ITC Info eyes firms with foothold in US, Europe

"We are looking at organisations that are focused on the European and US markets with deep specialisation in the verticals we focus on. The acquisition targets can well be India in itself. However, the preference is for companies that are located there - right in that market and servicing clients there as we need to be close to our clients there," Sanjiv Puri, managing director, ITC Infotech, told Business Standard. "I would not like to acquire an organisation that is more than a third of our size in terms of number of people. Revenue is not too much of a barrier for us," he added.

ITC Infotech has a headcount of 2,600 working across various verticals, including banking and finance, retail, travel, hospitality and transportation, engineering services and media and entertainment. Even though the ITC group firm is yet to make public its revenue for financial year 2007-08, the company said its revenues grew by 47 per cent over the previous year to about Rs 400 crore. In 2006-07, ITC Infotech achieved a revenue of around Rs 290 crore. ITC Infotech also plans to go for a public issue in the near future, though it has not disclosed any time-frame.

ITC Infotech, which is quite active in Europe with large banking clients like Danske Bank and Abbey National Bank, derives about 50 per cent of its revenues from the region and about 33 per cent from the US.

The rest of its business comes from the domestic market, largely from group companies.

Last year, the company reorganised its business models by creating clusters around different verticals it focusses in to improve delivery capabilities. This year, the company introduced many new practices, such as trade promotion management and wireless technology radio frequency identification (RFID). The company is already working with a container company in India for RFID implementation, and looking at expanding the practice by creating solutions for hospitality and airlines industry.

The company said it is also building up practices around green technologies as a part of its sustainability practice. Currently in the incubation stage, it intends to help corporates in maintaining their carbon footprints by offering services on scorecards and reporting framework. "We have a sustainability practice that we are incubating and will take to the market very shortly. It has emanated from a desire of a lot of our clients to share with them how ITC's own experience in becoming carbon and water positive. We are putting in place the knowledge asset we have in the organisation to help the clients in their green journey," said Puri.