Upcoming Projects in India

6922 Two months after the Central Government gave its approval for setting up an All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) centre in Bathinda under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY), Punjab Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal today paid a visit to the site where the AIIMS centre is coming up. Several acres of land belonging to the Punjab Agricultural University will be used for setting up of the institute. On October 9, PMSSY director Sudeep Srivastava had written a letter to Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, Vini Mahajan, confirming the approval and clearance of the proposed site, besides asking for construction of required infrastructure, roads and supply of water and electricity to the identified site at the earliest. During his visit to the proposed site located on the Bathinda-Dabwali Road, the Chief Secretary said the state government was paying special attention to the project. He directed Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Dr Basant Garg to ensure that the project didn’t get delayed and that government was able to achieve its target of providing the best of health facilities to people through this premier health institute. Aiming to expedite the project, he also directed PSPCL employees to give separate power supply for the project so that it is started in time. Officials of the Forest Department were directed to remove trees from the area within a month. While interacting with the officers, he said the Government of India had also emphasised and given its sanction to improve the roads leading to project. He said within a month, the tendering procedure for Railway-over-Bridge (ROB) and work on roads would begin. The Chief Secretary directed the Deputy Commissioner to chart out one more route plan leading to the AIIMS centre as around 1 lakh people are expected to visit the place daily. Earlier, during his visit to the city, the Chief Secretary also met Maharaja Ranjit Singh Technical University Vice-Chancellor Dr Mohan Pal Singh Ishar, wherein the latter shared the university’s achievements. The senior official expressed his satisfaction over the works going on in the university. During the interaction with the V-C, Kaushal directed that a committee should be formed, which will monitor the university’s website so that transparency at every level could be monitored. The Chief Secretary expressed concern over the issues of dummy students and dummy staff and said while admitting students or staff, their Aadhar cards should be linked with admission numbers and biometric attendance of each should be ensured. The Chief Secretary directed the Vice-Chancellor that the work on construction of the building should be started by February 1, 2016. ADC (General) Sumit Kumar Jarangal, PSPCL officials, Divisional Forest Officer Sanjiv Kumar Tewari, civil surgeon Tejwant Singh Randhawa, campus director of Giani Zail Singh College Dr Jasbir Singh Hundal and others were also present on the occasion.

6921 Government of India has granted site clearance to Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited (DMICDC) for setting up of a Greenfield Airport for public use near Bhiwadi, District Alwar, Rajasthan on 18.11.2015. The timeline for construction and the budget of airport projects depends upon various factors such as land acquisition, availability of mandatory clearances, financial closure, etc. by the individual operator for which the details are submitted to Ministry of Civil Aviation during the 'in-principle' approval stage.

6920 Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has announced road projects worth Rs 41,000 crore for Telangana, including two Express Highways from the state capital Hyderabad to Bengaluru in Karnataka and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. "The total package for Telangana is Rs 41,000 crore. This is not the final figure. It is still open for discussion. And if any new National Highway is recommended from the leaders of Telangana or from the state government or from our (BJP) leaders, we will think positively and we will support Telangana as a new state," Gadkari told reporters here. The Union Road Transport and Highways Minister, on Monday, laid the foundation stone of the four-lane Yadgir and Warangal section of NH-202 (new NH-163) of length 99 km costing Rs 1,424 crore. He said the government will soon prepare the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) for two Express Highways connecting Hyderabad with Bengaluru and Vijayawada. "The Telangana portion of the cost of construction for the two Express Highways would be Rs 16,000 crore covering 190 km for Vijayawada and 210 km for Bengaluru Express Highways," the minister said. According to him, the making of inland waterways would be the NDA government's top priority. He also assured that his ministry would take up works of making waterways in Telangana, once the related proposals are cleared by Parliament. According to him, as many as 111 waterways projects are pending for clearance in the Rajya Sabha. As Telangana is a land-locked state, the Centre has taken a decision to construct a dry port on Godavari river. "We have taken a decision to make dry port on Godavari where it will act as a multi-model hub. There will be a National Highway, waterways and at the same time aviation connection will also be there," Gadkari said.

6919 Sify Technologies has announced the setting up of a Global Delivery Centre in Hyderabad, its largest in India. Sify had recently struck a global partnership with Fujitsu Limited to collaborate on providing ICT solutions. The two companies are working together to strengthen their global approaches to developing new customers and markets, and to jointly win multi-regional opportunities, starting with the North America market. When completed, this 200,000 sq ft delivery centre will focus on supporting the partnership through the development of solutions for the Third Platform, also known as “SMAC” – Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud Platform. Commenting on the development, KT Rama Rao, Telangana Minister of IT and Panchayat Raj, said, “We are determined to position Telangana as the preferred destination for IT companies in India and are continuously streamlining measures so that it is easy to do business here.” The Chairman of Sify Technologies Raju Vegesna said, “This centre will build solutions for the third platform and support our applications and system-integration resources globally.”

