IBM bags outsourcing contract from Adani

Company to offer infra, application services as part of Rs 300 cr total outsourcing deal

Global information technology giant IBM is understood to have bagged a large IT outsourcing contract from diversified business conglomerate Adani Group.

As a part of the total outsourcing contract worth Rs 300 crore, the US-headquartered company would provide infrastructure management as well as application development and maintenance services for a period of four-five years, highly placed industry sources told Business Standard.

Apart from IBM, its global rival Hewlett-Packard as well as Indian IT services company Wipro were also in the fray for the contract, touted as one of the largest deals in Indian domestic IT outsourcing markets in  recent years.

IBM India declined to offer any comment for this story. “IBM does not discuss details of confidential client contracts,” a company spokesperson said in an email reply. An email sent to the Adani Group did not solicit any reply. The domestic IT outsourcing services market in India had been under pressure during the last couple of years, with large enterprises either cutting down or deferring their spending decisions largely because of weakness in the domestic economy.

According to a recent performance review by industry body Nasscom for FY14, the domestic IT-BPM services (excluding hardware) revenue is expected to grow 10 per cent to reach Rs 1,14,800 crore in FY14. Of this, the IT services segment is expected to grow at 9.7 per cent to touch Rs 72,700 crore. “Economic uncertainties, slowdown in decision making, inflation, rupee volatility as well as the 2014 elections among others are impacting the discretionary spend for both, the government and enterprise sector,” Nasscom had said in the performance review report.