Top global IT firms have more staff in India than home nations

It's a measure of India's strength in software services and the number of engineers it produces that some of the world's largest IT companies have more employees in India now than in their home countries.

And increasingly, these foreign companies are shifting their consulting base to India, thanks to the talent coming out of the country's business schools.

IBM, the biggest in the business, has been steadily reducing its US employee numbers and has simultaneously increased sharply its Indian ones. The company does not officially break up its employee numbers by geography, but the IBM employee organization Alliance@IBM puts the US figure for 2012 at 91,000, down from 127,000 in 2006. The last time IBM provided figures for India was in 2007, when it said it had 73,000 employees here. Since then, all estimates suggest that the company has added another 50,000 to 60,000 employees, taking the total count to about 1.3 lakh.

That puts the India number at more than 40% of the US figure. It also means — given IBM's global headcount of 4.3 lakh — that one in almost every three IBM employee is in India.

Read more at TimesOfIndia.

Dell may lay off 1,000 employees in Mohali

About 1,000 employees of American multinational Dell may lose their jobs in India over the next six months as the Texas-based computer hardware, software and services provider plans a significant rightsizing exercise for its international services business here, according to sources with knowledge of the development.

Sources say the company is planning to shut down its international services operations in Mohali which employs about 1,300 people. When contacted, a Dell spokesperson said the company does not comment on rumours or speculation. 
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/careers/job-trends/Dell-may-lay-off-1000-employees-in-Mohali/articleshow/21995694.cms

iGate Gets 5-Year $100M Outsourcing Order from US MetLife

Outsourcing services company iGate Corp. (IGTE) Tuesday said it has received a five-year contract worth more than $100 million to offer information technology infrastructure solutions to U.S. life insurer MetLife Inc. (MET).

As part of the deal, iGate said in a statement, it will manage the IT systems of the U.S. company and provide applications support and enterprise network services. iGate is U.S.-based and listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, employing 28,000 people, mainly in India.

Some parts of the contract were previously managed by a major U.S. IT services company and one of the top Indian outsourcing companies, Sanjay Tugnait, executive vice president and head of sales for North America at iGate, told the Wall Street Journal.

iGate, which already has a 10-year outsourcing partnership with MetLife, said the deal will be based on a business model where the company charges the client using an outcome-based pricing approach.

Wipro BPO win Best Project with Organizational Impact Award

Wipro  Ltd., a leading Global Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing company announced that the American Society for Quality (ASQ) has recognized Wipro BPO for a Six Sigma Project implemented for a customer. The project was recognized by ASQ and voted on by attendees of the 2013 World Conference on Quality and Improvement as Best Project with 'Organizational Impact' at the International Team Excellence Awards, Indianapolis, USA.

The awards recognize and commend the impact of quality on customer relationships. The finalists of the "International Team Excellence Awards" comprised of 32 teams from across the world and global organizations spanning industries including Automobiles, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Financial Services & Insurance, Telecom, Military, Energy, Housing and ITeS.

NAB culling IT jobs: Australia

NATIONAL Australia Bank has been urged to be more transparent with redundancy figures amongst technology workers with unions confirming more than 90 jobs have been affected.

The Australian yesterday reported that NAB staff sources and management were at odds with the number of technology roles impacted by a move to outsource IT testing to Infosys.

NAB said 26 people have been made redundant but some affected staff say it's about 95 workers.

The cuts have affected all parts of the group, including its wealth management arm MLC.

Finance Sector Union national assistant secretary Geoff Derrick said: "we have heard from our members that their work is being outsourced (to Infosys) and probably offshored".

Mr Derrick said more than 90 people are affected but "not all in one go", a view shared by affected employees who spoke to The Australian.

NAB workers have been conducting "knowledge transfer" sessions with Infosys and they would be let go once that was completed, he said.

Mr Derrick said the union was having difficulty getting a straight answer from NAB on whether local jobs would be sent overseas.

Telstra to outsource 170 jobs to Infosys

Telstra will outsource the roles of 170 full-time staff and 90 contractors from one of its fastest-growing business units to India, with Indian supplier ­Infosys understood to be picking up the work.

The redundancies from Telstra’s network applications and services division announced on Tuesday are the latest in a series of staff cuts at the telecommunications giant. In May, it indicated plans to overhaul its 15,000-strong internal operations divisions.

The NAS division, which generated $636 million in revenues in the half-year ending December 31, 2012, sells services such as cloud computing and video conferencing. It is Telstra’s fastest-growing segment with plans to increase the business in Asia.

Source: BRW

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 BPO rated among top global F&A service providers

Software services major Wipro today said its BPO has been rated among the top global Finance and Accounting (F&A) service providers by analyst firm HfS Research.

Wipro BPO has been positioned among the top worldwide Finance and Accounting service providers by HfS Research in its "Blueprint Report on Finance and Accounting BPO", authored by analysts Phil Fersht and Brian Dubiel, the company said in a release.

The report credits Wipro for its long standing reputation for delivering BPO competency particularly in F&A, price competitiveness and solution flexibility along with experience in providing end-to-end support for F&A services.

