The company that launched its DTH operations in October last year is in talks with various automobile companies to install their mobile DTH units.

DTH in cars works with the help of a special auto-tracking antenna that is mounted on the roof of the car. The antenna tracks the company’s satellite placed in orbit at 36,000 km, from where signals will be fed to the set top box placed near the television set inside the car. This will enable seamless transmission of satellite channels in the vehicle.

N Arjun, executive director of DTH Services of Bharti Airtel Ltd says, “We have a product for SUVs, trains and buses. The cost of installations is high. That is why we are talking about higher-end side of the market, like SUVs and trains.”

Not revealing the cost of Bharti Airtel’s mobile DTH unit, N Arjun said, “We are in talks with a host of companies for these products, but haven’t commercially launched it right now.”

This service was launched by Essel Group’s Dish TV in 2007, which has found a few hundred takers for this service. A company spokesperson said, “Election is a major puller for this service. Politicians and other interested parties need information round the clock so this keeps them connected to the news all the time. This service is substantially present in the metros.” The installation of a DTH unit in a vehicle costs upwards of Rs 150,000.

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Google’s revenue, almost all of which comes from advertisements placed next to related search results, rose 6% from a year earlier but slipped 3% from the fourth quarter. Sales, after subtracting commissions to Web site partners, were $4.07 billion. That’s about what analysts, who have been reducing their estimates in recent weeks, had expected.

Investors initially liked what they saw, boosting the stock almost 6% in extended trading after the figures were released. After all, Google’s slowdown looks good compared with the larger advertising market, which is expected to fall at least 5% this year. But as it became apparent that Google’s underlying business was feeling the effects of the recession, shares reversed course and gained only a fraction of 1%. “The quarter confirms that Google is suffering from the economic slowdown,” says Sandeep Aggarwal, analyst at financial-services firm Collins Stewart.

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“The appraisal was conducted for 60,000 of our employees. At the bottom, some 3.5% of the people were either outplaced or left the company. It’s an annual scenario after every performance assessment. In fact, normally the bottom size is 5%,” he said. Trainees were not part of this exercise.

Outplacement is a new jargon used by enterprises, which means off-loading excess/unwanted staff to another employer. However, outplacing is not a viable option in the current scenario where few jobs are available in the market.

Infosys currently has an employee base of 1,05,000 which includes 45,000 trainees who were not part of this appraisal exercise. During quarter ending December 31, the company had a total headcount of 1,03,078.

A quarter ago Infosys had said it would hire 26,000 people during fiscal 2008-09, more than what it had projected in the beginning of the year. During the third quarter, the company made a gross addition of 5,997 with the net intake being 2,772.

Infosys has made offers to around 20,000 engineering graduates for the current year. The company has been vocal about honouring all the offers it made to freshers. Infosys’ earnings for 2008-09 will be out on April 15.

[SOURCE]

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HCL will provide 600 employees to support the contract and nearly 250 workers have already begun work on the project.

Microsoft has not said whether this contract is to replace any existing agreement it has in India, or if this deal is an expansion of its current outsourcing scope.

Despite the recent job cuts, Microsoft has been expanding its online services business and has recently announced plans to make its business productivity online suite, a software-as-a-service offering, available for trial and purchase in 19 countries.

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The league of innovative firms also features NRI Lakshmi Mittal-led world’s largest steel producer ArcelorMittal.

Among the 50 companies, Tata Group ranks 13th, Reliance Industries 15th and Infosys 26th.

Tata Group and Reliance Industries have been ranked ahead of American industrial conglomerate General Electric (17), German car manufacturer BMW (20), Japanese auto firm Honda Motor (22) and telecom major AT&T (23), among others.

However, while the Tata Group slipped in ranking from the sixth place in 2008, Reliance Industries has improved its previous year’s rank 19. Infosys was not in the list in 2008.

BusinessWeek has placed ArcelorMittal at the 35th spot. Among the top five, Apple is followed by Internet search giant Google at the second position. Both companies have retained their respective ranks from last year.

Japanese auto maker Toyota Motor, software major Microsoft and Jap

[SOURCE]

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The chargesheet also consists of 1532 documents as evidence with 433 witness statements.

Sources say that CBI could meet the deadline due to the presence of the multidisciplinary team which examined the various parts of the case.

So while SEBI focussed on the capital markets and the issue of insider trading amounting to Rs 700 crore, SFIO focussed on inflation of accounts and the fraudulent methods used by the management.

More than 7000 fake invoices were recovered and evidence of loans arranged for the Raju’s family through 327 companies were also gathered.

So what did it take to come out with such a voluminous chargesheet within 90 days?

The core investigating team comprised of 11 officers from CBI, 14 officers who formed the multidisciplinary team, 10 junior officers worked on gathering the evidence and and 4 public prosecutors to help with the legal issues.

And ever since the scam broke out, these officers have worked for 16 hours a day sacrificing their weekly offs and public holidays.

But there were a few surprises too in the chargesheet. Contrary to common belief, there was no mention of siphoning of funds to the Maytas companies owned by the promoter family something that the Raju family has been maintaining since the fraud came to light on January 7.

“We have filed the chargesheet and the investigations are going on. But as and when facts come out we would file supplementary chargesheets,” said VV Laxminarayana, DIG, CBI.

With the chargesheet done, the next task before the agency would be to ensure strict sentences against the accused.

While there is no evidence of siphoning of funds which could have invited a more harsh sentence for Satyam’s former chairman Raju, CBI maintains that the charge under section 467 of the IPC dealing with forgery of valuable securities alone could give Raju life in prison while the other charges could give him a measly 2-7 years in jail once the charges are proved in court.

