Transtrail Lighting Bags New Rs 1,647 Cr Orders in Global Markets

New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) Transrail Lighting Ltd (Transtrail) on Wednesday announced securing new orders worth Rs 1,647 crore in the power transmission and distribution, and railway sectors.

These new orders include Letters of Award (LOAs) for major T&D projects in the overseas market involving engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of transmission lines and substations, the company said in an exchnage filing.

With year-to-date (YTD) order inflows close to Rs 9,200 crore, we continue to build a project portfolio that supports profit-led growth, Randeep Narang, MD & CEO said

Mumbai-based Transrail is an EPC player in the transmission and distribution (T&D) segment, along with civil, railways, and poles and lighting, having a footprint across 59 countries.

The company has completed more than 200 projects in power transmission and distribution vertical, along with comprehensive and extensive project execution capabilities in terms of manpower, supply of materials (including self-manufactured products). PTI ABI ABI MR

 

Happiest Minds Rejigs Top-Level Management; Appoints Joseph Anantharaju As CEO, Co-Chairman

New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) IT company Happiest Minds Technologies on Wednesday announced apex-level changes in its organisation structure, effective immediately.

Joseph Anantharaju has been elevated to Co-Chairman and CEO of the Bengaluru-headquartered firm, according to a company statement.

He will now head all business divisions of the company: Product & Digital Engineering Services (PDES), Infrastructure Management & Security Services (IMSS), and GenAI Business Services (GBS).

Earlier, he served as the executive vice chairman, president & CEO of the PDES Division up till now.

Its Chairman Ashok Soota will now take up an additional position as the Chief Mentor.

Venkatraman Narayanan will continue as the MD & CFO of Happiest Minds. He will head the finance, talent acquisition, internal IT, learning & development, ESG, CSR, procurement and administration teams.

Anantharaju and Narayanan will be jointly responsible for M&A and Board matters, the statement said, adding that they will report independently to Soota.

Adani, PGTI To Launch Invitational Golf Championship

New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) The Adani Group is set to enter Indian professional golf with the launch of the Adani Invitational Golf Championship 2025 in partnership with the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), the official sanctioning body of men’s professional golf in India.

“This Adani Group initiative intends to promote and broaden golf’s accessibility and elevate its status as a mainstream sport, and also to cultivate the next generation of global champions from India,” a company statement said.

The inaugural tournament, offering a Rs 1.5 crore prize, will be held at Jaypee Greens Golf & Spa Resort, Greater Noida, from April 1-4, 2025, marking PGTI’s return to the venue after 11 years.

“We are delighted to join hands with Kapil Dev and the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) to contribute to the growth of Indian professional golf,” said Pranav Adani, Director, Adani Enterprises Limited.

“Our goal is to cultivate Indian global champions in golf. We are committed to enhancing accessibility to golf, promoting greater participation and offering world-class training and playing opportunities.”

Kapil Dev, President of the PGTI, said the backing of the Adani Group will help the PGTI produce more champion golfers from India who will make the country proud on the international stage.

“I expect to see golf fans in big numbers following their favourite players on the course during the tournament.”

Terming the Adani Invitational Golf Championship 2025 as a watershed moment for the PGTI, its CEO Amandeep Johl said, “This association will raise the stature of the Tour. We thank the Adani Group, our title sponsors, for sharing PGTI’s vision of creating more playing opportunities for Indian professionals”.

“With an attractive prize purse, outstanding playing conditions at the Jaypee Greens Golf & Spa Resort and a top-notch field vying for the title, one can expect a spectacular week of golfing action at the eagerly awaited Adani Invitational Golf Championship 2025.”

A pre-tournament event will be held on March 29 at The Belvedere Golf & Country Club, Ahmedabad. Along with this event, five leading PGTI professionals will conduct a golf clinic that will introduce the sport to 50 children from The Adani International School.

Cricket legend Kapil Dev, now the PGTI President, will be present at this event to highlight the shared vision of the Adani Group and PGTI to develop golfing talent and advance Indian golf.

India, Malaysia Agree to Speed Up ASEAN FTA Review

New Delhi, Mar 18 (PTI) India and Malaysia have agreed to take steps to speed up the review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) for its substantial conclusion by 2025, the commerce ministry said on Tuesday.

Malaysia is one of the key members of the 10-member ASEAN and chair of the group for this year.

The decision to speed up the review came at the bilateral meeting between Minister of State of Commerce Jitin Prasada and Malaysian Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry Liew Chin Tong here.

“The meeting discussed the ongoing review of ASEAN India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) and both sides agreed to take necessary steps for speeding up the AITIGA review for its substantial-conclusion by 2025,” it said.

The agreement came into force in 2010 and the review of the pact was agreed to in 2019 on the demand by India after imports from ASEAN surged and trade balance became heavily in favour of the 10-member grouping.

It said both sides also discussed the bilateral trade issues including greater, market access for goods, collaboration in the semiconductor industry, cooperation in the service sector and the issues related to the Foreign Manufacturers Certification Scheme (FMCS) of the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS).

