Stories are abound about Azim Hasham Premji in the Indian business circles. He is credited with transforming the fledgling $2 million hydrogenated cooking fat company he inherited from his father at the age of 21 into a $2.1 billion IT Services organization serving customers from across the globe. A recipient of many awards and accolades—primary among them being Time magazine’s listing him as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2004 and the Padma Bhushan in 2005—Premji, unlike many others believes each one of them is recognition for all those who over the years have shared his thoughts and experiences on a host of issues ranging from India’s meteoric rise in the world order to the importance of universal quality education. Here, we capture his advice to techies in ten simple commandments—Premji’s commandments.

1 Take charge, dream on

The first thought that crossed young Azim Premji’s mind when he stepped into the Wipro factory at Almaner was ‘take charge’. The times decidedly were tough. His father had passed away and he was faced with the dilemma of coming down from Stanford University leaving his electrical engineering degree mid-way, to look after the family’s vegetable oils business or as many people advised, taking up a nice, cushy job. “At such times when you feel lost,” he says looking back, “there is a small voice inside you that tells you where to go. You can either amplify the voice to make it the purpose of your life or ignore it and turn if off.”

An essential component of taking charge is having a dream as to where we want to go. No doubt there will be setbacks in the pursuance of that dream, but still we must keep dreaming. Says Premji, “What saddens me most is to see young, bright people getting completely disillusioned by a few initial setbacks and slowly turning cynical. What’s worse is that some of them want to migrate to America hoping that it is the solution.” Dreams are most needed when just about everything is going wrong. They provide the inspiration and ensure that one remains in charge of the situation.

2 Earn your happiness

“It is a common saying that a Rupee earned is of far more value than five found,” says Premji. He recalls innumerable interviews when he’s asked the interviewees to narrate their most memorable achievements and they’ve recounted those which needed maximum effort on their part. “It is almost as if the pain they faced is now an integral part of their pleasure,” he says, adding, “I guess we only know the value of what we have if we have struggled to earn it.”

3 Nothing succeeds like failure, nothing fails like success

“It is impossible to generate a few good ideas without a lot of bad ideas. Failure should be forgiven and forgotten quickly,” says Premji. If we encounter failure along the way, we should treat it as a natural phenomenon and not beat ourselves or any one else for that matter. In fact, as the following story illustrates, we could look at failures or pitfalls as the stepping stones to success.

One day a farmer’s donkey fell into a well. It cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway. So he, along with his neighbors, grabbed a shovel each and began to shovel dirt into the well. On realizing the motive behind the act, the donkey initially cried more loudly and then, to everyone’s amazement, quietened down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer curiously looked down the well and came away astonished.

With every shovel of dirt that fell on his back, the donkey would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, it stepped over the edge of the well and tottered away.

“Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt,” says Premji. “The trick is not to get bogged down by it. We can get out of the deepest wells by not stopping. Shake it off and take a step up!”

Even while practicing the shake off and step up act, we ought not to let success get into our heads. In other words, retention of humility is a must. He narrates another story to elucidate its importance.

A lady and her husband, both dressed in faded clothes, walked in without an appointment into the office of the President of the most prestigious educational institution in America. After waiting for hours, they were allowed to meet the President who glared sternly at them. The lady said, “Our son, who studied here was killed in an accident a year ago.” She expressed her desire of erecting a building in memory of her deceased son in the University campus.

“A building?” exclaimed the President, looking at their worn out clothes. Convinced that they did not have the means to erect a memorial, he said, “Do you have any idea that our buildings cost close to ten million dollars?’’ With that, the President thought he’d get rid of them.

The lady looked at her husband calmly. “If that is what it costs to start a university, why don’t we start our own?” she queried. Her husband nodded. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California, where they established a University as a memorial to their son, bearing their name – the Stanford University.

As this story shows, the moment we allow success to build a feeling of arrogance, we become vulnerable to making bad judgments.

