The Hindu Business Line : RelQ Software plans to double headcount; plans $3-m expansion

SOFTWARE testing firm RelQ Software Pvt Ltd said that it planned to double its headcount in the next six months to 1,000 and also invest $3 million in expanding its infrastructure. The company currently has a headcount of about 550.

Mr Prakash Mutalik, Group President, RelQ, said the company aimed to cross the $50-million mark in revenues in two years from the expected $21 million in 2005-06. "The proposed investment of $3 million would be funded from the internal accruals," he said.

ICICI Bank and Acer Technologies of Taiwan together hold a majority stake in RelQ, with the promoters' stake being "a little less than 50 per cent," he said. RelQ's clientele include companies such as Vodafone, Palm, HP, Philips, Sumitomo, Franklin Templeton, Deutsche Bank, Atari and Hasbrow among others.

RelQ, which offers software validation and verification and quality assurance services, runs dedicated development centres for companies such as Intel and Palm among others. After an unsuccessful attempt to merge with Cognizant Technology Services last year, RelQ had decided to stay and grow independently, Mr Mutalik said. The seven-year-old company does not have any immediate plans to go public and may review its listing plans a year later, he added.

Mr Rony Mathew Thomas, Vice-President for global sales and marketing at RelQ, said the worldwide testing market was estimated at $14-15 billion and the global outsourcing testing market opportunity for 2006 had been pegged at $5.5 billion, of which close to $4 billion would likely be offshored to low-cost destinations.

"Because of the established and dominant IT service sector, presence of organisations with matured processes and practices, and the versatile IT skill-sets of testing professionals, India has the potential to capture 50 per cent ($2 billion) of this outsourced market," he said.