IA flight to Port Blair

Indian Airlines (IA) has decided to operate eight flights beginning from November 2.

These additional services would be operated with Airbus A-320 to meet the heavy demand for travelling between Hyderabad and Port Blair. The additional flight IC 8551-8552 will be operated on Wednesdays and Sundays from November 2 till November 27, 2005.

The flight IC 8551 departs Hyderabad at 0630 hrs and arrives Port Blair at 0845 hrs. On the return, IC 8552 departs Port Blair at 0925 hrs and arrives Hyderabad at 1150 hrs.

Indian Airlines operates regular flights to Port Blair from Chennai and Kolkata, a release here said.

TCS, Microsoft too keen on Hyderabad

Close on the heels of Infosys and Wipro disclosing their plans for Hyderabad, TCS and Microsoft have evinced keen interest to expand their operations substantially in the city.

While the state government has formally allotted 100 acres of land to Wipro by cancelling an IT park proposal in the post-bid stage at Vattinagulapally a week ago, the location for Infosys has been finalised at the newly-proposed 1,500-acre software SEZ near the new international airport.

According to official sources, TCS officials have sought at least 100 acres for the expansion plans of the company in Hyderabad.

“TCS will be allotted 100 acres in the proposed SEZ as the company has responded positively to the proposed location,” a senior government official told Business Standard.

According to the official, Microsoft’s local representatives are in touch with the state IT department. Microsoft’s top brass would visit the site before the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation(APIIC), which owns the land, goes ahead with the arrangements. Microsoft is also expected to get 100 acres in the software SEZ.

At present, both Microsoft and TCS have their campuses at Hitec City and employ about 1,000 and 3,600 IT professionals respectively.

Meanwhile, the government is making arrangements to allot about 300 acres in the SEZ site to Infosys as sought by its chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy during his recent visit to Hyderabad.

“Infosys officials have approved the location identified by the government after visiting the site,” an APIIC official said.

According to the plan, part of the software SEZ will be developed by these software companies either by themselves or in association with private developers.

Another 250-acre area, which is slightly away from the 1,250-acre, is expected to be handed over to a private developer.

Officials feel that the presence of companies like Infosys, TCS and Microsoft will help speed up the SEZ development.

Hyderabad tech expo is renamed

The Andhra Pradesh government has renamed GITEX Hyderabad, an IT exhibition to be held here early next year, as GITEX India, keeping in view the increasing size, scale and geographic extent of the event.

GITEX (Gulf Information Technology Exhibition), the flagship event of Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), will be held here for the fifth consecutive year Jan 11-13, 2006.

As a curtain raiser to flag off sales, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Monday released the exhibition brochure in the presence of DWTC general manager Christina Nicholson.

Nicholson announced that three new international exhibitors - Ceemax Technologies from Malaysia, M.A. Labs from the US and Eurostar from United Arab Emirates - had confirmed their participation at GITEX India.

"GITEX India has established itself as a show that delivers measurable results while offering exhibitors a solid platform to conduct business transactions and showcase their tech innovations," she said.

Parallel conferences will be organised by industry associations on human capital in the IT industry and the role of Hyderabad as a knowledge process offshoring destination and a low-cost manufacturing base in Andhra Pradesh.

NASSCOM will organise a conference on the animation industry, Hyderabad Software Exporters Association will conduct a workshop on technology and human resources, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will host a seminar on ITES and electronic hardware, and TiE will hold a seminar on Andhra Pradesh as an investment destination.

Shopper India, the retail arm of GITEX India, will be held simultaneously with the main event. It will host leading local and regional vendors offering some of the best deals on computer hardware, software, peripherals, multimedia and a wide range of computer products and services.

This year, GITEX Shopper generated retail sales of over Rs.30 million. The show also registered 26 percent growth in trade visitors while general public registrations crossed the 17,250 mark. The organisers are confident of double-digit growth next year.

In 2002, DWTC took the GITEX brand outside the Middle East for the first time. The first edition saw participation by 46 ICT companies. This year's 110 participants included Microsoft, Satyam, BenQ, Siemens, Acer and Dubai Internet City.

