Mysore stands third among Tier III cities

Though there's a feeling that Mysore has lagged in advancing as a happening city over the last 3-4 years, here comes a morale-boosting report, which places Mysore third among the top 10 Tier III cities in the country in job offerings.

A study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) reveals that Mysore ranked third with 11.08 percent of the share of jobs among the top 10 Tier III cities. Automobile, insurance, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and education were the top five employment-generating sectors. It is interesting to note IT does not figure in the top five sectors.

The first two of the 10 among the Tier III cities go to Ranchi with 13.80 and Mangalore with 11.60. Energy, construction, metals, electronics and telecom are the job growth areas in Ranchi while Mangalore lead in automobiles, insurance, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and education sectors like of Mysore.

After Mysore, the cities of Raipur, Udaipur and Aurangabad top the chart with fourth, fifth and sixth ranks respectively. Patiala, Jalandhar, Meerut and Vishakhapatnam occupy the last four places respectively.

Mysore is one of the four small cities, which provided maximum vacancies in the automobile sector. This expanding sector is speeding towards the small cities where two wheelers and low cost four wheelers are in high demand. Pondicherry, Aurangabad, Vishakhapatnam and Mysore were the four top Tier III cities in order.

The study says, of the 30 lead sectors that provided the maximum jobs to young aspirants between January and March 2008, financial services outpaced the IT sector in Tier II and Tier III cities.

The study titled ‘Job Trendz: Across Cities and Sectors' found that these tier II and tier III cities have cornered 18.5 percent and 21.5 percent share of the job space respectively. The high cost of manpower and capacity constraints in the big cities is pushing industry towards small cities for job creation

The study was based on the sample of 32,000 vacancies posted by around 3,500 companies in the national and regional dailies, journals and job portals during the three-month period.

A change in the job trend is observed in small cities while traditionally the maximum job openings used to be concentrated in IT sector, but in Tier II and Tier III cities, financial services have taken over it.

Mangalore lead the top three tier III cities followed by Pondicherry and Aurangabad by providing the highest job openings in finance related jobs. It led also in IT sector, which posted the second largest share of vacancies. The other two low-cost cities, which offered maximum job avenues, are Jalandhar and Aurangabad. Mangalore also led in FMCG sector over Amirtsar, Ranchi and Udaipur.

13 Indian cos among world's 500 most valued firms

Thirteen Indian firms, led by Reliance Industries, have made to the list of world's 500 most valued companies compiled by the UK business daily Financial Times, even as 12 of them fell down from their previous rankings amid weak stock market trends.

Excluding tobacco-to-consumer goods major ITC, all the 12 Indian companies present on the list, including RIL, ONGC, NTPC, SBI, Bharti Airtel, DLF and Reliance Communications, saw their rankings drop in the latest FT Global 500 list, topped by American energy giant ExxonMobil with a market value of 452.5 billion dollars.

FT publishes the list based on the market capitalisation of the companies at the end of every quarter and the latest rankings are based on March-end figures for this year. The previous list was based on market cap figures at the end of December 2007.

In the global list, ExxonMobil has replaced China's PetroChia as the most valued firm, while US industrial conglomerate GE has retained its third position. Other firms in the top 10 include Gazprom, China Mobile, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Microsoft, AT&T, Royal Dutch Shell and P&G.

Among the Indian companies, Mukesh Ambani-led RIL has been ranked the highest at 80th, down 15 places from 65th earlier, with a market cap of 82 billion dollars.

RIL is followed by state-run ONGC at 148th (down from 115), public sector power major NTPC at 206th (down from 163), Sunil Mittal-led telecom giant Bharti Airtel at 218th (down from 193), realty major DLF at 329th (down from 195) and Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications at 350th position (down from 252). However, ITC climbed six spots to the 484th place, with a market value of 19.38 billion dollars.

Indian GOVT launches e-Passport Scheme

Government today launched the ambitious 'E-passports' scheme with President Pratibha Patil receiving the first copy from External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee here.

