‘Medical Transcription Outsourcing Capital !

There is more to Coimbatore than just being the ‘Manchester of South India' with its burgeoning textile and engineering industries. This third largest city in Tamil Nadu and home to the Formula 3 circuit has, over the years, emerged as one of the top destinations for the IT-BPO industry.

In fact, according to a recent study by Cyber Media's Global Services and investment advisory firm Tholons, Coimbatore has been ranked in the 17th position in the list of the top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing cities. Industry associations have been making concerted efforts to turn this industrial hub into another Silicon Valley. The Coimbatore zone of the CII has been, for nearly a decade now, promoting this industrial hub as an ‘ideal IT destination' for engineering process outsourcing (EPO), among others. The region has carved a niche for itself in engineering, auto components and machine tools space.

Industry experts say the locational advantage that the city enjoys, its proximity to Chennai and Bangalore, the huge talent pool and its entrepreneurial culture differentiates Coimbatore from other destinations. A number of companies across the gamut of outsourcing (from EPO to legal and medical transcription) have started their operations to capitalise on the rich pool of talent and resources readily available here.

Statistics reveal that there are over 27 engineering colleges, 70+ arts and science colleges and 18 polytechnics in and around here, making it an ideal recruitment destination as well. Retention of talent pool has been a strong point for most of the players establishing a presence here.

IT major Cognizant, for instance, was one of the first major players to start a development centre here and has since expanded rapidly. Its Vice-President and Head, Vishnu Potty, admits to Coimbatore being a strong sourcing base for its operations across India. Cognizant's Coimbatore centre focuses on financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and retail, media and entertainment.The city is set to emerge as the ‘Medical Transcription Outsourcing Capital of India', say leaders in the medical transcription space.

Players such as CBay Systems and Spheris have expanded their operations here rapidly. CBay, for instance, has its largest facility here in an area of about 20,000 sq.ft. The company has, in the last eight months, opened up two centres, initiated tie-ups with local colleges to rope in students. A few others are exploring opportunities across the landscape as this (medical transcription) industry is predominantly South-based.

Being the chosen hub for MT, the city also has a number of people travelling from smaller towns such as Salem, Erode, Pollachi and Udhagamandalam attracted towards this steadily growing industry.

“The availability of quality manpower, large talent pool of almost 28,000 non-graduate engineers passing out every year from the 260-odd institutions has made Coimbatore an attractive destination for us,” says Suresh Nair, CEO and Managing Director, Spheris.

Industry leaders believe that with requisite training, the prospective candidates could be groomed to become world class medical transcriptionists to cater to the $200-billion healthcare outsourcing business world-wide.

BEML opens its Vendor Dev Office !!

BEML, formerly known as Bharat Earth Movers Limited, has opened a vendor development and sourcing office here.

BEML is setting up a green field project for defence equipment and rail coaches at Kanjikode in Palakkad district of Kerala and Coimbatore is a potential area to supply components, mainly sheet metal fabrication, castings and forgings, according to the company’s Deputy General Manager for Corporate Purchase H.S. Ranganath.Mr. Ranganath said at a buyer-seller meeting organised here on Friday by the Confederation of Indian Industry that the company’s procurement target through outsourcing was over Rs. 1,080 crore for 2010-2011 and Rs. 900 crore for 2009-2010. Of the Rs. 580 crore outsourcing in 2008-2009, nearly 12 per cent was from Coimbatore region.

The need for an office here was felt to improve communication with the vendors.The office here currently has three engineers and the strength would be increased in the coming months.BEML certainly required more vendors and the units that would be able to the meet its requirements had opportunities, he said.H.S. Prakash, Chief General Manager – rail coach division, said that the site was getting ready at the Kanjikode facility and the unit would be commissioned by March next year.The unit would manufacture defence equipment and aggregates for rail and metro cars.

With Kanjikode only about 40 km away, Coimbatore could make use of the advantage of location and tap the opportunities in outsourcing.

L & T Opens its casting unit !!

Chairman and Managing Director of Larsen and Toubro (L & T) A.M. Naik inaugurated a casting manufacturing unit here on Wednesday. The capacity of the Rs. 120-crore plant is 30,000 tonnes a year.

Full capacity

Mr. Naik told presspersons after the inaugural that the foundry would take about two years to reach full capacity production. It would cater to the casting needs of the wind turbine industry.The Coimbatore campus of L & T focused on precision manufacturing and light engineering products.The company’s investment in its facilities here so far was about Rs. 320 crore and direct employment was nearly 500. The company planned to increase this to about 3,000 in a decade.

