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Sabita Sahu :Junior Librarian and Syamaghana Mohanty : Chief Librarian, Knowledge and Information Services Unit, Chanakya Central Library, Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar. chieflibrarian@asbm.ac.in ; www.asbm.ac.in
BANKING
Infosys, country's second largest software services
exporter, today launched a new version of its banking
solution Finacle, aimed at making deeper inroads into the international
markets.
"With Finacle 11E, we
have taken a component approach to help banks of all sizes to rapidly modernise
their operations in a phased manner, while minimising the risks. It will
enhance banks' efficiency and improve customer experience across all
channels," Infosys
senior vice-president and global head for Finacle M Haragopal
told PTI. Finacle today powers 168 banks across 81 countries and about 14 per
cent of the global banked population are serviced by it, he added.
Banking and financial
services accounted for 27 per cent of Infosys' revenue of Rs 11,267 crore
in the June quarter.
"The offering is futuristic and resonates
strongly with the impending trends in the banking space globally. This new
solution is a key to Finacle's growth globally, especially in the advanced
markets of the US and Europe," Haragopal said.
In the domestic market, over 50 per cent of the
public and private sector banks and eight foreign banks are powered by Finacle,
thus serving about 40 per cent of the banked population in the country.
"Factors like macroeconomic uncertainty,
regulatory upheaval, and changing customer preferences are leading banks to
transform their businesses rapidly. However, such large-scale transformation
projects are often too expensive or too complex for these banks to take
on," he said.
Foreign banks are pushing to raise billions of
dollars from expatriate Indians in response to New Delhi's drive to defend its
weak currency, which could mean the government can avoid the need for a
sovereign bond or state-backed deposit scheme to attract inflows.
The foreign banks are offering upfront financing for
wealthy non-resident Indians (NRIs) to set up dollar deposits in India
following various central bank incentives, including cheap dollar/rupee swap
rates, private banking sources told Reuters.
This would resurrect a practice which proved
successful in drawing in dollars from non-resident Indians (NRIs) in 2000, when
the rupee was also under pressure. The sources said banks could raise about $10
billion or more.
"It's a disguised NRI bond because you are
basically getting in money locked in," said Rajeev Malik, senior economist
at CLSA Singapore. One of the things unique about the scheme was the leverage
being provided to non-resident Indians, he said. The other was the central
bank's offer to swap the dollars for rupees cheaply.
"All this is being done mainly because
government-related actions that will be more constructive are either not coming
or slow in coming."
The rupee slumped to a record low of close to 69 per
dollar in late August as investors saw India, with a record current account
deficit, hefty fiscal deficit and slowing growth, as one of the most vulnerable
economies in emerging markets to any tapering of the U.S. monetary stimulus
programme.
The foreign banks, including Citi, DBS and Standard
Chartered Bank, will officially launch the special bank accounts this week, the
private banking sources said.
The banks will offer their wealthiest segment of
private banking clients roughly 90 per cent of the foreign currency deposit
placed in India, four of the private bankers said.
FINANCE
India
Infoline Finance Ltd (IIFL) today said it has raised Rs 615 crore in the
first three days of opening of its non-convertible debentures (NCDs) for
subscription.
The company has launched a public issue of secured
redeemable NCDs aggregating up to Rs 525 crore, with an option to retain
over-subscription up to Rs 525 crore, leading to a total of Rs 1,050 crore. Out
of Rs 615 crore, IIFL
has collected Rs 573 crore in the Monthly Income Option plan, a company release
said here.
Investors are preferring to opt for the Monthly
Income Option of 3 and 5 years. The retail and QIB (qualified institutional
buyer) portions have been fully subscribed, it said.
The NCDs have an option of monthly and annual
interest payment. The yield works out to 12.68 per cent per annum for the
monthly interest option and 12 per cent a year for the annual one.
The issue opened for subscription on September 17
and closes on October 4.
INDIA MANAGEMENT
Coca-Cola India is restructuring the leadership team
at its bottling arm Hindustan
Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) with an aim of making India one of the top five
markets for the $48-billion Atlanta-based corporation.
