Category Archives: Business & Economy

Lord Mayor of London to visit Chennai

Business & Economy, World Opinion

Chennai, October 03:

The Lord Mayor of the City of London, David Wootton, will be in Chennai next week.

On October 9, the Lord Mayor will meet senior government officials in Tamil Nadu to explore how UK companies can collaborate on projects associated with the State Government’s Vision 2023 across sectors such as transport and energy, skills, health and education.

He will also launch a report that recommends use of fiscal instruments in developing a low-carbon pathway in Tamil Nadu.

He will also meet senior business leaders in Chennai.

The Lord Mayor’s visit to India also includes programmes in New Delhi and Mumbai. He will discuss opportunities for increased interaction in areas such as infrastructure financing, financial sector development and regulatory reform and dispute resolution.

Ahead of his visit, the Lord Mayor said: “I will reinforce the mutual benefits for India and make the City of London’s case for real economic reform in India, and reassure policymakers that the UK’s commitment to India remains strong.

Our companies want to do more business in India…Greater participation of UK firms can help facilitate economic development because they can introduce new products, services and expertise to the market…”

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home> News / by Hindu’s Bureau / Chennai, October 03rd, 2012

Apollo Tyres to raise Rs.800 cr via shares selling

Business & Economy

Board approves an increase in the limit of foreign institutional investment

The company’s shares rose as much as 2.5% after the announcement, before closing at Rs 92.15, down 0.32%, in Mumbai trading. /  Photo: Mint

Chennai: 

Apollo Tyres Ltd, India’s top tyre maker, will raise as much as Rs.800 crore by selling shares to institutional investors.

Shares rose as much as 2.5% after the announcement, before closing at Rs.92.15, down 0.32%, in Mumbai trading. The benchmark Sensex gained 0.33% to 18,823.91 points.
The company also got its board’s approval to increase the limit of foreign institutional investment to 40% from the existing 30%, it said in regulatory filings.
Since the firm raised the overseas investment limit, it might sell shares at Rs.90 each, according to Rajen Shah, chief investment officer at brokerage Angel Broking Ltd.
“This will help woo investors,” Shah said. “Also, things are going well for the tyre industry.”
The tyre industry is in a great position now as rubber prices have cooled and the replacement market is firm, Shah said. “We expect Apollo Tyre to clock a 15% increase in its topline (revenue) to Rs.12,000 crore in FY13.”
Other tyre manufacturers such as  JK Tyre and Industries Ltd and Ceat Ltd are also likely to raise money through similar means, he said.
Company officials were not available for comment.
source: http://www.LiveMint.com / Home> Companies / by Arundhati Ramanathan / Monday, October 01st, 2012

Plea to make salt industry a part of agriculture sector

Business & Economy

Madurai, SEPT. 30:

A.R.A.S. Dhanabalan, President, Tuticorin Small-Scale Salt Manufacturers Association, has made a plea re-vitalise the salt industry and to include it as part of the agriculture sector.

Speaking in Tuticorin, he urged initiatives in this regard, so that the industry could enjoy the benefits of subsidy schemes on par with the agriculture.

Both agriculture and salt industry are dependent on water and it is high time that salt manufacturing is included in agriculture.

In the US , salt production is part of agriculture sector, he pointed out. Salt is manufactured on 30,000 acres in Tuticorin and 60 per cent is meant for edible purpose and the rest for industrial uses.

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home> Industry & Economy/ our Correspondent / Madurai, September 30th, 2012

New tea clone released for commercial production

Business & Economy, Science & Technologies

Coonoor (Tamil Nadu):

The Tea Research Foundation (TRF) Saturday released for commercial production a new tea clone, which is superior in quality, has more leaves and can be harvested mechanically.

“The new clone, termed TRF-5, has high yield potential, can survive a dry spell and is suitable for mechanised harvesting,” TRF director P. Mohan Kumar told IANS here.

Developed after extensive trials and field testing in select estates, the TRF-5 is a hybrid product of biclonal progenies.

“TRF-5 is suited to replace the aged or diseased seeding populations and for the re-plantation scheme of the Tea Board under the special purpose tea fund (SPTF),” Kumar said after releasing the variety at the planters’ annual conference here.

As the research arm of the United Planters’ Association of South India (Upasi), the foundation has identified six compatible graft partners to develop new bushes from the TRF-5 clones.

