Persistent Systems sees OPD sector rebounding

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Outsourced software product development (OPD) major Persistent Systems is expecting to increase its headcount this year, as the company experiences growth returning to the OPD sector.

The 20-year-old OPD player, which takes claim to be the first exporter after the setting up of the Software Technology Parks of India, presently has a headcount of over 5,300, of whom 3,500 are based in Pune.

Persistent Systems CMD Anand Deshpande told ET that the company had revenues of $80 million in the first half of the current fiscal and that the revenue guidance for the full year was $155 million. The company had total revenues of $128 million in the fiscal ending March 2010.

"The OPD market was affected by the slowdown between October 2008 and October 2009, and it was because most customers chose not to spend. The market is now picking up and our recruitments are inching ahead", Deshpande said.

Persistent has opted to focus on software development, which in turn has enabled it to specialize in services aligned with the entire product life cycle, develop reusable assets and frameworks to accelerate development, and have a value-focused business model.

Deshpande said the OPD concept was working well for the company, with its clients, mostly based in North America, taking the market risks. "Our clients are household brands in North America and elsewhere and have a diverse customer base. They take the market risk and we build the software in India, taking advantage of the costs", he said.

Deshpande said 20% of the company's business came from telecom and wireless companies, and about 10% from the life sciences sector. Persistent has a strong presence in cloud computing, "building cloud infrastructure and helping clients to migrate into the cloud concept". Deshpande said the cloud model had strong prospects in the coming days.