The Hindu Business Line : Intelenet opens new facility in Chennai

Intelenet Global Services Pvt Ltd, a business process outsourcing company jointly owned by HDFC Ltd and Barclays Bank of the UK, has ramped up its Chennai operations by inaugurating a Rs 25-crore facility at Ascendas IT park. It will invest another Rs 25 crore in a similar facility in the city, according to Mr M. Susir Kumar, CEO, Intelenet Global.

The company has about 400 employees in Chennai and plans to increase the headcount to 1,000 by the year-end. By next year-end the company will have about 2,500 employees in the city, he told newspersons.

Thrust areas

The new centre will focus on banking and financial services, and complies with disaster recovery guidelines, he said.

Intelenet is likely to achieve revenues of $100 million for fiscal ending March 31, 2007 from $65 million in the previous fiscal.

The company's vision is to double its number of employees by 2009, and this would happen mostly by acquisitions in India, the US and UK in the next few months, he said.

Revenues from Barclays

Mr Kumar said the company expects revenue from Barclays to increase to about 20 per cent of $100 million for 2006-07 compared to around 8 per cent of $65 million during last fiscal. About 1,000 employees work for Barclays and the number is likely to increase to about 4,000 in the next three years. Intelenet would consider an initial public offer in the next 12-18 months. "We need to consolidate first, and there is no hurry for the IPO," said Mr Kumar. Both HDFC and Barclays have a 50 per cent stake each in the company, which has an equity base of Rs 115 crore, he said.