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FEBRUARY 2005 |
IN THIS ISSUE |
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Publisher's Note
The brouhaha over outsourcing continues to simmer below the surface, and now it has begun to take an ugly turn. A hip-hop radio station in Philadelphia recently placed a call to a call center in India and the caller, a radio jockey, abused the call center employee with such endearments as “bitch” and “rat eater.” What’s important is that Indian activists got on the case quickly, and the radio station, initially not all that keen to do anything about it, was forced to suspend the radio jockeys for a day and apologize. This is not just a freak incident. Our India correspondent Siddharth Srivastava writes in our cover story this month that many call center employees are reporting abusive calls, and Indian companies are figuring out strategies to deal with it. The broader picture, however, remains bright. India is well on track to claim a sizable chunk of the outsourcing pie which will continue to mushroom according to expert projections. Three scientists, cancer researcher Nina Bhardwaj in New York, defense physicist Thomas G. Thundat. in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and agronomist M.S. Swaminathan in Chennai have been included in Scientific American magazine’s annual Scientific American 50, “a diverse list of those who during 2003-2004 exhibited outstanding technology leadership in the realms of research, business and policymaking.” This month’s issue has details. However, the story is less happy for regional minorities. Telugu and Tamil speakers now can go see a movie made in their mother tongue, but Bengalis or Marathis have a much harder time. Bengalis are beginning to do something about it. A slew of Bengali films are slated to be screened this February in a rare, regional language film festival in San Jose. Details in this issue. MAIN FEATURE: 'I Just Called to Say I Hate You' : Dissing Indian Call Centers By Siddharth Srivastava The outsourcing backlash has taken an ugly turn. A radio shock jock recently called up a call center in India and hurled unprintable abuse. The Internet is rife with chats of people who have taken up a new sport: figuring out innovative ways to hassle call center workers in India. As Indian call centers draw up plans to deal with this new menace, the fundamentals of the call center economics remain reassuring, writes Siddharth Srivastava.  Do you think that the anti-outsourcing backlash against India, one of the biggest back-end service providers to multinational firms in the world, was an issue limited to the U.S. presidential elections? Think again. In what seems to be a growing trend of individual vigilante action by people who feel aggrieved, folks in the U.S. are making hate calls that are blatantly racist and abusive to harass Indian call center operators, who take queries by U.S. customers sitting in India. This phenomenon has taken alarming proportions after the U.S. elections, with incumbent George W. Bush considered to be more positively inclined towards outsourcing in contrast to John Kerry, who lost. The Internet is an excellent window into the public mood in today’s wired age, has proliferated with messages that urge fellow U.S. citizens to fight against the movement of jobs away from U.S., which has resulted in the coinage “Getting Bangalored.” Call center employees, who form a sizable chunk of jobs that have moved offshore, especially to India, given its large English speaking population, are facing the brunt of this ire. The following are some samples chats that are doing the rounds, though many are not printable due to the explicit language: *** “Q: I’m curious as to what kind of responses you have been getting. Do you use curse words at them? A: I made an Indian woman cry and promise to quit her job in 60 seconds. You can do it too!’’ *** “Actually the usual response is confusion...I get the impression these are not the brightest bulbs in India’s chandeliers. Often, they give me a ‘courtesy laugh’ as if I were joking and ask how they can help me. Usually, I limit the calls to 60 seconds anyway, so I can call back and really hammer them. I’ve been doing this about 20 minutes a day. It’s great fun!’’ *** “I have inside knowledge of call centers, having worked in several. It’s crucial that the agents be efficient. Barraging them with 60-second calls will ruin their stats and also lower their morale. Eventually, they’ll start thinking ‘another damn rude American a**hole’ every time a call comes up. All of this will have a cumulative effect. If 100 people across the US would commit to spending 10 minutes a day, we could cripple them, and bring those jobs back.’’ While the producers thought the script was funny, when the excerpt was posted in the Web and eventually Indian Americans found about it, it provoked angry responses amongst Indians all over the world. Though the script has been removed from the official Web site of the radio station, it has been picked up by several blogs on the Internet. The transcript reads as follows: Star: Hi, Stain-a, you say? Steena: Yes. Star: (In fake Indian accent) Yeah, I called and I just got hung up on. I’m calling from America about the quick beads for my daughter’s, uh, hair. Quick beads. Steena: Okay. May I have your ZIP code please? Star: 10274. Steena: 10274? Star: Yes. Get it right. Now are you in India? Because I just spoke to someone in India who hung up on me. Steena: Thank you. I am from India, ma’am. Star: Okay. So my call is being outsourced to India. Steena: That’s right. Star: In...in regards to my six year old, white American daughter who wants to get the quick beads like Serena and