Mumbai: New Zealand has announced a string of new initiatives to further deepen its education relationship with India.
A joint call for research proposals for Indian and New Zealand academics has been made to increase research collaboration across a range of areas including food security and agriculture, community development and innovation, health, environment and sustainability, India-New Zealand trade relations, information security and urban planning and development.
Announced on the occasion of Waitangi Day, New Zealand’s national day, by Education New Zealand’s (ENZ) Regional Director South Asia Ziena Jalil, the programme acknowledges the multi-faceted education relationship between India and New Zealand.
In 2012, there were 11,349 Indian students studying in New Zealand, an increase of 194 per cent from 2007. Hindi is the fourth most widely spoken language in New Zealand.
“This call for proposals has been jointly facilitated by ENZ and India’s University Grants Commission (UGC) and would form part of the activity we undertake in India as part of the India New Zealand Education Council (INZEC) initiative which was announced by both our Prime Ministers,” Jalil said.
Stating that all New Zealand universities feature in the top 500 globally, she added that the call for research proposals is a deliberate attempt at sharing experiences with Indian partners.
Success in my Habit
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Bilateral cooperation in food processing sector
The salient features of these Agreements/ MoUs is to attract foreign investments for Infrastructure Development of Food Processing sector, such as, Mega Food Parks, Cold Chains, Abattoirs and Food Testing Laboratories etc. Also for developing institutional co-operation, increasing B2B interaction through participation in important food fairs, conferences/workshops/consultations etc. All stakeholders including the domestic food processing industry, the consumer, the exporters, the professionals and the academic and research institutions etc. are likely to be benefitted by these agreements/MoUs.
This information was given in Rajya Sabha today by Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Dr. Charan Das Mahant in a written reply.
HCL to put Rs 1,000 cr into health care
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
Volvo, Eicher JV to invest over Rs 600-1,000 crore in India
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.
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
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.
Monday, February 3, 2014
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.
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)