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  • This festive season, play the Champion Festival Contest & own a Champion phone

    This festive season, play the Champion Festival Contest & own a Champion phone

    MUMBAI: MUMBAI: Champion Computers Pvt. Ltd., a leading IT and Telecom manufacturer is launching a special contest for its consumers this Festive season to add to the soaring festive spirits. Since it’s the time of celebrations and happiness, Champion brings to you the ‘My slogan’ contest where the participants have the chance to get stylish and chic Champion products at unbelievable discounts!

    To add to these joyous moments, Champion has launched a heartwarming Slogan contest wherein all the participants have to do is – Visit the Champion Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheChampionComputers and complete the following sentence in not more than 15 words – “I want a new smart phone this festive season because……..”. The participant who garners the maximum likes on their slogan till the last date of the contest will win an amazing Champion phone and the first runner-up with second highest likes will get a 15% discount on any Champion product that they plan to buy. The contest begins on ¬¬¬1st November 2013 and runs till 30th November 2013

    Speaking on the Champion Festival contest, Mr. Kapil Wadhwa said “Festival are a time of sharing love and warmth and we at Champion Computers also wanted to reach out to our discerning consumers and connect with them through this contest. The contest is our bit to join our consumers in their Festive season celebrations and we are more than happy to offer great deals on the wide array of Champion products and put a smile on their faces.”

  • Paramount Pictures goes in for a leaner structure

    Paramount Pictures goes in for a leaner structure

    MUMBAI: A part of the Viacom conglomerate, Paramount Pictures has decided to trim down its staff by 110 people. Just a memo was issued to people who have been sent back home.

     

    The reductions will be in the Finace, HR, IT, International home media distribution, legal and marketing departments. In a letter to its sacked employees the company CEO Frederick Huntsberry said that the layoffs were needed to manage business ‘with greater speed and flexibility as well as capitalise on opportunities in the global entertainment market’.

     

    The company has plans to re-enter into TV. Their performances on the big screen have just been average.

     

    Positions have been shed in their head office in LA as well as many international offices. Previously in 2011, the company laid off 120 people.

  • ABAI: KAVGC Summit kicks off in Bengaluru

    ABAI: KAVGC Summit kicks off in Bengaluru

    BENGALURU: The Karnataka Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (KAVGC) Summit organised by the Association of Bangalore Animation Industry (ABAI, in collaboration with the government of Karnataka kicked off in Bengaluru last evening. Indian as well as international stakeholders from the animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) industry saw Karnataka’s minister for IT, BT and S&T S R Patil inaugurate the two day event at the Hotel Chancery Pavilion.

     

    Amongst those present during the inaugural ceremony was the Karnataka government’s principal secretary, IT, BT and S&T I S N Prasad.

     

    During his inaugural speech, Patil said that Karnataka state government’s thrust was on capacity building for the KAVGC industry and wanted to make Karnataka and Bangalore the preferred KAVGC destination.  He informed that this year, globally the estimated $153 billion KAVGC had a CAGR of 10 per cent, while in India it was growing much faster at about 22 per cent CAGR and was expected to reach five billion dollars this year. He said that a state funded post production and processing facility similar to the ones in Mumbai and Chennai would soon be inaugurated in Karnataka.

     

    He further said the state government was willing to work with bodies such as Ficci that had made some progress in setting up the curriculum for education courses.

     

    While echoing Patil, Prasad said that the state government was willing to listen to the KAVGC industry and act accordingly. “Karnataka will continue to lead the AVGC growth in India. We have partnered with a cross section of the digital content industries through ABAI,” said Prasad.

     

    Earlier, during his introductory remarks, ABAI president Biren Ghose set the tone for the summit when he said that the government and the ministry had been extremely strategic and extremely proactive in taking up a call from the industry.

     

    Speaking about the 2013 edition of KAVGC Summit, Ghose said, “The summit is meant to provide new direction to professionals and companies, highlighting growth and opportunity areas. It showcases our engagement with the academia, the government and industry and highlight the policy execution we have enabled as the roadmap for the next year.”

     

    The second ‘ABAI Leadership Excellence Award’ was conferred to Rajiv Chikalapudi, the creative and business force behind India’s animated phenomenon ‘Chhota Bheem’.

     

    Chikalapudi, during his keynote address detailed the long journey by his company Green Gold Animation to create and sustain a genuine IP success story including successes in merchandising and licensing. Chikalapudi said that a number of companies had great IP ready, but were afraid to pitching them. He exhorted these companies to go out and showcase their products, citing his own example – Chotta Bheem had been rejected twice before it was accepted by Pogo channel.

