Finance and Tourism in India

Firstsource bags Rs 50-cr customer service deal from Axis Bank

Back office provider Firstsource Solutions has clinched a five-year outsourcing agreement with Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private sector bank. As part of the agreement, Firstsource will provide customer services through voice, email and chat to retail customers of Axis Bank.

The deal is estimated to be around Rs 50 crore, but no official confirmation was available and a Firstsource spokesperson declined to comment.

The services will be delivered in 11 Indian languages from centres in Mumbai and Chennai. Firstsource currently derives 24% of its revenues from customers in financial services.

Its clients include banks in the US and UK and seven of the 10 largest credit card companies in the US. Its Asia business unit, which caters to the domestic India business, accounts for about 10% of its total revenue.

The firm has one of the largest networks in India with a presence in towns such as Indore, Bhopal, Jalandhar, Siliguri, Bhubaneswar, Vijayawada, Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore, Kochi, Hubli and Pondicherry, apart from the metros.

Delhi University open school goes online for admissions

Delhi University's School of Open Learning will start its admission process for the 2012-13 academic session from Friday.

For the first time, SOL will offer the facility of online admission for undergraduate courses. Students can download and submit application forms on the SOL website - Sol.du.ac.in

Students of Central Board of Secondary Education and the National Institute of Open School need not even submit any documents for the online admission process as it has been made completely automated. "The students who have appeared for the CBSE board exam or are from the NIOS will just need to key in their roll numbers. All the other details which are related to the CBSE result will automatically get uploaded," said the executive director of SOL, HC Pokhriyal.

"The students can upload their photographs, signature and other details online. SOL has access to CBSE data and we will get to know of their performance in the CBSE board exams. Admissions will be done completely online, thereby saving the time and money of aspirants," Pokhriyal said.

The SOL is also streamlining the process to provide customized study material on the SOL email addresses of the online applicants. Once the students choose the course and papers of their choice, they will get the study materials in their mailbox.

In fact, online filling of forms will also be extended to the second and third-year students so that they can fill their examination forms online as well.

According to Pokhriyal, since majority of students come from far off areas, this facility will help the students immensely. Also the online system is expected to ease the rush at SOL counters during admissions.

Admission forms will be available from June 1 and the last date for admission without late fee is July 31, 2012.

The Law Firm Business Model Is Dying- Winston and Crandall

It is increasingly likely that the century-old law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf will close its doors, following in the footsteps of other venerable firms such as Howrey & Simon, Heller Ehrman, Coudert Brothers, and Brobeck, Phelger and Harrison. It is easy to think that greedy lawyers are getting their just desserts. But this should not blind us from seeing that there is a better way for America's law firms to do business.
The problems these firms face today are twofold: Large clients are increasingly using in-house counsel to Reduce freight costs, and the public is increasingly taking the do-it-yourself route given the growing access to a variety of legal services and documents on the Internet. The rational response would be for new, low-cost legal firms to start up, and for incumbents to reduce costs and attract new clients by providing innovative services.
But that is happening only to a limited extent because of state licensing requirements and American Bar Association (ABA) rules. Deregulation could open the market and transform the legal industry for the better.
Regulatory barriers have hamstrung other sectors of the economy in the past until the arrival of deregulation. For example, Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) regulations raised railroad rates for decades after its inception in 1887. But with the proliferation of motor vehicles, trucks began to capture a large share of rail freight traffic.
Then trucks were included under the ICC's regulatory umbrella in 1935, to prevent railroads' freight market share from continuing to erode. But by raising trucking rates, the ICC induced some shippers to buy and operate their own trucks, exacerbating rail's woes. Similarly, Civil Aeronautics Board regulations elevated airline fares, and by the late 1950s—when interstate highway travel was possible—the high fares limited the percentage of seats filled with paying passengers.
The deregulation of transportation that began during the late 1970s enabled motor, air and rail carriers to reduce costs and, particularly in the case of railroads and airlines, to regain market share by offering consumers lower prices and better service.
How have regulations caused the demise of long-established "white-shoe" law firms? Much legal work is performed by associates, who in most states must graduate from a law school accredited by the ABA and pass a state bar examination. This form of licensing significantly limits the flow of new legal practitioners. It also means would-be lawyers must make a substantial upfront educational investment in money and time that must be recouped in high salaries later.
Such salaries can be and are paid because licensing limits competition in the legal profession, and because partners derive much of their own inflated earnings from associates' work.
But when law firms are under pressure to reduce costs, it is difficult for the partners to significantly reduce their reliance on associates without severely affecting their ability to serve clients. Efforts to outsource some tasks have met with only limited success.
While law firms can and do get bank loans, ABA regulations prohibit banks, private-equity firms or other corporations from owning or having an ownership stake in a law firm. This limits a law firm's financing options and raises its capital costs. Dewey's collapse has been attributed to the firm being highly leveraged and unable to attract investment from businesses outside the legal profession.

