Pune investment & industrial development

[cncity]

Germany-headquarter Wirtgen has opened its first plant in India at Pune. This is its third plant outside Germany. Located at Bhandgaon, the new facility comprises a 2700 m2 administration centre and training building alongside a 3600 m2 factory, built to the same standard as Wirtgen Group's production facilities in Germany. It includes a shot blasting system, a paint facility and a spare parts depot, while machines are assembled on a 60 m long production line, equipped with overhead cranes, with a load bearing capacity of 10 tons each and supported by slewing pillar cranes.
With the investment of around Rs55 crore, the facility will manufacture Hamm’s new Type 311 single-drum compactor. Though the production capacity of the plant would be around 400 machines, the company targets to produce 200 machines a year.

“Actually, we are not selling this product [311 compactor] in India because all our competitors produce this model in India. For us to be competitive, we also have to start manufacturing locally. And that’s what exactly we have done. To start with, we will be manufacturing only one product but this will have three variants. But we will be adding more products shortly,” said Ramesh Palagiri, Managing Director, Wirtgen India.

http://www.constructionweekonline.in...lant_in_india/

[cncity]

The Rs.700-crore Pune-based Virgo Engineers Group, is expanding its valve manufacturing capacity by setting up a new plant, Virgo Valves and Controls Chennai, at MARG Swarnabhoomi near here.

Virgo Valves and Controls Pune, a part of the Virgo Group, is a leading manufacturer of a wide range of flow control valves and allied products predominantly for the oil and gas sector. Virgo Valves and Controls Chennai is a division of Virgo Valves and Controls Pune.

After inaugurating the new facility here on Monday, Jagdish Desai, CEO, Virgo Engineers Group, told presspersons that the large plant (one lakh sq. ft. spread over six bays) at MARG Swarnabhoomi would give an opportunity to ramp up production capabilities.

Mr. Desai said in the first phase, the company had invested Rs.30 crore (without machinery). Another Rs.25-30 crore would be invested in the next two years.

The Chennai plant would manufacture ball valves up to 12 inches in the first six months and from thereon would manufacture 24 inches ball valves.

With this Chennai unit, to be operational in two stages with 24,000 valves a year respectively, the total capacity would rise to 2.88 lakh units from the existing 2.40 lakh valves. The products would be exported to the U.S. and Europe, he said. The company was expecting to register a revenue of Rs.20 crore this year and Rs.50 crore in the next full year of operation of this unit.

GRK Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director, MARG Group, said, already Danish pump manufacturer Grundfos, Vanspall's only unit outside U.K. for manufacturing cooling tower equipment, Polyhose for auto component manufacturing were operational at MARG Swarnabhoomi. Mr. Reddy said other industrial units in the pipeline were: Eswari Electricals, Chennai (letter of intent signed), for distribution equipments; Techpro (letter of intent signed) for manufacturing equipment relating to water treatment plants; MoU signed with Twindisc for marine transmission devices and with TVS Kwikpatch for auto components. Besides, discussions were in an advanced stage with a robotics equipment manufacturer who had evinced keen interest to se up a facility at MARG Swarnabhoomi, he said.

Virgo Group has manufacturing plants in India, Italy, Germany and the U.S.

Mr. Desai said in India, Virgo already had two units in Pune and one in Coimbatore. The company was also in the process of becoming a fully integrated valve company by setting up a state-of-the-art foundry at Coimbatore which would be completed by the end of the fiscal year to manufacture and supply valve castings to its manufacturing units.

V. R. Jayaraman, Director (Projects), Virgo Engineers Group, said the company had registered a turnover of Rs.700 crore in 2010-11 which was expected to touch Rs.1,000 crore by 2011-12. Exports constituted 80 per cent of total sales. In the domestic market, the company was selling its products to major oil companies — ONGC, Cairn India, Reliance, HPCL and BPCL.

[cncity]

PUNE: Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan recently cleared four investment proposals attracting an investment of Rs 5,376 crore in Pune district alone, which should help silence his critics who have been lamenting that Maharashtra has been losing out to Gujarat after Ford and Maruti Suzuki decided to set up units there.

