:: HCL Infosystems Q3 profits up by 30 percent ::

IT Services exports and domestic hardware business show strong growth New Delhi, April 19, 2000

HCL Infosystems Limited (HCL Insys), India's premier technology integration company, today announced unaudited financial results for the third quarter ended March 31, 2000. During this period, the company's turnover has recorded a growth of 27 percent to scale Rs 318.2 crores from Rs 251.4 crores in the corresponding period, of the previous year. The profit before tax and extraordinary charges has grown by 30 percent to Rs 22.3 crores from Rs 17.2 crores in the corresponding quarter, of the previous year.

The company's total revenues in the nine month period ended March 31, 2000 has shown a growth of 17 percent wherein revenues have touched Rs 803.6 crores compared to Rs 687.5 crores in the corresponding period, of the previous year. Profit before tax and extraordinary charges in the nine month period has grown by 41 percent to Rs 63.1 crores from Rs 44.6 crores in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Speaking on the occasion, Ajai Chowdhry, Chairman & CEO, HCL Insys said, "This has been an excellent quarter for us with all lines of businesses showing significant growth and profitability. Our services exports business has not only shown growth in volume but also a remarkable notch up the value chain. However, the highlight of this quarter is our hardware solutions business that has broken all previous records. With our new start-up Internet subsidiary, HCL Infinet scheduled to go live shortly, and our overseas acquisition plans progressing as planned, we are entering an exciting period."

Robust Quarter
Business transacted during Q3 has been extremely robust. HCL Insys has once again demonstrated its strengths in domestic, cross segment enterprise systems sales and services, and software services exports.

HCL Insys has bagged several prestigious orders across vertical segments - finance and banking, telecom and information technology (IT), manufacturing and the Government. The orders from the banking sector include Citibank, Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), Oriental Bank of Commerce and the Union Bank of India among others. Orders from the telecom and IT sectors are Bharti Telnet, Lucent Technologies, Global Telesystems, Veritas, Samsung India Electronics, Hughes Software, Pentafour Software, Wipro, ST Microelectronics, among others. Karnataka, Electricity Board, National Crime Records Bureau, Uttar Pradesh Trade Taxes and the Government of Maharashtra are few significant orders from the Government. Additionally, HCL Insys has bagged business from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Airfreight Limited and Sahara India.

On the services exports front, HCL Insys' overseas subsidiary in Singapore, FEC Infosystems has been appointed by the Singapore Mass Rapid Transport Ltd. for a Rs 8 crore turnkey project for a SAP R/3 based Maintenance Management System. Besides, the company's Professional Services Organization (PSO) is also working on several e-commerce projects, namely, an e-restaurant portal for the US-based hospitality group, an end-to-end e-enablement project for India Book House (IBH) and a comprehensive automobile portal for a leading publishing group.

HCL Insys' Frontline Division has enabled the company to maintain its leading market position in Desktop sales to the SOHO, SME and Home segments. It has further consolidated its position in the Notebook Computer market with Toshiba and the packaged software sales with HCL Accountant and Dragon Speech Recognition software. In addition, the Office Automation Division has reported significant growth in its Nokia Mobile Phone business and it has set up a dedicated centre for development and implementation of communication solutions for corporates.

Benefits from VRS
HCL Insys had initiated a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), which was opted by a total of 260 employees, over two phases. According to estimates, significant savings benefits amounting to over Rs 5 crores per year will accrue as a result of this scheme.

About HCL Infosystems
With a definite and distinct focus on enterprise solutions and personal computers, HCL Infosystems (HCL Insys) has set up six software export factories, direct customer service centres at 143 locations and a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Pondicherry. HCL Insys has five overseas business entities in US, UK, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. HCL Infosystems has achieved SEI CMM level IV for its software development processes. The company has recently set up an Internet subsidiary HCL Infinet Ltd., to provide value added services including access, VPN (Virtual Private Network), ASP (Applications Services Provider), hosting, networking and e-commerce. With a mission statement to provide world-class information technology solutions and services to enable its customers to serve their customers better, HCL Insys is setting new standards of information technology in India.