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Vital scientific and defense installations across India were put under heavy security Thursday. The stepped-up precautions followed Wednesday's suspected terrorist attack at the prestigious Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore in which a scientist was killed and four others injured.
The Indian Space Research Organization has sounded a red alert at all its institutions. Security was beefed up at the space agency's headquarters in Bangalore after the attack. It was also tightened at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center in Mumbai, which houses India's nuclear research assets, and IIT in suburban Powai, the Press Trust of India reported. In Hyderabad, where Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to inaugurate the 93rd Indian Science Congress on Jan. 3, security forces have been put on extra alert, PTI said.
Additional forces have been stationed at all scientific institutions, national laboratories and vital installations across India. Quick reaction teams have been stationed at vital defense installations in Bangalore, including Hindustan Aeronautics, Yelahanka Airport and the Aircraft Development Agency.
The Union urban development ministry is all set to go ahead with its ambitious project, the JawaharLal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), intended to develop 63 cities around the nation, with the setting up of a mission directorate in the Capital.
The directorate will coordinate with the state governments and the mission cities. The ministry is also empanelling consultants for the preparation of city development plans and detailed project reports. Dubbed as the most ambitious project ever launched for urban development in the country, JNNURM aims at developing around 63 cities across the country in an integrated manner, with special emphasis on the needs of slum dwellers. The project is estimated to cover more than 10 million people within a period of seven years.The cities which have been identified are Lucknow, Jaipur, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Guwahati.
A combined investment by the Union government, the state governments and the urban local bodies of over Rs one lakh crore is likely to be spent on the programme. For the financial year 2005-06, around Rs 5,500 crore has been earmarked for the project. The ministry has already invited proposals under JNNURM from the states. The mission will accomodate water supply, sewerage facilities, sanitation, solid waste management, road network, transport, construction, construction of mass rapid transit systems, redevelopment of inner city areas, development of heritage areas, preservation of water bodies, and slum development.
The ministry has also conceived a comprehensive urban transport policy to promote greater use of public transport with Central assistance in the form of viability gap funding or equity participation.
IT major Infosys Technologies today presented the Infosys Awards for Excellence, recognising the extraordinary contributions of its employees, not only to the company but also to the community. The awards, entering its tenth year, have grown from merely three winners in a category in 1995 to 336 winners in 14 categories, which were simultaneously awarded at all nine Infosys Development Centres in the country.
Internationally acclaimed actress Shabana Azmi, who was the Chief Guest of the event, spoke to Infoscions and their families in a video broadcast address made from the Bangalore DC. Infosys Chief Mentor N R Narayana Murthy presented the awards to the winners who were recognised in various fields, including Technology Champions, Customer Delight and Social Consciousness. Winners of the Social Consciousness Award included Akanksha, a group of Infoscions from the Bhubaneswar DC recognised for their contributions to the community that included organising blood donation camps, training 23 software instructors and providing health insurance to 35 orphan children.
Some of the other recipients of the award included Nithya Prabhakar of Mangalore (Value Champion Award), who while travelling to Chennai helped 32 passengers, including a critical kidney transplant patient and a team of surgeons travelling to Chennai to perform a heart surgery, stranded at Bhubaneswar airport. She was able to convince the airline authorities as well as the Aviation Minister to redirect a flight leaving for Kolkata to make an unscheduled stop to pick up the stranded passengers.
Satish Suri of Hyderabad was recognised with the Technology Champion Award for the exceptional leadership skills and expertise he has brought to the Infosys SAP Practice.
Domestic air passenger traffic has grown over 28 per cent to 425,000 in October 2005, compared with 331, 000 in the same period last year. The highest ever growth rate in passenger traffic has been mainly due to rock bottom fares offered by low-cost carriers, which have started full-fledged operations in the last few months. In August, the domestic passenger traffic growth rate was 20.1 per cent. According to the latest data released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), passenger traffic-international and domestic-in October 2005 was 598,000 compared with 481,000 last year. International passengers traffic at 173,000 in October 2005 saw growth of 18 per cent compared with 150,000 the same period last year.
The Amritsar airport has shown high growth due to the starting of schedule operation by Air Deccan from January 2005, and in international sector due to Singapore Airlines starting operations from October 2004. Also, Air India started operation on the Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto route from May 2005. Similarly, Hyderabad airport has recorded high growth because Lufthansa and Saudi Arabia started operations from February 2005 and March 2005, respectively, while Air Sahara introduced Hyderabad as a major hub from February 2005.
According to AAI, higher growth in traffic at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Calicut is due to increase in frequency of existing airlines and the start of new operations by Air India Express in southern region and Delta Airlines at Chennai. The AAI data show that domestic aircraft movements increased by 15.1 per cent during October 2005. The AAI says that growth in traffic at Hyderabad, Jammu, Bhopal and Visakhapatnam is due to increase in operations by low-cost airlines and an increase in frequency of existing airlines. Low cost airlines-SpiceJet and Kingfisher Airlines-started their operations from May 2005. Domestic aircraft movements have shown an increase of 14.2 per cent during October 2005, mainly due to new services by low-cost airlines like SpiceJet and Kingfisher Airlines, and increase in number of sectors by Air Deccan.
Jaipur's Sanganer Airport was on Thursday granted international status by the Union Cabinet, making it the 14th such airport in the country.
Announcing this, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the Cabinet had approved the proposal for declaration of the existing domestic airport as an international one, thereby improving connectivity and offering wider choice of services at competitive cost to air travellers.
With the international status, there would be substantial hike in aeronautical revenues to the airport due to the increased rates of landing, parking and route navigational charges and the possibility of heightened international flight activities.
Jaipur is the third airport in northern region, apart from Delhi and Amritsar, to be declared international. Western region has three international airports at Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Goa, Eastern region two at Kolkata and Guwahati, and the southern region five at Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.
An alert was sounded on Wednesday night in Hyderabad following the firing incident at Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc) in Bangalore. Suspected terrorists barged into the campus of the Indian Institute of Sciences on the 28th evening and fired indiscriminately at a group of delegates who had just left a seminar. The attackers, who are learnt to have come in a white Ambassador around 7.30 p.m, escaped under the cover of darkness.
Emeritus Professor MN Puri from IIT, Delhi, died of bullet injuries. Four other professors — Dr Pankaj Gupta, Dr Sangeeta, Dr Vijay Chandru and Dr Vijay Patelappa — were seriously injured. The injured have been admitted to a city hospital. Puri’s family came to know about the incident through a student, who had accompanied the professor to the seminar.
After the attack, a tight security blanket was thrown over the city with the 100-year-old IISc cordoned off. An AK-47 rifle, three magazines of an automatic weapon and a hand grenade were seized from the site of violence, police said. A sources said the possibility of a terrorist attack could not be ruled out given the nature of the automatic weapon used and the discovery of a grenade. Bangalore and other IT hubs are on the hit list of terror groups, including the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba.
When asked if this was a terrorist strike, Bangalore Police Commissioner Mr Ajay Kumar Singh said: "We cannot say anything at this stage. We have no information about how they (the gunmen) gained entry and who they were."
The Karnataka chief minister, Mr N Dharam Singh, called a high-level meeting of police and other officials here tomorrow to review security measures in Bangalore. The chief minister spoke to Union home minister Mr Shivraj Patil and apprised him of the incident, an official source said. Mr Singh, the source added, had directed the Bangalore Police to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident. In New Delhi Union home secretary Mr Vinod Kumar Duggal said: "As of now it’s not a terrorist attack." The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, expressed shock at the firing. The attack at the IISc, Bangalore today came two days after Delhi Police said the Bangladesh-based terror group, Harkat-ul-Jehad, was planning to target software parks in Hyderabad and Bangalore. A senior police officer said tonight that the IISc had not been a "specific target" of terrorists.
Hyderabad, which is fast-emerging as a convention destination in the country, will have another feather in its cap from next week when the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, a world-class facility for hosting global conferences, will be formally inaugurated.
"Before the formal inauguration scheduled for next week, we already have bookings for 17 national and international conventions to be held in 2006," HICC general manager Philip Lagon told PTI in Hyderabad Wednesday.
HICC will host the celebrations of the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas between January 7-9 in which over 600 delegates from different parts of the world will participate. Hyderabad is the best place to have the facility, with built data cost of Rs 300 crore, in view of equal distance from Dubai and Singapore/Malaysia, the friendly weather and growth value of our economic assests, Lagon said.
HICC also has a five-star hotel Novatel with about 300 rooms, which will operate as an independent business entity. HICC's main conference hall can accommodate over 6,000 with a pre-function foray area of 6,500 sq mt. It also has an inbuilt projection screen of 18/16 ft with state of the art accoustics. Besides, there is ample space for front office registration terminals, a back office with 16 workstations with attached kitchen, pantry and two additional rooms. The other facilities at the convention centre are Internet cafes, ATMs, shops, five-star hotel, pool, restaurants, bars, car parking for 1,000 cars, loading docks and power back-up generation facility, among others.
HICC is a joint venture of Dubai-based MR Partners and Andhra Pradesh Infrastructre Investment Corporation.
A six member Japanese team from Pacific Consultant International, Tokyo, headed by the Chairman of General Council Liberal Democratic Party and MP Fumio Kyuma, met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy at his camp office here today and offered support for the Outer Ring Road (ORR) project.
Dr Reddy told the delegation that if any reputed concern or foreign agency came forward to complete the ORR at the earliest, it would be offered the project through competitive bidding.The team evinced keen interest in the proposed ORR, Knowledge Corridor and cluster development in Hyderabad metro area. Mr Kyuma said he was very much impressed with IT development in Hyderabad. Stating that the ORR project was very important, he offered to support the project. The MP also invited the Chief Minister to visit Japan.
Dr Reddy said the government was keen that the first phase of the ORR should be completed in 24 months and the entire project by June 2008. He had asked the Japanese organisation to submit a detailed project report by the end of January 2006.
Net employment is expected to decline in Hyderabad during the period between November 2005 and April 2006, as compared to the previous six months, according to a TeamLease-Gallup employment outlook survey. TeamLease Services Private Limited is a staffing solutions company and The Gallup Organization studies human behaviour and nature.
