Singapore and Kerala to enhance cooperation in the Information Technology Sector

Kerala is all set to intensify and strengthen the cooperation in the IT Sector with the city-state of Singapore. This emerged during the extensive interaction that Group of Technopark Companies (GTech) officials had with the Senior Government officials and the various industry chambers in Singapore. GTech, the strategic grouping of IT companies in Kerala has taken up this initiative to establish Global linkages for the IT Industry in Kerala to scout for business opportunities and also to provide first hand information on the advantages of Kerala to potential investors willing to set up Technology development centres in the state. The initiative of GTech has led to renewed interest among the business community in Singapore at a time when Singapore has emerged as India's top four investors, after the two countries signed a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) in mid-2005 with bilateral trade between India and Singapore surging to $16.6 billion in 2008.
As part of the efforts, GTech held deliberations with the Government agencies like International Enterprise Singapore, Economic Development Board, Singapore, Singapore Management University and Infocomm Development Authority. GTech also had discussions with organisations like Singapore Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), Singapore Business Federation (SBF), Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation, IIT Alumni Association of Singapore, Global People of Indian Origin and Singapore Malayalee Association.
SICCI have extended an invitation to GTech to participate at the Business meet of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit to be organised in Singapore in November 2009. Singapore Business Federation has also agreed to host a Business meet in Singapore for the IT companies from Kerala to network and to explore market opportunities.
GTech team was able to showcase to the Singaporean Business community the larger picture of Kerala Growth Story outlined by the emergence of a vibrant IT Industry which is seeking a bigger role on the global stage and strategically building relationships with important players.
GTech team also held discussions with the Institute of South Asian Studies led by Dr. S Narayan, Head Research and Former Economic Advisor of the Prime Minister of India and Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhary, Visiting Senior Research Fellow and Former Foreign Minister of Bangladesh. Institute of South Asian Studies expressed their keenness to partner with GTech on exploring opportunities for organising Singapore Kerala interactions.
GTech team also called on Mr. Gopinath Pillai, Hon. Ambassador at Large, Singapore and Dr. K N Raghavan, First Secretary, Commerce, High Commission of India in Singapore.
Singapore Business community have expressed their keenness to partner with GTech in Students internship programme whereby Engineering and the management students from Singapore are given the opportunity to undergo training in new cutting edge technologies in Technopark.
In a press statement GTech Secretary, Mr. Satish Babu said that the organisation is developing a structural framework to build partnerships with Institutions and Business organisations in various countries to further fuel the growth of IT Sector in the state and added that GTech would consider positively the suggestions put forward by the business community in Singapore and these would be discussed and finalised at the GTech meeting scheduled later this month.

http://parkcarpool.in

Group of Technopark companies (GTech), the strategic grouping of IT Companies in Technopark under the Green computing initiative launched a Carpooling website (www.parkcarpool.in) for the IT Community in Kerala. The website was launched by GTech in partnership with Palnar Transmedia, a Software firm operating out of Technopark. The carpooling was conceptualised by GTech to reduce the carbon Footprint of the IT Industry in Kerala. The underlying objective of the website is to help the IT Community in Kerala to travel together, in order to save money, fuel, reduce global warming and traffic on the roads.

The website is aimed at the 30,000 IT Professionals working at Technopark in Trivandrum and Infopark in Cochin.

A carpool is an arrangement wherein commuters share a vehicle to travel together to their offices, thereby saving fuel, money, reducing global warming and traffic. The users can register for free in the website by giving the relevant information and can search for travel mates who commute to Technopark or Infopark. Once a request for registration is submitted at the website, it is verified as a safety measure by the GTech administrator and finally the registration is approved.

In a Statement, GTech President Mr. S Rama Rao said that there is an urgent need to create awareness amongst IT Professionals about the benefits of carpooling primarily to reduce the harmful effects of Carbon di-oxide emissions from vehicles which is aiding rapid global warming and also an avenue for the IT Community to reduce their dependency on fuel consumption.

