UPDATE 1- HCL Tech net up 3.7 pct, shares rise

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 29 (Reuters) – Software services firm HCL Technologies (HCLT.BO) said on Thursday its quarterly net income rose marginally as demand for outsourcing increased, sending its shares up by as much as 4 percent.

Net income rose 3.7 percent to 3.42 billion rupees for April-June quarter, while sales increased 18 percent to 34.25 billion rupees.

Indian software companies are benefitting from a pickup in after services spending in the U.S., the largest market for the sector, after the global economic downturn.

“With hedge losses almost behind us we would see further improvement in cash flows and continued strengthening of the balance sheet,” Anil Chanana, CFO, said in a statement.

HCL’s larger rival India’s NO. 1 IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.BO) and third-largest Wipro (WIPR.BO) earlier reported street-topping performances, while No. 2 Infosys (INFY.BO) posted a surprise fall in quarterly profit.

HCL’s net income increased 6.9 percent on year to $73.6 million and revenue rose 21.5 percent to $737.6 million under US accounting norms. The EBITDA margin fell to 18.6 percent in the June-quarter from 22.1 percent a year ago.

US contributed 58.9 percent, Europe 28.5 percent and Asia Pacific 12.6 percent to HCL’s revenue in the June quarter.

Europe, which has been a cause of concern for most exporters in India and is the second-biggest market for the $60 billion Indian outsourcing sector after the United States, grew 4 percent over the March-quarter in terms of revenue for HCL.

Research firm Forrester said in a report this month that Europe’s volatile economic situation and uncertainty about corporate IT budgets would result in possible delays or cancellations of some outsourcing projects.

Custom application (industry solution) and Enterprise application services contributed together more than half of HCL’s revenue in the June quarter.

HCL, among India’s top five software services firm, added 6,428 employees in the June quarter taking its total headcount to 64,557, it said in a statement.

Rising outsourcing demand has seen Indian IT firms boosting hiring and raising staff salaries as they battle intensifying competition from global rivals such as IBM (IBM.N) and Accenture (ACN.N).

HCL’s net debt came down to $36 million as on June ’10 from $221 million a year ago.

At 9.51 local time, shares in HCL Technologies (HCLT.BO), which the market values at about $5.5 billion, were trading up 4.08 percent at 388 rupees in a flat Mumbai market.

(Reporting by Sanjeev Choudhary; Editing by Ramya Venugopal)

((sanjeev.choudhary@thomsonreuters.com; +91 11 4178 1016; Reuters Messaging: sanjeev.choudhary.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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Indian shares drag as Infosys disappoints

July 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

MUMBAI, July 13 (Reuters) – Indian shares were trading 0.1 percent lower on Tuesday, led by technology stocks, as investors ignored a guidance upgrade by Infosys Technologies (INFY.BO) and concentrated on a rare drop in its June quarter earnings.

Weak Asian shares also added to the negative sentiment, led by Chinese stocks which fell 2 percent on reports Beijing will not ease tougher property measures any time soon. [MKTS/GLOB]

Shares in Infosys, which scaled new peaks in the last two sessions, were down 3.1 percent, after it said net profit in the June quarter fell to 14.9 billion rupees ($318 million) from 15.3 billion rupees a year ago. [ID:nSGE6680B5]

“People will now adjust their expectations for other IT majors like TCS and Wipro,” said Tejas Doshi, head of research at Sushil Finance.

“The share prices of IT companies had run up on a lot of expectations … probably more than what was warranted.”

By 11:14 a.m. (0544 GMT), the 30-share BSE Index .BSESN was trading down 0.12 percent at 17,915.33 points with 13 of its components declining.

The benchmark which had rallied 81 percent in 2009, is up 2.6 percent so far in 2010.

Investors will watch out corporate earnings for April-June for cues in the near term.

“We expect a 22 percent to 25 percent growth in earnings for Sensex companies for the June quarter,” said Deven Choksey, managing director and CEO of KR Choksey Shares.

“The direction for guidance is also likely to be positive.”

Foreign funds have invested $7.1 billion in Indian equities so far in 2010, after a record inflow of $17.5 billion in 2009.

Other software majors Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.BO) and Wipro (WIPR.BO) were down 2.4 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.

Leading mobile operators Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) and Reliance Communications dragged lower on continued concerns of margin erosion due to lower tariffs and growing competition.

The stocks were down 1.7 percent and 1 percent respectively.

Lenders continued to gain on expectations of better loan demand as the economy grows.

Late last week, Trade Minister Anand Sharma told Reuters India’s gross domestic product growth is expected to return to “9 percent plus” this year, led by strong corporate performance and rising savings levels. [ID:nSGE6680FV]

Top lender State Bank of India (SBI.BO) was up nearly 1 percent while private sector rivals ICICI Bank (ICBK.BO) and HDFC Bank (HDBK.BO) rose 0.5 percent each.

Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC.BO) climbed 1.7 percent.

In the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers in a ratio of 1.4:1 in a volume of 130 million shares.

The 50-share NSE index was down 0.1 percent at 5,377.20 points.

STOCKS ON THE MOVE

* CMC (CMC.BO), which offers customer services like IT solutions and system integration, was up 2.4 percent at 1,520.05 rupees as it reported late Monday its June-quarter consolidated net profit was 464.5 million rupees [ID:nSGE66B0H6].

