IBM India today joined other IBM offices around the world for celebrating the company’s centennial. Marking the 100-year anniversary of its founding on June 16, 1911 with a year-long initiative, IBM plans to engage with local communities and thought leaders with a series of activities themed around changing the way the world works.
Over its century of existence, IBM has played a leading role in transforming business, science and society. These areas form the basis for the three themes driving IBM’s Centennial globally, including India: Reinventing the Modern Corporation, Pioneering the Science of Information, and Making the World Work Better.
“IBM’s inventions are the underpinnings of today’s technology industry. They illustrate how IBM has consistently adapted to remain relevant to the changing needs of the modern world while touching the lives of many globally,” said Shanker Annaswamy, Managing Director, IBM India Pvt. Ltd.
“IBM has a long association with India and the country plays an increasingly important role in IBM’s strategy. To mark our history in the region and to show our commitment to the future expansion of our business, we will celebrate IBM’s Centennial in India with a number of activities including a month of service for the community, when our employees apply their business skills and work experiences to address local critical community challenges and societal needs,” he added.

The focal point of the year-long Celebration of Service will be June 15, when it is expected that IBMers, retirees and partners will participate in a range of meaningful service projects in communities around the world. In India, over 50 percent of the employees will pledge a minimum of 8 hours of voluntary service each and work with over 100 NGOs engaged in different community programs. Additionally, IBM will provide grants worth US $ 12 million to support the Celebration of Service globally, with a part of this grant being given in India as well.
The company’s priority is to expand IBM’s reach to over 47 cities in India/South Asia, establishing presence in new small cities while deepening relationships in select large, high growth cities with new branches.

IBM in India: In-out-in ( from Wikipedia)
IBM commenced business in India in the 1930s and set up manufacturing there in 1951. The business operated successfully until the mid-1970s, when India’s Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) required foreign owned companies to reduce their equity ownership to (in IBM’s case) 26%. IBM was unwilling to take that course of action and in 1978, the company ceased its operations but still continued to conduct business in India as an off-shore entity only, through a small Liaison Office. n making the change to its new mode of operation, a number of restructuring steps were taken: - All installed equipment (equipment in India was all leased by the month – a GOI requirement) was 'sold' to the existing users for a nominal amount of less than $10 –India was liberalized in 1991, relaxing FDI norms. IBM re-entered the Indian shores in 1992 with a Tata joint-venture, named Tata Information Systems Ltd. Its business interest in India was still focused on product sales.In 1997, IBM Global Services was set-up. India Research Lab was set-up in the IIT Delhi campus in 1998. In 1999, IBM bought out Tata's stake in the company and IBM India became a fully owned subsidiary of IBM Corporation. Between 2003 and 2007, IBM's head count in India has grown by almost 800%, from 9,000 in 2003  to nearly 74,000 in 2007. Since 2006, IBM has been the multinational with the largest number of employees in India. More than one quarter of IBM's employees are fromIndia and is expected to grow. It is expected that in 2011 , IBM may  recruit  approximately 24,000 more employees taking it to a total of nearly 154,000 employees from India.
More centennial resources: www.ibm100.com  

May 6 2011