VoteUpIndia » Finance http://voteupindia.com Top News of India... Sat, 19 May 2012 05:37:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Ratings on Obama’s handling of the deficit http://voteupindia.com/ratings-on-obamas-handling-of-the-deficit/ http://voteupindia.com/ratings-on-obamas-handling-of-the-deficit/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:26:07 +0000 superblogger http://voteupindia.com/?p=9376
…

Most Americans disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling the federal budget deficit, but head-to-head against the Republicans in Congress, the president appears to be in better political shape than former president Bill Clinton was at the start of his year-long budget fight with the Republicans in 1995.

In a new Gallup poll – taken before the president released his budget this week – fully 68 percent of Americans said they disapprove of the way the president is handling the federal budget deficit, by far his worst rating of the eight specific issues in the survey. Pitted against the GOP, however, there’s a roughly even split: in a January Washington Post-ABC News poll, 44 percent of Americans said they put more faith in Obama to handle the deficit; about as many said they trust the GOP on the issue. (CBS-NYT and CNN polls in January showed similar divide.)

By contrast, in January 1995, congressional Republicans had a sizable 23-point advantage – 55 to 32 percent – when it came to deficit reduction.

Clinton’s overall approval ratings in early 1995 Post-ABC and Gallup polls exactly match Obama’s numbers in these polls now (54 and 49 percent, respectively).

But on today’s top issue – the looming budget battle – Obama’s approval ratings still lag broader public assessments. In Post-ABC polling, majorities have disapproved of the president’s handling the budget for almost a year and a half.

Not surprisingly, partisan differences are vast: in the January Post-ABC poll, 76 percent of Democrats approved of how Obama was then handling the issue, compared with just 15 percent among Republicans. In that poll, he got 34 percent approval among independents. In the early February Gallup poll, a mere 7 percent of Republicans backed Obama on the deficit.

One thorny problem for both sides in the looming budget debate is deciding where specifically to make cuts. See last week’s posts for more details.
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]]> http://voteupindia.com/ratings-on-obamas-handling-of-the-deficit/feed/ 0 Rupee ends largely steady post choppy trade http://voteupindia.com/rupee-ends-largely-steady-post-choppy-trade/ http://voteupindia.com/rupee-ends-largely-steady-post-choppy-trade/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:22:26 +0000 superblogger http://voteupindia.com/?p=9375

The Indian rupee closed little changed after fluctuating through most of the session on Tuesday, closely mirroring local share moves and the dollar overseas.

The partially convertible rupee ended at 45.515/525 per dollar, after trading in a range of 45.3925-45.5425 intraday, a tad weaker than its 45.49/50 close on Monday.

The forex market will remain closed on Wednesday for a local holiday.

“The euro’s gain has helped the rupee, and the share market also ended up. There is demand for the rupee in the market. There should be some appreciation of the rupee,” said Naveen Raghuvanshi, an associate vice president at Development Credit Bank.

Indian shares rose for a third straight session, climbing 0.4 percent amid choppy trade, but investors doubted the sustainability of the rally, with foreign funds staying on the backfoot.

Foreign funds have sold a net $1.7 billion so far this year until Monday, after purchasing a record $29.3 billion last year.

The euro edged higher on demand from the Middle East and Asia, but it was undermined by scepticism over how euro zone leaders would come up with a quick and effective solution to tackle its debt crisis.

Asian currencies were steady-to-firmer against the dollar, led by gains in the South Korean won and Thai baht, as lower-than-expected Chinese inflation data lent support to risk appetite.

The index of the dollar against six major currencies was down 0.28 percent at 78.369 points when the local forex market closed.

One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 45.77, weaker than the onshore spot rate.

In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange closed at 45.5900, 45.5975 and 45.5975 respectively, with the total traded volume at about $5.9 billion


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]]> http://voteupindia.com/rupee-ends-largely-steady-post-choppy-trade/feed/ 0 Switzerland to Hinder Tax Cheats http://voteupindia.com/switzerland-to-hinder-tax-cheats/ http://voteupindia.com/switzerland-to-hinder-tax-cheats/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:17:04 +0000 superblogger http://voteupindia.com/?p=9374
ZURICH—Switzerland said it will make it easier for foreign governments to hunt for tax cheats with Swiss bank accounts, amid continuing criticism that it still does too little to assist international tax authorities even after two years of pressure to ease bank secrecy.

