Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, has stated that the FDI inflows for the month of December, 2009 have been of the order of US $ 1.542 billion. Addressing a press conference he informed that this is an increase of 13%, in US $ terms, over inflows in the month of December, 2008 (previous year), which were US $ 1.362 billion.

Interacting with the media persons, Shri Sharma said that this is reflective of the trend seen from the month of June, 2009 onwards, wherein FDI inflows for almost all months in the current financial year (excepting only September, 2009) have shown an increasing trend over the FDI inflows of the same months in the previous financial year (2008-09). "Keeping in view this momentum, it is quite likely that the total inflows in the current financial year (2009-10) exceed the total inflows received during the last financial year (2008-09)", he said.

The Minister said that this is despite the fact that the UNCTAD World Investment Report, 2009, had noted a fall of global FDI inflows, from a historic high of 1.979 billion in 2007 to 1.697 billion in 2008, a decline of 14%. UNCTAD had subsequently predicted a fall in global FDI investment flows by 30%, from US $ 1.7 trillion in 2008 to US $ 1.2 trillion in 2009.

Cumulative FDI inflows for the current financial year (April, 2009 to December, 2009) have been US $ 20.92 billion. These are comparable to the FDI inflows for the same period (April, 2008 to December, 2008) in the previous financial year, which were of the order of US $ 21.15 billion. The corresponding figure for April, 2007 to December, 2007 was US $ 12.70 billion. With this, total FDI into India since the onset of the liberalisation process (August, 1991-December, 2009) is nearly US $ 127.46 billion.

New Delhi: India’s largest back-office firm Genpact on Wednesday announced the acquisition of US-based analytics and data management services provider Symphony Marketing Solutions (SMS), for an undisclosed amount.

Apart from expertise in data integration, modelling and consulting, the acquisition will see transfer of 1,200 SMS employees spread across centres in India and the US to Genpact’s payrolls. Currently, the Indian firm employs more than 37,000 people globally. Genpact shares rose 1.2% on Nasdaq, at 9.20 pm IST, post-announcement.

“SMS’ expertise across sectors will not only allow us to offer a broader range of services ranging from finance and accounting, procurement and supply chain to data management and advanced analytics solutions, but will also enhance smart enterprise processes in these verticals by leveraging strong insights,” Genpact chief executive Pramod Bhasin said.

SMS is a provider of analytics and data management services with domain expertise in the retail, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged industries. It is part of the India-based Software Technology Group of companies.

An industry expert close to the deal said that SMS will prove to be beneficial for Genpact as it comes with long term assured business from customers such as IRI.

US-based Information Resources Inc (IRI) has executed an eight-year contract, under which SMS will provide end-to-end data management and analytics services to the former. IRI is a provider of enterprise market information solutions and services and a strategic client of SMS.

In order to increase the proportion of long-term, predictable business, back office firms such as Genpact and EXL have been trying to acquire companies that bring assured revenues.

Genpact’s rival EXL had acquired a analytics firm, Inductis, last November. “However, the EXL deal did not prove to be too beneficial, as the business was mostly project based,” said an industry tracker familiar with these transactions. Both Genpact and EXL share Oak Hill as a common investor.

“We realised the need to have critical mass in terms of size, scale and client relationships to significantly accelerate growth and enable IRI and other clients to offer more value to their end-customers,” STG chairman Romesh Wadhwani said.

The combination of SMS’ domain expertise and capabilities in several verticals and Genpact’s scale and breadth of services and global delivery footprint creates a compelling value proposition, he added.

Recently Genpact was in news for having initiated talks with BPO firm Intelenet Global Services for a possible buyout. Genpact also acquired US’ largest drugstore Walgreen’s accounting back office in Danville as part of a 10-year outsourcing contract.

New Delhi: Twelve FDI proposals totalling over US$ 216.1 million have received government approval. Among the proposals approved are those submitted by Zee Entertainment and Walt Disney. An official statement stated that the government has approved proposals amounting to Rs 1,045.61 crore, on the recommendation of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

Among the proposals, the proposal of Delhi-based Max India to bring in Rs 529 crore, ranks as the highest foreign direct investment (FDI) proposed, followed by the Rs 360 crore proposal of Hyderabad-based Soma Highways (Toll) Projects.

Meanwhile, the proposal of Bharat Oman Refineries, was referred to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).