An Indian green energy entrepreneur is among the six ‘Champions of Earth’ announced by the United Nations that include heads of state of Maldives and Guyana as well Chinese actress Zhou Xun. The Champions of the Earth is an international environment award given out every year by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for commitment and vision towards environmental leadership.

Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and green energy entrepreneur, was named as one of “Champions of the Earth” for his efforts to encourage people to live a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle.  Entrepreneur Vinod Khosla has made it a personal mission to realize a low-carbon path by establishing investments in clean and renewable energy start-ups.

A venture capitalist, Khosla is dubbed as Silicon Valley’s ‘Mr Green’. In September 2009, his firm, Khosla Ventures, raised USD 1.1 billion in a “green fund” that would be used to spur development of renewable energy and other clean technologies. Khosla has initiated several start-ups to try to reduce the world’s dependence on petroleum as he is of the opinion that burgeoning revolution in oil alternatives will be far bigger than the internet revolution.

Other winners included Afghanistan’s Director General of the National Environmental Protection Agency Prince Mostapha Zaher and Japanese earth scientist and pioneer of research into how the oceans cycle carbon, Dr Taro Takahashi.

While the six winners represent some of the key pillars upon which society can build Green Growth and a development path, I appeal all the members of ZaaBiz to contribute to green growth by taking small initiatives.

Wish all our blog readers a happy and prosperous new year. Year 2010 could not have started on a better note for Blog ZaaBiz than to receive the good news that Indian employee confidence level is among the highest.

The Indian employees, along with their peers in Brazil and China, portray highest levels of confidence in the future of their companies. As per global HR solutions provider Kenexa, the global employee confidence index score saw a slight improvement to 98 in the fourth quarter ended December 2009 from 97.9 in the third quarter.

Brazil (107.5), China (105.6) and India (101.3) reported the highest levels of employee confidence in the fourth quarter of last year. On the other hand, France (94.9), Japan (94.0) and Spain (92.4) reported the lowest confidence levels. The US employee confidence declined 0.6 per cent to 97.1 in Q4 compared to the previous quarter.

In the September quarter of 2009, Indian employee confidence index was 100.2 points, China’s 102.8 and Brazil’s 105.3.  Employee confidence fluctuated throughout 2009, with the majority of countries reporting both increases and decreases. India and China were the only two that had an increase in scores, quarter over quarter.

A high level of employee confidence is achieved when they perceive their firms are being effectively managed and competitively positioned, and believe that they have a promising future in the organisation, job security and skills that are attractive compared to other employers. The Kenexa Employee Confidence Index is measured quarterly taking opinions from employees in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, Britain and the US.

Imagine accessing Internet in your mother tongue. It is possible now with the international body, which manages domain names allowing use of seven Indian languages in Web addresses. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a global non-profit organization, has taken the decision to allow Web addresses in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Telegu. The decision was taken in Seoul, where a conference of ICANN was going on.

Till now, on the Web all domain names were available only in Latin characters from “A to Z”. Domain names -.com, .net, .org, .in - are used as identification labels. Now, users can type Web addresses in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Telegu. This is set to be a revolutionary move on the World Wide Web (www) that would dignify the presence of Indian vernacular languages on Internet.

Department of information technology (DIT) has confirmed that more languages would be added in the near future. DIT has also started giving free fonts in 22 official Indian languages.

The revolutionary move on the world wide web would lead to effective penetration in the rural areas of India, wherein internet adoption rate is extremely low due to the lesser known english language.

Leading companies in India are riding the current economic recovery re set to celebrate the festival season in a grand style with their employees by paying higher bonuses than last year. The chances are high that the employees might not spend, instead opt for few savings to counter uncertainty.

The country’s leading consumer durables firm LG Electronics, largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India, two-wheeler market leader Hero Honda, top retailer Future Group, Hyundai Motors, Tata Motors, Toyota India, Samsung India and Haier India are all expected to give away bonuses anywhere between 8% and 20% of employees’ annual gross salaries.

Employees of these firms are expecting a better deal this year mainly because of the vastly improved market condition and consumer sentiment. The global recession hit India around middle of last year. The markets cratered, economy slowed down, companies cut costs and salaries, and people stopped spending. But after the stimulus package announcement by the government the market has improved and is still expected to grow due to attractive discounts, low interest rate and overall positive sentiment among consumers in the market. Consumer goods makers are targetting an even better 45% jump this season.

Samsung is likely to pay slightly higher percentage this time than last year’s average bonus of 200% of basic monthly salary. Haier India plans to give an average annual bonus of up to 12% of annual salary this year, 2% more over previous year. Maruti Suzuki will give out an ad hoc payment of up to 50% of an employee’s variable pay as festive bonus this year.

Although the concept of paying a festive bonus has diminished over the years, many companies, especially in the manufacturing sector, prefer giving such incentives close to the festival season. It is the time when they demand the most from employees, as they increase production and marketing efforts to maximize sales.

With all the huge bonus payment announcements, it seems India Inc employees are set to have a gala festive season.

The midnight of August 15, 1947 is memorable for every Indian within the country or an NRI, as it is the time, when India gained independence.

