Reliance Mobile took the lead in unveiling India’s most affordable tariff plan SIMPLY RELIANCE at a uniform rate of 50p/min for Local, STD and Roaming calls followed by uniform calling rates of Re. 1 / call for 3 minutes. These unique offerings are now extended to Reliance FWP customers across 2 tariff modes – Pay Per Minute (@50p/min) and Pay Per Call (@Re. 1/3mins).

The offers include 2 First Recharge Coupons priced at Rs. 9/- and Rs. 10/- for new subscribers offering call plans of “Pay per Call” (Re. 1 per 3 min) and “Pay per minute” (0.50/min) with a daily debit of Re.1/day, which is given back to the customer in the form of daily free minutes. Existing customers can also avail the same option at Rs. 38/- & Rs. 48/-

Reliance Communications has come out with 3 exciting plans for its postpaid customers also. Simple 199 plan offers all calls @ 50p/min with a free usage of Rs. 149/-. The other 2 Plans – Simple PPC 299 Plan & Simple 399 Plan are full value plans where the subscriber gets free usage equal to the monthly rental with call rates of Re.1/3 mins & 50p/min respectively.

This product adds an exciting variety to the wide bouquet of offerings to Reliance Hello FWP portfolio and is in line with Reliance Communications’ initiative to provide the best-in-class services to its customers. Innovative tariffs have been Reliance Communications’ key growth driver and the new tariffs will further add value for its customers. True to the spirits of Reliance Communications, the offer is designed to bring in the best value for money.

Keeping in mind the sensitivities of the Indian consumer, Videocon Group has launched a slew of phones which are in line with their new age needs and consumption patterns following the trends for this New Year.

Videocon is very excited to launch its mobile phones and intends to be amongst top three in this space in 2010 by taking leadership on quality, range, technology and value. Mobile phones are today an integral part of more than 400 Million people and growing. Videocon is the largest and most trusted Consumer Durable Company in India today and our fit in this very exiting business is natural.

On this occasion Mr.V.N Dhoot, Chairman and Managing Director, Videocon Group added: “Videocon is very excited to launch its mobile phones and intends to be amongst the top three in this space in a year’s time by taking leadership on quality, range, pipeline, technology and value. Mobile phones are today an integral part of more than five hundred million people and growing. Videocon is the largest and most trusted consumer durable company in India today and our fit in this very existing business is natural.”

Mr. Anil Khera, CEO, Videocon Mobile Phones Division, said: “We take immense pride in launching our phones, which have strong characters and unique style. This is in keeping with our attention to detail and uncompromising quality for our products.  We shall leverage the strengths of the Videocon brand in delivering products and services to customers and partners by adding value to the products through the creative design that gives an attractive look and feel on the handset along with total quality management.”

India is one of the fastest growing cellular mobile phone markets in the world, with an existing user base of over 400 million subscribers across the country, and 10 million new users being added every month.

Mr. Rahul Goel, COO, Videocon Mobile Phones Division, said: “We are upbeat about the customer response for our mobile-phone launch Particularly in Karnataka. We are targeting sizeable sales of handsets in terms of volume and value by establishing a solid relationship with channel partners and operators.  Our objective is to emerge as a leading brand of mobile phones with the help of highly-skilled manpower along with a widespread sales and marketing network as well as excellent after-sales service.”

Videocon’s new logo, the fluid “V”, coupled with a new proposition – Experience Change — is a fresh new identity for a group that has been named among India’s top brands. It reflects Videocon’s renewed focus on moving quickly from static to energetic. The brand campaign for Videocon Mobile Phones says, “V is the New Me”. This brand thought was arrived after an extensive study of Indian youth and their behavior patterns. The study showed that consumer buying behaviour has evolved over the years. Earlier clothing and fast food brands were ‘badges’. Now, technology occupies a much larger mind space. They invest in those brands which reflect their attitude and personality. It is also a metaphor for the restless nature of youth – change becoming the only constant. Mobile phone today is a part of one’s inherent self and slowly it is becoming a complete world in itself.

Videocon Mobile Phones keeping this need in mind has therefore launched handsets which are very stylish, contemporary, user friendly and loaded with smart features that will make heads turn. These phones will surely become an extension of its user’s personality and will be used to create an attitudinal statement. The entire social networking applications and the basic phone features apart from Camera, Music and other entertainment led pieces contribute to a growing influence and outreach that an individual has within his friends circle. This is the second and equally critical face of the ‘V in the new me’ positioning.

Videocon’s existing wide sales and marketing network will help establish a pan-Indian presence for its new range of cell-phones. The company also plans to aggressively expand across the country by appointing an extensive network of dealers and distributors, with an emphasis on reach and penetration.  With a wide range of products and accessories, coupled with an extensive dealer and distributor network and a reputed service partner with a nation-wide presence, Videocon aims to emerge as a leading player in the Indian mobile phone market soon.

