Flash-Headline :HCL BULLISH ON RETAIL GROWTH

INDUSTRY
PUNJAB, HARYANA CAN EMERGE AS KNOWLEDGE VALLEY: ASSOCHAM
Chandigarh, September 10, 2007
The Economic Times Hindustan Times (Chandigarh edition)Punjab and Haryana can emerge as the Knowledge Valley of India, attracting Rs 50,000 crore additional investments, which can create employment opportunities for 25 lakh skilled and unskilled people by 2012, a study by industry chamber Assocham has said
In a paper 'Punjab and Haryana- The Knowledge Valley of India', Assocham said that the promising areas in knowledge valley would include educational institutions, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and nano-technology.
Assocham President V N Dhoot said low investment in the region prompted Assocham to conduct a study in Punjab and Haryana to find out how ways attract investment in the region.
Stating that the proposed investment could come through public-private partnership (PPP) model, Dhoot advocated for foreign investments in the field of education sector. He said Assocham has already urged the Union government for allowing 100 per cent FDI in education sector.
The chamber further said both state governments should focus on building a strong infrastructure for the knowledge valley of India.
Investment in knowledge valley basically aims at uplifting the people below poverty line, improve human resources and achieve total literacy level in this region, which is less than 75 per cent, he said.


13 INDIAN FIRMS IN WEF GLOBAL GROWTH COMPANIES' LIST
Dalian (Beijing), September 10, 2007
Mint Thirteen fast-growing Indian firms have joined as founding members of the 125-strong community of Global Growth Companies, a new initiative of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Announcing the new initiative at the Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions, which concluded here in the northeast Chinese port city on Saturday, Founder and Executive Chairman of WEF, Klaus Schwab, said he was elated with the creation of a new community of fast-growing companies who are destined to join the ranks of global multinationals in the next 5 to 10 years.
"These are a very special group of companies that have not really been understood," he said on list, which is dominated by 22 fast-growing Chinese companies.
The 13 Indian companies are: Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Co. Ltd, Apollo International Ltd., CMS Computers Ltd., Crompton Greaves Ltd., Financial Technologies (India) Ltd., iGATE Global Solutions Ltd., Moser Baer India Ltd., Praj Industries Ltd., Rajshree Sugar and Chemicals Ltd., Rupa & Co. Ltd., UTV Software Communications Ltd., Wockhardt Ltd. and YES BANK Ltd.
Forty percent of the members of the Community of Global Growth Companies are from Asia; 26 percent hail from Europe; 20 percent are based in the Americas; and 14 percent come from Africa and the Middle East.


HP SET TO BECOME THE NEW INFOTECH CZAR
Chidanand Rajghatta, September 10, 2007
The Times of India (Delhi edition)Which is the biggest infotech company in the world? Microsoft leaps to mind immediately because of its high profile and its $266 billion market cap. But the correct answer might surprise you.
In terms of revenue, Hewlett-Packard (HP) currently occupies top spot, having pipped IBM with $91.7 billion in sales in 2006 compared to Big Blue's $91.4 billion. It is expected to become the first $100 billion I-T company in terms of revenue, with sales expected to cross that figure in 2007. Just to get a relative sense of that number, India's total exports are in the region of $125 billion.
Quite a feat for a small workshop cranked out of a garage (hence originator of the term 'garage start-up') in 1939 by two Stanford University graduates with an investment of $538.
The story goes that Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to determine whether the company would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett. Packard won, but still decided on HP.
Over the years HP grew to be an American behemoth best known for its printers. It was one of the first and finest products of the Silicon Valley eco-system.


