India can build a $100-b software product industry by 2025

Bangalore: The country has the potential to build a $100-billion software product industry by 2025, according to think tank Indian Software Product Industry Roundtable (iSPIRT).

According to IT industry body Nasscom, the current size of the software product industry is $2 billion. For the projected growth to be accomplished, “purposeful” action needs to be taken by the Government as well as the industry, iSPIRT said in a report.

Industry analysts, however, said the $1-billion target is “far fetched”.

Projections
The software products market in India, which includes accounting software and cloud computing-based telephony services, is expected to grow at 14 per cent this year, similar to the 12-14 per cent growth projected by Nasscom, said iSPIRT, which was formed last year after some 30 companies and individuals broke free from Nasscom to form a separate body for the software products companies.

Rely on stints
It added around 40 per cent of founders of Indian product companies came from multinationals, which shows the extent to which individuals rely on their stints in multinational firms.

iSPIRT members, including Sharad Sharma, former Yahoo! India R&D head, Vishnu Dusad, Managing Director of Nucleus Software, Bharat Goenka, Co-founder and Managing Director of Tally Solutions, are increasingly concerned that at a time when India is talking about sunrise sectors, no attention is being paid to the software product industry, which is a $1.2-trillion opportunity globally. “If you look at it logically, this has a higher chance of succeeding when you factor in leadership in software and aspiration among entrepreneurs,” said Sharma.

However, analysts remained doubtful. While the opportunity exists, there are caveats such as good broadband connection and ease of doing business, which are huge concern areas, according to Pradeep Mukherji, President and Managing Partner, Avasant APAC and Africa. Similarly, Sanchit Vir Gogia, an analyst at Greyhound Research, said the tax structure on software products is unclear and this affects the business model. Venture capital investments and access to capital markets are issues to be addressed, Gogia added.

Australia seeks to export SolarGen technology to India

Hyderabad: Australia is exploring the opportunities of exporting SolarGen technology which it feels has potential applications in Indian industry. Some of the sectors identified are petrochemicals, fertilisers and transportation.

Developed by Australian scientists the technology can provide a sustainable and cost effective alternative for the production of hydrogen, which in turn will help these industries, says Jim Hinkley, of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

In India recently, Hinkley told Business Line that, “There is a particularly strong potential to roll out the technology in Gujarat and Rajasthan because both states have excellent solar resources and natural gas infrastructure, as well as being major industrial users of hydrogen”.

The technology facilitates concentrating the sun's rays to drive a reaction between water and natural gas which stores solar energy in the form of chemical bonds. The resulting fuel has a higher energy yield than natural gas. The SolarGas can then be used to produce high-efficiency electricity in a gas engine or turbine, he explained.

According to CSIRO by using Sun’s rays for heat, in combination with new catalysts, SolarGas uses upto 50 per cent less fossil fuel and higher percentage of water as well.

A study has also found that the technology developed by the CSIRO could help India’s efforts towards achieving energy security. Some of the benefits include improved energy and food security by reducing natural gas consumption; new jobs created through local manufacturing and operation of the technology; the potential to produce solar liquid fuels for transport.

The study was funded by the Australian Government and undertaken by CSIRO in collaboration with the Solar Energy Corporation of India. It has also developed a concept design for a pilot scale SolarGas facility and identified numerous potential host sites suitable for such a pilot project.

Energy and energy security are critical issues for Australia and India, and we have much to offer each other by sharing our renewable technology expertise and technology, said Australia’s High Commissioner to India Patrick Suckling while launching the study recently.

Morgan Stanley to open Bangalore centre to service US parent

Bangalore: Morgan Stanley will open a new Global In-House Centre (GIC) in Bangalore that will provide outsourcing services to the multi-billion dollar company’s parent in the US.

This new centre will be opened in 2014 and will complement Morgan Stanley’s GICs in Mumbai, the company said in a statement.

Commenting on the firm’s plans to grow its GIC capabilities and footprint in India, Bill Strong, Morgan Stanley’s Co-CEO Asia Pacific, said the company had reviewed global options for building a new GIC that can provide a mass of employees to support its global functions and saw value-add in expanding further our on-the-ground teams in India.

While this is a new investment, the company did not quantify the exact amount of investments.

However, it added that this new site in Bangalore is aligned with its continued focus on leveraging India’s skilled and diverse talent pool for the company.

