Cognizant among Nasdaq elite

 Chennai-based IT services provider Cognizant Technology Solutions has
been included in the elite Nasdaq 100 Index, effective December 29, 2004.

Cognizant is the only IT services company on the Nasdaq 100 Index, and also the first and only offshore firm to grab a slot in it.

Significantly, Cognizant pipped Bangalore-based Infosys Technologies, which was widely expected to be the first IT company that would break into the index.

 In the process of displacing enterprise application major PeopleSoft, which was recently taken over by Oracle, from the index, Cognizant has joined a select group of multinational companies like Dell, e-Bay and Cisco.  The Nasdaq-100 Index, launched in 1985, consists of the 100 largest non-financial stocks listed on the Nasdaq based on market capitalisation.  Index securities are ranked by market value and evaluated annually to determine which securities will be included. Cognizant had a market capitalisation of $5.3 billion on December 22, 2004.  Speaking to Business Standard, Lakshmi Narayanan, president and CEO, Cognizant, said: "This is a first step indicating that offshore outsourcing is mainstream and has entered the big league.  The Nasdaq-100 index is made up of companies such as Starbucks, Dell, e-Bay, Cisco, Amazon, Siebel, Yahoo and Flextronics that have defined new paradigms in business.  And Nasdaq is known to be the market for new and aggressive companies that seek to challenge the traditional ways of doing business. The inclusion of Cognizant means we have defined a successful, unique and new business model in offshore outsourcing."  Narayanan added,