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TATA for now
UK & Global News Distribution

Applied Language Solutions celebrate the opening of their Indian office and their first customer, TATA, with an Indian Extravaganza to remember!

[UKPRwire, Fri Jun 08 2007] Applied Language Solutions brought a touch of spice to Huddersfield with their Indian Extravaganza, an event they held to celebrate the opening of their Indian office and their first customer, TATA. This is one of the largest companies in India comprising 96 companies operating in six continents and employing around 500,000 people. The Tata Group's businesses are spread over seven business sectors including Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Tata Tea.

The event was a resounding success, attended by over 100 customers and local businesses and the crew of Dragon’s Den, who came to film the company’s extensive progress for a follow-up programme since Gavin’s appearance on the show in March. A night enjoyed by all, the guests were able to sample traditional Indian cuisine provided by Curry Cuisine, whilst enjoying memorable performances from Huddersfield-based Salma’s Bollywood Academy and local Indian musicians, Mohamed Assani and John Ball.

Gavin Wheeldon, CEO of the Huddersfield-based international translation and interpreting company, speaks no foreign tongues but managed to successfully honour the traditions of the new Indian team members with a speech in their local language, Tamil.

A delighted Gavin said: “The Indian Extravaganza was the ideal way for us to show our respect for our new Indian team member’s culture, and to allow our customers, staff and dignitaries in the UK to experience the wonderful traditions of India. The catering by Curry Cuisine was second to none, the music provided the perfect authentic atmosphere and the Bollywood performance by Salma’s Academy was excellent! All in all, everyone had a brilliant night.”

“It is fantastic to know that so many are supporting us as we get closer to our ultimate goal of global domination. Winning TATA, one of India's oldest, largest and most respected business conglomerates, is an impressive achievement as the market in India is difficult to crack. Changing the attitude of the largest company in India to see the greater value-for-money in purchasing higher quality translation, as opposed to cheaper poor quality, is a feat no other translation company has yet achieved.”

“We have been employed by the TATA Group on several separate occasions and each translation project has been completed to the highest quality to ensure that all their intercontinental communications remain clear. This is certainly a fantastic start to our long-standing success in the Indian market, and has paved the way to enable us to get out there and pitch for more large customers.”

In just over three years, Gavin has taken his Huddersfield-based translation and interpreting company from a one-man operation in his back bedroom into an international company with 70 staff in eight offices world-wide, including Barcelona, Paris, Guatemala, Bulgaria, California and India.

Gavin enthused: “We aim to have an office in every country and this is the next step forward to achieving our goal. This is the perfect time for us to expand into Asia as part of our ongoing strategy to globally expand the company and further develop its operations.”

The Indian office will provide crucial support to the Applied Language’s global sales and operations and the company is looking to recruit a large number of staff. Various employment opportunities are immediately available, and Applied Language plans to invest a further £10 million on expansion in the Asian market over the next five years.

Gavin said: “In today’s business world, more and more companies are realising that communicating in their customer’s language is pivotal to their success in the global trading arena.”

“India was chosen as a place to open an office as it is beginning to emerge as a dominant player in the global market. India is also renowned for having a highly skilled workforce, which is another great benefit of opening an office there. ”

“Having a presence in Asia will give us a huge advantage. The fast–growing Asian economy offers fantastic business opportunities for Applied Language and will give us almost 24 hour global coverage, meaning our customers will have access to our services at any time of the day.”

Applied Language Solutions are a rapidly growing language solutions company that deliver a high quality personal and corporate language service with optimal quality, price and delivery.

Applied Language translates all kinds of documents from simple letters to large technical documents, including whole websites and printed catalogues, for specialist Medical, Legal, Financial and Marketing organisations. The company is committed to using only professional in-country translators and interpreters, of whom they have over 6,000 on their books. These translators work in over 150 languages including all the major European, Asian, African, Middle Eastern and American languages.

Applied Language Solutions now have seven offices world wide: Huddersfield, California, Paris, Barcelona, Sofia, Guatemala City and India, and are proud to work with prestigious customers such as Nike, United Nations and Yahoo!. The company was honoured to be the winner of HSBC Start-Up Star Awards 2006.

 

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Delhi May Consider Restricting Foreign Capital
Ruth David, 06.07.07, 3:30 AM ET
FORBES, NY

MUMBAI - India should consider discouraging some kinds of capital inflows as it struggles with a rapid appreciation of the rupee, due in part to a surge of foreign money into the country, a key government economic adviser said.

“Capital flows far exceed our current account deficit. We have to be very careful about how to moderate capital flows. We should not send out wrong signals, but at the same time some kinds of capital inflows could be discouraged,” C. Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, told reporters at a financial conference here.

The rupee’s appreciation against the dollar has helped to tame inflation, but it also has complicated monetary policy, he said. The rupee has strengthened over 9% against the greenback since the beginning of the year. Inflation, which peaked at 6.7% in January, is now at 5.06%.

In a bid to suck excess liquidity out of the system, the Reserve Bank of India has raised the short-term rate at which it lends to commercial banks five times since last June to 7.75%, and increased banks’ cash reserve ratio three times since December to 6.5%.

The central bank isn’t intervening to control the rise of the rupee, which is hurting Indian exporters (See: “ Rising Rupee Said To Hurt Indian Exports”), because to intervene it would need to buy dollars. That would push money into the system, conflicting with the banks’ monetary policy of eliminating excess liquidity to control inflation, points out D.K. Joshi, principal economist at the ratings agency CRISIL.

“The objective is to start discriminating between ‘good capital’ and ‘bad capital.’ In sectors like real estate, where there is already evidence of overheating, the government is now trying to regulate the inflows of foreign money,” he said. The central bank’s policy of hardening interest rates has also served as a dampener by making home loans increasingly expensive.

But Joshi said that the government’s policy remains one of attracting capital inflows, since they are a reflection of the health of the economy. “Because of some macro management issues, we may see some restrictions in sectors where price pressures are emerging,” he said.