* Unichem Laboratories (UNLB.BO) rose 2.3 percent to 480 rupees after the drugmaker said on Monday said it will consider a stock split at its board meeting scheduled on July 22. [ID:nWNBS0473]

MAIN TOP THREE BY VOLUME

* Suzlon Energy (SUZL.BO) on nearly 5 million shares

* Idea Cellular (IDEA.BO) on 1.7 million shares

* IFCI (IFCI.BO) on 1.5 million shares

FACTORS TO WATCH * For technical analysis double click on www.reutersindia.net * Indian rupee report [INR/] * Indian bond report [IN/] * Euro steady after retreat, Greek auction eyed [FRX/] * Oil slides with equities;U.S. inventories seen mixed [O/R] * China stocks slide on property, weigh on Asia [MKTS/GLOB] * Wall St ekes out gain as caution rules before results [.N] * For closing rates of Indian ADRs INADR (Reporting by Ami Shah; editing by Malini Menon)

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Infosys Q1 disappoints and Europe woes dampen outlook

July 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Infosys Technologies (INFY.BO) edged up its forecast on a revival in outsourcing demand from its mainstay financial clients, but its shares fell as markets worried a weak European economy could curb orders.

India’s No. 2 outsourcer reported a surprise 2.6 percent drop in April-June profit and its sales contribution from Europe fell to about 20 percent from nearly 25 percent a year ago and 23 percent in January-March.

The company, a trendsetter in the country’s showpiece IT services sector, added 1,026 staff in April-June, its slowest pace of addition in four quarters.

The lower-than-expected profit and hiring triggered concerns of a slowdown in growth, sending its shares 2.8 percent lower in a flat market .BSESN. The stock hit a record high on Monday.

“There are still concerns lingering over Europe’s debts and if the economy there is weak, consumption should be weak too,” said Huey Yang, a fund manager with HSBC in Taipei.

Infosys and local rivals Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.BO) and Wipro (WIPR.BO) have raised salaries by 10 to 20 percent on average to keep staff from being poached by global rivals in a strong market.

India’s export-driven software services firms, however, face uncertainty on orders from Europe, the second-biggest market for the industry after the United States.

Infosys, which counts Goldman Sachs (GS.N), BT Group (BT.L) and BP (BP.L) among its more than 550 customers, forecast its 2010/11 dollar revenue to rise 19 percent to 21 percent, higher than 16-18 percent projected in April.

UNCERTAIN ENVIRONMENT

“While the global economic environment remains uncertain, we continue to see greater demand for services from our clients,” said Infosys chief executive S. Gopalakrishnan.

“The challenge for the industry is to enhance the investment to grow the business, given the uncertainty in the environment.”

In a report this month research firm Forrester said Europe’s volatile economic situation and uncertainty about corporate IT budgets would result in possible delays or cancellations of some outsourcing projects.

Growing competition from IBM (IBM.N), Accenture (ACN.N) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N) also pose a risk to the sector, which manages complex computer networks and maintains technology operations for Fortune 500 customers.

“The numbers are really bad at operating levels, they are 40-50 bps down than what we had expected,” said Shradha Agarwal, analyst at Batlivala & Karnani Securities in Mumbai.”The numbers would not see a significant upgrade from these levels.”

Infosys, known for its conservative outlook, has raised its full-year revenue growth forecast in dollar terms in the last three consecutive quarters.

The company expects earnings per American depositary share to rise 5.2 percent to 9.6 percent for the year, up from its previous forecast of 4.3 percent to 8.6 percent.

Nasdaq-listed Infosys (INFY.O) said net profit in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30 fell to 14.9 billion rupees ($318 million) from 15.3 billion rupees a year ago.

A Reuters poll of brokerages had forecast a profit of 15.56 billion rupees.

Infosys reported under the International Financial Reporting Standards for the second successive quarter.

(Writing by Sumeet Chatterjee; additional reporting b Baker Li in Taipei, Reuters India company news team; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan and Anshuman Daga)

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Indian shares rise as telcos soar on stocks upgrade

July 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

MUMBAI, July 9 (Reuters) – Indian shares rose 1.1 percent on Friday, with telecom stocks cheering an upgrade by Credit Suisse, and Infosys Technologies (INFY.BO) testing new high on better earnings expectations ahead of its quarterly results next week.

Top mobile operator Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) soared as much as 10.4 percent, while rivals Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO) and Idea Cellular (IDEA.BO) climbed as much as 3.9 percent and 14.7 percent respectively.

Credit Suisse upgraded Bharti to “outperform” from “neutral”, Reliance Communications to “neutral” from “underperform”, and Idea Cellular (IDEA.BO) to “outperform” from “underperform”.

“We believe that concerns on competition, regulation, 3G auction fee and RIL’s entry have been overstated,” Credit Suisse said in a note on Thursday.

By 11:59 a.m. (0629 GMT), the 30-share BSE Index .BSESN was trading up 1.05 percent at 17,836.50 points, with 25 of its components in the green.

“There are expectations built that IT and telecom stocks may surprise market on the positive side at June-quarter results,” said Deven Choksey, managing director and CEO of KR Choksey Shares.

