While Indian software majors like TCS, Infosys Technologies and Wipro have managed consistently high revenue growth, the international players in the IT sector have faced a slow-down, says a recent study done by rating agency Crisil. The study covered global players like IBM Global Services, Accenture, EDS, CSC and Cap Gemini SA. Indian IT services companies enjoy extremely robust financials which reflects from their debt-free balance sheets, strong cash surplus and aggressive return on capital employed, the Crisil study observed while adding that these firms have managed their expenses effectively to better their operating margins vis-a-vis global players. Indian software companies' consultancy expertise is also empowering Indian IT service majors to compete for and win contracts exceeding $50 million. Infosys has won two $50-million contracts in 2003-04. The report indicated that the five global players alone plans to add around 15,000 employees over the next three-four years proving the fact that international players have started scaling up their operations rapidly, especially in cost-competitive offshore locations like India. It added that these international players have started initiating cost-cutting measures to improve their cost-structure. The report noted that Accenture brought down its selling and general administrative expenses to around 23 per cent of its revenues in 2003 from around 27 per cent in the previous year.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 22, 2004

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Breaking into the tough US market is what most Indian IT product companies dream of. For Opus Software, gaining customers in the US however is no sweat. This Pune-based provider of software solutions to the financial services industry has bagged a deal from FTen Inc, a leading provider of trading services to hedge funds. The deal worth $1.8 million may not be big in size. It, however, significantly enhances Opus image in the lucrative US market. FTen is Opus fifth Wall street customer. Ramesh Mengawade, founder and managing director, Opus Software told ET that TradeNow suite of trading software from Opus will power FTen's trading systems and provide it with order routing, direct access to NYSE, NASDAQ and ECNs and straight through transaction processing capabilities. Its other customers include top 5 brokerage firms on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and HDFC Securities in India. Opus is among the rare breed of software product vendors in software services centric Indian landscape. Its Electra Suite of products are used for mission-critical applications such as ATM networks, card management and payment gateway by several banks outside India. Its Indian customers include ICICI, IDBI, Corporation and Dena Bank.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 22, 2004

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Steel Authority of India has seen its project sales more than double last year as a result of higher infrastructure activities across the country. For SAIL, which started competitive bidding on projects only recently, projects accounted for sale of close to a million tonnes of steel in 2003-04, a 105% jump over corresponding period in 2002-03. This amounted to slightly over 10% of its total domestic steel sales of 8.8 million tonnes in 2003-04. Compared to this, project sales amounted to 5% of domestic sales of 8 million tonnes in the previous financial year, 2002-03. In volumes, SAIL's project supplies in 2003-04 more than doubled to 8.5 lakh tonnes, worth about Rs 2,150 crore, compared to projects supplies of 4.13 lakh tonnes in 2002-03. SAIL's decision to bid for project orders is part of a well-thought-out strategy to ensure a definitive outlet for its products. In turn, this has helped increase volume sales and achieve a better market share for the steel major.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 22, 2004

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Close on the heels of SSA Global acquiring enterprise resource management company Baan globally, the former is restrategising business to make Hyderabad the hub of its research and development activity. SSA will do this through its wholly-owned subsidiary - Baan Infosystems -in India. SSA Global will pump in Rs 50 crore into its Indian operations to make India its virtual development site. Nearly half of the investment will be made by the end of this year. The company will increase the number of software engineers working in India by about 30 per cent by the end of this fiscal year (July in this case). SSA Global, funded by private equity investors like Cerebrus Capital and General Atlantic Partners, is in the process of shifting development work from Germany and Malaysia to India. Talking to the Hindustan Times Baan Infosystems country manager Gopal Madnani said: "With a string of new products waiting to hit the market globally by December 2004, the Indian operations are expected to play a larger role in SSA Global's plans for product development and global support operations."

