Khazana Group, a leading furniture brand, Friday opened a new showroom here, bringing top global brands under one roof.
Elevate, the luxury furniture and stylish kitchen showroom which has come up in the upmarket Jubliee Hills offers renowned global brands like Leathereditions by Natuzzi, Alno from Germany, Italian sofas from Erba, home solutions from EGO Design and Milmueble from Spain.
Bhawant Anand, chairman, Khazana Group, told reporters that they invested Rs.20 crore in 32,000 square feet showroom. The prices of the products range from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.1 crore.
It is the third showroom of Khazana in the city and it plans to expand its operations to other cities.
Natuzzi, the world’s largest manufacturer of leather furniture, has 22 franchise stores in India with annual sales of Rs.100 crore, Nitin Behl, country manager, Natuzzi, said they plan to open another 15 stores in next one year.
Natuzzi, which has retail presence in 123 countries, is a billion dollar company listed on New York Stock Exchange. Behal said the Italian company has its own forests in Romania to source the raw material.
Alno is the second largest kitchen manufacturer in the world. The 85-year-old German firm, which had a turnover of 446 million Euros last year, has presence in 64 countries.
Nadine Gindele, marketing coordinator, Alno, said they had nine showrooms in India and plan to open three next year.
Alno, which has undertaken some projects at star hotels in India including ITC Green Tower Kolkatta, is offering a wide range of kitchens at Khazna showroom. The high-end kitchen is priced at Rs.1 crore.
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> News-IANS> Business-Economy / by IANS / Hyderabad – November 29th, 2013
Commander-in-Chief Strategic Forces Command Vice Admiral SPS Cheema with Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command Anil Chopra in Visakhapatnam on Friday. / by Special Arrangement / The Hindu
As part of the three-day visit to Eastern Naval Command, Commander-in-Chief Strategic Forces Command Vice Admiral SPS Cheema, arrived in the Port City on Thursday.
He along with the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Anil Chopra visited the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory and went around the naval ships and related establishments, here on Friday. Vice Admiral SPS Cheema is scheduled to leave the city on Sunday.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Staff Reporter / Visakhapatnam – November 30th, 2013
Cadbury India signed a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday (November 27) to set up a chocolate manufacturing facility at Sri City Special Economic Zone in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
“Spread across 134 acre, it will be the company’s largest manufacturing facility in Asia-Pacific region,” said Manu Anand, Managing Director, Cadbury India.
He expects the first phase of the project to be completed by mid-2015. Cadbury India will invest Rs 1,000 crore and produce around 100,000 tonne of Cadbury chocolates annually.
Though Anand did not provide details of the total investment on the entire project, expected to be completed in four phases by 2020.
“The plant will ultimately have an annual capacity of 250,000 tonnes and directly employ 1600 people,” he added.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who spoke at the MoU signing ceremony, said the project would also benefit some 400,000 farmers in the region as it will need about 500,000 litre of milk and 100 tonne of sugar per day.
The signatories to the MoU were Anand on behalf of Cadbury India and the state’s Principal Secretary, Industries, K. Pradeep Chandra. Major Industries Minister J. Geeta Reddy and a number of other ministers also attended. Sri City lies about 55 kms north of Chennai.
The Andhra Pradesh unit will be Cadbury India’s seventh manufacturing facility in India. Some other global chocolate manufacturers in India are also eyeing opportunities for setting up manufacturing. Cadbury India is part of Mondelez International group of companies. Some of its key brands are Cadbury Dairy Milk, Bournvita, 5 Star, Perk, Bourneville, Halls, Tang and Oreo.
source: http://www.businesstoday.intoday.in / Business Today / Home> Biz Wrap> Corporate> Story / by E. Kumar Sharma / November 27th, 2013
A growing expatriate community in the city and an increased interest in international culture has made it easier for holidays like Thanksgiving to be celebrated away from home, say American expats.Traditionally celebrated in Canada and the United States on the fourth Thursday of November each year, Thanksgiving is an annual festival heavily laden with cultural significance, a time for family and friends to come together.
It is said to be additionally special this year with Thursday also being the first full day of Hanukkah. Nicole Wisler, an American currently wor-king with an NGO in the city, feels that the place is not important as long as the spirit of the festival is alive.
“Thanksgiving is not about where you spend it as long as you have your family and friends around you. I have my family visiting, so it’s not really very different from being at home,” she said.
Others say that in the absence of one’s family, having a large community of other expats helps. “Of course, it’s hard to celebrate Thanksgiving away from home, but having a community with whom to celebrate sort of makes up for it.
