Nasdaq-listed business process outsourcing (BPO) company EXL Service plans to double its revenues to $1 billion in the next three years by growing organically as well as through acquisitions. Vice-chairman and CEO Rohit Kapoor shares the company?s strategy with FE?s Kirtika Suneja and explains how the rupee depreciation is turning out to be a blessing for the firm. Excerpts:

The rupee has depreciated to its all time low, much to the benefit of the BPO industry. How does it impact your long-term contracts?

Though there is no impact in the current year as we are hedged for the next 12-18 months, the depreciating rupee increases both gross margins as well as foreign exchange losses. So, they cancel out but the volatility does impact long-term pricing. However, sometimes clients take a part of our foreign exchange risk. For us, clients take full risk in 30% of our business and these are large clients who give us $10-20 million of revenue per year. Besides, when the rupee depreciates, our buyers ask for a 5-6% discount.

Currencies of other countries have also depreciated against the dollar. So do these destinations become attractive for

expansions?

New geographies do become attractive for us when the currency depreciates and it takes three years for the impact to be visible. Due to this, markets like Columbia and China have become attractive for setting up delivery centres and Latin America for near-shore centres. For clients, we are targeting Asia, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Where do these expansions fit in the company?s overall growth strategy?

We have rebranded the firm and our new position is to double our revenue to $1 billion in the next three-four years by growing organically at 15% and inorganically at 10%, every year. The demand environment is strong and there are $100-million deals in the pipeline. From the industry vertical perspective, we have become ?category killers? in healthcare and insurance by acquiring technology platforms, hiring subject matter experts and opening in-house academies.

How have these two verticals of yours fared? Especially, healthcare after Obamacare?

We get 10% of our revenue from healthcare and are aiming to take it to 20% in the next two-three years. It was zero till two years back. We have 800 doctors and nurses in the healthcare division globally of which 50 are in India. On the other hand, insurance contributes 45% to our revenue.

What is the hiring strategy for this growth?

We are hiring from the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). The company has hired 6,000 employees in the country last year. However, we are not hiring at the same pace as our growth. The headcount is growing at 15%.