Health care reform in the U.S. would drive more demand for information technology services, boosting business in a strategic sector for Wipro Technologies, said Suresh Vaswani, joint CEO of the Indian giant's IT services business.

"There are a lot more new standards that are getting established. That by itself lends to a lot of IT work..." Mr. Vaswani told GlobalAtlanta in a telephone interview. "We see an opportunity from an IT perspective and a process outsourcing perspective.”

Mr. Vaswani's comments came as Congress continues to debate a contentious bill that would enact sweeping changes to the health care industry, which by some estimates accounts for nearly one-sixth of total economic output in the U.S.

The bill under consideration would mandate that individuals maintain a health insurance policy or pay a fine. It would also require insurers to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions. Either way, more insured means more IT business for which Wipro will bid. 

Wipro has a software development center in Atlanta that employs more than 500 people. Executives have said they want to build a "Bangalore in Atlanta" and that they could hire 500 more people by the end of this year.

"It is buzzing with activity. I know it is," Mr. Vaswani said of the center. "We monitor the growth. We made the investments here. We are closely looking at how to get more and more business leverage out of Atlanta."

Mr. Vaswani was in metro Atlanta for a conference that Wipro hosted at Chateau Elan winery and resort in Braselton, northeast of Atlanta. Wipro executives presented their strategy for the coming years to 40 analysts and solicited their feedback.

The Atlanta center has no specific industry focus. It serves big telecommunications companies, banks, utilities and insurance providers across the U.S.

Health care, though, is a main focus in the Atlanta center, as U.S. regulations prohibit certain health records and other sensitive data from being transmitted beyond U.S. borders in places like India, said Suraj Prakash, vice president at the Atlanta center.

The potential health care reform lies at the intersection of two of Wipro's newest target sectors: health care and government. The Indian government is a large Wipro customer, but the company is branching out across the world.

"Our focus so far was the Indian government but we have taken a strategic decision to start working with governments globally," Mr. Vaswani said.

In Missouri, for example, Wipro provides back-office data processing for the state's Medicaid program. The contract came through the 2007 acquisition of Infocrossing, another Indian IT firm.

"We are using that capability to really also bid for a lot more contracts in the U.S. across multiple states," Mr. Vaswani said.

The U.S. accounts for nearly 60 percent of Wipro's total IT services business, and Atlanta is one of its main "strategic" development centers in this market, he said. Wipro's strategic centers are those that are not client-specific, but provide services for many clients on multiple platforms.

Mr. Vaswani said the outlook for IT services in 2010-11 is much stronger than the last few years. NASSCOM, the main Indian software trade organization, is predicting 12-18 percent overall growth in the IT industry this year, he said.

"Long story short, the economy is slowly recovering," Mr. Vaswani said. "Customers have decided to move on, to make the investments, to build their future based on the new reality."

Wipro foresees growth across the gamut of sectors in which it provides business-process outsourcing, enterprise resource planning and data security, among other services. The global retail and manufacturing industries look relatively strong, the banking sector looks "above average." The technology and telecom equipment providers will see slow but positive growth, he said.

This year, Wipro will increasingly focus on winning business with utilities and energy firms in the U.S. British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell PLC are customers, but Wipro has few contracts stateside. The company is hoping to provide IT support for sustainable initiatives, including "smart grids and meters," systems that better monitor the outflow of energy, Mr. Vaswani said.

Wipro is working with the Georgia Institute of Technology on developing its solutions for smart-grid technologies, but the research hasn't yet translated into business, said Mr. Prakash, the vice president in Atlanta.

"We have a good pipeline on that front but in terms of actual deliveries, it's yet to happen," he said.

Wipro is continuing to invest in traditional markets like North America and Europe. The company is well-established in the United Kingdom but is expanding in France and Germany.

Wipro is "beginning to very actively look at China" and Latin America while maintaining its commitment to core markets like the U.S. and the U.K., Mr. Vaswani said.

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