs $65 mln deal with Somerfield

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., India's top software services exporter, said on Wednesday it had signed a seven-year, $65 million IT services deal with British retailer Somerfield.
TCS said it would take over the entire IT operations, asset management and planning for Somerfield. As a result, 115 employees of the British company would be made redundant.
"This is the first full services contract win for any Indian company outside of India," Phiroz Vandrevala, global head of corporate services at TCS, said in a statement.
TCS said it had about 3,000 people working in some 50 locations in Britain and another 900 at its site in Peterborough, but it still had 150-200 vacancies.
"The affected employees will be actively considered across the 150-200 vacancies in TCS operations in the U.K.," the firm's senior general manager for corporate communications, Pradipta Bagchi, said.

Source : Reuters

Indian firms post impressive revenue in USA

The top 100 private held Indian American companies collectively generated over $2.7 billion in revenues in 2005, provided full time jobs to over 18,000 employees, and operated at an average revenue rate of over $150,000 per employee, a new survey has found.
Companies in the mid-Atlantic and northeast regions of the United States posted the maximum revenues, each region contributing 32 percent to the total revenue figures of $2,741,991,337 of the 100 companies, according to the 2006 News India Times-VII 100 list.The News India Times - VII 100 List recognises the top 100, privately-held, Indian-owned companies in America, ranked in order of their annual revenues. Since its beginning in 1996, the list has become the leading information source on Indian-owned entrepreneurial performance in the US.Only those companies, which achieved net sales of at least $1 million in the previous fiscal year, were eligible to vie for a spot on the list. This year, 132 applications were received for the survey.The company should have an Indian American as its chief executive or general partner or president and its majority ownership should he held by Indian Americans.The Farmingdale, New York-based Ducon Technologies topped the list posting sales figures of $328,669,034 in 2005, according to the survey, which was conducted by Ventures International, Inc. (VII) in collaboration with the News India Times, an ethnic Indian newspaper published from New York.The firm, which has Indian American Aron Govil as its chief executive, is a world leader in providing advanced technologies and equipment for controlling and measuring atmospheric emissions, greenhouse gases and related systems to a wide variety of industries.Ducon was followed by the QSS Group, a Lanham, Maryland-based software services company, which posted sales of $283 million in the same period.Luceo, Inc., a software services company based in Naperville, Illinois, topped the list of the top 10 fastest growing companies. The company, headed by Siva Natarajan, posted sales of $5.4 million in 2005, a rise of 285.71 percent from the previous year. Overall, the company ranked 86th.The survey also ranked companies sectorwise. While Ducon Technologies and QSS led the manufacturing and software services sectors, the other sectors covered by the survey were construction, distribution, finance, health services, hospitality, professional services, retail, systems integration and transportation.Of the 100 companies listed, 50 have offshore facilities in Australia, Britain, Canada, China Cyprus, Denmark, Dubai, Egypt, France, India, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Poland and Taiwan.

Prithvi interceptor missile tested successfully

T.S. Subramanian
CHENNAI: India acquired on Monday the capability of air defence against ballistic missiles when it launched two missiles, with one intercepting the other, from two ranges off the Orissa coast.
While the target missile took off from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur-on-sea, near Balasore, the interceptor took off a few seconds later from the Wheeler Island, about 70 km away. It intercepted the target mid-flight and destroyed it over the Bay of Bengal.
"A milestone"
M. Natarajan, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, told The Hindu over the phone from New Delhi: "With this, India has acquired the capability of air defence against the incoming ballistic missile threat. It is a significant milestone in the missile defence of the country."
He described the success of the mission as a "glow made when a thousand lamps are merged into one. That is what I feel."
"There was a lot of not only hardware but also software custom-built for this mission. They have been validated, and that is our greatest satisfaction. The credit should go to the whole team," Mr. Natarajan said.
The project director was Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Chief Controller, Missile and Strategic Systems, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Trajectory monitored
The target missile was launched around 10.15 a.m. Its trajectory was continuously monitored, and the information stored in the Mission Control Centre. This information was transmitted to the Launch Control Centre for launching the interceptor, which took off some seconds later.
The target was a standard Prithvi-II missile, modified to simulate the trajectory of an enemy missile. A portion of the interceptor was similar to the Prithvi missile but its second stage was a totally new segment.
The interceptor had inertial navigation guidance system, used mid-course in the flight, and an active seeker-guidance system in its terminal phase to waylay the incoming missile. Many technologies relevant to the interceptor were validated in the mission. A radar was used and the interceptor had a seeker guidance on board.

Source: Hindu

Sensex hits 13,800

Puneet Wadhwa

Monday, November 27, 2006 (Mumbai):

The markets ended firm on Monday with the benchmark index surging 70 points to close at 13,773 levels.In the broader markets, the Nifty gained 0.5 per cent or 18 points to end the day at 3968 levels.“The markets are being driven higher by pure momentum. It is advisable not to go short. The Nifty can go up further,” said Ambareesh Baliga, VP, Karvy Stock Broking."The markets are expected to be choppy. The Nifty should trade between 3850-3950 levels till Thursday," said Vishal Jain, F&O Analyst, Karvy Stock Broking.Gujarat Ambuja Cements, which surged 3.4 per cent, was the biggest gainer among BSE 30 scrips. ACC, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Wipro Ltd, Reliance Communication, ONGC, SBI, Hindalco, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Auto were the other key gainers.However, Dr Reddy's, HLL, Cipla Ltd, BHEL, Reliance Industries, Ranbaxy, Hero Honda and Infosys Technologies closed in the red.Consumer durables gainConsumer durables index was the biggest gainer among sectoral indices. It moved up two per cent or 66 points. Su-Raj Diamonds (up 7.6 per cent) and Blue Star (up 3.7 per cent) were the key gainers.In the banking space, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Andhra Bank, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce firmed up.Metals shineHindustan Zinc (up 5.9 per cent), Jindal Saw (up 2.3 per cent), Jindal Steel & Power (up 2 per cent), Sterlite Industries (up1.6 per cent) and Hindalco up by a per cent, closed in positive territory.Among cement stocks, India Cements, Birla Corp, Chettinad Cement, Mangalam Cement, Grasim Industries, and JK Cements gained ground besides Gujarat Ambuja Cements and ACC.New listingLanco Infratech made its debut on the bourses on Monday. The stock listed at Rs 270 at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as against the Initial Public Offer (IPO) price of Rs 240. It is ended the day at Rs 241 levels by close of trading session.The company plans to utilise the proceeds of the issue to augment resource-mobilizing programme.The investment in power companies is pegged at Rs 951.8 crore, while the investment in property development is pegged at Rs 28.1 crore.

Indian leather exports is likely to reach USD 7 billion

Source: IRIS (22 November 2006)

Indian leather exports is likely to reach USD 7 billion by 2010-11, said Commerce & Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, while addressing the India Leather Summit 2006 - Towards Global Dominance, organised by the council for leather exports (CLE). At present, the export earnings from the leather sector is about USD 2.7 billion, with a growth of around 8%. In a bid to attain the projected levels of export, Nath said annual export growth rate at an average of 20% must be sustained and additional capacities must be created with modern and state-of-the-art production technologies. The tariff elimination and reduction mechanisms through free trade agreements (FTAs), regional trade agreements (RTAs) and preferential trade agreements (PTAs) will expand the market access of Indian leather products in developed / industrialized countries, he felt. While gradual phasing out of import duties in India on inputs and machinery will further improve the cost competitiveness of the domestic manufacturers, Nath said. The government has undertaken several policy and financial initiatives to encourage large domestic and global investments in leather industry. An integrated leather development programme is being implemented with the central allocation of Rs 4 billion to focus on modernisation of manufacturing facilities in all segments of the leather sector. The minister indicated that if required the programme could be extended during the 11th Plan period. However, the sector has hardly attracted investment from overseas. Expressing concerns over it, Kamal Nath said that this trend needs to be reversed through aggressive campaigns, investment promotion programmes and by creating awareness about investment opportunities available in the Indian leather sector. The need to carry a comprehensive survey about the domestic market for leather products should highlight the opportunities for the foreign direct investors. It is only through such a route, the country can attract foreign investors, the minister said. So far, leather industry overseas investments are at an abysmal level of less than 0.15% of the total foreign investments inflow into the country. India has been seen as a great opportunities destination by most manufacturers of leather and leather products from industrialised countries of the West who are looking for shifting their production base to eastern countries especially India, owing to rising labour costs even in China.

Larsen & Toubro plans new shipyard

Wednesday, November 22, 2006 at 1702 hours ISTMumbai, November 22: Larsen & Toubro Ltd. plans to set up a large shipyard at a cost of about 20 billion rupees to capitalise on expected demand for vessels as international trade grows, its chairman said on Wednesday.
"We are scouting and are looking at 4-5 locations. We will decide the location by January-end," Chairman and Managing Director A. M. Naik told reporters.
The engineering and construction company is looking for land in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, he said.
"With increasing trade, there is going to be huge opportunity in shipbuilding. India needs at least 2-3 large shipyards for its own requirements," Naik said.
The company already builds ships at Hazira in Gujarat, but Naik this facility could only handle smaller vessels.
Larsen & Toubro has been involved in construction of several ports and is active in the dredging segment.
Naik said the company's revenue was expected to grow 20 percent in the year to March 2007, while its order backlog, $6.5 billion at the end of September, was likely to grow 30-35 percent over the whole financial year, in line with what the company had projected last month.
Shares in Larsen ended up 1.9 per cent at 1,373.20 rupees on Wednesday in a Mumbai market that rose 0.7 per cent.