“Of the five clones we have developed in the past two decades, the TRF-5 has the second highest average yield – 6,126 kg per hectare as against 7,797 kg by TRF-1, which was released in 2000 for commercial production,” Kumar asserted.

The foundation has started distributing the new clone cuttings to estates in Tamil Nadu and Kerala to raise the plants for plucking as Orthodox or CTC (crush, tear and curl) leaves.

“We are registering TRF-5 with the Tea Board as an accepted clone for new planting or re-planting by small growers as well as large estates,” Kumar pointed out.

The foundation plans to first sell about 500-1,000 cuttings of TRF-5 to each tea garden in the three southern states and ship them to north-east estates after a couple of years.

According to the Tea Board estimates, about 50 percent of the 120,181 hectares across south India will be undergoing re-plantation during the next 5-10 years once the old plants (bushes) cross 50 years.

“TRF-5 will be one of the many clones we have developed over the years for re-plantation and rejuvenation of old gardens. In the first cycle of three years, the new clone will yield 2,455 kg per hectare (ha), 4,535 kg/ha in fourth year and 7,225 kg/ha in fifth year,” TRF assistant director R. Victor Ilango said.

To protect the new clone’s intellectual property (IP), the foundation will soon file for patenting it with the regulatory authorities.

“We are waiting for the government to extend the Protection of Plant Varieties Act and Farmers Right Act to plantation crops so that we can file for registering the new clone,” Kumar observed.

The protection will also enable the foundation and nurseries to earn royalty on each cutting of TRF-5 clone.

source: http://www.twocircles.net / Home> India News / September 29th, 2012

VEEN Waters discovers unique Nilgiri source to enter India

Business & Economy, Nature, World Opinion

Finnish premium brand, VEEN Waters, known for its smooth spring water with an exceptionally low mineral composition and it’s award winning packaging, has announced it’s agreement with Blue Mountain Springs Pvt. Ltd. to gain exclusivity into another exceptionally low mineral composition spring water source in India, through which the brand will enter the Indian market.

The second spring water source is located in the Nilgiri mountains of Tamil Nadu in one of the oldest hill stations of India, Kotagiri.  At 1980mts, nestled amongst  dense Shola forests and splendid green lush of tea estates, the highlands of Kotagiri have been referred to as the “Switzerland of India” by the British collector of Coimbatore, John Sullivan when he first discovered the region in 1819.

“We have been looking into India for a while now, but what attracted us to this source was the almost identical characteristics of the water to our source in Lapland” says Mikko Nikkila, director of VEEN Waters Finland Oy.

The Indian source will bottle Veen products to cater to the Indian market and also for export within the subcontinent, whereas the Lapland source will continue to bottle for existing markets of Europe, UAE, Qatar, Singapore, China, Russia and the USA.

VEEN waters currently produces premium spring water products, Veen velvet and Veen effervescent in high quality glass packaging, which is sold in the culinary environment, exclusively to fine hotels, restaurants, bars and nightclubs.  This will be replicated for the Indian market.

“We are very pleased to collaborate with an exciting brand such as VEEN and thrilled that our unique water from the Nilgiris will be showcased for its distinctive properties”, added Arvind Rathnam, director of Blue Mountain Springs Pvt. Ltd.

More info:
www.veenwaters.com

source: http://www.PackagingEurope.com / September 28th, 2012

Online job portal in Tiruchi

Business & Economy

Madurai, SEPT. 12:

Trichy Plus, an educational consultancy has come out with a common gateway trichyvelai.com, an online job portal to facilitate jobseekers wishing to settle down in the town to identify suitable employment and for employers to recruit local talent.

According to Sivakumar, Director, Trichy Plus, while registration is free for job seekers, firms would be charged on a nominal basis depending on the screening and selection.

The Web site has separate sections devoted to job seekers and employers. The former can zero in on suitable positions through a search function that filters jobs according to industry, work experience, expected salary and job function. The latter can view profiles and select candidates before summoning prospective ones. Placement officers in colleges and various companies including banks, BPOs, retail stores, firms, manufacturing industries, schools and colleges are being contacted to generate response.

Though the portal is designed to promote job opportunities in Tiruchi, openings in neighbouring districts such as Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Thanjavur are also featured, the sources said.

