The declining prices of mobile handsets and low connectivity costs have helped in doubling Internet access through cellphones this year.
The Essar group firm is in talks with 7-10 companies for a "strategic fit", as it races to become a $500 million company by 2010. In some of these cases the due diligence process is in progress. Aegis is looking at firms in the US, South America and the Philippines.
Consider these numbers. The latest figures from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India reveal that the number of Indians using their mobiles to logon to the internet has increased from 16 million in 2006 to 38 million in 2007 (both GSM and CDMA).
Industry estimates peg the turnovers of MNCs like Dell, Intel, Microsoft and IBM at well over the half-billion dollar mark. Firms, like Cisco, are said to have crossed the billion-dollar mark in domestic sales in 2006-07, and for a player like HP India, it is estimated in excess of $2.5 billion.
IBM plans to increase its investments in its two software laboratories in Pune and Bangalore as part of its $1.5 billion security initiative in 2008, announced on November 1.
Players such as Net4, Sify and Worldphone Internet Services are offering International long distance (ILD) calls that work out to less than a rupee a minute by using a technology called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Around 80 million minutes worth of calls are made via VoIP every month (legally), according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
In a bid to focus on testing, software and documentation, Dell India is integrating its hardware research and development (R&D) activities with its R&D units in Austin and Taiwan.
The highest-ranking female executive in Motorola's nearly 80-year history, Indian-born IITian Padmasree Warrior, has now joined Cisco as its chief technology officer (CTO) after spending over two decades at Motorola.
They reason that hiring locals abroad -- where they have 'near-shore' (with proximity to the client) development centres -- would help them tap local markets and serve global clients better, win more deals and goodwill in those countries, besides scoring brownie points with the US in an election year (over H1-B visas).
Wipro has already screened hundreds of applicants through video kiosks it has set up at three of its campuses - two in Bangalore and one in Chennai. The company shortly plans to extend this concept, and install over 1,000 video phones at all its 20-odd campuses across the country. Each campus accommodates over 2,000 people.
In an attempt to shed its image of being just a networking company, Cisco India will be launching a major brand repositioning campaign in India during the first quarter of 2008. It will include an outdoor, print and electronic media and web advertising campaign by OgilvyOne.
The asssumption is based on the fact that an investment of nearly Rs 34,021 crore (slightly over Rs 90 crore a day) has contributed to an increase of Rs 5,71,874 crore (over Rs 1,500 crore a day) to the GDP in fiscal 2006-07, according to a new report by Frost & Sullivan.
Indian IT companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, Infosys and Satyam, besides MNCs such as IBM, are working towards becoming carbon neutral while simultaneously converting their expertise in this area to help global companies become environment-friendly.
The technology is in place and operators are waiting for the green signal.
The effects of the sub-prime crisis and the resultant slowdown of the US market is evident on the margins of Indian information technology (IT) and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) firms. Business process outsourcing (BPO) firms such as Firstsource, Pune-based HOV Services, Zenta, Aegis BPO and others have been receiving inquiries from existing as well as new customers for ramping up their account receivables management (ARM) business.
The credit goes to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons - the Computational Research Laboratories (CRL). The main people behind the super achievement are N Seetha Rama Krishna (Project Manager), Sunil Sherlekar (Head, Embedded Innovation) and Ashwin Nanda (who heads CRL) besides, of course, Ratan Tata himself and CRL Chairman S Ramadorai, who is also the CEO & MD of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
Players in the Indian animation industry, who primarily cater to movie studios in the US, are increasingly looking at the domestic market, especially after the commercial success of animated movie Hanuman. Of the total revenues generated by the Indian studios, approximately 70 per cent comes from outsourced work.
With the rupee going from strength to strength and attrition a continuing concern for Indian business process outsourcing companies, the new poster child of private equity investors is witnessing adjustments in valuations in the changed scenario.
Hyderabad-based Applabs, providing quality management, testing, and certification solutions, will be increasing its business from the domestic market. In the next 12 months, the company is aiming at a revenue of $4-5 million (around Rs 15-19 crore) from India.
The concerns were legitimate as unlike the IT industry, more than 90 per cent of the cost of BPOs is in rupees while earnings are in dollars. However, the firms have managed well by focusing on increasing productivity, enhancing employee utilisation, increasing billing rates and effecting better management strategies.
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