Today the Healthcare industry has emerged as one of the most challenging sectors as well as one of the largest service industries in India with estimated revenue of about $ 30 billion (FY 2005). The Indian Health Services sector is estimated to be around Rs. 750 billion and has had a growth of over 12% p.a. in the past four years and is estimated to grow by 170% by 2012. However there are a few shortcomings like lack of sufficient awareness of quality medical centres and services. Hence Star Imaging has partnered with i-mint which has a national footprint & expertise in reaching wider masses in a systematic manner.

On the partnership with i-mint, Mr. Sudhanshu Gupta, Executive Director & Head of Business Development, SIPL said, “We are a team of dedicated professionals engaged in providing ultra modern diagnostic facilities to the people of Delhi. Star Imaging has always strived to achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction. i-mint, with its unique concept of customer loyalty across multiple brands, will allow our customers to get a host of benefits and value additions on a single card. Additionally, i-mint’s vast network will give us access to a massive customer base and hence will help us augment our business further.”

Mr. Vijay Bobba, Founding CEO and Managing Director, Loyalty Solutions and Research Ltd, (LSRL) said, “It is our endeavor to provide more and more opportunities for i-mint members to earn rewards across all categories of their spends basket. With each new partnership, we are closer to our vision of becoming the “Rewards Card” of choice for today's shopper. As our network expands, we continue to strengthen our consumer proposition and are able to provide unparalleled value to our members”.

“With this partnership, i-mint members can now earn points at Star Imaging and Path Lab in addition to other partners at Delhi. Multiple opportunities to earn points lead to rapid point accrual in a single basket and hence faster redemptions possibilities for the member. Thus, members see more value in the program as compared to other single brand loyalty programs or co branded credit cards, added Mr. Vijay Bobba.

Customers availing the services of Star Imaging and Path Lab will earn 9 i-mint points for every Rs 100 spent. In addition to Star Imaging and Path Lab, customers can earn i-mint points at other leading brands within the i-mint network such as Airtel, HPCL, Air India, ICICI Bank Credit and Debit Card, Lifestyle, Makemytrip.com, Gitanjali Diamonds, Bookmyshow.com, Fernsnpetals.com etc. The points earned can be redeemed for products and services such as jewelry, electronics, holidays, gift vouchers etc. The rewards catalogue can be viewed on the i-mint website at www.imintpoints.com.

Currently SIPL is offering attractive discounts to their loyal customer database by providing value added facilities like Wellness counseling & health insurance through their unique tie-up with Star Health & Allied Insurance Co. Ltd.

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

About Loyalty Solutions and Research Limited (LSRL)

i-mint is promoted by Loyalty Solutions & Research Limited (LSRL), a public limited company formed under the Companies Act, 1956 having its registered and corporate office at Florence Building, J L Nehru Road, Santacruz East, Vakola, Mumbai 400055. It’s core line of business is to conceptualize, design, develop, promote, and market loyalty programs for consumers and merchants. The company’s management and advisory team brings decades of experience in enhancing consumer experience through unique customer rewards and loyalty solutions globally LSRL currently has main offices in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai with sales offices across several cities.

About Star Imaging & Path labs (SIPL):

Star Imaging is headed by Mr. Sudhanshu Gupta, Executive Director & Head of Business Development, and a dedicated team of professionals engaged in providing ultra modern diagnostic facilities to the people of Delhi. At Star Imaging & Path labs there are full time Radiologists, Pathologists, Anesthetist and Biochemist each with ample experience in their respective field. The strength of Star Imaging & Path labs lies in its core principal that Quality must never be compromised and quality is delivered through Accuracy in reporting. Our resolve every day is to deliver accurate and timely reports. The company has gained competitive advantage through offering latest state of the art technology combined with personalized service to ensure customer satisfaction.

About i-mint

• i-mint was launched on 1st August 2006 as India’s first Multi Partner Rewards Program wherein Airtel, HPCL, ICICI Bank, Air India, Lifestyle and MakeMyTrip.com joined hands to create a single rewards platform powered by sophisticated technology.
• i-mint gives its members an opportunity to earn i-mint points rapidly at the participating i-mint partners and merchants leading to faster redemption of rewards. Customers can locate i-mint affiliated merchants in their city:
  • Through the merchant locator on the i-mint website (www.imintpoints.com)
  • Logging on to http://imint.zook.in on their mobile browser
  • Sending an SMS with imint or or to 57575665
• Currently i-mint
  • Has a consumer base of over 6 million members nationally.
  • Is available in 25 cities across India
  • Has a merchant base of over 2500 across several cities
  • Is the only loyalty program to penetrate Business-to-Employee sector by launching co-branded cards for employees of companies like Infosys
  • Has also, launched an e-referral website in partnership with Global Talent Metrics called STAR REFERRAL.

Key features of i-mint

• i-mint has been designed as a pan India rewards program with acceptance across cities, across products and services and across various payment modes such as cash, cheque, credit and debit transactions.
• ‘Earn while you shop’ is now possible with i-mint. The program offers opportunity to earn points from more than one partner on each transaction. Rapid point accumulation leads to faster redemption. Members can redeem points at a slab as low as 250 points. The online redemption catalogue contains over 200 exciting rewards from partners as well as from other merchants, across various categories and at all point levels. i-mint promises unique rewards for customers like Gift vouchers, Jewelry, Household Appliances, Electronics etc
• To summarize, i-mint unleashes an unmatched platform to very quickly accumulate points from day to day spends and choose at will from an extensively furbished redemption catalogue. Now whatever the consumer may do, the consumer always mints rewards!

The DVDs of some of the major titles will have the extra feature of 5.1 surround sound, which is for the first time on a DVD in India.

Shemaroo has licensed these 70 titles for home video distribution for SAARC countries – India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives.

For more than two decades, Shemaroo has been making waves with their strong distribution of domestic Indian films; however this major deal augments Shemaroo’s presence in the international film category.

Hiren Gada, Director, Shemaroo Entertainment shares his thoughts, ‘We are really glad to be associated with Studio Canal and license some of their phenomenal films for home video distribution. Also with the 5.1 surround sound, we are certain that audiences in India will be able to highly appreciate watching these movies in the comfort of their homes. Moreover, given our strong distribution network in the mainstream Hindi film category, we will be able to give a good boost and widespread distribution to these titles.’

Francoise Guyonnet, Executive VP, StudioCanal Home Entertainment, underlines the positive aspect of their cooperation with Shemaroo Entertainment, ‘It has been a great pleasure working with Shemaroo Entertainment from the very start. We are confident they will be the best partners for the distribution of our titles throughout India’

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

About Shemaroo Entertainment:

A behemoth of its own kind as a major distributor in entertainment industry, Shemaroo Entertainment has forayed into distribution of International movies targeting cinema lovers all over India. The company has acquired close to 300 titles, across all genres.

The forthcoming releases will contain works of famed directors and hordes of award winning movies both in DVD and VCD formats.

Cinema is void without intense interaction among cine-enthusiasts, so apart from only distributing movies Shemaroo will also stay focused in value packing these movies and present them as exciting entertainment experience and as a must own proposition. That is why Shemaroo has associated themselves with big studios like Pathe, UGC, Lakeshore Entertainment and many others.

The distribution plan is also backed up with appropriate marketing and advertising/publicity plan so as to make the customers aware of the presence of the movies and all the exciting offers included within.

For more information visit www.shemaroo.com

About Studio Canal:

STUDIOCANAL, a subsidiary of the French Pay TV Group Canal+, holds the largest non US film Library in the world (5186 titles).

After purchasing in 2006 OPTIMUM RELEASING, a British film distribution company, STUDIOCANAL acquires KINOWELT in 2008, the leading independent German group specializing in film acquisition and distribution.

STUDIOCANAL’s activities in the production, acquisition and distribution of films make it one of the major players in Europe.

Its library is distributed in video throughout the world thanks to the distribution and licensing agreements handled by its International Home Entertainment department.

Mr. Robert Miller is planning to be in India for the launch of Miller Heiman’s alliance with Talent Craft, and is really excited with opportunity of spending a day with Senior business leaders at the upcoming Indiatimes Strategy Summits, being held in Mumbai (14 Nov 08), New Delhi (18 Nov 08) and Bangalore (21 Nov 08)

Mr. Miller has conducted hundreds of executive level seminars worldwide for such organizations as Ernst & Young, ARAMARK, Hewlett-Packard, Rolls Royce, Coca-Cola, General Electric, and Wells Fargo Bank. Additionally, he has lectured at the European Management Symposium in Davos, Switzerland and at the U.S. Air War College in Montgomery, AL.

Witnessing the current economic scenario Mr. Miller states, “Cutting back in a down turn economy is the worst thing a sales organization can do. Instead when prices rise, factory orders drop, unemployment surges and other economic indicators signal rough times sales organizations should redouble their efforts. A slow economy is an excellent opportunity to improve the quality and size of your sales force, double up your efforts to get people on the street and capitalize on the strength of your executive team.”

