New Delhi: Düsseldorf-headquartered GEA Group has set up a facility in Bangalore to expand its decanter manufacturing capacity.
GEA Westfalia Separator India, the Indian arm of the ^6-billion GEA Group, has a capacity of producing 250 decanters annually at its Bangalore factory at present.
With the expansion, GEA Westfalia Separator India will be able to meet demands from other market segments, including process customisations, said Ashok Narula, managing director.
The Bangalore unit has the capacity to produce decanters up to 350 mm diametre for environmental application.
Since 2006, the company has exported about 500 decanters worldwide from its Bangalore factory. Prototype decanter centrifuge UCD 205 was also developed at the facility. Inaugurating the facility, the mechanical equipment president, Markus Hullmann, said 2,500 applications GEA offers globally are now available in India. “We strongly feel the Indian Industry deserves the best in world-class technology,” he added.
GEA Westfalia Separator, which started with the production of milk separators that separate cream from milk, currently provides solutions to several industries with focus on food, pharma, and energy. In India, the company has presence in antibiotic projects, dairy, casein, naphtha treatment, vaccine projects, fruit juice, instant coffee and edible oil industry.
Initially, the company had restricted itself in the chemical, pharma and casein industry in India as competition was less. It has later spread wings in other areas as custom duties came down in specific areas.
Success in my Habit
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Cathay Pacific to offer more direct flights from Mumbai to Hong Kong
Mumbai: Hong Kong based full service airline Cathay Pacific would add more direct flights from Mumbai to Hong Kong starting April. The airline will also introduce its new product line of the premium economy cabin on this route after launching it in Delhi and Chennai last year.
Cathay that has India route among the top 10 revenue earners will add three more direct flights from Mumbai to Hong Kong as it withdraws stopover flights from the finance city to Hong Kong via Bangkok. The network carrier said 75% of its passenger carriage is transit passengers mainly to China and the west coast of US.
Charlie Stewart - Cox, its newly appointed general manager for South East Asia, Middle East and Africa based out of Mumbai said that in the current downturn India as a market is still robust and is one of the few economies that are growing.
"For Cathay 2013 will be a good year in India as we have increased flights in this market last year by adding eight percent more capacity compared to 2011 and we will continue to seek growth opportunities and add more products in this market, " Cox said.
Cathay is betting big on its premium economy cabin as this new product which Cathay says it is the only airline to offer from the Indian market is slated to push the yields up by 30% for the airline. The product offers separate noiseless cabin for travellers, more leg space and bigger seats with rebooted entertainment system.
The premium economy class according to Cathay's regional sales and marketing manager for South Asia, Rakesh Raikar, will push the aspiring and young Indian travellers to an upgrade from economy to the premium economy cabin. The airline said its front sets are getting filled up to 50%-60% and generally flights are 80% full.
Cathay along with its sister airline Dragonair flies 46 weekly flights from six ports in India. It recently added Hyderabad in its network with four weekly flights.
Cathay that has India route among the top 10 revenue earners will add three more direct flights from Mumbai to Hong Kong as it withdraws stopover flights from the finance city to Hong Kong via Bangkok. The network carrier said 75% of its passenger carriage is transit passengers mainly to China and the west coast of US.
Charlie Stewart - Cox, its newly appointed general manager for South East Asia, Middle East and Africa based out of Mumbai said that in the current downturn India as a market is still robust and is one of the few economies that are growing.
"For Cathay 2013 will be a good year in India as we have increased flights in this market last year by adding eight percent more capacity compared to 2011 and we will continue to seek growth opportunities and add more products in this market, " Cox said.
Cathay is betting big on its premium economy cabin as this new product which Cathay says it is the only airline to offer from the Indian market is slated to push the yields up by 30% for the airline. The product offers separate noiseless cabin for travellers, more leg space and bigger seats with rebooted entertainment system.
The premium economy class according to Cathay's regional sales and marketing manager for South Asia, Rakesh Raikar, will push the aspiring and young Indian travellers to an upgrade from economy to the premium economy cabin. The airline said its front sets are getting filled up to 50%-60% and generally flights are 80% full.
