NTT DOCOMO and Tata Agree on Strategic Alliance in India

Tokyo, Nov 12, 2008 - (JCN Newswire) - NTT DOCOMO, INC. (DOCOMO), Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) and Tata Sons Limited, the prime promoter for Tata companies including TTSL, today announced their agreement on a strategic alliance in India, under which DOCOMO will acquire 26 percent of TTSL's common shares for approximately 130.7 billion Indian rupees (US$2.7 billion).

In addition, DOCOMO, in accordance with regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India*, expects to make an open offer to acquire up to 20 percent of the outstanding common shares of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML), a Tata telecommunications company, through a joint tender offer with Tata Sons .

As a result of the capital alliance, the partners expect to expand mobile communication operations in the fast-growing Indian mobile market, aiming to increase operating revenue and achieve steady business growth.

TTSL, based in Mumbai, is a telecommunications business unit in Tata, India's largest conglomerate based on operating revenues (see attachment). The company covers nearly all of India with high-quality wireless networks and a large number of retail stores and customer-service outlets. TTSL has sharply increased its share of the fast-growing Indian mobile market, and it is rapidly expanding its subscriber base, which currently exceeds 30 million (including TTML subscribers).

Tokyo-based DOCOMO, the world's leading mobile operator, has played a major role in the evolution of mobile telecommunications through its development of cutting-edge mobile technologies and services. The company is a strong market leader used by more than 50 percent of Japan's mobile phone customers.

* Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992: SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997

About Tata Sons Limited 

Tata Sons is the prime promoter company for various businesses run under Tata brand. Tata companies in India constitute as the largest business conglomerate, with operations in over 80 countries across seven sectors (Materials, Engineering, Information Technology & Communications, Energy, Services, Chemicals and Consumer Products). The Conglomerate had aggregate revenues of around US $62.5 billion in the Financial Year 2007-08 and employs around 350,000 employees worldwide and has more than 3.2 million shareholders. Tata Companies are known for its community services and for the trust it commands from all stakeholders. For more information on the Group, please log on to www.tata.com. 

About Tata Teleservices

Tata Teleservices is one of India's leading private telecom service providers. The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the Tata Indicom brand, and uses the latest CDMA 1X technology for its wireless network. Tata Teleservices, along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd, operates in more than 6,700 towns across all 22 circles. Tata Teleservices has a customer base of over 30 million. For more information log on to:www.tataindicom.com.

About NTT DOCOMO

NTT DOCOMO is the world's leading mobile operator and provider of advanced mobile services. The company serves over 55 million customers in Japan, including 48 million using i-mode(TM), the world's most popular mobile e-mail/Internet platform, and 51 million using FOMA(TM), the world's original 3G mobile service based on W-CDMA. As a leader in the development of cutting-edge mobile technologies, DOCOMO is continually expanding the role of mobile phones as versatile and highly personalized "lifestyle tools" for everyday life, including with a wide range of innovative services for mobile payments, GPS, mobile TV, multimedia content and much more. NTT DOCOMO is listed on the Tokyo (9437), London (NDCM) and New York (DCM) stock exchanges. For more information, visit www.nttdocomo.com.

Contact:

NTT DOCOMO, INC.International PRPublic Relations DepartmentTel: 81-3-5156-1366Fax: 81-3-5501-3408website: http://www.nttdocomo.com

India's TCS and Cisco form strategic alliance

India's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and US networking

giant Cisco Systems announced an alliance Tuesday to help their customers build next-

generation data centres.

Cisco will create its own technology lab on the Tata group company's campus in the

southern city of Chennai as part of the strategic alliance.

Both companies declined to provide financial details of the alliance, which will focus on

India, US and British-based customers in the banking, financial services, telecom and

state sectors.

"The alliance offers multibillion-dollar opportunities," TCS chief executive S. Ramadorai

told reporters in Mumbai, without giving precise forecasts.

"We belive in catching markets in transition, which makes this alliance crucial," said

John Chambers, chairman and chief executive of Cisco.

"If I had to bet on one country at this moment, it would be India," Chambers said, adding

he was confident of India's future strong economic growth.

Cisco, which has been in India for over a decade and is a dominant player in the

Internet networking market, had earlier pledged to invest 1.2 billion dollars in the

country.

It has said it plans to turn the South Asian nation into a platform to service markets

worldwide.

