Archive for August, 2008:
Pegasus plans Rs 200 crore semiconductor plant in Ahmedabad
To manufacture white LED lighting systems. Other two big construction company are also planning to setup site in gujarat.
In what could provide an impetus to energy conservation and reduce power costs, Ahmedabad-based Pegasus Semiconductors Pvt. Ltd. is setting up a manufacturing plant on the outskirts of the city for white light emitting diode (LEDs) semi-conductor chips.
At an investment of around Rs 200 crore, the plant is set to commission within two years.
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$32.5 million investment in Azure Knowledge, an ITES player in the city
Ahmedabad: Greater Pacific Capital (GPC), a London-based strategic investment firm has announced its $32.5 million investment in Azure Knowledge, an ITES player in the country and the largest BPO and KPO in the state of Gujarat.
The investment, which will be made over the next 12-18 months, is claimed to be the biggest investment in a 3rd party KPO in western India till date. This is following Azure’s successful acquisition of 49 percent stake in U.S. based Citizens Financial Mortgage in April 2008.
LikeRahejas IT SEZ in Vadodara!
The Centre has given formal approval to four new special economic zones (SEZs) for Gujarat, taking the total SEZs for the state to 55.
The SEZs that received nod at the Board of Approvers’ meet in Delhi on Friday included a textile SEZ by Pradeep Overseas Ltd on 109 hectares (ha) near Ahmedabad, a solar equipment SEZ by Euro Multivision Ltd on 11 ha near Bhachau, and two IT SEZs – by Gauri Shankar Property on 16 ha near Ahmedabad and by Raheja group on 14 ha near Vadodara.
LikeGujarat to house animation SEZ
Gujarat may be the next destination for the country’s animation industry, which is expected to touch Rs4,200 crore by fiscal
2009. Targeting the sunrise industry, an unnamed developer has proposed an IT SEZ in Umargaon in south Gujarat, according
to state officials. Overseas entertainment giants including Walt Disney, Imax and Sony are expected to outsource cartoon characters and special effects to Gujarat once the SEZ is completed. Confirming the development, Gujrat’s IT secretary, Rajkumar Gupta, said
Umargaon near Valsad would perhaps be India’s first SEZ to target the animation industry. However, he declined to disclose the name of developer. According to a senior official in Industries Commissionerate,the government is considering the proposal and is likely to send it to the Centre for approval soon. Ramaprasad S, the executive director of Toonz Animation,which made Return of Hanuman and Tenali Rama, said, the move acknowledges the fact that India’s animation industry is receiving worldwide recognition.
Meanwhile, Mumbai-based Hiranandani Construction, emulating nationallevel realtors such as DLF and Raheja, is also setting up IT SEZ in Ahmedabad.Under the name of Myron Realtors Pvt. Ltd, the group has bought 27 acres of land on Sardar Patel Ring Road in
Ahmedabad’s Sanand taluka. The SEZ will house IT/ITeS units. This would boost the growth of IT industry in Gujarat, Gupta said.
Officials said the state government has cleared the proposal and sent it to the apex body for SEZs, the Board of Approval, for consideration. The two new special zones would take the total number of IT/ITES SEZs in the state to 16.
LikeGujarat may get a Rs 30,000 Crore Fab City!
Gandhinagar: Gujarat could well give Andhra Pradesh a run for its money as India’s fab capital with Hindustan Semiconductor & Manufacturing Company (HSMC), a consortium of NRIs based out of Silicon Valley, eyeing a Rs 30,000-crore Fab City project spread over 700 acres for manufacturing semi-conductors in the state.
According to top Gujarat government (GoG) officials, HSMC has evinced keenness on setting up the megaproject at Prantij, nearly 60 km north of Ahmedabad.
While HSMC chairman Deven Verma is learnt to have met Chief Minister Narendra Modi in April 2008, senior HSMC executives made a detailed presentation on Fab City to principal secretary (industries) Gauri Kumar in early July 2008. HSMC already has an MoU with Infrastructure Lease & Finance Service (IL&FS) for providing necessary infrastructure logistics.
I n t e re s t i n g ly, HSMC’s Fab City is understood to be one of the biggest projects being lined up for signing at the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat summit in January next year.
While a detailed submission is awaited, officials said HSMC had been assured of the government’s support, including policy changes if required, and urged them to apply to GoI.
“We have shown them two sites — Prantij in Sabarkantha district and Vasad in Vadodara district. They finalize one of them after soil testing,” said a senior state government official, adding HSMC was keen on Prantij, given its proximity (40 minute drive) to Ahmedabad international airport and easy availability of water as the project would require nearly three million gallons per day.
According to officials, if the project comes to Gujarat, it would create a boom of downstream IT projects, providing jobs to thousands of technical graduates in the state. HSMC has also been looking at other states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Semi-conductors or silicon chips find applications in computers, TVs, mobile phones and telephones, SIM and I-cards, credit cards as well as the automotive sector.