“As far as telecom stocks are concerned, the valuations are cheap. All negatives are priced in, and prices cannot dip from here.”

The benchmark is up 2.2 percent so far this week. It has gained 0.8 percent this month on the back of around 107 million inflows from foreign funds.

IT bellwether Infosys, which unveils its quarterly earnings on June 13, rose as much as 1.9 percent to a record high of 2,879.90 rupees. Its earnings are often dubbed as a trendsetter for the sectoral peers.

“We expect robust results from Tier 1 IT vendors to demonstrate the underlying demand strength,” Macquarie said in a note. It expects Infosys to raise fiscal year 2011 U.S. dollar revenue growth guidance to 17-19 percent from 16-18 percent.

Its peers Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.BO) and Wipro (WIPR.BO) rose 0.1 percent and 0.9 percent respectively.

Lenders continued to rise on expectations that credit demand would pick up on the back of robust economic growth.

The country’s top lender State Bank of India (SBI.BO) was up 0.8 percent while leading private-sector rivals ICICI Bank (ICBK.BO) and HDFC Bank (HDBK.BO) gained 0.8 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.

Bajaj Auto (BAJA.BO) rose 0.5 percent after the auto player signed an agreement with Renault-Nissan alliance (RENA.PA) (7201.T) to manufacture an ultra low-cost car to be sold in India and other emerging markets, which would be a rival to Tata Motors’ (TAMO.BO) Nano. [ID:nSGE6670H5]

In the broader market, gainers were nearly double the losers in a volume of 191 million shares.

The 50-share NSE index was up 1 percent at 5,351.95 points.

STOCKS ON THE MOVE

* Pratibha Industries (PRTI.BO) was up 1.1 percent at 415 rupees as the construction firm said it has won a project from National Highways Authority of India for two-laning of a section of NH-86. [ID:nWNBS0455]

* KPIT Cummins Infosystems (KPIT.BO) rose after the software firm said on Thursday it is considering buying a German automotive product company with revenue earnings below $5 million at its board meeting scheduled on July 13. [ID:nWNBS0452]

MAIN TOP THREE BY VOLUME

* Idea Cellular on 8.5 million shares

* Bharti Airtel on 5.7 million shares

* Shree Ashtavinayak (SACV.BO) on 2.3 million shares

FACTORS TO WATCH * For technical analysis double click on www.reutersindia.net * Indian rupee report [INR/] * Indian bond report [IN/] * Euro holds near 2-mth highs, high-yielders firm [FRX/] * Oil set for 5 pct weekly gain on U.S. demand [O/R] * Asian stocks lifted by US data; euro holds gains[MKTS/GLOB] * Wall St up for 3rd day on data, retail sales [.N] * For closing rates of Indian ADRs INADR (Reporting by Ami Shah; editing by Malini Menon)

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Indian shares up 0.5 pct; IT companies lead

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

MUMBAI, July 6 (Reuters) – Indian shares were trading 0.5 percent higher on Tuesday, with software outsourcing firms leading the gains, as Asian markets bounced back from early losses and as the revival of monsoon boosted sentiment.

Software majors rose on expectations of good volume growth at its June quarter results, to be unveiled later this month.

“We expect the big three to report strong 5.1 percent to 6.5 percent surge in volumes quarter-on-quarter,” brokerage Edelweiss said in a note, referring to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.BO), Infosys Technologies (INFY.BO) and Wipro (WIPR.BO).

By 11:10 a.m. (0540 GMT), the 30-share BSE Index .BSESN was trading up 0.52 percent at 17,532.65 points, with 25 of its components gaining.

A revival of June-September monsoon rains, the main source of water for India’s summer-sown crops, also boosted sentiment.

Monsoon rains advanced into its key grain-producing states of Punjab and Haryana, narrowing the shortfall since June 1 to 13 percent from 16 percent earlier. [ID:nSGE6640CS]

“Recovery in rainfall is a key positive. Monsoon and June quarter earnings will be closely watched for further cues,” said Neeraj Dewan, director of Quantum Securities.

Edelweiss expects June-quarter earnings growth for Sensex to come at 6.1 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Foreign funds have poured in $6.8 billion so far this year after pumping in a record $17.5 billion in 2009, which had fuelled a rally of 81 percent.

Top IT firm TCS was up 1.9 percent while rivals Infosys and Wipro rose 0.9 percent and 1.4 percent respectively.

Energy giant Reliance Industries (RELI.BO), which has the highest weight on the main index, climbed 0.5 percent to 1,073.60 rupees.

Lenders shrugged off a hawkish interest-rate outlook and advanced on hopes that a strong economic growth would boost demand for loans.

A Reuters poll forecast the central bank is likely to raise interest rates again in its quarterly review on July 27, topping up its last Friday’s quarter-point rate hike. [ID:nBMA007957]

Top lender State Bank of India (SBI.BO) was up 0.8 percent while leading private-sector rivals ICICI Bank (ICBK.BO) and HDFC Bank (HDBK.BO) climbed 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent respectively.

In the broader market, gainers led losers in a ratio of 1.7:1 in a volume of 147 million shares.

The 50-share NSE index was up 0.5 percent at 5,263.90 points.