Mr. Satish Babu, Secretary of GTech said the primary objective of the carpooling website is to enhance the environmental consciousness of the IT professionals and contribute towards creating an enabling environment whereby this unique model of GTech acts as a catalyst in promoting the cause of environmental sustainability in Kerala. It is also in tune with the National Policy on Conservation of Fuel.
GTech plans to take up similar activities under the Green Computing initiative to play a proactive role in Environmental conservation and to work with the key stakeholders in perpetuating such initiatives to all sections of the society.

Car Pool Scheme for Technopark Staff

Soon, people working in Technopark Thiruvananthapuram will be able to join a car pool to commute to work.

The Group of Technopark Companies (GTech), an association of the IT companies operating in Technopark, is setting up a Web site to facilitate car pooling among people working in the park. GTech is promoting this Web site in association with Palnar Transmedia, a Technopark-based company, as it wants to encourage the concept of car-pooling, Mr Satish Babu, Secretary, GTech, told Business Line. This project is part of GTech’s commitment to the Green Computing initiative.

Currently, there are no formal car pooling arrangements in Technopark, Mr Babu said. “The plan is to launch a Web site where registered users, especially IT professionals, commuting from the city and other areas within Thiruvananthapuram can find travel mates,” he explained. A user can search the Web site to zero-in on people who live in the same area as he or she does and commute to Technopark. Once a prospective travel partner is found, a user can contact him or her by sending in a request through the Web site’s administrator. Once two or more users are in touch, they can decide how their car pool will work; GTech will help them fine-tune the arrangement, if needed, he added.

Palnar Transmedia is developing the Web site and will also maintain it. The site is likely to be launched by the middle of April.

Developmental role
The car pooling project is one of several ventures that GTech is embarking on this year. All these activities are intended to establish GTech’s position that it is not just an industry organisation but also a catalyst for socio-economic development in Kerala, according to Mr Babu. So, besides looking after the interests of its members, the organisation will also play a developmental role. “In particular, GTech would like to highlight the need to be environment-friendly and society-friendly,” he added.

It is, for instance, planning to develop a corporate code on climate change, Mr Babu said. This code will be developed with an emphasis on practical measures to fight climate change at the individual and business levels. Similarly, the organisation plans to host a ‘development summit’ to craft strategies on how IT can be used for social and economic development. Also on the cards are ventures such as a study to understand how Kerala can be developed into a knowledge hub and the second edition of the Kerala Venture Capital Summit. Earlier this year, GTech held workshops on ‘a health lifestyle in IT workplaces’ and ‘food quality and nutrition’.

Kerala- The New Emerging destination for Entrepreneurs

Kerala is now emerging as the ideal investment destination for potential entrepreneurs. The World Bank revealed this in a recent policy Research Working paper submitted to the multilateral agency by its Finance and Private Sector Development Group headed by Mr. Giuseppe Iarossi. The Group has created a new Investment Climate Index (ICI) to study and map the Investment scenario in 16 Indian States. The concept of Investment Climate Index or ICI is based on the pretext that Entrepreneurs look at and compare a wide range of features of the business climate in each state when deciding on investing. More specifically the paper assume and also inks to the fact that investors take into account a host of factors closely related to the production process such as quality and reliability of infrastructure services, availability of finance, level of corruption, etc. The paper was prepared by collecting data from 4000 Entrepreneurs through face-to-face interviews and focused group Discussions. The researchers have identified 46 variables pertaining to the 16 states and categorized them into 3 namely- Inputs, Institutions and Infrastructure and later these were classified into six sub indices based on objective values (cost) and Subjective Indicators (perception). These sub indices are combined to form the Investment Climate Index.

Investment Climate Index also gives an abstract on other parameters associated with factors conducive for attracting investors to a state. They are the following
A better ICI pertains to a higher level of domestic private investments
A better ICI means a higher growth and reduced poverty.
A better ICI means a climate for better investments.

