TCS to open 2,000-people BPO centre

India’s largest information technology (IT) services provider, TCS, is setting up a greenfield business process outsourcing (BPO) centre in Ahmedabad that can house 2,000 people. The centre would be located at the company’s upcoming 35-acre campus, Garima Park. It will also house TCS’ IT operations.

In the first phase, expected to be completed by December, TCS BPO would employ 1,000 people.

“Our expansion into Ahmedabad is part of our strategy to harness the specialised talents available in Tier-II cities. We intend to use the centre to offer back office services in the banking, financial services and insurance space, as the talents available in that region are best fit for these kind of services. Besides, the centre can also offer services specific to the manufacturing industry,” said Abid Ali Neemuchwala, vice-president and global head of BPO services, TCS.  

TCS employs about 35,000 people for its BPO services. Of this, 30,500 are in India. Other than major Indian cities, TCS BPO is also present in Tier-II locations like Kolkata and Pune. TCS is also expanding its BPO centre in Kolkata, where it already employs 2,000 people. These resources predominantly offer services in media and publishing, utilities, banking and financial services spaces. Neemuchwala said the company was planning to add 1,500 people in Kolkata over the next couple of quarters.

TCS, which reported revenues of $925 million for BPO services, grew 27 per cent in 2010-11. At this pace of growth, the company’s BPO business is expected to cross $1 billion in revenues this financial year.

To keep pace with the growth, the company is also expanding its bases in offshore and onshore locations. Neemuchwala said the company was not considering taking inorganic route to expand at the moment. “We made acquisitions ahead of time and our acquisitions have been very selective. However, right now, we are not looking for acquisition as a driver to expand,” he said.

TCS is also planning to grow its headcount in Manila (Philippines) to 1,000 people, from 300, in the next few quarters. The centre can house 5,000 people.

In terms of deals, the company said it was adding healthy number of BPO clients across its key target verticals, including banking, financial services and insurance, healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

“However, we are seeing clients are accepting more and more variable pricing models such as transaction-based pricing and outcome-based pricing,” he said.