India's largest private sector company, Reliance Industries, has decided to sell its oldest business, textiles, along with its iconic brand `Only Vimal' in an effort to exit loss-making businesses. The Mukesh Ambani company has hired NM Rothschild to manage the sale, a top official directly involved with the sale said.
The textile business sale, which includes its Naroda factory, is expected to be concluded by the end of the year. The business was set up by the founder-Chairman of the group late Dhirubhai Ambani along with his brother Ramniklal Ambani way back in 1966. However, since then the group has diversified into energy and petrochemical businesses to become India's largest company with an annual turnover of Rs 85,000 crore. Its textile business contributes less than Rs 2,000 crore to the group's revenues.
According to the sale documents seen by ET Now, the textile business sale will also include the retail network of the Only Vimal brand of fabrics.
When contacted, a Reliance Industries spokesperson said: "We do not comment on market rumours."
The Reliance group is not interested in any business in which the annual returns are less than 12 percent, a source in the group said.
"We would rather invest that money in bank deposits," the source added, asking not to be identified.
The group's top management is also unhappy with the frequent labour trouble at the Naroda factory. In April this year, RIL's Naroda factory employees went on strike, seeking a 60 percent rise in wages. Although the Ambanis have an emotional connect with the business, the Only Vimal brand is being sold to sweeten the deal, the source noted.
In the annual general meeting of shareholders held early this month, Chairman Mukesh Ambani promised that the company will double its operating profits in five years and invest a massive Rs 100,000 crore in Indian businesses in the next five years. Most of this investment will go into expanding its petrochemicals operations, foraying to telecom as well as its oil and
gas business.
Even the retail business, the youngest baby in Reliance's family, is expected to double turnover from Rs 7,500 crore in FY 2012 to Rs 15,000 crore by March next year.
"The focus of the management is to invest in businesses where returns are around 25 percent. Hence, the textile business does not fit in the new strategy," the source said.
The Reliance stock was trading 2.47 percent down at Rs 719.40 when ET Now broke the story at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
In its annual report for the year 2012, Reliance said the textile industry was impacted due to volatile cotton markets. Within a span of around 5-6 months, international and domestic cotton prices saw a historic peak and, subsequently, a steep fall.
"The uptrend was primarily due to shortage of cotton availability across the world and certain government policies on cotton and cotton yarn exports, which were not receptive to textile industry growth. Consequently, the industry resorted to panic buying and stocked cotton. But with the beginning of a declining trend in cotton prices, the industry faced problems in sourcing cotton, impacting the downstream demand as well," it said.
The company further said the end-users moved into a strict wait-and-watch mode and the textile industry faced a huge pile-up of unused cotton and cotton yarn inventory, leading to severe stock losses.
Manmade fibre, especially polyester and yarn, fared relatively better as volatility in prices of polyester was much lower compared to cotton. Major textile production centres in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and some northern states faced severe power shortage, adversely affecting output and profitability of mills. Labour shortage was another problem faced by the industry, the annual report noted.
Success in my Habit
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Indian businesses also affected as office printers hit globally by 'gibberish' computer virus
London, June 23 (ANI): Thousands of office printers around the world have been spewing out page after page of gibberish after being hit with a computer virus.
As several companies complained that thousands of pages of paper were wasted when the Windows virus hit their computers, security firms said the worst hit were large businesses in the US, India, Europe, and South America.
According to the BBC, the virus is learnt to be a malicious program called Milicenso, which has been re-used many times by hi-tech crime groups.
Security firm Symantec, in a blogpost analysing the virus, claimed that Milicenso was first seen in 2010 and because it was a "malware delivery vehicle for hire" had turned up regularly ever since, while its most recent incarnation was as a tool for distributing French language adware.
Symantec said one side effect of infection was to generate a file in a PC's printer queue, which turns the contents of the files in the virus's main directory into print jobs.
"The garbled printouts appear to be a side effect of the infection vector rather an intentional goal of the author," said Symantec.
As several companies complained that thousands of pages of paper were wasted when the Windows virus hit their computers, security firms said the worst hit were large businesses in the US, India, Europe, and South America.
According to the BBC, the virus is learnt to be a malicious program called Milicenso, which has been re-used many times by hi-tech crime groups.
Security firm Symantec, in a blogpost analysing the virus, claimed that Milicenso was first seen in 2010 and because it was a "malware delivery vehicle for hire" had turned up regularly ever since, while its most recent incarnation was as a tool for distributing French language adware.
Symantec said one side effect of infection was to generate a file in a PC's printer queue, which turns the contents of the files in the virus's main directory into print jobs.
"The garbled printouts appear to be a side effect of the infection vector rather an intentional goal of the author," said Symantec.
