Dell to expand operations, headcount in India: global chief

Refuses to list out plans, but says will continue to expand as per the size of the business

 

Terming India as a great growth story for the company, Dell has said it would further expand its operations and headcount in the country.

 

"India has been a great growth story for Dell. We have quite a large presence there, a great team and about 27,000 people," the company's global chief Michael Dell told PTI in an interview here.

Dell, who was here for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, said the company's plant (in Chennai) and the operations and staff size in the country would continue to expand as per the size of the business.

Refusing to put any figures to the company's hiring or other expansion plans for the country, Dell said that the company has never given any estimates and still it has grown from one person to 27,000 people.

"All this has been through our natural progression in the country and that would continue going ahead," he said.

"What is impressive about India is that you have an enormous population of very well educated young people and we love the talent that is available in India, so we are going to keep growing in India."

US-based Dell Inc, which was founded by Michael Dell in 1984, is one of the world's largest makers of computers and other computing devices and a leading player in the entire spectrum of information technology business through its various services and solutions for enterprise and retail customers.

Globally, it has an headcount of more than one lakh people, annual revenue of over $62 billion and profits of about $3.5 billion. Dell has about half a dozen manufacturing plants across the world, including one in Chennai, India.

Recently, there have been reports about making US-listed Dell Inc a privately held company, as also about software giant Microsoft being in talks with private equity investors on a possible buyout of Dell. When asked about these reports, Michael Dell declined to comment.

Asked about the global economic scenario and its impact on the technology sector, Dell said, "There has been some stability, but there are still some challenges both before US and Europe. I think that the biggest challenge before the world today is creation of jobs, which would be key to growth going ahead."

"We need more growth for entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises, both in technology and non-technology sectors. I believe all of them would have some amount of technology enabled in their operations and therefore their revival is key to our business. Free trade among the nations is also important for growth in the global economy. Meetings like these (WEF Annual Meeting at Davos) may not solve the problems, but they do help in understanding the problems and discussing the possible solutions," he said.