Morgan Stanley has been present in India since 1993 and the back-office provides investment banking, asset management and research, capital markets-related research and sales and trading advisory services to its global clients that include high net worth individuals from 1,200 offices across 43 countries.

The firm will continue to grow its existing Mumbai-based centres, in addition to the new Bangalore centre, officials added.

Govt clears Rs 3-lakh cr investments in public enterprises

Hyderabad: The Government has so far cleared pending projects involving Rs 3 lakh crore of investment by Public Sector Enterprises, according to O.P. Rawat, Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises.

To drive growth
“This has been done in several of rounds of the Cabinet Committee on Investment. The total pending projects of PSEs involve about Rs 30 lakh crore,’’ Rawat told newspersons on the sidelines of Golden Jubilee Celebrations at Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE) here on Thursday.

Pointing out that this was expected to drive growth in public sector, the official said the business figures of the first six months of the current financial year ended September 30, 2013 showed positive growth though the performance of PSEs was not up to the mark during 2012-13.

Going by the present trend, it was expected that public sector enterprises could grow by 15 per cent this year, he added. When asked on the performance of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), he said it was making losses due to pending projects and building up of huge inventory before receiving actual orders.

AUTONOMY
To improve the performance of public sector enterprises, the Government is considering allowing Maharatna and Navaratna companies to take independent decision involving investments up to Rs 10,000 crore, Rawat said. At present Rs 5,000 crore is the upper cap in this regard.

More funds needs
Earlier, addressing the gathering, P. Rama Rao, President, Board of Governors, IPE, said there was a need for greater investments in education, research and development. “The only group of companies which can show the way forward in this regard are public sector enterprises,’’ he said.

SDF to shift some tractor engine lines from Italy to India

New Delhi: Farm equipment maker Same Deutz Fahr (SDF), which recently unveiled its Lamborghini tractors in India, proposes to shift some engine production lines from Italy to its plant at Ranipet, near Chennai.

The company plans to invest Rs 300 crore over the next one year in expanding the tractor engine production capacity, said Bhanu Sharma, Managing Director and CEO of SDF India Pvt Ltd.

Two new lines
“We are planning to shift production of tractor engines with three and four cylinders, that will have a horse power range of 80-110,” Sharma said. Two new tractor engine production lines will be added at its existing facility in Ranipet.

Shifting of production lines will help the company introduce newer range of tractors with higher horsepower in the Indian market by 2015, where the demand for higher capacity tractors is seen going up, Sharma said.

key factors
The shortage of manpower, rising labour costs and consolidation of land holdings are the key factors that are driving the tractor sales, he added.

Currently, SDF manufactures about 8-9 tractor models in the mid-segment with a horse power range of 40-80 hp, bulk of which are exported to about 54 countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Australia.

The company sold about 2,000 Deutz Fahr tractors in the Indian market this year and is planning to double it in 2014.

SDF is eyeing a production to 25,000 tractor engines during 2014, up from the current year’s output of 15,000 engines, Sharma added.

Lamborghini tractors
SDF unveiled its Lamborghini range of tractors in India at an agri-fair in Pune, recently.

The company is in the process of finalising the specifications for the Indian market, based on the customer requirement, and expects to start rolling out Lamborghini tractors in the second half of 2014, he added.

SDF is targeting rich farmers and high profile individuals with farming interests, besides golf courses, cricket stadiums and luxury resorts.

Paraguay keen on partnering India

Chennai: Paraguay hopes to partner with India on a diverse range of industries including natural resources, agriculture and education said the Ambassador of Paraguay to India, Genaro Vicente Pappalardo.

Addressing a meeting organised by the Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he said the cost of living in Asuncion, the country’s capital, is the lowest among capital cities in the world. Paraguay has also business-friendly policies and easy to settle in.

Education is an important area with its young population going out to study in Europe and the US. Also in the last three decades, Paraguay has set up more than 50 universities.

R. Thandavan, Vice-Chancellor, University of Madras, said the institution set up in 1857 has tie-ups with over 200 universities across the globe and is keen to partner with its counterparts in Paraguay.

Student and faculty exchange and research collaborations could be explored, he said

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 signs pact with China to boost handicraft exports

New Delhi: India and China have signed a memorandum of understanding for promotion of exports of Indian handicrafts.

