New York’s Transit and Power Slowly Return
Robert Stolarik for The New York Times
Water was pumped from basements on John Street and Water Street in Lower Manhattan.
By MARC SANTORA
Published:Ny Times, November 3, 2012
The New York region, where many residents remained without basic
essentials, like food and shelter, made fitful progress on Saturday in
its efforts to recover.
Power returned to hundreds of thousands of customers, with nearly all of
Manhattan back to having electricity. The parks reopened, the main port
in the city was working again and millions of gallons of gasoline was
expected to start flowing to gas stations that had run dry.
But outside Manhattan, in the hardest hit neighborhoods of Queens and
Staten Island as well as along the Jersey Shore and on Long Island, it
was just the latest day to struggle through, working to both recover and
rebuild after the storm.
More than 100 people in the United State died as a result of Hurricane Sandy, which struck the East Coast on Monday.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said Saturday in a briefing that while
progress was being made, there was much to be done.
“We are getting through it,” he said. “The worst is behind us.”
Along with the power coming on for more residents, Mr. Cuomo said that
80 percent of the subway service had been restored and that Manhattan
had been reconnected by subway to Queens and Brooklyn.
And while the governor and Senator Charles E. Schumer,
Democrat of New York, tried to reassure residents that gasoline
supplies were on the way, long lines were reported Saturday at stations
in New York and New Jersey.
“Long lines will get shorter,” Mr. Schumer said. “Hot tempers will go down.”
In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie has imposed gas rationing, which
starts at noon Saturday, leading to reports of drivers hurrying to fill
up before the deadline. Drivers will be allowed to buy gasoline every
other day.
A government survey conducted on Friday showed that nearly two-thirds of
the stations in the metropolitan region were out of fuel. Mr. Cuomo
urged patience and said that the situation would improve soon.
Since the New York City port reopened, fuel has once again started to
flow through the system. Mr. Cuomo said eight million gallons of gas was
being delivered to stations and he expected 28 million gallons to be
distributed through the weekend. The Department of Defense was also
stepping up its efforts to deliver fuel and will be bringing 12 million
gallons of gas to the region over the weekend, setting up distribution
depots to help ease the crunch at gas stations.
The most visible sign of progress came throughout the night, as New York
City, once divided between light and dark, was united again.
As of Saturday morning, about 5,800 customers in Manhattan remained without power.
Just as significant as the return of power itself was what it meant for
every other aspect of the recovery, specifically transit. As the power
returns, subways can start running their full routes, and one of the
biggest logistical problems caused by the storm will begin to be
improved.
Throughout the night Friday, as lampposts, streetlights and storefronts
flickered to life, cheers could be heard across whole neighborhoods.
In Lower Manhattan, the power restoration started around 5 p.m. on
Friday in the East Village. The network there, known as Cooper Square,
serves about 67,000 customers between 14th and Canal Streets. The
Chelsea neighborhood sparked to life about 45 minutes later, bringing
back power to an additional 25,000 customers between 14th and 31st
Streets on the West Side.
The next big network came back to life around 7:30 p.m., when 30,000
customers east of Fifth Avenue between 14th and 31st Streets were once
again able to turn on their lights.
Throughout the night, Consolidated Edison’s crews moved to make good on a
promise that company executives made to restore power to all of
Manhattan before Saturday. As each network came online, they got a bit
closer to getting power back to all 220,000 people below 39th Street who
lost it.
By morning, they had largely succeeded. There was work to be done on the
Fulton Network, which is important to the subway system as well, and 65
buildings damaged in the storm would remain without power until crews
could get to them individually, a Con Edison spokesman said.
Outside Manhattan, the challenges were more difficult, with crews having
to contend with thousands of lines that were mangled, damaged or ripped
down. Con Ed said it could take until the end of next week to bring
electricity back to all of its customers.
As of 7 a.m. Saturday, Con Edison reported about 280,000 customers out
of service. That included 5,800 in Manhattan, 81,000 in Queens, 31,000
in Brooklyn, 31,000 on Staten Island and 25,000 in the Bronx.
In Westchester County, where 107,000 people have no power, the utility
said navigating downed trees and dealing with connections cut off by
limbs and branches was simply going to take more time. On Long Island,
Mr. Cuomo said, about 550,000 customers remained without power, down
from 1.2 million.