The survey was conducted among 543 respondents (HR heads or CEOs) from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune. The study covered sectors like manufacturing, financial services and IT/ITeS besides retail, hospitality, exports and construction. The unorganised sector was not covered.
According to the survey, the net employment in the three southern cities is projected to grow at rates lower than the rest of India. It adds that Chennai is the only southern city that projects a significant growth in net employment as compared to Bangalore and Hyderabad, which project a flatter trend in net hiring over the six-month period.
One out of five companies in Bangalore expects a status quo in hiring till April 2006. On the whole, however, corporate India expects a substantial growth in net employment. One-third of the respondents expect to hire people from sub-urban areas and Class A/B towns. Only one out of four companies expects to hire at entry level, as compared to two out of three companies with regard to junior level (one-three years of experience). Middle level hiring (three-seven years of experience) is expected to be the highest in Hyderabad and Pune. Senior level hiring is projected to be significantly lower.
Nearly $3 billion is likely to become available for investment in Indian real estate over the next 15 month with a slew of joint ventures with international funds and developers on the anvil. Today the market has matured to a point where a city like Hyderabad can absorb two Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) deals within a month. Most of the investible funds are expected to come from North American investors, European real estate funds and multinational developers from the Asia Pacific region who have been looking out for opportunities in India.
Those eyeing the Indian market include dedicated real estate funds like Tishman Speyers which has tied up ICICI to raise $6 million for a joint VC fund, developers like the Dubai-based Emaar which has just tied up with the Delhi-based developer MGF for half a billion dollars worth projects with a capital outlay of $4 billion. Keppleland has tied up with the Bangalore-based Purvankara developers to develop an IT Park. Singapore based Ascendas has floated a dedicated IT park fund where other funds like GE have invested. GIC of Singapore is developing a residential complex near Chennai.
The Indian Real Estate Opportunities fund has invested an undisclosed amount of Michael Dell's of Dell Computers private wealth in Pune recently. All this, of course, is in addition to the funds being raised by the Indian financial institutions like HDFC, ICICI and IDFC abroad.
MBA students from Toronto's Rotman School of Management who decide to spend a semester at the ultra-luxe Indian School of Business will discover a whole new world. Rotman is the first Canadian business school to sign up for a student exchange with the private institute. The collaboration will eventually extend to faculty exchanges as well as research. While student interest in exchanges with business schools in China has waned, more pupils want placements in India, says Rotman dean Roger Martin, who visited Hyderabad earlier this month to seal the deal. Rotman will begin offering the India option to students next year.
The Indian school wanted a Canadian partner because of interest shown by its students. It picked the University of Toronto's Rotman facility based on its international reputation, says ISB dean M. Rammohan Rao, a former professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. ISB students are keen to spend part of their year studying in Canada, says Joseph Hopper, who manages the Indian institution's international programs.
Students who want to settle abroad are also interested in Canada because its immigration policies are relatively open compared with those of the United States and Europe, adds Hopper, a former Tennessee resident who was in ISB's first graduating class. Hopper's wife, who is Indian, also works at the school.
Set on 105 hectares on the outskirts of Hyderabad, ISB was founded in 2001 by a group of Indian industrialists, including Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, and Rajat Gupta, former worldwide managing director of McKinsey & Company. They wanted to establish a world-class school to groom future business leaders for India. Built of marble and red sandstone, with open, airy courtyards, state-of-the-art classrooms and a student residence run by a four-star hotel chain, ISB provides a coddled lifestyle along with a first-class education. The school recently got a grant worth $1.16 million (Canadian) from Goldman Sachs. Though students pay a hefty $36,000 for the one-year post-graduate business program, which includes tuition, room and board, they don't actually get an MBA, or any other degree for that matter. The lack of a degree hasn't hampered graduates. They have landed jobs with an average starting salary of $25,500, considered high by Indian standards. Thirty-four grads got jobs overseas earning an average $116,000, and some as much as $209,000.
The ISB student body has almost quadrupled in four years, to 420 from 120. Most are from India (though one-fifth are non-resident Indians from the U.S. and Europe), with an average of five years' work experience and an average GMAT score of 690 out of 800 — comparable to the grades required by top U.S. business schools. The average age of students is 27, with women making up 19 per cent of the classes. The school has 12 full-time faculty, with plans to hire three more, and a half-dozen visiting professors from major U.S. business schools. The only dimension ISB is doing poorly on is attracting international students, but now with these exchange programs, hopefully the word will spread.
Indian tourism touched new heights in 2005 with the growth of about 13.5% in arrivals and about 20% in foreign exchange earnings. Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Agra and Augrangabad emerged as hotspots. During the first 11 months of the year, 3.35 million tourists visited the country while the number during the corresponding period of last year was 2.59 million. Similarly, foreign exchange earnings through these arrivals during Jan.-Nov., 2005 was Rs. 22,958 crore against Rs. 17,039 crore during the corresponding period of last year. Going by the average of 5 per cent global tourism growth, India has emerged as one of the fastest growing tourism destinations. The launching of several innovative schemes like 'Atithi Devo Bhava', 'Priyadarshini' and 'Rural Tourism' has enabled India to emerge as one of the hottest destinations in the world.
India has been ranked 5th among the world’s tourists’ hot spots and also the fastest growing tourism, 8.8% annually by World Travel and Tourism Council. WTTC also projected India as one of the, emerging tourism markets having potential of $ 24 billion annual foreign exchange earnings through tourism by 2015.
It is a transition process--officers becoming men and the Rs 1,50,000 crore IT/ITES industry is all set to welcome the well-disciplined men from our defence forces as a remedy for lack of talent availability. However, the transition process is not an easy task for an officer who has spent long years in the defence services. By 2008, IT/ITES will be a $8 billion industry. However, it is also likely to see a shortage of 50,000 people. This gap can be filled by retired defence personnel as they have the skillset required for the industry. Sunil Mehta, vice-president Nasscom said though the country produces 3.5 lakh engineers and 28 lakh graduates every year, all of them are not employable. "Cheap broadband availability and business process outsourcing have thrown open enormous business opportunities," he said. According to him defence personnel can utilise this opportunity to build a career in this field.
BT Global, the Hyderabad-based SAP solutions provider, has announced plans to develop solutions in two more rapidly growing industry segments of retail and food-processing sector, while expanding its global support-cum-help desk centre here.
The company, which has Super Spinning Mills, a LG Balakrishanan group company, and Associated Capsule, one of the largest capsule manufacturer in the country with five plants, and Hikma, a pharma company based in Jordan and India, as its clients, is now planning to expand its team from 150 to 200 by middle of next year.
While refraining to disclose the deal terms for the acquisition of OBT by Zensar, Kodali said the company would be able to register revenues of $4.5 million (about Rs 21 crore) by this fiscal. The company is now working on the upgrade of the existing verticals and broadening applicability for pharma companies.
Zensar Technologies Ltd has announced plans to set up a recovery centre at Hyderabad to support its global operations. The company also plans for an innovation technology solutions centre.
The Hyderabad centre would focus on the financial services business. By the end of 2006, the company expects to place about 400 people in Hyderabad, of whom about 250 would come from its recent acquisition of OBT Global Inc, a specialised SAP solutions provider in Hyderabad.
The enterprise solutions of Zensar has emerged as one of the fastest growing division as compared to its innovation technology solutions and knowledge process outsourcing arm . With about 700 people now, Zensar expects to grow to about 1,000 by the end of 2006.
The 13th edition of 'Rainbow', an FM channel for young listeners was launched in Hyderabad. Keeping in mind the growing popularity of FM channels, the Prasar Bharati corporation had decided to set up 100 more FM stations by establishing a similar number of transmitters in the next two years. The target is to extend the FM coverage to 50 per cent of the population from the present 30 per cent. It currently has 150 FM transmitters and around 20 stations. Prasar Bharati is estimated to have assets worth Rs 4,258 crore. The corporation, which recorded revenues of Rs 825 crore last year, is confident of reaching the Rs 1,000-crore mark this fiscal.
QualCore Logic Limited, an intellectual property (IP) and mixed-signal application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) realisation company, is planning to start a new facility on its Hyderabad campus. The expansion is designed to intensify Qualcore’s support in the Asian region for its existing global customer base as well as various Indian business segments, including government, defence, space research organisations and multinational companies operating in India.
As part of its expansion strategy, the company announced to expand its Indian design team from 200 to 300 during 2006. In addition to design services, mixed-signal and analog IP and custom chip development, Qualcore also intends to add embedded software services to its services portfolio. As a company having both digital and analog design capabilities with a wide range of silicon proven IP cores, Qualcoren started its operation in Hyderabad in 1995 with five employees.
“Forecasting is the art of saying what will happen, and then explaining why it didn’t!”
Nasscom-McKinsey Report 2005 has raised the magical figure even higher by forecasting the Indian IT-ITeS industry will grow to $120-$150 billion in revenues by 2015, contributing 10-12% to GDP. It says IT and BPO could do to India, what oil did for Saudi Arabia or electronics to Taiwan.
There is a mid-course correction though. While the 2002 forecast had pegged IT-ITeS exports at $54 billion by 2008, the 2005 report has reduced that to $50 billion. While in 2002, the projected compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) running up to 2008 was pegged at 34%, in 2005, it’s been lowered to just 28% (2005-10).
But corrections are part of the game of forecasting. Clairvoyance, after all, is not a proven science yet. The march from $17.9 billion to $150 billion in the next decade will require a method that hasn’t been a hallmark of the industry so far.
Some statistics to note
By 2010, India will be teeming with a graduate pool of 17,73,000 in the age of 20-35 years.
Rs 74,000 cr of the total Rs 78,000 crore of IT-ITeS comes from software technology parks.
Of the Rs 74,000 cr, 88% comes from just five cities
Bangalore (37%)
NCR(17%)
Chennai(15%)
Hyderabad (11%)
Mumbai(8%)
By 2010, IT and BPO industries will have to employ an additional 1 million workers
Cost of operation in Tier II and Tier III cities is typically 15-20% lower than Tier I cities.
IT and BPO employees are projected to account for 20% of the 1 million airline trips by Indians in 2010.
Between 2002-05, while the billing rates have increased at only 2% p.a., wage costs have increased at 15% p.a.