L & T’s investment commitment in the State in roads, ports and shipyard was about Rs. 4,000 crore. This was expected to go up to Rs. 5,000 crore next year. “Tamil Nadu is extremely important for L & T,” he said.

Total order

Mr. Naik also said that it would start construction of power generation projects (totalling about 7,000 MW) in a couple of years in different parts of the country.The total order book for the company was for nearly Rs. 90,000 crore now.Speaking at the inaugural, Mr. Naik said the company saw a lot of opportunities in the State.It worked with the objective of national building, having a cleaner planet and corporate social responsibility.

State-of-the-art

Senior Vice-President S. Raghavan said that the foundry here was established in less than 18 months. It had unique features such as 98 per cent sand reclamation and high quality sand mixers.According to a release from the company, the foundry was located on a 15-acre plot and incorporated state-of-the-art pollution control, fire control and environment conservation measures. The foundry was the sixth facility of L&T in Coimbatore.

Rakindo builds Kovai Hill township !!

Rakindo Developers Pvt Ltd, a property development and master planning company involved in designing and developing properties and resorts in the Middle East, China, India and Europe, has appointed Mudra and Grey Worldwide as creative agencies for two of its upcoming projects.While Mudra will handle the integrated township project that is coming up at Kovai Hill, Coimbatore, Grey Worldwide will look after the creative duties of Orchid, a residential project consisting of apartments and row houses.

Confirming the development, a Rakindo Developers spokesperson said that after going through the presentations of the agencies that had taken part in a pitch, the company decided to appoint Mudra and Grey. “Mudra and Grey understood exactly what we need to communicate,” he added.JWT and Lowe are the two other agencies that had taken part in the pitch.

Joydeep Dasgupta, Head of Mudra Chennai said, “Initially, the communication will focus more on BTL activities. ATL activities will be undertaken some time later.”Rakindo Developers is a joint venture company formed by Rakeen, a global business company promoted by the Government of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, and Chennai-based mineral conglomerate Trimex Group. The project – Kovai Hills – will be developed over 1,000 acres with an 18-hole golf course as the centrepiece. The project involves setting up of luxurious golf course villas with scenic mountains and lush greenery in the background. Rakindo will offer these exclusive villas on ‘Own by Invitation Only’, a first in Tamil Nadu. The project is located southwest on the Coimbatore-Palakkad route and will have about 22 million sq ft of constructed space.

Retirement homes with a difference

The concept of senior citizens’ homes is now well established in India because of changing lifestyles and the facilities they offer.While many homes provide basic healthcare facilities, not many offer the specialised care the residents may need as they grow older.A Coimbatore-based real estate promoter, who has executed projects for senior citizens here, is now planning such projects at the national level.

The company will offer homes for senior citizens, assisted living facilities and nursing care for those afflicted with serious illnesses.Col (Retd) A. Sridharan, Managing Director, Covai Property Centre (India) Private Ltd, Coimbatore, said the company has built about 200 cottages for senior citizens in Coimbatore with plans to set up 400 cottages/apartments in the next two years. The current project meets the requirements of the first stage independent living only.

Unique model

He said the model he plans to adopt is unique in that it combines freehold property, leasehold property and nursing care arrangements, depending on the requirement and ensure the financial security of the senior citizens at different stages of their lives.Senior citizens who may be mentally alert but physically weak could take on lease space in designated assisted care blocks. If needed the occupants could sell their freehold property at the market price.Subsequently, even the leased space could be traded in if they move to the nursing-care stage. This ensures that the residents earn some profit out of their previous investment ensuring their financial security till their death.

Separate company

He said he has planned to form a separate company that would exclusively focus on retirement communities as Senior Care Projects, as the emphasis is more on the care to be provided.Initially, these would come up near Chennai, Bangalore and Pune, and later in Hyderabad, Kochi and Hosur, apart from Coimbatore over the next 5-6 years. He is expecting external funding for these projects. The company is doing an online survey at www.covaiprop.com .

The homes would come up on 15-35 acre sites. Fifteen per cent area would be reserved for assisted care, and the hospital would have 20-25 beds. There would be exclusive centres for those suffering from dementia and Alzheimer.He put the investment required for each project at Rs 100-125 crore. The work on the Chennai project, to come up near Perungulathur, will commence in the middle of next year and become operational in two years. Independent homes and assisted living facilities would come up first, along with requisite amenities. Nursing care would come up in the later stages of the projects.

The aim is to price studio apartments of 600-700 sq.ft at Rs 20-22 lakh, two-bedroom apartments of 1,000-1,100 sq.ft at Rs 30-35 lakh and villas around Rs 60-70 lakh, excluding levies and taxes.