Cathay along with its sister airline Dragonair flies 46 weekly flights from six ports in India. It recently added Hyderabad in its network with four weekly flights.
Tata Projects, Aldesa bag Rs 3,300-cr freight corridor project
New Delhi: A consortium of Tata Projects and Spanish firm Aldesa has bagged a Rs 3,300 crore civil works contract to build a rail track between Bhaupur and Khurja in Uttar Pradesh, a 343-km segment of the dedicated eastern freight corridor.
“Physical work is expected to start from March-April. A letter of intent has been issued for the project,” said Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation Ltd Managing Director, R. K. Gupta.
The consortium beat nine bidders for the project. The letter of intent was issued on Thursday, and the project is funded by the World Bank.
Those in race for the project were: CRFG-Soma, OHL-Punj Lloyd, KEC-Remput-Simplex, Essar-Patel-BSCPL, San Jose-ECI, STS-Era, IVRCL-KMB, Navyug-SEW and Gammon-CMC.
The 343-km project was sliced into three subsets, and the bidders had been qualified to bid for one, two or all three. In the bids, the consortia have offered various levels of discount, depending on the size of projects they get.
Seven consortia of the above bidders were qualified to bid for all the three packages. It will take some time for the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India, a special purpose vehicle set up under the Ministry of Railways, to evaluate the lowest bidder, as the bids are submitted in multiple combinations.
“Physical work is expected to start from March-April. A letter of intent has been issued for the project,” said Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation Ltd Managing Director, R. K. Gupta.
The consortium beat nine bidders for the project. The letter of intent was issued on Thursday, and the project is funded by the World Bank.
Those in race for the project were: CRFG-Soma, OHL-Punj Lloyd, KEC-Remput-Simplex, Essar-Patel-BSCPL, San Jose-ECI, STS-Era, IVRCL-KMB, Navyug-SEW and Gammon-CMC.
The 343-km project was sliced into three subsets, and the bidders had been qualified to bid for one, two or all three. In the bids, the consortia have offered various levels of discount, depending on the size of projects they get.
Seven consortia of the above bidders were qualified to bid for all the three packages. It will take some time for the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India, a special purpose vehicle set up under the Ministry of Railways, to evaluate the lowest bidder, as the bids are submitted in multiple combinations.
1 Foodgrain Godowns to be Constructed in Assam
New Delhi: The Centre has proposed to construct 11 new food grains godowns at different locations in the state of Assam to strengthen Public Distribution System. Besides this additional storage capacity will also be crated at three existing locations in the state. These godown to be constructed or expanded by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), will add food grain storage capacity of 3,47,000 MT in the state of Assam. Out of this a capacity of 7000 MT will be created within the three existing complexes of FCI in the state.
Location wise details of capacity to be created is as follows:
S.NO. NAME OF LOCATION CAPACITY IN MT
1 Changsari Ph. I & II (50,000 MT in each phase) 1,00,000
2 Nowgaon Ph. I & II (with siding)(25,000 MT in each phase) 50,000
3 Dibrugarh (with siding) 25,000
4 Barpeta Road ( with siding) 25,000
5 Karimganj 5,000
6 Fakiragram 5,000
7 Tezpur Bindukuri/(with siding)\ 25,000
8 Salchapara (with siding) 25,000
9 Kokrajhar (with siding) 30,000
10 Bongoigaon (with siding) 25,000
11 Junai (with siding) 25,000
12 Hojai 2,500(within existing complex)
13 New Lakhimpur 2,500(within existing complex)
14 Jogigopa 2,000(within existing complex)
Total 3,47,000
Location wise details of capacity to be created is as follows:
S.NO. NAME OF LOCATION CAPACITY IN MT
1 Changsari Ph. I & II (50,000 MT in each phase) 1,00,000
2 Nowgaon Ph. I & II (with siding)(25,000 MT in each phase) 50,000
3 Dibrugarh (with siding) 25,000
4 Barpeta Road ( with siding) 25,000
5 Karimganj 5,000
6 Fakiragram 5,000
7 Tezpur Bindukuri/(with siding)\ 25,000
8 Salchapara (with siding) 25,000
9 Kokrajhar (with siding) 30,000
10 Bongoigaon (with siding) 25,000
11 Junai (with siding) 25,000
12 Hojai 2,500(within existing complex)
13 New Lakhimpur 2,500(within existing complex)
14 Jogigopa 2,000(within existing complex)
Total 3,47,000
RBI raises FII limit in govt, corp bonds by $5 bn each
Mumbai: To attract foreign funds into the bond market, the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) on Thursday raised the ceiling for foreign institutional investors (FII)’s holdings in government securities and corporate bonds by $5 billion each. The cap on domestic debt now stands at $75 billion.
