Dharak Infotech | Information of India

Parts of Arctic coastline eroding by 45 feet every year

2009-12-16T11:19:00.001+05:30

Washington, Dec 15 (IANS) A portion of the northern Alaska coastline is eroding by a maximum of 45 feet annually, thanks to the combined effect of declining sea ice, warming sea water and increased wave activity, says a new study.

The conditions have caused the steady retreat of 30 to 45 feet a year of the 12-foot-high bluffs - frozen blocks of silt and peat containing 50 to 80 percent ice, said Robert Anderson, Colorado University-Boulder (CU-B) associate professor and study co-author.

'What we are seeing now is a triple whammy effect,' said Anderson. 'Since the summer Arctic sea ice cover continues to decline and Arctic air and sea temperatures continue to rise, we really don't see any prospect for this process ending.'

The longer the sea ice is detached from the coastline, the further out to sea the sea-ice edge will be. This open-ocean distance between the sea ice and the shore, known as the 'fetch,' increases both the energy of waves crashing into the coast and the height to which warm seawater can come into contact with the frozen bluffs, said Anderson.

'One of the concerns we have is that some larger ponds and lakes located slightly further inland may begin draining into the sea as the shoreline continues to recede,' said Anderson.

Arctic sea ice during the annual September minimum is now declining at a rate of 11.2 percent per decade, said the CU-B study.

Only 19 percent of the ice cover was more than two years old -- the least ever recorded in the satellite record and far below the 1981-2000 summer average of 48 percent.

Anderson, along with Cameron Wobus of Stratus Consulting and Irina Overeem of CU's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) presented results from components of their study at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco Dec 14 - 18.
Indo Asian News Service

Google tests new phone

2009-12-16T11:19:00.000+05:30

Google Inc. is determined to gain more influence over how the Web is used on mobile phones, even if the next step in the quest tramples some of the relationships forged during its two-year expansion into the wireless industry.

The focus on Google's mobile ambitions is sharpening now that the Internet search leader is working on a new phone called "Nexus One." The handset is being tested by Google's 20,000 employees, who received the device just before the weekend.

Google declined to comment on the reason for the Nexus One's development.

But 'The Wall Street Journal' and 'The New York Times' have described the employee testing as a prelude to selling the phone directly to consumers early next year.

The phone - manufactured by Taiwan's HTC Corp. - wouldn't be tied to a specific carrier, unlike other devices using Google's mobile operating system, "Android." The autonomy of a so-called "unlocked" mobile phone could give consumers more freedom to select the carrier of their choice, although the unique technology running competing U.S. wireless networks will probably limit the options.

It's not clear how wide-ranging Google's ambitions are for the phone. Unless Google is willing to sell the phone at a loss, the Nexus One is likely to be much more expensive than Apple's iPhone and similar devices, which receive subsidies from wireless carriers.

With those subsidies, most "smart" phones sell for $50 to $200, instead of the $400 to $600 price they'd have without the financial aid. The carriers recover their expense through service plans that cost $800 to $1,000 a year.

Without a sharp discount, Nexus One won't make much of a dent in the mobile phone market, predicted Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin.

Google, which is based in Mountain View, started selling an unlocked version of the first "Android phone," T-Mobile's G1, for $399 last year. It was aimed at Android developers, but anyone who registered as such could buy one.

If it intend to keep the Nexus One's price low enough to pique consumer interest and protect its earnings, Google might still have to negotiate subsidies from wireless carriers - an arrangement that wouldn't change the status quo.

Or Google could be hoping to generate enough revenue from ads shown on mobile Web sites and applications downloaded on the Nexus One to cover the cost of any discounts.

But the mobile advertising market in the U.S. is still small, with $416 million in revenue expected this year, according to research firm eMarketer Inc. In the United States, Google generates more than $10 billion annually from the sale of online ads shown on personal computers.

Google hopes to improve its mobile advertising network with the $750 million acquisition of AdMob, a pioneer in the field. That deal is expected to close early next year.

"Mobile is clearly the next big business opportunity and (Google) wants to do everything possible to control its own destiny," Golvin said.

Selling equipment would mark a significant shift for Google, which has consistently said it prefers to leave the design and marketing of smart phones to manufacturers and carriers that have embraced Android since the system's November 2007 introduction.

At that time, Google downplayed the need for a "Gphone," saying its mobile software and alliance with dozens of partners have a bigger impact on the market than any single device.

Android has given Google a strong foothold in the mobile market, although it's not nearly as large the one Apple has carved out while selling more than 30 million iPhones during the past 2 1/2 years.

Motorola Inc. is pinning its smart-phone hopes on the Android and Verizon Wireless has thrown its weight behind phones running on the Google software, too. Over the past month, Verizon has been heavily promoting the Google-powered Droid phone as a compelling alternative to the iPhone.

William Blair & Co. analyst Anil Doradla believes Google may alienate some of its partners and thwart Android's expansion by selling its own phone.

"Given that Android is still in its initial stages of deployment, Google needs all the good will it can get to ensure success," Doradla wrote in a Monday research note.

Verizon Wireless said it isn't upset about Nexus One yet.

"We are still looking at different possibilities with our friend Google," Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said.

If Google decides to sell its own handset, it would intensify its budding rivalry with Apple, a former ally that shared antipathy toward Microsoft Corp. Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison declined to comment Monday on the Nexus One.

Google shares gained $5.22 to close Monday at $595.73 trading, while Apple shares increased $2.31 to $196.98.

The brewing competition between Google and Apple sparked a Federal Trade Competition inquiry into the two common directors the companies shared on their boards. That was resolved when Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple's board in August and Genentech Chairman Arthur Levinson quit Google's board in October.

The iPhone has been the biggest source of mobile traffic to Google's mobile services during the past two years, according to Google executives.

exus One apparently is a reference to a line of replicants, or androids, in the 1982 science fiction film "Blade Runner." Its name was confirmed in a Federal Communications Commission filing released Monday.

Based on Internet photos of the phone, Nexus One will run several Google applications, including a recently introduced feature that lets mobile users submit pictures of landmarks, products and other objects to get a pertinent list of search results.

The FCC filing indicated the Nexus One will be compatible with many networks overseas, but T-Mobile has the only 3G network that would support it in the U.S. It would only take minor tweaking to make it work on AT&T Inc.'s 3G network in the U.S. as well, Golvin said.

T-Mobile declined to comment on the Nexus One.
Associated Press

Apple cites strong iMac demand amid shipping delays

2009-12-16T11:18:00.002+05:30

Apple Inc on Monday said strong demand for its new iMac personal computer had it working hard to keep up, and the company apologized for any delays in deliveries to customers.

The new 27-inch iMac starts at $1,699. According to Apple's online store, the desktop PC ships in 2 weeks. By contrast, the 21.5-inch model ships in 24 hours.

"The new iMac has been a huge hit and we're working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible," said Apple spokesman Colin Smith "We apologize for any inconvenience or delay in delivery this may cause our customers."

He declined to comment on reports on Apple-focused websites about display problems on the 27-inch iMac. Sites such as AppleInsider have noted growing reports about "flickering screens and yellow-tinged displays."

Apple began selling the new iMac models in October. Industry analysts have reported strong consumer demand for the Mac lineup this fall. Apple is the No. 4 PC maker in the United States, according to IDC, but its products carry a much steeper premium than rival PCs.

In the September quarter, Apple sold 3.05 million Macs, up 17 per cent from the year-ago quarter.

In October, Apple reported difficulty meeting demand for the iPhone last quarter.

Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple closed at $196.98 on the Nasdaq, up 1.2 per cent.
Reuters

Soon, computers that are cooler and faster

2009-12-16T11:18:00.001+05:30

Washington, Dec 15 (ANI): University of Toronto physicists have made a novel advancement, which could lead to faster optical information processing and compact computers that don't overheat.

Quantum optics researchers Sajeev John and Xun Ma have discovered new behaviours of light within photonic crystals.

"We discovered that by sculpting a unique artificial vacuum inside a photonic crystal, we can completely control the electronic state of artificial atoms within the vacuum," said Ma, a PhD student under John's supervision and lead author of a study.

"This discovery can enable photonic computers that are more than a hundred times faster than their electronic counterparts, without heat dissipation issues and other bottlenecks currently faced by electronic computing," Ma added.

The research team designed a vacuum in which light passes through circuit paths that are one one-hundredth of the thickness of a human hair, and whose character changes drastically and abruptly with the wavelength of the light.

"In this vacuum, the state of each atom - or quantum dot - can be manipulated with color-coded streams of laser pulses that sequentially excite and de-excite it in trillionths of a second," said Ma.

"These quantum dots can in turn control other streams of optical pulses, enabling optical information processing and computing," Ma added.

The original aim of the investigation was to gain a deeper understanding of optical switching, part of an effort to develop an all-optical micro-transistor that could operate within a photonic chip.

This led to the discovery of a new and unexpected dynamic switching mechanism, imposed by the artificial vacuum in a photonic crystal.

"This new mechanism enables micrometer scale integrated all-optical transistors to perform logic operations over multiple frequency channels in trillionths of a second at microwatt power levels, which are about one millionth of the power required by a household light bulb," said John.

"That this mechanism allows for computing over many wavelengths as opposed to electronic circuits which use only one channel, would significantly surpass the performance of current day electronic transistors," John added.

The study is published in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters. (ANI)
ANI

INTERVIEW - Infosys sees better revenue growth in FY11

2009-12-16T11:17:00.000+05:30

India's Infosys Technologies expects revenue growth in the fiscal year starting in April to be better than in 2009/10 as a recovery in the global economy spurs investments by its clients, a senior official said.

"At this point, we do believe that there will be better growth next year than we have seen this year. We just don't know how much," said Subhash Dhar, senior vice-president and head of global sales and marketing. "The Jan-March quarter will be critical because that's when the budgets will be revealed to us and we get to know the trends much better," Dhar, who is also an executive council member at Infosys, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

India's second-largest IT services exporter has forecast its dollar revenue will decline 1.0-1.3 percent to $4.60-$4.62 billion in the current fiscal year to March, making it the company's first ever year of negative growth.

(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by John Mair)

Windows Mobile Application Development

2009-12-16T11:11:00.001+05:30

By Allen Symonds

Windows Mobile is an operating system for mobile and handheld devices. Part of the Windows CE family, it is used in a lot of Smartphones, Pocket PCs, Portable Media Centers, and on-board computers for certain automobiles. It can be seen as a scaled down version of the Windows Operating System, still incorporating the popular applications from the Windows System. In version 6.1 now, it has come a long way across from just an OS to a powerful system with a lot of applications and rich features. Carrying the popular applications like Microsoft Office, Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer and the Outlook mail client (all in the mobile versions ofcourse), and even the famous Windows task bar. It offers the similar Windows experience on the smaller devices as on the desktop. A user familiar with Windows Operating System won't feel out of place when using it.

Its growth over the years has been pretty impressive. Over the last year, Microsoft's shipment had almost doubled, indicating the rising popularity of the OS. HTC, which almost accounts for almost the entire share of Windows Mobile based smartphones, has the widest range of phones running it. HTC has been observing a steady rise in its shipments over the years, cementing its growth.

Rapidsoft has been developing applications for Windows Mobile for many years now, and being a Microsoft Certified Partner, Rapidsoft is now very experienced in developing applications for this popular OS. Catering to the offshore outsourcing market, Rapidsoft can help you in development of your Windows Mobile based applications, and also port your existing ones in other platforms to it. Offering a custom solution to your application development needs, Rapidsoft can provide cost effective solutions which are fully built the way the client wants it to be.

For more information on Windows Mobile Applications and Windows Mobile Developer. Visit RapidsoftTechnologies.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Allen_Symonds

How To Talk To Your Poster Printing Company

2009-12-16T11:04:00.001+05:30

Are you having difficulty talking to your? If this happens quite often, you have to be careful and protect yourself from spending more than you really need to. You need to learn the proper language and mannerism on how to talk to your. This may sound hard, but actually it is very easy to do and it can really benefit you with reduced printing quotations and discounts. We will teach you how to do this in four easy steps.

1. Study the terms. First you must know the poster printing company talk. You have to know the important terms and concepts in poster printing, and you must also know the exact procedures. You can do this by just doing some Google searches and Wikipedia research. Remember what you learned and try to have a general idea of what poster printing companies usually do. Once you have learned enough of the terms and concepts, you should be ready to talk to your printing company on very equal terms.

2. Slice through the sales talk. Now, as you start talking with your printing company, you need to know how to slice through their sales talk. Most printing company agents or representatives will try to impress you with how great their printing processes are, and how your prints will look good with more expensive printing options. Well, you do not have to listen to all this if you do not want to. Since you already researched a lot on the first step, you can just tell the agent your specific order details. Tell them you already know what they are talking about and have decided on the best poster printing options for your work. If you are firm enough in speaking you should save a lot of time by eliminating their sales talk completely. You might even save a lot of money too by beating the temptation to print more expensively.

3. Go for bargains. While the talking is ongoing, you might also want to keep an ear out for printing bargains. Or if you do not hear of anything, why not ask if there are bargains to be had in printing, or if there are discount packages for color posters. Some agents conveniently hold back this information to get you to pay for higher printing quotations, but if you are firm enough with asking, you can probably get some good info on cheaper prices for wholesale poster printing. So do not be afraid to ask and see what money saving packages your printing company offers. You might be surprised at the answer.

4. Promise loyalty for good service. Lastly, once the talk comes to its final phases, try to see if you can make an impression in the printing company representative. Try to convince them that you will hire them again and become a loyal customer to the printer. This usually invokes a nice reaction with the printer and you should get better and sometimes cheaper service as long as you employ them on a regular basis. If done right, you can really make friends with the poster printing company giving you a nice avenue to print posters easily and cheaply.

So that is how you talk to your printing company. By being informed, direct and friendly with them, you should get a faster and friendlier service that saves you time and money easily.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit: printing company

Opera Mini browser 4.2

2009-12-16T11:00:00.001+05:30

Opera Mini™ is a fast and tiny Web browser that allows you to access the full Internet on your phone. Take all your favorite Web sites and download images, MP3`s on the go with Opera Mini!

Version 4.2 of Opera Mini Web browser delivers several new features for personal customization and shorter loading time. Opera Mini users in the US and Asia-Pacific region can now experience faster speed, due to the addition of an Opera Mini server park in the US. This version also offers a sweet selection of new skins, bundled with improved support on more phones for YouTube and other mobile video services. It's more likely that your phone will work on the mobile version of YouTube. Improvements in Opera Link allow users to share notes between their mobile phones and PCs, in addition to their bookmarks and recently visited URLs. Opera Mini browser enables you to take your full Web experience and digital lifestyle with you — everywhere you go. Opera Mini is free, so download it now!

Opera Mini Web browser uses a remote server to pre-process Web pages before sending them to your phone. Web content is optimized for your device, ensuring fast and cheap browsing and a great user experience.

Opera Mini™ Web browser offers the same speed and usability as the renowned Opera Mobile browser, and uses Opera’s Small Screen Rendering™ technology to provide access to the Web. It has all the features expected of a browser, and more, such as content download, skinning, bookmarks, browsing history. In addition, Opera Mini recognizes your phone and optimizes Web pages accordingly to provide faster browsing.

This download file contains MIDP2 version of Opera Mini Web browser. If you are unsure if your phone supports it, please visit the following link with your phone`s WAP browser, and you will receive the right version. - http://mini.opera.com

How do I best manage my bounce rate?

2009-12-16T08:42:00.000+05:30

Managing your bounce rate should be a component of your overall SEO strategy b/c a high bounce rate means that the people coming to your site are not getting your message, or are the wrong people (if you are still confused as to what a bounce rate is please refer to the previous blog post).

A bounce rate is a tricky thing, and although you should always strive to have a bounce rate approaching 0%, this is not possible.

The most important thing to understand about the bounce rate/traffic relationship is, if you have one million visitors to your site, and a bounce rate of 100%, you essentially have had 0 visitors. (In fact, those unscrupulous sites that promise you “1 million hits to your site in a week” might get you that million hits, but they’ll also get you a bounce rate of 99.9%).
Another important thing about bounce rate is that it may be both seasonal and industry specific. Seasonal because a flower distributor will likely have a significantly lower bounce rate close to Valentines Day, and a college textbook store will likely have a lower bounce rate at the start of each semester; and industry specific because different types of websites are likely to see different patterns in their bounce rate.

A good example of the importance/or unimportance of bounce rate is that of Google. I am not aware of Google’s exact bounce rate, but I would be willing to bet that it is very high, because many people have Google as their homepage, and when they open their browser window, Google always comes up and they typically navigate away from that page without doing anything; but given the amount of traffic that Google receives a high bounce rate may be seen as insignificant.
Another way to look at bounce rate is like this, is it better to have 1000 hits to your site with an average bounce rate of 90%, or to have 200 hits to your site with an average bounce rate of 40%? (Of course the answer is the 2nd scenario, b/c in that case you will have 120 quality visitors to your site; where as in the 1st example you’d only have 100 such visitors)
source: http://netlz1.wordpress.com/

Largest call center in the world opens in RP

2009-10-23T10:24:00.000+05:30

By Daxim Lucas, Allison Lopez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:28:00 10/23/2009

Filed Under: business process outsourcing (BPO)

MANILA, Philippines — More jobs are up for grabs in the local business processing outsourcing (BPO) industry despite the global economic slump, according to a leading call-center company.

Marife Zamora, Convergys vice president and country manager, said demand for BPOs in the Philippines continues to rise as Filipino call-center agents are known for their proficiency in English and for their good work ethic.

“2009 is a banner year for us. We have opened five new centers and we know we will overachieve our forecast of 20,000 employees by December. We believe next year will be another great year for us. Business has really been burgeoning,” Zamora said Thursday as Convergys opened its 12th and latest call center site at Glorietta 5 mall in Makati City.

“It’s really a testament to the quality of delivery of people here in the Philippines. Filipinos are really a talented lot,” she said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was the guest of honor at the opening of the Glorietta 5 site, Convergys’ largest call center facility in the world, making Convergys the largest BPO company in the country in terms of employee headcount.

According to Zamora, local BPO firms will remain highly dependent on call center services, or so-called voice services, despite the global shift toward higher-value added “non-voice” services.

Call center services account for the bulk of BPO services in the country but typically require less-skilled workers for which clients pay less.

By contrast, India, the global industry leader, has developed a deep pool of non-voice workers that specialize in providing highly technical services like accounting, engineering, programming and design services, among others.

Convergys’ forte

Asked whether Convergys would join the industry shift toward higher-value added services, Zamora said the firm’s forte continues to be in the field of “customer management services” (CMS), which are mainly call center operations.

“What we plan to do is strengthen our CMS. That’s where the Philippines holds a leadership position,” she said.

She said 90 percent of the company’s employees are involved in call center operations, while only 10 percent are involved in “back office” services like accounts receivable management.

Carl Handy, Convergys senior vice president for human resources, said the demand for call center agents will remain strong, despite industry predictions of a lessening dependence on them with the advent of greater automation.

“At the end of the day, there will always be [call center] agents. We don’t see agents going away in the foreseeable future,” he said.

The company’s second site on Ayala Avenue and the 12th in the country, the Glorietta 5 center was started in 2003 and began operating in April. Its other sites are in Manila, Cebu, Bacolod and Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Attached to shopping center

This is the first Convergys site that is attached to a shopping complex. The facility has a total floor area of 17,000 square meters. It has 2,041 seats which could be ramped up to 3,500 to accommodate future client demand.

With the new facility, Convergys said it now employs 17,500 BPO workers in the country, making it the largest call center employer in the Philippines.

It will soon add another 300 seats at its UP-Ayala Land TechnoHub site in Quezon City, and inaugurate a 300-seat site in San Lazaro, Manila, early next year.

Convergys clients include US-based firms involved in financial services and banking, telecommunications, information technology, pharmaceuticals, and the retail and e-commerce sectors.

Equal opportunity employer

Zamora said the launch of the 12th Convergys site also indicated that the company’s clients from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia preferred the Philippines over other countries like India, its closest competitor in the BPO industry.

She said Convergys is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate with regard to age, gender, religion and physical disability.

“So if you have friends and relatives who need a job and have a good command of English and are computer-savvy, we’re hiring,” she said.
source:http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091023-231762/Largest-call-center-in-the-world-opens-in-RP

TCS to hire 25,000 | Dharak Infotech

2009-09-05T08:09:00.000+05:30

By siliconindia news bureau
Friday,04 September 2009, 09:05 hrs

Bangalore: In a move that could bring a smile to many faces, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced that it will hire 25,000 people globally in 2009, with 90 percent of them in India alone. Though the number is bigger when compared to the hiring these days, it is less than last year when TCS appointed around 35,000 people.

With this recruitment drive, TCS also plans to expand its presence into the tier-II cities in India. "We will be hiring 25,000 people this year, which means roughly 25 lakh square feet of work space required and, therefore, we need to grow outside the metros. Tier-II cities are our only focus for expansion in the country as the top rung are clogged and saturated," said Tanmoy Chakrabarty, Vice-President and Head of Government Industry Solutions unit at TCS.

Following this hiring spree, the total global manpower of TCS would go up to more than 1.8 lakh. This will put the IT services provider among large private Indian employers like Tata Steel, which has the total employee strength of two lakh. Going forward, the company, which has an estimated 32 percent market share, plans to cash in on the Indian government's plan to invest Rs. 40,000 crore on IT services.

Currently, 70 percent of the IT segment's revenue is from India, while the rest comes from the U.S., Latin America, Africa and South East Asian countries. However, the revenue contribution from Indian government businesses to the total company revenue of $6 billion is less than five percent, which the company intends to increase to more than 10 percent in the next three years.

