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Indian IT giant <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> recently granted <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Infosys-relaunches-ESOP/articleshow/53225972.cms">stock units to its employees </a>after a long gap of 13 years, saying that it will give these units every year for the next 4-5 years, making its employees feel attached with the growth of the company. 
 
The first grant involves 250 to 500 stock units, which have been given to 7,800 managers, consultants and technical leads belonging to the middle level, about 25% of the employees in those categories. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Infosys-CEO-says-low-performance-in-Q1-a-result-of-execution-failure/articleshow/53265955.cms">Shocking Q1 performance a result of execution failure, says Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka</a> 
 
The employees would be allowed to sell their stocks, which are being given at par value (Rs 5). The value of the total shares being granted to each employee varies between Rs 2.68 lakh (250 shares) and Rs 5.36 lakh (500 shares) as per the Thursday share price of Rs 1,077. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Disappointed-Vishal-Sikka-re-jigs-top-order-after-dismal-Q1-another-key-executive-quits/articleshow/53278154.cms">Disappointed Vishal Sikka re-jigs top order after dismal Q1; another key executive quits</a> 
 "We need employees to be a part of the growth journey of the company. It's not a one off grant. We want to do it every year and at this point, we are looking at giving units to employees over the next 4-5 years. Most equity plans work on a continuous basis and that's when it kicks in huge benefits for the employees," Infosys group HR <keyword id="3496750" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="krishnamurthy-shankar">Krishnamurthy Shankar</keyword> head told TOI. 
 
Also read: ​<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Vishal-Sikka-writes-to-Infosys-employees/articleshow/53282883.cms">Here’s the letter Vishal Sikka wrote to Infosys employees after disappointing Q1 performance</a> 
 
<a href="http://poetsandquants.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/10379313-54b8-4448-b3fa-367be8ac368bInfosys.jpg">Image source</a>

Infosys has something huge in store for its staff

<ul><li>The expenses of living have increased across the country due to inflation, white-collar jobs and people are looking for ways to go back to their hometowns.</li><li>According to a report by Nasscom and Boston Consulting Group, 65% of the employees in India want to shift to tier 2 or tier 3 cities.</li><li>Top tech majors like <keyword id="6354512" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="infosys" source="Orion">Infosys</keyword>, Wipro and <keyword id="6357150" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tcs" source="Orion">TCS</keyword> have opened offices in Tier-2 and Tier-3 locations like Guwahati, Bhubaneswar and Jamshedpur.</li></ul>After a long hiatus, software engineer Jatin Sharma moved back to Gurugram from his hometown Jaipur. His company has called him back to the office - and he has to be present at least twice a week. Since it’s too far for him to make the trip from home, he shifted back to the city and has been living there for the last six months. “I’ve realized that my monthly expenses have increased at least by 20-30% in the last six months. It was comparatively lesser before Covid. I am unable to save anything like earlier,” Sharma told Business Insider India. The expenses of living have grown across the country in the last four months due to food and fuel inflation. Moreso, urban areas are tighter on the pocket, making him look for ways and means to go back home. “If I had the option I would want to move back to my hometown. My expenses over there are quite low,” Sharma further added. He is not the only one who thinks so. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Surat vs Mumbai, Kochi vs Chennai" comment="subhead" text="Surat vs Mumbai, Kochi vs Chennai">Surat vs Mumbai, Kochi vs Chennai</cmsannotation> According to a report by Nasscom and Boston Consulting Group, 65% of the employees in India want to shift to tier-2 or tier-3 cities. The cost of living in Surat is 50% lower than Mumbai, while in Jaipur it is 35% lower than the national capital city. Similarly, the cost of living in Kochi is 30% lower than the cost of living in Chennai, says the report titled Shaping the Future of Work in India's Tech Industry. Urban migration of white collar workers is very prevalent in India as a significant portion of employees are from tier-2 or tier-3 cities. Since most of them moved back to their hometowns during the pandemic and enjoyed the comfort of their homes and near and dear, they’re reluctant to come back to hefty rents, lonely life and also miss the pleasures of living at home. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The reverse migration of tech cos" comment="subhead" text="The reverse migration of tech cos">The reverse migration of tech cos</cmsannotation> As the saying goes, – if Mohammed doesn’t come to the mountain, the mountain will come to Mohammed. To cater to this trend, top tech majors like Infosys, Wipro and TCS have opened offices in tier-2 and tier-3 locations like Guwahati, Bhubaneswar and Jamshedpur. In the last 18 months, this expansion has intensified. “A large number of our people are working from hometowns. We have looked at it and (want to) ensure that they have opportunities to work closer home. These are not satellite offices. It is at least 1,000 seaters and we will expand them as we go forward. In the next quarter-end, all these offices will be ready,” Krishnamurthy Shankar, group head of human resource development of Infosys told ET. Infosys is <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/information-tech/infosys-sets-up-four-new-offices-in-tier-ii-cities-in-a-bid-to-get-closer-to-talent-pool/articleshow/92186996.cms">setting up new offices</a> in Coimbatore and Vizag, to access the talent pool. Opening offices in tier-2 or tier-3 cities is also beneficial for organizations too. These companies which have been struggling with increased salary hikes, can receive access to a wide talent pool at salaries that are at least 20-30% lower. As of <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/tier-2-and-tier-3-cities-the-sunrise-destination-of-indian-it-industry/">now</a>, about 976 MNCs have set up 1,257 Global In-house Centres (GICs) in India. Of this, only 68 GICs are in tier-2 locations, by Zinnov, a management consultancy. There are more towns which can be tapped, across the length and breadth of this vast country. “Indore, Chandigarh, Warangal, Kochi are some of the tier-2 cities of high potential for the company and it expects to narrow down to two to three cities for launching new offices,” as per Nasscom report. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/environment/news/india-heads-into-the-thunderstorm-zone-right-after-the-heatwave-orange-alerts-issued/articleshow/92333863.cms">India heads into the thunderstorm zone right after the heatwave, orange alerts issued</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/indians-found-inner-peace-during-the-pandemic-but-now-they-seek-less-of-it/articleshow/92336707.cms">Indians found inner peace during the pandemic but now, they seek less of it</a>

