Karnataka offers 1000 acres land for Nano

Karnataka offers 1000 acres land for Nano

CNN-IBN

Published on Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 12:13

WELCOME TO TATA: Chief Minister Yedyurappa briefs the media on his talks with Tata Motors officials.

Bangalore/ New Delhi: The Karnataka government has offered 1000 acres for the Nano car project and "incentives", Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant said on Thursday.

Kant announced this after meeting Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yedyurappa in Bangalore on Thursday morning. The Karnataka government has offered land for the Nano factory in the north Karnataka district of Dharwad.

The Tata group already has a 800-acre manufacturing unit at Belur on the outskirts of Dharwad city where it makes the low-floor Marco Polo buses.

The twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad have an all-season airport, which has direct flights to Bangalore and Mumbai and they are near ports. There are at least 20 engineering colleges in and around Dharwad.

Speaking to CNN-IBN, Yedyurappa said Tata Motors were “very receptive” to his suggestion that they manufacture then Nano in Dharwad. “I told Tatas to come to Dharwad. Hopefully they will take a decision in two months,” he said.

Yedyurappa said he had promised the company there would be no dharnas or violent protests against them, as the state’s people want an industrial revolution.

The company was to set up a factory to manufacture the Nano in Singur, West Bengal, but suspended work at the plant on September 2 saying it feared the security of its employees who were manhandled and threatened by protesters opposed to 'forcible acquisition of farmland' for the project.

The talks between the Karnataka government and Tata Motors were held after the West Bengal government clearly told Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday that it cannot give more land from the factory area to farmers.

Mamata has threatened a fresh agitation if the government does not agree to return the 300 acres inside the Nano plant. The Bengal government says it can allot 70 acres.

Mamata is expected to announce her future course of action after meeting West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi on Friday.

Kant said, "We have not taken any decision (on relocating from Singur). We will consult our chairman Ratan Tata."

(With inputs from IANS)

Tata team to meet CM today over Nano project

Tata team to meet CM today over Nano project

THE PEOPLE’S CAR

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: The state government has offered a red carpet welcome to the Tatas for their Nano project.
    A team from Tata company will meet chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday to discuss on possibility of setting up a Nano car manufacturing unit in the state.
    Expressing confidence that the government will succeed in impressing the Tatas to set up a unit here, large and medium industries minister Murugesh R Nirani told TOI that a team led by Ravi Kant, MD, Tata Motors Ltd, will be meeting the CM.
    Ever since the Nano car project is hanging fire at Singur in West Bengal due to political unrest, Karnataka evinced interest in inviting the Tatas to set up the car’s manufacturing unit in the state. The move was also passed in the cabinet recently, where the government announced that it would welcome the Tatas and offer them land, besides all possible help.
    The Tatas have 900 acres of land at Belur industrial area in Dharwad (North Karnataka), 450 km from Bangalore, where they have established two projects — Telco Construction Equipment Company (Telcon), the joint venture between Tata Group and Hitachi of Japan; and a proposed a car-manufacturing unit by Tata Motors.
    Nirani said: “We are ready to offer them all possible help, if they decide to come here. They already have 900 acres of land and we are willing to offer them more if required

EMC inks education agreement with B.V. Bhoomaraddi College

EMC inks education agreement with B.V. Bhoomaraddi College

Published on Wed, Sep 17 at 12:50 ,

Source : Moneycontrol.com

EMC, the world leader in Information Infrastructure Solutions, today announced the signing of an agreement, under the EMC Academic Alliance Program, between B.V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering & Technology (BVBCET) in Hubli, Karnataka, and its subsidiary, EMC (Benelux) B.V. SARL. Under this program, B.V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering & Technology, Karnataka will offer a course in Information Storage and Management technology to its students. The course is being offered to the students since July 2008. So far, EMC has forged alliances with over 100 education institutions in India reaching out to 5000 plus students.

As part of the EAA, B.V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering & Technology, Karnataka  will receive vendor agnostic curriculum, course content, learning materials, faculty trainings and software simulators developed by EMC, to provide training to their students. EMC will also provide program support in terms of examination papers and sample assignments. 

Commenting on the significance of the association, Dr. Ashok S. Shettar, B.V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering & Technology, Karnataka, said, “There is a paradigm shift of power from carrier to content and the key issue to be recognized is the importance of putting the information back to center stage. Information has to be organized and consolidated so that organizations can get maximum value out of it. We are happy to partner with the world leader in information infrastructure. The agreement with EMC will enable our students to learn about information management and storage, one of the most significant and also the fastest growing segments within the IT industry.”

