Is Visa Needed to Visit India?

Do I Need a Visa to Visit India?

Do you need a visa to visit India? Basically yes, in 99.9% of cases.

Can I just turn up in India and get a visa at the airport? No. You will more than likely be deported back to where you came from. So you need to get your visa before arriving in India.

If you are in the US you must contact Travisa Outsourcing TravisaOutsourcing
or here : Get A Visa to India

Mike's excellent forum gives you all the information you need to know about visas for India in an easy-to-understand format - Indian Visa FAQ

For a brief explanation of visa requirements if you are planning to visit India see - Indian Visa Guidelines

For the Indian Embassy in the USA click here Indian Embassy

For the High Commission of India in London click here - Indian High Commission London

Indian Visa Visa India Do I need a visa for India Indian Embassy

26 August 2007 - 11:45

Islamic Militants Suspected in Hyderabad Attacks

The bombings in Hyderabad over the weekend that killed dozens of people are being linked to a group of Muslim groups who want India out of Kashmir.

Indian police suspect that the attacks, which killed at least 40 people at a show and a restaurant on Saturday were the work of Islamic militants.

"The available information points to the involvement of international terrorist organisations in Bangladesh and Pakistan," said Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Chief Minister for Andhra Pradesh.

Full story here : http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=6258089&subject=general&action=article

india bombs
hyderabad
islamic terrorists

15 August 2007 - 20:35

Shilpa Shetty To Star In James Bond 23 ?

Shilpa Shetty is apparently being considered for the leading female role in the 23rd James Bond 007.

According to areport in the Daily Mail she could be the next Bond girl, although her agents in the UK, Sterling Media, refused to comment.

Daniel Craig, aka James Bond, will be making his second Bond movie later this year, due for release at the end of 2008. Shilpa Shetty, who won the Celebrity Big Brother show in the UK earlier this year, is in talks for daniel Craig’s third Bond film to be released in 2010.

The Bond producers apparently see Shilpa Shetty as the perfect leading lady for the film and are allegedly desperate to sign her up to ensure that the movie will be even more popular in Asia.

According to the Daily Mail a source close to the film said "Shilpa is having secret talks with the top brass who are working on the next movie. As far as they are concerned, she has it all — she is beautiful, feisty and a great actress. But they also want someone who is a big star prior to the film, which Shilpa is. She has a huge following in Bollywood as well as a number of fans in the Western world — especially in Britain — so she will be great for the box office sales."

6 August 2007 - 14:30

Diamonds Increase Love in Life

Jewellery and diamonds have always been very important in India, now the business is set to grow even further

Diamonds were first recorded in India over 5,000 years ago, but were reserved for royalty for thousands of years. It was only with the discovery of rich reserves in South Africa in the late 19th century that diamonds filtered down to the populace.

According to ancient Vedic traditions, diamonds (Heera) represent the planet Venus (Shukra), the planet that represents love and all comforts in life. Wearing a diamond is said to increase this force of nature in your life.

On a more mundane level market traders are anticpating big growth in the sales of branded diamond jewellery following the restructuring of Diamond Trading Company, a subsidiary of global leader De Beers

... Thompson Diamonds

The company will concentrate on creating demand for diamond jewellery, launching innovative brands such as Forevermark and gaining consumer confidence. DTC has allocated Rs 500 million this year for marketing its brands throughout India.

The company already has a global luxury brand Nakshatra, and is now planning to focus on strengthening Forevermark in India over the next two years.

This restructuring is designed to increase demand for diamonds in countries such as India which are witnessing an economic boom.

Diamond jewellery accounts for 12 per cent of the Rs 96 billion Indian retail jewellery market. The company sees huge potential in mini metros and smaller cities as well as towns that are growing faster than the metros.

Antwerp in Belgium is traditionally the centre of diamond cutting and trading, but the industry is slowly shifting to India due to the immense reserves of low-cost labour. In the 1970s there were more than 25,000 diamond workers around Antwerp, today there are fewer than 800. India today accounts for 66% of Antwerp's $26 billion diamond trade, while the once-dominant Jewish dealers now represent only 25%.


diamond trade in india
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31 July 2007 - 14:30

India Claim Fifth Test Win in England

Chris Tremlett took three wickets but this did not stop India giving England a thumping with a seven-wicket victory in the second npower Test at Trent Bridge.

India needed just 63 to win and got them with 7 wickets to spare.

Tremlett is all of a sudden being hailed in the UK newspapers as the new England saviour, they would be better off concentrating on the fact that they just lost a test match by 7 wickets.

Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was also fined 50% of his match fee for shoulder-barging Michael Vaughan, not cricket I say !

India's openers were soon into their stride with Karthik, clipping Jimmy Anderson off the back foot to the boundary.

Jaffer followed by hitting Ryan Sidebottom for four in the next over after which Karthik played off the back foot again and cut Anderson for another four.

After adding 37 India's progress was slowed when Pietersen caught a short ball from Tremlett to get Jaffer out.

Tremlett then had Karthik caught above his head by wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

This meant that Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar but Tremlett soonput an end to the partnership with his third wicket for three runs in 27 balls when Tendulkar knocked the ball straight to Alastair Cook at short leg.

Two overs later India completed their victory, however, when Tremlett attempted a yorker and deceived everybody, in particular Sourav Ganguly, to go for four byes.

So Tremlett ended up with impressive figures, but that’s hardly a consolation for a well-beaten England side.

Well done India, bring on Australia !

Surprisingly, this was only India's fifth Test victory on English soil. The final match will be at The Oval in south-west London.

Bipasha Basu Ronaldo Richard Gere Shilpa Shetty Kiss Fest

11 July 2007 - 23:29

Bipashu Basu and Ronaldo - Is it True ?

Beautiful Indian actress Bipasha Basu, who has variously been described as the Indian Sophia Loren or the Eighth Wonder of the World, was seen kissing Manchester United football star Ronaldo yesterday at a VIP event held after the new Seven Wonders of the World ceremony in Lisbon. We don't wish to appear rude but we do wonder why, when there are so many better looking guys around !




Ronaldo was seen getting very upclose and personal with the Bollywood star and of course a photographer was close at hand to immortalize the moment !

The photograph has surfaced just a day after Ronaldo’s girlfriend Gemma Atkinson denied rumours that she had been cheating on Ronaldo with fellow Man United team-mate Alan Smith.


Bipasha Basu is not a Taurean as one might suspect, but instead a Capricorn having been born on 7th January. She says she was not beautiful as a child and that it was her sister who was the good looking one, well I don't know as I've never seen her sister but I shall certainly be scouring the Internet to see if she's there !


Something obviously changed along the way because Bipasha started winning beauty contests, then in December 1996 she was crowned 'Ford Supermodel of the World' which is unfortunate as it makes her sound like a motor-car and she doesn't much like cars. But it hasn't harmed her career at all.

A beautiful Indian woman kissing the Portuguese footballer doesn't seem to have caused much stir, in contrast to all the fuss that was caused just recently when Richard Gere gave Shilpa Shetty one on the cheek. Could it be because Richard Gere is a Buddhist ? Who knows ? The besotted meanderings of the human mind are indeed wondrous to behold ! We wish the beautiful Miss Basu all the best, however, and trust her career will continue to develop as she would wish.


bipasha basu ronaldo sophia loren eighth wonder
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Shilpa Shetty and Keanu Reeves to star in film 'Hanuman'

19 July 2007 - 00:30

Keanu Reeves, Shilpa Shetty and Kevin Costner to Star in Hanuman ?

Uru Patel’s project to make a film about the Hindu epic Ramayana is nothing if not ambitious. Patel apparently wants to make a film abot Hanuman which was the dream of his late brother Raju Patel.

The director is rumoured to be Hollywood director Luis Mendoki. The two main stars will be Keanu Reeves and Shilpa Shetty, who will play Rama and Sita, with Indian actor Aseem Merchant playing Rama’s younger brother Laxman. Presumably a big name Hollywood star was required to ensure Western audiences would go to watch the film.

In addition it is rumoured that Kevin Costner will play the part of the demonic Ravana. The movie will also require the names of the characters to be altered as it is to be a ‘modern’ interpretation of the ancient epic. So that Ravana will become Robert Ravon and Laxman will be named Lucky. All rather bizarre if you ask me, perhaps modern films are easier to make than ancient epics ?

The title role of Hanuman has not yet been cast but it is rumoured that Jackie Chan turned it down (probably a wise decision). There are reports that a young Chinese actor named Cheun Young will play the part, perhaps this is to appeal to the 1 billion Chinese market ? Something for everyone so to speak ! All this is rumour and conjecture at the moment, Uru Patel has not said anything yet.

Keanu Reeves has already played Little Buddha, so can we expect him to do Jesus and Mohammed too ? That would surely be a unique cinematic achievement !



shilpa shetty keanu reeves kevin costner rama sita hanuman ramayana

4th July 2007 - 23:03

Number of Millionaires in India Increases by 20.5%

According to the most recent World Wealth Report by global investment bankers Merrill Lynch and financial consultants Capgeimini India is now the world's second-fastest producer of millionaires, just behind Singapore.

