HCL to put Rs 1,000 cr into health care

New Delhi: The HCL group on Thursday announced that it would foray into the health care segment, the first diversification outside its core business of information technology. Through the next five years, the group plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore in the venture, to operate through a countrywide network of out-patient multi-speciality clinics called HCL Avitas.

HCL Healthcare, the group’s health care arm, is in talks with hospital chains to partner it in tertiary care.

Funded through HCL Corporation, the holding company of HCL Technologies and HCL Infosystems Ltd, the venture has started operations by acquiring two Bharat Family Clinic branches in the National Capital Region.

HCL Avitas clinics will offer value-added services such as personalised relationship managers and electronic medical records to patients. They will also provide in-house services such as diagnostics, pharmacies and radiology. The venture is primarily targeted at the urban middle-class population of corporate employees, small and medium enterprises and small businessmen.

HCL Healthcare Vice-Chairman Shikhar Malhotra told Business Standard collaboration with Johns Hopkins Medicine International in the US would help in implementing the concept in India. “Here, a patient beyond doctor’s care will be handled by a team of specialists, which will include a health care coordinator, essentially a relationship manager. This is a unique patient-centric approach.”

The company would initially focus on expanding these clinics, but in the long run, might also foray into secondary and tertiary care and build its own hospitals.

Initially, the group plans to expand its health care division in northern India. So far, the venture has 125 people on board, clinical and non-clinical staff. “We intend to provide a continuum of care to our patients. Right now, we will partner some of the best hospital networks in India. There is a referral mechanism going into these hospitals. Discussions are on around this,” Malhotra said.

While HCL founder-chairman Shiv Nadar is on the board of the health care company, his daughter, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, will not be involved with the new venture.

The company’s promoters are also involved in the education sector, through Shiv Nadar University and Shiv Nadar School. These are not-for-profit institutions run by the Shiv Nadar Foundation.

Of late, health care has attracted many corporate groups, including B K Modi’s Spice Global, who view this segment as a de-risking strategy. According to industry estimates, the domestic health care sector is poised to touch $100 billion by 2015 and $275.6 billion by 2020. In 2010, the sector was estimated at $40 billion.

In November 2013, Nadar had committed Rs 3,000 crore through the next five years to expand the Shiv Nadar Foundation’s education ventures, which are oversee

Infosys plans centre in Brazil

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

Volvo, Eicher JV to invest over Rs 600-1,000 crore in India

New Delhi: At a time when truckmakers are cutting production and laying off people, VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) - a joint venture company of Volvo and Eicher Motors - is investing over Rs 600-1,000 crore to add a second manufacturing line at its Bangalore plant, double the bus plant capacity in Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh.

Volvo Group will be investing in the expansion of capacity at its Bangalore plant for a second manufacturing

line, where the new Pro 8000 trucks will be manufactured. VECV, the JV company, will be investing another Rs 600 crore to bring the 'Pro' series into the market.
Vinod Aggarwal, CEO, VE Commercial Vehicles, told ET, "These two years have been the most difficult period and we have sustained these two years with glory. Even in this difficult period, we have executed our strategy on time and in the most efficient manner. The next one year is going to be exciting, as we would be launching a new range of trucks over the next 12-18 months (5-49 tonnes)."

Most part of the new Pro Series range starting with Pro 1000 light duty trucks will be launched this month, followed by the 3000 series medium-duty trucks in March, then 6000 and 8000 heavy-duty trucks in the second half of this year.

To make the most of the new range of trucks, in order to focus on sales, VECV is restructuring its sales and marketing functions, by creating separate verticals for light and medium-duty trucks, heavy-duty trucks and buses and the same will be replicated in the showrooms as well.

Declining to comment on the exact quantum of investment in the second manufacturing line in Bangalore, Philippe Divry, senior VP, Trucks Joint Venture India said, "It is part of our overall investment plan in Bangalore; we are still in the investment phase. The PRO 8000 series will be built there. The second line will be ready by the middle of year."

VECV posted 15.5% decline in volumes in 2013 better than the overall market decline of 24.7% in 2013 in the 5 tonne-49 tonne category. The overall market came down to 297,316 units from almost 4 lakh units sold in 2012. The likes of Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland announced VRS schemes in their plants while Volvo Eicher is likely to hire more people to meet the demand of its new products.

The company posted its highest ever market share of 13.8% in 2013. Eicher's light and medium-duty market share declined marginally to 30.4% in 2013 as compared to 31.4% in CY 2012. It marginally improved the market share to 4.4% in the heavy-duty truck space and increased market share in buses to 13.5% jumping 150 basis points.

The sales of the company have doubled since setting up a joint venture with Volvo. In an era of discount war when other truckmakers are bleeding, Eicher Motors had the highest margin by a truckmaker in India of 6-6.5% for the first nine months of 2013.

"We have a very strong game plan to reach 15% market share in medium- and heavy-duty trucks," said Siddhartha Lal, MD and CEO Eicher Motors.

Cabinet panel nod for Vodafone FDI, other proposals

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved several proposals on Thursday including the proposal of CGP India Investment to increase foreign equity in Vodafone India to 100 per cent from 64.38 per cent.

CGP India Investment is an indirect shareholder in Vodafone India and an indirect Mauritian subsidiary of Vodafone International Holdings BV.

The CCEA also approved the revised cost estimates for widening of NH-232 to two lane with paved shoulder from Tanda to Raebareli and from Raebareli to Banda in Uttar Pradesh to be executed by the National Highways Authority of India on Engineering Procurement and Construction mode.

The total expenditure on widening of roads will be Rs. 1,376.29 crore with a completion period of 30 months from the date of start of work. The CCEA also approved the proposal of the Ministry of Finance to amend the guidelines for appraisal of projects eligible for financing under the National Clean Energy Funds. It would enable financing of schemes or programmes of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy already approved if balances are available.

Another decision was of Health Ministry’s proposal for grant-in-aid scheme for Inter-Sectoral Convergence and Co-ordination for Promotion and Guidance on Health Research also got a nod which will be at an estimated cost of Rs. 1242 crore covering about 750 projects of different duration and cost.

It also gave a nod to the implementation of High Performance Computing system for improved weather, climate and ocean forecast at an estimated cost of Rs. 567.16 crore.

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.

Nalco commissions second wind power plant

Bhubaneswar: As part of its diversification plans, National Aluminium Company (Nalco), a navratna PSU under Union mines ministry has commissioned its second wind power plant at Ludarva in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan.

The wind power project with a capacity of 47.6 Mw was commissioned on January 29.

The Rs 283-crore project has been executed through Gamesa Wind Turbines Ltd which involved erection of 56 wind turbines. In the first phase of commissioning, 36 turbines were erected. Now, in the second phase, the remaining 20 turbines have been successfully commissioned.

This is the second green initiative of Nalco towards promoting sustainable development by harnessing the unconventional and renewable energy sources, which would credit the company with incentives from the Government of India. Earlier, the company commissioned its first wind power plant of 50.4 Mw capacity at a cost of Rs 274 crore at Gandikota in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh in December 2012. Besides, the company is also planning to set up the third wind power plant in its own mined out area of Panchpatmali bauxite deposits in Koraput district.

Big boost to electronics sector in Karnataka

Bengaluru: The Union government on Thursday gave its in-principle approval for setting up of the first ESDM ( electronic system design and manufacturing) cluster development in Electronics City, Bangalore.

ESDM is the fastest growing segment of the ICT (information and communications technology) sector and is projected to be a $400 billion industry by the end of this decade. The state government, which has come out with its own Karnataka ESDM (K-ESDM ) policy, aims to capture 10% of the ESDM market in India over the next six years.

The ESDM project in Bangalore will come up on a 1.16-acre land at an investment of approximately Rs 85 crore. The state government's vision is to capture 20% of the country's total ESDM exports of $80 billion by 2020, generate 2.4 lakh new jobs, and file 5,000 patents in the same period. India is currently a big importer of electronics, and the Centre has been working towards developing a strong domestic design and manufacturing base.

"The objective of the K-ESDM policy is to make Karnataka the preferred investment destination for sectors like telecommunications, defence, automotive, and consumer products among others," said S R Patil, the state's IT & biotech minister. For companies to avail of the benefits under the policy, they would have to be registered as K-ESDM companies. So far eight companies have been registered , including Tejas Networks, Saankhya Labs, Signalchip Innovations, Cerium Systems , Bydesign, Sparr Electronics and Aristos Electronics. The state government has also finalized a list of nine engineering colleges in tier 2 and 3 cities that would house incubation centers to promote entrepreneurship.

The colleges include National Institute of Engineering, Mysore, and Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumkur. "The focus will be more on building an ecosystem fostering entrepreneurship rather than building physical space and purchasing expensive equipment," said Patil. He added that all incubation centres would be networked to allow students to exchange ideas and experiences.

