Genpact to bid for UID project

India’s largest business process outsourcing (BPO) firm, Genpact, plans to bid for the union government’s Unique Identity (UID) project and is likely to enter a tie-up with IT players who can work on the hardware aspect.

“Other than the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) segment, government is a key sector for Genpact in India. We will be focused more on the process optimisation aspect than on the IT. But since there is a small aspect of hardware involved in the government deals, we think we are capable of handling this, as well as get into tie-ups if required,” said Harpreet Duggal, Senior Vice President and Business Leader India, Genpact.

The NYSE-listed BPO forayed into the domestic market nine months ago and has already signed four customers from the banking and finance and travel segments. The company is in the final stages of signing three to four deals. It serves customers from its centres in Jaipur and Hyderabad and has plans to further expand into tier-II cities.

As a part of its strategy to expand in the domestic market, Duggal said the company will introduce its international learning to the market and the operations would also be different from its international operations. “In total, we have 1,000 people working on the domestic market. This includes the sales and marketing. But we will leverage our talent base for winning market share in India,” said Duggal.

Like its international focus, Genpact will focus on BFSI, telecom, healthcare and government. Duggal further stated: “Small and medium enterprises (SME) will be another focus area. We think a lot of hosted solutions that Genpact has in the finance and accounting space and healthcare can be used in the domestic market also.”

Mudit Saxena, Senior VP and Business Leader heading the BFSI focus said that is not a driver in India for firms to outsource. “Rather, the discussion that we have been having with some of the banks are on outcome-based models. And a shift from fixed to variable cost,” he added.

The Nasscom-McKinsey Perspective 2020 report says the domestic outsourcing opportunity is expected to expand from $26 billion in 2008 to $90-100 billion by 2020, a compounded annual growth rate of 11 per cent. Wherein, BFSI and public services will account for 40 per cent of the addressable market. Among the business services, call centres, BFSI non-voice services and finance and accounting (F&A) will comprise 55 per cent.