While the E-passports launched today are meant for the diplomats, it would be issued for the category of officials from next month and general people from September next year.

"Around 80 lakh e-passports would be issued by 2010," Mukherjee said.

The new passports would have an electronic chip containing all personal data and help reduce the procedure at immigration.

"It is compatible with international standards and identity cards and would protect against fraud and security breaches," Mukherjee said, adding it was easy to verify the authenticity of e-passports.

The new passports have been designed indigenously in India by the Central Passport Organisation, the India Security Press, Nasik and IIT, Kanpur.

Vodafone Offers PreRegisteration form for iPhone 3G in India

Vodafone, one of India's largest telecommunication provider will offer first iPhone to the Indian market. The date is not confirmed but the site Officially announce the preregistration for the upcoming iPhone 3G device.

Register Here

Idea Cellular to buy Spice Communications

Idea Cellular, India's fifth-largest mobile operator, said on Wednesday it would buy Spice Group's 40.8 per cent stake in another mobile firm, Spice Communications, at Rs 77.3 per share.

Idea also said it would merge Spice with itself through a share swap where Spice shareholders would get 49 Idea shares for every 100 Spice shares held.

Spice has operations in two out of a total 23 telecom circles and has a customer base of more than 3 million while Idea is present in 11 circles and has a customer base of over 26 million. India, the world's fastest-growing mobile services market and the second-largest market after China, has lured foreign firms like Vodafone Plc which last year bought a controlling stake in the third-largest local cellular firm.

India has 269.30 million wireless users at end-April, up 57 percent from a year earlier, according to the telecoms regulator.

HDFC Bank agrees to buy Centurion Bank

HDFC Bank, India's third-biggest lender by market capitalisation, agreed on Saturday to buy Centurion Bank of Punjab in an all-share deal in the nation's biggest financial sector buyout.

The boards of the two banks will meet on Feb 25 to consider the share swap ratio and again on Feb 28 to finalise the details of the merger, a joint statement from the lenders said. The two first announced plans for the merger late on Friday.

"The two Boards have resolved to pursue the merger subject to satisfactory due diligence, a fair share-swap ratio and all the requisite statutory, regulatory and corporate approvals," the statement said. It did not give a value for the deal.

According to Times News Network the deal may value Centurion's shares at 57 rupees each, or roughly the price at which they closed on Thursday after jumping 14 percent on the day as speculation of a deal intensified.

Ernst & Young and Dalal & Shah have been appointed to determine the share swap ratio, HDFC Bank said in a statement to the stock exchange. The merger will create a bank with 1,148 branches, surpassing second largest lender ICICI Bank's 955 branches.

Centurion had 394 branches and HDFC Bank 754 branches as on Dec. 31 2007, the statement said. However, the merged entity's total advances of about 870 billion rupees ($21.7 billion) are far lower than ICICI's 2.2 trillion rupees. The merger will allow HDFC Bank to extend its reach in the country before a central bank review next year that may allow foreign banks such as Citigroup and Standard Chartered to buy Indian lenders.

Indian banks, led by State Bank of India and ICICI, the top two by market value, are raising funds to expand ahead of the review and to meet the demands from an economy that has grown at an average of 8.6 percent over the last four years.

State Bank is raising $4.2 billion in a rights share issue, HDFC Bank plans to sell bonds worth up to $1 billion and ICICI sold $5 billion of shares in June, eyeing rapid growth in the fragmented Indian banking sector. HDFC Bank and Centurion, which got banking licenses in the mid-1990s, are among the few to have acquired local rivals. HDFC Bank bought Times Bank from media publisher Bennett Coleman & Co in 2000.

While Centurion, which was rescued by buyout firm Sabre Capital in 2003 after major losses, has bought Bank of Punjab and Lord Krishna Bank. Bank Muscat owns 14.02 percent and Sabre Capital 3.74 percent of Centurion as on Dec. 31, stock exchange data showed.

Centurion Bank shares, which ended one percent down on Friday valuing the bank at 105 billion rupees, have risen 13 percent since Feb. 20. HDFC Bank shares have lost 4 percent in the same period.

