Source: www.networkworld.com

MphasiS, an Indian outsourcing company in which Electronic Data Systems (EDS) owns a majority stake, is setting up a new software services and development facility in Hyderabad in south India. The facility will initially employ 100 staff but grow to 1,000 within a year, the company said.

The facility in Hyderabad, which will focus on applications development and management services, will help MphasiS’ meet its target of increasing staff in India by between 7,000 to 9,000 during its fiscal year ending March 31, a spokeswoman for MphasiS said on Thursday. The company currently has about 28,000 staff.

After it acquired a majority stake in MphasiS, EDS merged last year its own Indian services delivery operations into MphasiS. MphasiS is still listed on the stock exchange but that may not last as a result of Hewlett-Packard’s acquisition of EDS last month, according to analysts. HP does not operate other than through wholly-owned subsidiaries, they said.

In India, for example, HP bought out the publicly listed shares in Digital GlobalSoft, a software and services subsidiary in Bangalore, and de-listed the company. Digital GlobalSoft became part of HP after its 2002 acquisition of Compaq.

Besides Digital GlobalSoft, and now MphasiS, HP also has its own services operations in India. HP India and MphasiS declined to comment on any de-listing plans ahead for MphasiS.

Source: www.financialexpress.com

From 503 models in 2007 to an estimated 644 car models in 2015, there lies a huge opportunity for India and other low cost countries (LCCs) to tap the multi-billion dollar global component outsourcing market, says PwC while making a presentation at the 48 th Annual General Session of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (Acma).

“The cost competitiveness that India and BRIC nations like China and Brazil offer has resulted in two major changes in the global automobile industry. On the one hand there has been relocation of manufacturing facilities to LCCs to manufacture more value-added products at lower rates vis-à-vis developed countries and on the other hand, lately, even R&D is gradually shifting to these countries,” says John Hadley, partner, Price Waterhouse Coopers–Automotive Practice, adding that the emerging markets are expected to contribute 49% to the total global auto component industry which is pegged at $25 billion.

“India has still not reached the stage where we can design products on our own without assistance from our foreign counterparts due to lack of strong design capabilities. This is largely due to low expenditure of just 1.65% of the total revenue that goes into R&D vis-à-vis 7% in Japan,” says RC Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki India. “Since engineering resources are very expensive in Europe and other developed countries and are not available at short notice, it is an opportunity for India to develop design capabilities that will reduce the time cycle in an economy where the product life cycle is shrinking,” he added.

According to Sanjay Labroo, president, Acma, the slump in industry due to high interest rates and high inflation has given us an opportunity to invest in improving efficiency and developing design capabilities.

“India has the full potential to be the global R&D centre with twin advantage of having one of the largest pool of talented engineers and scientists ” adds Sontosh Mohan Dev, minister for heavy industries.