Focusing on telecommunications business

ABIBA Systems, founded in 2006, is a specialist telecommunications business intelligence and analytics software firm, with a product and services portfolio. Headed by Sathya Karthik, it is an organisation which helps telcos across the globe realise business profitability through our solutions and consultant driven approach. The company claims to be differentiating its business intelligence (BI) and analytics offerings through domain centric approach and business user driven solutions, which can also co-exist with existing data and BI solutions. ABIBA has invested its effort and resources into defining the product framework to meet the business requirements, the technology used, the business challenges it addresses and the user interface functionalities supported.

Need for your business

The telecom industry is unique from other industries in many aspects in terms of regulations, functions employed, data environment, technology requirements, subscriber behaviour etc. But operators trying to customise generic business intelligence and analytics solutions to the telecom sector are not able to exploit its full potential. Customisation leads to prolonged deployments and huge costs. Even post customisation, most of the generic solutions fail to address the specific requirements of operators. In today's dynamic and competitive telecom landscape, it is essential for decision makers in telcos to have absolute clarity on their performance across functions to take meaningful decisions. ABIBA helps telcos achieve clarity and insights of their operations, by introducing TeleViewTM, an integrated management performance analysis system for the executive of telecom industry. This business performance analysis tool has been developed by drawing on deep understanding of the data generated in telecom from diverse data sources like MSC, billing, CDRs, prepaid systems, CRM etc. It equips the managers in telecom industry with critical enterprise information which translates into power and speed required to make actionable business intelligence a reality -even in real time. 

Our product TeleView comes integrated with a database, data capture and data processing component. Based on a modular architecture it covers different operational areas like activation, usage and prepaid recharges. TeleView comes with pre built telecom specific processes and users can also define new metrics and charts with the help of the dashboard. It acts as an effective decision support system for the middle and the senior management in a dynamic telecom market. 

Hence our solutions, pre-built for telecom, address all these shortcomings of the generic BI & analytics solutions.

Initial Challenges

For the first couple of years some of the challenges that we faced were changing technologies, acquiring and retaining resource – both technical and at domain levels. We were in pursuit of building solutions rather than products. Hence, our solutions had to showcase how they differentiated from the other solutions in the market. However, for the past 3 years our challenge has been to acquire customers, to generate and grow revenues of the organisation.

How unique is the idea?

We are probably the only telecom BI-analytics solution providers in India with a full suite of offerings from basic BI to advanced analytics. Analytics has increasingly become a major part of business analysis as data management becomes increasingly excess and complex. At ABIBA Systems, we provide analytical solutions for different industry verticals. Using the right combination of technology and domain knowledge, our solutions help business users understand the problem areas, identify additional business opportunities, implement strategies and track the performance of their businesses. 

Further, analytics helps to understand churn by analyzing churn in different customer segments. Some of the analysis includes –

Analysis of Overall churn - This is done using graphs. This can be done over a period of time OR for a specific time period. The patterns and trends in the graphs reveal unsuspected information and hence analysis can be done. 

Analysis of segment level churns - How is churn in different segments like regions, products and customer categories? Is there any pattern in the churn of fresh activations across distributors and retailers for prepaid subscribers? 

Finding out the segments with highest and lowest churn would help focus customer retention efforts. 

Using analytical models, we can predict the likelihood of churn of specific customers OR customer groups. This process is called churn scoring and these predictions are based on previous customer behaviour and statistics. The behaviour of past churn customers is understood by performing several processes on historic data. This is applied to active customer database to predict the future churns. 

We provide solutions for segmentation and profiling of customer information. Segmentation of the customer base using multiple variables – demographic, psychographic and behavioural – is a standard analytical approach used in many industries to identify the customers with similar behaviour.

Finances

We are internally funded now. We are in the growth phase where we are open to external funding to rapidly scale up our business. I am looking for a fit in investor profile in terms of sector-funding size-investment horizon amongst potential investors.

Learnings

Focusing on domain strengths pays off in the longer term. Staying alive to shifts in market paradigms is important for success of the business. Identifying the key customer influencers and aligning our strategy with that eases the customer acquisition challenges. Invest in people – they are the best resources of an organization.

Future Plans

To grow ABIBA into a mid-sized software company by achieving higher revenue growth in the next 3 years. Expand the geographical presence. Build industry leading solutions for emerging business areas – social network analytics, big data, cloud and mobility. Work on our SaaS offering to strengthen the revenue streams.

Cambridge University in a list of QS world university rankings for 2011-2012.

There was little reason for India to smile when the prestigious QS World University Rankings were announced recently. No Indian institute figured in the world’s top 200 universities of the list of 700 that were ranked under the scheme.

