DaVita Honors Service Members’ Contributions This Veterans Day

DaVita®, a division of DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. (NYSE: DVA) and a leading provider of kidney care services, today honors the men and women of the armed forces that have served the United States.

DaVita’s recruitment efforts help military veterans and their spouses find gainful employment. As a member of MSEP (Military Spouse Employment Partnership) since 2011, DaVita has made a commitment to help match veterans and their spouses with jobs within the company. DaVita also supports numerous virtual job fairs designed for veterans and uses the Heroes2Hired.com job portal as part of the ESGR (Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve) Employment Initiative Program.

“DaVita is proud of its ongoing commitment to welcoming military veterans and their families into ‘the DaVita Village,’” said Laura Mildenberger, chief people officer at DaVita. “Through our programs designed to honor and support veterans, we can give back to a community of people that have already shown a great commitment to this country.”

On Veterans Day, DaVita teammates across the country will be celebrating the veterans in their life and commemorating them for their service.

In recent years, DaVita has implemented programs designed to honor veterans throughout the year with special recognition on Veterans Day. DaVita’s Village Veterans program allows new teammates to receive mentorship from company leaders to help transition them into their new role. DaVita offers current and former military members the opportunity for personal development through a private course. The Star Troopers program honors current members of the military by assembling care packages and writing thank-you notes for those serving overseas.

“During my 14 years as a DaVita teammate, I have been in awe of the corporate support provided to members of the armed forces,” said Bill Hyland, director of health care planning and retired Army reserve member. “The recognition DaVita receives is a culmination of thousands of teammates participating in many projects to support our citizen soldiers.”

DaVita and its teammates have been recognized for their support of military veterans, their spouses, and guard and reserve members. Awards won include: “Best for Vets Employers” by Military Times EDGE Magazine; G.I. Jobs “Top 100 Military Friendly Employers;” Military Spouse Magazine’s “Military Friendly Spouse Employer;” “Most Valuable Employer” by Civilianjobs.com; and the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.

For more information about DaVita’s veterans programs, please visit Careers.DaVita.com/Careers/Military.

DaVita and DaVita HealthCare Partners are trademarks or registered trademarks of DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 

Tata Motors conducts 'School Bus Safety awareness program' at Podar International School

With an aim to partner with the community, Tata Motors announced a national level School Bus Safety program, targeting all stake holders involved in School Bus travel. Through the School Bus Safety program, Tata Motors aims at sensitising school children, their parents, drivers, attendants and school bus staff, to prevent and minimise accidents during travel. As part of the School Bus Safety campaign, Tata Motors has initiated the 'Hamare Bus Ki Baat Hai' (for school bus attendees),'Safety Hamaare Bus Mein' (Mock drills on safety measures in case of a fire & safe school bus travel, for children) and 'Dream it to Win it' (national level essay & painting competition, for children).

Mr. Gaurav Podar, Trustee, Podar International School, Mr. R Ramakrishnan, Senior Vice President (Commercial), Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors and Mr. Habib Saleh - Head, (Sales and Marketing), Buses & Vans, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, facilitating school bus staff at Podar International School, Santacruz, Mumbai, at a program on safe school bus travel, by Tata Motors, called 'Hamare Bus Ki Baat Hai'. The programaims toeducate school bus staff on the softer aspects of interacting with children and parents.

Tata Motors today conducted the 'Hamare Bus Ki Baat Hai' program, at Podar International School, Santacruz, Mumbai.

Mr. R Ramakrishnan, Senior Vice President, (Commercial), Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors said, "Each day at countless bus stops across the country, parents entrust schools with what's most precious to them - their children. It is a huge responsibility and one that places enormous pressure on schools and various people associated in the travel of their children. Tata Motors through these campaigns has partnered with parents, schools and transport authorities, shouldering their responsibility, to keep their children safe while commuting to and from school. These initiatives have been designed to sensitise, motivate and train children and school bus staff, on issues related to school bus travel and safety."

Mr. Gaurav Podar, Trustee, Podar International School, said,"Safety is of paramount importance to every school and through these initiatives, we are happy to partner with Tata Motors in imparting a very important element of safety for our children, in School Bus travel. Our school participated in the 'Hamare Bus Ki Baat Hai' campaign, which has been very well received by our school bus staff. We would like to thank Tata Motors for playing such an active role in our school."

'Hamare Bus Ki Baat Hai'

The Hamare Bus Ki Baat Hai program targets school bus drivers and attendants, educating them on the softer aspects of interacting with children and parents. The interactive training programme has been designed with inputs from various stake holders, sensitising participants to better understand a child's needs, creating awareness about their duties and responsibilities, general etiquette & behavior, and to take necessary measures in case of accidents.

'Safety Hamaare Bus Mein'

This programme is designed to educate school children on using safety features in buses, tips on safe travel and other softer aspects of dealing with school bus staff. The training includes aspects like mock fire drill in schools, a virtual experience film showing safe travel, sessions with select students on safety and a safety quiz in school. It involves safety drills like entry/exit, emergency evacuation, and effective handling of safety provisions in a bus. This campaign is set to kick-off shortly.

'Dream it to Win it' campaign

Having conducted the "Dream it to Win it" contest, the campaign received participation of over 3,000 schools in a national level essay & painting competition. The contest helped in showcasing the talent of children and enhancing their awareness levels, on the importance of safe school bus travel. Though this program, children were felicitated with certificates, scholarships and exciting gifts.

Tata Motors understands that parents of children are like any other bus customer. They want to be informed and want the bus provider to be responsive. Recognising that all these issues are important for parents, Tata Motors has devised 'the Safest School Bus concept', with technology as the backbone.The safest school bus concept incorporates some unique safety features in a Tata Motors SKOOL BUS -

2 cameras fitted, one on the front windshield & one in saloon area

Monitor to capture & display real time images

DVR System with built-in GPS sensors

Supports up to 64 GB Micro SDHC card for recording

Rear view camera with display monitor mounted on the dashboard

Roof mounted flashing lamps which will flash as soon as the door is opened

Door buzzer & indicator on dash board

Electronic front destination board

Stop request switch on each seat location

Apart from these technology rich features, Tata Motors SKOOL buses are also fitted with comfortable seating, chin guard, stop sign on passenger door, 2-point lap seat belts, one row roof grab rail handles, fire extinguishers, rear high mount stop lamp, rear breakable windshield with hammer.

Tata Motors conducts 'School Bus Safety awareness program' at Podar International School

With an aim to partner with the community, Tata Motors announced a national level School Bus Safety program, targeting all stake holders involved in School Bus travel. Through the School Bus Safety program, Tata Motors aims at sensitising school children, their parents, drivers, attendants and school bus staff, to prevent and minimise accidents during travel. As part of the School Bus Safety campaign, Tata Motors has initiated the 'Hamare Bus Ki Baat Hai' (for school bus attendees),'Safety Hamaare Bus Mein' (Mock drills on safety measures in case of a fire & safe school bus travel, for children) and 'Dream it to Win it' (national level essay & painting competition, for children).

Mr. Gaurav Podar, Trustee, Podar International School, Mr. R Ramakrishnan, Senior Vice President (Commercial), Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors and Mr. Habib Saleh - Head, (Sales and Marketing), Buses & Vans, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, facilitating school bus staff at Podar International School, Santacruz, Mumbai, at a program on safe school bus travel, by Tata Motors, called 'Hamare Bus Ki Baat Hai'. The programaims toeducate school bus staff on the softer aspects of interacting with children and parents.

Tata Motors today conducted the 'Hamare Bus Ki Baat Hai' program, at Podar International School, Santacruz, Mumbai.

Mr. R Ramakrishnan, Senior Vice President, (Commercial), Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors said, "Each day at countless bus stops across the country, parents entrust schools with what's most precious to them - their children. It is a huge responsibility and one that places enormous pressure on schools and various people associated in the travel of their children. Tata Motors through these campaigns has partnered with parents, schools and transport authorities, shouldering their responsibility, to keep their children safe while commuting to and from school. These initiatives have been designed to sensitise, motivate and train children and school bus staff, on issues related to school bus travel and safety."

Mr. Gaurav Podar, Trustee, Podar International School, said,"Safety is of paramount importance to every school and through these initiatives, we are happy to partner with Tata Motors in imparting a very important element of safety for our children, in School Bus travel. Our school participated in the 'Hamare Bus Ki Baat Hai' campaign, which has been very well received by our school bus staff. We would like to thank Tata Motors for playing such an active role in our school."

