FinXpress StartUp in focus:

Redbus.in

3

Markets this Week 5

News of the Week 6

CAN YOU SOLVE IT? 8

Company in Focus:

Sapient Corporation

2

FEBRUARY 05, 2012

Sources of Data:

> HDFCsecurities

> Economic Times

> The Hindu

> Rediff Money

> MoneyControl.com

> Financial Express

> Indiapetro

Inside this issue:

Institute Of Management Technology

Ghaziabad

“Change is not your enemy. It’s your opportunity”

We want to travel faster. Work faster. Communicate and

connect faster. We're a society fixated on speed, because

we're a society fixated on technology. It's our collective

accelerator. As technology moves, we move. But the same

technology that fulfills our need for speed also poses our biggest challenge. Because technology doesn't just

increase the speed at which we move, it increases the speed at which change moves.

For two decades Sapient has helped its clients anticipate, navigate and leverage change. Their deeply engrained tech-

nology heritage, running through all of their businesses like a foundational thread, has allowed us to utilize technol-

ogy to its fullest business application and creative expression, giving their clients something that, in today's business

climate, they simply can't succeed without: the ability to quickly and confidently adapt to ever-changing conditions.

Throughout their history, Sapient has demonstrated to companies across a wide spectrum of industries and geogra-

phies, that success doesn't rely solely on how you manage your business, but also, on how you manage changes that

affect your business. And, at no other time has that been more applicable, more profoundly relevant, than now.

Sapient is an interactive and professional services company founded in 1990 and based in Boston, Massachusetts,

United States. It has offices in North America, Europe, India, Asia and Australia. As of 2011 it employs more than

9015 people around the world.

In 1998, Sapient acquired visual design firm Studio Archetype. In 1999, the company acquired the small San Francisco

-based e-commerce builder Ad agency.

In 2005, Sapient established a Government Services division as an independent subsidiary in Arlington, Virginia, to

serve federal government clients. In 2006, it acquired PGI, a Miami-based interactive agency.

In August 2008, Sapient's TRM practice expanded with the acquisition of the London-based Derivatives Consulting

Group. In June, 2009, the company acquired Nitro Group, a traditional global advertising agency, which "turned the

tables on the recent trend of traditional advertising agencies snapping up digital shop(s)," according to the Wall

Street Journal.

Sapient Global Markets

From New York to Singapore, Sapient Global Markets is a premium provider of services to leaders in today's financial

and commodity markets.

Sapient Government Services

With a track record of delivering mission-critical solutions, Sapient Government Services is a leading provider of

consulting, technology, and marketing services to a wide array of governmental agencies.

Sapient Nitro

Sapient Nitro is a leading integrated marketing, commerce and technology services firm, that creates and engineers

highly relevant brand experiences, to accelerate business growth and fuel brand advocacy.

Page 2 FinXpress

Company in Focus : Sapient Corporation

redBus, also known as redBus.in, is an online travel agency offering bus tickets in India.

It has offices in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mum-

bai, Pune, Vijayawada and Vishakhapatnam. It was founded by Phanindra Sama, Cha-

ran Padmaraju & Sudhakar Pasupunuri in August 2006. It is headquartered in Banga-

lore. It deals with the domestic travel industry.

Their story All the founders used to work in Bangalore at the time (sometime in 2005) -

all with top IT MNCs - IBM, Texas Instruments and Honeywell. They were friends from BITS Pilani, one of India's finest engi-

neering colleges. During Diwali that year, one of them wanted to spend the festival in his home town. Since he didn't know

his schedule till the end, taking a bus was the only choice. He ran around town hunting for a ticket, but they were all sold

out minutes before he reached the travel agents. That's when he thought of the possibility of providing consumers the con-

venience of booking a bus ticket over the internet. The objective was two-fold - to ensure that they don't have to leave the

confines of their comfort to book a ticket, and to help them get a ticket when they need it the most. The idea was compel-

ling. The internet was being voted as a medium people couldn't do without. PC and net penetration was increasing not only

in urban areas, but also in rural India with innovative concepts like Shakti and e-Choupal. Also, people were getting used to

booking tickets for travel using IRCTC and private airline websites. So, why not buses?