For the first time, America's prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology grabbed the top slot from UK's Cambridge University in a list of world university rankings for 2011-2012. However, four of the six top slots in a global university “league table” by QS World University Rankings were occupied by the UK universities.

With MIT leading the list, Cambridge University slipped to the second spot and Harvard still down to the third rank.

University College, London (UCL), Oxford and Imperial took the fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively. The seventh place was awarded to Yale University, followed by University of Chicago, Princeton University and the tenth position to California Institute of Technology. 

The QS World University Rankings is a ranking of the world’s top 700 universities by Quacquarelli Symonds using a method that has published annually since 2004.

The QS rankings were originally published in collaboration with Times Higher Education from 2004 to 2009 as the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings. In 2010, Times Higher Education and QS ended their collaboration. QS assumed sole publication of the existing methodology, while Times Higher Education created a new ranking methodology with Thomson Reuters, published as Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

The QS rankings rate the world's top 400 universities, evaluating each institution's strengths in research, teaching, the employability of its graduates and international outlook. While India is yet to secure a place in the top 200, other Asian countries such as China, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan sit comfortably among the top 100 of the rankings table, led by University of Hong Kong (22) and University of Tokyo (25).

“If we are serious about staying on top, the government must concentrate investment where it will have the most impact — in our world-class research-intensive universities,” director general of the Russell Group of research-based universities Dr. Wendy Piatt said.

In 2010, the Indian Institute of Delhi was ranked 202 in the list but it has fallen to 218th this time. Similarly, IIT-Bombay (was 187, now 225); IIT-Madras (was 262, now 281); IIT-Kanpur ( 249, 306); 

IIT-Kharagpur (311, 341); IIT-Roorkee (428, 438) and IIT-Guwahati (501, 563). 

The other universities have followed suit – University of Delhi (was 371, now 398); University of Mumbai (493, 578); University of Calcutta (506, 649) and University of Pune (578, 661).

India has scored very badly on quality research and fall in all the universities’ academic reputation. The employer reputation of IIT-Bombay, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Guwahati and universities of Mumbai, Calcutta and Pune has slid backwards too. For the academic and employer ratings, inputs from as many as 33,000 academics and 16,785 employers from more than 130 countries were taken by QS, the largest surveys of their kind ever conducted.

Harbhajan inspire India to a massive win

A combative spinner making his comeback to the blue shade after a year’s hiatus and a young batsman trying to cement his place combined wonderfully well to help India defeat England by 90 runs in an ICC World Twenty20 Group A match at the R. Premadasa Stadium here on Sunday. 

Harbhajan Singh’s four for 12 a provided the perfect platform for India to stun England into submission and top the group. Chasing India’s 170 for four, England collapsed to 80 in 14.4 overs. 

Harbhajan last played for India in the second Test against England at Nottingham in August 2011. Since then, poor form and injury woes had left the off-spinner grappling for a toehold. 

A stint in the English counties and innumerable days later, he winged his way back to the Indian squad and England again played a key role in his cricketing journey as Harbhajan’s spell derailed Stuart Broad’s men on Sunday. 

Irfan Pathan made early inroads, scalping Alex Hales and Luke Wright, and once Harbhajan castled Eoin Morgan — the southpaw tried to cut a delivery that was too close to his body — there was a buzz in the Indian ranks. 

That wicket in his very first over gave a huge fillip to the spinner, and with Piyush Chawla too bringing his leg-breaks into play, England was cornered. 

Chawla cleaned up Jonny Bairstow and also nailed Craig Kieswetter, England’s top-scorer for the day.

Harbhajan bowled unchanged and his line that threatened the stumps completely unsettled the English batsmen. 

They beat a steady retreat much to the delight of the Indians while the comeback hero flung his hands heavenwards in thanks. Earlier, Rohit infused some belated energy to the Indian innings before the finish line. Rohit’s knock — as is always the case when he is on song — had elegance written all over it. 

When he turned the face of the bat a touch late and swatted Jade Dernbach for six over point in the last over, it revealed the gift of timing he innately possesses. 

That strike in the last over, which went for 17 runs, was part of India’s delayed flourish after much of its innings was marked by a steady trot rather than a gallop. 

Ahead of the match, India effected three changes with Harbhajan, Piyush and Ashok Dinda replacing Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and R. Ashwin. 

And once Stuart Broad opted to field, Gambhir and Irfan strode out as India’s opening pair. 

Unlike his recent diffidence at the crease, Gambhir (45) looked more assured, as was evident in the fours — a pull and a dab — he struck off Dernbach. 

At the other end, Irfan struggled and lost his timber to speedster Steven Finn. 

Gambhir then allied with Virat Kohli (40) and took the innings forward at a steady clip. 

In the midst of a rich vein of form, Kohli’s batting rhythm was top-notch. 

