In recent years, there has been a continuous increase in the use of mineral admixtures in concrete for higher performance and more durability, or just to decrease the amount of cement used.

BASF Group recently inaugurated its new Innovation Campus Asia Pacific, located in Mumbai. The project will involve a total expected investment of up to €50 million from BASF Group, and marks the group’s largest research and development (R&D) investment in South Asia.

In recent years, there has been a continuous increase in the use of mineral admixtures in concrete for higher performance and more durability, or just to decrease the amount of cement used. Such materials, like fly ash and slag, being fine and less reactive than cement, reduce bleeding (i.e., separation of excess water from concrete), which, in general, is good.

Coir geotextile mats, shredded waste plastic, nano-coated hydrophilic fibres, industrial slag, fly-ash, and marble slurry dust are some new materials finding a place in road construction.

The Union Budget announced is a balanced budget focusing on providing an impetus to the economy and offers encouraging measures for the tax payers. As expected, GST, demonetisation have ushered in tectonic changes for economy and the same was conspicuous in the Budget.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has called for installation of solar rooftops to be made mandatory for all upcoming residential societies and has sought a ban on use of diesel generator sets in highly-polluted urban areas such as Delhi.

Covered with wooded paths and spread over 328 acre, the campus at Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, in Rajasthan is self-contained and houses all the amenities and buildings that befit an institute of international standards.

Ganesh Jivani, Founder and CEO and Managing Director, Matrix Comsec, is an Engineering graduate in Computer Science from The M. S. University, Vadodara.

In 2014, Dr Norbert Revai-Bere assumed the post of Consul General of Hungary in Mumbai. ´It is an interesting and challenging job as this is the first Hungarian consulate in Mumbai,´ he says. ´We are now thinking of a permanent long-term stay in the city as it is the business and financial capital of India.