AMRL TO INVEST RS 800 CRORE IN MULTI-PRODUCT SEZ

TE Narasimhan, Chennai
Business Standard

AMRL International Tech City, a joint venture of Hyderabad-based AMR Constructions Ltd and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (Tidco), is planning to invest around Rs 800 crore for creating a multi-product special economic zone (SEZ) in Tamil Nadu.

U Shiv Prakash, chief executive officer, AMRL International Tech City, said the proposed SEZ was notified on November 18. It would come up on 2,500 acres at Nanguneri taluk in Tirunelveli district.

The proposed SEZ, the first multi-product SEZ in the state, is expected to attract investments to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore and would generate 70,000 jobs.

In the first phase, laying of roads have started and other construction works are expected to begin in January 2009. The SEZ will be ready in 3-4 years and will support multi-product sectors including engineering, auto components, pharmaceuticals, electronics and hardware, bio-technology, IT and ITeS, textiles and logistics, said Prakash.

AMRL International has already signed MoUs with two companies, including a West Asia-based engineering company, for setting up a manufacturing facility.

While AMR Constructions holds over 70 percent stake in the joint venture, Tidco has a 1 percent stake.

TECH MAHINDRA LOOKS BEYOND TELECOM CLIENTS FOR GROWTH

Amit Tripathi, Mumbai
DNA

Tech Mahindra Ltd (TML), the IT solutions provider, is looking to diversify its business and cater to the network and value-added services (VAS) needs of non-telecom companies through some of its recent partnerships and acquisitions.

Currently, UK-based giant British Telecom (BT) is the company’s largest client, contributing 60% (or Rs 2,600 crore in FY08) to its revenues. US telecom major AT&T is Tech Mahindra’s second largest client, with Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent being others in its top five clients’ list.

Sanjay Kalra, president (strategic initiatives), Tech Mahindra, said that the company has gained expertise through its long association with BT. “Besides, some of the partnerships that we entered into give us scope to look not just at telecom but other sectors too,” he said.

In August, Tech Mahindra partnered with UK-based IT systems integrator Servista, which provides customer care, billing, operational workflow and testing systems to telecom and utility companies. For a share in the emerging VAS market, the company joined hands with FRiENDi, a mobile virtual network operator in the Middle East and will offer the latter’s mobile ERP, business process automation, reporting and web selfcare systems, as well as VAS.

Tech Mahindra is now scouting for more acquisitions in the US and UK to beef up its capabilities in operational and business support systems and business process outsourcing (BPO). “We are evaluating 3-4 firms every week for acquisitions to gain new capabilities, including global delivery capability, and to get access to the target firm’s clients,” said Kalra.

The acquisitions and the non-telecom focus are expected to increase the revenue share of the company’s telecom equipment makers (TEM) segment. Kalra did not provide growth figures for the segment due to regulatory reasons. Asked about the amount the company is looking at spending on the acquisition, he said, “We are looking for the right fit given the economic scenario.”

SPEARS, WRESTLING, OBAMA LEAD YAHOO TOP 10 SEARCHES

San Francisco
The Economic Times

Barack Obama's presidential victory got more clicks than any other story on yahoo.com this year, but the most searched term was "Britney Spears," Yahoo Inc reported on Monday.

In the top 10 searches, Spears - the most popular search term for seven of the past eight years - was followed by World Wrestling Entertainment and then by Obama, Yahoo said.

Others on Yahoo's top 10 list among its billions of searches were, in order, television actress Miley Cyrus, online game RuneScape, actress Jessica Alba, Japanese manga cartoon series Naruto, actresses Lindsay Lohan and Angelina Jolie, and reality TV talent show American Idol.

Among special categories, the only non-presidential or vice-presidential candidate to make the top 10 politicians was California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, at No 9.

YAHOO SHOULD OFFER TO BUY MICROSOFT’S MSN

Mint

Yahoo! Inc. should call Microsoft Corp.’s bluff. That may sound odd given the software giant’s apparent disdain for its former sweetheart. But everyone continues to lose ground to Google Inc. in search.

Yahoo denied a report in the Sunday Times that Microsoft was backing a group planning to acquire the Internet company’s search business and install new management led by former AOL Llc. chief Jonathan Miller and former Fox Interactive Media Inc. boss Ross Levinsohn.

Yahoo says it could stop the slide in market share if it just had scale. It should put its money where its mouth is and offer to buy Microsoft’s MSN unit with a public bear-hug.

Yahoo has little to lose. Its stock is trading two-thirds below Microsoft’s $31 (Rs1,553 today) February bid. Its proposed partnership with Google was dropped by the search group a few weeks ago, and Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer continues to publicly spurn reconciliation attempts. This pile of disappointment led to Jerry Yang’s recent resignation.

Meanwhile, Google keeps hovering up market share in the search business—at everyone else’s expense. The latest figures show it has a dominant 63% share of the US market, an 8% increase over the last year, according to digital market research firm Comscore Inc. Yahoo has been one of the biggest losers. Its share now resides at a measly 20%.

Yahoo executives say they can reverse this with greater scale. Search does snowball, they say, so incremental gains matter. The more searches a service attracts, the more effective its search algorithm becomes. These better search results bring even more activity, creating a virtuous cycle.

If Yahoo really believes this argument, it should offer to buy Microsoft’s MSN division. The online and search unit is equally challenged by Google and has just 8.5% of the US search market. Moreover, many Microsoft shareholders would love to see the company jettison a business that has been a constant management distraction and a money loser.

GERMANY LOOKS AT KERALA FOR IT PARTNERSHIPS

Chennai/ Thiruvananthapuram
Business Standard

A 17-member German trade delegation held meetings with various CEOs of companies based at Technopark here. The visit was part of Germany’s plan to expand and enhance its presence in Kerala and work towards cooperation in various areas. Consul General of Germany to India, Stefan Graf, headed the delegation. The delegation looked at areas including IT, coir, health and tourism.

The delegation comprised a Johann Haslinger, head, Nokia Siemens Networks Development Centre; Friedhelm Pickhard, managing director of Robert Bosch India Ltd; Ghanshyam Agrawal, managing director, Francis Klein & Co Pvt Ltd; A Shanmugavasan, MD, KOB Medical Textiles; and Satish Kumar, managing director, Henkel India Ltd among others.

According to N Radhakrishnan Nair, CEO, Technopark, “The delegation has very clear focus of expansion especially in the IT sector and we are looking forward to hold detailed discussions soon. We will look to build up something concrete that will be fruitful for the state and Germany and that shall help strengthen the Indo-German relations.”