STOCKS ON THE MOVE

* Eicher Motors (EICH.BO) was up 2.5 percent at 954.20 rupees, after VE Commercial Vehicles, the joint venture between the company and Sweden’s Volvo (VOLVb.ST) said its trucks and buses sales jumped 43 percent in June. [ID:nBMB010925]

* Network18 (NEFI.BO) rose 3.1 percent to 161.35 rupees, after it said late Monday it will consider selling its stake in London-listed Indian Film Company Ltd (JS6.L) to Viacom 18, a joint venture between its unit IBN18 Broadcast (IBN.BO) and U.S.-based Viacom Inc (VIA.N). [ID:nSGE6640ER]

TOP THREE BY VOLUME

* Spicejet (SPJT.BO) on 29.7 million shares

* Jindal Cotex (JICL.BO) on 2.8 million shares

* IFCI (IFCI.BO) on 2.7 million shares

FACTORS TO WATCH * For technical analysis double click on www.reutersindia.net * Indian rupee report [INR/] * Indian bond report [IN/] * Dollar and yen gain on renewed caution, Aussie down [FRX/] * Oil extends drop to 4-week low on economic pessimism [O/R] * Asia stocks fall on growth worry; yen climbs [MKTS/GLOB] * Wall St dips on jobs data, worst week in 2 mths [.N] * For closing rates of Indian ADRs INADR (Reporting by Ami Shah; editing by Malini Menon)

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Indian shares seesaw; Reliance gains, techs down

June 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

MUMBAI, June 17 (Reuters) – Indian shares flip-flopped on
Thursday as weak Asian markets prompted investors to pause
after the main index had rallied more than 5 percent over six
sessions.

Traders said the market was facing resistance after its
longest winning streak in nine months. Although foreign fund
investments have picked up on the back of robust factory output
data, double-digit inflation was a concern.

“The pain due to Europe’s troubles seems to be priced in. A
steep downside from here doesn’t look likely right now. That
said, we are not going to rise very fast either,” said R.
Ganesh, director of Systematix Shares.

By 11:28 a.m. (0558 GMT), the 30-share BSE index .BSESN
was trading down 0.05 percent at 17,454.78 points, with 19 of
its components declining.

Reliance Industries (RELI.BO), which has the highest weight
on the Sensex, rose 1.1 percent.

The energy major may foray into the healthcare sector by
buying a 26 percent stake in hospital chain Fortis Healthcare
(FOHE.BO), the Financial Express reported. [ID:nSGE65G03T]

Fortis, which last week unveiled plans to raise as much as
$1.2 billion, is positioning itself for a possible battle with
Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah for Singapore’s
Parkway Holdings (PARM.SI). [ID:nSGE6580F0]

Shares in Fortis were up 2.4 percent at 155.95 rupees.

Top outsourcer Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.BO) dropped
0.6 percent, while rivals Infosys (INFY.BO) and Wipro (WIPR.BO)
shed 0.9 percent each.

State-run explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.BO) was up
1.1 percent after the Hindustan Times reported a panel of
ministers to look into freeing of fuel prices could meet next
week. [ID:nSGE65G03N]

Foreign funds have been net buyers of Indian equities four
sessions to Tuesday, taking their investment so far in June to
nearly $588 million. In May, the funds had dumped $2 billion of
stocks in the wake of the euro zone fiscal troubles.

In the broader market, gainers led losers in a ratio of
1.3:1 on volume of 140 million shares.

The 50-share NSE index was down 0.2 percent at
5,225.35.

STOCKS ON THE MOVE

* Non-ferrous metals maker Sterlite Industries (STRL.BO)
dropped 0.7 percent to 684.60 rupees as London copper futures
MCU3=LX fell 1.8 percent.

* Cairn India (CAIL.BO) shed 0.6 percent to 306.60 rupees,
as crude oil prices declined towards $77 per barrel.

MAIN TOP 3 BY VOLUME

* Reliance Natural Resources (RENR.BO) on 4.7 million
shares

* MTNL (MTNL.BO) on nearly 3 million shares

* Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (TTML.BO) on 1.9 million
shares

FACTORS TO WATCH
* For technical analysis double click on www.reutersindia.net
* Indian rupee report
[INR/]
* Indian bond report
[IN/]
* Euro slips after chart failure, caution over Spain
[FRX/]
* Oil falls towards $77 on mixed econ, stockpile data
[O/R]
* Euro eases as stock rally runs out of steam
[MKTS/GLOB]
* Wall St ends flat on mixed economic data, FedEx drags
[.N]
* For closing rates of Indian ADRs
INADR
(Reporting by Ami Shah; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)

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India’s billionaire list doubles

November 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is once again the wealthiest person in India. The net worth of the promoter of the largest listed Indian company is put at $32 billion, an increase of 54 per cent from nearly $21 billion last year, according to a Forbes report.

“Trailing behind him are Lakshmi Mittal (Arcelor Mittal) with a net worth of $30 billion, up 46 per cent from $20.5 billion, and Mukesh’s estranged brother, Anil Ambani, whose net worth of $17.5 billion, 40 per cent, higher than before, put him in third place,” it said. A rebounding stock market that gained two-thirds in the past year and an economy growing at 6 per cent have boosted the net worth of India’s richest people. The combined net worth of India’s 100 richest people is $276 billion, almost a quarter of the country’s GDP.

