Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Wipro arm in Asia-Pacific, Middle East thrust

Sanjay K Pillai

Wipro 01 Markets, the e-commerce initiative from the stable of the Rs 30 billion Wipro Ltd is all set to expand base to the Asia-Pacific and Middle East.

The e-commerce division, which notched up transaction volumes of Rs 2.1 billion and turned profitable last fiscal, is looking at the markets in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia and Dubai.

It would also be leveraging the presence of another division -- Wipro Infotech in these markets.

Mythily Ramesh, head of Wipro 01 Markets, said the company has been able to get onto the path of profitability only because it had widened the number of industrial segments it was catering to.

"We have set ourselves targets of doubling our transaction volumes and achieving a four-fold growth in revenues," she said.

In fiscal 2001-02, Wipro 01 Markets had reported revenues of Rs 25 million also turned in a profit and this year the accent is on growth.

The division, which started off with a pure IT focus, has over the last year widened its interests to enable it to position itself as an "e-procurement partner" for enterprises across industries. Bulk of the revenues now come from areas unrelated to IT procurement.

"We are targeting the packaging, promotional material, freight and hi-tech industries in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and are looking at working with local partners," Mythily said.

"The Indian market for e-procurement is nascent and Asia-Pacific offers us a good opportunity to grow our transaction volumes and revenues using the base that Wipro Infotech already has".

The services that the division will offer in the markets include procurement solutions, procurement consultancy, and procurement services which would cover areas like strategic sourcing, actual procurement and supplier relationship management.

01 Markets has so far done 140 reverse auctions across 65 different categories ranging from commodities like sugar, starch, chemicals to manufacturing items like cutting tools, paints, lubricants, steel to infrastructure items like furniture, lighting, structural glazing, freight and packaging.

"On an average, 01 Markets has been able to bring to the customers about 8-10 per cent savings on the cost of procurement as well as substantial reduction on the cycle time costs," Mythily said.

Wipro 01 clients in India include Goodlass Nerolac Paints, Gammon India, L&T, Amtrex, Blue Star, Perfetti, Orient Cements, Asian Paints, Marico Industries, and ICI Paints.

Powered by

ALSO READ:
The Rediff Budget Special
The Rediff-Business Standard Special
Money