One-fourth MBA graduates eye e-commerce jobs

MUMBAI: In a stamp of approval for the fast-growing startup ecosystem in the country, one-fourth of MBA students from across India's top-tier business schools, including the IIMs, said they would prefer working for the fledgling e-commerce sector, pipping traditional favourites like consulting and financial services jobs.

The sector, which has been flush with funds on the back of growing adoption of online shopping, is now the second most preferred job avenue for B-school graduates after the FMCG industry.

Continuing with its rapid acceptance among management graduates, e-commerce has dethroned management consultancy from the second spot for the first time this year even as sectors such as manufacturing, software and IT services fell out of the top 10 league, said findings from a survey conducted by global market research firm Nielsen and shared exclusively with TOI.

Investment banking, a much coveted sector for MBA graduates in the pre-economic crisis days, is now at a lowly 10th spot, having lost its sheen internationally and in India among MBAs. Investment banks with fat bonuses on offer were a big draw before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

What is significant though is that despite economic uncertainty still looming large, the trend of young MBA graduates looking to board the startup bandwagon has only gone up over the past couple of years in India.

"One in five respondents indicated that they might consider a startup after gaining experience at their first job, and are open to the risk and challenge that come with working independently or on board an online/e-commerce set up. This is a trait seen largely in toppers from premier campuses, who aim to operate as young entrepreneurs in the near future," said Surjya Roy, director, Nielsen India.

Nielsen India's Campus recruiter Index, an annual survey mapping preferred career choices of 1,600 MBA students from the top 35 management institutions, ranked Hindustan Unilever on top of the list of recruiters followed by Procter & Gamble and Google.

VK Menon, director-career advancement services, Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, said the premium set of top companies in FMCG and consulting were hiring in large numbers and that had allowed them to maintain their top positions in the pecking order. However, the e-commerce startups from a few years back have now grown to become fairly sized companies and their capacity to hire has also grown over time. Manufacturing, on the other hand, Menon said, witnessed flat hiring owing to the continued sluggishness in the sector.

E-commerce companies made a total of 81 offers constituting about 28% of the overall technology offers at ISB, where leading the pack were Amazon, Flipkart, InMobi and Myntra.com. The year witnessed a 50% increase in the number of startups participating in the placements process, Menon said. Many new startups like Silicon Valley venture capital fund Sequoia Capital-backed BankBazaar.com and Zomato came to ISB for the first time.

At IIM-Calcutta, the world's largest online retailer Amazon made the highest number of offers on campus at 16 for leadership and operations roles.

"Two years back, students graduating from top B-schools like the IIMs would ask if there was job security in e-commerce. They wanted jobs in consulting and I-banks. But things have changed quite dramatically as these youngsters realize jobs in startups offer a larger canvas for them to make an impact," said Kunal Bahl, co-founder, Snapdeal, which is backed by eBay and other top VC funds. Bahl, a Wharton graduate, said Snapdeal hired around 25 MBA graduates from different IIMs this year.

Sankarshan Basu, chairperson, career development services at IIM Bangalore, said consulting and finance occupied the top spots with close to half of the graduating batch joining them while FMCG, e-commerce and technology companies hired the remaining 50%. XLRI's placement chairman Rajiv Mishra said FMCG had maintained its pole position at the B-school this year.

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Facebook in talks to acquire drone maker: Report

NEW DELHI: Facebook may be in talks to acquire drone maker Titan Aerospace as part of its efforts to bring internet access to the unconnected under Internet.org, which the company backs.

According to a TechCrunch report, the social networking giant is in talks to buy Titan Aerospace, which makes unmanned drones that stay near the earth's orbit, powered by solar energy. The website cites sources as saying that the price for the acquisition is close to $60 million.

The online publication has said Facebook is likely to use these drones to provide internet access to parts of the world that are not connected to the internet, starting with Africa. It adds that Facebook would build 11,000 "Salora 60" drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles.

A video posted by Titan Aerospace suggests that the drones could potentially be used for weather monitoring, disaster recovery, earth imaging, or communications. The company's website explains that the Salora drones are capable of supporting a wide range of voice and data communications and can be used to extend the range of 'line of sight' communication and data systems.

The drones come with an internal battery back to store energy harnessed from the sun. They can remain at a height of 20km above sea level for five years without needing to refuel or land.

Facebook drones may work just like Google's Project Loon initiative under which the internet giant intends to provide internet access to remote places through hot air balloons. The company is testing the balloons in New Zealand as part of a pilot project.

