Cost-cutting phase over, time to transform biz: HCL Tech

I / Davos January 29, 2010, 11:44 IST

Indian IT major HCL Technologies today said the cost-cutting phase necessitated by the global economic downturn is over and it will work with its global customers to help redesign their business.

During the recession, HCL helped its customers in the US and Europe reduce their "run-the-business" cost, company Chief Executive Officer Vineet Nayar said.

Nayar, who is a regular at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting, said the phase of cost reduction is over and the name of the game is to change and transform the business.

"Now we are going to have customers wanting to change businesses and transform them," he said.

The $5-billion technology company, which is among India's original IT garage start-ups, has grown into a 55,000 employee company and is geared to change business focus, Nayar said.

He said among the five sets of its expertise, it would now focus on the areas like enterprise application and engineering services.

Simply put, HCL would help the enterprises help redesign their business, say taking them to the use of digital technology, with the help of engineering tools.

Commenting on the company's road map ahead, Nayar said HCL would continue to grow both by its natural expansion as also by new acquisitions.

He, however, did not give details saying the company did not believe in acquiring companies just because the assets are less expensive during slowdown.

It would go for the acquisitions if it finds value in them. It acquired four firms, including the big ticket Axon, in 2009.

While he was not willing to give the company outlook, Nayar said the industry consensus is that the IT budget globally would be either flat or marginally grow in 2010.