CISCO TO BUY POSTPATH FOR $215 M

The Hindu Business Line Cisco Systems Inc, the world's largest maker of networking equipment, agreed to buy PostPath Inc for $215 million, adding e-mail and calendar software to challenge Microsoft Corp. PostPath's programs compete with Microsoft's Exchange, which runs e-mail and organising systems for corporations. The software will be combined with Cisco's WebEx video-conferencing product, acquired last year for $2.63 billion, the company said in a statement. Cisco and Microsoft are battling for customers that want to curb travel expenses...

INDIA INC REDISCOVER VIRTUES OF CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Priyanka SanganiThe Economic Times Shortly after the turn of the century, when bento boxes had become Japan’s best-known contribution to the culinary world, came the wildly popular conveyor belt sushi restaurants. Also known as sushi-go-rounds, the customers, once in, could simply pick little portions of fresh sushi and sashimi of their choice from a moving conveyor belt. The final bill would be calculated based on the number and type of sushi portions consumed. The idea combined Japanese minimalism, the ‘Just-in-Time’philosophy and their...

TELCOS MUST REJIG BUSINESS MODEL FOR 3G SUCCESS: STUDY

Writankar Mukherjee, Kolkata The Economic Times Telecom operators may be betting on 3G in India, but the latest study has indicated that operators will have to redesign their business models to make data services affordable for Indian consumers. The study has highlighted that issues such as revenue sharing between operator and content developer are one of the main reasons behind premium pricing of data services, and hence their limited success. The study is part of a report on 3G in emerging markets conducted by an international research...

OLIVE GROUP EXPANDS TO IT SECTOR

The Financial Express Mumbai-based Olive group, after completing 25 years in real estate industry, is expanding to the Information Technology (IT) sector. Speaking to media persons in Mumbai, P V Mathai, chairman of Olive Builders, said that as part of the diversification, it would associate with the USA-based Millennium Consultant Inc, which has operations in Bangalore and Kochi. The future expansion plan includes infrastructure development, hospitality industry and retail sector....

Govt wants IT townships in all states

Rajat Guha & Niranjan Bharati, New DelhiThe Economic Times IT townships may no longer be the monopoly of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh or Haryana. Soon, all states will have at least one such township. The Centre has asked all the state governments to carry out feasibility studies for setting up such cities with a minimum area of 40 sq km. These townships are expected to attract an investment of over Rs 1 lakh crore in software, hardware and electronic equipment industry, a government official said. He said the proposal would be merged...

BPL MOBILE LAUNCHES SOFTWARE FOR BLACKBERRY

Mumbai The Economic Times The Hindu Business Standard The Financial Express BPL Mobile and Research in Motion (RIM) on Thursday announced the launch of Blackberry Connect software 4.0 on a range of handsets from BPL Mobile. With the software, users will be able to access Blackberry services with support from Blackberry enterprise server and Internet service. "Blackberry Connect Software enables users to enhance their mobile communications and productivity by connecting to the feature-rich and sophisticated Blackberry services," BPL...

COGNIZANT TO PUMP RS 200 CRORE INTO KOLKATA UNIT

Ravi Menon, Bangalore Business Standard Bracing up to counter the US slowdown effect, Cognizant Technology Solutions is further expanding its presence in India. The company, which is targeting around 10-15 percent of its revenue to come from outside the US and European markets in the next two to three years, will invest approximately $46 million (Rs 201 crore) to further expand its infrastructure in Kolkata. A company source said the company would add about 500,000 sq ft of office space in the first phase of its new fully-owned tech-complex...

INTEL TO LAUNCH RS 5000 COMPUTERS

New DelhiThe Economic Times The Statesman DNA Chipmaker Intel on Thursday said a Rs 5,000 PC (excluding the monitor price) could be made available in the next 3-6 months. The low-price point would be achieved with the help of its low-cost Atom processor, it said. “As demand soars and costs come down, it’s possible to achieve the Rs 5,000 price point within the next 3-6 months,” Intel Asia-Pacific V-P and GM Navin Shenoy said. Earlier this year, the chipmaker launched its Atom processor for low-cost desktops and laptops. Intel India...

