All-New Series ‘Jeremy Wade’s Dark Waters Premires on Animal Planet and Discovery Plus on July 06

Biologist Jeremy Wade has spent the last 35 years solving mysteries that lurk in our planet’s rivers, lakes and seas. In 2017, he hung up his rod after nine seasons on Animal Planet’s one of the top-rated series, River Monsters, where he reeled in some of the rarest, most elusive and most dangerous creatures lurking beneath the water’s surface. But the waters of the world run deep; they’re dark and forever changing and many mysteries remain. Jeremy returns to Animal Planet in a captivating new series that brings him back to the water’s edge to investigate reports of the unimaginable and unexplained in JEREMY WADE’S DARK WATERS premiering July 6 at 9 PM on Animal Planet, Animal Planet HD and Discovery Plus app.

In JEREMY WADE’S DARK WATERS, Wade spotlights the bizarre, the weird and the mysterious as he investigates baffling, unsolved mysteries. He takes Animal Planet’s audiences on journeys beneath the water in remote areas, to islands lost in time and out into the open ocean to investigate reports that include, among others, entire fish species suddenly disappearing; unexplained sightings of mythical beasts; once thriving rivers now empty; and genetic oddities that may have produced the biggest monsters yet. 

“These are detective stories with a difference - fishy tales from remote waters, and from right under our noses,” said Wade. “If anybody thought that by now, I’d seen it all, you’re in for a surprise - as I was.”

“Jeremy is adventurous, passionate and one of our best storytellers. We look forward to sharing new stories and mysteries with our audiences across all screens around the globe,” said Global President of Animal Planet Susanna Dinnage.

JEREMY WADE’S DARK WATERS episodes this season will include:

* Italy’s Lake Monster - According to legend, one of Europe’s most beautiful lakes guards an ancient secret. First reported in the 16th century, the Lake Garda Monster has been described as a huge humped beast - half snake, half dinosaur. Jeremy travels to Northern Italy to investigate but is faced with more than one possible culprit. It turns out these lakes and rivers, despite being in one of Italy’s most populous regions, could be hiding more than one enormous beast worthy of the monster title. 

* Alaska’s Lost River Kings - Jeremy Wade travels to Alaska to investigate reports of the mysterious disappearance of the majestic King Salmon. His search for answers takes him from the state’s most heavily fished rivers to the mighty Yukon River where the King Salmon is the lifeblood of the native communities and out into the ocean, following a trail of evidence that leads him to encounters with some of Alaska’s most formidable predators. Who or what is killing the kings? 

* Return of the Outback Beast – A report of an underwater attack in Australia has caught Jeremy Wade’s attention. The story of a diver tangling with a colossal fish is intriguing, but according to most people, there shouldn’t be any fish of significant size in the area. Chasing a lead, Jeremy travels to eastern Australia to investigate, and discovers that the fish responsible for the attack could be a species back from the brink of extinction.

JEREMY WADE’S DARK WATERS is produced for Animal Planet by Icon Films where Laura Marshall and Andie Clare serve as executive producers with Nicholas Head as showrunner. For Animal Planet, Lisa Lucas is executive producer with Patrick Keegan as supervising producer. 

About Animal Planet

Animal Planet is India’s number 1 wildlife channel that immerses viewers in entire spectrum of life in the animal kingdom with high quality content. For more than 20 years in India, Animal Planet has carried purposeful programming from every corner of the world capturing the beauty and splendor of the animal kingdom. The channel has recently adopted a new brand philosophy ‘Humans Like Us’.  As a part of the new brand purpose, Animal Planet has sharpened focus on stories linked to animal conservation as it aims to awaken viewers to the need for animal welfare and conservation. 

Over the next 5 years 1,000 German firms may invest in India

Upbeat on the second fastest growing economy in the world, about 1,000 German firms may invest in India in the next five years, the head of Baden-Wurttemberg, regarded as the most successful German state, said today.