Bond dealers and treasury executives said the interest of FIIs had been robust. The additional capital flows would help tackle the high current account deficit, which stood at a record 5.4 per cent of the gross domestic product in the quarter ended September.
The three-year lock-in period for FIIs purchasing government securities (G-secs) for the first time has been done away with, RBI said.
The sub-limit of $10 billion for investment by FIIs in G-secs was enhanced by $5 billion, it added, while the cap on corporate debt other than in the infrastructure sector was raised from $20 billion to $25 billion.
With rises of $5 billion in each of the two categories, FIIs and long-term investors can now invest $25 billion in G-secs and $50 billion in corporate debt instruments, including the sub-limit of $25 billion for infra bonds.
RBI said though the residual maturity condition would not be applicable on the entire sub-limit (in G-secs) of $15 billion, such investments would not be allowed in short-term papers such as treasury bills.
The overall FII limit for domestic debt is distributed through a host of categories across government, corporate and infrastructure debt. Long-term investors include sovereign wealth funds, multilateral agencies, pension funds and foreign central banks.
Bond dealers and treasury executives said the interest of FIIs had been robust. The additional capital flows would help tackle the high current account deficit, which stood at a record 5.4 per cent of the gross domestic product in the quarter ended September.
The three-year lock-in period for FIIs purchasing government securities (G-secs) for the first time has been done away with, RBI said.
The sub-limit of $10 billion for investment by FIIs in G-secs was enhanced by $5 billion, it added, while the cap on corporate debt other than in the infrastructure sector was raised from $20 billion to $25 billion.
With rises of $5 billion in each of the two categories, FIIs and long-term investors can now invest $25 billion in G-secs and $50 billion in corporate debt instruments, including the sub-limit of $25 billion for infra bonds.
RBI said though the residual maturity condition would not be applicable on the entire sub-limit (in G-secs) of $15 billion, such investments would not be allowed in short-term papers such as treasury bills.
The overall FII limit for domestic debt is distributed through a host of categories across government, corporate and infrastructure debt. Long-term investors include sovereign wealth funds, multilateral agencies, pension funds and foreign central banks.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
KEL to set up new transformer plant in Malappuram
Kochi: The State-owned Kerala Electrical and Allied Engineering Company (KEL) is setting up a cast-resin transformer plant near its Edarikkod unit in Malappuram.
The foundation stone for the Rs 8.5-crore plant will be laid by the State Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty on January 28. The State Electricity Minister Aryadan Mohammed will unveil the prototype of a cast-resin transformer on the occasion.
K. Shamsuddin, Managing Director, KEL, said the diversification plan would help the company to produce cast-resin transformers of three lakh kVA capacity. These new generation transformers are widely used in new infrastructure projects and residential towers as they comply with the latest norms and stipulations prevailing in the industry, he said.
KEL's Edarikkod unit was commercially operational since January 2010 and had already sold more than 2,400 units of 100-kVA distribution transformers worth Rs 24 crore to KSEB.
The company acquired the know-how and permission to produce the new-generation cast-resin transformers recently, which has been a technical innovation delivering more efficiency and safety with higher capacity.
He said that with its expertise in producing distribution transformers and nation-wide marketing reach spanning over 25 years, the diversification project of KEL is expected to take the PSU to greater heights.
