General Affairs
Litter at Independence Day Function Venue Leaves Many Guests Disappointed
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NEW DELHI: Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid stress on Swachh Bharat in his Independence Day speech, not many present at the ceremony at Red Fort seemed to have got the message as booklets and used water bottles were found strewn at the venue.
Guest seated at the venue were seen throwing leaflets and other things at the premises while on their way out.
"It is so disappointing that the Prime Minister is asking the entire nation to gear up to make the country clean, but at the same venue people are littering," said Ishani Sen, a resident of Greater Kailash.
However, some people were seen collecting their litter while exiting the venue.
"It is a historic moment when people from around the world are seeing us and the function is being attended by the delegates of several foreign countries and we left such an impression.
"Visitors should be more patient and should have carried the booklet with them instead of dumping them at the premises," said, Gaurav Joshi, who along with his friends ensured that their enclosure was clean when they left.
Many people at the function complained that there was no proper arrangement to collect the waste and even dustbins were not installed at the site.
"I could not find a dustbin so I had to carry the stuff back with me," said Priyanka Mehta, a Delhi University student.
Cops deployed at the venue said few dustbins were installed and were sanitized.
"The existing dustbins at the venue were sanitized before the function. To ensure that the dustbins do not get overloaded we prohibited visitors from bringing eatables. Concerned authorities will later clean the venue," a senior officer said.
Beside the premises of the function, litter could also be seen in the vicinity of the historic fort.
The Red Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of the 25 Model Monuments (Adarsh Smarak) identified by the government.
Incidentally, all the three municipal corporations had started a special sanitation-cum-cleanliness drives ahead of Independence Day, which is still underway.
NEW DELHI: Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid stress on Swachh Bharat in his Independence Day speech, not many present at the ceremony at Red Fort seemed to have got the message as booklets and used water bottles were found strewn at the venue.Guest seated at the venue were seen throwing leaflets and other things at the premises while on their way out.
"It is so disappointing that the Prime Minister is asking the entire nation to gear up to make the country clean, but at the same venue people are littering," said Ishani Sen, a resident of Greater Kailash.
"It is a historic moment when people from around the world are seeing us and the function is being attended by the delegates of several foreign countries and we left such an impression.
"Visitors should be more patient and should have carried the booklet with them instead of dumping them at the premises," said, Gaurav Joshi, who along with his friends ensured that their enclosure was clean when they left.
Many people at the function complained that there was no proper arrangement to collect the waste and even dustbins were not installed at the site.
"I could not find a dustbin so I had to carry the stuff back with me," said Priyanka Mehta, a Delhi University student.
Cops deployed at the venue said few dustbins were installed and were sanitized.
"The existing dustbins at the venue were sanitized before the function. To ensure that the dustbins do not get overloaded we prohibited visitors from bringing eatables. Concerned authorities will later clean the venue," a senior officer said.
Beside the premises of the function, litter could also be seen in the vicinity of the historic fort.
The Red Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of the 25 Model Monuments (Adarsh Smarak) identified by the government.
Incidentally, all the three municipal corporations had started a special sanitation-cum-cleanliness drives ahead of Independence Day, which is still underway.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Meets Children After Independence Day Speech
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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi mingled with school children after his address to the nation on the 69th Independence Day today.
School children dressed in white, green and saffron rushed to him after he ended his speech at the Red Fort in New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi even shook hands with a few of them.
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi mingled with school children after his address to the nation on the 69th Independence Day today.School children dressed in white, green and saffron rushed to him after he ended his speech at the Red Fort in New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi even shook hands with a few of them.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Seeks Special Status for Bihar
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PATNA: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has demanded a special status for Bihar and said anything less won't help it to develop.
After hoisting the national flag in Patna on Independence Day, Nitish Kumar said: "Special status is a must for the development of Bihar as it will attract private investors on a large scale to set up industries that will generate jobs for youths.
"It will also speed up development in other sectors," he said.
The chief minister said the state -- which will soon elect a new assembly -- was on the path of justice-laced development.
"We have established the rule of law in the state that has helped in its development with justice for all."
Nitish Kumar also said that Bihar had developed in the last one decade in all sectors including education, health and agriculture.
Bihar had recorded an average of 10 percent growth rate in the last 10 years.
The government had built 66,508 km of major and rural roads in the last decade, he said. Similarly, 5,431 major bridges were constructed.
He said the power situation had improved in Bihar. The per capita consumption of electricity had increased from 70 kWh in 2005 to 203 kWh in 2015.
Bihar, the chief minister said, was moving ahead with high growth rate and development. It would continue to do so in the coming years, he said.
PATNA: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has demanded a special status for Bihar and said anything less won't help it to develop.After hoisting the national flag in Patna on Independence Day, Nitish Kumar said: "Special status is a must for the development of Bihar as it will attract private investors on a large scale to set up industries that will generate jobs for youths.
"It will also speed up development in other sectors," he said.
The chief minister said the state -- which will soon elect a new assembly -- was on the path of justice-laced development.
"We have established the rule of law in the state that has helped in its development with justice for all."
Nitish Kumar also said that Bihar had developed in the last one decade in all sectors including education, health and agriculture.
Bihar had recorded an average of 10 percent growth rate in the last 10 years.
The government had built 66,508 km of major and rural roads in the last decade, he said. Similarly, 5,431 major bridges were constructed.
He said the power situation had improved in Bihar. The per capita consumption of electricity had increased from 70 kWh in 2005 to 203 kWh in 2015.
Bihar, the chief minister said, was moving ahead with high growth rate and development. It would continue to do so in the coming years, he said.
Navy to Unfurl Massive Tricolour at Highest Point in Maharashtra
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MUMBAI: As India celebrates its 69th Independence Day, the Indian Navy is attempting a unique and special feet to unfurl the Indian tricolour at the highest peak in Maharashtra.
The expedition was flagged off from Navy Nagar in Mumbai by Flag Officer Commanding of the Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area Rear Admiral M Pawar. The team consists of eight officers and 22 men. With the weather forecast predicting showers, the expedition is going to be even more difficult.
Rear Admiral M Pawar told, "A team from Western Naval Command is taking up an expedition to climb the tallest peak in the state of Maharashtra, Mount Kalsubai. As the day dawns, this team of brave naval personnel will unfurl the largest flag of India measuring 60 feet in length and 40 feet in breadth on top of Mount Kalsubai."
