Kinetic exits Mahindra 2 Wheelers; sells stake for Rs 182cr

Kinetic Engineering Ltd (KEL) on Monday exited the two-wheeler segment completely by selling its remaining stake in Mahindra Two Wheelers to private equity firm Samena Capital for about Rs 182.1 crore.

The Pune-based company had originally acquired the stake in November 2008 when Group firm Kinetic Motor Company sold its two-wheeler business assets to M&M in a cash and stock deal. Subsequently, the home-grown auto major merged Kinetic Engineering with itself in 2012.

According to the company, the deal with Samena Capital involves certain committed payments, including NCD repayments and cost of financing. The net proceeds would be around Rs 109.8 crore, which KEL will use for its business operations.

Commenting on the transaction, KEL Vice-Chairperson Sulajja Firodia Motwani said the stake divestment is done to focus more on the automotive systems business.

"We will utilise the proceeds to meet various obligations of the automotive systems business, including working capital and FCCBs/debt repayment requirements to strengthen our balance sheet," she said.

Ambit Capital was the sole financial adviser to KEL for this transaction.

Kinetic is currently focused on building its automotive systems business through various Group companies.

The Group has made good progress in building a strong base in engine and transmission systems in KEL, motor business in Kinetic Taigene as well as automotive electronics business in the Kinetic-Ducati alliance.

Ramesh Venkataraman, Senior Partner at Samena, said the early success of the 'Centuro' bikes has demonstrated what the Mahindras are capable of and "we look forward to an exciting and fruitful relationship in the years to come."

Set up in 2008, Samena is a principal investment group focused on Asia and has offices in London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mumbai.

Source: Auto News in Hindi

From BT News

Bharti Airtel selects Mahindra Comviva's enterprise communications platform

Mahindra Comviva, the global leader in providing mobility solutions, today announced that it has partnered with Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, to deploy its enterprise communications platform in 16 countries across Africa.

The enterprise communications platform will enable Airtel to provide a single platform that will empower 'Wireless Application Service Providers' (WASPs) in the region to address the messaging requirements of enterprise customers related to promotions, campaigns, contests or other similar services to mobile subscribers. Banks can send transaction information to their customers; similarly retailers can send promotional information to their customers.

Commenting on the partnership, Patrick Allainguillaume, global market unit head, Mahindra Comviva said, ''We are excited to be partnering with Airtel to deliver our enterprise communications platform. This serves an opportunity for Wireless Application Service Providers in Africa to deliver targeted messages to mobile subscribers in the region, ensuring improved overall management of campaign delivery. This partnership underlines our focus on forging stronger relationship with Bharti Airtel, given our global experience and capability to deliver market-proven, carrier-grade solutions quickly and cost effectively.''

Speaking on the partnership, Andre Beyers, chief marketing officer, Airtel Africa said, ''We are delighted to partner with Mahindra Comviva in providing value added services to our ever growing mobile subscriber base in the continent. With this new enterprise communication platform we will be able to extend to our customers, a powerful medium for their communications and campaigns to be delivered to a wider audience. For this, we plan to tie-up with some of the most popular Wireless Application Service Providers in the region to reach out to mobile subscribers in the continent.''

Source: Tech News in Hindi

From myiris News

Apple’s security bug: What to know about it and what to do about it

Apple users, it’s time for some updates. Last Friday, the tech giant took the unusual step of releasing an update for its mobile operating system, iOS, to fix one bug — one that left Apple devices wide open to hackers and spies looking to grab users’ most sensitive information.

What is this bug?: The bug affects iOS devices and Mac computers; Apple has yet to release a patch for its laptops and desktops. Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said that Apple is “aware of this issue and already have a software fix that will be released very soon” for Mac OS X devices.

Source: Latest Technology News

Samsung unveils four smart cameras in WB series with NFC, Wi-Fi

Samsung Electronics has announced WB35F, WB50F, WB350F and WB1100F, four new Smart cameras in the WB series for the Indian market.

The new WB family will have the latest connectivity features and is equipped with NFC and Wi-Fi capabilities to make image sharing easy. The camera have the new Tag & Go feature that uses NFC to mke sharing as easy as touching the two devices together.