I had the pleasure of experiencing India’s Independence Day celebrations last year while being in Mumbai. It was a very memorable event, very peaceful, colourful, joyful and it was the whole family that celebrated in the streets, on the many markets and in bars, cafes and restaurants. Nearly everyone I met was carrying a flag or wearing flowers as a sign of celebration.

Since 1947, it is celebrated with pomp and gaiety, across the length and breadth of India. Cultural programs and flag-hoisting ceremonies are the principal affair of the day. People indulge themselves in remembering the heroes of the freedom struggle and pay homage to them.

In all the schools and colleges across India, no academic work is done on Independence Day, but all the students and staff members would be present to celebrate the day. A sort of social gathering is arranged in the educational institutions, wherein cultural programs are organised. A majority of prominent business houses in India have the same routine as the educational institutions, while the rest spend their time on watching Independence day special LIVE from Red Fort.

Contradicting to the traditional Independence Day celebration, Generation Y in India is busy celebrating the same on the networking platform with their pals and business connects. It is a true day of India’s freedom and independence.

Our team here at ZaaBiz wish all our Indian members a “Happy Independence Day”.

Michael Brecht

A dramatic meltdown after boom years globally has made Indian firms smarter in employee engagement and talent management, which will help it grow faster when recovery begins, predicts a study by global consulting firm Deloitte.

A cross-industry dipstick survey on employee engagement in recessionary times found Indian firms were in a wait-and-watch mode without retrenching, but trying to balance both employee and operational costs. Of the 130 firms approached for the survey, 65 participated, including 22 multinationals.

Of the participant firms, 44 per cent represented technology, media and telecom, 27 per cent manufacturing, seven per cent FMCG, five per cent pharma and 27 per cent others. The study found companies implementing metrics to determine return on investment on human resources. Investment in proprietary knowledge and technological upgrade is continuing, albeit slower than during the boom times.

The eight-week survey said companies were substituting lucrative bonus and international travel with opportunities for advancement and flexible working hours to retain employees. The survey also found companies were not cutting back on training programmes but only reducing training costs. The focus is on empowering employees with multi-skills to handle different tasks and building a strong leadership pipeline. With such talent management measures, ZaaBiz is sure that India Inc would be in a great position to grow once the boom sets in.

As you are aware that we have a phenomenal growth in member base in India and some great business groups like Business Networking in Mumbai, Business People in Chennai, Business People in Delhi and Bangalore. Our NRI members in Australia requested us to have a similar platform of interaction. In accordance with the popular demand we have started a group called “NRI’s in Australia”.

The group would largely focus on all the NRI’s living in different cities of Australia. There are forums like “Introduction”: which includes education, occupation, interest and hobbies of the members , “Experience” where members can share experiences during the stay in Australia, “Places to Visit” and “Food Buffs”  for food loving Indians and many more. This group will help connect with all Indians living in Australia and thus you have an opportunity to connect with the Indian culture and tradition inspite of being away from India. Join the group “NRI’s in Australia” to network with fellow NRI’s.

There has been an upsurge in the demand of Indian students globally owing to recession. Many countries have been relying heavily on education as a prime export for their country. USA, Australia and UK have been the most preferred destinations of students for higher studies. However since last year there has been a fall in the number of applications for visa processing. USA and UK have had a huge fall in the numbers but Australia has still managed to keep it high. This is mainly owing to the infrastructure and economic condition of their economy which is the least hit among the major names. Many students from all over India have been coming regularly to this place looking for better future prospects. This island nation has managed to keep its flag high even in difficult times.

There are some universities logged into ZaaBiz, find out more about them from us. Log into Students at UTS group to gain more information about the university from the resident students. Its a good international exposure for Indian students.

It is finally between these two leaders L.K.Advani and our current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. History has seen it all their abilities, their worth and their deeds.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been the ex governor of Reserve Bank of India and is currently the PM of India. This man had set the ball rolling for India during 1992 opening the Indian market for foreign companies. He has proven his abilities as a good administrator in the last 5 years.

L.K Advani, the current leader of the opposition has rebellious ideas and promises to turn around things for India. He was the second in lead for BJP five years ago when they were the ruling party. He has been around for a long time and aspires to serve India as its Prime Minister for the next five years.

It is a tough call, who do you think will win? We at ZaaBiz are keeping our cards open and leaving it for the polls decide. May the best man win.

The employees of State Bank if India (SBI) are busy like never before. SBI is the sole booking agent for NANO across India. After the successful launch of the world’s cheapest car, lacs of application forms have been distributed.

SBI has an exclusive contract with TATA Motors for the management of the bookings of Nano. As part of the deal, the application forms will be distributed at the over 11,000 branches across India. The product loan will also be available at SBI with the meager down payment of Rs. 2,999. Due to the huge response and demand for the application forms SBI has set up a 24×7 helpline to facilitate the booking process. All the unsuccessful candidates will be refunded their payments at the SBI branches only.

It is hard to believe the excellent response that Nano has got. It seems either India is unaffected by the economic downturn  or the price of the car is catch point for the Indian consumers wanting to drive a car.

You can read such news, articles and post your opinion on Nano in the group “Nano-People’s car”