6918 State-owned miner NMDC Ltd on Thursday said it expects commercial production of its 3-million tonnes per annum capacity steel plant in Chhattisgarh to commence by the middle of 2017. “The plant erection will be completed by December 2016. It is not an easy task. It is challenging. People will have to work hard. Trial of machines or trial of the plant will start by December 2016. Production will start in the middle of 2017,” the public sector undertaking’s (PSU) chairman and managing director (CMD) Narendra Kothari, who superannuated on Thursday, told PTI. NMDC is in the process of setting up a steel plant in Nagarnar in Chhattisgarh with an investment outlay of over Rs.15,000 crore. Chhattisgarh government allotted a mine—Bailadila Deposit-4—to NMDC and Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corp. Ltd joint venture (JV) for captive purpose for an integrated steel plant. The iron ore will be supplied to the plant at market price, not on transfer basis, a senior company official said. “The capacity of the steel plant will be about 60% for the first year and would go up gradually to 100% over a period of time,” the official said. On the iron ore market situation, Kothari said the sluggishness in ore prices may remain for the next two years internationally. However, there can be some uptrend in the domestic market if some initiatives, such as anti-dumping duty on steel products, are put in place. “This trend internationally will remain for the next two years. In our country, I hope after six months or a year things will improve. Once this import duty is in place, the steel industry will have good time and similarly iron ore will also have better demand. Domestic demand is good. But the problem is dumping by some countries into India,” he said.

6917 Ramco Cements is reportedly planning to setup a 0.9 Mta cement grinding plant at Choudwar, district Cuttack, Odisha. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 406 crore ($61.21 million). The project has received clearance from the Government of Odisha, with construction set to commence in Q1 2016. Ramco Cements formally known as Madras Cements (MCL) was established in 1957, is part of Ramco Group, a well known business group of South India. It is based at Chennai. The company is the fifth largest cement producer in the country. Ramco Supergrade is the most popular cement brand in South India.

6916 Jaypee Cement Corporation is planning the 7 MTPA Taranhalli limestone mining project at Villages Taranhalli & Shahabad, dist. Kalaburagi, Karnataka on 631.311 hectares ML area. This is a captive mining project to meet the limestone requirement of the company's proposed 4.6 MTPA clinker plant and 6 MTPA cement plant to be set up at a distance of about 2.5 km at Village Bankur, Tehsil Chittapur, dist. Kalaburagi. The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 300 million. The project is waiting for environmental clearance. According to MoEF sources, the method of mining is fully mechanized open cast method. Total mineable reserves is 222.77 million tonnes. The expected life of the mine is 32 years. 8 hectares will be developed as green belt. A well planned mines office, workshop will be provided. 150 KW power will be sourced from CPP/ grid power

6915 is planning to construct an automated multilevel car parking facility at PTI Building, dist. New Delhi, Delhi. Online item rate bids on two bid system have been invited under National Competitive Bidding for the construction, installation, testing and commissioning of the facility at Transport Bhawan, 1, Parliament Street, Delhi. The ground area is 314 sq. mtrs. The complex shall comprise of G+7 floors. The minimum no. of parking slots is 112 nos. inclusive of two empty slots. The scope of the work will include civil and steel structural construction, parking system design, equipment supply, operation and control system supply, erection and commissioning. Documents can be downloaded till 16th December, 2015. The last date for submission of bids is 17th December, 2015. Time of completion of entire project is 9 months including trial run and handing over.

6914 BR Shetty, Chairman, UAE Exchange, has said that NMC Group, its sister concern, plans to expand its presence in the healthcare segment by setting up a chain of super speciality hospitals in India and abroad. SUT Hospital, which it had acquired in 2013, will be expanded into a 520-bed hospital with an investment of Rs.350 crore. Andhra Pradesh has agreed to allot 300 acres in Amaravati to set up a medicity, he said, adding that they have received in-principle sanction from Karnataka to build a new airport at Shimoga.

6913 nfosys will be setting up a 6.6 MW powered solar power plant at Pocharam campus, Telangana. This is second in line to the existing 0.6 MW capacity rooftop solar plant. The campus will operate completely by renewable energy. The new plant amassing a total capacity of 7.2 MW works in sync with the grid and is going to produce 12 million kWh of power annually. The initiative is aimed at bringing down Infosys' CO2 emissions by 9,200 tons. At present, Infosys has set up 12 MW solar power plants across its campuses and another 3 MW is going to be set up within the coming two months. According to Vishal Sikka, chief executive officer and managing director, Infosys, “Our company’s commitment to our broader purpose and to our communities, has always brought us great pride. The Infosys founders set this standard from the beginning, and we see this in the contributions of our employees to their communities and in times of crisis, such as the recent Chennai floods; we see this in the work of the Infosys Foundations; and we see this perhaps most clearly in our work in our facilities.” The new campus is known worldwide to be among the greenest campuses having world-class innovation in sustainability. The campus will be the first to have a radiant cooling technology in India.