India’s tech talent pool is from Vizag, Indore and Warangal — that’s where Infosys, TCS and others are heading

(Eds: Minor edit in header) New Delhi, Jun 26 () The advisory council to the 15th Finance Commission has discussed the impact of restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic on tax revenue and possibilities for establishing a debt consolidation road map. In the virtual meetings with the Finance Commission on June 25-26, the Advisory Council felt that the impact of the pandemic on the economy and on the fiscal positions of the Union and state governments is still highly uncertain. "The advisory council also discussed the adverse implications of constraints in the economy on tax revenue collections of the union and state governments. While noting that tax collections can be considerably affected by the pandemic, some members of the council indicated the impact of the pandemic on tax collections may also be asymmetric," an official statement said. Data released last month showed the central government's fiscal deficit surged to 78 per cent of Budget estimates to Rs 2.79 lakh crore in April as tax revenues slumped on account of the nationwide lockdown. The Budget for 2020-21 had projected the fiscal deficit at Rs 7.96 lakh crore, or 3.5 per cent of GDP. The advisory council also discussed implications on the deficits and debt of the general government along with constraints and possibilities for establishing a path for consolidation of public debt, post the pandemic. "On the expenditure side, governments will have substantial expenditure burden on account of health, support to poor and other economic agent," the members said. The nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of pandemic has severely impacted the economic activity. The meeting was chaired by 15th Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh, and attended by all members and senior officials of the Commission. From the advisory council, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Sajjid Z Chinoy, Prachi Mishra, Neelkanth Mishra and Omkar Goswami and special invitee Rathin Roy attended the meeting on June 25. While Arvind Virmani, D K Srivastava, M Govinda Rao and Sudipto Mundle from the advisory council, along with Shankar Acharya and Pronab Sen, attended the meeting on June 26. "Many analysts and think-tanks have reduced their GDP growth projections for 2020-21. Due to ongoing social distancing measures in place and local level restrictions in many places, supply chains are not yet fully restored, which affects recovery process," it said. JD MKJ MKJ

FinComm's advisory council discusses possibility of debt consolidation road map post COVID-19

