Category Archives: Business & Economy

Singapore’s GOVIN Capital to incubate 100 startups in Vizag

Business & Economy, World Opinion

Hyderabad :

Singapore-based GOVIN Capital intends to incubate 100 startup companies at an Andhra Pradesh Government-constructed centre in Visakhapatnam and nurture 1,000 students as first generation entrepreneurs over the next five years.

GOVIN Capital intends to incubate 100 startups in Vizag and nurture 1,000 students as first generation entrepreneurs over the next five years.
GOVIN Capital intends to incubate 100 startups in Vizag and nurture 1,000 students as first generation entrepreneurs over the next five years.

The State Government today entered into an MoU with GOVIN Capital, which had expressed interest to associate with it as a pilot incubator at the 50,000 sq ft Sunrise Startup TRIP incubation tower in the port city, where it would now set up a facility in this regard.

The tower had been constructed as part of the State’s innovation and startup policy “2014-2020”.

“The objective of the Government is to establish 100 incubators/accelerators. It also aims to incubate 5,000 companies/startups and nurture 1,000 students as first generation entrepreneurs over the next five years,” an official release said.

source: http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Economic Times / ET Home> News> Emerging Business> Start Ups / by PTI / February 21st, 2015

Chandrababu Naidu to Lead Indian Team to China

Business & Economy, Leaders, World Opinion

Hyderabad :

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is all set to resume his ‘foreign jaunt’ on April 1 by flying to China.

But this time Naidu will be going abroad not only to attract investments to the truncated state, but also to improve bilateral relations between India and China as a prelude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the communist nation.

NaiduANDHRA21feb2015

According to the AP CMO, Naidu will be leading a high-level delegation to China on April 1 on behalf of the Union government. The high-level delegation will be touring China till April 6 during which the team will focus its attention on cementing the relationship between the two Asian giants.

“China recently invited India to send senior leaders’ team to their country to improve bilateral relations. Following this, the Ministry of External Affairs suggested that Naidu lead the delegation on behalf of the Centre. The Chief Minister has sent a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs expressing his willingness to lead the team,” the AP CMO stated in a press release.  It further added that following Naidu’s acceptance, the External Affairs Ministry had finalised the tour schedule of the Indian delegation.

“During their tour, the Chief Minister and his colleagues in the delegation will focus on strengthening the bilateral ties between the two countries,” the State government said.

Sources further disclosed that Naidu wants to use this visit to meet business giants in that country to present the opportunities available in AP for them.

Sources further revealed that after returning from China, Naidu might visit South Korea, Germany, the United States and Malaysia one after another to promote brand AP. The State government is in the process of finalising the dates of Naidu’s tour in consultations with these countries.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service / February 21st, 2015

Sensory Park for differently abled, Braille press to come up

About Seemandhra / Andhra Pradesh, Business & Economy, Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Sports

A Sensory Park at Kurnool, Braille printing press at Guntur and Regional Centre for Rehabilitation of Physically Challenged in Nellore district are among the facilities the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will set up in Andhra Pradesh.

This was announced by Union Minster for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot here on Saturday.

The State Government had agreed to allot land for the Regional Centre for Rehabilitation of Physically Challenged.

Eleven districts in the State would have District Disability Rehabilitation Centres.

“At the Sensory Park the arrangements are such that the visually challenged, hearing impaired and physically challenged would sense the flowers, colours, etc. of a park,” the Union Minster said.

Zonal Sports Complex

For the multi-crore Zonal Sports Complex sanctioned to the city, the State Government would have to allot land, he said.

Asked on the necessity for increasing accommodation for girl students, particularly on Andhra University campus, the Union Minister said that funds would be released for providing facilities to the SCs, OBCs, physically challenged and other eligible sections.

The university should, however, make a representation to the Ministry.

The Ministry would also provide funds for providing lifts, ramps and toilets at public utility places such as hospitals and bus stations for making them accessible to physically challenged persons.

The Collectorate and District Courts Complex here were sanctioned lift and ramps.

The budget allocation for the Ministry was Rs. 6,500 crore under social justice wing and Rs. 565 crore for physically challenged rehabilitation section.

Visakhapatnam MP K. Haribabu lauded the Ministry for brining out a compendium of its schemes and programmes for people to understand what it was doing and what help they could get.