The Swiss Finance Ministry said Tuesday that Switzerland will provide information on holders of bank accounts if foreign tax authorities provide the bank-account number or other information, such as a Social Security number or credit-card details.

Until now, the Swiss demanded other bank-account details, as well as the name and address of the individual—a requirement that goes beyond rules typical in other countries. The extra hurdles made it hard for foreign tax authorities to get enough information out of the Swiss to pursue tax cheats. The Swiss requirements were so tough that Bern received an average of only three such requests each year until 2009, despite Switzerland’s being the world’s largest offshore banking center.

“In the past, the Swiss had an extremely high threshold [for giving help in tax matters],” according to Milan Patel, head of the Zurich office of tax advisory firm Sharp Kemm P.A. “The perception was, ‘Why bother if we’re not going to get anything?’ ”

Switzerland made the change after it concluded it wouldn’t pass review by a tax forum organized under the umbrella of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The continuing review stems from the move in 2009 by the OECD to put Switzerland on a so-called gray list of tax havens because of its refusal to recognize tax evasion as a crime.

Tax fraud, or intentionally seeking to avoid taxes, was a crime in Switzerland, while tax evasion was not.

As a result, foreign governments had to prove a suspected tax cheat committed tax fraud, rather than tax evasion, to get help from the Swiss. In 2009, Switzerland dropped the distinction. But it demanded the exact name and address of the individual. Tax agencies often have bank-account information because they see movements of money, but don’t have the account holder’s name.

The Swiss hindered tax investigations in the case of misspelled names or inexact addresses. In some cases, they demanded the name of the so-called beneficial owner, or the individual behind a trust or an offshore entity who were the titular account holders.

Now the Swiss will help if a foreign country provides a reasonable amount of information to track down an account, although it will draw the line at so-called fishing expeditions, where a foreign government provides only scarce details in search of a tax cheat.

“We can’t be so formalistic” in the information we require,” said Urs Ursprung, director of the Swiss Federal Tax Administration in an interview. “But the requesting state has to give some back ground as to why they suspect a person.”

Jeffrey Owens, director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD, said the change will likely affect a small number of cases, but will act as a deterrent to tax evaders seeking to open Swiss bank accounts. “This sends a strong signal that Switzerland is no longer in the business of facilitating offshore tax evasion,” he said in an interview.

The news comes as Switzerland continues to grapple with ways to satisfy foreign governments seeking to crack down on tax evaders in order to fill depleted public coffers. Last fall, Switzerland struck a landmark tax agreement in principle with the U.K. and Germany whereby the Swiss would collect a withholding tax on assets stashed by British and German investors in Swiss accounts, and send the money to London and Berlin. In return, the identity of the accounts would remain secret. Bern is still finalizing the details of these treaties.
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]]> http://voteupindia.com/switzerland-to-hinder-tax-cheats/feed/ 0 Sovereign debt may hit Indian IT: Infosys http://voteupindia.com/sovereign-debt-may-hit-indian-it-infosys/ http://voteupindia.com/sovereign-debt-may-hit-indian-it-infosys/#comments Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:42:52 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=9095
BANGALORE: The looming sovereign debt crisis in Europe may impact the Indian IT industry’s growth in 2011 in case of defaults, a top official of the IT bellwether Infosys Technologies Ltd said.

Though the slow economic recovery in the developed markets has not impacted our business till now, the sovereign debt crisis brewing in Europe will have a domino effect on our industry if any country defaults, Infosys chief executive S.Gopalakrishnan told IANS here.

Recovering from the great recession of fiscal 2008-09 and 2009-10 when growth plunged to single digit from a high of 25-30 percent annual growth in boom times, the resilient Indian IT industry returned to double digit growth during this fiscal (2010-2011) on increasing outsourcing and offshoring from traditional and emerging markets.

We have seen volume growth back and we hope the ensuing fiscal (2011-12) will be normal barring unforeseen situation such as sovereign debt default, Gopalakrishnan said on the margins of a media conference on the company’s buoyant performance during the third quarter (Oct-Dec) of this fiscal (2010-12).

