The Hindu Business Line : Code Bhopal

In its first year of operations, Bhopal-based Netlink Software had on hand one contract for about $500. But Dubey and Shrivastava were confident of growing their business.

SHURIAH NIAZI

Anurag Shrivastava, CTO and President of Netlink.

Shuriah Niazi

What started as a dream for two friends, Anurag Shrivastava and Dilip Dubey, ten years ago has today turned into a global IT and BPO company employing 200 highly-skilled professionals at its Bhopal development centre and over 500 people worldwide.

The duo first met when they were engineering students in Bhopal in 1986, but later went their separate ways. Dubey went to the University of Michigan for his master’s degree in mechanical engineering and went on to work for GM. Shrivastava joined Clemson University to study human-computer interfacing and later joined the Paris-based Capgemini Group as an IT consultant. In 1997, they decided to reunite and form a company.

In its first year of operations, Bhopal-based Netlink Software had on hand one contract for about $500. But Dubey and Shrivastava were confident of growing their business.

“Everything was at risk. We left great jobs to start this company and there has been no looking back since,” remembers Shrivastava, Netlink President and CTO. He attributes the company’s success to a strong global presence and a good reputation locally in software training and development. “It has been able to establish itself as a complete project-oriented company that offers end-to-end solutions to its clients,” he says. Clients include companies in the automotive and telecommunications sectors in the US.

Despite a slowdown in the IT/ITES sector, Netlink has maintained constant growth thanks to its focus on immediate business results, a global vision and improvement in infrastructure, says Shrivastava. It has also restructured its training programme to offer more job-oriented courses.

Netlink Software Group America Inc achieved $14 million revenue in 2005 which doubled to $29 million in 2006 and it clocked projects revenue of $60 million in 2007. Its customers include Starbucks, Subway, GM, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC. “I plan to use the European company, which has offices in the UK and Germany, as a platform to open offices in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Poland,” says Dubey.

With 40-45 per cent of its revenues being auto-related, Netlink’s targeted niches include the auto-supply chain, healthcare, retail and high-tech companies.

With centres in Madison Heights, Southfield, Phoenix, Denver, Miami and Bhopal, the company has achieved average annual growth exceeding 100 per cent since 1997.

It has also worked with companies such as General Motors, Teletech, Takata, DTE Energy, BlueCross Blue Shield, Avaya and the Penske United Auto dealer Group.

Shrivastava is positive about the potential for IT industry in a State like Madhya Pradesh. “Bhopal being an educational hub carries a huge advantage compared to some of the other tier-two cities in India. There are 30 engineering and more than 100 other colleges to meet the demand of large IT corporations,” he says.

Netlink is keen to work with the government to promote IT in the State. “MP needs to be presented in the right way to the international community. For promotion of IT a separate brand is needed to highlight the advantage of MP, to make it more attractive for international investment.

The government has taken several key initiatives in the right direction and we are there to support them in any way possible,” says Shrivastava.

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