6912 The Andhra Pradesh government today said Microsoft India will be setting up a Centre of Excellence in Visakhapatnam as part of its digital inclusion drive in the state, besides sharpening focus on raising productivity. The technology giant signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government in deployment and use of information and communications technologies to offer better citizen services in the state. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu hosted a breakfast meeting for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella -- who is currently on a visit to Hyderabad -- at his residence today. The meeting lasted for 80 minutes, during which Nadella assured the state government of total cooperation in utilisation of cloud data for improving citizen services.

6911 Civil contractor has been appointed locally. Equipment supplier is yet to be appointed. According to pre-feasibility report, resin will be used for Captive consumption for manufacturing laminated sheets as well as sale purpose. Power requirement will be 250 KVA from UGVCL. 23 KL/Day waste water will be generated process effluent & R.O. Reject. Total available area is 13675 sq. meter out of it 4515 sq. meter (33.0 %) area will be provided as a greenbelt area. Domestic waste water 10.5 KL/day will be treated in Sewage treatment plant & treated sewage will be reused in greenbelt development.

6910 Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd has bagged an order worth Rs 25.98 crore from Kerala State Electricity Board (Keltron) for the implementation of a solar project in Kannur. The order is for installation, testing and commissioning of 3-MW grid tie canal top solar PV plant at Barapole, Kannur, a Keltron release said on Monday. An MNRE approved 'Programme Administrator' for consulting and implementation of Solar Energy Systems, Keltron is executing a project worth Rs 4.3 crore from KSEB, for 400 KWp grid tie solar PV Plant at the Padinjarethara Dam site, Wyanad. Keltron has already handed over to KSEB, a 96 KWp grid tie solar PV plant of Rs 1.13 crore, implemented on the roof top of tribal colony at Agali, Palakkad.

6909 State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has commissioned a 660 MW unit of Prayagraj Super Thermal Power Project at Bara in Uttar Pradesh. "The unit has been commissioned at the upcoming 3x660 MW Prayagraj Super Thermal Power Project (STPP) at Bara in Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh BHEL is the leading power equipment manufacturer in the country with orders of 43 sets of supercritical boilers and 38 sets of supercritical turbine generators by various customers. These orders have been received from central, state as well as private sector utilities that have reposed confidence in the company. Supercritical units are more efficient, consume lesser coal and are also eco-friendly.

6908 Essel Infraprojects has commissioned a Rs 100 crore waste-to-energy plant in Tamil Nadu. The power plant, which will use municipal solid waste as fuel, has been designed and built by Essel Infrastructure, which will also operate and maintain the plant for 20 years. The Essel Pallavapuram and Tambaram MSW Pvt Ltd, subsidiary of Essel, has set up the 2.9-MW power plant that will use refuse derived fuel obtained from about 300 tonnes of waste to make Pallavaram and Tambaram, two large suburbs to the south of Chennai. The project is a contract awarded by Pallavaram Municipality in Public-Private Partnership mode. Essel tied up with Rochem India for technology to produce high quality Refuse Derived Fuel and Compost. Essel Infra has MSW projects at Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), Bengaluru (Karnataka), Bhubaneswar and Cuttack (Odisha), Surat (Gujarat), Amritsar (Punjab) and Ranchi (Jharkhand).

6907 Amway India Enterprises Pvt. Ltd, the Indian arm of Michigan-based $10.8-billion direct-selling firm Amway Corp., on Monday announced the inauguration of its first factory in India. The Rs.550 crore facility in Tamil Nadu, which was inaugurated by chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, is the third factory of the American firm located outside the US. “All the products sold by Amway in India will now be made in India. We are planning to expand our product base and launch more than 10 new products in the country in the calendar year 2016. The high quality cookware that we are planning to launch in early 2017 will also be produced in this manufacturing plant,” Spread over 50 acres, the plant will have nine production lines for nutrition, cosmetics and oral care products. Amway has invested about Rs.800 crore in the country. “The manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu is another example of Amway’s belief in the India market and reiterates our commitment to ‘Make in India, Make for India. The facility will employ around 400 people, according to the company. The Tamil Nadu facility can handle a turnover of Rs.6,500 crore to meet the needs of Indian consumers, Amway India said in a statement.

6906 Boosted by sub-branding of its multiplexes, Ajay Bijli-owned PVR Cinemas said it is on course to become the biggest multiplex operator in the country with over 500 screens under its portfolio. The film entertainment firm, which now has 491 screens, said it will be adding another 67 by March with an estimated investment of about Rs.200 crore besides investing heavily in technology. Gautam Dutta, CEO, PVR Ltd, said, “Our products are targeted keeping a diverse demographics in mind. When we get a great catchment we do an in-depth research to understand the customer profile and brand the product accordingly. We will be adding 67 more screens both in the metros and tier-2 cities.”

