Infosys, Wipro chase same co for first time

BANGALORE: India’s tech posterboys and cross-town rivals Infosys Technologies and Wipro have shown interest in buying out the US-based high-end analytics company MarketRx. The indicative valuation of MarketRx is seen between $150 million and $160 million (Rs 615-650 crore), sources said.

This is probably the first time the Bangalore-headquartered Infosys and Wipro are seen chasing the same company for a possible acquisition. MatrixRx’s $160-million valuation is five times its revenue, the sources added. It is believed that the promoter expectation is “slightly north of this valuation”.

It is learnt that four-five suitors have expressed interest in MarketRx after the company mandated William Blair & Company in the US and Avendus in India to explore options, which could lead to a possible sellout. “The promoters are exploring various options regarding the future and will take an appropriate decision. The process is on,” said a source familiar with the developments.

For software services biggies like Wipro and Infosys, the acquisition will give a headstart in the analytics segment of the knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) segment, as it takes considerable time to build one’s practice organically in this business. According to industry sources, it will take a minimum two years for any BPO to have a credible presence in the analytics space.

with people coming from diverse backgrounds such as mathematics, statistics and chartered accountancy.
Industry observers said analytics services bring in higher revenue per employee compared to conventional IT services. The rates of analytics services range between $30 and $60 per hour while some high-skilled statistical modeling processes attract up to $150 per hour.

Wipro has been focusing on inorganic growth, with its now famous string of pearls strategy. Infosys, on the other hand, is getting aggressive on the M&A front. A target like MarketRx provides the BPO arms of both Wipro and Infosys a platform to get into transformational business deals. Unconfirmed reports suggested that BPO major WNS could be also in the fray, but ET independently learns that the Gurgaon-based company is unlikely to join the race. Early this year, WNS acquired another analytics firm Marketics for $65 million, valuing it almost 10 times its annual revenue. The names of the other likely contenders could not be ascertained, but sources said so far private equity firms have not shown any interest. An email query to MarketRx did not elicit response, while Infosys and Wipro declined to comment on speculative reports. MarketRx was started in 2000. It has over 350 employees spread across the US, Europe and India. Its list of investors include the US-based venture fund Sequoia Capital. The India operations were started with the Gurgoan centre in 2003 and supports the US teams on collaborative projects besides servicing European and Asia-Pacific clients. MarketRx has more than 75 small and big pharma, biotechnology and medical devices companies as its clients. Third-party analytics is growing steadily in India with more players entering the space, but currently it being dominated by captive units of MNCs, especially the financial powerhouses. The likes of HSBC, Standard Chartered, Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity, Bank of America have their captive centres in India which do high-end analytics work.

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Infosys, Wipro lose their rank as the best IT employers

BANGALORE: Breaking the concept that Infosys and Wipro are the best employers in India is the Seventh Annual Dataquest-IDC report. The survey pushed industry bellwether, Infosys to eighth position from last year fourth position. India's third largest software company, Wipro does not figure among the top 20 IT employers.

According to the details of the survey 2,844 software, hardware and marketing professionals from 33 it companies employing 304,834 people in the top seven cities threw up the top 20 best IT employers based on a combination of employee satisfaction and HR scores.

The top five ranks went to TCS, HCL Info, iGate, RMSI and Synechron. The next five positions went to IBM, Capgemini, Infosys, Tavant technologies and Sun Microsystems. India's largest company, TCS, retained its numero UNO status in the best top 20 survey for the second year running.

The challenges of scaling up were countered through innovative HR practices. With almost 15 percent of its 90,000 employees based in foreign shores, TCS has replicated not just its programmes but also its ethos across multiple geographies, to achieve consistency in the workforce.

Commenting on the high points of the survey Pradeep Gupta, publisher of Cybermedia said , ''Multinational IT employers IBM Capgemini, Sun Microsystems and CSC have mastered the art of managing Indian employees to rank among the top 20 best IT employers in the country. Others, especially many India-based IT employers, will need to balance aggressive recruitment with the warmth and personal touch they used so effectively thus far, to retain people as they ramp up headcount."

Among the existing employees of Infosys, only 28.2 percent voted for it as "my dream company" in the 2007 Dataquest-IDC survey, compared to 36.6 percent last year. The employees of Infosys ranked their company very low on several parameters like growth opportunities, compensation and relevance of perks and benefits. Ironically, among the rest of the 2,844 employees of this industry-wide survey, those not working in Infosys it topped the votes as their dream company to work for.

The report also pointed out that the average attrition rate was down marginally to 14 percent from 15 percent last year. The top five reasons why it professionals changed their jobs were compensation, job posting abroad, growth opportunities, job location and technology area of work.

When asked what gave them satisfaction on the job, the employees voted career development opportunities, work life balance, organisational culture, job security and technology as the five top areas. Even though compensation was the top reason for job change, it ranked at number seven when asked what satisfied them the most.

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