HR Consultant Job Opening in India – AMSOL Hyderabad

2009-09-02T10:02:00.000+05:30

Job Title : HR Consultant

About Company :
AMSOL was incorporated in the year 1999 with a Specific Mission to provide high quality software development services, staffing services, IT services, software testing services and develop dynamic software packages. AMSOL has carved a niche for itself in the industry by earning the reputation among AMSOL customers and industry peers for delivering timely, quality IT services at competitive prices.

AMSOL commitment to quality, customer satisfaction and value has rewarded us with customer retention and steady growth in acquiring new customers. AMSOL achieved this success through our outsourcing model, a process where customers turn over to AMSOL – “the responsibility of performing functions-previously accomplished by their own staff”.

AMSOLoperations encompass the USA and Asia with seven offices across America, one in India and one in Singapore. Since our inception, AMSOL experienced tremendous growth by providing superior consulting services, complete solutions, and IT & Non-IT enabled services to our Clients & Partners.

Experience: 0 – 1 Years

Job Location: Hyderabad / Secunderabad

Job Description :

Payroll Processing

Interaction with clients

Excellent communication skills

Night shift opening

BPO Process

Company Name: American Solutions Pvt Ltd

Address:
American Solutions Pvt Ltd
Plot # 13, Cyber Heights Suite 302, Road No.2
Banjara Hills.
HYDERABAD,Andhra Pradesh,India 500033

Freshers BPO Jobs – Ricom Technologies – Hyderabad

2009-09-02T09:55:00.002+05:30

Freshers Call Center Jobs at Ricom Technologies Hyderabad

JobTitle: Call Center Executive

About Ricom Technologies Pvt. Ltd. :

Ricom Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is a leading BPO center with innovative solutions to help customers to achieve their endeavor to success.knowledge of the technologies and processes that are crucial to successful business process outsourcing .

Experience: 0 – 1 Years

Skills: Calling / Call Centre / Bpo / Tele Sales / Good Communication

Job Description:

Interacting with US clients
Pitching our services
Taking calls from overseas clients
Making outbound calls and selling our products

Desired:

Candidates should have excellent written and oral communication skills.
Candidates should be willing to work in night shifts.

Location: Hyderabad / Secunderabad
Education: Any Graduate / Any PG Course
Apply:Send your cv to careers(AT)ricomtechnologies.com
Contact Number: 040-27610906

Website: http://www.ricomtechnologies.com

BT to slash 2,000 BPO jobs in India | Dharak Infotech

2009-09-02T09:53:00.001+05:30

British telecom giant BT's plans to cut 2,000 call centre jobs in India to provide permanent positions for UK staff during the recession have taken a major hit, over worries whether British workers would put in the stifling hours.

Keeping the recession in mind BT, which had moved 5,500 call centre jobs to India in 2003, had said that it was preparing to repatriate the jobs.

However, following reports that the types of jobs to be brought back home could require staff to work weekend shifts and up until 11pm at night, communications workers union has said that it will be unfair for call centre operators to work for the hours, particularly for those with families, The Telegraph reports.

The company had no such issues with Indian employees, despite the fact that India is 4.5 hours ahead of the UK, which meant that late shifts pushed till 3.30am local time.

"We have been in discussion with the communication workers union in order to gain their support to begin a process of seeking as far as possible to reflect the hours currently undertaken by our partners outside the UK," a BT spokesman said.

Source: ANI

Two-wheeler sales also accelerate | Dharak Infotech

2009-09-02T09:40:00.001+05:30

BS Reporter / New Delhi September 2, 2009, 0:53 IST
Two-wheeler sales growth for the month of August, led by Hero Honda which controls close to 60 per cent of the market, also grew in double digits.

Hero Honda's sales last month grew by 36 per cent. The company sold 415,137 units of motorcycles in August, which is the highest for the current financial year. This, despite the fact that banks and NBFCs pulled out of the two-wheeler financing market, resulting in a slowdown in two-wheeler sales for much of last year (the industry grew by 2.60 per cent).

Analysts said Hero Honda has grown largely due to its strong 100cc brands like Passion and Splendor and because of its focus on developing the rural market (which is mostly self-financed). The company has said it is confident of surpassing the 4-million sales target for the current year.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter posted a 14 per cent growth in its August sales. It sold 96,149 units of scooters, motorcycles and CKD (completely knocked-down) kits in both domestic and overseas markets.

Suzuki Motorcycle India sold 13,030 bikes, clocking a growth of 18 per cent. India Yamaha Motor sold 19,508 units of motorcycles in August this year — a growth of 63 per cent. In fact, there is a waiting period of more than a month for the Yamaha Fazer.

Industry executives expect sales in the coming festive months to be brisk, despite large banks pulling out of two-wheeler financing.
Source: business-standard.com/

Bihar CM meets PM over Kosi flood relief | Dharak Infotech

2009-09-02T09:39:00.001+05:30

TNN 2 September 2009, 03:39am IST
NEW DELHI: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday met PM Manmohan Singh to seek the green signal for the Rs 14,808 crore project his
government had submitted earlier for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Kosi belt in the state.

Singh is said to have praised him for doing a "good job" in the state even as Kumar sought more funds to deal with the drought-like situation in Bihar.

After his 15-minute meeting with Singh, Kumar told reporters that his government had spent around Rs 700 crore on constructing several stretches of National Highways in the state. According to JD(U) sources, Kumar conveyed to the PM that no assistance had been given for disaster shelters, cattle sheds, restoration of canal structures, tubewells and damaged health centres.

"I requested the PM to urge the department concerned to reimburse the amount, as constructing National Highways is the responsibility of the Centre and we got them constructed through our own pocket for providing speedy benefit to people," the CM said.

"Four-laning of around 1,000 km of National Highways had been approved around four years ago by the Centre, but work has not started on these stretches. I requested the PM to get work started on these," Kumar added.

He said his government has been seeking a Rs 14,000 crore relief and rehabilitation package from the Centre for the last one year for those affected by Kosi river floods that ravaged northern Bihar last year when the river changed its course.

Tata Tea may change name | Dharak Infotech

2009-09-02T09:37:00.000+05:30

TIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES 2 September 2009, 05:42am IST

KOLKATA: Tata Tea is likely to change its name soon to ‘reflect the diversified portfolio beyond tea’ that includes bottled water and health
drinks, its chairman Ratan Tata said here on Tuesday. Company vice-chairman R K Krishnakumar said a few names have already been identified and a decision would be taken in 3-4 weeks.

Krishnakumar said Tata Tea is planning financial integration of its global operations and the tax implications are currently being studied. ‘‘Operation integration has already happened with the formational of a virtual global company,’’ Krishna Kumar said. The company is currently studying the tax implications of such a merger process.

Krishna Kumar sees the ‘‘new enterprise’’ to achieve a consolidated turnover of $10 billion in five years time up from around $1 billion now. Tata Tea will be focusing on global distribution expansion in the Middle East, South America, South Africa and the CIS, including Russia.

Maintaining that Tata Tea would work on globally establishing four brands — Tetley, Tata Tea, Good Earth and Himalaya — Unsworth added: ‘‘We will be focusing on adding value to products.’’ The company earns 70% of its revenue from overseas operations.

Rupee hits fresh 1-½ month low | Dharak Infotech

2009-09-02T09:35:00.001+05:30

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee hit a fresh 1-½ month low early on Wednesday as shaky Asian shares indicated a lower start for local stocks and triggered concerns of fund outflows.

* At 9:05 a.m. (0335 GMT), the partially convertible rupee was at 49.18/19 per dollar, its weakest since July 13, compared with Tuesday's close of 49.05/06.

(For more news on Reuters Money click in.reuters.com/money)

Now, pay per call, talk as long as you wish | Dharak Infotech

2009-09-02T09:23:00.002+05:30

BS Reporter / New Delhi September 02, 2009, 0:50 IST

But Tata Tele’s latest offer fails to excite competitors.
Tata Teleservices (TTSL) today announced an unheard of tariff plan that promises to bring down the bills of bulk users by charging on the basis of the number of calls regardless of their duration.

Under the new plan, its CDMA subscribers need pay only a fixed charge of Re 1 for any local call and Rs 3 for one outside the city, irrespective of the duration. The charges are applicable for calls — only on a prepaid connection — to any mobile or land line subscriber.

Its competitors, both CDMA and GSM, say the offer cannot be sustained and TTSL would only lose money. Analysts, however, say this assumption may not hold.

Explaining the business logic of the offer, TTSL Managing Director Anil Sardana said at a press conference: “Our data shows that our subscribers talk at an average of two to three minutes on a local call or three to four minutes on an STD. While in the initial stage there might be a spurt in those numbers, we believe nobody would call just for the sake of calling because it is unlimited.” Currently, the average local call rates of TTSL are 50 p-Re 1 and between Re 1-1.5 for each STD call.

Sardana said in case someone keeps the number on for an unduly long time, they may ask such customers to return to the traditional billing. According to their internal assessment, continuous usage beyond 10 minutes could be a trigger to check whether the subscriber was using it like a hotline. Sardana claimed competitors might find it difficult to match the move as they lacked the advantage of TTSL’s high quality network which ensures that there is minimum call drop (endorsed by a report of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India). “We have hardly any call drop; otherwise customers would allege that our new offer of unlimited usage is meant to fleece them.”

But competitors say TTSL will lose money and there is no reason why they should match the offer. “Considering that you have to pay a termination charge of 20 p for minute in a local call, TTSL will have to fork out Re 1 if a customer makes a five-minute call. So, they lose money. On a STD call, where the termination and carriage fee is around 30-40 p for a minute, you will loose money if someone makes a call of over 10 minutes,” says a senior executive of a competing CDMA company.

Avers a senior executive of a GSM company: “Unlimited calls will choke the network and create a serious spectrum crunch. Also, the tariff is beneficial only to a niche market — those who call less but when they do, it is for a long duration.”

But analysts say about half the calls by subscribers are for more than two minutes (at an average of 50 p per minute) and they will surely see a major benefit in the offer. Also, the offer will attract more subscribers to talk more, expanding the attractiveness of the offer. It would also be liked by subscribers who make long STD calls — such as labourers to their homes, students to their parents and so on.

Housekeeping Job Openings in Laurent & Benon Mumbai | Dharak Infotech

2009-07-24T07:41:00.001+05:30

Job Title : Housekeeping Executives

About company :
About Laurent & Benon – We are a Public Limited Consulting Organisation with a Pan –India Presence and are in the entire Spectrum of Consulting in HR Services, Corporate real estate solution and corporate stay solution

Laurent and Benon Management Consultants Ltd. is a professionally managed HR services firm established in 2005. Laurent and Benon registered at New Delhi operates nationally through its regional offices at Gurgaon, Mumbai & Bangalore besides state level locations at Noida, Goa, Indore & Ahmedabad.
We provide Stay solution to corporates which operates in Mumbai, Delhi, Banglore, Ahemdabad, Surat, Baroda, Indore and Goa
We provide boutique serviced apartments. Its cost effective solution for corporate stay .
Experience:0 – 3 Years

Job Location:Mumbai, Mumbai Suburbs

Education: BHM – Hotel Management

Job Description :
We are looking for a House Keeping Supervisor for the service apartments in mumbai.
Conduct the inspection rounds of the apartments in mumbai to ensure that proper upkeep, maintenance and standards are maintained.
Keep all rooms and area cleaned to the highest standard
Ensure all equipment&furniture are maintained, & kept in good working condition
Constantly alert for newer methods, techniques, equipment and material that will improve the overall operations in a more efficient way at reduced cost
Responds quickly to guest requests & complaints.
Maintain all the areas of the service apartments.

Desired :
BHM Graduate 0-3 years of experience
Candidates having good knowledge about housekeeping maintenenace & clealiness
Position requires excellent guest service & communication skills
Ablity to work under pressure and work in all the ares of the service aparments

Address:
Laurent And Benon Management Consultants Ltd
A/1,Ground floor, Dheeraj Ganga,
Chincholi Bunder, Malad ( W )
Mumbai :- 400 064

MERCHANDISER Jobs in Mumbai | Dharak Infotech

2009-07-24T07:18:00.002+05:30

Premco Global Ltd.
http://www.premcoglobal.com

Designation: JR MERCHANDISER
Experience: 5 - 6 Years
Location: Mumbai
Education: UG - Diploma - Fashion Designing/Other Designing
PG - Post Graduation Not Required
Industry Type: Textiles/ Garments/Accessories
Functional Area: Fashion, Garments, Merchandising
Posted Date: 26 Nov 2008

Job Description
Candidate should have experience of sales co-ordination in Textile.Should have ability to build strong relationships through email and tele communication. Excellent verbal and writing skills in English is a must.

Desired Candidate Profile
Candidate should have experience of sales co-ordination in Textile.Should have ability to build strong relationships through email and tele communication. Excellent verbal and writing skills in English is a must.

Company Profile
Premco Global (ISO 9000:2000) is a manufacturer of Woven and Knit Elastic and Non-Elastic Narrow Fabric, Tape and Webbing for use in the Apparel, Lingerie, Sports-related, Medical, Footwear, Luggage, Furnishing and Automotive industries.

Executive Name: Shivkumar Yadav-Manager:HR & Admin

Address:
Not Mentioned

Telephone:
30855007

Reference ID:
NAUKRI = JR MERCHANDISER

Keywords: Good talent, communication, organised and analytical skills. Merchandising & Co - ordiantion

Premco House,
Street No. 3
MIDC, Andheri (East),
Mumbai - 400 093.
INDIA.
Tel: 91-22-28223232 Fax: 91-22-28351812.
Email: admin@premcoglobal.com
__________________
Jobs, vacancy, career, recruitment, requirement, employment, placement, opening : Kerala Tamil Nadu Karnataka Andhra Pradesh Maharashtra Gujarat Bengal Punjab Mumbai Delhi Chennai Bangalore Kolkata Pune Hyderabad

BPO JOBS IN MUMBAI – WNS | Dharak Infotech

2009-07-24T07:15:00.001+05:30

BPO Job Openings in WNS Mumbai
About Company :
WNS is a leading global business process outsourcing company. Deep industry and business process
knowledge, a partnership approach, comprehensive service offerings and a proven track record enables
WNS to deliver business value to the world’s leading companies. WNS is passionate about building a
market leading company valued by our clients, employees, business partners, investors and
communities.

Experience : 0 – 1 Years

Job Location : Mumbai, Mumbai Suburbs, Navi Mumbai

Job Description :

Answer inbound calls
Document the calls to ensure all information is captured
Ensure one time call resolution
Maintain accuracy of information given and documented
Adhere to standard operating procedures required by the process
Attend briefings, trainings/refresher sessions and meetings as required
Desired :

Excellent Communication skills *
Willing to work in Rotatyional Shift including night shifts*
Address :
WNS
Gate2, Plant 5, Godrej & Boyce Complex,
Phirojshah Nagar,Vikhroli(w). Nr.Cafe Coffee Day
MUMBAI,Maharashtra,India 400079

Website : https://www.wnsgs.com

Indian Bank Q1 net jumps 52% | Dharak Infotech

2009-07-24T07:06:00.001+05:30

CHENNAI: State-owned Indian Bank’s net profit rose 52.4% to Rs 331.7 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, compared with Rs 217.6 crore in the same period of the previous year, as the bank focused on reducing its high-cost deposits and also containing non-performing assets.

However, the bank also made over Rs 100 crore during the quarter on account of trading profits.

“The containing of costs, focus on fee-based income led to improving profit. The net interest margin improved to 3.6% from 3.2%, helped by lower cost of funds,” Indian Bank CMD MS Sundara Rajan told reporters in Chennai on Thursday.

The bank generated Rs 102.9 crore trading profits for the quarter ended June 2009 compared with Rs 24.4 crore in the same period last year. The total business grew by 20.6% y-o-y to Rs 1,28,701 crore at the end of June 2009 compared with Rs 1,06,691 crore at the end of June 2008.

The total deposits increased by 23.3% to Rs 76,717 crore against Rs 62,215 crore in the year-ago period and the bank’s gross advances grew by 16.9% to Rs 51,984 crore against Rs 44,476 crore. The bank’s share of current and savings account (CASA) declined to 30.6% compared with 34.7% in the year-ago period.

Mr Rajan said the bank would focus on increasing its CASA base and hopes to take it to 32% by the end of fiscal 2010. At the same time, the bank would also consciously reduce its exposure to high-cost bulk deposits.

The bank’s cost of funds came down to 5.3% in the first quarter from 5.4% in the year-ago quarter, while fee-based income grew 43.97%.
Source indiatimes.com

Bharti net up 24%; MTN kitty ready | Dharak Infotech

2009-07-24T07:01:00.003+05:30

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel will dip into its cash reserves and short-term investments of Rs 6,300 crore to finance a likely merger with South Africa’s MTN, a company executive said, giving it access to up to a third of the funds it will need for a deal which would create one of the world’s top five telecom companies.

With India’s third generation spectrum auctions being delayed to the year-end, or even next year, this provides the company the freedom to use its reserves for the MTN deal and reduce the amount of funding it needs from external sources.

India’s top mobile operator, which on Thursday reported a 24% rise in net profit to Rs 2,516.7 crore on 17% higher sales at Rs 9,941.6 crore for the quarter ended June, is in talks with Africa’s largest phone firm till July 31. ”No company will use up all its reserves. At the same time, there is only a certain amount of cash we require to keep,” the executive said.

The proposed $23-billion transaction involves a complex structure where both entities would pay cash and equity for stakes in each other. The formula will result in Bharti Airtel getting a 49% stake in MTN and the South African telco a 36% “economic interest” in Bharti Airtel. The net cash outgo for Bharti Airtel is estimated at around $3.9 billion (Rs 19,000 crore).

“All I can say is that talks are progressing well between Bharti Enterprises (the holding company for Bharti Airtel) and MTN,” deputy group chief executive and MD of Bharti Enterprises Akhil Gupta said, after announcing the company’s results for the first quarter.
Source: indiatimes.com

Idea beats St with 13% growth in profit

2009-07-24T06:59:00.002+05:30

MUMBAI: Idea Cellular braved increased competition on the pricing front to post a better-than-expected 13% growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 297 crore in the June quarter on the back of robust subscriber addition.

An average of seven brokerages had estimated Idea’s net profit at Rs 280 crore because of the rapid rollout in new circles and its merger with Spice, both of which have weighed on the Aditya Birla group company’s costs.

However, the company added a record 4.1 million users in the quarter, which boosted both its topline and bottomline.

“Next few quarters will be good for us because the strength of Idea will become more manifest. There is an inevitable period of loss-making before we break even (in new circles),” Idea MD Sanjeev Aga said in a press conference in Mumbai on Thursday.

Idea’s revenues increased 37% to Rs 2,976 crore during the first quarter. However, the company said its revenues have contracted by Rs 142 crore due to reduction in termination call charges from 30 paise to 20 paise.

“The net impact has affected earnings before tax, depreciation and amortisation, or EBITDA, by Rs 6.4 crore,” it said.

Termination charges are paid to an operator who carries the call and Idea is a net receiver as it earns money on calls terminated on its networks.

The company has fine-tuned its capital expenditure guidance for this fiscal from Rs 6,000 crore to Rs 5,500 crore in view of sharper estimates.

The company is expecting cash generation of Rs 2,000 crore this fiscal. “Our current capex plans are well-funded. We also have the approval from lenders to borrow up to Rs 9,500 crore,” Idea CFO Akshaya Moondra said.

As reported first by ET on June 24, Idea is tying up facilities for Rs 6,000 crore. “This should be enough to see us through this year and a large part of the next fiscal,” he added.

Idea has presence in 17 circles and is looking at a pan-India rollout by the year-end. Its total subscriber base now stands at 47.1 million with 11% national market share. Idea’s average revenue per user (ARPU) per month declined to Rs 244 from Rs 271 in the immediately preceding quarter.

The telco’s average minutes of use also fell sequentially from 467 minutes to 454 minutes as operators are now adding up low-income subscribers whose usage is also less.

Meanwhile, Idea’s merger with Spice Communications (which has spectrum in Punjab and Karnataka) is awaiting approval from courts and shareholders.

“Now, Spice has got a good amount of traction. We have done a lot of groundwork in terms of IT, contact centre, networks and distribution. A lot of investment has gone into it. In 2-3 years, we will see ourselves strengthening in those circles,” Mr Aga said.

Source: Indiatimes.com

TCS IT Walkin Jul 21 – 24

2009-07-22T14:11:00.001+05:30

Oppurtunity For TLM (Transaction Lifecycle Management) Experts

Job Description

- Good knowledge of Banking and financial service industry
- Ability to design and set up 90% of the product system parameters
- Ability to analyze business requirements and re engineer customers working ractices to suit Smart Stream products.
- Should participate in UAT whenever required and document and present the findings to the management and the customer.
- Good analytical and problem-solving skills can apply

B.E/ B.Tech candidates profile is not suitable for the same

Desired Profile

- Study the BRD and setup / configure the following in TLM: Static Data Setup – Categories / Sets / Feed Types, Match Rules, Exception rules / Inboxes
- Setup roles & users in TLM
- Significant experience in Operations Programme/Project management across an international investment bank and / or a major consulting firm within financial services including major successes
- Experience in Smartstream TLM & Reconciliations project uses TLM (Transaction Lifecycle Management)

Minimum graduation
Preferably handling MS Office suite

Interested candidates are requested to Walkin to the below mentioned venue on 21st July,09 to 24th July ‘09 anytime in between 11:00am-1:00pm. All the candiadtes are requested to get along 2 sets of their resumes ( on the top right hand side corner mention source – Website Wasil), 1 photo identity proof, all the relevant educational document, 1 address proof.

Venue;-

Tata Consultancy Services,
No- 42, Think Campus,
Phase-2, Electronic city,
Bangalore-100.

