HEADLINER
Shiv Nadar

SHIV NADAR'S HCL Technologies may not be India's biggest IT vendor, but it has bagged the biggest co-sourcing contract. Last fortnight, the Noida-headquartered company announced it had won a $333-million (Rs 1,498-crore) co-sourcing deal to provide complete IT services to Germany's electrical retailer, DSG International. The multi-year deal involves system development, application delivery, IT infrastructure support and maintenance. "In the last six months alone, this is the fourth large co-sourcing deal being announced by HCL-with this being the largest so far this year," Nadar, said in a release. HCL's new deal seems to confirm a trend that had started last year, when ABN-Amro announced a mega outsourcing deal involving IBM, Accenture, TCS, Infosys and Patni Computer. Not only was the deal large at $2.2 billion, but it was novel for the number of vendors involved. Some analysts have dubbed this trend the third generation of outsourcing, meaning that vendors are coming together to bid and then apportion the deal. IT's gravy train is on a roll, alright.

Getting Ready For 3G

Bharti's Mittal: Waiting for spectrum

Bharti tele-ventures could invest as much as $1 billion (Rs 4,500 crore) in its 3g services, the company's chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal has said. 3g is the third generation of mobile telephony and would allow subscribers to get video on their handsets. "We are definitely keen to offer 3g mobile broadband service nationally...especially since we have two of the world's biggest names in 3g (Vodafone and SingTel) among our principal foreign stakeholders," Mittal told reporters in Kolkata recently. However, Bharti's plans will depend on the government allocating additional spectrum to the cellular operators. A committee, comprising members from the defence and telecom industries, has been set up to formulate the policy.

Spanner In The Deal

The three-year-old impasse over Bajaj Auto's acquisition of 27 per cent stake in Maharashtra Scooters Ltd (MSL) came close to an end, but not quite. After arbitrator Justice Arvind Sawant came up with a price of Rs 151.61 a share-less than half of MSL's current stock price-the state government announced that it would protect investor interest (read: Western Maharashtra Development Corporation). It's over to Rahul Bajaj.

GMI's Raveej Chaba: New additions

GM Rolls In The Aveo

General Motors India (GMI) finally unveiled its much-awaited Aveo (which is the Daewoo Kalos), along with a sportier Chevrolet Optra. The Aveo will be available in a 1.4-litre engine hatchback and a 1.6-litre sedan. GMI, which sold 30,837 cars in 2005, hopes to sell 50,000 cars this year. Some analysts feel the Aveo may just do the trick.

NEWSMAKERS
SIDDHARTHA RAY

Data Access' Ray: Where did the money go?

Not too long ago, Siddhartha ray's data access was India's second-largest international long distance (ILD) service provider to telecom companies. Today, his company has entered liquidation and Ray himself has been charged with defrauding investors. The Economic Office Wing (EOW) of the Tamil Nadu state police is investigating the charges against Data Access and Ray, but the man himself must have had plenty of time to reflect on the sudden unravelling of his firm. On January 19, he emerged from Central Prison in Chennai after spending 60 days in custody. Ray was granted bail after he produced two sureties of Rs 1 lakh each and surrendered his passport. He has been asked not to leave Chennai.

Ray, who couldn't be contacted for the story, was arrested following a complaint filed in March 2005 by Chennai-based Cheran Holdings, which, along with KCP Associates Holdings (KCPH), had acquired shares in Data Access after a planned IPO did not meet with SEBI's approval and had to be scrapped. CHPL and KCPH have alleged that Ray fraudulently induced them into investing Rs 33 crore into the cash-starved Data Access, which has liabilities of Rs 700 crore.

Earlier, on November 18, 2005, the Delhi High Court had ordered winding up of the company on a petition filed by Pacific Convergence Corporation Ltd. (PCCL), an early investor (of $10 million or Rs 45 crore) in the company. CHPL challenged the petition alleging PCCL's involvement in the fraud, but the High Court rejected it. With Data Access now wound up, and much of Ray's property transferred into different names-as alleged by the Cheran Holdings-chances of any recovery seem bleak.

