Technology Sector
September 16, 2012
Air Conditioning in India The dominance of the Korean chaebols over the Indian air conditioning market has ended with the Tata owned Voltas stealing the lead. […]
September 2, 2012
Website Development Companies – India A website is a right mix of creativity and functionality which can boost your online presence. A well developed website serves […]
May 9, 2012
Online Banking With the increased use of Internet, a variety of avenues and facilities have been opened for the masses. It gives us access to facilities […]
July 6, 2011
LED TV is an LCD TV that uses LEDs to illuminate the display. these new sets use LED backlights rather than the fluorescent-type backlights used in most other LCD TVs. LED-backlit LCD TVs cost twice more than standard LCD or plasma TVs. Because of the slim line design of these LED tvs not only is less packaging used, but the vast reduction in overall weight means reduced transport and fuel costs. Most of the LED TVs are mercury free making them extremely eco friendly.
June 28, 2011
What is Cloud Computing
Cloud computing refers to the use and access of multiple server-based computational resources via a digital network (WAN, Internet connection using the World Wide Web, etc.). Cloud users may access the server resources using a computer, netbook, pad computer, smart phone, or other device. In cloud computing, applications are provided and managed by the cloud server and data is also stored remotely in the cloud configuration. Users do not download and install applications on their own device or computer; all processing and storage is maintained by the cloud server. The on-line services may be offered from a cloud provider or by a private organization.
June 21, 2011
The vendor choice itself shows total lack of judgment and good sense it seems and the contract law being what it is in India,any customer who goes to Sosasta is totally on his own if he wants to recover money which he has to pay upfront.I had personally applied to 2 vendors and nobody has been able to give the required service in the 2 months that had been alloted.After phoning Sosasta 3 times and mailing them twice I finally recieved the money back ,however in the case of the second service ,even after mailing them twice nothing has happened.On top of that the customer care phone numbers don't pick up the phone.
May 10, 2011
E-waste generally consists of obsolete devices such as DVDs, CDs, floppies, tapes and electronic components including chips, processors, mother boards, printed circuit boards and industrial electronics. E-waste contains many hazardous substances like heavy metals, PVC plastics, brominated flame retardants.When disposed off in a landfill, it becomes a conglomeration of plastic and steel casings, circuit boards, glass tubes, wires, resistors, capacitors, fluorescent tubes, and other assorted parts and materials. It is both valuable as a source of secondary raw material, and toxic if treated and discarded improperly. he USA discards 30 million computers each year and 100 million phones are disposed of in Europe each year. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that only 15-20% of e-waste is recycled, the rest of these electronics go directly into landfills and incinerators.India's rapidly growing economy generates more than 500,000 tons of electronic waste every year, a number expected to reach 1 million tons by 2012. The obsolete computer and cellphone parts are dismantled, refurbished and recycled manually by hundreds of thousands of unorganized villagers across the country.
April 16, 2011
Labor Cost Arbitrage is the biggest reason for the growth of the Indian outsourcing industry.The outsourcing revolution in India which started though technology outsourcing has spread to the legal,medical and other fields as well.Medical Billing,Coding and Transcription has become a big business besides Legal Outsourcing of work.Globalization of finance and trade has been much more rapid than the globalization of labor which faces many hurdles.The spread of Internet and improvement in Communications has made this hurdle moot as many high cost services in India are being performed virtually over the Internet.However this arbitrage which has bought billions in profits to global corporations and rise of new companies such as Infosys,TCS and others is disappearing.Rising Wage Inflation in India caused by a multitude of factors including the Bernanke Money Printing has led to shrinking of the margins.
April 10, 2011
MT India is a short form of Medical Transcription in India .Medical Transcription is one of the fastest growing outsourcing services in the Health Industry and is being increasingly outsourced the the world's top off shoring destination India.Note this provides a win-win for both the parties as the medical services gain by lowering their costs through outsourcing of a basic rudimentary service at a much lower price while the outsourced destinations gain through increased employment and labor.There are a number of companies providing end to end medical outsourcing services in India.Note Medical Billing Companies in India are increasing at a rapid rate and growing in size as well.Though much smaller than their technology outsourcing cousins,Medical Transcription,Coding and Billing Companies in India alongwith Legal Outsourcing Companies are a very fast growing niche in in the Indian Outsourcing Industry.
