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Krishnan Thiagarajan
Bharat Kumar

recently in Mumbai

MASTEK, the Mumbai-based software services company, is setting up a separate offshore development centre for its client, Fidelity Investments, a large asset management company.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Sudhakar Ram, CEO, Mastek said, "They (Fidelity Investments) have given us a clear mandate. We will set up the centre in this quarter." He added that a separate centre was necessary since the client required "special security and specific equipment." The number of people working for this client in Mastek would not change.

Asked how the company plans to leverage this client relationship, Mr Ram said, "This (centre) will give us access to the Fidelity network. Now we can do certain processes we could not have done in the past. There is no guarantee of business. It is just that when you have this centre, one can bid for more business (using this client as a reference)."

Mastek has also been evaluating Chennai as a possible location for its newer development centres.

Asked if the centre dedicated to Fidelity would be located in Chennai, Mr Ram said, "The Fidelity centre needs to be up and running quickly. We have only just acquired land in Chennai. The first operations in Chennai would possibly begin in 18 months from now." Mastek has acquired land in the Mahindra City, near Chennai for its centre. This is the first centre for Mastek outside western India. It has centres in Mumbai and Pune.

Responding to whether Mastek plans to expand its focus beyond systems integration, its core capability, in order to remove fluctuations in its revenue streams, Mr Ram said, "Our strength lies in Systems Integration (SI) capability. We are one of the few players from India capable of delivering like this reliably. The only way to remove lumpiness (or volatility in deal flows) is through partnerships and creating a steady deal-flow. We weren't clear a couple of years ago, whether we would get that kind of deal flow as an SI. Now, it looks like we will."

Mastek plans to continue its focus on the government and financial services (including insurance) vertical to target clients in the project-related SI business, particularly in the UK.

Asked if Mastek had any specific strategy to bag more project deals in UK, he said, "Our strategy is to work with partners. Today we are known (in the UK) because of the London Congestion Charge project and the NHS (National Health Service) project. We know what deals are going in the market. So we know who is best to tie up with for each of those deals. We don't have the size or credibility to go on our own. But we have high credibility to go with whoever we think has a good chance of good winning."

Bags offshoring deal

CHENNAI: Mastek Ltd said on Wednesday that Carretek, its joint venture with Carreker Corporation, has obtained a three-year order from a US company to offshore its cheque exceptions processing.

Not disclosing the name of the client, a statement from Mastek said that the client aims to achieve savings between 40 and 50 per cent due to offshoring. The client expects to continue increasing its offshoring commitment.

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