I think the most important reason for our success is that very early in our quest into globalisation, we invested in people - and we have done that consistently and particularly in the service business.
Being in the consumer business helps us groom talent in areas like marketing, finance and logistics. We can benchmark our outsourcing business to our consumer business and its best practices.
Our experience is that it is not terribly difficult to do business in China. But the issue is, how much stability do you have in terms of what you negotiate up front and when you've got your feet and your investments on the ground.
If people are not laughing at your goals, your goals are too small.
Looking ahead, the prospects for growth looks exciting, ... We exited the quarter ended September 2005 with the strong tailwind of business momentum. The challenge we have is to sustain and build upon it.
The results for the third quarter (October-December) signal the next phase of growth. Revenue from IT business at $473 million (Rs.21.2 billion) was ahead of the guidance figure of $463 million (Rs.20.6 billion) projected in October.
The global IT business sustained its momentum recording double-digit volume growth sequentially resulting in revenues (from the information technology business alone) for the quarter being 430.7 million dollars against our guidance of 422 million dollars.