New Delhi, May 1 () In one of the biggest collaborations by artistes for a noble cause, a group of 100 singers, including the legendary Asha Bhosle, Kumar Sanu and Sonu Nigam have come together to record an anthem for the frontline warriors fighting the coronavirus pandemic and in the aid of PM Cares fund.The anthem 'One Nation One Voice', recorded in 14 different languages, will be dedicated to the nation by Lata Mangeshkar on behalf of Indian Singers Rights Association (ISRA) on May 3.It will be released across over 100 digital platforms such as TV, Radio and on social media.Commenting on the initiative, Bhosle said that singers are the artists who have always expressed the feelings of the public."On this occasion when all of us are fighting against the coronavirus pandemic as 'One Nation' ably led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we 100 singers of the country under ISRA decided to express our love for the nation and dedicate this song as 'One Voice'," she said.The artists, who are a part of the anthem include Asha Bhosle, Anup Jalota, Alka Yagnik, Hariharan, Kailash Kher, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Kumar Sanu, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Mano, Pankaj Udhas, S P Balasubramanian, Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Talat Aziz, Udit Narayan, Shankar Mahadevan, Jasbir Jassi among others.Sanjay Tandon, CEO of ISRA said, "One Nation One Voice in aid of PM Cares is a dedication from ISRA where 100 artists pay tribute to all the people in the forefront of the battle against the coronavirus and all the people at home who have supported the lockdown.""One Nation One voice is not just an anthem but it is a national movement - we have over 100 broadcast, social, amplification and tech platforms supporting the launch," said Sukrit Singh of XP&amp;D BeLive digital platform.The anthem is the brainchild of Nigam, singer Srinivas and Tandon.Nigham said, "It is our collective tribute to the mammoth struggle and effort our government and the entire medical and health workers are putting together in these times of global crisis. Hundred singers are coming together from different corners of India, is an unprecedented show of solidarity and love."Srinivas said as artiste they wanted to contribute to the fight in their own way. "ISRA being the treasure house of singers in this country, we embark on a song with 100 voices and nothing else, to stir the nation's heart and reaffirm our solidarity. A hundred voices sing in unison for the nation," he said.Every artist has recorded the song from home.Manish Baradia, Creative Director of Moving Pixels said: "Working with home recording of audio and video is a beautiful challenge. There is a certain sincerity and effort that comes through that no packaging can match. The end result is inspiring. The anthem is composed for the digital age and can be enjoyed on TV, Radio, Devices and Caller Ring Tones."The song is available in 14 languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujrati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bhojpuri, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Rajasthani and Odiya. CPS BKBK

COVID-19: 100 singers unite for anthem dedicated to frontline warriors

New Delhi, Apr 9 () Some of the biggest names from Indian music including Asha Bhonsle, S P Balasubramaniam and K J Yesudas are joining hands for a series of virtual concerts to express their solidarity with the people working at the forefront of the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.The Indian Singers Rights Association (ISRA) announced that it will hold a three-day concert 'Sangeet Setu', starting from April 10 between 8 pm and 9 pm, with the aim to entertain the public and help them deal with the stress in these unprecedented times of lockdown. "The feed for the concert, dedicated to PM CARES, will be available on OTT platforms, Television, Digital and Social channels," the ISRA said in a release. The concert, blessed by nightingale of bollywood Lata Mangeshkar, has an impressive line-up of veterans Asha Bhonsle, S P Balasubramaniam, K J Yesudas, Udit Narayan, Anoop Jalota, Pankaj Udhas, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sudesh Bhosale, Suresh Wadkar, Talat Aziz, Alka Yagnik, Kumar Shanu, Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu Nigam, Salim Merchant, Shaan and Kailash Kher, the ISRA said."ISRA decided that leading singers of the country will entertain the masses and try to lighten their stress, strain and depression in these tough times. I thank all the artists who have made themselves available for this national service," Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sanjay Tandon said.Moving Pixels Company, XP&amp;D and Be.live have partnered with the ISRA in this effort.MPC Creative Director, Manish Baradia said, "This is not just a concert series, it is a national movement. We want to take this concert to one billion screens."Speaking on behalf XP&amp;D and Be.Live, Sukrit Singh said "the O2O (Offline to Online) concert belongs to the nation - our feed is free for anyone who can get it to a screen. "We appeal to every OTT, TV or digital channel to stream the content for free and show solidarity with the current battle. The feed of the virtual concerts will be available on several OTT platforms including MX Player, Hotstar, Vodafone Play, Flipkart, Jio Tv and Sony Liv," Singh said. Singer Sonu Nigam said said the concert was their tribute to every Indian fighting against the coronavirus. "Every Indian be it an official, a health worker, an essential services provider or citizen at home - is contributing in this battle. Especially the mothers, home makers and sisters at home are bearing the burden and as artists we salute you through our music." Shaan urged people to tune in and donate in the times of crisis."We urge everyone to stay at home. With this initiative, we will be able to come to your homes and sing for the country. I urge everyone to donate generously to the PM Cares fund, as every single rupee counts," Shaan said."On behalf of ISRA we come together as a family to sing for you all to spread positivity amongst all of us in this dark phase bringing entertainment for enlightenment and cheer," Kher added. SKL BKBK