In voice BPO, for instance, the average cost per hour is expected to come down from $10-12 currently to just $7-10 per hour by 2010.
Travel, insurance and banking verticals in BPO are projected to record maximum growth at 55%, 42% and 37%, respectively.
Insurance, retail banking and HR/Finance are, the most untapped sectors. McKinsey estimates their potential at $35 billion, $40 billion and $25 billion respectively.
In the IT sector, consulting, SI(System Integration) and traditional IT outsourcing are projected to record the most growth at 30%, 35% and 60% by 2010, respectively.
To counter falling billing rates, BPOs will need to provide KPO kind of work like legal, architect design outsourcing which offer rates as high as $90 per hour.
Currently, the IT spending in India as a percentage of GDP is only 50% of that in China or Russia. Increase in IT spending will clearly add more revenues in the e-governance domain. Hiking it could bring us close to the $150 billion target.
If first half-year financials are any indication, Andhra Pradesh’s (AP) economy is on a strong footing. Though the state has not utilised its overdraft facility from the Reserve Bank of India for the period under review, it has been able to contain non-Plan expenditure considerably. Recently, the government, for the first time, submitted a review on the receipts and expenditure for the first-half to the Assembly, as required under Section 11(1) of AP Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act. On fiscal deficit parameter, the state reported 1.49% for the half-year period against (-) 3.72% budgeted for 2005-06. AP had committed to bring down the fiscal deficit to 3% of GSDP by 2008-09 (originally targeted for 2009-10), in the recent amendment to the Act. It may be noted here that the statement shows a 100% increase in subsidies during the first half year, up from Rs 634.53 crore to Rs 1,281.44 crore. This is one reason why the government wants to reduce the percentage on subsidy by venturing into conditional or targeted subsidies.
Apollo Hospitals in association with the Stanford Emergency Medicine International, US, is launching the first-ever international training programme for emergency medical technicians in India. Candidates who have passed Intermediate or an equivalent examination are eligible to enroll for this one-year full-time programme to be conducted at Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad.
Apollo Hospitals, in a statement here Saturday, said the course would commence from Jan 10, 2006. Faculty deputed from Stanford Emergency Medicine International, US and Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad, will conduct the year-long course leading to the qualifying examination. Emergency Medicine, particularly pre-hospital emergency care is rapidly growing in the country and the need for trained and qualified personnel is immense.
Without structured training programmes, availability of manpower to operate quality emergency medical systems is virtually non-existent.
Hetero Drugs Ltd, the $160-million Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical group company that signed up with Roche for Oseltamivir generic Tamiflu, has begun production of the drug and expects to export it from January onwards. The company has committed to deliver one million capsules of Oseltamivir to the Government. Each capsule is likely to be priced at $12. The company has begun production of Tamiflu.
A generic version of a pediatric AIDS drug received preliminary approval Wednesday from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA said it was giving tentative approval for Stavudine, an antiretroviral drug considered safe for children is manufactured by Aurobindo Pharma Limited of Hyderabad, India.
Stavudine for oral solution is the first generic version of the previously approved Zerit for oral solution, manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb.
The generic version meets FDA manufacturing, safety and efficacy standards but will not be marketed in the US for patent exclusivity reasons, the agency said. The approval means, however, that the generic version can be used by relief organisations outside the US, funded by US president George W Bush's US $15 billion (euro 12.6 billion) AIDS relief plan.
The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) is chanting the mantra of build-operate-transfer (BoT) system. After taking up several works, including the construction of foot-over-bridges under BoT, now it wants to modernise 24 markets in the city on build-operate-share-transfer (Bost) basis.
It has already prepared a proposal for the purpose. Unlike BoT, the corporation will share 50 per cent of the cost under Bost. The builder enjoys the rights over half of the shops for a period of time after which they would be handed over to the MCH.
The corporation wants to convert existing municipal markets like Mallepally, Begum Bazar, which are in a dilapidated condition, into commercial complexes. Officials say these upcoming complexes will have parking lots which can solve parking problem to some extent. Earlier, the corporation proposed to develop 16 municipal markets on its own. But due to problems over ownership, sharing and concessions, it sought clarifications from the government.
Eyeing the opportunities on the China-India route, Gati, the Hyderabad-based logistics company, opened an office in Hong Kong early this month. Gati is the first Indian logistics company to set foot in Hong Kong. It would like to tap the geographical advantage of Hong Kong as a gateway to southern China and transhipment hub between China and India. Gati plans to focus on developing express distribution and integrated logistics business opportunities with companies planning to enter or already operating in the Indian market.
Lepakshi, the state-owned handicrafts corporation, plans to expand its marketing network by opening more outlets. Under phase one, the corporation plans to open seven outlets, one each at Khammam, Cuddapah, Kakinada, and Paryatak Bhavan, the upcoming mega tourist complex in Hyderabad.
Three more outlets are being planned in the city by going in for the franchise model in January 2006. Under phase two, the corporation intends to open a second showroom in Delhi and one each at Bangalore and Pune by the end of next fiscal. Lepakshi already has three sales emporia in the city. Claiming brisk business at the city showrooms after their revamp, The turnover of the Musheerabad outlet had gone up to Rs 75,000 a day from Rs 25,000. Lepakshi would showcase its repertoire in fairs to be held in the United Kingdom and France after its successful participation in Russia.
The corporation is in talks with an NRI group keen to open an outlet in New York on a ‘shared mart’ agreement. Of the Rs 36 crore turnover made in the last fiscal, about Rs 10 crore was from the 70-odd exhibitions held by the corporation and the remaining from sales through emporia. The corporation earned a net profit of Rs 1.5 crore in the last fiscal and targets Rs 2 crore this fiscal.
Indicating major investment plans for Andhra Pradesh alongside a gas pipe line project, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) today sought 25,000 acre of land for the development of an exclusive Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Expressing the government’s willingness to provide the land, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy went a step ahead and offered land near the upcoming international airport on the city outskirts here. Besides SEZ proposal, The government was told about RIL’s intention to build a huge petrochemical complex and a bio-diesel production facility with one-lakh tonne capacity at Kakinada.
While assuring his government’s support to RIL’s investment plans in the state, chief minister Rajasekhara Reddy, however, asked the company to ensure supply of gas for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes in the state by June 2008 not by the end of 2008 as indicated.
IATA-approved travel agency Premier Tours and Travels Chennai Private Ltd is launching a new regional airline "Air Dravida" by second quarter of next year. The airline would operate from Chennai with focus on building a strong air transport infrastructure in the four southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Initially, the operations will cover Chennai, Bangalore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Hyderabad and Cochin before gradually expanding to other important cities of South India. He said there was a tremendous potential in South India for developing regional air transport services. At the same time, punctuality, reliability and long-term sustainability were also very important. With rich experience in selling air travel services for the past two decades, the proposed airlines had many synergies with the existing business.
Gitanjali Gems Limited, an integrated diamond and other jewellery manufacturing company, has proposed an expansion plan involving an investment of over Rs 300 crore.
The expansion plan includes setting up of diamond and jewellery manufacturing facilities at the proposed gems and jewellery special economic zone at Hyderabad, setting up of an additional jewellery manufacturing facility at Andheri in Mumbai and expansion of the existing jewellery manufacturing facility at SEEPZ, Mumbai, according to a news release issued by Gitanjali.
In the field of computer science, electronics and communications and related subjects, the US produces 600 PhDs every year. In contrast, China’s doctoral output in related subjects is a mind-boggling 3,000. And India’s annual output in these disciplines is 75 or even less.
All the universities in the country, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), NITs and CSIR laboratories together produce only this much. As part of an effort to bridge this gap between the PhD-holder pools of India and countries like the US and China, the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad, proposes to produce about 100 PhDs by 2012 against 15 today. At the outset, the goal of IIIT was to get into research in a big way to meet the needs of the industry or society. To develop technology, it is necessary to have a very strong PhD programme. To achieve these goals, the formula which the institution has evolved is to convert an undergraduate programme into a research programme.
General technology institutions, including IITs, do not get good PhD students. Therefore, the faculty in these institutions have to rely on MTech students for research. The tenure of the latter is only of a year. Thus, there is a regular stream of students taking up research, but for only a year. The result is that no large group of researchers is formed at these institutions.
There are three interdisciplinary areas in which the institution provided courses. These are computer science, electronics and communications. Besides, there is computer-aided structural engineering, bio-informatics and computational linguistics. As for funding of the institution, initial infrastructure was provided by the government of Andhra Pradesh and the rest was managed through government aid, research consultancy and user agencies.
To increase its presence in India, Radiant Infosystems, a fully-owned subsidiary of US-based Radiant Systems Inc, will invest $10 million in the country.Radiant will add another 1,800 to its current headcount of 300 people in Bangalore and Hyderabad.
The company has enough internal resources for this level of investment, the option of going for public issue was also being examined. The company is developing applications for e-governance, financial services and telecom sectors. It has developed a smart card for Visakha Gramina Bank and Krishna Gramina Bank recently. It is also involved in Rajiv Internet Village, a project of the Andhra Pradesh government to set up 5,500 kiosks connecting two-thirds of rural areas in the state.
The ministry of information technology and communications is toying with the idea of starting a national technology mission for automatic machine translation (AMT). The area has shown tremendous possibility of growth as with increasing use of computers and the Internet by people with no or little knowledge of the English language, machine translation has become imperative, says Rajiv Sangal, director, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad.
Companies see the huge market which has opened up as a great opportunity. Google, Yahoo and lately Microsoft were among those showing interest in the technology. Another segment which has shown keen interest was that of foreign telecom companies. The growth in the SMS market gives these telecom companies a huge opportunity if they can provide systems in Indian languages.
Indian outfits were quite advanced in research and development in this field. The institutions taking the lead were the International Institute of Information Technology, IIIT, Hyderabad, IIT Kanpur, C-Dac, Pune, KBC centre of Anna University, Chennai and IIT-Bombay.