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, May 22, 2004

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The diversified Rs 4,000-crore Adani group is close to acquiring a coal mine in Indonesia, a move that will strengthen the supply chains for its export business. As part of its backward integration plan, the Adani group is currently eyeing new businesses through its flagship company Adani Export, to ensure commodity supplies for trading at a global level. The company plans to acquire units in the areas of coal mining, castor processing and salt processing. Adani Export intends to raise around Rs 350 crore as part of its capex plan. "The acquisition of various units in different areas, in which the company has set up SBUs, will not only help it make strong supply chains but improve its margins," the source said. The company has six strategic business units for its export business including the agricultural, textile, metal, energy and agrochemical units. A senior company executive has told ET that the FCCB issue is expected to hit the international markets within three months.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 21, 2004

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The offshore outsourcing drive in the Indian auto industry, which started a few years back, has started to produce benefits. Exports from India to the German-American car maker, DaimlerChrysler AG accounted for 8 per cent (Euro 72 million) or around Rs 582 crores of the total auto component exports from India. India's auto component exports to the overseas market during the calendar year 2003 is pegged at $1billion. Auto component exports from India to our global operations have touched euro 72 million during the year 2003. On an annualised basis, this would amount to 8 per cent of the country's total auto component exports. In Asia (excluding Japan), India is one of the biggest exporters to DaimlerChrysler, the only other country coming close is the Philippines, where DCAG owns an electronics company, Tenic. While Malaysia (aluminium castings and rubber products) and Thailand (tooling, jigs and fixtures) have very strong vendor bases, India is the only one with competitive advantage in IT and engineering services. Exports had started under the MoU route, which car makers had to sign in the period before 2000. The MoU route laid down by the GoI, with its commitment to exports either of CBUs or components, laid the ground work for today's success.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, May 21, 2004

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Global car major General Motors on Wednesday announced the launch of its new generation multi-utility vehicle - Chevrolet Tavera - in the Indian market to take on competition from Toyota's "Qualis" and Mahindra and Mahindra's "Scorpio". Powered by a 2.5 litre turbo diesel engine, the new vehicle has been launched in six variants with the price ranging from Rs 5.44 lakhs for the base model to Rs 8.45 lakhs for the top-end model. Announcing the launch, General Motors India, president and managing director, Aditya Vij said that Tavera is an ideal vehicle for those looking for a spacious, yet a stylish and a comfortable ride.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, May 21, 2004

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If anyone feels that the Left Front is against privatisation and will fail to attract private investments, just look at West Bengal - the citadel of Left parties for over two decades. With Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya getting aggressive about attracting fresh investments, companies like Wipro, the Tatas, Reliance, Videocon and Satyam have lined up big investments for West Bengal. Wipro Spectramind is investing Rs 75 crore to set up a call centre and a software facility in Kolkata. Videocon - which is earning a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore from its TV manufacturing unit in Salt Lake - is buying Philips' lighting unit, which will add another Rs 300 crore turnover to its overall kitty. L&T CEO and MD AM Naik agrees. ''Just look at the economic progress made by China, which has a communist government. They are even better than the US as far as attractive foreign investment is concerned. The Chinese are even ready to fly down to Mumbai to get our investments,'' said Naik. Hyderabad-based Satyam has signed an MoU with West Bengal Industry Development Corporation (WEBEL) to set up its development centre. The proposed investment in the Kolkata project is expected to touch Rs 110 crore. Another tech firm to realise the potential of Bengal is NIIT, which has just set up a software development facility at Salt Lake. ''NIIT Technologies' Kolkata software centre is a small tribute to the state's vision and strategic blueprint for this sector,'' said Arvind Thakur, president, NIIT Technologies. Courtesy:

