Software exporter L&T Infotech, which has been lagging its larger rivals in growth rates and profitability, wants to add BPO capability  to its portfolio of offerings so it can provide customers with the full range of services starting from application development and testing to back-office processing. The company has appointed one of the big four consulting firms to advise on its BPO strategy. L&T Infotech is a fully-owned subsidiary of engineering giant Larsen & Toubro.

“We want to be able to offer to the full range of services. We already have infrastructure management, independent testing services and application development and maintenance,” said Sudip Banerjee, CEO of L&T Infotech. The consulting firm is expected to submit its report on what sectors and services L&T Infotech should focus on for BPO as well as advise it on suitable delivery locations. In addition, it will also advise the firm on whether acquisitions can be an entry strategy into BPO services.

Wipro and IBM have used their acquisitions of Spectramind and Daksh BPO Services respectively to successfully enter the BPO business in the past. However, Mr Banerjee, a former Wipro executive, said such a strategy, involving the acquisition of diversified third-party BPO provider, was unfit for the current environment when BPO was already a mature industry segment . He said the company was open to niche acquisitions such as captive back-office units of mutlinationals for building its BPO business. (more…)

IT and BPO service provider, Hexaware Technologies, today said its consolidated net profit jumped twofold to Rs 36.03 crore for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2009, over the same period last year.
 
As per the Indian accounting standards, income declined to Rs 252 crore for the quarter ended December 31, from Rs 305.85 crore in the same period corresponding year, Hexaware Technologies said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

On the standalone basis, the company has posted a net profit of Rs 28.73 crore, a jump of over fourfold over the same period last year.

Further, the company has appointed President and Global Delivery Head, R V Ramanan as the manager of the company with effect from January 1 for a period of three years. Source

The business process outsourcing sector (BPO) expects sales to grow by a quarter to $9 billion this year as the industry rides the wave of a general economic recovery. The industry’s revenues of $7.2 billion last year — a 19-percent increase — came in at the lower end of its target of $7.2-$7.4 billion due to the caution that prevailed among businesses in the first half, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) said on Monday. In 2008, sales went up by 24 percent.

Meanwhile, the head of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT), said the industry should prepare for an expected pickup in business this year. “What we need to do is to maintain our supply of talent and focus on infrastructure. We expect the BPO industry to grow more as our markets emerge from the recession,” CICT chief Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference. “We also expect voice[-based] outsourcing to continue to grow, but also see faster growth in nonvoice outsourcing, which is gaining ground,” he added, citing the need to build competitiveness as more countries enter the global outsourcing market. The Philippines is estimated to have a 15 percent market share, according to Everest Research Institute. (more…)

Genpact, the country’s largest pure-play BPO company, today acquired Bangalore-based analytics and data management services provider Symphony Marketing Solutions (SMS). Though the deal size was not disclosed, analysts peg the deal to be around Rs 450-500 crore and the SMS’ revenue to be around Rs 300 crore.

“This expertise will allow us to offer a broader range of services, ranging from core finance and accounting, procurement and supply chain to data management and advanced analytics solutions,” said Pramod Bhasin, president and CEO, Genpact. Employing over 1,200 staffers worldwide, SMS offers analytics services to retail, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods verticals.

“Coming as it is in times when Genpact’s business is under pressure, both from volumes as well as a margins perspective, this acquisition is driven with a motivation of having a larger pie of burgeoning analytics services which offers both above average growth and margins. While this acquisition will have a comparatively marginal impact on revenue growth, the impact on margins will be materially significant,” said Alok Shende, Founder and Principal Analyst, Ascentius Consulting. (more…)

Amid signs of fast recovery from the impact of global economic slowdown, the information technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) industry would see its exports reach $50 billion in the current financial year, registering a growth of over 5 per cent. Similarly, export revenues are likely to grow at 13-15 per cent next fiscal to cross $57 billion, with the US remaining the dominant market.

In its yearly performance report, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) has said the domestic IT-BPO market is likely to reach Rs.66,200 crore, clocking a growth of 12 per cent, while in the next fiscal domestic revenues are likely to grow by 15-17 per cent to touch Rs.76,100-77,500 crore, particularly due to government IT spending. (more…)

The talks are being held between financial investors at Genpact and Blackstone, which holds a little under 80% in Intelenet, one of the persons who spoke with ET on condition of anonymity, added. Genpact is the country’s largest BPO firm and has investments from private equity player General Atlantic and other investors, which hold nearly half of the firm. Intelenet is the country’s 14th-largest BPO firm.

The acquisition is of interest to Genpact because of the ability to derisk its revenues, which are still significantly dependent on its one-time parent, General Electric (GE), and consequently improve valuations, the person said. GE contributes around 40% of Genpact’s revenues. “Intelenet’s India business is the chief attraction to Genpact, but Blackstone is not willing to sell that alone,” the second person told ET. He said the potential transaction value could be $600-750 million. (more…)

Aditya Birla Minacs, the outsourcing arm of the Aditya Birla Group, plans to add at least 4,500 seats globally by the end of the fiscal 2010-11, with maximum seats going to the American region.

The company is now gung-ho about the growth potential of the north American region and the prospects in future. After clients such as General Motors adjusted their businesses during the recession period, which affected Minacs’ revenues in the negative, the company believes that things are looking up.

Deepak J Patel, chief executive officer of Minacs, told Financial Chronicle that North America is the growth area and the focus would continue to be there. “We have around 6,000 seats in America and the potential is for 3,000 more seats, which we plan to add by the end of the next fiscal year,” he said. (more…)