6905 Jaypee Cement has received approval from the Environment Ministry for expansion of limestone mining capacity from 3.47 million tonnes per annum to 6 MTPA in Andhra Pradesh, entailing an investment of Rs. 95 crore. It has commissioned a cement plant with 5 MTPA capacity and captive limestone mine of 3.47 MTPA to meet partial limestone requirement of the plant at Budhawada village in Krishna district. The expansion of Budhawada mine capacity will meet the complete limestone requirement of its plant. “The Environment Ministry has examined the proposal and given the green clearance for expansion of mining capacity of Budhawada limestone mine by Jaypee Cement,” a senior Environment Ministry official said. The estimated cost of the proposed mining project, including utilities, offsite and auxiliary services, is about Rs. 95 crore. Environment clearance to the project has been given subject to certain conditions like controlled blasting and taking mitigative steps for control of ground vibrations and to arrest fly rocks and boulders, the official said. The company has been asked to take appropriate mitigative measures to prevent the pollution of nearby river in consultation with the state pollution control board. Among other conditions, the company has been asked to keep vehicular emissions under control and ensure the transportation of mineral is carried out through covered trucks only and vehicles carrying minerals should not be overloaded. Jaypee Cement has 27.90 MT capacity under operation across the country.

6904 Cabinet today approved the construction of first phase of the Metro Rail Project in Lucknow at an estimated cost of Rs 6,928 crore. Chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Cabinet approved the Lucknow Metro Rail Project Phase - 1A covering 22.878 km distance between Chowdhary Charan Singh Airport and Munshi Pulia with 22 stations. The cost of the project will be Rs 6,928 crore which will be supported by the Centre with Rs 1,300 crore in the form of equity and subordinate debt, according to a release. The project will be implemented by Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) which will be reconstituted into a 50:50 jointly owned company of the Centre and Uttar Pradesh government. Out of the total route length of 22.878 km, elevated route will be 19.438 km while underground route length will be 3.440 km with total 19 elevated and three underground metro stations. The metro train will ply between Chowdhary Charan Singh Airport and Munshi Pulia. The project will come under the legal framework of the Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978; the Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002; and the Railways Act, 1989, as amended from time to time. Lucknow has been experiencing mounting pressure on its transport infrastructure and has witnessed tremendous growth in the last two decades. As per census of India 2011, the population of Lucknow Urban Agglomeration is 29 lakhs. The population of Lucknow Metropolitan area is over 50 lakhs. The state capital has 14.24 lakh vehicles, 80 per cent of them being two wheelers and 14 per cent cars. The city is witnessing an annual growth of 8.35 percent in vehicular population.

6903 Two months after it launched operations here, US-headquartered YuppTV has announced plans to introduce YuppTV Bazaar, a platform for curated premium video content across various genres such as education, short films, web series and trailers. “YuppTV Bazaar will give a platform to independent video content creators to monetise and market their content,” YuppTV founder and CEO Uday Reddy told BusinessLine. The company, which had raised Series A funding for the India market, said it will be closing its second round of funding to the tune of Rs.300 crore by the first quarter of 2016. It will use the funds to expand its presence in West Asia and other Asian markets. The world’s largest provider of over-the-top (OTT) Indian media content had raised series A funding from certain Alabama-based institutions. OTT refers to the delivery of audio, video and other media over the internet without the involvement of a multiple-system operator controlling/distributing content. “OTT is the future of the entertainment industry. We are one of the largest content providers and want to leverage our platform for creating additional content,” said Reddy. The service is accessible on multiple internet-enabled devices such as smart TVs, smartphones and tablets. YuppTV has over 25,000 hours of video content in its catalogue. Reddy said Yupp TV, a paid internet-based TV streaming service, was targeted at the Indian diaspora. “YuppTV Bazaar will give a platform to independent video content creators to monetise and market their content,” he added. YuppTV globally has 5 million mobile app downloads and an audience base reaching over 400 million households through smart TVs. It has a presence in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Trinidad and Tabago.

6902 BrightStar Group, an Israeli firm engaged in defence and aviation businesses, is set to launch its first in a series of solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs), early next year. The company is engaged in parleys with potential buyers in India and other markets, for these UAVs that fly for years during day and night without any fuel requirement as they are solar-powered. Jonathan Lison, Managing Director of BrightStar Group, said, “The first of this unmanned solar vehicle, to be ready by early 2016, will have a wing span of about 22 metres and be priced at about $1.5-2.0 million. This will be followed with several other models, with larger wing span and different capabilities.” The global market for such UAVs in 2014 was estimated to be about $2.91 billion. During an exclusive interaction with BusinessLine earlier this month, Jonathan Lison had said this was the beginning of a long journey with the new generation of solar unmanned aerial vehicles. “We will produce such UAVs with different configurations, capabilities and sizes based on the applications. Apart from internal security, they can be used for border surveillance and telecommunications in rural parts,” he explained. He said these UAVs could fly long and possibly for a few years without having to land. They can fly in an area covering a radius of about 40 km and can carry a payload of up to 50 kg. As far as their diversified utility is concerned, they can be deployed on top of a city, over a rural area and for military surveillance over a border of 1,000 km back and forth. These UAVs can range from 20 metres and go up to 45 meters in wing span; the latter being the same as that of a big plane. As they are solar-powered, the power generated is used in flight during the day and also stored in batteries for use in the night.

