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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mishedlo who wrote (7226)	5/28/2004 1:59:10 PM
From: Pogeu Mahone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Subject: RNC outsources it's fundraising phonecalls to India Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 18:23:43 +0000 Bush campaign ran from Noida call centre KA Badarinath and Prerna K Mishra New Delhi, May 16 The political split in the US over outsourcing notwithstanding, till very recently the fund-raising and vote-seeking campaign for the Republican Party was done partly out of India. And this was handled by two call centres located in our own friendly neighbourhood in Noida and Gurgaon. For 14 months between May 16, 2002 and July 22, 2003, HCL BPO Services — the 100 per cent-owned subsidiary of Shiv Nadar-promoted HCL Technologies — had some 125 agents working in seven teams soliciting financial contributions for the Republican Party. US presidential elections are slated for November 2004. The mandate for the teams was to mobilise support for President George W. Bush and solicit political contributions ranging between $5 and $3,000 from lakhs of registered Republican voters. The voters’ database was provided by the Republican National Committee (RNC), the party’s premier political organisation. The contract for running the campaigns was originally awarded by RNC to Washington-based Capital Communications Group that provides consulting services to government and private clients for cultural and political networking. For cost and efficiencies gains, the company outsourced the work to HCL Technologies that in turn sent it offshore. When contacted by Hindustan Times, sources close to the deal within HCL BPO Services said, “We work under a non-disclosure clause with most of our clients (barring British Telecom) and hence would not be in a position to comment on any such deal.” According to the deal details, at any point in time, 75 agents worked on a $9.25 per hour per person billing rate, and contacted at least 20,000 voters through an automatic dialer. Sources confirmed that on a conservative estimate at least 80 lakh registered republican voters have been contacted. During the period, HCL ran nearly six to seven campaigns on various issues, some in the form of simple ‘yes or no’ polls on issues like ‘Pro Choice Pro Life’ that tried to capture the sentiment in the US audiences about abortion. There were other campaigns that were of the fund raising nature where the voter would pledge an amount to the party. The RNC would do the follow up in the US for fund retrieval. The target for the team was to get a pledge of $400 per day. Going by conservative estimates, at least funds worth $10 million were committed for President Bush through the BPO centres in India. But the million-dollar question is why was the contract called off? Insiders say the growing resentment in the US audiences against outsourcing to India and strong reactions from Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry were at the root of capping the contract. The anti-outsourcing lobby within the Republicans also had a hand in ending the contract, insiders divulged. But according to HCL sources one consideration was non-viability in the last few months after having covered most voters from the RNC database. Maybe the Indian political establishment can take a lesson from or two from Republicans in US and outsource its fund raising campaign during next general elections.

To: mishedlo who wrote (7226)	5/28/2004 2:23:28 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 116555

Yukos Warns It May Go Bankrupt By Greg Walters Staff Writer Yukos warned on Thursday that the company could go bankrupt by the end of the year because it cannot raise the cash to pay a $3.4 billion tax bill imposed by the Tax Ministry in April. The company's stocks fell almost 12 percent to $8.40 on the announcement, the lowest level since December 2002. Yukos' warning came the day after a Moscow court upheld the legality of the Tax Ministry's case, and ahead of a Yukos appeal to the Moscow Arbitration Court on Friday against having to pay the bill. "The situation in large part depends on the goodwill of the government," said Yukos deputy chief executive Yury Beilin at a news conference Thursday. "Without that, then absolutely, the company will go bankrupt this year." Some analysts said Yukos appeared to be launching a media offensive ahead of the important case. "This is an attempt by Yukos to steal the initiative," said Adam Landes, an oil and gas analyst at Renaissance Capital. "This is all about getting press coverage. What is Yukos going to do, just sit there until it can't pay? It's got to do something to protect the company, and raising attention ... is one way of doing that." In a statement, the company said it has $800 million on hand and expects to have $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion by June 30. But a court-ordered freeze on the company's property means Yukos cannot sell assets, including stocks, to help pay the tax bill, the company said. If the freeze remains in place, the company will have at most 70 percent of the amount owed by the end of the year, according to the statement. "Unless the court ban is lifted, the sale of assets is impossible," the statement said. "If the tax authorities continue their actions, we can forecast with high probability that we will go bankrupt before the end of 2004." Yukos also said that the current $3.4 billion figure is for claims of unpaid taxes in 2000 alone, and that another bill for 2001 could be coming. Beilin said the company would consider selling its shares in Sibneft if the freeze were lifted. "We might sell Sibneft, just as we might sell any other asset, to cover our tax bills," Beilin said. "We hope that the government isn't trying to bankrupt us, but to raise some tax revenue." Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Alfa Bank, said Yukos would be able to pay off the tax claim if the company is able to sell off its stake in Sibneft. "Bankrupting the biggest oil company in Russia would destroy Russia's investment credibility," Weafer said. "It would severely hurt the government. The timing seems very much in response to [Putin's] speech yesterday," in which the president called for pushing ahead with reforms that would require large amounts of capital, particularly from Russian investors. On Thursday, Standard & Poor's ratings service said it could still downgrade Yukos' long-term corporate credit rating below the current CCC, pending the outcome of the tax appeal. Standard & Poor's cut Yukos' credit rating five levels last month. Wednesday's court ruling was a confirmation that the Tax Ministry's demand was legal, according to Yukos spokesman Hugo Erikssen. "Yukos had questioned the legality of it," he said. "This means the case has not been dismissed and now can be heard. It had nothing to do with the hearing in substance." A court ruled on May 19 that Yukos would not have to pay the tax bill until its appeal has been heard. Staff Writer Catherine Belton contributed to this report.