The Cyberabad Times

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has four satellites in its launch list for 2005. Cartosat-1, a remote sensing satellite with a 2.5 metre resolution camera is first up in April, aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket from the SHAR space centre, Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair told reporters on Saturday. The Insat-4A communication satellite is slotted to follow the Cartosat, through Arianespace the European launch agency, sometime in May or June - depending on slot availability, Nair said. Isro will subsequently launch the Cartosat-2 remote sensing satellite and the Insat-4C communication satellite. According to Isro officials, while the basic Indian payload for India’s moon mission ‘Chandrayaan’ has more or less been finalised, discussions are on with other countries on payload requirements. Among the several foreign agencies in talks with Isro for putting payloads on the unmanned Chandrayaan mission scheduled for 2007 include Nasa. Using the PSLV, India plans to launch a 525 kg orbiter to map the moon in its entirety. Some space on the mission has been allocated for interested space agencies from other countries. Nearly 15 agencies from 10 different countries including the US, Germany, UK and Sweden have so far shown interest.

DFID to increase funding

The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) would increase its investment in India from 250 million pounds to 300 million pounds over the next three years, British Secretary of State for International Development Hilary Benn said today. Benn told reporters here that Britain was the largest donor to India and that plans were afoot to further increase the funding to 300 million pounds over the next three years. The British Minister earlier visited the government Chest Hospital here and interacted with TB and AIDS patients. The DFID's global funding would touch 21.5 billion pounds in the next two years, Benn said, adding much of that was going towards fighting TB, AIDS and Malaria. Expressing satisfaction over implementation of DFID funded projects in Andhra Pradesh, Benn, who had yesterday launched the second phase of ILO's Child Labour project here, said there was a strong sense of community participation in the state which was helping the cause of sustainable development. The DFID was also supporting AP TB Control Programme with a total commitment of 25.5 million pounds for a five year period starting from 2000, Benn added. PTI

Lalu loves AP

The New Railway budget brought bounty to the state a list of new trains are listed below

Chennai Egmore-Secunderabad Express via Kurnool
Secunderabad-Gudur Express
Secunderabad-Nanded Express
Secunderabad-Nizamabad Passenger
Secunderabad-Bodhan Passenger
Secunderabad-Basar Passenger
Bilaspur-Tirupati Express via Vizag

Train Extensions:
Mumbai CST-Nizamabad Devgiri Express to Kacheguda
Kacheguda-Sri Sathya Sai Prashanti Nilayam Express to Yeshvantpur
Tirupati-Hyderabad Krishna Express to Nizamabad
Chennai-Vizag Express to Bhubaneshwar
Nizamuddin-Secunderabad Sampark Kranti Express to Tirupati via Kurnool

Canadian visa application centre in city

The Canadian High Commission will open a visa application centre in Hyderabad on March 9. It will also open centres in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmebabad, Bangalore and Kolkata. The main purpose behind opening a visa centre in the city is to facilitate temporary visa applicants submit applications at their convenient place. Earlier, an applicant either had to submit his application at the High Commission in New Delhi or the Consulate General in Chandigarh. The Canadian government has selected VFS India Private Limited to operate the new visa application centres. The applicants can also opt for a courier service for return delivery of the passports directly to their doorsteps. For more details log on to website: www.vfs-canada.co.in after March 7, according to a press release.

NASA wants to be with ISRO

National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), the US space administration, has expressed interest in joining India's first moon mission project Chandrayan-1 scheduled for launch in 2007-08. A top official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is spearheading the lunar mission, told reporters here on Saturday that NASA had sought a slot in the spacecraft to send scientific instruments for a few experiments. "NASA is in talks with us for deploying some of its scientific payload in our spacecraft to carry out specific tests in the lunar orbit. We are evaluating the proposal," said ISRO satellite centre director P.S. Goel. NASA plans to deploy mini-synthetic aperture radar (MSAR) and spectrometer with 0.3 micron to 0.9 micron capabilities in the Indian spacecraft for the experiments. The ISRO plans to launch the 529-kg Chandrayan-1 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota off the Andhra Pradesh coast, using its polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV).

The total cost of the moon mission is projected to be Rs 3.9 billion ($89 million) currently. Orbiting 100 km above the lunar surface, the spacecraft will study the earth's satellite, its mineral resources and other compositions through mapping with cameras of five-metre resolution. To involve other space agencies in the unmanned moon mission, ISRO has earmarked 10 kg of the payload and 10 watts of power in the spacecraft for carrying out additional experiments and observations. After an international bid, 10 countries, including US, Britain, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria, had come forward to associate with Chandrayan-1. During the lunar conference at Udaipur, Rajasthan, in November last year, these countries had made presentations to the ISRO. "We have begun discussions with NASA, but its inclusion in the mission will depend on the bilateral agreements between India and the US," Goel said. "We have selected the Bulgarian payload that will have radiation monitoring equipment in the spacecraft and two more payloads from European countries," Goel said. ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair said the Indian payload was under fabrication and the project was progressing on schedule. On the ground, the ISRO has roped in the Hyderabad-based Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) and the Mumbai-based Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) for designing the 34-metre giant antenna for receiving signals from Chandrayan-1 and subsequent exploratory missions. "We have already identified about 100 acres for the earth station at Tavarakere, 40 km from Bangalore. The station will exchange the voluminous data with the lunar orbiter at a distance of 400,000 km from the earth," Nair said on the sidelines of a news conference.
The total cost of the moon mission is projected to be Rs 3.9 billion ($89 million) currently. "The station will be ready and operational by mid-2007 for launching Chandrayan during late 2007 or early 2008," Nair said.

Stem cell transplant performed at Nims

The state's first autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplant has been performed successfully at the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (Nims), according to a statement issued by Nims on Saturday. The procedure has been performed by the department of medical oncology of Nims by a team led by department head Dr D Raghunadha Rao. The team has so far completed five stem cell transplants. This is the only centre in Hyderabad doing this procedure at present, the release added. Peripheral blood stem cell transplant is performed for a variety of cancerous and non-cancerous conditions and involves administering drugs to stimulate the bone marrow and harvest stem cells from the blood. Following this, the patient is given a very high dose of chemotherapy and the stem cells are transfused back. At Nims, the procedure costs Rs 3 lakh for an adult patient and Rs 1.5 lakh for an uncomplicated autologous stem cell transplant and the treatment requires a total hospital stay of around four weeks.

Convergys to double headcount

Convergys Corporation, the world's largest call centre operator, is planning to double its employees in India by the end of 2005 from the current 10,000. Jack Frecker, a senior company official, said the company will be looking at Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Kolkata as part of its expansion plans. The company will also tap second-tier cities because "first-tier cities are really getting crowded and competitive". The Cincinnati-based global leader in integrated billing, employee care and customer care service employs over 60,000 employees in 53 countries. It began its India operations in 2000, much before many companies offering voice customer service began to operate out of there. Frecker said the company's presence was strong in India as well as in the Philippines. "The Philippines is competition for India in terms of knowledge of English but it is a fraction of India's size. Some clients feel more comfortable in the Philippines but the pool will dry up faster there. China is still 15-20 years away as it doesn't have English-speaking skills," he said. He said complaints by some customers about accents of people in India would not alter the company's plans. "A few dissatisfied customers can't stop this locomotive. Economics are just too overwhelming," he said.

Hike property registration rates likely

Registration of properties in the city may cost you more soon. The state government is actively considering a proposal from the stamps and registration department to increase and rationalise the official market values in the city. For example, the government values a square yard of land in Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills anywhere between Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 and collects 13 per cent stamp and registration charges on the value of a transaction. But in reality, a square yard of land in these two upmarket localities would cost not less than Rs 15,000. Similarly, as per government valuation, a square yard in Madhapur is valued at Rs 2,500, but in the open market it would be more than Rs 10,000. Likewise, commercial property at Begumpet is valued at Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000 per yard and residential land at Rs 8,000 yard as per government valuation. Though the official commercial values match open-market rates, residential areas are valued at far less than the real cost.

The Symbol of eternal heritage

A 20,000-acre knowledge corridor

The state government is set to develop a 20,000-acre knowledge corridor to encourage IT and ITES industry near Gachibowli here, the chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said on Friday. Participating as chief guest of the Hyderabad Software Exporter's Association's (Hysea) 13th annual day function here, he said the decision to this effect was taken on Thursday. "We will soon workout the details and initiate the process," he said. On the annoucement of the IT policy which was in the offing, Reddy said the government would announce the IT policy in the first week of March after the cabinet meeting. Assuring the captains of IT industry, he said the government would provide congenial atmosphere for the growth of IT companies. "Our focus in on agri sector, also we are equally committed to the growth of IT. The government is working on providing best infrastructure in the city," he said. The chief minister called up on the IT companies to consider cities like Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada tostart their operations.