However, the most compelling reason was that no body in India had done this!

What customers can seek?

It has moved beyond providing value over the internet by reaching out to customers using all media that provide them

convenience - be it the phone, home delivery, physical outlets or even SMS.

They regularly tie-up with partners that are strong in their domains and distribute their bus tickets through them, thus pro-

viding convenience to customers and adding value to the business of their partners as well.

Today one can book a redBus ticket at over 75,000+ outlets!

It has the largest network of bus operators in their list (350+ and growing) and very satisfied customers. Some of them

have been writing testimonials and which they have showcased on their site. Currently, on offer are over 4500+ (and grow-

ing) routes across the Indian map.

Culture - Learn, Implement, Grow

They regularly solicit feedback from our customers. This helps them understand what they are doing wrong. They then en-

sure that the same mistakes are not repeated. People are encouraged to speak their minds and they don't fear sharing

their mistakes, so that everyone can benefit from the learning, no matter how small.

Every other day new partnerships are forged - all with the aim of adding more value and convenience. They have grown

organically by opening office in key metros and inorganically through partnerships. They encourage customers to let them

know of any routes or bus operators which they don't have in their list. They then go right ahead and make sure that by the

next time customer logs on, list is updated.

Safety of transactions

They ensure a safe transaction over the net as they employ the best-in-class security. They use Secure Socket Layers (SSL)

data encryption. This ensures that the information exchanged with them is never transmitted unencrypted, thus protecting

the information from being viewed by unauthorized individuals. This encryption is done using 128-bit RC4 encryption. In

addition the credit card information is processed over secure gateways which are certified by Visa.

Page 3 FinXpress

StartUp in Focus :

Redbus.in

redBus is also being mentored by the TiE-EAP (Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program). TiE - EAP is a program by The Indus

Entrepreneurs (TiE) Bangalore chapter.

redBus' CEO, Phanindra Sama was recently selected by Endeavor as a high impact entrepreneur. Also, Businessworld voted

Phanindra Sama as one of the top 5 most promising entrepreneurs in India.

Phanindra Sama, CEO

Page 4 FinXpress

StartUp in Focus continued.. . Redbus.in

Page 5 FinXpress

Markets this week The week gone by saw the Nifty rallying further to end with gains for the fifth consecutive week. The Nifty gained 2.33%

W-o-W. Market breadth was positive in four out of the five trading sessions of the week. The biggest gainers from the CNX

500 were STC India, KSK, Aban, Tata Global and Prestige. The biggest losers were Varun Shipping, Sterling Bio, FDC and

Tata Coffee.

The top gainers this week were NTPC and Hindustan Unilever with gains of 2.71% and 2.69%. however, the top losers

were Hindalco Industries and Jindal Steels and lost 3.08% and 2.66% respectively.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

• All the sectoral indices except Consumer Durables and Capital Goods ended in the green, which lost 2.8% and 1% respectively. The top gainers were Realty, Auto, IT and Bankex, which ended higher by 4.8%, 3.7%, 3.3% and 3.2% respectively.

• India's per capita income grew by 15.6% to ` 53,331 per annum in 2010-11, crossing the half-a-lakh rupees mark for the first time.

• India's manufacturing sector in January hummed along at its fastest clip in eight months, fuelled by new order growth. The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), a key measure of factory production, registered 57.5 in January, up from 54.2 in December -- accelerating for the second straight month.

• Claims for U.S. jobless benefits fell last week and productivity cooled in the fourth quarter, signaling hiring may accelerate as companies reach the limits of how much efficiency they can wring from existing workforces. Applications for unemployment insurance payments dropped by 12,000 to 367,000 in the week ended Jan. 28. Worker output per hour increased at a 0.7 percent annual rate from October through December, down from a 1.9 percent gain in the prior three months.

