L&T Infotech: Journey's Beginning
By investing Rs 600 crore on the Mumbai HQ and other development centers, L&T embarked on the road to its billion dollar dream by 2011

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This IT subsidiary of the L&T group is aiming for the sky (to earn $1bn in revenues by 2011) and 2005-06 saw it taking the first step towards realizing that dream: in the form of a  Rs 600 crore investment on its global HQ in Mumbai, besides planning development centers in a few other locations.  The company also announced plans to go public sometime in 2008. The Middle East was identified as a focus area; there was a strategic marketing tie-up with CNS, while a new development center was mulled in Qatar. The company's symbiotic relation with the parent group was best exemplified by CEO Magapu also donning the CIO hat for the entire L&T group.

• Won 'Asia-Pacific service partner' award from CA and 'Midwest area partner' excellence award from Microsoft
• L&T dependence reduced to less than 3%

l Start-up Year: 1997  l Products & Services: IT services  l Employees: 6052  l Branches: 28  l Address: Gate No.2, Saki Vihar Road, Powai, Mumbai 400072  l Tel: 67766776 l Fax: 28581984 l Website: www.lntinfotech.com 

Acer India: The Retail Ace
Entry products, killer prices, retail...all spurred consumer, and even government, sales

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This global 'Top 5' PC vendor worked hard on expanding its reach in India last year. It focused on retail, which brought in over half its PC sales revenue, and ramped up the number of Acer Malls. It also focused on B and C cities, and partnered with eSys for distribution of all products across North India. 

Acer is a major AMD vendor, and with the latter's sudden acceptability in DGS&D tenders, the Acer-AMD combo turned up in several government sales. In the projector space, Acer launched the first sub-Rs 50k DLP unit, aimed at segments such as SOHO and education. Half its revenues came from desktops; notebooks added 42%, and its Altos servers made up 6% of revenues.

• 225 retail outlets in 90 locations; strong inroads into B and C cities
• Good pricing, product range; backed by Intel and AMD PC/laptop portfolio 

l Start-up Year: 1999 l Products & Services: PCs, notebooks, servers, peripherals and maintenance l Branches: 12 l Address: First Floor, George Thangiah Complex (East), 80 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore–560 075 l Tel: 25219520 l Fax: 25219535 l Website: www.acer.co.in l Employees:127

Computer Associates: Global Buy, Local Gain
A handful of global acquisitions helped CA India with some good wins

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The host of worldwide acquisitions made by CA throughout the year like Concord, Qurb, Niku, iLumin, Control-F1, Wily, Cybermation, MDY and Xosoft not only enhanced its portfolio of enterprise applications, but also helped it win blue-chip organizations in India into its client milieu. Punjab National Bank, HDFC Bank and Polaris as well as the Department of IT, Government of Punjab selected Unicenter EMS to manage their networks and ensure optimum utilization of servers. With the Sri Lanka Telecom win, CA India also strengthened its 2005-06 presence across the subcontinent. It also tried building on the prevailing open source wave by bundling its Ingres database as a freely downloadable open source component along with its Unicenter, eTrust and BrightStor solutions.

• I2IT of Pune to offer CA software courses in MS/MBA curricula 
• eTrust secure content management adopted by Satyam; major wins for Unicenter EMS 

l Start-up Year: 1992  l Products & Services: Software products and services  l Address: 4B-1, NSE Plaza, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai  l Tel: 56413800  l Fax: 56413810 l Website: www.ca.com/in/

Syntel India: Operation 1-5-10
Syntel's aiming for $1 bn revenue and $5 bn market-cap by 2010

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Like Cognizant and Kanbay in the DQ Top 50 club, Syntel is another US company started by an Indian expat, following a primarily India-centric offshore delivery model. There were a number of champagne moments for Syntel in 2005-06, and not just because it celebrated its silver jubilee. The transition to move the global leadership to India started in 2004-05, and started paying rich dividends last fiscal. In fact, turning the offshore-onsite ratio from a lopsided 20:80 to a commendable 67:33 was not just the result of the increased verticalization approach, but more of a shift from the US to offshore Indian approach. It was also one of the few service providers with a 100% fixed price model.

