NEW DELHI: There may be a second industrial corridor in the making. Inspired by the proposed Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, the Tamil Nadu government has asked the commerce & industry ministry to consider a Bangalore-Chennai corridor. Government officials believe the corridor would entail an investment of around $20 billion.
“The Tamil Nadu government is of the view that the corridor between Chennai and Bangalore already has several key components in terms of availability of industries, skilled manpower and other basic infrastructure facilities,” said a senior official of the department of industrial policy & promotion (Dipp).
Officials feel the corridor can capitalise on the strengths of Chennai and Bangalore. The international airports in Chennai and Bangalore and the two major sea ports at Chennai and Ennore can further contribute to the growth of this corridor. Bangalore owes its strength to Information Technology while Chennai’s strength lies in automobile technology, manufacturing and electronics. The corridor would also facilitate the development of the neighbourhood within a radius of 20-25 km.
The Tamil Nadu government has said many multinational companies have set up huge manufacturing hubs in Chennai. Several special economic zones are also on cards. While most investments are in the Chennai-Sriperumbudur corridor, companies have already started setting up industries beyond Chennai-Sriperumbudur, and up to Ranipet. The Tamil Nadu government now wants to take this development up to Bangalore along the same highway.
The Centre may soon ask state governments to prepare feasibility reports for the corridor and arrange for finance from Indian as well as international financial institutions. “We think this corridor would benefit from the expertise the government has acquired while developing the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor,” an official said.
Meanwhile, the Centre as well as states have started work on the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor. States have started demarcating specific areas to be covered in each hub, drawing up plans for their development as industrial hubs with special economic zones, industrial estates, logistics parks and knowledge centres.
NEW DELHI: There may be a second industrial corridor in the making. Inspired by the proposed Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, the Tamil Nadu government has asked the commerce & industry ministry to consider a Bangalore-Chennai corridor. Government officials believe the corridor would entail an investment of around $20 billion.
“The Tamil Nadu government is of the view that the corridor between Chennai and Bangalore already has several key components in terms of availability of industries, skilled manpower and other basic infrastructure facilities,” said a senior official of the department of industrial policy & promotion (Dipp).
Officials feel the corridor can capitalise on the strengths of Chennai and Bangalore. The international airports in Chennai and Bangalore and the two major sea ports at Chennai and Ennore can further contribute to the growth of this corridor. Bangalore owes its strength to Information Technology while Chennai’s strength lies in automobile technology, manufacturing and electronics. The corridor would also facilitate the development of the neighbourhood within a radius of 20-25 km.
The Tamil Nadu government has said many multinational companies have set up huge manufacturing hubs in Chennai. Several special economic zones are also on cards. While most investments are in the Chennai-Sriperumbudur corridor, companies have already started setting up industries beyond Chennai-Sriperumbudur, and up to Ranipet. The Tamil Nadu government now wants to take this development up to Bangalore along the same highway.
The Centre may soon ask state governments to prepare feasibility reports for the corridor and arrange for finance from Indian as well as international financial institutions. “We think this corridor would benefit from the expertise the government has acquired while developing the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor,” an official said.
Meanwhile, the Centre as well as states have started work on the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor. States have started demarcating specific areas to be covered in each hub, drawing up plans for their development as industrial hubs with special economic zones, industrial estates, logistics parks and knowledge centres.
Chennai (PTI): Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy on Tuesday said the Centre would soon sanction Metro Rail for Chennai City, making it the first metropolis in the country to have three urban rail networks, besides a public bus transport system.
"The Delhi metro has been extremely successful and has also helped reduce pollution. The Metro for Chennai will be sanctioned soon, he said at a CII seminar here on Tuesday on 'INFRA 2007 - MAP tomorrow's Chennai'.
He said the Centre was in 'active contact' with the Tamil Nadu government. "The foundation stone for the project will be laid in the next one year. In three years, we will be able to provide metro rail for Chennai."
The minister said a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) was also on the anvil for Chennai, for which the centre would contribute half its cost.
The state government recently approved the metro rail project for Chennai, which already has a suburban train system and the elevated Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS). The Metro is expected to cover large tracts of Chennai, which are not covered by the other two networks.
