• India Investments: Microsoft $1.7 Bln, Intel $1 Bln
• AMD-Semindia Combine to Set Up $3 Bln Chip Plant in India
• TCS and SBI Form a Technology Joint Venture for Banking Sector
• Tata-Star DTH Joint Venture Signs Lease Pact with ISRO for 12 KU-Band Transponders
Technology Companies
Bill Gates announces $1.7 bln investment in India , Microsoft India headcount to double
Microsoft Corp. plans to invest $1.7 billion in India over the next four years. The Chairman and Chief Software Architect of the world's largest software company Bill Gates , announced the decision in New Delhi on Dec. 7 during his four-day visit to India . It was his fourth visit to India . He said the company intended to spend $850 million on research and development at its five centers in Bangalore and Hyderabad . The rest of the money will be used for creating local language computing solutions. He also announced that Microsoft will increase its employee strength from 4,000 to 7,000 by year 2008.
(Ref: Financial Express, December 08, 2005)
Intel to invest $1 bln in India
Craig Barrett, chairman of the world's largest microchip maker Intel Corp., on announced on Dec. 5 an investment plan of more than $1 billion over the next four to five years. About $800 million of the new investment plan will go into research and development in India . The company has earmarked $250 million for setting up a venture capital fund- Intel Capital India Technology Fund -to invest in start-ups. Mr. Barrett also clarified that while negotiations with the Indian government for establishing a fabrication facility were still ongoing, it was unlikely be set one up in the near future.
(Ref: Business Standard, December 06, 2005)
SemIndia, AMD to set up $3 bln chip plant
SemIndia, a consortium of non-resident Indian technology entrepreneurs and professionals, has announced an investment of $3 billion in a semiconductor chip-making factory in India, with technology from the world's second largest microchip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc. AMD CEO Hector Ruiz signed a technology transfer deal with SemIndia President and CEO Vinod K Agarwal in New Delhi on Nov. 30, in the presence of information technology minister Dayanidhi Maran. AMD CEO has given an indication that his company may pick up a stake in the plant. SemIndia expects to start the work on the facility next year, and to begin the production in three years. The government of India and a state government depending on the site of the plant will also be involved in the project.
(Ref: Business Standard, December 01, 2005)
Patni Computer lists at NYSE
Patni Computer Systems, the 6th largest IT services company of India , has raised $139.74 mln from its American depositary share (ADS) issue for the purpose of building new infrastructure facilities on a global basis. The company wants to use the fund for improving infrastructure facilities at its eight development centres in India and to execute overseas plans. The company's ADS opened at 23.80 dollars on the first day of its listing on NYSE on 9th December against the issue price of 20.34 dollars. With this listing, Patni Computer has become the fourth Indian software firm after Infosys, Wipro and Satyam, to be listed on US stock markets.
(Ref: Financial Express, December 09, 2005)
Genpact signs 7-year outsourcing pact with Wachovia Corp
GENPACT (formerly GE Capital International Services), India's largest BPO firm and an early adopter of outsourcing and Wachovia Corporation, a provider of financial services in the US with a market value of $74 bln, have signed an agreement under which Genpact would establish an offshore operation to support the latter's business process outsourcing efforts. Under the agreement, Wachovia and Genpact will work together to evaluate various processes at the company over the next several months, with the expectation that some work will transition in the second quarter of 2006.
(Ref: Business Line, December 02, 2005)
Wipro looks at acquisitions
Wipro, the India 's third largest IT services & BPO company, is looking at acquiring midsize companies in the U.S. , Europe and India . Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said that the company had $1 billion in cash reserves, which will be utilized for acquisitions and as well as paying dividends. "We are not looking for general-purpose acquisitions, but at specialised verticals," Premji said. "We are looking for companies which can give us a good geography such as continental Europe ." Meanwhile, Wipro is also looking at setting up an integrated IT and BPO facility in Bucharest ( Romania ) within the next 12 weeks.
