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Indian software vendors, led by firms such as Infosys Technologies Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd and Wipro Ltd, are increasingly reusing for new customers software code or parts of it written for existing clients in an attempt to reduce development costs and time.
Such reuse, industry insiders and analysts estimate, helps reduce software development costs up to a quarter and time to write it by up to a half, and helps improve profit margins under pressure in an operating environment overshadowed by a rupee that has appreciated around 13% against the US dollar since the beginning of the year.
To help them reuse software code or modules, tech service providers are increasingly retaining the intellectual property (IP) on the software they develop for different clients and, in return for such rights, offer discounted pricing—sometimes up to 20%. The mid-sized Headstrong Corp. is one company that offers a 20% discount.
