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Tag: Asian

  • Infor appoints Dass as south Asian subcontinent V-P

    Infor appoints Dass as south Asian subcontinent V-P

    MUMBAI: Infor, a leading provider of business applications specialized by industry and built for the cloud, has appointed Ashish Dass as the vice president and managing director for the south Asian subcontinent. Infor software helps eliminate the need for costly customization through embedded deep industry domain expertise.

    Ashish will be responsible for further scaling Infor’s business operations in the region, driving the next level of innovation, growing a high performance sales team and partner network contributing to the next phase of growth.

    Ashish brings with him 20 years of international experience in P&L and Sales & Operations management, across both start-ups and established multinational organizations in the Enterprise Software Applications space across Europe, South Asia, Middle East & Africa. His previous roles called for diverse leadership, sales and business experience in the areas of ERP (Manufacturing, Retail & Distribution), BFSI (Core Banking, Treasury, lending, Investment Banking, AML & ALM, Analytics, CRM & BI), and professional & managed services. He has played major roles in directing organizations towards their growth paths, increasing sales and bottom line by establishing new growth markets and improving operational efficiencies. Prior to this appointment, Ashish has held senior management roles in 3i Infotech Ltd and Misys International Banking.

    Tarik Taman, general manager, India, Middle East and Africa (IMEA), Infor, said, “With a strong footprint in the region, India – which is leading the digital transformation wave and emerging as the fastest-growing major economy in the world – is a strategic market for Infor. At our ‘Inforum’ event in New York City recently, we announced plan to quintuple market share in the region by 2020, for which India will play an instrumental role. Ashish’s appointment is timely.”

    Dass, listed in the top 50 Indian influential leaders (2015) by Forbes Middle East in the Arab World, said, “I am certain that I will be able to further shape the success of Infor in the competitive Indian enterprise software market.”

    Infor automates critical processes for industries including healthcare, manufacturing, fashion, wholesale distribution, hospitality, retail, and public sector.

  • Infor appoints Dass as south Asian subcontinent V-P

    Infor appoints Dass as south Asian subcontinent V-P

    MUMBAI: Infor, a leading provider of business applications specialized by industry and built for the cloud, has appointed Ashish Dass as the vice president and managing director for the south Asian subcontinent. Infor software helps eliminate the need for costly customization through embedded deep industry domain expertise.

    Ashish will be responsible for further scaling Infor’s business operations in the region, driving the next level of innovation, growing a high performance sales team and partner network contributing to the next phase of growth.

    Ashish brings with him 20 years of international experience in P&L and Sales & Operations management, across both start-ups and established multinational organizations in the Enterprise Software Applications space across Europe, South Asia, Middle East & Africa. His previous roles called for diverse leadership, sales and business experience in the areas of ERP (Manufacturing, Retail & Distribution), BFSI (Core Banking, Treasury, lending, Investment Banking, AML & ALM, Analytics, CRM & BI), and professional & managed services. He has played major roles in directing organizations towards their growth paths, increasing sales and bottom line by establishing new growth markets and improving operational efficiencies. Prior to this appointment, Ashish has held senior management roles in 3i Infotech Ltd and Misys International Banking.

    Tarik Taman, general manager, India, Middle East and Africa (IMEA), Infor, said, “With a strong footprint in the region, India – which is leading the digital transformation wave and emerging as the fastest-growing major economy in the world – is a strategic market for Infor. At our ‘Inforum’ event in New York City recently, we announced plan to quintuple market share in the region by 2020, for which India will play an instrumental role. Ashish’s appointment is timely.”

    Dass, listed in the top 50 Indian influential leaders (2015) by Forbes Middle East in the Arab World, said, “I am certain that I will be able to further shape the success of Infor in the competitive Indian enterprise software market.”

    Infor automates critical processes for industries including healthcare, manufacturing, fashion, wholesale distribution, hospitality, retail, and public sector.

  • Film tourism convention ‘Locations’ attracts delegates from 10+ countries

    Film tourism convention ‘Locations’ attracts delegates from 10+ countries

    NEW DELHI: The fourth edition of the annual film tourism convention IIFTC Locations Show 2016 will take place in three locations – Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai – this month.

    Organized by the Film Federation of India, the IIFTC Locations Show will to take place in Chennai on 23 February at Crowne Plaza Hotel, in Hyderabad on 25 February at Radisson Blu Plaza and in Mumbai at JW Marriott, Juhu on 27 February.

    According to a study conducted by Mercury Integrated Marketing Services, more than 200 Indian film are shot abroad in over 50 countries around the world every year.