Rangarajan, a former governor at the Reserve Bank of India, also acknowledged the economy was showing signs of overheating.

“Cyclical overheating in an economy occurs when the existing capacities are being fully utilized and demand pressures are still there. Yes there is, to some extent, cyclical overheating,” he said.

The Indian economy has risen at a compounded annual growth rate of over 8.5% in the last four years, but its rapid expansion has fuelled inflation and economists have voiced concerns that such high growth rates are likely to be unsustainable in the coming years.

 

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Trend Watch: 'India`s growth story' unfolds new facets
MyIris.com

In the last week, experts expressed their felicity on 9% plus GDP growth revealed by the Indian government. On May 31, official data estimated India`s GDP growth at an annual rate of 9.4% in fiscal year ended March 2007, higher than earlier advance estimates of 9.2% for the same period.

This fastest rate for 18 years was posted taking support from manufacturing sector which is estimated to zoom at the rate of 12.3% in 2006-07 (9.1% a year ago). Even so, the data brought out alarming figures about agriculture, growth of which slackened to 2.7% in 2006-07 from 6% a year earlier.

Above 9% growth for the second year in the series, however underweighted the estimates for the last quarter of 2006-07, when major restrictive monetary policy decisions were imposed while aiming at curbing inflation (the policy decisions have lag effects). The central statistical organization, government body estimated the economy to post 9.2% growth in last quarter of past fiscal, lower than 10% for the corresponding period of last year.
Moreover, sectors like financing, institute real estate & business services, construction and agriculture forestry and fishing, showed a downturn.

Along with this mixed data, the Government patted its back while pointing at 14.62% growth in the gross fixed capital formation at Rs 8,686.18 billion in 2006-07 (at constant prices). At current prices it is estimated at 29.5% against a corresponding rate of 28.1% in the previous year. The union finance minister P. Chidamaram, expressed his happiness about the growth, and complimented the Indian economy`s shifted to a higher growth trajectory.

Thus, whilst the government is revising its growth estimates in upward direction, international bodies like IMF and World Bank are predicting a slow down in Indian economic growth. World Bank, while giving its long term views, projected the growth to slow to 8.4% in the current financial year, 7.8% in 2008-09 and 7.5% in 2009-10 in its Global Development Finance, 2007.

The expected downturn is attributed to restrictive policies implemented by Indian policy makers. The bank noted that more restrictive policy conditions will lead to deceleration in investment growth and weaker private consumption and government spending, and thus will contribute to a slowdown in the GDP growth.

Earlier, International Monetary Fund in its World Economic Outlook, 2007, projected the GDP growth at 8.4% in 2007-08 and 7.8% in next fiscal.

Economist`s estimates always bring in a wave of fresh air, adding keynotes to India`s growth story. While talking at `the India Investment Show 2007,` organized by myiris.com in association with ICICI Direct on June 2, Saugata Bhattacharya, chief economist, UTI bank said that growth is not a new phenomenon for India. The economy was growing by noticeable numbers since 1998. However, powered by new structural turns in its on-going growth story, India will become an economic giant by 2025. He pointed out that current growth in capital good manufacturing can be a good indicator for future developments.

The economist further pointed out that Indian economy is characterized by balances between consumption and savings, unlike US and China, which are two extremes. He clarified his stand by numbers, which reflected relatively higher consumption in the US economy and that of savings in China.

The above stated factors, according to him, will lead to sustainable growth to India and allow Indian financial market to provide good returns.

Going ahead, Dr Ajit Ranade, chief economist Aditya Birla Group, believes that, India will post good growth and returns to investors, however he also pointed out some worrisome factors about India`s macro economic environment posing problems for growing Indian economy. He markedly point out that inflation, fiscal deficit, Rupee and oil prices are the causes of concerns for India`s growth. He further raised question about the continuation of export (excluding software) growth in India. Moreover, he suspected whether the economy will have the appetite to digest more Dollar inflows.

According to him, growth, rising trade, external debt, demographic transition and knowledge base are India`s assets while domestic debt, resources crunch, poverty, inter-state disparity and fiscal deficit can be placed in liabilities side of India`s balance sheet.

He further explained that, growth will call for higher tax collections, surge in assets prices, positive perceptions of foreign investors which in turn will attract more foreign capital flows. However, at present, infrastructure deficits both in physical and social are constraints for the growth, he feels.

Given the strengths and weaknesses, and various predictions, the best policy of the hour seems to be `wait and watch` for further key economic data.

 

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Yorkshire puts on the ritz for Bollywood
By Roya Nikkhah
The Telegraph
Last Updated: 1:03am BST 10/06/2007

Amid a sea of shimmering saris, gold bangles and picture-perfect choreography, Yorkshire was yesterday transformed into an Indian extravaganza for the climax of the Bollywood Oscars.

A county more famous for Wensleydale cheese and the former cricket umpire Dickie Bird than high glamour and movie star Aishwarya Rai had a serious shot of kitsch as the eighth International Indian Film Academy Awards reached fever pitch.

The great and the good of the Bollywood industry were greeted by a four-day fringe festival of Indian culture.

About 30,000 Bollywood fans were at the festival, the highlight of which was last night's awards ceremony at the Sheffield Hallam Arena, watched by a global television audience of more than 500 million and attended by Bollywood royalty, including Shilpa Shetty, the former Celebrity Big Brother contestant, and India's newly married golden couple, Rai and Abhiskek Bachchan. Leeds hosted "Bollywood in the Park", which attracted more than 60,000 visitors eager for a glimpse of the celebrities.

With bangra music blaring from giant speakers, the air around Roundhay Park was heavy with the scent of saffron and samosas.

Girls dripping in rhinestone with eyes heavily made up with kohl prowled the park with autograph books. "I'm dying to see Salman Khan in the flesh," said Navjit Abdennour, 17, a student from Leeds. "I've seen all his films and he is so handsome and has such big muscles. I just can't believe he is coming to somewhere like Leeds."