NETBOOKS, NETTOPS AT 5K TO HIT MARKET SOON

New DelhiThe Economic Times The Financial Express The Hindu Business Line Just how fast things move in the Internet world. Sample this: earlier today Zenith Computers and Microsoft announced a laptop at a price point of 15K that they claimed was the lowest priced so far. While the industry was still debating the claim, Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology, A Raja announced that the industry is working on nettops and netbooks that would hit the market at the 5K price point. The promise, of course, is that it will hit...

MICROSOFT RELEASES BETA 2 OF INTERNET EXPLORER 8

SeattleThe Economic Times Microsoft Corp released on Wednesday a second test version of Internet Explorer 8, delivering a feature-complete upgrade to the world's most widely used Web browser. The world's largest software maker said the latest version -- beta 2 -- of Internet Explorer, which has a market share of about 75 percent, comes with new features to enhance privacy, ease-of-use, and security. Microsoft first released a test -- or beta 1 -- version of IE 8 in March, but that was aimed at letting Web developers take a first look...

ERICSSON WINS BROADBAND ORDER IN SAUDI ARABIA

Stockholm The Economic Times Telecom equipment maker Ericsson said on Wednesday it had signed a broadband deal in Saudi Arabia. A spokeswoman for Ericsson, the world's biggest mobile network maker, said the five-year contract was with Emaar, developer of the King Abdullah Economic City proje...

MEGHALAYA WOOS INVESTORS THROUGH MUMBAI DOOR

Saikat Das, MumbaiThe Economic Times In an attempt to lift its economy, the government of Meghalaya is all set to woo investors showcasing its future potential in different sectors within the state. Mentioning that “Indo-Bangladesh partition has taken a heavy toll in the local economy of the state which has a 440 KM border with Bangladesh, Ranjan Chatterjee, Chief Secretary, the government of Meghalaya, said “Meghalaya is currently growing at 5.6 per cent per annum. We need to have a lot of accelerated business movements to reach a target...

TN TEAM TO VISIT TAIWAN TO LURE INVESTORS

G Balachandar, ChennaiFinancial Chronicle The Tamil Nadu government has been hard-selling the state as a global hub for automotive and electronic sectors and has been a front-runner in the country in attracting big-ticket investments in these two sectors. "The government team, comprising officials from the industry department and director of Tamil Nadu Industrial Guidance and Export Promotion Bureau, which has been instrumental in hard-selling Tamil Nadu and bringing large ticket investments into the state, will be participating in a ...

FUJITSU APPOINTS TATA ELXSI

DNA The Financial Express Fujitsu India Ltd has appointed Tata Elxsi Ltd, the technology arm of Tata Group as the national system integration partner. As per the alliance, Tata Elxsi will take the entire range of Fujitsu India products including the business of servers, workstations and storages to the market from the system integration perspecti...

ORACLE, SATYAM TO SELL JD EDWARDS PRODUCTS

Sreekala G, Hyderabad The Economic Times (Bangalore edition) Enterprise software major Oracle and leading IT services firm Satyam Computer Services are planning to cash in on the growing momentum in the mid-size business segment in India to expand the JD Edwards product line. Satyam is looking at doubling its JD Edwards consultants from 500 to 1,000 in two years. The company also expects revenues from this practice to go up from 5-6% to 7-8% in two years. JD Edwards is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. “We are targeting...

GALILEO BRINGS SOFTWARE TO TRACK CARBON RELEASE

New DelhiThe Economic Times Global distribution system company Galileo on Wednesday launched a software that will monitor the amount of carbon emissions made during a flight from one destination to other. Air travel, which contributes about two per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions, is rapidly becoming a major contributor to the release of the green house gas, said Bruce Hanna, President and CEO, Galileo....

