It is IBM India. Now.
It took seven years for the marriage to
last and at the end the partners divorced amicably. The much celebrated joint venture
between Tatas and IBM is finally over.
While official release from the
company is yet to be out, DQ Week sources have determined that IBM is finally buying out
the entire stake in the joint venture, except for one percent, which the company's MD and
CEO Ranjit Limaye terms as symbolic of the relationship that the two partners have enjoyed
over the years.
In fact, just a month ago, this
writer had met Limaye for the latter's first ever media interview and had pointedly asked
the same question, to which Limaye had given a laconic 'wait and watch' reply.
Limaye asserts that it's business as
usual and says that the two companies will continue to cooperate as before.
"It is a decision taken
mutually," he said. Market watchers believe that IBM will now get extremely
aggressive in the market.
According to a competitor,
"Earlier they were there in a JV and the stakes were jointly shared. Now it is their
own baby. I wouldn't be surprised if they were to launch a blitzkreig of products and
solutions and match it with a spend to improve the positioning of the IBM brand
name."
For the JV, it is actually not a
very bad news as while the entire company was being run by IBM'ers, with completely IBM
products and with an IBM ethos, what TATAs brought to table was highly debated. The debate
is over now.