TCS plans new centres in Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Oman
Tuesday, 29 April 2008, 16:37 IST
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Dubai: Leading Indian IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is planning to open new centres in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital Abu Dhabi, Egypt and Oman in order to focus more on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) market. "MENA has been active in the last couple of years as the infrastructure, energy, utility and alternative sources of energy are showing strong growth and there are robust opportunities for further growth," TCS chief executive and managing director S. Ramadorai told the Gulf News newspaper. As of now, the company has centres in Dubai, Riyadh, North Africa, Morocco and Bahrain in the MENA. The MENA computer services market is valued at $50 million and the region contributes around five percent to TCS's growth while India contributes 11 percent, the newspaper reported. Ramadorai said the rupee's appreciation against the dollar has eroded earnings of the company as most of its sales are generated overseas. TCS gets almost 91 percent of its sales from overseas, including 50 percent from the U.S. "We're concerned. The way the rupee drastically appreciated in the last couple of months is definitely a matter of concern, but we have done hedging against currency fluctuations and we're on a good wicket when it comes to hedging and there is nothing we can do beyond that," he was quoted as saying. The Indian rupee has gained around 11 percent in the last financial year (April to March). He, however, said TCS was expected to grow more than the industry's average growth of 20-25 percent. "We will deliver sustained, profitable growth in the next financial year, helped by a new, agile customer-centric organization structure that adds value to our clients and employees." *_* Gulf money transfer business worth $72 billion The money transfer business in the Gulf is worth at least $72 billion with the business in UAE alone estimated to be around $27 billion. Lady Olga Maitland, chief executive of the London-based International Association of Money Transfer Networks, said the UAE would remain as the hub of the payment industry in the Gulf region. Maitland, who is here for the Money Transfers Dubai Conference, said that only half of the global money transfer business is being officially recorded. Quoting World Bank findings, she said the latest statistics showed that the recorded remittances across the world were estimated to be $500 billion, but in reality the total size of the payments industry would be twice as much at $1 trillion, the Khaleej Times reported. However, according to the Migration and Remittances Factbook 2008, worldwide remittance flows are estimated to have exceeded $318 billion in 2007 - an increase of seven percent - of which developing countries received $240 billion. "The true size, including unrecorded flows through the formal and informal channels, is believed to be significantly larger," Maitland was quoted as saying. India headed the list of recipients worldwide having received $27 billion in remittances. *-* Asians invest $2.45 bn in UAE realty last year Asian investors have shelled out approximately 9 billion dirhams ($2.45 billion) in real estate investments into the UAE from March 2007 to the early months of 2008, according to recent market studies. With industry experts projecting further growth in investment opportunities within the UAE real estate market, investors from India, Pakistan and Iran continue to patronize commercial, residential and mixed use spaces within the country's most sought-after developments, leading UAE real estate company Bonyan International Investment Group said in a statement here. The company, which participated in the recently held Cityscape Asia 2008 real estate event, said it aimed at increasing its penetration in the Asian market to further reinforce its presence in the international real estate arena. "Our aim is to gain a worldwide repute as a developer of high value single development and large-scale community projects and build a project portfolio worth 10 billion dirhams in the next three years," Bonyan chairman Abdullah Atatreh said in a statement. "Being able to penetrate and thrive within the highly competitive regional real estate market is truly overwhelming, and the next step for us is to venture out and seek a broader market for our high value offerings," he added.
Source: IANS
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