EMC EYES SMALL FIRM BUSINESS

Saahil Anant, New Delhi Financial Chronicle EMC, an information infrastructure and solutions company, on Wednesday announced its five pronged India “Go-to-market” strategy, with an aim to consolidate its position in the Indian market over the next three years. The company plans to make relevant products specially targeted at small and medium businesses and plans to increase its market share from $ 284 million to $1.1 billion by 2011. The company currently has channel partners in 30 cities and aims to increase the number to 40 by the end...

DELL UNVEILS NEW PCS TARGETING EMERGING MARKETS

BeijingThe Economic Times Mail Today Mint Business Standard Dell Inc unveiled four low-cost computer models Wednesday designed for China, India and other emerging economies in a new bid to tap the potential of high-growth markets outside the United States. The two notebook and two desktop PCs are the first Dell models designed especially for emerging markets, said Steve Felice, the US computer maker's president for the Asia-Pacific. They are meant for small business users and are to be sold in 20 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin...

SPINPOINT DRIVE

DNASamsung was pretty boastful about its high-capacity SpinPoint N2 1.8-inch drives when they launched back in June of 2007, and now the company’s decided to show them off a bit — check out this hot new creditcard- sized external model in glossy black with a flip-out USB connector. Specs are the same as before — 4200rpm, 27MB/s read and 23MB/s read — but sadly the most important spec is that it is China-only for now and pricing is in the stratosphere, with the 120GB version clocking in at RMB1999 ($29...

HP SET TO CLOSE $13.3 BILLION EDS BUY

The Economic TimesHewlett-Packard expects to close its $13.25 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Systems on Tuesday but did not give any details on possible job cuts, the Wall Street Journal reported. In an interview with the newspaper on Monday, HP chief executive Mark Hurd said the company would not disclose financial expectations from the acquisition or details of how many EDS employees might be laid off until a September 15 meeting with stock analysts. EDS shareholders approved the deal last month. The EDS deal was the result...

LG ELEC ENDS 8-YEAR PC PATENT ROW WITH QUANTA

SeoulThe Economic Times South Korea's LG Electronics Inc said on Tuesday it had agreed with Taiwan's Quanta Computer Inc to end PC-related patent disputes that had lasted for eight years and started negotiating royalties. The agreement came after the US Supreme Court in June ruled in favour of Quanta, rejecting LG's argument that it had placed explicit limits on how its patented technology could be passed...

NASSCOM EXPRESSES SUPPORT TO UK POINT BASED SYSTEM

BangaloreThe Economic Times The Hindu NASSCOM on Tuesday expressed its support to the new UK point-based system, which will govern intra-company transfers and work permits, going forward. NASSCOM also advised its member companies to register for the new PSB system introduced by the UK Government, on priority. "The new PBS system will transform the immigration process and operationally make it more efficient, in addition to simplifying this for companies. The UK Home office's PBS is applicable to all companies who employ workers in...

HARYANA OFFERS LAND FOR AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY PARK

New Delhi Business Standard Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday offered 300 acres to The US India Business Alliance (USIBA) for setting up an American Technology Park in Haryana with American Standards. The offer was made in a meeting held here on Tuesday with a three-member delegation of (USIBA), which came to meet the Chief Minister in connection with the allotment of land for the Technology Park. Proposing various sites for setting up this Technology Park, Hooda said that Village Madina in Rohtak district and...

GOODS SOLD TO SEZ EXEMPT FROM VAT IN AP

The Financial Express The Andhra Pradesh government has exempted value added tax (VAT) on the sale of goods for certain purposes to any unit located in any special economic zone (SEZ). The government has amended the Andhra Pradesh Value Added Tax Act to that effect. Sources said that the proposal was made in the overall national SEZ policy drafted by the Union government, that the goods sold to the SEZ for its establishment and maintenance need not pay sales tax. "No tax shall be payable by any (registered) dealer in respect of sale...

