Stiff rules for telecom equipment imports

August 4, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Telecom 

International telecom gear makers keen to do business in India acomplia pill slimming will have to deposit source codes and detailed design of all products and services they sell here into an escrow account in encrypted form. This can be accessed by security agencies and operators in case of an emergency.

The government has laid down stringent rules for telecommunication companies sourcing equipment from foreign manufacturers to address security concerns over gear. Penalties of 100% of the contract value will be imposed on mobile phone operators if any spyware or malware is found in their imported equipment, the Centre announced. The new rules will be incorporated into the license agreements of all telecom companies with immediate effect.

The new rules were issued after security agencies and the home ministry had raised concerns regarding imported telecom gear, especially those sourced from Chinese companies. Since February 10, the government has not cleared cialis order over 450 equipment orders worth close to $3 billion placed with Chinese vendors citing security concerns, slowing down the expansion plans of all operators. The new norms will also enable telecommunication companies to place orders for 3G networks following the recent allocation of 3G bandwidth to successful bidders via an auction process.

Source: Economic Times

Cement prices to remain under pressure

August 4, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Manufacturing 

“Cement prices are expected to remain under pressure due to an oversupply scenario,” declared Aditya Birla group-controlled Grasim Ltd Whole-Time Director and CFO Adesh Gupta. The oversupply is due to new capacity addition …. Read More.

The uptrend in input prices, like the increase in imported and domestic coal prices and the increase acomplia dose in diesel prices, has also hit the cement industry. However, the company expects cement demand to grow at 10 per cent for the next five years on cialis tadalafil 5mg the back of growth of the overall Indian economy, which will result in increased cement consumption, both in the government and private sector, Gupta said.

“We plan to spend around Rs 11,527 crore, which includes Rs 1,452 crore for the cement business, Rs 4,475 crore for cement business subsidiaries and Rs 5,600 crore for cement capacity expansion in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka,” Gupta said. Grasim also plans brownfield expansions aggregating to 9.2 million TPA at its Chhattisgarh and Karnataka units.

Source : Economic Times

A collective effort from IT Industry Desk to reduce AttritioEconomi

July 21, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: IT 

Even as the $50-billion IT online cialis industry may be fighting a fierce war for talent as it tries to claw back to a double-digit growth rate this year, twenty eight residents of Hinjewadi, including top names like Infosys, TCS, Cognizant and Wipro, that once ruthlessly poached talent from each other, have now agreed to work collectively to reduce attrition.

At their first meeting hosted at the Infosys campus in Hinjewadi last month, CXO-level representatives from all 28 companies keenly explored a no-poach agreement, but concluded it was unviable. All of this will be spelt out in a ‘code of ethics’ that will be honoured by the HR departments of all these companies and by their employees. These 28 companies account for 1,00,000 of the 2,50,000 IT professionals employed in Pune. By the same yardstick, they could contribute at least Rs 19,000 crore of the Rs 48,000 crore worth of software exported from Pune last year, though exact figures are not available. These companies have been crippled by 17% attrition leading to an estimated loss of about 5% of total revenues about Rs 850 crore  every year.

Hinjewadi may account for only 6-8% of the sector’s total revenues, but if this peace experiment succeeds, it might find more takers across other IT hubs in the country. The industry, which saw a net addition of only 20,000 people last year, is likely to add some 90,000 to the base of 2.3 million employees, according to industry body Nasscom. Already, Infosys has reported an attrition of 16% during the past quarter, the highest in 12 months. Nearly 8,000 employees exited during the quarter, a clear sign of the simmering war for talent.

IT companies in India could be losing close to $2 billion annually to attrition, including loss of productivity and expenditure to find replacement owing to price pressure from customers and also, from the competition. If  this attrition is not arrested now, profitability is bound to decrease. Loss of an employee is loss of knowledge. Finding a replacement and getting him to be productive takes 2-6 six months, which makes it a loss of productivity, too .Where a broad agenda could be worked on and implemented, the welcome move should also see strong acomplia dosage adherence from all quarters and participants.

In some ways, these companies are only trying to fix a problem they had created. Hard-pressed for talent, the IT industry resorted to rampant poaching during the heydays of 2007-08. This time around, as the industry looks to get back to growth, they are trying not to make the same mistakes again.