Fears of a sovereign debt crisis began last year in some European nations such as Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain (PIGS) and Belgium due to the widening of bond yield spread and risk insurance on credit default swaps between them and other European Union’s member-states, especially Germany.

In the aftermath of the global financial meltdown that began with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in Sept 2008 in the US, rising government deficits and downgrading of European government debt rocked financial markets.

A rescue package of nearly $1 trillion was approved by the European governments in May to ensure financial stability across the troubled continent.

Should something bad or unexpected happen in Europe or US, our growth pace will be affected though our exposure to the countries facing sovereign debt crisis is less than one percent, said Gopalakrishnan.

At the same time, expressing confidence that the industry would do well despite the uncertainty due to weaker economic recovery and high unemployment rate in the US, Gopalakrishnan said that the Indian industry had the resilience to bounce back as it did in the past decade when the internetdotcom bubble burst in 2000-01 and recently during the recession of 2008-0910.

The crisis can also lead to greater currency volatility and capital inflows moving to developing markets like Brazil, South Korea and Japan where yields are going up. The rupee will be under pressure to depreciate than appreciate as we have higher current account deficit, Infosys chief financial executive V. Balakrishnan noted.

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]]> http://voteupindia.com/sovereign-debt-may-hit-indian-it-infosys/feed/ 0 Microsoft embraces ARM Holdings: what the analysts are saying http://voteupindia.com/microsoft-embraces-arm-holdings-what-the-analysts-are-saying/ http://voteupindia.com/microsoft-embraces-arm-holdings-what-the-analysts-are-saying/#comments Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:33:23 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=8945
As shares in ARM Holdings soared on news that Microsoft is to design a Windows operating system compatible with ARM’s chips, analysts assessed what Microsoft’s embrace means for the Cambridge-based company.

The move marks Microsoft’s biggest step away from its long-standing, lucrative alliance with Intel, to team up with ARM to take on Apple in the tablet and smartphone arena.
Analysts at Investec said the significance of a move by Microsoft away from the ‘Wintel’ model – Windows running on Intel’s archictecture – is hard to overstate.
“Above all, last night’s confirmation shows a determination on the part of Microsoft to compete seriously with Apple and Google Android-based devices in the tablet and portable device market,” said the broker.
“The new technology will eventually apply to a group of products, not just tablets, although it will realistically be two to three years before ARM based products will be released. ARM’s support from Microsoft should now allow its chip family to make material inroads into the high-end tablet space, and potentially low-end laptops (notebooks) – an area previously the preserve of other, more power-hungry chips.”
UBS analysts also said they views Microsoft’s decision as very positive for ARM in the long term. Assuming the ARM eco-system gains a 50pc share of the PC system-on-chip market, it could generate around $100 million of annual revenue for the company, the broker added.

But analysts at Peel Hunt kept their “sell” rating on ARM. “This conformation is a major boost for ARM in its battle with Intel but unlikely to impact numbers until late in 2012,” said the broker.
Speculation that Intel could make a play for ARM has also helped boost the chip designer’s shares of late, but analysts remain sceptical about such a prospect.
Analysts at Investec said they regarded competition issues as too great to make any such bid possible.
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]]> http://voteupindia.com/microsoft-embraces-arm-holdings-what-the-analysts-are-saying/feed/ 0 Property prices to rise in next one year, then correct: NHB http://voteupindia.com/property-prices-to-rise-in-next-one-year-then-correct-nhb/ http://voteupindia.com/property-prices-to-rise-in-next-one-year-then-correct-nhb/#comments Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:35:42 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=8910
NEW DELHI: Housing regulator, NHB, which is awaiting USD 500 million loan from the World Bank for low cost housing, today said property prices would rise in the next one year, but that would result in correction in these rates in all the metros subsequently.

“In the next one year, property prices would be moving northwards which will create a dampening impact on demand, resulting in correction of prices,” NHB Chairman R V Verma told reporters on the sidelines of Skoch summit.

He said correction would happen in the prices in all the metros.

Correction in property prices started happening in India, after global financial crisis deepened in the middle of September, 2008 with the collapse of US financial services icon Lehman Brothers.

But after the economy revived, property prices have moved up again in India.

Many experts also believe that rising loan rates as a result of RBI monetary tightening moves would lead to correction in housing prices.

Verma also said NHB expects USD 500 million loan from the World Bank for low income home.

“It is in the pipeline. We are expecting feedback from the World Bank soon. The funding is in the pipeline for 2011-12,” he said.

Verma also said NHB is entering into an agreement with Germany-based bank KFW for 50 million euro loans to fund energy efficient houses.

“We expect first tranche of funding in June,” he added. The NHB chairman said the bank has disbursed Rs 7,500 crore this fiscal so far.

“In March, we are expected to disburse another Rs 2,500 crore. In July- June 2010-11, we expects disbursal of Rs 11,000 crore of which Rs 2,000 crore will be for rural housing fund,” Verma said.

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]]> http://voteupindia.com/property-prices-to-rise-in-next-one-year-then-correct-nhb/feed/ 0 Won’t see much impact of new NHB norms: HDFC http://voteupindia.com/wont-see-much-impact-of-new-nhb-norms-hdfc/ http://voteupindia.com/wont-see-much-impact-of-new-nhb-norms-hdfc/#comments Tue, 28 Dec 2010 12:02:32 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=8684
The National Housing Bank (NHB), India’s housing regulator, has tightened lending norms for housing finance companies (HFC). The new norms suggest that housing finance firms on one hand make greater provisions for loans extended to companies and builders, and on the other hand limit the amount a person can borrow against property.
Experts believe this will impact home loan seekers. Speaking about it, Keki Mistry MD of HDFC said they will not be impacted greatly by the changed norms.

