The California-based Force10 Networks, a global technology leader, on Wednesday unveiled its growth strategy for India including expansion of its operations in Chennai.

Force10's high performance solutions are designed to deliver new economics by virtualising and automating Ethernet networks.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Ebrahim Abbasi, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Business Development, Engineering and Operations, said Force10 Networks India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Force10 Networks, would increase its workforce to more than 200 from 120 in engineering, customer support and related functions by the end of 2010. It would also relocate to a state-of-the-art, 43,000 sq. ft. development lab and data centre in Chennai.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/22/stories/2010042253141600.htm

FORCE10 NETWORKS UNVEILS INDIA GROWTH STRATEGY; INCLUDES DOUBLING INVESTMENT AND WORKFORCE IN CHENNAI BY END OF 2010


The expansion comes on the fifth anniversary of Force10’s India operations in which it has invested $16 million to establish a Chennai-based world-class research and development (R&D) team as an extension to its U.S. engineering operation.



http://www.force10networks.com/news/pressreleases/2010/pr-2010-04-21.asp

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/Aricent-to-hire-1000-people-for-new-software-line-in-India/articleshow/5845296.cms

.....
Out of the 1,000, almost 300 people would be based in the company's Chennai centre, he said adding they would be doing high-end software solution for telecom clients.

Aricent is owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Sequoia Capital, The Family Office, and Flextronics Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board.

Last fiscal, Aricent had hired 3,000 people globally across its several centres.

Plans To Join Hands With Landowners To Develop Residential Clusters In City

Chennai: To meet the growing demand for housing in the Chennai metropolitan area, the government has rolled out a public-private partnership (PPP) model to develop residential clusters, mainly in the city’s outlying areas.
As per the scheme, the CMDA will join hands with landowners who hold more than 100 acres each and develop them with all basic infrastructure, said slum clearance and accommodation control minister Suba Thangavelan in the assembly on Thursday.
Though the rules for this scheme are yet to be formulated, the basic idea is to develop land and hand it over back to the owners. The government agencies involved in the exercise would retain a share towards meeting the development cost, said a senior official.
Reacting to the announcement, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India vice-president Prakash Challa said, “It is a welcome move by the government. We have been suggesting this for the past two years. It would go a long way in fulfilling the housing needs of the low income group people. It would also serve to bring down the rentals.
While we builders have the technical expertise, the government has the financial muscle. Together, we can do a good job.”
He suggested that it would be better if the minimum area for the PPP model could be brought down from 100 acres to 25 acres. Not too many people have 100 acres of contiguous land. “And even if there are such stretches, they would be in far-off places. It should be implemented on lesser extents of land inside the city also. Agencies like Slum Clearance Board and Tamil Nadu Housing Board, which have huge land parcels in the city, should also be involved in this exercise,” he added.
Greater Chennai’s housing shortage is estimated at more than one lakh units by the CMDA. Spread over 1,189 sq km, the Chennai metropolitan area has enough land resource for developing residential townships.
However, owing to lack of infrastructure like good roads, drinking water and sewerage, much of the outlying areas have not been properly exploited for meeting the housing demand. Private developers too hesitate to move into some of the remote areas owing to the huge cost involved in developing infrastructure.
Govt boost to infrastructure
Apart from the partnership to develop residential clusters, the government also announced in the state assembly on Thursday, a slew of projects aimed at improving the city’s infrastructure:
Parking lot for fourwheelers and two-wheelers at Ezhilagam on Marina at a cost of Rs 50 lakh
Infrastructure facilities to be created on 10 acres at Koyambedu wholesale market
Air space at Chennai Contract Carriage Bus
Terminal to be exploited through public-private partnership
A truck terminal to be developed at Karunakaracheri and Annambedu villages on the proposed Outer Ring Road
Detailed development plans to be prepared for Villivakkam, Velachery, Ambattur, Nazarathpettai and Perumbakkam
A zonal planning authority to be set up to give housing plan approval for areas abutting the East Coast Road from Neelankarai to Puducherry

TOI (http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOI&BaseHref=TOICH/2010/04/23&PageLabel=5&EntityId=Ar00500&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T)

The California-based Force10 Networks, a global technology leader, on Wednesday unveiled its growth strategy for India including expansion of its operations in Chennai.
Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Force10 Networks India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Force10 Networks, would increase its workforce to more than 200 from 120 in engineering, customer support and related functions by the end of 2010. It would also relocate to a state-of-the-art, 43,000 sq. ft. development lab and data centre in Chennai.

Some time before, it was speculated that JP Morgan is looking for Chennai due to ongoing T- crisis in AP.
Now JPM has decided to go with Hyd and it is officially announced.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

From DC, Hyd edition

Andhra Pradesh has staged a comeback of sorts by emerging as the most favoured state for information technology (IT) giants. Notwithstanding the slowdown and T-agitations, IT majors have announced huge expansion plans that will create three lakh new jobs for the youth of the state. For the first time since the separatist movement started, two major multinationals have shown interest about opening their India operations centres in Hyderabad. JP Morgan and the United Health Group will set up their units at Raheja’s SEZ at Madhapur.
Existing companies like Tata Consultancy, Wipro, Accenture, Infosys, Virtusa and Honeywell too have informed the government that they are going ahead with their expansion plans in spite of disturbances

^^ This is not a surprise. Of late, Chennai is getting more manufacturing companies and is slowly moving out of the white-collared job space. Even in the white-collared job space, it is just the same old mass recruitment shops of the big Indian IT companies and very very few foreign MNCs. :bash::bash: B'lore, Hyd and Pune are eating up Chennai's share in this space. :ohno::ohno:

True to some extent. We need more manufacturing as well as service industries. The fact that JPM is gng ahead with Hyd despite the T agitation and recent curfew is causing me worries. Are we too unfit for such jobs???

But on the other side, IBM and Accenture are betting big on Chennai. IBM is ramping up big time. CTS & Capgemini are constructimg massive campuses.

Of course, none of these cities (even put together) can stand b4 Bangalore. I did a jo search in a famous job portal, for a given category i could find 121 postings in Banagalore as against 84 in Chennai. This explains!!

We are talking about 30K crores and 40K crores investments and major chunk of this goes to machines.

When Goldman Sachs executives toured various cities of India to scout for their centre in early 2000, Chennai was negated because of weather and social infrastructure and found BLore attractive. This was despite there was one person in that committee who was a Tamilian and influencing them to consider Chennai.

I saw my own company's(major financial firm) powerpoint presentation comparing cities, Chennai's negatives were the usual ones: cleanliness, lack of modern amenities, outlook etc and they chose BBay,Pune.

Mind you this was in early 2000s and Chennai has improved, but so has other cities. Secondly we still are yet to address our cultural, lingua Ostrich headed warriors.

--
PS: At the end of the day its still heartening to see this Govt deep rooted in their parochial view still working hard to attract industries - blue or white collar. Chennai works with one hand tied behind and yet atleast competes with BBay,Delhi, BLore, Hyd and is in still in the table, that speaks volumes. :okay: Hope one day we reach our potential.

^^ This is not a surprise. Of late, Chennai is getting more manufacturing companies and is slowly moving out of the white-collared job space. Even in the white-collared job space, it is just the same old mass recruitment shops of the big Indian IT companies and very very few foreign MNCs. :bash::bash: B'lore, Hyd and Pune are eating up Chennai's share in this space. :ohno::ohno:

XEROX selected Chennai few weeks back.

Yeah, you win some and lose some. nothing to worry.

^^ Also, there is no need to discard our core values and culture to win some of these companies to invest. If it was weather, cleanliness, culture, they would have gone somewhere else other than India. I also don't believe other cities are so much better than Chennai in these aspects that everyone would automatically prefer these cities to Chennai. If we are lagging or lacking in those, I wonder why would they even bring in manufacturing?

There is no need to bash ourselves for everything.

^^ We will always deal with 'some' and not 'more'. That is the problem. :(

True to some extent. We need more manufacturing as well as service industries. The fact that JPM is gng ahead with Hyd despite the T agitation and recent curfew is causing me worries. Are we too unfit for such jobs???

But on the other side, IBM and Accenture are betting big on Chennai. IBM is ramping up big time. CTS & Capgemini are constructimg massive campuses.

Of course, none of these cities (even put together) can stand b4 Bangalore. I did a jo search in a famous job portal, for a given category i could find 121 postings in Banagalore as against 84 in Chennai. This explains!!

We are talking about 30K crores and 40K crores investments and major chunk of this goes to machines.

Got this info from some of my friends...

IBM's campus in DLF IT park is very small and minuscule. It mostly hosts testing services and that too in small numbers compared to other cities.

Accenture's campus may be a bit big but still very small compared to their strength in B'lore. I am not saying they be equal but atleast sizable which is not the case. Moreover, every policy in the company including the holidays are oriented towards B'lore. For example, the holidays for Kannada New Year, Diwali etc. apply to their Chennai center as well although the entire state celebrates these festivals on different dates; there is no leave for Tamil New Year. All other IT companies have local holiday policy except this one. I am not discussing company policies here but this sort of step-motherly treatment is irritating. Its time these companies learn the diverse culture of India and frame policies accordingly. :bash::bash: This is not a big work - they can just learn it from other Indian IT companies. Coming back to the topic, this example highlights the extent to which Chennai is just ignored. Most of the time, it looks like the operations of these foreign MNCs in Chennai are just for namesake.

^^ Also, there is no need to discard our core values and culture to win some of these companies to invest. If it was weather, cleanliness, culture, they would have gone somewhere else other than India. I also don't believe other cities are so much better than Chennai in these aspects that everyone would automatically prefer these cities to Chennai. If we are lagging or lacking in those, I wonder why would they even bring in manufacturing?

There is no need to bash ourselves for everything.
Agree with you to some extent. Nowadays am seeing the news that the whole of India sweating it out from the intense heat (even in Shimla, Blore, Ooty), water problems and power cuts. These are indications that the situation is the same everywhere. Chennai's humidity problems are there in every coastal city including Singapore. All these things indicate that Chennai alone doesn't have these problems and these excuses are silly.

^^ We will always deal with 'some' and not 'more'. That is the problem. :(

Well said. Case of setting very low expectations does not commensurate with our potential.

Yes. The problem is not much of variety of companies in Chennai. We need to compete with inherent problem like Perception(anti-Hindi),climate(secondary) which makes the job very difficult.
Unless the top Honcho's show personal interest we won't get good companies.

One more thing is Chennai GDP is less when compared with Bangalore and also if I am correct the Manuf gdp of Bangalore is on par with Chennai.

I think these reasons do not hold much water.
If anti-Hindi stance of the state is a big reason, why are these companies not going to Hindi speaking states such as UP instead of going to Pune, Bangalore or Hyderabad and even Chennai? They would not have any reason to go to China lock, stock and barrel.

Why did we mess up the offer of setting up the first technology park by Singapore which laid the foundation for IT development in Bangalore? They came to Chennai knowing fully well that people are not favourably inclined to switching to Hindi.

Why are investors flocking to Gujarat where even the government was complicit in mass murder of innocent citizens? Is love for one's own language and opposition to forcing of another language in television, schools, government machinery and offices so grievous than violence against people of linguistic, religious minorities that one can see time and again in these much touted cities such as Bangalore or even Hyderabad?

^^So what do you think as reason
Either the Govt was sluggish w.r.t to other leading states or the quality of resources here lags standards w.r.t to other leading states.

I think these reasons do not hold much water.
If anti-Hindi stance of the state is a big reason, why are these companies not going to Hindi speaking states such as UP instead of going to Pune, Bangalore or Hyderabad and even Chennai? They would not have any reason to go to China lock, stock and barrel.

Every city has its negatives and positives and businesses weigh them both and then make the decision. Its very apparent where Chennai lies comapared to BLore and Hyd in attracting major firms’s major centres like MSFT,CSCO,JNPR,IBM,GOOG etc which offers high end higher paying jobs.
One can rest on the laurels of getting xerox, xansa and be complacent OR remove the perception and attract more industries to maximize the potential.

PS: My last post on this issue in this thread.

^^So what do you think as reason
Either the Govt was sluggish w.r.t to other leading states or the quality of resources here lags standards w.r.t to other leading states.

I think the governments in TN were not actively wooing the investors unlike our neighbours. Krishna and Naidu did the trick for KN & AP. Gujarat was already ahead in industrial development plus Modi's support to investors along with the entrepreneurial spirit of the Gujaratis helped.

CMs in TN didn't respond quickly to the changing times. They were still in the mentality behoving of a queen or a king treating the citizens like their subjects and the ministers/bureacrats like their servants. They made the MNC investors wait for their audience or expected large scale bribe to help them when in fact the MNC's had the whole world at their disposal.

The current CM is too old to do involve himself in inviting investments or campaigning abroad for soliciting investments. The state has to resort to latest technologies and tools to market itself as an attractive investment proposition instead of leaving it to luck or worse to its bureacrats.

My thoughts of Impact to economy.

Today I just looked into some stat this is pertaining to GDP we think we are much ahead of Bangalore in Manufacturing , it is true only in terms of Production volume but look at the actual numbers as a GDP component the manufacturing part for 2006-2007 net state domestic product Chennai,Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram put together it is about 11,000 crores whereas bangalore urban dist is around 10,000 crores. I was wondering how that is possible I think it is possible because of the value addition. Hyundai production will be 10,000 crores but it will buy components and spare parts worth 9000 crores so the value addition is only 1000 crores but look at BEL it is considered as a manufacturing company its output is 4000 crores it will buy components worth only 1000 crores so the value added is 3000 crores and that is spend into the economy as hugh amount of professional work force salary. Now this is what Chennai is losing without high value added services and manufacturing.

I agree govt plays a huge part in getting this kind of companies and in TN we need to put more efforts then others to get since we lack natural advantages like climate etc.

I think our last hope is M.K.Stalin - he is proactive and seen in all inaugurations and makes sure investments don't stop pouring in whether its manufacturing or services. He also pays lots of attention on improving Chennai's infra. If Azhagiri becomes the CM, he may be forced to reduce his influence in Chennai and so it will be the last nail in the investment coffin of Chennai. If Amma comes, she will move to the hinterland and forget Chennai. :ohno:

One more year to go and that will decide if we will lose out to upcoming towns like Pune, Gurgoan, Noida, Ahmedabad etc. :no: By the way, I have lowered by comparison criteria and come down to these towns.

^^ Folks from other TN cities may not like me talking like this and would want the Govt to focus on their cities but right now, the situation is like "modhalukae mosam" :ohno: - Chennai is already going down and if the Govt losses its focus on it, then it will be gone for good.

Got this info from some of my friends...

IBM's campus in DLF IT park is very small and minuscule. It mostly hosts testing services and that too in small numbers compared to other cities.

Accenture's campus may be a bit big but still very small compared to their strength in B'lore. I am not saying they be equal but atleast sizable which is not the case. Moreover, every policy in the company including the holidays are oriented towards B'lore. For example, the holidays for Kannada New Year, Diwali etc. apply to their Chennai center as well although the entire state celebrates these festivals on different dates; there is no leave for Tamil New Year. All other IT companies have local holiday policy except this one. I am not discussing company policies here but this sort of step-motherly treatment is irritating. Its time these companies learn the diverse culture of India and frame policies accordingly. :bash::bash: This is not a big work - they can just learn it from other Indian IT companies. Coming back to the topic, this example highlights the extent to which Chennai is just ignored. Most of the time, it looks like the operations of these foreign MNCs in Chennai are just for namesake.

IBM has nealry 8 floor office in DLF IT Park, so you mean this is very small operations!!!. I don't know about other companies, my company follow a regional holiday policy. Not only my present company but all the previous company I worked in were like that. But there are US MNC's in India which follows only American holidays- they say it is for operational reasons.

^^ Raji, gr8 to see you back after a very long time. :)

I just quoted whatever my friends said. They are working there and they know more than I do.

About the regional holiday policy, am not quoting US holiday policy. Am quoting "Bangalore" holiday policy applied to everyone. :bash::bash:

Guys, I do not want to compare Chennai with any other city. Every city has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Presently I live in Bangalore and miss Chennai very much for many reasons - its free flowing traffic, less pollution levels than bangalore (I can bet), Minimal powercuts, Chennai Sambar:nuts:, so many.
Needless to say climate is worsening day by day everywhere...(Not only Bangalore climate but also auto guys have become worser...charging Rs.120 (triple than normal) from Indiranagar to residency road if sky drizzles)
With all these I dont feel Chennai to be a disadvantageous location for anything ...it's our people in power who are spoiling the show.

Though the thinking is looking cool at the outset, it is fraught with lot of dangerous issues.

Buying 100 acres of contiguous land itself is no mean task. Private companies are managing somehow in spite of the political and official obstacles.

Why would a private party join hands with Govt, wherein the Govt will charge them separately for infrastructure needs (without even acquiring land for approach road). No Govt Depts will give Planning permission, power, water and drainage connection without EXTRA expenses.

Any private party which managed to buy 100 acres can also get all these things on their own. They need to pay the Infra dev charges even though the Govt may not do any thing.

Actually, this idea was mooted for EWS Housing projects, wherein the private players can develop EWS housing on Govt lands as acquiring land is very difficult.

TNHB, TNSCB are sitting on large tracts of lands within cities and outside cities / towns and are not having the resources to build EWS housing. Private parties are more interested in middle and higher end development due to better returns. In the process, Economically Weaker Section is not able to buy any flat / house from private but has to depend on TNHB / TNSCB flats / houses.

As the experiment in Mumbai by BMRDU at city slums like Dharavi has proved hugely successful, other state can also try this model.

Govt has to stop with FELICITATION.

Over the last few years, an image has been created that only IT and ITES related development is good and others are not equal.

Though IT has contributed more in growth terms, basic / core industries developemnt is more long lasting. Due to large supplier / vendor base, lot of smaller companies will also benefit. From the employment angle, IT / ITES directly helps but the indirect employment is more in the core sectors.

TN , on papaer has done extremely well comapred to other states.

But the real crux of the problem is NOTHING HAPPENS AFTER THE MOU IS SIGNED.

There are so many projects which got stuck up mainly due to the pathetic treatment these companies are given by the various Govt Depts. They get vexed by the delay and many quitely wound up or shelved their projects.

The Green Channel and Single Window are all humbug and only on paper. The Govt Depts will not give NOCs or Permissions even to the Govt projects unless the contractor pays for the same.

This attitude may singularly derail the TN Development and set it back by years.

We have to learn from Gujarat where the treatment is excellent.

Got this info from some of my friends...

IBM's campus in DLF IT park is very small and minuscule. It mostly hosts testing services and that too in small numbers compared to other cities.

Accenture's campus may be a bit big but still very small compared to their strength in B'lore. I am not saying they be equal but atleast sizable which is not the case. Moreover, every policy in the company including the holidays are oriented towards B'lore. For example, the holidays for Kannada New Year, Diwali etc. apply to their Chennai center as well although the entire state celebrates these festivals on different dates; there is no leave for Tamil New Year. All other IT companies have local holiday policy except this one. I am not discussing company policies here but this sort of step-motherly treatment is irritating. Its time these companies learn the diverse culture of India and frame policies accordingly. :bash::bash: This is not a big work - they can just learn it from other Indian IT companies. Coming back to the topic, this example highlights the extent to which Chennai is just ignored. Most of the time, it looks like the operations of these foreign MNCs in Chennai are just for namesake.


Really pity on ur Ignorance:bash::bash: . I doubt whether u r in contact with the outside world :lol::lol:.

TCS,largest software company in India ,is building the largest IT campus in Siruseri ,Chennai.I think this is not for namesake nor they ignore Chennai,instead this is real serious business for TCS.

