Biz people: Wipro chief eyes global role

The boss of Bangalore-based Wipro wants his firm to be among the top 10 global IT service firms in terms of revenue within four years and plans more acquisitions including in Germany to achieve that.

Azim Premji (right), head of India's third-largest software exporter, said his company was looking to buy IT services firms especially in Germany this year. This was part of global acquisition plan searching for firms that generate revenues of up to $200 million, he said.

The New York-listed company, which provides IT solutions and services such as systems integration, software application development and maintenance, has been buying up foreign firms to accelerate growth.

"We certainly plan to be within top 10 in the market in terms of revenues in the next three to four years," said Premji, India's second-richest man who owns about 80 percent of the $17 billion company.

"We want to increase our footprint in Europe. We are looking at companies in infrastructure, particularly in Europe, particularly in Germany," he said, adding that on his shopping list were also IT companies dealing with energy utilities, data centers, engineering and healthcare.

Wipro, which counts telecoms gear makers Cisco Systems Inc. and Nortel as clients, is currently ranked around 16th globally in terms of revenues.

(China Daily 01/30/2007 page16)