H-1B Visas: Is it a 'Ray of Hope' for Indian IT Companies

This year’s April Fool’s day kept Indian techies busy since it was this day that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services (USCIS) had chosen to start accepting petitions for work permit H1B visas for the next fiscal year. This is something that a large number of IT professionals in India depend on to a great extent.

The programme for H-1B non- immigrant visas was introduced in 1990. This is where workers out of the U.S. possessing the required skills and knowledge are employed by U.S. companies on a temporary basis. Applicants need a bachelor degree in their preferred field, where successful applicants are sponsored by employers.

In 2012, 130,000 H category visas were issued by the U.S. authorities in India. However, the number of H-1B applications has been declining for the last couple of years. It was only a few months after June that the quota began to fill up. Yet the quota, according to industry experts, will take a week to fill up. Visas will be allotted through a lottery system. This lottery system was earlier followed by a large number of applications and the quota would get filled in just one week.

In 2013, from the information from reliable sources the quota of 65,000 was filled up on Day1. All the Indian software top giants are shocked with the new US yet to be implemented  policy stating not more than 30% of the workforce can be from India in the same organisation blah blah ..

Fingers crossed to see the results and consequences....

WHO’s WHO of T contracts

WHO’s WHO of T contracts

Hyderabad: Amidst the ongoing demand for and against the bifurcation of the state, several arguments from both sides have been put forward. It is not only the politicians who have vested interests but also the contractors of major infrastructure projects in the region.
In the backdrop of this situation, The Hans India probed into the contractors who were executing various works. Here’s the list of the contractors who have been awarded major projects.

Gayatri Constructions Ltd
Gayatri Constructions is owned by Congress MP T Subbarami Reddy. The total cost of the ongoing projects in Telangana (including Hyderabad) is over Rs 2800 crore.

It has taken up contract works (awarded by the government) for the development of Nagarjuna Sagar Tail Pond link Canal in Khammam district with a cost of Rs 1,088.21 crore.

It has also taken up four laning of the state highway number one Hyderabad- Karimnagar-Ramagundam at Rs 1358 crore. They were also awarded the Outer Ring Road - phase -II project from Mallampet to Dundigal.

The cost of the project is Rs 323.97 crore.It also includes developing express highways on another stretch between Sagar road to Vijayawada highway at a cost of Rs 200 crore

Transstroy India Ltd
Transstroy India jointly owned by Eluru MP Kavuri sambasiva Rao and the Guntur MP Rayapati sambasiva Rao (both Congress) is executing notable projects like the eight lane expressway between Gachibowli and Shamshabad at a cost of Rs 699 crore on Outer Ring Road, the Komaram Bheem irrigation project at a cost of Rs 48.69 crore in Adilabad district and Dr BR Ambedkar Pranahita Lift irrigation canal at Nizamabad.

The cost of the last project is Rs 1,189.6 crore.

Progressive Constructions
Progressive Constructions belongs to Eluru MP K Sambasiva Rao(Congress). The ongoing works are Sriram Sagar Project works ( SRSP - J4 - 02A. SRSP - C5 - 03B. SRSP - L6 - 15B) in Nizamabad district. The cost of the works is estimated at around Rs 300 crore.

Ramky Group
Ramky Group, a leading infrastructre company in the state, is owned and maintained by TDP MP Modugula Venugopala Reddy and his family members from Guntur district. It has been awarded to take up ORR works between Shamshabad and Tukkuguda at a cost of Rs 400 crore.

It has also bagged the contract to construct solid waste management project at a cost of Rs 900 crore by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. The project is in progress at Jawaharnagar dump yard.
Besides taking up construction of residential towers in the city, it plans to establish the Multi Product Park and the Discovery City at a cost of Rs 3000 crore in Rangareddy district.

GMR Group
GMR group which had constructed and maintains the Rajiv Gandhi International airport at Shamshabad is owned by G Mallikarjuna Rao (No political affliation) from Sirkakulam district.

The new Hyderabad International Airport Limited (HIAL) was a public-private partnership joint venture of GMR Group, Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, the State Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Airports Authority of India (AAI). GMR Group holds 63 per cent of the equity in the airport which was constructed at a cost of Rs 2300 crore.

Lanco Group
The Lanco Group belongs to Vijaywada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal (Congress).

