Hyderabad-based consulting and IT services provider, Mahindra Satyam, will be trebling the number of its associates (as the company's employees are called) in China to 1,500 by 2015. The employee ramp-up plan is part of the company's strategic focus on the engineering and manufacturing and telecom sectors, while using China as a base to serve its global clients.
Mahindra Satyam, which had set up its operations in China in 2002, and its parent Tech Mahindra have global delivery centres at Shanghai and Nanjing in China.
In the first quarter ended June 2012, the company added 2,643 associates, taking its total headcount to 35,996. The average employee utilisation, both onsite and offshore, was at 76%.
“Chinese universities are producing a high number of quality engineers each year. We are impressed by the level of skills, expertise and the willingness to learn. -- the qualities we will build upon as we expand our operations in China. There exists a great opportunity to combine the software capabilities of India and manufacturing excellence of China to herald a new chapter in the economic transformation of Asia,” said Amitava Ghosh, vice-president and head (north Asia) of Mahindra Satyam.
Mahindra Satyam intends to focus on very specific verticals such as manufacturing, engineering and telecom in China, and will also explore strategic alliances and partnerships with Chinese companies to leapfrog its growth within China and to increase its near-shoring support of Japanese clients, according to Rohit Gandhi, senior vice-president (Asia-Pacific, India, West Asia and Africa), Mahindra Satyam.
“China will be a critical pillar of our regional and global strategy. The region will increase its revenue contribution from the current 24% in view of the size of Chinese economy and specific opportunities which we have identified,” Gandhi said.
China’s telecom sector has yet to experience the transformation which unifies fixed-line, mobile and data services into a seamless offering. Mahindra Satyam and Tech Mahindra have helped global and regional telecom giants such as British Telecom achieve this transformation in front-end customer interface and back-end integration and billing, and are keen to help Chinese telecom companies in this aspect, he added.
Mahindra Satyam’s scrip is currently trading at Rs 103 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 0.64%, over the previous close of Rs 102.35.
