Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been named as the successful bidder for the UK NEST pension scheme administration services. Personal Accounts Delivery Service (PADA) intends to sign a contract with TCS later this month.

The contract is divided into two stages and runs for 10 years, with possible extensions for up to a further five years. The first stage will run to October 2010, allowing TCS to begin the activity required to set up and administer NEST.

Prior to the expiry of the first stage, a decision will be made on whether to proceed with the contract for the remainder of the contract term.The UK government is set to sign a 10-year deal with Tata Consultancy Services, worth approximately £600m, which will see the majority of processing jobs on a new pensions scheme located in India.

Some 60% of the back office administration and IT staff will be located offshore, as the Nest scheme for low to middle income households prepares for a 2012 launch. They will then continue the work as the scheme continues in operation.

Public facing and data storage staff will be located in the UK. Logica had also been in the running for the work, but withdrew in November. The contract will be formally signed in a fortnight.

"We have seen growth in all verticals, including the troubled ones such as hi-tech and telecom" says Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Tata Consultancy CEO and MD (right). "Geography-wise, we see a broader recovery not only in the US, but also in Europe, Asia-Pacific and India."

Riding on the back of a revival in IT spend across industries and geographies, India's largest software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services, beat market expectations to report a 34% rise in net profit for its 3Q ended December 31, 2009.
 
The Mumbai-based company whose clients include Citibank, Chrysler and GE as - recorded a net profit of Rs 1,824 crore against Rs 1,362 crore reported in the year-ago period. (Crore rupee: 10m rupees, Lakh rupee: 100,000 rupees.) Revenues rose by 5.1% to Rs 7,648 crore (Rs 7,277 crore).

TATA buys from Europe
This year however also expect to see electronic controls products emerge from NXP Semiconductors which TATA BP Solar (of which Subramanva is also CEO) intends to use for solar applications developed by NXP Semiconductors. The solutions have been developed by NXP to the speific requirements of Tata BP.
 
Subramanya noted that, “ Given the high level of sunlight all over India and in view of the country’s ever increasing power demands, solar power is an economically efficient and environmentally sustainable source of energy for India. We look forward to introducing these products to a substantial number of households over the next three to five years.”