KEL, operational since 1964, has been in the list of companies with an annual turnover of more than Rs 100 crore for the last many years. In addition to Edarikkod, the company has three more units at Kundara, Mamala and Olavakkod.
The Mamala unit produces distribution transformers, while the structural fabrication division makes gates and shutters required by irrigation projects and railway coaches, hanging bridges and other steel fabrication products.
The State Government has already been sanctioned another diversification and renovation of Mamala unit at a cost of Rs 12.5 crore, mainly to produce power transformers up to 10 MVA capacities, he added.
The Kundara unit manufactures brushless alternators used in lighting and air-conditioning of railway coaches and special grade alternators for the Ministry of Defence while its Olavakkod unit is into fuse units, LT switch gears and HRC fuses required by SEBs.
The foundation stone for the Rs 8.5-crore plant will be laid by the State Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty on January 28. The State Electricity Minister Aryadan Mohammed will unveil the prototype of a cast-resin transformer on the occasion.
K. Shamsuddin, Managing Director, KEL, said the diversification plan would help the company to produce cast-resin transformers of three lakh kVA capacity. These new generation transformers are widely used in new infrastructure projects and residential towers as they comply with the latest norms and stipulations prevailing in the industry, he said.
KEL's Edarikkod unit was commercially operational since January 2010 and had already sold more than 2,400 units of 100-kVA distribution transformers worth Rs 24 crore to KSEB.
The company acquired the know-how and permission to produce the new-generation cast-resin transformers recently, which has been a technical innovation delivering more efficiency and safety with higher capacity.
He said that with its expertise in producing distribution transformers and nation-wide marketing reach spanning over 25 years, the diversification project of KEL is expected to take the PSU to greater heights.
KEL, operational since 1964, has been in the list of companies with an annual turnover of more than Rs 100 crore for the last many years. In addition to Edarikkod, the company has three more units at Kundara, Mamala and Olavakkod.
The Mamala unit produces distribution transformers, while the structural fabrication division makes gates and shutters required by irrigation projects and railway coaches, hanging bridges and other steel fabrication products.
The State Government has already been sanctioned another diversification and renovation of Mamala unit at a cost of Rs 12.5 crore, mainly to produce power transformers up to 10 MVA capacities, he added.
The Kundara unit manufactures brushless alternators used in lighting and air-conditioning of railway coaches and special grade alternators for the Ministry of Defence while its Olavakkod unit is into fuse units, LT switch gears and HRC fuses required by SEBs.
Exide to buy out partners' stake in ING Vysya Life
Bengaluru/ Kolkata: Exide Industries Ltd, India’s largest producer of automotive and industrial batteries, which holds 50 per cent of the equity capital of ING Vysya Life Insurance Co (IVL), said it would acquire the remaining stake in the insurer.
With this acquisition, ING Group will exit its insurance business in India as part of its global restructuring strategy. Prior to the exit from India, ING exited its insurance ventures in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, while it is looking at similar exits in China, Japan and South Korea.
Exide will acquire 26 per cent from ING Group, 16.32 per cent from the Hemendra Kothari group and 7.68 per cent from the Enam Group for an aggregate consideration of about Rs 550 crore, subject to regulatory approvals. Exide has been a shareholder of IVL since 2005. After the buyout, Exide will identify and induct a new international player in the life insurance genre to infuse fresh equity into IVL, subject to regulatory approvals for IVL’s expansion plans, the company said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange. ING Group has given rights to Exide to use the ING brand for one year post approval of the deal, which is expected within the next two quarters.
According to an Exide official, the funding for the acquisition will be done through internal accruals. “For the insurance business, we will soon initiate the process to rope in some international player.” According to senior officials of IVL, the operations of the company will not change whatsoever going forward. “Exide was a 50 per cent shareholder already and they will control 100 per cent, going forward. It was just a matter of time that this step had to happen as ING had made its intentions clear to exit the insurance business in some of the global markets,” a senior official said.
