Leadership Changes

UTI CMO JAIDEEP BHATTACHARYA QUITS

Jaideep Bhattacharya, group president & chief marketing officer of UTI Asset Management, the country's fifth largest mutual fund has resigned.

While UTI, in a late press release, said Bhattacharya is moving on to 'pursue other interests', sources said his resignation followed differences with board members.

ADITYA BIRLA NUVO NAMES ASHISH DIKSHIT AS CEO OF MADURA FASHION & LIFESTYLE

Aditya Birla Nuvo, which will take controlling stake in Pantaloons fashion outlets chain, has named  Ashish Dikshit as the CEO of Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, the country's largest apparel maker.

Dikshit will replace Pranab Barua who has taken over as the business director of apparel and retail divisions at Aditya Birla Nuvo, a Rs 21,000-crore conglomerate of Kumar Mangalam Birla.

AV Birla Group and Kishore Biyani's Future Group on Monday announced an Rs 1,600-crore deal for AB Nuvo to acquire 50.01% stake in the fashion business of Pantaloon Retail.

MAX BUPA NAMES MANASIJE MISHRA AS CEO DESIGNATE

Private health insurance company Max Bupa today said it has named Manasije Mishra as the Chief Executive Officer Designate.

However, Mishra's appointment will be subject to requisite regulatory approvals, Max Bupa said in a release issued here.

He will succeed Damien Marmion, the founding CEO of Max Bupa, and work closely with him over the next few months to ensure a seamless transition and would assume the position of CEO of Max Bupa thereafter.

INMOBI NAMES SANDEEP DESHPANDE AS NEW INDIA COUNTRY HEAD

 InMobi has named Sandeep Deshpande as its country general manager, India, the Bangalore-based mobile advertisement network announced

Deshpande, who has previously had stints with Yahoo!, Alibaba.com and Rediff.com, will be responsible for InMobi's business operations and growth in India, according to a press statement released by the company.

ARUN GUPTA, CHANDRASHEKHAR NAVALKAR QUIT SHOPPERS STOP

Senior executives-Arun Gupta, chief technology officer, and chief financial officer Chandra shekhar Navalkar -at the country's first department store chain Shoppers Stop have quit, amidst belt-tightening in the retail sector.

The exits, expected to be announced on Monday when the Mumbai-based retailer will announce its quarterly results, come at a time when all retailers are focused on cost-cutting exercises and increasing efficiencies, triggering restructuring exercises and job cuts.

Several senior honchos across Future Group such as Vibha Rishi, who was executive director customer strategy, Sanjeev Agarwal joint CEO of Future Value Retail and Pantaloon Retail's COO Pankaj Tibrewal also quit recently.

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News Update IT/ITES

MAY 7 2012: IGATE REMOVES PATNI FROM BRAND NAME

 iGATE Corporation today announced its new brand name as 'iGATE'. The name 'Patni,' representing Patni Computer Systems Limited, a majority owned subsidiary, has been removed from its brand identity.

Unveiling the brand, Phaneesh Murthy, CEO, iGATE said, "I have always articulated that Patni, being a family name, is difficult to protect in several of our markets. This brand change is in line with our vision of 'one company' that will follow the successful delisting offer process of Patni with the Indian stock exchanges." 

MAY 6 2012 INDIA REMAINS LEADER IN BPO SEGMENT: GOVERNMENT

Despite the rise of Philippines in the outsourcing sector, India remains the leader with estimated revenue of USD 15.9 billion from the segment in 2011-12, Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said in Parliament.

"As per Nasscom, in the BPO segment, revenue of Philippines is increasing but India continues to be the leader with revenue of USD 15.9 billion (estimated) in 2011-12 as compared to USD 14.2 billion in 2010-11," Pilot said

According to a report by research firm Gartner, Indian entities engaged in BPO are seeing more traction and visibility overseas, especially with their flexibility to wide range of offerings for customers. 

MAY 4 2012 GENPACT INCREASES ANNUAL REVENUE GUIDANCE TO $1.9 BILLION

India's largest BPO Genpact  on Wednesday increased its annual revenue guidance to $1.9 billion, buoyed by sales from Netherlands-based Accounting Plaza which it acquired last month.

Annual revenues for Genpact are now expected to be in the range of $1.86 - $1.90 billion this year, increased from the earlier prediction of $1.84 - $1.88 billion. "We expect to add at least $24 million from Accounting Plaza to our sales," said N.V. "Tiger" Tyagarajan, Genpact's President and CEO.

Genpact's first quarter revenues rose to $435.5 million, up 32% on the back of increased revenues from the capital markets vertical, which it added last month.

MAY 32012 TCS OVERTAKES RIL AS COUNTRY'S MOST VALUED FIRM

 Tata group firm TCS today replaced Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries as the country's most valued company in terms of market capitalisation, as investors rallied behind the shares of the IT giant.

At the end of today's trade, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) commanded a market value of Rs 2,48,116 crore -- higher than Reliance Industries' Rs 2,43,413 crore.

While RIL shares fell 0.25 per cent in an overall lacklustre market, TCS shares rallied smartly by 1.83 per cent on robust buying interest among the investors.