Hewlitt Packard launches desktops for children

New Delhi Business Standard The Economic Times The Hindu Business Line DNA The Hindu Targeting the kids segment, PC vendor Hewlitt Packard today launched customised desktops featuring Enid Blytons's famous cartoon character Noddy, priced between Rs 26,000 and Rs 60,000. The desktops initially would be available in the four major cities Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. Later, it would be available in other centres as well, HP India Head of Consumer Marketing, Personal Systems Group Shubhodip Pal said. The desktops have skins...

SINGTEL MAKES BID FOR SINGAPORE COMPUTER SYSTEMS

SingaporeThe Economic Times Singapore Telecommunications said it has bought a 60 per cent stake in Singapore Computer Systems for S$140 million ($99 million) as it seeks to boost its IT business. The deal, which will trigger a mandatory offer for all shares in Singapore Computer Systems, values the computer services firm at S$233 million, according to data. SingTel, Southeast Asia's largest telecoms group, said in a statement it acquired 93.1 million shares in Singapore Computer Systems from Green Dot Capital, a unit of state investment...

NEW SOFTWARE TO ALLOW SIGN LANGUAGE ON CELLPHONE

The Times of India (Delhi edition) Deaf people, who communicate through their cellphones using SMS messages, can now interact in their native or American sign language, thanks to a new software developed by engineers that has led to demonstration of two way video communication. “A lot of people are excited about this. The point is you will be able to communicate in your native language. For deaf people that’s American Sign Language.” principal investigator Eve Riskin, a University of Washington professor of electrical engineering said....

'INDIA EMERGING MOST FAVOURED INVESTMENT DESTINATION'

ChennaiThe Economic Times US Consul General Aileen Crowe Nandi on Monday paid glowing tributes to Indian economy, saying the nation was emerging as the most favoured destination for overseas investment. "India is emerging as the most favoured destination for overseas investment and an important trading partner for the US," Nandi said. She was addressing a symposium on 'Doing Business with USA', organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). "Trade between India and the US is doubling in every three years. Indian industry...

TN TO DEVELOP ITIR ON PERAMBALUR MODEL

G Balachandar, ChennaiFinancial Chronicle At a time when Indian states like West Bengal are caught up in controversies over acquisition of large tracts of land for industrial development, Tamil Nadu, which has seen no major issues over SEZ developments, plans to adopt the successful Perambalur SEZ model for the proposed IT Investment Region (ITIR) project in the state. ITIR model has recently been conceptualised by the Centre to boost growth in IT/IT enabled services (ITeS) and electronic hardware manufacturing. ITIRs would be a combination...

INDIAN COS ON BUYING SPREE IN UK, EUROPE

Batuk Gathani, LondonThe Hindu Business Line India now ranks among the first five largest investors in British companies and equities, spearheaded by the Tatas, who made ambitious purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover auto brands. Many Indian companies are on “serious lookout” to acquire “strategically placed” British companies, including stock broking and financial firms in London, which is the heart of the European commerce and industry. At the sane time, India, according to Geneva-based UNCTAD, has emerged as a “favourite spot” for European...

NIIT ACCORDED SUPERBRAND STATUS

New DelhiThe Hindu Business Line NIIT, the talent development corporation, on Monday said it has been accorded Superbrand status by the Superbrands Council. NIIT has been adjudged as a Business Superbrand 2008, commanding consumer respect, loyalty and trust from amongst consumer brands across categories, a company release said. The award was received by P. Rajendran, Chief Operating Officer, NI...

BHARTI RETAIL, IBM SIGN 10-YEAR DEAL

Sangeetha GFinancial Chronicle The Hindu Business Line The Hindu DNAHindustan TimesDeccan Herald The Economic Times The Statesman Bharti Retail has entered into a ‘strategic partnership’ with IBM under which the software major will provide technology and services that will enable scaling up of its operations in the long term. IBM will leverage its worldwide expertise in the retail sector and introduce best practices and innovations that will assist Bharti Retail’s future plans. According to Vinod Sawhny, president and chief operating...

