New areas of integration to be lined up with visit of Mrs. Monica Lanzetta, vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia

October 31 – November 09, 2011. New Delhi

The last quarter for 2011 has an important agenda lined for India and Colombia. As confirmed by the Government of Colombia, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Monica Lanzetta will be on 10 day visit to India along with an important delegation of government and private bodies form various sectors.

The visit starts with inauguration and donation ceremony of The Escopetarra by famous musician Cesar Lopez from Colombia at Gandhi Smriti on October 31, 2011. The following day, on occasion of Delhi International Arts Festival 2011, at the music concert at Stein Auditorium at India Habitat Center, the Vice Minister will be Chief Guest.

On the trade side, Vice Minister along with the delegation, and Ambassador Juan Alfredo Pinto, will be meeting CEO’s from most important companies from India, to name few, Hero Honda, GENPACT, Aditya Birla Group, TCS and others in the league over a lunch hosted by Proexport Colombia in India.

On a Bilateral front, Vice Minister Mrs. Lanzetta will be meeting Mr. E. Ahmed, Minister of State for External Affairs of India and Mr. Madhusudan Ganapathi, Secretary West from Ministry of External Affairs of India to facilitate and proceed on the MoUs and Bilateral Agreements signed so far. Also, she will be discussing the agenda of visit of the President of Colombia, Mr. Juan Manuel Santos in the following year.

Apart from the agendas mentioned, Honorable Minister Mrs. Lanzetta will be delivering a lecture on Colombian Foreign Policy towards Asia and the World on November 3rd, 2011 at Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

In addition to this, she will be visiting the most important monuments and historical places in India.

Ambassador Pinto said, the expectations with the visit are to prepare for the visit of the President Santos and to foster growth in trade and reach a target of USD 2 billion. He also said to achieve the target of 30 Indian companies investing in Colombia.

About Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs

With a broad knowledge in international politics and world markets, she assumed the post in January 2011, giving the continuity to goals set by the Government of Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, in foreign policy and international commerce.

Professional with Master of Arts in political Science from the University of Andes and a specialization in Negotiation and International Relations from the same university.

Mrs. Lanzetta has a broad experience in the public and private sector; she has also held various positions in ministry of Foreign Affairs as Director General of Special Affairs, Executive Secretary of the Bilateral Border Commission – Brazil, Adviser of the Minister of external Affairs and First Secretary of Colombia in United Kingdom.

Her experience in the diplomatic field and commercial management enables her to contribute to her task a Vice Minster to deepen the insertion of Colombia abroad.

For further details, please get back to embassyofcolombia@yahoo.co.in or contact us at 91-43202100 (jatin)

Smart ID has set up a state of the art Data Center and 40 seats Call center to provide instant information to students and teachers about common issues concerning them. The infrastructure also provides accurate and timely information to the officials in the Ministry regarding 16 schemes run by the government for the benefits of students. These include Mid-Day meals, Books and Uniforms for girl children, scholarship disbursal, bicycle provision etc.
About Smart ID
Smart ID provides technology products, services and solutions in the domains of Smart cards, Biometrics and Information Technology. It offers cost effective solutions to the market segments like e-Governance, Banking, Transportation and IT Security.

Founded in 2004, the company is headquartered in Noida, India (near New Delhi), with business offices across India.

For more information, visit www.smartid.in.