• In straight five-week of gains, the Sensex has zoomed by 2,150.04 points, or 13.91 per cent, the highest 5-week gains after September, 2010. The investors got rich by over ` 1.38 lakh crore in the week and over ` 8.59 lakh crore in the cur-rent calender year till February 3.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 156.82 points (1.23 per cent) to finish at 12,860.23, its highest closing level since May 2008. The Nasdaq Composite added 45.98 (1.61 per cent) to 2,905.66, its best close since December 2000 and the dot.com collapse. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 19.36 (1.46 per cent) to 1,344.90.

• The Indian rupee continued to rule firm for the fifth straight week as it appreciated by 62 paise to close at over three-month high of 48.69/70 against the US currency on the back of frenzied foreign funds inflow in firming local equity markets.

• Prices of gold tumbled by ` 600 while silver fell sharply by ` 1,590 a kg on the bullion market here today due to heavy selling by stockists which took cues from weak global markets.

Outlook of the week

With the markets moving up further for the fourth consecutive session, the underlying trend continues to remain up. Im-mediate upside targets for the Nifty in the coming week are at 5360-5380. The current short term uptrend would reverse with a Nifty close under 5076.

SENSEX NIFTY

Page 6 FinXpress

News of the Week

Per capita income

crosses `̀̀̀ 50,000 for

first time in 2010-11

Reflecting growing prosperity,

India's per capita income grew by

15.6 per cent to ` 53,331 per

annum in 2010-11, crossing the

half-a-lakh rupees mark for the

first time, according to govern-

ment data. The per capita in-

come at current prices is esti-

mated at ` 53,331 in 2010-11, as

against ` 46,117 for the previous

year, depicting a growth of 15.6

per cent. The growth in per cap-

ita income comes on the back of

8.4 per cent expansion of the

Indian economy during the last

fiscal. However, the increase in

per capita income at constant

(2004-05) prices, after discount-

ing for inflation, was about 6.4

per cent in 2010-11. It was `

35,993 in 2010-11, as against `

33,843 in the previous year. Ac-

cording to the figures, the size of

the economy at current prices

rose to ` 71,57,412 crore last

fiscal, up 17.5 per cent from `

60,91,485 crore in 2009-

10.Based on 2004-05 prices, the

Indian economy expanded by 8.4

per cent during the fiscal ended

March, 2011. The GDP at con-

stant (2004-05) prices in 2010-11

has been estimated at ` 48,

85,954 crore, as against ` 45,

07,637 crore in 2009-10.

Flip side of economic

growth: Cos prefer

more capital over la-

bour, create less jobs

Companies are preferring to em-

ploy more capital instead of la-

bour while producing goods,

lending credence to the belief

that India's growth in the post-

liberalisation era has failed to

create more jobs. The country's

worker-to-fixed-capital ratio in

the registered manufacturing

sector has declined from 10.9 in

1990-91 to 3.2 in 2009-10.

Growth in employment, too, has

slowed from 2.61% in 1993-94 to

1.02% in 2009-10, according to

five-yearly NSSO survey. When

viewed in conjunction with slow-

ing employment, it is certainly a

problem. And the main reason is

that the labour-intensive indus-

tries are not growing fast

enough. An increasing bias to-

wards capital-intensive produc-

tion, or a higher degree of

mechanization, has also skewed

India's export basket. The share

of capital-intensive products in

India's export basket more than

doubled from about 25% in 1993

to nearly 54% in 2010 while the

share of unskilled labour-

intensive products halved from

30% to 15%. If the worker-to-

fixed-capital ratio is biased to-

wards capital, it reflects greater

preference for capital goods in

the production process. It is a

matter of concern because it is

this (labour-intensive manufac-

turing) sector that holds the po-

tential to absorb the large pools

of surplus labour from India's

agriculture sector. A fall in labour

intensity in manufacturing -- the

extent of labour inputs used in

per unit of output produced --

also raises concerns about India's

ability to absorb its rapidly ex-

panding workforce and reap the

benefits of a favourable demog-

raphy.

