Tech Mahindra sets up engineering college with French university tie-up

Hyderabad: The Mahindras have diversified into the higher education. Its group company, Tech Mahindra, has established an engineering college in association with the 200-year-old French university, Ecole Centrale and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University.

The institute, which has come up at Tech Mahindra’s Bahadurpally property here, will offer a dual degree. Students will get a B.Tech. degree from JNTU and after completing the fifth year, they would get M.Tech from the French university.

Vineet Nayyar, Executive Vice-Chairman of Tech Mahindra, said though the country had scores of engineering colleges, there is vacuum when it comes to quality. Though the country has some good colleges, they have failed to meet global benchmarks.

After consolidating the activities of college, Tech Mahindra would set up satellite centres in cities such as Jaipur, Pune, Chennai and Goa.

Mahindra Ecole Centrale, which will begin courses from the next summer, will take students based on their performance in the common IIT entrance examination, C. P. Gurnani, Chief Executive officer and Managing Director of Tech Mahindra, said.

The fee structure for the courses, however, has not been decided yet. The curriculum would conform to the norms the AICTE (All-India Council for Technical Education).

The college, however, is not to be restricted to technological studies only. There would be several other streams such as energy, infrastructure and humanities. “The college will have a modern and international academic programme that blends basic scientific and technical education with contemporary industry practices,” Nayyar said.

“Our integrated curriculum will develop students with the unique ability to adapt to global engineering challenges and new technologies that will shape our future and also to master the complexity of multinational organisations,” he said.

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BHEL secure orders worth over Rs 31,650 crore during FY 2012-13

New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd secured orders worth over Rs 31,650 crore during financial year 2012-13, an increase of 43 per cent over 2011-12.

The orders were received from sectors like captive power, rail transportation, power transmission, oil and gas, renewable energies and other industrial segments, BHEL chairman and managing director B P Rao said on Friday.

"Despite subdued business conditions in the power and infrastructure sectors coupled with intense competition in domestic and overseas markets, BHEL was able to secure orders worth Rs 31,650 crore, an increase of 43 per cent over 2011-12," he said in his speech to shareholders.

The company had an order book of over Rs 22,096 crore in the 2011-12. The total orders in hand for execution are at about Rs 1,15,100 crore, he said. Rao said that the company clocked a turnover of Rs 50,156 crore and a net profit of Rs 6,615 crore in 2012-13.

BHEL commissioned 10,340 mw power plant equipment during 2012-13. and received export orders of Rs 2,004 crore from 20 countries in 2012-13.

BHEL's June quarter update:-

>Orders received during: Rs 1469 crore

>Power sector: Rs 818 crore

>Industry sector: Rs 648 crore

>Orders bagged for supply of boiler package for 4 units of 120-mw from Jindal Power Ltd for thermal projects in Africa.

>Order book as on June 30, 2013: Rs 1,08,600 crore

>82 per cent by power sector

>10 per cent by industry sector

>8 per cent by international operations.

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India to help Cuba develop Renewable Energy resources

New Delhi: India has offered to help Cuba develop its renewable energy resources. This was conveyed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy to Mr. Marino Murillo, Vice president of the Republic of Cuba at Havana. Dr. Farooq Abdullah is visiting Cuba along with a high level delegation of experts to explore greater opportunities for cooperation and collaboration between the two countries. Dr. Abdullah also held detailed discussions with Mr. Alfredo Lopez Valdes, the Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines.

Dr. Abdullah briefed his counterpart on the energy situation in India and India’s ambitious plans in renewable energy. He explained that India currently has over 29 GW of grid-connected installed capacity using renewable sources of energy and that it has plans over to add over 30 GW more capacity by 2017. He also dwelt on the success of India’s wind programme as well as the significant cost reductions in solar energy through the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).

Both Mr. Murillo and Mr. Valdez informed the Indian Minister of Cuba’s strong desire to diversify its energy mix by exploiting its renewable energy resources, especially in wind and bagasse-based cogeneration projects. They sought India’s support and expertise in helping Cuba achieve this objective. Dr. Abdullah recalled India’s long standing and traditionally warm relations with Cuba and said that India has always supported the Cuban nation and its people. He offered India’s support and expertise in setting up renewable projects as well as in capacity building and project preparation. He also urged the Cuban side to take advantage of the Lines of Credit offered by India in setting up renewable energy projects.

Earlier Dr. Abdullah was given a brief on the achievements of Cuba in universalizing health care resulting in significant reductions in infant mortality and increase in life expectancy. He also visited the local polyclinic to understand first-hand the health systems and had detailed discussions there.

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IT firms to add 1.5 lakh jobs this fiscal

Chennai: The infotech industry will recruit nearly 1.5 lakh people in the current fiscal. The industry is likely to grow at 12-14 per cent as against 10.5 per cent last year, according to R. Chandrasekaran, Group Chief Executive of Technology and Operations at Cognizant Technology Solutions.

Based on the June quarter results, the industry is on track to achieve the projected growth, he said. “We are quite optimistic,” said Chandrasekaran, who is also the chairman for Connect 2013, an ICT (information, communication technology) event to be held on September 23 and 24 in Chennai.

Healthy growth
Each IT job will generate four or five ancillary jobs. “Collectively, we are talking about creating one million jobs. Tell me, which industry is creating so many jobs?” he asked. “Given the current economic situation, which industry is growing at 12-14 per cent? Only the IT industry is showing such a healthy growth. Every other industry is talking about negative growth,” he told Business Line.

Every IT major has started on a healthy note this financial year, he said.

From a demand perspective too, the economy in the US, which is the biggest market for the industry, is stable. There is increased interest in Europe as companies there are looking at improving efficiencies using IT, he pointed out. Asked about the correlation between growth and adding people, Chandrasekaran said every company is focussed on improving efficiency and profit. Companies are looking at increasing employee utilisation or just-in-time hiring, he said. There are lots of operational parameters companies are looking at, he said.

Campus hiring
When asked if poor hiring in colleges reflects the slowdown in the industry, Chanadrasekaran said: “You should not go by what is happening at the campus level.”

He added that every company is hiring but maybe in a staggered way at multiple sources. According to him the IT industry is also moving to a non-linear revenue model. For example, companies are developing platforms and signing clients for an output-based services model andthis de-links headcount from revenue.

“The share of non-linear revenue is gradually increasing, though it is small now,” he said. Headcount addition is one of the indicators of growth. “The correlation between headcount and revenue will go over a period of time,” he said.

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Dr Reddy’s Institute to set up diabetes research centre

Hyderabad: Dr Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences is setting up a Centre for Disease Biology to focus on diabetes research.

According to a company release, the centre would aim at promoting epidemiological research to understand the genetic, lifestyle and nutritional pre-dispositions of Indian population, disease patho-biology of diabetes and translational research involving hospitals, clinicians, scientists and industry to evolve therapies and solutions to address diabetes.

According to the Diabetes Atlas published by the International Diabetes Federation, it is estimated that every fifth person with diabetes will be an Indian resulting in huge health and economic burden. To address this problem, the centre would work by integrating the efforts of clinicians, scientists, epidemiologists and pharma industries.

The centre would be formally inaugurated on September 21. A symposium titled ‘Insulin Resistance and Type 2 Diabetes: An Indian Epidemic’ will also be organised on the same day in the memory of Late K. Anji Reddy, founder of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.

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7th India-Russia Trade and Investment Forum focuses on Pharma, tourism and services

Endorses new framework for fast- tracking 15 high tech manufacturing collaborations
Russian Fertilizer companies in talk with IFFCO for JV
Anand Sharma pushes for regulatory simplification for Indian companies in Russia
New Delhi: A high level delegation of 120 Indian business leaders led by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Anand Sharma discussed various business opportunities with their Russian counterparts at India-Russia Trade and Investment Forum at St. Petersburg on Friday. Special focus was on the three round tables on “Pharmaceutical and Medical Industry”, “Tourism and Medical Tourism” and “Trade in goods, services and innovative products”. On his return to India yesterday, Shri Sharma said “we discussed and noted the emerging opportunities in both the countries and we are hopeful that the three Round Tables have identified in detail the specific projects where we shall be cooperating.”

At the forum Pharmaceutical sector received major attention as India is looking at the opportunities that the 2020 Pharma programme offers. Shri Sharma sought regulatory simplifications for Indian companies who not only want to have market access but also look for establishing manufacturing base in Russia. In recently concluded 19th India Russia Working Group on Trade and Economic Cooperation (IRWGTEC) meeting in Moscow Indian side had conveyed the details of barriers in the trade of pharmaceutical products to Russia. These barriers included substantial delay in all approvals and dossier evaluation due to insufficient number of competent specialists, huge number of backlog of dossiers accumulated by the Russian health authorities, lack of information about stage of approval etc. All this leads to avoidable delay in supplies, commencement of production, and launch of new product in the market. Shri Sharma said that “as Indian pharma companies are keen to establish manufacturing bases in Russia, it is imperative that Russian government should address their concerns in an expeditious manner.”

Fertilizer sector has also attracted Indian interest for setting up manufacturing in Russia. Production of Phosphate and Potash in Russia by way of JV with Indian Fertilizer entities was discussed. There exist complimentarity between availability of fertilizer resources in Russia and growing fertilizer demand in India which should result in strategic partnership in this field. AKRON and ORGSINTEZ, the two Russian companies are in discussion with IFFCO as they have Potassic and Phosphatic resources. Both side discussed the need to support the proposal of M/s AKRON of Russia for setting up of facilities for production of Phosphate and Potash in Russia by way of JV with Indian Fertilizer entities. Furthermore, In January 2013, Secretary (Fertilizer) met the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and Russian fertilizer companies to explain new investment policy changes in urea production in India and invite them to invest in India under the new policy. A non-paper was also shared with the Russian side. During this visit Shri Sharma was informed of Russian companies expressing interest in the proposition and companies on both sides are expected to identify opportunities for investment in urea production in India.

