Ciel HR, an India-based staffing firm, plans to raise INR 500-700 million in private equity funds, reports the Hindu Business Line. The company plans to go public in three years, said its Chairman K Pandia Rajan. Ciel has placed more than 55,000 candidates in around 2,200 companies since it started in August 2015. Rajan added that investment advisors are talking to various private equity firms to raise funds. The company was listed among the largest staffing companies in India at 14th place by revenue in Staffing Industry Analysts’ Largest Staffing Firms in India report.

K Pandia Rajan was formerly a Minister in the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu and was one of the pioneers in India’s HR industry having launched Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd in 1992. In 2004, Ma Foi merged with the Netherlands-based Vedior which, four years later, was acquired by Randstad.