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home> Sports> States / by Hindu’s Correspondent / Madurai, September 12th, 2012

50 more milch cows given away in Trichy

Business & Economy, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Nature, Science & Technologies

Trichy:

The joint director of animal husbandry department in Trichy, E Chinnadurai, distributed 50 more free milch cows in Thiruvasi village in Lalgudi division to the beneficiaries. For the first time, all the beneficiaries and their companions stayed in the villages on the border of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for three days to purchase the right cow. Chinnadurai later claimed that the process had now become foolproof. It was the intermediary officials roped in to help in the purchase of the cattle from the neighbouring states who exploited the norms of the scheme to pocket huge commissions. Chinnadurai had instructed the purchasing team to stay at the villages until the right cow was purchased.

Chinnadurai said that the purchasing team recorded three days of milk yield before the beneficiaries themselves decided to buy them. With the 50 cows distributed in the first week of September, the total number of free cows distributed has gone up to 250, just 100 short of the target of 350 for the current fiscal. Last year, 450 cows were distributed to beneficiaries in nine villages at a cost of Rs 1.55 crore. Similarly, 4,089 goats were distributed to beneficiaries spread over 55 villages in Trichy district at a cost of Rs 5.19 crore. During this fiscal, 4,988 beneficiaries have been distributed goats spread over 81 villages – most of them falling under Srirangam constituency – at a cost of Rs 6.35 crore.

“I have clearly told them that they should keep their hands off the cow that does not yield at least a total of 10 litres of milk a day (five litres each in the morning and evening),” Chinnadura told TOI. Since a number of cows died from the lot of earlier distribution, Chinnadurai has ordered a team of officials including an assistant director of cattle breeding and fodder development, an assistant director from the animal diseases intelligence unit and a clinician to visit at least two villages where the free milch cows and goats were distributed and file an inspection report.

The stringent measures were necessary because in Srirangam, five of the 150 cows purchased from Andhra Pradesh had died in the first week of January, he said.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home>  City> Madurai> Villages / TNN, September 07th, 2012

NABARD sanctions Rs 129.82 cr for govt schools in Tamil Nadu

Business & Economy, Education

The funds were sanctioned for creation of additional infrastructure in 131 government higher secondary schools in these districts

The National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned Rs 129.82 crore to Tamil Nadu for creating additional infrastructure in schools in all 31 districts, a senior official said today.

The funds were sanctioned for creation of additional infrastructure in 131 government higher secondary schools in these districts.

“The project envisages construction of 1,508 classrooms, 112 laboratories, staff rooms, hostel blocks, drinking water facility and toilet blocks,” NABARD Chief General Manager Lalitha Venkatesan said in a statement.

Over one lakh students are expected to benefit from the exercise, she said.

Including this amount, NABARD has so far sanctioned Rs 822 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF-XVIII) for 2012-13, she said.

Some of the other infrastructure development support by NABARD during the current year includes irrigation, laying of roads in rural and setting up of fish farms, she added.

source: http://www.Business-Standard.com / Home> Economy & Policy / by Press Trust of India / Chennai, August 28th, 2012

Masala kapi, anyone?

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

India has a coffee drinking culture that runs back several hundred years. During this period, people came up with a variety of coffee-based drinks and preparations that go beyond the standard south Indian filter coffee that you get in most Udipi restaurants.

I was introduced to a few at the recent South Indian Coffee festival at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. “We have several well-travelled guests who come to our hotel, and we wanted offer them something other than regular coffee on our menus,” says Aakanksha Rawal, restaurant manager, Atrium Lounge. “I started by asking our in-house south Indian chefs for ideas, and over three weeks we experimented with various coffees recipes.” In addition to this, the team brought in a large brass filter from Chennai. Coffee powder was sourced from a supplier in Tamil Nadu and for the Kumbakonam coffee, the powder was sourced specifically from the Kumbakonam region of Tamil Nadu.

At the festival, apart from Kumbakonam coffee, there was Iced Chukukapi, coffee-based infusion of spices, Karp Katti, coffee that’s flavoured with palm jaggery, Ingi Kapi, coffee infused with dry ginger, and Malli Coffee, which is made with sukku powder.