Nor could Michael Armitage, 80, a retired engineer from Leeds. In a cloth cap and twill shirt, Mr Armitage looked somewhat bemused as he peered through the window of a parked pink stretch limousine to check if Shilpa Shetty was inside. "I just came along to have a look and try some of the different foods as I don't know much about Indian culture," he said. "It's all very colourful and exciting but it is a bit noisy, isn't it?"

Local celebrity Sir Jimmy Savile put in an appearance, perhaps hoping to bag himself a Bollywood bride in the "Wedding and Lifestyle" arena.

Over four days, Yorkshire hosted more than 50 IIFA-related events in Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, York and Hull. The choice of Yorkshire has raised eyebrows, particularly as the relatively unglamorous city of Sheffield beat New York, Barcelona and Sydney for the right to host the awards ceremony.

Judith Donovan, head of the Yorkshire Tourist Board, said: "This is only the tip of the iceberg. India is the next big tourist market for Great Britain and this event will guarantee that all those visitors go straight past London and on to Yorkshire."

Yorkshire Forward, the development agency, invested more than £2.5 million in the event. The local economy is expected to reap about £10 million.

 

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Latin America attracting investors from India
Similarities in consumer bases help make the region a natural market.
By Marla Dickerson, Times Staff Writer
June 9, 2007


JUITEPEC, MEXICO — Ask for directions to Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. in this industrial city in central Mexico and locals will give you a curious look.

Many are unfamiliar with the drug maker, one of India's largest pharmaceutical companies, which purchased a production facility here in late 2005 for about $59 million.

It may be the first time they've heard of an Indian company doing business in Mexico, but it won't be the last.

Indian investment in Latin America is relatively small, but it's growing quickly. Indian firms have invested about $7 billion in the region over the last decade, said Rengaraj Viswanathan, head of the Latin American division of India's Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. He figures that amount will easily double in the next five years.

While India has become a magnet for foreign investment, Indian companies are looking abroad for opportunities, motivated by declining global trade barriers and fierce competition at home. Their gaze is falling on Latin America, where hyperinflation and currency devaluation no longer dominate headlines.

"Latin America is becoming a stable and increasingly growing and prosperous market that offers opportunities for our companies," Viswanathan said.

Like China, India is trying to lock up supplies of energy and minerals to feed its roaring economy. Indian firms have stakes in oil and natural gas ventures in Colombia, Venezuela and Cuba. Bolivia last year signed a deal with New Delhi-based Jindal Steel and Power Ltd., which plans to invest $2.3 billion to extract iron ore and build a steel mill in that South American nation.

At the same time, Indian information technology companies are setting up outsourcing facilities to be closer to their customers in the West. Tata Consultancy Services is the leader, employing 5,000 tech workers in more than a dozen Latin American countries.

Last month it inaugurated an office in Guadalajara, Mexico, that company officials said would soon employ about 500 people and as many as 10 times that within five years. Competition for tech workers in India has driven up costs there, as has the rupee's rise against the U.S. dollar, enhancing the attractiveness of Latin America.

Indian manufacturing firms, accustomed to catering to low-income consumers at home, are finding Latin America a natural market. Mumbai-based Tata Motors Ltd. has formed a joint venture with Italy's Fiat to produce small pickup trucks in Argentina. Generic drug makers such as Dr. Reddy's are offering low-cost alternatives in a region where U.S. and European multinationals have long dominated.

"We are looking at markets to grow," said Puvvala Yugandhar, senior director of business development at Dr. Reddy's.

By sharing technology and employing chemists, engineers and programmers, Indian companies are helping to develop Latin America's human resources — and not just extract its natural ones. That's boosting the nation's standing among the region's leaders.

Some see India as a partner rather than a rival that's out to steal their resources and jobs, a common worry here about China.

Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva this month traveled to India with a contingent of entrepreneurs looking to forge stronger ties. Mexico sent its biggest-ever business delegation to India in March, and the two nations recently signed an economic cooperation accord. Mexican President Felipe Calderon in May snipped the ribbon inaugurating Tata Consultancy Services' Guadalajara facility.

"He knows that the way to compete with China is in services," said Ankur Prakash, general manager of Tata Consultancy Services in Mexico. He said 98% of his company's employees in Latin America were locals.

"We are not sending 747s full of Indians to this part of the world to work," Prakash said. "We are here to create jobs, not to gobble things up."

Mexico has been particularly hard-hit by China's rise. The Asian nation's exports of textiles, shoes, electronics and other consumer goods have cost Mexico tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs, displaced it as the United States' second-largest trading partner and flooded its domestic market with imported merchandise. Mexico's trade deficit with China was a record $22.7 billion last year. China has invested less than $100 million here since 1994, according to figures from the Bank of Mexico.

Mexico's trading relationship with India, albeit small, is much more balanced. Mexico's trade deficit with India was just under half a billion dollars last year. Indian companies have invested $1.6 billion here since 1994 — about 17 times more than China — according to Mexico's central bank. Viswanathan of India's Ministry of External Affairs calculates Indian investment in Mexico to be around $3 billion.

Some of that is in basic industries and traditional maquiladora factories making goods for export. Mexico's biggest steel plant is owned by ArcelorMittal, whose president and chief executive is Indian tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, founder of Mittal Steel. Mittal merged with Luxembourg-based Arcelor last year to form the world's largest steel company.

Consumer electronics firm Videocon, based in Mumbai, owns a factory in Mexicali, Mexico, that produces television picture tubes.

But IT companies, including Sasken Communication Technologies Inc. and Hexaware Technologies, also are setting up operations in Mexico. Bangalore-based Infosys Technologies Ltd. is building a service center in northern Mexico that will open this summer and employ 1,000 people within five years, company spokesman Peter McLaughlin said. It will provide consulting and back-office services such as accounting for corporate clients in the U.S. and Latin America.

