The additional step is the result of a Reserve Bank of India's guideline issued this February that mandates additional authentications/verifications based on information about the card-holder that is not contained on the card. This measure is expected to contain online card fraud.
In a bid to reduce costs and increased offshoring focus, Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest information technology company, has recalled close to 1,200 employees from the US and has decided not to hand out any salary increment this year.
Suvir Sujan talks about his company's vision, investment plans and belief in the Indian growth story.
'Our visit gives us an opportunity to understand the culture of the country.'
Insurers, mostly private ones, are opting to cancel mediclaim, marine and cargo cover at a later stage due to adverse claims ratio. In order to grab market share, they have not been pricing the product correctly. Sources said that ICICI Lombard has asked L&T to pay additional premium for the group mediclaim policy in the middle of the year. When contacted, L&T said that ICICI Lombard has requested for extra premium but has not sent any notice.
So far, VCs used to fund start-ups which either had product prototypes ready or had some customers on board.
Nitish Mittersain, founder of Nazara Technologies, is among the few entrepreneurs who have remained unflappable in the current economic crisis. Having set up Nazara, a mobile entertainment company, right at the time of the dotcom bust, Mittersain claims to have sufficient experience to withstand this financial downturn too.
Life insurance companies have put their plans to list their shares on the stock exchanges on the backburner, though they are hopeful of Parliament's nod for the Insurance Bill, which will increase the foreign investment limit, during the Winter session.
One year after the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority's (Irda) allowed insurance companies to invest in venture capital (VC) funds, no insurer has shown interest in funding VCs.
Kingfisher pays 37 per cent higher premium while Air India defers renewal. "The Air France crash is expected to provide a $600-$700 million hit (to global insurance companies), which is 40 per cent of the total premium collected, and therefore hardening of reinsurance rates was evident. We had seen prices go up from $2 billion to $4 billion after the 9/11 attacks (in the US)," said ICICI Lombard Reinsurance Head Rajiv Kumaraswamy.
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.
Life insurance premium rates are likely to drop over the next few months owing to longer life expectancy, with a new mortality and morbidity table expected to be in place by the fourth quarter of 2009 to replace the current one, which is of 1994-96 vintage.
Move follows pressure from insurers, who say they are losing on these payments.
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.