In New Jersey, Public Service Electric and Gas had restored power to
over a million customers by Friday morning, but nearly 600,000 still had
no electricity by night. In Newark, about 100,000 customers had service
restored at around 9:45 p.m., according the mayor, Cory A. Booker.
Jersey Central Power and Light had over 685,000 customers without electricity on Friday night.
In Connecticut, repairs were also progressing. About 210,000 customers were still without power.
Mr. Cuomo said that Connecticut would be sending crews to help in New
York since they had largely dealt with the problem. In Bridgeport,
police officers accompanied utility workers on Friday the Connecticut
Post reported, after reports of workers were being harassed, pelted with
eggs or threatened.
More utility crews from around the country are arriving to help local utility companies, officials said.
In Manhattan, though, there was a palpable sense of relief as the lights came back on.
Ali Salah, 40, who works at his family’s deli in Chelsea, said the first thing they turned on was the coffee maker.
“Then,” he said, “we plugged in our phones.”
This last week, he added, it did not feel like he was living in New York
City, but rather it was more like a small town in his native Yemen.
But when the lights came back on, he could barely contain his joy.
“Today is like New Year’s,” he said. “Like a new holiday.”
There were also signs of progress elsewhere.
A spokesman for the Department of Buildings said that work began
Saturday morning to secure the boom of a tower crane that had been
dangling menacingly over midtown Manhattan at 157 West 57th Street,
which will be the city’s tallest residential building.
More subway lines rumbled to life throughout the day on Saturday. By 10
a.m., Mr. Cuomo said, the 4, 5, 6, and 7 lines were running.
Throughout the day and over the weekend, he said, more lines would start
running. But for those who rely on the L train, the news was not so
good. It was still flooded wall to wall, officials said.
Mr. Cuomo praised the transit workers.
“The entire M.T.A. team really did an extraordinary job,” he said. The
engineering feat required to pump millions of gallons of water out of
the system and get trains running within a week, he said, was
extraordinary.
Still, Mr. Cuomo said that he will not be satisfied until everyone has
their power restored, shelter provided and food to eat.
“I know the numbers will show progress,” he said. “That doesn’t mean a
lot if you are the person who doesn’t have power.”
Hardship Strains Emotions in New York
Mike Segar/Reuters Emilio Langilotti of Staten Island, who broke his wrist during Hurricane Sandy, received food Friday at a disaster relief station.
By JAMES BARRON and KEN BELSON
Published: November 2, 2012 714 Comments
Emotions, frayed after almost a week of desperation, darkness and cold, approached a breaking point on Friday as the collective spirit that buoyed New York in the first few days after Hurricane Sandy gave way to angry complaints of neglect and unequal treatment.Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, facing criticism that he was favoring marathon runners arriving from around the world over people in devastated neighborhoods, reversed himself and canceled the New York City Marathon.
The move was historic — the marathon has taken place every year since 1970, including the race in 2001 held two months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and was projected to bring in $340 million.
For days, the mayor, who is often reluctant to abandon a position of his, insisted on going ahead with the race, saying it would signal that the city was back to normal.
He changed his mind as opposition became nearly unanimous. Critics said that it would be in poor taste to hold a foot race through the five boroughs while so many people in the area were still dealing with damage from the hurricane, and that city services should focus on storm relief, not the marathon. A petition from some marathoners called on other runners to skip the race and do volunteer work in hard-hit areas.
But the mayor liked the parallel to Sept. 11 and saw the marathon as a symbol of the city’s comeback. He talked to former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani on Friday morning; Mr. Giuliani said to stick with his original plan.
Within the mayor’s inner circle, though, there were concerns. Some advisers worried that the criticism could steal the focus from Mr. Bloomberg’s well-received performance during and after the storm, and could damage his legacy in the way that the city’s botched response to a blizzard had done in 2010.
Behind the scenes, there were also concerns about what the world would see: images of runners so close to neighborhoods that had been battered by the storm, at a time when gasoline remained in short supply and mass transit was still not fully functioning.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Deputy Mayors Howard Wolfson and Patricia E. Harris all argued for calling off the event.
