Hyatt Place Candolim, Goa & Hyatt Regency Chandigarh Bag HICSA 2017 Awards

At a well-attended award ceremony held in Mumbai for the Hotel Investment Conference-South Asia (HICSA), two Hyatt hotels have been recognized as best in their segment. Hyatt Place Goa/Candolim, emerged as the Best New Hotel of the Year in the upper mid-market hotels segment and Hyatt Regency Chandigarh won the Best Upscale Hotel award. The 13th edition of HICSA honored some of the most exemplary hotel brands in the South Asian region.

Commenting on the achievement, Kurt Straub, Vice President of Operations for India, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts India said, “We began our India journey in 1983 and have endeavored to be one of the most preferred hospitality brands in the country. We have always moved forward with this intent. It is an honor for Hyatt Place Goa/Candolim, and Hyatt Regency Chandigarh to have been recognized by HICSA this year. We take this opportunity to thank everyone who worked to make this happen. This achievement not only makes us proud, but also fuels our passion to work harder, and continue to care for our people and guests. Powered by the purpose of care, Hyatt works to create an environment for people, including its employees, where care and understanding go a long way in building great relationships.”

Hyatt Place Goa/Candolim is the third Hyatt-branded hotel to officially open in Goa, India. The hotel brings the Hyatt Place brand’s intuitive design, casual atmosphere and practical amenities to the Goa area. This is one of the five Hyatt Place hotels to open in India, others being Hyatt Place Hampi, Hyatt Place Pune/Hinjewadi, Hyatt Place Gurgaon/Udyog Vihar and the recently opened Hyatt Place Rameswaram. With 147 spacious guestrooms, Hyatt Place Goa/Candolim is ideally located in the heart of North Goa, and is near to Candolim Beach, Calangute Beach and Fort Aguada. It is also in close proximity of popular entertainment and nightlife destinations.

Hyatt Regency Chandigarh opened its doors for the guests in 2016. As part of the Hyatt Regency brand, it has been conceived to foster connections and serve as a dynamic, energizing space where guests can collaborate, share and find inspiration. The hotel is central to the city’s business hub and is part of a premium development that includes the Elante Mall and an office complex that houses key multi-national companies and diplomatic missions. The guests can choose from 211 rooms and rejuvenate at the year-round outdoor pool and fitness centre.

Hyatt’s presence in India is represented by Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Place and Andaz. Each of the six brands provide a distinct experience for different traveler mindsets across 16 key cities in the country.

Solar Power Capacity Crosses 12 GW Added 5,525 MW Across India

India added 5,525 MW solar power generation capacity last fiscal, taking the total from this clean source to 12,288 MW. 

The country has abundant solar power potential which has been estimated to be 748 GW, New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal stated in a written reply to Rajya Sabha .

It had achieved total cumulative solar power generation capacity of 6,763 MW in 2015-16. The capacity was 1,686 MW in 2012-13 which increased to 2,632 MW in 2013-14 and to 3,744 MW in 2014-15. 

In a separate reply, Goyal said the government has envisaged 4,800 MW from rooftop solar and 7,200 MW from large scale solar power projects in the country. 

India has plans to add 5,000 MW of rooftop solar and 10,000 MW from large scale solar power projects in the current fiscal, he said. 

Among states, Andhra Pradesh tops the chart with largest cumulative solar generation capacity of 1,867 MW as on March 31, 2017 followed by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu at 1,812 MW and 1,691 MW respectively. 

Goyal said that in its submission to the United Nations Frame Work Convention on Climate Change on Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), the government has said that India will achieve 40 per cent cumulative Electric power capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030. 

It will be done with the help of transfer of technology and low cost International Finance which includes Green Climate Fund, he said.

Unperturbed by Possible Changes to H-1B Visa Regime: TCS CEO

Unfazed by the possible changes to the H1-B visa regime, CEO of India’s IT major TCS Rajesh Gopinathan has said the current discourse on the issue in the US is driven by emotions rather than economy and the best way to tackle it is through greater engagement.

Gopinathan favoured a policy of engagement with various stake holders on the issue of H-1B visas in the US. He noted that the discourse is currently driven by emotions rather than economy. “The best way to tackle that is greater engagement. Because the way, sometimes, companies like us get characterised is very different from the reality of what we bring to the table,” Gopinathan said.

