"We are conducting a feasibility study to see whether the car can be displayed inside some of the Westside," said a source. The feasibility study is being conducted in select showrooms that have a suitable entrance and enough space to accommodate the Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000) car. The car might be displayed at showrooms that meet the required specifications.
Analysts see HCL's Rs 1,780 crore deal with Reader's Digest and another half-a-dozen big deals signed in the past three months by Indian IT firms, encompassing both global and domestic markets, as evidence that the outsourcing story continues to progress as the best option for companies to cut costs in the current difficult economic environment.
Dell has announced the launch in India of its Global Small Business Excellence Award. India will be participating in these awards for the first time. The global competition will see entries from 13 countries, including China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The winner will get $50,000 (around Rs 2.5 million) in Dell solutions and a meeting with Chairman Michael Dell. For the India leg of the competition, Dell expects 300-400 entries.
Indian information technology vendors may be missing an unfolding opportunity in the current American recession, Gartner India, the research firm, has warned.
India's largest software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), says it will see more deals in its infrastructure services (IS) business in the $5-10 million range this year than in the $15-100 million one.
While the exact number of employees being asked to quit could not be confirmed, sources said close to 1,000 employees were tipped to go. Syntel has around 11,000 employees in India. The shifting of employees to the KPO operations is part of increasing its utilisation and reducing the bench strength.
Modern trade retail accounts for 5-6 per cent of the overall sales revenues of FMCG companies. It has been reported in the past that FMCG players like Godrej Consumer Products and Dabur had taken a tough stance against defaulting modern trade retailers and had stopped supplying to them or supplying only in return for cash payment, a deviation from the practice of supplying against credit.
The Titan and Fastrack brands fared well and also saw their margins expand. Watches accounted for 1 per cent of the Gitanjali Group's total turnover. The watch industry is estimated to be a Rs 2,500 crore market, growing at 5 per cent per annum. The premium-to-luxury market is close to being a Rs 300-500 crore market and will grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 30-35 per cent to be a Rs 1,500-2,000 crore market in the next six to seven years.
Fox Star Studio India, the distributor of Slumdog Millionaire in the country, has managed to gross around Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million) from the markets, surpassing collections of some of the biggest Bollywood hits of last year such as Rock On.
For TCS, the retail business has been growing at 10-12 per cent over the last three quarters. On a year-on-year basis, the growth rate of the retail business has been impacted due to currency fluctuation and the general slowdown. In dollar terms, the retail business grew 51.6 per cent for the company last financial year.
Capgemini has gone back on its previous expectations of modest growth in the first half of 2009, following a significant deterioration in the wider economic environment since the third quarter, said John O'Brien, senior analyst at advisory and consulting firm Ovum. Capgemini now expects to see a modest decline in the first-half sales, while maintaining an operating margin of 6.5 per cent.
Tata Consultancy Services, the country's largest IT company, has changed its hiring strategy and will focus on just-in-time hiring or real-time talent management."TCS has decided to adopt the policy of real-time management whereby we will hire in the last three months of the final year of graduation rather than a year before," said S Ramadorai, managing director and chief executive officer, TCS.
Meanwhile, 117 Pan-Asian private equity players - with India as focus -- aim to raise funds worth $59 billion, says UK-based Preqin, an alternative assets research and consultancy group. On a global platform, he said, majority of investors remain positive towards private equity. Aditya Birla Private Equity is an example.
Two of these categories -- detergent cakes and washing powder - account for around 15 per cent of the overall FMCG market of Rs 80,000 crore (Rs 800 billion), according to estimates made by analysts. Leading market research firm A C Nielsen's data for November 2008 show an across-the-category drop in sales volumes compared to the preceding month.
Is it possible to refurbish a brand that has been sullied with a Rs 7,800 crore (Rs 78 billion) fraud? One can't be sure, but to attempt this, the campaign ought to stress on integrity and action, say three of the top minds of the country's advertising industry.
Big-ticket events are likely to witness a 50 per cent drop in 2009 as corporates have cut down on sponsorships and marketing spends.
Marketers are now looking at consolidation with top three-four channels in a genre and effecting long-term deals with frequent reviews.
After a gap of five years, Hindustan Unilever has bagged slot zero position on B-school campuses. In 2007, the company had slipped to number 14 on the recruiters' list of B-schools. "It's an improvement of our brand value and affirmation of our employer brand," says Leena Nair, executive director HR, Hindustan Unilever.
Information technology firms, which are already in trouble due to the slowdown in their key markets, are now facing payment delays. Many firms said collections cycles (receivables) are getting extended.
Television and print media are expected to lose up to 10 per cent of their cumulative market share to new and emerging mediums like radio, digital and out-of-home (OOH) in 2009, as the overall growth rate of the advertising industry is set to decline in the new year, analysts tracking the sector said.
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