'Hamare Bus Ki Baat Hai'

The Hamare Bus Ki Baat Hai program targets school bus drivers and attendants, educating them on the softer aspects of interacting with children and parents. The interactive training programme has been designed with inputs from various stake holders, sensitising participants to better understand a child's needs, creating awareness about their duties and responsibilities, general etiquette & behavior, and to take necessary measures in case of accidents.

'Safety Hamaare Bus Mein'

This programme is designed to educate school children on using safety features in buses, tips on safe travel and other softer aspects of dealing with school bus staff. The training includes aspects like mock fire drill in schools, a virtual experience film showing safe travel, sessions with select students on safety and a safety quiz in school. It involves safety drills like entry/exit, emergency evacuation, and effective handling of safety provisions in a bus. This campaign is set to kick-off shortly.

'Dream it to Win it' campaign

Having conducted the "Dream it to Win it" contest, the campaign received participation of over 3,000 schools in a national level essay & painting competition. The contest helped in showcasing the talent of children and enhancing their awareness levels, on the importance of safe school bus travel. Though this program, children were felicitated with certificates, scholarships and exciting gifts.

Tata Motors understands that parents of children are like any other bus customer. They want to be informed and want the bus provider to be responsive. Recognising that all these issues are important for parents, Tata Motors has devised 'the Safest School Bus concept', with technology as the backbone.The safest school bus concept incorporates some unique safety features in a Tata Motors SKOOL BUS -

2 cameras fitted, one on the front windshield & one in saloon area

Monitor to capture & display real time images

DVR System with built-in GPS sensors

Supports up to 64 GB Micro SDHC card for recording

Rear view camera with display monitor mounted on the dashboard

Roof mounted flashing lamps which will flash as soon as the door is opened

Door buzzer & indicator on dash board

Electronic front destination board

Stop request switch on each seat location

Apart from these technology rich features, Tata Motors SKOOL buses are also fitted with comfortable seating, chin guard, stop sign on passenger door, 2-point lap seat belts, one row roof grab rail handles, fire extinguishers, rear high mount stop lamp, rear breakable windshield with hammer.

UST Global Conferred with Edge Awards 2013 by InformationWeek

Wins accolades for its cloud-based e-mail security solution, under the 'Security' category of the awards

UST Global, an information technology solutions and Services Company for Global 1000 enterprises, today announced that it has been honored with the coveted EDGE Awards 2013 by IT publication InformationWeek for its e-mail security deployment on the cloud.

UST Global migrated from on-premise e-mail security to a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service)-model in order to resolve concerns related to e-mail threats, misutilization of Internet bandwidth and reliance on a single technology without any guaranteed service-level agreement (SLA) and service availability. As part of the transformation, it made deployment of the e-mail content and malware filter on the Symantec cloud to enable better security posture, allow access to SLA-based services and ensure 100 percent availability and ease of management. The migration took about 48 hours to complete and the company experienced zero downtime without a single e-mail loss.

The deployment resulted in significantly upgrading performance and optimizing bandwidth, including a 40 percent decrease in e-mail flow as unwanted e-mails got stopped on the cloud. It benefited the entire staff working from multiple locations with different e-mail servers in reducing inflow of spam and malicious e-mails. UST Global has also fully automated Active Directory user and group synch with minimal hardware.

Basil Solomon, Group Manager, Infrastructure Services, UST Global,who led this project says, "It's very gratifying to be recognized by Information Week for our efforts in applying technology to transform our processes. UST Global is heavily leaned towards the cloud and has built robust capability in delivering services on the platform to customers across industries. As a company we have been investing in cloud to simply process and hence it was a natural progression for us to move to the SaaS model to improve the way we dealt with critical issues pertaining to e-mail security of our workforce."

Adding an insight on the benefits realized from the project, Basil added, "The multitenant model of the cloud has helped us dramatically reduce redundancy and data center costs. It has also lowered manual intervention in maintenance and support and enabled us to control data leakage over e-mails."

About UST Global

UST Global(R) (www.ust-global.com) provides information technology solutions and services for Global 1000 enterprises. It delivers business value through a combination of process excellence, quality frameworks, and service delivery innovation. Its client-centric Global Engagement Model (GEM) ensures 24/7 delivery of services through onshore, near shore and offshore centers. It offers consulting, tech build, application development and maintenance, infrastructure, QA and testing, ecommerce, business intelligence, data management, social media solutions and BPO services. It serves clients in the healthcare, insurance, retail, financial services, manufacturing, telecom, media, utility and energy industries. Headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, UST Global and its offices in the United States, United Kingdom, India, Malaysia, Philippines and Mexico transform global innovation through technology, jobs and training.

BharatMatrimony Launches App to Help Find Your Special Someone

The key to a Happy Marriage is finding someone who cares for what you love! Now finding your special someone is fun and easy with the cool BharatMatrimony App for Android devices!

BharatMatrimony, the global leader in matrimony with over 3 million success stories, has upgraded its Android mobile application and is compatible with 4,000 devices.

Members of BharatMatrimony can now easily shortlist, express interest to prospects, send mails and edit profiles with a simple swipe.

The application has an array of features such as new user interface, new gestures, shake to view matching profiles, chat and the option of "action button" in search results. These features help members navigate comfortably and contact their prospects.

Developed completely in-house, the BharatMatrimony app is the first of its kind in the matrimony domain in India. The application is user-friendly and highly secure. And a 'Demo Tour' guides users to navigate.

"There are 738 million mobile users currently in India, 94 million people have access to internet, of this 23 million access the net through mobile phones. It's pretty clear where our customers is ..and therefore mobile is our primary focus," says Saichithra, Chief Portal and Mobile Officer, BharatMatrimony.

The mobile team has not only succeeded in developing a slew of features such as new rich enhanced user interface with action items, support to all Android powered devices and new easy navigation pattern with Demo Tour and Help Screen, but also a gamut of new gestures.

These gestures included scroll down to view search results with list and grid view options, tap the profile to view photo and full profile, swipe profile to send express interest/ send mail/ shortlist; fly in menu for easy navigation, pull to refresh to get latest updates and shake to get new magic matching profiles.

Besides the app has new features such as search results with action buttons, push notification with member photos, action buttons and sound, complete registration with instant login, chat with enhanced UI, full profile with backgrounds that change according to the time of day.

"When you want something done best, do it yourself. Mobile is critical to us and so we decided to build the capability internally. We were early adopters of mobile and have moved to a mobile first strategy now. The initial feedback from users has been very good," says Saichithra, Chief Portal and Mobile Officer, BharatMatrimony.

Red Express Introduces Daily Cash on Delivery Remittances

RED Express is excited to come up with Daily COD Remittance for all your COD consignments"

RED Express, one of India's first dynamic Door-to-Door courier and express delivery provider aims at giving customers an enhanced experience of hassle free parcel services.

At Red Express, we understand the value of your precious time and your capital; therefore, we are in the process of revolutionizing the COD concept by bringing a Shorter Remittance cycle for our customers.

The concept of Cash on Delivery has become a latest trend in the Industry when it comes to satisfying customers on their instant needs. 'Cash on Delivery' or COD, as it is popularly known as, allows the consumer to choose option to pay upon the receipt of the product or the service revolutionizing the E-Commerce Market and leading to increased sales for the E-commerce companies by many folds. Both, the consumer and businesses have benefited enormously from this concept of COD service.

Most of the companies which provide Parcel Delivery Solutions to E-Commerce companies take a time period of approximately 14-21 days to remit back the payments which lead to a blockage of money with Service Providers - courier companies, parcel companies, etc.

RED Express continuously works out on the means and modes of transforming the prevailing processes in the Industry and therefore, we have come up with Daily Cash on Delivery Remittances*.

RED Express proves out to be beneficial because of the following:

-Easier and Faster Transactional Model
-Information Transparency at every step
-Quick Remittance
-Trust Factor
-Quality Manpower

We understand that COD is the "Need of the hour" for E-Retail companies and RED Express is here to reduce your efforts by offering you faster remittance solutions so that you can focus on what you do best- Faster Sales!

