HDFC sells Intelenet stake to Barclays for Rs 164 crore

There will, however, be no change in the management control after Barclays coming into the picture. The current management team will continue to run the day-to-day operations of the company and Susir Kumar will continue as the CEO.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Intelenet CEO Susir Kumar said, ‘‘there are two phases in the agreement. The first phase involves investment by Barclays. In the second phase, it will be increasing business ties with us.’’

Currently, Intelenet carries out non-core customer care outsourcing activities for the bank.

Commenting on the deal, Deepak Parekh, chairman, HDFC said, ‘‘Barclays was looking for an opportunity to acquire an established business platform with some immediate capacity and access to experienced staff’’.

According to reports in the UK media last December, Barclays Bank was contemplating moving out administrative functions by setting up call centre operations having 500 employees in India.

The reports also mentioned that Barclays was talking to the banking union Unifi about offshore outsourcing, but denied reports that it had firm plans to move up to 5,000 call centre jobs to India.

Kumar, however, refused to comment on the exact increase in the number of seats for business dedicated to Barclays.

Intelenet offers call centre services, back office operations and E-mail management. It also provides financial accounting and technical helpdesk services to its clients.

The company has three centres of operations in Navi Mumbai, Mumbai and Chennai with over 4,300 employees and 19 clients.

For the last financial year, Intelenet had revenues of Rs 117 crore ($25 million). The company had operating profit of Rs 26.6 crore ($ 5.78 million) and net profit of Rs 10.8 million ($2.3 million). The financials of the company are expected to significantly grow in the next financial year.