Moderators.. Can you please rename this thread as " Chennai IT sector Developments" ?

Though the thinking is looking cool at the outset, it is fraught with lot of dangerous issues.

Buying 100 acres of contiguous land itself is no mean task. Private companies are managing somehow in spite of the political and official obstacles.

Why would a private party join hands with Govt, wherein the Govt will charge them separately for infrastructure needs (without even acquiring land for approach road). No Govt Depts will give Planning permission, power, water and drainage connection without EXTRA expenses.

Any private party which managed to buy 100 acres can also get all these things on their own. They need to pay the Infra dev charges even though the Govt may not do any thing.

Actually, this idea was mooted for EWS Housing projects, wherein the private players can develop EWS housing on Govt lands as acquiring land is very difficult.

TNHB, TNSCB are sitting on large tracts of lands within cities and outside cities / towns and are not having the resources to build EWS housing. Private parties are more interested in middle and higher end development due to better returns. In the process, Economically Weaker Section is not able to buy any flat / house from private but has to depend on TNHB / TNSCB flats / houses.

As the experiment in Mumbai by BMRDU at city slums like Dharavi has proved hugely successful, other state can also try this model.

Govt has to stop with FELICITATION.
"experiment in Mumbai by BMRDU at city slums like Dharavi has proved hugely successful "?????Can't see anything happenning in Dharavi.Same old vast expanse of slums as i could see.:)

I think these reasons do not hold much water.
If anti-Hindi stance of the state is a big reason, why are these companies not going to Hindi speaking states such as UP instead of going to Pune, Bangalore or Hyderabad and even Chennai? They would not have any reason to go to China lock, stock and barrel.

Why did we mess up the offer of setting up the first technology park by Singapore which laid the foundation for IT development in Bangalore? They came to Chennai knowing fully well that people are not favourably inclined to switching to Hindi.

Why are investors flocking to Gujarat where even the government was complicit in mass murder of innocent citizens? Is love for one's own language and opposition to forcing of another language in television, schools, government machinery and offices so grievous than violence against people of linguistic, religious minorities that one can see time and again in these much touted cities such as Bangalore or even Hyderabad?
Yes TN missed this golden opportunity when land could not be provided for the Singapore corridor project near chennai during Ms.Jayalalitha's Govt of 1991-06.This project was for setting up both technological and mfg industries taking advantage of the large pool of skilled manpower in TN and also owing to space constraints in Singapore.During the same time Texas instruments knocked the doors of chennai but the more active C.M of karnataka could hook it.Despite all this sad past the present regime in TN could get many MNCs in automobiles,telecom and white goods.Be happy with what u get and think positively for a better future.Competition and satellite TV channels to a great extent has mellowed the tamil pride and ostrich like attitudes

^^ Raji, gr8 to see you back after a very long time. :)

I just quoted whatever my friends said. They are working there and they know more than I do.

About the regional holiday policy, am not quoting US holiday policy. Am quoting "Bangalore" holiday policy applied to everyone. :bash::bash:

:) Thankyou..but I was regular reader. Bangalore traffic taking toll of all my precious time, interests and hobbies:nuts:

When I was working for a compnay in DLF IT park 6 months before- IBM were adding on buildings to their operations so tot it is expanding .....internal details not aware.

We need to understand what % of employees are MNCs are what % are product companies
As for as product MNC's are Chennai is not on the radar for most we lag Blore, Hyd, Pune, NCR and with services MNC I am not sure what % of HP, Accenture and IBM operations are in chennai

As for as Indian companies, TCS and Cognizant has biggest operations out of Chennai, HCL/Wipro/Satyam probably 2nd largest and Infosys probably is 3rd big operations. That is the reason for having high exports.

Really pity on ur Ignorance:bash::bash: . I doubt whether u r in contact with the outside world :lol::lol:.

TCS,largest software company in India ,is building the largest IT campus in Siruseri ,Chennai.I think this is not for namesake nor they ignore Chennai,instead this is real serious business for TCS.

You need not feel pity for me. You should read all my posts clearly. I have said foreign MNCs treat Chennai operations as namesake and not Indian IT companies. I know the level of presence of Indian IT companies in Chennai.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/25/stories/2010042553570400.htm

It will have details of space available, talent pool, SEZs and schemes, says Davidar

CHENNAI: The State government will launch a web portal next month to guide foreign IT firms that seek to set up base in Tamil Nadu, IT Secretary P W C Davidar said.

Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of the conference on cyber security ‘Emerging cyber threats and challenges' here on Saturday, he said the portal would have details of space available, talent pool, SEZs and schemes available for promotion of Information Technology.

“We have done a lot of development after the announcement by the Minister” he said.

The portal would have provision for advertisement on IT space available in various parts of the State.

...

^^ I think this won't be a big success. In India, we haven't matured to the level of buying office space and reading Govt guidelines online. :nuts::nuts:

Foreign companies still need 'investment' and 'real estate' brokers to get these details for investing in India. Those brokers need 'commission'. Thats how the system works! :lol::lol:

Observations in Chennai :

Dear forumers, I came to India for the last 3 weeks. I got opportunity to visit Chennai & Bangalore during my stay. I must say I was glad to note sea of changes in Chennai. I was not able to take photos of all the changes that I had noted; except for IT express way which I will update soon.

1. Airport : The first place which I noted was of course Airport. Everything has got changed. Everyone knew the construction updates. I even noticed changes in parking area; Changes in the departure & arrival points. It was not the perfect. Still understandable! And I don’t know if someone of you took a notice of inside the airport. I saw few road rollers employed in the runway area inside the airport.
2. TN assembly building: How come one could miss the sprawling next big spectacle of Chennai? I wanted to get in. Just before we could make it, CM convoy came. So just stopped to make into it. Nevertheless, it’s a standing beauty. Atleast now we can say we have an assembly building. That’s for sure. It will become more magnificent once landscaping is over.
3. Marina drive: From TN assembly building, I was able to come to “namma” Marina via Sivananda saalai & Napier Bridge. While the former is under development, I didn’t find any substantial changes wrt later. (But I had read the news that it has got the latest lighting at a cost of 1.25 cr. Is it????). However once I entered Marina, it was indeed astonishment. The beautification is clearly visible.
4. IT express way: WOW!!! :banana::banana: What a development….. Ofcourse not the roads. Still lot have to be done. But I am speaking here about wats happening besides & beyond IT express way. It’s the New Chennai… What a development…. Its happening…. It’s a new era of development in Chennai. U love it!! I was not able to close even for a minute. Otherwise one tend to miss atleast one construction activity. I wish the IT express way will get completed very soon so that we have a road which means business. I made it sure that I had a glimpse of the new IT centre of Chennai : TCS Siruseri project. Simply fantastic!!!
5. Other general stuff:
- I went around the city using both my car as well as city bus. The got to tell this. Now I love our city busses. No where I noticed the so called “Idli bus” which used to be painted in green. And another interesting observation was is in each & every bus (not just city bus but every bus) there is a symbol for “Kovai ulaga tamil sangam”. I really liked the symbol. It was really attractive.
- Another interesting observation was the paintings throughout Mount road. Fantabulous!!! They are for sure going to change the image of our poster city. Throughout mount road I was hardly able to find any poster. Rather in almost every government I was able to find the paintings. And these paintings were far superior to what I had noticed in Bengaluru. (Not for comparison; Just for an info!

The following photos were taken on the way from Tidel park to Madipakkam...

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/6865/1002252.jpg

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8121/1002249m.th.jpg (http://img710.imageshack.us/i/1002249m.jpg/)

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Not so long ago, Andhra Pradesh acquired the distinction of having the highest number of SEZs — 73 — in the country. But the state is now finding it difficult to retain that number, with many companies seeking de-notification of the notified land or a portion of it as they are finding it difficult to develop the SEZs. At least a dozen developers and companies have written to the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation to de-notify full or part of the notified land.


If some have cited recession, others have developed cold feet due to the Telangana crisis. “They say that things are very uncertain with the Telangana issue blowing hot and cold, and are not willing to take the risk of investing and developing a site for which there may be no takers. They prefer to go to Bangalore, Chennai and Pune rather than Hyderabad,” an APIIC official said. While three IT and IT Enabled Services (ITES) SEZs have already been de-notified, others too are lining up.


Source: Indian Express (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Hit-by-recession--Telangana--companies-back-out-of-SEZs-in-Andhra-Pradesh/611203)

I'm sorry for HYD. HYD was once nightmare to Chennai. Expecting comeback soon.

I'm sorry for HYD. HYD was once nightmare to Chennai. Expecting comeback soon.

Don't feel sorry for HYD it will surely bounce back.U cannot ignore the highly talented people here for long.The worry for TN/chennai would be if Telengana is created then investments in Andhra/rayalaseema regions will be activated at the cost of growth of chennai.

Don't feel sorry for HYD it will surely bounce back.U cannot ignore the highly talented people here for long.The worry for TN/chennai would be if Telengana is created then investments in Andhra/rayalaseema regions will be activated at the cost of growth of chennai.

Andhra/Rayalaseema investments in chennai? you kidding, Chennai gets its investments from MNC and big bang Indian companies not from small petty players. These big bang companies from AP/Rayalaseema will invest in Chennai or Hyderabad or Bangalore or Vizag anyways regardless of state boundaries

http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/27/stories/2010042754930300.htm

Proactive HR policies solve most of problems, says NASSCOM Regional Director

CHENNAI: In the modern day workplace, it is possible to sit inside a cubicle in Chennai and work for a client in San Francisco or Seattle. The IT sector, which has been at the forefront of this globalisation of labour, has drastically altered the nature of the debate about employee rights and contractual obligations.

Pointing out that most fresh recruits into the sector are young graduates who have no idea about their rights, Karthik Shekhar, General Secretary, Union for IT & ITES employees (UNITES), says: “Managers and team leaders are just glorified terms. They manage processes or resources, not people.”

He says that since IT employees are not covered by the Industrial Disputes Act, some kind of collective representation is required to press for their rights. “Long and erratic work hours, not being paid what they are promised when they are on a foreign assignment and burnout issues are all legitimate concerns that have to be raised. But companies have managed to convince employees that unions are for blue collared employees,” Mr. Shekhar adds.

Psychiatrist Vijay Nagaswami says “The IT sector seems to have built its strategic processes around attrition. They expect the HR support to last only for a couple of years, so hiring freshers from campus recruitment on a regular basis is how they deal with the situation.”

According to him, IT sector lifestyles play havoc with family lives. Killing commutes and working as per overseas time-zones make for very poor support opportunities from families and friends.

...

Top 4 states

1) Karnataka - Rs 79,000 Cr
2) Maharastra-Rs 50,000 Cr
3) TamilNadu -Rs 46,000 Cr:banana:
4) Andhra - Rs 32,000 Cr

http://www.escindia.in/

^^ Still 3rd. :( I hope that is just software. If its hardware alone, we should score more :)

I got the hardware numbers from that site... :banana::banana::banana:

CONTRIBUTION OF STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES.

There has been a very high growth in exports from the state of Tamil Nadu. The State of Tamil Nadu has become the top exporter of Electronics Hardware during the year 2008-09. :cheers::cheers: In value terms, export of electronics hardware from Karnataka increased from Rs. 640 crore (US$ 159 million) estimated in 2007-08 to Rs. 13200 crore (US$ 2870 million) in the year 2008-09. Export from Tamil Nadu accounts for a share of 42.27 percent in Indias total electronics hardware exports. The other major States contributing to Indias export of Electronics Hardware are Karnataka, (19.86 percent), Uttar Pradesh (14.45 percent), and Maharashtra (13.13 percent). :cheers::cheers:

No it is Hardware and software. Look at the website and also under export scenario from Home page.
There is a typo it is not Karnataka for TN the hardware exports is now 13,000 crores. I think TN will be 49 and Karnataka will be 76.

In software, KN = 2 * TN
In hardware, TN = 2 * KN

Of course, the value of software exports are high. :)

^^ Its time we move up the value chain and jump into micro-electronics and nano manufacturing like electronic chips - an electronics fabrication industry. That will make us a big leader soon because we already have a solid base in related manufacturing spaces. :)

^^ We need to become a mini-Taiwan in this regard. Hope Intel sets up its shop here some day. Here is where we miss Dayanidhi Maran. :(

Top 4 states

1) Karnataka - Rs 79,000 Cr
2) Maharastra-Rs 50,000 Cr
3) TamilNadu -Rs 46,000 Cr:banana:
4) Andhra - Rs 32,000 Cr

http://www.escindia.in/

Good going TN :banana: 10 K crores increase from last year. Hoping to be even bigger next year with IT parks joining from other Tier 2 cities (CBE, MDU, Trichy etc.)

^^ Good find.

For 2009-2010, TN hardware exports will rise very high. Nokia itself will export 15000-18000 crores.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://business.rediff.com/report/2010/apr/13/sez-reliance-ril-jamnagar-unit-sez-zles-with-rs-79k-cr-exports.htm

Nokia SEZ in Tamil Nadu ranks third with its exports expected to be in the range of Rs 15,000-18,000 crore (Rs 150-180 billion), said sources privy to the development.

Bangalore Urban district Borders Tamilnadu so it is almost like another TN city and we should feel happy about that. TN+Bangalore is more than 50% indian Software and Hardware.:banana::banana::banana:

^^ Lol that way Andhra should be celebrating at Chennai's strong electronics hardware growth.. :lol:

Chennai to Andhra border is practically the same as B'lore to TN border..

^^ Not really. B'lore is more closer to TN border than Chennai is to Andhra's border. Moreover, unlike B'lore, Chennai's IT industry is away from the state border i.e. in the southern direction.

Let andra celebrate I don't have any objections.:)

Good going TN :banana: 10 K crores increase from last year. Hoping to be even bigger next year with IT parks joining from other Tier 2 cities (CBE, MDU, Trichy etc.)

Do we know how much is the contribution from Nokia ? I remember some one posting that info. With Dell started exporting and host of other plants going on stream (Nokia-Siemens, Sanmina-SCI etc), we have a good potential to cross 50,000 crores just for hardware exports.

First of all does Nokia comes under Computer hardware or EMS (electronic manufacturing)? Dell for sure comes under Computer hardware.

wrong post. self deleted.

^dude this is Chennai IT related thread

Good going TN :banana: 10 K crores increase from last year. Hoping to be even bigger next year with IT parks joining from other Tier 2 cities (CBE, MDU, Trichy etc.)

I am totally confused this is only for software then I think it makes sense but how come Andhra's number never changed?
If its hardware it should be much higher thant this last year software alone contributed 37K crores from Tamilnadu considering karnatakas 13k crores we should be at 26k crores in hardware exports..

I smell something wrong with this Data

I am totally confused this is only for software then I think it makes sense but how come Andhra's number never changed?
If its hardware it should be much higher thant this last year software alone contributed 37K crores from Tamilnadu considering karnatakas 13k crores we should be at 26k crores in hardware exports..

I smell something wrong with this Data

46000 crores for 2008-2009. TN's software exports for 2008-2009 was around 36,680 crores. The balance will be the hardware contribution (10,000 crores).
http://www.chennai.stpi.in/perform_export.htm

46000 crores for 2008-2009. TN's software exports for 2008-2009 was around 36,680 crores. The balance will be the hardware contribution (10,000 crores).
http://www.chennai.stpi.in/perform_export.htm

Thats my point if karnataka had 13k crores with 20% of the hardware exports TN should have 26k crores with 40+ % of hardware exports which makes 37+26 = 63K crores in total exports

either this data (46K) is wrong or other data(TN having 42% of exports) is wrong.

First of all does Nokia comes under Computer hardware or EMS (electronic manufacturing)? Dell for sure comes under Computer hardware.

The export performance report in escindia web site talks about mobile phones.

MAJOR ITEMS OF EXPORT


Export of Telephone sets including mobile telephone has emerged as the top item of export under the electronics hardware category during the year 2008-09. Export of Telephone sets increased from Rs. 121 crore ( US$ 30 million) estimated in 2007-08 to Rs. 11142 crore (US$ 2423 million) during the year 2008-09. Telephone sets have been majorily exported to UAE (17 percent), Taiwan (16 percent), South Africa (15 percent, China (7 percent) and France (5 percent), Export of Solar cells also registered a very high growth during the year 2008-09. In value terms export of solar cells increased from Rs. 1047 crore (US$ 260 million) estimated in 2007-08 to Rs. 2606 crore (US$ 566 million) during the year 2008-09 registering a growth of 149 percent ( 118 percent in US$ terms. Solar cells were mainly exported to Germany (44 percent) and Italy (13 percent). The other major items of export during the year 2008-09 are parts of switches, rectifiers, recorded video tapes, Television sets, Computer parts, Communication equipments, Transformers, DVD Drives etc.
-------------------------------------------------------------
I believe TN will contribute a lot to phone and phone equipment export.
The phone export rose from 121 to 11,142 crores and Nokia's contribution will be significant there.

Thats my point if karnataka had 13k crores with 20% of the hardware exports TN should have 26k crores with 40+ % of hardware exports which makes 37+26 = 63K crores in total exports

either this data (46K) is wrong or other data(TN having 42% of exports) is wrong.

I agree. Some thing wrong. With 42% share, we should be 40,000 crores as the total is 95,000 crores for electronic hardware category.

http://business.rediff.com/report/2010/may/30/tech-software-exports-from-tamil-nadu-to-rise.htm

Software exports from Tamil Nadu are expected to cross Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) in 2009-10, Tamil Nadu Information Technology Minister Poongodhai informed the assembly.

The software exports in 2008-09 stood at Rs 36,680 crore (Rs 366.80 billion), she said. She said 69 new software companies had commenced their operations last year. According to a study, the growth of IT sector would be around 14 per cent and around $67 billion is expected to be invested in the country.

Taking into consideration this growth, the Tamil Nadu government would invest close to Rs 675 crore (Rs 6.75 billion) for setting up Information Technology Parks in Madurai [ Images ], Tirunelveli, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Salem and Hosur, she said.

The state government has modified the rules of providing space for IT companies, which hitherto was applicable only for those companies having a turnover of Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million).

Now even companies having Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) of turnover can invest in IT parks. A 'Information Security Policy' would soon be introduced to safeguard government websites, she said.
-------------------------------------------------
Very poor performance. Hope the recession is over.

-------------------------------------------------
Very poor performance. Hope the recession is over.

which rich nation is still under recession?

which rich nation is still under recession?

Though there is some growth in economy in North America, the job growth is mute. However in India, we see good hiring and companies bagging mega deals in the recent weeks. I hope this translates into better IT exports next year. If we see the current TN performance, it is less than 10% (I guess the lowest in state's history)

^^
CG is manipulating FE market allowing Rupee to keep appreciating, so that macro management of Oil economy is under control. Trade deficit is huge,,inflation is high,,stock market is too sensitive..fiscal deficit is high, So overall there is instability.

China had a cumulative Export growth rate of over 25 % for many years, and their FE surplus is more than 2 trillion Dollars. Still they keep Exchange rate constant. Our style is so different. I don't understand.

China had a cumulative Export growth rate of over 25 % for many years, and their FE surplus is more than 2 trillion Dollars. Still they keep Exchange rate constant. Our style is so different. I don't understand.

Actually, I think you got the ordering there mixed up..

It's not like China has exceptional exports and FE surplus, and they still keep their exchange rates constant..

On the other hand, China has such high exports and an FE surplus because they keep their exchange rate fixed at levels which make exports from China attractive..

Obviously there are many reasons for China's export successes, but this is certainly one of them - that's why the USA has been pushing for revaluation of the yuan to make reduce their trade deficit with the Chinese..

