Volume 1, Issue 5 April 2015

-Cochin Hallmark Company LtdWestern India Plywoods 54

Report on page 3

KSIDC bestows Award

for Excellence on 12 shining stars of

Kerala industry

Volume 1, Issue 5 April 2015

Mr Rejaneesh Menon, Director, Startups, Microsoft ventures, takes a session on Microsoft Ventures and their accelerator program at the KSIDC Business Incubation Centre. The session is part of KSIDC’s plan to offer mentoring services to the in-cubates there.

MentoRing activities staRt at KsiDc incubatoR

KsiDc to FoRge a coMMon PLatFoRM FoR aYuRveDa

Dr M S Valiathan, National Re-search Professor, Manipal Univer-sity, and Shri T K A Nair Chairman KSIDC, at the meet

KSIDC conducted a meeting of experts and stakeholders in

Ayurveda to develop a common platform for the sector. The meet-ing chaired by Shri. T. K. A Nair, Chairman, KSIDC was attended among others by Dr.M.S.Valiathan, National Research Professor, Mani-pal University, Dr.Kim Sung Chol, Regional Adviser, Traditional Medi-cines, WHO, Dr.M.Beena IAS, MD, KSIDC and Secretary AYUSH, gov-ernment of Kerala and leading play-ers in the sector, in the country.

Speaking at the Meet, Dr Vali-athan, urged the Ayurveda frater-nity to take urgent measures to pre-pare evidence-based documents for Ayurvedic treatments by relying on Ayurveda’s inherent strengths in pre-paring protocols for treatments. Dr. Kim Sung Chol explained the global strategies and methods adopted in

strengthening traditional medicines. Dr.M.Beena IAS wanted the factors that limit the use of Ayurveda that of-fers lasting solutions to many of the ailments, to be sorted out.

The platform, aimed at making Ayurveda the most sought after Com-plementary and Alternative Medicine system in the world, will:

• Prepare and propagate “evidence-based documents” in Ayurveda in line with the requirements of WHO Tra-ditional Medicine (TM), and other global standards

• Standardize procedures for manu-facture of medicines and Ayurvedic practices in line with the WHO (TM) Strategy

• Enable members to get national and international accreditations

• Undertake promotional activities for the growth of Ayurveda

• Conduct Kerala Ayurveda Mart

(KAM) as an international biennial event and participate in such events abroad.

Towards this end, the meeting decided to identify bottlenecks in areas such as regulation, developing standard protocols for treatments, standardisation of drug manufac-turing, preparation of evidence-based documents, and conduct of Kerala Ayurveda Mart, to take the sector forward.

Note from the Managing Director

KSIDC has been promoting industries in Kerala for the

past several decades. It has had the chance to support many of the poster boys of Kerala industry dur-ing their initial days. Over the years they have grown and so has their re-lationship with KSIDC. They have done so while upholding the high standards of business, worthy for others to follow. It is in this context that we decided to celebrate their achievements and contribution to the state’s industrial growth. They

are the shining stars of Kerala in-dustry, today.

We are sharing the success stories of two of them, in this issue. One of them - Western Indian Plywoods - has an illustrious history that started decades back. The other one - Cochin Hallmark Company Ltd - is a comparatively young organiza-tion. But both have many things in common - they are pioneers in their fields, work on a global scale, work with the latest technology, and fol-low ethical business practices. They are proof that industries in Kerala, can compete with the best in the world and can become role models.

A delegation from Kerala led by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy took part in the Annual Investment

Meeting held at Dubai. The visit strengthened the ties between UAE and Kerala and is expected to help the state attract more investments from the region.

You will also find an update on the Cherthala IGC in this issue. It is heartening to note that the union ministry of food processing has given approval to KSIDC’s pro-posal to set up a Mega Food Park in the Industrial Growth Centre at Cherthala. The Park will focus on the seafood industry that has a huge presence in the region. KSIDC will continue to identify high growth sectors in the state’s economy and prepare the necessary infrastructure in those sectors to help industries flourish.

Celebration time

Dr M Beena, IAS

2 KSIDCUPDATE ON INDUSTRY AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION

Kochi headquartered abad Hotels and Resorts, to-day runs five business hotels and six resorts. Shri. Riaz Ahmed, Managing Director of the company receiving the award.

cochin Hallmark com-pany hallmarks around 4 million pieces of jewellery a year, making it the biggest player in India. Mr James Jose, Managing Director of the company receiving the award.

