Two Winners And A Photo Finish
According to the INDIA TODAY-ORG-MARG opinion poll, there will be clear winners in two states, but a tight finish in a third.

The Last Rampage
To offset
J. Jayalalitha's slight edge, a pugnacious M. Karunanidhi gives it his all in what is his final electoral campaign.

The Sixth Sense
A mercurial Mamata Banerjee vs a dependable Buddhadev Bhattacharya. The mismatch leaves the Left Front with a premonition of victory.

Secular Stake
Even as the Church makes a blatant move to play a more political role in the state, the CPI(M) nominates a priest to woo minorities.

One Man Barmy
India's apex social sciences facilitating body is rocked by civil war: the chairman says he is being opposed by both RSS ideologues and leftist academics.

Changing Order
An ageing profile and a frustrated officer corps leads the force to consider VRS and restructuring.

Liquid Asset
The Rs 700-crore industry has attracted many players. Now, purity will decide who stays in business.

Board Of No Control
Tax authorities say the BCCI spends more money on meetings than on matches.

BUSINESS: SOFTWARE SLOWDOWN

Companies Diversify Customer Base

Already, some Indian companies have spruced up their marketing to get new clients. Infosys gained 37 new customers between January and March 2001, whereas between October and December 2000 IT had added only 26 new customers. During the same two periods Wipro raised its new client tally from 26 to 32 and Satyam from 24 to 32. While this may not necessarily mean more work because work per customer could be less, it does indicate that software companies have been able to diversify their customer basket. Says Azim Premji, chairman of the Bangalore-based Wipro Corporation: "I love downturns. They make you look at fundamentals." (see column).

Industry experts are also betting on software companies' past resilience. Remember the Y2K windfall that Indian software companies had reaped, raising worries of a slump in business once the problem got over. But most Indian companies used Y2K to build relationships.

Just as Indian companies are picking up new clients and hoping to increase business, global IT giants present in India are also planning to shift more work to the country. "US companies with operations in India are asking us to ramp up their teams here," informs K.C. John, managing director of JobsDB.com, a global head-hunting firm. Rationale: Indian operations of these MNCs will have cost advantage of up to 45 per cent over their parent companies. On her recent visit to India, Fiorina announced Hewlett-Packard's decision to increase its staff strength in India from 1,500 to 5,000 in the coming years. Between January and March 2001, US multinationals like Cisco, IBM and GE announced plans to invest up to $1 billion (Rs 4,600 crore) over the next two years.

For Indian software companies, the global slowdown could force some long due corrections. So far the strength of Indian software companies has almost entirely been built around price competitiveness. They have a negligible presence in high-value software development or services. No wonder in value terms, India's share in US' software services imports is a minuscule 0.5 per cent. The slowdown will force companies to move up the value ladder. Putting too many eggs in the US basket is another strategic flaw that may be corrected. Companies have already begun to look more aggressively at markets in Europe, Japan and Australia.

While bigger companies may be able to emerge stronger and better from the global slowdown, smaller companies will find the going tough. Laments Devesh Sinha, president of the Bhubaneswar-based software export company Enterprise Systems Solutions: "The slowdown has worsened the deteriorating outlook triggered by the last year's dotcom bust." But experts believe that focused and niche companies, no matter how small, will thrive. "The me-too small companies that have neither skills nor size will find difficult to keep afloat," says Soota.

As Ramadorai says, "The Indian industry will continue to do well if we learn that there are no easy pickings any longer." And that's true of all companies, irrespective of their size.

—With Sheela Raval and Stephen David

MetroScape

Bond Free
The Savoy in Mussoorie must be the only hotel, apart from the Raffles in Singapore, to have a thing about writers. So, it was quite kismet when publisher Pramod Kapoor of Roli Books and author Namita Gokhale, who has an imprint with him, hosted the Ruskin Bond Festschrift—a Writers' Retreat in honour of that gentle Indian Roald Dahl, Ruskin Bond.
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Looking Glass

Delhi Cinema:
Canadian film festival

Delhi Art Fest:
Documenta

Bangalore Play:
Little Theatre