To learn more about how to leverage the downturn, the craftsmanship of selling and debunking selling myths from Mr. Robert Miller, please register your participation at www.TalentCraft.in.

Mr. Michael Light, Regional Director Asia-Pacific, Miller Heiman would also be speaking at these seminars, conceived & managed by Talent Craft, Miller Heiman’s exclusive partner in India, in association with Indiatimes Mindscape.

Talent Craft is the Assessment & Training business vertical of Times Business Solutions Limited (TBSL) a limited company, wholly owned by Bennett Coleman Company Limited (The Times Group).

Talent Craft is a pioneer in bringing in the next level of corporate empowerment, providing people development solutions within organisations, right from their induction, through performance & promotion systems, to succession planning for leadership.

Miller Heiman Inc. co-founded by Robert B Miller has worked with Blue Chip companies across the globe to establish sales processes since the seventies. Their concept of Strategic Selling in the complex sales environment keeps the customer at the core and works towards Joint Venture Selling and introduces a paradigm shift by injecting science into the art of selling by exploring the founding principles of sales and debunking various traditional myths. To learn more from the author of “Strategic Selling” log on to www.TalentCraft.in

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

It operates 20 franchisee stores across the country in Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Pune. “A lot of the proposed 80 new stores will come up in smaller town and cities. Typically, a franchisee partner needs to invest around Rs 15-20 lakh for these outlets,” Refeel Cartridge Engineering CEO Alkesh Agarwal said.

The company also plans to set up an online store for its venture. “Customers will be able to order for printer cartridges online. This will further help us to penetrate the market. While the online venture will come into shape once the 100 stores start operation, we plan to start trials in some six months,” said Mr Agarwal.

Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL), publishers of ‘The Times of India’ and ‘The Economic Times’, have recently completed a private treaty deal with Refeel Cartridge. As part of the deal, BCCL has invested around Rs 15 crore in the company.

Refeel Cartridge was floated in February 2007 but the first store was set up in August 2007.

The company claims refilling inkjet cartridges at their store will enable price saving of 75% than buying an OEM cartridge and 60% for laser cartridges. Little wonder, the company has more than 50 corporate clients.

“Refilling printer cartridges is a way by which companies can cut their printing costs by at least 50-60%. Typically, a large organisation has a printing budget of around Rs 5-7 lakh per month. Around 40% of our revenue is expected from the enterprise segment and the balance from the small office home office (SOHO) and retail customers,” Mr Agarwal said.
The domestic market for printer cartridge refilling and re-manufacturing has been estimated at Rs 3,000 crore, growing at 30% annually. The cartridge refilling segment in India is highly fragmented with almost 40,000 small refillers.

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

Green Re-feel is a retail printer cartridge refilling and recycling chain with its head office at Kolkata, India. Green Re-feel concept was established in Feb' 2007, after an extensive research on the cartridge industry for over 3 years. We have opened over 20 Green Re-feel stores across India and evolving continuously together with our dedicated and passionate store owners & our valued customers. Green Refeel stores are independently owned and operated by the franchisees. The diverse background and the experience of Green Re-feel store owners coupled with our expertise in cartridge refilling industry enables us to provide outstanding services to our customers. We thrive to be technically inspired, economically sound and environmentally safe.

Kaya Skin ClinicTM is an elegant tranquil environment where you’ll discover the most advanced and revolutionary skin care, offered to a discerning unisex clientele in a Zen like ambience. Kaya offers excellent refreshing & relaxing solutions, which aim to achieve 'Beauty through Technology’. Kaya Skin Clinic has pioneered skincare in India. Kaya has 68 clinics in India spread across 20 cities. It is the largest chain of beauty destinations in the Middle East. Kaya understands Indian skin and has over half a million happy clients.

This tie-up between these two leaders in the arena of beauty through science seeks to make available to the Indian woman a truly world class BOTOX experience for the restoration and creation of beauty.

Commenting on the tie-up, Mr.Raghu Kumar, Managing Director, Allergan India says, “BOTOX is both an art as well as science. BOTOX at Kaya will be the personification of best practices in the use of BOTOX for restoration and creation of beauty for the Indian woman, and would seek to deliver world class quality of BOTOX delivery right here in India. Doctors at Kaya have been specially trained on delivering optimal outcomes with BOTOX, with a clear focus on maximizing consumer satisfaction.

At Kaya, the consumers will also have the confidence of knowing that they are getting the best quality of BOTOX.”

Mr.Rakesh Pandey, CEO Kaya Ltd added, “Looking good is no more a vanity but a necessity in today’s beauty and wellness conscious world. The Indian Woman consumer today is highly beauty conscious, and clearly wants nothing but the best.

BOTOX, today, is a highly sought out brand in Kaya clinics as it produces dramatic results in the restoration and creation of beauty. BOTOX is a quick, 10 minute procedure that produces visible results in just 7- 14 days, and the effects last for as long as 4- 6 months. Thousands of men & women at Kaya are already highly satisfied users of BOTOX, and the numbers are growing rapidly. The average age of the BOTOX woman is also coming down, with more and more young women in 30s coming forward to take BOTOX to continue looking beautiful.”

Breaking myths surrounding BOTOX, Mr. Rajeev Nagi, Director- Sales & Marketing, BOTOX, Allergan India said, “A big testimony to the safety of BOTOX emanates from the fact that BOTOX is USFDA approved for many cosmetic and therapeutic applications. Crores of satisfied consumers across the world have seen their faces and lives transformed by BOTOX over the last so many years.

Many perceive BOTOX to be a product to be used only by the old to take care of the wrinkles on their faces. The reality is that the users are much younger and routinely use BOTOX® for giving their faces a youthful, rejuvenated & glowing look

Another myth surrounding BOTOX is that it is very expensive, and that it is used only by the celebrities. The reality is that most BOTOX procedures are highly affordable, and are quite competitively priced at Kaya.”

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

About Allergan India:

Allergan India Private Ltd, based in Bangalore, began operations in 1995 and within three years established itself as a leader in ophthalmology. A joint venture between Allergan Inc. and Piramal Healthcare Ltd., the company has a nation-wide distribution channel supplying Eyecare products.

While the pharmaceutical products are manufactured in a State-of-the-art facility in India, other products are imported from overseas plants. Their focus is to deliver international quality products and technology at affordable "Indian" prices.

FINO, a sectoral entity, has been created to meet the needs of Banking & MFI sectors targeting rural masses in India. FINO has been a pioneer in serving low-income households in urban and rural areas in India. It provides Biometric Smart cards to Microfinance institutions, Banks, Government and Insurance organizations and also serves as a Business Correspondent for three of the biggest banks in India. The Smart card facilitates financial services like savings, loans, insurance and remittances. The card issued, after capturing the KYC (Know Your Customer) details of the customer, acts as an e-passbook storing all account details of the customer as well as the fingerprints of the customer, which are used to validate each transaction in a secure manner.

The solution deployed by FINO will aid ACCESS Development Services in its endeavor in MFI sector. FINO will implement its MIS systems along with its various delivery channels, including Mobiles, Smart cards, Micro-deposit machines (MDM’s) and Credit bureau services to aid Access’s AmFA partners to scale up their operations to the next level.

With this technology, ACCESS Development Services’rural customers will now have access to doorstep banking with an array of financial and non-financial services at the customers' disposal. According to Mr. Manish Khera, CEO, FINO Ltd., “It is a very prestigious association for us. ACCESS Development Services is known for its commitment and dedication to the micro finance sector in India. . With this association we see ACCESS Development Services touching the lives of many unbanked customers. We both share a common goal that is to serve the ‘Base of the pyramid customers’. This association will provide FINO the opportunity to deliver scalable low cost solutions and also help us in our continued long-term growth”

Says Vipin Sharma,Chief Executive Officer, ACCESS Development Services, "We are extremely delighted to be associated with FINO. The tie up will help us strengthen our relationship with the ACCESS Microfinance Alliance (AmFA) network MFIs by providing them state of the art technology in partnership with FINO making us reach the unbanked rural masses and help bridge the demand and supply gap of financial and non-financial services. This initiative will enable us to take Financial Inclusion to the next level."

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

About FINO:

Financial Information Network & Operations Ltd (FINO), is a multi-bank-promoted pioneering company providing smart card-based multi application solutions to “unbanked” in Banking, Micro-finance, Insurance and Government sectors, primarily located in rural and semi-urban India. FINO’s ethos is to become a sectoral venture for serving rural masses. FINO executes end-to-end turnkey solutions for LFI’s, including hardware/software, system integration, transaction network, operations, maintenance and training. FINO helps organizations improve efficiencies considerably reducing overall project cost. In fact FINO’s concept is to take banking and the banking technology to un-banked masses in the country.
www.fino.co.in

About ACCESS Development Service ( www.microfinanceindia.org)

ACCESS Development Services is a national technical services company with focus on livelihoods and micro finance. Set up with the support of CARE and DFID in March 2006 is structured to provide technical assistance to a rapidly growing livelihoods and microfinance sector working with Civil Society organizations, Government Departments, Corporate sector, and Multilateral/ Bilateral agencies.
ACCESS focuses its efforts in the more underserved regions, helping to build local capacities and enhancing their abilities to work at scale. ACCESS helps develop robust community based models and demonstrate their efficacy as viable and sustainable institutional forms with a focus on building capacities of local partners in a region. Based on its knowledge and practice, ACCESS has developed a strategy on Livelihoods and Business Development Services focusing on inclusive value chain approach and works within a few sub-sectors, those in which are poor are engaged and those have future potential.

