Sembcorp lowest bidder for B’desh power supply tender
NEW DELHI: Sembcorp Energy India is set to bag a tender for supply of 250 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh after it bid the lowest tariff.
Sources with direct knowledge of the development said Sembcorp Gayatri Power, a subsidiary of Sembcorp Energy India Ltd, bid the lowest among half a dozen power utilities that submitted offers to Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) for the supply of 250 MW of electricity for 15 years.
It wasn't immediately known as to how much Sembcorp had bid.
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) had in February invited bids for buying 250 MW power from Indian firms for short duration (August 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019) and long-term (January 1, 2020, and July 31, 2033).
Besides Sembcorp, other bidders included Adani Power Mundra Ltd, Hindustan Power, Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd, Meenakshi Energy Pvt Ltd and Odisha Power Generation Corp Ltd.
Sources said, Sembcorp made the most competitive offer for supply of electricity generated from imported coal at its Andhra Pradesh plant.
While BPDB officials were not reachable for comments, a Sembcorp spokesperson said, "Sembcorp Energy India's subsidiary SGPL has participated in the Bangladesh Power Development Board's bid for supply of 250 MW power for 15 years. We are awaiting an official notification on the outcome. In view of this, it is not appropriate for us to comment further." NEW DELHI: Fulfilling aspirations of Indo-turkmen business fraternity, India Trade Promotion Organisation(itpo) is organizing its first exclusive exhibition, India Show (August 14-17, 2018) at prestigious CCIT, Chandybil Avenue in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan which is globally famed as the ‘White City”.
Being organized by the Department of Commerce, Govt of India with support of the Indian Embassy in Turkmenistan and Chamber of Commerce & Industry Turkmenistan, the event comprises of initial three day multi-brands exhibition while the last day has been earmarked for an exclusive networking event, business forum and a seminar to strengthen bi-lateral trade.
Instagram said Wednesday it now has more than one billion active users, as it unveiled a new longform video feature in a bid to attract "creators" like those on Youtube.
It becomes the fourth Facebook platform to hit the billion-user mark, including the namesake social network with more than two billion users, and the messaging applications Whatsapp and Messenger.
Instagram, which had some 800 million users as of September, has been outpacing rival social networks such as Twitter and Snapchat and has been gaining younger users even as Facebook itself has seen declines in the youth segment.
Instagram chief executive Kevin Systrom announced the milestone as he unveiled the new video application known as IGTV. "We have now a community of one billion users," Systrom told the event in San Francisco. "Since our launch in 2010, we've watched with amazement as the community has flourished and grown."
As Facebook itself has moved deeper into video, Instagram will become a direct competitor to Youtube with IGTV.
IGTV will enable any user to upload long-form videos and will also include "channels" from video "creators," similar to a format employed by Google- owned Youtube which has given rise to a number of Youtube "stars." "Anyone can be a creator — you can upload your own IGTV videos in the app or on the web to start your own channel," Systrom said. Systrom said IGTV is built to be used on a smartphone, and boosts the time for videos from the previous limit of one minute.
"The way we are watching video is changing," Systrom told the event.
He added that IGTV is "built for how you actually use your phone, so videos are full screen and vertical." The launch comes amid a shift in video viewing habits away from traditional television to online platforms including Netflix and Hulu, and with more people watching both professional and user content on services like Youtube.
According to the research firm emarketer, 181.7 million Americans will watch video content on their smartphones at least once a month this year, up 6.1 percent from a year ago.
Product manager Ashley Yuki told the event that IGTV "is an open platform from day one, so everyone can become a creator." Rolling out for the IOS and Android apps, IGTV will allow any user to upload videos up to 10 minutes long, with the limit for larger accounts at one hour. Systrom described the new app as "a separate space, a dedicated space to enjoy video without being distracted."
Facebook acquired Instagram in April 2012 for a combination of cash and stock worth some $1 billion at the time.
Since then it has become a strong engineer of growth for Facebook in terms of users and ad revenues. While Facebook offers no detailed revenue breakdown, emarketer estimates Instagram will generate $5.48 billion in net US ad revenue this year, up 70.4 percent from last year and accounting for more than one-fourth of Facebook's net mobile ad revenue.