Satyam eyes $1 bn European sales   
July 05, 2008
Source:  Bloomberg

Bangalore,

BANGALORE: Satyam Computer Services Ltd, India's fourth-largest software company, aims to boost European sales to $1 billion in three years to help reduce its dependence on US customers. 

Satyam plans to increase revenue in Europe to 25 per cent of the software provider's sales by 2011, Peter Heij, senior vice president and head of European sales at the Hyderabad-based company, said in a telephone interview yesterday. The company is bidding for larger contracts in the continent and targeting new business from existing customers such as European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co, he said. 

Satyam joins Infosys Technologies Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd in seeking more orders in Europe as the economy in the US, their largest market, slows down. Tata Consultancy, India's largest software company, generated 29 per cent of revenue from Europe last year, while second-ranked Infosys got 27 per cent from the continent. 

``The US is such an economy that if it gets hurt everyone gets hurt,'' said Jitender Kumar, who helps manage about 3 billion rupees ($69 million) in Indian equities at Taurus Asset Management Co in New Delhi. ``But then, the show must go on and sure, the European countries could be the next US'' 

Kumar sold most of his Satyam holding last quarter to book gains from the stock's 10 percent rise in the three months to June, even as the benchmark index fell 14 percent. 

Satyam shares rose 31.20 rupees, or 7.2 per cent, to close at 463.50 rupees in Mumbai, their biggest gain since April 29. The benchmark Sensitive Index climbed 5.4 per cent. 

EADS, ArcelorMittal 
Contracts from EADS, maker of the Airbus A380 aircraft, may rise fivefold, Heij said. Satyam was chosen in May by EADS along with three other Indian companies on a short list of 28 preferred engineering suppliers, from a pool of 2,000 vendors, as part of the European aerospace company's plan to cut 2.1 billion euros ($3.3 billion) from annual costs by 2010. 

``If I assume that all four will get an equal share, then in 2011-12 Satyam could be doing about $100 million from a company like EADS,'' Heij said. The parent of Airbus SAS, which first hired Satyam as a supplier three years ago, gave it orders worth about $20 million in the last fiscal year ended March 31, he said. 

Satyam, which earned $440 million, or 21 per cent of its revenue in Europe last year, also expects to expand sales to ArcelorMittal. In April, it won an order from the world's largest steelmaker to maintain computer software in France and Belgium. 

`Tip of the Iceberg' 
``This is just the tip of the iceberg,'' Heij said. ``There is significantly more potential'' business that Satyam can win by doing a good job on its project with ArcelorMittal, he said. 

Satyam is competing for some large contracts in the telecommunications industry in France and is targeting orders from some major European energy and utility companies, Heij said. 

Satyam in April forecast sales to grow as much as 26 per cent to $2.69 billion in the year ending March 31, 2009. 

Separately, UBS AG today increased its target on Satyam by 9.7 per cent to 565 rupees, citing revenue growth in emerging markets, analyst Govind Agarwal 

Satyam's Corporate Social Responsibility arm launched in Vizag  
July 05, 2008
SOURCE: ECONOMICTIMES

VISAKHAPATNAM: Satyam Computer Services Ltd on Friday launched the sixth chapter of its corporate social responsibility arm, Satyam Foundation, in Visakhapatnam. 

The Satyam Foundation helps vulnerable and underprivileged people in urban areas, focusing on seven areas: livelihoods, street children, education, the environment, empowerment of disabled persons, HIV/AIDS and overall health. 

In addition to its headquarters in Hyderabad, Satyam Foundation now has six chapters in India--in Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Gurgaon, Pune and Vizag. Efforts to open chapters in Australia, China, the UK and US are under way. 

Satyam Foundation’s CSR activities in Visakhapatnam began in February this year, when initiatives to help local communities were taken up as part of Satyam’s 20-year anniversary celebrations. 

Initial efforts in Vizag include encouraging volunteerism and creating enabling platforms, alliances, and partnerships with the community, NGOs, government agencies, and businesses. 

Fusion of Indian software with Chinese hardware  
July 05, 2008
SOURCE: The Hindu

“I am so proud of my company,” says Li Jian, also known as Amit Li, as he shows off the headquarters of Chinese telecommunication equipment-maker, Huawei, in Shenzhen. Mr. Li is a graduate of the Hindi department of Beijing University and has spent the last year in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of Delhi, working as a public relations manager for Huawei’s Indian subsidiary. 

His pride in Huawei is understandable given that in the span of 20 years, the company has gone from minnow to mammoth in one of the world’s key industries: telecommunications gear. For long dismissed as an upstart with few sustainable prospects, Huawei has defied predictions, broken the virtual monopoly of western firms in the sector and is today counted among the top five players in the industry. 

At a time when established names like Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent are reporting losses and plummeting profits, Huawei is aggressively expanding, its well-established position in emerging markets like India proving to be an advantage.