IDS Infotech Limited - IT, ITES and BPO Solutions Company

It's a special moment for Partap Aggarwal's software company and he just can't conceal his excitement. Brimming with energy, the 50-year-old managing director of IDS Infotech talks about the acquisition he’s just done of aerospace design firm BV Design Production Link (DPL) based in Rotterdam. “This is a huge accomplishment for us,” he says, explaining that when IDS began in 1990, its first tie-up was with a Dutch firm.

Aggarwal started a software design firm in Chandigarh when no one wanted to do business there. “At that time Punjab was still reeling under terrorism. No one wanted to come to Chandigarh or Punjab and begin a software business,” says Aggarwal. Since then he has taken his company from providing plain IT solutions into niche verticals such as litigation support, healthcare, publishing services, and aerospace engineering, with revenues of Rs 50 crore (2007-08).

After working for Wipro as a researcher and then opening a NIIT franchise in Chandigarh, Aggarwal had bigger plans on his mind. When IDS Infotech was launched, Aggarwal recalls being up against many roadblocks, given its location: “Those days there was no business ecosystem in Punjab. We didn’t have VCs and each time I had to borrow money from friends. The moment I mentioned Chandigarh, people questioned the safety of their project considering the proximity to Pakistan. Also, bandwidth was not sufficient so we lost the biggest contract for medical transcription to a Bangalore-based firm.”

The breakthrough came when the firm won a contract in Sweden worth Rs 10 lakh. The aerospace business happened by chance. “We were doing IT solutions for French major Dassault Aviation in 2002, when they suggested we do design engineering for them. Two years later, we took up aerospace as a full scale vertical,” he says. IDS Infotech has since made prototypes for companies manufacturing parts for Airbus and Boeing, medium sized plane makers Fokker and Embraer, Italian helicopter company Agusta Westland and of course, Dassault Aviation, which makes Mirage fighter jets.

When asked on how it felt to have made his first million, Aggarwal smiles. “It was a big deal at first but as the numbers grow, you start looking at bigger things.” The plan is now to take the company to Rs 200 crore in two years, says Aggarwal. And he wants to achieve this by focusing on 2-3 verticals rather than providing a gamut of services. Aerospace is one such vertical. Aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Cessna are growing and so will the demand for design engineering and allied services. Large airplane manufacturing hubs in Europe, especially in France, work with outside vendors to manufacture parts to complete the airplanes on time. These vendors, in turn, outsource to smaller firms, which need conceptualisers for the required components. This is where it all starts for IDS.

DPL, too, fits in perfectly into Aggarwal’s plans. With access to major clients in Belgium, Holland, Canada, the US, France and Germany, it makes the prototypes outsourced by large aircraft manufacturers. The acquisition could also help the new entity win more clients such as EADS, which develops and markets civil and military aircraft, missiles, space rockets, satellites and related systems, Belgian aerospace company Sociétés Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aéronautiques (SABCA), besides the US-based Lockheed Martin, which is one of the largest defence contractors in the world.

Aggarwal wants to don the mentor’s cap in the years to come, and guide the business across its nine branches across India, Europe and the US. Right now, he’s on overdrive, chasing two new aerospace engineering deals in the US, which he hopes to conclude soon. “An entrepreneur without hunger is not an entrepreneur at all,” he says.

Technology: The god of small things

Perhaps the biggest challenge that small companies face on their way of growing bigger is technology. In a global market, it is necessary you have the best of technology so that while you can produce at low costs, you also do not have to compromise on the quality of the stuff you deliver. Where do successful small companies get access to the right technology? Is it through an acquisition, a technical collaboration or through reverse engineering?

A Recent survey across six states and nine verticals of north India by Milagrow, a consultancy that helps SMBs scale up, throws up some startling facts. About 80-90% of the 3,000 companies covered under the survey, with revenues under Rs 125 crore, don't even possess do-main names on the World Wide Web. Technology? Forget it.

“A SAP or an Oracle solution costs nothing less than Rs 50-60 lakh, which often these firms cannot afford. The government should support open source architecture so that SMBs need not buy software at exorbitant rates, but only pay for the services around them,” contends Milagrow CEO Rajeev Karwal.

A tough labour market and intellectual property (IPR) issues only add to the woes of tech adoption and overseas acquisitions of emerging firms. “Most SMEs are currently facing attrition. Also, due to IPR issues, overseas companies ask for a controlling stake in the local com-panies or exclusivity for the world market, which can some times become a hurdle for the agreement,” says Vikram Salunke, a director with Accurate Systems.