The Indian Express, May 21, 2004

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After slew of large out-sourcing deal from American and European auto majors and Tier-I suppliers, Indian auto component industry is now eyeing a pie of the fast growing Russian market. Indian automotive component manufacturers, under the aegis of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) will be visiting Russia starting next week. CEOs from 24 leading auto component manufacturers from India will be participating in this ACMA Mission. With vehicle production of over 1.2 million units in 2003, Russia ranks among the top 10 markets for auto components and systems in the world and is likely to become one of the worlds largest automotive markets in the next 15 to 20 years. According to a Goldman Sachs report, Russia, India, Brazil and China would constitute the center of gravity of world trade by 2020. Major Russian vehicle manufacturers like KAMAZ, Lada and GAZ have shown keen interest in sourcing automotive components from India and also in Joint ventures and technology tie-ups in component manufacturing activity.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 21, 2004

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Tata Motors has chalked out a capital expenditure programme of Rs. 1,200 crores annually over the next five years. This capital expenditure will go towards new product development and capacity expansions. The commercial vehicles facility of Daewoo, which was taken over in Korea, will also be working on a vehicle for the medium segment. "We plan to take it to the international markets including India,'' said Ravi Kant, Executive Director, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors. The company has received an order for joint assembly of LCV trucks in Russia and has entered into a collaboration for joint manufacturing of buses in Ukraine. Tata Motors introduced a nine-tonne truck in the EX series in May and plans to launch an entire range of fully-built buses (12-60 seater). Also during the year, Bharat Stage III compliant vehicles will be launched.

Courtesy: The Hindu, May 21, 2004

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Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said the Indian economy could grow beyond 7% in '04-05 against the backdrop of global recovery, aiding exports of the country even as it indicated a preference for stable interest rate regime to provide a conducive investment environment. RBI, in its monetary and credit policy, has pegged the gross domestic product (GDP) at 6.5% to 7%. If acceleration in growth noticed during the third quarter of '03-04 is sustained, the real GDP growth during '04-05 could well be higher at around 7%, it had stated. Mr Reddy said growth of the US economy estimated at 4% would facilitate in global recovery and Indian exports. India 's GDP rate was realistic and sustainable with structural shift like favourable policy environment, he said. Referring to interest rates, RBI governor said, "Indian rates are absolutely in tune with the band of relevance and the domestic consideration indicate to stability."

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 20, 2004

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With an eye on a US listing by end-2004, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd (BTVL) is embarking on a global brand-building binge. For the first time, AirTel prepaid cards will be sold overseas in the local currency of a country. Distribution of AirTel prepaid cards will start this month in Singapore, Malaysia and across the Gulf. By July, they are tipped to be sold off-the-shelf across the US, UK, Canada, Thailand and Indonesia. Bharti has received all regulatory clearances and will shortly submit its AirTel prepaid cards offshore distribution price plan with Trai. For starters, AirTel prepaid packs will be targeted at an envisaged 5 million expats, NRIs and ethnic Indians residing in Singapore, Malaysia and the Gulf. Under the proposed distribution model, international travellers will buy AirTel prepaid cards in their home country and activate them on landing in India.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 19, 2004

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In his maiden presentation of the credit policy for 2004-05 the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Dr Y V Reddy retained the status quo of the November 2003 policy. The bank rate was kept stable at 6 per cent and the GDP growth rate for 2004-05 was projected at 6.5-7 per cent. He said the price situation is unlikely to cause concern to macro stability, though a very close watch is warranted.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, May 18, 2004

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While students from the US, Germany and China topped at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, Indian teenagers also continued to shine at the pre-college science competition. Held annually since1997 to showcase the world's most promising young scientists and inventors, the event this year saw 14-year-old Kanishka Raajkumar from Maharashtra winning $500 US Savings Bond for a farmer-friendly software for pest diagnosis in crops and the Intel Foundation achievement awards for outstanding work in any field ($ 5,000). A scholarship award of $1,500 went to Maharashtrian 15-year-olds, Shriram Jayaraman and Srividya Swaminathan for the project on wood from paper. In the team awards category, Maharashtra's Vrishikumar Mahavir Patil, (13) and Zeeshan Ali Sayed (14) have won $1,500 for the study on the effect biological seed dressing on the growth and yield of crop. India was represented by eight participants, selected at the recently held Intel Science and Talent Discovery Fair in Hyderabad and while the above is the essence of their performance, three teens today won the $50,000 scholarships for projects exploring the ocean floor for clues on the earth's origin, computer science research that could lead to greatly enhanced computer graphics, and an inexpensive, scanning tunneling microscope.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 18, 2004

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Indraprastha Gas Ltd on Monday opened its first online CNG station in the capital's Connaught Place area that would further benefit commercial vehicles plying in the area. The station, which was a booster station, has been converted into an online station by laying a three km long pipeline at an estimated cost of Rs 67 lakh, IGL said in a release here on Monday. The station would benefit commercial vehicles plying in the area as its compression capacity has increased to 435 kg per hour from the earlier 180 kg per hour, it said. IGL has at present 121 CNG stations with a combined capacity of 16.47 lakh kg per day catering to about 90,000 vehicles, it added.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 18, 2004

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Intel India has joined hands with the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIT) at Bangalore and Roorkee to set up the first PlanetLab test-bed in India. A virtual laboratory to develop Internet services, Planetlab test bed is a globally distributed test bed for developing, deploying and accessing planetary-scale network services, an Intel statement said. Intel and the research institutes will investigate the performance of the protocols, the statement added. "PlanetLab creates a virtual laboratory that researchers around the world can use to develop novel internet services, while at the same time exploring how to evolve the net to better support continued innovation," Frank Spindler, vice-president (Corporate Technology Group), Intel Corporation, said. Regular communication flow between the global PlanetLab infrastructure and the Indian counterpart will finally migrate into the global infrastructure, the statement added.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 18, 2004

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The Indian Pharma industry now has a godly connection. Cipla has joined a global initiative taken up by the Vatican in collaboration with global generic pharmaceutical manufacturers and the International Federation of Catholic Pharmacies and Academics to float CUMVIVIUM, an NGO, to take up the distribution of essential drugs, particularly anti-AIDS drugs in the developing world. Other Indian companies like Aurobindo, Matrix and Hetero Drugs are evaluating the possibility joining in on the deal, pharma industry sources told ET. Cipla has signed an agreement with CUMVIVIUM - which means 'to live together in friendship' in Latin - the others have yet to decide, the sources said.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, May 18, 2004

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British government departments are now planning to consider transferring jobs to India as part of chancellor Gordon Brown's Whitehall cost-cutting and efficiency drive. Sir Peter Gershon, former chief executive of the office of government commerce, recommended in his final confidential report for the Treasury last month that departments should seek to match the savings achieved by private-sector firms through so-called "offshoring." Financial-services firms in particular have shifted back office functions and call centre work to India, in some cases achieving large savings. A report commissioned by the UK department of trade and industry said last week that Indian staff were paid only 10 per cent to 15 per cent of the salaries of their British counterparts and that cost savings of between 30 per cent and 40 per cent could be achieved.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, May 17, 2004

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India's foreign exchange reserves rose further by $89 million to $118.57 billion for the week ended May 7. Foreign currency assets increased by $84 million to $113.09 billion during the period under review, according to the Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement issued here today. Gold reserves and special drawing rights remained static at $4.191 billion and $2 million respectively. India's Reserve Tranche Position (RTP) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased by $5 million to $1.291 billion.

