RNI No.

: MAHENG/2018/76663
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MUMBAI: TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2019 • VOL. No. 1 • Issue No. 56 • IPEPCIL PUBLICATIONS PVT LTD. • 8 PAGES • PRICE: ₹ 8

Job creation trebles in Feb: EPFO

NEW DELHI: Net employ-
ment generation in the for-
mal sector almost trebled to
8.61 lakh in Feb compared
with 2.87 lakh in the same
month of last year, accord-
ing to the latest Employees’
Provident Fund Organisation
(EPFO) payroll data. The re-
tirement fund body has been
releasing payroll data from
April 2018, covering the
period starting Sept 2017.
According to the latest
data, the highest job cre-
ation was recorded in Jan
2019 at 8.94 lakh against the
provisional estimate of 8.96
lakh released last month.
During Feb 2019, the high-
est number of 2.36 lakh jobs
were created in the 22 to 25
years’ age group, followed
by 2.09 lakh in the 18 to 21
years’ age bracket. The data
showed that 80.86 lakh new
jobs were created in the 18
months’ period from Sept
2017 to Feb 2019.
Nevertheless, the EPFO
has revised downward the
number of net subscribers
added or new jobs created
from Sept 2017 to Jan 2019
to 72.24 lakh from 76.48
lakh released last month.
The sharpest revision was
for March 2018 in the lat-
est report which showed
contraction or exit of 55,934
members from the EPFO
subscriptions. Last month,
the EPFO payroll data had
showed that as many as
29,023 members exited from
its schemes in March 2018.
In Feb 2019, the EPFO
data had showed that as
many as 5,498 members
joined EPFO schemes in
March 2018. On contraction
in March 2018 numbers, the
EPFO said, “March 2018 fig-
ure is negative due to large
number of exits reported
in the month of March, in
view of it being the closing
month of the financial year.”
The EPFO said the data is
provisional as updation of
employee records is a con-
tinuous process and gets up-
dated in subsequent months.
This is age-band wise
data of new members regis-
tered under the EPFO where
the first non-zero contri-
bution received during a
particular month. For each
age-wise band, the estimates
are net of the members
newly enrolled, exited and
re-joined during the month
as per records of the EPFO,
it added. The estimates may
include temporary employ-
ees whose contributions
may not be continuous for
the entire year. Members’
data are linked to unique
Aadhaar Identity, it added.
The EPFO manages social
security funds of workers
in the organised or semi-
organised sector in India
and has more than six crore
active members (with at
least one-month contribu-
tion during the year).
Over 1,000 millionaires
flocked to UAE in 2018
DUBAI: Dubai attracted
more than 1,000 million-
aires from outside the coun-
try, surpassing major cit-
ies like Los Angeles, Mel-
bourne, Miami, New York,
San Francisco and Sydney,
according to the “Global
Wealth Migration Report”
for 2019, developed recently
by AfrAsia Bank and New
World Wealth.
The report described
Dubai as the most promi-
nent financial centre in
the MidEast and one of
the safest cities in the re-
gion as well as a popular
destination for High-Net-
Worth-Individuals (HNWIs)
and wealthy expatriates. It
also said that Dubai is an
example of the power that
business incentives have
in encouraging business
formation.
Approximately 2,000
HNWIs, each with at least
$1 million worth of net as-
sets, moved into the UAE
in 2018, boosting the local
economy. The number of
affluent migrants in the
UAE rose by two per cent
in 2018, compared with the
previous year. The 2019
Global Wealth Migration Re-
port said that global wealth
migration saw an accel-
eration in 2018. Approxi-
mately 108,000 millionaires
(HNWIs) migrated in 2018,
compared with 95,000 in
2017. China saw a mass exo-
dus of 15,000 millionaires in
2018, the most significant of
any country in the world,
followed by Russia, which
saw an exodus of about 7000
millionaires. India saw an
exodus of 5000 millionaires
while Turkey saw 4000 and
France and the UK 3000 mil-
lionaires each.
The report reviewed the
major factors that led to
HNWIs moving outside their
country to find a home that
meets their needs. Key ele-
ments driving their reloca-
tion included security and
safety, modern lifestyle,
high standards of living,
better educational opportu-
nities and healthcare.
Driven by its success as
a focal point for global trade
and an important transpor-
tation hub, Dubai has built
a global reputation as a city
with a highly developed
infrastructure that boasts
world-class standards in ev-
ery sector. Based on an ethos
of peaceful co-existence
and tolerance, the UAE has
become a worldwide model
for harmony between people
of different religions and
ethnicities.
The country is home to
people of over 200 nation-
alities. Its strong legislative
framework provides high
levels of safety and security
while its exceptional in-
frastructure provides high-
quality (Contd. on page 2)

Travel industry in India Indian-American PAC endorses

to reach $136b by 2021
NEW DELHI: The travel
spend in India is expected
to grow at 13pc to a total of
$136 billion by 2021, said a
new report by Bain & Com-
pany and Google India.
According to the “How
Does India Travel” report,
the Indian traveller spent
around $94 billion in 2018
on around 2 billion domestic
and international trips, thus,
helping India’s travel and
tourism industry achieve
unprecedented scale.
“New users perceive that
online channels are geared
towards more frequent fly-
ers and experience-oriented
travellers and existing trav-
ellers research online but the
lack of trust in payments and
booking experience make
them end up booking offline.
“If travel players tap
these online users through
personalised marketing,
messaging and travel plans,
they can further augment
online travel bookings. This
can be done by adopting dig-
ital technologies to influence
customers early in the jour-
ney,” Vikas Agnihotri, Coun-
try Director-Sales, Google
India, said in a statement.
The report indicates a
12pc growth in transporta-
tion ($50 billion) and 13pc
growth in lodging ($21 bil-
lion) and consumption,
which includes spends on
shopping, recreation and
food, to grow at 13pc ($65
billion) over the next three
years.
“There is a perception
amongst consumers that
online channels are geared
towards premium custom-
ers, along with a marked
distrust around payment
and pricing terms. It is im-
perative for businesses to
address these concerns in
order to effectively tap into
the growing base of users,”
Arpan Sheth, Partner, Bain
& Company said.
As more people come
online, smartphone penetra-
tion improves and use of
digital payments goes up,
the report predicts that In-
dian travellers would spend
an additional $24 billion
on online travel bookings
over the next three years, a
growth from 25pc in 2018 to
35pc in 2021.
Kamala Harris for president
WASHINGTON: An Indian-
American political action
committee (PAC) has en-
dorsed Democratic presi-
dential candidate Senator
Kamala Harris of Indian and
Jamaican descent for the
2020 presidential race.
“In such a critically im-
portant election, one that
will shape policy and poli-
tics for generations to come,
Indian Americans can’t af-
ford to stay on the side-
lines,” the Indian American
Impact Fund’s co-founder
Raj Goyle said in a state-
ment. Goyle, also a former
Kansas state lawmaker, said
it was for that reason that
the organisation chose to be
“the first Indian-American
or Asian-American politi-
cal organisation to endorse”
Harris, whose mother was
from Chennai, reports the
American Bazaar.
“In the coming months,
we look forward to mobilising
our network of resources to
ensure Senator Harris secures
the Democratic nomination
and is elected the next presi-
dent of the US,” Goyle said.
Harris thanked the Im-
pact Fund for the endorse-
Kamala Harris
ment. “This endorsement
and the support of the In-
dian American Impact Fund
and its members means so
much to me,” she said in
a statement. “Together, we
will fight for an America
that restores the values of
truth and justice and works
for working people, from
raising incomes to expand-
ing health care.”
The Impact Fund Ex-
ecutive Director and former
Maryland state delegate
Aruna Miller said her group
was “proud to endorse” Har-
ris. “She is a tested leader
who has demonstrated,
throughout her career, a
strong commitment to our
community’s progressive
and pluralistic values,” Mill-
er said. Harris, one of the
first Democrats to launch
the presidential campaign
in this election cycle, is also
one of the front-runners
at the moment. If elected,
she will become the first
woman, the first Indian-
American, the first Asian
American, and the first
African American woman
to serve as president.

SpiceJet hires 500 Jet S’pore-based firms investing US-Indian mayor of Cerritos
Airways employees CERRITOS: Indian- Ameri- served as a Cerritos Planning

MUMBAI: Budget carrier
SpiceJet said that it has
already absorbed over 500
employees, including 100
pilots, of the grounded carri-
er Jet Airways and it is open
to induct more as it adds
more aircraft and routes
in the times ahead.
The Gurugram-based
no-frills airline has
already announced
induction of 27 more
planes -22 Boeing
737s and five tur-
boprop Bombardier
Q400s – in the fleet to help
overcome to an extent the
capacity deficit due to Jet
Airways temporarily with-
drawing its domestic and
international services.
SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh
in a statement said that his
carrier is giving “first prefer-
ence” to Jet Airways staff in
recruitment. “As we expand
and grow, we are giving first
preference to those who have
recently lost their jobs due
to the unfortunate closure of
Jet Airways,” Singh said. He
said that SpiceJet has already
provided jobs to more than
100 pilots, over 200 cabin
crew and 200 plus technical
and airport staff recently.
“We will do more. We will
also induct a large number
of planes in our fleet soon,”
Singh added. The carrier has
announced the launch of 24
new flights connecting Mum-
bai & Delhi with 16 services
connecting Mumbai and four
Delhi while the remaining
four connecting the two met-
ros. “SpiceJet is making all
possible efforts to minimise
passenger inconvenience and
serve Indian customers who
are finding it difficult to get
seats in this busy season,”
Singh added.
heavily in India’s real estate
SINGAPORE: With fund-
ing from Indian banks and
non-banking financial com-
panies drying up in the real
estate sector, Singapore-
based investors are betting
big on Indian commercial
realty and sunshine sec-
tors such as logistics and
warehousing, says a report
by ANAROCK, a real estate
consulting firm.
Singapore-based inves-
tors pumped $1.15 billion
(SG$1.56 billion) into In-
dian real estate in 2015 and
2016 and nearly $3.5 billion
(SG$4.73 billion) in 2017
and 2018. It states that top
private equity (PE) firms
of Singapore such as GIC,
Ascendas-Singbridge and
Xander are funnelling bil-
lions of dollars into India’s
realty sector, particularly in
South Indian cities. About
one-third of the total $ 14.01
billion PE investment in In-
dia’s realty sector between
2015 and 2018 was made
by Singaporean firms, the
highest among domestic and
foreign investors.
GIC Private Limited,
a sovereign wealth fund
established by the Gov-
ernment of Singapore to
manage Singapore’s foreign
reserves, has invested close
to US$2.5 billion in Indian
real estate, mainly in cities
like Chennai, Mumbai, Ben-
galuru, Hyderabad, Delhi
and the National Capital
Region.
For Ascendas-Singbridge
Group, the preferred cit-
ies have been Hyderabad,
Chennai and Mumbai.
Shobhit Agarwal, MD of
ANAROCK Capital, said:
“With funding from banks
and non-banking financial
companies drying up, In-
dian developers are being
forced to explore debt and
equity funding from various
PE firms. Singapore inves-
tors were on top of the list,
followed by PE players from
the US and Canada. After
establishing a strong base in
China, India was their next
destination of preference.”
can businessman Naresh Commissioner from 2007 to
Solanki, who was voted to 2015. He is a member of
the Cerritos City Council the City Council’s Budget/
has been elevated to mayor. Finance, Performing Arts,
The council, which names a Personnel and Business
mayor and mayor pro tem and Industry committees.
each year from Solanki is the al-
the five-person ternate delegate
council, chose to the California
Solanki. Contract Cities
Solanki had Association, San-
been the mayor itation Districts
pro tem while 2, 3, 18 and 19/
M a r k Pu l i d o Waste Manage-
held the reigns ment and South-
of mayor for the east Water Coali-
past year. Pulido tion Joint Powers
handed off the Naresh Solanki Authority.
meeting to City Additionally,
Clerk Vida Barone, who Solanki is a member of
opened nominations for the Cerritos Optimist Club
mayor. Councilman Jim and the Cerritos Regional
Edwards quickly nominated Chamber of Commerce.
Solanki, with Councilman He is involved with and
Frank Yokoyama seconding supports local chapters of
the nomination. the Lions Club and Rotary
Solanki was elected to Club as well as Blind Start
the Cerritos City Council of America. He owns and
in 2015. He became mayor is the CEO/president of a
pro tem in 2016 and 2018. chain of retail grocery su-
A Cerritos resident since permarkets located through-
1988, Solanki previously out Southern California.