Diamond Roller Flour Mills a state-of-the-art roller flour mill located in Kottayam, produces world class flours such as maida, atta, sooji, and bran. Mr T. K Ameer Ali, MD of the com-pany receiving the award.

Kochi based euro tech Maritime academy is the largest maritime educational institution in Southern In-dia. Mr Babu Joseph, Execu-tive Director and Mr Jenson Paul, MD of the company with the award.

An early player in the lo-gistics industry in Kerala, Falcon infrastructure Ltd has an integrated lo-gistics complex in Kala-massery, Kochi. Mr. N. A. MuhammedKutty, MD receiving the award.

Kochi-based o/e/n india Ltd is the market leader for electromechanical components with national and global clients. Ms. Pamela Anna Mathew MD receiving the award.

Kalliyath Developers is the first company in India, dedicated to the production of ready to use steel bars and bends. Mr K. Noor Mu-hammed Noorsha, MD re-ceiving the award.

Kochi-based geojit bnP Paribas has a countrywide network of over 483 offices. It’s spreading its wings in the Middle East, too. Mr.Satish Menon, ED, Geojit receiving the award.

Kairali steels & alloys Pvt.Ltd, produces high qual-ity TMT bars, angles, squares and all sections of TOR steels. Mr.Humayoon Kalliyath, Additional Director receiv-ing the award.

Kannur-based Western india Plywoods Limited is one of the largest wood-working complexes in Asia. Mr P K Mayan Mohamed, MD of the company receiv-ing the award.

Kitex childrenswear is part of the Anna-Kitex group. It supplies its prod-ucts to major brands across the world. Mr.Boby Micheal, CFO, of the company receiv-ing the award.

Part of the EVM group, Mountain club Resorts Pvt Ltd is a fast growing chain of hotels in Kerala. Mr Johny Mathew, Chairman of the company receiving the award.

The dazzling dozenment, KSIDC has been the strength behind many of them. We have been able to work hand in hand with them to create wealth and make the state proud.

And we think its time to look back, pick the best among them and honour their contribution. Hence we constituted the “Award for Excellence”.

We picked 12 such per-formers who have been our clients, with excellent track record, and consistent per-

formance. All the selected firms have contributed in their own unique way to the economy of the state and have emerged iconic in their respective domains.

The awards were given away by Mr P K Kunhali-kutti, Minister for Indus-tries and IT, in the pres-ence of Mr Jiji Thomson, Chief Secretary to Govt of Kerala , Mr TKA Nair, Chairman, KSIDC and Dr M Beena, Managing Di-rector, KSIDC.

Kerala is home to a number of success-

ful enterprises that have made tremendous contri-

butions to the progress of the state. As the premier developmental financing agency of the state govern-

Mr P K Kunhalikutti, Minister for Industries and IT, Mr Jiji Thomson, Chief Secretary, Govt of Kerala , Mr TKA Nair, Chairman, KSIDC, Dr M Beena, MD, KSIDC and Mr B Jothikumar ED, KSIDC, at the KSIDC Award for Excellence 2014, ceremony held at Taj Vivanta, Thiruvananathapuram on 26th March 2015

3KSIDCUPDATE ON INDUSTRY AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION

The temple of engineered wood Think of a wood product, and WIP can make it

The Western India Plywoods Limited is one of largest wood-

working complexes in Asia. Its prod-uct bouquet is well-known for its va-riety: it includes various hardboards including pre-finished boards, ply-woods of all varieties, densified wood which are a key ingredient for the en-gineering industry, pressboards which demand high precision machines to make, wooden floors, furniture, ve-neers… It’s a supermarket where one can find every engineered wood prod-uct. Some of India’s best companies, multinationals included, are its cli-ents. Indian Railways, BHEL and car manufacturers such as Maruti, Ford, Toyota and Hyundai regularly source their hardboards from WIP. The com-pany, which has annual production capacity of 34,500 tonnes, maintains its leadership position in the Indian hardboard market. It also exports a range of products to the Gulf nations, Africa, Australia, Southern Pacific Is-lands and Europe.

