Hexaware eyes 25% growth, to up headcount to 8,000 in FY 11

Mumbai, Feb 20 (PTI) Buoyed by the gradual turnaroundin the US and European economies and the consequent increasein spending on IT, Hexaware Technologies is eyeing over 25 percent growth in its top-line and a substantial accretion in itsheadcount in FY 11.

"The business environment is steadily improving.

Client acquisition has been good and we are in advanced stagesof negotiations to seal about half-a-dozen deals worth aroundUSD 150 million, making me confident of achieving a 25 percent growth in our revenues in FY 11," Hexaware Chairman AtulNishar told PTI here.

The IT firm had clocked revenue of Rs 1,054.6 crore inFY 10 as against Rs 1,038.6 crore in the year-ago period. Thecompany follows the January-December financial calendar.

A healthy order pipeline backed by good clientacquisitions (45 in FY 10 and 11 in the last quarter) coupledwith disappearing pricing pressure will further help thecompany, the software services firm''s chief said.

"Pricing pressure is a thing of the past and webelieve prices will improve further. In fact, in some of ournew orders we are charging higher."

The company is pursuing 5-6-deals in the USD 25-30-million range totalling about USD 150 million and "we hope toseal at least a few deals in the next three months. These willbe in our core business segments of travel and transportationand capital markets," Nishar said. (more) PTI JJ RSY

The customers are US and Europe-based, signifying that the business environment there is improving, Nishar said.

A significant majority of the company''s businessemanates from the US and European markets.

Reflecting the company''s optimism, it also plans toadd significant numbers to its headcount.

"There will be a substantial upping of our headcountthis fiscal (FY 11). We plan to add another 1,500 personneland our total headcount should touch the 8,000-mark thisfiscal," Nishar said.