India now a trillion-dollar economy

http://madebyindia.blogspot.com/2007/04/india-now-trillion-dollar-economy.html

A Joke

One day, three consultants, one from StanC, one from HSBC and one from ICICI, went out for a walk.

They were old buddies from College, and they were together for a d
college reunion...
For no apparent reason, they went into this zoo and passed a monkey. Being in the same business and from the same college, there was a little bit of a peer competition going on between them - they couldn't resist testing themselves against each other.- especially the StanC guy.

He said to the others: "Why don't we prove who is the best among ourselves?
" Why not, said the other two.
The StanCion said "Let's have a test. Whoever makes this monkey laugh, works for the best firm".

By mutual agreement, the StanCion took the first turn.
Being a pure logical strategist, the StanCion tried to make the monkey laugh by telling jokes. The monkey stayed still.
As a more practical consultant, the HSBC guy tried to make funny
gestures... no good, the monkey stayed put...
Now, comes the ICICI guy... being the practical guy he was always trained to be, he whispered something into the monkey's ear, and it burst out laughing at him.
The other two were astonished.
How did this ICICI guy manage to beat them? No way were they going to accept defeat so easily.

So the HSBC guy said "OK, let's take another test. Let's make this monkey cry!!" So there they went again, applying the same methods as before.
The StanC guy narrated sad stories, the HSBC guy made sad gestures, and they failed again...
Then, the ICICI guy whispered something into the monkey's ear and lo! It started crying, patting the ICICIion's shoulder!
The other two just could not believe their eyes!

So the StanCion said "OK, you've won twice. If you can win just this one, we will bow to you. Let's make this monkey run".
And he barked at the monkey and ordered him to run. Of course, it stayed where it was.
The HSBC guy, true to his type, pushed and prodded the monkey- still no go.
So... here comes ICICI guy, again, and whispers into the monkey's ear. The monkey just takes off! It runs and runs as fast as it can, as if it was scared to death!


The other two surrendered. Said they: "OK, we give up. You're the best among
us, and you work for the Best firm of the three. But please, please tell us
your secret," they begged him.
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"Well", said the ICICI
"The first time I made it laugh, I told I work for ICICI.
The next time, I told the monkey the salary I get paid...so it started crying.
And then I told that I was here for recruitment!!!

What a difference a decade makes

Ten years may not seem like a long time, but at the pace of change in business, it sometimes feels like a lifetime.

For example: When Outsource Marketing first launched in 1997, outsourcing was not some trendy term for staffing CSRs and software programmers in India. It would be eight years before Tom Friedman's The World Is Flat was published and introduced people to the notion that the global economy had arrived.

Marketing has changed even more dramatically during the past 10 years than any other similar period in the past. Why? Technology and its incredible impact on how we access and process information.

In 1997:
* There were fewer than 500,000 Internet Web sites
* Google, YouTube, MySpace or the iPod didn't exist
* Cell phones were just phones

Now there are more than 100 million Web sites, 35 million blogs, and cell phones are hand-held computers that can multitask phone calling, text messaging, photography, video downloading, digital music files and an endless variety of games. It was in 2004 O'Reilly Media coined the phrase Web 2.0--a group of second generation Web-based services.

A decade ago, high-tech acronyms such as CRM, PPC, SEO, MP3, DSL and DVR were yet to join the lexicon. Television consisted of sports, movies and shows you watched on a set in the living room and maybe on another in the kitchen or bedroom. Now TV programming--all 580 channels--can now be TiVo'd, recalled on demand or viewed on a laptop, MP3 player or cell phone. Cable providers now offer high-speed broadband, as well as local and long-distance phone services.

India is among top priorities of Yahoo!

India is one of Yahoo!'s top priorities, according to co-founder Mr David Filo, who visited the firm's India development centre on Wednesday.