Other features include Photo Beam, which immediately transfers the image being viewed on the camera to a smartphone or tablet, and AutoShare that saves images straight to the device in real time. Remote Viewfinder offers greater flexibility when setting up shots, as the camera can be controlled via a smartphone to act as a viewfinder.

SMART Camera WB35F

This camera is for ambitious photography enthusiasts and has a 2.7-inch QVGA LCD screen, 12X optical zoom and 16MP CCD sensor.
Rs 12,490

SMART Camera WB50F

The WB50F is for the family and has a 12x optical zoom, a 16MP CCD sensor and bouncing soft flash as well as a 3-inch HVGA LCD screen.
Rs. 14,990

SMART Camera WB350F

This state of the art compact zoom camera comes with 21x optical zoom, a 23mm Wide Angle lens and 16MP BSI CMOS sensor. It is also capable of capturing Full HD video at 30 frames a second.
Rs.21,490

SMART Camera WB1100F

The WB1100F has 35x Optical zoom capabilities coupled with 25mm wide angle lens. It has a Speed Control Key that allows users to move through various levels of zoom with speed and ease.

Source: Tech News in Hindi

From indianexpress News

Wipro and Perfecto join forces to set up mobility testing center

Wipro and Perfecto Mobile have teamed up to establish mobility testing center of excellence (CoE) to remotely monitor users’ mobile applications and collect data. The former is India’s third largest software firm, whereas the latter is a provider of the MobileCloud platform.

Wipro will have its engineers test mobile app on real devices tracked across the globe and according to a statement passed by the company, this CoE will help its customers load utilities on mobile phones belonging to their employees, customers, partners and others. Apps with greater functionalities are likely to be deployed on their smartphones.

And that’s not all. This testing center will act as a training ground for assisting people with the task of building specific competencies. This will be done using products belonging to Perfecto Mobile. As the method allows Wipro to test the applications remotely and send them across to their customers and developers via the cloud itself, it highly simplifies the testing process.

Also, this will ensure frequent tests of applications and enhance the procedure to a great extent. As Gaurav Dhall, Global Head of Wipro Mobility Solutions points out, testing mobile apps continues to be a challenging task for companies and it becomes all the more necessary as smartphones have become the preferred mode of consumer interaction.

Hopefully, Wipro and Perfecto Mobile’s initiative will accelerate the process of testing and introducing new efficient mobile apps that enterprises seek.

Source: Technology News in Hindi

From mobiletor News

Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook's plan is to 'connect the world'

Speaking at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said that the mission of the social networking giant was to 'connect the world.'

Zuckerberg plans to bring Internet access, and the company's social network, to the developing world.

According to the BBC, Facebook is a member of Internet.org, a project launched last year that aims to put billions more people online.

In his first ever appearance at the MWC, Zuckerberg said that once Facebook reached a billion users in 2012, it had began to look at ways to engage more users around the world.

Zuckerberg unveiled a set of projects in which Facebook, alongside Internet.org partners, would work on delivering Internet access to emerging markets.

The report said that Facebook has already teamed up with Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung, among others, in an effort to lower the cost of mobile data worldwide.

A pilot project, SocialEDU, was also announced at the event that would focus on bringing free online education to students in Rwanda, in which Airtel would provide free data to students using the app, while Nokia would supply cut-price handsets.

Meanwhile, an analyst at technology consultants Ovum, said that investing in emerging markets would 'boost advertising revenue' for Facebook, adding that Facebook's aim to 'make it easier for the world to share information', means with more sharing, the more ads Facebook can sell.

Source: Technology News

Dirt cheap sand

एक बंजारा था। वह बैलों पर मिट्टी ( मुल्तानी मिट्टी) लादकर दिल्ली की तरफ आ रहा था। रास्ते में कई गांवो से गुजरते समय उसकी बहुत-सी मिट्टी बिक गई। बैलों की पीठ पर लदे बोरे आधे तो खाली हो गए और आधे भरे रह गए। अब वे बैलों की पीठ पर कैसे टिकें? क्योंकि भार एक तरफ ज्यादा हो गया था।