Jet Airways Surprises US Airline industry

The dizzy heights touched by the Jet Airways IPO on the Bombay Stock Exchange has astonished the US airline industry, much of which is in the throes of terminal illness with several carriers fighting bankruptcy. Jet's 17.26 million shares, gobbled up by investors within 10 minutes after going public, was aimed at raising $445 million. Industry analysts estimate that a sale at the top of the pricing range would put Jet's value at $2.2 billion. That would make Jet bigger in terms of market cap than the world's largest carrier American Airlines, a 700-plane behemoth with a market cap of $1.5 billion. It will also be bigger than Delta ($653 million) and the nearly-bankrupt United Airlines ($142 million) combined, not to speak of overtaking its semi-namesake Jet Blue, which at $1.9 billion is one of the silver linings in a bleak American aviation cloud. The acknowledged master of the American skies in terms of profitability is the funky, no-frills Southwest Airlines, which has a market cap of $11.07 billion. Yet, Jet Airways flies a paltry 42 aircraft (Indian Airlines is only marginally better with 54 planes) compared to American Airlines' 721 planes and Delta's 588. Southwest has 478. Even the struggling United Airlines runs 455 planes. Jet has a 45% share of the Indian market that saw some 20 million passengers take to the skies last year -- compared to around 600 million Americans who flew in 2004. India has around 500 commercial flights each day, compared to 20,000 in the US, which has less than a third of India's population. The market hoopla in this case, as with much else relating to India, centres round potential growth. Industry analysts project the Indian airline market will grow at 25% each year for the next several years as more budget and feeder airlines jump into the market and more people can afford to fly. "The growth potential in India's aviation industry is tremendous and bolstered by one of the world's fastest growing economies. This is just the beginning of its rise as a serious international player," a recent issue of BLG Aerospace News said in a commentary. But, as many an American airline has discovered in the past, high flyers don't stay that way for ever. Two of the country's marquee names, Pan-Am and TWA, both celebrated in the Oscar-nominated movie The Aviator, don't even exist. That may well be the fate of United Airlines and US Airways -- both headed till recently by IIT graduates -- if they don't shape up. For now though, in India, it's on your mark, Jet set...

Reliance to expand OFC network in AP

Taking forward its expansion plans for the state, Reliance Infocomm will be adding another 2,500 km of optic fibre. With this the optic fibre network of the company would cover about 9,000 kms. The company, which has more than nine lakh subscribers in the state, is on a massive rural push extending its services to 400 towns in the state from the present 262 by March 2005, Reliance Infocomm chief executive officer (AP) told The Times of India. "Such a massive lay out of optic fibre gives us a competitive advantage in the long run to scale up our services as well as expansion programmes," Balachandran said, adding, with data capability, Internet now will be provided in these 400 towns. Reliance Infocomm has set a December deadline to complete its second phase roll-out of both CDMA cellular services and data services. In the second phase of its expansion plan the company is expected to add four lakh villages and 5,700 towns across the country to its network. "The second phase network expansion work will cover major national, state highways and railway tracks connecting major cities and towns, as this is part of our Rs 25,000-crore national rollout programme." Post phase two roll-out, Balachandran said, the company would be covering about 65% of land area in AP. Reliance Infocomm has recorded a 12.71 per cent jump in its average revenue per user at Rs 320.39 for the quarter ended December 31. 2004

Virinchi to focus on aviation

The US-based engineering and marketing arm of Virinchi Tecnologies Ltd -- Virinchi Product Design & Development Services Inc (VPDDS) -- is planning to focus on aviation sector for furthering its growth. Currently, the wholly-owned subsidiary focuses on automotive sector and is aiming at a sales of about $1.5 million in the next 15 months. The company has recently tied up with US-based PD Consulting for business development in the US and Europe markets. "We have succeeded in registering as preferred vendors with three companies. We want to go aggressively in getting registered with many more major players in Europe and expect 20 more vendorships in the next 15-18 months," Virinchi chairman and managing director Viswanath Kompella told The Times of India. The company is planning to invest around Rs 1.5 crore in 12-15 months in strengthening the US arm, he said adding much of the investment would primarily go into getting licences and hardware. The US arm would depend on the company's two development centres in India for executing the projects. The subsidiary currently employs 22 professionals and the headcount would be increased to 50, Viswanath said. On the services being offered by VPDDS, he said, "we have an understanding in manufacturing processes that enable us to design and provide high-end engineering solutions for assembly, extrusion, fabrication and plastic moulding to various industry segments. We are presently concentrating on automotive industry as we are getting more licences in the segment." In addition to aviation, the US arm would also focus on providing technology services to Italian railways using its pool of trained professionals in computer-aided designing, manufacturing and engineering."As of now, no Indian company offers services in computer-aided engineering (CAE) and we will be the first company to venture into CAE services," Kompella added. On Virinchi's India operations, the CMD said it was aggressively pushing forward its mobile enterprise applications. "We are getting 7% of services income from these applications. We expect it to go up to 15% in the next two years," he said adding the company's sales would be driven by these applications in the near future.

Source:The Times of India

IA slashes fares

The post-Tsunami tourism slump has finally triggered an air fare war between Indian Airlines and the SriLankan Airlines. Accepting the challenge thrown by the island nation’s official carrier earlier this week, the IA on Friday slashed its return fares to Singapore, Kaula Lumpur and Bangkok from various South Indian cities by 58 pc to 64 pc. IA has reduced the Chennai-Singapore return ticket fare from Rs 16,800 to Rs 6,364. The fare is the same to Kaula Lumpur as well though the normal fare is Rs 17,850. Passengers from Tiruchi too will be charged only Rs 6,364 on both these sectors. Similarly, passengers going from Chennai and Tiruchi to Bangkok will be charged only Rs 5,999 by IA. The fare from Bangalore and Hyderabad to Singapore and KL has been brought down to Rs 6,848. The fare to Bangkok is Rs 7,075 now.

Tourism, aviation fast gathering altitude

The tourism and civil aviation industries are expected to fare well in 2005. While a total of 3.36 million foreign tourists travelled to India in the last calendar year, domestic air traffic grew by 24.7 per cent and international traffic saw a growth of 18 per cent during the same period. The airports also underwent a massive modernisation and restructuring programme. Tourism has become the world’s largest export industry, generating huge employment opportunities, particularly in the remote and backward areas. It is estimated that tourism accounts for 13 per cent of the total world exports and 8.2 per cent of the global employment. Both Mumbai and Delhi airports are undergoing a major restructuring programme. ABN-Amro Asia Corporate Finance and Air Plan Australia have been appointed as financial consultant and global technical adviser, respectively. In addition, two new greenfield airports with private sector participation are proposed at Bangalore and Hyderabad. In these, private partners will hold a 74 per cent stake, while state governments and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) will together hold the balance 26 per cent. The state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have selected the private sector partners for the two southern airports. On the other hand, the growth of the tourism industry has significant linkages with several other sectors like agriculture, horticulture, poultry, handicraft and construction. According to the ministry of tourism, the industry registered a growth of 17.3 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals in 2003-04 compared with 1 per cent growth in 2002-03.

ICFAI plan: 6 MBA colleges in Gujarat

ICFAI University, which was recently in news after the Supreme Court quashed the Chhattisgarh Private Universities Act, 2002, has announced to open six MBA colleges in Gujarat. To be named ICFAI National Colleges, they will be set up in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Surat, Rajkot and Bhavnagar. Col. Rajiv Sisodia, of ICFAI (Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India) University, Hyderabad, told a news conference here on Friday that these colleges would start providing MBA programmes from the coming academic year. Besides, a regional centre of the university will be set up in Ahmedabad, he said.

61% growth in domestic traffic

In the wake of recent policy initiatives in the civil aviation sector, private airlines like Jet Airways, Air Sahara, and Air Deccan, now account for 61.1% of domestic traffic. According to the Economic Survey, domestic traffic grew by 24.7% in 2004 over the previous year. The international traffic too saw a growth of 18% in the same period, it said.