Contact Person- Wasil Razak
Experience 1 – 3 Years
Industry Type BPO/ITES
Functional Area ITES/BPO/KPO, Customer Service, Ops.
Education UG – Any Graduate – Any Specialization,Graduation Not Required
PG – Any PG Course – Any Specialization,Post Graduation Not Required
Location Bengaluru/Bangalore

Nearly 5000 employees quit TCS

2009-07-22T14:04:00.001+05:30

By siliconindia news bureau
Wednesday,22 July 2009, 09:13 hrs

Bangalore: At a time when job losses are grabbing headlines, almost 5,000 employees of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have in fact left the company on their own. Last Friday during its quarterly results, the company announced that its annual attrition rate was at 11.5 percent.

The headcount of India's largest software exporter shrank despite a gross addition of staff. According to Hindustan Times, in the latest quarter TCS added a total of 2,828 employees with the total headcount of 1,43,761 at the start of the quarter. If the new hires are taken into consideration, the total employees strength should have reached 1,46,589 by the end of June. However, the firm's headcount was at 1,41,642 as of June 30, 2009, showing a net reduction of 4,947 employees.

A company spokesperson confirmed the staff decline but added that TCS's attrition levels were in line with the industry average. "Our attrition level has remained similar to what it was in the previous quarter. However, since we have controlled gross additions, the overall headcount has come down," said a TCS spokesperson.

The spokesperson added that the company was hiring fresh graduates as per need, but will honor the 24,885 campus offers it had made last financial year and those students would come on board only from the second quarter (July-September). Like its competitor Infosys, TCS decided to honor old commitments on campus recruitments while slowing down the hiring of new graduates. But lateral hiring of experienced staff is continuing, though on a low key.

It needs to be seen if these 5,000 employees have in fact quit voluntarily or were they forced to leave by the company.

Source: siliconindia.com

ACCOUNTANT JOBS IN PUNE – KIRTANE & PANDIT

2009-07-22T13:55:00.001+05:30

Accountant Job Vacancies in Kirtane & Pandit (K&P) Pune
Job Title : Accountant

About Company :
Kirtane & Pandit (K&P) is an Accounting, Auditing and Consulting firm. Formed in the year 1956 – operating over last five decades, K&P has built a strong client base in Manufacturing, Service and Banking Sectors.

K&P Firm’s present strength is over 250 personnel and has over 5,000 employees in Kirtane & Pandit Group.

Kirtane & Pandit is one of the leading professional services firms in India, which provides a wide range of professional services in the areas of Assurance viz., Statutory Audit, Internal Audits and BPO / Remote Accounting Services (RAS), Risk Management and Management/ IT Consulting to large, medium and small scale organizations in varied sectors.

Experience:0 – 3 Years

Job Location:Pune

Education: B.Com , M.Com

Job Description :

SAP (Accounts Payable) On priority Basis – Profile will be related to bank & Cash Transaction, Bill booking/ Payment, GRN knowledge.
Senior Accountant for Loni. (Accounts Payable & Tally )Good knowledge of all features of accounts Payable and tally 9.
Junior Accountant. (Payroll processing & E-tds) Fresher will be preferable but should have good knowledge of basics of payroll like PAN,
Company Name:Kirtane Pandit Chartered Accountants

Website:http://www.kirtanepandit.com

Address:Kirtane Pandit Chartered Accountants
Sangati 73/2/2, Bhakti Marg Law College Road
PUNE,Maharashtra,India 411004>

BPO Freshers Jobs At e4e Business Solutions India Pvt. Ltd

2009-07-22T13:42:00.000+05:30

BPO Freshers Jobs At e4e Business Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. For Telemarketers/ telecallers- Fresher or Experienced In Bengaluru/Bangalore

Brief-Up About Company: : e4e is a global ‘next-gen’ business services company with focus on high-end technology, financial services and healthcare. Other highlights:* Backed by strong institutional investors: Canaan Partners, Walden International, Global Internet Ventures * Global delivery centers in U.S., Europe & India* 60% year-on-year growth in revenues, over a 100 customers and 3500+ employees * Rated by DQ-IDC as a “Top Employer” for 2004 and 2005* Ranked 14th in the Dataquest Top 20 - Services and Solutions Super guide 2006. * Rated 94% in customer satisfaction by Gallup

Job Description :
- Required for Telecalling / Telesales
- Good convincing power
- Good Communication skills
- Dayshift job

Experience Required: 0 -1 Years

Job Location:Bengaluru/Bangalore

Educational Qualification: 10+2, Graduate - Any Discipline

Desired :
- Good communication ability
- sales skills
- good interpersonal skills
- should be fluent in English and kannada must

You Can Walkin For Job To Our Office
Monday to Friday : Between 11:30 am and 7:30 pm
Saturday :Between 12 noon and 4.30 pm

Contact Information
Address: e4e Business Solutions India Pvt Ltd
109, 4th Cross 5th Block, Koramangala Industrial
Layout Koramangala
BANGALORE,Karnataka,India 560098

Telephone Number:91-80-66172352

Website(s):http://www.e4e.com

Tech Support Associate Jobs

2009-07-22T13:35:00.001+05:30

We have openings for the following Business to Business processes.

Job Title: Tech Support Associate
Company Name: Honeywell
Experience in years: 0-3/Freshers
Salary Range: 1.9L to 3L
Job Location: Gurgaon
Apply Email: batra.a@in.com

1) Process: Security-Intrusions

This process deals with Intrusion products manufactured by Honeywell such as Motion Detectors, Interior Delay, Relays , Panels.

Job Profile:
Assist field engineers to troubleshoot the panel and/or assist to program the same depending upon the customers requirements. This is a US shift job and troubleshooting is on calls.

Eligibility;
Science Grads/ Diploma/ B.E. or B.Tech Engineers/ BCA/ MCA

OR

TSOs in BPO/Technical Bent Of Mind

site: www.security.honeywell.com

2) Process: Security-Access

The process deals with assisting field engineers in US to grant rights to access cards mounted at entrances of various corporate house floors and troubleshooting the access panels.

Job Profile:

Assist engineers to troubleshoot access cards to various floors depending upon the authority level. This is done using various softwares and networking devices.
This is a US shift job and troubleshooting is on calls.

Eligibility;

Science Grads/ Diploma/ B.E. or B.Tech Engineers/ BCA/ MCA

OR

TSOs in BPO/Technical Bent Of Mind

site: www.honeywellaccess.com

Job Location: Gurgaon

Indian cos ready for IFRS conversion: EandY

2009-04-24T23:57:00.000+05:30

The interest among Indian companies in adopting the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is on the upswing as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and the ministry of corporate affairs make noteworthy strides in moving towards IFRS, said Ernst and Young.

In a recent survey conducted by Ernst and Young, 79% of the respondents surveyed felt that their company would be able to meet the IFRS 2011 deadline.

A majority of those interviewed said that the matter was discussed at the board/management level.

Significantly, both ICAI and the corporate affairs ministry have announced their commitments to adopt IFRS from April 1, 2011.

Recent developments such as the AS-11 (Accounting Standards-11) amendment allowing alternative treatment for accounting of exchange differences up to March 31, 2011, and the April 2009 edition of The Chartered Accountant journal have reiterated the MCA and ICAI commitment to adopting IFRS, the survey pointed out.

Though a large chunk of the respondents have not made a timetable for the transition, the encouraging fact is that 43% of the respondents would make one and 32% would assign resources soon.

More concerted action on IFRS conversion from corporates would take place now on, the survey pointed out.

IFRS conversion is a skilful, onerous and lengthy exercise. Experiences in other parts of the world have shown that conversion to IFRS is much more than an accounting exercise and extends to critical business and regulatory matters such as compliance with debt covenants, structuring of ESOP schemes, modification of IT systems, capital structuring and tax planning.

Converting to IFRS will be a significant and fundamental change for businesses. For large sized entities, the transition to IFRS could take as much as 18 months to two years, the survey said. IFRS conversion, if not planned properly, would result in significant time and cost overruns, and in extreme cases, erosion of reputation for reporting incorrect numbers.

To ensure a smooth transition to IFRS, it is imperative for corporates to put together a carefully structured implementation plan with detailed timelines and allocation of resources.

Overall, it is encouraging to see the India Inc's readiness to IFRS adoption, concludes the survey.

Given the complexity and the magnitude of the change to IFRS, it recommends that Indian companies should start the process towards conversion immediately. The survey urges companies not to be swayed by the negative noises around IFRS. The benefits of a timely start and a robust plan cannot be overstated.

R Ravichandran

Global crisis imperils development goals: IMF-World Bank

2009-04-24T21:56:00.000+05:30

Washington, April 24 (IANS) The global financial crisis is imperilling the UN Millennium Development Goals and could hamper development, warned an International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank report released Friday.

Most of the eight globally agreed goals are unlikely to be met by the targeted 2015, including those related to hunger, child and maternal mortality, education and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases, the report said.

'The Global Monitoring Report 2009: A Development Emergency', warns that although the first goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015 from its 1990 level is still reachable based on current projections, risks abound.

New estimates show that more than half of all developing countries could experience a rise in the number of extreme poor in 2009. This proportion is likely to be still higher among low-income countries and countries in Sub-Saharan Africa - two-thirds and three-quarters, respectively.

The report also estimates that an additional 55 to 90 million people will be trapped in extreme poverty in 2009 due to the worldwide recession.

The number of chronically hungry people is expected to climb to over one billion this year, reversing gains in fighting malnutrition and making the need to invest in agriculture especially urgent.

'With simultaneous recessions striking all major regions, the likelihood of painfully slow recoveries in many countries is very real, making the fight against poverty more challenging and more urgent,' said IMF deputy managing director John Lipsky.

The crisis will affect all developing countries over the next two years, through contracting export volumes, lower prices, slowing domestic demand, declining remittances and foreign investment, reduced access to financing, and shrinking revenues.

Developing world growth is projected to fall to 1.6 percent in 2009, from an average of 8.1 percent in 2006-07, according to new IMF projections. Global output, meanwhile, is projected to contract by 1.3 percent this year.

'Worldwide, we have an enormous loss of wealth and financial stability,' said World Bank chief economist Justin Yifu Lin.

'Millions more people will lose their jobs in 2009, and urgent funding must be provided for social safety nets, infrastructure, and small businesses in poor countries, for a sustainable recovery.'

The IMF-World Bank report cautions that while the crisis calls for a special focus on social protection programmes and services that shield poor and vulnerable people from immediate hardship, it is also vital to speed up progress toward the human development goals, particularly those related to health where prospects are gravest.

Arun Kumar

Focus on 'good' conduct, not weight of air hostesses: Supreme Court

2009-04-24T20:48:00.000+05:30

New Delhi, April 24 (IANS) The Supreme Court Friday made apparent its disapproval of air hostesses being dismissed for being overweight and said passengers would be happier if the focus was on their demeanour.

'All the passengers will be happy if your air hostesses are good with them instead of (your adopting) this approach,' observed a bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and H.L. Dattu while hearing a bunch of lawsuits by a group of 13 Indian air hostesses.

'I also tried to reduce my weight but I failed,' remarked Justice Chatterjee, disapproving of the move to dismiss the air hostesses for their failure to cut flab.

The air hostesses, some dismissed from service and others divested of flight duty and grounded for putting on 'excessive' weight, have approached the court challenging the company's decision.

They have come to the court also challenging the Delhi High Court's verdict of June 4, 2008, which upheld the policy of the state-run Indian Airlines, now known as Indian after its merger with Air India.

Counsel for the dismissed air hostesses Sheela Joshi and others, Arvind Sharma, pleaded that they be protected from dismissal while the lawsuit was being heard.

However, the court refused to give them relief despite according them a sympathetic ear.

'We cannot help you at this stage. But we will try to help you at the final stage,' said Justice Chatterjee, refusing to accede to Sharma's plea that it should restrain the airlines from dismissing any of the 6,000-odd air hostesses on the grounds of being overweight.

'What they are going to do with other air hostesses, we do not know,' pleaded Sharma.

As the court wanted to hear the government's view on the matter, Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam defended the policy saying: 'We have given them four years to knock off a few pounds.'

Subramaniam told the court that the government 'dispensed with their services' only in terms of the contractual agreement with them, which stipulated certain physical parameters as per international conventions.

'Please knock off a few pounds... Please knock off a few pounds. We had been pushing the deadlines for four years, but they failed,' said Subramanian.

The court adjourned the matter to August.

Indo Asian News Service

Computer Virus 'Time Bomb' Could Go Off April

2009-03-25T08:14:00.000+05:30

The Conficker Internet worm could strike at infected computers around the world on April 1, a security expert warned Monday.

Conficker is a sophisticated piece of malicious computer software, or malware, that installs itself on a Windows PC's hard drive via specially written Web pages. It then conceals itself on a computer.

Graham Cluley of the British security firm Sophos confirmed that Conficker is programmed "to hunt for new instructions on April 1."

However, he added, "This does not mean that anything is going to happen, or that the worm is actually going to do anything. Simply, it is scheduled to hunt a wider range of Web sites for instructions on that date."

One strange thing about Conficker is that no one yet has any idea what it is programmed to do.

In February, Cluley told The Times: "It's as if someone is assembling an army of computers around the world, but hasn't yet decided where to point them."

A worst-case scenario for April 1 would be for all the world's millions of infected computers to receive simultaneous instructions to attack, or to flood the Internet with spam e-mail.
Read Rest of Story

Global economy to shrink in 2009 - World Bank

2009-03-21T21:21:00.000+05:30

Sat, Mar 21 05:49 PM

The global economy is set to shrink by one to two percent this year, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Saturday, saying the depth of the slowdown was unprecedented since the 1930s Great Depression.

Speaking at a conference in Brussels, Zoellick noted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had recently published a forecast that the world economy would shrink by one percent this year, and added:

"We in the bank will be coming up with ours again soon, probably in the range of one to two percent...We haven't seen a figure like that globally since World War Two, which really means since the Great Depression."

Zoellick proposed that the Group of 20 major and emerging economies -- whose leaders are due to meet in London next month -- establish a review process to see whether further stimulus measures would be needed to kickstart recovery.

"Out of the G20 process one should have a monitoring system," he said, suggesting a system of reviews of the impact of existing stimulus packages agreed by governments.

"Some of the packages actually withdraw stimulus in 2010. So given the uncertainty of this crisis I think you want to have a review process to see whether more would be needed in 2010."

Zoellick cited World Bank forecasts of a spike upwards in infant mortality associated with the economic crisis, and warned of a fall-off in world trade.

Is the Call Center Industry a Bright Spot for New Graduates?

2009-03-15T23:07:00.001+05:30

By IBON Features

In the face of record-high unemployment and uncertainty for new graduates who will soon enter the labor force, the Philippine government says that the call center industry poses great opportunities for Filipino workers—especially amid the global crisis when firms turn to outsourcing more to save costs. But is the industry indeed a sunshine sector for Filipinos seeking employment?

First, the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is closely tied to the US economy, which is facing its worst recession in history. According to a study made by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the US was the largest market for IT-enabled services (composed of call centers, medical and legal transcription, animation, software development and other BPOs). The US accounted for 90% of total exports revenue, most of this generated by call centers. The US was also one of the largest sources of foreign investments in call centers, along with Australia and Europe, accounting for over 2/3 of total foreign equity.

Moreover, 86% of BPO service exports were to the US market with the remaining going to countries that are also experiencing economic difficulties: Europe (7.1%), Japan (3.2%), Australia-New Zealand (1.3%) and other Asian countries (2.4%). The deeper the crisis is in these countries, the greater will be the cutbacks in consumption and consequently, the demand for BPO services.
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BPO firms to hire 90,000 workers

2009-03-11T09:39:00.001+05:30

CLARK FREE PORT—The government expects the business-process outsourcing (BPO) sector to hire as many as 90,000 jobs this year, or 20 percent more than last year, chairman Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) said on Tuesday.

Roxas-Chua said in a press briefing after the Cabinet meeting that economic difficulties in other countries have strengthened the outsourcing industry and increased employment of BPO firms from 300,000 in 2007 to 372,000 in 2008.

He appraised President Arroyo and the Cabinet on developments in the Cybercorridor Superregion.

The CICT expects employment to rise “20 percent to 25 percent, or from 80,000 to 90,000 jobs. We are hopeful that that is attainable this year,” Roxas-Chua said.

In a report to the Cabinet, Roxas-Chua said security concerns have hampered the promotion of two cities in Mindanao—Davao and Cagayan de Oro—among the country’s top BPO hubs.

Can coaching institutes use the IIM brand?

2009-03-11T09:36:00.000+05:30

"My name is Professor Amitabh Bhattacharya and I am going to be your dean for the next two years,” announces the character in the TIME commercial. Behind him on the black board are three letters which most students and corporate executives are familiar with —IIM (the line on the board is ‘Welcome to IIM’ ). The commercial then reveals that 90% of the new batch at IIM are from TIME.

There is no overt specification but it is rather evident that the IIM classroom is supposed to be that of an Indian Institute of Management, one of the most premium brands in the country. While coaching classes have for years issued ads flaunting statistics which showcase their success at the IITs or IIMs this is perhaps the first time that they have set their ads within an ‘IIM’ .

It is in a manner of speaking set in a rather grey area where it is hard to take a tough stance and accuse the ad’s use of brand ‘IIM’ as misleading. It also raises questions about whether the IIMs should be more concerned about the way their brand — one of the most respected and prestigious brands in the country, is being used.

So what do the custodians of brand IIM feel on this entire issue? When approached most of the IIM officials seemed to be at a loss on the exact nature of stand the institutions should take in this matter. Most of them had never seen the ad despite the fact that the ad has been on air for eight months.
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SandP outlook cut may hurt rupee: Morgan Stanley

2009-02-26T08:16:00.001+05:30

The outlook downgrade by rating agency Standard and Poor's (SandP) will increase the risk of further depreciation of the rupee in the near term, Morgan Stanley said in a recent note.

SandP cut its outlook on India's long-term sovereign credit rating to negative from stable on Tuesday, citing worsening government finances, which could raise firms' overseas borrowing costs and weaken the rupee.

We believe that over the next 4-months, while the current account is still in deficit, any potential capital outflows due to debt repayments not getting rolled over, as well as portfolio equity flows, will cause depreciation of the rupee," Chetan Ahya and Tanvee Gupta, economists at Morgan Stanley wrote.

Morgan Stanley said the Indian government did not implement any major structural reforms to cut revenue expenditures which could have been critical to achieve a sustainable reduction in deficit, despite the recent strong economic growth.

A large part of the reduction in deficit over the past few years was due to a higher ratio of tax to gross domestic product, which was largely cyclical in nature, it said.

Morgan Stanley predicts the rupee could test 52-53 levels in the next 4 to 6 months on balance of payments pressures even as the real-effective exchange rate measure indicates that the USD/INR is fairly valued at 50.

Reuters

Advantest cuts 1,200 jobs

2009-02-26T08:14:00.001+05:30

Japan's Advantest Corp, the world's biggest supplier of machines that test semiconductors, said it would cut more than a quarter of its workforce and warned it faces a record $804 million annual loss.

Semiconductor equipment makers worldwide are suffering as a slump in chip prices forces makers such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co to reduce spending.

Makers of chip testers have suffered the deepest cuts in sales.

Orders at Advantest plunged 71 per cent in October-December to a record low as the global recession threw cold water on its hopes for a recovery in demand from makers of dynamic random access memory and logic chips.

It also faces increasing competition from rivals Teradyne Inc and Verigy Ltd, which are developing advanced computer memory testers.

Advantest said it expects the chip tester market to shrink 43 per cent in 2009, following a 26 per cent fall last year.

"2009 will be a year to endure," Advantest Chief Executive Toshio Maruyama told reporters on the sidelines of a briefing.

The company said it would cut 1,200 jobs and cut pay and bonuses for managers to save 25 billion yen a year, as it tried to ensure its cash lasts through the lengthening downturn.

Adventist had cash reserves of 135 billion yen at the end of December, including short-term investments.

It said it would also cut back product lines and reorganise offices and other facilities in the face of a forecast net loss of 78 billion yen ($804 million) in the year to March, down from a profit of 16.6 billion yen a year earlier.

The net earnings were also brought down by a writedown of deferred tax assets.

Reuters

Global economy grim but Fed reassures markets

2009-02-25T08:31:00.000+05:30

The global economy extended its grim run on Tuesday, but Wall Street rallied back from 12-year lows on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's assurances that he preferred to support banks without nationalizing them.

German business confidence hit its lowest level since reunification, while U.S. house prices posted a record plunge and consumer confidence in the world's largest economy slumped to its lowest ever.

"Confidence is deeply, deeply mired in recessionary territory, resulting in big declines in real consumer spending," said Steven Wood, chief economist at Insight Economics in Danville, California.

As U.S. President Barack Obama prepared to explain his plan for getting out of the current rut, Bernanke told senators that major U.S. banks had significant franchise value, which would be lost of they were owned by the government.

On Wall Street, shares ended 4 percent higher, based on the broad S&P 500 index. On Monday it posted its lowest close in 12 years

Monday's stocks rout came amid snowballing worries over banks, even as Washington vowed to prop up ailing financial institutions. Bernanke seemed to hold more sway over markets.

"Bernanke believes banks have significant franchise value. If the government owned them, that would be lost," said Richard Sparks, senior equities analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati.

Credit Suisse posts record loss but 2009 starts well

2009-02-11T21:32:00.001+05:30

Credit Suisse Group AG posted its biggest-ever annual loss after a poor fourth quarter hit by trading losses and restructuring charges, but expressed cautious optimism for 2009 even as it cut some financial targets.

The Swiss bank said it had a made a strong start to 2009 and each division was showing a profit in the year to date, echoing relatively upbeat comments from rival UBS AG which on Tuesday reported the biggest annual net loss in Swiss corporate history.