MagicBricks.com and Homebay’s Chennai Property Bazaar ’08 will offer more than 10,000 properties and over 100 projects including Luxury Apartments, Villas, Farm Houses, Low Cost Housing, Budget Apartments, Commercial & Retail spaces, and even SEZ Projects brought by Chennai’s best and most illustrious developers, builders, and real estate agents – all at a single venue.

Speaking about the MagicBricks.com and Homebay Chennai Property Bazaar ’08, Mr. Naveen Luthra, Vice President and Business Head, MagicBricks.com said, “MagicBricks.com and Homebay Property Bazaar is bringing an exclusive property exhibition with a host of amazing property options by all the leading developers of Chennai. The exhibition will showcase all the major builders and developers in the region. The MagicBricks.com Property Bazaar will also prove to be the ideal event for both home-seekers & investors - as they can meet a myriad of builders and developers, all under one roof."

Mr. Ramesh Nair, Managing Director, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, added, "When you are planning one of the biggest investments of your lifetime - your own home, you want to be sure of your decision. At Homebay Residential (a subsidiary of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj), our dedicated residential real estate professionals completely understand your concerns and guide you to make this experience a memorable and reassuring one.”

“Magicbricks.com Property Bazaar provides a perfect platform to interact with leading developers in the city and for the developers to effectively reach out to their potential customers. These events serve to enrich the buying experience and to make them as easy and convenient as possible. The real estate market definitely has long-term underlying growth. Potential buyers need to realize that if one buys and holds for the long term one is not likely to lose. Real estate values generally go up in the long run, with very few exceptions,” he added.

There will an abundance of residential and commercial options to choose from brought by participating sponsors, which include True Value Homes, Vijayshanthi Builders, Marg Swarnabhoomi and Hirco. Some of the other reputed names participating at the Chennai Property Bazaar are Olympia, Shriram Properties, Doshi Housing, Mahindra Life Space, South India Shelters, Arun Excello, Rajparis, Rajkhom, Coral Group-Cochin, BBC Foundations, Antony Associates, ABI Estates, and Olive Beach Promoters, Emaar MGF, Jain Housing, City Square and HDFC Ltd as the finance Partner.

Speaking about the event Mr. Nawaz Hussain, Director, South India Shelters, remarked, "The Property Bazaars organized by MagicBricks.com in past were very successful events and, we received a good response from Property seekers. The recent MagicBricks.com Property Bazaars where we participated, covering Chennai Properties were professionally managed, well-organised events. We look forward to continuing and developing our rapport with MagicBricks.com and participating in the future events as well."

Speaking about the Chennai Property Bazaar, Mr. Bimal, Head Marketing, Marg Ltd. said, "The previous Property fairs organized by MagicBricks.com brought us genuine buyers with their strong media plan and excellent event management. Their events attracted many walk-ins for us in the past. We look forward to the forthcoming fairs of MagicBricks.com across India and abroad."

MagicBricks.com is set to provide over 5,000 home-seekers & investors expected to walk-ins during the two day event, an amazing experience with this landmark real estate event.

So don’t miss this amazing opportunity! Make time & visit Chennai’s best developers and builders - all under one roof at the innovative MagicBricks.com and Homebay’s Chennai Property Bazaar ’08 at Mayor Ramanathan Chettiyar Hall, Santhome High Road, MRC Nagar, Chennai, on 8th & 9th November 2008!

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

Endorsing their programme, the Lord Mayor of London, Alderman David Lewis, said in a recent address to the Marketors ‘The City of London and India have a strong and enduring partnership in finance, trade and commerce. A true partnership of equals, the links between the City of London, India and Indians is reflected in successes such as Tata here and Standard Chartered there. In 2007 two-way trade in goods between India and the UK grew by nearly 16% over the previous year. Trade in goods and services in 2006 was nearly £9 billion.

‘Many Indian companies,’ he continued, ‘have found the UK a great place to set up their global headquarters – research a year ago found that four times as many Indian companies generated a better return on investment than anywhere else in Europe – and four out of five said their group’s London office generates the highest revenue compared with other European locations’.

Lord Bilimoria, founder of Cobra Beer, also referred to the tour in a recent lecture to the Marketors in the context of how he developed his successful UK-based business.

The visitors will be in Delhi for several days, during which they will attend a marketing seminar with the worldwide marketing team from the Taj Group of hotels, in which they are staying throughout when touring to Agra, Jaipur and surrounding areas.

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

The Worshipful Company of Marketors is one of 107 Livery Companies based in the City of London, which originally developed as Guilds to protect their members and maintain the standards of their trades. Some current Livery Companies were founded over 700 years ago.

The Marketors is one of the modern Livery Companies, having been granted full Livery status in 1978: it is 90th in the Roll of Livery Companies. The Company's mission is to promote excellence in marketing practice and education, support for the interests of 'The City' as well as fellowship amongst its members. This it does through its extensive programme of Marketors’ Awards through its Charitable and Educational Trust, annual City Lecture, Think Tank seminars and the many activities carried out by members of the Livery under the guidance each year of the Master of the Company.

Tatara Systems began using Soffront CRM as a hosted solution in 2003. “In 2005 we decided to purchase Soffront CRM and deploy it on-premise for several reasons,” said Ernie Labbe, Director, Operations and Customer Service. “After looking into competing products, we selected Soffront due to ease of use, complete web access, and immediate productivity increases.”

Soffront CRM is used by the company’s customer service, sales, marketing and engineering groups. “We use Soffront CRM to track customer service requests and provide visibility throughout our organization,” said Ernie Labbe, director, operations and customer service. “Soffront allows our distributed workforce to access information anywhere, anytime. Employees can quickly and easily connect and track marketing campaigns, sales activity, and customer service requests.”

Soffront also allows Tatara System’s customers to open and track their service requests through the web. “The ability for customers to easily track their requests using the self service portal is a huge benefit,” continued Labbe. “Using Soffront’s CRM portal, customers submit and track service inquiries or ask technical questions. Nearly one hundred percent of service requests are now entered through the web portal, increasing our efficiency and saving us time and money.”

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

About Soffront

Soffront Software Inc. has the experience, technology and focus for mid market companies seeking CRM solutions. A CRM pioneer since 1992, Soffront spans the enterprise with integrated CRM: sales, marketing, customer service, knowledge base, help desk, project management, defect tracking and more. Soffront is flexible, powerful, and affordable. With on-demand, on-site, or host-to-purchase options, floating or named seats, Soffront is the perfect choice for mid-size companies. Soffront’s installed base includes Fortune 500 companies, mid-sized businesses, federal, state, and local governments. Soffront is privately held, debt-free, and profitable.

“The ICFEis excited to be working with FAI’s leadership to introduce the CertifiedFranchise Executive™ program in India.Our mission is to enhance professionalism in theFranchising domainby certifying the highest standards of quality training and education,”said Melanie Bergeron, CFE, chair of the ICFE Board of Governors and CEO, TwoMen and A Truck Intl. “The CFE program offers franchise executivesan established curriculum taught by recognized experts in the field. Itprovides individuals with the opportunity for expanded knowledge, industryrecognition, and peer-level networking,” she added.

“Thefranchising industry has grown impressively in India in recent years. It is estimatedthat there are more than 850 franchisors and 60,000 franchisees in sectorsranging from education and retailing to hospitality and healthcare. FAI and ICFE will cooperate to bring education and trainingto these professionals,” said C.Y. Pal.

Under theagreement, FAI members will be able to enroll in the ICFE program at specialrates and receive reduced fees for ICFE-approved programs. FAI and ICFEwill cooperate to develop educational programs to be offered throughout theyear, including web-based programs. FAI members will also have access tothe ifa-university.com website for additional courses and resources. AsFAI members complete the course of study and meet other requirements of theICFE program, they will be awarded their Certified Franchise Executive™credentials. FAI members will be recognized in graduation ceremonies forCertified Franchise Executives (CFEs)at the Franchising Association ofIndia’s annual conference in New Delhi,the next one which will be held on 3rd and 4th April 2009as well as at International Franchise Association’s annual convention.

The CFEis a great tool that will be the new benchmark for Indian Franchising, havingenrolled for CFE, I see enormous scope for peer-to-peer learning, Dhawal Shah,Dy. Executive Officer of Franchising Association of India, added.