Better working conditions in India

Call center professionals in India are well taken care of by the employers, compared to the US, where the workers were treated as a "commodity", said an official of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), the largest workers union in the US. "The call center environment in India is much better. In the US, the employers are not considerate about the workers. They treat people as a commodity," Steve Tirza, President, CWA, who was here along with other members to have a first-hand understanding of the call center and IT industry in India, told PTI. Taking exception to the argument that many jobs are outsourced to India for cost-cutting purposes, he said that even while doing this, the salaries of CEOs in the US get 'fatter and fatter', negating the cost advantage. "When companies cut the jobs by a third, the salaries and perks for CEOs keep on rising.
So, where is the question of cost-cutting. The work for the existing employees keeps rising and the top executives get the hike," said Beverly A Hicks, Administrative Assistant, CWA. The delegation from the US, which visited call centers and IT firms in cities such as Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, said the system in India was much better. "We are very much impressed by the welfare measures for the workers here," she said. However, the nature of the work in call centers, which is mostly in night-hours, will result in serious health problems. In the US, about eight per cent of the people in call centers report sick, per day, Hicks said. The attrition rate in the call center industry was in the region of 18-25 per cent, mainly due to the 'tough' working environment. For single mothers, the "forced overtime" on the jobs made it even more difficult for them to manage the family and the work, said Hicks. In India, the Government should ensure that highly qualified people get better jobs, than remain in call centers (considered low-end) for the rest of their lives, she said. "Here, you could see, a post-graduate or even a science graduate employed in a call center doing data entry and other basic stuff. This reflects badly on the employment scenario," she said. CWA, which has 700,000 men and women in both private and public sectors, including half a million workers in the IT sector, planned to work closely with the members of IT Professionals Forum (ITPF) in India, said Steve.

Ocimum Biosolutions to Acquire MWG Microarray

Ocimum Biosolutions, a leading provider of laboratory information management systems (LIMS), bioinformatics solutions and contract research headquartered in Hyderabad, India, has signed a LOI to acquire core assets of MWG Biotech AG's (GER:NWU) (Ebersberg, Germany, ISIN DE0007300105) "Genomic Diagnosis" microarray business.

In the framework of the purchase Ocimum will take over the microarray know how, expertise and assets of the microarray business line, including inventory and stock. MWG Biotech's former "Genomic Diagnosis" employees are not part of the transaction. The new location of the microarray business will be in Hyderabad, India. Part of the services will also be offered from Indianapolis, US.

MCH Malls?

Source: Deccan Chronicle

Private mall owners had better watch out. The smelly Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad markets in the city will soon become swanky commercial complexes. The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad has finished construction of its 20,000 square feet commercial complex in Sultan Bazaar. It will be put up for open auction on February 28.This is the first in a series of complexes to be constructed by the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad. Over the next two years, the corporation hopes to replace its “meat and vegetable” markets with 20 swanky multi-storied commercial complexes. The civic body calculates that the present annual revenue of Rs 15 lakh from these markets will shoot up to Rs 15 crore once they turn elite. MCH Additional Commissioner Vijay Kumar said that the new complexes would have the best infrastructure. “They will be better than private malls on all counts,” he said. “Moreover, they will be in happening areas of the city.” The swanky malls would have facilities for restaurants, shops, banks, craft bazaars, corporate offices and business bazaars, Vijay Kumar said. “We will also provide good parking facilities,” Vijay added. The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad is hoping to raise Rs 1 crore in the auction of its first commercial complex.

Dalai lama and cricket!

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, will inaugurate the opening match of Pakistan's cricket tour of India next week, organisers said.
The three-day match between the tourists and the Indian board president's team is scheduled to be played from March 3 in the northern hill resort of Dharamsala where the Tibetan leader's government-in-exile is based. 'It is only fitting that the Dalai Lama inaugurate what will be the first international match in this town,' said Anurag Thakur of the Himachal Pradesh cricket association on Friday. Dharamsala has hosted the Dalai Lama since he fled Tibet in 1959 amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Emirates Special Offers

Making their flying experience more affordable, Emirates has also announced special Economy Class prices to New York, which are valid for travel up to and including 31st March, 2005. Prices start from Rs. 38,000 from Mumbai, whilst a reduced fare of Rs. 45,200 is also being offered for Economy Class travel from Delhi, Hyderabad, Cochin and Chennai. Emirates operates 43 flights per week from its five Indian gateway cities to Dubai, with onward daily services from Dubai to New York (JFK). All passengers travelling with return tickets in First, Business or Economy class from India to the USA, UK and continental Europe can enjoy a free night’s stopover in Dubai. First and Business class passengers can avail themselves of a free stay at the Le Meridien Dubai (located close to the airport), while passengers travelling in Economy class will be accommodated at the Millennium Hotel (just 2 kms from the airport). The package includes hotel accommodation and airport transfer and is valid for travel up to and including 31st March, 2005.

Global CEOs plan study tour in India

The Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Centre for Executive Education of the Indian School of Business (ISB) will be hosting the Wharton Fellows, a high profile group of global executives, for the India Master Class programme. This programme is part of Whartons top executive lifelong-learning network, Wharton Fellows. Wharton is pleased to partner with the ISB on this high profile executive education endeavour, Wharton vice-dean for executive education Jon Spector said. Combining both of the schools’ networks and knowledge is a win-win proposition for both the schools as well as the Wharton Fellows. The Wharton Fellows will be visiting India from March 6-9, 2005. The Wharton Fellows India programme is being jointly designed and implemented by Wharton and the ISB to provide maximum learning impact for the fellows, the ISB said in a statement. The India Master Class will help participants gain deep knowledge on India as an important emerging market and sourcing destination. The ISB is proud to partner with Wharton for this programme, ISB associate dean (executive education) Shyam Viswanathan said. India is running neck and neck with China in market size and growth potential, yet many of these opportunities will not be realised by using the traditional market strategies of the developed world, founder of the Fellows programme and Wharton Professor Jerry Wind said. The Fellows programme will arm senior executives who have or are considering investments in India with new tools and mental models to enter and grow in that market. The programme will open on March 6 with a high-level overview of the Indian cultural, political and industrial scenario. Speakers including Gurcharan Das, CII director general N Srinivasan, K V Kamath of ICICI Bank, Kiran Karnik of Nasscom and others will give the participants a birds eye view of India and its changing business scenario. The fellows will also visit companies that are known models of excellence, both in Mumbai and Bangalore, to learn firsthand about market dynamics and new ways of looking at the Indian consumer and business.

100 % FDI in construction

Construction and land development got a major fillip on Thursday with the government throwing open the sector to 100% FDI. The FDI will be allowed freely in development of housing, commercial premises hotels, resorts, hospitals, educational institutions, recreational facilities and urban infrastructure. The Union cabinet approved this major initiative of the commerce and industry ministry aimed at boosting FDI inflows, creating jobs, improving the quality of construction and creating demand for building materials. Proposals for foreign equity participation of up to 100% will be cleared through the automatic route. Keeping the sensibilities of the Left allies of the UPA government in mind, the Cabinet decided that the foreign investors would not be allowed to speculate in real estate. They have been prohibited from selling undeveloped land. The FDI project will have to conform to the norms and standards, including land use requirements and provision of community amenities.

Tsunami part of IIT curriculum

Students applying to IIT Kharagpur for the session beginning July 2005, can now opt for tsunami studies. An M.Tech programme in computational seismology is coming up at the institute with inputs from Rourkee Engineering College and the National Geo-physical Research Institute at Hyderabad. The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, is also helping with technological knowhow and laboratory inputs. A seismological observatory has already been set up so that students can learn how to predict the arrival of the disastrous tidal waves. At least 25 students will be selected for the course every year on the basis of an aptitude test but the basic course requirement will be a Masters degree in Science or a B.Tech or a BE. IIT KGP is already working with the Orissa government to set up cyclone shelters. The request came from the PMO after the supercyclone in 1999. We are providing the knowhow but the government will build them, said the IIT KGPs director."

STI buys Symphony Data for $8 million

Atlanta-based STI Knowledge (STI) on Thursday announced that it has acquired Hyderabad-based Symphony Data, a $3-million business process outsourcing (BPO) company, for between $7 million and $8 million in a cash-stock deal. STI itself offers BPO services and enterprise support solutions for the healthcare, insurance and commercial enterprises and had revenues of $25 million in the last fiscal. Announcing the deal at a press conference, Satish Sanan, executive chairman and chief executive officer of STI, said that the acquisition was integral to the company's future and would enable STI to offer healthcare administration, claims processing, customer interaction, technical help desk and other vertical industries' knowledge-based services through a blended-shore delivery model.

“This acquisition is a key strategic initiative for STI Knowledge,” Sanan said.

