Monthly Archives: April 2016

Century Ply expands global footprint

Business & Economy, World Opinion

Kolkata:

Century Plyboards, one of the leading plywood manufacturers in India and a growing mid-cap company in the bourses, is expanding its global footprint in an attempt to become an Indian multinational. The city-based plywood maker has set a target of $50 million (Rs 340 crore) turnover from its overseas operations in the next two years. Currently, the company has a turnover of close to Rs 1,600 crore.

Sajjan Bhajanka, chairman of Century Ply, told TOI that it is expecting $35 million turnover from its Singapore subsidiary and another $15 million would come from its Myanmar operations. Century Myanmar is a wholly owned subsidiary of Century Ply while the company has 51% stake in Century Singapore. Bhajanka said that the remaining 49% of Century Singapore is with a company called Viet Dutch, promoted by an NRI. “We shall cater to Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia through this Singapore firm. We are entering all these markets where Ajay Bhagat, an NRI, will be our partner,” he added.

Bhajanka pointed out that Century would initially invest $5 million for entering into these markets. “We shall use these companies to source raw materials for our Indian and global operations. This will help reduce cost,” he added.

According to the Century Ply chairman, the group is also firming up plans to set up a plywood factory in Laos. The investment in the project would be over $12 million. The group already has an overseas facility in Myanmar. “We have a big factory in Myanmar. This is the second highest exporting unit in that country,” he added.

Elaborating on the Indian operations, Bhajanka said it is setting up a medium density fibreboard (MDF) plant in Punjab with an investment of over Rs 400 crore. “This plant will be ready by mid-2017. We are also setting up a particle board unit near Chennai with an investment of Rs 60 crore. It will be ready in the next few months,” he added.

Besides MDF and particle board, Century is entering into new product lines like wood cement and wood plastic. “As far as wood cement is concerned, we shall initially import it from China and Thailand but we will take a call on manufacturing facility by next year,” he added. On BSE, the Century Ply scrip was hovering at Rs 160-165 range for the last few days.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Udit Prasanna Mukherji / March 31st, 2016

Lessons of life on 22 yards – The bat stands for intellect and the ball weaknesses of the mind. Brinda Sarkar tunes in

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Sports
If cricket is a religion, Sachin Tendulkar is God
If cricket is a religion, Sachin Tendulkar is God

More than Vedanta, cricket is a religion in India. It unites the country and Sachin Tendulkar is god,” began L. Ramaswamy, of the Vedanta Academy, as the audience broke into titters.

Ramaswamy was addressing a gathering at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and the audience comprised members of IIT Kharagpur Alumni Association, Salt Lake Chapter. The association was hosting the meet in collaboration with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and the topic for discussion was “Vedanta and cricket”.

Life, he said, is a lot like a game of cricket. “Cricket is a batsman-centric game. The batsman wants to score but every ball coming at him tries to get him out. The ball symbolises the weaknesses of the mind. The way the ball can be slow, fast, spin or swing the mind can be overcome by emotions like lust, anger, greed, jealousy etc and they can get us ‘out’,” Ramaswamy explained.

The batsman only has one weapon — the bat — which symbolises a person’s intellect. “The mind is like a river trying to overflow with emotions but if the banks (intellect) are strong the river will reach its destination as well as nourish the land it passes. But if the banks are weak the river will flow off course, flood and destroy wherever it flows.”

The cricket ground is like our life, he explained. For instance, the crease is our spiritual discipline and the fielders are the sense objects trying to get us “out”. This happens if we fall prey to the temptations of our sight, taste, touch etc. The runner is our only friend and this symbolises “satsang” or getting together for spiritual development. It is with the help of the runner that the batsman at first starts scoring singles. It is later, after he is set that he aims for fours and sixes to increase his run rate.

Ramaswamy then picked up every form of dismissal in cricket and found parallels with life —

Cricket01KOLKATA02apr2016

Cricket02KOLKATA02apr2016

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> Salt Lake> Story / by Brinda Sarkar / Friday – April 01st, 2016

Pages from city’s past – Young Metro

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

The 88-page book with a black-and-white cover may not grab eyeballs, but flipping through it will make one realise what a treasure trove it is.

The first edition of Uttaradhikar, brought out by the Oriental Seminary archive, is not a mere school journal but a compilation of memoirs and tales about the city from a host of writers.

The bilingual publication edited by C.P. Ghoshal, a teacher at the school and in-charge of the archive, took around eight months to put together. “I wanted the contributors to write about Chitpore or their school memories or about the history of Calcutta in the 18th and 19th centuries. A publication by a school that goes back to 1829, should bring out the flavour of the various periods that it has been part of,” he said.

The book, being sold for Rs 50, has write-ups from current and ex-students as well as from historians and researchers. The English essays are by Subha Das Mollick, the founder-member of Bichitra Pathshala, and Mary Ann Dasgupta, an educationist.

Mollick writes about the Our Living Memory project that involved several schools in the city. The project attempted to link family history and collectibles to history textbooks and underline the latter’s relevance in today’s world. Dasgupta takes readers on a tour of St. Paul’s Cathedral and its relics.

Other contributors include historian Soumitra Srimani, researchers Simanti Sen and Rajat Kanti Sur and current student Ayan Ghosh.

There are six write-ups in Bengali – a heady mix of Calcutta in the 19th century, Chitpore’s culture, old boys’ memories and a current student’s journey. The book cover, designed by a former student, is a throwback to Chitpore’s popular woodcut printing.

The book was launched by former student and academician, Ashok Chowdhury, the current principal of the school, Diptiman Kundu, and Srimani at a cultural programme on the school premises.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / by Chandreyee Ghose / Friday – April 01st, 2016