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TIMES BUSINESS THE TIMES OF INDIA, HUBBALLI DHARWAD BELAGAVI | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2017 US FED CHIEF JANET YELLEN SAYS POLICY GUIDANCE BENEFICIAL BUT MUST BE CONDITIONAL THOUSANDS OF INDIAN ENTREPRENEURS HOPE TO ATTEND SUMMIT WITH IVANKA TRUMP IN HYD MNCs are leading the open source movement in India Anand J & Shalina Pillai Bengaluru: Contributing code to the open source world is regarded increasingly as a badge of honour. Yet, Indian IT services companies lag in embracing the open source code culture, shows data from open source code re- pository GitHub. Among GitHub’s 75,000 engineers from India, IT ser- vices & ITES (IT enabled ser- vices) companies have the highest numbers on the plat- form, but most of the open source contributions were made by employees working for technology product com- panies and MNCs in India. GitHub is a platform where developers host and review codes, manage projects, and even build open source soft- ware along with other commu- nity members. Open source, which refers to software whose source code (the medium in which programmers create and modify software) is freely available on the internet, has become a major trend in soft- ware development today. It stands in contrast to proprie- tary commercial software whose source code is usually a closely guarded secret. India’s Aadhaar technolo- gies have extensively used open source codes. Several products of Google, including mobile operating software Android and artificial intel- ligence (AI) engine Tensor- Flow, and Facebook’s AI en- gine Torch use open source codes extensively while still being proprietary software. These companies also open up their platforms for third- party players to develop prod- ucts on top of their products. Amazon’s Alexa is also an open platform and third-par- ty developers can modify it or use in their own devices. While the IT/ITES sector contributed the most number of developers at 41%, when it came to open source contribu- tions, the percentage fell to 22% among the top 200 con- tributors. Amazon in India had the highest number of registered users on Github, followed by Cognizant, TCS and Microsoft. However, when it came to contribu- tions, the top five were Ama- zon, Microsoft, Google, ThoughtWorks and Flipkart. “Through open source, or- ganisations are revealing the kind of technology they have built and the people working on the problem. It’s a bid to woo relevant top-notch talent into their teams,” says Vi- nodh Ravindranath, CTO of Belong, a technology startup that works with corporates for talent acquisition. Belong sourced the GitHub data for TOI. Belong looked at top con- tributors from the most active 5,000 developers on the GitHub platform. The GitHub data also shows that the overall contri- bution from employees of smaller companies is much higher than from those in larger companies. As many as 67% of the top 200 contrib- utors work for product and services companies with less than 200 employees. It also shows the low participation of women – just 6% of regis- tered users. “In smaller companies, there are budget constraints, and the employees have to find solutions themselves. In large companies that have large teams, the individuals tend not to be productivity oriented,” says Mohan Ku- mar, executive director at VC firm Norwest Ventures. In startups, the employees have to contribute more, and hence they go on platforms where they can learn more and fast- er. “It does not say anything about the capabilities of em- ployees. At services firms, the tendency is to satisfy clients, the focus is not on innova- tion,” Kumar says. Most of the top 200 con- tributors came from tier-2 universities. Less than 14% came from premier institu- tions such as IITs, NITs and BITS. The top five contribu- tors belonged to BITS Pilani, VIT (Vellore), IIT-Kharagpur, Anna University and VTU (Visvesvaraya Technological University, Karnataka ) in that order. TOP CONTRIBUTORS FROM INDIA TO GITHUB AMAZON FLIPKART GOOGLE THOUGHTWORKS MICROSOFT Almost everyone who is a software developer now needs to be on GitHub. It took over Google Code as the primary open source platform due to its user-friendly interface. The one advantage of making a lot of contributions is that it helps getting hired by companies. A lot of hiring by new-age companies, especially startups, happens through the platform” - KIRAN JONNALAGADDA, CO-FOUNDER, HASGEEK, A PLATFORM THAT CREATES EVENTS AND ONLINE SPACES FOR CODERS TO DISCUSS TECHNOLOGY (HASGEEK HAS ALL ITS SOFTWARE ON GITHUB) GitHub allows you to showcase your work, and people who like it can use it. The platform also helps if you are looking for a peer-driven validation about your code – if you want help and insights or feedback on it. It’s good to see a lot of young people in college or just starting work in India coming onto this platform. You get exposed to a lot of software and eventually learn how to and how not to write a code” - SHARATH SATISH, EMPLOYEE AT THOUGHTWORKS, AND FREQUENT