icra online ltd Management discussions

ICRA ONLINE LIMITED ANNUAL REPORT 2006-2007 MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS Review of Operations: During the year under review, the performance of all Divisions of your Company improved significantly, in terms of both turnover and profitability. Information Products and Services: The Information Products and Services Division of your Company continued to perform well and added a substantial number of new clients during the year under review. Your Company now caters to a large number of Mutual Fund Houses operating in India. The flagship product of your Company MFI Explorer continued to lead the market during the year under review and had over 200 clients as on March 31, 2007. Your Company is focusing on providing research reports and working on adding other value-added products to its existing bouquet so as to widen its product range. The fourth annual ICRA Mutual Fund Awards function was held in Mumbai in March 2007 and was attended by a host of eminent persons from the Banking and Financial Services sector. The annual awards are given out to the best performing Funds, with the ranking being done on the basis of a methodology developed jointly by ICRA Limited and your Company. This year your Company added a Fund House of the Year award both in the Equity and Debt categories. Software Products and Services: This Division of your Company reported significant improvement in performance during the year under review and was able to obtain orders from some of the prominent players in the Mutual Funds industry. MFI Office Manager, the main product of this Division, was successfully implemented at various client sites during the year stated. Your Company won a prestigious assignment to implement MFI Office Manager from an entity belonging to a very large multinational bank during the year under review. The software developed by your Company for back office operations of insurance broking firms also did well during the year under review. Your Company launched an asset allocation and financial planning product, MFI Portfolio Builder, during the year. The product seeks to empower financial planners by providing them with a handy tool to support their advice model. Your Company is working on implementing best practices for software development and implementation. Business Process Outsourcing: The BPO Division of your company reported a 445.85% growth in Revenues to Rs. 35.01 million in 2006-07 as compared with the previous financial year. The growth came from the significantly higher number of outsourced processes managed by the Division, primarily in the area of accounting and finance. The BPO Division of your Company also built up significant capabilities in Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and process orientation while also focusing on augmenting its resource base with qualified professionals. Rapid growth and strong focus on managing costs translated into a significant improvement in the BPO Divisions operating profit metrices during the year under review. While attrition is a key problem faced by the Indian BPO industry, the entrepreneurial spirit of the entire team and a work environment that emphasises autonomy and open work culture have ensured that the Division maintains a retention rate that is much higher than the industry average. We believe the Division is well placed to be able to exploit the opportunities coming up in the BPO space and exhibit significant growth in the coming years. M-SERVE Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (a Joint Venture of your Company): Your Company holds 25,000 Equity Shares of Rs. 10 each aggregating Rs.2,50,000/- in M-Serve Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd. That company did not conduct any business during the financial year under review. Future Prospects: Your Company is very optimistic about its future performance, and it is expected that its revenues will grow further during the current financial year. You will be pleased to know that your Company is taking steps to ensure that it builds on its leadership positions in the various product segments it operates in. It therefore intends to come up with a wide range of innovative products and services, and aggressively market them in the coming years. Besides, your Company is keen on entering the overseas markets in a big way, leveraging the experience gained so far.