CAPGEMINI EYES INDIA BUYS TO SUPPORT GROWTH

TMCNet.com
Capgemini of France, an IT services provider, is looking at acquiring Indian rivals that will help it achieve aggressive growth targets in the offshore outsourcing market.The company has said that it will need 14,000 information technology (IT) staff in low-cost countries to serve its customers by the end of 2008.Most of those will be in India. Possible acquisition targets are companies with revenues of between 100 and 200 million euros and double- digit operating profit margins. The valuation of such companies is 12 to 18 months of revenues and a takeover of one such company could cost up to a maximum of 300 million euros. more...

Marlabs to Expand India Presence

NJBIZ.com
Marlabs, headquartered in Edison, plans to expand its offshore services in India.
The company expects to increase its headcount from the present 70 to 300 by the middle of next year. The company has one offshore outsourcing center in Bangalore and as part of its expansion strategy is looking for more space in the city and beyond the city, most likely Chennai. Sunil Nambiar, Bangalore-based head of global delivery, says, “We see a greater value proposition and cost advantage in outsourcing to India. In addition, the availability of the talent pool and the advantage of a 12-hour time difference is a big factor.” He adds that although the cost advantage of offshore outsourcing to India has reduced compared to what it was three to four years ago, India is still preferred. “Last year the Indian operations contributed 20% of the overall business, going forward we expect it to increase to 40%.” more...

Our focus is offshore for top clients

The Hindu Business Line
A GOOD September quarter this year is not the lone feather in Tata Consultancy Services' (TCS) cap. Since then, it has managed to fill up a few key gaps in its services portfolio. It has bagged a contract from Pearl Insurance of the UK, marking its foray into end-to-end BPO and acquired Australia-based FNS for $26 million to strengthen its presence in core banking. eWorld caught up with N. Chandrasekharan, executive vice-president, Tata Consultancy Services, when he was in Chennai to launch the company's new infrastructure management centre, to see what the future held and if trends that could change the fortunes of IT players were visible. Excerpts from the conversation:
A recent Forrester report has indicated that the Consulting and Systems Integration opportunities - seen in the last few years - might be short-lived. Your perspective, in the light of IT players moving in that direction? more...