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Windows XP users will get pop-up warnings for upgrade

WASHINGTON: Microsoft has reportedly decided to use pop-ups telling Windows XP users to upgrade their operating systems, to preferably 'Windows 8.1.'

As the software maker is ending support for Windows XP on April 8th, it has decided to start issuing warnings to machines running the 12-year-old operating system.

According to The Verge, the pop-up warnings would appear on March 8th following the monthly patch cycle of Windows update and the notification would include a link to Microsoft's Windows XP end of support site.

The pop-up would continue to show on the 8th of every month unless Windows XP users check the "don't show this message again" option.

The report said that the software maker would also release a free transfer tool later this week that's designed to migrate data from an old PC to a new device running Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1.

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BlackBerry Z10 goes out of stock in India after price cut

NEW DELHI: BlackBerry has run out of stock of its touchscreen smartphone Z10 in India in about a week's time after it slashed the handset's price by about 60% to Rs 17,990 in two steps from its launch price of Rs 43,490.

"We have seen great response to the commemorative offer for BlackBerry Z10 and it is true that we have been stocked out," Blackberry spokesperson said in response to PTI's e-mail query.

BlackBerry had launched Z10 about a year ago for Rs 43,990. The price of the handset was dropped by company under a special offer to Rs 29,990 in September, 2013. On February 25 this year, the company further announced a limited period offer to sell Z10 for Rs 17,990.

"We are looking at bringing fresh stocks in the next few days, so as to ensure that more and more users are able to enjoy the cutting edge experience of a full-touch device combined with a revolutionary operating system," the spokesperson said.

The smartphone maker suffered a huge loss of $4.4 billion in its third quarter ended November 30, mainly due to unsold handsets.

In December, the company decided to reduce it handset inventory by offering incentives on their sales, especially on devices built on its latest platform BlackBerry 10.

BlackBerry recorded a primarily non-cash, pre-tax charge against inventory and supply commitments of approximately $1.6 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 and this charge was primarily attributable to its BlackBerry 10 devices.

During the third quarter, BlackBerry sold approximately 4.3 million smartphones to end customers. Of the total smartphones sold, approximately 3.2 million were BlackBerry 7 devices which include models like BlackBerry Curve, Bold, Torch, etc.

Research firm IDC said: "BlackBerry was the only operating system to realise negative year-over-year change of 77 per cent both for the quarter and for the year (2013) (-40.9%)".

In a random check, Z10 was found available on e-commerce sites, Flipkart and Snapdeal but for about 22-50 per cent higher price compared to maximum retail price of Rs 17,990 announced by company. The handset was out of stock at HomeShop18 but selling price at this portal was also about 50 per cent high compared to Rs 17,990.

"Given that Flipkart is an online marketplace, the prices of products on the site are decided by the seller and not Flipkart," a Flipkart spokesperson said explaining the reason behind higher prices.

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Texting and walking more dangerous than texting while driving

WASHINGTON: Texting while walking may result in more injuries per mile than distracted driving, scientists have found.

Consequences of distracted walking include bumping into walls, falling down stairs, tripping over clutter or stepping into traffic.

The issue is so common that in London, bumpers were placed onto light posts along a frequented avenue to prevent people from slamming into them, researchers from University at Buffalo in the US said.

"When texting, you're not as in control with the complex actions of walking," said Dietrich Jehle, professor of emergency medicine at the University at Buffalo.

"While talking on the phone is a distraction, texting is much more dangerous because you can't see the path in front of you," said Jehle, who is also an attending physician at Erie County Medical Center, a regional trauma center in Western New York.

Though injuries from car accidents involving texting are often more severe, physical harm resulting from texting and walking occurs more frequently, Jehle said.

Jehle explained that pedestrians face three types of distraction: manual, in which they are doing something else; visual, where they see something else; and cognitive, in which their mind is somewhere else.

Tens of thousands of pedestrians are treated in emergency rooms across the US each year, and Jehle believes as many as 10 per cent of those visits result from accidents involving cell phones.

He said the number of mishaps involving texting and walking is likely higher than official statistics suggest, as patients tend to underreport information about themselves when it involves a behaviour that is embarrassing.

Cell phone related injuries have skyrocketed over the past 10 years, coinciding with the rise of smartphones, said Jehle.

With social media so pervasive, texting isn't the only concern. It's not uncommon to find a person walking, head down, scrolling through their Twitter feed or checking email, Jehle said.

