Yeddyurappa to lay foundation stone for five IT parks next month

Yeddyurappa to lay foundation stone for five IT parks next month

Special Correspondent - The Hindu

KEONICS to construct the parks in the next 20 months

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Authority to be set up soon to provide one stop solution to IT/BT firms

The cost of IT parks will be between Rs. 20 crore and Rs. 25 crore: Naidu

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BANGALORE: To attract investment in Tier II cities, the State Government has decided to establish information technology (IT) parks in Shimoga, Gulbarga, Belgaum, Mysore, Mangalore and Hubli-Dharwad.

It has also decided to set up an IT park on 27 acres of land near Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli. Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa will the lay foundation stone for IT parks in Shimoga, Gulbarga, Belgaum, Mangalore and Hubli-Dharwad in November and in Mysore and Bangalore in December.

Minister for Information Technology and Biotechnology Katta Subramanya Naidu told presspersons here on Tuesday that Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KEONICS) would construct the parks at a cost ranging from Rs. 20 crore to Rs. 25 crore in the next 20 months. The park at Devanahalli would be developed on public-private partnership by Jain Heights at an estimated cost of Rs. 80 crore.

The park in Hubli-Dharwad would come up on 50 acres of land. More space in IT parks would be given to small and medium enterprises. The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board would acquire land, he said.

To provide one-stop solution to companies, the Government would set up an IT/BT authority soon, he said.

Bill

A Bill would be introduced in the coming session of the State legislature for setting up the authority, he said.

Karnataka Udyog Mitra was handling investment and other proposals in the State now. “Bangalore IT.biz 2008” will be held on November 6 for three days at the Palace Ground in Bangalore. Sixty major companies had responded to the invitation, he said.

Referring to excise revenue, Mr. Naidu said that revenue collection had touched Rs. 2709.91 crore in the first six months of the current fiscal.

It was Rs. 2414 crore during the same period last year.

He said that licensing system for opening liquor shops (CL-2) and bar and restaurants (CL-9) would be changed. A committee was studying the licensing system in other States, he added.

Tata-Marcopolo bus to roll out in a month

Tata-Marcopolo bus to roll out in a month

Published on Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 08:40

The first product from the Tata Marcopolo Motors Ltd (TMML) bus plant at Dharwad will roll out in a month’s time.

“The trial production has already started. Final tests are going on. In less than a month’s time the first product will roll out,” Mr Prakash M. Telang, Tata Motors Executive Director – Commercial Vehicles, told Business Line. The first set of products will be buses in the light commercial vehicle segment.

The Dharwad plant, set up with an investment of Rs 325 crore, has an annual capacity of 30,000 vehicles. The plant is expected to produce about 2,000 buses in the current financial year.

“The plant is much larger than what we had planned earlier. It would be one of the largest plants of its kind in the world. We did this expansion because we believe the market is going to grow in India. Not only in India and but also in the entire Third World,” said Mr Telang.

Tata Marcopolo Motors is a joint venture between Tata Motors and Marcopolo, the Brazil-based company that is into body-building for buses and coaches, with Tata Motors holding 51 per cent stake and Marcopolo the balance.

Export from Dharwad

The company is looking for export from Dharwad facility because of its proximity to the port. “We are looking for two sets of export models. One is fully-built buses with chassis from Tatas and bus body building from Marcopolo. And in certain countries like South Africa, Morocco and Egypt we do CKD (completely knocked down units) operations. We will send CKD kits from here,” said Mr Telang.

DTC orders

The Tata Motors - Marcopolo joint venture to manufacture and assemble fully-built buses and coaches has delivered 650 CNG-run buses to Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) from its Lucknow facility and has bagged an order for another 1,625 buses from the DTC. “We will deliver this order in 12-15 months time,” said Mr Ravi Pisharody, Vice-President, Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors.

The company is providing low-floor low entry buses for city transport in Delhi and expects orders from other cities, including Mumbai and Bangalore. “The low-floor low entry buses have become almost the norm in the intra-city transport. India is just getting ready for that,” said Mr Pisharody.

Body building

He said that Tata Motors put emphasis on bus body building. “The current practice in India is that market will buy chassis from big companies and do body building with third parties. Globally this is not very prevalent. All large companies supply high quality bodies. Basically, in our case, that is being done through Marcopolo,” said Mr Pisharody.

He said that the company-specified bus body building will improve the travel comfort and it is being well-received by the transporters. “Delhi Transport Corporation is the first to buy body-built buses and many more are coming up,” he said.

Tata Motors, the largest Indian bus makers and the second largest in the world after Mercedes-Benz, currently holds 50 per cent of the domestic market share.

