Adani Group Opts for SAP to Drive Business Transformation

Adani Group Opts for  SAP to Drive Business Transformation

 

Ahmedabad, 2 Dec, 2010.

 

Adani Group has selected SAP, leading business software provider  to consolidate its IT systems to support its diversified operations uniformly.

Adani Group is has varied range of business operations in its portfolio including power generation and transmission, coal mining, port, SEZ, shipping and bunkering, logistics, agro-based industries, real estate, oil and gas explorations and gas distribution.

 

With this agreement, SAP will assist the Adani Group in accelerating its enterprise-wide rollout of over 40 SAP applications, including enterprise performance management solutions from the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio and the SAP NetWeaver  technology platform.  This will provide management :

 

1. Information-based decision-making through real-time analysis
2. Lower total cost of ownership while creating a standardized and integrated IT landscape
3. Deliver value through integration, collaboration and synergy within the group's companies
4. Create an integrated value chain across the Adani Group

 

"Adani Group committed to building a world-class organization with world-class competencies," said

 

Devang Desai, executive director and Group CFO, Adani Group said,. "We believe that technology will play a pivotal role on our journey toward achieving our business objectives. Our association with SAP will provide better insights across the enterprise to innovate, expand our international market frontiers and guarantee a scalable foundation for the organization's future growth."

SAP has more than 105,000 customers in over 120 countries.

 

Future Group to Go Professional

Kishor Biyani - The man who saw Future

Kishor Biyani wants to transform Future group from a family owned business to pure professional group. For this Group executive board is planned all includes all critical functions.

Biyani family members who are currently responsible for various functions would interact with professional business heads through Family Business Board. The company has recently inducted Mr Raghu Pillai from Reliance Retail to head professional team of the future group. With his inclusion Mr Rakesh Biyani, cousin of Mr Kishor has to take a new role.

SEWA members grow coloured Cotton for their Hansiba Brand.

Gujarat based NGO SEWA is adding concept of environment friendly cotton growing among the women member farmers. This will get them higher price for their crop.

Coloured Cotton

Anything which can sound like environment friendly is in and gets premium. This mantra is well picked up by Ahmedabad based NGO, Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) to add niche to their Hansiba brand garments.

SEWA is encouraging the farmers of Surendranagar, Mehsana and Vadodara districts of Gujarat to grow coloured cotton instead of the white. A trial in three villages of these districts was taken under NGO’s guidance. The seeds of brown coloured cotton were given to 50 women members.

Sewa's trade felicitation centre (STFC) has plans of growing blue and green cotton as well. The garments spun from coloured cotton will also be sold under Sewa's Hansiba brand.

Coloured cotton is not a new concept. It has a history of centuries, but has got momentum now. The main advantage is that it gives freedom from using dyes and chemicals to colour the fabric. This also has other benefit of colour fastness which is an issue with white cotton dyed using synthetic colours.

SEWA members started experimenting with this idea about three years ago in a small village near Surendranagar. First trials were conducted with 40 grams seeds received from an organisation in Savarkundla. The cotton in the last season was grown on the three farms using organic farming technology. Organic cotton suppliers are very limited and such a fabric gets high premium in the international market.

After successfully testing the cotton for quality, STFC launched a special clothes collection called, Madhuli, for one of its fashion shows.

From this cotton yarn is hand spun and woven on the handlooms. Chemical free cotton fabric will be the USP of Hansiba Brand. For this brand Styling using different stitches and concept of designers from India and Britain is done at the centres of SEWA. The NGO is expecting higher returns through this to rural Gujarat.

MeriNews

A British Deputy High Commissioner’s wife to do Dandi March

20 October 2010

Eighty years after the original Dandi March by Mahatma Gandhi as a symbolic gesture of defiance towards the British salt tax law, a British social activist has got inspired by it. Jill Beckingham, wife of British deputy high commissioner in Mumbai Mr. Peter is planning to walk next month to raise funds for the charity.

Jill Beckingham is associated with the social work in Mumbai. The money raised during Jill’s Dandi march will be used for the welfare of leprosy patients, tribals, hearing impaired as well as for a school next to a garbage dump in Mumbai.

Mahatma Gandhi had led the historic Dandi march at the age of 61. He walked 390 kilometres from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on March 12, 1930 and reached to the coastal town of Dandi in south Gujarat near Navsari after 14 days . Jill would begin her march on 18th November when the atmosphere in this region remains moderate cool and pleasant.

Jill has already walked a distance of 60 miles from London to Brighton for raising money. On the advise of some of the volunteers working in Vadodara she has decided to take up the cause of leprosy patients. Dandi was chosen on account of its historical importance.

Jill is a specialist in helping children with reading difficulties. She is also the Patron of the Philippine Community Fund, helping children on dump-sites, and also taught abused girls in Manila

Merinews

GMR Infra to Set up 25 MW solar power plant

Indian conglomerate GMR Infrastructure Ltd said it was entering the solar power area with a 25-mw photovoltaic plant to be set up in Gujarat. The Gujarat Government has approved the proposal, it said in a note to the stock exchanges.