COVID-19: ISRA brings together top musicians for virtual concert 'Sangeet Setu'

The recent lay-offs at firms such as Wipro, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra, etc sent ripples across the IT sector. However, <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> HR Head Krishnamurthy Shankar said the job cuts were blown out of proportion. Shankar said employees have to keep re-inventing and deliver high-quality performance rate. At Infosys, Shankar told ET, attrition is at 13.8 per cent and involuntary attrition, meaning those who are asked to leave for performance and value mismatches, is at 1.3 per cent. Infosys plans to hire 24, 000 employees in India, half of which will be freshers. Also, the company is encouraging managers to bring disruptions and changes in the work front. Infosys has come up with MaQ (manager quotient), which utilises crowdsourced feedback and analytics to personalise the learning journey. The programme uses data culled from company surveys through the year, exit interviews and employee feedback to allow managers to see how they are doing on certain core competencies. This is not the first time when Infosys has taken this kind of initiative. Last year, Infosys launched Compass, a digital platform that allows employees to mobilise available opportunities on career growth, learning and networks. Infosys’ Zero Distance programme is already doing well which aims at innovation in all projects the company is running.

Lay-offs in IT sector have been blown out of proportion: Infosys HR head

Yes, it is true. <keyword id="24019" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="automation">Automation</keyword> is going to take a toll on jobs and the effects can be seen. Thanks to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=automation&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">automation</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=infosys&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Infosys </a>released 8,000-9,000 employees within a year. 
 <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> HR Head Krishnamurthy Shankar said, “We have been releasing about 2,000 people every quarter and also training them in special courses that will help them in their new assignments.” 
 
Shankar agreed that automation is set to seep in with more intensity and hiring will considerably come down. 
 
Infosys has trained nearly 490 people in a first batch of machine learning and the use of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=AI&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">artificial intelligence</a> (AI). 
 
Infosys added 5,700 people in the first nine months of this fiscal, compared to about 17,000 in the same period last year. In the December quarter, Infosys' total employee strength actually declined -an extremely rare occurrence for India's No. 2 IT services company . The total strength fell by 66 to 1,99,763. 
 
Sectors that will be highly impacted due to automation will be BPO, application management and infrastructure management. 
 
Wipro’s Global HR head Saurabh Govil in November had said the company released 3,200 people through automation to do more innovative work.

Worrisome? Infosys releases around 2,000 employees every quarter, thanks to automation

<keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword>, India’s IT giant, has come up with <keyword id="3347995" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="predictive-algorithm">predictive algorithm</keyword> to help it identify and develop the upcoming <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Infosys-is-creating-pool-of-talent-to-lead-next-generation/articleshow/48051117.cms">top leaders </a>from its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Infosys-has-something-huge-in-store-for-its-staff/articleshow/53451102.cms">workforce</a>. This has come at a time when the company has seen a lot of top-level employees leaving the company in the past few weeks. 
 
