COIMBATORE
Tangedco directive on mobile number integration
Electricity consumers should integrate their mobile phone number with the electricity service number by logging on to the Tangedco website or by visiting the nearest Tangedco office, according to a press release.
A press release from Tangedco also urged electricity consumers to instal RCD/ELCB at their houses and work premises to avoid electricity accidents. If construction work is taken up on a site, there should be adequate distance from the power transmission line, it said.
SIMA CDRA office-bearers
G.Venkataramachandran, Managing Director of Laven Technoblend, was recently elected chairman of SIMA Cotton Development and Research Association (SIMA CDRA). S.K.Sundararaman, Managing Director of Shiva Texyarn, and Durai Palanisamy, Executive Director of Pallava Textiles, were elected Deputy Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively.
Textile expo
India ITME, an exhibition of textile technology, machinery, and engineering, will be held in Noida from December 8 to 13.
S. Harishankar, chairman of India ITME, told presspersons in Coimbatore recently, that the event will be spread across 2.35 lakh sq. mt covering 22 chapters of the textile segment. It will include the latest technologies, conferences, B to B sessions, and significant international participation and visitors.
Digital transformation
CII Coimbatore organised Connect Coimbatore recently on the theme “Transformation for Sustenance”. The aim of the conference was to support manufacturing and allied sector industries in their digital transformation journey and promote investments in the ICT sector in Coimbatore.
T V Sriram, Vice-President-HR Strategic Projects, Bosch Global Software Technologies, said Coimbatore has the largest electro-magnetic certified laboratory, next to Mumbai. Prashant Subramanian, chairman, CII Coimbatore, said the pandemic has led to a surge in the use of digital technologies in all spheres of the industry. The CII through Coimbatore NXT will aim to help industry members in their digital transformation journey and will also promote Coimbatore as an ICT investment destination.
Meeting held on FTAs
The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, recently conducted a meeting with Rajeev Kher, former Commerce Secretary, on “Free Trade Agreements”.
A press release from B Sriramulu, president of the Chamber, said Mr. Kher, said that global economy had slowed down during the pandemic. The trade policy should sync with the industrial policy to be useful. India is going through an extremely challenging time and with the Russia - Ukraine war and significant slowdown in the US economy, there may be more challenges in the future.
India’s trade policy should orient with global value changes to make the product competitive, he said.
Funds raised
Isthara, Coimbatore-based co-living brand and smart food court startup, has raised $ 10 million (₹ 81 crores) led by Dubai-based Eagle Investments. The current funding round brings Isthara’s total fund-raise to about $ 21 million.
Isthara, which currently operates in the co-living and institutional smart food court space, will deploy the new funds to foray into the B2C retail food court space and expand its presence in the co-living sector. The company aims to replicate its institutional cafetaria business model in the B2C space by launching smart food courts across retail locations such as malls. It will also foray in to the B2C food retail segment. Isthara aims to scale the food court business by 10X to 500 food courts across 30 cities in the next three years, catering to a million people on a monthly basis. Additionally, the funding will be used to double bed capacity in the co-Living and student accommodation segments to around 50,000 beds by 2025, and the company aims to achieve a 10X revenue growth in the next three years.
Investment
Ashton Gray Investments, a tech-enabled platform that allows Indian investors to invest in the U.S real estate sector, plans to open its third round of fund raising in India soon.
The Houston-based Ashton Gray Developments, a vertically-integrated real estate development and construction company, operates majorly in Texas namely Austin, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. The company plans to launch in another 10 days its project at New Caney near Houston, Texas. It is looking at raising ₹ 8 crore from India for this project, according to a press release.
Facility inaugurated
Bharathi Cement Corporation, a group company of VICAT France, has inaugurated its 0.75 MTPA bulk cement terminal in Coimbatore to serve Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Guy Sidos, VICAT Group Chairman, said in a press release, that Coimbatore terminal is the second one for the company in India, after Mumbai, which was set up in 2018.
The facility here is a fully automated packing and distribution one and will be operated with 16 employees. With dedicated own container wagons and a 24-hour loading facility, the new facility has end-to-end logistic automation for transportation of bulk cement in containers. The plant is equipped with infrastructure for loading bags as well as bulk cement.