The mayor, virtually alone in saying the race should go on, finally relented and canceled it after a conversation with Mary Wittenberg, the marathon director, late Friday. “This isn’t the year or the time to run it,” she said.
Patience also wore thin in other parts of the New York area amid lines that were once again painfully long — lines for free meals, lines for buses to take people where crippled subways could not, lines for gasoline that stretched 30 blocks in Brooklyn.
Hand-lettered signs in hard-hit areas struck a plaintive note: “FEMA please help us,” read one in Broad Channel, Queens. In Hoboken, N.J., one was addressed to Gov. Chris Christie: “Gov. Chris — where is the help $$”
Ethel Liebeskind of Merrick, N.Y., echoed that idea as she stood in the storm-tossed ruins of the house she had lived in for 26 years. “This is as bad as Katrina,” she said, “and they got global attention. The South Shore of Long Island should be treated the same way. Don’t forget us on the South Shore of Long Island. We need help.”
There was more grim news on Staten Island, where rescuers pulled two bodies from another house in the Midland Beach neighborhood, about two miles from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Neighbors who had been hauling their ruined furniture and trash to the street watched as two body bags were taken out of a house on Olympia Boulevard.
The two victims were not immediately identified. They brought to 41 the official count of people who died as rampaging wind drove a wall of water into the city on Monday night.
On Staten Island, which even in good times is often referred to as the city’s forgotten borough, desperation and anger were especially intense.
David Sylvester, 50, returned to his house in Midland Beach — he had left it after the mayor issued evacuation orders for low-lying areas, and it burned down when a power line shorted out during the storm — and criticized the government and relief agencies for not arriving fast enough. He said that not until late Thursday afternoon did anyone from the Federal Emergency Management Agency stop by, and then the man said he should make an appointment. “First he told me to go on the Internet,” Mr. Sylvester said, “and I said, ‘Where should I plug it in?’ ”
The secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, visited Staten Island and defended the federal government’s response to Hurricane Sandy, saying relief supplies were close by before the storm and were ready to be delivered once it cleared out.
Staten Island, she acknowledged, “took a particularly hard hit.” She said 1.6 million meals and 7.1 million liters of water had been “positioned” before the storm to be distributed afterward in New York. She said 657 housing inspectors were already at work in New York and 3,200 FEMA employees had been sent to the Northeast.
Other government officials asked for patience, even as they imposed new restrictions: Governor Christie announced an odd-even gas rationing system in 12 New Jersey counties.
Still, there were some promising developments. Mr. Bloomberg said that “most” of Manhattan would have power again by midnight Friday, although he said that other parts of the city that were still dark — and where electricity comes from overhead lines — would have to wait “a lot longer.” New Jersey Transit started running partial rail service, more of the Metro-North Railroad system came back to life and the Staten Island Ferry started crisscrossing the harbor again.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the city had made “great progress,” with service restored to about half of the two million customers who lost electricity during the storm. But his morning briefing hinted at the realities of disaster recovery as he leavened encouragement with caution.
He said that turning the power back on in Lower Manhattan would be a “big step forward” for transportation serving the area, but he also said it “did not mean that every light” would work, because electrical systems in some buildings had been damaged.
He said that ports would reopen and that tankers carrying gasoline were on the way, so the gas shortages would diminish. He also said he had approved waivers so that fuel tankers would not have to register or pay state taxes, as they normally do — moves he said should speed the distribution of fuel to gas stations. But he offset that announcement with a sober warning: “It is not going to get better overnight. It is not going to be a one- or two- or three-day situation.”
Sandy-hit US faces petrol shortage, transport problems
NEW YORK,Nov 2, 2012: A grim routine set in on Friday as superstorm Sandy's US victims struggled to adjust to gas lines, power outages and temporary housing while the death toll from the monster cyclone approached 100. New York's famed subway lurched back to life with limited service on Thursday, offering some relief from the storm-battered city's gridlock, but East Coast residents faced long lines at filling stations and lingering blackouts.
At least 92 people have now been reported dead across the 15 states hit by Monday night's unprecedented storm, including 40 in New York City, while some economists have estimated the disaster will cost up to $50 billion. More bodies are being found as police and firefighters continue "their lifesaving mission, going block-by-block and door-to-door in the areas devastated by the hurricane," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Thursday.