Source EXPRESS India

India, China aim for $40 bn trade

New Delhi, November 21: India and China will work to raise their bilateral trade to $40 billion by 2010, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday after talks with visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The Asian giants are keen to develop a relationship dogged by mistrust since a brutal border war of 1962 and still overshadowed by disputes over their frontier but which is now marked by burgeoning two-way trade as they liberalise their economies.
Bilateral trade has climbed from just $260 million in 1990 to a projected $20 billion in 2006/07, and is expected to continue growing. But there are still concerns on both sides.
India fears that opening its doors even wider to low-cost Chinese manufacturers would undermine its own industries, and wants Beijing to be more transparent about hidden subsidies.

Chinese firms have complained that potential investment in India in areas such as ports and telecommunications has been blocked by Indian officials who cite national security concerns, denying Chinese firms big business deals in the public sector.
New Delhi is also accused of making it tough for Chinese business officials to get visas, and not being responsive to a free-trade agreement proposal.
India has repeatedly denied that it discriminates against Chinese companies.
Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday that New Delhi was seeking comprehensive economic cooperation with China but a free-trade agreement with Beijing was not on the cards.
He said India was not in the habit of discriminating against individual countries when it came to foreign investment and welcomed more Chinese money.

Source : Express India

Tata in Forbes top 20 most reputed firms

Eight Indian business houses have made to the Forbes list of world's most reputed companies, with the country's largest corporate conglomerate Tata group sharing space with the top 20 global firms.
Tatas, the largest Indian group in terms of revenues and market capitalisation, has been ranked at the 20th position among the most reputed company list of Forbes. Maruti Suzuki, Hero Honda Motors, HLL, ITC, SBI, Infosys and M&M have also managed to find place in the top 200 list.
Italian Food and Tobacco major Barilla Holdings has been ranked at the first position, followed by Denmark's consumer products firm Lego Holdings and German airline Lufthansa at the second and third positions.
Among other Indian companies, Maruti has been ranked at 91st position, Hero Honda Motors at 108th, FMCG major HLL at 116th, ITC and 137th, IT major Infosys at 155th and automotive giant Mahindra & Mahindra has been placed at 189th position.
Tata is the only Indian entity in the top 20 of the list of world's 600 largest companies in terms of corporate reputation.
The Tata group has more than over 90 operating companies, with strong international presence in Automobile, steel, IT and services sectors, with total revenue of $24 billion and a market capitalisation of $47 billion.

source : Ht

Tata to set up power plants in 3 states

Tata Steel Ltd said on Wednesday it has signed joint venture agreement with Tata Power Co Ltd to set up captive power plants in Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand. In a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Tata Steel said it will hold 26 per cent equity in the venture with Tata Power holding the majority stake of 74 per cent. Under the agreement, Tata Steel would consume power generated from these plants to meet its requirements to support the expansion plans in Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand. As part of this initiative, Tata Power will initially set up a 120 MW captive power plant for Tata Steel in Jamshedpur, based on utilising waste gases from the steel making process, it added. Tata Steel also said it would consume power only if the requirements of captive plant norms stipulated by the government's captive power plant policy are met.

Source:Rediff

Markets: Bull-run continues

Wednesday, November 22, 2006 (Mumbai):The markets ended firm on Wednesday after a strong session with the Sensex and the Nifty closing at all-time highs.The Sensex surged 90 points to close at 13,706 levels. It touched the all-time high at 13,740 levels in the intra-day trade.In the broader markets, the Nifty gained 36 points or 0.9 per cent to end the day at 3954 levels. It hit the all-time high at 3960 levels by close of trade."We are on a basic up trend since June. I expect the Sensex to touch 17,400 levels by budget," said Kiran Jadhav, Technical Analyst, Khandwala Securities.Satyam Computer, which surged 5.4 per cent or Rs 24, was the biggest gainer at the Sensex. Reliance Energy, Reliance Communication, hero Honda, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, L&T, Tata Motors and BHEL were the other key gainers.However, HLL, ITC Ltd, HDFC Bank, Infosys Technologies, Tata Steel, HDFC and TCS closed in the red.Capital goods gainCapital goods index was the biggest gainer among sectoral indices. It gained 2.8 per cent or 247 points.Siemens India (up9.7 per cent),Aban Lyod (up 5 per cent), SKF Bearings (up 3.1 per cent), ABB (up 2.9 per cent), Crompton Greaves (up 2.2 per cent) and Carborundum Universal (up 1.6 per cent) logged smart gains besides Larsen & Toubro and BHEL.In the auto space, Hindustan Motors, Exide Industries, Cummins India, Sundram Fasteners, Sundaram Clayton, Amtek Auto, Hero Honda, Tata Motors, Maruti Udyog gained ground.Among technology stocks, HCL Infosystems, Wipro, Hexaware, Patni Computer, Mphasis and HCL Technologies firmed up besides Satyam Computer.Gaining altitudeIn the bank space, Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank, Bank of India, Andhra Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, Union Bank, UTI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank closed in positive turf.Gains were also visible in select metal scrips. Hindustan Zinc, Jindal Saw, Sesa Goa, NALCO, Sterlite Industries, SAIL and Jindal Stainless firmed up.Airline stocks gained altitude on Wednesday. Jagson Airlines, which moved up 17.8 per cent at Rs 24 levels, was the top gainer."Airline companies will not be making profits for next few quarters. I think there are people who would like to buy on these stocks and hold on for long," said I V Subramanium, Senior Fund Manager, Quantum AMC.Spicejet (up 15.9 per cent), Deccan Aviation (up 6.4 per cent) and Jet Airways (up 4.7 per cent) also closed in the green.

Source : NDTV

Indian corporates on shopping spree abroad

New Delhi: India Inc, in order to broaden its base abroad, is boosting its ever-expanding takeover carvan on the foreign shores. The manner in which domestic firms are snapping up their counterparts across the globe, they could be buying nearly 370 companies a year in the US and Western Europe alone by the end of this decade.Besides, ‘Desi firms’ are also likely to double their presence on the elite Fortune 500 list of the world’s largest companies to 12 by 2010.These are the estimates of global consultancy major Accenture, which notes that a booming domestic economy and availability of easy international financing are helping Corporate India to actualise aggressive overseas expansion and merger and acquisition drives.According to its findings, Indian companies will make over 180 acquisitions in Europe and the US by this year, up from 130 in 2005. Notably, they have already made about 150 overseas acquisitions worth a total of over $16 billion since the beginning of 2006 against 137 foreign takeover deals last year.Though India still lacks the size of companies in the US, China, South Korea and Japan as well as various European countries, multi-billion dollar deals like the acquisition of Corus by Tata Steel is putting India Inc on the fast lane to scale high levels required to be counted among the world’s largest corporates.Tata Steel is already being projected as a sure-shot entry to the next Fortune Global 500 list, following its acquisition of Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus, which is already present on the list at 352nd position.Talking to this newspaper, US-based business magazine Fortune’s International Editor Robert Friedman, who was recently in the national capital to announce the launch of Fortune Global Forum 2007, stated that Tata Group’s steel venture has the brightest chance among all the non-Fortune 500 Indian companies to make to the next list of the world’s largest corporates.At present, IOC, RIL, Bharat Petroleum, HPCL, ONGC and SBI are present on the Global 500 list of Fortune magazine.

Source :Mumbai Mirror

Boxing: India win two bouts

Home favourite Negisetty Usha pulled off a surprise by outpunching world bronze medallist and Pan-American champion Sandra Bizier in their first round bout of 57 kg class at the World Women's Boxing Championships on Sunday. Kalpana Chowdhry, the world bronze medallist in 50 kg, gave the home team its first taste of success in the championships by winning her 48kg bout earlier in the day at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium. However, disappointment was in store in 60 kg for the hosts as Ibomcha Devi lost her bout to Lucie Bertaud of France 13-23. Usha appeared to be in attacking mood from the word go, countering every punch of her Canadian opponent to end the first round at 5-5. The Kerala pugilist, making her maiden appearance in the prestigious tournament, put up a much improved performance as compared to the last few months when she struggled even in the invitational competitions. She mostly scored on her straight punches to lead 12-8 at the end of second round and despite Bizier's attempts to increase her tally, Usha carried on with the consistent show to romp home 20-14. "I am really spellbound. I was really encouraged by the crowd support and the presence of my parents. It's really a matter of pride for me to win on the home soil where everyone knows me," said Usha, who advanced to the second round.

Source : India Times

Dell to hike India investments

NEW DELHI: In line with its goal of reaching out to customers around the world with affordable technology, US-based computer maker Dell on Friday inaugurated its fourth customer contact centre in the country. Starting with 800 people, the 300,000 square-foot customer experience centre in Gurgaon is expected to employ about 1,000 by the end of this year.

“We are investing an incremental $150 million this fiscal year for various initiatives that enhance our customer experience,” said Dick Hunter, Dell vice-president, customer experience and customer support. “In Gurgaon, we are piloting innovative support strategies that we hope to replicate around the world. We are also investing in the capabilities of our support professionals through industry-leading training and certification programs,” he added.

Dayanidhi Maran, minister for communications and information technology, informed that Dell, which currently employs nearly 13,000 people in the country, will raise the number to nearly 20,000 in the next couple of years.

The Texas-headquartered company has been providing customer support to clients in the US and Europe from a temporary facility in Gurgaon since April. The global Dell customer support network includes about 25 centres.

