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CHENNAI, July 3

ACCEL ICIM Systems and Services Ltd today said that it is in talks with investors for roping in funds, from private equity, totalling between $5 million and $10 million.

As part of its restructuring operations, it has also set up a business process outsourcing unit that offers warranty outsourcing services. The company has also brought in a new President and Chief Operating Officer, Mr S.V. Sriram, earlier with HCL Technologies heading its US operations.

Addressing presspersons, Mr N.R. Panicker, Chairman and CEO, Accel ICIM, said, "We are looking at a growth of 40 per cent this year." The company recorded a topline of Rs 160 crore last year. Towards increasing topline growth, the company has restructured itself into five divisions, each with separate revenue targets - warranty outsource services/BPO, integrated technology service, enterprise software solutions, global software services and IT infrastructure solutions. According to Mr Panicker, "In the first eight years of our operations we grew in excess of 100 per cent each year. In the last 3 years, it's only been an annual growth of 20-30 per cent. Hence, our consolidation initiative."

Asked what the fresh infusion of funds is for, he said, "This would go towards working capital expansion, infrastructure expansion and investment in the BPO business. We are talking to institutional investors for roping in funds. We are also open to an initial public offering at an opportune time." The company has two institutional investors, ICICI Ventures and Intel Capital.

He said the company estimated revenues of Rs 10 crore for the BPO business this year. He added that clients for the BPO business included Seagate, Lexmark, Siemens, Ericsson, Epson and Intel and that three or four more clients are in the pipeline. The BPO division currently employs 135 people and is looking at a strength of 200 heads by the end of the fiscal. He added that industry estimates for niche warranty outsourcing services ranged between $2 billion and $3 billion, which included technical help desk services. The company has taken up space totalling 17,000 sq ft in Chennai.

Mr Panicker also revealed that it has obtained an order worth Rs 5 crore for getting the drug controller's office across India online.

Asked to comment on its branded PC business, Mr Panicker said, "We have decided to focus on sales and services of our PC MasterMind for corporates and get out of the home and small office market. That is another reason why our topline has not grown that much this year."

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