The reasons given for this increase are high economic growth, the bullish stock market and the ever increasing property prices. The report states "the largest growth of the HNWI (High Net Worth Individuals) population occurred in Singapore and India, where the increases over 2005 was 21.2 and 20.5 percent, respectively." In 2006 India had 100,015 millionaires, compared with 83,000 in 2005.

A millionaire as defined by the report is an individual with over $1 million in financial assets excluding the primary residence or private art or antique collections.

The collective worth of ultra-rich Indians is estimated at well over $100 billion. This is three times the amount required to get rid of India's $33 billion fiscal deficit and would leave India debt-free!

According to the report "Singapore, India, Indonesia and Russia witnessed the highest growth in HNWIs".

India's prosperity is the result of economic growth of over 9% per annum due, in part, to foreign investment and growth in services and manufacturing.

Non-resident Indians also have a greater role to play in leading global wealth-management institutions.

HNWIS like to spend their money primarily on luxury collectibles (automobiles, boats, airplanes etc…) (26%), art (20%), and also wines, antiques and coins (14%).

The report also states that in future "mature markets like the United States are expected to act as an anchor on the world economy as moderate growth rates settle in. With many central banks tightening monetary policy, the period of high liquidity that has so stimulated recent growth may soon come to an end. Finally, the growth rates of Asia and Latin America are expected to ease back as global demand slows. "

HNWIs, led by the ultra-wealthy,also gave an estimated U.S. $285 billion to philanthropic causes in 2006.

Finally, according to the Report the "global perspective of HNWIs continued to increase in 2006, driven by an expanded awareness of international developments, better international fund performance and risk mitigation."

For the full report see : MerrillLynch


wealth report merrill lynch hmwi india millionaires

Online Matchmaking in India is Part of a $20 billion Industry

27 June 2007 - 12:43

Online Matchmaking Indian-style

For the full article by Danil Pepper see Indian Matchmaking
Matchmaking in India is a $300 million business

One Indian matchmaking service, Shaadi.com, has a database of 400,000 verified candidates (that’s a lot of verification !) and a global audience of 9 million registered users (and rising). For a fee of $200 you will be ranked higher, and adverts will be placed in newspapers. I've always been fascinated by money and the influence it exerts! Perhaps that should be the subject of another blog?.

Arranged marriages are nothing new in India of course but technology is now starting to replace the more traditional family methods and a good catch is now seen to be someone working in IT, whereas before it used to be accountancy or law. This is a good time to be a geek in India! You get the money and your pick of the gene pool!

To understand the jargon used in matchmaking in India you need to know that a "well-settled family" means upper-middle class; and a "simple woman" means no partying !

Anupam Mittal the co-founder of Shaadi.com estimates the size of India's matrimony industry at close to $20 billion. So clearly this is big business. The matchmaking alone, without the actual wedding, gifts and parties is worth around $300 million. A middle-class family of a bride will spend generally over $15,000 on the wedding, which is 4 x the annual per capita GDP in India's.

Mittal started his company in 1997 after a fortuitous meeting with a traditional matchmaker in Bombay. "I got very intrigued by what he did, and very soon it got me thinking - by God, the choice for a life partner is determined by how much weight this guy can carry and how far he can carry it."

Initially the online portal was used more by expatriates, but now approximately 70% of Shaadi.com customers come from India with the rest from the U.S., Australia, Britain and the Gulf. However, less than 5% of India's population is currently online, which means there is enormous scope for growth. Mittal, is busy opening more storefronts and who can blame him.

Shaadi.com obviously has competitors, one in particular BharatMatrimony.com in southern India started in the U.S. in the late 1990s. Its founder Murugavel Janakiraman used to hand out fliers advertising his portal at South Asian events. He moved to Chennai in 2004 and has recently built new headquarters there.

With 64% of the Indian population below the age of 30 the market is strong. BaharatMatrimony has 63 walk-in centres in India, mainly in the south, and plans to increase this number to 300 over the next 18 months. Shaadi.com has plans to add up to 400 centres over the next 2 years. Together the sites claim over 700,000 "success stories".


shaadi indian matchmaking india matrimony bharat mittal janakiraman online web internet

THREE MONTH 'INDIA NOW' FESTIVAL IN LONDON THIS SUMMER

22 July 2007 - 15:45

In July London will be hosting an India Festival (probably without the elephants) which will last for three months and is designed to showcase India’s popular culture, arts and cuisine.

‘India Now’ will comprise several events across London dedicated to Indian art, films, food, theatre, music and fashion.

The festival will be launched by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, on July 15. The theme is to be “India and London — Partners in Globalisation.”

Over 150 cultural organisations and attractions will participate in the season which will be dedicated to India's contribution to world culture, its rich tradition and most importantly raise awareness and celebrate new Indian trends across art, film, theatre, food, music and fashion.

Promoting the event Ken Livingstone said “India is not only one of the world’s most important and rapidly growing economies, an emerging economic superpower, but it also has one of the world’s most important cultures. In 2007, we are aiming to strengthen London’s relations with India, building on the significant contribution the Indian community - the largest minority national group in London — already makes to the economic, cultural and social success of the capital.”

Livingstone is expected to visit both New Delhi and Mumbai with a delegation of representatives from London businesses, with plans to open mayoral offices in both cities.

There will be a number of attractions, including a three-week Indian-themed festival at Trafalgar Square in August. In September, Regent Street, one of London’s busy shopping streets, will be transformed into an Indian streetscape complete with music, sculptures, food and artisans.

Other highlights include Indian-themed club nights, stage performances at the National Theatre and an art exhibition at the Museum of London.

And of course Bollywood will be well-represented. The premiere of a Hindi blockbuster at Somerset House is planned. According to sources in Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan’s Chak De India and the John Abraham-Bipasha Basu starrer Goal are strong contenders for the honour. The premiere will have several Bollywood stars in attendance, says Mark Prescott, who heads the Cultural Campaigns department.

Knowing the Indians' love of sound, light and life, I expect it to be an animated and exciting festival which hopefully will bring some much needed colour and life to the streets of London.

india now
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Western Executives are Starting to Look for Jobs in India

17 June 2007 - 20:20

The Brain Drain Heads East

More and more westerners are feeling the pull of a job in India and the opportunities it represents and above all the possibility of working in a country experiencing rapid growth. India's real GDP grew by 9.2% in the year to last September. In addition to this optimism is widespread, in a recent survey of 32 countries Indian businessmen were the most upbeat : 97% of the respondents said they were bullish about the future

Up until very recently not many westerners would have considered India as a place of employment, but the times they are a changing. After the hippies of the sixties and seventies India is now starting to see an influx of affluent executives (who may in fact be ex-hippies). The number of expatriate managers hired by Indian firms has in fact risen by between 5 and 15% in recent years. Clearly salaries in the West are higher than in India, but as growth has soared the salaries being paid have risen too.

New industries are opening up in Asia on the whole, such as tele-communications, retail and insurance amongst others. But given the rapid growth in India there is now a dearth of home-grown talent to fill the top jobs and managerial positions and executive pay is starting to become very competitive compared with the West.

There are also Indians who moved to the West who are now considering moving back to India. For many among the millions of people of Indian extraction around the world, these pay trends present a tempting chance to rediscover their roots.

In public relations for example outsiders are urgently required in India to train staff. This is mutually beneficial as local staff get the training they require and expatriates get the experience of living in India.

The biggest obstacle to growth of 9% or more is of course India's infrastructure - especially its awful roads, ports and power - China spends seven times more than India on its infrastructure.

Labour laws are also a severe problem, no Indian company employing more than 100 people can dismiss anyone without Government permission!

Finally the quality of public services is also a problem, from education and health to the provision of water. Half of urban households do not have drinking water within the home; one quarter have no toilet, either public or private. The rapid expansion in India seems to have made matters worse too. In Bangalore for example water is now available for less than 3 hours a day, compared with 20 hours in the early 1980s.

These problems need addressing but are not insurmountable and no doubt they will offer further opportunities for expatriates and non-Indians keen to experience something new in a vibrant and growing economy.

Further reading :
BBC
Economist
JobsInIndia
Tages:
india jobs
executive
expatriates

Indian Vegetable Traders React Violently to Arrival of Supermarket Chains

17 June 2007 - 01:36

Indian Vegetable Traders in Riots against Supermarket Chains

The Indian food retail market is big business ($200 billion) but traders are not happy about the rapid roll-out of supermarkets.

In May an angry crowd of vegetable sellers ran riot through a newly-opened Reliance Fresh supermarket in India's Jharkand state. When Reliance opens its stores in Mumbai people are expecting the same thing to happen, except on a bigger scale.

