Wipro Recognized as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Comprehensive Finance and Accounting BPO, Global by Independent Research Firm

BANGALORE, India, Jul 26, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Wipro BPO, the Business Process Outsourcing arm of Wipro Technologies, the Global Information Technology, Consulting, and Outsourcing Business of Wipro Limited WIT -0.32% , has been recognized by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant in the report, "Magic Quadrant for Comprehensive Finance and Accounting (F&A) BPO, Global," authored by Cathy Tornbohm and published June 29, 2011.

Gartner positioned Wipro in the leaders quadrant based on the evaluation criteria of ability to execute and completeness of vision. The report evaluated a qualified group of 16 vendors in the F&A BPO market. As described in the report, "Leaders are performing well today, both with a clear vision of market direction and by actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market. The comprehensive F&A BPO players in this quadrant generally share superior market understanding, have a global client base, an extensive network of well-distributed and highly populated global delivery centers catering for multiple languages, a good balance of transactional and high-end F&A delivery and innovative well communicated and marketed sales offerings."

According to the report, "Gartner defines comprehensive finance and accounting (F&A) processes as the outsourcing of three or more finance processes to a single provider." The report also said, "This Magic Quadrant offers a deep analysis of the competitive positioning for comprehensive F&A BPO services by showcasing the relative placing of the main players in the market according to a variety of criteria, and by offering detailed strengths and cautions for each of the included vendors."

Manish Dugar, Sr. Vice President and Global Head, Wipro BPO, said, "We believe that our position in the Leaders Quadrant is testimony to our ability in the seamless delivery of end-to-end Finance and Accounting (F&A) services from multiple global locations. We have been able to leverage our extensive technology capabilities, clearly shaping the vision for the next generation of F&A outsourcing. With the right expertise and blend of talent, tools and methodologies, Wipro BPO has been able to deliver complex programs and consolidate operations, for our customers, to achieve upfront financial benefits. We feel this recognition validates our strategy and the significant investments that we have made in our F&A practice to improve our pipeline and add measurable business value to our clients."

To read the complete report, please go to: http://www.wipro.com/resource-center/analyst-speak/pdf/MagicQuadrantforglobalF_ABPO.pdf

Wipro has 6000+ dedicated employees delivering end-to-end services across the full spectrum of finance and accounting functions, including procure-to-pay, order-to-cash and record-to-report to support all the functions of the CFO's office. It operates from 16 centers in 10 countries including Poland, Romania, Brazil, China, Mexico, U.S. and India (Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Mumbai). Vertical market strengths for F&A BPO include communications, financial services, retail and breweries.

Wipro BPO, the Business Process Outsourcing service line of Wipro Technologies, is one of the largest BPO service providers on a global delivery platform. Wipro BPO has the capabilities to provide onshore, near shore, offshore and hybrid delivery options with operations in more than 28 centers in 11 countries. The services portfolio spans industry specific solutions in Customer Contact center (technical and non-technical; voice and non-voice), Finance and Accounting outsourcing, Human Resource outsourcing, Supply chain management, Knowledge services including Data Management and reporting, Legal process outsourcing, and Sales and Marketing outsourcing.

About the Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted June 2011 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Wipro Technologies

Wipro Technologies, the global IT business of Wipro Limited WIT -0.32% , is a leading Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing company, that delivers solutions to enable its clients to do business better. Wipro Technologies delivers winning business outcomes through its deep industry experience and a 360 degree view of "Business through Technology" -- helping clients create successful and adaptive businesses. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, a practitioner's approach to delivering innovation and an organization wide commitment to sustainability, Wipro Technologies has 120,000 employees and clients across 54 countries. For more information, please visit www.wipro.com .

Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov . We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

Shriram Transport Finance reports 20 pc jump in PAT

CHENNAI: Non-banking finance companyShriram Transport Finance, flagship company of theShriram Group, has reported a 20.1 per cent jump in its profit after tax at Rs 347.30 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2011. 

The Chennai-headquartered company had registered profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 288.94 crore in the same period of previous year, a company release said. 

For the year ending March 31, 2011, the PAT stood at Rs Rs 1,229.8 crore, it added. 

The total income for the quarter ended June 30, 2011, grew to Rs 1,393.22 crore as compared to Rs 1,233.51 crore, the release said. 

For the financial year ended March 31, 2011, the total income stood at Rs 5,259.71 crore, it said. 

A final dividend of Rs four per share for the financial year 2010-11, was approved by the shareholders and was paid on July 4, 2011, it added. 

As of June 30, 2011, the total assets under management stood at Rs 36,997 crore compared to Rs 36,182 crore as on March 31, 2011.

Microsoft gives manufacturers a taste of Mango

Microsoft announced this morning that the next version of the Windows Phone operating system, code-named Mango, has been delivered to manufacturers, which can begin testing it on their handsets.

The move is one of the final steps before the software arrives on new phones and is delivered to existing users as a software update.

"This marks the point in the development process where we hand code to our handset and mobile-operator partners to optimize Mango for their specific phone and network configurations," Terry Myerson, Microsoft's corporate vice president of engineering for Windows phone, wrote on a company blog. "Here on the Windows Phone team, we now turn to preparing for the update process."

The update, which brings multitasking and a complete overhaul of the built-in Internet Explorer Web browser, wasfirst discussed in February, at Mobile World Congress. Two months later, Microsoft took the wraps off all the planned features, promising to deliver it in the fall.

Mango is the first major system software update to hit Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform since an interim release near the end of March that added copy-and-paste functionality, improved marketplace search, and enabled faster app loading. Microsoft is not counting Mango as an all-out new version of the platform, something the company has not yet discussed.

Microsoft started dishing out a beta version of Mango to mobile developers at the end of last month so that they could test their applications for compatibility with the new features and back-end changes.

Al Franken: AT&T and T-Mobile Merger Will Kill Competition

Sen. Al Franken is urging regulators to pull the plug on a proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile.
The Minnesota Democrat says a marriage of the two companies would mean that only three national wireless carriers would remain.
The deal would leave AT&T in control of 43 percent of the market, with Verizon overseeing 39 percent of the industry. To the left-leaning legislator that’s a dangerous recipe.
“The merger of AT&T and T-Mobile would be a major step towards the creation of an entrenched duopoly in the wireless industry,” Franken writes in a 24-page letter to the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. “It would concentrate enormous power over the entire telecommunications sector in the hands of only two companies, and it would incentivize AT&T and Verizon to coordinate prices to the detriment of consumers.”
Moreover, Franken says that the merger will result in decreased competition, less innovation and fewer jobs in a rapidly shrinking mobile landscape.
Franken says that the T-Mobile purchase continues AT&T’s pattern of attracting new customers through mergers rather than by innovation.
“American consumers rely on the DOJ and the FCC to protect competition,” Franken writes. “It is only through competition that wireless spectrum usage will become more efficient, handsets more innovative, customer service more responsive, network coverage broader, and prices lower.”
Franken’s objections second those of his fellow Democrat, Sen. Herb Kohl, but the merger between the two telecommunications companies has recently received corporate support from the likes of Facebook.