EUROPEAN VENDORS EYE INDIA FOR MORE REVENUES, IT DELIVERY

Vishwanath Kulkarni, Mumbai
Mint

Large and mid-sized European information technology (IT) vendors such as Atos Origin SA, Logica CMG Plc and Groupe Steria SCA see India as a source for new revenues even as they strengthen their service delivery capabilities by leveraging their presence here.

Armed with consulting and systems integration capabilities, these vendors plan to chase contracts in India from customers in telecom, transportation, utilities, retail and, potentially, nuclear power businesses.

India has emerged as the top outsourcing market in the Asia-Pacific region in the December quarter, according to outsourcing advisory firm Technology Partners International Inc. Traditionally, vendors such as IBM Corp. and Accenture Ltd have dominated this market, which is now being pursued by local rivals such as Infosys Technologies Ltd and Wipro Ltd.

“We are planning to use India to leapfrog into Asia Pacific,” said Francois Enaud, chairman and CEO of Steria group, on the sidelines of the Nasscom Leadership Summit in Mumbai.

Last year, Steria bought UK-based Xansa Plc. for £472 million, or about Rs3,880 crore, acquiring 5,000 employees in India.

Steria has now a fourth of its workforce in India. “We plan to move more work offshore leveraging our presence in India,” said Enaud, adding European clients now want services delivered from offshore destinations that are priced competitively and boast of better skills.

Steria, which serves clients such as BT Plc., British Broadcasting Corp., BNP Paribas SA and Deutsche Telecom AG, earns about 2 percent revenues from the Asia-Pacific market, which it services from its Singapore offices. The company earns about 45 percent of its revenues from the UK and the rest from Europe.

In September, Steria announced it had made revenues of euro 956.2 million or $1.36 billion in the preceding 12-month period.

“We expect our revenues from Asia Pacific, led by India, Singapore and Australia, to touch about 10 percent in three to five years,” Enaud said.

Atos Origin, a French IT firm, aims to serve Indian banking and financial services, telecom and retail customers. The firm will bid for IT systems contracts for nuclear plants in India as and when they come up, said Hubert Tardieu, executive vice-president, global consulting and systems integration at Atos Origi