A fifth proposal was cleared for the Phaltan industrial area in neighbouring Satara district.

The profile of the cleared investment projects includes sectors like commercial vehicle production, vehicle engine production and the manufacture of wind turbine and health care equipment, electric home appliances and cosmetics.

Tata Cummins, the vehicle engine production unit, is expanding in Phaltan and is expected to make an investment of Rs 875 crore in the next five years. Cummins already has a major manufacturing facility in the Phaltan industrial area.

Speaking to TOI on the condition of anonymity, a senior official from the state industry ministry said Beiqui Foton Motor Company Ltd, which is owned by the Chinese government, is investing Rs 1,676 crore for setting up a plant on 250 acres at Chakan in Pune district.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/10674509.cms

[Deb_S]

Pune, Nov 16:

VMware Inc has opened a bigger R&D facility here. It also plans to add 50 people to the current strength of 130 over the next 18 months in both R&D and sales.

The Pune centre has seen consistent growth through both hiring and acquisitions and contributes significantly to the company's global R&D efforts including on key VMware offerings such as vShield and Zimbra.

VMware has a total of 7 R&D centres worldwide in the US, India, China, Israel and Bulgaria and the one in Bangalore is second only to the one in its headquarters Palo Alto.

Speaking at the inauguration, Mr T Srinivasan, Managing Director, VMware India & SAARC, said, “The centre will showcase new and future virtualisation and cloud computing offerings from VMware to enable customers plan their IT architecture effectively.”

Source

[rockystone]

Ravin Cables to invest Rs 200-cr; eyes 4-fold sales by FY16


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/10819002.cms

Bullish on growth, power cable manufacturer Ravin Cables is eyeing an over four-fold rise in revenue to Rs 3,000 crore by FY16, when its expansion and diversification plans would be complete, a top company official said today.

"Though there is a slowdown in the cable industry at present, we expect the scenario to change some time soon. We are eyeing Rs 3,000 crore revenue in the next four years," company chairman and managing director Vijay Karia told PTI here.

The government has set a target of 1,00,000 MW additional capacity during the 12th Plan period beginning next April. At present, the company's revenues stands at Rs 700 crore of which exports contribute to nearly Rs 100 crore.

Ravin has also embarked on an investment plan of Rs 200 crore for capacity addition as well as setting up a new super specialty facility to cater to the growing demand from the cable industry, which is currently Rs 15,000 crore.

"We have diversified our scope and plan to enter new segments such as renewable energy, including solar and wind, specialty cables for the auto segment as well as for cranes and submarine cables. We will be spending around Rs 20-25 crore in setting up a separate super specialty facility in Pune that will cater to these segments," he said.

The company already has two units one in Pune and another in Middle East with a capacity of 36,000 tonne each.

Last year, Ravin signed a joint venture agreement with the Italy-based Prysmian Group to manufacture all kinds of cables - low, medium and high-voltage as well as specialty cables. Prysmian has picked up majority 51 percent stake for about Rs 200 crore.

[cncity]

Granules India to set up R&D centre in Pune


Granules India Ltd will be setting up of Research & Development (R&D) unit at Pune (Maharashtra) after the availability of talent in that region.

C. Krishna Prasad, Managing Director, Granules India was quoted as saying "The proposed centre would be in addition to Granules' existing unit in Hyderabad."

The company has also approved long term financing facility and working capital limits for the financial year 2011-12.

[cncity]

The Zinnov-SEAP study delves deep in to the historical evolution and rise of Pune as the Engineering, R&D and IT services powerhouse of India


Zinnov Management Consulting, a leading globalization advisory firm, in association with the Software Exporters’ Association of Pune (SEAP), has released a comprehensive study titled ‘Advantage Pune - The Innovation Frontier’ that highlights the enormous potential Pune holds in becoming the next innovation hub of Asia.

The Zinnov-SEAP study delves deep in to the historical evolution and rise of Pune as the Engineering, R&D and IT services powerhouse of India, while deliberating on the way forward.