• Infrastructure expansion in Mumbai, Chennai and Pune
• Sponsored Students in Free Enterprise competition as a CSR initiative  

l Start-up Year: 1992  l Products & Services: IT services, BPO  l Employees: 6,093  l Branches: 9  l Address: Unit No 97, SDF IV, SEEPZ, Andheri (E), Mumbai 400096 l Tel: 28290270  l Fax: 28290665  l Website: www.syntelinc.com

CMS Computers: Government Attention
Exports, and e-Gov at home, drove growth

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The foreign gambit seemed to have paid off. The export revenues of CMS for 2005-06 stood at Rs 121 crore showing a five-fold jump from the previous year. That was chiefly due to performance of its software arm Systime with RD Grover's son shifting base to the US and guiding Systime in procuring offshore business. In India, action was centered on the e-Governance front, which contributed Rs 40 crore. The first phase of e-Seva in AP went live and CMS also bagged orders from e-Suvidha in UP, e-Mitra in Rajashtan, i-Setu in Maharashtra and the Kaveri project in Karnataka. Some of the new wins in SI included the defense establishment in Hyderabad, ABB and ONGC. The company was in a spot when IFC delayed on its pledge of $10 mn private equity; subsequently the loan was raised from ICICI.

• Acquired directory service provider 'Kem Cho' in Ahmedabad with the intention of making a foray in the call center industry
• Revenue from services jumps by 80% due to new clients like Citibank and Reliance

l Start-up Year: 1976  l Products & Services: Software services and products, hardware and SI  l Employees: 8,758  l Branches: 13  l Address: 201, Arcadia, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021  l Tel: 22851580, 22834494  l Fax: 22042734  l Website: www.cms.com

Hexaware Technologies: Life After BOT
Despite the early handover of the PeopleSoft center (to Oracle), Hexaware managed growth

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Throughout 2005-06, Hexaware scaled up operations, thanks to its Rs 450 crore cash reserve. This was accrued partly through an investment of Rs 300 crore made by General Atlantic. The company launched new service offerings like business analytics (through global partnership with SAS), asset management and independent testing services besides expanding into new geographies like Japan, Australia, Sweden and Norway.

The PeopleSoft-India services center (ISC) was relinquished to Oracle (for a buyout fee of Rs 5 crore) as per Hexaware's original build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement with PeopleSoft. Fortunately, the loss of the ISC did not pose a big problem as the company made up for the lost revenue in the first quarter itself with a strong win-rate in the PeopleSoft space.

• US energy and utility major engaged Hexaware for its largest PeopleSoft project
• Won a $7mn 'Technological Refresh' contracts from one of Europe's largest online ticketing service providers

l Start-up Year: 1990  l Products & Services: IT services  l Employees: 4124  l Branches: 3  l Address: 152 Millennium Business Park, Sector–III, TTC Industrial Area, Mahape, Navi Mumbai-400710  l Tel: 67919595  l Fax: 67919623  l Website: www.hexaware.com

Siemens Information Systems: Help From Home Base
Shrinking offshore margins forced it to look at the domestic market with its SAP expertise

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The squeeze in margins forced SISL to explore new avenues for growth during 2005-06. The company identified verticalization and increased domestic focus. Other than the usual verticals, airport infrastructure management proved to be a revenue booster.

The traditional SAP expertise enabled it to increase domestic presence. While Mumbai City (BMC) was the biggest SAP engagement, SISL on the whole derived 14% revenue from the Indian market. Bangalore's R&D center was engaged in niche research for various Indian corporate clients, including Siemens. However, there was a conscious effort to reduce Siemens-dependence from the 65% mark during the year.     

