Upfront

B2C to top Rs 2,000 crore by 2006-07

According to the Internet & Online Association, online shopping in India amounted to Rs 570 crore in 2004-05. That’s projected to more than double and reach 1,180 crore in 2005-06, and climb to Rs 2,300 crore by 2006-07. The average number of transactions per month has gone up from two lakh in 2003-04 to 4.4 lakh in 2004-05. It will almost double to 7.95 lakh transactions per month in fiscal 2005-06. Meanwhile, the average transaction value’s going to remain pretty consistent. It’s Rs 1,080 for 2004-05 and Rs 1,100 for 2005-06.

Xchanging announces $150 million investment

Xchanging, the world’s first business processing services (BPS) company, has announced an investment of $150 million to support its planned growth in India. The announcement was made by David Andrews, the CEO of the company.

Andrews was in India to inaugurate the Performance Hub, a state-of-the-art facility that brings the Indian operations face-to-face with the company’s Frankfurt and London operations.

Said Andrews, “Our vision is to be the pre-eminent BPS company through shared values and cultures across our global operations. To support our growth plans for India, we will be investing $150 million and adding 3,000 people over the next five years.”

eInfochips partners with PolyVision

eInfochips, an electronics systems design services firm, has teamed up as development partner with PolyVision Inc., a company that plays in the global visual communication market, to design and develop the enterprise software behind Thunder, an innovative product in enterprise collaboration and distance learning.

Thunder enables workgroups to easily flip to different virtual charts; and edit, save, print and e-mail their notes. It replaces traditional paper flipcharts with digital images, and gives collaborative teams all the tools they need to work and learn together or remotely.