Software major Infosys has managed to deliver a strong result despite a slowing US economy and a strengthening rupee. The company recorded a net profit of Rs 4,659 crore for the year ended March ’08, up 20.8 per cent over the year before. The company has recorded consolidated sales of Rs 16,692 crore, up 20.1 per cent over FY07.
More worrying however, is the fact that the company has given a lower earnings forecast for the coming year. The number of people it proposes to hire has also come down. For the coming year, Infosys has projected a top-line growth of 19.2 per cent to 21.1 per cent while profits are projected to increase by 16.3 per cent to 18.3 per cent. The company expects to touch revenues of $5 billion in FY09.
"Infosys managed to meet the earnings forecast for last year despite taking a hit of Rs 1,000 crore due to unfavourable exchange rates," said Mr Apurv Shah, research head, Prabhudas Lilladhar. "The outlook is a mix of cautious optimism. For the next one or two quarters, project flow will be slower as there is greater scrutiny on expenses during a slow phase," he added.
Going forward, the company expects things to get back to normal in a few months time. "The company is confident about the operating environment. They feel that new projects could get delayed over the next 4 to 5 months, but there will be no project cancellations," said Mr Gaurang Shah, IT analyst with Asit C Mehta Securities.
Apart from a turnaround in the US economy, exchange rates are also expected to be stable in the current fiscal due to weaker capital markets. Infosys has declared a final dividend of Rs 7.25 per share and a special dividend of Rs 20 per share. Together with the interim dividend paid out, this takes the total payout by the company to Rs 33.25 per share.
Apr 16, 2008
Did you know?
* The owl is the only bird to drop its upper eyelid to wink. All other birds raise their lower eyelids.
* The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it’s already been digested by a bee.
* Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.
* The colour blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones.
* Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die.
* Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.
* The verb “cleave” is the only English word with two synonyms, which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
* The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it’s already been digested by a bee.
* Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.
* The colour blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones.
* Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die.
* Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.
* The verb “cleave” is the only English word with two synonyms, which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
Mar 7, 2008
Barack Obama, in his own words
Barack Obama is now the Democratic Party's frontrunner for America's next President. In a race that he was not even expected to be a serious contender, Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, has impressed America by his stirring message of hope and change.
Shortly before undertaking his campaign for the crucial March 4 Democratic primaries in Ohio and Texas, Obama wrote this exclusive article for India Abroad, the oldest and largest circulated Indian-American newsweekly, which is owned by rediff.com.
Sources within the Obama campaign said the Senator had been working on the article for weeks, in concert with close friends and supporters within the Indian-American community, to ensure that he produced a comprehensive articulation of his policies on the various key issues confronting the United States today.
Obama finally signed off on the article last week, immediately after extending his winning streak over New York Senator Hillary Clinton to ten straight wins with sweeping majorities in Wisconsin and Hawaii.
Shortly before undertaking his campaign for the crucial March 4 Democratic primaries in Ohio and Texas, Obama wrote this exclusive article for India Abroad, the oldest and largest circulated Indian-American newsweekly, which is owned by rediff.com.
Sources within the Obama campaign said the Senator had been working on the article for weeks, in concert with close friends and supporters within the Indian-American community, to ensure that he produced a comprehensive articulation of his policies on the various key issues confronting the United States today.
Obama finally signed off on the article last week, immediately after extending his winning streak over New York Senator Hillary Clinton to ten straight wins with sweeping majorities in Wisconsin and Hawaii.
Stop smoking or an early death awaits you
Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss may ask Shah Rukh Khan [Images] not to smoke in public and many offices may have banished smokers from puffing indoors but India confronts a smoking epidemic.
During the decade beginning 2010, a new study says smoking will cause about 930,000 adult deaths in India annually; of the dead, about 70 per cent will be between the ages of 30 and 69 years.
"People should know smoking is a huge killer and the cause of 10 per cent of all deaths in India. A male cigarette smoker will lose 10 years of his life compared to a non-smoker. A female beedi smoker will lose 8 years of life while a male beedi smoker will die about 6 years earlier," says Dr Prabhat Jha, Director, Centre for Global Health Research, University of Toronto, and the principal investigator of the study on smoking and death in India.
What is alarming is that smoking is responsible for about 1 in 20 deaths in women and 1 in 5 deaths in men between the ages of 30 and 69 in India. About 5 per cent women and 37 per cent men in India between the ages of 30 and 69 years are smokers. In this age group, smoking was associated with an increased risk of death from any medical cause.
120 million smokers -- almost 10 per cent of the world's smokers -- live in India.
While smoking has been on the rise in India, in most Western countries it has declined as a result of high taxes, strong warning labels, effective ban on advertisement and smoke-free work places and public places.
"The Indian public does not know, especially the poor and illiterate, and neither manufacturers nor the government is telling them anything about the consequences of tobacco use," says Dr Prakash C Gupta, Director, Healis-Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, Mumbai, and one of the co-authors of the report.