"I am sure, in next five years 1,000 more companies from Germany and may be 200 from our state would be interested in investing in India," Guenther H Oettinger, the Minister- President of State of Baden-Wuerttemberg (Germany) said here.

About 1,800 German firms, including Porsche, Siemens, BMW, Voith and Audi have already invested in India which is being seen as the potential German manufacturing hub for the Asian market.

Indian industry and workers match the quality of Europe's and North America's, Oettinger said at the CII meeting.

With over six per cent expansion, the Indian economy is the second fastest growing after China despite global recession.

German Ambassador to India Thomas Matussek also addressed the meeting stating the India-German bilateral trade is expected to touch $27 billion by 2014 from over $18 billion in 2008.

India's major exports to Germany include garments, machinery and instruments, electronic goods and transport equipment, while imports comprises machinery, iron and steel, machine tools and organic chemicals.

Agencies

No easy going for IT companies in Europe

For India’s top tech firms seeking to grow revenues from Europe in order to offset lower spend by American clients, it’s going to be Key facts on India's IT industry

a long, arduous journey, said research firm Forrester on Wednesday.

The US, which accounts for over half of India’s $60-billion software outsourcing industry, has traditionally been the top market for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro, among many others. However, over the past few years, Indian tech firms have been trying to mitigate their high American exposure by focusing on Europe’s $14-billion market for software and back-office services.

“You cannot replicate the US model in other markets. Unlike the US, European customers are not thinking primarily about costs. If Indian companies follow the same model for another 2-3 years, they will struggle,” said Sudin Apte, principal analyst of Forrester Research. Mr Apte, who surveyed around 400 European customers in order to understand their outsourcing priorities, said India’s tech firms will need to go beyond just hiring local workforce for sales and delivery efforts, if they really want to become successful in Europe.

“Offshoring in North America is a standard business decision, however in continental Europe, it’s a religious decision,” said Mr Apte, quoting one of the customers surveyed for his study.

Indeed, for almost a decade, the UK has been the top market for Indian companies with customers such as British Petroleum (BP) and British Telecom (BT) outsourcing projects to TCS, Infosys and Wipro. However, the UK, which outsources around $9 billion worth of projects to India every year, does not reflect the entire Europe.

“The United Kingdom is very similar to the US, unlike continental Europe where language and cultural barriers exist,” added Mr Apte.

Many European customers are more comfortable working with delivery teams in neighbouring countries, instead of signing large offshore contracts. “For example, Romania’s historical ties with Bulgaria, Italy, Greece, and Germany makes it easy to connect with clients in these locations,” Mr Apte added.

However, mature outsourcers such as BT, BP and ABN Amro have had no such bottlenecks, while deciding to work with large Indian offshore services providers such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro.

“For globalised European customers, outsourcing is not a new phenomenon, but for many companies, especially those who are pan-European only, outsourcing and offshoring is not such as hot thing,” he added.

Compared with Forrester’s survey in 2008, the current research shows a drop of more than 20% in the number of companies that were thinking about starting an offshore initiative for the first time. “This means that in the next 12 months, we will see few first-time offshore users sending their work to locations like India,” said Mr Apte.

The Forrester research also found that multinational firms such as IBM and Accenture are better positioned that the Indian IT vendors when it comes to serving customers in continental Europe.

“Accenture has more staff serving continental Europe customers than anybody else - it’s not about pure offshoring anymore,” he said. For instance, Accenture serves more than 300 customers from Germany with a few hundred staffs making use of the managed services model, which allows the company to serve more with less.

Agencies

One billion mobile users in India by 2015

India could have more than one billion mobile phone users by 2015, with the bulk of that growth in rural areas, one of the country's top telecom executives said on Wednesday.

Manoj Kohli, chief executive of India's biggest mobile phone group Bharti Airtel, told an industry conference in Hong Kong that his firm is aiming to almost double its customer base to 200 million people in the next few years.

