After Four Years Rishi Jaitly Quits With a Tweet as Head of Twitter India

Twitter India head Rishi Jaitly has quit the company after spending four years at the popular microblogging website.

He made the announcement on Twitter itself by writing: “Today, after 4 years of user/business momentum in India and the region, I’m sharing my intention to move on to new opportunities, same mission.”

Jaitly, who played a key role in expanding the company’s operations in India, further said leading Twitter India and expanding @TwitterMedia across Asia Pacific and Middle East was “leadership experience of a lifetime”. 

While he did not disclose his next destination, he said “a personal/civic calling takes me to Chicago, I’ll spend significant time in India/Asia, drawing on my past to further tech’s promise”.

The former Google executive added that he intends to devote himself to “building bridges in service of my mission”.

Jaitly has also been associated with Knight Foundation and College Summit and was co-founder and CEO of Michigan Corps.

When contacted, a Twitter India spokesperson said, “We thank Rishi Jaitly for his contributions, entrepreneurship and leadership over the past four years at Twitter. He was our first person on the ground to bring Twitter into the high-growth Indian market”.

“There will be a smooth transition as his last day is in late November after which he will move back to the US,” the spokesperson added.

Vijaya Bank Records Impressive NPA of Rs 692 Crore in Q2 FY2016-17

Vijaya Bank on Thursday reported 34.05% rise in its net profit for the September quarter due to higher net interest income and other income. Net profit for the quarter stood at Rs154.55 crore as compared Rs115.29 crore a year ago.

Net interest income (NII), or the core income a bank earns by giving loans, rose 19.5% to Rs827.82 crore in the September quarter from Rs692.55 crore last year. Other income increased 100.23% to Rs388.31 crore from Rs193.93 crore in the same period last year.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) at Vijaya Bank fell 1.5% to Rs6,490.52 crore at the end of the September quarter from Rs6,589.23 crore in the June quarter. On a year-on-year basis, gross NPAs jumped 87.6% from Rs3,459.90 crore. As a percentage of total loans, gross NPAs were 7.07% at the end of the September quarter as compared to 7.31% in the previous quarter and 3.98% in the year-ago quarter.

Provisions and contingencies rose 45.55% to Rs389.82 crore in the quarter from Rs267.82 crore a quarter ago. On a year-on-year basis, provisions jumped 42.5% from Rs273.47 crore. Net NPAs were at 5.1% in the September quarter compared to 5.42% in the previous quarter and 2.84% in the same quarter last year.

At 12.30pm, Vijaya Bank was trading at Rs 46.6 on the BSE, up 15% from its previous close, while India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 0.24% to 27,769.85 points.

Candor Mgt Services & Bangalore Metro Sign Agreement to Launch New Business Incubation Service

Candor Management Services, a leading provider of human capital transformation services with over 1200 employees on its rolls, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation to setup a new business incubation centre at the “Namma Metro” Trinity Station, Bangalore augmenting the Karnataka government's efforts to position Bengaluru as one of the top startup ecosystems in the world.

Appropriately branded “candorHUB”, the state-of-the-art incubation ecosystem, will nurture startups in bringing their innovations to market efficiently; providing them with an array of startup advisory, business support, co-working space, structured training programs in addition to extending much needed linkages with industry sponsors, mentors, investors, and accelerators.

“We will extend full support to Candor in setting up their new business incubation centre at Trinity metro station, “said U A Vasanth Rao General Manager Finance (Taxation and Resources), and Chief Public Relation Officer Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited, “Beyond providing the physical space for this initiative they have an excellent opportunity to connect with other startup eco-system stakeholders within the government and its various startup initiatives, “he added.

As a vibrant new business incubation ecosystem, candorHUB will:

•        Invite startup entrepreneurs to apply for incubation program.

•        Shortlist promising startups and incubate them on a case to case basis

•        Identify, connect and engage a suitable mentor to nurture each startup

•        Offer a state-of-art work environment and other support services, at the candorHUB centre, for startups to bring their ideas to life

•        Conduct special events, during the program period, to update startup founders with a variety of skills necessary to run their outfits. During such events, startups will also get to meet a variety of successful startup founders, sponsor customers, investors, and benefit from their valuable advice

•        Host a pitch day event where each startup will present their offerings to an invite only seed-stage investors, sponsor customers and mentors.

