Hero group has increased its stake in the US-based contact centre organisation, FirstRing, by 8 per cent. The company is also scouting for a location to set up another call centre in north India.
"The main reason for initially investing in a call centre was to see how they work. We learned a lot from this, which helped us in setting our own call centre. FirstRing was looking for some investment and we decided to increase out stake in the company," Sunil Kant Munjal, managing director and chief executive officer, Hero Corporate Services Ltd, said.
FirstRing's first contact centre is currently operational in Bangalore, employing over 200 people.
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However, he refused to divulge details of the stake in FirstRing. "We have a significant stake in the company," Munjal said. Hero Group had invested around $4 million in equity capital in FirstRing in the first round of funding.
Some time back, the group had decided to foray into the insurance segment. However, recently, it had pulled out of a joint venture with Vijaya Bank. The Hero group has now decided not to enter the insurance segment. Munjal refused to comment on this move, but said the group is looking at other areas for diversification.
Hero group entered the information technology sector last year with the formation of three companies -- Hero Serveit, Hero Soft and Hero MindMine. While Hero Serveit is into IT-enabled services, customer and relationship management, Hero MindMine is into providing training in the field of IT-enabled services and software development.
The group has invested a total of Rs 100 crore in its initiatives in the IT sector. Out of the three companies, Hero Serveit and Hero MindMine are likely to breakeven in the next financial year while Hero Soft is likely to break even the following year.
On expansion, he said: "We have only one call centre as of now. We are scouting for other locations in the northern India. The second one is likely to come up soon". Sources said the company has been talking to the Punjab government for setting up a call centre in Mohali.
The Hero group posted a turnover of over $900 million in 1999-2000 with a market capitalisation of over $1.3 billion. The group is targeting a growth of 20 per cent by the end of the current financial year.
The Hero group is at the forefront of the two-wheeler and auto components industries in the country. Hero Cycles, the group flagship, has emerged as the world leader in bicycles.
Hero Honda, a joint venture between the Hero group and Honda Motor Company of Japan is market leader in the motorcycles industry.
Hero Cycles sells more than five million bicycles, accounting for around 45 per cent marketshare a year and Hero Honda this year is expected to sell 7,50,000 motorcycles. Hero Honda has around 44 per cent marketshare. Hero group has a work force of around 17,000 and a dealer network of around 4000.