Hindustanis.Org

US automaker Ford has agreed to sell its luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors for more than $2 billion, according to a sources. The figure is much less than Ford originally paid for either of the brands.

Ford has been looking to sell Jaguar and Land Rover to strengthen finances after losing $2.7 billion last year and $12.6 billion in 2006.

Ford, which signed the deal on Tuesday, plans to publicly announce the transaction in New York on Wednesday, said another source.

The deal will also see Ford pay about $598 million into Jaguar and Land Rovers’ pension funds, according to unions. Ford declined to comment, adding “our first responsibility is to communicate with our employees.”

The sale had been expected at the start of this month, but it was delayed as the two firms discussed their future relationship, including technology sharing and Ford’s provision of engines and body parts for the two brands.

Tata, India’s top vehicle maker, has been in talks with Ford since it was chosen as the frontrunner to buy Jaguar and Land Rover a few days into 2008.

Tata is pursuing the deal to gain a substantial foothold outside India. But analysts have questioned how Tata will incorporate the luxury brands into its stable of sturdy trucks and functional passenger cars, including the Nano, the world’s cheapest car which it unveiled in January.

While Land Rover has generated three years of record sales with its iconic SUVs, the fit of Jaguar is far less clear. Ford, which lost $2.7 billion in 2007 and $12.6 billion in 2006, is spinning off Jaguar and Land Rover to focus on turning around its loss-making operations in North America.

The sale will include a commitment by Tata to continue buying engines from Ford, according to unions.

All Jaguar and Land Rover’s petrol engines are built in a Ford plant in South Wales, supporting hundreds of jobs there. Diesel engines come from Ford’s factory in Dagenham, east London.

One of the sources knocked down reports on Indian television earlier on Tuesday that the deal had been closed for $2.65 billion.

“That figure of $2.65 billion is highly unlikely,” one source close to the deal said of the report.

“You have to come south from that by quite a bit.” Ahead of the TV report, shares in Tata Motors rose 2.7 percent to a three-week closing high of 679.95 rupees, in a Mumbai market that surged 6.1 percent. Ford shares were down 0.2 percent at around $5.95 at 1813 GMT.

Brand Bangalore has not lost its sheen yet - that’s what the Information Technology Department has to say. While the state government has cleared the path for investments worth Rs 60,000 crore in August, September and October had over 40 projects worth over Rs 38,000 crore cleared.

The state IT secretary Vidyashankar says the numbers for November and December will be just as encouraging and proves that Bangalore has not suffered because of the state’s political instability.

“We are seeing, on the contrary, an increase in participation not only from IT but also from telecom, biotech and nano industries. Bangalore is acting more,” he says.

The reason? Brand Bangalore is still synonymous with outsourcing, making it easier to market to client overseas.

“Bangalore is a global entity and is top of the mind recall for it honchos all over the world. If the country is going to continue to grow, Bangalore will grow as well,” says Vidyashankar.

Other senior government officials tell CNN-IBN that the absence of an elected government may have made the state more business friendly. This is because the governor’s executive committee is not making decisions that are purely based on merit and there is very little room for vested interests.

The city’s infrastructure continues to be the bone of contention. But officials say changes are being made.

“The kind of initiatives we are putting in will take care of infrastructure for the next 20 years. Be it water, roads or metro, it’s all being taken care of,” says Vidyashankar.

While the city exported Rs 49,000 crore worth software in 2006-07, its nearest competitor Chennai managed just about Rs 21,000 crore. This year, the exports are estimated to touch a record Rs 70,000 crore.

The I-T secretary says the target of Rs 100,000 crore in exports for the year 2010-11 is more than achievable.

Source - Ibnlive

IBM Corp.’s expansion in developing countries shows no sign of relenting. The technology company revealed Friday that it now has 73,000 employees in India, almost a 40 percent leap from last year.

IBM did not provide updated figures for its work force in the U.S., which has held steady around 125,000 people in recent years.

Nor did IBM project its total head count. It had 355,766 employees worldwide at the end of 2006.

If the total has risen by the same rate as in 2006, almost one in five IBM workers now is in India, its second-largest center.

Like many other technology providers, IBM has rushed to take advantage of the lower labor costs India offers even for highly skilled workers. IBM’s base in India numbered only 9,000 people in 2003, but it was about 53,000 last year.

IBM has been stressing not only the lower expense of working in India but the potential of the Indian market. IBM executives told visiting Indian journalists last week that the company expected to see revenue from the Indian market jump to nearly $1 billion this year, from $700 million in 2006.

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM is also ramping up in other key developing markets. Its chairman and chief executive, Sam Palmisano, recently formed a new organization that will spur IBM’s investment in emerging economies.

The plan is meant to capitalize on the higher growth rates in the so-called ”BRIC” countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. IBM’s revenue from those countries rose 18 percent in the first three quarters of this year, even after discounting the benefit of currency fluctuations. IBM’s total employee count in those countries now is nearly 100,000, up from 70,000 a year ago.

IBM’s vice president of financial management, Jesse J. Greene Jr., would not forecast how much more hiring the company still might do in emerging markets. However, he said ”we see continuing good stability in the BRIC countries in general and good opportunity for growth in those countries as well.”

Source - Tech2