McLaughlin said the company chose Monterrey because it liked the city's modern infrastructure, educated workforce, abundance of bilingual talent and proximity to the U.S.

"It's imperative to serve our clients in the time zone that's convenient to their businesses," he said.

Indian pharmaceutical companies, too, are finding Latin America to be healthy territory for expansion. Firms including Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. and Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd. have sales or manufacturing operations in the region.

Based in Hyderabad, India, Dr. Reddy's sells its antibiotics, stomach remedies and allergy medications throughout Latin America. But the Mexican plant, purchased from Switzerland-based Roche in late 2005, is its first venture in manufacturing in the region.

The factory's main product is naproxen. That's the active ingredient in over-the-counter painkillers such as Aleve, which is manufactured by Bayer, a major customer of Dr. Reddy's.

Yugandhar, Dr. Reddy's business development director, said the purchase was attractive for a variety of reasons. The plant, which employs 340 people, is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for exports to the United States. It has positioned the company to expand in Mexico, and the purchase overnight turned Dr. Reddy's into the world's No. 1 supplier of naproxen.

"We wanted to be in the top 10 players in the world … in generics," Yugandhar said. "You can't do that [by growing] organically."

Yugandhar is the sole Indian at the plant, but says he has had little trouble fitting in. Although there are no Indian restaurants near him, spicy Mexican food has helped fill the void. He is working on his Spanish, but most high-level meetings take place in English, the company's official language. Mexicans handle the day-to-day operations at the plant.

Plant director Francisco Casillas said the Indian owners were first-rate scientists who were highly cost-conscious, a legacy of the hotly competitive, low-margin Indian market. He misses the abundant resources the facility had under its European owners. But he has developed respect for the Indian approach on his travels to headquarters in Hyderabad.

"They are always looking for more efficiency, productivity and cost savings," said Casillas, who keeps a figure of the elephant-headed Ganesh, Hindu god of good luck, on his desk. "They have taught us a lot."

 

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‘Kolkata can be gateway to S-E Asia’
Press Trust of India

RANCHI, June 9: A multi-infrastructural link with Kolkata would help South-East Asian nations and Japan in strengthening economic relations with Indian states such as Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal, Japan’s Consul General, Mr Noro Motoyoshi said today.

Kolkata could be the gateway to South-East Asian countries, South Korea, China and Japan and a multi-infrastructural link including the railways, airports, roads and ports would help eastern states in trading, Mr Noro told a Press conference here.

On a two-day visit to Jharkhand, he said the mineral-rich state should have a strong infrastructure connection with Kolkata.

“During my meeting with the chief minister I told him the importance of a strong linkage between Jharkhand and Kolkata to develop the economy of Jharkhand,” he said.
Asked whether Japan was interested to invest in such infrastructure in Jharkhand, Mr Noro said they were to be shortlisted by the Indian government.

Recalling the cultural treaty between the former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Japanese Premier Missi in 1957, Mr Noro said Japan was interested in strengthening relations in all spheres including political, economic, culture and military as the two nations celebrate 50 years of the agreement.

Kolkata can be gateway to S-E Asian nations: Japan

Ranchi, June 09: A multi-infrastructural link with Kolkata would help South-East Asian nations and Japan in strengthening economic relations with Indian states like Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal, Japan's consul general Noro Motoyoshi said Saturday.

Kolkata could be the gateway to South-East Asian countries, South Korea, China and Japan and a multi- infrastructural link including the railways, airports, roads and ports would help eastern states in trading, Noro told a press conference here.

On a two-day visit to Jharkhand, he said the mineral- rich state should have a strong infrastructure connection with Kolkata.

"During my meeting with the Chief Minister (Madhu Koda) I told him the importance of a strong linkage between Jharkhand and Kolkata to develop the economy of Jharkhand," he said.

Asked whether Japan was interested to invest in such infrastructure in Jharkhand, Noro said they were to be shortlisted by the Indian government.

Recalling the cultural treaty between former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Japanese premier Missi in 1957, Noro said Japan was interested in strengthening relations in all spheres including political, economic, culture and military as the two nations celebrate fifty years of the agreement.

Noro also highlighted Japanese government's intention of strengthening defence relations between the two nations and said Japanese maritime self defence force already had an extensive drill with India.

 

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Operon, JH BIO and MAXCOOL to have manufacturing facility in India
Bangalore, uni:

Korean operon, JH BIO and Indian air condition manufacturer Maxcool announced a strategic alliance to establish a state-of-the-art facility to manufacture ultra low temperature freezers, freeze dryers and other products related to Cryogenic technologies.

Korean operon, JH BIO and Indian air condition manufacturer Maxcool announced a strategic alliance to establish a state-of-the-art facility to manufacture ultra low temperature freezers, freeze dryers and other products related to Cryogenic technologies, in the city on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters, Maxcool Managing Director G V K Rao said the facility would be set up near Dehradun or Mumbai. The investment would be around Rs.20 lakhs in next three years, he added.

Technology

He said various cryogenic technologies and know how available with Operon, protected by number of patents in several countries together with the technical and manufacturing capabilities of Maxcool would be exploited in commercialising the technologies for numerous applications.

The joint venture would also explore the world markets, besides capturing good market share in India. He said the booming economy and excellent growth of biotechnology sector offered a very significant opportunity for the products manufactured in India to attain critical volumes.

 

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CII, MARG to train unskilled workers in Tamil Nadu

Chennai, June 10 (IANS) The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and MARG Constructions Ltd have joined hands to train 5,000 unskilled workers for the construction industry in Tamil Nadu to meet the demand for skilled personnel.

The industry body Saturday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the private firm to launch its Grassroots Level Skill Development Initiative (GLSDI).

This programme would provide pre-employment skills and technical training to 5,000 unskilled workers by the end of 2008.

