Neel Writes This Blog

SpiceJet, the country’s favourite low-cost carrier, has teamed up with popular retailers such as Kingdom of Dreams, O2, Archies, Thyrocare, Babyoye, Mom & Me, and Ferns N Petals to offer special discounts ranging from 15% upto 70% to SpiceJet passengers for purchase of products such as kids apparel, gifts and collectibles, health care, footwear, entertainment, and hospitality sectors.  Customers can obtain their discounts simply by producing their SpiceJet boarding pass at these retail outlets, or by using a promo code for online shopping. The promo code will be sent to the registered email ID upon the completion of travel.  The offer is applicable on bookings made on www.spicejet.com, through SpiceJet’s mobile app, airport ticketing counter and SpiceJet call centre. Offers are valid within six months of the issuance of boarding card for all offline redemption. For all online redemptions offers are valid with six months of the booking made. Discounts can be o...

Tata Power, India's largest integrated power company, has always undertaken various initiatives with an aim to improve the quality of life, and ensure holistic development of its surrounding communities. The strategic approach ensured focus on sustainable long term programs across all locations while also looking into location specific needs as well. The company brought in further robustness to systems and processes to align to the intended outcomes, thus benefitting more than 250 villages across 7 states in FY15 through community development initiatives. The Tata Power Community Development Trust acts as development vehicle for driving these initiatives. At present, the CSR outreach covers half a million people through various initiatives in education, health, livelihood, social capital, and nurturing sustainability. The total CSR spend of the Company in FY15 stood at Rs. 31.1 crore as against the required 2 per cent (Rs. 29.8 crore) as per the Companies Act. In addition to ...

Adani Group, a global integrated player, today signed a MOU with the Government of Chhattisgarh to develop two critical projects in the state. The project cost for both the projects is estimated to be around INR 25, 200 crore. The MOU was signed in the presence of Mr. Raman Singh, Hon’able Chief Minister, Chhattisgarh, Mr. Amar Agrawal, Hon’able Minister of Industry, Mr.Vivek Dhandh, Chief Secretary of State and Mr. Rajesh Adani, Managing Director, Adani Enterprises Ltd. The two projects comprise of a Coal to Poly‐generation (CTP) Project and a Rice Bran Solvent Extraction Plant &; Refinery. The MOU was signed by Mr. Subodh Kumar Singh, Secretary-Industries of the State and Mr. Rajesh Jha and Mr. KS Varshney from the Adani Group. Speaking on the development Mr. Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group, said, “The Adani Group remains committed to helping India on its path to attaining energy sufficiency. These projects will help the state of Chhattisgarh strengthen its overall socio...

Honeywell (NYSE:HON) Process Solutions (HPS) will showcase the latest developments in automation and process control at the Honeywell India Users Summit, Aug. 24 and 25 in Mumbai. More than 170 representatives from across process automation industries will attend the annual event.  The summit will focus on issues facing manufacturers in India, including the changing economic environment, increasing connectivity and the need for real-time insights that can improve operations. Attendees to the event represent critical industries such as refining, petrochemicals, oil and gas, chemicals, power, and minerals and metals.  HPS will showcase next-generation technologies for digital transformation, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and best-practices in process control and automation that can help manufacturers improve business performance . “According to recent research by Accenture, the IIoT could contribute US$14.2 trillion to world output by 2030. India has immense ...

By Neel Achary  Much awaited Indo-Pak NSA level talks derailed over the issue of Kashmir,that was not raised when the proposed talks were taken a form at Ufa meeting, and both the nations stick to their grounds. The issue of Kashmir was the main bone of contention that shadows the talks between two countries. The core issue has been terrorism and Pakistan has been on back foot to discuss about for two reasons. First the cross border terrorism - a terrorist Usman was apprehended by Indian police recently. And the second reason that the revelation of under world don Dawood Ibrahim residing in Pakistan. Cross border terrorism is open truth that - it is being sponsored by Pakistan and Pak Army. Heavy firing along the border by the troops of Pakistan, as expected they do cover militants crossing border bid. This was evident from the Kargil War. A terrorist from Pakistan, has been captured and being interrogated by Indian officials. And, case of Kasab was the brightest example to ...