Said ING Group: “ING’s exit from the Indian life insurance joint venture is part of the previously announced intended divestment of ING’s Asian insurance and investment management businesses. The process for the remaining businesses is ongoing. Any further announcements will be made if and when appropriate.”
The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on ING Group results. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2013. Today’s agreement does not impact ING Vysya Bank, a publicly listed bank in India in which ING has a 44 per cent stake, nor ING’s fund management business in the country, it said.
The life insurer saw a growth of 13.1 per cent in new business premiums from April to November 2012, compared with the corresponding period in 2011. On the other hand, private life insurers saw a fall of 3.7 per cent in new premium during the same period. The company is hoping for a 10 per cent growth this year.
IVL has 1.3 per cent share in the Indian life insurance market and among the private sector insurers, it has around four per cent market share. In terms of individual premium collection, it ranked ninth among private life insurers, till October 2012.
IVL has over a decade of experience and is serving more than one million customers in 200 cities in India. The company distributes its products through more than 30,000 IVL advisers, bancassurance partner ING Vysya Bank, referral partners, corporate agents and brokers. It employs 6,000 on its rolls.
With this acquisition, ING Group will exit its insurance business in India as part of its global restructuring strategy. Prior to the exit from India, ING exited its insurance ventures in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, while it is looking at similar exits in China, Japan and South Korea.
Exide will acquire 26 per cent from ING Group, 16.32 per cent from the Hemendra Kothari group and 7.68 per cent from the Enam Group for an aggregate consideration of about Rs 550 crore, subject to regulatory approvals. Exide has been a shareholder of IVL since 2005. After the buyout, Exide will identify and induct a new international player in the life insurance genre to infuse fresh equity into IVL, subject to regulatory approvals for IVL’s expansion plans, the company said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange. ING Group has given rights to Exide to use the ING brand for one year post approval of the deal, which is expected within the next two quarters.
According to an Exide official, the funding for the acquisition will be done through internal accruals. “For the insurance business, we will soon initiate the process to rope in some international player.” According to senior officials of IVL, the operations of the company will not change whatsoever going forward. “Exide was a 50 per cent shareholder already and they will control 100 per cent, going forward. It was just a matter of time that this step had to happen as ING had made its intentions clear to exit the insurance business in some of the global markets,” a senior official said.
Said ING Group: “ING’s exit from the Indian life insurance joint venture is part of the previously announced intended divestment of ING’s Asian insurance and investment management businesses. The process for the remaining businesses is ongoing. Any further announcements will be made if and when appropriate.”
The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on ING Group results. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2013. Today’s agreement does not impact ING Vysya Bank, a publicly listed bank in India in which ING has a 44 per cent stake, nor ING’s fund management business in the country, it said.
The life insurer saw a growth of 13.1 per cent in new business premiums from April to November 2012, compared with the corresponding period in 2011. On the other hand, private life insurers saw a fall of 3.7 per cent in new premium during the same period. The company is hoping for a 10 per cent growth this year.
IVL has 1.3 per cent share in the Indian life insurance market and among the private sector insurers, it has around four per cent market share. In terms of individual premium collection, it ranked ninth among private life insurers, till October 2012.
IVL has over a decade of experience and is serving more than one million customers in 200 cities in India. The company distributes its products through more than 30,000 IVL advisers, bancassurance partner ING Vysya Bank, referral partners, corporate agents and brokers. It employs 6,000 on its rolls.
Simba Toys plans joint ventures with Indian manufacturers
Mumbai: Germany-based Simba Dickie Group, through its subsidiary Simba Toys, plans to forge joint ventures with Indian manufacturers for making board games and plush toys.
Instead of setting up a green field manufacturing facility as proposed earlier, the toymaker has decided to pick up stake in local companies. With the intention of bringing down prices for price-sensitive markets including India, the European toymaker expects India to become the sourcing hub for ‘emerging’ countries such as Brazil, Russia, Poland and West Asia.