Increase home loan eligibility in higher age bracket with Easy Steps

Investing in a home/house is an expensive affair, but a dream many esteem. However, realising this dream has become easier in the last 10-15 years due to the aggressive home loan schemes and open-minded financing options available. Income tax incentives also act as a channel and come in handy while repaying home loan EMIs.

Always check major factors who playing key roles when you apply home loan

Age

Age is one of the most important factors for the consideration of a loan application. Typically, financial institutions try to restrict the home loan tenure to a person's retirement age.

Therefore, younger people can get a loan with a tenure of 20 to 25 years easily, while older people (45 years and above) find it difficult to get a longer term loan.

Source of income

Source of income, stability of income and quality of income are important factors that decide the outcome of a loan application.

Even among salaried employees, the financial institutions consider certain sectors as stable and less risky, and therefore the loan eligibility of people working in these stable sectors will be higher as against those working in other sectors.

Other running loans

Other running loans impact eligibility unfavorably because an existing loan repayment is considered a drain on the repaying capacity to service a new EMI. Those planning to avail a home loan should consider closing other smaller loans such as soft loans, credit card loans, car loan etc in order to increase their home loan eligibility.

On the other hand, if the repayment history is good on other loans, it becomes a positive factor while considering the home loan application.

Co-borrower

Adding a co-borrower for the loan adds to the eligibility, especially in cases where the borrower is of a higher age or where the quantum of loan is high. Usually, banks have a higher cut-off limit for age in case there is a co borrower for the loan. Hence, there is a good chance of getting a longer tenure loan.

CBSE begins counselling on phone

For the first time, the CBSE has introduced an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) mode for post-result counselling for students and parents.

In an attempt to help students and parents overcome stress and anxiety after declaration of the results, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will begin with the second phase of post-result counselling from May 24. The counselling will continue till June 7.
Check out CBSE results – cbse 12th result 2012

Counselling will be available through calls, interactive voice response system (IVRS) and CBSE’s website.

CBSE tele-counselling is offered by trained counsellors and principals of the board affiliated schools.

Close to 50 experts will be part of the counselling team from India and 10 counsellors from outside India including Japan, Kuwait, Doha-Qatar and Saudi Arabia U A E Khobar this year.

Parents and students can call on the toll free number — 1800 180 3456 — from 8 am up to midnight.

CBSE has also initiated counselling for children with special needs.

Students score perfect 10 and Pressure of Exams off

A common of schools in the city reported 100% success in the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) CBSE Class 10 Results 2012, which were declared by the central board late on Monday.

The performance of students too has gone up with many schools reporting a large number of students with an A1 grade for full 10 grade points.

For example, the Army Public School (APS) and Delhi Public School (DPS) had as many as 60 and 47 students, who ended up with an identical CGPA (cumulative grade point average) of 10, respectively.

In line with the CBSE's directives to the schools against making public the %age of successful students, several schools preferred revealing only the grades of their students when contacted by TOI.

Check online results at cbseresults.nic.in

The Army Public School (APS) in Camp reported a 100% success with 283 students appearing for the exam. Of these, 220 had opted for the school-based test, while 63 for the board exam.

