Neeraj Bhargava, CEO of Mumbai-based business process outsourcing (BPO firm) WNS Global Services, and his team have voluntarily decided to forfeit their bonuses if they are not successful in getting the attrition rates below 30 per cent. This is probably the first such move of its kind in the industry in which attrition has become a critical issue. WNS has over 15,000 employees, and its current attrition rate stands at 43 per cent.
Google has unveiled an ambitious strategy that will make cellphones cheaper and speed up internet surfing. Google's director of mobile platforms, Andy Rubin, said in a telephonic conversation from the US that the new platform called Android should reduce the prices of today's $500 smart phones to around $100-150 in a year or so. "If there's ever a Gphone, it will be built on the Android platform," he said.
Mobile TV -- basically an application that enables television services on handhelds such as mobiles, handheld TVs, car TV, GPS terminals, game devices, laptop PCs, and other portable devices -- is a step closer to seeing the light of day in India.
While this is a global phenomenon, it is for the first time that the Indian Music Industry (IMI) is making an effort to stop this before it erodes the revenue stream of music companies like it is already happening in the software, gaming and the movie segments.
Sony Computer Entertainment, an arm of Sony Pictures, is planning to increase its console-based business in India.The company - responsible for the distribution, marketing and sales of PlayStation - opened its India office four months back and is now getting its strategy in place to offer variety and a better experience to gamers.
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.
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.
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.
In fact, while IT bellwether Infosys Technologies (his earlier employer) got a drubbing at the bourses for not posting "better than expected" results, iGate stumped investors a couple of days back by announcing it plans to buy back shares from the public and delist from the Indian stock markets, while remaining listed in the US.
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.
Analysts expect that Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications (RCom) and Idea Cellular will post over 50 per cent annual growth in revenues (year-on-year) and more than 10 per cent sequential growth (over the previous quarter). Bharti continues to lead in the subscriber addition race (2.1 million in August).
IBM's attempt to patent a technology that would help companies to figure out which jobs to send overseas getting a quiet burial. The company today confirmed that it has withdrawn its patent application for "outsourcing of services" which it had filed on July 12 this year.
It's for the first time that someone from the industry will hold the position of president at Nasscom.
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.
The earnings of Indian IT companies in rupee terms are dwindling with every upward movement of the currency. The domestic currency has risen by 11.6 per cent this year to touch a nine-year high on Wednesday.
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.
Nortel Networks (India) is upgrading the communications at four Indian international airports, which should help make the staff more responsive to travellers.
Mumbai-based Patni Computer System's stake sale has been stalled, perhaps indefinitely, according to sources close to the development.
Old economy companies such as Hero, M&M (Tech Mahindra), Aditya Birla, Essar, Hindujas and Larsen & Toubro have sprung into action with large acquisitions and major deals.
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