"The price of tobacco products in real terms (adjusted for inflation) has gone down. Even though direct advertisements of tobacco products are banned, surrogate advertisement and promotional activities have increased tremendously," he says.
Though awareness is higher among the educated and smoking in this group is comparatively lower, studies reveal the educated are also not convinced anything will happen to them.
"The risk is much higher in middle aged smokers. Even anything as small between 1 to 7 cigarettes a day increases the risk. Among those who smoked only 1 to 7 cigarettes a day, smoking-associated excess deaths accounted for almost half of the deaths from any medical cause," Dr Jha told rediff.com on the telephone, while on a visit to India.
Dr Jha, a Rhodes Scholar, served at the World Bank and the World Health Organisation before joining the Centre for Global Health Research, Toronto. His family migrated to Canada [Images] from Ranchi in 1971.
India passed a law to print pictorial warnings on cigarette packs in 2003 as recommended by the World Health Organisation -- particularly to spread awareness in rural India -- but legal wrangles have delayed the measure so far. The law, which was to be implemented in 2006, has not come into force yet.
"Unfortunately, this measure is getting postponed and weakened for nearly two years without implementation. First, the skull and bones sign was made so-called 'optional' and now pictures are being revised because one of our ministers thinks they were 'repulsive'," Dr Gupta said in an e-mailed interview.
In countries like South Africa, picture warnings have worked and anti-tobacco activists feel it would have a similar impact in India.
The new study is the first nationally conducted survey and made world headlines when it was published on February 13 in the New England Journal of Medicine. For the research 900 field workers traveled to 1.1 million homes in all parts of India. The smoking habits of 74,000 smokers who died between 2001 and 2003 was compared to 78,000 existing smokers. The study was carried out by a team of 12 doctors from India, Canada and Great Britain.
The reason why there is such a high rate of deaths in India in spite of the fact that Indians start smoking later than American and Europeans is because Indians have a high rate of TB in rural areas and heart attacks in urban areas that accounts for deaths due to smoking.
"Stopping smoking can be highly effective but only 2% adults quit smoking in India," says Dr Jha. "The best way forward is for people to understand the risk. People should support tobacco control
During the decade beginning 2010, a new study says smoking will cause about 930,000 adult deaths in India annually; of the dead, about 70 per cent will be between the ages of 30 and 69 years.
"People should know smoking is a huge killer and the cause of 10 per cent of all deaths in India. A male cigarette smoker will lose 10 years of his life compared to a non-smoker. A female beedi smoker will lose 8 years of life while a male beedi smoker will die about 6 years earlier," says Dr Prabhat Jha, Director, Centre for Global Health Research, University of Toronto, and the principal investigator of the study on smoking and death in India.
What is alarming is that smoking is responsible for about 1 in 20 deaths in women and 1 in 5 deaths in men between the ages of 30 and 69 in India. About 5 per cent women and 37 per cent men in India between the ages of 30 and 69 years are smokers. In this age group, smoking was associated with an increased risk of death from any medical cause.
120 million smokers -- almost 10 per cent of the world's smokers -- live in India.
While smoking has been on the rise in India, in most Western countries it has declined as a result of high taxes, strong warning labels, effective ban on advertisement and smoke-free work places and public places.
"The Indian public does not know, especially the poor and illiterate, and neither manufacturers nor the government is telling them anything about the consequences of tobacco use," says Dr Prakash C Gupta, Director, Healis-Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, Mumbai, and one of the co-authors of the report.
"The price of tobacco products in real terms (adjusted for inflation) has gone down. Even though direct advertisements of tobacco products are banned, surrogate advertisement and promotional activities have increased tremendously," he says.
Though awareness is higher among the educated and smoking in this group is comparatively lower, studies reveal the educated are also not convinced anything will happen to them.
"The risk is much higher in middle aged smokers. Even anything as small between 1 to 7 cigarettes a day increases the risk. Among those who smoked only 1 to 7 cigarettes a day, smoking-associated excess deaths accounted for almost half of the deaths from any medical cause," Dr Jha told rediff.com on the telephone, while on a visit to India.
Dr Jha, a Rhodes Scholar, served at the World Bank and the World Health Organisation before joining the Centre for Global Health Research, Toronto. His family migrated to Canada [Images] from Ranchi in 1971.
India passed a law to print pictorial warnings on cigarette packs in 2003 as recommended by the World Health Organisation -- particularly to spread awareness in rural India -- but legal wrangles have delayed the measure so far. The law, which was to be implemented in 2006, has not come into force yet.
"Unfortunately, this measure is getting postponed and weakened for nearly two years without implementation. First, the skull and bones sign was made so-called 'optional' and now pictures are being revised because one of our ministers thinks they were 'repulsive'," Dr Gupta said in an e-mailed interview.
