Even as Obama’s statements ring concern bells in the IT sector in India, a new IT hub is emerging in the country, Gujarat known better for its diamond industry, is making strong inroads in the IT sector and the state is on a recruitment drive.

While cites like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai, are known to be IT hubs in the country, Gujarat is now emerging as a strong contender. And despite the slowdown ITeS and BPO players in Gujarat are busy recruiting people, despite the glooming scenario in the sector.

Some of the eminent IT players in Gujarat on a recruitment drive are :

* Azure is recruiting between 900 - 3500 IT professionals by July end.

* Aegis has 200 openings and Etech has 200 openings for recruitment.

And helping push these numbers are their strategy to service tier-2 and tier-3 clients
Nirav Shah, President, Gujarat Electronic and Software Industries Association (GESIA) said, “Over the couple of years, IT players from Gujarat have been able to create a good market goodwill and when it comes to relocating services to cost-effective service providers, players and Ahmedabad and Gujarat are on the priority basis, even when we talk of international space, small and medium players from international space are exploring options of cost-effective solution and services providers, for them also Ahmedabad and Gujarat are the favorable destinations, as compared to Bangalore and other IT destinations.”

Though the companies are on a recruiting spree…. Gujarat does not have a talent pool to match the demand. And this may trigger the companies to hire from other IT hubs…

Gurudutt Medtia, director, Etech, Inc. said, “It is also largely the selection of the process like when we talk of Gujarat, process are largely of legal processing in nature or back office or lead generation, which are recession proof in nature and that is the reason, recession really does not make an impact.”

With Obama s saying Yes to Buffalo and No to Bangalore, ITeS/BPO companies in Gujarat do not fear the curse of shifting outsourcing out of India, as they have domestic process on their kitty and that is one of the reasons, they are heavy on the recruitment, despite of global meltdown.

Big Blue has upgraded its popular networking site for IT professionals - developerWorks. The new site will feature a number of tools and services to enable developers to work together on open standards-based innovations.

My developerWorks combines social computing technologies and professional networking into developerWorks, a site used by over a million IT professionals worldwide.

IBM said developers will now be able to gain real-time access to key technology updates, connect with other experts around the globe, and reduce time-to-market.

The makeover comes after a recent IBM survey of software development professionals to find out how they use online resources to build new skills. According to the survey, nearly 75% said they use forums, blogs, wikis, and online newsletters to gain skills and communicate with each other. 65% also said they wanted to use social networking skills like those found on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace as a way to build new skills and collaborate with peers.

My developerWorks profiles can be customized to include contacts, preferred content, real time feeds from forums, blogs and wikis, and IBM’s developerWorks site. In the coming months, My developerWorks users will also be able to tap their social networking profiles on sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, to expand their professional networks and collaborate on new technologies.

New Delhi: The Indian economy will recover from the slowdown in the second half of 2009-10, thanks to the strong domestic market and improving financial sector, investment bank Goldman Sachs said Monday.

“We expect a recovery in activity in the second half of fiscal 2009-10, led by a pick-up in domestic demand amidst the loosening financial conditions,” Tushar Poddar, an economist with Goldman Sachs, said Monday.

“The positive surprise coming from domestic activity data, excess liquidity in the system, a substantial easing of financial conditions, declines in some key interest rate spreads, and the removal of election uncertainty suggest that activity will pick up in the second half,” he added.

According to him, the positive cues were reflected in the stock markets.

“Markets seem to be driven by both domestic and global factors. The Sensex increased 21 percent month over month, outperforming the S&P by 8 percent,” Poddar said.

Foreign institutional investment (FII) rose to $1.8 billion in April after falling $1.2 billion in March and the rupee appreciated 2.3 percent against the dollar, he said.

According to Poddar, the key risk is “the formation of an unstable coalition and the ratcheting up of long bond yields due to greater borrowing by the government to finance the post-election budget”.

Mumbai: Leading animation expert Anthony Christov along with video-gaming industry veteran Ian Livingstone will address a series of seminars across India in the next three days on the theme of career opportunities in India’s booming animation industry.

Christov, who is associated with Disney-owned computer generated imagery (CGI) film studio Pixar, has contributed in animated blockbuster movies such as Wall-E, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.

Livingstone has been associated with major gaming labels such as Domark and Edios, and will speak about the opportunities in the computer gaming industry and share his experience as an entrepreneur.

The seminar will be held in Mumbai Tuesday followed by Delhi the next day. The other cities are Ahmedabad, Kochi and Chandigarh.

Bangalore: With an investment of around Rs 650 crore, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the state-owned telecom service provider, will launch 3G mobile services in Bangalore in July this year, reported Business Standard. The 3G mobile services will be available across the state after December this year, a senior BSNL official said here.

In South India, Bangalore will be the second city to get 3G mobile services from BSNL after Chennai, where the service was launched in February this year. BSNL 3G mobile services are currently available in 10 north Indian cities.

“In Bangalore 200,000 lines will be provided with the services in the beginning. The customers of 3G services will get three main services like video on demand, video conferencing and broadband on mobile and the tariffs have been fixed,” R Mani, General Manager, Mobile Services, BSNL said. He added that BSNL is currently engaged in installation of core equipment like base station switches and towers to roll out 3G services and by July, it aims to complete the work.

BSNL has already launched Blackberry services in Bangalore under three tariff plans and has introduced three handsets in the price range of Rs 14,000 to Rs 35,000. While, Wipro is providing the backend support, the handsets are being supplied by Bharti Tele Tech.