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/software/FSS-to-invest-Rs-250-crore-in-expansion/articleshow/5903905.cms

CHENNAI: Financial Software & Systems (FSS), a payment technology firm funded by private equity firms such as NEA and Jacob Ballas, will invest
Rs 250 crore to create in-frastructure and enhance its product presence over the next two years.

The company on Friday opened a facility at the Sipcot IT park at Siruseri, Chen-nai’s IT corridor. It plans to construct a 3 lakh square feet facility over the next three years and it has completed one lakh square feet so far in the first phase.

This has been built at a cost of Rs 50 crore and will house 1,500 employees. Apart from serving as the corporate office, the facility will house the data centre, the testing centre and the software development division.

“The 50 crore which went into the first phase, is part of the Rs 125 crore that has been invested in creating infrastructure and domain critical products,” said FSS managing director Nagaraj Mylandla. Apart from this, the company will further plough Rs 250 crore to create “the next level of infrastructure.”

FSS manages ATMs, transactions and payment gateways through internet and mobile. Some of its top clients include State bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Punjab National Bank.

On the company’s fund-raising plans, Mr Mylandla said, “We plan to raise around Rs 500 crore through debt and equity after around a year. We will plan an IPO in about 18 months to two years time.”

Recently, the Carlyle group exited its investment in FSS by selling its stake to pri-vate equity firms NEA and Jacob Ballas Capital. The new investors put in around $60 million to pick up 40% stake in the firm, which includes 34% of Carlyle’s stake.

While FSS reported revenue of Rs 230 crore for financial year 2009- 10, it is target-ing Rs 320 crore for this fiscal. It also plans to increase headcount from 1,100 em-ployees to 1,800 employees by 2011.

The State had recorded a growth rate of 29 per cent in information technology as against the all-India rate of 12 per cent, said Deputy Chief Minister M.K.Stalin declaring open the IT park of the ELCOT at the Sholinganallur Special Economic Zone near here on Thursday.

Claiming that the State's share in software export was substantial, Mr.Stalin said as against the country's export of Rs 2.02 lakh crore in 2008-09, the State's share was Rs 36,680 crore. In the last financial year (2009-10), the export was estimated to be Rs 40,000 crore. Many IT majors were evincing interest in setting up units in Tamil Nadu as technically qualified youth were available in large numbers here and their investment cost was also less. Unlike other industries, IT units were uniformly spread in the State as the policy of the government was to promote IT parks in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. Soon ELCOT's IT parks would be opened in Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchi, Salem, Hosur, Tirunelveli, and Vellore.

In the Sholinganallur IT park, major multinational companies such as HCL, Wipro, Satyam, Cognizant Technology Solutions and Sutherland Global Services had been allotted land. While WIPRO had commenced its operations with a staff strength of 11,000 IT professionals, HCL had completed construction of 10 lakh square feet and would commence production soon. The government had spent Rs 50 crore for infrastructure facilities. About one lakh people would get direct employment and 2 lakh people would get indirect employment after all the space was utilised by the companies. Earlier, Information Technology Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna said the State expected more investment in the IT sector this year as there was a turn-round in the industry. Labour Minister T.M.Anbarasan, presided over the function.

Information Technology Secretary P.W.C.Davidar said the SEZ was approved by the Central government in April 2008 and it was set up in 377 acres. He expected an investment of about Rs 4000 crore in the park.

Santhosh Babu, ELCOT managing Director said ELCOT's other IT parks would come into operation by September this year.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/14/stories/2010051454950400.htm

^^

The export growth for 2009-10 is not promising.

Bigger problem is we need more big MNC companies. More wider base is better and last two years I don't think any new big MNC entered TN.

^^ This topic has been beaten to death. :)

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/05/23/stories/2010052352230400.htm

Syntel, the US-based Nasdaq-listed information technology company, will invest nearly $50 million in its new global development centre (IT special economic zone) in Chennai. It will invest a similar amount at its Pune centre, according to the company's CEO and President, Mr Prashant Ranade.

Located on a 29-acre plot in an SEZ in the SIPCOT IT Park at Siruseri, the centre, when fully ready in two years, will be able to accommodate over 10,000 professionals, he told newspersons at the new facility.

The first phase of the centre consists of 6.50 lakh sq ft with capacity for over 5,000 employees. It will have three software development blocks and a 900-seat training block, he said.

The centre will run operations for clients in healthcare and BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sectors, he said.

In Pune, the company will expand its SEZ with a planned 4,200 additional seats and a 1,200-seat training block, he said. Of the 13,600 employees globally, nearly 90 per cent are for India operations, he said.

Dr N.N.R. Sharavanan, General Manager, Syntel, said the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu had recently made in-principle allotment of 25 acres each in Madurai and Tirunelveli SEZs.

The company plans to enhance its presence in the State by building centres at these locations once the Chennai campus is fully occupied in two years.

Inaugurating the centre, the Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister, Mr M. K. Stalin, urged IT companies such as Syntel to work with the State Government in the implementation of the e-waste policy announced recently.

He also asked IT companies to participate directly in community development activities by spending at least 3 per cent of their budget in corporate social responsibility activities.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/29/stories/2010052951741700.htm

D2E Solutions Belgium, a leading software company in Belgium has launched its operations in Chennai recently. The company's client list includes leading European telecom operators and banks. The Chennai branch will serve as an offshore development centre for D2E Belgium's European clients.

The Financial Express
Apollo Health Street (AHS), business process outsourcing (BPO) company specialising in solutions catering to the healthcare industry and part of the Apollo Hospitals group, is in talks with three private equity funds (PEs) for its upcoming 3,000-bed project at Siruseri near Chennai. The project will have an initial investmentbetween$20-$25milllion.
According to sources, the existing PEs such as Temasek, JP Morgan’s One Equity, S VG are likely to fund the new project. AHS's offerings include a range of outsourcing services catering to hospitals, physicians and payers as well as information technology solutions. The company has commenced the first phase of the new project with 250-odd employees and expect to complete the other phases in the next few months.

KARNATAKA HOPEFUL OF RS 11,000-CR INVESTMENT IN IT SECTOR
The Hindu Business Line The Economic Times

The Karnataka Government expects to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 55 information technology (IT) and biotechnology (BT) companies during the Global Investors' Meet (GIM). These companies would set up their centres at the proposed IT investment region (ITIR) near the Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli.
Some of the major IT and BT companies that would sign MoUs with the State Government during the event include Infosys, Wipro, TCS, and Tata Elxsi. “We have received firm investment proposals worth Rs 11,000 crore in the IT sector and Rs 1,353 crore in the BT sector,” said the State Minister for IT and BT, Katta Subramanya Naidu.

NEW IT POLICY IN ANDHRA PRADESH Financial Chronicle The Economic Times

The policy aims to more than double the export from Rs 32,000 crore to Rs 72,000 crore in five years.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Any idea about TN ITIR region? TN was the first to propose ITIR in the Chennai Kanchipuram- Chengelpet belt. But nothing happened after that. We will continue to sleep while the investments are pouring in the neighbouring states. Post recession KA is again attracting huge investments in IT. A repeat of 91- 96 for TN???

After Telengana issue, AP has included IT under ESMA act & changing the policy to woo IT biggies again. To draw IT investments, we need more thinking than just declaring some huge piece of land in T'veli, Salem. Hosur for IT parks.

^^ The dust had just settled on the comparison saga. Now, you are raising a new one. Ennoda kai thuru thurungudhu...venaam niruthikuvom...andha koata thaandi naanum vara maataen neengalum varakoodathu :lol: :lol:

H Factor, you keep doing this again and again. You seems to have extraordinary love for Bangalore and Hyderabad. Nothing wrong with that. You will be more peaceful and satisfied if you migrate and settle in one of these places where you won't be having any regrets.

May God Bless you.

Thanks Leo for your wihes. Blessings from people like you helped me in moving out of Bangalore & am happily settled in Chennai for the past 2 yrs. My intention is not to start the comparison between states. I just wanted to highlight some of the traction happening on the neighbouring states and my question was around TN's ITIR region only.

Never thought that there are some Nithyanandas in our forum to bless people so diligently. Thanks!

Many of us do not like comparisons between cities. But, at times I do feel as to why can't we emulate other cities / States in few aspects - like the Global Investor's Meet being organised by Karnataka; why can't TN host such an event to showcase TN and to attract investments in the State. We should take good things out of whats happening in neighbouring states/cities and can discuss about them - but the discussion should be constructive, not just for the sake of comparison and bashing TN/Chennai.

Many of us do not like comparisons between cities. But, at times I do feel as to why can't we emulate other cities / States in few aspects - like the Global Investor's Meet being organised by Karnataka; why can't TN host such an event to showcase TN and to attract investments in the State. We should take good things out of whats happening in neighbouring states/cities and can discuss about them - but the discussion should be constructive, not just for the sake of comparison and bashing TN/Chennai.
TN is going to conduct WORLD Tamil classical Language meet at coimbatore during this month end.They may contemplate to have a Global Investors meet later.MY observations for the past 15 years is Chennai follows Bangaluru otherwise it is sedate.Chennai wakes up only after Bangalore achieves a milestone like in IT ITES,Fashion,Eatouts Etc Etc.So seeing the Global Investors meet at Bangaluru Chennai will slowly wake from slumber and conduct such a meet.But by that time prospective investors should have viable projects and finance to Invest in TN.Such global investors meets were also conducted by Gujarat and maharashtra but those events never kindled TN.Only when Karnataka does something eventful that TN follows to do.

^^
We are always envious about our neighbours. Doesn't matter if a distant state or country does some thing. :)

CII Chennai Chapter has been conducting regular conferences and meetings and almost all the sectors are covered.

All the top people / stake holders who matter do attend these meetings and lot of thorny issues are discussed and removed.

The State Govt esp Industries Dept and IT Dept throw their full weight behind these meetings and almost all secretaries from the relevant depts. attend.

Central & State Ministers and CM are also attending.

National & International FInance institutions, Angel Investors, PE Funds attend regularly.

What Else you want?

Investors and Industries want to come to TN as the climate here is good compared to most of other states. But down the line, Govt Depts are not geared up for this and they indirectly sabotage and the investors get threatened / pussy footed.

Except in Pharma, nanotech, shipping (Surprise!!!), petrochem, TN is doing well in all other sectors.

H Factor, you keep doing this again and again.

KARNATAKA HOPEFUL OF RS 11,000-CR INVESTMENT IN IT SECTOR
The Hindu Business Line The Economic Times


Response here in Message #22119 in the TN chaibar thread. Lets continue with the original intent of this thread.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=58010511#post58010511

Thanks Leo for your wihes. Blessings from people like you helped me in moving out of Bangalore & am happily settled in Chennai for the past 2 yrs. My intention is not to start the comparison between states. I just wanted to highlight some of the traction happening on the neighbouring states and my question was around TN's ITIR region only.

Never thought that there are some Nithyanandas in our forum to bless people so diligently. Thanks!
Friend, we know the happenings in other states by visiting the relevant forums and newspapers. The clear demarcation of forums and threads is meant to channelize the information and not make it cluttered like quoting other states' news in TN thread or vice versa. :)

Friend, we know the happenings in other states by visiting the relevant forums and newspapers. The clear demarcation of forums and threads is meant to channelize the information and not make it cluttered like quoting other states' news in TN thread or vice versa. :)

ChennaiIndia, H Factor, Ranga, Sridhar,
Lets continue such offshoot discussions in the chaibar.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...1#post58010511

On seeing the news about global investors meet (ofcourse in Karnataka) its natural to feel envious as nothing happens in the world where we would like to have it. At that point of time started a simple thought process of “IF IT HAPPENS IN TN” ----> ????

My answer would be : It would be a phenomenal success if we focus on our strengths. I really feel TN has one of the fantastic work force and until now TN possesses diversified industrial outputs. So IF IT HAPPENS then it should be conducted atleast for 3 days focusing on the following fields

1. Textiles (Such a way that Tirupur, Kovai, Rajapalayam, Kancepuram belts are benefited as we are good in Cotton & Silk stuff)
2. Food processing (Virudhunagar : Best example for Oil related stuff, Ooty: Tea etc)
3. Tourism and hospitality
4. Power generation
5. Utilization of natural resources (I don’t mean just wind/sun energy; Rather exploring to get Titanium/ Thorium/ Or even oil in Cauvery region )
6. Of course coming back to what everyone would wish for : Automotive industry
7. Hardware industry
8. Software & other BPO’s
9. Medical industry (New word coined by myself)
10. Education (Trying to woo American universities to set up quality educational institutions)
11. Film industry (It too constitutes 2 % of our GDP). So if global investors are existing, then perhaps more number of big budgeted films could be taken. In addition we have a thriving musical world associated with it.

I guess if we really focus (as now the focus is on : WTC & previously on TN assembly building), we could easily conduct a fantastic investors meet with a resounding success.

So guys, what do you think??

Note: I have written this purely based on knowledge gained by reading our forum & newspapers. So please excuse me if I have written anything wrong or deviating from the topic. Thank you!!

On seeing the news about global investors meet (ofcourse in Karnataka) its natural to feel envious as nothing happens in the world where we would like to have it. At that point of time started a simple thought process of “IF IT HAPPENS IN TN” ----> ????

My answer would be : It would be a phenomenal success if we focus on our strengths. I really feel TN has one of the fantastic work force and until now TN possesses diversified industrial outputs. So IF IT HAPPENS then it should be conducted atleast for 3 days focusing on the following fields

1. Textiles (Such a way that Tirupur, Kovai, Rajapalayam, Kancepuram belts are benefited as we are good in Cotton & Silk stuff)
2. Food processing (Virudhunagar : Best example for Oil related stuff, Ooty: Tea etc)
3. Tourism and hospitality
4. Power generation
5. Utilization of natural resources (I don’t mean just wind/sun energy; Rather exploring to get Titanium/ Thorium/ Or even oil in Cauvery region )
6. Of course coming back to what everyone would wish for : Automotive industry
7. Hardware industry
8. Software & other BPO’s
9. Medical industry (New word coined by myself)
10. Education (Trying to woo American universities to set up quality educational institutions)
11. Film industry (It too constitutes 2 % of our GDP). So if global investors are existing, then perhaps more number of big budgeted films could be taken. In addition we have a thriving musical world associated with it.

I guess if we really focus (as now the focus is on : WTC & previously on TN assembly building), we could easily conduct a fantastic investors meet with a resounding success.

So guys, what do you think??

Note: I have written this purely based on knowledge gained by reading our forum & newspapers. So please excuse me if I have written anything wrong or deviating from the topic. Thank you!!
I wish the moderators become CM & our passionate forumers become ministers of this state.

Senthil- Good try. We can add aerospace, Bio/Nanotech too in the above list.

CII Chennai Chapter has been conducting regular conferences and meetings and almost all the sectors are covered.

All the top people / stake holders who matter do attend these meetings and lot of thorny issues are discussed and removed.

The State Govt esp Industries Dept and IT Dept throw their full weight behind these meetings and almost all secretaries from the relevant depts. attend.

Central & State Ministers and CM are also attending.

National & International FInance institutions, Angel Investors, PE Funds attend regularly.

What Else you want?

Investors and Industries want to come to TN as the climate here is good compared to most of other states. But down the line, Govt Depts are not geared up for this and they indirectly sabotage and the investors get threatened / pussy footed.

Except in Pharma, nanotech, shipping (Surprise!!!), petrochem, TN is doing well in all other sectors.

A straight question to Mr.KANNAN .If from the top C.M onwards are interested to put lot of efforts to get sizable investments in major sectors in TN and when Industries and investors find TN industrial climate congenial can't they not rein in this down the line stupid but incorrigible TN govt servants in various depts who are not gearned up because their mind set are still in the license permit raj.If they sabotage harshest punishment should be awarded.WHY THIS IS NOT HAPPENING? Has KALIGNAR became so invalid?

ChennaiIndia, H Factor, Ranga, Sridhar,
Lets continue such offshoot discussions in the chaibar.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...1#post58010511

Dear vs007, I agree that the posts are not pertinent to this thread and at the same time IMHO I feel the topic (investor meet etc) is not for chaibar discussion.

Mr. Kannan, I do agree that CII conducts many such shows in Chennai, but I feel that it doesn't get the visibility/publicity like the one which is being conducted by K'taka.

Senthil and H Factor, we can also add Financial Sector to the list to attract investments in our proposed Financial City.

We can continue our discussions on this topic in the Chennai Discussions thread.

Mr. Ranga!

The problem of Down the line Govt Servants sabotaging is not unique to TN alone. Almost all the states have this problem. With my experience, I can vouch for only one state where the CM's promises are executed without much of changes is GUJARAT. This may not be due to the CM entirely, but due to the Gujarati mentality.

You may please recall Gujarat traders and Industrialists refused the tax holiday post Earthquake and agreed for only deferment (to pay later when they earn enough). The Dept works well whether it is Congress or BJP at the helm.

Even if we have the most efficient CM of Modi's calibre in TN, things may not happen so well as in Gujarat unless our peoples' attitude, mindset and the Govt system change.

May be the present and past CMs have / had a role for this deterioration.

The Govt machinery has become so huge that even a CM can not change it overnight. JJ tried and burnt her fingers badly.

Please be pragmatic in expectations.

[QUOTE=Mr. Kannan, I do agree that CII conducts many such shows in Chennai, but I feel that it doesn't get the visibility/publicity like the one which is being conducted by K'taka. [/QUOTE]

Please understand the difference between what the popular and vernacular media reports and what the industries and Trade sectors read / follow.

All these industries who have come to TN would not have come here if they followed only the NDTV kind and TOI kind. Even Hindu is not all that serious.

Nobody can deny the status of Bangalore as Numero Uno in IT and to some extent in Biotech of late. But Chennai is far far better than that in most of the other sectors. IT and Biotech are not the END of the world.

Bangalore is striving hard to keep the status quo and Chennai should try harder to snatch it away.

I think the end of STPI and the dawn of SEZ era may have forced SMEs to look for alternate locations. Chennai had less SEZs (prior to the IT collapse) and so the growth was not spectacular.

But the IT sector is roaring back with confidence. Hopefully, TN Govt will fight with Centre (their own minister AA. RAASA) and find a solution to accomodate SMEs in non SEZ IT Parks but with all tax concessions.

Maharashtra Govt is allowing the back offices of Bank & Insurance sector to use the non SEZ IT Parks with full concessions. But Indian IT companies, who serve the indian market should also be extended with similar concessions.

The potential of Indian IT usage is far greater than almost all other countries put together (except of course China) and this market should be exploited to the fullest extent.

Hi All,
Being new to the forum i was always going through the discussion regarding Chennai.Though i have worked in Bangalore and Chennai for almost 2 years each.I would say Chennai really lacks in having a good number of R&D companies and global MNC's(not Infy,TCS,Wipro and CTS).This kind of companies require high skilled employees and also they are willing to pay more.
And coming to the work culture, Chennai needs to change alot compared to Bangalore..Even people from other states are not ready to to come to Chennai..Moreover the climate is bad(cant change it) atleast the work culture and other aspects need to change to invite people from other states(required for getting the high skilled employees to Chennai).
Hope Chennai gets a lot of MNC's and so that i can shift from Bangalore.Ofcourse Chennai has little disadvantages.If some are changed we can surely compete with Bangalore.:)

Hi All,
Being new to the forum i was always going through the discussion regarding Chennai.Though i have worked in Bangalore and Chennai for almost 2 years each.I would say Chennai really lacks in having a good number of R&D companies and global MNC's(not Infy,TCS,Wipro and CTS).This kind of companies require high skilled employees and also they are willing to pay more.
And coming to the work culture, Chennai needs to change alot compared to Bangalore..Even people from other states are not ready to to come to Chennai..Moreover the climate is bad(cant change it) atleast the work culture and other aspects need to change to invite people from other states(required for getting the high skilled employees to Chennai).
Hope Chennai gets a lot of MNC's and so that i can shift from Bangalore.Ofcourse Chennai has little disadvantages.If some are changed we can surely compete with Bangalore.:)

Welcome to the forum..And a good way to begin by touching a hot topic:)

Please understand the difference between what the popular and vernacular media reports and what the industries and Trade sectors read / follow.

