Coimbatore on Friday was formally launched as the next big destination, after Chennai, in the State for information technology industry.
"I am happy that today we are launching Coimbatore as a tier-II city [for IT industry], by allotting land to Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro Limited," Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi declared here.
He was inaugurating Connect 2006, the Confederation of Indian Industry's premier event on information and communication technology. The announcement comes in the backdrop of the Government's emphasis on broadbasing the growth and benefits of IT.
The State Government decided to consolidate the infrastructure at Chennai and spread the IT revolution to other towns of the State. Recently, it announced the decision to establish a second TIDEL Park in Chennai and IT parks in Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchi, Salem and Tirunelveli.
Detailing the growth of the industry in Tamil Nadu — third largest software exporter in India — and the initiatives proposed by the State Government, including a new comprehensive IT policy, the Chief Minister said: "We are not content with resting on our laurels."
It is time "to rededicate ourselves with renewed vigour ... we would strive to provide the best possible environment, in which you could grow and prosper," he said. The suggestions, arising out of the two-day Connect conference, for shaping the Information Communication Technology (ICT) policy would be given "utmost consideration."
He called upon stakeholders in the IT industry to join the State Government in its battle against hunger, deprivation, want, inequality and unemployment. "I am convinced that the ICT can provide opportunities for touching the untouched and approaching the unapproached," he said.
Mr. Karunanidhi received the strategic report on 16-bit encoding for Tamil computing. The Chief Minister also `e-launched' the HP's development centre here and unveiled a model of the TIDEL Park at Coimbatore.
He presented a memento and Rs.1 lakh, as part of the CII's recognition of young talent to musician Kashyap Mahesh and the youngest student in the IIT, S. Chandra Sekar from Tirunelveli and another young IIT student, Abishek Kumarasubramanian, who is scheduled to work with Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Union Minister for Communications and IT Dayanidhi Maran said the factors behind the Tamil Nadu's success in IT and IT-Enabled Services must be further leveraged for increasing the State's share of IT and ITES and electronic hardware market revenues to 20 per cent of the total value of exports by 2011.
Achieving this vision would mean the State having an output of $25 billion in the three industries. "It will be employing nearly seven lakh people in these industries and attract an investment close to $5.5 billion to achieve this output."
TCS Managing Director and CEO S. Ramadorai said the company's Coimbatore project would be operational in a year or 18 months.
Connect 2006 chairman Gopal Srinivasan said the best minds in the IT business would deliberate on the theme of the conference `Creating a Knowledge-driven Ecosystem.'
Co-chairman Lakshmi Narayanan said Tamil Nadu "clearly is the State with global appeal" and needed to promote tier-II cities. CII southern region chairman M. Lakshminarayan thanked the State Government and the Centre for their support to the event.
Courtesy : The Hindu
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Friday, September 08, 2006
Coimbatore becomes saree centre
Coimbatore’s Oppanakara Street is turning into a hub of saree companies with some of the most renowned saree houses looking to shift there as they are not finding enough space in Chennai.
Oppanakara Street is already home for famous saree shops like Chennai Silks, Sri Ganapathy Silks and Pothys and RmKV Silks are eager to enter Coimbatore sooner or later.
However, both the companies are taking different routes to enter the market with Pothys looking to buy out Shobha Textiles and RmKV all set to launch its own shop in Coimbatore.
Shobha Textiles was a profit making company until the bomb blast in 1998 and by the time it got ready for re-launch, Chennai Silk had already taken over the market.
Managing partner of Pothys, S Ramesh confirmed the plan to acquire the company and said that the deal was still in negotiation stage. Experts have put the price of Shobha Textiles around Rs10 crore.
In September, 2005, Ganapathy Silks, based in Sankaranoil and a textile retailer in Tirunelveli district had its first showroom with a cost of Rs10 crore.
Kalyan group from Kerala which is a big textile group had set up its shop in the city a few years ago. Textiles firms are betting on the fact that 40-50 jewellery shops in the nearby Raja Street will help them as the shoppers looking for one-stop shopping will definitely ferry around the Oppanakara Street.