Venus Williams. Steena: Now. I’ll definitely place an order for that. See... Star: What’s that? Steena: In the ad, she called to place a quick bead of counier. To ensure proper handling... Star: Ma’am, I don’t know what the hell you’re saying. Hang on a second. Let me try and get something straight here. The quick beads, like Venus and Serena Williams, that to advertise to—to the white kids on television. This call has been outsourced to India? Steena: That’s right. Star: Well, ma’am, what the eff would you know about an American white girl’s — uh, uh — hair? And quick beads. Steena: Just to inform you, ma’am, we’re a national chain services company. And we’re just taking calls on the opposite... Star: Listen, bitch! Don’t get slick with the mouth! Don’t you get slick with me, bitch! Steena: Now if you continue to speak this language, I will disconnect the call. Star: Listen to me, you dirty rat eater. I’ll come out there and choke the eff out of you. (laughter) Star: You’re a filthy rat eater. I’m calling about my American six year old white girl. How dare you outsource my call? Get off the line, bitch! (Laughter, end of tape) Star: Pull it up. (Laughter) Star: Heard they listen well out there. Public protest can work, though. Star and Bucwild were eventually suspended for a day by their station for making the abusive and threatening call. A number of blogs, including TurbanHead, DesiBlog and SepiaMutiny followed the story, as did members of the list serve for the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective, and posted contact information for the radio station’s personnel. According to the Power 99 FM’s News and Community Affairs Director, Loraine Ballard Morrill, the station received more protest emails and phone calls than it had for any past incident. The vast majority of the emails came from outside the Philadelphia area. Initially, Morrill said no disciplinary action was intended for the duo. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the only disciplinary action being considered initially was for the station employee who had posted the segment online. Soon, however, following rising protest, the station changed course. Morrill said that Clear Channel, the station’s parent company and by far the largest owner of radio stations in the U.S., had pushed for the suspension. In addition to the suspension, the station posted a public apology for the segment on its Web site: “The Star & Bucwild Show prides itself on walking on the edge. On December 15th, we crossed it. We know the pain racial slurs cause and apologies that this comedy segment went too far.” But it’s not just loose cannons who are doing this. Sober Americans, instead of the odd drunken ones that exist everywhere, are calling just to abuse. There are now many complaints, being widely reported by the media in India of call center workers having to deal with customers who are downright uncouth. Employees working in call centers say that they are at the receiving end of nasty phone calls more than ever before. “Earlier, people would get abusive if we didn’t answer their questions satisfactorily. Now, I get calls—on some days up to five a shift—from people who are calling only to abuse,” Shalini J, a 22-year-old engineering graduate who works in a major call centre in Mumbai has been quoted. Some prominent call centers in India—Wipro, Spectramind, Daksh, Exl, Convergys—have tried to bring about technological changes as well as staff training to deal with the problem. In accordance with norms followed by them and the guidelines set by clients, no call can be disconnected once it is received. Some call centers have installed screeners and filters to blank numbers with a repeated record of abusive calling. Others have given the option to workers to mute their response when the caller is being unnecessarily rude. This prevents the caller from hearing any spur-of-the-moment retort by the call center employee who can continue with the conversation once the tirade is hopefully over. In this way the concerned employee can keep his/her cool and avoid being stressed, one very common complaint among call center operators who have to keep long night hours to keep U.S. time in India. Deal with a barrage of inquiries, sometimes rude, just adds to the stress.. The larger picture, however, seems to be bright for the Indian offshore service providers. According to estimates, the business and process outsourcing industry will gross $5.7 billion in revenue in the year 2005. A recent McKinsey report on Information Technology-enabled Services has revised the previous figure of $17 billion to $21-24 billion by the year 2008 with India slated to garner 25 percent of the offshore market, with the U.S. the largest source providing 60 percent of business. Estimates suggest that 200,000 to 400,000 jobs have moved from the U.S. since the outsourcing trend began in the 1990s, which is still a fraction of 138 million jobs in the U.S. The Information Technology Association of America says only around 2 percent of the 10 million computer-related jobs have been sent abroad; 12 percent of IT companies have “outsourced” work, compared to 3 per cent of non-IT firms. The most high-end projection is by Forrester Research—a loss of 3.3 million jobs by 2015, including 1.7 million back-office jobs and 473,000 IT jobs—which will admittedly create a dent in the U.S. job market but not the wreck everyone fears. With U.S. industry firmly backing outsourcing, given productivity increases, higher profits and lower costs, the latest distasteful happenings will not change the broader picture. Outsourcing is here to stay, and the economic imperatives are simply too powerful for anybody to do anything against it.