The company recorded Profit before Tax (PBT) of Rs 27.3 crore recording 164% increase and Profit after Tax (PAT) of Rs 17.9 crore, an increase of 161% over the corresponding period last year. The AUM as on 31 December 2009 was Rs 9390 crore. Magma has been on a high growth curve since August 2009 and in the quarter ended 31 December 2009 gathered momentum to register positive performance in all products. The company increased disbursements by 19%% over the corresponding quarter last year and 18% over the immediate previous quarter and 43% over the first quarter of the current financial year. Magma during the quarter under review continued to increase share of the newer high yield products such as Tractor Loans, SME Loans and Suvidha Loans in the business which contributed to an improvement in the Net Interest Margin (NIM) from an average 3.6% of last year to 5.1% year to date. Magma has dealt with the economic slowdown through a series of initiatives including introduction of additional business verticals, strong focus on asset quality and effective management of treasury and operating costs apart from strengthening its robust collection mechanism. Commenting on the company’s performance, Mr Sanjay Chamria, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Magma Fincorp Limited said, “The market conditions have improved drastically with the economy finally back on track. Aligned with the improvement in the industry’s automobile and vehicle sales, Magma too has been able to grow its disbursals in Q3 by 43% over Q1. We successfully increased share of our high yield products to achieve higher net interest margins and achieved NIM of 5.6% in Q3. A major highlight of our performance in the third quarter and year to date is our collections efficiency which touched new heights and is now setting new industry benchmark at an all time high of 99.20% in Q3 and 98.90 YTD (April- December 2009). “We now anticipate a strong conclusion in Q4 to make this a memorable year when we met market challenges and overcame them.”” added Mr Chamria. Magma Fincorp Limited (“Magma”) is a non-deposit taking non-banking finance company (NBFC), registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as an Asset Finance Company. The Company, having started operations over two decades back, is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited and the National Stock Exchange in India. Magma provides a bouquet of financial products including financing of Utility Vehicles & Cars, Commercial Vehicles, Construction Equipments, Tractors and SME Loans. Magma has a dedicated base of over 2.0 lac customers and has assets of approximately INR 9390 crores under management. The company has 151 branches in 20 states and 1 union territory and employs about 4400 people.

Magma has recently signed a joint venture with HDI Gerling, part of Talanx Group, Germany’s third largest insurance group to start a general insurance company in India. The new company will be head quartered in Kolkata. The new insurance company since has obtained Reserve Bank of India approval and is currently awaiting the Insurance regulator IRDA approval for commencement of operations.

The redesigned Focus on Compliance features a new color scheme with enhanced graphics, sound and more interactive activities designed to help motivate students while increasing comprehension and retention of key learning points. This is especially important for compliance training because the requirement for ongoing recertification means that students need to take modules of the program each year.

Focus on Compliance, from Edcomm Banker’s Academy, is a computer-based, distance-learning program that can be delivered via Internet, Intranet or CD. The program teaches banking compliance using easy-to-understand language in an interactive, self-paced format. Focus on Compliance covers: Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), Anti Money Laundering (AML), USA PATRIOT Act, OFAC, Privacy, Reg P, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Right to Financial Privacy, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), Reg CC & Check 21, Reg D, Reg E, Reg Z, Truth in Lending, FCRA, FACT Act, HMDA, CRA and Bank Bribery, among others. The program also includes a quick reference guide to all banking regulations, a glossary of terms and a searchable library of reference materials.

Wipro and EMC announced the strategic alliance in 2007 and have jointly developed innovative solutions that address unique customer requirements across geographies. With the HDM model, Wipro and EMC will provide end-to-end document management services resulting in reduced costs and complexity for the clients. Utilising EMC Documentum enterprise content management technology, HDM is built on Wipro’s SaaS platform and provides a scalable solution that simplifies the time-intensive act of data capture, management, retrieval and archival of business critical documents to make better use of valuable information assets.

The solution offers high scalability and flexibility and helps accelerate time- to-market by boarding new customers/processes in four to six weeks time. It allows customers to eliminate initial capital expenditure and reduce cost by over 30 per cent depending on customer requirements.

“HDM automates business processes and management of transactional content without having to worry about infrastructure, labour and time to market,” said Jayakrishnan Sasidharan, vice-president, portals and content management, Wipro Technologies. “This results in substantial cost savings for the clients and helps address their specific ECM need of managing transactional content and enhancing business process efficiency,” he added. The HDM solution can be configured to address the content management requirements of wide range of industries and business processes, including financial services, human resources, procurement, legal, manufacturing and real estate applications.

“When we first announced EMC Documentum ECM 6.5, EMC truly raised the bar for the next-generation of enterprise content management – allowing IT to address today’s exploding content requirements while enhancing enterprise performance, security and compliance,” said Marc Burckin, vice president Alliances, Content Management and Archiving Division at EMC. “Wipro is leveraging the feedback from customers to deliver a cost-effective document management solution that provides return on investment within six months. This offering will help large organisations realise the benefits of an innovative hosted document management solution that can significantly improve the efficiency of their document intensive business process. “EMC world attendees are invited to experience hosted document management solution first hand at the Wipro Technologies booth, 246.

