SBI to open 8 new branches & 63 ATM counters in Tripura

Agartala: State Bank of India (SBI) will open eight more new branches and 63 new ATM counters and increase the Credit Deposit ratio to give more service to the customers in Tripura, official sources said on Saturday.

Chairman of SBI, Pratip Chowdhury yesterday met Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and assured that the CD ratio would be increased to 50 percent by the next fiscal and eight more new branches and 63 new ATM counters would be opened in the state.

At present the CD ration is about 34 percent.

Sarkar requested Chowdhury to open more new branches in the rural areas, especially in the tribal compact areas.

Chowdhury said the SBI would be interested to give more loans to the entrepreneurs for development of industries and added that low industrialisation in the state was one of the causes for low credit deposit ratio.

At present there are 51 branches of the bank and 108 ATM counters in Tripura.

PTI 

Monsoon rains ahead of schedule: MeT office

New Delhi: India's monsoon rains are a week ahead of schedule, powering across two-thirds of the country by June 14 and heavier than normal, but the weather office is sticking to its forecast for average rains during the entire four-month period.

Heavier than normal rains can trigger flooding but at this stage in the June to September season, they spur planting of crops. India's biggest concern is drought during a monsoon, with rains crucial for the 55 percent of farmland without irrigation.

The monsoon should cover the whole of India before the usual mid-July timing and their distribution over major crop-growing regions should be fairly even, BP Yadav, a director at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), said on Friday.

Rainfall is expected to be at 101 percent of the long-term average in July and 96 percent in August, two key months for the planting and maturing of crops.

The strong start to the June to September monsoon boosts prospects of robust farm output.

That could help the economy and hold down inflation, a critical concern for the coalition government as it readies for a round of state polls this year and a national ele

ction by May 2014.

India is one of the world's biggest producers and consumers of rice, sugar and other food agricultural commodities. A strong monsoon will underpin government confidence harvests will be ample to cover the extra grains needed for its plans for a $24 billion welfare scheme to give cheap food to more of its poor.

The weather office first forecast an average monsoon in April, before the season started, and the continuing absence of the El Nino weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean, which can cause droughts, played a part in its confirmation of that forecast on Friday.

The rains have also been ample over seven southern and western states, including major sugar producer Maharashtra, which were hit by drought last year and need plentiful and timely rain to assist a recovery.

© Thomson Reuters 2013

NASSCOM gets 4,000 applications for start-ups programme

New Delhi: Software services industry body NASSCOM Wednesday said it has received 4,000 applications for its recently launched 10,000 start-ups programme.

There is receipt of 4,000 applications for Angel Funding and acceleration under the 10,000 start-ups programme for which applications were invited between April 5-May 30, NASSCOM said in a release.

"We have close to 14,000 entrepreneurs from over 80 cities registering with the programme who submitted about 4,000 applications. We will now select about 20-25 start-ups for Angel Funding and incubation," NASSCOM President Som Mittal said.

It will also select about 150 startups, which would undergo rigorous mentoring by its members, programme partners and other industry partners, the IT industry body added.

The applications revealed some interesting insights about the emerging tech entrepreneurship landscape in India, it said.

Out of 4,000 applications received, about 25 percent start-ups aimed at providing solutions pertaining to education and skill development, 15 percent for media and 11 percent for health care.

From a technology point of view, 66 percent of the applications came for web/internet start-ups, followed by mobile start-ups, occupying a share of 24 percent.

Applications for cloud and big data were at 16 percent and 11 percent respectively.

Out of the total applications, close to 23 percent of the applicants were from Bangalore, followed by 20 percent applicants from Delhi NCR. One in every five applications was filed from smaller towns, it added.

Over 70 percent applications were from under the age group of 30 and about 15 percent of applicants were women.

PTI 

Bihar nod to preparing DPR for Patna metro rail

Patna: Bihar moved a step closer to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's dream of a Metro train service in Patna with the state cabinet Tuesday approving the proposal to prepare a detailed project report (DPR).

Cabinet Secretary Brajesh Mehrotra told media persons here that state cabinet has selected Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) for the purpose.

"RITES will prepare DPR for the Metro rail in Patna," he said.

Earlier, the state government had said that Metro rail would be a reality in Patna by 2016. The project is set to cover a distance of 40 km and is estimated to cost Rs.8,000 crore.

