Computer Industry News: 11/8/09

MOSER BAER GIVEN ONE MONTH TO REPLY IN INCOME-TAX CASE
New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to technology major Moser Baer India Ltd asking for its reply against the tax department’s demand that the company has income-tax liabilities worth Rs 2.97 crore.

A Bench headed by Justice S.H. Kapadia allowed four weeks for Moser Baer to file a counter-affidavit giving reasons why the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Income-Tax Department should not be entertained.

The Department, that demanded Rs 2.97 crore as tax from Moser Baer India Ltd in 2003, had filed the SLP in the matter before the apex court after the Delhi High Court dismissed its appeal in September 2008.

The case also generated some controversy on Monday after some reports that the tax department had demanded Rs 2,978 crore from the company as tax.

Meanwhile, Moser Baer issued a statement clarifying that that Income Tax Department had demanded a tax of only Rs 2.97 crore and claimed that the reports were “completely erroneous and highly damaging for the company’s reputation.”

It added that the tax liability has been “inflated a thousand times.” The Department had alleged that since a sizeable chunk of Moser Baer India’s turnover was made through transfer to its branches situated abroad and subsequent sale to third parties, the company had failed to comply with the requirement of export of more than 75 percent of its turnover. According to the department, if the company had complied with this rule, it would have been eligible for income-tax exemptions.

However, the company challenged the tax department’s order before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals). The CIT (Appeals), in August 2003 had ruled in favour of the company. Moser Baer further said the Department’s appeal to Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and a subsequent appeal to Delhi High Court had been turned down in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

 

UK CO BUYS 90 PERCENT STAKE IN DB POWER ELECTRONICS
Kaustubh Kulkarni, Pune
Business Standard

The United Kingdom’s largest UPS supplier, Chloride Group, has entered India through a 90 percent stake purchase in the Pune-based UPS maker, DB Power Electronics Pvt Ltd, at an approximate cost of Rs 253 crore. The deal follows a four-year-old strategic partnership between Chloride Group and DB Power Electronics for sales and servicing of Chloride Group products in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

With this deal, Chloride Group has acquired a majority shareholding in DB Power Electronics and will take over three manufacturing units in Pune and Satara, along with a research and development facility in Pune city. DB Power Electronics had reported revenues worth Rs 270 crore.

Its Satara unit manufactures around 450 UPS units a month, while the number is 150 in the case of DB Power’s Pune plant. The company's second manufacturing unit in Pune deals with customised products and serves approximately 250 customers according to specified requirements.

Computer News: 31/7/09

PRINTER SALES UP 1 PERCENT, UPS SLIP 6 PERCENT IN FY08-09
New Delhi
The Economic Times (Delhi edition)

Printer sales in the country is expected to grow by 8 percent in the ongoing fiscal to cross 1.74 million units sales even as economic slowdown hits the other peripheral business in the country. The total printer sales between April 2008 and March 2009, with dot-matrix, ink-jet and laser-jet printers taken together, were 1.61 million units, up 1 percent from the year ago period, industry body Manufacturers Association for Information Technology (MAIT) said in a statement. "PC and peripherals consumption in 2008-09 was adversely impacted, especially in the second-half of the fiscal year, by the slowdown in the Indian economy," MAIT said.

HP FOCUSES ON STAR-RATED PRODUCTS
Bhaskar Hazarika, New Delhi
Financial Chronicle

After the consumer durables market witnessed the inflow of star-rated products, global printer maker HP is betting on energy efficient products.

Ivy Liang, vice-president marketing, Imaging and Printing Group, HP, Asia Pacific and Japan, said that as enterprises in Asia Pacific continue to find ways to reduce costs in the present economic climate, the company has launched the star-certified products to meet the new challenge. "In 2008, we shipped around 25 million star-certified printers. There is competition in the imaging and printer industry, but the challenge is to meet the consumer demands with reduction in carbon footprint," Liang said.

Liang said that the company has set some goals to be met by 2011. "We plan to use £100 million cumulatively, of recycled plastic in printing products. We will reduce the average weight of printer packaging per product by 35 percent (relative to 2005) and utilise at least 35 percent recycled paper in cardboard packaging for printers," she said.

According to the Manufacturer's Association for Information Technology (Mait) report, the total printer sales between April 2008 and March 2009 — including dot-matrix, ink-jet and laser-jet printers —were 16.1 lakh units, registering a growth of one percent over the previous year. According to Vinnie Mehta, executive director, Mait, with business sentiment gradually gaining momentum, overall printer consumption in financial year 2009-10 is expected to cross 17.4 lakh units, registering an 8 percent growth.

"Consumer sentiment was subdued due to uncertainty in the economy in 2008-09 which impacted the consumption of IT. While consumption in the first-half of the year was satisfactory, less than expected offtake in sales in the second-half pulled down the overall growth into the negative quadrant," Mehta said. Personal computers and peripherals consumption in 2008-09 was adversely impacted, especially in the second-half of the financial year, by the slowdown in the Indian economy.

CRISIS DENTS PC, PERIPHERALS CONSUMPTION IN FY08-09
Mumbai
The Financial Express

The Manufacturer's Association for Information Technology (MAIT) in its annual review for the IT peripherals industry for the FY 2008-09, reports PC and peripherals consumption in 2008-09 has been affected by the slowdown in the Indian economy, especially in the second half of the fiscal.

The body representing India's IT hardware, training and R&D services sectors, has, however, said that with the economic situation gradually improving, overall printer consumption in FY2009-10 is expected to cross 1.74 million units, registering an 8% growth. However, sales of UPS are expected to remain flat.

According to MAIT's findings, total printer sales between April 2008 and March 2009, were 1.61 million (16.1 lakh) units, registering a growth of 1% over the previous year. According to the study, sales of printers in the top four and the next four cities registered a decline of 9% and 31% respectively in 2008-09.

Though sales of ink-jet printer declined by 4% during the same period, the consumption of dot matrix and laser-jet printer grew 5% and 7% respectively in FY 2008-09 over 2007-08. Smaller towns and cities outside of the top eight metros drove the printer consumption registering a growth of 6% accounting for three-fourths of the overall printer consumption in the country.

Consumption of UPS declined 6% over 2007-08 registering 1.51 million (15.1 lakh) units in sales. The households segment, which experienced a decline of 25%, pulled down the overall UPS sales to negative. Desktop sales in the households had declined 18% in FY2008-09 and consumption of UPS is highly correlated to desktop sales. In case of networking products, consumption of Network Interface Cards grew 3% while that of modems and hubs declined 44% and 35%, respectively.

Vinnie Mehta, executive director, MAIT said, "Consumer sentiment was subdued due to uncertainty in the economy in 2008-09 which impacted the consumption of IT in the country."

DESIGNTECH MAKES FORAY INTO 3D PRINTING
Bangalore
The Hindu

DesignTech, the product life cycle and designs solution provider, has entered the 3D printing and modelling market, estimated at $50 million in India.

DesignTech will enter the field with uPrint, the 3D printer from Statasys of the U.S., which sell the printers in the sub-$15,000 price bracket. In the Indian market, the products would cost much less than comparable printers besides taking up less space, Vice-President-International Sales, Woody Frost, told reporters here on Thursday.