    IIFTC Locations Show promises to be a grand affair with participation from various Asian, African and European countries vying to garner a larger slice of this ever increasingly foreign shoots market in India.

    IIFTC Locations Show 2016 will see participation from some exotic countries such as Kenya, Namibia, South Africa (KwaZulu Natal), Fiji, Spain, Germany, Sri Lanka and Thailand among others.

    FFI secretary general Supran Sen said, “Our filmmakers are constantly looking for new and exotic destinations to shoot. At IIFTC Locations Show, FFI will gather the most prodigious Indian film makers and studios under one roof to meet the visiting delegations of tourism and cultural ministries from various countries and states.”

    IIFTC director Harshad Bhagwat added, “Films have been one of the most vital motivations for putting a destination on a travel itinerary. Films provide many positive impacts for the destination in terms of economic and cultural value, brand awareness and positive image building. With IIFTC, we aim to create conducive environment for Locations Scouting for creative industries in India as well as a credible B2B platform for film induced tourism promotion.”

  • Film tourism convention ‘Locations’ attracts delegates from 10+ countries

    Film tourism convention ‘Locations’ attracts delegates from 10+ countries

    NEW DELHI: The fourth edition of the annual film tourism convention IIFTC Locations Show 2016 will take place in three locations – Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai – this month.

    Organized by the Film Federation of India, the IIFTC Locations Show will to take place in Chennai on 23 February at Crowne Plaza Hotel, in Hyderabad on 25 February at Radisson Blu Plaza and in Mumbai at JW Marriott, Juhu on 27 February.

    According to a study conducted by Mercury Integrated Marketing Services, more than 200 Indian film are shot abroad in over 50 countries around the world every year.

    IIFTC Locations Show promises to be a grand affair with participation from various Asian, African and European countries vying to garner a larger slice of this ever increasingly foreign shoots market in India.

    IIFTC Locations Show 2016 will see participation from some exotic countries such as Kenya, Namibia, South Africa (KwaZulu Natal), Fiji, Spain, Germany, Sri Lanka and Thailand among others.

    FFI secretary general Supran Sen said, “Our filmmakers are constantly looking for new and exotic destinations to shoot. At IIFTC Locations Show, FFI will gather the most prodigious Indian film makers and studios under one roof to meet the visiting delegations of tourism and cultural ministries from various countries and states.”

    IIFTC director Harshad Bhagwat added, “Films have been one of the most vital motivations for putting a destination on a travel itinerary. Films provide many positive impacts for the destination in terms of economic and cultural value, brand awareness and positive image building. With IIFTC, we aim to create conducive environment for Locations Scouting for creative industries in India as well as a credible B2B platform for film induced tourism promotion.”

  • Hinduja Brothers receive ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’

    Hinduja Brothers receive ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’

    MUMBAI: Promoters of Hinduja Group, Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, were presented with a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for their contributions to the United Kingdom’s Asian community.

    “This is a great honour and makes our responsibility more difficult and harder. Our dharma and duty is to serve the Asian community in Britain as best as we can,” said Hinduja Group co-chairman Gopichand Hinduja in his acceptance speech.

    Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja were nominated alongside another NRI businessman Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta Resources, former England cricket captain Nasser Hussain and Indian-born 102-year-old marathon runner Fauja Singh.

    “This government sincerely values the immense contribution of Britain’s Asian community and as Prime Minister I am extremely proud to lead a truly diverse nation where people of all backgrounds live and work so well together,” said British Prime Minister David Cameron in a special message sent for the awards night.

    The Asian Achievers Awards (AAA), in its 13th year now, are organised by the ABPL Group, publishers of ‘Asian Voice’ and ‘Gujarat Samachar’ newspapers in the UK, to celebrate the achievements of south Asians based in Britain.

    This year’s awards were dedicated towards highlighting the achievements of Asian women and all the money raised from a charity auction was earmarked for the Lily Foundation, a charity working against human trafficking in India and the UK.

    “Large countries have lots of problems and these take time to solve. But I love the idea of India and I am confident that the time for India has come,” said Indian high commissioner to the UK Jaimini Bhagwati, a special guest at the event along with sari-clad Cherie Blair who described herself as ‘an honorary member of the Asian community’.

  • Star operating profit down 36% in Dec 06 quarter

    Star operating profit down 36% in Dec 06 quarter

    MUMBAI: In the first contraction in profit that Star has had since it began generating profits in early 2003, News Corp’s Asian arm has reported second quarter operating income down 36 per cent from the same period a year ago.