INFOTECH INDIA  IT for All ... $8M R&D Center ... $6 Billion in Software Exports ... Profits Surge ... Profit Below Forecast ... Research with Cambridge ... Dataone in Coimbatore ... Net Profit Dips ... Bharti Profit Jumps ... Infotech Affiliate IPO ... Brigade Buys Webhelp — Here is the latest on information technology from India IT for All Telecommunication facilities and benefits of information technology should percolate down and reach the rural masses at an affordable cost, Union Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said in Chennai Jan. 30. “If the technology cannot benefit the common man or if the cost of services provided is beyond his reach, such a technology will lose its relevance,” he told a national conference on emerging professional opportunities for chartered accountants. An onerous responsibility had been cast on chartered accountants to suggest ways and means to cut down the cost of providing telecommunication facilities and IT services like Internet, e-mail and broadband, he said. Maran said he had already initiated measures to manufacture computers at economical rates for the benefit of common man. If chartered accountants have to succeed in the global economy, they need to reorient themselves and offer value-added services to meet the requirements of the global clients. IT would not only add value but also give a clear competitive advantage, he said, adding that chartered accountants should be in a position to use and leverage IT. The California-based software firm, like several other global tech firms, carries out R&D in India to take advantage of its large pool of talented software professionals, and its R&D centre in India is the largest outside the United States. “In October 2002 we announced we would invest $50 million in India over the next five years and we are fairly ahead of those investment plans,” Gupta said. Adobe, that produces the Photoshop and Acrobat software, said it planned to hire 150 engineers in 2005 to take its total strength to 525. It also hired 150 engineers in 2004. IT officials said that the sector would achieve 35 percent growth in 2004-05. M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda, Information Technology secretary of Karnataka, said that the total exports were expected to touch $5.3 billion in the current year. “We had an export of $4.02 billion for the year 2003-04. This year the growth will be about 35 percent. We are going to touch $5.3 billion this year. I was hoping we would touch about $6 billion. That was my target. By the end of this year, by September we would have touched $6 billion,” said Gowda. Gowda also said that around 160 fresh IT companies have come up in Bangalore, taking the total number of companies to 1,500. India’s software service industry and the accompanying Business Process Outsourcing sector have been growing aggressively. With more than 18,000 software professionals and 60,000 BPO employees, the city is a major investment destination for the IT industry. The boom in call centers, human resource management services, medical transcription centers and other services have led to more multinationals setting up shop in Bangalore. Wipro said that in the last year it had been forced to replace 90 percent of the staff in its business process outsourcing operations, which employ 14,340, mainly in call centers. “We have to get that under control,” vice chairman Vivek Paul told Reuters. Wipro wanted to reduce the BPO unit’s focus on call centers, which represent 90 percent of its work, he added. Wipro said new clients paid more in the third quarter and it expected fourth-quarter IT services revenue to rise to $370 million from last quarter’s $367 million. “On the face of it, the (Wipro) results don’t look very exciting, since the ‘other income’ is on the higher side. But the guidance is positive and pricing going up is good news,” said Apurva Shah, an analyst with broker ASK-Raymond James. The Bangalore-based company said net profits in its fiscal third quarter to Dec. 31 rose to 4.27 billion rupees ($98.7 million) from 2.66 billion a year earlier. Revenue grew 34 percent to 20.9 billion rupees. Indian software firms are enjoying a growing interest abroad in offshore outsourcing of software services. Recently, TCS and Infosys posted 54 percent and 52 percent profit growth rates, respectively. Wipro announces results Jan. 14. Satyam said October-December net profit rose to 1.75 billion