Economic Survey: Welcome growth in IT hardware
New Delhi: The Economic Survey has taken note of the "welcome acceleration" in the IT hardware sector.
"The share of hardware and non-software services in the IT sector has declined consistently every year in the recent past," the Survey said. "The share of software services in electronics and IT sector has gone up from 38.7 per cent in 1998-99 to 61.8 per cent in 2003-04. However, there has been some welcome acceleration in the hardware sector with a sharp deceleration in the rate of decline of hardware's share in the electronics and IT industry."

After declining from 61.4 per cent in 1998-99 to 40.9 per cent in 2001-02, the share of hardware in the IT industry declined only marginally to 38.2 per cent in two subsequent years, it said.

The survey added that output of computers in value terms had increased by 36 per cent, 19.7 per cent and 57.6 per cent in 2000-01, 2002-03 and 2003-04 respectively. In ITES, India had emerged as the most preferred destination for BPO, a key driver for growth for the software industry and the services sector.

The ITES-BPO industry is estimated to have grown by about 54 per cent, with export earnings of $3.6 billion during 2003-04. The output of the Indian electronics and IT industry is estimated to have grown 18.2 per cent to Rs 1,14,650 crore in 2003-04.

Highlights and trends for the sector:

• Scope for tariffs to come down further
  
• Increase competition by encouraging entry of new players
  
• Broadband to be the next big thing after cellular boom
  
• Single tariff for local calls and STD a possibility
  
• Review extent of postal subsidy

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EMC to invest another $150 mn in the country
New Delhi: Information storage and management company EMC Corporation has announced an additional investment of $150 million in India, taking its total commitment to $250 million by 2007.

"The increased investment will fortify EMC's market leadership position in India and contribute to its technology leadership in the information storage and management space worldwide. We are pleased with the infrastructure and resources that exist in the country, and the investment will flow into research and development, customer support and sales and marketing activities," William J. Teuber Jr, EMC's Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer, told reporters after a meeting with the Union IT and Communications Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, here.

EMC currently has 400 people in India and plans to scale up its headcount to 1,000 by the end of this year.

EMC has over 100 large and mid-tier customers in India across verticals such as telecom, manufacturing, technology and financial space. These include AirTel, Tata Teleservices, Asian Paints, Microsoft and Cisco Systems.
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Intelsat stake sale fetches VSNL Rs.500 crore
Mumbai: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd has made around Rs500 crore in capital gains from the sale of its 5.42 per cent shareholding in Intelsat, an international satellite company that was recently sold to a consortium of funds.

VSNL on Friday sent a notice to the stock exchanges to say that it has received $169 million (around Rs750 crore) from the sale of its entire holding in Intelsat. The company's acquisition cost of these 9 million shares had been Rs254 crore.

VSNL was a founder member of Intelsat, the consortium formed in 1964. When Intelsat was privatised, VSNL was allocated a 5.42 per cent stake in the company. A few months ago, a consortium of private funds agreed to buy the ailing Intelsat.

A few months ago, the company received $26 million, or Rs114 crore, from the sale proceeds of New Skies Satellite, another satellite communications company of which it was a shareholder.

The proceeds from these sales will keep VSNL's reserves at more or less the same levels, even after its acquisition of Tyco's international global communications network for around Rs600 crore in cash, funded by internal accruals.
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Tata Motors picks up stake in Hispano Carrocera
Mumbai: Tata Motors will acquire a 21-per cent equity stake in Hispano Carrocera S.A (HC), a Spanish bus manufacturing company, with the option to make it a 100-per cent holding.

Tata Motors will have the licence for technology and brand rights from HC. The total deal comprising equity, debt and technology will add up to 12 million euros (about Rs70 crore), an official statement said.

HC currently has a 25-per cent share of the Spanish bus market. It also sells its buses elsewhere in Europe and outside Europe. It has its own in-house product development facility for buses and coaches.
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Crompton Greaves buys out Belgian transformer business
Mumbai: Crompton Greaves has announced the acquisition of the transformer business owned by the Pauwels Group of Belgium for Euro 32.1 million (Rs180 crore).

The acquired operations are located across Belgium, Ireland, Canada, the US and Indonesia. According to a release, Crompton Greaves has said, "This acquisition is a significant milestone in our overall growth strategy, especially in the international markets."

The sales turnover of the Pauwels Group for the year ended December 31, 2004, was about Euro 257 million. For the year ended March 2004, Crompton Greaves achieved a turnover of Rs1,861 crore and a net profit of Rs71 crore.
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Low-cost PC from HCL
Hyderabad: HCL Infosystems Ltd has announced the launch of a branded personal computer, targeting home users and the growing small office market segment powered by the Linux operating system. It is priced attractively at Rs12,990.

This Multimedia and Internet capable PC comes with a standard one-year warranty, 30 GB hard disk, a 1-giga hertz processor, 128 MB RAM, a 15-inch colour monitor and a CD ROM. The configuration has been worked out based on the needs of an average PC user.
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