Commending the leadership, innovation and proficiency of the engineers employed in India, who number a thousand, Mr Filo said that India would now be the hub for developing products for markets such as Brazil, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Our City

Launching Our City (in.ourcity.yahoo.com), a site that provides city information such as weather, photos, videos, maps and news, Mr Filo said that it was an example of the talent in the country.

"If Our City is successful in India, we will take it to the world," he added.

Our City started as an idea submitted by an employee during the Hack Day event held by the company last year. It is now a full-fledged online tool for tourists and travellers. It aggregates both editorial and user generated content and offers a dynamically updated view of Indian cities to visitors.

Launches Maps

Yahoo! India also launched Maps, developed in association with CE Infosystems, the company behind India's first map portal mapmyindia.com (in 2004).

This is an AJAX version of the product offered to US netizens. It covers 170 cities, 4,785 towns and 2.2 lakh villages across the sub-continent. It includes features developed in the Bangalore centre such as geocoding, annotations and panning, that could be adapted to the global version, said Mr Venkat Panchapakesan, Head (Audience Group Engineering).

Management revamp

The company has also announced the restructuring of its management, with the appointment of Mr Sharad Sharma as CEO of Yahoo! India R&D.

A new facility that seats 1,600 will be inaugurated by Mr Filo on Thursday.

Mr Filo said that the rollout of the firm's new search marketing model will happen in India in the third quarter of the year

Sun TV launching children's channel

Sun TV Network Ltd is all set to launch a children's channel — Chutti TV — on Sunday (April 29).

Targeting children in all age groups, the 24X7 channel would beam programmes both created in-house and sourced globally.

Talking about the programming strategy, Ms Priya Madhu, Programming Head, told Business Line that the shows are designed to engage and educate children throughout the day. It has lined up shows such as `Chutti Yoga' in the morning and then a dance show called `Rumbumbum'.

This will be followed by cartoon serials such as `The Adventures of Jackie Chan', `Godzilla', `Stunt Dawgs', `Men in Black' and `Astroboy', sourced from leading production houses across the globe.

"The key point is that all these international shows are not literally translated into the regional language as is the case with many kids channels. We are doing our best to give all these characters local resonance and a lot of regional flavour, lest the child is confused with cultural differences," she said. According to her, the channel has also decided not to beam any serials that are 'over-the-top violent'.

However, it will not refrain from beaming action serials. 'We have put in a lot of effort and time to meticulously choose these serials. Most of the action serials lined up are basically laced with humour,' Ms Madhu explains.

Interactive programmes

Chutti TV has also lined up interactive programmes to be beamed during the evening prime time. The channel said it is in talks with the advertising community and is aiming at more 'long-term' tie-ups with advertisers. The advertising community is 'excited about the channel', sources in the company said.

Sun TV Network at present has a bouquet of 18 channels, excluding Chutti. Asked whether the company plans to start children's channels in other languages, the sources said plans are afoot to start separate channels in Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam soon.

Say goodbye to unsolicited telemarketing calls

You can finally say goodbye to unsolicited telemarketing calls. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or Trai has issued a regulation to ensure that only those who are okay with being called, can be called. All that is needed now is the Reserve Bank of India, or RBI's and the Department of Telecom, or DoT's approval.

Now you need not worry about getting telemarketing calls, which are always at the wrong time. The telecom regulator has finally come to the rescue. By placing a request with your telecom service provider, you can now say goodbye to those "do you need a credit card calls." So, how will the mechanism work?

 

Once you make it clear to your operators, they will register your number in the "do not call" registry, which will be maintained by the National Informatic Center, or NIC.
 

Telemarketing agents will have to compulsorily register themselves with the DoT as "other service providers," or OSPs, who can only call those, who don't mind being disturbed. But what if you still get those annoying calls??
 

Nripendra Misra, Chairman, Trai, said, "The first time we will give a warning. Second violation will see a tariff imposed on the telemarketers in the range of Rs 500-1,000 per call. The next violation will lead to discontinuation of service."

 

But can the regulator revoke the license of these telemarketing companies? The issue has not been looked into at least for now. It is the banking sector that could potentially be the worst hit on account of these norms. Almost 80% of such calls originate from tele-banking companies.

