Mumbai,(Ajay Rawal) : The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group (an enterprise of Bharat Hotels Ltd) known as India’s largest privately owned hotel company and also the fastest growing hospitality chain, today announced the rebranding of its Mumbai property as The Lalit Mumbai. With this move, the company ends its franchise agreement with InterContinental Hotel Group. On November 19, 2008 Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson & Managing Director, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group charted a highly successful brand change for the company. All luxury hotels of the Group today fly “THE LALIT” flag under The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, as a tribute to the company’s Founder Chairman Mr. Lalit Suri.

        Dr. Suri told GNS correspondent here today, “ We have come a long way since birth of ‘The Lalit’ in 2008. Last year, we rebranded our Goa property as The Lalit Golf & Spa Resort, Goa. Soon, we will be launching our mid-segment hotel under the brand ‘The Lalit Traveller’. With 9 operational hotels and 7 to open shortly, The Group has shown rapid growth. Our strength lies in the fact that we own, manage and operate each of our properties.”

       “The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group believes in developing destinations, and not just hotels.  It is the people and the environment of the destinations that account for the success of our hotels.  We have been organizing The Lalit Suri Polo at Drass (the second coldest habitat in the world) consecutively since past 3 years; introduced Beach Polo for the first time in Goa; organized memorable art and cultural festivals in Khajuraho and Bekal (Kerala) & the first ever longest Shikara race in the serene surroundings of Dal Lake in Kashmir. This year we have also added two unique initiatives to our calendar – The Lalit Chaupal for the real stakeholders of tourism and The Lalit Ice Hockey at Leh to promote the traditional sport in the region. ” Dr. Suri further added.

         Currently, The Group owns, manages and operates nine properties including The Lalit New Delhi, The Lalit Mumbai, The Lalit Ashok Bangalore in Business Hotels category, The Lalit Golf and Spa Resort Goa, The Lalit Temple View Khajuraho & The Lalit Resort & Spa Bekal (Kerala) in the Resorts category and The Lalit Grand Palace Srinagar and The Lalit Laxmi Vilas Palace Udaipur in the Palaces category. The Group would soon be adding another jewel in its crown, The Lalit Jaipur, a modern hotel inspired by traditional architecture.  Subsequently The Lalit Great Eastern Kolkata, The Lalit Ahmedabad, The Lalit Chandigarh, The Lalit Amritsar, The Lalit Dehradoon will be launched, along with international projects The Lalit Grand Fort Dubai and The Lalit Resort & Spa Koh Samui (Thailand).

 Mumbai, (GNS) : The first day of the IIFA Voting Weekend saw several members of the Indian Film Fraternity come forward to cast their vote for IIFA Awards 2012. 30th March – 1st April 2012 marks the 13th year celebrations of the IIFA’s.  Amongst the many that came in were Dia Mirza, Arbaaz Khan, J. P Dutta, Ramesh Sippy, Parineeti Chopra, Vidyut Jamwal, Arjan Bajwa and the cast of Housefull 2, among others.

         The cast of Housefull 2 – The Dirty Dozen showed up to vote for the 13th IIFA Awards, with Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez, Asin, Shazahn Padamsee and Zarine Khan addressing the press today. The film is the second super star packed installment in the Housefull franchise. The director, Sajid Khan voted alongside the cast. The film is produced by Sajid Nadiadwalla of Nadiadwallah & Grandsons. The movie is set to release on the 6th of April
         The voting weekend is largely restricted to individuals who are a part of the film industry and not the public at large. This ensures that the nominations derived are credible. The turnout by the industry was phenomenal and IIFA is one of the only Awards ceremonies for which the industry turns out collectively and in full force to cast their vote.
        Every year, Academy members and the Film Industry are invited to cast their votes and shortlist nominations in the category of the Popular Awards. The Technical Award winners and the Popular Award nominations are derived from the voting weekend. Year on year over 1000 industry stalwarts, actors, directors, producers, technicians and composers and others have come forward to cast their votes, which will decide nominations for the awards.

      Wiz Andre Timmins, Director, Wizcraft Entertainment International Ltd told GNS here today,  “As we draw closer to the 13th IIFA Weekend and Awards, we are immensely proud of how it has grown into an institution in itself. We are gearing up for the big celebrations and will continue to work towards providing an international platform for the industry and its many talents.”