Dell set up its first customer experience centre in India at Bangalore in 2001, followed by centres in Hyderabad and Chandigarh in 2003 and 2005, respectively. These centres have transitioned into a premier operation for Dell, where teams offer sales, technical support, customer care, e-mail support and global financial services to various businesses within Dell.

Since establishing its first customer experience centre in India, the Dell teams in the country have pioneered processes and practices for technical support, call planning and staffing. They have been providing frontline support to Dell customers around the world, regardless of product, time or location.

Thriving on a direct selling model, where computer systems are sold directly to customers, Dell offers computing solutions which meet the exact needs of the customers. It introduces the latest technology, turning over inventory every four days on average.

Spreading out

Dell has contact centres at Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chandigarh

The 3 lakh sq ft Gurgaon centre will employ 1,000 by the fiscal-end

The company will push up India headcount to 20,000 in the next few years

Source : DNA India

India to be workshop of the world: Manmohan

Lauding the dynamism shown by major Indian firms against global competition, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday expressed his government's desire to transform India into the ‘workshop of the world’, just like England once was.
Acknowledging the potential of manufacturing industries towards making the country an industrial giant as well as creating millions of jobs, Singh stressed on the need to turn India into a global manufacturing hub. “The UPA government will do whatever is necessary to realise this goal,” he said while laying the foundation stone of the world’s largest two-wheeler company Hero Honda’s third manufacturing unit at Haridwar on Thursday.
Listing his government's economic policies that have resulted in eight per cent annual growth for the last three years, Singh said that it had been possible because of creation of an environment where creativity and enterprise could flourish. “I am amazed at the dynamism being shown by our industries and firms. Many of them are actually taking over firms in other countries, setting up factories and becoming global companies,” he said. “Firms such as Hero Group represent the future of Indian business and manufacturing,” he said.
The company will invest Rs 1,900 crore in this plant along with ancillaries by 2010. The plant, expected to be operational by mid-2007, will have an initial capacity of 500,000 units that would be scaled up to 1.5 million units by 2010.
Hero Honda Managing Director Pawan Munjal said the initial investment in the plant would be Rs 400 crore, which would see the company produce five lakh units by 2007.
A senior company official said that Hero Honda had put plans and strategies in place to maintain its market leadership in India as it hopes to close the financial year at a double-digit growth.
Munjal said Hero Honda would launch six new bikes in the Indian market by the end of this financial year.

Source : HT

Microsoft files over 100 patents from India

Microsoft Corp's Indian research and development centre has filed more than 100 patents in the past two years alone, showing a maturing of world-class product development from the country, the company's corporate vice-president who runs a key unit that addresses developers worldwide said on Tuesday.
"It is about 110 in the last 24 months," Indian-born Sivaramakrishnan Somasegar, based in Seattle but also responsible for Microsoft’s India Development Center (IDC), told Hindustan Times.
Somasegar is one of Microsoft’s hottest talents, and was until 2003 in–charge of the core engineering functions of the ubiquitous Windows platform that runs on most of the world’s desktop computers, making the software work with independent hardware and application developers.
He now heads a 2,500-people-strong Microsoft team that works with a worldwide community of developers who use its tools and platforms to make end-use applications. A majority of the world’s eight million estimated developers use Microsoft tools, Somasegar said.
He said about 130 patents have been filed so far by the Hyderabad centre set up in 1998. "Services are probably playing a big role in the Indian software industry right now, but I clearly see more of R&D in the future," said Somasegar. "In the next five years, I see more innovation and R&D coming out of here."
"A good chunk" of Microsoft’s Windows Vista platform, which is due for commercial release anytime, was developed in Hyderabad, which has also contributed to various product groups within the company, Somasegar said.
Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Adobe and Google are among the world's software leaders which are engaged in advanced R&D and product development of India, and have helped change its image as a low-cost destination. Somasegar said the IDC now had 1,200 engineers that do advanced work, up from 500 two years ago.
The developer division that Somasegar runs is critical for Microsoft because it functions like a wholesale unit that offers key tools and platforms which independent companies like Adobe and SAP use to make end-use software like those used to develop Websites, make newspaper pages or run business processes like inventory management.
Somasegar, who grew up in Pondicherry, studied at Chennai’s Guindy Engineering College before heading to the US for higher education. He joined Microsoft as a software engineer in 1989. The Anna University, to which his college is affiliated, conferred an honorary doctorate on Somasegar this week.
Somasegar said he was helped by Bill Gates' shift from his previous role as chief executive officer to chief software architect. "It is good news. We get to spend more time with him," he said.

Source : HT

Operations begin at private IT park

Operations begin at private IT park
Staff Reporter
KOCHI: Operations at the Technopolis, an IT park set up by the Muthoot Pappachan Group, was officially launched here on Wednesday. Well-known IT companies Wipro and Sutherland already commenced operations at the park. Cognizant and Williams Lea are also setting up their units there. Announcing the launch of operations, Thomas George Muthoot, Managing Director, Technopolis, said the park, spread across 3.5 lakh sq. ft in 2.5 acres at the Special Economic Zone, has an employment potential of 4,000.
The group is planning to set up another IT park at the SEZ, he said. Mr. Thomas said Technopolis is the first IT park co-developed within a SEZ in the country. The project, designed by Jurong Infrastructure India Private Limited, was set up at a cost of Rs.45 crore, according to him. The IT park would generate a revenue of Rs.1,500 crore.
Mr. Thomas said Technopolis, located on the airport-sea port highway, was designed to suit the requirements of the IT industry.

Mahindra Holidays introduces vacation product for youngsters

CHENNAI: Mahindra Holidays & Resorts Limited (MHRL) has launched a new product called Zest. It is a vacation ownership product, offering short holidays packages for youngsters, who live a stressed life in cities.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Arun Nanda, Chairman of MHRL, said the company had designed the concept with the help of a U.S.-based consumer experience design firm, IDEO.
He said research showed that 34 per cent of IT employees in India in the age group of 26-39 years were keen to take a short break from their routines.
The study prompted Mahindra to launch Zest, which would be its second product after Club Mahindra.
Zest resorts
Navarun Sen, Business Head of Zest, said the company was planning Zest resorts at destinations accessible easily from metros. These holiday packages would be priced between Rs. 67,000 and Rs. 1.29 lakh. A membership would offer multiple breaks every year for ten years. Zest resorts would offer a choice of three holiday seasons. Its signature resort, underway at Puducherry, was slated to open by the end of 2007.
The upcoming resorts at Udhagamandalam and Kodaikknal would be ready to offer the `Zest experience' by 2006, Mr. Sen said.
The Managing Director of the company, Ramesh Ramanathan said, the company was planning to start 15 such resorts. The total investment would be Rs. 350 crore to Rs. 400 crore.
Mr. Ramanathan said the company had completed ten years and had 45,000 members. It had a total revenue of Rs. 220 crore and gross income of Rs. 157 crore. The company had 16 resorts across the country and would be adding four soon, he said.

Source : Hindu

TCS bags $100 mn deal

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 14: India's largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services has bagged a USD 100 million (nearly Rs 450 crore) deal from US healthcare company Kimberly-Clark.
While details of the deal were not available immediately, a source close to the development said that TCS has bagged a contract from Kimberly-Clark.

When contacted, a TCS spokesperson refused to comment.
Kimberly-Clark, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is one of the world's leading health and hygiene companies.

Source : Financial express

Sensex Hits record High

MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 15: Market rose to yet another peak of 13,469.37 with a gain of 43.87 points fuelled by smart gains in information technology and banking stocks.
The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index, Sensex, also set an intra-day peak at 13,506.08, led by stocks like State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty gained 10.40 points at 3876.30, after touching a record high of 3888.80.
Banking stocks gained on the back of report that Reserve Bank of India has permitted ICICI Bank Ltd to open new branches and install cash machines.

Source: Financial express

Pantaloon-Alpha get Rs 500-cr duty-free deal for Delhi airport

Kishore Biyani's Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd and its British partner Alpha Airports Group Plc have won a Rs 500-crore three-year, three-month contract to run duty-free shopping at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, the consortium said in a statement on Wednesday.
Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL), run by the GMR group, which is busy modernising the national capital's airport. DIAL's first phase of the airport would be ready with the completion of a new integrated terminal building in 2010.
DIAL is a joint venture company comprising the GMR Group, the Airports Authority of India, German airport firm Fraport, Eraman Malaysia and the India Development Fund.
The Alpha-Pantaloon consortium said the stores at Delhi airport will feature an extensive range of products by some of the largest and most popular brands such as Armani, Gucci, Christian Dior, Calvin Klein, Nike and Swatch.
“The brands for India have been selected after careful research in passenger demographics, customer profiling and destination requirements,” it said.
Asia, which now has some of the world's fastest growing economies, accounts for nearly 35 percent of the global duty-free sales, and airports could well turn out to be major hotspots for retailing activity as companies seek to tap footfalls in the catchment area of airports.
Privately built airports in Bangalore, Kochi and Hyderabad are also betting on retail outlets to boost their image and profitability.
“No longer is duty free shopping just about loading up with as much cut-price liquor and tobacco as customs regulations back home allow. Instead, airports are increasingly becoming upscale bazaars, retailing premium goods, electronic products, gourmet foods and fashion accessories,” said a DIAL spokesman.
Alpha Airports Group Plc has more than 140 retail outlets across 40 locations in the UK, Europe, the US, and South Asia. In Asia it has outlets in Kochi, Colombo, Kathmandu and Male.
Srinivas Bommidala, Managing Director, DIAL, said that the Alpha group’s “experience across the globe would provide world class experience to travellers at the Delhi Airport.”

