From a little town in a far land I came, to save my honor from the world of flame;
In a little town in a far land I sleep, and trust that pride won, for you to keep!
Today, we have many definitions and attributes of air pollution. But what is the real fact? Let’s look into this more closely!
Air pollution is a broad term applied to any chemical, physical (particulate matter), or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere.
The atmosphere is a complex, dynamic natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet earth.
Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the earth’s ecosystems. Worldwide air pollution is responsible for large numbers of deaths and cases of respiratory disease. Enforced air quality standards, like the Clean Air Act in the United States, have reduced the presence of some pollutants. While major stationary sources are often identified with air pollution, the greatest source of emissions are actually mobile sources, principally the automobile. There are many available air pollution control technologies and urban planning strategies available to reduce air pollution; however, worldwide costs of addressing the issue are high.
The most immediate method of improving air quality would be the use of bioethanol fuel, biodiesel, solar energy, and hybrid vehicle technologies. The World Health Organization estimates that 4.6 million people die each year from causes directly attributable to air pollution. Many of these mortalities are attributable to indoor air pollution. Worldwide more deaths per year are linked to air pollution than to automobile accidents. A Research report published in 2005 suggests that 310,000 Europeans die from air pollution annually. Direct causes of air pollution related deaths include aggravated asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, lung and heart diseases, and respiratory allergies..
Q4 revenues up 3.9% sequentially; EBIT up by 10.9%
Q4 dividend stepped up 1.5 times to 150%
Declining attrition for the sixth consecutive quarter
HCL Technologies on US$ 2 bn annual run rate
Margin expansion for the fifth consecutive quarter and second consecutive year in a row
Crosses 50,000 employee headcount
Overview
HCL is uniquely positioned as a co-sourcing partner because of the experience it has created for its customers through continued momentum in demonstrating leadership in execution experience in our multi-service engagements.
HCL’s four pronged Blue Ocean strategy covering service innovation, pricing innovation, creation of new markets and technology disruption continues to pay rich dividends with innovative partnerships and revenue sharing business models being the highlights of this year. Commenting on the results, Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies says, “HCL registered a YoY growth of 35.2% following a YoY growth of 42.4% last year. HCL registered a QoQ growth of 3.9%, following three successful growth quarters of 8.4 %, 7.4% and 5.2% QoQ respectively.
HCL has expanded its operating margins for the second year in a row. HCL has grown revenue ahead of manpower growth second year in a row. HCL has demonstrated global leadership in Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) which was ranked No. 1 ahead of all global players this year by the Black Book of Outsourcing – a first in the Indian IT industry.”
Key Catalysts for Growth
Engineering and R&D Services, Infrastructure Services and Custom Applications witnessed accelerated growth reaffirming HCL’s dominant market position and competitiveness in these service lines respectively
Among the verticals, FS and Manufacturing crossed the US$ 0.5 bn mark. The fastest growth was recorded in Life Sciences, while Manufacturing and Media, Publishing & Entertainment continue to grow consistently
Our key geographies crossed significant milestones this year with the US revenues and Europe revenues crossing the US$ 1bn and US$ 0.5bn mark respectively
The year in perspective
The HCL strategy embodying a unique kind of disruptive innovation in its business model focusing on Value Centricityand a Blue Ocean approach to business has resulted in deepening customer relationships, creation of new markets and strategic partnerships where there is collaboration, goal alignment and substantive engagement.
Value Centricity
The momentum in inking transformational deals that began in 2005 continued this year with a total value of deals in excess of US$ 1 bn being signed including eight deals worth US$ 310mn this quarter
HCL acquired Capital Stream, Inc., a US based industry leader in lending automation solutions. This strategic acquisition is a part of HCL’s well structured M&A strategy and will enhance HCL’s ability to provide end-to-end solutions through product and multi-service delivery capability to commercial and retail financial institutions globally
HCL launched the SAP Revenue Recognition solution, pre-configured SAP Metals template, Auto Template for Auto ancillaries in the SMB sector and solution to avoid SAP Business Information Warehouse Slowdowns that helped customers reduce their total cost of outsourcing (TCO)
Blue Ocean
HCL launched Integrated Operations and Management Centre (IOMC) that integrates offerings across Global Services, Infrastructure Operations and Application Operations. It acts as a single window to deliver, manage and monitor Infrastructure Support and Application Operations giving customers increased efficiencies and enhanced business impact
In continuation of co-creating value with our customers and partners on a risk sharing model, HCL rolled out the Global Risk Reward Partnership (GRRP) based on the principle of a joint ownership of a product. This year HCL has initiated three new engagements under this model, including the strategic partnership with CA, and entering into newer such engagements with customers
HCL signed the SAP Global Services partnership based on Blue Ocean thinking to deliver joint business value through Customer Centric Ecosystem. This milestone partnership drawing upon HCL’s strengths in emerging geographies, strong domain experience, risk taking and service innovation capabilities has already started delivering results
Thought Leadership
HCL has been the pioneer of Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) in India and HCL’s leadership in RIM has been recognized by various independent analyst and media firms. This year HCL’s RIM was acknowledged by Brown & Wilson Global User Survey 2008 as World’s No 1, ahead of leading global players
HCL pioneered the concept of co–sourcing in 2005, and moved it to the next level of an integrated service approach of Full Service Co Sourcing recently recognized by Ovum as having a clear and differentiated positioning in the applications outsourcing market. HCL has a growing emphasis on larger deals under its asset-light and consulting light ‘full service co-sourcing’ model delivered using unique service-model IPs, a first of its kind integrated service offshore transitioning model
HCL’s biggest differentiator has been the adoption of the Employee first philosophy that was lauded by some of the world’s most influential thought leaders as the management mantra for the next generation. Harvard Business Review and Business Week heralded HCL’s Employee First as “the radical management philosophy that will catch on with the world sooner or later”. HCL was also invited to share thoughts in some of the most respected global platforms such as WEF, MLab and INSEAD
HCL has conceptualized a unique collaborative platform called “Unstructure” where business and technology practitioners can contribute their thought to address the major issues and trends affecting the business of technology
Transformation @ HCL
HCL invited to participate in the “Future of Management” MLab Conference, headed by Prof Gary Hamel
HCL invited to speak at the INSEAD Leadership Summit in France that brought together global leaders from business, government, media and academia to explore the links between business, environment and society
HCL announced the fourth chapter of its Global Customer Meet 2008 – “Unstructure”, where some of the most noteworthy thought leaders will mentor conversations on topics that explore the trends in the business of technology. This event which is slated for 17th and 18th of November, will be held in Orlando, Florida.
