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Spryance to invest $25 million over four years

Indian health services firm Spryance.com plans to invest $25 million over the next four years to add a host of new services to its existing portfolio, company officials said on Tuesday.

Spryance.com, which set up shop about a year ago in Madras, currently offers business-to-business Web-enabled health services such as medical transcription to US clients.

Officials said Spryance hoped to rise up the value chain by adding services like back-office processing, data mining and billing facilities for its clients.

"We are looking to invest $25 million in India in the next four years which will allow us to achieve revenues worth $100 million," company president and chief executive officer Raj Malhotra told reporters.

Malhotra said Spryance was looking at operating revenues of around $10 million in 2001 and a cash break-even in the same year.

"The key is not to stay with medical transcription but to go into value-added services like codification and data analysis," Spryance executive director Shrikant Inamdar said on the sidelines of a news conference.

Last month, International Finance Corporation took an equity stake worth $2 million in Spryance.com.

As part of its expansion drive, the company also plans to increase the number of employees on its rolls to 600 in the next six months from 75 currently.

Spryance also wants to tap the India's home office segment to achieve economies of scale in medical transcription.

"We hope to start a pilot project involving 50 people working from their homes in less than half a year," Inamdar said. "The number will go up to 800 people in 18 months."

India's information technology services has been growing at a scorching pace because of its abundant supply of English-speaking workers.

A joint study by McKinsey and the National Association of Software and Service Companies has estimated substantial growth in New Economy businesses in the country.

The study showed that by 2008, e-businesses could generate over $10 billion in revenues in India, information technology-enabled remote services could raise revenues of $17 billion and IT services alone could earn about $30 billion in revenues.

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