"The specific objective of the CII-MARG GLSDI project is to generate social inclusiveness and to provide socially and economically vulnerable youth a chance to be part of the mainstream economy," said B. Santhanam, managing director of Saint Gobain Glass India and chairman of the CII Task Force on Skills, Employability and Affirmative Action.

"The initiative would bridge the gap between demand and supply for skilled human resources in the entire Sriperumbudur, Oraggadam, Cheyyur blocks that are potential zones for extensive development in the engineering and IT sectors," Santhanam said.

MARG Constructions managing director said: "The programme will go a long way in making a difference to the growth of society.

"This initiative will grow into a movement that will meet the challenges of sustainability and of inclusive growth," he added.

IANS

 

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United colours of Air-India crew
P R Sanjai / Mumbai June 10, 2007

The Air-India and Indian Airlines combine, wearing the new Air-India brand and livery, is set to give a snazzy new look for its cabin crew.

It has roped in internationally acclaimed designer Ritu Beri and fashion guru Pierre Cardin to do the honours. While Beri will design the uniforms for the female cabin crew, Cardin will give the male cabin crew uniforms a new look.

Air-India Chairman and Managing Director Vasudevan Thulasidas confirmed the development but declined to divulge more details.

Ritu Beri is the first Asian designer to head a French fashion brand, Scherrer, while globally renowned Pierre Cardin is known for its avant-garde style and space-age designs.

A top Air-India executive gave Business Standard some cues on what to expect from the new uniforms, which will be international and compete with those of Jet Airways’ and Kingfisher’s.

“There will be one set of uniforms for all Air-India cabin crew post the merger. Certainly, we will not drop the traditional sarees. But the new designs would definitely have a modern touch and will reflect contemporary fashion without losing out on Indian culture.”

Sources said Beri and Cardin have secured the contract despite tough competition from the country’s top fashion designers such as JJ Walia, Tarun Tahiliani, Satya Paul and lifestyle and luxury brand Ravissant.

“The new Air-India entity is likely to announce and showcase these new uniforms in a grand function soon. The designs of these uniforms will reflect the culture of various states,” sources said.

The state-owned carrier is following a trend started by its rivals like Kingfisher and Jet Airways. Italian fashion designer Roberto Capucci and his partner Enrico Minio recently helped Jet Airways redesign its cabin crew outfits.

The fact that Capucci had never designed airline uniforms before, coupled with his reputation for elegant style, is what made him the choice to create something never seen before in airline uniforms.

Meanwhile, Air-India has also finalised US-based Webber Group and Contour Group of the UK for supplying seats for its Boeing 787 airplanes, better known as the Dreamliners.

The executive seats, that can be turned into flat beds, in these planes would be supplied by Contour, while Webber will provide the economy class seats.

 

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Institutes unlimited
India’s sons and daughters are beyond state control
Posted online: Sunday, June 10, 2007 at 0000 hours IST

The times they are a-changin’ sang Bob Dylan more than 40 years ago. It could find a ready echo in what is happening to our labour supply. A country that has alternately despaired and preened on its seemingly inexhaustible supply of labour, is being asked whether the wells will run dry. Are there enough skills available to keep the economy growing at this pace? When one-tenth of an estimated labour force of 400 million is unemployed, that might seem like a perverse question. But, increasingly, global investors are making that query.

The reasons are obvious. Continuing with the oil sector analogy, the wells may be deep enough, but a lot of that oil is not extractable. But then, just as new technologies are turning hitherto unviable wells economic, investment in education and training is shaping the latent pool of labour the way the economy can make use of it. Government educational systems have little to do with this. It is private enterprise that has stepped forth to acquaint youngsters with the skills they need to meet the economy’s demands. The quality of training covers a range from superlative to ghastly, but it is largely for the market force of recruitment to separate and push them in the desired direction.

For now, we should be grateful that they exist, for there would be no other way to overcome India’s acute shortage of skilled labour. If India got $15 billion of FDI in 2006-07, a large part was on the assumption that this infusion of capital will find the appropriate labour to spin the desired profits with (given, of course, usable land and risk-taking enterprise, the two other factors of production that have justifiably seen their rewards shoot up). We must, therefore, recognise the stellar contribution made by private institutes towards answering the labour supply question.

It would be shortsighted of the government to react to sporadic reports of dubious practices at private technical training institutes by imposing a regulatory system that brings the mushrooming of these academies to a premature end. Government-run technical training is taking too long to expand. The six planned AIIMS-like institutes are still on the drawing board. Movement on the new IIITs and IITs is equally slow. The budget of the department is quite stretched, at just Rs 9,209 crore for 2007-08 (about Rs 1,500 crore of which is earmarked for existing IITs).

To top it all, India’s higher academia is suffering the consequences of a control system that does not even think of education capacity as a crisis at all. It is still impossible to set up a proper full-faculty multi-discipline university in India or form a partnership with a foreign university. The sector, at its core, remains shut. The attitudes here seem to bestow education with a sanctity too precious to allow the taint of foreign influence, which is totally absurd in an era of openness and globalisation. Most remarkably, the closed system appears designed to ring-fence the minds that require the least protection — those of intellectuals, the very people who should be trusted to think for themselves. Larger freedom in the education/training sector will go a long way towards equipping young Indians with the skillsets required to sustain the growth trajectory well into the future. If the government cannot lend the future a hand, it should step out of the way.

 

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IBM announces Big Green Project in India
itVARnews Staff
Saturday, June 09, 2007

IBM announced “Project Big Green” in India. The initiative includes new products and services for IBM and its clients to sharply reduce data center energy consumption, transforming the world’s business and public technology infrastructures into “green” data centers.

IBM launched this initiative as part of the global Intelligent Energy campaign, aimed at helping economies cope with the existing and impending energy crisis. Last month, IBM announced that it will redirect US$ 1 billion a year, globally, across its businesses, to mobilize the company’s resources to dramatically increase the level of energy efficiency in IT.

