Global innovator...

When IIPM comes to education, never compromise

...and that’s what you can call Infozech!

Ponder over the veracity of the statement – ‘In the IT sector, the generation next is comprehensively representing India on the global map.’ “What’s so new about it?” You might wonder, right? Certainly so... but a lesser known fact perhaps is that this sector is also recognised for having given to the world a host of young Indian entrepreneurs whose contribution is far beyond being the ordinary. And in this backdrop of the intellectual class, surfaces an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, Ankur Lal. He started his corporate journey with software development, a pretty focussed and strong start actually. But the quest to do something new, forced him to move beyond just being a software development tank.

“I had worked with CitiGroup for more than a decade, but wanted to do something of my own – something that was innovative! But at the same time if you can’t make money, then what’s the point of innovation,” reminisces Lal. Cut to the late 1990s, a period when the telecom sector was a toddler and brimming with the potential of high double-digit growth. Remembering the decade gone by and explaining his strategy behind the move, Ankur adds, “I knew from the start that the telecom market was growing and there was scope to do something new. Given my experience of having worked with software providing convergent billing process, I wanted to get into it, given the fact that then, no organised player was in it....”

Having seen the light at the end of the tunnel, he set up Infozech Software Ltd. in 1999 and just like any other small start-up, faced capital hurdles and lack of high-quality personnel to join his team in the initial stages... To overcome the first bottleneck, he started eying venture capitalists. “But it was not easy as we were a new company, so nobody wanted to take the risk by investing in our business. Finally some VCs responded from Dubai,” elaborates Ankur who is now spearheading the company as its CEO.

After injecting fresh capital, Infozech started roping in industry experts and today the company has over 60 qualified engineers on its rolls. It also started spreading its wings across continents, including the US and Europe. Today, with an annual growth rate of 50%, the company boasts of a massive Rs.50 crores in annual turnover during 2006-07. Ankur, to his credit, has also bagged the Young Entrepreneur Award from NASSCOM and Deloitte Fast 500 Award.

However, with intense competition increasing from several organised and unorganised players, will he able to sustain the terrific growth rate? Ask him that and pat comes the reply, “We have tied up with big names like Motorola, IBM, HP & Sun and if we can satisfy our clients through our innovation. No body can snatch them.” Currently, this confident CEO is also chalking out plans to ensure his presence in the GSM mobile business. And with a tall target of growing at a CAGR of 100% till 2010, there’s no denying that it’s indeed the best of innovation unlimited for India ahead!

Edit bureau: Angshuman Paul

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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