A week after the violence in Jharkand, a Reliance store was attacked in Madhya Pradesh, and, faced with mounting protests, the chain has been forced to postpone opening its store in Bhopal.

Politicians are also getting involved, the Communist Party of India, a powerful force in India, has called for a licence system with strict quotas for local supermarket chains, and a ban on the involvement of foreign chains such Wal-Mart, Tesco, Carrefour etc...

Wal-Mart is the biggest of all the chains and it intends opening is first hypermarket in India early next year and has plans for a chain covering 10 million sq feet by 2015. Dharmendra Kumar, of No FDI in Retail, which is opposed to international companies in the Indian retail sector says : "Wal-Mart is …. enemy number one. They have a huge capacity to source goods from outside, which will not only hurt the small retailer but small manufacturers."

In the UK retail chains are well-known for paying farmers very low prices while at the same time raking in vast profits, so Indian retailers and wholesalers would be well-advised to resist the spread of supermarkets in their country.

Reliance Industries is India's largest private company and its billionaire owner Mukesh Ambani plans to open 4,000 to 5,000 shops in the next 3 to 4 years, a staggering number, which in the US or Europe has taken 40 years to achieve.
Reliance plans to replace India's traditional food-supply chain with its own ‘rationalised’ system, which will no doubt mean low wages, low prices to farmers and even more billions for those at the top.

According to Bhupendra Bhosle, a trade union member, "If Ambani starts collecting vegetables directly from the farmers, the middle men are going to face a lot of unemployment problems."

Profits can be big for vegetable traders, they don’t like to reveal their margins but one trader has said that he buys green chillis for around 9 rupees per kg, which he then sells on for 120-130 rupees a kilo to smaller wholesalers (sounds like daylight robbery to me ! Ed.).

With such high profit margins it is not surprising that Wal-Mart and Reliance have decided they want a piece of the action, but they are unlikely to find the going easy.

Full article here : Independent

Indian IT Professionals get the Women and the Money!

12 June 2007 - 14:05

Geeks are Good in India

Arranged marriages are nothing new in India but aparently Indian parents are turning to the Internet more and more to find partners for their children.

Indian men want attractive, educated young women (don't we all!) and Indian women are more interested in hard cash. So if you're ugly and making money then you can still drive a hard bargain!

bharatmatrimony.com is a wedding website used by more than 10 million subscribers around India, that may seem a lot but given the population of India is around 1 billion there is still plenty of room for growth.

Mrs Khatoon for example says she is looking for an IT professional for her daughter, preferably based in London, or someone who will be able to work overseas in the future. Good for you Mrs Khatoon, but why on earth people want to live in London (or the UK at all) is beyond me. It's a boring hole! Go to Australia or the US, the quality of life is far better.

Just a decade ago Indian parents put civil servants and accountants at the top of their marital wish list, as they had a guaranteed stable and steady income and a job for life. But the technology boom in India has changed all this.

Mrs Khatoon's eldest daughter is married to an IT professional living in London and she wants the same for her younger daughter. IT professionals are seen as providng a secure financial future

Murugavel Janakiraman, the CEO of bharatmatrimony.com claims this attitude is now widespread and is not exceptional. In recent years India's technology services sector has seen a boom with millions of new jobs. There are not enough engineering and IT graduates to fill the positions available.

According to Nasscom, India's software trade body, there could be a shortfall of half a million IT professionals by 2010 and salaries are going up as a consequence. (I knew I should have studied IT!)

So IT professionals are the hottest property in terms of both employment and marriage. They really are in a seller's market - in fact in two seller's markets at once!

IT workers start their careers with a salary of around $800 a month (around twice what professionals in comparable jobs earn) and their salaries will rise around 20% a year on average.

IT professionals are suddenly cool which comes as a pleasant surprise to them as they have thus far been classified as nerds, geeks or worse .

Anup Gandhi, says "I think it's fabulous that we're now in such hot demand, " - well he would wouldn't he! It's always nice to be popular - but take care Anup they are only after your money! They are not at all interested in your quirky social habits or skills.

"If an Indian woman wants me" he says "I think that's a very good thing!" Hmmm it would be nice to see a picture of Anup.

The latest economic forecasts provide more good news for choosy IT professionals. The Indian economy has expanded by more than 9% and services represent one fifth of that growth.

Technology is expected to contribute almost one tenth of India's GDP by 2010.

So all those boring geeky IT guys have never had it so good - are you jealous? Well lock yourself away in a room for a few years, don't wash, and learn all the latest nerdy computer games, the girls will love you !