He cover drove Finn for four and played shots that reflected power and grace. 

Meanwhile, despite the odd four, Gambhir inexplicably failed to slot in the higher gear, and the scoring rate dropped once Graeme Swann stepped in and dismissed Kohli. 

It was then left to Rohit to be the pivot around which the Indian innings revolved. 

He did not disappoint on a night that was truly remarkable for him and Harbhajan.

Fifth Avenue Apple store for the release of the iPhone 5

Consumers wait in line outside the Fifth Avenue Apple store for the release of the iPhone 5, in New York on Friday.

It was possible to walk into a store Saturday and buy an iPhone 5, but it took some hunting. 

Some stores reported having Apple’s newest phone available for walk-up customers, though not all versions of it. A random check of about a dozen stores indicated that most were sold out.

A Verizon store in New York City said the 32 and 64 gigabyte models, but not the 16 GB version, were available. A Sprint store in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, said all but the most expensive 64 GB iPhone 5s were sold out. 

“Before we were even scheduled to open, we were pretty much out,” said Eric Rayburn, a worker at a Sprint store in Phoenix. 

The iPhone 5 went on sale Friday, igniting intense interest around the world. Apple’s website said phones bought online would ship in three to four weeks. Verizon’s website said they would ship by October 19. 

It’s hardly uncommon for supply shortages to make it difficult to get new iPhones in the first days after their release. For Apple, the iPhone introduction is the biggest revenue driver of the year. Analysts say the company will likely sell millions of phones in the first few days. 

There were long lines Friday at Apple’s stores in Asia, Europe and North America as customers pursued the new smartphone. Apple and the phone companies haven’t provided sales figures from the first day. Apple is expected to announce early results Monday 

Last year, Apple said on the Monday after the launch of the iPhone 4S that it had sold 4 million in the first three days.

A view of the Apps on the Google Nexus 7 tablet

Google is hoping to bring in a large cross section of developers in India on to the Android ecosystem.

Google Play, the Apps market for Android mobile operating system, has added India as one of the countries from where developers could publish paid Apps. 

Until now, developers in India were permitted to put out only free Applications. This severely affected the business models of developers, as there was no incentive to put out innovative Apps.

With the extension of rights now, Google is hoping to bring in a large cross section of developers in the country on to the Android ecosystem.

``The move was overdue for some time now,’’ said Ashish Sinha, founder of Pluggd.in, one of the prominent websites focused on local start-ups. 

“This will pave the way for creating business models around innovative Apps. Android is big in the Indian smart devices space, and this will help fuel development of the localised Apps, too,” he added. 

Until now, developers were figuring out ways to circumvent the restriction. In some cases, this meant having to travel to the U.S. to create a local bank account there in the name of relatives and friends or even floating a company there for this purpose. 

On its official Google Developer support page — https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer — Google listed India as one of the countries from where developers could register as Google Check-out merchants and sell paid Applications. 

Next Wave Multimedia in Chennai, which has published more than 10 Apps each on both the Apple iTunes and the Android Marketplace over past three years, was one of the early entrants in the mobile Apps space. 

The company’s director P. R. Rajendran said: “We have lived with this condition for some time now where we literally run two companies, and are subject to dual taxation. 

This is a welcome move on the part of Google,” he said. 

N. Madhumathi, who runs e-learning service Empower, said the barrier was one of the reasons why her company could not launch its Android app ‘Videos to Learn’ that had e-learning packages for school and college students. 

“It was not viable for a small company like ours to launch operations in the U.S. just to put the App on Google Play. Besides, our App is India-specific in content. This will only help us now.”

The developer community plays a vital role in the booming smart device ecosystems. Android claims to have over 6.50 lakh Apps in its Google Play directory while Apple claims to have more than seven lakh Apps on iTunes.

eBay unveiled a new logo after 17 yrs

E-commerce giant eBay on Friday unveiled a new logo to reflect the changing nature of online marketplace globally. The online shopping portal has had the same logo since the 1995 when it was first launched.

The new logo was unveiled by the company’s President Devin Wenig. “Our refreshed logo reflects the global online marketplace eBay is today and symbolises a dynamic future,” Wenig said in a statement.

The US-listed company’s original logo was an unevenly-spaced jumble of both lower-case and capped letters, each overlapping one another. The new one, however, features linear and evenly-spaced letters.

It reflects “a global online marketplace that offers a cleaner, more contemporary and consistent experience, with innovation that makes buying and selling easier and more enjoyable,” he said.

eBay has retained some key elements of the previous logo, including the colour palette.

“Our vibrant eBay colours and touching letters represent our connected and diverse eBay community — more than 100 million active users and 25 million sellers globally and growing,” he said.

The new look will begin to appear across eBay sites across the globe from next quarter.

