After clinching a Rs 2,420-crore deal to acquire Headstrong, one of the biggest by a business process outsourcing company in the information technology segment, Pramod Bhasin, President & CEO, Genpact, maintains he is not competing with IT services players. In an interview with Piyali Mandal, he talks about the acquisition and the way ahead. Edited excerpts:

Why do you say this acquisition in no way makes you an IT services provider or competitor?

It is a step towards building expertise by verticals. In the capital market area, you need IT skills; in the retail area, one may need skills in analytics; in banking, one may need skills in operations. It (Headstrong) is unique in the vertical it operates and that is our focus. We want to play it vertical by vertical.

This acquisition will, of course, increase our IT business but that was never the primary objective. The primary objective was to build expertise and capabilities in a vertical that we think is very attractive and can be a competitive differentiator.

The number will increase in the IT business. But it is not that we are trying to build up the IT. That can never be the primary reason for doing this.

If both the companies add to each other�s skill sets, does this alliance catapult you into a different league? Does this put you in competition with a different set of rivals?

In the capital market and the healthcare part, it puts us in a league where I think there are not too many people who can compete. And, it makes us the leader in those spaces, absolutely. These are fast-growth industries, so the expertise that we build up really allows us to take an even larger and longer lead, as we go forward.