Laws discouraging texting and walking have been written up, but are strongly voted down, said Jehle.

He suggests mobile applications that text via voice command or use the phone's camera to display the approaching streetscape while pedestrians text.

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Mt. Gox mulls criminal complaint over bitcoin hacking

TOKYO: Mt. Gox, the Tokyo bitcoin exchange that filed for bankruptcy protection, blamed theft through hacking for its losses and said it was looking into a criminal complaint.

Mt. Gox's chief Mark Karpeles posted the announcement on the company website on Monday, outlining the events that resulted in insolvency and saying there was "high probability" that theft was behind the disappearance of bitcoins.

He said a huge number of transactions must be investigated, but efforts are underway to bring Mt. Gox back into business to repay its debts.

Karpeles has said 750,000 bitcoins from users and another 100,000 belonging to the company disappeared.

Mt. Gox was unplugged last week as rumors of its insolvency swirled, adding to fears about bitcoins overall.

Karpeles said illegal access in early February abused a bug in the computer system.

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Indians lose bitcoins worth crores as Mt. Gox falls

NEW DELHI: In a rude jolt to growing virtual currency frenzy in India, bitcoins worth crores of rupees held by some Indians have vanished with collapse of Japan-based Mt. Gox, which was the world's largest bitcoin exchange.

Having filed for bankruptcy, Mt. Gox has admitted to have lost 7.5 lakh bitcoins of its customers and 1 lakh of its own, which together are estimated to be worth over Rs 3,000 crore ($500 million).

The exchange was predominantly used by foreigners, including those operating on behalf of clients from India, while some Indians were directly trading there. In its bankruptcy filing, Mt. Gox has listed 1.27 lakh creditors, bulk of which are foreigners and just about 1,000 from Japan.

The debacle can also intensify calls for stricter regulatory checks on bitcoins and other virtual currencies in India and other countries.

Most of the affected Indians refused to identify themselves, fearing probing questions from tax and other authorities in India as they had mostly used untaxed money for purchase of those bitcoins and were looking for easy returns in this so-far unregulated market.

However, many bitcoin operators and traders confirmed that majority of bitcoins held by Indians were being traded on Mt. Gox and the value of those lost there could be at least Rs 10-20 crore.

There are over 35,000 bitcoins (worth over Rs 100 crore) held by Indians across the country, while many NRIs are also dealing in this popular virtual currency, which currently trades at $550 apiece but isn't backed by any financial authority or real asset.

India, which is home to 200 million internet users, has of late seen a tremendous rise in bitcoin enthusiasts lured by return potential, anonymous nature of transactions and pure novelty, among others.

At present, it costs about Rs 37,000, including charges and fees, to buy just one bitcoin from Indian operators, many of whom have been doing business cautiously after the Reserve Bank of India last year issued an advisory warned the public about the potential risks associated with such currencies.

Bitcoins used to cost close to Rs 1 lakh a piece just a few weeks back, but price have tumbled for various reasons including for problems at Mt. Gox.

After three weeks of speculation about the fate of the Tokyo-based exchange, which had suspended withdrawals early last month, the bitcoin fraternity was stunned after Mt. Gox claimed hackers stole a total of 850,000 coins.

Cybercriminals have been sporadically stealing bitcoins and its other siblings worldwide but this could be the biggest heist till date.

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Tablet sales grow 68%, Android overtakes iOS: Gartner

NEW DELHI: Little surprising tablets are giving sleepless nights to PC makers, according to a new Garter study, tablet sales in 2013, increased considerably.

According to the research firm, worldwide sales of tablets to end users reached 195.4 million units in 2013, a 68% increase on 2012. As per the firm, the growth was fueled by low-end smaller screen tablet market, and first time buyers.
Android became the leading tablet operating system with a 62% market share (120.9 million units), while iOS' share declined to 36% (70.4 million units).

The share of Apple's iOS dropped 16.8 percentage points in 2013 as the market demand was driven by the improved quality of smaller low-cost tablets from branded vendors, and growth of white-box products in emerging markets (these tablets mostly run Android). Android's share in 2012 was 45.8%.

As per Gartner analysts, emerging markets recorded growth of 145% in 2013, while mature markets grew 31%. Microsoft's tablet volumes improved but share remained small at 2.1%. According to the firm, 4.3 million Windows tablets were sold in 2013.