नौकरों ने पूछा कि क्या करें ? बंजारा बोला- 'अरे ! सोचते क्या हो, बोरों के एक तरफ रेत (बालू) भर लो। यह राजस्थानी जमीन है, यहां रेत बहुत है।' नौकरों ने वैसा ही किया। बैलों की पीठ पर एक तरफ आधे बोरे में मिट्टी हो गई और दूसरी तरफ आधे बोरे में रेत हो गई।

दिल्ली से एक सज्जन उधर आ रहे थे। उन्होंने बैलों पर लदे बोरों में से एक तरफ रेत गिरते हुए देखी तो बोले कि बोरों में एक तरफ रेत क्यों भरी है ? नौकरों ने कहा- 'सन्तुलन करने के लिये।' वे सज्जन बोले- 'अरे यह तुम क्या मूर्खता करते हो ?

तुम्हारा मालिक और तुम एक से ही हो। बैलों पर मुफ्त में ही भार ढोकर उनको मार रहे हो मिट्टी के आधे-आधे दो बोरों को एक ही जगह बांध दो तो कम-से-कम आधे बैल तो बिना भार के चलेंगे।'

नौकरों ने कहा कि आपकी बात तो ठीक जंचती है, पर हम वही करेंगे, जो हमारा मालिक कहेगा। आप जाकर हमारे मालिक से यह बात कहो और उनसे हमें आदेश दिलवाओ। वह राहगीर (बंजारे) से मिला और उससे बात कही। बंजारे ने पूछा कि आप कहां के हैं ? कहां जा रहे हैं ?

उसने कहा कि मैं भिवानी का रहने वाला हूं रुपए कमाने के लिए दिल्ली गया था। कुछ दिन वहां रहा, फिर बीमार हो गया। जो थोड़े रुपए कमाए थे, वे खर्च हो गये। व्यापार में घाटा लग गया। पास में कुछ रहा नहीं तो विचार किया कि घर चलना चाहिये।

उसकी बात सुनकर बंजारा नौकरों से बोला कि इनकी सलाह मत लो। अपने जैसे चलते हैं, वैसे ही चलो। इनकी बुद्धि तो अच्छी दिखती है, पर उसका नतीजा ठीक नहीं निकलता नहीं तो ये अबतक धनवान हो जाते। हमारी बुद्धि भले ही ठीक न दिखे, पर उसका नतीजा ठीक होता है। मैंने कभी अपने काम में घाटा नहीं उठाया।

बंजारा अपने बैलों को लेकर दिल्ली पहुंचा। वहां उसने जमीन खरीदकर मिट्टी और रेत दोनों का अलग-अलग ढेर लगा दिया और नौकरों से कहा कि बैलों को जंगल में ले जाओ और जहां चारा-पानी हो, वहां उनको रखो। यहां उनको चारा खिलायेंगे तो नफा कैसे कमाएंगे ? मिट्टी बिकनी शुरु हो गई।

उधर दिल्ली का बादशाह बीमार हो गया। बादशाह के हकीम ने सलाह दी कि अगर बादशाह राजस्थान के धोरे (रेत के टीले) पर रहें तो उनका शरीर ठीक हो सकता है। रेत में शरीर को निरोग करने की शक्ति होती है। इसलिए बादशाह को राजस्थान भेज देना ठीक रहेगा।

तब एक दरबारी ने कहा कि- 'राजस्थान क्यों भेजें ? वहां की रेत यहीं मंगा लेते हैं, अरे ! यह दिल्ली का बाजार है, यहां सब कुछ मिलता है मैंने एक जगह रेत का ढेर लगा हुआ देखा है।'बादशाह- 'अच्छा ! तो फिर जल्दी रेत मंगवा लो।'

बादशाह के आदमी बंजारे के पास गए और उससे पूछा कि रेत क्या भाव है ? बंजारा बोला कि चाहे मिट्टी खरीदो, चाहे रेत खरीदो, एक ही भाव है। दोनों बैलों पर बराबर तुलकर आए हैं।

बादशाह के - कारिंदों ने वह सारी रेत खरीद ली। अगर बंजारा दिल्ली से आए उस सज्जन की बात मानता तो ये मुफ्त के रुपए कैसे मिलते ? जाहिर तौर पर बंजारे की बुद्धि ठीक काम करती थी।

Source: Spiritual News & Horoscope 2014