Infosys EVP Krishnamurthy Shankar told ET that the new leadership programmes put in place by the company aims at grooming and developing leaders from different levels of the company. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Infosys-to-invest-in-an-Indian-VC-fund/articleshow/53521785.cms">Infosys to invest $15 million in an Indian VC fund</a> 
 
"We are also starting various other programmes that are helping build the leadership part. What we've done is we've tried to identify the people who've started with the top 25 people and we've tried to figure out what should be the development each of them should go through as we look for them to achieve their own potential. We've been working with each of them - it's a process that will take time," said Shankar. 
 
He added that the new programmes implemented are separate from the current tie-up that they have with Stanford University, where the focus is on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/iSPIRT-to-groom-200-Indianstartups-at-Infosys-Mysuru/articleshow/49641254.cms">executive leadership development</a>. 
 
"We've been working closely with the leadership team. It's not just about putting a programme in place. The programme has to achieve some goals," said Shankar. "We want to look 3-5 years down the line and figure out what kind of leaders we want. That's the area on which we're focussing on internally." 
 
With <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/IT-firms-invest-in-predictive-algorithms/articleshow/53223948.cms">predictive algorithms</a>, the company can control <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Its-not-difficult-to-deal-with-employee-attrition-if-you-handle-your-employees-well/articleshow/53334829.cms">employee attrition</a>, just like several other companies have been doing. 
 
"We've developed a predictive analytics tool or rather an algorithm which identifies who are the people who are at risk of leaving," Shankar concluded. 
 
<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/photo/50573055.cms">Image source</a>

Infosys is using an algorithm to identify its next top-level leaders

<keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> is going to give fat packages to their four presidents. The compensation of the four presidents has crossed $1 million, in fixed and variable pay. 
 
Infosys is aligning its pay packages with the performances and appointed its four presidents and chief compliance officer as key management personnel. 
 
The IT giant said it was looking to create close to 50-50 ratio of fixed to variable pay to closely align its top executives salaries with the company's performance. 
 
Presidents Mohit Joshi, Ravi Kumar S and Sandeep Dadlani will take home $625,000 in fixed pay and an additional $500,000 in variable pay. 
 
They will also receive 52,350 restricted stock units and 112,750 employee stock options. 
 
Meanwhile, the fourth president Rajesh Murthy will receive $540,000 in fixed pay and an additional $450,000 in variable pay. Murthy will receive 45,000 restricted stock units and 96,900 employee stock options. 
 
In a bid to align its structure and give greater client satisfaction, Infosys split its businesses into 15 smaller units. The presidents will take on broader corporate responsibilities. 
 
Apart from the presidents, Infosys’ Chief financial officer MD Ranganath will get Rs 2 crore in fixed pay and an additional Rs 2 crore in variable pay. Group ' human resources head Krishnamurthy Shankar will earn Rs 2.34 crore in fixed pay and Rs 1.86 crore in variable pay.

Infosys’ presidents enter the million-dollar club. These are their salaries now

Indian IT firm <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> just revised the pay structure of its key executives and the salaries of the top leadership is bound to take a hit. 
 After the revision, <keyword id="3747292" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys-COO-Pravin-Rao">Infosys COO Pravin Rao</keyword>'s take-home pay could hit Rs 8 crore and even Chief Financial Officer M D Ranganath’s salary will be hit. 
 
"The Board of Directors have approved the revised annual compensation of Pravin Rao...with effect from November 1, 2016, subject to the approval of the shareholders. The compensation includes fixed compensation of Rs 4.62 crore per annum and a variable compensation of up to Rs 3.88 crore per annum," Infosys said. 
 
Additionally, based on fiscal 2016 performance, Rao will get 27,250 restricted stock units (RSU) and 43,000 stock options, vested over a period of four years. 
 
Infosys stated the revised aggregate compensation of Mohit Joshi (Head of the Financial Services), Sandeep Dadlani (Head of Americas), Rajesh K Murthy (Head of Europe), Ravikumar S (Chief Delivery Officer), David Kennedy (Chief Compliance Officer), Krishnamurthy Shankar (Group Head of Human Resource Development) and Manikantha AGS (Company Secretary) includes fixed compensation of Rs 24 crore and variable compensation of up to Rs 20 crore. 
 
Meanwhile, Infosys inducted founder and CEO of Surya Software Systems D N Prahlad as an independent director on its Board. 
 