The leader of the expedition team, Lieutenant Commander Vineet Doshi told NDTV on Friday, "This is 60x40 feet. That's about roughly 240 square foot and weighs about roughly 50 kg. We start from Bombay hopefully after the rise and we reach Nashik tomorrow morning somewhere. So it is about 170 km from the base camp and from there its 16 and a half kilometre trek to the hilltop of Mount Kalsubai which is at 1646 metres."
"We wanted to challenge ourselves for the 69th Independence Day and this is a very unique event. We decided to do something out of the box. We decided to get a huge flag stitched and decided on the fact and dimensions that how much our team can actually carry and ended up on the dimension of 60x40 feet," Lieutenant Commander Doshi added.
With the team having embarked on the challenge, its final aim is to see the tricolour, literally flying high at a height of 6176 metres.
MUMBAI: As India celebrates its 69th Independence Day, the Indian Navy is attempting a unique and special feet to unfurl the Indian tricolour at the highest peak in Maharashtra.The expedition was flagged off from Navy Nagar in Mumbai by Flag Officer Commanding of the Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area Rear Admiral M Pawar. The team consists of eight officers and 22 men. With the weather forecast predicting showers, the expedition is going to be even more difficult.
Rear Admiral M Pawar told, "A team from Western Naval Command is taking up an expedition to climb the tallest peak in the state of Maharashtra, Mount Kalsubai. As the day dawns, this team of brave naval personnel will unfurl the largest flag of India measuring 60 feet in length and 40 feet in breadth on top of Mount Kalsubai."
"We wanted to challenge ourselves for the 69th Independence Day and this is a very unique event. We decided to do something out of the box. We decided to get a huge flag stitched and decided on the fact and dimensions that how much our team can actually carry and ended up on the dimension of 60x40 feet," Lieutenant Commander Doshi added.
With the team having embarked on the challenge, its final aim is to see the tricolour, literally flying high at a height of 6176 metres.
5 Killed, 9 Injured in Pakistani Firing on Independence Day in Poonch
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JAMMU: Five civilians died and nine were injured as Pakistani soldiers engaged in intense shelling from across the border, violating ceasefire thrice in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector today. Heavy firing by Pakistani troops continues in the area.
The shelling comes as Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent his greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day and called for amicable relations between the two countries.
The shelling in Balakote sector started in the afternoon, in which five people, including a 12-year-old child and the village headman, were killed and six others were injured. They were airlifted to Jammu, Deputy Commissioner Poonch Nisar Ahamd Wani told.
In Sabjian sector, three people were injured in the firing in two spots that took place in the morning. This sector has witnessed the worst shelling over the last week and more than a dozen families have been forced to migrate from the area.
"There was very heavy shelling from Pakistan - one shell hit a vehicle in which seven people were travelling. Our sarpanch (headman) was in the same vehicle and he was killed on the spot," one of the injured from Balakote village said.
For last one week, there has been an escalation of tension along Line of Control in Poonch. There have been 28 violations of the 2003 ceasefire in August.
In a departure from tradition, Indian and Pakistani troops did not exchange sweets along the Attari border yesterday -- when Pakistan had its Independence Day -- or today.
There have been 32 violations of the 2003 ceasefire agreement in August and this is the seventh consecutive day that Pakistani troops have shelled Indian posts along the Line of Control in the Jammu region.
Pakistan violated the ceasefire 192 times along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir till July 26, the government had told the Lok Sabha this week.
JAMMU: Five civilians died and nine were injured as Pakistani soldiers engaged in intense shelling from across the border, violating ceasefire thrice in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector today. Heavy firing by Pakistani troops continues in the area.The shelling comes as Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent his greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day and called for amicable relations between the two countries.
The shelling in Balakote sector started in the afternoon, in which five people, including a 12-year-old child and the village headman, were killed and six others were injured. They were airlifted to Jammu, Deputy Commissioner Poonch Nisar Ahamd Wani told.
"There was very heavy shelling from Pakistan - one shell hit a vehicle in which seven people were travelling. Our sarpanch (headman) was in the same vehicle and he was killed on the spot," one of the injured from Balakote village said.
For last one week, there has been an escalation of tension along Line of Control in Poonch. There have been 28 violations of the 2003 ceasefire in August.
In a departure from tradition, Indian and Pakistani troops did not exchange sweets along the Attari border yesterday -- when Pakistan had its Independence Day -- or today.
There have been 32 violations of the 2003 ceasefire agreement in August and this is the seventh consecutive day that Pakistani troops have shelled Indian posts along the Line of Control in the Jammu region.
Pakistan violated the ceasefire 192 times along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir till July 26, the government had told the Lok Sabha this week.
Business Affairs
Firms aim to make India hardware product nation
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Last year, Mysore witnessed an inspiring partnership between policing and technology. As tourists poured in from India and around the world during the Dusherra festival, overflowing the throughway of the city of palaces, tourists and residents were greeted by khaki-clad cops zipping past in a never-before-seen trendy three-wheeler, guiding tourists and managing traffic congestions with equal ease.
At the centre of the city police's efficient handling of the situation was the battery-powered personal mobility device developed and built by Greendzine Technology, a Bangalore-based tech start-up founded by former TCS engineer N. Anjan Kumar. Irrway, a far cousin of the more well-known Segway, costs between Rs 40,000 and Rs 80,000 - a fraction of the Rs 3.5 lakh price tag of the entry-level US-made product. The price point and the efficiency of Irrway have not only made the Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai police sit up, but hotels, resorts, IT parks and up-market townships are also looking at it with equal zeal.
Like Kumar, Abhishek Latthe and Apurva Shetty had set their eyes on the stars to find success on ground. The two 26-year-old electronics engineering graduates set up Sensegiz in February 2013. Today, the Belgaum-based company has two subsidiaries in the US and Ireland, which handles its sales and marketing, and ships its two indigenously-built products - Star and Find - to over 50 countries, including the US and Japan.
Star, priced at Rs 7,000, is a wearable smart tech product, which can be clipped to clothing or worn as a band. It triggers automatic alarms on a paired smartphone to let a loved one know if the user falls or experiences a medical emergency. It also has a panic button, and can track fitness and sleep quality, apart from controlling simple phone functions. Find, the other product, is a simple Bluetooth-enabled tracking device that costs Rs 1,500. The company has sold more than 12,000 units of Find in the past year and expects a similar response to the recently-launched Star.
Greendzine and Sensegiz are part of an emerging breed of home-grown start-ups designing and manufacturing IT hardware, a segment in which India lacks sorely, despite a promising start way back in the 1950s and, later, a second coming in the '80s. Though India's start-up ecosystem still favours the country's $146 billion software services sector, and product manufacturing is considered a fool-hardy option, there is optimism among industry observers. Experts say the start-up ecosystem has been witnessing greenshoots in design-led innovation over the past two to three years and may see rapid growth by 2018.
The central government's Make in India initiative and a spurt in interest shown by angel investors and venture capitalists to fund tech hardware start-ups might just give the much-needed boost to the industry. Though venture funding into hardware tech start-ups is abysmally low, with a recent report pegging the figure at around $40 million in the past year, entrepreneur-turned-angel investors are keeping a close watch on the developing success stories in this space.
However, to compete with the best in the world, India has to emerge out of the prototype phase into mass manufacturing of technology-driven hardware. That said, as setting up of infrastructure to scale up manufacturing takes time, India must, meanwhile, extablish itself as a product innovation hub, despite a few failed attempts. And, if Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is to be believed, the Centre is ready to travel the distance. "When it comes to technological innovations and manufacturing we will see a few failures along the way, but we have to be patient. Only then will we taste success," Prasad said at an India Today event recently.
So, as India take steps towards becoming a 'product nation', instead of remaining buried under a generic name - as the world's back office or an IT and ITeS services hub - the country will need to support individual efforts like that of Abhinav Verma of LiveBraille, as well as team players like Samay Kohli and Akash Gupta of Gurgaon-based Grey Orange Robotics, or Sagar Apte and Deepak Thomas of CarIQ, which operates out of Pune.
MORE KIDS PLAY HARDBALL
Verma, 20, is not just another engineering college dropout, but has won many awards as a social innovator with LiveBraille - a 24-gm electronic travelling aid for the blind that costs just Rs 2,000. The battery-operated portable device uses sensors to communicate the distance of objects through vibrations and helps the visually challenged navigate the world better.
Sharing a common interest is not uncommon between two friends. However, Thomas and Apte decided to make a meaningful contribution to India's aspirational lifestyle needs with CarIQ. The two automobile enthusiasts left their jobs at US technology firm PubMatic and built two prototypes of a plug-in device that connects to the Internet to equip your car with intelligent features. They went in for mass production in October 2013 after raising money from several angel investors, with two variants: the GSM SmartPlug and Bluetooth SmartPlug, which cost Rs 6,500 and Rs 4,000, respectively. The USB device tracks parameters such as coolant temperature, service alerts and engine load, and alarms the driver if it detects any anomaly.
The story of the founders of Grey Orange Robotics is about following one's passion. It was not planned. But product development was the only thing the duo could think of even in their college days. The partnership between the two incubated at BITS Pilani, where both were studying mechanical engineering. It was Kohli who took the lead, with an indigenously-built humanoid robot, the AcYut in 2007. Soon, he and Gupta were a team. They represented India in robotics competitions across 13 countries, winning the gold at the RoboGames in San Francisco in 2009.
But, they had no idea that one day they would build robots that would replace manual labour to bring in more efficiency and minimizing errors in retail, logistics and ecommerce. In February, Grey Orange bore fruit, initially in the robotics education space, only to move away into the robotics products space by December the same year, aided by the e-commerce boom. "Grey Orange would not exist if not for the rise of e-commerce in India," says Kohli.
The other fruity in the product hardware space, Mango Man, has also shown the world how Indian companies can take the fight to global majors with quality products. The company, founded by Sai Srinivas Kiran G. and Shubh Malhotra in 2013, has put up a stiff competition to Google's Chromecast and Apple TV in the domestic market with its flagship Teewe, an HDMI dongle that allows consumers to connect their computers and mobile devices to a television. The streaming device is compatible with Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome, and is available for Rs 2,000, compared to its competitor's price tag of Rs 3,000. Mango Man is also developing music streaming and home audio devices.
Another device that is doing well is Ezetap, a mobile payment solutions start-up founded by Abhijit Bose and Sanjay Swamy. The company has raised several rounds of funding and has sold over 20,000 devices across India, South East Asia and Africa. "Given the requirements and challenges in India, if you win here, you can win anywhere. We released a card reader at a price point which none of our global competitors have been able to match," says Bose, who wants to take on the likes of a Square in the US, once he scales up operations in India.
Confidence is high among Indian IT hardware manufacturers like Manish Patel, CEO of the Mumbai-based Mswipe, a point-of-sale device company. "Earlier, software and hardware operated in silos. They are now getting integrated. India may not be good at mass manufacturing, but we have the ability for highly-complex-low-volume work," says Patel. Mswipe, which has raised an undisclosed amount from Matrix Partners, Axis Bank and DSG Consumer Partners, has launched three products between 2012 and June 2015. The first mobile POS solution was a card reader. Then came the EMV Chip and PIN-compliant WisepadTM and, finally, SmartPOS, an Android phone that can be used to make card payments. Its customers include Corporation Bank, Ratnakar Bank, Shamrao Vithal Cooperative Bank and Axis Bank. Mswipe is also present in West Asia, the US and Southeast Asia through partnerships.
This list of product innovations is not exhaustive, but what may surprise many is the range of offerings across categories. "What we are seeing here is not vertical growth, but a broad-based foundation from where India can establish itself as leading player in the IT hardware space. The sheer variety of innovations is encouraging," says an industry source.
LOST OPPORTUNITIES
In the past there have been several attempts to make India a robust electronics hardware manufacturing hub, but without much success. However, the pioneering work at the country's premier space research organisations, the indigenously-built rockets and satellites, its space programme or its nuclear capabilities, are a case in point to India's talent pool and what it could have achieved at a fraction of the cost of what developed nations spend on research and development.
In 1955, India's first analog computer was built at the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata, and six years later the first digital machine was developed at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.
Between 1961 and 1978, however, IBM went on to capture over 80 per cent of India's market share by catering to the country's burgeoning hardware needs, as it tried to catch up with technological advancements in the West, neglecting its own research initiatives. The much-touted IBM 1620 and IBM 7044 found place in the Indian Institutes of Technology. Refurbished models were assembled and part manufactured in Indian units and then phenomenally high annual rentals were charged. For example, the IBM 1401, which was sold at $1,200 in the US, was rented out to Indian institutions at $20,000 a year.
As the IT giant shut shop in 1978, emerging Indian companies started dabbling in the hardware manufacturing space setting up R&D units. The 1980s saw the emergence of Infosys, Hindustan Computers (now, HCL Technologies) and Wipro, with notable contributions to hardware manufacturing, only to move away to the more lucrative software services sector by 1988. What remained of the product business was negligible.
