Representatives of Symantec, an internet security firm, said that the adult spam for February stood at 7 per cent
Faced with budget constraints and margin pressures, Indian IT services providers such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro and HCL are moving more work offshore (to India) rather than onsite (at the client's site) in a bid to contain costs.
Job portals are perhaps feeling jobless as the economic slowdown is making recruiters defer and limit their hiring plans.
India's mid-cap software companies may shed as much as 10 per cent of their workforce as revenues and margins have shrunk owing to a global slowdown, analysts say.
In a bid to diversify their risk in the backdrop of a US slowdown and a fallout from the sub-prime crisis, which has affected the BFSI sector, Indian business process outsourcing units have begun training their sights on the domestic market. The deal sizes for the BPO segment have increased to $5-50 million from just a few hundred thousand a year ago.
A slowdown in the global economy and sub-prime crisis in the banking, financial and insurance services sector, its major revenue earners, force the domestic IT industry to take a relook at its hiring strategy.
Indian IT firms are now making their mark as Superbrands. Of the 74 Indian Business Superbrands selected by Superbrands - an independent arbiter on brand management - seven are IT companies. Among a total of 980 brands invited to be judged and listed in Business Superbrands, around 12 technology companies had participated.
The figure is expected to rise to over Rs 4,600 crore (Rs 46 billion) by 2010 - a compounded annual growth rate of 44 per cent. Retail has been one of the largest growth sectors for all the top IT firms. For instance, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies, Wipro Technologies and Satyam Computer Services saw their retail business grow by 33.6, 45.3, 38.5 and 117 per cent respectively on a year-on-year basis.
The Hinduja Group-promoted business process outsourcing firm HTMT Global Solutions has set aside Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) to close two acquisition deals in the US by the end of this year.
Electronics, IT goods makers HCL Infosystems, HP, LG Electronics and Zenith are raising prices of personal computers (laptops and desktops), LCDs and plasma TVs, and IT peripherals for the first time this year by as much as 13 per cent to offset higher cost of inputs triggered by a falling rupee. The move may nudge inflation further crimping consumer spending.
UK-based GlobalLogic, a leading offshore software development company, plans to acquire two to three companies in the outsourcing product development (OPD) space in emerging markets like India and China as well as established markets. The company is particularly exploring an acquisition in south India.
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).
By June 2009, the $6 billion Mahindra & Mahindra group will open its new $116 million automobile design and development facility called the Mahindra Research Valley spread over 150 acres in Mahindra World City in Chennai. Primarily, this R&D facility will cater to M&M's design needs, and later may consider doing similar high-end work for other OEMs.