How Coforge India utilised ICICI Bank’s e-SOFTEX & Corporate Stack to script its exponential growth

By ICICI Bank Social Media Editorial Team

Corporates today operate in an environment where digital adoption has become a hygiene factor. What is important is how large companies leverage digital practices to enable high growth. Coforge leveraged technology to drive exponential growth from both the purview of its bottom line and as assessed by public opinion via its standing at the bourses.

Coforge is a global digital services and software solutions. It enables its clients to transform at the intersect of domain expertise and emerging technologies like Cloud, Data, Integration and Automation. Its business interests span 21 countries with 25 delivery centers.

We got into a freewheeling discussion with Mr. B.C Lohani, Banking & Treasury Head, Coforge, who having spent 30 years in the organisation knows its finances like the back of his hand. In his words, Coforge, found an able partner in ICICI Bank, Coforge leveraged #CorporateEcosystemBanking to drive operational efficiencies and make processes paperless, hassle-free, swift and seamless. ?

Backed by extensive digital prowess, ICICI Bank’s ‘Corporate Stack’ offers multiple banking services that can be customised to meet the needs of different corporates within an industry vertical and provide frictionless embedded systems.

Helping manage cash flow with inward remittances and e-SOFTEX

Companies in the business of software exports have to adhere to additional guidelines as per existing compliance frameworks. All software exports are required to be reported mandatorily in Form SOFTEX to the authorities. Any lapse in ensuring adherence to these stipulations leads to penalties by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) thereby impeding the company's export operations.

90% of Coforge’ s revenues come from its international customers. Inward remittances need to adhere to SOFTEX regulatory guidelines and processed swiftly to ensure smooth functioning and liquidity.

ICICI Bank’s industry-first e-SOFTEX product helps in the regularisation, monitoring and controlling the software export in a swift, seamless manner

As shared by Mr. Lohani, “100% of all software exports are managed via ICICI Bank’s e-SOFTEX portal. The company receives thousands of invoices daily. Using e-SOFTEX ensures that the multitude of invoices received are managed in a swift, convenient and error free manner. With the Bank’s e-SOFTEX portal for reconciliation, processes have become hassle free and user friendly. “

The Process

Making swift vendor salary and statutory payments via IPS to manage cash flow

The company used Integrated Payment system (IPS), which helps in Bulk Payments. ?

IPS offering uses technology to fetch files from client ERP and sends them to bank servers for processing vendor and salary payments, in a paperless manner. IPS ensures swift disbursement with no manual intervention that ensures both vendor and employee satisfaction. Mr. Lohani shared, “On the last working day of the month, salaries for twenty thousand plus employee are processed and disbursed via IPS within a few working hours. This means that company funds are not blocked, processes are managed efficiently and employee satisfaction is high.”

Helping maintain Business as Usual come rainfall, sunshine or pandemic

Mr. Lohani shares how for a publically listed company the pandemic came as a shock as in-person processes came to a halt. He says, “During the pandemic, ICICI Bank helped us digitise our processes and minimise branch visits, which helped us to conduct our business. Physical documents and branch visits were both minimised, which ensured that our company could function as per usual, and we moved along our growth trajectory uninterrupted.

ICICI Bank is now the primary banker for Coforge and also for three of its five subsidiaries in the country.”

Coforge also uses ICICI Bank’s Corporate Internet Banking Platform to make 100% advanced tax payments for TDS every quarter and Simplified GST payments every month, thereby saving time.

Corporate Ecosystem Banking by ICICI Bank

The ‘ICICI STACK for Corporates’, provides an array of digital banking services where a combination of technology, robust online channels, branch presence and powerful APIs give convenience to the customer at the click of button. Many of these digital solutions are first in the industry and can be customised to different corporates and industries.

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