Principal Binita Poonekar said, "Of the total students, 60 secured an A1-grade while 80 students secured A2 grade with a grade point ranging from 9 to 9.8. Most of the remaining got grade points between 7 and 9."

Poonekar said, "This year, many students bagged an A1 grade in maths and science. Concepts have been made easier by including projects and fun activities in the academics, which has led to a better understanding of subjects. They no longer have to perform under pressure, as they are now being graded. The teaching-learning process has become fun."

At the DPS, 168 students including 73 girls, appeared for the exam. Of these 119 took the board exam and the rest opted for a school-based exam. Neelam Chakrabarty, DPS principal, said, "Children have performed better this year as they have acclamatised to the new system. In all, 47 of our students secured perfect 10 or full 10 grade points. Another 47 students secured a CGPA between 9 and 10," she said. Some school toppers were Tanish Satoor, Bandhuli Chattopadhyay, Raya Ghosh, and Sayali Alatkar.

Jnana Prabodhini Prashala saw 81 students appear for the board-based evaluation and recorded 100% results. School principal Milind Naik said, "Seventy three students have secured more than 90% this year, while the highest score is 98.4% and the lowest score is 83.6%."

He said the average score this year in their school was 93.62% whereas last year it was 89%. "This means that performance has been better. Many students have bagged more marks in social science than in science," he added.

"The average score of social science at our school this time is 93.94% and that in science is 91.64%. In the past, students would score more in science than in social studies," said Naik, adding that from the total of 81 students, 40 were boys and 41 were girls.

Isha Patankar (98.4%), Vaibhav Tipnis (98%) and Aarohi Vaidya (98%) were among the toppers at Jnana Prabodhini.

At the APS, Khadki, 16 students out of total 305 bagged more than 90% score while 55 students secured between 80-89% and 78 students got between 70-79%. School principal Nirmala Tambe said, "Ten out of the 16 toppers, who secured a CGPA of 10, are girls. Of the total 305 students, 90 opted for the school-based test, while 215 wrote board exams."

Grades understood

The grades were awarded on a nine-point scale for each subject. A student securing between 91 and 100 per cent in a subject, was given an A1-grade and a grade point of 10. A student scoring between 81 and 90 in a subject was given A2 and a grade point of 9. Those scoring between 71 -80 were given B1 and a grade point of 8, while those scoring between 61-70 were given B2 and a grade point of 7. Scoring between 51 -60 %, fetched students C1, and a grade point of 6, while 41 -50 % in a subject led to a C2 and a grade point of 5.

Anna University Students wants results on time after delayed in exams

The semester examinations in over 500 engineering colleges of Anna University, after being delayed twice, finally commenced on Monday, much to the relief to over six lakh students who will take the exams this week. Final year students all set to leave abroad for further studies or join a company are, however, hoping the delay does not translate into postponement of results.

This is mainly because smaller IT companies and core companies that have recruited students from different colleges have already asked them to join between June 1 and June 20. “It is not much of a worry for those recruited in bigger IT companies because the joining dates are much later. But for those hired by smaller companies, which is nearly 50 per cent in most engineering colleges, the situation is difficult because companies say they have already planned the training batches,” says a student recruited by Ionetics.

As per the original schedule, the university exams were to commence on May 3, but the university rescheduled it to May 7 a few days ago, and then again, to May 14.

Students also worried

Those seeking admissions in universities abroad will face a huge problem too if the anna university results 2012 are not announced in time. Shiva Selvaraj, a student who has applied to Canadian Universities says, “Companies might be flexible if you show them a letter from the university confirming the delay but colleges abroad don't do that. They insist on having at least a provisional certificate before granting admission.”

The United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) has already written to the U.S. consulate about the anticipated delay. “North American universities have agreed to accept the initial years' mark sheets of students and decide on admissions, if they don't have any arrears. The visa process can be taken care of but many universities compulsory ask for the final year results," said C. Vijayalakshmi, manager, IDP Education India.

Students studying in all six Anna Universities in the State, and in University Departments of all Anna Universities of Technology (Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Madurai and Tirunelveli) were affected by this delay. Anna University of Chennai, officials had cited administrative failure for the delay.