With about 650,000 people still without power in New York, Bloomberg said the city would start handing out food and water, while National Guard officers and police would go into high-rise buildings to help the elderly.
The Con Edison power company said some New Yorkers would have to wait until November 11 before electricity is restored, and the National Guard was still rescuing people trapped in flooded homes in nearby Hoboken, New Jersey.
The floodwaters receded slowly, leaving scenes of desolation. A yacht, thrown up by the storm, blocked one street near the Hoboken ferry terminal.
The Harman family on Thursday was bailing out the flooded garage they had used as a storage space. Already, they had filled a dumpster with ruined belongings, and a new pile -- children's toys, furniture and household equipment -- gathered on the sidewalk.
Christine Harman, a 43-year-old lawyer, said Hoboken residents were trying to keep their spirits up despite the lack of heat, power and in some apartments, water.
"We're sticking together. In our building we had a party last night. We had a grill on the roof and we cooked the meat that was going to go bad and drank the beer that was going to go off," she said.
New Jersey, which President Barack Obama visited on Wednesday, saw the most widespread destruction, with entire communities along the coast flooded and some 1.8 million people still without power days after the storm.
Obama and Republican White House challenger Mitt Romney resumed full campaigning on Thursday five days out from a nailbiter election, although the tone of their attacks was more muted in the aftermath of the tragedy.
As he launched an ambitious swing through four vital battleground states, Obama took the time to call the governors of worst-hit states New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from aboard Air Force One, the White House said.
Meanwhile, the first subway trains brought some cheer to New York City.
A skeleton service started just before dawn and trains were quickly packed. Train rides were to be free on Thursday and Friday. "It is not comfortable, but it is a huge relief to get moving again," said commuter Dave Stetman.
In a bid to avoid traffic gridlock, Bloomberg said that until Friday cars entering Manhattan must carry at least three people. Police set up checkpoints at bridges and turned back hundreds of vehicles.
Some heartbreaking stories have emerged from the storm.
Two brothers, aged two and four, were swept from their mother's arms in the floods as the family tried to escape the rising seas in the New York City borough of Staten Island.
Glenda Moore's car became stuck in the water, and she was carrying the boys to seek help when they were swept away, the New York Post said. The boys, Connor aged four and Brandon aged two, were later found dead.
Many victims were electrocuted or drowned in flooded basements, while others died from poisoning from the fumes given off by diesel generators put into use since the storm.
The Shell oil company was meanwhile working to clean up a diesel spill off the coast of New York City estimated at up to 300,000 gallons (1.1 million liters), according to the company and the US Coast Guard.
New York police said 28 people had been detained for looting in the Coney Island and Rockaway Beach districts.
Hurricane Sandy brought devastation throughout the Caribbean, hitting Haiti and Cuba especially hard before slamming into the United States and Canada. The overall death toll is now at least 163.
On Thursday the Coast Guard called off the search for the missing captain of a replica of the 18th-century HMS Bounty merchant vessel, which went down in high seas off the Carolinas in the opening hours of the storm's onslaught.
Countdown starts for 100-hour dash to V-day
WASHINGTON: Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the two principal US presidential candidates, have begun a frantic 100-hour dash to the November 6 Election Day finish, amid new poll numbers showing a tightening race complicated by hurricane Sandy.
As storm waters receded and hurricane-affected people began picking up the pieces, President Obama, who gave up four days of electioneering to focus on relief efforts, returned to the campaign trail on Thursday.
He headed out to Wisconsin, Nevada, and Colorado, three of about the 10 'battleground' states which will decide the election. Romney locked in on Virginia, another battleground state adjoining Washington DC. The two will now campaign nearly non-stop till Tuesday morning.
Latest polls show the two candidates deadlocked at 48-48 in nationwide popular vote. But that is less relevant than winning key battleground states and thereby getting the state's quota of electoral votes, which is what decides the winner, not the nationwide popular vote.
The number of electoral votes for each state is population-weighted (usually number of lawmakers it sends to Washington) and the candidate who wins the popular vote in the state gets the full complement of the state's electoral vote in the drive towards 270, the magic number which will put him in the White House.