Started by visionary entrepreneur A K Kaderkutty in Valapattanam in Kannur district in 1942 as a tea-chest factory, the company scaled heights with a unique combination of love for technology, visionary entrepre-neurship, commitment to quality and excellent workmanship. Its plants are state-of-the-art; its visitors include, apart from rulers and industrialists, some of the world’s best wood tech-nologists. It has a vibrant research and development department; its li-

Qualit

y Le

adership since 1945

WIP

brary with over 6,000 titles is a ref-erence point for academicians. The company holds the distinction as the first Indian company to manufacture irradiated wood, fire-retardant wood and to use UV-cured surface finish technology. One if its latest products is press-boards used as insulating ma-terial for power transformers.

While most of its products are in-dustrial raw material, the company also has started manufacturing prod-ucts for the home care segment. They include wooden floorings and furni-ture, which are a mix of hardwood and engineered wood.

The company is one of the few to recognize the value of natural re-sources. It follows the dictum its founder made for it: 100 per cent uti-lization of wood. Every single piece of raw material that enters the company premise is made into a value-added product. It even started a briquetting unit recently, which fuels its boilers. The company runs a vermi-compost unit, fed by the bark and mud on the logs, and uses manure thus obtained in its own vegetable garden.

The company recently started its operations in Malaysia where it estab-lished a veneer plant. “We anticipated a shortage in quality raw material and hence we went for a joint venture in Malaysia,” said Mr P K Mayan Mo-hamed, managing director.

Good governance is key to the func-tioning of the company. Says manag-ing director Mayan Mohamed, “My

Pressboard, one of the unique products of WIPThe hardboard plant at WIPSlicing of wood for plywood-making at WIP

• One of the largest wood-working complexes in Asia

• Annual production ca-pacity of 34,500 tonnes

• A wide range of products such as hardboards, ply-woods, densified wood, press-boards, wooden floors, furniture and veneers

• Exports products to Gulf nations, Africa, Australia, Southern Pacific Islands and Europe

• Plants in India and Ma-laysia

• Clients include, In-dian Railways, BHEL, Maruti, Ford, Toyota and Hyundai

Hall of fame

grandfather who founded the com-pany has given us strict instructions: as a public limited company, we are custodians of public money. Our first commitment will be to them. And we should service our debt promptly. All others come next.”

No wonder KSIDC has found WIP one of the best companies among its clients.


“We have to make ourselves obsolete before others do so. The industry has a 10-year cycle and we have to keep

upgrading the facilities,”says Mr James Jose, Managing Director of Cochin HallMark Company

Making their markCochin Hallmark Company Ltd has established the biggest

gold hallmarking network in India

Anyone buying gold in the country today will definitely ask for hallmarked gold. It

ensures that the gold is of the speci-fied quality. But who certifies the gold and stamps the hallmark on it? Look no further than the Cochin Hallmark Company, the first and biggest gold certifier in the country.

Chemmanur Gold Refinery Pvt Ltd., and its sister concern the Co-chin Hallmark Company Limited was started in 1994, after the Govt of India repealed the Gold Control Act 1993. “It was the first scientific gold refinery for manufacturing 999 bullion in India. Till then the re-fineries in the country operated on outdated technologies that weren’t capable of matching international standards of 999 bullion,” says Mr James Jose, Managing Director, Co-chin Hallmark Co Pvt Ltd. The refin-ing plant and assay lab was imported in 1995 with financial assistance from KSIDC.

But the refining plant that had an expensive process did not find many takers in the country. “Those were difficult times when we found the going tough,” says Mr Jose. That was when the government announced the VDIS (voluntary disclosure of income scheme). Huge gold stocks were liquidated and monetized dur-ing the period, leading to huge busi-ness for the refiners.

There was no looking back since then. The company doubled its ca-pacity in 1999, again with KSIDC’s assistance. In April 2000, when World Gold Council announced plans for introducing gold hallmark-ing in India, the company pounced on

the opportunity. It already had a fully imported fire assay laboratory and it became the first gold assay and hall-marking centre in the country.

Since then it has been regularly ex-panding its capacity and upgrading its machinery to keep pace with the changing times. It set up new units

at various locations in Kerala, Tamil nadu and Andhra Pradesh, and its en-gagement with KSIDC has deepened over time.

Today, Cochin Hallmark Company Ltd is the biggest gold hallmark-ing network in India . The units are patronized by all the major jewelry groups in India and together they hallmark more than 4 million pieces of jewelry every year, surpassing the largest agencies in the world.

