Tuesday, January 27, 2015

TCS Layoffs: Could this be the Secret to Success in the Indian IT Industry? | Future Market Insights

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Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is India’s largest company by market capitalisation, and is one of the largest private sector employers in the country. A subsidiary of the prestigious Tata Group, TCS operates in 46 countries and has employee strength of over 300,000.

Recently, the media reported that TCS plans to lay off 3,000 employees by the end of 2015. Although there has never been an official communication from TCS about such plans, the reports seem to have fuelled insecurity among thousands of mid- and senior-level executives.

Tata Consultancy ServicesAccording to Future Market Insights (FMI), many IT service providers are overstaffed and optimal utilisation of human resources leaves a lot to be desired. TCS’decision to restructure itself is not an isolated one, and its competitors may soon have to follow suit to remain competitive in the industry.

The TCS layoff saga first unfolded at the company’s annual event last year, when a top manager spoke about the need to restructure the organisation by letting go of ‘non-performing’ mid- and senior-level employees. Going by the speech, it was simply a routine operational exercise, affecting less than 1% of the total TCS staff. However, the announcement created a furore, and disgruntled employees protested against ‘wrongful termination’ of their services.

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Effect of TCS Layoffs on IT Industry and Job Market
If reports regarding the TCS layoffs are true, it could have tremendous impact on the Indian IT industry as a whole. By replacing ‘non-performing’ employees with fresh talent, TCS will strengthen its position in the IT services sector and also be able to cut down on employee costs, which is around 40% of its total revenue. Considering the cutthroat competition in the IT industry, other companies can be expected to follow suit in order to improve their bottom line.

Overstaffing & Underutilisation of Human Resources: A Major Challenge for Indian IT Industry
The Indian IT industry’s success story began over two decades ago, when behemoth organisations in the U.S. and Europe began outsourcing their IT maintenance work to India. The easy availability of cheap and skilled labour helped put the Indian IT industry on the map, and India became the world’s software hub.

However, over the years, the Indian IT industry has faced myriad challenges, primary among them being the downturn in the global economy, overstaffing and underutilisation of human resources. The number of employees deployed for any project is more than the actual requirement, and many employees are kept on the ‘bench’ to meet with any exigency. For example, the employee utilisation rate of TCS was around 72% (including trainees) in 2012–2013. The average employee utilisation rate of TCS in the last four years has been only 74%. Infosys, the other major IT service provider, has also been grappling with low employee utilisation rates for years; its utilisation rate stood at 73.6% in 2014. This underutilisation of human resources has not only severely impacted the bottom line of these IT service providers, but also created a trust deficit among the outsourcers. It is expected that every major IT company will seek to readdress this issue in the near future, and more ‘non-performing’ employees will have to be shown the door.

The Indian IT sector has also been marred by incidents of financial irregularities. Several incidents have come to light, wherein middle and senior management has allegedly indulged in unethical business practices for personal gain. These incidents have shocked the global corporate community and questioned the credibility of Indian IT service companies.

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Monday, January 19, 2015

Is Zomato Following the Footsteps of Flipkart and Getting Ready to be Listed? | Future Market Insights Blog

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Restaurant search portal Zomato has made market watchers sit up and take notice yet again with its latest (sixth) acquisition in about as many months. Zomato’s pearl string of acquisitions gets longer with the company announcing that it has acquired US-based food portal Urbanspoon in a deal worth US$52 Mn.

In 2010, Zomato was named among the top 25 most promising internet companies in India. Since then, the portal certainly has shown phenomenal progress! In the last six months alone, Zomato has fervently been expanding its global footprint via new launches and acquisitions.