The total cost of the 40 km project, of which 14 km will be underground, would be between Rs 7,000 and Rs 8,000 crores. "One kilometer on an elevated stretch would cost around Rs 120 crores," he said.
Note: Rs 1 Crore = Rs 10 millions
He added that the Tamil Nadu government did not want a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for the Metro Rail.
"The government of Tamil Nadu and the Government of India will invest in the project to an equal degree and the rest will be raised as loan from a Japanese Bank," he said.
Chennai (PTI): Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy on Tuesday said the Centre would soon sanction Metro Rail for Chennai City, making it the first metropolis in the country to have three urban rail networks, besides a public bus transport system.
"The Delhi metro has been extremely successful and has also helped reduce pollution. The Metro for Chennai will be sanctioned soon, he said at a CII seminar here on Tuesday on 'INFRA 2007 - MAP tomorrow's Chennai'.
He said the Centre was in 'active contact' with the Tamil Nadu government. "The foundation stone for the project will be laid in the next one year. In three years, we will be able to provide metro rail for Chennai."
The minister said a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) was also on the anvil for Chennai, for which the centre would contribute half its cost.
The state government recently approved the metro rail project for Chennai, which already has a suburban train system and the elevated Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS). The Metro is expected to cover large tracts of Chennai, which are not covered by the other two networks.
The total cost of the 40 km project, of which 14 km will be underground, would be between Rs 7,000 and Rs 8,000 crores. "One kilometer on an elevated stretch would cost around Rs 120 crores," he said.
Note: Rs 1 Crore = Rs 10 millions
He added that the Tamil Nadu government did not want a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for the Metro Rail.
"The government of Tamil Nadu and the Government of India will invest in the project to an equal degree and the rest will be raised as loan from a Japanese Bank," he said.
Chennai (PTI): CII unveiled a proposal at the conference to make Chennai a 'Megapolitan City' by redefining the Marakkanam, Arakkonam and Pulicat (MAP) region.
The MAP would be a 'model city master plan' to be replicated in the rest of the world, the proposal said.
The proposal based on a study by the CII said Chennai is surrounded by many micro satellites or potential urban centres and MAP could be a solution to infrastructure problems, create more employment opportunities and affordable living conditions with world class amenities and guarantee increased revenue to the government.
It said MAP could help sustain ecology, develop a balanced ecosystem and protect the agriculture potential areas, increase GDP productivity, attract FDIs to the tune of about USD 15 billion and make the state No.1 destination for investments and employment opportunities in India.
Marakkanam is a panchayat town in Villupuram district, Arakkonam is a mid-sized town in Vellore district and Pulicat is a town in the Tiruvallur district.
The MAP region will consist of other hubs like Kanchipuram, Maduranthakam, Sriperumbudur and Ennore, with each of them having four to five sub nodes connected to them. Each of these are to be linked by a major high speed corridor with eight to 10 lanes, and will also be linked by a metro rail system.
Chennai (PTI): CII unveiled a proposal at the conference to make Chennai a 'Megapolitan City' by redefining the Marakkanam, Arakkonam and Pulicat (MAP) region.
The MAP would be a 'model city master plan' to be replicated in the rest of the world, the proposal said.
The proposal based on a study by the CII said Chennai is surrounded by many micro satellites or potential urban centres and MAP could be a solution to infrastructure problems, create more employment opportunities and affordable living conditions with world class amenities and guarantee increased revenue to the government.
It said MAP could help sustain ecology, develop a balanced ecosystem and protect the agriculture potential areas, increase GDP productivity, attract FDIs to the tune of about USD 15 billion and make the state No.1 destination for investments and employment opportunities in India.
Marakkanam is a panchayat town in Villupuram district, Arakkonam is a mid-sized town in Vellore district and Pulicat is a town in the Tiruvallur district.
The MAP region will consist of other hubs like Kanchipuram, Maduranthakam, Sriperumbudur and Ennore, with each of them having four to five sub nodes connected to them. Each of these are to be linked by a major high speed corridor with eight to 10 lanes, and will also be linked by a metro rail system.