MAY 2 2012 BPO FIRM FIRSTSOURCE EXTENDS SKY PARTNERSHIP; TO EXPAND OPERATIONS

BPO company First source today said it has extended its partnership with UK's entertainment and communications company Sky, for outsourced customer service management.

"The contract will see us expand our existing UK operations into two further sites in Belfast and Cardiff in addition to First source’s established centre for Sky in Londonderry which employs over 1,000 staff," the company said in a statement issued here.

The companies had entered partnership 10 years ago, and are part of Sky's objective of improving customer service and delivering better shareholder value. 

MAY 3 2012: UK BASED SERCO GLOBAL SERVICES STARTS BPO CENTRE IN BARODA

Serco Global Services, the BPO division of Serco, an FTSE 100 international services company today announced the launch of a new delivery centre at, Kankavati Atrium in Baroda.

The centre will have an initial capacity of 300 seats, employing over 500 staff in direct white collared jobs and is expected to generate two to three times indirect employment. This facility is slated to double the capacity in the next six to nine months. The centre will offer services to clients in the telecommunications, utilities and banking industries.

Serco is already present in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad the new center will augment its footprint in the western region. The introduction of a centre in Baroda is in line with Serco's strategy of growing in non-metro locations.

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News Update Banking and Financial Services

MAY 07, 2012: DILUTED INSURANCE BILL COMING UP

The government appears to have buckled under political pressure, as the finance ministry is set to take a diluted version of the Insurance Bill to the Cabinet in the coming week.

The revised Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill proposes to retain the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in the sector at 26 per cent, against 49 per cent proposed earlier. This comes barely two weeks after the Cabinet cleared a toned-down version of the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill.

MAY 05, 2012: ACCION INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES $10 MILLION INVESTMENT VEHICLE, VENTURE LAB

In a further boost for social venture investing in India, microfinance and investment firm Accion International has launched its $10 million investment vehicle, Venture Lab, which is focused on providing seed capital to organizations that promote financial inclusion.

Venture Lab, which is currently in talks with 5 to10 start-ups, will invest between $100,000 and $500,000, mostly as convertible debt or equity, in early-stage enterprises, and expects to make about 20 such investments by 2015. The first investment is expected to be announced in the next two to three months. 

MAY 04, 2012: RBI HIKES RATES TO ATTRACT FOREIGN CURRENCY DEPOSITS

The Reserve Bank raised the interest rate ceiling on NRI deposits in foreign currencies by up to 3 per cent, to attract inflows in view of falling rupee.

Following RBI's announcements, the Indian banks will be able to offer higher interest rates on NRI deposits in foreign currency.

In another notification, RBI deregulated interest rates on export finance, a development that would help exporters to freely raise money in foreign currency without any limit on interest ceilings.

The RBI's decisions are aimed at arresting the declining value of rupee which closed at Rs 53.47 against a dollar.

 

MAY 3 2012: NOMURA CALLS FOR URGENT STEPS TO BOOST INVESTMENTS

Leading financial services company Nomura India has said unless investments claw back the lost momentum, there are more likelihoods of the economic growth further falling in the next few years and that a make-or-break of time for the government to take urgent measures to revive growth.

Noting that investment decline has contributed to as much as 45 per cent to the overall GDP decline in the recent past, which dipped from a high 8.4 per cent in FY11 to an estimated 6.9 per cent in FY12 and possibly even lower in the current fiscal, a Nomura report said the government badly needs to revive the investment climate to boost the overall growth by kicking off the much-needed second phase of reforms.

"Our analysis suggests that 45 per cent of the decline in potential growth is attributable to weaker investments, another 40 per cent to weaker total factor productivity and 15 per cent to weaker employment growth. Falling investments have led to lower productivity, in our view," Nomura India chief economist Sonal  Varma said in a research note. 

MAY 2, 2012: HSBC MUTUAL NOT LOOKING TO SELL STAKE OR EXIT INDIA

 Puneet  Chaddha  , chief executive officer of HSBC Mutual Fund, has quashed rumours that the fund house is looking to sell stake or exit its asset management business in India.

Mr Chaddha said HSBC is very serious about its India operations and has no plans to sell stake or partner with anybody to continue its business here.

"I can categorically say that am not involved in any such discussion (to sell stake or exit fund business in India)," Mr Chaddha said, adding, "We're certainly not looking to sell stake or partner with anyone."

On the contrary, Mr Chaddha said, HSBC is open to acquiring assets to grow its business in India.

"We're very open to growing inorganically... But we're very careful about valuations. We're very conscious of the value that we would have to pay for any such acquisitions. The deal has to make sense - both financially and strategically," Mr Chaddha said.

MAY 1, 2012: BANDHAN FINANCIAL SERVICES MAY RAISE RS 500 CRORE VIA SECURITISATION THIS FISCAL

Microfinance Company Bandhan Financial Services may tap securitization route to raise Rs 400-500 crore of debt in the current financial year, a top official said.

"We may securities Rs 400 to Rs 500 crore of loans in the current financial year to support our loan growth, which is likely to happen in the fourth quarter of FY13," chairman and managing director, Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, told PTI today.

Earlier, the micro-finance institution had securitized farm loans worth Rs 500 crore with IDBI Bank and Rs 25 crore each with Axis Bank and Development Credit Bank. 

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