The fabulous jewels of the Nizams, rated as one of the world's priceless collections of gold, diamond and pearl artefacts, will be back on display in the state where they had ruled for centuries. The 173-piece collection, estimated to be worth Rs.200 billion ($4.4 billion) and now belonging to the Indian government, will be on public display at the Salar Jung Museum from Jan 4 for around two months. The jewellery was acquired in 1995 by the government, which said it was a national treasure, after a 17-year legal battle and since then it has been kept in a Mumbai vault under high security. The jewellery from a vault of the Reserve Bank of India was flown into the city on Saturday and kept at the museum.
Commandos of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which handles museum security, and the city police have provided two-tier security at the museum located on the banks of the Musi river. Museum director A.K.V.S. Reddy said the CISF personnel and police were providing round- the-clock security. Police have set up a control room inside the museum building while another control room has come up outside to guard the jewels. This is the second time that the collection is being put on public display. The jewellery was last brought here in 2001 and displayed for about two months before being taken back to the RBI vaults.
Hotel Leela appreciated by Rs 13 to close at Rs 286.05 on the BSE. This was after the company announced its plans of setting up new hotels at Chennai and Hyderabad. The company has concluded the acquisition of land at these places for setting up hotels.
Further, it plans to house a huge commercial complex/IT park in the premises of the proposed hotel at Chennai. The price spurt was accompanied by decent volumes, as 1,58,274 shares were traded compared to the two-week average of 29,503 shares on the BSE.
Avineon, Inc., a successful provider of IT, geospatial, engineering, and program management services, today officially announced the opening of a new state-of-the-art facility in Hyderabad, India for the company's India-based subsidiary, Avineon India Private Ltd. (AIPL). With more than 250 staff now employed, AIPL outgrew its existing facilities. This follows the company’s move two years ago to a 10,000 square foot facility in Hyderabad to accommodate production requirements for its engineering division, comprised of around 80 employees. To accommodate continued rapid growth, the company has opened a new 20,000 square foot facility to house production for Avineon's IT and Geospatial Services Divisions (GSD) with capacity for more than 200 employees.
Maintaining physical and information security is essential as the trend of U.S. companies outsourcing to India continues to rise. The opening of this new facility marks Avineon's entrance into an elite group of organizations worldwide which have been assessed and certified as achieving the British Standards Institute's (BSI) information security management standard, BS7799. This international information security standard provides a systematic approach to managing the protection of confidential company and customer information and how to identify, manage and minimize enterprise security threats. It details stringent requirements for the implementation of an information security management system, including security policy, organizational and personnel security, communications and operations management and business continuity management.
The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) here has been selected for the 'Best Patent Award' for the year 2004-05 by the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA). The IDMA had selected IICT for the prestigious award based on the US patent granted for anti-cancer agents. The patent, granted in October last year, describes novel approach to linking a known DNA-intercalator like pyrene to PBD ring system through varying length of alkane spacers.
These hybrids have been evaluated for their DNA-binding ability apart from their anti-cancer activity. One of the compounds (three carbon chain linker) from this series had shown promising in vitro anti-cancer activity in a panel of 60 human cancer cell lines, a press release here today said.
A Hyderabad firm SatNav Technologies has developed a technology to monitor cab movements. The company says the package has been ready since 2003 but only one multinational company in the country has chosen to adopt it. "You will be able to sit in the control room and create a buffer zone for every vehicle which has been assigned a particular route," says Amit Prasad, CEO, SatNav Technologies.
If the person goes beyond the assigned route, then the buffer zone gives an alarm. BPO companies cited the cost as the reason for not installing the system. But SatNav Technologies says it brought down the price of the software from Rs 22 lakh in 2003 to Rs 11 lakh as they are keen that it gets used.
In the multiplicity of voices being heard after the horrific Pratibha Murthy episode, this technology could offer a possible solution. Meanwhile, the company managements blame the larger law and order situation for the fear that has gripped employees and say the police have to take a major responsibility. "We should not be in the false impression that technology by itself would ensure 100 per cent safety. The other factors should be to link up with police and the whole environment should become better to ensure safety," says B Balaji, Director, ADP.
That is little consolation to the over 1.75 lakh call centre employees, 30 per cent of them women, in Hyderabad. It is important that they ensure that we feel safe till we get back home," says a call centre employee. One in every three call centre employees in the city is a non-Hyderabadi and to cope with the odd hours and security concerns, many prefer to live near their place of work.
Adviser to union minister for Finance and former Finance Secretary S Narayan today said tax revenues of the states increased to 14.6 per cent during 2005 after the implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT).
Speaking at a conference on India's economic reforms on "government perspective on reforms", organised by the Indian School of Business here, he said the state governments which were implementing VAT have been getting positive results during this financial year. He said BJP led state governments who were not implementing the VAT had also agreed to implement it from 2006.
Stating that the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in retail and food proccessing sectors were on the anvil, Mr Narayan said the FDIs were primarily coming through mergers and acquisitions in small and medium enterprises in the country.He said the manufacturing sector has grown at 9.13 percent during 2004-05 as against 5 per cent in 2000-01. Capital goods grew at 13.95 per cent and consumer goods grew at 11.7 per cent during 2004-05.
The silver jubilee Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica is all set to be launched from Cape Town onboard Israeli vessel "MV Paardeberg" on December 22, under the overall coordination and supervision of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa.
The 50-member expedition team to the icy continent would be led by Dr L Prem Kishore, a scientist from the Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute, with vast experience in Antarctic wintering, a NCAOR source told UNI here today.
The summer component of the 25th Indian Antarctic Expedition (IAE) and winter component of 24th IAE expedition is expected to return to India by March/April next year. The team comprises 23 winter component members and 27 summer component members drawn from 24 research institutes. The other representatives are from Geological Survey of India, CSIR laboratories, Indian Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Force, defence organisations, DRDO laboratories, and various universities.
The expedition members will be given a formal farewell tomorrow at the Vasco headquarters of the NCAOR, from where they will fly to Cape Town in South Africa to join the expedition vessel of M/S Dynamic Shipping Services (DSS) Ltd for their onward voyage to Antarctica. For the first time, some talented post-graduate students have been included in the expedition, with the authorities deciding to provide those pursuing professional courses an exposure to Antarctic research.
Japanese IT giant Fujitsu is looking for a massive investment in India, both, to market its products and to set up call centres and offshore development centres across the country. ##br## ##br## Choi Chee Kong, Fujitsu Asia regional regroup senior vice president, talking to newsmen in Bangalore, declined to indicate the exact quantum of investment, but drew a parallel to an investment of $20 million in China planned for the next two years on platform development programme.According to a company official, the first development centre would be set up in Hyderabad by the middle of next year with a seating capacity of nearly 2000. Fujitsu also has a partner in Pune. ##br## ##br## Other cities, including Bangalore, Gurgaon and Chennai, were also in the investment net of the company. Kong, who announced the setting up of the Bangalore office to further strengthen Fujitsu's operations in India, said the company aimed to sell servers to the tune of $12 million over the next 12 months. The company aimed to garner 5 per cent market share within three years and that would amount to around $60 million, he added. Besides local enterprise, Fujitsu was looking at selling its servers to multinationals and Japan-based companies setting shop in India.
An International Conference on Krishnamurti and Consciousness is being held during the period 6 – 8 January, 2006 at Naimisam, Hyderabad with the objective to share knowledge, developments in consciousness studies and to explore the contribution of J.Krishnamurti to this field.
Questions on consciousness will be addressed from the perspectives of :
Classical and contemporary Indian and western thought.
Scientific approaches to consciousness.
Transformation of the individual and society.
The organisers of this event are Jiddu Krishnamurti Centre, Hyderabad and University of Hyderabad, India.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is ready to install its equipment for Wi-Fi wireless connection to the internet. BSNL is going to install 24 hotspots in Pune and Hyderabad and 48 hotspots in Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. Installation of Hot Spots is already under process at various cities/ locations.
Hot Spot Type-A is applicable for public utility services like Airports, Railway Stations, Universities and their campus etc initially for a period of 90 days from the date of its launch. The packages are available both pre-paid and post paid and charged at 1 rupee per minute. And unlimited plan for a month costs just Rs.1500.
Trade unionism in the country's IT-enabled services (ITES) sector has come to the fore with the recent rape and murder of an HP call centre employee by a taxi driver in Bangalore.The Union for ITES Professionals (UNITES), with membership of over 5,000 employees across India, has taken the lead to push for employee safety measures. UNITES is affiliated to United Network International (UNI) and is politically neutral. UNI is a global union with 15 million members and 900 unions.
UNITES, condemning HP's 'inability to provide adequate safety to its employees,' hoped this kind of incident would not occur again, said Karthik Shekhar, Membership under wraps: UNITES was formed over the last one year. Membership of the union is under wraps as most fear employer action, Shekhar said. The 5,000 members are working for some 130 companies, including multinationals, spread across the six cities of Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi and the National Capital Region of Delhi.
Most companies had low priority for employees' safety once they stepped out of the office, said Shekhar. UNITES' main demand was to ensure fair working conditions for all employees. UNITES had approached the Bangalore-based National Law School of India University to study the working conditions of ITES employees and also that of other allied jobs the sector has generated. The International Labour Organisation had come forward to sponsor the national executive of UNITES to be held later this month in Bangalore, he said.
CITU proposal: The Left-affiliated Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) had recently said that it proposed to set up a union to represent the IT and ITES sector's estimated 5,00,000 workers. The union is expected to address specific problems of such workers, which aren't governed by current labour laws.
The IT and BPO industry has consistently maintained that there is no felt need for unionism in the sector as companies offer good working conditions and best compensation, compared to other industries.
Microsoft’s India expansion saga has started to unfold within a week of announcements by chairman Bill Gates. For starters, the software Goliath will beef up headcount at Microsoft’s India Development Centre in Hyderabad from 800 to 1,200 by June, 2006.
The expanded team is tipped to work on a host of mission-critical projects linked to the upcoming global release of new products such as Windows Vista (Microsoft’s NextGen Windows Client Operating System), its next server release Windows Server R2 and its future Office suite christened Office 12.
Sizeable headcount expansion is also in the offing at Microsoft’s Global Tech Support Centre in Bangalore. In fact, Microsoft Global Tech Support and Microsoft IDC-Hyderabad are likely to account for the bulk of the expansion. During his recent tour, Mr Gates had announced that Microsoft would add 3,000 employees in four years across its multiple technical support facilities in the country.