Recurring expenses will be ‘affordable and commensurate with the facilities being provided’ and for assisted care/nursing care, the cost is yet to be worked out.Currently, in Coimbatore, he charges about Rs 3,000 for food per person a month and maintenance cost is Rs 2 per sq.ft of the plinth area of the dwelling, which covers the staff cost also.

Government support

He said the Central and State governments should support senior citizens living in such retirement homes and the care givers who build the facilities.Incentives under the new Direct Taxes Code could come in the form of reduced stamp duty, exemption from service tax and sales tax (for construction) and IT exemption on housing loans taken for such facilities.He said the promoters should get tax exemptions under Section 80 IB, exemption from infrastructure development charges, VAT relief, etc.

NEPC sets up a SEZ at Palladam !!

Natural Energy Processing Company (NEPC) India Ltd is planning to set up a special economic zone (SEZ) at Palladam near Coimbatore with an investment of around Rs 2,000 crore. The company is also talking to private equity investors to fund the project.

Ravi Prakash Khemka, chairman NEPC India Ltd said that the company is planning to set up solar and Photo Voltaic plant in the SEZ, to which the construction is expected commence from January 2009. Total investment would be around Rs 2,000 crore.

All the approvals from the state and central governments are being obtained. The proposed investment will be funded through debt and equity. “We are talking to a few private equity investors to fund the project,” said Khemka.

While NEPC’s land requirement would be only 25 acre for setting up the facility, the remaining would be given to other non-conventional energy players, added Khemka. Once the project takes shape, the company is expecting Rs 4,000-5,000 crore from investors and would provide employment to 5,000-6,000 people both directly and indirectly. Almost 360 days solar energy is available in the country, he added, considering which the company has embarked into manufacturing Solar Dual Power System, UPS.

Ascendas upcoming with 53 acre SEZ

Ascendas India Development Trust (AIDT) and IREO announce proposed integrated development in Coimbatore

53-acre plot housing IT SEZ, residential, commercial and other supporting spaces


1. Singapore, 9 April 2008 – Ascendas India Development Trust (AIDT), the private
property development fund spearheaded by Asia’s business space leader Ascendas,
has partnered IREO, a leading foreign investor in Indian real estate, to develop an
integrated project, comprising an IT Special Economic Zone (“IT SEZ”) and mixed-use
development in Coimbatore in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The 50:50 joint venture
(“JV”) spreads over 53 acres, and is a first for both Ascendas and IREO in Coimbatore.
Ascendas will manage the development when it is completed.

2. AIDT, a private trust that undertakes green field development projects, has granted a
right of first refusal to Ascendas India Trust (“a-iTrust”) to acquire income-producing
business space in India.

3. Ascendas is a key developer of IT space in India with over 265 acres of development
spread across six cities. This latest project is Ascendas’ third IT space development in
the state of Tamil Nadu after the landmark International Tech Park Chennai (ITPC) and
CyberVale, located at Mahindra World City, Chennai.

4. IREO, one of the leading foreign investors in Indian real estate, has an asset portfolio of
about US$2.0 billion (S$2.76 billion / INR8,000 crores) spread across more than 15
development projects encompassing residential, office, retail and hospitality properties in
India.

5. The integrated project is within a fast developing business hub in Coimbatore and
located 10 km from the airport. Of the 53 acres, 28 acres will have development
potential of more than 3 million sq ft of IT SEZ space that can accommodate over 30,000
IT professionals when fully completed. The remaining 25 acres are earmarked for
residential, commercial and hospitality use.

6. Development of the project will take place over four phases and is expected to
commence in September 2008. The development will feature quality infrastructure and
facilities that are synonymous with Ascendas’ spaces across the region. The project is
expected to be completed in about six to seven years.

7. Ms Chong Siak Ching, President & CEO, Ascendas Pte Ltd, said, “Ascendas has forged
close ties with Tamil Nadu with two projects in Chennai and we now seek to enhance
our presence in the state with the latest planned offering of an integrated development in
Coimbatore. The city has a ready pool of skilled talent and we hope that this project will
provide more opportunities closer to home for Coimbatore. We are pleased to have
IREO as our partner in this venture. With an integrated development, Ascendas aims
to provide our clients with diverse services spanning residential, retail and other
commercial uses. This is in line with Ascendas’ existing strategy to deliver an
international business lifestyle in a well-planned environment.”

8. Anurag Bhargava, Managing Partner of IREO, said, “We are proud to partner Ascendas
in this milestone development project in Coimbatore. We look forward to enhancing
Coimbatore’s IT landscape by offering world–class facilities in the planned
development.”

UNIDO launching new cluster programme !

Within a broader cooperation programme, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) is launching new industrial projects totaling nearly US $ 9 million to benefit industry in India. Agreements on this were signed earlier this month (on 7 August 2009) in Vienna by the Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Shri Ajay Shankar and UNIDO Director-General Dr. Kandeh K. Yumkella.

DIPP has conceptualized an Integrated Cluster Development Programme (ICDP) wherein clusters which received infrastructure interventions under its prestigious Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS) were targeted for Technological Interventions through Technical Cooperation services of UNIDO. The clusters selected are Auto-Component at Pithampura (Madhya Pradesh), Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Pune (Maharashtra); Machine Tools at Bangalore (Karnataka); Foundry at Belgaum (Karnataka) and Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu); Chemicals at Ankhleswar (Gujarat) and Leather at Kanpur (Utter Pradesh).

A US $ 5.9 million Integrated Cluster Development Programme for India will focus on technology, management, skill development and the environment. It will be implemented by 2014 at sites in Pithampura, Chennai, Pune, Ankhleswar, Kanpur and New Delhi, matching the specific needs of each industrial location.

The Programme will offer turnkey solutions to each of the identified clusters to help them address technology, quality or environmental constraints, encompassing a comprehensive package of services – ranging from energy efficiency and water conservation to cleaner production and lean manufacturing. “Lowering the consumption of energy, raw materials and water in industry; reducing the waste and pollution intensity of enterprises; and improving the productivity of industries, leading to enhanced competitiveness – these are the essential underpinnings of the Integrated Cluster Development Programme. Through this flagship programme, the project will avail UNIDO’s expertise in the key areas to achieve the vision of a Green Industry”.

“The 2009-2014 Integrated Cluster Development Programme for India will help tackle poverty issues and contribute to environmental sustainability”. The cluster programme combines projects that will help improve resource productivity and environmental performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in particular in automotive components, leather and chemical sectors. They will focus on enhanced market access for small and medium sized automotive component manufacturers in Indian auto-clusters. They will also enable local leather-based industry to sustain conversion of locally available raw hides and skins into exportable products either directly as genuine leather or as derived finished products – for example, footwear.

The projects will provide employment and income opportunities without jeopardizing the livelihood of the human settlements through environmental degradation, and without threatening the rapidly depleting water sources and agricultural land. A separate project worth US $ 3 million, a part of ICDP, will deal with upgrading India’s machine tools industry.

According to UNIDO “The machine tool industry is the backbone of India’s engineering sector. It has come a long way, but now needs to be further strengthened to cost-effectively produce quality machine tools through technological upgrade and market development. The Indian industry has an abundance of skilled manpower, basic raw materials, and a rising class of technical entrepreneurs. By addressing productivity, quality, reliability, service and technology, the performance of the Indian machine tool enterprises can be greatly improved.

The machine tool industry project will be implemented by the UNIDO-International Centre for Advancement of Manufacturing Technology (ICAMT) within the framework of the ongoing Country Programme of Cooperation between India and UNIDO for 2008-2012.

Project relating to Foundry clusters at Belgaum and Coimbatore will be launched shortly. UNIDO is the only specialized agency for industrial development in the UN system and has been working with governments, business associations and private companies to solve industrial problems for more than 40 years.

KGISL to invest 600 Cr in SEZ !

Hi-Tech Infrastructure Private Limited, promoted by Coimbatore-based KG Information Systems Limited (KGISL), plans to invest around Rs 600 core over the next two years in building a township at a special economic zone (SEZ), the first SEZ for IT and ITeS sectors being developed at Saravanampally in Coimbatore.

Speaking to Business Standard, KGISL managing director, Ashok Bakthavathsalam, said the company was developing the SEZ on 150 acre, of which 65 acre had already been allotted to Robert Bosch India, Cognizant and Perot Systems. Bosch is setting up a research and development centre in the SEZ with an investment of around Rs 250 crore.

Bakthavathsalam said the SEZ was expected to attract investments to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore and generate employment to about 15,000 people over the next two years. “KGISL alone will invest around Rs 600 crore in the SEZ, which will be funded through a mix of internal accruals and debt,” he said.The company is planning to set up a budget hotel, 400 affordable houses and a hospital to supplement the upcoming industries in the SEZ, he said, adding that the company is open to join hands with private partners to promote the township.


“The SEZ will also help other industries to grow in this region. For instance, Robert Bosch facility will not only create additional job opportunities in Coimbatore, but will also benefit the manufacturing sector in and around Coimbatore as Robert Bosch is looking for partners to bring complimentary strengths to what it does,” Bakthavathsalam.

