Bengaluru: The French connections in India are becoming stronger. Capgemini, a French IT services company with more than half of its Rs 34,000 employees in India, has acquired WNS, the country's pioneer in business process management (BPM) for $3.3 billion. This move is seen as an attempt to bring strong technical expertise, particularly AI, to BPM services, to provide businesses with a much more comprehensive solution.The acquisition comes 10 years after Capgemini acquired Igate, another India-based IT company, for $4 billion. WNS trading highlights India's growing importance in Kapgemini's global strategy. Over 44,000 of WNS's 65,000 employees are based in India. Founded in 1996 and listed in the NYSE, WNS counts United Airlines, Aviva, M&T Bank, Centrica and McCain Foods among its major customers. It was originally founded as a British Airways prisoner of war business process and back office unit. In 2002, Warburg Pincus acquired a majority stake, leading to WNS becoming an independent entity. WNS adds $1.2 billion to Capgemini's revenues of approximately 22.1 billion euros in the last fiscal year. The two operational margins are approximately 13.6%. Capgemini will acquire WNS for cash considerations of $76.5 per share, reflecting a 17% premium over its July 3 closing price. Capgemini CEO Aiman Ezzat explained the rationale for the acquisition, saying that enterprises will rapidly adopt generated and agent AI to transform operations end-to-end, with business process services becoming a showcase for agent AI. He said the acquisition would “provide the group with scale and vertical sector expertise to grasp the rapidly emerging strategic opportunities created by the paradigm from traditional BPS to agent AI-driven intelligent operations.” WNS CEO Keshav R Murugesh said, “Combining domain and process expertise with Capgemini's global reach, cutting-edge Genai and agent AI capabilities, a robust partner ecosystem and sophisticated technology platforms creates a powerful proposition that accelerates corporate reinvention. WNS' complementary portfolio of horizontal and industry-specific solutions significantly enhances Capgemini's rapidly growing business service footprint, enabling next-generation data-driven operations across the sector.“WNS has reached an average currency revenue growth of more than 9% over the last three fiscal years, reaching revenue of $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2025 with an operating profit margin of 18.7%. This transaction positions Capgemini as one of the leading players in digital BPS.
