TODAY'S HEADLINES AUG 29, 2007

INDUSTRY
SIGNET SOLAR TO INVEST RS 3,000 CRORE IN ANDHRA
Appaji Reddem, Hyderabad
The Economic Times (Bangalore edition)The state government's efforts to create a solar cluster within the 1,200-acre Fab City project seems to be yielding results. The US-based thin film silicon photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturer, Signet Solar, is all set to invest around Rs 3,000 crore for two facilities here. One will be housed in Hyderabad and the other in Chittoor. Independently, compact disc and storage device manufacturer Moser Baer is also in talks with the state to acquire 100 acres of land in the Fab City to set up a manufacturing facility for solar thin films. When contacted, a Moser Baer official said the company was exploring setting up facilities in states including Andhra Pradesh.

"Solar is at an advanced stage of negotiations with the Andhra Pradesh government and is looking at firming up its investment plan by mid-September. If approved, production is slated to start by June 2008,'' said a senior official.

It is looking at 50-acre facilities each in the Fab City near Hyderabad and Sri City SEZ in Chittoor. Thin film manufactured at the Chittor facility — which is close to the Chennai port — will be shipped out for exports.





GOVT TO TAKE UP GERMAN WORK PERMIT DELAYS WITH CHANCELLOR
Smita Aggarwal, New Delhi
The Indian ExpressWith Germany becoming a major hub for Indian information technology (IT) companies, the Government has decided to take up the controversial issue of delay in obtaining work permits with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Ambiguity in rules and red-tapism are the main reasons for delay in getting work permit for IT professionals.

Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Infosys are among the IT majors which have offices in Germany. The commerce department will take up work permit and visa related concerns with its German counterpart during the coming visit of Angela Merkel in September, according to a commerce and industry ministry communiqué.

In Germany, Frankfurt has emerged as a major hub of Indian IT companies. Recently, German IT sector acquisitions by Indian companies have picked up after Tata Interactive bought German company Tertia Edusoft in January 2006 and Sonata Software took over majority share of TUI-InfoTec in September 2006. Indian IT companies are facing difficulties in obtaining work permits for their professionals in Germany, chiefly because of delays in processing of applications, which "results in undue hardship to the Indian companies and delays in project execution", states the communiqué.





RISING RE AND INDIA GROWTH STORY
Amit Kapoor
The Economic TimesThe appreciating rupee is posing a unique set of challenge for the Indian economy. The impact would not be limited to the macro-economy alone but moves down to the level of firms. To counter the challenges, the government needs to rework its economic policy and the firms, their business models and strategies for success. The appreciating rupee already seems to have had an impact on the profits of IT firms, which rely mostly on exports and lower wage costs. The country faces a similar challenge where it would have to redefine its existing model for growth. The initial success story of India was clearly built on labour arbitrage i.e., the ability of India to provide low-cost labour in comparison to other countries across the globe.

India is an interesting case in the light of the above reflections as it is fundamentally a factor-driven economy. A factor-driven economy is one whose competitiveness is primarily its low-cost labour and exports. One of the unique features of firms operating within factor-driven economies is that they produce products that are designed and conceptualised in advanced countries. The strategy at the generic level for firms is to compete globally to provide significant price advantages. In addition, the firms focus on labour-intensive manufacturing and processes. An economy at this stage of development is sensitive to global business cycles and most importantly exchange rate fluctuations.





GERMANY SEEKS INDIAN AID TO FACE HR CHALLENGES
Bangalore
Deccan HeraldIndian human resources in the IT and Engineering sectors could help Germany brace for the challenges of globalisation, Volker Kauder, Member of the German Parliament, said on Tuesday.

Delivering a lecture on 'Globalisation: Issues from a German point of view' organised by the Consul General of Germany, Kauder said experts from India were welcome in Germany, that was grappling with "too much immigration and too little intelligent jobs".

"I understand that in India, around five lakh students graduate from engineering colleges every year, while the figure is just 30,000 to 40,000 in Germany. We are looking at a situation wherein any student can work in Germany for three years, with no conditions attached. There are no no-go areas in Germany," he said.

Dispelling the contention that globalisation takes away jobs, Kauder pointed out that 4,000 IT jobs in India translated to 10,000 jobs in Germany.





IT PARKS/SEZ

KARNATAKA GOVT CLEARS 14 SEZS
Bangalore
The Economic Times Business StandardThe Karnataka government on Tuesday cleared 59 new industrial projects, including 14 SEZs, covering an estimated investment of Rs 63,561.24 crore, minister for Industries Katta Subramanya Naidu said.

Briefing reporters by the high-level committee chaired by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, he asserted that the government had informed investors while approving SEZs proposals that the onus of purchasing land directly from farmers wrested with them and not the state.

The HLC gave the nod for 16 IT/BT Parks, 10 IT/ITES SEZs, seven new sugar units, five steel plants, four tourism ventures, two software development units, two chemical units, one each of SEZ for electronic hardware, aviation, textile SEZ, FTW SEZ (Warehousing), Cement and BT SEZ, Naidu said.