• R&D center does projects for ITC, HLL and Britannia
• Moved into telematics and developed techograph for Ashok Leyland vehicles 

l Start-up Year: 1992  l Products & Services: Business solutions, management consulting, software engineering, training, R&D  l Employees: 3832  l Branches: 8 l Address: 130 Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Worli, Mumbai–400018  l Tel: 24987000  l Fax: 24938941  l Website: www.sisl.siemens.co.in

Mastek: Insuring The Elixir
Focus on the insurance vertical helped Mastek grow in the US and elsewhere

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The insurance vertical proved an elixir for Mastek in 2005-06 contributing to 28% of its overall revenues. The top eight insurance companies in the world adopted its Elixir solution across 50 locations. These included global giants like Capita Life & Pensions and New York Life besides Indian players like Metlife, Birla Sun Life and Max New York Life. Encouraged with the response, Mastek started developing Core Elixir, the first enterprise SOA platform for the insurance industry in the world. Insurance helped Mastek in the US, growing its revenues from there by 20%. The JVs with Deloitte Consulting and Carreker, plus a $1mn investment for the US ramp up, too, helped. EURIWARE of France too got into a strategic partnership with Mastek during the year for developing an ODC in India.

• Added development centers in Pune and Navi Mumbai
• The Deloitte Consulting JV doubled revenues during the year

l Start-up Year: 1982  l Products & Services: IT services  l Employees: 3103  l Branches: 4  l Address: Unit No 106, SDF IV, SEEPZ, Andheri (East), Mumbai 400096 l Tel: 66952222/28247999  l Fax: 66951331  l Website: www.mastek.com 

Celetronix India: The EMS Champ
Acquired by #1 EMS player, the $8 bn Jabil, Celetronix retains its identity

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This electronic manufacturing services (EMS) major got acquired by Florida-based Jabil Circuit during 2005-06 for $155 mn. The combined entity now has manufacturing facilities in Mumbai, Chennai and Pondicherry (belonging to Celetronix) besides the existing Jabil plant at Ranjangaon near Pune. Celetronix's traditional strength was perked up by Jabil's supply chain and operational expertise, making them the leading EMS vendor in the world against competitors such as Foxconn, Solectron, Flextronics, Sanmina-SCI and Celestica. The slight dip in revenue could be accounted for by the termination of the Western Digital contract the previous year, as well as its hiving off the voice coil business of its Tancom Electronics division at Chennai.

• Jabil to invest $100 mn to enhance facilities
• Launched new EOS brands, VLT200 Series open frame power supplies and 36 watt EOS external supplies

l Start-up Year: 2000  l Products & Services: Manufacturing, head stack and head gimble assemblies, memory modules, voice coils, RFID products  l Employees: 2,173 l Address: Unit No 9, SDF I, SEEPZ, Andheri (East), Mumbai 400096  l Tel: 28291919  l Fax: 28291176  l Website: www.celetronix.com

MphasiS BFL: The EDS Equation
MphasiS' inorganic roadmap was paying off. Then it was bought by EDS

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Though just after 2005-06, the biggest event of the year had to be the EDS acquisition of MphasiS. After all, a $380 mn takeover of an Indian company does not happen every day; besides, it could help EDS leverage the Indian offshore opportunity better than it had done till now. From the MphasiS point of view, the acquisition of US-based Eldorado Computing and UK-based Princeton Consulting started paying great dividends; while Eldorado offered a platform for delivering IT services/BPO for the healthcare sector, Princeton provided CRM-based telecom contracts as well as triggered off MphasiS Consulting. JP Morgan Chase continued to be the biggest client for the company, accounting for around 16% of the total revenues. But all that could change now with the EDS takeover.

• BFSI still contributed 70% in revenues, with JP Morgan Chase accounting for 16%
• Won SecureSynergy Security Strategist Award 2005

l Start-up Year: 1992  l Products & Services: Software services  l Employees: 11,414  l Branches: 25  l Address: 139/1, Hosur Road, Koramangla, Bangalore 560095 l Tel: 25522713/14  l Fax: 25522719  l Website: www.mphasis.com

Nortel Networks India: ...The Tough Get Going
Nortel managed to offset losses from the BSNL project with strong BPO wins

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It was a tough and challenging year for Nortel with losses incurred in the BSNL project, profit margins dipping for UMTS, and less than expected deployments of VoIP and wireless data networks. Margins got affected also due to increased price competition in the networking industry, particularly from low cost Chinese competitors. Sasken for $10 mn did provide some relief to the beleaguered company.