However, Anna University Vice-Chancellor P. Mannar Jawahar has said that there will be no delay in results, particularly for the final-year students. “The evaluation process will be faster. The final-year results will come out in the initial weeks of June, other results will come out in the next 15 days.”

The delay in the exams was mainly because of administrative reasons, and also because many colleges did not send the data in the required format and on time, because of which the hall tickets could not be dispatched on time, he added.nna

CBSE results postponed for another one week

Though the buzz was that the results of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) may be declared on Wednesday for Class 10, it appears that the students will have to wait for at least a week more. As per reports, now the results may only be declared by the end of May.

More than ten lakh students are said to have appeared for these exams in 2012. As per sources, the results were to be announced in the third week of May.

However, there has not been any official confirmation of the two reports from concerned authorities. Once the results are out, it can be checked on the board’s official website - Cbse 10 class Results 2012.

This is the time of the year when anxious children wait with butterflies in their stomach and bated breaths for the outcome of probably the first biggest milestone as a student. There is an added excitement too as this a turning phase in the lives of the young guns where they make important decisions about what they want to do in future.

This is the first year where the CBSE is getting ready for a new idea it started last year called the ‘proficiency test’. The proposed test according to CBSE is to “measure an individual’s abilities and skills in a domain or subject to know how well he/she has learned, understood and internalised the related concepts and principles.” The initiative is supposed to help the Class 10 students to choose the right career path as it helps them to gauge their strength and weakness.

Nonetheless, this is an optional test. It is conducted for English, mathematics, social sciences, science and Hindi. It comprises of multiple choice questions and they have the option of taking one or more subjects.

Parents feel ‘cut-off' warmth in front of results

Cut-off is the most used word virtually in every home during admission season and more particularly in families awaiting Plus Two results with bated breath.
The anxiety of what will be the cut-off mark for admission to top engineering and medical colleges through counselling is keeping the parents cut-off from their routine. This suspense becomes even more difficult to bear as the most expected State Board Plus-Two results will be out on May 22 and the results of other streams too will follow.
With the Anna University Chennai issuing forms for Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions from May 11, the common talk is now only about colleges, admissions, branches and management quota as already the seats in many engineering colleges are being ‘blocked' even before the results are declared.
Are the parents overdoing it? Is there an unnecessary hype being created about engineering admission when every year many seats go vacant and no-takers for several engineering colleges?
The reply from senior consultant psychiatrist I. Selvamani Thinakaran of K.Pudur for these questions is yes. She has counselling tips for all types of parents.
“First of all, parents should not feel tensed or otherwise it puts pressure on their children. In many cases, problems arise only because of anticipation of failure and not exact failure. Parents should bear in mind that marks alone are not the criteria for life settlement or career or success. No doubt marks are important for joining a top college but let us not put our children to pressure due to our anxiety,” she says.
What to do?
There are different types of parents and different situations, particularly in the middle/ upper middle class families where the anticipation level is high.
The hot summer is hotter in homes where the parents expect very high marks, aim reputed colleges and await Anna university results 2012 of various entrance tests such as AIEEE and IIT. On the other side, there are parents whose son or daughter may score less marks and are waiting for engineering admission in a close by but good college.
L. Ramani, a LIC employee, was candid about her anxiety and expectations from her good performing son. “Of course, there will be anxiety and pressure because I belong to FC category and cannot afford to pour lakhs of rupees for engineering seat. We depend on merit and my son too is a high-scoring student,” she says.
Discussions about college admission and cut-off marks take place in offices too. “In our office, fathers and mothers of plus two students talk a lot on engineering counselling, what to choose and where to go. When we can't go for payment seat, we have to depend on friends and media to know more about colleges,” Ms. Ramani says.
The same was the case with another mother P. Vijayalakshmi who is now doing a sort of homework with the help of her doctor husband to get her daughter admitted either in engineering or medical college depending on the marks she scores in the bio-maths group.
This anxious mother is familiar with what was the cut-off mark last year and based on that she has a few colleges in mind now.
“Our tension will go on till the admission counselling in July. My daughter's cut-off will be above 190. We are tensed up at home and having sleepless nights. I have visited a few colleges/deemed universities already,” Ms. Vijayalakshmi says.
She, however, suppresses her tension before her daughter.
“I suppress my anxiety. Getting seat in a good college for my daughter is important for me since there will be societal pressure, comparison and so on. I am confused what to do…whether to block seat or not in a private college under management quota,” the mother says.
There is another father V. Balasubramanian of Mahatma Gandhi Nagar in the city who is already in a frame of mind that his daughter who studied in C.E.O.A. School will get a rank in Plus Two exams.
This may put pressure on his daughter ahead of the results.
“Her first choice is medicine and I have confidence that definitely she will get a State rank. At home we did not disconnect the cable connection like some parents are doing. There was no pressure from us in my daughter's studies,” he says.
As the countdown starts for Plus Two results and the rates in several engineering colleges has gone up for management quota seats, it is time for parents to get counselled first for clarity before the general counselling of Anna University begins at Chennai on July 9.