All these industries who have come to TN would not have come here if they followed only the NDTV kind and TOI kind. Even Hindu is not all that serious.

Nobody can deny the status of Bangalore as Numero Uno in IT and to some extent in Biotech of late. But Chennai is far far better than that in most of the other sectors. IT and Biotech are not the END of the world.

Bangalore is striving hard to keep the status quo and Chennai should try harder to snatch it away.

I think the end of STPI and the dawn of SEZ era may have forced SMEs to look for alternate locations. Chennai had less SEZs (prior to the IT collapse) and so the growth was not spectacular.

But the IT sector is roaring back with confidence. Hopefully, TN Govt will fight with Centre (their own minister AA. RAASA) and find a solution to accomodate SMEs in non SEZ IT Parks but with all tax concessions.

Maharashtra Govt is allowing the back offices of Bank & Insurance sector to use the non SEZ IT Parks with full concessions. But Indian IT companies, who serve the indian market should also be extended with similar concessions.

The potential of Indian IT usage is far greater than almost all other countries put together (except of course China) and this market should be exploited to the fullest extent.

Guys let us accept that there is a big shock for all of us awaiting after 2011 census. Chennai officially will no longer be the 4th largest city and one of the top 4 economic centers..Bangalore would have replaced us..

That acceptance would help us disengage from such trivial city vs. city comparisons

The problem of Down the line Govt Servants sabotaging is not unique to TN alone. Almost all the states have this problem.
The Govt machinery has become so huge that even a CM can not change it overnight.

The reason why this happening is because most of the Indian CMs are not on top of the issues. Very few Chiefs know the knitty gritty of governance and they get duped by the babus. The Babus (I would say not all but a good many) are out to look out for their own skin and they do what is in their best interest not necessarily the state's. You can't brow beat the babus, that essentially turns into a pissing contest. The way to tame them is to read up on the issues and know the subject thoroughly, with facts on your finger tips. Often the babus brief the CM about the issue and they present the solutions according to their version. If you are top of the subject matter then you ask questions and challenge them. Then you get to influence the decisions. The other thing missing in the governance issue is compliance and follow through. Again this is a matter of being on top. Once you set the trend by being thorough and being on top of issues, the Babus get wise and they come better prepared with good answers. The CM needs to encourage good performers and dock the ones who are not up to the mark.


The Chennai vs Bluru: The only way to resolve this is to make Chennai a continuum with Bluru as far as development/industrial belt is concerned. Treat this like a Guangzhou China belt, extending from Bluru to Chennai all the way to Pondichery. Good governance and timely action are all part of the equation. If Chennai cleans up its corporations administration and creates a well disciplined well run clean city then it has the potential to attract much more investments. There are a lot of attractive propositions for Chennai. It has good port connections, an international airport (this requires a lot of work and I wish private operators instead of AAI manned the airport) and a large talent pool. Manufacturing is a natural investment for the area. Dell computers and others chose Chennai area due to all of the above factors as well as timely intervention by some smart, adept babus. Another area to concentrate upon is to encourage University - Industry partnership. This is very important in the long run. Encourage an atmosphere of entrepreunership which is key to growth. Institutes like IIT-M and Anna Guindy should spearhead the process and they have started this already.

Recently I read a forecast about urbanization. India needs 300 new urban cities which support 1 million plus population. This is quite reasonable 30 states on average requiring 10 such cities per state. TN/Chennai should be thinking along these lines. Many of the Urban cities can come up along the Chennai Pondichery Belt. These are planned from the ground up with broad main roads ( 8 lanes or more) good public transportation (metro train type) tall buildings etc. Advanced concepts of energy usage with renewable energy like solar/wind playing a large part and sustainable living paradigms. Internet connection is ubiquitous and advanced tele-presence inbuilt. This blueprint would vault the state into the big leagues immediately.

In today's world, there are too many countries competing for investment. The first task is making investors aware of your country/region. We need a person like Chandrababu Naidu to sell the concept and idea. No point sitting in Chennai and waiting for things to happen. Maran is an ideal person who can do this task. He can go around the world and sell the idea and bring the investments that are needed. Big visions, big investments, big execution cycles, these are the key ingredients to igniting growth.

The reason why this happening is because most of the Indian CMs are not on top of the issues. Very few Chiefs know the knitty gritty of governance and they get duped by the babus. The Babus (I would say not all but a good many) are out to look out for their own skin and they do what is in their best interest not necessarily the state's. You can't brow beat the babus, that essentially turns into a pissing contest. The way to tame them is to read up on the issues and know the subject thoroughly, with facts on your finger tips. Often the babus brief the CM about the issue and they present the solutions according to their version. If you are top of the subject matter then you ask questions and challenge them. Then you get to influence the decisions. The other thing missing in the governance issue is compliance and follow through. Again this is a matter of being on top. Once you set the trend by being thorough and being on top of issues, the Babus get wise and they come better prepared with good answers. The CM needs to encourage good performers and dock the ones who are not up to the mark.


The Chennai vs Bluru: The only way to resolve this is to make Chennai a continuum with Bluru as far as development/industrial belt is concerned. Treat this like a Guangzhou China belt, extending from Bluru to Chennai all the way to Pondichery. Good governance and timely action are all part of the equation. If Chennai cleans up its corporations administration and creates a well disciplined well run clean city then it has the potential to attract much more investments. There are a lot of attractive propositions for Chennai. It has good port connections, an international airport (this requires a lot of work and I wish private operators instead of AAI manned the airport) and a large talent pool. Manufacturing is a natural investment for the area. Dell computers and others chose Chennai area due to all of the above factors as well as timely intervention by some smart, adept babus. Another area to concentrate upon is to encourage University - Industry partnership. This is very important in the long run. Encourage an atmosphere of entrepreunership which is key to growth. Institutes like IIT-M and Anna Guindy should spearhead the process and they have started this already.

Recently I read a forecast about urbanization. India needs 300 new urban cities which support 1 million plus population. This is quite reasonable 30 states on average requiring 10 such cities per state. TN/Chennai should be thinking along these lines. Many of the Urban cities can come up along the Chennai Pondichery Belt. These are planned from the ground up with broad main roads ( 8 lanes or more) good public transportation (metro train type) tall buildings etc. Advanced concepts of energy usage with renewable energy like solar/wind playing a large part and sustainable living paradigms. Internet connection is ubiquitous and advanced tele-presence inbuilt. This blueprint would vault the state into the big leagues immediately.

In today's world, there are too many countries competing for investment. The first task is making investors aware of your country/region. We need a person like Chandrababu Naidu to sell the concept and idea. No point sitting in Chennai and waiting for things to happen. Maran is an ideal person who can do this task. He can go around the world and sell the idea and bring the investments that are needed. Big visions, big investments, big execution cycles, these are the key ingredients to igniting growth.


Barrykul well stated..I would like to add a few points ..In addition to the pts mentioned by you in your posting, one more factor that is very important is the incentive structure...We need to find ways of genuinly increasing the cash flows of govt. employees by offering something more than the salary that could be tagged to some specific goals..Govt servants are also humans and with 15K-40K they earn, it should be seen as how they can fulfil their middle class aspirations like good education for kids,housing, medical insurance etc

We need to find ways of genuinly increasing the cash flows of govt. employees by offering something more than the salary that could be tagged to some specific goals..Govt servants are also humans and with 15K-40K they earn, it should be seen as how they can fulfil their middle class aspirations like good education for kids,housing, medical insurance etc

Surya, however well meaning this statement is, the reality is quite different. Govt Employees are getting good salaries and other incentives like guaranteed pension, govt medical center, etc. The real issue is keeping overall pay (actual pay + perks) commensurate to market norms. This is a long drawn babu process with commissions infested with IAS people with a final nod given by legislative govt elected netas. Actually, the govt ought to be reducing headcount progressively and replacing most of the mundane work with computerization and better work flow process modern technology. We don't need armies of useless people in Pension office and state run departments. The pension office is a bunch of sadistic officials who thwart legitimate pension (a nice perk) needs of retiring folks and I had written about this example sometime ago. There are other departments like the housing plan approval center who are another sadistic bunch if you don't grease them appropriately. We need an effective govt not a wasteful bureaucratic setup. Talking about babus, I think it is time since we had a process to induct good people who are well regarded experts into the top secretary posts. Complete Salary package, of course, needs to match existing market norms. The current IAS system does not groom enough good people who are competent to man these posts. In today age, computers, IT savvyness goes hand - in -hand with good decision making and administrative skills. Vertical specialization is the norm instead of jack-of-all trades. Policies and implementation requires deep knowledge in certain areas like the telecom field. Most of the secretaries in the IAS cadre have limited knowledge. In the coming decades India is going to be a leading nation and we need leading administrators to keep India ahead of the rest.

^^
Moderators.. Please delete such stupid observations and warn these Gentlemen.
"Men" include, 'the mentalist' . Pl refer,

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=56715439&postcount=103

Moderators can not allow MK bashing selectively, even if you hate him.

And this thread is about IT Develoment projects..

@ Barrykul:
You are right. Even a small increase in Govt Servants' salaries amounts to a very huge sum in absolute terms.

The real crux of the problem is NUMBERS. They have too many. Putting a cap is the challange.

Recently I noticed an anamoly - 25 year experienced Govt Engineers were being paid less than the admin staff who were 20 - 30 years experienced simply because promotions for admin staff is time bound and promotions for engineers are not happening. Some of my classmates in REC Trichy are still Asst Engineers.

Skill / Merit based promotions is a MUST.

Huge numbers and time bound promotions simply cost money to exchequer without much of output. The politicians want this situation to continue since this helps them.

Hey is that true that chennai will be removed from top 4 cities after 2011 census ?? some one please enlighten me

The reason why this happening is because most of the Indian CMs are not on top of the issues. Very few Chiefs know the knitty gritty of governance and they get duped by the babus. The Babus (I would say not all but a good many) are out to look out for their own skin and they do what is in their best interest not necessarily the state's. You can't brow beat the babus, that essentially turns into a pissing contest. The way to tame them is to read up on the issues and know the subject thoroughly, with facts on your finger tips. Often the babus brief the CM about the issue and they present the solutions according to their version. If you are top of the subject matter then you ask questions and challenge them. Then you get to influence the decisions. The other thing missing in the governance issue is compliance and follow through. Again this is a matter of being on top. Once you set the trend by being thorough and being on top of issues, the Babus get wise and they come better prepared with good answers. The CM needs to encourage good performers and dock the ones who are not up to the mark.


The Chennai vs Bluru: The only way to resolve this is to make Chennai a continuum with Bluru as far as development/industrial belt is concerned. Treat this like a Guangzhou China belt, extending from Bluru to Chennai all the way to Pondichery. Good governance and timely action are all part of the equation. If Chennai cleans up its corporations administration and creates a well disciplined well run clean city then it has the potential to attract much more investments. There are a lot of attractive propositions for Chennai. It has good port connections, an international airport (this requires a lot of work and I wish private operators instead of AAI manned the airport) and a large talent pool. Manufacturing is a natural investment for the area. Dell computers and others chose Chennai area due to all of the above factors as well as timely intervention by some smart, adept babus. Another area to concentrate upon is to encourage University - Industry partnership. This is very important in the long run. Encourage an atmosphere of entrepreunership which is key to growth. Institutes like IIT-M and Anna Guindy should spearhead the process and they have started this already.

Recently I read a forecast about urbanization. India needs 300 new urban cities which support 1 million plus population. This is quite reasonable 30 states on average requiring 10 such cities per state. TN/Chennai should be thinking along these lines. Many of the Urban cities can come up along the Chennai Pondichery Belt. These are planned from the ground up with broad main roads ( 8 lanes or more) good public transportation (metro train type) tall buildings etc. Advanced concepts of energy usage with renewable energy like solar/wind playing a large part and sustainable living paradigms. Internet connection is ubiquitous and advanced tele-presence inbuilt. This blueprint would vault the state into the big leagues immediately.

In today's world, there are too many countries competing for investment. The first task is making investors aware of your country/region. We need a person like Chandrababu Naidu to sell the concept and idea. No point sitting in Chennai and waiting for things to happen. Maran is an ideal person who can do this task. He can go around the world and sell the idea and bring the investments that are needed. Big visions, big investments, big execution cycles, these are the key ingredients to igniting growth.

Chandra Babu Naidu the Ex-CM of A.P who ruled A.P for Nine and half years without interruptions destroyed the agricultural economy of the state the main stay of Andhra pradesh economy turning many well to do farmers in to paupers.

Guys let us accept that there is a big shock for all of us awaiting after 2011 census. Chennai officially will no longer be the 4th largest city and one of the top 4 economic centers..Bangalore would have replaced us..

That acceptance would help us disengage from such trivial city vs. city comparisons

Why shock!!! In 2001 census itself Bangalore is third largest city by population followed by kolkatta and chennai but as far as the population of metropolitan area is concerned kolkatta is third followed by chennai and bangaluru.in fact Bangaluru metro area population has overtaken hyderabad metro area population in 2001 census.Chennai has no dearth of people but it lacks people with purchasing power which Kolkatta and chennai lacks.

@ Barrykul:
You are right. Even a small increase in Govt Servants' salaries amounts to a very huge sum in absolute terms.

The real crux of the problem is NUMBERS. They have too many. Putting a cap is the challange.

Recently I noticed an anamoly - 25 year experienced Govt Engineers were being paid less than the admin staff who were 20 - 30 years experienced simply because promotions for admin staff is time bound and promotions for engineers are not happening. Some of my classmates in REC Trichy are still Asst Engineers.

Skill / Merit based promotions is a MUST.

Huge numbers and time bound promotions simply cost money to exchequer without much of output. The politicians want this situation to continue since this helps them.

Govt dept also needs to be run like corporates - wherein files are disposed off in a time bound manner, increase digitisation and reduce corruption. The bureaucrats (IAS officers) have to drive this process - will they / can they?

deleted

Chandra Babu Naidu the Ex-CM of A.P who ruled A.P for Nine and half years without interruptions destroyed the agricultural economy of the state the main stay of Andhra pradesh economy turning many well to do farmers in to paupers.

Alright Ranga, one for the farmers yeah. I have commented about this in Bluru thread. India is facing an issue of transitioning the 80% folks engaged in 20% of GDP contribution i.e. the traditional farms. If you want to increase the per capita the only way is higher paying jobs and they happen to be in the sector called service and manufacturing not farms. Indian farms are yielding the lowest produce per hectare of land in the world mainly due to uneducated farmers tilling the soil. A.P., a state that has its exchequer drained in useless irrigation projects and farm giveaways, is not the model. All the A.P. Kangress Netas have bilked the state in these schemes. Chandra Babu Naidu took a bold step in creating IT infrastructure and urbanization. Anyways this OT and not relevant to Chennai IT.

The Netas and Babus of TN have a new office digs on Mount Road. With this new office, they ought to be embracing new ways of functioning. We don't need more garlands, slogans, rallies etc., just efficient working of the legislative and executive branches. Modern computers, work flow software, cells, laptops, video conferencing all of them need to be embraced. Public / Neta two way dialogue should be enabled.

The other branch that is hibernating is the judiciary. Someone needs to wake up this moribund entity and give it a firm shake. The shakedown ought to include the following: a revisit of all the laws, judge/clerk/lawyer working culture of sophorific "Your Honor", black suits, stay orders, old wrinkled up ledgers and paper work, gavel, muftis, dramatic oration and other old school stuff. Time for massive computerization of cases, the judge can view a large computer screen with side by side arguments, a summary of pros and cons. He/She can craft a judgment which is ably guided by decision software that pulls up the relevant laws, limits of statutes and other guidelines. At each step of the judgment he/she has to justify the decision commensurate with laws of land. Any student of law can then re-study the judge's verdict for correctness/fairness. Judges/lawyers/prosecutors are all rated by a system. The level of jurisprudence in India needs to be elevated to high standard not the current tardy old british system perpetuated in eternity since independence.

Alright Ranga, one for the farmers yeah. I have commented about this in Bluru thread. India is facing an issue of transitioning the 80% folks engaged in 20% of GDP contribution i.e. the traditional farms. If you want to increase the per capita the only way is higher paying jobs and they happen to be in the sector called service and manufacturing not farms. Indian farms are yielding the lowest produce per hectare of land in the world mainly due to uneducated farmers tilling the soil. A.P., a state that has its exchequer drained in useless irrigation projects and farm giveaways, is not the model. All the A.P. Kangress Netas have bilked the state in these schemes. Chandra Babu Naidu took a bold step in creating IT infrastructure and urbanization. Anyways this OT and not relevant to Chennai IT.

The Netas and Babus of TN have a new office digs on Mount Road. With this new office, they ought to be embracing new ways of functioning. We don't need more garlands, slogans, rallies etc., just efficient working of the legislative and executive branches. Modern computers, work flow software, cells, laptops, video conferencing all of them need to be embraced. Public / Neta two way dialogue should be enabled.

The other branch that is hibernating is the judiciary. Someone needs to wake up this moribund entity and give it a firm shake. The shakedown ought to include the following: a revisit of all the laws, judge/clerk/lawyer working culture of sophorific "Your Honor", black suits, stay orders, old wrinkled up ledgers and paper work, gavel, muftis, dramatic oration and other old school stuff. Time for massive computerization of cases, the judge can view a large computer screen with side by side arguments, a summary of pros and cons. He/She can craft a judgment which is ably guided by decision software that pulls up the relevant laws, limits of statutes and other guidelines. At each step of the judgment he/she has to justify the decision commensurate with laws of land. Any student of law can then re-study the judge's verdict for correctness/fairness. Judges/lawyers/prosecutors are all rated by a system. The level of jurisprudence in India needs to be elevated to high standard not the current tardy old british system perpetuated in eternity since independence.

Belief in Indian judicial system is diminishing day by day. An example of this is seen in the Bhopal Union Carbide gas leakage case. more than 20000 died more than 20 yrs to give justice. US Administration saying no for extradition of the former Union Carbide Chairman Warren Anderson is height of Indian inefficiencies.

^^fine, but why are we discussing this in "ChennaIThread"--> Chennai IT Thread??

^^ Along with the Cooum waterway cleaning project, we need to organize a Chennai thread cleaning project. :lol: By the way, there is no end is sight for both of these. :lol:

^^fine, but why are we discussing this in "ChennaIThread"--> Chennai IT Thread??

We are talking about IT for the Judicial System. Maybe this could be the new growth area for Chennai IT. Imagine Justice Krishna Pichiappa Iyer in Veshti dispensing judgement from his Mylapore home using a computer and software designed by the graduating class of IIT-M, Anna Guindy, SRM, Jeppiar Institute of Engineering. No more laywers in white and black, no more muftis, gavels, oration. Anyone can review judgment of esteemed justice and grade him for his performance against others.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/infosys-widen-city-base-751

June 14: Software major Infosys Technologies is planning to expand its base in Chennai by setting up another major development centre. The Fortune 100 Company already has two software development centres in Chennai.

