Business & Economy

Bush victory leaves BPO
companies relieved

What is India News Service, Friday, 5 November 2004, 2000 hrs IST

India's Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies feel that they have nothing to fear for the next four years now that George W. Bush is back at the White House.

Like most Americans, BPO personnel here have been closely monitoring the U.S. elections and several say they have been rooting for a Republican win. Increased rhetoric from the Democrat's camp against outsourcing in the last few months, they say, has brought job orders down.

"As American companies were under fear of new policies regarding outsourcing, they were not giving us a lot of orders. But now, we are going to be flooded with offers. The uncertainty about the future of the Indian BPO industry is definitely lower,'' says J. N. Rampal of Accent Infoways, an animation outsourcing company.

Petrol, diesel prices hiked; LPG to cost Rs. 20 more: After a three-month gap, the Government today decided to increase the price of petrol by Rs. 2.19 a litre, that of diesel by Rs. 2.12 a litre and cooking gas by Rs. 20 a cylinder but left kerosene prices unchanged.

Basu threatens nationwide agitation: Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu on Friday expressed unhappiness over the latest hike in petroleum products prices and said that it was done against the wishes of the Left parties.

Montek meets Chidambaram: As a part of the budget making exercise, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today held an hour-long meeting with Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

MCX, Tokyo Commodity Exchange sign MoU: The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) and Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) tied up to explore areas of co-operation and business opportunities and to establish procedures for communication and information.

Rupee ends at five-month peak: The rupee surged by a steep 15-1/2 paise and scaled a nearly five-month closing peak of 45.2050/2150 a dollar, buoyed by robust trade and foreign fund inflows.

Outsourcing gains with Bush again: The IT industry felt that whoever became the US president the momentum of outsourcing could not be stopped, however, the poll result has only cleared the uncertainty.

Tatkal expansion to result in fare hike: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad seems all set to hike rail fares \97 indirectly. He had spared passengers from any fare hike in the budget presented in July. Now, he proposes to expand the `Tatkal' reservation scheme.

Coffee planters want interest rebate: The Karnataka Planters' Association (KPA) has asked the Union Government to speed up finalisation of the "stabilisation package" for the coffee industry.

Woolmark\92s R&D centre in India: According to the company, leading Indian wollen garment companies have evinced interest in taking their designs.

5 convicted in Enron scam case: A jury has convicted four former Merrill Lynch & Co. executives and a former mid-level Enron Corp. finance executive of conspiracy and fraud.

Plea to deregulate steel industry: Despite the potential of country\92s huge population, India\92s steel production has touched 30 million tonne as
against China\92s 220 million tonne.

Tata Motors launches Indica variants: Tata Motors has enhanced its Indica brand line-up by launching two new models \97 Indica LGi (Petrol)
and DLG (Diesel) in the market. With the addition of these new models, the Indica range now comprises four variants of petrol and diesel each.
Indica LGi and DLG are priced at Rs. 3.7 lakhs and Rs. 3.89 lakhs respectively (ex-showroom Mumbai).


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