CYBERNET-SLASHSUPPORT OPENS FACILITY IN CHENNAI

ChennaiThe Economic Times The Hindu With an investment of $4 million, Cybernet-SlashSupport (CSS) engaged in Tech Support, Software Testing and Development and Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) services today announced that it has opened a new IT Services facility in city. The new facility, located on a leased two acre land at Madras Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) near Tambaram, would become operational from September 2008, a company release said. The current expansion in the MEPZ is part of the company's ongoing strategic plan...

FCS SETS UP DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

HyderabadThe Hindu Business Line The Financial Express Frontline Consulting Services (FCS) has set up its India development centre in Madhapur near here. It plans to induct about 1,000 engineers. The Vice-President (Technology), FCS, Vikram Takru, said that the company had grown to about 250 people in Hyderabad during the year and this move to a new facility will expand the company presence and services portfolio. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, the company provides technology consulting, services and product development work for...

EURO RSCG LAUNCHES INDIA’S FIRST MOM SOLUTION

New DelhiThe Economic Times (Delhi edition) Ad agency Euro RSCG has launched India’s first marketing operations management (MOM) solution––Euro RSCG 24X7––powered by US-based marketing software company Assetlink. MOM systems allow marketers to centrally streamline, access, retrieve and reuse their lead generation and branding campaigns across geographies. The agency expects advertisers with large regional advertising budgets to benefit by deploying Euro RSCG 24X7 system as it will ensure consistency in branding across all their regional...

CANON FORAYS INTO DIGITAL DOCUMENT PRINTING

Bangalore The Economic Times (Bangalore edition) Japanese imaging and optical products corporation Canon on Monday announced entry into high quality digital document printing vertical through its partner GK Vale by introducing Canon Image Press CL7000. The technology will allow GK Vale, a photo printing and photography equipment retailer, to provide large format prints to its customers, Canon India, president and CEO, Kensaku Konishi, said. “This printer belonged to the business world, now we are bringing this technology to customers. We...

HCL LAUNCHES DESKTOPS WITH AMD’S TRIPLE CORE

New DelhiDeccan Herald HCL Infosystems Limited, on Monday unveiled its HCL Infiniti Orbital K Series range of desktops based on Triple Core AMD Phenom X3 8000 processor. AMD Phenom Triple-Core processors, is designed to integrate three computational cores on a single die of silicon, thereby improving application performance. Priced at Rs 33,000 onwards, HCL Infiniti Orbital K Series desktops will be available through HCL’s wide distribution network....

AT SAP, A NEW CHIEF AND A NEW COURSE

August 25, 2008Financial Chronicle Speaking at a technology conference in Las Vegas in February, Kagermann seemed to suggest that SAP would achieve a 35 percent operating margin quickly, an utterance that sent its stock up sharply, surprising SAP officials. So in May, executives seized on the subject at Sapphire, SAP’s annual analyst conference, and people who attended said Apotheker gave a full-throated endorsement of the goal of higher margins. Knut Woller, a software analyst at UniCredit in Munich, said the novelty of having a numbers-oriented...

‘PHONEY’ QUEUES USED AT POLISH IPHONE LAUNCH

August 24, 2008The Times of India (Delhi edition) Poland’s biggest telecoms operator, Telekomunikacja Polska, acknowledged Friday that it had paid young, hip-looking film extras to stand in queues for the national launch of Apple’s iPhone. “It was a marketing move. We thought it was a pretty interesting strategy,” TP spokesman Wojciech Jabczynski said. TP is controlled by France Telecom, which owns the Orange mobile telephone brand. The iPhone, which had its initial launch in the Unites States in July, went on sale at Orange’s Polish stores...