Mauritius prime minister in Hyderabad

Navin Chandra Ramgoolam, prime minister of Mauritius, along with his wife Veena Ramgoolam, is in Hyderabad on a visit.

On October 26, the Mauritius prime minister will call on the governor and will meet the representatives of Bharat Electronics Limited, followed by a visit to Hitec City.

He will attend a luncheon meeting with IT CEOs where presentations will be made by Mauritius government officials and IT officials of Andhra Pradesh.

A Time for Heroes

It was a time for the stars to descend in Hyderabad to converge for a campaign against AIDS, spearheaded by Hollywood star Richard Gere. Titled A Time for Heroes, the campaign was kicked off in Mumbai in 2002 with Gere, Parmeshwar Godrej and film personalities in attendance.

A Time for Heroes was held in Hyderabad on Saturday to initiate a movement to spread awareness about the killer virus. Experts say Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are high on the HIV/AIDS risk list.Andhra Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and actors Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Mohan Babu, Nagarjuna and Amala, Venkatesh, Revathy, Vikram, Madhavan, Radhika, Sarath Kumar, Sumalatha, Dr Rajasekhar and Jeevitha Jayaram, Navya Nair, Sada, Shriya, Tarun, Vishnuvardhan Babu, Ramya, Sangeeta, Devisri Prasad, R P Pattnaik and tennis star Sania Mirza were present at Indoor Stadium at Gachhibowli, Hyderabad, for the event.

Kamal and Richard Gere

Gere motivated stars and the people to fight AIDS in a systematic way. He emphasised that 'all creative people should come together. I am happy that you [the film fraternity] are leading the community.'

Following the speeches, HIV/AIDS victims performed at the event. The children presented a dance number and a young boy called Siddharth played the drums in tandem with bols (vocal rhythm patterns) by Kamal Hassan and Jayaram.

Actors like Shriya, Sada and Tarun also performed at the do.

The four-hour show ended with a moving song, We are one, composed by noted music director Ilayaraja. It was sung in Tamil and English by the stars, including Gere. At the end, actor Nagarjuna's words echoed in people's ears: "Remember what you have learnt today. Take home this and not the stars and the music and dance."

"Lab to Land" Programme

In a new initiative aimed at increasiang farm productivity through effective transfer of technology to the fields, the Andhra Pradesh government is launching a novel programme- Rytu Pollalo Sastravettalu- (Lab to Land) to facilitate interaction between scientists and farmers. The programme would be formally launched by Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Oactober 25 at Acharya N G Ranga AGricultural University.

The Lab to Land programme was a joint initiative of the State Agriculture department and the Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University. It envisages appropriate crop interventions to bridge the gap in crop yields, reducing cost of cultivation, utilisation of resources to the optimum level, all of which are aimed at increasing the farm income.

Under the programme, the Agricultural University would deploy three scientists to each agricultural division with a view to exploiting the available technologies for increasing the farm productivity. The scientists would be asked to undertake diagnostic visits to the divisions at least once a month, an official release said here yesterday.

Wipro acquires 107 acres

The Andhra Pradesh government has allotted 100 acres of land to the Indian software giant Wipro in Hyderabad, and another seven acres in Visakhapatnam to expand its software development operations in the state, reports Business Standard.

The government and Wipro have signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the land allotment. Wipro, which is currently operating in Hyderabad with more than 5,000 professionals, has a total of 34 acres at Madhapur and Manikonda. The newly allotted 100 acres is located near Gopannapally in the vicinity of Infosys and Indian School of Business that is partly extended to Vatti Nagulapally area.

In Vizag, the company has been given seven acres in the TB Hospital area. TCS and Satyam Computer too have been allotted seven acres each here for establishing their software development operations.

Prithvi Info to invest Rs. 150 crores

Prithvi Information Solutions Ltd. would invest Rs 150 crores to set up a state-of-the-art offshore delivery centre (ODC) in Hyderabad.