According to the Zinnov-SEAP study, Pune city has seen several inflection points over the last two centuries that have today resulted in a mature engineering ecosystem with many MNC and indigenous companies, word class universities, a large installed talent pool and thriving start-ups. The city boasts of 112 MNC R&D centres, MNC talent pool of 24k, 17 SEZs and IT parks, 15 of the top global 40 R&D service providers and more than 40 engineering colleges.

Stressing on Pune’s education advantage, the study finds that while Pune has traditionally been a location of industrial engineering, it now produces a large and diversified pool of engineering graduates every year spanning IT, Automobiles and Finance. Pune produces over 12,000 engineering graduates every year and it is expected to further increase as more colleges come up. Add to this the many institutes which offer market oriented vocational training courses like Hotel Management, Gemology, Jewelry designing, etc. To cite a case in point, Volkswagen opened its automotive technical knowledge center in Pune and has tie-ups with various polytechnics, ITIs and ITCs across India. And as if all that was not enough, foreign languages like French, Spanish and German too are quite popular among ‘Puneites’, notes the Zinnov-SEAP study.

In addition to the strong focus on education, Pune also houses several premier research institutions and has been witness to rapid developing infrastructure. With many new projects being kicked-off, Pune’s infrastructure is further set to move to the next level. Work has already commenced on the planning of new airport at Pune which is touted to be the largest airport in India. The city has been granted approval for 18 IT-BPO SEZs with a total area of 568 hectares while the Govt. is planning a 1,000 MW power plant exclusively for Pune to keep pace with the explosive economic growth. All these factors indicate that Pune is gearing up for massive infrastructure and urban growth that will further attract MNCs to the city, according to the study.

Talking about the industrial ecosystem of Pune, the study says that the city’s industry ecosystem mainly consists of Core Engineering, Software Products and IT Services. Pune has traditionally been the engineering base for some of the largest Indian engineering and technology companies namely Bajaj Auto, Kirloskar Electric Company, Bharat Forge, Tata Motors, Kinetic India, Thermax India, KPTI Cummins and the likes. The city also has the highest number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and large-scale units in the State. The district accounts for 49.7% of MSME units and 50.5% of large-scale units in Maharashtra, which goes on on to show the engineering and R&D prowess of Pune.

Talking about the study, Pari Natarajan, Co-Founder & CEO, Zinnov Management Consulting, “We were always upbeat about Pune and its prospects. Pune has not only contributed to the growth of the State, but also to the overall IT growth of India. We are also seeing an explosive start-up ecosystem here, which is very unique to the city. Pune houses close to 125 indigenous startups with business and productivity software accounting for 50% of it. In the years to come, the city can easily propel itself to the global league through some smart marketing efforts and creating a more vibrant Brand Pune.”

Commenting on the launch of the study, Gaurav Mehra, President, SEAP, said, “We are glad to have partnered with Zinnov for this interesting study on Pune. We are confident that this city - Pune is on the path to becoming the next innovation hub of Asia. All the factors are conducive for growth and with some more push and efforts from the industry and government alike, there is no stopping it.”

“One must not forget that Pune was the birthplace of outsourcing in India. The city’s close proximity to the financial capital of India too has been a boon as a lot of companies in the BFSI space have established a shared services base in Pune. This is in addition to the traditional strength of Pune in core engineering R&D and manufacturing” added Bhavani Shankar, Manager, Zinnov Management Consulting.

The study goes on to showcase Pune’s engineering, R&D, IT services, product and software technology, and start-up successes by citing numerous examples of companies that have innovated out of Pune by leveraging on the various advantages that the city offers. Within the overall industry ecosystem, key areas of strength for Pune include BFSI IT services, Automotive Engineering and Enterprise Software product engineering. The study states that 85% of India’s software product companies’ R&D center is headquartered in Pune, and the city employs 61% of India’s R&D employee base for software product companies.

