JK Tech, the technology division of the 140-year-old JK Group, is planning to spend $100 million on ramping up its business through acquisitions.
The acquisitions will be in the fields of analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning capabilities, Aloke Paskar, CEO & president, JK Tech told The Hindu on Monday.
The firm is currently evaluating more than 20 firms focused on deep technologies, for acquisitions that would be carried out from any time now to the next 24 months.
JK Tech had recently reshuffled its business strategy to increase its focus on hyper automation (holistic automation of the entire business process of an enterprise with the help of multiple technologies, tools and platforms backed by AI and ML), modernisation and digital transformation.
“We now have a laser focus on hyper automation, which is expected to be an industry segment worth $40 billion in the next 3 to 4 years, as per Gartner. We want to be a lead player in this market in the next five years,’’ Mr. Paskar said.
As part of its rebranding, the company has recently onboarded senior execs from HCL, TCS, Cognizant, Wipro, IBM and Accenture to be deployed in leadership roles in the U.S, Europe and India.
In addition, JK Tech this year hired 400 techies and has plans to recruit another 600, including 400 freshers from various IITs/premium institutes in the country and 200 laterals. The company would be 5,000-strong in five years, up from 1,300 currently, he added.
“We have a deep focus on industry verticals such as manufacturing (auto included), consumer packaged goods, retail and healthcare (medtech). We want to grow 25% year-on-year for the next five years, compared with the annual growth of 20% last year,” he further added.
JK Tech would be partnering with IIT Kanpur to identify a five-member cohort (AI & ML) for its newly set up innovation centre in Bengaluru. The company is also in the process of setting up technology development centres in Chennai and Kolkata, similar to the one it has in the NCR region.