(Ref: CIOL, November 28, 2005)
Celestica to set up Hyderabad facility
Celestica, the Toronto-based $8.8 billion electronics manufacturing services provider, has planned to set up its manufacturing base in Andhra Pradesh, the South Indian state. The company has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh Government to locate its manufacturing base in the state.
(Ref: Business Line, November 26, 2005)
Sahara Computers Plans $85 mln investment
Sahara Computers and Electronics and Ltd (SCEL), a JV between South African IT major - Sahara Computers and Sahara India Pariwar that runs businesses ranging from non-banking finance to airlines, announced an investment of $85 mln (Rs 400 crore) in the Indian market in the next two years.
(Ref: Business Line, November 19, 2005)
Newgen Software bags order from Bank of Tanzania
Newgen Software Technologies Ltd has won an order worth $425,000 from the Bank of Tanzania for a project that includes consultancy and implementation of products such as Omnidocs, OmniCapture and OmniAcquire, as well as backlog scanning of 25 million pages. The company has already commenced the work on the project and expects the completion by March 2006.
(Ref: Business Line, November 19, 2005)
MphasiS opens BPO facility in Ahmedabad
The Bangalore-based mid-sized software exporter MphasiS BFL has started operations of its new Business Process Outsourcing facility in Ahmedabad, its sixth location. The Ahmedabad facility of the company will be dedicated to customer service delivery for its domestic business. It has started with 350 people and will eventually have capacity for 3,000 people.
(Ref: CIOL, November 18, 2005)
MBT plans BPO foray
Mahindra-British Telecom (MBT), India 's 8th largest software exporter, is entering into business process outsourcing (BPO) segment, reports the Financial Express. The report says that MBT also plans to venture into development of telecom equipment manufacturers (TEM) sector to improve margins and garner more business.
(Ref: Financial Express, November 18, 2005)
Jerry Rao sells 2.6% stake in MphasiS BFL
The Chairman of mid-sized software exporter MphasiS BFL, Mr Jerry Rao, has sold 2.08 mln shares (around 2.6% of equity) of the company in the open market. According to a Business Line report, the total value of the shares sold by Mr. Rao is approximately $5.59 mln.
(Ref: Business Line, November 18, 2005)
HCL to set up design centre using IBM tech
HCL Technologies Ltd, India's no 5 software services firm, has announced the plan to set up a unit using embedded architecture from IBM Corp to design products for sectors that have high computing needs. As per the agreement, the company has acquired right to use and sublicense IBM's PowerPC 405 and PowerPC 440 embedded microprocessor cores and certain associated peripheral cores.
(Ref: Business Standard, November 17, 2005)
KPIT Cummins inks deal with Business Objects
Pune-based mid-sized IT consultancy firm KPIT Cummins Infosystems will provide the back-end customer support system for the worldwide customers of Paris-based Business Objects, a global business intelligence company.
(Ref: Business Standard, November 17, 2005)
TCS partners U.S. depository firm
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the largest Indian IT services company, has partnered with US Depository firm, Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation to reengineer the American company's asset services systems.
(Ref: Hindu, November 17, 2005)
Intuit announces development centre in city
Intuit, the U.S.-based $2 billion accounting software solutions provider, has announced the setting up of its product development centre in the south Indian city Bangalore , reports Business Standard. The unit is expected to hire 300 engineers over the next five years.
(Ref: Business Standard, November 16, 2005)
IBM to acquire Polaris?
IBM is looking at taking over a controlling stake in Polaris Software Lab Ltd, reported CIOL.com attributing to unnamed sources. The technology industry information portal reported that the move to acquire Polaris gains significance as it follows the acquisition of
i-flex Solutions by IBM's arch rival Oracle.
(Ref: CIOL.com, November 16, 2005)
TCS, SBI to form 51:49 tech JV for banking
The country's largest commercial bank, State Bank of India (SBI), has decided to form a joint venture with the largest Indian IT consultancy and services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
(Note: See the full report on TCS in our section "Company Watch")
TCS rules out merger with CMC for now
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) managing director and chief executive officer S Ramadorai has ruled out any immediate plans to merge CMC Ltd with TCS. The financial daily Business Standard has quoted Mr. Ramadorai saying that the TCS was, however, looking for more integration after merger of Tata Infotec with itself.