Let’s take a look at Zomato’s overseas expansion timeline -
  • September 2014 – Zomato expanded to its first overseas location by launching its services in the UAE, followed rapidly by expansion into other countries (Qatar, the Philippines, South Africa, etc.)
  • July 2014 – Zomato announced its first acquisition - New Zealand’s MenuMania for an undisclosed sum
  • August 2014 – Two acquisitions in Europe—Czech Republic’s Lunchtime and Slovakia’s Obedovat—for a combined sum of US$3.25 Mn.
  • September 2014 – Zomato acquired Poland’s Gastronauci for an undisclosed sum
  • December 2014 – Cibando, an Italian restaurant search service, was acquired by Zomato
  • January 2015 – Seattle-based Urbanspoon food portal acquired by Zomato, giving the company a new found presence in markets in the U.S., Canada, and Australia
Zomato’s Chain of Acquisitions and the Role of Info Edge and Vy Capital
Gurgaon-based Zomato has been actively expanding its reach internationally both organically and via M&As. “Zomato is clearly aiming for something substantial here with its aggressive, fast-paced acquisitions. The company is using its earlier funding to penetrate several new markets,” said an analyst at Future Market Insights (FMI). Zomato has used this funding to penetrate new key western markets of Europe and now it is moving forward with its aggressive pace to the U.S. market.

It has raised US$60 Mn from Vy Capital and its existing investors Sequoia Capital and Info Edge (India) to fund its global expansion and new product development. This takes Zomato’s total funding to over US$113 Mn, after it raised US$53 million from Info Edge (India) Ltd. and Sequoia Capital during multiple funding rounds.

The latest round of funding worth US$60 million raised by Zomato, includes purchase of shares from certain existing shareholders. However, the details of the sellers and the sum involved are undisclosed.

This is Zomato’s Series E investment at a pre-money valuation of US$600 Mn, which translates into US$660 Mn post-money valuation. According to Info Edge, they would be picking equity shares and convertible preference shares of Zomato and retain 50.1% holding in the organization with the latest funding.

With all existing and past acquisitions of Zomato, the company’s valuation is estimated to be worth US$1 Bn. This shows that Zomato’s valuation has quadrupled in the last year.

To Read Full Blog@ Public Listing or Groundwork for an Acquisition: What’s on the Platter for Zomato?

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Friday, January 2, 2015

Apple and Samsung in Xiaomi Crosshairs, but is the bubble about to burst? - Future Market Insights

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Chinese smartphone startup Xiaomi recently made headlines thanks to the tremendous success of their Redmi Note 4G model. Put up on a flash sale on Indian ecommerce website Flipkart, all 40,000 handsets sold out in six seconds! The Chinese tech company then followed up this barely believable accomplishment by becoming the most valuable startup in the world. Raising over US $ 1 billion in venture capital funding, Xiaomi ended up with a valuation of US $ 45 billion, ahead of global enterprises such as Uber.
Such accomplishments are becoming a regular feature with regard to Xiaomi’s seemingly unstoppable ascension. Earlier this year, Xiaomi became the third-largest mobile phone maker in the world, overtaking established giants such as Lenovo and LG. It seems incredible since the Chinese giant made its first sale in 2011, which is barely three years ago.
According to an FMI analyst, Samsung, LG, Lenovo and Apple particularly, rely on the sales of their high-end handsets. In fact, it was the unprecedented sales of LG’s low-end mobiles this year that helped them to achieve high sales. 2014 was the first time LG’s annual sales exceeded 15 million handsets.
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In direct contrast to the two companies above it, Xiaomi is exerting an increasingly strong grip on the burgeoning budget smartphone market in Southeast Asia. Xiaomi’s sales rely largely on the developing economies of China and India, the two most populous countries in the world. While other handset makers concentrate on maximizing the profit per model sold, Xiaomi’s focus lies on the profit from larger volume and sales of add-ons to existing customers.
However easy Xiaomi may have found it to get into the top three among handset manufacturers, the more difficult proposition is to overtake Apple and Samsung,” an Future Market Insights lead analyst said. Though Samsung’s sales dropped slightly in the past year, it comfortably remains the global leader. The Korean giant recently revealed plans to redesign its sales strategy, while Xiaomi’s impending showdown with Apple is an even more intriguing affair.
What remains to be seen is how the development of Xiaomi’s two main markets will affect the company. An Future Market Insights analyst summed up Xiaomi’s dilemma, “In a nutshell, as their target segment becomes more affluent, Xiaomi will either have to concede ground to more popular makers of high-end models or venture into the territory themselves and risk legal backlash from the likes of Apple.” Following the recent release of Xiaomi’s new flagship model, the high-spec Mi4, the stage is set for an intriguing and possibly paradigm-shifting battle in 2015.