“Last year, there were only 27 billionaires on the India Rich List. This year, the number has almost doubled to 52, just two short of what India had at the peak of the stock market boom in 2007,” according to the Forbes report.

Though the top 10 positions remain largely unchanged, there are some shifts in fortunes across the list. Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, has moved down from Number 4 to Number 8 and Wipro chairman Azim Premji has moved up to Number 4 position.

“The Ruia brothers (Essar group) with a net worth of $13.6 billion have made it to number 5 this year. Adi Godrej has moved out of the top 10 to the number 12 position. Savitri Jindal, nonexecutive chairwoman of O P Jindal Group, at a net worth of $12 billion this year has made it to number 7 on the list she is one of only six women on the list,” the Forbes report said.

The richest newcomers are two brothers from Torrent Power – Sudhir and Samir Mehta, ranked 23 at $2.02 billion. Another notable mention is Nandan Nilekani who has stepped down from Infosys board and is now a part of government. He ranks 43 with a net worth of $1.25 billion. Southern India’s TV king Kalanithi Maran, ranked 20, almost doubled his net worth to $2.3 billion from $1.2 billion.

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West Bengal Government revives IT hub plans

September 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Kolkata, Sep 17(ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on Thursday said that the Government would revive plans to build a one billion dollar IT hub, which was earlier, scrapped due to land acquisition problems.

The State Government has planned an IT town on the outskirts of Kolkata to host IT giants Wipro and Infosys, and following the issue Bhattacharya said that IT majors, Wipro and Infosys would be given 45 acres of land each near the airport, where they can construct new centres.

“We are ready to give 45 acres of land each to Wipro and Infosys and they can come and immediately take possession of the land and they can start constructing their new centres in Rajarhat, 45 acres each and they are big companies and they will create huge job opportunities for young people,” Bhattacharya said.

The State Government had earlier cancelled the project after local police arrested a member of a private business consortium, which had offered to procure land for the IT hub on behalf of the Government, on charges of seizing the land by force. (ANI)

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West Bengal Government scraps Rajarhat IT park project

September 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Kolkata, Sep.7 (ANI): The West Bengal government on Monday scrapped plans for an IT-related township in the Rajarhat area near Salt Lake City in the wake of a land scam involving land sharks and government officials.

The State Government had revealed last month that it had acquired land for the Infosys and Wipro complexes.

The state Cabinet went far beyond the waiving aside of the urban land ceiling to enable promoters procure the rest of the land. The government also promised to facilitate the process of land conversion (from agricultural to non-agricultural). Clause 5.51 under Section D of the MoU clearly states that Webel shall enable the joint venture company to get all clearance and “applicable permits” under the law, including “conversion of land”.

The government stayed away from procuring land on its own. Instead, it gave the JVC a long rope and agreed on getting land from this company on lease, leaving 600 acres to the private partners for commercial use. Not only that, the private promoters set the terms for Webel’s activities on the leasehold land. Clause 4.6 of the MoU states: “With a view to meet the requirement of small IT companies for built-up space, if Webel intends to develop IT parks, the Joint Venture partner Vedic Diamond will be given the first right of refusal to develop such facilities.”

Nobody attempted a cost benefit analysis important for a public purpose project.(ANI)

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Rishad Premji – Azim Premji – Wipro management – Rishad Premji son of Azim Premji moves up Wipro management

July 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Rishad Premji – Azim Premji – Wipro management – Rishad Premji son of Azim Premji moves up Wipro management

Rishad Premji son of Azim Premji moved up the Wipro management after getting a new role. Rishad Premji’s new role will involve handling investor relations & maintaining dialogue with Wipro’s financial investors & key stakeholders.

The elder son of Wipro Chairman Azim Premji’s, Rishad studied at the Harvard Busines School and graduated from Wesleyan University, Connecticut. With an interest in software and music, Rishad has learnt one thing from his father, and that is to maintain a low profile. Rishad was with Bain and Co and also had a brief stint with GE before doing his MBA.

His younger brother Tariq Premji is currently with the Azim Premji Foundation

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Wipro – Wipro Ltd – Wipro Infotech – Wipro Ranked No.1 Network Player in the Country yet again – www.wipro.com – www.wiprocorporate.com – www.wipro.in

June 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Wipro – Wipro Ltd – Wipro Infotech – Wipro Ranked No.1 Network Player in the Country yet again – www.wipro.com – www.wiprocorporate.com – www.wipro.in

Wipro Infotech, the India and Middle East IT Business of Wipro Ltd and a leading provider of IT and business transformation services, today announced that it has been ranked No.1 Network Integrator for the sixth consecutive year by Voice&Data, and also ranked the No. 1 Network Management Services Provider for 2008-2009.

The company has posted a healthy growth of 28% in networking products and services, ahead of the market growth of 12% (V&D100 survey, 2008-2009). According to V&D, Wipro Infotech accounts for 33.6% of the market share in the Network Management space. In the Network Integration space, Wipro accounts for 13.6% of the market share.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Anil Jain, VP and Business Head   Telecom Business and Professional Services Division, Wipro Infotech said:  Wipro has been able to achieve this because of being able to provide integrated end-to-end high end solutions to clients. Our multi domain capabilities and two decades experience in delivering large and complex networking projects across industry verticals have stood us in good stead. We have been able to offer cutting edge technologies like unified communication, virtualization and Enterprise Data Centers not to mention remote network management services from our ISO certified Global Service Management Centre in Mysore,  he said.