IANS

Mercedes may assemble A-Class in India

PTI

New Delhi: Mercedes-Benz India is considering local assembly of its luxury compact car A-Class, encouraged by over 400 bookings received within 10 days of the car's launch, .
   
When asked if the Mercedes plans to assemble the A-Class in India, Mercedes-Benz India managing director and chief executive officer Eberhard Kern said: "Currently, we are doubling our capacity at Chakan (Maharashtra). We will add more models to be assembled there for which we will decide early next year."

"We have received over 400 bookings in just ten days after launch. This is a historical high for us as never in the past we had any models receiving this kind of booking," Mr Kern told PTI.
   
Mercedes Benz India assembles the E, C, S and M Class models currently and will also start rolling out the GL Class from August this year at the Chakan plant. The facility has an annual capacity of 10,000 units, which will increase to 20,000 units next year.
   
The company had launched two variants of the A-Class compact car in India on May 30 at an introductory price of Rs. 21.93 lakh and Rs. 22.73 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai).
   
Globally also the A-Class has received good response and has so far clocked 90,000 bookings within months of launch in September 2012.
   
Mr Kern said the waiting period for the model in India will be around three months and the company will continue to take bookings for the A-Class.
   
"For a booking made now in June, the delivery will be in September. We are in discussion with our headquarters to somehow meet the demand here in India," he said.
   
On the response to the A-Class, he said: "It is very much beyond our expectations. Somehow, the A-Class seems to be a choice of the new generation."
   
In order to strengthen its position in the market, Mr Kern said Mercedes will launch the new E-Class in India on June 25.
   
Merecedes has been focusing on its new generation cars (NGC), which comprises the A-Class, B-Class, CLA (sedan) and the GLA (compact SUV). It had launched the B-Class in India last year. The CLA and GLA are also expected to be hitting the Indian market in the near future.

Amazon now in India

Online retailer Amazon launched its India marketplace, ‘Amazon.in’, on Wednesday, offering books, movies and television shows for sale.

According to industry watchers, it notched up nearly 10,000 orders on the first day of operations.

In this current marketplace model however, Amazon will not own any merchandise sold but will act as platform for any retailer who wishes to sell his products.

“Our vision is to become a trusted and meaningful sales channel for retailers of all sizes across India, enabling them to succeed and efficiently grow their business online,” said Amit Agarwal, Vice-President and Country Manager, Amazon India.

To start with, Amazon.in has over 12,000 movie and television titles and 7 million book titles for purchase. It plans to expand soon into categories such as cameras and mobile phones.

The company’s top executives met Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma some months ago and discussed the creation of a favourable policy environment for Amazon to do business, which is otherwise not allowed in India.

Hurdles side-stepped

The new marketplace model allows the company to sidestep regulatory hurdles that prevent foreign retailers from owning an Indian arm for direct sales.

Source : TheHindu

Seagate unveils Ultrathin hard disk for use in mobile devices

Source : Seagate.com

Seagate Technology has launched the thinnest hard disk drive ever, targeting use in mobile devices. The hard disk, that has been dubbed Seagate Laptop Ultrathin HDD, is only 5mm thin and weighs approximately 93 grams.
Seagate Laptop Ultrathin HDD is a 2.5- inch drive, which will be available in two variants, 320GB and 500GB, but takes 25 percent less space than its previous-generation 7mm counterpart. The suggested retail price for this hard disk is $89, for the 320GB variant. This hard disk comes with a 6Gbps SATA interface. It also supports SED encryption on the 500GB capacity version.

Due to its slim profile, Seagate is hoping the hard disk will find use in mobile device like tablets, further diminishing the boundaries between tablets and laptops.

Commenting on the launch, Steve Luczo, president, CEO and chairman of Seagate said, "When we originally demonstrated this solution last September, we knew we had a truly innovative product that would empower our partners to reimagine mobile applications. The strong support from our OEM partners indicates we have delivered on our vision and look forward to a new wave of innovative solutions enabled by this revolutionary product."

"The new Seagate Laptop Ultrathin truly raises the bar, enabling us to finally create high-capacity, thin and light laptops that consumers crave at mass-market price points they can afford," said S.Y. Shian, corporate vice president and general manager of Asus' notebook business unit. "The drive's capacity, coupled with its ultra-slim, lightweight footprint, empowers our engineers to think out of the box and create truly ground-breaking, innovative system designs- it's a win- win for both us and the consumer."