Elaborating the situation, Mistry said the NHB has mandated that housing finance companies should keep aside 0.4% of the total loans outstanding by September 2011. “We are, in actual practice, carrying an excess provision of about Rs 400 crore in our books in September itself. So the excess provision will be used to take care of this provisioning requirement.”
According to Mistry, marginal correction in real estate is possible.
Below is a verbatim transcript of his interview. Also watch the accompanying video.
Q: Minor set of rules that came in from the NHB. It was expected after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increased provisioning especially on teaser loans that the National Housing Bank (NHB) would follow suit. Does this radically change the cost of loans for you at HDFC?
A: Not really because as you mentioned it is something we were expecting. Once it became applicable for banks, it was only a matter of time before it becomes applicable for housing finance companies. So we are not surprised at all.
Basically what they have done is four things. One is they’ve said that for loans up to Rs 20 lakh the maximum loan to value ratio that we can use in future would be 90% and for loans above Rs 20 lakh the maximum would be 80%. It is not relevant from our perspective because the average loan to value ratio in the current year has been 68% at the time of granting a loan. So this is way above those limits. So again it has very little impact on us.
Secondly, they have said that for dual rate loans there is a requirement to do 2% provisioning. Now the total dual rate loans outstanding in our balance sheet is about Rs 200 billion or Rs 20,000 crore, on which a 2% provision would be about Rs 400 crore.
we are in actual practice carrying an excess provision of about Rs 400 crore in our books in September itself. So the excess provision will be used to take care of this provisioning requirement. So again it doesn’t have an impact.
The third thing they have said is for loans above 75 lakh, the risk weight will now be 125% and not the 75-100% as it was in the past. Again very limited impact on us because average loan size is Rs 1.8 million.
Q: Would the cost of loans above Rs 75 lakh go up, will the interest rate shoot-up for that category?
A: Very marginally, not significantly because of the fact that we are carrying excess capital in our balance sheet, significantly excess. Our tier-I capital adequacy on September 30 stood at 13% and this is with a risk weight on loans which is significantly higher than what prevails in the Western world.
For example, if you take Basel II or risk weights on housing loans in the Western world, it is even today at 25-30-35%. In India it is at 80-90% on an average. So despite carrying these high risk weights, we still have more than adequate capital.
Q: Do you have any more dual rate loans at all or has the scheme been stopped?
A: The scheme has stopped from December 1 itself.
Q: On high value loans over Rs 75 lakh, while you may have the capital for the moment, would you pass on the cost, would all your loanees who have taken more than Rs 75 lakh from HDFC get a letter tomorrow?
A: People who have taken more than Rs 75 lakh loan, there won’t be too many of them but the few who would be more than Rs 75 lakh will not have any additional cost passed on to them. That is for sure.
Q: For the larger issue: we have seen RBI announce those OMOs and buyback of loans. But there has been no meaningful fall in the cost of wholesale money. Bank CDs for three months continue to be above 9%, for one year it is 9.5%. Do you therefore expect that there will be a further round of interest rate hikes come January?
A: I have a different opinion from what I have heard from some of the comments on TV. I believe that interest rates will go up – of course they will go up over a period of time – but they are not going to go up sharply and I will tell you why I am making this statement. The liquidity in the system is very low and that is the reason why short-term rates have gone up a lot.
But if you look at long-term rates; long-term rates a week earlier were almost the same as they were six months earlier. So five-ten year rates have not gone up, what have gone up is short-term rates.
We don’t take any mismatch on our funding. Whatever loan we give to our borrowers on a fixed rate basis we fund it out as fixed rate borrowing, floating rate loans out as floating rate borrowings and we take no maturity mismatch. So to that extent the impact that the longer-term borrowings have had on our cost of funds has been very limited. Of course we do some short-term borrowing. To that extent the costs have gone up, which has been passed on.
Now to the view on interest rates. I think if you look at the previous year’s numbers, and if you look at inflation in the previous year, you will see a sharp uplift in inflation from December of last year. Therefore, arithmetically when you calculate the inflation for the next six months you will find that if everything had remained the same inflation would’ve taken a huge downward dip.
In reality it is not going to take a huge downward dip because we know inflation has gone up, oil prices have gone up and so on. But the fact is that the base effect will result in a situation where while inflation may again come down it may not come down as we see it as it otherwise goes. It’s unlikely in my view that inflation will go up and therefore RBI will have to keep increasing interest rates.
Q: Will banks and housing finance companies have to raise rates in January-February? What is the hunch you have right now?
A: My hunch is certainly not in January. In February if they have to do it, we will have to wait and see what happens in January. My hunch at the moment is no.
Q: We had a discussion with a lot of real estate experts today and their forecast only for the city of Mumbai was that luxury housing prices would fall by 10-15% in 2011 and slightly cheaper houses, a little less but they would fall. Would you agree with that broad theory?
A: Mumbai is a very different market. As I mentioned earlier for us our average loan size is Rs 18 lakh and with a 68% on loan to value ratio, meaning you are looking at a property of around Rs 30 lakh. There are virtually no properties that you can buy in central or south Mumbai.
Q: My hunch is I am asking you about the limited category of people who will be taking high value loans. Is it that real estate prices could dip next year?
A: Marginal correction in real estate prices is possible. But I don’t believe that it is going to be a huge correction. At the end of the day, people buy houses because of the fact that their incomes are going up. So as long as incomes are going up you will not see a massive correction in property prices. A little correction here and there could happen and logically it should happen because prices have run-up a lot in central and south Mumbai.
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]]> http://voteupindia.com/wont-see-much-impact-of-new-nhb-norms-hdfc/feed/ 0 Airlines in tailspin after govt gives fare warning http://voteupindia.com/airlines-in-tailspin-after-govt-gives-fare-warning/ http://voteupindia.com/airlines-in-tailspin-after-govt-gives-fare-warning/#comments Sat, 18 Dec 2010 14:04:16 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=8365
Indian private airlines seem to have litte choice but to give in to the clamour for lower fares, as the government cracks the whip on carriers that have raised spot fares excessively in recent months.

Domestic air fares have shot up in the past two months, with last-day fares almost doubling, on supply constraints, higher holiday season demand and airlines’ trying to maximise revenue in a competitive market, analysts said.

Should air fares be regulated?

The government’s insistence on cutting fares could cap gains from sharply higher spot fares, though overall quarterly earnings would not be severely hit.

“Extraordinary gains which were supposed to come now may not come,” said Rashesh Shah, analyst with ICICI Securities, adding his earnings projections would not be impacted as extraordinary gains were not factored in.

Airline industry should do more to lower fares: Patel

Earnings from spot tickets, or tickets bought at the last minute, typically make up 10-12 percent of an airline’s total fare on a particular flight, Shah said.

“Spot fares will rationalise in the next few days,” said Kapil Kaul, chief executive, Indian subcontinent and Middle East, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), an aviation consulting firm, in an indication that airlines may finally yield.

