Murrali Rangarajan, chief executive officer and president of Fremont-based Logistix, told the California newspaper India-West that the deal "fills in a missing piece" for Logistix by adding India to the company's international partnerships. "The time seemed right" for the company's first alliance in India, he added.

For Mumbai-based Repro India, the alliance "enhances their position" in supplying "one-stop" services to their clients in the sub-continent, said Rangarajan, who was named CEO in February and joined Logistix in 1993.

"India is the latest Asian expansion for Logistix, supplementing existing operation centres in Taiwan and Singapore, and this partnership further establishes us as the leading provider of integratedsupply chain management services in Asia," added Raj Muni, executive vice-president of Logistix."India, with its burgeoning IT industry and enormous consumer market, is a key geography for Logistix," he said.

Repro India is the only Microsoft Authorised Replicator on the Indian sub-continent and has facilities in Bangalore and Delhi. Repro began operations in India about 10 years ago and provides software manufacturing, fulfilment and sophisticated printing services to high-tech companies.

Its clients include Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Tata Consultancy Services and Sun Microsystems. "This alliance with Logistix is in keeping with our vision to broaden the service offering we bring to our customers and gives us access to world class operations centres around the globe," said Jeevan Adya, senior vice-president of Repro.

India Abroad News Service