It has set up the biggest gold hall-marking centre in the country at Trichur and has the first gold assay laboratory in the country to be cer-tified as per IS 17025 : 2005 - the highest accreditation for any gold testing laboratory in the world. The 10,000 sq ft facility can hallmark 10 lakh pieces per month.

The company has state of the art equipments including laser engraving machines and exports gold products to various countries in the world. The two companies together have a turn-over of Rs 320 crore per year, and command around 8-10 per cent of the total market share in India.

Cochin Hallmark Company is set-ting up an integrated gold processing complex in Ernakulam, with all facili-ties for the gem and jewellery indus-try. The facilities will be available for the general consumers as well. The company is also upgrading all its hall-marking centres. “We have to make ourselves obsolete before others do so. The industry has a 10-year cycle and we have to keep upgrading the facili-ties,” says Mr Jose.

It isn’t a surprise that the company that is a thought leader has made it to KSIDC’s list of excellent clients.

Components of a hallmark

Pure Gold

• First gold assay and hallmarking centre in India

• Biggest gold hallmarking network in India

• Hallmarks more than 4 million pieces of jewelry every year

• First gold assay laboratory in the country to be certified as per IS 17025 : 2005


Industries make a beeline to the Industrial Growth Centre at Cherthala

In all 200 acres of land has been allotted to 41 units in the IGC. A Mega Food Park is also coming up on 65 acres of land in the IGC

Taking Off IGC Cherthala

The Alleppy district in Kerala is known for its idyllic backwa-ters. Tourists throng the place,

charmed by its beauty and tranquility. The buzz of industries is something that was missing in the district.

But not anymore. The district is witnessing a silent revolution with industries from a wide range of sec-tors setting up shop at the Indus-trial Growth Centre(IGC), setup by KSIDC.

The IGC is located at Pallippuram, near Cherthala, just 30 kms from Ko-chi. It spreads out on 278.79 acres of land on either side of the Cherthala - Pallipuram - Arukutty road. The road connects the IGC to the NH 47 at Cherthala, just 7 kms away.

Work on infrastructure facilities in the IGC is going on in full swing. 1.2 kms of internal roads have been constructed in the IGC. The tender-ing process for another 1.5 kms, will be completed in April 2015. The IGC will be secured by a 7km long com-pound wall. A 2.5 km stretch of the wall has already been completed, and the work on the remaining stretch is progressing at a fast pace.

Electricity is being supplied to units in the IGC by KSEB through a 11KV line. To meet the increasing power needs of the units, a 110 KV substation is being planned in the Centre. KSIDC has already allot-ted 1.5 acres of land for the substa-

The unit of M/s. Kera Mattwalla Pvt. Ltd. in IGC Cherthala

FactFiLe

Location Pallippuram, Cherthala

Land 278.79 acres Nearest Airport Kochi (60 km)

Nearest Railway Station

Cherthala (8 km)

Nearest port Kochi (30 km)

Focus Industries Coir, Food Processing

For more details contact : Ebimon P K, Deputy Manager (Civil) Phone : 8589067064, 0484 – 2323010

unit and some coir based units.In all 200 acres of land has been

allotted to 41 units in the IGC. A Mega Food Park is also coming up on 65 acres of land in the IGC. 15 seafood units have already taken up land in the IGC. In addition, 15 acres of land has been allotted for setting up the National Power Training In-stitute.

“The IGC at Cherthala has been able to attract industries, not just in traditional sectors such as coir and food processing, which have a strong presence in the area, but also in sec-tors such as information technology, education and engineering. This will help the district widen its industrial base,” says Mr KG Ajith Kumar, General Manager, KSIDC. The to-tal investment that is expected to be brought in by the units in the IGC is expected to cross Rs 350 crore. It is hoped that 16,000 persons will get employment in the units, with In-fopark Cherthala, accounting for the bulk of the jobs.

tion and work is expected to start in a couple of months.

An overhead water tank with a capacity of 16.2 lakh litres has been built by KWA on 30 cents of land provided by the Centre to meet the drinking water requirements of the units.

KSIDC is planning to construct an 80,000 sq ft standard design factory at the IGC. The tender for the SDF that is expected to be complete in 18 months will be floated this month. A common effluent treatment plant, warehouse and a container freight station are some of the facilities that are being planned in the Centre.