IBM’s efforts under the Intelligent Energy campaign will be channeled through four specific initiatives - IBM’s Client Innovations in Energy, IBM’s Application of Technology & Services for Energy Efficiency, IBM’s Activities with Energy Influencers, and Environmental Efforts at Big Blue. With its work under each of these pillars, IBM aims to create a holistic approach to addressing the energy issue facing the globe.

Announcing “Project Big Green” in India, Vice President - Site & Facilities Services, IBM, Steven Sams said, “Businesses around the world are consuming extreme amounts of energy through their use of information technology --- over 100 billion kilowatts per year globally -- furthering today's energy crisis. In 2007, there will be $10 billion spent on data center energy worldwide, and IDC predicts that power and cooling spend in the data center will grow at eight times the rate of hardware spend.”

“The fact is that the data center energy crisis is inhibiting our clients’ business growth now and in the future. According to Morgan Stanley, energy used to power and cool today’s data centers represents 44 percent of a data center’s total cost of ownership – and for a company of any size today, this can be a huge saving, besides it being a great contribution towards protecting the environment.” he added.

Elaborating on the issue in India, Country Manager, eServer pSeries, IBM India, Jyoti Satyanathan said, “In India, the need for intelligent energy solutions is more acute than many other nations. As per IDC, IT spending in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow by 52 percent to reach US$162.5 billion by 2010 – and this growth is driven by India in addition to China. However, our country is already facing an energy crisis. According to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), at the current annual generation capacity of 1,30,000 MW, we face a shortage of nearly 9% with peak load deficits being higher at 10-11% and it will only get worse. It is important that Indian organizations start taking this problem seriously, and make the appropriate investments so that their energy spends can keep pace with their growth.”

“The Green Datacenter offerings can help conserve energy, and cut a typical datacenter cost by half. In addition, they can protect the environment by reducing emissions that amount to taking 1300 automobiles off the road,” he added.

“Project Big Green” is an initiative under one of the four pillars of the Intelligent Energy Campaign - IBM’s Application of Technology and Services for Energy Efficiency. It targets corporate data centers where energy constraints and high costs can limit growth. As part of this initiative IBM will create a global “green” team of over 1000 energy efficiency specialists from across the company, to offer “green” solutions comprising IBM’s hardware, software, services, research, and finance offerings.

IBM currently runs the world’s largest commercial technology infrastructure, with more than eight million square feet of data centers in six continents. In India, IBM has executed datacenter projects exceeding 2.5 lakhs square feet for over 55 clients.

The savings are substantial -- for an average 25,000 square foot data center, clients should be able to achieve 42 percent energy savings. Based on the energy mix in the US, this savings equates to 7,439 tons of carbon emissions reduction per year. IBM expects this will also help save more than five billion kilowatt hours of energy per year, globally.

By using these technologies internally, IBM expects to double the computing capacity of its data centers within the next three years without increasing power consumption or its carbon footprint. India houses one of the largest IBM data center in the Asia Pacific region with more than 4,800 sq feet.

IBM will soon launch an open, Web-enabled clearinghouse for energy efficiency incentives. The Energy Efficiency Incentive Finder will serve as a central website for details about energy efficiency incentives and programs that are available from local utility companies, governments, and other participating agencies anywhere in the world.

IBM Global Financing (IGF), the financing business segment of IBM, will provide a "green wrapper" of financing solutions to help data center owners access or acquire the hardware, software and services they need to build an energy efficient data center. IGF's simple financing solutions to qualified customers will also help alleviate some of the capital constraints and allow enterprises the opportunity to align their upfront costs to anticipated project benefits. Easy lease and loan terms will also help facilitate the planning and tracking of project costs.

According to the Integrated Energy Policy document (Hon. Prime Minister’s speech at the Energy Conclave 2006 - “Implementing the Integrated Energy Policy: The Way Forward”) the estimated energy requirements in the year 2030 will be higher than today’s levels by a factor of anywhere between 4 and 5, if our economy grows at around 8% per annum. The figures of future requirements are gigantic. Electricity generation capacity would need to go up from our current installed capacity of a 131,000 MW to between 800,000 to a 950,000 MW.

 

[Bushroda]

Climate Change: Indian emissions – An opportunity in Asia’s booming economy
Ethical Corporation

Indian companies focus when there are profits to be made, and are only slowly tuning in to the emissions debate. So a stronger regulatory environment is required for real progress to be made

Industry in India tends to act fast where it sees opportunities to gain revenue and drag its feet where there is no money to be made. At present, there are no regulations on greenhouse gas emissions in the country, although financial incentives to invest in emissions reduction do exist.

According to Dr Albrecht Kaupp of the Indo-German Energy Programme, who advises the Indian government’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency, the market potential in energy efficiency, energy conservation and management is over $2 billion a year. Barely a fifth of this potential is currently exploited.

Several reports, including the latest one by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, note that India will be among the countries worst affected by rising temperatures. Lehman Brothers have estimated India will suffer an estimated 5% loss of GDP due to climate change. This is twice the cost to the EU, the biggest OECD loser, and more than one percentage point higher than the cost to Africa.

Rapid growth

Meanwhile, from the early 1990s, India has experienced one of the fastest economic growth rates in the world, reaching over 9% last year. The contribution of India to global carbon dioxide emissions is around 4%, but it is growing fast as the country develops new power plants.

According to the 17th Electricity Power Survey of the Indian government, India’s peak electricity demand was 75,756 MW in 2003, and will more than double to 152,746 MW by 2011-12.

And managing the environmental impact of growth is increasingly under the spotlight in India. A recent World Bank report, “Strengthening Institutions for Sustainable Growth: Country Environmental Analysis for India”, has identified environmental sustainability as the next great challenge that India faces along in its path to development.

According to the report, only half of Indian industries monitored complied with government pollution standards. And these monitoring programmes do not cover many small and medium enterprises, which are less able to afford clean technology and pollution controls.