4 There has to be a better way

Partly a corollary to his previous commandment, this one is centered around the fact that no matter how well we do something, there is always a better way to do it! “Excellence is not a destination but a journey,” quips Premji, adding that sometimes when we reach a plateau in our climb for perfection, we need to look sideways. After all, innovation oftentimes is inspired from other disciplines. It is probably not a coincidence that Einstein’s interest in music was as much as his interest in Physics and Bertrand Russell was as much a mathematician as a philosopher.

5 Define what you stand for

While success and finding better ways to reach its pinnacle are important, it becomes enduring only if it is built on a strong foundation of values. Premji, for one, is revered by his colleagues in the industry for insisting that Wipro will not pay bribes. He says that the fast propagation of the notion that values stand in the way of success holds no merit.

According to him, values serve as a strong anchor in a turbulent sea of changes and provide faith at times when it seems we are surrounded by darkness. They provide the courage to stand up to any distractions along the way. “Combined with a powerful vision, values can turbo-charge us to scale new heights and make us succeed beyond our wildest expectations,” he quips.

6 Think what to take on next

Wipro’s head honcho notes that too many people are so enamored by the legacy of success in their current roles that they are afraid to look further. This, he opines, often leads to inertia. “We must learn to look at change as an exciting adventure rather than a disruption. New avenues for learning always lie just beyond the shade of our comfort zone,” he explains.

7 Play as a team, play to win

Playing to win does not mean playing dirty or cutting corners to get to the goal. Instead, it has to do with bringing out the best in us; it involves the desire to stretch and achieve something that seems beyond our grasp. For this, we must learn the importance of playing as a team.

“The challenges ahead are so complex that no individual will be able to face them alone,” says Premji, a winner in his own right. While most of our education is focused on individual strength, teaming with members is equally important. “You cannot fire a missile from a canoe,” he reasons, adding, “Unless you build a strong network of people with complimentary skills, you will be restricted by your own limitations and winning will remain a distant dream.”

The aspect of playing in a team has also undergone a sea change in the last decade or so. Globalization has brought in people of different origins, upbringings, and cultures together. Today, playing as a team needs to include the ability to become an integral part of a cross-cultural team.

8 Remain physically active

Exercising and remaining fit is something that most techies take for granted in their youth. But they ought not, especially because exercise not only improves the health but also aids in better sleep while reducing the time needed for sleep itself. This assumes significance given the 24/7 rotation-oriented shift patterns most techies are required to follow. “While stress will go on increasing in a global world, we must find our own mechanism to deal with it,” says Premji, adding that there is enough literature to support the finding that exercise effectively reduces stress.

9 Respond, not react

It is essential that we understand the difference between responding and reacting. While we respond, we evaluate with a calm mind and do whatever is most appropriate. We are in control of our actions. But when we react, we end up doing what the other person wants us to do. In this context, Premji recalls, as a youth ‘reacting’ to orders he did not resort to rebelling. “Rebellion as a reaction is conformity to something else,” he says thoughtfully.

Oftentimes, when it comes to negative criticisms, he notes reflecting on his experiences, we make the mistake of reacting rather than responding. We must always welcome any form of criticism, for, as the story below illustrates, it helps us better ourselves.

A boy enrolled in an art school dreamt of becoming a great artist. His aspiration however was pulverized by his teacher who would always find some fault with his work. The student improved on his work continuously, hoping that one day he would hear a word of appreciation from his teacher. But it never happened. Finally, in disgust, he bought a painting from an accomplished artist, touched it up with fresh paint and showed it to his teacher. The teacher smiled and said, “Now this is really good work. Congratulations.” Feeling guilty, the student confessed that it was not his painting. The teacher looked at him for a while and said, “Till now, I thought you wanted to paint a great picture. But I realize now that you do not seek any further improvement; it means that the last painting you did was the best you will ever do. Remember you have set these limits to your talent, not me.”