rupees from 1.46 billion a year earlier. Total revenue rose to 8.94 billion rupees from 6.91 billion. A Reuters poll had estimated the company would post a net profit of 1.8 billion rupees on revenue of 9.03 billion. “Both the top line and bottom line are lower than my expectations. The only positive is that the margins are intact,” said Gurunath Mudlapur, head of research at Khandwala Securities. But Satyam’s earnings per share for the quarter was 5.49 rupees, slightly higher than its guidance of 5.47 rupees. “Students of SRMIST will be selected to pursue research in the field of biotechnology in Cambridge University,” he told reporters in Chennai Jan. 24. The decision to go in for collaborative research came after the green signal was given by the International Advisory Board, he said. Cambridge University’s Biotechnology Institute director Dr. Christopher R. Lowe, who was also present, said his institute was interested in collaborative research to get “good quality” students. Lowe is part of SRMIST’s IAB. Lowe, who visited the SRMIST campus here, appreciated the “tremendous facilities” that SRMIST had. Asked to compare BT parks in India with those in U.K., he said it could not be done because the philosophies behind developing such parks between the two countries were different Pachamuthu said this year the SRMIST board had allocated Rs. 400 million for campus and college developments, including Rs. 100 million to set up an 200,000 sq. ft. IT Park. The facility, at a cost of Rs. 20 million, would be extended to 36 more exchanges, providing 10,000 connections by March-end, after installing new equipment, he said. The booking has already exceeded the equipped capacity of 48 connections in Tirupur. The service would enable the subscriber to surf the Internet and also have a telephone conversation simultaneously. The locations were likely to be changed depending upon the demand profile, he said. Subsequently virtual private network, multicasting, video conference, video-on-demand, broadcast application would also be provided, which would enhance applications in various field like telemedicine, tele-education, scientific research and tele-agriculture, Varadarajan said. As a special incentive to come forward and utilize the service, for both home and business plans, additional usage charges would not be levied up to June 30, 2005 for those who joined service before March 31, he added. MTNL also declared an interim dividend of 20 percent on its paid up equity capital. The company’s income from services in Q3 declined to Rs. 1261.49 crore against Rs. 1,526 crore in the same quarter a year ago. The company’s staff expenses went up by Rs. 67.79 crore over Q3 of the previous fiscal to Rs. 412.48 crore. New Delhi-based Bharti, the top performer on Mumbai’s main stock index last year, is expected to more than double full-year profit to about 13.5 billion rupees ($308 million), according to Reuters Estimates, as mobile sales surge in Asia’s fourth-biggest economy. Bharti, 28-percent-owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., said on Jan. 7 that its mobile base jumped 79 percent in 2004 to 9.83 million users and its total subscribers, including fixed-line users, rose 75 percent to 10.63 million. An early entrant in India’s soaraway wireless market, Bharti has been a big beneficiary of booming demand in a country where fewer than five in 100 people own a mobile phone compared with more than 25 in 100 in China. It gave no details of the proposal. ICICI Bank accounts for less than 30 percent of the overall business of ICICI Infotech, which has now been renamed 3i Infotech, a statement said. Brigade is already the largest third-party BPO Company in Andhra Pradesh in terms of size and revenue. This deal will help to considerably strengthen our position further.” Discussing the company’s future plans, Sri Dasari said: “Brigade has some very exciting expansion plans. Committed business from existing clients and strong pipeline would require us to add about 500 people in the next quarter to the existing 1400. After that, looking at current trends, we should be adding 400 plus people every quarter. The goal is to increase beyond 3000 people in 2005. We have also acquired 4 acres of land in Madhapur to build a 1,50,000 sq ft state-of-the-art campus. This will create additional space for our future expansion. Work on the campus will start in the first quarter of the new financial year.”