April 6, 2011
Medical Billing Companies in India have grown tremendously like other outsourcing function in India such as Legal Outsourcing,IT Outsourcing etc.The growth in Communications and Internet has been the biggest enabler of the Cost Arbitrage between Developed Countries and India.The Globalization of Capital,Information and Trade has not been accompanied by a true Globalization of Labor.However the irrepressible force of capitalism searching for higher profits has made Medical Billing to India a big success leading to a win win relationship.Medical Transcription Companies in India are still quite small compared to their giant IT counterparts like Wipro,TCS etc.Most of these Medical Billing Companies will probably not achieve that scale either being eventually absorbed by the Biggies as they look to expand their Domain Expertise to Medical Companies.Here is a list of the major Medical Billing Companies in India
April 6, 2011
India is a talent-rich country. India has technological agility, quality, cost control, time-to-market and competitive advantage. India exports software to 95 countries around the world and is home to the biggest IT services companies globally in the form of Wipro,Infosys,TCS. India enjoys the confidence of global corporations with 82% of the US companies ranking India as their first choice for Outsourcing - Medical Transcription, , Call Center, Litigation Services, and Data Conversion & Data Capturing Services etc. India as of now stands out as a major outsourcing center with facilities available to handle both high end as well as low end services. Most Indian outsourcing service provider companies are quality certified with international certification like ISO-90001 and have resources to handle entire process lifecycle.Companies across the world outsource work to India to stay competitive.
March 5, 2011
While I was tearing my hair out at the experience there were a couple of very funny episodes which highlights the complete lack of service quality
1) One of the Tata Indicom Engineers after seeing my laptop connect automatically to the neighbour's WiFi (I was using it temporarily) said that my Tata Indicom Internet was working fine (how the guy became an engineer seems a mystery,guess there is truth to industry studies that most Indian graduates are unemployable)
2) A Tata Indicom Webstie to give Customer Feedback on submission constantly gives an Error .The link (https://ttslemc.tatatel.co.in/EMC_FEEDBACK/TataIndicomFeedBackDetails.do?messageID=3727423) which was sent to me to "valuable inputs will go a long way in helping us deliver world class services" still does not work.Readers can try out the link also.
March 3, 2011
India is set to see a massive growth in solar energy in the next decade with the 81 MW of Solar Capacity expected to reach at least 20000 MW by 2022 if not more.India's JNNSM Policy and push for renewable energy by states like Gujarat,Maharashtra and Rajasthan should see massive investments in solar PV installation.While there are already solar cell and panel production,India lacks a strong base for manufacture of solar inverters which can cost upto 10% of the total cost of a solar project.
February 28, 2011
Indian Stock Markets are full of stock market manipulators and operators trying perennially to loot the small investor with the regulator SEBI mostly turning a blind eye.Pump and Dump IPO issues,circular stock rigging in small caps,corporate governance issues in even large companies are quite endemic.Investing in the Indian markets is a very hazardous activity for the small investor.Its not only the Indian companies but also large reputed MNCs who also keep pulling fast ones on the minority shareholders.The Cairn-Vedanta deal is a recent example where the promoters are rewarded at a higher premium in takeovers through legal shenanigans by large corporate groups.