"We are well positioned going into 2009," Chief Executive Brady Dougan told a news conference, but added: "This is not a light at the end of the tunnel message".

Switzerland's second-largest bank unveiled an annual net loss of 8.2 billion francs, worse than the average analyst forecast of 6.3 billion from a Reuters poll but in line with predictions from some Swiss newspapers and less than half the loss posted by UBS.

Credit Suisse racked up a fourth-quarter loss of 6 billion Swiss francs ($5.2 billion), missing an average analyst forecast of 4 billion while further reducing its exposure to risky asset classes as it slashed its dividend and staff bonuses.

Satyam's final roadmap in next 10 days: Karnik

2009-02-11T21:30:00.001+05:30

Mumbai, Feb 11 (PTI) The Government-appointed Satyam Computer Board would decide on the final road map for bringing the IT major back on rails in the next 10 days, a top executive said today. "We would chart out the road map in the next 7-10 days," Satyam Chairman Kiran Karnik told reporters here while answering a question on whether the Board would opt for an open offer or auction for the company.

The Satyam Board has scheduled its meeting in the city for tomorrow. "We will meet in Mumbai tomorrow at around 9.30 am and we are working on the venue," he said.

Asked whether the decision on the road map would be taken in tomorrow's Board meeting, Karnik said, "When I say 7-10 days, I expect we would have one more Board meeting." "It may require Government approval.

We don't know," he said. Asked whether any clients have left Satyam, Karnik said that earlier there were a couple of cancellations but now there is stability.

Karnik refused to comment on the number of suitors for Satyam since "we have not yet formally invited any kind of applications". "The roadmap will define what we tend to do," he said.

PTI.

Source: Yahoo Business NEWS

‘Offshoring to bounce back by 2010’

2009-02-08T22:41:00.000+05:30

Despite the economic slowdown, IT companies have not stopped their acquisition spree, which they say is the best strategy to expand in such times, due to dirt cheap valuations. Last year, it was Quattro BPO and now it is the $200 million IT company Headstrong, which acquired a US-based mortgage BPO recently. The company’s MD Harsh Singh Lohit spoke to ET about business strategies for IT companies to survive a recession. Excerpts:

What are the means that the IT companies can use to survive a recession in their client markets?

In the current scenario, IT companies can look forward to renegotiate deals with sticky revenues. All clients are asking for discounted billing rates. The deals can now be renegotiated at discounted rates but for longer time periods, which can ensure strong cash-flow pipeline. This is also the right time to acquire, due to low valuations, to build up new capabilities and invest in strategic initiatives. We have acquired Lydian, a US-based mortgage BPO recently.

It has 70 customers and has processed mortgages worth $150 billion. We would be closing at least one more buyout, very soon. At the same time, cost optimisation is very important. We are ensuring lower costs by measures like making executives fly economy class. We are also reducing the number of live meetings and doing them online or via video conferences.

Why is the US mortgage sector still attractive despite the crash of mortgage-based securities which precipitated the global financial crisis?

It is expected that about 11 million people in the US will buy a mortgage in 2009. The number is down from about 14 million last year. But people are still buying houses in the US, due to a fall in their valuations. In fact, we are looking at hiring about 350 people in the next twelve months in the mortgage BPO space. We have a good amount of cash in hand and will spend the same in building capabilities like BPO and Remote Infrastructure Management by inorganic means. It would help us go for market strategy implementation faster.

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Flexibility, international experience-key to attract BPO workers

2009-02-08T22:38:00.000+05:30

Some have been headhunted for their unique skills/experiences in much in-demand areas such as hospitality. Others are here because they can only thrive if they have the flexibility to pursue outside interests such as education or launching their music caeer, etc. Still many more just want to finish their entire work week in four continuous 12-hour shifts so that they can spend the rest of their time in leisure.

These are just some of a plethora of stories from the new breed of knowledge workers typical to one of Sri Lanka's fastest growing job markets - the Back Process Outsourcing (BPO) or Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) sector.

Virtually the only thing those interviewed have in common is that they all work at Colombo-based HelloCorp, an organisation that claims to be Sri Lanka's most diversified BPO operation.

Started in 2002, HelloCorp initially operated using a voice and data (or call centre) model with 120 employees servicing clients such as America Online (AOL) and Microsoft. However, this model proved to be unprofitable and HelloCorp significantly scaled down operations and re-focused resources into a hybrid call centre / back office operation with finance, accounting and hospitality clients. The result: HelloCorp now earns significantly greater revenues with only four 12 to 15 member teams (60 personnel in total) offering more specialised and valuable functions, such as finance and accounting, legal services, etc.

Satyam suitor backs away; new chairman appointed

2009-02-06T21:35:00.000+05:30

A potential bidder for fraud-tainted Satyam Computer Services backed away from a deal on Friday, as one of the members of the new board was appointed as the chairman of the outsourcing company.

The Indian government said Kiran Karnik, a former technology lobby group head, would assume the role of Satyam chairman, a day after the outsourcing firm named a new chief executive and secured funding to help retain clients and employees.

Karnik is one of the six-man Satyam board, constituted by the government in the wake of the massive accounting fraud at the company.

Separately, U.S.-based iGate Corp said it now has no interest in buying Satyam due to lack of clarity on liabilities of the company -- snared in India's biggest corporate scandal -- Chief Executive Phaneesh Murthy told Reuters on Friday.

"I have very little interest or no interest left in this company right now," said Murthy, who was previously the global sales chief at rival Infosys Technologies and spearheaded strong sales growth in the key U.S. market.

Satyam has been battling for survival after founder and former chairman Ramalinga Raju disclosed last month profits had been overstated for years. Raju is in jail pending trial.

A team from the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has finished questioning Raju and Rama Raju, the founder's brother and Satyam's former managing director, in connection with the fraud, a regulator official said.

The Supreme Court had granted the regulator permission to question the Raju brothers. Read More

Intel says to shift 2,000 jobs out of Shanghai

2009-02-06T21:34:00.000+05:30

Intel Corp announced on Thursday a reorganisation of its China operations that would close a Shanghai plant and eliminate 2,000 jobs, while affected workers would be offered positions in other parts of the country.

The news comes just days after the world's largest chipmaker said it would close plants in Malaysia, the Philippines and the U.S., cutting as many as 6,000 jobs as quarterly profit tumbled 90 percent.

"In order to optimize its manufacturing resources in China, Intel plans to consolidate Assembly and Test operations (ATM) from Pudong to Chengdu over the next 12 months," the company said in a statement.

Intel said it would provide the affected employees an option to work at the Chengdu facility in the west, or Dalian in the north, both more than 1,000 kilometres from Shanghai.

"The decision to relocate is up to the employees," said Nancy Zhang, an Intel spokesperson in Beijing. Zhang said she was not aware of any subsidies or other incentives that employees who choose to relocate would receive.

An Intel employee who attended the meeting in Shanghai where Brain Krzanich, president of Intel's Manufacturing and Supply Chain group, announced the job losses said workers were upset about the need to move to keep their jobs.

Intel said it was committed to China, nevertheless, and would increase its registered capital in Intel China Ltd., the company's investment holding company based in Shanghai, by $110 million.

Intel said the moves were necessary "as a result of the current economic conditions" and that its investment in the new $2.5 billion Dalian factory would be increased in order to insure that it has the latest advanced chip technology.

India may shed 1.5 mn jobs by March-end: Pillai

2009-02-04T08:12:00.000+05:30

As many as 1.5 million people could end up losing their jobs, as exports contracted for the third successive month plunging by 1.1 per cent in December amid the worst slowdown in the world economy in the last 80 years. "If these projections continue.

it's quite likely that you can expect another five lakh losses before March 31," commerce secretary G.K. Pillai told television channel NDTV. About 1 million jobs have already been lost since August. Exports for the month of December stood at $12.69 billion, latest trade data released on Monday showed.

It had declined by 12.1 per cent and 9.9 per cent in October and November, respectively. Exporters employ about 150 million people in India and the sector is India's biggest provider of jobs after agriculture.

Nervous exporters, smarting under severe earnings erosions last year, are struggling to ink new contracts as demand shrinks amid growing bankruptcies in the US, India's largest export market. In recent months the government has taken a slew of fiscal measures, including sharp cuts in excise duties and increased plan spending, to help the economy tide over a recession in the world's developed countries.

Exports for January, the official data for which will come in early next month, is expected to fall further as orders from the US and European Union have shown no signs of picking up. This could hurt jobs further.

Citigroup deploys $36.5 billion, eyes exit on Mets

2009-02-04T08:10:00.000+05:30

Enlarge Photo A man walks past a logo of Citigroup Inc in Tokyo February 3, 2009. REUTERS/Yuriko...

Wed, Feb 4 06:31 AM

Citigroup Inc said it was using $36.5 billion in taxpayer bailout money to boost lending as political pressure intensified for the bank to end a $400 million baseball stadium sponsorship deal.

Both developments reflect the U.S. government's increasing sway over Citigroup, which was once the largest bank in the world, but which has been weakened by more than $80 billion in writedowns and credit losses.

"The government is the invisible hand at Citigroup now. You have to believe that on big strategic decisions, they are having an influence," said Walter Todd, portfolio manager at Greenwood Capital Associates.

Citigroup said in a report on Tuesday it will use much of the bailout money to make government-backed loans, including $10 billion of home loans supported by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the quasi-governmental mortgage companies that were essentially nationalized last summer.

The U.S. government has injected $45 billion of capital into Citigroup since October through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

The extensive government support has added a new political dimension to the bank's decisions. Citigroup is considering backing out of a $400 million marketing agreement signed in 2006 with the New York Mets baseball team, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The 20-year deal includes naming rights for a new stadium.

Satyam Scam: SEBI files writ against local court order

2009-01-29T17:15:00.001+05:30

HYDERABAD: The SEBI on Thursday filed a writ petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court questioning the validity of the orders passed by a local court rejecting their request to record the statement of B Ramalinga Raju of Satyam Computers.

The 6th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate had rejected SEBI's request on the ground of lack of proper authorisation.

The case will come up for hearing before the High Court tomorrow.

Source From India Times

Arvind Singhal: The jobs recession

2009-01-29T07:21:00.000+05:30

Arvind Singhal / New Delhi January 29, 2009, 0:15 IST

The word ‘recession’ is being frequently used in India in recent months despite the fact that the economy continues to grow and that even at ~7 per cent in the current fiscal and perhaps ~ 6 per cent in the next one, these will be amongst the better growth years for the Indian economy since independence. However, there is certainly a deep recession as far as jobs for the highly educated are concerned. Ironically, this may be the first time in India’s history when it is more difficult for the professional graduates to find employment or appropriate employment, compared to the less educated millions. Those who are currently struggling to find a decent job include engineers, management graduates, IT sector-trained professionals, fashion designers, merchandisers and other retail sector professionals, pilots and other aviation industry staff, and other professionals. The problem is even more acute for those in the middle and senior management functions who have lost their jobs in the last few months.

To compound the misery further for these job seekers, even if the overall business sentiment improves in India during this year sometime, it is very unlikely that prospective employers will go back to aggressive hiring of professional staff anytime during the next 12-18 months. During most of the 1990s and early 2000s, developed countries such as the US and EU shed hundreds of thousands of middle-management jobs. Even in the boom times of the last five years, many of those jobs were never really filled up. The job creation actually happened in different sectors, eg real estate and housing, financial services, travel and hospitality, retail and healthcare, to list just a few. These job seekers will also be facing the adverse fallout of the otherwise much heralded demographic dividend of India. In the next 12 months, India will add more than three million graduates to the employable pool. Of these, there will be more than 10,000 engineers from just the top 25 colleges alone (including the IITs), more than 5,000 MBAs from the top 25 business schools, more than 500 textile, apparel and accessories designers from the top 10 fashion institutes, more than 2,000 retail sector professionals (corporate staff level) from the miscellaneous sub-streams of specialization, and more than 2,500 aviation sector professionals (cockpit & cabin staff level) etc. And finally, a trickle has already begun of professionals of Indian origin returning to India as job opportunities dry up in the US and other developed economies.

The booming IT/ITES and financial services businesses’ back-office sectors, till recently, absorbed just about every category of professionals including all kinds of engineers, architects, MBAs and other graduates even though the inductees’ job profiles had no match with their professional qualifications. Hence, perhaps an illusion was created about the actual demand of some of these professionals’ categories, especially that for MBAs. The manufacturing sector could indeed absorb all or most of the output of the engineers but was unable to do so on account of its inability to compete with the lure of the IT sector and the MNC financial institutions (even if the job was that of a glorified BPO operator).

The next wave: Jobs on your fingertips

2009-01-28T11:01:00.001+05:30

From Mahesh Sheka
Amidst the pink slip paranoia that has gripped young professionals across sectors, India Inc has actually started going in for a new practice - outplacement...

Recruitment firms are starting to sense the slowdown following the current global financial crisis. Top recruiting sectors, such as financial services, banking, insurance, IT and realty, are seeing a decline in hiring.

There are some companies who are not engaging in hiring infact they are trying to reshuffle their internal employees and promote in-house talent.

High attrition rate, a problem that was prevalent across all sectors is no longer the same. But there are few companies, who are still hiring and according to them attrition will continue as people still want better salaries despite the market conditions going so worse.

Therefore the companies in order to make available resources to hire new employees will cut down on discretionary expenses like travel and conferences etc.

Indian companies have gone from a situation where there was an acute shortage of people with the right skills, to the current one where many talented people are available and are often willing to join with pay cuts. Even six months ago, mediocre performers made it to dream jobs and a decent pay package.

And now faced with the problem of plenty, employers are increasingly looking for a way to rid themselves of non-performers. And amidst the pink slip paranoia that has gripped young professionals across sectors, India Inc has actually started going in for a new practice — outplacement.

This marks a sea change in the outlook of corporate India, with companies now trying to ease out redundant executives by providing company-paid assistance in finding them new jobs.

In such a scenario, companies are being extremely cautious about their new hiring plans and are looking at more cost effective and efficient services to recruit the best talent available. Over the years recruitment has evolved from only referral and news paper advertisement to Consultants, Job Portals, Social networking sites, RPO’s and now Jobs on Phone.

Mentioned below are a few ways how job seekers can get themselves a job:

RPO

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a form of business process outsourcing (BPO) where an employer outsources or transfers all or part of its recruitment activities to an external service provider. Recruitment Process Outsourcing is when a provider acts as a company’s internal recruitment function for a portion or all of its jobs. RPO providers manage the entire recruiting/hiring process from job profiling through the on-boarding of the new hire, including staff, technology, and method and reporting.

E-recruitment

Online recruitment and the use of new emerging technologies have many advantages for the modern recruiter. It makes the process of finding candidates quicker, cheaper and more efficient.

Gone are the days where cold calling and candidate networking were the only option available to identify new potential candidates. Now it’s about searching through hundreds of thousands of CV’s placed on personal web pages and browsing online corporate staff directories.

Social Networking Sites - The world is becoming a small place. Can you think of how many ‘friends’ you’ve got on social networking sites like LinkedIn, Face book, Orkut or MySpace?

Given the number of users flocking to the likes of the sites listed above, it is clear that the social networking phenomenon is here to stay. And accordingly, contacting potential candidates via networking sites is on the rise. One thing for sure is, looking at the current numbers of users joining every day (somewhere around 200,000 – for Face book alone!), it is hard to dispute that these types of networks are ingrained in the internet society.

Poaching/Raiding

“Buying talent” (rather than developing it) is the latest tactic being followed by the organisations today. Poaching means employing a competent and experienced person already working with another reputed company in the same or different industry; the organisation might be a competitor in the industry.

A company can attract talent from another firm by offering attractive pay packages and other perks, better than the current employer of the candidate. But it is seen as an unethical practice and not openly talked about.

Branding

Upgrading Employment Branding has emerged as an increasingly and widely adopted strategy by the companies for the year 2009. The key focus areas include increasing media coverage, countering the negative impression and building a positive brand image. Using of employee blogs for recruiting is also being adopted by a lot of firms. Companies use blogs for various purposes such as – spreading the message across, answering to any kind of queries posted by the employees or anyone across.

Employee Referral

Employee referral is poised to be the “next big thing” in the recruitment field. It gives assurance of the quality of recruitment. Almost 25 per cent of the recruitment in companies is done through internal referrals, 50 per cent of the hiring is done through recruitment consultants, while 15 per cent is done through direct advertisements and the rest is through means like employee referral. It has become the preferred source of recruitment for many companies.

Jobs over phones

One more exciting innovation seen in the recruitment industry is finding the correct job through the phone.

The penetration of phones in India is 350 million and only set to increase. All a jobseeker has to do is call a number and a call center executive will help him upload the resume. The jobseeker has complete control on his/her job search.

Once there is a match he/she gets an alert regarding the same. Only once the jobseeker has given his consent for the particular openings, will his profile be sent to the recruiting company. Also, the recruiter pays by the resume (accepted) which brings down their recruitment cost.

The traditional boundaries that separated print media, job boards, recruitment advertising agencies, recruitment consultancies and technology companies are breaking down.

Resume databases have been increasing manifold and the availability of a database through such a service is much higher than what manual recruitment modes can offer.

The writer is Founder and Managing Director, Dialajob.

Young India vents anger over Mangalore incident on internet

2009-01-28T10:22:00.000+05:30

By IANS
Wednesday,28 January 2009, 07:36 hrs IST

New Delhi: Young Indians angry about the attack on women in a pub in Karnataka's Mangalore town are giving vent to their ire on the internet with critical comments on blogs and furious responses to the video of the incident on YouTube.

"On a day when India celebrated its 60th Republic Day, the news (of the Mangalore pub incident) that made the headlines was shocking, awful and shameful to hear as an Indian," said a comment on a blog.

"I am stunned to see that in a democratic nation, where every individual has the right to live the way he or she wants, such incidents happen," the blogger added.

On Saturday, a group of 40 activists of the Sri Rama Sena barged into the pub Amnesia - The Lounge in Mangalore. They bashed up a group of young women and men, claiming the women were "violating traditional Indian values". The girls were punched and their hair pulled by the self-styled moral brigade.

The video of the incident, which was uploaded on the popular video sharing website YouTube, has become one of the most watched clips on the internet.

Of the scores of comments posted in response to the video is that of a 22-year-old user Chaitu100 who asked: "Spoiling Indian culture?! So is this Indian culture - beating up women?"

Bangalorebeats, a blogger, wrote: "Now who gives them (the activists) the right to moral police others? Hindu religion professes respect to women and not to harass them. If one carefully reads the Veda or ancient scriptures then one can understand that women had much liberty in ancient India".

Aarti Sharma, a Kolkata based BPO employee, said: "What makes them men enough to raise their hand on women? This is absolute violation of a person's right, a crime on the pretext of tradition. Do they even know what tradition means?"

"No one has a right to take law into their hands. Is beating girls not a violation of our tradition? The culprits should not be allowed to get away lightly after what they have dared to do," said Rahul, a Delhi based software engineer.

Raju, Srinivas' bail plea to be heard on Jan 27

2009-01-26T08:35:00.001+05:30

Fri, Jan 23 04:24 PM

Hyderabad, Jan 23 (PTI) A local court today posted the hearing on bail petitions of former chairman of Satyam Computer, B Ramalinga Raju, and its ex-CFO, Vadlamani Srinivas, to January 27. The 6th additional chief metropolitan magistrate adjourned the hearing of the bail plea of the two as they are still in police custody, while posting the bail prayer of B Rama Raju, brother of Ramalinga Raju and former MD of Satyam, to January 28.

Earlier, public prosecutor K Ajay Kumar filed a petition in the court seeking extension of judicial remand of the trio whose two-week remand ends today. Opposing their bail plea, the public prosecutor informed the court that the Ramalinga Raju was supposed to be a watchdog of public money, but he betrayed the trust by fudging the accounts of the firm.

"The crime he (Ramalinga Raju) committed was grave and heinous," he said. He further informed the court that the CID, investigating the Satyam fraud, has written letters to various banks seeking information about the fixed deposits.

However, BNP Paribas branch at Hyderabad has replied to the investigating agency that it has no fixed deposit of Satyam Computer and the bank has no transaction since 2004 with Ramalinga Raju or any others of the firm. PTI.

BPO industry can meet sales, but not employment, target

2009-01-21T10:45:00.000+05:30

By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT

While the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is on track with its revenue generation target of $ 13 billion by 2010, it is expected to miss its one million employment generation target by then as the industry was able to generate an estimated 410,000 jobs only as of last year.

Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) president Oscar Sanez has admitted that reaching the employment generation target of one million by 2010 is difficult.

"It is tough target but we believe we can still generate jobs because we think there will be a surge in outsourcing business with the financial difficulties in the US," Sanez said noting that total industry employment generation as of last year was short by 20,000 to 30,000 jobs or a total of P410,000 jobs last year from 235,000 in 2006 and revenue generation of $ 3 billion when the industry started to bloom.

Based on the BPA/P schedule, the industry jobs generation should have reached 430,000 in 2008. The original target was only 920,000 jobs by 2010 but Sanez said this was rounded off during the launch of the industry roadmap.

With only two years to go before 2010, the industry is unlikely to generate about 600,000 employment opportunities.

This means that majority of the jobs to fill up the gap would be generated in the last two years of the industry roadmap.

Sanez, on the other hand, said that what is more important is that the industry was able to meet its revenue target.

As of last year, the industry generated total revenues of $ 7 billion. This year, the BPA/P expects to hit $ 9 billion in revenues based on the BPA/P schedule.

"We are still good on the revenue side and that is the more important," he said.

Sanez explained that the slowdown in the industry’s jobs generation as against the robust revenue generation was largely due to the fact that the average revenue per seat has increased because the industry was able to sell more high value added services that require smaller number of people.