THE IT SERVICES LURE
The $146-billion Indian IT industry has grown at a quick pace. From $5.7 billion in 2000, the IT services sector is estimated to earn $110 billion-112 billion in 2015/16 from exports alone, according to industry group Nasscom. Today, the IT industry contributes about 9.5 per cent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and has provided over three million people with high-paying jobs. And, over time, Indian companies emerged as global giants.
In the first 10-12 years of the dot-com boom of 1997/2000, most Indian companies worked in areas of embedded software, integrated circuit (IC) design and firmware to help international players build products, but kept away from the products segment. And, with good reason. IT services was a lucrative business. Capital required was minimal and the segment did not carry undue risks. Executing orders was more stable than trying to innovate, and process innovation was easier than product innovation.
However, now that the IT services sector has become mature, a number of experienced veterans as well as hungry start-ups led by young minds have started experimenting in the hardware space. The initiatives may still be wrapped around software and, in some cases, services, but what is interesting is that product innovations in hardware is becoming a norm rather than an exception.
According to Nasscom, India has the third-largest and fastest-growing start-up ecosystem in the world with over 800 technology companies cropping up every year. A number of hardware start-ups are among them.
Mohammed Hussain Naseem, co-founder and CEO of 2mpower Health Management Services, attributes it to "a huge mind shift".
"Appetite for risk taking has gone up considerably," he adds. Naseem, a GE and IBM veteran, sells GetActive wearables designed and developed by an Indian company, which helps people track their fitness. He says a number of factors have come together to make it propitious for product innovation in the country. But hardware design and development is still a tough challenge to crack.
THE SOFT UNDERBELLY OF HARDWARE MANUFACTURING
To understand why product hardware is hard, meet Rohan Shravan, the CEO of Notion Ink. In December 2010, Shravan launched Adam, one of the first tablets on the Android platform, which was well received by the global media for its polished looks, unlike the crude Chinese tablets. There were even comparisons with Apple's iPad and Notion Ink was poised to take off.
However, when the units were shipped, it came as a disappointment on multiple fronts, including build quality, absence of the latest Android OS iteration and controversies related to shipping. Shravan, who has built the company with his own funds, says: "It is easy to criticise something. Remember, in India, there was no proper computer numerical control tooling, plastic injection moulding and there was nobody to handhold a hardware start-up. Unlike a software or a services startup, it is capital-intensive. You have to build and sell a product before you make your first rupee. There was no mentorship. The challenges were enormous."
Apte of CarIQ agrees: "There are no prototyping labs, no testing facilities and the mistakes you make can be very expensive. If an iteration of a product doesn't work, it has to be just thrown away. It is not a piece of code which can be rewritten."
Skanray Managing Director, Vishwaprasad Alva, too, believes hardware development in India is not for the faint hearted. Skanray manufactures X-ray machines that cost a third of what is charged by its multinational competitors. Says Alva, a veteran of GE and Kirloskar Healthcare: "I used to have close to a 100-member product development team at Kirloskar Healthcare and we did some good work in developing indigenous technologies. However, the success of the services industries meant that it took away my best talent. Today, of my original team, more than 90 per cent are in services sector. India's success in services has been a curse and a double-edged sword."
Sudheer Reddy, the CEO of Jay Robotix, believes lack of access to capital has also hindered growth of product hardware companies in India. Blaming venture capitalists, Reddy says: "They are ready to fund the 100th iteration of an e-commerce idea, but will not back a 'risky' hardware start-up. Where are the product hardware funds and accelerators for this segment of companies?"
Also, when product hardware companies are discussed, most people think of them as hardware manufacturing, which is a different story altogether, points out Pinkesh Shah, Director of Product Leadership Institute. Shah says China is way ahead in electronic manufacturing services. "Apple does not manufacture its phones in America. The iPhone is, however, designed, developed, marketed and branded in the US. So, India can have successful product hardware companies without necessarily always having to manufacture them here, though it would be good if we did."
He, however, says: "Unlike earlier, what has changed now is that we are ready to offer an integrated bundle which includes hardware, software and services."
THE CHANGING TERRAIN
Vishal Gondal, 38, is the right person to turn to when it comes to the changed scenario that has made Indian start-ups tackle product hardware successfully. Gondal started Indiagames before cashing out and selling it to Disney, and now makes GoQii, a wearable device which he considers a fitness-as-a-service offering.
The coming of several technological innovations, such as cloud technology, open-source architecture and software as a service, in the last few years, has translated into lower cost for developing hardware. "You can just rent server time, software and you could 3D-model things, or even 3D-print things, easily. Experimental platforms like Raspberry Pi and Arduino have boosted opportunities and confidence. The playing field is a bit more level today for Indian companies," says Vishal.
Investments by well-heeled angels and select venture capitalists have eased the capital access issue as well, but not fully, says Apte. Mentorship of organisations, such as iSpirit and TiE, which have championed their cause, seems to have also boosted the confidence of product companies.
While India does not have a robust EMS (electronics manufacturing services) base, which can support mass manufacturing, a number of maker labs have emerged. These help in rapid prototyping, fast experimentation, tooling, laser cutting, mould making and product validation. 3D printing has further boosted the whole process.
A growing domestic market, the capability to take higher risks, rise of Internet of Things, software as a service, cloud technologies, open source architecture, 3D printing, improved access to capital, mentorship and industry bodies advocating their cause, have played an important role to boost product hardware companies in India. Says Lathhe of Sensegiz: "India has always done well in applied innovation. Now Indian companies are building IP, too, and 90 per cent of our sales come from international markets."
FUTURE UNICORNS
Verma of Livebraille says it is only a matter of time before Unicorns emerge from the product hardware ecosystem in India. "We will have our own Flipkarts and Olas in the next few years." The CTO of Diabeto, a medical device to track health parameters, Shreekant Pawar, says that hardware which had been ignored for long in India is getting its mojo. "Doing hardware is seen as sexy."
Naseem of 2mpower says government should play a role in enabling the success of product hardware companies as this could lead to manufacturing. "Whether it is South Korea, Taiwan, China, Singapore or Malaysia, governments have played a proactive and positive role. If the new government with its Make in India initiative gives a push, there is no reason why we cannot build brands out of India in this space."
Sanjay Swamy, Managing Partner of Prime Venture Partners, who has led and now invests in start-ups, says: "Venture capitalists from around the world now realise that hardware, as part of an overall solution, is no longer a liability. Instead, it could well become a competitive differentiator for a company. While this is still nascent in India, I expect to see more action on the hardware front. I wouldn't be surprised if dedicated funds to invest in hardware-centric start-ups crop up in India in the near future, even as existing VCs take measured bets in the space."