VCF/PVT. EQUITY

GURUJI.COM EYES GLOBAL VCS FOR ROUND-2 FUNDS
Thanuja BM & Boby Kurian, Bangalore
The Economic Times (Bangalore edition) Canaan Partners and Sequoia Capital India, among others, may show interest as desi internet search engine company Guruji.com looks at raising fresh capital to meet its expansion needs, sources said.

The Bangalore-based company is said to be eyeing a second round of funding in the range of $10 million. When contacted, Anurag Dod, CEO of Guruji.com, said the company was looking to raise a second round of funding but hasn't finalised anything yet.

Sequoia has already committed to invest $7 million over time in Guruji.com in a 'Series A' round raised in October 2006. Sources said that the VC firm was not averse to investing again. Alok Mittal of Canaan Partners said the proposition was interesting though his firm hasn't been in touch with Guruji.com as yet. The local language search engines are likely to see traction with even global giants like Google stepping into the language domain.



DUBAI INVESTMENT GROUP PICKS 40% STAKE IN TIME BROADBAND
New Delhi
The Economic Times The Hindu Business Line Mint Hindustan Times (Delhi edition) The TribuneDubai Investment Group has bought 40 percent stake in Time Broadband Services Ltd, a new Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service provider in India, for an unspecified amount.
The investment, which has been routed through DIG's subsidiary Dubai Ventures, will help TBSL launch its IPTV-related services in India and abroad.

"We found an ideal partnership in TBSL which has a team of competent professionals having an in-depth knowledge of their specialized technology," DIG chief executive officer Abdulhakeem Kamkar said in a statement.

"We are impressed by the initiatives of the state-owned telecom firms, where they are heavily investing in the latest technology to upgrade their telecom networks to gear up for broadband play," he said.

Sujata Dev, Managing Director of TBSL, said with the expertise of DIG as a strategic partner, the company would "offer a true IPTV experience to Indian subscribers and possibly to a global audience in the near future".



M & A
ALLIED DIGITAL SERVICES TIES UP WITH US FIRM
Mumbai
The Economic TimesAllied Digital Services, a major systems integrator in India, has tied up with US-based LANDesk to provide IT infrastructure management and end-point security solution for the Kotak group. Hewlett-Packard, Novell and Bigfix were in the race for the project. The key objective of the Kotak group was to achieve manageability, security and total control of its 11,000 systems deployed across 600 locations across the country.



MOLD TEK APPROVES DEMERGER SCHEME
Hyderabad
The Hindu Business LineMold Tek Technologies Ltd has approved the scheme of arrangement between Teck Men Tools Pvt Ltd (transferor company) and Mold Tek Technologies Ltd (transferee company and the demerged company) and Moldtek Plastics Ltd (the resulting company).
This follows approval by the company board at its meeting on August 27.

With this arrangement, for every 100 equity shares, shareholders would get 28 shares in the demerged company — Mold Tek Technologies Ltd and 72 shares in the resultant company —Moldtek Plastics.

The IT (KPO) division would remain in Mold Tek Technologies and the plastics business demerged into Moldtek Plastics.

The merger of Teck Men into Mold Tek Technologies and demerger of plastics division of Mold Tek Technologies (demerged company) into Moldtek Plastics (resulting company) are effective October 1, 2006 and April 1, 2007 respectively.




NETTLINX SET TO BUY US FIRM
Hyderabad
The Hindu Business LineNettlinx Ltd, a Hyderabad-based technology company, is set to acquire Host Department Inc, a hosting services provider.

The board will meet on September 3 to finalise the acquisition, its Executive Director, Vijay Bhaskar Reddy said. However, he stated that the terms of the deal would be disclosed after the board meet. The company is also in the process of pursuing two more acquisitions. Alongside, Nettlinx has informed that it has approved de-listing of equity shares from Hyderabad and Calcutta stock exchanges.





SOFTWARE

IT BIGGIES GET A TASTE OF THEIR OWN MEDICINE
N Shivapriya & Ranjit Shinde, Mumbai
The Economic TimesAs the big five of Indian information technology sector eye bigger projects and share the battlefield with the likes of IBM and Accenture, their smaller rivals are moving in to capture a bigger slice of the smaller contracts.

Clients with not-so-big IT projects are also keen to hire mid-size Indian firms, because many feel they'll get the needed attention, flexibility and responsiveness from the smaller vendors, rather than the larger ones.

"One financial services client (that spends approximately $22 million with a top Indian provider) had a difficult time getting the new account manager and head of the financial services group to return calls," Forrester Research said in a recent report.

"The client's original account manager had left the company. The client finally asked Forrester to make some inquiries to get the provider's attention. We found this behaviour surprising, given the quality, prestige, spend and potential spend of the client as well the quality, prestige, and reputation of the provider."


QUALCOMM'S AUTHORISED CENTRES
Bangalore
The Hindu Business LineDelhi-based Phoneytunes.com and Rajasthan-based Apex Infosoft have been selected as authorised training centres for Qualcomm's development platform for mobile applications for CDMA phones - BREW.
Phoneytunes focuses on integrating mobile network technology and content for 3G CDMA2000 mobile devices while Apex Infosoft is a customised software solutions company. "The BREW community in India has shown tremendous growth, with an increasing number of developers choosing BREW to create and deliver high-end content to users not just in India, but across the globe. The BREW authorised training partner programme highlights Qualcomm's commitment to empowering developers to spread their knowledge of BREW in order to enable other members of the ecosystem to realise the benefits of this solution," said Rakesh Godhwani, Manager-Mobile Content and Applications, Qualcomm India and SAARC, in a release issued by the company.