Gujarat is the leader in wind power. Now, the GoG plans to develop 3,000 MW solar energy capacity in the next five years.

The GMR group is aggressively moving ahead in power sector. Currently it has three operational projects totalling 808 MW and 11 projects are in the pipeline totalling 8,448 MW, in thermal and hydel model.

The share ofGMR Infra ended down 2.25 percent at 56.35 rupees in a weak Mumbai market on the friday.

GMR to light up Singapore

Island Power, owned by Bangalore based GMR Group has revived its 800 MW power project in Singapore. A consortium of banks in Singapore would finance this S$1.3 bn (INR 4,433 Cr) project. Total debt amount is expected to be S$ 850 mn (INR 2,899 Cr).

The project has got delayed due to change in managements and the gas supply agreements. The project will get LNG from the new Singapore LNG Corp terminal. The gas supply agreement is likely to be confirmed with BG Group plc.

GMR group took 100% stake in Island power in May,2009.  It is the only private owned IPP in Singapore. This year Singaporean state owned company Temasek Holdings has acquired a stake in the GMR subsidiary developing Island Power, GMR Energy, with a US$ 200 mn (INR 890 Cr) equity injection. The composition has brought back the project on line.

EPC contracts were awarded to Siemens and Samsung in August,2010 to start construction in Q4 of 2010. The project is expected to have the COD around Dec 2013.

Mukesh Ambani retains his number one position of the Richest Indian

The new list released by Forbes says number of billionaires in India has increased by 30%. The list released for 2010 on 29th Sept says , there are 69 billionaires compared to 52 last year.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani has topped Forbes magazine's list of the 100 richest Indians for the third year in-a-row, pipping billionaires like L N Mittal and Azim Premji with a net worth of $27 billion (app Rs 1,21,500 Cr).

Ambani was followed by the steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, who retained his second position in the list with a net worth of $26.1 billion (app Rs 1,17,450 Cr). However, the stock browsers have not been so kind to both of these billionaires. It is believed that their wealth could have been higher by 15 per cent.

Mukesh's younger sibling and chairman of ADAG Anil Ambani lost the third spot on the list to IT major Wipro chairman Azim Premji and fell to sixth rank. Premji's wealth has increased to $17.6 billion (app Rs 79,200 Cr.) from $14.9 billion (app Rs 67,500 Cr) last year, taking him to the third spot from the fourth place last year.

Fourth on the list was Essar Energy brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia with a net worth of $15 billion (app Rs 67,500 Cr) , the company's IPO in London helped them to add $1.85 billion (app Rs 67,500 Cr) .

As per the Forbes research study, the combined net worth of India's 100 richest people rose to $300 billion (app Rs 13,50,500 Cr) this year from $276 billion(app Rs 12,42,000 Cr) last year, driven by the country's booming economy and a rally in the stock market.

This list in the top has been stable for three years, but would see major shake ups with the growth of Adani, Vedanta and Bharti groups.

Useful Hand Yoga

Some simple yogic practices can keep you away from many ailments for longer time. This is the secrete of the ancient saints of Himalaya.

These Mudras (Postures) are to be practiced for 3 to 5 minute daily. Can be done when ever you get an opportunity.

In the illustrations shown here both hands have been put closer to give an understanding of positions of the fingers and the thumb. But in practice both the hands should be resting on the thigh of respective side.

Akash Mudra : For ear problems. Child and Old persons suffer the pain occasionally. Regular practice of Akash Mudra offers relief.

Dhyan Mudra : It helps to improve Concentration power, This must be done to improve analytical skills. Good for the students and Managers.

It makes person free from depression and helps in all other mind related problems.

Hraday Mudra: Though named after heart, this posture helps in Respiration related diseases like Asthma.

Jal Mudra : This is for Blood purifier and essential elements of water which enlightens skin so can be useful in all skin diseases.

Ling Mudra: Headache of any type can be reduced by this pose, also useful to lower the body temperature during Fever etc.

Pachan Mudra: It is for Digestive system. Do only after taking food.

If you are suffering from indigestion and gastric trouble, practicing this pose can bring some solace.

Pran mudra: Pran is life. Practicing this improves overall life. Useful in Eye problems and Nervous problems. It also charge all parts of the body

Earth will have two Suns on 21st June

Star Aderoid will be the brightest in the sky, starting 10 June. It will look as large as the sun from naked eye. This will culminate on 21 st june when the star comes within 34.65M miles of the earth. Be sure to watch the sky on june. 21 at 12:30 pm. It will look like the earth has 2 suns.!!


The next time Aderoid may come this close is in the year 2287 .  Do not miss this once in life time opportunity.

Legal Battle likely over SIT next month

Next month will see high pitched legal battle when Special Investigating Team will submit its report to the Supreme Court. After recording the statement of Gujarat Chief Minister, now SIT team has to sit and assemble together all evidences in meaningful sequence.