“By spurring creativity and mitigating avoidable risks in early stage startups business lifecycle, the startup incubation ecosystem will increase rate of success and time taken to gain customer traction for new innovations, “said Thirumurugan Subramanian, Managing Director Candor Management Services and Principal, candorHUB.

“candorHUB’s single point agenda is to transform societal value to make a significant impact in our society, “said S. Srikrishna, Director-Finance Candor Management Services and Lead Principal, candorHUB,” We are industry agnostic and will not reject any startup application for reasons that it doesn’t fit a pre-conceived vertical. Having said this, initially candorHUB will foster technology centered digitization initiatives across key sectors like healthcare, education, financial verticals,” he added.

GST, Bankruptcy Code to be Included in Next Report: World Bank

The World Bank will take on board implementation of the goods and services tax and enactment of the bankruptcy code while preparing the ease of doing business report next year, said its country Director Junaid Ahmad.

He also suggested that India has managed to improve on various sub-rankings although the World Bank's latest report did not show any improvement in the country's ranking as other nations too have done their bit.

In the World Bank's latest 'Doing Business' 2017 report, India's place remained unchanged from last year's original ranking of 130 among the 190 economies that were assessed on various parameters.

But the last year's ranking has been revised to 131 from which the country has improved its place by one spot.

India has expressed its disappointment over its low rank and has also suggested a review of the ranking methodology.

"Our methodology had led to very interesting response by different countries... we have learnt that the complexity of understanding of doing business needs to change. So, our methodology will evolve as we are doing it right now," he told reporters.

"I do not think we have given India a low ranking at all. If you look at the sub-rankings, India has managed to improve quite a bit. Where we are not able to show the aggregate lift-off is also because the other countries also increased their ranking relatively."

As for India, he said, it is continuing to do its improvement and "my bet, next year you watch out, it will be reflected in the rankings".


He added that GST is going to change the way Indian markets are working now.

Karnataka Slips to 13th Place; Andhra Tops in Ease of Doing Business

Ranked ninth in 2015, Karnataka has slipped to the 13th position in the 'ease of doing business' ratings this year.

Union Commerce and Industries Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the ranks on Monday. The Centre's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the World Bank jointly award the ratings.

Karnataka featured among the better-performing states in tax, environment, labour and inspection reforms.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana shared the first position, leading on almost all parameters, including tax reforms. They got credit for smoother grant of land, labour and construction permits.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat slipped to the third position from last year's first. In the crucial area of construction permits, Karnataka lost, despite the authorities saying most approvals were streamlined and made available online.

Ranking

2016      2015      State                 Score

1              2         Andhra Pradesh 98.78%

1             13        Telangana          98.78%

3             1          Gujarat               98.21%

4             4          Chhattisgarh      97.32%

5             5          Madhya Pradesh97.01%

6            14         Haryana            96.95%

7            3          Jharkhand          96.57%

8            6          Rajasthan          96.43%

9            23        Uttarakhand       96.13%

10          8          Maharashtra      92.86%

11          7          Odisha               92.73%

12        16          Punjab               91.07%

13        9            Karnataka          88.39% 

14       10           Uttar Pradesh    84.52%

UM Motorcycles To Up Localization To 75-80%; Plans Second Manufacturing Plant in Karnataka or Maharashtra

By Manu Sharma
Indian two-wheeler market has been extremely bullish for the last few years especially in the motorcyles segment with a displacement of 300cc, 500cc and above. As this segment is expected to double up to 20,000 units by 2020, the American bike major UM Motorcycles is set to further expand its localization in India by another 15-20% and also plans to set up another manufacturing and Research and Development centre in the southern or western parts of Indian.

UM Motorcycles is a joint ventures between Miami-based UM International and Lohia Auto. The company plans to localize the engines in India. Presently, the company as part of the Make in India Initiative localizes about 60 percent of the components from its plant in India. By localizing the engine and other critical components it plans to up the initiative by another 15-20 percent to 75 or even 80 percent out of India.