Revision to the Karnataka Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Rules, 1946: The state cabinet has approved the exemption of IT, ITeS, KPO, animation, gaming and other knowledge based sectors including startups from the applicability of the above labour law for a period of five years. However, clauses for the protection of women employees and prevention of sexual harassment at the work place will be integral parts of company policy.

Bengal gets Rs. 100 cr investments in food park

Kolkata: West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Friday said the State has fetched investments worth around Rs. 100 crore at a food park at Sankrail in Howrah district.

According to the minister, three new companies in the food processing sector have been allotted nearly 5 acres in the second phase at Sankrail food park.

“These three companies put together will invest nearly Rs. 100 crore and are expected to create 600 jobs,” Mitra told reporters at the State Secretariat.

The minister also added that 10 industries have been allotted land at the food park over the past 20 days.

‘52,000 hotel rooms to be added in top 8 cities by 2017

New Delhi: The domestic hospitality sector expects 52,000 new hotel rooms to be added in five years (2013-17), says a survey by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield. This will mean a rise of over 65 per cent in total hotel inventory.

Despite a slower response, the sector is expecting better demand in the coming years on account of improved global economic conditions, the survey says.

The National Capital Region (NCR) is expected to contribute around one-third to the total expected hotel rooms supply in the period. Kolkata at 105 per cent will witness the highest percentage increase in inventory by adding 3,813 rooms by 2017, it said.

Pune at 41 per cent will add the lowest number of rooms (2,853) to its existing 6,970.

Many hotel projects, which were delayed in the last two years, are also expected to get completed. Akshay Kulkarni, Regional Director – Hospitality, South and Southeast Asia, Cushman & Wakefield, said: “Even while India is considered to be an attractive market for both leisure and business travel, there are some inherent deficiencies due to which hospitality projects have hitherto taken long to come up including aspects like funding and regulatory issues, which have either delayed or in some cases stalled projects.”

Mid-scale hotels
The survey added mid-scale hotels are expected to see the highest supply of 18,500 units, followed by luxury which is estimated at 10,300 units, contribute 36 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, to the total expected supply.

Budget (9,000 units), upscale (6,800 units) and upper upscale (6,900 units) are estimated to be contributing approximately 44 per cent to the total supply in the next five years.

India and Morocco agree to enhance bilateral economic cooperation

New Delhi: India and Morocco have agreed to mutually enhance bilateral economic cooperation. The two countries also identified new areas of collaboration such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, automobiles and renewable energy. The decision was taken during a meeting between Mr Salman Khurshid, External Affairs Minister, Government of India and Mr Salaheddine Mezouar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Morocco. They also exchanged views on regional and global issues of common concern, besides aiming to hold Foreign Office Consultations later this year.

Mr Khurshid visited Morocco as part of his three-nation tour of natural resources rich North African countries. He will also visit Tunisia and Sudan to boost India’s ‘Look Middle East’ policy. During his visit, Mr Khurshid also met Mr Abdelilah Benkirane, Prime Minister of Morocco.

“India and Morocco have deep-rooted historical links from the days of the famous Moroccan traveller Ibn Batuta in the 14th century. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1957, these ties have become multifaceted and stronger. “The focus of my visit is on intensifying our growing engagement,” added Mr Khurshid.

India and Morocco explored ways and means of diversifying their phosphate-centric economic and commercial relations which Mr Khurshid highlighted saying ‘have an immense untapped potential’. A lot of phosphoric acid and rock phosphate from Morocco are sourced to India for use in the fertiliser industry which helps India’s agriculture sector. In addition, two memorandum of understanding (MoUs) relating to cooperation in Marine Fisheries as well as in the field of Environment Cooperation were also signed during the minister’s visit.

“We have proposed the setting up of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centre in Morocco, and we are happy that your government has accepted this proposal. We are working to see that this project is implemented at the earliest”. Also, “India will be pleased to offer additional slots and scholarships to Morocco for training and higher education under various schemes of the Government of India,” said Mr Khurshid.

Furthermore, Mr Khurshid praised Morocco for its economic growth and rights record and added that “We deeply appreciate Morocco’s support to India in the United Nations and other multilateral fora, including in particular for the expression of support for a permanent seat for India in a reformed and expanded UN Security Council”.

While extending an invitation to Mr Mezouar to visit India, the Minister said India would be happy to share its developmental experience and expertise with friendly developing countries like Morocco.