(*Please note that, for NEFT, we Remit back on Daily Basis, i.e. Monday toFriday and for Cheque Payments, its once a week or minimum Rs. 1000.00 COD value, whichever is earlier)

Our Network: Mahipalpur, Kirti Nagar, Wazirpur, Rani Jhansi Road, Okhla, Laxmi Nagar, Faridabad, Noida, Gurgaon, Moradabad, Jaipur, Haridwar, Ambala, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Bahalgarh, Sonipat, Ghaziabad, Zirakpur/Mohali, Dera Bassi, Panchkula, Manesar, Dehradun, Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, Meerut, Ajmer, Kota, Jodhpur, Allahabad, Indore, Bhopal, Panipat, Karnal and Bareilly.

About RED Express (www.getsetred.net)

R.E.D. Express, one of India's first dynamic Door to Door solutions providers, is a team of highly innovative & enthusiastic young achievers. Our value proposition lies in the process innovation, technology & unique business solutions we bring to our customers.

We believe that by being flexible, customer oriented and highly effective & efficient on processes and technology, we can offer reliable, unmatched & value for money Express Parcel Solutions. Toll Free: 1800 123 2400

Max India's Consolidated Q2FY14 PBT Jumps 116% to Rs 93 Cr, Declares Interim Dividend of 90%

Max Life's1 market share increases 60 basis points to 9.7%; announces dividend of Rs 128 Cr
-- MHC2 turns cash positive in H1FY14; Q2FY14 EBIDTA up 6 times
-- Max Bupa's Net Earned Premium up 96%, signs Deustche Bank as a bancassurance partner
-- Antara commences prelaunch sales in Q2FY14
-- Max Speciality Films Q2FY14 EBITDA up 46%

Max India Ltd., one of India's leading multi-business corporates, today announced its results for the quarter ended 30 September, 2013. The consolidated Profit Before Tax (PBT) for Q2FY14 rose by 116% to reach Rs. 93 Cr. The Operating Revenue registered an increase of 12% to Rs. 2158 Cr. The Board of Director's of Max India Limited have proposed an interim dividend of 90%, translating to Rs. 1.80 per share and aggregating to Rs. 48 Cr. This follows a consolidated dividend of 610%, aggregating Rs. 324 Cr., paid by Max India in FY13.

Commenting on the Company's performance, Mr. Rahul Khosla, Managing Director, Max India Ltd. said, "Our Businesses of Life are positioned for sustained and profitable growth, and are setting the pace in their respective industries. These results are especially pleasing when evaluated against the backdrop of a generally challenging macroeconomic and regulatory environment. This positive financial performance, a healthy balance sheet and a comfortable liquidity position has led the Board of Directors to approve an interim dividend of 90%. I am confident that our commitment to core values and strategies will continue to deliver superior results in the future."

Mr. Mohit Talwar, Deputy Managing Director, Max India Ltd. added that,"The liquidity position continues to be healthy at Rs. 2,300 Cr., across operating companies and the listed entity. This will ensure that the Group is well positioned to tap future growth opportunities".

Last week, Max Life, a 71% subsidiary of Max India declared a dividend of Rs 128 Cr. supported by 20% growth in its Q2FY14 Profit Before Tax(PBT), and a 8% growth in the Gross Premium. The company outperformed in the private life insurance segment, with a 60 basis point increase in market share to 9.7%. During the period its Assets Under Management (AUM) rose 13% to Rs. 21,735 Cr. The company's Solvency Ratio of 521%, is more than 3 times the mandatory 150%, reflecting its strong and stable financial position.

Max Healthcare, a 66% subsidiary of Max India, turned cash positive in H1FY14. The company recorded a 6 fold jump in its Q2FY14 EBIDTA to Rs. 31 Cr., which was backed by nearly 8% increase in average occupancy to 78%.

Max Bupa Health Insurance, a 74% subsidiary of Max India, signed a bancassurance distribution agreement with Deustche Bank, which will help the company develop a balanced distribution mix. Alongside, Max Bupa continued its rapid growth, recording a 69% rise in the lives covered in Q2FY14.

The customer confidence in Max Bupa continued to rise with the persistency level increasing 3% in Q2FY14 to 83%.

Antara Senior Living, a 100% subsidiary of Max India, laid the foundation for its first senior living community in Dehradun and also awarded the civil contract for its maiden community to renowned infrastructure firm, Shapoorji Pallonji Co. Ltd. Alongside, the Company kicked off its pre-launch sales and has received a positive response.

Max Speciality Films (MSF), a division of Max India registered a 46% rise in Q2FY14 EBITDA to Rs 16 Cr. as the temporary pricing pressure due to oversupply eased and the European markets started stabilizing after witnessing a slowdown.

About Max India's Subsidiaries

Max Life Insurance Company Ltd. (MLIC) - is a joint venture between Max India Ltd. and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, is a part of MS&AD Insurance Group, which is amongst the leading general insurers in the world. Max Life Insurance, one of India's leading life insurers, offers comprehensive life insurance and retirement solutions for long-term savings and protection. A financially strong and stable company with focus on quality of advice, sound investment expertise and service excellence, Max Life Insurance has set in place values driven culture and corporate governance through its superior human capital. The Company has a country wide diversified distribution model, including the country's leading agent advisors, exclusive corporate agency arrangement with Axis Bank and several other partners.

Max Healthcare (MHC) is a joint venture with Life Healthcare, South Africa, and is the Country's leading comprehensive provider of standardized, seamless and international-class healthcare services. It is committed to the highest standards of medical and service excellence, patient care, scientific and medical education.

Max Healthcare operates 12 facilities in North India, offering services in over 30 medical disciplines. Max Healthcare has 12 facilities in North India, offering services in over 30 medical disciplines. Of this 9 facilities are located in Delhi & NCR and the others in Mohali, Bathinda and Dehradun. The Max network includes state-of-the-art tertiary care hospitals in Saket, Patparganj, Shalimar Bagh, Mohali, Bathinda and Dehradun, secondary care hospitals at Gurgaon, Pitampura and Noida and an out-patient facility and a speciality centre at Panchsheel Park. The Super Speciality Hospitals in Mohali and Bathinda are under PPP arrangement with the Government of Punjab.

Max Healthcare has a base of over 1900 leading doctors, 5500 employees and around 1.9 million patients from 80 countries, across its network of 12 hospitals.

Max Bupa Health Insurance Limited is a, 74:26 joint venture between Max India Ltd. and Bupa Finance Plc, UK, a leading international healthcare provider with 65 years of healthcare knowledge. The Company brings together a combination of Bupa's global health insurance expertise and customer service expertise with Max India's understanding and experience of the Indian health and insurance sectors.

Max Bupa offers quality health insurance services through a dedicated team of over 1000 people and its network of 21 offices across 13 cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Kolkata and Patna. Max Bupa has a customer base of 1.4 million and it offers individual and family oriented health insurance policies for Indians across all age groups.

Max Bupa Health Insurance has a direct working relationship with a network of 3000 top quality hospitals and healthcare providers and at the same time the company plans to extend its network of hospitals to other parts of the country. Max Bupa services customers directly without third party involvement.

Antara Senior Living(Antara): Max India Group has charted its next phase of growth by entering the Senior Living Business. Due to the fast changing social milieu, the concept of Senior Living presents a rapidly growing yet inadequately serviced business opportunity in India. Antara Senior Living focuses on people over the age of sixty and the first initiative is to create vibrant residential communities for progressive seniors that offer "Lifestyle with Lifecare". Keeping in line with the Max Group values of "Seva bhav, Excellence and Credibility", Antara truly aims to create a difference to the lives of seniors in India. With its initial focus for building these communities in North India, Antara has partnered with best in the class international architects and industry experts, to design and develop its first community in Purukul, Dehradun. Spread across 20 acres this community will comprise of 217 resident apartments and approximately 50 wellness suites that will cater to the advanced healthcare needs of the residents and seniors. Launched on 24th May 2013, this community will be ready for residents to move into by early 2016.

Max Speciality Films (MSF) specializes in manufacturing specialty barrier and packaging (BOPP) films to cater to the needs of wide range of sophisticated packaging applications including food packaging, overwrap, consumer products and label manufacture. MSF's leather finishing foil business division manufactures a range of leather finishing and laminating foils. The Company has an installed capacity of 52,000 tons per annum.

Max Neeman Medical International (MNMI) provides Clinical Research services across the entire value chain of new drug development. MNMI conducts Phase II, III, IV of clinical trial studies and has access to over 2000 ICH-GCP trained investigators and 230 research coordinators across 43 cities to offers services to a growing list of Pharmaceutical, Biotech and Clinical Research clients, in India and abroad. MNMI is focusing on developing alliances with midsized pharma and biotech companies to transition their drug development work to India. The Company has an employee base of 250 at five Regional offices in India & one business development office in USA.