Based on the ICI the 16 states ranked are as follows
Karnataka
Kerala
Gujarat
Andhra Pradesh
Haryana
West Bengal
Maharashtra
Delhi
Tamil Nadu
Punjab
Jharkand
Orissa
Madhya Pradesh
Bihar
Uttar Pradesh
Rajesthan


According to the ICI ranking of Figure 3the states with the best investment climate are Karnataka and Kerala, followed by Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal Maharashtra and Delhi. The worst investment climate is on the contrary found in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan. While it is not surprising to see Karnataka as one of the states with the best investment climate in India the ranking of Kerala within the top tear appears a bit unexpected. A closer examination of the data shows that Kerala consistently scores better than average on most objective and perception indicators, although it appears that Kerala manufacturers and retailers perceive their state as having a better business climate than those in the other 15 states in almost all
categories of perception questions.

Nevertheless perception and objective questions do not contradict themselves in almost all dimensions of the investment climate. Hence although Kerala appears among the most optimistic Indian states, its high-ranking does not appears to be driven solely by their perception rankings. As a matter of fact Kerala performs very well on all the 3 categories of indicators, infrastructure, institutions and inputs. More specifically for both objective and perception measures of infrastructure Kerala performs better than average. In objective measures only Karnataka and West Bengal performs better than Kerala in all five indicators. Punjab also performs above average in all indicators but not as much as Kerala. Within the perception variables Kerala performs above average for all indicators as does Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Orissa.

In conclusion, it seems that firms in Kerala tend to complain less about constraints than in other countries. However Kerala is not the only state with above average perception on all indicators. Furthermore the perception and objective data do not contradict themselves. So, it is both perception and objective data that make Kerala second in the ranking.

Arbrit Safety Solutions

Arbrit Safety solution is the country’s leading Fire and Safety solutions Consultant. With the headquarters in Cochin Arbrit Safety solutions have been training people and placing them in multi national companies across the Globe. With a strategic tie up with NIFE in Kerala, Arbrit Safety solutions have been anchoring and offering solutions for the Fire and Safety Industry in India. Arbrit safety solutions have also been closely working with the top and middle level managements of some of the well known Private sector and public sector units offering them tailor made courses to suit their business requirements and help them to stay competitive in the Industry.
Over the course of time Arbrit have also diversified into Aviation courses to train personnel in all aspects in aviation safety.
Arbrit values its relationship with customers and people who are getting trained at Arbrit. Arbrit is unique in the sense Arbrit has been able to carve out an Arbrit community consisting of a loyal community of brand ambassadors.
Having reached an unassailable pole position in Kerala, Arbrit is constantly working towards consolidating its position in the market place. Arbrit believes that changing demographic profile of India with global ambitions, increasing urbanization and the empowerment of rural India will add responsibility to Arbrit to train them and help them embark on a global safety career. This would provide the growth ballast that would sustain Arbrit in the years to come.
Arbrit has a modern and well-equipped state-of-the-art training centre in Cochin, built with sizable investment. It is manned by an array of qualified and certified safety professionals, with a combined experience both in the Industry and academia.
Arbrit is now all geared up to tap the Global Market. Arbrit believes in building long-term sustainable partnerships with like-minded Institution and organisations through out the world. Our long-term vision is to be the leader in Fire Safety and Aviation Training in Asia. Arbrit is working on the Global vision titled Vision 2.0 to be one of the top players in the Fire Safety and Aviation training segment in Asia.
With a strong vision supported by determination and hard work Arbrit has delivered value to every aspect of the businesses.

GTECH organises a Session on Food Quality, Safety and Healthy Nutrition

Regular Training and Knowledge transfer among the hotel and the restaurant staffs are the two foundations for ensuring Food quality and Safety standards worldwide. This was the bottom line of a session on Food Quality, Safety and Healthy Nutrition organised by the Group of Technopark Companies (GTECH) in association with Technopark. The session brought together Food Quality and Safety Experts, Select CEO’s, Human Resource Professionals and the Restaurant owners in Technopark on a common platform and deliberated the importance of adopting highest Food Quality and Safety standards in Technopark and also to set up benchmarks for Healthy Nutrition within Technopark. The speaker dwelt on the need for creating an enabling environment to deal with issue of Food Safety and Quality and suggested the need for coming together of key stakeholders in addressing this crucial issue.

