Having just been declared one of the top three wealth providers in India by a study carried out by The Economic Times and Probity Research (CI No 3,579), Wipro Corp now plans to broaden its market by entering the European services arena with its technology division, Wipro Infotech. Wipro Infotech launched its Euro conversion system, Euro Practice, this month. The Bangalore based hardware, software and services company, which has a current turnover of some $280m, is expecting to earn $100m in additional revenues from its European operation by 2001. Wipro Infotech was set up in 1981 as the technology arm of diversified conglomerate, Wipro Corp, a company with its origins in producing and selling cooking oil. Taking advantage of the weak infrastructure for IT in its domestic market and the possibilities for offshore contracting, Wipro Infotech has grown rapidly, delivering solutions to customers in 18 countries, across four continents. The company has 11 development centers in India and two in the US. Its target now is to conquer Europe, having recently opened its first European office in London. Wipro Infotech’s European arm intends to offer IT consultancy, outsourcing, software products and systems integration to the retail/utilities, manufacturing, healthcare and telecommunications sectors. The company says it is experienced in a number of technologies, including data warehousing, ERP, internet, e-commerce and Y2K. For the time being, though, Wipro Infotech will focus mainly on offering solutions to the Euro conversion problem. This strategy should offer the company a good foot in the services doorway given the immediacy of the Euro problem and the current shortage of IT engineers. But it remains to be seen just how successful Wipro Infotech will be in the face of stiff competition from the increasing number of American and European services firms in the market. The company, though, is confident that it has what it takes to be a success. The company claims to complete 65% of its projects on time, compared with an industry average of 20%. And with almost 5,000 staff in India trained both in legacy systems and new technologies, the company claims to be able to offer extremely rapid deployment on new projects, no matter how big. Adding to its attractiveness for potential customers, Wipro Infotech is also able to offer lower prices because of the lower costs of operating out of India. Wipro Infotech has experienced continuous growth in revenue and profitability since its foundation. The company obtained fiscal 1997 revenues of $280m, making up 51% of the total revenue for its parent company, and 1998 looks to be even better. The company predicts that 1998 revenues will increase to around $480m, an increase of almost 70%. This growth is reflected in the size of Wipro Infotech’s staff, which has grown at an average rate of 40% annually over the last three years. Wipro Infotech looks set to expand its European operation rapidly. In addition to its London office, it plans to have offices ‘in every European country by April 1999 and to open a development center there before the end of the year. The company’s aim is to gain 75% of its business in Europe through winning its own contracts and 25% by partnering with other services companies. It has already secured a European client and partner base including such high profile names as Nortel, IBM, Thomas Cook, General Electric, Scottish Power, Nokia, Alcatel and Lucent.