Mr. Gehlot said the Indian team had won 33 medals at the Asian Para Olympics held in South Korea recently. India beat Pakistan in the final of World Cup cricket tournament for the blind.

International para sports meet

The Government was planning to host an international para sports meet by spending Rs. 20 crore, he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Special Correspondent / Visakhapatnam – February 15th, 2015

Ace lace-maker feels let down

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy
Degala Lakshmi, a pioneer in lace work, displaying designer saris at an exhibition in Tanuku of West Godavari district.— Photo: A.V.G. Prasad
Degala Lakshmi, a pioneer in lace work, displaying designer saris at an exhibition in Tanuku of West Godavari district.— Photo: A.V.G. Prasad

Degala Lakshmi, an unassuming SHG woman who became a brand ambassador for lace products in the global market once, is now in oblivion.

She shared the dais with the Microsoft giant Bill Gates at a function in HITEC city, Hyderabad, in 1999, where she displayed her exquisitely crafted lace products . The symmetrical beauty of the lace creations with a world-wide craft-loving clientele helped her embark upon an exciting journey from her non-descript delta village of Annavarapupadu under Peravali mandal of West Godavari district to the United States, Sri Lanka and Dubai. A lace flower presented by Ms. Lakshmi elegantly adorned the then US president Bill Clinton who visited her stall in the US. The SHG movement, which began in a small way in her village with only three groups in 1996, grew into 86 groups under her tireless efforts.

For Ms. Lakshmi, it is all history now. She bears testimony to the utter neglect the art of international fame and its artisans have been subjected to. She has diversified into designer and painting works and doing lace borders on saris as she finds little support from the government agencies.

Ms. Lakshmi was spotted by this correspondent at a stall put up at a college here in connection with a symposium on women entrepreneurship. She said she felt suffocated in the SHG movement due to politicisation of the groups and the lack of a sense of belongingness among the members.

The Union Ministry of Textiles proposed to set up a mega hub for hand-crafted lace at Rustumbada near Narsapur at a cost of Rs. 70 crore, but the project failed to take off.

Degala Lakshmi shared the dais with Bill Gates at a function in HITEC city in 1999

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by G. Nagaraja / Tanuku (West Godavari Dist.) – February 18th, 2015

Visakhapatnam Co-op Bank steps into centenary year

Business & Economy, Records, All
A file photo of M. Anjaneyulu, Chairman of The Visakhapatnam Cooperative Bank Ltd walking into the bank’s new branch premises inaugurated in Tirupati in 2011. Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar / The Hindu
A file photo of M. Anjaneyulu, Chairman of The Visakhapatnam Cooperative Bank Ltd walking into the bank’s new branch premises inaugurated in Tirupati in 2011. Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar
/ The Hindu

Scripting a success story one after another, Visakhapatnam Co-operative Bank Ltd (VBCL) will achieve a major landmark by launching its year-long centenary celebrations from February 5.

The bank which was set up in 1916 and remained a single-branch bank with deposits of Rs.69 lakh and advances of Rs.50 lakh till 1983. It has grown in strength year after year following a major revamp and expansion drive later.

The bank at present has 35 branches spread over 11 districts in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and has plans to expand its business to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and neighbouring Odisha. The bank at present has deposits to the tune of Rs.2,000 crore and advances of Rs.1400 crore with its plans to expand to 55-branch bank with deposits to the tune of Rs.4,500 crore and advances Rs.3,000 crore.

“We are among few cooperative banks with a 100-year-old history with efficient management. We weathered a storm when the bank due to rumours had to face withdrawal of deposits to the tune of Rs.204 crore out of total deposits of Rs.308 crore during 2003-04. At that time, our old customers withdrew their savings from other banks and kept it with us due to their faith in us,” VCBL Chairman Ch. Raghavendra Rao told reporters on Wednesday.

Minister for Cooperation B. Gopalakrishna Reddy will inaugurate the centenary year celebrations at Andhra University Convocation Hall on Thursday.

VCBL Chairman Emeritus and former MLA Manam Anjaneyulu said that they had proved that through efficient management, healthy management practices and brand loyalty, a cooperative bank could serve the customers better than other banks. He said that within nine months of taking over as bank’s chairman, he could enable the bank to achieve Rs.1-crore deposit-mark in 1983, 67 years after its establishment.

