Toyota Kirloskar Motor February sales drop by 23.4%

Equity Bulls reported that Toyota Kirloskar Motor has sold 12,756 units in the domestic market in February 2013 as compared to 16,659 units in the corresponding month in 2012 recording a decline of 23.4%.

The company exported 1,223 units of Etios series to South Africa in February 2013. The total sales registered were 13,979 units including exports.

Commenting on the sales in February Mr Sandeep Singh deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Marketing and Commercial said that "The market continues to remain sluggish and with the additional excise duty levied on SUV and UV the market will be further impacted.”

Japan model sought for smooth traffic

Senior officials from different departments visited Japan to study the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) being implemented there

A team of senior officials from different departments visited Japan last week to study the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) being implemented there.

The visit at the invitation of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) followed the decision to implement ITS first on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and subsequently in entire Hyderabad Metropolitan Region (HMR).

The delegation led by Hyderabad Metro Development Authority (HMDA) Commissioner Neerabh Kumar Prasad comprised APSRTC Managing Director A.K. Khan, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) C.V. Anand, Hyderabad Growth Corridor General Manager B. Anand Mohan and senior officials from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Karnataka and Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development authorities.

At the vehicle information and communication system centre, information on traffic congestion information, traffic restrictions, parking lots and traffic hazards was studied.

Interactions with the Japanese officials, traffic police and industry were also held, according to a press release issued by the HMDA. The delegation also visited Traffic Information Centers and test facilities of industries providing ITS technologies.

Industry representatives from Panasonic, Omron and Nagoya Electricals also gave presentations about their ITS technologies which could be implemented in India and facilities visited included Toshiba Science Museum. The delegates were also introduced to smart city and traffic control technologies.

Mitsubishi launches Variable Frequency Drive sub assembly inverters

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Japan) Thursday launched the sub assembly of A&D inverters in India. With this initiative Mitsubishi plans to increase its market share up to 15 pc by FY 15 from the present automation market share of 10 pc in India.

Mitsubishi Electric has the global footprint across 35 countries which include 17 global and 2 Indian Factory Automation Centre with 5 world class R&D Centres.

To support and enhance the inverter business, Mitsubishi Electric India (MEI) has already started sub assembly of inverters from February 2013 in Pune. As a part of first phase of its venture, MEI will manufacture micro drives up to 7.5kW and will manufacture drives up to 15kW over the period. The products under focus here are FR-A 700 and FR-E700.

Speaking on the launch Hideyuki Ohkubo, Executive Officer, Group President of Mitsubishi Electric India said, “We already are an established brand in India with our presence since 1995 providing low voltage drives for market right from 0.4 kW to 500 kW for established business sector like plastic, textile, pharmacy and automobile industry. Keeping in mind the increasing demand of the product in India, which was earlier imported, we are excited to assemble it here.”

The area for the sub assembly of inverters is approximately 1000 sq.ft. which is estimated to manufacture 40000 units over the period. Mitsubishi Electric India targets to manufacture 1,50,000 units in the next 3 years with an investment of INR 150 million.

Indian IT must cross Japan hurdle for next $100 billion

As the Indian IT industry crosses $100 billion (about 5.4 lakh crore) in revenues and aims for the next $100 billion, it cannot afford to ignore Japan, the world's largest IT market after the US. Most large Indian information technology providers have been present in Japan for close to 20 years but success has been slow in coming.

 

Of the $125-billion Japanese IT services market, Indian service providers get only $500 million. Embedded services contribute another $500 million, according to technology researcher Gartner. In all, Japan contributes less than 2% of India's software exports.

"If we fix the language and culture issues, growth will happen," said N Chandrasekaran, Nasscom chairman and chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services.

For instance, India's fifth-largest software exporter HCL Technologies trains all its employees working in Japan to speak and understand Japanese.

But even bigger is the cultural barrier. Unlike their western counterparts, companies in Japan do not do big bang outsourcing. They initially look for proof of concept, and if that works and they are comfortable with the vendor, then the relationship progresses to the long term, said Sameer Kishore, corporate vice president who heads the Japan business unit for HCL Technologies.

