WNS targets 30-35 pct revenue growth per year

By Bijoy Anandoth Koyitty

BANGALORE (Reuters) - India-based back-office firm WNS (Holdings) Ltd aims for revenue growth of 30 percent to 35 percent per year on a long-term basis as it sees expansion opportunities in Europe and North America despite worries of a U.S. recession, its chief executive said.

"The industry is capable of growing 25 percent to 30 percent a year and our aspiration is to grow faster than the industry," CEO Neeraj Bhargava said in a phone interview.

However, he said the long-term growth rate was an aspirational number, not an outlook.

The company's revenue grew 32 percent last year and it has forecast a growth of 28 percent to 30 percent this year.

Mumbai-based WNS, which competes with companies such as Infosys, Wipro and Genpact Ltd in business process outsourcing, has beaten Wall Street earnings expectations for the last four quarters.

WNS provides data processing and call center services to customers in industries such as banking, financial services, insurance and travel.

The back-office services exporter, which operates in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, depends mainly on long-term contracts to withstand softness in the U.S. economy.

"Our business is full of long-term, multi-year contracts," Bhargava said.