28 April 2015: French IT company Capgemini acquires iGATE

Ø  French IT services company Capgemini on Monday announced the acquisition of US-based IT services company iGATE for $4 billion. Through the acquisition Capgemeini, which has significant presence in the European market, is trying to widen its presence in North America. Apart from getting a strong-hold in the US, the buyout will also give Capgemini’s Indian operations a new scale, allowing it to compete on a par with the US and Indian companies. The company co-founded by Sunil Wadhwani and Ashok Trivedi is listed in Nasdaq. However, majority of its workforce is based in India. The merger agreement has been approved unanimously by both Capgemini’s and iGATE’s Board of Directors. The transaction has also been approved by the written consent of shareholders holding a majority of iGATE’s shares. At present, iGATE has a revenue of around $1.3 billion and over 30,000 employees spread across its centres in India, the US, Europe and China. In India, iGATE has centres in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad; while the French major has its centres in nine locations and employs more than 50,000 people.

Ø  The Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the alleged encounter of woodcutters in the Seshachalam forest is expected to visit the spot on Tuesday.

Ø  The United States and Japan unveiled new rules for defence cooperation Monday in a historic move that will give Japanese armed forces a more ambitious global role amid concerns over China’s rising sway. Under the revised guidelines, Japan could come to the aid of U..S forces threatened by a third country or, for example, deploy minesweeper ships to a mission in the Middle East. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Defense Minister Gen Nakatani revealed the new rules after talks in a New York hotel. Although officials said the new doctrine is not aimed at China, there has been increasing concern over moves by Beijing to try to scoop up disputed areas of the South China and East China Seas.

Ø  In tune with its effort to interface India’s Mausam and Spice Route projects with its Maritime Silk Road (MSR) initiative, China is making headway in integrating a Mongolian and a Russian initiative to develop another spur of its ambitious Silk Road land corridor. China wants to include Mongolia’s “Steppe road” initiative, and link up with the Moscow-driven transcontinental rail plan to develop the China-Mongolia-Russia (CMR) economic corridor. The CMR initiative is similar to two other undertaking initiated by China: the recently inaugurated Pakistan-China economic corridor, and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor. China is encompassing a string of initiatives, hoping to sprout several new “growth engines” in Eurasia under the “Belt and Road” umbrella.