Global IT service provider, Patni Computers, today said it would launch cloud computing as a separate service line in the first quarter of next fiscal.

"We will launch cloud computing as a separate service line in the first quarter of next fiscal. It would be a key focus area for us," Chief Executive Officer of the company Jeya Kumar said.

Meanwhile, having won five deals of USD 30 million (Rs 140 crore) in last few months, the company has proposed to expand its footprint in Gujarat. It has aggressive global hiring plans for next year too.

"We will ramp up the employee headcount globally by 4,000 next year, of which a major portion shall flow to Gujarat," Kumar said.

According to Kumar, average rate of attrition last year was 13 per cent and this year the levels are expected to grow closer to 22 per cent.

The company presently has staff strength of close to 17,000 employees globally, of which 14,500 are in India. It recently opened delivery centres in Mexico and China. The gross hiring of Patni in FY-2010 is close to 4,000 people.

The company today inaugurated its second facility in Gujarat at Mind Space IT SEZ, in Koba near here to augment its software development operations.

In keeping with the expansion programme, it plans to double the seating capacity here from existing 160 to 350 within next one year.

It plans to open another such facility at the SEZ to start non-voice based Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) operations here..
"All incremental BPO business coming to Noida centre shall flow to the new facility proposed to come up at the Mind Space SEZ in Gujarat," Kumar said.

The company expects its BPO services to grow by over 40 per cent year-on-year from next year. The company which follows calendar year accounting recorded revenue of USD 656 million in 2009.

"We are expecting a seven per cent growth this year, and targeting a growth of 15 per cent next year," Kumar said.

"Product engineering contributes 17 per cent to our revenues and it is the fastest growing segment. We expect to clock a growth of 22 per cent in it next year," he said.

Speaking about new market opportunities, Kumar indicated that Japan was a potential market for the company.

"There is an emerging opportunity for us also in Japan.

It is the second largest IT market in the world after the US and Japan's off-shoring is 50 per cent higher than the global average," Kumar said.