-Shaleen Agrawal

NUMBERS OF NOTE

$100 billion (Rs 4,50,000 crore): The value of 325 global outsourcing contracts up for renewal over the next 12-24 months

2,941: The number of patents IBM earned in 2005, the eighth year in a row it received more than 2,000 patents

500,000: The estimated number of ringtones downloaded in India every day, generating around Rs 200 crore annually

1,055: Airbus' net orders for 2005 as compared to its US rival Boeing's 1,002

$400 billion (Rs 18,00,000 crore): Budget deficit projected by The White House for 2006. The figure is 3.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and a sharp increase over its July forecast. The White House has blamed the surge largely on costs of recovering from Hurricane Katrina

$1.5 trillion (Rs 67,50,000 crore): The amount China plans to spend over the next five years on energy and transport, areas severely strained by its breakneck pace of growth in recent years, according to its National Development and Reform Commission

1 billion plus: The number of people that the World Health Organization estimates are overweight. If current trends continue, that number will reach 1.5 billion by 2015

2,000: The number of new jobs added in the Silicon Valley region in 2005 for the first time in four years, according to a report by Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a non-profit organisation. It found that Silicon Valley companies employed 1.15 million people in 2005, a 0.2 per cent gain over the previous year

$818.9 billion (Rs 36,85,050 crore): China's foreign currency reserves in 2005, a rise of 34 per cent over the previous year. The reserves rose by $208.9 billion from the end of 2004, news reports said. At that rate, China's reserves could reach $1 trillion this year, surpassing Japan's, which stand at $846.9 billion-the world's biggest

$120 billion (Rs 5,40,000 crore): What consumers spend on fast food worldwide

Wharton Global Alumni Meet

High quality biz education, the Wharton way

Wharton School of Business celebrated its 125th Global Alumni Forum 2006 in Mumbai. It also marked the first time the Infosys-Wharton business transformation awards were presented in India. Talking about the reason behind holding this event in India, N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys Technologies, said, "It is all part of building a brand here." Patrick T. Harker, Wharton's Dean, said that in September 2006, the school would launch India Knowledge, an exchange programme with the Indian School of Business. "Our aim is to help build (ISB) as an equal," Harker said.

-Ahona Ghosh

NOTED

DEMANDED: Rs 500 crore of ONGC by ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) militants. In response, the energy giant decided to beef up security at its facilities in Assam.

APPOINTED: Sanak Mishra, as CEO of Mittal Steel's proposed 12-million-tonne steel project in Jharkhand. He joins from state-run Steel Authority of India Ltd., where until recently, he was a board member and Managing Director of its Rourkela steel plant. Mishra will first oversee a detailed project report to identify the location of the plant, iron ore, coal mines and water sources for the mining and steel making operations in the mineral-rich state.

LAUNCHED: By Nasscom, the National Skills Registry, the first ever centralised database of employees of IT services and BPO companies. The registry will be managed by the National Securities Depository Ltd. IT and BPO aspirants and existing industry employees can register themselves either online or through three empanelled points of sale. NSDL has empanelled seven background checking agencies, including Advantage Quest, KPMG, Finserv, Pres Enterprises, Top Securities and Onicra Credit Rating, to run the required verification checks.

TOP MARKET: India, for Singapore tourism in 2005, with 5.83 lakh visitors to the island nation. This is the first time that India has emerged as one of Singapore's top five markets.

EMERGED: Gurgaon, as the favourite destination for Fortune 500 companies. Twenty per cent of these companies have already set up their operational bases in this town. According to an Assocham and Deloitte study, the number is expected to double by 2010. Gurgaon will thus have the potential to employ around 4 lakh people by 2010.

REJECTED: By IIM-A, a demand by the Maharashtra government to reserve seats for Maharashtrians in a centre the institute had planned on opening in Mumbai. IIM-A has dropped its Mumbai plans stating that it could not sacrifice merit as a criterion for selecting students.

Lalu's Rail Corridor

Lalu's grand plan: Will it work?

A single job has its benefits. Consider Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. Ever since his Rashtriya Janata Dal lost the Bihar state elections, he's been spending more time in Delhi at his Rail Bhavan headquarters. And now, he's come up with a plan that could hugely facilitate movement of goods between major ports. Come Rail Budget day last week of February, Yadav will unveil an ambitious, Rs 60,000-crore plan to create a rail freight corridor that will connect Delhi, Mumbai, Howrah and Chennai. The primary intention is to stem railways' loss of freight to road, but industry bodies like Assocham say that it will be beneficial to companies. One major benefit from the project could be the entry of private players into the rail freight movement business, dominated so far by the state-owned Concor. But Assocham's Secretary General D.S. Rawat feels there is no threat to Concor. "It has an edge over other players by way of available infrastructure. Moreover, since the private participation will come in a phased manner, Concor will get enough time to upgrade to respond to the competition," he says. Happily for Lalu, the Japanese government has promised assistance. But, the Planning Commission, which has to approve funds for the rail freight corridor, could still red flag Lalu's grand plans.

-Shaleen Agrawal