Courtesy : fibre2fashion
Oppanakara Street is already home for famous saree shops like Chennai Silks, Sri Ganapathy Silks and Pothys and RmKV Silks are eager to enter Coimbatore sooner or later.
However, both the companies are taking different routes to enter the market with Pothys looking to buy out Shobha Textiles and RmKV all set to launch its own shop in Coimbatore.
Shobha Textiles was a profit making company until the bomb blast in 1998 and by the time it got ready for re-launch, Chennai Silk had already taken over the market.
Managing partner of Pothys, S Ramesh confirmed the plan to acquire the company and said that the deal was still in negotiation stage. Experts have put the price of Shobha Textiles around Rs10 crore.
In September, 2005, Ganapathy Silks, based in Sankaranoil and a textile retailer in Tirunelveli district had its first showroom with a cost of Rs10 crore.
Kalyan group from Kerala which is a big textile group had set up its shop in the city a few years ago. Textiles firms are betting on the fact that 40-50 jewellery shops in the nearby Raja Street will help them as the shoppers looking for one-stop shopping will definitely ferry around the Oppanakara Street.
Courtesy : fibre2fashion
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Reach Technologies plans new center @ Coimbatore
Bangalore-based Reach Technologies Ltd (RTL), a certified Microsoft partner and a leading integrated IT solutions provider to the soft goods industry, unveiled its Reach Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution customised on Microsoft Dynamics here.
"The all-in-one solution is an attempt to propel the soft goods industry, which is currently facing problems like shifting consumer preferences, reduced time-to-market, and lack of the co-ordination across the supply chain," RTL CEO Shyam Raj said at the event organised to highlight the problems faced by the industry.
The event, jointly sponsored by RTL, Microsoft, Intel and the Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA), highlighted the need for collaborative partnerships between retailers, brands and manufacturers/sub-contractors in the soft goods industry through the strategic use of IT, enabling cluster adoption of IT by Tirupur apparel manufacturers.
"Under the arrangement between Microsoft and RTL for Reach ERP solution, implementation and customisation fee will go to RTL while the license fee will be shared equally by the two companies," Mr Raj told UNI.
Reach ERP, based on the business solution Microsoft Dynamics, will range from Rs 3.5-4 lakh to Rs 2 crore, depending on the usage and functionality of the solutions, and will be implemented in Tirupur in the next four months, Mr Raj added.
"Under the cluster initiative of the Government of India, there are 388 clusters which are industry specific, and Phase I of Microsoft, IT enabling these clusters, include the Tirupur Apparel Industry, Ahmedabad Pharmaceutical companies and the Pune automative component companies, by the end of this year," Microsoft Product Technoloy Specialist Lead Ashish Bhatnagar said.
He also hinted at a chemical manufacturing unit in Ankleshwar, but refused to divulge any details.
On the basis on which the clusters were chosen, he said, "we have a fixed criteria with the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) and other Goverment organisations on the basis, on which we choose the clusters."
The annual turnover of RTL is over 4 million dollars.
"We expect a conservative 3 million dollar turnover from the Reach ERP solution, alone and are hoping to double the total turnover this fiscal," Mr Raj said.
The company has 450 customers in India, "and we are aiming to take that number to 5,000 by 2009. We have a development centre in Bangalore with around 200 people and are opening another centre in Coimbatore with a 400 capacity in the next nine months.
The company is also scouting acquisitions in North America and Western Europe and to access and tap into the market there.
"Out of the total 120 companies we were looking at for acquisitions abroad, we have shortlisted 120 companies and in the next two months hope to finalise 6-7 million dollar deal in Western Europe. However negotiations are on and details will be available as and when we finalise everything," Mr Raj said.
Tirupur, which is a Rs 8,000 crore cluster at present is aiming at being worth Rs 15,000 crore in the next five years time, besides breaking it's image from being a 'nightwear destination' to specialise in complete range of knitwear, Textile and Apparel Consultant G Somasundaram said at the meet.
