FACT FILE CEO Ananda Mukerji POSITIONING Primarily an inbound voice service provider STARTED IN Dec-01 OWNERSHIP ICICI Bank, ICICI Venture Capital, Westbridge Capital Partners TOTAL FUNDING $50 mn REVENUE (2002–03) $17.4 mn (estimated) NO OF PEOPLE 3870 (as on 31 Oct 2003) CORPORATE ADDRESS 6th Floor, Peninsular Chamber, G Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai–400013 WEBSITE www.icicionesource.com NO OF CLIENTS 21 (including 14 large ones) QUALITY COPC 2000 for both voice and back office. The first company in the world to get COPC certification for back office. BS 7799 British security certification Six Sigma initiative LOCATION FACILITIES: 4 (Bangalore—3, Mumbai—1) SALES & MARKETING: New York, US and London, UK

ICICI Onesource is truly the odd man in the Top 10 club of bpOrbit. The company that was started by acquiring another company is not just the only BPO company to try out a combination of organic and inorganic growth, but also is the only company in this elite group that is owned by a non-IT corporate. ICICI Bank holds 27.5 percent in the company while ICICI Venture Capital owns 64 percent of the equity. About 8.5 percent is owned by Westbridge Capital Partners.

This gives the company a unique advantage—that of acting like an independent VC funded company to decide its own focus as far as verticals and processes are concerned (the company’s top vertical is retail, not financial services, as the ICICI name tends to suggest) and yet not worrying too much about access to capital, as with other VC-funded companies. This, coupled with the fact that its top client contributes just about 20 percent—the figure is half of the corresponding figure for many others in this list—of its revenue also means the company is not too dependent on any one client. Looking at fundamentals, the company is well-positioned.

However, it is a predominantly voice company. Though inbound voice—its forte—will grow for some time, the margins are expected to get increasingly squeezed. That is a cause for worry. Also, the acquisition of FirstRing gave it a foothold in the telemarketing, a service whose future is being questioned in the post Do-Not-Call scenario. Thankfully, telemarketing is less than 10 percent of its operations.

Keeping in line with its inorganic growth strategy, ICICI Onesource has been looking around for acquisitions continuously. It is believed that the acquisition(s) would be used for increasing the company’s exposure to financial services and setting up centers in alternate locations outside India. The company is seriously looking at the Philippines and Mauritius for locating a facility, either through acquisition or by building up on its own. These will be in addition to the three facilities that it has in Bangalore, one in Mumbai. The company is opening up another facility in Mumbai next year and is also looking at a third location within India.

Apart from Marks & Spencer, its other large customers include Providian and Amex (that it got through FirstRing acquisition), a Fortune 50 telecom company, and an FTSE 100 media company.

Apart from expansion, ICICI Onesource is expected to diversify the nature of its processes in the next year.