Mahindra Satyam, a leading India-based global consulting, IT and business services provider, on Thursday a recorded 60 per cent growth in its Middle East business during the first quarter ending June, and said it is on track to achieve 100 per cent growth in the region in the current 2012-13 fiscal on the back of new market forays and major projects in the pipeline.

The company, which has been in the region for 15 years, is also gearing up to double its regional headcount to 1,000 employees by March 2013 to cope up with the rapid business growth that will see the IT major making presence felt wider by entering new Middle East markets, including Iraq and Turkey.

Globally, Mahindra Satyam posted a first quarter revenue growth of 31 per cent to $ 342 million with a profit after tax of $ 64 million. In the Middle East, the growth was twice as faster at 60 per cent to $ 12.5 million. “This is year, we are on target to achieve revenues of $ 50 million in the region,” Bobby Gupta, vice-president and head of Middle East and North Africa, Mahindra Satyam, told Khaleej Times.

Mahindra Satyam will also be reinforcing its operations in the GCC with increased focus on government clients, education energy sector and retail, said Gupta.

“We have keyed in a 180 per cent year-on-year growth in new contracts in the Mena region, and has managed to increase revenues across key GCC countries like the UAE, which grew to 150 per cent and Qatar, which grew by 200 per cent,” said Gupta. The key drivers for performance in the region include skilled resources, shared services and innovative pricing models.

“With business in the region looking at operational expenses reduction, managed services and a faster return on investments, Mahindra Satyam is seeing big traction for business intelligence, mobility, infrastructure managed services and enterprise resource planning for the remainder of fiscal 2013,” he said.

Gupta said MENA region has been the top performing market for the company. “The increase in revenues is a testament to the continuous positive response that we have received in return to our commitment in leveraging key IT solutions and services across various industry verticals in the region.”

Over the last quarter, Mahindra Satyam has and is currently working with more than 20 engagements in the Mena region, spanning various sizes.

The company has also managed to sign strategic outsourcing deals that amount to over $ 10 million—adding nine new clients from the government, education, manufacturing, retail and energy sectors, Gupta pointed out.

From a global perspective, Mahindra Satyam’s active client count stands at 372 on a consolidated basis. Some of the company’s recently signed clients include KAUST Saudi, Dubai Holdings, Dubai eGov, a large Abu Dhabi based government entity and a large commodity based business in the UAE.

Mahindra Satyam’s global headcount stood at 35,996 as of June 30, 2012—showing a net addition of 2,643 quarter to quarter. Globally, attrition improved to 13.5 per cent in Q1 FY’13 as compared to 17.3 per cent in the corresponding quarter of last year, he said.

Vineet Nayyar, chairman, Mahindra Satyam, said: “With this quarter, we have successfully ended our 3-year transformational journey, recording progress on the back of strong fundamentals, focus and investments. Global business realities continue to be unpredictable. However we are confident of taking forward our momentum.”

CP Gurnani, chief executive of Mahindra Satyam, said: “We compete in the marketplace today with investments in services, markets and our differentiators. Our plan to convert some of these bullets into cannonballs is a reflection of our performance this quarter.”