Sam Pitroda, addressing the gathering of investors and social entrepreneurs at Sankalp 2011, Indias largest social enterprise platform, inspired the audience with his views on innovation.
Presently the head of the National Innovation Council, Sam Pitroda spoke of the need to create the right kind of ecosystem with risk capital, appreciation for innovation a dedicated network of people and institutions, digital connectivity, affordability and durability to create an environment for innovation.
He said, “with the help of CII, industry groups and FICCI we have identified 50 sectors for innovation. We aim to connect these sectors with the right university research program. Examples would be pockets such as Surat, Madurai, Rajkot, Bhutala that represent innovation in auto parts, textiles, pharmaceuticals etc would need incubation centres’’
Elaborating further on the Digital Knowledge Network, he remarked that India needs Public Information Infrastructure, roads to connect universities, a digital knowledge network that enables institutions to share information for inclusive growth and development. This will be enabled by two major high fibre optic cables of high capacity and bandwidth. India is a country of 800 billion cell phones, 70 billion dollars of IT exports and yet the connectivity is poor. Small young entrepreneurs from rural areas need local solutions; local talent, connectivity and resources in local languages. So while there is a great deal of innovation in India, one is unable to scale these innovations due to lack of public information infrastructure.
The digital knowledge network, along with UID, procurement systems, payment systems and security and portals, will involve an outlay of nearly 15- 20 bn in the next 5 yrs, as a public-private partnership. This alone can really bring the 300 million people below the poverty line into mainstream .
There is also need for an ‘innovation tool kit’ that will enable SMEs to understand the true meaning of intellectual property. It will include training, patterns, patents and ideas for inclusive growth.
Mr. Pitroda also lamented the fact that out of the 3000 hits on www.nkn.in (national knowledge network), 2000 are from outside of India. The National Knowledge Commission (http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/) website is available in 10 different Indian languages. Entrepreneurs and interested parties should reach out to the enabling ecosystem by writing in to these sites.

Mr. Pitrodas address was in line with the Prime Minister’s ‘Decade of Innovation 2010-2020 National Innovation Policy’ to promote innovation in all walks of life. The National Innovation Council has 16 members and Pitroda chairs that council in the rank of a cabinet minister. Earlier, Pitroda was involved with the Knowledge Commission that aimed at reforming education system.

Secretary,
Central Secretariat, ABVP

The analysis of asset increases of re-contesting candidates for the Tamil Nadu 2011 Assembly Elections. Here are the highlights:

Puducherry Election Watch Report: 

Kerala Election Watch Report

• 125 candidates i.e. 18% (out of 679 analyzed) with self declared pending criminal charges contesting in Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections. 

   

• 66 candidates out of these 125 analyzed have declared serious IPC charges like murder and attempt to murder charges against them.  

   

• All major parties have given tickets to candidates with pending criminal cases. AIADMK had 43 out of 144 (30 %), DMK had 24 out of 111 (22 %), BJP had 19 out of 169 (11 %), PMK had 14 out of 27 (52 %), DMDK had 7 out of 36 (19 %), INC had 6 out of 54 (11 %), VCK had 3 out of 6 (50 %) candidates with pending criminal cases.

   

   

• A total of 240 candidates out of 679 analyzed i.e. 35% are crorepatis. 

   

Contacts

Dr. Sudarshan Padmanabhan(TN EW), padmanab@gmail.com ,  +91 9444782793

Mr. A.L. Rangarajan(TNEW), alrangarajan@rejuvenateindiamovement.org , 044-22235133, +919444971268

Mr. C. Peter Rex Charly(TNEW) , newlife_elc@yahoo.com, 98947-39694/ 99449-39694

Anil Bairwal,adr@adrindia.org, anil@adrindia.org,011 6590 1524, +91 9999310100

“Poverty leads to illiteracy while literacy will drive away the poverty”, mentioned H.E. Shri Murlidhar Bhandare, Hon’ble Governor of Orissa while inaugurating the Summit. He praised the role of Shri Y.B. Chavan as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra as well as the Home Minister, Finance Minister, External Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India.

“Y.B. Chavan Memorial Awards for excellence” were bestowed upon Lokmat Group of Newspapers for Media and Social Sector, Shri Ujjwal Nikam – Senior Advocate and Public Prosecutor for “Law and Judiciary”, Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair, Chairman, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts Hospitality Sector, Dr. Anil Kakodkar, DAE Homi Bhaba Chair Professor, & Member AEC for ‘Scientific Research and Nuclear Power Programmes of
India’, Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar, President, Global Research Alliance for “Science and Technology”, Shri Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and MD, Mahindra and Mahindra for “Industry.”, Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister for “Economic Reforms and Nation Building”, H.E. Dr. D. Y. Patil, Founder President, D.Y. Patil Educational Academy, Hon’ble Governor of Tripura for ‘Education and Social Activities’.

Delivering the Y.B. Chavan Memorial Lecture on “Indian Economy – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”, Shri Yashwant Sinha, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and former Finance Minister touched upon commendable and gradual growth the country has achieved from the first 5 year Plan till date. The growth in 1961-66 was 2.8% whereas it has touched 7.9% during 2002-’07.
Competition has to be there everywhere to achieve progress whether it is in politics, business education etc. which was not encouraged. From the undesirable “License -Quota Raj” of yesteryears, we have started moving ahead since 1991.

Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister delivered the keynote address on “strategic initiatives for economic growth and some concerns”. He narrated about the growth of Indian Economy which grew at 6.81% per annum in the 5 year period from 2005-‘06 to 2009-’10. It grew at 8.1% per annum. He said that there is an urgent need to bring down the current account deficit to around 2.5% of GDP and
controlling the inflation in order to achieve sustainable growth. With capital inflows of over USD 50 billion, it did not create a great problem.

There was a panel discussion on “Industrial, Infrastructure and economic growth of Maharashtra – a new agenda for development”. The eminent panelists included Shri Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and MD, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Director, Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Dr. Ragunath Mashelkar, President, Global Research Alliance, Shri Y.M. Deosthalee, Director and CFO, Larsen and Toubro Ltd., Dr. Anil Kakodar, DAE, Homi Bhaba Chair Professor and Member, AEC, Shri Ajit Parasnis, Director General of Police, Maharashtra and Shri Azeez Khan, Principal Secretary (Industries), Govt. of Maharashtra

Partnerships aims to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity, by increasing demand for and access to temporary and long acting family planning methods

New Delhi: March 14, 2011: Population Services International (PSI) and Federation of Obstetrics & Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI) continuing efforts to improve the health, status and quality of life among vulnerable and poor women enters a new phase with Pehel Phase II. This was launched by Dr. Kiran Ambawani, Deputy Commissioner, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Dr. PC Mahapatra, President (FOGSI), Dr. Jyoti Vajpayee, Senior Technical Advisor, Population Services International (PSI), Dr. P.K.Shah, Secretary General, FOGSI and Dr. Nozer Sheriar, Deputy Secretary General, FOGSI and Mr. Sanjeev Dham – Programme Director (PSI).

Need for safe family planning techniques
• Maternal deaths in India: 1,17,000 / year
• India contributes 22% to worldwide maternal deaths
• 21% pregnancies are unintended
• 13% of currently married women want to postpone or stop future pregnancy, but do not use FP (unmet need)
• Unmet need in urban poor at 14.1% is as high as rural unmet need 14.6%
• Unsafe abortions contribute to 8% of maternal deaths
Source : NHFS 2005-2006

PEHEL is an initiative of PSI/ India to empower women in the reproductive age group to make informed choices for addressing their needs of family planning and safe abortion in ten districts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Kiran Ambwani, Deputy Commissioner, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said, “Partnerships with private sector in providing services under the National Health Programs has emerged as a key strategy to generate demand and ensure universal access to equitable, affordable and quality health care services. The PSI / FOGSI partnership is a successful example in this regard.”

Dr. PC Mahapatra, President, The Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI) “‘Social Franchising’ across the world has emerged as an effective approach for quickly expanding the health care services in partnership with private providers. The FOGSI/ PSI partnership focuses on enhancing quality and access by strengthening capacity of existing providers and increasing the provider base, demand generation and behavior change communication activities which are key criteria in creating an enabling environment for increased use of temporary methods like Intra Uterine Devices and safe Medical Abortions.”

Outlining the key objectives of Pehel Phase II, Dr. Jyoti Vajpayee, Senior Technical Advisor, Population Services International (PSI) said, “Pehel Phase II will continue to focus and create an enabling environment for increasing access to IUD and MA in private sector and improving quality of care practices for IUD and MA among private providers. We will undertake key strategic research and the findings that can create a lasting impact on IUD, PPIUD and MA.”

The PEHEL project was launched in July 2008 and initially implemented in 10 states across the country providing free services for IUD insertion. Based on the learning from Phase-I it has been strategized to concentrate the project activities to 19 districts in across 3 states Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.( Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad, Barelly, Firozabad, Barabanka and Mirzapur)( Rajsthan- Jaipur, Alwar, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Kota, Bharatpur, Sriganga Nagar, Pali)

PEHEL will also come out with important lessons for effectively involving the private sector in family planning efforts and subsequent reduction in maternal mortality and their by maximizing the health impact.