"Achieving a billion plus (Indian mobile users) by 2015 is possible," he told the Mobile Asia Congress, the region's largest telecom industry gathering.

"The largest growth will happen in the rural market," he said, adding that pricing wars between providers were knocking down rates in the Indian market and making phones affordable to more people.

Competition in India has become even more aggressive as new players unleash deeper price cuts with innovative per-second billing plans that have pushed call costs down to less than a cent a minute.

"There is hyper-competition like no other place in the world," he said.

India is the world's second-biggest cellular market with more than 400 million users, lagging behind only China, which has over 600 million users.

Rural customers are also seen as key to growth in China, said Chang Xiaobing, chairman of China Unicom, one of the nation's three major telecoms operators.

The company aims to tap "vast rural areas" for growth as demand for basic mobile voice services slows in saturated urban markets, he said, with customers now looking for multi-function devices that can send emails or play movies.

"Voice is a mature market in some areas, but we still see some growth potential," Chang told the conference. "Voice will be in continuous demand (in China)."

But Chinese operators must boost their data business to offset falling prices on voice calls, he said.

Chang has said he expects Apple's iconic iPhone, which Unicom distributes, will be China's highest-selling smartphone despite disappointing results after its official launch this month.

Mobile connections in Asia Pacific are expected to cross the two billion mark this year, more than triple the level in 2003, according to statistics released by conference organiser GSMA, a mobile industry trade group.

Agencies

IT spending likely to fall 5.2% worldwide, says Gartner

The worldwide IT spending is on pace to decline 5.2 percent this year. However, the IT industry will return to growth in 2010, with IT spending forecast to total $3.3 trillion, a 3.3 percent increase from 2009, according to research firm Gartner. In Asia Pacific, IT spending is expected to grow by five percent to reach $515.6 billion in 2010.

Peter Sondergaard, Senior Vice President at Gartner and Global Head of Research, said that this represented a fast V-shaped recovery for IT spending in the region. Emerging regions will resume strong growth, he said. By 2012, the accelerated IT spending and culturally different approach to IT in Asia will directly influence product features, service structures and the overall IT industry.

However, growth varies considerably by country, vertical market and IT sector. Sondergaard said that while software would post the strongest growth in Asia Pacific, telecommunications still represented the largest area of IT investment.

In Australia, the five-year outlook for enterprise IT spending is a compound annual growth rate of 1.3 percent, with total IT spending by Australian businesses to reach Australian dollar 56.4 billion by 2013. The vertical sectors with the highest IT spending growth would be communications (3.2 percent), healthcare (2.6 percent) and utilities (2.3 percent). While IT spending will increase next year, Gartner cautioned IT leaders not to be overly optimistic.

"While the IT industry will return to growth in 2010, the market will not recover to 2008 revenue levels before 2012," said Sondergaard. 2010 is about balancing the focus on cost, risk, and growth. For more than 50 percent of Chief Information Officers the IT budget will be zero percent or less in growth terms. It will only slowly improve in 2011, he added.

Sondergaard said that the three most-searched terms by Gartner clients on gartner.com provide some clues as to the priorities of IT leaders around the world. Cost remained the most-searched term during 2009, although it peaked in May, followed by cloud computing. "Next year will be the year when cloud computing moves from the discovery phase to small pilots, as part of organizations' desire to move from owned to shared IT," he said.

The third most-searched terms on gartner.com were business applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM). "We believe that 2010 will see increased focus on optimization of business processes linked to software applications, what we call application overhaul. That is what will drive growth in the software segment," Sondergaard said.

Agencies

Google adds new social search functions for users

Internet search giant Google has been working on adding more features in its search domain for making it easy for the users to easily find blogs and twitter feeds.

Users need to open a profile with Google and services can be accessed from Google labs.

Google Germany spokesman Stefan Keuchel said that friend finding on internet would become very easy with the help of new facility. He added that Twitter feed's new searches and the recently introduced search functions are different. The function would initially be made available in English.

