Category Archives: Business & Economy

Vintage cars, new cars and bikes steal the show at Automotive Technology Fair (ATF) 2014

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Historical Links, Pre-Independence

VintageBF19apr2014

Mysore :

Vintage cars, bikes, scooters and vehicles of the new generation stole the show at Automotive Technology Fair (ATF) – 2014, with the theme ‘Green Automotive Technology,’ organised by NIE-Eicher Centre for Automobile Technology (NECAT), Collegiate Club of NIE and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Golden Jubilee Sports Complex of the National Institute of Engineering (NIE) on Manandavadi Road here yesterday.

Automobile enthusiasts irrespective of age and gender thronged the venue to look at the vehicles of the past and present.

Dr. T.N. Shridhar, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Director, NIE-Eicher Centre for Automobile Technology and Co-ordinator of ATF- 2014, speaking to Star of Mysore, said that ATF has been one of the biggest Auto Expos in the State with the previous editions having seen a footfall of about 15, 000 visitors.

He said that it all started when the first Bike Expo was organised in the year 2006 and added that the city needed an Auto Expo of its own to cater the hunger of automobile enthusiasts of the city.

He said that in the year 2007, a Car and Bike Expo was held and the same was repeated in the year 2009. Garnering high success from these events, Automotive Technology Fair took birth which was the first of its kind in the year 2010, he said and added that the vision finally materialised and was carried forward with ATF- 2011.

Dr. Shridhar said that this is the third expo of the ATF in the last four years at NIE.

Speaking about the expo, he said that this year’s expo was being held with the theme ‘Green Automotive Technology’ and as part of ATF, more than 150 Super Bikes and Vintage Bikes along with 35 vintage cars, sports cars and classic cars from in and around the city was showcased at the expo.

Dr. Shridhar said that apart from showcasing the vehicles both old and new at the expo, a Knowledge Pavilion has also been set up where students will give presentations on various trending green technologies.

The expo also housed ‘Do it Yourself’ stalls where the visitors were educated on how to keep their vehicles in good condition and service it themselves.

Gavin Jude Wilson, a Jawa bike enthusiast who has displayed three bikes CZ Jawa, Jawa 250 and Yezdi 350 Twin, said that it is good to have such a kind of expo in city as nothing pertaining to automobiles happens here.

He said that the organising was good and the expo created awareness on what is available in automobile industry. The students of the college explained about the technical aspects of the vehicles and how they work, he said and added that the expo showed us what we were then and what we are now in terms of automobile technology.

Some of the bikes that were displayed were Rajdoot 350, Jawa, Yezdi, BSA 120, a Second World War bike, Enfield 200, Vespa, Lambretta, Super Bikes such as Suzuki Boulevard which was previously owned by actor Salman Khan, Aprilia RSV4, Hyosung GT250R, Kawasaki ZZR, Harley Davidson, customized bike from Vardenchi and BMW 1000RR among others.

City lad Santosh too had displayed his miniature vehicle ‘Mooshik’ and his concept electric two wheeler. He later gave a lecture on ‘Electric Bike Technology’ during the technical session.

Some of the cars that were displayed at the Auto Fair were Porsche, Honda, Volvo, Range Rover, 1973 model US manufactured Jeep Kaiser CJS, 1984 model Premier Padmini, 1961 model Fiat, owned by R. Venkata Raman, an alumni of NIE, 1978 2300 CC Mercedes Benz, owned by Praveen, 1993 model Mercedes Benz 300D, owned by Muthanna among others.

Apart from the vehicles which were displayed, technical sessions on ‘Recent Developments in Radial Tyre Technology’ by T.N. Ramesh, Chief Manager- Technical, JK Tyre, Mysore, ‘Technological Trends in India for Upcoming Emission Norms’ by Ashish Milas Moholkar, Design and Development Engineer, Eicher Motors Ltd. Madhya Pradesh, ‘Innovating in the field of sustainable transportation of goods and people’ by Srinivas Bidare, CEO, Intent Design Pvt. Ltd., Mysore and other topics were held.