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 2 EMIGRATION Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Invest in real estate for long-term UAE visa
ABU DHABI: The UAE of-
fers plenty of opportunities
to foreigners who are willing
to invest in real estate sector
to secure a long-term visa
following a reform process
initiated by the government.
Property investors can
invest in more than 40 com-
munities across the UAE,
mainly in Dubai, to secure
a long-term visa and better
returns on their investment.
Majority of foreigners prefer
to invest their money in
residential properties, but
real estate experts suggest
that commercial properties
can also offer strong returns.
As per the new UAE
regulations, property in-
vestors can get a five-year
residence visa when they
invest in a property worth
at least Dh5 million. The
ruling applies both to sec-
ondary and new properties
above Dh5 million and Dh10
million. Idential properties
in Dubai, particularly in
branded or serviced apart-
ment categories, above Dh5
million offer investment
opportunities for those seek-
ing a long-term visa under
new regulations.”Certain
villa or townhouse com-
munities in Abu Dhabi and
Northern Emirates like Ras
Al Khaimah also offer such
investment opportunities,” a
real estate agent said.
He said requirements for
these new long-term visa
currently state cash-only
investments. Therefore,
more clarity is required
on how this is applicable
to single units or entire
buildings, land, etc. “Bulk
residential units in higher
yield areas like International
City may prove to be a bet-
ter investment option in
the Dh5 million and above
category, particularly for
those with a higher risk
appetite, than a single villa
where yields tend to hover
around five per cent,” said
Dhama. “Indians, Pakistanis
and Britons will remain top
three investors seeking long-
term visa through prop-
erty investment,” she said
while referring to majority
of investment in Dubai’s
property sector coming from
India, Pakistan, Britain and
Saudi Arabia.
Five-year visa
There are 31 communi-
ties across the emirate of
Dubai where Dh5 million
worth of investment can get
a five-year visas, according
to data provided by Caven-
dish Maxwell. Al Barari, Al
Furjan, Arabian Ranches,
Arabian Ranches- 2, Blue-
waters Island, Business Bay,
City Walk, Culture Village,
Damac Hills, Downtown
Burj Khalifa, Dubai Harbour,
Dubai Marina and Dubai
Science Park (DuBiotech)
are included among those
communities.
Taimur Khan, head of re-
search for MidEast at Knight
Frank, said majority of the
properties above Dh5 mil-
lion price range are villa
properties in locations such
as Emirates Hills, The Palm
Jumeirah, Emirates Living
among others. In addition,
there are also a number of
luxury apartments which
are available in Dubai’s es-
tablished prime area such as
Downtown Dubai and Palm
Jumeirah. “We are also see-
ing new offerings come to
the market in Dubai Marina,
Bluewaters, Jumeirah and
City Walk.”
In Abu Dhabi, major-
ity of residential properties
above Dh5 million are villas
on Saadiyat Island while
some prime apartments are
available above this price
point on Saadiyat Island,
Yas Island and Al Raha
Beach.
Abu Dhabi allows foreigners
free-hold land rights
DUBAI: Foreign nationals
and foreigner-owned busi-
nesses can acquire land on
full free-hold in Abu Dhabi,
at locations designated as
investment zones. The new
rights also empower them
to develop properties for the
land thus acquired.
Earlier, these rights only
allowed foreigners to ac-
quire properties in these
designated zones. Aldar
Properties, in which Abu
Dhabi government holds a
significant stake, and Im-
kan, owned by Abu Dhabi
Capital Group, had been
testing the waters offer-
ing plots for sale at recent
launches.
This strategy has paid off
handsomely for Aldar, with
the developer confirming
Dh2 billion from such plot
sales, at its Alreeman (in
the Alshamka locality and
close to the airport) and Lea
projects. At the Lea, located
on the northern side of Yas
Island, the plots ranged
between 405 square metres
to 1,800 square metres, and
with prices from Dh990,000.
“We are off to a flying
start this year … and we
are seeing really strong de-
mand for land opportuni-
ties within masterplanned
communities,” said Talal Al
Dhiyebi, CEO of Aldar, in a
statement. “Generating over
Dh2 billion from our two re-
cent developments — Alree-
man and Lea — shows how
market sentiment is moving
in a positive direction.”
Market sources say even
mid-sized developers can
now use their land bank to
bring in cash. “There are
many developers with vari-
ous degrees of land holdings
and the new Decree allows
them to make better use
of this,” said an industry
source. “They can reduce
their land holdings and free
up much needed cash when
needed.“At a time when off-
plan property sales have
been on the decline, selling
plots offers a viable option.”
Land prices
So, what of the land pric-
es in Abu Dhabi? Currently,
if the intention is to build
villas, the land would cost
them between Dh200 and
Dh400 a square foot and rise
to around Dh450 if located
by the waterside. Land for
multi-floor buildings would
be from Dh150 a square foot.
The latest decree also gives a
push to foreign-owned busi-
nesses to consider owning
their own real estate require-
ments in the emirate.
Market sources say that
more areas in the emirate
could be assigned invest-
ment zone rights which
would allow them to do so.
That would even extend to
industrial properties built
for warehousing and logis-
tics needs.
Abu Dhabi’s real estate
sector could definitely do
with a boost. The latest
Cavendish Maxwell update
suggests that property prices
in coveted locations such as
Al Reem Island and Al Reef
Downtown were down by
10 to 12pc for apartments in
the 12 months to March 31,
2019. “The market remains
subdued across communi-
ties in Abu Dhabi — inves-
tors have shown growing
interest in lower-priced
inventory, particularly those
assets with higher expected
yields and flexible payment
plans offered by develop-
ers. However, the overall
sentiment is bearish, with
investors waiting for prices
to soften further in 2019.

India must complete its reform process in next five years RBI has $43b in excess reserves, says BofAML
NEW DELHI: India must
focus on growth of labour-
intensive sectors to create
decent jobs for the masses
as well as give “serious
thought” to privatising the
public sector banks (PSBs),
eminent economist Arvind
Panagariya has said, em-
phasising that the reform
process must be completed
in the coming five years.
Panagariya, who had
served as the first Vice
Chairman of the NITI Aayog
from January 2015 to August
2017, was responding to a
question on what the priori-
ties should be of the govern-
ment that comes into power
when India’s mammoth and
crucial general elections end
next month.
“My personal view is
that India must complete its
reform process in the com-
ing five years,” Panagariya,
Director at the Raj Center on
Indian Economic Policies at
Columbia University, said.
The Deepak and Neera
Raj Centre in The School
of International and Public
Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia
University provides research
and expertise necessary to
inform policy decisions,
deliver increased prosperity,
and define India’s future role
in the global economy.
Highlighting the priority
areas, Panagariya said that
India needs a clear focus
on the growth of labour-
intensive sectors such as
apparel, footwear, furniture,
kitchenware and other light
manufactures to create de-
cent jobs for the masses.
“We need firms in these
sectors that are globally
competitive and capture
the space in export markets
that China has been quitting
due to its high wages. This
requires flexible labour and
land laws and an ecosystem
that is yet friendlier to large
firms,” he said.
Panagariya elaborated
that one way to achieve this
is to create Shenzhen-style
Coastal Employment Zones
(in China) that create zones
of 500 square kilometers or
more along the coast that are
characterized by highly en-
trepreneur-friendly regime
with respect to land, labour
and international trade.
“Eventually, we must
extend this regime to other
parts of the country as well,
he said.
He stressed that it is also
time that “we gave a serious
thought to privatising public
sector banks (PSBs).
“Experience has shown
that public sector owner-
ship creates perverse incen-
tives that have repeatedly
manifested themselves in
episodes of accumulation
of non-performing assets
(NPAs) in PSBs while the
same has not been a prob-
lem in private and foreign
banks,” he said.
Further, public owner-
ship has also resulted in dual
regulation of PSBs (by the
Reserve Bank of India and
the government) and two dif-
ferent RBI regulatory regimes
for PSBs and private banks.
“The simultaneous role
of the government as a pro-
vider of banking services
through PSBs, policy maker
and regulator create obvious
conflicts. There needs to a
separation of policy making,
regulatory and service pro-
vision functions,” he said,
adding that it is possible to
promote social goals with-
out ownership of the banks
as the experience with prior-
ity sector lending illustrates.
“As a last resort, if the
government feels that it
must have control, keeping
the State Bank of India in
the public sector (with due
governance reforms) may be
a reasonable compromise,”
Panagariya said.
The noted academician
also stressed that serious
thought must be given to the
consolidation of numerous
transfers into a single cash
transfer.
MUMBAI: A panel named the RBI has insufficient up a range of one trillion
by India’s central bank to reserves. rupees plus only from con-
study its capital structure BofAMLs note comes as tingency reserves,” Indrani
is likely to identify excess the panel led by former cen- Sen Gupta, chief India econ-
reserves of up to Rs 3 lakh- tral bank Governor Bimal omist at Biofilm, said in the
crore ($43 billion), or 1.5 Jalan prepares to submit its note. According to him, In-
per cent of gross domestic report in the coming weeks. dia’s central bank maintains
product, according to Bank While finance ministry higher contingency reserves
of America Merrill Lynch. officials have supported as a percentage of its total
The view from BofAML transfer of surplus reserves book compared to its peers
lends itself to a debate over to help the government in Brazil, Russia and South
Reserve Bank of India’s re- meet budget goals, a cen- Africa and a lower cap will
serves, with one school of tral bank-backed thinktank release more funds.
thought believing that the found that the RBI’s capi- As such, if the cap is
monetary authority holds tal buffer that’s below the halved to 3.25pc from
surplus capital that can be global average capital to 6.25pc, currently, that will
handed over to the govern- asset ratio. release Rs 1.3 lakh crore,
ment and the other saying Our stress tests throw Sen Gupta added.
No more departure stamps for foreigners leaving S’pore
SINGAPORE: Foreigners departing Sin- Since Sept 2016, foreign travellers whose
gapore will no longer need to get their fingerprints have been enrolled via the
passports stamped at the manned counters. BioScreen system upon their arrival into
This is part of ongoing efforts to stream- Singapore can use automated lanes when
line procedures at the checkpoints and they leave the country. They do not receive
make them more effective, said the Im- departure immigration stamps when they
migration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA). use the automated lanes. To further stream-
Previously, all foreigners departing Sin- line the departure process, ICA is ceasing
gapore would have their passports stamped the departure immigration endorsements to
with the date of their departure by the im- all foreign travellers departing Singapore
migration officer at the manned counters. through manned counters.

