But the BPO pipeline takes much longer to convert and the decision-making cycle is slower. Some of these things take as long as nine to 12 months. So, if IT firms are talking about hiring and growth, that is happening as the decisions that were on hold have started to move now.

The IT and BPO need not grow at the same pace. But, when BPO takes off, relationships become much stronger, giving much more sticky business. But things are much better than what they were last year. I track the number of visits that clients make to our office, and I must say that this has gone up compared to last year.

As for pricing, we have been able to renew contracts with the top-10 clients — they account for 60-65 per cent of our revenue. And the pricing has been stable or, in some cases, better.So capital market is one such area. And some firms in the financial sector, like capital market, asset management, wealth management, hedge funds and others, are under tremendous stress.

I think, health care is something that has the potential to grow. We do already have something in this space, and I don’t see why we should not be able to grow in this.

Q: What about geographical expansion?
A: This is another area where we would like to expand. We are in Latin America, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. As far as other geographies, like Europe, etc, are concerned, we will expand if we see a requirement, but that also means getting the language capability.

Q: IT firms are increasingly getting into the BPO space ...
A: I don’t think IT firms getting into the BPO segment is, in any way, a threat to pure-play BPOs. The addressable market is so huge that the need for consolidation at this time certainly does not arise. There are so many potential markets to be addressed. We ourselves are talking about expansion.

More importantly, in my interaction with clients, I do not see any interest in them opting for these integrated IT services firms. Also, all of us have enough IT capabilities to address any complexities that our clients face.

Secondly, when there was stress in the market and when the demand was low, many firms got into other segments. This was driven by the need to meet targets. Of course, some of them are doing well, but pure-play IT firms will again focus on what they are really good at once the market starts looking up. For us, the BPO business is the core.

We are also clear that we will provide only services, unlike some of the IT players that are getting into product platforms. Clients have some discomfort with IT players that are getting into BPO as they might be competitors in future.

Q: If we look at the WNS business model, there are some concerns. Your travel business is seasonal, auto claims is cyclical and health care has also seen pressure in the recent slowdown. How do you plan to address this?
A: I look at it differently. Since we have been in these areas for such a long time, we know how to handle these pressures. So, whatever dip happened last year was because of the global demand issue. But also remember, if I have less business in one quarter, the same business gives me additional flush of revenue in another quarter. As for health care, it was impacted due to outsourcing, off-shoring and the political will.

This is precisely one of the reasons for the strategic review meetingThis will help us address some of the concerns