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Infosys bullish on China
By agencies
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Friday, 15 July 2005, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Infosys Technologies announced its plans to hike the headcount at its China subsidiary to over 1,000 employees over the next several quarters.
"We already have over 100 employees in China and we hope to have many more, who will contribute to our global set of talent for delivery," said Nandan Nilekani, CEO, President and Managing Director of Infosys Technologies.
He said China was important as a potential market as well as potential resource pool for the company's global aspirations. Infosys had announced an initial investment of $5 million for the Chinese operation. "The investment is on track, said Nilekani.
The subsidiary, set up in October 2003, added three clients during the last quarter, taking the total to 15. During 2004-05, Infosys invested Rs 184.6 million in the Chinese arm; taking the total investment to Rs 230 million as of March 31, in the last fiscal, Infosys China generated Rs 81.9 million in revenues with a net loss of Rs 83.9 million.
On concerns over information security, Nilekani said, "A lot of focus has been on the issue of data security and privacy. It is possible that some incidents of security breach that occurred in India may have been magnified in the backdrop of outsourcing backlash. At the same time, it is for Indian companies to use international benchmarks in data protection and privacy."
Meanwhile, Infosys Consulting a subsidiary of Infosys Technologies is expected to achieve the breakeven in the fourth quarter of the current financial year and grow to a 500-strong team by March 2007.
Infosys Consulting currently has seven offices in the U.S. "We are expanding our U.S. offices," Nilekani said while pointing out that the company would open offices in Europe and other overseas locations. In the first year of its operations, Infosys Consulting has notched 25 clients and in the last quarter it had revenues of $5 million.
According to Stephen Pratt, CEO and Managing Director of Infosys Consulting Inc, the company expects to "just less than double" its number of clients by next year.