JNPT raises offer to buy Air India tower L&T MBDA seeks approval for SEZ unit
MUMBAI: State- owned two people familiar with the a much-needed liquidity
NEW DELHI: L&T MBDA will focus on assembly, inte- exported to France for integra- systems company jointly
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust development said, asking boost to Air India while
Missile Systems Ltd, a joint gration, and functional test- tion into missiles by the unit’s held by Airbus Group, BAE
(JNPT), India’s biggest con- not to be named. ensuring that the iconic
venture between engineer- ing of missile sub-systems customer MBDA, which will Systems and Leonardo, was
tainer gateway, has raised its In December 2018, Air building remained in gov-
ing conglomerate Larsen & and missile weapon systems. supply the missiles to the incorporated in April 2017
offer price to over Rs 1,300 India issued a tender to sell ernment hands. The airline
Toubro and France’s MBDA, The BoA on SEZ, in its Indian Armed Forces. as an Indian company, with
crore to buy debt-ridden its 23-storey building as has identified residential
has urged the government meeting in November 2018, “To meet the timeline L&T holding 51 per cent
Air India’s iconic 23-storey part of a larger asset mon- and commercial properties
to grant a provisional Letter had considered a request for the unit needs to construct stake and MBDA holding the
tower located at Mumbai’s etisation plan and allowed for sale in at least 16 cities.
Marine Drive at Nariman only government entities to Air India posted a stand-
of Approval (LoA) for the LoA by L&T MBDA Missile specific manufacturing fa- remaining 49 per cent.
Point. participate in the bidding for alone net loss of Rs 5,337 company’s proposed Special Systems, but at that time it cility for execution of these “To begin with, the JV
JNPT’s initial bid of some acquiring lease hold rights crore in FY18 compared Economic Zone (SEZ) unit had not given its approval. export orders,” the agenda company will look to de-
Rs 1,200 crore was higher on “as is, where is basis”. to a loss of Rs 6,281 crore in Coimbatore to start con- Instead, it directed that pointed out. velop and supply fifth-gen-
than the one quoted by The move to sell the in FY17. At the end of the struction of facilities. the proposal for grant of li- The matter of the unit eration anti-tank guided
the state-run insurer Life 2,20,000 square feet build- last financial year, it had Rs L&T MBDA is awaiting cence may be expeditiously was examined by the Depart- missiles for coastal and
Insurance Corporation of ing came after a plan to 21,955 crore in short-term an industrial licence, and processed on file after re- ment of Commerce, and it high-speed target drones,”
India (LIC), the only other privatise the loss-making borrowings and Rs 30,227 export orders with “critical ceiving necessary applica- was decided to place the re- both companies said in a
bidder to participate in the carrier fell through last year in long-term loans. delivery timelines” were tion/documents from the quest for the examination of joint statement. Setting up
auction, but was below the for lack of bidder interest, The shipping ministry piling up, the company said. unit and clearances from the Boa at its next meeting. operations as a SEZ unit will
reserve price set by the cash- forcing the government to has been nudging some of “The unit assured that relevant departments. An L&T’s joint venture with help the company save on
strapped national carrier. abandon the move in view the dozen ports owned by the manufacturing opera- application for industrial MBDA, the French missiles customs duties on inputs.
tions will not start until the licence was subsequently
Over 1,000 millionaires...
“During negotiations, of the general election. the Centre to use their cash
JNPT raised its price bid to The idea behind the reserves to fund waterway grant of industrial licence made to the DPIIT, and is
over Rs 1,300 crore,” at least sale of the tower is to give and rail connectivity proj- under the Arms Act 1959 under its consideration. The (Contd. from page 1)
ects as well as for setting up by the Department for Pro- unit, however, is continuous- tourism facilities, service levels and entertainment offer-
new ports or buying stressed motion of Industrial and ly pressing hard for a LoA for ings. The city offers many advantages that make it a haven
private ports. Internal Trade (DPIIT). their SEZ unit pending issu- for the world’s wealthy. Millionaires flock to the emirate due
Published by IPEPCIL Publications Ltd JNPT is part of a con- “The unit also assured ance of industrial licence by to a range of exceptional business incentives, robust foreign
RNI No.: MAHENG/2018/76663 sortium of four major port that it will abide by condi- the DPIIT, as it would allow trade and international connectivity. Dubai attracted over
Publisher: Supreet M.J. trusts that acquired state- tions as required by the it to enter into a lease agree- 16 million tourists in 2018 and has the ambitious target of
Editor : E.L. Vaidyanathan run Dredging Corporation of Department of Commerce,” ment with the SEZ developer welcoming 25 million tourists by 2025. Dubai International
Volume No.: 1, Issue: 56 India (DCI) from the govern- according to the agenda and undertake construction of Airport (DXB) has retained its position as the world’s busi-
ment. Separately, JNPT has note to be considered by the manufacturing facilities. est airport with the number of travellers passing through its
Published at: Office No. 1001, 10th Floor,
secured backing from a lend- Board of Approval (BoA) for “The unit has mentioned terminals hitting nearly 90 million last year, up by one per
Navjivan Commercial Premises Co-op. Society Ltd.,
ers panel to buy debt-laden SEZs in its meeting on April that it has already received cent from the previous year. Dubai International has been
Lamington Road, (Dr.D.B.Marg), Mumbai Central, 22. The proposed SEZ unit export orders with critical
Dighi Port, located a few ki- crowned as the world’s busiest hub for international travel
Mumbai - 400 008. Ph.: 022 - 23001102 / 23001103. is to come up at the Aspen delivery timelines. The mis- for a few years now since outranking London Heathrow
lometres away, through the
Printed at: Inquilab Offset Printers Ltd., 156, D J Dadaji Road, Infrastructures Ltd SEZ, Co- sile sub-assemblies to be in 2014. The number of affluent migrants in the UAE rose
Insolvency and Bankruptcy
Tardeo, Mumbai-400 034, Maharashtra, India. imbatore, Tamil Nadu, and produced by the unit are to be by two per cent in 2018 compared with the previous year.
Code (IBC) process.
 Tuesday, April 23, 2019
GULF JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES 3

FOR ADVERTISEMENT
BOOKING
CALL
022 - 23001102
022 - 23001103

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Readers are requested to verify and make ap-
propriate enquiries to satisfy themselves about
the veracity of an advertisement before re-
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this newspaper. NEWS AND NRI CONNECT,
its publisher and owner IPEPCIL Publications
do NOT vouch for the authenticity of any
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event can the owner, publisher, printer, editor,
director, employees of this newspaper/com-
pany be held responsible/liable in any manner
whatsoever for any claims and /or damages for
advertisements in this newspaper.
 4 GULF JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Extend special loan to help Indians held for

Jet Airways pay staff: AIBEA
NEW DELHI: If there is vi- special loan scheme to the
able and acceptable proposal staff of Jet Airways to tide
to take over the company, over their present financial
Government must take over problems,” said CH Ven-
the airline or merge it with katachalam, General Secre-
Air India, says the Assoica- tary, AIBEA, in a letter to
tion. Indian Banks’ Association
Banks should come for- Chairman Sunil Mehta.
ward to extend a special “We are happy to observe
and exclusive loan to the that the banks are not show-
grounded Jet Airways for the ing any hurry to further
payment of salary dues of lend to Jet Airways, rather,
the staff or some subsistence bidders are being invited to
payments to them, against a take over the airline. When
proper collateral of lien on our Banks already have an
the accumulation in the staff exposure of Rs 7200 crore
fund like PF and gratuity, to Jet Airways and when
according to the All India the promoter Naresh Goyal
Bank Employees Association is unable to bring in further
(AIBEA). capital, and when the airline
“Alternatively, IBA can is already cash-starved, it is
ask the banks to device a most prudent that the banks
Twitter appoints Manish Maheshwari as India MD
NEW DELHI Twitter India wari will be responsible
has appointed Manish for driving an integrated
Maheshwari, ex-CEO of business strategy to accel-
Network18 Digital, as theerate Twitter`s audience
Managing Director for itsand revenue growth in the
India operations. country, the company said
Reporting to Maya Hari,
in a statement.
B a s e d
out of Delhi,
he will over-
s e e Tw i t -
ter India`s
teams in
D e l h i ,
Mumbai
and Benga-
luru from
April 29.
“India is
one of our
Twitter`s Vice President fastest growing audience
and Managing Director markets for Twitter in the
of Asia Pacific, Mahesh-
are not willing to lend any
further to them unless and
until viable proposals come
to take over and run the air-
line on proper lines,” he said.
He emphasised that the
banks should dispel the
wrong impression that when
a corporate borrower defaults
repayment of the loan or
mismanages the affairs of the
company, it is the job of the
banks to rescue them.
If viable and acceptable
proposals do not come at
the earliest to take over the
company, the Association
said that the banks should
recommend to the Govern-
ment to either take over the
airline or merge it with Air
India.
world and our purpose is
to serve the public con-
versation in India. We are
thrilled to have Manish
join us at this important
time to take our Indian
business to the next level,”
said Hari.
Prior to Network18, Ma-
heshwari held various posi-
tions at Flipkart, txtWeb,
Intuit, McKinsey and P&G.
“With premium Indian
content on the rise in
multiple regions across
the country, I believe we
are scratching the surface
of what`s possible with
Twitter in India,” said Ma-
heshwari.
“I`m bullish about the
overall impact that Twitter
illegally entering US
NEW YORK: Two Indian
nationals have been appre-
hended by patrol agents at the
US-Mexico border in Arizona
after they got stranded while
trying to enter America ille-
gally, authorities said.
Agents assigned to the Ajo
Border Patrol Station rescued
them following the activation
of a US Border Patrol rescue
beacon.
They responded to the
FOR SUBSCRIPTION
rescue beacon located ap- CALL
proximately 14 miles north- 022 - 23001102
west of the Lukeville Port of
022 - 23001103
Entry in Arizona and found Email: circulation@newsandnri.com
the two men alone in the
beacon.
The duo was transported AICTE to get retired IIT, NIT professors to mentor colleges
back to the station for pro-
NEW DELHI: The All In- systems and processes case colleges can’t find
cessing, where record checks
dia Council for Technical in order to improve the such mentor colleges, we
revealed that they were Indi-
Education (AICTE) has quality of education im- will request retired facul-
an nationals who were trying
decided to invite retired parted in technical in- ty to help such institutes
to enter US illegally
faculty of the country’s stitutes across the coun- with their expertise,”
leading engineering col- try, such as imposing added Sahasrabuddhe.
leges, such as Indian a blanket ban on the The council also
Institutes of Technol- establishment of new in- hoped technical insti-
ogy (IITs) and National stitutes from the 2020-21 tutes would get at least
India can create in the
Institutes of Technology academic year. half of their education
country and the influence
(NITs), to mentor programmes
of India on our global
other struggling in- accredited by
platform,” he added.
stitutes to improve the national
After Taranjeet Singh,
the overall quality board of ac-
who was elevated as
of education. creditation to
Twitter`s Country Di-
“These mentors maintain a good
rector for India in May
would be in a bet- standard of ed-
2017, quit the company
ter position to help ucation. “Stu-
in September last year,
institutes in improv- dents always
the micro-blogging plat-
ing the quality of seek accredited
form which has over 30
education and student Last year, AICTE pro- courses in higher educa-
million users in India (ac-
experience, which will posed well-performing tion institutes and are
cording to statista.com),
automatically make the colleges mentor neigh- fooled by several smaller
had an interim country
process of acquiring ac- bouring institutes that and newer institutes. If
head in Balaji Krish.
creditation easier for were struggling to make AICTE makes accredita-
Krish, Twitter`s global
technical institutes,” said the cut. “Making such tion compulsory, many
head of revenue strategy
Anil Sahasrabuddhe, di- clusters will prove help- students, especially in
and operations, took on
rector, AICTE. ful to all as one or more rural India will benefit,”
the role of interim coun-
In December 2017, colleges can share re- said the assistant director
try head in September
AICTE initiated a mis- sources and expertise of an engineering insti-
2018.
sion to introduce better and help each other. In tute in Mumbai.