The power of Compound interest
“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't ... pays it.” ― Albert Einstein
In the book, “Once Upon a Wall Street”, Peter Lynch, one of the most successful mutual fund managers the Wall Street has ever seen, narrates a story. “Consider the Indians of Manhattan, who in 1625 sold all their real estate to a group of immigrants for $24 in trinkets and beads. For 362 years the Indians have been the subjects of cruel jokes because of it – but it turns out that they may have made a better deal than the buyers who got the island. At 8% interest on $24 ( note: let’s suspend our disbelief and assume they converted the trinkets to cash) compounded over all those years, the Indians would have built up a net worth just short $30 trillion, while the latest tax records from the Borough of Manhattan show the real estate to be worth only $28.1 billion. Give Manhattan the benefit of doubt: That $28.1 billion is the assessed value, and for all anybody knows, it may be worth twice that on the open market. So Manhattan’s worth $56.2 billion. Either way, the Indians could be ahead by $29 trillion and change.
This little story shows you the power of compounding and the points out the fact that the earlier you start investing the better it gets.
Illustration
Let’s try and understand this through an example of two friends, Ram and Shyam. Both start working at the same time at the age of 23. Ram starts saving when he turns 25 and invests Rs 50,000 every year. Assuming that on this he earns a return of 10% every year, at the end of ten years, Ram would be able to accumulate Rs 8.77 lakh. After this, due to financial constraints Ram is not able to invest any more money. But at the same time he does not touch the fund that he has already accumulated, hoping to live of it when he retires.
He lets the Rs 8.77 lakh grow and assuming that it continues to earn a return of 10% p.a., he would be able to accumulate around Rs 95 lakh by the time he turns 60. So the Rs 5 lakh (Rs 50,000 x 10 years) he had invested in the first ten years of his working life would have grown to Rs 95 lakh. This even though he stopped investing entirely after the first ten years.
Now let’s take the case of Shyam. Shyam believed in enjoying life, spending freely rather than saving regularly. However, at the age of 35 as reality dawns, he starts putting aside Rs 50,000 every year. Unlike his friend Ram, who stopped after the first ten years, Shyam religiously invests the amount each year for all of next twenty five years i.e. till he turns 60. Now, assuming he also earns a return of 10% per year on his investments, in the end, Shyam would have managed to accumulate Rs 54.10 lakh.
Putting it differently, even after investing Rs 50,000 regularly for twenty five years, Shyam has managed to accumulate Rs. 41 lakh lesser in comparison to Ram. Remember Ram has ended up investing only Rs 5 lakh in total over the ten years that he invested. In comparison, Shyam over the twenty five years invested Rs 12.5 lakh (Rs 50,000 x 25 years). So even by saving two and half times more than Ram, Shyam has managed to build a corpus which is 43% lower! This happened because Ram started investing earlier which in turn allowed the money to compound for a greater period of time.
Also as the corpus grows, the impact of compounding is greater. Ram as we know had managed to accumulate Rs 8.77 lakh after ten years after which he stopped investing, allowing the accumulated corpus to compound for twenty years more. In other words, the total life of the investment was for thirty years. However, had his investment time frame been till he turned 55 i.e. had the money compounded for twenty five years instead of thirty then at the end Ram would have accumulated a corpus of around Rs 59 lakh. By choosing to let his investment run for just an additional five years, Ram managed to accumulate Rs 45 lakh more.
Real Life Illustration
In terms of a practical example, let’s take the case of HDFC Equity Fund. The five year return of this fund is around 9.31% p.a. On the other hand, from inception (December 1994), the fund has returned 20.2% p.a. Now, had an investor invested say Rs. 50,000 five years back, the investment would have grown to around Rs. 78,000. However, had the investment been made at inception (allowing the money to compound over a greater period of time) the investment would have grown over 24 times to around Rs. 12 lakh.
As mentioned in the beginning of the column, Albert Einstein himself has called the power of compounding the eighth wonder of the world. In this article we have given various examples of how potent this power is when combined with its ally --- Father Time. It’s never too early nor too late to begin investing. Or to put it differently, better late than later.
The writer is Director, Wonderland Consultants, a tax and financial planning firm. He may be contacted at sandeep.shanbhag@gmail.com
Friday, June 22, 2012
AP to extend e-governance initiative to all districts
Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh Government will be extending its e-Governance initiative, ‘Mee Seva’ to all the districts. This was disclosed by the Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, in his inaugural address at the annual IT summit, Advantage AP 2012, which began here on Thursday.
Launched in November 2011 with the help of latest technology tools such as digital signatures, ‘Mee Seva’ is now offering about 30 services such as offering birth and death certificates to people in 13 districts.
“Today, there are 28,000 requests being processed every day. This will be ramped up to over one lakh transactions a day covering at least 100 services soon,” Mr Reddy said.
The common man in the State was able to obtain essential certificates in a digital, encrypted and secured format across the counter with almost no human intervention at a nominal fee, he added.
The State has many advantages for the ICT industry including talent. “Andhra Pradesh alone generates close to 30 per cent of the country’s total engineering talent output. This is in addition to the ‘walk to work’ kind of physical infrastructure,” he said.
“The outer-ring road project will be completed by next year. For better security and law and order, 3,000 cameras are being installed in important locations,” the Chief Minister said.
The State should be considered by the Union Government as one of the states for the proposed pilot project on electronic system design and manufacturing clusters, he said, adding all the logistics would be kept in place for the project.