A number of institutions have al-ready started operations at the Cen-tre. Infopark has built a 2.4 lakh sq ft facility on 66 acres of land in the Centre. The College of Engineering Cherthala, is also located in the IGC.

The unit of Malabar Cements is the main industry that is functioning in the IGC. In addition three coir based units and an LPG filling unit have started operations there. Some of the units in the IGC that will be commis-sioned soon include Emirates Steel Tubes, Maxshield (a surgical gloves unit), a formaldehyde manufacturing


A fruitful visitKerala delegation attends Annual Investment Meeting

at Dubai; gets investment proposals

A delegation led by Chief Min-ister Oommen Chandy, com-prising Mr P.K. Kunjalikutty,

Minister for Industries and IT, Mr. P.H.Kurian, IAS, Principal Secretary (Industries & IT), Dr. M.Beena, IAS, Managing Director, KSIDC, Mr. G.Unnikrishnan, Deputy General Manager, KSIDC and Mr. Varghese Malakaran, Manager, KSIDC, at-tended the fifth edition of the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM), held at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre, Dubai, UAE from 30th March to 1st April 2015. AIM is a global forum for investment and strategic networking, and pro-vides a platform for countries to net-work, share experiences and promote investment opportunities. The theme for this edition of AIM was ‘Sus-tainable Development through FDI induced Innovation and Technology Transfer’.

The Chief Minister addressed a plenary session in AIM titled “The development of high-end industries, underlying factors behind a success story in China and the Asian Tigers”. He spoke on the Kerala Perspective with respect to development of tech-nology based industries, IT, e-gover-nance and IT parks and highlighted the progress Kerala has made in the Information Technology sector and how the public has benefitted by stra-tegic e-governance initiatives.

The Chief Minister also had a one to one discussion with UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler

tHe taKeWaYs• UAE to assist Kerala in

three infrastructure projects• DAFZA will help setup

Free Trade Zones• SmartCity project to be

expedited• Several companies express

interest in investing in the state

of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mo-hammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, at his palace. The Chief Minister in-vited HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to inaugurate the phase-1 of SmartCity, Kochi and to lay the foundation stone for its sec-ond phase development. The Govern-ment of Dubai has agreed to extend all support to expedite the successful completion of the SmartCity project .

The visit has helped strengthen the relationship between UAE, which has already invested in Kerala through two major projects - the SmartC-ity and the Vallarppadam ICTT, and Kerala. During the visit, the UAE Minister of Economy, Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri expressed its will-ingness deepen its relationship with the state by collaborating with the state government in 3 major projects to be set up in the state. The details of the projects will be finalized soon.

The delegation also visited the Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority (DAFZA), considered to be one of

the most advanced free zones in the world had discussions with its Direc-tor General, Dr. Mohammed Al Za-rooni. The state expressed its interest in setting up a similar free zone in the state, near the Cochin International Airport or Kannur International Air-port. DAFZA, has offered its help in developing and managing airport free zones in Kochi and Kannur.

The Kerala pavilion at the AIM, showcased the core competencies of the state and the opportunities it of-fered for investors. Delegates from various countries visited the pavilion and had discussions with the offi-cials from the state. The discussions opened up new markets for Kerala based units. Mr. Agbor Ambang A.A, Diplomat and Director (Studies, Projects & Co-operation), Ministry of Mines, Republic of Cameroon who visited the Kerala pavilion, invited Kerala food processing companies to set up plants in Cameroon and take advantage of the surplus raw mate-rials - especially plantains, bananas & other fruits - available there. The Suriname Government said that the country had plentiful supplies of co-conuts and sought the state’s help to produce value added coconut prod-ucts. They also invited companies from the state to invest in Suriname.

Many companies have also evinced interest in investing in the state. Smithline Reinforced Composites FZC, a manufacturer of composite pipes wants to set up a manufacturing facility near Kochi, to cater to local Indian demand, which is expected to grow at a fast pace. M/s Smart Box Industries LLC, a company into pre-engineered steel modular construc-tion using shipping containers, also held discussions with KSIDC. The company feels there will be a huge demand in Kerala for this sustain-able building option and proposes to set up a manufacturing unit in Kerala near Kochi. I4technologies is another company that wants to invest in the state by setting up a manufacturing park for printed electronics in Kerala.