Source : HT

Indian lawyers the best in Asia: US law school dean

Indian lawyers, especially those engaged in corporate law, have an advantage over their counterparts in other Asian countries, thanks to their inherent proficiency in English, David E Van Zandt, Dean and Professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago, told Hindustan Times in an exclusive interview on Wednesday."That is why, it is of essence that India, being an emerging economic superpower, take part in the global competition of corporate law practice with aspirants here receiving world-class training at reputed international schools like ours," he said.It was this view that brought Professor Zandt to India to introduce prospective law students to the various programmes of his institute, designed to make international legal experts out of those who would otherwise have been ordinary lawyers practising regional law.On November 12, Professor Zandt made a presentation on the opportunities that exist internationally in the field of business and law in front of an audience of future law students and practising legal experts in Delhi."With so much talent and promise existing in India, it is only fair that Indians come to know of the opportunities that exist at reputed universities. The response during the presentation was extremely positive," he said.Professor Zandt said that the world of academics in business and law at the Northwestern University School of Law offers, among other things, three very "useful" programmes: a nine-month LLM degree, a two-year degree in association with the renowned Kellog School of Management and a unique concept known as the Excutive LLM Programme."If all goes well, our world-class faculty might come to India to teach practising lawyers the nuances of international business law under the Executive LLM Programme. It is not a refresher course; it is like learning new things altogether in a better way," he said.India's "pool of talent", he said, could play a leading role in shaping the dynamics of corporate law and business. "That's why, we would love to see more Indians in our classrooms. At present, the number is not very encouraging because most aspirants do not known about the opportunities we provide. But very soon, that lack of information will cease to exist," he said.Like in most reputed schools in America, studying in Northwestern, too, does not go easy on the pocket. "But good things in life do not come cheap anyway," said Professor Zandt, adding that the institute has fee aid and other programmes for financial support for the truly meritorious.Professor Zandt headed for Mumbai on Wednesday to make a similar presentation and meet legal experts there.

Source : HT

India adds record 4.7 million GSM users in Oct

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India added 4.7 million GSM subscribers in Oct., a monthly record, boosting its user base to 134.23 million, an industry association said on Thursday.
Numbers for those who signed up for CDMA-based services in the world's fastest growing wireless services market have not yet been released.
Carriers such as Bharti Airtel Ltd. are reacting to surging demand by expanding their networks into communication starved rural areas. The world's cheapest local mobile call rates are also spurring customers to enter the sector.
India's total number of wireless services users also surged after telecoms officials ruled that customers opting for fixed wireless phones, based on GSM and CDMA technology, would also be counted as mobile users.
Major players in the sector include Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications Ltd., state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. and Hutchison Essar Ltd.

Source : HT

World Jr badminton: 16 yr Old Saina Nehwal storms into final

Saina Nehwal became only the second Indian to reach the final of the World Junior badminton championship when she beat local hope Youn Joo Bae is straight games in the semifinals in Incheon, South Korea, on Friday.
The 16-year-old saved a gamepoint in the opening game and then overturned a two-point deficit in the second to win 25-23, 21-13 in 35 minutes. She now faces Asian champion and top seed Yihan Wang of China in Saturday's summit clash.
Nine-time national champion Aparna Popat is the only other Indian to reach this far in the prestigious event. Popat achieved the feat 10 years ago in Denmark where she went down to Yu Hua in the finals.
Saina, who took the world by surprise by winning the four-star Philippines Open earlier this year, adopted an attacking approach in the semifinals and the moved paid off. "I knew she was a rally player," the Hyderabadi said on phone from Incheon. "Though I was on guard and willing to play a long match, I went for the kill every time I got a chance."
The Indian is very aware that her next opponent is not a pushover, despite her international senior ranking of 103 as compared to Saina's 32. In fact, the 18-year-old Wang upset world champion Xie Xingfang in straight sets to win the invitational World Cup in Indonesia in the run up to this tournament.
"She (Wang) has all the strokes and is a great mover on the court," Saina said. "I have not made any special plans for her. I am just going to play my game."
Saina admits that relatively less pressure than last year has helped her perform better in this championship. "I am not the top seed here," she said. "I am the 14th favourite. That helps me play without pressure."

Source : HT

Tata Motors begins trials of Rs 1-lakh car

Tata Motors has commenced 'in-factory' trials of its upcoming small car, widely referred to as the Rs 1-lakh car.The company has five prototypes ready and these are being tested currently at the Pune facility, Ravi Kant, MD pf Tata Motors, said here on Thursday. "We have frozen the styling of the car and the schedule for its commercial launch is being maintained...it will be launched in two years, he said.Calling the Rs 1 lakh price tag as figment of media's imagination, Ravi Kant said the company nevertheless considers the price point as a serious one. "It will be impossible to offer the product at that price, as the costs of almost all inputs have increased significantly over the last couple of years before which the plan for the car was announced," Ravi Kant said.Though the company is considering different varients of the car, the engine will be standardised, he said. Ravi Kant denied media reports that the car will run on a Fiat engine as Tata Motors has planned a joint venture (JV) with Fiat."The engine has been designed by Tata Motors and the styling has been done jointly by international design houses and company engineers," he added.Tata Motors has started identifying the vendors for various components and has also started placing orders with them, he said.Ravi Kant said the Tata-Fiat JV will be formalised in 2 months whereupon the Fiat facility at Ranjangaon near Pune will be revived. The joint venture will manufacture cars as well as power trains for the Indian market, he said.

Source : Business standrad

Indian IT firms fuel Qantas flight

HYDERABAD/SYDNEY: Satyam Computer Services Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services today announced in separate statements that they have won multi-million seven-year contracts with Qantas. The agreement between Satyam and Qantas covers application development and maintenance services for over 150 applications across a wide portfolio of technologies. This follows the recent Oracle e-Business suite contract announced in August between Qantas and Satyam for the implemented elements of Qantas’ eBusiness systems. The transition of the IT support and service delivery of these applications to Satyam is already underway, the Satyam statement said. The deal follows an extensive, 12-month review by Qantas of its information technology applications development, support and maintenance functions.Commenting on this win, Rama Raju, co-founder and chief executive officer of Satyam, said, “We are very proud to partner with Qantas, Australia’s leading airline as one of their global service providers and we look forward to leveraging our global expertise towards achieving Qantas goals and objectives.”TCS’ seven-year engagement with Qantas with an expected value of around AUD120 million (US$90 million) is to provide a range of IT application, transformation and maintenance services.Under the contract, TCS will assume full responsibility for more than 75 per cent of the total scope of Qantas' (AST) program. TCS will provide support and maintenance to all of Qantas' key IT applications for airport operations and commercial systems TCS will be the lead partner for the transition phase of the entire Qantas AST program, overseeing activities of many of Qantas' internal and external groups involved in IT systems support and maintenance."The Qantas engagement is a significant milestone for TCS' airline business and is the result of our extensive investments in building domain expertise that has helped create innovative solutions for companies," said S Ramadorai, CEO and managing director. "We believe technology has a strong role to play in enabling the travel and hospitality sector companies to retain customers and build new business models," he added.The TCS statement issued from Sydney said that Qantas will benefit from access to TCS' new Innovation Lab for Travel and Hospitality, located in Chennai. The Lab incubates, develops and pilots new solutions for emerging technologies such as RFID, wireless and digital asset management.

© CyberMedia News

Indian journeyman books weekend playing with Woods

SHANGHAI - With a mixture of delight, excitement and surprise, unheralded Indian Jyoti Randhawa held onto his lead at Asia’s richest golf tournament here on Friday to earn a weekend playing golf with Tiger Woods.
Randhawa, ranked 103 in the world and still trying to establish himself on the European tour, followed his seven-under par 65 in the opening round on Thursday with a three-under 69 to maintain his spot atop the leaderboard.
Sitting below him are 10 of the world’s top 20 ranked golfers, with world number one Woods just two shots behind after shooting a course-record equalling 64 on Friday.
Two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen of South Africa is in outright second on nine under, while 2005 US Open title holder Michael Campbell of New Zealand is sitting alongside Woods at eight under.
For Randhawa, who claimed the 2002 Asian Order of Merit but has never won on the European tour, his unexpectedly lofty position on Friday is the stuff of dreams.
“I am very delighted. I didn’t think I would end up leading the golf tournament after two days, especially in a field like this,” the 34-year-old said.
Randhawa will now play the final two rounds -- and compete for a winner’s cheque of more than 800,000 dollars - with Woods and Goosen.
“It would be an honor for me just to have a round of golf with him (Woods),” Randhawa said, although he emphasized he would try to treat the situation as normally as possible.
“I’ll just try to play my own game... whether it’s Tiger Woods or somebody else, somebody is going to win this tournament and it’s going to be the best player that week.”
Nevertheless, he admitted that excitement at leading such an illustrious field may have already cost him at least two strokes, blaming his nerves for starting the day on Friday with two bogeys.