The expansion plans were revealed by the Infosys chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director, Mr S. Gopalakrishnan, when he met the deputy chief minister, Mr M.K. Stalin, who holds the crucial industries portfolio, at the secretariat on Monday.

Mr Stalin instantly agreed to extend all possible help for the IT major’s expansion plans in the state capital. Sources said the software major wanted the state government’s help in acquiring 200 acres of land in Chennai to establish its mega base. Industries department officials will look out for three or four suitable locations soon.

Meanwhile, deputy chief minister Mr Stalin also asked Mr Gopalakrishnan to establish a training centre for software professionals and take IT growth to tier two cities such as Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchy.

^Fantastic news..Kris G personally invested heavily in Chennai recently.

Initially Infosys said its Mahindra city will have capacity for 30,000 people so a 3 million sq ft facility will be sufficient and they have 125 acres of land, but I think it has only 10,000 so my assumption is it built only 1 million office space but lot of land available.

Now why Infosys needs another 200 acres before filling the existing center ?

In Bangalore they are going for two more centers and many tier 2 cities have Infy campus.

Is it there long term plans say they need after 4 years but they want to start the process now so that they will be ready with centers?

^^ 200 acres sounds a lot!! :nuts: I remember some old movies where they ask for "Nooru acre nanjai, nooru acre punjai" as dowry :lol::lol:

Why can't they ramp up existing spaces?

Infosys is becoming a fraud company like Satyam. Why do they need such huge parcels of land. They are trying to grab as much as possible from the government. They are not even using the existing land to its full extent. What are they they trying to build - a rocket launch facility?

^^I agree, why do they need 200 acres? - a decent size manufacturing facility can be put up in 200 acres.

But I don't like them to be compared with Satyam or use the word 'fraud' - Satyam was mother of all frauds in Indian corporate history.

All reputed IT Companies including the biggies like Infosys, Wipro, TCS have been quitely building their land bank for the future.

In business, KATRULLA PODHE THUTRIK KOL is the Mantra. Sometimes, they twist the local Govt's arms for getting allotment.

You can not blame them. They are delivering Goods for the country and the people (and of course themselves)

^^
Infosys always try to get more land compared to their peers. Possibly, they plan like golf course, park etc within their campus :) Remember when people visit Infosys campus in Blore, they will be taken to the golf course.
AP gave over 400 acres of prime land in Hyd to Infosys. Since the government in Karnataka was not ready, they themselves bought over 300 acres from private land owners near Sarjapur road. TN can't afford to do that similar to Karnataka.

Infy is trying to grow at the expense of public land. Golf in a campus may lure a client for infy, but what infy did to the society. Still all IT cos enjoy tax benefit, land, uninterrupted power supply, water etc etc. Govt should come with some regulation for these companies against land grabbing.

I got news from inside Infy chennai that employees are not happy travelling 60-70 kms (Mcity to chennai) one way and recently there has been attritions because of distance. Is that the reason Infy scouting for land nearby to Chennai. Not sure whether this would have attributed though...

I got news from inside Infy chennai that employees are not happy travelling 60-70 kms (Mcity to chennai) one way and recently there has been attritions because of distance. Is that the reason Infy scouting for land nearby to Chennai. Not sure whether this would have attributed though...
Its faster to travel to Mahindra city than any other points around the city.Is it not chennaites prefer VEEDUKU PAKKATHELEYE OFFICE.They may also find to travel to OMR or Ambattur difficult.scounting for land nearby chennai is a difficult proposition even for INFOSYS.

Infosys attrition may be b'cos of various reason:


iRace policy
Poor pay master
Industry out of recession
Dismal hike in salary


travel time and distance may be not that much attributing for leaving an organization

Infy is trying to grow at the expense of public land. Golf in a campus may lure a client for infy, but what infy did to the society. Still all IT cos enjoy tax benefit, land, uninterrupted power supply, water etc etc. Govt should come with some regulation for these companies against land grabbing.
In a 200 acre campus, typically the employment generation potential of an IT company is 50K. In all standards, the employment to land ratio in IT s much higher than most of the other industries.

No one gives business for having a golf court. Its an added advantage. In the increasingly becoming competativeness, infy cannot load this in the customer billing rate. They might have more open space, green cover etc which will improve the employee working condition. Whats our problem here?

Infy s also doing lot as part of their CSR. They file the sustainability report as per GRI principle every year. Employees leaving Infy due to distance is just a eye wash. Electronic city is near to Hosur and Hinjewadi in Pune is a good 1 hr drive from the main city.

The prob is not with the land size. One has to see how quicker these guys utilise this. Holding this land for good 10 years is an opportunity loss for our other investors.

PS: Im not EE of Infy and nowhere connected to it

^^I agree, why do they need 200 acres? - a decent size manufacturing facility can be put up in 200 acres.

But I don't like them to be compared with Satyam or use the word 'fraud' - Satyam was mother of all frauds in Indian corporate history.

Come on Guys, We should be bit more liberal to IT companies because of mss employment generation without much affecting long term environmental damage and well making over chennai Image across India and Internationally. There were the discussions previously in the thread discussing about the Best Package and Skills are available only in Banaglore etc....Unless the demand increases the Salary won't increased...hence we need more IT investments to absorb the talents around TN...

And Infy CEO being guy from TN, we should reap the benefits and nothing wrong too...when NM being CEO he builds more campuses around Banglore and subsequently all went to Pune...And already there are very narrow gap between Hyd, Pune to catch up on IT development. Most of Investment Banks IT operations are in Pune/Noida/BGL region than in Chennai....where you can expect better package than other industries...Don;t compare RBS and Stanchart with Goldman Sachs, BOA,Barclays, JP Morgan..they are quite biggies than RBS and Stanchart...

Always I used to wonder how come Pune even being not the capital of the State , attracted such a large investments in IT and Auto sectors, the reason is supporting politicians with Industrialists..( I mean politicians taking their percentage and clearing out the hurdles for their projects)...

Yes, we should be liberal and pro active in IT. Govt should woo new cos to Chennai and persuade the established players like CTS, TCS to tier 2 cities. There are hundreds of mid tier IT cos which can be targeted. Most of the US based cos does not know any place other than Bangalore in India when they enter.

Stanchart & RBS are not small cos. They typically pay salary also taking into account the cost of living in that particular city. If they can get manager grade ppl in chennai at 10 lacs, then why should they offer 15 lac. The salary HP pays in chennai is much lower than the salary it pays for the similar profile in Bangalore.

^^
How did Bangalore managed to become so attractive and popular?Once upon a time chennai was called the cultural and intellectual capital of India.it was also claimed to be gateway to South eastern countries.How and why Chennai faded and lost its glory Vis-a -vis Bangalore? what went wrong after economy was liberalised for good 15 years Ie from 1991 to 2006 when bangalore and hyderabad along with pune were attracting these IT and investment companies in large numbers.fortunately,it is only in the last four years attempts have been made by the state govt to attract investments and the growth is visible.

^^
How did Bangalore managed to become so attractive and popular?Once upon a time chennai was called the cultural and intellectual capital of India.it was also claimed to be gateway to South eastern countries.How and why Chennai faded and lost its glory Vis-a -vis Bangalore? what went wrong after economy was liberalised for good 15 years Ie from 1991 to 2006 when bangalore and hyderabad along with pune were attracting these IT and investment companies in large numbers.fortunately,it is only in the last four years attempts have been made by the state govt to attract investments and the growth is visible.

Well AP and kar got people like CBN and SMK respectively who had a vision to take their state forward. Also Kar had good CM's like Hegde who pro-actively got companies like TI to set up shop. TN lost the initial momentum after congress was voted out of power. We had people like Venkatraman and C Subramaniam who were instrumental in creating the Ambattur industrial estate in those days. BTW even now, AP is lagging TN in terms of software exports despite the hype and branding. I am happy to see the current govt trying to do some thing if not fully to attract companies.

I don't know why Infy getting more acres ended up in a city/state comparison yet again with the usual element of some unrealistic Chennai bashing like "Chennai lost glory", "Lost gateway". :lol::lol:

I don't know why Infy getting more acres ended up in a city/state comparison yet again with the usual element of some unrealistic Chennai bashing like "Chennai lost glory", "Lost gateway". :lol::lol:

That is our favourite pass time :lol:

Thank god we have some credible information on IT through IT exports otherwise no one would accept Chennai is 2nd only to Bangalore interms of IT growth. Even today Media under reports Chennai and always puts Blore an Hyd as IT cities

Of late, the mere mention of the B word in any of the threads is paving way of comparison of cities, though the intention/message is different. Either we can ban using it or appreciate the fact if it is a constructive criticism.

IT is an evolving industry and due to the pay package & some other fancies majority of ppl wants to be associated with it. Every state wants to have its pie. Due to climate & existence of insts like IISC it started in Bangalore in later 80's when many of them were not even aware abt computers. Post liberalisation, it flourished. I strongly feel, Bglore is a leader in IT just coz the IT revolution started from there. Chennai is undoubtedly second in IT exports & ll continue to retain this position despite having short sighted politicians since we have strong fundamentals (I mean resource here)

I don't know why Infy getting more acres ended up in a city/state comparison yet again with the usual element of some unrealistic Chennai bashing like "Chennai lost glory", "Lost gateway". :lol::lol:

Add some more, why did Bangalore did not have beach, why Hyderabad did not have port. why Chennai did not have Ooty climate etc.,:lol:

Every Chennai thread is getting spoiled with Bengaluru comparison/discussion here.

Let us start official Bangalore Vs Chennai Vs Hyderabad discussion in chaibar and move these never ending debate there.

The very fact that every kind of topic ends up in Chennai vs Bangalore/Delhi/Mumbai discussion tells us something. You have to know a problem exists before you solve it.

Dear forumers,

There is nothing bad in being second or being last for that matter. All that we want is a peaceful, clean city with good basic infrastructure in place. If we can use all the government funds properly, we can achieve it. Sadly that is not happening because of few selfish people in the society.

I am sure most of the guys who are living in chennai are there, not because some big company has started its operation or some big shopping mall is present there. It is purely because we have some emotional attachment towards the city that we were born in. I personally feel, It is not how much you have which is important but how much you value the things that you already have.

^^^^
Add some more, why did Bangalore did not have beach, why Hyderabad did not have port. why Chennai did not have Ooty climate etc.,

Every Chennai thread is getting spoiled with Bengaluru comparison/discussion here.

Let us start official Bangalore Vs Chennai Vs Hyderabad discussion in chaibar and move these never ending debate there.

Well said Arul & Chennai Indian...... I dont know why are we so pessimistic....
Comparisons are welcome if they are meant to understand what we miss. Not for simply bashing!!! I feel aweful each time when it lands up bashing Chennai!

TN Govt. could find and allot 200 Acres land to Infosys and must include some conditions to be adhered to in the short/long term...

1)SEZ formalities shall be completed in 6 Months, from the date of allocation of land.

2)Just like Mahindra Park, there shall be export and domestic tarrif area.

3)SEZ Development shall specify 50,000 seats over a five year period from date of obtaining clearance from Commerce Ministry.

4)Domestic area shall include a Technical Institution and a Bachelors Hostel to accodomate 20,000 persons, a Hotel ,a recreation area with Grounds for sports, a mini theatre, a shopping centre,park and a lake to harvest Rain water with path way,Boats etc.

5)The Technical Institution shall offer Computer Science, Information Tech., Electronics and Communications and Management Education. The syllabus shall be designed afresh with a view to produce true Engineers who contribute to Design and Development and do Original work. A Course content with 20% Theory and 80% Design work.

a)Computer Science shall concentrate only on Hardware and System Software (OS and Softwares associated with Peripheral devices).

b)IT shall include all aspects of Application Development.( Web Technologies, Oracle,SAP,Peoplesoft,Data Warehousing.Telecom related Applications,Banking and related applications etc. etc.)

c)ECE shall comprise Design and Developments of Components,Circuits,boards and finished goods covering almost every aspect of Modern life including Defence and Space.

d) Management Education in tie up with a reputed name to produce Managers and not Analysts.

6)Each stream shall have 100 seats. Govt. must specify allocation of 50 Percent seats to Local candidates and the rest can be from all over.

MOU shall include all these conditions and more if required with strict penalty for wanton delay.

Infosys is a Cash rich Company and can initiate Developments without any delay ,once they are sure of Juicy long term multi millions Dollar Projects in the Pipeline.

Feasible and Possible if you dare to dream.

TN Govt. could find and allot 200 Acres land to Infosys and must include some conditions to be adhered to in the short/long term...

1)SEZ formalities shall be completed in 6 Months, from the date of allocation of land.

2)Just like Mahindra Park, there shall be export and domestic tarrif area.

3)SEZ Development shall specify 50,000 seats over a five year period from date of obtaining clearance from Commerce Ministry.

4)Domestic area shall include a Technical Institution and a Bachelors Hostel to accodomate 20,000 persons, a Hotel ,a recreation area with Grounds for sports, a mini theatre, a shopping centre,park and a lake to harvest Rain water with path way,Boats etc.

5)The Technical Institution shall offer Computer Science, Information Tech., Electronics and Communications and Management Education. The syllabus shall be designed afresh with a view to produce true Engineers who contribute to Design and Development and do Original work. A Course content with 20% Theory and 80% Design work.

a)Computer Science shall concentrate only on Hardware and System Software (OS and Softwares associated with Peripheral devices).

b)IT shall include all aspects of Application Development.( Web Technologies, Oracle,SAP,Peoplesoft,Data Warehousing.Telecom related Applications,Banking and related applications etc. etc.)

c)ECE shall comprise Design and Developments of Components,Circuits,boards and finished goods covering almost every aspect of Modern life including Defence and Space.

d) Management Education in tie up with a reputed name to produce Managers and not Analysts.

6)Each stream shall have 100 seats. Govt. must specify allocation of 50 Percent seats to Local candidates and the rest can be from all over.

MOU shall include all these conditions and more if required with strict penalty for wanton delay.

Infosys is a Cash rich Company and can initiate Developments without any delay ,once they are sure of Juicy long term multi millions Dollar Projects in the Pipeline.

Feasible and Possible if you dare to dream.

Very Coherent and logical thoughts. Good job Leo. I will second them.

The very fact that every kind of topic ends up in Chennai vs Bangalore/Delhi/Mumbai discussion tells us something. You have to know a problem exists before you solve it.

There is no problem. After all, these cities are still in India and not in the US of A. The reason for so many discussions like these is because we are very talkative. :lol::lol::lol:

Well AP and kar got people like CBN and SMK respectively who had a vision to take their state forward. Also Kar had good CM's like Hegde who pro-actively got companies like TI to set up shop. TN lost the initial momentum after congress was voted out of power. We had people like Venkatraman and C Subramaniam who were instrumental in creating the Ambattur industrial estate in those days. BTW even now, AP is lagging TN in terms of software exports despite the hype and branding. I am happy to see the current govt trying to do some thing if not fully to attract companies.

We have to thank our own amma MS Jayalaitha for Hydrebad's growth, not just CBN. Jayalaitha and her girl friend did their best (or worst act ) to make IT companies stay away from Chennai when Banglore was choking and IT companies were looking for alternate locations. Thanks to TCS,CTS,HCL and others Chennai IT industry survived.


Dont want to sound biased politically. DMK has its own run looting the state in name of Tamil conference, beach & river beatufications and other unviable, useless projects.

We have to thank our own amma MS Jayalaitha for Hydrebad's growth, not just CBN. Jayalaitha and her girl friend did their best (or worst act ) to make IT companies stay away from Chennai when Banglore was choking and IT companies were looking for alternate locations. Thanks to TCS,CTS,HCL and others Chennai IT industry survived.


Dont want to sound biased politically. DMK has its own run looting the state in name of Tamil conference, beach & river beatufications and other unviable, useless projects.

Why do you say beach beautification was use less ? The beach looks good now and can improve tourism. Cooum project is required for sure to improve the sanitation and hygine conditions of the city.

We have to thank our own amma MS Jayalaitha for Hydrebad's growth, not just CBN. Jayalaitha and her girl friend did their best (or worst act ) to make IT companies stay away from Chennai when Banglore was choking and IT companies were looking for alternate locations. Thanks to TCS,CTS,HCL and others Chennai IT industry survived.


Dont want to sound biased politically. DMK has its own run looting the state in name of Tamil conference, beach & river beatufications and other unviable, useless projects.
Im amateur in this area. But as far as my knowledge goes, it was Vivek Hariharan in charge of IT dept of then ADMK ruled TN, who extended support to IT cos when they wanted to move out of Bglore due to congestion, high cost of living and attrition. Remember, Vivek Paul the then CEO of Wipro expressed this during a press conference and following which Azim Premji met Jayalalitha?

Im amateur in this area. But as far as my knowledge goes, it was Vivek Hariharan in charge of IT dept of then ADMK ruled TN, who extended support to IT cos when they wanted to move out of Bglore due to congestion, high cost of living and attrition. Remember, Vivek Paul the then CEO of Wipro expressed this during a press conference and following which Azim Premji met Jayalalitha?

Yes. And she promptly dumped him at height of his peak and installed an ineffective secretary and nothing happened to IT after that.

PS: The state owes a lot to two people for the recent growth in IT and telecommunications:
1. Dayanidhi Maran
2. Vivek Harinarain

Dumped him means what? Thrown out coz he did not perform well or did not pass the % on the C's earned?? Its so sick if the latter has happened

Dumped him means what? Thrown out coz he did not perform well or did not pass the % on the C's earned?? Its so sick if the latter has happened

Vivek did a lot to TN and tried hard to create a brand image for Chennai. He was dumped because he complained by saying "Chennai will go the Blore way if infrastructure is not improved". That irritated the state govt and he was transferred.

Why do you say beach beautification was use less ? The beach looks good now and can improve tourism. Cooum project is required for sure to improve the sanitation and hygine conditions of the city.

Well if they can maintain it in years to come, it is good. Otherwise just one time project taken up for looting tax payers money. If AIADMK comes to power, they will undo it (may even demolish the new assembly building). Even DMK's own track record is very poor unless they allocate money for the project.


Instead of spending crores for WTC in Coimbatore parks, pavments, food etc can they provide uninterrupted power supply to the Coimbatore city forever? How about water supply? Just provide one basic amenity permanantly.

Please don't add any more comments even if your fingers itch.Lane discipline please.

I saw WNS signboard in RMZ Millenia park. Is WNS present in Chennai? How big it is?

SOURCE : http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lennox-international-to-open-global-technology-center-in-chennai-india-96791144.html (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lennox-international-to-open-global-technology-center-in-chennai-india-96791144.html)

DALLAS, June 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lennox International Inc. (NYSE: LII) announced it has launched a global technology center in Chennai, India to support the company's global research & development and information technology operations. The center will help LII continue developing innovative HVACR systems and solutions for their markets around the world.
"Innovation and product differentiation are the lifeblood of LII," said Todd Bluedorn, Chief Executive Officer. "This latest expansion of our technology footprint is consistent with our strategy of growth through leadership products and solutions in the global markets we serve."

The center will focus primarily on controls engineering, analysis center of excellence, and information technology applications. It is expected to play a key role in the development and exchange of knowledge, expertise, and best practices within the broader LII technology organization.

"We've chosen Chennai after carefully benchmarking other locations around the world," said Prakash Bedapudi, LII Chief Technology Officer. "Chennai has one of the world's most highly trained engineering and information technology resource pools, and we are excited to work with the best and brightest to further extend LII's technology leadership."

Through its subsidiaries, Lennox International Inc. is a global leader in the heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration markets. Lennox International stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "LII." For more information visit www.lennoxinternational.com, or contact Ozzie Buckler, Director, Communications & Public Relations, at 972-497-7456.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Lennox International's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.