About Max India

Max India Group is a multi-business corporate, driven by the spirit of enterprise and focused on people and service oriented businesses. The Company is headquartered in New Delhi, India. Max India is in the 'Business of Life' with its vision to be one of India's most admired corporates for Service Excellence. It 'Protects Life' through its Life Insurance subsidiary Max Life, a joint venture between Max India and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, Japan; 'Cares for Life' through its Healthcare company, Max Healthcare, a joint venture between Max India and Life Healthcare, South Africa; 'Enhances Life' through its Health Insurance company, Max Bupa Health Insurance, a joint venture between Max India and Bupa Finance Plc., UK; 'Rejuvenates Life' through its Senior Living business Antara, a fully owned subsidiary of Max India and 'Improves Life' through its Clinical Research business, Max Neeman, a fully owned subsidiary of Max India. The Group also continues its interest in manufacture of Speciality Products for the packaging industry through its SBU Max Speciality Films.

The Group's businesses have built commanding presence in their respective sector, through a total customer base of nearly 6.8 million, over 300 offices spread across India and a people strength of 60,000 persons. The flagship company Max India Limited is a widely held public ltd company, listed on the BSE & the NSE. Mr. Analjit Singh, Founder & Chairman, is the lead shareholder in Max India with over 39% holding. Other leading shareholders in the company include some of world's best Institutional Investors, such as Goldman Sachs, International Finance Corporation, Washington (IFC), Temasek Holdings.

Godrej Eon Associates as the Title Sponsor of Tour De India

Godrej Eon has associated with the India leg of the iconic Tour De France, in order to heighten youth interest in cycling and popularize the sport on a pan-India level. 'Godrej Eon Tour de India (TDI) 2013' is organized by ID Sports, Cycling Federation of India and International Cycling Union (UCI)*.

Through this association Godrej Eon aims to reach out to the youth and spread the message of Going Green across the country. The 'One Watt Project' by Godrej Eon is an initiative to spread the message of energy conservation and encourage participation by the public. *Godrej Appliances' endeavor is to save a Billion Watts through this year long program with the belief that if every Indian even saves 1 watt each, being a country of billion plus population, we will be able to save a Billion Watts. Riding on the growing popularity of Tour de India, Godrej Eon has associated itself with the 2nd edition this year to spread the message of the 'One Watt Project".

Godrej Eon Tour de India 2013 is supported by State Government of Maharashtra, Ministry of Tourism, and the Government of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. This season, Godrej Eon has associated itself with the event as the Title sponsor. Godrej Eon has been a staunch supporter of the one watt initiative and are believers of using green energy and that is the connect to promoting cycling through Tour de India., motivating the youth of India to adapt to cycling and stand by their promise of providing 'Brighter Living'.

Godrej Eon - Connecting with Youth@India

Brighter living starts younger and that is the space where Godrej Appliances wanted to establish a strong connection with its Eon brand. To communicate to the "Young", you have to think "Young"..and thus evolved the new proposition of "Designed by Curiosity." With this positioning, the task was to evolve the Godrej Appliances brand from being at home with India's middle class to being an aspirational young brand amongst consumers in the upper segment.

Godrej Appliances forayed in the social media space by going live with itsFacebook page to engage and communicate with the youth. The Company has always endeavored to introduce products that are truly innovative and convenient to use with avant-garde aesthetics - a perfect synergy for the urban lifestyle of Indian consumers.

Godrej Eon and its Green Commitment

Godrej Appliances over the years has demonstrated its commitment in environment conservation by launching the highest energy efficient green products. Apart from that as a company, over the years, Godrej Appliances has undertaken several initiatives to conserve the environment.

UFLEX Ltd Q2 FY 2014 Consolidated Net Revenue at Rs. 1516 crore and Net Profit at Rs. 46 crore

Uflex Ltd, the Bombay Stock Exchange (UFLEX: 500148) and NSE listed, India's largest flexible packaging company maintaining a sustained growth trajectory, has achieved a consolidated revenue for the September quarter of FY 2014 of Rs. 1516 crore as against Rs. 1250 crore for the same quarter last year.

On a sequential basis, the company registered growth in its quarter-on-quarter consolidated net revenue of Rs. 1516 crore and net profit at Rs. 46 crore, over consolidated net revenue and net profit figures of the preceding quarter that stood at Rs. 1398 crore and at Rs. 43 crore respectively in the April-June quarter (Q1 FY13-14).

For the six months period ended September 30, 2013, UFlex recorded Consolidated revenue at Rs. 2914 crore compared to Rs. 2626 crore in the same period in previous fiscal and net profit of Rs. 89 crore against Rs. 113 crore in the corresponding period last year.

While the higher revenue growth is attributed to new capacity added by the company since the manufacturing facilities in Poland and Kentucky in US commenced commercial production over the last year and also witnessing favourable demand trends for its innovative flexible packaging solutions, which saw increased uptake from clients globally whereas the profit margins are showing improvements quarter over quarter during the current year.

According to Mr. Ashok Chaturvedi, Chairman and M.D. of UFLEX Ltd,"The higher revenue growth has come on the back of increased manufacturing capacities at our disposal with the newly commissioned facilities in Poland and Kentucky which resulted in expanding our market reach and improving response time to the demand from the regions that these facilities address. Innovation and expansion are two aspects that Uflex is always eagerly pursuing and has ensured that we maintain our steady growth trajectory."

For the full financial year ended March 31, 2013, UFlex had recorded a strong growth of 14% in consolidated net revenues at Rs. 5161 crore as against Rs. 4516 crore during a year ago, on the back of favourable demand trends globally.

Uflex's strong manufacturing base in India, Mexico, Dubai, Egypt, Poland and Kentucky caters to global markets spanning USA, Canada, South America, UK, Europe, Russia, CIS countries, South Africa and other African countries, the Middle East and the South Asian Countries.

Expansion Plans

UFLEX's agenda of global expansion and consolidation of its position as a truly Indian MNC (Multinational Corporation) is reinforced with its strategy of capacity expansion and adding manufacturing lines for various product categories across existing and newer locations to increase proximity to the markets, but also to bring broad portfolio of value added products to its clients at competitive price points.

The company offers its flexible packaging products and solutions globally to clients including Unilever, Pepsi, Wrigley, Procter & Gamble, Colgate, Palmolive, Nestle, Gillette, Ranbaxy, Perfetti, Joyco, Monsanto, ITC, Godrej Pillsbury, Tata Tea, Hindustan Petroleum, Indian Oil, Britannia, Dabur, Haldiram, Wockhardt, HUL, Parle Biscuit, Birla 3M, among others.

About UFLEX Ltd

UFLEX Ltd (www.uflexltd.com) is the Bombay Stock Exchange (UFLEX: 500148) and NSE listed India's largest flexible packaging company with large manufacturing capacities of plastic film and packaging products providing end-to-end solutions to clients across more than 140 countries. It has vast capacities for production of Polyester chips, Biaxially Oriented Polyethylene Teraphthalate (BOPET) and Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) films, Printing & Coating Inks, facilities for Holography, Metalization & PVDC coating, making Gravure Printing Cylinders, Gravure Printing, Lamination and Pouch formation.

UFLEX offers finished packaging of a wide variety of products such as snack foods, candy and confectionery, sugar, rice & other cereals, beverages, tea & coffee, desert mixes, noodles, wheat flour, soaps and detergents, shampoos & conditioners, vegetable oil, spices, marinates & pastes, cheese & dairy products, frozen food, sea food, meat, anti-fog, pet food, pharmaceuticals, contraceptives, garden fertilizers and plant nutrients, motor oil and lubricants, automotive and engineering components etc...

Magma Fincorp Ltd. Wins Gold at the LACP Global Spotlight Awards

Magma Fincorp Ltd, one of India's leading retail asset finance companies has won the Gold award at the LACP (League of American Communications Professionals) Spotlight Awards 2013, a global competition that recognizes the best work in professional communications. The Magma Annual Report FY 13 titled "Poised" has been ranked among the best in the world grabbing 44th spot in the overall ranking. The prestigious award has been bestowed to Magma in the category of Annual Reports for financial services and Insurance companies.

"It is a great honor that Magma Fincorp Ltd. has won the Gold Award at the LACP Spotlight Awards, 2013 in the Financial Services and insurance category. This international recognition of our Annual Report is indeed delightful which not only speaks volumes about the communication and creativity aspects but also about the kind of reporting followed by us", said Mr. V Lakshmi Narsimhan, CFO, Magma Fincorp Ltd.