The company, a leading provider of technology and process outsourcing services in IT, said the proceeds would mainly be used to build the 1500 seater ODC besides meeting the working capital requirement.

The company is issuing 50 lakh shares through book building route. The price band had been set at Rs 250 and Rs 270 per per share of Rs 10 each.

The shares would be listed with the BSE and NSE.

According to consultant Gartner, India is likely to retain its dominant position in offshore services, Company Managing Director V S Kumar, said adding the company generated about 90 per cent of the revenue from the US market.

LSG Sky Chefs opens new Facility

LSG Sky Chefs, the airline catering division of LSG Lufthansa Service Holding AG, has opened a new customer service center in Hyderabad, India.

Hyderabad is the fifth largest city in India and has a population of roughly seven million. A new international airport is being built to support the business boom in the area, which has seen a tremendous growth in the information technology and call-center industries. The new airport aims to cope with annual double-digit growth in the region’s passenger volume, and will take over from the existing airport.

The new LSG Sky Chefs customer service center in Hyderabad is the second such location in India, following Bangalore which was established in 2001. It covers an area of 1,415 m2 and offers a daily production capacity of up to 3,000 meals.

Augustine Sane, who joined LSG Sky Chefs in February, has been appointed General Manager in Hyderabad. Throughout his 25 years with Swissair and nine years in airline catering, Augustine has the necessary experience to cement the presence in this new location.

“Our presence in this fast-growing city is very important. It offers us a strong competitive advantage, as we are the only international caterer in Hyderabad,” said HK Cheung, Chief Operating Officer Asia Pacific region. “In addition, this early market entry enables us to minimize our investment while participating in significant mid and long-term growth,” he added.

New Hyderabad-Mumbai flights

Air Deccan said on Saturday that, it will launch daily flights on the Hyderabad-Mumbai-Hyderabad sector from October 31. The DN 645 would leave Hyderabad at 6.30 p.m. and arrive in Mumbai at 7.45 p.m. The DN 646 would depart Mumbai at 8.20 p.m. and arrive at Hyderabad at 9.35 p.m. The fares on this sector begin at Re 1 and go up to Rs 3,995 against Rs 9,215 on other airlines.

Piped gas by 2008?

For those reeling under the LPG crisis, here's hope. The future may not be as bleak. In another two and a half years, kitchens in Hyderabad and Vijayawada will get piped gas, directly from Krishna-Godavari basin.

National gas carrier Gail (India) has already begun work on the Rs 200 crore project and floated a joint venture — Bhagyanagar Gas Ltd — along with Hindustan Petroleum to execute this plan. Since Vijayawada is closer to the K-G basin — the gas will be lifted from Kakinada — that city's kitchens would get supplies earlier than Hyderabad.

As per the plan, the company would lay pipelines to designated localities and from there it would be connected to individual homes. Bhagyanagar Gas Ltd managing director C N Trivedi is, however, not willing to let out the pricing of the gas.

However, there will be a one-time charge for a connection and after that the pricing will be based on consumption, just like electricity. While the initial plan is to supply LPG, at a later stage, the company plans to supply compressed natural gas (CNG) direct to kitchens.

Dell opens centre in Hyderabad

Dell, an information technology supplier and partner, inaugurated its global development centre (GDC) in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

This marks Dell’s second global development centre in India with the first one being in Bangalore, a press release said.

Dell’s GDCs are located in Brazil, India and Russia. With the company’s philosophy being that of running Dell’s business on Dell hardware and technology, the GDCs are critical in enabling the company to deploy technology for competitive advantage and grow its business worldwide.

Each GDC works with strategic Dell software vendors such as Oracle, Microsoft, Ariba and i2 to create enterprise-wide solutions that help run Dell’s global business.

“We are encouraged by the growing IT talent in Hyderabad. as Dell’s business continues to grow worldwide, we are faced with a continuous need to increase our IT resources and talent globally to support that growth. Our newest GDC helps us to meet these demands and reinforces Dell’s strong commitment to be a truly global company and a valued part of the communities in which we do business,” Laverne H Council, Dell vice-president, information technology, global business solutions and development services said.

