i-flex Solutions Look Ma, No Citi

Citicorp Information Technologies,
which re-christened it-self as i-flex Solutions, showed a modest growth of 39%
in its turnover, to record Rs 197 crore in the last fiscal as compared to Rs 141
crore during the previous year. The net profit of the company also went up by
37%. The operating margin fell to 35% in the last fiscal as compared to 35% the
previous year.

The company had made large investments
in infrastructure and towards getting into new markets like Latin America and
Europe. That, along with the banks worldwide going for a lock-in period during
the fourth quarter of the last fiscal due to the Y2K problem, definitely made a
dent on the growth of the company as well as on its margins.

However,
Citicorp was able to bag new customers and as of June 30, 2000, it had 42
customers in 25 countries. The company also entered the dotcom arena by picking
up stake in timesofmoney.com, to be a financial infomediary by providing the
needed technology. It also had a 49% stake in dotxinternational, which was
floated by the National Stock Exchange, as a trading portal for investors.

Citicorp
is also looking at tapping the Latin American, Asia-Pacific and Indian markets
to form either joint ventures or subsidiaries. i-flex has not been able to make
inroads into the domestic market, with a mere 2% of the revenue coming from
there.

The
company has plans to move its Flexcube Information Center product into the US
market in this fiscal. It is also working towards enabling WAP phones for banks
and for providing non-conventional access to banks. DQ

Fact Sheet

START-UP YEAR: 1989 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES: Banking and
financial software EMPLOYEES: 965 BRANCH OFFICES: 3 DEALER OUTLETS: 31 ADDRESS:
Unit 10/11, SDF 1, SEEPZ, Andheri (East), Mumbai - 400 096 TEL: 829 1020 FAX:
829 2767 WEBSITE: www.iflexsolutions.com