Just last month, the maker of Sprite and Thums Up had announced organizational changes to bring in greater synergies between the company's management and its bottling partners. Sanket Ray, zonal VP, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, will be elevated as VP, commercial, at the bottling firm and Mayank Arora will take over Ray's position. In other changes, Lagan Shastri takes over as the zonal VP, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir, while Ashutosh Singh will spearhead the water business for the world's largest soft drinks maker. All of them will report to T Krishnakumar, CEO of HCCB.
India is among the top seven markets globally for Coca-Cola. "We have made significant investments in the marketplace and as we get ready to further accelerate growth, it is very important to develop a high quality talent pipeline. These changes at HCCB are a step in that direction. This team will work closely with Coca-Cola India to achieve our 2020 vision," Krishnakumar told TOI. Coca-Cola plans to double revenues to $200 billion by 2020 and expects about 60% of the incremental sales volume growth to come from emerging markets like India and China.
Just last month, the maker of Sprite and Thums Up had announced organizational changes to bring in greater synergies between the company's management and its bottling partners. Sanket Ray, zonal VP, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, will be elevated as VP, commercial, at the bottling firm and Mayank Arora will take over Ray's position. In other changes, Lagan Shastri takes over as the zonal VP, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir, while Ashutosh Singh will spearhead the water business for the world's largest soft drinks maker. All of them will report to T Krishnakumar, CEO of HCCB.
India is among the top seven markets globally for Coca-Cola. "We have made significant investments in the marketplace and as we get ready to further accelerate growth, it is very important to develop a high quality talent pipeline. These changes at HCCB are a step in that direction. This team will work closely with Coca-Cola India to achieve our 2020 vision," Krishnakumar told TOI. Coca-Cola plans to double revenues to $200 billion by 2020 and expects about 60% of the incremental sales volume growth to come from emerging markets like India and China.
Schroders has launched an Indian equities fund
designed to look beyond short-term cyclical challenges and capture the
long-term growth in the country, Citywire Global can exclusively
reveal.
The asset management firm said the Schroder ISF
Indian Opportunities fund will take an unconstrained, bottom-up view of
potential investments in the country.
Schroders said the new fund will serve as a
complementary strategy to the existing Schroder
ISF Indian Equity fund, while posing a different management style.
It will be overseen by the company’s Asian equity
investment team and advised on by Axis Asset Management Company (AMC), which
has specialises in Indian equity investments.
This marks the first fund launch overseen by
Schroders and Axis AMC since Schroders acquired a 25% stake in the Indian asset
management business in September 2012.
Schroders intends to leverage Axis AMC’s on the
ground expertise in India to identify the best investment opportunities for
capital growth.
Investments will primarily be in stocks
and equity-related securities of Indian companies that have substantial
business exposure to India.
Commenting on the launch, Chandresh Nigam, managing
director and CEO of Axis AMC, said: ‘India has been amongst the fastest growing
major economies in the last 20 years. While India has certain short and medium
term cyclical challenges, it has a number of long term competitive advantages
that have allowed it to grow on a sustained basis.’
Nigam added the fund will pinpoint companies with
medium-to-long-term growth potential.
INSURANCE
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asked the Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority (Irda) to prepare a time frame for mandatory digitization of
all the insurance policies in the country.
The minister today formally launched the Insurance Repository System (IR), a first of its kind initiative in the insurance sector across the world, which would enable policy holders to buy and keep insurance policies in dematerialised or electronic form.
While the policy holder can keep multiple policies under one e Insurance Account issued by the authorities in the new system, the digitization also allows to reduce the cost of managing accounts at the insurer end.
Irda has introduced the the demat system for insurance policies, both the existing and the new ones, only in the life insurance category on a voluntary basis to begin with.
Chidambaram said the insurance sector needs to quickly move to the digitization from the voluntary to the mandatory phase as this initiative entails multiple benefits both at the customer end and the insurer end.
It ‘s been 10 years since the share certificates were mandated to be put in demat form. The present initiative has to be quickly extended to all forms of insurance policies, he said. One of the benefits of this initiative would be to eliminate the possibility of the physical documents getting lost in un foreseen circumstances like calamities.
“Not a year passes with one part of the country going through a storm, an earthquake or a calamity similar to that happened recently in Uttarakhand. People migrate from rural to urban areas in large number and in the process they will have difficulty in establishing their identity to claim insurance benefits among other things,” Chidambaram said.