SMALL-UNIT IMPETUS TO IBM GROWTH
Sohini Mookherjea, Calcutta, September 10, 2007
The Telegraph IBM India is opening offices in tier II and tier III cities to tap small and medium businesses (SMBs).
The company said India, China, Korea and the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were the fastest growing markets for small and medium businesses.
"After Jamshedpur, we will go to Nashik, Surat, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Madurai and Ludhiana," said Vivek Malhotra, vice president — global small & medium business, IBM India. The company earlier opened similar centres in Visakhapatnam, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Coimbatore, Goa, Bhopal and Lucknow.
India contributes 24 percent to IBM's growth in the SMB segment, while China contributes 35 percent.
The company's SMB division contributes nearly 20 percent to its total revenue.
"In the eastern region, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bengal and Assam have a huge potential in the segment," Malhotra said.
"The offices will help us in being close to our customers. This presence is critical since the SMBs employ almost 70 percent of the global workforce," said Malhotra.
In the Indian subcontinent, the SMBs have spent around $7.7 billion to ramp up their infotech infrastructure. Research agency ACNielsen forecasts this amount to go up substantially in 2008. There are over nine million SMBs in India and each of them spends around Rs 30 lakh on IT solutions.
IBM plans to revamp its solutions to meet SMB needs. It will scale down solution and application functionalities to suit operational-management capabilities and budgets.
"SMBs are looking for operational efficiency, lower cost of operations, security and an infrastructure that's easy to use. We are investing to strengthen education, demand generation and technical support to business partners," Malhotra said.


OPINION
POSITIVE ACTION FOR DEALING WITH CHANGE
Nandan M Nilekani, September 10, 2007
The Economic TimesAs global business leaders, we operate at a time when the need to address larger issues such as climate change and poverty is becoming more urgent. Questions are being asked about the role that large companies play in addressing these challenges. This is why the inquiry into Tomorrow's Global Company, initiated by the Tomorrow's Company think-tank, has proved so timely and relevant.
This writer co-chaired the inquiry that brought together representatives from businesses based in Asia, North America and Europe as well as people from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and not-for-profit groups. They came from ABB, Alcan, Amnesty International Business Group, BP, Dr Reddy's, Ford, The International Institute for Sustainable Development, KPMG, Leaders' Quest, McKinsey, Standard Chartered etc.
Given this diversity of backgrounds, it was interesting to find a remarkable degree of consensus in our views. We agreed that the market economy has proved a powerful force for innovation, growth, employment and development. Today, the market's power is most dramatically seen in the process of globalisation, which is driving up productivity and creating prosperity.
However, we also agreed that the world is undergoing unprecedented change, characterised not only by economic growth but by increasing pressure on the environment and continuing social, political and cultural divisions. The positive power of globalisation is not touching many lives.
Global companies — with their scale, power, capabilities and experience — are uniquely placed to deliver practical solutions to resolve these issues. They can develop new technologies, create jobs, raise skill levels, set benchmarks in working conditions and provide goods and services to improve living standards for the world's poor. In other words, companies can make a positive difference.
Going beyond our current efforts, we need to envision a world in which companies make profits and create shareholder value while tackling large global problems. There is no simple answer. But we have agreed on specific priorities — actions we believe companies should take to realise our shared vision.
Our three priorities were: redefining success, living by strong values, and deeper engagement with governments, etc., to create stronger market frameworks. We saw these as critical factors for changing businesses from wealth creators to agents of social change.
(The author is co-chairman, Infosys Technologies)


IT PARKS/SEZ
VIDEOCON TO INVEST RS 100-500 CRORE ON PUNJAB SEZ
Chandigarh, September 10, 2007
The Economic Times Hindustan TimesConsumer electronics major Videocon Industries on Sunday announced its decision to set up a multi-product special economic zone spread over an area of 1,000 hectares in Punjab with an investment of Rs 100-Rs 500 crore.
"We will be developing a 1,000 hectares SEZ in the field of agriculture as well as electronics and hardware sectors in Punjab which will involve an investment of over Rs 100 to Rs 500 crore," Videocon Industries Chairman and Managing Director, VN Dhoot told reporters here on Sunday.
Dhoot is expected to meet Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in this regard.
The company will acquire land for this purpose on its own rather than asking the state government, he said.
Videocon Group is also looking for a suitable location for to set up a semi-conductor unit in the country.
"We are scouting for the land for the setting up a semi- conductor unit but the location has not been finalised yet," he said.
The company, which proposes to invest over Rs 1,000 crore on semi-conductor unit, is also looking for some incentive from government for this unit.
"We will be setting up this unit in that state which will offer us land and power at reasonable rates. In addition to it, the government should also provide us enough water for our semi conductor unit," he said.
However, he dismissed reports that the company was setting this semi conductor unit in West Bengal.