Hollywood stars in movie deal with billionaire Anil Ambani

HOLLYWOOD'S biggest stars have struck a deal with the world's sixth richest man to make movies.

Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Nicolas Cage, above, along with Tom Hanks and Jim Carey will produce10 films with Indian billionaire Anil Ambani.

Film-makers Chris Columbus and Jay Roach have also signed up with Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment.

Ambani earned £12.2billion last year and is worth £21.5billion.

Infosys may be forced to change name in France

Indian IT giant Infosys may have to change its name in France, as a court there has found its use of this name infringing the trademark as well as business and corporate identities of another firm 'Infosys France'.

While noting that it may be forced to operate under some other trade name in France, Nasdaq-listed Infosys Technologies said in a regulatory filing here that it has sought a stay on the court ruling and is planning to appeal against it.

The Bangalore-headquartered company, which is present across a host of countries, said a civil court in Bobigny, France, ruled on April 15, that its use of the name "Infosys" constituted infringement of the trademark, corporate name and trade name "Infosys France" in that country.

The ruling added that the Indian IT major could not use the same name in France as a trademark, corporate name, trade name and domain name "with immediate effect."

According to Infosys Technologies' regulatory filing, it has two sales and marketing offices in France.

"Infosys France" is a technology and consulting firm- based in France and is part of an integrated management consulting services provider "Groupe Infodis."

"Although we have appealed against the ruling and have sought a stay on the decision of the civil court, failure to obtain a stay..., or an adverse final ruling, may force us to operate under a different trade name and could adversely affect our operations in France," Indian firm said.

Infosys added that the ruling in France, or a similar ruling in any jurisdiction where it operates, "could disrupt our ongoing business, distract our management and employees, and affect our future business."

SBI joins Chinese bank to touch 10,000 branches

Public sector State Bank of India on Sunday became only the second bank in the world to have 10,000 branches when Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram inaugurated its latest branch here.

Speaking on the occasion, Chidambaram said China's ICBC Bank was the other bank to have 10,000 branches.

Opening 10,000 branches was a great feat. "It is not an easy milestone though the SBI was the bank of the government and Indian people even before other banks were nationalised," he said.

People all over the world, including the Chinese, would now know about this small village where the 10000th branch of the SBI had been opened, he said adding they would be amazed by the bank's growth.

The bank should be proud of the achievement he said and wished that the bank opened one lakh branches.

"Chairman of the 202-year old bank Omprakash Bhatt was indeed a more powerful man than me because he handled Rs nine lakh crore (business) whereas my budget is only for Rs eight lakh crore," he said.

The Minister said out of the over 100 crore people, seventy 75 per cent did not have any type of insurance. Similarly, 50 per cent of the 11 crore farmers did not have bank account. Banks should go to the people and enroll them as account holders. 'That is what economists say is financial inclusion,' he said.

Pepsi drops Ganguly, Dravid; Ishant, Rohit in

The change of guard in Indian cricket team is reflecting in the endorsement market, with soft drinks major Pepsi deciding to drop Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid as ambassadors while roping in youngsters Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma, in line with its brand ideology.

As far as master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who has been Pepsi's brand ambassador for a long time now, is concerned, the company is observing a silence.

"From time to time we review the list of stars and depending on situation and who we think is right, we pick and choose. In case of cricketers, Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma are surely in as they have the attitude and aggression reflecting Pepsi's brand image PepsiCo India Executive Vice President, Marketing (Cola), Sandeep Singh Arora told media. Read More>>

With Videos-On-Demand, Bollywood Meets Web 2.0

In many ways the films of Bollywood, South Asia's prolific film industry, are tailor-made for the Web: They're instantly digestible, they're lavishly eye-catching, and they come in an unending stream of around 1,000 movies a year. Plus, the huge expat Indian community of some 25 million worldwide offers a sizable potential market.

So it makes perfect sense that Bollywood.tv is using next-generation caching and content-delivery technology to bring its vast collection of South Asian spectacles to online subscribers around the world.