Cisco is trying to take advantage of India's low costs, its pool of technology talent pool

and the expertise of local companies to seize new markets.

Private sector insurer Aviva Life Insurance has entered into a nation-wide strategic alliance with

India Post, which will help the insurance firm to gather its premium of policies through post

offices.

With the signing of deal, Aviva customers will now be able to make premium payments at any of

the 8294 computerized post offices, spread over across the country without any additional cost.

The move will make it convenient for customers to pay their renewal premiums on time,

ensuring that their policy continues.

Later, the premium amount collected by the post offices will be transferred to Aviva through e-

payment system of India Post.

Aviva Life Insurance is a joint venture between Dabur and Aviva and has paid up capital of Rs

1,491 crore. Aviva is the fifth largest insurer worldwide and has 50 million customers globally.

Microsoft India and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) – a leading IT services, consulting, business solutions and outsourcing firm today announced a strategic alliance between the two companies to launch Microsoft-TCS virtualization Center of Excellence (CoE) in Chennai. Designed to help customers experience the right approach to applying and managing virtualization across IT architectural layers (namely server, machine, application and desktop) in their business environments – the CoE will leverage best of breed Microsoft technologies (such as Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008) to showcase virtualization scenarios to customers. The Microsoft-TCS virtualization CoE is a joint initiative by the companies to accelerate the adoption of virtualization technology in India.

“Virtualization is one of the most disruptive technologies in the world today. Though there is adequate knowledge on the benefits of virtualization - only 5% of the world’s servers are virtualized today! There is a clear gap between awareness and adoption of this technology – which has emerged from the lack of guidance among customers around actual implementation of this technology and their inability to demystify the conceptual transition from physical to virtual environments. Through our partnership with TCS to launch the virtualization CoE, we will address this crucial market need and help customers land the benefits of virtualization technology in accordance with their business requirements”, said Rajan Anandan (Managing Director, Microsoft India).

“We are always looking to enhance the services we provide to our customers. Virtualization has clearly emerged as a revolutionary technology with wide reaching implications for global as well as Indian businesses – one that our customers are showing a great deal of interest in. Due to its key benefits such as improved performance, reduced total cost of ownership and increased availability of IT infrastructure – virtualization is increasingly being viewed as an imperative technology by customers, specifically in these challenging economic times,” said P. R. Krishnan (Vice President & Global Head IT Infrastructure Services, TCS). “The Microsoft-TCS virtualization CoE is an initiative aimed at enabling our customers rapidly realize the advantages of this revolutionary technology. Based on robust virtualization solutions from Microsoft – the CoE will leverage best of breed technologies that are best suited to help our customers stay ahead in today’s competitive market environment”, added Krishnan.

The Microsoft-TCS virtualization CoE will deliver a heightened user experience that will help customers demystify Virtualization: migration from physical to virtual environments, user experience and performance, management of physical and virtual infrastructure from a single console - and experience how virtualization technology deployment in the datacenter can enable improved performance, higher availability and lower cost of ownership of IT infrastructure.

With a holistic approach to virtualization, Microsoft addresses its customers’ end-to-end virtualization requirements – with technologies and solutions spanning across the datacenter to the desktop, and from implementation to management (both virtual and physical resources).

About Microsoft IndiaFounded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. Microsoft Corporation India Private Ltd is a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation USA. It has had a presence in India since 1990 and currently has offices in thirteen cities - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, and Pune.

About Tata Consultancy ServicesTata Consultancy Services is an IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organization that delivers real results to global businesses, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled services delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development.  A part of the Tata Group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 140,000 of the world's best trained IT consultants in 42 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $6 billion for fiscal year ended 31 March 2009 and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India.

3i Infotech, a global information technology company, today announced strategic partnerships with ICICI Lombard, Airtel and Max New York Life to offer a comprehensive range of services to rural consumers under the I-SERV brand. This announcement follows 3i Infotech’s commitment to constructively harness the rural consumption through its recently launched I-SERV initiative. Through I-SERV, consumers especially in remote rural areas, will get an access to a range of value-added services that will improve their quality of life.