Founded in 1995, eBay is one of the notable success stories of the dot-com boom and is now a multi-billion dollar business with operations localised in multiple countries.

eBay’s logo revamp comes just a few weeks after technology giant Microsoft came out with its new look after 25 years.

In the last one year, the Indian e-commerce space has grown tremendously with the mushrooming of e-retailers like Snapdeal, Fashionandyou and Flipkart, among others.

eBay also said it is bullish on mobile commerce.

“Our mobile apps have been downloaded 100 million times, and this year we expect over $ 10 billion in volume transacted via mobile,” it added.

TV screens black-out

To create awareness about the deadline for the first phase of the digitisation, about 150 TV channels will show a black-out message over this weekend and the next. 

This is part of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s initiative, in collaboration with the stakeholders, to tell viewers in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai that they will face a television black-out if they do not switch to digital television connections.

On September 15 and 16, the television black-out advertisement will take place at 20:58 and 21:58 hours, respectively, said an official. This will be repeated during the next weekend in from September 21-23. An industry player said these black-outs could be extended further in the run-up to digitisation.

Viewers across the four metros will have to shift to digital television connections by the end of October to avoid facing a black-out.

The Ministry is already running 30-second video spots across channels to spread awareness. Advertisements are also being aired on All India Radio and six private FM channels.

Ads on AIR are being run in Bengali, Tamil as well as Marathi.

Whats new on iPhone 5 ?

The cyber world is agog with talk that Apple, the world’s third-largest mobile phone maker, would launch its latest version of the iconic smartphone, the iPhone5.

Expectations are riding high as the iPhone has been the top-selling smartphone since it was first launched in 2007. More importantly, every new version of the phone has outsold the previous one. Even though version 5 is expected to be launched in the US and a number of European countries on Wednesday, it would take another 2-3 months for it to debut in India, say traders.

“There is a high degree of anticipation around the launch, and many of us are expecting Apple to sell about 2-3 million during the first couple of days of the launch itself. There is bound to be bulk booking in the North American region and Europe, typically because of bundling by some operators,” Abhishek Chauhan, Senior Consultant, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan (South Asia & Middle East), told Business Line.

“A lot is riding on the success of the latest iPhone, and there’s no doubt that the new iPhone will indeed be successful. However, the degree of success depends on the uptake of the product,” he said. According to various blogs and Web sites, the new iPhone would have a larger screen, support Near Field 

Communication (technologies such as Bluetooth), a faster processor and a better camera. 

“The most important feature would be an updated Siri (voice search), a new and powerful processor, probably a 1 GB random access memory (RAM), and a bigger camera among others are expected,” Rudradeep Biswas, an avid blogger for many telecom Web sites, said.

Analysts in Mumbai are expecting iPhone5 to be the best-selling smartphone of all time, and prices are expected to be in the range of about Rs 45,000. However, industry watchers believe this time there wouldn’t be an 8 GB version

Accenture, Wipro recruit in bulk from VIT University

Accenture, Wipro, Cognizant Vice-Presidents handing over offer letters to students at VIT Campus in Vellore.

Accenture and Wipro have come back with a vengeance to recruit from campuses. They compensated for the lacklustre hiring from the usual mass recruiter Cognizant Technology Solutions at VIT University, Vellore, which annually churns out nearly 3,000 graduates. 

On day one of the campus recruitment on Monday at VIT, about 120 km west of Chennai, Accenture made 1,492 job offers to students as against just 90 last year. Media reports say that for the global software major, out of its 2.50 lakh global employee base, nearly one-third is in India. 

Similarly, Wipro made 1,308 job offers this year compared to just 130 last year. 

In contrast, Cognizant’s numbers declined by more than half to 803 as against 1,920 offers last year, according to the university. Tata Consultancy Services did not visit the university for the last two years. Infosys is also not visiting this year, said university sources. It is reliably learnt that at Sastra University in Thanjavur in south Tamil Nadu, on day one of the campus recruitment, TCS made offers to 863 students. Last year, the company created a record by recruiting 1,755 students from this university.

‘Feeling the heat’

VIT’s Vice-President G. V. Sampath said that despite the bad market conditions, the institution was able to place students with companies. In a recession-like scenario, every company wants to cut 50 per cent in recruitment and institutions are feeling the heat, he told Business Line. 

Samuel Rajkumar, Deputy Director of the university’s placement cell, said Flipkart had offered an annual pay package of Rs 12.5 lakh while D.E. Shaw, a software company, which is yet to conduct its recruitment drive, has offered Rs 14.5 lakh. 

A total of 55 companies have conducted placement drives. Rajkumar said that every year 150 to 160 companies visit the university. “Last year, 188 companies came and we are trying to get as many this year. In fact, last year our placement accounted for 95 per cent placing 3,007 students. The overall numbers this year could be due to the slowdown,” he said.

