India News Digest: Cognizant Pips Infosys, Wipro, TCS, HCL

Cognizant pips Infosys, Wipro, TCS, HCL

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. has beaten India-based competitors such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Infosys Technologies Ltd in terms of incremental revenues for the first time ever in the 12-month period from April 2008 till March.

The firm reported revenues of $2.9 billion (Rs 14,413 crore today) for FY09, $600 million more than the revenues in FY08. Adjusted for two small acquisitions, the incremental revenues stand at $558 million.

Source: Mint

Sebi puts RIL on notice

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is believed to have issued a show-cause notice to Reliance Industries (RIL) and its associate entities following a probe into charges of insider trading in securities of group firm Reliance Petroleum (RPL).

While a company spokesperson did not comment on queries related to the notice, sources said Sebi had begun the probe in early 2008 after the issue was raised in Parliament.

Source: Business Standard

Luxury car brands may cost up to Rs 50k less

Popular sedans, the Maruti SX4, the Honda Civic and luxury cars may become cheaper by up to Rs 50,000, if a proposed duty cut being discussed by the government gets implemented. The ministry of heavy industries has written to the finance ministry to waive off the specific excise duty levied on mid-size and top-end cars last year, said a top government official.

The government had imposed an additional tax of Rs 15,000 on cars having engine size between 1,500-2,000cc and Rs 20,000 on all vehicles beyond 2,000cc. But the actual impact on the selling price of cars was much higher, as the tax was imposed on ex-factory price of vehicles over which consumers have to incur the burden of sales tax and other local levies.

Source: Economic Times

Phased shifting of Mumbai airport slums from year-end

The much-debated shifting of slums encroaching on 276 acres of land at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here will start from November this year.

However, only about a fourth of the encroached land will be freed to begin with, admits Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL). All the dwellers have to be rehabilitated and only land enough for a quarter has been found so far by HDIL, the firm that has the contract for doing so, says Sanjay Reddy, MIAL’s managing director. He hopes the process will be completed in four more years.

Source: Business Standard

Wipro wins outsourcing deal from Unitech

A unit of Wipro Ltd, India’s No. 3 software services exporter, said it had won a nine-year outsourcing contract from telecoms firm Unitech Wireless, but provided no financial details.

Under the agreement, Wipro Infotech will provide a range of information technology services to Unitech Wireless, in which Norwegian telecom group Telenor holds a stake, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Source: Financial Express

If Manmohan can become PM through back door, why can’t I, asks Maya

Launching a scathing attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her comment `Aaj kal to har koi pradhan mantri banana chahta hai’(Everybody wants to become the PM these days), BSP supremo Mayawati on Tuesday said if Sonia could bring someone like Manmohan Singh through the “back door” to Parliament and make him PM, “why can’t a well-educated `Dalit ki beti’ like me, who has won several elections and is CM of country’s biggest state, become Prime Minister?”

Sonia in her recent election rallies while sarcastically commenting on prime ministerial aspirations of regional satraps surfacing during Lok Sabha polls, had said, “The latest fashion in politics is that every one wants to become Prime Minister.”

Source: Times of India

Pak police submit evidence against 26/11 suspects

Pakistani police submitted to an anti-terrorism court the “challan” with evidence against five Lashker-e-Taiba operatives arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Mumbai attacks, on Tuesday.

The challan was submitted to anti-terror judge Sakhi Muhammad Kahut, who is hearing the case related to the five LeT operatives in the high-security Adiala Jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. The hearings are being conducted in-camera.

Source: Indian Express

Nepal parties discuss govt formation

Facing a Saturday deadline, Nepal’s opposition parties on Tuesday decided to cobble up a new coalition government with help from one of Maoists’ key former allies and a possible split in another party in attempts to resolve the political crisis triggered by the abortive bid to sack the army chief.

As President Ram Baran Yadav, whose decision not to accept the sacking of Gen Rukumangad Katawal led to Prime Minister Prachanda’s resignation on Monday, set the deadline, 21 parties met and decided to form the government under the leadership of CPN-UML that pulled out of the Maoist dispensation.

Source: NDTV

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Merrill to move most work from Satyam to TCS-paper

Merrill Lynch is shifting a majority of its contracts from troubled Indian software firm Satyam Computer Services Ltd (SATY.BO)(SAY.N) to rival Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.BO), the Economic Times reported on Monday.

The Merrill account contributed about $40 million to Satyam’s yearly revenues, the newspaper said, citing unnamed software industry sources.

 

“We do not comment on individual clients,” a Satyam spokeswoman told Reuters.

 

Satyam has been struggling for survival since founder Ramalinga Raju resigned in January, disclosing that accounts had been overstated and about $1 billion in cash and bank balances were missing, in India’s biggest corporate scandal. [ID:nBOM394323]

 

The paper said U.S.-based Merrill, part of Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), had sent a team in early February to assess the situation at Satyam’s headquarters, and had told the fraud-tainted outsourcer of its intention to hand over most of the IT services to another vendor.

Filed under: Satyam, Technology , merrill, Satyam, tcs

Obama Agriculture Pick

Obama Picks Vilsack for Secretary of Agriculture CNN reports Obama’s choice for Secretary of Agriculture:  Vilsack,  the former Governor of Iowa.
The Organic Consumers Association argues that he “originated the seed pre-emption bill in 2005, effectively blocking local communities from regulating where genetically engineered crops would be grown,” making him a dangerous choice for head of agriculture for the whole nation.
The issue of Genetically Modified Food is a hot one. For a president in precarious circumstances, like President Obama, it must be particularly difficult to pick sides on the topic. On one side is the argument that food prices are skyrocketing and people are in difficult times, so any technology that increases crop yield will be a positive component to solving the economic crisis. On the other had, it is arguable that GMO’s are completely dismantling any remaining “clean” food, by inseminating non-GMO crops. If this is the case, in the long run, this choice would have the opposite effect, causing billions of dollars in health care costs after years of VIRTUALLY EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN being exposed to high levels of genetically altered food, which has been linked to cancer.

Filed under: Technology , agriculture, obama, Obama Agriculture Pick, Obama Agriculure, Obama Agriculure Pick, Technology