Clean development leader

Traditionally, Indian industry has been slow in adopting environmental standards in comparison to its speedy economic growth. But in contrast to industry’s generally poor environmental records, India is the world leader in Clean Development Mechanism projects.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), proposed under the Kyoto Protocol, is an instrument to promote foreign investment in greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects in developing countries. The latest figures put out by the Indian ministry of environment and forests talk of an investment of 499 billion rupees (around $12 billion) in 591 CDM projects generating over 379 million carbon credits.

But, is Indian industry doing anything at all except churning out project proposals on Clean Development Mechanisms?

Leading lights

Some far-sighted corporates have taken unilateral action. Leaders like ITC and Tata Steel have shown foresight and taken steps to address their greenhouse gas emissions.

ITC is one of India’s largest private sector companies with interests in cigarettes, hotels, agri-business and information technology, and beyond. Company chairman Y C Deveshwar announced in 2006 that ITC had become “carbon positive”. It has done so on the back of energy conservation measures, using low carbon fuels and creating carbon sinks in its large-scale agro-forestry programmes.

Tata Steel, which recently acquired Corus Steel, has also taken steps to stabilise and reduce its energy consumption.

Some attempts have been made to drum up popular support for tackling climate change. Greenpeace has joined with CNN-IBN, the television news network, launching a campaign to replace incandescent light bulbs with energy saving lamps.

Shareholder pressure

And there is now increased pressure from global investors for Indian companies to act on climate change. For the first time this year, the top 100 companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange completed questionnaires about their greenhouse gas emissions and preparedness to tackle climate change.

The Carbon Disclosure Project, representing a group of 284 global institutional investors with assets of $41 trillion under management, has asked companies to evaluate the risks and opportunities facing them due to a changing environment.

Calls for better transparency on emissions and the evaluation of risk from rising temperatures are encouraging Indian companies to address the issue of climate change. Without government incentives or regulations to reduce emissions, however, the majority of Indian business may continue stalling.

The Indian government has started taking small steps by outlining new regulations promoting energy efficiency of appliances and developing green building codes, but larger and more comprehensive measures will have to wait until a post-Kyoto agreement takes shape.

The government’s position is that global warming needs to be addressed through “common but differentiated responsibilities” and that the industrialised countries must bear the burden of their historical emissions.

Until such time, the government’s position is that it will not take on any green house gas reduction targets.

 

[Bushroda]

U.S. Tech Industry Pleads for Fewer Restrictions on Foreign Workers
Marcus Yam (Blog) - June 8, 2007 8:17 AM
DailyTech, IL

Indian outsourcing firms, Microsoft, Google and others speak out on the restrictions on hiring foreign help

The pervasiveness of the Internet allows for a new definition of a “global market,” opening doors not only for businesses, but also labor forces. While a corporation may cater its products and services to a worldwide audience, it must adhere to strict rules with it comes to their human resources.

One such regulation by the U.S. government is the H1-B non-immigrant visa, which allows employers to seek temporary help (six years per visa) from skilled foreigners who have the equivalent U.S. Bachelor's Degree education. The most well known example of H1-B visa holders are workers from India providing IT duties to large Indian outsourcing firms and U.S. corporations. Out of the top 10 companies receiving workers thanks to H1-B visas, seven of them are Indian outsourcing firms, while the remaining three are Microsoft, IBM and Oracle.

In the early 1990s, the quota on the number of H1-B visas issued was rarely met, but in the last few years, all H1-Bs were snapped up in just a matter of months. Companies who are unable to acquire adequate number of visas will have to wait until the next fiscal year before refilling their applications. For the fiscal year 2008, the entire quota was exhausted before the end of the first day on which applications were accepted.

The U.S. government caps the number of H1-B visas at 65,000, with provisions for more workers with foreign graduate degrees and when the quotas are met. In May of this year, the Senate voted to increase H1-B visa fees from $1,500 to $5,000. Proceeds from the fees are used to fund U.S. educational programs.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a strong supporter of the bill who originally sought for a greater fee increase to $8,500, explained his reasons for the increase to the Senate: "What many of us have come to understand is that these H-1B visas are not being used to supplement the American workforce where we have shortages but, rather, H1-B visas are being used to replace American workers with lower cost foreign workers."

The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), a group that represents a collection of Indian companies, was quick to refute the Senators’ claim, citing information that says there is no link between U.S. job losses. "These two do not seem to go hand in hand as exhibited through the 2006 survey by Money Magazine," NASSCOM said regarding Sander’s statement.

The group also pointed out that U.S. firms also benefit from its relationship with Indian companies. "India is a major buyer of a whole host of US goods and services, including aircraft, wheat, branded garments and accessories etc... An overwhelming majority of the computers and software used by India's IT industry as also other sectors of the economy are those produced by US companies like HP, Dell, Microsoft and Oracle," it said.

The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) also opposes the recent changes in the H1-B bill because it "seems to give short shrift to innovation and the competitiveness of America’s high tech industries." The ITAA expressed its concerns (PDF) in a letter to Senate leaders (PDF) on both sides of the aisle as well as the negotiators of the compromise measure.

"America’s economy is strong and vibrant, but the country’s future competitiveness rests on the ability of firms to recruit globally. As you know, the H1-B cap for FY `08 was reached in April, shutting out US employers from recruiting highly skilled foreign nationals who are graduating from US institutions with degrees in computer science, engineering, mathematics and other scientific and technical fields. Vacancies go unfilled and highly valued workers are forced to leave the country," the letter read.

The letter later concludes, "There is no doubt that immigration reform is needed that is tough and protects our border. But we have the opportunity to pass a law that is fair, practical and strengthens our economy. Most importantly, we need to have workplace enforcement that is effective, and uses the best available technology."

