Plans for a multi-thousand crore rupee Automobile City to be located in the south-east Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, are in progress, spearheaded by Hyundai Motor India's former president B V R Subbu.

The proposed city will be located at Tada in Nellore district, which borders on the state of Tamil Nadu, which has already been established as an automobile hub. The site also offers proximity to Chennai’s international airport and port.

With plans to develop an end-to-end solution centre for automobile makers, with various auto components manufacturing facilities available under one roof, Mr. Subbu is in talks with several players from the industry, including manufacturers and overseas venture capitalists, to join the project. He is also in talks with several Government officials including, chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. Sources reveal that he has sought about 6,000 acres of land among other governmental support for the proposed project. 

The Tada project hopes to kick start the State’s entry into the automobile manufacturing sector, which has not been possible in the past due to the lack of a well-developed auto ancillary base.

Global chip design major Cadence is tying up with Indian educational institutions to create opportunities for the growth of the semiconductor industry.

"Our aim is to prepare a vast talent pool that can be picked by the semiconductor industry," explained Rahul Arya, marketing director, (India & Saarc), Cadence.

Quoting a survey by the VLSI Society of India, Arya noted that less than 1,000 students graduating annually specialise in semiconductors. At the same time as many as 18 of the top 25 chip companies in the world have set up their centres in the country.

Hence the Company has launched education initiatives such as the Finishing School Program in collaboration with the University of Santa Cruz Extension, US, and Time-To-Market Inc (TTM) in India, to meet the growing demand.

So also, Cadence and Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), which has more than 100 affiliated engineering colleges in the southern state of Karnataka, have jointly launched a programme to provide students practical experience in end-to-end design. The Company also has tie-ups with premier engineering institutions such as the IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur on various design initiatives.

The Company’s Indian research & development (R&D) team has already shown promise contributing to the development of its new Virtuoso custom design platform for advanced analog, mixed-signal and custom digital design.

With operations in the country since 1987, over 750 of its total global employee strength of 5,100 are spread across its R&D centre in Noida, support team in Bangalore and sales office in Hyderabad.