Industry Updates : IT Sector

28 Mar 2011: Bhaskar Pramanik appointed as new Microsoft India chairman

Microsoft Corporation announced the appointment of ex-Oracle chief Bhaskar Pramanik as the chairman for Microsoft India. Mr Pramanik will report to Jean-Philippe Courtois, President of Microsoft International. As Chairman, Pramanik will oversee Microsoft's sales, marketing and services subsidiary, provide overall leadership on all Microsoft assets in India. 

27 Mar 2011: Kerala IT professionals asked to return to work in Japan

Return to work is the message to the employees of Kerala-based IT companies contracted to work in Japan but who had left the country in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami and fears of a radiation leak from a crippled nucler power plant. 
Nearly half a dozen Kerala-based IT companies have their working operations in Japan. 

27 Mar 2011: Pitney Bowes' IT arm to invest Rs 400 cr in India Software company

Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI) has plans to invest Rs 500 crore over the next three years in India to strengthen its product development centre, and sales and marketing team in the country.

25 Mar 2011: Infosys bets big on African market; seeks to expand IT services Infosys Technologies is planting the seeds for a long-term IT services play in the African continent. The company's CFO V Balakrishnan said that the company is now looking at a broader play in the continent as they see greater potential demand for IT services there. Currently the company's offerings in Africa are limited to the banking solutions product Finacle. 

25 Mar 2011: MindTree's Soota says no immediate plan to divest stake in company

Ashok Soota, the outgoing executive chairman of MindTree, said that he has no "immediate plans" to sell his stake in the company. Soota, one of the 10 founders of MindTree, who announced his decision to quit the company earlier, said that the funds from the sale will be used to fund his new NGO and the new business venture he is expected to announce.

22 Mar 2011: Revenue nears $2 bn; to hire a few thousand in India: Dell

The world's second largest computer-maker Dell today said it is approaching $2 billion in annual revenue in India."$2 billion is the milestone that our India team is now working on," Dell Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell said.

22 Mar 2011: Capgemini wins UK airport IT services contract worth 100 million pounds

A consortium led by France's Capgemini has won a five-year contract worth about 100 million pounds ($163 million) to provide IT services at BAA's Heathrow and other UK airports, Capgemini said. 

Capgemini will be responsible for BAA's core IT services on a day-to-day basis, including applications, infrastructure and projects, for some 10,000 users. 

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Industry Updates : ITES/ BFSI Sector

28 Mar 2011: Ashish Singh to become chairman of Bain India Global consulting firm

Bain & Company has appointed country head and managing director Ashish Singh to the role of chairman of Bain India in response to the continued growth in clients demand in the country.

Singh, founding partner of Bain India, will be succeeded by Sri Rajan, senior partner and head of Bain's India Private Equity and M&A practices.

24 Mar 2011: HDFC ropes in Rakesh Singh of Rothschild to head I-banking unit

HDFC Bank, the country's second-largest private sector lender, has roped in Rakesh Singh from Rothschild to head its investment banking division. This is the first time there will be one person in sole charge of the division set up in 2009.The bank plans to now recruit more executives for the division as it plans to shore up its advisory services and leverage its business.

With deal activity picking up in the country, banks and corporates are increasingly strengthening their investment banking divisions. The number of mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions and qualified institutional placements, jumped over 40% to 911 last year from 2009, as per data collated by audit, tax and advisory firm, Grant Thornton.

 

23 Mar 2011: Bangalore-based Acropetal acquires two companies in the US

Acropetal Technologies Ltd announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire two US-based companies LineBeyondInc, and Optech Consulting Inc.

LineBeyond is valued at $ 5 million and Optech at $ 7 million, respectively. These acquisitions will significantly expand Acropetal's addressable market and growth potential, broadening the solutions Acropetal provides to the rapidly growing Healthcare IT market.

23 Mar 2011: Mahindra Satyam moves court against I-T claim

Mahindra Satyam is gearing up for a long legal battle with the income-tax department. The company moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court, seeking a stay on the proceedings related to a Rs 616-crore claim made by the tax department.

23 Mar 2011: US healthcare is billion-dollar biz for Indian IT: Richard S Garnick

The US healthcare sector offers a multi-billion dollar IT and back-office services opportunity to  many Indian IT providers. Recent regulatory changes mandating more inclusive healthcare and standardization in patient records in the US have made the opportunity more attractive and immediate.

Richard S Garnick, who in his previous avatar as Wipro's head of the Americas and enterprise application services helped to grow revenues from millions to billions, now wants to repeat that growth story in the healthcare sector.

 

22 Mar 2011: HCL hopes staff who left Japan can return in weeks

HCL Technologies hopes 170 of its staff who had left quake-hit Japan will be able to return to the country within weeks if the situation there continues to improve.

HCL, along with other Indian technology companies including Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies, are relocating Japan-based staff elsewhere partly due to fear of radiation from the failed Fukushima nuclear reactor.

22 Mar 2011: TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL see 5% rise in pricing on higher salary costs

For the first time since the Lehman crisis that forced customers to shelve projects and bargain for lower billing rates, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro and HCL are beginning to see an uptick of up to 5% in pricing, driven by higher salary costs and improved business environment.

 

Rising wages, inflation, and attrition of key staff are some of the reasons driving up billing rates for outsourcing contracts. Most new contracts now come with clauses that address the risks of future salary hikes, foreign currency fluctuations, and inflation in countries such as India.

 

 

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