Calcutta, Sept. 26: GE Capital India will choose between Cochin and Calcutta to set up its fifth business process outsourcing (BPO) centre in India.

“The location of the fifth centre will be finalised by the end of 2003 and it will be operational by mid-2004,” said Pramod Bhasin, president and CEO of GE Capital.

The company has been dithering on its plans to set up a unit in Calcutta for over 10 months now.

GE Caps will invest between Rs 30-40 crore in the new facility. It has four centres in Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Jaipur.

“Around 5,000 people are employed at the Gurgaon and Hyderabad centre, 1,500 at Bangalore and 500 at Jaipur,” said the president.

“We are now ready to expand our operations. Over the last two years, there was a drop in demand owing to the downslide in the industry and the global events that affected business prospects. But things are finally looking up,” he added.

On new employment opportunities, Bhasin said the company will be looking for jobs that provide more profit margins and are in the high-end segment.