Dear Shareholder,

I am happy to present to you the performance of the company for FY 2010. While the year gone by was challenging in many aspects, we used this to streamline our operations and bring back efficiencies into our system. Our way of gearing up to meet the challenges of the future is a well-rounded approach that we call Lean-Mean-Green. And so, we’ve grown leaner in our operations, meaner/ keener in our technologies and solutions, and greener in our endeavour to nurture a sustainable eco-system. And while we’ve been doing this, our key customers have recovered…

It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that IsatPhone Pro, a handheld satellite phone developed by Sasken for Inmarsat, the leader in global satellite communication services, has completed its first call and is set for a planned global launch sometime in the latter half of 2010. Last year we had announced the partnership with Inmarsat to bring the satellite phone to market and this year I am happy to announce that we are all set to deliver on the plan. Sasken is responsible for end-to-end development of the IsatPhone Pro satellite phone, which has been made possible through our multi-site capabilities and centers of excellence in India, Finland and Germany. Our global footprint gives us access to the best talent across the world and allows us to deliver at optimum costs to our customers.

We have added a few key customers in the North American region. These are expected to become large, long, ongoing partnerships for Sasken over the next several quarters. The R&D outsourcing market in the handset segment is expected to grow at approximately 15% and we believe that with our capabilities across the R&D value chain, we are in a prime position to serve this market. Outsourcing of application, user interface solutions, and testing of different elements at units, system and field testing levels also continues to grow as OEMs and operators look to move activities to third parties located in low-cost locations such as India and China. We have added customers with projects in new technology areas including Bluetooth, Mobile Internet, Web Runtime, Antenna Design and Android Platform while continuing to strengthen our position in Satellite Communication Segment, given our IP and expertise in the mobile handset space.

The convergence of computing and communications is bringing about in its wake, exciting prospects for enhanced personal and professional communication. Along with this, the high growth trend of consumer usage of wireless data, including video, images, content and communication is expected to continue as consumers demand more from their wireless devices. Smart Phones continue to be a key driver of growth in the technology industry, with innovations in interfaces, design, applications and promotion helping to stabilise prices and boost sales. Device manufacturers are continuously challenged to provide high-end features, low power and user friendly devices at low price points. As an early and key player in this segment, Sasken’s investments in the key development platforms of Android and Symbian are paying off well with our services and solutions empowering customers to build phones that have been successful in the marketplace.

Recent semiconductor industry association reports reflect continued recovery of sales of semiconductor, with leading demand drivers being PCs and cell phones. We continue to be beneficiaries of this trend with sufficient demand from semiconductor manufacturers. We had a couple of sizeable wins in this segment including one from a leading semiconductor customer for modem memory optimisation. New accounts that we penetrated in the last financial year have quickly scaled up to greater than 1 million accounts on a run rate basis. Time-to market pressures and design complexity are critical challenges that design teams in the semiconductor industry face today. Design teams want to “get it right” the first time, and improve the predictability of design process.

As software service providers to the semiconductor segment, we have been working towards making the verification process cost-effective and have focussed not only on design services but also on IP integration to ensure predictability for our customers at optimal costs. The networks business continues to remain a challenge, but we are gaining some traction with leading satellite communication companies that provide network infrastructure solutions. We continue to make investments in 4G technologies like LTE, which we believe is the growth area in the network space. Nortel, a key customer for us in the Networking space, completed the sale of its GSM/GSM-R business to Ericsson and Kapsch Carriercom during the year and prior to this its enterprise business to Avaya.

We continue to be engaged with both Avaya and Kapsch and the business that we were servicing for Nortel continues with the new incumbents. We continue to extend our competencies to tap adjacencies to the telecom vertical and expand our customer base and offerings. In line with this strategy, we have planned for about 10 to 12% of revenues in FY 2011 to come from adjacent verticals like satellite, auto and consumer electronics. We had announced the acquisition of Ingenient in the beginning of the second half of FY 2010. The integration of Ingenient business is proceeding as per plan. There is an excellent complementary fit of Ingenient Multimedia software offerings with Sasken’s strategy of diversifying its portfolio and expanding into market adjacencies and we are tremendously excited by the opportunities that this deal is opening up for both Sasken and Ingenient. Sasken has always aimed to be the supplier of choice for embedded R&D services by providing best-in-class embedded solutions for various applications. Ingenient’s best-in-class multimedia solutions combined with Sasken’s global reach and India based development centres enable us to offer a compelling portfolio of value-added solutions to our customers across the globe.

It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that Sasken has won the “Best Supplier” award from Sony Ericsson in the Software Consultancy & Outsourcing category amidst strong competition from other leading global players. This has opened up opportunities for us with this key customer. Our operations in China, where we completed one year recently, received the ISO 9001:2008 certification too.

In conclusion, I wish to state that we are well-placed to exploit growth opportunities this year. I am confident that our multi-site global delivery strategy that lowers the total cost of ownership for our customers will place us ahead of our competitors and help us grow quickly. I remain confident of sustainable growth in the coming financial year and thank you all for your support and confidence in Sasken’s management.

Thanking you,

Rajiv C Mody
Chairman and Managing Director