Source: TNN
LikeGujarat emerging new hub in EDS outsourcing
EVEN as engineering design services (EDS) outsourcing business gains momentum in the country, Gujarat seems to be emerging as a new hub in the field, throwing up new career opportunities to engineering graduates in the state. Apart from engineering graduates, those getting trained in areas like computer-aided designing and other engineering design areas are also benefiting from the emergence of the new area of outsourcing.
Ahmedabad-based Icenet Technologies recently made foray into EDS outsourcing business with the launch of the brand Icecube, recruiting 100 engineering graduates who are being trained in the fields of electrical and automation & control design requirements of the clients based in the US and Europe.
KJWW Engineering India, a captive unit of the US-based engineering service providing company, has recruited engineers in its unit in the city with the assistance of Hi Tech Export around six months ago.
“EDS outsourcing is a different field altogether than the IT/ITeS outsourcing as it requires special engineering applications. With EDS becoming the next big thing in Indian outsourcing business, engineers will have big opportunities,” said Icenet CEO and MD Chirag Mehta.
Unlike IT/ITeS services that require an engineer to be trained in information technology applications, EDS requires a proper engineering training as it is more of an engineering application-based job. “While IT outsourcing companies tap engineering graduates and train them in IT applications to carry out the job, EDS only requires an engineer to have an idea of the standard engineering practices of the countries from where the work is being outsourced. We are training our engineers for just the same,” Mr Mehta said.
Annually, Gujarat produces 22,000 engineers trained in different disciplines. With the number of engineering graduates in the US and European countries going down and the number of engineering graduates in India increasing, the country is emerging as a new focal point for EDS outsourcing.
As per the Nasscom and McKinsey report, the total global market spend for engineering services is $750 billion, of which $100 billion service, is being outsourced, with India having 12% share of $12 billion, expected to grow up to 50 billion by 2020.
“The HR scene in engineering in the state is far better than other states. We are employing 900-odd people for services that range from the design of automotive components, industrial products, ship designing, plant designing, etc and are going to scale up the number in the coming three years to more than 5,000,” said Vadodara-based L&T e-Engineering Services general manager Vijay Vinchurkar. L&T Technology Park going to come up in Vadodara will have a 5,000-seated EDS outsourcing unit, which will be scaled up to 10,000-seated unit.
“The captive unit of the US-based KJWW Engineering Consultants employs 60 mechanical, electrical and structural engineers and plans to increase the strength to 90 by the end of the year. The job carried out by our engineers are mainly focussed on designing and drafting, suiting the requirements of our US clients,” said Ketan Pujara, senior director of engineering services, Hi Tech Export.
“Apart from engineers skilled in various disciplines, the EDS outsourcing units also require professionals trained in computer-aided designing. Engineers trained in AutoCAD give them an edge,” said Sameer Rai, centre director of CADD Centre, which recently began its second unit in the state and plans to add more to train candidates as per the industry requirements
Source: Times
LikeGujarat allots 26 acre for Satyam’s SEZ
Govt allots 26 acre land for Satyam’s SEZ
Satyam Computers Services Ltd, one of the software giants in the country, has been allotted over 26 acres of government land for setting up special economic zone (SEZ) dedicated to information technology (IT) sector.
The captive special zone would come up in the state’s capital Gandhinagar near Infocity. “On July 16, the company’s officials formally received possession of the land from the district collector,” said a senior Gujarat government official on the condition of anonymity.
Satyam is the country’s second IT consultancy firm to plan a SEZ in the state after Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The TCS has already been approved over 10 acres of land in Gandhinagar.
Confirming the latest development, Capt H R Prasad, global head, corporate services, Satyam Computer Services Ltd, said Satyam was in the process of planning the campus in Gandhinagar. The company would now soon initiate the process of obtaining the formal nod from the board of approval and notification from the Centre.”
According to government sources, the process of notification should not take very long, given the fact that the special economic region is to come up on a government land.
The company, listed on BSE as well as New York Stock Exchange, was expected to set up a software development centre in its captive SEZ, said a government official.
The Secunderabad-based company’s officials, however, expressed inability to provide investment and employment figures for the project, saying that it was still in the early stages of planning.
This would be the 11th IT sector-specific SEZ in the state when approved. So far two IT-dedicated special zoneshave been notified: one is Ahmedabad and the other in Gandhinagar.
Interestingly, all the IT SEZs in the state, except one by Nipiam Infotech in Vadodara, are housed in the twin cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. While Ahmedabad has 4 of them in different stages of approval, Gandhinagar accounts for the rest.
Apart from Satyam, TCS’s IT SEZ in Gandhinagar, which has been formally approved by the Centre, is awaiting notification. In addition, some of the national-level realtors, like DLF and Raheja, have also got IT special zones approved in Gandhinagar.
Satyam Computers’s first quarter profit went up 45% on the back of rupee weakness. The company posted net profit of Rs 548 crore against Rs 378 crore a year ago. Its revenue rose to Rs 2,621 crore from Rs 1,830 crore last year.
source: sify.com
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