IBM to lay off 5,000 in US, outsource to India

March 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - International Business Machines (IBM) Corp. plans to lay off about 5,000 US employees, with many of the jobs being transferred to India, a media report said Thursday.

February 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a message that may not be music to Indian outsourcing firms, US President Barack Obama has served notice that he would end the tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs abroad. Giving his first speech to a joint session of the US Congress Tuesday, Obama said: 'We will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.' If Obama follows through with the announcement in the budget, whose outline he would present Thursday, the move may hurt India's BPO sector as without the tax breaks, US companies may find it less attractive to outsource jobs to India.

May 21st, 2009 KOLKATA - Telecom operator Sistema Shyam Teleservices is planning to outsource a portion of its Internet infrastructure to global IT behemoth IBM, and hopes to sew up the deal some time next year, people aware of the development say. Sistema Shyam, a joint venture company between Russia's Sistema and India's Shyam group, plans to outsource 'a portion' of its IT infrastructure, an industry official told IANS requesting anonymity.

March 25th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - An eight-member delegation from China's Shenyang city Wednesday visited the information technology campus Technopark here to pick up tips on software outsourcing. The officials from the Shenyang Information Industry Bureau (SIIB) said they would study Kerala's software outsourcing services to set up similar parks back home.

May 5th, 2009 BANGALORE - US President Barack Obama's announcement to end tax sops to those US firms outsourcing jobs to countries like India has come under flak from Phil Harkins, a leading US management expert and chief executive of Linkage Inc, a global firm specialising in leadership development 'What Obama is doing is just politics. It's the arrogance of the US to think creating jobs overseas will result in job losses back home.

March 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A downturn in worldwide economy, Satyam's fraud case and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and supply chain and shipping cost issues in China are causing US technology companies to pull back from the two traditional outsourcing locations. Citing these three global factors, an annual survey by BDO Seidman, LLP, one of America's leading accounting and consulting organizations, Tuesday suggested several technology firms would choose US as future outsourcing location over India and China.

August 19th, 2009 By Arvind Padmanabhan and Fakir Balaji The global slowdown and the financial crisis have ironically whetted the appetite of India's $71 billion outsourcing industry for takeovers, as back-office arms of multinational companies, both large and small, are being acquired by them in steal deals. And much to the delight of Indian buyers, the sellers have almost always awarded multiyear, multimillion dollar contracts to get the same services from them that has insured the jobs of millions of Indian youth.

July 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Microsoft founder Bill Gates is in India to receive the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. The award will be received on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has been providing grants for public health activities, notably in the areas of HIV/AIDS prevention and communication.

January 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Rs.70-billion accounting fraud at Satyam Computer will not mar the image of corporate India abroad, Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said here Tuesday. 'There are a lot of shining stars in India's corporate world who will ensure that the flag of India keeps flying high,' said Sibal.

June 4th, 2007 Overseas outsourcing has transformed U.S. economy. Now some families are adopting outsourcing for personal tasks, getting them done for a fraction of what they would cost at home.

June 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Wipro chief Azim Premji has asked the Indian IT industry to get ready to face the global competition, and not fall into a mind trap of 'India Advantage'. "We have talked a lot about India advantage.

January 21st, 2009 NEW YORK - Software giant Microsoft announced Thursday plans to slash up to 5,000 jobs as the company faces the effects of the world economic crisis. It would be the first job reductions ever in the company's history.

July 15th, 2009 Google shuts office in India over swine flu fearsHYDERABAD, India — Internet search leader Google Inc. shut one of its offices in southern India for two days after an employee tested positive for swine flu, a company statement said Wednesday.

February 22nd, 2009 KOLKATA - India can rightly be called the back office of the world for its achievements in Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled services, Chinese Consul General in Kolkata Mao Siwei said Sunday. 'Now China is called the 'factory of the world,' while India the 'back office of the world'.

July 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Microsoft founder Bill Gates will receive the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development here today. The award will be received on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has been providing grants for public health activities, notably in the areas of HIV/AIDS prevention and communication.