Full article here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6723385.stm

Analyze your Website/Blog Visitors with Clicky - the Free Analytics Tool

17 May 2007 - 23:33

A Neat Website Analysis Tool for Free

Clicky is an excellent new analytics tool that tells you who those strange silent creatures that visit your website/blog are and also lets you know what they did while they were there. This way you can find out what people are interested in on your site and what they never bother looking at. It will even tell you how long they looked at a particular page.

Clicky is simplicity itself, you just install it (its free if you have less than 1,000 page views a day) and then visit the site now and again to get clear and easy-to-understand details of how many visitors you have had, where they came from, where they went to etc... Other programs seem to me to be designed for IT gurus, the people at Clicky understand that most people just want information to be clear and simple !

RSS is included, Clicky are proud to claim that they are the only analyzer on the web that gives you stats via RSS, there is also something called Spy, which distinguishes between regular Google search traffic and Google Blog search traffic. IMHO the most interesting aspect is that I can actually understand what I am looking at !

Something that we can all appreciate, is that it's free if you have less than 1,000 daily page views, which I suspect means most of us. If you've got money burning a hole in your pocket or if you get over 1,000 page views on average, then they also offer a premium service. Installation is extremely simple. I managed it in a couple of minutes and I'm no expert!

They also have an affiliate program! If you want to give it a go, clicky here Clicky Analytics

Revolutionary Compressed-Air Car to be Manufactured in India

17 May 2007 - 20:51

Revolutionary Virtually Pollution Free Compressed-Air Car to be Manufactured by Tata Motors

In a groundbreaking and revolutionary move, Tata Motors, India's largest automotive manufacturer, recently signed an agreement with French company MDI (Moteur Developpement International) to manufacture the first commercial compressed air car based on an MDI design.

The Mini C.A.T will be a light car for the urban environment, with a fiberglass body. As a result it will be astonishingly cost-efficient and non-polluting, only 1 euro per 100 km, a petrol car will generally cost around 10 euros per 100 km. It runs on compressed air and has a range of around 200 to 300 km, or 8 hours, with a top speed of 68 mph.

Once the car becomes available, petrol stations will need to be adapted to offer compressed air. It will take only two to three minutes to fill the car up with compressed air, which is expected to cost around 1.5 euros.

In case of emergency the car also has a small compressor which can be connected to the mains electricity supply and which will refill the tank in 3 to 4 hours.

There is no combustion involved, consequently there are no residues, and the 1 litre of vegetable oil only needs to be changed every 50,000 km.

The Principle behind the Engine

90m3 of compressed air is stored in fibre tanks. This expands and pushes the pistons, thus creating movement. The atmospheric temperature re-heats the engine and increases road coverage. The cold air expelled is used in the air conditioning system.

The company responsible for the design of the car is "Moteur Development International" (MDI) in the south of France. The technology is protected by more than 30 International patents and MDI is seeking licensees. According to the company, 50 factories in Europe, America and Asia have already signed contracts.

Tata Motors

Tata has signed an agreement with MDI to apply MDI's engine technology in India, which it describes as "efficient, cost-effective, scalable, and capable of other applications such as power generation".

Under the agreement Tata will be able to support further development and refinement of the technology, and also its application and licensing for India.

http://www.theaircar.com/thecar.html

.mobi Sites are Increasing in India and Represent a Good Business Opportunity

9 May 2007 - 16:43

Making Money from the .mobi Extension

Entrepreneurs in India are apparently taking an increasing interest in the new .mobi extension, the extension for accessing websites via mobile phones and, given the rapid increase in the number of mobile phones in use in India, this extension is likely to continue to grow in popularity. .mobi sites are specifically designed to make viewing easier on a mobile phone and do not take up as much space as a normal .com or .co .in site.

According to the corporate blog run by dotMobi CEO Neil Edwards’, 95,000 .mobi names were bought within the first 48 hours of registrations becoming available last May. Recently total registrations worldwide went over the 500,00 mark. The momentum in India is mainly the result of young adults.
Most .mobi sites at the moment are text-based as they are easier to access over mobile phone networks, but this is likely to change as the technology improves.

The .mobi extension also represents an interesting possibility to make money, with little initial investment and not a great deal of effort. You need to register a .mobi name (that has not already been registered), this costs around US$10, this then be developed into a site or if you don't fancy doing this you can put it up for sale at a domain name auction. Since the beginning of 2007 there have been a number of high profile .mobi sales, including Sportsbook.mobi for US$129,800, RealEstate.mobi for US$85,000, Stocks.mobi for US$70,000 and Casinos.mobi for US$53,000. Generic names are the best and make sure you avoid possible trademark disputes, but apart from that if it hasn't been registered you can register it yourself.