It won’t be the same but there will be a sense of togetherness at least,” said Alex Williams, an investment banker who is spending his first Thanksgiving in Hyderabad.
With most star properties in the city including Taj Vivanta, Novotel, Westin and Park Hyatt designing special menus for Thursday, Thanksgiving dishes like roast turkey, corn breads, cranberry sauce and collards, sauces and stuffing will be easily available.
They certainly won’t be missing out on the feast part of the festival, assured executive chef of Westin, Steffan Dawson.
“There is a lot of excitement about Thanksgiving here at the hotel. Our restaurants are booked almost full. We are seeing an increase in footfall year after year,” he added.
source: http://www.asianage.com / The Asian Age / Home> India / November 28th, 2013
Hari D. Upadhyaya, Principal Scientist (Groundnut) and Head of Gene Bank at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, has received the Crop Science Research Award from the Crop Science Society of America.
He received the award at the society’s annual meeting held at Tampa in Florida (the USA) recently.
He received the award for his “significant and original basic and applied research contributions in crop science and total impact of contributions on crop science”, an Icrisat statement said here on Thursday.
Upadhyaya is a practical plant breeder and has developed a large number of early-maturing, high-yielding, drought tolerant, and aflatoxin contamination resistant groundnut breeding lines.
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Industry> Agri-Biz / by The Hindu Bureau , kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in / Hyderabad – November 28th, 2013
Teaching is no more just about textbooks and blackboards, as tablets, smart boards, laptops and other internet-based gadgets are steadily making their way into classrooms. Several schools are now incorporating digital media into their teaching methods in an attempt to stay tech savvy while make learning more interactive and experiential.
The Chirec Public school recently kicked off a pilot project under the city-based IGNITOR platform wherein students of class XIII, IX and X, have been provided with tablets in lieu of the textbook. The prescribed course material is already embedded in the tablet which also gives the added advantage of providing additional links for further reference.
“Gadgets are now the preferred mode of communication and it also saves the children the pain of lugging books to school. The tab also doubles up as an assessment tool as assignments are given on the device,” said Iffat Ibrahim, principal of Chirec Public Schools.
Tech experts estimate that close to one lakh out of India’s 2.6 lakh private schools have invested in some form of teaching technology. India’s market for digital learning systems is currently estimated to be around $500 million a year.
Many city-based tech firms are collaborating with the schools to build customized modules and even devices which are teacher-student friendly. Studio classrooms and the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) are concepts that are fast replacing the standard lecture technique.
Creya Learning, an experiential learning platform initiated in Hyderabad schools, is also implemented in schools in Bangalore. It works primarily on studio-based learning where real life problems are solved using interdisciplinary and hands on approach.
Concepts such as the Laws of Newton or theories in astronomy are explained using props, technology, discussions and debates.
Digitisation is not limited to the elite schools with technology coming to the aid of even government by just enabling student teacher interaction. One of the first schools in the city to have web based classes was the Red Cross Government School.
After classes were getting stalled due to lack of teachers who were unable to travel to the school, a tech firm arranged for internet connection in the school to make web classes available. “We managed to set up a class with basic equipment and internet speed. Teachers can be located anywhere, all they need is a webcam and internet,” said Rama Krishna, chief engineer with PurpleTalk which initiated the idea.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad / TNN / November 28th, 2013
Khusrau espies Shirin bathing, a page from the ‘Khamsa-e-Nizami’ book. / Photo: Special Arrangement / The Hindu
Bearing excellent paintings, richly illuminated and gilded, the fine-bound manuscripts at Salar Jung Museum are real treasures.
Salar Jung Museum contains some ‘valuable books of art’— illustrated manuscripts — of Persian and Deccani languages. Bearing excellent paintings, richly illuminated and gilded, fine-bound and owned once by royal personages the Museum’s manuscripts are real treasures.
Manuscript illustration was greatly prized by Mughal emperors, their nobles and Deccani Sultans. Akbar who had 100 artists – painters, illuminators, scribes, book binders – in his atelier had many manuscripts including Hamza Nama, Ramayana, Mahabharata illustrated. His principal noble at Ahmedabad, Khan Khanan, built up a world class library containing illustrated manuscripts. Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah, who ruled Golconda from 1550 to 1580, had set up a studio in his palace for calligraphers, painters, gilders and book binders and had manuscripts of fine quality produced.
‘The art books’ of the royal workshops form a priceless heritage, “at times of regal splendour…. and always a joy to behold” (Karl Khandalavala).