Kaul, who is is also part of India’s Civil Aviation Economic Advisory Council, however, said average fares in Oct-Dec are up no more than 7-10 percent from a year ago, though spot fares have risen sharply. Overall fares will come back to normal by Jan. 7 as people return from holidays, he said.

Air traffic in the country has seen a steady growth in recent months, rising 18.3 percent in Jan-Oct, on a rebouding economy expected to grow at about 8.5 percent in 2010/11.

The seat factor – the percentage of available seats that are filled during a specific period – rose for all airlines in October from September, with low-cost carriers Spicejet and Indigo recording an expansion of about 14 percentage points.

CAPA does not see government pressure hitting airlines’ earnings and has kept unchanged its 2010/11 forecast of $250-300 million in earnings for private airlines and a loss of $650-700 million for state-run Air India.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) had in September forecast a combined loss of $400 million for Indian airline companies in 2010. The sector posted a combined loss of $1.7 billion in 2009.

THE STAND-OFF

India’s Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has repeatedly warned airlines to slash fares over the past month. “While government does not regulate fares it cannot be a mute spectator if fares reach astronomical levels,” he said.

An alarmed aviation sector regulator last month set up a tariff analysis unit to monitor route-wise tariff across networks of local carriers at regular intervals to cap fares.

Shares in Jet Airways lost 18.4 percent, Kingfisher Airlines fell over 27 percent and SpiceJet shed 12.5 percent in the past one month, while the broader benchmark index has slipped around 1 percent.

Industry officials see no rationale in the government’s move as heavy tax on aviation fuel was already hurting margins.

“There is no case for capping airfare either up or down in a liberalised environment. However, if the government chooses to do so, it will have to look comprehensively at both sides of the equation,” said Vijay Mallya, chairman of Kingfisher Airlines.

Mallya said the government should review the tax issue.

“We are perhaps the most heavily taxed industry. An average of 27 percent sales tax on fuel is not seen anywhere in the world. Our fuel cost 60 percent higher than Dubai or Singapore. Airfares have to reflect that. Who else is going to absorb this difference?”

G.R. Gopinath, who introduced low-budget flying to India by launching Air Deccan, though endorses the government’s stand.

“The intentions are good and government did the right thing by telling airlines to fall in line. What is required is sufficient competition and a right policy which will not allow cartelisation.”
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]]> http://voteupindia.com/airlines-in-tailspin-after-govt-gives-fare-warning/feed/ 0 IT firms on hiring mode, intakes to touch historic high http://voteupindia.com/it-firms-on-hiring-mode-intakes-to-touch-historic-high/ http://voteupindia.com/it-firms-on-hiring-mode-intakes-to-touch-historic-high/#comments Thu, 25 Nov 2010 07:50:10 +0000 somya harsh http://voteupindia.com/?p=7522
Bangalore: After a dormant 2009, the hiring spree is back with a bang as Indian IT firms are switching over to robust recruitment mode. Amid improving global economic conditions, Indian IT players will hire a huge number of people and it may touch a historic high by the end of this year. Coming after a torpid year of hiring freeze, layoffs and salary cuts, the current recruitment drive in the IT space is led by big guys like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys.

Surpassing the earlier target of 30,000 persons, India’s IT services major TCS is expected to hire more than 50,000 employees in this financial year. TCS follows a policy where it recruits 70 percent of its annual intake from campuses. For 2011-12, the company is going to hire 50 percent more students from college campuses. Compared to 7,522 employees in October-December 2007, TCS added 10,717 employees during the July-September quarter this year. On the back of higher demand, the company has upgraded its gross hiring target from 40,000 to 50,000. At the end of September 2010, the total headcount of the company is 1.74 lakh.

In order to battle the rising attrition, Infosys is also stepping up to its hiring plans. The company has announced to hire 40,000 employees, up from the earlier projection of 30,000. The company added 7,646 employees during the July-September quarter. The annual report of Infosys says in the previous year (2009-10), the company interviewed 61,000 people and made 26,200 job offers. Infosys had an employee strength of 122,468 by the end of the second quarter, 16 percent higher than the corresponding period last year.

Internet search giant Google has also joined the party with the announcement of its plans to hire 300 people in a bid to double its engineering headcount in India. The firm, which already has 2,000 employees in India, plans to recruit 300 engineers in couple of years to increase its presence in India with focus on cloud computing.

