Ashtech Infotech : Lacklustre Year

2008-09 was not a great year for Ashtech Infotech as the company's growth
dipped by 17 percent. But this dip was also because of delayed customer purchase
decisions, which stretched the sales and project deployment cycles. In H1 FY'
2008-09, Ashtech grew by over 25 percent but the second-half did not fare as
well.

The company used this time to consolidate its offerings and hone its manpower
skills. The company is still focused heavily on the western region, which
accounted for over 99 percent of its turnover.

Rs 31 crore of its revenue came from its services offerings, which shows that
Ashtech is taking small but sure steps to becoming a solution provider, shaking
off the cloak of its hardware trading legacy. This is also why the company has
aligned itself with vendors who offer solutions rather than boxes to customers.

In line with this strategy, last year, the company bagged a huge government
deployment order which will be rolled out in phases this year. It also decided
to package its services for customers and offer these as SKU.

In the current fiscal, the company plans to focus on services centered on
virtualization, infrastructure consolidation, e-mail and file archival, and
identity management. It will place higher focus on the government and education
sectors.

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SILVER CLUB RANK (2007-08): 15
PROFILE
CEO: Saurin Shah Start-up year: 1993 Employees: 228 Collaborations: Acer, Apple, Citrix, Cisco, Fujitsu, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, RSA, Sun Microsystems, Veritas, VMware Address: G-7, Laxmi Woollen Mill Estate, Shakti Mill Lane, Near Mahalaxmi Station, Mumbai - 400011 Tel: 43454345, 24961111 Website:www.ashinfo.com
HIGHLIGHTS Was awarded by EMC Corporation as 'Significant Solution Provider' Focused on remote infrastructure management services

The company's promoters have also diversified into a non-IT business area
called Terra, where it helps enterprises in brokering land deals across the
country.