TELEDATA MOVES INTO NEW FACILITY
Chennai
The HinduTeledata Informatics is moving into its new 60,000 sq. ft. facility in Velacherry, near here. It was inaugurated on Tuesday by T. S. Bhattacharya, Managing Director, State Bank of India.

Addressing a press conference here after the inauguration, K. Padmanabhan, Managing Director of the company, said the company's growth strategy was to consolidate its presence in education, networking and communications, energy and total business outsourcing space along with acquisitions in the key technology area. He said Teledata had identified three companies to acquire by this year-end.

The company's subsidiary, eSys Technologies, a technology distribution business provider and PC manufacturer, launched a new range of high performance PCs on the occasion.



HARDWARE
RECONNEX LAUNCH
Pune
The Indian ExpressReconnex Corporation USA, the leader in data loss prevention appliances, has started its India operations in Pune. The India centre will focus on developing innovative technology for the product line of the company for the worldwide market.

Anand Kekre, Country Manager, Reconnex, said that Reconnex's data loss prevention appliances are designed for any organisation — including enterprises, government agencies or educational institutions — that wants to protect its brand, maintain compliance or secure sensitive information. Data loss prevention is one of the fastest growing network security markets worldwide. Reconnex protects information for over one million users.

"The India operations will be beefed up within a year and we expect it to be a 40 plus organisation," Kekre added.

Reconnex's appliance delivers accurate detection while protecting an enterprise before, during, and after any threat to corporate privacy or intellectual property. Reconnex products have the ability to discover, capture, prevent and control all sensitive information entering or leaving the corporate network. This allows enterprises to protect vital information both at rest and in transit.



MICROSOFT HARDWARE CELEBRATES 25TH YEAR
Chennai
The HinduMicrosoft Hardware, which was established in 1982, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The company kicked off the year-long celebrations by unveiling a line-up of products including special gaming peripherals, keyboards and web cameras, says a release.




INT/E-COMM


ICSI IS ALL SET TO GO MOBILE
Gireesh Chandra Prasad, New Delhi
The Economic Times Students can now pursue the fast-growing secretarial profession even on their mobile phones. The profession's regulator, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), will soon introduce virtual classrooms, which could be accessed through Internet-enabled phones.

"With this facility, one could access the virtual classroom and interact with the faculty from anywhere using a mobile phone and a headset", ICSI president Priti Malhotra said. Students can enrol for the programme online.

However, one has to go to any of the 70 examination centres in the country for attending final test. Eventually, when online security systems become fool-proof, the institute will provide for attending the final exams too online. ICSI wants to reach out to potential students in far-flung areas using technology as the demand for professionals grow in a booming economy, she said. ICSI has tied up with 'gurukulonline', a firm specialising in e-learning, for software support.





DISTRICT INDUSTRY CENTRES GO ONLINE
Bhubaneswar
The Pioneer Good news for the entrepreneurs: The District Industry Centres (DICs) have gone online. Now, an entrepreneur need not visit the office of the DIC General Manager. He can sit in his office and register with the DIC.

This was announced by Minister Industries Biswabhusan Harichandan while addressing the first DIC GMs' conference here on Tuesday. For the first time, the State has initiated the facility for the micro, small and medium sector industries, said he. Secretary Industries Ashok Dalwai, who was instrumental in organising the conference, said this would go a long way in helping the SME sector, which needs supports.



NETWORKING
3 JAPANESE FIRMS TO BID FOR FLAG'S $1.5 BILLION CONTRACT
Rajesh S Kurup, Mumbai
Business StandardThree Japanese submarine cable construction companies have been short-listed by Flag Telecom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications, for building its $1.5 billion (Rs 7,000 crore) next generation network (NGN).

The Anil Ambani group company is slated to announce the winner by the end of this week.

Futizsu Submarine Networks, NEC and KDD-SCS are the companies leading the race to build the sub-sea cable that will connect 5 billion people across 60 countries in the next three years.

The cable would become operational by December 2009, sources close to the development told Business Standard.

Global submarine cable construction majors Corning/Nord Deutche, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia were also in the fray. The project was announced in December 2006, but name of the vendors the company was in discussion with were not disclosed.





ERP


TVS WINS SAP ACE AWARD
Bangalore
The Hindu Business LineChennai-based TVS Motor Company has won the SAP ACE 2007 award for customer excellence in the Most Innovative Netweaver Category.

"This award is the result of several SAP implementations that we have put in place at TVS Motor Company to effectively manage the supply chain, which is a critical factor, especially for our new product introduction process", T G Dhandapani, CIO, TVS Motor Company said in a company release.




SAP ACE 2007 AWARDS FOR TWO IMPLEMENTATIONS OF PWC
New Delhi
MintConsultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) today said two of its SAP implementations -- Kuoni Travels (India) Pvt Ltd and Indian Rayon -- have received SAP ACE awards for the year 2007.