The Forum in its 7th edition with specific purpose of ‘encouraging discussion among the businesses of the two sides to increase economic engagement for common benefits’ concluded that fresh initiatives need to be taken to further exploit complementarities in other sectors such as fertilizers, industrial machinery, diamonds etc. Other new areas such as automobiles, electrical equipment, chemicals, mining and processed foods need to be explored as they have immense potential in both countries. Another area identified for focused approach between India and Russia is IT Services. This conclusion is an endorsement of the sector that have been identified in Joint Understanding & Intention on Possible Plans and Priority Investment Projects for Enhancing Indo-Russian Economic & Investment Cooperation Under which a total of 15 high value, high tech projects have been selected for special attention for ministerial supervision. Some of the projects are

The establishment of India-Russian Joint venture with “Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.” (HAL) as joint centre of development the helicopters.
Production of Nitrogen Tetra Oxide for Space programme
Possible future cooperation between MMTC and ALROSA for long term supply of rough diamonds
ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL)’s prospects for further hydrocarbon collaboration with Russian energy companies
Joint project of Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (RLL) and Government of Yaroslavl region
Participation of Russian companies in urea production in India under new investment policy.
Plant construction for manufacturing butyl rubber with capacity of 100000 tons per year at the production site of “Reliance Industries” in Jamnagar (India).
Shri Sharma also met Mr. Alksey Ulyukaev, Minister of Economic Development and took forward the discussion that he had with Mr. Dmitry Rogozin, Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade a day before. This visit assumes significance as the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is likely to visit Russia next month.

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‘Life insurance sector to see 12-15% CAGR over 5 years’

Mumbai: The Life Insurance Council, the industry body of life insurers in India, has estimated the sector to record a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12-15 per cent over the next five years.

Life insurance penetration measured as the percentage of insurance premium to gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow to five per cent by 2020 from the current 3.2 per cent, according to the council.

“Life insurance industry has about 36 crore (360 million) in-force policies and is a high capital-intensive industry. With favourable demographics, new products launches on the anvil, industry expanding their operations and infusing efficiencies the industry will see significant growth in India,” said V Manickam, secretary general, Life Insurance Council.

The council said favourable Indian demography — insurable population, expected to grow to 750 million and life expectancy to 74 years by FY2020 — would help achieve spurt in the preference for life insurance. Thus, life insurance, which is the second most preferred financial instrument, would drive growth in net household financial savings to an estimated 35 per cent of total savings in the next seven years, compared with a meagre 26 per cent in FY10.

The council also estimated a potential foreign exchange inflow of $10 billion in the near term, when the foreign direct investment (FDI) in insurance increases to 49 per cent,.

According to the council, life insurers also plan to expand their distribution channel and increase the number of life insurance advisers to more than three million over the next five years and is expected to contribute Rs 3.5 lakh crore towards infrastructure projects by FY20. Assets under management (AUMs) of life insurers have risen to Rs 17.41 lakh crore as on March 31, 2013, compared with Rs 1.94 lakh crore in 2000-01.

Data from the council showed the total revenue from life insurers for 2012-13 stood at Rs 4.1 lakh crore, of which Rs 1.23 lakh crore was investment income, Rs 1.79 lakh crore was renewal premium and Rs 1.07 lakh crore was new business premium.

The total benefits paid to customers by the Indian life insurance industry in most challenging period, has increased to Rs 1.91 lakh crore as on March 31, 2013, compared with Rs 1.41 lakh crore in March 2011. In addition, there has been a marked improvement in death claims settled by life insurers in terms of the number of policies as also by the amount and the time taken to settle death claims.

Life Insurance Council asks for extension of new product guideline implementation deadline
Irda may not extend October 1 deadline
Life Insurance Council has asked the insurance regulator for an extension in the deadline for implementation of the new traditional product guideline. From October 1, life insurance companies cannot sell products that do not conform to the new product guidelines for traditional products.

V Manickam, Secretary General, Life Insurance Council said that after representation from the life insurers, they have proposed an extension of the October 1 deadline. He added that they expected a positive outcome from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda).

Meanwhile, Irda officials said that they are not looking to give any further extensions to enter the new product regime, since most life insurance companies have filed adequate products for re-filing.

On October 1, all life insurers are required to be ready with their new bouquet of products to be available to customers. With the deadline merely 15 days away, life insurance companies are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that their products are out in the market on time.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) bought out the traditional product guidelines in February this year, which mandated life insurers to be complaint with the new norms by October 1, 2013. Their existing products are being re-filed with the regulator.

However, life insurance experts said that several players have not been able to get their entire portfolio ready for customers. If they do not have the requisite number of products by October 1, they will have an incomplete set of products for customers.

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