About Population Services International (PSI):

Population Services International (PSI) is a registered Indian society which began operations in India in 1988. PSI’s mission is to empower the people of India to lead healthy lives by addressing priority public health challenges in India using social marketing, social franchising and behavior change communication techniques.

PSI focuses on improving consumer access to health products, services and information in 22 states and union territories. PSI programs include a full menu of targeted marketing activities in reproductive and child health, the prevention of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria. PSI is also involved in the prevention of lifestyle diseases, through its work in tobacco control. Since 1988, PSI has been part of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s Contraceptive Social Marketing program (CSM).

For more information please contact: Gina Sharma@9811887088
Himanshi Bhalla@9811834349
Mallicka Singh@9818575314

Mumbai, March 1, 2011: Tata Consultancy Services, (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), the leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing firm announced that it had won a contract for establishing and managing the State Data Centre (SDC) for the state of Puducherry. The SDC, which was earlier inaugurated by Sachin Pilot, Honorable Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology, Government of India is ready for commissioning.

The state-of-the-art SDC will enhance the infrastructure required to consolidate state-level applications like Commercial Taxes Application, State Service Delivery Gateway, e-District, etc. and will be interoperable with the existing infrastructure. These services will be rendered by the Puducherry government through a common delivery platform seamlessly supported by core Connectivity Infrastructure such as State Wide Area Network (SWAN) and Common Service Center (CSC) connectivity extended up to village level.

“This data center will prove to be a milestone in the IT enablement of the state. The Puducherry e-Governance Society (PeGS) under the Directorate of Information Technology is committed to the development of the state and has completed several assignments,” said RP Pal IAS, Secretary – IT, Government of Puducherry.

“We are delighted to partner with Puducherry to establish a reliable and efficient State Data Center (SDC). Apart from Puducherry, TCS is implementing data centers for various central government agencies as well as the Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh State Data Centers under the National e-Governance Plan,” said Tanmoy Chakrabarty, Head and Vice President, Government, TCS.

About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS)

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organization that delivers real results to global businesses, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled services delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™ (GNDM™), recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 186,500 of the world’s best-trained IT consultants in 42 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of over US $6.3 billion for fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com.

TCS Media Contacts:

Global
Email: pradipta.bagchi@tcs.com
Phone: +91 22 6778 9999

India
Email: ashish.babu@tcs.com
Phone: +91 22 6778 9077

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Go to Source

21^st February 2011

Hosted by Global Prepaid Exchange and Venture Infotek – An Atos Worldline Company, the 2nd edition Gift and Prepaid Retreat India – Prepaid, the India Way took place on February 15^th. The event was designed to support the development of prepaid in India by informing those already operating or looking to do so of the key drivers of prepaid and by offering guidance on how the Indian market is likely to evolve.

With over 200 delegates in attendance and a strong panel of 27 international and local speakers, this ground-breaking conference offered the industry a unique opportunity to interact with thought leaders, clients and prospects. On the occasion, Bhavik Vasa, Director India & South Asia, Global Prepaid Exchange commented “Collaboration -this is exactly what those in the Indian gift and prepaid community needs to expand the prepaid market in the years ahead. This market will innovate and find its own unique business models –India sized and India priced.”

The event also saw the release of the definitive market research report – Prepaid, the India Way, produced by Professor Dan Horne of Providence College. The report covers areas such as the market potential for prepaid across various applications, and the drivers and inhibitors of prepaid growth. Drawing on data from extensive consumer research, market analysis and business commentators, Prepaid The India Way allows companies to assess the potential for prepaid in India and discover how to and when to invest in it.

Professor Horne was buoyant about the findings of the research report and encouraged by the potential for prepaid to take an increased share in the Indian payments market.

Global Prepaid Exchange and Prepaid Awards then partnered in the evening to host a social Prepaid@Home networking event and honour those that had already made a significant contribution to growing the prepaid industry in India. In addition to recognizing the proactive Regulator, Reserve Bank of India, the recipients of India’s first ever Prepaid Industry Contributor Awards were, Mr. Sachin Khandelwal (ICICI Bank Ltd), Mr. Naveen Surya (Itz Cash Card Ltd), Mr. Uttam Nayak (Visa Inc.), Mr.  K.R. Murali Mohan (IDBI Bank) and Mr. Sameer Nemavarkar.

‘There has been an explosion of interest in prepaid in India in the last twelve months’  said Tony Craddock, CEO of Global Prepaid Exchange. ‘But now people are not simply marvelling at the sheer enormity of the opportunity for prepaid in a country with 1.2bn people, over 500m prepaid mobile phones and a growth rate in GNP of almost 10%. They are asking, where do we invest, which applications will win and how do we avoid being left behind.’ He continues, ‘The Retreat brought together all the leading players for the first time. I believe this degree of interest and engagement foretells a bright future for prepaid in India.’

Hyderabad, February  9, 2011

CtrlS, the leading, global data center solution provider today announced another unique solution proposition to their customers, a first-of-its-kind on-demand Private Cloud. Today, almost all organizations, across verticals are eagerly evaluating cloud technologies. Many of them are even considering cloud computing in the immediate future in order to streamline and optimize their IT spend. But typically, the CTO across organization faces the same dilemma before taking a decision: Will I be compromising the security of my organization data by moving into a public cloud?

While Private Clouds are an ideal solution to this problem, it is not exactly a viable solution for small and mid-sized organizations as the spend for the Private Cloud is prohibitively expensive and on-demand scale up or scale down isn’t efficient as the resources are kept idle in both cases.

With CtrlS’s on-demand Private cloud framework, organizations can now avail the benefits of a Private Cloud and also scale up and down as per need as you can in a Public Cloud solution. The costs too are scaled down without any significant additional capex or opex, making it an ideal solution for organizations who want the Private Cloud, yet also have the flexibility of scale and at costs that are definitely not prohibitive.

Says Mr.Sridhar, CMD, CtrlS Datacenters, “On-demand Private Cloud is a never-see-before concept and an extremely innovative framework that we believe will bring cloud computing solutions close to organizations. It is also the ideal solution for small and mid-sized organizations who are eagerly considering a cloud solution, but with robust security features, provision to scale up or down and with costs that fit well into their budgets. On-demand Private Cloud offers the best of both Public and Private Clouds”.

About CtrlS

With over 20,000 racks planned across India, CtrlS is the country’s first and only certified Tier 4 datacenter and is offering cutting-edge DR solutions to over a 100 large enterprises across verticals. CtrlS has invested a lot of time and effort in creating a fault tolerant datacenter which can guarantee an uptime of 99.995%, the highest in datacenter industry. To know more about On-Demand Private Cloud, and our Cloud Computing solutions send us an email to mycloud@ctrls.in or visit www.CtrlS.in

“We are delighted that Ramadorai with his vast experience has been given this critical role of helping build skills and competency of India’s growing workforce. He has always been very focused and committed about talent development and has been at the forefront of building the talent eco-system for the IT industry,” said N Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD, TCS. He added, “Ram’s energy, passion and dedication will add great value to this national endeavor that holds the key to raising the growth rate of the country and meeting the aspirations of its citizens.”

Commenting on his appointment, S Ramadorai said, “I am both delighted and humbled by the opportunity to be the Advisor to the Prime Minister in the National Skill Development Council. To reap the benefits of our demographic dividend, skill development for employability is a critical development task for the nation. Strengthening the links between education-employable skills-jobs is imperative both from the perspective of a young working population as well as a competitive advantage for the country.

He added, “Like professional education, skills too must be made bankable. Technology must form an important part of the skill strategy not just to enhance the quality of training but also to address the challenges of scale, reach and cost of training. The country has a number of large-scale initiatives underway that will provide the impetus for the next level of growth. It will be my endeavor to facilitate a unified nation-wide effort towards this critical skill development initiative.”

About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS)

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organization that delivers real results to global businesses, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled services delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™ (GNDM™), recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development.

A part of the Tata group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 186,500 of the world’s best-trained IT consultants in 42 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $6.3 billion for fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com.

For more information please contact:

Harsha Ramachandra
Email: h.ramachandra@tcs.com
Phone: +919833775853
Source: http://www.tcs.com/news_events/press_releases/Pages/S-Ramadorai-Advisor-Prime-Minister-Skill-Development.aspx

India and Indonesia signed 18 business MoUs in infrastructure, manufacture, mining and other areas worth $15.1 billion, says H.E. Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the Republic of Indonesia on Tuesday in a joint business meet.