     

    The second keynote speaker Dreamwroks Country head Damian Froberville described the progress of the Indian Unit of Dreamworks and also gave some insights into the Asian scenario for global services. Froberville also said that the convergence between films and gaming was very much on the cards, but had not yet reached there. He said that this mattered to the players in the industry because of increased reliance on service providers with more content and shorter timelines of a product; and a lot more flexibility with VFX players doing a larger portion of game work.

     

    Among the other notable speakers and panelists included Greg Childs editorial director, The Children’s Media Conference; Jai Natarajan, Ceo, Xentrix Studios;  Owen Hurley, Creative head, Technicolor; Charles Gauthier Vice -consul and senior trade commissioner for India, Quebec office in Mumbai; Vsihal Dhupar, MD South Asia, NVDIA; Akhauri Sinha, MD, MPC, Bengaluru; Wil Braithwaite, Senior Applied Engineer-Digital Film, NVDIA; Ankur Bhasin; Ceo Bhasinsoft India Ltd; Vamsi Ayyagari, Management media professiona; AshishKulkarni, Ceo Reliance Animation.

     

    Notable additions to this year’s edition of KAVGC are the four Specialised Clinics – the IP Clinic; Technology Clinic; Co-production and Outsourcing Clinic; and the Pitching Clinic.

     

    The KAVGC Summit held annually for the last three years with the support of the government of Karnataka, continues to increase its focus on the business and industry of AVGC, aiming to provide a forum for knowledge sharing and improved connectivity among decision makers and stakeholders in the sector.

     

  • Directive for making electronic goods comply with Indian safety requirements

    Directive for making electronic goods comply with Indian safety requirements

    NEW DELHI: Even as contradictory reports keep appearing on whether the digital set top boxes comply with Indian standards, the government today announced that its order for making several electronic items adhere to Indian safety standards will come into effect from 3 July.

    The “Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2012” mandates compliance to Indian Safety Standards for 15 notified categories of electronic goods. These electronic goods are STBs, Video Games, Laptop/Notebook/Tablets, Plasma/LCD/LED TVs, Optical Disc Players, Visual Display Units, Printers/Plotters, Scanners, Wireless Keyboards, Telephonic Answering Machines, Amplifiers, Electronic Musical Systems, Electronic Clocks, and Automatic Data Processing Machines and Microwave Ovens.

    Keeping in view the fact that some manufacturers and importers have yet not received registration numbers from Bureau of Indian Standards, the Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY) has put in place an interim mechanism from 22 March this year.

    According to this notification, DeitY shall provide provisional clearance to the manufacturers and importers to sell goods and to obtain registration for a period of three months beyond 3 July. A copy of this extension order is available on website www.deity.gov.in/esdm.

    The Department has accordingly put in place a system for granting provisional clearances for units which have not obtained their registration. The application forms and related documents for seeking provisional clearance are available at www.deity.gov.in/esdm. The applications have to be made to Nodal Officer (Standards – Extension), in the Department of Electronics and IT in terms of the aforesaid notification. All manufacturers and importers are requested to make their applications at the earliest to avoid any difficulty in getting their products sold in the market.

  • Google’s Nikhil Rungta joins Yebhi.com

    Google’s Nikhil Rungta joins Yebhi.com

    MUMBAI: Google India country marketing head Nikhil Rungta has resigned from his post at the company to join Yebhi.com as chief business officer.

    Rungta will be responsible for the strategy, planning and execution of the company‘s sales, marketing and product development.

    Big Shoe Bazaar (brand owner of Yebhi.com) CEO Manmohan Agarwal said, “We are extremely happy to welcome Nikhil to the Yebhi team. He brings with him wealth of experience and knowledge after serving more than 15 years with leading organisations. We are confident that he will have a similar success at Yebhi.com.”

    Rungta said, “This is a new challenge and I am very excited as I get onto this new journey. I will be teeing off with a new TV campaign based on the concept of ‘Try and Buy‘. The new feature ‘Try n Buy‘ initiated by Yebhi will be the game changer for the E-commerce category and will help in taking the category to the next level. The campaign came from a deep understanding of how consumers buy online and the fact that one of the biggest barriers to purchase is lack of touch and feel of the product. Now the consumer can order products through Yebhi.com and only buy after trying or checking out the product.”