But in a sea of gloom, hope floats. Chandigarh-based Spray Engineer-ing Devices, for instance, makes equipment for the sugar industry. The Rs 150-crore company, after having successfully incorporated IT in its systems, was able to bring down the payout on return on investment from four years to just a year. There are others like Drish Shoes, which started out in 1988 by tying up with Manz of Germany. At least that ensured fluidity in design and transfer of technology, the two pivots that drive sales in footwear.

Several smaller companies are also looking at acquiring new technologies to increase system efficiency. “We have been looking at ac-quiring technology, or a company that produces a technology that can upgrade us from CAD/CAM and also help us in new areas such as on-line tracking of data open for the end-customer to see,” says Partap Aggarwal, managing director of knowledge process outsourcer, IDS Infotech.

A couple of key factors that differentiate buying behaviour and thereby influence the purchase decisions for small businesses are re-turns and the ease of use. “To spread the financial risk over a period of time, Cisco recently launched the Easy Lease financing programme in India to enable SMBs to adopt network technology quickly and easily, with minimal initial investment and maximum convenience,” points out Pramodh Menon, senior vice-president, commercial, Cisco India and SAARC.

Still others go the whole hog for low-cost finished goods. Clockmaker Ajanta Group is a case in point. Some 20 years back, the group started importing technology from Japan. It switched to low-cost Taiwan. Now the group is following Chinese technology to bring down the overall cost of production. “I visit China once or twice a fortnight to upkeep the relations and knowhow alive," claims Jaysukh Patel, direc-tor, Ajanta Group.

Take the case of the Rs 120-crore Kolkata-based Saj Industries, which sells biscuits under the Bisk Farm brand. The company constantly scouts for new technology across the globe. This ensures cost saving and better adaptability with its existing line. “An internal process for selection of technology ensures that we select the ideal technology, which suits the Indian condition and can be easily synchronised with our existing machines,” points out Vijay Singh, managing director of Saj Industries.

In the same vein, the Rajkot-based Jyoti CNC Automation has been able to crank out CNC machines in the country by its own research and development. The company named its R&D centre 'Leonardo da Vinci', after the Renaissance demigod who designed the world's first lathe machine. “We take active participation in various exhibitions around the world to see and understand the latest trends in ma-chines,” claims Parakramsinh Jadeja, managing director of Jyoti CNC.

The Pune-based training institution Career Forum too focuses on technology with a strict vigil on quality control and costs. The com-pany has relied on its inhouse ERP software to connect its 50 branches across 30 cities in the country.

Information is the key among small pharma firms too. Schedule 'M' norms have almost led to a Darwinian fitness test in the emerging pharma world. Only companies that adhere to Schedule M will survive post-December 2007, is the diktat dished out by the government. And Schedule M lists the various tech-related good manufacturing practices that companies must follow. “The main problem that the smaller firms are facing is the unavailability of technical manpower conversant with Schedule M compliance,” says Amit Kumar Sen, managing director of East India Pharmaceutical Works.

There's yet another lot which revels in acquisitions. The Chennai-based El Forge is one such. The Rs 100-crore firm made headlines when it acquired UK-based Shakespeare Forgings in 2005 for Rs 2.8 crore. “If not for the acquisition, it would have been extremely ex-pensive for us to achieve efficiencies by hiring a foreign professional,” says K V Ramachandran, managing director of El Forge.

Here, Chennai's Rs 12-crore Mudhra Pressings is a case in point. As the market opened up for 'fine blanking' in the auto segment, Mudhra realised that sticking only to ‘conventional stampings’ would see it missing the bus. So it trained its eyes on the Swiss Feintool Group and set up a joint venture, which it christened Mudhra Fine Blank. “We are going to be working very closely with Fientool for designing tools and manufacturing,” observes Surojit Mukherjee, managing director of Mudhra Fine Blank.

Chandigarh Journal; Sleepy City Has High Hopes, Dreaming of High Tech

year or so later, he has quadrupled his work force to 80 people from 20, finished renovations on a modern, stylish office and is planning to expand to 200 workers. ''It's all family owned,'' he said. ''We borrowed a little, but we've paid them back.''

An older business, IDS Infotech, represents the potential for broader growth. Partap Aggarwal, a software programmer who worked in Orange County, Calif., for seven years, opened the company in 1990. After struggling for years, it now has 1,150 employees, many of whom scan millions of pages of legal and medical documents on behalf of American law firms and drug companies.