Kuoni Travels was awarded in the best service providers sector implementation category while Aditya Birla Nuvo group company Indian Rayon won the award in the best chemical sector implementation category, PwC said in a release.

"The implementation featured several firsts in our group and SAP ACE 2007 is indeed a great recognition to the Indian Rayon and PricewaterhouseCoopers team," Indian Rayon President Finance D P Modani said in the release.

PwC implemented SAP in Kuoni to provide a centralised Finance and Accounts solution to get the data from the multitude front-end systems of Kuoni group companies, the release added.





SAP, ONGC TO SHARE EXPERTISE
New Delhi
The PioneerThe world's largest business software company SAP AG's Indian arm, SAP India and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) have entered into a strategic partnership for sharing expertise.

ONGC and SAP signed a MoU on Tuesday to this effect in a simple ceremony at the corporate office of ONGC in Delhi. ONGC's Director (HR) AK Balyan signed the MoU on behalf of ONGC and president and CEO for SAP America's Asia Pacific and Japan (SAP AAPJ) region Bill McDermott inked the same for SAP. As per the agreement ONGC executives will be seconded to SAP.

The agreement, valid for an initial period of 2 years, enables the two organisations to collaborate for training and consultancy assignments in India and globally, on mutually agreed terms. ONGC has implemented one of the largest information technology (IT) projects for oil and gas operations using SAP solutions, which has given excellent results.



STOCKS
MEGASOFT EXTENDS CASH TENDER OFFER FOR BOSTON
Hyderabad
The Hindu Business LineIT services provider Megasoft Ltd has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Tea Party Acquisition Corp, has extended its previously announced tender offer for all outstanding shares of Boston Communications Group Inc at a price of $3.60 per share.

With the company acquiring close to 88 percent shares, including those tendered, it is set to complete the buy out later this week, according to. V. Balasubramanian, Chief Financial Officer of Megasoft.

Unless the tender offer is further extended, the offer was set to expire at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, on August 24.

The depositary for the tender offer has advised Megasoft that approximately 13,960,647 shares had been validly tendered and not withdrawn in the tender offer as of August 24, representing approximately 78 percent of Boston Communications Group Inc's outstanding shares.





SENSEX SOARS 77 POINTS ON FRESH FII BUYS
Mumbai
Business StandardFresh purchases by foreign funds pushed up the domestic stock market to their highest close in two weeks on Tuesday, but doubts about the US economy minimised gains.

Extending its gains from Monday, the benchmark Sensex rose 76.81 points, or 0.52 percent, to 14,919.19. The broader S&P CNX Nifty, which tracks 50 stocks, gained 18.10 points, or 0.42 percent, to 4,320.70 points.

The rise in the markets was led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries (up 2.58 percent to Rs 1,880.05) and IT stocks. Satyam Computers (up 2.48 percent to Rs 449.70) and Infosys Technologies (up 1.83 percent to Rs 1,882.50).

Outperforming the Sensex was the BSE small-cap Index, which was up by 1.07 percent, or 82.92 points, to 7,808.44. The BSE mid-cap gained 0.77 percent, or 48.98 points to close at 6,409.64 .

The index, which has risen 6.65 percent from a three-month closing low last Tuesday, is still 6 percent below the record of 15,868.85 set on July 24.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continue to remain net buyers on Tuesday. Their net purchases were to the tune of Rs 390.20 crore, against yesterday's net buying of Rs 695.35 crore.

After a long time, Indian institutions booked profit on Tuesday as they were net sellers to the tune of Rs. 79.32 crore.





EVENTS

BUSINESS 2.0: PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
Mumbai
The Economic TimesGlobalisation brings with it complexities that require companies with global growth strategies to prepare for 24/7 operations. What will organisations look like in the future in the era of Business 2.0? Enterprise-wide concerns such as information security, business continuity and regulatory compliance are significant challenges for CIOs, who are largely responsible for managing these risks. CIOs must contend with threats from within and outside threats, including corporate espionage, disaster recovery and business continuity scenario planning must be ongoing.

Today's competitive business environment does not tolerate a few minutes of downtime. In such an environment, can your business afford a longer downtime or worse? The very survival of business rests on the ability to keep it up and running regardless of what your IT infrastructure is hit by, and ability to recover your data quickly.





FINANCIAL INCLUSION THROUGH WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY
The Economic Times (Mumbai edition) One of the more popular seminars at the The Economic Times Banking Technology Conclave 2007 was titled "Banking Sector Next Frontier - Serving the Under Banked Profitably. Can technology, especially wireless enabled serve the un-served market?" The panel was a mix of technologists, bankers and a micro-financer with extensive experience at the rural level. The session was chaired by MBN Rao, the CMD of Canara Bank.

The direction of the discourse was set with a presentation made by Janmejaya Sinha, the managing director of Boston Consulting Group (India). He said, "I am going to talk about banking the middle of the pyramid. To cater to the bottom of the pyramid would need government assistance." Sinha referred to this broad segment as the 'The Next Billion' and presented a character sketch. He said that this category craves for banking inclusion but are hesitant to take the initiative to start banking as they are fearful of making mistakes with their money. What would drive them, he said, would be a consistent desire for a better future for the next generation.