Among the biggest states in play are Ohio (20) and Virginia (13) and Wisconsin (10), but the sub-10 states such as Colorado (9) Iowa (7) and Nevada (5) are not to be sniffed at either in such a close race.
Most big states such as the pro-Democrat California (55 electoral votes) and pro-Republican Texas (38) are considered beyond change.
Various state-wise polls show that Obama holds a statistically significant lead over Romney in Iowa (50-44), while the two candidates are locked in tight races in Virginia (48- 46 in favour of Obama) and Wisconsin (49-46 for Obama). But in each case, Romney has cut down even bigger Obama leads indicating the race is tightening.
Some states that the Obama camp had considered safe, such as Pennsylvania(20 electoral votes), are said to be back in the reckoning with the Romney campaign sniffing at a chance and plowing in resources in the final days.
In fighting words evocative of challenges in the subcontinent, David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, has said he would shave off his mustache of 40 years if Obama lost Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota, states where Obama was comfortably ahead but where Romney is closing the gap.
Romney himself is spending Thursday in Virginia holding rallies in conservative areas of the state to neutralize Obama's strength in the more liberal parts abutting Washington DC.
Similarly, Obama will storm Ohio later in the week and campaign in the more urbanized, industrialized, and unionized parts of the state to counter Romney's advantage in the more conservative, rural areas.
As storm waters receded and hurricane-affected people began picking up the pieces, President Obama, who gave up four days of electioneering to focus on relief efforts, returned to the campaign trail on Thursday.
He headed out to Wisconsin, Nevada, and Colorado, three of about the 10 'battleground' states which will decide the election. Romney locked in on Virginia, another battleground state adjoining Washington DC. The two will now campaign nearly non-stop till Tuesday morning.
Latest polls show the two candidates deadlocked at 48-48 in nationwide popular vote. But that is less relevant than winning key battleground states and thereby getting the state's quota of electoral votes, which is what decides the winner, not the nationwide popular vote.
The number of electoral votes for each state is population-weighted (usually number of lawmakers it sends to Washington) and the candidate who wins the popular vote in the state gets the full complement of the state's electoral vote in the drive towards 270, the magic number which will put him in the White House.
Among the biggest states in play are Ohio (20) and Virginia (13) and Wisconsin (10), but the sub-10 states such as Colorado (9) Iowa (7) and Nevada (5) are not to be sniffed at either in such a close race.
Most big states such as the pro-Democrat California (55 electoral votes) and pro-Republican Texas (38) are considered beyond change.
Various state-wise polls show that Obama holds a statistically significant lead over Romney in Iowa (50-44), while the two candidates are locked in tight races in Virginia (48- 46 in favour of Obama) and Wisconsin (49-46 for Obama). But in each case, Romney has cut down even bigger Obama leads indicating the race is tightening.
Some states that the Obama camp had considered safe, such as Pennsylvania(20 electoral votes), are said to be back in the reckoning with the Romney campaign sniffing at a chance and plowing in resources in the final days.
In fighting words evocative of challenges in the subcontinent, David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, has said he would shave off his mustache of 40 years if Obama lost Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota, states where Obama was comfortably ahead but where Romney is closing the gap.
Romney himself is spending Thursday in Virginia holding rallies in conservative areas of the state to neutralize Obama's strength in the more liberal parts abutting Washington DC.
Similarly, Obama will storm Ohio later in the week and campaign in the more urbanized, industrialized, and unionized parts of the state to counter Romney's advantage in the more conservative, rural areas.
After Sandy, Obama has edge in close race
WASHINGTON, Nov2 ,2012: As President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney returned to the campaign in the wake of Hurricane sandy, new polls suggested a very close race though Obama appeared to have a very slight edge.Buoyed by praise for his handling of the 'Frankenstorm', Obama on Thursday ended a three-state swing with a rally in the battle ground state of Colorado where a CNN/ORC International Poll showed Obama with a 50 to 48 percent edge over Romney, well within the survey's sampling error.
An American Research Group poll conducted over the weekend had Romney at 48 percent and Obama at 47 percent, and an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll conducted last week suggested the race was tied at 48 percent.
A Washington Post-ABC News showed 49 percent of likely voters across the country backing Obama to Romney's 48 percent. It's an identical 49 to 48 percent looking across eight states identified as "tossups" by The Washington Post.