CONTRIBUTOR ON GITHUB Source: Belong What is open source software? I t is software whose source code – the fundamental component of a computer program created by a programmer – is freely available on the internet. It allows others to modify, improve and share the software. This is in contrast to proprietary commercial software whose source code is a closely guarded secret. Belagavi: Aerospace manu- facturing company Aequs is opening up its 250-acre special economic zone (SEZ) for IT and IT-enabled companies. The SEZ, located at Hattaragi, 35 km from Belagavi, has so far focused on aerospace com- ponent manufacturing. Quest Global, the enginee- ring services company foun- ded by Aequs founder Aravind Melligeri and his friend Ajit Prabhu, has already establis- hed a presence in the SEZ. “We are keeping the option open to other IT companies also to set up their units. There is an es- tablished infrastructure in the campus. IT units will get facili- ties like common cafeteria, common healthcare facilities, bus facility between Belagavi and the SEZ,” Aequs mana- ging director for India, Rajeev Kaul, told TOI. Kaul said most IT pl ayers are forced to go to Bengaluru. Aequs wants to create an eco- system for IT in the north Kar- nataka region. Kaul said there are many medium-scale IT pl a- yers in the region but they are not getting goodinfrastructure. Kaul, who played a signifi- cant role in setting up the pre- cision engineering SEZ, said a lot of skilled human force is available in the region. Most nowgo to Bengaluru gi ven the lack of options in the region. “Our attempt is to stop migra- tion of skilled force, which is also a goal of our chairman and CEO Aravind Melligeri,” he said. The move has been appre- ciated by IT players of Belaga- vi and surrounding areas. Ma- noj Talreja, president of Bel- gaum IT Association, said it would be fantastic if Aequs is ready to gi ve opportunity to set up software and hardware units in its campus. Karnataka Small Scale In- dustries Development Corpo- ration (KSSIDC) had develo- ped an IT Park at Desur , 14 km from Belagavi city , in 2010, but there are no takers for those sites due to lack of infrastruc- ture and connecti vity . When it comes to Aequs SEZ, it has been located on Pu- ne-Bengaluru National High- way-4 and one could reach to the spot hardly in 20-25 minu- tes dri ve. Aequs to allow IT/ITes cos in its Belagavi SEZ Ravindra.Uppar @timesgroup.com Bengaluru: Aequs will ma- ke a capital investment of $22 million this fiscal year , the company’ s founder Aravind Melligeri said. The money will go mostly into buying more machines for aerospace component manufacturing. A total of about $100 million of investment has already gone into developing its Belagavi SEZ. Melligeri has diluted his stake in engineering services company Quest Global, which he co-founded with fri- end Ajit Prabhu, to raise mo- ney for Aequs. Quest is belie- ved to be valued at close to $1 billion. Aequs has been evol- ving into an almost complete ecosystem for aerospace com- ponent manufacturing. The facility does forging, machi- ning, surface treatment and assembly . It also now hosts materials suppliers – distri- butors of aluminium, steel, and titanium, distributors of fasteners, cutting tools. This ensures in-time supplies to the other facilities. The SEZ even has training facilities. The SEZ now has about 21 operating units, occupying 600,000 sqft. Fi ve years ago, the space occupied was a tenth of this. Revenue has grown from $10 million fi ve years ago, to about $100 mil- lion now. Melligeri said the India operations is profitable on a net basis, but declined to pro- vide figures. On a global ba- sis, including the French company SiRA it acquired in 201 6, the group expects to be profitable this year . Aequs has exited the auto- moti ve space, with the objec- ti ve of focusing on aerospace. “We see an opportunity to be a leader in aerospace,” Mellige- ri said. Aequs’ biggest custo- mers are Safran, UTC Aero- space Systems and Airbus. It supplies products like lan- ding gear components, fuse- lage components, pylon com- ponents, actuators, and engi- ne components. The over- wing door for all A321 neos are being done by Aequs. “Customers are very clear they want to do more out of India,” Melligeri said. Firm will invest $22 million in FY18 TIMES NEWS NETWORK Mumbai: Following its pe- ers, the second largest telco Vodafone India on Tuesday reported a steep 39.2 per cent plunge in pre-tax profit at Rs 4,075 crore for the six months to September as its revenue fell 15.8 per cent to Rs 19,002 crore due to the fi- erce completion since the entry of Reliance Jio. The company , which is on course to merge with the third largest player Idea had Rs 22,579 crore in revenues, and an operational profit of Rs 6,704 crore a year ago, which is down 39.2 per cent. Vodafone attributed the poor set of numbers to the continuing price competi- tion from Jio and incum- bents, seasonality and hig- her GST rate. Service revenue fell 15.8 per cent to Rs 19,002 crore in H1 while Ebidta plunged 39.2 per