According to Sinha there are only 180 million Indians with a bank account, in comparison with the 220 million people who have a cell phone. "We can't think about banking through PCs like in the rest of the world. We cannot follow the western model." Mobile banking could be the solution for India. Sinha pointed out that mobile operators can remind customers to settle a bill, or the fact that a mobile phone user's location can be tracked. And most importantly, he said that mobile banking allows inclusion for the group in the 'middle of the pyramid'. He ended on the note that, "we need to think of new business models and not try to craft old ones."

TODAY'S HEADLINES AUG 28, 2007

INDUSTRY
INDIAN EXECUTIVES GET BEHIND MNC WHEEL
Shreya Biswas, New Delhi
The Economic Times When it comes to headcount, Indian talent beats other geographies in numbers, quality and efficiency as well as technological prowess. Many MNCs have been hiring people aggressively in India and now have more than 50% of their workforce working out of this country.

The list includes Sapient, Xansa, Aricent, Cognizant. While the companies root for cost-efficiency, a fast-growing market, adaptable human resource and a great skill to upgrade, employees are gaining through vast exposure across businesses, increased attention from the management, driving changes in the organisation.

Companies, in order to grow faster, are reaching out to locations where they can get the best in terms of people quality and processes and cut down on cost. Something that happened in the manufacturing sector in the last 10-15 years.

"More and more companies would reach out to other countries to tap the parts of services value chain in a globalised economy," feels Bhaskar Das, vice-president, human resources, Cognizant. The company currently has 46,000 employees globally, of which 70-75%, or more than 35,000, are in India.





BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION - NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Ganesh Natarajan
Hindustan Times (Delhi edition)What do ITMG, Sankalp and Suschama have in common? They are all new business venture ideas focused at bringing the best of consulting and supply chain optimization to small and medium enterprises that have been created by students while still in college.

The enterprising students of the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) in Mumbai, supported by a visionary Professor, Dr T Prasad at the institute, have come up with this unique concept of 'Student Companies (SCs)', which can spawn a new generation of young entrepreneurs in the country. Each of the SCs is being evaluated on predetermined parameters at specific time intervals spreading over two years of MBA course.

Students' achievement on these parameters is incorporated into their academic achievement.

In the IT space, the prospect of a new legion of young entrepreneurs joining the developer community could not be timelier with most of the larger firms turning their attention to the domestic market opportunity as well as lower cost methods of collaboration to reach and service hitherto untapped customers.




HCL IS REWRITING ITS COMPANY CODE
Rabin Ghosh, Mumbai
DNAHCL Infosystems may look completely different in 3-5 years if Ajai Chowdhry, chairman and CEO, has his way.

It is going to be a major overhaul for a hardware maker: services, and not products, would be the main focus area for the Rs 12,000 crore company.

In three years, the company expects to earn 50 percent of its revenues from computing, which is currently below 25 percent, with telecom and office automation contributing to the rest.

"We are looking at earning 50 percent from computing and 50 percent from distribution. Within these too, we are looking at a healthy balance among SI (system integration) and hardware (for computing), Nokia and others (for distribution)," Chowdhury told analysts on Monday.

Almost 90 percent of the Rs 9,000 crore the company earned last fiscal from distribution business came from selling Nokia GSM phones.

HCL is also the distributor of other digital lifestyle products from Kodak and Apple.




NASSCOM WANTS TAX HOLIDAY EXTENDED
Sandeep Joshi, New Delhi
The HinduWith countries like China and other developing nations making extra efforts to increase their market share in the global information technology arena, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), the body of Indian IT software and services industry, has asked the Union Government to start thinking seriously on extending the tax holiday to the high-potential sector beyond 2009.

The cause for concern among the industry leaders is the Government's failure in addressing the issues concerning the industry and the steady growth of the sector in countries like China and Brazil that can challenge India's leadership in the years to come.

"Experts from China have been coming to us and adopting progressive measures and policies, which our Government is abandoning, to boost their growth.




M & A

NIIT OPEN FOR STRATEGIC PARTNERS
Mumbai
The Economic TimesNIIT Technologies Ltd (NTL) on Monday said its parent company NIIT was open to bring in strategic partners into the company to help NTL with its next level of growth, but it has not reached any deal so far on this front.

"From the time of demerger in 2004, NIIT (through its wholly-owned subsidiary Scantech Evaluation Services Ltd) continues to hold 25 per cent stake in NTL, with a vision to attract strategic partners, if required, to help NTL with its next level of growth," NTL informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

"There is no change in that position and no specific transaction to report," it added.





KLG SYSTEL BUYS STAKE IN ATLANTIS
New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line Mint Hindustan Times (Mumbai edition)KLG Systel Ltd, a software company, today announced the acquisition of 51 percent stake in Atlantis Lab Pvt Ltd, a dedicated engineering software company with over 130 employees.

"Atlantis Labs will now form a subsidiary of KLG Systel Ltd, catering to the strong domestic market, while also tapping engineering services outsourcing opportunities from developed countries such as North America and Europe," a statement said here. Atlantis Lab portfolio includes product design, design automation, design simulation, tool design, design data migration, and product management software in automobile, aerospace, industrial machinery and heavy engineering.

