Assorted articles and Information

HDFC Bank is moving its BPO activity to the semi-urban areas by hiring about 2,000 people in next two months. The move is expected to bring down the operation costs by about 50 per cent to 60 per cent due to cheaper human resources and real estate. The bank will soon open 400-seater BPO in Tirupati, its second after Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, sources close to the development said. The Mumbai-based bank is expected to have 2,000 people working (at these two BPOs) by June, sources said.

Going forward, the capacity would be ramped up along with widening of the scope of operations, sources said. This is the first such attempt by any major bank in the country, sources said adding, to start with these BPOs will do only data entry work of the bank, and hopefully of other bank’s or financial intuitions and insurance companies eventually.

The Nellore centre opened early this year, manned by 140 people all hired locally, is currently operational. The banks are estimated to save about 50 per cent due to lower human resource and real estate. Talking about the social benefits, sources said, the idea is to create job opportunities locally and help the local youth earn their living without the need to relocate to metros.

The Rs 250-crore Country Club (India) Ltd, owners of the largest chain of family clubs in India, has chalked out Rs 1,000-crore expansion plan by acquiring more clubs and expanding its foot print in more cities in the next three years. The company will also foray into Dubai, Thailand and Bangkok soon.

Mr Y. Rajeev Reddy, CMD, Country Club said, “We will expand in the western part of country. We are planning to set up premium club ‘Kool’ and will also promote medical tourism by setting up spas in association with Kerala-based Kairali at various locations”.

When asked about overseas foray, Mr Reddy said, “we are eying properties in Dubai, Thailand and Bangkok.” But he refused to reveal details. However, sources said the company was close to acquiring a property in Dubai, which will cost Rs 200 crore. The company, which operates 200 clubs across the country, has opened its first ‘Kool’ club in Ahmedabad. Two more Kool club will come up in Hyderabad and Bangalore by July.

Aircel will be launching operations in Kolkata during the next quarter. The company has received spectrum for launching services in Kolkata in May 2007. Aircel is a joint venture between Malaysian-based Maxis Communication Berhad Ltd and promoters of Apollo Hospitals Ltd. Aircel, which has around 8000 cell sites across the country, is planning to double it this year.

Mr Gurdeep Singh, chief operating officer, said ” We will start with Kolkata which will be the tenth circle and gradually continue to roll out the remaining 13 circles. Our intention is to have a pan-Indian presence in all the circles by 2009 and our main objective is to grow in market share,” he said.

The company is also planning to deploy Wi-max services in 32 cities. Aircel will also change its logo to refresh the brand. Three red stripes, which appear above the word Aircel will now appear after the word. The stripe will be in white.

India’s exports will touch $200 billion in 2009, according to a majority of CEOs polled by CII. The polled CEOs feel India would become a major player in the global market provided the government ensures stability without any mid-term changes in policy. The government is likely to announce the annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy on 4th April,2008.
India had set an export target of $160 billion for this fiscal, which is likely to fall short due to rupee appreciation. According to sources, the government may raise export target by 30 per cent for 2008-09 to $200-$225 billion.
The polled corporate bosses said that if the number of different export promotion schemes were to be brought down this year, then schemes like Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB), Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG), Duty Free Import Authorisation (DFIA) should continue. The DEPB scheme and interest subvention to specified sectors would be over by March 31, 2008.
The government should continue simplifying export and import procedures for small and medium enterprises, which contribute a large portion of total exports from the country, said the CEOs surveyed by CII. The government should enhance the powers of regional and zonal offices of the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to ensure quick local approvals to exporters. Presently, the cases are sent to the head office of DGFT in New Delhi for approval. According to the poll, there is a need for a mechanism to control sudden increase in sea freight. There has been a 61 percent increase in sea freight last year, which made exports uncompetitive.

State-run telecom operator Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is slated to commercially launch its mobile television service in April. With a monthly subscription rate of Rs 50, subscribers will get access to seven TV channels and five audio channels. Sports lovers will be able to watch cricket series on their mobile at a monthly charge of Rs 25. In addition, the global packet radio service (GPRS) charges will be Rs 10 per MB.
Currently, the bouquet of channels that MTNL has on offer may not excite many viewers. The channels on offer currently include S1, India TV, PIO, Enter10, PBC, Shakti TV and NETV, of which five will be given free of cost to subscribers. MTNL executive director, Mr A.K. Arora said the company is planning to get some more channels such as Star, Zee, Sony and also news channels.
Now, all you need to watch these channels is a global system for mobile communications (GSM) phone with GPRS connection, real player applications, Symbian operating system and a 2MB in-built memory card. According to Mr Arora, most of the latest phones come with these specifications.
MTNL has tied up with Netgear for technology and AirChord TeleVentures Ltd for providing content. It has about 3 million GSM users in New Delhi, and expects the number to go up with the launch of the service.
Mobile operators hope an additional income of about Rs 250 to Rs 500 a month from each mobile TV user will boost average revenue per user, which is constantly declining because fierce competition in the market. Trai would have to thrash out pricing guidelines once more players enter the fray.
Reliance Communications Ltd already is offering mobile television on its digital platform Mobile World. The service charges Rs 3 per minute. The current rollout by Idea Cellular Ltd for mobile TV is offered as a basic streaming service with a bouquet of 20 channels at Rs 150 a month. Star Mobile Entertainment has entered into a pact with Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB to offer pre-loaded ‘PLUS’ application on the handset manufacturer’s Walkman and Cyber-shot phones.