Clean Development Mechanism

The next big thing

Selco International Limited (Selco), a Hyderabad based public limited company with core business in energy generation from municipal solid waste (MSW) is generating 6.6 MW of electricity from 400 TPD of garbage. Selco is well experienced and is a poineer in the waste-to-energy sector in the country. The company has been operating in this subject for the last one decade. The garbage processing plant near Hyderabad is operational for more than five years and they are producing a coal substitute in the form of pellets (20 mm dia), briquettes (60mm dia) and were used by many industries in and around Hyderabad. Selco has taken the pilot scale technology for garbage processing from Tifac, department of science & technology, central government, and set up the first commercial plant in the country in 1999. The power plant was set up by Selco, using the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) made from garbage as the primary fuel for the boiler. This is a green project and many such plants are working in Europe. However, since the quality of garbage in Indian cities is heterogeneous in nature, has high moisture content and low calorific value, a suitable technology was developed by Selco and is successfully running the plant.

During the last five years, Selco has consumed more than 3.27 lakh million of garbage, thereby saving several tonnes of green house gases. Environmental polution caused by open garbage dumps is enormous. methane and nitrous oxides are released in the open garbage dumping grounds. Methane is 27 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2) where as nitrous oxides are 270 times more potent than CO2. Hence, by reducing these gases, we can contribute towards reducing the green house gases. We are exited to know that Kyoto protocal has come into force recently and are expecting that through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) route, we can get many Certified Emission Reductions (CER). A couple of consultants have suggested us to take the benefit of the same by registering and getting it validated by the end of this year. M/s Senergy Global of New Delhi has given a proposal to us that they can find a buyer for the CERs to our existing commercial project and also for our forthcoming expansion project. We are informed that the present rate per CER is $4 and are also informed that 40% of CERs generated in the first commitment period can be paid in advance by an investor from Europe.

We are excited at the proposal and expect that this kind of investment finds its way into these type of green projects. If this happens, many private companies can enter aggressively into this area of business. The present system of CDM is very complicated and total information is not available to the industrialists involved in these types of projects. Hence, more attention needs to be given to this sector by government bodies in simplifying the CDM system. Hence, we are optimistic that CDM will become an incentive to take up projects based on garbage processing.

when MCH can help APCPDCL

President A P J Abdul Kalam today suggested to the Union Ministry of Rural Development to set up mini power plants in district and block headquarters using the municipal wastes of the cluster of villages. ''India needs thousands of mini power plants both in the rural and urban areas using municipal waste,'' he emphasised addressing a function organised by the Ministry to give away Nirmal Gram Puraskar awards to Panchayat Raj Institutions for good work done in total sanitation. Dr Kalam said a serious problem had arisen both in the rural and urban areas due to the accumulation of municipal solid waste. ''Efficient and environmentally clean disposal of garbage has always been a major technological challenge,'' he observed and said while being a threat to the environment, mounting garbage was also a rich source of energy.'' The President pointed out that the potential for converting this waste into useable energy was realised by one organisation, Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council of DST, which helped in developing a completely new solution for processing of waste into a source of fuel. This fuel in turn could be used for generation of electricity through mini plants. Dr Kalam revealed that two enterpreneurs in Andhra Pradesh adopted the technology with refinement and established two independent plants in Hyderabad and Vijayawada generatinjg over six MW of electricity each.

Jet, Sahara get passage to France

The French government has allowed the ‘fifth freedom’ traffic rights to Indian carriers, enabling them to fly to other destinations in Europe and the United Kingdom via airports in France. The Indian carriers will now have a stopover in France and can off-load passengers there, before their onward journey. The rights will enable the carriers to fly to New York, four other points in the United States and Toronto and Montreal in Canada, after a stopover in France. India, on its part, designated Bangalore and Hyderabad as additional points of call for French airlines, besides Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. The French government also agreed to assist Air-India in getting additional landing slots and terminals at the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. According to aviation sector analysts, the move will result in a major drop in prices and better connectivity to Europe from different parts of the country. The other sectors opened up by the government for Indian private carriers have seen fares dropping by over 40 per cent in anticipation of Jet Airways and Air Sahara starting their services.

Computershare's India expansion plans

Outsourcing is happening on several fronts. This time round it may happen in the share registry business as well. The world leader in share registry, Computershare, is exploring possibilities to outsource share registry work to Karvy Consultants. Computershare has recently picked up 50% stake in Karvy for A$10m. “Outsourcing of share registry work is one of the possibilities that we are looking at. Through Karvy we are also expecting to make inroads into the Indian share registry business too,” Stuart Crosby, group MD (Asia Pacific) of Computershare.

The arrangement with Computershare, would throw up new opportunities for cross border transactions and also help the Indian securities market benefit from the technologies available in different parts of the world, he said. C Parthasarathy, CMD, Karvy Consultants, said: “The JV will enable us to access US markets. The arrangement will offer a larger service portfolio to the foreign MNC as well as Indian MNC clients.” “We expect to upgrade our services. New services such as proxy solicitation and gathering information about the expectation from the shareholders too would be added,” Yugandhar M, MD, said.

Cognizant to invest $ 76 m in India

IT services major Cognizant Technology Solutions today said it will invest USD 76 million in building new development centres in India in 2005 and 2006, that includes USD 28.7 million for a centre in Bangalore to house 2,250 software professionals.

The company will also build new centres in Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Kolkatta that would totally house over 9,000 professionals, Cognizant President and CEO Lakshmi Narayanan told reporters here.

Murthy most admired biz leader

Infosys Chairman and Chief Mentor N R Narayana Murthy has emerged as India's most admired business leader for the fourth consecutive year, according to a survey by brand consulting, advertising and PR firm Brand-comm.

Students from 12 management institutes across the country who participated in the survey admire Murthy for being a visionary that he is, and for his value systems, as per the survey findings released at a press conference here.

The B-School students named Infosys and Tata firms as the two most attractive Indian companies to work for. HLL, which occupied the top rank last year, has slipped to the third place.

Murthy, who was backed by 35 per cent of the students for the coveted slot, is ahead of Ratan Tata (16 per cent), Chairman of Tata Group, who occupies the second position in the list of most admired business leaders.

The Weak Link

If there's a weak link in Hyderabad's rush to development, it's government.

Sumith

Desi Ph.Ds a Hot Property

Looks like the foreign universities are up beat in embracing Indian students with a doctoral degree for the post of tutorship. Though not appealing and paying as much as a high profile techies job, according to the applicants, most of the information about the vacancies are restricted to the websites. The Ph.D. programmers mostly applying for the post of lectureship, assistant or associate professors in the US universities, have more reasons to celebrate as the recruiting process, they feel, is comparatively fast. “Appointment mails came calling in just three months after forwarding my applications,” says A Beheura who just returned from the US after a short stint in Ohio State University as an assistant professor. “The chances of getting a job are more if there are a few academic publications to your credit,” he adds. Besides, a quick look at the university web sites reveals that some universities abroad are setting up chairs in Indian languages. Not to mention branches of study like Asian studies, South East Asian history and women’s studies. “These are not new to Indian research scholars. If they are serious about their research and try to publish in international journals, I see no reason why there cannot be more Indian scholars as faculty abroad,” says University of Hyderabad dean of students’ welfare prof R L Hangloo. A study of listed openings on the web gives the impression that while the job market in social science and humanities is near-stagnant in the country, there are openings abroad. Indian scholars find no difficulty in getting short-listed. But if one is keen on ensuring final selection, there should be more focus on international publications. A Ph.D without publications is not much recognised in foreign universities,” he says. Apart from job, a stint with any university abroad is expected to add value to one’s profile. “Generally, reputed Indian universities are also preferring experience in abroad. Either it is a programme of study or an employment, it will yield high dividends. Working in abroad even for a short while is a passport to a job in the country,” says a senior research scholar from a reputed university here. One can also try for a postdoctoral fellowship abroad, he adds. Sudhakar Goud of British Library, Hyderabad also sees this trend. "I am aware that opportunities are opening up for Ph.Ds in the UK universities. Visas are being issued under highly skilled migration category and this is catching up,” he says.

Source: Times of India

Sania to play in Dubai Open

Tennis star Sania Mirza has got a wild card to play in the Dubai Open tournament, featuring the world's top players, beginning on February 28. "It's confirmed that Sania was given a wild card and it was officially communicated to us," Sania's father Imran Mirza said here. Imran said it will be a tough outing for World No 99 Sania against the top players who will be playing in the competition with a cut-off ranking of 36. "The tournament will give her a nice exposure with almost all the top 30 in WTA rankings taking part including the Williams sisters, World No 1 Lindsay Devenport and the Russian duo of Anastasia Myskina and Svetlena Kuznetsova. Sania, who created history by becoming the first Indian to win a WTA tour event after advancing to the third round in the Australian Open, will leave for Dubai tomorrow, Imran said. (Agencies)

SBH for consolidation of associate banks

State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), the leading associate bank of State Bank of India is in favour of consolidation of the associate banks with the parent, while leaving options open for merging an associate bank with itself. In an exclusive interview with the FE here, Amitabha Guha, MD, SBH, said that the consolidation within the banking sector is essential and particularly, the merger of associate banks with the parent SBI, is a positive sign. Mr Guha said that since all the associate banks and the parent are working on same technology, same processes, same principles, right management policies, account procedures, strength, same business and same culture, it is essential to have a consolidation within the group.