On the managed services front, BPO proved to be the company's mainstay with deployments in Bharti and Taj Reservation Network amongst others. The company also undertook major projects for PSUs like GAIL's DWDM/SDH optical backbone and deployment of next generation GSM-R communication system in West Bengal for the Railways. 

• Won five-year managed services contract with Bharti 
• Signed a JV with Huawei for developing ultra broadband access solutions 

l Start-up Year: 1991  l Products & Services: Networking, call center solutions, carrier equipment  l Employees: 1,400  l Branches: 4  l Address: P&G Plaza, Cardinal Gracias Road, Chakala, Andheri (E), Mumbai 400099  l Tel: 56978700  l Fax: 56978787  l Website: www.nortelnetworks.com

iGate Global Solutions: Gates Wide Open
Greater offshore component drives margins

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iGate integrated under a common brand and went to market with a new strategy, its integrated technology and operation model (ITOPS). It began working with existing clients to move work offshore. The offsite value in 2005-06 was at 71% as compared to 30% three years back, one of the best in class today. Its margins, therefore, showed a steady growth. iGate improved its gross margin to about 31% from 30% the year before; the operating margins grew significantly too-10% as compared to 6% in 2004-05.

The net profits came down though. In 2005, the net profit included a one-time profit from sale of surplus assets. In 2005-06, it had an exceptional item of charge as it had to take a diminution in the value of its investment made in one of the overseas companies.

• Added 36 new customers (24 Fortune 1000 companies) 
• Growth mostly from enterprise solutions (100%), testing (40%) and IMS. BFSI and manufacturing are cash cows 

l Start-up Year: 1993  l Products & Services: IT services & BPO  l Employees: 5152  l Address: 158-162 & 165-170, EPIP Phase II, Whitefield, Bangalore 560066  l Tel: 51040000 l Fax: 51259090  l Website: www.igate.com

NIIT Technologies: FSI to Infrastructure
After financial services, NIIT will now target the offshore IT infrastructure services market 

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NIIT Technologies has positioned itself strongly in the financial services space, particularly insurance, with several Fortune 500 clients. It derives close to 25% of its revenues from the transportation vertical today, while BFSI accounts for 35%.

With exports being the primary focus, the company closed its books last fiscal with exports revenues of Rs 535 crore. The domestic market contributed just 8% of revenue. The company has recently restructured and expanded its portfolio of services to address the $70-85 bn market for IT infrastructure offshoring. A long-term goal is integrated offshoring where NIIT will bundle its IT and BPM offerings for customers. A data center was set up in Bangkok and two more are likely to come up in Mumbai and Delhi respectively.

• Entered managed services business
• Set up data center in Bangkok; two plannes in Mumbai and Delhi
• Acquired 51% stake in UK insurance company ROOM Solutions

l Start-up Year: 2003  l Products & Services: Application development & management, enterprise solutions, business process management  l Employees: 3,482  l Address: 8, Balaji Estate, Sudarshan Munjal Marg, Kalkaji, New Delhi New Delhi–110019  l Tel: 26482054/2  l Fax: 26203333  l Website: www.niit-tech.com

Kanbay International: Indo-US Ventures
India contributed more than half its revenues with over 80% of its manpower

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Like two other companies, Cognizant and Syntel, in the DQ Top 50 category, Kanbay too is incorporated in the US but follows a primarily India-centric offshore delivery model. In fact, more than half its global revenues were generated from the work done at its centers in Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai. Acknowledging the importance of India in the overall scheme of things, Kanbay plans a $50 mn investment in 2006 to set up a 3,500-seat campus and an ERP centre of excellence at Hyderabad, and a training centre in Pune. The decision to establish a separate ERP centre followed the $165 mn acquisition of Adjoined Consulting, an Oracle and SAP solution provider. The acquisition was in sync with Kanbay's plans to diversify into offering services to the consumer and industrial products industries.

