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Champagne corks will be popping at US-based Alcoa after it
landed a $1 billion contract to supply aerospace fastening systems
to Airbus. The deal, the largest fastener contract with the aircraft
manufacturer, will continue the use of Alcoa’s fasteners on every
Airbus platform. For the full story, see page 9.
US-born entrepreneur Nikhil Jaisinghania is to be applauded for
harnessing the sun and using solar power in villages in Uttar Pradesh
for the last five years. Many villages, which use currently kerosene to
provide power, are benefitting from the idea where his Mera Gao
Power company provides solar panels in the village, runs wires into
the houses and charges the household a weekly fee that is little
more than the price paid for the kerosene.
There is plenty of work for the company to do with an estimated
300 million people in the country without direct access to basic
electricity. You can find the full story on page 13.
Prisoners and the government in India are cashing in after a
private-public partnership between Spark Minda, Ashok Minda
Group, Yerwada central prison and Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd,
where an assembly plant has been set up in the Yerwada jail for
prisoners to manufacture wiring harnesses.
The deal, which sees 80 units built a day at RS200 each, provides
RS55 for the worker, ten percent to the Prisoners’ Welfare Fund and
the rest to the government. Details are on page 35.
I’d also like to take this opportunity, on behalf of all the wiredInUSA
team, to wish you season’s greetings for the festive period and a
happy, healthy and prosperous new year.
David Bell
Editor
#54
EDITOR
wiredInUSA - December 2015
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INDEX