TheInstitute of Certified Franchise Executives™ is the only professionaldevelopment program for franchise executives designed by franchiseexecutives. It is governed by a peer-led board of directors, whothemselves have completed the CFE program and also includes representativesfrom academia. To be awarded the CFE designation, individuals mustcomplete an extensive course of study, and meet experience, participation andethics requirements as established by the ICFE Board of Governors.

In the United States, more than 1,100 franchise executivesare currentlyparticipating in the CFE program. The Institute of Certified Franchise Executives is happy to be collaboratingwith the Franchising Association of India (www.fai.co.in) in conductof the CFE program

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

The Franchising Association of India is a Membership Organisation ofFranchisors, Franchisees, Vendors, Consultants, Financial Institutions andStudents and others. Our services are dedicated to provide a one-stop shoppingexperience for franchising business and with membership of the prestigiousWorld Franchise Council we have ongoing access to knowledge of the Worldaccepted best practice related to Franchising in different areas of businessactivity as also networking contacts with the WFC member FranchisingAssociations in different parts of the world for generating new businessopportunities for Indian entrepreneurs.

In recognition of the increasing role of franchising in the market place andthe very beneficial positive contributions of franchising to the Indianeconomy, the franchisor and franchisee members of the FAI believe thatfranchising must reflect the highest principles and standards of fair businesspractices.

Mission
Tap the vast entrepreneurial energy available in the country by promotingthe concept and practice of franchising in India.

Objectives
- Exchange and safeguard the business environment for franchising, both withregard to franchisors and franchisees
- Act as the resource centre for current and prospective franchisors,franchisees, the media and the Government.
- Disseminate knowledge to promote the concept of 'franchising' and propagateit as a healthy business practice.
- Establish a forum for discussion and deliberation on Franchising relatedmatters and problems and help promote the interest of members by organisingseminars, conferences and meetings.

Activities
To work towards achievement of the above mission and objectives our activitieswill include:
- Creation of appropriate forums for discussion of issues and problems relatedto Franchising.
- International linkages to promote - bringing in of foreign frachisors andbest practice for doing business in India through Marketing India atInternational Expos and otherwise.
- Make representations to the Government with regard to legislative and othermeasures affecting the promotion of concept and practice of Franchising.
- Encouraging Bank and Venture Capital funding for franchisees.
-Publication of Franchising Successes
- Creation of India's most comprehensive Online Franchise Directory -which helps franchisors promote their business's and attract new franchisees.

For more information about FAI, please visit www.fai.co.in

Champion purchased Soffront’s Sales Force Automation module in 2006, replacing an inefficient database system. “As our sales force and contact database grew, we experienced numerous problems,” said Sharon Bingham, director of operations at Champion. “We struggled with issues such as duplicate contacts, lack of visibility with new leads and updates, and inflexibility when assigning leads and attaching contacts.”

Before selecting Soffront, Champion met with representatives from three vendors and compared products based on functionality, support, price, and the ability to customize. “We chose Soffront because we were impressed with the software’s robust functionality and customization.” explained Bingham. “Also their solution was more affordable than the competition.”

Everyone at Champion can now access the most accurate, up-to-date information possible. “Utilizing Soffront’s web-based solution, information is immediately viewable by every sales representative, client service specialist, and manager. Leads assigned through Soffront are automatically sent to reps, instead of languishing in the system.”

According to Bingham, all documents are saved on the server, eliminating the need to attach them to emails. Soffront’s calendar feature also allows Champion employees to confirm availability for meetings, set deadlines, and assign tasks. “Using Soffront, we have saved a considerable amount of time, and the dollar amount saved is immeasurable,” concluded Bingham.

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

About Soffront

Soffront Software Inc. has the experience, technology and focus for mid market companies seeking CRM solutions. A CRM pioneer since 1992, Soffront spans the enterprise with integrated CRM: sales, marketing, customer service, knowledge base, help desk, project management, defect tracking and more. Soffront is flexible, powerful, and affordable. With on-demand, on-site, or host-to-purchase options, floating or named seats, Soffront is the perfect choice for mid-size companies. Soffront’s installed base includes Fortune 500 companies, mid-sized businesses, federal, state, and local governments. Soffront is privately held, debt-free, and profitable.

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About Rajshri Media (P) Limited

Rajshri Media, India’s leading Web and Mobile Studio is the digital entertainment arm of Rajshri group, one of India’s oldest, largest and most successful Film and TV Studios. The company’s mandate is to create, aggregate and distribute premium Indian entertainment content across new media platforms, for digital entertainment devices. The company runs India’s leading broadband video streaming and download portal www.rajshri.com. Rajshri.com launched in November 2006 with the online premiere of the Hindi blockbuster Vivah, day and date with its worldwide theatrical release, a first for Indian cinema. Rajshri.com streams movies, TV Shows and other Special Interest Audio Visual content FREE. With its channels showcasing full-length movies, movie songs, music videos, TV shows, short films, documentaries, concerts, astrological predictions and lots more 24/7, Rajshri.com is the most preferred destination for premium Indian video content online.

In line with the corporate vision to emerge as a trans-nationally competitive financial institution, LIC has been planning to bring out its credit card to leverage its large customer base, strong brand and wide distribution network and to provide value added service to its customers.

LIC has celebrated its 52nd anniversary in September and aims to strengthen its relationship with its vast customer base by providing various value-added services such as credit cards. Through this new Company, LIC aims to offer premium-payment facility to policyholders with their own credit card. Not only will this provide added convenience and service to LIC customers, it will bring down transaction costs for LIC.

LIC Cards Services Limited, the wholly owned subsidiary of LIC, would leverage LIC and Corporation Bank's strong brand and extensive branch, ATM, and sales distribution network .

The Company shall have its registered office at Jeevan Prakash Building, 6th floor, 25. K.G. Road, New Delhi-110001.

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The ODC provides an extension of the new Murex division, CDS (Customer Delivery Services), and serves Murex’s technology needs in system implementation tools and technologies. The first assignments will focus on the Murex MX.3 platform upgrade program and will include report and datamart development and conversions. The current team of Murex consultants at MindTree is approximately 100 people and is expected to grow rapidly and cover the full spectrum of Murex capabilities.

“MindTree and Murex have been working together for several years, and today we are taking our partnership to the next level,” said Philippe Helou, founding partner, Murex. “Over the course of our relationship, MindTree has demonstrated the ability to provide a talent pool that understands our solutions and we have delivered several successful engagements jointly, including those for some large European, Australian and Asian banks. Combined with our closely aligned corporate values, we feel this partnership will bring seamless professional support and reduced Total Cost of Ownership to our customers.”

Murex focuses its resources and R&D investments on providing the world’s top financial institutions with innovative integrated solutions covering all front-office, risk management and back-office operations while delivering in-depth functionalities for a wide range of asset classes - from basic to the most complex structured and derivatives products. Sell-side financial institutions, utilities, corporations, hedge funds, private banks and asset managers rely upon the Murex MX portfolio to support their capital markets activities and gain sustainable edge.

“MindTree is very excited to be embarking on the next stage of its relationship with Murex. This relationship helps to further deepen our service offerings in the Banking and Capital Markets space,” said Ashok Hegde, vice president, Capital Markets, MindTree. “Murex is a recognized global leader in the Capital Markets, and its selection of MindTree as a preferred implementation and offshore partner is an important endorsement of our industry expertise.”

MindTree’s Capital Markets offerings are structured around the derivatives practice, equity and fixed income, hedge funds, package expertise and architecting and solutions. MindTree’s Capital Markets services encompass Front Office (sales, trades, market making and repossession); Middle Office (risk management, analytics, feed services, trade and decision support); and Back Office (clearing, settlement, accounting, payment and reconciliation services - cash, trade books, and depository system management and reconciliation).

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

About MindTree

MindTree Limited is a global IT and R&D Services Company co-headquartered in the U.S. and India. With a passion for customer satisfaction, MindTree partners with its clients to create a transparent, value-based relationship. Our domain experts deliver business-enabling solutions by leveraging a consulting-led, framework-based and IP-driven approach. MindTree's IT Services business provides a range of services to CIOs across a variety of industry segments. Our R&D Services business works with Technology companies to help build innovative products by providing Product Realization services. MindTree has acquired an 80% equity stake in Aztecsoft Ltd., a global leader in outsourced product development and independent testing. The Company intends to complete the merger by April 2009.

MindTree was named among the Top 30 offshore service providers by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals and Fortune Magazine. Widely known for its focus on human capital development, MindTree has been consistently rated among the most admired employers by several industry surveys, including Hewitt Associates and Mercer/TNS, and is also the winner of the MAKE Award for knowledge management. MindTree has been selected as one of the Top 25 companies for good Corporate Governance practices. MindTree is publicly listed in India. Please visit us at www.mindtree.com.

About Murex

Building on over 22 years of successful presence in capital markets with over 200 clients and 23,000 users worldwide, Murex has developed an unmatched competence in the design and implementation of cross-asset trading, risk management and processing solutions. Our motto “Pioneering Again” sums it all up: for nearly two decades, Murex has reinvented itself time and again to escort capital markets revolutions - each time offering innovative software solutions to the industry. For three years in a row, the annual end-user Technology Ranking conducted by Risk Magazine has acknowledged Murex as the Overall Top Technology Vendor in the risk management and derivatives arena.