News paper headlines dominated the state of Odisha this week. There were many major stories happened that made us to have a special post on our business news this week portal. Sarathi Baba Controversy: Self-styled Godman was arrested that was the biggest breaking news story hit the all the media section. People were in puzzle to see their God in different form on Social Media sites. In the digital age of communication, no actions go unnoticed. Same thing happened in this case. His son was arrested from Mumbai, who has been absconding from the day one. Odisha police tracked mobile and ATM card details to reach him.  Sorcery Case:  In a gruesome incident, two tribal people were lynched in Rayagada suspecting them of practicing sorcery. The incident happened in the district of Rayagada, tribal dominance village areas, in the wee hours. Some people reportedly killed two people and thrown their body into river after packing in bags.  Odisha Assembly: The ongoi...

UBM Index Fairs, host of the flagship show, Index today launched its pioneer exhibition for the kitchen and bath industry, India Kitchen & Bath 2015 (21-23 August at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi). The show was inaugurated by eminent industry designers and dignitaries like Ar. Karan Grover; Pratap Jadhav, President, Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID); Mohan Deshpande, Chairman, Hospitality Purchasing Managers Forum and celebrity Master Chef Ranveer Brar. Supported by the Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID), All India Hardware Association and Hospitality Purchasing Managers Forum , the three-day trade fair brought together buyers and traders in kitchen and bath equipment, OEM white goods, accessories, kitchen and bath furniture and fittings, lighting products with architects, interior designers, builders, project managers , consultants, procurement heads across the hospitality, corporate and government sectors. Renowned companies such as Porcelanosa, Queo, A...

New Delhi, 21 August 2015: The Delhi City Finals of the 8th Wild Wisdom Quiz was held today. An initiative of WWF- India, the Wild Wisdom Quiz is Asia’s largest and India’s only wildlife quiz at the national level. The quiz aims to provide students a unique opportunity to delve deeper into the wildlife of this country, build their interest towards the rich natural legacy and inspire them to work towards its conservation. Keeping in tune with United Nation’s declaration of 2015 as the ‘International Year of the Soil’, this year’s Wild Wisdom Quiz highlights the importance and conservation of soil.  The quiz tests children’s aptitude and knowledge on soil, minerals, evolution, climate change and sustainability, apart from issues of Indian wildlife and global biodiversity. The quiz has received participation from 25,000 students, pan-India so far. The first city level quiz was held in New Delhi today and will culminate with the finals on 7 October 2015.  75 schools fr...

The Collection - UB City and Sublime Galleria in association with the Prestige Group is gearing up for 'YES BANK Art Bengaluru 2015'. One of India's most reputed art festivals, the 6th Edition of 'Art Bengaluru' aims to go beyond the canvas, celebrating art in its myriad forms. Uzma Irfan - Conceptualizer and Organizer,'Art Bengaluru' said, "The Indian art market currently has both good quality and discerning buyers. Globally, art is also increasingly becoming an alternate investment option. In this year's edition of 'Art Bengaluru', we have attempted to bring together distinguished artists from across the globe, thus giving people an opportunity to experience, under one roof, the multitude of art forms available. This festival is not just for the art aficionados and collectors. We hope to promote the various art forms and create a greater understanding of art in the city with this initiative. We also encourage schools to bring in their ...

Air China will commence Beijing-Mumbai nonstop service on October 25, 2015. As the forthcoming only service from Mainland China to Mumbai, it will spare passengers departing from Beijing for Mumbai the trouble of having to make a detour by transferring in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok and make it much easier to get to the "Gate of India". The one-way flight takes about seven hours. As India's largest seaport and an important hub of transportation, Mumbai has earned its reputation as the "Gateway in the West" of India. As India's center of commerce and entertainment, Mumbai is India's response to Manhattan, is home to Bollywood and boasts myriad World Heritage sites like the grottos on Elephant Island. Along the indented coast of the Mumbai Bay is a mixture of traditional and modern buildings, which, like a string of glimmering pearls, make the "Princess of India" even more charming. As two BRICS countries, China and India have long had ...

