Wipro inks pact with GE for $1 Billion deal

Bangalore: Wipro has signed a master services agreement (MSA) with General electric to bid for nearly $1 billion worth of outsourcing projects fleshed out by different business units of GE every year. This step may help Wipro to stand firmly against rivals Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Genpact, reported Economic Times.

Talking to Economic Times, a senior executive at one of the tech firms currently serving GE said, "While it does not in any way guarantee assured contracts, GE is a good account to have for long-term, annuity-based revenues because even if the micro environment is bad, one of the GE units would have something to outsource, offshore." He requested anonymity because he is not authorized to comment about his company's customers.

It would be incorrect to say that GE a new customer for Wipro. Even two decades ago, when Jack Welch visited India, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji was one of the first partners to sell Welch's healthcare products. A person familiar with this agreement said, "Both the companies started healthcare business and an outsourcing alliance later, however, since 2000 Wipro has not been doing any significant outsourcing work for GE - in many ways, this is a great comeback."

However, some experts feel that GE can't become a large account for Wipro anytime soon. "They may start at around $10-20 million annually, but with so much of competition for the GE business, I am not sure if Wipro would also like it to become big," said a senior executive at one of the rival firms on conditions of anonymity.