He had taken up Lanco Hills- housing project at a cost of Rs 5,500 crore in 108 acres. However, the wakf board had filed a petition in the Wakf Tribunal claiming that Lanco had occupied the wakf land and that it belongs to Hussain Shah Wali darga at Manikonda village near the Hitech city in Hyderabad.

KMC Constructions.
KMC Constructions Company Limited, belongs to Nellore MP Mekapati Rajmohan Reddy,( now YSR Congress party) It has taken up the eight-lane expressway from Tukkuguda to Sagar Road under Outer Ring Road (ORR) project. The cost of the project is around Rs 370 crore. Mekapati Goutam Reddy is the Managing Director of the company.

Nagarjuna Construction Company
Nagarjuna Construction Company Limited owned by AV Satya Narayana Raju of East Godavari (No political affliation). His Son R Ranga Raju is the Managing Director of the company. It has taken up express highway works on the stretch of Ghatkesard-Vijayawada highway and Ghatkesar-Kesara in the city. The total cost of the project is around Rs 400 crore.

The other works taken up by them include the Krishna drinking water project phase-2 at a cost of Rs 1200 crore including manufacturing, supplying, laying, jointing, testing and commissioning the pipelines under package 3 and 4. It has also developed an indoor stadium at Saroor Nagar. The other project taken up by the company was the Singapur township in Hyderabad.

Madhucon Projects.
The only notable company from Telangana region which was executing some infrastructure projects is Madhucon projects, owned by Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party leader Nama Nageswara Rao from Khammam.

The company has taken up projects like the main canal and structures of Sri Ram Sagar right branch canal, SRSP flood flow canal from 103.00 km to 122.00 km in Karimnagar district on EPC turnkey system, high-level submersible bridge across the river Sabari at 36/4 km of Nallipaka – Pocharam road in Khammam district.

It constructed flyovers at the CTO junction and the airport junction in Hyderabad and the Flyover at Taranaka over a length of 801 metres. The total cost of the projects taken up in Hyderbad and in Telangana districts was estimated at Rs 500 to Rs 700 crore.

Indu Group
Indu Group owned by I Shamprasad Reddy (close to YSR but not member of Congress) from Kurnool district. He was closely associated with YS Rajasekhara Reddy. The infrstructure construction and development company bagged the contract of Pranahita- Chevella Lift Irrigation scheme. It won the Rs 1447 crore contract in a joint venture with Srinivasa Construction Limited , Kirloskar Brothers Limited and WEG Electric ( India) Limited for link 7, package 22 in the project.

The company also established " Indu Techzone", a notified 150 acre IT and ITES SEZ being developed by Indu Projects Limited and Sun Apollo at Shamshabad in Hyderabad. The total development in the 150-acre campus is to the tune of 7.8 million square feet of processing and non-processing zones.

The location comes under the Shamshabad growth corridor, which is one among the top 17 growth corridors in India, with respect to the envisaged pace and potential of growth, and return on investments. It will offer complete end-to-end solutions, from concept planning to property management.

IVRCL Company
IVRCL company owned by E Sudheer Reddy (close to YSR but not a member of the Congress party) of Nellore district has taken up Koil Sagar Life Irrigation scheme to irrigate an ayacut of 12000 cares in Mahabubnagar district. Indirasagar lift irrigaiton project ( Polavaram) package -31 to lift 51.5 cusecs of Godavari water in stages from Rudrammakota village in Khammam district to irrigate 2 lakh acres at a cost of Rs 152.20 crore.

The other irrigation project it is executing is Flood flow canal project from 57km to 70 km of SRSP main canal to irrigate an ayacut of 2.20 lakh acres in Karimnagar, Warangal and Nalgonda districts in two stages. The cost of the project is Rs 195 crore.

It has also taken up works in the Krishna Drinking Water Supply scheme-phase 2 under package one with the collaboration of Nagarjuna Constructions Company Limited.

GVR Infra Projects
GVR Infra Projects owned by G Venkataeswara Rao (close to TDP but not a party member) was awarded contract to develop outer Ring Road on the stretch from Dundigal to Shamirpet. It has taken up irrigation projects in Telangana under the Jalayagnam scheme.

