The Hindu Business Line : Funds infusion to energise Intelligroup expansion plans

INTELLIGROUP Inc, a technology solutions provider for enterprises, has sewn up plans to consolidate its operations, possibly set up another centre in India to tap the emerging markets following the recent strategic infusion of $ 15 million by two key investors - - Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund (SAIF), which is 99 per cent funded by Cisco Systems and Venture Tech Assets Pvt Ltd.

The company will also shortly restate its financials.

The Chief Operating Officer of Intelligroup, Mr Bosco Malapatti, spoke to Business Line about the company's moves after the strategic investments from SAIF and Venture Tech. The company had recorded total revenues of $118.6 million in fiscal 2003 with a total employee base of 1,800, including 1,200 in India. Here are excerpts.

What does investment by SAIF and Venture Tech mean to Intelligroup?

Representatives from SAIF and Venture Tech will soon begin serving on the board of Intelligroup. These investors look at Intelligroup as a stable long-term player with great underlying fundamentals - - the strength of our customer base and employee talent pool, particularly the India-based technical skills.

At Intelligroup, we view this capital infusion as a very positive event.

This will enable us to accelerate the development of our core assets and to continue to deliver the high-quality work that our clients know us for.

How come this sudden development?

We would not characterise this as a sudden development. Intelligroup has been looking to strengthen its balance sheet for a while. The Intelligroup board evaluated the available options and decided this investment was good for the company.

What will this mean to Indian operations? The investors see Intelligroup as the leader in ERP implementation and support services and they see the strength of our India-based offshore operation and our global footprint as key differentiators in a competitive space.

They have stressed their faith in the current management team to lead the company into the next level of competitiveness and profitability. We foresee nothing but a positive impact from this on our Indian operations.

How is the company's business pipeline?

The market for offshore IT services is strong.

Our focus in the coming months is clear - to ensure top-notch delivery and service for our customers and to penetrate new markets and enrich our offerings with more strategic services.

Our finance team had changed and we could not complete the financial announcement in time. Therefore, the shares were delisted.

However, this does not mean one cannot trade in them. We are in the process of completing the financial process and expect to restate our company financials.

Probably, we may even list again.