Source :Khaleej times

Indian shares end 1 pct up at record

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian shares rose 1.1 percent to a record close on Friday as foreign investors bought shares in Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank on hopes
of strong earnings growth.
The main BSE index ended 145.42 points up at 13,282.91 points after hitting an all-time high of 13,303.85, while only seven out of the 30 index stocks ended lower.
Analysts said a lot of investors who had sold in the options market in anticipation of a fall squared up the transactions when they saw the index rising, adding to its gains.
The index, which has gained nearly 1.2 percent this week, is up 41 percent since the start of the year on overseas investment of more than $7 billion. This is still behind 2005's total of $10.7 billion.
"There was lot of fund interest in Reliance at lower levels and in ICICI Bank because retail loans growth will be strong," said Deven Choksey, chairman at K R Choksey Shares and Securities.
Reliance Industries Ltd., the top weighted stock at 11.7 percent, closed nearly 2 percent higher at 1,286.25 rupees.
ICICI Bank Ltd., India's second largest lender, jumped 4.1 percent to a record close of 831.85 rupees. It was top gainer on the index.
Shares elsewhere in the region surrendered gains with the Karachi 100 index ending 2 percent down at 10,739.45 points. The CSE All-Share index in Colombo lost 0.6 percent to 2,564.8 points.
STOCKS THAT MOVED
* Civil engineering firm Simplex Infrastructures Ltd. rose 7.4 percent to 385.60 rupees after it secured an order worth 2.12 billion rupees from Delhi Metro Rail Corp. Ltd.
* Oil refining and marketing companies like Hindustan Petroleum Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp. fell over 2 percent after U.S. crude oil futures rose to $61 a barrel.
* Bulk drug maker Granules India Ltd. rose 2.9 percent to 91.65 rupees after its board approved raising up to $20 million through convertible securities or overseas issues.
TOP TWO MAIN STOCKS BY VOLUME
* Reliance Industries on 2.7 million shares
* Hindalco Industries Ltd. on 1.5 million shares.

Samsung Elec to invest $100 mln to build India plant

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said on Friday it would invest $100 million to build a television and monitor plant in India to meet fast-growing demand for consumer electronics products there.
Samsung signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Tamil Nadu to set up its second Indian manufacturing complex in Sriperumbudur, the firm said in a filing with the Korea Exchange.
Samsung plans to commence construction in January 2007 and start commercial operation in August the same year, with the investment to be made over the next five years starting 2007.
The plant will first produce colour televisions, monitors, refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, and later also make liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions and LCD monitors.
"We are looking at the new facilities becoming a global manufacturing hub for Samsung and will be manufacturing products at this facility not only for the domestic market but for the export markets as well," S.H. Oh, Samsung's president of its Southwest Asia headquarters, said in a statement.
Samsung said it expects to hire 2,500 people for the project.
Samsung, which has another consumer electronics plant in Noida, targets sales of $5.5 billion in the country for 2010.
The South Korean company is betting on a market that is set to grow 12-15 percent a year from low base levels, due to rising salaries and soaring aspirations of the 270 million strong middle class.
Shares in Samsung closed 0.32 percent lower at 629,000 won, in line with the wider market's 0.27 percent fall.

Retures

Sensex scales new peak above 13K

Mumbai: Encouraging news from petro giant Reliance Industries (RIL) and FMCG major Hindustan Lever (HLL) propelled the stock market to a new closing peak of 13,186.89, extending the gains to the fourth straight day on Monday.
RIL shares surged by 1.48 per cent to a new closing high of Rs 1,306.05 following reports that the company might spend $2 billion on an Ethanol plant by 2012, while HLL jumped by 4.79 per cent amid reports of another price hike in FMCG products.
Overcoming initial pressure, the Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) benchmark index, Sensex, rallied to a new trading peak of 13,206.87 before ending the day at an all-time high of 13,186.89, a net rise of 56.10 points or 0.43 per cent over Friday's close of 13,130.79.
The National Stock Exchange's (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty closed with a modest rise of 3.90 points or 0.10 per cent to 3,809.25 from the previous close of 3,805.35.
Metal and FMCG shares were in keen demand from investors. Metal stocks scored impressive gains on the back of a sharp rise in global metal prices. Bank, PSU and Auto counters, however, witnessed profit booking from investors.
Attributing buying support from retail investors partly to the opening day of the week, brokers said bulls were seen creating fresh positions in frontline counters on encouraging news from major corporates, including ITC, Reliance Capital, GACL and Tata Motors.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and mutual funds, which have increased their activity since last week, too were selective buyers in key stocks.

Source: ibn

PM says India is changing, take note

New Delhi: Political “postures” in the country are often "out of line with our current interests", said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday.
"I am often disappointed by the lack of adequate appreciation in our country, including among our political leaders, of the changing nature of our relationship with the world, and indeed with the region around us,” Singh said at the silver jubilee of Indian Council for Research and International Economic Relations.
"Very often, we adopt political postures that are based in the past and are out of line with our current interests as an increasingly globalised and globally integrated economy," he told the think tank.
Without naming any political party or leader, Singh said that he is disappointed that India's new relationship with the world and its impact on our domestic policies is not appreciated.
India was destined to be more globally engaged and more integrated with its own region. "Even today, our energy security is closely intertwined with our political relations with a wide range of countries around the globe. Our food security, indeed our national security, are closely linked to developments around the world," he said.
A deeper understanding of China and studying the World Trade Organisation (WTO), South Asia, South-East Asia, West and Central Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, and North America would help in forming domestic policies.

Source: ibn

Sonata Software eyeing buy in U.S., Europe

By Janaki Krishnan
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Software services firm Sonata Software Ltd. is looking at an acquisition in U.S. or Europe with revenues of around $50 million to sustain growth, a top official said.
"So far our growth has been organic. But in order to sustain our current level of growth we need to look at acquisitions," President and Managing Director B Ramaswamy told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
The acquisition is likely to be made in the next fiscal year, he said.
"For the last four quarters the company has been maintaining an average growth rate of 65 percent year on-year on a standalone basis," he said. For the quarter to Sept. 2006, Sonata's standalone net profit rose 65 percent to 92.6 million rupees.
"The acquisition has to add to our geographical reach, add to our capabilities and lead to more clients in certain verticals."
Fifty percent of Sonata's revenues are from the US and other 50 percent mainly from the English-speaking Western Europe.
"Now we want to get into the non-English speaking areas," he said. So the company's acquisition would either have its operations in Europe or U.S., where it is still seeking to consolidate its position.
A recent 50-percent acquisition of Germany's TUI InfoTec would result in 65 percent of revenues coming from Europe and the impact on revenues is expected from the current quarter.
"The acquisition has put us in the $250 million-plus revenue category which considerably increases our ability to bid for larger deals," he said.
"Now we can easily go for $30-40 million deal sizes," he added.
"The U.S. is a large market and we need to strengthen our presence there," Ramaswamy said.
Sonata has a 2500-seater facility coming up in Hyderabad, which will start at the end of a year and is looking at a leased facility in Bangalore with capacity for 1000-plus people, he said.
In the last 3 months the stock has gained 18 percent while the BSE 500 index has gained 24 percent.

Source : Reuters

India OKs Volvo, Disney, Honda investments

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India on Monday said it had approved 32 foreign direct investment proposals worth 2.5 billion rupees ($55.7 million) across a range of sectors and involving firms such as Volvo, Walt Disney Co., Honda Motor Co.
The largest proposal cleared was a 1.4-billion-rupee plan by Singapore-based Walt Disney Co. (South East Asia) Pte. Ltd., a unit of the Walt Disney Co., to invest in India's United Home Entertainment Ltd.
United runs the popular Hungama children's channel.
Volvo Bus Corp. received approval to form a joint venture with Bangalore-based Jaico Automobile Engineering with an initial investment of 272 million rupees ($6.06 million) to produce 1,000 bus bodies a year for the Indian market and possibly exports.
The government also gave a green light to Japan's Honda Motor Co. to set up a subsidiary for the management of its spare parts operations and business planning.
A 450-million-rupee proposal by U.S. firm Beekman Helix India Partners LLC to infuse capital into its Indian arm, which invests in companies engaged in real estate sector, was also among those cleared by Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram.

Source : Reuters

Lakshmi Mittal replaces Arcelor Mittal CEO

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal took the reins at Arcelor Mittal on Monday, replacing an Arcelor man at the top just four months after a bitter $33 billion merger to form the combined group.
The world's largest steelmaker, still in the process of being formed, also reported third-quarter figures showing pro-forma core profit slightly ahead of expectations and reiterated its guidance for the full year.
Mittal Steel, which took over Luxembourg's Arcelor after a ferocious stock market battle, had initially pledged to keep an Arcelor man as chief executive of the new steel behemoth in a bid to calm political opposition to the deal.
Arcelor Mittal said in a statement on Monday that the board of directors had unanimously appointed Lakshmi Mittal as the new chief to replace Roland Junck of Arcelor, who remains a member of the group's management board.
"We are making these changes to clarify the leadership of the company. It had become clear over the past months that the interests of the company were not best served by the previous structure," said Joseph Kinsch, chairman of the board, who had been a leading Arcelor figure resisting Mittal's advances.
The move, which Junck said he proposed, will be put to shareholders for a vote in which the Mittal family, which owns over 40 percent of Arcelor Mittal, will not take part.
Mittal said the integration of the two groups was progressing well and put the total price of the takeover of Arcelor at $33.4 billion.
Arcelor Mittal also said its board is committed to selling the company's Canadian unit Dofasco.
The decision on the unit's future will be taken this month by a Dutch foundation set up by Arcelor during the takeover battle.
The takeover battle for Arcelor ended in late June and by the end of August Mittal Steel held 93.7 percent of Arcelor's shares. The merger should be completed in April or May next year, Kinsch said.
Mittal shares closed down 0.3 percent at 32.90 euros while the Dow Jones European base resources index rose 2.2 percent.
MOVE EXPECTED
A London-based analyst, who declined to be named, said it was no great surprise.
"Pretty much everyone knew who the leader of the group was. The chief has not really changed. But why let investors, especially French investors, wait until now? It was always going to be the case," he said.
Colette Neuville, head of the Adam minority shareholder group, said it was a shame Mittal had not said from the start that he would head the group.
"But it doesn't pose a problem as long as there are effective checks and balances in the company and that for example board members play their role fully," she said.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told local radio he took note of Junck's resignation with "extreme regret". The company will remain headquartered in Luxembourg.
Lakshmi Mittal had been non-executive president of the group and was due to succeed Kinsch as chairman when the latter retired. Officials said it would be up to the board to decide whether this would still happen.
FINANCIAL GUIDANCE MAINTAINED
Arcelor Mittal said EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) amounted to $4.35 billion, compared with the average forecast of $4.29 billion from a poll of seven analysts by Reuters.
"The anticipated low seasonal volume was offset by a strong rise in steel prices... Looking ahead, we are on track to deliver guidance for the full year," Chief Financial Officer Aditya Mittal said in a statement.
Third-quarter sales amounted to $22.1 billion compared with the average forecast from the poll of $23.07 billion.
Arcelor Mittal said it expected steel prices to stabilise as global output decelerates, especially in China.
"The rate of production increase that we expect in 2007...should slow down a little bit due to low profitability of the Chinese activities and the investment of Chinese producers more in value-added products," Junck told a conference call.

