Polaris is counting big on its 8012 FT Design Centre, exclusively dedicated to financial technology. Five months after it was set up, it’s expected to generate additional revenues of $40-50 million by 2014-15 for the Indian software firm. The company said its revenues for the second quarter ended September rose to Rs 643 crore, up 13% sequentially, and a 7% growth year-on-year.
Spread over 30,000 square feet in Chennai with an investment of $10 million, Polaris terms this as the world’s first design centre exclusively focussed on financial technology. The growing impact of globalisation, coupled with competition, and the fact that banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) is the biggest revenue earner for most Indian software firms today -- contributing to almost a fourth of their revenues – were some of the major factors behind the launch of this centre. So far, the idea seems to have clicked, with Polaris landing quite a few deals.
Arun Jain, founder, chairman and group CEO, Polaris Financial Technology, said that out of 40 client visits to the centre, eight BFSI clients have already struck an agreement with Polaris, of which four large deals have closed in the past six months. “We closed two deals in the last quarter and two this quarter. These are all global clients – two from the US, two from the UK, one each from Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Singapore. While we look at the qualitative return on investment, rather than quantitative returns, we believe this centre will not only help us win loyal-long-term clients, but also win larger deals of $5-50 million size,” he added.
So, how exactly does the centre help in creating more efficient financial technology solutions?
Jain said the centre has seven innovation labs, each with a technology of its own that includes social, mobile, analytics and cloud (SMAC), integration, security, high performance, operational excellence, and customer usability technologies. Polaris has also committed to spending $2-3 million annually on R&D.
Judging by a positive customer feedback, Polaris is gearing up to launch two more such financial technology design centres in its other two BFSI hubs – Mumbai and New York. “In the next 6-9 months, we will be launching both these centres. However, due to high rentals, the centres will be considerably smaller.”
Asked about how the reports of Polaris selling out to a large software firm would fit in with these new investment plans, Jain said, “As stated earlier, we announced our restructuring in June, and that is on track. We are not in talks for any acquisition.”
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