"The contracts that we are able to close have started to be in the higher value services," he pointed out.

This means the non-voice, which is more technical and higher-value services, has improved its share to 30 percent from 20 percent. The voice services have reduced its dominance to 70 percent from 80 percent.

The 70 percent voice services are expected to further taper as more BPO firms build up their capabilities to undertake the more complicated tasks of their clients.

With the financial crisis in the U.S., Sanez said the industry expects a surge in outsourcing business mostly in the non-voice services.

He said the Philippines has yet to tap other sectors that are good candidates for outsourcing such as logistics, engineering, retail, manufacturing, research and legal.

"These are high growth sectors and are expanding fast. We need more of these," he said.

Foreign firms are expected to choose the Philippines because of the country’s competitive business model, which is low cost but high capability, good infrastructure and business environment.

In fact, BPO firms that locate here are enjoying between 50 to 70 percent savings from labor, telecommunications cost, office rentals among others and still generate the same output as their U.S. operation.

The challenge this year is to be able to grow the country’s market share in the burgeoning global BPO business by getting potential clients and helping existing firms become more competitive.

Sanez said they are urging government for marketing assistance for their missions abroad as BPA/P calls for more and aggressive marketing campaigns to sell the country’s services.

"Companies are making decisions and restructuring their operations now. We should be top of mind if we are aggressive in our marketing otherwise they will just go to India," he said.

For the last few years, Sanez all the marketing programs undertaken by BPA/P have been private sector funded. A 12-man investment mission costs between P1 million to P2 million.

"India, Egypt, South Africa, Thailand and Malaysia have always been very aggressive in their promotions and have the backing of their respective governments," Sanez said.

For this year, BPA/P is planning to mount three U.S. missions, 2 in UK, one each for Australia and Singapore.(BCM)

Source: mb.com.ph

Essar Group to generate 4000 jobs in Kashmir

2009-01-19T10:39:00.000+05:30

Srinagar, January 16, 2009:

Director Essar Group Prashant Ruia Friday evening announced setting up of two Business Process Outsource (BPO) centres in Indian administered Kashmir, which would create 4000 jobs in the region.

Speaking at the Business India's 'Businessman of the Year 2008 Award' at a function in Mumbai, financial capital of India, Ruia said Essar Group would soon set up two BPO centres in Kashmir, one each in the summer capital – Srinagar and the winter capital – Jammu, which would create 2000 jobs in each city.

Essar Global Limited is a diversified Indian business corporation with a balanced portfolio of assets in the manufacturing and services sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Communications, Shipping Ports and Logistics, and Construction.

Essar Global employs over 50,000 people across offices in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

With a firm foothold in India, Essar Global has been focusing on global expansion with projects and investments in Canada, USA, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and South East Asia.

feedback@kashmirnewz.com

'Innovation will displace people'

2009-01-17T12:46:00.002+05:30

S Nagarajan, Founder
Director, 24x7 Customer

One of the few privately-owned BPOs that’s surviving the downturn, 24x7 Customer, is a name that frequently crops up in discussions of a stake sale. Private equity firm Sequoia has been an investor in the firm since 2003 and is said to be keen on exiting part of its holdings. In an interview with ET, founder director, S Nagarajan, says the firm is in no rush to go public.

What is the BPO business environment like now?
Large clients who are not sure are waiting and watching because they themselves don’t know if their jobs will be there. Volumes have slowed down. And especially for the next two quarters, volumes for some work such as outbound telemarketing could come down. But in other works like collections and customer services there is no issue. These are growing.

What kind of margins can you get for voice-based outsourcing work today?
Margins can vary from 15%-35%, depending on the service and geography. You don’t have to be a low-cost player because you are doing voice. Just like there are different kinds of non-voice work — starting with low-end data-entry to analytics at the high end — pricing varies depending on the complexity of the job.

At the low end you could just have a directory service where people call in to find out where a movie is playing, at the mid-end you could have technical support or telemarketing, which involves sales skills. At the high-end there could be actuarial work and claims processing.

Unlike other BPOs, you have stayed focused on customer service...?
Because our business is customer-facing, there is a lot of voice involved but we will not expand outside of customer life cycle management. That’s our focus area and we will offer all services in this spectrum — voice or non-voice. At one end it could be customer acquisition and the other customer analytics.

Many BPO firms, earlier focused only on exports, have now entered the domestic market. Is this something you are considering as well?
Our cost structure is not built for the domestic market. Right now, we do not have any plans to enter this market.
Companies that get a majority of their revenues from financial services clients have been hit particularly hard...

Our customer base is fairly well-diversified — just a little more than half our clients would be American. The rest would be from UK, Australia and Canada. And they are from BFSI (banking, financial service and insurance), communication-media, technology and e-commerce. In last two quarters, business from ‘telecom and utilities’ has overtaken BFSI.

At one point in time, the plan was to take 24x7 public...?
We’re not in a rush to do anything. And this is probably the worst time to take such a decision, if you look at the valuations at which some of listed BPO firms are trading. We are cash positive and profitable. We have a good line of credit. If we raise more capital, we’ll be diluting our stake and also become liable to more investors.

What about exit then?
The opportunity and potential to build a large global company doesn’t come everyday. Our motivation is to build a company that’ll last longer than our lifetime. So we are not in a hurry to exit. But as a businessman I can’t say I will not accept any offer. We have enough staying power to weather the storm and keep growing until the next opportunity to go public comes. Even going public is just to give an exit option to one or two of us or our investors.

Is there competition from newer players such as Aegis (from the Essar group) that are expanding aggressively?
There is enough room for all players — we’ve just scratched the surface. Just like India is now accepted for its IT knowledge, it is only a matter of time before everybody accepts it as the world’s back office. Obama can undo a lot of damage by getting the economy back on track.

Even though his election campaign had an anti-offshoring tilt, there is not much that he can do about offshoring. The world is very small. America can’t expect to sell their products to us and us not to sell services to them.

That’s what I told Tom Friedman when he interviewed me in 2004. I asked him to look around the room — the computer was Compaq, the phone Avavya, printer Cannon... the only thing Indian was me. Innovation is going to displace people. That’s the reality.

Source

Apple's Jobs takes medical leave, shares tumble

2009-01-15T10:34:00.001+05:30

Enlarge Photo Steve Jobs, Apple Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer, introduces the new MacBook's aluminum laptop enclosure at...

Thu, Jan 15 05:03 AM

Apple Inc Chief Executive Steve Jobs will take a medical leave of absence until the end of June because his health problems are "more complex" than he had thought, shocking investors and sending the company's shares down as much as 10 percent on Wednesday.

Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, made his bombshell announcement only nine days after he sought to soothe persistent concerns about his health by saying his marked weight loss over past months was due to a hormone imbalance that was relatively simple to treat.

Jobs said he planned to remain involved in major strategic decisions while he is away. Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook will take responsibility for day-to-day operations in Jobs' absence.

An Apple spokesman declined to elaborate on Jobs' health on Wednesday.

Speculation about his health resurfaced in June 2008, when Jobs appeared markedly thinner at an Apple event. He is seen as the driver of Apple's successful, consumer-friendly products, including Macintosh computers, iPod media players and iPhones.

"It's something we don't need right now. This Apple news gives investors more angst to digest and get through and take itself out of," said Tom Sowanick, chief investment officer of Clearwater Financial in Princeton, New Jersey. "Yes, the markets have (been) building in risks with respect to Steve Jobs' health, but Apple shares will still get hit in the morning."

"Steve Jobs is known as the company but we have to see how well his 'support system' -- the people he put in place -- will hold up," he added.

Jobs' health complicates what is expected to be a less-than-scintillating year for Apple and the consumer electronics industry, as a severe global economic downturn saps consumers' spending appetite.

Some analysts fear that without a big product launch -- such as last year's 3G iPhone -- Apple will lack a share catalyst in 2009.

Apple's stock fell as much as 10 percent following Jobs' announcement, before trading at $79.64 after hours. The stock had closed down 2.71 percent at $85.33 in regular Nasdaq trading.

Jaguar Land Rover to axe 450 employees

2009-01-14T21:02:00.000+05:30

Wed, Jan 14 07:40 PM

London, Jan.14 (ANI): Car giant Jaguar Land Rover is to axe 450 employees, including 300 managers, as part of a cost-cutting exercise, the company has announced.

According to the Daily Star, the cuts follow the "severe reduction" in demand for new cars.

Jaguar Land Rover also announced that managers will not receive any bonuses this year, while pay rises have been deferred to October.

The company said it had started consultations with employee representatives on the proposed redundancy programme, adding: Clearly these choices are very difficult. No company wants to lose skilled and experienced employees in any condition. Throughout the process, we will ensure employees are treated with dignity," the paper quoted CEO David Smith, as saying.

"We don't expect sales conditions to return to normal levels for some time. If we are to continue to fund and invest in the products and technology that we will need to be successful when customer demand picks up again after the recession, then we have to improve our efficiency and costs, to improve our ability to respond to the marketplace," he added.

"It is critical that Jaguar Land Rover becomes a more efficient and dynamic organisation to face up to the challenges that we will meet in the years ahead," Smith said.

The firm, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire, has 15,000 employees with plants in Coventry, Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Halewood on Merseyside. (ANI)

Infosys not to hire Satyam employees

2009-01-09T19:16:00.001+05:30

9 Jan, 2009, 1057 hrs IST,TNN

NEW DELHI: Infosys Technologies, the country’s second-largest IT services exporter by sales, has told its human resources (HR) executives to refrain from hiring employees of Satyam Computer Services.

This comes a day after revelations of financial fraud at Satyam, which has left its 53,000 employees in a state of uncertainty.

“We have asked our recruitment staff not to poach anybody from Satyam. The company is in the middle of a crisis and people will jump ship,” Infosys Technologies HR, education & research and administration director TV Mohandas Pai said. On Wednesday, Infosys had ruled out any possibility of taking over Satyam.

“We will not touch such a tainted company,” Infosys founder and non-executive chairman N R Narayana Murthy had said.

A person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named, said that Infosys would refrain from even hiring domain experts or project managers from Satyam. Infosys has even advised staff against entertaining calls from Satyam employees. This development comes as Satyam employees flood search firms and job portals with their resumes.

Although Satyam’s top management put up a brave face on Thursday, saying it has assured employees of their future, the flood of messages at job portals and frenzied blog postings tell a different story.

Addressing a conference on Thursday, Satyam’s interim CEO Ram Mynampati said that the company had taken care of employees’ December salaries but faced a cash crunch.

Logitech to slash jobs, withdraws targets

2009-01-06T20:38:00.000+05:30

Tue, Jan 6 06:04 PM

Logitech International SA, the world's largest computer mouse maker, said it plans to cut 15 percent of its salaried workforce and withdrew its fiscal 2009 financial targets, citing deepening global recession.

"During the December quarter, the retail environment deteriorated significantly," Chief Executive Gerald Quindlen said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that the company expects the economic environment to worsen in coming months.

In October, the company already cut its growth forecast for sales and operating income in its fiscal year ending March 31, 2009 from 15 percent each to 6-8 percent and 3-5 percent, respectively.

Logitech, which also makes speakers, webcams and keyboards, did not provide revised targets for sales and operating income, but said it would give a further business update with its third-quarter results on Jan. 20.

It would not comment on its targets for fiscal year 2010, but said it expects savings from the restructuring to begin in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.

Logitech would book a restructuring charge in its fiscal 2009 fourth quarter, the company said, adding more details would follow on Jan. 20.

"We remain confident in our strategy for driving long-term double-digit growth," said Quindlen, citing a strong cash position and the maintenance of its market share in multiple business segments and geographical areas.

Indian bond yields up ahead of fresh debt supplies

2009-01-06T10:11:00.000+05:30

MUMBAI, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Indian federal bond yields edged up early on Monday ahead of fresh debt supplies due during the week, dealers said.

* At 9:20 a.m., the benchmark 10-year bond yield was at 5.18 percent, off an early high of 5.22 percent but still above Monday's close of 5.17 percent.

* The 10-year bond yield fell to an all-time low of 4.86 percent on Monday after the central bank cut its key rates late on Friday just before the markets shut.

* On Friday, the Reserve Bank of India cut both its key short-term rates by 1 percentage point and lowered the cash reserve ratio, the amount of deposits banks have to park with it, by half a percentage point, to shore up the slowing economy.

* Market participants are eyeing 95 billion rupees worth of t-bill auctions on Wednesday and a 51.77 billion rupees state development loans auction due later in the day.

* Traders said they expect bonds to be rangebound and see them trading in a range of 5.10-5.25 percent on the day. (Reporting by Neha D'silva)

Source

Shortage of qualified employees and inflation raise concerns in the region

2009-01-03T12:19:00.003+05:30

By Naushad K. Cherrayil, Staff Reporter
Published: January 03, 2009, 00:14

Dubai: Outsourcing spend in the Gulf countries is expected to touch $503 million (Dh1.84 billion), an increase of 21.8 per cent compared to $413 million (Dh1.51 billion) in 2008 despite the ongoing financial turmoil and stiff competition, said an industry expert.

"The UAE is expected to retain the lead with 25 per cent increase to $225 million followed by Saudi Arabia with 20.62 per cent to $193 million, Jyoti Lalchandani, Vice-President and Regional MD, International Data Corporation MEA and Turkey, said.

He said that big challenges like the shortage of qualified staff, inflation, cost per unit, and the telecom costs are limiting the growth of outsourcing among the Gulf countries. Any outsourcing firm has to benefit from cheaper costs.

"When we have countries like Egypt, India, Philippines, Eastern Europe etc.., you are always going to be left behind," Jyoti said.

He said on the long term, Oman is a potential place for outsourcing. It has an open market environment and very stable economy. The costs are much lower when compared to other Gulf countries. Egypt is the most attractive place given the skills and cost factor.

"Of all the countries in the Middle East, Egypt has the strongest position in the outsourcing market. It possesses a well-educated workforce with strong multilingual capabilities, which makes it very attractive to European companies," according to Yankee report.

The report said some regions in the Middle East, like Abu Dhabi and Oman, are coming on strong in the outsourcing space. But others, such as Jordan and Dubai, face longer odds in competing for a piece of the outsourcing pie.

Oman and Bahrain are making strong bids to attract outsourcing to their countries. Saudi Arabia, which has the largest domestic IT market in the region, is also well positioned to potentially become an outsourcing hub for the entire region.

The report projects Oman as a potential winner, Bahrain as a potential long-term winner while Dubai is projected as a loser.

Although Oman only announced its intention to become a regional hub for IT-enabled services at the end of 2007, the Sultanate has already put important basic requirements in place plus Muscat has the advantage of cheaper cost of living than Cairo.

"Bahrain has the ambition to be a BPO outsourcing hub, focusing on specific and relatively narrow BPO market segments.

"Following this strategy, Bahrain expects to create 100,000 new jobs in outsourcing during the next decade. However, a drawback is that Bahrain lacks the basic infrastructure; for example, it has no technology parks in operation, although two parks are under development. The pitch is similar to Dubai. However, Manama, the capital of Bahrain, is significantly cheaper to live in than Dubai," the report said.

"Dubai faces major challenges in convincing enterprises and IT service providers that it is a smart shore location of the Middle East. These hurdles include skyrocketing real-estate rental prices and are now on a par with prices in European cities, Dubai also suffers from limited public transport, but the high cost of bandwidth could leave Dubai totally uncompetitive," according to Kershaw Leonard, a global recruitment company.

The report said Saudi Arabia lacks a domestic workforce with strong IT skills. Therefore, the potential for Saudi Arabia as an outsourcing hub is more of a long-term play. In the shorter term, it needs to take advantage of the size of the domestic IT market to build outsourcing expertise as Abu Dhabi is doing.

Jyoti advises Gulf countries to adopt subsidised telecom rates to attract business and they have to bring inflation to minimum from the current double-digit growth. Regulatory laws need to be more open like issuance of visas. The UAE is more attractive to foreigners due to its open policy while Saudi Arabia is more rigid," he said.
Source

RBI cuts key rates to stimulate economy

2009-01-02T17:40:00.000+05:30

Enlarge Photo Police guard the Reserve Bank of India building in Mumbai in this April 29, 2003...

Fri, Jan 2 05:08 PM

MUMBAI (Reuters) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) slashed its two key short-term interest rates by 100 basis points each on Friday to stimulate an economy that has been slowing faster than expected.

It cut the repo rate, at which it lends cash to banks, to 5.5 percent from 6.5 percent.

The reverse repo rate, the rate at which the RBI absorbs excess cash from the system, was cut to to 4.0 percent from 5.0 percent.

Both reductions are effective immediately.

The repo rate has been cut aggressively since mid-October last year as the RBI tried to minimise the knock-on effects of the global financial crisis.

The RBI also announced a cut in cash reserve ratio, the proportion of deposits banks must keep with the central bank, by 50 basis points to 5.0 percent with effect from Jan. 17.

Job opportunities galore in medical transcription

2009-01-02T15:23:00.001+05:30

‘Big chunk of businesss waiting to be moved to India from US’.

Inside a medical transcription unit
M. Somasekhar

Hyderabad, Jan. 1 Job cuts, perks slash, cap on expansion are now common trends in the Indian IT/ITES sectors, reeling under the impact of the recession in the US.

However, there seems to be one segment, which is bucking this trend — medical transcription (MT). In fact, there are jobs to be grabbed, say some of the big companies.

Transdyne, among the top 10 MT companies in India, for example plans to add 300-400 staff in 2009. At present, the company has 1,200 employees, mostly in Hyderabad and a few in Vijayawada.

“Our optimism is based on the feeling that a big chunk of business was waiting to be moved to India from the US, which is the biggest source for the Indian MT industry,” said Mr Raghu Vasu, CEO of the company.

The Indian model for providing outsourced MT work is proven in the US. Also, since healthcare is reasonably recession proof, big budget cuts are not expected and hence contracts should be coming to competent Indian companies, he told Business Line.

Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi are the main centres for MT, with about a dozen companies being bigger than 1,000 employees.

Unlike the BPO/ITES segment, where accent barriers and time differential for working are demanding, the MT sector does not require high English language skills and the outsourced work time coincides with the day in India. This provides opportunities for housewives, graduates etc to take up jobs.

CKar Systems, a 100 per cent subsidiary of CBay Systems, US, the world’s largest medical transcription company, is also on the expansion mode.

It has a 400-seater facility in Banjara hills, which can accommodate up to 1,200 professionals. CKar is close to expanding its 150-seater facility in Vijayawada and follow it up with a 250-seater one in Hyderabad early 2009, said Mr Mohit Srivastava, Business Head.

The company has launched a major recruitment drive for this expansion and also for the expected major contracts to come to it following the acquisition of MedQuist, a medical transcription company, by its parent CBay Systems in the US in August 2007. At present, the company employs over 600 and expects to ramp up to 1,000 soon, Mr Srivastava said.

CKar Systems serves healthcare clients in the US. It provides a round-the-clock-service model by capitalising on the time zone differences between the US and India, thereby providing cost effective turnaround time to its clients, he said.

CBaySystems (India) Pvt Ltd, with its headquarters in Mumbai, is India’s largest provider of medical transcription services employing over 5,500 employees in its captive and franchisee centres in India and one each in Bhutan and Oman. It is also on a drive to increase its employee strength considerably, in anticipation of shift in job works, post-acquisition of MedQuist.

Source

India Inc. seeks temp hiring to thwart meltdown

2008-12-31T11:56:00.000+05:30

India Inc. seems to have found a solution to deal with the economic slowdown. They are now hiring more temporary staff not only at lower levels but at senior positions too as part of an effort to cut down costs during these troubled times.

A report in the Economic Times said BPO companies, project-led organizations and retail industry have already started on contract hiring while others like energy, healthcare and pharmaceuticals are looking to make the shift sooner than later.

Recruitment companies claim that temporary appointments are being accepted by the employees too as a good option while companies see it as a financially smart move that would help them complete time-based assignments at reduced costs.

The basic difference is that companies do not give all the benefits to temporary staff that they usually dole out to the permanent ones. More importantly, firms can alter their workforce size depending on business needs without having to resort to the pinkslips.

The Economic Times article quoted staffing firm TeamLease officials to say that then have seen a 25 per cent spurt in demand for temporary staff from industries like BPO and healthcare.

Ma Foi, another consulting company in the domain says that companies now see even senior positions as options for temporary hiring, which seems to be a positive development in these times of salary cuts and general cost savings.

Another factor that leads companies to temporary hiring is the availability of people with specialized knowledge for a limited period of time. This is something that is evident across sectors, says an official of Ma Foi, in the article.

Courtesy: BPO Watch

Source

GM India cuts production by 10%

2008-12-29T08:50:00.002+05:30

Sun, Dec 28 03:07 PM

Taking advantage of an extended annual plant maintenance shut down, General Motors India is cutting down production by up to 10 per cent from its two plants -- at Halol in Gujarat and at Talegaon in Maharashtra -- as the auto mart reels under a demand slump.

"We usually have annual plant maintenance shut down for 7-10 days. This time we have extended it up to 15 days and it will result in a reduction in production by up to 10 per cent," General Motors India Vice-President P Balendran said.

The two plants have been shut down from December 16 till the end of this year, he added.

Balendran said the company, which had set a target of producing 85,000 units from the Halol plant, now has scaled down it to 70,000 units. The plant on a two-shift basis manufactures about 200 cars a day.

The Talegaon plant, which went on-stream earlier this year, works on a single shift basis and produces 200 cars a day. It has a capacity to produce 1.4 lakh units annually.

"The extended maintenance shut down will result in loss of only nine working days as we work on a five-day week basis," he said, adding that the workers would work on holidays, including weekends to compensate for maintenance shut down.