“Some of these engagements actually help get that message out also. People will understand us better for who we are, and I think engagement, communication and collaboration is the best way to deal with the political lack of understanding which comes. Democracy ought to deal with the emotional response that you see and you have to get over it and engage positively,” Gopinathan said.

He said the US has been a “very welcoming market” for the IT major and has provided it with a fair, open and competitive environment. “All said and done, the US has been a very welcoming market for us. So you keep aside the immediate issues, it’s been a market that has been fair, it has been an open, competitive environment,” Gopinathan told the agencies, exuding confidence that TCS would be able to successfully compete in any environment.

Gopinathan said TCS has competed and has won against the best in the country. “We have competed and we have won against the global best in this country, on equal footing. So, it has been a market that has helped us grow in confidence as we have gone,” he said but repeatedly refrained from having any complaint from the present system or the possibility of a new executive order that would adversely have an impact on his company’s performance due to any action by the Trump Administration on H-1B visas.

US President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order that would tighten the process of issuing the H-1B visas and seek a review of the system for creating an “entirely new structure” for awarding these visas.

Gopinathan was appointed as the new CEO of TCS this January after his predecessor N Chandrasekaran was elevated to the post of Chairman of Tata Sons.

Responding to questions on a potential executive order or legislations being talked about lawmakers, Gopinathan asserted that there is no law currently in the US that is discriminatory. “There are many that are being discussed, which if they were to get passed, in their extreme form would be discriminatory. So we should actually give credence to the system here, that is, as I said, it is fair. It has been fair in the past, there is no reason for us to assume that it will not be fair in the future. So, let’s deal with what’s on the ground and let’s go step by step,” he said.

“More importantly, we have very active STEM education engagement in the US. We work with colleges, high school students, we reach out, we have touched close to 20,000 plus students already, and significantly we are accelerate that into what we call Ignite My Future Campaign. We just target to touch one million students all in the next five years,” he said.

Noting that the technology market is actually under supplied, he said the sheer demand of technical skills far outstrips the supply. “What we’ve been successful in India is to actually increase the world supply, often generating graduates way beyond what the governing systems actually provided. So we capitalised the emergence of a private sector education complex that served to provide us the talent required for our growth,” he said.

IESA Appoints Ashwini K Aggarwal & Anilkumar Muniswamy as New Chairman and Vice Chairman for 2017

India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), has announced Ashwini K Aggarwal, Director, Applied Materials, India as Chairman of the Board of Director and Executive Committee effective immediately. Ashwini succeeds K Krishna Moorthy, who will continue as an advisor to the board. Anilkumar Muniswamy is the new Vice Chairman with Rajesh Krishnan, VP, Memory Solutions, Samsung Semiconductor India Research serving as the new Treasurer.

Ashwini joined IESA’s board in 2015. Prior to being named Chairman, he served as member of the board of Electronics Sector Skills Council and member/chair of various industry Special Interest Groups.

A veteran of the electronics industry for more than three decades, Aggarwal, is known for his global business, industry and operational expertise. He spent eighteen years as an executive at Hewlett- Packard Company, in various capacities including Country Sales, Country Marketing and Product Management. Aggarwal currently is the Director-Government Affairs at Applied Materials India and has been working on various industry enabling projects.

Speaking about his current role at IESA, Ashwini Aggarwal, Chairman, IESA said, “As a member of the IESA board, I have been inspired by the association’s ability to push the boundaries of industry networking, create enabling innovations and policies that drive the Indian Electronics Systems and Design ecosystem forward.” He further added, “I am honored to serve as Chairman and would like to thank Krishna Moorthy for his many contributions to IESA and the Indian ESDM industry during a benchmark performance year.”

“Ashwini brings deep knowledge of the high value electronics industry, as well as strong industry and governance experience, to lead the board during one of the most exciting periods of innovation and growth in our industry’s history”, said M N Vidyashankar, President, IESA.

“Our priorities this year will be to consolidate the increasing traction on Make in India, nurture the emerging green shoots of the startups and entrepreneurs and build on ground activation for talent development and innovation,” shared Ashwini. “We look forward to working with the Central and State governments, our industry members, entrepreneurs and other relevant stakeholders in India and abroad- to bring India on the radar of being a manufacturing hub at a global level,” added Ashwini Aggarwal.