A team of over 1000 specialists located in Europe, America and Asia is dedicated to providing clients with the best support in the industry.

"RPO has immense potential for market like Asia where companies are growing at a rapid pace & they want to focus on their core business & RPO helps them to remain focus on their business" added by Mr Marck Clevenger, President, Quintegra Resourcing,US.Considering the economy melt down & its impact on all the leading Economy's of the world most of the MNCs are teaking measures to reduce their hiring cost. Acconrding to Mr. Gyanendra Singh, Director - IT Practice with Mancer " Most of the leading IT MNCs have reduced their hiring & as the required positions are less, companies wants to work with limited vendors. RPO gives such clienta a benefit of dealing with only 1 vendor who takes care of complete hiring process. He also ensures that all the positions are closed on time in addition to saving hiring Cost."

"Only a few months back it was being said that RPO might not be a success in a booming economy like India but today the situation is completely different. Most of ITES & BFSI MNCs wants to keep a tap on their hiring expenses.These MNCs are already facing neck tight competition & now this slowdown will further reduce their margins.In such a situaion every hiring manager is looking for options to reduce cost, RPO will be a criticle tool for such hiring managers" adds Mr Satya Sinha, Director- ITES & BFSI Mancer.

RPO is the next Big Thing for MNCs in Asia as it helps MNCs to reduce their hiring cost by upto 30% & they can remain focussed on their core business.India has a hugh potential for RPO business & we can expect rapid growth in RPO business.

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Mancer Consulting Services is a leading Talent Management Solutions provider with its presence in US[Indianpolis] & India[New Delhi,Mumbai & Hyderabad].Mancer helps its clients in talent acquisitions through Execuitve Search, Executive Selection, Staff Leasing& Recruitment Process Outsourcing.Mancer has more than 10 yrs of exp into talent acquisition & soon we are expanding our business to UAE market.

Says Mr. Baheti, CEO Birla Cotsyn (India) Limited “The production of the cotton yarn spinning at Malkapur has already started. In order to ensure good quality of cotton, the company has further moved to tap the grassroots; we have entered into a MOU with 5000 framers to procure good quality of cotton. This understanding will be beneficial to both the framers in the Vidarbha region and Birla Cotsyn.The textile project at Malkapur has been granted the “MEGA PROJECT” status by the State Government of Maharashtra and will get additional fiscal benefits over the next seven years.

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

About the Yash Birla Group

The Yash Birla Group, a conglomerate of 14 companies that cover diverse businesses ranging from textiles to engineering, auto power solutions, recently ventured into the lifestyle and healthcare sectors as well. Today, the group has five publicly listed companies in India.

T S Mahalingam & Sons is one of the largest car dealership in South India with businesses in financial services and real estate operating in Chennai, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Hyderabad. It is the pioneer in third party distribution of financial products in the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rajiv Jamkhedkar, CEO, AEGON Religare Life Insurance said, “The alliance with TSM will help us reach their existing customer base of 250,000 and the potential to target an even greater number with their expertise and reach. This tie-up is an important milestone for AEGON Religare Life Insurance. Run by 3rd generation professionals, we feel TSM will add tremendous value to the growth of our business in South India.”

Mr. K Mahalingam, Partner, T S Mahalingam & Sons added, “TSM over the last two decades has evolved to become a one stop shop for all financial needs of customers. TSM shares Aegon Religare’s vision of helping people plan their life better. With this partnership, TSM hopes to provide customised insurance products to customers and bring about a difference in the way life insurance is sold.”

AEGON Religare Premium Gain Plan (a Unit Linked Plan) will also be made available exclusively to the customers of T S Mahalingam & Sons as part of the Business Alliances strategy of having specialized products for distribution channels. Other plans such as AEGON Religare Protect Gain Plan, AEGON Religare Star Child Plan, AEGON Religare Level Term Plan (pure term plan) will also be made available to TSM’s customers.

TSM and AEGON Religare Life Insurance will jointly develop innovative marketing and branding programmes in South India.

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

AEGON Religare Life Insurance

AEGON Religare Life Insurance is the coming together of AEGON, one of the world’s largest life insurance and pension groups and Religare, one of India’s leading integrated financial services groups. This venture is dedicated to build a firm future, both for customers and employees and will continue to balance a local approach with the power of an expanding global operation.

The company launched its pan-India multi-channel operations in July, 2008 with over 30 branches spread across India. In an industry first, AEGON Religare Life Insurance offers policy servicing on the phone via Interactive Voice Response System (IVR) by issuing the customer a T-Pin for authentication. It is also the first company to include the customer’s medical report in the policy kit.

AEGON

AEGON’s businesses serve over 40 millions customers in over 21 markets throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, with major operations in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. With headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands, AEGON companies employ more than 30,000 people worldwide. The company’s common shares are listed on four stock exchanges: Amsterdam, London, New York and Tokyo. It manages EUR 371 billion in assets under management. AEGON has more than 160 years of experience with its roots going back to 1844.

http://www.aegon.com

RELIGARE

Religare has a truly pan-India footprint going well beyond Tier-1 cities, present through more than 1550 locations spread across over 460 cities and towns. Religare’s businesses are broadly clubbed across three key verticals - the retail, institutional and the wealth spectrum. Structurally, all businesses are operated through 10 subsidiaries held by the holding company Religare Enterprises Limited.

http://www.religare.in

About TSM

T S Mahanlingam & Sons (TSM) pioneers in the used car business since 1935 is one the largest used car players in the country with a presence in the southern cities of Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Comibatore. In 1988, TSM diversified into the distribution of financial products of leading entities like CitiGroup, HDFC Group, Tata Capital, Club Mahindra and now AEGON Religare. In the last five years, TSM has also entered into real estate advisory services and real estate development category. TSM operates out of four locations in India with over 1,000 employees serving close to three lakh customers.

Commenting on the tie-up, Shri Gaurang Shah, Managing Director, Kotak Life Insurance expressed his happiness to be associated with Allahabad Bank and reposed confidence that the customized group insurance policy will benefit all the three parties – Education loan borrowers, Allahabad Bank and Kotak Life Insurance. In its constant endeavor to create value for its customers and business partners, association of Kotak Life Insurance with Allahabad Bank will further strengthen position of the insurance company in the industry.

Expressing his views on the occasion, Shri K. R. Kamath, Chairman and Managing Director, Allahabad Bank said that association with Kotak Life Insurance will provide Education Loan borrowers of Allahabad Bank best-in-class products and services beyond the normal education loan. The product with its wider scope of coverage in terms of age of entry and amount of coverage would bring more and more Education Loan borrowers into its fold.

Through this strategic tie-up, Kotak Life Insurance will offer a group credit life insurance plan designed to cover the education loan borrowers of Allahabad Bank against any eventuality during the period of loan. In case of an unfortunate event like death of the borrower due to natural or accidental circumstances, the insurance cover will provide for repayment of the outstanding loan amount, thus giving the borrower’s family solace and eliminating the chances of family members being subject to loan recovery or asset repossession.

The Bank has been providing life insurance coverage to its education loan borrowers in association with LIC of India. The present tie-up with Kotak Life Insurance will provide the Education Loan Borrowers an alternative choice to get the coverage with some added features like wider age band of 16-32 years for entry into the scheme, higher amount of coverage upto Rs.50 lakhs and comparatively lower premium.

Allahabad Bank has been one of the frontrunners amongst the public sector banks to foray into selling of third party products which also includes whole range of insurance products (both life and non-life) besides mutual fund products to provide one-stop financial solution to its customers.

The tie-up would be a win-win situation for both the partners. While Allahabad Bank will be able to provide value added service to its customers, for Kotak Life Insurance, the tie-up would enable instant reach to the Education Loan Customers of the Bank pan India. This tie-up would also open up prospects for both the partners to get closer and plan launching of more customized products in future.

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

Allahabad Bank

The oldest joint-stock bank of the country, Allahabad Bank was founded on April 24, 1865 by a group of Europeans at Allahabad. At that juncture organized industry, trade and banking started taking shape in India. The Bank came out with Initial Public Offer (IPO), in October 2006, of 10 crores share of face value Rs. 10 each, reducing Government shareholding to 71.16%. The Bank’s business crossed Rs. 1,22,000 crores in March 2008. The Bank has 2154 branches including a foreign branch in Hong Kong as on 31/03/2008.

Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance

Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance is a joint venture between Kotak Mahindra Bank

Ltd., its affiliates and Old Mutual plc. A company that combines its international strengths and local advantages to offer its customers a wide range of innovative life insurance products, helping them take important financial decisions at every stage in life and stay financially independent. The company is one of the fastest growing insurance companies in India and has shown remarkable growth since its inception in 2001. Kotak Life Insurance employs around 4,935 people in its various businesses and has 151 branches across.