While most carmakers reported decline in sales growth, GM India's passenger car sales, however, marginally grew in November to 3,673 units against 3,653 units in the corresponding month last year. In fact, last month the company had increased the production in this segment by 19.61 per cent to 4,842 units compared with 4,048 units in the same month last year.

India's Stimulus Plan-II will aid IT sector

2008-12-27T12:01:00.002+05:30

Surabhi
Posted: Dec 26, 2008 at 1014 hrs IST

New Delhi The government is set to extend the blanket tax exemption provided to software companies in order to boost the IT industry, which has become one of the biggest casualties of the global financial crisis. The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) scheme that grants a ten-year income-tax holiday under Section 10A of the Income-Tax Act is expected to continue beyond its March 2010 deadline in a move that should help smaller players.

India’s top IT companies do not need this support as they have already invested in special economic zones, which offer liberal tax breaks. Extending the STPI scheme will help second-rung companies stay afloat as they cannot afford the fresh capital investment required to migrate to SEZs.

With the economic downturn expected to last well into 2009-10, the proposal to give the sector sops was discussed by the apex committee set up by the government in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. The panel met on Wednesday evening to finalise the modalities of a second stimulus package, expected to be announced next week.

“Extension of the STPI scheme will be a welcome move as next year is expected to be even worse, especially for the BPO sector and small & medium players,” said Ganesh Natarajan, Nasscom chairman and deputy CMD of Zensar Technology Ltd.

While 70% the of the country’s IT exports consist of non-discretionary expenditure such as maintenance contracts, the remaining 30% includes research & development activities, or discretionary spends, in which mainly smaller companies are involved.

“During a slowdown, discretionary expenses are the first to be struck off the list by international clients. Extending the sunset clause of the STPI scheme will give smaller companies a chance to build long-term business,” Natarajan said.

Abhisek Goenka, partner, BMR Advisors agrees. “This will reduce costs for IT companies that were planning to shift to SEZs after March 2010 to continue enjoying the tax exemptions.” Benefits under the STPI and Export-Oriented Unit schemes were to expire in March 2009. Both were extended by a year by former finance minister P Chidambaram in April after intense lobbying by software companies and exporters.

Industry body Nasscom expects the Indian IT sector to grow at around 21% in 2008-09, compared with 29% last fiscal. While it is yet to arrive at any projections for 2009-10, growth is expected to slow further in line with the world economy.

The spectre of job cuts is looming across the IT sector world over. While Silicon Valley in the US has already laid off 38,000 workers since September, companies in India have already reportedly axed around 10,000 jobs in the current quarter. By all indications, the situation is expected to get much worse.

The apex committee, at its meeting on Wednesday, also discussed other measures such as a further easing of monetary policy with a possible 100-basis point cut in key rates, along with further duty cuts and concessions for the real estate and export sectors. The package is expected before New Year.

Source

MphasiS asks 1,300-1,500 employees to relocate or quit

2008-12-26T10:37:00.000+05:30

IT services firm MphasiS has asked all 1,300-1,500 employees at its Noida office to either move to a low-cost location or quit.

Most of the employees have quit or are in the process of quitting the firm. Only a few have decided to shift to another centre, informed four former employees who quit recently.

MphasiS, majority-owned by EDS that was acquired by HP this year, offers outsourcing services in financial services, healthcare, communications, transportation, consumer & retail industries and has over 28,000 people on its rolls. It set up the Noida centre in 2005 for BPO operations and has over 1,000 BPO employees, besides some IT employees.

The four former MphasiS employees ET spoke to said the company had told the BPO employees about three months ago to decide between quitting or relocating to other MphasiS centres such as Indore and Vadodara. All employees were given time till December-end to decide and were not given any reason behind the move.

A company spokeswoman said that MphasiS continues to work out of the Noida centre. “We continue to shape our operations as per our client needs, and have recently set up a new centre in Vadodara.

MphasiS is known for its sensitive HR policies and the interests of its employees are a priority,” she said. The spokeswoman did not comment on the decision to relocate people.

Besides giving the option to relocate, MphasiS had invited rival firms such as HCL, ExlService Holdings and Tech Mahindra to recruit from among its employees.

One of the four ex-employees, who bagged a job with one of these firms, said most BPO employees at the Noida centre had managed to find another job.

However, those in the IT services business were not so lucky. One former IT employee at Noida said the company informed the team about a month ago that they need to find another job. “They also said that if we quit early, we will get our retention bonus, which was due later, with our November salary,” he said, adding he is yet to find another job.

Earlier this month, MphasiS opened a 400-seat BPO centre in Vadodara. The company had said it plans to increase the number of seats to 800 seats and employ 2,500 people within a year.

Source: Agencies

Microsoft staff cuts due next month?

2008-12-24T15:15:00.000+05:30

Justify-your-job treadmill rolling

By Gavin Clarke • Get more from this author

Posted in Financial News, 24th December 2008 00:57 GMT

Free Download - Comparing Data Center Batteries, Flywheels and Ultracapacitors

Microsoft is rumored to be preparing for redundancies, with staff expected to be cut on January 15.

MiniMicrosoft, a blog dedicated to watching the company, has reported snippets of reports talking of internal reorganizations amid budget cuts and staff interviewing for their jobs in the server and tools business and in the online services group.

The long-running blog, by an anonymous Microsoft employee, said staff are being been called into "meetings and interrogations about the work they are doing", set impossible coding tasks and asked to account for their work by the hour.

The blog said one 120-person organization in the server and tools business has been broken up for lack of budget while 70 people in online services and the SQL Server business - which is part of server and tools - have been given six weeks to find alternative employment within the company.

According to the blog, Microsoft's Live Meeting "is one of the worst places to be right now" and in its "death throws". Live Meeting is the online conference service.

A Microsoft spokesperson told The Reg it does not comment on "rumors and speculation".

Rumors of layoffs are on the "financial grapevine" and - if they come off - would come exactly one week before Microsoft announces its second-quarter results to Wall St.

That quarter spans the normally lucrative Holiday shopping period, when consumers usually snap up PCs.

This year, that period is likely to make for the opposite of good reading. With the US in recession, the UK about to hit recession, and employers in both countries announcing massive layoffs consumer spending is down. That's impacting sales. Retailers, meanwhile, are discounting heavily - impacting profits.

Any cuts - thought to be Microsoft's first in its 30-year history - would follow a hiring freeze and come after years of massive expansion, to try and grow a successful online services business. Head count has grown 28 per cent to 91,000 in just two years as it has hired individuals and bought companies like online ads shop aQuantive - Microsoft's biggest acquisition at nearly $6bn. The payroll has expanded by 49 per cent since 2005, with increases across R&D, sales, marketing, and support.

If true, it seems like the cuts are in the lighter, services end of the company's business spectrum and would be in keeping with expectations.

The online services group is home to search and advertising, which have consistently failed to make a profit despite billions of dollars in investment being pumped in. Microsoft kicked off December by announcing Yahoo!'s former president of search and advertising technology Qi Lu was joining to run the online services group. ®

Source From:- http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/24/microsoft_january_cuts/

Wipro says buying Citigroup unit will boost IT infrastructure outsourcing in India

2008-12-24T10:59:00.001+05:30

Offshore vendor plans to scale up remote IT management services for other customers

By Patrick Thibodeau

December 23, 2008 (Computerworld) Offshore outsourcing and IT services provider Wipro Ltd. is buying Citigroup Inc.'s IT subsidiary in India for $127 million, under a deal that also gives Wipro a six-year contract worth at least $500 million to provide technology services to Citi.

But as Soumitro Ghosh, senior vice president of finance solutions at Wipro, explains it, one of the major benefits that the Bangalore, India-based vendor expects to gain from the acquisition of Citi Technology Services Ltd. is the Citigroup unit's ability to deliver infrastructure outsourcing services to other customers.

Many U.S. companies, especially in the financial services industry, operate their own offshore centers in India and other countries as an alternative to contracting with offshore providers. Citi Technology Services, which was set up in 2005, has about 2,000 full- and part-time employees in the Indian cities of Mumbai and Chennai.

But Citigroup has been using its India-based operations not just for software development or tech support, but also to provide remote infrastructure management services, including administration of internal databases, networks, desktop systems and midrange servers.

The financial services firm "successfully demonstrated" that infrastructure outsourcing can work in offshore locations, Ghosh said. "What we intend to do now is scale it up," not only for Citigroup but also as a model for other clients, he added.

The sale of the Citigroup unit, which was announced today, is expected to be completed before the end of next year's first quarter.

Citi Technology Services is the second India-based operation to be sold off by Citigroup, which last month announced plans to cut 52,000 jobs. In October, Citigroup said it had agreed to sell Citigroup Global Services Ltd., which does business process outsourcing and IT services work, to Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. for $505 million. As part of that deal, TCS will provide BPO services to Citigroup under a contract valued at $2.5 billion over a nine-and-a-half-year period.

Source: computerworld.com

INFOSYS Recruit 25000 Freshers in FY 2009

2008-12-23T15:02:00.004+05:30

Infosys, TCS to ramp up hiring plans

Despite the grim economic environment overseas, both Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have opted for strategies that anticipate a recovery after about two quarters.

While TCS will add nearly 12,500 employees of Citigroup Global Services, Infosys said it would hire about 25,000 people in FY09 and honour all the commitments made at campuses.

While 11,000 employees have already joined Infosys this year, another 18,700 are expected to join before the fiscal end, officials said in interviews following its results.

“The bench (the number of employees not working on billable projects) is going to remain large for some time.... The challenge is to keep them engaged,” Mohandas Pai, director, Infosys, said. The company admitted that utilisation would come down but that it would be able to maintain margins. Top management officials said the company had enough money to sustain them in such difficult times.

“We don’t go back on any of our client contracts, why should we go back on our employment contracts? We have recruited the best and the brightest from colleges-- we will need them when the market recovers. In any case, the training will take 4-5 months,” chief operating officer S D Shibulal told ET.

Infosys’ utilisation has already fallen to 74 per cent from 78 per cent a year ago because of fewer projects. Normally, the second quarter is among the better quarters because there are more billable days and fewer increase in costs compared to the first and third quarters.

The guidance given by Infosys also seems to suggest it expects a recovery in the fourth quarter of the fiscal. Based on the figures put out by the company, it expects flat sequential growth in revenues and marginally better growth in earnings in Q3 FY09

The crisis spreads to East Asia

2008-12-22T10:26:00.000+05:30

Monday, December 22, 2008

NOTES&COMMENTS

UNMERRY CHRISTMAS, UNHAPPY NEW YEAR

By Juan T. Gatbonton

What is being billed as the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the early 1930s has spread to East Asia: Our economies will not be spared the global downturn.

Already Japan and much of Europe are in recession: America should soon follow. These lead economies are expected to contract even more in the New Year. The global credit crunch set off by Wall Street’s collapse is spilling over into domestic banking systems and squeezing capital resources for corporate investment.

East Asia better prepared

Whatever global growth occurs in 2009 will come from the emerging economies. The IMF says they’ll still average a positive 4.2 percent. And it still expects India to grow by 6.3 percent, China by 8.5 percent, as against 9.5 percent in 2008.

The Asean region enters the crisis better prepared than it had been for the financial crisis that started in Thailand in July 1997. Since then, structural and corporate reforms have strengthened individual economies. Nonetheless, soaring capital costs will impede their ability to finance development and carry out anti-poverty programs. The IMF expects the ASEAN 5—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore—to grow by an average 3.5 percent in 2009. This is less than half our record 7.2 percent in 2007. Until the crisis struck, National Economic Development Authority had hoped we would meet our Millennium Development Goal of halving the country’s poverty rate by 2015.

Foreign direct investment inflows will weaken drastically, but the severity of the crisis’ effect on individual states will depend on their exposure to rich-country economies in exports and financial dealings. We derive some 17 percent of our export income from the United States and some 15 percent from the European Union.

The experts expect the full impact of the crisis to hit our country in 2009, in the form of falling exports, higher joblessness and slower growth. Overseas Filipino workers (OFW) remittances will shrink, and some of the new business process outsourcing (BPO) offices will close down. The economy is projected to end up with 4.3 percent growth in 2008 and 3 percent in 2009.

In October, electronic component shipments that make up two-thirds of all our exports slumped by 18.9 percent, the worst in seven years.

No help from China?

As one of the world’s largest—and fastest-growing—countries, China is widely regarded as a motive power of the global economy. Because of its sheer size, it must grow phenomenally just to feed the rising expectations of its 1.35 billion people. China’s exports have apparently fallen for the first time in seven years.

To soften the effects of the global slowdown, Beijing in middle November announced a stimulus package worth four trillion yuan ($586 billion) over two years. The money, equivalent to 14 percent of China’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product), is to be invested in infrastructure, transport, housing and environmental programs. GDP is the total value of goods and services produced in a country in a year.

Beijing also promised to cut taxes in the New Year—to generate investment, create jobs and stimulate consumption. The Chinese economy is so huge and varied it could function on internal demand, but the Chinese save as much as 40 percent of their incomes. Increased public investments will go into agriculture, social security, education and small and medium-size enterprises. If these pump-priming measures succeed, Chinese demand may resuscitate dying Southeast Asian export industries.

China's Wen reassures students on jobs amid crisis

2008-12-21T10:27:00.000+05:30

Enlarge Photo China's Premier Wen Jiabao delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of Beijing high-level conference...

Sun, Dec 21 09:25 AM

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in a surprise visit to a Beijing university, tried reassuring students they would be able to find jobs amid the current global economic woes, and promised more unspecified steps to help the economy.

Rising unemployment has fed Beijing's fears of unrest as forecasts for China's growth next year fall below 8 percent, seen as a minimum needed to create jobs and maintain social stability after years of double-digit expansion.

Students, who lead pro-democracy protests in 1989 which the government brutally put down, are a particular cause for concern.

"Students, please rest at ease, we are putting the problem of graduate employment first," Wen was quoted as saying on Saturday to students at a Beijing university by the semi-official China News Service.

"Your difficulties are my difficulties, and if you are worried then I am more worried than you," Wen added.

Beijing last month began rushing out a $586 billion stimulus package focused on infrastructure projects to boost domestic demand and reduce the economy's dependence on faltering exports. The authorities have also been cutting interest rates and directing banks to give loans to small companies.

"We will continue to take measures, and almost every day we come out with them, to the extent that we are even studying that if current support is not enough then we will do more," Wen said, without elaborating.

The premier appealed for patience for the measures to take effect, the report added, saying they would take some time to kick in.

"But we are most worried about two issues: one is that of migrant workers returning to their villages, and the other is employment for graduates," he added.

Many migrant workers, who have been the backbone of the cheap labour which has fueled China's export-driven boom, have returned home after being laid off by factories with few orders to fill from traditional markets in the United States and Europe.

Some of these workers have taken to the streets after factories shut without paying them, another area the government is trying to deal with lest the problem get out of hand and lead to more widespread labour unrest.

Wen said companies must not lay off technical staff or university graduates even if they have financial difficulties.

Urban unemployment has risen to about 9.4 percent, double the official figure, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in a report this week.

A quarter of China's 6.1 million college graduates could have trouble finding a job next year, it said.

The weekend edition of the official China Daily quoted the country's top judge as saying maintaining social stability during the current economic crisis should be courts' top priority.

"We will closely monitor issues such as corporate bankruptcies, labour disputes and breaches of contracts, as well as enforcement issues brought about by the financial crisis," Wang Shengjun said.

Big advertising companies cutting thousands of job

2008-12-19T20:38:00.000+05:30

Fri, Dec 19 05:11 PM

Two of the world's largest advertising companies, Omnicom Group Inc and Interpublic Group, are cutting thousands of jobs in the face of an advertising downturn that is shaping up as the worst since the Internet bubble burst in 2001.

Battling an industrywide slump caused by a pullback in spending in the all-important automotive, financial services and retail categories, Omnicom Group Inc will cut 4 percent to 5 percent of its worldwide staff by the end of this week, according to a source close to the situation.

The cuts amount to 2,800 to 3,500 positions out of a worldwide headcount of about 70,000.

Sources close to Omnicom rival Interpublic Group say its agencies are also considering targeted cuts, following promises by Chief Executive Michael Roth to manage the business "conservatively" in the face of the downturn.

Roth told investors in October that the parent company of DraftFCB, McCann Erickson, Lowe and dozens of other agencies would remain "extremely focused on controlling costs and managing margins" as the financial crisis weighed on spending.

For now, sources estimate that job losses at the Interpublic agencies will amount to less than 5 percent of the worldwide staff, meaning no more than 2,000 jobs.

At Omnicom, the job cuts began last week and will be completed by the end of the week, according to a source.

In a statement, Omnicom said: "Given current economic conditions, our companies have reviewed their staffing levels as they relate to their current business requirements. Some, but not all, will have to make adjustments."

Omnicom, which has posted some of the industry's best results in recent years, is home to high caliber agencies BBDO Worldwide, PHD and DDB Worldwide.

Their client list includes premier companies such as Procter & Gamble Co, AT&T Inc, McDonald's Corp, Apple Inc, Adidas AG, and Visa Inc.

But spending cuts are coming from all marketing areas as corporations try to keep costs low. Chrysler, the automaker which has said it needs a cash infusion to survive, is also a top client of Omnicom's BBDO.

Overall, ad industry experts expect U.S. ad spending to decline by about 5 percent next year, the biggest drop in eight years, and said that the marketing industry may not recover before 2010.

Shares of Omnicom closed unchanged at $27.60 on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of Interpublic fell 13 cents, or 3.07 percent, to $4.10.

Source:- Yahoo NEWS

Anil Ambani Group hiring 90,000 people

2008-12-19T20:00:00.001+05:30

We're hiring 90,000 people: Anil Ambani Group

Fri, Dec 19 07:41 PM

In the midst of massive layoffs being announced by various corporate houses hit by a global economic slowdown, Anil Ambani Group on Friday said it is not planning any job reduction and is rather planning to create up to 90,000 employment opportunities in the next few months.

Debunking the reports that the group is laying off 6,000 people in its financial services and entertainment businesses, a spokesperson said, "There are no layoffs."

"In fact, the coming three months are high investment period for tax saving products and we are going to appoint almost 75,000 to 90,000 agents and sales representatives in the coming months," he added.

Earlier this month, Reliance Life Insurance's Chief P Nandagopal had said that the company would recruit 90,000 insurance agents and 2,500 sales managers by March 2009.

Source:- Yahoo NEWS

The Advantages of Business Process Outsourcing

2008-12-17T11:48:00.001+05:30

by Louis Soul

Outsourcing is a brand new buzzword in a commercial operation community. However, a subject of since businesses outsource their commercial operation routine is still being asked by a lot of people. Surely, outsourcing would emanate a lot of distinction for a business. Besides, since would businesses outsource their commercial operation routine if they won’t have any income out of it?

The smallest income rate in building countries is most reduce compared in a United States. This is since outsourcing can save your association a lot of income in conditions of income payments.

You will have to cruise if a professionals who will be doing your outsourced work is competent to do a job. Besides, we do not wish a gifted programmer to do a pursuit of a mechanic. You have to know a featured item of a outsourcing association as good as establish if they will be means to perform a pursuit we will suggest them with peculiarity as good as efficiency.

Advantages of Outsourcing Revealed

However, it is a office worker who will be regulating a outsourcing process; not a layman, as good as definitely, not a politician. Thus, outsourcing for office worker is a “modern day boon”. Many businessmen have been wakeful which outsourcing provides them a leisure of transfer all of their non-core nonetheless critical aspects of their commercial operation as good as delegating a work to an sold or organisation of people who can give probity to a process. Thus, it will leave businessmen giveaway from a single some-more responsibilities as good as concentration instead upon a core of their business. On a alternative hand, a outsourcing organisation can additionally concentration upon a specific work substituted to them, to illustrate a cost-efficient commercial operation operation. That is a single of a first advantages of outsourcing.

Global slowdown puts freeze on hiring plans of IT firms but BPO outlook positive

2008-12-15T11:35:00.000+05:30

15 December 2008 @ 06:02 pm IST

Bangalore - The global financial crisis may have put a freeze in hiring plans of India's top tech firms but BPO industry's outlook is positive, Business Process Industry Association of India or BPIAI said.

According to BPIAI, the financial crisis, which has hit global markets and the economic recession in the US are "temporary" and India's BPO industry would remain untouched by the meltdown.

BPO industry, BPIAI president Deepak Ohlyan said, is growing and maturing as a major outsourcing hub.

"The future of the Indian BPO industry is safe. It is still bullish on its growth path. The sector has no plans for job cuts. In fact, the BPOs require more people to scale up their operations from multiple locations and to meet delivery requirements of new businesses. The industry will continue to contribute around 2.5 percent to India's GDP. There is no need to panic as things will settle down," Ohlyan said, dismissing earlier reports that the industry might witness at least a quarter million job cuts in the current fiscal.

According to Ohlyan, India's share of the global offshore outsourcing market for software and back office services is more than 40 percent and the global slowdown would have a positive impact on the industry and offer unprecedented challenges and opportunities. "It is an opportunity for the BPO industry. However, we may observe few changes with the slowdown as there would be movement beyond voice and customer centric processes," he said.

Presently, the $11 billion Indian BPO industry employs more than 7,00,000 people.

However, the same cannot be said for India's IT industry where fears of large scale job losses are mounting.

National Association of Software and Service Companies or Nasscom, the consortium that serves as the apex body of the Indian IT and BPO industry, has forecast a slowdown in hiring and pay-hike squeeze in India's IT industry, confirming the worst fears of young professionals.

"The attrition rates have come down by at least six to seven percent in the past few months because of the market condition. This will surely slow down hiring," said Som Mittal, president, Nasscom.

India's IT bellwether Infosys Technologies said it would freeze its annual hiring plan till the global economic condition improves.