For now, Chandigarh has only about 2,000 jobs in call centers and back offices, not enough to have a major effect on the local economy. Questions have also been raised about the quality of the work, which involves grueling hours and can be mind-numbing. The average call-center worker stays in the job for only four months, business owners said.

''No one takes it seriously as a career,'' said Kavita Deswal, 23, a law school graduate who was working as a call agent for several months while waiting for her law license to be approved.

But Mr. Atray remains optimistic. ''We hadn't been known as a high technology center,'' he said. ''With this knowledge revolution, it's been picking up.''

IDS Infotech Ltd. is one of the top regional IT/ITES firms to get Software Export Awards

IDS Infotech Ltd. is one of the top regional IT/ITES companies to receive the Software Exports Award, instituted by the Software Technologies Parks of India (STPI), at the curtain raiser of e-revolution 2006 this evening.

While Infosys Technologies, Quark Media House and Second Foundation India bagged the top three awards in the Software Exports Category. Dell International Services, IDS Infotech Ltd. and Universal Cyber Infoway were the winners in the IT/ITES Exports Exports Category. Lalit Sharma, Advisor to the UT Administrator, gave away the awards.

Partap Aggarwal said,"It feels great to be on the same platform as Dell and Infosys". He claimed that IDS Infotech which began functioning in 1989, is the oldest IT company in Chandigarh.

Lalit Sharma, Advisor to the Administrator, UT, Chandigarh, on Wednesday gave away prizes for Software Development Exports and Information Technology Enable Services Exports (ITES) at Hotel Taj, Sector 17, Chandigarh. In Software Development Exports category, Infosys Technologies Limited, Quark Media House and Second Foundation (I) Pvt. Ltd. bagged first, second and third positions, respectively. In ITES Exports category, Dell International got the first prize, while second and third prizes went to the IDS Infotech and Universal Cyber Infoway respectively.

4 companies get built-to-suit sites

FOUR COMPANIES have been allotted the built-to-suit sites at the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park. The companies included Virsa Systems, a US-based company, IDS Infotech, the largest software exporter from Chandigarh, FCS Technologies, a Noida based MNC and Second Foundation, a US based company.

Third Annual Software Exports Award

Chandigarh is moving fast on the IT path and will soon be Destination Next for the industry. This was the sentiment at the third annual IT Awards, given by the Administration based on the overall performance and turnover of city-based companies.

Experts present at the ceremony give the city three years to make its presence felt in a big way on the IT map. Going by the figures, the IT companies have increased six fold in the past three years. "And this year will see an even greater change in the IT industry," predicted UT Finance-cum-IT Secretary S.K. Sandhu. "Efforts would be made so that people will not have to come to us for information, but can just log on to the Web instead,” said Sandhu.

Speaking about the increasing opportunities in the field of IT, Managing Director of IDS Infotech Ltd Partap K. Aggarwal, who bagged the first prize at the awards ceremony, commented, "There is no shortage of knowledge and expertise in the city. Besides, the conditions are just ripe for the IT sector to boom."

UT Director of Information Technology Vivek Attray agreed stating, "Chandigarh is emerging as a big destination on the IT map of India." UT Administrator Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd) gave away the prizes to the five leading software exporters of Chandigarh at the CII Headquarters in Sector 31. He mentioned in his speech on the occasion, "The problem with the city is that despite having the knowledge, people here do not think big. They should strive to do things more innovatively."

First Annual Software Exports Award

The Punjab Governor & Administrator, Union Territory, Chandigarh., H.E. L.T. Gen. J.F.R. Jacob PVSM.(RETD.) released the first newsletter of the SPIC (Society For Promotion of Information Technology, Chandigarh). The Administrator also inaugurated the website of SPIC by clicking the mouse

Later, General Jacob also gave away the Software Export Awards to IT entrepreneurs (IDS Infotech, Trident & Smartdata) to recognize their contribution and that of other IT companies of Chandigarh which were playing an integral role in the growth of the region.

Speaking on the occasion, the Administrator said that the Chandigarh Administration will announce a comprehensive integrated investment policy by the middle of January to attract investments in the sector of Information Technology, biotechnology, business parks, financial services, tourism and other non-polluting industries.

ITs Forcing Chandigarh to Reboot

Many of its current denizens may shrug, but Chandigarh had its cosmopolitan days once. In early the '80s, the city was abuzz with students from Africa and South East Asia.