The ATF- 2014 which was inaugurated yesterday by U.K. Shenoy, Vice-President (Works), JK Tyre and Industries Ltd., Mysore, will conclude today at 8 pm.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / April 13th, 2014

Automotive techology fair begins at NIE

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Science & Technology

The fair is open to public free of cost from 10 am to 8 pm

: Models of Bull and Squirrel created by artist Ilyas Ahmed (inset) using scrap materials on display at the two-day Automotive Technology Fair-2014 being held at NIE Diamond Jubilee Sports Complex on Mysore-Manandavadi in city. Picture right shows artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy with his 3D painting of a car at the venue.
: Models of Bull and Squirrel created by artist Ilyas Ahmed (inset) using scrap materials on display at the two-day Automotive Technology Fair-2014 being held at NIE Diamond Jubilee Sports Complex on Mysore-Manandavadi in city. Picture right shows artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy with his 3D painting of a car at the venue.

Mysore :

A two-day Automotive Technology Fair-2014 organised jointly by NIE-Eicher Centre for Automobile Technology (NECAT) and Society of Automotive Engineers of INDIA (SAEINDIA) Collegiate Club of NIE commenced this morning at the NIE Diamond Jubilee Sports Complex on Manandavadi Road here.

The fair features an exhibition of old and new models of two-wheelers and four-wheelers. A scrap art by Ilyas Ahmed is an added attraction where models of horses, squirrels, bulb and an army tank created of scrap materials are exhibited at the venue.

The old two-wheeler models of Rajdooth, Yezdi and Vespa and latest arrivals of Yamaha, Suzuki, Harley Davidson are also on display. Similarly the old cars featured Fiat, earlier models of Landrover while the new ones from Mercedes Benz, Volvo, Ford and many more were seen at the exhibition. The cynosure of all eyes was a 3D painting of a car by artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy at the premises. JK Tyres Vice-President (Works) U.K. Shenoy inaugurated the fair by releasing the balloons. NIE Board of Management Hon. President M. Sreepada Rao was the guest of honour. NIE Principal Dr. G.L. Shekar, Centre for Advanced Studies Chairman S.K. Lakshminarayana, NECAT Director Dr. T.N. Sridhar, Programme Convenor Manjunath and others were present.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / April 12th, 2014

City industry ‘MYPOL’ supplies key component to space Rocket

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

RocketBF18apr2014

Mysore :

City based Mysore Polymers and Rubber Products Limited (Mypol) for first time manufactured and supplied a key rubber component known as the ‘Linear Bellow’ to the Indian Space Department which was used in the rocket PSLV C24 launched on April 4, 2014 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

Linear Bellow, the critical component, was developed over a period of three years in close co-ordination and direction between Design and Development (D&D) Departments of Mypol and Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Trivandrum. The product performed in copy-book style enabling a flawless launch.

Headed by C. D. Nagarajan since its inception in 1981 to manufacture Butyl Automotive Inner tubes, Mypol is also India’s leading manufacturer of Technical Rubber products with supplies to major companies in India, USA and Europe. Mypol D&D Department has developed more than 500 different products for use in industrial, automotive, medical, space and defence requirements, according to a release from Mypol.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / April 12th, 2014

Zain Self-Care Application, Co-Created by Infosys and Zain Bahrain, Witnesses Strong Adoption across Bahrain

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

MANAMA, Bahrain and BANGALORE, India : 

– Innovative Mobile Application Enhances User Experience for Zain Bahrain Subscribers –

Zain Bahrain, the most innovative telecommunications operator in Bahrain and Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing have co-created Zain Self-Care, an application that is radically transforming user experience for Zain’s subscribers, through self-service. Zain Self-Care is an innovative mobile application for smart phones and tablets that is built using Infosys AssistEdge, a product that transforms customer experience across channels. The application functions on all operating systems including iOS, Android, Windows and Blackberry.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130122/589162 )

Launched in February 2013,Zain Self-Care is a first-of-its-kind mobile telecom application from an operator in Bahrain. It currently enjoys wide-spread adoption across the company’s customer base and offers Zain’s subscribers unparalleled convenience in managing their telecom service needs.

Upendra Kohli, Vice President, Regional Head-South East Asia, Middle East & Africa, Infosys said, “The increased adoption of smartphones across the Middle East is driving demand for new digital experiences and services. The Zain Self-Care application, built using Infosys AssistEdge, is helping Zain expand its range of offerings and improve user experience. We will continue to bring our deep understanding of the global telecommunications industry and technology to enable Zain to meet the changing needs of its subscribers.”

