Special News In Brief

Satyam says bidding gets good response

Satyam Computer on Friday said it has received a good response from bidders, including several Indian and global companies apart from private equity firms. The company’s board met today to evaluate the expressions of interest submitted by bidders, which includes one of its shareholders Larsen & Toubro, software firm Tech Mahindra and B K Modi's Spice Corp.

The company also said that former Chief Justice of India S P Bharucha would oversee the bidding process of Satyam.

The company said it would move ahead with the next stage of the bidding process by releasing Request for Proposals later today.

source from :http://profit.ndtv.com/2009/03/13173836/Satyam-says-bidding-gets-good.html

Govt asks IPL for new schedule

NEW DELHI: Taking into account all the factors, the home ministry has advised the IPL organizers that it may not be feasible to hold the matches
as per the revised schedule submitted by them on March 7.

The home ministry said that IPL organizers have been advised to accommodate the concerns of the various state governments and draw up a revised schedule and submit it to the ministry.

For Bangalore, Karnataka has expressed its inability to provide security
on two match days but has agreed to provide security on the remaining four match days.

For Chennai, Tamil Nadu has agreed to provide security because the matches are scheduled after the elections.

For Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh has expressed its inability to provide security during the election period.

Delhi said it cannot provide security and asked for the matches to be rescheduled after the elections on May 7.

Punjab and West Bengal have agreed to provide security for the matches at Mohali and Kolkata if they are not required to release state police personnel for election duty.

For Mumbai and Nagpur, Maharashtra made it clear that it would be able to provide security only if additional companies of central paramilitary forces are provided to them on match days. The state has also said that it can provide security for the matches scheduled after April 30, when the elections in state would be over.

Rajasthan has taken the same line for Jaipur.

Earlier, the Union home ministry held a video conference with senior officials of the states where IPL matches are scheduled to be played next month. Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta held consultations with seven states including Delhi, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal during which he was apprised of the security problems for hosting the mega event.

The states are understood to have again told the home ministry during the 90-minute video conference that it was not possible to hold the Twenty20 matches without additional security personnel from the central grid.

After the states expressed their views, Gupta held a meeting with home minister P Chidambaram which was attended by the security top brass and National Security Advisor M K Narayanan.

Concerned over availability of paramilitary forces in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Home Ministry had sent a revised schedule to the states concerned on March seven avoiding the polling dates.

Barring Tamil Nadu, all other states have agreed to host the matches with a rider that at least five to six companies (500-600 personnel) of paramilitary forces are kept at the disposal of the state police for security related issues, official sources said. Reports suggest that only Delhi is willing to host the league and the elections simultaneously.

On Thursday, the West Bengal government said it would request the Centre for an additional 30 companies of paramilitary forces to hold the IPL match in Kolkata on May 4 as the date was close to the Lok Sabha polls in the state scheduled on May 7.

Source From: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/-Home-ministry-seeks-fresh-schedule-for-IPL/articleshow/4259005.cms


Infosys to honour all call letters

NEW DELHI: Software maker Infosys Technologies said it would employ all those candidates to whom call letters have already been sent, although t
he company is going slow on hiring due to slowing business.

"All the call letters that have been sent out will be honoured... we are sticking to our numbers... we will honour the commitments we have made," Infosys co-chairman Nandan Nilekani said.

Infosys, one of the biggest employers in the country, has said that all general hiring in the company has come to a standstill as business has slowed down considerably.

Though Nilekani did not give out any numbers, it is understood that the Nasdaq-listed company is resorting to need-based recruitment, had made offers to 18,000 students of the 2009-10 batch from different campuses.

"They will be joining us in July this year," Infosys Chief Executive Officer S Gopalakrishnan had said recently.

For the current fiscal, Infosys has been maintaining that it would hire 27,000 people. Asked about the US Government's decision to put curbs on H1-B visas, Nilekani did not offer any direct response but said protectionist measures won't help anybody.

Source from: http://infotech.indiatimes.com/News/Infosys_to_honour_all_call_letters/articleshow/4260401.cms

Cognizant pays variable, bonuses

CHENNAI: Some good news from the IT sector at last. Cognizant, India’s fourth largest software services company in terms of revenue and staff st
rength, is riding against the tide to hand out handsome bonuses to employees across the board.

The IT major, which has most of its facilities in Chennai and Bangalore, is paying employees the full variable pay component this year at a time when tech giants such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as well as tier-II players like Hexaware are in the process of implementing pay cuts or even laying off staff.

Most Indian tech companies pay employees 20-35 per cent of their gross as variable pay with senior executives some times getting over 50 per cent. TOI spoke to several Cognizant employees who said they had received a bonus. In some cases, the amount is the full component of the variable pay, which varies according to seniority.

Amongst the top five IT companies in India, Cognizant ranks fourth both in terms of revenues ($2.8 billion) and headcount with nearly 62,000 employees. “It’s a relief to be receiving this bit of news in the current scenario. There has been a lot of talk from the industry that pay cheques will be revised downwards, we had also heard about lay-offs,” an employee said.

Confirming the development, a company spokesperson said, “Cognizant has paid good incentives for the year 2008 in keeping with our philosophy of sharing the results of good company performance with our associates. As compensation is confidential information, we cannot reveal any further details.”

Cognizant reported a 32 per cent rise in revenue for the fiscal year ended 31, December 2008.

Source From: http://infotech.indiatimes.com/News/Cognizant_pays_variable_bonuses/articleshow/4258821.cms