6901 Ford Motor Co plans to invest an additional $4.5 billion by 2020 in programs to broaden its offerings of hybrids and electric vehicles, Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields said Thursday. Fields said it will launch late next year a new version of its Ford Focus electric car that has a 100-mile range and can recharge in 30 minutes. Fields said it will launch late next year a new version of its Ford Focus electric car that has a 100-mile range and can recharge in 30 minutes. Ford also plans to add 13 new plug-in hybrid, hybrid or electric vehicles to its lineup by 2020, moving to more than 40 percent the share of the company's vehicle lines that will be electrified. Fields said the company sees plug-in hybrid systems - which allow drivers to operate part of the time on batteries recharged from the grid, and part of the time on gasoline - as the solution many customers will prefer. The batteries for plug-in hybrids are not as heavy or expensive as those required to deliver 200-mile or more range in an all-electric vehicle.

6900 The heart of the national capital is all set to get a makeover with an ambitious Rs 1,800 crore Smart City plan. The area administered by the New Delhi Municipal Council, which is in race with 97 other cities for funding from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet Smart City Mission project, is planning 24x7 power and water supply, multilevel car parking and digitisation of schools and hospitals over the next four years. The plan, which is being given final shape by NDMC before submission to the Delhi government and the Ministry of Urban Development, envisages a smart grid, smart schools and smart hospitals. The initiative will be implemented in select areas under NDMC's jurisdiction in and around Connaught Place. Although the Centre's guidelines stipulate a five-year development period, NDMC's plan is to smarten up in four years. A key element of the plan, shared exclusively with ET, is 24x7 power and water supply. According to people familiar with the developments, the plan proposes setting up solar panels on top of buildings in and around Connaught Place to generate power and divert any excess electricity generated to the grid.

6899 MedPlus, the pharmacy chain with 1,300 outlets across the country, is raising Rs.300-420 crore in the next few months. The firm, which registered a turnover of Rs.1,350 crore in the last financial year, is expecting revenues of Rs.1,800 crore in 2015-16. “We are working on this. We are hoping to complete the deal soon. The window allows users to choose time slots to let MedPlus staff to come and collect samples. Reports would be delivered online and offline too. The firm already launched an e-pharmacy that contributed about 10 per cent to the company's revenues. It is planning to add 100 more pharmacy outlets and 10 diagnostic laboratories.

6898 Mercedes Benz will invest Rs1,000 crore on production of luxury cars in Maharashtra. The announcement was made in a meeting between state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, MD & CEO of Mercedes Benz India Eberhard Kern, and future MD and CEO of the company, Roland Folger, on Monday evening. Earlier this month, Mercedes-Benz India had announced it has decided to produce the Mercedes-Maybach S500 from its Chakan plant in Maharashtra. The Mercedes-Maybach S500 will be the most luxurious Mercedes Benz ever to be locally produced for the Indian market. India will be the second country after Germany where the Mercedes-Maybach S500 will be manufactured.

6897 Global logistics provider DHL is planning to invest about $16.3 million in all its business segments in India and introduce new technologies, including drones, for deliveries and managing logistics, a senior company executive said today. "We are investing in all divisions in India," said Matthias Heutger, senior vice president for strategy marketing and development. Speaking at the launch of DHL Asia Pacific Innovation Centre here, he said the group will be introducing new technologies including drones for deliveries and managing logistics in the Indian market in the future. DHL has already invested Euro 100 million ($109 million) for transportation, warehousing, information technology network and manpower training over the last three years. It also plans to include a new Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) in North India next year and participate in the rail-based transportation. DHL is expected to invest between Euro 5 million (USD 5.4 million) and Euro 15 million (USD 16.3 million) in the zone, which will be its third in India. As part of the elaborate investment plan, state-of-the-art warehouses will be set up near high demand growth regions such as Navi Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Ambala and Kochi. A new airport is expected to come in Mumbai.

6896 Agro-chemical producer Insecticides India today said it is planning to set up a manufacturing plant to produce bio-products and will soon launch new products in biotechnology related to soil fertility and plant nutritions. The company had launched its first bio-product Mycoraja last year, which marked the company's entry into the bio product segment.