Andhra Pradesh problem free by 2009?

The Congress government has chalked out an ambitious Rs.230 billion ($5 billion) programme to make Andhra Pradesh a problem-free state by providing all basic necessities to the people in all 20,000 panchayats by 2009.

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy told a news conference Wednesday that the programme would ensure that every rural family in the state will get all basic amenities including own house, safe drinking water supply and an electricity connection.

The programme 'Adarsh Andhra Pradesh' will be implemented over three financial years starting from April next. The villages affected by Maoist violence and those facing a recurring problem of floods and drought will receive top priority.

The chief minister, who had a three-hour meeting with his cabinet colleagues on the programme, said that Rs.190 billion would come from the central government under various development schemes and the remaining funds would be mobilized by the state government.

In the first year of the programme, all the major villages of each of the 1,120 mandals will be chosen for implementation. In the second phase big villages on the basis of population will be taken up and all the remaining villages and hamlets will be covered in the third year.

The programme will cover the nine specific areas of housing, drinking water, sanitation, nutrition, pre-primary and primary education, primary health, electricity supply, pension to the aged, widows and disabled and link roads.

Rajasekhara Reddy, who assumed office last year after his party returned to power in the state after a decade, said he would implement all his electoral promises in three years.

This would be the second massive programme to be launched by the chief minister since he assumed office. He had earlier launched massive irrigation programme at a whopping cost of Rs.460 billion to complete all pending irrigation projects to turn Andhra Pradesh into a green state.

Singapore Airlines to fly 4 per week

Singapore Airlines will be launching direct flights to Hyderabad from October 30.

The flights will be operated four times a week -- Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday -- BK Ong, General Manager, India, Singapore Airlines said. He said Hyderabad will be the eighth destination city for Singapore Airlines in India after Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi.

The addition of this direct service will bring to 46 the total number of non-stop weekly flights that the airlines operates to India, Ong added. He said the Silk Air, a subsidiary of SA, will withdraw its operations to Hyderabad but would continue to operate eight weekly services to Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.

He said, Hyderabad offers an excellent potential as an important destination with a diverse mix of business, heritage and leisure.

Satyam clocks billion dollar pace

Backed by a good support from European market, Information Technology Major Satyam Computer Services Limited posted a 24.78 per cent rise in net profit and revenue growth of 33.97 per cent for the september 2005 quarter, over the coresponding quarter last year. Announcing the results through video conferencing from Budapest, Hungary, its Chairman B Ramalinga Raju said "Satyam's focus on Europe has been validated". Europe contributed 18.3 per cent of the Company's revenue from software services of Rs 1,154.97 crore, up 9.09 per cent sequentially. The revenue guidance for the current year was revised to cross Rs 4700 Crore mark, marking an annual growth rate of 33.5 per cent - 34 per cent.The revenue guidance at the beginning of the year was 26 per cent -28 per cent.

"The company expects the European market to continue to grow and is looking at more near shore centres in the continent", he said, adding that "we are evaluating expansion opportunities in Europe. Russia is one of the places, we are closely looking at".

Satyam's Subsidiary Nipuna, World's first company in Business Process Outsourcing(BPO) to get "eSCM-SP Capability Level 4" certification, recorded revenue of Rs 18.20 crore in Q2, which represented a sequential growth of 25 per cent, he announced.

Mr Raju said "this was the first quarter where we achieved annualised revenue run rate of a billion dollars. We continue to experience increased momentum in the market and believe that the demand for business solutions using the global delivery model is robust".

Infotech Q2 revenue, net up

Infotech Enterprises Ltd has recorded a total income of $1.87 million and a net profit of $0.21 million for the second quarter of the current financial year, as against $1.55 million and $0.15 million respectively, in the corresponding quarter last year.

This has reflected a growth of 20.4 percent in revenues year-on-year (YoY) and 46.4 percent in net profit. Operating revenues were increased by 5.3 percent and net profit by 11.7 percent. The company established a new U.S. office at Rockford, to focus on technical publications.

