Bangalore, April 1 (PTI): Information technology company MindTree Consulting will float its maiden public issue during the current financial year (2006-07), the company management said. MindTree will also hire 3500 professionals by 2007-08.

MindTree has crossed the $100-million mark in revenue in just six years of operations. The Bangalore-based company clocked $102 million in revenue in 2005-06, registering an 83 per cent growth over 2004-05.

Venture capitalists hold nearly 40 per cent in MindTree, which proposed to go public in the second half of 2006-07, according to its chairman and managing director Ashok Soota.

However, Soota declined to speak on the size of the IPO and on the issue of dilution of stake, saying the company expects to revisit the proposal sometime in September.

“Businesses from research and development and IT services grew by a robust 75 per cent and 87 per cent, respectively,” he said.

He added that the company expected to record a revenue income of $231 million by 2007-08.

MindTree human resource manager Puneet Jetli said the firm was also planning to hire between 1500 and 1600 employees during the current financial year and another 2000 in 2007-08. The company currently has a headcount close to 3200.

MindTree will start operations in Chennai this year with around 300-500 people.

The company has recently signed an MoU with the Orissa government to start a 30-acre campus in the special economic zone in Bhubaneswar.

The company is also exploring the possibility of entering the knowledge process outsourcing segment.

According to MindTree chairman, the company is looking out for an acquisition that will add to its domain knowledge. “The prospective acquisition will be in the region between $10 million and $20 million, but the company will also look at smaller buyouts as well,” Soota added.

MindTree, which had conceptualised and developed the state-of-the-art handsets for telecom giant Nera, has four patents. It has also filed for another seven patents.