Coimbatore, he said, will be the right destination for IT and ITeS companies, which are currently passing through rough times. A business process outsourcing (BPO) company, which will operate out of Coimbatore, can save up to $200 per seat a month when compared to Delhi or other major metros.“Moreover, there are about 40 engineering colleges and 80 arts colleges, which are producing about 150,000 students every year. Availability of human resources is the biggest advantage.The establishment of the SEZ will also benefit the adjoining villages with the creation of non-IT jobs,” he said.

Saxony to strengthen ties with Coimbatore

The Saxony Economic Development Corporation of Germany is looking at furthering business ties between Coimbatore and Saxony.Project Co-ordinator of Strategic Alliance Mechanical Engineering, Saxony, Frank Treppe and N. Venugopal, representative of the Federal State of Saxony here, told on Sunday that business cooperation between Coimbatore and Saxony started off in 2005 and now there were several partnerships.

“A dozen partnership projects are already on and we have completed four of them,” Mr. Venugopal said.These were related to mainly machine tools and renewable energy. “The partnerships started with business-to-business and now we are heading to technology,” Mr. Treppe added.

Saxony was known for its strengths and innovations in mechanical engineering.It had over 1,000 small and medium enterprises, universities of applied sciences and machine tool, printing, textile and special machinery manufacturing units.Nearly 42 per cent of machine tool production of Saxony was exported.

Mr. Treppe had visited the major manufacturing hubs in India, including Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Bangalore.He said: “Coimbatore is a perfect match for partnership.”Saxony was looking at more projects, partnerships, investments, buy-backs, technology and know-how transfers, apart from business growth between the two regions.Technology partnerships should be for research projects that would benefit the industries. “Saxony will be a gateway to East German States. There are several opportunities for the two regions to jointly develop new markets,” he said.

“We need to know each other and work together. We need partnerships between companies, especially the medium size units, and technology providers,” Mr. Treppe said.Saxony also had biannual industrial exhibitions, similar to the International Industrial Fair organised by the Coimbatore District Small Industries’ Association here.

The Corporation was participating at the fair here and Coimbatore industries were likely to participate at the industrial fair to be held in Saxony next year.

Construction industry seeks speedy approval mechanism

The Builders’ Association of India, Coimbatore Centre, has expressed concern over the delay in getting building plan approvals.It takes one to two years to get approval for a medium-size project (over 2,000 sq.ft). “The construction sector here will disappear if the time taken for approvals is so long,” says an office-bearer of the association.

Outgoing chairman of the association G. Srinivasan and the new chairman D.R. Sekar told presspersons here on Monday that Coimbatore had started losing opportunities as projects were moving out of the city fearing the delay.Four associations related to the construction sector assisted the Corporation for introduction of the Auto DCR system. In this system, plans were prepared using specially developed software and the building plan was submitted in a CD. The local body used the software to verify the plan. The objective was to reduce the time taken for approvals.

The Auto DCR should be extended to the Local Planning Authority and the Directorate of Town and Country Planning. The Auto DCR could also be upgraded to provide all related details to consumers at the click of the mouse. The Government should be pro-active in bringing about transparency in approvals. This would further reduce deviations and violations.There could be emergency projects such as extension of a hospital block or completion of classrooms in an educational institution before the beginning of the academic year. These projects were also getting hit with the delay in the approvals, they said.A nodal agency should be constituted for approvals and it should be within a time frame, Mr. Srinivasan said.

During the last one year, construction activities here were on a down turn and were expected revive by the end of the year. Industrial expansions had almost come to a standstill. Commercial construction had also declined. Only Government infrastructure works and individual residential works were on.Apart from starting the school of construction artisans at Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya here, the association had also tied up with a hospital to provide medical care to workers at a concessional rate.

With increasing awareness among the consumers and the builders, deviations were coming down, safety standards were improving in construction and the quality was also going up.

Windmill instalations on raise ...

Windmill installations in the district during 2008-09 are slightly more than the previous year, according to
K. Kasthurirangaian, vice-chairman of the Indian Wind Power Association.He told 212 MW was installed during 2008-09 in this region, which had the Palghat Pass.

This was about 50 MW more than the previous year.The State had the potential to add another 2,000 MW of windmills, especially in Coimbatore and Kayathar regions.The Southern districts were almost saturated. In 2007-08, additional installations in the State were 380 MW and it had gone up to 428 MW in 2008-09.

The industries were doing well in the country till September 2008 and installations came from sectors such as cement and steel.“They have invested a lot in the windmills in the State,” he said.