Chief minister Oommen Chandy, Mr. P.H.Kurian, Principal Secretary (Industries & IT), Dr. M.Beena, Managing Director, KSIDC having discussions with inves-tors during the Annual Investment Meeting at Dubai


For private circulation only. Prepared by Independent Media (+91 484 6052700 ) for Managing Director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd, Keston Road, Kowdiar, Thiruvanathapuram-695 003. Executive Editor: Dr Sebastian Thomas.

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Mega Food Park gets sanctionThe Union Ministry of Food Process-ing has sanctioned two Mega Food Parks- one in Palakkad and the other in Cherthala - in Kerala. The Mega Food Park at Cherthala will come up on 65 acres of land in KSIDC’s indus-trial growth centre. It will entail an in-vestment of Rs 125 crore of which Rs 50 crore will be provided as grant by the central government. The Park will cater mainly to the marine food pro-cessing industries, that have a foot-hold in the region. It will have special-ised infrastructure such as cold stor-ages and quality control labs that will help processors produce value added products that satisfy the requirements of the global market. The Mega Food Park scheme, of the Union govern-ment aims to establish a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market by bringing together farmers, processors and retailers, based on the cluster approach.

catholic syrian bank files for Rs 400-cr iPo

Thrissur-based Catholic Syr-ian Bank(CSB) has filed for an initial public offer (IPO) to raise about Rs 400 crore.

The bank plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to boost its capital ad-equacy ratio and fund its business growth. The bank had earlier raised Rs 113 crore through a rights issue.

With the IPO, CSB will follow other banks based in the state – SBT, Fed-eral Bank, South Indian Bank and Dhanlaxmi Bank, who have already been listed on the bourses.

nRi deposits in Kerala cross Rs 1-trillion

The foreign exchange deposits in Kerala was Rs 1,04,573.76 crore at the end of December 2014. This is the first time NRI deposits in Kerala crossed the Rs 1-trillion mark.

The state has the largest amount of NRI deposits in the country. The

NRI deposits in Kerala account for a sixth of the total NRI deposits of Rs 6,04,873.5 crore (Rs 6.04 trillion) in Indian banks.

It is reckoned that there are about 1.6 million expatriates from Kerala living across the world, mostly in West Asia. Experts say that in addi-tion to the NRI deposits, there are re-mittances coming to Kerala through various foreign exchange money transfer companies.

India tops the world in the amount of remittances from abroad. The country got $70.38 billion - 3.7 per cent its GDP of nearly $ 2 trillion - from its global migrant workforce.

Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram make it to list of emerging startup locationsKochi and Thiruvananthapuram have been listed as the ‘next emerging lo-cations’ for startups in a Nasscom report on Tech Startups in India. Kol-kata, Ahmedabad and Jaipur are the other locations that found a place in the list.

The report states that Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR are the hotspots of startups in the country.

It is estimated that around 700 startups are operational in the state, with Startup Village alone accounting for 533 startups. The startups have created 2,889 jobs.

The state government is going all out to develop an ecosystem in the state that is conducive for start-ups. It has come up with an entrepreneur-ship policy and has reserved 1 per cent of its budget for promoting en-trepreneurship.

Kerala tourism website wins national award

The Kerala Tourism website (www.keralatourism.org) won the Gold-en Icon award in the ‘Outstanding

Content’ category of the Web Ratna Awards. The Web Ratna Awards have been instituted by the Union govern-ment to honour exemplary e-gover-nance initiatives using the medium of the world wide web. The winners were chosen by a jury comprising ex-perts from academia, industry and government.

The Kerala Tourism website re-ceives around 4.2 million visits and 14 million page views annually. The high quality website is currently available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Arabic and Chinese, besides ten Indian lan-guages including Hindi and Malay-alam.

The Kerala Tourism website has won several national and interna-tional awards for its innovative use of information technology to promote tourism.

tHDc to setup 50MW solar power project in Kerala

THDC India Ltd, (formerly Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Ltd.), has signed a tripartite agree-ment to develop a 50 MW solar pho-tovoltaic (PV) project and sell power with Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and Solar Energy Corpora-tion of India (SECI).

The project to be located in Kasara-god district will be commissioned within 12 months.

The agreement was signed by K Valsakumari, director (renewable en-ergy & planning), KSEB; C Kannan, director (finance), and Deepak Sar-wal, executive director (ED), THDC India Ltd. in presence of M Sivasan-kar, Secretary, Power, Govt of Kerala.

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Volume 1, Issue 5 April 2015