GVK Power sells 49pc stake
in airports biz to ADIA, NIIF
NEW DELHI: Infrastruc-
ture conglomerate GVK
Power and Infrastructure
has signed an agree-ment
to sell 49pc stake in its
airports business to Abu
Dhabi Investment Author-
ity (ADIA) and National
Investment and Infrastruc-
ture Fund (NIIF). ADIA is
the world’s second larg-
est sovereign wealth fund
while NIIF is India’s first
sovereign wealth fund set
up by the government in
2015. Both have signed a
term sheet and exclusivity
agreement with GVK Power
and Infrastructure’s step-
down sub-sidiaries GVK
Airport Developers and
GVK Airport Holdings.
GVK had initiated the
process to identify and se-
lect preferred investors to
raise capital to reduce or
refinance debt obligations
of up to Rs 5,750 crore.
“All pro-ceeds from the
proposed transaction will
be used by GVK towards
retiring debt obligations,”
it said in a statement. GVK
Chairman G V Krishna
Reddy said:
“The funds brought in
through this proposed trans-
action will help us delever-
age as we continue with our
endeavours to create the
infrastructure for a strong
avia-tion hub in India that
will provide the impetus for
growth and development for
the entire country.” He said
the future focus will be on
delivering Navi Mumbai
International Airport, suc-
cessfully monetising Mum-
bai airport’s real estate and
building a strong airports
business at GVK.
Over 300 global fashion brands to open stores in India by 2020
NEW DELHI: India is in-
creasingly becoming a focal
point for fashionistas with
more than 300 interna-
tional brands expected to
open stores in the next two
years, according to McKin-
sey Fashionscope.
A rapidly growing
middle-class, increasingly
powerful manufacturing
sector and strong economic
fundamentals make the
country too important for
international brands to
ignore.
“Economic expansion is
happening across Asia, but
we expect that 2019 will
be the year in which India
will take centre stage,” said
McKinsey’s report titled
‘The State of Fashion 2019.’
The country is being
propelled by strong mac-
roeconomic tailwinds and
is predicted to grow at 8
per cent a year between
2018 and 2022. The Indian
middle class is forecast to
expand at 19.4pc a year,
outpacing China, Mexico
and Brazil.
“As a result, India is
set to move from being
an increasingly important
sourcing hub to being one
of the most attractive con-
sumer markets outside the
Western world.”
India’s apparel market
will be worth 59.3 billion
dollars (about Rs 4.12 lakh
crore) in 2022, making
it the sixth-largest in the
world and comparable to
Britain 65 billion dollars
(Rs 4.51 lakh crore) and
Germany 63.1 billion dol-
lars (Rs 4.38 lakh crore),
according to data from
McKinsey’s FashionScope
city-level growth forecast-
ing tool. The apparel business
The aggregate income is still largely unorganised
of the addressable popula- with formal retail account-
tion (individuals with over ing for just 35 per cent of
9,500 dollars or Rs 6.6 sales in 2016. Its share is
lakh in annual income) is likely to reach around 45
expected to triple between per cent by 2025, still a
now and 2025. relatively low proportion.
“Given “Despite structural chal-
these dy- lenges that include in-
namics, it equality, infrastructure and
is little sur- market fragmentation, we
prise that expect strong economic
more than growth, scale and rising
300 inter- tech-savviness will com-
national bine to make it the next big
fashion global opportunity in fash-
brands are ion and apparel,” it said.
expected to Significantly, China will
open stores for the first time in centu-
in India in ries overtake the United
the next two States as the world’s largest
years.” fashion market. “It will be a
But the report said India year of awakening after the
remains a complex market reckoning of 2018 -- a time
which presents challenges for looking at opportuni-
as well as opportunities. ties, not just challenges.”