Google doodle marks Clara Schumann birthday

German musician and composer Clara Schumann's 193rd birth anniversary is being celebrated by search engine major Google through its latest doodle today. 

Born in 1819, Clara was one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era. 

Thursday's doodle has Clara surrounded by her eight children. Three of the children are seen clinging onto her while the remaining are seen playing the piano along with Clara. 

Attractive use of - blue, yellow, green and red - and forms make prominent the letters of the word 'Google'.

Raised by her father, Friedrich Wieck, following her parents separation when she was just four years old, Clara gave her first performance when she was eight years old. Considered a child dodgy, her music became popular across other European nations. 

Clara married Robert Schumann, whom she is supposed to have met during her first performance at the age of eight, in 1839. The couple had eight children. But tragedy struck her married life as four of her children died before her. And, her husband and one son spent their last years at a mental asylum. 

Clara herself became hearing impaired during the later stages of her life and died at the age of 76 following a stroke. 

Google doodles, or the graphical representation of Google logo, are designed to mark holidays, anniversaries and lives of famous artists and scientists. The search giant has created over 1,000 doodles so far

Deccan Chargers still unsold; company rejects sole bid

PVP Ventures, which has produced Tamil movie Naan E and the upcoming Kamal Hasaan movie Viswaroopam, is in the fray for Deccan Chargers. PVP Ventures is owned by Potluri Vara Prasad.

According to sources, there was only one bidder. However, Deccan Chronicle has rejected the bid saying the price and terms were unacceptable. 

N. Srinivasan, BCCI President, said Deccan Chronicle still holds the team and the franchise has been given some more time. There is a BCCI Special Working Committee Meeting on September 15 in Chennai.

Deccan Chargers has been put on sale by its current owners and media company Deccan Chronicle.

The company has fixed the base price for the team at Rs 750 crore. 

The team is being sold as Deccan Chronicle is reeling under severe financial mess. The proceeds of the auction has to be deposited in ICICI Bank, after giving BCCI 5 per cent. 

According to a press release quoting Sanjay Jagdale, Honorary Secretary, BCCI, the bid received by Deccan Chronicle Holdings met the eligibility and suitability criteria. The bid was then reviewed by DC Holdings who, in its discretion and with no role being played by BCCI, rejected the bid on the basis of payment terms offered by the bidder, said the release.

Consumer cybercrime costs India $8 billion

 42 million affected in India during the last 12 months

It is estimated that over 42 million people in India fell victim to cybercrime in the last 12 months, suffering approximately $8 billion in direct financial losses. 

The findings are part of the Norton Cybercrime Report 2012 based on experiences of over 13,000 adults across 24 countries globally, including 1,000 from India. This calculates the direct costs associated with global consumer cybercrime at $110 billion. 

According to the report, 66 per cent of adults in India have been victims of cybercrime in their lifetime. In the last 12 months, 56 per cent of adults online in India have experienced cybercrime, translating to more than 115,000 victims of cybercrime every day, 80 victims a minute and more than 1 a second. The average direct financial cost per victim is placed at $192, up 18 per cent over $163 in 2011. 

Globally, every second, 18 adults become a victim of cybercrime, resulting in more than one-and-a-half million cybercrime victims each day. With losses totalling an average of $197 a victim across the world in direct financial costs, in the last 12 months, an estimated 556 million or 46 per cent adults across the world experienced cybercrime. This figure is on par with the findings from 2011 (45 per cent).

Changing Face

This year’s survey shows an increase in “new” forms of cybercrime compared to last year, such as those found on social networks or mobile devices — a sign that cyber criminals are starting to focus their efforts on these increasingly popular platforms, the report said. 

In India, one in three adults online (32 per cent) has been a victim of either social or mobile cybercrime in the last 12 months, and 51 per cent of social network users have been victims of social cyber crime. Specifically, 22 per cent of social network users reported someone had hacked into their profile and pretended to be them. Fifteen per cent of social network users said they had fallen victim to a scam or fake link on social network platforms. 

While 83 per cent believe that cyber criminals are setting their sights on social networks, only around half (57 per cent actually use a security solution which protects them from social network threats. Only 44 per cent use the privacy settings to control what information they share and with whom. 

Nearly half (44 per cent) of mobile users received a text message from someone they didn’t know requesting that they click on an embedded link or dial an unknown number to retrieve a “voicemail.” 

“Cyber criminals are changing their tactics to target fast growing mobile platforms and social networks where consumers are less aware of security risks,” says Effendy Ibrahim, Internet Safety Advocate and Director, Asia for Norton by Symantec. 

“This mirrors what we saw in this year’s Symantec Internet Security Threat Report 7 which reported nearly twice the mobile vulnerabilities in 2011from the year before.”