Mahindra Satyam, earlier known as Satyam Computer Services, is also back in the hiring market and has announced that it would hire about 9,000 employees over the next 18 months. Mahindra Satyam, which currently has over 28,068 on rolls, said it had made a conscious choice to under-utilize its employee base – currently at 71 percent – but was trying to make sure that utilization levels go up steadily in the coming quarters. As of September, 2008, Satyam, including its subsidiaries, had a headcount of over 50,000.

Courtesy the surge in India’s economy, global consulting firm Deloitte also plans to increase its staff strength by 20 percent to 18,000 by 2012 in the country. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’s global Chief Executive, Jim Quigley said, “As the global attention shifts towards India, and its opportunities in the new economic environment emerge in India, Deloitte with its focus on hiring, developing, and deploying the best talent in the region, will help clients capitalize on these new market realities”.

Software services provider Globallogic, which has 1,700 employees in India at present, is also planning to increase its staff headcount by 2,000 across centres in India, China and Argentina by March next year. According to Globallogic CEO Peter Harrison, half of the additions would take place in India. Wipro continued with its conservative hiring and added net 2,975 employees in the second quarter ending September 2010.

IT firms are hiring aggressively to cope with the high attrition rates as demand for experienced professionals’ returns. At TCS, the attrition rate increased marginally to 14.1 percent in July-September from 13.1 percent during the preceding April-June quarter. In case of Infosys, it went up from 15.8 percent to 17 percent.

According to analysts, increased spending on IT infrastructure and improving overseas markets for outsourcers are also among the main factors for the upbeat hiring prospects apart from high attrition level. The recovery in business environment has led IT majors to hire aggressively again. This has come after more than a year of muted hiring during the global economic downturn, as clients cut IT budgets to tide over the slowdown.

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]]> http://voteupindia.com/it-firms-on-hiring-mode-intakes-to-touch-historic-high/feed/ 0 Mobile Wallets: NPCI enables mobile money transactions in India http://voteupindia.com/mobile-wallets-npci-enables-mobile-money-transactions-in-india/ http://voteupindia.com/mobile-wallets-npci-enables-mobile-money-transactions-in-india/#comments Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:48:10 +0000 somya harsh http://voteupindia.com/?p=7477
Seven banks including HDFC,ICICI,AXIS and SBI have gone live with the new system

India consumers will now be able to transfer money from their accounts to any other account in the country using their cellphones via the National Payment Corporation of India’s Inter-bank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS).

Seven banks including HDFC, ICICI, AXIS and SBI have gone live with the new system. Seven more banks are in the process of activating the service and 22 others expected to join the network soon, according to the NPCI.

The NPCI is the umbrella organization for all retail payment systems in the country owned and operated by banks.The system is as secure as net-banking.The major advantage of IMPS is that a customer does not have to use a computer or an internet-enabled phone to transfer funds.

Mobile phone user will have to download the mobile banking application on his instrument to remit money.Even low-end phones will be able to undertake this transfer either through download,Bluetooth or even by making a simple application at the nearest branch of the bank.

According to NPCI, there are 600+ million mobile subscriptions in India and is considered more than the number of bank accounts. The sending/remitting customer just needs to know the mobile number and the Mobile Money ID (MMID) of the receiver /beneficiary for IMPS transfers and the money can be transferred instantly.

Mobile Money Transfer Identifier (MMID) is a concept formulated by MPFI and adopted by NPCI and participating banks. It takes care of linking multiple accounts to a mobile, ensuring only people who are registered for receiving
will receive money and avoids erroneous transfers to a large extent.

IMPS rides on the existing NFS Interbank ATM transaction switching infrastructure and the message format which was co-developed with MPFI. NFS currently has 51 member banks and the number is increasing every month. IMPS
thus has the potential for the wide reach across the country, is easy for banking industry to adopt and if the bank has the mobile banking solution already, only minimal changes are required at the bank’s end to implement this
service.

IMPS vision is to help migration of paper based payments to electronic payments, and provide cost effective, safe and fast payment options for larger sections of the society using ubiquitous mobile phones and leverage the technology available with all banks.

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This post was submitted by somya harsh.

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