Nationally, in 10 out of 11 releases of the tracking poll, the two presidential contenders have been separated by no more than a single percentage point, the Post noted. Seven times the gap between the two has been less than 1 percent, when looking at the fractional differences.
But the president continues to have a solid pushback to Republicans on the economy. By a 15-point margin (51 to 36 percent), more voters say former President George W Bush bears more responsibility than does Obama for current economic problems.
But there's less of an apparent gap in the eight tossup states - Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin - where 47 percent point the finger at Bush, 42 percent at Obama, the Post said.
Looking at 12 polls in Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin, FiveThirtyEight, an influential poll watching blog on the New York Times asserted Obama remains the favourite in the 538-vote Electoral College as it raised the President's share to 303.2 giving him an 80.8 percent chance.
But it also hedged its bets saying "Obama is not a sure thing, by any means."
Politico, another influential media site focused on politics gave Obama a 290 to 249 edge over Romney, while Real Clear Politics, a political news aggregating site showed the President edging ahead 47.4 to 47.3 per cent even as its kept intact its forecast of 206 for Obama and 191 for Romney with 146 too close to call.
Obama's campaign also got a boost with a fresh endorsement on Thursday from New York City's independent three-term Mayor Michael Bloomberg and continuing praise from New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie.
Meanwhile, former president Bill Clinton kept up his campaign blitz for Obama and other Democrats zig-zagging his way across the country. He has appeared at nearly 40 events for House candidates this cycle and raised $1.4 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
As race gets tighter, both sides woo PIO voters
WASHINGTON: In a very close presidential election where every single vote counts, both the Obama and Romney campaigns have been making special effort to reach out to the Indian-American community, which numbers over three million members according to the latest census.
"Barack Obama is not just a president for some of us; he is fighting for all of us," says a full page ad placed in India This Week and Express India
Meanwhile, The Northern California Asian Pacific Islanders Americans in its ad said, "Ready to Go to Work. Vision for a better America. Vote Mitt Romney for president. Promising all my heart to restore strength to America. We will be strong again."
"Barack Obama is not just a president for some of us; he is fighting for all of us," says a full page ad placed in India This Week and Express India
Meanwhile, The Northern California Asian Pacific Islanders Americans in its ad said, "Ready to Go to Work. Vision for a better America. Vote Mitt Romney for president. Promising all my heart to restore strength to America. We will be strong again."
Infosys on major austerity drive, defers joining dates of 17,000 recruits
BANGALORE,Nov2,2012: Falling margins and an unplanned salary increase have pushed Infosys to embark on a major austerity drive. The details are not clear yet, but it certainly includes a freeze on business class air travel and deferment of joining dates of 17,000 campus recruits.
The IT major's CEO, S D Shibulal, has sent a mail to employees saying that the company's expenditure for the year had risen too high on account of its Lodestone acquisition and salary increase. The mail goes on to say that the cost-cutting measures would be implemented in a phased manner.
A company spokesperson said, "In a tough business environment, Infosys has decided to take certain cost optimization measures. These are necessary for the company to continue making strategic investments and afford the rollout of the compensation increase."
The joining dates for campus recruits have been deferred for three months from the date of joining that was communicated to them previously. Several people tweeted that their joining dates had been extended to February; some said April.
The Infosys spokesperson said the company would honour all campus offers. The company has introduced an online training programme to keep these new hires engaged till they formally start work. "The completion of this training will not only give these recruits a headstart in their career with Infosys, but also reduce their planned six months training programme at our Mysore campus by up to two months," the spokesperson said.
Anticipating a bevy of queries from thousands of campus recruits for specifics around the deferred joining dates, Infosys has set up an exclusive online chat line. "This will help us address additional queries from them and also help them gather details about our online training programme. This will be in addition to our personal communication and addressing queries through emails," the company said.
There's also a freeze on long-haul business class air travel by its senior executives, including the CEO. "Business class is a privilege available to senior leaders in the company for long haul travel. In our drive to optimize travel costs, the senior leadership has decided to lead by example and forgo this privilege," the company said.
