IIM Ahmedabad, Bank of America partner to set up CDT

Source: India Today, 27 August 2021

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), the global management institution, has partnered with Bank of America to launch a Centre for Digital Transformation (CDT). The Centre aspires to become a vibrant knowledge hub for academia, policymaking, and the private sector by facilitating cutting-edge research on digital transformation and innovation.

The Centre for Digital Transformation was launched with an event that was attended by faculty members of IIMA, along with well-known leaders from industry and academic institutions from India and abroad.

Announcing the launch of the Centre, Professor Errol D’Souza, Director, IIMA, said, “Advancements in the information technology sector are growing rapidly and transforming the way we function. The pandemic has further revealed the value of digital operating models and the need for industry, institutions, and nations to ramp up their adoption of technology. Therefore, it becomes imperative that we study the impact of this digital transformation on business, government, individuals and society.”

“Our global economy is quickly becoming more reliant on digital technologies as underscored by our current environment,” said Cathy Bessant, Bank of America Chief Operations and Technology Officer. “With the development of digital economies increasing at an exponential rate, shared learning and best practices are critical for shaping the future for our governments, industry and universities. It’s how we’ll ensure we’re creating and implementing technology responsibly.”

As a strategic next step, the Centre has also set up an Advisory Council on Responsible Digital Transformation. Helmed by IIMA, this council will bring together diverse stakeholders to deliberate on the urgent needs and unique perspectives on digitalization. This is intended to help develop best practices and guidelines designed to benefit all stakeholders and achieve broader goals. The council will play a critical role in enhancing core competencies of the Centre and help guide the projects. The council will enable greater collaboration and alignment with external industry partners for long term value creation.

The council members include Dr. Ritu Agarwal, Senior Associate Dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland; Debjani Ghosh, President of NASSCOM; Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO of Tata Consultancy Services; Nandan Nilekani, Non-executive Chairman of Infosys; Aditya Puri, Senior Advisor, The Carlyle Group; Dr. Vallabh Sambamurthy, Albert O. Nicholas Dean of the Wisconsin School of Business of the University of WisconsinMadison.

“Over the last decade, the Indian government has empowered citizens to access social security, financial products, education and health services using digitization as the key enabler,” said Kaku Nakhate, India Country Head, Bank of America. “Bank of America is a key supporter of these initiatives, and this new Centre will only strengthen the responsible digital framework in India. I am delighted that this Centre will bring together leading academics and digital thought leaders from the United States and India to accelerate the digital revolution in India.”

Advisory Committee Members:
The advisory committee of the Centre is jointly chaired by Cathy Bessant (Chief Operations & Technology Officer, Bank of America), and Founding Chair Dr. Pankaj Setia (Professor of Information Systems, IIMA). The other members of the advisory committee include Professor Errol D’Souza (Director, IIMA); Sumeet Chabria (Global Technology & Operations COO and Global Business Services Executive, Bank of America); Dr. Debjit Roy (Professor, IIMA); and Dr. Ramayya Krishnan (Dean of Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University).

“We are delighted to have Bank of America on board to collaborate with us in setting up the Centre,” added Professor D’Souza. “We are also appreciative of the group of eminent leaders who have joined our Advisory Council for Responsible Digital Transformation to guide us as we embark on this ambitious initiative”

Outlining the Centre’s objective and activities, Professor Pankaj Setia, Founding Chair, Centre for Digital Transformation, IIMA said, “The Centre of Digital Transformation aims to engage in various activities that guide thought and action in the digital era. Specifically, the Centre will focus on activities that enhance an understanding of the digital ecosystem and catalyse leadership, as it leverages its expertise in research and development to provide thought leadership for digital transformation.”

Supported by a high calibre faculty pool and strong research credentials, IIMA has been at the forefront of leading initiatives that have the potential to educate and influence scholarship, practice, and policy. The Centre for Digital Transformation is the ninth research centre to be set up at IIMA. The Institute has taken up the challenge of professionalizing management in several other priority sectors by setting up a number of sectors or mission-oriented thrust groups termed ‘Centres’ to apply management science to other sectors of the economy.

Bank of America’s responsible growth strategy is the foundation and driving force behind its approach to the development, use and responsible deployment of technology, including data and artificial intelligence. Partnerships like this one with IIMA ensure a diverse set of inputs and experiences which guide and evolve that responsible approach both now and in the future.

