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SC's Tax Relief for MNC BPO Units
In a major relief to foreign firms operating in India, the Supreme Court held that their captive BPO units are not liable to be taxed in the country if they are billing the subsidiaries on an "arm's length" basis or without giving any preference. The judgment was delivered in a case between US investment bank, Morgan Stanley, and the income tax department. The ruling is likely to benefit foreign companies like GE, HSBC, and Standard Chartered Bank that outsource back office functions to their Indian units.

IBM Bags Deal from Italian Bank
IBM has won a six-year contract worth a $353.8 mn from Gruppo Monte Paschi Siena, an Italian bank. The agreement is an extension of a previous $571.7 mn contract signed in 2003. Under the agreement, IBM agreed to provide information technology services to the bank. Gruppo Monte Paschi Siena expects to save $65.3 mn over the six-year term of the contract.

SBS Picks up Stakes in PMC
Sundaram Business Services (SBS), the BPO arm of Sundaram Finance, has picked up a majority stake in Chennai headquartered BPO company Professional Management Consultants (PMC). PMC specializes in the banking and financial services vertical and has 800 employees working out of its BPO facilities in Chennai. SBS focuses on non-voice back-office support services. SBS service offerings include high-end accounting services, credit processing, deposit processing, employee administration, and insurance related processing services.

Tricom's FY '07 Net Profit up 57%
Tricom India, a company specializing in non-voice BPO segment has posted results for financial year FY '07. The company has achieved consolidated turnover of Rs 36 crore, as against Rs 27.614 crore during the previous year, an up by 30%. The company has declared 21% dividend for FY '07. The company has plans to spend about Rs 50 crore for expansion and acquisition in the next 18 months period.

KPIT Cummins Partners with CBS
KPIT Cummins has announced that it has reached an understanding to partner with Cummins Business Services (CBS) for delivering finance and (F&A) accounting services to Cummins. KPIT Cummins will benefit from the domain knowledge of global F&A systems and processes at CBS, which it plans to take to other customers. This deal significantly strengthens KPIT Cummins's positioning in the F&A BPO services market for the manufacturing vertical. KPIT revenues from this partnership are expected to be more than 1 mn in the first full year with a potential to grow into a $15 mn BPO business annually in 60 months.

WNS Completes Aviva Project
WNS has announced it has demonstrated the successful completion of a unique outsourcing model with the handover of an F&A services unit in Sri Lanka to Aviva. Under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, more than 300 WNS specialists were seamlessly transferred to Aviva Global Services in Colombo as of July 2, 2007. Aviva initiated its offshore business process strategy in partnership with three BPO providers including WNS. Aviva's contract tasked WNS with building the F&A services unit, running it for 3 years before transferring it to Aviva.

KUBC Invests $20 mn in Adayana
Kubera Cross-Border Fund, an investment company, has invested $20 mn in Adayana. Adayana is a learning services outsourcing company headquartered in Minneapolis, US, with offshore development operations in Hyderabad. It provides a range of technology-enabled learning services to a focused set of vertical markets that include automotive services, defense, food, agriculture and life sciences, and training outsourcing.

Genpact, Boosts IPO to $731 mn
Genpact has boosted planned initial share sale to as much as $731 mn, as it seeks to take advantage of soaring demand in India. The price for the sale was set at $16-18 a share, according to a registration statement filed. It will use the proceeds of the share sale to repay debt and for general corporate purposes, including potential acquisitions. Genpact expects to sell 17.6 mn shares, and GE, Atlantic Partners and Oak Hill plan to sell the same amount.

Satyam Bags $75 mn Deal
Satyam Computer Services has announced it has bagged four major deals in Singapore, Australia, and UAE that add up to a value of $70-75 mn to be executed over 6-7 years. Two of these deals from Singapore government are primarily outsourcing and IT services contracts. For Emirates Bank, the IT giant will implement an enterprise financial management solution. In Australia, it will deliver application development and maintenance and consulting services to one of Australia's largest transport provider.

Lake Systems Opens Unit in Nashik
Bangalore-based Lake Systems (LSPL) has opened its first unit in Nashik. The company, with the opening of its new unit in Nashik, aims 60% growth in the present fiscal. The BPO unit in Nashik, which is LSPL's first unit in Maharashtra and the second in India, is in the Satpur area of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation in Nashik. LSPL has close to 150 employees at its Bangalore unit. Lake Systems is a leading national outsourcer in the UK, the US, and Australia.