For the year 2011-12, the export and domestic turnover of the ICT industry in the State was estimated to be around Rs 53,000 crore with a direct employment of 3.5 lakh, Mr Reddy said.
Launched in November 2011 with the help of latest technology tools such as digital signatures, ‘Mee Seva’ is now offering about 30 services such as offering birth and death certificates to people in 13 districts.
“Today, there are 28,000 requests being processed every day. This will be ramped up to over one lakh transactions a day covering at least 100 services soon,” Mr Reddy said.
The common man in the State was able to obtain essential certificates in a digital, encrypted and secured format across the counter with almost no human intervention at a nominal fee, he added.
The State has many advantages for the ICT industry including talent. “Andhra Pradesh alone generates close to 30 per cent of the country’s total engineering talent output. This is in addition to the ‘walk to work’ kind of physical infrastructure,” he said.
“The outer-ring road project will be completed by next year. For better security and law and order, 3,000 cameras are being installed in important locations,” the Chief Minister said.
The State should be considered by the Union Government as one of the states for the proposed pilot project on electronic system design and manufacturing clusters, he said, adding all the logistics would be kept in place for the project.
For the year 2011-12, the export and domestic turnover of the ICT industry in the State was estimated to be around Rs 53,000 crore with a direct employment of 3.5 lakh, Mr Reddy said.
All panchayats to have fibre optic connectivity in three years
Hyderabad: All gram panchayats in the country will be linked with optical fibre connectivity in the next two to three years. It will entail an investment of Rs 20,000 crore.
“This process is already rolled out and about 2.50 lakh panchayats will be covered under this programme,’’ Mr Sachin Pilot, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT said in his address at the inaugural session of IT summit ‘Advantage AP 2012’ here on Thursday.
About 110 million people had access to the Internet now making India the third largest country in the world in terms of access after the US and China, he said.
“Once we provide open access optical fibre connectivity and roll-out 4G, there will be a bigger transformation,’’ Mr Pilot said. He asked the State Governments to provide free right of way to lay the cables so that the cost of providing optical fibre connectivity could be brought down. Referring to Andhra Pradesh’s proposal for setting up IT Investment Region around the State capital, Mr Pilot said the project might be approved in about three months.
Mr K.V. Kamath, Chairman, Infosys and ICICI Bank said the next big wave for Indian IT industry should be innovation. With connectivity reaching over 700 million people and cost of devices coming down, it would be reality. Even now, 40 million plus people were online throught their hand-held device, he added.
Referring to Infosys operations in Hyderabad, Mr Kamath said the company’s manpower would continue to grow by 25 per cent per annum. Infosys has 22,000 employees here and has been hiring 6,000 every year.
The Chief Ministersaid the industry should make Andhra Prasesh as a preferred investment destination.
“This process is already rolled out and about 2.50 lakh panchayats will be covered under this programme,’’ Mr Sachin Pilot, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT said in his address at the inaugural session of IT summit ‘Advantage AP 2012’ here on Thursday.
About 110 million people had access to the Internet now making India the third largest country in the world in terms of access after the US and China, he said.
“Once we provide open access optical fibre connectivity and roll-out 4G, there will be a bigger transformation,’’ Mr Pilot said. He asked the State Governments to provide free right of way to lay the cables so that the cost of providing optical fibre connectivity could be brought down. Referring to Andhra Pradesh’s proposal for setting up IT Investment Region around the State capital, Mr Pilot said the project might be approved in about three months.
Mr K.V. Kamath, Chairman, Infosys and ICICI Bank said the next big wave for Indian IT industry should be innovation. With connectivity reaching over 700 million people and cost of devices coming down, it would be reality. Even now, 40 million plus people were online throught their hand-held device, he added.
Referring to Infosys operations in Hyderabad, Mr Kamath said the company’s manpower would continue to grow by 25 per cent per annum. Infosys has 22,000 employees here and has been hiring 6,000 every year.
The Chief Ministersaid the industry should make Andhra Prasesh as a preferred investment destination.
Auto components maker Faurecia plans to grow Asia business
Pune: French auto components maker Faurecia has set up a new, expanded R&D facility at Pune to grow the Asia business.
The new Tech Centre will cater to conceptualising, designing and validation for products in automotive interior systems, automotive seating and auto exteriors, three of its four business groups.
Asia-Pacific is a top priority for Faurecia Interior Systems (FIS), Mr Christophe Schmitt, Executive Vice-President, FIS said. He added that in India, Pune, Chennai and Delhi are the three main clusters the company will follow.
The Group is targeting sales from the APAC region to touch €4 billion by 2015. While the main growth will come from China, India is also important, he said, adding, “Our goal is that 50 per cent of our global sales will come from outside Europe by 2015.” Currently, Europe accounts for 62 per cent of its business.
Faurecia’s R&D Centre at Pune has already been operational since 2004 and has filed two patents last year. This year the company has a target to file five patents. Set up with an investment of Rs 110 crore, the new Tech Centre is an autonomous, fully integrated facility designed to accommodate 800 engineers, of which 600 are already on board.
Mr Schmitt said that the company aims to develop products that are high on safety, quality and comfort here.