(Ref: Business Standard, November 15, 2005)
IT services firm Keane to invest $100 mln in India
US-based IT services firm Keane said it will invest about $100 million in India . The company plans to increase its services delivery capability five-fold over the next three to five years.
(Ref: Hindustan Times, November 12, 2005)
Premji receives Faraday Medal
Azim Premji, chairman of the 3rd largest Indian IT company Wipro, has become the first Indian to receive the prestigious Faraday Medal from Institution of Electrical Engineers, the largest professional engineering society in Europe .
(Ref: CIOL.com, November 14, 2005)
Megasoft eyes acquisition in US
Megasoft, a Hyderabad-based technology company working in domains like life sciences and IT consulting services, plans to make an acquisition in US in the next six months, reports Business Standard. The company had announced the acquisition of beam AG, a German company, in July this year to gain a foothold in the European market.
(Ref: Business Standard, November 08, 2005)
Syntel betting big on Chennai, Tier-II cities
Nasdaq-listed SYNTEL Inc, the Detroit-based IT services company with development centres in Chennai, plans to acquire land in the south Indian states Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra as a prelude to expanding its operations. Financial daily Business Line reports that in Tamil Nadu, the company plans to acquire more land in Tier-II towns, particularly Coimbatore and Madurai , and also in Tier-II towns in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra .
(Ref: Business Line, November 08, 2005)
Hughes re-enters India for telecom software development
Hughes Network Systems (HNS), a Germantown, Maryland-based broadband satellite equipment and services provider recently bought by SkyTerra, is rediscovering India . After getting the new promoter, HNS wants to replicate the success it had with the Hughes Software Systems that was acquired last year by Flextronics.
(Ref: Zee News, November 07, 2005)
Telecom Companies
Samsung to manufacture mobile handsets in India
Samsung India , the Indian subsidiary of South Korea 's largest business group, announced a $15 million handset manufacturing facility in India , the fourth outside Korea , after China , Brazil and Mexico . The facility at Manesar in Gurgaon, Haryana near New Delhi , with an initial plant capacity of 1 million units per annum to be increased to 20 million by 2010 will serve as the manufacturing hub for South West Asia. Global manufacturers Motorola, Nokia and LG have already announced manufacturing facilities in India .
(Ref: Financial Express, December 10, 2005)
Nokia wins $141 mln order from BSNL
India 's largest telecom company BSNL has awarded Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, a $141 million (Rs 635 crore) comprehensive SM/EDGE and GPRS network expansion project in North India . The current expansion order is in addition to $284 million network lay-down contract awarded to the Finnish company in Oct. 2004.
(Ref: Financial Express, November 25, 2005)
Canar Tele invests in Reliance Info
Sudan 's nationwide fixed-line operator Canar Telecommunication Company has confirmed a multi-million dollar investment in Reliance Infocomm's Falcon submarine cable system. Financial daily Business Standard reports that Canar will also become the cable's landing partner at Port Sudan .
(Ref: Business Standard, November 18, 2005)
Sify mulls entry into long distance telephony market
Sify, India's third largest Internet Service Provider (ISP), plans to enter the long distance phone market, by acquiring licences for both domestic and international services, reports Financial Express. The decision by the Chennai-based ISP providing its services across the country, can be attributed to the recent policy changes announced by the Department of Telecom (DoT) with regard to National Long Distance (NLD) and International Long Distance services (ILD). The DoT has reduced the entry fee for NLD and ILD services to Rs. 2.5 Crore ($0.54 million) from Rs. 100 Crore ($22 million) and Rs. 25 Crore ($5.4 million) respectively.
(Ref: Financial Express, November 16, 2005)
Virgin eyes stake in telecom firms
The UK-based Virgin Group, which spans music to airline companies, plans to enter the Indian telecom market. Richard Branson, chairman and founder of the group, said in New Delhi recently that he would hold discussions with interested players about entering the fast growing segment.
