Tech Mahindra wins $350-mn deal

Mumbai: Pune based telecom solutions vendor Tech Mahindra Ltd has bagged a $350 million (Rs 1400 crore) engagement to support BT Group Plc`s internal IT needs for a period of five years. Tech Mahindra will provide BT with application maintenance and support services cutting across its retail, wholesale and global services businesses, according to Mr Sanjay Kalra, President, Strategic Initiatives, Tech Mahindra.

This outsourcing engagement is different from the $1 billion (Rs 4000 crore) deal that the company had bagged from BT in 2006. The $1 billion deal was to deliver IT support for BT`s clients, added Mr Kalra. Tech Mahindra and British Telecom have a 20-year history together as the Indian company was earlier called Mahindra-British Telecom (MBT), as it was a joint venture with British Telecom.

According to the shareholding pattern available for December 2007 as on the BSE, BT has 31.08 per cent stake in Tech Mahindra. BT continues to be the single largest client of Tech Mahindra, contributing about 61 per cent of the latter’s revenue.

Though Tech Mahindra did not comment on the quantum of work that will be moved offshore, a company official told Business Line that typically Tech Mahindra prefers to move 90 per cent of the work offshore. It also intends to set up a new centre in the UK, for servicing the non-offshorable component of this deal, added Mr Kalra.

The scrip was down 3.82 per cent to close at Rs 620.3 on the NSE.