Godrej & Boyce Sees Growth in Precision Engineered Equipment as “Make in India” Policy Gathers Momentum

Make in India

* Delivers critical equipment to help India’s biggest indigenously developed nuclear power project achieve key operational milestone

Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej group said that there is likely to be rapid increase in the demand for precision equipment and larger opportunities for growth in bespoke engineering systems and equipment offerings as the country’s “Make in India” mission gathers greater momentum.

A strategic partner of Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) for over 20 years, Godrej Precision Engineering was integrally involved in supplying mission critical equipment to NPCIL for the Kakrapar Atomic Power Plant-3 - the first indigenously built 700 MWe Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) in India that achieved criticality recently.

Godrej Precision Engineering delivered the Fueling Machine Bridge & Carriage for Kakrapar Atomic Power Plant-3 which are installed in the critical zone of the Nuclear Power reactor.

With approval of 10 new 700 MW nuclear power projects, competent and committed partners with necessary experience in design, engineering & manufacturing, backed by significant scientific knowledge and technical prowess, will be one of the key drivers of the government’s ‘Atma-Nirbhar’ initiative. 

“At Godrej & Boyce, we have been investing for over 50 years in building strong engineering and machine-building capabilities and partnering with Indian institutions to deliver complex equipment for key strategic industries like Nuclear Power and Defence”, said Mr Jamshyd N Godrej, Chairman and Managing Director of Godrej & Boyce.

“Our strong experience of mission-critical systems and an integrated framework for design, manufacturing and testing will help accelerate India’s journey towards industrial self-reliance”, Mr. Godrej added.

“Our ability to innovate and execute has helped us partner with our customers and the equipment has been ‘made in India’ for the first time”, said Kaustubh Shukla, Chief Operating Officer, Industrial Products Group, Godrej & Boyce.

Godrej Precision Engineering manufactures custom-built equipment for complex and sophisticated systems for several mission-critical applications in nuclear power, land based and naval systems for Defence and for other industries like Steel, and Wind Energy. Besides equipment for Nuclear Power, the business unit executes orders for defence land systems like Brahmos Missile Launchers, Missile carriers and Naval systems like Diving and Surfacing Systems, Hull Equipment, Life Raft Container Ejection Systems, Steering Gear and so forth.

Each high precision, custom-built equipment is developed, manufactured and tested according to stringent quality requirements of our customers.

About Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.

Godrej & Boyce (‘G&B’), a Godrej Group company, was founded in 1897, and has contributed to India’s journey of self-reliance through manufacturing. G&B patented the world’s first springless lock and  since then, has diversified into 14 businesses across various sectors from Security, Furniture, Aerospace to Infrastructure and Defence. Godrej is one of India’s most trusted brands serving over 1.1bn customers worldwide daily.

Healthcare IT Leader Supports Medical Communities and Migrant Labourers During COVID-19

emids, a leader in digital engineering and transformation solutions to the healthcare industry, donated essential equipment to healthcare professionals leading the charge against COVID-19 at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Center.

The company’s Bangalore-based teams provided 300 PPE (personal protective equipment) kits, 300 N95 masks, and food for nearly 60 members of the hospital’s COVID-19 response team for 30 days, through a contribution of INR 8 lakhs.

“As a healthcare IT leader, we understand how important it is for patients to access the right quality of care and at the right time. Doctors and medical professionals are working tirelessly to provide such care in the wake of COVID-19, while placing their own health at risk. Our contributions to Bangalore Medical College and Research Center are a way of thanking and empowering the healthcare community in their fight against this disease,” says Saurabh Sinha, Founder & CEO of emids.

emids also donated INR 20 lakhs to provide food and rations to 3,000 families of migrant labourers and daily wage workers, who were severely affected by the nation-wide lockdown. The company partnered with ‘Smiles for All’, an initiative by a group of volunteers to help the marginalized communities during the lockdown, and with Kaushalya Foundation, a non-profit working to empower the resource-poor in India, to reach out to those in dire need.

Sumit Gandhi, Chief Delivery Officer at emids, explains, “COVID-19 and the resulting lockdown in India created an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. It affected lakhs of members from economically vulnerable communities. As a responsible corporate citizen, emids decided to help them by supporting food relief programs organized by Smiles for All and Kaushalya Foundation.”

emids has consistently supported community welfare programs in the area of healthcare and education, while pursuing business goals. The company has witnessed rapid growth in the last two decades, fueled by technology investments that are driving digital change in healthcare. emids’ teams based out of Bangalore and Hyderabad solve some of the toughest problems in global healthcare IT and augment the company’s digital engineering capabilities.