By Headlinesindia Bureau
Sunday, December 02, 2007
New Delhi: Seeing the rise in the construction of shopping mall and complex in the major cities, the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), has revealed that India's realty Industry is expected to grow at a fast clip of 30 percent in next 10 years, offer 20-25 percent returns and secure foreign investment worth $ 30 billion. Interestingly, ASSOCHAM says that foreign investment component in the development of real estate will come through private equity funds instead of institutional mechanisms. The total investment in the sector is likely to be $ 102 billion in comparison to $ 14 billion at present which includes $5-5.5 billion of foreign investment.
The growth in the industry is expected to go up on the account of rapid expansion of IT industry, retail and residential sector in the country, says the study. The IT sector alone is expected to require about 200 million sq ft of space across the major cities and large townships. Similarly, some 30 million sq ft of organised retail space is currently available and another 90 million sq ft is likely to be added by 2008 by the 265 mall projects on the drawing board.
According to the ASSOCHAM study, India is the only country in Asia where the return in real estate investment is 20-25 percent in comparison to 15-18 per cent in other countries of the continent. However, the real estate industry in India is confronting a major problem implication in getting approvals for setting up a township. Pointing towards the problem of the real estate sector, the president of ASSOCHAM, Venugopal N Dhoot said, "The only problem that the real estate sector is currently confronting is with approvals for setting up townships, as a number of central and state agencies are involved in this process. The government, both at central and state level must ease the process involved in approving the proposals of town ship." To help the industry grow at rapid rate government must take a concrete step, added Dhoot.
(With inputs from IANS)
Source - Times of India
Dec 3, 2007
Which videos become popular? Which causes gather momentum? People on social-media sites are influencing that, finds Kavita Kukday
After having saved money for almost six months to buy an iPod,Rohan Mehra,a 15-yearold, finally to the surprise of his parents,got himself a San-Disk player instead.
“I had been trying to change his mind about the iPod for six months but to no avail,” says his father, Sanjeev, a software developer in Mumbai, “so I was pretty shocked when he came and announced that he has changed his mind. For a little while I thought that my six months of convincing had finally paid off, but later I realized that it was the new website Digg that did it.”
Digg is one of the burgeoning number of social-media sites where users discuss everything from entertainment to technology and science. Interestingly, these social-media sites started just as discussion forums, but are fast turning into a strong medium for influencing opinion.
So whether it’s about buying certain products or debating over a political issue or even bringing people together for a charitable cause, people have started turning to these websites for answers. Here are a few categories that have already caught on as influencers in the online world.
To buy or not to buy?
When it is about user reviews or comparing products, social-media and bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit are are fast gaining ground. Both these work on a voting model. Members look around the internet for interesting items, such as blog write-ups, video clips or news articles. To start with, a member will write his/her experience about a product and then post it, in the hope that other users on the site will find it just as interesting and show their approval with an e-vote. So then these items that have received a larger number of votes will rise in the rankings and appear on the front page for thousands of visitors to see.
What’s cooking in the neighbourhood?
If the question is about finding people in the neighbourhood or travel destinations, then sites like StumbleUpon, Burrp.com and travel sites like Traveltogether.com and Tripmates. com take up the lead. Sites like Stumbleupon let you “stumble upon” news, photos and videos that friends or fellow stumblers found interesting, thus creating a community-based model where you give a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down for items. This ends up influencing other like-minded people.
Similarly, travel sites connect fellow travellers and influence them about destinations of interest. For instance, when Mumbai-based Rajiv Bakshi travelled to Paris early this year, he planned all his evening activities solely on the advice of a complete stranger who was a resident of Paris. “I met him on one of the travel sites and realized that we really clicked, in fact he was the one who suggested I go to Paris as opposed to London for my vacation,” says Bakshi.
Need funding?
Then there are people-oriented social-media sites like Fundable.com and Chipin.com that let you build a kitty for things like funding a friend’s vacation or contributing to a charity or even for a common business cause.
Some interesting causes that these sites have already funded include contributions for a charity hospital, a lung replacement and a student’s apartment rent. Furthermore, there are events database sites like Eventful.com that let groups of fans aggregate votes to see their favourite performers in their home towns. This system adds a measure of democracy to event production, and it also helps performers and venues remove some of the financial risk in event planning.
