1.    Broad Issues India winning the Karachi cricket test match, Virendar Sehwag getting 309 runs and India getting an innings victory over Pakistan, the first ever in 50 yeas, there was cricket fever all around; not to be outdone the Election fever is on with political parties using Web-sites, SMS, and analytics to approach the electorate; with voting based on EVM all over it is an IT-savvy Election after all; Elections 2004 even gets Call Center in Bangalore! Economy votes for “India Shining” with third quarter growth of 10.4% (it finds mention in Wall Street Journal)! Arun Shourie creates history in his disinvestment ministry - Six public sector corporations give Rs 15,000 Crores to the Government; the budget deficit will be wiped out for the first time in history; ONGC disinvestment makes another history, its 10% stake was lapped up in 11 minutes; Forex Reserves cross $ 110 Billion; Rupee gains further and crosses the 43 mark against dollar; With Big firms helping Small firms to get access to cheap credit (as low as 6%) Small & Medium industries are bound to see revival; Hindustan Inks becomes Micro Inks to become a global player with $ 100 Million annual sales, operations in 50 countries and World’s 15^th largest Ink company; Pharmaceutical major Ranbaxy crosses $ 1 Billion landmark; McKinsey predicts China, India & Pakistan becoming Top Three textile Export Nations after quota regime gets over in January 2005 with India likely to get 6.5% of $ 248 Billion market; Forbes 2000 list includes 27 from India (26 from China) including Infosys, Wipro, MTNL and Bharti in IT arena and ONGC. IOC, and SBI topping the list;  globally, NASA X34 jet touches a speed of Mach 7 (8,000 KMPH); Iraq signs Interim Constitution; China recognizes private property; Russian President Putin gets a landslide victory for a second term; the worst train accident in Spain throws out the ruling pro USA Government in the Elections. 

2.    On the Technology front, Teleyarkhan, an India born scientist, (IIT Madras alumnus and Purdue University Professor) in USA creates nuclear fusion at a cost of mere $ 1 Million in a desktop environment; will it lead to Desktop power station? 

3.    On the Products front, PicoPeta launches BEL-manufactured Amida Simputer at Rs 9,9950 to Rs 19,950 price point; India Post offers e-Post, e-mail based home delivery mail; Acer launches Rs 21,000 desktop computers; Siemens launches Pen-size Tri-band mobile phone in CeBit 2004; SONY launches “Airboard” a wireless TV that has Tablet-like form factor; Hitachi launches 400 GB hard disks; EDS sells UGS PLM (the leading edge CAD / CAM software division) to three VC funds, marking a shift; EDS with business software background acquired the established technical software leader Unigraphics earlier; SONY & Infineon  develop a smart card for train ticketing applications; Nokia introduces 1100 as “Made for India”, with built in torch light, longer battery life, dust resistant cover and non-slip grip.  

4.    In the Marketplace, European Commission slaps a $ 678 Million fine on Microsoft; Microsoft agrees to pay $ 1.6 Billion to Sun Microsystems, paving the way for peace in enterprise market that is increasingly a bipolar world with Microsoft and Sun technologies; Intel decides to drop GHz (speed rating) from  chip names demonstrating the maturity of semiconductor business; Intel pays $ 225 Million to Intergraph for patent infringement; Yahoo buys Kelkoo for $ 574.8 Million; Wind River and Red Hat form alliance opening up Linux-based Real-time offerings; Telefonica buys BellSouth operations in Latin America; Ring tones (that have become $ 3.5 Billion business globally) are big in India too – with a collection of 8,000 ring tones (mostly from devotional songs and film songs), 4.5 Million downloads per month and Rs 7-10 per monophonic and Rs 10-15 for polyphonic ring tone.  

5.    Indian IT Scene In a sort of trend reversal, Bharti Tele-ventures decide to give $ 750 Million outsourcing contract to IBM; Bangalore-based ImpulseSoft license Bluetooth wireless technology to Apple for its iPod; i-Flex Flexcube wins the No 1 slot in global banking software product for Year 2003 (second year in a row) as per IBS UK ranking; i-Flex Flexcube and Infosys Finacle in the global Top 10 products category (two more entries are from MiSys whose key development centre is in Bangalore!); Cognizant investing Rs 115 Crores in expansion of Chennai facility and creation of Bangalore facility; Patni Computers to recruit 2,500 professionals in 2004; Hexaware plans Rs 250 Cr campus in Chennai; MindTree Consulting to double staff to 2000 and move to new campus in Bangalore; Infosys plans to take Finacle to Eastern Europe.  