While talking about the future prospects and the way forward, the study recommends Pune to undertake focused branding within and outside India emphasizing on its key industry clusters, talent pool availability, access to higher education and access to Mumbai-the financial capital of India. Pune also needs to further improve the perception of the city in terms of its cosmopolitan nature to encourage highly skilled workforce from all over India to come and work here. And lastly, the city must improve its infrastructure and attract investments in its key areas of strengths namely BFSI IT Services, Automotive Engineering and Enterprise Software, it added.

http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets...ier/5310944408

[cncity]

Maharashtra in terms of getting the maximum number of new industrial units, fetching Rs 37,700 crore worth of investment in the last five years. These industrial projects come under the mega-project policy of the state government announced in 2007 for a period of five years.

Of the 178 mega-industrial projects that have started production in the last five years, 37 industries have invested Rs 37,700 crore in Pune district. Raigad and Nagpur districts follow with investments worth Rs 26,008 crore and Rs 8,657 crore respectively.

The policy will expire on January 31, 2012. Speaking to TOI on condition of anonymity, a senior official of the state industries department said, "Since 2007, Pune district has received 52 investment proposals from industries of which 37 industrial units have gone into production. The total proposed investment from 52 proposals submitted under the megaproject policy is Rs 46,658 crore." Aproject involving a minimum investment of Rs 250 crore is categorized as a mega-project. The state had declared the policy so that investment proposals could be dealt with speedily. As of now, 298 proposals have been received, of which 178 have gone into the production stage. The estimated investment from 298 mega-projects is Rs 2,50,581 crore.

The units of Tata Motors, Bharat Forge and Bajaj Auto and their suppliers have encouraged other auto companies, both Indian and foreign companies like General Motors and Volkswagen to invest in Pune district.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/11573438.cms

[cncity]

Santa Clara, CA (PRWEB) February 02, 2012

InfoStretch Corporation, a leading provider of mobile and quality assurance solutions, today announced that it will be opening a new technology development and test center in Pune, India.
This move aligns with its strategic vision to support a global customer base and fuel innovation with the help of local talent.

“We have been experiencing exponential growth in our business and talent from Pune will play a critical role for technology innovation and contribute to our success in the coming years,” says Rutesh Shah, President and CEO of InfoStretch. “We welcome top-notch technical talent from Pune and our goal at InfoStretch is to nurture intelligent resource pools to work on leading edge technology projects,” he added.

Lately, Pune has been attracting a lot of companies to initiate development centers, and to capitalize on the growth of skilled technical professionals, both fresh and seasoned. “I am absolutely positive that this is a great move for InfoStretch to serve the company’s growing clientele. With this investment, we can serve both global and local customers,” says Palvinder Singh, Head of Pune Operations. “I am very excited to be heading this effort and look forward to growing this team successfully.” he added.
Pune will be the third development center in India for InfoStretch after Mumbai and Ahmedabad. InfoStretch is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA with other US offices in Scarsdale, NY and Conshohocken, PA.
About InfoStretch Corporation
InfoStretch is a global leader in software QA, mobile solutions, testing, distribution and certification Services. InfoStretch also specializes in Enterprise Application Testing, QA and Test Automation Services with an emphasis on Enterprise 2.0 and Cloud Infrastructure-based SaaS applications. InfoStretch delivers high-quality, reliable and cost-effective services to clients throughout the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The company specializes in delivering business solutions that command deep technology knowledge, process proficiency and domain expertise. For more information, visit http://www.infostretch.com/


http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/2/prweb9155381.htm

[Gudavalli]

Source: http://www.mydigitalfc.com/jobs/pune...wth-hiring-138

Recruitment activities to grow 8% in tier-III cities during Jan-June
A positive trend in recruitment is expected in smaller towns and mini-metros during the first half of 2012 on the back of increased hiring in sectors such as engineering & manufacturing, says a survey.

According to the survey by recruitment tendering platform myhiringclub.com, hiring activities are expected to grow by 11 per cent in tier-II cities such as Pune and Hyderabad during the January-June period of 2012 compared to the year-ago period.

In addition, 8 per cent growth in recruitment activities may be witnessed in tier-III cities like Jaipur, Ghaziabad and Kochi during the first half of the 2012 from the year-ago period.

Tier-II and tier-III cities seem to be gaining ground, compared to the metros as companies continue to look at them as cost-effective destinations.

