The Hindu Business Line : Sundaram Business bags Rs 10-cr Australian outsourcing deal

Mr T.T. Srinivasaraghavan (right), Managing Director, Sundaram Finance, and Mr P.S. Raghavan, Executive Director, Sundaram Business Services, at a press conference in Chennai on Tuesday. - Shaju John

Chennai , July 13

SUNDARAM Business Services has bagged a Rs 10-crore outsourcing deal from an Australian company to handle its administration and accounting services for superannuation funds (pension funds).

It plans to hire about 200 professionals during the next 12 months for its Chennai centre, to take the company's total staff strength to about 550 in a year.

The increase in staff strength is to support the expanded needs of the company's existing clients as well as new clients that are in the pipeline, said Mr P.S. Raghavan, Executive Director, Sundaram Business Services (SBS). The company is a business process outsourcing (BPO) division of the Chennai-based Sundaram Finance Group.

He told a press conference here on Tuesday that SBS had bagged a three-year outsourcing deal from the Australian firm Total Super Pty Ltd.

The deal involves handling the administration and accounting services for superannuation funds (pension funds). The Australian firm has over 2,000 funds, and the entire delivery will take place out of SBS's Chennai office, he said.

According to Mr Raghavan, SBS is moving from being a captive unit of Sundaram Finance Group to a full-fledged BPO firm to serve more external clients.

At present, about 70 per cent of SBS's revenue comes from Sundaram Finance Group, and the rest from external clients, including SBI Mutual Fund. This configuration will change in the current fiscal, with external clients contributing about 70 per cent of revenue.

SBS is talking to a couple of prospective clients in Australia and in Europe. SBS reported revenues of Rs 8 crore for the year ending March 2004, and expects revenues of Rs 12 crore to Rs 15 crore for the current fiscal. The company was formed in 2001 to process the high volume of back office work for the Sundaram Finance group, he said.

SBS is also expanding its presence in Asia Pacific and Europe with plans to set up marketing offices in Singapore and United Kingdom in the next six to twelve months, he said.

When asked whether the Sundaram Finance group would consider merging SBS with Sundaram Infotech, another group concern, to form a bigger infotech firm, Mr T.T. Srinivasaraghavan, Managing Director, Sundaram Finance Ltd, said that at the moment there was no such intention.

"When there is a critical size, we will take a call. At the moment, I do not know what the size will be to merge. Let both firms evolve their own businesses," he said. Sundaram Infotech reported revenues of about Rs 8 crore for the year ending March 2004, and has about 160 employees, he said.