Source : Reuters

Mumbai Metro railway project begins

Slow, but nevertheless, the preliminary work on the Mumbai Metro railway project has finally begun. The consortium led by Reliance Energy which is developing the Rs 2,356 crore project has begun with the mandatory geo-technical investigation.
This exercise of soil testing has begun in 10-12 locations on the Andheri end of the Andheri-Versova Ghatkopar line of the project. This is actually a process wherein digging is undertaken to the rock level to find out the strength of the soil along with the height till which the pier can be built.
Alongside soil testing, the crucial and elaborate process of translating the project drawings on paper to an actual field exercise is also on the way. Project director, Mumbai Metro Railway project, GR Madan of the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) said, "The second part is very important because for the first time, all the drawings and markings are actually being done on the ground level. This whole process will take another month to complete." As part of this, a detailed underground mapping will be done to find out the exact location of the utilities along the Metro line. This would enable the process of beginning to shift all those utilities which fall underneath or in some cases, maybe alter the line to avoid overlapping with them.
The final leg of the investigation will be a condition survey wherein buildings which are dangerously close to the first Metro line along the Andheri-Versova-Ghatkopar corridor will be studied. In case, if a few buildings are in a bad condition and are near the line, then the residents maybe shifted during the development of the project and loved in later. Madan added, "We are also planning to photograph the present condition of a few buildings before the project begins to map the extent of damages which may occur and if required, we may also compensate for the damages." However, an earlier survey has revealed that only a few buildings will be affected in the Ghatkopar end of the first line.
Meanwhile, Reliance Energy has already floated two expressions of interest (EOI) to appoint contractors for the civil works and for the rolling stock (coaches) for the project.

Source ; HT

India cleans up act, goes up the honesty ladder

The latest report by Transparency International (TI), the Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog, has a surprise. India ranks No. 70 on its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) out of 163 nations. It is a distinct improvement over last year, when India stood at No 88. For the first time, India has reversed its downward slide on the CPI, and a reason for this is probably the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
In the report released on Monday, Iraq, Myanmar and Haiti are perceived as most corrupt while Finland, Iceland and New Zealand are seen as the cleanest.
TI calculates the CPI score on the basis of perceptions of the degree of corruption in each country by international organisations, business people and analysts. The score ranges between zero, which means highly corrupt, and 10, which means very clean. The agency said countries with indices below three were considered highly corrupt. India narrowly escaped falling in this category with a score of 3.3 points.
Vice-Admiral (retd) RH Tahiliani, president of TI-India, said the marginal improvement was welcome but there was a long road ahead. "Indians give Rs 21,000 crore every year as bribes," he said.
He credited the RTI Act with bringing in more transparency in the government. "That was objective of the Act," said OP Kejriwal, information commissioner in the Central Information Commission.
According to the CPI, India has the lowest perceived level of corruption among South Asian nations. Bangladesh, ranked 156, is the most corrupt, followed by Pakistan at 142 and Sri Lanka at 84.

Source: HT

Youth group uses pocket money to help the needy

What do youngsters do with their pocket money? Splurge on a movie and dinner, go shopping for the latest clothes, get their cellphone recharged — those would be the regular answers. But there are 347-odd youngsters in Ranchi who are using their money for a greater cause.
These good samaritans donate blood, provide medical assistance and any other kind of help to the needy and downtrodden. Under the banner of Suraksha Dasta, this chain of friends is also known to assist the district administration by providing manpower to take care of security during festivals, especially Durga Puja, and by putting up medical aid stalls with ambulance service.
Since its inception in 2003, Dasta has done a lot of good work in the state capital. It got two girls from poor families married. “Most of the money spent on the two marriages came out of the pockets of Dasta members; the rest we arranged from our friends and family members,” Rupesh Chourasia, president and one of the founders of Suraksha Dasta, told the Hindustan Times.
In July, Dasta members transformed from social workers to sleuths and busted a fake para-medical institute, the Jharkhand Institute of Medical Technology.
So far, the members have donated nearly 200 units of blood. “We have a list of our members’ blood groups and we donate whenever needy persons approach us,” said convenor Paramod Kumar Jaiswal.
With all the good Dasta does, some of it is bound to come back to it. Like it did during the Chhath puja, when members distributed fruit, milk and other puja items in various localities. “While milk was being sold at Rs 40 per litre, we arranged for over 120 litres of milk at Rs 15 per litre. We got it cheap as we had donated blood to one of the members of the family that sold us the milk,” said Rajkumar Pandit, executive-president of Dasta.

Source : HT

Tata Tea eyes more acquisitions

New Delhi: Unquenchable thirst – that's Tata Tea for you. After buying a stake in Glaceau, Tata Tea is now eyeing Mount Everest Mineral Water (MEMW).
It makes Himalayan mineral water. CNBC-TV18 reports that the Tata Company is the only one in the race.
But Tata Tea says, "We do not comment on speculation." So while Tata Tea has refused to comment on speculation, Mount Everest Mineral Water has said that it is premature to comment.
The Rs 1,500 crore bottled water industry is growing at 40 per cent a year. It's expected to reach Rs 5,000 crore by 2010.
Sources say that with such potential, MEMW promoters value the company at about Rs 400 crore. The promoters hold 21.5 per cent in MEMW, which could fetch them a cool Rs 90 crore.
CNBC-TV18 has also learnt that bidders like Danone and Coca-Cola India had valued Mount Everest Mineral Water at Rs 300 crore. That's way below the asking price.
In September, Tata Tea gulped 30 per cent in American water company Energy Brands for $677 million.
That deal valued Energy Brands at $2.2 billion. Now Tata Tea is thirsty for more.
Not only does Himalayan command 70 per cent in the niche mineral water segment, but MEMW also has one of Asia's largest natural mineral water plants.
It seems like the perfect quencher for Tata Tea.

Source: CNN IBN

Arcelor-Mittal eyes Chinese acquisitions

Beijing: Baotou Iron and Steel, one of China's largest steel firm, is in talks with the world's top steelmaker, Arcelor Mittal over the possible sale of 49 per cent stake, the official media reported on Friday.
No other details were provided by the China Daily report. In December last year, Mittal Steel had confirmed that it was involved in talks with Baotou Iron and Steel Group Co Ltd.
Prior to Mittal Steel's acquisition of Arcelor, the latter had signed an agreement with Chinese producer Laiwu Steel Group that will allow the European company to hold a 38.41 per cent stake in Laiwu Steel Corporation.
Mittal last year acquired a 36.67 per cent share in Valin Steel Tube and Wire Co Ltd in central China's Hunan Province. Meanwhile, Baotou Steel Union Co in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous region, a subsidiary of Baotou Iron and Steel Group, plans to pay about 6.97 billion yuan ($882 million) to buy assets from its controlling shareholder to expand, the report said.
The listed steel-maker will offer 3.03 billion new yuan-denominated shares to Baotou Iron & Steel Group at 2.3 yuan (29 US cents) each, the company said yesterday in a statement.
The acquisition will mean that almost the entire group is publicly traded, making it easier for Baotou Steel Union to take over or merge with rivals. China, the world's biggest steel-maker, is encouraging consolidation in the industry to curb overcapacity and boost competitiveness as its economy expands.

Source: IBN

'Reliance Fresh' format stores in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Corporate giant Reliance Industries formally entered the country's fairly young organised retail market through its 'Reliance Fresh' format stores in Hyderabad, while reassuring petty traders that the company was no threat to them.
In fact, the company's retail format for selling vegetables, fruits and groceries, offered an opportunity for neighbourhood stores and even push cart sellers to source supplies at competitive rates making it a win-win situation for all, Reliance Industries (RIL) officials claimed.
"They (Kirana stores and push cart sellers) will benefit from us. The argument that they will be affected is not supported by numbers," RIL President and CEO (Operations and Strategy) Raghu Pillai told reporters just before the inauguration of the first Reliance Fresh retail outlet in the upmarket Banjara Hills in Hyderabad.
Reliance Fresh, 10 more of whose outlets were inaugurated on Friday, marks the front-end of the company's much larger agriculture initiative that involves setting up farm product sourcing centres, supply chain and finally retailing.
The neighbourhood format has been designed keeping the needs of homemakers in mind and stocked with a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, eggs, dairy products and groceries and priced competitively, Pillai said.
"We are not harming small retail players, the market is growing by 8 per cent which is $24-25 billion (nearly Rs 1,12,500 crore) every year. We are aiming at revenues of only $25 billion in four years even if the market grows by $100 billion by 2015, organised retail would be still less than 10-12 per cent of retail trade," he said.