February 16, 2011
Acropetal Technologies is a bit different from the run of the mill junk IPOs coming out in Feb 2011.After a deluge of crap IPOs in 2010,2011 has not seen many of them as the markets have corrected by around 15%.However a recent rally has bought out the junk companies in association with their associated shady bankers and market operators.Omkar,Sudar,FCL are some of the totally crap IPOs which have happened or in the process of happening.Acropetal Technologies is an IT/ITES company plans to raise Rs 170-crore through its IPO on February 21. The company has fixed the price-band of its IPO at between Rs 88 and Rs 90 per equity share.The company will use Rs 55 crore for acquisitions and Rs 26 crores for a software office.The company seems better quality than the junk and may merit a look from investors though there are much better companies on offer at better prices in the secondary markets.Here are the positives and negatives of the IPO
February 10, 2011
China has repeatedly cropped up in the news for cyberattacks on various governments as well as large multinational companies.While the Chinese government has denied responsibility for these cyberattacks,the evidence continues to grow as large reputed organization have blamed hacking on Chinese origin IP addresses.Note South Korea,USA and India have blamed China for cyberattacks on government computers.Growing cyberwarfare from China has made India start a cyberattack centre of its own reflecting the serious growing nature of these attacks.The recent Stuxnet virus attack on nuclear plants of Iran has been also been blamed on a Chinese attack on India gone wrong.Note cyberattacks are not considered of very serious nature in today's geopolitics and has deniability.This has probably made China to continue with cyberwarfare on countries considered hostile to its interests.
November 25, 2010
One97 a Private Equity Backed Mobile Value Added Service (VAS) Company is raising Rs 120 crore ( $25 million) from the Stock Market in an IPO.The Company operates in India's Telecom Sector which is the fastest growing in terms of subscribers and represents a good growth opportunity as 3G services starts to roll out.
The Company has not indicated the pricing of shares as of now ,only that it wants to raise Rs 120 crore.Note the VAS Category is seeing increasing competition with a number of new entrants.One97 has diversified into a combined VAS player cum Technology Investor makings its valuation difficult.Note the VAS sector is no longer a unique or fancied one as OnMobile has already listed sometime ago and its valuation has decreased dramatically since then despite improved profits.I would sit out on this one due to the complicated nature of the business,slowing growth and valuation difficulties.A higher risk investor probably might want to buy this one.
November 18, 2010
India is a Software Powerhouse ,home to some top Technology Companies like Infosys,TCS and Wipro.Besides top IT Companies worldwide have huge India Development Centers.No Technology Company of Decent Size can afford not to have a Sizeable base in India.Project Management Skills and a Huge Engineering Workforce have made India a power to reckon with.However most of the IT work done in India continues to be of low value addition.Most of the Technology Development and Research Work continues to happen in the US.That is the reason that you don't see a Google or Apple being incubated in India till now.However things have started to move up the value ladder with Large Indian IT Companies fast approaching the scale limits on IT Outsourcing.However their efforts till date have not been very encouraging.India's IT Companies don't find a slot in the Top 10 Indian Companies,however Infosys and TCS are present in the Top 10 by Market Value.Note Top Indian IT Companies have increased the Lead over the middle and smaller IT Companies recently as Global Customers look towards Bigger Indian Companies as more Reliable.Here is a list of Top Indian IT Companies which I have divided them into 3 Tiers depending on their scale,market value ,quality and growth
November 18, 2010
Note the Chinese government has completely denied any wrongdoing and it is almost impossible to prove the allegations.However the Chinese Origin IP Addresses point to the Chinese origin of the attacks.One of the main reasons for Google leaving China was the cyberattack on Google computers.China has become the 2nd largest economy in the world and a major world power.With growing power comes more responsibility though can't think of any global power taking much of that ( USA till recently believed in preemptive attacks on weaker countries).Growing cyberattacks will lead to increased security and restriction of the Internet which is to the detriment of all countries.Note the development of Networking and Communication Technologies has been a key element of the growing prosperity the world over.
