Infosys Pune Is World’s Largest Campus to Earn LEED Platinum Certification from US Green Building Council

Infosys has announced that it has been awarded the LEED EBOM (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - Existing Building Operation & Maintenance) Platinum certification by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) for its entire Infosys Pune Phase-2 campus. LEED Platinum is the highest level of green rating for buildings and with this recognition, the Infosys Pune campus becomes the largest in the world to achieve this distinction.

The Infosys Pune campus started operations in 2004 and is spread across 114 acres in Hinjewadi Phase-2. The campus consists of office buildings, residential training facilities, food courts, health and fitness facilities, multi-level parking and can accommodate 34,000 people. In an attempt to make the campus sustainable and resource efficient, Infosys has been following a two pronged strategy since 2008 - designing new buildings to meet the highest efficiency standards, and implementing deep retrofits in old buildings to make them efficient.

In new construction category, three buildings in the Infosys Pune Phase–2 campus are certified with LEED Platinum rating. For existing buildings, efficiency improvements were achieved through large-scale retrofit projects in 10 office buildings, three food courts, the employee training center, the guest house and sports complexes across the campus. Deep retrofits were undertaken in many energy intensive areas, including complete reengineering of chiller plants, air handling units, building management system (BMS) retrofit, UPS retrofit, lighting retrofit, to name a few, and were completed within a short duration. These initiatives have helped significantly lower operating costs, enhanced equipment life, created healthier indoor air quality, and improved occupant comfort and satisfaction.

The LEED EBOM certification by USGBC is a globally accepted benchmark for design, construction and operation of high-performance existing green buildings. This is one of the stringent green rating tools for existing buildings which verifies that the building is performing sustainably.

 Key features of Infosys Pune Phase-2 campus are:

·         Energy efficiency: 47% reduction in per capita energy consumption in the last eight years

·         Water conservation: 38% reduction in per capita water consumption in the last eight years

·         77% green power used to meet electricity needs of the entire campus this year

Google Unveils Re-Imagined Version of Its Free Earth Mapping Service

Google has launched a re-imagined version of its free Earth mapping service, weaving in storytelling and artificial intelligence and freeing it from apps.

“This is our gift to the world,” Google Earth director Rebecca Moore said while giving AFP an early look at the new version of the programme that lets people range the planet from the comfort of their computers, smartphones or tablets.

“It’s a product that speaks to our deepest values around education and making information available to people.”

A new ‘Voyager’ feature enables people digitally exploring the planet to be guided on interactive stories told by experts, boasting partners including BBC Earth, NASA, Sesame Street, and the Jane Goodall Institute.

Google artificial intelligence will be put to work for Earth users in the form of “knowledge cards” that let them dive deeper into online information about mountains, countries, landmarks or other places being virtually visited.

It will also make suggestions on other locations armchair explorers might be interested in exploring based on what they have searched in the past.

“This is the first time we have done this deep integration with the Google Knowledge Graph,” Earth engineering manager Sean Askay said.

“Everything Google knows about the world, you can know about the world.”

There is also a newly installed “Feeling Lucky?” feature for people who want to let the software suggest hidden gems such as Pemba Island off the Swahili coast or the Oodaira Hot Spring in Yamagata, Japan.

People can choose to fly around the world in Earth, using a 3—D button to see the Grand Canyon, Chateau Loire Valley and other stunning spots from any angles they wish.

“With the new Earth, we want to open up different lenses for you to see the world and learn a bit about how it all fits together; to open your mind with new stories while giving you a new perspective on the locations and experiences you cherish,” Earth product manager Gopal Shah said in a blog post.

Online explorers cruising the mobile version of Earth can also capture pictures on their travels, sending friends digital postcards.

New Earth was launched on Google’s Chrome and Android software, with versions tailored for Apple devices and other internet browsing software promised soon.

It’s the first time that Earth can be reached on a web browser instead of through applications installed on devices.

The move allows Google to tap into more powerful computing power at data centers in the internet “cloud” instead of relying on the capabilities of smartphones and other devices.

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.