Earlier this year, Infosys said it would hire about 25,000 employees in the current financial year (FY09) across functions like IT services, BPO and consulting. The firm has already hired around 18,000 people and will confirm 7000 more jobs by the end of this fiscal, Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan said.

Gopalakrishnan said the firm has no plans of downsizing but would put a hold on future hiring plans and may suspend its two-month paid internship summer program for undergraduate students of various universities worldwide.

"Last year the IT industry grew more than 30 percent, this year it is looking at somewhere in the region of 15 percent," Gopalakrishnan said.

"We will have to look at controlling our cost, controlling our expenses making sure that we run an optimized business. We will have to look at what are things we need to do in order to prepare ourselves for the recovery," he said.

However, Gopalakrishnan said things will improve. "Growth is coming more and more from emerging markets so these are the things we need to prepare ourselves. We should not lose momentum in this slowdown," he said.

Agrees Infosys co-founder and co-chairman Nandan Nilekani. "Growth in the IT sector will be slower. There is an overall slowdown which is understandable given the crisis. The growth in the IT sector during the current fiscal will not be as good as witnessed for the last four years. In the current environment it is definitely not going to happen," Nilekani said.

However, Nilekani said the IT industry is "resilient enough to meet the challenges" and will bounce back.

"I am sure the companies are following the right strategies. They are waiting for the things to subside and take advantage of next cycle of growth," he said.

According to T.V. Mohandas Pai, member of the Infosys Board and head (HRD and Education & Research), there would be no fresh hiring in Infosys as the firm has "taken enough lateral hires in the first two quarters and [it has] already made commitments in advance in various campuses."

The firm, which spends almost 4 percent of its revenues or about $1.7 million annually on training and induction of new staff, would also reduce spending following the global slowdown, Pai said.

Meanwhile, the firm has clarified that it is not shifting any talent from the IT to its BPO business though to make its employees "multi-skilled" a lot of "cross training" takes place.

The clarification comes close on the heels of a nationwide furor sparked by media reports that smaller rival Wipro Technologies is indulging in the unscrupulous practice of hiring engineers but later forcing them to work as BPO employees. And, fresh recruits, who are opposed the idea, are being forced to accept salary cuts.

This practice is reportedly being carried out in Wipro's campuses in West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh among others.

However, Pradeep Bahirwani, vice president (talent acquisition), Wipro Technologies said the fresh recruits are not being forced and it was "an option for engineering graduates to join our BPO division as technical support engineers."

These new recruits, Bahirwani said, would work in Wipros BPO division for a period of 12 to 18 months after which they can choose to be moved to other divisions of the firm.

"If the students choose not to take up the BPO option, the offer for IT services holds good," he said but added that those who reject the BPO offer will face a delay in joining Wipro by six months.

A BPO employee generally earns about 60 percent salary of that of an employee working in a software development division.

Wipro said it will go ahead and add 14,000 jobs in the current fiscal as planned but will adopt a "wait and watch" policy with regard to future hiring.

"Given the uncertain business environment, the company will maintain a wait-and-watch policy," Bahirwani said. "We are waiting and watching the situation closely. We will hire only when there is definite demand. We will not hire in anticipation of demand because this is not business as usual. This is a time of uncertainty."

As on September 30, 2008, Wipro had 97,552 employees which includes 75,748 employees in their IT business unit and 21,804 employees in their BPO unit.

IT leader TCS or Tata Consultancy Services and fourth largest IT consultant and software services exporter Satyam Computer Services, which are set to hire 35,000 and 18,000 during the current fiscal have refused to comment on their hiring plans.

TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Satyam are the four biggest companies in India's IT-BPO industry, having a total workforce of 372,333 employees as on September 30, 2008.

As on September 30, TCS and Infosys employed 121,610 and 1,00,306 people respectively.

India's software and services exports stood at nearly $40.4 billion during financial year 2008, up from $31.4 billion in the previous year, with the US as its largest market. The revenue of overall IT-BPO industry, including the domestic market, recorded 28 percent growth to touch $52 billion in financial year 2008.

Source:- http://in.ibtimes.com/articles/20081215/global-slowdown-puts-freeze-hiring-plans-firms-but-bpo-outlook-positive_all.htm

Editorial: IT's worst year yet

2008-12-12T10:29:00.001+05:30

Business Standard / New Delhi December 12, 2008, 0:55 IST

The outlook for Indian software has never looked grimmer. Infosys CEO S Gopalakrishnan has indicated that the export-oriented industry may grow by only 15 per cent this year, down from nearly 30 per cent last year and an earlier Nasscom projection of 21-24 per cent for the current year. One immediate impact will be on jobs. Infosys is standing by its hiring target announced at the beginning of the financial year, but the chances of fresh hiring next year appear slim. It does seem as though this year will be worse than 2002-03, which followed the tech and telecom bubbles bursting and the impact of 9/11. The numbers for 2009-10 are also likely to be poor.

In response, the industry has adopted several strategies even as it has been blessed by a few fortuitous developments. The depreciating rupee is one, though the immediate gains may be limited because of the rates at which hedging was done. The second piece of good news is that attrition rates are falling, and compensation costs will come under control. The third good news is that more complex, higher-value work is coming to India in both software services and BPO. The crisis in the western financial services industry, which has provoked several mergers, is presenting new opportunities. These new merged entities will need to re-engineer their processes so that the earlier separate parts with their different IT architectures can talk to each other, and that presents work opportunities. The BPO industry had already been undergoing structural change by reducing dependence on the low-value, high-volume voice business, and focusing more on knowledge and legal process outsourcing. The importance of outsourced engineering services work has also been growing.

Meanwhile, the industry has been seeking to reduce reliance on the US and the UK, which together account for 80 per cent of its export revenue. Continental Europe has been growing at a compounded annual rate of 50 per cent. The industry has also been reducing its reliance on the financial services industry, which accounts for nearly 40 per cent of business, and this has been helped by the rise of a new sector comprising music, media and entertainment. Digitisation and archiving are growing areas and new alliances have been formed in the emerging field of media process outsourcing. But the biggest challenge for Indian IT to get out of its dependence on linearity (hours multiplied by wage rate) and to move into the products business, based on ownership of intellectual property. Making this into a substantial business is still a distant goal; in essence, Indian IT remains a software services (rather than a software) industry, and that will not change for the foreseeable future.

Source From:- www.business-standard.com

BPOs to lose 2.5 lakh jobs

2008-12-09T05:59:00.001+05:30

By siliconindia news bureau

Monday, December 8, 2008

New Delhi: The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry is expected to lose 2.5 lakh jobs as yet another outcome of the global recession. The layoff is likely to take place in the first quarter of 2009.

According to Samir Chopra, President, Business Process Industry Association of India (BPIAI), the only gain in this job cut was that the recession would require more companies in the U.S. and the Europe to view outsourcing as a way to cut costs and improve competence.

There was a trace of expansion plans taking place in the industry as the time taken for signing up new clients was extended, a result of the recession. It was also said to result in greater consolidation and promote diversification into areas until now considered as non-core activities.

Urgent government measures are seen as a boost for the industry, especially for the medium and small enterprises, explains Chopra. Fiscal and administrative measures such as extending tax relief for another 5-10 years and export promotions steps, including market development fund can also be an option, he further said.

Chopra also said the terrorist attacks in Mumbai have led to the widespread cancellations of visits and forthcoming international events.
Source:- Siliconindia

Is Google Sexist?

2008-12-07T18:38:00.000+05:30

By Jason Lee Miller - Fri, 12/05/2008 - 6:26pm.

Absence of one little word might say yes

In the movie version of the TV cartoon South Park, the boys ask Chef how to make women happy. Without thinking about to whom he’s talking, Chef tells them the secret, and the boys go off in search of it. If they’d searched on Google with strict safe filtering, though, they’d never have found it, an anticlimactic event to which many women might sniff and respond, “typical!”

No, with strict filtering engaged, the word “clitoris” brings back zero returns from Google. This may seem like a no-brainer; chances are that word will bring back some rather explicit results parents would rather their kids not discover just yet. But strict filtering does allow results, 37.5 million of them, for the word “penis.”

Images, too, but nothing one might necessarily call erotic, at least, one would hope.

This does seem a phenomenon limited to Google. Yahoo, even though it was confusing exactly when safe search was activated (locking SafeSearch on doesn’t appear to work right), brings back 6.3 million results for this particular unmentionable, but no images. Live Search brings back zero results, but to be fair, neither does “penis.”

Google doesn’t treat words like “vagina,” “vulva,” or “breast,” with the same kid gloves, nor words like “testicles,” or “scrotum.” The image results come back in rather shocking display for those words, illustrating for the most part things that can go badly, badly wrong with one’s genitalia.

So what gives? Why does Google single out this one particular part as too sexually explicit to pass its filters, even if just for discussion, or to answer a question for someone too embarrassed to ask another human? Well, Google has no official comment on the matter, or at least did not return request for comment and/or explanation of why “clitoris” landed on the Google naughty word list, a list of words reminiscent of George Carlin’s seven words you can’t say on television.

This single portion of the female anatomy has been relegated to what Tony Comstock calls Google’s “sex ghetto.” This ghetto includes words one shouldn’t take out of the locker room and should never let slip in front of Mom, as well as some other borderline words one might understand a lack of images for, but at least should be defined for the clinically curious: nude, naked, erotic, bastard, anus, fellatio, cunnilingus.

But Google isn’t known for being overly puritanical, especially when it comes to sexuality. The company recently lifted a ban on alcohol advertising, joining Google’s storied history of allowing porn ads, but gambling establishments and gun sellers remain advertisers-non-grata. If one can advertise it and talk about it in doctor language, it’s not entirely clear why Google would place the clitoris on the naughty words list.

Go ahead. You can say it. It’s not filthy if half the population has one. Clitoris, clitoris, clitoris.

Other critics say such avoidance is something much deeper, a silent but felt undercurrent influencing what’s acceptable in society and what’s not, and in this case, what’s unacceptable is something not only so overtly “dirty” and feminine, but something that takes away power (or perhaps necessity) from men. At the basest level, the clitoris being so powerfully trumped by the penis suggests an age-old problem of male domination.

“It's been clear for a long time that the giant obscene 'F' word in Internet censorship is feminism,” writes Susie Bright (NSFW, or as she would say, Not Safe for Prudes), whose latest book is entitled The Erotic Treasury. “…[W]omen's bodies? Oh, you're familiar with the filthy and unspeakable territory those will lead you into.”

It begs the question, then, is Google being sexist? That’s quite the loaded question, and it is possible whoever set up the filtering was being sexist without fully realizing it. After all, labeling the clitoris “unsafe,” isn’t quite on the same sexism level as say, assuming administrative work and bookkeeping are natural female occupations and that it’s okay, you big important businessman you, to call them “girls.”

Jody Lisberger, Ph.D., M.F.A., Interim Director of the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Rhode Island and author of the short story collectionRemember Love, intimated to WebProNews that subtle nuances of the language, such as relegating a part of the female anatomy to a list of naughty words, is inherently sexist because of what it suggests about power relationships.

“I'm not surprised to hear the word ‘clitoris’ is somehow conveyed as a ‘bad’ word,” said Dr. Lisberger, “After all, it's outside the body and something women can use to pleasure themselves. The power of the clitoris (which many men also come to learn and use to pleasure their partners) goes against the patriarchal notions of what one might call ‘normative heterosexuality’ and the ‘coital imperative.’

‘"Normative heterosexuality" assumes the sex act involves a man and a woman and that male sexuality and desire are supreme and the norm. The ‘coital imperative’ assumes the sex act is defined by the penetration of the woman by the man. The idea that women could give sexual pleasure to themselves, or that two women might be involved in a most intimate relationship without the need of a man, or that there might need to be a whole discourse that in fact addresses the desires of women threatens the most primal and vulnerable thing men have going for them.”

I think she means our penises, but I was thrown by the word “vulnerable.” Grunt. Snarl. Growl. The word “vulnerable,” in my search engine, returns no results.

Whether it is sexist or not to exclude the clitoris from filtered search results is likely a lengthy, heated debate. Wouldn’t it be reasonable, though (dare it be said?), that Google be more like Yahoo, and at least bring back clinical, technical-manual type results and leave the images in their proper place: the imagination?

Source:- Web Pro NEWS

Gurgaon BPOs feel the Mumbai

2008-12-07T13:00:00.000+05:30

Varun Sinha
Saturday, December 06, 2008 3:00 PM (Gurgaon)

America's official admission of a recession is hitting call centres in Gurgaon. Making things tougher are concerns about safety being voiced loudly and clearly by foreign clients after the Mumbai terror attacks.

The week that began with America announcing its recession has ended with Gurgaon weighing the consequences. And it's bad news.

"A quarter of a million jobs are at stake till the end of the financial year if no major changes take place. There is a major slowdown. Our capacity utilisation of our premises is going to be hit. You cannot keep people on bench for long," said Sam Chopra, president of BPO Industry Association.

The American crisis is likely to cost Gurgaon's call centres 30 per cent of their business over the next few months.

Meeting to discuss recession, BPOs agreed that security was a bigger concern in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.

"Problems have compounded because of the terror attacks. A lot of clients and trainers are scared of coming to India. When people don't come to India, they will not do business so keenly and there is alternative to do business. There is Philippines and China," said Sam.

And the impact is being felt immediately.

"In terms of short-term impact, a few clients have cancelled their visits primarily from a security fear because there have been travel advisories from large corporates to not to travel to India for the next month or so," said Srinivas R Pingali, executive vice president, Quatrro.

Foreign clients also don't want any negative publicity caused by security lapses. So call centres are also under pressure to add more security guards to man their offices and the cars that pick up and drop off young employees. But even those providing this security admit they're not up to the mark.

"Everybody turns around and says international security is better. That is because they get paid $40,000 to $65,000 a year. These are evolved people whereas we pick up people at minimum wages," said Arjun Walia, managing director, Walsons.

Therefore, from lay offs to safety, Gurgaon's call centres are now in SOS mode.

Source:- http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/mumbaiterrorstrike/Story.aspx?ID=NEWEN20080075470&type=News

BPO office needs expected to slump in first quarter 2009

2008-12-04T08:54:00.001+05:30

Vol. XXII, No. 94
Thursday, December 4, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

The Economy

DEMAND for office spaces by business process outsourcing (BPO) firms will drive construction this quarter, providing much-needed support for economic growth amid increasingly difficult times, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said yesterday.

But the picture may change momentarily in the first quarter next year as the BPO industry feels the pinch as recession in the US, the sector’s main market, forces companies there to cut back on spending, NEDA director for national planning and policy Dennis M. Arroyo told reporters yesterday.

Mr. Arroyo noted that BPO buildings expected to open this quarter are Glorietta 5, Solaris Tower One, Net Quad and Three World Square, all either in or near the Makati business district.

But he warned that "the BPO sector will be hit because of the crisis. The initial hit will take place in the first quarter of next year."

Demand could revive in the second quarter, as some companies turn to out-sourcing to cut costs. "The bigger the company, the harder it is to maneuver. It will take time for big companies to shift gears and let go of their people, so BPO orders can start coming in April," Mr. Arroyo said.

But Business Processing Association of the Philippines Chief Executive Officer Oscar R. Sañez said his group is moving to deflect any negative impact from the US recession. "Discussions are currently taking place, with companies from Australia, Europe, Singapore and the US that are planning to outsource their services in the country. We expect the demand for new BPO buildings [to remain] in the first two quarters of next year," he said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Mr. Arroyo said that private citizens are opting to invest in real estate as the stock market has become volatile.

He cited that the demand of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for houses could also contribute to growth in the construction sector.

"Housing wields a very high multiplier effect of 16.6 times. Every P1 invested in housing can potentially contribute a total of P16 in the economy," he said.

The construction sector grew 21.3% in the third quarter from 17.8% in the same period last year. Public construction grew by 20% from 11.5%, as the national government raised infrastructure spending by 52.7% and local governments by 11.2%. Private construction grew 13.8% from 19.5% in the same periods, spurred by the demand from BPO firms and from OFWs. — Louella D. Desiderio

Source

IT cos with BPO arms to steal show

2008-12-04T08:51:00.000+05:30

MUMBAI/BANGALORE: Having won more than half of large BPO contracts announced during past one year, leading software services firms with

back-office arms are set to become bigger players in the BPO market, according to research firm Datamonitor.

Companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Cognizant also accounted for almost 80% of the total value of large BPO contracts awarded in the past one year. According to Datamonitor, 54.3% of all large BPO deals were signed by IT services vendors having BPO arms, and not specialist BPO firms.

"While the BPO players did account for 44.7% of all announced deals, their cumulative contract value reflects only 19.5% of overall deal value," said Vamshi Krishna Mokshagundam, analyst with Datamonitor India. "BPO services are being increasingly signed on as part of a bigger IT services contract."

The largest BPO deal announced in recent times, amidst a period of financial turmoil and instability, was Citigroup's $ 2.5 billion contract to TCS following its acquisition of Citi’s BPO arm in India. The deal is noteworthy from the point that a multi-billion dollarBPO deal went to an IT services player and also that TCS was keen on acquiring the asset despite questions surrounding Citigroup's own financial stability.

BPO deals are also coming to IT players as part of larger integrated contracts. TCS itself won a BPO piece to handle finance and human resource processes for AC Neilsen as part of a larger $1.2- billion contract to handle its IT and operations functions.
Similarly, Cognizant Technology Solutions, which has traditionally been strong in healthcare and lifesciences, has won a $ 95 million deal for clinical data managementfrom Astra Zeneca— probably the largest publicly announced deal in knowledge process outsourcing.

When Merck extended its relationship with Cognizant in December last, it made it a key technology partner providing applications outsourcing, IT infrastructure management and BPO.

The revenue figures also bear out the higher BPO focus of IT firms, in recent times. Number two software firm, Infosys Technologies, has grown its IT services revenues from $ 931.5 million to $ 1101 million in the twelve-month period to September 2008. Its BPO revenues have grown from $ 53 million to $ 72 million in the same period. In other words, IT services have grown by 18% compared to a 36% growth in BPO revenues.

"IT firms are now seeing BPO as one of the growth engines. They have also been strong in application development and maintenance but in BPO, they haven't yet scratched the surface, so they see it as an area with a lot of potential," said an executive with one of the IT firms who did not wish to be identified.

In some cases, pure-play BPO firms are also seeing undercutting by a few tier II firms. "In these tough times, customers want to consolidate with fewer vendors, and get the best rates," admitted a senior executive of a leading Indian tech firm requesting anonymity.

Pure-play BPO vendors such as WNS Global Services admit that back-office contracts are becoming more IT-driven, although it is from a tools and optmisation perspective.

Quezon City eyes vibrant BPO industry

2008-12-03T10:18:00.001+05:30

Updated December 03, 2008 12:00 AM

Despite the economic slump, the Quezon City government is still keen on producing potential manpower for the business processing outsourcing (BPO) industry.

This was evident with the launching of the second phase of a six-week free call center training program for underprivileged QC residents at the Central Colleges of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa as the city government mounts a continuing effort to provide a constant pool talents in the outsourcing sector.

“The city government would like to take advantage of the situation on a positive note,” said Manuel Sabalza, assistant city administrator for operations and chairman of the QC Information and Communication Technology/Business Process Outsourcing task force.

About 1,000 call center agents are needed right away by BPO locators in Quezon City, Sabalza said.

Todate, the city-initiated call center competency course has already benefited 140 qualified city residents since its launching in September this year.

Beneficiaries were awarded scholarships amounting to P15,000 to cover payment for the training program, which also provides participants with free meals and transportation allowance.

Of the 70 city residents trained in the first batch, at least half have already been provided BPO career-related jobs in Sitel, Cipher, Sykes, NCO, Teletech, E-PLDT Ventures and PNI.

In the next two years, the city government hopes to produce manpower for the outsourcing and off-shoring sectors.

From a pioneering cyberpark in Eastwood City, Quezon City now has 28 ICT parks registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), the biggest of which so far, is the 38-hectare UP Science and Technology Park along Commonwealth Avenue.

Over the past few years, the Philippines has established itself as one of the top countries in the BPO industry, together with India and Canada. In 2007, the Philippines was named best outsourcing destination by the National Outsourcing Association of the Philippines.

Source - http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=420582

IT sector job seekers face pressure

2008-12-02T07:52:00.001+05:30

Pradipta Mukherjee / Kolkata December 02, 2008, 0:51 IST

Information technology (IT) employees and fresh graduates in Kolkata have started to see salary cuts and employee lay offs.

IT and ITeS companies wanted either experienced personnel or was focused on cost cutting measures.

A few of the IT companies have even put their Bengal plans on hold.

Although the financial turmoil has not yet prompted large-scale sackings in Salt Lake’s sector V, the IT hub for Kolkata, the general notion is that trainee jobs have dried up.

A slowdown in hiring and pay-hike squeeze had been forecast by the IT industry association, Nasscom, confirming the worst fears of young professionals.

“The attrition rates have come down by at least six to seven per cent in the past few months because of the market condition. This will surely slow down hiring,” said Som Mittal, the president of Nasscom.

The industry is working very hard to improve utilisation of resources, which will also have an impact on the need for fresh manpower.

Last year, the manpower growth in IT was around 15 per cent and the headcount had crossed 2 million.

“The average growth in increment, too, will take a hit and come down from last year’s 13 to 14 per cent to a single-digit figure,” said Sangeeta Gupta, the vice-president of Nasscom.

The situation will compound problems for youngsters either passing out of colleges or planning to switch jobs.

The indefinite postponement of the joining dates of a number of fresh graduates from Jadavpur University and Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, is another indication of the tough days awaiting job aspirants.

