Fee-based outsourcing of CEO's job

Indian CEOs are to be now offered the choice of outsourcing all or part of their managerial responsibilities for a specified period.

Offering ‘Interim Managers’ is a concept being brought here by Paris-based X-PM Transition Partners. They have assisted companies like Alstom, ArcelorMittal, Barclays PE, Bombardier and Thomson in this regard. In India, it has partnered with Ranjit Shastri, a former consultant with McKinsey & Co, to float X-PM for providing executive interim management services.

Usually, the company provides top-level managers, chief executive officers and directors to companies for a specific task like turning around the businesses, tackle a post-merger situation or launching a new business, for a predetermined cost and specific duration, of between six months to two years.

“The concept is relatively new in India, but we see huge potential in the market,” Shastri said.

To start with, the company will have a talent pool of about 30 people in India. These have good experience and managerial skills and have held top posts like CEOs and CFOs in reputed firms, Shastri said. He wouldn’t specify any name.

“We hope to take this number (30) to 100,” he added. “These are people in their 50s and may not like to be engaged in permanent jobs, but also do not want to retire. So, they will be given company-specific tasks on a temporary basis.”

Apart from those in India, X-PM has 350 senior managers globally.

“We are expecting annual revenues of $1-2 million (Rs 4.5-9 crore) over the next five years in India. We will be focusing on foreign multinational firms, as well as Indian firms. Our focus will be on private equity and venture capital-backed companies,” Shastri said.

Shastri has a 70 per cent stake in X-PM Ltd, while the rest is held by the French entity. Globally, X-PM has offices in Paris, Singapore and Shanghai.

He said X-PM “quite successfully” completed three projects in India in the past three years, in the areas of metal tubes, apparel and transformers. He declined to name the companies. X-PM started serving clients in the country in 2008, but that was done through the Paris office, he said.

X-PM Transition Partners CEO Patrick Laredo said considering India’s growing economy, the firm needs to be “very ambitious”. “We are convinced that India remains a bright spot with a vast economic potential,” he said. The segments of interest to them, said Laredo were telecom, information technology, agriculture, chemicals, pharma and consumer products in India.