Whistle Talk , a social recruiting platform, has raised  $400,000 from Hyderabad Angels  in a funding round led by Hyderabad Angels member, Raghu Bathina. The funds will be used to run the operations and market the product. At present, the team size of the startup is 10, however, the company plans to increase the count to 15 in next six months, according to a vcc circle  report.

Based in Bangalore, Whistletalk is a social hiring platform that allows users to share job openings in their team or help friends to find a job and earn a referral bonus. While sharing a job, users can also target other users with whom they want to share the job. The company claims that it has built a matching and virality engine which shares job postings with people who are most likely to benefit from the posting on the user’s social network. For recruiters, Whistletalk enables hiring through the social network of the current employees. In return, Whistletalk also allows recruiters to offer a referral bonus to employees.

Challenges: We believe that the site will work in favor of job seekers with a wide social network. Apart from that, while using the site we felt that discovery of job offers that are not coming from ones own social network was poor. It’s also not clear as to how the company plans to monetize its operations. At the time of writing this article, we found posting a job offer is free of cost.

Earlier this year, Hyderabad Angels invested  about  Rs 2 crore in E-learning startup  Edutor Technologies . It has also invested in Identis, which develops custom RFID chips for the manufacturing industry.

Other offerings in recruiting space

Recently, ThinkFruit.in , a strategy, operations and management consultant company, launched JobFit.in , a skill certification and job recruitment site. The portal provides skill assessment tests for job seekers that intends to highlight their top skills to the recruiters.

Apart from that, WhistleTalk competes with recruitment players including  Naukri , Shine.com , Monster, ClickJobs and TimesJobs, besides job boards, and popular professional network, LinkedIn. Last year, YourNextLeap.com , a web-based career recommendation engine, had pivoted  to a job site, allowing users to build profiles, take aptitude tests and search for jobs. The site also offered an assessment tool, suggesting jobs based on an assessment of the user’s activities, interests and strengths.

source: http://www.medianama.com / Home / by Apurva Chardhary / December 04th, 2012

HOT SPOT: Madhurawada, Vizag

Madhurawada, located along the north-east of Vizag or Visakhapatnam, along  National Highway – 5 , is an upcoming residential area, thanks to the major developments driven by the Information Technology (IT) sector. It is located on the Visakhapatnam-Vizianagaram stretch of N-5, around 16 km from Visakhapatnam city.

IT companies have been allocated land in this area to develop and start their operations. There is a biotech  SEZ  and industrial developments like the steel and power plants in the south. The growth corridor is northwards, along NH-5 towards Vijayanagaram. The area is witnessing many apartments projects along NH-5 and Beach Road, with the foray of IT/Ites industries in the city. Realising the high demand in this sector, the  Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) is developing multiple residential projects through public-private participation mode with reputed local developers. Residential property rates  are around Rs 4,500-5,000 per sq ft. Rates in the less central areas range from Rs 2,000-2,500 sq ft. Bungalows can be picked up from anywhere between Rs 45 lakh to Rs 90 lakh. Plots for residential development are priced between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 1 crore.

Madhurawada is developing as a major destination for sports, education and business establishments. An International Cricket Stadium, the ACA-VDCA Stadium, is located in Madhurawada making the place a major sports destination. A fantasy park called ‘Jatara’ and constructed by the Andhra Pradesh government is a famous tourist attraction. The Durgalamma Ammavaru temple is another added attraction.

The city has an industrial economic base with large-scale industries like Vizag Steel Plant, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, National Thermal Power Corporation, Bharat Heavy Plates and Vessels, among others. Moreover, the eastern command of the navy is located in the city. The presence of these major industries and naval Defence base caused immigrants from all parts of the country to head towards Vizag, giving it a cosmopolitan feature.

Vizag is emerging as the next IT/Ites hub in Andhra Pradesh after Hyderabad because of the availability of required skilled labour, infrastructure and comparatively cost-effective real estate in the city. The government has been very proactive in attracting IT/Ites companies into Vizag. The city’s other prime residential areas are Siripuram, Dwarka Nagar, Rani Bagh and Beach Road. The city is witnessing many apartments projects being developed in these areas.

Relatively affordable property rates, decent appreciation potential, pleasant weather and the fact that it is a coastal region with many sea-facing property options available, make it an attractive investment destination.

source: http://www.Business-Standard.com / Home / by Sandip Patnaik / December 03rd, 2012

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the Congress, being held for the first time in Asia. / Express photo

To discuss steps to make farming economically-viable in the era of WTO regime, a three-day World Agriculture Forum Congress will be organised here from November 4-7 next year.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the Congress, being held for the first time in Asia, which has the theme “Re-shaping agriculture for a sustainable future of small and marginal farmers”.

An agricultural trade fair will also be organised concurrently. As a prelude to the Congress, a meeting was held here today to discuss the agenda and related issues.

World Agriculture Forum Chairman Kenneth M Baker, WAF Advisory Board chairman and former Prime Minister of New Zealand James B Bolger, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Agriculture ministers — Kanna Lakshminarayana (AP), Ramkrishan Kusmariya (Madhya Pradesh) and D Prasad Mishra (Odisha) attended the meeting along with others.

The primary objective of the Congress was to discuss withall key stakeholders like farmers organizations, industry,government and scientists the steps for “re-shaping and re-positioning” small farm-holder agriculture to make farming economically-viable in the era of WTO regime, WAF Chairman Baker said.

Speaking on the occasion, Bolger noted that the challenge was to feed nine billion people in the world in the next 40 years, up from seven billion now.

“About 800 million to one billion people are left hungry everyday now, out of the world’s population of seven billion.

We have to feed not only these people but also an additional two billion people in the next 40 years. We need to produce 70 per cent more food in the next 40 years,” Bolger pointed out.

The task, therefore, in front of agriculture sector was “immense”. Its not a question if it is possible but its a question of the will. The world can feed itself better if there is a political will, the former Prime Minister observed.

“We need to use all the safe sides to reach the goal of feeding all,” he added. Stating that the WAF was trying to reach out to the world, Bolger said the WAF Congress was for the first time being held outside the US.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by PTI- Hyderabad / November 24th, 2012