The IESA Executive Council will also see the appointment of three new members; Vivek Sharma, Managing Director, STMicroelectronics; Jitendra Chaddah, Director, Operations and Strategic Relations, Intel India and Rajeev Khushu, Director, Corporate Affairs of Texas Instruments.  A team of 12 senior Industry leaders will collectively work to deliver on-ground activation for enabling innovation, investment and industry.

IESA has been instrumental in working with the central and state governments to bring out favorable policies to enable Indian electronics and semiconductor sector by driving numerous initiatives to bring awareness in the policy makers and working closely with them to help the industry overcome impediments for growth. IESA has also been aggressively working towards new government initiatives like ‘Make in India’, ‘Start-up India’ and ‘Digital India’ and has given valuable consultations to international companies who have shown interest to set-up electronics facilities in India. The executive council will continue working towards achieving the vision laid down collectively by the association member community.

Axis Bank Reaches One Million Micro-Borrowers Mark Across India

Axis Bank has touched 1 million micro-borrowers mark and is not keen on acquiring stake in any microlender.

Three years after getting into the segment, the bank hs touched 1 million borrowers mark recently and all of them are women who have availed themselves of credit through the joint lending group model, Axis Bank’s retail banking head Rajiv Anand told the agencies.

Stating that the lending book stands at Rs. 1,100 crore now, he hinted that the bank will focus on expanding the business organically rather than buying into a microfinance company.

“As of now, we don’t believe there is any need for us to take on any equity stake in an MFI,” Anand said.

It can be noted that other lenders like Kotak Mahindra Bank and IDFC Bank have acquired stakes in MFIs, while IndusInd Bank is in talks with Bharat Financial (formerly SKS) for what can be one of the biggest acquisitions in the space.

As many as 90 per cent of Axis Bank’s borrowers have been tapped by the bank’s dedicated team of 1,600 people, while the rest have come from intermediaries, Anand said.

The average ticket size of its micro loans is Rs. 18,000 and there is a three-tier rate structure with interest ranging from 12 to 22 per cent, he said, asserting that this is a “profitable” business for the bank.

Axis Bank is present in 18 states with its microlending offerings and aims to reach 22 states by 2020.

Even as the bank faces regulatory action for alleged irregularities during the note-ban period, Anand said he is “proud” of the work done by his retail banking staff.

Anand said the average transactions jumped four times that of the usual during the period, and the bank also had to work with the rules getting changed almost every day .

Asserting that Axis Bank is not the only one to have been found of indulging in irregularities, Anand admitted that “there have been a few stray incidents and we have a zero tolerance on such issues. Strictest action has been taken against all those indulged in irregularities.”

He also said that speculation of the bank merging with another one does not have any bearing on its expansion strategies, underlining that such talk has been denied.

Even as the advent of digital banking raises concerns on the relevance of the network-led model, Anand said 90 per cent of customers for the banking system do not use digital alternatives.

He said physical networks are important from a brand trust perspective and that the nature of the work undertaken at the branches can undergo a change eventually.

Indian Govt Permits 6 New Airlines to Fly Regional Over Indian Skyies

The move to grant AOP or NOC comes in the wake of the ministry and the DGCA considering allowing non-scheduled air operators and air charter firms to convert to scheduled operators to fly on routes not touched by the existing scheduled airlines.

Six new airlines are likely to fly in the Indian sky in the coming months with the government giving flying licence to four of six companies which had sought permits for launching scheduled, private or charter air operations.

While AirAsia India, Ligare Aviation Limited, Quickjet Cargo Airlines and LEPL Projects Limited have been granted the Air Operator’s Permit (AOP) or the flying licence, the two pending cases are those of Tata-SIA Airlines Limited and Air Pegasus Limited, Minister of State for Civil Aviation G M Siddeshwara has said.

While AirAsia India has started its operations, Tata-SIA Airlines, a 51:49 joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, has announced plans to launch flights by September-end or October.

Recently, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which is in the process of examining Tata-SIA’s application for grant of AOP to launch a full-service carrier, recently dismissed objections from the Federation of Indian Airlines against it.

The approval for an AOP, when granted, would be subject to the orders of the Delhi High Court in a case challenging foreign direct investment in new Indian carriers.

Two other airlines, Air Carnival and Zav Airways, have been granted the initial No Objection Certificate (NOC) by the Civil Aviation Ministry to start scheduled regional services.

While Air Carnival proposes to operate in the Southern region, Zav Airways would fly in the Northeastern and Eastern regions, officials said.

