SlashSupport plans to invest $10 mn in Indian operations

SlashSupport, an advanced tech support solutions provider, is planning to invest between $5 million and $10 million in its Indian operations, and ramp up its headcount from 2,000 to about 3,500 in 2005-06.

As part of the investment, the company has already spent $2 million in setting up its fourth facility in Chennai which will be operational in September this year. The 80,000-sq ft facility takes the company's overall infrastructure in the city to 1,80,000 sq ft. All investments are to be funded through internal accruals.

"We are hoping to take our headcount to 3,500. But ultimately it depends on the quality of the people available. It is all about tapping the talent, train them and put them on the production floor," said Shiva Ramani, chief executive officer of Slashsupport. The company currently has a customer-base of 20.

Of the 1,500 individuals that Slashsupport plans to add, 1,000 will be located in Chennai while the remaining 500 will be recruited for a new facility to be set up in Coimbatore, Madurai or Tiruchirapalli.

The tier-II city facility is scheduled to start operations by the end of 2005.

Confirming that SlashSupport has no plans to move out of the state and set up operations elsewhere, Ramani remarked that the quality of talent available in the state was the only cause for concern. "We have to invest in training to make them employable," he pointed out.

SlashSupport clocked a turnover of $22 million in 2004-05, and expects to grow by 100 per cent in the current fiscal.