Govt clears Rs 1,800 cr scheme for private jobs for disabled...

L&T SCPL announces launch of integrated township..

Ranbaxy consolidated Q4 net flat at 187.8 cr.....

Nalco invites consultants for Indonesian venture.....

IIM-C kicks off the biggest laterals process across IIMs

NEW DELHI, Jan 17: As many as 180 students of IIM Calcutta are participating in the lateral placement process this year, which is the highest among the B-schools in the country.

"The number of students participating in the laterals process at IIM Calcutta is comparable to the entire batch strength of other B-Schools, providing recruiters a huge and diverse pool of talent to choose from," IIM-C Placement Co-Ordinator Georgie Mathews said in a statement.

Students with at least 22 months of prior work experience can participate in the lateral placements. Such candidates already have a practical feel of the corporate sector and as such are capable of handling bigger roles as opposed to a fresher without any experience, it said.

The process, which began last week, saw the participation of some of the biggest names in the world including the likes of consulting powerhouses like PwC and international steel major Arcelor-Mittal, the statement said.

The largest batch of students across IIMs has seen a great start to the recruitment season with around 50 job offers being made in the first week itself, as against a total of approximately 100 offers in the entire laterals season last year.

The lateral recruitment program offers profiles in the middle-management and top management roles. This year, senior management roles were offered in the corporate finance and capital markets division of a leading private sector bank.

In the technology sector, IT majors like Microsoft and HCL have already visited the campus, while many more have confirmed participation, making the general outlook very encouraging.

There is a significant rise expected in this year's placement figures over the last year's, Mathews added.

Strategy roles in the booming real estate industry has been a major draw this year, with the Lodha Group having made multiple offers and DLF, Unitech and MARG also expected to participate.

Consulting major CapGemini, the Hinduja group and Al-Ghanim have also offered multiple consulting and general management profiles, including international offers.

IIM Calcutta, which has close to 300 students, is one of the most preferred campuses to recruit from with major names across the domains of finance, banking, general management, marketing and IT making their recruitments here.

Companies hugely benefit from the lateral placement programme as they get a large pool of participating students with increased maturity in aspirations, outlook and career goals. Prior experience obviates need for training, compared to fresh graduates. (PTI)

Govt clears Rs 1,800 cr scheme for
private jobs for disabled

NEW DELHI, Jan 17: With shrinking employment opportunities in the state sector, the Government today approved a Rs 1,800 crore scheme for incentivising private sector to employ 1,00,000 disabled people a year.

The approval to the scheme, envisaging payment by the Government towards employers’ contribution to the Employees’ Provident Fund and the Employees’ State Insurance, was given by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

The "historic decision" would involve Government outlay of Rs 1,800 crore during the 11^{th Five Year Plan, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told reporters after the CCEA meeting.}

^{"Employment opportunities in the Government have been shrinking over the years. Therefore, it has become necessary that employment opportunities for the persons with disabilities are created in the private sector by giving incentives to the employers,"
he said.}

^{The scheme is applicable to the disabled employees drawing salary of up to Rs 25,000 per month, Dasmunsi said.}

^{The government contribution in the EPF and ESI will be restricted to a period of three years. However, the administrative charges of 1.1 per cent of the wages for EPF will have to be paid by the employer.}

^{Dasmunsi said the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment would make available the "lump sum" funds to the Employees Provident Fund Organisation and Employees State Insurance Corporation by way of advance.}

^{Initially, both the organisations would be provided Rs five crore each and considering the requirement, the amount would be subsequently enhanced, the I&B Minister said.}

^{To monitor the scheme, a high-level committee, co-chaired by the Ministries of Labour and Employment and Social Justice and Empowerment would be constituted.}

^{The committee, co-chaired by secretaries in the two ministries and other officials, would consider various issues necessary for the smooth functioning of the scheme.}

^{The committee would meet periodically as per requirement, with a minimum sitting of once in a quarter.}

^{Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in his Budget speech last year, had announced a scheme for employment of physically challenged in the organised sector, Dasmunsi noted.}

^{Since the government provides several other supports to the PSUs, this scheme is applicable only to the private sector, he added. (PTI)}

L&T SCPL announces launch of integrated township

CHENNAI, Jan 17: L&T South City Projects Ltd (L&T SCPL) today announced the launch of its integrated township project ‘Eden Park’ at Siruseri near here.