The intuitive interface of Zain Self-Care allows customers to access their account information, subscribe to new services and make use of a range of value-added and self-help services.

Mohammed Zainalabedin, General Manager, Zain Bahrain commented, “We are committed to leveraging technology to deliver the best experience to our customers and provide superior service. We chose Infosys as our partner since they have demonstrated a thorough understanding of the evolving needs of our customers. We value their ability to provide a solution which addresses our needs around scalability and speed, with an eye on the future.”

Application Highlights:

-- The application uses the mobile self-care capabilities of Infosys 
      AssistEdge to provide superior service on smart devices to retail and 
      enterprise customers 

   -- Zain Self-Care allows users to view, control and manage their voice and 
      data packages. Users can also receive personalized news updates, purchase 
      value-added services, and make bill payments in a secure environment 

   -- The interactive features of Zain Self-Care  allow  customers to better 
      understand their usage patterns and manage their accounts and spends 

   -- It is available on all popular mobile platforms and can be downloaded 
      from app stores 

   -- Android 
      - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.infosys.zain.selfcare 

   -- Apple - https://itunes.apple.com/bh/app/self-care/id594243362?mt=8 

   -- Blackberry 
      -http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/21748371/?countrycode=IN
//
source: http://www.onlinewsj.com / The Wall Street Journal / Home> India Edition / Press Release / PRNewswire / March 27th, 2014

Design development board meets at HAL corporate office

About Bangalore(Bengaluru) / Karnataka, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

Bangalore :

The first meeting of newly-constituted Design & Development Management Board (DDMB) by the government to strengthen design and development in aerospace and promote self-reliance in the critical areas of India’s defence preparedness was held here today at HAL Corporate Office.

The Board comprises key members of India’s premier defence organizations involved in research, production and manufacturing activities.

“We need to have clear road map to take on the challenges in defence sector as issues concerned range from basic and applied research, involvement of academia, production, spotting and retaining talent,” Chairman of HAL and DDMB, R K Tyagi said.

The meeting brain-stormed on how to build a strong foundation for R&D by synergizing the core competency of all the organizations involved, creating conducive environment for research and support business academia collaboration.

The meeting also felt that all the concerned organizations must share the lessons learnt from the past programs and make combined efforts to ensure success of future programs with thrust on indigenization.
Acquiring of modern technology and measures to be taken to retain quality manpower were also discussed.

The forum would act as a platform for stimulating initiatives and suggest policy interventions for bringing inclusive growth. The DDMB members will deliberate at length most of these issues in their future meetings and the recommendations will be communicated to the stakeholders.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bangalore / by Chethan Kumar, TNN / March 28th, 2014

Nexus, Intel invest Rs 53 crore in ElasticBox founded by University of Mysore Engineer

Business & Economy, Nri's / Pio's, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Bangalore : 

Nexus Venture Partners  and Intel  Capital have together closed a Rs 53-crore investment in US-based cloud technology startup ElasticBox.

ElasticBox helps firms like Netflix, a TV and movie streaming service, to create, deploy and manages applications quickly and will use the funds to scale up its research and development and hire talent across Asia and Europe.

(ElasticBox helps firms…)
(ElasticBox helps firms…)

Even though cloud technology has improved how people access and use infrastructure, developing cloud-based applications is a lengthy, expensive and broken process.

“It is stuck in the dark ages, like way back in the days of bare metal,” said Ravi Srivatsav, co founder and chief executive of ElasticBox which had raised seed funding from A16Z Seed and Sierra Ventures .

The startup actually empowers the developers with preconfigured boxes that they can mix and match to create applications.

“It is similar to the way a DJ blends beats and samples to create new music. It brings Dr Dre-like creativity to enterprise application development,” said Srivatsav, a computer science engineer from University of Mysore, who co-founded the company in 2011 along with his Microsoft colleague Alberto Arias Maestro.

Experts say there have been two pivotal moments in enterprise infrastructure development: the creation and implementation of the virtual machine, and the rise of cloud services.

ElasticBox is now overhauling enterprise application development deployment and management within this cloud.