INDORE IT PARK MIRED IN RED TAPE
Shashikant Trivedi, New Delhi/ Bhopal September 10, 2007
Business StandardBureaucratic hurdles, non-transparency in dealings and corruption has marred the privatisation process of Crystal IT Park in Indore. Even six months after awarding special economic zone status to the IT Park, the MP government is yet to decide on the privatisation of the multi-storeyed building.
No software company has come forward to take a square foot of the park, even after one year of the completion of the building. The 550,000 square foot building bears a deserted look since its completion.
Built with an investment of Rs 44 crore at prime locality of Bhanwarkuan near Indore University, even local IT companies have shown no interest in the park. Earlier, the state government had decided to rope in private players to market it.
Last year, the AKVN, nodal agency to put the IT Park onto market, had made efforts to join hands with Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), Wipro, SKIL, and Infosys. "We are looking for a private player to finish the common area of the park," Agrawal added.
An industry source that is closely monitoring the construction of the building informed that valuation of the building and a land area in the vicinity, which is nearly 23 acre, holds the key.
"It is under valued at Rs 60 crore. While the total cost of the IT park should be around Rs 150 crore. There were reports that the original design of the building of two stories at basement and eight stories above it has been altered to one (basement) plus nine thereby incurring additional expenses to the state," the source said.


CM PROMISES IT PARK, VARSITY
Karimnagar, September 10, 2007
Deccan ChronicleChief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy assured to set up an IT park and a new university in the district. Dr Reddy inaugurated various developmental works including the launch three irrigation project works being taken up at a cost of Rs 1,644 crore during his whirlwind tour of the district under tight security on Sunday.
Speaking to newsmen after laying the foundation stone for the Markfed feed mixing plant in Karimnagar, the Chief Minister said that an IT park would be set up in the Markfed land near the Dairy under the aegis of the APIIC.
"The government has already sanctioned IIT to Telangana region and set up a JNTU college in Karimnagar district to harness the vibrant employment potential of technical education. Of the total cultivable area of 15.61 lakh acres in the district, a total of 14.05 lakh acres will be irrigated after the completion of the ongoing irrigation projects," he said and added that the district outshined the East and West Godavari districts in paddy production in the last rabi season.


M&A
ACCENTURE
September 10, 2007
The TelegraphAccenture has entered into a business process outsourcing contract with BT for five-and-a-half-years. Under the deal, Accenture will provide finance and accounting services to BT.


SOFTWARE
HCL BULLISH ON RETAIL GROWTH
Shivani Shind, Mumbai September 10, 2007
Business Standard HCL Technologies, the New Delhi-based information technology company, is increasing its focus on the retail segment.
The company will be taking its total outsourcing offering to the retailers in the small and medium enterprise (SME) category, whereas for the large retailers, it will pitch the best-of-the-breed target solutions to cater to specific problems.
While the company has been working with global retail chains, it is also increasing its focus in the domestic retail market. The company is also in the process of working with its technology partners to create models such as pay-per-use or software-as-a-service for the SME segment.
Under its outsourcing platform, the company will provide application development and maintenance (ADM), business process outsourcing and infrastructure management.
Sidhartha Chowdhury, associate vice-president, HCL Technologies, said, "We see the outsourcing model really picking up among the retail players. We are in talks with almost all the top players in the Indian retail segment."


IBS PLANS TWO MORE CENTRES
Chennai/ Thiruvananthapuram September 10, 2007
Business Standard The Thiruvananthapuram-based IBS Software Services, a major in the travel, transportation and logistics (TTL) space, on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, has lined up plans to open two new development centres in India soon.
IBS chairman and managing director V K Mathews said in a release that the company, which has centres in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi in Kerala, would shortly have the two new development centres outside Kerala.
Mathews stated that the group sees itself as an Rs 1,000 crore firm company by year 2010. IBS has grown to a multinational company operating from 11 global centres around the world and offers a range of as many as 15 software products and other customised solutions.


MICROSOFT OPENS KOCHI OFFICE
Chennai/ Kochi, September 10, 2007
Business Standard The HinduMicrosoft on Thursday announced the opening of its office in Kochi as part of its initiative to partner Kerala's growth into a knowledge-based, inclusive society.
With Kochi as a hub, the company plans to service the other cities of Kozhikode, Kottayam, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram.
Neelam Dhawan, managing director, Microsoft India, said, Microsoft has been working with customers in Kerala for several years and products and services have been successfully leveraged both by government organisations and the private sector. Some of Microsoft's largest customers in India are based in Kerala – such as US Technologies, NeST and RM Education.
The company also intends to consolidate its relationship with industry associations in the region to understand and address local business challenges and accordingly customise its local market education initiatives and programmes.
Besides Kochi, Microsoft opened offices in four cities - Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Indore, and Chandigarh in India this year - and will shortly open an office in Coimbatore.