TCS sells share registry business to Karvy

Software powerhouse Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)) has sold its share registry business to Hyderabad-based share registrar, Karvy Computershare Private Limited, for an undisclosed sum. The two sides have recently concluded the deal under which Karvy will service all the share registry clients of TCS with effect from the beginning of the next financial year (April 1, 2005). Confirming the move, TCS chief financial officer S Mahalingam said, “TCS has eight clients in the share registry business, which will now be handled by Karvy.” He was, however, tightlippeed about the value of the deal citing confidentiality reasons. A Karvy spokesman too confirmed the deal but refused to divulge further details. Incidentally, Karvy was the registrar and transfer agent for the over Rs 4,500 crore TCS’ initial public offering (IPO). TCS’ deal with Karvy comes close on the heels of the Tata group signing an MoU to sell its Rs 15 crore company Tata Share Registry to Mumbai-based broking firm Darashaw & Co, which was also keen on buying the business from TCS.

Balaji Telefilms plans to set up 3 studios

MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms is planning to set up its own studios in Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad in a phased manner. The production house will also continue with its existing arrangement of utilising studios on a long-term lease basis. "We are in the process of identifying land for studio space in Goregaon, a western suburb of Mumbai. We will then look at Chennai and Hyderabad," says Balaji Telefilms president of strategy and business development R Karthik. The investments will depend on the acquisition cost of land, he adds. The need for owning studios comes in the wake of Balaji's plans to scale up its television production business. With new channel launches, the company expects the demand for content even in the regional languages to increase dramatically. Besides Hindi content, Balaji has a strong presence in the Sun Network channels.

Pan-Asian biotech federation formed

Biotechnology associations in countries stretching from the Middle East to South-East Asia have come together to promote biotechnology and build on each other's strengths in the field. To this end, they have created the Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA), which was launched on 10 February by Maharaj Bhan, secretary of India's Department of Biotechnology, at the BioAsia 2005 conference in Hyderabad, India. FABA's founding members are India, Iran, Israel, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Hyderabad International Airport an update

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today reviewed the progress of execution of the Rs 1400 crore Mega Project of International Airport with officials of various departments. Going through the various aspects of the project, including land acquisition, concession in commercial taxes on supply of construction material, MMTS connection to the International Airport, and laying of new approach roads and flyovers, the Chief Minister got all the bottlenecks sorted out, paving way for commencement of construction work at the earliest. Thanking Reddy for his initiative in facilitating smooth and fast commencement of execution of the project, Managing Director of GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited, Kiran Kumar Gandhi, and its Director B V Nageswara Rao assured to commence the construction activity of the runway and terminal buildings within the next four months, a release said here.

FAPCCI and AFEC signs MOU

The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce (FAPCCI) today signed an agreement with Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (AFEC) to promote trade as well as technical and scientific cooperation. The MoU was signed by O P Goenka, President, FAPCCI and Austrian Trade Commissioner Hans Hoertnagl on behalf of AFEC. Free exchange of information regarding trade and investments, social and economic cooperation and other spheres of economic activity has been envisaged. Setting up of working groups and holding joint meetings have also been agreed upon, Goenka said. He also informed that the Austrian government was willing to provide an assistance of Rs 3,000 crore to irrigation projects in the state, for the Godavari Lift Irrigation Project (Devadula) and the 350 MW power project at Dummagudem in Khammam district. Three more projects in Yellampalli, Singareddypalle and Pola Varam will be taken up soon, Goenka added. PTI

Debt: Rs.11,000 Per Citizen

Every man, woman and child in the State has a debt burden of Rs 11,000. If the State government has its way, this will go up to Rs 16,714 next year. Alarmingly, the asset to liability ratio has melted to 63:100 from 101:100 in 1994. This means for every Rs 10 that the State owes its lenders, it owns assets worth Rs 6. Meaning, the huge borrowings have not translated to assets.

The State’s total outstanding public debt stands at Rs 75,619 crore, up by a whopping 500 per cent during the past decade. It was Rs 15,614 in 95-96. It will go up to Rs 1,17,000-crore next year if the Congress government takes loans for the 26 proposed irrigation projects. Against this, the State earns just Rs 35,976 crore — or less than half the current debt. The poor asset-to-liability ratio indicates that most of the borrowings have gone into meeting the revenue deficit.

Source:Deccan Chronicle

Hyderabad ranked second in employment rate

According to the recent survey, Chennai ranks first in employment index with 10.29 per cent growth, followed by Hyderabad (6.68) and Bangalore (5.92). The survey tries to understand the pattern of employment across 17 different industries. Around 2,046 employers gave a projection for the first quarter of 2005. IT, ITES, infrastructure, education training and consulting, transportation and logistics, and pharmaceuticals are the top industries. Apart from IT and ITES sectors, there is a good potential in pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and health care sectors in Hyderabad. In fact, we have moved ahead of cities like Mumbai and Bangalore since the last quarter. The growth in the city does not primarily rely on IT. The other sectors give the necessary push, which is a positive sign.

Hyderabad still have the advantage of having to commute shorter distances, a relatively lower cost of living and availability of housing facilities. These are primary factors that will affect younger professionals. The congestion of roads is a recent problem, but I feel that too will be addressed after the finance minister laid stress on the need to decongest the roads.

There was an increase in attrition because we had many companies looking for people with similar skill sets. Now, companies are proactive in addressing this problem. Recruiters frown upon professionals who have quickly moved jobs. We can expect that there will be a further increase, and the major reasons are cost factor and flexibility. And apart from youngsters, companies also recruit senior professionals when they need expertise for niche areas.

Sami Labs my set up unit in andhra

Bangalore-based Sami Labs Limited, a Rs 250-crore transnational health science company, is looking at setting up a manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh within the next six months. Sami Labs is in serious talks with the Andhra Pradesh government in this regard and has been scouting for land in the Visakhapatnam SEZ and other places around Hyderabad.

Bose Audio Systems India Expansion

In India, Bose has two broad business units — professional systems division and home audio division. The professional systems division provides complete turnkey audio-video solutions for public spaces such as hotels, restaurants, retail outlets, auditoriums and stadium. This division has regional offices in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. The home audio division caters to the demands of the home segment. The company sells a wide range of home audio solutions starting from complete music and home theatre systems to a range of speaker systems for music and home theatre. The two divisions are supported by centralised customer support centre, backed up by a toll free number.

Bose Corporation, the world’s leading professional sound system company, has a wholly owned subsidiary to focus on software development in the country. Bose Corporation India was set up in 1995 to exclusively focus on selling and servicing home and professional sound systems in India. Bose Corporation was founded in 1964 by Amar G Bose, a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Today, Bose Corporation is a privately held company with over 7,000 employees, 18 subsidiaries, eight manufacturing facilities and annual sales of over $1.6 billion. Bose Corporation India Pvt Ltd was founded in 1995 with initial focus on design and installation of professional sound system in public places.

Audio systems major Bose Corporation is setting up retail stores in Ahmedabad and Pune, Kolkata by the end of December and in Indore, Kochi and other B plus category cities next year, said Ratish Pandey, general manager, Bose Corporation, here. The company is also looking out for sales executives for these upcoming stores who will be given specialised training at Bose corporate office in New Delhi, Pandey added. He said that the company has been consistently posting 60 per cent growth ever since it launched India operations in early 1996.

Sonata sees revenue jump from Microsoft deal

Sonata Software Ltd. expects significant revenue gains from its alliance with Microsoft Corp. announced last month, Managing Director B. Ramaswamy told Reuters on Tuesday.

Ramaswamy aimed to add 500 people to a 1,300-strong headcount over the next few months, of which 300 would be for a Microsoft technology centre in Hyderabad to be inaugurated this week.

Hyderabad-London return Rs.14,190

Within weeks of Jet Airways and Air Sahara receiving the government's permission to launch international services, leading foreign airlines have dropped fares by over 40 per cent on prime routes from India. In December 2004, the government gave permission to the two carriers to fly to destinations in the Far East and Europe. Since then, Singapore Airlines, British Airways and Sri Lankan Airlines have cut fares.

