The Hindu Business Line : Birlasoft to invest $15 m on new centres

BIRLASOFT Ltd, the IT arm of the C K Birla Group, would invest $15 million in the next 18 months to set up new facilities in the country, even as it plans to scale up the global headcount to 3,500 professionals.

"We are evaluating various options for the proposed facilities. Kolkata is a strong option, but we are yet to take a decision on it. We already have a centre in Chennai and it will therefore be a logical growth path for us. We plan to invest $15 million over the next 18 months in new facilities and infrastructure, which will be funded out of our internal accruals," Mr Kamal Mansharamani, Chief Executive Officer, Birlasoft, told presspersons.

The company today inaugurated its new software development centre in Noida, entailing an investment of $5 million.

With a capacity of 700 professionals, the new facility would cater to industries such as banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), Peoplesoft practices and a number of dedicated technology centres for various customers.

Birlasoft currently employs 2050 people globally, while its India headcount stands at 1400.

"Going forward, we plan to scale up our global employee strength to 3500, and our India headcount to 2600 people," Mr Mansharamani added.

At present, 70 per cent of the company's export earnings come from the US, about 18 per cent from Asia Pacific region and 7-8 per cent from Europe. With an annual export earnings of Rs 427 crore in 2003-04,

Birlasoft was ranked 14th among Nasscom top IT software and services exporters from India.

Speaking on the occasion, the Nasscom President, Mr Kiran Karnik, said that India was doing a lot of work in the product space.

"We are still a long way from product development in the consumer space, but in the business-to-business space companies such as I-flex, Infosys and Polaris have made a name for themselves," he said.

He said that even the smaller Indian companies were getting involved in product development and were generating Intellectual Property Rights.

Mr Karnik said Nasscom aimed at focusing on innovation and repositioning the country as a "great place for products" besides being a service destination.

Keen to expand in Europe

BIRLASOFT Ltd on Monday said it is looking at acquisition as an option to strengthen its foothold in the European market.

"We look at acquisition for three reasons, geography, customers acquisition and domain expertise. Acquisition is an option for us to make significant inroads in the European market," Mr Kamal Mansharamani, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Birlasoft Ltd, said on the sidelines of a conference here.

Currently, Europe accounts for 7-8 per cent of the company's revenues, while 70 per cent comes from the US.

"The industry's exposure to the European market is about 23-24 per cent and we would like to bring our revenue mix to the industry level in a phased manner in the next three years," he added.

He, however, pointed out that Birlasoft was not evaluating any takeover proposals at the moment.

"We will evaluate it next year," he said adding that the company would look at `strategic acquisitions'.