“As we see here,” says Premji, “criticism may actually be an expression of faith in us rather than a means of putting us down.” If we react rather than respond to criticisms, we will only be limiting ourselves.

10 Have a broader social vision

The fact that the Wipro wizard has made a case for having a broader social vision many times over in numerous forums across the world explains how close it is to his heart.

“For decades we have been waiting for someone who will help us in ‘priming the pump’ of the economy,” he notes with a certain discomfiture. Many think that thinking and working towards social causes is the sole onus of the day’s government, but that is not the case. He elucidates how, in the ‘millennium of the mind’, knowledge-based industries like information technology are in a unique position to earn wealth from outside. This wealth, or a part of it, they must invest in bridging the immense inequality between India’s rich and poor.

Not limiting himself to just philosophizing, Premji set up the Azim Premji Foundation. The foundation works towards the universalization of Primary Education. “The greatest gift one can give to others is the gift of education,” he quips, reflecting emotionally on those who have educated him during his formative years, most of all, his father.

“The greatest legacy he endowed me with was the legacy of values. That is what has helped me become what I am today,” signs off the new-age Indian plutocrat who incidentally loves hiking and insists on flying economy class.

(One of my favorite write ups published in our publication The SmartTechie, it was written by my colleague. For the original published article click here)

India’s BPO guru – Wipro Technologies has opened a global delivery center in Chengdu, China to provide IT and BPO services to its customers.

Wipro states that the new facility will be capable of reaching  1,000 seats in capacity.

The new Shared Services Center will broaden its service capabilities in tandem with Wipro’s existing presence in Shanghai.
It will extend the company’s portfolio of IT services to its customer with an initial focus in the first year on testing and enterprise application services for the manufacturing, banking, financial services & insurance industries.

The company said that the center will provide multilingual services in English, Chinese and Japanese. Wipro currently employs over 100 people and plans on increasing headcount in 2010.

Last weekend saw the Wipro Walk In Event across India. Our sources tell us it was a rousing success with many offers handed out on the spot. What we really want to know is what you thought. Did anyone attend? We’re dying to hear first hand experiences from the Delhi Location.

BANGALORE: If you are a pink slip recipient from Wipro, here’s a piece of good news. Wipro plans to rehire some of the employees it fired a year ago.

“Non-performance was the reason for these separations. However, we are open to rehire some of these people who were fired by us a year ago, if they come back to us with additional skill sets. A one-year window would have been enough for them to acquire some additional skills,” said Joseph John, vice-president (HR) in Wipro Infotech, the business that looks at the India and Middle-East markets.

The tech major’s involuntary attrition rate has gone up by 2 percentage points in the last 16 months. Wipro Infotech said it would also resume campus hiring from January. “We are looking at hiring over 1,000 laterals during the fiscal and 1,000 freshers from campuses in January,” said John.

The division, which recruited 1,000 people in the first six months of the fiscal, expects hiring numbers in the second half of the year to be more than double of that.

The additional people requirement comes with Wipro winning a slew of large projects in India and the Middle-East, and also to cater to the growing requirements of existing accounts. The company hired 200 people in Saudi Arabia and Egypt recently.

Wipro is also hiring for its Global Service Management Centre in Mysore with almost 5% jobs earmarked for differently-abled people.

Wipro Infotech is planning to raise the ratio of its women employees from 13% now to 20% in the next two years. On salary hikes, John said the company had not budgeted a hike at the start of the fiscal. “But we have decided to raise salaries in the fourth quarter across the board.”

Filiala locala a companiei Wipro si-a dublat numatul de angajati in ultimele 10 luni si ofera noi locuri de munca in centrul de Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) din Bucuresti. La sfarsitul anului si in 2010, furnizorul de servicii de outsourcing si software lanseaza pe piata 150 de joburi pentru BPO.

Jhilam Nandi, Head of India Sales and Marketing, informs a curious visitor at the booth about the various tools offered.

