BackGlobal crisis unlikely to impact outsourcing business: TCS
Global crisis unlikely to impact outsourcing business: TCS
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New Delhi: Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) business process outsourcing (BPO) arm sees no immediate impact on its business from the global economic turmoil, its head said on Wednesday, even as India’s information technology (IT) shares fell on concerns of a slowdown.
TCS, the number one firm in India’s flagship $76 billion software services industry, and peers Infosys and Wipro have seen their shares slide in recent weeks on fears of recession in the United States and Europe, its key markets.
“We are seeing good traction," Abid Ali Neemuchwala, global head of business process outsourcing services at TCS , told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an industry conference, without providing details on the company’s outlook. “A lot of the challenges happen because of the economic depression and hard times. The solution is with us and our industry. So there is definitely a silver lining out there," Neemuchwala said.
TCS shares closed down 1.9% at Rs962.60 ($21.10) on a Mumbai market down 1.3%, in line with Asian peers tracking global financial uncertainty. Fears of a further slowdown in the United States and Europe, which account for more than 70% of the industry’s revenue, last week dragged India’s IT index to its lowest level since November 2009.
But officials at Infosys and Wipro, India’s second and third-largest software services firms respectively, on Tuesday scotched fears that the sector would suffer due to stalled economic growth in the West.
The firm’s BPO arm, which had revenues of $925 million in the year that ended in March, gets about half of its revenue from North America, 15% from India and the remainder from Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
TCS BPO, which in 2008 agreed to buy Citigroup’s back-office unit in India for about $500 million, is not actively looking for acquisitions, Neemuchwala said, but would evaluate any deal that helps it gain a new market or capability. “Japan is a market we are not doing BPO but are looking at expansion. Germany is another market where we are doing BPO but we are doing relatively little. So if there is a right opportunity, we’ll do it," Neemuchwala said. “Today we are focused on executing our strategy, where I don’t see a direct need for going out and acquiring," he said.
TCS BPO employs 34,000 people at delivery centres across India, China, the Philippines, the US, Europe and Latin America. It has 175 clients and counts Citigroup and Dow Chemical among customers.
Infosys closed down 1.1% at Rs2250.90 ($49.33), while Wipro’s shares ended the day 0.9% down at Rs329.85 ($7.23). India’s IT index closed 1.3% down at Rs5222.10 ($114.44).
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