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Carlyle invests $2.25 m in FSS

Our Bureau

CHENNAI, Nov. 22

THE US-based Carlyle Group has invested $2.25 million in the Chennai-based Financial Software and Systems Pvt Ltd (FSS).

The investment in FSS, facilitated by the Chennai-based Mantra Consultants, a venture catalyst firm, is the seventh deal for Carlyle in India.

Mr Nagaraj Mylandla, Managing Director, FSS, said that the first-round funding, alongwith the Rs 5-crore surplus reported in the last fiscal year, would be utilised to set up an offshore software development centre in Tidel Park, Chennai, and establish o ffices in the US, Europe and the Middle East.

The centre at Tidel Park, to be opened in January, will house around 150 software professionals, and will cater to software development requirements of FSS customers, its principals and partners, such as, Compaq, ACI (US), and QSI (Australia), he added.

FSS focuses on e-banking and commerce solutions. Its e-platform for e-banking and commerce provides a unified transaction processing and switching environment for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, he said.

Mr K. Chandrasekar, Vice-President, Carlyle Group, said, ``We firmly believe that FSS has the domain knowledge and the skill sets to be a significant player in the payment system solutions.''

For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2000, FSS reported a turnover of Rs 10 crore. The company has projected a turnover of Rs 25 crore for the financial year ending March 31, 2001, with firm orders of Rs 22 crore on hand.

During the April-October this year, the company has reported a turnover of Rs 10.20 crore, Mr Mylandla said.

According to him, the company will roll out new payment solutions for vertical markets, such as banking, insurance, telecom and healthcare. ``This will complement the existing product base.''