The manpower expansion comes at a time when Microsoft has indicated that it plans to ship its new Windows Server release, codenamed R2, in the latter half of 2005-06. While analysts felt Windows Server R2 would have new features and functionality, it won’t be too different from the older versions such as Windows Server S-2003, they said. The company will release a conversion tool that will allow Office users to point to files in an older format and convert them en masse to the new Office12 XML format.
Hyderabad-based pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories has sold off its manufacturing plant in Goa to US pharma company Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc for an undisclosed sum.
The financial details cannot be shared because of the confidentiality clause, the spokesperson said, adding that the USFDA approved site at Goa was used for manufacturing generic solid dosages formulations for export to the US market.
The company's move to sell off its Goa plant is a part of its strategy to reasses formulations manufacturing keeping the taxation strategy in mind.
Students of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (Nift) are flying high these days. Several fashion houses around the world are hiring Niftians as designers. Even Indian companies having branches abroad are sending Niftians to take up overseas assignments immediately after recruitment. At least five per cent of the total class strength have offers from one or the other international fashion house and manufacturing unit.
While the domestic market is still lucrative for Niftians, fashion technology students whose degrees are equivalent to any other engineering degree find good breaks in manufacturing units abroad.
However, the type of jobs offered to fashion graduates differ in different countries. In the US and UK, where there is hardly any dearth of fashion designers, Indian designers are roped in as buyers because of their inherent knowledge of Indian fabrics and designs.
The role of the buyer is to visit countries like India and buy raw material for varied products. However, the route to the US, UK or Australia is not that easy. They first make their forte in lesser-developed countries like Spain, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia.
After graduating from Nift, they go for smaller programmes lasting a few months in these countries. The Nift degree along with this experience gets them the opportunity to work for top international fashion labels. "Indian fabrics and designs are the rage abroad. That's why Indians and their designs are preferred in these countries," Sunder says. Some of the Niftians are also working in government textile and garment manufacturing plants in Spain.
After recording an impressive export last year, a second wave of Information Technology (IT) development is set to hit Andhra Pradesh. The strategy adopted during the last decade from 1992-93 in particular for promoting Andhra Pradesh as a IT hub bore fruits in attracting many IT majors to come to Hyderabad. "Now we are trying to replicate this success by adopting an all together different strategy," STPI Hyderabad Director BV Naidu said.
STPI is working jointly with the government of Andhra Pradesh to set in motion the development. We are developing four incubation centres for IT development in Vizag, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Kakinada. The incubation centre at Tirupati is likely to be operational by the end of January, 2006," he said.
While the earlier strategy was to attract investment and professionals from abroad to the state, the current strategy is to motivate them to go and get settled near their native towns, Naidu said.
"This can be achieved by creating the right infrastructure and showcasing it. Our incubation centers will help in this regard," he added.
The first phase of the Outer Ring Road will be completed by March 2008. The HUDA chairman Sudhir Reddy disclosed this in Hyderabad today. The first phase of work will be taken up with an outlay of R. 500 crore. In the first phase a stretch of 22 kms road from Shamshabad to NH7 would be developed.
The second phase of works will commence from September 2006 and will be completed by December 2008. In the second phase, 159 kms of road will be developed at a cost of Rs. 2,500 crore.
Hyderabad-based Transgene Biotek Limited, in association with Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), has invented a new oral drug delivery technology for two protein-based drugs, namely, insulin and Hepatitis-B.
This technology involves using biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles loaded with the target drug as a new carrier to transport it across the intestinal epithelial tissues ensuring its bioavailability, stability and antigenicity in the body.
The biggest challenge of oral delivery route is that these protein-based drugs will be adversely exposed to acids and enzymes in the stomach loosening the intended effect in the course. At present, insulin is administered only by injection.
Hyderabad based Vimta Labs has been listed at National Stock Exchange India Limited (NSE) from today.
Vimta has been listed at Hyderabad and Bombay Stock Exchange since December 16, 1993 and January 27, 1994 respectively. Vimta is a full service CRO operating in the fields of Clinical Research, Clinical Reference Laboratory services, Pre-clinical assessments, Analytical testing and Environmental assessments. Vimta services are drawn by national and international market leaders in the above field, the statement said.
Manugistics Group, Inc, a provider of synchronised supply chain and revenue management solutions, will be investing $75 million in India over the next 10 years. The $193-million company, which currently employs 162 people at its development centre in Hyderabad, plans to up the headcount to 300 in the next 18 months.
The company now plans to invest $75 million in India over the next 10 years in employees and capital resources. Manugistics has a solution development centre in Hyderabad that is responsible for full life-cycle product development of supply chain management, logistics and revenue management solutions.
This implies that the centre works on the product right from its conceptualisation and design to its coding and delivery. Manugistics has around 53 products in the global market.
Aurobindo Pharma has received the final approval from USFDA for its anti-depressant drug Mirtazapine in two orally disintegrating tablet forms of 15 mg and 30 mg, apart from a tentative nod for the 45 mg tablet form. The market for the drug, which is the generic version of Organon’s Remeron SolTab and is indicated for major depressive disorder, is put at over $100 million annually.
Aurobindo will be able to sell the 15 mg and 30 mg tablets immediately in the regulated US markets while it will market the 45 mg version beginning February after the expiry of the 180-day exclusivity period, a company statement said. With this approval, coupled with the earlier tentative nod for its Sertraline Hydrochloride, dubbed as the bio-equivalent of Pfizer’s anti-depressant Zoloft, Aurobindo’s strategy to tap the regulated US anti-depressants market will be well in place by the middle of 2006.
If the National Urban Diabetes Survey (NUDS) conducted by Org-Marg is to be believed, Hyderabad has earned the dubious distinction of being the diabetic capital of India. The NUDS conducted in 2001 revealed that Hyderabad topped the list of the cities that included Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, where the survey was conducted.
According to the survey, 16.6 per cent of the population in Hyderabad was affected with diabetes while a whopping 31.7 million people are suffering from the disease in India.
Explaining this at a press meet on the eve of an exhibition on diabetes, 'Diabetes 2005', V Mohan of Dr Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre (DSC), said, "The three-day exhibition will have on offer all the recent developments in the cure, prevention and management of diabetes." It will educate the public on various complications affecting eyes, kidneys, feet, nerves and legs due to the disease, he said.
Minister for Municipal Administration K. Ranga Rao has said that Hyderabad will soon be declared as a mega city and the Government will develop it into a model city by providing adequate infrastructure like roads, power, drinking water, sewerage, sanitation as well as needs of urban poor.
At the same time, the Government also wants to provide livelihood means to people of the rural areas in order to control migration, he said. The Minister was addressing participants of the first workshop on 'Research for the sustainable development of the mega cities of tomorrow' by Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) here on Monday.
The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has selected Hyderabad for the project titled `Shakti' (Sustainable holistic approach and know how tailored to India), over a period of 11 years in four phases. A 16-member delegation from 10 different institutes led by the European Institute for Energy Research (EIER) will identify issues to assess the current and future needs of the city. Mr. Rao pointed out that the face of urban India had drastically changed in recent times and with economic liberalisation, cities had emerged as engines of economic growth.
Not only did cities contribute to 50 per cent of the gross domestic product but a majority of the Government revenue was also generated from them. Hyderabad too was witnessing tremendous growth and a perspective plan was imperative instead of resorting to fire-fighting jobs whenever the situation arises, said Mr. Rao. EIER's Project Coordinator Baerbel Schwaiger making a presentation said the researchers task was to devise solutions and strategies for sustainable development.
On successful evaluation of projects submitted and outlines refined for implementation the other three phases of three years each will follow. The Mayor, T. Krishna Reddy, and Standing Committee Chairman, D. Mohan, also spoke.
The MCH Commissioner, Sanjay Jaju, HUDA Special Officer S.P. Shorey and HMWSSB made presentations on sustainable development, long term planning and water needs respectively.
In the biggest such initiative by an Indian firm, Infotech Enterprises Ltd has decided to hire 200 professionals in the US to capture the global market for high-end solutions related to engineering, manufacturing and industries.
All the professionals to be hired will be US citizens and domain experts, who will man the company's operations in the US that mainly cater to the United Technologies Corp (UTC) group of companies, especially in aerospace.
UTC, a $40-billion group, is an equity partner in Infotech, a global design engineering, geospatial and IT Services company.
Infotech already has 120 US citizens working for it in America out of 3,400 associates in 17 locations globally, including five development facilities.
Having completed over one million person hours on aerospace projects, Infotech has gained extensive domain knowledge in aerospace engineering. Its team of more than 500 engineers is the world's largest independent offshore engineering organisation.
Infotech recently opened three dedicated Offshore Development Centres (ODCs) for some of the largest aerospace companies in the world. Last month Infotech set up a state-of-the-art centre of excellence for Airbus Platform at its facility in Hyderabad. The centre has 110 people doing work on the Airbus range of products. The company, which has been working with several Tier-1 suppliers of Airbus for two years, sees a potential to execute $5 million worth of design engineering, technical publications, verification and validation, embedded and software projects on designated Airbus programmes in the current fiscal. Infotech, which is a level 4 supplier to Boeing, is already working on developing a maintenance module for Boeing 787. The company is also working on Airbus A380. It also executed works on Airbus 330s, 340s, 350s. They include works on spoilers, landing gear and lighting systems.
Cafe Coffee Day, a leading retail cafe chain, Wednesday tied up with Air Deccan, India's first low-cost no-frills airline, to serve hot beverages and snacks to passengers on board. As Air Deccan's sole catering vendor, Coffee Day will be selling a range of food and beverages through in-flight crew on all the routes that the airliner operates across the country.
Currently, Air Deccan operates 186 flights a day from 46 cities, using a fleet of 22 aircraft comprising seven Airbus A-320s and 15 ATR-42/72s.
This is the first time Coffe day is entering into in-flight catering service. Using the hub-and-spoke model of Air Deccan, our cafe chains will load fresh food and beverages from the airliner's six operational bases located in the four metros and Bangalore and Hyderabad. As a no-frills airliner, Air Deccan does not serve food or beverages to its passengers free. While there is no bar on passengers carrying their own snacks or drinking water on board, it allows them to buy them during the flight journey at a fixed price.
