HSBC opens global resourcing facility in Hyd

HSBC officially opened a 2,50,000-sq ft global resourcing facility in Hyderabad on Thursday. The facility has the capacity to house 3,500 people.

The group now has five centres in India "� Hyderabad, Bangalore, Visakhapatnam and Kolkata "� employing around 10,000 people.

Addressing the media, Malcolm H Wagget, chief operating officer, HSBC Global Resourcing-South Asia, said, "The capacity at this centre will be filled over two years time. Our Vizag centre today employs around 1,500 people and is still half-full. We will, therefore, be growing in these centres over the coming years."

The new facility will focus on knowledge process outsourcing, Wagget said, adding that they will therefore be looking for people with higher skill sets.

It also houses a residential training facility that will offer a special module developed in collaboration with the British Council. The eight-week residential course will train students in English language skills.

Meanwhile, the employees of HSBC's group service centre in Hyderabad and Larsen & Toubro Limited, donated a building to Madhapur Mandal School.

The community committee at HSBC's service centre adopted the government-run school for underprivileged children in early 2005.

'No plans yet for Tirupati'

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is now promoting Tirupati as the next destination for IT and ITeS companies.

At the formal inauguration of HSBC Group service centre and residential training facility, Reddy said, "HSBC already employs around 6,000 people in the state and is the first multinational to set up its centre in Vizag. We now request you to consider Tirupati, the second largest religious centre in the world, as your next destination. Tirupati has good human resources and infrastructure base besides proximity to Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai."

Reddy also said that the state government is planning to develop 10 airports in Andhra Pradesh. This apart, the state government, he added, will be reducing power tariff from April 1, 2006.

With regard to the chief minister's request for setting up a new facility in Tirupati, Wagget said that they have no confirmed plans as yet. Outside India, he added, Vietnam and some South African destinations are becoming attractive in this regard.