        The IIFA Voting process is a stringent and methodical procedure that is closely monitored by PriceWaterHouse Coopers (PwC), the official auditors for the event. The popular category nominations will then be available for the global audience to participate in the voting process. The final winners of the IIFA Awards are revealed on the night of the Awards ceremony when the envelope is opened onstage, in front of the live audience. The results are surrounded by secrecy and the credibility of the voting process is one of the key parameters of this prestigious award.

      Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd promotes the IIFA celebrations globally each year and travel to a new beau locale taking the Film fraternity with it to amalgamate and celebrate the best of both cultures, thereby taking Indian Cinema to a wider audience.

 Mumbai, (GNS) : Leading global IT services provider HCL Technologies Ltd. (HCL), has strategically aligned with Cisco to announce the opening of a South Africa Glocal Centre of Excellence (GCoE) in Johannesburg as part of its commitment to build a socially responsible business. The Johannesburg GCoE will serve as a local support center for HCL and Cisco’s South African clients. It will also train local engineers on advanced Cisco technologies to support clients across Africa and specifically South Africa.

 Highlights / Key Facts:

·         HCL has established Global Cisco Hub in India and has over 15 years’ experience in creating engineering talent in advanced technologies.

·         HCL is a pioneer and global leader in Remote Infrastructure Management and it will extend its best practices and global delivery excellence in this arena to the African region through the Johannesburg GCoE which will serve as a local delivery hub.

     ·         The GCoE which will be operated by HCL, will be aligned with the India hub to     address the skills shortage for advanced technologies in both regions. HCL has already trained an initial batch of 26 local engineers who are already deployed on key projects in five regional hubs across South Africa, with plans to train 100 engineers at the centre over next 12 months.

     ·         The launch of the South Africa Hub capitalizes on HCL’s core strength in training large numbers of engineers and will see this strategy expanded further and rolled out on a wider base.

·         The GCoE will serve customers either directly and indirectly through HCL’s partner network throughout Africa, It will also service clients by developing ICT skill sets thus ultimately creating trained local personnel to deploy and manage advanced solutions.

      ·         The centre will support a number of vertical sectors including Telecom Service Providers, BFSI, the Public Sector and the Retail & Mining industry and joins existing GCoEs in the US and EU in running dedicated recruitment and training programs for college graduates.

·         A pilot programme running at centers in Seattle WA and Cary North Carolina in the US, Helsinki in Finland, Krakow in Poland, Dublin in Ireland, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Dubai in UAE and Singapore has already provided a platform for developing IT skill pool in local communities through collaboration with anchor customers and universities.

    In a statement here today,Ashish Gupta, Senior Vice President and Head – EMEA, HCL Infrastructure Services Division, HCL Technologies said, “As more and more companies in the west look for new avenues of growth we are increasingly seeing a large demand for leading edge IT solutions coming in from emerging markets like Africa. The Johannesburg Glocal Center of Excellence is an important part of our strategy in the way we plan to serve our customers and partners throughout Africa and underlines our core philosophy of creating talent pools in the markets we operate to manage advanced technology solutions which can help our customers leverage the latest technologies for their business.

Meanwhile, Stefano Mattiello, Director, Channels for Cisco South Africa also stated, “South Africa offers many unique advantages for customer services support and also aligns with Cisco’s focus to partner with emerging countries in order to create innovative and inclusive business models enabled by technology. We choose to collaborate with HCL in South Africa because of its innovative, world-class support services. The centers of excellence we operate help us provide a global reach through the use of technology. We lead in the way of adopting Web 2.0 tools that allow us to work virtually and do business anytime, anywhere, with high levels of operational efficiency.”

ING Visa Platinum Multi Currency Forex Travel card designed to hedge travelers against fluctuating currency exchange rates  

Mumbai, (Ajay Rawal) :  ING Vysya Bank and Visa, a global leader in payments, today announced the launch of ING Visa Platinum Multi Currency Forex Travel card, world’s first Visa Platinum multi-currency card.