The minister today formally launched the Insurance Repository System (IR), a first of its kind initiative in the insurance sector across the world, which would enable policy holders to buy and keep insurance policies in dematerialised or electronic form.
While the policy holder can keep multiple policies under one e Insurance Account issued by the authorities in the new system, the digitization also allows to reduce the cost of managing accounts at the insurer end.
Irda has introduced the the demat system for insurance policies, both the existing and the new ones, only in the life insurance category on a voluntary basis to begin with.
Chidambaram said the insurance sector needs to quickly move to the digitization from the voluntary to the mandatory phase as this initiative entails multiple benefits both at the customer end and the insurer end.
It ‘s been 10 years since the share certificates were mandated to be put in demat form. The present initiative has to be quickly extended to all forms of insurance policies, he said. One of the benefits of this initiative would be to eliminate the possibility of the physical documents getting lost in un foreseen circumstances like calamities.
“Not a year passes with one part of the country going through a storm, an earthquake or a calamity similar to that happened recently in Uttarakhand. People migrate from rural to urban areas in large number and in the process they will have difficulty in establishing their identity to claim insurance benefits among other things,” Chidambaram said.
INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS
Microsoft Corp raised its quarterly dividend by 22
per cent and renewed its $40 billion share buyback program, extending an olive
branch to investors who are expected to grill its outgoing CEO on Thursday
about a costly foray into mobile devices.
The surprisingly big hike takes Microsoft's dividend
yield to around 3.4 per cent, ahead of major tech corporations such as
International Business Machines Corp and Apple Inc .
But it may not satisfy activist investment firm
ValueAct Capital and its supporters, mainly other big investment funds,
analysts said. Some investors held out hope for a bigger slice of the company's
$70 billion cash hoard, now that ValueAct has an option to take a seat on the
software giant's board and exert greater influence over the company.
ValueAct has not publicized its goals. But people
familiar with the fund's thinking say it questions Chief Executive Steve
Ballmer's leadership and the wisdom of buying Nokia Corp's handset unit to
delve deeper into the low-margin hardware business, and that it wants higher
dividends and share buybacks.
Microsoft's shares finished 0.39 per cent higher at
$32.93 on the Nasdaq.
"I expected ValueAct to push for a big lump-sum
payment like they have in the past," said Fort Pitt Capital analyst Kim
Forrest, who has not spoken with the fund.
"And this is Microsoft saying no."
A hotly anticipated investor meeting on Thursday
will give shareholders their first chance to quiz management on who may replace
Ballmer, who announced plans to retire within a year after ValueAct pressed for
his ouster.
It is unclear how hard ValueAct pushed Microsoft to
share more of its $70 billion cash hoard. ValueAct CEO Jeffrey Ubben declined
to comment about Microsoft during an industry event in New York on Tuesday.
For years, investors have called on Microsoft to
return cash to shareholders rather than invest in peripheral projects, and
limit its focus to serving enterprise customers with its vastly profitable
Windows, Office and server products.
MANAGEMENT
Companies that depend on Mobile Device Management
(MDM) software to secure iPhones and iPads will find they have far more app
control with those devices running the new iOS 7, companies say.
MDM technology is what many corporations depend on
for mobile security, and providers say users of their products will find that
the latest version of iOS, available Wednesday, shows Apple making a strong
push toward app-centric security.
This is a significant change from previous versions
of the mobile operating system, which focused more on controlling
hardware-centric components, such as the camera, the Bluetooth wireless system
and the GPS, said Chandra Sekar, director of product marketing for Citrix.
Apple has recognized that enterprises today want more control over the
applications running on the device.
“What Apple is doing is recognizing that need from
an enterprise standpoint and providing MDM APIs that better allow vendors to
take advantage of the operating system hooks to provide application-level
security,” Sekar said.
MDM customers will have the most control over apps
that their IT departments install on the device and shuffle over to a separate
business account, which Apple allows to run separately from the device user’s
personal account.
Through the MDM system, companies will be able to
prevent data from moving between accounts. In addition, apps installed by IT
staff can be configured to only share data with specific apps.