Dear Kovair Friends,

I’m posting this blog from the Kovair Kolkata office where I am spending the week with our Product Development group. The content of this blog, however, focuses on my visit to Bangalore last week where Kovair participated in the SPM-ICON event from October 29-30, focusing on IT Project Management. Kovair participated as the Gold sponsor of the event along with Microsoft as the Platinum sponsor and IBM as the Event sponsor.  As you can see by the names, we were in very good company and received great reception and recognition! This was the 5th annual event and we participated for the first time. This was also our first major marketing event in India where we started focusing on since Spring 2009.

Kovair CEO and Chairman Bipin Shah (myself, right) gives one of three cash prizes to an ecstatic winner.

The first day of the event primarily comprised of tutorial sessions where we networked and conducted a quiz on ALM and ITSM and gave out cash prizes to three winners. On Day 2, we had some very interesting sessions with a keynote address by Bob Hoekstra, former CEO of Phillips and a well-known face in Bangalore based on his past there. The day’s sessions were managed by individuals from some major IT companies in Bangalore such as Program and Project Management from Wipro, Challenges of Managing Projects to Improve Efficiency by HCL, Managing Software Product Portfolio with Real Insights & Real Metrics by IBM Rational and Managing Changes by Infosys. Kovair was provided with a vendor speaking slot where we presented the “Kovair Value Proposition for IT Projects and Service Management.”

Colonel Ravindranath shares his experience at the conference.

For those who wanted to hear something about project management from a non-IT perspective, there was an excellent and somewhat emotionally charged presentation by Colonel Ravindranath from the Indian army where he described the Project Management aspects of recapturing the Tololing peak by his battalion during the Kargil war between India and Pakistan a few years ago at an elevation of over 16,000 feet! The project included many details of planning, communicating, training, rehearsing and logistical planning, including the manual lifting of ammunition at night by couple of hundred soldiers and support personnel for over a week without the enemy realizing what was happening in the darkness of the night! While it was interesting from a planning and execution perspective, it was very sad to hear about the casualties of such an undertaking and realizing the tragic part of any war and how it affects the people and their families who get sacrificed in any such conflict!

Our booth drew several people and it was interesting for this writer to see the Bangalore IT crowd in action with attendees from the “who is who” of IT companies in India such as IBM (yes, you can also call it an Indian IT company with an employee count of 50,000 in India), Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant, HCL, Mindtree and many others!

For further details and to view presentations and/or download the Kovair presentation, please visit http://www.qsitglobal.com/spm-icon-2009/.

On another note, I would like to mention that Kovair is in the process of signing up two VARs in the Bangalore area — Vedasoft and GenXT so that we can better serve our customers in the India market – particularly in the Bangalore area with it’s large presence of both Indian and Global IT and Technology companies.

Thanks for reading this and I hope you will visit the Kovair website at www.kovair.com for other information and updates!

Sincerely,

Bipin Shah
CEO and Chairman

 India Inc is on the road to recovery from the global downturn struck the world economy, with companies showing buoyancy on hiring and salary increases, a survey by global HR consultancy Mercer says.

 Corporate India is expected to witness an average eight per cent salary increase this year and as much as 50 per cent of companies have strong hiring plans for the next three months.

 India Inc’s hiring activity has picked up 4.1 per cent with IT, BPO and real estate sectors turning bullish after a long time, according to a report by job portal naurkri.com. Meanwhile, officials from several colleges say that firms such as TCS, Wipro, Infosys, HP, Cisco, Sapient, IBM, Convergys BPO and Symphony Services plan to hire in a big way.

 Infosys has announced an across-the-board salary hike and promotions with effect from October 1. When domestic salaries have risen by 8 per cent, onsite remunerations have gone up by 2 per cent. This is expected to reduce the company’s margins by 2 per cent in the next two quarters. Wipro is also looking forward to campus hiring by the end of the year.

 Outsourcing giant Accenture and India’s largest IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have approached HR firms for large scale recruitment. In response to a rebound in IT outsourcing contracts, IT services provider iGate has also announced it plans to hire 1,500 people in the calendar year 2010.