Teradata eyes banking sector

Teradata, part of the $6-billion NCR Corporation, is eyeing the market for datawarehousing solutions in the banking and financial services, telecom and manufacturing sectors in the country.

The Director, Financial Services, Teradata, Vince Leat, told Business Line that India has emerged as an exciting market for datawarehousing. At present, banks and financial services players have complex business systems where information resides in multiple services and across multiple locations. For banks to provide better services, they want a single view of all the information. Leat said Teradata was in parleys with the Institute for Development Research and Banking Technology (IDRBT) to explore ways to partner with it and other banks, in the quest to create technologies that help better manage the information.

With Basel II norms for better risk management set to become mandatory, banks would need to adopt better practices, he said.

Globally, the business intelligence market is estimated to touch about $17 billion by 2007, and grow at the rate of about 30 per cent per annum. For instance, within banks, know your customer (KYC) and other mandatory compliance issues such as Sarbanes Oxley, Basel II norms, and other risk management issues, necessitate that they create the frameworks to address datawarehousing.

Apart from these sectors, the Government is yet another growth opportunity.. This relates to taxes, customs and healthcare areas, where at the click of a mouse, information can be extracted to offer certain services, he said.

Just like in London

Police here have compared Wednesday's suicide bomb attack on the office of the Hyderabad Police Commissioner's Task Force to the July 7 London bombings because of a similar modus operandi. A man aged 18-23 walked into the Task Force office, located barely 100 metres from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy's residence, with a haversack on his back and blasted the office to bits on Dussehra night.

The bomber and a sentry on duty were killed.

"The attack was definitely inspired by the London attacks. The suicide bomber was a well-dressed youth carrying the explosives in the manner the London bombers did," a senior Hyderabad city police official said. Going by the bomber's body parts and pieces of paper found at the reception, police have concluded that he was a "fidayeen" and not linked to Naxalites.

Andhra Director General of Police Swaranjit Sen said on Friday the attack could have been an Inter-Services Intelligence operation. Three pieces of paper which the bomber is thought to have been carrying were found at the blast site. They had ":intikhab", "jihad" and "Mujahid 75" written on them in English.

The "Mujahid 75" slip has led police to think the attack may be linked to the October 2004 death of a youth, Mujahid, in police firing in Hyderabad. The youth was part of a group seeking the release of Maulana Naseeruddin, who was jailed in Gujarat for his alleged role in the murder of former minister Haren Pandya. Hyderabad police are yet to identify Wednesday's suicide bomber and are waiting for a forensic report on the kind of bomb used and how it was detonated.

However, they have managed to get a clear profile of the bomber as the front part of his head remained intact. They have sought the help of their counterparts across India to identify the bomber. Police have not yet zeroed in on the motive for the attack.

The Task Force has recently foiled ISI attempts to recruit local youth and has arrested those thought to be linked to extremist groups. The bombing has got the police worried. "The attack shows that the bomber has undergone some sort of serious terrorist training. This is a first for Hyderabad. This means that well trained, motivated people are being sent here. There is a need to improve security in Hyderabad," a senior police official said.

2007 Asian youth championships

Hyderabad, which has successfully hosted many an international meet, has been awarded the 2007 Asian youth weightlifting championships.

Hyderabad, was the best bet because the way the afro-Asian games were conducted.

The next year's edition will be held in South Korea. India had won nine medals in the recent Asian youth championships in Dubai.

Kalam celebrates 74th birthday

President APJ Abdul Kalam, who is celebrating his 74th birthday on Saturday, has reached Hyderabad on a brief visit.

Kalam will participate in the concluding ceremony of blindness control programme at LV Prasad Eye Institute and will deliver the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel memorial lecture at the National Police Academy.

iGate doubles staff count

iGate Global Solutions, the first integrated technology and operations (iTOPS) company with a global services model, has announced that it would be doubling its headcount in Hyderabad to over 750 over the next 18-24 months.

Currently, over 375 IT professionals work out of its 65,000 sqft development centre at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad.