SpiceJet, the country’s favourite low-cost carrier, has launched more new flights to its schedule effective from 15th October, 2015. Amongst the new flights are the first ever direct flights between Varanasi and both Mumbai and Hyderabad, going onwards from Hyderabad to Bengaluru. SpiceJet has also introduced daily flights between Agartala and Chennai via Kolkata, and has increased frequencies on its daily flights between Hyderabad and Bengaluru, Delhi and Agartala (second flight added), Delhi and Kolkata (third flight added), Agartala and Kolkata (second flight added), Kolkata and Chennai (second flight added), Hyderabad and Mumbai (third flight added), and Hyderabad and Bengaluru (third flight added). SpiceJet will deploy two new aircraft to operate the new flights. Shilpa Bhatia, Sr. VP and Head of Sales and Distribution, SpiceJet, said, “These new flights and frequencies signal the continuing rebound of SpiceJet. We offer the lowest fares and fly the fullest aircraft in India,...

ConveGenius, an edutainment start-up, focused on digitizing education and making it fun and affordable, today announced the launch of its gaming network mobile application - Battle of Minds for the Android users. Battle of Minds is a real-time multi-player contest platform where users can engage, interact, play and learn by competing against each other. It is a mixture of trivia, educational content, news, and skill based games. The users derive twin benefits - learning via playing and the tokens they earn as they win which can then be redeemed for cash vouchers and goodies from leading brands like Flipkart, Freecharge, Jabong, Bookmyshow, Dominos, Zo Rooms, Vista Print etc. The platform is based on the concept of - ‘the more you learn, the more you redeem!’ and the essence of Battle of Minds reflects the brand philosophy- Edutainment. The platform is being created in such a manner that it will be agnostic to third party games, new topics on the go, live and trending news, and par...

Mumbai, Aug 20: Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”), the third largest mobile services provider globally with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, and Uber today announced a first-of-its-kind strategic partnership in India. As part of this partnership, Uber riders across India can now pay for their trips using Airtel’s mobile wallet service - Airtel Money. Additionally, Mumbaikars will now be the first in India to enjoy free high-speed internet from Uber, powered by Airtel 4G. This service will soon be rolled out for Uber riders pan India. “Our partnership with Uber is directly in line with our commitment to offer innovative and relevant services for our customers. Now, Uber riders can enjoy the convenience of paying through their Airtel Money wallets, while also experiencing the power of blazing internet speeds with Airtel 4G on the move. We are excited that Uber has chosen Airtel to fulfill its telecom needs, and look forward to supporting the company’s rapid growth ac...

Mumbai, India, Aug 20: BSE Institute Ltd. today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tolani College of Commerce, one of the premier colleges in Mumbai, to set up a Financial Literacy Mission Centre in their campus located at Andheri. This Financial Literacy Mission Centre will offer various courses to students in the field of Finance and Financial Markets. These newly launched courses will include BSE Institute’s inimitable Global Financial Markets Professional (GFMP) program. On successful completion of the 12th grade, students willing to build a career in the field of banking and financial services can apply for this course with BSE Institute. Apart from providing coaching to enrolled students under certified faculties, BSE Institute will also help these students by providing hands-on assistance for internship and final placement. Speaking on the occasion, Vinod Nair, Head Academics and Product Development at BSE Institute said, “Financial managers cannot operate in a...

New Delhi, Aug 20: Naukri Job Speak Index for the month of July 2015 was at 1835, registering an 11% increase hiring activity over July 2014. While the BFSI and Telecom industries recorded the maximum increase in hiring activity, the hiring scenario in the Oil and Gas and real estate industries continues to be dismal. In continuation with the trend witnessed previous month, consulting and medical/pharma professionals continue to witness a high growth in demand in the July’15 index as well. While the hiring activity in Delhi-NCR continued to be stable, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad let the tally registered a Y-o-Y growth between 15% - 20% in hiring activity in July 2015 as reflected by the Naukri Job Speak Index. V Suresh, Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer, Naukri.com said, “Job market continues to sustain the momentum gained in the first quarter with an impressive 11% YOY growth in July. Sectors like IT, Banking and Pharma have been leading this growth for the past ...