However, at some point in time, the African students began relocating to Pune. The times are changing once again. Until even a year back, it was rare to find someone from Bangalore working in a Chandigarh IT firm. Today the picture is different.

Take the case of IDS Infotech Limited. With 1,200 employees in its rolls, it was distinctly skewed towards the region in terms of its employees' origins.

However, finding that the region was not throwing up enough qualified software engineers, IDS brought in 28 engineers from Bangalore. Ask the engineers and they’ll tell you that Chandigarh is a good place to live in. Plus, the learning opportunity here is greater due to a greater premium and consequently, greater responsibilities being placed on employees.

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI)

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an autonomous society under the Ministry of Information Technology, Govt. of India has been mandated to provide a conducive environment for the software exporting companies. STPI operates through its centers located in various part of the country, which provide facilitation to the Software Industry in that region. STPI presently has 21 centers in the country including one in Mohali. STPI contributed more than 75% export revenue on national basis and has more than 8000 Software Companies operating under the STP Scheme, covering an entire spectrum of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Major Indian Companies (MICs) and Multi-National Companies (MNCs).

With the proactive help and support of the Govt. of Punjab, STPI has set up a KU Band Type E-3 Satellite Earth Station at SAS Nagar (Mohali) to provide state-of-the-art wide band data communication facilities (64 Kbps to 2 Mbps) to Software Exporters. The Earth Station, which is in fact an International Gateway for the Software Exporters, will connect the software units in and around Mohali to any destination on the Globe. The commissioning of this facility has been accomplished in the record time of less than four months after the allocation of land. It may be noted that this is the first Ku Band Earth Station established by STPI; however STPI-Mohali center is the eighth International Gateway operated by STPI in the Country.

Earth Station is fully operational and is in a position to provide the services like SoftPoint - Point to Point Leased Line, SoftLink - Shared Internet Connection comprising of services like World Wide Web (WWW), Remote Login and File Transfer Protocol. Earth station also possesses state-of-the-art technology two way Video Conferencing with MPEG grade quality video. International Gateway of STPI Mohali was inaugurated by Hon'ble Chief Minister of Punjab, Sardar Parkash Singh Badal in the Video Conferencing facility.

STPI has also established a High Speed Data Communication Node at Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh which is linked to Mohali Earth Station. It has been inaugurated by the Hon'ble Secretary, DoE, Shri Ravindra Gupta on the 10th of November 1998, and the node has been fully operational since then.

The setting up of the STPI Office at Mohali sends the positive signal to the Software Industry operating into the different part of the country and they decided to expand their operation to Mohali (Punjab). In the last two years of operation STPI has registered, so far, 170 nos. of the units which will contribute to the tune of Rs. 100 Crores Software Export in the coming Financial Year. The Software giants like Infosys Technologies Ltd., Quark Media House (I) Pvt. Ltd., IDS Infotech Ltd., Tata Interactive Systems, SamrtData Enterprises, eThreeR Infosystems, Net Solutions, Rana Informatics Ltd. and several others have already been operating from this region.

Why Mohali/Chandigarh

Mohali/ Chandigarh is such a good choice that it has to be seen to be believed. That's why the Top Management of Quark came all the way to check it out and easily made the decision to locate their R & D center in Chandigarh. It is targeted to reach a size of 1000 Software Engineers.

Apart from the above, this well laid out city has the best infrastructure in India. The following are among the city’s featured conveniences:

Opportunities for Software Exporters

About 50 acres of land adjoining the Earth Station have been earmarked by the Punjab Government for an I.T. Park which would ultimately consist of a Software Technology Park (STP), an Electronic Hardware Technology Park (EHTP) and an Indian Institute of Information Technology. The Punjab Government has decided to provide an industrial plot to the Software Industry who wants to start operations in Mohali. The rate of these plots will be Rs. 700/- per Sq. Meter. Moreover, there is enough space available in Mohali which is very cheap and the rent of the premises lies between Rs. 5 per Sq. Ft. to Rs. 15 Sq.Ft. as per the location.

The Chandigarh Administration has also earmarked a 10,000 Sq. Ft. area @ Rs. 15.70 per Sq. Ft. as monthly rent at Punjab Engineering College for the allotment of 100% Export Oriented Software Units under STP Scheme. They have also been building up an IT Park at Kishangarh.

Engineering and Design

Brochure Download

News

IDS Infotech betting big on aerospace design services