B&E Power 100 Rank # 4 : Infosys
Murthy’s out, not Infy!

25 years and still going stronger than ever before. The technology powerhouse, Infosys, was a dream of the seven soft ware engineers – spearheaded by N. R. Narayana Murthy. With an initial capital base of merely Rs.10,000 pieced together in the scorching heat of July 1981, it surely hasn’t been smooth rolling all the way; in fact, one of the partners opted out of the venture after spending 8 years. But the remaining six musketeers rallied on. In February 1993, the emerging company opened at the Indian stock exchange at a premium of Rs.85 on their Rs.10 share. Many guff awed at the high price quoted and it raised only Rs.131 million. And of those who did invest, foreign investors outnumbered the ordinary Indian retail investor. Infosys seemed a hapless little fish in the ocean of sharks.

Of course, this fish has now garnered a rock-solid reputation in the domestic and global arena. Ranked today as one of the most profitable companies in India, the milestone was actually laid down in 1999, when its revenues zoomed beyond $100 million. Attaining the coveted SEI-CMM Level 5, that year, Infosys became the first company in the history of India to be listed on the Nasdaq!

In its quest for a true global presence, the company opened offices in US, UK, Canada, France, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates and Argentina. In 2001, it shot past the astounding revenue mark of $400 million. Netherlands, Singapore and Switzerland too came under the spotlight of Infosys, subsequently.

The venerated icon of the IT industry has an employee strength of over 58,000 worldwide, and is still expanding. Nandan Nilekani, CEO, Infosys emphasizes “Our focus on enhancing skills and domain expertise across the organisation is yielding impressive results. We have built a scalable delivery engine and will continue to invest substantially in systems and processes.” The company’s consulting and off shoring strategy is paying rich dividends, quite literally – this April, the company declared a super colossal revenue of $2 billion and an astronomical $555 million in profits (with a commodious growth rate of 32% in profits and 35% in sales) and gave a bonus of 1:1. With a tagline of “Powered by intellect, driven by values”, one can only expect things to get exorbitantly better. On August 20, 2006, Narayana Murthy retired from office as per the rigid Infosys governance rules. Murthy might be out, but Infosys surely isn’t! Here’s raising a toast to the #1 profitable IT firm, that is #4 in the entire business arena!!

B&E Power 100 Rank # 5 : TCS
Tata Cyclops Services Ltd!

Out of the top 10 Fortune 500 companies in America, six depend upon Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for their information technology consulting needs! This fact alone speaks volumes for the strides that have been made by TCS in the global IT arena by pioneering the flexible global delivery model for IT services. In a research report released by Gartner on July 27, 2006, TCS has been ranked amongst the top 20 Technology Service Providers for 2005, and hence, became the only company headquartered in India to be featured.

“As an integrated full services player with global footprint and scale, TCS is presented with valuable growth opportunities in the market place. We have the right structure and leadership team in place, globally, to take advantage of this tremendous opportunity,” bolsters S. Ramadorai, CEO & MD, TCS. The company operates in diverse industries like telecom, banking, fi nancial services, insurance, retail and transportation and has clients like AT&T, Boeing, Nike, GE, and Microsoft . In a scenario where around 90% of TCS’ business comes from repeat clients, multiyear and multimillion dollar deals have been the flavour of the season for the company. Whether it was a $847 million deal for 12 years with Pearl Group or a $250 million deal for five years with ABN Amro, TCS was the busiest of almost all Indian firms.

The financial year 2006 scripted a new chapter of success in the history of TCS, with a robust revenue growth of 36% (revenue crossed Rs.110 billion) and an increased earning per share of Rs.60.63. The strong prodigious results can mainly be attributed to the massive increase in the client base of the company (which stood at 748 at the end of Q4, out of which new clients are just 89). TCS’ success can also be accredited to the company’s strength of successfully providing consulting rather than plain IT solutions, to its high-end clients and standard service offering of system integration to the clients at the bottomend of the spectrum.

Other factors that make TCS stand apart from the competition are its strategic and technical alliances with companies like IBM, Mercury Interactive, Adobe Systems, Microsoft and Compaq amongst others, which have helped it to become a complete solutions provider that deals with consulting, IT infrastructure, asset based solutions and industrial services. Recently, the company became the first Indian IT company to cross a headcount of 60,000 employees. To add to this, TCS will be hiring a stupendous number of 30,000 employees in the current fiscal year. Does TCS rule our ranking? Like we mentioned, like a cyclops.

B&E Power 100 Rank # 6 : Wipro
From V’getables to V‘pros

Amalner! In Jalgaon, Maharashtra. The very town that became the birthplace of Wipro; or rather Western India Vegetable Products. Founded in 1945 with 17,000 equity shares priced at Rs.100, Wipro was a Sunflower vanaspati ghee & laundry soap producer. But fate had destined other things. In 1966, due to the demise of Azim Premji’s father, the young 21-year old was called back from Stanford to call the shots.

And take charge, he did indeed! An astute businessman, Premji quickly started looking beyond the viscous liquid. The foray started with a range of personal care products and even light bulbs. But the real ‘fl ash of brilliance’ moment happened when Wipro began to dabble in the IT business. The Indian government, to ostensibly protect the indigenous market, had during the nationalization spree of the ‘70s & ‘80s, sent back the likes of IBM and other foreign technology investors. Wipro soon came up with their own Intel based computers. The 1990s liberalization era turned the strategic focus of Wipro to global hardware research alliances; Wipro R&D labs began catering to the likes of Texas Instruments, Nokia and Nortel. Even today, Azim Premji admits that Wipro's aim is to be more in the league of IBM or Accenture, than to work to differentiate itself from TCS and Infosys.

Net revenues of Wipro stood at Rs.102.64 billion in 2006, an increase of 40% on year-on-year basis. Profits of the company touched Rs.20 billion. Today, if one were to look at its growth chart, then Wipro clearly has been working to beat competition via an acquisition spree. Recent buyouts have included the retail solution provider Enabler Informatica for Rs.2.43 billion, engineering design firm Saraware Oy for Rs.975 million, mechanical design outfit Quantech Global Services for Rs.462 million, technology infrastructure consulting firm cMango Inc. for Rs.925 million and even North- West Switches for Rs.1.05 billion. Confirmed Azim Premji, “We have in the last 6 months (since January 2006) announced six acquisitions... our experience in terms of early wins and business integration so far, gives us confidence that we are progressing well and with the right strategy. We are confident that the investments we have made in our business, to enhance our capabilities... have been well kicked off .” Wipro’s technological competence now draws on its experience of even developing semi-conductors, computers, printers and scanners. Who would have thought this ‘vegetable’ market would one day make semi-conductors? We have the answer – Azim Premji!