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The media trial of 2002 riots post train burning incident of Godhra is hurting the Special Investigation Team. SIT will submit its report to the apex court by 30th April. But before that pressure tactics to delay the trial have begun. Two questions are being raised whether Narendra Modi would be called again for interrogation and FIR against him would be filed.

SIT chief Mr R.K. Raghavan in an interview to a news channel said,” It is a very big step forward in trying to understand and unravel quite a few mysteries in the matter...I am happy that we were able to get the CM for questioning. I have to appreciate the evidence."

He declined to disclose the details of questions posed to the chief minister, but said that they were broadly pertained to the issues raised by Ms Jaffrey, widow of former Congress M.P. Ehsan Jaffrey, in her petition.

The petition filed by Ms Jaffrey accuses Mr Modi and 61 others, including some of his cabinet colleagues, of conspiracy in the violence at Gulbarg Society, a housing colony in Ahmedabad where they used to live.

Among other things, they are accused of instructing policemen and officials to not respond to the frantic pleas for help from Mr Jaffrey and others after a mob attacked the residential area, trapping them inside.

The witnesses in this case have wide gaps in their statements from 2002 till date. Soon after the massacre a dozen muslim witnesses told the police that Jaffrey had fired in self defence. In this firing a rioter was killed and 14 others were injured. They had said that this had let the mob attack Muslims with vengeance.

One Imtiaz Pathan told SIT that Mr Jaffrey had made phone calls to Modi, who instead of providing help had abused. Incidentally, there are no call records available to establish this charge. One of the witness in Naroda Patiya case has gone on records of saying that false charges in the affidavits were added under the pressure of Teesta Setalwad’s NGO.

Many claims of media and NGOs might get jolt after the report of SIT will be submitted to the supreme court at the end of the next month. To safe guard their interests Citizens for Justice and Peace and some other voluntary organizations , have started for expressing doubts about the SIT's style of functioning. Ms Setalvad had even filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding reconstitution of the SIT.

Filing of FIR against the Chief Minister would need substantiate evidences. When this question was asked to Mr Raghavan, he declined to comment. The SIT's job was to “present our findings to the Supreme Court and then await its directions,” he said.

"I must have a good look at what has been collected in terms of evidence. I must appreciate evidence then possibly remit it for legal opinion and then finalise my report to the Supreme Court. Deadline is April 30th and I'm reasonably confident that I'll beat the deadline," he said.

SIT trial of Gujarat Minister will have long lasting impact on the politics of Gujarat. Narendra Modi was questioned for long nine hours in front of camera. There are speculations on what was recorded.

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Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi set another record by becoming the first in-office CM to be questioned in a criminal complaint of mass murder by the Special Investigating Team constituted by the Supreme Court of India. The questioning lasted 9 hours in two rounds.

None of the three officers from Gujarat on SIT were present during the questioning session. Even SIT chairman R.K. Raghavan monitored the happenings from from the police officers' mess in Ahmedabad, The “one-to-one” in-camera questioning session was headed by A.K. Malhotra, retired DIG of the CBI. He is also the investigating officer in Zakia Jaffrey’s complaint against Narendra Modi and 62 others in connection with the 2002 communal riots in the State.

After the SIT trial there are many speculations moving around. Will this bring an end to the media trials or would lead to filing of the FIR by SIT? This will all depend on the preliminary investigation based on the replies recorded by Narendra Modi.

Mr. Modi was not aided by a lawyer when he reached to the SIT office. Arun Jetelly, BJP leader and supreme court lawyer had a meeting with the Chief Minister between the two rounds of interrogations. After the first round in the evening he spoke to media persons briefly. He reiterated that his appearance was a stunning reply to those vested interests groups who were spreading canards against him. He hoped that his appearance before the SIT would end this.

Apparently hitting out at some of his critics who had earlier alleged that the Gujarat cadre IPS officers in the SIT were “maneuverable,” Mr. Modi said none of the three State cadre IPS officers, who were members of the SIT, was present during the questioning. He pointed out that the SIT was appointed by the Supreme Court and was functioning directly under its supervision.

Mr. Malhotra did not speak to any media person after the trial, however the TV channels gave the numbers of the questions shot to the CM to be 68 out of which he replied 62 in the first round. In case if the Modi has not been able to rebut any of the allegations in the course of his examination, SIT could recommend the FIR in its report. If an FIR opens up the possibility of Modi being questioned afresh to record his statement under Section 161 CrPC.

Three activists Teesta Setalwad, Mukul Sinha and Fr. Cedric Prakash with the support of certain group of media have been successful in pressurizing the investigating process and keeping the issue alive. Their roles and intentions have not received much acceptance here in Gujarat, but outside Gujarat these are influential groups.

After the constitution of the SIT by the Apex court to get the like minded officers Teesta has been filing cases in the Supreme Court for various causes. One of the SIT member Shivanand Jha is named as accussed in the riot cases. She has appealed the apex court to reconstitute the team. The petition is due for admission.

She is the main force in bringing all the witnesses including the widow of Ehsan Jafri together. The future of this proceeding will also rewrite the equations in Gujarat politics which is centered around Narendra Modi today.


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