IT major Infosys, which has been trailing its peers for some time now, is aiming to raise the share of revenue from domestic market to 3 per cent by 2015 by focusing more on private sector as in government contracts decision-making is slow and gestation period is long.
Infosys’s domestic business accounted for about 2.6 per cent or Rs 9,616 crore in the June quarter, and most of this came from government contracts.
“By 2015, I would be happy if this (the share of local business to the overall revenue) could become 3-4 per cent. At the same time, I know my colleagues will also grow, so I would say it will be a tough task, but realistically it should be 3 per cent,” Infosys domestic business unit head C.N. Raghupathi told PTI .
Infosys has about 50 domestic clients, but close to 70-80 per cent of its local business comes from the public sector.
The domestic unit has about 1,500 people and counts the Income Tax department, the Railways, India Post and the Corporate Affairs Ministry as its clients.
But going forward, the company plans to increase its focus on the private sector and this added revenue should come from them, he said.
Explaining the rationale for the shift in focus, Mr. Raghupathi said, “The IT projects in the government sector have their own nuances. These are long durational and transformational projects. While these are good and we are proud to be a part of nation-building, we also need a mix of projects which get done faster. Its just about increasing our focus on the private sector.”
The idea is to have an equal mix-from the government and the private sector, Mr. Raghupathi said.
“We would like to have a 50:50 mix between the private and the public sector... This should happen in the next two— three years. But I would add that it is exciting to be a part of the transformational work the government is doing and we will continue to do that,” Mr. Raghupathi said.
He hinted that multiple stakeholders in the government set-up sometimes delay projects.
“If you have a project which has public interaction there are a lot of stakeholders and various views....Getting them all together sometimes takes its own time and that has an impact on the bottom line. Though this is okay, we need a mix of projects which get done in time in a systematic fashion,” he said.
Talking about government contracts, he said the action is now shifting to the state-level. “Our focus will now shift to the states. It will be them who will use IT to improve productivity and 5-10 years later, they (Centre and states) will join together. States are taking the lead now,” Mr. Raghupathi said.
He further said the central projects will also continue to come.