On January 25, British Airways announced that a ticket from London to Mumbai would cost only Rs 10,000 compared with Rs 14,750 earlier. Singapore Airlines last week cut prices between Singapore and any destination in India by 43 per cent to Rs 13,100. The latest to join the bandwagon is Sri Lankan Airlines which, a few days back, cut fares to major global destinations by 50 per cent, a return ticket to London now costs Rs 14,190.

They hope to make up for lower fares with increased traffic. But there are indications that these cuts will be extended. Jet Airways is slated to start flights to the US in April. On their part, the Indian private carriers are not happy with the price cuts and are expected to introduce very low fares to challenge rivals.

Cathay Pacific has come out with a scheme that will allow passengers a free three-night stay in Hong Kong on the purchase of a ticket from Mumbai or Delhi to Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand.

Some international carriers have also come out with massive incentive linked bonus schemes for travel agents.

Meanwhile, on the Gulf routes, Etihad and Air Arabia are locked in a price war. While Etihad is offering a return ticket to Dubai for Rs 11,125, Air Arabia is offering a ticket to the same destination for Rs 6,000. This is bad news for Air India Express, the low-cost arm of Air-India, which is hoping to start services to Dubai in April or May.

Srilankan Airways new fares
Hyderabad to
Colombo ~~Rs.11,740~~ Rs.5,870
Singapore ~~Rs.19,760~~ Rs.9,880
Hong Kong ~~Rs.23,120~~ Rs.11,560
Paris ~~Rs.24,240~~ Rs.12,120
London ~~Rs.28,280~~ Rs.14,190

Google Zeitgeist India

Google has added Zeitgeist to its search engines in India, Ireland and New Zealand. Zeitgeist measures the most popular queries on the search engine. In January, for example, the top 10 key words searched in India included tsunami, Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai, tennis star Sania Mirza and Anara Gupta, who figured prominently in a sex scandal in Jammu and Kashmir. For all of 2004, pop diva Britney Spears topped Google search charts worldwide.

Vijay Textiles bags $5mn orders from Europe

Vijay Textiles, a city based home decor textile major, has bagged a USD five Million export order from a leading European retail chain. "The order from Europe is significant enough as we have established a good breakthrough into the European market as part of our new business strategy to directly tap the export market", said B Vijay Kumar Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of the company in a release here recently. In Europe, the company plans to tap the existing retail chain to stock its products. On the export front, the company is currently considering a few franchise offers from the US for opening retail stores and also plans to set up its own retail chain in the Middle East, Gupta said.

Bonding with Bombay

Bonding with Bombay : Pierce Brosnan in mumbai (Thanks Times)

Sumith

Hyderabad gets new cricket stadium

Hyderabad's new cricket stadium is the latest addition to India's test cricket venues and it believes it has made just the right start. For none other than Sachin Tendulkar became the first cricketer to get the first use of the ground. Built at a cost of Rs 35 crore, the stadium can accommodate upto 55,000 fans. Those in charge of the ground say the virgin pitch will have something for everyone. "Initially there will be a little bit juice in it and there will be seam movement. As the game progresses, spinners will also come into focus. If the ball comes on to your bat, you can play your shots as well,'' said Shivlal Yadav, Secretary, HCA.

West zone led by Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid's South zone will get first taste of this wicket in the Duleep Trophy match. A month later, the stadium will play host to Inzamam's men when Pakistan takes on India A before the one-day series. It is only apt that the first game played at this new cricket stadium in Hyderabad is the comeback game for Sachin Tendulkar.

Happy hunting ground

Hyderabad's Lal Bahadur stadium, where international matches were played until now was a happy hunting ground for the little champion. Fans are hoing a good innings here would make worries over his tennis elbow a thing of the past. Those interested in numerology go a step further. They suggest Tendulkar playing at India's test venue number ten will be lucky for Hyderabad because 10 is also Sachin's lucky number."It is a fabulous stadium. I am extremely happy that a big and nice stadium has come up in Hyderabad. It is good for the game" said Sachin Tendulkar, Captain, West Zone. Hyderabad was angling to host the Australians last year but was stumped when a two-member team gave it the thumbs down, saying it needs to finish a lot more work before hosting an international side. In hindsight, that was good advice as Hyderabad is now on a stronger wicket to stake its claim to host a test match.

Hyderabad Retailers against VAT

Wholesale and retail shops remained closed in Andhra Pradesh today against introduction of Value Added tax (VAT) and service taxes. Wholesale traders shut down their shops in Begumbazar, Ranigunj and other areas here protesting the VAT and services taxes to be introduced from April first. A report from Vijayawada, said members of Vijayawada Chambers of Commerce and Industry observed bandh as per call given by the national commerce and trade bodies to protest against the introduction of VAT. Majority of the shops remained closed in One Town area, Besent road, Eluru road and Gandhinagar areas. PTI

Optimistic job market for Non-IT Grads

After years of playing second-fiddle to IT graduates, resume of professionals without IT qualifications are looking impressive once again with recruiters offering them a level-playing field. With the job market gathering steam, opportunities for non-IT graduates, particularly with commerce and science specialisation, are on the higher side. "European companies especially from France and Germany have started hiring Indian professionals," says a senior executive of a city-based HR consultancy firm. "This is in addition to opportunities in the US and MNCs in India," he adds. Within call centres, the proportion of non-voice jobs is growing. This means projects related to back-end processing, particularly accounting and salary processing, have increased. While voice-jobs accounted for over 90 per cent earlier, now it has come down to 70 per cent. This means the doors have opened for non-IT professionals, who can handle maintenance and scripting work effortlessly, says Javeed Mirza, president, Taj Software Systems, a US-based placement service. The expansion of the banking, insurance and health sectors also means more opportunities for such professionals. While banking and insurance professionals with experience in PSUs are being picked up by MNCs, prospects for pharmacy graduates and qualified nurses are growing too.

According to Global Placements manager Jose T Alapatt, the health industry is ripe with vacancies, particularly for paramedical staff.
"There is a good demand for professors, lecturers and teachers from African countries. This is compensating for lack of demand on the home front in this sector," he adds. Countries like Eritrea and Ethiopia are preferring Indian faculty, who do not haggle much for pay and perks. Sciences and mathematics are high in demand followed by humanities and social sciences.

Youth meet gets off to a colourful start in city

Source: Deccan Chronicle

Boisterousness and the never-say-die spirit of youthfulness marked the opening ceremony of the 10th National Youth Festival at LB Stadium in the city. Dressed in traditional attire of their respective States, boys and girls enthusiastically took part in the march past. They sang, danced and displayed their athletic skills while marching forward. Speaking on the occasion, Sport and Youth Affairs Minister Sunil Dutt asked the youth help build the nation and urged them to stop fighting in the name of religion, caste and creed. He said that five youth hostels, each costing Rs 1 crore, would be constructed in the State. National Youth Awards were presented to 25 people representing different States. R Kalinga Shekar and Balakrishna Reddy of Andhra Pradesh were among the recipients. A national level mushaira, Jashn-e-Bahar, will be held as part of the National Youth Festival at Lalitha Kala Thoranam in Public Gardens in Nampally on February 23.

Nandan Biomatrix to go in for IPO this year

Hyderabad-based Nandan Biomatrix Limited is planning to go in for an initial public offer during the current calendar year. Speaking to Business Standard, V Bhaskar Rao, managing director of Nandan Biomatrix, said: “We have filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for the necessary clearances and therefore we cannot disclose the size and the exact date of the IPO. All I can say is that it would be during 2005.”

The company has signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government to set up a 400-acre processing park at Zaheerabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The park is expected to be completed in the next three to five years. According to Rao, the company is embarking on the project with an outlay of Rs 22.5 crore out of which Rs 6.5 crore would be through private equity while the rest would be raised through various financial institutions. “The company itself is setting up three extraction units which would come up in the park by May. For each of the extraction unit the company is investing Rs 4 crore,” Rao said. The state government has come forward and we expect a grant of Rs 10 crore. Other central government agencies have also come forward to help us in setting up the common infrastructure, he added. “The park would have research and development facilities for the cultivation of herbal medicines and bio-diesel plantations. UK-based DI Oils Limited has also agreed to invest Rs 1 crore in developing a common R&D centre. Apart from our own extraction units, we also expect another 17 companies to set up their extraction units at the park,” he said. Nandan Biomatrix, which achieved a turnover of Rs 7 crore last year, expects its turnover to touch Rs 25 crore by the end of the current fiscal. The company, according to Rao, has already recorded a turnover of Rs 17 crore so far. “We expect to close the next fiscal with a turnover of Rs 100 crore,” Rao said.

