Blow to Indian IT professionals as US extends suspension of H-1B visas

The US has extended the temporary suspension of premium processing for H1-B visas, popular among Indian IT professionals, as part of its efforts to clear the backlog.

Premium processing is a feature that shortens the usual processing time of H-1B visa petitions from an average of six months to 15 calendar days for a fee of  $1,225 (Rs 86,181). It allowed some companies to jump the queue.a

The suspension, announced yesterday by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), are expected to last until February 19 next year.

The USCIS said it is extending the temporary suspension of premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions and, beginning September 11, will be expanding this temporary suspension to include certain additional H-1B petitions.

Under the premium processing, the USCIS has to respond within 15 days to the H-1B visa petitions submitted to it.

Are public sector organisations prone to cyber-attacks on old computers?

Hospitals across Britain were crippled by the recent ransomware cyber-attack, making the country’s National Health Service one of the most high-profile victims of the global incident.

The government has been criticised for cutting IT support for the health service and failing to replace old computer systems. Meanwhile, ministers hit out at NHS bosses for not improving cybersecurity, amid reports that an upgrade that could have prevented the attack was made available a month ago.

This story doesn’t feel too surprising. Anyone who regularly deals with public services in person will probably have seen government employees struggling with outdated computer systems. Certainly, other major state-run organisations have also been hit by the ransomware, including German railway company Deutsche Bahn and the US Department of Homeland Security. But is the public sector really any worse than the private sector at keeping its IT security up to date and avoiding cybercrime?

The recent “WannaCry” attack was made possible by a flaw in the 15-year-old Windows XP operating system. Software manufacturers often provide updates or patches to their products after they discover such a flaw, to prevent cyber-criminals from exploiting it. However, Microsoft stopped routinely updating XP in 2014, and those still using it have to pay for custom support to receive any further patches.

Once the company became aware of the WannaCry flaw, it was quick to release a patch back in March. But because many customers were still using unsupported versions of XP, WannaCry rapidly infected a large number of systems when it emerged in May. Microsoft then made its patch available to all XP users but many of those who didn’t update immediately were caught out. This is exactly what happened within the NHS.
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Tech Mahindra to focus on improving profitability even at cost of growth

Latest News - India’s fifth largest IT services and solutions firm, Tech Mahindra, stated that the focus of the firm would be to improve profitability even at the cost of growth going ahead.

"It is not fair for the company to have margins in 12-15 per cent range when my competitors are reporting margins in the range of 20 per cent and above. We will strive to do better both on Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) and growth, but my priority is going to be Ebitda now," said C P Gurnani, CEO & MD, Tech Mahindra.

He further added that as part of improving the margins, the company would let go of businesses or deals that did not have high yields. "We will definitely look at the yield management. Some of this will also mean abandoning my field engineering kind of work in LCC. I will reduce my business there. If you see de-growth, it is because I have decided on those particular areas," said Gurnani.

The company, which recently announced its third quarter numbers, reported topline growth of 12.7 per cent at (Read More)

Sikka to Infosys staff: focus on coding, beware of media speculation

Latest News - Scoffing at media speculation on boardroom battles or spat between promoters and management on salaries, Infosys Chief Executive Vishal Sikka on Thursday told his nearly two lakh techies to focus on coding software.

"As we head into the second half of Q4 (fourth quarter), let us focus on the execution of our strategy and not get distracted by media speculation that is designed to stir up gossip or rehash old rumours or speculate on the unknowns," said Sikka in an e-mail to the IT major's 199,763 employees worldwide.
Cautioning his techies over media reports on H-1B visas or anything that questions the company's commitment to governance, integrity and values to generate headlines and create buzz, Sikka said the management was dedicated to transform the company even in the (Read More)

RBI should move towards a lower rate regime: Mayuresh Joshi

Latest News - As transmission of the 175 bps rate cuts done by the RBIRBI so far, is beginning to pick up steam, key data-points are expected to be on RBI's side, says Mayuresh Joshi, Fund Manager, Angel Broking in an interview with Pranati Deva. He also adds that benchmark indices can witness a growth of around 12% in the next 15-18 months. Edited excerpts

Do you believe this budget has created enough space for the RBI to move into a low interest rate regime domain?

The government’s borrowing program seems be suggest that the RBI should have ample room to move on the liquidity front. With Inflation - especially core CPI inflation - expected to remain in the (Read More)

Budget 2017 expected to be market-neutral: Morgan Stanley

Latest News - The Union budget is going to be a "market-neutral" event as policymakers are not likely to change their policy stance and will continue to focus on fiscal consolidation, says a Morgan Stanley report.

"We do not expect major changes in the conduct of fiscal policy and hence, view the budget as a market-neutral event," Morgan Stanley said in a research note.

The Union budget for 2017-18 is due to be presented on February 1.

According to Morgan Stanley India Strategist Ridham Desai, the budget's influence on (Read More)

Budget 2017: IT, telecom players expect more for cyber security, broadband

Latest News - With the government's push for digitisation across the board, the information & technology and telecom players are expecting a Union Budget that will try to strengthen cyber security and make broadband available to all that will in turn catalyse digital payments.

"As India digitalises rapidly, holistic approach to cyber security is a pre-requisite to foster and sustain trust of all the stakeholders -- consumers, businesses as well as government," said Sanjay Rohatgi, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan, Symantec.

"The government should consider setting aside at least eight per cent of its overall IT budget specifically for cyber security starting with the upcoming budget," Rohatgi said.

After the demonetisation in November 2016, the Indian government is trying hard to (Read More)