“We are confident that the partnership with EMC will help us produce industry ready graduates,” he further added.

The EMC Academic Alliance program is an initiative by EMC to work with the leading educational institutions around the world to address the emerging knowledge gap in storage technologies and developing a resource pool of skilled, certified and industry ready storage professionals. This is the only program in the industry which offers a vendor neutral, product agnostic storage technology curriculum to the students. Some of the EMC Academies include NMAM Institute of Technology, Karnataka, R V College of Engineering, IIIT Bangalore, National Institute of Engineering - Mysore and Manipal Institute of Technology.

Elaborating on the momentum of EAA in India Alok Ohrie, President EMC India & SAARC said, “Organizations today are struggling to manage the sheer volume and complexity of digital information and are constantly looking for Information storage & management skilled professionals to manage their information infrastructure. In this context, Information management and storage has emerged as a promising career option. At EMC, we are committed to empower students with the requisite skills that will enable them to succeed in this domain.”

“Since its inception, our education program has evoked an overwhelming response in India. We have already tied up with over 100 leading education institutions. We are extremely proud to partner with BVBCET, a reputed technical institute,” he added.

On the successful completion of the EMC Academic Alliance Program, students will receive a certificate from B.V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering & Technology, Karnataka and EMC acknowledging the completion of the course. These students will be better prepared to clear the EMC Associate Storage Technologist Examination, one of the world’s most recognized information storage and management certification.

Tatas seek more tax sops

Tatas seek more tax sops

Gururaj Jamkhandi / Chennai/ Dharwad September 16, 2008, 3:26 IST

Even as the state government is making efforts to attract Tata Motors’ Nano car manufacturing unit from Singur in West Bengal to Dharwad, the Tatas are gearing up to commence functioning of their second unit — Tata Marcopolo — in the next couple of months.

Telcon, the earth-moving equipment maker which is a Tata group firm, has now sought the mega status and the benefits that accompany the status from April 2008.

The state government had given it an exemption from sales tax (both central and local) for a period of nine years from the date of commencement of production. This incentive was limited to 100 per cent of fixed asset deployed in the project.

However, the company said it could not enjoy the benefits due to a change in the central sales tax from 2 per cent to 10 per cent which reduced the sales by 20 per cent of the produce. The plant would have been eligible for the mega status if it invested Rs 100 crore or more in fixed assets by December 2002. Telcon, in a memorandum to Murugesh Nirani, minister for major and medium industries, said it could not reach the target of investing Rs 100 crore before 2002 due to the lack of infrastructure and no fillip from the state government.

It said the major policy initiatives in infrastructure came after 2002. The company has urged the government to issue an order to start the incentive again from April 1, 2008, or a suitable date as per the industrial policy or tax laws for the balance investments by way of refunding the sales tax/VAT paid.

Regarding Karnataka’s invitation to Tatas to set up the Nano car unit in Dharwad, top executives of Tatas are scheduled to have a meeting with chief minister Yeddyurappa in Bangalore on Thursday.

The unit is coming up on Garag road, 10 km from Dharwad, and work on the plant is nearing completion. It may be recalled that Tata Motors had announced a joint venture with Marcopolo, the Brazil-based global leader in body building and coaches, in May 2006.

Tata Motors had announced forming a 51:49 joint venture company with Marcopolo SA last year for the manufacture and assembly of fully-built luxury buses and coaches in India. It was scouting for land for what according to a senior Tata executive, would be amongst the “biggest bus plants in the world” and the state government sanctioned the required land in Neeralakatti panchayat limits.

Tatas have two units — Tata Motors Limited and Telcon — in Belur. Telcon, the company’s earth moving equipment subsidiary and a 60:40 partnership with Hitachi Construction Machinery Company, Japan, manufactures construction equipment. The state government had extended several fiscal benefits.

The plant commenced production in February 2001 and Tatas have till August 2008 invested Rs 141 crore in capital goods in Telcon’s Dharwad plant. Sources said the investment is expected to reach Rs 192 crore by March 2012.

Murugesh Nirani visited the plants on Monday and promised company representatives that the state government was keen to encourage the industrial growth and the demands would be considered.