Regardless of job loss statistics, Sanders believes that large corporations like Microsoft should divert some of its off-shore spending back home. "To win favor in China, Microsoft has pledged to spend more than $750 million on cooperative research, technology for schools and other investments," Sanders believed. "If Microsoft and other corporations have billions of dollars to invest in technology…in China, these same companies should have enough money to provide scholarships for middle-class kids in the United States of America."

This shortage of visas is an issue that many tech firms have been wrestling with for a number of years. Bill Gates said in his congressional testimony in 2005, "You can't imagine how tough it is to plan as a company where we say, 'let's have this engineering group and staff it' ... we'll have Canadians waiting at the border until some bureaucratic thing happens where a few more [visa spots] get opened up. That's just wounding us in this global competition." Gates was hoping to convince politicians to remove the caps on H1-B visas.

Although it is not in the top 10 companies receiving H1-B visas, Google strongly urged the U.S. government to raise the quota on H1-B visas. Google Vice-President of People Operations, Laszlo Bock, pointed out in his congressional testimony that the Internet giant was built on the foundation of foreigners, citing Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s Soviet Union family origins.

"We opened our doors to Sergey's parents – a mathematician and an economist," said Bock. "Our educational system served Sergey well – he attended the University of Maryland and Stanford University. Our free market economy supported Sergey and Larry's entrepreneurship and rewarded it when they proved that they could turn their idea into a successful business."

Bock also said that Google’s principal scientist and one of the chief creators of Google News, Krishna Bharat, was born in India and is a direct addition to the company through the H1-B visa. About eight percent of Google’s U.S. workforce is on a six-year H1-B visa.

Bock wasn’t campaigning only for his company’s interests, but rather of the entire IT industry. "In fact, Google is just the most recent story for immigrants in Silicon Valley. Intel, eBay, Yahoo, Sun Microsystems, and many other companies were all founded by immigrants who were welcomed by America," he said. "We are not the only ones recruiting talented engineers, scientists and mathematicians. We are in a fierce worldwide competition for top talent unlike ever before. As companies in India, China and other countries step up efforts to attract highly skilled employees, the U.S. must continue to focus on attracting and retaining these great minds."

 

[Bushroda]

Mumbai Walks a Fine Line for Power
IEEE Spectrum, NY

India's on-again-off-again economy is back on again. Fed by the outsourcing boom, India's largest city, Mumbai, is flourishing and growing skyward. A new megacity is rising from the rubble of an ancient capital--with all the modern amenities. This means that Mumbai's planners have a lot to cope with these days. Chief among their responsibilities is keeping the lights on, literally. As we learn from Senior Editor Harry Goldstein, that task is a high-wire balancing act in which the experts are performing some nimble acrobatics to keep the power up and running. Reporting back from the city once called Bombay by westerners, Goldstein analyzes the nature of the problem in this month's feature "How to Blackout-Proof a City".

With some 18 million consumers, Mumbai's electric power grid is one of the most insatiable systems in the world. It is hardly one of the most robust, however. In periods of peak demand, local authorities told Goldstein, managing the load is a precarious venture. It is a bit of irony that, just as India is poised to become an economic superpower, the utilities in the country's showcase city have launched their own public-service campaign urging Mumbai's citizens to conserve energy or face extensive planned outages this summer for the first time ever.

"The load is rising a lot faster than anybody realizes," said Gerry F. Grove-White, executive director and chief operating officer of India's Tata power utility. "I look out my flat and every tower crane I see, I see increased load. And the investment in generation has not kept pace. Last year we scraped by. This year the jury is out when summer comes."

Mumbai has long been blessed with abundant power, delivered chiefly from local hydroelectric projects that have been running since colonial times. The problem today is matching the rate of growth of the 21st Century version of the city. Increasing the availability, reliability, and quality of electricity is a long-term goal that will be met only with tens of thousands more megawatts of generation capacity. In the near term, administrators and engineers from Mumbai's power companies, along with government regulators, are doing their best to stave off planned brownouts, not to mention even worse conditions.

"We're going to have to take a big deep breath and say, we're going to invest," Grove-White told Goldstein regarding Tata's planning. "We know what we need to do, and we will sell this output ultimately."

In the meantime, with the peak demand period of the summer month's looming, Mumbai's utilities and local government have mounted an all-out public awareness campaign to use energy wisely. The message from the power companies is clear, Goldstein writes. To get through the tropical season without significant load shedding or blackouts, Mumbai's consumers will have to sacrifice a few of the conveniences they've come to enjoy over the past few years.

Should that advice fail to reach receptive listeners, what has now been turned on could just as easily be turned back off again, no matter how nimble its providers skillfully perform.

 

[Bushroda]

India likely to capture 15 pc of KPO by 2010

New Delhi, June. 10 (PTI): Highlighting the continued growth story of India, the Government on Sunday said the country is likely to capture 15 per cent of over 54 billion dollars in the upcoming Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (KPO) industry by 2010.

Pointing out that India is one of the few economies expanding at fast pace, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said the country has huge potential in the KPO sector.

Addressing the Plenary Session on the Emerging Power of Emerging Markets at St Petersburg, he said an estimated growth of nine per cent by India over the next five years would require investment rate of 35.1 per cent of GDP.

At the session, organised by the International Economic Forum, he said the organised retailing in India is expected to grow at 37 per cent in in 2007 and 42 per cent in 2008.

"This is also offering opportunities in the real estate sector," he said.

Quoting a McKinsey study, Nath said the Indian pharma industry is projected to grow to 25 billion dollars by 2010.

He emphasised the opportunities presented by India's farm and food processing sector, which has been identified as a priority area. He also spoke of India's strength in the gems and jewellery and automobile and auto-components sector.

Kamal Nath said the change in the global trade has come about as a result of the rise of the emerging markets and pointed to India as an example of the growing clout of these countries in the global economy.

"While India continues to alter the coordinates of global trade, the country itself has seen robust growth in manufacturing ...Very few countries in the world match these growth rates," he said, according to an official release here.