Promantra in JV talks with Filipino firm

To jointly provide high-end BPO services in Philippines

Hyderabad-based Promantra Synergy Solutions Limited, an integrated healthcare BPO company, is planning to enter into a joint venture agreement with a Filipino company to provide high-end BPO services in Philippines.

The company is also looking at earning revenues of $3 million this fiscal. Promantra will also be doubling its headcount from the current 150 within a year's time.

"We are in negotiations with a Filipino company to provide high-end BPO services in Philippines," Praveen Vadlamudi, managing director of Promantra, said on the sidelines of a press conference to announce its election as a member of global offshore 100 companies and among the top five rookies in global outsourcing.

"The negotiations are half-way through and we hope to start our operations in Philippines by March or April 2005," he added.

Promantra will be investing $1 million for the Philippine operations. The funding will be through a US-based venture capital firm, Optimum Partners. This apart, it will also be investing another $1 million in the next two quarters for its Indian operations. For this, the money will be raised through internal accruals.

"We are happy to have been selected among the offshore 100 global suppliers in the IT and BPO services," Vadlamudi said. "This apart, we have also been named third in the top five rookies of global outsourcing," he added.

The survey has been conducted by Managing Offshore, a monthly newsletter for global outsourcing managers and neoIT, a Los Angeles-based offshore advisory and management firm.

"About 700 companies from 13 countries participated in this survey and we are the only company from Hyderabad to have made it to the top five rookies in global outsourcing," Vadlamudi said.

The parameters for selection in this list have been operational capabilities, human relations policies, client data processing methods and service provider company details.

"We are also planning to double our headcount from the current 150 within a year's time," Vadlamudi said. This apart, he added, we are also looking at earning revenues of $3 million this fiscal.

Promantra earned revenues of $1.2 million in the last fiscal with about 80 per cent being from Northwest Bec-Corp, a US-based healthcare service provider. Northwest Bec-Corp is now also planning to get management process outsourcing (MPO) services done through Promantra. At present, it outsources clinical process services to Promantra.

"Promantra is also going to be certified as per BS7799 security standards within a couple of weeks from now," Vadlamudi said.

Promantra is the only company in the world that provides BPO services for long-term health-care facilities. It, at present, provides 35 facilities ranging from accounting services to medical billing.