Company claims customers prefer smaller, focused providers Indian outsourcing company MindTree Consulting Pvt. Ltd. reported revenue growth of 85 percent for its first quarter, citing a preference among some overseas customers for working with smaller, more focused service providers.In the year to March 31, MindTree posted revenue of US$102 million, up from $55 million in its previous fiscal year, the company announced Saturday. The company, which is privately held, did not however disclose its profits.MindTree, in Bangalore, has a number of large clients including AB Volvo of Sweden, Unilever PLC of the UK, and NEC Corp. of Japan. The company competes with large Indian outsourcers like Infosys Technologies Ltd. and Wipro Ltd. that have annual outsourcing revenue of over US$1 billion. Infosys announced last year that it expects revenue to exceed $2 billion mark in the fiscal year ended March 31. Customers want to work with outsourcers that are small and nimble and have the expertise, Ashok Soota, the company’s chairman and managing director told reporters on Saturday.The company offers IT services and product engineering for technology companies. The company also develops and licenses intellectual property (IP) in the area of Bluetooth, Ultra Wide Band (UWB), and iSCSI (Internet SCSI).Revenue from IT services accounted for about 75 percent of total revenue in the year to March 31, said Krishnakumar Natarajan, president and chief executive officer of the company’s IT services business. Technology developed by the product engineering business such as in the area of RFID (radio frequency identification) is often also used for business applications developed for customers, said Janakiraman S., president and chief executive officer for R&D services at the company.MindTree is targeting revenue of $231 million in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008. The company plans to add about 3,600 staff to its existing headcount of around 3,250 by 2008. The company is currently is not in need of raising funds, but may consider an initial public offer (IPO) in line with its earlier stated objective to go for an IPO after it crosses the $100 million revenue mark, Soota said. Private investors own about 42 percent of the company’s equity. Technology Industry