Of Salar Jung Museum’s famous illustrated manuscripts, a description of four books is attempted here. They are: Tuhfe-e-Sami, Majalis-ul-ushshaq, Khamsa-e-nizami, and Diwan-e-sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah.
1. Tuhfe-e-Sami: The author of this 229-folio Persian manuscripts is Prince Sam Mirza (1517-76), son of Shah Ismail, the founder of Safavid dynasty in Persia. Prince Sam Mirza dedicated Tuhfa containing biographies of poets, painters, calligrgaphers and other learned men to his brother Shah Tahmasp (1524-76), the ruler of Persia who, however, put ‘Sam’ to death in 1576 when he rebelled against him. The manuscript is gilded and highly ornamented. Done in Shirazi style of Persia the Thufa’s ten miniatures “are of excellent quality and very colourful with charming colour contrast’’ (Karl Khandalavala).
The manuscript scripted in fine Nastaliq bears a seal of the year of A.D. 1651 of one Mustafa Khan Lari, who was probably a Golconda noble.
2. Majalis-ul-ushshaq ( Assemblies of lovers): Purchased by Sir Salar Jung I (1829-83), ‘Majalis-ul-ushshaq’ is an account in Persian of the Sufi saints being in love with women and men. Sufi doctrines explain that to experience the beauty of the ‘unseen’ God the first step is the worldly love – love of women and men. The power and course of such love as experienced by some Sufi saints is depicted in majority of the 71 miniatures contained in the manuscript.
The book has a lot of gold used in decorating its 237 folios, headings and borders. The painting style of its miniatures is of Shirazi school of Persia.
The author of this manuscript is Mansur bin Baiqara (1469-1506) who wrote it in 1552. The script is good Nastaliq and the scribe is Amir-al-katib.
3. Khamsa-e-nizami: The Khamsa (five-piece verse collection) of the poet Nizami, a Persian poet, is one of the most famous Persian works and there are numerous illustrated copies of it in Persian and Mughal schools of painting. The Mughal style Museum’s Khamsa was purchased in 1739 for the library of Nawab Munirddoulah Wakil-us-sultan (Prime Minister). It consists of five ‘mathnavis’ (long poems) dealing with the stories of Laila-Majnun, Khusrau-Shirin, King Behraum Gaur, Sikandar and Sufism.
It contains five unwans (title pages), gilded and highly ornamented. Its 325 creamish folios are gold sprinkled. Its eleven full-page miniatures show animals, brilliantly drawn and figures, finely painted. Dated A.D.1618, the scribe of Khamsa is Fatah Muhammed bin Moulana Sahib Katib and the script is good Nastaliq.
The manuscript bears the seal of Lutfullah khan, a noble of Mughal family, who appears to have died in Golconda when Aurangazeb was engaged in conquering the fort.
4. Diwan-e-sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah: Written in ‘Zubane-deccani’ by Sultan Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah who ruled from Golconda between 1581 and 1611 is regarded as the earliest poet in Deccani language(Urdu). He founded the city of Hyderabad and built the famous Charminar. His ‘Diwan’(odes) deals with subjects like sports and games, royal palaces, seasons and description of his 17 mistresses.
Dated 1595, the Diwan has eight miniatures, all gems of miniature art. It was written by Moulana Zainuddin, Khushnawis (calligrapher) of the Sultan. The paper used is gold sprinkled. The script is excellent Thulth. It has 138 handsome folios.
Deputy Keeper (Retd.), Salar Jung Museum
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by B. Kotaiah / September 19th, 2013
Unlike previous years, entry to the Hyderabad Book Fair, which opens on Saturday, is free
The Hyderabad Book Fair is back.
NTR Stadium will play host to the much-awaited event organised by the National Book Trust in coordination with Hyderabad Book Fair Society from December 7 (Saturday) to 15. Interestingly, entry to the fair will be free.
Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan will inaugurate the event at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The fair will be open between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.
With the National Book Trust assuming the mantle of the organiser, the nominal entry fee of Rs. 5 per head has been waived. This is expected to attract more footfalls, with the sprawling stadium premises housing nearly 380 stalls, up from last year’s 250.
According to the organisers, the refusal by the authorities to allow the exhibition at its regular venue – People’s Plaza on Necklace Road – is a blessing in disguise, as the rent payable has come down significantly, allowing space for more publishers.
National Book Trust director M.A. Sikandar said a 10 per cent blanket discount would be available on all books at the fair.