Dwelling on the need to provide a balanced and healthy diet, Mr. Anil Thricovil, CEO of Technopark based Alamy Images suggested that adding more Fruits and salads and cutting down the intake of high fat food would help the IT professionals in preventing the onset of life style diseases and requested the Food vendors in Technopark to publish calories of each kind of food which is sold at their respective outlets. Mr. Sunil Somarajan, Training Manager, KTDC suggested the need for Restaurants to adopt scientific practises in Food Safety and to ensure the highest quality to the customers. Ms. Katty Verrill, Manager Quality Assurance, Hotel Muthoot Plaza spoke on the need for restaurants to train their staff on the Food quality, Safety and hygiene aspects. She further added that adopting good hygiene practices would lead to higher productivity, higher customer satisfaction, reduced risk of food poisoning and higher profits. Ms. D Grace Gideon, Principal, Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Kovalam said that Food Safety and quality standards can only be attained if the entire supply chain from the basic washing of materials for cooking to the final stage of preparation and consumption is scientifically managed.

Mr. Satish Babu , Hon . Secreatry of GTECH moderated the discussion and Mr. S Rama Rao president delivered the inaugural address.

In a Press Release GTECH said that based on the discussion with the Food quality experts, GTECH would establish a Food quality committee in consultation with the Technopark authorities comprising of all the stakeholders to implement some of the suggestions that came out of the session.

GTECH reaction to the Kerala state Budget

GTECH welcomes and appreciates the move of the Government for the deferrement of 50% of rent to the financial year 2010-11. However, considering the impact of the recession on the Knowledge Industry in Kerala, the move may not be of substantive help to the affected companies, as they would still have to provide for this rent, though this would help in cash flow management.

It is also not clear how this deferred rent would be recovered from the year 2010-11. A 12-installment recover would lead to a severe burden in the financial year 2010 – 2011. On the other hand, a 50 % rent waiver for the period of the recession would have brought the much-needed relief to the IT Industry. In addition, a waiver of the additional electricity charges for the 25% excess consumption over the previous year would also significantly benefited the IT Industry.

Technopark to adopt a Healthy Life Style

Technopark is all set to adopt a healthy life style at the Workplaces. This was reverberated at the session on Healthy Life style at IT Workplaces organised by the Group of Technopark Companies (GTECH) in association with the Kerala State IT Mission and Technopark. The session brought together the Human Resource Professionals, Health Experts and Health organisations on a common platform and discussed the concept of maintaining a healthy life style at the workplace and sensitised the Technopark Community on Health and Wellness at the IT Workplace. The session included discussions and presentations on the foundation of creating a healthy workforce, which dwelt on prevention of life style diseases, Healthy Nutrition and Stress Management.

Stressing on the need for a healthy life style, speakers stressed on the need to balance the different components of life style like the workspace, family space, Social Space and personal space. Dr L Vijayalekshmi, HOD, Applied Nutrition, Trivandrum Medical College, stressed on the need for IT professionals to re-engineer the life style on a regular exercise and healthy diet.

Dr. V Mohanan Nair, State Nodal Officer, National Programme for Prevention of Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke stressed on the responsibility of the IT firms to provide healthy food options at the cafeterias and also on the importance of taking precautionary measures to fight the onset of Non-communicable diseases.

Mr. R Narayanan, Chief Mentor, Faith Infotech spoke on the need for the professionals working in the IT Sector to embark on a personal mission to be healthy.

Other speakers at the session included Mr. Mohan Kumar, Industrial Psychologist, Tiger India, Mr. Anil Thricovil, CEO, Alamy Images, Mr. S Rama Rao, President GTECH and Mr. Satish Babu, Secretary, GTECH.

In a Press statement, GTECH stated that such sessions would be an ongoing activity and will strive for creating a platform in Technopark to regularly communicate with the medical fraternity in the state.

Recession Proof: Spirit and Spirituality in Kerala

An interesting article appeared in Indian Express which is truly a thought provoking one- A peice of Economics.