November 17, 2010
India's Fast Growing Economy is seeing substantial churn in the Top 10 Rankings for Companies.Coal India which recently did a successful IPO straightaway went from being a Government Owned Private Company to the Top 5 in Market Capitalization Rankings.The Top 10 Rankings are dominated by State Owned Companies known as PSUs in India.Despite Privatization in the 1990s,Government Companies Lead the Rankings.Note the Top 10 Rankings don't have any Private Companies because of the lack of good information about their Financials.Note Most of the Largest Companies in India are related to Banding and Oil/Gas as is the case worldwide.India's Technology Companies like Infosys,TCS and others are still way behind in Revenues compared to the dominant Materials,Fossil Fuel,Industrial and Financial Sectors.However note that the diversity is much greater when you rank the companies by their market capitalization.TCS and Infosys are both amongst the top 5 recovering strongly in 2010 from their 2008 underperformance.You also see a Capital Goods and Telecom Representation in this Top 10 Rankings
September 30, 2010
Nokia had lost a big chunk of marketshare in 2009 to local competitors like Micromax,Lava,Spice and MNCs like Samsung,LG and others.In 2010,this trend has accelerated with Nokia losing an astounding 18% marketshare in the first 6 months of 2010.The company's markshare has been whittled down to just 36% from 54% earlier with local Indian mobile makers gobbling up a 33% marketshare.In the $6.5 bb annual revenue market for mobiles in India,this implies a loss of $1 billion in 2010 revenues.For Nokia,this is another resounding defeat as its Indian Fortress crumbles.Nokia is getting squeezed both on the high end as well as the low end.Local Indian companies are coming up with better features at lower price points and beating Nokia black and blue.Despite huge R&D,manufacturing strengths and an enviable distribution network,Nokia has lost the pulse of the Indian customer.The smaller Indian companies like Micromax are receiving Private Equity money to expand faster given their huge success.Nokia clearly needs more than a change of CEO,it needs to change the whole culture and DNA of the company like IBM in the 1990s.
September 8, 2010
India’s IT Sector had recently become a victim of new US Protectionist Policies when US Legislature imposed a $2000 Visa Fee on Companies with a Large […]
August 20, 2010
Note India is the 2nd faster growing economy in the world and presents a lucrative market for US MNCs facing a slowing domestic economy.Also unlike China,India does not have a deficit-surplus issue with the US.India is a crucial market for US which wants to double exports in the next 5 years.India can put punitive duties on imports of aircraft products.Note US exported more than $2 billion in airplane and space parts from the US in 2009 and is expected to grow this strongly in 2010 as well.India can easily replace Boeing with European manufacturer Airbus.India will be the biggest aircraft market in the world in the next 5-6 years as air traffic explodes.Airbus and Boeing are fierce rivals with their disputes frequently putting EU and the US government in WTO disputes.
August 18, 2010
India’s Business and Political Elite continue to mock the Indian Legal System through loopholes and expensive lawyers.I had written earlier in a post of how Satyam […]
August 17, 2010
The Board has lashed out at IL&FS for forgetting the strictures under which the company was given to the management of IL&FS.The government appointed directors had also been silent at the flouting of these norms.Note the company has already sold the preferential shares in the company without the approval of the CLB.Now IL&FS finds its reputation tarnished due to the jinxed Maytas.I am not superstitious by nature but it definitely seems that Maytas brings bad luck to its promoters.
August 10, 2010
The new law will impose a $2000 annual via fee for companies with more than 50% of its employees in the US who are working on visas.The law is specifically targeted at Indian IT companies from the letter and spirit of the law.It remains to be seen how this affects the growing closeness in India-USA relations.Though India has shown maturity by not coming out with a sharp retaliatory action,it will sour relations.
August 5, 2010
USA's NSA possesses formidable strengths in this area using American information technology which is the best in the world.USA has denied the export of critical encryption technology in order to safeguard its lead in the cyber security area.India is taking a leaf from these countries albeit in a late manner.India's plan will involve recruiting hackers and software professionals under the aegis of its intelligence agencies.A new law also will be passed to prevent exiting Indian laws from prosecuting these recruits.
July 13, 2010
The Satyam scandal resulted in a loss of around $3 billion besides doing irreparable harm to the reputation of India’s corporate sector.The ringleader behind the entire […]
June 9, 2010
Fatpipe Networks IPO failed to get full subscription within the prescribed 3 days with the issue getting subscribed by only 70% .Fatpipe Networks Review had revealed […]
June 3, 2010
Fatpipe Networks a Chennai based company is planning to come up with ~$11 million IPO on the 7th of June,2010.The DRHP filed with SEBI reveals that […]