Fundamentals of IT industry are still strong, feels Som Mittal

With the world economy still “uncertain”, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), on Tuesday, said that the fundamentals of the industry remained strong, although there was a need to monitor its performance over the next two quarters.“We will watch the next two quarters before revising any forecast as the global economic environment is uncertain. The fundamentals of our industry, however, are very strong,” said Som Mittal, President of Nasscom.

Facebook’s e-mail switch draws flak

Social networking website Facebook yet again succeeded in angering a large section of its 900 million privacy-conscious users over the weekend when it surreptitiously switched many of their profile e-mail addresses with a @facebook.com domain address.Many users who had e-mail addresses from Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail, would have discovered on Monday that their profile now showed a @facebook.com address instead. While the option to revert to the external e-mail address exists, it requires tweaking of their profile information display settings. Users also have the option to hide the @facebook.com address.

Monsoon keeps Centre on tenterhooks

Delayed and low intensity rain in parts of the northwest, central and southern regions has got the Agriculture Ministry worried and it is ready with a contingency plan. Minister Sharad Pawar has asked Maharashtra and Karnataka — parts of which are the worst-hit so far — to be prepared for any eventuality. The other affected States include Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

E-voting must for listed firms

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), on Tuesday, made electronic voting mandatory for all listed companies — in respect of those businesses to be transacted through postal ballot — which would help shareholders participate in decision-making without being physically present in the meetings.