| Type | Public BSE: 532517 |
|---|---|
| Traded as | NASDAQ: PTI NYSE: PTI |
| Industry | Software Services |
| Founded | 10 February 1978 |
| Headquarters | Bangalore, India |
| Key people | Phaneesh Murthy (President & CEO) |
| Services | Software Services & Outsourcing |
| Revenue | 3,164.75 crore (US$601.3 million) (2010) |
| Net income | 586.61 crore (US$111.46 million) (2010) |
| Total assets | US$872 million (2010) |
| Employees | 17,642 (2010)[1] |
| Parent | iGATE Corp.[2][3] |
| Website | www.igatepatni.com |
iGATE Patni (previously iGATE Global Solutions Ltd), (BSE: 532517, NASDAQ: PTI, NYSE: PTI) is a provider of Information Technology services and business solutions, as a subsidiary of iGATE Corporation.[3] The company has employed over 15,000 people. It has 23 international offices across the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as offshore development centres in eight cities in India. iGATE Patni's clients include more than 400 Fortune 1000 companies.[4]
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Narendra K. Patni first came to the US in 1964 on an MIT fellowship and in the early 1970s. He was appointed the president of Forrester Consulting Group, which advised companies and government agencies on technology issues.
While there, he became aware of the benefits of outsourcing during a project involving advance-level typesetting. "The best way to do it is where the labor is cheaper," he said, and so were born the first outsourcing companies in India.
The name of the company was initially "Data Conversion Inc" in 1972. Narendra Patni and his wife Poonam started this experiment in their house, naming one room as the ‘US’ and the other as ‘India’. In one room, they wrote instructions to convert data from paper documents to computers. In another room, a group of MIT students typed out the data into a Flexowriter machine that produced paper tape, which was then a very labor-intensive data-conversion process. A ground rule was that there would be no conversation only written notes, because at that time phone connections between US and India were still unreliable.[5]
The husband-and-wife duo, who commenced operations from their apartment in the US, began with 20 people in back-office operations in Pune. Now there are over 14,000 employees worldwide. In the Pune office, employees typed out court documents for LexisNexis, movie summaries for the American Film Institute and catalogs for the American Mathematical Society. Each week, boxes of paper tape were flown to the US for processing through readers and conversion into magnetic tapes that were fed into computers. This experiment has mushroomed into a business empire and a global operation that is productive.
This was Patni's first step into the provision of software services. By late 1970s, the company had acquired enough foreign exchange to take the next step forward. Patni decided to import multi-user server systems and sell computer time. An agreement with US-based computer manufacturer Data General, to supply computer systems through satellite links, helped create Patni Computer Systems in 1978. The company was incorporated in India on 10 February 1978 under the Indian Companies Act, 1956.
Around the same time Naren Patni was considering software development opportunities with Data General to be delivered from India. Mr. Patni's dream of using India as a high-quality and low-cost delivery base became a reality, when in 1986, India's first ODC (Offshore Delivery Centre) for Data General was set up. This was the start: Patni successfully initiated and developed the outsourcing business model, which flourished into one of the largest industries worldwide, connecting the world in ways that were not done some time ago.[6]
During the early 1990s the company was focused on its hardware market and did not take advantage of the growth of software opportunities. It was then that Naren Patni hired consulting group McKinsey to recommend how to scale up their business. The firm recommended massive restructuring of the organization into strategic business units, based on market segments and technological expertise supported by horizontal groups. From an 80-crore company in 1996, the company's revenues grew to $US656 million by 2009.
The company's global expansion began when they set up an office in London UK in 1993. It was followed by a surge of expansion in different parts of United States as well as in various European and Asian countries, including Japan. Along with offices throughout India, by 2011, Patni had 28 offices worldwide.
This expansion was not just geographical. Over the years, Patni has offered various new services, as well as practices like engineering services, enterprise application solutions, e-business solutions, BPO services and so on. They have acquired companies like The Reference Inc, Cymbal Corporation, ZAiQ Technologies, Taratec, Logan Orviss, and very recently CHCS.