Coffee Day director Naresh Malhotra told that though Coffee Day will not be charged any fee for selling its products on board, Air Deccan will be paid commission from the sale proceeds on its flights. Coffee Day is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Rs.3-billion Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company Ltd (ABCTCL) with 260 retail chain cafes in 60 cities across the country.
Zensar Technologies Ltd has signed a 'share purchase agreement' (SPA) yesterday to acquire the entire equity share capital of Hyderabad-based OBT Global Private limited, the Company informed the BSE today.
Simultaneously, Zensar Technologies Inc, the Company's wholly owned subsidiary in the United States, would be acquiring the entire common stock of OBT Global Inc, US, which is an affiliated company of OBT Global.
OBT Global and OBT Global Inc are engaged in SAP solutions, specifically focused on the Indian industry verticals of textiles, healthcare and pharmacy.
India's information technology industry faces a shortfall of 500,000 professionals by 2010 threatening its dominance of global offshore IT-services, warns a report by business consultancy McKinsey and Nasscom, India's leading IT association.
The prediction comes as multinationals such as Microsoft and JPMorgan increase their presence in the world's largest offshore services industry, adding to labour-market pressures caused by a widening mismatch between the supply and demand for technology talent.
The "war for talent" is one of the most striking signs of the success of India's offshore IT sector. It expanded by about 30 per cent from 2003 to 2005 and is expected to grow by at least 25 per cent a year over the next five years, sustaining the county's rapid economic growth. Labour shortages will pose a serious obstacle to India's ability to retain its lead in IT offshoring. The IT industry today employs 1m workers, but on its current growth path, it will need 2.3m IT workers by 2010. A recent report noted that only a quarter of engineering graduates were actually employable in the sector.
In the past week alone, Microsoft said it would add 3,000 jobs in India over 3-4 years, while JPMorgan revealed plans to recruit 4,500 graduates in India by 2007. India's IT leaders Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies and Wipro are scaling up their recruitment to about 1,000 young people a month.
A lack of office space in the main IT hubs of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and the New Delhi region is likely to be another obstacle to India maintaining its lead. The McKinsey report calls for an additional "five Gurgaons" (the call-centre capital of the country) and "5-7 Punes" (a mid-size engineering town near Mumbai).
In gridlocked Bangalore, IT companies have complained about the state government's failure to provide sufficient infrastructure to support their growth.
IT companies alone will fuel demand for a fifth of the forecast 1m international air journeys by Indians in 2010.
Sierra Atlantic, offshore enterprise applications provider today announced that it has achieved "Powered by SAP NetWeaver" certification for the latest version of its Supply Chain Management Network application, SCMnet version 4.2.
SCMnet, which is certified for integration capabilities with the mySAP ERP solution via the CA-PLM integration scenario, integrates mySAP ERP with the latest version of Agile's PLM solution, Agile 9.
The "Powered by SAP NetWeaver" certification will validate the seamless integration of SCMnet with SAP NetWeaver. The open integration and application platform will serve the needs of customers better, using solutions from Agile and SAP, a company release here said.
Air Deccan today launched daily direct flights on the Hyderabad-Nagpur, Hyderabad-Pune and Hyderabad-Goa sectors.
The flight DN 419 on the Hyderabad-Nagpur sector would depart Hyderabad at 1730 hrs and the return flight DN 420, would arrive in Hyderabad at 2040 hrs.
The flight DN 415, on the Hyderabad-Pune sector would depart Hyderabad at 0850 hrs and the return flight DN 416, would leave Pune at 0745 hrs and arrive in Hyderabad at 0915 hrs.
The flight DN 444 on the Hyderabad-Goa sector would depart Hyderabad at 1220 hrs and the return flight DN 445, would arrive in Hyderabad at 1555 hrs.
The flight DN 425, on the Hyderabad-Pune sector will run on all days except Thursday and would depart Hyderabad at 1855 hrs. The return flight DN 426 would arrive in Hyderabad at 2200 hrs.
Meanwhile Director to Iran Tourism Affairs and Cultural Heritage Corporation Ali Hashemi Baharmani today said the Iranian Government proposed to operate direct flights between Tehran and Hyderabad to give a fillip to tourism in both the countries.
IT and BPO industry representatives have called for creating 10-12 integrated townships like Gurgaon and Pune to keep India’s fast growing achievements from falling in the infrastructure ditch.
Releasing the new Nasscom-McKinsey report on Monday, they said that IT and BPO sectors would earn $60 billion in exports by March 2010 — about 7% of GDP, up from 3% at present. But, they said businesses in big cities, which are already choked because of power shortages, poor public transport and limited international connectivity, will not be able to accommodate additional 16 lakh people (up from seven lakh at present) to fire the growth.
About a million jobs in these sectors are projected to be generated near Tier-I cities (Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai) and about six lakh in other towns across the country.
Birlasoft, the technology services division of the C K Birla Group, plans to ramp up its employee strength by 2,200 to take the total number of professionals on its rolls to 5,000 by the end of 2006.
The company has earmarked $20 million for expansion, including the setting up of three new centers. In which, one would be set up in Bangalore and the remaining two would come up in Hyderabad and Noida each by February and May next year.
At present, the $250-million IT company has 2,800 software professionals working at Chennai, Noida, and Melbourne facility.
Recently, the company has acquired the assets of the Sydney-based Fusion Technology Group and the intellectual property rights of Portfolio Insight, a real-time risk-based pricing and active portfolio management software.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhara Reddy will inaugurate an Energy Conservation week organised by the Non-Conventional Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NEDCAP) from December 14. For the first time, seven organisations - ECM, NPC, PCRA, RTA, APITCO,APPC and FAPCCI are working together to support the Energy Conservation Week and conducting workshops and seminars, he said.
A Souvenir on Energy Conservation and Efficiency Measures would also be released by the Chief Minister on the occasion. Debate and painting competitions were also being organised among school and college students at district level and state level on Energy Conservation topics to create mass awareness.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today affirmed that the UPA government would be able achieve a positive outcome in the next six months on the issue of opening the retail sector to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The Prime Minister invited businessmen from the ASEAN countries to invest in hardware and pointed the phenomenal development of software in cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Dr Manmohan Singh also spoke of the momentous progress in the road sector and in the field of telecommunications. Speaking on the reform process, the Prime Minister said the Left Front government in West Bengal is creating world class infrastructure. He said West Bengal Chief Minister Budhadeb Bhattacharya was recently here to woo investment from the ASEAN Region.
He reaffirmed that tariff rates will be brought down to ASEAN levels in the next two to three years and said development of infrastructure was high on the agenda of his government with plans of investments in the region of 150 billion dollars in the near future.
Dr Manmohan Singh said the visa regime with ASEAN countries needed to be liberalised along with growth in trade and investment.
Hyderabad is fast emerging as an attractive destination for international conferences and seminars. The reason? Easy accessibility, pleasant climate, and smooth air connectivity.
But, one thing that can mar the city’s attraction is the lack of adequate hotel rooms. Consider this. During the SAP Games last year, one hotel even asked some regular guests to put off their travel plans as it could not offer rooms. More recently, there were two major pharma conferences. One, the India-Asean, GCC Healthcare and Pharma Conference, and over-lapping with it was the 56th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress along with a Pharma Expo.
"There is a surge in occupancy in the last one year to a level that there are no rooms. Occupancy has reached a saturation point primarily due to the growth in the IT and pharma business. Moreover, demand for five-star accommodation is growing by about 14-15% year-on-year," said Sanjay Sethi, area director, Taj GVK Hotels and general manager, Taj Krishna. Taj GVK Hotels owns Taj Krishna, Taj Residency and Taj Banjara.
Currently, there are about 1,200 rooms in the five- star category in Hyderabad, which are woefully inadequate. Interestingly, another 1,200 rooms will be open for occupation in the next few years. For instance, the MR group is putting up 280 rooms in the three-four star category and Marriott — through Viceroy Hotels — is adding another 130 rooms by January. Moreover, according to industry watchers, the Leela Group, Hyatt and ITC, too, are eying properties in the expanding city. "Our group too will be adding another 120 rooms in Taj Krishna and Taj Residency but not immediately," Mr Sethi said.
The calender is full till May 2006 in Hyderabad. According to Geeta Sudhesh, accommodation manager, Viceroy Hotels, all the star hotels in the city are full. "Usually, hotels in Hyderabad are full during October to March due to seminars and conferences. Of course, there will be some more pressure due to the forthcoming Congress plenary session and the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas in January next year," Ms Sudhesh said.
Other major events in the city include the silver jubilee celebrations of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), slated to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a host of dignitaries including Sonia Gandhi, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and C Rangarajan, among others.
But the biggest jamboree will be the annual general meeting of the Asian Development Bank in May 2006, for which the government is trying to play the perfect host. “But hotel rooms cannot come up overnight. The gestation period is usually three to three-and-half years, though the government ha been encouraging,” says an industry observer. The biggest stumbling block, however, is rising real estate prices, which is making hoteliers think twice before breaking ground on new properties.
In a major breakthrough, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a drug for cancer, useful for the soldiers guarding the borders of the country as also for the general public. A city-based pharma major is currently involved in clinical trials.
In order to create awareness on their research and the products available to general public, the department is contemplating to open an exhibition centre at the DRDO-Apollo Hospitals here in March 2006.
Products developed under Society for Biomedical Technology (SBMT) programmes like Kalam-Raju coronary stent, external cardiac pacemaker, floor reaction orthosis, hip prosthesis, Drishti eye laser and slit lamp microscope would also be displayed at the exhibition. AP Chapter of SBMT, which is an independent body but functions under the guidance of DRDO to spread research and technology, would also be set up in the city.
The new vaccine developed to eradicate killer disease Japanese Encephalitis (Brain fever) will be available next year for mass immunisation, ICMR New Delhi, Director General Prof N K Ganguly said today.
Delivering his address at a symposium on 'Emerging Trends in Neurosciences and 23rd Annual meeting of Indian Academy of Neurosciences' organised by NIMHANS here, he said the vaccines have been successfully tested on animals and it would be used first at Gorakhpur district in Uttar Pradesh next year.