Listening for effective employee engagement

PUNE: Attracting, motivat-
ing and retaining critical
talent is a significant area
of focus for all businesses.
Unlike in the past when
organisations depended
on once a year feedback
or employee surveys, now
digital technology enables
the organisation to collect
employee feedback on an
ongoing basis on various
matters right through the
employee lifecycle.
Today feedback alone
is not the only source for
assessing employee morale
and decide on what needs
to be done. Employee ex-
perience at every moment
of their association with
the organisation, their ori-
entation with customers,
alignment with the man-
agement’s thinking and
approach and the quality of
learning and collaboration
with peers – all of these
come together to determine
the level of employee en-
gagement which in turn
impacts the retention fac-
tor. The digital system
has to therefore facilitate
linking of the employee
lifecycle data with the
feedback from all stake-
holders along with factors
such as customer orienta-
tion, engagement initiatives
including learning and
coaching, attendance and
other experience as well as
operational data in order to
provide a holistic analysis
of morale and quality of en-
gagement in the organisa-
tion. Arising out of these,
dashboards that provide
deep insights on multiple
factors built around analyt-
ics are essential for creating
transparency and timely
actions on multiple fronts
that have enormous effect
on employee engagement.
Employee engagement
has moved beyond creat-
ing bonhomie and building
relationships. The scope of
influence and engagement
has enhanced considerably
over the past few years par-
ticularly on account of con-
nectedness of employees
with multiple stakeholders
and the opportunity of the
top management to be in
touch with the grassroot
level employees thus mak-
ing it necessary for the
organisation to establish
linkages in all the new
spaces beyond the physical
office environment where
the employee is present.
The presence in social ing with sharing of best measurement method to
media, the role of influenc- practices and coaching determine the outcomes
ers inside and outside the can also be tracked and of employee engagement
organisation which can be made available to build a initiatives resulting in busi-
tracked with the help of comprehensive engagement ness outcomes and substan-
smart tools and analytics of index for the organisation. tiate the case for long term
various touchpoints Such insights would enable sustainability by establish-
in the employee life- the supervisors and HR ing the ROI. Employee
cycle could throw managers to gauge the cur- engagement and talent
light on the engage- rent levels of performance management processes are
ment quotient. For and employee morale to becoming more data driven
instance, analytics of initiate the required steps whether for deciphering the
parameters such as to manage retention or avenues for engagement or
absenteeism, work replacement issues and for deciding on the spend
hours, customer feed- also provide the required and efficacy of the chosen
back, customer reten- counselling support to such pathways. Ultimately, it is
tion, completion of employees. Analytics could the combination of art and
learning programs help unearth critical is- science in listening, sup-
and quality of work sues to be addressed and ported by timely action that
could help provide thus prevent the problem would enable organisations
early warnings on the risks from ballooning to other to find place in the list of
the organisation could run parts of the organisation, best employers to work for.
with certain employees. impacting a larger number The writer is chairper-
The level of participation of employees. son, Global Talent Track, a
in offline and online learn- Additionally, it is im- corporate training solutions
ing programs, volunteer- portant to have an effective company
 Tuesday, April 23, 2019
BHEL recruitment 2019: Multiple vacancies on offer
T
he Bharat Heavy
Electricals Limited
(BHEL) has invited
applications from inter-
ested and eligible candi-
dates for the recruitment
of Engineer Trainee and
Executive Trainee at bhel.
in. Candidates can visit the
official website of BHEL
now to apply for the same.
The positions up for grabs
are for Engineer Trainee
(Mechanical or Electrical
or Civil or Chemical) and
Executive Trainee (HR)
& Executive Trainee (Fi-
nance). Check the details
mentioned to know more
about the vacancy.
Dates to note
Online application process
starts: April 16, 2019 (10
PM)
Online application process
ends: May 6 (11:45 PM)
Online payment of fees
closes: May 8, 2019 (6 PM)
Date of Examination: May
CG Vyapam issues notification EC clears way for teacher recruitment in Maha
for 14,850 teachers posts T
C
hhattisgarh Vyapam
has issued a notifi-
cation for a number
of posts. Applications have
been invited for posts of
teachers, lecturers, assis-
tant teachers and exercise
teachers. Interested can-
didates can apply on or
before April 25. But before
applying, the candidates
are advised to go through
the detailed notifications
uploaded on the official
website www.cgvyapam.
choice.gov.in.
The application pro-
cess for lecturer post has
already started from April
16, for assistant teacher
(science) posts from April
26, for teachers and as-
sistant teachers (English)
from May 7. Teachers will
be selected on the basis of
written test, followed by an
interview.
Some important details:
Eligibility Criteria
The applicants must
have passed Higher Sec-
Late dinner, no breakfast a killer combination
N M
ew research has
found that skipping
breakfast and hav-
ing dinner late is the worst
eating habit and can lead
to worst outcomes after a
heart attack.
According to a study
Cardiology, people with
these two eating habits
had a four to five times
higher likelihood of death,
another heart attack, or
angina (chest pain) within
30 days of being discharged
from hospital following
the treatment for a heart
ailment.
This was the first study
to evaluate these unhealthy
behaviours in patients with
acute coronary syndromes.
Skipping breakfast was ob-
served in 58pc, late-night
dinner eating in 51pc and
both behaviours in 41pc
patients.
The study enrolled pa-
tients with a serious form
of heart attack called ST-
segment elevation myo-
cardial infarction (STEMI).
“One in ten patients with
STEMI dies within a year,
and nutrition is a relatively
inexpensive and easy way
to improve prognosis,” said
study author, Dr Marcos
Minicucci.
He recommended a
minimum two-hour inter-
val between dinner and
bedtime. “It is said that
25, 26, 2019
Post details
The vacant posts are for
Engineer Trainee (Mechani-
cal or Electrical or Civil
or Chemical) & Executive
Trainee (HR) & Executive
Trainee (Finance). Here are
the specifications-
Mechanical – 40
Electrical – 30
Civil – 20
Chemical – 10
HR – 20
Finance – 25
Salary
Engineer/Executive
Trainees will undergo train-
ing for one year
They will get a basic
pay of Rs 50,000/- in the
scale of pay of Rs 50,000-
1,60,000/- in the training
period
Once the candidates
are absorbed as Engineers/
Executives, they will get
scale of pay of Rs 60,000-
1,80,000/- with a basic pay
ondary, B.El.Ed, Diploma,
Graduation, TET, BA/ B.Sc.
Ed or BA.Ed/ B.Sc.Ed, B.Ed,
Teacher Eligibility Test
(TET)
Age Limit: Minimum age-
21 and maximum age – 35.
How to Apply: The can-
didates can apply online
through the official web-
site: cgvyapam.choice.gov.
in
important Dates
Lecturer Post: Starting
Date of Application– April
16; Last Date of Applica-
tion- May 12
Asst Teacher (Science):
Starting Date of Applica-
tion- April 26;
Last Date – May 26
Teacher & Asst Teacher
(English): Starting Date of
Application – May 7;
Last Date – June 9
Asst Teacher (Science),
Teacher (E & T Cadre):
Starting Date of Applica-
tion – May 14; Last Date
– June 16
Exam Date for Lecturer:
the best way to live is to
breakfast like a king. A
good breakfast is usually
composed of dairy prod-
ucts (fat-free or low-fat
milk, yoghurt and cheese),
a carbohydrate (whole
wheat bread, bagels, cere-
als), and whole fruits. It
should have 15 to 35pc
of our total daily calorie
intake,” he added.
The study included 113
patients with a mean age
of 60, and 73pc among
them were men. Patients
were asked about eating
behaviours on admission
to a coronary intensive care
unit. Skipping breakfast
was defined as nothing
before lunch, excluding
beverages, such as coffee
and water, at least three
times per week. Late-night
GULF JOBS & CAREERS
of Rs 60,000/-
The approximate CTC is
Rs 12.0 Lakhs per annum
for ETs
Eligibility Criteria
Engineer Trainee (Me-
chanical or Electrical or
Civil or Chemical)
– Bachelor’s Degree in
Engineering/Technology or
Five-year integrated Mas-
ter’s degree or Dual Degree
programme in Engineering
or Technology in Mechani-
cal or Electrical or Civil or
July 14, 2019
Exam Date for Asst Teach-
er (Science): July 28, 2019
Exam Date for Teacher
& Asst Teacher (English):
August 11, 2019
Number of posts: Total
posts: 14,580
Assistant Teacher (E-Cad-
re) Science – 2020 posi-
tions
Assistant Teacher (T-Cadre)
Science – 1980 positions
Assistant Teacher Science
(Lab) E-Cadre – 789 posi-
tions
Assistant Teacher Science
(Lab) T-Cadre – 411 posi-
tions
Lecturer – 3177 positions
Teacher E-Cadre – 2545
positions
Teacher T-Cadre – 2896
positions
Teacher (English) – 456
positions
Assistant Teacher (English)
-Science Group – 153 po-
sitions
Assistant Teacher (English)
– 153 positions
dinner eating was defined
as a meal within two hours
before bedtime at least
three times per week.
Dr Minicucci noted
that late-night dinner eat-
ing was defined by the
two-hour interval between
dinner and bedtime, rather
than eating late at night.
But nearly all participants
with this habit were late-
eaters.
Previous studies have
found that people who
miss breakfast and have a
late dinner are more likely
to have other unhealthy
habits such as smoking
and low levels of physi-
cal activity. “Our research
shows that the two eating
behaviours are indepen-
dently linked with poorer
outcomes after a heart at-
Chemical
– Upper Age limit: 27 Years
as on April 1, 2019
– 29 years for candidates
having 2 years’ full time
Post Graduate in Engineer-
ing or Business Administra-
tion/ Management
Executive Trainee (HR)
– Regular bachelor’s
degree with at least 60pc
marks in aggregate in all
years with 2 years of PG
degree/diploma in HR
management/ Personnel
he Election Commis-
sion of India (ECI)
has allowed degree
colleges in the state to
continue the recruitment
process to hire more than
3,500 people for teaching
and non-teaching staff in
their government-aided
sections, but directed that
the names of successful
candidate’s appointments
should be announced after
the final phase of polling in
Maharashtra on April 29.
The state government
had since March 10 halted
the recruitment process to
avoid a violation of the
Model Code of Conduct
(MCC) imposed by the
ECI for the ongoing gen-
eral elections. As many as
3,580 positions - around
40pc vacant positions for
teachers in degree colleges
and universities - will be
filled after the state lifted
its freeze on teacher re-
cruitment after three years.
In a letter to the chief
electoral officer of the state
last week, the ECI said that
while 89 colleges that have
tack, but having a cluster of
bad habits will only make
things worse. People who
work late may be particu-
larly susceptible to having
a late supper and then not
being hungry in the morn-
ing,” said Dr
Minicucci.
“We also Your wellness
think that the
inflammatory response,
oxidative stress, and en-
dothelial function could be
involved in the association
between unhealthy eating
behaviours and cardiovas-
cular outcomes,” he added.
In this
study, statin
use before hos-
pital admission
was higher in
the group with
unhealthy eat-
ing habits and
worse outcome.
Dr Minicuc-
ci said, “There
are some con-
troversies re-
garding eat-
ing habits of
patients using
statins. Our
study suggests
that patients with STEMI
perceive statins as an al-
ternative path to health
benefits. But these drugs
should be an addition to
healthy eating habits, not
a replacement.”
Management and Indus-
trial Relations/ Social Work/
Business Administration
– Upper Age limit: 29 Years
as on April 1, 2019
Executive Trainee (Fi-
nance)
– Full time regular Bach-
elor’s degree from a rec-
ognized Indian University
with Qualified Chartered
or Cost and Works Ac-
countants from recognised
Institutions in India
– Upper Age limit: 29 Years
as on April 1, 2019
Selection Process
– Candidates will have
to appear for a Computer
Based Examination
– Based on the exam,
candidates will be shortlist-
ed for the interview round
– The final merit list
shall be prepared on the
basis of 75pc weightage to
Examination Score & 25pc
weightage to interview
stage.
published advertisements
for 703 appointments could
continue with the selection
process, 29 colleges were
permitted to issue adver-
tisements for 167 posts.
During the model code
of conduct period, the gov-
ernment is prohibited from
announcing and imple-
menting new schemes and
policies, lest it influence
the electorate.
On March 22, state
education minister Vinod
Tawde in a letter to the
governor and chancellor of
the state’s public universi-
Every third male above 40 in India lacks sex drive
en aged above 40,
who are suffering
from diabetes,
hypertension, coronary
artery disease, obesity and
metabolic syndrome, are at
higher risk of facing lack
of sexual
drive due to
Testosterone
Deficiency
Syndrome, according to
a study. According to the
study by Sir Ganga Ram
Hospital, every third per-
son above 40 is suffering
from lack of libido.
Testosterone Deficien-
cy Syndrome (TDS) is a
clinical and biochemi-
cal syndrome associated
with advancing age and
marked by symptoms with
or without signs and a
deficiency in serum tes-
tosterone levels.
The study was con-
ducted on 745 patients,
aged between 40 and 80, to
estimate the prevalence of
age-associated TDS (male
sex hormone) in India.
It found that the prev-
alence of symptomatic
TDS was present in 359
patients, which is around
48pc.
“Around 84pc of par-
ticipants with Coronary
Artery Disease (CAD) were
found to have TDS sug-
gesting that patients hav-
ing TDS should be evalu-
IIT-Jodhpur to set up India’s
largest AI supercomputer
T
he Indian Institute
of Technology-Jodh-
pur will be setting
up the industry’s largest
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Super computer.
IIT Jodhpur has signed
a memorandum of under-
standing with NVIDIA
(US based company) to
install NVidia DGX-2, a
state of the art machine
with 512 GB of GPU
memory and an enterprise
grade AI infrastructure.
This would be India’s
first AI Super computer.
Director of IIT-Jodhpur,
Santanu Chaudhury said
the AI Super computer
would be utilised for
solving various national
technological challenges
related to infrastructure
(Tele Communication,
Smart Cities), healthcare,
scientific research & de-
ties, Ch Vidyasagar Rao,
had sought permission
to conduct interviews for
the recruitment process
and issue no-objection
certificates (NOCs) to col-
leges. He said the decision
to appoint college staff was
taken before the code of
conduct came into effect.
“The government has
issued NOCs to colleges
to appointment staff. Some
colleges have issued re-
cruitment advertisements
before model code of con-
duct came into effect. It’s
necessary to conduct inter-
ated for CAD or Metabolic
Syndrome and vice-versa,”
the study noted.
It also found that there
is a significant associa-
tion between Vitamin D3
deficiency and TDS. Most
commonly reported symp-
toms are lack of energy
followed by poor erection
and a loss of libido.
A significant correla-
tion was also found be-
tween aging and decline
of the serum Total Testos-
terone (TT).
“In Indian subconti-
nent, this syndrome is
considered as a general
phenomenon associated
with aging and very few
studies were carried out
Fun Corner
Sudoku Puzzle
        
        
        
        
        
       
       
        
        
Puzzle #: 56 Difficulty : Medium
5
velopment, agriculture,
education among others.
He further said the com-
pany would support the
institute in operating the
super computer for three
years through various
technical workshops.
This would help the
Institute faculty mem-
bers, technical staff and
students to simulate and
operate AI Super com-
puter.
The Institute has also
planned to extend this
facility to industries and
nearby academic institu-
tions to promote activities
related to scientific and
technological research.
The super computer
would help IIT Jodhpur
collaborate with other
global leading universi-
ties and research organ-
isations, he added
views [of the applicants]
and make appointments
in the prescribed duration
for the benefit of students,”
read the letter.
Tawde added that col-
leges that have applied
for NOCs should be is-
sued certificates and
be allowed to issue
advertisements.
The National Forum
for Quality Education
(NFQE), a Mumbai-
based non-governmen-
tal organisation, had
requested the ECI to
intervene in the is-
sue. “The recruitment
process was on a hold
for more than three
years. There are around
10,000 teaching aspi-
rants who have cleared
the qualifying examinations
and are awaiting recruit-
ment. Their appointment
doesn’t violate MCC,” said
Ramesh Zade, president,
NFQE.
“We will now request
the commission to allow
issuance of NOCs to the
colleges as well.”
to document its true preva-
lence and clinical profile,
resulting in a lack of ob-
jective treatment. Patient
should not be ashamed of
discussing with doctor and
get cured,” said Dr Sudhir
Chadha of Sir Ganga Ram
Hospital and author of the
study.
“Since TDS is signifi-
cantly associated with
metabolic and lifestyle
diseases, patients require
multi-disciplinary ap-
proach. They should be
evaluated and managed
by combined efforts of
andrologist, cardiologist
and endocrinologist,” said
Dr Vipin Tyagi, co-author
of the study.
Rules: To solve a Su-
doku puzzle, every digit
from 1 to 9 must appear
in each of the nine verti-
cal columns, in each of
the nine horizontal rows
and in each of the nine
boxes.
Solution for Puzzle # 56
will be in next issue.
 Sudoku Puzzle 55 Answer
        