Globally, nearly 39 per cent of Faurecia’s revenues come from German automakers including VW, BMW and Daimler.
The premium brands represent 28 per cent of revenue worldwide. In India it supplies components to OEMs such as Mercedes, M&M, Hyundai and Ford.
The Pune Tech Centre is Faurecia’s second centre in India after Bangalore where Emission Control Technologies are developed. The company also has nine manufacturing plants in the country.
GSM telcos add 7.27 million users in May, Bharti Airtel leads
Kolkata: The country's top mobile carrier, Bharti Airtel, enrolled nearly 28% of the 7.27 million subscribers that GSM operators added in May, according to data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India ( COAI) on Thursday.
Airtel, which has a market share of 27.34 %, added 2.01 million subscribers in May, taking its total subscriber base to 185.30 million, the GSM industry lobby said. The country's total GSM user base climbed to 677.85 million at the end of May.
Maximum additions in excess of 1.44 million transpired in UP (East), accounting for nearly 20% of the total subscriber additions, the industry body said. The latest subscriber growth numbers come even as the Pranab Mukherjee-headed panel of ministers is slated to finalise all issues relating to the upcoming 2G spectrum auctions.
Vodafone India, with a market share of 22.50%, added 1.2 million customers during the month, taking its subscriber base to 152.48 million, while Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular added 1.75 million customers, taking its total subscriber base to nearly 116 million. Aircel, however, saw fewer customers additions at 0.8 million than 1.01 million recorded in April.
MTNL lost nearly 0.17 million customers causing its end-May subscriber base to plunge to 5.31 million from 5.48 million in April. Uninor, majority owned by Norway's Telenor, added 1.52 million customers last month, taking its user base to 45.07 million.
In fact, its market share climbed to 6.65% from 6.49% last month even though Uninor's future remains uncertain after the Supreme Court cancelled its pan-India mobile permit in February and has asked the government to issue fresh licences through an auction.
The latest spurt in subscriber numbers comes after all leading GSM operators like Bharti, Idea, Vodafone, Aircel and MTNL dropped their 3G price plans last month to woo more customers to take up high-end data services like video conferencing on mobiles, hitherto, considered exorbitant.
Airtel, which has a market share of 27.34 %, added 2.01 million subscribers in May, taking its total subscriber base to 185.30 million, the GSM industry lobby said. The country's total GSM user base climbed to 677.85 million at the end of May.
Maximum additions in excess of 1.44 million transpired in UP (East), accounting for nearly 20% of the total subscriber additions, the industry body said. The latest subscriber growth numbers come even as the Pranab Mukherjee-headed panel of ministers is slated to finalise all issues relating to the upcoming 2G spectrum auctions.
Vodafone India, with a market share of 22.50%, added 1.2 million customers during the month, taking its subscriber base to 152.48 million, while Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular added 1.75 million customers, taking its total subscriber base to nearly 116 million. Aircel, however, saw fewer customers additions at 0.8 million than 1.01 million recorded in April.
MTNL lost nearly 0.17 million customers causing its end-May subscriber base to plunge to 5.31 million from 5.48 million in April. Uninor, majority owned by Norway's Telenor, added 1.52 million customers last month, taking its user base to 45.07 million.
In fact, its market share climbed to 6.65% from 6.49% last month even though Uninor's future remains uncertain after the Supreme Court cancelled its pan-India mobile permit in February and has asked the government to issue fresh licences through an auction.
The latest spurt in subscriber numbers comes after all leading GSM operators like Bharti, Idea, Vodafone, Aircel and MTNL dropped their 3G price plans last month to woo more customers to take up high-end data services like video conferencing on mobiles, hitherto, considered exorbitant.
India has potential to become R&D hub
A study says India has become a key contributor in global research and of growth in the Asia-Pacific region, playing host to one-third of top 1000 R&D spenders in the world.
The study done by market advisory firm Zinnov, 'Global R&D Benchmarking Study: FY2011' analyzed trends in R&D investments globally.
After witnessing a decline in global R&D spending in FY2010, the study says the FY2011 has seen an increase in spending and the potential for India to be among the top nations for R&D has only gotten stronger.
Commenting on the study, Sidhant Rastogi, director - Globalization Advisory, Zinnov, said: "The sentiment on the role of R&D in driving the future continues to remain positive across geographies, supported by the significant increase in R&D spending in FY2011. Global R&D investments have grown by 8.2% as compared to previous year FY2010. This growth has been primarily driven by organizations in the semiconductor, industrial and consumer hardware and electrical & electronic sectors".
"India definitely has the right potential to become a key R&D hub, not only in software for which it has gained recognition globally, but also in other verticals such as aerospace, automotive and defense", he added. One of the key highlights of the report is that there is a talent pool of 220,000 in MNC subsidiaries in the country, and these MNCs have spent $7-7.5 billion on the headcount in India in FY2011 alone. The study also found that the opportunity areas for India to attract R&D investment span over 13 sectors, with software being the most invested-in sector. Global net sales and global R&D spending have grown at 13.55% and 8.2% respectively with the contribution of spend divided across North America, European Union and APAC regions.