Apart from Hyderabad, iGATE has offshore operations in Bangalore, Chennai and Noida in India.

Terror alert?

The US embassy in New Delhi has warned American citizens of a 'possible threat' of terrorist attacks, including suicide car bombings, against US interests in India, a US official said.

The mission released a warden message saying: 'Based on information received by the US government, terrorists may be planning attacks on US interests in India in the near future.'

'Information received by the US government suggests that attacks could include, among other things, suicide car bombings,' said the message, which was dated yesterday.

'Although reports are not specific, information suggests that an attack could be aimed at US interests in the Indian cities of Hyderabad, New Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta.

'A judgement has to been made, and it was felt it (the threat) is reasonably serious to alert people to,' the embassy official said.

The message warned that places where US citizens and other foreigners gather could be targeted and urged Americans 'to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security'.

The US embassy in New Delhi is to be closed on Wednesday for Dussehra, a major Hindu holiday.

Suven Life bags $2mn contract

Hyderabad-based Suven Life Sciences Limited has been awarded a contract worth $2 million spread over a period of 18 months to conduct a study in India on chronic low back pain.

The company on Tuesday announced that it was starting a 12-month multi-centre phase III clinical study in India for chronic low back pain. Suven is also in advanced discussions to carry out two more phase III studies on the central nervous system (CNS) for the same sponsor.

The clinical study is part of the global study for a US-based bio-pharmaceutical company focussed on discovery, licensing, development and commercialisation of novel drug candidates for central nervous system, cardiovascular disorders and pain management. The study will be conducted in India with a minimum enrolment of 300 patients.

Suven, with an R&D strength of more than 170, has been in contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) since 1995, and works on ‘drug discovery and development support services’ (DDDSS) business model, said a company press release.

Under DDDSS business model, Suven provides services from preclinical through clinical development and clinical data management in addition to CRAMS for global pharmaceutical and life science companies, said a company press release.

SatNav to deploy a-mantra

Hyderabad-based IT products company, SatNav Technologies, is in talks with the Andhra Pradesh government for deployment of a-mantra, a web-based business infrastructure management system.

SatNav will also be going in for an initial public offering in 2007-08, before which it plans to rope in a strategic investor for less than 50 per cent share capital of the company.

a-mantra provides a complete view of an organisation’s infrastructure and facilities, and therefore standardises processes. It tracks an organisation’s assets and facilities and maps them with the users resulting in better administration.

a-mantra has so far been deployed by SatNav at Satyam, GECIS (now Genpact) and ICICI. According to Prasad, Satyam has been able to save Rs 9.25 crore in the first year of implementation of a-mantra.

SatNav is also looking for a strategic investor for less than 50 per cent of the share capital of the company. With regard to SatGuide, a navigation device, the company is in talks with the National Remote Sensing Agency for satellite imagery. At present, it has signed an agreement with Nippon Audiotronix Limited for the marketing and after sales service of the product. SatGuide is a pocket PC-based touch screen device that displays a map on the screen for navigation purposes. SatNav ended the last year with a turnover of Rs 68.5 lakh and is targeting to end this year with Rs 2.5 crore

IVRCL plans to raise Rs 600 crore

Listed Company IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Limited (IVRCL) today planned to raise USD 140 million (about Rs 600 crore) from markets abroad during the current fiscal to fund the new ventures and reach its ambitious plan to reach Rs 3000-crore turnover by 2008.

Talking to newspersons here, IVRCL Vice-Chairman and Managing Director E Sudhir said the Company's Shareholders had given their consent to raise the funds abroad through bonds and GDRs in December or January, 2006.

He said the funds would be made in Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds(FCCB) and the remaining in Global Depository Receipts(GDR).

Mr Sudhir said the company was in the process of completing the mandatory formalities.

With company's current business at around Rs 1600 crore with 2000 employees and an order book of Rs 4500 crore, it has planned to achieve Rs 3000 crore turnover by ramping up another 1000 employees in 2008, he said.

