Scope chief set to head Dell BPO unit

Romi Malhotra, chief executive officer and managing director, Scope International Private Ltd, the BPO arm of Standard Chartered Bank, has moved to head Dell Computers' BPO outfit in Bangalore, it is learnt.

While an official statement from either Scope or Dell is not available, sources close to Malhotra said he will be heading Dell Computers' BPO operations in Asia Pacific and would be based in Bangalore.

Dell's captive BPO operations in Bangalore provide customer care and help desk support services for the hardware major's interests in the Asia Pacific region. Dell's BPO operations in Bangalore employs over 1500 people.

Scope International is yet to appoint a new head for its operations in India. The post has been temporarily occupied by the companies chief operating officer, Sriram Iyer. Iyer was moved in recently from Standard Chartered Bank, Dubai. Sources also confirmed that Malhotra's position is likely be occupied by a non-Indian.

The name of the new head of Scope International, however, is not available.

Malhotra has an experience of eighteen years working and consulting for manufacturing, IT, insurance and financial services industries. His expertise covers areas like knowledge services, e-learning and data mining. Malhotra is a metallurgist by education.

Before joining Scope International he was heading the back office services of GE Capital in India. He played a pivotal role in setting up GE's BPO team and is even credited with pioneering the call centre business in India. Malhotra is also, credited in part, for GE's BPO headcount growth from 100 in the first year to 12,000 by the end of the third year.

Scope International is the global back office for all banking and other operations of the Standard Chartered group worldwide. Malhotra joined Scope three years back. Scope today employs around 4000 people in its Chennai centre.

Malhotra could not be reached for his comments.