Polaris Consulting & Services Limited

Polaris Consulting & Services Limited, formerly known as Polaris Financial Technology Limited, (“Polaris”), is now a subsidiary of Virtusa Corporation, a global IT consulting and services provider headquartered in the US. Established in January 1993, Polaris was a niche and leading player in the financial technology space, providing legacy modernization services and consulting for core banking, corporate banking, wealth & asset management and insurance.

Brief History

Polaris has its origin in Nucleus Software^[3] and was one of the first chosen partners by Citi Group when the latter entered India.^[4]

Citigroup started its own company called Citibank Overseas Software Ltd (“COSL”) to utilize the intellectual capital at a competitive cost in India. COSL, later renamed as Orbitech, was then merged with Polaris in the year 2003.

In 2003, Polaris launched its core product portfolio, IntellectTM. In November 2011, the organization changed its name from Polaris Software Lab Limited to Polaris Financial Technology Limited to highlight its primary domain of operation.^[5]

In April 2013, Polaris launched its 8012 FT Design Center – claimed to be the world’s first center dedicated to financial technology. 8012 FT Design Center is spread over 30,000 sq ft. and is located in the 22 acre Polaris campus on the IT Highway in Chennai.

In September 2014, product division of Polaris was demerged into a separate company “Intellect Design Arena Limited” through a Scheme of Arrangement-cum-Demerger as approved by the honorable High Court of Judicature at Madras vide its order dt.15 September 2014 and by virtue of demerger, the name of Polaris Financial Technology Limited was changed to Polaris Consulting & Services Limited in October 2014.

In March 2016, Virtusa acquired 52.9% of the total outstanding share capital of Polaris. In April 2016, pursuant to the Open offer, Virtusa acquired 26.0% stake in Polaris taking their total stake to 78.9% of the outstanding share capital.

In February 2018, Virtusa’s holdings increased to 92.8% after the successful delisting offer of Polaris.^[6]

Milestones

• 1993: Polaris Software Lab Ltd. incorporated ^[7]
• 1994: End-to-End Retail banking solution for Citi Bank India ^[8]
• 1996: Operations set up in USA
• 1997: First Overseas Development Centre commissioned for CITI Bank
• 1997: Wholly owned subsidiary founded in Singapore and USA
• 1999: Initial Public Offering over-subscribed by 21 times ^[9]
• 2003: Merger with OrbiTech (Citigroup Subsidiary)^[10]
• 2006: Near Shore Centre inaugurated in Belfast ^[11]
• 2006: World’s First Super Specialty Center for Investment Banking, The Capital inaugurated in Hyderabad. Entry into Latin America ^[12]
• 2007: Launched PACE Lab in Sydney
• 2008: Acquired SEEC Inc, a SOA based insurance provider^[13]
• 2009: Acquired Laser Soft Info Systems Limited, a banking software company^[14]
• 2010: Acquired IndigoTX, a SaaS Company that provides GO TX brokerage platform^[15]
• 2011: Polaris was certified as ‘Champion of Learning’ by the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD). Polaris enters Cloud Computing space through strategic investment in IdenTrust.
• 2012: Entered into a business purchase agreement with Pyxis, a specialized player in Front Office and Market Risk, related to cash and derivatives instruments
• 2013: Polaris sold its stake in IdenTrust
• 2014: Product business of Polaris demerged into a separate company, Intellect Design Arena Limited through a Scheme of Arrangement cum Demerger
• 2016: Virtusa acquired 52.9% of the total outstanding share capital of Polaris in March 2016. In April 2016, pursuant to the Open offer, Virtusa acquired further 26.0% stake taking their total stake to 78.9% of the outstanding share capital of Polaris.Further in Dec 2016, Virtusa reduced its stake to 74.9% in Polaris through Offer for Sale
• 2018: In February 2018, Virtusa’s holdings increased to 92.8% after the successful delisting offer of Polaris.

Education and Training

In 2010, Polaris launched the School of Financial Technology (SoFT) aims creating skilled associates to service its premier clients.^[16] It offere certificate courses at both the ‘primer’ and ‘practitioner’ levels, executive fast-track modules in Retail Banking, Core Banking, Investment Banking and Corporate Banking as well as customized enterprise training workshops. The facility is located in Hyderabad.

Controversies

• In December 2002, The chairman of the company Arun Jain and Sr Vice President Rajiv Malhotra were detained by Indonesian police over commercial Dispute with a local bank Artha Graha on fraud charges.^[17] Jain and Malhotra were released by the police after major diplomatic intervention by Indian government.^[18]
• In October 2012, Market regulator SEBI barred Polaris Software Labs's CMD Arun Jain from securities market for a period of two years for insider trading in the company's shares. SEBI had charged him with trading in the stock on the basis of 'unpublished price sensitive information' relating to a proposed acquisition by the firm. SEBI found that Polaris Software Lab had called off the proposed acquisition of Data Inc, after due diligence, in the second week of September, 2000 but had informed the concerned stock exchanges on 30 September 2000. Jain dealt in 15,080 shares of the company on behalf of Polaris Holding Private Ltd (PHPL) on the basis of 'unpublished price sensitive information' held by him and had made unfair gains to the tune of Rs 27.26 lakh. During the relevant time, PHPL was one of the promoters entity of Polaris Software Labs and Jain was one of the directors of PHPL.^[19] However, in November 2012, Madras High Court today stayed a SEBI order which had barred Polaris Financial Technology CMD Arun Jain from operating in securities market for a period of two years for alleged insider trading in the company's shares.^[20]

References