MindTree Consulting mulls international listing

MindTree Consulting, the Rs 600-crore software and R&D services firm, is building up momentum for an overseas listing in the next three years. The company is expected to be a $500 million firm (Rs 2,000 crore) by that time.

MindTree, which recently listed on the Indian bourses, raised around Rs 350 crore for its expansion after crossing the Rs 400 crore-mark within the first six years of starting out.

MindTree's CFO Rostow Ravanan, who is also a co-founder, said they would look at an overseas listing for global visibility.

"It will surely give us a fillip as we engage with clients globally," he noted. The company is also looking at expanding its presence in the Japanese market, which so far has been a tough nut to crack for the Indian IT service providers. It will also look at listing on the Japanese exchange.

"The Japanese companies are set to start refreshing their technologies pretty soon and the major share is bound to be outsourced, which will be beneficial to us. Our R&D and IT service wings have good ongoing relationships with Japanese clients, and we may look at listing in Japan to gain visibility," Ravanan said.

In addition to scaling up its Japan operations, the company is looking at boosting its fledgling knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) practice as its third main pillar. MindTree is currently focusing on IT services and R&D offerings.

"We are scanning the market place for a professional to head this vertical, and we should be up and running pretty soon," he said.

The company currently employs close to 4,500 employees and is expecting to post a top line of around $180 million (Rs 740 crore) for the current financial year.