Tech Mahindra to invest Rs 700 crore in products and platforms division in two years

The Mahindra group company is present in the products and platforms business with the acquisition of the telecom sector-focused Comviva and other offerings which are delivering an annual revenue run rate of $450 million, company’s chief executive and managing director C P Gurnani said.

“In the next two-three years, we are aiming to take the revenue from products and platforms to $1 billion,” he said after announcing about the new division at the firm’s ‘investor day’.

The investment in the new division, to be led by Gurugram-headquartered Comviva’s team, will be Rs 500-700 crore over the next two-and-half years, Gurnani said.

The Comviva team, which also has presence in Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru, has been tasked with leading the entire products and platforms play, he said.

Apart from telecom, Tech Mahindra’s products and platforms also extends to the banking, financial services and insurance vertical and other sectors in the enterprise business, he said, adding that Comviva’s standalone contribution to the $450-million pie will be about $200 million.

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Company’s president for corporate development Vivek Agarwal said the company will be leveraging existing customers who will form the first of the clients for the products and platforms offerings. He also said the products and platforms play will help expand the margins for the company, which has been aspiring to improve on profitability for some time now.

Gurnani said the investments are not very significant and will be made using its existing balance sheet strength, and added the investments will be in technology, which will involve research and development tools and creation of labs.

It will be getting people internally, and also hiring specialised talent with domain expertise from outside for the new division, he added.

The new division will also be working with other companies in the diversified Mahindra group, which can yield sector-specific solutions, Gurnani said.

Apart from the new products and platforms division, Gurnani also said the company is aiming to increase the overall revenue contribution from partnerships to the industry average of 40% in a year’s time from 30%.

It has created a roadmap in coordination with its technology partners SAP, Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

Tech Mahindra will also focus on co-creation with customers, he said, pointing out that it has agreed to create solutions with a Japanese customer which can help the broader auto industry worldwide.

It will also be working with other companies in the group on this aspect of co-creation, he added.