Bangalore: Hinduja TMT (HTMT) has posted a net profit of Rs 13.10 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2001, as compared to a net profit of Rs 12.43 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. This growth has resulted from the companys call-centre activities and other IT-enabled service initiatives. The total income of the company for the quarter was Rs 20.16 crore, as against Rs 22.26 crore, due to the phasing out of its finance activities.

HTMTs revenues from its core business of information technology have shown a sharp increase of 484 per cent to Rs 17.59 crore during the quarter from Rs 3.01 crore in the corresponding period last year. The net profit from the business has surged to Rs 12.04 crore from a loss of Rs 1.32 crore.

During the nine-month period ended 31 December 2001, the share of the IT business in the total income and the net profit has shown a substantial growth when compared to the figures for the corresponding period of the last year as indicated below:

(Rs in crores)
	Up to 31 December 2000	Up to 31 December 2001
Total income	47.96	59.20
Of which ITs contribution	87%	53%
Net profit	30.38	38.06
Contribution from IT business	87%	51%

The IT revenues of the company have also shown a sequential growth (Q3 over Q2) of 31.21 per cent from Rs 13.40 crore to Rs 17.59 crore. The above figures illustrate the morphing of HTMT into an IT company.

The call-centre set up by the company in Bangalore has started off with its first client a large US telecom company with an initial capacity of 180 seats, being ramped up to the contracted 540 seats and its functioning to the full satisfaction of the customer. HTMT is upgrading the call-centre in a phased manner by not only increasing the number of seats but by reinforcing its capability to handle comprehensive business processing services. HTMT is a debt-free company and its net worth as at the end of 31 December 2001 stands at Rs 377 crore with a book value of Rs 106 per share.

HTMT has focused on IT services (covering systems integration, ERP implementation, software maintenance and development and Internet solutions) and IT-enabled services (broadly covering business process outsourcing, including call-centres). HTMT has developed expertise in the domain areas of manufacturing, automobile, telecom, banking and financial services.

"While the company has been able to get into high-end businesses, the recent appointment of [former managing director of BFL Software] R Mohan as the chief of our IT services segment will enable us to expand the scope of our businesses in the sophisticated solutions arena," says HTMT vice-chairman S Solomon Raj. HTMT has its subsidiaries in the US, France and the UK, and is in the process of tying up with a large electronics group in Germany for marketing its services and consolidating its operations in Europe.