 

According to the regulator, there are over 30,000 telemarketing companies, of which more than three-fourth are not registered with DoT. This regulation, however, will be passed only after Trai gets approval from both the DoT and RBI. But the regulator is of the opinion that there shouldn't be a problem with the permission and hopes that customers will finally get to hang up on unsolicited telemarketing calls.

Infosys BPO plans facility in Manila

Driven by a strong customer demand, Infosys BPO is planning to scale up its presence in Manila by setting up its own delivery centre soon. Infosys BPO currently has a tie-up with Ventus, the call centre company of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co's (PLDT) unit ePLDT Inc.

"We are looking at setting up a 300-seat facility in Manila over the next two quarters," said Mr Amitabh Chaudhry, CEO and Managing Director, Infosys BPO Ltd. "The partnership with Ventus has worked well for us and we plan to continue with it," Mr Chaudhry said.

`Ideal destination'

Infosys BPO plans to use the Manila facility to serve the US clients in both voice and non-voice processes. Mr Chaudhry said clients are more comfortable with getting serviced from the Philippines because of the availability of better skill sets, especially in areas of F&A (finance and accounting), the familiarity with the US GAAP standards and in customer relationship management.

Moreover, the Philippines has emerged as an ideal offshore destination for BPO firms because of the English fluency and familiarity with American culture. The Manila facility would also double up as a business continuity centre for Infosys BPO, Mr Chaudhry said

Infosys BPO is also planning to ramp up its operations in China. "We currently have 70 people in China mainly servicing global clients, which we plan to expand rapidly in the coming years," Mr Chaudhry said. Besides China, Infosys BPO also has operations at Brno in Czech Republic.

Mexican subsidiary

The upcoming Mexican subsidiary of Infosys would also include the BPO delivery facility. "About 50 per cent of the seats in Mexico would be for BPO operations," he said. The Mexico facilitywould be operational over the next two quarters.

Nissan plans compact car segment entry

Nissan Motors India Ltd on Thursday said that it would be entering into the compact car segment to maintain a strong position in the domestic market.

"To begin with, we would position ourselves as a luxury brand. But as we seek to become a dominant player, we will have to enter the compact car segment to be competitive in the Indian market. We are very keen to enter the volume and low price segment,'' said Ms Yoshie Motohiro, Managing Director, Nissan Motors India Pvt Ltd during the launch of its luxury car — Teana — in the domestic market.

At present, Teana will be imported from its manufacturing facility in Japan. However, as the production kickstarts under its joint agreement with Renault and Mahindra by the second half of 2009, Teana would be manufactured from its Chennai facility.

Priced at Rs 20.47 lakh at its showrooms in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai, it would cost a little more — Rs 20.67 lakh — in Mumbai. The company would decide on expanding its dealer base network depending on the volumes and the customer response, said Ms Motohiro.

Nissan is targeting to sell 350 units of Tiana this year. The vehicle is powered by a 2.3-litre petrol engine.

The company, which entered into the Indian market with the introduction of the SUV X trail, sold 250 units last year and is targeting to sell another 250 in the current year.

Nissan Motors, which has two more years before actual production starts, would utilise the time to better its understanding of the Indian market and the models that it would manufacture from its Chennai facility.

With high duty on imported cars, Nissan will have to consider manufacturing in India to enter into the compact car segment, she said. ``Besides products from the Chennai plant, we are even looking at introducing the small car model, which we will be sourcing from Suzuki, in the Indian market. We have two more years before production begins at the Chennai plant, and during this period, we will work on the product portfolio,'' she said.

Independent network

However, Ms Motohiro said that despite an agreement with Renault and Mahindra, the Japanese major would pursue an independent sales and dealer network for its products.

While the company had initially considered Chennai for its production due to its proximity to the port, she said that as per the current plan, the company was focussing on the domestic market. However, it was evaluating options for the export market.