December 2018

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Sonata Software buys
Australian firm for Rs 28 crore
Bengaluru : Leading Indian IT services
provider Sonata Software on Thursday said it
acquired Australia-based Scalable Data Systems
for Rs 28 crore (Australian dollar 5.5 million) to
hardsell Microsoft Dynamics 365 product.
"We signed an agreement to acquire Scalable for
an enterprise value of Australian dollar 5.5 million
(Rs 28 crore) subject to adjustment on account of
working capital and debt," a company spokesman
told IANS here.
"The acquisition will enable Scalable to become
a digital transformation partner of choice for customers
in retail, distribution, manufacturing and
travel sectors across Australia," said the company
in a statement.
The Brisbane-based Scalable has been providing
business solutions, including Microsoft
Dynamics 365 software product, in the Australian
market over the past 25 years for enterprise
resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship
management (CRM) applications.
Scalable has sold Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O
(finance and operations) solutions to leading
clients in manufacturing and wholesale and distribution.
"Scalable brings value in terms of
Microsoft Dynamics capabilities and resources to
us, besides additional IP (intellectual property) and
geographical reach," Sonata Chief Executive
Srikar Reddy said on the occasion.
Sonata also enables platform-based digital
transformation for enterprises to create businesses
that are connected, open, intelligent and scalable.
"Sonata is a leader in the Microsoft Dynamics
space and has a track record of acquiring and nurturing
firms for fuelling growth. The acquisition
will give us an additional capability in the
Microsoft tech stack and address larger opportunities
in the market," Scalable Chief Executive Brett
Crew said. Sonata acquired the US-based IBIS
Dynamics 365 partner in October 2015 and has an
IP brick and click for retail, modern distribution
and manufacturing industries. The commodity IP
from Scalable has also extended Sonata's supply
chain capabilities focused on manufacturing and
distribution industries.
ASIA
Quick watering system
to ensure adequate
water supply in trains
New Delhi : Come March 2019 and the
passengers of mail or express trains won't
complain of water shortage in the coaches, as
the Indian Railways is all set to use "quick
watering system" to fill water, an official said
on Thursday. The Railway Board Member -
Rolling Stock, Rajesh Agarwal, said the
Indian Railways used to receive
a lot of complaints related to
water shortage in the train
coaches. "But with the use of
quick watering system, a 24-
coach train can be filled up
within five minutes and multiple
trains can be watered simultaneously,"
he said.
Highlighting the functionality
of the new system, Agarwal said that earlier
the water in the train coaches at railway
stations were filled with the help of four-inch
pipes. "But those four inch pipes would now
be replaced with six inch pipes with high
power motors and the water would be supplied
to the train coaches through a computerised
system called SCADA (Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition)," he said. He
said that the quick watering system uses a
powerful motor and a centralised monitoring
system with flow meters which can also
check exactly how much water is being filled
into the tanks thereby reducing wastage.
Agarwal said that the Railway Ministry has
planned to install pressure pumps of 40 horsepower
to increase water pressure, so that
trains can refill water in five minutes. He
said that by March 2019, this system would
be installed at over 142 stations which have
the water filling stations in trains. Recently
the rail board sanctioned Rs 300 crore for the
project. He said that the Ministry has planned
to install pumps of 40 horsepower
to increase the water
pressure. According to Railway
Ministry officials, the water in
the long-distance trains are
filled at every 200 km. But as
the old pipeline did not provide
adequate pressure,
it took around 20-
25 minutes to fill
1,800 liters of
water in a coach,
resulting in inadequate
filling of
water in the train
coaches. The official
said at present,
railway staff fix hose pipes
from their water line to the inlet
of coaches and fill tanks. The
speed of a regular pumping system
is comparatively slow,
resulting in lesser water being
filled in the coaches.
The official noted that the
quick watering system was
developed by the Research and
Design Standrads Organisation
(RDSO)'s CAMTECH,
Gwalior unit. Through an open
tender, the contract will be
given to the local contractors,
the Ministry said.
December 2018
7
DCW engages external
agency to audit Delhi
shelter homes
New Delhi : Following orders from Deputy Chief Minister
Manish Sisodia, the Delhi
Commission of Women (DCW)
on Thursday appointed Tata
Institute of Social Sciences
(TISS)'s "Koshish" to conduct
social audit of all shelter homes
for women and girls in Delhi.
Koshish has earlier conducted
similar audits in several
states, including Bihar, that
brought to light the
Muzaffarpur shelter home horror.
The decision came after
nine minor girls reportedly went
missing from a shelter home in
the national capital on Monday. "Koshish team is visiting all the
shelter homes in Delhi and auditing them on various aspects
which shall include infrastructure, facilities provided, training
programmes and attitude of staff, and rehabilitation and restoration
efforts, among others," the DCW said in a statement. An
agreement has been reached between the DCW and Koshish,
wherein the Koshish team shall inform the Commission immediately
in case any instances of abuse are discovered in the
homes. In a meeting with Sisodia on Thursday, DCW chief
Swati Maliwal stated that a pilot social audit of shelter homes
had been initiated by the Commission in September and "a
report is being submitted to the government".
Sisodia, on the other hand, said that the Delhi government is
"keen to overhaul and improve the functioning of all the shelter
homes and has therefore invited an external agency" to examine
the status and issues of homes in a non-partisan manner.
Cabinet nods India's first
agri export policy to
double farmers' income
New Delhi : Union Cabinet
on Thursday approved the
country's first Agriculture
Export Policy with an aim to
double farmers' income and
agricultural export to $60 billion
by 2022, Commerce and
Industry Minister Suresh
Prabhu said.
"This is in line with the
Prime Minister's vision of doubling
farmers income by 2022.
In less than one year, we have
raised our agricultural export to
$37 billion from $30 billion
and we are sure to double it to
$60 billion by 2022," Prabhu
told reporters.
"Today, only three products -
- rice, marine products and
meat -- constitute about 52 per
cent of our agricultural exports.
Therefore we need to diversify
and will work on that. We will
promote organic, ethnic and
indigenous products in a substantive
manner," he said.
Leaving out some primary
farm products like onion based
on domestic needs (to be
reviewed from time to time), all
export restrictions on organic
and processed agricultural
products will be removed by
the government, the Minister
said.
"The government has come
out with a comprehensive
Agriculture Export Policy
aimed at doubling the agricultural
exports and integrating
Indian farmers and agricultural
products with the global value
chains," an official statement
said.
The Cabinet also approved
the proposal for establishment
of monitoring framework at
Centre with Commerce as the
nodal department with representation
from various line
ministries and departments,
agencies and representatives of
concerned state governments to
oversee the implementation of
Agriculture Export Policy.
Objectives of the policy
include reaching $100 billion
export target in the next few
years with a stable trade policy
regime, diversify export basket
and destinations, and boost
high value and value added
agricultural exports with focus
on perishables.
It also aims to promote
novel, indigenous, organic, ethnic,
traditional and non-traditional
agri product exports, provide
an institutional mechanism
for pursuing market
access, tackling barriers and to
deal with sanitary and phytosanitary
issues.
The government has planned
clusters for exportable agri
products in consultation with
states and has drawn a list of
agricultural products that will
be promoted as exports from
the country under the Brand
India tag. This will entail an
outlay of Rs 1,400 crore,
Prabhu said.