For more information, please visit, www.kotaklifeinsurance.com or contact:

Engine Alliance member company GE Aviation has one of the largest research facilities in India. The John F. Welch Technology Center (JFWTC) in Bangalore employs over 4,000 advanced researchers who work with global teams to develop advanced technology products. Among these, there are more than 470 researchers working on various mechanical, aerospace and electrical engineering projects including fracture mechanics, acoustics, reliability and electro-magnetism.

Commenting on the occasion Mr.Bill Blair, Engine Alliance General Manager said, “These researchers have been working on products that GE has been developing for the next generation of aircrafts, such as the GE90 engine for the Boeing 777 and the Engine Alliance GP7200 for the A380. They’ve led technological advancements in almost all engineering disciplines, including combustion dynamics, containment prediction, aerodynamics and master modeling.”

Infotech Enterprises Limited also participates on the Engine Alliance team. Bangalore and Hyderabad engineers at Infotech work for Engine Alliance Team. Long before the engine was FAA or EASA certified, Infotech was helping EA parent company Pratt & Whitney develop detailed drawings and providing structural and thermal analysis for the massive engine. Infotech also assisted with test predictions and post test data analysis for the GP7200. Infotech Enterprises, a strategic partner of United Technologies Corporation, has a team of 1100 people working in Hyderabad, Bangalore and USA, on projects and solutions for UTC‘s aerospace companies.

Mr.Rajeev Lal, Infotech’s President of Strategic Business Initiatives said, “Our participation in the design and certification of GP7200 engine is a matter of satisfaction and pride for us. We complimented Pratt & Whitney’s efforts in coming up with the most fuel efficient engine for the largest passenger aircraft flying today. We contributed in compressing schedules in the design, validation, testing and certification phases of the engine, and it was produced on time.”

Infotech continues to assist Pratt & Whitney with the GP7200 and supports several other engine programs as well. Rajendra Velagapudi, Senior Vice President, Infotech Enterprises America, Inc. recently moved from India to the United States to work onsite at Pratt & Whitney in Connecticut. “About 150 Infotech engineers are presently working on a new generation engine program for P&W. This is a testimony to Infotech’s capability to provide high-end engineering solutions,” he said.

Mr.Rajeev Lal continued, “The technical mentoring done by Pratt & Whitney and our adoption of United Technologies’ ACE (Achieving Competitive Excellence) operating system enabled us to provide valuable support to the GP7200 program. The success of this partnership has strengthened our capability to participate in the development of aero engines in future. We thank Engine Alliance and Pratt & Whitney for the confidence and trust they have shown in our engineers”

The GP7200 entered revenue service on August 1, 2008, with the first Emirates A380. In addition to Emirates, the Engine Alliance GP7200 has been selected to power A380 aircraft for Air France, Korean Airlines, and the International Lease Finance Company (ILFC).

The GP7200-powered A380 is the most fuel efficient super jumbo jet in commercial service. It meets stringent Stage 4 noise regulations and London’s QC2 departure noise rules. The GP7200 is, overall, the quietest engine for the A380 and the engine’s environmental emissions are well below current and anticipated regulations.

The GP7200 is manufactured at GE and Pratt & Whitney, with GE assembling the core in Durham, NC (North Carolina), and Pratt &Whitney manufacturing the fan module, low pressure compressor and low pressure turbine. Final engine assembly is conducted at Pratt & Whitney’s Engine Center in Middletown, CT (Connecticut).

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

About Infotech Enterprises Limited

Infotech Enterprises Limited, (listed as INFOTECENT in BSE - Bombay Stock Exchange and in NSE - National Stock Exchange), a Global Technology Solutions provider, offers Engineering Services and Geographic Information Services to manufacturing, aerospace, transportation, telecom, utilities and government customers worldwide. Infotech currently employs over 7300 professionals across 25 global locations. Revenues for last fiscal year were USD 167.5 Million. Please visit www.infotech-enterprises.com for more information.

About Engine Alliance

The Engine Alliance is a 50/50 joint venture of General Electric Aviation (NYSE:GE) and Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX).

IFFCO TOKIO General Insurance (ITGI) closely follow the rigorous global financial standards of the Millea group, combining sound financial management with rapid growth. ITGI is the only private general insurance company in India to have made five consecutive years of profit.

EmpXtrack Performance Management Software will help ITGI to further improve the performance of their employees by enabling Human Resources Department to assign performance goals to all employees, track performance on a continuous basis and conduct employee appraisals using web-based SaaS technology.

About IFFCO TOKIO General Insurance

We see ourselves as a "people's company"; our principal aim is to provide benefits for the common man who traditionally lacks knowledge and access to quality insurance products. To achieve this, we have leveraged the deep knowledge of IFFCO by studying 600 of the country's 602 districts before drawing up our business plan.

We closely follow the rigorous global financial standards of the Millea group, combining sound financial management with rapid growth. ITGI is the only private general insurance company in India to have made five consecutive years of profit. We are also one of the few to report underwriting profits within four years of operations.

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

About Saigun Technologies and EmpXtrack

Saigun is a technology group focused on designing niche HR Management solutions. Saigun pioneers development of integrated, flexible and on-demand solutions for management of human capital. It provides technology to some of the Fortune 500 companies for various requirements like health care , retirement choices, decision support kits and compensation planning.

Saigun's flagship product EmpXtrack is a next generation solution for Human Resource and Talent Management. The leader among integrated solutions for HR, EmpXtrack is powerful enough to handle all 18 functions of HR department through its single window interface and provides comprehensive analytics for critical decision making. Designed as a SaaS (software-as-a- service) offering, EmpXtrack requires Zero-to-minimum investment in hardware and other software components, making it first choice of the organizations that require quick to use solutions with minimum investment in technology.

Website EmpXtrack: www.empxtrack.com

Website Saigun technologies: www.saigun.com

Mr. R. Sundar, CEO, Times Business Solutions Limited remarked, “In our endeavour to showcase Indian talent to the world, Times Business Solutions Limited has sponsored not one, but two teams for the Indian Cricket League (ICL), that has been formed to spot and encourage cricketing talent in the country.”

TimesJobs.com has always been closely associated with Cricket, and this time the brand is sponsoring the TimesJobs.com Chennai Superstars team, that is coached by the legendary Michael Bevan of Australia. The squad of TimesJobs.com Chennai Superstars team consists of 19 players including five foreign players besides local talent. Chennai Superstars is in good condition as they have eight all-rounders which is a big advantage.

In addition, MagicBricks.com is sponsoring the MagicBricks.com Mumbai Champs team, coached by the illustrious Sandip Patil. The batting department for the MagicBricks.com Mumbai Champs has been very successful with some high scores in both the inaugural ICL 20s championship & the ICL 50s.

The ICL matches are being played in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Gurgaon and Panchkula. The TimesJobs.com Chennai Superstars inaugural match was on Saturday in Hyderabad against the Dhaka Warriors, and the MagicBricks.com Mumbai Champs inaugural match in Hyderabad is against the Chandigarh Lions is on today. With a head to head match between both two teams on Sunday 02 November.

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

The newly launched NDTVtravels.com is a first of its kindtravel supermart, aggregating niche players to provide the consumer with acomplete travel shopping experience. NDTV Convergence partnered with iXiGO.comfor its flight search because of its promising business model, a disruptivemeta-search technology that helps users access deals from multiple travel sitesand presents unbiased information, allowing for better travel buying decisions.With its innovative offerings, iXiGO’s flight search engine will strengthen NDTVConvergence’s leadership in online and mobile media, extending their bouquet ofofferings to online travel.

Announcing the partnership, Mr. Sanjay Trehan, CEO NDTVConvergence commented,

“NDTV Convergence is pleased to partner with iXiGO.com topower the fare search on its travel portal, www.ndtvtravels.com.We are always on the lookout for partners who believe in our vision of constantinnovation to satisfy changing user behavior and prepare for disruptivebusiness models. This partnership fitswell with our philosophy of delivering valuable, unbiased, real-timeinformation to our users.”

Mr. Aloke Bajpai, founder and CEO of iXiGO, added, “NDTVConvergence’s visionary leadership has proven its commitment to innovation bychoosing to partner with iXiGO. We are committed to delivering the mostpowerful and feature-rich airfare search engine in India to users on NDTV.com . Thispartnership is a significant milestone for iXiGO’s success and growth.”

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

ABOUT iXiGO.com:

iXiGO.com ® is India’s leading online travel search engine based out of Gurgaon. iXiGO searches across multipleairlines,hotels, andbus bookingsites and finds the best deals for travelers. Launched in June 2007 by an entrepreneurial team of young IITians and INSEAD MBAs, iXiGO.com has been recognized as a NASSCOM Top-100 Innovator and BusinessToday and WSJ-Mint have named it among India’s hottest startups for its unique market approach, product usability, and passionate management team. iXiGO is backed by BAF Spectrum, a Singapore-based seed-investment fund . For more information about iXiGO, visitwww.ixigo.com.