To register a name you would need to contact a domain registrar such as Moniker.com or MumbaiHosting.com. Once the name is registered you would need to find a 'parking company' (free) or an auction site (free but they will take a commission on any sale).

For futher information about .mobi names and auctions check out : NetMonetization

Good luck and have a nice day !

India Needs another 100,000 Trained Software Engineers

6 May 2007 - 18:40

India's I.T. companies need another 100,000 workers

India is certainly the place to be for I.T graduates. It will be adding tens of thousands of new jobs in 2007 but it seems there are not enough skilled workers available (Tip : If you are looking for a job in an India software company, ask for an extravagant amount of money ! They need you more than you need them and they can afford it.). I.T companies need to find another 100,000 workers. So if you fancy living in India and if you are a trained software engineer now may be your chance.

Last year, due to the significant increase in the numbers of new clients, I.T. companies added an estimated 75,000 jobs.

But the increase in the number of Western companies outsourcing or moving offices to India, means that there are not enough indigenous software engineers to fill all the posts.

According to Partha Iyengar, research director at the Gartner India consultancy group, "Even though numbers are being bandied in terms of how many English-speaking graduates India produces, one of the key issues that we are coming up against now is the fact that there is actually a small percentage of these graduates that are actually employable. As you are faced with a shrinking employable pool, shrinking because of increasing demand, what companies have to do is relax their recruiting criteria. What they are then faced with is having to recruit a much lower quality of resource."

It is claimed that only about 1 in 4 of the 400,000 new Indian graduate engineers meet the criteria of the top companies and according to some recruiters the training offered by many private schools is inadequate. As a result of this shortage, companies are now having to recruit from smaller and lesser-known schools and colleges. Larger companies such as Infosys have created their own training centres to train new graduates.

The National Association of Software Services Companies reckons that there could be a shortfall of 500,000 technology professionals by 2010. Recent results show that net profits for the 5 top I.T. companies, such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy, grew 47% in the year to March.

It is worth bearing in mind that according to a recent survey by McKinsey India will grow into the fifth-largest consumer market in the world, ahead of Germany and Italy.

Household Income to Triple

Over the next two decades, Indian household income will triple and the study also shows that the list of very rich people will be as long as 23 million.

Predicting a population of 1.4 billion, the middle-class will number 580 million and comprise 41% of the population.

Good Lucka and have a nice day !

An Indian Computer in Chennai for US$100

30 April 2007 - 20:57

Computers in India for Rs 4,500 (US$ 100)

An Indian company, Novatium, based in Chennai is to sell PCs for US$ 100 or less (Rs 4,500).According to the CEO Alok Singh, Novatium has a target of 10 million customers over the next 5 years.

The company can offer such low prices by making use of ‘thin computing’ services, which means that the complex computing tasks are moved to a central server and the desktop PC is made relatively simple to just provide access to what is being processed.

The Net PC package — consisting of the CPU, a 14-inch CRT monitor, a keyboard and a mouse — has been tentatively priced at Rs.4, 450 (roughly $100). When Net PC hits the market at this price, it could well be the most economical home PC ever.

Whereas a PC in India can cost upwards of Rs 40,000, 140 subscribers in Chennai have been paying a monthly rental of Rs.449 for which they are able to log on to the Internet using either Windows (Network version) or Linux (Ubuntu), run applications such as Microsoft Office, run educational packages, play games and download content that will be stored in the server.

Novatium says after the successful trial in Chennai they plan to expand into 6-7 big cities in the next year.

Novatium was founded by Ray Stata Chairman of US-based Analog Devices, Netcore Solutions Managing Director Rajesh Jain and Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT Madras.

Indian Tops UK Sunday Times Rich List

29 April 2007 - 23:14

Three Indians in the Top Five on the Sunday Times UK Rich List
India to Get Free High-Speed 2Mbps Broadband
Shortage of Relevant Graduate Skills but not Solar Panels

Lakshmi Mittal, the President of Arcelor Steel, is still the richest person in Britain with assets totalling £19.25 billion, an increase of £5 billion over last year. The second richest is the Russian oil tycoon and football groupie Roman Abramovitch with a mere £10.8 billion.

