TransUnion opens, Huawei closes
TransUnion, a global credit reporting company, has decided to go off-shore, and Chennai is its chosen destination. A Global In-house centre that aims to tap India’s technological resources and demographic dividend, would develop end to end risk solutions and security systems of the Company. Located at DLF Cyber City, the newly opened GIC will service all business and support functions of the Company and is expected to open up over 500 jobs opportunities in Chennai. The move is part of TransUnion’s strategic growth agenda and is expected to reduce TransUnion’s reliance on third party resources.
Huawei India, on the other hand, has shut its Chennai plant. Shaken by a 40 per cent drop in revenue and drastic fall in demand, Huawei has decided to avail import services to meet Indian market’s demand. With more global brands entering the Indian telecom space, its business has taken a beating and has already cut its workforce in the country by a third citing performance, network shutdowns and declining telco business as reasons. Although the company’s recent sales numbers have been improving, Huawei India has been unable to acquire new customers.
Chennai students innovate first-aid drones and light satellites
Chennai students continue to make the city proud with transformational innovations – First-aid drones and light satellite being the latest. Students of St. Peters Institute Of Higher Education and Research in Avadi have developed a drone that can carry first-aid kits to road accident victims. A self-help medical kit weighing up to 8 kgs can be loaded on to the drone which can fly up to a speed of 70 kmph and can display interactive videos on how to use the medical kit. The students are working on an improved version before deploying it to save victims. Meanwhile students of aerospace engineering in Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science have developed the world’s lightest satellite. Selected from amongst participants of Nasa’s ‘Cubes in Space’ competition, the students have accomplished this feat with Rs. 15,000 in hand! Weighing 33.39 grams, the satellite that was built within one month, can check extreme weather events, working of nylon in micro gravity, and trajectory of the rockets.
Free NEET Coaching initiative aces 100 per cent result
In 2017, a team of 10 New college professors got together to provide free coaching classes for NEET aspirants. They put in money from their pocket, mustered donations from like-minded friends, and hired professional trainers to coach first generation, deserving students. Equipped with experience of a relatively uneventful first year, they plunged into the task with greater vigour for the 2018 exams. 13 students were selected based on interviews to gauged their interest, commitment level and economic condition. When results were declared this month, all 13 students had cleared the arduous exam! At least 6 students are expected to get into government colleges. Professor Ansar, one of the co-founders of the initiative, says that the state board students found the shift to conceptual preparation particularly difficult. English language skills was also a challenge. But he opines that TN students would fare better in NEET exams going forward as awareness amongst the stakeholders – government, academia and students – has increased.”
Logistics Sector to sprout jobs in Chennai
One of India’s leading HR Company, Teamlease, has estimated that the logistics sector would proliferate jobs in Chennai. As much as 245,000 new jobs are expected to be created. Increasing infrastructure investments, and expansion and modernisation initiatives by the government are expected to stimulate growth in the sector. While road freight would create over 1.3 lakhs jobs, waterways, air freight and rail freight are sighted to generate 50,000, 40,000 and 7000 jobs respectively. Initiatives such as Bangalore-Chennai expressway, arterial road networks, metro rail corridor and expansion of Chennai’s international airport are predicted job generators. Multimodal logistics parks and clusters that are expected to be established in the city are projected to add over 18,000 jobs in the warehousing, packaging and courier space. Implementation of GST, ease of doing business and Make In India initiatives weigh the logistics’ scale favourably in the country. Chennai, though, is plagued by lack of skills at the junior level of the logistics sector. Over 120,000 skilled junior level workers are required. The skill gap notwithstanding, Chennai is rated favorably by the industry. “Chennai city and its surrounding industrial areas offer many advantages like committed workforce, and air/road/ sea connectivity at relatively lower cost. This will continue to attract talent,” says S Mukundan, Founder and Director of FLEXOL Packaging (India) Limited, a TVS Logistics JV Company.