“Employees from these cities are having very low attrition rate and cost effective compare to metros. That's the main reason where employers had started preferring candidates from these cities,” MyHiringClub.Com CEO Rajesh Kumar said.

Manufacturing and engineering, retail, FMCG, banking and financial services and IT/ITeS are major sectors that would see maximum hiring from smaller cities during the period under review and the survey expects that similar hiring trend will continue during the second half of the year as well.

In terms of sectoral analysis, the manufacturing and engineering space is expected to account 28 per cent of total hiring from tier-II and III cities followed by FMCG (18 per cent), retail (17 per cent), IT and ITeS (17 per cent), automobile (15 per cent), insurance (14 per cent), banking and financial Services (11 per cent) and telecom (9 per cent).

Pune and Chandigarh would contribute 26 per cent of total recruitment in first half of 2012 followed by Ahmedabad (22 per cent), Lucknow (21 per cent) and Jaipur (18 per cent).

The survey was conducted among nearly 1,000 employees and recruitment consultants across 12 industry segments (healthcare, infrastructure, hospitality, real estate and construction, BFSI, IT and ITeS, training and consulting, FMCG, telecom and automobile) in 112 cities.

[cncity]

PUNE, FEB 28:
Mahindra Steel Service Centre Ltd (MSSCL), a joint venture between Mahindra Intertrade Ltd and Metal One Corporation of Japan, has inaugurated its first electrical stampings facility near Pune.

The plant, which has been set up at a cost of Rs 50 crore, is Mahindra Intertrade's sixth service centre, and the second at Kanhe, near Pune.

The new facility with the equipment sourced from top suppliers across the globe: slitting line from Japan, stamping presses from Japan and Taiwan, stress relieving equipment from the US, and aluminium injection machine from Europe.

“This is the only facility of its kind in the country with presence across the complete value chain from steel through stampings.

“The electrical stampings facility will strengthen Intertrade's position in the home appliance space by offering the customer best–in–class service and equipment backed by top grade electrical steel from Nippon Steel in Japan,” Mr Harsh Kumar, Managing Director, MSSCL, said.

Mahindra Intertrade is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mahindra Group. It operates steel service centres at Kanhe, Nashik, Vadodara and Bhopal in India, and at Sharjah in the Middle East.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...cle2942160.ece

[cncity]

Pune: Aggreko, a provider of temporary power and temperature control services, today announced the opening of its India head office at Pune. The company had been operating with depots in Pune and Chennai for the last two years.

The company decided to consolidate the country headquarters in the city due to its thriving industry, pool of highly qualified engineering and business professionals based locally, and its proximity to key business centres such as Mumbai.

"Locating our HQ in Pune is a significant step forward towards strengthening our presence in the country. It gives us a great opportunity to grow and support local industry and to help drive economic growth in regions where power outages are common," said Mr. V. Radhakrishnan, the newly appointed Country Head for Aggreko India.

"With the Indian economy growing at such an exceptional rate, it is vital that industry has access to high quality, reliable and flexible power from a world renowned supplier such as Aggreko."

Aggreko supplies turnkey power packages across a variety of industries including oil and gas, manufacturing, mining, utilities and construction. By utilising temporary power solutions, companies ensure access to a power supply which is guaranteed, consistent and reliable. This mitigates the risk of production downtime and financial losses associated with unreliable power outages and load shedding.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/12161960.cms

[cncity]

Due to the economic slow down in Spain, the companies there are finding new ways to expand their businesses. The Spanish firms are looking for the options beyond Europe. Recently, Mondragon, a Spanish firm has invested Rs 34 crore in in Sherwal, 60-kms from Pune.

The company will set up an industrial complex in this region. Mondragon will open eight factories in the next five years mainly related to manufacturing sector, automobiles, hospitality and wind turbines.

Speaking to Business Standard on these developments, Jose Maria Aldecoa, president Mondragaon said, "Due to economic slowdown in Spain, we are planning to expand our business in the other countries like India, China, Brazil and Mexico, Thailand and Russia. As a result, the company has observed increase in sales and it is improving."
The first factory of Mondragon will be operational in July 2012 by the Danobat Group which is the machine tool division of Mondragaon has a JV with a company based in Indore named Indo tech for Band saws which is used for steel cutting.

