— Andrew Leonard

As the brand new CEO of Citigroup, Vikram Pandit is merely the most high-ranking of an impressive cohort of Indians manning the battle stations at one of the world’s largest financial institutions. According to India’s Economic Times, 13 Indians serve on the bank’s management committee. Among the other stars, Ajay Banga, chairman and CEO of Global Consumer Group International, Deepak Sharma, CEO, Citi Global Wealth Management International, Vikram A. Atal, Chairman & CEO, Citi Cards, Global Consumer Group and Suneel Bakskhi, head of Citi Markets and Banking.

And to think, scarcely a few decades ago, India was dismissed by the world’s gung ho capitalists as just another socialist backwater. But if the symbolism of the middle-class boy from Nagpur turned “self-effacing derivatives wizard” taking the throne of Citigroup isn’t enough there are also reports that the World Bank is considering, (or has already agreed to) make its first-ever rupee-denominated loan to the Indian state of Maharashtra (from whence, incidentally, Vikram Pandit hails.)

Traditionally, the $3.5 billion loan would have been made in dollars, but the Maharashtra state government is reportedly worried about the downward fluctuation of the greenback. The rupee, however, has been appreciating steadily, and India’s double-digit GDP growth suggests that there is more room to grow. (Thanks to The Indian Economy Blog for the link.)

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Pic: Facebook’s face -Mark Zuckerberg

Those of you who have posted personal information online might be under surveillance. Job candidates who maintain profiles on social networking sites, may want to reconsider its content. Employers are now increasingly using social networks to assess job applicants, verify CVs or even find ideal candidates based on online profile. As is true with any other domain, recruiting is forced to acknowledge the area, which has the highest footfalls or coming together of professionals outside their normal work spheres. The trend that started a few years back in the tech industry is fast spreading.

To understand this concept, recruiters say, one has to start by understanding the psychology of job seekers. Recruiters broadly classify candidates into two types – active and passive job seekers. At any given time, only a small percentage of the workforce is actively looking for a job. That is, they are posting their resume on job sites, or actively checking jobs boards. However, a larger and potentially better pool of candidates are those people who are gainfully employed at the moment, and maybe not actively looking , but who would be open to relevant offers.

“Experience has shown that the active job seeker is not the right person to target, specifically for middle and senior level positions. This is because the right candidate who will fit the job does not even apply or has his bio-data in a job site or even thinks of applying. How do we reach such passive candidates, or potential candidates is a million dollar question which is always haunting Executive Recruiters around the globe?,” says Kris Lakshmikanth, founder CEO and MD, Headhunters India. “We call these “passive candidates” and it’s hard to find them outside of sites like LinkedIn,” says Elizabeth O’Donnell , director international , LinkedIn.

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The extent to which software companies in India will go to welcome new employees (in the Indian) is sheer madness. Seeing is believing.

Call it a jumbo welcome, or high-tech gurus out to have some fun.

Enjoy!

  

When GV Dasarathi pulls up his bicycle at a traffic intersection on his way to work in India’s InfoTech city, Bangalore, heads turn.

Bicycles may be the most popular two-wheeler on India’s roads, but the millions who use them to commute and to transport goods and family in India’s towns and villages certainly don’t wear white helmets, fluorescent jackets or biking gloves.

Through his attire and vehicle of choice, Mr Dasarathi, 48 and director of a software products development company, makes a potent statement for an alternative mode of daily transport in the choked roads of India’s Silicon Valley.

Cycling to work makes more and more sense for the city’s well-heeled professionals – nearly three million vehicles clog 500km (300 miles) of Bangalore’s gridlocked roads, with 1,000 new vehicles added every day.

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(Pic: Head honcho Schubert at Bangalore)

Bangalore: Siemens Ltd. has decided to freeze all expansion plans in Bangalore in the wake of crumbling infrastructure in the city.

“There will be no more expansion plans in Bangalore. Bangalore is not attractive for investors anymore”, company’s Managing Director Jurgen Schubert said here on Friday.

This is the strongest vindication of the worsening infrastructure in the city from the head of a global manufacturing giant. Siemens was one of the first to set up operations in Bangalore with huge investments.

Apart from the manufacturing base for automotive sector and servicing workshop for industrial turbines, Bangalore is a hub for telecom, medical and automotive software development and high-end research and development work for Siemens. Its outsourcing arm alone employs about 900 people in Bangalore.