Earlier this year, the company bagged some big deals including a 9-year outsourcing contract with Unitech Wireless and Rs1182 crore e-governance order from Employees State Insurance Corporation of India.

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Wipro reports four percent rise in profits

April 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Bangalore, Apr 23 (ANI): Wipro Limited, ranked third among India’s IT outsourcing companies, beat all expectations with a four percent rise in profit and consequently boosts its shares, to a six-month high.

This was disclosed by Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro here last evening.

Announcing the company’s periodical results for the fourth quarter ending on March 31, he did forecast a strong and challenging year in the IT services sector.

As for Wipro’s score card, Premji said that the revenue stood at 191.7 billion US dollars with a 31 per cent annual growth and it had added 110 clients during year.

“IT services business delivered a strong year on dollar revenue growth rates of 18.5 per cent adding more than 676 million to our top line, highest in the industry,” said Premji.
He also mentioned that despite the turbulent times such as the global meltdown, the company’s results have been robust.

“In these turbulent times, our results have been robust, resulting in Wipro Limited posting a 28 per cent growth in revenue in rupee terms and a 19er cent growth in profits after tax,” added Premji.

Further he said that Wipro has plans to invest in the telecom sector as well as the natural oil and gas segments in the domestic markets.

Wipro, promoted by Azim Premji who turned the family’s ailing business of vegetable oil into an IT services major, also pointed out at the net profit in its fiscal fourth quarter rose to 9.1 billion rupees from 8.75 billion rupees reported a year ago.

Overall sales of the company also rose by 13 per cent. (ANI)

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Sensex tests 11K level, closes higher for seventh consecutive day

April 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The Indian stock markets remained buoyant and close higher on Monday, for the seventh consecutive day, after an intraday volatile session.

During trading session, the Sensex surpassed the 11,000 mark while the Nifty tested the 3,400 level. BSE Sensex settled the day at 10,967, up 163 points or 1.51%, and Nifty ended up 40 points or 1.21% to 3,382.

Further, BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps also ended the day with gains of 106.57 and 147.61 points at 3,464.92 and 3,915.16 respectively.

The domestic market opened on Monday, on green territory backed by positive cues from the global markets. However, benchmark indices soon turned volatile on profit booking by investors.

But during mid-afternoon hours, the resumption of buying by the foreign funds led buying interest back in the domestic bourses. In addition, the firm cues from the global markets also contributed to the upward journey of Sensex.

On sectoral front, Metal, Bank, Reality, PSU, Auto, Capital Goods and Power stocks attracted most of the buying. While, segments like consumer durable and IT stocks witnessed heavy selling in select counters.

The list of gainers from the BSE Sensex pack included Tata Motors (12.01%), Tata Steel (8.31%), Sterlite Industries (7.39%), SBI (6.80%), DLF Ltd (5.04%), HDFC Bank (4.84%), ICICI Bank (4.49%), RCom (3.49%), M and M Ltd (3.39%) and JP Associates (3.25%).

While, the losers from the BSE Sensex pack were TCS Ltd (1.91%), Wipro Ltd (1.90%), Grasim Indus (1.59%), HUL (1.33%), Infosys Tech (1.22%), NTPC Ltd (1.00%) and HDFC (0.99%).

The Indian stock market will remain close on tomorrow i.e. Tuesday (14th April 2009) for Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti.

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Indian Stock Markets close marginally higher

April 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

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Indian Stock Markets

Indian Stocks markets stayed in positive zone on Thursday. Markets are waiting for next trigger and are range-bound.

The benchmark indices closed the session on a flat note after remaining volatile throughout the day. The Sensex closed the day at 10,803 up 0.57% or 62 points after swinging in the range of 10,655 – 10,932. The NSE Nifty shut almost flat at 3,342 down just 0.03% or 0.9 points after trading in the range of 3,307 – 3,399. Among broader indices, BSE Midcap Index was up 1.6% or 55 points and Small Cap Index was up 1.6% or 61 points. Buying was seen in banking, realty and metal stocks.

Inflation for the week-ended March 28 has come in at 0.26% as against 0.31% a week earlier. The Index of Industrial Production for February has come in at a negative 1.2% as against negative 0.5% M-M.
On a weekly basis, Sensex up 4.4% and Nifty up 4%. And in the mid-cap space, Nifty Junior up 6.5%, CNX Midcap Index up 3.5% and BSE Small Cap Index up 9.5%.

Movers and Shakers
The Realty Index rose 104 points or 5.4% to settle at 2,041. Puravankara Projects gained 20%. Indiabulls Real, Unitech HDIL and DLF were up 2-8%.

The Metal Index surged 243 points or 3.725, to close at 6,801. JSW Steel jumped 13.5%. Tata Steel, Sesa Goa, Jindal Steel, Jindal Saw, Sterlite went up 3-7%.