Through this partnership, ICICI Lombard, Airtel and Max New York Life will help 3i Infotech provide a bouquet of retail services in the general insurance, telecom and life insurance sectors respectively. ICICI Lombard will provide its entire suite of general insurance products like Motor, Home, Travel and Health. Additionally, the company will also make available specific Rural Insurance products like Cattle, Tractor and Weather Insurance through these I-SERV stores. Airtel will use the I-SERV retail stores for marketing, promotion and distribution of various cellular services across this space. Max New York Life will offer Max Vijay, a product designed specifically for the underserved segment of the society, to meet the unique challenges of unpredictability in life and their income flow.3i Infotech is setting up 12,500 I-SERV stores across nine Indian states including: Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi. These stores will deliver services related to Banking, Insurance, Mobile, Education, Ticketing and Utilities.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Anirudh Prabhakaran, Executive Director and President, South Asia, 3i Infotech, said, “We have taken care to align with organizations having similar commitment to use technology as a tool to enrich lives and to empower Rural India. The wide reach of our I-SERV stores, coupled with the experience and expertise that these organizations bring to this relationship, will benefit Rural India”. “It’s a www, i.e. win-win-win for the Rural Consumers, the Partners as well as the I-SERV stores,” he added.Mr. Sandeep Bakhshi, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Lombard, said, “We aim to touch 10 million lives across rural India through various health and rural insurance schemes as part of our financial inclusion initiative. Our alliance with 3i Infotech for its I-SERV initiative, is part of our effort in expanding the general insurance footprint through government partnerships, NGOs and MFIs.”Mr. K. Srinivas, Executive Director, East/West Hub, Mobility, Bharti Airtel Limited, said, “At Airtel, we are committed to driving mobile penetration in rural India through affordable products, value-added services and easy to reach distribution. Our partnership with I-SERV is another step towards our aim to reach customers in rural India to help them experience the benefits of mobile telephony. This partnership, we hope, will be creating another success story benefiting Rural India."Mr. Rajit Mehta, Chief Operating Officer, Max New York Life Insurance Company, said, “Max Vijay’, a one of its kind business model, has revolutionized the way insurance is procured, sold and serviced. It has been designed specifically for the underserved segment of the society to meet the unique challenges of unpredictability in life and their income flow. Our association with 3i Infotech is a part of our concentrated strategy to strengthen our presence across the country and help serve the underserved, to build a financially secure nation. We are extremely happy to partner with 3i Infotech, which has provided a unique platform through I-SERV to help us expand our reach significantly amongst the rural, and less developed parts of the country. Our technology driven distribution and service model makes it an ideal ally in the rural transformation that I-SERV has undertaken.”

About 3i Infotech 3i Infotech is one of India’s leading IT companies and among the top 4 Indian Software Products Companies.* The Company provides software products and IT services (Managed IT Services, Application Software Development & Maintenance, Payment Services, Business Intelligence, Document Imaging & Digitization, Operations Outsourcing (BPO) and IT Consulting) for the Insurance, Banking, Capital Market, Mutual Funds, Wealth Management and Government verticals. The Company services customers in over 50 countries across 5 continents.3i Infotech is SEI CMMI Level 5 compliant for Software Services, ISO 9001:2000 for BPO Services and ISO 27001:2005 certified for Infrastructure Services.

New Delhi, January 17, 2008: Educational Testing Service (ETS), the world’s leading educational measurement and research organization, and NIIT, a leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia’s largest trainer have entered into a strategic alliance to offer ETS suite of products in India. The new initiative will enhance employability and provide competitive advantage to Indian organizations in the global market place.

As part of the strategic agreement, NIIT will have exclusive rights to offer ETS’s TOEIC® test (Test of English for International Communication™), TOEFL® Practice Online (TPO), and CriterionSM Online Writing Evaluation Service–-in India. The multi-year agreement with NIIT will also enable both the companies to raise awareness of ETS products and services in India.

The TOEFL® test is the world’s most popular academic English language examination, accepted by more than 6,000 universities in 160 countries, and the TOEIC® test is the global standard for communicative English ability in the international workplace. The TOEIC® test is offered in about 60 countries around the world. More than 5,000 companies, government and public offices and other organizations, across the world use the TOEIC® test.

“We are pleased to enter into this strategic relationship with NIIT and we welcome them as our Country Master Distributor in India,” says David Hunt, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of ETS’ Global Division. “This agreement will provide companies, institutions and individuals in India with greater access to key ETS products such as the TOEIC test, TOEFL Practice Online and Criterion to help them succeed in the world of education and business.”