About emids

emids is a leading provider of digital transformation solutions to the healthcare industry, serving payers, providers, life sciences, and technology firms. Headquartered in Nashville, emids helps bridge critical gaps in providing accessible, affordable, and high-quality healthcare by providing digital transformation services, custom application development, data engineering, business intelligence solutions, and specialized consulting services to all parts of the healthcare ecosystem. With over 2,200 professionals globally, emids leverages strong domain expertise in healthcare-specific platforms, regulations, and standards to provide tailored, cutting-edge solutions and services to its clients. 

Godrej Security Solutions Launches UV Case; Expands Health Security Portfolio in India

Godrej Security Solutions (GSS), the leading player in future technology of security solutions, announced its venture into the health security segment with the COVID Defence Security Range of products in May. To meet the growing demand for products in the health security space, Godrej has launched ‘UV Case’ and expanded its health security segment.  The  portfolio address the issue of sanitising daily objects, equipment and surfaces that come in contact with several people before entering a premise.

The newly launched UV Case from Godrej Security Solutions uses the UV-C light disinfection technology that helps to create a multiple barrier approach to reducing the transmission of the virus and germs based on current disinfection data and empirical evidence. Worldwide, UV-C Sterilization is the most established scientific method for dry killing more than 65 families of pathogens, viruses and bacteria, including SARS-CoV-1.

Commenting on the launch Mehernosh Pithawalla, Vice President, Godrej Security Solutions said, “Studies show that UV-C light has been used extensively for more than 40 years in disinfecting drinking water, wastewater, air, pharmaceutical products, and surfaces against a whole suite of human pathogens. Today, health security has become a priority for everyone. There is an increased need for a product post-COVID-19 that would sanitise anything that has been brought home from external environments. The Godrej UV Case meets this need; it disinfects and decontaminates almost everything used by an individual daily from mobiles, masks, newspaper, clothes, accessories, books, bags and many other innumerable articles. It will also be helpful for the healthcare sector for sanitisation of PPEs kits. As a market leader, it was incumbent on us to launch a product only after rigorous internal and external testing before it could reach consumers. With the UV Case, we move one step closer to achieving our mission of making the world a safer and healthier place.”

Mehernosh added, “Godrej Security Solution estimates the total addressable health security and safety market for FY-2021 in the country is around INR 200 Crore. We seek to capture at least 20% share of the addressable market. Homes, work-places of the future, as well as many industries, will have to ensure minimum human interference and combat spread of infectious diseases through surface contact. The product enables homeowners and commercial establishments to sanitise their daily-use items like watches, wallets, keys, mobiles, clothes, parcels, among others. Stationery, medical equipment, and salon products can be disinfected in the case to protect and sanitise them before use. Shop owners can disinfect their items for sale before and after customers have had a touch and feel of the same.”

The sanitisation process of the UV Case is a chemical-free case that helps to kill 99.9% viruses and sanitises everything from cash, jewellery, mobile phones to masks, and PPE Kits. The new product has found industry-wide applications in Hospitality, Healthcare, Leisure, Retail, and Homes. The UV Case comes in 3 sizes – 15L, 30L and 54L which gives consumer maximum usable volume ranging for home use to industrial use starting at INR 8,999. Currently available across stores from GSS and will be available on their e-commerce website (shop.godrejsecure.com).

Does Huawei eye for stake in Alcatel-Lucent?

China's Huawei Technologies said on Friday it had no plans to buy a stake in Alcatel-Lucent, two days after the French-American telecoms equipment maker's stock jumped on market talk a Chinese rival could acquire it.

"Our customer-centric innovation strategy is driving Huawei's growth and that remains our strategy," Ross Gan, global head of corporate communications at Huawei told Reuters. "Huawei has no plans to take a stake in Alcatel-Lucent," he said.

Alcatel-Lucent's shares rose 16 percent on Wednesday on the market chatter and a rating upgrade by Natixis. By 0820 GMT on Friday, the stock had gained 3.1 percent in a broader market .FCHI up 1.3 percent.

A public relations official at Huawei's domestic rival, ZTE Corp, also said she had no information on any upcoming deal. "I think it is just a rumour," she said.

Huawei and ZTE have been expanding their operations aggressively in overseas markets, but those efforts are being driven mostly by organic growth. Analysts said any acquisitions would face stern regulatory scrutiny.

That scrutiny derailed an attempt by Huawei and partner Bain Capital to buy U.S.-based 3Com in 2007.

