Prithvi Info to ramp up headcount to 3000 in 3 yrs

May sign first KPO deal in next fortnight

Hyderabad-based Prithvi Information Solutions Limited, a provider of technology and process outsourcing services, is targeting to increase its employee strength from around 900 to 3,000 in the next 2-3 years.

The company is also entering the knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) sector and is likely to sign its first deal in the next fortnight.

Addressing the media, V Madhavi, founder and chairperson, Prithvi Information Solutions Limited, said, "We aim to achieve a critical size in the next two-three years. This will mean an employee strength of around 3,000 and deal size of $50-100 million in the near future."

The company is entering the capital market with a public issue of 50,00,000 equity shares. The issue is being made through 100 per cent book-building process and the price band is from Rs 250 to Rs 270 per equity share of face value of Rs 10 each.

The company is raising funds for setting up a Rs 91-crore offshore delivery centre in Hyderabad for meeting both working capital requirements (Rs 49 crore) and expenses of the issue (Rs 10 crore). "The offshore delivery centre will have 1,500 people by the end of September 2006," Madhavi said.

At present, the company gets 62 per cent of its revenues from technology outsourcing, 35 per cent from intelligence solutions and three per cent from process outsourcing.

With its entry into the KPO sector, Prithvi Information Solutions expects process outsourcing to contribute 20 per cent to its revenues in the next two years. The company will focus on agricultural, manufacturing, financial and robotics research and analysis in the KPO sector.

The company ended the last year with revenues of Rs 305.12 crore and profit after tax of Rs 28.84 crore. Around 90 per cent of its revenues is from on-site work and the remaining 10 per cent from off-shore.

"We intend to change this ratio to 70:30 in the next few years," Madhavi said.