The company plans to invest about Rs 50 crore in including the engine component in its manufacturing plant over the next 12-18 months, which are currently imported.

Rajeev Mishra, Managing Director of UM India and Asia, Middle East and Africa says, “The company will be ramping up production at its Kashipur facility in Uttarakhand. The current production is around 12,000 units a month, which will be increased to 50,000 units. Since we sell a large market for our products in southern and western parts of India, we are exploring the possibility of setting up another plant and research centre either in Karnataka or Maharashtra by next year.”

The company, which had planned to start selling its bikes earlier in August, started dispatching the models. Its models Renegade Commando and Renegade Sports, both in the 300-cc segment, are priced at about Rs 1.49 lakh and Rs 1.59 lakh, respectively.

About 4,300 bookings, and around 65% of sales volumes is expected from the south and west markets. "The biggest markets are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and south alone contributes 35-40% to our volumes," he said.

The company presently employees about 32 engineers at its research and development centre in New Delhi and another 40 employees at its plant in Kashipur.

Mishra said engine, fuel tanks, ABD are a very critical components of a motorcycle and if these component is localized than we will up our localization by another 15-20 percent. “Our team is working on development the engine and other critical parts in India itself.”

All the critical components for the UM bikes are imported from Thailand, China and Japan. “We also have plans to develop an ABS and ABD locally for the future bike roll outs,” he concludes. 

UM Motorcycles Opens Tenth Dealership on Sarjapur Road, Bengaluru

UM Motorcycles has opened its tenth dealership in India in Bengaluru. To be called, Bengaluru UM, the new dealership is situated on Sarjapur Road, Bengaluru.

Spread over an area of approx. 2400 sq ft, the dealership facility has a showroom integrated with an after-sales service facility to ensure that the customers receive best-in-class pre-and post-sales ownership experience.

Speaking on this occasion, Rajeev Mishra, Director – UML, said, UM Motorcycles is focused on delivering a “pure motorcycling” experience to the customers. Our motorcycles are simple, evocative of classic style and a fun to ride.  Our partnership with Bengaluru UM is very significant and reflects UM Motorcycles efforts to connect with its consumers and provide high quality services that equal international standards. With a perfect combination of aesthetics, dynamism and perfect road handling, our UM products provide a truly unmatched biking experience.” This dealership will house our flagship products like Renegade Commando and Renegade Sports S. The prospective customers of UM Motorcycles in Bengaluru will be able to discover our products up close and personal at this new dealership.” 

Madhuri Mudhol, Proprietor Bengaluru UM said “UM Motorcycles are considered among the most coveted Cruiser brands in America and we are fully committed to this partnership and look forward to an exciting time ahead. Working with UM Motorcycles in Bengaluru will be an enriching experience that will enable both partners to grow.UM Bengaluru has engaged professionally trained staff for the management of sales and after sales, to ensure best in class customer service for both pre-and post sales ownership experience.

The Renegade Commando is a low-slung cruiser powered by a high powered 280 cc Engine with 25 BHP at 8,500 rpm and 21.8 Nm of torque at 7,000 rpm, mated to a six-speed transmission. This lightweight machine has a 200 mm ground clearance and an inbuilt USB charging point. The front disc brakes improve the braking efficiency drastically while radiation increases the engine efficiency. The bike comes with wide handlebars and hydraulic telescopic front suspension and spring rear suspension, which is ideal for a cruiser-segment motorcycle. The Renegade Commando will be available at Rs 1.69 lakhs (ex-showroom, Bengaluru). 

The Renegade Sports S model will also share the same engine as the Renegade Commando. The Renegade Sports S was much appreciated when it was showcased at the 2015 EICMA in Milan. The Renegade Commando and its sibling Renegade Sports S come with an electric start. An innovative feature called Service Alert Maintenance comes as a standard fitment in both Renegade Commando and Renegade Sports S. The LED Lights come as a standard in Sports S version. Six-speed synchronized mesh has been added for easy cruising. The front wheel has telescopic suspension while the rear wheel has dual shock absorbers. These motorcycles have a fuel tank of 18 liters with a kerb weight of 172 Kg. The Renegade Sports S is available at Rs 1.59 lakhs (ex-showroom, Bengaluru).