As an emerging apparel and textile market, we are aiming at Tirupur achieving a 8 per cent share in the world textile trade and overall growth to reach 85 billion dollars by 2010, he added.
The solutions will IT enable the entire apparel value chain and soft goods retailers, brands and manufacturers compress mind-to-market times more quickly and at lower cost than with existing solutions in the market today.
Reach ERP will effectively streamlining and integrating customer service, design, sampling, merchandising, production, distribution and financial processes and optimally utilise resources across the enterprise, to help it deliver products faster, better and cheaper.
Tirupur is the second largest textile hub with a cluster of apparel manufacturers exporting more than 2 billion dollars worth of merchandise to Europe and the US markets.
The city is a leading source of hoisery knitted garments, casual wear and sportswear, and besides generating a majority of foreign exchange due to its exports, also accounts for 90 per cent of India's cotton knitwear export.
The textile and apparel industry contributes 14 per cent of the total industrial production in the country, and 56 per cent of India's total knitwear exports come from Tirupur. The total apparel market in India currently stands at Rs 400 crore, while the global apparel and textile market stands at 4,500 billion dollars.
"The Indian soft goods industry is the largest growing export market to the US and Europe and Tirupur, a large cluster of future-oriented apparel companies, can be seen as a knitwear leader through the strategic use of IT, which is a source of competitive advantage and can help tap new opportunities," TEA President A Sakthivel said.
The global soft goods industry is currently worth 1.2 trillion dollars.
RTL, which currently sells its products in China, Hongkong, Singapore and India, is in the process of setting up base in London, in the next 2 months, offers pre-packaged products, custom solutions, consulting services and offshore development facilities for the retail, apparel, textile, home furnishings, footwear and leather accessories and allied industries.
Courtesy : The Hindu
"The all-in-one solution is an attempt to propel the soft goods industry, which is currently facing problems like shifting consumer preferences, reduced time-to-market, and lack of the co-ordination across the supply chain," RTL CEO Shyam Raj said at the event organised to highlight the problems faced by the industry.
The event, jointly sponsored by RTL, Microsoft, Intel and the Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA), highlighted the need for collaborative partnerships between retailers, brands and manufacturers/sub-contractors in the soft goods industry through the strategic use of IT, enabling cluster adoption of IT by Tirupur apparel manufacturers.
"Under the arrangement between Microsoft and RTL for Reach ERP solution, implementation and customisation fee will go to RTL while the license fee will be shared equally by the two companies," Mr Raj told UNI.
Reach ERP, based on the business solution Microsoft Dynamics, will range from Rs 3.5-4 lakh to Rs 2 crore, depending on the usage and functionality of the solutions, and will be implemented in Tirupur in the next four months, Mr Raj added.
"Under the cluster initiative of the Government of India, there are 388 clusters which are industry specific, and Phase I of Microsoft, IT enabling these clusters, include the Tirupur Apparel Industry, Ahmedabad Pharmaceutical companies and the Pune automative component companies, by the end of this year," Microsoft Product Technoloy Specialist Lead Ashish Bhatnagar said.
He also hinted at a chemical manufacturing unit in Ankleshwar, but refused to divulge any details.
On the basis on which the clusters were chosen, he said, "we have a fixed criteria with the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) and other Goverment organisations on the basis, on which we choose the clusters."
The annual turnover of RTL is over 4 million dollars.
"We expect a conservative 3 million dollar turnover from the Reach ERP solution, alone and are hoping to double the total turnover this fiscal," Mr Raj said.
The company has 450 customers in India, "and we are aiming to take that number to 5,000 by 2009. We have a development centre in Bangalore with around 200 people and are opening another centre in Coimbatore with a 400 capacity in the next nine months.
The company is also scouting acquisitions in North America and Western Europe and to access and tap into the market there.
"Out of the total 120 companies we were looking at for acquisitions abroad, we have shortlisted 120 companies and in the next two months hope to finalise 6-7 million dollar deal in Western Europe. However negotiations are on and details will be available as and when we finalise everything," Mr Raj said.
