Mahindra Satyam may increase headcount in Australia to 5,000

The region is currently contributing 8% towards Mahindra Satyam's global revenues

IT firm Mahindra Satyam may increase its headcount in Australia to 5,000 in two years from the present 1,600, a senior official of the IT major said.

According to Bobby Gupta, who took charge of Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) operations, the region which is currently contributing 8% of Mahindra Satyam's global revenues, is expected to grow up to 10% after merger with Tech Mahindra.

Mahindra Satyam recently appointed Bobby Gupta, who headed  Middle East and North Africa (MENA) operations as head of ANZ operations while G B Kumar who was with Cisco Systems earlier would take over operations of MENA region.

"We have a very strong foundation in Australia. We are right now 1,600 people there. We want to make it 5,000 people in two years time," Gupta told PTI after taking over reins of the ANZ operations.

"We have started local hiring from top Australian universities of freshers and experienced people from the local market. This will be supplemented by hiring at various ODC (offshore development centres) spread out in India, Malaysia and Philippines," he added.

Replying to a query, on the percentage of local employees, Gupta said the ratio will continue to be 40 in Australia and 60% at various global locations supporting Australian clients.

He said currently MSat has over 35 clients in Australia out of which 6 to 7 are key clients in terms of revenue.

The company's big customers include Qantas and National Australia Bank.

Replying to a query on revenues he said ANZ is currently contributing 8% to MSat's global revenues.

The IT firm reported little over $1 billion revenues from global operations for the nine months period ended December 31, 2012. For the full financial year 2012, it recorded $1.31 billion.

"Right now, we contribute around 8% to the global revenues of Mahindra Satyam. When both the companies ( MSat and TechM) are merged in the next few months time, we aim to achieve 10% of global revenues of the combined entity by 2015," he expressed hope.

On the Gulf market, Gupta said, the region is rapidly growing and political disturbance had no impact on company's operations.

Sources in MSat said revenues from MENA region was currently touching $100 million.

Rohit Gandhi, Sr Vice President- Asia-Pacific, India, Middle East and Africa, Mahindra Satyam had earlier said, both ANZ and Middle East and Africa (MEA) markets are high-growth opportunities for Mahindra Satyam, after completion of merger with Tech Mahindra.