John Ribeiro

RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. (RCIL) will offer broadband Internet connectivity to passengers on running trains by October this year, according to a statement by India's Ministry of Railways in Delhi.

India is likely to lose market share in offshore business process outsourcing (BPO), from its current 80 per cent to about 55 per cent by 2007, according to research firm Gartner Inc.

Police officials investigating the alleged theft of source code at Jolly Technologies' Mumbai development centre are questioning aspects of the security incursion reported by the company.

India is likely to be the fastest growing market for IT services in the Asia-Pacific region, according to research firm Gartner Inc.

Protectionist barriers such as visa restrictions may only accelerate the trend of U.S. companies outsourcing software development work offshore, according to IT market analyst Edward Yourdon in a book on outsourcing, scheduled for release in October.

Jolly Technologies, a division of U.S. company Jolly Inc., reported Wednesday that an insider stole portions of the source code and confidential design documents relating to one of its key products, at its research and development centre in Mumbai. The company has as a result halted all development activities at the centre.

SAP AG announced Tuesday that it is increasing the number of staff at its Bangalore, India, development centre to 3,000 by 2006. The centre currently employs 1,100 developers, and plans to increase the headcount to 1,500 by the end of this year, Henning Kagermann, chairman of the executive board and chief executive officer of SAP in Walldorf, Germany, told reporters in Bangalore.

Wipro Ltd., one of India's largest software and services companies, has set up operations in Shanghai to offer services to the Chinese operations of its multinational customers.