Source: IBN

India's growth set to overtake China

New Delhi: India, now in a 'sweet spot' economically, is set to move on to double digit growth despite politics and populism and may be ahead of China's growth by 2010.
"The hype about India is real. Factors are in place to sustain 10 per cent plus growth. Investment at over 40 per cent of GDP this year is one of fastest jumps in history," renowned economist Surjit Bhalla said in his mid-term review of the economy.
The mid-term review showed that India was poised to achieve a high level of growth as savings and investment rates were steadily rising.
The steady increase in savings and investment to 40 per cent and an additional 3 to 4 per extra growth from extra investment would result in a 10 per cent GDP growth.
Bhalla also felt the exchange rate should be kept undervalued to make India more competitive in the global market.
He said for the last three-years, the growth in manufacturing had been greater than 10 per cent and overall industrial growth has been over 9 per cent and sustained progress in these sectors could push the GDP growth further.
Bhalla said that India had a 5 to 10 year lag when compared with China. But while comparing the two countries it's forgotten that China is at an income level and middle class level that is almost twice that of India. But the level of poverty in the two countries is almost the same, Bhalla said.
Though the poverty level in India is put at 22 per cent of the population, it in fact must be much less at five per cent if correctives were carried out in the methodology of the calculation.
When the correctives are applied, the poverty level at five per cent would be on par with that of China. The methodology adopted in India presently was based on average survey of consumption expenditure of people. But consumption expenditure in India does not take into account 55 per cent of national accounts consumption, he said, adding that the present methodology grossly overestimates poverty level.
Inequality has also been steady for 25 years after declining between year 1950 to 1983 and employment growth stands at 2.5 per cent per annum, he said.

Source: IBN

Italian welcome for Indian students

IN ITALY, not all roads lead to Rome, at least not for Indian students. With even provinces such as Trentino and Genova playing host to educational institutions of considerable merit, the country is hoping to give the U.S., U.K. and countries Down Under competition in attracting Indian students. Helping them is a joint initiative by the Government, the chambers of commerce and business houses. Come November, there will be a full-fledged educational roadshow in major Indian cities.
The author visited a few Italian institutions to report on what is on offer for Indian students: It was an unusual pursuit that took Sanjay Deodar all the way from his social volunteering work in Bangalore to Milan's Bocconi University. Carrying over the experience gained from working for tsunami victims, he is now pursuing a master's programme in International Health that he hopes will give him a "European education in a much less competitive atmosphere than one would find in other Western countries."
Like him, Pasupuleti Srinivas from Hyderabad found himself in the picturesque Dolomite mountain-fringed University of Trento, through a generous initiative from the Italian university that offered him a doctoral scholarship in computer science when he had gone there for a six-month internship as part of his M.Tech degree at IIIT, Bangalore. A few years ago, it may not have been possible to spot too many like them on Italian campuses.
Now, thanks to some serious thinking on the part of the Government — and aided by the demands on quality human material made by Italian businesses — every campus has at least a handful of students from India. Internationalisation is the buzzword on Italian campuses.
Cost hardly seems to be a deterrent: Srinivas, for example, spends less than 500 euros a month on rent and food. Says Andrea Sironi, dean for international affairs, Universita Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, ``There is a heightened awareness about India and China among our corporate partners. They ask us to look for Italian students who have exposure to these countries and vice-versa, due to the high intellectual capital available."
According to Sergio Sgambato, secretary general, Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, "There is a great demand for Indian students to be employed by the Italian companies because of the young talented engineers who would contribute in enhancing Italian trade ties with India.''
To this effect, Italian institutions are removing all stops: from introducing English as a medium of instruction, getting more international faculty members on their rolls and offering more scholarships and lower tuition fees to foreign students.

Source: Hindu

Intel to decide on India chip plant once policy ready

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Intel Corp., the world's largest chip maker, is waiting for India to form its semiconductor policy before deciding on plans to begin manufacturing in the country, company officials said on Friday.
"We are eagerly awaiting the publication of the final set of regulations, and then we will take a decision," Intel Chairman Craig Barrett told reporters during a trip to New Delhi.
India's government is expected to come out soon with guidelines to develop a microchip industry, including tax incentives.
The company first confirmed in December last year its talks with the government about building a chip-making factory.
Ramamurthy Sivakumar, the firms's South Asia managing director, said Intel had been repeatedly told a move was imminent.
"We have heard that the cabinet is actively discussing it," he said. Intel is already spending more than $1 billion in India to strengthen its research and development and to invest in telecoms start-ups.
Rival chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. said last November it planned to invest in the SemIndia consortium to build a chip-making factory in India.

Source: Reuters

Nokia makes 20 million handsets in India

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - World's top handset maker Nokia, said on Saturday that it had made 20 million handsets at its Indian unit in less than a year after the factory became operational.
India, the world's fastest growing wireless services market is adding 5.5 million users on average each month. India's wireless sector offers the world's lowest local call rates - as low as 2-3 U.S. cents a minute.
Nokia which controls more than half the Indian handset market has a unit in the southern port-city of Chennai.
The port city is also home to Flextronics, the world's top contracts electronics maker which started its factory on Saturday with total investments of over $200 million in phase one of the project.

Source: Reuters

US may soon stop complaining about their jobs being 'Bangalored'

IT professionals in the US may soon stop complaining about their jobs being 'Bangalored' as the latest trend shows that India has also started exporting jobs to the US to meet the demand generated by widespread growth in the technology space.
With the global technology trade expanding further, countries like India and China are no longer just the recipients of foreign investments and outsourced jobs, they are now exporting jobs to the US as well by opening R&D and manufacturing facilities there, a new study shows.
In a reversal of trends, Indian and Chinese companies are now exporting jobs to America by expanding their presence on the US soil — hence proving that the global tech trade can create win-win opportunities for all nations involved, global IT research major Forrester said in a report.
As the domestic firms from two Asian countries — such as India's Tata Group and Infosys and China's Lenovo and Haier start expanding abroad, they are creating new investment projects and are hiring sales and service staff worldwide including the US, Forrester Research's Navi Radjou said.
According to the data compiled by IBM-Plant Location International, India moved up to the seventh position in the league of FDI origin countries in terms of the number of projects in 2005, from its 10th position in the previous year with as many as 218 projects.
While the US was the biggest recipient of Chinese FDI in 2005, the United Kingdom received the highest number of FDI projects from India. The US was the fourth biggest FDI recipient from India in 2005 with a total of 17 projects, as against 45 received by the UK.

Source: HT

'Now the world fears us'

Victory at the Volvo Masters has come as a pleasant surprise for Jeev Milkha Singh. Terming his victory in Sotogrande an achievement not just for him but also for Indian golf, Jeev said he had no words to express the winning feeling.
"I am amazed at this victory and have no words to express my feelings. It's like a dream come true," he told HT over phone from Spain, just before boarding his flight to Japan, where he will continue with his golf.
It has been a unique Volvo double for him — he won the Volvo China Open in April, and he admitted that he did not expect this to happen in such a short period.
"Winning the Volvo China Open in April was like capturing the world for me," Jeev said. "At that time, I never thought that I would be adding an even bigger title to my kitty so soon."
A change in attitude and approach towards the game have paid off rich dividends for Jeev. "Earlier, I used to put myself under pressure by thinking about the end result," he said.
"Now, I take every event as it comes. This has reduced the pressure and I have become more relaxed."
About the golf he played in Spain, Jeev said, "I played my normal game and didn't put pressure on myself. Winning was not my motive. I walked on to the course determined to give my best and enjoy the game. And I ended up winning the tournament."
Jeev returns to the Japanese Tour now and after a week will compete against the likes of Tiger Woods in the HSBC Open in Shanghai. "I want to maintain the momentum in Japan," he said. "So if I face Tiger, I can give my best."
Jeev added, "Earlier, Europeans used to take us casually. Now, I am happy they will be wary of us and will keep in mind that Indian golfers have the capacity to topple anybody in the world."
His message for Indian youngsters keen on golf is "give your best, keep working hard and stay calm".
Jeev's father, renowned athlete Milkha Singh, was elated at his son's victory. "He has carried on the family tradition of striking gold in major events," Milkha Singh senior said.
sOURCE: HT