Evacuation had not been a problem till September last and after that generation had come down. This year too evacuation was not expected to be a problem in the State. If the economic slowdown continued, the additional installations might not be high.At the national-level, about 1,500 MW was added during 2008-09. At the same time, with focus on infrastructure, China had added about 6,500 MW, he said.

ITC - Fortune park to set up Hotel @ Coimbatore !

ITC-Owned Fortune Park Hotels plans to open four new hotels in Mussoorie, Jaipur, Bangalore and Manipal by July, said a top company executive. The hospitality firm also announced that it is going to invest Rs 120-150 crore to build two hotels in Bangalore and Coimbatore.

“So far Fortune Park Hotel was a hotel management company and has expanded by tying up with various real estate developers. Now, we plans to invest and build two hotels under the brand,” said ITC-Hotel division senior executive vice-president Pawan Verma.

The company on Friday opened Fortune Inn Grazia at Noida. The mid-market brand currently has 26 operational hotels with plans to doubling it in the next two years in collaboration with real estate developers.The hotels will open under its existing Fortune sub-brands — Select, Park, Inn, Apartments, Faith, Spot, Stop, Lodge, Indoville and Adventure. Fortune Hotels president Suresh Kumar added that the company plans to have five new hotels in the NCR in addition to its existing two to cater to the upcoming Commonwealth Games next year.

“Despite the economic slowdown our occupancies on an average across all hotels are about 60% and we believe we have gained since many corporate travellers are downgrading,” he said. But Mr Kumar agreed that room rates at the company’s hotels have dropped 15-20% in the past few months. Nearly 70% of the revenues for the company comes from business travellers.

Bosch to invest Rs 250 crore !!

Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Ltd, the IT subsidiary of global automotive component maker Robert Bosch, is allocating over Rs 250 crore to expand its operations in Coimbatore, sources have said.

The company will induct 4,500 people into its operations at the Coimbatore Hi-Tech Infrastructure Private Ltd (CHIL) IT SEZ in Saravanampatti near Coimbatore. The IT subsidiary currently employs over 4,000 people at centres in Bangalore and Coimbatore.
Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions was likely to shift many of its internal contracts for European automotive majors to Coimbatore, with a bulk of the recruitment for the expanded facility likely to be done locally, sources said.So far, the first of four proposed buildings for Bosch at the CHIL SEZ has been completed. The rest are expected to be operational by the end of this year on an area of around 22-acre, sources said.

The company has been present in Coimbatore since 2006. Its existing facility operates with just under 1,000 people. Industrial automation, mechanical engineering, and shared services are looked after at the centre.The 300-acre IT SEZ, an initiative of KG Information Systems Private Ltd, is expected to be ready by January next year and will create direct employment for nearly 12,000 people. An area of 150 acres at the SEZ has been set aside for IT/ITeS operations.
Wipro is planning its development centre here and companies like TCS and HCL are expected to set up base here in the coming months. Companies presently operating out of the SEZ include Cognizant, Perot Systems and KGISL.

Bosch India is currently supplying fuel injection systems for the Tata Nano from its facilities in Bangalore and Nashik. The Coimbatore facility has played a leading role in designing the engine and the innovative braking system of the car.Coimbatore, which has been a major investment destination for textiles companies and foundries operating in the automotive space, has seen IT, education and healthcare emerging as strong draws in recent years. Consequently, the city has shown good upside in the residential and commercial space. A recent Jones Lang LaSalle India study identified Coimbatore as one of the top 10 growing consumer markets in India.

Real Estate scenario Postive in Coimbatore !!

Coimbatore, is still brimming with a lot of positive energy as far as the real estate scenario is concerned. The city, with a population of 1.8 million people, has a few pan-India players in the real estate market but the 35-40 odd local developers are confident of staying in business despite the economic slowdown.

Though many are in the wait-and-watch mode, buyers are looking at this growing city as the place for long-term investment, especially on the residential front. Industry experts say majority of the buyers are from nearby cities like Chennai and Bangalore and non-resident Coimbatoreans and NRIs, who want to settle here post retirement.

The latest Jones Lang LaSalle India 30 Real Estate Opportunities in Tier III cities identifies Coimbatore as one of the top 10 growing consumer markets. “Though Coimbatore stands low on current office market activity, the growing engineering and IT potential is sure to throw up opportunities for the real estate market in the next few years,” said experts.

“The prices are marginally down by 5-10% in Coimbatore but the situation will not worsen any further. Land prices are going up and construction costs have increased. We don’t see any downslide on price aspect,” said Omkar Mohan Sankar, a real estate developer in the city.
According to him, the city has perfect attributes such as excellent locale, ideally set in the footsteps of Nilgiris, pleasant climate and sweet Siruvani water. Further, it is an education and healthcare hub and the two industries are recession proof.