It also mentions the company's strong passion and capabilities in developing technology platforms to support BPO prowess.

Wipro in a release said: "The report ratings are based on a broad range of stakeholders with specific weightings derived from 1,355 crowd-sourced responses that include buyers, service providers, industry influencers (sourcing advisors), sourcing executive council members and analysts.

Rupee depreciation: Indian IT cos like Infosys, TCS and Wipro finally have something to cheer about

The Indian technology sector, hobbled by concerns over the US immigration bill, margin pressure due to rising employee and visa cost, lower growth, and deprecation of the rupee, may finally have something to cheer.

The rupee has depreciated 9.87%, or Rs 5.35, against the dollar since April this year. According to analysts, this might translate into gains in operating profit by 100 to 250 basis points for the Indian technology companies.

16 Indian companies in emerging top 100 software vendors list

As many as 16 Indian companies have made it to the list of top 100 software vendors in the emerging markets, commanding a combined revenue of $797 million, says a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report.

The latest PwC global 100 software leaders report also says that in terms of revenue, India was ranked fifth among the emerging markets in 2011.

In terms of software revenue among emerging markets China topped the list with $2,738 million, followed by Israel $1,174 million (2nd), Russia $1,015 million (3rd), Brazil $945 million (4th) and India $797 million (5th).

Meanwhile, Geodesic was ranked 14 on the list of software services revenue, followed by OnMobile (21), Subex (26), Infosys (27), TCS (29), FT India (35) and Tally Solutions (39).

Among other Indian firms, Cranes Software was placed in the 44th position in the list, followed by 3i Infotech (60), Newgen Software (62), Ramco Systems (64), Persistent (65), KLG Systel (71), Polaris Software (72), Educomp Solutions (85) and Teledata Technology (89).

"Emerging markets are poised to play an increasingly pivotal role in the global software industry. Focus on innovation, growing talent pool and government support are just some of the advantages of this market segment," the report said.

Meanwhile, the number of software product firms has grown over the last decade from a little over 100 in 2000 to nearly 2,400 in 2013, it said.

According to the industry body NASSCOM, the revenue from the software product segment currently stands at $2.2 billion and is expected to reach $10 billion by 2020.

The PwC report noted that software-as-a-service is gaining traction. Moreover, industry consolidation and increasing globalisation are also transforming the software sector.

"The Indian IT industry has been primarily identified with software services and this focus has relegated the software products segment to the background. However, of late, we are seeing a change in the fortunes of this segment due to significant growth," PwC India Leader Technology Sanjay Dhawan said.

Emerging technologies such as Social media, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) are driving the growth in the software product segment and helping it move to the next level, Dhawan added.
Source: PWC Report

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

Syntel Named in IAOP's 2013 Global Outsourcing 100

Syntel, Inc. (Nasdaq:SYNT), a global information technology services and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) company, today announced that it has been ranked in The 2013 Global Outsourcing 100® by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP). Syntel has moved up seven places over the 2012 rankings to #31.

Syntel was named to IAOP's annual list of the world's best outsourcing service providers for the seventh consecutive year and was included on several sub-lists that recognize providers for their specialization in particular industry and service segments. Source: GlobeNewsWire

Offshoring to India will end in 8-10 years: Report

Offshoring of jobs to India will begin to decline starting 2014, and will reach the end of its lifecycle in eight years, according to US-based strategic advisory and research firm The Hackett Group released at the Nasscom Global In-House Centers ( GIC) Conclave being held here.

According to The Hackett Group, the traditional model of US and European companies moving finance, IT, and other business services jobs offshore will reach the end of its lifecycle over the next 8-10 years, and US and European companies will simply run out of jobs which can be moved offshore to locations like India.

The Hackett Group's offshoring research, examined 4,700 companies with annual revenue over $1 billion and headquartered in the US and Europe. It found that by 2016, a total of 2.3 million jobs in finance, IT, procurement and HR will have moved offshore. Click here to read more.

Dell chalks out new BPO offerings, takes on Indian outsourcing firms

In a bleak environment where unemployment and sensitivity around offshoring are hurting the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, IT giant Dell is readying an ambitious foray that will pit it against Indian outsourcing rivals in some of the largest back-office processes outsourced to third-party providers.

Once known for desktops and laptops and its direct selling business model, Dell has been beefing up its services portfolio by adding offerings since diversifying into software services by acquiring Perot Systems.

Ashutosh Vaidya, who joined Dell from Wipro to head its third-party BPO services nine months back, is adding final touches for the launch of four new backoffice services -- finance and accounting, procurement, customer interaction services and analytics -- slated for next quarter. Click here to read more.

Desi IT co bags $4.5 mn UAE contract

Software developer Valuemart Info Technologies bagged a $4.5-million (Rs 20 crore) contract from the UAE-based Supreme Software Technologies to develop a project help desk solution, the Bangalore IT firm said.

"The project help desk suite is an enterprise web-based solution for electronic monitoring of project-related processes. The solution helps an enterprise to track workflows of multiple projects and ensure their completion within timelines," Valuemart managing director C K Vasudevan said.