Infosys Chairman R Seshasayee said, "We are delighted to welcome Prahlad, a distinguished technologist to the Board. Prahlad brings with him, not only his deep knowledge of the company, but also sharp insights into the industry.”

Salaries of Infosys’ top executives take a hit. This is how much the COO will earn now

Women dominated this year's <keyword id="6391019" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Padma-awards">Padma awards</keyword> for sports with tennis star Sania Mirza and ace shuttler <keyword id="30618" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Saina-Nehwal">Saina Nehwal</keyword> getting the nod for the Padma Bhushan, while archer <keyword id="86231" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Deepika-Kumari">Deepika Kumari</keyword> was chosen for the Padma Shri here today. 

	All three were in sublime touch last year and brought the country laurels in their respective sports. 
 Sania enjoyed the most sensational run, clinching nine titles -- including two Grand Slams last year with Swiss great Martina Hingis. The exceptional performance propelled her to the top of the <keyword id="935171" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="WTA-doubles-rankings">WTA doubles rankings</keyword>. 

	The 29-year-old is currently competing in the Australian Open in Melbourne, where she has reached the women's doubles quarterfinals with Hingis. 
 Saina has also been in spectacular touch, winning silver medals at the All England and World Badminton Championship last year besides clinching the India Open Super Series and <keyword id="2039194" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Syed-Modi-Grand-Prix-Gold">Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold</keyword>. 

	Deepika, on the other hand, won a silver at the Archery World Cup Final besides bronze medals at the World Cup Stage II and the Asian Team Championships. 
 

	Saina, who is in the country to compete in this week's Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold Tournament, said the honour has left her surprised. Interestingly, the 25-year-old had expressed her displeasure at being ignored for the award last year. 
 
 

	"It is a great honour and I want to thank the Ministry for giving me the award. I am very happy with the way the last year has gone, I have been performing well. I reached World No.1 last year and now I am World No.2. I am sure this award will give me more motivation to do well further this year," Saina said. 
 

	"It came as a complete surprise to me. I had no clue. I did not expect at all. There was no news of it at all. When I think that I am just 25 and I have received this award, it makes me feel great. But it is still a long way to go." 
 

	Saina was left disappointed after the Sports Ministry decided to reject her application for the award in January last year, citing norms. 
 

	The ministry had picked two-time Olympic-medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar for the honour last year. 
 

	Saina was bestowed the Khel Ratna and Padma Shri in 2010 and also received the Arjuna Award in 2009. 
 

	The 21-year-old Deepika, meanwhile, had also won the team silver along with Laxmirani Majhi and Rimil Buriuly in the World Championships. 
	 
	
		Superstar Rajinikanth, founder of the Reliance empire late Dhirubhai Ambani, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and media baron Ramoji Rao have been chosen for Padma Vibhushan, country's second highest civilian award, this year. 
	 
	
		Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Jagmohan, former DRDO chief V K Aatre, cancer specialist and chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute Dr V Shanta and eminent Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi dancer Yamini Krishnamurthi and classical vocalist Girija Devi and Indian-American economist Avinash Dixit have also been named for Padma Vibhushan on the occasion of this year's Republic Day celebrations. 
	 
	
		Noted actor Anupam Kher, singer Udit Narayan, former CAG Vinod Rai, chairperson of media group Bennett, Coleman &amp; Co. Indu Jain, sports star Sania Mirza and Saina Nehwal, spiritual leaders late Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Tejomayananda and former US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill are among the 19 eminent people chosen for Padma Bhushan. 
	 
	
		Industrialist Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava and eminent architect Hafeez Contractor also figure in the list of Padma Bhushan awardees. 
	 
	
		Senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam, who was the prosecution counsel in the Mumbai terror attack case, actors Ajay Devgn and Priyanka Chopra get Padma Shri.
	
		 
		Renowned sculptor Ram V Sutar, Manipuri theatre personality Heisnam Kanhailal, Hindi and Telugu writer Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad, Sanskrit scholar N S Ramanuja Tatacharya, Punjabi journalist Barjinder Singh Hamdard, gastroenterologist D Nageshwar Reddy and scientist A V Rama Rao have been chosen for Padma Bhushan. 
	 
