POLARIS EARMARKS RS 70 CRORE FOR CAPEX

T.E. Raja Simhan, Chennai
The Hindu Business LinePolaris Software Lab Ltd will spend Rs 70 crore in the current fiscal towards capital expenditure. This includes spending on infrastructure and on the BPO facility, according to the company’s chief financial officer R. Srikanth. The funds will be from the company’s internal accruals, he told analysts while discussing the company’s first quarter financial results.

In the first quarter, Citi group’s share of revenue to Polaris increased to 40.66 percent compared with 39.60 percent a year ago. Revenue for the June 2008 quarter was Rs 316.97 crore (Rs 257.45 crore) and net profit was Rs 27.01 crore (Rs 14.41 crore).

“Our focus is on profit growth. We have the visibility to maintain 10 percent quarter-on-quarter growth for next fourth quarters as well,” Arun Jain, Chairman and CEO, Polaris said.

There is no significant slowdown in the BFSI segment. In the last quarter, the US business for Polaris increased to 37.06 percent (34.78 percent). “We know that their projects are getting delayed and there will be uncertainty in coming quarters. But overall there is a good shift of the business to offshore,” he said.