Finally Reliance enters IT consulting services - Company to be called TechReliance

BANGALORE: The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is entering the IT consulting and services space, and said it is putting in place resources to rival the likes of TCS, Infosys and Wipro within a few years. The group has just incorporated a new company, Tech Reliance, headquartered in Mumbai, which proposes initially to pool in many of the in-house IT teams servicing group companies like Reliance Communications, Reliance Energy and those in financial services and entertainment. ADAG spokesperson Gaurav Wahi told TNN that the move aims at deriving synergies from the "immense inhouse IT strength" the group has. The Rs 30,000-crore group already has over 1,500 employees dedicated to IT and says it plans to make a number of external recruitments. "We expect to have four development centres - in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Gurgaon - in the next six to eight weeks. A centre in Bangalore is expected to be up in about six months," Wahi said. Wahi declined to say who will head the company, but indicated this announcement would come within the next two months. He said group chairman Anil Ambani had personally handpicked a team of 15 professionals, including current employees working with ADAG, to lead various verticals and geographies. The company also said it is "ready with a war chest" to make the investments required to enter the Top 5 Club of Indian IT companies. The total value of the Indian software and services industry is expected to be close to $50 billion this fiscal and despite evidence of the industry maturing and growth slowing down, organizations like Nasscom estimate that the industry will continue to see growth rates of about 25% per annum in the short term. Tech Reliance plans to be in areas like consultancy, infrastructure management, application development and management, and certain other services. The group already has a strong presence in the domestic enterprise and SME telecom market through Reliance Communication's enterprise business division. Its recent acquisition of San Francisco-based Yipes, a provider of managed ethernet and application delivery services, also brought with it significant expertise and customers. Reliance Entertainment has substantial animation expertise.   source: ET