While it took the print media 128 years to achieve a target audience of 50 million subscribers, it took mobile communications just 10 years to reach a similar target. Even though people cannot afford most of the applications that are available on handsets, everybody wants the latest applications, said Mr V. Ramani, CEO, Connecturf, India’s leading digital marketing and solutions provider.
India has close to 70 million mobile users and is adding 3 million more a month. Experts gathered at the seminar on digital and mobile media organised by the Indus Entrepreneurs in Mumbai, predicted that the mobile base would touch 300 million subscribers by 2010 and marketing companies would use mobile-commerce rather than electronic-commerce to reach out to people.
"We are heading towards a mobile lifestyle and 2006 will be an experimentation phase in the mobile industry. Mobile marketing has grown to include coupons, loyalty programmes, polls and contests.
The future will see mobile applications being the growth drivers for data driven services. Almost all insurance companies and banks are looking towards mobile marketing," said Mr Neeraj Rosy, managing director and CEO, Hungama Mobile.
M-commerce will outspace e-commerce
November 19, 2005, 6:45 pmPune-based IT firm to spread wings overseas
November 19, 2005, 6:44 pm
KPIT Cummins Infosystems Ltd., a Pune-based IT manufacturing and advanced technology solutions provider, has set its sights on setting up shop in China and Eastern Europe and will be announcing two acquisitions in the course of next week, a senior company executive said here on Friday.
Talking to this newspaper Ravi Pandit, chairman and Group CEO, KPIT Cummins said, "The board of the company will discuss the two acquisitions, one in Europe and the other in the US, on November 21 and an announcement is expected after that." However, Mr Pandit refused to divulge details of KPIT Cummins’ buyout plans. The company, which has partnerships with Cummins in manufacturing and automotive verticals and Lehman Brothers in the financial services space, is assessing plans for entering into the Chinese and Eastern Europe markets.
Mr Pandit, who was in China earlier this week, said, "We are studying options of setting up shop in China and Eastern Europe and a final decision will be taken in six months." Talking about the advantages and challenges for corporates in China, Mr Pandit, a 31-year veteran in the fields of IT, corporate strategy formulation, said, "China cannot be ignored by a growing company at any cost, However, there are some challenges there, such as the absence of a skilled workforce, high attrition rates and concerns on the IP front.
On the positive side, China acts as a gateway market for servicing the lucrative Japanese market."
The company is also looking at becoming a $100 million company by 2006-07. On its partnership with Lehman Brothers, which invested in KPIT Cummins in April, Mr Pandit explained, "Lehman Brothers was the second investor for us (Cummins being the first which holds 14 per cent equity). Interestingly, Lehman Brothers yearly IT spend is $1 billion and we expect to garner a portion of that."
On the expansion plans in India, Mr Pandit noted that the company was setting up a centre in Bangalore which would employ 250 employees, picked for work in the high-end VLSI systems.
The company is expecting a 30 per cent growth in revenues this fiscal, with its size expected to cross $73 million from the $57 million it logged in last year.
Talking to this newspaper Ravi Pandit, chairman and Group CEO, KPIT Cummins said, "The board of the company will discuss the two acquisitions, one in Europe and the other in the US, on November 21 and an announcement is expected after that." However, Mr Pandit refused to divulge details of KPIT Cummins’ buyout plans. The company, which has partnerships with Cummins in manufacturing and automotive verticals and Lehman Brothers in the financial services space, is assessing plans for entering into the Chinese and Eastern Europe markets.
Mr Pandit, who was in China earlier this week, said, "We are studying options of setting up shop in China and Eastern Europe and a final decision will be taken in six months." Talking about the advantages and challenges for corporates in China, Mr Pandit, a 31-year veteran in the fields of IT, corporate strategy formulation, said, "China cannot be ignored by a growing company at any cost, However, there are some challenges there, such as the absence of a skilled workforce, high attrition rates and concerns on the IP front.
On the positive side, China acts as a gateway market for servicing the lucrative Japanese market."
The company is also looking at becoming a $100 million company by 2006-07. On its partnership with Lehman Brothers, which invested in KPIT Cummins in April, Mr Pandit explained, "Lehman Brothers was the second investor for us (Cummins being the first which holds 14 per cent equity). Interestingly, Lehman Brothers yearly IT spend is $1 billion and we expect to garner a portion of that."
On the expansion plans in India, Mr Pandit noted that the company was setting up a centre in Bangalore which would employ 250 employees, picked for work in the high-end VLSI systems.
The company is expecting a 30 per cent growth in revenues this fiscal, with its size expected to cross $73 million from the $57 million it logged in last year.
Kingfisher Airlines to go in for IPO soon
November 19, 2005, 6:39 pm
Kingfisher Airlines will soon go in for an initial public offering (IPO), possibly in the next few months, to fund both its fleet expansion plans and its desire to expand its existing domestic network. "Acquisition of new aircraft is a must for a new airline like us in order to fully accomplish our goal of connecting all possible parts of the country, which include regional and feeder routes. Thus, the eventuality of raising funds externally through an IPO is a possible route for us, although we will be looking at other options also," said Mr Ravi Nedungadi, chief financial officer and group president, the UB Group. He added, "Other traditional channels of funding aircraft are available to us also like the export credit agencies, leasing with the export and import bank in US and we also have buyback arrangements with the Singapore Aircraft Leasing and Amsterdam-based Debis both leasing companies that we work with," he added.
This announcement comes close on the heels of Dr Vijay Mallya announcing that he intends to buy 30 more Airbus’ and 20 ATRs aircraft at an estimated cost of $2 billion, over and above his earlier announcements wherein he had placed a confirmed order of nearly $3 billion at the Paris Air Show in June. Kingfisher has so far acquired 10 of the 30 Airbus A320 aircraft. It has 10 firm and 20 options and may convert some of these options into firm orders.
The Airbus A330s are due for delivery by 2007 and the A380 super jumbo is expected to be delivered in 2010, while the A350 delivery will begin in 2012.
This announcement comes close on the heels of Dr Vijay Mallya announcing that he intends to buy 30 more Airbus’ and 20 ATRs aircraft at an estimated cost of $2 billion, over and above his earlier announcements wherein he had placed a confirmed order of nearly $3 billion at the Paris Air Show in June. Kingfisher has so far acquired 10 of the 30 Airbus A320 aircraft. It has 10 firm and 20 options and may convert some of these options into firm orders.
The Airbus A330s are due for delivery by 2007 and the A380 super jumbo is expected to be delivered in 2010, while the A350 delivery will begin in 2012.