IT-ENABLED EDUCATION IN THING, SAYS EXPERT

Pradeep Sharma, Chandigarh, December 22, 2008
The Tribune

With information technology (IT) making inroads into every sphere of life, the traditional system of education is on its way out paving way for the integrated IT-enabled and innovative system of education.

“In fact, the chalk and talk system fails to address the inquisitiveness of today’s children brought up in a highly-digitalised audio-visual atmosphere. With that end in mind we have come up with the millennium learning system (MLS) to transform the teaching-learning process through the use of technology,” Shantanu Prakash, managing director, Educomp Solutions Limited, told The Tribune here today.

Parkash, who formally inaugurated Millennium School at Mohali today, said the new curriculum was aimed at implementing innovative models and delivering content to enhance student learning.

A graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Parkash currently has an employee base of over 4,500 in 39 locations in India, South East Asia and the USA. He is working with over 6-million learners worldwide. He is currently focussed on putting Educomp among the top 10-learning solution companies worldwide by 2010

NANOTECH PROMISES EXCITING FUTURE

Chennai/Bangalore, December 22, 2008
Business Standard

The science & technology sector in India has shown steady growth in-spite of the ongoing global recession and there are exciting opportunities ahead in the nanotechnology sector, said C N R Rao, Chairman of the Science Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister of India, while speaking at second edition of Bangalore Nano, a conclave for nanotechnology in Bangalore.

Detailing the nuances of this growth he said: “Even though science is not attractive monetarily, many youngsters have shown great interest in R&D. The future seems very exciting with large-scale applications waiting to happen especially in Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology has tremendous potential and I see lot of young people taking a keen interest in this field. In India, in spite of the economic slowdown, science & technology has done well and has shown steady growth. In the past year or so many positive developments have taken place in the nanotech field.”

He further advised students to beware of educational institutions offering Masters Degree in Nanotechnology. “Nanotech is still in a nascent stage and one cannot give a master’s degree in this,” he cautioned.

SEZS WAIT FOR BIG BOOSTER PACKAGE FROM GOVT

Malena K Amusa & Shantanu Nandan Sharma, December 21, 2008
The Economic Times

Despite the much-talked about slowdown in India, developers of special economic zones embrace an optimism and say it will become tangible if the government adopts a series of incentives to save the future of these pockets of prosperity.

SEZs, which were originally conceived by the earlier BJP regime, are championed by the ruling UPA government as a dream policy to spur Indian exports and achieve inclusive growth through generation of employment.

Now, L B Singhal, director of the government council to promote such zones, bustles from meeting to meeting to figure out how India’s special economic zones will outsmart the global financial climate that has scared off zone investors and reduced demand on factory products. Pressure has been mounted on commerce minister Kamal Nath and his department secretary G K Pillai to offer a package to bail out SEZ investors.

But this has not been without a turn of events. The very SEZ companies that saw soaring sales abroad are now turning home and wanting to sell products in domestic markets while enjoying the same incentives. That way, zones can “continue to have their factories running” and maintain “the present level of employment,” says Singhal, DG of Export Promotion Council for EoUs (export-oriented units) and SEZs.

The bigger question, however, is whether the government will be able to offer more incentives such as reducing income tax on profits made from domestic sales, refunding the service tax to SEZs, or terming these zones as infrastructure developments, thereby facilitating cheaper credit. Already, the ministry of finance has been up in arms against tax loss due to SEZs, which is estimated at Rs 100,000 crore for four years, beginning 2006-07.

What’s more, a section of the BJP has vehemently protested the present format of SEZ, and there are chances that if the party comes to power, it may change the SEZ Act itself. Former finance minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha calls for changes in the concept itself rather than showering more incentives. “Many non-genuine investors and land sharks will now exit SEZs, blaming the economic downturn.

According to reports, some cash-strapped real estate companies, including DLF, which have already got clearances for IT-ITeS SEZs are now looking for an exit route. During the Goa SEZ fiasco, the commerce ministry officials came out on record several times that there was no way a company could de-notify a notified SEZ.

SEZ head of GMR-Infra SGK Kishore likes to differentiate the zones into two broad categories. “The slowdown will be felt more on small IT/ITeS zones, most of which are product specific. They may fold it up if they fail to get clients.

But for large SEZs of over 2,500 acres of land, developing the land itself will take quite sometime. We are expecting that the government will give more incentives to the SEZs, and will make more credit available by classifying these as infrastructure zones. By the time, these zones are developed, the economy will be in a recovery phase,” he explains

1,000-ACRE LAND BANK FOR INDUSTRIAL TOWNSHIP

Shimoga (Karnataka), December 22, 2008
The Hindu

Development of a land bank of 1,000 acres with infrastructure facilities for setting up of industries is being mooted in the district. The Department of Industries is looking out for the land for the purpose in response to the enquiries from potential investors who have expressed a desire to set up their industrial units in the district.