For a country accustomed to success only in services, the next few years are poised for a boom in hardware innovation with the new breed of Indian start-ups conquering not only the domestic market but also taking the fight to foreign shores.
Last year, Mysore witnessed an inspiring partnership between policing and technology. As tourists poured in from India and around the world during the Dusherra festival, overflowing the throughway of the city of palaces, tourists and residents were greeted by khaki-clad cops zipping past in a never-before-seen trendy three-wheeler, guiding tourists and managing traffic congestions with equal ease.
At the centre of the city police's efficient handling of the situation was the battery-powered personal mobility device developed and built by Greendzine Technology, a Bangalore-based tech start-up founded by former TCS engineer N. Anjan Kumar. Irrway, a far cousin of the more well-known Segway, costs between Rs 40,000 and Rs 80,000 - a fraction of the Rs 3.5 lakh price tag of the entry-level US-made product. The price point and the efficiency of Irrway have not only made the Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai police sit up, but hotels, resorts, IT parks and up-market townships are also looking at it with equal zeal.
Like Kumar, Abhishek Latthe and Apurva Shetty had set their eyes on the stars to find success on ground. The two 26-year-old electronics engineering graduates set up Sensegiz in February 2013. Today, the Belgaum-based company has two subsidiaries in the US and Ireland, which handles its sales and marketing, and ships its two indigenously-built products - Star and Find - to over 50 countries, including the US and Japan.
Star, priced at Rs 7,000, is a wearable smart tech product, which can be clipped to clothing or worn as a band. It triggers automatic alarms on a paired smartphone to let a loved one know if the user falls or experiences a medical emergency. It also has a panic button, and can track fitness and sleep quality, apart from controlling simple phone functions. Find, the other product, is a simple Bluetooth-enabled tracking device that costs Rs 1,500. The company has sold more than 12,000 units of Find in the past year and expects a similar response to the recently-launched Star.
Greendzine and Sensegiz are part of an emerging breed of home-grown start-ups designing and manufacturing IT hardware, a segment in which India lacks sorely, despite a promising start way back in the 1950s and, later, a second coming in the '80s. Though India's start-up ecosystem still favours the country's $146 billion software services sector, and product manufacturing is considered a fool-hardy option, there is optimism among industry observers. Experts say the start-up ecosystem has been witnessing greenshoots in design-led innovation over the past two to three years and may see rapid growth by 2018.
The central government's Make in India initiative and a spurt in interest shown by angel investors and venture capitalists to fund tech hardware start-ups might just give the much-needed boost to the industry. Though venture funding into hardware tech start-ups is abysmally low, with a recent report pegging the figure at around $40 million in the past year, entrepreneur-turned-angel investors are keeping a close watch on the developing success stories in this space.
However, to compete with the best in the world, India has to emerge out of the prototype phase into mass manufacturing of technology-driven hardware. That said, as setting up of infrastructure to scale up manufacturing takes time, India must, meanwhile, extablish itself as a product innovation hub, despite a few failed attempts. And, if Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is to be believed, the Centre is ready to travel the distance. "When it comes to technological innovations and manufacturing we will see a few failures along the way, but we have to be patient. Only then will we taste success," Prasad said at an India Today event recently.
So, as India take steps towards becoming a 'product nation', instead of remaining buried under a generic name - as the world's back office or an IT and ITeS services hub - the country will need to support individual efforts like that of Abhinav Verma of LiveBraille, as well as team players like Samay Kohli and Akash Gupta of Gurgaon-based Grey Orange Robotics, or Sagar Apte and Deepak Thomas of CarIQ, which operates out of Pune.
MORE KIDS PLAY HARDBALL
Verma, 20, is not just another engineering college dropout, but has won many awards as a social innovator with LiveBraille - a 24-gm electronic travelling aid for the blind that costs just Rs 2,000. The battery-operated portable device uses sensors to communicate the distance of objects through vibrations and helps the visually challenged navigate the world better.
Sharing a common interest is not uncommon between two friends. However, Thomas and Apte decided to make a meaningful contribution to India's aspirational lifestyle needs with CarIQ. The two automobile enthusiasts left their jobs at US technology firm PubMatic and built two prototypes of a plug-in device that connects to the Internet to equip your car with intelligent features. They went in for mass production in October 2013 after raising money from several angel investors, with two variants: the GSM SmartPlug and Bluetooth SmartPlug, which cost Rs 6,500 and Rs 4,000, respectively. The USB device tracks parameters such as coolant temperature, service alerts and engine load, and alarms the driver if it detects any anomaly.
The story of the founders of Grey Orange Robotics is about following one's passion. It was not planned. But product development was the only thing the duo could think of even in their college days. The partnership between the two incubated at BITS Pilani, where both were studying mechanical engineering. It was Kohli who took the lead, with an indigenously-built humanoid robot, the AcYut in 2007. Soon, he and Gupta were a team. They represented India in robotics competitions across 13 countries, winning the gold at the RoboGames in San Francisco in 2009.
But, they had no idea that one day they would build robots that would replace manual labour to bring in more efficiency and minimizing errors in retail, logistics and ecommerce. In February, Grey Orange bore fruit, initially in the robotics education space, only to move away into the robotics products space by December the same year, aided by the e-commerce boom. "Grey Orange would not exist if not for the rise of e-commerce in India," says Kohli.
The other fruity in the product hardware space, Mango Man, has also shown the world how Indian companies can take the fight to global majors with quality products. The company, founded by Sai Srinivas Kiran G. and Shubh Malhotra in 2013, has put up a stiff competition to Google's Chromecast and Apple TV in the domestic market with its flagship Teewe, an HDMI dongle that allows consumers to connect their computers and mobile devices to a television. The streaming device is compatible with Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome, and is available for Rs 2,000, compared to its competitor's price tag of Rs 3,000. Mango Man is also developing music streaming and home audio devices.
Another device that is doing well is Ezetap, a mobile payment solutions start-up founded by Abhijit Bose and Sanjay Swamy. The company has raised several rounds of funding and has sold over 20,000 devices across India, South East Asia and Africa. "Given the requirements and challenges in India, if you win here, you can win anywhere. We released a card reader at a price point which none of our global competitors have been able to match," says Bose, who wants to take on the likes of a Square in the US, once he scales up operations in India.