He said the Japanese Encephalitis, which has been claiming lives of thousands of children every year in certain pockets of the country including in Bellary District in Karnataka had posed a challenge to the health authorities. After intense research the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad has developed the Vaccine. Earlier, every year during outbreak of the disease the government used to import Vaccine from abroad to control the dreaded disease.
24th International Tourism Exhibition of India opened on Saturday in Hyderabad.
The event in which five countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, UAE and Iran are participating, was inaugurated by the Consular General of the Islamic Republic of Iran at Hyderabad Hossein Soroush.
In his inaugural speech Soroush hoped that such exhibitions would enhance and develop a better communication and cooperation in the field of tourism between Iran and other countries, specially India.
While emphasizing the attractive economic growth in Iran and India, he said this exhibition is a good base to discover commercial and tourism opportunities for both countries.
Eighty five international enterprises from across the world including Europe and Iran are taking part in this three-day exhibition alongside a number of European agents and companies from fourteen Indian States.
International Tourism Exhibition of India was first organized in 1998, which is yearly held in five cities of Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Pune.
According to the data available 3.537 million foreign tourists visited India during the year 2004-05, which shows a 22.9 percent increase compared to the previous year.
Given Reserve Bank of India's report, with 5.3 billion Indian Rupees increase in revenue from foreign exchange received, the total revenue of India in tourism sector amounted to 234.5 billion Rupees, which in comparison to the previous year shows a 30 percent increase.
Minister for Information,Public Relations, Energy and Incharge Minister for Hyderabad city Mohd. Shabbir Ali said that the Bill for the creation of Greater Hyderabad city will be introduced in this Assembly session.
Informing this to news men at Secretariate, here today , Mohd. Shabbir Ali said that the Greater Hyderabad will have more advantages as it will become the No. 1 city in the country, facilities such as drinking water for 24 hours, wider roads, investment from the Industrialist will come.
He said as part of the programme for giving 24 hours drinking water supply the government has started supply water from Adikmet to Asmangad on trial basis and the 2nd phase of diverting Krishna water to Hyderabad city with Rs. 182 crores already started.
He said the irrigation projects on river Godavari,Yellampalli and Srisailam is in full swing, permission was given for laying the sewerage line with Rs. 150 crores from Mangalhat to Mahatma Gandhi Nagar.
He said with Rs. 100 crores Hi-Tech city 8 lanes road will be starting, railway line from Kukatpally to Hi-Tech city with Rs. 27 crores will be starting. He said out of the 142 roads work, 50 roads works has been completed, construction work of flyovers bridges in Chandrayangutta and Nalgonda is going on, and the issuing of ration cards will be starting from January 1.
The minister said that there is no proposal to take the land under road widening programme of Majid, dargah, chillas, temples and churches. However, he said that all party meeting will be convened and discussions will made with the priests on this issue.
The shooting of a 23-year-old Indian graduate student on the University of Bridgeport campus has shaken up university officials and international students who live off-campus.
The victim, whose name is being withheld on request, is a first semester student of computer science from Hyderabad, India and is recovering well. He was walking home in the alleys between buildings on the night of Nov. 12, when he was apprehended by two masked men. He handed over his wallet to the robbers, and was then shot in the stomach by one of them.
John Daley, spokesperson for the university, says that incidents have been reported off campus, but this is the first such incident on campus in more than four years.
The university won the Jeanne Clery campus safety award in 2003 for the Personal Alarm Device that every student and faculty member is provided. On pressing a button on the PAD, the security office is signaled with the name and location of the person requiring assistance, and a light nearest the location of the PAD goes on. Security also responds to the call and arrives at the location.
After the influx of technology-related process outsourcing, education process outsourcing (EPO) is also making inroads across the country.
If what Highpoints Learning Inc, with its development centre in Hyderabad, is managing now is anything to go by, this could well emerge as the next business opportunity.
The Chief Executive Officer of Highpoints Learning Inc, Jeetan Singh, said the company has developed an innovative mapping engine that helps generate content for e-Learning. Having put in nearly three years of work in this area, we are tasting rapid success, he added. The company has signed up for some government projects in the US and is in the process of providing services in Spain, South Korea and New Zealand.
From the next academic year, Highpoints Learning Inc will launch content-based services in India for CBSE and ICSE exams and other tests.
Highpoints has been founded by the alumni of IIT and the Indian Institute of Science. The company provides Web-based education services to over 100,000 registered users and 5,000 teachers, and it also allows access to its libraries. Highpoints is now in the process of scouting for strategic partners. It s has recently provided its content on a Google site and is in the process of partnering with AOL, Singh said.
The Hyderabad City Additional Commissioner of Police (Co-ordination), Tejdeep Kaur Menon, has been awarded the IRTE and Prince Michael International Road Safety Award 2005, for her initiatives to streamline vehicular traffic in the city.
The award, instituted by the Institute for Road Traffic Education and the Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards (UK), is given to contributions towards building a road culture in traffic management and road safety, besides recognising the achievements and innovations for improvement through safety attitudes and bringing down the number of road accidents.
Electronic Arts Inc, the world's leading interactive entertainment software company, and JAMDAT Mobile Inc, a global publisher of wireless entertainment applications, including games, ring tones, images and other content, announced they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which EA will acquire JAMDAT.
EA, headquartered in Redwood City, California, will pay $27 per share in cash in exchange for each share of JAMDAT common stock and assume outstanding stock options for a total of approximately $680 million.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, JAMDAT has roughly 350 employees in locations around the world, including Honolulu, Montreal, Tokyo, London, Bucharest and Hyderabad. It publishes games like Bowling, Tetris®, Downtown Texas Hold 'Em, Lemonade Tycoon®, Bejeweled®, The Lord of the Rings®, Tony Hawk's® Underground and Scrabble® .
The Foreign Direct Investment inflows have crossed Rs 9,500 crore in the first half of this fiscal, the House was informed on Friday. The overall FDI inflows, which witnessed a slump in 2003-04, rose to Rs 14,653 crore in 2004-05. FDI into India had declined to Rs 10,064 crore in 2003-04 from Rs 12,871 crore in 2002-03, minister of state for finance SS Palanimanickam said.
On the debt situation, the minister said the internal debt burden of the Centre has gone up to Rs 12,70,272 crore in 2004-05, which is almost 10% rise from Rs 11,41,706 crore in 2003-04. However, the interest outgo has come down to Rs 1,00,399 crore in 2004-05 from Rs 1,03,123 crore in 2003-04. India’s external debt also rose to $123.45 billion till 2004-05 from $111.71 billion in 2003-04, but the interest outgo came down to $3.75 billion from $4.4 billion.
Mr Palanimanickam said the government has been following a policy of fiscal prudence aimed at reducing deficit and thereby containing borrowing. Similarly, prudent external debt management helped in maintaining a comfortable external debt position, he said.
City-based provider of outsourced e-marketing solutions Ybrant Technolgies has inked a deal with Hula Direct, a US-based e-marketing company.
According to Forrester estimates, Internet advertising market in the US is expected to touch USD 26 billion by 2010, with a CAGR of 17.5 per cent.
With over six years of experience in the market, Ybrant currently has 140 clients across the US and 150 professionals on its rolls.
An electronic international remittance gateway to facilitiate Non Resident Indians (NRIs) to repatriate money to home will be launched during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, beginning in Hyderabad on January seven.
Talking to newspersons here today, Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry Secretary S Krishna Kumar said the remittance would be completed within 24 hours under the new scheme under which a NRI could send his money to any bank of his choice anywhere in the country. India was world's highest receiver of remittances, he informed.
The necessary networking for the International gateway was ready and it would become operational from the day was launched.
Natco Pharma Ltd, the Hyderabad based drug company has set out its product, 'Alphalan' used for treating blood cancer. The cytotoxic drug, Alphalan, will be available in packs of 25 tablets each, in both 2 mg and 5 mg forms.
Alphalan is the only Indian product available in the market for the treatment of Multiple Myeloma, a form of blood cancer that affects the plasma cell. The malignant plasma cells accumulate and damage the bone marrow in the spine, pelvis, rib cage and skull of the affected persons.
IDBI Ltd will be kicking-off its three-day annual mega property exhibition 'Homes 2005' in Hyderabad on December 9. The exhibition will bring under one roof reputed builders, diverse properties and the best financing options from the bank so that customers can shop for their dream home with least effort and maximum convenience, according to a company statement.
The new-generation public sector bank which successfully concluded a similar exhibition in Chennai, Pune and Bangalore will be holding the 'Homes 2005' exhibition in three other cities across the country.
The Hyderabad-leg of IDBI's 'Homes 2005' exhibition will feature 100 housing projects by 40 reputed builders.
IDBI will offer 100 per cent finance, lower interest rates, fifty per cent discount on processing fees and spot loan sanction at the exhibition.
In the six months ended September 30, 2005, IDBI has disbursed home loans aggregating Rs 1,633 crore as against Rs 1,093 crore in the ocrresponding period last year, the company said in a statement here.
Transgene Biotek Ltd. said on Wednesday that it has completed the development of oral delivery of Insulin and Hepatitis B vaccine in collaboration with the Pharmacology Division headed by Dr. Prakash V Diwan at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad. The pre-clinical trials on the oral delivery of Insulin and Hepatitis B have demonstrated exciting results, Transgene Biotek said in a statement. The drugs are to be administered in liquid form as oral drops.
The new invention is a boon to the diabetic population showing not only the reduction of blood glucose levels compatible to that of the injectable Insulin but also the clinically significant plasma Insulin levels lasting up to 24 hours.
Similarly, the pre-clinical trials on oral delivery of Hepatitis B vaccine have demonstrated the generation of anti-body titres to a single dose comparable to that of Injectable Hepatitis B vaccine.
The company is the first in the world to have developed the technology to deliver a Hepatitis B vaccine through the oral route, Transgene Biotek said. Oral administration of this vaccine combined with cost reduction should be a major factor in the disease control of this viral infection across the world.
Microsoft plans to nearly double its work force in India over the next four years, investing $1.7 billion and adding 3,000 jobs in a vote of confidence in one of the world's fastest-growing markets.
"The growth in employment for Microsoft will be more in India than the United States."