ASCENDAS LINES UP RS 3K CRORE FOR TWO PROJECTS IN INDIA

Arun S, August 24, 2008 The Financial Express Ascendas, the Singapore government-owned industrial park developer, which has so far been focusing only on the IT sector in India, would soon invest a total of Rs 3,000 crore in two massive projects—one near Mumbai and another adjacent to Chennai—to develop townships, start high-value engineering and electronics industries as well as special economic zones (SEZ). Speaking to FE on the sidelines of a conference here on Saturday, Pang Yee Ean, senior vice-president (India Operations), Ascendas,...

INDIGENOUS SOFTWARE MAKES SU30-MKI MORE COMPATIBLE

New Delhi, August 24, 2008 The Economic Times The Indian Air Force software experts from Bangalore based Software Development Institute (SDI) indigenously developed software patches to make Su30-MKI avionics compatible with NATO operational philosophy. This wholly indigenous effort has saved valuable foreign. The IAF is participating in the exercise Red Flag, which is an advanced aerial combat training exercise hosted at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada in USA. Frontline Indian Sukhoi fighters are pitted against US and NATO air forces'...

MANSOFT OPENS A RESOURCE CENTRE

Pune, August 25, 2008The Indian Express Mansoft, a it solutions provider and a wholly owned subsidiary of Doha based Mannai Corporation ,has strengthened its base in India by setting up a second resource centre in the city. The first centre of Mansoft in India has been operational in Mumbai since the last two years. The new resource centre in Pune was recently inaugurated by Keith Highley, chairman, Mansoft. Atul Pradhan, managing director, Mansoft, Alekh Grewal, COO, Mannai Corporation, Said Abu Odeh and K. Venugopalan, directors of...

PICK THE RIGHT COMPUTER MONITOR

August 25, 2008The Economic Times Monitors frame our relationship with our computers and a great computer is only as good as its monitor. That's why it's important to ask yourself: "What do I want to do with this computer" before purchasing, says Jaroslav Smycek of the Hannover Consumer's Center. Although nearly all flat screen monitors are based on LCD technology, there are differences between the models. "Twisted nematic (TN) Film models are popular. These screens are in the lower end of the price range," says Josef Reitberger of...

MAHARASHTRA, COMPANIES IN TALKS FOR 2 CHIP PROJECTS

Makarand Gadgil, Mumbai, August 25, 2008 Business Standard After approving the Videocon Group’s Rs 8,000-crore Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) project, the Maharashtra government is now eyeing two more such projects, which will attract an investment of Rs 16,000-20,000 crore and create around 15,000 jobs. A senior official of the state industry ministry said, “Talks are currently at the nascent stage and we will not be able to divulge the names of the investors now. However, we can confirm that we are in talks for such projects, which have...

INTEL TO BUILD YAHOO WIDGETS INTO NEW TV CHIPS

San FranciscoThe Economic Times After years of false starts aimed at bringing the Web to TV sets, Yahoo Inc said on Wednesday it is working with Intel Corp to create Web computer channels that run alongside TV shows. The Web company and world's largest chipmaker are working on what they call the "Widget Channel," which will enable TV viewers to interact with and watch a dynamic set of TV widgets -- small Web-based applications that complement TV shows. Widgets will appear in the corner of a TV screen and work something like a picture-in-picture...

INTEL NEW CHIP DESIGN SAVES POWER, BOOSTS GRAPHICS

San FranciscoThe Economic Times Intel Corp's latest chip design will conserve more power than its current processors and deliver vastly faster graphics images as the No. 1 chipmaker seeks to push its technology beyond just personal computers as that market slows. Intel's Core i7 chip, based on a design code-named Nehalem, will start production in the fourth quarter of this year, and ultimately will be used beyond just desktop machines and computer servers that are the backbone of corporate networks. Pat Gelsinger, head of Intel's digital...