Gurgaon, India, Aug, 20: SpiceJet, the country’s favourite low-cost carrier, today announced the launch of its ‘ Freedom to Fly’ sale, putting more than 1,00,000 seats on offer with one way fares starting as low as Rs. 799/- (excluding taxes). An additional 10% percent discount will be available for those booking through SpiceJet’s mobile app on Apples iOS and Android. The one-way fare for this sale ranges from Rs. 799/- to Rs. 2,699/- and covers popular destinations such as Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Bengaluru, Srinagar, and many more. The lowest fare of Rs. 799 is available on routes such as Delhi-Chandigarh, Mumbai-Goa, Bengaluru-Kochi, Madurai-Chennai, Jammu-Srinagar, Kolkata-Agartala and many more. The three day sale starts from 20th August 2015 and will remain open till midnight, 22nd August 2015. The travel period covered in this sale is 25th August 2015 to 26th March 2016 . The sale is valid only for direct flights within SpiceJet’s domestic network. Shilpa Bhatia, Sr. VP and ...

New Delhi, India, Aug 20: 6fusion International today announced the formation of 6fusion Online India Pvt Ltd in conjunction with India Compute Interchange (ICIx), the financial marketplace for India to trade compute resources. 6fusion standardized the economic measurement of IT infrastructure and cloud services, which provides IT economic transparency to the global market. 6fusion’s technology, the Workload Allocation Cube (WAC) is the industry’s standard for IT economic measurement, allowing an “apples to apples” comparison regardless of technology, vendor, or platform. With 6fusion’s UC6 Platform, organizations can view and manage the Total Cost of Consumption (TCC) of their business services in real time and achieve a higher level of cost optimization, forecasting accuracy and business agility. The new company, 6fusion Online India Pvt Ltd, headquartered in Vadodara, Gujarat, will be focused on servicing the needs of the growing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) market in I...

Mumbai, India, Aug 20: ICICI Securities, India's largest online investment service provider, today announced the launch of ‘Insta Account’, a completely online and paperless investment account. A Resident Indian who is KYC compliant as stipulated by SEBI can open an Insta Account on www.icicidirect.com to invest in Indian Mutual Funds. The investor has the freedom to use any of their existing internet banking account. With the Insta Account, investors also get the opportunity to explore and experience the range of benefits offered by ICICIdirect to its existing customers. ICICI Securities has made the account opening formalities convenient by streamlining the process with the existing KYC formalities, thus eliminating the inconvenience and lengthy process of filing and submitting paper documents. There are no charges to open an Insta Account on www.icicidirect.com Launching the new account, Mr. Vineet Arora, Executive Vice President ICICI Securities “Today internet and smartp...

New Delhi, India, Aug 20: The IIT Alumni Industry Interaction Center (AIIC), a pan IIT initiative (across all 16 IITs), today held the inaugural puja for its ‘Hub in the Sky’ facility at the IIT Madras Research Park in the presence of Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director IIT Madras, Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Head, IITM Research Park, Dr R Nagarajan, Dean Alumni and International Affairs along with faculty, invitees and other alumni who graced the occasion to support the Industry Interaction Centre initiative Mr. Suresh Kalpathi (Kalpathi Investments), President IIT AIIC thanked the governing council that includes Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Mr. Arjun Malhotra, Mr. M.S.Ananth, Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan and Dr R Nagarajan amongst others for their guidance and support. As a step closer to achieving the PM's 7 point focus Charter for IITs, a part of its vision to project India as a brand worldwide, AIIC, at the function, declared collaboration of the academia with...

Mumbai, India, Aug 20: Today Google flung open the doors to the “ Google House ” — a showcase of the latest product innovations for India’s ‘mobile first’ world. The event featured demonstrations of Google’s Search, Maps, Photos, Translate and YouTube apps, as well as appearances from celebrity chef Kunal Kapur, fashion photographer Dabboo Ratnani and Anushka Menon and YouTube comedic sensation Karan Talwar. The celebrities discussed how Google’s mobile products make their lives a little easier. As Sandeep Menon, Google Country Marketing Director explains “Indians are coming online from mobile devices at an incredibly rapid rate — six to seven million new mobile internet users every month. Today’s event is about showcasing how we’re working to make our products relevant and useful for India, and how smartphones have evolved to become the best personal assistant you’ve never had. Whether you need to get directions 10 minutes before your next meeting, a step by step recipe to make a...

