Wipro plans to outdo IBM

Wipro may be the third largest Indian IT company the world over, but it is eyeing the No 1 spot back at home and has got a brand new strategy to outdo the current leader in Indian market, the big blue IBM.

Anand Shankaran, business head of India and ME at Wipro Infotech, said, "There is no slowdown in India. It will be wrong to even talk about recovery."

Bullish is not quite what one expects Indian IT companies to be, given the slowdown in the west, but Wipro Infotech is banking big on the $20 billion Indian IT market.
It believes it can outgrow the current market leader IBM in a year with revenues well over billion dollars.

However, with big billion dollar deals in telecom in India drying up, IT companies are now targeting small and medium businesses, which are over 3 million in number that can add to the revenue kitty.

Wipro Infotech is approaching the SME market with renewed focus, breaking up the market into clusters, which include auto ancillary, textiles, micro finance, hospitality, toys and gems and jewellery.

"We are going to grow 15-20 per cent in India market next year, 15 per cent in products and 20 per cent in services. The idea is to aim for global operations kind of margins. We believe we can get there with critical mass in the medium term," Shankaran said.

India, Middle East and Africa are new focus areas for IT companies like Wipro and the deal pipeline company says is looking solid with 8-10 deals of over $100 million each.

Analysts believe Indian IT companies have no choice but to sharpen their strategies to tap into these growth markets.

Partha Iyengar, regional research director at Gartner India, said, “These are crucial markets. One, because there is growth and also this is where you can demonstrate transformational capabilities and finetune and then you can bag high end work in other markets."

The next big battle for growth between the global and Indian IT companies will be clearly fought in markets like India, Middle East and Africa.

No wonder Indian IT companies like Wipro, who have so far played catch up with global peers, are now putting all their might into devising strategies that will keep them ahead in the curve.

Source: NDVT Profit