A substantial part of the money would go to creating a Windows operating system designed specifically for India and available in nine Indian languages. That could help Microsoft fend off challenges from cheaper open-source operating systems led by Linux, which has made deep inroads in India.
Half the money would go to improving Microsoft's research and development capabilities, including the creation of a new facility in the southern city of Bangalore, India's technology hub, the company said.
Earlier this year, Microsoft opened a research center in the southern city of Hyderabad, its fourth such facility worldwide. The Bangalore center is to be opened next month.
The expansion plans will nearly double Microsoft's work force in India by adding 3,000 jobs over the next three years to its existing pool of 4,000, Gates told business leaders on Wednesday.
Microsoft's efforts in India are aimed at narrowing the digital divide by creating products that are not only affordable for the poor but also address their "unique needs," he said.
One idea Gates raised has long been a holy grail in computing: developing thinking machines that respond to speech _ in various languages _ and thus render keyboards unnecessary. The tech research firm Gartner Inc. said Wednesday it expects Indian businesses to spend $25.12 billion on information technology in 2006, an increase of 23.7 percent over the current year.
Despite a low installed base of just 17 million computers, India's technology adoption is gaining momentum thanks to a booming software export industry and a growing domestic market.
Gartner said India can expect a growth of 20.8 percent for the next four years in business spending on computer hardware, software and communication products.
The 308-room Viceroy in Hyderabad is being relaunched as Marriott Hyderabad early January. While its luxury brand JW Marriott Hotel Bangalore, a- 250-room property is scheduled to open in late 2007 under a management agreement with Gstaad Hotels Pvt. Ltd.
A new property slated to open in Chennai next month will signal the entry of Courtyard, the business-class brand of Marriott International Hotel, into India.
The hospitality major is operating four brands spanning its super luxury JW Marriott, Resorts, Convention Centre and Executive Apartments in the country. With the 238-room Courtyard and two more offerings to India, Marriott would be controlling close to 2,000 rooms offering a hotel brand to suit the needs of all types of travellers.
Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (NYSE: SAY) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced an industry enterprise readiness initiative, called EDGE, which is aimed at training and certifying Satyam's engineering work force on Microsoft® technologies. Managed by Satyam's Microsoft Global Alliance and the Satyam Learning Center, EDGE will train up to 3,000 Microsoft Certified Professionals each year to fuel Satyam's vision of ensuring execution excellence on the Microsoft .NET technology for enterprise solutions. Customers will benefit from enhanced IT optimization making the enterprise more efficient, agile and ultimately more competitive.
Satyam's Enterprise Applications Solutions road map has received leadership ranking and accolades from industry analysts and enterprise customers for several quarters now, in terms of Satyam's size and depth of an enterprise-applications-ready work force. As more customers begin to invest in Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Web services-based .NET service-oriented architecture (SOA) as the platform for their enterprise application solutions, Satyam is responding by scaling its .NET readiness efforts in a companywide campaign.
The EDGE program will enable Satyam's global work force, including campus recruits, designers and architects, to access instructor-led training on Microsoft Official Curriculum courseware at the application and infrastructure level. It will also be supported by key Microsoft eLearning Library assets, MSDN® Universal, and other dedicated certification assets. Further, the EDGE program will integrate with other Satyam and Microsoft alliance assets, such as Microsoft's architectural patterns and practices program and Adaptive Solutions Centers to create a unified approach to delivering productivity benefits to its global enterprise customers.
The Satyam and Microsoft Global Alliance is geared toward establishing a global standard in technology partnerships that exemplifies deep, mutually beneficial global market value creation and engagement that is aligned to deliver consistent customer delight in all segments.
Zensar Technologies Limited, a software services and BPO organisation, is launching a remote hub for its innovative global delivery model in Hyderabad.
This centre, which is its first in south India, will be an extended delivery facility for Zensar’s India operations and will showcase an implementation of Zensar’s Solution BluePrint (SBP) for software development.
As a development hub, this centre will deploy Zensar’s concept of an innovative global delivery model, which supports a virtual community of software professionals working from different locations across the globe to build software solutions using Zensar’s SBP framework.
This model dispenses with the need for establishing and maintaining expensive brick and mortar structures to house software professionals, a media statement said.
Set up in 1989 by Mr Bilimoria, Cobra has grown quickly and now has an annual turnover of £80m and is exported to over 35 countries worldwide.
It is sold in most major UK supermarket chains and 6,000 restaurants throughout Britain. Company founder Karan Bilimoria told the BBC that he expected Indian beer consumption to increase 40-fold during the next 25 years and The time is now right to develop a Cobra beer in India for Indians. India's economy is expanding by an average 6% a year and half of the population is under the age of 25, Mr Bilimoria explained.
Cobra Beer, which is brewed as an accompaniment to spicy curries, plans to start production in India and tap into an increase in local drinking. The firm says it is in serious talks about setting up a brewery and distribution centre in Hyderabad.
Its beer, which has fewer bubbles than many lager-style rivals so that it is easier to drink while eating, is already made under licence in India. Cobra sees alcohol demand rising as a strong economy lifts consumer spending.
Microsoft Corporation has jazzed up its office suite, targeting the small and medium enterprises segment with the launch of its updated Dynamics CRM 3.0 version, using the software development skills at its India Development Centre in Hyderabad.
Though Microsoft has begun shipping Dynamics CRM 3.0, it is to be formally launched next month, Satya Nadella, corporate vice president, Microsoft Business Solutions Product Development said here on Tuesday. a team of 50 engineers at the IDC had worked on developing the applications which work on the Office platform. The CRM 3.0 package is targeted at the estimated 1.8 million SMEs in India. The application brings together Outlook for email, the sales and marketing functions and and collaborative sales. Microsoft’s engineers in Hyderabad had developed the software for integrating the various features.
While Microsoft will be selling a traditional version of the software, which customers can install on their servers, Microsoft would also be using the partner-model in India, in which the company’s partners will offer the software as a service on the web.
The Secunderabad-based Matrix Laboratories Ltd said on Tuesday said it is acquiring a controlling stake of 55 per cent in Concord Biotech Ltd, an Ahmedabad-based biotechnology company with fermentation and bio-catalytic technology capabilities and US Food and Drug Administration-approved bulk drug manufacturing facilities.
Sudhir Vaid, the main promoter and managing director of Concord Biotech, signed a term sheet with Matrix executives in Secunderabad on Tuesday. Matrix sources said that Concord Biotech is a closely-held private company, which posted a net profit of Rs 2 crores on revenues of Rs 15 crores in 2004-05. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Matrix will be acquiring the 55 per cent stake in Concord Biotech through a combination of purchasing of existing equity shares from the promoters and other shareholders of the company and subscribing to the new equity shares to be issued by Concord Biotech on preferential basis.
Xilinx Inc., which has an engineering team at CMC Ltd. at Hyderabad, plans to shift the staff to an independent Indian R&D subsidiary in 2006. Xilinx (San Jose, Calif.) said it is also evaluating Indian design houses with an eye toward equity investments from its $100 million ecosystem fund. The programmable logic developer said investments could include companies not working directly in software, IP tool development or boards but focused on programmable logic development.
The exact timing for launching the research subsidiary has not been decided, but it will be located in Hyderabad
JPMorgan Chase is planning to hire 4,500 graduates in India over two years with the aim of moving 30 per cent of its back-office and support staff at its investment bank offshore by end of 2007.
The plan is the most ambitious move by an international investment bank to take advantage of the low cost of highly educated staff in India.
It underlines the shift in the use of such offshore facilities from traditional areas such as information technology support and call centres to core operational functions and other high-value tasks.
The bulk of the bank’s processing of foreign exchange trades will be carried out at its centres in Mumbai and Bangalore.
It is also moving over much of the processing of credit derivatives contracts, an area where US and UK regulators have expressed concern about backlogs across the industry.
Other investment banks are also investing heavily in India, including UBS, which plans to open its first “offshoring” centre in Hyderabad early next year with an initial plan for 500 jobs.
SemIndia Limited, incorporated by a consortium of companies and NRIs for the purpose of establishing a Fab City in India, has urged the Centre to come out with a national policy for the semiconductor industry before the project shapes up. It also wants the policy to be framed in line with the policy framework adopted by China and Taiwan.
Seeking a slew of incentives and subsidies from the Andhra Pradesh government for setting up a Fab City in Hyderabad, Vinod Agarwal, president and CEO of SemIndia, urged chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy to impress upon the Union government the need for formulating a semiconductor policy when he met the latter yesterday.
With the chip manufacturing industry not yet making an entry into the country, there are hardly any policy guidelines to support projects like Fab City, though the Government of India has decided to hold equity in the project. By proposing to have a policy at the Central level, SemIndia is making it clear that it needs much more support than what it could get from any investment-hungry state.
Sources in the government said that besides promising to match the incentives offered by any other competing state, the chief minister had promised SemIndia officials that he would take up the issue of policy requirements with the Centre.
A semiconductor policy on the lines of China and Taiwan meant that all the infrastructure required for setting up a fab project should be made available to the promoters of the project free of cost, government officials felt. A fab city requires about 60 mw power and about 50 million gallons per day (MGD) of water once it becomes fully operational.
According to sources, SemIndia's wish list included free land, water and power for the proposed project and sales tax exemption.
The state government has already offered 1,500 acres of land for the project. As regards other concessions, the officials said that the state government would take a decision on the basis of merit and permissibility.
The chief minister asked the SemIndia CEO to submit a detailed proposal with all the requirements and requests to the officials, which would be put before the State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) for a final view.
The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) commenced its third leg of ‘IT Innovation in India Awards ’05’ in Hyderabad by showcasing five emerging companies that have been shortlisted for this purpose.
These include Java Softech, Ocimum Biosolutions, SatNav Technologies and YASU Technologies from Hyderabad and Midas Communication Technologies from Chennai.
The Nasscom IT Innovation in India Award recognises companies that have come up with new ideas, products, processes or technologies to enable higher growth of business. Of the 138 companies that participated in this forum, 20 have been shortlisted, with four being from Hyderabad.
Based on the presentations that these companies make, six most innovative IT companies will be selected by a panel of judges.
While Java Softech is involved in the development of products for microfinance institutions, Ocimum Bio 