[SOURCE]

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“This indicates the seriousness of Tech Mahindra’s bid for Satyam,” a source close to the development said. A Tech Mahindra spokesperson declined comment on the issue.

For Tech Mahindra, say analysts, acquiring Satyam will be a good diversification strategy. “It is way too dependent on one sector, telecom, and one client,” said an analyst. Satyam will not only give it access to different business verticals but also key clients.

Officials at Tech Mahindra have been concerned over the client loss that Satyam has witnessed over the past few months. The biggest concern for them is the liabilities that Satyam will have to face due to the 13 US class-action suits, the unresolved Upaid case, as well as lack of clarity on client and employee details.

Larsen & Toubro and Tech Mahindra have been the two favourites among analysts for acquiring Satyam. However, raising funds to acquire Satyam remains a concern. Tech Mahindra had $110 million (around Rs 5.5 billion) of cash on December 31, 2008.

Recently, rating agency Fitch withdrew its rating for Tech Mahindra. The agency highlighted that any debt-led acquisition would act as a negative trigger for the company.

Meanwhile, the government-appointed Satyam board will meet informally on Thursday. Nasdaq-listed Cognizant Technology Solutions is understood to still be in the race and so is US-based private equity firm WL Ross & Co. The deadline for submitting financial bids is April 13. The winner is expected to be declared the same day.

[SOURCE]

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Bank schemes for Nano

Just as the Tata Nano promises value for money with its low pricing, so do the various schemes of banks which are the preferred lenders for the car. As the schemes are almost uniform in their charges and interest rates, quick and efficient service is perhaps what can help a bank score over its competitors.

The Nano loan schemes are led by public sector banks, with the big daddy, State Bank of India along with its associate banks setting the trend in terms of interest rates and down payment. Other PSU lenders include Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank, Corporation Bank and Punjab National Bank. The private sector players include ICICI Bank and Kerala-based Federal Bank.

For SBI, a potential Nano customer is an employed professional drawing Rs 75,000 a year or a self-employed person making Rs 1 lakh a year.

SBI is offering a Nano booking loan product with a one-time upfront booking fee of Rs 2,999 for the base model (which has an ex-showroom price of Rs 1.2 lakh in Delhi), Rs 3,499 for the intermediate model (Rs 1.40 lakh) and Rs 3,999 (Rs 1.70 lakh) for the high-end model.

The eligibility criterion has been relaxed keeping in mind that the Tata Nano is designed to meet the demands of low-income customers, an SBI official said.

In case the customer is allotted a Nano, then the booking loan can be converted to a SBI Nano car loan. The loan would be provided up to a maximum of seven years at 11.75-12 per cent interest. The margin requirement for the loans would be 15 per cent. That is, for Rs 1 lakh loan, the customer would have to pay Rs 15,000 upfront to get the bank to give a loan for Rs 85,000.

In case of Union Bank of India, for the booking amount, the minimum down payment for the base model is Rs 2,950, for the second version it is Rs 3,459 and for the higher end version it is Rs 3,952.

If a customer wants to avail himself of a car loan for the Nano, the bank’s auto loans rate is 11 per cent for three years and 11.25 per cent for three to five years.

An official from the bank said, “We expect very good response from rural and semi-urban areas.”

Corporation Bank is also charging Rs 2,999 as down payment for the booking amount of the base model, Rs 3,744 for the second version and Rs 4,231 for the third version. The bank is offering 11 per cent in case the customer goes in for a car loan once he or she gets allotment.

At these rates, the monthly repayment works out to Rs 3,274 per lakh for a three-year loan, Rs 2,187 on a five-year loan and Rs 1,739 for a seven-year loan, said an official from the bank.

ICICI Bank is hoping to capitalise on its online booking facility through both the bank’s Web site and ICICI Direct.com, said Mr N.R. Narayanan, General Manager, retail loans, “We are very bullish about the Nano booking online as it offers huge convenience to our customers. ICICI Direct also has a lot of customers who log on for share trading,” he said. The bank offers car loans at 13.5 per cent for three to five years.

[SOURCE]

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Google today announced its new venture and that is Google venture capital fund… Even in these recession times its good to see something so motivating from Google.

Here what the official Google Blog Post says >>

Today we’re excited to announce Google Ventures, Google’s new venture capital fund. This is Google’s effort to take advantage of our resources to support innovation and encourage promising new technology companies. By borrowing the best practices of top-tier, financially focused venture capital firms and bringing to bear Google’s unique technical expertise and brand, we think we can find young companies with truly awesome potential and encourage their development into successful businesses.

At its core, Google Ventures is charged with finding and helping to develop exceptional start-ups. We’ll be focusing on early stage investments across a diverse range of industries, including consumer Internet, software, clean-tech, bio-tech, health care and, no doubt, other areas we haven’t thought of yet. Central to our effort will be our fellow Googlers, whom we view as a critically important resource to help educate us about potential investments areas and evaluate specific companies.

Economically, times are tough, but great ideas come when they will. If anything, we think the current downturn is an ideal time to invest in nascent companies that have the chance to be the “next big thing,” and we’ll be working hard to find them. If you think you have the next big idea, or if you just want to to learn more, please see our website at www.google.com/ventures.

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But Still want to understand the whole situation and what happened to big banks like Lehman brothers but don’t want to read big articles about it over the net or in those brown colored newspapers…

Well here it is… Credit Crises explained in simple english with the help of this animated video…

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

To watch this video offline, download the HD quality clip from the CrisisOfCredit.com website.

Hope you now know atleast a bit of it…

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