Mindtree rebrands to win large deals

Bangalore-based mid-tier IT firm Mindtree on Friday announced a new brand identity, including a brand new logo and strategy, aimed at expanding its global presence.

“The rebranding will help increase the company’s credibility to win deals worth $25 million and above,” said Krishnakumar Natarajan, CEO and MD, Mindtree, indicating it is looking to win more large deals.

The company has partnered with US-based branding firm Siegel +Gale, which had designed the logo for Microsoft.

Subroto Bagchi, chairman, Mindtree Ltd, said the rebranding was necessary in view of the fundamental shift taking place in the overall IT sector — a brand which held good for the first 13 years of the company’s existence no longer delivered the goods.

This is also in line with the company’s new strategy to attract a younger talent pool and is a crucial part of its vision 2020, said Bagchi.

The company has been looking to scale up since its key founder, Ashok Soota, exited in 2010 after setting a revenue target of $1 billion in sales by 2014.

It reported sales of around $400 million last fiscal and has had to exit its smartphone business, which it had earlier acquired from Kyocera, after incurring huge losses on it.

The aggressive quest for a greater global play is clear. Mindtree recently opened development centres in Florida and Brussels.
Analysts believe the company will report a topline growth of 3-5% for this quarter, marginally better than its performance in the last.

“For the next quarter, revenue growth is expected to be better than the flat Q1, due to the effects of rupee depreciation. The company’s margins are also expected to be stable or grow slightly. However, there may be a dip in volume growth due to slower deal closings in the quarter, as indicated by the company management – but this too, is expected to be better than the last quarter,” Ankita Somani of Angel Broking said in a note.
beryl.menezes@dnaindia.net