The Hindu Business Line : Nipuna records $2-m loss

Nipuna, the business process services subsidiary of Satyam Computer, posted revenues of $11.93 million and a net loss of $2.02 million during the quarter ended June 30.

The company management provided a guidance of $61 million for fiscal 2008 ($38 million for 2007), reflecting a growth of about 60 per cent over previous fiscal. The performance of Nipuna was also impacted by the rupee surge. There is no natural hedge for BPOs, the company management said.

The Chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd, Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, said that the company subsidiary’s performance was heartening and reflects a robust growth story. “We are also evaluating the option of hiking stake in the company subsidiary,” Mr Raju hinted. The company, however, refrained from providing any guidance for bottom line for Nipuna.

Headcount

During fiscal 2008, the Satyam management plans to add about 16,000 people to their overall headcount of 38,386 associates. These new recruits include about 55-60 per cent freshers. The company now has about 42,347 employees, including Satyam, its subsidiaries and joint ventures.

In the first quarter, the company added over 2,700 employees. “As against initial estimates of adding about 14,000 people, we are looking at adding about 16,000 during the year,” Mr Ram Mynampati, President, Healthcare, Satyam, said.

The Chief Financial Officer of Satyam, Mr V. Srinivas, said that the company’s effort to create five special economic zones was on course and that they expect to commission them by April 1, 2008. The company has about 280 acres in Hyderabad, Chennai, Visakhapatnam and Nagpur, and these SEZs would come up by next fiscal.

Rankings

Mr Raju said that Satyam was ranked as the No 3 global outsourcing vendor and No 1 among Indian IT services companies by Brown and Wilson Group Inc, in the Black Book of Outsourcing during 2007.

Asked about inorganic growth plans, Mr Raju said that they would continue to evaluate potential acquisition targets.