VCBL CEO P.V. Narasimha Murthy and Directors G. Bhaskar Rao, A.J. Stalin, R.V. Jagga Rao, G. Janardhan Rao, K. Bhavani, D. Babu Rao, N. Kama Raju, C. Adinarayana Sastry and T. Padmavati were present.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Santosh Patnaik / Visakhapatnam – February 04th, 2015

Pilot project of CFMS in Guntur, Chittoor

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

As part of efforts to leverage the advantages offered by the IT in governance, the State government has decided to operationalise a Comprehensive Financial Management System for establishing state of the IT applications for effective public financial management.

The CFMS is aimed at providing seamless and dynamic interface with all stakeholders and facilitate real time resources management both financial and human. The CFMS is expected to usher in automation of all government process relating to preparation of budget, release of funds, incurring of expenditure, processing of bills by officials concerned at district level and treasuries. It would also help in preparation of accounts, maintenance of employee data, employee attendance, leave position and other aspects.

New initiative

The new initiative will use the Commercial of the Shelf based SAP platform for complete integration of all the activities including budget, expenditure, human resources management systems, revenue, accounts, ways and means and debt management. Guntur and Chittoor districts had been selected for the implementation of the pilot project of the new initiative and the CFMS would cover budget, expenditure, receipt, account and human resource management aspects in the two districts.

Accordingly, it has been decided to identify “Power Users”, 30 members having computer knowledge, who would be trained as key users capable of acting as change agents. The power users would be trained extensively on the applications and they would, in turn, be deputed to train others. The training for first batch of officials involved in financial transactions and staff responsible for processing bills and receipts would be held in Guntur from Feb. 9 to 14 and for the second batch it would be from Feb. 23 to 28 in Tirupati.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by M. Rajeev / Vijayawada – February 04th, 2015

First bootcamp held for startups

Business & Economy
Minister for IT Palle Raghunath Reddy handing over a memorandum of understanding to a group of young entrepreneurs at the first bootcamp at the Sunrise Startup Village in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. -Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam
Minister for IT Palle Raghunath Reddy handing over a memorandum of understanding to a group of young entrepreneurs at the first bootcamp at the Sunrise Startup Village in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. -Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

Sunrise Startup Village, first in Andhra Pradesh, was kicked off on Thursday with MobMe of Kochi Startup Village organising a bootcamp for hundreds of college students.

As a first step, MobMe selected 50 startups for grooming. Memoranda of understanding were signed on the first day with five youngsters. The agreements were distributed by Minister for IT Palle Raghunatha Reddy at a function organised at the Incubation Tower built by APIIC at Rushikonda IT Special Economic Zone in the presence of Minister for HRD Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Vizag MP K. Haribabu, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Ajay Sawhney, IT Advisor J. Satyanarayana and Kochi Start-up Village CEO Pranav Kumar.

Describing the launching of start-up village as a red letter day in the history of the State, Mr. Raghunatha Reddy said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was credited with launching IT, Electronic and Innovation and Start-up Policy to encourage entrepreneurship and investors.

He said they were doling out Rs.60,000 concession towards land cost for every job created, 25 per cent discount in power tariff to all and 50 per cent for SC, ST and women entrepreneurs. He said they would develop an IT Investment Region in Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Anantapur, 10 IT hubs and 20 Electronic Manufacturing Clusters.

Stating that they had created 50,000 square ft. of space for incubators in Visakhapatnam, 25,000 at Kakinada and 10,000 at Tirupati, Mr. Reddy said “Hyderabad is capital of Telangana and Chandrababu Naidu has become the capital of AP as investors during his overseas trips have come forward with proposals to invest in the State.”

Mr. Satyanarayana said 500 startups would start by December 2015 as the government had created seed capital of Rs.100 crore to fund the incubators.

ITIR will be developed in Vizag, Tirupati and Anantapur, says IT Minister

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities / Special Correspondent / Visakhapatnam – January 30th, 2015

Smart wards: Nellore woos industrialists

Business & Economy

NelloreANDHRA27jan2015

Mayor looks for support from NGOs, NRIs for city’s growth

In the past two decades, Nellore has witnessed vibrant industrial growth, thanks to the establishment of several special economic zones, a deep-water port and thermal power stations in the district.

Though the city has grown by leaps and bounds, financial constraints have been a constant concern.

The municipal corporation is now a cash-strapped body and is looking for means to take up development projects.