Based in London and owned by Australian investment firm Charter Pacific Corp., Bollywood.tv was founded in 2005. It has amassed a catalog of 1,900 contemporary and classic Bollywood movies in languages including Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, and Bengali. The site charges $3.99 and up to watch full-length movies and has a monthly subscription offering as well.

Along with third-party providers like Bollywood.tv, big Bollywood studios are getting into the online act as well. Last year two of the largest Indian film factories, Rajshri Group and Eros Entertainment, began making their movies available via download to fans across the Web. Several recent South Asian blockbusters have been released simultaneously in theaters and on the Web. Read More>>

Aamir Khan's Ghajini rights for Rs 90 cr

With pre-release movie rights becoming hot property, the Hindi remake of Tamil movie Ghajini, starring Aamir Khan, has earned an estimated Rs 90 crore by selling its distribution rights. Last year, Om Shanti Om was the top grosser in distribution rights, it sold the rights to Eros for a reported Rs 73 crore.

The Indian Film Company has bagged the domestic distribution rights for the Aamir Khan-starrer for an estimated Rs 53 crore. IFC is managed by B K Enterprises a joint venture of Viacom and Raghav Bahl. Producers Madhu Varma and Allu Arvind have sold the home video rights, overseas rights and satellite rights for another Rs 40 crore.

When contacted, the Indian Film Company’s Sandeep Bhargav confirmed that they had bought the rights for the untitled Hindi remake of Ghajini. Ghajini has been the highest grossing Tamil hit. I believe that the remake of Ghajini will be one of the biggest films of this year. It stars Aamir Khan, so it’s a special film. We have acquired it at a value that includes marketing and print expenses.” Read More>>

New York Times to cut 100 jobs

The New York Times is cutting 100 jobs from its newsroom this year as financial pressures mount from a weak economy and competition from the Internet.

Executive Editor Bill Keller told employees in a meeting Thursday that the cuts would come mainly through attrition and buyouts, but layoffs were also possible.

New York Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said the paper has a total of 1,332 newsroom employees throughout the paper, which would make the cutbacks equivalent to nearly 8 percent of its editorial staff.

The Times' parent company, The New York Times Co., has cut jobs at other properties, including about 125 positions last year at The Boston Globe and the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, Mass.

But reporting jobs at the Times' flagship paper had been relatively untouched until now, and the cuts announced Thursday will result in the first net reduction in reporting jobs there in recent memory.

Last November the paper eliminated about a dozen newsroom support staff but no reporters. Mathis said the Times' newsroom has been generally growing in recent years, and had 1,078 employees in 1998.

Bill O'Meara, president of the Newspaper Guild of New York, said the union would work with the Times to minimize the possibility of involuntary buyouts.

A spokesman for the Newspaper Guild of New York did not immediately return a call for comment.

Newspaper publishers around the country have been retrenching with job cuts and other cost-saving measures as their advertising revenues suffer because of competition from the Internet and weakness in the economy, which have especially hurt their lucrative classified advertising business.

On Wednesday employees at the country's No. 2 newspaper publisher, Chicago-based Tribune Co., were told that company would eliminate hundreds of jobs at the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other publications in the latest effort there to reduce costs.

Print advertising revenues have been declining steadily at U.S. newspapers for more than a year, according to figures from the Newspaper Association of America, an industry group. Gains in online advertising have been making up for some, but not all of the losses.

Overall newspaper advertising fell 7.4 percent in the third quarter of 2007, the most recent period for which the NAA has reported data. Print advertising, which still makes up the vast majority of newspapers' revenues, fell 9 percent to $10.1 billion (euro6.9 billion) in the quarter while online advertising grew 21 percent to $773 million (euro528.5 million).

The New York Times Co. reported a 4.1 percent decline in overall advertising for the fourth quarter of 2007, excluding the effect of an extra week in the year-ago period. The declines were even worse in December, when overall newspaper advertising fell 13.8 percent, also excluding the extra week in the 2006 period.