"The relationship will also provide KLG Systel an opportunity to widen its reach to the three design hubs of the country — Chennai, Pune and Bangalore. Atlantis Lab already has a strong base in these cities." KLG Systel plans to hire 1,000 designers and analysts for Atlantis by 2008. The new subsidiary would focus on automotive, aerospace, industrial machinery, heavy engineering, ship building, power and process verticals where there is a strong demand for product management software and services.




SOFTWARE

SUBEX SWINGS DEALS FROM GVT FOR NIGERIA, CONGO
Banglaore
The Economic Times (Bangalore edition) The Hindu Business LineSubex Azure has announced that it has won a contract to provide fraud management and revenue assurance solutions for Global Vision Telecom (GVT), to be deployed at its Prestel and U-COM Congo CDMA networks in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) respectively. Prestel and U-COM Congo are owned by Global Vision Telecom. It specialises in telecommunications technology in developing countries. Subex will be deploying both its Nikira Fraud Management System and its Moneta Revenue Assurance System.



SATYAM LAUNCHES SOLUTIONS FOR BANKING, OIL & GAS INDUSTRY
Mumbai
The Economic Times The Hindu Business Line Business Standard The HinduSatyam Computer Services launched two niche composite solutions for the banking as well as the oil & gas industry. These solutions are certified by SAP and are powered by NetWeaver technology.

iDecisions is a banking solution software that enables efficient business management and iLubes is the solution for lube companies in the oil & gas segment.

The software package iDecisions is designed for banking industry that enables business management through the use of a central industry-standard data model.

iLubes, the solution for lube companies in the oil & gas segment– creates a mechanism to track performance of lubricants supplied to industrial customers in the utilities and steel industries, power plants and other process industry domains.

"These solutions are niche domain solutions, launched to address business processes in the Banking and Oil & Gas industries respectively which is directed towards delivering significant business value to our customers as well as the SAP product landscape," said Manish Mehta, Global Head, SAP & Testing Practices.




NASSCOM BODY LAUNCHES ONLINE DONOR SCHEME
New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line Metro Now The StatesmanNasscom Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of Nasscom, today joined hands with TechSoup, a San Francisco-based non-profit technology capacity building organisation, to launch a technology assistance programme for non-profit and non-governmental organisations in India.

The programme 'BiG Tech' would act as a platform to facilitate the distribution of software and solutions (donated by corporate partners) to various NGOs.

Software giant Microsoft has signed up as a partner for the programme in India to distribute its software to NGOs. The company is already a global partner in the programme, and donates a range of products including Office and server software. In India, however, only those NGOs, which have a FCRA clearance, would be able to apply for Microsoft's donations, Nasscom Foundation said.

The programme is already rolled-out across eight countries and the international partners include Microsoft and Adobe. With the India launch, it would now seek to rope in more partners for the country. "One of the barriers to technology for NGOs, is affordability of technology products. BiG Tech, NF's new online donation programme, is perfectly suited to address this issue of access to affordable technology," the Nasscom President, Kiran Karnik, said, adding NGOs seeking donations would have to adhere to the eligibility criteria and be subject to a due diligence.





XORA SOFTWARE PLANS EXPANSION IN B`LORE
Chennai/ Bangalore
Business StandardXora Software, which provides enterprise mobility solutions, plans to expand its product development centre in Bangalore over the next couple of years.

Founded in 1999, the US-based privately-held company has raised more than $11 million in venture capital with the leading partner being Dawntreader Ventures.

The Bangalore centre has over 125 engineers. "This centre contributes close to 95 per cent of the product development work with the rest happening in the US. We are banking on the Bangalore development centre for growth," Xora Software CEO Sanjay Shirole said.

The firm's technical support team also works in Bangalore. "We intend to double this team from the existing 65 members. There is a lot of scope for growth in the technical support segment here," he added.

The company derives 95 per cent of its revenue from the US. It has developed a product called, Xora GPS TimeTrack, which helps companies track and record start times and the location of their mobile employees.

Employees carry their GPS-enabled mobile phone with them throughout their office hours and their location is automatically tracked and recorded.

Xora recently forayed into Australia. It is also looking at India for growth. "India is a fast emerging market for us. We will concentrate on the Indian market in the coming days," Shirole stated.





HARDWARE



DELL LAUNCHES NEW DESKTOP
Deccan HeraldDell on Monday announced the launch of OptiPlex 755 with the most flexible approach to systems management, delivering on customer demands for business efficiency. The OptiPlex 755 is Energy Star 4.0 compliance. With the flexible systems management offerings in the industry, the OptiPlex 755 will help simplify IT by reducing number of desk side service visits required for system service and maintenance, claimed the company. Dell is also integrating Intel vPro technology with advanced remote management features that will make business efficient.



INT/E-COMM



'NEW NET POLICY WILL HAMPER BROADBAND GROWTH'
New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line The Times of IndiaThe Internet Service Providers Association of India on Monday said that the new policy for the Internet sector will hurt small size operators and will result in slow penetration of broadband services.

"The policy to discontinue Category C licence (district level) is a retrograde step which hurts small entrepreneurs and consumers who have risked considerable resources to create businesses in the face of aggressive competition from bigger players. There is hardly a single successful country in America, Europe or Australia which discourages small players from entering the Internet market," said Rajesh Chharia, President, ISPAI. More than 50 percent of the operational ISPs hold a category C licence.