 India’s fourth-biggest software exporter, HCL Technologies, said its revenues for the first quarter ended September 30, 2009, rose almost 29 per cent and is planning to hire 2,600 software engineers in October-December quarter to cope with a growing demand by expanding its existing service lines.

 The ITeS/BPO sector saw an increase of 18.3 per cent in hiring activity in September, while real estate and retail saw a rise of 36.8 per cent and 12.2 per cent, respectively.

 However, students are aware of the weak dollar and the impact of the credit crisis, and are ready to get placed with salaries ranging between Rs 1.8 lakh and Rs 5 lakh.

 Yahoo! India News

A file picture of Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Limited(right) and Mr. Suresh Senapaty, Executive Director and CFO, Wipro.

Diversified firm Wipro Ltd on Thursday said it will acquire personal care brand Yardley for $45.5 million (about Rs 214 crore).

The company has signed an agreement with UK-based Lornamead Group, which owns the Yardley brand, for its business in Asia, the Middle East, Australia and certain African markets, Wipro said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Yardley is a global brand in personal care category offering fragrance, body wash and skin care products.

“This transaction adds a strong brand to our portfolio of personal care products. It fits into our strategy of increasing sales and brand presence in the Middle East,” Wipro President, Consumer Care and Lighting, Vineet Agrawal said.

The transaction is expected to complete by mid-December 2009, it said.

“Our understanding of Indian markets will also help to expand Yardley across this region,” Mr. Agrawal added.

Lornamead would, however, retain the Yardley business in Europe and America, the filing added.

“We will continue to invest in Yardley in Europe and America in particular through category expansion and new product development in these core markets where we see considerable growth opportunities,” Lornamead Chief Executive Mike Jatania said.

Todays Economic Times carried an article that said Wipro and TCS want to buy Target India. You can read that article here.

The Big guys here at Target seemed least bit surprised or disturbed by this news. Scary for us small guys huh? So in a meeting we were told that its a big rumour and its shocking to see a leading newspaper make such a mistake.

Anyways, while talking to some of my friends here, we were wondering how can a big firm like Target be bought by small dudes like Wipro (no offence). This is when we found out that most of our work is being outsourced to Wipro and TCS. This makes it a perfectly ok for them to buy us out.
My TA seems to be blaming me for all the things going wrong in Target off late, raging from lights in rooms not working to the false news. Little does he know that Wipro was my first offer and if they buy us out, i can join wipro

Downward Movement Hits Indian Equities Markets

Indian equities markets entered into a consolidation zone with analysts terming the downward movement as long expected.

A benchmark index fell 5.44 percent from its last weekly close and ended trade below the 16,000-mark.

The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) ended 914.53 points, or 5.44 percent lower, at 15,896.28 points at the weekly close Friday, as opposed to the previous week’s close at 16,810.81 points.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), too slipped, closing at 4,711.7 points, down 5.7 percent from its last weekly close.

However, companies with large-to-medium market capitalization saw greater selling with the BSE midcap index ending 7.36 percent lower and the BSE smallcap index losing 8.01 percent over the last week.

“This consolidation was expected anyways as the valuations were not commensurate with the earnings of corporates. To an extent a correction in valuations was warranted,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, equities head of brokerage and capital markets consultancy SMC Capital.

The markets started on a cautious note Monday ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s mid-year policy review Tuesday.

The Sensex ended a volatile day at 16,740.50 points — 70.31 points or 0.42 percent lower than Friday’s close.

The Nifty followed a similar trajectory and ended in negative at 4,970.9 points, down 0.52 percent.

Both benchmark indices nosedived Tuesday as the RBI indicated in its policy review that it would start tightening the monetary policy and look at exiting the stimulus measures.

Data with markets watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) showed that foreign funds were net sellers during the week, having sold scrips worth $12.8 million.

The top gainers this week on the Sensex were

Tata Motors (up 7.2 percent),
Ranbaxy Labs (up 4.8 percent),
Wipro (up 2.9 percent),
Grasim (up 1.6 percent) and
Hindustan Unilever (up 1 percent).

The top losers were :

DLF (down 18.5 percent),
Reliance Capital (down 14.5 percent),
Reliance Infrastructure (down 14.2 percent),
Hindalco (down 13.9 percent) and
Reliance Power (down 12.9 percent).

“Broadly speaking only about one percent of the quarterly results show a sound top line growth. Profits might have increased, but that is not because of increase in core operations – cost cutting and other income have contributed towards it,” said Thunuguntla.

I have been planning to blog about this for a week. But dint get enough time. Finally, here it is.

Let me give you a little background of who we are and where do (or did) we belong. We are the erstwhile employees of Wipro (and some who still are working for Wipro). We were deputed at client location, Motorola and since then we prefer to call ourselves Motoralaites rather than Wiproites, for the sheer reason of feeling a sense of belonging and attachment that we felt towards Motorola (at least I did), and the appreciation of their work culture.

We were a team of twelve very Bindass bunch of guys(men) and girls(women) coming from different parts of India. But what held us together was the very fact that we were lazy by nature, jovial and very open-minded, who never ventured into any back-biting whatsoever of any one of us (except for our Managers). We took three (at times five) breaks in a day and chatted the rest of the time. Work was our last priority. To cut  the long story short, after a while (I guess 7 months after I joined) we suddenly realized that we were going nowhere (Pay was the main reason followed by Job satisfaction) in the current job and hence decided to do the unthinkable. Jump!! It started with one taking the lead and the rest (almost half of our gang) followed.

We have been very much in touch with each other since then thanks to the internet and (how can I forget?), telecommunication. But then, we couldn’t resist the thought of not being able to meet up and chat like what we did when in Moto. It all started with Shiv, the great, wanting to have a get-together (not the BBQ party as was planned when we were in Moto, but dint work-out thanks to our support schedule) at his place. After months of planning we all decided to fix up on a date (not before exchanging 100 emails between us to decide and agree on the specific date), the 10th of October 2009!

We all decided to meet up at Shiv’s place at 3pm sharp(as if we were punctual all the time)! So we all got together at not 3pm but 4pm at Shiv’s place. Salma and Naga were late! Naga trickled in by 5pm, while Salma came at 6!! The reason for her being late was that she was preparing cake for all of us (how sweet of her we thought!!). Only to be later surprised at how the cake turned out to be. It was something between a Cake and a Muffin (Allwyn had a better name for that which I cannot recollect now). Nevertheless, we ate it though we cribbed. But Salma, how sweet of you, really!! Arch and Shiv brought the Samosas, Gulab Jamuns (which were yummy) and Cold drinks. And Puru brought along the ice-cream that Jaggu very happily finished in no time! Jaggu just loves anything that’s sweet!

We chatted about old times in Moto and what’s new at Moto and our new workplace. Recalled really funny events and laughed until our ribs tickled and started to pain. No one was spared, not even me! How could we miss the Big B and his Small R when we are all set to make fun and laugh. So they too were mercilessly been made fun of and laughed at in their absence. Yes,we do back-bite but only about our Managers. Then we were discussing (not again!!) on what to do next. Some said that we could have Thai food. Some wanted to go to the dingy resto-bar at Nandhini Palace. But then came Stones from Allwyn!! And there we all were, saying a loud Yes in chorus! The women were a little hesitant, but with little built-up they too agreed and were comfortable with Stones. For the benefit of those who don’t know what Stones is – Stones is a pub cum bar cum restaurant in Indira Nagar, Bangalore. Our gang has a lot of old memories attached to it. So what better place for a reunion!!