Interestingly, the ‘smart ward’ concept has come as a boon for the corporation. Mayor Sk. Abdul Aziz has seized the opportunity by seeking support from various sections for developing the city with their active participation.

He is keen to take help from big industrialists from the city who have settled elsewhere. He has also proposed to rope them in for development of facilities through adoption of various wards.

Making a difference

“We are keen to take the support of a cross-section of society in this endeavour. NRIs and non-governmental organisations should also play an active role in this. With their help, we are sure of making a difference here,” Mr. Aziz said. During his visit to Hyderabad recently, Mr. Aziz had taken up the matter with the TDP leadership.

The possibility of taking wider support from various stake holders rather than simply relying on Janmabhoomi committees for ushering in development under the smart ward concept also came up for discussion then.

According to Mr. Aziz, Janmabhoomi committees will certainly be there, but they will be more effective if industrialists and NRIs are roped in and their active support taken for the process.

Nellore, a vibrant city located close to the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border, has come to be the fifth largest city in the State after Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur and Tirupati.

According to the 2011 Census, the population of the city was 5 lakh. With the merger of surrounding village panchayats, it crossed 6 lakh.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by G. Ravikiran / Nellore – January 26th, 2015

Walmart to Promote ‘Made in Andhra’ Products

Business & Economy, World Opinion

Hyderabad :

Besides promising to open more retail outlets in Andhra Pradesh, retail major Walmart International, as per the state government’s claim, has come forward to promote and purchase ‘Made in Andhra’ products. It also expressed its willingness to give the local products ‘Made in AP’ tag.

Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, during his second day participation in the annual summit of the World Economic Forum, held at Davos on Wednesday, met several CEOs of the top-notch business houses and tried to persuade them to invest in the truncated state.

When Naidu met David Cheesewright, president and CEO of Walmart International, and discussed areas of collaboration with him, according to the AP government, the retail giant agreed to work with the AP government on five key areas: technology, retail sector, exporting of agricultural products, social projects and lending a helping hand to the DWCRA women.

In the field of retail, Walmart is planning to open retail stores in AP to promote and purchase ‘Made in Andhra’ products. Apart from this, the retail major will help the AP government in exporting agricultural and horticulture products. The company identified 20 agricultural and horticultural products for this purpose. Organically grown products will be sourced from the farmers and exported to international markets. Some of the products identified for sourcing are cashew, peanuts, rice, coconut, maize, pulses, fruits, marine products, banana, mango, citrus, egg, dairy, coffee, papaya and potato.

As for social projects, Walmart will promote products manufactured by DWCRA women. At least 100 products will be identified and promoted. The company will also help small farmers sell their agri produce. Cheesewright would visit AP in April.

Visakhapatnam as Digital City

Software giant Wipro expressed its willingness to develop Visakhapatnam as digital city on pilot basis. During his meeting at Davos,  Naidu interacted  with Wipro chairman Azim Premji and he the latter agreed to support the state by developing Vizag as a digital city.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service / January 22nd, 2015

GMR opens rural BPO centre in Kakinada SEZ

Business & Economy

Hyderabad , Jan 21:

A rural business process outsourcing (BPO) centre created by Kakinada SEZ Pvt Ltd (KSEZ ), a GMR Group Company, was inaugurated today at Kotha Mulapeta Village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.

The centre was conceived and built in collaboration with TATA Business Support Services Ltd (TBSSL), one of the largest domestic BPO services companies in India.

Kakinada SEZ also announced the commencement of the first phase of development in sectors such as marine food processing and toys, expected to come up in the next 3-6 months, with an employment potential of 1,500-2,000 within a year.

Priority would be given to persons from project displaced families as well as those families which have given land to the SEZ.

About 20 local youth, who were trained at Kakinada SEZ, were issued appointment orders.

Prasanna Challa, President, KSEZ, said, “Kakinada SEZ would provide general and technical infrastructure, including digital connectivity to the rural BPO. Youth from villages in and around Kakinada SEZ would be provided training by the GMR Varalakshmi Foundation, the CSR arm of GMR Group.”

Srinivas Koppolu, Managing Director of TBSSL, said, “The centre has a capacity of about 200. Operations in the centre are expected to commence in February 2015. We hope that this centre would herald a long and beneficial collaboration between TBSSL and the GMR Group across rural locations in India.”

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Companies / by V. Rishi Kumar / Hyderabad – January 21st, 2015