In 2017, when Infosys announced that Salil Parekh would be its next chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD), very few in the industry or the analyst community doubted his ability to bring the company back to a healthy growth trajectory, improve morale within the company and, more importantly, win the promoters' trust and investor confidence. There were reasons for this confidence. He was not only the deputy CEO of the Paris-headquartered IT services major Capgemini, but also one of the only non-European faces on the executive board of the company.
Employee costs for Indian IT services players have touched an all-time high as salaries soar in their effort to retain talent. Engineer salaries are going through the roof. According to a news report, Infosys, which reported a 27.7 per cent attrition rate for the fourth quarter of FY22, plans to have an average salary hike of 12-13 per cent. High potential employees will get increases of 22-23 per cent.
The Indian startup ecosystem recently celebrated the 100th unicorn milestone. It came after a month of no big fund announcements. Compare this to 2021, when three to four unicorns were being added every month. Nevertheless, the 100th unicorn needs to be celebrated since the first unicorn was announced in 2011 - 11 years ago.
IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), in its Q4FY22 results, said the company's banking, finance services and insurance (BFSI) crossed the $10 billion milestone. This includes revenue from financial products, services and platforms. For Suresh Muthuswami, who recently took over as Chairman of North America, one of the focus will be to grow this percentage going ahead. The first step to grow the US market is hiring. Muthuswami said that the company will be hiring more in the US, especially from the campuses. In FY22 TCS hired over 7,000 people in the US and going ahead too the numbers will be similar.
Recently, TPEM's first born electric concept, Avinya broke cover. The model promises a minimum range of 500 kilometres and advanced technology features, aimed at buyers in India and outside. TPEM, the newly formed entity may also consider a separate dedicated sales channel for the EVs with a distinctive corporate identity once the volumes reach a critical mass and throughput is large enough for the dealers to be profitable, said Chandra. Elaborating further on the hiring strategy he said, "We will hire from everywhere-wherever the talent of the required competency is available."
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Tech giant Apple has stopped accepting payments via debit and credit cards in India. Apple has stopped accepting cards for subscriptions, and purchases using credit cards issued by banks in India. Apple will also not accept payments for ad campaigns on Apple Search using credit cards issued by Indian banks. All campaigns will be put on hold from June 1.
Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest software exporter, hired 100,000 freshers in the financial year 2021-22, more than in any other year. That means an average of 8,300 trainees joining the company every month. This is not merely a mathematical calculation: hiring of freshers at the top IT companies is no longer a compressed affair confined to the campus season.
It has taken a pandemic to move the needle on the salary packages for greenhorn engineers hired by the Indian IT services sector. The country's third-largest IT services player, HCL Technologies, has decided to boost the entry-level packages from Rs 3-3.6 lakh to Rs 4.25 lakh for FY23, in a bid to attract fresh talent and keep them for longer to counter the impact of rising attrition. This new package would also be applicable to those freshers who joined the firm in FY22.
So far at least eight incidents of EV fires have been reported in just over a month's time.
'If the Indian government actually delivers on the infrastructure plans, the hospitality sector would double itself by 2025.'
Ola Electric became the latest among electric scooter (e-scooter) makers to have started the exercise of recalling a specific batch of its model after a rap on the knuckles by the government. Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday advised electric vehicle (EV) companies to act responsibly by identifying and recalling defective batches without waiting for orders or guidelines from the ministry. The Bengaluru-based start-up is conducting pre-emptive diagnostics and health check on 1,441 scooters, it said in a statement on Sunday.
Nepal's decision to ban the import of non-essential items amid depleting forex reserves may hit Indian exports. The country's central bank - Nepal Rastra Bank - last week instructed commercial banks not to open letters of credit (LCs) for importing non-essential items. This is to prevent further decline of the country's foreign exchange reserves. However, it has not issued any formal communication yet.
For Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) - India's largest and the world's second-largest IT services provider - the attrition rate touched an all-time high of 17.4 per cent in Q4FY22. The management, following the announcement of the Q4 results, has warned that the attrition situation could become even worse before any improvement. According to analysts, the short term, the attrition rate at TCS could even touch 20 per cent.
Automotive (auto) and consumer appliance companies are hoping for a bounty from the harvest season after two consecutive dry spells in 2020 and 2021. The season, which also marks the beginning of the regional New Year, kicked in across the country from April 1 - Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra; Ugadi in Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh; Bihu in the Northeast; and Chaitra Navratri in the North. Manufacturers and retailers of cars, two-wheelers, and consumer appliances said they have seen demand pick up year-on-year (YoY) at a brisk pace across categories.
The results of Indian IT services players in the just-concluded fourth quarter of 2021-22 are expected to reveal continuing growth momentum as demand surges on the back of digital transformations and the cloud shift, but analysts anticipate margins to be under pressure due to supply challenges. Analysts covering the sector expect revenue commentary should be strong despite the Russia-Ukraine conflict and inflation. Top-line growth will be driven by broad-based demand with a strong uptick for cloud, digital, cybersecurity, data analytics, and artificial intelligence, among other services.
Overseas shipments at auto firms expanded at a brisk pace year-on-year (YoY) in March, bumping up the overall annual exports for FY22 and taking it to a record level for some like Maruti Suzuki India and Bajaj Auto. Amid a semiconductor shortage, a depreciating rupee and a strong demand in various export destinations, passenger vehicle makers diverted capacity meant for the local market in favour of the more-lucrative export market. Among the passenger vehicle makers, market leader Maruti Suzuki led the rally with its overseas shipments touching a record level of 238,376 units in FY22 - the highest for the company in any financial year.
Shivani Shinde reports. The youngest member of the Tata group, the much-awaited Tata Neu, has finally been launched for people across the country. The 'super app' offers a number of services ranging from financial services to tech, travel and even groceries. The app takes off with a customer base of 120 million, with 2,500 offline stores. According to the Tata group, the app will be a one-stop destination for all consumer needs. The super app also offers a bouquet of financial offers like Unified Payments Interface (UPI), bill payments, loans and insurance. Tata Neu will also provide other services like fashion, gadgets, groceries, travel and health.
Tata Motors is actively considering tapping into some of the export markets beyond South Asia, for its range of electric vehicles (EVs) as it sees an opportunity of selling affordable EVs in markets outside India. The export plans will coincide with the commercial launch of the Curvve - an electric SUV concept that broke cover on Wednesday, in two years from now, Shailesh Chandra, MD, Tata Motors PVs and Electric Mobility, told Business Standard. "We are actively thinking of the international markets and we would like to go with a portfolio of products. "We have identified a few markets and in a couple of years, we should commence the same," said Chandra.
The recurrent increases in fuel prices over the past 10 days are eating into the margins of transporters, who will be forced to pass on the hikes to their customers. This, in turn, is set to make the prices of daily consumables and other goods dearer, affect consumption, and slow economic growth, said transporters and analysts. Freight rates on grand trunk routes have shot up 3-4 per cent month-on-month in the past few days, according to the Indian Foundation of Transport Research & Training (IFTRT).