Wipro Infotech inks deal with Qatar Airways

Wipro Infotech, the India and Middle East IT Business unit of Wipro, on Wednesday said it has inked a multi-year, multi-million dollar engagement with Qatar Airways.

The partnership is aimed at leveraging competencies of both organisations to create greater value and more efficiency for the global airline, Wipro said in a statement.

Wipro will use its experience in application development and project management and Qatar Airways’ aviation systems’ expertise to develop new solutions to create competitive advantage for the airline, it added.

Though the company declined to comment on the deal size, industry sources suggest the deal could be worth a little less than $50 million.

The Doha-based airline has a fleet of 111 aircraft flying to 118 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas.

The solutions jointly developed within this partnership will enable Qatar Airways and its subsidiaries to pursue their aggressive growth strategies, the statement said.

“Through this agreement, Wipro will work with us to build new aviation IT solutions to meet our business needs in a fast-moving environment,” Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said.

Under the new arrangement, a lot of the software development will be carried out by Wipro in South India.

Qatar Airways will be able to tap into Wipro’s vast pool of highly technical resources, as well as research and development centres to explore and take advantage of new technological solutions, it said.

In a separate announcement, Wipro Technologies, the IT arm of Wipro, said it has been positioned as a Thought Leadership ’Best-In-Class’ in the CEB TowerGroup Outsourcing Technology Analysis Report 2012.

Wipro has been investing in domain and technology led thought leadership and has delivered innovations in areas close to the financial services business such as Customer Experience, Risk & Compliance, Channel Transformation and Analytics, it said.

“Being recognised as a thought leadership in the financial services industry demonstrates our efforts to engage with customers as a business partner, delivering innovative business solutions that go beyond the traditional ambit of an IT services provider,” Wipro Technologies SVP and Global Head (Financial Solutions) Soumitro Ghosh said.

Day Trading Guide

DLF: We reiterate our buy recommendation in the stock with fixed stop-loss at Rs 199. 

ICICI Bank: Fresh long position is recommended with tight stop-loss only if the stock advances beyond Rs 959 levels. 

Infosys: Fresh long position can be initiated with stiff stop-loss if the stock surpass above Rs 2,550. 

L&T: Witnessing buying interest, the stock climbed 2.8 per cent with above average volume in the last trading session. We recommend a buy in the stock with fixed stop-loss at Rs 1,395. 

ONGC: Fresh short position can be initiated with tight stop-loss if the stock fails to rally above Rs 283 levels. 

Reliance Industries: Fresh long position can be initiated with tight stop-loss if RIL reverses higher from Rs 788 levels. 

SBI: Initiate fresh long position with stiff stop-loss only if SBI jumps above Rs 1,880 levels. 

Tata Motors: On Wednesday, the stock jumped five per cent accompanied by good volume. We recommend a buy in the stock with fixed stop-loss at Rs 259 levels. 

Tata Steel: Make use of dips to buy the stock while maintaining stiff stop-loss at Rs 382 levels. 

Nifty Futures: Nifty Futures advanced 41 points on Wednesday. As long it trades above 5,400 levels, its near-term stance remains bullish. We recommend a buy in Nifty Futures with tight stop-loss at 5,400.

Air India to operate first commercial flight

Air India is to operate the first commercial flight with the Boeing 787 on September 19. The flight will be between Delhi-Chennai and Delhi-Bangalore. 

Chairman and Managing Director Rohit Nandan said that the airline will operate the aircraft to half-a-dozen cities in the country and fly it on international routes during winter. 

Earlier in the day, Minister for Civil Aviation Ajit Singh along with former Civil Aviation ministers Shahnawaz Hussain and Rajiv Pratap Rudy cut the ribbon to induct the first Boeing 787 into Air India fleet.
                                                                                                                            Ashwini Phadnis

The Mussoorie Years

 With “Ruskin Bond: The Mussoorie Years…” Ganesh Saili documents the life of a friend of four decades in a town both call home 

For a change, this one’s on — not by — Ruskin Bond. In Ruskin Bond: The Mussoorie Years… (Niyogi Books), Ganesh Saili puts together a photo feature on the life of his friend of a few decades, “a log of coming to Mussoorie, settling down here and finding home.” As Saili tells us on the phone from Mussoorie, “I logged it from his arrival in Musssoorie to today, which is about 43-odd years. And I thought I would be the only guy who’d have a complete log of his evolution as a writer and the different phases of his life — days in Maplewood, days in Prospect Lodge, Saket and, finally, Ivy Cottage.” In short, the settings of innumerable tales of humour and adventure become the backdrop for another story, told by a person who’s hardly a stranger to the places or the people inhabiting them. 