    Rungta was the country marketing head at Google since 2009. He was responsible for all Google products including Search, Youtube, Chrome, Google+, Android. Prior to Google, he was the head of marketing for Yatra.com where he was a part of the leadership team.

    His 15-year career in sales and marketing includes work across various categories like FMCG, Consumer Durables, Finance, IT and Travel Services.

  • IOC to be honoured as Champion of The Earth 2007

    IOC to be honoured as Champion of The Earth 2007

    MUMBAI: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its president,, Jacques Rogge are to be honoured as Champion of the Earth 2007 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

    Along with Al Gore and five other prominent environmental leaders, Rogge will be presented with the award at a special ceremony on 19 April in Singapore.

    Rogge says, “I am very honoured to receive this award, which is a great recognition of the IOC’s responsibility and commitment to raise awareness about the importance of sustainable development in sport”.
    “Since the early 1990s, the IOC and the Olympic Movement have progressively taken the environment and sustainability into account throughout the lifecycle of an Olympic Games project. The ‘Green Games’ concept is increasingly a reality. Today, from the beginning of a city’s desire to stage an Olympic Games, through to the long-term impact of those Games, environmental protection and, more importantly, sustainability, are prime elements of Games planning and operations. I am very proud of this and would like to thank UNEP for recognising these efforts”.

    The Olympic Games are above all about sport and the athletes, but they can bring several important environmental outcomes if they are planned, managed and conducted in a way which minimises the adverse environmental impacts and effects.

    The opportunity of the Games the IOC says can also be used to provide sustainable environmental legacies, such as rehabilitated and revitalised sites, increased environmental awareness, and improved environmental policies and practices. They can further encourage and facilitate strong environmental actions, and technology and product development in a city, country and beyond, through the educational value of good example.

  • Microsoft bullish on India expansion strategy

    Microsoft bullish on India expansion strategy

    MUMBAI: Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd., has announced aggressive geographical plans to strengthen its presence in India. It is slated to open offices in six additional cities in India, including Ahmedabad, Indore, Nagpur, Chandigarh Cochin, and Coimbatore. This would take its presence to thirteen cities, up from the existing seven cities.

    According to an official statement issued by the firm, the expansion strategy will include establishing a direct sales infrastructure, broadening partner eco-system and market education initiatives and programs.

    With an enhanced presence Microsoft will enable the small and mid market organizations to easily access a comprehensive portfolio of its products and services, faster deployment of customised solutions and increased support from both Microsoft and its partners.

    The expansion plan is in keeping with Microsoft’s vision to empower a broad section of small and mid market organizations understand better, the role which technology can play in driving growth and competitiveness, of the local industry ,in the local and global arena. The direct team in each city will be supported by respective regional branches for functional expertise as per Microsoft’s hub and spoke model. Microsoft will also forge relationships with Industry Associations in each city to understand and address local business challenges.

    Under the geo expansion plan Microsoft will work with broad channel partners to impart information on Microsoft products and licensing to serve IT needs of the business customers in the territory. Microsoft also aims at catalyzing its ISV partners to provide localized solutions for the market.

    Announcing the geo expansion plan Microsoft India MD Neelam Dhawan said, “Small and Medium Businesses are playing a key role in driving India’s growth. We remain committed to help them utilize technology for empowering their people; address consumer needs better and streamline their businesses. Our presence in these cities will achieve this much more effectively”.

    Small and Mid Market Solutions and Partner Group Director Rajeev Mittal said, “Our partners have been providing solutions and services to the customers in a lot of these cities already. We believe that being present there physically will help our partners provide better solutions, services and support and faster turnaround time. Our direct presence will also instill confidence in our existing and potential customers.”

    The channel engagement will be under the Microsoft Partner Programme (MSPP) framework. Microsoft hopes to strengthen as well as invigorate its partner ecosystem in the respective areas so as to help them accelerate the pace of their delivery and thereby their success in meeting the needs of business customers in the area, adds the release.

    Wipro Technologies vice president corporate business unit Anil K. Jain said, “Microsoft’s geo expansion initiative to reach out to local businesses is a step in the right direction to deliver value both to customers as well as the partners in these markets. Microsoft’s direct presence in non metro markets will further strengthen the partner ecosystem as well as inspire greater understanding and trust in its offerings within local business community. We are committed to work together to drive IT as a tool for business advantage among SMEs, along with Microsoft.”
     