• HSBC and Morgan Stanley accounted for 60% of the revenues
• Named in the 2006 'Global Services 100' list of innovative companies and IT Week's Top 50 tech innovators of 2005

l Start-up Year: 1989  l Products & Services: Financial software services  l Employees: 6,279  l Address: A-1, Technology Park, MIDC, Talwade, Pune 412114  l Tel: 27601000 l Fax: 27601002  l Website: www.kanbay.com

Texas Instruments: Instrumental India
Beyond R&D exports, TI India wants a local market: from manufacturers

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The India interest for this largest maker of cell phone semiconductors is clear: great promise in the communication segment, with around 250 mn telephone subscribers expected by 2007; and an entertainment industry which is expected to be around $10 bn. So TI India is just not an R&D center anymore. It has strong domestic market interest with both local and multinational OEMs doing more and more of product development in India. Thus TI senior management in India have been also trying to evengelize local manufacturing.TI India's focus towards building single chip solutions in many consumer segments has enabled it to announce the world's first single chip GSM/GPRS mobile phones. This will enable handset manufactures to further bring down the cost of entry-level handsets. 

• Patents from India center touch 350
• In early talks with Bollywood to digitize content, which will change how movies are distributed

l Start-up Year: 1985  l Products & Services: VLSI design and embedded software  l Employees: 1,300  l Address: Bagmane Tech Park, 66/3, Byrasandra, CV Raman Nagar, Bangalore  l Tel: 25345454  l Fax: 25298373  l Website: www.ti.com/india

Xerox India: A Xerox is a Print Too
Its sustained “beyond the copier” thrust helped ramp up other OA products

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The world's premier office automation solutions vendor implemented a two-tier distribution model in India; the strategy was primarily aimed at penetrating newer markets with products beyond copiers. Vindication came in the form of office automation products other than copiers contributing 70% of the total sales revenue. Laser printers and MFDs were segments where the company upped its ante. Xerox's refurbished distribution network included Ingram and Redington as national distributors, eSys as the supplies distributor, Salora, Micromax and Ansata as three regional distributors and Accel ICIM and Godrej as service partners. Like many other vendors, Xerox too forayed into retail when it opened its first 'Xerox Digital Gallery' in Bangalore.

• MFD sales nearly doubled during the year 
• Introdced Xerox Office Services offerings for managing document output and infrastructure assets 

l Start-up Year: 1983  l Products & Services: Digital printers, copiers and projectors, MFDs, scanners, document management services and consultancy  l Employees: 650 l Branches: 14  l Address: 20th Floor, DLF Square, DLF City Phase 2, Gurgaon, Haryana 122002  l Tel: 2561930/1940  l Fax: 2561269/2561255  l Website: www.xerox.com/india

Xenitis Infotech: Made in East India
Shifts focus from cheap PCs to higher end products, and components

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After creating and recreating strategies, Xenitis will now focus on the higher end of the product chain, and component manufacturing. Last fiscal's focus was largely on low cost PCs. After the high profile launch in March, Xenitis went national with launches in all regions. It also signed a JV with China-based Unitek Computers to manufacture computer cases and SMPS, and peripherals.

Xenitis, national drive met with marginal success last year. The East under the flagship brand Amar PC was the most successful by far. The East and North accounted for 60% of its revenues. South (Namma in Chennai and Amna PC in Karnataka) was a disaster. Last December, Xenitis also launched its Celeron and Centrino-based laptop range, and its servers.

• Bagged a big order of 350 servers
• Launched the Mission 90 campaign to focus beyond low-cost PCs

l Start-up Year: 2004  l Products & Services: Desktops, Notebooks, peripherals components  l Employees: 600  l Address: Central Plaza, 2/6, Sarat Bose Road, 4th Floor, Kolkata – 700 020  l Tel: 2485 8012-18  l Fax: 2485 8018  l Website: www.xenitisgroup.com

Datacraft India: Networking India
New leadership took charge as Datacraft completed ten years in India

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Datacraft's decade long existence in India in 2005-06 was marked by the completion of networking 10,000 branches of the State Bank group across the country, making it India's largest network for one single corporate entity. All the associate banks and the Kerala and Bangalore circles were fully networked this year. Naturally, this raised Datacraft's stature as an SI in the region and helped it expand beyond India. Winning a $1.4 mn project for Wataniya Telecom in Maldives was the highlight. In line with the changing business dynamics facing Datacraft India, there was a senior management reshuffle: Sunil Manglore and Shailendra Badoni, two long-standing employees of the company, took over as CEO and COO respectively, positions created for the first time. 