"Huawei is keen to expand internationally, so I'm not surprised that this has come up, but I would be surprised if it went ahead," said Damien Bailey, a telecoms specialist at law firm Simmons & Simmons.

"There will undoubtedly be consolidation in the telecoms equipment manufacturing sector, and I think there will probably only be three or four left, with Huawei and ZTE being two of those," he said.

Besides the regulatory concerns, any deal for Alcatel-Lucent would mark a major acquisition as the 2006 merger between France's Alcatel and U.S.-based Lucent Technologies has a current market value of about $9 billion.

For a related analysis on rival Nokia Siemens Networks

Alcatel-Lucent has been struggling to turn a profit since its 2006 merger, which was supposed to help it cut costs and better compete with Chinese gear makers including Huawei and ZTE. ($ = 6.83 yuan)

Agencies

GP test market expected to reach Rs 6,692.5 million by 2011

The growing trend of the telecom market has paved way for the general purpose (GP) test equipment industry. According to the analysis from the Growth Partnership Company, Frost and Sullivan, the Indian GP test equipment market has earned revenues over Rs 4,346.50 million in 2007 and is expected to reach Rs 6,692.5 million by 2011.

The GP test equipment market is employed for a wide range of products including the research and development (R&D), manufacturing to installation and maintenance (I&M). The cost advantages and availability of skilled professionals have transformed India into a R&D hub for various industries. A vast number of companies from the entire world are investing in the country, which is aiding the market of GP test equipment.

"As security concerns assume the limelight in the wake of the terror threats and security concerns facing the country, an enormous amount has been budgeted for defense spending, which includes communication technologies," says Deepa Doraiswamy, Frost & Sullivan Program Manager. "A decent proportion of the spending goes into procuring test equipment, which mostly includes general purpose (GP) test equipment, and this is expected to create good opportunities in the ensuing years for the GP test equipment market."

Further, the customer support and the brand equity have become the determining factors for the success of the GP test Equipment market. Most of the test vendors have allocated 10 to 15 percent of their revenues to R&D, which result in the emergence of multi-functional instruments that integrate the functions of diverse equipments into one, marking the end of stand-alone products.

Moreover, the expansion of communication networks across the country is facilitating the GP test equipment such as the spectrum analyzers and the network analyzers. With the increasing penetration of mobile phones into the rural zones, the demand for the GP testers is on rise.

However, there are some concerns associated with the GP market, which need to be addressed. "Continuous product improvement with new features demonstrating cutting-edge technology remains the challenging aspiration for GP test vendors to gain market share," says Doraiswamy. "They must fine tune their products and make feature additions and modifications to outpace competition. Participants must also cater to the demand for customized products, identifying the specific end user needs across all end user segments," she adds.

SiliconIndia

Is bankrupt Nortel giving away $7.3 m as bonus?

A Canadian court has allowed eight senior executives at Nortel Networks Corp to share in the bonuses that the telecom equipment maker plans to pay out even as it fights for survival in bankruptcy protection.

Bankruptcy courts in both the US and Canada will allow Nortel Networks to pay as much as $7.3 million in incentive bonuses to the executives.

Nortel already had court approval to pay out a total of $45 million in bonuses for close to 1,000 executive and non-executive employees.

Friday's ruling by the Ontario Superior Court makes the eight senior executives, who do not include Chief Executive Mike Zafirovski, eligible to receive a share of this money, company spokesman Mohammed Nakhooda said.

In addition to the $45 million, Nortel has a separate quarterly bonus plan in place for "the vast majority of employees at all levels," he added.

Nortel -- North America's biggest maker of telephone gear -- had argued in an earlier court report that the bonuses were needed because "the commitment and retention of key employees will be essential to the execution of a restructuring of Nortel".

Executive compensation has become a hot-button issue with investors and politicians alike, particularly amid revelations that US insurance giant American International Group (AIG) paid out $165 million in bonuses after receiving $180 billion in government aid.

Some companies, including all of Canada's large banks, have introduced nonbinding shareholder votes on executive compensation in a bid to provide greater transparency and more accountability.

Toronto-based Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in January, blaming the economic crisis for derailing a turnaround effort that began in 2005.

It had about $2.4 billion in cash when it sought protection and about $4.5 billion in long-term debt.

Nortel shares were unchanged at 10 Canadian cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday. In mid-2000, at the height of the company's success, they were worth more than C$1,100 each, adjusted for a stock consolidation that took place in 2006.

Agencies