In the banking sector, the index went up 2.6% or 130 points at 5,045. Stocks like ICICI Bank shot up 5.6%. SBI and PNB were up 1% each.

The BSE Capital Goods Index was up 95 points or 1.31% to 7,371. L and T, Siemens and ABB gained 1.5%-3% while BHEL and Punj Lloyd fell by almost 1% each.

In the oil and gas space Reliance Industries and Reliance Petroleum went up by 0.6% each while ONGC and Cairn India declined over 2%.

Among the Sensex pack, Jaiprakash Associates, Reliance Infrastructure and Bharti Airtel rose by 4-8%.

Among the top losers were HindLever, Mah and Mah and Wipro down 3% each.

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Greenpeace releases Guide to Greener Electronics; Wipro is top Green Brand of India

April 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The international non-governmental organization well known for its works of protection and conservation of the environment – Greenpeace has released its “Guide to Greener Electronics,” foucusing on e-waste. According to the “Guide to Greener Electronics” of the Amsterdam, Netherlands based Greenpeace, Nokia and Samsung have been ranked at top positions, while Wipro Infotech has been named as top Green Brand of India.

Wipro Infotech has been ranked among the top five green brands in the world. Scoring 5.5 out of 10 to achieve the top rank among Indian IT brands, Wipro also climed up in the global ranking. In a statement yesterday, Wipro stated that it has been able to achieve its present ranking largely due to its comitted efforts towards “energy efficiency and structured programme for effective e-waste management for customers”.

According to Wipro, it has been – rolling out energy star compliant products, launching ewaste management programmes, creating awareness among public, and using recycled plastics in its new productions. Wipro stated that it has been creating awareness among its customers on recycling collected e-waste rather than mere disposal. The company claimed that it has restricted the usage of pernicious substances in its products.

Greenpeace’s “Guide to Greener Electronics” has named Sony as ‘greenest’ console brands. Accordong to the Guide, Sony consoles are more friendly to environment than that of Microsoft and Nintendo – Sony products are 40 percent environmentally-friendly than Microsoft’s, while 50 percent greener that Nintendo’s products. Sony has scored 5.5 out of 10, Microsoft has scored just 2.7, while Nintendo has scored worst 0.8 in the rankings.

In its Guide to Greener Electronics, Greenpeace has stated that Nintendo has done good job by banning the use of phthalates, and monitoring its use of antimony and beryllium. Certainly, the company is “endeavouring to eliminate the use of PVC, but it has not set a timeline for its phase out”. In its report, Greenpeace wrote, “The company has banned phthalates and is monitoring use of antimony and beryllium and although it is endeavoring to eliminate the use of PVC, it has not set a timeline for its phase out. Nintendo discloses carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from its own operations and commits to cutting CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases by 2% over each previous year. However, Nintendo admits that an increase in business led to a 6% rise in CO2 emissions in 2006.”

Greenpeace has praised Apple for reducing the use of PVCs and BFRs in its products, but Philips, according to Greenpeace, has been very impressive in the war against e-waste.

According to Greenpeace, the Guide to Greener Electronics “star” has gone to Philips and the 47,000 people who sent emails to the company. In the report, Greenpeace wrote, “The Dutch electronics giant (Philips) reacted to our e-waste campaign with a dramatic about-turn on recycling and take-back. They’ve jumped from 15th to 4th place in one go. Following public pressure, the company has significantly improved its position on taking financial responsibility for the recycling of its products when they become e-waste.

However, the companies, such as HP, Lenovo and Dell have been penalined in the Guide to Greener Electronics. According to Greenpeace, these companies have failed to keep up ther promises to eliminate vinyl plastic (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from their products by the end of the year. Greenpeace commended some of these companies’ products that are free from hazardous chemicals, yet these companies have been ranked worst for their negligence.

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Foreign owners in Sensex pack down 16%

April 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The sharp downturn in the capital market during calendar year 2008 has resulted in the foreign ownership of Sensex companies declining to 16% by the end of December 2008 from 18% recorded during the first quarter of 2008. While foreign institutional investors (FII) chose to reduce their exposure significantly in companies like ACC, Grasim, Hindalco, Ranbaxy, LandT, and Reliance Communication, they have almost maintained or increased their ownership in stocks like HDFC Bank, ITC, Infosys, TCS and Wipro.

However, the financial year 2009 is expected to see some shift in FII preference with banking sector stocks emerging as their favorite while IT sectors falling out.

In its India market strategy for the financial year 2009-10, UBS has turned underweight on consumer staples, IT services and oil and gas while maintaining overweight on the auto, banking and metal sector stocks.

Even as the FIIs have been the major sellers in the domestic market throughout 2008 and first quarter of 2009, with their total net equity sales registering Rs 6,140.3 crore till date in the current calendar year, a UBS report points to the recent data, which indicate that FII sales are slowing down and based on the improvement in the global sentiment, FII flows could turn positive in the coming weeks. As such, UBS has maintained a bullish stance on the Indian market and has given a Sensex target of 13,500 by March 2010.

But the IT sector stocks, which have witnessed no major changes in the FII ownership in the year 2008, might see some pressure from foreign investors during 2009 as they are not expecting an imminent recovery in the US economy.