HONOR
 Clockwise from top left: Scientific American honorees Nina Bhardwaj, M.S. Swaminathan and George J. Thundat. Three Leaders in Science: Scientific American 50 - A Siliconeer Report Three Indian scientists are among Scientific American magazine’s list of those who exhibited outstanding technology leadership in 2003-2004. A Siliconeer report. Three scientists of Indian descent are among the third annual Scientific American 50, “a diverse list of those who during 2003-2004 exhibited outstanding technology leadership in the realms of research, business and policymaking,” according to the monthly magazine Scientific American.. New York-based cancer researcher Nina Bhardwaj, Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based defense scientist. Thomas G. Thundat, Chennai-based agronomist M.S. Swaminathan have been honored for their outstanding contributions by this respected scientific periodical. Thundat shares the honor with University of Nevada Reno Prof. Jesse Adams. “Scientific American believes strongly that the best hope for a safer, healthier, more prosperous world rests in the enlightened use of technology,” said John Rennie, editor-in-chief of the magazine. “The Scientific American 50 is our annual opportunity to salute the people and organizations making that possible through their outstanding efforts as leaders of research, industry, and policymaking.” The “Scientific American 50” is published in the magazine’s December issue and the winners were honored at a celebration Nov. 16 at the New York Academy of Sciences in New York City. “Most of the members of this year’s honor roll are from the U.S., but they also hail from as far afield a s India, Ghana and Israel,” the magazine said. “These awards demonstrate the love of knowledge driving basic research, the entrepreneurial spirit spurring development of, say, a nanotube microchip, and the desire to find new ways to make tiny fuel cells or to use the Internet to assist poor south Asian farmers. All originate from a common need to take what we know one step further.” The magazine hailed Dr. Bhardwaj as one of the world’s leading experts on dendritic cells who has significantly advanced prospects for dendritic cell vaccines with a series of discoveries about the cells’ properties and behavior. Dendritic cells, named for their finger-like projections, play a key role in priming the immune system. They capture foreign proteins called antigens from viruses or tumors, and then display the antigens to T-cells, the immune system’s attack cells, for future recognition and attack. “Nina Bhardwaj, already one of the world’s leading experts on dendritic cells, significantly advanced prospects for dendritic cell vaccines this year with a series of discoveries about the cells’ properties and behavior,” the magazine said. “Among these findings, Bhardwaj clarified several of the mechanisms that dendritic cells use to identify invaders and stimulate T cells. She also showed how tumor cells can suppress dendritic cells and, in another study, demonstrated that dendritic cells’ activity appears not to be diminished by hepatitis C, a common co-infection in HIV patients. She is currently conducting two clinical trials of dendritic cell vaccines in HIV patients and planning for another vaccine trial in melanoma patients soon.” ”India produces more than enough food to feed its entire population, but poor infrastructure and local corruption keep that food from reaching the tables of roughly one fifth of its billion citizens,” the magazine said. “Through his research foundation, M. S. Swaminathan has helped alleviate Indian hunger. He has worked from the bottom up by providing farmers with access to current information on market prices, weather forecasts, farming techniques, medical treatments and alternative income options. “In 2003 the foundation launched the National Virtual Academy for Food Security and Rural Prosperity, a Web site through which villagers can query scientists and obtain information in their local language. The Web site’s multimedia format allows for access by the illiterate, and efforts to encourage female community members to act as local liaisons have helped increase the status of women who live in rural areas.” |TOP| OUTSOURCING DIGEST:  Outsourcing Digest: Siliconeer presents of the latest news from the world of outsourcing. India Outsourced $11B ... Mortgage Industry Favors Outsourcing ... E-Learning and India ... Dell To Open Campus ... 