Infosys plans centre in Brazil

Bangalore: Infosys plans to open a new delivery centre in Brazil to increase their Latin American presence. This centre will come up in Araraquara and will be a 100-seater and will come up in 550 square metres. Further, it will employ 25 employees and provide SAP-related services to Citrusuco, a leading orange juice producer, amongst other clients, the company said in a statement. Brazil’s workforce, a growing domestic market and a positive environment fostered by the government make this country an attractive destination for us, according to Claudio Elsas, Country Head, Infosys Brazil.Our Bureau

Infy, HCL Tech, Wipro among the greenest in BRICS

New Delhi: Sixty-one per cent of the companies in the five BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - do not publicly disclose their carbon emission details, according to a survey by Environmental Investment Organisation (EIO), a UK-based climate change and finance think tank.

In the EIO survey, three Indian companies - Infosys (fourth), HCL Technologies (fifth) and Wipro (sixth) - have emerged among the top 10 companies with least emissions. This is part of a ranking of the 300 largest companies in the BRICS region, taking into account greenhouse gas emissions and transparency factors.

Brazil's alternative energy company, Cemig, tops the list of Environmental Tracking (ET) BRICS 300 Carbon Ranking, followed by Vodacom Group of South Africa and Lenova of China. The other firms among the top 10 list are Brazil's BMF Bovespa (seventh), China's Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (eighth), Brazil's Natura (ninth) and Chinese firm Hopewell Holdings.

The new study also shows that large quantities of emissions are not being accounted for. Public disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions among the leading BRICS companies is highly inconsistent, with less than 20 per cent of entities correctly adopting the basic principles of greenhouse gas emissions reporting, the study points out.

The other key finding is that no company in the BRICS 300 Ranking fully reports emissions across its entire value chain. Scope 3 (value chain) emissions include greenhouse gas emissions from sources not owned or directly controlled by the company, but over which it has influence. It includes categories such as business travel, transportation and distribution, and investments.

Among the 300 companies, Asian Paints has ended up last with no public data and with a high emission intensity, according to EIO. The other Indian companies that constitute the bottom 10 list are Jaiprakash Associates (293rd) and Grasim Industries (298th).

"This ought to be a wakeup call for companies. Since the majority of total corporate emissions often come from Scope 3 sources, large quantities of emissions are not being accounted for. Not only could this be a source of unmeasured risk for companies, but it also means we are not getting the full picture in terms of corporate emissions. This is precisely why the Carbon Rankings are designed to encourage Scope 3 disclosure," says Sam Gill, chief executive officer at the Environmental Investment Organisation.

These rankings are compiled from publicly available emissions data taken from company sustainability reports, annual reports, and websites.

India could be world's third largest economy by 2030: StanChart

MUMBAI: India could be one of the largest economies in the world in the next two decades, according to an official from the Standard Chartered Bank .

"We are projecting that by 2030, China, India and Brazil would be the world's first, third and fourth-largest economies," Standard Chartered Bank's Global Head (Client Access Transaction Banking) Neal Livingston said at an event here today.

"Asia accounts for a third of the world's GDP and is responsible for more than two-third of the world GDP growth," he said.

The bank expects a roll-over in the top five economies of the world and believes that their power could be under threat from the BRIC nations.

India's GDP is expected to be $ 30-trillion by 2030. Increased capacity, better infrastructure, quality of education, health and hygiene are likely to boost India's growth.

By 2030, China is likely to supersede the US and would reign as the super economy. China's GDP volume is expected to reach $ 73.5-trillion, the highest in the world. In 2010, China's GDP reached $ 5.9-trillion.

The country with the highest population in the world will remain the main engine of growth that is sustained by the manufacturing industry.

Moreover, the highly educated in China surged significantly.

During the past 30-years, China's economy has changed from a centrally planned system that was largely closed to international trade to a more market-oriented one that has a rapidly-growing private sector. A major component supporting China's rapid economic growth has been exports growth.

Brazil's GDP volume is expected to be around $ 12.2- trillion by 2030.

KEC International bags Rs 550-cr orders from India, Brazil

NEW DELHI: RPG Group company KEC International today said it has bagged orders worth Rs 550 crore from India and Brazil for the construction of transmission network.

"The company has secured a turnkey contract for construction of transmission lines from Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (Mahatransco)," KEC International said in a statement.

Total order value is Rs 367 crore and the completion period is 18 months, the statement said.

SAE Towers, the wholly-owned subsidiary of KEC International has secured Rs 183 crore tower supply order in Brazil.

"We are seeing huge demand for transmission towers in American markets, KEC and SAE Towers have secured total Rs 1,350 crore tower supply orders post acquisition," Ramesh Chandak, MD and CEO, KEC International said.

Shares of KEC International were trading at Rs 88.80 in the afternoon trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange today, up 3.32 per cent from its previous close.