We're getting there: CEO Narendra Patni (from row, centre) believes it is only a matter of time before Patni gets its due

The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) precinct in the western suburb of Andheri in Mumbai is a maze of manufacturing units-gems and jewellery, fabrication units, engineering design, chemical intermediates... Signboard after signboard suggests some sort of cutting, polishing, welding type of activity. But not coding.

Unknown to most in the vicinity, the headquarters (HQ) of the it services major-Patni Computer Systems-nestles right outside the boundary wall of the SEEPZ complex, which houses roughly 2,000 of the company's developers. Mercifully, a line of company buses (with the Patni name discreetly displayed on the front) provide a clue to the HQ's whereabouts. There's little else to go by: no flashy logos, or company colours to announce the presence of one of India's largest and oldest it services firms.

That's not particularly the best way to appeal to shareholders (Patni offered shares to the pubic in February) and clients. And potential employees. Yet, Patni finds itself among the top 10 of The Best Companies To Work For In India list. CEO Narendra Patni admits he's still working on the branding front. Yet, he's quick to point out that Patni is "getting the slots we want on engineering campuses and b-schools. We are also getting more referrals".

Compare Patni with the industry beacons like Infosys, Wipro, TCS, and it doesn't stack up too nicely. Not yet, at least. As one placement consultant puts it: "At the moment I would say Patni falls in the tier 1-B category of it services recruiters." However, he is quick to add that courtesy "some process of business refinements, it is on the verge of entering the top tier of recruiters".

What could help improve branding perceptions about Patni is the showcase campus it is putting up in Mumbai's eastern suburb of Airoli. Spread over 50 acres, and with an investment of $60 million or Rs 276 crore (in the first phase), the campus will have some 5,000 of the proposed 17,000 seats up and running next year. That should help. But Patni doesn't compare well on salaries either, and one headhunter dismisses the firm as "probably amongst the worst paymasters in the top rung of it services companies". But here's the punchline (from the same headhunter, which explains why Patni is ranked No. 9 in the Best Companies listing). "Yet it attracts a fair degree of good talent."

So, why would graduates from some of the country's best institutes want to join a company that's located in spartan surroundings in the suburban boondocks, that's desperately seeking brand equity and that's almost miserly in doling out the wages? The answers are best when they come straight out of the graduates' mouths. "I like the amount of responsibility I am given at Patni. I often chat with friends who work with multinational services firms, but they get nowhere near the exposure I do on live projects. I feel I have more opportunity to grow than them," says Cynthia Andrade, a software engineer who joined Patni a year ago after graduating from Mumbai's SNDT University.

Andrade's clearly charted out growth is no accident. It's part of a structured process, which goes by the acronym leap (Leadership Excellence At Patni) as Milind Jadhav, the company's VP for HR, explains. LEAP is an end-to-end framework that kicks in right at the time of recruitment. A competency framework within leap helps recruit the right professionals. Then we define "the gold standard for leadership. We call it the gold standard so every single employee understands the contents", says Jadhav.

Paradoxically though, Patni sees high attrition levels. At about 17 per cent, the company's attrition level is higher than the industry average of about 15 per cent. But Narendra Patni isn't perturbed. "Every single employee who has left us has wanted to return, barring the seven that left to found Infosys." Makes you wonder what it could have been, had Patni succeeded in retaining N.R. Narayana Murthy and company.