“We are in talks with Indian companies for manufacturing plush toys and board games. The investments would be made by the parent company in Germany for buying a stake in Indian companies. We would like to treat India as a sourcing base, since labour costs in China have risen,” said Shree Narayan Sabharwal, Business Head for Simba Toys.
Local manufacturing would also lead to lower prices for price-sensitive markets. “Today, all our toys are being imported and the fluctuating dollar is not exactly helping us. But we have managed to subsidise prices for some of our brands in India by almost 30 per cent, by saving on marketing costs. The organised toy market in India is still small and fragmented, but it is growing between 18 and 20 per cent,” said Sabharwal.
“We have to cater to emerging markets such as India, Russia and West Asia where there is potential, but these are price-sensitive nations unlike the European countries. India would now be serving as the sourcing hub for certain categories such as plush and plastic toys and board games, but not electronic toys,” he added.
Having got on board a master franchise in India, Exelixi Management Company, Simba Toys entered retail through its own stores last year in cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. It is also launching stores in tier 2 cities such as Indore and Udaipur.
With six stores in malls, Simba Toys now plans to position itself as a ‘neighbourhood’ toy store in upmarket residential areas in the metros in smaller formats measuring between 800 and 1,500 sq ft.
It is also planning an ad campaign with Viacom 18-owned Nickelodeon channel for its brands such as Steffi doll and Squap games. “There would be series of commercials on the Nickelodeon channel and we would be associating with some of their shows and on-ground events for our brands,” Sabharwal said.
Apart from its own stores, Simba also distributes its brands across toy retailers such as Hamleys and Landmark. Almost 90 per cent of Simba’s turnover comes from distribution revenues, while the rest is through its stores.
Instead of setting up a green field manufacturing facility as proposed earlier, the toymaker has decided to pick up stake in local companies. With the intention of bringing down prices for price-sensitive markets including India, the European toymaker expects India to become the sourcing hub for ‘emerging’ countries such as Brazil, Russia, Poland and West Asia.
“We are in talks with Indian companies for manufacturing plush toys and board games. The investments would be made by the parent company in Germany for buying a stake in Indian companies. We would like to treat India as a sourcing base, since labour costs in China have risen,” said Shree Narayan Sabharwal, Business Head for Simba Toys.
Local manufacturing would also lead to lower prices for price-sensitive markets. “Today, all our toys are being imported and the fluctuating dollar is not exactly helping us. But we have managed to subsidise prices for some of our brands in India by almost 30 per cent, by saving on marketing costs. The organised toy market in India is still small and fragmented, but it is growing between 18 and 20 per cent,” said Sabharwal.
“We have to cater to emerging markets such as India, Russia and West Asia where there is potential, but these are price-sensitive nations unlike the European countries. India would now be serving as the sourcing hub for certain categories such as plush and plastic toys and board games, but not electronic toys,” he added.
Having got on board a master franchise in India, Exelixi Management Company, Simba Toys entered retail through its own stores last year in cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. It is also launching stores in tier 2 cities such as Indore and Udaipur.
With six stores in malls, Simba Toys now plans to position itself as a ‘neighbourhood’ toy store in upmarket residential areas in the metros in smaller formats measuring between 800 and 1,500 sq ft.
It is also planning an ad campaign with Viacom 18-owned Nickelodeon channel for its brands such as Steffi doll and Squap games. “There would be series of commercials on the Nickelodeon channel and we would be associating with some of their shows and on-ground events for our brands,” Sabharwal said.
Apart from its own stores, Simba also distributes its brands across toy retailers such as Hamleys and Landmark. Almost 90 per cent of Simba’s turnover comes from distribution revenues, while the rest is through its stores.
Akhilesh Yadav govt gives Rs 2,858 cr contract to supply 15 lakh laptops to HP India
Lucknow: The contract to supply 15 lakh laptops to the Uttar Pradesh government has been awarded by the state authorities to Hewlett Packard India.
One of the biggest such contracts ever, the state cabinet at a meeting on Wednesday awarded the Rs 2858.70 crore contract to supply 15 lakh units of laptops, to HP India, which quoted the lowest price at Rs 19,058 per laptop inclusive of taxes and duty.
