Sify Ltd, the largest aggregator of bandwidth in India, is finding the going good for its BPO-specific Internet bandwidth solution in India.

Launched in April 2003, Sify has snagged 30 customers in eight months in the fast growing BPO segment, which grew 65 per cent last year.

Sify had in April this year launched a solution, 'ExpressConnect' specifically targeting the BPO players and their bandwidth requirements in India.

Rahul Swaroop, president, enterprise solutions, Sify Ltd, told Business Standard that the move could have a favourable impact on the Nasdaq listed Sify's path to profitability.

"The IT enabled services market grew by 65 per cent last year and is the fastest growing segment of India's IT services exports. Value added services developed by Sify addressing this segment has seen ready acceptance resulting in significant growth with higher margins contributing to Sify's profitability," Swaroop said.

The move to capture a pie of the bandwidth and security requirements of BPO companies is expected to boost margins at Sify favourably.

Analysts point out that bandwidth and security offerings made to BPO companies could be at least 20 per cent more costly because of tougher SLA (service level agreements) and QoS (quality of service) terms.

The success that Sify has enjoyed with its BPO solution offering can be gauged by the fact that out of the total 400mb of bandwidth that Sify manages, close to 85mb is now contracted by BPO companies.

"This offering of ours clearly has the potential to be one of the biggest revenue earners for Sify. In fact since its launch it is the fast growing service offering of ours," Swaroop said.

According to IDC the IT-enabled services market globally will account for revenues of $1.2 trillion by 2006.

With growth projected at 11 per cent annually, the ITES/BPO segment will be one of the most significant business opportunities for the Indian software and services industry.

Indian IT players have in fact already made great strides in the ITES/BPO market. What began as an activity that was confined to MNCs that set up captive ITES facilities in the country, India today has a large base of third party ITES/BPO companies that are bagging prestigious remote services projects from leading global organisations.

The ITES-BPO market remained a high growth segment for the Indian software and services industry during 2002-03.