 What's New
ELCINA Electronic Industries Association of India (Formerly Electronic Component Industries Association) was established in 1967 when India's Electronic industry was still in its infancy. ELCINA has always remained committed to the promotion of electronics manufacturing culture in the country focusing on components-the building blocks of electronics industry. |
- General
- In relief to cos, excise duty likely to be kept at 10%: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to retain standard excise duty at 10% in the 2012-13 Budget, a move that would provide some relief to corporate India as industrial growth is expected to be moderate next fiscal due to slow down. Given that excise collection has shown only moderate growth this fiscal, a hike in excise duty is not being considered, an official said.
- Google overhauls user privacy policies: Google has paved the way for the introduction of a raft of more personalized services and advertising online, as it disclosed an overhaul of the privacy policies and terms of service that cover many of its different products.
The changes also marked a new front in the company's battle for user attention with Facebook, reflecting the sea-change in its relationship with its users that has been underway as it has moved beyond its core search business.
Under its new policies, Google said it would be free to deploy its users' personal information across a wider range of services, bringing a more personal experience to everything from search to Gmail.
- Finmin wants Spectrum to be used as Collateral for Loans: The finance ministry has asked for a change in norms to allow spectrum to be used as collateral by lenders of telecom companies, saying this will ease the stress on the country's banking sector.
The finance ministry has asked the telecom department to make policy changes to ensure that airwaves can be seized by banks in the event of a default or cancellation of mobile permits.
Over the past 12 months, banks have almost stopped lending to telecom companies but if the norms are changed, it will make it easier for telcos to raise loans.
- Electronic security of Banks: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would adopt a strict approach towards banks that don't implement the recommendations of the Gopalakrishna Committee report on electronic security.
"The banking regulator expects reasonable compliance. RBI will take serious action against those banks that do not implement the recommendations on Electronic Security. By October 2012, banks will have to implement the recommendations. At present, some banks do not have proper security policy, methods to monitor the service level agreements with third parties and inadequate audit trail."
- FDI Inflows Show India Attractive: E&Y: India witnessed the second highest growth in FDI inflows in the world during 2011, which helped generate over two lakh jobs, reflecting robust faith of international investors in Indian growth and allaying fears of its fading global sheen.
Although, some international companies have expressed concern over stalled decision-making in the Indian bureaucracy, the majority has expressed intent to expand operations within the country during 2012, according to Ernst & Young attractiveness survey.
Technology remains the most attractive sector with 146 projects and growth of 51% in value of FDI inflows during the first eleven months of 2011. Other attractive sectors are automotive and retail and consumer products with a growth of 38.2% and 31.7%, respectively, during the period.
- Set-Top Box shortage as digitization deadline approachs: Five months before time runs out for homes across India's top four metros to switch to digital transmission to continue watching cable television, operators are battling short supply of set-top boxes as well as ignorance among consumers.
More than 60,000 set-top boxes need to be installed every day to enable an estimated 10 million homes across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata to meet the deadline mandated by the government.
But with India going digital at the same time as Brazil, Russia, China and South Korea among other countries, set-top box makers are finding it difficult to meet delivery deadlines. This is the case even as most leading manufacturers, based in China, have ramped up production manifold.
- Information Technology
- Micro Tech to execute project worth Rs.160 crore: Micro Technologies (India), a FIT security-based R&D Company, will execute a project worth Rs.160 crore for creating a highly-secured communication system 'Video over Broadband.' The system includes the security surveillance with access control for the disaster recovery center including supply of the infrastructure which has high end servers and network facility to handle clients.
- Indian IT spending to grow 10.3% in 2012: IT spending across industries is forecast to surpass $39 billion in 2012, a 10.3% increase from the previous calendar year figure of $36 billion, says research firm Gartner. "The retail industry is expected to achieve the strongest growth in percentage terms, where IT spending is forecast to grow 11.8%", the report said.
- Dell readies Rs.5000 crore war chest for India buyout to boost IT biz: Dell is on the prowl for an India acquisition worth up to $1 billion (Rs.5000 crore), part of a strategy to bolster its information technology services business and compete better against the likes of IBM and Accenture.
The world's third-largest computer maker wants to buy a mid-sized Indian tech firm with "several thousands of staff" and revenues of $500 million to $1 billion or even more, Suresh Vaswani, chairman of the company's Indian operations and executive vice president of the Dell's global application and BPO business, told ET.
- Telecom
- Nokia sells over a million Lumia handsets by December 2011: Nokia Oyj's first phones running Microsoft Corp. software may have sold enough units last year to help rebuild investor confidence in the Finnish company, which lost $19 billion in market value in 2011.