“We think this is the biggest step in cloud innovation since VMware and Amazon web services,” said Jishnu Bhattacharjee, managing director at Nexus.

Most industries like finance and pharma develop hundreds or thousands of applications internally to support business processes.

ElasticBox said it empowers these enterprises to build better applications faster.

source: http://www.articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Economic Times / Home> News> Startups / by Peerazada Abrar, ET Bureau / April 03rd, 2014

Medical Clinic Chain Funded

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, Uncategorized, World Opinion

United States

Bangalore-based Modern Family Doctor Pvt. Ltd., which runs a 25 primary healthcare clinics and pharmacies in Bangalore and Pune, has secured a second round of investment of Rs. 24 crore ($4 million) from Bamboo Finance, with participation by existing investor Saama Capital.

“The lack of good primary healthcare is very apparent in India because hospital outpatient departments are flooded with patients, 70% of whose needs are primary in nature but they have no other option,” said Naresh Malhotra, CEO and founder of MFD. “Going to a hospital means travel, time, inconvenience, exposure to infections and higher expense.”

The former CEO of the Café Coffee Day chain, Malhotra was an operating partner at Sequoia Capital India. MFD, which received $2 million in a first round from Saama Capital, plans to use the funds to expand to more than 100 clinics. “Bamboo Finance was created to support commercially viable businesses that provide access to essential products and services to underserved communities and MFD fits perfectly with our fund’s mission,” said Bamboo chief investment officer Eric Berkowitz. Nishith Desai Associates was MFD’s legal counsel for the deal.

source: http: //www.indiawest.com / IndiaWest / Home> News> Business / by Richard Springer, Staff Reporter / April 05th, 2014

Healthcare industry leaders outline vision for future of healthcare

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Mumbai :

Healthcare industry leaders gathered in the city to discuss key issues plaguing the sector and to look for solutions to deal with them.

“Healthcare is basically disease management. We should build our system from the ground up to create a new blue-print of India’s healthcare. We have over 800,000 ASHAs (Accredited Social Healthcare Activists) in India but they lack medical skills. All we have to do is to upscale their skills so that they can be the eyes and ears of the healthcare system on the ground.” He added that ASHA volunteers will be a big help in ensuring quick diagnosis of diseases and reducing the incidence of non-communicable diseases.

Dr Devi Shetty, founder & chairman of Narayana Health spoke about the acute shortage of medical specialists in the country. “While the US has 19,000 undergraduate medical seats and 32,000 PG seats, in India it is the opposite – the country has close to 50,000 undergraduate medical seats but only 14,000 PG seats,” he said.

He added, “The low number of PG seats results in a shortage of specialists. This can have terrible consequences on the ground. For example, India has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world and this is unrelated to the amount of money we spend on healthcare. The reason is that we have created a regulatory structure where only a specialist can perform certain tasks, and the country simply doesn’t produce enough of these specialists,” he said.

Shetty suggested that to tide over the problem, the country needs medical educational institutions on the line of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) in Maharashtra which would offer diploma courses in fields like anesthesia, gynecology, and pediatrics to medical graduates. “This can convert the entire 50,000 medical graduates produced in India every year into specialists who can then help reduce maternal mortality in India,” he added. “If we want to deliver better healthcare outcomes, India doesn’t require money. We only require policy changes. This will not happen till the Government looks at medical education as integral part of the country’s development.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mumbai / by Sumitra Deb Roy, TNN / March 29th, 2014

Online is going to disrupt offline business model: Mukesh Bansal

Business & Economy

Interview with Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Myntra

Mukesh Bansal
Mukesh Bansal

After Flipkart, another Bangalore-based e-commerce company, Myntra, has set its eyes on crossing $1 billion in annual gross sales. The Bangalore-based online fashion retailer has also decided to offer marketplace model, in addition to its existing model. In an interview with Bibhu Ranjan Mishra, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Mukesh Bansal talks about the rationale behind such moves and the new areas of opportunities. Excerpts:

You recently completed three years in fashion space . Where do you see Myntra here on?

Our focus will be on building the scale. We think 2014 and 2015 are the years when e-commerce will become mainstream. Already, e-commerce is about 0.5 per cent of retail and by end of this year, it will cross one per cent. If you compare that with organised retail, the later is only around eight per cent of the overall retail opportunities. Most of that growth in organised retail in India is happening online.

