More the merrier

Calcutta, Dec. 7: After becoming a part of the $20-billion software service giant EDS, MphasiS BPO plans to ramp up its headcount in India from 17,000 to 25,000-30,000 in the next one year. The company is going to be merged shortly with EDS.

The company also has Calcutta on its radar for a development centre.

MphasiS BPO president Sandeep Dhar said the company, which along with EDS was present in eight Indian cities, was yet undecided on whether to expand by setting up numerous small centres or large campuses. “Calcutta, of course, is on our radar as one of the possible locations for our next centre,” he said.

Dhar had a meeting with state IT minister Debesh Das where the minister apprised him of the opportunities in the state and on rapid growth strides made by companies that have set up shop here.

MphasiS is also open to a special economic zone (SEZ) in the state.

MphasiS and EDS are present in eight cities: Chennai, Bangalore, Mangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Gurgaon and Noida. Possible locations for more centres include not only Calcutta but also other Tier-II cities.

The company is also not averse to cities other than Calcutta and is looking at the possibility of a base in Durgapur and Siliguri. A centre usually has a headcount of 1,000 at its inception.

Dhar said the company would leverage on the global presence of EDS to set up centres outside India. He said he was particularly interested in Malayasia where neither MphasiS nor EDS were present.

The company has set up an IT operations division that has a team of 100 employees for remote management of data centres.

The division would also look at leveraging on the practice of many companies, particularly telecom, to outsource network and other back end operations through remote management. “The division would draw on the traditional strength of MphasiS in verticals like BFSI, telecom, healthcare and embedded software,” Dhar said.

The Mphasis-BPO combine has a turnover of $350 million in India, with MphasiS contributing $70 million.

The integration process with EDS would be completed by March 2007.

EXL expansion

The New York-based $90 million BPO EXL service.com India Pvt Ltd is keen to expand in India, including Calcutta.

The company has 7,000 employees in Pune, Gurgaon and Noida.

“I had discussions with the state IT minister regarding opportunities in the state and are definitely considering Calcutta as one of our possible locations,” said Vikas Bhalla, vice president and business leader, EXL service.com India Pvt Ltd.