Meanwhile it is proposed to allot two acres of land for the establishment of the Software Technology Park in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) being developed adjacent to the Machenahalli Industrial Estate on the Shimoga-Bhadravati Road on a forty-one acre land.

Earlier, it was proposed to set up the Software Technology Park behind the Jawaharlal Nehru National College of Engineering on the Sowlanga Road here and a five-acre land was also identified for it.

The incubation centre which was planned to be set up at the Software Technology Park started functioning temporarily for some time in the engineering college itself but could not sustain for long for want of patronage from the potential users.

Subsequently, the venue of the proposed Software Technology Park was planned to be shifted to the SEZ as it was found more to be more suitable.

It may be recalled that the Director of the Software Technology Park of India Rajalakshmi who was here recently held discussions with the local entrepreneurs and officers of the departments concerned to seek the allotment of at least five acres of land at the SEZ for the establishment of the Software Technology Park

IT SERVICES COMPANIES NEED TO TRANSFORM THEIR BUSINESS MODEL

Rachana Khanzode, December 22, 2008
The Financial Express

The impact of global economic slowdown is not limited to large IT companies but mid-caps are feeling the heat too. Industry veterans are getting ready to face the challenge. Arvind Thakur, the chief executive officer of NIIT Technologies is one among them. Being a part of NIIT since its inception, Thakur is responsible for the software and key organisational functions of the company. A graduate from IIT Kharagpur and postgraduate (industrial engineering) from NITIE, Bombay, Thakur feels that non-linear growth is expected to push the industry to a large extent. He is implementing it at NIIT too. In a recent chat, he also points out that India makes a big market and an opportunity for the industry to tap into.

Excerpts:

How has the current economic slowdown impacted the mid-size services companies?

Mid-size services companies have not been materially impacted. The results of the quarter ended September 30, 2008 indicate that most companies have shown healthy sequential growth. NIIT Technologies grew 5% sequentially in the last quarter. The economy is currently experiencing its worst financial crisis and each industry will have its own challenges. The real issue with the current meltdown is the liquidity crunch.

Fortunately, IT services companies generate cash surpluses and are hence comfortable in riding the storm.

Will non-linear growth become a strategy for the mid-caps and do we see its adoption at NIIT?

The competitive landscape requires the industry to transform its business model. Low cost services will need to give way to value added models where growth in revenues do not imply proportionate growth in headcount. Such businesses are non-linear and they become even more relevant in the current context as revenues will grow with reduced people costs.

NIIT Technologies has been an early mover in this direction. Our foray into managed services and IP-asset based services are the cornerstone of our non-linear strategy. Already a significant portion of our revenues are derived from such businesses. We see a huge opportunity in the non-linear business in the area of remote infrastructure management and at NIIT, we are clearly focused on it. According to Nasscom, the area of remote managed services is about $70-$80 billion and less than 3% has been captured at the moment. Last year, 20% of global revenues accrued from such businesses. We set a goal to increase it to 25% in this financial year and hope to increase it to 40% over the next three years.

Recently we unveiled ‘IPF3,’ our insurance process framework, for the commercial insurance industry.

Earlier this year, we acquired German-based Softec to create IP-asset based solutions for the airline industry. These are affirmative initiatives to support our non-linear strategy.

How does this impact your hiring patterns?

We want to reduce our dependence on headcounts by at least 22-25%. At the same time, we have improved our employee utilisation from 77% in the last quarter to 83% in this quarter. We recently launched our software-as-a-service model and our pay-per-use model will help us generate revenues without depending on the headcounts.

Financial services industry is now impacted in Europe too. Was NIIT associated with any of the banks and what has been the impact on the company?

Our focus on BFSI is mainly in the insurance sector. In that aspect, the current scenario in the BFSI vertical in European markets has not impacted us.

Will India play a bigger role in making up for business especially for mid-caps? Do we see India adding more revenues to NIIT?

The Indian IT services and ITeS market has been growing at a CAGR of 25-30% over the past 3-4 years. IDC predicts that the domestic market will touch $50 billion by 2011-12. India Inc is witnessing a growth spurt in the areas of IT adoption and enterprise IT infrastructure. NIIT Technologies has always had a strong presence in the domestic market. About 10% of NIIT Technologies’ revenues are derived from this market. We are sharply focused in the government sector for IT transformation and specialised GIS (geographical information systems) solutions. In the corporate sector, we are largely focused on manufacturing and retail industries where we have delivered enterprise services including package solutions and infrastructure management devices. Even in these trying times, the economy is predicted to grow at a robust clip of 7% becoming the focus of many companies. Innovative solutions will evolve for this market like our recently launched SaaS (software-as-a-service) business.