Rolls Royce planning a Joint Venture with HAL
ROLLS-ROYCE Corporation is planning a JV with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) for manufacturing of engines, components and gas turbines. Rolls-Royce together with Bell Helicopters is bidding for this Indian Army contract of 197 helicopters, where it is piped against a Euro Copter-led consortium. “Our engines have performed very well in the technical trials, which include heat and altitude testing. Now we are looking forward to partnering HAL rather than being just suppliers,” Mr Scott Crislip, global president, Helicopter & Small Gas Turbine Engines, Rolls-Royce, told ET in an interview. The roadmap for the contract is expected to be finalised byend-2006.
The company is also keen on partnering HAL in the indigenous helicopter programme - Dhruv - and has put forth multiple proposals to the Indian manufacturer. Besides, as per the plan, it would also help in marketing the gas turbines manufactured in the JV. HAL is already one of the strategic suppliers of rolled ring forging to Rolls-Royce. Now, Rolls-Royce is looking at a complete technical transfer to indude design, technical development, manufacturing, service et al on the six sigma prindple, “Indigenous capability is extremely important in this business as the cost to capital is very high,” Mr Crislip said.
Rolls-Royce already has more than 1,300 engines operational in India. “With aviation turbine fuel (ATF) hitting an all-time high, the need for Rolls-Royce’s gas turbine engines is expected to escalate,” he said.
Withthehelicopterindustrygrowingat7%, the maximum growth is expected from the US, South America and Asia. Mr Crislip sees the next 10-15 years as the real period of growth for the helicopter business in India as people are replacing older models and looking at long-term service offerings with innovative solutions. While US has one commercial helicopter per 1,000 people, Japan has one per 10,000 people and India has one per 10million people.
Source : ET
Star tag to be made must for real estate developers too
After star hotels, now it is turn for star-rated real estate developers. Soon government would make it mandatory for developers to get rated by urban development ministry to operate in the country. Developers will be accorded star grades between one and five on the basis of their past performance, quality of products and net worth.
The move is aimed at protecting consumer interests in deciding whether they are gelling value for their money spent, a government source said. As the market is flooded with developers of various hues, who promise moon but end up in fleecing, the government has decided to introduce a rating system, he added. If a developer fails to deliver according to the contract, the star status would be taken away.
Confirming the move Anil Baijal, secretary, urban development ministry said: “The exact parameters are not set as yet. The decision is in sync with bring more transparency in obligations and full disclosure. The whole idea for setting up a regulation is to ensure that the consumers are not taken for a ride.”
According to sources in Nirman Bhawan, government is already discussing the proposed modalities with various quarters including industry bodies Ficci and Assocham and the real estate developers. Not only, companies’ forthcoming projects will also have to meet yardsticks for the star accreditation. This accreditation will be granted on the basis of plans submitted by developers to the regulatory authority. Moreover, if developers fail to make the project ready for occupancy, they risk loosing the star status.
Developers say, this move will be viable only if the government also takes proactive measures to check the consumers also adhere to the agreed payment mechanism.
Says Rumneek Bawa, chief executive officer (CEO), Uppal’s Group, “For instance many a time consumers fail to pay up installments, though there may not be any genuine problems.
Source : ET
RITES: Common ticket for Delhi Metro and DTC
In a move to decongest the busy commercial area before the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) has suggested common ticket for both bus and Metro while visiting Connaught Place. The proposal also includes modification of bus routes to serve them as feeders for the Metro system and a shuttle service linking the Metro entry and exit points and parking points along the inner circle of CP with the bus stops on the Outer Circle. currently there are 450 DTC buses, playing on 88 routes, making 11,900 daily trips through Connaught Place. This sheer volume of bus traffic causes significant congestion and traffic conflicts in the area. With two Metro lines, Barakham-ba-Dwarka and Delhi University-Central Secretariat, passing through CP, RITES has suggested that many of the existing bus routes could be diverted away from CP’s outer circle.
The study suggests that wherever multiple routes overlap with the Metro service, the buses could be modified to terminate at a Metro station to serve as feeder. It also suggests that the existing bus routes can be diverted to roads with sufficient spare capacity to handle the additional bus traffic.
Now : Passports Processing to be fast for applicants
The Ministry of External affairs has asked state governments to send police verification reports of the passport applicants within two weeks. From next year, all applications received at missions abroad will be processed in Delhi on the basis of data fed into computers at the missions. The machine - readable passports will be issued in four days and dispatched by courier, for which a pact has been signed with Fedex. As part of other measures to reduce delays, the ministry has augmented staff at passport offices and enhanced output with the help of National Informatics Centre (NIC) by introducing machine printers for their preparation, an official said.
Nita Ambani to look after Reliance Retail
For the first time in the Ambani’s Reliance History, the other half of Mukesh Ambani; Nita Ambani has been seen in the recent consultations of the Reliance Retail venture. The 25000 Crore project will come up with its first Reliance retail outlet in Hyderabad. There is no formal confirmation for the company that what would be the actual involvement of the Ambani Lady but sources says that Nita will be actively involved in the ‘people out reach’ program led by the company. Since reliance is targeting the rural sector first, so it will be important for the company get involved in the rural constituencies of the country. At the moment, Nita Mukesh Ambani has been seen involved with the architects in designing the Dhirubhai Ambani knowledge city.
Railways to stop refund on confirmed Tatkal tickets
Indian Railways has decided to stop the refund of the confirmed tickets reserved under the Tatkal Scheme. This decision has been taken on the recommendations of the 15th report of the standing committee on Railways presented to Parliament. The decision has been taken to stop the abuse of Tatkal Reservation scheme. The Ministry has told that after the charts are being prepared and if the passenger is not able to board the train, then the vacant Tatkal accommodation will go to general waitlisted passengers.
Vivah 2006: Wedding Exhibition Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai
A wedding exhibition at Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai will be held at the following schedule at these cities.
1 – 4th September 2006: At Taj Palace Hotel Delhi, timing 10 to 8 PM
23rd – 26th September 2006: At JW Marriot Mumbai, timing 10 to 8 PM
11th – 14th January 2007 : At Le Royal Meridien, timing 10 to 8 PM
The exhibition will consist of wide range of wedding wear, trousseau, precious jewelry, designer menswear, lifestyle refinements, luxury watches and honeymoon destination packages.
Supreme Court to accept petitions online
The Supreme Court of India is going Online. The e-revolution has finally reached the supreme power of India too. The Supreme Court will now accept the petitions online for October 2006 onwards. The Registrar of Supreme Court, Mr. V K Jain told that “everything is ready; there are few technicalities to be sorted out”. The SC has tied up with the ICICI bank for the collection of court fees.
Now the petitioners can file their petition online and can even get it check online for defects. The petitioners won’t have to visit the Registry and won’t have to buy file and stamps. The Registry will inform the litigant/lawyer foe the defects and they can correct them online. The judges will get to see the files given by the registry only.