24/7 Opens New Center ... Belgium Keen on Outsourcing ... Bengal Moving Up: CM ... LG Software in Bangalore ... Debt Collection Outsourcing ... U.K. Outsourcing Up 150% ... Capco to Double Employees India Outsourced $11B Contrary to the general perception that India was a major beneficiary of global outsourcing, the International Labor Organization Dec. 3 said that the country has emerged as the fifth largest economy in the world in terms of outsourcing to other economies. “India has turned out to be the fifth largest economy in the world, which outsourced IT and business services to the tune of $11 billion by the end of 2003-04 to U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan,” ILO deputy director M. Bussi said at a meeting in New Delhi. At an Assocham-organized program , he said India had spent 2.4 percent of its GDP in outsourcing of IT and services as against the U.S. where outsourcing accounted for 0.4 per cent of GDP last fiscal, the chamber said in a release. The U.S. spent $41 billion for outsourcing in 2003-04, followed closely by Germany at $39 billion, U.K. at $35 billion, and Japan at $16 billion, he said. India was followed by China in outsourcing to other countries, which spent $8 billion in the last fiscal. Regretting the trend of critically looking a outsourcing and subsequent job losses, Bussi said although it creates unemployment initially, it pays off adequately in the long-run as the labor market has tremendous scope for adjusting economic distortions created through outsourcing. |Back to Outsourcing Digest| |TOP| Mortgage Industry Favors Outsourcing Forty-two percent of the respondents to a survey of mortgage industry leaders said they are likely to outsource at least some services within the next two years, according to a U.S. study released in December by Ocwen Financial Corporation. The Ocwen-sponsored study, titled “Business Process Outsourcing: What Mortgage Industry Leaders Really Think,” was conducted by an independent survey firm that asked mortgage industry leaders whether they were likely to outsource over the next two years; what they think are the motivating factors for outsourcing; and what they think are the key benefits to outsourcing. Respondents included mortgage brokers, mortgage servicers and correspondent and retail lenders. More than half of the respondents stated that they agreed that the growing cost of human resources was a motivating factor for outsourcing, although overall respondents thought the two greatest motivators for outsourcing were management accountability and an increase in customer expectations. Most respondents cited access to state-of-the-art technology and reducing or avoiding capital expenses as key benefits of outsourcing. Language barriers related to outsourcing were not considered a major concern. “It has been our experience that companies that have been successful in the outsourcing arena generally have developed their approach by following four basic rules,” said W Michael Linn, Ocwen’s executive vice president. “First, they began by establishing a clear strategic vision for how Business Process Outsourcing could best be utilized within the organization. Then, to ensure improvements were being made and documented and to reduce the risk of the investment, these companies leveraged a quality improvement methodology such as Six Sigma. Third, they applied the most advanced, proven technology infrastructures, and finally, these companies focused attracting and retaining the most highly qualified and motivated staff.” Van Dam was in Pune to meet the company’s partner Maximize Learning and create awareness about e-Learning. “I would term e-learning as net-enabled learning targeted to achieve business goals,” he said. “The enterprise is a significant user of e-learning as a tool since it is faster, better and cheaper. Companies spend millions of dollars on training and e-learning reduces the overall training costs by 30 percent to 40 percent. “It also reduces training time by as much as 50 percent on the same subject and decreases time-to-market of new skills globally. More courseware is available at significantly less costs. It has been noticed there is a 25 percent to 50 percent higher retention of knowledge due to e-learning.” E-learning as a solution did not exist before 1996, he said. The term itself took root after 1997. By the year 1999, the global e-learning market touched $ 1.7 billion. Currently, it stands at $ 6.5 billion and IDC has predicted that market is likely to witness an exponential growth and touch the $ 28 billion mark by 2008. “I firmly believe e-learning simulations are the next big thing in learning,” he added. Hyderabad is the home of Dell’s second customer contact center in India, opened in March 2003. The first center opened in Bangalore in May 2001. In November Dell announced a third center scheduled to open in Chandigarh in March 2005. The $43 billion company plans to move its entire customer support team from its current leased premises, also in Hitec City, to the new campus. The center offers multiple services to various Dell business segments, including sales, customer care, technical support, e-mail support and shared services. More functions could be added in the future depending on business requirements. “Building our own campus is a clear indication of Dell’s long-term commitment to India and Hyderabad. The customer contact centers in India have transitioned into a premier operation for Dell,” said Romi Malhotra, managing director, Dell India. Dell has also established a global Product Group in Bangalore that focuses on the company’s enterprise products, including servers and storage solutions. In addition, a global Software Development Center provides application planning, design, development and testing services with all Dell business segments, including sales and marketing, worldwide operations and corporate systems. With a capacity of over 250 seats, 24/7 has plans to expand this facility to 500 seats in few months, he