Infosys's operating margin has been dropping consistently for several quarters now. In the quarter ended December 2011, it had a 31.2% operating margin, but this was down at 26.34% in the last quarter. The September quarter alone saw a surprisingly sharp fall of 166 basis points. The salary increase of 6% announced last month, which many believe was done under pressure because rivals had given increments earlier in the year, will increase margin pressures in the coming quarters. Infosys normally announces salary increases in April, but this year it did not do so citing uncertain business conditions.
The IT major's CEO, S D Shibulal, has sent a mail to employees saying that the company's expenditure for the year had risen too high on account of its Lodestone acquisition and salary increase. The mail goes on to say that the cost-cutting measures would be implemented in a phased manner.
A company spokesperson said, "In a tough business environment, Infosys has decided to take certain cost optimization measures. These are necessary for the company to continue making strategic investments and afford the rollout of the compensation increase."
The joining dates for campus recruits have been deferred for three months from the date of joining that was communicated to them previously. Several people tweeted that their joining dates had been extended to February; some said April.
The Infosys spokesperson said the company would honour all campus offers. The company has introduced an online training programme to keep these new hires engaged till they formally start work. "The completion of this training will not only give these recruits a headstart in their career with Infosys, but also reduce their planned six months training programme at our Mysore campus by up to two months," the spokesperson said.
Anticipating a bevy of queries from thousands of campus recruits for specifics around the deferred joining dates, Infosys has set up an exclusive online chat line. "This will help us address additional queries from them and also help them gather details about our online training programme. This will be in addition to our personal communication and addressing queries through emails," the company said.
There's also a freeze on long-haul business class air travel by its senior executives, including the CEO. "Business class is a privilege available to senior leaders in the company for long haul travel. In our drive to optimize travel costs, the senior leadership has decided to lead by example and forgo this privilege," the company said.
Infosys's operating margin has been dropping consistently for several quarters now. In the quarter ended December 2011, it had a 31.2% operating margin, but this was down at 26.34% in the last quarter. The September quarter alone saw a surprisingly sharp fall of 166 basis points. The salary increase of 6% announced last month, which many believe was done under pressure because rivals had given increments earlier in the year, will increase margin pressures in the coming quarters. Infosys normally announces salary increases in April, but this year it did not do so citing uncertain business conditions.
'Indian computer game developers appear to be improving content'
PUNE,Nov2,2012: The Indian gaming industry has spread its influence across platforms, evolved new business models and emerged as a prominent sunrise industry in the country. The industry holds the promise of maturing over the next few years thanks to improved skill sets, quality of development, on-time delivery combined with cost advantage. The entry of global majors and setting up of captive centres are significant milestones and as the momentum picks up this will transform the gaming landscape. The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) is organising the fourth edition of its Game Developer Conference on November 2 and 3 (Friday and Saturday) in the city. Rajeev Vaishav, Nasscom's member of Outreach Programme spoke to TOI on the eve of the conference:
What is the present state of India's gaming industry? What is the size of this business presently and what are the projections?
The Indian gaming industry is witnessing a steady growth in India with immense potential. With factors like emergence of gaming start-up, rise in wireless usage and a proliferation of game developers, significant rise in penetration of personal computers and mobile phones has also accelerated the growth of the industry. The gaming industry is constantly evolving with the introduction of new technologies in the gaming circuit and will witness a constant rise in demand for new innovations from customers.
The Indian gaming industry is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 49% to reach $830 million by 2012 which was $167 million in 2008. By the end of 2012, the gaming industry would grow at a CAGR of 10.5% globally to $53.6 billion from $21 billion in 2008. The Nasscom IGDA report on casual gaming in India reveals that it is expected to grow significantly at a CAGR of 32% over 2010-15.
The Indian gaming industry is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 49% to reach $830 million by 2012 which was $167 million in 2008. By the end of 2012, the gaming industry would grow at a CAGR of 10.5% globally to $53.6 billion from $21 billion in 2008. The Nasscom IGDA report on casual gaming in India reveals that it is expected to grow significantly at a CAGR of 32% over 2010-15.
Global game developers are considering moving a lot of work to India, but does India have the ecosystem in terms of talent and technology?