The third generation mobile service enables a range of upgraded services, including rich voice, data and video services, to the subscribers. 3G makes possible video streaming applications such as Live TV, movie downloads, high speed data download on mobile phones with 3G services enabled. Callers can also see each other on their mobile phone screens.

Shubhendu Ghosh, principal general manager, BSNL Bangalore Telecom District, said the landline subscriber base has grown by 13 percent to reach 188,000 lines during 2008-09, compared to the previous year. Its broadband subscriber base has gone up by two and half times to 250,000 subscribers during year ended March 31, 2009 compared to the previous fiscal.

Bangalore: The recession has turned India a luring valley for job-seekers, with the country being the second fastest growing market and the companies here being bullish on hiring, unlike the other developed economies. A recent survey by Hewitt Associates (HEW) shows that more than 60 percent of companies in India are still hiring.

Despite the huge amounts of stimulus spending, many of the companies abroad are rescheduling the job structure by either removing it or by trying to adjust more work with less employees. The trillions of dollars that are being used in prime economies are mostly for projects that make no sense for a vast majority of white-collar workers, like what can a laid-off Wall Street banker do to rebuild roads and bridges? However, in India the scene differ as while the anxiety level remains high, 1 in 3 Indians is not worried about the economy at all. Many multi-national firms here are also bullish in the market, with PepsiCo (PEP) planning to spend $500 million. Universal Success Enterprises, a Singapore-based company, is injecting $17.5 billion in infrastructure projects while Norway’s Telenor (TEL.BE) is investing $3.2 billion in Indian telecom. Over the next four years, Marriott International (MAR) also plans to build 24 new hotels in India and Panasonic (PC) is growing from 48 company-owned stores to 100.

The trend of growth is witnessed in Indian firms too. Firms like Reliance ADA Group, Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO), the biggest wireless player in the country are expanding their presence. In terms of hiring, Indian Overseas Bank will be recruiting 1,200 people. Bartronics India, a technology firm, is setting up kiosks in New Delhi and has 6,000 positions. Insurance company LIC is planning to hire 45,000. South Indian Bank is opening 40 new branches and looking to hire 3,000.

Mumbai: In what was the biggest gain in a single day since Oct 31, 2008, a key index of the Indian equities markets soared more than 700 points, raising hopes that the rally that has kept the bourses in green for eight-nine weeks can be sustained.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 11,635.24 points, rose 731.5 points or 6.41 percent from the previous close to end trade at 12,134.75 points.

Similarly, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) gained 4.96 percent to close at 3,646.35 points.

Broader market indices also gained, with the BSE midcap index moving up 3.91 percent, while the BSE smallcap index was up 3.57 percent.

Washington: U.S. President Barack Obama is leaving no stone unturned in his effort to bring the ailing American economy back on track. Keeping his promises, Obama has announced an end to the years of tax incentives to those U.S. firms which create jobs overseas in places like Bangalore. And instead, the incentives would now go to those creating jobs inside the U.S., in places like the Buffalo, a city bordering Canada in upstate New York.

Announcing the international tax policy reform, Obama said, “We will stop letting American companies that create jobs overseas take deductions on their expenses when they do not pay any American taxes on their profits. We will use the savings to give tax cuts to companies that are investing in research and development here at home so that we can jump start job creation, foster innovation, and enhance America’s competitiveness.”

The new tax laws are expected to hit badly the countries like India, China and Philippines, where U.S. companies have been outsourcing their work. Chastising the current taxation system, Obama said, “It’s a tax code that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York.”

The U.S. President further said, “The way we make our businesses competitive is not to reward American companies operating overseas with a roughly two percent tax rate on foreign profits; a rate that costs taxpayers tens of billions of dollars a year.”

Obama wants U.S. companies to remain most competitive in the world. “But the way to make sure that happens is not to reward our companies for moving jobs off our shores or transferring profits to overseas tax havens,” he argued.

Announcing a set of proposals to crack down on illegal overseas tax evasion, close loopholes, and make it more profitable for companies to create jobs here in the U.S., Obama said his series of tax reforms would save $210 billion in the next 10 years.

Bangalore: After the launch of nano versions of electronics, entrepreneurs are aiming at nano homes, which will be available in the range Rs.3 lakhs to Rs.5 lakhs. The Rs.3 lakh homes would be 250-sqft and the EMI will be at Rs.3,000, and a 400-sqft home will be available for Rs.5 lakh

The affordable homes will target the various sections of the society including domestic help, taxi drivers, plumbers, senior citizens, graduates, newly wed couples - basically, those who earn between Rs.6,500 and Rs.13,000 a month, reports The Economic Times. Ramesh Ramanathan, founder of Janaagraha, a non-profit organization for public governance, MphasiS founder Jaithirth Rao and CSC Constructions are mulling over the project on the low-cost homes. The projects are in various stages of planning and development in a 20-km radius of Bangalore. “There is a shortage of 26 million homes in urban India alone, with 90 percent of the demand coming from the lower-income group and the economically weaker sections,” said Ramanathan.

Mphasis chief Rao is also trying to garner funds from the Indian IT bellwethers like Infosys Technologies co-founder N R Narayana Murthy. “I have not yet decided about investing in Jaithirth’s project,” said Murthy. Ramanathan and Rao propose to use the micro-finance route to ensure the availability of credit to their core - lower-income - audience, a majority of whom may not even have a bank account. Ramanathan’s urban micro-finance arm, Janalakshmi, has a borrower base of over 50,000 people.