6895 Canada’s Magna International Inc. on Wednesday said it has started production at two facilities in Gujarat’s Sanand, which will supply auto parts to Ford Motor Co. in India. The facilities are located in a suppliers’ park next to Ford’s assembly plant in Gujarat’s Sanand. Jim Tobin, chief marketing officer and president of Magna Asia said it was a multi-million dollar project with scope for expansion, without specifying the investment in the two units. The company currently has 285 manufacturing locations globally, of which 11 are in India. “About 116 plants across the globe supply to Ford. We are looking at the next phase of growth to come from India,” Tobin said. Magna is a global strategic components supplier of Ford. The US-headquartered automaker earlier this year started production from its factory in Sanand, which it has built for an estimated investment of $1 billion.

6894 CtrlS Datacenters Ltd will invest Rs.700 crore to set up cloud data centres as it seeks to expand its reach beyond the Indian shores to the under-tapped, developing markets of Southeast Asia, West Asia and Africa. Much of the money will be invested in data centres branded Cloud4C. The Hyderabad-based company is expanding its cloud infrastructure to 17 countries over the next 6-8 months. It has opened offices in Dubai and Sri Lanka, and is expanding to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar in West Asia.

6893 State-run NTPC's 4,000 MW super thermal power plant in Karnataka will be commissioned in 2017, government said in Rajya Sabha today even as it asserted that India is surplus in electricity with only constraints being in North East and Karnataka due to poor transmission ability. "The Kudgi thermal power project in Karnataka will be commissioned in 2017,"

6892 Japanese car maker Nissan is looking to double its sales network in India to around 300 dealerships in the next two years with almost 50 per cent of the new outlets in smaller cities and towns. "We plan to double our dealership network by the end of next year. This is our vision. Apart from big cities we are also working hard to establish presence in tier II and tier III towns," Nissan India Operations President Guillaume Sicard.

6891 Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd’ (TNPL) 300-acre factory site at Mondipatti, 35 km from Tiruchi. A 330-metre-long machine to make packaging board sits fully assembled and a 30 MW power plant is all set to power this Goliath. Commissioning work on the Rs,1,650-crore factory, TNPL’s second unit, has started. By mid-December raw material pulp will be fed into the machine; trial production will start next month; and the ‘saleable product’ will be available in February, say company officials confidently. The unit will reach full capacity in the second year of production. It will generate 800-1,000 jobs directly and as many indirect jobs, making it a key contributor to the industrially backward region. This also marks the fastest implementation of a project of this scale in the paper industry in the country — it is being commissioned in less than two years of ground breaking, say company officials. Over 1,500 workers, about 35 expatriates from the German equipment supplier who are now giving finishing touches to the machine, and officials from TNPL’s first unit have worked on the project over the past 22 months. For the company, this is a significant milestone, as it will take its total output to 6 lakh tonnes a year, including the 4 lakh tonnes of printing and writing paper from its first unit in Karur, about 100 km away. In a full year of operation the new unit will add about Rs.1,000 crore to the company’s topline, now at about Rs.2,300 crore. The Mondipatti unit is expected to give TNPL a significant presence in the market for high-end, coated, multi-layered packaging board. Its product range will include folding box board, cup stock and solid bleached sulphate boards. Driven by a thriving retail market, the demand for packaging board is estimated at about 2.4 million tonnes a year, and is growing at 13-14 per cent, which is three times that of printing and writing paper.

6890 Gujarat government's ambitious Dholera airport project at Navagam village near the city has received environmental clearance from the Centre. The Central Forest, Environment and Climate Change department has communicated the same through a letter sent to the Dholera International Airport Company, a Special Purpose Vehicle created by the state government, an official release stated. Upon receiving the clearance, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of people of Gujarat. The proposed airport project, which is part of proposed Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR), will come up in 1,426 hectares of land near Navagam at a cost of Rs 1,712 crores. This project of building a world-class airport, about 30 kms from here, will be developed in three phases. As per the project report prepared by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), Rs 716 crore would be spent in the first phase of the project. Apart from catering to the needs of Dholera SIR, this multipurpose airport project would also cater to nearby cities of Vadodara, Anand, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Nadiad. The project has already received a no-objection certificate from Ministry of Defence in 2014, while the Civil Aviation Ministry has also given 'site clearance' in the past. After this environmental clearance, the state government hopes to get in-principle approvals from the Civil Aviation Ministry by January next year

6889 Japan will offer more than 1 trillion yen in loans to construct India’s Rs98,000 crore fast train, according to a report in Nikkei apan is expected to win the right to construct India’s first bullet train, after losing an Indonesian high-speed rail deal to China, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday. Japan will offer more than 1 trillion yen ($8.11 billion) in loans to construct India’s Rs.98,000 crore fast train, according to the report. Japan recently lost the bid to build Indonesia’s first fast-train because Beijing provided a $5 billion loan without guarantees. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, due to visit India this week, and his counterpart Narendra Modi are expected to issue a joint statement on the deal, the Nikkei said. Tokyo was picked to assess the feasibility of building the 505km (313 miles) corridor linking Mumbai with Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat, and concluded it would be technically and financially viable. Construction of the high-speed railway link will start from 2017 and will be completed in 2023