According to the List, despite the fact that Labour have been in power for the last ten years, the wealth of Britain's resident super-rich has trebled. Thanks to Gordon Brown’s management of the economy the gap between the rich and the poor is now greater than it was before Labour came to power. Nice one Gordon.
The only person in the top five who was actually born in the UK is the celebrated estate agent, the Duke of Westminster, with a ‘bijou’ property empire of £7 billion.
The Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, are ranked joint fourth with a £6.2 billion empire obtained from “industry and finance”, although as there are two of them they only really have £3.1 billion each, so possibly some ‘match fixing’ there.

If you want to be on the list you will need a fortune of £70 million to scrape in at number 1,000. If you think you have been inadvertently left off, you need to complain to the Sunday Times, not me.

India to Get Free High-Speed 2Mbps Broadband

The Indian government has decided to provide free, high-speed broadband services throughout India by 2009, via state-owned telcos BSNL and MTNL. Consumers will no doubt be delighted, but the telecom businesses themselves may be less pleased as they risk losing most of their revenue, in part due to the change to VOIP, which allows people to make telephone calls free of charge. The quality of VOIP calls, is starting to improve and by 2009 it is expected to be as good as analog calls. Telecom companies will be forced to create new applications if they wish to continue in business. India is a long way behind China in so far as concerns infrastructure but the Indian government has taken a decisive step to modernize its communications network, plus India will not be hampered in its development by the censorship and State control that exists in China.

Shortage of Relevant Graduate Skills but not Solar Panels

According to KV Kanath CEO of ICICI Bank: "skill-sets in India do not match a lot of the jobs. What is being taught is a disconnect from what we require. Last year, to recruit 10,000 people we had to see 300,000 resumés." There are plenty of UK graduates looking for jobs, so maybe we’ll see some of them emigrating to India.

Mr Kamath also warned that the infrastructure in India could be a threat to economic growth. He said that India's infrastructure needs to be improved, as power blackouts are still relatively frequent. "New capacity will take three or four years to come up," he said. "It will be a catch-up game for a very long time."

One development that may help is the market that has arisen for household solar panels in India, with the help of a UN program that helps local banks offer cheaper loans to enable people to pay for the panels. It’s worth bearing in mind that China is currently a major manufacturer of solar panels, it would seem to me be a wise move for Indians to start making their own (if they don’t already).

I must admit I don't know if there are any Indian manufacturers of solar panels, so if anybody knows of any please don't hesitate to leave a comment (preferably polite).

India a Sleeping Giant ?

23 April 2007 - 17:32

India - Dreams of Empire ?

This is my first post on what is for me a new topic - India. Let me make a couple of things clear from the outset - I am not Indian (I was born in the UK in 1950 from British parents and have no ancestral connection with India) and I have never been to India ! A bit strange maybe for someone with a blog about India ? I do, however, have a connection with India through my philsophical and spiritual leanings, mainly through the teachings of advaita. I also have a great respect for India, it is just one of the strange quirks of my life that I have never been there.

This blog will deal with news and developments in India in all areas, though mainly in the area of business. It is clear to anyone living in the UK that India with a population of 1 billion will have an enormous influence in the coming century. Here in the UK everyday we see more jobs being outsourced to India, for two obvious reasons. Wages are much lower in India than in the UK (around 10 - 25% of what people earn over here so I believe - I read not so longer ago that you can lead a comfortable life in India on US$ 300 a month - in England you need twice that just to rent somewhere to live) and English is spoken more or less throughout India. As a result, and because of the improved global telecommunications systems, a lot of service sector jobs that used to be done in the UK are now being done in India, particularly in areas such as banking, insurance, computing and online teaching. I suspect there are already some people in England who have emigrated or are considering emigrating to India.

I will not be going into the rights and wrongs of outsourcing, I will just be commenting on new, and hopfeully interesting, developments as I see them and as I hear about them. Things change and at the moment India is reaping economic and financial benefits from these changes. It would be nice if these economic and financial benefits were to help the population at large, but given that this is capitalism that we are altking about, I won't be holding my breath on that one. Although I expect there will be some genral improvement in living standards. But we haven't got rid of poverty and exploitation here in the West yet, so I don't expect it to disappear in the East any time soon either. Life sucks and then you die ? Maybe not, how about - life sucks and then you realize it was only a dream anyway ? For those who have no knowledge of Hinduism, that is more or less the central message (comments welcome !). Life sucks and if you realize it is a dream/illusion then you are free of it, if you don't realize it then you are re-born again and again until you do. So if you fancy living in India, then maybe you will, next time round.

So right at this moment in time I've got to get back to my day job, but I hope to be posting something 'interesting' soon.

Have a good day !