League of American Communications Professionals (LACP) is a highly reputed group dedicated to supporting, recognizing and advancing excellence in the practice of professional communications. Each year, LACP rewards excellence in the practice of professional communications via the global communications materials competition. This year's entry proved to be remarkable in light of tremendous competition. More than 1500 entries representing a dozen countries and 300 entries were received, so the competition was exceptionally tough.

About Magma Fincorp Limited

Magma Fincorp Limited ("Magma") is a non-deposit taking non-banking finance company (NBFC), registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as an Asset Finance Company. The Company, having started operations over two decades back, is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited and the National Stock Exchange in India. Magma provides a bouquet of financial products including financing of Utility Vehicles & Cars, Commercial Vehicles, Construction Equipment, Used Commercial Vehicles, Tractors, SME Loans, and Loan against gold, Home finance and Insurance. Magma has a dedicated base of around 3 lac customers and has assets of INR 13,530 Cr under management. The company has 280 branches in 20 states and 1 union territory and employs over 7000 people. www.magma.co.in.

First Data Shows How Electronic Payments Can Support the Growth of Government Payments

The growth in internet penetration and electronic payments has the potential to improve governance and make it easier for citizens to interact with government agencies and avail of public services. First Data & ICICI Merchant Services' Nitish Asthana discusses how electronic payment can be leveraged as part of e- government programs to improve services to citizens across the country.

E-Governance is a comparatively recent phenomenon, but within a short period of time, the Indian Government has embarked on a program that makes it easier for people to access information and avail public information online. Considerable progress has been made in the online provision of government information to citizens. It is becoming more common for this information to be organized around people's needs, rather than around administrative structures, making it more accessible and useful for citizens.

The services where e-payments have made significant progress are utilities (electricity, water and gas), rail transportation, education, taxes and municipal dues. Several government organizations have started to make a range of documents and forms available online. These can be viewed online and/or printed offline, with some applications allowing for online submission of forms.

The e-Advantage (alignment)

Consumers experience tangible benefits by paying for services online. They no longer have to visit multiple government offices or stand in queue to pay their bills or seek information. Rather, this very convenience has led to rapid adoption of online payment modes.

The government benefits from making available consumer-centric services online. This ensures that the necessary process controls are not compromised, productivity and efficiency are increased, and customer service levels are improved. The sheer volume of transactions that can be handled electronically will increasingly allow the government to focus on other development issues and on improving the quality of service. It also helps the government increase its revenues for services that are paid for.

Handling large amounts of cash is known to increase pilferage and fraud, which are both reduced by electronic payments. Less cash not only means reduced costs, but using electronic payments also keeps manual intervention to a minimum. Such a system in-turn makes the service almost completely error-proof and improves financial reconciliation.

The e.change is here to stay

One of the biggest beneficiaries of online payments is Indian Railways. Today, online railway ticket booking on its website is a success story. On March 1, 2013 the Indian Railway's website set a new record by booking over 5 lakh tickets. The Railway Ministry, seeing the growth in traffic on this website, has announced a revamping of the site from financial year 2013-14 to increase the booking rate to 7,200 tickets per minute from its present level of approximately 2,000 tickets per minute. This service gives consumers several e-payment options, including debit and credit cards. By the end of this year, the site will be able to handle 1.2 lakh users at any point compared to the current 40,000 users it handles.*

Online tax submissions have increased significantly as more than 25% of tax returns are now e-filed. Municipal dues are increasingly being paid electronically and a large number of public service jobs can be applied for online. Most electricity and water boards accept online payments through debit cards, credit cards and net-banking. More and more government educational institutes are providing fee payment options on their websites. Metro rail is launching an innovative stored value card with tap-and-go features that provide quick access to regular passengers. Even the public distribution system is piloting a closed-loop payment system of distributing and procuring material and inventory over a widely distributed network.

Overall, card payments in the government sector are growing by more than 80%. E-payments will be the future and a driving force behind the vision of a less-cash economy. The change is everywhere.

Taking the next leap

As consumers demand more and more government service online, public departments must work closely together to replicate successful e-payment models that work in other departments or geographies. With lower transaction costs being prescribed by card associations (Visa, MasterCard), government departments should take advantage of the lower cost of processing electronic payments.

Banks, acquirers and payment gateway providers have an important role to play in enhancing the convenience, speed and safety of providing e- payments. These service providers need to make available a comprehensive set of payment options on the department's website such as credit card, debit card, net-banking and Standing Instructions.

Reducing transaction time and transaction drops is critical for faster payments and user convenience. Providers are enhancing their technology to reduce the number of hops in the transaction. Points of failure need to be addressed, and a highly available platform ensures that each vulnerable point is covered with a fail-safe. Strong analytics are required to provide the government merchant with robust accounting and reconciliation.

Online payments in India are already more secure compared to many other countries, with 3D Secure/ One Time Password authentication being mandated by RBI. This ensures that a transaction is accompanied by two levels of authentication, thus making them doubly safe for users.

With wireless internet access and broadband becoming the standard, government agencies should capitalize on the web's reach to provide consumers with more convenient payment options. E-payments in government services can grow manifold when public authorities cooperate on a nationwide basis to replicate success stories. The core objective must be to simplify and speed- up transactions whilst keeping them secure. E-payments in government are central to the less- cash effort.

ICICI Merchant Services (a joint venture between First Data and ICICI Bank) provides payment gateways to various government institutions in order to ease the burden of sending and receiving funds.

About the Author

Nitish Asthana is Executive Director, First Data- ICICI Merchant Services and heads the merchant acquiring business for First Data India-ICICI Merchant Services.

About First Data

Around the world, every second of every day, First Data makes payment transactions secure, fast and easy for merchants, financial institutions and their customers. First Data leverages its vast product portfolio and expertise to drive customer revenue and profitability.

Whether the choice of payment is by debit or credit card, gift card, cheque or mobile phone, online or at the checkout counter, First Data takes every opportunity to go beyond the transaction.

About ICICI Merchant Services

ICICI Merchant Services is different from other merchant acquirers in India. We are an alliance between ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank, and First Data, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment services. This enables us to deliver outstanding level of reliability, innovative world class solutions with local expertise and customer care.

Analysis of LED Lighting Market in Middle East (GCC) P611-19

Great Sports Infra Bags Four Key Projects for Kerala National Games 2014


Hyderabad-based Great Sports Infra (GSI) has won four large projects for construction of sports facilities for the upcoming 2014 National Games, to be held in Kerala.

The company has bagged tenders for a FIFA-standard artificial grass Football field, FIH-standard artificial grass Hockey field, and two 400 Metre IAAF-standard synthetic athletic tracks in Kerala, for various Games venues.

As the games are scheduled to be held in 2014, GSI has already started work on the fields, while keeping in mind the strict guidelines for international level play. The synthetic turf to be installed in Football and Hockey fields will be imported from world leader in artificial grass, FieldTurf and the athletic tracks will be installed with an IAAF-approved German product, Porplastic.

"We have always maintained a track record of flawless installations, and on-time delivery. Work is already underway and we are making sure of highest degree of precision in the construction. These projects are sure to encourage and add further to the glorious sports culture of Kerala." Says GSI Director of Operations, Lt. Col. John K. John.

GSI's recent 400 Meter synthetic track installation at Bangalore has been awarded the much coveted IAAF certification. Meanwhile, they are about to finish work on its second IAAF-standard synthetic athletic track at Udupi. They have also recently bagged projects for supplying FIH-standard artificial Hockey turf in Simdega, Jharkhand, and three FIFA-standard artificial grass soccer fields in Meghalaya.

Great Sports Infra has, to date, installed over 100 sports fields in India, including a dozen FIFA-standard soccer fields, FIH approved hockey fields, IAAF certified athletic tracks, and several indoor & outdoor sports facilities for government, defence, educational institutes, corporate campuses, residential societies & training academies.

About Great Sports Infra

Great Sports Infra is India's leading sports infrastructure solution provider. It was the first company to introduce the next-generation artificial grass which "Looks Like Grass...Feels Like Grass...Plays Like Grass" and today, there are over 5000 installations across 230 cities & towns in India. This includes many FIFA standard football fields as well, like the iconic Salt Lake stadium. Prominent clients include Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Infosys, Taj Mahal Palace & Towers, Hero Honda, Reliance Industries and many more. The product portfolio spans from artificial grass for sports & landscaping to complete range of indoor and outdoor sports flooring, running tracks and sports field conditioning systems. GSI is a winner of the CII-Business Line 'Emerging Entrepreneur' Award 2012 and finalist of the prestigious TATA NEN Hottest Startups and ET-Power of Ideas.