Book promotion centre
The National Book Trust will soon open a book promotion centre at Literacy House on Andhra Mahila Sabha premises
, he added.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Staff Reporter / Hyderabad – December 06th, 2013
In-principle agreement has been reached with the two international firms for the FSRU at Kakinada Deepwater Port
An in-principle agreement has been reached to resolve the peculiar situation where two reputed international companies are interested in constructing the first Floating LNG Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) in the East Coast at Kakinada Deepwater Port.
The AP Gas Distribution Company had tied up with the GDF Suez LNG UK Ltd., as its strategic partner through international bidding and signed an MoU with Kakinada Seaport Ltd., the concessionaire of the Kakinada Deepwater Port for the execution of the Rs.5,000-crore project in May this year.
However, the State government later realised that the Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, had also been working on building a floating LNG of up to five million tonne per annum capacity off Kakinada. Since two projects in the same location were not viable, a meeting was held in New Delhi recently where it was tentatively agreed to involve both the multinationals.
Minister for Infrastructure Ganta Srinivasa Rao said the issue was cleared by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy who ordered a Special Purpose Vehicle to be constituted for executing the unit.
Stakes
Meanwhile, sources said that it had been agreed that the public sector APGDC would have 44 per cent stake in the floating terminal project, Shell and GDF Suez would have 30 per cent and 26 per cent stake respectively and the Kakinada Seaport Ltd., three per cent.
The meeting also reviewed pending issues related to Petronet LNG project at Gangavaram port, a joint venture project between Petronet and the Gangavaram Port Ltd. The Rs. 5,000-crore project would have initial capacity of five million tonnes per year. The gas to be supplied by the floating terminals to power and fertilizer plants would generate Rs.5,000 crore revenue annually to the State through VAT, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said.
The Chief Minister asked the officials to convene a coordination meeting within 10 days to resolve all the pending issues for the key I&I projects including Machilipatnam port and Chittoor drinking water project.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – November 28th, 2013
Sources privy to talks said Shell, GAIL and the AP government are talking about the possible equity structure
Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, is likely to take a 30% stake in state-owned GAIL India Ltd’s proposed floating liquefied natural gas import terminal project at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.
Shell last year had announced plans to build a floating LNG of up to 5 million tonnes per annum capacity off Kakinada coast in a JV with Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Power .
But Reliance Power earlier this year exited the project and now Shell has decided to join the GAIL-led project which was announced in 2011.
Sources privy to talks said Shell, GAIL and the AP government are talking about the possible equity structure.
Shell, they said, may take 30% stake. Europe’s largest LNG importer GDF Suex UK with whom GAIL originally planned the Kakinada terminal will take 26%.
The remaining 44% will be held by Andhra Pradesh Gas Distribution Corp Ltd a company jointly promoted by GAIL Gas Ltd and Andhra Pradesh Gas Infrastructure Corp Pvt Ltd.
GAIL Gas is wholly-owned subsidiary of GAIL India.
When contacted, a Shell India spokesperson said: “Shell can confirm that the company is in exploratory discussions with GAIL and other potential partners on the Kakinada LNG project. As the discussions are still preliminary, we cannot comment on any specifics at the moment.”
Sources said the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit in offshore Andhra Pradesh will be commissioned by 2015.
The import terminal would have a 3.5-5 million tonnes per annum capacity and will be used to cater to gas demand in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring states.
While Shell already operates a 5 million tonne LNG import facility at Hazira in Gujarat, GDF Suez is present in India in the natural gas business since 1997, with a 10% stake in Petronet, the owner of LNG import terminals in Dahej and Kochi.
FSRU is a faster and low-cost solution for LNG importation. This is the first of its kind in India.
Kakinada is also the landfall point of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries’ flagging KG-D6 gas fields in the Bay of Bengal, and a near 1,400-km line carries the fuel from to consumption centres in the west.
The continuing fall in KG-D6 output has triggered a rush for setting up of LNG import facilities to meet the growing energy demands.
Petronet LNG – the nation’s largest importer of gas in its liquid form in ships– too is building a 5 million tonne facility at Gangavaram in Andhra Pradesh by 2016.
In intervening period to the construction of the Rs 4,000 crore Gangavaram terminal, Petronet plans to hire a floating LNG terminal to begin imports of fuel immediately.
State refiner Indian Oil Corp also is doing a front-end engineering and design study for a terminal at Ennore in Tamil Nadu.
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / by Press Trust of India / New Delhi – November 24th, 2013