Seagate has recently unveiled 660 SSD, which is its first solid-state drive (SSD) for consumers, as well as next-generation enterprise SSDs - Seagate 600 Pro SSD and the Seagate 1200 SSD.

Source : NDTV

Tata Power to add 200-250 MW of solar, wind energy

BANGALORE, INDIA: Tata Power, India's largest integrated power utility company has announced that the company has plans to add 30-50 MW of solar power and 150-200 MW of wind energy in India every year as part of its sustainability initiative.
The total generation from the solar has touched 49.83 MUs and from wind projects has touched 796 MU's till 31st March 2013 said Tata Power in a press release and further added Tata Power's generation through clean sources in India such as hydro, wind and solar today stands at 873 MW.

The release further added that the company total investment in solar and wind energy so far is Rs. 2393 crore and is committed to generating 20-25 percent of its total generation capacity from clean energy sources.
Speaking on Tata Power's commitment to clean and green energy, Anil Sardana, managing director, Tata Power said, "Our solar and wind energy assets are performing well and we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint through "clean and renewable energy" generation. Our aim is to have 20-25% of our generation portfolio from clean energy."
The company also announced that through its 100 percent subsidiary, 'Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited' has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited for Mithapur project.
The company claims that it is also one of the largest wind energy generators in the country with an installed capacity of 397 MW spread across five states viz. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan.
The Company has recently commissioned 21 MW wind project in Rajasthan.

Source : CIOL

Mumbai dabbawalas to share success mantra in Dubai

Mumbai: The legendary dabbawalas (lunch-box carriers) in Mumbai, known for their management skills, will feature in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) conference to be held in Dubai on June 4 and 5.

Arvind Talekar, spokesperson of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers' Trust (NMTBST) said that he would represent the 5,000 dabbawalas in the metro at the two-day 'Third GCC Government Organisations Third and Fourth Line Leaders' Development Conference'.

"I will share the 'mantra' for the success of Mumbai's dabbawallas. I will also speak on time and supply management and accuracy in delivery," Talekar told PTI in Mumbai today.

In the conference, a case study on the history of dabbawallas and their day-to-day operation with focus on the aspect of 'On time delivery, Every time', will also be presented, he added.

The conference would highlight innovation in leadership that involved advanced decision-making and execution skills to obtain cross-functional responsibilities, as they need to drive excellence as multi-faceted leaders, he added.

The two-day event aims to forge and build strong relationships among the governments, businesses, corporate, communities, media, leaders and professionals from east, west, north and south to meet and partner in order to build strong global relationships and expand opportunities in the era of massive globalisation.

Maruti saves Rs 354 crore in 2012-13 with employee help

It pays to listen to your employees, literally. Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest car maker, could save a handsome Rs 354 crore in FY13 by paying heed to their workers' suggestions to improve productivity and cut wastage.

Ever since its inception in the 1980s, the car maker has been engaging its staff across various levels and incorporating their suggestions.

During the last financial year, it received over 396,000 suggestions from its employees, which eventually resulted in the savings. In the previous year (FY12), there were 320,000 suggestions, which led to cost savings of over Rs 294.2 crore.

Guiding principle
"The guiding principle here is every employee, irrespective of his level, has the best knowledge of his work area. He is encouraged to look around his work area and come up with improvements that will enhance productivity, bring simplicity, save cost, energy, raw material, etc. Interestingly, each year, the cost savings arising out of these suggestions have gone up," said S Y Siddiqui, chief operating officer - administration (HR, IT and finance) at Maruti Suzuki India.

The suggestion scheme, adopted from parent Suzuki Motor Corporation, has seen employees being rewarded every month in both cash and in kind. Most ideas relate to improving quality and reduce costs, ways to speed up operations, improve efficiencies and streamline supplies. Some suggestions even helped improve efficiencies of the robots used on the shop floor.

"For instance, fool-proofing at line operations is very critical for our organisation. We felt the need to introduce fool-proofing at one of the locations and thus developed a small machine in house for the same. The total cost of development is around Rs 50,000. Had we bought the machine from outside, it would have cost us Rs 850,000, resulting in savings of Rs 800,000," said Siddiqui.