The UP Electronics Corporation, MD, Prabhat Mittal who managed the bidding process said that while HP India quoted the lowest rates, HCL with its bid of Rs 21,883 was the second lowest.
The winning company has been mandated to supply 5 per cent of the total order within 60 days of signing the agreement, with an increased quantity being supplied every subsequent month. The company would complete the supply of 15 lakh laptops in seven months after the date of agreement.
Mittal said that the laptops would be delivered at the Tehsil block level in each district by the company and they were working towards starting distribution of laptops to students in a months time.
It was the Samajwadi Party's poll manifesto promise to give free laptops and tablets to all class 12 and class 10 pass outs respectively which was seen as the game changer in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in March last year.
The promise helped the Samajwadi Party ride to power on popular support by youths and Akhilesh Yadav become the Chief Minister on 15 March 2012.
Since then the large size of the order had forced the government to keep shifting the biding dates as IT companies expressed problems in supplying laptops in such large numbers.
The bidding process for supplying tablets to the UP government is still underway and government officials say that they were hopeful of finalising the contract by February end.
One of the biggest such contracts ever, the state cabinet at a meeting on Wednesday awarded the Rs 2858.70 crore contract to supply 15 lakh units of laptops, to HP India, which quoted the lowest price at Rs 19,058 per laptop inclusive of taxes and duty.
The UP Electronics Corporation, MD, Prabhat Mittal who managed the bidding process said that while HP India quoted the lowest rates, HCL with its bid of Rs 21,883 was the second lowest.
The winning company has been mandated to supply 5 per cent of the total order within 60 days of signing the agreement, with an increased quantity being supplied every subsequent month. The company would complete the supply of 15 lakh laptops in seven months after the date of agreement.
Mittal said that the laptops would be delivered at the Tehsil block level in each district by the company and they were working towards starting distribution of laptops to students in a months time.
It was the Samajwadi Party's poll manifesto promise to give free laptops and tablets to all class 12 and class 10 pass outs respectively which was seen as the game changer in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in March last year.
The promise helped the Samajwadi Party ride to power on popular support by youths and Akhilesh Yadav become the Chief Minister on 15 March 2012.
Since then the large size of the order had forced the government to keep shifting the biding dates as IT companies expressed problems in supplying laptops in such large numbers.
The bidding process for supplying tablets to the UP government is still underway and government officials say that they were hopeful of finalising the contract by February end.
Bilateral Co-Operation Understanding in Water Resources Development and Management with Government of Rwanda
New Delhi: India and Rawanda have singed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral co-operation in Water Resources Development and Management. From Indian side it was Union Water resources Minister Shri Harish Rawat while from Government of Rawanda it was Dr. (Mrs.), Agnes M. KALIBATA, Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources who were the signatories in a function held here in New Delhi yesterday.
The MoU specifies various areas of co-operation with focus on planning, design and implementation of marshland and hillside irrigation, watershed management, water governance, and training and capacity building of farmers and functionaries in the water sector.
It is also proposed to promote Joint Ventures between the private entrepreneurs of the two countries through mutual facilitation of investment procedures and for working out mechanisms and modalities for funding and technical assistance. The MoU provides for setting up a Joint Commission which would follow up the implementation of this MoU.
The objective of this co-operation is to realize the goal of achieving food security in Rwanda and thereby to promote further the already existing friendly relations between the two countries.
The MoU specifies various areas of co-operation with focus on planning, design and implementation of marshland and hillside irrigation, watershed management, water governance, and training and capacity building of farmers and functionaries in the water sector.
It is also proposed to promote Joint Ventures between the private entrepreneurs of the two countries through mutual facilitation of investment procedures and for working out mechanisms and modalities for funding and technical assistance. The MoU provides for setting up a Joint Commission which would follow up the implementation of this MoU.
The objective of this co-operation is to realize the goal of achieving food security in Rwanda and thereby to promote further the already existing friendly relations between the two countries.
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