SOURCE Lennox International Inc.

^^ AFAIK, this is a heating & cooling solutions provider and not an IT company.

^^ AFAIK, this is a heating & cooling solutions provider and not an IT company.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/ites/Lennox-sets-up-tech-centre-in-Chennai-to-ramp-up-head-count-to-100-by-year-end/articleshow/6076424.cms

Lennox has four engineering and R&D centres in the US, two in France and one in China. Its India centre will focus on areas such as "control of embedded systems," analysis and mechanical designs of systems to increase the product development lifecycle and IT.

From a 35-member team at the new tech centre at Ascendas IT park on 20,000 sq ft, Lennox is planning to ramp up its head count to 100 by the year-end, Lennox CTO Prakash Bedapudi told reporters here on Monday.

It is also engaged in discussions with premier institutes such as the IIT to do research work.

Asked about investment, Mr Bluedorn said Lennox will pump in a "couple of million Dollars" into the tech centre. It is the innovation angle that Lennox is upbeat about, considering the ready availability of hi-skilled talent in this part of the country.

According to its annual report, Lennox’s growth strategy is through continued investment in research and product development to both develop new products and make improvements to existing product lines.

"We spent an aggregate of $48.9 million, $46 million and $43.6 million on R&D during 2009, 2008 and 2007, respectively. We operate a global engineering and technology organisation that focuses on new technology invention, product development and process improvements," it said.

Incidentally, the Chennai centre would be the next biggest centre outside of the US, where it has the largest R&D facility.

Globally it operates in four segments — residential heating and colloing, commercial heating and cooling, service experts and refrigeration. Lennox plans’ to enter the domestic market in the commercial airconditioning and refrigeration sectors hinges on the entry barriers in setting up distribution network.
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This is a good deal. Lennox is one of the leader in US.Good for Chennai in the R and D domain.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/ites/Lennox-sets-up-tech-centre-in-Chennai-to-ramp-up-head-count-to-100-by-year-end/articleshow/6076424.cms

...

Globally it operates in four segments — residential heating and colloing, commercial heating and cooling, service experts and refrigeration. Lennox plans’ to enter the domestic market in the commercial airconditioning and refrigeration sectors hinges on the entry barriers in setting up distribution network.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
...

That is what I said.

That is what I said.

Wrong thread but i prefer to have R&D centers across all areas instead of IT and auto only

^^

So what if its a heating or cooling company? won't that have IT based operations and research?? Its still relevant and a good catch :cheers:

^^

So what if its a heating or cooling company? won't that have IT based operations and research?? Its still relevant and a good catch :cheers:

True....

Refer the ET article for the below highlighted lines

Its India centre will focus on areas such as "control of embedded systems," analysis and mechanical designs of systems to increase the product development lifecycle and IT.

It appears like this Indian Centre would probably do work on PLC / Human Machine Interface / SCADA type s/w work to automate the monitoring & control of their HVAC systems in addition to Computer Aided Design/ Computer Aided Engineering work related to the mechanical aspects of the HVAC systems. I am not sure if they would also do embedded systems software work related to HVAC systems.

So it looks like this centre would be involved in s/w development and engineering s/w tools based R&D work related to the core competency of the company & not some customised ERP type or in-house business operations related s/w development work for the company (for which Infosys, TCS & etc are available anyway).

It also seems like this company would like to compete with Voltas, Bluestar, ETA and etc guys in India in doing projects involving HVAC, Refrigeration systems installations...like at airports, offices, malls & etc.

Wishing the very best to this company & its Indian centre.
May they set a good standard in their operations - which in turn would influence their competitors & related companies to also consider Chennai in favourable manner for setting up their development centers.

^^
I believe, you are almost there. Sophisticated HVAC systems are linked to Air Quality maintenance Analysers, Fire Protection systems etc.Till a few years ago they were using Programmable Logic Controllers for continous circuit checking and Operation. Embedded systems must have entered that arena now.

Every modern industry uses IT tools for Design,Development, operation and analysis. Our Engineers must be initiated to such development of Design tools.(Product Software Engineering) Need of the hour is to develop more "Architects"

I welcome them.

Alcatel Lucent has announced moving their Design Headquarters to India. Hope Mr Raja cajoles them to set up shop in Chennai.I have sent a request to CM cell.

^^
Might have already chosen Bangalore...who knows...:lol: Anyway hatsoff to your positive attitude...

Lennox's division in Ascenadas infact are involved in development & testing of embedded systems for HVAC. I know this as I had a friend working for them in recent past. Also they have been operational there for more than a year with a smaller team.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/5924/17082009008.jpg (http://img706.imageshack.us/i/17082009008.jpg/) Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

This picture was taken next to ETA park (on thoraipakkam byepass road) not sure whether this is a extension of ETA..

Pictures taken from Mahindra City campus - not sure whether this has been posted earlier.

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/518/090420100901.jpg
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/7204/090420100911.jpg
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/4614/090420100931.jpg
http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/6673/090420100941.jpg

http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/23/stories/2010062355481800.htm
Kaar Technologies, a Chennai-based consulting firm specialised in SAP services, which also has offices in Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, the U.S and Singapore, has established a data centre in Chennai. The company also intends to expand in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and also enter new markets such as Canada and the U.K., says a release.

^^ BharathKasthuri, thanks for your photos. While using Imageshack, try to resize your foto to fit our screen instead of original size.
We can get good resolution too. :cheers:

Thanks Mad4Madras. Will do this (resize) when i do it next time.

^^

Good that u have uploaded photos.... But there is a separate thread just for Mahindra City. So next please upload there.

Anyhow, many thankx!!

I was browsing thro the annual report of cognisant (CTS) for last year. They have mentioned the total sq feet of development centres across the world. Chennai has more than 3Mn sq feet (1.7M owned & approx 1.3M leased). In terms of %, chennai DC sqfeet to the their total sq feet across the globe is whopping 36%. :banana:

Chennai & Cbe put together occupies 47% of their DC space worldwide which is substancial. :cheers:

Chennai is the only city from India prominantly fig out in their list of international sales & marketing office :banana:

I was browsing thro the annual report of cognisant (CTS) for last year. They have mentioned the total sq feet of development centres across the world. Chennai has more than 3Mn sq feet (1.7M owned & approx 1.3M leased). In terms of %, chennai DC sqfeet to the their total sq feet across the globe is whopping 36%. :banana:

Chennai & Cbe put together occupies 47% of their DC space worldwide which is substancial. :cheers:

Chennai is the only city from India prominantly fig out in their list of international sales & marketing office :banana:

Thanks for the info. Can you also give some idea about the headcount - Current as well as projected (from Chennai's perspective in Cognizant)

No idea of the headcount. But considering the standard 120 sq feet per person norm in IT, chennai's headcount should be 25K employees against the total of 69 to 70K HC of CTS. But this is as on dec 2009. In the JFM quarter CTS recruited in large nos the total HC could have gone up!

One thing is for sure. TCS and CTS are the top 2 IT employers in Chennai

2010 INDIA'S BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR...

http://www.greatplacetowork.in/best/list-in.htm

According to govt of India Balance of payments

Exports went up from 199540 cr to 228170 crs around 7.1%
TN should be around 40000 crs.

Remittance from 203209 crs to 247112 crs.
I think TN is in second place but not sure.(around 35,000 crores)




http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/SDDS_ViewDetails.aspx?SDDSID=165

This thread has become more of a discussion thread than a project thread. Other than Infy expansion (which is on the cards as per last week report) i dont get to see new development centres for new customers coming up in Chennai. We keep discussing the software exports and many other things.

I see in OMR lot of vacant buildings all along. When will this get occupied? Although we understand it was a tsunami last year for IT and many other industries, do we see light to the future for Chennai IT sector (occupying the lead next to Bang)????

This thread has become more of a discussion thread than a project thread. Other than Infy expansion (which is on the cards as per last week report) i dont get to see new development centres for new customers coming up in Chennai. We keep discussing the software exports and many other things.

I see in OMR lot of vacant buildings all along. When will this get occupied? Although we understand it was a tsunami last year for IT and many other industries, do we see light to the future for Chennai IT sector (occupying the lead next to Bang)????

There are similar vaccant buildings in Bangalore too. At present Chennai comes 2nd. Who knows how many buildings in others cities are there and how many % are yet to be occupied.

http://www.rttnews.com/Content/IndianNews.aspx?Id=1352729&SM=1

Mahindra Satyam, the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services launched an offshore development centre (ODC) for BASF IT services at one of its offices in Chennai.

The state of art ODC for BASF IT Services housed in Mahindra Satyam's development centre in Chennai provides managed services for the company's extensive installed base of SAP messaging and groupware as well as user administration.

The setting up of the ODC is aimed at enabling process and quality enhancements thereby helping BASF to deliver world-class services at competitive prices to its customers.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ites-hiringan-uptrend-in-chennai/400707/

The improving business sentiment among recruiters coupled with growing market optimism has moved up Naukri JobSpeak index for Chennai to 866 in June 2010 from 853 in May. On a year-on-year comparison, the job index for Chennai moved up by 19 per cent in June 2010 compared to June 2009.

“This evidently reflects that hiring is on a growth mode on a month on month basis as indicated by the upward moving indices of majority of industry sectors and functional areas,” according to Naukri JobSpeak.

One of the key industry sectors in Chennai, ITeS has been bullish on hiring as the sector registered a growth rate of 25 per cent in June 2010 over the May 2010.

“The second half of 2010 is also expected to create increased opportunities as indicated by the increased GDP growth figures in the country,” commented Hitesh Oberoi, director and chief operating officer of Info Edge.

He added that the first half of 2010 has been very encouraging as most of the key industry sectors have been able to move out of the slowdown phase and are heading towards recovery.

A month-on-month comparison of the index shows all industries and functional areas moving in a positive direction indicating a buoyant hiring scenario.

Key industry sectors like ITeS, telecom and banking witnessed an uptrend in hiring with the index moving up by 25 per cent, 13 per cent and 11 per cent in June 2010 over May. The IT-hardware sector witnessed a nine per cent increase in hiring activity, while the IT-software and auto sectors witnessed a stable hiring scenario. Thus, key sectors in Chennai -- IT, ITeS, banking and financial services -- all seem to be on a positive path.

A month-on-month growth analysis of the functional areas shows that professionals in ITeS and BPO sectors were much in demand as the index moved up by 22 per cent.

The demand for professionals in production and marketing moved up by four per cent respectively in June 2010 over May 2010. Similarly professionals in IT-software, sales and project management witnessed stable hiring scenario as the index moved up marginally by one per cent as compared to May 2010.

Cognizant in sniffing distance of TCS, Infosys and Wipro...

Not only has Cognizant narrowed the gap with the third-largest software exporter, but its earnings guidance of 36% for 2010/11 indicates a mindset determined to snatch market share. "Cognizant is increasingly becoming the talk point during every assessment we do - they seem to have tweaked our offshore model with much stronger front end and done some things better than us," admitted the sales head at one of the top five companies.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/ites/Cognizant-in-sniffing-distance-of-TCS-Infosys-and-Wipro/articleshow/6291185.cms

Mid-size & small IT firms struggling to maintain growth...

Large firms saw the first signs of recovery in the December 2009 quarter and since then, the trend has only gained momentum for them. In contrast, recovery is still lagging for most of the smaller firms. Sudin Apte, principal analyst with technology research firm, Forrester Research points out that Tech Mahindra, Mindtree Systems and Persistent Systems remained almost the same revenue size in 2009 and 2010 and others such as Mastek, Hexaware and KPIT Cummins saw a double-digit drop in revenues from 2009 to 2010 in dollar terms.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/ites/Mid-size--small-IT-firms-struggling-to-maintain-growth/articleshow/6423780.cms

Donno if it is Ramanujam IT Park ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LV61PmBRFk

Quote:
Originally Posted by bharathkasthuri
This thread has become more of a discussion thread than a project thread. Other than Infy expansion (which is on the cards as per last week report) i dont get to see new development centres for new customers coming up in Chennai. We keep discussing the software exports and many other things.

I see in OMR lot of vacant buildings all along. When will this get occupied? Although we understand it was a tsunami last year for IT and many other industries, do we see light to the future for Chennai IT sector (occupying the lead next to Bang)????

This is more due to the STPI rules than anything.

Central & All state govts with over enthusiasm promoted IT buildings with extra FSI and tax sops for the last few years. When SEZ concept was introduced, STPI had to be abandoned.

All the buildings which were occupied by STPI regd IT / ITES companies will see a huge movement outwards next year. Similarly all the new buildings can not attract IT / ITES companies since they would prefer SEZs to STPI due to better Tax sops and STPI abolition.

But the STPI regd SMEs are not able to afford to shift to SEZs, which are generally outside the cities (Transport cost and time factors). Even the floorplates have become huge and SMEs find it difficult to afford.

The Govts have to rethink and change the policy so that these buildings are put to use rather than lying vacant. At least they can allow non exporting Financial and Insurance industries to operate from these places. They can also allow non exporting IT/ITES industries, which cater to the domestic market.

WHO IS TO BELL THE CAT?

http://www.hindu.com/2010/09/06/stories/2010090661401600.htm

The infrastructure is fairly stable with education system, skills availability and power

ITs beginning in Tamil Nadu was deceptively quiet, tentative, and known only to a limited circle of technical brains in the 1970s. The information technology sector has grown phenomenally in the three decades that followed to lead a commercial explosion. The State now ranks second in software exports and continues to attract larger investment and foreign direct investment flows. The information and communication technologies (ITC) sector employs around eight lakh people and provides indirect employment to a further 2.2 million in the State.

The natural choice

With its excellent education base and the innate ability of its people for mathematics and logic, the State has provided the most important resource for the sector in the form of talent pool, and organisations within and outside India have come here to lap them up. While Chennai has been the torch bearer for this revolution, other cities are opening up as well. The boom in construction, the phenomenon of retail growth and deluge of vehicle deployment show the visible impact of the change brought about by the IT industry in the economic fabric of the State. The industry has expanded itself to cover not just outsourcing of software work from global destinations but also of business processing and computing infrastructure management. The focus lights now turning on the domestic industry as the hitherto elusive Indian market is poised for high growth. This will not just be an export-focussed industry, but will be of great benefit to Indian society as well.

At the start of this decade, Tamil Nadu needed to be promoted as a destination of choice when neighbouring Karnataka had an IT.com and Bangalore was on the business map of global forces. Tamil Nadu at that time had very few players like TCS, Polaris and Pentafour, setting up their first campuses around the Sholinganallur area on the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR). As years rolled by, the path of progress was well-laid: now one can look back with justifiable pride at OMR which has transformed as the IT Highway, dotted with technology parks, campuses, colleges, and even budding townships and malls representing the neo-lifestyle of the global citizen. All leading IT players have not only set up huge shop here, but have their platters full, facing challenges of a different order in meeting the enormous demand placed on them.

Flight to future

Some factors that gave India commercial success were the competitive advantage offered by its resource pool, education infrastructure, the ease with which the people and processes operated, the English language capabilities that scored vis-a-vis China and in a way the protectionist practices in some western markets. Would the same factors drive future growth? How do we go forward to become leaders, and sustain the leadership?

Plans of countries with similar advantages like China, the Philippines and Vietnam and the protectionist measures in countries like the U.S. will necessitate a change in the business model. Indian IT will have to elevate itself to the next level, move from outsourcing to smart sourcing, as the means for colossal savings to shore up top and bottom lines of companies. India needs to be designers and developers, delivering world-class products and services at low cost, and offers strategic services with integrated solutions, ranging from re-engineered internal business processes to full business process outsourcing along with IT and infrastructure services.

Opportunity

Tamil Nadu has a thriving automobile and ancillary industry; it has acquired a major name in the healthcare field; and it rivals Mumbai and Hollywood in the scale of its entertainment industry. Can all these industries reinvent themselves through a greater infusion of IT? The redefinition is imperative to succeed in the wave of smart sourcing the critical IT intervention to world-class companies. The significant presence, for example, of automotive and IT companies together in a cluster in Chennai should be used to encourage cross-functional collabo- ration. This in turn should provide stimulus to the innovation engine leading to the possible emergence of India as a frugal design centre of the world.

Healthcare for all

In this scenario, the State needs to gear up to address critical questions like providing bandwidth to offer all the players, getting research units and hardware majors to set up shop, and creating enablers for the education system to cope with the growing demand for skills, quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Government role is critical in encouraging growth and stimulating innovation.

The industry on its part will have to gear itself to handle important issues of developing sustainable growth models, identifying opportunities in the global economy, strategising to face possible backlash, and scale up to become global companies.

Delivering affordable healthcare to India's masses presents enormous challenges and opportunities for the medical community, insurers and other service providers. Innovative technologies, processes and partnerships forged by the Central Government and private companies have made a beginning in bridging the healthcare gap. The synergies of healthcare and technology will need to grow at an exponential rate in the near future, if the country is to meet the needs and expectations of people to deliver healthcare with the perspectives of inclusiveness, collaboration and innovation, using technology to reduce disparities. The country needs to make ‘Healthcare for all' a reality.

Model city

Chennai has come this far because its ecosystem including education institutions kept pace with the requirements. The IT corridor has allowed expansion of IT offices into campuses. But the next stage of growth will have to result in creation of sustainable cities with high efficiency buildings, roads and their integration with transit systems to achieve smoother flow of people, integrated townships and energy demand management initiatives.

One should recognise the right of children to free and compulsory education, while at the same time, create employable and productive workforce through the introduction of IT in education. As IT transforms the governance process, the digital ecosystem will narrow the gap between affluence and poverty.

Can Chennai be that dream city one aspires to live in, a financial city a la Shanghai or London? A livable city, green, eco-friendly, with traffic snarls dispersed? Is the city equipped to meet the challenges of a financial city in terms of growth, the latest advancements, innovation in financial products and financial inclusion? How do HR and skills, innovation and entrepreneurship contribute to making the State a forerunner for India in its growth story? What does it take to see the transformation of the city to be the services capital of India? IT companies in Chennai help the world financial centres, and can now look inwards, to help this transformation.

To promote innovation, one needs to have a highly collaborative four-anchor ecosystem, with academia, industry, venture funds and government playing critical roles. These form the classic pieces of the puzzle that fitted well to power the Silicon Valley or the Cambridge model. To create such innovation clusters, Chennai can try to garner some learning from other successful Indian examples like Bangalore, and examine what elements of this formula Chennai owns. The infrastructure is fairly stable with education system, skills availability, power, teaching-oriented research, and strong industry presence in some sectors being other strengths.

Capitalising on these, the State needs to focus on building an ecosystem around the dominant industries like automotive that would bring in world-class domain expertise as well as ready market, promoting innovative entrepreneurship.

Academia-facilitated incubators have had a welcome beginning with the IIT Research Park that houses large players as well as small venture caps that can be good candidates as co-innovation partners. With such promising start, the State needs more universities and institutions to show similar initiative inviting industry to aid incubators.

The missing pieces in the jigsaw could very well be the facilitation with finance, guidance and mentoring for venture capitalists, plus government and regulatory support to de-risk enterprise innovation and provide positive impetus to R&D through appropriate incentives.

^^


Ideal topic to write under "Chennai economy thread".

Good to see the view point of the author regarding Chennai

---> CFO of TCS Mr.Mahalingam!

http://www.thehindu.com/business/companies/article617742.ece

Force10 Networks Inc., provider of data centre and network services, has inaugurated a 44,000 sq. ft. innovation centre in Chennai that will house its development lab and data centre.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday to mark the opening of the new facility, Prakash Sripathy, Vice-President, India Operations, said the move to set up new innovation centre, which was 30 per cent larger than its former facility, came on the fifth anniversary of Force10's India's operations.

