Infosys sets up JV with Hitachi, Panasonic, and Pasona

By IndraStra Global News Team

By IndraStra Global News Team

Image Attribute: Infosys Limited Corporate Head Office, Bengaluru, INDIA / Source: Wikimedia Commons

On December 14, 2018, Indian IT major Infosys announced the formation of a joint venture with Hitachi, Ltd., Panasonic Corporation and Pasona Inc.

The new entity will accelerate business process transformation leveraging digital procurement platforms for the local and global needs of Japanese corporations. More importantly, the new JV will strategically enhance Infosys' presence in the Japanese market.

According to the deal, Infosys will acquire 81% of the shareholding in Hitachi Procurement Service Co., Ltd., Hitachi’s fully owned subsidiary that currently provides procurement solutions (particularly, indirect materials purchasing functions for the group) from a global viewpoint in order to support its customer's supply chain operations. Hitachi, Panasonic, and Pasona will be minority shareholders of the entity. As per the local media reports, the company will pay a little over ¥2.7 billion for the 81% subject to closing adjustments.

Ravi Kumar, President, Infosys, said, "This joint venture will help Japanese corporations transform their procurement processes using next-generation digital platforms, as we bring together the combined power of deep procurement expertise, technology, global expertise and local skills. We are very excited to partner with the Hitachi group, Panasonic Corporation and Pasona, established conglomerates in this market."

Masashi Murayama, Chief Procurement Officer, Hitachi said, "We are delighted to build this new partnership, combining strengths and unlocking potential of Infosys, Panasonic, and Pasona. The procurement functions role is critical to Hitachi’ success, and this partnership will strengthen Hitachi Procurement’s global competitiveness with new operating models, and high quality delivery at speed enabled by digital technologies."

With this partnership, Infosys intends to bring its global expertise to Japan in  procurement processes, consulting, analytics and digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). As per the company statement, the new entity will combine the knowledge and local teams of Hitachi's and Panasonic's procurement functions with Pasona’s human capital and BPM networks in Japan to provide differentiated, end-to-end, efficient and high-value procurement capabilities to corporations.

Last Friday, when the market closed, shares of Infosys at BSE rose 1.3 percent intraday after the announcement of this joint venture.