21|Patni Computers : In Choppy Waters

It is said that trouble comes in threes. So was the case with Patni, one of Indias oldest IT companies. First, the dollar depreciation and the US slowdown spelt danger with North America accounting for 78% of revenues (down 2% from last year). Secondly, the company faced a churn of its top clients, especially in telecom due to vendor consolidation. Finally, throughout the year, Patni was in the news for all the wrong reasons, from alleged dispute between the owners to possible sell out. Result: almost zero growth in rupee terms and goodbye to the DQ Top20 club.

A major re-haul was put in motion by restructuring business lines with the thinning of verticals to reduce inefficiencies. The executive team was revamped with new COO, CFO, and HR head appointed among others. On the positive side, product engineering grew by 50%. This could be Patnis trump card in the years to come. The high onsite-offshore ratiohighest among all large Indian IT services firmscould however be a worrying factor, along with over-dependence on North America.

22|APC-MGE : The New Avatar
This was the first year after APC-MGE completed its Schneider Electric India business unit following APCs acquisition by Schneider and subsequent merger with MGE UPS. With energy efficiency high on the agenda of several Indian corporates, APC-MGE tried to leverage the parents global reputation in providing energy efficient solutions for enterprise data centers.

The company also joined the Sun Microsystems-initiated eco-consortium in India. In another strategic move APC-MGE forayed into mobile accessories to tap the growing Indian mobile workforce.

The organizational restructuring expectedly led to some management reshuffle. The previous APC country general manager Pankaj Sharma was promoted as president, APC-MGE for India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Subsequently, Srinivas Chebbi, the erstwhile Schneider Electric regional director in Northern Emirates, Dubai and Oman took over as the country general manager. There have been complaints on service issues. The entry of chinese players have impacted APC-MGE in the low-end UPS market.

23|Moser Baer : Version 2.0
After shaking up the pre-recorded DVD market last year, Moser Baer took the logical but risky step of entering the highly competitive consumer electronics and PC peripherals business. It launched its range of LCD TVs, DVD players, and digital photo frames. And followed it up by entering into tie-ups with retail chains like Croma, e-zone, Spencer, Max, and Jumbothere are plans to set up twenty exclusive Moser Baer outlets this year. It is clearly playing on its twin strengths of low-cost manufacturing and distribution.

Moser Baer also launched ODDs in collaboration with Philips, Taiwan and Lite-On Digital (called Moser Baer-Lite-on). It partnered China-based LDK Solar and Norway-based REC Group to sell and deliver high quality multi-crystalline silicon wafers. It set up a Rs 2,000 crore manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu to make photovoltaic and nanotechnology products, and electronic storage media.

However, with the transformation still underway, Moser Baer saw negative growth, which resulted in its exit from the DQTop20 club after being there nearly a decade.

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