SW giants partner for Vijaya Bank

BANGALORE: For the third time and a possible long-term relationship, Infosys and Wipro are partnering together to provide technology solutions for Bangalore based Vijaya Bank. Union Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce are the other two projects, where Infosys and Wipro have joined hands to deploy banking solutions.

Established in 1931, Vijaya Bank, one of the oldest and largest nationalized banks, has embarked on a Rs 90 crore project - the implementation of core banking solution across its 350 branches. The project, to be completed by March 2006, will be implementing Infosys’ flagship banking software product Finacle, and Wipro Infotech would help Vijaya Bank implement it.

MS Kapur, Chairman and Managing Director, Vijaya Bank, said, "We are delighted to launch our core banking solution. This is the first of several new business and technology initiatives that Vijaya Bank plans to announce in the coming months. With Wipro and Infosys as our partners, it serves as a assurance to all the stakeholders of the Bank, on the timely and successful roll-out of our all new technology initiatives commencing with the core banking solution." Vijaya Bank expects to save 30 to 35 percent of its staff with the implementation, who in turn can be trained and deployed for marketing initiatives.

Finacle is ranked amongst the top five banking solutions in the world, according to UK based International Banking Solutions (IBS) ranking. Another Indian firm, i-Flex Solution’s Flexcube top the banking solution ranking. Infosys’ Finacle is implemented in 90 banks across 25 countries and is open to working with Wipro elsewhere in the world too. However, Wipro Infotech, the hardware arm of Wipro Limited, operates only in Asia Pacific and Middle East markets.

"We have not formally signed any agreement to work with Wipro on other projects, but we welcome any such opportunity outside India," said NR Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor, Infosys Technologies Limited. While, Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Limited, when posed the same question commented, "We don’t have any such plans at the moment."

On a lighter note, Premji, pointed that, "We are fierce competitors in the morning and partners by afternoon."

CIOL Bureau