	
		Actor the late Saeed Jaffrey, CEO of MasterCard Ajaypal Singh Banga, archer Deepika Kumari, Bharatanatyam dancer Prathibha Prahlad, Gujarati folk musician Bhikhudan Gadhvi, Goa's musician Tulsidas Borkar and scientist Onkar Nath Srivastava were among those who were named for Padma Shri awards.

Padma Bhushan for Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal

In today’s world where information is democratized to a large extent, end consumers have become the most powerful body in determining brand presence, relevance and obsolescence for enterprises. They have become the starting and ending point of any <keyword id="860946" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="digital-transformation">digital transformation</keyword> initiative and in a way, become brand enhancers and executioners. For companies embarking on digital transformation initiatives, often times, it is a daunting task to know where they stand currently in terms of their maturity levels and where they want to see themselves at the end of their digital transformation journey. Without a map, navigating through this journey leads to complexities with added twists and turns, making it less pleasant for both the drivers and the intended beneficiaries of digital transformation initiatives, mostly, the end consumers. Enterprises should therefore have a quick, repeatable and an easy way to benchmark their current digital transformation initiative to offer personalized, original, fun-filled, and helpful services. 
 <keyword id="184113" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="benchmarking">Benchmarking</keyword> helps enterprises identify gaps in their transformation strategy and execution. Enterprises can benchmark their digital transformation initiatives comparing with the best-of-breed capabilities within an industry (say a retail company benchmarking its initiatives against the best practices in the retail space), or across industry spectrums (for e.g., utility companies benchmarking capabilities against retail, hi-tech companies). Companies that have achieved higher maturity levels within an industry often, look for inspiration from a higher maturity player in a different but more mature industry. Benchmarking digital transformation initiatives start with understanding the desired capabilities and end outcomes and then assessing where they are in offering those in comparison with inter- or intra- industry best practices. Broadly, each of these capabilities support one of four different phases and can often be selectively meshed to offer highly distinct customer experiences: 
 
· Listen: Capabilities that enable enterprises to analyze the voice of the customer, either to understand the effectiveness of a given experience, or to make targeted interventions where experiences go wrong (or right!) 
· Observe: Capabilities that enable monitoring of customer behaviors to assess the effectiveness of customer experience designs, often in real-time so that appropriate actions (x-sell, up-sell etc.) can be initiated 
· Deliver: Technologies – often, leading-edge – that provide personalized, entertaining, surprising (positive side!), or helpful customer experiences 
· Manage: Operational applications that enable customer-facing employees to engage with customers in innovative ways and successfully manage the resulting interactions 
 
The above capabilities deliver the desired digital transformation outcomes that are personalized (know me), original (surprise me), fun (entertain me), or helpful (make it easy for me). The below table summarizes this view. 
 
