Novelis Infotech is all set to open its first unit in Pune, cashing in on the low cost labour and reliable talent in the country. The company will write software mainly for Novelis' operations and is expected to generate revenues of around $100 per annum in the first year of operations itself," Novelis President and Chief Operating Officer Martha Brooks told Business Standard.
The company has already commenced recruitment for the Pune centre, while it will open additional centres across the country depending on the "business and requirement".
The initial capex for setting up infrastructure will be raised by Hindalco and Novelis jointly through internal accruals. It will take a couple of years to make this company a major player in the sector, she said on the sidelines of Hindalco quarterly result announcement.
It's operations will be scheduled in such a manner that it does not overlap nor contradict with the businesses of PSI Data Systems, an existing IT company of Aditya Birla group. With offices in the US, Europe and Japan, and delivery centres in India, PSI Data Systems offers solutions to financial services and high-tech clients across the world.
Earlier in 2001, Aditya Birla group had spun off its Birla Consultancy and Software Services (BCSS) division from group company Grasim Industries and re-christened it as Birla Technologies.
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In the same year, group company Indian Rayon acquired another IT company PSI Data Systems. The following year, PSI and Birla Technologies were merged, bringing the group's IT services business under a single umbrella.
Meanwhile, the aluminium major Novelis will invest $220 million in capital expansion projects, an increase from the $200 million invested in the last financial year. The capex would be used mainly for expanding capacities in recycling and making cans.
"As part of the market expansion plan, Novelis will introduce its top-end products in India also, while the parent company Hindalco will continue catering the low-end markets,"said Brooks.
Hindalco bought Novelis in May 2007 for about $6 billion, including $2.4 billion of debt. The purchase raised investors' concern that Hindalco may be overstretching its finances.
Now, India's largest producer of aluminum plans to raise Rs 5,000 crore selling stock to shareholders to retire loans taken to fund its acquisition of Novelis.