Hyderabad may link India to Iran

London: Visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi addressed a gathering of industrialists and decision-makers in India-Iran Joint Business Council Meeting at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) on Monday morning, IRNA reported.

Kharrazi insisted on extending the existing warm relations to new areas like IT, biotechnology and tourism. The minister said shortness of distance, establishment of direct flights and presence of a large number of tourist attractions in India and Iran provide the required opportunities for cooperation between the two countries in the tourism sector.

The minister said direct flights between Hyderabad and Mashhad, "is a must" to take existing relations to new heights.

BPCL gets Lufthansa order

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has been awarded the refuelling business of Lufthansa German Airlines. It is the first Lufthansa flight in India for which BPCL would be the fuelling partner.

Lufthansa on Friday formally flew in the inaugural flight from Frankfurt to Hyderabad. It will operate thrice-a-week with A340-300 aircraft. "The refuelling tie-up with Lufthansa is a step ahead in capturing the international market," said S.P. Mathur, General Manager (Aviation), BPCL, in a press release.

Qatar Airways hikes frequency to Hyderabad

Following the recent open skies policy announced by the Indian government, award-winning Qatar Airways has almost tripled the number of weekly non-stop flights between Doha, capital of the State of Qatar and India. It increased flights to Hyderabad from three services a week to 12. From 19 flights a week spread across four Indian cities - Mumbai, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad - the airline has sharply raised frequency to 51 services a week from November 1, last year.The increased capacity to each of the four Indian destinations served from Doha will be effective until March 31, this year.Flights to India's commercial capital, Mumbai, increased from six services a week to 13; the southern Indian city of Kochi sees capacity rise from three to 13 weekly flights; Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram's daily operation goes up to 13 flights a week.All flights are operated in two-class configured Airbus A300s and A320s. As a result of the extra flights, more passengers will be able to enjoy Qatar Airways' award-winning service. The airline has secured a string of accolades this year, including best cabin crew in the Middle East and the prestigious Five Star ranking, only the third carrier to receive the award for service and excellence given by Skytrax, an independent aviation quality monitoring agency.For the second year running, the Indian government has relaxed its policy on capacity restrictions to foreign airlines by opening up the skies for a five-month period over the busy holiday season.

DRDL to help the common man

Products developed indigenously by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for defence needs are now being introduced in the open market for use by the common man. These were showcased at a lecture here on Sunday. Organised by an NGO — Medically Aware and Responsible Citizens of Hyderabad (MARCH), the lecture by Dr W Selvamurthy, DRDO’s R&D chief controller, focussed on the spin off of the biotechnology and the biomedical devices developed by the DRDO. What the DRDO developed for the soldiers who battled extreme climatic conditions are now being transferred by industries and made available to common man. Some such devices are the self-heating food containers that heat food with just a puncture to the packet. Treatment for cold injuries such as frost bites with a mixture of allopathic and Indian herbal medicines. Battery-operated heating gloves and socks and portable water-testing devices to check for chemical and biological contamination, (which has been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO)). A de-salination kit developed by the DRDO was even sent to Tsunami-affected areas to purify water for the victims. The DRDO has also developed a fiveminute typhoid detection kit and a mosquito repellent spray that keeps the insects away for six hours. A bigger dengue prevention package developed by DRDO was taken up by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation. Here the repellent is sprayed on a water body. The chemical kills the mosquito larvae thereby preventing the spread of dengue. Titanium dental implants, tools for detection of radioactive material and a glucose technology that helps in the treatment of cancer in the radiotherapy stage have also been developed by DRDO. Dr Selvamurthy appealed for patronage of these technologies from doctors saying only then will the technology reach all.He also noted that all this technology transfer to the industry is nonexclusive so as to allow maximum penetration of the products among the consumers in different parts of the country and even abroad. The lecture was organised on the occasion of MARCH’s 114 committee meeting.

ICMR pushes ahead with stem cell research

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has drawn a roadmap that aims at starting clinical trials with human embryonic stem cells by 2010, ICMR director general N K Ganguly said in Hyderabad today. He said an ICMR institute in Mumbai, the National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH), has started creating the cell lines using spare human embryos from in-vitro fertilization clinic.While the cell lines available in the US were derived using mouse "feeder" cells, NIRRH will use feeder layers made by using human fetal tissue, Ganguly said while inaugurating a symposium on molecular medicine and health at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here. The ICMR institute is collaborating with the IVF center in Mumbai run by Indira Hinduja, famous for creation of India's first test tube baby in the 1980s. Ganguly said that the project has been cleared by the ethics committee, aimed at establishing human embryonic stem cell lines by 2007 and launching clinical trials by 2010. Embryonic stem cells can be induced to change into cells forming various organs in the body and thus offer the potential for treating diabetes or heart disease. According to Ganguly, the ICMR guidelines allow use of spare human embryos less than 14-day old for therapeutic purposes with consent of donors, but prohibit the creation of such embryos specifically for commercial purposes. ICMR has funded seven stem cell projects and four more are under consideration. "Stem cell therapy has a big market in India in future," he said.

Source:PTI

ESC opens Hyderabad centre

Electronics and Computer Software Export Council (ESC) has set up a centre at Hyderabad. It plans to rope in 300 members by March 2005. The organisation’s membership in the city presently amounts to 120.

ESC has suggested to the Andhra Pradesh government to establish a venture capital fund and an incubation centre in the hardware technology park to help small and medium businesses. ESC is an autonomous body under the Department of Information Technology (DIT). ESC has 2,200 members of which number 1,200 are software companies and the rest hardware, electronics and consumer application players. The Bangalore centre has over 500 members and the Chennai centre about 200.

Obesity research attracts attention

A new colony of Indian rats based in Hyderabad has created worldwide excitement. The US is now collaborating with India to identify a new obesity gene unique to these rats, that are the fattest in the world.

Looking for answers

Scientists say they could hold the answer to several lifestyle diseases of the modern world like obesity, diabetes and infertility. Four in every five Americans is reported obese.

At 1.4 kg, the 'sumo' rats are four times the weight of a normal rat. Scientists hope to find a new obesity gene in these sedentary rodents that could be similar to the one in humans, offering hope for couch potatoes who crash in front of television with something to eat."While becoming obese, 60 per cent develop tumour, 20 per cent cataract and 90 per cent kidney abnormalities and 100 per cent infertility. This is obesity-related lifestyle disease," said Dr N V Siridharan, scientist.

Behavioural studies

Scientists found that the obese rats are infertile and lack libido. Interestingly, by restricting their diet and making them lose weight, the infertility was reversed and they developed libido as well.The fat rats show rapid ageing and die in about 18 months as compared with the normal three years. Scientists say the sumo rats are good models for human disorders such as diabetes and infertility. And, unlike other models, these rats also develop cataract and tumor."These are all facets of the same disease. This model is one that provides all in one lifespan. In other models, such opportunity is not there. That is why it is unique," said DR B Sivakumar, Director, National Institute of Nutrition.

US$ 500,000 have been set aside for the Indo-US project that hopes to make a breakthrough in two years.

Pearl Princess

the bengali cricketer crowns our pearl (Courtesy:Times of india)

Sumith

Destination Hyderabad for inflight catering

The boom in air travel in India over the last 12 months is adding a new fizz to inflight catering business. Last year, around 17 million people flew domestic airlines and around 8.8 million passengers took to the international skies — an indication of the size of the onboard meal market.

Conservatively estimated, the meal uplift business is worth Rs 160-170 crore. Market sources say if traffic grows by 20% this year the inflight meal business should grow correspondingly. Besides, the entry of domestic airlines into intercontinenal routes may force caterers to become more innovative. “Air India is increasingly trying to raise the bar in the F&B space by running regional food festivals, apart from changing its menu often,” said spokesperson Jitendra Bhargava. Given the thin line separating the four Indian carriers, F&B may be viewed as one of the differentiators.

With competition becoming fierce, the world's biggest inflight kitchen brand and a Lufthansa arm, LSG Sky Chef, has decided to ride piggyback on the German airline's expansion into the Hyderabad market by setting up shop there.

The Grand Ashok Flight Catering Service (part of the Bharat Hotels' chain run by Lalit Suri) which operates an inflight kitchen at the Bangalore airport, is also trying to expand its reach to Hyderabad and Chennai airports. Said Veep Jagmohan Misra: “We are building a new modern kitchen near the airport in Bangalore.”