The township, spread over 100 acres, will be developed in four to five phases at an estimated cost of Rs 1,200 crore.

In the first phase, the company will build 656 apartments in over 14 acres within a time span of two and half years, K Venkatesh, Executive Vice President, L&T told reporters here today.

The first phase would comprise 14-storied eight blocks with two and three bedroom ‘Villapartments’, he said.

‘Villapartments’ provide privacy, luxury and independence of a villa and convenience, cost-effectiveness, maintenance and security of an apartment, he said.

The township would have residential apartments, villas, schools, essential services, healthcare facilities and shopping mall.

He said the company was in ‘advance stages’ of talks with a few reputed educational institutions in the city to set up their schools inside the township.

L&T SCPL is a joint venture by L&T Infrastructure Ltd, Dinesh Ranka& Associates and Pragnya Trustee &Investment Management company.

L&T is also planning townships in Coimbatore, Bangalore, Chennai and Vishakapatnam, he said. (PTI)

Ranbaxy consolidated Q4 net flat at 187.8 cr

NEW DELHI, Jan 17: Pharmaceutical major Ranbaxy Laboratories today reported an almost unchanged consolidated net profit after tax for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2007 at Rs 187.8 crore as against Rs 185.9 crore in the same period previous year.

Total consolidated sales of the company during the quarter grew 5.11 per cent at Rs 1,795.1 crore as compared to Rs 1,707.7 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Global sales registered 24 per cent growth. During the quarter, emerging markets like Romania, CIS, South Africa and Brazil were the key drivers of growth which contributed 54 per cent to global sales.

For the year ended December 2007, the company’s net profit stood at Rs 790.1 crore, up 53 per cent. However, after excluding foreign exchange gains or losses, net profit of the year was Rs 606.9 crore, up 15 per cent.

"The results for the year 2007 are as per our expectations. This is on the back of strong growth in our emerging markets, a significant growth of business in Europe and a strong performance in our US branded business," Ranbaxy Laboratories CEO and Managing Director Malvinder Mohan Singh told reporters here.

During the year, the company’s sales in the US grew by two per cent at 386 million dollars while the branded business recorded sales of of 56 million dollars, up 37 per cent. (PTI)

Nalco invites consultants for Indonesian venture

NEW DELHI, Jan 17: Public sector aluminium firm Nalco has started looking for consultants to carry out feasibility study for its smelter and power plant in Indonesia.

National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) has decided to set up an aluminium plant in South Sumatra province of Indonesia, where source of energy in the form of coal is available.

The consultants would be required to undertake techno-economical feasibility study for setting up of an aluminium smelter and a coal-based thermal power plant in Indonesia, the company said while inviting bids from consultants.

The interested companies would have to submit bids to Nalco by February 10.

The selected consultants would be expected to submit within 14 months their reports, which would include a summary based on selection of site, raw material sources, logistics and financial analysis of the upcoming project.

Bidders should have experience in handling projects involving a cost of one billion dollars and should have an annual turnover of over 10 million dollars.

Nalco would be setting up 0.25 million tons aluminium plant at the beginning and add another 0.25 million tons in the second phase of the project, leading to a total capacity of 0.5 million tons, the company said.

The raw material for the smelter and power plant would be sourced from Nalco’s alumina refinery in India.

"The Indonesian plant would source alumina from Nalco’s plant in India. For the first phase, annual requirement of alumina would be 0.5 million tons and for full capacity of smelter, it would be one million tons per year," Nalco said.

In 2006-07 the company had recorded an income of over 1.2 billion dollars and a profit of 0.5 billion dollars. (PTI)