In countries like South Africa, picture warnings have worked and anti-tobacco activists feel it would have a similar impact in India.
The new study is the first nationally conducted survey and made world headlines when it was published on February 13 in the New England Journal of Medicine. For the research 900 field workers traveled to 1.1 million homes in all parts of India. The smoking habits of 74,000 smokers who died between 2001 and 2003 was compared to 78,000 existing smokers. The study was carried out by a team of 12 doctors from India, Canada and Great Britain.
The reason why there is such a high rate of deaths in India in spite of the fact that Indians start smoking later than American and Europeans is because Indians have a high rate of TB in rural areas and heart attacks in urban areas that accounts for deaths due to smoking.
"Stopping smoking can be highly effective but only 2% adults quit smoking in India," says Dr Jha. "The best way forward is for people to understand the risk. People should support tobacco control
Feb 20, 2008
DANGEROUS DRUGS HAVE BEEN GLOBALLY DISCARDED BUT ARE AVAILABLE IN INDIA: Suman N
Please Read Very Carefully - INFORM ALL YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILY MEMBERS.India has become a dumping ground for banned drugs; also the business forproduction of banned drugs is booming. Plz make sure that u buy drugs only ifprescribed by a doctor (Also, ask which company manufactures it, this would helpto ensure that u get what is prescribed at the Drug Store) and that also from areputed drug store. Not many people know about these banned drugs and consumethem causing a lot of damage to themselves. We forward Jokes and other junk allthe time. This is far more important.Please Make sure u forward it everyone u know.DANGEROUS DRUGS HAVE BEEN GLOBALLY DISCARDED BUT ARE AVAILABLE IN INDIA. Themost common ones are D cold, action 500 & Nimulid.ANALGIN:This is a pain-killer. Reason for ban: Bone marrow depression.Brand name : Novalgin___________________________________________________________CISAPRIDE:Acidity, constipation. Reason for ban : irregular heartbeatBrand name : Ciza, Syspride____________________________________________________________DROPERIDOL:Anti-depressant. Reason for ban : Irregular heartbeat.Brand name : Droperol______________________________________________________________FURAZOLIDONE:Antidiarrhoeal.. Reason for ban : Cancer.Brand name : Furoxone, Lomofen_____________________________________________________________NIMESULIDE:Painkiller, fever. Reason for ban : Liver failure.Brand name : Nise, Nimulid________________________________________________________________________NITROFURAZONE:Antibacterial cream.Reason for ban :Cancer..Brand name : Furacin________________________________________________________________________PHENOLPHTHALEIN:Laxative. Reason for ban : Cancer.Brand name : Agarol________________________________________________________________________PHENYLPROPANOLAMINE:cold and cough. Reason for ban : stroke.Brand name : D'cold, Vicks Action-500________________________________________________________________________OXYPHENBUTAZONE:Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Reason for ban : Bone marrow depression.Brand name : Sioril_______________________________________________________________________PIPERAZINE:Anti-worms. Reason for ban : Nerve damage.Brand name : Piperazine________________________________________________________________________QUINIODOCHLOR:Anti-diarrhoeal. Reason for ban : Damage to sight.Brand name : Enteroquinol
Beware of Garbage Trucks:vamsi.Gogineni
How often do you let other people's nonsense change your mood? Do you let a baddriver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive colleagueruin your day? Unless you're a robot, you are bound to blow your top off. However, the mark of a sucessful person is how quickly he or shecan get back his or her focus on what's important.Sixteen years ago, I learned this lesson. I learn it in the back of a New YorkCity taxi cab. Here's what happen.I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were drivingin the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped outof a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes,skidded, and missed the other car's back end by just inches!The driver of the other car, the guy wh! o almost caused a big accident, whippedhis head around and he started yelling bad words at us.My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was reallyfriendly. So, I said, "Why did you do that? This guy almostruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now called, 'The Law of theGarbage Truck'.Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full offrustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. Astheir garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. If they happen to dump iton you, don't take it personally.You just smile, wave, wish them well, and moved on. You'll be happier if youdid that rather than fight them.So this was it: 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'.I started thinking, how often do I let garbage trucks run right over me? And howoften do I take the! ir garbage and spread it to otherpeople: at work, at home, on the street? It was that day I said, "I'm not goingto do it anymore." I see garbage trucks everywhere andeveryday. I see the load they're carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my taxi driver, I don't make it a personal thing; Ijust smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parentsknow they have to welcome their kids home from school with hugsand kisses. Teachers and parents know that they have to be fully present and attheir best for the people they care about.The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take overtheir day. What about you? What would happen in your life, startingtoday, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?Here's my bet. You'll be happier.So ... love the people who treat you ! right.Forget about the ones who don't.Believe that every thing happens for a reason.If you get a chance, TAKE IT!If it changes your life, LET IT!Nobody said it would be easy ....They just promised it would be WORTH IT
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