Addressing a joint meeting under aegis of CII, ASSOCHAM and FICCI, President of the Republic of Indonesia also mentioned that as members of the G20, India and Indonesia are strong economies in a dynamic Asia. India’s GDP amounts to $ 1.8 trillion and Indonesia’s GDP registers at $700 billion so the combined GDP thus amount to $2.5 trillion.

He further mentioned that Indonesia’s bilateral trade tripled in the last five years from $4 billion in 2005 and is expected to reach $12 billion in 2010. The next target is to double this, in the next five years, to $ 25 billion.

Dr. Yudhoyono also highlighted the fact that India’s investment in Indonesia has grown from USD 11.6 million in 2007 to USD 44 million in 2010 and invited Indian industry to invest in his country as it offers conducive industrial environment with handsome return on overseas as well as domestic investments

According to Mr. Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, India has emerged as an attractive destination for outsourcing of IT products and services from across the world, with it’s vast resources of high quality and creative, engineering, technological and management manpower.

Mr. G V Sanjay Reddy, Chairman, CII Infrastructure Council and Vice Chairman, GVK Power & infrastructure Ltd. in his remarks said that Indian companies are entering the Indonesian markets to build long term sustainable relationships with its people, leveraging local resources and local talents. Similarly, Indonesian companies too are displaying keen interest in India’s burgeoning markets and investment opportunities in sectors such as infrastructure and power.

Mr. O P Lohia, Chairman, FICCI, India Indonesia JBC, in his observations felt that there is immense potential for Indonesia to become the 2nd largest Trading partner of India in the ASEAN Region from its current position of 3rd largest partner in the ASEAN. Indonesia is pivotal to the success of our ‘Look East’ policy and there is tremendous scope to tap the potential that exists between India and Indonesia.

Mr. Dilip Modi, President ASSOCHAM further added the the proposed India-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) will further take our strategic partnership to a higher trajectory. Both India and Indonesia are poised to reap our demographic dividend, and jointly address our developmental challenges, through synergies in social infrastructure. ASSOCHAM foresee natural partnerships between in areas such as health care, education and skills development.

New Delhi

25^th January 2011

Neelam Joshi

Media Desk

Confederation of Indian Industry

23, Institutional Area

Lodi Road

New Delhi – 110 003

Mobile: 9810882431

Concern for the environment is not an elitist subject, but is increasingly becoming not only a livelihood issue for tribals and others, but also a public health concern. The changing impact scenario, coupled with the changing technology scenario needs also to be reflected in changes in the regulations. The government is trying to bring in relevant and solution-oriented regulations such as fuel efficiency standards for vehicles and market based instruments such as the Perform-Achieve-Trade [PAT] scheme for energy efficiency, and also modifications in existing regulations, such as the Coastal Regulatory Zone [CRZ] amendments, 2011, observed Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State [Independent Charge] for Environment & Forests, speaking at his first-ever formal interaction in 19 months as a Minister on ‘Environmental Governance & Climate Regime’ with the industry organised by Confederation of Indian Industry [CII].

India needs more regulations and an effective system to implement them, and certainly not more regulators. The audience was informed by the Minister about a new scheme to be launched on January 19, 2011 on a market-based instrument for air pollution in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. This is based on research by MIT, and would focus on tradable permits for monitoring the quality of air.

India is among the top five greenhouse gas [GHG] emitters in the world, and has made a voluntary, unilateral commitment to reduce emissions by 20-25% by 2025 basis 2005. India’s 12^th Five Year Plan to be announced on April 01, 2012 envisages a high growth, with elements of being inclusive and low carbon, leading to a sustainable economy, added the Minister.

The electricity sector posed a lot of tough choices for India. On renewable energy, the Minister noted that India currently had 8% of capacity, but only 2% of supply. By the year 2015 the capacity is set to increase to 15%, with an actual contribution of 6-7%. On hydel power, Arunachal Pradesh alone had half of India’s  potential of 65,000 MW, but only 15% of today’s power comes from this field. However, due to concerns ranging from conflict issues, reservoir-induced seismicity in hydel projects and other problems ailing the Nuclear power sector, coal remains India’s primary energy source. Hence the need to focus on clean coal and other technologies.