(Ref: Business Standard, November 18, 2005)
Spice to invest $400 m for roll out of six new licenses
Spice Telecom, one of the mobile phone service providers in the north Indian state Punjab and south Indian state Karnataka, has said that it is looking at an investment of $400 million for the six new licenses and the roll out in the near future.
(Ref: Business Standard, November 18, 2005)
Spice to manufacture GSM handsets
Cellular service provider Spice plans to manufacture GSM handsets at its Baddi plant in north Indian state Himachal Pradesh. Financial daily Business Line quoted Mr Prakash Nanani , Chief Executive Officer of Spice saying, "We hope to offer a handset for Rs 1,000 ($210) in the Indian market in the next 12 months."
(Ref: Business Line, November 18, 2005)
Essar to up stake in Hutch to 38%
The $2.1 billion revenue Essar group with interests varying from steel to shipping, plans to increase its holding in Hutchison Essar Telecom, its joint venture with Hutchison Telecommunications International, to nearly 38%. The Mumbai-based group has recently signed a deal with Max Telecom to acquire its 3.16% stake in the company. The acquisition of another 4.4% stake may cost the group nearly $200 mln, going by the price it paid to Max Telecom.
(Ref: Business Standard, November 15, 2005)
BSNL bids for new lines to call fresh
Chinese telecom equipment vendor ZTE has turned down an offer from the government owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), the largest telecom company of India , to supply 1.05 million CDMA lines. BSNL will now call for fresh bids for its CDMA project.
(Ref: Business Standard, November 15, 2005)
Media Companies
Zee gets telecast rights to Lanka tests
Zee Sports, the sports channel from Subhash Chandra-owned Zee Telefilms bouquet has been awarded the satellite telecast rights for the India-Sri Lanka test match series by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Zee sports won the bid by offering $4.24 million to the BCCI. Prasar Bharati, the public broadcaster has also been given the rights to air the matches on its terrestrial channel, DD National.
(Ref: Business Line, November 15, 2005)
HT Media starts India 's 1st colour Hindi newspaper
HT Media Ltd., the publisher of English daily The Hindustan Times and Hindi daily "Hindustan" has unveiled the new avatar of Hindustan, one of India 's earliest Hindi dailies, renowned for its role in the Independence struggle. The revamped Hindustan brings to readers India 's first Hindi daily to have all pages in colour, ramped up modern design, improved layout and state-of-the-art print quality.
(Ref: Indiainfoline.com, December 09, 2005)
Reuters to invest $4 mln in India
Reuters, the world's largest listed financial news and information company, announced it will invest nearly $4 million on a five-year growth plan in India . The news company wants to enhance its product offerings into India , as it expects the Indian market to more than double over the next three years.
(Ref: Business Standard, November 17, 2005)
Disney ties-up with Doordarshan to capture the non-C&S viewers
The Walt Disney Company ( India ) now attempts to capture non-cable & satellite viewers in India . To accomplish this objective, Disney has tied up with Doordarshan for a weekly 30-mins licensed branded block called 'Disney Jadoo'.
(Ref: agencyfaqs.com, November 16, 2005)
Tata-Star DTH Co signs lease pact with ISRO
Tata Sky Ltd, the Tata Star direct-to-home (DTH) venture, announced on Monday that it has signed an agreement with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to lease all 12 KU-band transponders on the INSAT 4A satellite. These transponders will be used by the company to provide its DTH services across India marketed under the brand name Tata Sky. Tata Sky Ltd was formerly called Space TV.
(Ref: Indiainfoline.com, November 14, 2005)
FIPB's green signal to GA Investments for NDTV Stake
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has approved the proposal of Cyprus-based GA European Investments to acquire 7.6% stake in New Delhi Television (NDTV) Ltd, the New Delhi-based television network running three 24-hour news-channels, for about Rs 116 crore ($26.36 million).