For instance, Wipro Technologies, one of the largest IT companies operating in Kolkata, has asked engineering graduates to join its business process outsourcing (BPO) department instead of joining as project engineers.

As project engineers, the students were supposed to get Rs 2.75-3.25 lakh a year, while as a BPO employee, this has been reduced to Rs 1.2-1.6 lakh annually, the students said.

ACS to increase India headcount by 1,000

2008-12-01T11:18:00.000+05:30

Surabhi Agarwal
Posted: 2008-12-01 23:57:01+05:30 IST
Updated: Dec 01, 2008 at 2357 hrs IST

New Delhi: Amidst fears of lower spending on IT by global corporations, the underlying optimism of the Indian IT and ITeS industry of increased outsourcing to the country because of the slowdown is beginning to show some promise.

Dallas-headquartered Affiliated Computer Systems Inc (ACS), the world’s largest BPO company is planning to expand its India operations by a 1,000 people to meet the greater demand for offshoring from its US clients. It is setting up a new facility in Noida which is expected to be operational over the next three months.

According to Aman Mustafa, country head and vice-president, ACS India, the meltdown is spurring more projects from its clients. “To meet the increased demand, we are expanding offshore operations in international locations like Philippines, Jamaica, Mexico and India,” said Mustafa.

However, in a recent conference call after its financial results on October 30, the company officials had made public their decision to move 4,200 jobs outside the US during this financial year. This will not only help boost the company’s offshoring capabilities but also result in cost saving during these tough times. India with 5,000 employees makes for one of the largest delivery centres of ACS outside the US, which has a total workforce of 67,000 employees and a presence in 100 countries. Of the total 1,000 new hires in the next 8-12 months, 500 will be based in its Noida facility, while the rest 500 will be added to its existing centres in Bangalore, Kochi and Chennai.

Currently, Bangalore is the company’s largest facility in India with around 3,000 employees. On the motive behind setting up a new centre in Noida, Mustafa said, “We have been operating in the South for the last 5 years, its time we tap into the opportunity in the North.” The talent pool available in the Northern part of the country is what is attracting ACS to set up a base there, as it readies to foray into the smaller towns of Jaipur and Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

Big in the government sector, with around 45% of its revenues coming for the local, state and federal governments, the US constitutes for around 90% of its revenues. While BPO operations account two-third of ACS’ revenues, a Fortune 500 company, the rest comes from IT services. Apart from expanding its offshore operations, the company is also eyeing the lucrative Middle East market.

Source:- http://www.financialexpress.com/news/ACS-to-increase-India-headcount-by-1-000/392512/

IT majors acquiring BPO units to offer end-to-end services

2008-11-30T15:22:00.004+05:30

Kirtika Suneja / New Delhi November 30, 2008, 0:10 IST

Business process outsourcing (BPO) players are becoming wary of losing business to major Indian and global IT firms that have a larger global footprint, and offer clients end-to-end solutions which include BPO services.

A case in point is that of India’s largest IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services recently acquiring the back-office operations of Citigroup for $505 million (over Rs 2,400 crore) even though pure-play BPO majors like Genpact and Firstsource were in the race. “It is not a new thing for the IT companies to acquire captives and then convert them into third-party providers. This trend has been observed for the last six-seven years but in the current situation, this is significant as the IT and BPO companies have a similar customer base that is based on the offshore model. Also, both these are people-intensive businesses,” explains Akhilesh Tuteja, head of IT advisory, KPMG.

TCS is not the only IT company to have bought a BPO firm. India’s third largest IT services provider, Wipro had bought Spectramind eServices from Quatrro for about $175 million. Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computers and HCL Technologies have their separate BPO arms. Satyam had acquired Nipuna, which then became its BPO arm. HCL Tech had acquired Deutsche Bank’s captive, which is now HCL BPO.

Because of synergies in the two businesses, IT firms can use the same infrastrucure and deploy similar resources to provide BPO services to clients, note analysts. Not only do IT companies benefit from this trend but clients can also get the services at lower costs. They can save their overhead costs as the IT companies can provide them BPO services along with IT services. For instance, Infosys BPO (formerly Progeon), won the insurance business of GreenPoint Mortgage, in a competitive bid with a pureplay BPO. Similarly, TCS BPO had some time ago won the BPO work of one of the top five retail companies in the US.

Vinu B Kartha, principal of research and advisory firm Tholons, said, “BPO is the logical extension for IT companies because IT is like a business process. The IT compaies can use the skills of their people on a large scale. They can also offer BPO as a package with their IT services.”

Read More

Arcelor Mittal to cut 9,000 jobs

2008-11-30T14:35:00.003+05:30

London: World's largest steel producer ArcelorMittal on Friday said it will trim its workforce by up to 9,000 by offering a voluntary separation programme.

The focus would be primarily on non-production employees, particularly those in SG & A (selling, general and administrative) functions across the globe, a statement from ArcelorMittal said.

"These programmes may involve up to 9,000 employees, approximately three per cent of the total global workforce," it added.

Hit by global economic meltdown that has led to a steep slump in demand for steel, the L N Mittal-led firm said its move to launch a voluntary separation programme for employees is to help "achieve the company's stated aim of reducing SG & A expenditure by $1 billion in response to the current economic situation".

The company said it is meeting its European Works Council today to present the voluntary separation programme to be launched across the group.

The steel major said it would run the programmes in "close collaboration" with stakeholders and in accordance with appropriate social considerations of the respective countries involved.

Commenting on the company's move, Bernard Fontana, Executive Vice President and Member of ArcelorMittals Management Committee with responsibility for Human Resources said: "This has been a very difficult decision for the company to take as all of our employees are extremely important to us. Sadly, however, the global economic reality means that it is only sensible to adopt such measures."

Source: Business Standard

HSBC says to shed 500 jobs in Asia

2008-11-29T18:34:00.003+05:30

Tuesday November 18, 02:00 PM
HSBC says to shed 500 jobs in Asia

HONG KONG (Reuters) - HSBC will lay off 500 staff in Asia, 90 percent of which will be in Hong Kong, due to deteriorating economic conditions and its cautious outlook for 2009, spokesman Gareth Hewett said on Tuesday.

This will be HSBC's second round of layoffs in the region. In September, HSBC said it was cutting 1,100 jobs in its investment banking operation, or 4 percent of the unit's total, including about 100 in Hong Kong, where the bank's Asian unit is based.

The 450 Hong Kong jobs that will be cut represent 2 percent of the bank's workforce in the city.

Source: http://in.biz.yahoo.com/081118/137/6z2f5.html

IT firm cheats techies in Chennai

2008-11-26T10:40:00.001+05:30

Madhu Bharathi
Wednesday, November 26, 2008, (Chennai)

You would have heard of chit companies or even investment companies duping people and fleeing with their hard earned money. However, now an IT company is doing the same in Chennai, as it allegedly cheated software engineers by collecting crores of rupees as security deposit.

The company had promised jobs for more than 400 fresh graduates and collected Rs one lakh to Rs two lakh but has now closed down without leaving a trace.

Fresh engineering graduates jumped at the offer. They even paid a security deposit of a lakh and a half each while being recruited in the company and signed a two-year bond.

They were to undergo six months training in Thiruvananthapuram after which they were to be confirmed. But their joy remained shortlived as the company folded up, leaving more than 400 fresh recruits in the lurch. Forget about compensation, even their security deposit has not been refunded.

"They said they will pay us Rs 11,000 first, and then Rs 17000 to Rs 20000. They did not pay anything," said an affected software engineer.

"They trained us for only 15 days. The training was bad. By the time we asked for a different trainer, the company shut down," said another engineer.

Most of the software engineers are from small towns in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and some even from Orissa, who even borrowed money to pay the deposit. Now they have no salary to keep the home fires burning. And creditors are already knocking at their doors.

"We asked them to accept certificates as bond. But we had to give Rs 1.5 lakh. We had to pawn our jewels," said husband of an affected engineer.

The police have formed two special teams to look for the three main accused - Arun Kumar Ramiah, Zakir Husain and Sasi.

"Registering a company is so easy these days. These laws should be toughened so other students will not face same trouble," said Sankara Kutraliangam, advocate for affected software engineers.

As the economic slowdown sets in, and many more companies from the West shying away from BPO investments, experts have asked job seekers to be careful while accepting such terms of employment.

Source

Outsourcing to India to go up: D&B

2008-11-26T10:38:00.000+05:30

NEW DELHI: Here's some good news for the recession-hit Indian outsourcing Industry: The country is expected to remain the prime destination for outsourcing/offshoring, according to a Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) study.

And mind you, India will retain its strong position in the outsourcing market not only because of the price advantage it offers, but largely because Indian outsourcing firms have now evolved into truly global companies that can offer best in class services at very competitive prices, notes the study.

The study, titled ‘India's Top ITeS and BPO Companies 2008’, compares India with leading outsourcing destinations like China, the Philippines, Mexico, Malaysia, Brazil, Czech Republic and Chile.

According to the report, outsourcing and offshoring to Indian BPOs is likely to become more important part of companies overall strategy as they focus on cost rationalisation in the current global meltdown.

The study shows that India's ITes industry still holds a cost advantage, banking on low wages and salary cost. The country has the second lowest ITes/BPO salary base of about $7,500-8,500, just little above China's $7,000-8,000.

The Philippines, on the other hand, has an average salary of $9,000-10,000. Besides, it has the added advantage of a large pool of ever-increasing technical graduates.

Another advantage India offers is its large talent pool of English-speaking graduates, including engineers and management graduates.

However, North America and Europe -- key markets for ITeS-BPO companies -- are experiencing an economic slowdown and that is bound to have some impact on the ITeS and BPO industry as a whole, the report stated.

Source

BPO Going Rural

2008-11-25T13:54:00.000+05:30

By CXOtoday Staff
Mumbai, Nov 24, 2008 1727 hrs IST

As the BPO industry gears up to generate $50 billion export volume this year in India, BPO operators from small town and villages are likely to emerge as potential drivers for this growth.

"With the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) industry flourishing across the smaller cities and villages in India, rural BPOs are the next revolution in Indian IT sector to happen", said Ashank Desai, chairman of Mastek and a NASSCOM member at recent IIM-A confluence. "Over last 15 years we have increased the business size of industry almost 800 times and we have created 2 million jobs in the country directly, and made the way for another 6-8 million indirect jobs", added he.

With some of the forthcoming rural BPOs in Karnataka and Haryana along with the existing ones, the industry is going to impact about eight million people or 40 million families in India.

The low cost of operations and considerably lower employee attrition rate are the two key factors that have encouraged many BPO organizations to extend their operations in the small towns and villages. Making the business process more cost-effective for companies, these rural BPOs will reduce the cost for Indian IT companies first and later on globally as well.

Source

Jobs to double for IT sector in next 8 yrs

2008-11-24T18:30:00.001+05:30

Ashok Kumar (Expressindia.com)
Posted: Nov 22, 2008 at 2025 hrs IST

New Delhi, August 22: Premier School of International Business IIFT and NASSCOM along with other luminary companies of the IT sector on Monday joined hands to organise a national symposium and discuss the opportunities and challenges on the IT expressway ahead.

The focus of the symposium was to discover avenues for the IT and ITeS companies to sustain and remain globally competitive in a dynamics of the international business arena.

Gracing the occasion as a guest of honour, IT secretary to the government of India Jainder Singh, said, “The total numbers of IT and ITeS like BPO’s professionals have grown from an estimated 2, 84,000 in 1999-2000 to 1, 287,000 in the current year.” He added that apart from these figures at least thirty-lakh job opportunities have been created by this sector in giving indirect employment to people.

Singh also impressed on the need to move on the value chain by being innovative across three dimensions of business, knowledge and ecosystem. Putting stress on the quality, he said that the IT sector has to spread to other countries by tapping new centres of emerging demand. He also alarmed the trade of keeping with the times by introducing appropriate changes by working in sync with the industry and the academia.

Shri Kiran Karnik, President of NASSCOM, highlighted the significant role of the country, which it is going to play in the export of software services. He emphasised the need to understand the sector in the world trade, which is critical to business.

Laying stress on the engineering services and understanding of the global business he said that the projected picture of export of engineering services alone by 2020 is up to the tune of $40-$50bn; as such one can gain by focussing on these areas. Karnik also cited HR crunch on talent and the dearth of requisite professionals is the biggest challenge for the industry to reckon with.

Prabir Sen Gupta, Director of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade said that the tremendous growth at which the IT sector is growing in India is remarkable by its sheer role in employment generation and GDP growth.

He also stated that the contribution of IT companies to the GDP is expected to increase from the current levels of approximately 5% to 10% by the year 2008. He also added that the Indian IT sector offers high quality services at minimal costs.

Mr Sen Gupta explained that one of the challenges for the sector lies in striving for the adequate number of the skilled people for the industry, even as he was hopeful that employment in the IT sector is expected to be double in lesser period than a decade.

Main focus areas of the symposium were, issues and challenges for IT and ITeS firms to sustain their global competitiveness, Domestic market: The road ahead and issues and challenges for global IT managers from the Human Resource perspective.

In the question hour session, of ‘the challenges for global IT managers, from the IT perspective’, in response to one of the queries regarding the management of HRs the dais said that getting a person in a company with a right attitude is a pre-requisite of any company. The person recruited should have a go-getter attitude, which is what makes all the difference. HR the panel agreed is a domain in the IT industry like everywhere which provides a platform to develop themselves while working for the concerned company.

Source

‘Dip in IT-BPO hiring likely’

2008-11-21T10:39:00.001+05:30

Info-Tech - Human Resources

Unprecedented events make forecasting tough: Nasscom.

Our Bureau

Bangalore, Nov. 20 IT/BPO hiring in the next few quarters is likely to be lower because of the unprecedented events, the Nasscom President, Mr Som Mittal, has said.

Speaking to newspersons at the IT Women Leadership Summit 2008, Mr Mittal said Nasscom has been talking to IT/BPO and engineering companies and a large number of them are talking of growth, though ‘lesser growth.’

“The top ten listed companies have shown 25 per cent year-on-year growth for the last six months, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens in the next two quarters,” he said. He termed these as ‘unprecedented events’ and said it was difficult to forecast the future.

Trend analysis

Meanwhile, companies that have been impacted by their customers’ downsizing will have to right-size, he said. “Net hiring will continue to happen as there are companies that are growing, and therefore hiring, and companies that are cutting jobs. We have asked companies to talk to one another and hire from each other,” Mr Mittal told newspersons here.

He said Nasscom was doing a trend analysis, which would be completed in four weeks. “We will then be able project growth trends for the next four quarters. We had anyway projected 21-24 per cent growth this year,” he said.

Explore new markets

Meanwhile, Nasscom has asked member companies to venture into unexplored markets for its future growth. “Geographical dispersion helps. We are asking member companies to look at Japan, the Nordic and Scandinavian countries for business.” Sectors that would continue to grow and hire are pharma, healthcare, entertainment and media.

The companies have also been asked to invest more in developing domain expertise. “There is a great tech shortage and we have to cash in on this,” he said.

Related Stories:
Back office workers keeping their fingers crossed
Attrition rate in BPOs highest in the country at 23.5%: Report

More Stories on : Human Resources | Outsourcing

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Infosys looking at acquisitions in Japan, Europe

2008-11-18T09:50:00.003+05:30

November 17th, 2008 - 4:21 pm ICT by IANS -

New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) Despite the global economic slowdown, India’s second largest IT exporter Infosys Technologies Monday said it was looking at mergers and acquisitions in Europe and Japan as it would “accelerate growth”.”We are looking at acquisitions and have a dedicated team working on it. We do not make an acquisition based on valuation alone, we will invest and acquire in companies which make strategic sense and are able to integrate in that entity properly,” Infosys chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director Kris Gopalakrishnan said.

“We had two focus areas to fill a gap in our services like consultancy, business process outsourcing and geography-based acquisitions, typically in Europe and Japan, where with acquisition we can accelerate growth,” he added.

He said Infosys wanted to invest in the “right company for the right price”.

Gopalakrishnan agreed that the economic situation was challenging and companies working in the non-financial services business were also facing the heat.

“The downturn is global in nature and not just limited to North America. The environment is challenging and the impact is being felt on the whole economy,” he said.

Gopalakrishnan, however, said the economic crunch had not affected the company’s hiring plans.

Earlier this fiscal, the software major announced it would hire recruit 25,000 new people this financial year.

The company which signed 40 new customers in the last quarter has revised its growth rate prediction to about 15 percent annually.

The CEO said he was not very concerned whether the new US administration led by Barack Obama would introduce protectionist measures, offering tax breaks to American companies which do not outsource jobs, as mentioned in the Democrat leader’s campaign manifesto.

“I cannot make any comment on what policies the administration will adopt when Obama takes office in January. However, in the past, we have seen that the mention of outsourcing and job losses during the campaign did not translate into change when new presidents came in,” Gopalakrishnan said.

He added that globalisation was one of the key avenues for growth and India could act as the centre of growth and provide opportunities for other economies.

Giving his approval to the bailout package of the US government, he said the global economy would stabilise by the second half of 2010 and then return to current levels of growth.

Source

BPO company to hire 5,000 more workers

2008-11-12T10:26:00.001+05:30

11/12/2008 | 03:10 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Local outsourcing firm Aegis PeopleSupport plans to hire 5,000 more workers as it expands its service to local companies seeking to subcontract work.

In a briefing Tuesday, officials said they would focus on capturing clients from the Philippines, which remain largely untapped. Aegis BPO Services Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Aparup Sengupta said they expect Philippine operations to expand soon. "Clearly, we should add at least 5,000 employees," he added. Aegis PeopleSUpport used to be known as PeopleSupport, Inc. until it was acquired by Indian business process outsourcing (BPO) firm Aegis BPO for $250 million early this year

-The company said serving the Philippine market would help it maximize the use of its facilities. All of its clients now are in the US, and its offices are only busy during night time here. "This will help us maximize the use of our assets," Aegis PeopleSupport Country President Bong M. Borja said. — Paolo Luis G. Montecillo, BsuinessWorld

Source

BPOs likely to outsource their staff training: exec

2008-11-12T10:23:00.004+05:30

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/11/2008 1:41 PM

ExcelAsia president Rita Trillo-Ugarte said that with the emergence of outsourcing as a solution for multinational companies (MNC), the country is presented with plenty of opportunities.

"Even if global companies downsized their workforce as a cost-cutting solution, there will still be plenty of work left to be done. This is where the Philippines becomes a strategic location for new outsourcing opportunities. Companies who used to outsource call centers only will now consider outsourcing their back offices too," she said.

Trillo-Ugarte said that by outsourcing recruitment and training processes, MNCs get more cost and effort savings which can be used on expanding their respective businesses. With outsourcing, she added that clients can get skilled agents who are specifically developed for their needs.

"Outsourcing training facilities to a third-party specialist is becoming more valuable among our BPO clients. Companies that conduct their own recruitment and training need big facilities and additional human resource (HR) professionals," she said.

Even with the global financial crisis, the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry remains confident that it can meet its 2008 growth target of 40 percent, generating revenue of up to $7 billion.

ExcelAsia, one of the country's leading HR solutions companies, has 35 BPO clients served through recruitment, training, executive search, and HR and business development consultancy. It has increased business partnerships despite the global financial crisis, with new BPO clients requesting for 500 monthly endorsements.

as of 11/11/2008 1:42 PM

Source

BPOs likely to outsource their staff training: exec

2008-11-12T10:23:00.003+05:30

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/11/2008 1:41 PM

ExcelAsia president Rita Trillo-Ugarte said that with the emergence of outsourcing as a solution for multinational companies (MNC), the country is presented with plenty of opportunities.

"Even if global companies downsized their workforce as a cost-cutting solution, there will still be plenty of work left to be done. This is where the Philippines becomes a strategic location for new outsourcing opportunities. Companies who used to outsource call centers only will now consider outsourcing their back offices too," she said.

Trillo-Ugarte said that by outsourcing recruitment and training processes, MNCs get more cost and effort savings which can be used on expanding their respective businesses. With outsourcing, she added that clients can get skilled agents who are specifically developed for their needs.

"Outsourcing training facilities to a third-party specialist is becoming more valuable among our BPO clients. Companies that conduct their own recruitment and training need big facilities and additional human resource (HR) professionals," she said.

Even with the global financial crisis, the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry remains confident that it can meet its 2008 growth target of 40 percent, generating revenue of up to $7 billion.

ExcelAsia, one of the country's leading HR solutions companies, has 35 BPO clients served through recruitment, training, executive search, and HR and business development consultancy. It has increased business partnerships despite the global financial crisis, with new BPO clients requesting for 500 monthly endorsements.

as of 11/11/2008 1:42 PM

Source

Pune varsity targets BPO jobs by BPO Jobs Info

2008-11-11T10:41:00.001+05:30

Pune varsity targets BPO jobs
Kaustubh Kulkarni / Pune November 11, 2008, 0:55 IST

The University of Pune is planning to churn out 50,000 business process outsourcing (BPO) professionals every year through a ‘distance learning’ training programme it has launched in association with Cisco and the newly-formed firm Global Talent Track (GTT). The management reasons that employment opportunities through conventional streams are few and this new optional course will help students get jobs in the BPO sector.

Initiated by university vice-chancellor and economist Narendra Jadhav, the programme will enrol teachers and students from 100 affiliated colleges in Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik districts.

Colleges participating in the programme would take care of the infrastructure and connectivity required for the programme. GTT will design and develop content, training modules and a help-desk for participants; Cisco would be responsible for interconnectivity and upgrade of connectivity required at colleges.

"The training modules have been designed so that students will have an option to select modules of their interest and liking. The ever-growing BPO sector needs employable graduates, which the current educational system is unable to provide. This programme will provide vocational education to students during their graduation years so that they immediately find a job in a BPO firm. The course is not mandatory,” said Jadhav.