The new social graph can be readjusted as per user's preferences. The feature would allow only close friends to be highlighted in the searches, leaving postings from others.

Agencies

Watch TV anywhere with new Nokia mobile TV phones

Nokia has announced the launch of Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition, which will allow users to watch television anywhere. The phone is an entertainment hub that combines mobile broadcast TV (DVB-H), social networking, music and gaming in one compact 3G device. Nokia says that broadcast TV consumption is on the rise and by 2012 there will be over 300 million people worldwide watching TV on their mobile phones.

"The introduction of the Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition responds to the arrival of DVB-H broadcast mobile TV networks in new markets and offers an affordable device for new and existing customers alike. Customers are increasingly watching a variety of programmes on their mobiles, such as drama programs, news and sport, for a longer period of time. The Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition has the sound and image quality to hold audiences captive," said Mark Selby, Vice President, Nokia.

Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition's DVB-H technology allows programs to burst through the QVGA 2.4" screen in full-colour, crystal clear, sharp images. A user can set reminders for favorite shows and create personal channel lists with Nokia's Electronic Program Guide (EPG) for a good mobile broadcast TV experience.

The Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition provides broadcast picture quality while the headset acts as an antenna for outstanding reception. Long battery life gives up to six hours of DVB-H usage. "It is essential for DVB-H service providers to have a variety of devices capable of serving the mass market. Having a complete portfolio of handsets is pivotal for the commercial success of mobile TV. The new Nokia DVB-H enabled mobile phone, the Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition, is a great addition to the current portfolio of broadcast TV-capable handsets," said Franklin Selgert, Chairman, Broadcast Mobile Convergence Forum.

The Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition comes with all the latest social networking software, making it simple to stay in touch with friends via Ovi Contacts, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. Post status updates for friends and family to follow or instant message (IM) them via Windows Live(TM) Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ, AOL and many others.

Users can capture photos and video clips, day or night, using the 3.2 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom and LED flash before uploading and sharing favourite shots via sites such as OviShare and Flickr.

Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks work with more than 30 operators worldwide on Mobile TV implementations. Commercial launches with Mobile TV services based on DVB-H and OMA BCAST standards include Austria, Finland, Ghana, Kenya, India, Italy, Namibia, Nigeria, Netherland, Philippines and Switzerland. Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition costs around Rs. 11,000 excluding taxes.

Agencies

Google enters mobile advertising space with AdMob acquisition

In a push to expand its digital advertising empire to cellphones, Google has agreed to acquire AdMob, a fast-growing mobile advertising start-up, for $750 million in stock, the companies said.

AdMob is one of the top sellers of banner ads on iPhone applications and Web pages that can be retrieved from mobile phones. The acquisition could help establish Google as an early leader in the small but rapidly expanding mobile phone advertising business.

The deal shows that Google is serious about becoming a major player in the mobile advertising ecosystem, said Neil Strother, an analyst with Forrester Research. It puts Google in the front-runner position.Strother and other analysts said that position could prove tenuous. The mobile advertising business, which has long been hailed as the next big thing, remains embryonic.

Agencies

Accenture on a hiring spree in India; To hire 8,000 by 2010

Global technology and consultancy firm, Accenture has said that it is going to add around 8,000 people in India by the end of next year taking its total employee base in the country to 50,000.

"We are 42,000 right now and we imagine we will be about 50,000 by the end of 2010," said Accenture Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, William D Green on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit. Indicating a recovery from the global downturn, Green said the company will continue to focus in India, specially in the areas of analytics, reports a media.

Accenture's focus in India is going to be the analytics space, which will help its clients in converting information into insights for better yields. Green added, "We believe that analytics is going to be an important trend that our customers are going to demand from us. We think India is going to be a great place for us. We have some core centres of excellence in the analytics space in the country."

Accenture, which has annual revenue of $21.58 billion for fiscal 2009, will strengthen its focus on clients in pharmaceutical, telecommunications and energy in the country.