A high-level delegation led by Zohra Chatterji, Secretary, Textiles, visited China for increasing handicraft trade and brand image promotion of Indian handicrafts and textiles in the Chinese market.

An MoU was signed between the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) to explore the possibilities of enhancing handicrafts from India to important markets of China.

The MoU will focus on promotion of exports of products such as ethnic and contemporary furniture, wooden handicrafts including furniture from Jodhpur and Saharanpur, imitation jewellery and fashion jewellery and art metalware from Moradabad.

India will also organise the first exclusive exhibition of Indian handicrafts in China.

Further exchange of techniques, craft exchange programmes and Reverse Buyer Seller Meets will also be organised by both the countries.

The delegation also held meetings with Shanghai Textile Association, Shanghai Textile Trade Association, Shanghai Import & Export Chamber and Shanghai Mart.

Production units in India are best in the world, say car manufacturers

Chennai: Multinational automotive plants in India rank among the top across the world in terms of their productivity and quality. Top auto MNCs like Hyundai, Toyota and Suzuki rank their Indian production facilities right on top of their global pecking order. Despite fighting it out with factories in much larger markets - including the US and China - some of these plants fare better cranking out cars at upwards of 98-99% efficiency.

Take Hyundai Motor India (HMI) which has two plants in its Sriperumbudur facility near Chennai. The newer, second plant actually ranks number one in terms of productivity and quality according to Bo Shin Seo, CEO & MD, Hyundai Motor India (HMI). "Hyundai has plants in China, Russia, Brazil, the US (Alabama), Turkey and Czech Republic and in terms of operational average productivity ratio we are number one," he added. HMI's second plant makes two models and routinely hits average productivity ratio of upwards of 99.7%.

Of course a number of the bigger plants crank out many more volumes - Hyundai's China plant for example produces 4-5 different models while the newest factory in Brazil cranks out just one model but at "very high productivity ratio," he added. Between its two plants Hyundai can expand its production to hit 700,000 units on a three-shift basis though currently the volumes are lower due to the demand skid in the marketplace.

Hyundai isn't the only MNC to hit top spot with its Indian factory. Take Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) which has invested around Rs 4700 crore to build two plants at its facility near Bangalore. Like HMI, TKM's plants too rank right up there among Toyota's global pecking order. "In the last three years we have had an internal shipping quality audit wherein a global team comes and checks vehicles randomly at the shipping yard for defects. On that basis, they have come to conclusion that TKM plants are the number one alongside Toyota's China and Thailand facilities," stated Shekar Vishwanathan, vice chairman, TKM.

Like the Hyundai plant, the TKM factories too run at 98-99% efficiency. "Efficiency is measured by both the speed of the conveyor belt as well as the ability to change the speed of the line according to demand variation," said Vishwanathan. "We make 600 vehicles per day over two shifts." The total capacity in the two plants is around 310,000 units over 278 working days in a year.

In terms of pecking order ranks though car marketleader Maruti hogs the lion's share of parent Suzuki's global production. With its 1.5 million unit a year current manufacturing capacity, Maruti is Suzuki International's largest production centre worldwide.

India comprises just short of half of Suzuki's global sales volumes and commands around 25% of its total sales revenue, said a Maruti executive. Maruti Suzuki plans to add another 250,000 units this year, with its new factory in Manesar at a cost of Rs 2100 crore. That plus the proposed Rs 4000 crore Gujarat plant - which will add another 250,000 unit capacity by 2015 - will take Maruti's total production numbers to two million units a year. Already Maruti's India sales are more than what the Japanese company sells in its home market in Japan.

India seeks Israeli expertise in renewable energy sector

Mumbai: Almost 12 per cent of the energy generated in India is through renewable sources, comprising small hydro, bio-mass, wind and solar power. Now, the Government is keen that electricity produced from large hydro should be included in this category so that the share of renewables in the overall energy mix rises to about 31 per cent, stressed Gireesh Pradhan, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

He was addressing officials from about 50 Israeli renewable energy companies and members of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce in Tel Aviv, on his maiden visit to the country.

At the meet, with representatives from both the Indian and Israeli Governments, India has sought Israel’s expertise in the renewable energy sector to meet its ambitious target of 30,000 MW of power over the next five years.

Stating that 40 per cent of the Indian population does not have access to energy, Pradhan spoke about India’s ambitious plans to generate another 30,000 MW of grid-connected projects by 2017, which would take the country to 55,000 MW from renewable sources of energy.