     The card is currently available in five foreign currencies – USD, Pound, Euro, Australian Dollar and Japanese Yen. The ING Visa Platinum Multi Currency card is a prepaid card designed to offer travelers unmatched convenience and a secure way to carry money when travelling abroad. For the first time, the Indian traveler can load five different foreign currencies on a single Visa Prepaid card and lock in the currency exchange rates for all the five currencies. Travelers can benefit against the frequent currency fluctuations and depreciating rupee, by locking in the currency exchange rate they availed during the time of purchase of the card, and not pay different rates every time they travel. 

  Talking to newsmen here today, Shailendra Bhandari, MD & CEO of ING Vysya Bank said, “We are proud to launch the world’s first VISA Platinum Multicurrency Forex Travel Card. Our promise to our customers is to make banking easier and with this innovation we reinforce our commitment. The power of this product lies in the convenience it offers. Our customers can manage transactions across five currencies in one single card. I am sure this, along with a host of inbuilt privileges, will go a long way in meeting the evolving needs of the global Indian. With the launch of this card, we also start a new partnership with Visa and I am confident it will be a successful one.”

     Uttam Nayak, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa, said, “With more Indians traveling abroad, both for leisure and business, a product that offers such a wide range of benefits to international travelers was the need of the hour. The unique proposition of the card is that it locks the value of the rupee at the rate on the purchase date and any fluctuation in currency exchange rates or rupee rate will not impact the traveler. ” 

      In addition to the benefits offered by a travel card, cardholders can also enjoy the unique features available on the Visa Platinum platforms including discounted shopping at luxury brand outlets, exclusive offers at luxury hotels, free access to emergency cash amongst others.

  Mumbai (GNS) Tata Chemicals Ltd  today  announced the launch of a range of flavoured salts called Tata Salt Flavoritz across major cities in India. ‘Flavoritz’ is the new addition to the Tata salt family, created to add variety and an element of fun to the nation’s most trusted salt brand. Importantly, it also marks the entry of the first indigenous brand of flavoured salts in India.

 ‘Flavoritz’ is an innovation in the salt category for every Indian homemaker who is enthused with experimentation in food and is looking to add a ‘Taste Mein Twist’. These flavoured salts can be used in a variety of traditional and untraditional ways, ranging from dressing up salads, sandwiches, and pasta to enhancing the flavor of parathas and boiled eggs.

Talking to newsmen here today on the launch, Ashvini Hiran, Chief Operating Officer, Consumer Products Division, Tata Chemicals Ltd, said, “Being a market leader, Tata Salt has always carried the onus of delivering differentiated value added offerings within the salt spectrum. Tata Salt has been trusted for consistency in taste, purity, iodine content and assurance of health. With ‘Flavoritz’, we are now pleased to add a pinch of flavored salt to our portfolio. The idea is to give consumers ‘never-tasted-before’ blends of flavors that give a new dimension to their daily food. Flavored Salt is iodised salt mixed with natural flavors that makes mundane recipes sumptuously tasty.”

        ‘Flavoritz’ is currently available in three interesting flavours – Lemon Coriander, Red Paprika, Onion Garlic and an extension in the form of Black Ground Pepper powder. The flavoured salts are available in 50 grams packs and come in attractive hour glass shaped HDPE sprinkler bottles.

Jaipur, (GNS) : The US Secretary of Commerce, Mr. John Bryson, who is leading an Infrastructure Trade Mission to India on a three city tour like New Delhi, Jaipur and Mumbai, visited Mahindra World City, Jaipur today. The delegation comprised top level management personnel representing US firms from energy, transportation and infrastructure sectors.

          In a statement here today, US Secretary Mr. John Bryson commented, “It’s clear that the U.S. – India trade and investment relationship has grown significantly in recent years, and places like Mahindra World City in Jaipur show opportunities for that relationship to grow even more. From urban planning to energy conservation, American businesses, including those joining me on this trade mission, are engaging in a range of sectors to help build the economic potential of places like Mahindra World City. If American and Indian businesses work together, we can build India’s infrastructure in a way that brings inclusive growth, greater prosperity, and more jobs to people in both of our countries.”

      Mr. Arun Nanda, Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.told GNS correspondent that , ‘The visit of this high level delegation from the United States will help us in facilitating exchange of ideas, best practices and experiences in sustainable infrastructure development, especially for the Mahindra World Cities. Their help in building our infrastructure will signify inclusive growth for all.”