Dixon to form JV with Japan’s Rexxam to manufacture Printed Circuit Boards

Source: Economic Times, 11 August 2021

Dixon Technologies, a contract manufacturer in electronic goods, on Tuesday announced a joint venture with Japan-based Rexxam Co for manufacturing Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) for Air-Conditioners for the domestic and international market. It has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Rexxam to this effect and proposes to file necessary applications with the government to avail benefits under the Production-Linked incentive (PLI) Scheme.

“Post execution of mutually acceptable agreements by the parties, the JV company will be 60 per cent owned by Rexxam & 40 per cent owned by Dixon,” said a statement from Dixon Technologies.

Commenting over the development, Dixon Technologies Vice Chairman & Managing Director Atul B Lall said the company shares a long-standing relationship with Rexxam as it was manufacturing AC-PCBs for their Indian partner for more than seven years.

“We are confident that our relationship with Rexxam will further deepen its roots with this strategic partnership. Under this JV, we will not only be serving Indian customers of Rexxam but shall also be serving International Clients,” he said.

Lall further added: “We highly anticipate that a significant part of revenue under the JV company will come from exports. We are extremely confident that this venture will be well-positioned and shall be a contributor in strengthening India’s electronics manufacturing sector as well as towards the Indian government’s vision of an Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

Rexxam Co is a Japanese Corporation established in 1960. The company deals in the development, design, manufacturing and marketing of – electronic application products, peripheral devices of semiconductor production equipment, automotive components, precision machining products.

Earlier in July, Dixon had informed that it has received approval for IT hardware manufacturing under the government’s PLI scheme.

Yondr Group in a JV with Everstone; to open India data centres with $1 bn investment

Source: The Hindu Businessline, 27 July 2021

Yondr Group, a global developer, owner-operator and service provider of hyperscale data centres, in a joint venture partnership with Everstone Group, is investing $1 billion to open data centres across multiple locations in India.

Operating under the brand name EverYondr, the first data centre located in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region for which land and power have already been acquired, will deliver 30 MW of IT capacity by 2023 and 60 MW when fully developed.

The joint venture will support hyperscale clients and service the rapidly growing Indian market, the size of which is projected to exceed $4.5 billion by 2025. The investment will be used to fund the development and operation of multi-locational hyperscale data centre business across important geographies in India, including the metros of Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and National Capital Region (Delhi).

“EverYondr’s early acquisition of its first campus in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region reinforces our commitment to the region. Unlike other mature hyperscale markets, data centres in India require a proactive approach to development and a streamlined delivery process. As a business, our mission is to help clients meet their data centre capacity and technical real estate needs, faster and with better performance outcomes than anyone else,” said Dave Newitt, CEO at Yondr Group, in a statement. “Collaborating with a specialised and trusted partner like Everstone will enable us to continue to deliver on that promise in the Indian market that is critically under-served today. Bringing together Everstone’s deep knowledge of the Indian market and Yondr’s technical expertise and track record in developing capacity at scale, this joint venture will deliver unrivalled value to our hyperscale clients,” added Newitt.

In recent years India has undergone significant digital transformation, with active internet user numbers reaching 525 million in 2019, representing an annual growth of 19.2 per cent. Low-cost smartphones and cheap data tariffs have further compounded the shift to digital, with data consumption increasing 37-fold, from 0.26GB to 9.8GB per user between 2014 and 2018. With a population of more than 1.3 billion and data consumption per user forecast to reach 18GB by 2024, India represents a major market opportunity, surpassed only by the US and UK.

“To meet the accelerated pace of cloud adoption, hyperscale companies are increasingly looking to credible partners to help realise their expansion needs. Yondr’s global experience combined with Everstone’s strong execution capabilities in India, will provide clients with a credible and consistent choice,” said Sameer Sain, co-founder and CEO of Everstone Group.

IG international in talks with Australian company for a joint venture

Source : Economic Times 30 May 2017

KOLKATA: IG international, one the leading fresh fruit companies in the country, is in talks with an Australian company for a possible joint venture to produce high value exotic fruits like avocado, blueberries, dragon fruits in India. This was disclosed by Tarun Arora, director of the company in an interaction with ET.

alking to ET, Arora said “We were talking to a number of global players. However, we have now zeroed in on an Australian company. The discussions are underway. We hoping to clinch a deal with the company within next two months time.” IG international has clocked a Rs 500 crore turnover Rs 500 crore in FY17 and is aiming to take it to Rs 600 crore by end of this fiscal.