The company had already invested $18.5 million to establish and expand a Chennai-based world-class R&D team as an extension to its U.S. engineering operation. The company had also planned to invest another $10 million to set up and operate its new 3,500-sq. ft. development lab, which was more than twice the size of its former lab. The new 1,500-sq. ft. data centre also had doubled in size.

Mr. Sripathy said the company had expanded its research and development (R&D) and support teams by 50 per cent since April, 2010. Moreover, the company's India-based strategic partner, who had been engaged to augment the skill sets of Force10's Chennai team, had hired 80 engineers to carry out its development work in India. As part of its ongoing growth strategy, the company expected to nearly double its engineering team again by 2011.

All compliments to writer S. Mahalingam. Excellence while being concise. A fine template for the immediate future of TN. When the intellectuals of TN unite there is a world to win.

All compliments to writer S. Mahalingam. Excellence while being concise. A fine template for the immediate future of TN. When the intellectuals of TN unite there is a world to win.
Nice to see such from CFO of TCS. Applaud is required as he could be one of the reasons for growth of TCS in chennai

taVTs-t4Epc

Stalin promises IT sector world-class infrastructure

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article623650.ece

OK Now. How many times we will keep hearing the same false promises. How stupid we must be to hear the same thing year after year and still see the state of OMR !!!. No wonder it was so easy for the East India Company to take over and rule India. :cry:

^^ He has carefully avoided OMR which shows that DMK is least interested in that project...we have realized this for a long time now.

His Rs.36k crore story is an old one and he is repeating it for the n+1 th time (where 'n' tends to infinity). :nuts: Ever after he started this story, the figures have stood at 36k and hasn't grown. :lol:

From these, I can sense that the present Govt has no interest in IT development. Instead, they are concentrating their efforts on manufacturing, power plants etc and are only interested in signing MoUs in them. :ohno:

^^ He has carefully avoided OMR which shows that DMK is least interested in that project...we have realized this for a long time now.

His Rs.36k crore story is an old one and he is repeating it for the n+1 th time (where 'n' tends to infinity). :nuts: Ever after he started this story, the figures have stood at 36k and hasn't grown. :lol:

From these, I can sense that the present Govt has no interest in IT development. Instead, they are concentrating their efforts on manufacturing, power plants etc and are only interested in signing MoUs in them. :ohno:

Govt not interested in IT now? Whats wrong in that ? Now the whole India not giving priority to IT which is completely depends on western market (which is in chaos now)

Until Western market get stable and until we make sure we will get more reliable investments in this IT outsourcing industry there is no need to pump all your limited money in that ...the manufacturing showing good sign and its obviously creating good jobs for low skilled people ...so its the first priority now.

Anyway Govt wont give up IT it just time game. Stalin will sure say good things about every industry and may be its more hyped promise ...all these to attract investors not vote bank.

Inspite of Traffic/saturation/Vacant...still Karnataka attracting good IT crowd....

Just FYI only...not for debates...:)

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/govt-clears-11-new-sez-proposals/682548/

Snippets...

Rahul Khullar cleared 11 new proposals, including those of IT bigwigs like Infosys and Wipro. The Infosys Technologies IT SEZ is slated to come up in Karnataka over 24.4 hectares. Azim Premji-led Wipro got the government nod for setting up two SEZs which would be spread over 19.4 and 29.9 hectares, respectively, in Karnataka.

TN should aggessively market Cbe, Mdu & Trichy to all those already having presence in chennai. They should market chennai for new entrants, particularly mid tier.

The focus should also be sector/division wise. For eg, In BPO the largest players are Genpact, WNS. But Chennai does not have even one office for genpact and WNS has only a small office. Instead of promoting Madurai/CBE to Genpact, they should sell Chennai first. For cos like CTS, HCL, TCS which already have presence in chennai, the govt should persuade to open more centres in tier 2 cities.

There was a news that CTS is interested in a stake or takeover of Genpact. If the deal is through then CTS will be the 2nd biggest player after TCS ahead of infy by a slight margin. The is a big advantage for Chennai and TN. CTS may bring in more BPO jobs.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/09/10/stories/2010091053280700.htm

^^

Welcome to SSCC chapter & good that you have put links.

Next time please do include the content (copy and wrap it). Because most of the forum members would like to read it directly here (& not in any external link).
This issue was already discussed in one of the threads and as I assume that you dont know this info as you are new to this forum.

By the by, I find both these topics ideal for Chennai economy thread!! I will try to make a link once again there.

Keep posting more messages please!!!
:cheers:

[QUOTE=saysenthil;63894709]^^

Welcome to SSCC chapter & good that you have put links.

Thanks senthil...

Next time please do include the content (copy and wrap it). Because most of the forum members would like to read it directly here (& not in any external link).

Sure..

^^

Welcome to SSCC chapter & good that you have put links.

Next time please do include the content (copy and wrap it). Because most of the forum members would like to read it directly here (& not in any external link).
This issue was already discussed in one of the threads and as I assume that you dont know this info as you are new to this forum.


Thats partially incorrect, just the headline and snippet would do fine and rest can be read from the link. This was the news provider also get the traffic and ad revenues. We need to be fair to them also.

Chennai Based SSCians & those who visit Chennai:

Date: 30-10-2010 (Saturday)

Venue: Amethyst, Gopalapuram (Entry to the road from Peters Road near Saravan Bhavan or from Lloyds Road near DAV School)

Time: 7.00 pm.

Contact:
R.Kannan, Infratech , Ph: 99620 84330.

Friends,
Wt is the construction going on at old anand thatre complex(ETA) and greams road(prestige)?

^^ Commercial buildings (Office space).

Chennai Based SSCians & those who visit Chennai:

Date: 30-10-2010 (Saturday)

Venue: Amethyst, Gopalapuram (Entry to the road from Peters Road near Saravan Bhavan or from Lloyds Road near DAV School)

Time: 7.00 pm.

Contact:
R.Kannan, Infratech , Ph: 99620 84330.

Thanks for the invite. In abroad now, will surely like to meet someother time.

Friends,
Wt is the construction going on at old anand thatre complex(ETA) and greams road(prestige)?

Greams road - commerical space by prestige. Known as Pretige Palladium.

Cable&Wireless Worldwide opens new network centre at Chennai
News Source (http://news.in.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4504519)

New Delhi, Oct 26 (PTI) Global telecommunication firm Cable&Wireless Worldwide today said it will expand the scope of its services, offered to international clients from India with the opening of its new centre in Chennai.

The firm said it would add 300 people in the next 15-16 months to man its new Network Operating Center (NOC) in Chennai, which was inaugurated today.
"The activity and the scope of services we provide to our global clients will be expanded with the new centre in Chennai coming in," Cable & Wireless Worldwide India Managing Director Shali Thilakan told PTI.

The new centre is set up as part of the company''s expansion plans in India and will serve as the second NOC after Bangalore. The two centres will manage and support communication networks of over 6,500 enterprise and carrier customers across Asia, Europe and the Americas.

"Already we have 500 people at the Bangalore centre. The Chennai centre has a seating capacity of 300 and we expect to scale up to that level in the next 15-16 months," he said.
With the Chennai centre coming in, Cable & Wireless Worldwide will be initiating on transmission and core telecom engineering skills, Thilakan said but did not disclose the investments the firm has made to set up the centre.

The Chennai centre will provide round-the-clock network surveillance, performance monitoring and support, and fault resolution for voice and data networks.
The new facility is spread over a 15,000 square feet area and will be the fifth global NOC facility of the company with the remainder located in the United Kingdom. It would help increase in C&W Worldwide''s India operations'' capacity to support the Company''s customer base by 55 per cent.

The firm''s existing Bangalore centre, which opened in 1995, supports major international customers, including Citibank, Ryanair, Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC.
Cable&Wireless Worldwide Managing Director - Global Markets Nick Lambert said the opening of a new centre in Chennai demonstrates the firm''s total commitment and focus on the emerging markets.

The company has already announced a USD 30 million investment in the Indian Multi-Service Platform (MSP), which was launched in 2009, and another USD 50 million in the Europe India Gateway (EIG), a new undersea cable system providing greater network capacity between Europe and India slated for launch in early 2011.

^^ Any idea where this is?

^^I read in ToI that Cable and Wireless global operations is coming in RMZ Millenia in perungudi.

^^ RMZ Millennia Business Park, Perangudi [source (http://www.cw.com/assets/Uploads/Press-Release-Chennai-26.10.10.pdf)]

''WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS DIWALI''

Thanks,
Sugu

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Wiki-enthusiasts-to-meet-on-Nov-14/articleshow/6873609.cms

CHENNAI: Chennai Wikipedia Meetup, an event where Wiki enthusiasts from the city will gather to share ideas and knowledge, will be held on November 14.

"An unconference of sorts called the Wikicamp happened in Chennai way back in February 2007. We hope to revive the culture of Wiki meetups and start meeting regularly in the city," said L Srikanth, a Chennaiite based in Bangalore and a Wikipedia enthusiast. He said that Wiki meetups are gatherings of Wikipedians and Wikimedians who contribute to projects of Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is a free, web-based, encyclopedia project supported by the Wikimedia Foundation. Its articles are written by volunteers around the world, and almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site.

"Recently, the Tamil version of Wiki crossed the 2,5000 article mark, which is a big achievement as few people are aware of its vernacular version," said L Balasundararaman, a Tamil wikipedian based out of Bangalore.

...

Recently this thread has no news updates on new projects (IT investments other than smaller ones). The same space (IT thread) in Hyd and Bangalore is buzzing with hot news such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Virtusa expansions in hyd and other places.

Recently this thread has no news updates on new projects (IT investments other than smaller ones). The same space (IT thread) in Hyd and Bangalore is buzzing with hot news such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Virtusa expansions in hyd and other places.

Sigh!!

^^ +1

One of the key areas Chennai is lacking is very poor enterprenuership. We need not be the HQ for another Wipro or Infy, but what we want is an ecosystem of enterpreneurs who fill the smaller niches. This creates a) more level playing field for other new entrants b) create that buzz and excitement which will attract more FDI.

Currently Chennai's predominance in IT is largely due to the top 10 IT firms with large establishments to capture the brains of the region. What we need is more local breed of owners.

^^ +1

One of the key areas Chennai is lacking is very poor enterprenuership. We need not be the HQ for another Wipro or Infy, but what we want is an ecosystem of enterpreneurs who fill the smaller niches. This creates a) more level playing field for other new entrants b) create that buzz and excitement which will attract more FDI.

Currently Chennai's predominance in IT is largely due to the top 10 IT firms with large establishments to capture the brains of the region. What we need is more local breed of owners.

One of best admired Cloud Computing company is headquarted in chennai
checkout Zoho.com, If I move I would love to work there.

One of best admired Cloud Computing company is headquarted in chennai
checkout Zoho.com, If I move I would love to work there.

is it adventnet before ?

is it adventnet before ?

yes

^^Thanks. That's a good note. Obviously we need more zoho.com like orgs to grow up in chennai.

'Major talent for Indian IT industry untapped'

Cos miss out employable talent in Tier2 colleges

Comparing their test scores it was found that while women performed better in english and computer programming, males surpassed the females in logical ability and quantitative ability.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/Major-talent-for-Indian-IT-industry-untapped/articleshow/6909928.cms

'Major talent for Indian IT industry untapped'



http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/Major-talent-for-Indian-IT-industry-untapped/articleshow/6909928.cms

Actually the talent available in Tier II cities of TN is so huge and impressive. Only thing they lack is Good Planning, effective communication and interpersonal skills as expected by the current demands.

But the worrying factor is this.

TN state Higher Secondary Board examns give a false feeling of top achievement when almost all bright students of the board get 200/200. or >195/200. They also get into a college of their parents' choice without much difficulty.

But when they go for jobs, competing with Metro / Tier I city students gives them a tough challenge.

We are currently working on a Skills Development Programme for these students in all the districts HQs.

The French tech consulting major Capgemini has acquired Chennai-based Thesys Technologies to boost its position in the packaged core banking platform market. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
Thesys, which has over 300 employees in its development centres in Chennai and Bangalore and other offices in UAE, Singapore UK, offers banking implementation solutions to the global financial services industry.
This acquisition expands Capgemini's global delivery capabilities for Temenos-enabled core banking solutions and product offerings. Temenos is a widely-used banking software system developed by Geneva-based Temenos Group.
Capgemini India executive chairman Salil Parekh said: "Delivery from India is strengthened with the acquisition of Thesys, as it enables us to create value for over 700 existing Temenos clients, as well as a large prospective client base.
Thesys' specialized service delivery infrastructure will expand the scope of Capgemini's offerings across Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.''
Capgemini has been jostling for a sizable chunk of the consulting, IT and BPO space. In 2006, it rattled arch rivals IBM, Accenture and EDS (now part of HP) by acquiring Kanbay in a $1.25 billion deal. It helped Capgemini quickly grow a critical mass in India.
The Kanbay deal was its second largest inorganic venture, the biggest being the historic acquisition of E&Y Consulting in 2000 for $11 billion. Capgemini also acquired Indigo, the captive BPO arm of Unilever India with its 650 employees in Bangalore and Chennai.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIBG&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI

I also heard the Capgemini they have hired office in Mahindra world city. I don't know exactly they are shifting or expanding ???

Not sure if this is the rite place to post this pic. Couldn't find restaurants thread.
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/908/p1030112.jpg

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9196/p1030110xw.jpg

NTT has been on an acquisition drive to increase its footprint in India. It recently acquired Intelligroup of the US, which gave the Japanese firm a sizeable India presence, with almost 2,000 employees. Shortly thereafter, NTT acquired Boston-based Keane International. The company employs 12,500 professionals, with a significant proportion of them at large centres in Bangalore and Chennai.

In an earlier interview with Business Standard, Takashi Enomoto, chief risk, sales & marketing officer of NTT Data, had said: “The group has 35,000 people. Of this, only 5,000 constitute our global headcount — that, also, after the acquisition of Intelligroup.”

“Though we have 2,000 people (Intelligroup) in India now, it is still too small for us to compete with big IT companies. We should have at least 10,000 offshore resources in India for us to be considered a global player,” he added.

Over the next 18 months, the Indian IT services industry will see a significant pick-up in mergers & acquisitions, says Gartner. This will be driven by both outbound and inbound demand. “We have seen that M&A activity post-recession has accelerated. This is driven by both global firms looking at acquiring Indian firms to create an India footprint and Indian IT firms aspiring to enter Europe,” said Partha Iyengar, vice-president & distinguished analyst at Gartner.

“The second push is coming from Japanese firms. Japanese players have been using China as a delivery centre for the last five to six years. But now, they need to diversify. For English-speaking capability, India is the logical centre. Moreover, they need access to large talent pools. Logically, India fits into the plan,” he added.

Source (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ntt-resumes-talks-for-patni-promoter-stake/416456/)

This park, KFC and McD are not related to IT thread, please post in projects/discussions thread or photos thread. Thanks!

This park, KFC and McD are not related to IT thread, please post in projects/discussions thread or photos thread. Thanks!

Done

Chennai, Dec. 9

Tamil Nadu added just Rs 86 crore in revenue from IT exports during 2009-10 over the previous year even as most of the software companies operating in the State had a difficult time due to the global economic slowdown.

The State reported IT exports of Rs 36,766 crore during 2009-10 as against Rs 36,680 crore in the corresponding year, an increase of Rs 86 crore or 0.23 per cent, according to the latest data released by STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) Chennai.

This is in sharp contrast to the increase in exports of nearly Rs 7,700 crore in a single year that the State reported in 2008-09 over the previous year.

Interestingly, total software export from Karnataka during 2009-10 touched Rs 76,000 crore. This was from 1,200 STPI units while 1,751 units achieved Rs 36,766 crore in Tamil Nadu.

Tier II and III cities

Exports from Tier II and III cities in Tamil Nadu more than doubled to Rs 909 crore (Rs 445 crore).

This was mainly attributed to the growth in revenue from units in Coimbatore, which is becoming a major location in Tamil Nadu after Chennai for many software companies.

Application software contributed 41 per cent of the total exports while other sectors, including BPO, product development, medical transcription and call centre contributed to the balance, the data says.

US tops

Exports to the US topped the list of countries with a 40.75 per cent share of the total exports, closely followed by the UK with 37.75 per cent.

Other countries include Japan, Germany, West Asiaand the Middle East and Europe.

Hardware

Hardware exports too marginally increased to Rs 264.31 crore (Rs 263.13 crore).

There are 21 registered units at present in the State.

Of these, three units were started during 2009-10the year.

Source :http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/12/10/stories/2010121052341900.htm

Now it is time for Accenture to expand in Chennai.

Oil sands firms look at outsourcing


As Canada’s oil sands companies work to head off another looming labour crunch, some have begun looking at moving huge numbers of employees out of Fort McMurray, Alta. – and possibly, in the future, to India.

Several oil sands firms have started discussions with management-consulting and outsourcing firm Accenture, which has completed a broad labour analysis that shows that 10,000 to 15,000 jobs could be uprooted from northeastern Alberta.

And thousands of those positions could eventually be sent to overseas centres like Bangalore or Chennai, says Michael Denham, managing director of Accenture’s management-consulting services in Canada...


http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article1849899.html

CHENNAI: With economy on the up and companies looking to expand, the fight for talent is getting intense. Looking at ways to optimise the recruitment process, software companies are now hiring in very large numbers from a single campus. And it's the engineering institutes in the mid-top tier with large campuses and diverse student populations that are making the most of it.

This year, four of the tech biggies --- TCS, Infosys, Accenture and Cognizant --- have each hired more than 1,000 students from one institution alone. Cognizant, for instance, has hired 1,643 students from the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT). TCS has picked up 1,359 students from SASTRA University in Thanjavur and 1,091 from SRM University in Chennai. Accenture recruited 1,309 students from Amity University in Noida while Infosys hired 1,224 students from Amrita University in Coimbatore.

"This is a reflection of the increase in demand for talent. It is also very convenient and cost-effective for companies to go to a single campus and hire in big numbers than dispatching teams and hiring in small numbers across campuses," says Madan Padaki, Chief Executive Officer of MeritTrac, a testing and assessment company which assists companies and institutions in hiring.

Though IT companies have hired in large numbers from campuses for some time, the practice of recruiting over 1,000 students from a single campus is a recent phenomenon, primarily an indication of the resurgence in the tech sector. In 2008, TCS, one of the biggest employers in the sector, hired 1,075 students from VIT, a figure which was listed in the Limca Book of Records for the largest number of students hired from a single campus. TCS recruitments and those of others dropped in the subsequent year due to the slowdown.

This year, the instances of mass recruitment have clearly risen again, and mostly on campuses where, placement officials believe, diversity plays a significant role. "Companies generally go to big campuses with students from different cultures and languages. They see it as a good environment from where they can hire," says S R Pullabhotla Dean of Placement, VIT University.

"The key aspects considered before choosing a campus for hiring include the ranking of the institution in prominent external surveys and improvement in ranking over the previous year, past placement track record and the performance of the alumni in company, total number of students eligible for placement, accreditation from NAAC or any international body, collaboration with corporate houses for research or labs, investment in research and research output and investment in soft skills training," says Shankar Srinivasan, Chief People Officer, Cognizant. "We focus on top-tier campuses and maximize our return on investment by recruiting the choicest students who meet our technical and behavioural criteria, including cultural fit with the company."

