Infosys BPO, the $500-million outsourcing arm of the IT major Infosys, plans to open new centres outside the country in the next two quarters. The BPO firm is looking at Latin America and the Asia-Pacific regions to set up centres with an initial capacity of 100-150, that could be scaled up to ten times.
?We are looking at some locations in these markets and hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will be able to close it. China is definitely one market we are looking at,? said D Swaminathan, chief executive and managing director, Infosys BPO, adding that the new location strategy is not focused on cost, but on competitive advantage to clients. ?We continue to see good growth in the Asia-Pacific markets.?
Infosys BPO has created four geo-business units including India, Asia-Pacific, LatAm and eastern Europe.
?These units are now focussing on selling BPO solutions to governments and corporations in those regions. We had delivery centres in these locations, which were mainly catering to the US and European markets at large. Apart from doing that, now these unit heads are mandated to take solutions to clients in these areas,? said Swaminathan.
In the recent past, Indian BPO companies have come under fire for losing their competitive edge to other low-cost destinations, as well as for their inability to meet client requirements for onsite deployment. In an attempt to adapt to this evolving outsourcing model, companies have started to ramp up near shore and onshore centres.
Currently Infosys BPO has six centres in India and 13 outside the country.
In September, McCamish Systems, a unit of Infosys BPO, announced acquisition of Iowa-based Marsh BPO for an undisclosed amount, aiming at expanding its presence in the group life insurance space.
?Earlier we acquired the McCamish business, which was in the life insurance space, and now Marsh, which is in the group insurance business. This enables us to expand the footprint,? he said.
During the the July-September period, the company grew sequentially just about 1.5%. However, in the first six months of the year, the BPO business grew by 17% compared with the same period last year.
?In the current fiscal, we are looking at growth anywhere between15-18% compared to last year. By the end of this year we will be close to $600 million,? he added. It has 24,000 employees, with plans to hire 4,000-5,000 people in the next two quarters.