said, adding that within nine months from now, the company plans to add about 1,000 seats for the Chennai facility. “Initially, we will start off by providing technical support to a leading computer manufacturer from Chennai, where around 1,000 employees will be assisting the customers,” he added. “We expect to grow in the years to come as Chennai is turning out to be a major IT hub in India, apart from Bangalore. Though we start off here by providing BPO services to the technological companies, we would also concentrate on other areas such as financial services, insurance soon,” Kanan informed. “24/7’s turnover last year was around $21 million and the company expects to achieve a turnover of around $45 million this fiscal,” he added. Inaugurating the new facility Nasscom president Kiran Karnik said, “Software exports from India has outnumbered the other products exports last year, thus paving way for improving the knowledge base of the country. IT industry in India has a good growth in the future as far as Nasscom is expecting software exports to grow up to $142 billion by the year 2009.” “Tamil Nadu government has planned to develop about 800,000 sq. feet space for setting up of new IT companies in Chennai and best support would be extended to those who wish to set up their IT base here,” said Tamil Nadu IT secretary Vivek Harinarain, who was also present during the inauguration along with the director of the Software Technology Parks of India, R. Rajalakshmi. Currently, there are 30 Belgian companies in India spanning across industries including IT, ITES, shipping and logistics. Even though bilateral trade between India and Belgium is tilted in the latter’s favor with diamonds making up nearly 60-70 percent of trade, the EU member is striving to broadbase trade relations. New areas such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, environmental engineering, port management, infrastructure management, tourism and restoration of heritage sites are segments that the country aims to pursue as part of its bilateral trade relations with the sub-continent. “There are so many opportunities that India can take forward with Belgium especially, when one considers that Belgium is the heart of Europe and is the only EU member that officially recognizes English as a foreign language giving rise to a comfort factor for Indian entrepreneurs seeking to set up business in Belgium,” said Jayant Nadiger, trade commissioner of Flanders, Export Vlaanderen, Flanders’ Export Promotion Agency. “Lloyds Bank has recently showed interest in setting up a BPO center in Kolkata and we are in talks with them,” Bhattacharjee told the 103rd Annual General Meeting of the Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata. He said that the IT sector was emerging as a big area in the state. “I must admit that we are a late starter in this, but now our growth is 120 percent against the national growth of 35 percent,” he said. Microsoft, he said, was going to set up two training institutes in the metropolis while Wipro has also recruited about 1,600 people in its newly set up center here. “By 2007, Wipro’s center is likely to have 7,000 people.” Azim Premji had recently asked for another 40 acres for setting up another unit at Rajarhat. Other companies like Satyam, Tata were also coming to the state because of its human resources, Bhattacharjee said. The chief minister, however, acknowledged that the market mechanism was a “serious problem” in the state for development of the agri-sector. “We need more cold storages and better market mechanism to increase our agri export.” In the manufacturing sector, he said the state had received projects worth Rs. 2,718 crore in iron and steel and recently. Jindal Iron and Steel had shown interest in setting up a big plant at Kharagpur. “We are in the final stages of negotiation with Jindals,” he said. “The headcount would be ramped up to 800 by 2009,” said Paul Jeong, CEO, LG CNS Global. The center plans to touch revenues of $30 million in five years. The company estimates around 25 percent of the revenues to come from LG Electronics projects. Announcing the launch of operations, B.C. Jung, president and CEO, LG CNS, said, “We want to provide the best software engineering capabilities to our customers in the U.S., Europe and Korea. India was a logical choice for us to set up a strategic center given its unbeatable talent pool and latest technology.” The Indian center would work on projects involving software products (product reengineering), solution based services for the overseas market and would look at verticals like manufacturing, healthcare, retail and transportation. Part of the team that works at LGSI would be merged with the LG CNS team, informed Jeong. He added that the cost advantage in India is five times less compared to Korea. |
Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd., India’s top listed mobile services firm, Jan. 28 posted a 131 percent rise in third-quarter profit as it gained more users and expanded its reach in the world’s fastest growing mobile market. 
ICICI Bank Ltd.’s information technology services affiliate, ICICI Infotech, said Jan. 27 its shareholders had approved plans for an initial public offering of shares.