Source: www.livemint.com
In September, Steria announced it had made revenues of euro 956.2 million or $1.36 billion in the preceding 12-month period

Mumbai: Large and mid-sized European information technology (IT) vendors such as Atos Origin SA, Logica CMG Plc and Groupe Steria SCA see India as a source for new revenues even as they strengthen their service delivery capabilities by leveraging their presence here.

Armed with consulting and systems integration capabilities, these vendors plan to chase contracts in India from customers in telecom, transportation, utilities, retail and, potentially, nuclear power businesses.

India has emerged as the top outsourcing market in the Asia-Pacific region in the December quarter, according to outsourcing advisory firm Technology Partners International Inc. Traditionally, vendors such as IBM Corp. and Accenture Ltd have dominated this market, which is now being pursued by local rivals such as Infosys Technologies Ltd and Wipro Ltd.

“We are planning to use India to leapfrog into Asia Pacific,” said Francois Enaud, chairman and CEO of Steria group, on the sidelines of the Nasscom Leadership Summit in Mumbai.

Last year, Steria bought UK-based Xansa Plc. for £472 million, or about Rs3,880 crore, acquiring 5,000 employees in India.

Steria has now a fourth of its workforce in India. “We plan to move more work offshore leveraging our presence in India,” said Enaud, adding European clients now want services delivered from offshore destinations that are priced competitively and boast of better skills.
Steria, which serves clients such as BT Plc., British Broadcasting Corp., BNP Paribas SA and Deutsche Telecom AG, earns about 2% revenues from the Asia-Pacific market, which it services from its Singapore offices. The company earns about 45% of its revenues from the UK and the rest from Europe.

In September, Steria announced it had made revenues of euro 956.2 million or $1.36 billion in the preceding 12-month period.
“We expect our revenues from Asia Pacific, led by India, Singapore and Australia, to touch about 10% in three to five years,” Enaud said.
Atos Origin, a French IT firm, aims to serve Indian banking and financial services, telecom and retail customers. The firm will bid for IT systems contracts for nuclear plants in India as and when they come up, said Hubert Tardieu, executive vice-president, global consulting and systems integration at Atos Origin.

A nuclear deal between India and the US is yet to be concluded.

Atos Origin, a euro 5.7 billion firm, currently manages IT systems for more than 20 nuclear plants worldwide.

G.B.S. Bindra, managing director of Logica CMG’s India business, said customers here were ready for solutions used in elsewhere in sectors such as telecom, financial services, energy and utilities.

“The experience of implementing such solutions in developed countries helps us as in bidding for projects in India” he said.

Source: www.business-standard.com

Group Steria-owned Xansa is all set to expand its India operations. The company is looking at doubling its workforce this year and adding more office space in Chennai and Pune.

The India delivery centre is expected to contribute up to 40 per cent of the total business revenues in 2008-09, said company executives.

Francois Enaud, chairman and chief executive officer, Steria, said, “We have appointed Mukesh Aghi as the executive director in India, whose role would be to promote India as the business driver instead of just another offshore delivery centre for us.”

Last year, the French IT services company, Groupe Steria, had acquired UK-based Xansa, which accelerated Steria among the top-10 IT service providers in Europe. The company also got access to Xansa’s strong operations base in India with expertise in the public services and financial services sectors and a combined revenue in excess of $2.4 billion.

“We will create one of the most advanced business models in the European IT service sector through highly client-customised services and a fully-integrated Europe-India delivery model,” said Enaud.

The new entity reinforces its position among the top-10 IT service providers in Europe, with revenues of around EURO 1.8 billion and around 18 000 employees.

“We are around 5,000 people in our three campuses in Chennai, Pune and Noida. This headcount would go up by 50 per cent this year and we will also launch a centre of excellence (CoE) in Chennai soon, which will be Steria’s 11th centre,” said Mukesh Aghi, the new group executive director for Xansa’s operations in India.

The India CoE would be specifically looking at focused areas such as providing testing services, data management and the whole suite of ERP services.

“India is the ideal ground for providing cheap, yet enhanced, capabilities to our European clients,” said Enaud.

Besides, the company will be adding more office space at its 27-acre property in Chennai and 17-acre office in Pune.

Xansa, according to Aghi, will bring to Steria its experience in the fast-growing business process outsourcing (BPO) area.

“This new offering, which is emerging as a key component of Steria’s business transformation and business operation capability, represents a significant cross-selling advantage with the opportunity to deploy outside of the UK,” said Enaud.

Steria, claimed the executives, is building the much-needed muscle to compete with India’s big-three IT services companies, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies and Wipro.