For companies that allow employees to use their own
devices, conflicts may arise if the worker is already using an app that the
company wants to install. In order for the company to have data control, the
employee will have to agree to uninstall the app first, John Herrema, senior
vice president of product management for Good Technology, said.
Once the company takes control, restrictions on data
movement may prevent employees from using the app in the same way they did
before, Herrema said. This could become even more problematic if the employee
paid for the app
ODISHA BUSINESS
The proposed ultra mega power projects in Odisha and Tamil
Nadu will be linked to the government’s surplus coal policy as and when the
latter is finalised.
According
to a Power Ministry official, the invitation of initial bids for the upcoming
4,000 MW ultra mega power project (UMPP) each in Odisha and Tamil Nadu will
come on time and a decision on the surplus coal policy will be linked to it.
Surplus
coal policy will enable the usage of excess coal from the mines allotted for a
project to another project of the same company.
“So when
the policy gets finalised, it will automatically be linked to the UMPPs. The
EGoM (Empowered Group of Ministers) has also approved this proposal when it
finalised the Standard Bidding Documents (SBDs),” the official said.
Some of
the private power producers had expressed concerns over bidding for the
proposed UMPPs – Bedabahal (Odisha) and Cheyyur (Tamil Nadu) as the surplus
coal policy is yet to be finalised.
In August
2008, an EGoM had given approval for Reliance Power to divert surplus coal from
the Sasan blocks for another project in Chitrangi. Both projects are in Madhya
Pradesh.
Referring
to this case, the private power companies had said the government should come
up with clear cut guidelines for the usage of excess coal from the captive
mines.
The
surplus coal policy will be decided in consultations with various ministries
including Power, Coal, Law and Environment and Forests.
Another
EGOM headed by Defence Minister A.K Antony, last month, cleared the proposal of
amending the standard bidding documents for implementing the new Case-II
thermal power plants including the 4,000 MW UMPPs.
Case-I
projects are where developers have the choice to decide on location, fuel and
technology to be used.
In Case-II
thermal power projects, the location of the project and fuel to be used are
already decided before the start of competitive bidding.
The Government
has so far allotted four UMPPs. The first at Mundra in Gujarat was awarded to
Tata Power, which has already commissioned the plant. Reliance Power bagged the
others – Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya
(Jharkhand).
RETAIL
Suwarnsparsh, an organised retail chain in gemstone
and jewellery, said it is exploring options to raise Rs 40 crore through
private equity to fund expansion to about 200 outlets in next five years on
pan-India basis.
Established in 2009, Suwarnsparsh
currently operates 42 outlets in Mumbai and Pune on owned-and-operational
basis. With an annual turnover of Rs 34 crore in 2012-13 (April- March), the
company has set an ambitious topline target to reach over Rs 500 crore with its
proposed retail expansion.
Suwarnsparsh has a total retail space of 23,000 sq
ft from its 42 outlets and plans to bring under its ambit 150,000 sq ft with
its planned expansion of 200 outlets, Suwarnsparsh Chairman and Managing
Director Vimal
Patel told PTI here.
The retailer, which currently derives about 75 per
cent of its revenue from gemstone and the balance from one gram jewellery,
expects to see increased contribution from the latter segment and garner
revenue in equal proportion going forward.
"Unlike the organised retail industry, which is
modeled on high volume low margin business, we operate a niche business with
high margins derived from our insightful domain knowledge on the subject
generated over the past two decades," Patel said.
The retailer plans to end 2013-14 with revenue of Rs
65-70 crore based on its current sales trend. The company also expects a margin
expansion on this enhanced sell, as a result of in-house manufacturing of the
one gram jewellery and merging gemstone purity certificate business, highly
profitable group company, with itself.
Based on broad estimates, the gems and jewellery
segment in India is estimated at Rs 2 lakh crore with jewellery constituting 80
percent of it.
Bricks-and-mortar retailers are trying to compete
with Amazon.com Inc and each other by offering what they hope is the best of
both worlds — online sales with the option of store pick-ups, delivery and
returns.