The total R&D investment globally is on the rise, and the North America and EU region continue to dominate. The contribution of R&D investment from across geographies is 36% for North American companies, 34% for European Union headquartered companies and 7% for APAC companies. Though the APAC regions contribution (as a percentage of global R&D spend) is seemingly small, what is noteworthy is that within the region R&D investments have increased a significant 28% as against the previous year.
The study done by market advisory firm Zinnov, 'Global R&D Benchmarking Study: FY2011' analyzed trends in R&D investments globally.
After witnessing a decline in global R&D spending in FY2010, the study says the FY2011 has seen an increase in spending and the potential for India to be among the top nations for R&D has only gotten stronger.
Commenting on the study, Sidhant Rastogi, director - Globalization Advisory, Zinnov, said: "The sentiment on the role of R&D in driving the future continues to remain positive across geographies, supported by the significant increase in R&D spending in FY2011. Global R&D investments have grown by 8.2% as compared to previous year FY2010. This growth has been primarily driven by organizations in the semiconductor, industrial and consumer hardware and electrical & electronic sectors".
"India definitely has the right potential to become a key R&D hub, not only in software for which it has gained recognition globally, but also in other verticals such as aerospace, automotive and defense", he added. One of the key highlights of the report is that there is a talent pool of 220,000 in MNC subsidiaries in the country, and these MNCs have spent $7-7.5 billion on the headcount in India in FY2011 alone. The study also found that the opportunity areas for India to attract R&D investment span over 13 sectors, with software being the most invested-in sector. Global net sales and global R&D spending have grown at 13.55% and 8.2% respectively with the contribution of spend divided across North America, European Union and APAC regions.
The total R&D investment globally is on the rise, and the North America and EU region continue to dominate. The contribution of R&D investment from across geographies is 36% for North American companies, 34% for European Union headquartered companies and 7% for APAC companies. Though the APAC regions contribution (as a percentage of global R&D spend) is seemingly small, what is noteworthy is that within the region R&D investments have increased a significant 28% as against the previous year.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Green buildings gain momentum in India
An R&D centre gives back more power than it takes; a residential complex and a hospital have cut power and water consumption by 40-60 per cent. Green buildings are gaining momentum and could account for 20 per cent of all construction by 2030.
If you want a taste of the green building movement in India, there are plenty of interesting places to visit in cities. ZedEarth, a residential enclave being developed about 20 km from the heart of Bangalore, is as good a place as any if your interest is in green homes. This 20-acre enclave is being developed for around 130 villas that do not rely on the external world for basic needs, barring 15 per cent of its power requirements. It does not use deep bore wells but would have sufficient fresh water. No sewage or water or waste is let out of the enclave, except things like old electronic equipment or some recyclable items.
Zed Earth is not sold at a premium. It does not use sophisticated technology either. It uses instead a sophisticated mindset to analyse the finer points of living and save resources. Most of its electricity needs are met by solar panels, and unused electricity is given to the grid. All the water is recycled, bio waste composted, and clinical waste used in 'scientific landfills' inside the enclave. Recycling agencies take care of the rest of the waste. The villas themselves are marvels of low-footprint design, bringing nature inside as much as possible. It restricts water and energy use by nearly 60 per cent of non-green homes.
ZedEarth is built by Biodiversity Conservation India Ltd (BCIL), which had built India's first platinum-rated green home in the city. Set up in 1995, BCIL has remained small and has focused on developing deeplyresearched and intensely-specific homes for different locations. "We consider ourselves pioneers rather than leaders," says its founder-chairman Chandrashekar Hariharan. This is because BCIL's efforts are increasingly being muffled by the din of larger and more ambitious projects now sprouting around the country. According to the India Green Building Council (IGBC), 450 million square feet of green homes have come up in India now. This is apart from the green homes certified by Griha, the agency managed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
The Indian green building movement is now so deep and vast that it promises to change the course of its construction industry. The country has 1.2 billion square feet of green buildings being built or ready, and pre-certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), of which IGBC is the representative in India. It has another 105 million square feet of Griha-certified buildings ready or being built. India's total built-up space is 25 billion square feet, and it is expected to increase to 80 billion by 2030. The share of green buildings in this construction boom could be as high as 20 per cent. New cities, such as those coming up along the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), would have a substantially higher green building component. Says Prem Jain, chairman of IGBC: "Since 60 per cent of the buildings that would exist in 2030 are yet to be built, we have a big opportunity to develop environment-friendly cities in the country." IGBC estimates that green building products provide a $100-billion opportunity by 2015.
The country's green buildings span a large variety. They include corporate campuses, residential complexes, R&D units, commercial complexes, universities, hospitals, factories, schools, hotels and so on. The truly environment-conscious aim for nothing less than a platinum rating, and sometimes exceed even all LEED requirements. The government, aided by the National Building Code and energy efficiency laws, has been pushing all builders to confirm to minimum standards in cities and towns. Some municipalities (Pimpri in Maharashtra is an example), seeing the reduced need for services in green buildings, now offer incentives in the form of lower taxes. New campuses of the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) are being developed as zero waste campuses. The green building movement has penetrated even slums, as is evident from the slum rehabilitation at Lonar in Maharashtra. Says Priyanka Kochhar, programme manager of Griha: "We develop ratings for green buildings right from slums to large multistoried complexes."
