TechMa grows out of BT’s apron strings

Tech Mahindra is not ruffled by the fact that its one-time lead benefactor, British Telecom (BT) is diversifying its vendors, making it compete for contracts in a market it can no longer take for granted.

Tech Mahindra is not ruffled by the fact that its one-time lead benefactor, British Telecom (BT) is diversifying its vendors, making it compete for contracts in a market it can no longer take for granted.

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That is because the Mahindra-controlled company, which also counts the former Satyam Computer Services as its would-be merger mate, has been steadily diversifying its business to play down its past that began as a joint venture with BT.

Company officials say non-BT business has grown 25% per annum for the past three years and now makes up as much as 60% of revenues -- a far cry from the birth-year 1986, when BT was TechMa's sole client. BT's share is now down to 37%.

“As British Telecom has come under pressure in recent times, so have all the vendors servicing the company,” said Sonjoy Anand, chief financial officer (CFO), Tech Mahindra. “But our non-BT business in the US, Europe outside of UK, Asia-Pacific and Middle East and Africa has grown significantly.”

Anand said the current European economic crisis and the general state of the telecom business, on which Tech Mahindra has a strong focus for its software services, were of concern.