Though textile industry is going through tough times, work options are increasing as nearby districts such as Tirupur, Erode and Karur are fast catching the attention of world markets with their fashion products.

Also, with the entry of big players such as L&T and Suzlon in the engineering industry, more investment is expected in real estate market. “Once the companies look at increasing their work force, the requirement for housing would increase and the residential value in the city will go up,” said market sources.

State-owned Electronics Corporation of India’s Tidel Park in IT-SEZ is expected to be ready by January and is likely to provide employment to nearly 12,000 people, which means more residential space will be needed. The Wipro development centre inside the IT-SEZ is also nearing completion and more IT companies like TCS and HCL have plans here.
The city already has the presence of global engineering and IT giants like Robert Bosch and Cognizant and big IT & ITES players like Perot Systems and Spheris. “The city is looking at employing 20,000 more and even if 20% opt for new homes, there would be a demand for 4,000-5000 houses soon,” said Mr Rajesh B Lund, VP, Confederation of Real Estate Developer’s Associations of India.

Today the focus of realty players has moved towards Saravanampatti and Kalapatti, apart from the traditional residential hubs like Race Course, Bharati Park and RS Puram. “The huge activity and development of IT companies in the private IT space in Saravanampatti and also its easy connectivity to airport has attracted developers to construct houses there,” Mr Omkar said.
According to the LaSalle report, the city stands sixth in the connectivity index and fourth among the higher education institutes in top 30 tier-III cities and it gives lot of credibility and potential for the growth of real estate here.

“The city is centrally located and close to Chennai, Bangalore and Kochi by road and also is well-connected to all major metros. Therefore, the prospects of people preferring Coimbatore as a place to invest in real estate in Tamil Nadu rather than already saturated Chennai city is very high,” added Mr Omkar.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Launched New Product

As part of meeting specific needs of consumers, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance on Monday launched a new product to help them meet current health care expenses and also invest for future health care. The 'Health Saver' is claimed to be the first of its kind reimbursement-based hospitalisation cover, with the benefit of a health savings fund, Mr Minoo Ratan Sinha, Assistant Vice President of the company told reporters here.

The product was designed to enable consumers cope with the ever rising cost of healthcare and allowed claims against out-patient treatment, diagnostics and dental care amongst others after three years, Mr Sinha said. On key benefits, Mr Sinha said that Health Saver has the guaranteed coverage up to age 75 for the person and his family against medical expenses incurred due to hospitalisation and also coverage against pre-existing illness and conditions after two years subject to acceptance of the company.

This is the only health savings product offering tax benefits under section 80D on the entire premium paid, he said Stating that customers could select annual hospitalisation cover limit for the family and a suitable premium, he said the product provided comprehensive cover by allowing reimbursement for health expenses not covered by the hospitalisation benefit after three years.

Max New York Tied Up With Alegion

Max New York Life Insurance has announced a strategic business alliance with ALEgION Insurance Broking wherein, the latter would sell Max Vijay in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In the first phase, operations will cover Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Palakkad, Thrissur and Ernakulum in Kerala. This new relationship provides greater access to new markets in South India and thus enhances the reach of ‘Max Vijay’. Under the first of its kind distribution initiative, ALEgION will distribute ‘Max Vijay’ through a fleet of Maruti vans, which would be used as mobile financial service distribution offices.

2008 Investments A Review

If 2008 was a bad year for stocks, it was brutal for funds that rode high on the bull run posting big gains last year. Equity mutual funds (MFs) that logged in returns between 70% and 110% in 2007 and emerged on top have put up a dismal show during the current market meltdown. Top MFs in 2007 have significantly underperformed the benchmark indices posting some of the biggest losses this year, data with Value Research, a firm that tracks MFs shows.

In all, 14 funds that were in the top 40 list last year have ended up at the bottom of the ladder, the analysis shows. JM Basic, Canara Robeco Infrastructure, State Bank of India Magnum COMMA and Midcap are some of the funds that have registered huge declines after growing more than 70% last year. Most of these funds invested mainly in engineering, construction, commodities, small and mid-cap stocks — all of which did well during last year's bull run. But with commodities prices falling sharply and real estate impacted by the demand slowdown, stocks in these sectors have taken a heavy beating.