Chukukapi is the perfect drink to cure the most fearsome cold. Not a hot favourite, really. Hence, I was momentarily taken aback to find that the drink has worked up its way to the posh tables of Taj Lands End. “Chukukapi is made at my home to this day during winters or when somebody is down with cold,” says Chef Arathi who hails from the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu.

Preparing chukukapi is a two-step process. You first boil water, turn the flame off and add ginger, cumin seeds, peppercorns and tulsi to it. The flavours infuse overnight. The next day, you strain the spices and use the water to prepare coffee in the usual way.
For the coffee festival, the team decided to give it a twist. The chukukapi that I had was a far cry from the ones served at home. Instead, what I had was a hipper version of the drink — iced, without milk and with very little sugar. It was like having a herbal coffee infusion, though I would have preferred some more coffee for that extra kick.

Karp katti was interesting because it uses palm jaggery as a sweetner instead of sugar. The coffee had a richer flavour than the regular variant. But it was malli coffee that really stood out for me. The coffee is prepared with sukku powder, which is a combination of dry ginger, peppercorns, and coriander seeds. The spices are roasted and ground together, and mixed with the coffee decoction. Milk is then added to it, and after heating the mixture the powder is strained out. The flavours of ginger and coriander dominate the coffee aroma, with the pepper adding just that little zing to the taste.

Taste, of course, is subjective, and not everyone may like their coffee prepared in such a manner. But it certainly is revealing to know that spices that are freely available in the market, can make coffee taste so good.

source: http://www.dnaindia.com / Daily News & Analysis / Home> LifeStyle> Report / by R. Krishna, Place:Mumbai, Agency:DNA / August 26th, 2012

Madurai is their only Sindh

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

Madurai:

On Friday, a small gathering of 28 families met in the heart of Madurai to celebrate ‘janmashtami’ according to their tradition. It was an occasion for the small association of Sindhis living in Madurai for over half a century to meet each other and bond.

Hailing from Shikarpur, now in the Sindh province of Pakistan, these people started migrating from their native place after the partition, seeking refuge in many places in India. “We went looking for a livelihood, not settling in one place. Those days were never easy or comfortable,” said Vashdev Gopaldas Talreja, president of the Madurai Sindhi Shikarpur Association. But a few of them chose Madurai as home and settled here just after Independence. He said he had come here as a small boy in 1947, but now Madurai was his home.

They, however, speak Sindhi at home. “It is the only way in which our dialect is passed on to the next generation. But if you ask us, many of us including the middle agers are more fluent in Tamil than Sindhi,” say Naresh N Chugh and Suraj G Khatri, members of the association. To most of them, Madurai is their home and even the oldest among them, Nanda Lal, has never been to their native place.

According to the secretary of the community, Suresh B Raheja, their deity is Jhulelal Sai who is the community god of the Sindhis. They also celebrate Guru Nanak Jayanthi in an elaborate way and their temple, situated in Pappan Kinathu Street near the Meenakshi temple, was constructed in 1954. This shrine also serves as their meeting point. Their deities are decorated with flowers and jewels for festivals and they celebrate all Hindu festivals including Diwali and Holi.

Pandit Basudev Panday performed the rituals for the ‘janmashtami’ pooja, where the idol was decorated for the occasion. Everyone present had a chance to take part in the poojas, from the tiniest child to 75-year-old Nanda Lal. The parents ensure the small ones are brought here so that they can participate in the festivals without fail.

Being a small community, they go in search of brides and bridegrooms to north India and the marriage celebrations go on for three days.

Food for the Sindhis is a big affair. “Kadi chawal” and sweet rotis are some of their special dishes with ghee being the main ingredient in many of their delicacies.

“Thadri”, a festival which is celebrated by them, is one of difference as only food cooked the previous day is served to everyone on that day. “It is a way of giving rest to the god of fire Agni. Hence the fire is not lit for cooking and women also get a day off,” said Priya Chugh.

These people are diversified in their occupation, some tailors, some in real estate, finance, bankers, business and many others, according to Mahesh Chhabria. They have all contributed to Madurai’s development in their own small way.

Recently, the ladies joined hands to form the Ladies Chapter of their community, for the purpose of social service. Helping a poor girl with good scores enter engineering college was one of their recent achievements.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Madurai / by Padmini Sivarajah, TNN / August 14th, 2012