After your previous round of funding (of $50 million, led by Premji Invest ), is there any plan to raise a fresh fund?

No. For now, the earlier round will take care of the investment into growth, marketing, supply chain and technology. We’ve money for the next two years.

When most of your peers were moving to marketplace, you did not consider it. Are you moving to it because of the pressure from investors?

The decision has nothing to do with investors. It makes sense for the business. We have already saturated with the big brands; we now want to go after the small boutique brands across the country. The best way to get them on the platform is through the marketplace model. We can’t engage with them under the ‘buy and sell’ model because they have very small inventory.

Can you share the blueprint of your marketplace model?

In one year, we want to cross 1,000 boutique brands. Every city has certain local flavours, be it Lucknow, Hyderabad or Bangalore. We are reaching out to those local markets and the dominant brands to replicate local city experience in the online world.

What will be the mix of your traditional model and marketplace business in the next couple of years?

In the long term, we expect the marketplace model to contribute around 20 or a maximum of 25 per cent of our business, with the traditional ‘buy & sell’ model the rest.

Since you have your private labels , don’t you think those will face competition from boutique brands?

Their (private labels) positioning is different and the price points are also different. So, there is not much of overlap. When the whole business is growing, other brands will also grow with us. But private brands are growing at a faster rate and are priced lower, too.

You have seven private labels. What is the reason behind going so aggressively after those?

The margins they offer are much better. They also give us exclusive products, not available elsewhere; it helps create differentiation.

Have you started focusing on profit? By when do you expect to be profitable?

We are not profitable today but are continuously making progress. If we want, we can be profitable today. But that will mean we will have to stop investing in new opportunities, which is not the right for the company today. Today, we are not profitable by choice.

What is your view on the warning from some electronics goods manufacturers against buying from e-commerce companies?

Any new industry is disruptive for the existing one. Online is a powerful medium and will be disruptive for the offline business model. It will also force offline retailers to rethink their strategy. A lot of them will also start their own online models. It is going in the expected direction.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies / by Bhibu Ranjan Mishra / Bangalore – April 02nd, 2014

Plan to develop Hubli-Dharwad as design, printing hub

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

Bangalore :  

Efforts are on to develop Hubli-Dharwad as a design and printing hub.

The twin cities are on the development path with many micro, small and medium industries creating job opportunities for youths in the region, and design and printing is one such sector.

“As printing and design industry is slowly and firmly getting established in the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad. We plan to develop it a hub,” said D Chandrashekhar, Director MSME Hubli, after inaugurating a seminar on ‘Design Awareness Seminar’ organised jointly by the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, MSME, Hubli, and Hubli Print Cluster under NID’s Design Clinic scheme.

Chandrashekhar further said the Central Government had launched various schemes and projects, including subsidies and financial assistance to promote industrial growth in the country. “It is offering 70 per cent subsidy for industry development activities. As a result of the Centre’s stress on industrial growth, several industrial clusters have come up in the State to cater to the needs of growers of specific farm produces and industrial products. ”

Speaking on the occasion, BVBCET CTE Director, Nithin Kulkarni, said though there were a lot of opportunities for growth in the twin cities, majority of youths were migrate to metro cities. Establishing more and more industries and creating job opportunities is the only solution to this problem.

Kulkarni using latest technologies to boost industrial production is one area the young entrepreneurs should look at. Youths should make use of government facilities such as subsidy, financial assistance and skill development programmes, to launch their own ventures to come up in life.

NID South Zone Project Officer, Pratapmurthy GV, said the liberalisation and globalisation poses a challenge to small and micro industries. But small and micro industrialists should determine to face the challenges effectively by supplying goods that match the best standards.

The Centre had been offering several schemes to medium, small and micro industrialists to upgrade their knowledge and technology to keep pace with the changing times.

Resource persons Shandilya Sushilkumar, Prabuddha Dasgupta, Satish Nayak, Vinayak Munipalli and Girish Joshi, President, Hubli Print Cluster, were present. More than 70 delegates participated in the programme.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> News> National / The Hindu Bureau / Bangalore – March 30th, 2014