The Minister pointed out India is most affected by climate change due to our dependence on agriculture, and made a clarion call to transform India from a buyer of green technologies to becoming a world leader and supplier in the fields of wind and solar energy, coal gasification, etc.

The Minister mentioned that the Ministry of Environment & Forests sought the cooperation of industry in its efforts, and it approves over 90% of the applications for environmental clearances. The questions and closure orders on projects are raised only when basic environmental regulations were not met, the environment was not a barrier to India’s GDP growth.

Expressing his happiness on being able to interact with industry to allay their fears and concerns, Minister Ramesh mentioned all his recent actions were purely on the basis of public representations from civil society. Also, the issues / projects being discussed  were mostly related with forest clearances for mining and other projects that are given to state governments and less related with environmental clearances to project proponents directly. He agreed to take forward the suggestions that emerged from industry: make laws clear and implementable; build institutional capacity within the government agencies to implement regulations, adopt the practice of competitive bidding and pre-approvals for all natural resource extraction projects, and to have CII as a lead partner in constituting an Advisory Council with the Ministry to review and suggest changes in the regulatory frameworks..

Introducing the session, Mr. Hari Bhartia, President, CII and Co-Chairman & Managing Director, Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd., remarked that Indian industry is largely not anti-environment, and promotes several initiatives to demonstrate a sustainable growth path. He appreciated several of the endeavours by the Ministry such as the proposed National Environment Assessment and Monitoring Authority (NEAMA), and the creation of National Green Tribunals. Improvement in environmental governance will streamline various processes, leave no space for ambiguity, and encourage business to participate in environmental betterment.

The exclusive session was attended by over 35 top CEOs and industry leaders from various sectors ranging from mining, power, steel, automotive, finance, etc.

18^th January 2011

New Delhi

Neelam Joshi

Media Desk

Confederation of Indian Industry

23, Institutional Area

Lodi Road

New Delhi – 110 003

Mobile: 9810882431

India, being a nation of 1.2 Billion population, represents an attractive and opportunistic market for the pre paid cards players as only 20% of the Indian adults possess payment cards. Prepaid cards in India are mainly used by individuals as a preferred management tool for travel in other countries and to withdraw cash at international locations. Moreover, as per industry experts, on account of increasing awareness among the consumers about the prepaid credit cards, the prepaid credit card market in India was estimated to cross US$ 4 Billion at the end of 2009.

As per our new research report “Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012”, the Indian prepaid card industry has been experiencing sizeable growth on account of government regulations. The government authority, mainly RBI has drafted regulations keeping in mind the agenda that these regulations should further promote the Indian prepaid credit card market. Hence, the RBI recently has brought close and semi-closed loop cards under Payment and Settlement Act. In addition, RBI is planning to allow withdraw cash from POS terminals with the help of prepaid cards. This will further help in boosting the prepaid credit card market in the country.

Our team of experts has carefully segmented the payment card market into Debit Card market, Credit Card market, Prepaid card market, POS terminals etc.  Detail statistics have been provided for all the above-mentioned segments. The report also provides thorough description of trends prevailing in the market such as, growing e-shopping market, intense competition, and many more.

Our report “Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012”, provides thorough analysis on the various future growth avenues of the industry such as, smart cards, co-brand cards, mobile ATMs etc. along with the  detail study of the investment opportunities in the country. The report has thoroughly examined current market trends, industrial developments, and competitive landscapes to enable clients understand the market structure and its progress in coming years. Due consideration has been given to the possible after effects of recession on the industry. It will help clients to have a proper insight of the current and future outlook of the Indian prepaid card market.

For FREE SAMPLE of this report visit: http://www.rncos.com/Report/IM006.htm

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Ahmedabad, India; Jan 12th 2011: Inspired by India’s inherent potential and progressive leadership of Gujarat to promote entrepreneurs, Infibeam.com started in 2007 with headquarters in Ahmedabad. The founding team consists of graduates from leading institutes across the globe like MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Cornell University, IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), IIM (Indian Institute of Management), Cambridge University and many other leading institutes. These entrepreneurs settled in Gujarat after leaving their high paying jobs in globally reputed multinationals with the vision of creating the largest and most customer oriented retail technology platform to serve more than a billion Indians.