The Lumia handsets, which went on sale in Europe in November, probably sold 1.3 million units globally to operators and retailers by the end of last year; according to the average estimate of 22 analysts compiled by Bloomberg. The projections range from 800,000 to 2 million and only one analyst predicted sales of fewer than 1 million handsets.
- DoT raises fresh concerns about Huawei, ZTE (security threat from western telcos also) : The security unit of the telecom department has raised fresh concerns about Chinese equipment vendors - Huawei and ZTE - in an internal report, igniting an issue that has refused to die down despite the introduction of new rules for import of telecom network last year. The report adds that India must also be on guard against equipment from the West, including US and Europe.
Chinese companies like Huawei have embedded strategic interest, which companies like Cisco and Nokia don't have that much. Some members expressed that the concern is not only from China, but the same concerns are from equipment makers from other countries also, be it the US, Europe or Japan.
- Nokia gaining ground in smart phone war: Nokia Oyj, a year into an alliance with Microsoft to regain market share lost to Apple, sold more smart phones last quarter than projected, sending the shares 7% higher.
Nokia sold 19.6 million smart phones that can handle tasks such as video calls and showing movies, says the Espoo, Finalnd-based Company. Analysts had predicted sales of 18.5 million smart phones. Apple sold 37 million iPhones in the period.
- Feel Industry Pulse before changing Policy - Telecom Captains to Government: Call tariffs in India will rise if the government raises levies on spectrum allocated to telecom operators. Industry seeks a stable regulatory policy and early announcement of the long overdue New Telecom Policy
There needs to be a balance between what the government can extract from this industry and what the Industry can pay.
- After tax case win, Vodafone looks at NTP before listing: After its victory in the Rs.11,000 crore tax dispute with India's income tax department, Vodafone, the world's largest mobile operator by revenues, is awaiting the new telecom policy (NTP) before finalizing plans to list its Indian arm.
An indicating to this effect was given by its global CEO Vittorio Colao when he told Reuter's at the World Economic Forum in Davos: "Clearly, the tax case was one of the elements, but of course, the new telecom policy is going to be another very important element."
- Apple regains lead in smart phone market : Apple Inc regained the lead in global smart phone shipments from Samsung Electronics last quarter after starting sales of the latest version of the iPhone, according to data from Strategy Analytics.
The US Company shipped 37 million smart phones in the three months ended Dec 31, giving it a worldwide market share of 23.9%, Strategy Analytics said in an emailed statement. Samsung's shipments rose to 36.5 million, while those at third-ranked Nokia Oyj dropped to 19.6 million.
- Telcos get Telecom Commission approval to share spectrum (but this sharing is limited to 2G airwaves and telcos cannot share 3G spectrum) : The Telecom Commission, the apex decision-making body of the communications ministry had decided to allow mobile phone companies to share spectrum, but has limited this facility to 2G airwaves alone. Second generation (2G) spectrum is largely used for offering vanilla voice services. This means telcos cannot share 3G spectrums.
The TC has also decided to introduce a slew of riders to govern spectrum sharing. First, only those operators that have airwaves in a particular region can share it. For instance, Uninor or Tata Teleservices which does not have 2G spectrum in Delhi, cannot share airwaves with any other operator that has radio frequencies here and launch GSM-based cellular services. "Spectrum can be shared only between two spectrum holders… In other worlds, a non-licensee or licensee who has not been assigned spectrum as yet cannot be party to spectrum trading. This is contained in the minutes of the latest TC meeting.
- Consumer Electronics
- Philips struggles to stay afloat : Dutch electronics giant Philips, best known to consumers for its electric toothbrushes, TVs, wake-up lights and coffee makers, is struggling to boost profits and ease the impact of slowing growth as it restructures and streamlines to compete in weak European markets flooded with lower cost Asian rivals.
Single-cup coffee brewers catering to demand for convenience and customization have gained massive popularity in recent years with rival coffee pod systems like Nestle's Nespresso and Kraft Foods' Tassimo Senseo's main competition.
Philips' Thursday announcement that it would sell its 50% stake in the Senseo coffee brand baffled some Amsterdam based analysts.
- Solar Energy
- Riding on Solar Power: In sun-drenched India, the fledgling solar energy market is poised for a vertical take-off aided by falling solar panel prices, mirroring the now famous Indian telecom revolution.
Welspun Group is lining up ambitious plans to be among the top three producers of solar power in the country in the next two-three years by producing at least 500 MW of solar power by 2014.
Already the price per unit has come down from Rs.18 to Rs.8.50 and it will fall further as technology improves solar energy evangelists expect grid parity to happen by 2015. "As the solar tariff approaches grid parity, the sector will start growing exponentially.
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