World's largest financial services firm Citigroup Inc said it will eliminate 17,000 jobs or nearly five per cent of its global workforce, even as it plans to move 9,500 positions to India and other low-cost locations.
With an aim to cutting its annual expenses by 4.6 billion dollars in the next three years, the US-based banking giant said that its restructuring plans also include shutting down some offices and relocating employees.
While announcing these large-scale job cuts, Citigroup said that its total headcount would continue to grow in 2007, but the rate of growth, excluding acquisitions, new branches and other investments, would slow significantly.
The company could move a large chunk of its jobs—which could be in the range of 5,00-8,000--to India, especially for equity research, investment banking and back-office transaction-related activities, sources close to the development said.
The total number of jobs to be eliminated equal more than half of the total number of positions Citigroup added to its workforce in 2006.
More than 9,500 jobs will be moved to lower-cost locations, both domestically and internationally, the company said.
"Ultimately these changes will streamline Citi and make us leaner, more efficient, and better able to take advantage of high revenue opportunities," Citigroup Chairman and CEO Charles Prince said in a statement.
Industry observers said that the job cuts were more aimed at achieving an optimal level of performance, rather than plain cost savings as the company was also aggressively going ahead with acquisition plans.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
Citigroup cuts 17K jobs, India headcount to rise
April 12, 2007, 9:12 amWikipedia planning search engine
April 12, 2007, 9:10 am
As part of efforts to widen its reach and showcase the power of "wikis", online encyclopedia Wikipedia is planning a search engine that is intended to rival that of Google.
"Yes, Wikimedia Foundation is planning an open search engine that thrives on the knowledge of users. The search engine is in its early stage," said Kiruba Shankar, an editor of Wikipedia here and a well-known blogger.
Shankar, who runs a web development firm, was an organizer of the recent Wikicamp-Unconference where all participants could interact freely in an informal session.
"Wikicamp was India's first real event devoted to wikis," he said, referring to the websites and collaborative software that allow people to add, remove, edit or change content.
The response was better than expected. "We expected around 100 people to be part of it but over 350 turned up. It greatly helped that Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, flew in to attend the event," Shankar said.
The main reason for organising the event was to showcase the power of wikis. Shankar strongly feels that the wiki is a severely underestimated power tool and there are excellent uses that people are ignorant about. "The event helped in highlighting those advantages."
Many techies knew about Wikipedia but quite a few did not know how to edit a wiki. The event had a workshop on how to edit wikis.
"Many corporates have installed wikis as part of their intranet to disseminate information internally," he said.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
"Yes, Wikimedia Foundation is planning an open search engine that thrives on the knowledge of users. The search engine is in its early stage," said Kiruba Shankar, an editor of Wikipedia here and a well-known blogger.
Shankar, who runs a web development firm, was an organizer of the recent Wikicamp-Unconference where all participants could interact freely in an informal session.
"Wikicamp was India's first real event devoted to wikis," he said, referring to the websites and collaborative software that allow people to add, remove, edit or change content.
The response was better than expected. "We expected around 100 people to be part of it but over 350 turned up. It greatly helped that Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, flew in to attend the event," Shankar said.
The main reason for organising the event was to showcase the power of wikis. Shankar strongly feels that the wiki is a severely underestimated power tool and there are excellent uses that people are ignorant about. "The event helped in highlighting those advantages."
Many techies knew about Wikipedia but quite a few did not know how to edit a wiki. The event had a workshop on how to edit wikis.
"Many corporates have installed wikis as part of their intranet to disseminate information internally," he said.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
Dairy College comes up with instant protein-rich soup
April 12, 2007, 9:08 am
Ready-to-prepare and easy-to-serve is the mantra at dairy chemistry department of SMC Dairy Science College, Anand Agricultural University. It has developed a protein rich, powder-based soup product — Golden Soya Soup, which may soon replace the regular soups in the market.
A mix of whey, tofu, garlic, ginger, onion powders, spices and condiments, it derives its name from the yellow variety of soya.
Dairy chemistry department head at AAU, Sukhminder Singh said, “The idea was to judiciously use cheese by-products for human consumption that otherwise go waste in industries.”
One serving of 30 gm soup powder has lactose, whey protein concentrates, minerals and calcium. Singh said it could be used as colloidal calcium phosphate supplements for children and as drip for elderly suffering from osteoporosis.
Senior research fellow at dairy chemistry department, Komal Upadhyay said the soup powder with a high biological value could also be used in cakes as a replacement for eggs.
“This soup has soya and whey, both rich sources of proteins. While soya protein is a partially complete protein with 6 of total 8 essential amino acids responsible for tissue growth in body, whey protein contains all the 8 essential amino acids,” said Singh.
The college has already carried out consumer acceptance tests and is now implementing the recommendations.
The department now aims to give the soup a longer shelf life, of at least a year ,and make it more palatable. It also wants to conduct studies in medical colleges and hospitals to find out people’s response. And after the trials, the college plans to tie-up with manufacturers of food products.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
A mix of whey, tofu, garlic, ginger, onion powders, spices and condiments, it derives its name from the yellow variety of soya.
Dairy chemistry department head at AAU, Sukhminder Singh said, “The idea was to judiciously use cheese by-products for human consumption that otherwise go waste in industries.”
One serving of 30 gm soup powder has lactose, whey protein concentrates, minerals and calcium. Singh said it could be used as colloidal calcium phosphate supplements for children and as drip for elderly suffering from osteoporosis.
Senior research fellow at dairy chemistry department, Komal Upadhyay said the soup powder with a high biological value could also be used in cakes as a replacement for eggs.
“This soup has soya and whey, both rich sources of proteins. While soya protein is a partially complete protein with 6 of total 8 essential amino acids responsible for tissue growth in body, whey protein contains all the 8 essential amino acids,” said Singh.
The college has already carried out consumer acceptance tests and is now implementing the recommendations.
The department now aims to give the soup a longer shelf life, of at least a year ,and make it more palatable. It also wants to conduct studies in medical colleges and hospitals to find out people’s response. And after the trials, the college plans to tie-up with manufacturers of food products.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
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