Packing ourselves in the car, off we went to Indira Nagar and then to Stones. It is a very dark place with loud music literally blasting out of the speakers. We had to literally scream ( use any other word you know of to exaggerate ) to each other. But it was fun. So we finally decided to order, after doing some Data Mining on the menu card. But Shiv and Allwyn knew what they wanted. They ordered for two pitchers of beer. For those like me who do not know what a pitcher is – a pitcher is a jug containing a quantity of beer equivalent to 6 mugs. Jaggu and Satish joined the bandwagon of beer-gulping-guzzling men.  I along with the women decided to adopt a more sober approach. We ate and enjoyed the music.

After one pitcher, Allwyn suggested why not we play a game!! A game in a pub while you’re drinking!! You must be crazy. But in fact, it was fun. The game was all about spilling-the-beans. We all agreed unanimously. I will not go into the nitty-gritty of the game and its contents in this forum. So guys, you all are safe and you wouldn’t have to kill me! But yes, we shared a lot of things that we dint in the past and wouldn’t but for this occasion. It was heartening (disheartening as well) to know how some of them got together, and how some couldn’t.  By this time, 4 pitchers were done. Jaggu silently drinking in one corner with a “care a rat’s-ass” attitude. He just wanted to enjoy the moment. Does he go to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Ashram by any chance?

Then came along Ravi (Salma’s better-half) and joined the celebration. Salma acting as a strict wife wanted him to abstain from drinking. But men as we are, we do not listen. He said, “Only one mug”. Salma  grinned and kept quiet. He drank not one or two but six mugs and Salma just couldn’t help but count. We then again chatted about a host of stuff and pulled each others’ legs as usual. By this time, eight pitchers were done. Allwyn and Shiv, the key players decided to call it a day. Satish already started to hate the taste of beer. Jaggu wanted more.. Everyone was tight!!

We finally headed to the car park and drove to our places, not before planning for the next meet-up slated to be either in November or December this year (requiring exchange of another 100 emails between us to decide). Ravi and Salma gave me a ride back home. I reached home and said to my friend, “What a day!! One of the best days of my life.”  I then told him the entire story……..

GUNTUR: The Wipro BPO will conduct interviews on October 13 (Tuesday) from 9.30 a.m. onwards for recruiting graduates or diploma holders for the post of BPO Associate.

Students and professionals of the city can attend the interview being held at Red Apple II Floor, Opposite NTR Stadium, Brundavan Gardens.

Contact Ramakrishna over the phone No. 92462-38345 for details.

The BPOs are calling Bharat
MINI JOSEPH TEJASWI TIMES NEWS NETWORK , TNN 10 October 2009, 05:27am IST

College and an office job was 17-year-old Abhijit’s dream. But financial problems meant he had to join his father on the farm, helping to grow paddy Steep rentals and a high attrition rate in cities are why many BPOs are moving and sugarcane, collect fodder and sell milk. That became his life in the tiny hamlet of Baburayanakoppal, near Srirangapatna in Karnataka.

Until three months ago, when an abandoned rice mill in the village was renovated and became the office for a 100-seater BPO (business process outsourcing) unit.

Word was soon out in the village that there were jobs to be had. Though he neither spoke nor understood English, Abhijit decided to give it a shot. He applied, wrote a test, was taken in and trained. Today, he’s part of the Indian BPO army, once seen as an urban opportunity accessible only to educated, English-speaking boys and girls.

Abhijit’s employer B S Venugopal, a director of Mpro Solutions, says though the training takes time, it is worth the effort. ”We did not expect to find readily employable talent in rural areas. They are raw with no language or communication skills but eager to learn.”

A few weeks into his training, Abhijit tells TOI Crest in grammatically correct English, ”It’s not that a farmer’s life was a bad one, but farming doesn’t pay enough for a comfortable living. In my case, I had no education and didn’t think I could be anything other than a farmer.” Now as part of his job, he makes calls to prospective donors from a database seeking funds for NGOs. His salary is Rs 3,500 a month.

Abhijit isn’t the only one taking advantage of BPOs going rural. Even as many outsourcing firms based in cities put a freeze on hiring, many new units are opening up in villages and towns in the south.

