As most election manifestos go, BJP's IT Vision Document, recently put up on its official website, promises a lot - ranging from generating 1.2 crore new IT-enabled jobs in rural areas, introducing IT in education and healthcare services, to making available laptops at Rs 10,000 to 1 crore students and setting up Digital Security Agency.
Following are some of the reactions to the vision document from CIOs and CEOs CXOtoday spoke to.
Vivek Kulkarni, former IT secretary of Karnataka, who is now the chairman and CEO of BrickWork India, said, "The IT vision of BJP will really come handy for creation of new job opportunities in the IT and ITeS sector in India where we still have a large percentage of unemployed graduates struggling to provide their services for the growth of the country."
Sudhindra Mokhasi, founder & CEO of e-Sutra, sees the document as overall a comprehensive and ambitious statement of intent, especially the open source preference, e-governance thrust, wider last-mile internet access, 100 million low-cost computers, education and financing.
"In a few cases it's probably better to let the incremental approach like converting post offices into e-service centers and creating higher density of Internet kiosks to take root before attempting ambitious plans like smart phones for bank access for all BPL population," Mokhasi said.
Similarly more robust envisioning needs to be done to ensure that providers of the solutions are predominantly Indian IT companies so there is a full 360 degree of benefit to the Indian society," said Mokhasi.
In all, however, most of these vision statements are significantly focused on the infrastructure supply, education and empowerment side of the divide," he said.
Terming the document a positive intent, Ramakrishna Voruganti, managing director of Barracuda Networks (India), said, MNIC will help traceability of transactions and will result in better tax collections.
"Having an open standard and adaptation of open source will level the playing field for enterprises. The cyber security initiative and the establishment of DSA will provide enormous possibilities for Indian IT security professionals while providing opportunities for organizations like Barracuda Networks, who have been in the forefront of countering cyber threats," Voruganti said.
Ajay Dhir, CIO of Jindal Steel, said the multipurpose national identity card (MNIC) with unique citizen identification number for every Indian citizen is a good initiative. "Besides, the other schemes like IT-enabled jobs in rural areas, 1 crore students to get laptop computers at Rs 10,000 are all good schemes. Overall, one can say that it is a progressive vision."
The initiative to provide IT-enabled jobs was also welcomed by Voruganti especially since the government is acting a catalyst rather than as an agency.
"The linking of PHCs, schools and colleges, use of IT in agriculture, rural development, SMEs, retail trade, informal and unorganised will greatly impact at the grassroots, will improve the off-farm employment in the villages, and prevent labour migration," he said.
Some of the measures are populist, but that is expected during the polls, was the general sentiment about BJP's IT Vision Document.
CXOtoday
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Is Indian CEO confidence highest in world?
Indian CEOs expect their businesses to be less affected by the crisis in the international banking system than their global counterparts.
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 12th Annual Global CEO Survey found only 50% of the respondents in India saying they were likely to be affected by the credit crisis, as compared to 70% globally.
India has recorded the highest CEO confidence levels amongst the emerging economies, with 70% expressing confidence about both short term and long term revenue growth, compared to just 21% and 34% globally. CEOs worldwide were gloomier about longer-term growth, predicting a slow recovery.
“This confidence is extremely significant since it signals the inherent strength of the Indian market, and its continuing potential for growth even in the face of crisis,” said Ramesh Rajan, chairman of PwC, India. Pessimism prevailed across all geographic regions, business sectors and levels of economic development, said the survey. Only 15% of CEOs in North America and 15% in Western Europe expressed confidence about growth prospects for the next 12 months. This compared with 21% in the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe, 31% in Asia Pacific, and 21% in Latin America.
The outlook for the next 12 months was optimistic for Indian CEOs as 89% of the respondents expect to make a return on investment in products or services provided, compared to 69% globally. 60% of Indian respondents said that they were likely to grow their businesses by penetrating existing markets better, compared to 37% globally.
Indian CEOs indicated that M&A activities were likely to play a greater role in the growth of their businesses than JVs or strategic alliances, in contrast with the global trend. 97% of Indian CEOs indicated that information about employee views and needs was important in making decisions about the long-term success and durability of their business, compared to 88% globally. The India figure was highest in Asia too.
For the survey, 1,124 interviews with CEOs were conducted in 50 countries during the last quarter of 2008.
Times of India
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 12th Annual Global CEO Survey found only 50% of the respondents in India saying they were likely to be affected by the credit crisis, as compared to 70% globally.
India has recorded the highest CEO confidence levels amongst the emerging economies, with 70% expressing confidence about both short term and long term revenue growth, compared to just 21% and 34% globally. CEOs worldwide were gloomier about longer-term growth, predicting a slow recovery.