Looking at tablet sales from a vendor perspective, Apple continued to dominate with a 36% market share (70.4 million units), followed by Samsung with a share of 19.1% (37.4 million units) and Asus which had a 5.6% share (11 million units). Amazon and Lenovo were also part of the top five with a market share of 4.8% and 3.3%, respectively.

Interestingly, Lenovo did particularly well in 2013 with tablet sales growing by 198%.

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China: A tough market for Indian IT firms like Genpact, TCS

MUMBAI: Indian IT has conquered continents thousands of miles away, but continues to struggle in China — where changes in government and the inability to adapt to a centralised planning structure have lowered the industry's ability to compete in the market.

Chinese corporations — largely state-run enterprises — are proving a hard nut to crack and even the frontrunners in the race are pulling back. Genpact, which had the strongest focus on the Middle Kingdom, has cut back the number of sales people targeting the Chinese market by 70%, two sources with knowledge of the matter told ET.

"Chinese firms are much closed about the concept of outsourcing. Unlike the multinational outsourcers, they are still building a brand in China. They are finding it really hard going. Genpact is paring down its sales team, refocusing them to bring in more work from Japan into China, rather than look at the Chinese firms," an outsourcing advisory consultant based in Shanghai told ET. He declined to be named because he is not authorised to discuss specific company trends.

Indian companies eyed China for three reasons — the ability to service the operations of multinationals operating in that market, use China as a delivery base for Japan and tap the growing demand from Chinese firms for IT services, a market that is expected to cross $350 billion in 2014, according to research firm Gartner.

Genpact's pull-back is also reflected in where the company puts its money. In 2010, former CEO Pramod Bhasin said China was an important market for the company and that it was open to acquisitions to boost business capabilities in the country. But now, nearly four years later, China finds no mention in the list of important regions for Genpact.

"In terms of markets, we are concentrating these investments in large developed economies such as North America, Europe, Australia and Japan. These are areas where we see significant long-term market opportunity for Genpact. This refocusing will necessarily entail tapering of growth in non-core areas," Genpact CEO Tiger Tyagarajan told analysts in February.

Genpact did not respond to ET's questions about the re-assignment of its salespeople in China and whether it still continued to invest in that market at the level it had previously.

The China problem is not Genpact's alone. Last year, current Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Tata Consultancy Services' office in Mumbai, a sign of the company's commitment to China, but the going in that market has not been easy.

"Japan is looking good, not China. It's a very small base but we're growing. The pipeline is good in Japan but China is a problem," TCS CEO N Chandrasekaran told ET in an interview in January.

It is in fact a story that is playing out across the IT sector, experts say.

"China has been a tough market. I don't think companies will pull out but they will re-evaluate. It would make sense to leave a base in the market to come back when the Chinese domestic market improves," said Pradeep Udhas, a member of the India Leadership Team and head of the Sales & Markets function for KPMG in India. Udhas declined to comment on specific companies. Udhas added that even servicing Japanese companies out of China was decreasing in importance as growing Sino-Japan tensions mean that Japanese firms were looking to diversify the regions from which their services are delivered.

The National Association for Software and Services Companies, the industry body for the IT industry, agrees that growth in China has been tough despite attempts by the industry to break into that market.

"We have to understand that these markets are different and that the same models might not work in markets like China. We will have to come up with new ways and the industry is working on this," R Chandrashekhar, president of Nasscom, said.

In fact, the entire offshoring model may not work with Chinese companies, industry players have said.

"Chinese firms like to have control over their processes and being able to say you will do the work in that country is a great benefit. We have centres in China to handle the work from that market and it helps," Salil Parekh, CEO Application Services for UK, North America and Asia, at French IT services firm Capgemini told ET. Parekh said Capgemini was expecting a 'good' rate of growth in country and was continuing to invest in that market.

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Google, Samsung’s 'fears' on Microsoft-Nokia deal

Google and Samsung have asked Chinese regulators to ensure that Microsoft's bid to acquire Nokia's phone business did not lead to higher licensing fees on patents that remain with the Finnish company, it was reported on Monday.

The companies joined Chinese mobile phone makers in voicing concerns about Microsoft gaining more power in the smartphone market, the report said, citing two government officials familiar with the matter.

The companies have asked the regulators to set conditions on the deal, the officials said.

China's ministry of commerce is conducting an anti-monopoly review and is likely to approve the deal, the officials told Bloomberg. European Union antitrust regulators approved the acquisition without conditions in December.

Samsung and Google did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. Nokia declined to comment.

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