"From my experience of working in this market for a fair bit of time now, organisations here value relationships," said V Sriram, senior vice president and head of Japan business for Infosys.

Attitudes in Japan are also changing, forced by the rapid pace of technology changes. "The battlefield is shifting to software," said Nobuhiko Hidaka, president of Gartner Japan. Companies, which previously followed a 'rice-farmer culture of doing everything same every year' and were more inward-looking, are now changing as they globalise.

Hidaka said most applications used to be custom-built, but as Japanese companies go global, custom-built applications are being replaced by more standard packages. "Because attitudes are changing and Indian providers are winning in the global IT market, the door is open for the first time for India." In addition, the CEO is getting younger and chief information officers more westernised.

US IT providers, which have a 14% share of the Japanese IT services pie, are moving in to tap this opportunity. Firms like IBM, Accenture and HP-EDS are well-entrenched compared with the Indian providers. However, most of their operations are staffed by Japanese locals and done out of Japan.

Japan model sought for smooth traffic

Senior officials from different departments visited Japan to study the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) being implemented there

A team of senior officials from different departments visited Japan last week to study the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) being implemented there.

The visit at the invitation of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) followed the decision to implement ITS first on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and subsequently in entire Hyderabad Metropolitan Region (HMR).

The delegation led by Hyderabad Metro Development Authority (HMDA) Commissioner Neerabh Kumar Prasad comprised APSRTC Managing Director A.K. Khan, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) C.V. Anand, Hyderabad Growth Corridor General Manager B. Anand Mohan and senior officials from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Karnataka and Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development authorities.

At the vehicle information and communication system centre, information on traffic congestion information, traffic restrictions, parking lots and traffic hazards was studied.

Interactions with the Japanese officials, traffic police and industry were also held, according to a press release issued by the HMDA. The delegation also visited Traffic Information Centers and test facilities of industries providing ITS technologies.

Industry representatives from Panasonic, Omron and Nagoya Electricals also gave presentations about their ITS technologies which could be implemented in India and facilities visited included Toshiba Science Museum. The delegates were also introduced to smart city and traffic control technologies.

138 students to visit tsunami-hit Fukushima

A group of 138 students from the country are visiting Japan from Sunday during which they would visit the Fukushima prefecture' to witness the current situation in the region following the tsunami-induced disaster.

They will also receive lectures about the lessons learnt from the

 

earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011 and also observe the recovery process of the areas, said a statement.


The students, who are learning Japanese, would be there till March 13 under the Kizuna Project youth exchange programme introduced by Japanese government.
Japanese government has launched the youth-exchange project with Asia-Oceania and North America.

Mitsubishi launches Variable Frequency Drive sub assembly inverters

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Japan) Thursday launched the sub assembly of A&D inverters in India. With this initiative Mitsubishi plans to increase its market share up to 15 pc by FY 15 from the present automation market share of 10 pc in India.

Mitsubishi Electric has the global footprint across 35 countries which include 17 global and 2 Indian Factory Automation Centre with 5 world class R&D Centres.

To support and enhance the inverter business, Mitsubishi Electric India (MEI) has already started sub assembly of inverters from February 2013 in Pune. As a part of first phase of its venture, MEI will manufacture micro drives up to 7.5kW and will manufacture drives up to 15kW over the period. The products under focus here are FR-A 700 and FR-E700.

Speaking on the launch Hideyuki Ohkubo, Executive Officer, Group President of Mitsubishi Electric India said, “We already are an established brand in India with our presence since 1995 providing low voltage drives for market right from 0.4 kW to 500 kW for established business sector like plastic, textile, pharmacy and automobile industry. Keeping in mind the increasing demand of the product in India, which was earlier imported, we are excited to assemble it here.”

The area for the sub assembly of inverters is approximately 1000 sq.ft. which is estimated to manufacture 40000 units over the period. Mitsubishi Electric India targets to manufacture 1,50,000 units in the next 3 years with an investment of INR 150 million.