Mondragon is expanding emerging markets including BRIC with about 63 per cent of group earnings now coming from international sales, it has 150 group companies, with over eight corporate offices and 18 plants outside Spain, including India. Aldecoa added, "India as a market holds great potential and Pune is ideal for the business expansion plan considering greater availability of land, skilled labour and its proximity to the ports in Mumbai. We are already supplying to automobile firms such as Tata Motors, Mahindra and General Motors in India. Mondragon will facilitate the setting up of these companies creating employment, raising standards and opening up new avenues for increased interaction between businesses in the Basque Country and India."

In August 2011, Mondragon has closed a deal with the Indian tubing manufacturer Taurus Flexibles Pvt. Ltd by which it will acquire a 50 per cent stake in the business located in Pune, India. They share the Rubber technology used for auto components industry. Maier, a group company has a JV with UM Group based in Gurgaon. They share the technology for plastic parts used for auto components industry

http://www.business-standard.com/ind...n-pune/468689/

[cncity]

The Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2011-12 that was tabled in the state legislature last week may have presented a grim outlook for the state, indicating a slowdown in the growth rate, but Pune district seems to be bucking that trend to some extent, say experts.

“Pune division has been the leading contributor in the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP)- this year it was 26 per cent. Around 60 per cent of the total manufacturing companies of the state come under Pune region. The region has seen a steady growth primarily because of the existence of industries and better infrastructure, which is missing in Marathwada and Vidarbha. Though overall growth is estimated to be slow as per the survey, the Pune region will be unaffected,” said Anant Sardeshmukh, director-general, Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), referring to the state report that says the GSDP in the state is expected to grow at 8.5 per cent in 2011-12 while the figure was 11.3 per cent the previous year. Even on the agriculture front, the state is expected to show a negative growth of 9.1 per cent, restraining the growth of ‘Agriculture & allied activities’ sector at (-) 5.1 per cent.

The survey figures related to Gross District Domestic Product (GDDP) and Net District Domestic Product (NDDP) income of the Pune division that covers Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur however, show GDDP at current prices has grown from Rs 1,93,156 crore in 2009-2010 to Rs 2,35,383 crore in 2010-2011. On the other hand, NDDP has increased from Rs 1,74,959 crore in 2009-2010 to Rs 2,14,952 crore in 2010-2011. The performance of both the industrial and agricultural sectors in the Pune division has been encouraging too. In February 2006, the state had adopted the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) policy, which received 233 SEZ proposals up to November 30, 2011. Of these, 116 SEZs were approved by the Central Government and 63 of them are notified. The Pune district has 34 approved SEZs and 20 notified SEZs. With an approved proposed investment of Rs 40,731 crore, the SEZs are expected to generate employment for 9.66 lakh people. However, the district has lost an investment of Rs 827 lakh and Rs 10,471 core on de-notified and withdrawn SEZs respectively till November 30, 2011. Sangeeta Shroff, associate professor, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, and officer-in-charge, Agro-Economic Research Centre, said Pune district has the advantage of better infrastructure such as electricity and roads. Besides, she said, the cropping pattern and irrigation facilities are different in places such as Satara and Kolhapur. “Even the milk cooperatives are well developed here. They have diversified into horticulture and floriculture,” said Shroff.

The number of Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) issued in the district by Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank till September 2011 are 13.70 lakh. KCC was launched in the state in 1999 in order to provide adequate and timely credit to meet the comprehensive credit needs of farmers including short-term crop loans and a reasonable component of consumption needs under single window with flexible and simplified procedure.

