Hardeep Singh Bedi, MD of Tulip IT Services that they are looking at acquiring the inorganic growth in the US and Europe. “We have identified some countries and we have given mandates and we are trying to see if any of these companies meet our requirements and going forward, we will be looking at acquisitions in the Europe countries and we will also be looking at tying up with some companies in the developing countries where we can roll out similar networks in partnerships with local partners,” he said.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Hardeep Singh Bedi: 

Q: Could you outline the growth triggers for your company going forward - the network integration is one of your key plays. But going forward, you have been looking at ramping up the data connectivity and your sworn projects, what’s the update there?

A: The network integration business is a steady business that keeps coming and also state widened networks are going steady. But the real growth that we are seeing is coming in the VPN  business and the managing services business. As of Frost & Sullivan, we have been declared the largest imperious VPN provider and going forward, we are continuing to expand our network very substantially, with a very clear aim, that by the end of next year, we should be able to reach just about every village of the country.

It's an ambitious aim, but we are very confident that we will be able to do that. We are also getting into manage services where as part of the business, we have commissioned two more data centers in Mumbai and we are looking at getting more data centers up in the near future. So going forward, we expect VPN and business in the rural areas besides data centers to be huge growth drivers for the company.

Q: If you can talk some numbers, when you speak about expansion of VPN and connectivity to every village, what does it mean in terms of the actual orderbook for your company for the current and the next year and what would it translate in the new growth?

A: We don’t give projections. But the basic point is that as of today, our network reaches about 1200 cities and customers and while this is at least 2-3 times the size of any of our competitors in terms of coverage. But as you start going to the rural areas; with 70% of the population living in the rural areas, we are very confident that we will actually be able to increase our business very substantially. In addition, we are now rolling out fiber in all the major cities of the country in the commercial areas -  this again will give us a major advantage and maybe expect to grow our business quite substantially.

Q: What about capital infusion for the expansion plans, what is the kind of capex that you are looking out for in FY09 and are you adequately funded to meet the expansion requirements?

A: Just to place in perspective, we have done our USD 150 million FCCB, about 6-8 months back - large amount of funds are already available, the existing business is also very profitable. So we do not see any need for funds immediately.

Q: Are you looking at acquisitions right now in Europe at this point in time, could you give us more details?

A: Yes, we are looking at acquiring the inorganic growth in the US and maybe in the European countries we have identified some countries and we have given mandates and we are trying to see if any of these companies meet our requirements and going forward, we will be looking at acquisitions in the Europe countries and we will also be looking at tying up with some companies in the developing countries where we can roll out similar networks in partnerships with local partners.