Wipro to hire 500 IT professionals in Kolkata

 
Wipro has plans to hire 500 IT professionals in the next 2-3 years as part of expansion in the company's existing facility in the city.

"We are carrying out the expansion on our existing project and planning to hire 500 people in 2-3 years," Wipro V-P and corporate affairs head Partha Sarathi Guha Patra said.

Wipro's existing project, an SEZ, in the satellite township of Salt Lake employs around 6,500-7,000 people at present.

Speaking on the sidelines of IT conclave 'INFOCOM 2013', he said Wipro was working on an alternate proposal for their second campus as the state government was against SEZ in principle.

"It is not possible to match the benefits of SEZs but it is to be seen how much state government can get closer to it," Patra said.

The company has 50 acres of land but the new government was not ready to offer SEZ status to it.

Meanwhile, speaking about PC hardware business he said the company has decided to exit the business but the land of main unit at Kotdwar, Uttarakhand is been evaluated for alternate use.

The 150 people deployed there would redeployed in the company, he said.

Wipro to log out of PC manufacturing business

 
After HCL Infosystems, another IT firm Wipro has decided to shut down its manufacturing of computers and servers due to the changing market scenario and consumer preferences.

Azim Premji-led Wipro, the country's third largest software services player, said it will re-deploy all the affected employees in the company.

However, the company will continue to have a presence in the hardware business offering solutions in large integrated deals.

"After evaluating the changing market scenario and customer needs, Wipro has decided to strengthen its position as system integrator (SI) and increase its focus on IT solutions and services," Wipro said in a statement.

As a consequence, the company will discontinue manufacturing of Wipro branded desktops, laptops and servers, it added.

Last month, HCL Infosystems said it will phase-off its manufacturing business in the next few years to improve margins and increase organisational efficiency.

Instead, HCL Infosystems will instead focus on strengthening its services and distribution verticals.

Revenues for PC makers have been under pressure for some time now as newer devices like tablets and phablets are finding more takers.

Also, over the last few years, most PC makers in the country have incurred losses due to the rupee's fluctuation against other currencies, especially the US dollar.

This has hurt the PC business in India as it is low-margin and almost 90-95 per cent of the components are imported.

Wipro will, however, be present in the PC market by providing suitable brands as a part of its solutions offerings in large integrated deals, it said.

"Our vision is to strengthen our position as a leading SI. Manufacturing our own PCs was not giving us a competitive differentiation in our SI solution offering," Wipro Infotech Senior VP and Head Soumitro Ghosh said.

Azim Premji may hike stake in JM Financial

 
As JM Financial awaits RBI view on its bank licence plea, market is abuzz with talks of billionaire Azim Premji buying additional five per cent stake in the company that has also roped in former Citibank chief Vikram Pandit as a key investor for its banking pursuit.

Premji, Chairman and founder of leading IT firm Wipro, currently holds 2.9 per cent stake as part of his individual investment portfolio in Nimesh Kampani-led JM Financial, one of the 25 aspirants eyeing banking foray.

While spokespersons for JM Financial as also for Premji did not reply to queries in this regard, market sources said that the company may allot fresh shares amounting to up to five per cent additional stake to the IT czar.

While there was no official confirmation, sources said that the shares can be allotted at a significant premium to the current share price. JM Financial shares closed 5.1 per cent up at Rs 28.85 apiece on Friday.

Premji Invest, the family investment arm of Premji, holds shares in a number of companies as financial investments and some of them have been liquidated in the past.

The stake sale to Premji would also help JM Financial bring down its promoter shareholding, which eventually needs to be lowered to 51 per cent to comply with public holding regulations related to setting up of a new bank.

An integrated financial services entity, Kampani-controlled JM Financial has interests in investment banking, institutional equity sales and portfolio management, among others.

Under the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, promoter group would be permitted to set up a bank only through a wholly-owned Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC).