The free run at automated teller machines might end soon, with banks petitioning the Reserve Bank of India to put curbs on cash withdrawals at third-party ATMs. Representatives from the Indian Banks Association, who met central bank officials late last month to make a case, said RBI had accepted most of their suggestions and these are likely to come into effect soon.
Income from distribution of third-party products such as insurance policies and mutual fund schemes is already under pressure because of the unfavourable economic climate.
Experts believe it will take another three to five years for Indian IT firms to move to a non-linear business model.
According to the Reserve bank of India data, year-on-year growth for credit card outstandings, or the total balance due to issuers on credit card spends by customers, has plummeted to 1.4 per cent as on May 22, 2009.
McKinsey, RBS postpone placements by three to six months
According to a web information company, Alexa, Google dominates the charts but Bing is already at 19th position with about 5 per cent of users from India accessing internet to visit Bing.
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.
'Our visit gives us an opportunity to understand the culture of the country.'
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.
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.
CitiFinancial, Citibank India's non-banking finance arm, has reduced its asset book by one-third and its branch network by a quarter of the year-ago level as part of a restructuring exercise, Citi CEO for South Asia Mark T Robinson told Business Standard.
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.
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.