L&T Infotech looking to double revenues by '08

The infotech arm of engineering and construction major L&T, Larsen and Toubro Infotech (L&T Infotech) is hoping to double revenues to around $400 million by 2008, and become a billion dollar company by the end of the decade.

The company is also considering an initial public offering (IPO) in two years. "We are looking at increasing our revenues to around $350-400 million by 2008, from the present $175-180 million, and expect fast paced growth in the next two years. Our target is to be a billion dollar company by the turn of the decade," said A M Naik, chairman and managing director, L&T.

"I believe we can achieve this by delivering consistency, repeatability and scalability in our offerings," Naik said, adding, the company is planning to tap the capital markets by March 2008.

"L&T Infotech will focus on BFSI, manufacturing and communications industry segments. In the manufacturing space, we are looking at energy and petrochemicals, hi-tech, auto and construction equipment, packaged goods, industrial products and process industries. We believe these segments offer tremendous growth opportunities and we should be able to realise our revenue targets with our domain-specific offerings since, as a major theme, we are moving from business to IT," he said.

At present, L&T Info employs around 7,000 personnel, and is set to hire another 2,000 by the end of the current financial year. It is spending around Rs 600 crore this year for development of six facilities - four infotech and two engineering services.

The four infotech facilities are located at Powai, Navi Mumbai, Chennai and Banglore, while the engineering facilities are located at Powai and Faridabad.

The company is setting up a 2,000-seater facility at Navi Mumbai and another 1,300-seater in Chennai, apart from a 1,000-seater office in Banglore.