CA to hire 1,000 R&D staff in India

The IT management software company, CA is strengthening its research and development (R&D) wing in India by hiring 1,000 people for the center in next 3-5 years as part of its recently announced $30 million investment in India, reports DNA.

CA currently has 1,600 people in its R&D team in India and over 100 for sales and marketing. "Indian R&D workforce is just little under third of our global research workforce. We are targeting India to constitute half of our global R&D force after some years," said Gavin Selkirk, Senior Vice President of regional sales - APAC and Japan.

CA has invested $60 million in India in total and has filed for more than 60 patents during the first 12 months of operation. Meanwhile, CA invested about $600 million globally on R&D last year. The Asia Pacific and Japan region, which includes India, currently contributes 11-12 percent to the company's global sales and that is expected to go to 15 percent in 3-5 years. In India, the company is bidding for many government projects of which some are expected to materialize in 2009.

China to approach Infosys, HCL to set up units in Jiaxing

China would approach Indian software majors such as Infosys and HCL to set up units in IT and BPO parks, which will come up in Jiaxing city, a Chinese official said today. Jiaxing city plans to set up three to five IT/BPO parks and is now in the process of contacting big IT companies from India like Infosys, HCL, and TCS, Jiaxing Municipal Bureau of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Vice-Director Shen Wenping said at a CII meet here.

India is the 15th largest exports destination and 29th largest exporter to Jiaxing. Wenping further said the trade between India and China is likely to touch $60 billion in 2009, up from $51.7 billion last year. A delegation from China is on a visit to India to promote Jiaxing as an attractive investment destination for Indian enterprises and to foster bilateral ties.

Court rejects bail pleas of Satyam employees

The bail applications of two Satyam employees - Venkatpati Raju and C Srisailam - were rejected by a local court here on Saturday. The two were arrested in connection accounting scam involving thousands of crores of rupees in the IT company. They are in judicial custody in Chanchalguda jail, along with other scam accused, including Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju.

Dismissing the bail applications, the XIV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate observed, "It was not proper to grant bail at this stage when chargesheet was filed mentioning the role of the accused by the investigating agency." Venkatpati Raju is a Senior Manager and Srisailam, Assistant Manager, both in finance department.

Tech Mahindra to retain Satyam management team

Tech Mahindra, the new owner of Satyam Computer Services, has decided to continue with the current management of the scam-hit firm for the transition period. Its priority is to focus on making Satyam’s business viable by halting customer attrition, boosting employee morale and leveraging the best practices of Satyam. “The plan is to work with the current management. The focus is more on governance and restoring customer confidence,” said a source close to Tech Mahindra. However, it will also soon name a chief financial officer, who may not be an insider. The CFO’s post had been vacant after S Vadlamani, the earlier CFO, quit.

Satyam has excess staff, says CBI

Satyam has employees far in excess of its requirements, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the scam, has said in its chargesheet. The Hyderabad-based software company has 53,000 employees on its payrolls at the end of the quarter ending September 2008.

In a charge that corroborates what disgraced founder and then-chairman B Ramalinga Raju had said in his confessionary letter on January 7, the CBI has said that the high number of associates created a burden on the company, putting its margins under pressure.

The investigating agency further said that the high bench strength, with several employees not having enough work, shows that Satyam was being run poorly. “As a result of the underutilisation of the associates, the company is forced to pay salaries without jobs on hand, which increased the burden on the finances of the company,” it said.

The CBI also accused Raju of falsifying utilisation rates for over two years. In its chargesheet, the CBI said that
Raju, along with younger brother Rama Raju and the company chief financial officer Srinivas Vadlamani, was responsible for reporting a falsified utilisation rate of 74.88 per cent for offshore employees from the second quarter of FY07 till the second quarter of FY09, while the actual figure was 62.02 per cent.

The investigating agency also said that that the company’s bench strength for offshore associates was as high as 40 per cent against the reported 25 per cent.

Cognizant in talks to buy UK firm Pa Consulting

Cognizant Technology Solutions, which backed out from Satyam bidding at the last moment, is in talks with London-based Pa Consulting for a buyout deal valued at $300-350 million. The preliminary discussions with the privately-held technology-led consulting firm come even as Cognizant is actively scouting for acquisitions in the European market, sources said.

Cognizant is looking to strengthen its presence in the UK and Continental Europe, from where the company gets 20% of its revenue pegged at $2.89 billion. When contacted, Cognizant CFO Gordon Coburn said in an email response, “We do not comment on speculation in the marketplace.” At the same time, Pa Consulting said, “It is not our policy to publicise or discuss in the media any alliance or partnership arrangements, and we have no comment to make.”