            Ms. Anita Arjundas, MD & CEO, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd., the Company promoting Mahindra World City, Jaipur together with RIICO, said,” It is a matter of prestige and honour to have such an important delegation from the US infrastructure sector visit us here at Mahindra World City, Jaipur. The growth trajectory of India now lies in developing cities other than the metros in order to maintain a sustainable growth. We, at Mahindra World City, believe that the concept of “live, work, learn, play” has to come to the fore, if holistic development of not just infrastructure but of people too has to occur. The exchange of thoughts and ideas with the US Infrastructure Trade Mission should help us in that direction.”

Panaji, (Ajay Rawal) : The GoaWire Goa Music Festival invites all musicians, Bands & DJs to be part of the biggest Music Fest ever held in Asia. The GoaWire Goa Music Festival (Facebook.com/Goa.Music.Festival) which kicks off on Easter Sunday  - 8^th April  with the first grand inaugural event at Elephant Art Café, Anjuna Beach is the biggest Music Fest to be held in Asia and is set to rock and shake Goa and Goans out of the hot summer sun-induced lethargy.

      With over 120 performances or performing groups scheduled over two months of April and May and spread over 52 days at about 40 different locations, the GoaWire Goa Music Festival will cover and traverse the length and breadth of Goa from Canacona in South Goa, to Morjim, Ashwem and Arambol in North Goa. The main stops would include the tourist haunts of Anjuna, Vagator, Baga, Calangute, Candolim, Miramar and Panaji in the North and Majorda, Benaulim, Colva, Cavelossim and Palolem in South Goa. It is touted as the biggest Music Festival ever held in Asia till date and about one lakh Goans and visitors are expected to enjoy the extravaganza at about 40 different outdoor and indoor locations.

Mumbai: (Ajay Rawal) : Jinhae Gunhangje is known as the most famous cherry blossom festival. To be held for ten days beginning on April 1st, the Jinhae Gunhangje will introduce tourists to the beautiful cherry blossoms across Changwon in Korea.

            Selected as a special event for the Visit Korea Year Campaign, the festival is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Under the slogan of “Gunhangje- Past and Future 50 Years,” the festival will begin with various events on its eve and will proceed towards the commemorative, memorial, thematic, special and connected events.

        Over 2 million tourists come from all over the world to walk along the tree-lined streets and picturesque mountain paths.

    Mr. Jae Sang Lee, Director, Korea Tourism Organization said, “We are determined to promote Gunhangje to become a global festival on the occasion of its 50^th anniversary and the Visit Korea Year Campaign.   This year, it will be vibrant and splendid in terms of programmes and the size than ever before. The city is preparing a Hallyu star concert by inviting K-pop idol groups for the celebration. It will also hold “2012 Jinhae Multimedia Fireworks on the Sea” as a feature and present the “Yeojwacheon Light Festival”.  

         The festival offers a variety of events including a grand parade commemorating the victory of Admiral Yi Sun-sin the general of the Chosun Dynasty in addition to the breathtaking beauty of the cherry blossomed-lined streets.

          The city will also hold the “International Military Band and Honor Guard Festival” under the theme “Echo of Naval Port, Melody of the Future.” About 660 players in 12 bands, including the armies, navies, air forces and marines of various countries and the U.S. Eighty Army, will take part in the festival.

Mumbai, (Ajay Rawal) : Continuing with the tradition of exploring differentiated marketing on DID, Zee TV once again is ready to set some new benchmarks. Maruti Suzuki Dance India Dance Season 3 will unveil the first of its kind WAP site & Mobile Application. Devices Like iPads, BlackBerry, Android, netbooks, iPhones, PDAs, eBook reader, tablet PCs and cell phones have built a virtual network which connects people on the go and allows them to stay connected anytime and anywhere.

        This cutting edge technology will make a dream come true for all DID fans and the tech savvy generation of smartphone and feature phone users. The channel has associated with MOBILOX Innovations Pvt. Ltd to develop a WAP & APP technology which will give all mobile phone addicts the opportunity to reach out to their favourite DID contestants in real time.

