Indian IT service providers are increasing their exposure in the healthcare and pharma segments. Multi-million dollar deals in this space by IT firms over the past three-four months only buttress this trend. Healthcare outsourcing has moved away from just undertaking medical transcription and business process outsourcing (BPO) work to core functions such as drug discovery, testing, research and development.
Dubai Holding, an investment firm of the Dubai government, has threatened to come out with an open offer for Orient-Express Hotels if the Tata group acquires a significant stake in the hotel chain. This comes exactly a month after the Tata group's Indian Hotels Company bought 10 per cent and expressed interest in striking a deal which was turned down by Orient-Express.
US-based Spectrum Global Fund Administration, providing back-office operations to hedge funds in the US and the UK, is closing its facilities in India. The company had started its operations in India two years ago.
Unlike the first quarter of FY08 when Indian IT small- and mid-caps were hit hard due to a nearly 7 per cent appreciation in the rupee against the dollar, the July-September period was relatively kind to these firms. It spared them to some extent, since the rupee appreciated around 1.5 per cent over the period. However, the rupee rose around 12 per cent against the dollar over the last 12 months.
Shortage of staff is preventing the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission from summoning over 140 B-schools to furnish details about their fee structure, faculty payments and tie-ups. The body issued notices to around 100 "defaulter" B-schools last week.
Contrary to popular understanding, operators do not manage these incoming votes. It is the channel operators who manage and collate the results of these SMSes. Yet, in terms of revenue sharing, close to 70 per cent of the share goes to the telecom provider while the channels get only 30 per cent.
Rising real estate costs and lack of good locations in cities are driving hotel companies to rent space in malls and other commercial complexes. For instance, Accor Hotels is in talks with mall developers to build its Formulae 1 brand of budget hotels at the topfloor of malls in tier I and tier II cities.
Indian notebook sales are moving at a scorching pace -- 73 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2007 -- and this is affecting the volume growth in the IT peripherals market.
Ginger Hotels, the no-frills brand by Roots Corporation, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Indian Hotels which operates Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, is in talks with real estate developers to rent space in commercial complexes to run its hotels.
Close to 60 per cent of revenues of Indian IT service providers comes from the US market. With the rupee having appreciated more than 12 per cent over the past year, IT firms have increased billing rates, in most cases for new as well as existing clients.
IMT-Ghaziabad's placement chairperson, Nilanjan Chatopadhyay, has scheduled visits to 15 companies in Singapore and eight in Hong Kong from July 2007 to January 2008. The institute has set aside a fund of Rs 6 lakh for promotional activities.
IIM-Bangalore has received around 70 offers so far this year .Companies which have made offers are Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank, ABN Amro, HSBC, JP Morgan, HLL, P&G and Marico among others.
Indian IT firms have been announcing incremental increase in billing rates for quite some time now to counter wage hikes and rising visa costs, to name a few.
The rooms will be priced between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,400, based on the location, and will provide a basic room and dining service, gym and a wi-fi connection.
Mumbai-based Patni Computer System's stake sale has been stalled, perhaps indefinitely, according to sources close to the development.
The facility will be available at four of Future Group's Big Bazaar outlets in Mumbai. Cleartrip will soon extend this tie-up to other Big Bazaar outlets in the city as well as other metros.
There's plenty of room for everybody. With the demand for low-cost accommodation on the rise, a whole host of hospitality firms, both foreign and local, is planning to set up budgets hotels.
ITC Hotels- The Grand Central, The Luxury Collection, in Mumbai, has recorded a 15 per cent rise in bookings for September month as compared with last year's booking of 60 per cent for the same month.
As Indians take to the roads like never before, restaurants are fanning out to the highways.
The company will be taking its total outsourcing offering to the retailers in the small and medium enterprise category, whereas for the large retailers, it will pitch the best-of-the-breed target solutions to cater to specific problems.
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