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="637">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>
				 </td>
			<td>
				Capabilities</td>
			<td>
				Description</td>
			<td>
				Desired outcomes</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td rowspan="2">
				LISTEN</td>
			<td>
				Social Listening </td>
			<td>
				Monitor trending topics on social networks and make targeted interventions. Functionality ranges from simple keyword searches to more complex customer sentiment analysis.</td>
			<td>
				Know me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Response mechanisms</td>
			<td>
				Capture structured (for e.g., NPS) and unstructured feedback data to measure and improve customer experience through unified communications across digital and traditional channels.</td>
			<td>
				Know me, make it easy for me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td rowspan="4">
				OBSERVE</td>
			<td>
				Web analytics</td>
			<td>
				Measure, collect, analyze and report web data generated by specific events / transactions to support insights that can be used to improve customer experiences.</td>
			<td>
				Know me, make it easy for me, surprise me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				A / B / multivariate Testing</td>
			<td>
				Test and optimize web designs based on usage, conversion rates, and other metrics</td>
			<td>
				Make it easy for me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Customer flow tracking</td>
			<td>
				Monitor and analyze customer flow in retail to help optimize store layout and inform key merchandising decisions.</td>
			<td>
				Know me, make it easy for me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Eye-tracking</td>
			<td>
				Solutions that monitor how customers view digital content to optimize page layout.</td>
			<td>
				Make it easy for me, surprise me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td rowspan="9">
				DELIVER</td>
			<td>
				Near Field Communication (NFC)</td>
			<td>
				Enable real-time data exchange between devices or between devices and tagged objects to support mobile payment, access control, ticketing, couponing, and personalization.</td>
			<td>
				Know me, entertain me, surprise me, make it easy for me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Augmented reality</td>
			<td>
				Create immersive web and retail experiences through mediated reality to enhance customer sales and service interactions, improve marketing effectiveness, and strengthen brand differentiation.</td>
			<td>
				Entertain me, surprise me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Motion sensing</td>
			<td>
				Fun interactive product demos.</td>
			<td>
				Entertain me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Private social networks</td>
			<td>
				Online communities hosted by company to bring customers, suppliers, or channel partners together to share experiences.</td>
			<td>
				Entertain me, make it easy for me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Mobile first</td>
			<td>
				Customer applications designed for mobile platforms (tablets, smart phones, etc.), for e.g., for loyalty program delivery, mobile augmented reality, and branded gaming.</td>
			<td>
				Know me, entertain me, surprise me, make it easy for me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Click-to-call / video chat</td>
			<td>
				Support digital customer interactions by providing real-time support from an agent via website or mobile app.</td>
			<td>
				Make it easy for me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Recommendation engines driven by big data, BPMS and BRMS</td>
			<td>
				Recommend products / services based on users past buying behavior or buying behavior of users with similar characteristics using a set of defined and inferred rules.</td>
			<td>
				Know me, entertain me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Customer experience design</td>
			<td>
				Provides individualized customer experiences by dynamically generating and delivering unlimited variations of rich digital content in real time.</td>
			<td>
				Make it easy for me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Social CRM / social analytics</td>
			<td>
				Capture, respond, transact and track issues and queries via social networks and understand customer psyche in social platforms and its impact on buying behavior.</td>
			<td>
				Know me, make it easy for me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td rowspan="6">
				MANAGE</td>
			<td>
				Lead management</td>
			<td>
				Insight-based responses to pre-defined triggers (for e.g., failure to complete purchase online) to present highly relevant communications to prospects.</td>
			<td>
				Make it easy for me, surprise me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Single view of the customer (SVOC)</td>
			<td>
				Customer data hub collation and matching of customer data across multiple touch points to support granular segmentation models and predictive analytics.</td>
			<td>
				Know me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Marketing resource management</td>
			<td>
				Organize and manage the delivery of creative assets and other content across digital marketing channels, including web, mobile, email, social media, and video.</td>
			<td>
				Make it easy for me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Interactive web stores</td>
			<td>
				A consistent shopping experience across all customer touch points, including mobile, social and in-store.</td>
			<td>
				Make it easy for me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				Marketing analytics and optimization</td>
			<td>
				Use of prospect and customer data to help optimize all aspects of the marketing mix, including communications, channels, and price and thereby deliver relevant and helpful offers.</td>
			<td>
				Know me, make it easy for me</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
				 </td>
			<td>
				 </td>
			<td>
				 </td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>
 
 
Once the capabilities and outcomes are identified and mapped, the current state can be mapped on a progressive scale of maturity viz. “digital newbies”, “digital dabblers”, “digital experts”, and “digital masters”. Each of these stages represents a maturity gradation based on achieving a certain level of capability across a set of critical parameters. 
 
 
 
To successfully navigate through the digital transformation journey, enterprises need to focus on building capabilities that address their strategic priorities across listen and respond, observe, deliver, and manage, and benchmark these capabilities on a periodic basis. To help prioritize capabilities and chart out a journey for developing them, Infosys has developed a digital transformation benchmark model. Enterprises across different benchmark stages adopt different progression strategies. For example, enterprises that are just beginning their digital transformation journey (‘Newbies’), adopt an iterative approach that works through the stages, rather than attempting to become ‘Masters’ in a single initiative. For enterprises that are higher on the maturity stage, the focus for progression is to radiate the success and high maturity levels across newer processes, business areas, and essentially, leverage the learnings to reflect a higher maturity across the entire enterprise. 
 
(The article is authored by Shankar Krishnamurthy, Senior Industry Principal – Digital Marketing, Infosys) 
 
Image credits: indiatimes

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