In fact, engineering (32.76%) , construction (18.22%), steel (27.01%) and refineries (9.8%) are among the sectors that have shown the steepest fall in value terms for MFs in November. While large-cap stocks have offered some stability mid and small-cap heavy portfolios have been badly hit in a falling market. Several fund houses have started paring their exposure to mid-cap stocks and have gone in for large cap ones. Interestingly, funds that did badly during the last year have come up with a good performance in 2008. Many of these funds had exposure in communication, FMCG, healthcare and diversified segments. MFs, which have remained conservative putting money in debt and short term instruments, too fared well. The sensex posted a 47.1% growth in 2007 and slipped 52.25% (up to December 23).

SBI Launched ‘Grameen Shakti’ Insurance Scheme

Pier Paola Dipaola, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd, Mumbai (second left), handing over the master policy to J. Chandrasekaran, Chief General Manager, SBI, Chennai circle (third left), at the launch of the ‘Grameen Shakti’ insurance scheme in Coimbatore on Wednesday.

Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University C. Ramasamy (second right) is in the picture. “State Bank of India expects to bring nearly three lakh members of self-help groups in Tamil Nadu under the “Grameen Shakti” insurance scheme,” Pier Paola Dipaola, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, SBI Life Insurance Company Limited, Mumbai, said here on Wednesday. He was launching the micro insurance scheme of SBI Life Insurance Company Limited, a subsidiary of SBI, for SHGs in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Mr. Dipaola launched the scheme by handing over the master policy to J. Chandrasekaran, Chief General Manager, SBI, Chennai circle, at a function at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU).

Mr. Dipaola expressed the hope that after the overwhelming response of SHGs to the scheme in Orissa and some other parts of the country, it would also be well received in Tamil Nadu. “There are over two lakh SHGs coming under the insurance cover in Orissa.” Mr. Chandrasekaran said there were 14 lakh SHG members in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. “A sum of Rs. 655 crore has been granted as loans to the SHGs. Almost 97 per cent of them repay promptly. This enables us to extend more loans.” Explaining the salient features of the scheme, he said the scheme, which was for five years, involved a life cover for Rs. 50,000.

The annual premium was Rs. 601 and it included refund of 50 per cent as survival benefit. On the launch day, the bank had received nearly 77,000 proposal forms from SHGs. C. Ramasamy, Vice-Chancellor, TNAU, said insurance had percolated to the grassroots levels. “Earlier, it was available only to the affluent. Now, it is no longer so. Such insurance schemes will benefit SHGs.” Letters of acceptance were distributed to SHGs by the bank representatives. Paul Sunder Ingty, Deputy General Manager, (Rural Business), SBI, Corporate Centre, Mumbai; Geoffroy de Lassus, AMS Co-ordinator – India, BNP Paribas; and Anoop K. Prabhakar, General Manager, SBI, Chennai circle, were present.

BPM Major Savvion plans Development Center in Coimbatore

Savvion, leading Business Process Management (BPM) company, today announced the opening of a new software development and R&D centre in Coimbatore. The Coimbatore centre is Savvion's second software development centre in India and will complement its present center in Mumbai.

Savvion is a pioneer and a leading provider of enterprise BPM software. The President, CEO and Founder of Savvion, Dr. Mohammad Ketabchi, is considered by many to be the father of BPM. Savvion has attracted some of the best talent in the industry, including several respected pioneering researchers in their respective fields. Savvion's award winning BPM Software, Savvion BusinessManager, has won numerous industry awards for product innovation and including the 2006 Intelligent Enterprise Dozen, which recognizes the 12 most influential companies in information technology; and the 2007 InfoWorld top 100 for product innovation.

Leading industry analysts including Gartner and Forrester repeatedly recognize Savvion as a leader in the enterprise BPM software market. Savvion continues to invest in research and development, designing products and tools that have practical applications for entire organizations and keep Savvion at the forefront of the industry.

Speaking of the opening, Mr. Kaushal Mashruwala, Managing Director, Savvion India said, Savvion has been in India for over a decade now and is one of the earliest software product companies to invest in a software development centre in India. Over the years Savvion has mastered geographically distributed product development and services delivery capabilities. We selected Coimbatore after careful review of various locations. Coimbatore has well-known engineering institutes and access to large engineering pool.

2008 has been a year for Savvion with the company seeing record profitability. BPM is the fastest growing enterprise software market. Fortune 500 companies across the world rely on our technology to better manage their mission critical business processes. In several of our large customers billions of dollars of revenue flow through processes managed by Savvion BusinessManager? BPM suite, Mr. Mashruwala added.

The development team at Coimbatore will work in close co-operation with the teams in Silicon Valley, California, and Mumbai to continue delivering Savvion's comprehensive Business Process Management Suite of software solutions.