Frost & Sullivan: Investments in Infrastructure Brighten Prospects of the LED Lighting Market in the Middle East

Laws mandating the use of energy-efficient lighting enhance the market's potential
The heavy inflow of infrastructure investments into the Middle East, especially the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), due to a swelling population and upcoming mega events such as the 2022 FIFA World Cup, is creating a vast market opportunity for light emitting diode (LED) lighting. The region's gross domestic product is expected to reach 6 per cent in 2013-2014 due to increased oil production, and the government is pulling out all stops to develop infrastructure to support this growth, in turn, spawning more projects that demand advanced lighting products.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.buildingtechnologies.frost.com),Analysis of LED Lighting Market in Middle East (GCC), finds that the market earned revenues of $115.7 million in 2012 and estimates this to reach $349.8 million in 2017.

The mushrooming of infrastructure projects is steadily driving the market for energy-efficient and intelligent lighting, as several Middle Eastern countries have banned incandescent light bulbs due to their low efficiency. This is an ideal set up for LED lighting to become the fastest growing lighting technology in the region.

"The GCC government's legislation mandating the use of energy-efficient lighting technologies such as LEDs in public sector outfits, common public spaces, utility services, and commercial buildings has been a shot in the arm for lighting vendors," observed Kumar Ramesh, Industry Manager, Environmental and Building Technologies Practice, Middle east and North Africa, Frost & Sullivan.

Furthermore, the rising environment conscious all over the world has boded well for sustainable and energy-efficient lighting such as organic LEDs (OLEDs), which is the next generation of LEDs. By switching to LED lighting, the GCC governments are also looking to reduce their carbon footprint drastically.

All these measures notwithstanding, the high initial costs of LED lighting has curbed their potential to some extent. Unless the governments of every country establish international standards, LED lighting will have to strive hard to break through customer resistance. Additionally, due to the highly capital intensive production process using raw materials such as semi-conductors, LED lighting manufacturers are hard pressed to obtain funding from either the government or private investors, which hampers market growth.

Acknowledging these issues, market participants are educating customers about the long-term cost benefits of LED solutions as well as investing in R&D and technology upgrades to lower the installation costs. While these efforts will bring down costs, it will also open up a wider range of options and applications of LED lighting technology available at competitive price.

"Providing high-standard lighting solution will guarantee growth in demand and despite its high initial costs, consumers will increasingly prefer LEDs to conventional lighting technologies for its long-term benefits," noted Ramesh.

If you are interested in more information on this research, please send an email to Tanu Chopra / Paroma Bhattacharya, Corporate Communications, attanu.chopra@frost.com / paromab@frost.com with your full name, company name, job title, telephone number, company email address, company website, city, state and country.

Analysis of LED Lighting Market in Middle East (GCC) is part of theBuilding Management Technologies Growth Partnership Service program. Frost & Sullivan's related research services include: Morocco's Infrastructure Sectors, the Top 25 Fastest Growing Power Producers in the Turkish Market, Sri Lanka Diesel Genset Market, and Argentinean and Chilean Stationary Genset Market. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

-- The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation

-- The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

Home Needs Online Launches the "Ultimere": An Investment Scheme for EMI Free Shopping

Monthly saving options to enable planning and buying of desired household articles, thereby avoiding credit interests

Home Needs Online, an e-commerce shopping portal hosting multiple brands with products catering to the various requirements of a household, has recently introduced an advanced investment option titled "Ultimere: The Shopping Bonanza". This investment option is for discerning shoppers to systematically save on a monthly basis and spend at the end of the savings period, consequently facilitating credit card free and EMI free buying. Shoppers can use this scheme to plan for purchases to be made during special and festive occasions.

The "Ultimere: The Shopping Bonanza" scheme provides the buyers with two saving amount choices of Rs.5000/month and Rs.7500/month. Furthermore, the investor is presented with three alternatives in terms of saving periods: 3 months, 6 months and 12 months. The "Ultimere: The Shopping Bonanza" scheme additionally provides incentives of 5%, 10% and 20%, respectively, on the total amount for each of the above mentioned saving tenures. This scheme is an alternative to making credit card or EMI based purchases which attract interest on the purchases made.

The "Ultimere: The Shopping Bonanza" shopper is vested with the option of shopping multiple times and for different denominations (within the saved limit) after the saving period is over. The time limits within which the purchase should be made are 3 months, 6months and 12 months respectively for each of the three savings periods options i.e. 3 months, 6 months and 12 months.

The diverse categories under which household products can be purchased include Furnishing, Appliances, Electronics, Kitchen, Dining, Décor, Home Care, Spiritual, Leisure, Fitness and Pets along with the facility of sourcing specific products based on requests. The Home Needs Online shopping portal hosts over 70 partnering brands which include Samsung, Sony, Philips, Bombay Dyeing, Apple, Butterfly, Whirlpool, Blackberry, HTC and many more.

For further details:
Visit: https://www.homeneedsonline.com

Prof Ganesan Venkataraman, Honorary Professor at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning Delivers 3rd Dr. Kulwant Rai Memorial Lecture

IILM hosted its 3rd Dr. Kulwant Rai Memorial Lecture at Lodhi Road campus on November 6, 2013. The lecture was addressed by Prof Ganesan Venkataraman, Honorary Professor at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning on "Growth, Stability and Order: Their Role in Shaping the Future of Humanity ".

The Dr. Kulwant Rai Memorial Lecture is dedicated to the remembrance of our Founder and Chairman, Dr. Kulwant Rai, on the occasion of his birth anniversary on the 4th of November. Welcoming the distinguished gathering, Prof Sapna Popli, Director, IILM Institute for Higher Education, said that Dr. Kulwant Rai's "passion for education reflected in the starting of the Banyan Tree School at Lodhi Road in 1986 and IILM a few years later, Today seven high schools are living his vision. in Delhi, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Jagdishpur, Lucknow and Bhopal, lighting up the lives of more than 5000 children. IILM too has grown under his wings from 60 students and one campus in 1993 to 5 campuses, with multiple programs and over 2000 students".

The first two decades of Prof Venkatraman's career were largely focused towards basic and applied research, which led to the publication of many papers in international journals in the areas of neutron scattering, some aspects of condensed matter physics, and also material science.

He is the recipient of the Sir C.V. Raman Award, 1974, Raman Centenary Medal, 1988, Indira Gandhi Award of Indian National Science Academy, 1994, Raman Medal of the Indian Science Congress, 2004. Awarded Padma Shri in 1990.

Prof Ganesan Venkataraman's address focused on knowledge, human sensitivity, caring for the world around us and sharing as the key contributors towards a more peaceful and inclusive world - all were weaved into his speech seamlessly, touching a chord with each one present in the audience.

Since 2011, IILM has organized Dr. Kulwant Rai Memorial lecture by distinguished leaders on important issues of concern such as Values: Duty, Peace, Love, Non Violence & Truth; and Indian Culture. In the past, prominent leaders such as Mr. M.N. Krishnamani & Prof Vishwanath Pandit have addressed the gathering.

While concluding Prof Venkatraman remembered Dr. Kulwant Rai and praised him for the great and noble work he did in his lifetime.

Prof Ganesan Venkataraman, Professor at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning delivering his lecture on "Growth, Stability and Order: Their Role in Shaping the Future of Humanity".

Smt. Bimla Rai wife of Dr Kulwant Rai Lighting of the lamp.