cent to Rs 4,075 crore from Rs 6,704 crore, it said in a statement. This is despite the fact that the company had strong performance on cost delivering an Ebitda mar- gin of 21.4 per cent as “data usage quadrupled during the period” and had an ope- rating free cash flow of Rs 1,543 crore. AGENCIES Voda pre-tax profit dips over 39% to `4,075 crore New Delhi: Online food orde- ring and deli very platform Swiggy on Tuesday announced the launch of Swiggy Access, an initiati ve to bring quality fo- od closer to consumers while enabling business expansion for its restaurant partners. For the restaurant partners, these ready-to-occupy kitchens will offer them a basic setup with the required amenities. No rent or deposit will be charged for the premises, Swig- gy said in a statement. Commenting on the initia- ti ve, Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety said: “With Swiggy Ac- cess, we are di versifying local palettes, bridging geographi- cal gaps in supply and solving for variety , quality and conve- nience of food.”= It is another step towards gi ving the consu- mers what they come to Swiggy for - great variety , deli vered at a lightning fast speed, he added. “ At the same time, it will enable our restaurant partners to expand to newer neighbour- hoods and a larger consumer base, at a fraction of the expen- se,” Majety said. Restaurant partners will also be able to le- verage the company's insights to improve their food quality through consistent consumer feedback, Swiggy said. Additio- nally , it will also help them opti- mise their kitchens for factors like stocks planning, demand forecasting, preparation time and order edits, it added. “Swiggy Access allows us to enter a newdeli very area and expand consumer base in an untapped locality by signifi- cantly reducing expenditure on infrastructure, overheads and deli very ,” Abdul Khadar from Keventers said. The first Swiggy Access kit- chen in Bengaluru will serve signature dishes from Leon Grill, Keventers, Swiggy's pri- vate brands House of Dabbas and The Bowl Company , and Punjabi Rasoi . AGENCIES Swiggy expands eateries’ reach to remote areas Voda attributed the poor set of numbers to the continuing price competition from Jio and incumbents, seasonality and higher GST rate Kolkata: Shares of footwear major Khadim India closed over 8 per cent lower than its is- sue price on the first day of lis- ting on the bourses on Tuesday . The company made a lackluster debut on the exchanges, ope- ning at Rs 727 on the BSE and at Rs 730 on the NSE, down from its issue price of Rs 750. The scrip hit an intraday low of Rs 677.30 on BSE and Rs 680 on the NSE. When contacted, Khadim CFO Ishani Ray said, “There is nothing to react on this.” In terms of equity volume, 5.30 lakh shares of the footwe- ar maker were traded on the BSE and 28.94 lakh shares changed hands on the NSE du- ring the day . Weighed by a high inflation print and weakness in Asian peers impacted the bourses on Tuesday . Khadim India's Rs 543-crore IPO was subscribed 1.90 times during November 2-6. The price band for the offer was fixed at Rs 745-750 per share. The IPO com- prised fresh issue of equity sha- res aggregating up to Rs 50 cro- re, besides an offer for sale of up to 65,74,093 shares by existing shareholders. AGENCIES Khadim India falls over 8% on debut Mumbai: Indian telecom gi- ant Bharti Airtel sold a half- billion-dollar stake in its mo- bile tower business Tuesday to help shrink its debts as it reels from a price war spar ked by ri val Reliance Jio. Airtel, which recently re- ported a 77 percent slump in quarter ly profits, said in a statement that it had sold 83 million shares worth 33.25 bil- lion rupees ($508 million) in Bharti Infratel. “Bharti Ai rtel will pri mar- il y use the proceeds f rom this saletoreduceits debt, ” thecom- pany said i n a fili ng to the Bom- bay Stock Exchange i n I ndi a’ s fi nanci al capit al Mumbai. The shares were bought b y global i nv estors and fund managers, the st atement added. It came a day after Idea Cellul ar and Vo- dafone I ndi a announced the sale of 20,000 mobile phone tow- ers to American Tower Corp for 78.5 billion rupees as it seeks funds to fend off Jio, which is owned b y I ndi a's richest man. Idea andVodafone's I ndi an unit are currentl y mergi ng i n a mov e that will see them ov er- t ake Ai rtel as I ndi a's l argest telecoms operator with more than 400 million subscribers. India's multi-billion-dol- lar telecoms industry has been in a state of flux since Mukesh Ambani launched Jio in September 2016, prom- ising reduced tariffs and free voice calls for life. Jio’s arrival has sparked a rush to market consolida- tion as competitors try to match the deep pockets of Jio, which is backed by Am- bani's hugely wealthy ener- gy-to-chemicals conglomer- ate Reliance Industries. Last month Airtel re- ported that its consolidated net profit for the quarter ending September had fall- en 77 percent on-year . AFP Bharti Airtel sells $508-million stake amid Jio fight Mumbai: Tata Global Beve- rages recorded a net