THIRUVANANTHAPURAM — Researchers at a Kerala-based institute have developed a unique solution that delivers high bandwidth information and multimedia entertainment in moving vehicles. The technology allows tracking vehicle arrivals and departures without depending on the Global Positioning System (GPS), capture information on vehicle diagnostics and deliver text messages or audio announcements along with a host of other potential applications.
It also supports a wide variety of applications such as fleet scheduling, location tracking and delivery of education and entertainment contents to all kinds of vehicles. This combination of latest advancements in computers and wireless technology called Amrita MiTrans was developed by more than a dozen engineers and researchers at the Amrita Research Labs (ARL). “It took the ARL team more than two years to create Amrita MiTrans using key technologies such as embedded systems and WiFi. It provides an open and flexible platform for easy integration with third-party devices and applications,” researchers Jayaraj and Amit said.
This will benefit state transportation corporations, private bus owners, railways, metro systems, rental car owners, truck companies and other businesses through revenue generation, increased efficiencies in fleet operations, cost reductions and improved customer satisfaction. They claimed that the technology has tremendous scope to ramp up the revenue of transport companies. Amrita MiTrans also provides a multitude of other solutions for the transportation industry.
This project is funded by Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) under the Department of Science & Technology. Patent for the technology has been filed.
V-Guard Offers 7.6m Shares in IPO
KOCHI — Kerala-based V-Guard Industries, which makes electrical and electronic products, has fixed the price band of 80-85 rupees for its initial public offering (IPO) that opens on Monday. On offer to the public are 7.6 million equity shares from 80 million shares with a face value of Rs10 each while 400,000 shares have been reserved for employees. The issue will constitute 26.8 percent of the fully diluted post issue paid up equity capital, the V-Guard Managing Director Kochouseph Chittilappiily said. The company hopes to raise 680 million rupees at the upper end of the price band from the issue that closes Thursday. The credit rating firm CRISIL has assigned it a grade of 3/5.
The company will set up cable manufacturing facilities in Coimbatore and Uttaranchal, enameling plant in Coimbatore, development and pilot production plants for water heaters, fans and pumps in Himachal Pradesh and Coimbatore, service and distribution centers in Bangalore, Hubli and Vijaywada.
Offshore Bank Branches Woo NRIs with Good Rates
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM — Global liquidity crunch has provided the Non-Resident Indians (NRI) with an alternative to their low-yielding FCNR (foreign currency non-resident) deposits and foreign branches of Indian banks are now offering higher rates on US dollar and other foreign currency deposits. At present, the Reserve Bank of India has capped the amount payable on FCNR deposits at 75 basis points below the corresponding LIBOR or London Inter Bank Offered Rate. And with the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates to cope with the sub-prime troubles, the NRIs have been the hardest hit with the yield on their FCNR deposits dipping even lower. “We have been offering higher rates for customer deposits as inter-bank funds have become tight in the global markets. Though central banks like the Federal Reserve have pumped in billions of dollars to ease the liquidity crunch, inter-bank funds are hard to come by yet, pushing up interest rates for customer deposits,” says Anshula Kant, the chief executive officer of the State Bank of India in Singapore.
