The National Highways Authority of India has decided to slow down the process of awarding contracts for new highway projects. This would further delay the process of modernisation and expansion of the national highways by a few months.
Leading logistics and transport companies are willing to operate Blueline buses on certain lustre routes in Delhi. As many as 11 players have submitted their bids for operating 200 private carriage buses in the capital at an estimated cost of Rs 57 crore
The Central Public Works Department, responsible for awarding these projects, which include construction of stadiums, a media centre and a hostel, among others, has failed to get contractors for these projects due to the government's inability to address their concerns over the unprecedented rise in prices of key raw materials.
"The response to these carts have been pleasing, we are planning to increase the number of carts to over 2,500 in this fiscal. It not only takes the product to the consumer right at his doorstep but also provides good employment opportunities," says G Dhananjay, chief operating officer of Moser Baer's entertainment division. As prices of DVDs and VCDs reach levels comparable to vegetables, the company is aggressively pushing its DVDs in the market.
Indian export-oriented information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) firms may be grappling with an appreciating rupee and clouds of doubt looming over the extension of tax sops for the sector beyond 2009. An Everest-Nasscom study points out that the domestic BPO market, with a growth rate of 50 per cent over the last five years, has grown faster than the overall Indian BPO market to reach nearly $1.6 billion (Rs 6,400 crore) by end of FY2008.
The fourth quarter of financial year ending March 31, 2008, may hold a mixed bag of results for Indian information technology (IT) companies. On the one hand, IT firms - which hedged themselves taking the view that the Indian rupee would continue rising against the US dollar - will have to bear a negative impact on the portfolio that has been hedged so far. On the other, their top line as well as operating margins (EBIDTA) will get a boost since the rupee has depreciated.
The tax holiday awarded by the Union Budget to healthcare and IT sectors has been greeted with enthusiasm. Major hospital chains had already announced plans to expand in tier 2 cities. The tax holiday has proved to be an added incentive. India needs 3.1 million new hospital beds in the next 10 years. The tax-holiday benefits are available for all new hospital projects except the ones coming up in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore & Ahmedabad.
Global information technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) is set to launch its special lines of products, targeting women and the youth in India.
"Valentine's Day is an established gifting occasion in India today and for many working people, shopping online especially for unique products allows them the opportunity to make the occasion special for their loved one," says Ambareesh Murty, director, Marketing & Operations, eBay India.
The required skills have become higher, creating opportunities for a more specialised workforce in this sector. For long, a job with a business process outsourcing (BPO) company has been looked upon as a stepping stone to another, longer-lasting career. Such has been the attrition in the industry.
IT vendors make hay on robust demand for managed security software applications.
Better marketing, more recyclers needed, say hardware makers.
Techtribe, Yellojobs and Reffster score over jobsites like Naukri and Monster in quality of recruitment.
An expected reduction in import duty for such devices in the coming budget session is expected to almost halve the prices of PNDs that currently sell for around Rs 20,000 on an average -- the import duty of over 30 per cent accounting for a major chunk of the cost.
Historically, IBM has always been actively involved with delivering solutions for the differently-abled, like its Model 1403 Braille printer, developed in 1975, or its talking typewriter for the blind in 1980, followed by a talking display terminal in 1981.
Under the scheme, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and technology start-ups can apply for reimbursement, up to a limit of Rs 15 lakh, for the costs incurred in filing international patent applications. This scheme applies for their indigenous inventions in the electronics and information, communication and technology (ICT) domain.
The central government is likely to extend the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) scheme beyond 2009 only to Indian information technology-enabled services/business process outsourcing (ITeS/BPO) firms. A proposal to this effect has been included in the 11th Five-Year Plan document, which will be put up for the approval of the National Development Council, headed by the prime minister, on December 19.
Large companies are targeting niche players in the market to add to their portfolio.
The herculean effort and complexity involved in getting IT-BPO employees and employers to register - coupled with the high costs incurred in the process - is likely to force IT industry body Nasscom to miss its March 2008 target of 500,000 registrations for its National Skills Registry (NSR) by a huge margin.
New Delhi-based e-learning company Educomp Solutions has worked on a novel business model under which it will invest over Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) to "enable" setting up around 150 schools over the next four years.Under this model, Educomp will earn its return on investment by providing intellectual property (IP) for the schools through its Educomp School Management programme and leasing infrastructure through its subsidiary Educomp Infrastructure.
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