HCL Tech may close 5 deals in M&E space by year-end

Delhi-based HCL Technologies expects to sign around five deals in the media and entertainment (M&E) space. Talks are on with four global companies and one Indian firm, and HCL plans to close these deals by the end of this year. Most deals will be in the range between $50 million and $200 million (Rs 240-950 crore). 

The company is looking at opportunities in this vertical with large media conglomerates, two of which are based out of Europe. “The clients in Europe and North America are large groups with whom we are not currently working with. As for the India business, we are in talks with local businesses in India. We now plan to increase our presence in Asia-Pacific, including India and our areas of interest here are print publishing, school publishing and broadcasting. India is one of the most important markets and the key business focus is the broadcasting industry here,” said Karan Puri, senior vice-president, HCL Technologies. 

For the India business, the company has already moved some people from Europe to India. For the third quarter ended 31 March, 2009, the media, publishing and entertainment vertical contributed around 5 per cent to HCL Tech’s revenues. North America and Europe together contribute more than 85 per cent to the M&E vertical’s revenues. 

The company, for instance, recently secured an outsourcing services engagement with MTV Networks (MTVN) and inked a $350 million (Rs 1,680 crore), seven-year deal with Reader’s Digest Association. 

HCL Tech’s focus in the M&E space is on publishing (book, newspapers and magazines), gaming (casino and lottery), music, ISV’s, business information services, broadcasting and new media companies. The company maintains that publishing is the fastest growing business in absolute terms but the rate of growth is the highest for broadcasting and new media. 

Besides, the company is also working on three frameworks for its M&E business -- ad-scheduling, digital publishing and assets & rights management -- wherein it will use analytics to profile consumers of media and entertainment. For ad-scheduling, the company has been commissioned by a media house outside India. “For these frameworks, we are not too focussed in India but eventually, India will picture in the scheme of things,” added Puri.