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Archana Venkat

Chennai, Sept. 28 NIIT Technologies is scouting to acquire IT or BPO companies currently offering specialised services in the travel, transportation and logistics (TTL) industry. According to Mr Mahesh Shastry, Global Head, Travel and Transportation vertical, NIIT Technologies, acquisition is one route the company is likely to take to expand it’s TTL portfolio, given the strong demand for specialised front-end IT systems, particularly in the airlines sector.

“Earlier the industry deployed 10-12 standard IT applications. Now they want solutions built around the customer such as booking and loyalty programmes,” Mr Shastry told Business Line.

With low cost airlines relying heavily on IT to cut costs, older airlines too are now following suit. “Jet airways and Indian Airlines — Air India combined are potential business opportunities for us,” he said. It is understood that Air Indian and Indian Airlines have been operating on different IT platforms in the past and their merger is big opportunity for Indian IT companies. Jet Airways having opted for SAP implementation also indicates the need to tap into the ERP space in this industry, Mr Shastry said.

The global market for IT in the TTL segment is estimated at about $23 billion (about Rs 92,000 crore) and India’s current market share is less than $1 billion (about Rs 4,000 crore). To tap this market, NIIT is also building domain expertise to offer consulting services. “International airlines are now willing to outsource whole systems, not just IT services,” he said.

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