BSNL AWARDS CDR PROJECT TO TCS, WIPRO, HCL
New Delhi, September 09, 2007
The Economic Times The Financial Express DNA Mumbai Mirror The StatesmanFive years after it first invited bids for its Call-Data-Record project, state-run BSNL has finally placed Rs 1,200 crore orders with TCS, HCL and Wipro for the programme that will enable it to provide a single bill to subscribers for all its services.
"We have placed the purchase order with three IT firms, TCS, HCL and Wipro, for the CDR billing project at a total value of Rs 1,200 crore. It will be completed in December 2008," BSNL chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal said.
The project will not only help the customers to get a convergent bill for the entire range of services the PSU offers, but would also come as a relief to operators who complain of unfair and incorrect pricing.
The project, for which Expressions of Interest were first invited five years ago, will help the firm's 65 million subscribers in getting a single bill for all the services.
The company's customers at present get different bills for different services. With the project, BSNL expects to face competition from private operators by providing efficient billing and customer care solutions.
It envisages building of countrywide intranet network, reduce cost of operation, increase revenue realisation, besides providing round-the-clock customer care operations.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had earlier directed all telecom operators to implement CDR-based billing system by March 31, 2004. The delay in decision was due to BSNL's vast network and changes in the company's requirements. BSNL will implement CDR-based billing and customer care solutions across India with four zones and four data centres.


EMERSON OPENS DEVELOPMENT CENTRE IN CHANDIGARH
Pune, September 10, 2007
The Hindu Business Line Emerson has opened a design engineering centre at Mohali near Chandigarh, its second in the country.
The new facility will engage in the development of solutions supporting global IT systems for finance, HR and supply chain management and also be involved with product and sustaining engineering.
The centre is being developed on the business model of the centre at Pune and will augment the engineering and IT capabilities for Emerson to meet its customers' needs, a statement said.
The Pune center, opened five years ago, was the first multi-divisional global R&D centre for Emerson anywhere in the world catering to the entire product development cycle, from concept, design and optimisation to physical prototype, testing and product manufacturing. It currently has 500 employees.
Both the centres in India will help Emerson spread globally, speed time-to-market for new products and assist its businesses in developing and tailoring its global products and solution platforms to meet the needs of customers.


FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES LOOKING AT CHINA OPTION
Dalian, September 10, 2007
MintFinancial Technologies (India) Ltd, India's leading technology solutions provider for capital, commodities, forex and debt markets, is mulling at venturing into China.
"We are here to personally see and evaluate the Chinese market for our kind of mission-critical expertise," Chairman and CEO of Financial Technologies, Jignesh Shah told PTI on the sidelines of the Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions organizsed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the northeast Chinese port city.


STORAGE
DOMESTIC, GLOBAL COS EYE SOLAR CELL MARKET
Sreekala G & Appaji Reddem, Hyderabad, September 10, 2007
The Economic TimesAfter IT and pharma, India is on course to emerge as a solar hub. The Centre's move to offer fiscal incentives to solar cell and photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers, coupled with surge in global demand for renewable energy sources, has triggered domestic and multinational companies to set up shop here.
Leading the pack is home grown Moser Baer, followed by US-based Signet Solar and Solar Semiconductor. More are set to join.
Moser Baer, a leading optical storage manufacturer, is in talks with the AP government to acquire 100 acres in the Fab City — the chip-making hub. The company was among the first to set up a wholly owned subsidiary — Moser Baer Photo Voltaic — in 2005 to focus on the high-growth solar energy segment. It also plans to build a Rs 330-crore silicon PV manufacturing facility (near Delhi) and has tied up with Applied Materials for technology transfer.
The US-based Signet Solar, on its part, has drawn up an ambitious $2 billion investment plan to set up three PV production facilities in the country. It is also looking at an R&D base here. The company is already in talks with the Andhra Pradesh government to set up two manufacturing facilities here.
Solar semiconductor — another PV manufacturing company — has lined up an initial $40 million investment to set up two production units. The company has already started building a 30MW per annum plant near Pochampalli. The second one — with a capacity of 40 MW — is being readied in the Fab city. "We are looking at garnering another $330 million from private equity firms," said Solar Semiconductor's CEO Hari Surapaneni.