Malaysia is India’s third largest trading partner of India in ASEAN with total trade of USD 20.02 billion during 2023-24.

Rajasthan Farmers Can Register to Sell Gram, Mustard at MSP From April 1

Jaipur, Mar 18 (PTI) Farmers in Rajasthan can register for selling gram and mustard crops at the minimum support price from April 1, and the procurement will begin on April 10, Minister of State for Cooperatives Gautam Kumar Dak said on Tuesday.

He said that the state government is always ready in the interest of the farmers and all preparations have been started for the purchase of mustard and gram at the MSP in the upcoming Rabi season 2025-26.

In a statement, he said that as per the targets set by the central government, it is proposed to purchase 13.89 lakh metric tonnes of mustard and 6.30 lakh metric tonnes of gram in the state.

He said that for the sale of mustard and gram at the support price, farmers will be able to register through e-Mitra from April 1. Whereas, the procurement will start from April 10.

The minister said that this year, along with the nodal agency NAFED, the procurement of pulses and oilseeds is to be done by NCCF in the state through Rajfed.

For this, 217 purchase centres each for mustard and gram procurement have been approved for NCCF and 288 centres for each of the two crops for NAFED. Thus, a total of 505 separate purchase centres have been approved for mustard and gram in the state, and the district-wise list has been released.

Dak said that NCCF will get the purchase done in 19 districts of Rajfed regional offices Ajmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Kota and NAFED will get the purchase done in 21 districts of Rajfed regional offices Jaipur, Udaipur, Ganganagar and Bharatpur region.

He said that the central government has fixed the support price of mustard at Rs 5,950 per quintal and the price of gram at Rs 5,650 per quintal for the coming season.

India to Explore Green Shipping and Digital Business With Singapore

Singapore, Mar 19 (PTI) India’s green fuel and digital initiatives are set to enter the global trade through Singapore’s marine and shipping industry, where over 55 million tonnes a year of bunker fuel is supplied to internationally operating vessels, making it one of the largest hubs.

Trade sources said both India and Singapore are exploring the “Green Digital Shipping Corridor” that would link other international ports and marine industries, said observers on Wednesday.

They said India’s long-term preparation to export green fuel, green hydrogen and ammonia sits well with Singapore’s strategic position to market the fuels to ships operating globally.

India’s Minister of Port, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal along with industry heavyweights is expected to visit the city state next week to set up a working programme with Singapore counterpart industries, according to the observers.

Sonowal is focused on green shipping and digitisation of the ports to make India a global leader in the maritime sector.

Likewise, Singapore is looking at various opportunities to be part of the growing industrialisation including the massive development of shipping capacity, port modernisation and shipyard upgrades.

During his Singapore trip, Sonowal will be accompanied by the representatives of Indian Ports Association, Cochin Shipyard, Indian Maritime University, Shipyards Association of India, Swan Defence and Heavy Industries, Chowgule Shipyard, Garden Reach Shipyards and Engineers, San Marine Shipyard, Synergy Ship Builders and L&T Shipyard.

The visit will coincide with Singapore Maritime Week being held from March 24-28.

The observers said there will be opportunities for the minister and his delegation members to explore potential businesses with the estimated 20,000 visitors, including global industry stalwarts, at the maritime week.

Vodafone Idea in Talks with Satcom Players, Awaits Right Time for Update

New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) Telecom operator Vodafone Idea is “in conversation” with satcom players to explore potential partnerships, a senior company official said.

The telco believes that use cases for satellite communications would be in areas where traditional connectivity infrastructure, such as fibre optic cables or cell towers is lacking.

This could include remote rural regions or underserved urban areas, Jagbir Singh, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Vodafone Idea told PTI.

However, there are still “open questions” such as the cost of the devices, regulatory approvals on using satellite for terrestrial connectivity, he added.

“We are in conversations with partners and will share an update at an appropriate time,” Singh said but declined to divulge details.

Last week, Jio Platforms announced signing a deal with SpaceX to bring Starlink’s broadband internet services to India. The deal with Musk – widely seen as the right-hand-man of US President Donald Trump – came a day after telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Bharti Airtel signed a similar pact with the US firm.

The agreements are subject to SpaceX receiving its own authorisations to sell Starlink in India.

Mihup Eyes IPO Amid Talks with Leading Automaker

Kolkata, Mar 19 (PTI) Kolkata-based conversational intelligence firm Mihup on Wednesday said it is in advanced talks with one of India’s top passenger automobile makers to integrate its in-car virtual assistant, following its partnership with Tata Motors.

The company, which has raised Rs 100 crore in venture funding, including Rs 50 crore in October last year, is also preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) within the next two years, Mihup Co-founder & CEO Tapan Barman told PTI.

Mihup’s voice assistant, which replaced a global competitor’s solution in Tata Motors’ vehicles in 2021, is now deployed in over one million cars, and the company expects rapid growth with new OEMs, the official claimed.

