Zensar in acquisition talks with two US firms

Outsourcing services provider Zensar Technologies is in acquisition talks with at least two US-based companies to boost its offerings in its largest export market.

A deal could cost Zensar between $20 million and $50 million, its chief executive officer, Ganesh Natarajan, said in a phone interview from the company's headquarters in Pune.

The Indian company, being advised by boutique financial advisory firm The Chesapeake Group, is talking to firms specializing in either managing large, complex computer networks or providing business software management consultancy, he said.

A possible acquisition could add 150-200 local staff in the computer networks area, or about 60-70 consultants specializing in the use of business management software from SAP, Natarajan said.

"We've been at it in the last four months... if we get the right fit, we can certainly do it during this year," he said.

Wipro wins large technology outsourcing contract worth Rs 2,900 crore from Citigroup

Wipro has won a large technology outsourcing contract, potentially valued at close to $ 500 million (Rs 2,900 crore) from Citigroup, according to people familiar with the development.

The large contract comes at a time when such multi-hundred-million dollar technology contracts have become few and far between. Large corporations in the United States and Europe have been cautious on technology spending and following a practice of breaking up outsourced contracts into smaller projects, which are given out to multiple service providers.

Wipro wins deal worth $500m from Citigroup

Wipro is said to have won a $500-million (Rs 2,900 crore) outsourcing contract from Citigroup. The win will come as a boost for the Bangalore-based company that has been going through a lean patch.

Wipro will provide application development and maintenance, and infrastructure services for Citi's global operations. The five-year engagement requires Wipro to set up an offshore delivery centre in Bangalore, said sources familiar with the development. When TOI contacted Wipro, the company said it does not comment on market speculation. Citi too declined to comment on what they call market speculation.

Citigroup had called for bids for a $1 billion IT contract. TCS, HCL, Infosys, Wipro and Cognizant were said to have put in bids along with IBM, Accenture, Dell and others for this contract. Citi already has large outsourcing deals going with TCS and Wipro. Wipro had acquired Citi Technology Services for $127 million in 2008. Wipro and Citibank had signed an agreement to take over the operations and management of Citi's data centre in Meerbusch, Germany, a suburb of Dusseldorf, in 2010. Wipro had intended to use the site to support other outsourcing clients too. The Meerbusch centre was Wipro's first data centre facility in Europe and enabled the company to offer a full portfolio of infrastructure management solutions to its global clients. TCS had won a $505 million outsourcing contract from Citigroup to handle their core back office processes and customer transactions in 2008.
Source: TimesOfIndia

TCS, HCL among front-runners for Pepsi outsourcing contract

Contract, held by HP, up for renewal later this year; may be split and handed out to more than one service provider. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and HCL Technologies Ltd are among the front-runners to win an outsourcing contract from PepsiCo Inc. valued at about $500 million (around Rs.2,925 crore today), according to two people familiar with the development.

The contract, held by Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), will be up for renewal later this year. It is likely to be split and handed out to more than one service provider mostly for handling infrastructure management services, the two people said, requesting anonymity as they are not authorized to discuss these details.

Pepsi had signed the contract with HP, the world’s largest computer firm, in 2006 for a total value of $100 million for managing its information technology (IT) and data centre operations, according to outsourcing advisory firm Everest Group. Pepsi also has outsourcing agreements with International Business Machines Corp., or IBM, which runs the finance and administration processes of the soft drink maker’s Indian arm.
Source: LiveMint

Infosys, TCS, Sify bag Postal Department's technology projects

The Department of Post (DoP) has issued Letters of Intent (LoIs) to Infosys, TCS, Sify and Reliance Communications Infrastructure for different technology advancement projects.

"Department is trying to induct technology in a big way. There are eight RFPs (Request for Proposal) we have floated and issued Letter of Intent in five (projects) to companies which include Infosys, TCS, Sify and Reliance," Secretary (Posts) Manjula Parasher told reporters here.

The Department has got approval of Rs 1,877.2 crore to be spend across these projects over period of two years and will seek additional funds when the need arises.

Wipro Technologies eyes $3.5-billion services deals

Information technology services provider Wipro Technologies is pursuing contracts worth around $3.5 billion, senior management of the company told investors during a recent road show in Europe.

The Bangalore-based company is pursuing 15 $100-million deals and another 40 deals worth at least $50 million each.

Selective disclosure to groups of investors is seen a pro-active effort by firm, which underwent a management restructuring almost a year ago, to instill confidence among the investors community.

Mahindra Satyam acquires vCustomer BPO for $27 million

Mahindra Satyam, on Friday acquired Delhi based BPO firm vCustomer's International operations for $27 million. This is the first 100% acquisition by Mahindra Satyam since it became part of Mahindra Group.

The acquisition marks the entry of Mahindra Satyam's BPO operations into other verticals such as Retail and Consumer Technology in addition to enhancing its technical support business.

Wipro eyeing deals worth $3.5bn

Information technology services provider Wipro Technologies is pursuing contracts worth around $3.5 billion, senior management of the company told investors during a recent road show in Europe.

The Bangalore-based company is pursuing 15 $100-million deals and another 40 deals worth at least $50 million each.

Selective disclosure to groups of investors is seen a pro-active effort by firm, which underwent a management restructuring almost a year ago, to instill confidence among the investors community.

MindTree bags UID deal to develop applications

Software services company MindTree on Thursday said it has bagged a multi-crore IT deal from the Nandan Nilekani-headed unique identification project (UID).

As part of the deal, MindTree will develop and maintain applications for the UID project, also known as Aadhaar, the company said in a statement. The exact financial details of the contract were not available. The application will capture and manage data from different sources.

TCS signs 5-year deal with Malaysia Airlines

The country's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today inked a five-year deal with Malaysia Airlines (MA) for an undisclosed amount.

The five-year contract for end-to-end IT infrastructure services will transform the airline's IT operations to deliver seamless internal customer experience, TCS said in a statement.

However, the size of the deal was not disclosed. "One of the key initiatives include fine tuning our IT outsourcing strategy to deliver the required business results at lower cost. At the same time, we will continue to work with our key vendors to maximise service delivery and to proactively address other business requirements," MA Chief Information Officer Faridah Abdul Rahman said.

HCL Tech bags Rs 231 cr Meggitt deal

Software company HCL Technologies today said it has received a contract worth around Rs 231 crore from UK-based defence equipment maker Meggitt for providing engineering services.

Meggitt signs $50 million (around Rs 231 crore) global engineering transformation services agreement with the company's engineering and R&D services (HCL ERS) division, HCL Technologies said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

"HCL integrates the right capabilities and business models to ensure organisations such as Meggitt establish a competitive advantage," HCL ERS Senior VP and Global Head of Sales & Practice Sandeep Kishore said.

HCL was selected based on its understanding of Meggitt's business challenges and proven track record of partnering with large aerospace and manufacturing companies on highly complex engineering development programmes.

"This strategic initiative will help us respond to the current economic environment while successfully positioning us for future growth," Meggitt's Chief Executive Terry Twigger said.

Meggitt PLC is an international group operating in North America, Europe and Asia, known for its specialised extreme environment engineering. Meggitt is a leader in civil and military aerospace equipment, sensing systems, combat support and defence systems training.

Wipro in outsourcing deal with BAT

No. 3 Indian software-services firm Wipro Ltd said on Wednesday it signed a multi-year outsourcing deal with British American Tobacco Plc, the world's second-biggest cigarette maker.

Wipro will help British American Tobacco's application support services for global business operations, the company said in a statement. Financial details were not disclosed.

IBM wins 10-year IT deal with Gujarat bank

IT major IBM India has signed a 10-year information technology (IT) services agreement with Sardar Bhiladwala Pardi People's Cooperative Bank in Gujarat, the company said Monday.

'The operational expenditure in the pay-as-you-use model will enable the leading cooperative bank to save up to 50 percent in its capex (capital expenditure) on IT infrastructure,' IBM said in a statement.

As part of the deal, IBM India will provide the 80-year-old bank managed continuity services comprising server management, network and security management and back-up and database management.

HCL Info bags Rs 110 crore order from Gujarat government

HCL Infosystems today said it has bagged an order worth Rs 110 crore from the Gujarat government to supply and implement biometric attendance and computer aided learning systems in over 7,000 schools across the state.

Under the scope of the contract, HCL will supply personal computers (PCs) with biometric finger print scanner and UPS to over 7,000 schools in the state, HCL Infosystem said in a statement.

HCL Infosystems, which makes, telecommunication and security equipment would also implement the biometric-based attendance system, offer facility management and run teacher training programmes, it added.

Out of the total schools to be covered, over 1,000 schools are under the Tribal Department and 6,000 under the Education Department.

Infosys bags $83 mn Karnataka project

Infosys Technologies, India's No. 2 software exporter, has been selected to implement a Rs 3.87 billion ($83 million) IT project for Karnataka's power distribution utilities, two government officials said.

"We have issued the letter of intent to Infosys," a source at the Bangalore utility said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

"It will cover entire Karnataka," he said. The project was awarded by all five electricity distribution utilities in the state last week and will cover 100 towns in the state, he said.

Infosys outbid 10 other companies, including Tata Consultancy Services, for the contract, the source said.

The projects must be implemented within 36 months, the other source said.

Infosys officials could not be reached for comment. The project is part of a central government-funded programme to use information technology to cap electricity losses in the country.

Tata Consultancy and HCL Infosystems Ltd have won contracts for similar projects in West Bengal and Rajasthan, respectively.

HCL Axon bags 5-yr GlaxoSmithKline deal

HCL Axon, a division of HCL Technologies, said that it has signed a five-year global IT services deal with pharma company GlaxoSmithKline.

Under the Global Strategic Information Technology Master Services Agreement that HCL Axon has inked with GlaxoSmithKline, the IT company will provide systems integration, SAP implementation and IT consulting services to GSK globally, a release said.

The deal size was however not disclosed. This is one more major global SAP transformation win for HCL Axon since HCL Technologies' acquisition of Axon in December 2008, it added.

"This is an important win for us. It keeps our strategy of becoming the largest global SAP-based business transformation provider firmly on track and confirms the rationale behind the merger with HCL," HCL Axon President Steve Cardell said.

HCL Axon is the world's largest services provider dedicated to SAP solutions, it said.

TCS sole bidder for UK pension project

Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest software outsourcer, is the only firm left in the running for the contract to administer Britain's new national pension scheme, the Mint paper reported on Wednesday.

Other outsourcing firms withdrew during the "competitive dialogue" phase of bidding after deciding the project was not commercially viable, the report said.

"They are an exceptionally strong bidder and we are making excellent progress, but we need to conclude the procurement process appropriately and evaluate their proposals," Tim Jones, chief executive of Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA), told the paper.

PADA will appoint a technology services vendor to manage the pension scheme. "We are keen to continue working with PADA to develop our proposed solution for the personal accounts scheme. This project will help millions of people save for their retirement and we are fully committed to it," TCS said when contacted for comment.

The paper did not say how much the contract was worth, and TCS did not disclose a value.

HCL Tech bags 5-yr News Corp deal

IT major HCL Technologies said it has bagged a five-year multi-million pound deal from UK-based News International, a part of News Corporation, for providing software services.

"The company has entered into a multi-million pound, five year engagement for providing technology infrastructure management and transformation with News International," HCL Technologies said in a statement.

HCL will be responsible for managing News International's data centre and network environments along with strategically transforming them.

"The focus within New International on reducing operational costs and increasing technology process standardisation requires the best global technology partnerships," News International Technology Services Director Nick Leake said.

News International publishes several newspapers, including The Times, The Sun and The Sunday Times.

"We look forward to applying our technological and industry expertise to support News International's business goals," HCL Tech President Strategic Verticals Sanjeev Nikore said.

HCL Tech is also working with other News Corporation companies. News Corporation, led by media baron Rupert Murdoch, operates in segments such as film, television, cable, magazines, newspapers and publishing.

TCS, Infy, Wipro, IBM to bid for Rs 2000 cr online FIR project

Vijay Kumar Singh hopes that by 2012, most of those he gets to see in person would be potential criminals.

Well, Singh happens to be a cop. And those whom he intends to spare from his appointment diary are the general public. Singh’s hopes are pinned on a new automated complaint filing and tracking system that the ministry of home affairs (MHA) plans to roll out across India, aimed at trimming the time the general public spends in doing the labyrinthine rounds of the good old police station.

At the Greater Kailash-1 police station in South Delhi, where Singh is the station house officer, the existing Zipnet search is pretty much an ornament. The system tracks from a set base of data, often outdated, and fails to read the latest inputs from other law enforcement agencies.

The new integrated system police officers like Singh are looking forward to will network initially 14,000 police stations across the country, and all the 6,000 higher offices in police hierarchy (like headquarters, range offices, zonal offices). It will bring the benefits of India Inc’s technology prowess to this British era institution, hopes Singh.

Satyam bags Rs 100-cr Airbus deal

Mahindra Satyam has won a Rs 100-crore ($20 million) outsourcing contract from the world’s largest maker of commercial aircraft, Airbus, to manage its internal quality and processes.

Sources said the three-year contract involving technology maintenance, will put Satyam at a vantage point as they can now have an overview of the projects and technology which controls the organisation. “The work outsourced mainly includes quality management,” said a person familiar with the matter.

An email query to Mahindra Satyam and Airbus remained unanswered at the time of this report going to press. This is the second important contract Mahindra Satyam has bagged in the last few months.

It won an IT outsourcing contract last month from Swedish defence and aerospace firm, Saab, to develop its operations for the global defence and security market in India in a deal valued at around $300 million.