Confidence is high among Indian IT hardware manufacturers like Manish Patel, CEO of the Mumbai-based Mswipe, a point-of-sale device company. "Earlier, software and hardware operated in silos. They are now getting integrated. India may not be good at mass manufacturing, but we have the ability for highly-complex-low-volume work," says Patel. Mswipe, which has raised an undisclosed amount from Matrix Partners, Axis Bank and DSG Consumer Partners, has launched three products between 2012 and June 2015. The first mobile POS solution was a card reader. Then came the EMV Chip and PIN-compliant WisepadTM and, finally, SmartPOS, an Android phone that can be used to make card payments. Its customers include Corporation Bank, Ratnakar Bank, Shamrao Vithal Cooperative Bank and Axis Bank. Mswipe is also present in West Asia, the US and Southeast Asia through partnerships.
This list of product innovations is not exhaustive, but what may surprise many is the range of offerings across categories. "What we are seeing here is not vertical growth, but a broad-based foundation from where India can establish itself as leading player in the IT hardware space. The sheer variety of innovations is encouraging," says an industry source.
LOST OPPORTUNITIES
In the past there have been several attempts to make India a robust electronics hardware manufacturing hub, but without much success. However, the pioneering work at the country's premier space research organisations, the indigenously-built rockets and satellites, its space programme or its nuclear capabilities, are a case in point to India's talent pool and what it could have achieved at a fraction of the cost of what developed nations spend on research and development.
In 1955, India's first analog computer was built at the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata, and six years later the first digital machine was developed at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.
Between 1961 and 1978, however, IBM went on to capture over 80 per cent of India's market share by catering to the country's burgeoning hardware needs, as it tried to catch up with technological advancements in the West, neglecting its own research initiatives. The much-touted IBM 1620 and IBM 7044 found place in the Indian Institutes of Technology. Refurbished models were assembled and part manufactured in Indian units and then phenomenally high annual rentals were charged. For example, the IBM 1401, which was sold at $1,200 in the US, was rented out to Indian institutions at $20,000 a year.
As the IT giant shut shop in 1978, emerging Indian companies started dabbling in the hardware manufacturing space setting up R&D units. The 1980s saw the emergence of Infosys, Hindustan Computers (now, HCL Technologies) and Wipro, with notable contributions to hardware manufacturing, only to move away to the more lucrative software services sector by 1988. What remained of the product business was negligible.
THE IT SERVICES LURE
The $146-billion Indian IT industry has grown at a quick pace. From $5.7 billion in 2000, the IT services sector is estimated to earn $110 billion-112 billion in 2015/16 from exports alone, according to industry group Nasscom. Today, the IT industry contributes about 9.5 per cent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and has provided over three million people with high-paying jobs. And, over time, Indian companies emerged as global giants.
In the first 10-12 years of the dot-com boom of 1997/2000, most Indian companies worked in areas of embedded software, integrated circuit (IC) design and firmware to help international players build products, but kept away from the products segment. And, with good reason. IT services was a lucrative business. Capital required was minimal and the segment did not carry undue risks. Executing orders was more stable than trying to innovate, and process innovation was easier than product innovation.
However, now that the IT services sector has become mature, a number of experienced veterans as well as hungry start-ups led by young minds have started experimenting in the hardware space. The initiatives may still be wrapped around software and, in some cases, services, but what is interesting is that product innovations in hardware is becoming a norm rather than an exception.
According to Nasscom, India has the third-largest and fastest-growing start-up ecosystem in the world with over 800 technology companies cropping up every year. A number of hardware start-ups are among them.
Mohammed Hussain Naseem, co-founder and CEO of 2mpower Health Management Services, attributes it to "a huge mind shift".
"Appetite for risk taking has gone up considerably," he adds. Naseem, a GE and IBM veteran, sells GetActive wearables designed and developed by an Indian company, which helps people track their fitness. He says a number of factors have come together to make it propitious for product innovation in the country. But hardware design and development is still a tough challenge to crack.
THE SOFT UNDERBELLY OF HARDWARE MANUFACTURING
To understand why product hardware is hard, meet Rohan Shravan, the CEO of Notion Ink. In December 2010, Shravan launched Adam, one of the first tablets on the Android platform, which was well received by the global media for its polished looks, unlike the crude Chinese tablets. There were even comparisons with Apple's iPad and Notion Ink was poised to take off.
However, when the units were shipped, it came as a disappointment on multiple fronts, including build quality, absence of the latest Android OS iteration and controversies related to shipping. Shravan, who has built the company with his own funds, says: "It is easy to criticise something. Remember, in India, there was no proper computer numerical control tooling, plastic injection moulding and there was nobody to handhold a hardware start-up. Unlike a software or a services startup, it is capital-intensive. You have to build and sell a product before you make your first rupee. There was no mentorship. The challenges were enormous."
Apte of CarIQ agrees: "There are no prototyping labs, no testing facilities and the mistakes you make can be very expensive. If an iteration of a product doesn't work, it has to be just thrown away. It is not a piece of code which can be rewritten."
Skanray Managing Director, Vishwaprasad Alva, too, believes hardware development in India is not for the faint hearted. Skanray manufactures X-ray machines that cost a third of what is charged by its multinational competitors. Says Alva, a veteran of GE and Kirloskar Healthcare: "I used to have close to a 100-member product development team at Kirloskar Healthcare and we did some good work in developing indigenous technologies. However, the success of the services industries meant that it took away my best talent. Today, of my original team, more than 90 per cent are in services sector. India's success in services has been a curse and a double-edged sword."
Sudheer Reddy, the CEO of Jay Robotix, believes lack of access to capital has also hindered growth of product hardware companies in India. Blaming venture capitalists, Reddy says: "They are ready to fund the 100th iteration of an e-commerce idea, but will not back a 'risky' hardware start-up. Where are the product hardware funds and accelerators for this segment of companies?"
Also, when product hardware companies are discussed, most people think of them as hardware manufacturing, which is a different story altogether, points out Pinkesh Shah, Director of Product Leadership Institute. Shah says China is way ahead in electronic manufacturing services. "Apple does not manufacture its phones in America. The iPhone is, however, designed, developed, marketed and branded in the US. So, India can have successful product hardware companies without necessarily always having to manufacture them here, though it would be good if we did."
He, however, says: "Unlike earlier, what has changed now is that we are ready to offer an integrated bundle which includes hardware, software and services."
THE CHANGING TERRAIN
Vishal Gondal, 38, is the right person to turn to when it comes to the changed scenario that has made Indian start-ups tackle product hardware successfully. Gondal started Indiagames before cashing out and selling it to Disney, and now makes GoQii, a wearable device which he considers a fitness-as-a-service offering.