Subhash Ghai inks MoU with Norwegian Film Institute

The first batch of Whistling Woods International has yet to complete its first term and Subhash Ghai has moved on to tie up with some of the best film schools internationally.
The first step he has taken in that direction is by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Crown Princess of Norway Mette Marit at Hilton Towers on Monday afternoon.
Crown Prince Haakon of Norway was also present for the signing of the MoU. This was followed by a round table conference where Norwegian filmmakers interacted with some of their Indian counterparts that included Ravi Chopra, Boney Kapoor, Ashok Ghai, Rahul Rawail, Nikhil Panchammiya among others.
The Norwegian Princess started the conference with her speech talking highly about the Indian film industry. "India is a big producer of films — over a thousand per year — something we can only dream about as we produce only about twenty films annually. There's a lot we can offer each other and benefit from the alliance. For example, Norway has some of the most ideal locations to film an Indian love story. We are all eager to take this association forward in the future," she said.
"The idea behind the tie-up is to work together on many levels," said Ghai, elaborating, "For starters, it's a step ahead for students of WWI who will get to learn more about international cinema and expand their knowledge in the field. Norwegian Film Institute is one of the best schools in the world and we shall be tying up with other reputed film schools across the world. This association will also facilitate exchange of students, faculty, archive, in short everything about cinema. We will be inviting the faculty from the Norwegian Film Institute soon so our students can benefit from their knowledge and experience." Besides, this will also open another door for Indian cinema in the world of entertainment, business and economy, he observed.
Admitting that Norway is not a big market yet for Indian films, Ghai asserted, "In the last five years, Indian cinema is gradually expanding its market. Europe by itself is not a very big market for Indian cinema yet, but we've already begun making inroads there. Besides, Norwegian cinema has been making its presence felt in its own way in the world of entertainment, so it's a strategic alliance for both sides."
The admission process for the second batch of students at WWI is underway and Ghai is sure that the students at his institute will be able to benefit from this association soon.
The next immediate result of this association will be "Co-ventures, co-productions, shooting in each others' locations, bridging the distance between us. At the same time, there's a lot we can learn from each other," said Ghai. The filmmaker, who recently announced seven films also informed, "Of the seven films, certainly one or two will be shot in Norway, which promises a lot of beautiful and picturesque locations for our films."
The Norwegian film committee is also hosting a four day festival of their films for their Indian counterparts to familiarise them with their cinema, which would help the cause of both the film industries.
SOURCE: Hindustan

Mizoram closer to Kerala in literacy race

Mizoram is inching closer towards achieving its dream of becoming India's most literate state, it attained a rate of 90.27 percent in March, second only to Kerala's 90.9 percent.
"Mizoram is making concerted efforts to become number one in the country during the current fiscal," said R. Lalthangliana, the school education minister of this northeastern state.
"The desire to be the most literate state has acquired the dimension of a mass movement with churches, NGOs and student bodies cooperating with the government in the endeavour," Lalthangliana told IANS.
"The improvement in literacy is due to not only the elementary education system but also the efforts put in by the adult education wing of the school education department and cooperation from churches, NGOs and citizens."
However, the three southern districts of Lunglei, Saiha and Lawngtlai have achieved very low rates compared to those in northern and central Mizoram, a state with a population of less than a million of which nearly 87 percent practice Christianity.
Priority has been given to these districts to ensure that they do not hold us back in our drive," Lalthangliana said. "It's only a matter of less than one percent and we hope to achieve the feat this fiscal year," he said.
SOURCE: HT

8000 drummers pitch in for Guinness Record

A band of 8,000 drummers in India's north-eastern state of Meghalaya is set to create a new Guinness World Record Saturday for the largest drum ensemble.
"Everything is set for this historic feat with the drummers rehearsing for the actual show later in the afternoon," M. Lansing, vice chairman of the Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum (MTDF), told IANS.
The current Guinness world record for the largest drum ensemble was set in February 2005 by Po Leung Kuk - a charity organisation in Hong Kong helping orphaned children - which assembled 7,727 drummers.
"As an adjudicator, I am looking for three things for this new world record - the number of drummers should be more than the Hong Kong drum ensemble, the drummers shall have to play for a minimum of five minutes, and the beat should have some synchronised melody," Michael Whitty, a representative of the Guinness Book of World Records, told IANS.
The 8,000 drummers will play a synchronised tune called "Positive Vibrations" for at least five minutes composed by local musician Rudy Wallang at an open stadium. The drum ensemble also kicks off the state's weeklong Autumn Festival.
"The participants range from professionals to school children and villagers. We are expecting at least 1,000 indigenous drums being played at the event, alongside the normal small drums," said Aiban S. Mawkhroh, MTDF general secretary.
The previous record was held by Grammy award winner Mickey Hart, who assembled 4,374 drummers at the Global Festival for Peace in Laytonville, California, in 2004.
"There will be 10,000 ribbons and each participant will have a ribbon tied on their hand. We shall count the remaining ribbons to make out the number of drummers. I shall be on stage to watch the beat session and if I find the drumming lacking in melody I can ask them to repeat many times," Whitty said.
"The results would be announced instantly once the drummers satisfy the guidelines."
There is lot of enthusiasm with people already making their way to the stadium.
"The enthusiasm is tremendous and we hope this record-breaking event will change the perception of the outside world towards the northeast - this region is not just about killings and violence and we are capable of positive things as well," Mawkhroh said.
An estimated 20,000 people are expected to witness the record-breaking beat session.
The drum ensemble apart, the Autumn Festival would have events like water sports, kite flying, fishing, archery, besides jugglers and entertainers from Australia to entertain the crowd.
"This would be a gala carnival and we expect people from both India and abroad to take part in the festivities," Meghalaya Tourism Minister R.G. Lyngdoh said.

Source : HT

Kalam launches virtual campus

A pilot scheme to boost education through a 'one-stop education portal' for addressing all the learning-related needs of students, was launched by President A P J Abdul Kalam in New Delhi on Monday.
Sakshat, a portal that promises to provide one-stop solution to educational requirements, is a key initiative of the Human Resource Development Ministry. Kalam saw the internet revolution as "a powerful tool for good educational initiatives in the rural areas."
Observing that nearly 10 million youth were injected into the employment market every year, Kalam said the country also needed large number of talented youth with education for the task of knowledge acquisition, knowledge imparting, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing in the 21st century.
"A national policy for creating a global human development cadre for India has to emerge," he said at the launch of the initiative. Among others present at the launch ceremony were HRD Minister Arjun Singh.
Sakshat programme should think of extending the system for providing world class vocational skills to youth for making them internationally competitive, Kalam told the gathering of academics and students.
"We have to start right now to realise this goal since the overall time available for such an educational growth is short," he added.

Source : HT

Ambitious Indian firms set sights abroad

ANALYSIS - Ambitious Indian firms set sights abroad

Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:42 PM IST

By Anshuman DagaLONDON (Reuters)

Tata Steel's daring move to buy Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus, a company with four times its sales, highlights growing ambition as cash-rich Indian firms begin to look beyond their home turf.Consultants highlight companies in India's automotive, engineering, pharmaceuticals and software services sectors as potential acquirers as global markets buzz with mergers and acquisitions."One by one, slowly the sizes are increasing and confidence in making these kinds of acquisitions has increased across all sectors of the Indian corporate world," said Harish H.V., a corporate finance partner at Grant Thornton in India.Corus's approval for Tata Steel's $8 billion takeover bid came after it had spent a year talking to potential partners in Brazil and Russia -- which underscores increasing acquisitiveness from emerging markets in general.The Corus deal is India's largest foreign takeover and means the total value of Indian acquisitions abroad this year has outpaced purchases of Indian firms by overseas companies.The driver of Indian firms' new acquisitiveness is a combination of technology and access to wider markets, said James Winterbotham, a co-founder of consultancy firm India Advisory Partners."There is still a lot of technology which is sitting within international companies. Historically, you would joint-venture into India, now Indian companies are of the scale where they can go and buy that technology," said Winterbotham.The Corus deal highlights India's gradual shift from a capital importer. Asia's fourth largest economy, India launched market reforms more than a decade ago to woo foreign investment.Also supporting takeovers are a booming economy -- which has grown at an average of 8.0 percent in the past three years -- and stock markets at record highs, up nearly 40 percent so far.M&A BOOSTIncluding the Tata deal, Indian companies have announced overseas acquisitions worth $19.5 billion so far this year, up from $4.5 billion in 2005, data from research firm Dealogic shows.In contrast, acquisitions in India by overseas firms add up to $9.06 billion so far this year.The average size of overseas deals by Indian companies has increased to about $50 million from about $10 million three years ago, said Grant Thornton's Harish."The mega deals, if at all, are going to happen in the commodity sectors whether it is steel, paper or some of the mining kind of transactions," he said, but also highlighted fast-growing media firms as likely acquirers.India ranks fifth among the countries making the most acquisitions of British companies by deal value so far this year after Spain, the United States, Germany and Australia.Some of the biggest overseas takeovers by Indian firms this year include Tata Tea's planned purchase of 30 percent of Energy Brands for $677 million; Dr Reddy's Laboratories' acquisition of German generic drug maker Betapharm for $572 million; and wind-turbine maker Suzlon Energy's $520 million buy of Belgium's Hansen Transmissions.

MORE SOFTWARE ACQUISITIONS?Firms in India's showpiece software services sector -- which includes U.S. listed Infosys Technologies and Wipro -- have made some smaller niche acquisitions, but some corporate advisers expect mid-sized firms to step up takeovers.Software product makers including 3i Infotech and Subex Systems have snapped up overseas companies."What might be interesting is that some of the tier two companies -- $300 to $500 million in market capitalisation -- are getting more aggressive," said Bundeep Singh Rangar, chairman of India-focussed IndusView, a corporate advisory company."Some of the smaller guys might be more aggressive because they just simply have to keep up with the bigger guys who are growing like monsters."Infosys, which has roughly doubled its revenue over the past two business years, has a market capitalisation of $26 billion -- greater than that of rivals Accenture, CapGemini and Electronic Data Services.But beyond tech, analysts say it will take time for Indian companies to grow acquisitive.Indian companies are well-placed to do deals with large information technology divisions of big European manufacturing companies, analysts say. But big-ticket acquisitions in other sectors might be slow to emerge."India will be a relatively small player on the international M&A market place for some time," said Winterbotham of India Advisory Partners."There are probably at the moment still only a relatively small number of companies of the size and management depth to actually make those acquisitions and have that international culture."Source : Reuters