Earlier, Ministry officials said NOC has also been granted to AirOne Aviation, Zexus Air Limited, Premier Air and Turbo Megha.

Non-scheduled operator AirOne, headed by a CEO of the erstwhile Air Sahara, is understood to have plans to launch a scheduled airline.

Getting an NOC is the first step towards launching flight operations. The airline companies have to then apply to DGCA for the AOP, complete all necessary requirements and formalities and satisfy the aviation regulator of their capability to launch flight operations.

The move to grant AOP or NOC comes in the wake of the ministry and the DGCA considering allowing non-scheduled air operators and air charter firms to convert to scheduled operators to fly on routes not touched by the existing scheduled airlines.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju recently said such moves were aimed at promoting air travel to unconnected destinations. He also said that regional airline services needed to be supported by state governments also as these promoted regional connectivity.

Chetan Maini’s Sun Mobility Plans for Modular Batteries for Electric Vehicles in India

Chetan Maini, the Bangalore entrepreneur was selling electric cars (Reva) in India at the turn of this century, today, at the cusp of a electric vehicle revolution, he is back with a bigger, more audacious plan.

His latest joint venture, SUN Mobility, aims to build an open-architecture ecosystem to accelerate the adoption of electric cars. At the core of this plan are interchangeable smart batteries that fit across a range of vehicles. The batteries will all be IOT-enabled and be part of a network of energy storage devices that can be easily swapped in and out of vehicles.

The Indian government has been vocal and ambitious about using renewable energy to reduce the country’s dependance on oil. As per targets, the government plans to set up 175GW of renewable energy by 2022. On top of this, it has an equally ambitious plan of having 100% electric vehicles in the roads by 2030.

“Today, electric cars are significantly more expensive that petrol vehicles. The cost of the batteries is 30–50% of this cost. If we remove the battery from the equation, the prices become comparable to regular cars,” says Maini.

Imagine when you buy your electric car, you don’t pay for the batteries but only for the car. The battery / energy becomes a service, where you pay as you go, much like fuel today. If your battery is running low, you go to the nearest battery swap station and in about the same time (or less) it takes to refuel, someone swaps out your batteries and fits in another one, fully juiced up. You pay as you go and continue on your way.

“The government is massively pushing for electric vehicle adoption. Having an open architecture ecosystem will be necessary to enable that,” says Uday Khemka, vice-chairman of SUN group.

The big question, however, is whether the OEMs will buy into this completely new approach and design their vehicles around it. Here, Maini believes that the OEMs’ need to be part of this emerging industry, combined with limitations in their ability to manage batteries, will see them adopting the open solution readily as it will help them come to market quickly.

It is also unclear if the pricing will be competitive given the initial investments that both OEMs and Sun Mobility will have to make to enable this ecosystem.

Maini launched Reva seven years before the first Tesla hit the roads. Today, however, the time may have arrived. We’ll have to wait and watch if Sun Mobility can indeed revolutionise the electric car market in India.

Besides addressing the issue of higher pricing of these cars due to the batteries, the solution also enables a faster way to set up infrastructure for electric cars and also provides a quick recharge (by swapping) that’s comparable to a fuel stop. The energy charges (powered by rapidly falling renewable energy prices) are also likely to be cheaper than gasoline.

This is the ecosystem that SUN Mobility, which is a 50:50 joint venture between Virya Mobility 5.0 (owned by the Maini brothers) and Sun New Energy Systems (SUN Group’s flagship investment company in the new energy space), wants to build. The company will use its patented technology to create smart, modular batteries. However, it does not plan to set up a battery manufacturing capacity in India and instead will likely import the battery cells and then build on it.

If your battery is running low, you go to the nearest battery swap station and in about the same time (or less) it takes to refuel, someone swaps out your batteries and fits in another one, fully juiced up. You pay as you go and continue on your way.

Besides the smart batteries, the company plans to set up the infrastructure for charging and battery swap-stations (self-owned as well as through partnerships). It is also in conversations with energy providers to source renewable energy to keep this battery network juiced up.

The technology will be cross-platform, meaning it will work across two-wheelers, three-wheelers, cars and even buses. More importantly, it would be an open, modular platform that works across vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Maini believes that this is analogous to how the smartphone market evolved and standardising a key component like batteries could do the same for electric cars in India.