Noida near Delhi is one of the nodes of the green building movement. The builder 3C was an early mover. 3C built what was the country's largest green apartment complex. Called Lotus Boulevard, this was planned as a 500-unit complex, but all of it was immediately sold out and the enclave ended with 3000 units. The success of this project and some incentives by the Uttar Pradesh government have led to a rush of green building development in Noida. None of them is probably more impressive than the Bayer ECB Centre of Excellence. It claims to have bagged highest number of points in its LEED certification process, making it the greenest LEED certified building in the world.
The building is the R&D centre of Bayer Material Science. It is inside a larger campus of Bayer, with buildings that are attached to it electrically. The R&D centre, which has solar panels, draws power from the other building at night but gives it back during the day. Last year it gave back more than it took, thus making it a net-positive energy building, but Bayer claims it to be only a net-zero energy building. "We have ensured that we get segment-wise energy consumption data from each part of the building," says Ram Sai Yelaminchili, head of the centre. "That helps us monitor and control energy consumption efficiently."
The R&D centre becomes a net zero energy building not by generating a lot of electricity but by incorporating features that are now becoming common in many platinum-rated green buildings in the country. It uses natural light during the day, and through good design - that uses a mixture of wall and glass - and orientation ensure that light gets through without heat. High quality foams insulate the building, making sure that heat is not let in during summer and not let out during winter. "It does not need very high technology to make a building energy efficient," says Jain. But high technology helps sometimes, and ingenuity helps even more than technology.
Take the Beary Golden Research Triangle (BGRT) in Bangalore, a name inspired by both the triangular nature of the land and the Research Triangle in North Carolina. This building, when ready for occupation in four months, would be let out mostly to R&D units of companies. Two major multinational companies have taken up space for global R&D centres. BGRT has been pre-certified as a platinum-rated building - the final certification is usually given after the construction is complete and occupants have moved in - and it has design features that will become common in many large buildings across the country.
Visitors would note from a distance the unusual alignment of the building. It slopes on one side, thus keeping out direct sunlight till late afternoon. The glazing lets light through but not heat. The air-conditioning is extremely efficient; the outgoing air partly cools the incoming air without mixing, and water cools it further and minimizes the energy consumption. It is designed to use air from outside for cooling when outside temperature is below a certain level, a feature that is very useful in the salubrious climate of Bangalore. Says Syed Mohammed Beary, chairman of the Beary Group: "This is the first time a private developer has built a platinum-certified commercial R&D space."
Such features are part of many buildings certified by LEED or Griha. Technology comes in handy too, especially in large corporate offices. You could have the most energy-efficient lighting in the world, but leaving the lights on all the time defeats the original purpose. In the year 2008, a study commissioned by the US non-profit New Buildings Institute showed that some green buildings do not save energy as much as planned. Many green buildings now avoid this problem by becoming smart. "Smart technologies are necessary to minimise energy consumption," says Sandeep Dave, principal of Booz & Company, who studies smart buildings in the country.
Many green buildings now use Intelligent Building Management Systems (IBMS) to optimise energy consumption. "IBMS is not just about controlling the entry and exit of people," says Srimanikandan Ramamoorthy, assistant vice-president of administration at Cognizant, who is overseeing the development of a large green campus in Chennai. In three other gold-rated campuses in the country, Cognizant has reduced per capita carbon dioxide emissions by 35 per cent and energy use by 34 per cent. "Many buildings are over-optimised," says Honeywell Automation India managing director Anant Maheswari. "IBMS can save 20-30 per cent of energy used." Honeywell and other IBMS companies have been involved in a large number of green buildings in the country.
While smart technologies are useful, smart strategy works even well after certification. That is how Kohinoor Hospital in Mumbai, Asia's only LEED-certified and platinum-rated hospital, slashed its electricity bills by a third, its water taxes by a fourth and substantially increased patient footfall after certification. "When we save on water and electricity costs, these benefits get passed on to patients who pay less for their treatment," says Rajeev Boudhankar, vice president of Kohinoor Hospital. Because of the nature of their business, which requires round-the-clock operation, hospitals find it hard to get LEED certifications.
"You are open day and night, running facilities that are highly energy-consuming," says Sandeep Shikre of SSA Architects and IGBC member. This puts tremendous pressure on your power resources." The IGBC also awarded points to the hospital for some of its human resource initiatives, like encouraging employees to car-pool to work and limiting the total parking area to only 10 per cent of the plan.
Such extensions of the green concept are not uncommon in other green buildings. Wipro, which has the largest number of LEED-certified office campuses in the world, has now started looking 20 years ahead and merge its building futures with the master plan of the area. Its aim is to build an ecological plan that fits with the master plan. "We are linking sustainability across the supply chain," says Hari Hegde, Wipro's global head of operations. It is now studying the impact on the surroundings of a Bangalore campus that is being built. Companies now want to see how their campuses influence the life around them. Being green is acquiring a new meaning, which will drive the growth of sustainable cities.