6888 US-based Gilead Sciences, a research-based company, has evinced interest in setting up a manufacturing unit in the proposed ‘Pharma City’ near here. According to a press release issued by the Telangana government, Senior Director, South East Asia and Pacific, Aaron Brinkworth and Director, Government Affairs -- Asia, Claudio Lilienfeld of Gilead Sciences met Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. “Gilead seeks to improve the care of millions of patients living with life-threatening diseases around the world. It has its presence in Telangana also. The company expressed its intention to participate in the healthcare initiatives of state government and desires to establish its unit in the proposed pharma city near Hyderabad

6887 The Centre is taking up road projects worth more than Rs 50,000 crore in Andhra Pradesh, including an Outer Ring Road (ORR) at Vijayawada, where the State's new capital city is coming up. Announcing this here, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said these new schemes, which include 392 km of national highways, are in addition to similar projects worth more than Rs 15,000 crore which are already going on in the State ruled by TDP-BJP alliance. He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for a six-lane fly-over at the famous Kanaka Durga temple here and three other ventures. "The cost of new projects is Rs 50,560 crore. Already, work is going on projects worth Rs 15,000 crore. So, today, Rs 65,000 crore is to be given to the State of Andhra Pradesh from the federal Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji," Gadkari said. He declared different road projects in AP as national highways. "You are expecting some new announcement from me. A 180 km Outer Ring Road around Vijayawada will be built with tentative cost of Rs 20,000 crore." Lauding the vision of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, he said the CM is planning the ORR as an eight-lane highway

6886 The Centre has released more than Rs.1,000 crore to 13 States as first instalment under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut), aimed at ensuring water supply and sewer connections to all households in 500 cities. The Urban Development Ministry released a sum of Rs.1,062.27 crore in this financial year to 13 states, an official statement here today said. Beneficiary States This is part of the total Central assistance of Rs.5,311.38 crore committed to 13 States, for which the Ministry has approved Atal Mission Action Plans for 2015-16, entailing total investment of Rs.11,671.76 crore in 286 cities. These 13 States are Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Chhatisgarh, Odisha, Haryana, Telangana, Jharkhand and Mizoram.

6885 Suzlon Energy and Axis Energy Group have signed up with Andhra Pradesh for setting up of 4,000 MW of wind, solar and hybrid renewable energy projects. Ajay Jain, State Secretary Energy, Tulsi Tanti, Chairman Suzlon Group, and K Ravi Kumar Reddy, Managing Director, Axis Energy Group, had signed memorandums of understanding in the presence of the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, late on Friday. Under this MoU, Suzlon and Axis will set up solar, wind and hybrid plants with an estimated production capacity of 4,000 MW in Anantapur and Nellore districts over the next five years. They will also set up a 1,000 MW wind turbine generator unit.

6884 Nasscom Foundation, a non-profit organisation that’s part of software services industry lobby group Nasscom, on Tuesday said it had partnered with SAP India to establish 25 national digital literacy mission (NDLM) centres in 12 cities across India. Nasscom Foundation is the government’s industry partner for NDLM, which aims to make more than five million individuals digitally literate in India over the next four years. Part of the Digital India initiative, it envisages making one person in every family digitally literate, imparting IT training to 5.25 million Indians. Under NDLM, a digitally literate person is one who is able to operate electronic devices including mobile phones and tablets, send and receive emails, use social media and search the Internet for information, among other things. Under the collaboration, SAP India, through Nasscom Foundation will impart basic computer skills at the NDLM centres in Delhi, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, West Bengal, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu among others. The SAP professionals will teach young men and women from underprivileged communities how to send mails, use social media and leverage the Internet to avail of online government services like registering for Aadhaar cards, ration cards and PAN cards, among others. People who do well in the course will be provided further employable skills and advanced training in topics including coding, HTML5, SAP Lumira and Internet of Things. SAP India also plans to bring 15 of its existing training centres under the NDLM umbrella in the next couple of months, the company said. This is in line with the company’s commitment to train 100,000 individuals in digital literacy over the next three years.

6883 Chinese LED light maker Advanced Optronic Devices (China) Co. Ltd. and Pune-based Syska LED Lights Pvt. Ltd. will together set up a LED manufacturing plant in Telangana. Spread across 50 acres, the project will entail an investment of Rs.500 crore and is expected to provide jobs for 2,000 people. The plant will be set up by the Chinese firm’s subsidiary and international sales arm Advanced Optronic Devices International Inc. Part of SSK Group, which has interests ranging from retail and fruit production to lighting solutions, Syska LED makes LED lighting solutions for indoor, outdoor and industrial segments.