The Indian market is dominated by the Taj Air-SATS consortium, followed by Ambassador, Chefair, Oberoi and Gate Gourmet, the former Swiss Airlines catering outfit ranked next only to LSG. The brandname of the catering company may guarantee quality but the passenger, typically, is not influenced by the name unless the quality is poor.

Vaccines for pennies

Source: NewScientist

They Said it couldnt be done

When Krishna Ella went to venture capitalists in 1995 he was laughed out of thier offices. A molicular biologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, He was proposing to make Hepatitis B vaccine in India, his Native land, for mere dollar a shot. At the time UK drug firms SmithKline Beecham was selling the product in the west for 20 times the amount.

"People thought: there's no way this guy can produce this vaccine at a dollar", Ella Recalls

Undeterred, he and his marketing manager wife Suchita Ella Sold thier houses in America and India, abandoned thier US careers and left for Hyderabad to setup thier own company. They sank all they owned into this venture, begged for money from an Indian Bank. Thier company called Bharat Biotech, now sells the vaccinein the developing countries for 28 cents a shot. It owns the second biggest production facility for this vaccine in the world and has an annual turn over of $7.3 Million.

"Those venture capitalists are kicking themselves now-you bet!", Says Suchitra Ella

The pair are typical of highly educated Indian expats who have forged thier careers in the west, but now are returning to take advantage of new economic oppurtunities at home. Thier ultimate knowledge of western science and business is invaluable, and they are natural risk-takers. After all, this is not the first time in thier lives they have made a daunting fresh start. "there is always a dogma in science" says Krishna Ella. "To break the dogma you need to take risks."

Krishna and Suchitra Ella wanted to give something back to thier home country, and setting something up in India made good financial sense too........
.....Krishna Ella Says he wants to tackle third world diseases neglected by the multinationals, a sentiment often voiced by Indian entrepreneurs who believe scientists have a duty to the poor.

"It feels very satisfying," Says Suchitra. "We are on the top of the world because we are doing something that is really required for countries like India."

Austrian President visits Hyderabad

Austrian President Heinz Fischer Friday evinced keen interest in a proposed 2,700 MW hydro-electric project in Andhra Pradesh and said his country would consider funding it.

Fischer, who arrived to Hyderabad, Friday on a two-day visit, enquired from the officials about the size, duration of completion, and long term advantages of the project, which is part of Polavaram irrigation project.

During his 45-minute meeting with Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Finance Minister K. Rosaiah and senior officials Friday evening, he responded positively to the state's requests for extending cooperation for economic development and said his government was keen to promote ties between the business communities of Austria and India.

The chief minister pointed out to the president the scope of promoting investments in the area of food processing, and connecting Hyderabad with Vienna through direct services of Austrian Airlines.

India to sign EU's Galileo programme

ISRO Chair Madhavan Nair is in Brussels to attend two international space conferences and discuss India's participation in the European Union's satellite radio navigation programme, Galileo, Nair said the agreement on Galileo "was finalised a week ago". It would be signed soon.

The EU had stressed during a meeting with Hindustan Times last year the importance it attached to India coming on board along with China which already has an agreement with the EU on Galileo.

The satellite navigation market is at present dominated by the US system, GPS, is growing by 25 per cent a year.

Nair also represented India along with nearly 60 other countries including China, the US, Russia and Japan, as well as the EU and its member states, in the third Earth Observation Summit. A plan to set up a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) over the next 10 years, in order to ensure sustainable development throughout the world was adopted by them.

Asked by INEP if the Indian space industry feared competition from China, Nair said, "There is nothing like that. They have their own programmes and we have ours. National priorities are set, and we work according to them."

State Budget 05: What is in for the city

Ravindra Bharati will be renovated at a cost of Rs 75 lakh.

The Hyderabad International Airport coming up at Shamshabad will be completed by 2007.

More slums will be notified and provided more civic amenities; 40 per cent of the funds allocated to urban areas will be spent in slums.

Implementation of stage-II of the Krishna Drinking Water Supply Project will be advanced. The Rs 1,000 crore project will be completed by next year.

Five new flyovers will be constructed to ease traffic congestion. Phase two of the Multi-Modal Transport System will be taken up shortly.

Hussainsagar will be cleaned up at an estimated cost of Rs 316 crore with assistance from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

Rs 50 lakh will be given to all MLAs for development of their constituencies under the Assembly Constituency Development Programme which is being revived.

Boating Blues

Boating on Hussain Sagar lake is one of the things visitors to the city like to do....but the residents say "come on it stinks....."

Sumith

Convergys opens IT campus in Hyderabad

Convergys Corporation, a provider of integrated billing, employee care, and customer care services, has recently set up its information technology (IT) campus in Hyderabad, India. The company informs that the new IT campus supports global locations and the professionals employed there provide a variety of services including software research and development, professional services, and operations support for Convergys’ Information Management business. The Hyderabad IT campus is Convergys’ eighth facility in India. Convergys currently operates seven contact centres in cities across India including New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.

Indo-Brit military exercises in Hyderabad

India and Britain will hold a joint military planning exercise next month which will be the largest such operation in more than five decades, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Friday.

Called "Emerald Mercury", the mock exercises in southern Hyderabad city would be accompanied by a "strong programme of military training, exchanges, attachments, visits and joint working groups," Straw told a seminar at New Delhi.

First Indian Corp opens Hyd centre

The First Indian Corporation Private Limited, the Indian arm of the $6.72-billion First American Corporation, has announced the launch of its software development centre in Hyderabad.

The company which has offices in Bangalore and Hyderabad, is also looking at having a third office in the country.

The First American Corporation is a leading provider of business information and its Indian arm specialises in software development, business process outsourcing (BPO) and ITES segment for real estate, credit and title insurance industry.

Source: Business Standard

Hyderabad a lufthansa destination

German airlines Lufthansa has launched three weekly flights from Hyderabad to Frankfurt. Hyderabad is now the fifth destination in India where Lufthansa operates. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore are the other cities where the airline has its presence.

Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad on Friday, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, chairman and chief executive officer of Lufthansa, said, “Hyderabad has immense growth prospects as it has strong connectivity with other southern cities in India. This apart, it has immense tourist potential, especially on the business side because of its strong technological base.” We are looking at adding daily flights on this route soon, he added.

With the start of this new service, Lufthansa now operates 34 flights a week to India. These include daily flights between Delhi-Frankfurt, Mumbai-Frankfurt, Chennai-Frankfurt and Bangalore-Frankfurt, and three flights a week between Hyderabad-Frankfurt and Delhi-Munich.

HCU all set to ride the radio waves

HYDERABAD: The University of Hyderabad (HCU) is fine-tuning its frequency to reach out to its students.

It is setting up an FM radio station, which will be functional in a few months. The university will soon have an FM transmitter through which it will broadcast programmes on issues relating to education, health, environment, agriculture and rural and community development.

Since the transmitted programmes can reach an audience in an 8-15 km radius, the station will also transmit literacy programmes for the people of Seri Lingampally municipality, Prof Vinod Pavarala of the department of communication, University of Hyderabad, told The Times of India.

The radio station will also transmit cultural programmes for students from different states, including those from the north-eastern states, he said.

The university had applied for a licence to set up the station when the Centre decided to grant community radio broadcasting licences to well-established and recognised educational institutes.

The university has reportedly received the consent of both the human resource development ministry and the home ministry to set up the station. It is mandatory to receive the consent of both these ministries before the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting can grant a licence.

Union information and broadcasting minister S Jaipal Reddy recently assured that the Centre would issue the licence in a few months, Prof. Pavarala, who is also the project coordinator, said.

But the FM radio station will not air news and current affairs programmes, as well as election and political broadcasts. The reason being, as per the the terms and conditions stipulated by the Centre, community radio broadcasting should only serve the needs of people living in the coverage zone of the station.

Source: The Times of India

25 accords signed at BioAsia

HYDERABAD: BioAsia 2005, perceived as the largest biotechnology summit ever in the country, has been a huge success. The summit has seen the signing of 25 MoUs and 42 B2B meets in the last three days.

On the number of MoUs signed AP biotechnology director Dr A Ashok said, "at least more than half are under the implementation process and there are still some more meetings going on. We expect 5-6 more MoUs."

On the huge turnout of officials and delegates, Ashok said, "we were successful in attracting over 300 delegates, 40 sponsors and exhibitors, 50 B2B delegates from 31 countries and over 300 students from various universities."

Over 40 overseas delegates from Canada, Germany, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand and USA participated in BioAsia 2005. Over 30 Indian companies were represented in the Asia meet.

Source: The Times of India

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