7 reasons why Joint Ventures fail in India

Source: INDOLINK

The joint venture is often considered the first option when the idea of doing business in India arises. Nevertheless, the experience proves that these associations rarely reach the expected goals and results. In most cases it turns out on traumatic experiences and failure for at least one of the partners (usually the foreigner).

There are logical reasons why foreign companies consider advantageous to join local Indian partners: lack of local knowledge –bureaucracy, market dynamics, business culture, management styles, labour laws…- quick access to the local market –due to distribution networks and customer portfolio of the local partner, and immediate availability of starting infrastructure –land, manufacturing plant, licenses and operation already going on-. For all this, the local partner is expected to pave the way for an easier, quicker and safer or lower investment.

This approach may seem logical a priori, but instead, we eventually find out that in many cases these assumptions prove wrong. Us in INDOLINK, after years of helping foreign enterprises to enter the Indian market, find the following main reasons that lead the joint ventures to fail:

Foreign firms in JVs get full freedom

Foreign firms will not need their partner's NOC

Business Standard: April 01, 2011

New Delhi: In a landmark decision, the government has eased norms for investments by foreign companies that are present in India through a joint venture (JV) or a technical collaboration.

Now, the foreign company will not have to seek a no-objection certificate from the Indian partner for investing in the sector where the joint venture operates.

The government has also relaxed norms for downstream investments and convertible instruments, giving foreign companies more powers. The aim is to check a decline in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows.

The changes are part of the third revision of the Consolidated FDI Policy. The new norms apply from tomorrow.

L&T, EADS set up defence JV; aim to spread wings globally

India’s largest engineering company Larsen & Toubro on Tuesday formed a joint venture with European major EADS to make products for the Indian defence segment. The aim is to subsequently develop the JV as a manufacturing hub for the global market.

L&T said it estimates to earn Rs 2,500 crore in revenue from the defence market, over the next seven years and will invest about Rs 2,000 crore to grow the business. “This investment will be spread over the next three years and will include the Rs 1,500 crore that we are investing in a defence shipyard at Ennore,” said L&T chairman AM Naik.

Shares of L&T rose 2.7% to Rs 978.75 on the BSE on a day when the benchmark Sensex was down marginally, as investors welcomed the decision to tap the defence market; the annual spend on defence is about Rs 4,500 crore.

L&T’s announcement came a day after brokerage Morgan Stanley in a report to its clients said L&T is a key stock to own mainly due to its potential in the construction segment and also due to its ability to withstand the slowdown.

In his address to reporters, Mr Naik said: “There can be some dampening (due to the slowdown), but we are confident of reaching our target by March 2010,” referring to L&T’s five year target plans that will end in 2015.

The engineering conglomerate had restructured into six holding companies and divested the cement business as part of the first five year plan and is now looking at increasing growth through new businesses such as defence.

“If everything goes well and we are able reach a decent size (for the defence segment) by 2012 or 2013, we may even consider having an operating company each for defence & aerospace, nuclear and the shipyard businesses,” said Mr Naik.

The JV with EADS Defence & Security will be based in Talegaon near Pune. However, the two companies were yet to a give a clear representation of the shareholding, saying that the final structure would be in conformity with the government guidelines.

Stefan Zoller, CEO of EADS Defence, said: “EADS DS is a high-tech company driving development of integrated system solutions for armed forces and civil security worldwide. Our JV is proof of our commitment to India. EADS would like to move beyond just providing high technology sales to India by creating an Indian industrial base with the development of a long-term partnership including transfer of technology wherever necessary.“

Source: The Economic Times 6/05/09

Bharti, Alcatel set up network management JV

Alcatel-Lucent will hold 74 per cent and Bharti the rest.

Bharti Airtel and Alcatel-Lucent, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of fixed-line phone equipment, announced a joint venture to manage the Indian telecom major’s fixed-line and broadband internet businesses.

Alcatel-Lucent will hold 74 per cent in the venture and Bharti Airtel the remaining equity.

Bharti has also signed a five-year $500 million (about Rs 2,500 crore) managed services deal with the new company for five years.

Apart from managing the broadband and fixed-line network, the joint venture will also install the services in consumer premises and upgrade the network. The joint venture will also offer services such as high-speed internet and video conferencing.