The intoxicating industries of spirit and Spirituality in Kerala seem to have beaten the economic downturn.
Liquor sales registered a robust growth in the last three months, though the period had been marked by the loss of employement for many and crash in the prices of agricultural produce. Spirituality too seems to be on a high in recent months if the record revenue at pilgrim and retreat centres is anything to go by.
The Kerala State Beverages Corporation (KSBC), the sole distributor of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in the state, has registered a 29 per cent increase in the sale of liquor for the quarter ended December 31 compared to the corresponding period last fiscal.
Managing Director Shanker Reddy said the economic downturn has had little impact on the sale of IMFL. Total IMFL sales in the last fiscal stood at Rs 3,669.49 crore. The figure likely to touch Rs 4,500 crore in the current fiscal, added Reddy.
Compared to IMFL sales of Rs 971.27 crore from November 2007 to January 2008, KSBC had sales of Rs 1175.83 crore from November 2008 to January 2009.
One of the highest liquor-consuming districts is Kottayam, also the largest grower of natural rubber in the country. Though rubber prices have plunged from Rs 140 per kg to Rs 65 in last five months, the mood is still upbeat in the IMFL outlets and bars in this Christian heartland.
Bacchus isn't the only God on people's minds either. Though the flow of tourists has come down due to the recession, pilgrim and retreat centres are still doing roaring business.
Sabarimala Ayyappa temple, one of the most famous pilgrim centres in India, had an all-time record revenue from its two-month annual festival season which ended in the third week of January.
According to the temple governing body, the Travancore Dewaswom Board, this season's revenue was Rs 112.22 crore, while the figure of the last season stood at Rs 83 crore. This is the first time in the history of the hill shrine that the collection has crossed Rs 100 crore. A major chunk of the revenue came from pilgrims' offerings at the temple.
The picture is also rosy at the Christian spiritual centres. The Catholic Church has 89 affiliated retreat centres in the state, which run five-day meditation camps every week throughout the year.
The Divine Retreat Centre at Chalakkudy in Central Kerala is one of the most popular. At least 3,000 people attend the weekly retreat session here. "We have not reported any drop in attendance," said A B Mathews, accountant at the centre. Coincidentally, Chalakkudy is also the leader in IMFL sales in Kerala.
We expect more people to turn to God during the economic crisis. Hence, a heavy turnout is expected in the coming months," said a spokesperson of the Sehiyon Retreat Centre, Palakkad.
"In Kerala, people have a tendency to heavily depend on God and liquor during a crisis. The trend is likely to go up when the impact of recession becomes more severe," says Dr C J John, a consultant psychiatrist in Kochi. "The state has a migrating community which moves from one retreat centre/pilgrim centre to another in search of panacea for their problems. That group keeps the spiritual centres filled throughout the year," added John.

Technopark gets Healthier

Concerned with the rising health issues among the young professionals working in the IT Industry, the Group of Technopark Companies (GTECH) in association with the Kerala State IT Mission, is organising a Session on ‘Healthy Life style at IT Workplaces’ on 12th February 2009 at the Technopark Campus. Represented by CEO’s of all companies in Technopark Trivandrum, GTECH is an apex organisation founded in 2000 to promote the cause of the community of IT companies in Kerala.

According to Binu Sankar, CEO of GTECH, “The main objective of this session is to bring together the HR professionals, Health Experts and select health organisations on a common platform, and to discuss the concept of maintaining a healthy life style at the workplace. I hope we will be able to sensitise the Technopark Community on Health and Wellness at the IT Workplace”.

The session on ‘Healthy Life style at IT Workplaces’ will include discussions and presentations on the foundation of creating a healthy workforce, which will dwell on prevention of lifestyle diseases, Healthy Nutrition and Stress Management. The half day programme will see a leading Cardiologist, Diabetologist and also an Industrial Psychologist, among others, making presentations on preventive strategies to the Techies.

Spreading the awareness on preventing lifestyle diseases associated with the IT industry seems to be the best HR initiative which companies can offer. After all, prevention is better than cure!