Narayana Murthy: BPO will grow 80% in the next 3 yrs

SINCE Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy relinquished the charge of CEO in Infosys he has become the roving ambassador for the country’s ...

SINCE Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy relinquished the charge of CEO in Infosys he has become the roving ambassador for the country’s IT industry. As Chief Mentor and Chairman of India’s most promising brand, Infosys — now listed on the Nasdaq — Murthy is busy helping his CEO Nandan Nilekani to steer the company into the high trajectory of profitability.

Last week, in Mumbai, Murthy spoke to Dev Chatterjee of The Sunday Express. Excerpts from the interview:

What makes you so bullish about the Business Process Outsourcing in India? Do you think we can tap the potential of the company?
The BPO segment is expected to grow by at least 80 per cent in the next three years and this is the projection made by us as well as Nasscom. We think due to inherent strengths — like good English education and low costs —we have a good chance of success. BPO business models are quite different from the software business model.

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Is Infosys planning to get into BPO?
I would prefer questions on Infosys being answered by our CEO as he is running the day-to-day functions of the company. As you might be aware, Infosys on its own is not getting into the call centre business but we are providing infrastructure like software services to those companies which are interested in setting up call centres. For BPO, Infosys has already announced that it would invest upto $20 million in a separate venture called Progeon.

Infosys is ready to join hands with competitors to bag projects both in India and abroad. What do you think are the advantages of these tie-ups?
I think in India the time has come for tie-ups to bag projects abroad. As long as our partner is ethical, legal and brings value for money we are ready to join hands with them. For example, Infosys and Wipro are fierce competitors, but they have different specialisations. Wipro is good in hardware where we are zero. Hence, co-operation is the way out.

I think not only software companies but the entire Indian industry should join hands so that we can become world-class players. I remember when I was in France, some of the big IT companies came together to work on a project with the customs and airlines. This should be the way to do things in India too.