SoftSol on major expansion drive

Looks for acquisition; To set up Rs 5-crore development centre in Vizag

Hyderabad-based SoftSol India Limited, a software solutions provider, has embarked on an expansion drive via the organic as well as the inorganic route.

It will be acquiring a company in six months time and will be setting up a development centre in Visakhapatnam within a year. SoftSol has a development centre in Hyderabad that is currently undergoing its second phase of expansion.

Speaking to Business Standard, Hirendra Sinhji Rana, vice-president and head (IT), SoftSol India Limited, said, "We are looking at companies in India, Central America and Australia, and will be announcing an acquisition in the next six months."

The company at present has an office in the US and will be expanding to Australia, Germany and the UK shortly. "We would like to enter these markets through local associates and are looking for partners in these countries," Rana added.

At its software development centre in Hyderabad, the company is undertaking its second phase of expansion where one lakh sq ft of space is being developed.

"The core and shell cost of the new building is around Rs 8 crore and it will become operational by April 2006. It will have the capacity to house 1,200 people," Anil Kumar Singh, head (India operations), SoftSol India Ltd, said. The centre currently employs 70 people and will be doubling the size in the next 10 months.

The company has also acquired one acre of land in Visakhapatnam where it will be investing Rs 5 crore to set up its development centre. "This centre, with a capacity to house around 450 people, is likely to become operational in a year's time," Singh added.

SoftSol, which operates in areas like application development and migration, has also entered the geographical information systems (GIS) space through collaboration with Hyderabad-based Ananth Technologies Ltd.

Both the companies will provide specialised GIS services in the areas of data conversion, data maintenance, digital mapping etc. SoftSol expects $1 million revenues from this sector in the first year of collaboration. The company is also looking at entering the knowledge process outsourcing space in the near future.

SoftSol earned a total income of Rs 51.63 crore in 2004-05 and is targeting to touch the Rs 70-crore mark this year. The BSE-listed company will also be listing on the NSE in a month's time.