The coming of several technological innovations, such as cloud technology, open-source architecture and software as a service, in the last few years, has translated into lower cost for developing hardware. "You can just rent server time, software and you could 3D-model things, or even 3D-print things, easily. Experimental platforms like Raspberry Pi and Arduino have boosted opportunities and confidence. The playing field is a bit more level today for Indian companies," says Vishal.
Investments by well-heeled angels and select venture capitalists have eased the capital access issue as well, but not fully, says Apte. Mentorship of organisations, such as iSpirit and TiE, which have championed their cause, seems to have also boosted the confidence of product companies.
While India does not have a robust EMS (electronics manufacturing services) base, which can support mass manufacturing, a number of maker labs have emerged. These help in rapid prototyping, fast experimentation, tooling, laser cutting, mould making and product validation. 3D printing has further boosted the whole process.
A growing domestic market, the capability to take higher risks, rise of Internet of Things, software as a service, cloud technologies, open source architecture, 3D printing, improved access to capital, mentorship and industry bodies advocating their cause, have played an important role to boost product hardware companies in India. Says Lathhe of Sensegiz: "India has always done well in applied innovation. Now Indian companies are building IP, too, and 90 per cent of our sales come from international markets."
FUTURE UNICORNS
Verma of Livebraille says it is only a matter of time before Unicorns emerge from the product hardware ecosystem in India. "We will have our own Flipkarts and Olas in the next few years." The CTO of Diabeto, a medical device to track health parameters, Shreekant Pawar, says that hardware which had been ignored for long in India is getting its mojo. "Doing hardware is seen as sexy."
Naseem of 2mpower says government should play a role in enabling the success of product hardware companies as this could lead to manufacturing. "Whether it is South Korea, Taiwan, China, Singapore or Malaysia, governments have played a proactive and positive role. If the new government with its Make in India initiative gives a push, there is no reason why we cannot build brands out of India in this space."
Sanjay Swamy, Managing Partner of Prime Venture Partners, who has led and now invests in start-ups, says: "Venture capitalists from around the world now realise that hardware, as part of an overall solution, is no longer a liability. Instead, it could well become a competitive differentiator for a company. While this is still nascent in India, I expect to see more action on the hardware front. I wouldn't be surprised if dedicated funds to invest in hardware-centric start-ups crop up in India in the near future, even as existing VCs take measured bets in the space."
For a country accustomed to success only in services, the next few years are poised for a boom in hardware innovation with the new breed of Indian start-ups conquering not only the domestic market but also taking the fight to foreign shores.
Exports fall for 8th month, down 10.3% in July
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Contracting for the eighth month in a row, India's exports were down 10.3 per cent in July to $23.13 billion, hit by global slowdown and dip in crude oil prices which impacted the value of petroleum products.
In July 2014, the merchandise exports had amounted to $25.79 billion. The last time exports registered a positive growth was in November, when shipments expanded at a rate of 7.27 per cent.
Imports, too, declined by 10.28 per cent to $35.94 billion in July this year due to fall in oil imports, leaving an 8-month high trade deficit of $12.81 billion, according to the data released by the Commerce Ministry.
Compared to July last year, when it was $14.27 billion, the deficit has narrowed.
The main exporting sectors which reported negative growth last month include petroleum products (about 43.22 per cent), leather and leather goods (10.15 per cent), marine products (17.6 per cent) and chemicals (6.22 per cent).
Exporters expressed concerns over the continuous decline but expects that from August things will improve.
"It is matter of concern as the decline is continuing. But going for the figures of 10 days in August, we are expecting a little turnaround in August. From September, there will be the impact of base effect," Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President S C Ralhan said.
The prime reason continues to be low prices of crude, metal and commodity, dip in manufacturing growth and slowdown in western markets, he said.
Also, oil imports dropped 34.91 per cent in July to 49.48 billion. Oil imports account for about 31 per cent of the total imports. Petroleum product exports account for 18 per cent of the country's total exports.
Non-oil imports, however, grew by 3.8 per cent to $26.46 billion.
Gold imports increased by 62.22 per cent to $2.96 billion in July.
During the first four months (April-July) of the current financial year, exports are down 15.04 per cent at $89.82 billion. Imports too have declined 12.01 per cent to $134.86 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $45 billion.
Contracting for the eighth month in a row, India's exports were down 10.3 per cent in July to $23.13 billion, hit by global slowdown and dip in crude oil prices which impacted the value of petroleum products.
In July 2014, the merchandise exports had amounted to $25.79 billion. The last time exports registered a positive growth was in November, when shipments expanded at a rate of 7.27 per cent.
Imports, too, declined by 10.28 per cent to $35.94 billion in July this year due to fall in oil imports, leaving an 8-month high trade deficit of $12.81 billion, according to the data released by the Commerce Ministry.
Compared to July last year, when it was $14.27 billion, the deficit has narrowed.
The main exporting sectors which reported negative growth last month include petroleum products (about 43.22 per cent), leather and leather goods (10.15 per cent), marine products (17.6 per cent) and chemicals (6.22 per cent).
Exporters expressed concerns over the continuous decline but expects that from August things will improve.
"It is matter of concern as the decline is continuing. But going for the figures of 10 days in August, we are expecting a little turnaround in August. From September, there will be the impact of base effect," Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President S C Ralhan said.
The prime reason continues to be low prices of crude, metal and commodity, dip in manufacturing growth and slowdown in western markets, he said.
Also, oil imports dropped 34.91 per cent in July to 49.48 billion. Oil imports account for about 31 per cent of the total imports. Petroleum product exports account for 18 per cent of the country's total exports.
Non-oil imports, however, grew by 3.8 per cent to $26.46 billion.
Gold imports increased by 62.22 per cent to $2.96 billion in July.
During the first four months (April-July) of the current financial year, exports are down 15.04 per cent at $89.82 billion. Imports too have declined 12.01 per cent to $134.86 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $45 billion.
Jet Airways logs profit in June quarter on lower fuel costs
Jet Airways said on Friday it made a profit in the June quarter compared to a loss in the year-ago period, helped by a fall in fuel expenses and a one-time gain on sale and leaseback of engines.
Mumbai-based Jet, country's second-largest carrier by market share, said net profit in the April-June quarter was at Rs 221 crore ($33.80 million), compared with a loss of Rs 218 crore the same quarter last year.
Despite rapidly rising demand for air travel in India, Jet has not made an annual profit since 2007, dragged into the red by high operating costs and fierce competition for passenger fares.