Karnataka’s IT/BT secretary Ashok Kumar C Manoli says the companies are bringing technology and financial empowerment to rural youth. ”The idea is to create a rural BPO cluster , which can be integrated with similar projects across the country,” he says. ” We want to promote jobs for rural youth who have some computer knowledge and belong to small towns with a one lakh population. To start with, each of these centres will have 100 seats,” he adds.

Abhijit’s colleagues at Mpro – Mahesh, Jagadish , an orphan, Soumya and a dozen others – are also taking advantage of this economic transformation. But what will they do with the extra money? Abhijit wants to help his father buy more cows. His friends, too, want to help their parents out but they also want to buy mobile phones and bicycles.

”The initiative will change the economic fabric of the countryside,” Manoli says. BPOs will make youth in the hinterland financially independent as they did in the urban areas. They will have money for marriage, to pay off debts or buy sewing machines and cows. More importantly, it will stop the mass exodus of young people from villages to cities seeking employment, he says.

It is the cost of business in big cities – exorbitant rentals, steep wages, high attrition – that has many companies looking towards the village. Mpro Solutions is the first to become operational under the Karnataka government’s ambitious rural BPO scheme. The state plans to set up a hundred such units to create one lakh jobs in the next four years. A few weeks ago another centre was opened at Gundlupet, while two centres are being readied in Salgame and Shiggaon in Karnataka. Also in the pipeline are eight more in Sirsi, Huliyur, Chikbalapur, Hosadurga, Pavagada, Mundargi and Devadurg in rural Karnataka.

The state is rolling out the red carpet for those adventurous enough to go rural. It’s offering financial incentives of up to Rs 20 lakh and a per employee training incentive of Rs 10,000. Manoli says the response from entrepreneurs has been overwhelming. Infosys and Wipro, too, have shown interest.

Bangalore-based BPO company RuralShores, which already has a centre in Bagepalli, is in the process of entering rural areas in Tamil Nadu and Bihar. Xchanging, which acquired Cambridge Solutions, and Hinduja Global Solutions too are venturing into semi-urban places like Shimoga in Karnataka and Durgapur in West Bengal.

Other southern states too are developing business models to encourage private players to venture beyond the cities. Tamil Nadu already has rural BPO units and is planning another 100 rural units in the next few years.

Kerala is looking at a hub-and-spoke model. The government aims to set up 100 rural BPOs at the panchayat and district level in 14 districts over the next three years. The first rural BPOs have already come up in Perinad and Kadakkal in Kollam district.

Sai Seva Business Solutions, a rural BPO unit, was set up in Puttaparthi (the abode of Sathya Sai Baba), a couple of years ago by management students of the Sri Sathya Sai University. HDFC Bank outsources part of its work on data capture and profiling of new accounts to them. Tata Business Support Services has set up a BPO in Mithapur in Gujarat, near the manufacturing unit of Tata Chemicals.

A country-wide rural BPO drive is expected to create employment opportunities for millions of rural Indians, allowing them a share in the country’s $12-billion BPO pie.

Times Of India Reference

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Against the backdrop of a spate of recent acquisitions by international technology companies like Dell and Xerox, Indian IT major Wipro on Friday said it is looking at acquisitions to fuel growth. “We are selectively looking at acquisitions…it will be a string of smaller ones,” Wipro chairman Azim Premji said on the sidelines of a conference.

He, however, declined to divulge further details saying, “It is premature to talk of them.” Premji said Wipro is focusing on the domestic sector, which accounts for just about 5 per cent of its Rs 6,274 crore revenues for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. About a quarter of domestic sales comes from government projects.

“We are very active in the (government) space and chasing many deals… About 20-25 per cent of our Indian revenues come from the government sector,” Premji said.

On the signs of recovery in the IT market, which was hit by the global economic meltdown, Premji said, “I think there is stabilisation in the market.”