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IMRglobal-CGI merger may benefit 700 IT professionals

Imran Qureshi in Bangalore

A global buy and it is advantage India. That's what the acquisition of IMRglobal by CGI, the fourth largest information technology services company in North America, would mean to 700 IT professionals.

Post-merger, as company officials call it, would lead to an enhancement of the staff strength of IMRglobal at its development center in Bangalore.

"We plan to scale up the number from the current 550 to 1,200 in the next nine months to a year because we are confident that the outsourcing of projects would only increase in the wake of the slowdown," said Andre Nadeau, IMRglobal's executive vice-president and chief strategy officer.

The merger is significant from the Indian context because a large number of IT professionals are being laid off as companies without a financial backing are facing a tough time in the wake of the global technology slowdown.

CGI, with 13,000 professionals, bought over IMRglobal for $438 million in February. Part of the acquisition is the India development center which last year grossed a turnover of Rs.1.2 billion.

"It will only lead to containment of costs on which we are very focused," says Nadeau.

CGI is currently providing IT consulting, systems integration, application development and maintenance. CGI has an order backlog of $ 5.5 billion and has 3,000 clients spread out in the US, Canada and 20 other countries.

It now plans to utilise the India center of excellence to enhance quality and productivity.

Indo-Asian News Service

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