The status of co-operative industrial estates says of the 45 registered industrial estates in Pune district, only 38 are functional. The number of operational industrial units are 3,150. The industrial units in MIDC in the Pune district have increased from 7,603 in 2010 to 9,273 in 2011. Around 4.38 lakh people have been employed in 66,588 micro, small, medium enterprises (MSMEs), and 4.07 lakhs people are employed in 1,490 large enterprises in the district. The number of habitations targeted under 2010-2011 National Rural Drinking water Programme of water supply department in the district were 1286. However, only 325 were covered during this period. To improve the quality of rural water supply and environmental sanitation service, the State Government had started Jalswarajya Yojana in September, 2003. From the time of its inception to June 2011, in Pune region, of the 511 selected gram panchayats, the programme was completed in 471 gram panchayats. Out of the total 8,341 rainwater harvesting structures built upto October 2011, 871 were from Pune region

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ex...-grim/928440/3

[cncity]

Rio has been in the diamonds industry for more than 30 years, but while it has a long history with the industry it is not the most profitable for the major. Last year, diamonds accounted for only 1 per cent of group revenue.

The mining giant also said yesterday it had opened a state-of-the-art innovation centre in Pune, India, in a further expansion of its Mine of the Future program.

Rio partnered with India's iGATE Patni in a deal under which the local company will provide Rio with engineering research and development services, including industrial automation and control, software and embedded design and development, and general engineering services.

Rio's head of innovation, John McGagh, said the partnership would enable the company to move its innovations from the concept stage to commercial reality more efficiently with the help of specialised engineers.

"The Rio Tinto Innovation Centre will allow us to take a specific technology developed at one of our centres of excellence, such as the mine automation system in use at our Pilbara iron ore operations in WA, and adapt it for broader application across our network of mines," he said.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/busi...-1226311793967

[One_among]

Besides, this phase would also include "significant" localisation of hull/turret structure and major subsystems.

"L&T also plans to set up the integration and testing facility for roll out of these guns from its world class, dedicated defence equipment facility in Talegaon, near Pune," the company said.

It added that a proposal to develop the 155mm/52 calibre tracked, self-propelled artillery, with L&T as lead partner, had been submitted last year to Ministry of Defence.

Link:
http://articles.economictimes.indiat...ing-l-t-shares

[One_among]

"Over a period of ten years, we are looking at a turnover of USD 500 million from this JV and if we are selected for the supply of FICV by the government of India then we expect that the turnover would immediately become one billion dollars," Mahindra said.

Mahindra & Mahindra is one of the four companies which have received Expression of Interest (EOI) to supply around 2,000 units.

An initial investment of Rs 100 crore in the JV with Rafael will be made. The JV will also set up a facility in Pune where mostly naval systems will be made, he said.

Commenting on the JV with Telephonics Corporation Mahindra said: "A similar amount of investment is being made by the partners and in the next ten years, we are expecting turnover of half a billion dollar."

This JV has been set up primarily for Surveillance Radar Systems, Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) and Communication Systems.

Link:
http://www.business-standard.com/ind...-yrs/161937/on

[adam_india]

Avery Dennison expands Pune facility

US-based Avery Dennison, a pressure-sensitive label and packaging materials company, has completed a major expansion of its production facility in Pune that will significantly enhance the company’s production capacity to meet the growing demand of Indian market.

The company has invested Rs 1000 crore (approx. US $ 200 million) for this expansion and company’s total investment to date in the country is Rs 250 crore (approx. US $ 50 million). It has two plants in Gurgaon and a recently commissioned distribution center in Bangalore.

Commenting on this, Dean A Scarborough, chairman and president, Avery Dennison said, "With this latest expansion, we continue with the next big chapter in our development in India. Our customers across India and South Asia have been our primary focus, since we first established operations here in 1997. By expanding in Pune, we will be able to serve better the increasingly discerning requirements of this fast-growing market."
Avery Dennison also announced two more significant developments in India, the establishment of a new innovation center in Pune and a knowledge center in Bangalore.

The innovation center will be the third of its kind for Avery Dennison, which has existing centers in the US and China. It will provide dedicated research and innovation development services for Indian converters and original equipment manufacturers, while simultaneously providing growth opportunities for India’s pressure-sensitive labeling industry.

The Pune innovation center will be operational by mid-2012 and is expected to grow significantly in terms of dedicated resources over the next two years.