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
 6 IN FOCUS
GULF FAQs
Leave carryover
I was recently terminated from my posi-
tion at a school in Dubai due to budget
cuts. I was half-way through my cur-
rent limited two-year contract. For the
termination compensation, I was given
one week’s notice and told I would be
given three month’s salary for termi-
nating the contract. My contract states:
“The company may terminate your
employment at any time by giving three
months’ prior written notice or payment
in lieu of notice.” I’ve discussed with
HR that they also need to provide pay-
ment in lieu of notice for 2.75 months,
so for a total of three months’ notice.
They have replied that the company is
only required to provide three months
compensation. Are they correct? For
my final settlement and accounting of
accrued leave, does unused leave from
the previous year carry over to the next?
I’ve read some things about Article 78
that would imply this is the case, but
would like to be certain before ask-
ing. I’m sure the company will tell me
their policy does not allow carryover
of leave, but if the Labour Law says it
does, I would imagine that would be
enforceable. Can you clarify?
This is a private school, so UAE La-
bour Law applies. Where an employee
on a fixed term contract is made redun-
dant, Article 115 of UAE Labour Law
is relevant and this states: “Should the
employment contract be of a determined
term… he shall be bound to compensate
the worker for the damage incurred
thereto, provided that the compensation
amount does not exceed in any case the
total wage due for the period of three
months or for the remaining period of
the contract, whichever is shorter, unless
otherwise stipulated in the contract.”
Due to the provisions in the law, it is
not common for fixed-term contracts to
include a notice period. If it does, this
notice must be given in addition to the
early termination compensation. The
wording in JV’s contract refers to notice
or payment, so no additional notice
period has to be given, provided com-
pensation for the three months is paid.
Therefore, the employer is correct. In
respect of annual leave that has accrued
but has not been taken, this depends
partly on company policy. However, the
official UAE government website states,
as per Article 78 of UAE Labour Law: “If
the worker is requested to work during
his total annual leave or a part of it and
the leave is not carried forward to the
next year, the employer must pay him
his regular salary, in addition to a leave
allowance, which is equal to his basic
wage only. In all cases, annual leaves
may not be forwarded for more than
once within two consecutive years.”
Therefore, if leave is not carried over
then it should be paid so the individual
does not lose out. However, a company
does not have to allow for leave to be
carried forward although their guidelines
should be clearly communicated to all
employees.
No gratuity
I worked for a private company in Abu
Dhabi from April 2013 to March 2018.
I went on holiday to my home coun-
try but did not return on time so the
company sent me a termination letter. I
have since re-joined the company from
Jan and I would like to know if I am
eligible for any end-of-service gratuity
for when I was with them before?
When an employee fails to return to
work after annual leave or leaves service
without giving proper notice, they can
be marked as an absconder. It appears
that as you did not return and so were
in breach of contract, you were sent a
termination letter which was valid per
Article 120 of UAE Labour Law which
states: “The employer may dismiss the
worker without prior notice in any of
the following cases: Should he be ab-
sent without valid cause for more than
20 non-consecutive days in one year or
for more than seven consecutive days.”
The law goes on to say, in Article 139:
“The worker shall be deprived of his
end-of-service gratuity in the following
two cases: Should he be dismissed from
service for any of the reasons set forth
in Article 120 hereof, or should he leave
his employment in view of avoiding
the dismissal therefrom in accordance
with the said Article.” This confirms
that you are not entitled to an end-of-
service gratuity for his previous time
with the company, as it is forfeited due
to the circumstances of his unauthorised
departure.
My employer claims they do not have
a placement for me anymore and I was
offered an 18 days of local leave from
March 1 to 18. I am struggling to find
new employment and have decided to
resign. I joined the company on June
16, 2014. My basic salary was Dh2,000.
How should I expect my gratuity to be
calculated?
You have not clarified what you mean
by local leave but it seems this may be
unpaid. A company cannot just decide
an employee must take leave and the
employee should be paid in full unless
they agree to unpaid leave. If there is no
longer a role for you in this company,
the employer should terminate the posi-
tion and you 30 days’ notice or more if
required in your contract. All employees
must be paid in full for the notice pe-
riod, whether they are actually working
during this period or not. I understand
you are on an unlimited contract.
It is better for you to be terminated
by the company rather than for you to
resign, as if you leave on your own ac-
cord it will reduce the gratuity amount
due for you. This is clarified in UAE
Labour Law and Article 132 says: “The
worker having spent one year or more
in continuous service shall be entitled
to an end-of -service gratuity upon the
termination of his service. The days of
absence from work without pay shall
not be included in the calculation of the
period of service, and the gratuity shall
be calculated as follows: 1) The wage of
21 days for each of the first five years
of service. 2) The wage of 30 days for
every additional year. Always provided
that the total gratuity does not exceed
the wage of two years.”
The situation will change if an em-
ployee resigns with fewer than five years
of service. This applies if you leave be-
fore June 16. This is set out in Article
137 of the law: “Should the worker
bound by an employment contract with
undetermined term leave his work by his
own choice after a continuous service
of one year at least and three years at
most, he shall be entitled to one-third
of the end-of-service gratuity set forth in
foregoing Article. Should his continuous
service be of three years at least and
five years at most, he shall be entitled
to two thirds of the said gratuity, and
to the full gratuity should it exceed
five years.”
To clarify, if you resign now, you
will be entitled to two-thirds of the full
gratuity figure, so calculated as 14 days
per year of service, rather than at 21
days. Any partial years must be paid
pro-rata, per Article 133: “The worker
shall be entitled to a gratuity for the
served fraction of a year, provided that
he completes one year of continuous
service.”
In each case, the end-of-service gratu-
ity is calculated on the basic salary only
and does not include any allowances or
bonuses. The final payment must also
include any days of annual leave that
have accrued up until the final day of
service but have not been taken.
Stone laid for first Hindu temple in UAE
The Shilanyas Vidhi of the first traditional Hindu temple in the UAE was performed in the presence of Mahant
Swami Maharaj, the spiritual leader of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha. Earlier, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak
received Mahant Swami Maharaj at the airport.
ABU DHABI: The foundation
stone for the first traditional
Hindu Temple was laid in
Abu Dhabi. The “Shilanyas
Vidhi” ceremony was presid-
ed over by Mahant Swami
Maharaj, the spiritual leader
of BAPS Swaminarayan
Sanstha -- the religious and
social organisation building
the temple. The ceremony
started with rituals led by
Indian extradited to US in call centre fraud
WASHINGTON: Singa-
pore has extradited an
Indian national to the
US to face charges in
a call centre fraud that
scammed millions of dol-
lars from victims in the
United States, the Justice
Department announced
Friday.
Hitesh Madhubhai Pate
(42) of Ahmedabad, India
was scheduled to be ar-
raigned Friday in a Hous-
ton, Texas federal court
for his role in a case that
was first announced in
2016, charging 60 people
with wire fraud and mon-
ey laundering conspiracy.
Patel ran the HGlobal
call center, one of five
India-based operations
which allegedly worked
together in an operation
Oman warns expats Indian executed in Saudi
over bogus cheques
M U S C AT: To p Ro y a l
Oman Police official re-
vealed that most expa-
triates with failed busi-
nesses are writing bogus
cheques before flying out
of the country perma-
nently. These expats are
mostly company owners
who have shut down shop
and do not intend to hon-
our the issued cheques as
they are unable to pay
money.
According to reports,
Lt Col Fahad Al Hosni,
Assistant Director at the
Criminal Investigation
Department of Muscat
Police Command, said:
“For expats who have is-
Pujya Ishwarcharan Swami.
Sanskrit verses filled the
air as priests described to
devotees how each ritual
had to be conducted.
Community leaders and
devotees followed the direc-
tions from their respective
seated areas which had
a tray placed in front of
them containing a brick,
rice, flowers, nuts etc. Once
which targeted mostly
South Asians living in the
US. Callers pretending to
be US tax or immigration
officials threatened them
with arrest and deporta-
tion if they did not remit
money to the government.
The victims were then
directed to people work-
ing with the call centres
in the
US to collect the
“fines” through prepaid
debit cards or wire trans-
fers and the money was
quickly laundered out of
the country. “This extradi-
tion once again demon-
strates the Department’s
unwavering commitment
to disrupt and dismantle
the India-based call centre
scam industry and to work
with our foreign partners
sued bounced cheques,
the majority were com-
pany owners leaving the
country writing cheques
with not enough money.
These bounced cheques
are referred to the ROP,
Public Prosecution and
then courts.”
Al Hosni warned that
defaulters will be dealt
with strictly and authori-
ties will liaise with Inter-
pol to track down expats
who have fled after writ-
ing bogus cheques. ROP
statistics revealed that
number cheque bounce
cases increased to 3,054
in 2018 compared with
2,963 cases in 2017.
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
the ceremonies were com-
plete, between 10.50am
and 10.55am the foundation
stone was laid by priests
and BAPS Hindu Mandir
committee head and com-
munity leader BR Shetty.
There were some 50 priests
who had come from India
and were part of the cer-
emonies.
The temple will be built
to hold accountable those
who perpetrate schemes
that defraud our citizens,”
said Assistant Attorney
General Brian Benczkows-
ki in a statement.
Justice officials said
that in the past six years
more than 15,000 people
have been cheated of over
$75 million in scams in
which callers pose as
agents of the Internal Rev-
enue Service, the federal
tax agency. So far, in the
Indian call centre case, 24
domestic US defendants
have been convicted and
sentenced to up to 20
years in prison, the Justice
Department said. “The
remaining India-based
defendants have yet to
be arraigned in this case,”
they said.
SAMRALA (Punjab): A pall
of gloom descended on
Kubbe village near Samrala
when the news of Harjit
Singh’s be-
heading in
Saudi Ara-
bia in con-
nection with
a murder
case reached
there. Harjit’s
parents and
other family
members were shocked to
know that he had been be-
headed on Feb 28.
Gurdev Singh, elder
brother of the deceased, said
Harjit had gone to Saudi
Arabia in 2007 when he
was 21 years old. He started
driving in a company called
Al Majid. Gurdev said in
2015, a quarrel took place
in Harjit’s company after
which four youths, includ-
ing Harjit and Satwinder of
Hoshiarpur, were taken to
a police station. Later, they
were sent to jail in Riyadh
in connection with the
murder of an Indian-origin
youth. Gurdev said Harjit
had told them that he had
been wrongly implicated in
the murder case.
Gurdev said they had
in phases with all pink
stones and marbles being
transported from Indian
state of Rajasthan to the UAE
capital. The stones of the
temple will be hand-carved
by artisans in India and then
transported to Abu Dhabi.
And once completed, this
will be the first traditional
Hindu stone temple in the
Middle East
US-Indian physician charged
with healthcare fraud
LOUISIANA: An Indian-
origin physician in the
US has been charged with
conspiracy to unlawfully
dispense controlled sub-
stances and commit health-
care fraud.
Neurologist Anil Prasad,
62, of Mandeville, Louisi-
ana, was charged with one
count of prescribing con-
trolled substances outside
the course of professional
practice for no legitimate
purpose and one count
of conspiracy to commit
healthcare fraud, accord-
ing to US Attorney Peter
G Strasser.
The court documents
said that between Novem-
ber 2016 and July 2018,
Prasad worked at a pain
management clinic in
Slidell.
sent letters to Foreign Min-
ister Sushma Swaraj, social
activist SPS Oberai and Bibi
Amanjot Kaur Ramoowa-
lia for help and had been
hopeful of the safe return
of Harjit. Gurdev said he
had spoken to Harjit over
phone on Feb 24 and at
that time too, his brother
had no knowledge about
the capital punishment.
Harjit’s parents Budh Singh
and Jaswinder Kaur said
neither the government of
Saudi Arabia nor the Indian
embassy had informed them
about the beheading. They
termed the death sentence
as their son’s murder and
“high-handedness” by the
Saudi Arabia government.
They said they had been
waiting for the safe return
of their son but it seemed
that they would not even
be able to see at least their
son’s body.
 Tuesday, April 23, 2019
SBI Gen Ins launches cyber defence insurance
S I
BI General Insur-
ance said that it has
launched a product
to protect businesses from
financial and reputational
losses due to cyber-attacks.
In the initial phase, the
focus will be on SMEs and
mid-market businesses, but
later the product can cater
to larger business conglom-
erates as well, the insurer
said in a statement.
This offers protection
against the growing threat
of cyber breaches and is
designed to protect against
major insurable cyber expo-
sures like hacking attacks,
identity theft, disclosure
of sensitive information
and business interruption.
“Over the years, digital
advancement has expo-
nentially increased cyber
risk exposures for almost
all types and sizes of busi-
nesses. Cyber attackers
CORPORATE NEWS
work on the theory that
majority of the businesses
do not spend adequately
on shoring up their cyber
security,” it said.
They work on the pre-
sumption that cyberattack
techniques that have been
used on large enterprises
will work on relatively
smaller enterprises. The
product offers both first
and third-party coverage
benefits including coverage
options for contingent busi-
ness interruption, system
failure, reputational loss,
multimedia liability and
computer crime, it said.
The crisis response ser-
vice that comes with this
product enables swift and
efficient management of
cyber events and provides
IT forensic investigations,
legal advice, reputational
and PR management, it
added.
TCS modernises 1.5 lakh post offices
ndia’s largest IT services
company Tata Consul-
tancy Services (TCS) said
it has deployed an integrated
solution for India Post that
has helped modernise a net-
work of more than 1.5 lakh
post offices in the country.
In 2013, the Mumbai-
based company had an-
nounced receiving an over
Rs 1,100- crore multi-year
contract from the Depart-
ment of Posts (DoP) for an
end-to-end IT modernisation
programme. The partnership
was aimed at equipping India
Post with modern technolo-
gies and systems to enable
it to offer more services to
the customers in an effective
manner.
“At the heart of this trans-
formation is the Core System
Integration (CSI) program
designed and implemented
by TCS. This involved de-
ploying an integrated ERP
solution that caters to mail
operations, finance and ac-
counting, and HR functions,
and connects its vast network
of more than 1.5 lakh post of-
fices, making this the largest
distributed e-postal network
in the world,” TCS said in a
statement.
The integrated solution
supports requirements of
over five lakh employees,
services over 40,000 concur-
rent users, and processes
over three million postal
transactions a day, making
this one of the largest SAP
implementations globally, it
added.
On the front-end, TCS
said, it has implemented its
Point of Sale (PoS) solution
across 24,000 post offices
with over 80,000 PoS ter-
minals and has also built a
web portal with consignment
tracking capabilities, and
set up a multi-lingual call
centre for customer support.
“An important objective of
the transformation is to use
the department’s nation-wide
reach to drive financial inclu-
sion and accessibility of citi-
zen services in remote areas.
“This is being accom-
7
plished through over 1.3
lakh DARPAN 1 hand-held
devices that Gramin Dak
Sevaks use to provide postal,
banking, insurance, and cash
management services in re-
mote villages, even those
without network connectiv-
ity,” TCS said. TCS Business
Group Head (Public Services)
Debashis Ghosh said postal
services across the world
are reinventing themselves
to stay relevant to a new
generation in the digital era.
“We are proud to have
partnered with the Depart-
ment of Posts in this pio-
neering, mission mode initia-
tive to build a world class,
future-ready digital platform
that the nation can be proud
of. With this, the depart-
ment can offer smart postal
services, enriched customer
experiences, and innovative
value-added services to the
citizens of India,” he added.