6882 Delhi-based Purple Panda Fashions Pvt. Ltd, which owns and operates online lingerie vendor Clovia, plans to enter the offline space with the launch of 10 shop-in-shop outlets in the next couple of weeks. These outlets will be situated in airports of top cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, and involve an initial expenditure of around Rs.1.5 lakh each. “The aim is to create better visibility and reach out to certain sections which may not be aware of our brand as they are not online. There is a 40-plus segment that is not buying online. They are our low-hanging fruits and I would definitely reach out to them. t has also launched four try-and-buy kiosks in Bengaluru where users can enter and try products. It plans to expand to 25 kiosks in the city in the next two months

6881 Patanjali Ayurved, the FMCG venture promoted by yoga guru Baba Ramdev, will invest Rs.1,000 crore next year on expansion and plans to sharpen focus on e-commerce and exports. The Haridwar-based firm will set up manufacturing plants in South India and is looking to become partner in mega food park being developed in southern cities. Patanjali, which has 15,000 stores across the country, plans to add more products in segments where it already has presence such as dairy, instant foods, baby care, natural cosmetics and health supplements

6880 Telangana is set to add more than 2,500 MW power generation capacity by March 2016, which would almost bridge the demand-supply gap. “The State has an installed capacity of about 4,600 MW of thermal power and its requirement is about 6,500 to 7,500 MW. We managed to bridge the gap in the past 17 months by meeting the requirement through Central generating stations, power purchase agreements and spot exchanges.

6879 Mitsubishi Electric India (MEI), Indian subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, has opened a facility for transportation systems business in Bidadi near Bengaluru. The facility is expected to assemble electrical propulsion equipment for rolling stock under a plan to expand Mitsubishi Electric’s transportation systems business in India. The company is targeting transportation systems annual revenue of $170 million in India by fiscal 2020, in part by strengthening sales and maintenance services for subways and trains to meet the growing global demand for transportation infrastructure.

6878 Bharti Airtel Ltd on Monday said that it will invest Rs.60,000 crore over the next three years to significantly increase its network capacity and ability to offer voice and high-speed data services in what some analysts see as a move to address a data-intensive future

6877 Multiplex chain operator PVR expects to add at least 23 screens in the current financial year to take the total to 500 in the same fiscal. “Our target is to reach 1,000 screens quickly. The shorter target is to get to 500 screens in this financial year and then look at going to 1,000 screens,” PVR Cinemas Chief Operating Officer Gautam Dutta told PTI here. PVR currently operates 477 screens across 44 cities in the country. It has four brands across different price points – PVR talkies, PVR Cinemas, PVR Premium and newly launched PVR Icon. The company has a capex of Rs.200 crore this fiscal, which includes Rs.135-140 crore for new projects and the remaining for renovation and the cost of each new screen is around Rs.2-2.5 crore.

6876 Jewellery firm Rajesh Exports today said it has bagged an export order worth Rs. 1,122 crore for gold and diamond studded jewellery and medallions from the UAE. The order is to be completed by March 31 next year and it will be executed at the company’s manufacturing facility at Bengaluru. “Rajesh Exports has bagged an export order worth Rs. 1,122 crore of designer range of gold and diamond studded jewellery and medallions from the UAE,” the company said in a BSE filing. Last month, the firm had won an export order worth Rs. 1,360 crore from the UAE for gold and diamond studded jewellery. In July, Rajesh Exports had acquired Switzerland-based gold refinery Valcambi for $400 million in an all-cash deal to tap European and North American markets.

6875 Magneti Marelli, through its “Magneti Marelli Powertrain India Private Ltd.” joint venture (JV between Magneti Marelli, Maruti Suzuki and Suzuki Motor Company in force since 2007), recently inaugurated a new industrial site for the production of robotized gearboxes for automobiles, also called AMT (Automated Manual Transmission). The plant is located in Manesar, near Gurgaon, just a few kilometres from New Delhi, in the same area that is home to the manufacturing facility dedicated to the production of powertrain electronic control units. The new plant covers a total surface area of 7,500 square metres, which houses the production lines and offices. When fully operational, the plant will employ approximately 115 people and will have a production capacity of 280,000 robotized gearbox kits per year. The facility was created to address the growing market success that the AMT component has had in India over the past two years and to meet the demand from local carmakers regarding additional future implementations.

6874 Drug firm Mankind Pharma will invest Rs 200 crore to open two manufacturing plants in the country by the middle of 2016 as part of its expansion plans. "We plan to invest Rs 200 crore, excluding the land cost, to open two plants by middle of 2016. One of them will be in Sikkim and the other one at Behror in Rajasthan

6873 Emami Paper Mills Ltd, the country's largest newsprint manufacturer, has decided to increase investment in paperboards to Rs 2,000 crore in the next three years to strengthen its diversification to the high-margin segment. "We want to double the capacity of paperboard from 1.3 lakh tonne per annum over the next three years, Buoyant growth of consumerism has recently led to diversification into multi-layered coated paperboard production in BalasoreBSE 2.04 % and the company would continue to focus on value added paperboard segment worth Rs 4,000 crore.