IBM TO INVEST $300 M IN DISASTER RECOVERY UNITS

BostonThe Economic Times IBM plans to spend $300 million this year to build 13 “cloud computing” data centres where businesses can store information for quick retrieval in case their computer systems are destroyed in a disaster. Cloud computing refers to services accessed via the web that seem to exist in a cloud over the Internet. The computing giant, which will unveil the plan on Wednesday, is building the sites in 10 countries, including China, Japan, Turkey, Poland, France and the United States. IBM has so far rolled out the cloud-computing...

EBAY TO PROMOTE FIXED-PRICE SALES

San FranciscoFinancial Chronicle Acknowledging that most online shoppers cannot be bothered with auctions, eBay planned to announce Wednesday changes to its fee structure that emphasize fixed prices over bidding. The move is intended to help eBay compete more effectively with Amazon.com and other big online retailers. The announcement, timed to increase sales during the year-end holiday shopping season, is just one of the changes eBay has made in the last few months aimed at reducing its dependence on its auction business, which is growing...

KARNATAKA MAY SET UP AUTHORITY FOR IT, BT, NANO TECH

BangaloreThe Economic Times Deccan Herald The Karnataka government is considering to set up an authority exclusively for the information technology, biotechnology and nano technology in order to promote these sectors. Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa made the announcement after Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies N R Narayana Murthy made out a case for such an authority last night at the launch of Karnataka Government's flagship IT event, 'Bangalore IT.biz', to be held here from November 6. The state government had decided to come out...

IT FIRMS POACH DESIGN TALENT FROM OEMS

Seema Sindhu, New Delhi Business Standard Small and medium-sized IT firms are increasingly getting into the automotive design business. They are poaching employees from the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to tide over the manpower crunch. Design jobs are normally done by mechanical engineers. According to Nasscom, of the almost 200,000 mechanical engineers passing out annually, less than 25 percent are employable. Also, only 20-40 percent remain in this field and around 80 percent shift to software and IT services. IT companies...

BSNL BAGS STATE’S IT SERVICE AWARD

MumbaiMumbai Mirror Telecom giant BSNL has bagged the ‘IT Service Provider’ award in this year’s edition of the ‘Maharashtra IT Awards’. Chandra Prakash, chief general manager for Maharashtra Circle of the state-run teleco, received the award on behalf of his firm from Vilasrao Deshmukh, state’s chief minister, at a function organised by the Government of Maharashtra here on Wednesday....

SERVICES SPILLING OUT OF SEZS MAY GET TAX SOPS

Amiti Sen, New DelhiThe Economic Times It is celebration time for special economic zones (SEZ). The government has decided to extend service tax exemption to developers and SEZ units for authorised services rendered not just within the zones but outside as well. Right now, the finance ministry provides tax exemptions only for services availed inside SEZs. The announcement on the extension of the tax sop is expected to be made soon. Once the extension is notified, SEZ developers and units will be relieved from paying service tax on a number...

MODERN TO RAISE RS 100 CRORE FROM PE FIRMS FOR KHAPOLI SEZ PROJECT

MumbaiThe Economic Times Business Standard Property developer Modern India today said it is in talks with two-three private equity (PE) firms to raise Rs 100 crore for its proposed Rs 675 crore IT SEZ at Khapoli in Mumbai. "We are in discussion with 2-3 PE firms to raise upto Rs 100 crore," Modern India Chairman and Managing Director Vijay Jatia said here. The proposed SEZ, to come up on 43 acres of land, has received nod from the Board of Approval but is awaiting notification. "We have already acquired 36 acres of land and is in...

STPI PLANS SECOND OFFICE IN PUNJAB

Vijay C Roy, New Delhi/Chandigarh Business Standard STPI’s only office is in Mohali and more than 250 companies are registered with it. The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) may set up its second office in Kapurthala (Punjab) soon. According to sources, the feasibility study by STPI officials is complete and a formal notification in this regard is awaited from STPI. Earlier, the state government had proposed to the Ministry of Communication & Information Technology to set up its second STPI office in Kapurthala. For the...