Infosys on prowl to buy smaller BPOs

IT bellwether Infosys Technologies is on the prowl to acquire small and medium business process outsourcing companies (BPO) that fit strategically with the operations of its subsidiary, Infosys BPO.

The company is scouting BPO firms in entire Asia (barring India), Europe and the US, even though no company has been shortlisted yet.

Confirming this, Infosys BPO Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Amitabh Chaudhry told Business Standard, "There is a clear and renewed thrust in scouting for BPO companies as we look at expanding our footprints across the world."

The intention is to acquire small and medium BPO firms that could be integrated with the operations of Infosys BPO. Small companies can be moulded into the Infosys' existing format and scaled up faster, apart from the obvious cost advantage benefits.

The company is mainly looking at companies in Latin America, as the country would act as a gateway to the rest of the continent, he added.

The acquisitions would help the company to garner domain expertise, improved efficiencies and reduced delivery times, and provide knowledge and analytical services to companies across the world.

He did not divulge the corpus earmarked for acquiring BPO companies, stating that this would depend on "opportunities available" in the global market. However, the company is not interested in acquiring Indian BPO firms as it believes the domestic firms are over-valued.

Infosys BPO is also looking at expanding to other cities in the country, where the parent company has a presence. This is in addition to the recent opening of offices in Jaipur, Bangalore and Pune.