Marina to get Sailing Academy, Boating & Sailing enthusiasts in Chennai Marina

Boating and sailing enthusiasts in Chennai could get a modern marina with facility to berth luxury yachts and leisure boats, with the Centre willing to consider a public-private partnership and the setting up of a sailing academy.

At a recent interaction the Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari, had with the representatives of the corporate sector, Ashok R Thakkar, Chairman, Club & Sailing Development Committee, Yachting Association of India, suggested that major ports be encouraged to create marinas and submitted a representation for one in Chennai.

Long-pending demand
The Tamil Nadu Sailing Association, supported by the Yachting Association of India, the governing body for the sport, has been spearheading the demand for a modern marina for yachts and the establishment of a sailing academy in Chennai.

The Minister asked the association to send in a proposal if it is ready for PPP, Thakkar said.

Thakkar, who is the Vice Commodore, Tamil Nadu Sailing Association, told Business Line that there has been a long-pending demand for such modern facilities.

The association hopes to set up a marina within the Chennai Harbour and establish a world-class sailing academy in the vicinity.

The Tamil Nadu Sailing Association has formulated a concept plan to develop a universally accessible marina to accommodate about 30 recreational crafts of standard sizes, ranging from 30 to 80 feet in length, at the Timber Pond Basin.

Other proposals
Facilities for berthing and servicing yachts and pleasure crafts calling at Chennai, a full-fledged club house with amenities such as restaurant, swimming pool, gymnasium, and play area are also planned.

A Tamil Nadu Marina and National Sailing Centre for Excellence is also in the pipeline with the Tamil Nadu government allocating 2.75 acres land near the mouth of the Cooum for the facility. The Association hopes to enter into an agreement with the Sport Development Authority of Tamil Nadu to implement the sailing academy project.       

Dr. Ambedkar Birthday celebration at Tamil Nadu BJP Head Office - Kamalalayam with Mrs. Vanathi srinivasan & Mrs. Tamilisai Soundarrajan

Air Quality Index? What It Means? detailed Here

Prime minister Narendra Modi launched the initiative on Monday, the idea behind the launch is those who wish to know the level of air pollution in their neighborhood will now able to get the data at the click of a mouse, also the online data is for people to change the lifestyle by looking at the Air Quality Index of their neighborhood.

Everyday the data will be available in site for pollutants like Sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide with their Minimum, maximum and average levels. In coming days other pollutants will be listed.

Air Quality Index Monitoring is available at Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Telengana, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh,

Air Quality Index can be viewed by the below link.

Air Quality Index

FlyDubai launches Chennai-Dubai flights

FlyDubai, on Wednesday, announced the launch of its service between Chennai and Dubai. The low cost carrier of Dubai will operate three flights a week between the two cities starting from 31 March 2015.

It has announced an economy class return fare at Rs.14,000 including 20kg checked baggage from Chennai, while business class return fares will start at Rs.29,900 and are inclusive of all taxes and 40kg checked baggage.

It will operate flights from Chennai to Dubai on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and Dubai to Chennai on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

“We may not be the cheapest, but it is a competitive fare on this route,” said Sudhir Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice President, Commercial (GCC, Subcontinent, Africa), FlyDubai.

According to leading travel portal Cleartrip, For Chennai to Dubai, the lowest (all-inclusive) round trip fare per person, for travel on April 23, 2015, was about Rs.16,800.

Mr.Sreedharan said FlyDubai had been sustaining a capacity in excess of 90 per cent in its flights connecting Indian cities. It operates 29 flights a week in India and Chennai was its 8th destination.

Karur Vysya targets Rs 2k-cr net worth

CHENNAI: The net worth of Karur-based old private sector Karur Vysya Bank is set to cross Rs 2,000 crore, following the board decision on Tuesday to issue bonus and rights shares (at premium), subject to statutory approvals. The bank has also decided to increase the cap on foreign investment from 24-35%.


KVB has decided to reward existing shareholders with a bonus issue in the ratio of two shares of Rs 10 each for every five shares held. This will increase the capital to Rs 76.26 crore from the existing Rs 54.45 crore.

After the bonus issue, the bank will come out with a rights issue offering shareholders two shares for every five shares held. The price per right share will be Rs 150 (Rs 140 premium for the Rs 10 paid-up share). The bank will issue 3.05-crore rights shares at a price of Rs 150 to raise Rs 457.54 crore.

Following the rights issue, the bank will be able to raise its net worth to a comfortable level of more than Rs 2,000 crore from the current Rs 1,620 crore, KVB officials told ET. It is raising the money to maintain the capital adequacy ratio (now 14.49%) in tune with the credit expansion taking place now.

They said after a long time, the bank has decided to raise the cap on the aggregate foreign investment from all sources to 35% from 24%.

It is required to raise the limit as it has almost touched the 24% cap and other private sector banks have hiked it as per government policy.

Angel Broking vice-president research — banking, Vaibhav Agrawal, says: “Generally, smaller banks like Karur Vysya rely more on equity for their capital adequacy requirements as Tier-1 and Tier-2 bonds are not available to them at attractive rates. Considering that the bank’s capital adequacy was relatively low at 12.5%, the rights issue makes sense to fund future growth.”