Easy usage, no-maintenance claim draw consumers to these desktop alternatives.
These four youngsters turned their passion for books into a successful online book lending service, discovers Shivani Shinde.
Partly an answer to downturn, political pressure; trend should shift again, say analysts.
Though it is smaller than the $11 billion BPO exports market, it is expected to reach $6 billion by 2012, according to a new Ernst and Young study. The domestic BPO market, hence, presents a huge untapped growth opportunity. Its addressable market opportunity is in the range of $16-19 billion by 2012, with significant business growth coming in from sectors like BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), telecom, media, retail and government.
Some employees have alleged that close to 20 employees of the troubled Satyam Computer Services have been promoted to the I-1 and I-2 bands (representing assistant vice-president and vice-president levels) and also received a salary hike of 20-40 per cent. The timing has caused much resentment with some employees taking up the matter with the human resources department.
India's second-largest IT services firm, Infosys Technologies, has set up a separate unit within its business process outsourcing arm (Infosys BPO) to concentrate solely on the domestic BPO market.
Not only have they been thriving for over 10 years in India alone, but also have stood their ground in the face of newer and smarter technologies like radio-frequency identification, which promised to revolutionise the retailing sector.
IIT Bombay, for instance, recently joined hands with Intellectual Ventures to seek support in marketing and licensing patents the institute holds.
Sony is hopeful of growing the fledgling Rs 410 crore console gaming industry in India with games that will be developed in India and will be essentially based on Indian storylines. The journey has begun with the launch of the first India developed game for the PS2 platform, Hanuman: Boy Warrior, which is based on the hit Indian animation film Hanuman.
The IT Amendment Act, 2008, if notified, will give the government blanket power to block news portals and other sites for 'offensive' content.
The Airtel Net PC is a plug-and-play online computer, inclusive of a 15-inch LCD monitor, keyboard, mouse and Nivio companion (which enables the PC to connect to a backend Linux-run server for storage and applications) and priced at Rs 7,999 exclusively for Airtel broadband customers.
In an earlier interview, chief operating officer N Chandrasekaran had voiced this concern and said TCS was taking some measures. The impact was also evident on the overall revenue contribution, which fell to 4.7 per cent in FY09 from 5.2 per cent in FY08. TCS' head for Apac, Girija Pandey, feels the region will continue to be volatile till they reach a certain level.
New Delhi-headquartered IT services provider HCL Technologies plans to cancel hedging contracts worth $600 million (around Rs 2,970 crore), as the rupee continues to remain at Rs 49-50 levels. These hedges, analysts opine, would be taken at a rate of around Rs 41.
Having spent the first 90 days meeting employees and key clients, Jeya Kumar, new CEO of Patni Computer Systems, is clearly in control. While he acknowledges concerns due to the current slowdown, he has started restructuring the company. He details the growth plans in a chat with Business Standard's Shivani Shinde.
While the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has approved the access of TV on mobiles, service providers still cannot stream live TV channels on to the handset due to spectrum allocation from the Ministry of Information and Broadcast. However, since the regulations do not allow a direct transmission of TV channels, service providers as well as content providers have started using a technology called Unicast which provides content to end-user on a one-on-one basis.
Over the next three to five years, according to a Credit Suisse report, these cheap laptops and netbooks could add 170-250 million units globally to the current figure of around 300 million units. Netbooks sales, alone, could be 25 million units in 2009.
Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is understood to be contemplating legal action against P S Saminathan, managing director and one of the promoters of Pyramid Saimira Theatre (PSTL), and Nirmal N Kotecha, another promoter of the company.
Wipro sees a silver lining in Q1; others say recovery by 2009-end.
"We have reduced the time period for improving skills. Earlier, if an employee would show even a small improvement, we would give an extension of a few more months. Henceforth, that will not be done," said Ajoy Mukherjee, vice-president and head, global human resources. The company will consider an employee's performance for the past three years so as to maintain consistency.
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.