Courtesy: The Hindu, May 16, 2004

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With the reopening of the highest motorable road - the Srinagar-Leh National Highway - Indian Oil Corporation today started transporting its advance supplies of liquified petroleum gas to the Ladakh frontier region. The first consignment of five LPG tankers was flagged off by deputy chief minister Mr Mangat Ram Sharma at the IOC's bottling plant at Bari Brahmna here today. The deputy CM asked the management of the corporation to ensure sufficient stock of LPG in the region at the earliest as it remains cut off from the rest of the country for more than six months a year. He lauded the IOC for setting up a bottling plant at Leh for advance stocking of LPG. The plant, with a capacity of 1500 cylinders, would be functional from this season, he said. IOC area manager, Mr Alok Upadai said the corporation would be sending ten tankers of LPG daily to Leh where the annual requirement is of the order of 3,500 tons. He ruled out shortage of LPG in Ladakh as the IOC had built up sufficient stocks there before the closure of the highway in October last. The Jammu plant which supplies LPG to Leh was set up in 2002 with a budget of Rs 32 crore. It has a capacity of filling 9,000 cyliners per day, he said. Mr Sharma presented a memento to deputy plant manager Mr Ajay Kumar Wazir in recognition of his performance. A demonstration to check fire hazards was also presented.

Courtesy: The Statesman, May 16, 2004

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The Tata-controlled Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited has started working on laying 3175 km of undersea cable (Tata Indicom India-Singapore Cable System) in the Indian seabed today. The cable will be laid between Chennai and Singapore and will have a bandwidth capacity of 5.12 terabits. In the first phase, as much as 320 gigabits of bandwidth capacity will be made available, according to N. Srinath, Director (Operations) VSNL. Addressing a press conference on board CS Tyco Durable, Tyco Telecommunications' cable ship, Mr. Srinath said Tyco Telecommunications, a leading provider of undersea fibre optic systems, was the turnkey supply contractor for VSNL's project. With the laying of undersea cable, the Tata Indicom India-Singapore Cable System planned to cater to the exponential increase in the international bandwidth demand in the country. VSNL's objective has been to provide robust end-to-end connectivity to its enterprise and broadband customers. VSNL is also part of various consortia for undersea cables, which touch India. These include the SeaMe3 cable on the Indo Europe route, and the SeaMe We4cable, which will become operational in 2005, and that of SAFE, which connects India and Africa and then Europe. VSNL is in the process of expanding its global presence and is setting up operations in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Europe and the U.S. Tyco Durable is one of six new cable ships in the Tyco Telecommunications cable ship fleet, states Rob Munier, Managing Director of Global Systems Sales at Tyco Telecommunications. The unique design of the cable ships was a direct result of Tyco Telecommunications' five decades of marine installation and maintenance experience.

Courtesy: The Hindu, May 16, 2004

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Newly cash-rich Indian oil firms will increasingly venture abroad in the hunt for hydrocarbons, with the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) expecting to quadruple overseas output over the next decade, the company's chairman Subir Raha told Reuters. The past decade has seen energy firms from neighbouring China fan out across the globe for oil to supply an economy growing at 10 per cent a year, but so far the Indian economy and companies have lagged their Chinese counterparts. Raha said this was set to change, as Indian energy sector reforms had allowed firms to accumulate large cash piles. On the other hand, rising prices and galloping demand made it cheaper to buy equity in projects rather than buying oil on the market. "ONGC's target is to source 20 million tonne (410,000 barrels per day) overseas by 2020 from about four million tonne at present," Raha said in an interview during a visit to London. "But we hope to achieve this aim by 2011." ONGC has so far poured $3.5 billion into nine projects in diverse countries such as Russia, Vietnam, Sudan and Angola, boosting its proven reserves to over five billion barrels. The company's overseas arm on Thursday said it had bought out Austria's OMV from two Sudanese onshore exploration blocks for $115 million. He said Central Asia and Iran would be attractive targets for ONGC but declined to name specific projects. India's largest refiner IOC said last month it was targeting a foreign acquisition for $2 billion, while Oil India Ltd and GAIL are also scouting for projects. ONGC has a stake in the Dahej LNG terminal, which imported India's first LNG cargo this year. Raha said his company plans a new terminal near Mangalore on India's southwestern coast. ONGC's shares have risen by over 95 per cent in the past year.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, May 14, 2004

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