About NDTV Convergence:

NDTV Convergence Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of NDTV Networks Plc, is a leading web 2.0 company. The company develops exclusive content for cross media platforms such as internet, mobile, ITV and IPTV. NDTV Convergence operates www.ndtv.com along with other leading verticals, namely, NDTVProfit, NDTVGoodtimes, NDTVMovies, NDTVTravels, CricketNDTV.com, NDTVArabia, NDTVImagine, NDTVCooks and NDTVGadgets. The bouquet covers an entire gamut of news and beyond encompassing recipes, travel, entertainment, shopping, books, health, gadgets and special features. The company also has a short code presence through its brand NDTV mobile- 56388(India), 63880(UK), 6388(UAE) and an IVR platform with 5056388

With a clear focus on introducing international quality in its construction practice Haneda Rajathi has sizeable project order book with projects spread across Chennai, Coimbatore, Tuticorin, Sriperumbadur, Ramanathapuram and Rameswaram. In Chennai the current projects are in infra for an engineering college, Residential project in Thalambur, IT complex at Shollinganallur, Commercial complex at Nungambakkam and Guindy and façade work. Part of the mandate is to undertake the construction of 15 commercial hotels for the Chennai based Breeze hotels with the project valued at over Rs.500 crores. The pilot project, Lake View in Coimbatore is nearing completion.

Commenting on this joint, Mr. Madan Prakash, Joint Managing Director, Rajathi Group said “Haneda has the experience of being in this business for the past 30 years. Their practice of the Japanese culture and systems provide for innovative systems, high quality, and shorter construction period which brings down the time to construct very drastically.”

Adding to this Mr. Ratherkrishnan, Managing Director, Haneda Rajathi said, “This alliance with the Rajathi Group will give us the right break into the Indian market; with the Rajathi Group expanding into real estate in a big way we see tremendous synergies in our business partnership. We hope to bring in several innovations and global practices to the Indian Market”

The USD 110 million Rajathi Group ventured into the Realty business in 2005 and initially developed large land banks in parts of Chennai. They have later ventured with their pilot run project with construction of residential complexes at Coimbatore – Mettupalayam highway to develop and promote large residential township.

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

About Haneda Rajathi Engineers and Consultants Private Ltd

Haneda Rajathi established in early 2007, is a 51:49 Joint Venture agreement of Rajathi Group, a leading conglomerate with M/s. Haneda Trading and Construction Sdn Bhd, Malaysia to design, construct and develop large size commercial and residential properties.

About Haneda

Haneda Trading and construction, the Malaysia based company focuses on infrastructure projects in the public domain (highways, dams, tunnels, hospitals, residential townships) and in India Rajathi Haneda has lined up a few projects in this field.

About Rajathi

Based out of Chennai, Rajathi Group is leading diversified business house, who have crossed the IRS 440 crores as an annual turnover for year 2007-08. Rajathi has a vision to achieve IRS 1000 crore in the current financial year 2008-09.Rajathi has large verticals with diversified interest in International Trade, Biotechnology, Realty, and Hospitality.

Ex-Im Bank purchased Soffront CRM in late 2007 and deployed the solution within ninety days. Several divisions within the organization use the product, including domestic business development, marketing, and the strategic initiatives group. Using Soffront CRM, Ex-Im Bank tracks typical SFA functions, including contact management, sales forecasting, lead generation, and order management.

“We chose Soffront CRM because we needed a CRM system that was extremely flexible in terms of customization,” said Wayne Gardella, vice president, Domestic Business Development, Ex-Im Bank. “As a government agency, we change our sales and marketing focus from time to time.Additionally, numerous reporting requirements are mandated by the government—requirements that private sales organizations would never dream of having to report.Soffront’s flexibility allows us to easily evolve with our changing needs and efficiently fulfill all reporting requirements.”

Using Soffront CRM, Ex-Im Bank is achieving impressive results. “Soffront CRM allows us to improve in numerous areas,” Gardella explained. “We can now better manage our sales cycle, produce superior sales reports, and more thoroughly track and report on congressionally mandated outreach requirements.”

Gardella concluded, “Soffront CRM successfully handles all the nuances of a sales organization embedded within a government agency. We are impressed with its excellent value—the product is extremely powerful and feature-rich, compared with similarly priced solutions.”

Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

About Soffront

Soffront Software Inc. has the experience, technology and focus for mid market companies seeking CRM solutions. A CRM pioneer since 1992, Soffront spans the enterprise with integrated CRM: sales, marketing, customer service, knowledge base, help desk, project management, defect tracking and more. Soffront is flexible, powerful, and affordable. With on-demand, on-site, or host-to-purchase options, floating or named seats, Soffront is the perfect choice for mid-size companies. Soffront’s installed base includes Fortune 500 companies, mid-sized businesses, federal, state, and local governments. Soffront is privately held, debt-free, and profitable.

Elegant MicroWeb with its world-class products and excellent support and Credence Technology Solutions with its existing domain expertise, strong channel relationships and focus market segments found in each other a perfect partner for ElegantJ BI. Credence Technology Solutions will leverage ElegantJ BI’s value as an integrated product with capabilities for data management, business intelligence and analytics to cater to industry-specific needs of mid-sized and large companies in Singapore. This partnership aims to drive ElegantJ BI's business in the region and bring competitive advantage to customers through strategic use of technology and rapid ROI-based business intelligence implementations to deliver immediate and continual business value to customers.

Combining power and ease for smarter decision making, ElegantJ BI - Business Intelligence is a simple, practical and affordable solution that helps organisations integrate business processes to plan, monitor, analyse, direct and improve performance. This proven, feature-rich solution provides a complete portfolio of business intelligence capabilities to allow organisations to consolidate and drain streamlined quality information.

ElegantJ BI – Corporate Performance Management is an innovative solution that allows organisations to manage their business performance by aligning organisational units, business processes, teams and individuals to corporate strategy map. By using this solution, corporate vision and strategy can be laid out and communicated to best help the entire organisation focus on performance matrix while balancing Finance, Customer, Internal Business Processes, Growth & Learning perspectives through Balanced Scorecards.

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Elegant MicroWeb is an ISO 9001:2000 certified software products and services company. With unmatched technological competence and customer-centric approach, Elegant MicroWeb has successfully developed high-quality, extremely robust, and functional products that help users accomplish their tasks efficiently. Its product portfolio can be broadly categorised into Java development Tools & Components, Business Intelligence (BI) solutions, Corporate Performance Management (CPM) solutions and Next Generation School Management Solutions. Likewise, its services span over diverse spheres including Outsourcing, Consulting, Product Development, and Application Development Maintenance & Support.

AMD will contribute to The Foundry Company its manufacturing facilities, including two fabrication facilities in Dresden, Germany, as well as related assets and intellectual property rights. ATIC will invest $2.1 billion to purchase its stake in The Foundry Company, of which it will invest $1.4 billion directly in the new entity and the remainder will be paid to AMD to purchase additional shares in The Foundry Company. The Foundry Company will also assume approximately $1.2 billion of AMD’s existing debt. ATIC has committed additional equity funding to The Foundry Company of a minimum of $3.6 billion and up to $6.0 billion over the next five years to fund the expansion of The Foundry Company’s chip-making capacity beyond the manufacturing facilities initially contributed by AMD. These funds will be used by The Foundry Company to (i) proceed with capacity expansion at its fabs in Dresden, Germany, including an upgrade of one of its fabs to a state-of-the-art facility, and (ii) begin construction on a new state-of-the-art facility in Saratoga County, New York, subject to the transfer of previously-approved New York State incentives. The New York facility is expected to create more than 1,400 direct jobs, and, through its operation, to generate an additional 5,000 jobs in the region. Once operational, the New York facility will be the only independently-managed, leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing foundry in the United States.

Global demand for independent foundry manufacturing is growing because leading semiconductor companies are exiting manufacturing, as the cost and complexity increases and capital and research and development costs have become too high. In addition, the world’s requirements for devices that use more advanced semiconductors continue to grow, and the IBM technology alliance, to which The Foundry Company will belong, creates an increasingly larger foundation for semiconductor innovation.

The Board of Directors of The Foundry Company will be equally divided between representatives of AMD and ATIC. AMD will own 44.4 percent and ATIC will own 55.6 percent of The Foundry Company’s fully-converted common stock upon its formation.

Doug Grose will relinquish his current role as AMD’s senior vice president of manufacturing operations to become chief executive officer of The Foundry Company. Hector Ruiz will relinquish his current role as AMD’s executive chairman and chairman of the board to become chairman of The Foundry Company. To augment its announced leadership, the new company plans an aggressive recruitment strategy to round out a world-class semiconductor manufacturing leadership team.

ATIC is an investment company formed by the government of Abu Dhabi to invest in advanced technology opportunities that require patient capital and long-term time horizons to achieve economic returns while also increasing the economic diversification of Abu Dhabi. While it enhances its capabilities specific to the transaction, ATIC will enter into a 12-month agreement with Mubadala to project manage ATIC’s interest in The Foundry Company.