PepsiCo Announces Targeted Investment of Rs. 33,000 Crores in India by 2020

Investment will further strengthen PepsiCo's position as one of India's leading food and beverage companies
Strategic initiative will fund investments in innovation, manufacturing, selling and go-to-market infrastructure, and agriculture
PepsiCo, Inc., one of the largest food and beverage businesses in India, today announced plans for the company and its partners to invest Rs. 33,000 crores (US$5.5 billion) in India by 2020.
Making the announcement, PepsiCo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyisaid: "India is a country with huge potential and it remains an attractive, high-priority market for PepsiCo. We've built a highly successful business in India over the course of many years, and we believe we've only scratched the surface of the long-term growth opportunities that exist for PepsiCo and our partners. This investment is PepsiCo's vote of confidence in India's future and it represents our deep commitment to this great country."
India currently represents one of PepsiCo's largest markets globally. This Rs. 33,000 crore investment is expected to further strengthen and expand PepsiCo's capabilities in the following strategic areas:
• Innovation: PepsiCo will continue to expand the range of foods and beverages in its portfolio to cater to the wide and evolving needs of Indian consumers. PepsiCo has a long history of successfully innovating for the Indian market, and PepsiCo India already has organically built eight brands that generate Rs. 1,000 crores or more in estimated annual retail sales (Pepsi, Lay's, Kurkure, 7UP, Slice, Mirinda, Mountain Dew and Aquafina).
• Manufacturing: PepsiCo plans to significantly increase manufacturing capacity to meet the growing demand for its foods and beverages. PepsiCo and its partners plan to expand their production capacity in India to more than double current levels by 2020.
• Infrastructure: PepsiCo and its partners plan to ramp up selling and delivery infrastructure throughout the country, with a particular focus on rural market expansion. As part of this strategic initiative, PepsiCo will work with its partners to deploy new technologies designed to enhance service to retail customers and increase efficiency across go-to-market systems.
• Agriculture: Resources will be allocated to expand PepsiCo's well-known collaborative farming program, which provides farmers with access to good quality seeds, technical agronomic expertise, bank loans and crop insurance. This program currently reaches 24,000 farmers, positively impacting their income and social standing in addition to strengthening the reliability and quality of PepsiCo's supply chain.
"Most importantly, our investments will be aligned with India's interests," Nooyi added. "We will be guided by Performance with Purpose, PepsiCo's vision for building a profitable and sustainable 21st century corporation that is a good investment for our shareholders, a good environment for our employees, a good citizen in our communities and a good steward of our planet's resources. We believe Performance with Purpose will drive sustained value for PepsiCo and positively contribute to India'sdevelopment well into the future."
Since opening its first operations in India in 1990, PepsiCo is estimated to have created opportunities for more than 200,000 people in the country through direct or indirect employment and agricultural collaborations.  It is estimated that the strategic initiative announced today will add more than 100,000 new employment opportunities, as well as strengthen India as a center of talent development for PepsiCo.
In addition, as part of this strategic initiative, PepsiCo and its partners plan to implement state-of-the-art technologies to further reduce energy, packaging and water use in their operations. PepsiCo also intends to expand water recharge programs to sustain positive water balance.
The PepsiCo India system has made significant progress in recent years to align its business interests with those of India. For example:
• PepsiCo India achieved Positive Water Balance in 2010, replenishing more water than it uses in each successive year. PepsiCo's work with Indian farmers has reduced the amount of water used in rice cultivation, conserving more than 12 billion liters of water in 2012 alone.
• More than 40 percent of the energy requirement of PepsiCo's company-owned food and beverage plants in India comes from renewable sources. PepsiCo's food plants in Pune, Kolkata and Channo each have installed biomass boilers, enabling 70 percent of the energy needs of these facilities to be met through renewable energy.
• PepsiCo's Sathariya beverage plant was awarded LEED Gold Green Factory Building Certification by the Indian Green Building Council in 2013, markingIndia's first beverage or food plant to receive this distinguished certification.
• PepsiCo continues to expand its Quaker and Tropicana offerings in India to meet growing consumer demand for convenient and nutritional products.
• NourishCo, a joint venture between Tata Global Beverages and PepsiCo, launched Tata Water Plus, India's first nutrient water.
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo is a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of more than $65 billion and a product portfolio that includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. Our main businesses – Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola – make hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages that are loved throughout the world. PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet, which we believe also means a more successful future for PepsiCo. We call this commitment Performance with Purpose: PepsiCo's promise to provide a wide range of foods and beverages from treats to healthy eats; to find innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment by conserving energy and water and reducing packaging volume; to provide a great workplace for our associates; and to respect, support and invest in the local communities where we operate. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.
Cautionary Statement
Statements in this communication that are "forward-looking statements" are based on currently available information, operating plans and projections about future events and trends. Terminology such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "project," "anticipate," "will" or similar statements or variations of such terms are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: changes in demand for PepsiCo's products, as a result of changes in consumer preferences and tastes or otherwise; changes in the legal and regulatory environment; PepsiCo's ability to compete effectively; PepsiCo's ability to grow its business in developing and emerging markets or unstable political conditions, civil unrest or other developments and risks in the markets where PepsiCo's products are sold; unfavorable economic conditions in the countries in which PepsiCo operates; increased costs, disruption of supply or shortages of raw materials and other supplies; failure to realize anticipated benefits from PepsiCo's productivity plan or global operating model; disruption of PepsiCo's supply chain; damage to PepsiCo's reputation; failure to successfully complete or integrate acquisitions and joint ventures into PepsiCo's existing operations or to complete or manage divestitures or refranchisings; PepsiCo's ability to hire or retain key employees or a highly skilled and diverse workforce; trade consolidation or the loss of any key customer; any downgrade or potential downgrade of PepsiCo's credit ratings; PepsiCo's ability to build and sustain proper information technology infrastructure, successfully implement its ongoing business transformation initiative or outsource certain functions effectively; fluctuations in foreign exchange rates; climate change, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change; failure to successfully renew collective bargaining agreements or strikes or work stoppages; any infringement of or challenge to PepsiCo's intellectual property rights; and potential liabilities and costs from litigation or legal proceedings.
For additional information on these and other factors that could cause PepsiCo's actual results to materially differ from those set forth herein, please see PepsiCo's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. PepsiCo undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
SOURCE PepsiCo, Inc.

Premia Group Thought of Spreading Smiles in this Festival Season

Tarun Shienh, whom we just know as a Hard Core Business Man...reveals an unbelievable philanthropist in him

At the time when everyone is busy celebrating festival season and gathering happiness which is spread in the air...on the same time Mr. Tarun Shienh, The Real Estate Guru & CMD of Premia group thought of spreading a wave of joy in the lives of some orphan children from an NGO and some underprivileged children who cannot buy gifts and happiness to enjoy the festival season.

The event was organised at Bal Bhawan, ITO, where various activities were planned for the kids to make the day special. Children from all caste & religion gathered to celebrate. As children, do not follow any boundaries of religion so it was great to see them enjoying with each other and celebrating the festival season with a great spirit. The evening started with the songs, which were sung by small children...this was followed by a colourful Rangoli competition. The young kids further decorated their Rangoli with candles and diyas.

To keep up the spirit high for the kids, Mr. Tarun Shienh, The real Estate Guru, Presented a set of new clothes, sweets and chocolates to all orphan children which filled the surroundings with happiness for all children as they were surprised to get the gifts for Diwali festival.

Talking with Tarun Shienh, unveil his human side, which exposes his urge to do something for society. Tarun Shienh a hard core businessman also known as "The Real Estate Guru" has always taken time for the betterment of society, with the motive to do something for underprivileged segment and is also known for his passion to stand by any individual, who is in need. His charismatic personality makes him a one of the youngest and successful entrepreneur in Real Estate Industry. He has reached this position by sheer hard work and dedication, which is what, differentiates him from other entrepreneurs in this industry.

On this occasion Mr. Tarun Shienh said, "I feel very happy when I am able to spread smiles on these young faces. According to me a festival means spreading joy and happiness in the lives of others".

He further added, "Being an entrepreneur & citizen of India, it is my first responsibility to help the society in all ways I can. I feel good when I do something for the needy or for the society, and I feel we all should join hands to work for the upliftment of these underprivileged sectors as a team.to make it "sona ki chidiya" again. And for this it is very important that apart from celebrating festivals with high spirit. we should also take care of the education for each and every child of our country. I assure that I shall always stand besides such cause where we can facilitate these young kids with education and provide them with basic necessities for a better future."

