EDS to Buy Majority Stake in Indian Outsourcer

ORLANDO, Fla.—Electronic Data Systems is making an offer for 52 percent of Mphasis BFL Limited, an applications and business process outsourcing services company, in Bangalore, India.

“This offer is complementary to our overall strategy to enhance EDS presence and capabilities in India,” said Michael Jordan, EDS chairman and CEO, in a statement.

At the Gartner Outsourcing Summit here April 3-5, EDS announced separately a CRM (customer relationship management) solution that a company spokesperson said is intended to leverage the call center capabilities of Mphasis.

The new offering, called Managed Customer Interaction Solution, includes contact center management, customer self-service and customer intelligence. It will be available to customers on a hosted technology platform. EDS will charge customers at a utility rate based on the amount of services used, the company spokesperson said.

The drive to augment EDS business process outsourcing offerings and to offer services on a commodity basis carries out two of Jordans stated goals for EDS as the venerable outsourcer continues to make progress on its corporate turnaround, following catastrophic losses and an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Last week, EDS gained another feather in its cap, when it re-signed the U.S. Navy to a three-year extension in the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet contract, which, at one time, was responsible for much of EDS difficulties.

/zimages/4/28571.gifClick hereto read more about EDS deal with the Navy.

An EDS spokesperson said it expects the transaction to gain the majority stake in Mphasis to be completed by early third quarter of 2006. Mphasis currently has approximately 12,000 employees, including about 11,000 in India. Mphasis serves clients in multiple industries, including financial services, transportation, technology and health care.

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