Agencies

By 2010 Indian cos to see 20-30% pick up in hiring

Riding high on a six to seven per cent expected economic growth and with the global economy gradually bouncing back, India Inc is likely to hire 20-30 per cent more talent in CY 10, a top industry official said.

"In 2010 (January-December), I envisage atleast 20-30 per cent increase in recruitments by companies," recruitment consultancy firm, Fun & Joy At Work's Chief Executive Officer, R L Bhatia, told the media here.

This would be over and above the 30 per cent dip in hiring that was witnessed last year, Bhatia said.

Fun & Joy At Work is a nine-year-old recruitment firm with offices across Mumbai and Singapore. The company claims providing talent consultancy to a host of Indian companies across sectors.

BPOs, bio-technology, media, telecom and finance are some of the sectors likely to witnessing higher hirings, Bhatia said.

The Indian economy would clock around six to seven per cent growth and substantial investments into India is in the offing, Bhatia said, adding, "this will trigger an increased hiring."

Bhatia said that despite the the slowdown, companies did hire, though less in number.

"Maybe they hired less, but they hired nevertheless," he said.

His own firm had some 30 companies which have plans to hire around 20,000-30,000 personnel, he said.

"Industry is exercising caution now. As a result, companies are investing only when and where it is necessary. They are sensibly investing in people or human resources," he said.

Agencies

Intel to partner with telecom major ITI

Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is planning to participate in bids invited by Indian state-owned telecom equipment maker ITI Ltd to set up joint ventures, the Business Standard reported on Friday.

ITI intends to be a minority partner in the proposed joint ventures with a 26 per cent stake according to the bid proposals, the newspaper said.

It said Intel was interested in making the hardware and consumer premise equipment around WiMAX technology, which provides for wireless transmission of data up to 75 megabytes per second.

Though interested parties have been asked to participate before Jan 29, 2010, the telecoms ministry is holding a pre-bid conference before selecting them, the paper said.

Other global players that have showed interest include Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung and Hitachi, the paper said.

A spokeswoman for Intel in India could not immediately respond to the report.

Agencies

Will the Web run out of address space?

The world could well run out of internet addresses next year, unless urgent action is taken to switch to a new generation of net addresses, the European Commission has warned.

According to the commission, businesses urgently need to upgrade to internet protocol version six or IPv6, a new version of the web’s addressing protocol, which will hugely increase the number of available addresses.

The IPv6 system has been ready for over a decade and is providing 340 trillion web addresses. But, not many companies are actually ready to migrate to the new platform.

A survey, conducted by the commission, found that few companies are prepared for the switch from the current naming protocol, IPv4, to the new regime, IPv6, the Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday. The IPv4 and IPv6 protocols refer to the way in which addresses are created and assigned. Each website has a unique IP address, represented by a string of numbers, such as 192.168.1.1, which are then given a user-friendly web address to make them easier to remember.

The IPv4 protocol uses 32-bit addresses, which enables the web to support around 4.3 billion unique addresses while IPv6 uses 128-bit web addresses, creating billions of possible new web addresses. The EC survey found that of the 610 government, educational and other industry organisations questioned across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, just 17% have upgraded to IPv6.

Detlef Eckert, director in commission’s information society and media directorate-general, said: “Only by ensuring that all devices connected to the internet are compatible with IPv6 can we stay connected and safeguard sustainable growth of the internet.”

Agencies

TCS signs multi-million contract with Cardiff City Council

Tata Consultancy Services' contract with Cardiff City Council for technology services is a multi-million dollar deal that will run over 15 years, a company source said on Tuesday.

Under the deal signed last week, Tata Consultancy will provide a host of IT services for faster and efficient delivery of services in Cardiff.

Tata Consultancy and its rivals such as Infosys Technologies and Wipro are aggressively vying for deals in markets such as Europe and Asia Pacific to cut their dependence on the US, which brings in more than half the sector's revenue.