“Everyone was on time and eager to start, which is a great sign for what’s to come from these folks,” program director Keith Kress said. “We’re expecting great things from this bunch of kids.”

Even before the economy contracted – making it more difficult for college grads to secure employment in their field – companies have been asking more and more of their applicants; and several years of internship experience give grads that extra edge to land the job over the graduates without any internships.

“One of the things we look for when we’re hiring kids right out of college is work experience above and beyond class work,” Mr. Kress said. “Just showing up to class and taking tests doesn’t show the initiative that we’re looking for. We want people who spent their free time putting in the extra effort working an internship. It just made sense that if we expect that, we should offer a program that would give kids those types of opportunities.”

Three Stars Inc. offers students experience in all aspects of a marketing and advertising company from administrative duties to creative input into programs and campaigns. The entire process of developing a successful marketing strategy as well as the nuts and bolts of operating the company is available to the interns to learn how all of the knowledge they’ve acquired in school relates to the real business world.

“When these kids leave our program, they’ll be ready to work in any capacity at any marketing company in the country. And if they decide to apply here for a permanent position, they’ll certainly be on top of the short list,” Mr. Kress concluded.

“The President Is Coming” and “Meerabai Not Out” will be shown in multiple shows throughout the day on dedicated channels and BIG TV subscribers will have to pay a sum of Rs. 100/- and Rs. 75/- respectively to view the film. BIG TV has a special “COMBO OFFER” of Rs. 150/- in which viewers will be able to view both the films. The subscription will give them access to watch both the movies from the time they pay, till mid-night of the same day.

“The President Is Coming”, is the story of six “Young Indians” slugging it out to be the chosen one to shake hands with the President of the USA. The six ‘Young Indians” comprise of an entrepreneur Archana, a social worker Ajay, a Accent Trainer Rohit, a stock broker Deepak, a novelist Maya and a IT geek Ramesh and the task of selecting the one “Young Indian” is on two PR professionals Samantha and Ritu.

The film is all about the one night these six spend in the US Consulate under the watchful eyes of Samantha and Ritu who put them through rounds of tests to find the final winner with each of the six are upto their own tricks to eliminate the others.

“Meerabai Not Out” is Meera Achrekar (Mandira), a 32-year-old mathematics teacher, her passion for cricket and her undying love for the Indian cricket team and, specifically, spinner Anil Kumble who makes his Bollywood debut with this films. Anil Kumble plays himself in the film.

Meera, hugely popular among her students because of her passion for cricket, even bunks classes and fights for season tickets for every cricket match played at Wankhede stadium. However, the twist comes when, love suddenly blossoms in her life with heart-specialist Arjun Sachdeva (Eijaz Khan) and she realises that perhaps there is more to life than praying for Team India and Anil Kumble.

The launch of Singapore – Malaysia card further strengthens the wide bouquet of Reliance International Calling Card portfolio. This includes the recent announcement of US-Canada & Gulf calling cards besides the exclusive calling cards to SAARC, Europe and Australia. The extremely attractive tariff and its positioning for the S.E. Asian market is designed especially for Reliance Mobile subscribers in Karnataka.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation bagged the CNBC India Business Leader Awards in the “SOCIAL ENTERPRISE OF THE YEAR CATEGORY” that were conferred in Mumbai on January 22^nd, 2009.

The awards were adjudged by a jury of luminaries consisting of Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Mr. Deepak Parekh, Mr. R. Seshasayee, Mr. Jagdish Khattar and Mr. Raghav Bahl. The event brought together the most revered names in India‘s political, economic and social circles.

Akshaya Patra has won accolades from all corners for its yeomen work for the mid-day meal program in India and their astounding performance in feeding nearly one million (ten lakh) school children every day.

Dignitaries who were present for the award ceremony included Ashok Chavan, Chief Minister, Maharashtra, Narendra Modi, Chief Minister, Gujarat, Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce and Industries, Aamir Khan, Atul Punj, S. Ramadorai, Uday Kotak, Ajay Piramal, Naresh Goyal, Chitra Ramakrishnan, Anand G. Mahindra, Sumit Bannerjee, Swati Piramal and Nita Ambani.

Shri. Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, received the award and said, “This award is actually a recognition of thousands of supporters from the corporate world, professional governance provided by my co-trustees, board of advisors, support of the state and central government, thousands of Akshaya Patra staff and dedicated missionary workers, to bring a smile on the faces of the underprivileged children of our country and to empower them with education.”

“We have been following the best practices of the corporate world in terms of transparency and governance which we believe is essential to conduct the program on such a grand scale. We also thank God for making us instruments in this great service and pray that we will be able to extend this service to lakhs of more children to support them with good education.”