HTMT, Centric

Mumbai, Jan 29 (UNI) Hinduja TMT (HTMT) today informed Bombay Stock Exchange that the Company and UK-based business consulting and outsourcing organization, Centric have announced a joint venture, in association with Fox Mandal Little, to provide legal outsourcing services to multinational Companies and various international law firms.

The new Company will be called Centric LPO and would be a subsidiary of the Hinduja TMT. While the Company is one of the leading players in the Indian BPO market, UK based Centric provides business consultation and outsourcing services in sectors such as IT, Power, Pharmaceuticals, Construction and Logistics.

Centric has been developing programs in legal service outsourcing areas and servicing multinational corporations and law firms keen on outsourcing various aspects of their work. Through their working model, they have been consistently providing clients with cost efficiencies, improved quality and clearly defined process improvements.

The Joint Venture will mark the Company's foray into the highly promising Legal Process Outsourcing sector while enhancing the Company's onshore delivery capabilities around the world. The deal will also enable Centric LPO to expand upon its existing and high quality client base.

Fox Mandal Little, which is one of India's leading and oldest law firms, will provide high quality legal services to the JV and also address any client requirement for high end legal services. The association of Fox Mandal Little will enable the JV to reach out to the large UK and US markets through their expert team of qualified lawyers.

According to a Forrester Research report, the current annual value of legal outsourcing is worth million and can increase to billion by 2015. According to the BPO council of The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), more than 200 top US Companies are looking for offshore locations towards achieving savings between 30 - 70 percent.

Commenting on the joint venture Mr Partha Sarkar, CEO of the Company said ''Legal Process outsourcing is emerging as a key vertical in knowledge-based services and we are amongst the first pure play BPO Companies to tap this growing segment in India. Our tie-up with Centric will further strengthen our Capabilities in the knowledge process outsourcing area and help us to explore new opportunities in US and UK, the top primary markets for LPO. This partnership has potential to grow to a sizeable million business in the next three years with healthy profit margins.'' Mr. Ashok P Hinduja, Executive Chairman of the Company stated ''India is the preferred destination due to its large pool of English speaking attorneys graduating each year, and the similarity of its legal system to the UK model. Plus the obvious cost advantage. This JV takes full advantage of multi-shoring and has a strategy to provide clients with a blended global service offering through HTMT's global delivery centres.'' UNI