In just three years of operations, Infibeam has seen revenues grow to 100 crore by end of 2011 and expects to continue growing in triple digit percentage. The company continues to attract top talent in building out their world class ecommerce and supply chain platform for consuming India.

Manu Midha, 27, an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Kharagpur, was working for JP Morgan investment banking division in Mumbai. Recently, he quit his high paying banking position and moved to Ahmedabad to join Infibeam.com in planning and development. Manu is not the only one.

Anupam Guha, 25, who topped Delhi University in Computer science and went to pursue graduate studies in engineeringl at Georgia Tech left an opportunity to work with IBM research upon graduating and recently joined Ahmedabad based Infibeam.com.

In the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat summit, Infibeam.com will ink an MoU to setup Vishwagram Bazaar. For the first time, the company plans to open up the e-commerce platform that currently powers large retailers and brands in India for setting up Vishwagram Bazaar; a connected retail platform for fair price shops and village entrepreneurs under their own brand name. This platform will allow access to FMCG as well as products not easily available to rural households at transparent prices. It will also allow local produce to be sold across many retail outlets on the Vishwagram Bazaar and retail channels provided by Infibeam.

The investment of 2,000 Crore will be made over a period of five years in building out the IT infrastructure, logistics, product inventories and support services to cater to more than 20,000 centers for greater inclusivity.

Infibeam.com will be signing the 2,000 Crore MoU with the Gujarat Government here in the capital on 12th January, 2011 during the Vibrant Gujarat summit.

The first of its kind, called Vishwagram Bazaar, this would be one of the largest investment MoUs in the IT enabled sector in the state of Gujarat. The investment would enable each of the 14,000 Vishwagram centers in the state to be able to buy and sell goods, including local produce online.

As part of the MoU, Infibeam will open up its state-of-art, robust e-commerce platform for village entrepreneurs including fair price shops to create online Vishwagram Bazaar stores. This would enable entrepreneurs to buy, sell and access products. Entrepreneurs in villages will be able to showcase local products to a global audience, while they would also have access to the whole universe of products available to urban people including FMCG products as well as retail products like apparel, books, mobile phones and electronics.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Vishal Mehta, Founder Infibeam.com said, “We are extremely excited about this opportunity to power the IT enabled rural retail and marketplace initiative in the state of Gujarat.” He added, “Vishwagram Bazaar is a real testimony to the spirit of entrepreneurship in Gujarat and will bring inclusivity by showcasing cottage industry and rural produce to a global audience. It will also make prices more transparent and provide access to products not easily available to rural audience”.

Infibeam.com is one of the most popular e-commerce website in India. Infibeam also powers e-commerce retail channels for leading brands and media firms including TTK Prestige, Crossword, Hidesign, NDTV and others. This is the first time in India that an e-commerce company has opened up its IT platform and Supply chain for entrepreneurs to create stores under their own brand name.
The proposed MoU is expected to create 20,000 employment opportunities in the IT and IT enabled services sector.

http://www.infibeam.com/

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About Infibeam.com
Infibeam.com is one of the largest shopping portals in India offering the largest selection of products at attractive prices and hassle free shopping. The company owns and operates an e-commerce retail website www.infibeam.com as well as customized products and photo printing portal www.picsquare.com.

The company offers the largest collection of Books with 100Lac titles for delivery across India along with Cash on Delivery service. Infibeam also offers to its customers an impressive collection of digitized content. Ebooks, Music, Movies, Mobile phones, Home appliances, Gifts and other lifestyle products grace the online catalog.

Infibeam also developed wireless enabled electronic devices like the Pi eBook reader and Phi media device that make up the broad and distinct catalog. Additionally, technical eBooks from the largest technical publishers have enhanced the books section which can be read on electronic devices. On Picsquare.com, customers can order a wide range of customized gifts and photo prints. Infibeam has thus grown significantly and is today one of the leading e-commerce company.

Besides the 2 popular portals owned by Infibeam, the company also provides e-commerce platform, supply chain and associated infrastructure as a service to large retailers and brands in India.

Headquartered in Ahmedabad, Infibeam currently has offices and warehousing locations in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

For any queries please write to us at pr@infibeam.net

Jagat Joshi
www.infibeam.com