    Though the quarter (up to 31 December 2006) saw growth in subscription revenues, it was more than offset by a decline in advertising revenue at Star Plus.
    On the distribution side, the biggest initiative by Star India during the quarter was the $ 175 million deal with Nimbus to distribute its channels.

    According to Hong Kong-based Media Partners Asia (MPA), operating profit or EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) was down 36 per cent year on year to under $ 30 million. Operating profit in the September 06 quarter was up 8 per cent YoY. MPA estimates for the first half of the year show operating profit down 28 per cent YoY to $41 million, MPA estimates.

    A point of note of course is that the corresponding period in 2005 not only had the second season of KBC on Star Plus but also saw the first season of Nach Baliye on Star One providing a strong push to advertising sales revenues. Still, there is no getting away from the fact that softness in ratings at Star plus is also contributing to revenue declines.

    Speaking about Star’s performance during a conference call with analysts after the announcement of News Corp’s results, president & COO Peter Chernin said: “When the third season (of KBC) did finally launch and the numbers were extremely strong, up more than 25 per cent over last year’s premier, which should give us great momentum for the second half of the year and lead to not only higher advertising results but higher ancillary revenues led by phone revenue from additional calls that come in with the show.”

    Chernin also made a mention of the executive roiling that has been going on at Star when he said, “You’ve also read that we made some changes to senior management, changes which we think will strengthen our operations and improve our programming going forward.

    “… I think we have aggressive expectations for Star. Beginning on India, we’d like to see continued growth in our channels. We expect the growth of Tata Sky (in which News Corp holds 20 per cent) to continue. I think the most significant impact digital (DTH, CAS) will have on the company is growth of revenues inside Star as we see additional subscribers and an ability to, you know, get higher declarations of subs from the cable/pay-TV operators. We’ll also see new channel launches there (Tata Sky), and also important new ancillary businesses in the Internet, production and movies, et cetera. So we’re optimistic about Star going forward in India. “

    News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch was equally gung ho about the expectations on the DTH front: “Tata Sky DTH in India at 500,000+ subscribers, will hit 1 million during 1H 07, adding 8,000 subs per day at peak levels, averaging about 5-6,000 per day. I’d just say that Tata Sky is [going] a lot faster than we had budgeted for.”

    Commenting on the expectations from the rest of Asia, Chernin said, “Additionally, we’re also ambitious in other Asian countries, particularly Indonesia, where we’ve recently launched. We recently acquired a television network which we’re optimistic. A very big country. We’re hoping that could be the next India… and also just continuing growth in other territories, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and expanding into others.”

    On the China side, Murdoch was almost diffident when he said: “We don’t do very well in China. We have an interest — we just sold half of it in Phoenix (China Mobile deal, $165 million sale). We’ve got more than our money back [in our] total investment and we’re still there. We brought in a new partner China Mobile [inaudible] relations and we think it will do nicely. And we have our own little channel, XK [Xing Kong], which is produced in Shanghai and distributed through the southeast. That’s pretty much a break-even operation.

    “We are very [inaudible] all I would say there is that nobody and I challenge anyone to argue this, none of the leading American companies or British media companies have made any impact there yet. It’s possible that, I mean there MySpace finds room there… It may be a MySpace China, which we can license, but we’re just feeling our way there. It’s a vast market, but it’s certainly a very, very sensitive one and as we’ve seen what’s happened to Google there, what’s happened to eBay there, even to Yahoo. It is a very difficult market for outsiders.”

  • Asian VOD broadcaster Anytime signs distribution deal in Taiwan

    Asian VOD broadcaster Anytime signs distribution deal in Taiwan

    MUMBAI: The Asian video on demand (VOD) channel Anytime has reached a distribution deal in Taiwan with the interactive broadband platform TDMC.

    TDMC TV chairman Zhong Zhen says, “The deal gives TDMC TV customers a variety of content from the Hollywood studios over a secure ADSL broadband connection to a set-top box. The channel launches in Taiwan this month.

    “Anytime has output deals with more Hollywood studios and Asian content creators than any other video on-demand channel. The new Anytime channel on TDMC TV will give viewers in Taiwan easy access to the most popular, up-to-date entertainment, when they want it.”

    The Singapore-based Anytime has existing carriage deals in Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand, and the rights to license into 14 territories in Asia Pacific. Shareholders include CPE Holdings (Sony), Fox Media Services, Warner Bros. Entertainment, YTC Group, the Macquarie Bank Group and US based Coote/Hayes Productions.