With revenue generation on mind, Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders is regularly adding several new features to its official Web site, in an attempt to push advertising revenues as well as offer variety and interactivity to the KKR fans. The move is also expected to make cricket more fun for the fans with the launch of several 'cricketainment'-related activities for all age groups.
Although Red Chillies Entertainment, owners of Kolkata Knight Riders team, has already earned Rs 12 crore from ticket sales of its home matches at Eden Gardens so far, its expenses have shot up drastically due to the new tax structures and security fee it has to shell out.
The Indian Premier League's overwhelming response in terms of ratings has seen a lot of cine-goers in Kolkata stay away from movie theatres and opt for the three-hour Kolkata Knight Riders cricket matches at home or in the stadium.
With the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) hiking their fees, many general category students will have to approach banks for educational loans. Most will also have to furnish collateral to get that all-important loan.IIM-Ahmedabad, for instance, has almost trebled its fees to Rs 4 lakh to Rs 11.5 lakh. IIM-Kolkata has hiked it from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh. Others like IIM Bangalore and IIM Lucknow have hiked it from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 8 lakh and Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
About eight million users are estimated to be sending and receiving e-cards per month in India, and companies like 123Greetings and Webdunia are now attempting to increase their user base by making e-greetings available on mobiles too. Currently, only musical tunes can be sent with 123Greetings. It is also planning to introduce video-greetings for MMS-enabled mobile handsets. It is also talking to various community portals for offering newer applications.
Eastern India sends the least number of scholars, North leads.
MarketHero.in is one of the first financial market gaming portals. A free-to-use financial and stock-broking game, built on Web 2.0 standards, it has recorded close to 500 registered users in one month. The participants can manage a virtual gaming portfolio of Rs 1 million and trade equity stocks, mutual funds and commodities, which are backed by real prices from the exchanges. It will be extended to multiple platforms such as mobile and other networks -- Facebook and Orkut.
Global information technology player, IBM, has selected 100 employees across 33 countries, including 20 from India, for specific projects under its Corporate Service Corps initiative, launched as part of its corporate social responsibility drive. These 100 employees are being sent to emerging and developing countries to address core challenges confronting society in fields like education and environment.
Reliance HR Services (RHRS), a human resources company formed by the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), will recruit half a million people for the group in the next four years.
While most companies send their employees for executive education programmes at various IIMs and IITs, freshers' recruitment is mostly based on conventional degrees since the belief is that distance learning does not enjoy the same value as regular classroom programmes. Why is it so?
The Mondols were taken in by the 'Kajla Janakalyan Samiti', formed seven years ago in Contai Deshapran block in east Medinipur district, an NGO supported by various other organisations and individuals, which works with displaced and trafficked families and trains them in ways to earn alternate livelihood.
According to Ajit Balakrishnan, chairman of the board of governors of IIM-C, "Most students who study in IIM-C come from families whose annual income is Rs 5 lakh. We are a public higher education institute funded by taxpayers' money. Hiking our fees just because IIM-Ahmedabad or IIM-Bangalore has hiked theirs will make IIM-C an opportunist."
In what could be termed as a major innovation in the field of male contraception, the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) has invented a unique male contraceptive that can have a continued effect for 10 years. A single 60 mg injection can be effective for at least 10 years. A single dose, which may cost the manufacturer Rs 50, is expected to be marketed at close to Rs 200.
The Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) and Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSOM), for instance, recently introduced an initiative -- the Deferred Placement Programme (DPP) -- to provide a safety net to students willing to take up the challenges of entrepreneurship. Under this programme, students interested in starting entrepreneurial ventures will be allowed to push back their participation in campus placements for a maximum period of two years.
E-kiosks for services like bill payment and job queries are mushrooming all over rural India. Many youths in rural India have taken up CSC projects to start their own businesses and are earning a decent income out of it. The work at CSC basically involves collecting and paying phone and electricity bills of the villagers. Additionally, they can provide add-on services like English course. Srei Infrastructure and Reliance Infocom will set up such centres in PPP in West Bengal.
The group is investing Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) to expand its edible oil business thisyear by foraying into palm oil, soya oil and rice bran oil production. In its new FMCG products, the company will launch 18 new products in hair care, babycare and men's grooming segments. Initially, the company will sell its edible oil in bulk to industries that are into production of chips and biscuits. Brands will be launched later on, depending on the initial success.
The information technology sector in West Bengal is likely to see addition of 20,000 jobs in 2008. The state currently has about 300 small to big sized companies and employs 55,000.
The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) is investing close to Rs 46 crore (Rs 460 million) in four new centres of excellence -- School of Entrepreneurship, School of Infrastructure Design and Management, Steel Technology Centre, and Centre of Excellence in Telecommunication Engineering.
Most of middle class India are okay paying taxes at current rates. At 30-odd per cent at the margin plus the myriad offsets and exemption, the average Indian's tax burden is not all that punitive -- by one calculation, not more than 10 per cent of taxable income actually goes to the national exchequer.
Webel's digital tool enables people with cerebral palsy to communicate.