Source:[Economic times]

Bharti Airtel and the last frontier for mobile telecom

July 15, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Telecom 

India’s largest and the world’s fifth largest mobile phone company, Bharti Airtel is all set for an aggressive expansion in the African mobile telecom market.

“Africa is the last frontier for mobile telecom and mobile telecom will also catalyze social transformation of Africa and of rural Africa,” said Manoj Kohli, Bharti Airtel’s chief buy acomplia 20mg executive. Bharti Airtel embarked on the largest ever telecom takeover by an Indian firm on June 8, 2010, when it completed a transaction to buy Kuwait-based Zain Telecom’s African business for USD 10.7 billion. Kohli said the Zain buy-out was “a fantastic launch pad for Africa with 15 countries.” The Africa holdings include Burkina Faso, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Chad and Zambia.

A 150-million-dollar investment in Kenya and 600-million-dollar investment in Nigeria were also announced by the company generic cialis 10mg soon after the takeover. When in Nigeria, Mr. Kohli sounded optimistic about the future of Africa stating: “If a company hopes to grow, they have to be in Africa and the jewel of Africa is Nigeria.” He also said, Bharti will also invest in rural telephony and introduce a corporate social responsibility program in Nigeria that includes setting up of schools that would offer free quality education to underprivileged children in rural communities.

Source: [Google]

Spending on infrastructure must increase fivefold

July 7, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Infra & Real Estate 

Mr. A.M. Naik, the chairman of Larsen & Toubro Ltd, India’s largest engineering company by sales, in a recent interview declared that the country must boost spending on infrastructure at least fivefold to $150 billion annually to continue its rapid economic growth.

Mr. A.M. Naik also advocates a new law to compensate those displaced by infrastructure projects. “If you don’t give poor villagers alternative space better than what they’re living in, within six kilometers of where they live, it’s unfair to them,” Mr. Naik said. acomplia rimonabant – buy acomplia online without a prescription “Then if you want to get this and that built, it’s not going to happen.” To increase the pace of land acquisition, he said, the government should adopt legislation guaranteeing that people living in the path of infrastructure projects will get alternative housing within a six-kilometer cheapest cialis prices (or 3.73-mile) radius or receive a fair-market price for their homes. At the same time, he said, the new law should prevent homeowners from blocking land acquisitions by going to court. They should be permitted to quarrel only about the sale price, he said.

Mr. Naik said that Larsen & Toubro hopes to tap into the flurry of airport construction taking place in emerging economies. Among the projects it may bid on, he said, are the expansion of an airport in Oman and future work at India’s Bangalore International airport. Larsen & Toubro is also seeking to spin off its water business to take advantage of growing opportunities for providing infrastructure that supplies clean water across the country. Mr. Naik also said the company’s plans to float a $250 million equity fund for financing infrastructure projects in India are on hold until its finance arm, L&T Finance Ltd, is spun off, a move expected by March 31, 2011. For the year that began on April 1, Mr. Naik added, Larsen & Toubro expects to report sales growth of 20%. “We are generally on track,” he said.

Source: [Online Wsj]

Infosys expansion plan in Chennai

June 23, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: IT 

Infosys Technologies, the country’s second-largest information technology (IT) services exporter, has approached the Tamil Nadu government for 200 acres of land near Chennai for setting up a development centre, according to a senior state government official.

Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan, chief executive officer and managing director of Infosys Technologies, met Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin and discussed the company’s acomplia 20 mg future expansion in the state. Without elaborating on whether he asked for 200 acres of land in the city, Mr. Gopalkrishnan said, “At some point, we may have to grow our capacity in Chennai. We did discuss Infosys’ expansion plan.” He said the capacities of Infosys’ two development centers in Chennai were almost full. Infosys employs over 12,000 people in these centers. He also added, “We will increase foreign national’s headcounts to 15 per cent from the current five per cent.”

The company has 59 global development generic cialis overnight delivery centers, of which 28 are in India and 31 outside India. It also planned to set up centers in Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Turkey, Africa and the Middle East. Apart from Chennai the company has expansion plans in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

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Source: [Business Standard]