In fact there are specialized portals such as Acethetik. com that caters to artists like painters and musicians.
These sites can help you set up your own mini-mutual fund, to finance any kind of project you are doing. Say for instance, you are a musician and you need to collect funds for your new album. You could set up a project that asks about 5,000 people to agree to buy your album for about Rs 200 a copy, and then you’d go ahead and make it. If you don’t get 5,000 people, everyone automatically gets a refund. But if you do get the required number of people, then not only have you collected finance for your album, but you have also found 5,000 takers for your music!
Got a cause?
Another important area where social-media seems to be doing a fair bit of influencing, is in the area of social causes. For instance, go to any social networking site and you will find plenty of groups dedicated to ‘anti-AIDS’, ‘gogreen’ or ‘save solar’. Other groups are more granular, dealing with local issues. An example? Anusha Yadav convinced 350 Bandra residents recently to pledging their support for ‘Car Free Bandra Day’— all through Facebook.
Apart from these groups on social networking sites, there are more specialized websites such as Just Cause (www.justcauseit.com) that are influencing people around the world who want to make a difference on important social issues. These include protecting the environment, improving education both at home and abroad, and extending access to affordable healthcare.
News and views
Finally, there are sites coming up around the concept of ‘citizen journalism’. These include Newsvine.com, Technorati (www.technorati.com), NowPublic (www.nowpublic.com) and Fark.com. On these sites you have amateurs reporting on various current issues, right from political going-ons to business news and such. Here users post links they think are interesting, and also post their own articles and opinion pieces, on which others in the community can then submit comments.
These sites have started to play a big role in influencing people on local issues such as elections, festivals and even things like school politics. TNN
Source - Times of India
Dec 3, 2007
Sujit John & Mini Joseph Tejaswi | TNN
Sunil Bharti Mittal, it is said, was advised by just about every telecom player in the world not to go for the kind of outsourcing arrangement it eventually did with IBM. The arrangement involved something not done before in the industry: handing over almost its entire backend IT infrastructure and operations to IBM, and the global IT behemoth being paid a percentage of Bharti Airtel’s topline.
IBM, in other words, would share the risks and rewards of Bharti’s operations. But it also meant Bharti was ceding much control, leaving some of its most critical operations to another company.
“Mittal reasoned that if he has to grow his small sized company (by global standards) to a dominant company quickly, before the global biggies come and wipe him out, he needed to partner with somebody for IT,” says Nipun Mehrotra, director (global technology services) in IBM India. Mehrotra says IT was critical for Bharti to acquire customers, to give a dial tone within say an hour of a new customer paying up (against the 2-3 days norm then prevailing), ensure bills were prepared on time, and ensure disconnection in case of non-payment of bills.
“Mittal needed to partner with somebody who is flexible and scalable, someone who could put up the server and storage capacities needed to service an extremely rapidly growing customer base, so that he himself could focus on his brand and customer requirements,” he says.
The example Mittal set four years ago is now being replicated across Indian industry. In a number of verticals, companies seeking to grow rapidly in size, companies planning global expansions and acquisitions, are outsourcing IT requirements to those they think are best equipped to handle it.
“Japan, South Korea, China and now India. Each time, the country has to do things faster to catch up with the rest. Which is why many Indian companies will outsource work to people who are the best in that area,” says Sadeesh Raghavan, MD of Accenture India’s domestic business.
This is reflecting in the size and nature of the Indian IT market. Till 2002-03, the IT market was dominated by hardware, PCs, servers and printers. “Today, it has moved beyond boxes and got into enterprise software and IT services,” says Kapil Dev Singh, country manager of technology research firm IDC India. “The current domestic IT market is estimated to be in the range of $14 billion to $16 billion. It is the fastest growing geography in the Asia Pacific region in 2007, growing at 21.5%.”
IDC estimates the IT services market was up nearly 22% at $3.76 billon in 2006 and predicts a compounded annual growth rate of 22% for the segment till 2011.