6.    MNC IT Companies in India Cadence, the EDA leader elevates Indian operations that would directly report to USA than through Singapore; it has plans to invest $ 50 Million and add 150 professionals in 2004 taking their size to 650; Cypress investing $ 5 Million more (in addition to $ 20 Million invested already) and plans to double headcount to 315; QualComm planning a development centre in Bangalore; Infineon to double headcount to 400 in Bangalore; Kyocera sets up a Lab in Bangalore; CSC sets up $ 12 Million facility in Hyderabad; Motorola Bangalore gets a swanky new facility; IBM plans research hub in Asia; Broadband communications product company InToto to invest $ 15 Million in India (Bangalore, Chennai and Pune); Swedish software PortWise AB to set up a centre in Bangalore; Business Intelligence services provider Noetix sets up a centre in Hyderabad; Toshiba plans to increase headcount in Bangalore from 200 to 800; ValuLabs invests $ 7 Million in their Hyderabad centre and plans to double headcount to 600 this year and grow to 1,000 in year 2005; iSoft, UK-based healthcare software services company (with operations in Singapore, Ireland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, UK and India) plans to invest $ 100 Million in Chennai operations over the 3-year period.  

7.    ITES; AT Kearney study puts India at No 1 for MNC outsourcing ahead of China; Pune-based Kanbay files for $ 115 Million IPO in US; 24/7 Customer Support inaugurates its campus in Bangalore and plans to increase headcount from 4,000 to 7,000 this year; US-based Outsource Partners to increase headcount from 300 to 700 with $ 50 Million business in 2004. Indian ITES firms come up with dual shoring strategy to take on BPO backlash in USA that is unlikely o go till November US Presidential Elections; in the United States, E-Loan gives the option of USA or India for call centre customer – the option is interesting – same day service from India or service within three working days from USA-based operator! 

8.    Telecom GSM world celebrated the arrival of the Billionth customer during GSM World at Cannes; customer User satisfaction survey in India shows GSM services at 70% satisfaction level and CDMA at 54% satisfaction level (TNS Cell-track Report); globally, wire-line revenue increases from $ 437 Billion to $ 455 Billion over the six-year period (1996-2003) while Mobile phone revenue jumps from 142 Billion to $ 414 Billion! Motorola to launch “universal” mobile phone instrument (CDMA & GSM) by year end. 

9.    On the People front, European Union Commissioner Errki Liikamen visits India; Founder President & CEO TJ Rodgers of Cypress Semiconductors visits India; Ryna Karnik, a High School student of Indian origin wins Intel Science Talent Search Award, the most prestigious Award for High School Children in USA; Arun Sarin (India-born) becomes CEO of Vodafone, the global telecom major; Sanjiv Ahuja takes over as Orange CEO, another case of India-born CEOs in MNC’s; Bharti inducts Kurt Hellstorm, ex Ericcson CEO on its Board.  

10.                        On the Education & Research front, BITS Pilani completes Neuron – campus wide Gigabit and Wireless over 350 acres, $ 50+ commitment from alumni; BITS plans to offer hundreds of Bharat Forge employees opportunities to do B Tech programs from their workplace;  IIIT Hyderabad joins hand with NASA for low cost robots; 50 students from MIT Sloan who do the first-ever course on Outsourcing visit India; Harvard Business School to start India Research Center; US Universities (60% of the Top 130) experience a big drop in foreign applications (India and China in particular) with Illinois reporting up to 30% drop  

11.                        On the Applications front, Income Tax department introduces e-TDS (Electronic Tax Deduction at Source) for all corporations in year 2005; Vijaya Bank decides to implement Core Banking Solution from Infosys and Wipro combine. 

12.                        On the Infrastructure front, a sixteen firm global consortium (including VSNL and Bharti from India) plan to put in place a $ 500 Million under-sea cable SEA-NE-WE4 (expected to be completed in 18 months) for global communication in Indian Ocean region; VSNL buys Dishnet DSL for Rs 270 Crores to become No 2 ISP with 8.05 Lakhs customers after BSNL with 10.04 Lakhs. MTNL with 6.92 Lakhs and SIFY with 6.87 are the other players. 

13.                        Some interesting numbers, Indian software companies with Rs 1000+ Cr (7), Rs 500-1000 Cr (5), Rs 250-500 Cr (15), Rs 100-250 Cr (43), Rs 50-100 Cr (73), Rs 10-50 Cr (244), below Rs 10 Cr (2644); global IT players and their India presence Accenture 83K (3K); ACS 36 K (700); Cap Gemini 49 K (1K); CSC 93K (700); Keane 8K (950); IBM Services 165k (6K)