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Records the wanderings of a wordsmith
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Sunday, April 13, 2003
Infosys Technologies, that symbol of Indian technology might, flagbearer of entrepreneurship, upholder of middle class values, darling of stockholders -- lost a bit of its sheen last week. It said weak U.S economy and lower billing rates will soften growth rates and the markets reacted angrily. There was a 27 percent drop in the value of the stock in the Bombay exchange.
The last year has been pretty bad for Infosys reputation managers...They goofed up a contract with an African bank..Rumour has it that Infosys had made promises it could not keep..Then came the Penis Murthy.. er..er..Phaneesh Murthy episode that shook the confidence of Infosys admirers in the company..And now even the bottomline is less beautiful than in the past..
Given that Infosys had always been willing to take even small pickings in the global software business just to keep up volume, its prognosis of poor volume growth is an ominous portend..
And the continuing silence of Infosys on the sexual harassment case, hiding comfortably behind the excuse that is sub judis, makes one wonder if Infosys is indeed guilty of failing to stop the philanderers from misusing their positions inside the company.
Is it not also a troubling coincidence that N. R. Narayana Murthy has been distancing himself from the company's day-to-day affairs, preferring the honorable post of chairman and chief mentor, just when the company is slipping into bad times?
posted by S. Srinivasan at 12:16 PM
The Indian Space Research Organization has succeeded, at last, in putting its INSAT-3A satellite in space. But that has come after heavy delay. The 2.9-tonne gadget must have journeyed in Feb. but a catastrophe during an Ariane-5 launch convinced Arianespace to postpone the launch.
Finally, the date was fixed for April 9, early morning Indian time. Ironically, ISRO put out a press release saying the satellite was ready for launch, even as its scientists were grappling with low signal problems in one of the transmitters. There was ultimately another postponement and the launch happened on April 10, Indian time, from French Guyana, aboard the beleagured Ariane-5.
So much for the space agency that plans to land on the moon!
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