SATYAM: ON THE PATH OF EVOLUTION

The fraud at India’s fourth largest software exporter, Satyam Computer Services Ltd, has kick started a Darwinian consolidation among top-tier Indian IT companies as they pitch for Satyam, in part or whole. The company is still reeling under the revelation of $2 billion fraud by its founder on January 7.

Various companies are in the fray to acquire the company either in part, depending on their core business, or in its entirety. These include, the IT arm of India’s largest engineering company Larsen & Toubro Ltd; fifth largest Indian IT company HCL Technologies Ltd; diversified conglomerate Essar Group; London-based diversified Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group; Indian IT company i-Gate Global Solutions; and Spice Group.

The Indian IT industry is in the next stage of evolution, which commenced with the emergence of a number of companies establishing themselves as industry leaders by virtue of expertise in a certain domain, big clients’ accounts and sheer geographical spread. What now follows is the second stage of evolution, that of, consolidation which will involve mergers and acquisitions (M&As) that will shrink the number of companies in the top tier.

A new wave of M&As will be triggered by the acquirer’s business objectives to expand into new markets and new customers, high-end intellectual property of either process technology or product technology and also to garner new skill sets.

INDIAN FIRMS EMPLOY OVER 30K US CITIZENS

Amidst the row in US over outsourcing, a study has said that big corporates like Essar, HCL, Tata, Mahindra and Wipro have generated over 30,000 jobs for Americans in recent years.

The Financial Express

Vodafone to invest $6 bn on India operations in next 3 years

Setting an ambitious target of 100 million cellular subscribers, leading private GSM operator Vodafone-Essar on Monday announced an investment of 6 billion dollars (about Rs 24,000 crore) in the next three years. "We shall be investing 2 billion dollars annually for the next three years on our Indian operations... We have set a target of reaching 100 million subscriber base from the current level of 40 million," UK-based telecom giant Vodafone's CEO Arun Sarin told reporters here today.

The Economic Times
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/
Vodafone_to_invest_6_bn_on_India_operations_in_next_3_years/
articleshow/2716816.cms

Steeling the limelight with M&As

If mergers and acquisitions (M&A) defined the steel sector in 2007, policy initiatives and consolidation of gains will underline 2008. Last year, the industry was home to the biggest ever acquisition by an Indian company in the form of Tata Steel's takeover of Corus for $12 billion. It catapulted the Tatas to the 5th position among the world's steel makers with a combined finished steel production capacity of 27 million tonnes (mt).

The Indian Express
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/256156.html