Precision moves for engineers

Precision moves for engineers

Oct 14 2008 by Henryk Zientek, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A PRECISION engineering company is expanding into markets worldwide – with the opening of new factories in the USA and India.

VTL Group, which supplies components for the automotive and Industrial sectors has two sites in St Thomas Road, Huddersfield and one site at Luddenden Foot in Halifax, has just commissioned a new production facility in Charleston, South Carolina, to serve its American customers.

The 20,000sq ft US facility, part of VTL’s Precision business, began operations last November and was officially opened last month by the Mayor of Charleston. It now employs about 35 staff which will increase to 70 by the end of 2009.

VTL is also in the early stages of developing another factory at Dharwad, Karnataka, southern India, to manufacture items such as automotive transmission components and precision machined industrial components for clients in the Far East and in Europe.

To this end VTL acquired a five-acre site in, where it is currently building a 35,000sq ft factory to begin operations in July, 2009, as Uni-VTL Engineering PVT Ltd. The site will have enough space for a further 35,000sq ft production unit to be added when needed.

VTL Group was formed in November, 2001, by joint owners David Clegg, Chris Elliott and Bruno Jouan when they completed a management buy-out of French-owned Valeo Transmissions Ltd in Halifax.

The business expanded with the 2006 acquisition of precision engineering firm Taylor & Whiteley Ltd – which now provides the TWL name.

TWL Precision makes components used in the manufacture of turbochargers, while TWL Engineering makes large precision shafts, forge tooling, jigs, fixtures and compressor housings.

Customers include Cummins Inc – the US-based parent of Cummins Turbo Technologies – Flowserve, Weir Minerals, Kodak and Wabco.

In total, VTL Group has 270 employees, including 140 at St Thomas Road where it occupies a factory built on part of the former Brook Motors complex. It has a further 95 employee’s in Halifax and 35 in the USA.

Since 2001, it has invested more than £12m in the latest technology to manufacture components for turbochargers for trucks applications and synchronizer rings for manual transmissions.

That investment has helped boost turnover from £8m to almost £39m in the space of seven years.

Mr. Clegg said the group had achieved success by carving a niche market in the UK and being able to compete with the three or four “big players” in Europe.

“We have used a recipe of continual improvement and investment in the right type and standard of machines,” he said.

“We have kept to the forefront of technology and we have focused on meeting tough targets from customers to supply defect-free products with 100% on-time delivery every week.”

Mr. Jouan said: “Having facilities across the world enables us to attract international customers who welcome having a supplier on their doorstep.”

Land acquisition for Hubli airport hits roadblock

Land acquisition for Hubli airport hits roadblock

Staff Correspondent - The Hindu

No consensus at meetings held with farmers and plot owners

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Farmers demand Rs. 1.14 crore an acre as against proposed compensation of Rs. 13.36 lakh an acre

Plot owners demand Rs. 1,000 a sq. ft. as against proposed compensation of Rs. 500 a sq. ft

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Making a point: Farmers arguing with officials during a meeting in Dharwad on Monday.

DHARWAD: Two meetings held here on Monday to come up with a consent award for land acquisition for the expansion of the Hubli airport ended without consensus.

Both meetings were chaired by Deputy Commissioner Darpan Jain in the presence of land acquisition officer Mohanraju and other KIADB officials.

The first meeting was with owners of agricultural land and the second was with people owning plots in localities around the airport.

Merger

In the first meeting, the farmers argued that the proposed compensation of Rs. 13.36 lakh an acre was meagre compared to the present market value of land in the area.

President of the Karnataka Rajya Pakshateeta Raitha Horata Samiti B.M. Hanasi, convener Rajashekhar Mensinakai, farmers Hanumantappa Unakal, Fakirappa Avaradi and others demanded that going by the market value, compensation of Rs. 1.14 crore an acre should be fixed. They said that unless that amount was given they would not give up their land for the airport.

The former president of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hubli, Madan Desai; Shejwadkar; Balu Magajikondi; and others who participated in the meeting felt that the proposed compensation was too little. They said that they had fought for an international airport to be established at Hubli, but that did not mean that farmers should be given a raw deal.

In the second meeting, the plot owners demanded a compensation of Rs. 1,000 a sq. ft, whereas the district administration had proposed Rs. 500 a sq. ft.

The Deputy Commissioner told the plot owners that an increase of up to 15 per cent was possible on the proposed rate. However, they rejected it.

Mr. Jain told The Hindu that he would forward the proceedings of both meetings to the State Government for a decision.

On Tuesday, three meetings are scheduled on the same issue with industrialists, owners of commercial establishments and houses on land identified for acquisition.