Tata Consultancy, a part of the diversified Tata Group that spans commodities autos and services businesses, last month beat forecasts with a 29 per cent rise in quarterly net profit helped by demand from recession-hit financial customers.

Agencies

Green battery gives non-stop energy for years

Scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed a new, environmentally friendly silicon-air battery capable of supplying non-stop power for thousands of hours without needing to be replaced.

Created from oxygen and silicon, such batteries would be lightweight, have an unlimited shelf life, and have a high tolerance for both humid and extremely dry conditions.

Potential uses include medical applications (example, powering diabetic pumps), sensors and microelectronics structured from silicon. “Silicon-air batteries will be used like the ones already in use today,” said lead researcher Yair Ein-Eli. “But by using silicon – a safe, non-toxic, stable and more common material – we can create batteries with infinite shelf life and high energy capacity,” he added.

Silicon-air batteries would be able to provide savings in cost, weight as they lack the built-in cathode used in conventional batteries.

Agencies

Increase of IT spending by 20-25%, says GE

General Electric (GE) may increase its IT spending by about 20-25 percent for 2010-11, a step that can turn out to be a boon for several Indian information technology (IT) vendors.

Software firms like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL Technologies, Patni Computer Systems and iGate, who generate a significant amount of revenue from GE, are likely to benefit most from the increase in its IT budget.

A person close to this development said, "GE has allotted an additional $500-600 million for its IT budget during 2010-11. The firm may be looking to extend contracts with vendors like iGate and Polaris by three to four years and significantly increase its spending with large capital firms like TCS and HCL going forward."

GE has already extended its IT contract with Birlasoft, estimated to be worth $50 million and $100 million and with Mahindra Satyam, worth $100 million by three years. The existing contracts for iGate, Polaris Software Lab and Birlasoft will end in December this year.

Agencies

Will HP merge its PC, print divisions?

Hewlett-Packard Co is considering a plan to reorganize the company and combine its printer and personal computer units, the Wall Street Journal reported.

A plan is being finalized that would put Todd Bradley, who leads HP's PC group, in charge of the combined division, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

An HP spokeswoman declined to comment on what she called "rumor and speculation."

PCs made up around 30 percent of HP's revenue in the July quarter, with the printing group accounting for roughly 20 percent.

The printing group boasted an operating margin of 17 percent, making it HP's most profitable division.

For fiscal 2010, HP forecast revenue growth of 3-5 percent in its PC business and zero to 2 percent in its printing group.

HP is the world's No. 1 PC maker, holding a roughly 20 percent share of the global market.

The Journal report said Vyomesh Joshi, a longtime HP veteran who leads the printing division, could potentially leave the company in the coming months.

He has been approached in recent years by other technology companies looking for a new chief executive, the report said, citing people familiar with Joshi's discussions.

Agencies

Will Kyocera Wireless India be acquired by MindTree

MindTree Ltd said on Tuesday it would buy Bangalore-based Kyocera Wireless India Pvt Ltd and make an upfront payment of $6 million, while
further payments will be linked to revenue in FY11 and FY12.

The IT firm expects the acquisition to contribute about $9 million in revenues for the period Oct 2009 to March 2010, with profit after tax expected to be in the range of 13-15 percent, it said in a statement.

Agencies

Is Xerox set to acquire ACS for $6.4 in 2009?

Xerox, the global copier and imaging giant, will pay $6.4 billion to acquire the outsourcing company Affiliated Computer Services, expanding its foothold in a growing industry, the companies said.

Xerox, based in Norwalk, Conn, is paying $63.11 a share in cash and stock for ACS, which posted revenue growth of 6% and new business signings of $1 billion in annual recurring revenue during its fiscal 2009.

“We’re creating a new class of solution provider,” Xerox’s chief executive, Ursula M Burns, said in a statement, adding that the deal was “a gamechanger for Xerox.” She estimated the company’s revenue from services would triple to $10 billion next year from $3.5 billion in 2008. Lynn R Blodgett, ACS’s chief executive, said in the statement that the deal was necessary “to expand globally and differentiate our offerings through technology.” ACS will continue to operate as an independent organization. Blodgett will remain as chief executive, reporting to Burns.
It was the first major deal for Burns, who took over Xerox in July with the retirement of Anne M Mulcahy.