When successful, this so-called omni-channel
shopping — allowing customers the choice of buying in a physical store or online
— can provide better service, more inventory and faster delivery options,
e-commerce experts said at the Reuters Global Consumer and Retail Summit in New
York. It is also one of the best ways that traditional retailers can hope to
compete with Amazon, whose physical presence is limited to distribution
centres.
“The promise is there, the potential is there, and
when it works, it’s a lovely thing,” said Fiona Dias, referring to omni-channel
shopping. Dias is chief strategy officer at ShopRunner, which provides
e-commerce services to major US retailers.
But only a handful of retailers are doing it well.
For starters, it is expensive. Making the change typically requires costly
software to combine online and in-store inventory. Stores also need to be
reconfigured to give workers room to pack and prepare orders.
SUPPLY CHAIN
Arkieva (www.arkieva.com)
a leading designer and global provider of Advanced Planning and Scheduling
(APS) software for multinational manufacturing companies today announced the
opening of its new Indian office, based in Mangalore to meet the increasing
demand for regionally delivered services from its Global 1000 customers with
operations in the Asia Pacific Region.
Arkieva,
celebrating its’ 20th Anniversary this year, provides manufacturers
in a variety of industries such as chemicals, industrial fabrics, food
processing, semiconductors, and industrial and commercial glass with software
tools to help them more effectively and economically manage their supply
chains.
Arkieva in
the past has served customers with a presence in Japan, China, India, and
Southeast Asia with resources either out of its Wilmington, Delaware,
headquarters or out of its office in Antwerp, Belgium. “This move into India
helps us better serve our existing clients and positions us for new
opportunities in the region,” said Sujit Singh, chief operating officer of
Arkieva. “Almost all of our major clients have operations in either India or
China, or both.”
“Our
immediate focus will to be establish our presence in Mangalore, and to grow our
staff locally, which will allow us to more economically and efficiently provide
our existing customers with technical support from a closer time zone,” added
Singh. “Shortly after this first phase we will also be interested in talking to
potential partners in the region for possible sales or technical alliances.”
The Centre For Process Innovation, based at Wilton,
has announced it is leading a £10m project to bring cutting-edge technology,
used in devices such as smartphones, to market more quickly.
CPI is leading a consortium of major companies to
create a UK supply chain to enable the widespread adoption of low cost, near
field communication (NFC) devices using printable electronics.
Many smartphones are enabled with NFC, allowing the
user to interact with a diverse range of supported devices.
This capability is already used widely in
applications such as contactless payment.
This project will extend NFC’s use so that
smartphones can interact with printed items such as labels, posters, documents
and product packaging. It will also allow retailers and manufacturers to manage
their supply chains more efficiently.
CPI’s National Printable Electronics Centre, based
at NETPark in Sedgefield - which focuses on design, development and prototyping
for the emerging printable electronics industry - will lead on the project.
The project is part of the UK Government’s £116m
Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) to strengthen UK
manufacturing supply chains and to encourage major new suppliers to locate in
the UK.
The project will build manufacturing capacity,
develop manufacturing skills and demonstrate application deployment.
The project brings together the UK’s world-class
strength in print, electronics and design in a collaborative consortium to
open-up a globally competitive UK supply-chain in printed NFC components
Nigel Perry, CEO of CPI said, “CPI is delighted to
lead the project, which is in line with our role in supporting the development
and commercialisation of advanced manufacturing processes. The project will
enable the UK to be competitive in this high growth global industry”.
_____________________________________________________________
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Source of
Information for this issue: Google alert accessed on 23rd and 24th Sept 2013
We welcome your suggestions in improving this information updating service.
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Compilation
Sabita Sahu
Sabita Sahu
Junior Librarian
Concept, Layout and
Editing
Syamaghana Mohanty
Chief Librarian
Chief Librarian
Information and
Documentation Division, Chanakya Central Library
Asian School of
Business Management
Shiksha Vihar Bhola,
Barang Khurda Road,
Chandaka
Bhubaneswar-754012
Tel:0674-2374832, 2374833
E-mail:library@asbm.ac.in, chieflibrarian@asbm.ac.inSabita Sahu :Junior Librarian and Syamaghana Mohanty : Chief Librarian, Knowledge and Information Services Unit, Chanakya Central Library, Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar. chieflibrarian@asbm.ac.in ; www.asbm.ac.in
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