It needed a small, non-listed subsidiary of an old economy group to try out what no Indian services firm has done so farbuying a company several times its size to scale up. By acquiring Canada-based Minacs, the Aditya Birla group company, Transworks has changed the rule of the game. With a growth of more than 800%, today it stands next only to leader Genpact in the Dataquest BPO Top 20.

This single acquisition has given Transworks thirty delivery locations, operations in seven countries, and close to 10,000 people spread across offshore, onshore and near-shore locations, not to talk of the brand Minacs. So strong is the brand that many deals have been closed without an RFP.

But that brand is of a strong customer interaction services firm. In India, where the "BPO" companies have changed the rule of the business, combining multiple service lines and delivering them successfully, often literally "under one roof", critics consider the huge investment in Minacs as one in "yesterdays business model."

Now that may be a little harsh as call centers are still one of the most outsourced functions in an enterprise, and many other firms in our list have consciously positioned themselves around these servicescustomer lifecycle management, being the favorite catch phrase. Transworks, however, has plans to ramp-up non-voice. In fact, it is one of the few multi-services Indian BPO firms which has existing practices in F&A, document management, HR administration, and procurement and logistics. This makes Transworks well suited to position itself as a new generation, old-world BPO company, ie, a true horizontal services firm. Procurement and logistics already contributes close to 10% to its revenue. Last year Transworks added fifty clients.

However, the biggest concern for Transworks comes from currency fluctuations. With the Rupee gaining strength against the dollar, Transworks margins can come under pressure as close to 90% of its revenue comes from North America. Fortunately, with a large near-shore/onshore delivery which can steadily move offshore, margins have huge scope for improvement. DQ

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