The Pune facility produces technically advanced pressure-sensitive materials for labeling and packaging material with the total capacity of 350 million square metre.

source: business standard

[cncity]

PUNE: "I see a great product temperament in Pune," says Prakash Bhalerao, a well-known angel investor in the Silicon Valley as he gets down talking to ET.

"Saw that in Bangalore 10 years back but the focus there is now diluting towards services," he points out. But what brings him to Pune? Co-founder of 30-odd Valley start-ups and now chairman-CEO of the California-based Verismo Networks, which has 700 people in Bangalore, Bhalerao is planning to make Pune his new 'karmabhoomi'.

A technology incubation centre is Bhalerao's agenda for the city where he aims to nurture companies making technology products for the global market. "To develop technology products, you need a specific focus, longevity and a different type of personality, which I see in Pune," he said.

The angel investor is incubating AvaniTV, an invehicle entertainment solutions company founded by former entertainment industry executive Ishwar Jha. With operations spread across Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore, Bhalerao will soon consolidate them into the 14-storey incubation centre that is currently receiving finishing touches.

"Skills like product development, product management , quality assurance and user interface design needed for products firms are available in Pune," says Gaurav Mehra, MD of Saba Software and president of SEAP, an association of IT exporters out of Pune.

"There is a very strong start-up ecosystem in Pune apart from the presence of engineering centres of global giants like Bosch, John Deere and IBM, which makes Pune ideal for product companies," he says.


The cosmopolitan culture too makes the city a test market place for new products. Mobile handset giant Nokia conducted the pilot for its emerging market products Lifetools and Money in Pune. Symantec, BMC and Parametric too have their India bases at Pune.

"I am impressed with the calibre of talent in Pune, which is moving closer to that in Silicon Valley," Allwyn Sequeira, chief technology officer and vice-president at VMware, the Palo Alto-based , $3-billion cloud and virtualisation software company.

"In the Valley we have people with 15-25 years of experience. Pune has people with over a decade of experience as well as Valley returnees. The talent in Pune is very stable unlike in other cities where everyone seems to walking with their CVs. I have people in my team who have been working for 7 to 8 years and I am very comfortable handling concept-to-delivery of our products from Pune."

VMware recently set up a second research and development centre in Pune, which will house a part of Sequeira's team. The city is also attracting expatriates. The guys behind EnTrip -- Nicholas Adams and Anthony Hsiao -- and Yann Le Gouic shifted to Pune to launch their web-app development start-up Sapna Solutions.

"We actually represent the first wave of 'reverse brain drain' that is inevitably going to happen now with more talent coming to India," Hsiao says. The start-up talk is strong in Pune too with homegrown innovators attracting money and interest. Druva, an enterprise backup solutions provider with clients like NASA and the US Marine Corps, among others, raised a $12 million series B funding from Nexus Venture Partners in August last.

Sequoia Capital is an investor in QuickHeal, a Pune-based security tools company. Newbies like DroidCloud, Kpoint and NanoStuffs have churned out interesting products that have contributed to the start-up ecosystem. No wonder that Bhalerao is looking to have the next wave of his companies emerge from Pune. "I am looking for product ideas that have a global market," he says.

"If I like the idea and the entrepreneur's tenacity, I fund it and I take a very active role unlike a typical angel investor. In the role of a CEO or chairman, I participate in building that idea into a business, till the product is launched and accepted by customers, has a pseudo-management team. It would have tasted revenue and possibly the first round of VC funding has come in," Bhalerao said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/12512977.cms

[mihir1310]

Rio's India facility for automation R&D

Rio Tinto has opened a facility in India to help drive its roll out of automated mining technology. The mining giant on Tuesday said it had opened an innovation centre in the city of Pune to support its Mine of the Future program. The program is being expanded for the company's iron ore operations in Western Australia - from driverless trucks to remotely controlled trains.

The new facility in India will provide Rio Tinto with engineering research and development services, including industrial automation and control. It will take ideas that have been developed by Rio Tinto in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, and trialled in a specific mine or business unit.

It will then modify the technology for use with other products or in different regions, the miner said in a statement.

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Fina..._D_733538.html