The Indian gaming industry is at an inflection point - with increasing demand for outsourcing services supplemented by a fast growing domestic market. With the growth of talent and technology in India many global game developers are considering to partner with the Indian gaming industry. The Indian gaming services have moved up the value chain with more end-end offshoring work in terms of development services coming to India. The entry of global majors and setting up of captive centres are significant milestones and as the momentum picks up this will transform the gaming landscape in India.
What are the challenges that Indian game developers are facing?
One of the key challenges being faced by Indian gaming developers is the stiff competition from international content which often tends to have better quality. However, given the success of localized games we have seen in the past, the Indian game developers appear to be improving content that is on par with international standards. The lack of casual games based on Indian environment, society, lifestyle and culture also inhibit the adoption in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Majority of the games available today are based on international themes and story-lines and invoke limited interest from Indian consumers. Also the absence of viable alternative payments mechanisms for online and mobile based games has hindered innovation by game developers. Infrastructure related issues like high cost of consoles, non availability of adequate bandwidth, low awareness of the Indian population on gaming as it is relatively a newer form of entertainment and not integrated into the Indian culture are some of the major challenges faced by the Indian game developers and industry.
How will the fast evolving telecom technology impact the field of game development?
The mobile gaming market generates huge amount of revenues and is expected to grow at CAGR 27.5% over 2010-15. Upgradation of infrastructure (3G and LTE) leading to availability of affordable and stable mobile internet services will be the driving factors for mobile casual gaming revenues. The availability of low-cost handsets will increase the target market that can be addressed by the gaming companies. Also with the increasing penetration of netbooks and tablet PCs higher number of people are accessing internet for online games.
As most consumption of gaming software will be online and on-mobile, what special capabilities will Indian game developers need to address those mediums?
Development of women centric online and on-mobile games such as based on TV-soaps-which have huge fan following, will help the gaming companies to target housewives in not just Tier-1 cities but also Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Also the Indian game developers need to develop online games in local languages, which are based on demographic, cultural and social topics that can positively impact the adoption and penetration of casual games. The game developers must additionally focus at developing games that provide near real, interactive and engrossing experience to users. This will help the gaming companies in ensuring sustained interest of the gamers.
'Eye on India, China all set to look west'
BEIJING: Ahead of a once-in-a-decade leadership change in China, strategists in Beijing are scripting a new 'Look West' policy, giving primacy to ties with India while rebalancing Beijing's decades old pro-Pakistan tilt to counter American influence.
"The Americans are looking towards East and we look towards the West," Wang Jisi, a Chinese strategist who worked closely with Chinese leaders including outgoing President Hu Jintao to reset the badly ruptured relations with India after 1962 conflict, said giving a rare insight into the thinking among the leadership.
By West, Wang means the West of China, starting from India, the sprawling South and West Asia and beyond.
"China ignored the West for long and it is time for rebalance not only for oil, natural gas but also very big economic opportunities," he said, quoting recent studies that China's trade with India and rest of Asia grew seven times faster than Beijing's trade growth in recent years.
As China looks to reset its ties with India, he said Beijing's "all weather" relations with Pakistan were no longer driven by the factor to contain New Delhi, but to prevent the Islamic militancy in Xinjiang, bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
"We have to fend off extreme Islamic terrorism from getting into China from Pakistan and we need Pakistan more like all weather ally," he added.
"Pakistan is increasingly getting weak. It is much less than GDP of India. I am sad about it," he said.
"The Americans are looking towards East and we look towards the West," Wang Jisi, a Chinese strategist who worked closely with Chinese leaders including outgoing President Hu Jintao to reset the badly ruptured relations with India after 1962 conflict, said giving a rare insight into the thinking among the leadership.
By West, Wang means the West of China, starting from India, the sprawling South and West Asia and beyond.
"China ignored the West for long and it is time for rebalance not only for oil, natural gas but also very big economic opportunities," he said, quoting recent studies that China's trade with India and rest of Asia grew seven times faster than Beijing's trade growth in recent years.
As China looks to reset its ties with India, he said Beijing's "all weather" relations with Pakistan were no longer driven by the factor to contain New Delhi, but to prevent the Islamic militancy in Xinjiang, bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
"We have to fend off extreme Islamic terrorism from getting into China from Pakistan and we need Pakistan more like all weather ally," he added.
"Pakistan is increasingly getting weak. It is much less than GDP of India. I am sad about it," he said.