Owners of ACS stock will receive $18.60 a share in cash and 4.935 Xerox shares for each ACS share. Xerox will assume $2 billion in ACS debt and issue $300 million of convertible preferred stock to ACS’s Class B shareholders. ACS had a market value Friday at the close of trading of $4.6 billion. Xerox said the transaction would add to profit in the first year on an adjusted-earnings basis.

ACS, based in Dallas, specializes in outsourcing processes for industries including telecommunications, retail and financial services and health care, and describes itself as the largest provider of managed services to government entities in the United States. The companies estimated the market for so-called business process outsourcing at $150 billion, growing at a rate of 5% a year.

JP Morgan Chase and Blackstone Advisory Partners acted as financial adviser to Xerox, while Citigroup Global Markets served as financial adviser to ACS

Agencies

IT SEZ from realty firm in Ahmedabad

A city based realty developer Calica Construction and Impex pvt Ltd laid the foundation stone for an It and ITeS Special Economic Zone here on Sunday.

The SEZ will be spread over 20 acres of land on the outskirts of the city and would house small and medium sized information technology companies.

The developers have planned to complete the first phase of the project in two years with initial investment of Rs 300 crore while total estimated cost of the project is Rs 650 crore.

Union minister of state for small and medium enterprises Dinsha Patel and Gujarat minister of state for industry and energy Saurabh Patel were among those present at the foundation stone lying ceremony.

According to Bipin Shah, one of the developers of the new venture, the company has already got the notification from the Board of Approval (BoA) for SEZ and other clearances are in the process.

He said that over 30,000 square feet space will be created for the It and ITeS companies.

He added that they are also in the process of tying up with major IT firms to set up their centres in the SEZ which would offer world class infrastructural facilities.

Agencies

India's $100-b defence pie eyed by American miliary contractors

Eyeing India's estimated $100 billion defence pie, major U.S. arms suppliers are wooing Indian defence agents and officials as New Delhi embarks on a major military shopping spree to modernise its Soviet-era arsenal, a US media report said.

At the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, defence contractors such as Northrop Grumman are sponsoring little league baseball teams, the companies' names stitched onto the uniforms, the Washington Post said in a report from New Delhi.

Almost every weekend, there are cocktails and closed-door presentations in the suites of New Delhi's five-star hotels, hosted by retired admirals and generals from the US armed forces who now work for defence firms, such as Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, it said.

"India will look back-generations down the road-at this period as a defining moment for its new, modern military," the Post cited Roger Rose, chief executive of Lockheed Martin India, which is renting half a wing of New Delhi's Taj Palace Hotel for a 12-person office.

"I think we can all see that there are a lot of threats shared between our two democracies."

With its growing military footprint, India is steering away from traditional ally Russia, its main weapons supplier, and looking toward the United States to help upgrade its weapons systems and troop gear, the Post said

India is also pushing the Obama administration to ease the acquisition of US weapons and technology. Already this year, a high-level US government group cleared the way for Lockheed and Boeing to offer India cutting-edge radar technology for fighter jets.

India now has a shopping list that includes 126 fighter jets, 155mm howitzers, long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, vast cargo planes used in long-distance conflicts, high-tech helicopters and deep-water submarines. Boeing is vying with Lockheed-along with French, Russian and Swedish companies and a European consortium-for a fighter jet deal worth about $10 billion.

India is holding flight tests for the fighter jets. Lockheed and Boeing have conducted demonstration flights for Indian celebrities and defence experts.

"America's relationship to India is maturing and expanding. India is an important global player now," the Post said citing William S. Cohen, a defence secretary during the Clinton administration who is a member of the US-India Business Council's board of directors.

Agencies