As a result of the transactions, AMD will strengthen its financial position and focus on the design and development of innovative computing and graphics solutions. AMD will improve its liquidity through The Foundry Company’s assumption of approximately $1.2 billion in debt, ATIC’s $700 million payment to AMD for ownership interests in The Foundry Company and Mubadala’s $314 million paid to AMD for 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares.

Mubadala, an existing 8.1 percent AMD shareholder, will increase its stake to 19.3 percent of outstanding AMD shares on a fully diluted basis. This will be accomplished through the purchase for $314 million of 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares. Mubadala will also have the right to appoint a designee to AMD’s board of directors.

“Today is a landmark day for AMD, creating a financially stronger company with a tightened focus,” said Dirk Meyer, president and chief executive officer of AMD. “With The Foundry Company, AMD has developed an innovative way to focus our efforts on design while maintaining access to the leading-edge manufacturing technologies that our business needs without the required capital-intensive investments of semiconductor manufacturing. I particularly want to congratulate our Chairman Hector Ruiz, whose vision and leadership of our Asset Smart strategy is fulfilled today.”

“We are as enthusiastic about AMD’s potential today as we were when we made our initial investment last year,” said Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chief executive officer and managing director of Mubadala. “This increased investment is a strong vote of confidence in AMD’s Asset Smart business strategy, evolved leadership team, and best-in-class technology.”

“ATIC and AMD are the ideal partners with which to create The Foundry Company,” said Hector Ruiz, chairman of AMD’s board of directors, who will become chairman of The Foundry Company. “Working together allows us to combine ATIC’s long-term vision andpatient capital with our manufacturing leadership, innovation and highly-skilled workforce. Moreover, The Foundry Company’s presence in Upstate New York alongside IBM and other research leaders will cement the region’s position as one of the world’s premier centers of nanotechnology development.”

ATIC Chairman Waleed Al Mokarrab said, “More than a year in the making, today’s announcement significantly reshapes the global semiconductor industry – it is an investment where all parties see significant opportunity. Independent and well-capitalized, The Foundry Company begins day one with an established leading-edge customer, an advanced technology roadmap, an R&D partnership with IBM, and a clear plan to scale capacity, providing it the foundation to become a clear leader in global semiconductor manufacturing.”

“The creation of The Foundry Company represents a critical milestone in the evolution of the semiconductor industry,” said Doug Grose, who will be the CEO of The Foundry Company. "Companies are eager for choice in the supply of leading-edge manufacturing capacity, and our new venture is answering that call. By combining operational excellence, leading-edge technology developed in collaboration with IBM, and an aggressive capacity roadmap, The Foundry Company aspires to drive the next round of innovation in this industry."

The Foundry Company will join the IBM joint development alliance for both silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and bulk silicon through the 22nm generation. The alliance consists of a group of leading semiconductor companies collaborating on next generation silicon technologies.

"We welcome The Foundry Company into the IBM alliance and are pleased to see the company investing in New York,” said Dr. John E. Kelly III, senior vice president and director of Research at IBM. “The Foundry Company’s membership in the alliance brings new intellectual capital to our collaborative effort and continues to build on the momentum and leadership that the alliance has established in semiconductor technologies."

Upon closing of the transaction, The Foundry Company will commence operations with approximately 3,000 employees who will transition into the new company from AMD facilities in Silicon Valley, New York, Dresden, and Austin. The new company’s principal headquarters will be in Silicon Valley and its research and development and manufacturing leadership teams and ecosystems will be based in New York, Dresden, and Austin. After the upgrade and expansion in Dresden and the build-out of the New York facility, The Foundry Company envisions expanding its global manufacturing footprint over time, if commercially justified, to also include new fabrication facilities in Abu Dhabi.

The transaction is expected to close at the beginning of 2009 following satisfaction of conditions such as approvals from regulators, transfer of previously-confirmed New York incentives to The Foundry Company, and the approval of AMD stockholders for the issuance of common stock and warrants to Mubadala. Prior to closing, AMD, ATIC and Mubadala will file a joint voluntary notice of the transaction for review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a government inter-agency committee chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury.

Upon closing, The Foundry Company will:

· Have a total enterprise value of $5.0 billion, consisting of AMD's contribution of manufacturing assets and intellectual property (including its fabrication facilities in Dresden), intellectual capital and employees valued together at $2.4 billion; ATIC's contribution of $1.4 billion in new capital; and $1.2 billion of debt assumed by The Foundry Company from AMD;

· Be consolidated with AMD for purposes of financial reporting;

· Have a board of directors whose membership is equally divided between representatives of AMD and ATIC;

· Have only AMD and ATIC as stockholders, each of which at the closing will have equal voting rights;

· Be owned 44.4 percent by AMD and 55.6 percent by ATIC on a fully converted to common basis. ATIC’s economic ownership will increase over time based on the differences in securities held by AMD and ATIC, and depending on whether AMD elects to invest proportionately with ATIC in future capital infusions to support The Foundry Company’s growth;

· Have its principal headquarters in Silicon Valley, and its research and development and manufacturing leadership teams and ecosystems in New York, Dresden, and Austin;

· Have an exclusive supply agreement with limited exceptions to manufacture AMD processors and to manufacture, where competitive, certain percentages of other AMD semiconductor products;

· Begin construction of the Fab 4X manufacturing facility in New York in the middle of 2009, directly employing more than 1,400 workers in Upstate New York when the facility is in full operation;

· Expect to increase capacity through completing the 300mm conversion of a second state-of-the-art facility in Dresden in 2009;

· Join the IBM technology development alliance for both SOI and bulk silicon technology, greatly expanding the addressable market of The Foundry Company;

· After the upgrade and expansion in Dresden and the build-out of the New York facility, The Foundry Company envisions expanding its global manufacturing footprint over time, if commercially justified, to also include new fabrication facilities in Abu Dhabi; and

· Announce its permanent corporate name and identity.

Upon closing, AMD will:

· Have equal voting rights with ATIC in The Foundry Company;

· Own 44.4 percent of The Foundry Company on a fully converted to common basis;

· Improve its liquidity through The Foundry Company’s assumption of approximately $1.2 billion of AMD’s debt, ATIC’s $700 million payment to AMD for ownership interests in The Foundry Company and Mubadala’s purchase for $314 million of 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares;

· Tightly focus on the design and development of the next generation of innovation based on the fusion of computing and graphics processing;

· Elect a Mubadala designee as a member of its board of directors;

· Excluding its consolidation of The Foundry Company for financial reporting purposes, improve its net cash position by $2.1 billion, through The Foundry Company’s assumption of approximately $1.1 billion in debt (net of approximately $100 million cash transferred by AMD to The Foundry Company) and cash payments from ATIC and Mubadala aggregating $1.0 billion;

· Have the option, but not any requirement, to provide additional capital funding to The Foundry Company in response to future capital calls; and

· Have an exclusive supply agreement with The Foundry Company, with limited exceptions, to manufacture AMD processors and to manufacture, where competitive, certain percentages of other AMD semiconductor products.

Upon closing, ATIC will:

· Have equal voting rights with AMD in The Foundry Company;

· Own 55.6 percent of The Foundry Company on a fully converted to common basis;

· Invest an initial $2.1 billion, of which $1.4 billion will be invested directly in the new company and $700 million will be paid directly to AMD;

· Commit a minimum of $3.6 billion and up to $6.0 billion in additional funds over the next five years for the upgrade and expansion of fabrication facilities in Dresden and construction of a new facility in Upstate New York.

Upon closing, Mubadala will:

· Purchase for an aggregate of $314 million 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares, giving it a total stake in AMD of 19.3 percent on a fully diluted basis; and

· Have a right to designate a representative for election as a member of the board of directors of AMD.

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About AMD

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

About ATIC

The Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) was created in 2008. A technology investment company wholly owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi, ATIC is focused on making significant investments in the advanced technology sector, both locally and internationally. Its mandate is to generate returns that deliver long-term benefits to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

ATIC seeks to leverage the unique advantages it enjoys as an investor from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to identify and realize long-term investment opportunities in the highly competitive and capital-intensive advanced technology sector. These advantages include significant and reliable capital, a patient investment philosophy, and a subsequently long-term investment horizon.

For more information about ATIC visit www.advancedtechnologyic.com

About “The Foundry Company”

The Foundry Company will be a U.S.-headquartered, leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing company created to address growing demand for independent, leading-edge foundry production capabilities. The Foundry Company will serve this need by combining advanced process technology, industry-leading manufacturing facilities and aggressive plans to scale capacity. The cornerstone of production for the Foundry Company will be industry-leading manufacturing facilities in Dresden, Germany with future plans to expand that campus as well as build a state-of-the art facility in Saratoga County, New York. Upon closing, The Foundry Company will have its principal headquarters in Silicon Valley; and its research and development and manufacturing leadership teams and ecosystems in New York, Dresden, and Austin.

For more information on The Foundry Company, visit www.newglobalfoundry.com

About Mubadala Development Company

Mubadala Development Company (Mubadala) is a Public Joint Stock Company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, capital of t