A drop in fuel prices has, however, eased the squeeze on Indian airlines this year-low-cost rival SpiceJet swung to a small net profit in the last quarter-but analysts say ticket prices are still too low and costs too high for sustained profitability.
Jet, 24 per cent owned by Abu Dhabi's Etihad, last year announced a cost-cutting plan and said it expected to make a full-year profit in 2017.
Jet Airways said on Friday it made a profit in the June quarter compared to a loss in the year-ago period, helped by a fall in fuel expenses and a one-time gain on sale and leaseback of engines.
Mumbai-based Jet, country's second-largest carrier by market share, said net profit in the April-June quarter was at Rs 221 crore ($33.80 million), compared with a loss of Rs 218 crore the same quarter last year.
Despite rapidly rising demand for air travel in India, Jet has not made an annual profit since 2007, dragged into the red by high operating costs and fierce competition for passenger fares.
A drop in fuel prices has, however, eased the squeeze on Indian airlines this year-low-cost rival SpiceJet swung to a small net profit in the last quarter-but analysts say ticket prices are still too low and costs too high for sustained profitability.
Jet, 24 per cent owned by Abu Dhabi's Etihad, last year announced a cost-cutting plan and said it expected to make a full-year profit in 2017.
Greek Parliament backs third bailout deal
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The Greek parliament on Friday backed draft terms for a third bailout in five years after talks that lasted through the night, the media reported.
The proposed deal involves tax rises and spending cuts in return for a bailout of about 85 billion euros ($95 billion), BBC reported.
The terms of the bailout will be discussed by eurozone finance ministers later in the day.
There were 222 votes for the deal, 64 against and 11 abstentions. But there were 31 "No" votes from ruling Syriza party members, and 11 abstentions - the biggest rebellion within Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' government so far.
According to sources, Tsipras is scheduled to seek a confidence vote in parliament next week.
Greece faces an urgent deadline on August 20, when it must repay about 3.2 billion (about $3.5 billion) to the European Central Bank (ECB).
If it had failed to agree on new terms for a bailout, the ECB was likely to stop providing emergency funds to Greek banks.
The Greek parliament on Friday backed draft terms for a third bailout in five years after talks that lasted through the night, the media reported.
The proposed deal involves tax rises and spending cuts in return for a bailout of about 85 billion euros ($95 billion), BBC reported.
The terms of the bailout will be discussed by eurozone finance ministers later in the day.
There were 222 votes for the deal, 64 against and 11 abstentions. But there were 31 "No" votes from ruling Syriza party members, and 11 abstentions - the biggest rebellion within Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' government so far.
According to sources, Tsipras is scheduled to seek a confidence vote in parliament next week.
Greece faces an urgent deadline on August 20, when it must repay about 3.2 billion (about $3.5 billion) to the European Central Bank (ECB).
If it had failed to agree on new terms for a bailout, the ECB was likely to stop providing emergency funds to Greek banks.
Reliance Capital net profit rises 22.5% in Q1
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Financial Services firm Reliance Capital on Friday reported a 22.5 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 201 crore for the first quarter ended June 30.
The ADAG company had posted a net profit of Rs 164 crore in the April-June quarter of 2014-15.
Total income also rose to Rs 2,457 crore during the first quarter from Rs 2,144 crore in the three month period of 2014-15 fiscal, Reliance Capital said in statement.
As on June 30, the net worth of the company stood at Rs 13,867 crore, an increase of 10 per cent.
Among the group companies, Reliance Mutual Fund's profit before tax was Rs 108 crore for the quarter ended June 30.
Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) managed Rs 2,43,162 crore at the end of first quarter, across mutual funds, pension funds, managed accounts and offshore funds.
The fund house average assets under management (AAUM), for the quarter ended June 30, were Rs 1,44,693 crore.
With regard to the life insurance venture, it said, the new business premium was Rs 301 crore for the quarter ended June 30, while the Renewal Premium was Rs 451 crore for the quarter, an increase of 8 per cent.
The life insurance firm achieved a profit of Rs 35 crore for the quarter, an increase of 2 per cent. Another entity Reliance General Insurance posted 22 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 30 crore for the quarter. The Gross Written Premium rose by 10 per cent to Rs 863 crore during the quarter.
Financial Services firm Reliance Capital on Friday reported a 22.5 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 201 crore for the first quarter ended June 30.
The ADAG company had posted a net profit of Rs 164 crore in the April-June quarter of 2014-15.
Total income also rose to Rs 2,457 crore during the first quarter from Rs 2,144 crore in the three month period of 2014-15 fiscal, Reliance Capital said in statement.
As on June 30, the net worth of the company stood at Rs 13,867 crore, an increase of 10 per cent.
Among the group companies, Reliance Mutual Fund's profit before tax was Rs 108 crore for the quarter ended June 30.
Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) managed Rs 2,43,162 crore at the end of first quarter, across mutual funds, pension funds, managed accounts and offshore funds.
The fund house average assets under management (AAUM), for the quarter ended June 30, were Rs 1,44,693 crore.
With regard to the life insurance venture, it said, the new business premium was Rs 301 crore for the quarter ended June 30, while the Renewal Premium was Rs 451 crore for the quarter, an increase of 8 per cent.
The life insurance firm achieved a profit of Rs 35 crore for the quarter, an increase of 2 per cent. Another entity Reliance General Insurance posted 22 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 30 crore for the quarter. The Gross Written Premium rose by 10 per cent to Rs 863 crore during the quarter.
General Awareness
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a new campaign ‘Start-up India; Stand up India’
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On the eve of celebration of 69th Independence Day at Red Fort Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a new campaign ‘Start-up India; Stand up India’ an initiative to promote bank finance for Start-ups (an entrepreneurial venture). The campaign was announced with an aim to boost entrepreneurship among the youth and to create employment in India. As per the initiative PM urged 1.25 lakh bank branches to provide finance to at least one Dalit or Adivasi and at least one woman entrepreneur. The initiative is expected to open a new dimension to entrepreneurship and to set up a network of start-ups in the country. It also aims to make India a number one country in Start-ups. Other announcements: Government will rename the present Agriculture Ministry as ‘Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Ministry’ He announced to replace the current practice of ‘interview-based’ selections with online merit based recruiting for low-skilled government jobs. Under the Skill India and Digital India initiative government to provide package of incentives to manufacturing units. To provide houses and access to basic services to all and to make India a developed nation by 2022. Set deadline of 1000 days to connect 18,500 villages with electricity
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