National News

Karnataka to set up special IT committee

BANGALORE: The Karnataka government has belatedly recognized that there is a disconnect between itself and the local IT industry, which has led to some brand erosion for the highly successful industry both within the country and overseas.

TCS, Infosys, Wipro vie for e-governance overhaul pie

MCA21, the government's ambitious e-governance programme for India Inc, is all set for an overhaul as the ministry of corporate affairs works on the next-generation version at a time when it faces increasing risks of corporate frauds. A host of top IT companies like TCS, Infosys and Wipro are believed to be vying for the prestigious project, which is estimated to have a budget of hundreds of crores of rupees.

Indian FSI to spend Rs 37K cr on IT services in 2012

The Indian financial services industry (FSI) is expected to spend Rs 37,700 crore on IT products and services in 2012, an increase of 17.4 per cent over 2011, according to research firm Gartner.

The IT spending by the Indian FSI, which includes spending by insurers on internal IT (including personnel), hardware, software, external IT services and telecommunications, stood at Rs 32,100 crore in 2011, Gartner said in a statement.

Sony aims to sell 6.5 lakh Vaio laptops, notebooks in FY13

HYDERABAD: Sony India said it aims to sell 6.5 lakh units of Vaio laptops and notebooks in the current financial year.

It sold 5 lakh units of Vaio in the last fiscal. Sony will also consolidate its distribution network by adding 500 more channel counters, taking the total count to 4,500 in the current fiscal, Sony India's IT and Mobiles Head Sachin Thapar told reporters here.

Anonymous to protest in 16 cities against web censorship

MUMBAI : Global hacking movement Anonymous has called for protesters to take to the streets in 16 cities around India on Saturday over what it considers growing government censorship of the internet.

The call for demonstrations by the Indian arm of the group follows a March 29 court order issued in the southern city of Chennai demanding 15 Indian internet service providers to block access to file-sharing websites such as Pirate Bay.

4G services: Bharti Airtel to acquire 49% stake in Qualcomm

MUMBAI: Sunil Mittal led Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced that it will acquire 49 per cent stake in Qualcomm's Inc's fourth-generation (4G) broadband venture in the country for $165 million. 

Bharti Airtel will buy a 26 per cent stake held by two Indian partners in the Qualcomm broadband venture and the remaining by subscribing to fresh equity, the company said in statement.