profit for the June-September qu- arter at Rs 154 crore higher by 11 per cent as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year . Net revenues for the qu- arter stood at Rs 1,692 crore, up by 6 per cent from Rs 1621 crore in the comparable qu- arter in 2016. Operating profits were up by 23 per cent to Rs 208 crore compared to the corre- sponding quarter in the pre- vious year , due to improved operating performance, go- od cost management and lo- wer finance costs, the com- pany said in a statement. “The company witnes- sed a good performance in its India business. While Ju- ly was a slow month due to GST, August and September saw double digit growth,” L Krishnakumar , CFO of Tata Global Beverages said. The Group has completed the restructuring of its Russia operations, resulting in the sale of two of the company's overseas subsidiaries Sun- ty LLC and Tea Trade LLC, as on November 3. AGENCIES Tata Global Beverages Q2 profit up 11% to ` 154cr Panaji: Riding on the wave of digital transformation, the IT spending in India is forecast to hit $87.1 billion in 2018 — an increase of 9.2 per cent from $79.7 billion (esti- mated) this year , Gartner said on Tuesday . Enterprise software and IT services continue to ex- hibit strong growth, with de- vices segment driving the majority of overall IT spend- ing in the country . Projected to grow at 17.9 per cent in 2017, software spending will grow another 15.3 per cent in 2018 to reach $5.7 billion. IT services spending is on pace to grow 15.7 per cent in 2017 to reach $12.6 billion, an increase of 13.8 per cent in 2018 to reach $14.3 billion. “The IT buying landscape is changing. Digital business transformation is creating connected platforms and new industry revenue streams,” said Ganesh Ramamoorthy , managing vice-president at Gartner India. IANS IT spending to hit $87.1 billion in 2018 New Delhi: India’ s annual wholesale price inflation picked up in October to a six- month high, dri ven by faster rises in prices of food and fuel products, government data showed on Tuesday . In- dia’ s annual wholesale price inflation last month in- creased to 3.59 percent from a year ear lier from a provision- al 2.60 percent in September . Wholesale food prices in Oc- tober rose 3.23 percent year- on-year , compared with a 1.99 percent rise a month ear lier , the data showed. REUTERS WPI inflation touches 6-mth high in October New Delhi: Uber India’s he- ad of public policy Shweta Rajpal Kohli has resigned from the company , a little over a year after joining the US-based firm. Kohli had joined Uber In- dia in September last year and was responsible for the company’s relations with po- licymakers, regulators, go- vernment officials, industry bodies and others. Confirming the develop- ment, an Uber spokesper- son said, “Shweta has been a great advocate for Uber and the development of ridesha- ring in India. She has contri- buted immensely to buil- ding our reputation in In- dia, and we wish her every success in future.” The company has not na- med a replacement for Kohli yet and is scouting for candi- dates for the role. “I'm extremely proud of the team we've built to push forward progressive rides- haring reform measures in one of the fastest growing regions for the company . I'm sure Uber will continue to grow from strength to strength in India and South Asia,” Kohli said in an e-ma- iled statement. Kohli will be joining USD 8 billion tech- nology giant Salesforce- .com as its country director . The newly-created position will help the company ex- pand its focus on India. This is the first time Salesforce has created a leadership po- sition for public policy in In- dia, one of the world's fas- test cloud region. For Uber , India is the se- cond-largest country of ope- rations after the US. It has seen a strong growth in its operations here with the number of comple- ted trips on its platform gro- wing to 41.3 million in July this year , from 19.2 million in July 2016, a jump of 115 per cent. It is fighting an intense battle for leadership in the Indian market with Soft- Bank-backed Ola. Interes- tingly , it has started talks with SoftBank for a potential investment that reports sug- gest could be worth as much as USD 10 billion. However , the world's most funded startup has also had its share of troubles in the Indian market. The company was tempo- rarily banned in Delhi after one of the drivers on its plat- form allegedly raped a wo- man passenger in 2014. PTI Uber India policy head Kohli quits in a year Shweta has been a great advocate for Uber and the development of ridesharing in India. She has contributed immensely to building our reputation in India, and we wish her every success in future, said a company spokesperson REACHING MORE: These ready-to-occupy kitchens will offer the restaurant partners a basic setup with the required amenities STRONG GROWTH CCI NG 3.7 Product: TOIBangaloreBS PubDate: 15-11-2017 Zone: Hubli Edition: 1 Page: HUB21 User: sitadri.dhara Time: 11-14-2017 20:33 Color: C M Y K
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