Target 30% growth in FY08: Blue Star Infotech

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Suneel Advani:

Q: Could you walk us through this quarter and lay out the expectations for the next financial year?

A: We had a good quarter; the new year too promises to be a good one. We grew about 30% last year and are targeting the same for 2007-2008 as well.

The last quarter was a particularly notable one, because during the third quarter we had ramped up significantly for one of our largest customers, which is a Fortune 100 company based in California with an arm in Bangalore. That account promises to grow substantially right into the end of the first half of this year.

Q: The operating profit margins are at about 16%. Are these sustainable in the coming financial year or are you going to be upping them?

A: This figure is sustainable. The only clouds on the horizon for the whole IT industry is the strengthening dollar; since more than 50% of our business comes from the US, it is one area of concern. But the other 50% comes from other geographies where we are not bound with the dollar. So the rupee-dollar thing may affect us, but the strengthening rupee in general is affecting the industry, which is an area of concern. We are going to be much more aggressive on raising our billing rates.