Industry Updates : IT Sector

3 May 2011: TCS gets IT contract from ABN AMRO Clearing 

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd said that ABM AMRO Clearing Bank NV had selected its banking software solution as part of the bank's modernization programme. Financial details were not disclosed. 

3 May 2011: Agile gets $5.7 mn funding from IDG Ventures India 

Investment Financial services software-maker, Agile Financial Technologies, said it has got a USD 5.7 million funding from a group of investors led by venture capital fund IDG Ventures.
The series A financing will enable the company to go ahead with its organic and inorganic expansion plans in new markets.

2 May 2011: Hexaware, KPIT Cummins, Polaris to see price uptick in FY12 as demand rises 

Smaller, specialised software services firms are likely to see better pricing in FY12, as demand for the services they offer rises, partly offsetting the impact of higher costs on margins.

Analysts expect rates in verticals such as banking, financial services, insurance, energy, utilities and manufacturing to increase about 1 percent, along with applications such as enterprise resource planning, consulting and package implementation.

Companies such as Hexaware, KPIT Cummins Infosystems, Persistent Systems and Polaris Software Labare expected to see some improvement in pricing in the current fiscal.

  

2 May 2011: MindTree integrates its three units in one  

IT company MindTree informed National Stock Exchange that the company has integrated its Business Intelligence , Data Warehousing and Knowledge Services practices into a new unit of Data and Analytic Solutions (DAS) practice. 

2 May 2011: Wipro's Tarang Lab and CSA to provide testing service in India 

Wipro Technologies said its product qualification and compliance lab Tarang and Canada-based testing, certification and standards development organization CSA Group will collaborate for providing localized testing and certification services in India. 

  

2 May 2011: L&T Infotech selected for IRDA IT project 

Insurance regulator IRDA said it has selected L&T Infotech for implementation of a project aimed at providing data and information for analyzing insurance companies and regulatory decision making.
The objectives of the project would be to ensure efficient management of data and information received by IRDA from insurers, intermediaries and TPAs in the form of financial statements, investment schedule, actuarial reports & reports on re-insurance. 

 

29 Apr 2011: Infosys staff blame it on poor leadership, lack of aggression for sluggish performance 

A section of Infosys employees blame poor leadership and lack of aggression in the top management as key reasons for the firm's recent sluggish performance.

While 44% believe the firm was lacking in aggression, 30% of the employees blame poor leadership. 25% of employees, on the other hand, said bad market conditions was the reason for the slower growth numbers. The IT industry has seen a big spurt in demand since the global downturn ended but companies have also been warning on continuing uncertainties and employees seem to agree.

27 Apr 2011: Polaris Software acquires US firm IdenTrust Inc for $20 mn 

City-based banking, financial services and insurance software developer Polaris Software Lab Ltd.  announced the acquisition of an 85.3 percent stake in the US-based IdenTrust Inc for $20 million to enter the cloud computing space in a major way.

  

27 Apr 2011: Global Operating System mkt grew to $30.4 bn in 2010: Gartner 

Global operating system (OS) revenue grew 7.8 per cent in 2010 to total $ 30.4 billion, in 2010 on back of recovering demand for IT products and services, research firm Gartner said.

An operating system (OS) is software, consisting of programmes and data that runs on computers and manages various application softwares.

As the global economy recovered, worldwide OS revenue totalled $ 30.4 billion in 2010 from $ 28.14 billion in 2009, Gartner said.

  

22 Apr 2011: Patni loses two key executives after iGate deal 

Two of Patni's key executives, Ajay Chamania and Deepak Khosla, who head the company's growing business units of product engineering services and the India market respectively, have resigned.

Patni, which was acquired by smaller rival iGate earlier this year, is currently in the process of integrating different business units and overlapping functions. Patni's product engineering practice is a key vertical accounting for over 15% of the company's annual revenue and counts several large storage companies like EMC among clients.

This unit has also been seen as a core differentiator for Patni and Chamania, an old Patni hand who has been responsible for building this. Experts say this development could have some impact on Patni's clients in this unit in the months to come.

  

21 Apr 2011: HCL Technologies' strong showing lifts dark clouds over IT sector 

HCL Technologies' strategy of chasing growth over profitability to win customers over the last few months has paid off handsomely in the March 2011 quarter as many of these clients increased their spends, helping the company grow in revenues and profits above expectations. The country's fifth-largest software exporter laid to rest concerns about its profitability with a 17% sequential rise in net profit, powered by growth in its core infrastructure management services and software application services.

20 May 2011: Infosys on hunt for acquisitions in Europe & Japan; eyes cloud computing 

 Infosys Technologies Ltd  is on the hunt for acquisitions in Europe and Japan and in industries including healthcare and public services.

Gopalakrishnan, who is set to step down as chief executive and become co-chairman in August,  said by investing in new industries and geographies, Infosys was looking to build multiple engines of growth over the next 3-5 years.

"There are multiple strategic requirements for acquisition so those are the things we are looking at. Typically a smaller acquisition rather than a large one," he said.