Tirupur, which is a Rs 8,000 crore cluster at present is aiming at being worth Rs 15,000 crore in the next five years time, besides breaking it's image from being a 'nightwear destination' to specialise in complete range of knitwear, Textile and Apparel Consultant G Somasundaram said at the meet.
As an emerging apparel and textile market, we are aiming at Tirupur achieving a 8 per cent share in the world textile trade and overall growth to reach 85 billion dollars by 2010, he added.
The solutions will IT enable the entire apparel value chain and soft goods retailers, brands and manufacturers compress mind-to-market times more quickly and at lower cost than with existing solutions in the market today.
Reach ERP will effectively streamlining and integrating customer service, design, sampling, merchandising, production, distribution and financial processes and optimally utilise resources across the enterprise, to help it deliver products faster, better and cheaper.
Tirupur is the second largest textile hub with a cluster of apparel manufacturers exporting more than 2 billion dollars worth of merchandise to Europe and the US markets.
The city is a leading source of hoisery knitted garments, casual wear and sportswear, and besides generating a majority of foreign exchange due to its exports, also accounts for 90 per cent of India's cotton knitwear export.
The textile and apparel industry contributes 14 per cent of the total industrial production in the country, and 56 per cent of India's total knitwear exports come from Tirupur. The total apparel market in India currently stands at Rs 400 crore, while the global apparel and textile market stands at 4,500 billion dollars.
"The Indian soft goods industry is the largest growing export market to the US and Europe and Tirupur, a large cluster of future-oriented apparel companies, can be seen as a knitwear leader through the strategic use of IT, which is a source of competitive advantage and can help tap new opportunities," TEA President A Sakthivel said.
The global soft goods industry is currently worth 1.2 trillion dollars.
RTL, which currently sells its products in China, Hongkong, Singapore and India, is in the process of setting up base in London, in the next 2 months, offers pre-packaged products, custom solutions, consulting services and offshore development facilities for the retail, apparel, textile, home furnishings, footwear and leather accessories and allied industries.
Courtesy : The Hindu
Huge order for.... Kovai - Sri Krishna Sweets
For Sri Krishna Sweets, known for its Mysurpa, it was a sweet surprise when Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited placed an order recently for 17,500 kg (two truck loads) of Mysurpa to be delivered in a week. This was the largest order that Sri Krishna Sweets has had from an individual customer. "Even we did not expect. It just happened," says M. Krishnan, its Chairman and Managing Director. The Mysurpa were made and packed in half kg and 1 kg boxes with the BHEL logo in just 72 hours. The orders were for the Golden Jubilee celebrations of BHEL. A production team, with 30 people, and the 60-member packing team worked over 48 hours to complete the job on time. "This went on along with our regular production," he adds. "It is essential that we had adequate infrastructure to cater to such orders and maintain quality." Sri Krishna Sweets has about 50 branches, including one in Dubai, and makes over 250 varieties of sweets.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Shriram properties enters Coimbatore
Shriram Properties, a leading construction firm, is setting up residential properties in 8.15 acres of land in the city.
To be built at an estimated investment of Rs.120 crore, the project `Shriram Vijaya Hyyde Park,' would be completed by 2008, housing 32 villas and 272 apartments, M Murali, Managing Director of the company, told reporters here yesterday.
The company, part of $ 4.2 billion Shriram Group, "has a dominant presence" in South India, with delivered built up space of over four million Sq.ft and has under implementation of about 14 million sq.ft, including over 5.30 million sq ft in association with Sun Appollo in Chennai, he said.
It also had plans to build a shopping mall of international standard, with an estimated investment of Rs.150 crore, he said.
The company, which has its future plans to set up IT park in Coimbatore, was in dialogue with leading IT companies for setting up their units, he said
Courtesy : The Hindu
To be built at an estimated investment of Rs.120 crore, the project `Shriram Vijaya Hyyde Park,' would be completed by 2008, housing 32 villas and 272 apartments, M Murali, Managing Director of the company, told reporters here yesterday.