The size of the campus is another crucial factor which determines recruitments exceeding 1,000 students by a single company. Many of the older, reputed engineering colleges in Maharashtra and Karnataka do not have student populations on the same scale, and hence post recruitment figures in the range of 200-400 students per company per campus.

Despite the scale of the recruitment, the placement process remains intense in nature. More than 100 panelists from a given company descend on the campus. Day one is meant for written qualifications, and the next two days for interviews. The interviews go on from morning to night with few short breaks. In some cases, a certain percentage of top performing students from each branch are directly called for interviews.

The hiring happens across disciplines and subjects. Many companies hiring in the seventh semester also offer the recruited students an opportunity to do their final semester project in the company itself in their engineering domains. "It is an an effort to attract students by letting them work in their areas of choice," says C Parmeswaran, Director of Corporate and International Relations at Amrita University.

But is it really good that so many engineering students from various disciplines join a single IT company? "It is an extremely competitive situation for companies and students have to decide it at the end of the day. Most of the students are very happy with better-paid and glamorous IT jobs," says Pullabhotla.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Four-tech-cos-exceed-1000-plus-in-single-campus-hiring-/articleshow/7181255.cms

Maybe this is the cue for other established colleges to increase their intake to more than 1000 p.a. The government can also facilitate by providing a 3 day window or something like that. For example, the colleges in and around Coimbatore can be informed that hiring will take place at GCT-Cbe between so and so dates for that district during the holidays between 7th and 8th semester. It will be a lot easier for the recruiters and the students will also have a chance to get placed.

^^ VIT being an autonomous university, has created a placement record! Sure, TN's colleges are doing gr8!!

We didn't get Accenture but good for Noida.

It was not a bright year for the sunrise industry, neither has it been a dark one. Economic recession, tighter budgets and outsourcing ban did take away the sheen from the Infotech industry, yet the sector rebounded well to become one of the top five job creators during the year.

Recession slowed down software exports and Tamil Nadu felt a greater heat of this. Riding on the trough of the recession wave, the state’s software exports this year grew only by a meagre 5% against a brilliant 41% growth last year. TN earned only Rs 44,917.55 crore from software exports this year compared to Rs 42,782.40 crore last year.

“As far as exports are concerned, it has been a mixed year for the software industry,” says Kamesh Ramamurthy, CEO, Ramco Systems. “Some of the matured markets are still reeling under the impact of recession and decisions are harder to come by,” he says.

But Ravi Vishwanathan, Vice-President, TCS, feels otherwise. “There has been a turn of growth in 2010,” he says. There has been a lot of rebound in the last two quarters and the key indicator is the change of the downward slope to upward one, he feels.

This has also been witnessed in hiring across the sector. “While the IT industry was traditionally focused on application development and maintenance, newer service lines such as BPO/KPO, IT Infrastructure Services, ERP, CRM, etc witnessed encouraging growth this year,” avers R Chandrasekaran, President and Managing Director, Global Delivery, Cognizant.

And most hiring seems to have happened in this segment. As per a recent Ma Foi Employment trends survey, IT and ITES sector was one of the top five job creators for the year hiring 1,16,700 professionals. “Inter-industry shifting of workforce and increase in KPO business is serving a booster for this boom,” says K Pandia Rajan, MD of the company. He pegs the sector to add 43,100 more jobs in December.

In Tamil Nadu, particularly, the ITES sector witnessed a good 33% growth to touch Rs 8152 crore during the year with Tier II cities have been the key drivers. Software exports from cities like Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem and Trichy are up at Rs 908.70 crore this fiscal fuelled by the growth in special economic zones (SEZ) that houses most of them. This is bound to double next year when all the 7 SEZs in the state will become fully operational, hopes Elcot CMD Santhosh Babu.

However factors such as lack of infrastructure and skilled talent continue to pose a challenge for the sector’s growth in the state. “Infrastructure should be ramped up in a big way to see sizeable growth in the sector across the state,” says Ravi.

But roads apart, there seems to be a growing dearth of skilled talent. Policies like Rural BPO, introduced this year by the state government will fuel the need for more people. And for this, “Setting up of finishing schools in collaboration with the industry is important,” opines Kamesh.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/it-top-tn-job-creator-year-701

Not sure if this report is very credible.

SOURCE: (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2011/01/02/stories/2011010250600900.htm)

With three large IT SEZs in Chennai – two in operation and a third set to take-off later this year – the IT space in the city is seeing some activity as the developers identify their niche in the market. Together they will set up over 12 million sq.ft of IT space in the next couple of years.

This will be the year of SMEs for Shriram Properties' Gateway IT SEZ. In general, in the IT space, SMEs will be the way forward in 2011, says Mr R. Murugesan, CEO, Shriram Properties.

Over 3 million sq.ft is planned at the Gateway with a million sq.ft leased out and about 4 lakh sq.ft under construction. The project will be completed in 2012. The SEZ is located on NH-45, about 20 km from Chennai near Tambaram.

It is in the SME segment that developers are seeing strong demand and the Gateway hopes to exploit this opportunity during the year. But it is not as if the large floor plates are not in demand, even a couple of deals with large IT players can match a number of deals in the SME segment and this is happening. The Gateway has leased out about 1.7 lakh sq.ft in the last couple of months and about 3 lakh sq.ft is in final stages of negotiations. The deals are spread across tenants who are expanding and new ones coming in, he says.

Of the deals tied-up in the last two months, more than one lakh sq.ft was by a large brand, a current tenant expanding space. Other deals were in the range of 7,500 sq.ft to 50,000 sq.ft.

The Gateway has space tailored to the needs for large and small players, he says.

The advantage with the small players is that the structure provides for fast decision making. Deals can be finalised over a cup of coffee but in the case of large players it takes longer to get the deal tied up.

Lease rates have stabilised during the course of the year with some upswing seen in recent months. Lease rates are up by about Rs 5 a sq.ft a month for existing tenants looking for new space and about Rs 7 for new players.

Another trend is that some of the large IT players – other than the top three, TCS, Infosys and Wipro – are also willing to explore a ‘cost-plus' model with the developer providing a dedicated built to suit space. A couple of potential clients are exploring this option with Gateway, he says.

Shriram has also been hard selling space to attract SMEs including providing incubation space at ‘nearly zero cost' or throwing in fit-outs instead of just leasing warm shell.

According to market estimates, base lease rates are around Rs 35 a sq.ft at Gateway SEZ, over Rs 45 at DLF IT SEZ — located on the outskirts of the city to the South on Mount Poonamallee Road — about Rs 50 at the Ramanujan IT City, the SEZ by the Tata. This project is at the head of the IT corridor.

At DLF IT SEZ, the largest SEZ so far, the leasing sign up has certainly picked up particularly compared to 2008-09, says Mr K.K. Raman, Executive Vice-President and Zonal Head, DLF.

While not divulging details of the leasing, Mr Raman says DLF has completed about 5.5 million sq.ft of the proposed 7.3 million sq.ft, which will fully be in place by 2011-end. More than 85 per cent of the completed space has been booked, he says.

Ramanujan IT SEZ, being constructed by Tril Infopark Ltd, the last to hit the market in the second half of 2010, is also seeing space being leased out. The trend is mixed with large and medium size spaces – ranging from 25,000 to 2 lakh sq.ft, says Mr C. Velan, CEO, Tril. It is designed to cater to clients requiring smaller modules also, but there has not been demand yet from that segment.

Declining to mention specific deals, he says TRIL has preleased over 60 per cent of the first 6-lakh sq.ft IT building that is to be completed in the next one month. The space has been taken up in the last quarter even as it was under construction. Marketing of the second unit of about 6 lakh sq.ft is set to begin with the building planned for completion in mid-2011.

Tril is planning about 3.4 million sq.ft of IT SEZ space, which is likely to be completed in end 2012. Tril has a location advantage as it is in the heart of city, a clear advantage for IT companies, he adds.

Wikipedia setting up office in India. Chennai should step in as a strong contender. Hope our IT minister takes some initiative..

Wikipedia setting up office in India. Chennai should step in as a strong contender. Hope our IT minister takes some initiative..

While it may add some prestige,but no jobs. (atleast like you imagine). Heard from its founder, yesterday on NPR, that their budget is like 20 million and he thanked the volunteers for contributing 16 million. He added there are totally 50 employees and the new India operations isikely to take this count up.

Sometimes, our imagination makes things look different. You are better off chasing big force multipliers like IBM or Microsoft or Oracle.

True Look for IBM kind of companies. Also Wiki started first office in Chennai and I think it is for Content production etc.

While it may add some prestige,but no jobs. (atleast like you imagine). Heard from its founder, yesterday on NPR, that their budget is like 20 million and he thanked the volunteers for contributing 16 million. He added there are totally 50 employees and the new India operations isikely to take this count up.

Sometimes, our imagination makes things look different. You are better off chasing big force multipliers like IBM or Microsoft or Oracle.

I pretty well know that Wikepedia in Chennai will not bring more jobs but the reason I wished it should enter Chennai is b'cos:

-This will improve Tamil content in web.
-Prestige(As you said)
-Brings more visibility to Brand Chennai.
-Last but not least "Little drops of water makes a mighty ocean "

The increase in placement numbers of all IT companies is a good news for the general economy of the city & state.

But there is a flip side to it.

Graduates who have done Mechanical, electrical, civil, metallurgy, production, industrial, chemical, biotechnology end up joining IT companies and working for Bank, insurance and accounts related software creation & management.

They are not only spoiling the chance of genuinely interested aspirants for those engg seats and also wasting their 4 years acquired knowledge.

The increase in placement numbers of all IT companies is a good news for the general economy of the city & state.

But there is a flip side to it.

Graduates who have done Mechanical, electrical, civil, metallurgy, production, industrial, chemical, biotechnology end up joining IT companies and working for Bank, insurance and accounts related software creation & management.

They are not only spoiling the chance of genuinely interested aspirants for those engg seats and also wasting their 4 years acquired knowledge.

That was true 3-4 years ago (pre recession). Nowadays with the spurt of infra projects, the core sector companies are on a hiring binge. And I dont think the trend of engineering guys going for banking and management jobs as worrisome. The beauty of engineering is its versatility and many engineers do want mid career switch. So it works out fine. Markets will manage the demand and supply and we dont have to worry much. If anything government should increase the intake of core engineering in its colleges. There is a deficiency of quality mechanical and civil engineers as compared to other branches.

Pudhusa oru company-um varala. Aracha maavayae araikaraanga pa!! :bash::bash:

The increase in placement numbers of all IT companies is a good news for the general economy of the city & state.

But there is a flip side to it.

Graduates who have done Mechanical, electrical, civil, metallurgy, production, industrial, chemical, biotechnology end up joining IT companies and working for Bank, insurance and accounts related software creation & management.

They are not only spoiling the chance of genuinely interested aspirants for those engg seats and also wasting their 4 years acquired knowledge.

You do not need an engineering degree to code application software. I know lot of people are going to start screaming but thats the reality.

You do not need an engineering degree to code application software. I know lot of people are going to start screaming but thats the reality.

Absolutely true

SOURCE: (http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/22/stories/2011012253290400.htm)

The State recorded software exports to the tune of Rs. 45,181 crore during 2009-2010, Poongothai Aladi Aruna, Information Technology Minister, said on Friday.

[However, according to information available on the website of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI)-Chennai, the value of exports in the State was Rs. 36,765.53 crore.]

After handing over land allotment letters to various IT firms at Fort St. George here, she told reporters that the current year's performance was expected to be better [as the spell of economic recession was over]. Pointing out that the State had recorded the highest growth rate in the category of exports through Tier II and Tier III cities, she said the value of exports under this category went up from about Rs. 400 crore to around Rs. 900 crore. In terms of volume of exports, the State ranked second.

On the implementation of e-waste policy, P.W. C. Davidar, Principal Secretary in charge of IT Department and Santosh Babu, Managing Director of the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT), said the State government would work in tandem with the Union government. The Centre had formulated draft guidelines, the text of which had been made available in the public domain. The Minister said the Madurai and Tirunelveli IT/IT-Enabled Services special economic zones were ready for inauguration. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi would formally declare them open soon. An official release stated that as part of its efforts to bring IT to Tier II cities, the ELCOT had developed IT/ITES SEZ Parks in Viswanathapuram village (174.47 acres) of Hosur and Jagirammapalayam village (164.26 acres) of Salem.

In Hosur, work on the creation of infrastructure was under way at an estimated cost of Rs. 24 crore and the total investment proposed by the ELCOT was Rs. 48 crore. Besides, the Corporation was building a building of 50,000 sq. ft. at an estimated cost of Rs. 13.74 crore. Twenty seven acres were allotted to six companies.

In Salem, work on infrastructure establishment was in progress at a cost of Rs. 9.43 crore and the total proposed investment was Rs. 33 crore.

Five and a half acres were given to two companies. Already, six acres had been allotted to two firms in Salem.

The Hosur IT SEZ was expected to draw an investment of Rs. 2,000 crore and the Salem SEZ Rs. 800 crore, the release added.

hi,

details of the un-conference i had posted earlier.

Assembly Point:

Outside Indira Nagar MRTS Station (On the Rajiv Gandhi Salai Side)
Time: 2:45 PM on February 5, 2011

A 15-20 minute tour of the MRTS Station

then Walk to (this is actually just across the road - but mind the connectivity - that's the idea!)

Centre for Development Finance,
c/o Institute for Financial Management & Research
IITM Research Park
Phase 1, 10th Floor
#1, Kanagam Road
Taramani
Chennai 600 113

For more details: http://chennaicityconnect.com/unconference-urban-living/

The idea of this event is to generate ideas and also see how, citizens can get directly involved in projects.

This is an open to all event for interested Chennai citizens, so come equipped with ideas and commitment and friends if they share the passion!

CHENNAI: IT major CSS Corp plans to recruit about 1,500 employees in the next financial year, a top company official said here on Friday.

The US-headquartered company currently has around 5,000 employees, serving at various locations.

"Next (financial) year, we will add close to 1,500 employees", CSS Corp CEO Nick Sharma told reporters here.

"Globally we have over 5,000 employees, (and) of the planned 1,500 recruits, 80 per cent would be from India", he said.

The company has also announced its global expansion with the setting up of a new unit in Mauritius on February 9.

CSS Corp is already operating in four countries -- India, US, The Philippines and Poland.


Read more: CSS Corp to recruit 1,500 technical staff next financial year - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/CSS-Corp-to-recruit-1500-technical-staff-next-financial-year-/articleshow/7424877.cms#ixzz1CzM3wKcu
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/CSS-Corp-to-recruit-1500-technical-staff-next-financial-year-/articleshow/7424877.cms

Cognizant to invest Rs 2,274 cr in India; Q4 net up 43%


http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/cognizant-to-invest-rs-2274-cr-in-india-q4-net43/125017/on

As part of its efforts to beef up position in the Indian market, US-based IT services provider Cognizant today said it will invest about Rs 2,274 crore in the country over the next four years.

India is an important geography for the company as nearly 75% of its over 1 lakh employees are based in the country.

"Cognizant will invest more than $500 million through the end of 2014 to expand our owned campus footprint with the addition of over eight million square feet, which will have the capacity to house over 55,000 employees," Cognizant spokesperson said.
The 8 million sq ft capacity is for our future headcount growth and we will continue to lease additional facility based on business demand, he added.

Cognizant, which competes with Indian IT firms such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro, has spent over $500 million in building its infrastructure in India.

"In 2010, we spent $185 million globally and the bulk of it was for our expansion programme across India," the spokesperson said.

Cognizant will fund the investment through internal accruals. "Cognizant has over $2.2 billion of cash and short-term investments and our business generates good cash. In fact in Q4, 2010, our cash was up approximately $298 million from the end of Q3 2010," he said.

It will also create additional software development and training facilities in regions designated as Special Economic Zones in Chennai, Pune, Coimbatore and Kolkata.

The Nasdaq-listed company today reported 43% jump in net profit to $206.16 million for the fourth quarter ended December 2010 over the same period last year.

For the fourth quarter, revenues grew by 45.2% to $1.31 billion over the same period last year.

"We are pleased with how quickly our business rebounded during 2010, a validation of our strategy of continuing to invest through the downturn," Cognizant President and CEO Francisco D'Souza said.

Cognizant has also given a strong outlook for 2011. It expects revenues to touch at $5.79 billion in 2011, up at least 26% compared to 2010's.

For the year ended December 2010, net profit stood at $733.54 million (up 37.1% from 2010), while revenues were up 40% at $4.59 billion compared to 2009.

"Strong investments in our people, processes and infrastructure have allowed us to provide increasing value to our clients, while generating industry-leading growth," Cognizant CFO and Chief Operating Officer Gordon Coburn said.

Cognizant added 8,300 employees during the said quarter globally taking the total headcount to 1.04 lakh persons.

During the quarter, 77.2% revenue came from clients in North America, while Europe and Asia Pacific, Middle Eastern and Latin American markets contributed 19.2% and 3.6% to the quarter's revenues.

I am greatly confused with this thread and IT Park/IT SEZ Projects thread. And it sounds they both serve IT related project and news in Chennai.. Is there any big diff b/w these two?

In Simple way :)

IT Park/IT SEZ Projects thread - Real Estate business
ChennaIThread - Information Technology business

Citi, BofA & JPMorgan to outsource $5 bn of IT and back office projects to India..

Stricter reporting and compliance norms are also playing their role. According to US-based TowerGroup, these banks will spend almost $60 billion on coping with stricter regulations such as Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. “They have a lot of reporting requirements that were not required earlier and this needs an update in technology. These new norms are needed because of the several government bailouts etc that took place. Even for banks that did not require government bailouts, there was a lot of merger activity and integration is supposed to be completed in two years according to the government rules,” said Jan Erik Aase, principal analyst, offshore outsourcing and vendor management at Forrester.

Already, TCS and Cognizant — the two firms that outperformed peers over past few quarters — are seeing their revenues from banking customers rise by over 40%. TCS, which gets nearly half its revenues from banks, saw its banking and financial services business grow by 25% during the December quarter. Cognizant, which counts JP Morgan among its top customers grew its revenues from banks by 46.5% during the same period. Infosys, which derives 36.2% of its revenues by writing applications for banks such as BofA, grew its business from the segment by 4.6% during the third quarter.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/citi-bofa-jpmorgan-to-outsource-5-bn-of-it-and-back-office-projects-to-india/articleshow/7490712.cms

Expect an increase in Headcount of 1,500+ in the year 2011; of which 700 to be fresh graduate engineers


src:

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/hexaware-q4-net-jumps-10-to-rs-396-cr/125891/on

http://www.hexaware.com/fileadd/Hexaware_-_Press_Release_February_16,_2011.pdf

Not sure how many from Chennai though.

Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre expanding...

Caters to Nissan's global operations in the key areas of Advanced Research and Development, Advanced CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering), Product Development, Digital Vehicle Development, Information Systems Development, Indian and Global Parts Sourcing etc.

Citi, BofA & JPMorgan to outsource $5 bn of IT and back office projects to India..



http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/citi-bofa-jpmorgan-to-outsource-5-bn-of-it-and-back-office-projects-to-india/articleshow/7490712.cms
CITI- The major chunk will come to Mumbai and Chennai. Citi's third party vendor for their IT and BPO is TCS and Wipro. Both are having the major chunk of ops in Chennai
BOfA- 2Lac sq feet newly taken up in SP Infocity, Perungudi. I hope this will again come to Chennai
JPM- After the Telengana issue, they have put their expansion in HYD (DLF Gachibowli) once again on hold and expanding it in Bangalore itself. DLF should have persuaded them to shift to DLF Porur, Chennai. I know im day dreaming