A result of two years’ effort by Saili, Ruskin Bond: The Mussoorie Years…, while starting off with story of how the journey from Delhi’s Rajouri Garden to Mussoorie happened, offers glimpses into Bond’s brand of self-deprecatory humour and instances of freely distributed generosity. But having already penned a book on Ruskin Bond way back in 2004 — Ruskin: Our Enduring Bond — Saili turns to photographs to take the story forward here. There are sepia images of a just-born Bond from 1934, of childhood in Jamnagar, his parents’ wedding, of letters written from father to son, years in Delhi, and, of course, with friends and extended family in the hills. Each photograph accompanied by a brief description, occasionally interspersed with quotes. 

As Saili informs us, “Eighty per cent of the pictures are my own. Apart from the family album, most of the pictures have been taken by me at different periods. That way, even my photography has grown with him.”

Saili’s no stranger to telling stories through photographs, having worked on 30-odd books already, mostly on Mussoorie and the Himalayas. For basing one on a person, though, this is a first. 

Biographies are a tricky thing, due to expectations simultaneously sitting on opposite ends of a scale — of personal insights that outsiders are not privy too, of an objectivity that a friend cannot be logically expected to bring in. 

“It is a double-edged sword,” Saili says. “However, the thing with Ruskin is, he’s a very simple person. There’s nothing that one would brush under a carpet and try and forget. He’s extremely giving, extremely helpful to younger writers. So many of us owe it to him in the sense that he encouraged us to get going; ‘Chalo, chalo, don’t worry about those pink rejection slips. Keep going, keep going.’ Therefore there’s not much one can reveal as it were. He’s a very private person, does his own thing. Stays out of political and social circuits, happy to just sing his song and do his writing. Therefore, it’s not difficult writing about him. There’s not much you’re hiding. Or revealing, at the same time.”

He adds, “Ruskin was a well-known figure way back in the 1960s, when his first book (‘The Room on the Roof’) had come out, and he made a bit of a splash in the The Illustrated Weekly of India. They were serializing ‘The Room on the Roof’ 60 years ago and, therefore, he was in his own right recognisable… We all looked up to Ruskin, we still look up to him.”

What was his protagonist’s response to the book? “A 95 per cent good job. He said, ‘As long as I see Nelson Eddy and Laurel & Hardy on the posters in my house, you’ve done a good job.’”

Teaching Americans about being American

Haley is potential subject for a great biography, but this book is a missed opportunity

Why do you pick up a biography? To know more about an interesting personality, about a distinguished achiever, a person of interesting opinions? To understand a surprise success? 

Born to first generation Indian immigrants, Nikki Haley (born Nimrata Randhawa) is the first woman to be elected as Governor of South Carolina in 2010, and the youngest (born 1972) of the current lot of American governors. No mean achievement, especially since she won against strong and seasoned politicians, fighting the ‘boys’ club’ as she describes it. 

Haley has the potential to be a great biography subject. But this book is a missed opportunity. A politician's manifesto, at best, and not even a strong one. A politician who in the quest to be more American than most has distanced herself from what makes her interesting. 

Her gender, her ethnicity, her religion(s), and even original thought have all been pushed out of focus, only to be touched upon to prove a point about how American she is. We get it, you are. But there are so many parts to being American, the diversity of it all, which she marginalises doing no favours to her country. If only she had moved on from her citizenship and patriotism reaffirmations to something more interesting! 

She quotes a newspaper article written after she was elected as a State legislator. “Isn’t it something that a person whose parents are from another country can portray America better than you and I can? They can teach us a lesson of what it means to be an American.” 

The fact that she quotes it with pride is disturbing, because if anything, that is a quote that alienates her from the rest. 

But she writes, referring to this article, and the quote: “That’s what I’ve tried to do every day since.” 

Teaching Americans about being American? 

Despite the secular separation of the Church and the State, religion is a huge election issue in the U.S. And to be Nikki (Randhawa) Haley cannot be easy. 

She writes: “My conversion and my walk with God as a Christian remain intensely personal to me. I will probably never be one of those pelicans who sprinkles biblical passages into every speech. Mind you, I have no objection to those who do. The effort by some in our country to remove religion from public discourse is entirely wrong.” 

Yet in the very same page, talking about critics who used religion against her, she says her response was: “I am the proud daughter of Indian parents who reminded me every day how blessed I was to live in this country.” Prevarication? According to Haley, it isn’t. Just that she did not wish to hurt her parents.

Discrimination

With every page turned, it’s difficult to get past the obvious. This is not much more than a politician’s doublespeak. As is the wont of politicians, she has riddled the book with contradictions. The repeated need to emphasise how much South Carolina has moved away from its racially bigoted history, while still littering the books with ample instances of discrimination. The total lack of honesty in the tone in which she describes the discrimination her family suffered when they first moved Stateside, the desperation with which she repeats that it is no longer so. 