“This confidence is extremely significant since it signals the inherent strength of the Indian market, and its continuing potential for growth even in the face of crisis,” said Ramesh Rajan, chairman of PwC, India. Pessimism prevailed across all geographic regions, business sectors and levels of economic development, said the survey. Only 15% of CEOs in North America and 15% in Western Europe expressed confidence about growth prospects for the next 12 months. This compared with 21% in the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe, 31% in Asia Pacific, and 21% in Latin America.
The outlook for the next 12 months was optimistic for Indian CEOs as 89% of the respondents expect to make a return on investment in products or services provided, compared to 69% globally. 60% of Indian respondents said that they were likely to grow their businesses by penetrating existing markets better, compared to 37% globally.
Indian CEOs indicated that M&A activities were likely to play a greater role in the growth of their businesses than JVs or strategic alliances, in contrast with the global trend. 97% of Indian CEOs indicated that information about employee views and needs was important in making decisions about the long-term success and durability of their business, compared to 88% globally. The India figure was highest in Asia too.
For the survey, 1,124 interviews with CEOs were conducted in 50 countries during the last quarter of 2008.
Times of India
India will come out of slump faster, says RBI chief
India’s economic growth is expected to pick up faster than the rest of the world once a global revival begins, though it is difficult to predict when, the country’s central bank governor was quoted as saying.
In an interview with BBC World broadcast on Sunday, taken before he left for a meeting of G20 in London, RBI governor D Subbarao said Asia’s third biggest economy could be an engine for global growth.
“India can be a growth engine. Not that India can recover ahead of the world. But when recovery starts, India’s recovery is going to be sharp and rapid,’’ Subbarao said.
In January, the IMF cut its forecast for global growth in 2009 to a slight 0.5% — the weakest since World War II — from a November estimate of 2.2%.
Even though India’s exports account for 14% of its GDP, much lower than some of its Asian peers, Subbarao said the global crisis has hit the Indian economy through the financial and manufacturing sectors, and said it was difficult to predict the timing of the recovery.
The Indian economy has slowed sharply as exports were hit and consumer sentiment was dented. It is expected to expand at a six-year low of 7.1% from an average rate of around 9% in the last three years.
Subbarao said India’s financial sector remains sound, safe and well capitalized and this was because of prudent policy actions taken by the government and the central bank.
Since the global crisis hit India’s shores in September authorities have rolled out two stimulus packages, duty and rate cuts with the latest rate cut just last week to shore up growth.
G20 finance ministers on Saturday promised the IMF money to help troubled countries and said they would use their full fiscal and monetary firepower to combat the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. Subbarao said India has gained from globalisation and would not turn away from it. “Globalisation is a double edged sword. It comes with benefits and costs so I don’t think pulling out of the global system is an option for any country.’’
Agencies
In an interview with BBC World broadcast on Sunday, taken before he left for a meeting of G20 in London, RBI governor D Subbarao said Asia’s third biggest economy could be an engine for global growth.
“India can be a growth engine. Not that India can recover ahead of the world. But when recovery starts, India’s recovery is going to be sharp and rapid,’’ Subbarao said.
In January, the IMF cut its forecast for global growth in 2009 to a slight 0.5% — the weakest since World War II — from a November estimate of 2.2%.
Even though India’s exports account for 14% of its GDP, much lower than some of its Asian peers, Subbarao said the global crisis has hit the Indian economy through the financial and manufacturing sectors, and said it was difficult to predict the timing of the recovery.
The Indian economy has slowed sharply as exports were hit and consumer sentiment was dented. It is expected to expand at a six-year low of 7.1% from an average rate of around 9% in the last three years.
Subbarao said India’s financial sector remains sound, safe and well capitalized and this was because of prudent policy actions taken by the government and the central bank.
Since the global crisis hit India’s shores in September authorities have rolled out two stimulus packages, duty and rate cuts with the latest rate cut just last week to shore up growth.
G20 finance ministers on Saturday promised the IMF money to help troubled countries and said they would use their full fiscal and monetary firepower to combat the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. Subbarao said India has gained from globalisation and would not turn away from it. “Globalisation is a double edged sword. It comes with benefits and costs so I don’t think pulling out of the global system is an option for any country.’’
Agencies
Monday, March 16, 2009
India to have more IT professionals than US
Infosys chief and co-founder S Gopalakrishnan has said that the Indian IT industry would tide over the current downturn and may surpass the US in terms of having the largest number of IT professionals in the world in the next three years.
“In the IT revolution, we are at the centre. We are underinvested, but that is an opportunity. A lot of investment is being done in R&D here because of the availability of talent. Our education system provides for that,” Infosys CEO and managing director Gopalakrishnan said.
Last week, India's second-largest software company Infosys said that it will be inducting almost 20,000 engineering graduates this year at over 8.3 per cent higher salary from what was offered last year, even as the company seeks to cope with a lower demand for software services in its top export markets of US and Europe.