  • Hinduja TMT to de-merge media, IT/BPO biz

    Hinduja TMT to de-merge media, IT/BPO biz

    MUMBAI: Hinduja TMT Ltd. will de-merge the company’s IT/BPO and media businesses into separate entities. The board of directors of the company are meeting tomorrow to provide in principle approval for this.

    The media business is likely to be brought under a holding company, a source said. HTMT has been weighing several options while deciding on separating its IT from media business. One option is to have the cable TV and broadband business under one entity while keeping the content business separate. Another possiblity could be to have a common entity for the media businesses.

    “I have nothing to comment at this stage. The board is meeting tomorrow,” HTMT MD K Thiagarajan said.

    Last month, speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Thiagarajan had admitted that de-merger was very much in the plans. “It couldn’t be done in 2005-06 fiscal because of certain taxation issues. The programme is still alive and we hope to de-merge early this fiscal. A committee of directors are looking into the issue.”

    HTMT has subsidiary companies which are into cable TV distribution, a cable movie channel, and movie financing and production. IndusInd Media & Communications Ltd (IMCL) runs cable TV through the Incablenet brand while CVIL operates CVO, a Hindi cable movie channel. IN Network Entertainment Ltd. (INEL), a wholly owned subsidiary of HTMT, is in film and content finance, production and distribution.

    Recently, Zee Telefilms had announced its plans to de-merge Siticable, a wholly owned subsidiary, into a separate company called Wire and Wireless (India) Limited (WWIL). This would bring specific focus into the cable business and be attractive to investors.

  • IT, Entertainment industries complement each other:Premji

    IT, Entertainment industries complement each other:Premji

    MUMBAI: A keynote address on the first day of Frames, the convention for the business of entertainment, was given by Wipro’s Azim Premji. He spoke about how technology benefits the entertainment industry and how they complement each other.

    Wipro chairman and managing director Azim Premji and United International Pictures CEO and chairman and UK Films Council export and import chairman Stewart Till gave the keynote address at the plenary session of FICCI Frames.

    “Entertainment and IT complement each other. There is convergence happening between entertainment, IT and communications industries. This is good as all three can be economic growth drivers. Entertainment has to reinvent itself. While entertainment has been about telling stories whether on film or television, the variety and quality of those stories as well as the delivery platforms will change,” said Premji.

    While Premji spoke on ‘The coming of the ICE age,’ Till spoke on how Indian films can enjoy more success around the world and how can Hollywood films increase their box office in India.

    “The overseas market for Indian films is around $150 million from the 20 million NRIs abroad. Producers should be encouraged to make cross over films to cater to address people from other ethnicities,” Till said.

    He listed out five points that producers should keep in mind to cater to a larger audience. They are as follows:

    Adopt the Chinese model, wherein films like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon were made.
    Adopt the Korean and Japanese model to achieve excellence in a specific genre like horror.
    Add American and European actors in the film
    Improve production quality
    Build close relationships with American and European companies.

    “The time is right to raise your horizons to the faraway horizons,” he emphasized. Elaborating on how Hollywood films can increase their box office in India¸ he said “The Hollywood movie titles should be released aggressively and the focus should be on marketing as many Hollywood titles as possible. Apart from that, producers should take advantage of the current multiplex scenario.”

    He concluded, “In the next decade, Indian audiences will embrace more and more American and European films and Indian producers will realize the full potential of the worldwide market.”

    Premji said that LPS were replaced by CDs. Colour TV sets replaced the black and white ones. In the film world, DVDs have replaced VCRs. News channels, he noted, have altered how newspapers function. “Apple’s success with the iPod has shown the convergence of entertainment and IT.

    Technological changes have meant that the relationship between the content creators and consumers is changing. Consumers want better stories and a better reception. Digitisation in terms of bits and bytes allows them to get a better reception and also affords more choices. The influence of technology on animation and gaming is also being felt.

    “As IT and entertainment continue to complement each other, interactivity will become increasingly important. One is already seeing this in the mobile realm where viewers can participate in game shows.

    Mobility is becoming important. Studio employees need to communicate with each other while they are on the move. They need to talk on script plans etc.

    One problem for the entertainment industry lies in getting trained people. Premji says that they need to touch base with colleges at the final year. Said he, “They could offer courses with guranteed jobs for those who show promise. India has benefited from the animation field as it has a cost advantage vis-a-vis the US. This has helped India become an outsourcing hub.”

    Digitsation, he added, has helped the remastering of classics like Mughal E-Azham.