Invest In India

A slang term to describe a situation in which a company is unaware that a marketer hired to produce legitimate opted-in email campaigns is actually using mass spam emails to promote the company’s stock.

The list of companies that will be granted licences for mobile number portability (MNP) – a technology that enables cellphone users to retain their phone numbers when changing operators – will be announced next month, the government said Thursday.

“The successful bidders for grant of mobile number portability service licences will be announced by March 5,” Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja said in Rajya Sabha.

The letter of intent will also be issued the same day, Raja said, adding that the implementation of MNP has not been delayed.

The government had issued guidelines for award of MNP service licences Jan 1 this year.

As per the guidelines, MNP is to be implemented in all metro and category ‘A’ service areas within six months of the award of the licence, and in rest of the service areas within one year.

Agencies

Infosys Technologies, India’s No. 2 outsourcer, would hand out minimum wage rises in April to its staff, its chief executive Kris Gopalakrishnan said on the sidelines of an industry conference.

“This is going to be a prolonged downturn,” he said referring to the global economic slowdown.

The company expects IT services business to be slow in the foreseeable future as clients delay technology spending amid the global economic crisis, he added.

India’s large pool of English-speaking engineers and cheaper wages has helped attract outsourcing from Western firms such as Citigroup, General Electric, Qantas and Airbus.

Martin Pichinson has never been busier. The co-owner of Sherwood Partners makes his living by helping the financial backers of start-up firms that file for bankruptcy and wind down their operations.

This year, he’s helped shut down 30 firms — more than the total number in 2008.