India IT News Capsule - Sep 2006, Issue 1

• Accenture opens tenth software centre in India: Consulting firm Accenture Ltd. opened its tenth software development centre in India with a capacity of 1,100 seats. The centre, located in the tech-and-textile town of Gurgaon on the outskirts New Delhi, joins others in Pune, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad -- cities that have emerged as India's IT hubs over the past decade. Accenture, one of the leading IT employers in India, has a staff exceeding 19,000 people in India.

• XBox India website goes live: Microsoft India has launched the XBox website and plans to make the XBox available in India by Diwali, which usually marks the start of a spending spree in the country. The site can be accessed here.

• Pharma sector facing human resource crunch: Pharma industry in India is facing a human resource crunch due to heavy recruitment by the BPO and KPO industry in India. Pharma companies are faced with high attrition rates of about 25-30%.

• GSM Carrier Spice in expansion mode: Indian GSM carrier Spice Communications plans to raise up to $2.5 billion via debt and a public offer to expand in India, the world's fastest growing mobile services market. 49% of Spice is owned by Malaysia Telekom and currently offers services in only 2 of the 23 telecom zones in the country.

• Reliance launches new submarine cable: Reliance Telecommunications, the country's premier CDMA carrier inaugurated a 2.56 Terabit undersea Falcon cable connecting India and the Middle East. The cable will be part of Reliance Communications' Flag Telecom Global Network which already has cables running through 35 countries spanning four continents.

Previous News Capsule