“These portfolio firms earlier managed their IT in-house, but realised it’s more cost-effective to outsource their IT. Over the past 6-9 months we have seen them facing cost issues and being more aggressive in their outsourcing,” said Mr Milan Sheth, advisory business services partner of Ernst & Young.

And the equity investors are making sure they do it, bringing a number of first-time clients to third-party vendors, mostly from the US. Some private equity-backed Indian outsourcing providers are looking to make most of this new trend.

Warburg Pincus-backed WNS Global Services, a back-office service provider, has started an internal programme scouting for outsourcing deals from small and mid-sized companies backed by private equity firms.

“We have bagged a few deals from pharma and FMCG companies to handle their supply chain, finance, accounting and business analytics that would help these companies recognise trends for their marketing,” said WNS senior vice-president Shilpa Kulkarni.

Syntel, the global IT and knowledge process outsourcing provider set up by Bharat Desai, recently won a three-year deal with one of the world’s largest music retailers backed by a PE firm. “We have engaged with private equity firms for deals involving their investee firms and do some work with such companies,” its chief executive officer Keshav R Murugesh said.

These are typically $10-15 million outcome-based deals, spanning over five to seven years, Mr Sheth said. The return on investment is 10-15% or sometimes even higher.