Google expects to continue with its acquisitions

Internet giant Google Inc has spent more than $ 500 million for as many as 54 acquisitions and asset purchases so far in 2011 to expand into new markets and expects its current pace of takeovers to continue.

During the nine-month period ended September 30, 2011, Google completed 54 acquisitions and purchases of assets for a total cash consideration of about $ 502 million, the company has said in a filing with the US market regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

This exceeds Google's previous annual record of 44 purchases completed last year. The company had spent cash worth $ 669 million for its all acquisitions in 2010.

In the first nine months of 2010, Google completed 37 acquisitions for a total cash consideration of approximately $ 626 million.

"Acquisitions are an important element of our overall corporate strategy and use of capital, and we expect our current pace of acquisitions to continue. These transactions could be material to our financial condition and results of operations," the company said.

The internet firm, which has $ 42.6 billion of cash and cash equivalent, said, "We also expect to continue to evaluate and enter into discussions regarding a wide array of potential strategic transactions."

Google is estimated to have acquired over 100 firms in the last decade, translating into purchase of 10 companies every year, on an average.

Google disclosed in the filing that that it spent $ 151 million to buy restaurant-reviews firm Zagat Survey last month. It also also spent $ 114 million on German company Daily Deals GmbH in September.

Further, in August, Google said it would buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc for about $ 12.5 billion in a bid to introduce hardware to the Android system.

The Motorola deal is still subject to closing conditions including the approval of the transaction by Motorola's stockholders. If Google fails to meet certain regulatory requirements and is forced to terminate the merger deal, it will have to pay Motorola a fee of $ 2.5 billion.

Google said it expects to complete the deal by the end of this year or early next year.

BSNL site hacked

 The Web site of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd - bsnl.co.in - has been hacked.

 The Web site of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd - bsnl.co.in - has been hacked.

A message posted on the site, purportedly by a Pakistani hacker, said: “Hax3d by KhantastiC HaXor - Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd – India’s No. 1 Telecommunications Company.

The hacker claimed in the message put out in the BSNL site, “You have been pwned by Pakistani hacker. This is not a joke or dream, this is f*****g reality, kids. This is now just a warning!!

“Deleted Every Database!! Muwah <3…. Backup in my Pocket=p ohh I means in ma Flash Drive = D.”

The site has not been available since morning.

India at 'extreme' risk from climate change

PARIS: A third of humanity, mostly in Africa and South Asia, face the biggest risks from climate change but rich nations in northern Europe will be least exposed, according to a report released on Wednesday. Bangladesh, India and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are among 30 countries with "extreme" exposure to climate shift, according to a ranking of 193 nations by Maplecroft, a British firm specialising in risk analysis.

Five Southeast Asian nations - Indonesia , Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia - are also in the highest category , partly because of the rising seas and increasing severe tropical storms. Maplecroft's tool, the Climate Change Vulnerability Index ( CCVI), looks at exposure to extreme weather events such as drought, cyclones, wildfires and storm surges, which translate into water stress, loss of crops and land lost to the sea. How vulnerable a society is to these events is also measured, along with a country's potential to adapt to future climate change-related hazards. Of 30 nations identified in the new report as at "extreme" risk from climate change, two-thirds are in Africa and all are developing countries.

Africa is especially exposed to drought, severe flooding and wildfires, the report says. "Many countries there are particularly vulnerable to even relatively low exposure to climate events," said Charlie Beldon, coauthor of the study. Weak economies, inadequate healthcare and corrupt governance also leave little margin for absorbing climate impacts. At the other end of the spectrum, Iceland, Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Estonia top the list of nations deemed to be least at risk. With the exception of Israel and oil-rich Qatar and Bahrain, the 20 least vulnerable countries are in northern and central Europe. China and the US, the world's No1 and No2 carbon emitters - are in the "medium" and "low" risk categories, respectively .

In a parallel analysis of major cities at risk, Maplecroft pointed to Dhaka, Addis Ababa, Manila, Kolkata and the Bangladesh city of Chittagong as being most exposed. Three other Indian metropolitan areas - Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi - were listed as being at "high" risk. "Vulnerability to climate change has the potential to undermine future development , particularly in India," Beldon observed. Recent studies - reviewed in a special report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), due out next month - point to strengthening evidence of links between global warming and extreme weather events.