India's top IT services firm by sales, Tata Consultancy Services, has been reportedly asked by the government to pay penalty for missing the second deadline in implementing Passport Seva Project.
TCS was to set up seven pilot Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) in Chandigarh and Bangalore by October 1.
According to a report, the government has sent a notice to the company asking it to pay Rs 2 lakh as penalty for every week of delay in project.
The ministry of external affairs' (MEA) Passport Seva Project is estimated to cost over Rs 100 crore. But even after a year since the government signed an agreement with TCS to issue passports within three days, the project is yet to take off.
After missing its first deadline in June, TCS had announced that the pilot project in Bangalore and Chandigarh would start in October.
However, recent reports revealed that the main reason for delay is that TCS had not got its software ready. There have been too many errors in the software which is currently in testing phase.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
IT market
Intel results beat forecasts
Intel Corp's quarterly outlook and results soared past expectations, sending shares 7 per cent higher and fueling optimism over a tech sector recovery before the crucial holiday season.
Intel's rosier than expected forecast and comments about recovering demand for personal computers cheered markets and helped lift shares in tech heavyweights from Dell to Hewlett-Packard.
Intel Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said in an interview the technology sector was leading the way out of the economic downturn as demand for PCs rebounded.
Results from the world's largest chipmakers bolstered hopes of a sector-wide recovery. Global chip sales posted their sixth consecutive monthly increase in August, and analysts forecast September chip sales will likely rose more than 6 per cent from August.
They cited chip orders ahead of the holidays as well as the upcoming release of Microsoft Corp's Windows 7 operating system as sales drivers.
"What it says is we're on the mend, it's a rebound," said ITIC analyst Laura DiDio. "This is jump-starting momentum, so the outlook for 2010 is very good." Chief Executive Paul Otellini told analysts on a conference call that demand in the third quarter was consumer driven and that back-to-school sales exceeded expectations.
Otellini, whose company's "Intel Inside" stickers grace eight of every 10 PCs, said inventory remained below normal. FTN Equity Capital Markets analyst Joanne Feeney said Intel's results will likely boost the market.
"That will reassure people that we're not running into another situation where we have another inventory problem," she said.
Intel executives said their factories are running at 80 per cent to 90 per cent of capacity in the current quarter.
Intel's rosier than expected forecast and comments about recovering demand for personal computers cheered markets and helped lift shares in tech heavyweights from Dell to Hewlett-Packard.
Intel Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said in an interview the technology sector was leading the way out of the economic downturn as demand for PCs rebounded.
Results from the world's largest chipmakers bolstered hopes of a sector-wide recovery. Global chip sales posted their sixth consecutive monthly increase in August, and analysts forecast September chip sales will likely rose more than 6 per cent from August.
They cited chip orders ahead of the holidays as well as the upcoming release of Microsoft Corp's Windows 7 operating system as sales drivers.
"What it says is we're on the mend, it's a rebound," said ITIC analyst Laura DiDio. "This is jump-starting momentum, so the outlook for 2010 is very good." Chief Executive Paul Otellini told analysts on a conference call that demand in the third quarter was consumer driven and that back-to-school sales exceeded expectations.
Otellini, whose company's "Intel Inside" stickers grace eight of every 10 PCs, said inventory remained below normal. FTN Equity Capital Markets analyst Joanne Feeney said Intel's results will likely boost the market.
"That will reassure people that we're not running into another situation where we have another inventory problem," she said.
Intel executives said their factories are running at 80 per cent to 90 per cent of capacity in the current quarter.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Accenture, IBM, Infosys, Outsourcing
Wal-Mart to issue $1 bn IT contract: Sources
Global retail giant Wal-Mart may be all set to issue an IT contract worth USD 1 billion. CNBC-TV18 learns that it will select upto 10 IT vendors for the contract. CNBC-TV18’s Kritika Saxena reports that the contract, for which the bid will open by July 2010, will span across six to eight years. TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech emerge as potential bidders along with IBM and Accenture.
However, Wal-Mart says they do not engage in speculation about IT activities in India.
Here is a verbatim transcript of her comments on CNBC-TV18.
Wal-Mart is all set to issue a large scale IT project. This could be the largest project in the retail space. What we pick up from our sources is that the contract is expected to be valued between USD 800 million to a USD 1 billion. Who are the IT firms?—this is good news for IT companies definitely. It will be too early to talk about the likely contenders but who are the potential bidders?—What we pick up from our sources is that four large-cap Indian IT firms—Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL Tech would be looking to bid for this project. Even multi-national firms like IBM and Accenture would be looking to bid for these projects. But these are the potential bidders and it’s way too early to comment for these individual companies, since the bids will be open only by approximately July to August 2010.