If you want a taste of the green building movement in India, there are plenty of interesting places to visit in cities. ZedEarth, a residential enclave being developed about 20 km from the heart of Bangalore, is as good a place as any if your interest is in green homes. This 20-acre enclave is being developed for around 130 villas that do not rely on the external world for basic needs, barring 15 per cent of its power requirements. It does not use deep bore wells but would have sufficient fresh water. No sewage or water or waste is let out of the enclave, except things like old electronic equipment or some recyclable items.
Zed Earth is not sold at a premium. It does not use sophisticated technology either. It uses instead a sophisticated mindset to analyse the finer points of living and save resources. Most of its electricity needs are met by solar panels, and unused electricity is given to the grid. All the water is recycled, bio waste composted, and clinical waste used in 'scientific landfills' inside the enclave. Recycling agencies take care of the rest of the waste. The villas themselves are marvels of low-footprint design, bringing nature inside as much as possible. It restricts water and energy use by nearly 60 per cent of non-green homes.
ZedEarth is built by Biodiversity Conservation India Ltd (BCIL), which had built India's first platinum-rated green home in the city. Set up in 1995, BCIL has remained small and has focused on developing deeplyresearched and intensely-specific homes for different locations. "We consider ourselves pioneers rather than leaders," says its founder-chairman Chandrashekar Hariharan. This is because BCIL's efforts are increasingly being muffled by the din of larger and more ambitious projects now sprouting around the country. According to the India Green Building Council (IGBC), 450 million square feet of green homes have come up in India now. This is apart from the green homes certified by Griha, the agency managed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
The Indian green building movement is now so deep and vast that it promises to change the course of its construction industry. The country has 1.2 billion square feet of green buildings being built or ready, and pre-certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), of which IGBC is the representative in India. It has another 105 million square feet of Griha-certified buildings ready or being built. India's total built-up space is 25 billion square feet, and it is expected to increase to 80 billion by 2030. The share of green buildings in this construction boom could be as high as 20 per cent. New cities, such as those coming up along the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), would have a substantially higher green building component. Says Prem Jain, chairman of IGBC: "Since 60 per cent of the buildings that would exist in 2030 are yet to be built, we have a big opportunity to develop environment-friendly cities in the country." IGBC estimates that green building products provide a $100-billion opportunity by 2015.
The country's green buildings span a large variety. They include corporate campuses, residential complexes, R&D units, commercial complexes, universities, hospitals, factories, schools, hotels and so on. The truly environment-conscious aim for nothing less than a platinum rating, and sometimes exceed even all LEED requirements. The government, aided by the National Building Code and energy efficiency laws, has been pushing all builders to confirm to minimum standards in cities and towns. Some municipalities (Pimpri in Maharashtra is an example), seeing the reduced need for services in green buildings, now offer incentives in the form of lower taxes. New campuses of the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) are being developed as zero waste campuses. The green building movement has penetrated even slums, as is evident from the slum rehabilitation at Lonar in Maharashtra. Says Priyanka Kochhar, programme manager of Griha: "We develop ratings for green buildings right from slums to large multistoried complexes."
Noida near Delhi is one of the nodes of the green building movement. The builder 3C was an early mover. 3C built what was the country's largest green apartment complex. Called Lotus Boulevard, this was planned as a 500-unit complex, but all of it was immediately sold out and the enclave ended with 3000 units. The success of this project and some incentives by the Uttar Pradesh government have led to a rush of green building development in Noida. None of them is probably more impressive than the Bayer ECB Centre of Excellence. It claims to have bagged highest number of points in its LEED certification process, making it the greenest LEED certified building in the world.
The building is the R&D centre of Bayer Material Science. It is inside a larger campus of Bayer, with buildings that are attached to it electrically. The R&D centre, which has solar panels, draws power from the other building at night but gives it back during the day. Last year it gave back more than it took, thus making it a net-positive energy building, but Bayer claims it to be only a net-zero energy building. "We have ensured that we get segment-wise energy consumption data from each part of the building," says Ram Sai Yelaminchili, head of the centre. "That helps us monitor and control energy consumption efficiently."
The R&D centre becomes a net zero energy building not by generating a lot of electricity but by incorporating features that are now becoming common in many platinum-rated green buildings in the country. It uses natural light during the day, and through good design - that uses a mixture of wall and glass - and orientation ensure that light gets through without heat. High quality foams insulate the building, making sure that heat is not let in during summer and not let out during winter. "It does not need very high technology to make a building energy efficient," says Jain. But high technology helps sometimes, and ingenuity helps even more than technology.
Take the Beary Golden Research Triangle (BGRT) in Bangalore, a name inspired by both the triangular nature of the land and the Research Triangle in North Carolina. This building, when ready for occupation in four months, would be let out mostly to R&D units of companies. Two major multinational companies have taken up space for global R&D centres. BGRT has been pre-certified as a platinum-rated building - the final certification is usually given after the construction is complete and occupants have moved in - and it has design features that will become common in many large buildings across the country.