Patni collected various accreditations like ISO 9001:2000, CMM Level 5 and P-CMM Level 3 certifications. The company also integrated Six Sigma techniques for quality control.[7][8][9][10]
Soon after implementing McKinsey's restructuring, a model that would be adopted later by most competitors, Naren Patni took a very important decision. He decided to invite Merrill Lynch to act as advisor for their initial public offering (IPO). According to their analysis, Patni had all the qualities to attract private investments – critical mass, proven track record and stable customer base. By a combination of coincidences, General Atlantic, a global leader in private equity investment, was looking for a suitable Indian software player to invest in and invested $US100 million in September 2002. Patni launched an IPO in February 2004, which was oversubscribed 22 times. They are currently listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the National Stock Exchange (NSE), India and the New York Stock Exchange, US.[6]
In the same year, Patni acquired Fremont, California-based Cymbal Corporation for a sum of US$78 million. Cymbal's acquisition allowed Patni to enter $60 billion IT services market in the telecom vertical which was previously not available to Patni.[11] This acquisition also allowed Patni to spread its non-GE business, and to add a development center in Hyderabad, India.
In December 2005, Patni listed its ADRs on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker PTI.[12] The board of directors includes chairman Narendra Patni
Patni’s first foray into a ‘knowledge park’ was when Patni Knowledge Park opened in September 2006 in Airoli near Mumbai, India.
In 2008, Patni launched its first Green IT-BPO knowledge centre in Noida, India. The state-of-the-art environment-friendly facility complements the organisation's green initiatives around efficient utilization and conservation of energy, water and natural resources. The centre is spread over 5 acres (20,000 m2) and has a seating capacity of over 3500. Later the same year, it was awarded the LEED Platinum (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating for its Green IT-BPO Centre inaugurated earlier this year in Noida. This makes the Patni Knowledge Centre the second largest Platinum rated building in the world, and the largest Platinum-rated building outside the United States.
On 18 December 2008, the company announced the appointment of Jeya Kumar as Chief Executive Officer. Jeya Kumar, who joined Patni in Feb 2009, was hired by Naren Patni after two years of global search to find the ‘right man’ for the job.
Patni had taken various steps to move up the value chain and develop the onsite-offshore Global Delivery Model to a three-tier model. At the very outset, the new CEO brought in his A-team of senior and experienced professionals, infusing a new way of thinking into the company. Jeya has since moved to IPsoft as CEO of Asia Pacific.
Since then, Patni has been in the news for their focus on micro-verticals, diversifying into emerging geographies and new client wins. Some of the large ones being opening of near-shore centers in Mexico and Texas, along with the acquisition of CHCS Services, Inc., creating a new hub for Patni in Pensacola, Florida, winning the largest deal in the company's history with UAM, a JV in Japan with JR Kyushu amongst others. Patni recently won the largest deal in the company's history - a multi-million dollar, five-year agreement for providing end-to-end policy administration services for Universal American. The deal, according to media reports, was touted at $200 million.
iGATE (www.igate.com) announced on 10th January 2011, that it had reached a definitive agreement to buy shares of the major shareholders of Patni Computer Systems Limited. These shares comprise 63% of Patni's total outstanding shares. This will create an enterprise with close to $1b in revenues, 25,000 in headcount.
The proposed acquisition of the shares is subject to regulatory requirements and iGate is required to make an ‘Open Offer’ to acquire additional 20% of Patni’s shares from the open market. Changes in the shareholding shall take place upon fulfillment of all the obligations under the Open Offer process.
iGATE Patni (www.igatepatni.com) has been integrated and announced its first day on 12 May 2011 with new policies and views.
Key industry verticals
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sos Key servicesIn addition to these, Patni serves its customers through following Horizontal Business Units across various industries:
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Asia Pacific (APAC)
North America
South America
Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA)
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Patni Knowledge Park, Airoli, Mumbai Situated on 50 acres (200,000 m2) of land in the Navi Mumbai area, this campus will include facilities for software development, training, customer care, employee recreation, among others. The Patni Knowledge Park can accommodate 17,000 workers.[13] Green IT-BPO centre in NSEZ, Noida The state-of-the-art environment-friendly facility,[14] set up with an investment of Rs. 175 crores, complements the organization's green initiatives around efficient utilization and conservation of energy, water and natural resources. Developed on Green Architecture, the centre is spread over 5 acres (20,000 m2) and has a seating capacity of over 3500. Christened, Patni Knowledge Centre, this facility is designed and constructed as per the guidelines of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) India Green Building Rating System for New Construction.[15] |