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vijay K. Thadani, Chief Executive Officer, NIIT, said, “India is poised to be a talent hub for global manpower needs. In our efforts of developing global talent, we are happy to partner with ETS to enhance employability of individuals and help large Indian organizations become more competitive in the global market place.”

The agreement comes at a time when millions of people throughout the world are learning English; workplaces are increasingly becoming more globally focused; and workforces are more culturally diverse than ever. In addition, non-native English speakers outnumber native English speakers by more than three-to-one, an accelerating trend worldwide.

Through this alliance, NIIT will leverage its Testing and Assessment capabilities to offer ETS’ tests to students, professionals and job aspirants who seek to evaluate their English Communication skills for employment prospects in emerging sectors such as IT, ITES, Retail, Banking and Insurance, among others in India.

ABOUT THE TOEIC® TEST, TOEFL® PRACTICE ONLINE AND CRITERIONSM SERVICE

“TOEIC®” is the branded name for the Test of English for International Communication. The TOEIC test is a global standard for communicative English ability in the international workplace. It is taken by nearly five million people in 60 countries.

“TOEFL®” is the branded name for the Test of English as a Foreign Language, and is administered in over 160 countries to persons seeking to enter over 6,000 institutions of higher education worldwide. TOEFL Practice Online is a web-based simulation test officially provided by ETS, the makers of the TOEFL® iBT test. TOEFL Practice Online is derived from previously administered TOEFL iBT tests and provides instant scoring by ETS. Providing a real TOEFL iBT test experience, TOEFL Practice Online assists TOEFL test takers in becoming familiar with the test format and measures their readiness for test day.

The CriterionSM Online Writing Evaluation service is a web-based, instructor-driven, comprehensive instructional tool that helps students plan, write and revise essays. The system provides annotated diagnostic feedback and a holistic score to both student and instructor within 20 seconds so that students can quickly review, revise and resubmit essays.

ABOUT ETS AND ETS GLOBAL

ETS is a nonprofit organization with the mission to advance quality and equity in education by providing fair and valid assessments, research and related services for all people worldwide. Founded in 1947, ETS designs, develops, delivers and scores more than 50 million tests annually in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide.

ETS’ Global Division and its related subsidiaries have offices around the world to meet the needs of non-US based entities in Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. In serving individuals, businesses, educational institutions, government agencies and membership organizations

worldwide, ETS offers valid and reliable assessments, research and related services such as customized solutions workforce products and services, and research-based teaching and learning tools.

For more information, visit the ETS Global website at www.ets.org/etsglobal.

ABOUT NIIT

NIIT, Asia’s No. 1 trainer and leading Global Talent Development Corporation, offers learning and knowledge solutions to 5 million students across 32 countries.

Leading IT magazine Dataquest has conferred upon NIIT, the Top IT Training Company Award 2007. Rated among India’s Superbrands (2003-05), NIIT’s Individual Learning Business offerings include: Industry-endorsed programs for students seeking careers in IT: GNIIT, Integrated ANIIT for Engineers (IAE) and Advanced Technology Programs for IT professionals.

For working professionals, NIIT Imperia, Centre for Advanced Learning, offers Executive Management Education Programmes in association with Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at Ahmedabad, Indore and Kolkata.

NIIT Institute of Finance Banking & Insurance (IFBI), formed with equity participation from ICICI Bank, offers programs to develop talent for the banking industry.

NIIT offers turnkey IT integration program for schools. NIIT has provided computer-based learning to over 5000 government and private schools.

NIIT’s Corporate Learning Solutions, offers integrated learning solutions (including strategic consulting, learning design, content development, delivery, technology, assessment and learning management) to Fortune 500 companies, Universities, Technology companies, Training corporations and Publishing houses.

Element K delivers learning solutions for customers and partners through a tailored combination of catalog learning products, technology, and services. The offerings include: vLab®: hands-on labs, instructor-led courseware, comprehensive e-reference libraries, technical journals, and KnowledgeHub™: hosted learning management platform.

NIIT together with Element K is now the first and the best choice for comprehensive learning solutions, worldwide.

Air India Enters into Strategic Alliance for Marketing Engine Overhaul Facility

Nov 2, 2009Air India’s Engine Overhaul Facility, Mumbai, and Aerostar Asset Management, “Sharjah, UAE have created an Engine MRO brand called “The A Team”. Directed initially for the Middle East Market, this strategic alliance will provide engine repair and management solutions to all airline operators of the region.

