Software Paradigms acquires Mysore firm

Mysore-based Software Paradigms (India) Ltd (SPI) on Monday announced the acquisition of Comat Technologies, a medical transcription (MT) firm. SPI is the city's largest IT and business applications solution provider.

As part of the deal, SPI will take over all the US and UK BPO/LPO (legal process outsourcing) customers of Comat Technologies being serviced from Mysore.

Over 400 of its employees working on MT, legal transcription and legal coding services will be transferred to SPI's payroll, taking the number of SPI employees to over 1,000 and double the size of its operations.

"The newly-acquired businesses will contribute 15 per cent of the annualised revenue the company expects to book in 2007-08," said SPI CEO Sid Mookerji, after exchanging documents of acquisition with Comat counterpart Ravi Rangan at the SPI's 11-acre campus, SPI City.

Mookerji however did not reveal the financial aspects of the deal. "We are not going to reveal the financial transaction of the deal," he told reporters.

"So far, our focus was on offshore IT solutions. This helps us diversify into other areas and focus on two more verticles, LPO and MT, which we did not have in our portfolio. We will also enter Europe, which is significant, as so far we were servicing only US customers," he said.

Comat CEO said, "This is a win-win transaction for both of us. We were the first BPO STPI unit set up in 1998 in Mysore. Our strategic focus will be on setting up 10,000 IT-enabled rural kiosks and delivering a wide variety of services in the areas of government, financial and education."

The decade-old Comat started its e-governance initiative two years ago and then entered MT.