Re-thinking assessment: from marks to recognition

According to V. Thangaraj, director (in charge), Institute of Distance Education, University of Madras, they have been getting many requests from students to mark credits on their certificates. This immensely helps students who want pursue higher studies abroad, where credits are preferred over marks. While most of the features of the credit-based system have been put in place, the difference here is that students do not get a choice of subjects to choose from. Their certificates would have ‘letter grades' with the performance of the students marked as good, outstanding or satisfactory in credit points.

Students of the Institute of Distance Education, University of Madras will find it easier to apply to universities abroad, from the coming academic year. Under a new system, the University will also mark students on their credits earned, making it easier for them to calculate their Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA).

With this in place, the University is now among the few open schools to have introduced such a system of evaluation. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) was one of the first open schools to introduce the choice-based credit system.

Academic members are ready to prepare the syllabus. A three-year programme would have 120 credits; a two-year programme 80 credits; a one-year diploma 40 credits and so on. Credit points will be determined depending on the difficulty level of a subject. “One credit will be equivalent to 30 hours, of which 20 hours will be what the student clocks in as self-study time,” said Mr. Thangaraj.

While the credit-based system will be a boon to students who can experience a level playing field, experts say the University is restricting students' choice by not making the                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           .

Not many open schools have introduced such a system, because of the challenges. “Credit-based systems have a certain element of continuous evaluation, which can be difficult to practice when students attend contact classes occasionally,” said D. Victor, academic council member, IGNOU.

Home Loan Banks to make lot of Money from teaser home loan schemes

Housing loan banks like HDFC and LIC Housing Finance are probable to see a noticeable growth in their profitability as dual-rate home loans come up for re-pricing at higher rates this financial year.

Leader of Home finance, HDFC Limited, has about 4-5 dual-rate home loan products introduced since December 2009 that offer loans at interest rates of 8.25-9.5 % through March 31, 2012. These loans have now gone into ‘floating’ mode, starting April 1, 2012.

HDFC’s retail prime lending rate, against which the loans are benchmarked, stands at 16.5 %. This translates into floating rates of between 11.25-11.75 % for different categories of borrowers.

HDFC has around Rs 20,000-22,000 Cr loans outstanding under these dual rate hdfc home loan products or one-fifth of its total retail loan book.

On the other hand, LIC Housing Finance has about Rs 10,000-12,000 Cr worth of loans coming up for re-pricing at higher interest rates under its Fix-o-Floaty scheme in FY-13. Of this, loans worth Rs 2,500 cr will get re-priced in the first quarter itself.

State Bank of India (SBI), country’s largest mortgage lender, commanding 18 % market share, also has nearly Rs 20,000-25,000 Cr of home loans under its teaser rate scheme. This, too, is scheduled to be re-priced this fiscal, likely at 9-9.5 %.

For teaser loan rates calculate your loan emi with – emi calculator

In last, question arises whether these lenders pass on these benefits to borrower’s remains. While SBI does not see much room for reducing lending rates in the home loan category.