The association also opposed the imposition of licence fee on ISPs for Internet Telephony. "If the Government is concerned about the slow penetration of broadband in India, then why are they putting burden on the Internet operators. If level playing field with other telecom operators is the issue, then ISPs should be allowed to interconnect with fixed line and mobile operators. This would at least give us additional revenue and then we can pay the licence fee," said Chharia.



NEW ISP RULES WILL ALLOW WIRELESS VOICE, IPTV
New Delhi
MintThe department of telecommunications has overhauled rules for Internet service providers (ISP), forcing out small, city-based players, but increasing the scope of services to be provided under the ISP license.
Under the new rules, ISP can provide wireless Internet access, including wireless voice among customers of various ISPs, and interactive television and video distribution services using Internet technology or IPTV.

Small, citywide ISPs-mainly cable operators-can upgrade to state-wide licenses by paying a one-time fee of Rs10 lakh.

The changes were brought about as the government believes that having nearly 400 licensed ISPs, most of whom are not operational, was a security threat. India has about nine million Internet subscribers, including 2.5 million broadband consumers

The department of telecommunications has overhauled rules for Internet service providers (ISP), forcing out small, city-based players, but increasing the scope of services to be provided under the ISP license. Under the new rules, ISP can provide wireless Internet access, including wireless voice among customers of various ISPs, and interactive television and video distribution services using Internet technology or IPTV. Small, citywide ISPs-mainly cable operators-can upgrade to statewide licenses by paying a one-time fee of Rs10 lakh. The changes were brought about as the government believes that having nearly 400 licensed ISPs, most of whom are not operational, was a security threat. India has about nine million Internet subscribers, including 2.5 million broadband consumers.



MOTOROLA GETS READY TO LAUNCH MOBILE WIMAX
Sreejiraj Eluvangal
MintStephen Bell is one of the few people who can justifiably claim to have seen the connected future. As head of Wimax device business unit of the US communication equipment maker Motorola Inc., Bell and his team, together with similar teams at Korean consumer electronics maker Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and chip maker Intel Corp., will determine the time, shape and success of the next evolution in wireless personal communication: mobile Wimax.

Wimax is short for worldwide inter-operability for microwave access, a standard that is capable of data speeds of 10 megabits per second up to 2km away from a radio transmitter.

With such wide ranges, telecom design engineers believe that Wimax presents itself as not just a powerful alternative to the so-called third generation (or 3G) wireless telecom networks for data, but also as a cheap and efficient alternative to voice communications compared with current cellular networks. Bell and his team of engineers and researchers at Motorola's hand-held and chipset research centre in Florida are designing hand-held devices to be used on the first major Wimax initiative in the world—the $3 billion (Rs 12,300 crore) Sprint-Nextel network, expected to be operational towards the year-end.





NETWORKING

CISCO TARGETS 40 PERCENT GROWTH IN WIRELESS, MOBILITY BIZ IN 6 YRS
P P Thimmaya, Bangalore
The Economic Times (Delhi edition)Cisco, the networking products and solutions giant is expecting to record 40 percent growth in its wireless and mobility business division in India over the next 5-6 years. Currently, Cisco has 30 percent market share in the wireless and mobility space in India which is estimated to be around $70 million (Rs 280 crore). Paramjit Puri, business development manager - Advanced Technologies, Cisco India, said that it is expecting to raise its marketshare to 35 percent.

The $35-billion networking giant is looking at providing end-to-end networking capability all provided on the internet protocol which includes both hardware and software solutions. In this, mobility and wireless space forms an important part as it is providing connectivity sans wires. Cisco has been already engaged in large wireless projects in India which are largely initiatives of the government in providing broadband connectivity. Puri said it is already part of the unwired Pune project and is expecting to participate in similar initiatives in Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata and Chennai.






E-GOVERNANCE

NOIDA E-REGISTERS ' PROPERTY RECORDS
Lalit Kumar, Noida
The Times of India Metro NowIn what is regarded as a first among development authorities in UP and the national capital region, Noida has computerised the records of all its residential, commercial and industrial properties.

This means the property number, block, sector and area of the plot, the name of the allottee, the address and dates of allotment, lease deed and taking possession besides details of mortgages and transfers of 68,546 properties in Noida, are now available on the website, www.noidaauthorityonline.com.

Revealing this, NOIDA CEO Balvinder Singh said: ''We have the complete details of 27,176 residential and group housing plots, 27,873 houses including flats and 13,497 commercial, industrial and institutional properties. The details of the dues for about 7,000 plots, which have not been paid, will be put on the website within three days. The position of properties with 'no dues' will be on the website within 15 days.'' He said all the allottees have been given a registration ID to view their property's details.

Significantly, the allottees can now make online payments of their dues, to any branch of any of the 15 banks specified by Noida. Singh said: ''In the interests of transparency and preventing corruption, the current status of all ongoing Noida projects will be available on the website.''





