In a yet another bailout that will go down well with the political class, the government has proposed one-time assistance to state government and private universities and colleges that do not get any financial assistance from the University Grants Commission, the country's higher education standards regulator, which also funds institutions.
According to the National Auto Fuel Policy, Bharat Stage-IV, the Indian version of Euro-IV, is to be applicable in the country by April 2010. However, the plant upgradation plans of the oil refiners, who have to sell petrol and diesel with the stringent emission standard from April 1, are facing a delay as suppliers of the equipment are heavily booked.
Banks are reluctant about disbursing loans for aviation studies on fears that a slowdown will hamper the job prospects in the aviation sector. The move, say analysts, may affect the fortunes of aviation training institutes.
Consider this. Leading broadcaster Star India's mobile interactive division, Star Mobile Entertainment -- which made some serious headway in the space by launching a service whereby mobile users could opt to view soaps from across Star India's network -- recently reviewed its operational strategy.
The Indian Institutes of Technology for the first time since their inception have begun drafting plans to implement the quota for faculty members from this year onwards, despite protests from the IIT student community and opposition from some professors.
Mark-to-market losses due to the unexpected fall of the rupee against the US dollar, euro and pound; the impact of wage increases in the first quarter; a stagnant global economy; and margin pressure owing to inflation are expected to impact the rupee-term fortunes of Indian IT firms that will declare their quarterly results for the April-June 30 quarter beginning this week.
Welcome to the world of Vishing or voice phishing, wherein hackers are using a combination of voice over internet protocol, SMSs and the internet to fool and redirect users into dialling a phone number and collect critical information for financial gain. In Kolaskar's case, both mobile spam and vishing were used.
While a few say that they have already recorded a significant drop in bookings, others say that if the trend continues, the effects will be reflected on the revenues for the next three to six months.
According to Crisil Research, the average room rates in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore are likely to fall 5-10 per cent in the next few months. Industry experts said the occupancy rates could fall from 75-80 per cent now to 65-70 per cent soon.
Hospitality majors, including Le Meridien and Pride Hotel, are opposing pay channels such as Star and Zee for raising rates for the second time in six months, pending an earlier court battle between the hotel trade body and private broadcasters.
A team of engineers at India's largest IT services provider firm. Tata Consultancy Services, was working on a project for an important client. While it was co-ordinating work from three geographical units - Europe, South America and India - it was finding it difficult to collaborate through telephone or other voice means as there were language and pronunciation hurdles.
VMIL officials declined to comment on the development. According to sources close to the development, VMIL will sell stake to raise money for expanding Hungama, the content and mobile services arm. The Mumbai-based company has already held two to three rounds of meetings with these private equity investors. The company's valuation has been pegged at Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion). The funds raised would be used for Hungama's expansion.
The oil marketing companies are driving credit growth. The banking sector -- which typically sees credit contraction in the initial months -- has managed to buck the trend and has added nearly Rs 16,000 crore (Rs 160 billion) of advances in the first seven weeks of the current financial year thanks to the demand from the two sectors.
Brushing aside objections over brand dilution, the government has reportedly begun work on modifying the IIT Act, 1961, to ensure that the eight new engineering institutes it is setting up come under the premier Indian Institute of Technology umbrella.
Aegis BPO Services, an Essar Group business process outsourcing (BPO) company, is close to acquiring an 8,000-seater BPO firm in the Philippines. The exact size of the deal is not clear.Aegis has been bullish on inorganic growth as its races to reach a turnover of $500 million (around Rs 2,000 crore) by 2010.
US-based buyout fund Carlyle, Providence Equity Partners, Warburg Pincus and Blackstone are understood to be exploring a buyout of Temasek's holding in Mumbai-based pure-play business process outsourcing firm Firstsource. The news triggered the company's share price to rise 6.76 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to close at Rs 43.45 on Tuesday. Warburg Pincus has a stake in WNS, a BPO company, while Blackstone has a majority stake in Intelenet.
The broad idea is to help freshers and high-potential employees develop soft skills not generally taught at universities, and simultaneously increase retention rates in an industry that has attrition rates between 30 and 50 per cent. The industry, according to Nasscom estimates, accounts for almost $11 billion and employs slightly over 700,000 professionals (in terms of direct employment).
Sluggish volume growth and mark-to-market losses have affected the performance of a majority of mid-cap information technology companies in the January-March 2008 quarter. Analysts expect that growth will continue to be sluggish in the next two quarters.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation's wind power foray is facing teething troubles. The state-run company plans to set up 100 mw capacity at an investment of Rs 500 crore. Its first project - a pilot of 25 mw coming up in Maharashtra's Dhule district - is being shifted to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan following protests by farmers.
India's largest IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will not announce a cut in variable pay of its employees this year , despite the company reporting a negative net profit on sequential basis.Last quarter, the company had announced a reduction in its staff variable pay as it did not achieve the internal targets.
