Golden Bihar - Is it true ?

Golden Bihar - Is it true ?

I recently came across some data (not sure how authentic, but looks one) on Golden State Bihar that is motivating, hence thought putting the same for NRI readers. ENJOY.

* Bihar has more number of Graduate than Andhra Pradesh and Kerala
combined?

* More Biharis are doctors than Punjab and Gujarat combined?

* Bihar has produced more number of IAS officer than Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu , Andhra and Gujarat combined?

* More Biharis are bank probationary office than any other state?

* More Biharis are in IIT compare to Maharashtra and Gujarat? This year IIT topper is from Bihar.

* Delhi University, North Campus - the seat of India education has more
Bihari toppers in every field than locals.

* Murder rate in Bihar is half of murder rate in Mumbai?

* Rape in Bihar is 1/10th of Delhi?

* Number of people killed in Bihar in communal violence is 1/75 th of
Gujarat?

* Naxalites in Bihar have killed less people than in Andhra Pradesh?

* Bihar produces more wheat than Punjab?

* Bihar is only large state where no farmer committed suicide?

* More Bihari Girls complete Graduation than Kerala

Still we have a long way to go in reducing poverty, corruption and lethargy. However, the credit for changing perception should go to the current CM Mr Nitish Kumar and also millions of Biharis, who despite many odds - in terms of lagging growth of the divided State (Jharkhand) / migrated (Delhi) education and social backwardness are still shinning on every sphere of India success story. I salute my state where I was born, raised and got the first education.

Cheers!

Manish K. Jaiswal

manish@bonsaiinternational.com

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Erasmic Venture funds FileMyReturns.com - News and Reviews

Erasmic Venture funds FileMyReturns.com - News and Reviews

News and Reviews - eServices funding is in news again. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is turning a favourite business model to back for investors. The latest such venture to get backing by early stage VCs is Fin-e-ssential Infotech India Ltd, a Mumbai based company that had its origins during the dotcom boom of 1999-2000 as an online tax filing company (www.filemyreturns.com), and now metamorphosed into a payroll and HR process management company based on the principle of SaaS. Fin-e-ssential has received investment (estimated to be under $1 million) from Mumbai Angels and Erasmic Venture Funds, a Bangalore based early stage venture capital firm.

The company was founded by Prasad Rajappan, who got inspired by an unexpected income tax notice he received in 2000. Rajappan had to seek the help of a chartered accountant friend to sort out the IT notice. He smelt an opportunity here as there were millions of people (Indian taxpayer’s last count is 31. 5 million, which is expected to touch 50 million in the next couple of years) who needed some help in filing their returns.

FileMyReturns? is only one of a host of services (under the umbrella brand Cnergyis) provided by Fin-e-ssential. The company now provides a range of payroll, HR, retiral benfits and tax solutions and services to consumers and corporate clients. For instance, it charges Rs 25,000 a month for managing the payroll and HR management of a company which has under 500 employees. The company also offers enterprise solutions such as MyPFManger? a service offered to corporate houses to manage their PF Trust for advisory, operational and fulfillment services. The company has around 32 corporate clients including Reliance ADAG Group, Johnson & Johnson, UTI, HDFC, and so on. The company handles payrolls of more than 1.4 lakh employees, of about Rs 120 crore worth of salaries per month.

“Outsourcing payroll and HR management allows expert to handle that work. There is continual technological innovation in this field which others might not be able to handle,” says Rajappan. “We plan to expand our India operations in next six months and then we will plan to venture into new markets such as Asia-Pacific and US,” says Rajappan. The company plans to have 5 million employee records in the next 3 to 4 years. It also plans to raise another round of funds in the next 5 to 8 months.

For Mumbai Angels, this is the second SaaS company they have backed in the last few months. They had invested $250K along with a few other individual investors in Textual Analytics Solutions, a company that provides text-to-report output to research firms and consultancies on a SaaS model. Mumbai Angels has invested in six companies so far which include Canvera and mKhoj.

Erasmic Ventures has 12 companies in its portfolio, which has companies like Chakpak (movie review), HolidayIQ? (vacation and holiday guide), among others.

http://www.filemyreturns.com/ (FMR) has competition from BuyNowIndia.com (BNI) partner http://www.taxcubeindia.com/. Only time will tell who wins the race. Right now, FMR is a step ahead.

for

News and Reviews

Nordic carrrier Finnair expands India services - News and Reviews

News and Reviews : With flights to India driving its growth, Nordic carrier Finnair is adding one more flight to India Saturday as it awaits permission from the government to add more destinations, in addition to Mumbai and Delhi.

“We currently operate seven flights a week to Delhi from Helsinki and five more to Mumbai. From this week, we are adding one more flight to Mumbai,” said Taina Tornstrom, the director for Indian subcontinent for the airline. “We also want to add more destinations and hope we get the permission after the next aviation pact with India,” Tornstrom told IANS, adding, Finnair’s Asian passenger traffic grew over 30 percent last year, thanks to India operations. She said the market potential in Indian was promising, as some 70 Finish firms like Nokia and industrial cranes major Kone had a major presence in the country. Likewise, Indian software giants like Infosys, Sasken and Wipro also had their bases in Finland.

Bangalore and Chennai are two cities Finnair is eyeing closely, even as it has begun to tap the growing Indian traffic to Europe and North America from India, with Helsinki as the base.
The Finnair official said the visas issued to Indians by the Finnish embassy in India had also increased from 40,000 in 2006 to around 60,000 in 2007 to reflect the growing interest in Finland here. “We have Santa. We have lakes. We have saunas. We have the reindeer. We have northern lights. The interest is really growing.”

Finnair officials said their carrier offered the shortest possible links between Europe and India, and with improved connectivity, its services between India and the US, too, has been upgraded in terms of time. “We offer the second-fastest connection between Mumbai and New York. It just takes 17 hours,” Tornstrom said. The Air India flights between the two destinations, the shortest currently, take around 15:30 hours.

More flights to Finland is indeed a good news for Indian business and leisure travellers.

News and Reviews - Travelling to Finnland?

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Indians traveling to U.S. increase by 80 percent

News and Reviews - There has been 80 percent increase in visas for Indians traveling the U.S, says to Michael S. Owen, Consul General in Mumbai.

In 2007, 2.26 lakh visas were issued, compared to 1.25 lakh in 2006. “Though the government-to-government contacts are important, people-to-people contacts are more important for the relationship,” Owen said while delivering the Lincon Memorial Lecture organized by Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.

“The Indo-U.S. relationship has come a long way from what it used to be in the Cold War era,” he said. The turning point in bilateral ties was former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s visit to India.
Owen said many experts were against the visit after India conducted nuclear tests. Still, Clinton was of the view that India will be an important global force in coming years. “Now, India is considered to be a strategic partner by the United States,” said Owen. “Apart from the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, the two countries have reached an open skies agreement. Both sides are also engaged in a agriculture knowledge initiative, a space cooperation program and military cooperation,” he added.

The hoard of people coming to America is a clear reflection of Indians being accepted in United States. Students / Trainees / Business Folks and Leisure Travelers find United States of America a great destination that would hone their skills and throw wealth creation opportunities in big way.

It is a welcome news for India and America.

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