The Managing Director said targeting more on water projects, which formed 53% of its order book, the company with its present asset base of Rs 1600 crores was focusing on creating Rs 3000 crore asset over the next three years.

He said the company also planned its market capitalisation with an increase of Rs 3000 crore from the present Rs 1800 crore by 2008, even as it was moving laterally to form four domain companies to cope up with its business expansion.

Gold Fest -2005 in Hyderabad

The World Gold Council (WGC) is conducting a Gold Festival-2005, in Hyderabad, in association with The Art Jewellery, India’s No: 1 magazine on jewellery.

AP Gems & Jewellery Park, Hyderabad, ICICI Bank credit cards and Andhra Pradesh Tourism department are sponsoring the festival, according to Jetti Brothers, in a pressnote released here on Tuesday.

As part of the festival, 5 kg gold will be given away as presentation for Rs 2,000 worth purchases. A bumper prize of 1 kg gold along with 238 prizes would given away to lucky customers, the press note said.

Tsunami warning centre in Hyderabad

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved the establishment of an early warning system for tsunami and other oceanographic disasters such as storm surges in the Indian Ocean at an estimated cost of Rs. 125 crores. The system would be set up in Hyderabad on the campus of the Indian National Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), an autonomous institution under the Department of Ocean Development.

The early warning system would be operational by September 2007 and would disseminate warnings within five minutes of the disaster in keeping with international standards. It would function round-the-clock, and issue the warnings right from the time there is an earthquake or any other event in the ocean that could potentially trigger a tsunami.

Announcing the decision, Cabinet Minister and CCEA spokesperson, P. Chidambaram, said the CCEA also approved implementation of a World Bank-assisted Rs. 631-crore project for improving the quality of hydrological and water data and their interpretation by the agencies concerned.

The project to be implemented over six years is expected to help improve planning and design of various water resource schemes.

The Cabinet also met on Thursday and decided to recommend to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to extend the term of three development boards in Maharashtra — Vidarbha Development Board, Marathwada Development Board and the Development Board for the rest of Maharashtra — for a further period of four years from May 1, 2006 to April 30, 2010.

Singapore Airlines to fly to Hyderabad

Singapore Airlines is to launch flights to India’s fifth largest metropolis and capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, from 30 October 2005, with a four times weekly service.

The service will operate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday using Boeing 777-200 and Boeing 777-300 aircraft. These aircraft can seat 288 and 332 passengers respectively in a three-class configuration.

Known as the second Silicon Valley of India after Bangalore, Hyderabad not only boasts a thriving IT-community of world class IT infrastructure and companies, but the city is also a smorgasbord of cultural, culinary and scenic delights. Hyderabad is a city that is a rich blend of history and modernity.

Also from 30 October 2005, Singapore Airlines will mount additional services to Bangalore. The airline will operate two additional weekly services to this Indian IT hub, making it a five time weekly service.

The two new services to Bangalore, on Friday and Sunday, offer earlier arrival times in both India and Singapore. The earlier arrival time in Singapore means that customers have more options for connections onwards to Europe, Australia and the US on Singapore Airlines’ extensive network.

Hyderabad will become Singapore Airlines’ eighth destination in India, in addition to Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi. This will bring to 45 the total number of non-stop weekly services that Singapore Airlines operates to India.

SilkAir, Singapore Airlines’ regional wing, will cease operations to Hyderabad on 28 October 2005, but will continue to serve Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram with 12 non-stop weekly services.

Aurobindo gets European approval

Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma has received certificate of suitability (CoS) from the European Directorate for Quality of Medicines (EDQM) for its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) flucloxacillin sodium.

It will be able to sell the products in Europe following this approval, the company informed the BSE on Thursday.

Flucloxacillin is prescribed for treatment of infections due to staphylococci, which are resistant to Benzyl penicillin.

The company has also filed several DMFs or CoS or formulation dossiers with various authorities in Europe for its product range.

It had received the US FDA's tentative approval for its 'sertraline hydrochloride' ANDA last week. The company was expected to make the drug in tablet form in 25mg, 50mg and 100 mg.