Indian e-biz consulting market worth $136 m.: V&D

NEW DELHI: The Indian pure play Internet Professional Services (IPS)

companies, popularly known as e-biz consultants, did a total business of $136

million in the year 2000, according to Voice & Data. This is the first time

that the business done by this nascent segment of IT services industry has been

quantified and analyzed.

TechSpan, which did total business worth $67 million, occupies the top slot

among the top pure play IPS companies from India. The magazine, which has

identified the Big Six players, puts Planetasia at the second spot, with a

revenue of $16 million, followed by MindTree, which closed the year at $15

million. The other three places in the Big Six are taken by NetAcross ($7.5

million), Plexus ($7 million) and Netkraft ($4 million).

The study, published in the March 2001 issue of Voice & Data, also

analyses the industry in terms of revenue and manpower and ranks the players in

terms of diverse parameters such as revenue from different geographical markets

and types of workforce such as strategy, creative and technical.

Indian pure play IPS companies still compete largely on price but of late

have been using India’s low cost manpower base to research on e-business

technologies and offer more value to the customers. Also, access to a large pool

of technical manpower is a strength that they project in the US market, says the

magazine.

Most Indian companies charge a much less than their US counterparts. However,

a comparatively better utilization rate, thanks again to the ease of hiring as

and when needed, makes their business grow in that market, the study points out.

The large spate of consolidation that is underway in the US IPS industry is

likely to affect Indian companies, notes the study. "Many of them, being

smaller companies, will be softer targets for US companies, which are good in

strategy and creative, but want to scale up their technical expertise,"

predicts the magazine.

The full analysis of the study will soon be made available at Voice &

Data’s Web site, www.voicendata.com.