Simplification of I-T rules spawns websites that help in tax preparation.
The first quarter of the financial year 2009-10 was exceptional for Wipro's consumer care business. Santoor, its flagship soap brand, which contributed close to Rs 850 crore in 2008-09 to the company's coffers, became the number one brand in South India in its category.
Karnataka project does wonders with water service management.
Infosys, according to sources close to the development, bagged the pilot project emerging as the lowest bidder (L1) in a competitive bidding process, which was attended by most Indian IT services firms and global companies like Siemens and IFS.
India's second-largest information technology services provider, Infosys Technologies, has applied for a mere 405 visas till date for financial year 2009-10 - its lowest application count in recent years.
Siemens Information Systems, a business unit of Siemens India, part of German technology giant Siemens is understood to have laid off around 500 people over the last five days.
The gap between operation and inspiration created by the premature exit of Infosys Technologies' key founder, Nandan Mohan Nilekani, is being filled by his colleagues.
The Mangalore Special Economic Zone Limited (MSEZL) is facing stiff opposition from the landholders who are resisting acquisition of their lands.
"The entry of other players in this segment will help in reiterating the benefits of the cash-and-carry concept to Indian customers," Metro India Managing Director Martin Dlouhy says. It may be the first time anywhere in the world that Wal-Mart and Metro square off in the cash & carry format. Dlouhy's apparent nonchalance can't hide the fact that Metro may be facing one of its most difficult challenges in the country.
The company, which is bidding for 16 road projects worth Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) this year from the National Highways Authority of India under the public-private-partnership model, intends to invest the money in the form of equity to set up special purpose vehicles to execute new road projects.
The Tata Group has decided to defer its plan of setting up a rural business process outsourcing unit near the proposed steel plant at Kalinganagar in Orissa by two years.
Even as the strong anti-outsourcing lobby in the US is forcing US lawmakers to take a relook at their H1-B visa strategy amid huge job losses, Infosys Technologies which holds the largest number of H1-B visas among all the Indian IT services companies has started reducing the number as a part of the company's policy to reduce its 'overseas bench' strength.
The contract, which involves upgrade of LIC's front-end IT application programmes to make these accessible through the web, is said to be worth about Rs 200 crore, and will be done over five years. It is understood that most large Indian IT outsourcing companies, including TCS, Infosys and L&T Infotech, had competed for the contract. It was considered prestigious, not because of its size but because it involved a prestigious public sector organisation like LIC.
It is not clear which groups of the Indian operations have been affected by the cuts which are learnt to have been carried out across diverse functions. However, a company source said that a sizeable number of Microsoft's sales and support personnel in Hyderabad and a few in Bangalore were among those affected. The Response Windows team has also been dismantled completely, the source claimed.
The recent multi-million dollar deals by the likes of TCS, Wipro and HCL Technologies buttress the fact. If the economy does not lose more steam, these companies say the IT sector may see a semblance of normalcy by year-end.
Keeping a reserve pool of staff is proving to be a liability. This is forcing companies to devise ways to reduce bench strength, by posting in other areas and paying them less till they become productive assets. Moreover, while the physical bench had always been there, mid-sized IT firms like Hexaware and Mastek have coined the word 'virtual desk' to define a certain section of their unutilised resources who will be enjoying lesser privileges and perks.
"Performance management tools have been always used by companies to reward good performers and weed out the bad ones. However, due to the significant growth over the last few years, they were not enforced. With the industry facing the economic downturn, it is using this tool fairly effectively. And it is being done all over the world," explained Som Mittal, president of software body Nasscom.
The jury is still out on whether Tech Mahindra should retain the Satyam name. Srinivasan Swamy, CMD, R K Swamy BBDO, says. "Brand Satyam took a beating for only one reason -- accounting irregularities by its erstwhile chairman. The employees were not even aware of the fraud. The company's core values and foundation have not been impacted." The task for the new management, he believes, is to retain its clients and people and the brand image would get resurrected.
In the current fiscal (2009-10), the company expects that this may further go down to about 50 per cent. "In fiscal 2010, we expect the variable pay for the senior management to be less than 58 per cent," said Infosys head of HR, education and research T V Mohandas Pai. He is also a member on the Infosys' board. Variable component is as high as 50 per cent in the total pay packet of the senior executives whereas the fixed component constitutes the other half.
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