HARDWARE
APPLE READY TO LAUNCH UPDATED IPODS NEXT WEEK
Venkatesh Ganesh, Mumbai, September 10, 2007
Hindustan Times (Delhi edition)There is unlimited music and surfing in the offing for Indian consumers.
California-based Apple is set to launch its touch screen iPod and upgraded version of its original iPod in India next week.
The brand iPod Touch - iPhone minus the phone with a browser to surf - has been creating waves in the US ever since its launch last week. The upgraded brand iPod Classic can store as many as 40,000 songs.
"The new products are going to be available in Apple's stores and through its authorised dealers from next week," said a source close to Apple. An Apple Asia spokesperson said that the price and availability of the products would be disclosed at the time of the launch.
The pricing of the products in the Indian market is crucial since higher import duties are reportedly slowing sales of Apple's existing line of iPods. If Apple follows the global pricing model, the iPod Classic will be available in the range of Rs 13,337 to Rs 18,745.


INT/E-COMM
QUALCOMM MAPPING OUT 4 RURAL CONNECTIVITY PROJECTS
Thomas K. Thomas, New Delhi, September 10, 2007
The Hindu Business Line Technology major Qualcomm Inc is planning four new initiatives under its Wireless Reach programme to provide connectivity and applications to rural India.
The company is in talks with service providers, non-government organisations, and financers to put together projects in various part of the country. The projects will use wireless technology to offer relevant services to the rural people.
One of the new projects is being firmed up in association with the Azim Premji Foundation. These new initiatives will take the total number of India-specific rural communications projects from Qualcomm to eight.
Qualcomm's Wireless Reach initiative supports programmes and solutions that bring the benefits of connectivity to developing communities. The company had recently announced a project called Fisher Friend that provides real time information regarding weather and price to fishermen.
"The project has been launched as a pilot in Tamil Nadu. If it is successful, we hope to scale this up to fishermen communities in other parts of the country," said Parag Kar, Director (Government Affairs), Qualcomm India.
The company has roped in M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Tata Teleservices, and Astute Systems Technologies for this project. Fisher Friend provides access to a menu of services on specifically designed mobile handsets uniquely focused on fishing communities such as sea wave heights and satellite scan data about fish shoals.
The company had earlier announced an alliance with the Nasscom Foundation to provide CDMA-based wireless Internet connectivity solutions to 65 Village Resource Centres under Nasscom's Rural Knowledge Network Program.


BSNL BROADBAND ON DEMAND
Visakhapatnam, September 10, 2007
The HinduThe Visakhapatnam region of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) would completely remove the waiting list for the value added broadband connections in the city by this month-end. Besides it will provide another 3,500 such connections on demand as it has increased the capacity.
Stating this to The Hindu, BSNL General Manager P. Nagaraju said that this was possible as the additional equipment for the triple play broadband service – where customers could get voice, data and video -- had been added her e.
The department had provided as many as 2,500 broadband connections in the last one-month taking the total of such connections in Vizag to 7,600.
There was capacity to add another 5,000 connections. "We hope to complete the job by October," he said.


NETWORKING
VIJAYA BANK TARGETS RS.1 LAKH CRORE BY 2010
T. Valliappan, Madurai, September 10, 2007
The HinduThe Bangalore-based Vijaya Bank has set a target of Rs.1 lakh crore by 2010, which will enable it to enter the big league of banks.
About 475 banks had been connected through Core Banking Solution. This covered more than 80 percent of the bank's business. By March 2009, all the branches would be covered. By March 2008, 90 percent of the bank's business would take place in branches covered under Core Banking Solution, he said.
"We have already done the groundwork in most rural braches. To overcome power interruptions and lack of connectivity in remote locations, we are using Very Small Aperture Terminals (V SAT) connectivity and powering the branches through solar technology. We also have branches in the North Eastern States also," he said.