India emerging IT oasis in recession-hit global market
Gaurav Choudhury

The Placement Cell of Aptech Computer Education, the flagship division of Aptech Ltd., conducted a seminar series on ‘Career Opportunities, Expectations and Requirements in the IT-Enabled Services Sector’. Among the speakers at the seminar were Mr Rahul Kaushik, from the Renasonic-e-Solution Ltd. and Ms Aradhana Kumar, an industry expert.

In his address, Mr Kaushik said, “Seventy per cent of the Fortune 500 companies today, outsource their work to various call centres. It includes financial institutions, insurance sectors, hotels and airlines. India, with its large low-cost skilled manpower, has emerged as the choice for call centers. Therefore, financial organisations are opting to set up shop in India. The advantages of low costs, fluency and widespread use of English language, low attrition rate — just 5 per cent as compared to 120 per cent in the US, strong IT set-up, all make it a very attractive proposition. Moreover, the salary range in India, from US $ 1500-6000, is comparatively low as compared to US $ 18000-25000 in the US..”

Talking about the outlook for the IT-enabled industry, Mr Kaushik said “IT-enabled services have often been referred to as the engine that will drive the technology-led services industry. The global telephone-based services industry is estimated at US $ 200 billion and is growing at 23 per cent per annum.”

Elaborating on the growing importance of the IT sector, he said, “The other IT-enabled services such as back office management, transcription and content development is emerging into a US$ 75 billion industry, growing at more than 20 per cent annually. NASSCOM estimates that by 2007-8, this industry would employ 2,50,000 people in India.”

Aptech Computer Education has also launched the “Velocity Series”, which are short-duration specialised career-oriented courses on next generation technologies.

Aptech Computer Education has set up the Microsoft Center of Excellence for providing training on Net technologies. It is an alliance with Microsoft, under which Microsoft consultants and technical team will enrich Aptech, particularly in design and course development. Aptech has co-branded its two most popular courses, ‘Velocity’ and ‘eACCP 2002,’ with the Net platform.

Under the Microsoft Center of Excellence, Aptech has launched ‘Proffit’, a course which focuses on IT skills, executive skills and case studies. By training 300,000 students in its ‘Vidya’ course, in a span of three years, Aptech accomplished one more milestone.

Mood Court award

The students of the Amity Law School swept the “All-Delhi Moot Court Competition” held by the Campus Law Centre Moot Court Society of the Delhi University’s Law Faculty here by bagging top honours in almost all categories.

Defeating teams from all law colleges and departments in the National Capital Region (NCR), the students of the Amity Law School won the first prize for the best team and the best memorial. The competition was presided over by the sitting judges of the Delhi High Court.

Amity Law School students—Rachit Bahl, Mohit Paul, Deepika Bansal and J. V. Abhay—were declared the best team.

The Amity Law School is an institution of the Ritnand Balved Education Foundation, which is the umbrella body for 34 Amity institutions founded by Dr Ashok K. Chauhan.

Among the other teams that participated were the G.G.S. Indraprastha University, Jamia Millia Islamia University, Vivekanand Institute of Professional Studies and the National Law College, Gurgaon.

AIMA seminar

Many senior corporate executives, drawn from both the private and public sectors, will be taking part in a two-day seminar on Mergers and Acquisitions(M&A), organised by the All India Management Association here on February 15.

The seminar aims to help identify key managerial issues, while managing M and A and their possible solutions, says the AIMA Director-General, Maj-Gen. D. N. Khurana. It will focus on issues like sources of competitive advantage, framework for merger, methods of analysing a candidate’s financial position, M&A problems and their solutions, managing PSU acquisitions and live cases of Indian companies. M and A, he pointed out is fast becoming an indispensable tool for building a new generation of transnational companies.

Mr Mahesh Bhandari, the programme director, has attempted to formulate the seminar in such a way that they ensure participation and experience sharing. Participants in experience-sharing would include value-driven organisations and discuss live cases like the CMC acquisition by the Tata’s. The seminar would cover both procedural aspects and the key implementation problems encountered while using the M and A strategy. Senior executives from companies like Deutsche Bank Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC), ICICI, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), IOC and BPCL will be attending the seminar. 

CAMPUS
Poet laureate making news 

The ‘Tamasha’ of Jamia Millia Islamia is in the news again. Ashok Chakradhar, the head of the University’s Hindi department, has added another feather to his cap. The Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University, Mr Syed Shahid Mehdi, along with the renowned writer Kamleshawar, released 12 books by Mr Chakradhar at the Anand Bhavan recently.

The Hindi department of Jamia Millia Islamia is also receiving golden opinions for its various activities, including a special TV journalism course, seminars and regular visits to the department by literary figures. “All this because of a close-knit teacher-student relationship that nurtures and nourishes the academic environment in the department,” said a beaming Prof Asghar Wazahat, an ex-HOD with the department.

Cupid strikes Jamiaites