A partnership with a company of the Tata group, India's largest private conglomerate, has helped boost the profits of South African IT company Faritec by 31.6 percent to 434 million rand ($68 million) for the year ended June 30, 2005.

Faritec chief executive officer Simon Tomlinson attributed the group's higher operating margins and more predictable revenue streams to the change in this group's revenue mix.

"Faritec is now being considered for larger more strategic solutions as a result of our new offerings," said Tomlinson.

"A good example is how our relationship with Tata is starting to gain momentum and is giving Faritec a whole new value proposition for our clients."

Hasmukh Gajjar, deputy chief executive, told: "The main value in the Tata partnership has been our ability to take certain key IT solutions to our clients."

"We worked closely together, mainly in business intelligence and data warehousing competencies, where the partnership has helped us to deliver to two very significant South African clients in the banking and telecommunications sectors."

The partnership with Faritec started through Tata's links with the J&J Group, a local IT consortium founded by former telecommunications minister Jay Naidoo and former trade unionist Jayendra Naidoo.

Tata Infotech has close links with J&J, which upped its stake in Faritec from 30 percent to 35 percent last year.

"This allowed us to accelerate solutions profile offerings to our customers," Gajjar said.

"This is a very good example of how a local company can work together with a foreign multinational to maximise opportunities with the scope in the market."

Gajjar said South Africa was a very difficult market for multinationals to operate in on their own without partnerships. "But such partnerships cannot be passive on either side. Active use of technology allowed us to move from a product focus to a solution focus."

Faritec also hopes to benefit from Tata's major stake in the fixed-line Second National Operator (SNO) that is expected to compete with former state-owned telecommunications provider Telkom. Faritech hopes to provide billing systems and hardware to the SNO.

Tata's telecom subsidiary, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), holds 26 percent in the SNO, a consortium that is expected to get its license within the next few weeks.