According to the company, the offer letters and dates of joining have been sent to the 20,000 freshers (2008-09) and the process of joining the company will start from June this year. Last year, Infosys recruited almost 18,000 (2007-08) engineering graduates.
Agencies
“In the IT revolution, we are at the centre. We are underinvested, but that is an opportunity. A lot of investment is being done in R&D here because of the availability of talent. Our education system provides for that,” Infosys CEO and managing director Gopalakrishnan said.
Last week, India's second-largest software company Infosys said that it will be inducting almost 20,000 engineering graduates this year at over 8.3 per cent higher salary from what was offered last year, even as the company seeks to cope with a lower demand for software services in its top export markets of US and Europe.
According to the company, the offer letters and dates of joining have been sent to the 20,000 freshers (2008-09) and the process of joining the company will start from June this year. Last year, Infosys recruited almost 18,000 (2007-08) engineering graduates.
Agencies
New technology that will allow users to talk to web
Giving a new dimension to the internet, the Indian research arm of the US-based IT giant IBM has developed a technology that will allow users to talk to the web and create voice sites using mobile phones.
"People will talk to the web and the web will respond. The research technology is analogous to the internet. Unlike personal computers it will work on mobile phones where people can simply create their voice sites," IBM India Research Laboratory Associate Director Manish Gupta said.
For this technology, IBM has developed a new protocol -- Hyperspeech Transfer Protocol (HSTP) -- which is similar to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
"India now has over 360 million cell phone subscribers. Last month we added 15 million," he said pointing out that the research technology targets ordinary mobile phone users, all of whom may not be literate.
The spoken web is a network of voice sites or interconnected voice and the response the company got in some pilot projects in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat and the kind of innovations that people came up with were just mind-boggling, Gupta said.
Agencies
"People will talk to the web and the web will respond. The research technology is analogous to the internet. Unlike personal computers it will work on mobile phones where people can simply create their voice sites," IBM India Research Laboratory Associate Director Manish Gupta said.
For this technology, IBM has developed a new protocol -- Hyperspeech Transfer Protocol (HSTP) -- which is similar to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
"India now has over 360 million cell phone subscribers. Last month we added 15 million," he said pointing out that the research technology targets ordinary mobile phone users, all of whom may not be literate.
The spoken web is a network of voice sites or interconnected voice and the response the company got in some pilot projects in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat and the kind of innovations that people came up with were just mind-boggling, Gupta said.
Agencies
Is India back on FDI radar despite recession?
At a time when the world economy is facing the worst credit freeze in several decades, India attracted USD 2.7-billion FDI in January, up 58.8 per cent from a year ago, and remained a favourite destination for cross-border investments.
"January numbers are very good...it is an indication of the confidence that the rest of the world has in India," Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Ajay Shankar said.
The foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows for the April-January period aggregated to USD 23.8 billion and is expected to cross the last year's target of USD 25 billion this fiscal.
Though the government had set a target of USD 35-billion FDI for 2008-09, it looked rather ambitious in the wake of the global downturn.
Up to September this fiscal, the monthly inflows were in excess of USD 2 billion. However, the following three months saw a sharp dip in the overseas investments.
The January figures bring a renewed hope that India is back on the radar of global investors.
Agencies
"January numbers are very good...it is an indication of the confidence that the rest of the world has in India," Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Ajay Shankar said.
The foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows for the April-January period aggregated to USD 23.8 billion and is expected to cross the last year's target of USD 25 billion this fiscal.
Though the government had set a target of USD 35-billion FDI for 2008-09, it looked rather ambitious in the wake of the global downturn.
Up to September this fiscal, the monthly inflows were in excess of USD 2 billion. However, the following three months saw a sharp dip in the overseas investments.
The January figures bring a renewed hope that India is back on the radar of global investors.
Agencies
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Will Creative Technology layoff 300 jobs?
Struggling Singaporean digital entertainment products maker Creative Technology is to cut 300 jobs globally, mostly in Europe and the United States, the company said.
It said in a statement the company said that there would be a restructuring charge of 10 million dollars for severance payments and headcount cost reductions in the current third quarter ending March.
The Singapore-listed firm has struggled to make inroads against Apple's iconic iPod in the MP3 or digital music player market despite pumping in massive investments.
In the second quarter ended December 2008, Creative Technology racked up a net loss of 32.4 million dollars compared with a profit of 7.6 million dollars for the same period in the previous financial year.
Agencies
It said in a statement the company said that there would be a restructuring charge of 10 million dollars for severance payments and headcount cost reductions in the current third quarter ending March.
The Singapore-listed firm has struggled to make inroads against Apple's iconic iPod in the MP3 or digital music player market despite pumping in massive investments.
In the second quarter ended December 2008, Creative Technology racked up a net loss of 32.4 million dollars compared with a profit of 7.6 million dollars for the same period in the previous financial year.
Agencies
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)