India to house Ness' largest centre

India will soon be the largest offshore delivery centre for Ness Technologies, the global provider of IT services and solutions, both in terms of headcount and offering of new services.

The Israel-headquartered company, which in April this year completed the acquisition of Innova Software, a financial services and independent software vendor (ISV) based out of Hyderabad, is also planning to acquire new companies in India in its current line of services and new services line.

Ness Technologies' association with India dates back to 2003 when by acquiring US-based Apar Infotech, it came to Bangalore with its offshore delivery centre.

At present, Ness Technologies (India) operates offshore development centres in Hyderabad and Mumbai apart from Bangalore, which is the largest one of the company having 1,300 software engineers.

"As we move forward, the focus will be on acquisitions as a means to growth apart from the organic growth," Satyajit Bandyopadhyay, senior vice-president and chief delivery officer, Ness Technologies (India) Ltd, told Business Standard.

He said the company in India was in the expansion mode. "We are utilising 70 per cent of our capacity in the existing facility in Bangalore while the rest has been preserved for future growth, as the company is planning to go offshore in new business area like life sciences," Bandyopadhyay added.

The Nasdaq-listed company has a development centre in life sciences services for pharma companies in areas of business intelligence and document based out of New Jersey in the US.

Besides, Bandyopadhyay said, the company last week announced the opening of a new facility in Hyderabad in addition to the existing one.

The second facility at Mumbai, which will have a seating capacity of 500, would be inaugurated in the next couple of months.

While the total headcount of Ness Technologies globally is around 7,000, its offshore delivery centres in India employ 2,300.

Bandyopadhyay said the company was planning to make India the hub of its global offshore delivery centres. "We hope to achieve this soon as we are moving into other geographies primarily India," he said.

However, he did not give any exact figure and the time frame for the same. Ness Technologies' first quarter 2006 revenues rose by 21 per cent to $107.0 million as compared with $88.4 million in the first quarter of 2005.

According to Bandyopadhyay, the company has projected a revenue of $480 million for the whole calendar.

In 2005, Israel accounted for 50 per cent of the company's revenue. "This year, we expect less than 50 per cent from Israel as the company is focusing more on new geographical locations," he added.