Prince Charles and Mukesh Ambani to attend first Indo-British NGO event

 Three organisations - Aangan-Project Shakti, Educate Girls, Mann Deshi - to be rewarded for improving lives of young girls and women in India

On Saturday 9 November, Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will attend the launch of The British Asian Trust Advisory Council, India, at a dinner in Mumbai. The evening will also see three charities which have benefitted from the Trust's help, receive recognition awards for the work they do.
At the suggestion of HRH The Prince of wales, The British Asian Trust was founded in 2007 by a group of British Asian business leaders, led by Manoj Badale, who is now chairman. It provides funding to support high impact charities within the areas of education, health and livelihoods in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The Trust’s India Advisory Council is chaired by Mr Mukesh Ambani, who was appointed by HRH The Prince of Wales earlier this year at an event at Windsor Castle. The Trust has an Advisory Council for every country that it operates in.  The aim of the Council is to help advise the Trust on the charitable organisations that it should support, and co-support alongside other organisations. The other members of the India Advisory Council include; Neeraj Kanwar – Apollo Tyres, S.Ramadorai – Tata Consultancy Services, Harish Salve – one of India’s eminent lawyers ,Mrs Naina Lal-Kidwai  - chair of FICCI and group manager HSBC India, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw – chair and MD of Biocon Ltd and Ranjit Barthakur of GMS.
His Royal Highness, who has an in-depth understanding of and fondness for India,  will see three of the Trust’s beneficiary organisations rewarded for their work in improving the lives of young girls and women in India, which has been a 2013 focus for the Trust.
The three organisations are; Aangan, whose Project Shakti, encourages vulnerable girls to realise their rights, and gain access to services including healthcare and education.Educate Girls is an organisation that aims to improve both quality and access to education for young girls living in rural Rajasthan.  Mann Deshi is India’s first and only Business School for illiterate rural women. The School provides comprehensive training in accountancy, marketing and technical skills such as embroidery and tailoring.
The evening has kindly been supported by Reliance Industries Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services and Yes Bank.
Mukesh Ambani expressed his gratitude for the Royal visit “It is an honour to be able to host Their Royal Highnesses at home in India, their trip is a true indication of the wonderful ties that the two countries share. Securing the support of HRH The Prince of Wales for a number of charities in India, has allowed so many people living in South Asia to overcome both social and economic barriers. I look forward to celebrating the achievements of the Trust on Saturday and furthering the work of the Trust and His Royal Highness.”
Entertainment on the evening will be provided by Indian singing sensation, Sunidhi Chauhan, who has collaborated with the likes of Alka Yagnik, Shaan and Udit Narayan. The celebrated singer has worked on numerous Bollywood films and by the age of 19 Chauhan had lent her voice to over 350 songs.
Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall are on a nine day visit to India before moving on to Sri Lanka where The Prince will represent Her Majesty The Queen at the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
The British Asian Trust:
The British Asian Trust was founded in 2007 by a group of British Asian business leaders at the suggestion of HRH The Prince of Wales. It serves as a “social fund” to support high impact charities within the areas of education, health and livelihoods in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Over the last five years the Trust has touched the lives of 1 million people living in the poorest communities in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and the UK. Over the next five years we aim to touch over 2 million more lives in South Asia, for which we need to raise over £10 million.
Aangan
The British Asian Trust supports Aangan’s Project Shakti which encourages vulnerable girls to realise their rights, and gain access to services like health care and education. Shakti enables them to design and run their own community projects and experience the power of collective action, so that they can bring about change both in their communities, and to their own lives.
Educate Girls
Educate Girls (EG) is an organisation that aims to improve both quality and access to education in rural Rajasthan through reforming the state’s Government Schools. Rajasthan houses nine of India’s 26 most gender-deprived districts with regards to education and has the lowest female literacy rate for lower caste women in India at less than 5%. EG believes that by empowering and mobilising village communities to improve the quality of girls’ education and infrastructure in government schools, more girls can be educated at a larger scale. The Trust selected EG to join its portfolio in 2011 with the aim of helping it scale-up its work in Rajasthan’s Jalore district.
Mann Deshi
Mann Deshi transforms women in rural India with little or no education into entrepreneurs through financial literacy, management education and business training, linked with access to finance via its cooperative bank run by and for women, enabling them to start and/or scale-up their own micro-enterprises. The Trust selected Mann Deshi Foundation for its support in 2009 given the organisation’s proven holistic model, its potential for large scale, sustainable impact and its visionary founder.

TRENDnet Launches TEW-812DRU, AC1750 Dual Band Wireless Router

Ultimate wireless experience with Gigabit speed
NEW DELHI, INDIA – November 07, 2013 - TRENDnet® , a best-in-class wired and wireless networking hardware brand launches TEW-812DRU, AC 1750 Dual Band Wireless Router. It manages two wireless networks- the 1300 Mbps Wireless AC band for the fastest wireless available and the 450 Mbps Wireless N band to connect with the common wireless devices. The TEW-812DRU easily handles the demands of multiple HD streams in a busy connected home.
Gigabit ports on the back of TEW-812DRU dual band router provides high speed wired connections. It also creates a secure isolated guest network for guest internet access. TEW-812DRU equipped with Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) wizard who connects other WPS supported wireless adapters at the touch of a bottom.
TEW-812DRU Features:
• Next generation Gigabit Wireless AC.
• Gigabit Ethernet port maintains high performance network connections.
• IPv6 (Internet Protocol v6) support.
• Share USB peripheral devices over the network including; flash drives, external hard drives and printers.
• Compatible with various cable / DSL Internet Service Providers using Dynamic / Static IP, PPPoE, L2TP, and PPTP connection.
• Provides Firewall protection with Network Address Translation (NAT).
• Virtual server and Application Level Gateway (ALG) services for special Internet applications.
• Guest network support (3x per wireless band) with Internet access restriction.
Mr Atul Jain, Country Manager at TRENDnet India said, “TEW-812DRU, AC 1750 dual band wireless router is one of the best in wireless networking hardware product. A unique & unbeatable feature rich product in the category of Wireless Router. The users can experience the Gigabit wireless speed via TEW-812DRU. We are moving with a pledge to deliver the best products for our customers which matches the latest technology.”
Price, warranty and availability
TEW-812DRU is priced at Rs.15,550/-. The product carries a warranty of 3 years and is available with TRENDnet national distributor Abacus Peripherals Pvt. Ltd.

About TRENDnet
TRENDnet is an award winning global brand, dedicated to providing a complete line of high quality yet affordable networking solutions for small to mid-sized business and home users alike. Founded in 1990, TRENDnet is headquartered in Torrance, California, and maintains branch offices in Europe, Central America, South America and Asia. TRENDnet products are sold in over 125 countries. The TRENDnet brand is consistently recognized for high quality, exceptional performance and unparalleled support


TRENDnet Launches TEW-812DRU, AC1750 Dual Band Wireless Router

Ultimate wireless experience with Gigabit speed
NEW DELHI, INDIA – November 07, 2013 - TRENDnet® , a best-in-class wired and wireless networking hardware brand launches TEW-812DRU, AC 1750 Dual Band Wireless Router. It manages two wireless networks- the 1300 Mbps Wireless AC band for the fastest wireless available and the 450 Mbps Wireless N band to connect with the common wireless devices. The TEW-812DRU easily handles the demands of multiple HD streams in a busy connected home.
Gigabit ports on the back of TEW-812DRU dual band router provides high speed wired connections. It also creates a secure isolated guest network for guest internet access. TEW-812DRU equipped with Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) wizard who connects other WPS supported wireless adapters at the touch of a bottom.
TEW-812DRU Features:
• Next generation Gigabit Wireless AC.
• Gigabit Ethernet port maintains high performance network connections.
• IPv6 (Internet Protocol v6) support.
• Share USB peripheral devices over the network including; flash drives, external hard drives and printers.
• Compatible with various cable / DSL Internet Service Providers using Dynamic / Static IP, PPPoE, L2TP, and PPTP connection.
• Provides Firewall protection with Network Address Translation (NAT).
• Virtual server and Application Level Gateway (ALG) services for special Internet applications.
• Guest network support (3x per wireless band) with Internet access restriction.
Mr Atul Jain, Country Manager at TRENDnet India said, “TEW-812DRU, AC 1750 dual band wireless router is one of the best in wireless networking hardware product. A unique & unbeatable feature rich product in the category of Wireless Router. The users can experience the Gigabit wireless speed via TEW-812DRU. We are moving with a pledge to deliver the best products for our customers which matches the latest technology.”
Price, warranty and availability
TEW-812DRU is priced at Rs.15,550/-. The product carries a warranty of 3 years and is available with TRENDnet national distributor Abacus Peripherals Pvt. Ltd.

About TRENDnet
TRENDnet is an award winning global brand, dedicated to providing a complete line of high quality yet affordable networking solutions for small to mid-sized business and home users alike. Founded in 1990, TRENDnet is headquartered in Torrance, California, and maintains branch offices in Europe, Central America, South America and Asia. TRENDnet products are sold in over 125 countries. The TRENDnet brand is consistently recognized for high quality, exceptional performance and unparalleled support