Government of India honours Founder & Chairman of GEMS Education, Sunny Varkey, with Padmashri Award

4th February, 2009: The Government of India has honoured Founder & Chairman of GEMS Education, Mr. Sunny Varkey with the Padmashri award. It is one of the country's highest civilian awards in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Education and Social service.
Mr. Varkey joins a select list of Global Indians to be honoured with the Padmashri award for his exemplary services in the field of Education in India and across the world over the last many years.
Mr. Varkey, the visionary Educationist, manages one of the largest networks of private schools around the world under the aegis of GEMS Education and has contributed significantly to the socio-economic progress of various regions.
Mr. Varkey received the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Eminent Educationist last year, and has also earlier received the CEO Middle East Award for Corporate Social Responsibility, the Global Indian Business Award and the Most Outstanding Businessman of the Year by Asian Businessman Awards, Middle East all for his achievements in education and healthcare.

"I am greatly honoured by this recognition from the Government of India," said Mr Varkey. "Education and social services are close to my heart. I thank the entire team of GEMS Education and our associates, who through consistent hard work and dedication have improved the lives of people around the world. I share this honor with each one of them. It is awards like these that motivate and enthuse us to continue the work we do in the field of education in the private sector and to work on initiatives that help provide education to the underprivileged, " Mr Varkey added

SOS Children's Villages of India, The Coca-Cola Foundation and Coca-Cola India announce a nationwide water conservation partnership towards a better l

SOS Children's Villages of India, The Coca-Cola Foundation and Coca-Cola India today announced a partnership to implement water conservation projects for a better life for children. This partnership will collaborate to ensure sustainable water resources by undertaking rainwater harvesting (RWH) projects at 39 SOS locations spread across the country. The partnership will also support creating or improving the awareness on Water conservation and artificial recharge. The announcement was made jointly by Mr. S. Sandilya, President, SOS Children's Villages of India, Mr. Atul Singh, President & CEO, Coca-Cola India and Mr. Rakesh Jinsi, Secretary General, SOS Children's Villages of India.

The outlay for the project will not exceed USD 585,000 (Rs. 28,080,000) out of which The Coca-Cola Foundation based in Atlanta has made a grant of USD 391,920 (nearly Rs. 18,925,817). SOS Children's Villages of India will contribute the balance through manpower, material and financial resources. The RWH project at all locations will be implemented by SOS Children's Villages while Coca-Cola India will help develop, along with SOS-India, monitoring, reporting and governance routines for the project. A National Steering Committee comprising of experts from the field of water management, eminent personalities from civil society and representatives from Coca-Cola India and SOS Children's Villages will supervise the implementation and progress of the project. The proposed RWH projects will be constructed as per technical drawings approved by authorized consultants and the National Steering Committee. The project will be completed in the next 12 months and will touch the lives of about 6,000 children growing up in SOS Villages and will have ripple effect.

Extending his heartfelt thanks Sri S. Sandilya, President, SOS-India said, "I welcome this partnership between Coca Cola India and SOS Children's Villages of India; it is a great step towards improving life at SOS Children's Villages. It will not only ensure sustainable water resources for the future generations but also bring to our children clean and plentiful water today."

According to Mr. Atul Singh, President and CEO, Coca-Cola India, "Our sustainability as a business demands a relentless focus on efficiency and prudence in our use of natural resources. Water is fundamental to all communities and water stewardship remains a priority for Coca-Cola India. At our end we pursue a 3R program of Reduce, Recycle, and Replenish as our mantra to water conservation. We are excited to be partners with SOS Children's Villages in this project as this partnership not only creates sustainable water resources for children but will also raise awareness amongst them on water conservation."

Mr. Rakesh Jinsi, Secretary General, SOS-India added, "I thank Coca-Cola India for joining hands with SOS Children's Villages of India. This partnership will have a huge positive impact particularly on our children and generally on SOS Children's Villages of India. Our children will be able to grow up in a safer and hygienic environment, as also become aware about the need for water conservation."

In the beginning of 2008 a pilot project was initiated in SOS Children's Village, Bawana, to collect rain water to replenish ground water by using funds from SOS-India budget. Coca-Cola India stepped in to fund this project and helped SOS save funds from its budget for other use. The success of the project in terms of professional

implementation and impact on quality of life of SOS children prompted The Coca-Cola Foundation and Coca-Cola India to join hands with SOS for undertaking RWH projects in the remaining 39 SOS locations.

Kirloskar Brothers Limited awarded 5 star ratings for Monoblock pumpsets

January 2009: Kirloskar Brothers Limited (KBL), the largest manufacturer and exporter of pumps and valves in the country, has been awarded the 5 star rating for energy efficiency of Monoblock pumpsets from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). This gives KBL the unique distinction of being the 1^st pump manufacturer to receive 5 star rating for Monoblock pumpsets. This achievement has added yet another feather on the Company's cap.