“A Team” will utilize the existing engine overhaul facilities of Air India at Mumbai and marketing set up of Aerostar in the Middle East .This alliance will sell repair services for jet engines such as GE CF6-50 & 80 series, P&W 4000 series, GE-90 series and CFM56-7 series and will also cover CFM56-5 series engine in the near future.

A marketing agreement was recently executed between the two companies and the brand will be formally launched at the Dubai Air show to be held during November, 15 – 19, 2009.

Air India’s Engine Overhaul facility, established in 1966, has been catering to third party MRO services since 1999. The facility is approved by Director General of Civil Aviation, India, Federal Aviation Administration, USA, and European Aviation Safety Agency. It is also an ISO rated facility.

Aerostar Asset Management is a company promoted by the ETA Star Group which has a strong presence in the Middle East. Aerostar has been involved in jet engine management for various customers since 2005.

The above alliance will provide practical and cost effective solutions for engine repair management which will result in reduced cost of ownership for engines operators.

Air India’s technical expertise in the field of engine overhaul and its elaborate facilities coupled with Aerostar’s capabilities in MRO marketing and material sourcing will be an ideal combination for high level of customer care, lower repair cost & tighter TAT and assured quality that will ensure longer engine time on wing. The arrangement will also result in additional revenue earnings for Air India.

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. Signs Strategic Alliance Agreement With Indian Conglomerate Kirloskar Integrated Technologies

(Nanowerk News) Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a developer of flexible thin-film solar modules, announced today that it has signed a Strategic Alliance Agreement with Kirloskar Integrated Technologies Limited, India (Kirloskar). Under the terms of the multi-phase agreement the two companies will commence integration, marketing and distribution of Ascent Solar's flexible CIGS photovoltaic modules into products designed to address multiple market opportunities in India. Target markets include defense, consumer portable power, off grid rural power solutions and hybrid solar and diesel generation back up power systems. Phase two of the agreement provides for the establishment of a complete backend module assembly plant in India and the third and final phase of the contact is designed to expand production in India to include complete end to end module manufacturing. This agreement results from the collaboration achieved thus far under a memorandum of understanding signed in September of 2009 between the two companies.

Mr. L.A. Joshi, CEO of Kirloskar, said, "Kirloskars's vision is to provide decentralized sustainable solutions based on renewable resources. Having successfully established energy solutions using technologies like anaerobic digestion of organic waste and non-edible vegetable oil and biodiesel, we were in search of appropriate partner for solar photovoltaics which can compliment Kirloskar's strength as a leader in distributed power generation. We are pleased to have Ascent as our partner in the endeavor to harness the very large solar energy potential related to off-grid and on-grid applications, by taking advantage of the favorable policies of the Indian government. We truly believe that the leading-edge technology of Ascent and the synergy in our strategies will help us establish a leadership position in PV markets in India."

Ascent Solar President and CEO Farhad Moghadam added, "Our relationship with Kirloskar provides Ascent Solar with a partner for development of multiple market opportunities in a rapidly advancing country like India. We believe that Kirloskar has significant relationships and well established sales and marketing channels in key target markets for defense, space, consumer electronics and hybrid diesel generators. We are proud to continue our work with Kirloskar to address a wide array of growing off-grid and on-grid PV opportunities in the growing Indian market."

About Ascent Solar Technologies

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. is a developer of thin-film photovoltaic modules with substrate materials that can be more flexible and affordable than most traditional solar panels. Ascent Solar modules can be directly integrated into standard building materials, space applications, consumer electronics for portable power or configured as stand-alone modules for large scale terrestrial deployment. Ascent Solar is headquartered in Thornton, Colorado.

About Kirloskar Integrated Technologies Limited

Kirloskar Integrated Technologies Limited, India is part of the Kirloskar Group, founded in 1888, one of India's premier industrial and engineering conglomerates. KITL operates in the area of green technologies and has intentions to form further strategic alliances in fuel cells, on-site hydrogen production, wind energy, and hybrid solutions. The Kirloskar Group is an ISO certified diversified manufacturer of diesel engines for marine and power generation applications, diesel gensets, irrigation pumps, compressors, valves and automotive components, as well as an array of products for the oil and gas industries. The company has its headquarters in Pune in Maharashtra State.