Avinash Vashistha, managing director of offshoring advisory firm Tholons, says a quantum jump is expected in the next couple of years. “Cost and talent scarcity are putting additional pressures on large Indian business houses to outsource,” he says.
Apart from the IBM-Bharti deal, there have been many other significant deals in India.
These include IBM’s deals with Idea, DLF, Tata Motors and Delhi international airport, TCS’ with BSNL, SBI and HDFC Bank, Wipro’s with HDFC Bank and Dena Bank, HP’s with Bank of India, UCO Bank and Britannia, Accenture’s with Dabur and UB Group.
Investing in India
Bagging deals in India, however, may not simply be a matter of replicating the global experience here. IBM today is the market leader in India, with a share that is more than twice that of the No. 2 player, TCS; and that, the company says, is because it has “invested in India for India”. Mehrotra says that while globally most companies are focussed on cost control, Indian companies are “uniquely ambitious”, are focussed on growth, and on building an international presence.
“So we innovated on business models for India (the Bharti model, for instance). And we invested in creating IPs, processes and infrastructure to ensure we would be able to meet Indian companies’ demands for growth,” he says.
That’s a lesson others are learning fast. Wipro Infotech president Suresh Vaswani says the company sees India as a priority market and has a strong and dedicated senior management talent for it. That focus is becoming evident in Wipro’s share of the market. The company clocked sales of $650 million last year from India, and Vaswani says Wipro is growing at twice the market rate.
Infosys Technologies recently created a dedicated business unit for India. Explaining that move, the company’s CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan says the size of tech budgets in Indian companies are increasing and enterprises are willing to accept integrated and sophisticated technology rather than plain vanilla solutions.
Most companies have strengths in particular areas. TCS is seen to be strong in infrastructure outsourcing. HP has a good focus on SMEs. HCL’s thrust is on government and rural markets, MindTree tracks high value areas like chip-design, electronics and R&D, Infosys has a significant play in the banking space.
Accenture is strong in consulting. The company’s group chief executive for communications & high tech business, Marty Cole, was in Bangalore last week, a visit which he said was indicative of the seriousness with which Accenture is taking the Indian market.
Apart from telecom, Cole is focussed on areas like media and entertainment, where he sees a huge opportunity for digitization and management of content. “We also foresee a Chinese invasion in the telecom and high end electronics businesses, and we can advice Indian companies on how to take them on, given our experience in China,” he says.Industry analyst Libi Baskaran notes that it’s mostly MNCs that are winning large government contracts. “MNCs have also been smart in exploring the SME segment and rural markets.
This MNC dominance has made highly US-focussed domestic enterprises sit up, think and strategise for home markets,’’ Baskaran says.
Drivers of domestic IT market
Green field investments across verticals like retail, telecom, financial services, real estate, e-governance, telecom, oil & gas, defence, entertainment and infrastructure. Huge increments in IT budgets targetted at networks, datacentres, applications, IT integration, infrastructure management services, business transformation initiatives Urge of large Indian players to become global Vibrant mid and rural markets
Source - Times of India
Nov 30, 2007
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Bennett, Coleman & Company (BCCL) has acquired a stake in Chennaibased MARG Constructions. MARG Constructions is among India’s fastest growing diversified infrastructure development companies. Established in 1994, MARG Constructions is listed on the Bombay, Madras and the Luxembourg stock exchanges.
The company is promoted by G R K Reddy, who channelled MARG into infrastructure projects as diverse as IT Parks, power, ports, roads, retail and real estate.
Commenting on the tie-up, Reddy, CMD of MARG said, “We aspire to maximize value to our stakeholders by continuously identifying opportunities, developing people, processes and systems. Our methodology integrates innovation and worldclass technologies with professionalism and social responsibility. Times Group’s investment would reinforce our confidence in the company’s future.’’
MARG is presently implementing the Karaikal Port Project under BOT format through a concession agreement with government of Puducherry. The port with anultimate capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), is being implemented in two phases — Phase I of 4 mtpa and remaining capacity addition in Phase II. The company has also purchased a Cutter Suction Dredger from China titled ‘MARG Cauvery’ of 2000 cubm/hour capacity at a landed cost of about Rs 52 crore.
