Thiruvananthapuram: The city-based Rs 10-crore turnover US Software is expanding its areas of domain. The company is on the verge of signing a couple of deals with Detroit-based global automobile majors. Says company CEO Murali Gopalan: "We will be closing the deals soon."

The company is also looking at other sectors like airlines and warehouse management. Gopalan says US Software is now in the fields of retail (with a revenue share of 40 per cent), healthcare (30 per cent), energy (15 per cent) and the rest contributed by e-commerce, banking and hi-tech hardware sectors.

US Software is a wholly-owned subsidiary of US Software Technologies Resources, promoted by the $3-billion Comcraft group and Steve Ross, a US national. The Comcraft group is promoted by NRI Chandarias and is now headed by Manu Chandaria. The groups operations span across Africa, Australia and South America, and it has interests in steel, aluminium, computer hardware, retail and computer animation sectors.

Gopalan says the two-year-old Indian company is not facing any pressure on its billing rates like other software outfits in India. "We are very competitive." Based on the complexities involved, US Software bills its clients anything between $18 to $100 per hour for offshore projects and $25 to $40 for onsite projects.

He, however, agrees the IT slowdown in the US has had an impact on bagging new orders. "New clients are deferring their spend now. On the other hand, our existing clients are giving more orders."

Despite serving the UK and Australian markets, Gopalan says his company is focussing its efforts on the US market, as long-lead time is needed in respect of other markets. "That adds up to our operating costs."

Operating out of an 85,000 sq ft space at Technopark, US Software is a SEI- CMM level 4 company, now progressing towards the next level. Presently, it has around 430 employees at Thiruvananthapuram, and another 400 are undergoing training before absorption.