IndiaMart expects 29pc CAGR revenue growth HDFC Bank’s Q4 net rises RIL to start gas output
from R-Cluster

E L
-commerce firm In-
diaMart expects to
maintain a com-
pounded (CAGR) of 29
pc for the next two years,
mainly on account of
big brands joining the
platform, a top company
official said.
The business-to-busi-
ness (B2B) company,
which is in the process
of getting listed, posted
revenue of Rs 429 crore
in 2017-18 and operating
profit of Rs 46 crore. “Last
three years our revenue
has grown at CAGR of 29
percent. Similar growth
should be possible this
year and next year also,”
IndiaMart co-founder and
CEO Dinesh Agarwal said.
“We have been gen-
erating internal cash
which we will deploy
once we get listed. We
have democratised infor-
mation for around five
crore products with 47
lakh suppliers through
our platform. Most of
the firms listed on our
platform are small and
medium enterprises. Now
we are going to focus on
big brands,” Agarwal said.
The company expects
to raise up to Rs 600 crore
from the initial public of-
fer (IPO). Regarding timing
of the IPO, Agarwal said
the company will assess
the situation post elec-
tions. “We are a profitable
firm. The IPO is to provide
exit route to some of the
investors and get new
ones on board,” he added.
The existing inves-
tors include Intel Capital,
Amadeus Capital, West-
Bridge Capital, Quona
Capital and Accion Fron-
tier Inclusion Mauritius.
The company has also
started working on its
software as a service
(SaaS) platform and pay-
ments services with es-
crow account facility.
“Bridging the trust gap
between buyer and seller
will be a big achievement
for us. That is why we
will focus on develop-
ment payment and escrow
facilitation. The other fo-
cus area will development
of our own SaaS platform
for mobile,” Agarwal said.
SaaS refers to a model
where customers access
software over the Internet.
Agarwal said that there
are SaaS platforms avail-
able for medium and
large enterprises but for
small entrepreneurs like
carpenters or vendors in
small towns who operate
mainly through mobile
phones, there is hardly
any decent service avail-
able. We will develop
SaaS more for the pur-
pose of value addition.
Significant percentage
of revenue will come
from big brands, followed
by payments and SaaS,”
Agarwal said.
ending major HDFC
Bank on Saturday re-
ported a 22.6pc in-
crease in its net profit for
the January-March quarter
on a year-on-year basis.
The bank’s net profit
for the fourth quarter of
financial year 2018-19 stood
at Rs 5,885.1 crore, HDFC
Bank said in a regulatory
filing to the Bombay Stock
Exchange. After providing
Rs 3,069.3 crore for taxa-
tion, the Bank earned a net
profit of Rs 5,885.1 crore,
an increase of 22.6pc over
the quarter ended March
31, 2018,” the bank said in
a statement.
“Net interest income
(interest earned less interest
expended) for the quarter
ended March 31, 2019 grew
by 22.8pc to Rs 13,089.5
crore, from Rs 10,657.7
crore for the quarter ended
March 31, 2018, driven by
average asset growth of
19.8pc and a core net inter-
est margin for the quarter
of 4.4pc.” For the full fiscal
18-19, its net profit grew by
20.5pc to Rs 21,078 cr.
R
eliance Industries has
stated that it will start
natural gas production
from R-Cluster gas field in
the flagging KG-D6 block in
the Bay of Bengal from the
second half of the 2020-21
fiscal. Reliance and its partner
BP Plc of UK had in June 2017
announced an investment of
Rs 40,000 crore in the three
sets of discoveries to reverse
the flagging production in
KG-D6 block. These finds
were expected to bring a total
30-35 million cubic metres
(1 billion cubic feet) of gas
a day onstream, phased over
2020-22.
R-Cluster will be first to
come on stream. “R-Cluster
development is on track for
first gas in 2H FY21,” Reliance
said in an investor presenta-
tion after its fourth-quarter
earnings. Four of the planned
six wells that would produce
gas from the field have been
completed and the fifth one is
being drilled currently, it said.

Paytm Payments
Bank appoints Sairee
Pine Labs acquires gift Infinix Mobile expects up to 60pc
Chahal to board solution firm for $110m
growth in smartphone sales
P S
aytm Payments Bank ingapore-based aging an annualised
Ltd (PPB) said that it merchant plat- gross transaction value

has appointed entre-
preneur Sairee Chahal to its
board of directors. Chahal
is the founder and CEO of
SHEROES -- a community
platform for women.
“We are delighted to
have Sairee Chahal on our
board. She has comprehen-
sive experience of customer
service ecosystem. We will
benefit from her knowledge
and expertise,” PPB Manag-
ing Director Satish Gupta
said in a statement.
PPB, which was incor-
porated in August 2016,
formally began its opera-
tions in 2017.
Paytm Founder Vijay
Shekhar Sharma holds
51pc stake in PPB, while
the rest is held by One97
Communications.
form company
Pine Labs on Friday
said it has ac-quired
gift solution company,
Qwikcilver, for $110
million. Last month, the
com-pany had signed a
definitive agreement to
acquire Qwikcilver.
“We have acquired
Qwikcilver for $110 mil-
lion, funded via internal
cash reserves and with
additional funding from
existing investors,” a
company statement said.
The company is
backed by Sequoia In-
dia, PayPal, Temasek,
Actis Capital, Altimeter
Capital, Madison In-
dia Capital and Sofina.
Qwikcilver is a gift card
service provid-er, man-
of $1.5 billion across
India, Middle East and
South East Asia.
With this acquisition,
Qwikcilver and Pine
Labs have a combined
gift solutions business
comprising 250 brands
and retailers and 1,500
enterprise customers.
Qwikcilver co-found-
er and chief executive
officer, Kumar Sudar-
shan, has joined the
Pine Labs leadership
team, the release said.
Pine Labs provides
financing and last-mile
retail transaction tech-
nology. Its offer-ings are
used by one lakh mer-
chants in 3,700 cities
and towns across India
and Malaysia.
M
obile de-
vice maker
Infinix ex-
pects around 50-
60pc growth in its
smartphone sales this
year with its focus
on customers in the
economy segment,
a top official of the
company said.
“This year we will
focus more on smart-
phones in the range
of Rs 5,000-10,000.
Overall we expect
sales volume growth
to be about 50-60 per
cent this year,” In-
finix Mobile CEO An-
ish Kapur said. According
to Counterpoint Research,
Infinix was among the
top three fastest-growing
smartphone brands in the
country in the last quarter
of 2018. The sales volume
of Infinix grew by 146pc
in the Octo-ber-December
2018 period. “We will try to reach out
K a p u r to more and more people
said that the in tier-2 and -3 towns. Our
company will fo-cus will remain on a
target people limited set of devices. In
in socio-eco- the first half of the year
nomic class we will launch around 2-3
B and C by smartphones and a similar
introducing number of devices in the
some fea- second half,” Kapur said.
tures that are The company has plans
available in to expand its portfolio to
phones priced wearable devices this year
in the range but has excluded them
of Rs 15,000- from business growth pro-
20,000. When jection. In the next 2-3
asked about months, we will launch
the compa- wearable devices. It will be
ny’s plan for also for our target group in
5 G , Ka p u r the range of Rs 1,000-3,000
said that adoption of 5G a unit. We are also evaluat-
technology in India will ing some accessories that
take time and the usage we can get for our target
will be limited. market,” Kapur said.