KPOs set to log up to $17-b revenues by 2010: KPMG

The Indian Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) industry will have revenues in the range of $10-17 billion by 2010, a study by KPMG said. Of this, financial KPO would alone account for $5 billion, the study said.

“While the bulk of the growth could be attributed to the financial services, the rest of the $17 billion growth would come from the pharma, core accounting and legal sectors for the KPO sector,” KPMG global sourcing advisory head Pradeep Udhas said. He was also hopeful that the captive units would continue remain dominant though catering to niche areas in the KPO landscape.

The study suggests that although India continues to remain the top KPO destination, there are many countries that are snapping at its heels which qualify for as potential financial services hubs for the KPO industry. “

Companies that are outsourcing to KPOs are trying to balances their risks, such an environment would eventually give rise to a hub and spoke model wherein India would act as a hub for the different spokes emerging in countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Canada and South Africa among others,” Mr Udhas said. According to the study, large KPO providers are expected to move to multi-location deliver centres. Issues that can potentially hamper growth include skill set shortage, a declining US dollar and compliance and regulatory pressures, the study said.

Special package for IT, BPO industry in Budget

Union communications and IT minister A Raja said his ministry is asking for a dedicated incentive package for the Indian IT and BPO industry in the forthcoming budget and for the continuation of tax holiday benefit under the software technology parks scheme. “We have received feedback from the industry players for the continuation of the STPI scheme.

The scheme’s fiscal incentives, for instance, are being treated on a priority basis by the ministry of communications and IT and we’re extensively following it up with the PMO on this,” Mr Raja said at an industry meet organised by trade body Nasscom. The minister also said continuation of tax benefits would particularly benefit small and medium enterprises, most of which can’t cash in on the special economic zones.

Mr Raja also touched upon the spectrum allocation issue on the sidelines of the meeting. He said that the government won’t lower spectrum pricing but it would be left to competition to determine whether price is to be hiked or reduced. The Wireless Planning and Co-ordination Wing of the Department of Telecom (DoT) has proposed levying one-time fixed spectrum charges for additional spectrum of 1 MHz for Rs 2 crore, 1 crore and Rs 0.35 crore for categories A, B and C circles, respectively, against telecom regulator Trai’s recommendations of Rs 16 crore, 8 crore and 8 crore, respectively. Currently, operators have been paying in the range of 2-6% of their annual gross revenues (AGR) for 4.4-15 MHz of spectrum.

The minister said the ministry was ready to submit the amended IT Act in the next Parliament session. “Cyber security is another area where the industry must look to consolidate its position. In order to consolidate industry’s global edge, we have to strengthen our IT Act and give it more teeth. Amendments to the current IT Act are being finalised by the ministry,” Mr Raja said.

Mr Raja also voiced a need for providing cheaper bandwidth to broadband operators for enabling better connectivity in rural India. “Rural connectivity is still a dream for almost 80% of India’s population. Our goal is to provide rural citizens with access to state-of-the-art technology devices and internet at lower prices.

For that to happen, bandwidth has to be made even cheaper and reasonably priced telecom solutions must reach the common package,” Mr Raja said.

Yahoo india sacks forty employees

Pink slips have reached India’s tech capital Bangalore with the online giant Yahoo! chopping at least 40 jobs in a single day at its development centre.

The job cuts have come as a shock for the Yahoo! India employees who were given just 30 minutes to exit their workplace. Some of the emotionally distraught employees broke down on receiving the news while others who turned restive called up ET office.

Globally, Yahoo! has unveiled workforce rationalisation putting roughly 1,000 jobs at risk. The reason cited for Wednesday’s axing of jobs was the internal performance measurement index of Yahoo!, called Relative Poor Performers (RPR). Yahoo! India CEO Sharad Sharma and the top management were not available for an interface with the employees. Further, according to sources, Yahoo! has decided to freeze recruitments in India for the time being.