She recounts an incident when her father was treated as a suspect because he was different. She ends that story with: “I remember what my father so graciously put up with there. And I smile. I smile because I know that the same thing would never happen to him today. South Carolina is a different place. My story is proof of that.” 

Throughout the reading, I could’t help but wonder whom she was addressing in the book. It is obviously not meant for a wider audience. It is clearly for her vote bank. 

And even after being elected Governor, she was trying to prove she was one of them. 

There is another anecdote from her early days as a legislator when a colleague asked her if there were certain things that she might not eat. 

“I got his point. Even at thirty-two years old (sic), I was still having to prove that I was the same as the other kids. ‘I can eat hamburger with the best of them,’ I replied.” Would it have been so bad to have a different dietary preference? Maybe even a vegan one? 

It’s tricky reviewing an autobiography, as you can’t fault the plot. Do you review the book or the person? It’s difficult to detach the subject from his or her context and history. 

Nikki Haley has tried too hard to do that herself, which leaves us with no choice to read into the jarring vacuum between the lines. Ms Haley will go places, no doubt. One can only hope when she is comfortably American, without the compulsive need to explain she is one, she would write a truly memorable autobiography. 

                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                     By Vani Saraswathi

Akhil records fastest lap; claims second place

After being away from racing for a year, India’s Akhil Khushlani made a fantastic comeback by claiming second place in Round 10 of the JK Racing Asia Series at the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit.

Driving for US Formula Project, a sister team of Eurointernational, Khushlani started the race sixth on the grid and after a good start, was able to pass fifth placed Irfan Ilyas at the end of the first turn.

From there he pushed ahead and began to make his move on Hiqmar Danial, who by then was in third after being overtaken by Nabil Jeffri after a bad start. Khushlani found a way past Danial on the second last turn at the end of the first lap.

Jeffri was ahead and pushing on to catch up to winner Afiq Ikhwan, but by the end of lap two, Khushlani caught up to the Euro international driver and took him, once again at the second last turn. The Indian driver managed to maintain a good pace, setting the fastest lap on lap 5.

“It feels good. I feel confident now, especially after a bad practice and not such a great qualifying. It feels really nice to be back on the podium. I am happy with myself because I had a year’s gap and I am back on the pace with the fastest lap and going from sixth to second. I can’t ask for anything more,” Akhil said.

“I had a very good start. I gained one position by the end of the first corner and I saw the others making mistakes and took advantage of it. I saw opportunities coming so I planned my overtaking accordingly and I played safe, as I did not want a DNF.

“This result is probably the best way to make a comeback.

I can’t ask for anything more. Podium and racing at Silverstone, feels really nice and I hope to keep the performance up from now,” he ended.

Afiq Ikhwan has returned to form, making a clean sweep of wins. Ikhwan claimed his second win, once again from pole.

The JK Racing Asia Series will return to Asia for Rounds 11 and 12 scheduled to be held during the Airtel Indian Grand Prix at Buddh International Circuit on October 26 to 28.

Wipro eyeing big investments in Oman

Wipro Chairman and Managing Director Azim Premji.

Wipro is looking at making Oman its next largest market in the Gulf region and is looking forward to making big investments in the country, its Chairman and Managing Director Azim Premji has said. 

During his visit to Oman, Premji said it is potentially a very important market. 

“It is a good to do business here and we have made a good entry. We think we can grow very aggressively here,” he told the Times of Oman. 

Premji met business partners and authorities during his day-long meetings in Oman, following which he left for Riyadh. 

“We wanted to know what the government would like us to do to be relevant to the country, apart from giving us business. We plan to establish the seriousness of our commitment to Oman. 

We plan to look at the presence that we have here, the presence that we are trying to build and also build on the localisation which we are doing here,” he told the newspaper. 

Wipro has key customers across Omani market segments including oil and gas, retail, banking, transportation among others. It has been in West Asia for the last 10 years. 

According to Premji, it is perhaps the fastest growing region for the company globally. 

“We have cut across most of the verticals in Oman. We feel the potential is much more than what we have tapped. We feel Oman will throw up opportunities which will be much larger than what we have been able to exploit till now. So we will continue to make investments,” he said. 

Wipro is looking to set up local capability in Oman which the company has already done in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. 

The company has also done a case study with a very important travel segment client in Oman, the details of which will be revealed soon. 

On the Indian IT industry, Premji said it will grow nicely. 

“The penetration levels are low and so the head space for demand is high and Indian companies have solid cash flows. 

They are in a position to spend. But we have to be confident and have the right proactive solutions to be able to generate the interest to spend. India is a good market for us and we concentrate a lot on it,” he said.