Services PMI at six

month high in January

The services sector grew at its

fastest pace in six months in

January, signalling continued

improvement in demand and

market sentiment. The season-

ally adjusted HSBC Services Busi-

ness Activity Index rose to 58 in

January from 54.2 in December.

A reading of 50 separates growth

from contraction. "Activity in the

services sector rebounded in

January at the fastest pace since

July 2011 led by the financial

intermediation and hotels and

restaurant sub-sectors, and new

business also flowed in at a

faster pace," said Leif Eskesen,

chief economist for India and

ASEAN at HSBC. According to the

HSBC survey, based on responses

from around 350 private compa-

nies, the increase in demand due

to improving global conditions

led to a rise in the pace of new

orders coming into the service

sector. The new business index

surged to 58.2 in January from

55.7 in the previous month. Pri-

vate service providers were con-

fident that business activity

would increase over the next

year. "Growth is expected to be

supported by improving market

conditions and a rise in promo-

tional activity," the survey said.

The degree of positive sentiment

was also at its highest since July

2011, with the relevant index

posting its largest one-month

gain in seven months. Overall,

the HSBC composite PMI index,

which includes manufacturing

and services, rose fastest in nine

months to 59.6 from 54.7 in De-

cember.

Piramal Group picks up

an additional 5.5%

stake in Vodafone India

for `̀̀̀ 3007 crore

Piramal Healthcare Ltd said on

Saturday it would buy a 5.5 per

cent stake in Vodafone's India

unit, Essar, for ` 3007 crore

($616.14 million), taking its total

stake in the mobile company to

about 11 per cent. The sale

would mark the exit of Essar as

Vodafone's joint venture partner

in India after the London-listed

company last year sealed a long

awaited deal to buy out Essar in

July. Vodafone last year bought

22 per cent of Essar and Piramal

bought 5.5 per cent. The world's

biggest cellular carrier by reve-

nue, Vodafone is the largest

overseas corporate investor in

India. The transaction contem-

plates various exit options for

Piramal, including both participa-

tion in a potential IPO of the unit

and a sale of its stake back to

Vodafone, the Indian firm said in

a statement. Vodafone has said it

plans to take its India unit public

but has not set a timeframe. The

Vodafone stake buy is the cash-

flush drugmaker's second unre-

lated investment after it bought

private equity firms IndiaReit

Fund Advisors and IndiaReit In-

vestment Managers. The com-

pany, which last year bought

about 5.5 per cent in Vodafone

from Essar, was sitting on a cash

pile of 100 billion rupees, it said

last August. Piramal sold its In-

dian formulations business to US-

based Abbott Laboratories in

2010. It has been looking for in-

vestments outside the pharma-

ceutical sector and had recently

announced a foray into the finan-

cial services segment.

WTO: China unfairly

limits export of raw

materials

The World Trade Organization

ruled Monday that China unfairly

limited exports of nine raw mate-

rials to protect domestic manu-

facturers. A WTO appeals body

rejected China's appeal of an

earlier ruling in July that con-

cluded the Asian economic pow-

erhouse had violated interna-

tional trade rules. The appeals

body largely sided with the

United States, European and

Mexico, which had taken issue

with Chinese restrictions on its

exports of nine materials used

widely in the steel, aluminium

Page 7 FinXpress

News of the Week continued.. .

and chemical industries. They

had complained that China drives

up prices on overseas shipments

of the materials by setting export

duties, quotas and licensing re-

quirements on them, giving the

country's manufacturers an un-

fair edge over competitors. But

China had argued that its export

limits were needed to protect

the environment. The ruling af-

fects China's exports of certain

forms of bauxite, coke, fluorspar,

magnesium, manganese, silicon

carbide, silicon metal, yellow

phosphorous and zinc. In it, the

WTO appeals body says China

must now ``bring its export duty

and export quota measures into

conformity with its WTO obliga-

tions.'' The issue has sparked

tension with some of China's

major trading partners. In a

statement, U.S. Trade Represen-

tative Ron Kirk called the ruling

``a tremendous victory for the

United States _ particularly its

manufacturers and workers.'' He

called it a decision that ``ensures

that core manufacturing indus-

tries in this country can get the

materials they need to produce

and compete on a level playing

field.''

2G license cancellation

to hit banks' profits by

10%: Fitch

Food Global ratings agency Fitch

said the Supreme Court's deci-

sion to cancel 122 telecom li-

censes will hit the profitability of

banks that had extended credit

to these companies by up to 10

per cent. "Assuming a conserva-

tive level of write-offs on these

loans, we believe that banks'

credit quality will not be materi-

ally weakened, but that annual

profits could fall by up to 10 per

cent," it said in a report. Accord-

ing to Fitch, Indian banks' expo-

sure to the telecom companies

that are losing 2G licenses is

around 0.6 per cent of their total

loans. "However, around half of

the exposure is in the form of

financial guarantees toward fu-

ture payments of license fees.

State Bank of India has con-

firmed that once the licenses are

cancelled, those guarantees

should no longer be in force," it

said. "In total... the volume of

loans that are affected by the

license cancellations may be less

than 0.2 % of the sector's total

loan book," Fitch added. In a

report, the agency added that

the banking sector should be

able to absorb loan-losses on

account of the cancellation of

licenses without it having a major

effect on their credit profile. Ac-

cording to the agency, while the

impact of the Supreme Court's

decision is limited, the cancella-

tion of the 2G licenses highlights

the Indian banks' exposure to

infrastructure, a sector which

continues to face high regulatory

and execution risks. "We have

previously highlighted that

banks' ability to handle these

exposures as a whole is finely

balanced and further increases in

exposure to the infrastructure

sector may hurt the standalone

credit profile of Indian banks," it

said. Fitch's report comes on a

day when government said that

public sector banks have an ex-

posure of about ` 10,000 crore

to telecom companies whose

licenses were cancelled.

Cartoons

Solve it Now!

We are on the web !

http://www.facebook.com/FinNiche

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Page 8

**Rush in your entries to : finniche.imt@gmail.com

The right entries will get their name featured in the

next issue of FinXpress. So hit the quiz fast & get

yourself visible among 1000 odd in the campus.

Set A

Match the following: Identify the Chariman/Chief/Head/CEO :

1.German Chancellor a.Michael Andrew

2.IMF Christine b.Aditya Puri

3.World Bank c.Stuart Gulliver

4.UN Secretary-General d.Ban Ki-moon

5.KPMG e.Pratip Chaudhuri

6.HSBC f.Angela Merkel

7.HDFC Bank(MD) g.Robert B. Zoellick

8.SBI h.Lagarde

CAN YOU SOLVE IT ?

Feel free to write to us at : Drop in your suggestions to the editorial team :

finniche.imt@gmail.com Magazine design/news : ameybadkar@hotmail.com

Articles/quiz : debjyoti.chanda89@gmail.com

LAST ISSUE’S RIGHT ENTRIES WERE FROM :

Sambhav Jain

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS

SET A

False; C Subramaniam was the FM then

False; the other was Yashwant Sinha

False; Merrill Lynch is called thundering herd

True; Lucas Pacioli

SET B

1. 125th birth anniversary of Dr.Rajendra Prasad

2. US firm Colombian Chemicals for $875 million

3. AMRO- formed after the merger of Amsterdam-

sche Bank and Rotterdamsche Bank.