AT FULL THROTTLE

Calcutta, May 26: Tata Consultancy Services has increased its stake to 100 per cent in Brazilian joint venture company, TCS do Brasil. The Tata firm, which originally had a 51 per cent stake, acquired the remaining 49 per cent from Grupo TBA for $33.4 million.

TCS do Brasil recorded a topline of $66.5 million for the year ended March 31, 2007 and has over 1,700 employees.

TCS inked the 51:49 joint venture with Grupo TBA in 2002 to tap the emerging Brazilian market. Grupo TBA brought in local knowledge and client relationship to the joint venture, while TCS chipped in with its global delivery models.

The company operates delivery centres in Sao Paulo and Brasilia and provides services to over 30 clients, including ABN Amro, Goodyear, Equifax and Brasil Telecom.

The Sao Paulo centre was set up last year to execute part of the $200-million outsourcing deal with ABN Amro.

TCS do Brasil was the first company in Brazil to achieve the CMMI Level 5 certification, the highest quality standard in the industry.

TCS operations in Portugal are supported by the two centres in Brazil. The global development centre in Uruguay looks after the operations in Spain and Mexico. The Uruguay unit caters to clients across Latin America, Europe and the US.

TCS also carried out extensive recruitment in Argentina for its Uruguay centre to strengthen its South America operations.

Meanwhile, Grupo TBA and TCS have signed a co-operation pact. According to the agreement, the two will continue to jointly service clients. TCS also reportedly invested $1.5 million (Brazilian Reais) in training and recruitment in Brazil. It also formed alliances with educational institutes such as University Sao Paulo.

Brazil is aiming to become a top offshore outsourcing destination by 2010 and tap the global IT services market estimated at $600 billion.

The Brazilian IT outsourcing market generated $4.85 billion (Brazilian Reais) in 2006, up from $4.08 (Brazilian Reais) in 2005, according to data by IT consultant IDC. Local Brazilian companies are looking to strengthen their position in the IT services and software market in the face of stiff competition from Indian IT majors such as TCS and Infosys.