Mumbai, India, Aug 20: State Bank of India (SBI) today successfully concluded the 2nd SBI Banking & Economics Conclave 2015. This Conclave was organized with an intention to stimulate debate and critical thinking on various topic related to banking industry in India. The Conclave was inaugurated by Hon. Minister of Finance Shri Arun Jaitley and Minister of State, Finance Mr Jayant Sinha. The Conclave was graced by dignitaries from a wide spectrum of business activity like banking, financial institutions, corporate, law and Government. The high and mighty of Indian corporate - Mr. Baba Kalyani, Ms Kiran M Shaw, Ms Chanda Kochhar; Justice (Retd.) A K Ganguly from judiciary, Mr. Amitabh Kant, Secretary, DIPP and others graced the occasion on Second day. Chairman SBI in her opening  session with RBI Governor, Dr Raghuram Rajan discussed various issues like payment banks, state of the economy, etc. The Governor in turn emphasized on project evaluation and structuring by banks, i...

Mumbai, August 20, 2015 – Syntel, Inc. (Nasdaq:SYNT), a global provider of digital transformation, information technology and knowledge process services to Global 2000 companies, today announced that it has been identified as a sample vendor in the Gartner " Hype Cycle for Application Services, 2015 " report. Syntel was named in the Application Modernization Services category, which Gartner defines as “activities offered by service providers preserve and extend the useful life of enterprise applications and to modify underlying infrastructure to achieve desired IT or business outcomes.” Syntel’s suite of end-to-end application modernization solutions includes modernization consulting, re-architecture, application re-engineering, transcoding, replication, UI modernization and ecosystem migration services. Syntel’s approach to legacy migration focuses on enabling clients to embrace the digital paradigm by combining the power of existing legacy investments with the next ge...

Continuing with its training programs and workshops in the Apparel Industry, ATDC (Apparel Training & Design Centre), India’s largest vocational training network for the apparel sector organized a 3 day workshop on ‘Skill Knowledge Enhancement’ aimed at training the supervisors and floor managers. The workshop was held at ATDC Gurgaon and various experts from the industry guided the participants. Mr. Nimish Dave, CEO & Founder, The Idea Smith; Ms Neera Chandra, Consultant; Team of Experts from Shahi Exports Pvt. Ltd under the guidance of Shri J D Giri, Director, Shahi Exports Pvt. Ltd imparted the training to the participants. More than 30 participants from various industries of Apparel sector attended the workshop. Prominent among them were Blackberry’s (KLPL), Blackberry’s (AVM), Shahi Exports Pvt. Ltd, Gupta Exim India Pvt. Ltd and Panorama Industries. This training was professionally designed so that the participants could understand their roles and responsibilities and...

August 20, 2015 – Washington DC- Today a group of U.S. industry executives from the U.S.- India Business Council (USIBC) met with the Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr. Manohar Lal for a discussion about investment opportunities in the state of Haryana. Chief Minister Manohar Lal engaged with senior business executives on important topics that have dominated the bilateral commercial relationship in recent months and addressed areas such as Haryana’s comparative edge as an investment destination and regulatory reform measures that have been undertaken by the government to promote ease of doing business in the state through its New Enterprise Promotion Policy 2015, Happening Haryana. Emphasizing investment opportunities in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal said, “We strive to attract both international and domestic business in to the state of Haryana. To achieve this end, I am proud of the reform efforts that have gone in to making public services more efficient— land registration is...

Mr. Subramanian Sarma has taken over as CEO & Managing Director of L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Limited (LTHE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro (L&T). He will be driving the L&T Group’s strategy of expanding its hydrocarbon business across geographies, particularly the Middle East. He has already been appointed to the Board of L&T as a Non-Executive Director. Mr. Sarma will play a key role in adding thrust to L&T’s aspirations to grow the business in domestic and international markets. He will be based in the Middle East to enable close monitoring of key on-going projects and drive new business development. “Mr. Sarma brings with him global experience and competence to drive our hydrocarbon business in India and abroad. With his international experience, he will be at the forefront of leading L&T Hydrocarbon in becoming one of the best in class global companies offering comprehensive EPC solutions across the spectrum – upstream, mid...