This scheme is being practised at many of Maruti's vendors as well.

There is also an on-line version, Sujhav Sangrehika, which gives real-time update on suggestions.

"To strengthen idea generation across business functions we are also organising specific training on Kaizen (continuous improvement). Through these workshops, we are requesting individuals to constantly challenge the status quo in their disciplines. These training programmes are helping them develop this ability and mindset," Siddiqui added.

After the ideas are implemented at one location, they are replicated at others to reach out the benefits on a larger, company-wide scale.

For example, a body-loading system installed in the vehicle assembly section increased the capacity by 80 vehicles a day at a cost of just Rs 15 lakh. This automation was done within a period of three months. In contrast, a new capacity to make 80 vehicles would have cost several crores," said Siddiqui.

Source : BusinessStandard

Narayana Murthy returns to take charge of struggling Infosys

New Delhi: Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy has come out of retirement to lead the company he co-founded in 1981. Infosys, India's second larget outsourcer, has been struggling to meet its own high standards over the last few quarters as a severe slowdown in the global economy hurt the company's business.

Mr Murthy, who served as Infosys chief executive from 1981 to 2002, and was the company's chairman from 2002 to 2011, has been appointed as executive chairman with immediate effect.

Mr Murthy will replace current chairman K V Kamath, who will become lead independent director, effective June 1. The current executive co-chairman S. Gopalakrishnan will be re-designated executive vice chairman, while current chief executive officer S.D. Shibulal will remain in his position, Infosys said in a statement on Saturday.

"The Board has taken this step keeping in mind the challenges that the technology industry and the Company faces and in the interest of all stakeholders, particularly shareholders large and small, who have asked for strengthening of the executive leadership during this challenging time," Mr Kamath said.

Infosys said it will put the matter before shareholders at its annual general meeting on June 15.

Infosys slipped to the third position among India's biggest IT firms by sales earlier this week, according to a report published by global consulting firm Gartner.

"This calling was sudden, unexpected, and most unusual. But, then, Infosys is my middle child. Therefore, I have put aside my plans-in-progress and accepted this responsibility," Mr Murthy said.

During his five year term, Mr. Murthy would draw a token compensation of Rupee one per year, the company said in a statement.

Mr Murthy has requested the board to appoint his Harvard-educated son, Dr. Rohan Murthy, as his executive assistant for a five-year term. If appointed, the junior Murthy will also be paid a token compensation of Rupee one per year.

Rohan, who has held fellowships at MIT, Caltech, and Microsoft Research, has authored several papers and patents as part of his research on wireless and mobile computing.

Infosys, for years an investor favourite for exceeding its earnings targets, has struggled in the past two years as its big customers in the U.S. and Europe cut costs and seen rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies take away market share.

In April, Infosys forecast full-year sales growth that missed analyst expectations by a margin of up to 50 per cent, pushing down its shares to their lowest close in a decade.

"This is a drastic, some might say, welcome move," said Ankur Rudra, sector analyst at Ambit Capital, which has a "sell" rating on the stock. "Probably, this could be a step towards a new strategic direction and leadership as well."

The company's troubles have spurred criticism of everything from its method of choosing CEOs to its pricing strategy to what is seen as an insular and risk-averse culture.

Chief executive Shibulal is one of the seven engineers who launched the company in 1981 by pooling together $250. All four CEO's so far have been from this group.

Murthy, who has earlier served on the board of HSBC and Unilever, said the calling was "sudden, unexpected and most unusual," while accepting the position.

Shares in Infosys closed 3 per cent higher on Friday, ahead of the announcement. The stock is up 4 per cent so far in 2013, compared to a nearly 7 per cent increase in the sectoral index.

Cognizant clocks highest revenue growth rate among Indian IT firms

 US-headquartered firm Cognizant clocked the highest growth rate of 20.1 per cent in revenues among the top five India-based IT services providers last year, global research firm Gartner said today.

The NASDAQ-listed firm also displaced Infosys as the second-largest IT services provider in 2012 with a worldwide revenue of USD 7.1 billion, Gartner said in a statement.

"Cognizant displaced Infosys to become the second-largest Indian IT services provider and Cognizant experienced the highest growth rate among the top five providers with an increase of 20.1 percent in 2012," Gartner Research Director Arup Roy said.

The revenues of the top 5 India-based IT services providers worldwide rose by over 13 per cent to USD 34.3 billion (around Rs 1,900 crore) last year from USD 30.3 billion in 2011.

TCS leads the IT services providers with revenue of USD 10.9 billion, followed by Cognizant (USD 7.1 billion), Infosys (USD 6.7 billion), Wipro (USD 5.7 billion) and HCL Technologies (USD 3.9 billion) in 2012.


"The top five Indian providers grew 13.3 percent to reach USD 34.3 billion in 2012, exceeding the IT services industry growth of 2 per cent," it said.

Gartner views Indian players as those who mainly have a India-based delivery model and management. Most firms are headquartered in India, but a few like Genpact, Cognizant, Syntel and iGate, are headquartered in the US. However, their delivery, management, operating style, among other things, are like those of other Indian providers.

However, Gartner said that the growth rate of India-based providers has been slowing for some years, with this trend being more pronounced in 2012.

But the growth rate is still quite high compared with the IT services worldwide or the growth of the top 10 global IT services providers. The global top 10 providers, however, are larger in their base revenue and more diversified than the India-based providers, Gartner added.
"The top five Indian service providers have continuously chipped away market share from the large multinational corporation providers. In the past five years, they have been winning large outsourcing deals (those with a total contract value of more than USD 100 million)," Roy said.

Their target customer segment still remain the Fortune 1,000 companies.


"There is a strong focus on, and investments in, cloud, analytics, mobility, infrastructure and knowledge processes. India-based providers have become much more aggressive in infrastructure management because it offers them the potential to grow bottom-up within accounts," Roy said.


Source : InidanExpress

Infosys gives about 10% increment

BANGALORE: Infosys has surprised its employees, and many industry analysts, by giving a 10% salary increase, ending speculation about whether the company would give increments given its sluggish financial performance.

The second-largest IT company has handed increment letters to its sales teams and to those employees who have received promotions. The salary hikes will be extended to other departments in phases, said sources familiar with the development.

In response to TOI's questions on the increment and reducing the variable component of the salary, Infosys provided the following statement: "Our employees have given consistent feedback about reducing the variability in their compensation. In response to this feedback, we have enhanced the guaranteed part of their compensation, reduced the variability and simplified the overall compensation structure. We continue to look at ways to bring in other changes to positively impact our employees compensation. We are communicating these to our employees as we roll them out."

Given that the salary hikes are higher than the company's revenue growth of sub 6% in the last fiscal, the company's profitability may be hit in the next few quarters, analysts said. Infosys is growing significantly lower than its peers like TCS and Cognizant.

Last year, salary increases were given in October , when the company came under pressure from peers in the industry. Infosys then gave a 6% hike to offshore employees and 3% to onsite employees. In a recent stock exchange filing, the company said wage hikes were inevitable due to competitive pressures. The company said it has to increase its employee compensation more rapidly than in the past to remain competitive with other employers, or seek to recruit in other low labour cost regions to keep wage costs low.

"These wage pressures have led to a situation where wages in India are increasing at a faster rate than in the United States, which could result in increased costs for companies seeking to employ technology professionals in India, particularly project managers and other mid-level professionals," the filing said.

The company said in April that it was working on a new salary structure with a higher proportion of fixed components to reduce uncertainties for employees. Kris Lakshmikanth, CEO of recruitment firm Headhunters India, noted that the variable payout was as high as 50% of the total compensation at the senior level. "The company's lackluster performance washed out a large portion of the variable pay for employees," he said. At the mid-to-junior levels, variable components constitute about 20% of their compensation.

Sources said that at the lower levels, variable pay might be eliminated. The move towards less variability is contrary to recent trends in industry and is likely to be welcomed by most employees. "It could be a strategy to retain people," said one of these sources.

New trend

More of guaranteed part of salary Less of variable component At lower levels, there may not be variable pay.

The Inevitable hike

Infosys had recently said wage hikes were inevitable due to competitive pressures. Employee compensation had to be increased more rapidly than in the past to remain competitive with other employers, or to recruit in other low-labour cost regions to keep wage costs low.

India deserves upgrade in sovereign rating: Chidambaram

New Delhi: India deserves a rating upgrade in view of improvement in macro-economic situation, the conservative outlook of Standard & Poor's notwithstanding, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said here Monday.

"Our case is that we deserve an upgrade both on the outlook and the rating. S&P may not have been convinced about that...," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Annual Day function of the Competition Commission of India.

On Friday, global credit rating agency S&P had warned that it may downgrade India's sovereign rating to junk grade if the government fails to pursue reforms and check deterioration in fiscal and current account deficits.

While retaining India's sovereign rating at 'BBB-' with a negative outlook citing high fiscal and current account deficits, S&P said there is at least a one-in-three likelihood of a downgrade within the next 12 months.

"There is nothing to worry. Our macro-economic position Monday is much better than what it was in August 2012," Chidambaram said, adding that the Indian economy was entering a new phase of strong growth.

India's economic growth which has slowed to a decade low of 5 percent in 2012-13 is now projected to increase to 6.5 percent in the current fiscal following a slew of steps taken by the government and fall in global commodity prices.

S&P's 'BBB-' is lowest investment grade and a downgrade would mean pushing the country's sovereign rating to junk status, making overseas borrowings by corporates costlier.

Since assuming office in August last year, Chidambaram has been taking a number of steps to put the economy back on track, through increased investments and cut fiscal deficit.

While the fiscal deficit in 2012-13 has been contained below the budgeted 5.2 percent, the government proposes to further lower it to 4.8 percent in the current fiscal.

PTI

Kerala, Himachal to cooperate in rural development

Kozhikode: Kerala and Himachal Pradesh on Saturday announced they will strengthen implementation of their rural development projects by sharing information about feasible models and best practices.

Ministers and senior government officials from the two Congress-ruled states met here to discuss ongoing projects and ways to enhance cooperation.

Kerala's Panchayats and Social Welfare Minister M.K.Muneer gave details about local self governance in the state, community farming and the Kudumbashree programme to visiting Himachal Pradesh Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anil Sharma and his team of officials.

A larger ministerial team from Himachal will soon be in Kerala to study the progress made in the state in the area of social security.

Likewise, a delegation from Kerala will visit the northern Indian state to assess development projects for tribal communities there and to see if the models can be replicated here.

The delegation from Himachal had been in Kerala for the past one week.

IANS

UK launches 'super-priority' visas for Indians

London: Britain has launched a new "super priority" same-day visa service for urgent travellers from India, the first-of-its-kind service to be launched by the UK anywhere in the world.

The super priority visa service was announced by British Prime Minister David Cameron during his visit to the country in February this year.

The service is open for appointment bookings in India from today.

"I am delighted to see the super priority visa service being launched in India before any other country," said Sir James Bevan, the British High Commissioner to India.

"For the first time, Indian visitors will now have the option of a same-day visa to the UK. This underlines our strong commitment to make an already excellent visa service even better. We expect this new service to be particularly useful for business," he said, adding that it will cater to those who need to travel on very short notice.

"Opportunities arise at short notice. We want Indian entrepreneurs and businessmen to be able to seize these. The UK and India are already on course to double bilateral trade by 2015.  The new super priority visa will help make sure that we hit this target," he added.

The service is optional and incurs an additional fee of 600 pounds besides the standard fee for the type of visa being applied for.

Applicants are required to complete an online form and submit their applications, by appointment, before 9.30 am.

If an application is successful, the visa will be ready for collection by 5.30 pm the same day in New Delhi or by 6.30 pm the same day in Mumbai.

It complements the UK's existing Fast Track Service and the recently announced online payment option.

The new service is available to customers applying for a six-month or two-year multiple entry visit visa (excluding student visitors) who have previously travelled to the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada or a Schengen country within the last five years.

It is also available to visa applicants sponsored by companies who are members of the UK's Business Express Programme.

"We are committed to making the UK an attractive place to visit and a destination for the brightest and best to work and do business. That's why we've launched this new service, to provide our valued customers from India with the choices to fit their particular circumstances and needs," immigration minister Mark Harper said.

"The UK and India have always had close commercial ties and I am determined to ensure that we continue to build stronger links in the future," Harper said.

India is the UK's biggest visa operation in the world, processing around 400,000 applications each year and the government claims that the vast majority of applications - over 97 per cent of UK business visit visas and 86 per cent of visit visas - are approved.

The latest service does not replace the process for expediting visas on compassionate grounds.