Yahoo! India currently has a total headcount of 1,500 with its R&D operations solely located in Bangalore. The latest job cuts were primarily in the R&D division.Sources said that the job cuts affected up to the mid-manager level across all its segments. The affected people include developers, senior engineers and some of the relatively inexperienced people. Yahoo! India officials were not available for comment.

Google to set up 20 acre campus in Hyderabad

Global Internet major Google will set up its first campus in India, which will be spread over 20 acres in Hyderabad, a senior IT department official of the Andhra Pradesh government said on Wednesday.

"Google will set up their India campus in Hyderabad. We have alloted 20 acres of land," M Gopi Krishna, Special Secretary in Andhra Pradesh's Department of IT and Communications said during a presentation on the coming Hyderabad IT summit 2008.

About the proposed investment by Google in this venture, he said the internet company would not like to share those details.

He also said Infosys Technologies Ltd would set up its biggest campus in Hyderabad, where it has been alloted 450 acres, bigger than its campus at Mysore which is around 335 acres.

IT exports from Andhra Pradesh has been growing at around 50 per cent for the last three years to reach Rs 18,582 crore in 2006-07, and it is expected to be around Rs 25,000 crore in the current financial year, Krishna said.

He said, "40 IT/ITES SEZs, spread over 2,000 acres in Hyderabad and tier-II locations in Andhra Pradesh, are in the offing. Visakhapatnam is going to be the next IT hub of Andhra Pradesh," he said.

Hyderabad IT Summit, with focus on IT infrastructure, will be held from March 20 to 22. It will focus on emerging trends in global IT industry and infrastructure demands.

The Evolution of Tech Companies Logos

You’ve seen these tech logos everywhere, but have you ever wondered how they came to be? Did you know that Apple’s original logo was Isaac Newton under an apple tree? Or that Nokia’s original logo was a fish?

Let’s take a look at the origin of tech companies’ logos and how they evolved over time:

Read Full Article>>

Kapil takes legal action against India cricket board

Retired cricket great Kapil Dev has taken the powerful Indian board to court for alleged victimisation after he headed the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), reports said on Wednesday.

Dev applied to the Delhi High Court on Tuesday after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stopped his pension as a former international player and also sacked him as head of the National Cricket Academy.

"The only way of earning a livelihood for us retired cricketers is through the game and the board cannot, by illegally changing its rules and regulations, deprive us of the benefits," media reports quoted Dev's court affidavit as saying.

Dev, India's only World Cup winning captain and one of the game's great all-rounders, heads the ICL, which is bankrolled by the media firm Zee Telefilms.

The ICL's inaugural Twenty20 tournament, featuring retired stars like West Indian Brian Lara and Pakistan's Inzamam-ul Haq alongside domestic players, was held in November-December.

The BCCI not only refused to recognise the ICL but also banned Indian players involved in it from playing official first-class cricket.

The BCCI's own Twenty20 Indian Premier League involving top stars from around the world is slated to take place from April 18 to June 1.

Among former Indian players whose pensions were stopped by the BCCI for joining the ICL are Kiran More, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Sandeep Patil, Erapalli Prasanna, Madan Lal and Rajesh Chauhan.

Mukesh Ambani to head India-Russia CEOs' forum

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani will co-chair the India-Russia CEOs' Council, which was established on Wednesday to strengthen bilateral business cooperation in the areas of oil, energy, power, transport, telecom and high technology.

This was announced by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath at the conclusion of the 2nd meeting of India-Russia Forum on Trade and Investment, coinciding with the visit of Russian Prime Minister Victor A Zubkov.

Ten CEOs each from India and Russia will be on the Council, which will work towards converting about 8 billion dollars worth of projects under discussion and explore new areas for trade and investment.

With the setting up of the business council, "the level of economic engagement between the two countries should increase," Nath said, while addressing a joint press conference with Russian Minister for Economic Development and Trade Elvira S Nabiullina.

Nabiulliana said, "CEOs' Council will be useful to increase the trade manifold between the two countries."

The two BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries had agreed on Tuesday to boost the bilateral trade to 10 billion dollars by 2010.