HDFC Bank opens representative office in Abu Dhabi

New Delhi: HDFC Bank, the second-largest private sector bank in India, opened its first representative office in Abu Dhabi, to provide services to the large number of non-resident Indians based in the UAE. Located on Salaam Street, this is the bank's second representative office in the UAE with the first in Dubai. HDFC Bank also operates a Wholesale Offshore Branch in Bahrain that offers corporate, trade finance and advisory facilities to both corporates and ultra high-net worth individuals.

The new representative office will facilitate opening of NRE accounts in India, and offer remittance services, fixed deposits and other related banking services for India accounts to NRIs based in Abu Dhabi. To cater to non-resident clients, HDFC Bank also partners with exchange houses across Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries for NRI remittances.

"The UAE is an important global business centre and this initiative reflects our commitment to bring world-class banking services to the doorstep of the Indian community in the region. We will continue to expand our off-shore operations to meet the banking requirements of our valued customers," said Mr. Abhay Aima, Group Head, Equities, Private Banking, Third Party Products, NRI and International Consumer Business, HDFC Bank.

Italy's Maschio Gaspardo Group enters India

Italy based agricultural machinery manufacturing company Maschio Gaspardo Group has entered in India and set up a new facility at Ranjangaon near Pune.

The company has invested Rs 200 crore in this facility and will invest additional Rs 100 crore in the next five years.

At the beginning the Pune plant will manufacture at the beginning rotary tillers, mulchers and seeders for the domestic market.
The annual capacity of this plant is 20,000 units. Initially, it will manufacture over 500 machines per month. Maschio Gaspardo group specializes in the production of agricultural machinery for tillage, sowing, seeding, landscaping, forage-making, sprayers and crop care. It has also set up an R & D centre in India. Over 60 per cent localization has been achieved in this plant and remaining will be imported from Italy and China. The Pune plant will currently employ 120 people and will be increased to 250.

To start with, the new plant will manufacture products for Mahindra & Mahindra and New Holland India. Plans are also underway to serve the needs of Maschio Gaspardo Group's other global customers, by providing local supply to their India and Asia Pacific facilities. It has already sold over 17 thousand units to Mahindra and Mahindra since 2010. Gaspardo had a partnership with M & M for its OEMs.

Commenting on this, Alessio Riulini, director, Maschio Gaspardo India, said, “The growing importance of Indian agricultural market gives this country a central position in Maschio Gaspardo Group’s global strategy. Pune is an ideal location for our new plant because the city provides a strong infrastructure and a rich talent pool of skilled workforce in the manufacturing sector. Our new plant represents a key milestone in Maschio Gaspardo Group’s long-term vision of investing in fast growing markets and aligning our manufacturing footprint with the needs of our global customer base.”

He added, “Indian market requirements are very limited as compare to USA or Europe as field sizes, conditions of soil, power of tractors are lesser than other markets. The new plant will aid Maschio Gaspardo Group to achieve its aim for 2012; to exceed 280 million USD turn over.”

After small cars, global auto companies like Nissan and Toyota start exporting sedans & SUVs from India

Mumbai: Japanese carmakers Nissan and Toyota have started exporting midsized cars made in India, spearheading a strategic change that seeks to make the most of the country's cost advantage and growing technical prowess.

In the next 12-18 months, Nissan plans to export 50,000 units of India-made sedan Sunny to the West, executives familiar with the matter said, adding that rival Toyota will ship Etios cars, made at its Indian unit, to South Africa.

Volkswagen, Ford and Renault are expected to join them soon. Experts say exports not only help in dealing with the slowdown in the domestic market, but also act as a hedge against costlier imports, which have turned dearer by 25-30% in recent months.

French carmaker Renault plans to export to the UK about 25,000 units of its sports utility vehicle Duster over 12-18 months. The shipments may start in October.

Similarly, Germany's Volkswagen is keen on producing left-hand drive Vento sedans in India for markets in the West. Volkswagen, which exports India-made Vento cars to South Africa and Malaysia, has mandated vendors to develop components for a left-hand drive version of the sedan.

The carmaker plans to export 8,000-10,000 such units by 2013, said an executive, who did not wish to be named.

"Our export of the Vento to South Africa confirms that we are able to produce high-quality cars in India at competitive costs," Volkswagen India's spokesperson said, adding, "This also shows our potential to further extend our exports to other markets. We are looking at various opportunities in the future, also in left-hand drive markets."

