Xansa plans to double workforce

Group Steria-owned Xansa is all set to expand its India operations. The company is looking at doubling its workforce this year and adding more office space in Chennai and Pune.

The India delivery centre is expected to contribute up to 40 per cent of the total business revenues in 2008-09, said company executives.

Francois Enaud, chairman and chief executive officer, Steria, said, "We have appointed Mukesh Aghi as the executive director in India, whose role would be to promote India as the business driver instead of just another offshore delivery centre for us."

Last year, the French IT services company, Groupe Steria, had acquired UK-based Xansa, which accelerated Steria among the top-10 IT service providers in Europe. The company also got access to Xansa's strong operations base in India with expertise in the public services and financial services sectors and a combined revenue in excess of $2.4 billion.

"We will create one of the most advanced business models in the European IT service sector through highly client-customised services and a fully-integrated Europe-India delivery model," said Enaud.

The new entity reinforces its position among the top-10 IT service providers in Europe, with revenues of around EURO 1.8 billion and around 18 000 employees.

"We are around 5,000 people in our three campuses in Chennai, Pune and Noida. This headcount would go up by 50 per cent this year and we will also launch a centre of excellence (CoE) in Chennai soon, which will be Steria's 11th centre," said Mukesh Aghi, the new group executive director for Xansa's operations in India.

The India CoE would be specifically looking at focused areas such as providing testing services, data management and the whole suite of ERP services.

"India is the ideal ground for providing cheap, yet enhanced, capabilities to our European clients," said Enaud.

Besides, the company will be adding more office space at its 27-acre property in Chennai and 17-acre office in Pune.

Xansa, according to Aghi, will bring to Steria its experience in the fast-growing business process outsourcing (BPO) area.

"This new offering, which is emerging as a key component of Steria's business transformation and business operation capability, represents a significant cross-selling advantage with the opportunity to deploy outside of the UK," said Enaud.

Steria, claimed the executives, is building the much-needed muscle to compete with India's big-three IT services companies, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies and Wipro.