Mahindra Satyam-Tech Mahindra, whose merger proposal has been ratified by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, is planning to complete the integration in the next few weeks.

The merged entity has set a target of $5 billion turnover by December 2015. C.P. Gurnani, Chief Executive Officer of Mahindra Satyam and Managing Director of Tech Mahindra, talks on the plans for the merged entity. Gurnani is CEO designate of the two companies on amalgamation.

Now that the court has given its nod, what is the plan for merger?

As it is we have been working together as one company. All the backend integration has been completed. But we need to complete the technical issues (such as approaching the Government departments for transfer of assets to Tech Mahindra and then to Registrar of Companies for completing the process.)

What are the challenges and opportunities do you see for the combined entity?

The telecom strengths of Tech Mahindra are going to play a major role. So far, it (telecom) is just a vertical. But not any longer. It has become horizontal, encompassing several verticals. Every other vertical is now intertwined with telecom and you can’t imagine a solution or application that doesn’t have telecom as an integral component. You find no car without a SIM and no healthcare application without a SIM. We are uniquely positioned to tap this opportunity in the world of convergence of technologies.

Are you still committed to the $5-billion target set for the merged entity?

Of course yes. We are right on the target and I am confident of achieving it by December 2015.

(The two companies now have combined revenue of $2.4 billion)

What are alternative geographies outside of the US and EU that hold promise for the company?

If you were to ask me where my bets are, I would still say that I would invest in Europe. I still strongly believe that there are more opportunities to harvest in Europe. America continues to be a focus area. Besides Americas and Europe, our company has invested in Africa. We are now serving 15 countries. We have physically people delivering BPO Services from our 6 centres in Africa.

Again, APAC continues to be a strong contributor as well, and is growing faster than overall exports average. Differentiated growth and divergence in performance is redefining the industry in the region. Australia, New Zealand is even better economically. The challenge for Mahindra Satyam is to find a greater play in these areas.

We are continuously targeting emerging locations like Australia, China, Latin America and Japan to position ourselves as preferred providers and deliver value to the customers, hence creating a win-win scenario.

How India as a domestic market is evolving for the company? And what's its contribution?

Indian domestic market has shown great signs of growth recently. According to Nasscom Strategic report, the IT-BPM market is expected to grow at 14.1 per cent to gross Rs 1,04,700 crore in FY2014.

Strong economic growth, technological development and investments in infrastructure and India’s growing customer base have opened up vast array of opportunities for providers like Mahindra Satyam and Tech Mahindra. Increased government spending on automisation of traditional processes has also been lucrative to the industry,

We are working towards growing our domestic market focus and are expecting increased revenue from the segment in coming quarters.

>kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in

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