The Volkswagen spokesperson, however, declined comment on target markets and numbers.

Ford Motor, too, is likely to export its yet-to-be launched EcoSport SUV from India, according to people familiar with the company's plans.

Executives dealing with the projects of multinational carmakers say that over 100,000 sedans and SUVs manufactured in India are slated for export over the next 12 months. The depreciating rupee, which ended at a record low on Friday, is only likely to accelerate such plans.

Experts say the growth in exports, which comes at a time the global economy is slowing down, could accelerate once the economy picks up. There are not many right-hand drive manufacturing bases that are as cost competitive as India, said Kumar Kandaswami, director at Deloitte.

"The cost of engineering, both at the carmaker's end and supplier's level is very competitive, which gives India an edge. Manufacturers use exports as not only an opportunity to mitigate risk arising out of volatile currency, but even to balance the demand in the domestic market," said Kandaswami.

Toyota Kirloskar, the Indian subsidiary of the Japanese carmaker, has already received orders to export 20,000 units of the Etios sedan to South Africa. The company's deputy MD, marketing, Sandeep Singh, told ET the exports will help cut losses on account of the falling rupee.

Ford, too, is firming up plans to export its EcoSport SUV from India to South Africa next year.

Japan likes to be a partner in national manufacturing policy: JETRO India chief

New Delhi: Japan wants to be a partner while rolling out India's national manufacturing policy which aims at creating 100 million jobs and enhancing the country's share in the GDP to 25 per cent in 10 years.

Japan External Trade Organization ( JETRO), an arm of the ministry of economy, trade and commerce is likely to propose to Indian government that Japan should be declared a partner country while promoting India's manufacturing policy.

N Noguchi, JETRO's chief director general in India told ET that most of 820 Japanese companies which are active in India are in manufacturing sector, and many more such companies are willing to shift their bases to India. Hit by economic downturn, the Japanese market is shrinking every day and most of the Japanese companies want to shift bases outside the country.

"After the disastrous flood in Thailand last year, many Japanese companies realized they should not concentrate their manufacturing centers only in one place. They want to set up manufacturing facilities in India so as to minimize risks", Noguchi said.

Noguchi who had an earlier innings in India between 2005 and 2010, said many Japanese companies were also enthused by the success story of the newly developed Neemrana industrial area in Rajasthan. Over 30 Japanese companies including Daikin Air-conditioning, Nissin Brake, Mitsui Chemical etc. are setting up their plants in Neemrana area.

"Japanese companies are already contributing to manufacturing sector in India. But if we officially partner with India's national manufacturing policy, the process will get a momentum," said Noguchi.

ABB to invest Rs 250 crore to expand power products manufacturing base in India

New Delhi: ABB on Monday said it would invest Rs 250 crore to build new facilities in India to manufacture high-voltage power products and transformers. The company will also export products manufactured in India.

""The new manufacturing units will further strengthen our local footprint and enhance our product portfolio,"" said company local division manager (power products) Pitamber Shivnani.

The facilities will be located in Savli near Vadodara, Gujarat and produce high-voltage gas-insulated switchgear and plug and switch system hybrid switchgear as well as dry-type and oil immersed distribution transformers. The facilities are expected to be operational by the end of 2012.

ABB Group of companies operate in around 100 countries and employs about 13 5 ,000 people.

India, Qatar sign pact on co-operation in energy

New Delhi: India signed an initial pact for cooperation in the energy sector with Qatar today. The country is looking at Qatar for sourcing more crude oil and gas to meet its domestic energy demand.

The objective of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) is to establish a co-operative framework to facilitate and enhance bilateral co-operation in the sector, a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry here on Monday said.

The pact envisages co-operation in the areas of upstream (exploration) and downstream (refining) oil and gas activities.

The MoU was signed by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Mr S. Jaipal Reddy, and Qatar's Energy and Industry Minister, Mohammed Bin Saleh al-Sada, after Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani met the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, earlier in the day.

On April 2, at an event where Qatar's Energy Minister was present, the Petroleum Minister said India was looking at larger quantities of liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas imports from Qatar.

In 2010-11, India imported 5.6 million tonne oil from Qatar. India also buys 7.5 million tonne a year LNG from that country based on a long-term contract.