IT TRAINING

APTECH LAUNCHES SSI JQ COURSE FOR PROFESSIONALS
The Economic Times Aptech Computer Education, the flagship brand of the global learning solutions company Aptech, announced the launch of SSi Job Quotient. The 5-month course is specifically designed for engineers, MCAs and M.Sc. (IT/ Computer Science), who are looking for comprehensive vendor-certified courses and a quick entry into the software development companies.

The course curriculum focuses on building a strong foundation in programing, followed by exposure to both .Net & Java technologies with Oracle and Linux bundled in.

The highlight of this curriculum is the inclusion of projects that would give the students an opportunity to put theory into practice. The course will be available only at select Aptech centres and would have stringent entry criteria. The original courseware is provided by Oracle India, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat Linux and Microsoft NET





BPOS FOCUS ON VOICE TRAINING OF EMPLOYEES
Chennai
Deccan Chronicle The Asian AgeIT, ITeS and BPO companies are investing between Rs 8,000 and Rs 13,000 per employee for voice and accent training for a period of three weeks. The training is provided as soon as an employee joins, under the guidance of trainers who are specialised in the British or American accent.

During the training the organisation monitors the employee on various aspects like listening skills, grammatical competency, pronunciation, fluency, conversational skills, telephone etiquette, etc. At the end of the training, the trainees are evaluated for their classroom participation. Their mid-assessment that happens on the seventh or eighth day of training.

Pradeep Narayanan, chief delivery officer, 24/7 Customer, said, "voice and accent training is one of the aspects that enhance customer experience. Any consumer is more comfortable and responds positively when he hears a language and accent that they are used to. It is important for our customer support executives to acquire enhanced accents and be completely knowledgeable about the nuances of a different accent," he said. Vrinda Walavalkar vice-president, corporate communications, Firstsource BPO, said, "it is not about learning to imitate the English accent. Having clear diction and enunciation helps improve service delivery levels so that customer and agent understand each other easily."



AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE, IDEA FOUNDATION TIE-UP FOR VOCATIONAL COURSES
Mumbai/Ahmedabad
Business StandardAhmedabad-based Idea Foundation's Smaran Vocational Institute will conduct vocational courses at its campuses in Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar in association with TAFE New South Wales (NSW) Hunter Institute, which functions under the NSW's department of education and training. This is TAFE NSW Hunter's first collaboration with an Indian institute.
TAFE, which stands for Technical and Further Education, is Australia's largest training provider and it will offer students advanced diplomas in hospitality management, business administration and Information technology, among others.





IT ENABLED SERVICES



MULITEX EYES 10 PERCENT STAKE IN EFFORT BPO
Mumbai
The Economic Times Hong Kong-based $400-million Mulitex Holdings plans to acquire a 10 percent equity stake in Mumbai-based Effort BPO.

Effort BPO director Rajnish Sarna has confirmed the deal at an undisclosed price. The boards of both companies are in discussion and the transaction is scheduled to be completed by the first week of September. Effort BPO is engaged in the business of setting up and operating call centre services in India.



CALL CENTRE REGISTRATION
New Delhi
The Hindu Business LineIn a move that would make it easier for call centres to get Government approvals, the Department of Telecom has decided to decentralise the registrations of call centres. Call centres and telemarketers can register in any of the 10 Circles, including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana and Gujarat. Until now, call centres could get themselves only in Delhi. The move makes it easier for telemarketers to register under the do not call registry scheme. The registry is now activated and will be enforced from August 31. Unregistered telemarketers will be blacked out as far as connectivity is concerned. All fresh applications for registration under OSP category and telemarketing category shall be processed by the regional cells.



NORTHGATE SETS UP INDIA UNIT
Hyderabad
The Hindu Business LineNorthgate Technologies Ltd has informed the BSE that the company has carved out Social Media India Ltd, an India-based subsidiary company. Focus of Social Media will be to tap the online advertising and other Internet transaction services industry. Vishnu Vardhan Induri, Head of Bharatstudent.com, has been appointed as Managing Director of Social Media.





ERP

BAJAJ HINDUSTHAN ROPES IN AIRTEL, RAILTEL TO LINK UP UNITS
Mumbai
The Economic Times (Delhi edition)The Noida-based sugar manufacturer, Bajaj Hindusthan, has partnered with Bharti Airtel and Railtel to establish connectivity across all its sugar factories, distilleries and corporate offices. The company recently implemented SAP, an enterprise resource planning software, across all locations enabling it to get significant cost-savings because of efficient inventory management.

The ERP package was implemented across all locations simultaneously, rather than in a phased manner as most companies do. The company, together with its subsidiary Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar & Industries, has 14 sugar factories and five distilleries in India.

"The entire ERP installation was completed in six months. The benefits of implementing an IT initiative in one quantum leap forward are far more substantial," VK Bansal, company's chief information officer said. The implementation was started in August 2006 and completed on January 31, 2007. It was done in partnership with multinational systems integrator, IBM. Vendors like IBM are have become more aggressive than their Indian counterparts in the domestic market.

The ERP system allows for inventory to be optimally managed across all its warehouses thus reducing costs. For instance, if a certain type of inventory has fallen below the prescribed level at a warehouse or sugar mill, the inventory is moved there from a location where it is in excess. By allowing the inventory level to be monitored continuously, the ERP system makes this possible.