If you see the recent activities by British Petroleum and Exxon Mobil in the IT space—they have issued large scale contract of USD 1.5 to USD 1 billion but in the retail space this would be the largest so far.
Wal-Mart and obviously individual IT companies too would be looking to see boost in the revenues after this IT contract. These individual IT companies—the plan is to issue about USD 50-100 million individual contracts as spread across, some would be about USD 250-300 million.
When we contracted Wal-Mart for an official comment on this they said that they have several inquiries about their IT activities in India but they do not comment on individual specifications on this.
However, Wal-Mart says they do not engage in speculation about IT activities in India.
Here is a verbatim transcript of her comments on CNBC-TV18.
Wal-Mart is all set to issue a large scale IT project. This could be the largest project in the retail space. What we pick up from our sources is that the contract is expected to be valued between USD 800 million to a USD 1 billion. Who are the IT firms?—this is good news for IT companies definitely. It will be too early to talk about the likely contenders but who are the potential bidders?—What we pick up from our sources is that four large-cap Indian IT firms—Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL Tech would be looking to bid for this project. Even multi-national firms like IBM and Accenture would be looking to bid for these projects. But these are the potential bidders and it’s way too early to comment for these individual companies, since the bids will be open only by approximately July to August 2010.
If you see the recent activities by British Petroleum and Exxon Mobil in the IT space—they have issued large scale contract of USD 1.5 to USD 1 billion but in the retail space this would be the largest so far.
Wal-Mart and obviously individual IT companies too would be looking to see boost in the revenues after this IT contract. These individual IT companies—the plan is to issue about USD 50-100 million individual contracts as spread across, some would be about USD 250-300 million.
When we contracted Wal-Mart for an official comment on this they said that they have several inquiries about their IT activities in India but they do not comment on individual specifications on this.
IT market, new openings
Indian IT firms back in action, begin hiring: Rediff
After having canned hiring for the whole of the last financial year, Indian IT companies are back in action, as majors like Infosys and Wipro have begun approaching engineering and management institutes, besides head hunting companies to add to their rolls.
According to Rediff, IT companies hire an average of 50 students each from engineering campuses and 20 students from management institutes. Headhunters confirm that many of the IT companies have given them mandates for hiring over the next couple of quarters. "We have seen an uptick in the hiring patterns among the IT firms. We ourselves have received good mandates from firms like Infosys and others.
"As of now, we have 13-14 mandates. The uptick started from August and has gone strong in September. The demand is increasing as these firms are also diversifying in newer geographies and within India, for which they will need people," said Venkat Subramaniam, Sourcing Partner of TMI Network.
In the case of Infosys, the company said that these 2,000 would be lateral (experienced people). This would help it to react faster once clients were ready to increase their IT spend.
"Close to 200 people will be added in the sales and marketing segment by the end of this fiscal," said Subhash Dhar, Senior VP, communications, media and entertainment, global sales, alliances and marketing.
Firms like Accenture have also approached headhunters for large scale recruitment. A senior HR consultant, who did not wish to be named, said India's largest IT firm Tata Consultancy Services, too, plans to meet some of the leading HR firms after it announces the second quarter results.
The premier Indian Institutes of Management and Indian Institutes of Technology that Business Standard reporters spoke to confirmed that prominent IT firms have approached them for placements.
"The scene is good. Some IT firms have approached us and pre-placement offers are still flowing in, though they have not confirmed the numbers of hiring so far," said Professor Prafulla Agnihotri, Chairman, career development and placement, IIM Calcutta. He, however refused to divulge any names.
The reasons are varied. Sanjeev Bikchandani, Managing Director and CEO of InfoEdge (promoter of Naukri.com), points out that, "replacement hiring is definitely happening in the IT sector. So, it's mainly lateral hiring. Demand led hiring is still a quarter or two away. However, it is early days to put any number to this hiring."
An HR consultant added, on the condition of anonymity, that companies will start hiring now as they are reaching the end of the year. This is when clients will also finalize budgets, besides the fact that Indian IT groups are also gearing up their global centres.
"We have seen that on an average, every month firms are hiring 30-40 people in the senior and mid-management level," he says.
The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the services industry, which includes IT, projects a 20-25 per cent increase in hiring. Cherian Kuruvila, Director - operations, Manpower India explains, "Infosys' statement reflects the sentiment. Companies are expected to build a talent pool for upcoming projects as green shoots are visible."
The other reason for the increase in hiring, according to Ashok Reddy, Managing Director, TeamLease Services, is due to the voluntary movement that was almost nil last year due to market circumstances. "Now with the market bouncing back, people have started moving. The fear of attrition will force companies to have a pool of people to replace outgoing employees. Before August we used to have on an average 100 openings, which in the August-September period has gone up to 400," he added.
The momentum of this trend will also imply an increase in salary hikes. "The IT sector is showing improved sentiments with increases expected to leap by a few percentage points next year, after a long-lasting lull of near 0 per cent increase this year," said Gangapriya Chakraverti, India leader of Mercer's information product solutions business.
However, there are a few who are still being cautious. Rakesh Malik, Practice Leader for globalisation and business transformation practice at Hewitt Associates, reasons: "It's too early to say that broadbase hiring will be back in IT. It could be that some particular skills were lacking in Infosys' employee pool, for which the company is hiring 2,000 people.
"The deal flow in the industry is not back to normalcy yet, expecting hiring of this scale would be too early." He avers he hasn't seen much increase in hiring in the IT space. It's just that the people who had been put on bench or virtual bench are being brought back.
According to Rediff, IT companies hire an average of 50 students each from engineering campuses and 20 students from management institutes. Headhunters confirm that many of the IT companies have given them mandates for hiring over the next couple of quarters. "We have seen an uptick in the hiring patterns among the IT firms. We ourselves have received good mandates from firms like Infosys and others.
"As of now, we have 13-14 mandates. The uptick started from August and has gone strong in September. The demand is increasing as these firms are also diversifying in newer geographies and within India, for which they will need people," said Venkat Subramaniam, Sourcing Partner of TMI Network.
In the case of Infosys, the company said that these 2,000 would be lateral (experienced people). This would help it to react faster once clients were ready to increase their IT spend.
"Close to 200 people will be added in the sales and marketing segment by the end of this fiscal," said Subhash Dhar, Senior VP, communications, media and entertainment, global sales, alliances and marketing.
Firms like Accenture have also approached headhunters for large scale recruitment. A senior HR consultant, who did not wish to be named, said India's largest IT firm Tata Consultancy Services, too, plans to meet some of the leading HR firms after it announces the second quarter results.
The premier Indian Institutes of Management and Indian Institutes of Technology that Business Standard reporters spoke to confirmed that prominent IT firms have approached them for placements.
"The scene is good. Some IT firms have approached us and pre-placement offers are still flowing in, though they have not confirmed the numbers of hiring so far," said Professor Prafulla Agnihotri, Chairman, career development and placement, IIM Calcutta. He, however refused to divulge any names.
The reasons are varied. Sanjeev Bikchandani, Managing Director and CEO of InfoEdge (promoter of Naukri.com), points out that, "replacement hiring is definitely happening in the IT sector. So, it's mainly lateral hiring. Demand led hiring is still a quarter or two away. However, it is early days to put any number to this hiring."
An HR consultant added, on the condition of anonymity, that companies will start hiring now as they are reaching the end of the year. This is when clients will also finalize budgets, besides the fact that Indian IT groups are also gearing up their global centres.
"We have seen that on an average, every month firms are hiring 30-40 people in the senior and mid-management level," he says.
The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the services industry, which includes IT, projects a 20-25 per cent increase in hiring. Cherian Kuruvila, Director - operations, Manpower India explains, "Infosys' statement reflects the sentiment. Companies are expected to build a talent pool for upcoming projects as green shoots are visible."
The other reason for the increase in hiring, according to Ashok Reddy, Managing Director, TeamLease Services, is due to the voluntary movement that was almost nil last year due to market circumstances. "Now with the market bouncing back, people have started moving. The fear of attrition will force companies to have a pool of people to replace outgoing employees. Before August we used to have on an average 100 openings, which in the August-September period has gone up to 400," he added.
The momentum of this trend will also imply an increase in salary hikes. "The IT sector is showing improved sentiments with increases expected to leap by a few percentage points next year, after a long-lasting lull of near 0 per cent increase this year," said Gangapriya Chakraverti, India leader of Mercer's information product solutions business.
However, there are a few who are still being cautious. Rakesh Malik, Practice Leader for globalisation and business transformation practice at Hewitt Associates, reasons: "It's too early to say that broadbase hiring will be back in IT. It could be that some particular skills were lacking in Infosys' employee pool, for which the company is hiring 2,000 people.
"The deal flow in the industry is not back to normalcy yet, expecting hiring of this scale would be too early." He avers he hasn't seen much increase in hiring in the IT space. It's just that the people who had been put on bench or virtual bench are being brought back.
H1-B, IT market, NRIs
U.S. no longer the dream destination for Indian students
The U.S. is no longer the dream destination for Indian students. Data released by the U.S. embassy has shown a sharp decrease in the number of students opting to study in the U.S. according to analysts, Indian students are seeking other destinations because of the global slowdown and tight visa procedures, reports IBN Live.
The U.S. embassy data reveals there is a 25 percent decrease in F1 student visas over the past one year, which means only 25,680 U.S. visas were issued for Indian students between October 2008 and September 2009 as compared to 34,510 visas last year.
"A large number of students wanted to stay on and work after the studies so as to cover the cost of the education. This is not happening because of the recession and the lack of jobs available in the U.S.," said, Director of Career Smart, Usha Albuquerque.
The loss of U.S. is naturally a gain for other countries like Canada, Australia, Germany, New Zealand and France. Human Resource analysts like Career Smart say that these countries are proving to be better student destinations, both in terms of affordability and easy visa procedure. "Because of the recession a large number of universities have cut back on their funding. Also, in the U.S. it is far more expensive than any other country and I think students have started realizing the good courses in other countries," Albuquerque explained.
Many of the students also apparently realize that India now offers more job opportunities as compared to foreign countries where they will have to spend much more.
The U.S. embassy data reveals there is a 25 percent decrease in F1 student visas over the past one year, which means only 25,680 U.S. visas were issued for Indian students between October 2008 and September 2009 as compared to 34,510 visas last year.
"A large number of students wanted to stay on and work after the studies so as to cover the cost of the education. This is not happening because of the recession and the lack of jobs available in the U.S.," said, Director of Career Smart, Usha Albuquerque.
The loss of U.S. is naturally a gain for other countries like Canada, Australia, Germany, New Zealand and France. Human Resource analysts like Career Smart say that these countries are proving to be better student destinations, both in terms of affordability and easy visa procedure. "Because of the recession a large number of universities have cut back on their funding. Also, in the U.S. it is far more expensive than any other country and I think students have started realizing the good courses in other countries," Albuquerque explained.
Many of the students also apparently realize that India now offers more job opportunities as compared to foreign countries where they will have to spend much more.
NRIs
Number of Indian students to Australia may fall by 50%
In the backdrop of a spate of racial attacks in Australia, Down Under could witness about a 50 per cent drop in Indian students in the next session, according to an international educational recruiter.
"In our India offices we're expecting our 2010 February intake to be down by about 50 per cent," IDP Education chief executive Tony Pollock said, according to an ABC report.
IDP which works with 400 institutions across Australia and takes in 35,000 students released a survey today conducted on over 6,000 students from eight countries including 1,100 students from India.
Pollock felt that the fall in numbers might be entirely due to safety and security issues, global slowdown could also play a part in it.
"We have the GFC [global financial crisis], which has obviously impacted upon families in India and that's evident by the fact that the applications for
other countries are way down, particularly the United States."
The survey was to find out what foreign students thought about Australia in comparison to other English speaking destination, he said.
"The somewhat surprising result and indeed promising result is that they believe Australia to be the safest destination of all the English speaking destinations - and by quite a margin.
While, Sydney and Melbourne have been voted as the "most unfriendly and unsafe" places to live in by over 6,000 overseas students, according to the survey.
"In our India offices we're expecting our 2010 February intake to be down by about 50 per cent," IDP Education chief executive Tony Pollock said, according to an ABC report.
IDP which works with 400 institutions across Australia and takes in 35,000 students released a survey today conducted on over 6,000 students from eight countries including 1,100 students from India.
Pollock felt that the fall in numbers might be entirely due to safety and security issues, global slowdown could also play a part in it.
"We have the GFC [global financial crisis], which has obviously impacted upon families in India and that's evident by the fact that the applications for
other countries are way down, particularly the United States."
The survey was to find out what foreign students thought about Australia in comparison to other English speaking destination, he said.
"The somewhat surprising result and indeed promising result is that they believe Australia to be the safest destination of all the English speaking destinations - and by quite a margin.
While, Sydney and Melbourne have been voted as the "most unfriendly and unsafe" places to live in by over 6,000 overseas students, according to the survey.
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