“We are underweight on IT services, as we believe IT budgets in 2009 will decline from the low single digit up to 20%. We forecasts a revenue decline of 5- 7% year on year (YoY) in dollar terms in FY10 for top tier IT companies while the tier – 2 IT companies will see a much steeper revenue declines”, the UBS report states.

However, recent measures like a cut in the key interest rate by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and expectation of a recovery in the global commodity prices has resulted in a revival of sentiments towards auto, banking and metal sectors. Experts said that most of the concerns on the banking sector like banks non-performing loans (NPLs), a slowdown in the loan growth, among others, have been largely priced in at the moment and a economic recovery will likely lead to reversal in sentiments by the second half of 2009.

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Boeing opens advanced RandD centre in Bangalore

April 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

In its efforts to advance aerospace innovation, Boeing on Tuesday announced the opening of its Boeing Research and Technology-India centre in Bangalore. This is Boeing’s third advanced research centre outside the US, the others being in Europe and Australia.

The centre would carry out continued collaboration with Indian RandD organisations, including government agencies and private sector RandD providers, universities, and other companies, Boeing officials said.

“Boeing is partnering with the best researchers around the world who find the best technology solutions for our customers and we look forward to working with our partners in India on some promising new technologies”, said John Tracy, Boeing’s chief technology officer and senior vice-president, engineering, operations and technology.

Boeing intends to break new ground in aero structures, aero dynamics and electronic networks with a team of senior researchers, scientists and engineers. The centre will coordinate the work of more than 1,500 technologists, including 100 advanced technology researchers, from across India on projects aimed at defining the future of aerospace, said Boeing officials.

“Working with India’s technology leaders helps Boeing assimilate new ideas and innovative processes into our products and programs. This is also good for India because it helps grow the capabilities of the Indian RandD community to meet the emerging needs in country,” said Dinesh Keskar, president, Boeing India. The new centre in India will build upon an already solid foundation of collaborative research projects in India. Since 2007, Boeing has been working with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and two leading Indian IT companies, Wipro and HCL, as part of the Aerospace Network Research Consortium.

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Steel baron Mittal, Ambani brothers among Forbes’ top-ten super-rich

March 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 10 (ANI): Twenty-four Indians have made it into the Forbes magazine’s list of ‘World’s Richest’ with Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal in fourth place.

Four Indians made it to the top 10, including Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani and K. P. Singh in the fifth, sixth and eighth places respectively.

After 13 years at the top, Microsoft founder Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. That honor now belongs to his friend and Microsoft co-founder Warren Buffett.

The world’s largest steelmaker, Lakshmi Mittal, is also Europe’s richest resident with a personal fortune of 45 billion dollars.

Asia’s richest resident and Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani has a fortune worth 43 billion dollars.

Mukesh’s brother and the year’s biggest gainer, Anil Ambani, is in sixth place with a fortune of 42 billion dollars.

Next comes the world’s richest real estate baron, K. P. Singh, who is in eighth place with a worth of 30 billion dollars.

Riding the surging price of Berkshire Hathaway stock, Buffett has seen his fortune swell to an estimated 62 billion dollars, up 10 billion dollars from a year ago.

Bill Gates, who is now worth 58 billion dollars, is ranked third in the world.

Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu with an estimated net worth of 60 billion dollars is in second place.

Among Indians, Essar group’s Shashi and Ravi Ruia at 43rd rank globally with a combined net worth of 15 billion dollars, Wipro’s Azim Premji (60th with 12.7 billion dollars), Sunil Mittal and family (64th with 11.8 billion dollars) and Kumar Birla (76th with 10.2 billion dollars) have also made it into the list. (ANI)

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SYSTIME strengthens executive leadership team

March 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Mumbai, Mar 10 (ANI/Business Wire India): SYSTIME, a CMS Group Company and the largest Oracle JD Edwards Practices globally, has recently announced the appointment of Indu as Chief Operating Officer (COO).

In this position of COO Indu will be responsible for the following functions: Global Delivery and Resource Management, Global HR and Recruitment, Global IT, Global Quality, Training and Workplace Management Group (Administration).

Indu brings to SYSTIME 21 years of senior management experience with Fujitsu ICIM and Wipro, handling varied roles in multiple regions around the world, including India, Europe and the United States.

Among other things, she was instrumental in establishing and growing new development centers, managing integration synergies in a M and A situation and managing business growth by delivering value while managing cross-cultural teams. More recently, she was center head for one of the DC’s and also was a part of Wipro’s Corporate Team managing company-wide transformation initiatives.

Vishal Grover, President and CEO, SYSTIME welcomed Indu to the management team.

“In past few years SYSTIME has gone from strength to strength and has had phenomenal growth in revenues, profits and clients. We are sure that Indu who brings with her vast experience in our industry, knowledge of the market and proven leadership qualities will take our business to the next level,” said Grover.

“SYSTIME has been recognized for delivering high value to their customers and has a team of exceptionally talented and motivated employees. I believe that SYSTIME is uniquely positioned for growth through their bouquet of services around JD Edwards and I am excited to be a part of this growth. Though these are economically challenging times, it will be our endeavor to drive value for our customers.” said Indu Khattar, COO, SYSTIME.

Indu is a graduate in computer engineering from Jadavpur University and has done her PGDBM from IIMC. (ANI)

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