The criterion given by BEE for STAR rating was the overall efficiency of the Pump. 5 star indicates overall efficiency of 20% or higher than minimum IS requirement. The uniqueness of Kirloskar Monobloc pumps lies in their usage. These pumps can be used for agricultural, domestic and industrial applications.

Commenting on receiving the 5 star rating, Mr. G.M. Maheshwari, Vice President – Dewas Operataions said "This is an excellent achievement by our team, which highlights our promise of Enriching Lives across the globe. Our continuous quest for excellence in the field of engineering drives us to new innovations.

He further said – "In KBL we believe in the philosophy of Saving Energy is Generating Energy and our focus is to produce energy efficient products, which will give the benefit of huge energy saving to our customers and makes KBL products their first choice."

KBL pumps can save up to 30% more energy than most other pumps in the market. This has been demonstrated by various field energy audits.

Naukri.com "JobSpeak": An Index that showcases the Current Job Scenario, indicates slowdown in hiring by almost 21.9%, a sharper decline as compared t

Highlights of the Report:

• The Overall Job Index falls from 1000 in July to 781 in October. Historically, the seasonal decline in October is about 10%, this year the decline is sharper at 21.9%
• Global economic slowdown affects metros; the index indicates decline in new jobs by 16%, which is beyond the seasonal decline of 10%.
• Banking industry shows a slowdown in hiring in the month of October.
• Legal and government jobs see an increase and gain attractiveness over the period August, September and October 2008.

December, 2008: According to the report 'JobSpeak' released by Naukri.com, India's No.1 Job Site, the Overall Job Index in October 2008 is 781 as compared to 1000 in July 2008 indicating a decline of almost 21.9%. Historically, there is a seasonal decline in October which is around 10% as recruitment slows down due to the festive season, this year the slowdown in hiring has been sharper affecting new jobs by 21.9%. The index suggests that companies are scaling back their recruitment plans due to the global financial crisis and the current economic conditions.

On the report, Hitesh Oberoi, COO and Director, Info Edge (India) Ltd said, "JobSpeak is a unique initiative to provide our stakeholders and all interested parties an insight into new job creation across locations and sectors in India. In the current economic situation, the index will be a useful guide to asses the job market, existing opportunities and the upcoming sectors. We will keep this initiative up by releasing monthly reports on trends."

JobSpeak indicates the industries that have seen a growth/decline in new jobs. Over the past three months, Real Estate, Banking, Finance, IT and Retailing show a decline; while Telecom, Pharma and Hospitality emerge as attractive options. Some niche sectors, like Government, Defence and Legal have gained attractiveness in recent months.

The index has been calculated based on new jobs added to the site month on month. July 2008 has been taken on a base of 1000 and August, September and October index is compared with the July data.

City-wise Analysis

Metros saw a dip in the supply of new jobs. Besides the impact of the slowdown, Diwali and Dussehra are popular festivals across India, which impact hiring to a considerable extent.

Metros that are the bulk provider of jobs witnessed a decline in new jobs to the tune of 16% in comparison to the usual 10% in earlier festive seasons. In the Delhi – NCR region, new jobs fell sharply after maintaining stability in Aug and Sep. The job index for Delhi fell from 1000 to 786. Mumbai witnessed a higher setback in the month of Oct as compared to Sep and Aug, the job index fell from 1000 to 715 in October 2008 as compared to July 2008. Bangalore, the IT hotspot, has lost new jobs since Jul, especially in Aug which saw a decline of close to 20% as compared to Sep. Chennai saw a marginal increase in new job creation during Sep, however October saw a fall to the tune of 10%. Hyderabad and Pune bore the brunt of the slowdown especially in the IT sector and witnessed a decline of over 15% in new jobs during October. Jobs in Kolkata were severely affected with October alone witnessing a decline in new jobs by over 32%. Chandigarh, affected to an extent by the IT industry slowdown, saw a slowdown in hiring to the tune of 35% since July.

Industry Analysis

IT – both the Software and Hardware sector saw a dip in new jobs by almost 25% since July this year. Banking and Financial Services have seen a decline of over 32% in October, while Construction and Engineering have seen a decline in new jobs by almost 22% since July 2008. The Telecom industry which was looking up in August and September had seen an increase in jobs, while October witnessed a dip of 17% indexed to July. The fluctuation could be owing to the festive season.

Interestingly, the BPO industry has witnessed a slight bounce back by 10% in October after witnessing a decline in new jobs in August and September. The Pharma Industry has been comparatively less affected with a fall in the index of less than 15%. Niche sectors like Government and legal have seen an increase in new jobs.

Functional area Analysis

Across most functional areas and departments, the decline in new job creation has been to the tune of 15-20%. The slowdown has trickled down to most functional areas in October with Sales, Business Development executive, Project Managers, Banking – Insurance, Marketing and HR professionals seeing a decline in online availability of new jobs. September had been a more positive month with Sales, HR, Marketing seeing a marginal increase in availability of new jobs. In October, new job creation for Project Managers and Sales and Business Development Executives fell by a huge margin, indicating the low business sentiment in the market. IT- Software and Banking professionals saw a drastic decrease in online availability of new jobs during October.

Methodology Adopted

The data has been sourced from Naukri.com and is reflective of the new job listings added on the site. Jobs have been categorised by location, functional area and industry. The index has been calculated across Cities/ Functional Area - Deptt / Industry verticals.

On basis of new job listings added to the site every month, the data shows an increase or decline in the jobs. To calculate the index, jobs in July have been taken on a base of 1000. The August, September and October data has been indexed against July.

About Naukri.com

Naukri.com, India's No. 1 job site and the flagship brand of Info Edge revolutionized the concept of recruitment in India. Since its inception in 1997, Naukri.com has seen exponential growth year after year. Info Edge completed a successful IPO in November 2006 and became the first internet company to be listed in India.

Naukri.com is a recruitment platform and provides services to the corporate world, placement agencies and job seekers in India and overseas. It offers a bouquet of products like Resume Database Access, and Response Management tools and its services include Job Postings, and branding solutions on the site. With 2,00,000 jobs live at any point, Naukri.com serviced over 32500 corporate clients in the 2007-2008.The company has over 1700 people operating through 67 offices in 41 cities in India and overseas offices in Dubai, Riyadh and Bahrain.

Peerless Smart Cricket Championship 2008-09' Hosts its ninth Match

Team Jaguar emerges winner in the ninth match of the Peerless Smart Cricket Championship

• The ninth 20-20 match of the series is played between Teams Jaguar and Team Lion at the Calcutta Cricket Coaching Centre ground.
• Team Jaguar won.
• Subhabrata Ray of Team Jaguar declared Man of the Match.

Kolkata, December 13, 2008: The Peerless General Finance & Investment Company Ltd. hosted the ninth match of the "Peerless Smart Cricket Championship- 2008-09" in continuation of its legacy to nurture the spirit of sportsmanship. The match was played between the Team Jaguar and Team Lion at Calcutta Cricket Coaching Centre ground.

Team Jaguar is mentored by Mr. Premankur Bhattacharya and captained by Mr. Navin Damani and Team Lion is mentored by Mr. Jayanta Roy and captained by Mr. Indranil Bhattacharya.

Team Jaguar emerges winner in the ninth match of the series defeating Team Lion by 8 wickets in a spectacular 20-20 cricket match held at C4 ground today.

Subhabrata Ray of Team Jaguar was awarded Man of the Match for his all round performance. Subhabrata Ray of Team Jaguar turns out to be the Highest Scorer of the match, while Dipak Shaw of Team Lion came up as the Highest Wicket Taker.

Scoreboard:

Team	Run	Wickets	Overs
Jaguar	169	2	18
Lion	165	10	19

The two teams had faced each other twice previously in the third and sixth match of 'Peerless Smart Cricket Championship 2008-09'. In the third Match, Team Lion had emerged winner defeating Team Jaguar, and in the sixth match Team Jaguar emerged winner.

Mr. Jayanta Roy, Director (Corporate Planning & Strategy), PGFI, said at the event, "Peerless Smart Cricket is an initiative on our behalf to instill the core corporate philosophy of togetherness and team spirit in our employees. I thank all my colleagues for their support and congratulate them for making the IPL- 'In-house Peerless League'-2008-09 a success."

Sunil Mathur is the new CFO of Siemens Ltd.

Siemens Ltd. has appointed Mr. Sunil Mathur (45), Executive Director of Siemens Ltd as its Chief Financial Officer effective December 1, 2008. He has taken over the responsibilities from Mr. Patrick de Royer who has completed his tenure of three years as a CFO.

Mr. Sunil Mathur, the new Chief Financial Officer of Siemens Ltd. comes with a rich international experience of over 20 years mainly in Germany and England. After completing his Chartered Accountancy, Mr. Mathur joined Siemens Ltd. in the year 1987 and worked in India for about ten years. Thereafter, he handled diverse portfolios globally in the Industry and Energy sectors of Siemens.

Mr. Mathur's responsibilities of a Country CFO are in addition to his current function of a Cluster CFO for the South Asia region comprising countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives.