M N Dastur eyes global deals in value-added services

After 50 years in the business of consulting engineering, M N Dastur & Company is looking to branch out to value added services with an accent on the global market, as part of its efforts to suit the needs of the present day industry.

The moves are expected to take its revenues from Rs 230 crore last year to Rs 400 crore over the next 6-8 years, said Supriya Das Gupta, chairman and managing director, M N Dastur & Company.“We will modify operations according to the needs of the industry, he said.

As a step in the direction, the company has set up a new division, Dastur Business & Technology Consulting (DBTC), which is offering clients globally specialized business strategy and technology consulting services.

DBTC has already bagged two contracts. It would be advising the Bahrain-based Islamic bank, Gulf Finance House for its proposed $5 billion investment in steel plant capacity while the other one was developing an information technology outsourcing strategy for a leading bank in France.

Global operations which currently account for around 8-9 per cent of the company’s revenues would increase to 12-15 per cent over a period of time.

On the engineering consulting side, the company plans to move its focus from only steel to other core sectors.

Atanu Mukherjee, president-technology consulting, M N Dastur & Company, broadening activities into core sectors would hedge out the cyclicity of the business. Mukherjee is one of the two executives who have been inducted to steer the company’s global business.

In steel, M N Dastur & Company is associated with some of the mega projects like ArcelorMittal India’s proposed plants in Jharkhand and Orissa, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd’s (RINL’s) expansion, Tata Steel’s brownfield expansion at Jamshedpur and the greenfield project at Kalinganagar in Orissa.