Visitors would note from a distance the unusual alignment of the building. It slopes on one side, thus keeping out direct sunlight till late afternoon. The glazing lets light through but not heat. The air-conditioning is extremely efficient; the outgoing air partly cools the incoming air without mixing, and water cools it further and minimizes the energy consumption. It is designed to use air from outside for cooling when outside temperature is below a certain level, a feature that is very useful in the salubrious climate of Bangalore. Says Syed Mohammed Beary, chairman of the Beary Group: "This is the first time a private developer has built a platinum-certified commercial R&D space."
Such features are part of many buildings certified by LEED or Griha. Technology comes in handy too, especially in large corporate offices. You could have the most energy-efficient lighting in the world, but leaving the lights on all the time defeats the original purpose. In the year 2008, a study commissioned by the US non-profit New Buildings Institute showed that some green buildings do not save energy as much as planned. Many green buildings now avoid this problem by becoming smart. "Smart technologies are necessary to minimise energy consumption," says Sandeep Dave, principal of Booz & Company, who studies smart buildings in the country.
Many green buildings now use Intelligent Building Management Systems (IBMS) to optimise energy consumption. "IBMS is not just about controlling the entry and exit of people," says Srimanikandan Ramamoorthy, assistant vice-president of administration at Cognizant, who is overseeing the development of a large green campus in Chennai. In three other gold-rated campuses in the country, Cognizant has reduced per capita carbon dioxide emissions by 35 per cent and energy use by 34 per cent. "Many buildings are over-optimised," says Honeywell Automation India managing director Anant Maheswari. "IBMS can save 20-30 per cent of energy used." Honeywell and other IBMS companies have been involved in a large number of green buildings in the country.
While smart technologies are useful, smart strategy works even well after certification. That is how Kohinoor Hospital in Mumbai, Asia's only LEED-certified and platinum-rated hospital, slashed its electricity bills by a third, its water taxes by a fourth and substantially increased patient footfall after certification. "When we save on water and electricity costs, these benefits get passed on to patients who pay less for their treatment," says Rajeev Boudhankar, vice president of Kohinoor Hospital. Because of the nature of their business, which requires round-the-clock operation, hospitals find it hard to get LEED certifications.
"You are open day and night, running facilities that are highly energy-consuming," says Sandeep Shikre of SSA Architects and IGBC member. This puts tremendous pressure on your power resources." The IGBC also awarded points to the hospital for some of its human resource initiatives, like encouraging employees to car-pool to work and limiting the total parking area to only 10 per cent of the plan.
Such extensions of the green concept are not uncommon in other green buildings. Wipro, which has the largest number of LEED-certified office campuses in the world, has now started looking 20 years ahead and merge its building futures with the master plan of the area. Its aim is to build an ecological plan that fits with the master plan. "We are linking sustainability across the supply chain," says Hari Hegde, Wipro's global head of operations. It is now studying the impact on the surroundings of a Bangalore campus that is being built. Companies now want to see how their campuses influence the life around them. Being green is acquiring a new meaning, which will drive the growth of sustainable cities.
RBI issues norms for non-bank entities to set up ATMs
Mumbai: An ATM at every nook and cranny may become a reality in a couple of years.
The Reserve Bank of India has issued final guidelines permitting permit non-bank entities to set up, own and operate ATMs in India. This is to ensure the expansion of ATMs in smaller centres across the country.
The ATM roll-out conditions stipulated for the non-bank entities, which will be christened as white label ATM operators (WLAOs), are stiff. It has prescribed three schemes under which the roll-out of white label ATMs (WLAs) can happen.
Three schemes
Under the first scheme, WLAOs have to install at least 1000 WLAs in the first year; in the second year install at least twice the number installed in the first year; and in the third year install at least thrice the number installed in the second year.
Under the aforementioned scheme, for every three WLAs installed in Tier III to VI centres, one WLA can be installed in Tier I (metros) to II centres (big cities).
Under the second scheme, WLAOs have to install at least 5000 WLAs every year for three years. For every two WLAs installed in Tier III to VI centres, one WLA can be installed in Tier I to II centres.
Under the third scheme, WLAOs have to install at least 25,000 WLAs in the first year and at least another 25,000 in the next two years. For every one WLA installed in Tier III to VI centres, one WLA can be installed in Tier I to II centres.
What is common under the three schemes is that out of the WLAs installed in Tier III to VI centres, a minimum of 10 per cent should be installed in Tier V and VI centres.
No switchover possible
The RBI has stipulated that no switchover of schemes is permissible. The date for determining the time line for implementation would commence 30 days after issuance of the authorisation.
Non-bank entities intending to set up WLAs may approach the RBI within four months from the date of issuance of these guidelines, beyond which the authorisation-seeking window will be closed.
Only cards issued by banks in India (domestic cards) will be permitted to be used at the WLAs in the initial stage
The RBI observed that although there has been 23-25 per cent year-on-year growth in the number of ATMs (over 90,000 currently), their deployment has been predominantly in Tier I and II centres.
The regulator said that there is a need to expand the reach of ATMs in Tier III to VI centres. In spite of banks’ pioneering efforts in this direction, much needs to be done. Hence, the need for WLAs.
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