• Awarded “Best Asian Systems Integrator” for the fifth consecutive year by Telecom Asia
• Partnered Itpreneurs to launch advanced IT Service Management courses in India

l Start-up Year: 1994  l Products & Services: SI, software services, telecom solutions  l Employees: 562  l Address: Unit No 204/206, Trade Center, Kamala Mills Compound, Lower Parel (W), Mumbai 400067  l Tel: 24981212  l Fax: 24971818  l Website: www.datacraft-asia.com

Rolta India: Engineering Growth
Key wins, both in India and overseas, saw Rolta making a mark in engineering services

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During 2005-06, Rolta enhanced its reputation as an engineering services provider, thanks to its Dubai City project on GeoSpatial technology as well as domestic engagements with BEST in Mumbai and the state of Chhattisgarh. Not just Dubai City, but the whole of the Middle East was a lucrative geography accounting for $5 mn revenue, especially on photogrammetry projects. Locally, there were big wins in the oil and gas sector, especially the one at the IPCL Gandhar Petrochemical Complex. The company's listing on the London Stock Exchange and subsequently the $103 mn it raised through the issue of Global Depository Receipts enhanced its presence in the European market.

• Signed agreement with CA to provide e-security services for North America
• Strategic partnership with Intergraph to provide expert services to GIS customers worldwide 

l Start-up Year: 1982  l Products & Services: GeoEngineering/GIS, plant design automation, PLM, e-solutions  l Employees: 3,000  l Branches: 19  l Address: Rolta Tower A, Rolta Technology Park, MIDC, Andheri (E), Mumbai 400093  l Tel: 28326666  l Fax: 28365992  l Website: www.rolta.com

CSC India: Captive Growth
This $15 bn Calfornia-based IT services company has expanded rapidly in India

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Today CSC India is the third largest facility of CSC worldwide. This year, it launched the first of its 'Office of Innovation' centers worldwide. The objective was to help India offerings move up the value chain and leverage existing capabilities to create new solutions. The 'Innovations at Work' program (I@W) was launched to drive innovation. The India center also received the SEI CMM level 5 certification along with centers in Canada and US. Services exports constituted nearly 93% of the company's topline last year. Domestic revenues clocked 36% growth while exports shot up by 91%. Exports remain dominated by software deployment and support and application outsourcing. CSC also opened another facility in Chennai and expects to take the headcount at the new facility to 1,000 by the end-2006.

• Adds Chennai (1,000 seats), after Noida, Indore and Hyderabad. India is third-largest location with 6% of CSC workforce
• New innovation center in India, and “I@W” program to encourage out-of-the-box ideas 

l Start-up Year: 2000  l Products & Services: Software services and SI  l Employees: 4701  l Address: C-24/25, Sector 58, Noida-201301  l Tel: 2582323  l Fax: 258 2322  l Website: www.csc.com

Honeywell India: Riding The Market
Turnkey automation projects, especially in India, kept it going

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Honeywell's India presence is primarily in the form of Honeywell Automation and Honeywell Technology Solutions Labs (HTSL), the R&D arm of the company. HTSL, which is primarily a cost center, is present in Madurai and Pune in addition to its headquarters in Bangalore. Honeywell Automation is the primary revenue driver. Currently, Honeywell sees huge opportunity in the Rs 5,000 crore automation market in addition to the security, building solutions and sensors space. Honeywell Automation booked its highest order, worth Rs 750 crore, last year when it moved beyond vanilla engineering services to turnkey projects. In India, Honeywell Automation sees huge opportunity in the retail oil and gas space. It bagged Rs 200 crore worth of automation orders from IOC and IBP to automate the gasoline and retail outlets. 

• Started doing turnkey projects in the Middle East and Africa
• Entered the sensors market for automotives

l Start-up Year: 1995  l Products & Services: Process management, automation, security and control systems  l Employees: 7,000  l Address: 4th Floor, Zone 'B', Nirlac House, B-25 Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi 110016  l Tel: 42399900  l Fax: 42399999  l Website: www.honeywell.com

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