The company, part of $ 4.2 billion Shriram Group, "has a dominant presence" in South India, with delivered built up space of over four million Sq.ft and has under implementation of about 14 million sq.ft, including over 5.30 million sq ft in association with Sun Appollo in Chennai, he said.
It also had plans to build a shopping mall of international standard, with an estimated investment of Rs.150 crore, he said.
The company, which has its future plans to set up IT park in Coimbatore, was in dialogue with leading IT companies for setting up their units, he said
Courtesy : The Hindu
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Study reveals Coimbatore is the best city to invest in ...
When it comes to choosing the city you would like to live and work in, it seems you can't have it all. For if Surat promises great money and investment, it's not the best for living in.
Then there's Kolkata that ranks quite high as a city to live in but loses out on making money or investments.
Detailed analysis of the top 10 cities of the country for earning, investing and residing are revealed in a study, The City Skyline of India 2006, published by Indicus Analytics.
The study is based on official statistics and online surveys conducted by Indicus. The survey yields interesting information on what you can expect from various cities.
Surat, having among the highest per capita small business credit, is ranked as a top destination for those seeking employment and doing business. However, it is at the bottom in the list of Alpha cities (the top 10) in terms of good living.
It has the lowest share of households in the top socio-economic category among the Alpha cities. One-third of its households fall in SEC C.
Bangalore ranks first as a city to reside in and second-best to earn money while it makes for a mediocre destination for investment, ranking sixth.
Coimbatore is the best city to invest in but ranks fifth on the earning and good living front. Pune does well on all three counts of earning, investing and residing indices.
It also has one of the lowest unemployment rates in this group of cities and per capita income comparable to the highest in the group. The metros, interestingly, are not the best performers.
Chennai comes tops as a place to invest in and live in. Citizens are satisfied with the educational infrastructure, low crime rate and city infrastructure, but the high unemployment rate, at 27% is a deterrent.
Mumbai figures below average for earning money and just average for investing in. However, flooding notwithstanding, it ranks second-best as a city to live in.
Delhi stands out as the city with the worst power scenario, with only Pune suffering more power cuts. And the 2000s are pointing towards Surat and Coimbatore.
Both have strong economies, good governance, are located between other major centres and are well-connected.
But by their example they've shown how the government and citizens can together turn adversity into an advantage and bring about revolutionary changes in short spans of time.
Courtesy : Times Of India
Then there's Kolkata that ranks quite high as a city to live in but loses out on making money or investments.
Detailed analysis of the top 10 cities of the country for earning, investing and residing are revealed in a study, The City Skyline of India 2006, published by Indicus Analytics.
The study is based on official statistics and online surveys conducted by Indicus. The survey yields interesting information on what you can expect from various cities.
Surat, having among the highest per capita small business credit, is ranked as a top destination for those seeking employment and doing business. However, it is at the bottom in the list of Alpha cities (the top 10) in terms of good living.
It has the lowest share of households in the top socio-economic category among the Alpha cities. One-third of its households fall in SEC C.
Bangalore ranks first as a city to reside in and second-best to earn money while it makes for a mediocre destination for investment, ranking sixth.
Coimbatore is the best city to invest in but ranks fifth on the earning and good living front. Pune does well on all three counts of earning, investing and residing indices.
It also has one of the lowest unemployment rates in this group of cities and per capita income comparable to the highest in the group. The metros, interestingly, are not the best performers.
Chennai comes tops as a place to invest in and live in. Citizens are satisfied with the educational infrastructure, low crime rate and city infrastructure, but the high unemployment rate, at 27% is a deterrent.
Mumbai figures below average for earning money and just average for investing in. However, flooding notwithstanding, it ranks second-best as a city to live in.
Delhi stands out as the city with the worst power scenario, with only Pune suffering more power cuts. And the 2000s are pointing towards Surat and Coimbatore.
Both have strong economies, good governance, are located between other major centres and are well-connected.
But by their example they've shown how the government and citizens can together turn adversity into an advantage and bring about revolutionary changes in short spans of time.
Courtesy : Times Of India
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