Currently, Petronet LNG gets 7.5 million tonne of LNG from Qatar.

India is looking at additional volume of at least three million tonne at an affordable price.

Apart from co-operation in the energy sector, an agreement was also signed between the Reserve Bank of India and Qatar Central Bank for sharing supervisory information and enhancing co-operation.

Agreements on education exchange programmes, co-operation in the field of legal affairs, culture, and trade promotion in the field of organising exhibitions were also signed.

Union Budget 2012-2013

http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2012-13/bs/bs.pdf

RIM offers over 50% discount on PlayBook tablets in India

Canadian BlackBerry maker Research in Motion ( RIM), battling tough competition from Apple's iPad, is offering over 50 percent discount on its PlayBook tablets under a limited festive season offer till Dec 31.

A company spokesperson Wednesday said the 16 GB model of the PlayBook can be bought for Rs 13,490 in the Indian market instead of its regular price of Rs 27,990.

While the 32 GB model is available for Rs 15,990, the 64 GB model is being offered for Rs 24,490 against their regular prices of Rs 32,990 and Rs 37,990 respectively.

The smartphone maker has been struggling to gain significant market share since April when it launched the tablets. It has been able to sell 800,000 units of the device globally in the first nine months of financial year 2011-12.

In comparison, Apple has sold over 11 million iPads globally during the quarter ended September.

US to invest $1 trillion in India: Nirupama Rao

Kochi: US will invest $1 trillion towards infrastructure development in India to meet the needs of a growing population, said Nirupama Rao, India's ambassador to the US. She was addressing members of the Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( in Kochi on Thursday.

"By March 2012, a trade delegation led by US secretary of commerce John E Bryson will visit India to discuss this investment. An 'evergreen revolution' similar to the Green Revolution is planned with US expertise to increase agricultural production and rural income. Space technology will come in handy for predicting monsoon and creating new linkages from farm to market," she revealed.

"The political engagement between India and the US has strengthened significantly and the strategic understanding has deepened. The partnership is multi-faceted and it extends to all activities that touch all aspects of the human endeavour -- from education, health, agriculture to our concerns in peace, security and human dignity. A strategic dialogue was established between the two countries in 2009 and has identified five principal areas for co-operation," she said.

"The two countries are also working together to have a stable economy in Africa and Afghanistan. A global disease detachment centre is planned as part of health cooperation. We will also focus on women's empowerment and combating maritime piracy. Indo-Pacific maritime trade cooperation will be beneficial for both the countries."

Rao also suggested that Kerala, a natural tourist destination, should be promoted more aggressively in the US.

Deepak L Aswani, chairman of KCCI, Jasmin Karim, convenor of KCCI Ladies' Forum, Sheela Kochouseph, joint convenor, KCCI Ladies's Forum, and Savio Mathew, secretary of KCCI, were also present.

Govt plans Rs 10,000-cr fund to promote electronic manufacturing

Chennai: The Union Government proposes to set up a Rs 10,000-crore Electronic Development Fund (EDF) next year, to promote electronic hardware manufacturing in the country.

Mr Ajay Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, said the EDF will float several other funds under its umbrella to identify “deserving” R&D projects in different hardware manufacturing verticals and fund them.

All these funds will be managed by different fund managers. Though EDF will have anywhere between 25 per cent and 100 per cent equity exposure in these funds, it will not interfere in day-to-day affairs of them. The Government will, however, give some broad guidelines to be followed, he said.

Speaking to Business Line on the sidelines of an Electronics Supply Chain meet organised here today by the Electronic Industries Association of India (Elcina), Mr Kumar said the task force constituted by the Department of Information Technology, early this year came out with a roadmap for rapid growth of the electronic manufacturing industry in the medium and long term.

Five recommendations
The Government has identified five major recommendations from that report which include setting; up of a National Electronic Mission, EDF, semiconductor wafer fabs, to create policies for preferential access to procure electronic goods, encourage manufacture of specific high priority product lines by providing capital grant and creation of electronic manufacturing clusters.

On the cluster development, he said since identifying the place with all necessary infrastructure is the most difficult thing, it has been suggested that islands of good infrastructure be developed to facilitate electronic manufacturers to set up shops.

The Government proposes to support these cluster development projects with up to 50 per cent of the development cost. According to him, the development cost may run up to Rs 50 crore per 100-acre parcel.