Alcatel Lucent will run the joint venture. The bulk of the 4,000 staffers for the joint venture will come from Bharti Airtel and the rest from Alcatel-Lucent. The joint venture will not, however, entail an asset transfer from Bharti and the subscribers and their revenues will be on Bharti Airtel’s books.

This is the second India deal for Alcatel. Last year, it signed a 70:30 joint venture with Reliance Communications for managed services for CDMA and GSM networks, also a five-year $500 million and for five years.

This is the first joint venture that Bharti has signed for managed services. The telecom company has signed several other multi-million dollar outsourcing contracts with Nokia Siemens, Ericsson and IBM. Explaining the reason for the change Manoj Kohli CEO and joint managing director of Bharti Airtel, said: “Unlike in wireless where you have to just put in a passive network and subscribers can roll in, the broadband business is very different. You have to go to consumer homes, install the equipment, explain how it works and that requires a lot more engagement. We thought for such a business a joint venture would be a more effective structure.”

Kohli added that the deal would help Bharti Airtel save costs but he did not quantify the savings. Bharti has only three million broadband customers and fixed-line customers in 95 cities across India and finds the need to scale up the numbers, if the government’s target of 20 million broadband subscribers is to be met by 2010 (India has 6.2 million subscribers).

Source: Business Standard 1/05/09

Tata BP Solar ties up with ESB for heating system

Tata BP Solar India (TBS) has tied up with Dubai-based Eurostar Solar Energy (ESE) to meet the rising demand for solar thermal water heating systems in the region.

TBS is a joint venture between Tata Power Company, a pioneer in the power sector and BP Solar one of the largest Solar Companies in the world.

ESE, the newly launched group company of EUROSTAR Group, is an active proponent for renewable energy in the region offering expertise in the design, supply, installation, commissioning and after sales service of solar water heating systems (provided by TBS) and PV systems.

“We remain committed in bringing cutting-edge solar solutions enjoyed by the rest of the world to the Middle East. More importantly, if there is any way we can contribute to a general reduction of carbon footprint that we all take for granted then you are going to hear of more such associations in the future,” Raju T Jethwani, the chairman of Eurostar Group said,

With over 2.5 million liters day of systems already installed in India TBS can be considered to be a world leader in solar thermal technology, a joint statement released here on Sunday said.

Source: The Econmic Times 3/05/09

CFL, Chile firm float 50:50 JV for fertiliser

In a first of its kind in India, Coromandel Fertilisers Limited, the over Rs 9,300-crore fertiliser major and part of the Murugappa group, has entered into a 50:50 joint venture agreement with SQM of Chile to manufacture water soluble fertilisers at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. Water soluble fertiliser is nothing but potassium nitrite which is 100% soluble water and is used for horticulture, floriculture, plantations among other things.

When contacted, P Nagarajan, chief financial officer, CFL, told FE, “We are setting up a plant at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to manufacture 15,000 tonne a year initially. Being a premium product and a non-subsidised fertiliser, we have decided to go slow initially. Based on the response we have plans to scale it up trebly over the next three years.”

Currently, India imports nearly 50,000 tonne from countries such as Chile, China and Israel and fertiliser majors such as RCF, Zuari, CFL among others are involved in importing the same, he said. As water is a scarce commodity in India, particularly in those cultivation areas, this fertiliser is found to be more suitable for drip irrigation like plantations and can be utilised fully without any wastage, he added.

Explaining in detail, a senior official of the company, who is involved in this project, said, “It is a high value product and almost costs 10 times that of a normal fertiliser on kilograme basis.”

Water soluble fertiliser is nothing but potassium nitrite and 100% water soluble. A person can use only 4 or 5 kg of this fertiliser per acre as against 150 kg to 200 kg of normal fertilisers (DAP, urea, etc). “We have been importing this product over the years from SQM and selling in India in small way and now we have decided to set up a JV for the same in India to offer the farmers at competitive prices,” he said. Currently, farmers in AP, UP, Maharashtra, Karnataka are using this product, he added.

The company, which generates Rs 120 crore revenue through imports annually, is targeting Rs 400 crore per annum in the next two to three years with the local JV, he said.

Meanwhile, the company has reported a sharp jump in net income to Rs 9,375 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2009 as against Rs 3,757 crore. The net profit during the period under review was Rs 496.38 crore as against Rs 209.76 crore.

Source: The Financial Express 28/04/09