Bangalore accounts for one-third (around 4600 employees) of the company’s employee strength of over 12,000 in India and contributed 24 per cent of the turnover in India last fiscal, whereas the southern region has 45 per cent (about 5,500 employees) of the employee strength.

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Siemens PLM Software, a division of Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D) and a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today announced it has significantly expanded the capacity of its operations in India by opening a new, and much larger, development center to accommodate up to 1,100 employees. The division’s India-based development team has experienced a growth rate of 30 percent (CAGR) over the last few years.

The new facility, recently inaugurated by Dr. Helmuth Ludwig, president of Siemens PLM Software, currently employs 800 individuals responsible for many of the division’s software product developments, modules and service engagements on a global basis.

“Our investment in India is not only critical for our expansion in the Asia Pacific region, but globally because it provides us with proximity to customers in the area and is a superior talent resource pool for our development efforts,” said Ludwig.

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(Pic: A computer class in session in the Indian state of Manipur)

Christians in India’s northeastern state of Manipur are fighting government plans to build a technology institute on 300 acres of land where four churches and a synagogue are currently located.

Kim Gangte, a Seventh-day Adventist and a former member of the Indian parliament who heads an action committee against the land seizure, told Ecumenical News International (ENI) the government is using the project as a “tool” to “drive out” the region’s Christian tribal minorities.

Many of the Christians who make up more than 30 percent of Manipur’s 2.5 million people belong to two tribal groups, the Kuki and the Naga. Members of the tribes became Christians after British missionaries arrived in India in the 19th century. Sixty-five percent of Manipur’s population belongs to a Hindu caste group called the Meitei.

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Satyam has signed on as one of the first FIFA sponsors. Satyam, a leading global consulting and information technology services provider, has become the first Indian company to sign up as a FIFA World Cupâ„¢ Sponsor. This historic agreement awards Satyam global rights for the 2010 FIFA World Cupâ„¢ in South Africa, the 2014 FIFA World Cupâ„¢ in Brazil and the two FIFA Confederations Cups which fall within the 2007-2014 period. The partnership, sealed by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and Satyam chairman and founder B. Ramalinga Raju at a signing ceremony on the eve of the Preliminary Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africaâ„¢ in Durban, represents the first major sponsorship deal the IT services company has entered into – a further indication of the enduring appeal of football.

“I am very proud that Satyam has chosen the FIFA World Cup for this historic move. Satyam’s commitment is a testimony to the immense appeal of FIFA as a superior marketing platform for transporting a brand around the world. It is a big advantage for all those involved in the events to have such an experienced IT service partner on board,” said the FIFA President. “We look forward to working with such a dedicated partner who shares our ideals and identifies with our mission to use football as a tool to touch the world and build a better future.”

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Washington — New hires at Wipro’s first U.S. software development center can expect to work for an “agile,” “high-energy” company that helps its workers improve their skills, officials and current employees say.

Wipro, a global information technology services company based in Bangalore, India, announced last summer that it would hire 500 to 1,000 employees, from back-office trainers to software developers and engineers, for a center in the Atlanta area over the next three years.

Company officials said recently they were on the verge of choosing a location for the center, which is expected to open within a few months and hire its first 200 employees within a year.

Maggie Large, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said the state was involved with ongoing discussions with Wipro over incentives for the project. “Wipro is eligible for tax credits and the state has offered them discretionary grant money,” she said.

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(Pic: Employees at IBM India)

NEW YORK:: Betting big on the ‘India advantage’, IBM, one of the world’s biggest information technology (IT) companies, eyes India as its hub for global delivery, providing research software, besides contributing significantly to the company’s revenue. Talking about its road map for 2010, IBM vice- president (financial management) Jesse Green said, “We think of India as a support to IBM. The country will be a hub of global delivery which will help us improve margin components and growth initiatives.”

The IT giant, which is already working with local telecom major Bharti Enterprises and has entered into pacts with some other Indian corporates, expects its revenue from the country to touch the $1 billion-mark by the end of the year. “We expect our revenues to reach $1 billion by the end of this calendar year, up from $700 million in 2006, driven by strong factors. In the first three quarters of the current financial year, our revenue has grown by over 39 per cent,” Green said. The recent deals with some of India’s big corporates are likely to contribute a good chunk to IBM’s revenues. Besides Bharti Enterprises, the IT behemoth has also entered into agreements with BSNL and Idea. Other big names to have inked pacts with IBM include realty major DLF, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Delhi International Airport, Financial Information Network and Operations and Apollo.

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