India Posts and Telegraphs complete 150 years
New Delhi: President A P J Abdul Kalam will inaugurate the year-long celebrations of the Indian Posts and Telegraphs on the completion of its 150th year in service.

The event will be marked by a release of a set of four commemorative stamps in the denomination of Rs5 each and also the release of a commemorative coin by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The President will also give away the Meghdoot Awards for Excellence in Postal Services.

The postal services in India commenced with a skeletal network of 701 post offices under the control of a Director General on October 1, 1854. Today, the postal network has 1,55,000 outlets in the country which is the largest in the world.

The British Postal system in India was established by Lord Clive in 1776 which was further developed by Warren Hastings who established the Calcutta GPO in 1774 followed by Madras GPO in 1786 and the Bombay GPO in 1793.
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Financial companies to outsource jobs worth $210 billion by 2005
Washington.D.C.: The top 100 global financial companies will offshore jobs worth over 200 billion dollars to India and other countries in 2005, says a new research by Deloitte and Touche.

In 2005, Deloitte expects the top 100 global financial companies to offshore a total of 210 billion dollars of their operating costs, saving on average, 700 million dollars.

The survey, covering 43 financial services companies around the world, suggests that the number of firms taking the offshore option increased by 38 per cent last year. Deloitte also estimated that by 2010, 20 per cent of the operating costs of global financial institutions would be centred abroad, reducing costs by about 37 per cent.

However, the Deloitte survey said most of the companies sending jobs to India and other countries had concerns about risk management. Half of those surveyed had contingency plans if the offshore operation went wrong. Apart from India, other countries with high proficiency in English are emerging as popular destinations, including Malaysia and the Philippines, the report added.
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FICCI summit on rural marketing strategies
Mumbai: More than 300 top corporate leaders and professionals engaged in the rural market are expected to participate in Rural Marketing Summit 2004 organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on October 5 and 6.

Participants include CEOs and senior marketing managers from the private and public sector, strategic planners, advertising and media professionals and marketing consultants.

The objective of the summit is to explore ways and means of providing products and services that meet the needs, aspirations and attitudes of rural consumers and evolve appropriate communication strategy for market promotion.

Currently, the rural market accounts for 53 per cent of the FMCG and 59 per cent of the durable market in India. The rural consumers represent more than 50 per cent of the country's `consuming classes'.
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