Adani on aggressive expansion across sectors

G
autam Adani-led
Adani Group, which
recently forayed into
petrochemical and airport
spaces, is continuing with
aggressive expansions, with
a focus on new business
areas like logistics, min-
ing, energy, construction
and agro commodities, in
order to diversify its port-
folio, which has paid rich
dividends to the company
in the last few years.
Sources close to the
company said it is aggres-
sively bidding for projects
in logis-tics, mining, en-
ergy, construction and de-
fence in next few months.
In January this year, Ad-
ani Group forayed into the
petrochemicals sector, after
signing a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with
German chemicals major
BASF SE, to evaluate a joint
investment in the acrylics
value chain entailing an in-
vestment of two billion eu-
ros (about Rs 16,000 crore).
The proposed site for the
facility is at Mundra port
in Gujarat and a feasibility
study will be completed by
the end of 2019.
In February, the group
forayed into the airport
space as it bagged the
rights to operate, manage
and develop half-a-dozen
airports in the country,
namely Ah-medabad, Luc-
know, Jaipur, Guwahati,
Thiruvananthapuram and
Mangalore, over the next
50 years.
“With these six airports
under concession, the Ada- ratings agency ICRA said
nis will become the third in a note.
largest private airport oper- City Gas is another area
the company is betting on.
In the ninth city gas bid in
No-vember last year, Adani
Gas bagged licence to retail
Compressed Natural Gas
to automobiles and piped
cooking gas to households
in 13 cities and towns. In
the same round, it also
won the licence for another
ator in terms of passengers nine geographical areas
handled, after the GMR in a joint venture with
group and GVK group,” state-owned Indian Oil
Corporation.
Further, in the tenth
bid round concluded last
month, it bagged rights
to two geo-graphical areas
in Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh. The group,
which is already active in
construction space, also
bid for redevelopment of
Dharavi slum in Mum-bai,
one of the most ambitious
slum redevelopment proj-
ects in the country. The
company has already ex-
pressed its plans to actively
engage in the construction
business.
Adani Enterprises said
on Saturday that its sub-
sidiary Adani Defence
Systems and Technolo-
gies has acquired Alpha
Design Technologies. “Ad-
ani Defence Systems and
Technologies — a wholly
owned subsidiary of the
firm — has acquired the
control of Alpha Design
Technologies,” Adani En-
terprises said in a BSE
filing.
 8 Travel / Entertainment Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Air India Express mulls Will Reliance take over Jet Airways?
leasing some Jet Airways’
P
etro-textiles-telecom We have made and will delay in resolution and the have time.” A preliminary then taken the decision to
giant Reliance Indus- continue to make necessary consequent grounding of Jet information memorandum sell the subsidiaries and
Boeing 737s tries may take a stake
in the grounded Jet Airways
disclosures in compliance Airways,” the report said was issued by the govern- assets of Air India to cut its
debt of Rs 48,781 crore as on

A
ir India Express,
the international
budget arm of
Air India, is examining
the possibility of leasing
some Boeing 737 aircraft
of grounded carrier Jet
Airways, which are parked
at different airports due
to non-payment, through
a firm decision is yet to
be taken, a top company
official said.
Before halting opera-
tions temporarily mid-last
week due to severe cash-
drought, the private carrier
was forced to ground 69
planes owing to non-pay-
ment of rentals to lessors.
Later, on April 16, it
grounded the rest of the
planes in its fleet, when
it decided to temporarily
suspend all its domestic
and international services.
Air India Express parent,
Air India, is already dis-
cussing a proposal to lease
five of Jet Airways wide-
body planes, Boeing 777s.
“We are looking at leas-
ing (B737 of Jet Airways)
aircraft but there is no
firm decision on this issue
so far. As a matter-of-fact,
there are a lot of other
things that have to be
looked at, like slots, sec-
tors and timings, among
others,” Air India Express
chief executive officer
Shyam K Sunder told a
leading news agency over
phone from Kochi, the
airline’s headquarter.
even as it is looking at a
possible bailout of the flag
carrier Air India reeling
under heavy debt, according
to reports.
Mukesh Ambani-led Re-
liance Industries had not
submitted an Expression of
Interest (EoI) to the lenders
for buying the beleaguered
Jet Airways. Nevertheless,
reports said Reliance in-
dustries may join Etihad
Airways, which controls
24pc stake in Jet Airways,
in its bid at a later date.
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad had
earlier submitted an EoI to
the lenders.
Etihad can increase its
stake to 49pc in Jet Airways
under the automatic route
as per the existing FDI rules
in civil aviation that permit
NRIs to buy 100pc in carri-
ers. However, Etihad would
need permission from the
government to increase its
stake beyond that.
Overall plan
Reliance declined to
comment. “Our company
evaluates various opportu-
nities on an ongoing basis.
Cabin crew hold placards during a protest organised by Jet Airways employees at Jantar
Mantar in Delhi.
with our obligations under
SEBI (Listing Obligations
and Disclosure Require-
ments) Regulations 2015
and our agreements with
the stock exchanges.” the
spokesperson told a leading
financial newspaper.
Talks are ongoing with
respect to funding. “This is
precisely the reason for the
citing the source.
The interest in Air In-
dia is part of Reliance’s
overall plan, said another
source.
“It is a boardroom strat-
egy and could be considered
at a later stage. Discussions
are slowly picking pace
since the interested parties
are of the view they still
ment in March last year for
the beginning of the Air In-
dia’s disinvestment process.
However, a ministerial panel
chaired by Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley had to defer
the strategic plan to sell
government’s 76pc stake in
the airline after failing to get
any bids.
The government had
March 31, 2017.
Jet Airways had unpaid
dues of Rs 8,414 crore to
lenders as on March 31,
2018. Five-six EoIs have
been received by SBI Capi-
tal Markets from private
equity companies, foreign
carriers and other parties.
SBI Capital Markets is cur-
rently looking at the en-
tire sale process on behalf
of lenders. Lenders might
close the deal by May 10
even as April 30 is the last
date for submitting binding
bids by parties.
In Feb, Jet Airways and
Air India’s share in the
domestic market stood at
11.4pc and 12.8pc respec-
tively. However, Jet Airways’
business took a significant
hit since last year because of
reduced operations. Jet Air-
ways and Air India had 16.8
pc and 13.2pc consolidated
market share respectively in
last Feb.
The combined share of
both airlines is below 25pc
t as on date. On the other
hand, Indigo — the largest
carrier in the country has
43.4pc market share now.

Singapore’s Changi Airport dons ‘Jewel’ Bengaluru Airport serves 33.30 million
passengers in 2018-19
C
hangi Airport of Sin- that is the Shiseido Forest old. Canopy Park which is ideal for short daytime lay-
gapore has literally Valley. Accessible from ev- at the top level of the garden overs or overnight stays.

added a sparkling
jewel in its crown! Well, we
are talking about the latest
addition at the airport, “Jew-
el” which is an engineering
marvel spread over 135,700
sqm complex built on the
site of the former Terminal-1
open air car park.
Jewel Changi Airport has
a ‘HSBC Rain Vortex’ which
is the world’s tallest indoor
waterfall. The main attrac-
tion at the Jewel is a “HSBC
Rain Vortex” which is the
world’s tallest indoor water-
fall. It is a spectacular sight
with 10,000 gallons of water
rushing through roof per
minute. The entire structure
is a distinctive dome shaped
façade made of glass and
steel which blends gardens,
attractions activity areas,
retail, dining and much
more. Costing some SG$1.7
billion (US$ 1.3 billion),
Jewel is designed by world-
renowned Israeli-Canadian
architect Moshe Safdie. He
also designed the iconic Ma-
rina Bay Sands triple tower
structure, a fixture on Sin-
gapore’s cityscape which all
visitors to the island make it
a point to photograph.
The building of Jewel is
integrated into Terminal-1
and connected to Terminal-2
and 3 via walkways and
travellators with a light rail
system connecting Termi-
nals 2 and 3 via Terminal 1.
Canopy Park
The building also har-
bours a lush green sanctuary
ery level, the tranquil retreat
is a reminder of Singapore
Jewel Changi Airport has a HSBC Rain Vortex, which is the
world’s tallest indoor waterfall.
and a garden city even be-
fore a traveller steps out
of the airport. The Indoor
Forest has over 120 species
of plants including ferns
and orchids. There are also
curated plants and two olive
trees from Spain which are
each more than 100 years
features more gardens and
leisure facilities.
Jewel also houses the
first YOTELAIR property in
Asia. With 130 smartly-de-
signed cabins that optimise
space in its Premium, Ac-
cessible and Family cabins,
these rooms can be booked
for a minimum of four hours,
T
YOTELAIR also features
time-saving airline style
self-check-in kiosks that will
facilitate a hassle-free check-
in process. “The vision for
Jewel Changi Airport is to
be a destination where “The
World meets Singapore, and
Singapore meets the World”.
The unique proposition of
world-class shopping and
dining, seamlessly inte-
grated with lush greenery,
fulfils the needs of increas-
ingly discerning travellers
for a meaningful and expe-
riential journey, even for
brief layovers,” said its CEO
Hung Jean.
“Moreover, by provid-
ing innovative and fresh
experiences for Singapore
residents and working pro-
fessionals in its vicinity,
Jewel will invigorate Singa-
pore’s eastern precincts and
provide more opportunities
for the public to enjoy time
with family and friends,” he
added. Notably, the vision
for Jewel is to be a distinc-
tive world-class lifestyle
destination that will be a
game changer for Changi
Airport to keep it ahead of
its rivals amidst intensifying
global competition.
An IPEPCIL initiative
to help Gulf job-seekers
Indian Personnel Export Promotion Council (IPEPCIL)
he passenger traffic
at the Kempegowda
International Airport,
Bengaluru (BLR Airport)
continues to grow at an in-
credible pace. At the end of
FY 2018-19, a record 33.30
million passengers transited
through the Airport, making
it one of the fastest growing
airports in the world.
The addition of new
airlines and new routes to
familiar destinations were
the main driving factors as
BLR Airport achieved this
new milestone in passen-
ger numbers, registering a
23.8pc growth over the pre-
vious year’s 26.91 million.
During the 12-month pe-
riod, domestic traffic con-
tinued to be the main driver
of growth, accounting for
28.82 million passengers,
an upswing of 24.8pc over
last fiscal’s 23.09 million. A
total of 4.48 million passen-
gers travelled to and from
international destinations
– a growth of 17.5pc over
the previous year’s 3.81
million.
The BLR Airport offers
a wide air-route network –
with over 37 passenger air-
lines and 12 cargo airlines
connecting Bengaluru to the to the best of our ability,”
rest of the world. Amongst he said.
the airports in South India, He also said the BLR
BLR Airport continues to Airport has introduced sev-
be the destination of choice eral technology initiatives
for both domestic and inter- such as the fully-automated
national flights, the press self-bag-drop machines,
release said. enabling passengers to com-
Hari Marar, MD, Banga- plete the baggage check-in
lore International Airport, in under 45 seconds and the
said that creating a smooth Smart Security Lane with
and pleasant travel experi- Automated Tray Retrieval
ence for passengers remains System to make travel seam-
his top priority. “Passengers less. “Our other pioneering
at the BLR Airport have initiative that is set to go
come to associate our Air- live soon is the biometric-
port with a high-quality based self-boarding solu-
travel experience. Maintain- tions as part of Government
ing this experience poses a of India’s Digi Yatra pro-
challenge, given the growth gramme,” he added.
in passenger volumes we Meanwhile, the BIAL,
are currently witnessing. operator of the BLR Airport,
However, with careful has undertaken a massive
hourly capacity manage- Rs 13,000-crore capacity
ment and investment in expansion to cater to the
new technology, BIAL is long-term demands of the
committed to provide this aviation market in India.
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SpiceJet, Emirates sign pact EXCHANGE RATES

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