       The WAP site will have exciting and entertaining features like appreciating your favourite participant while you watch them dance on television; chat with your favourite DID contestants and suggest dance steps to them; interact with the judges of DID – Masters Remo, Geeta & Terence; vote for your favourite participants (with in-built Missed call function) among others. The APP will have fun features like clicking your friend’s photo and turning the photo into an animated character. It will dance to a tune and this video can be shared on Facebook and Twitter. One will also be able to view all the Twitter messages and posts of all participants and judges on one page. The WAP is developed on HTML5. With most mobile phones having no access to Flash, HTML5 can deliver videos and other multimedia content to any kind of mobile phones and feature phones. HTML5 will enable users a better, faster, richer Web experience on their phones.

       Mr. Akash Chawla, Marketing Head, National Channels, ZEE Limited  told mediapersons here today, “Dance India Dance is a brand that is a favourite with viewers of all ages, especially the youth. Through Dance India Dance, Zee TV as a channel got an unparalleled opportunity to connect with the youth of today. Technology engages us in ways that are addictive. Television consumption patterns are changing for good. Viewers are leading the charge toward on-demand entertainment, viewable on the device of their choosing. This power shift is pervasive and they are not just passive viewers anymore, they’re also generators of content, co-creators of products, and – with social media and their smartphones– a media channel in their own right. With anytime, anyplace consumption, it is imperative for a content producer like us to adapt to their methods for making an impression and engaging with audiences. And to remain viable, we must do our part to facilitate this process…DID’s WAP/APP is just the start of this revolution!”

        Dance India Dance will be the first ever reality show on Indian television to be present as an application on all mobile/digital platforms. This mobile innovation is aimed at engaging with viewers which in turn will be an effective feedback mechanism to track their responses. The App has been designed keeping in mind the youth of the nation who are very active in the social media sphere. The aim is to provide to audiences with services and solutions with the highest quality, unique and valuable, that will help them connect with shows on ZEE TV anytime and anywhere. The thrill of having one’s favourite contestant come alive on one’s cell is quite something else.

      Meanwhile, Mr. Abhijit Saxena MD & CEO of Mobilox Innovations Pvt. Ltd told GNS Correspondent here today , ”The explosive growth of Mobile Phones especially smartphones in India has opened up multi model opportunities for viewers to interact with content from the channel. Channels now have a huge opportunity to deliver a concept or a show in multiple flavors on mobile, thus making a TV show come out of the screen and resonate strongly in the minds of the viewers. By marrying television and mobile (2 widely viewed screens) viewers can now interact with a particular show beyond its airing time to a 24 hour format. The introduction of missed call voting by DID has completely changed the dynamics of user interaction with the show. To top it, now, with the introduction of DID WAP and APP, the viewer will be enable with a bi-lateral expression platform where they can emote their feelings towards their favorite contestant and also help him/her better their performance to win the title.

         There has been a series of innovation on the current season of DID with the objective of reaching out to the youth of India. It kicked off with the first time ever opportunity for dance enthusiasts to share the videos and audition online. The next innovation was the very cool ‘Dance Mobs’ that were carried out in various streets, markets places, multiplexes, movie theatres of Mumbai & Delhi. Thousands gathered around these places and danced on the latest Bollywood numbers and DID title track!

       With every true democracy believing in voting being free…DID initiated ‘DID Season 3, VOTING FREE’ for the first time on Indian Television. Through this, Zee TV had a direct impact on the lives of the viewers by making the entire voting process in DID absolutely free of cost. All a viewer had to do was give a MISSED CALL to all his/her favourite contestants! This season was also significant for another first! This January, the show announced its licensing and merchandising tie-up with sportswear giant Reebok to create and retail a special range of DID and Reebok dance gear. Reebok has designed a customized range of DID dance gear and retails it from around 100 outlets across the country currently. If this was not enough, Zee TV conducted the biggest BTL activity in Mumbai on 1st March 2012 wherein DANCE INDIA DANCE broke the GUINNESS WORLD RECORD for the ‘Largest Bollywood Dance in Mumbai’. A crowd of 4428 enthusiastic dancers from all parts of Mumbai helped DID win the coveted certificate from Guinness World Records Ltd.