UKs Serco moves into Indian outsourcing market

British government services firm Serco Group Plc entered the Indian business services contracting market on Thursday by buying 60 percent of India's InfoVision Group for 13.3 million pounds ($20 million) in cash.

Serco, which runs railways in London and northern England and is involved in sectors including defence, nuclear and education, said it expected the acquisition to give it a platform to move into India's public services market.

The group's chief executive, Christopher Hyman, said InfoVision was cash-generative and had annual turnover of about 23-24 million pounds. The company believed it could achieve revenue growth in the Indian business of between 30-50 percent per year in the longer term.

Serco expects to grow its global group revenues by 10-11 percent a year over the next few years.

'If (the Indian business) goes very well, we should amend the growth rate. This acquisition will give us returns from day one,' Hyman told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Dresdner Kleinwort said there was clear strategic logic in the deal.

'While the acquisition is small, it marks an important step, enabling the provision of offshore services to Serco's existing clients, while also benefiting from the strong growth in the Indian domestic business process outsourcing market, with the potential to expand into the Indian public sector,' the broker said.

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/12/11/

Email to a friend email

Print version print

Comments

Business Financial Services

UKs Serco moves into Indian outsourcing market