HCL’s series of Financial Services Thought leadership event - InvesTECH@HCL successfully held in New York this quarter. The highlight of the forum in New York was an exclusive panel discussion on ‘Risk Management Strategies in a Downturn Economy’ by industry experts and practitioners. A new operating model from HCL called Run the Enterprise to help the Financial Services Institutions enhance their ongoing business performance was also showcased during the event
Recognitions
Forrester counts HCL as the leader in SAP implementation in the Forrester Wave: Australia/ New Zealand SAP implementation providers 08 report. HCL is a Leader in ANZ that leverages its offshore capabilities very well for its SAP clients and has won a number of its projects due to its capabilities implementing niche solutions
IDC considers HCL as a formidable opponent in Application Outsourcing in the Worldwide Application Outsourcing 2007 Service Provider Analysis. IDC believes that HCL’s transformed and modernized applications will be prime candidates for AO, further growing its business in this area. HCL’s willingness to work with clients using risk-reward or self-funding transformation contracts has made it an up-and-coming company to watch.
Voice & Data 100 survey ranks HCL No.1 in Network Management & Network Security Services and No. 2 in Network Integration Services
“Strategy + Business” magazine published by Booze Allen Hamilton, in its story on the topic of Indian companies “reverse investing” in the US, talks about HCL’s drive to engage in more complex work with clients and firmly positions HCL and its differentiated business strategy
The CEO Forum magazine (ANZ) appreciates HCL’s inspiring effective organizational innovation and positions Vineet Nayar as a “Change Master”
It has only been a few years since Asia bulls have been touting the arrival of the Chinese Century, citing that nation's enormous potential. Now, get ready for predictions of the India Century. That, in fact, was the title of a recent white paper by the Chicago-based consultancy Keystone-India, founded by a group of top economists from Ernst & Young who believe that India is on track to surpass China in growth.
"We believe this is India's moment," declares Keystone Chief Economist William T Wilson.
Even under Keystone's projections, India wouldn't match China's current hypergrowth rates for at least another 15 years. And even by 2050, China's economy would be bigger measured in US dollars. But longer term, Keystone contends India will be in a stronger position. It projects that China's average annual growth will peak at 8.8 per cent over the next five years, and then gradually trend downward to under 7 per cent in the '20s and around 4% by the '40s.
Investments
Many signs point to big increases in investment in India, Wilson says. In fact, he estimates investment in India could reach 35% of GDP within a decade, which would enable it to match China's 9% plus growth. One reason is that the savings rate in India rose from 23.5% of GDP in 2001 to 28.1% in 2004. And because of its growing workforce and the decline in family size, India's savings rate should continue to rise to a projected 37% in 20 years. Since investment is highly correlated to domestic savings, that should translate into higher investment and economic growth.
However, India is planning to open up many long-protected sectors that have great allure to foreign investorsand that could draw huge inflows of money. They include telecom, where Indian demand now is growing even faster than China's, commercial real estate, and department stores. Although some of the reforms have stalled recently due to domestic political opposition, Wilson believes the government will prevail.
"If you look at the institutional changes and the number of industries that have liberalized over the past five years, the pace has been phenomenal, he says. Wilson predicts India's real estate sector will draw a huge influx of money from foreign hedge funds, and liberalization of retail will be 'the real big bang' for the economy.
Entrepreneurship
They generally have done a good job of taking advantage of new opportunities offered by liberalization since the early 1990s. But the more dynamic companies in India are smaller ones that are led by new generations of entrepreneurs who take greater risks or are more connected to the global economy. These new companies also have more creative managers, argues Debashis Ghosh, another Keystone partner who worked at Ernst & Young.
Keystone focuses on researching mid-sized Indian companies with $10 million to $100 million in annual sales. "The bigger companies are still led by old school types who used to depend on access to government and got huge when there was nobody else in the game. "Because they had scale, foreigners had to deal with them," says Ghosh. "Now, though, the top talent from the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Management are flowing into the mid-sized sector. That is like getting a management team of all Wharton and Massachusetts Institute of Technology grads."
Productivity
India has averaged respectable productivity growth of 2.5% a year over the past two decades.
But that can grow sharply, thanks to liberalization of many industries, a literacy rate that has risen from 18% in 1951 to 65% now, and India's rising openness to foreign trade, which has jumped from 15% of GDP in 1991 to 26% now. Manufacturing Surge China dwarfs India as a manufacturing power, especially for export.
And it will be a long time before India, with its inadequate infrastructure and components supply base, will be a serious export rival. But in recent years, India's domestic manufacturing industry has been growing strongly.
What's more, a number of Indian companies are especially strong in high-end manufacturing, such as auto parts, power generators, and medical equipment that requires a lot of engineering.
But when you look at the fundamental driversgrowth in the workforce, fixed investment, and productivity -- over the long run the prospect looks a lot more plausible.
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