The upcoming deal with another top passenger car maker is expected to further strengthen its foothold in the automotive sector.

“I cannot divulge the OEM now due to confidentiality, but it is one of the largest car makers in India,” Barman said.

The company aims to scale its proprietary AI-driven voice solutions, which cater to multilingual and vernacular language commands, making technology more accessible to Indian consumers and global clients.

“Our technology is designed to understand and respond to multiple Indian languages and dialects of each language. For instance, in Hindi, it supports all regional variations. This adaptability gives us a strong competitive advantage over global competition,” Barman said.

The firm has tailored a generic large language model (LLM) with domain-specific knowledge, an automatic speech recognition (ASR) engine, a text-to-speech system, and noise suppression technology, all developed in-house.

Beyond automobiles, Mihup is expanding into the BFSI and customer service sectors with AI-driven solutions for call centre analytics and agent assistance. Its proprietary platform analyses customer-agent interactions in real time, optimises renewal rates for insurance companies and automates post-call documentation to enhance efficiency, the company said.

While Barman did not disclose revenue or profitability, he said the company is growing rapidly and is also eyeing global markets after some consolidation in the domestic market.

Mihup plans to incorporate languages such as US and UK English, Portuguese, Arabic and German to compete with major international players in conversational AI.

An analyst at a brokerage firm noted that a product solution company is likely to attract a high valuation.

However, the biggest risk for technology firms lies in valuing their business models, as the disruption lifecycle remains unpredictable amid rapid advancements in artificial intelligence.

Deloitte, Clevertap Partner To Boost AI-Driven Customer Engagement Strategies

Mumbai, Mar 18 (PTI) Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP on Tuesday said it has entered into a strategic alliance with customer engagement platform CleverTap to help businesses, transform their customer engagement strategies through data-driven insights and AI-powered automation.

The partnership aims to enable enterprises to optimise customer interactions, improve retention and accelerate digital transformation, Deloitte India said in a statement.

“This partnership is not just about addressing today’s challenges, it is about equipping businesses with the tools and insights to stay competitive in an evolving digital landscape through the “power of collaboration,” Deloitte India Partner Hemendra Upadhyay said.

Slikk Club secures USD 3.2 mn to expand quick fashion delivery in Bengaluru

Quick fashion delivery platform Slikk Club on Tuesday said it has raised USD 3.2 million in an all-equity seed funding round led by Lightspeed.

The funding also saw participation from Multiply Ventures, existing investors, and angel investors including Abhishek Goyal (Tracxn), Abhinav Pathak (Perpule), Madhav Tandan, Nikhil (Panthera) and Saurabh Gupta (DST Global), the company said in a statement.

The fresh capital will be utilised to scale operations in Bangalore and strengthen the leadership team across technology, category management, operations, and supply chain.

“This funding is a step forward in our mission to bring 60-minute fashion delivery to more shoppers, scale our presence in Bengaluru, and expand into new lifestyle categories,” Slikk Club CEO and co-founder Akshay Gulati added.

IHCL inks green-field resort in Pench under Gateway brand

Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) on Tuesday said it has signed a 105-key green-field resort in Pench, Madhya Pradesh, under the Gateway brand.

“As one of the country’s key national parks, Pench is seeing increasing demand for quality hospitality services. This signing is in line with our strategy of expanding in high-potential tourism corridors,” IHCL Executive Vice President, Real Estate and Development, Suma Venkatesh said.

With the addition of this hotel, IHCL will have 15 hotels in Madhya Pradesh, including six under development.

Cipla Inks Licensing Agreement With Taiwan-Based Drug Firm

New Delhi, Mar 18 (PTI) Drug maker Cipla on Tuesday said it has inked an exclusive licensing agreement with Taiwan-based Formosa Pharmaceuticals for the commercialisation of clobetasol propionate ophthalmic suspension.

As per the agreement, the Mumbai-based drug maker has exclusive rights to market the innovative treatment for post-operative inflammation and pain, following ocular surgery across eleven countries like India, South Africa, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Myanmar, Kenya, Nigeria, Argentina, and Colombia.

Clobetasol propionate ophthalmic suspension, 0.05 per cent (APP13007) is a novel, patent-protected and USFDA-approved ophthalmic product.

It offers a convenient twice-daily dosing regimen for 14 days without tapering, providing rapid and sustained relief from inflammation and pain.

This new steroid represents a significant advancement in the ophthalmic market, extending notable patient benefits.

“The partnership with Formosa Pharmaceuticals marks a significant milestone for Cipla, as it is our first multi-regional licensing agreement in ophthalmology,” Cipla Global Chief Operating Officer Achin Gupta said in a regulatory filing.

Erick Co, President and CEO of Formosa Pharmaceuticals, said the company looks forward to working together to provide novel therapy to ocular surgery patients.

Shares of Cipla were trading 0.99 per cent up at Rs 1,507.85 apiece on the BSE.