The company will execute the order within two years to facilitate Supreme Software manage multi-location project teams, including those working on offshore and onsite models.

"Supreme Software awarded the contract after we successfully demonstrated the functional aspects of the suite as a proof of concept. The deal will also enhance our ability to bid for high value projects and move up the value chain," Vasudevan said.

The 13-year-old Valuemart offers enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business process management solutions in diverse verticals such as manufacturing, banking, financial services, insurance and legal.

Mega Deals: $1 billion outsourcing contracts may come to India

Large outsourcing contracts worth up to $1 billion look set for a comeback this year, as companies from segments like retail, banking, telecom and utilities, apart from government bodies, seek to cope with renewed demand for their services and also lower their operational expenses.

Outsourcing experts and industry officials told ET last week that auto customers too are looking to award large contracts for managing their business and IT systems this year. British Petroleum’s IT contract worth $1.5 billion awarded to Indian vendors TCS, Infosys and Wipro early this year was one such mega deal.
Continue reading on EconomicTimes

No threat to IT Inc from Obama: Gartner

IT analyst firm Gartner dismissed any threat to the over $60-billion Indian IT exports industry following US President Barak Obama's plan to stop giving tax breaks to those US companies shipping jobs abroad.

"There is no need for panic...Even if tax breaks are taken away, the US firms have to outsource because that makes business sense for them," Gartner senior research analyst Diptarup Chakroborty said.

"If the tax breaks are taken away, it is not going to impact the Indian IT industry adversely. With the global economy looking up, a lot of emerging markets are opening up. The contribution from those markets is going to offset the impact of tax breaks if any," he said.

As the overall market would be growing the problems of tax breaks will be overlooked by the firms. The software firms association Nasscom also has sought to downplay Obama's plan to slash tax breaks for companies shipping jobs abroad, saying the real worry is "protectionism" and not tax breaks.

"I think the concerns that we have is about indirect protectionism. I don't think tax break issue is really the one which is important for us. Obama's comment was not related to outsourcing. It's about US companies operating in regions where they get tax benefits," Nasscom VP Ameet Nivsarker said.

Shell transferring thousands of jobs to India, Philippines

In order to reduce costs, global oil major Royal Dutch Shell will soon transfer additional office jobs from Houston and elsewhere to India and the Philippines.

Shell has also announced that it would slash 5,000 jobs by year-end , including hundreds in Houston as part of a sweeping reorganisation new CEO Peter Voser said is needed to make the company more competitive.

According to internal Shell documents, the European oil giant has been transferring additional office jobs from Houston and elsewhere to India and the Philippines to reduce costs. The migration programmes affect employees in finance and other support functions, which are being consolidated in shared service centres in low-cost countries to fit the new company structure.

It’s unclear how many of Shell’s 13,000 employees in Houston will be affected by the migration plans. Partly, that’s because company officials are still deciding which jobs will stay or go abroad, and are rolling out the plans in phases that run into next year. But at least a few divisions in Houston are preparing to be downsized dramatically.

Major oil companies including Shell, ConocoPhillips and BP have been cutting jobs, capital spending budgets and other costs in response to the global economic downturn that has sapped demand for petroleum products like gasoline and diesel fuel. But Shell’s migration programmes could have broader implications for Houston .

Shell, which is based in The Hague, with US headquarters in Houston, has been involved in a major downsizing since Voser replaced Jeroen van der Veer as CEO in July. By year end, the company plans to cut 5,000 employees, or 10% of its global workforce, under a reorganisation he calls Transition 2009.

The process which merged the company’s three upstream businesses into two, expanded its downstream group and added a new projects and technology division trimmed management ranks by 20% and has forced 15,000 Shell employees to reapply for a smaller pool of jobs.

The company recently told employees within its finance division that some of their jobs are being relocated from Houston and Calgary, Alberta, to finance operations centre in Manila and Chennai. Spokesman Bill Tanner said foreign shared service centres are key to improving the finance unit’s competitiveness.

Three IT cos bag $600 mn Walmart deal

Walmart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, has picked three IT vendors including India's Infosys Technologies for multi-year contracts worth over $600 million, the Business Standard said on Friday.

The other vendors are Cognizant Solutions and UST Global, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified source close to the development.

Initially the three vendors are expected to earn Rs 2.5 billion to Rs 3 billion ($54 million-$65 million) each annually, which will rise as Wal-Mart increases outsourcing more work.

Infosys and Cognizant, which will provide application development and support, are expected to get a larger share of the contract, the paper said. UST will be responsible for testing these applications, it said.

"What is more important is that these three vendors have now got a ticket to be in the club of Walmart's list of preferred vendors which will help them in growing this account in the long run," the paper quoted the source as saying.

"We do not comment on market speculation," a spokeswoman for Infosys told Reuters. Walmart's media relations director, John Simley, said in am emailed reply to the paper, "We have a large and growing business and productive relationship with many Indian companies. We do not comment on speculations about the nature of any business relationship."

A Cognizant spokesman also declined to comment, the paper said.
Source: IndiaTimes