India to remain main centre for Symphony

'China plan was driven by customers' demand.'

Outsourced product development company, Symphony Services, which recently started a development centre in China, says this was driven primarily by the demand of its customers.

However, the company is not candid enough to disclose the number of professionals at its Beijing centre, and says Bangalore will continue to be the preferred destination as far as global delivery is concerned.

The Palo Alto (California)-based company which achieved a $100 million in revenue in 2006, has so far got all its delivery centres located in India, primarily in Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai.

According to the company, the decision to open the delivery centre in China was driven by customers who wanted to sell their software products in the Chinese market.

"We are driven by our customers to open the Beijing centre. Our aim is to help our global clients entering the markets in China, Japan and Korea, by providing them with back-end support and services," said Ajay Kela, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, Symphony Services.

Earlier, Symphony Services CEO and President Gordon Brooks had said the company was considering the importance of China as the next location for its expansion, and in the process might acquire some firms there.

He however maintained that despite the growing competition from emerging countries like China, Russia and Philippines, India would continue to remain as the prime base for the company's outsourced product development works.

Symphony Services has about 4,100 employees in India. Kela said the company was also looking at acquiring a few captives in Pune and Bangalore as many global firms are grappling with rising costs due to the Rupee-appreciation and increased costs in India.

"Hopefully, we will close some deals by the end of this fiscal," said Kela. Symphony recently acquired the Pune-based captive development centre of CTSpace, a US-headquartered SaaS business process management and collaboration solutions provider.