Genpact plans to set up IT SEZ in Kolkata
IT services biggie Genpact has approached the West Bengal government and a clutch of property developers to set up an IT SEZ in Kolkata. The company has set aside over Rs 100 crore to set up the facility (including the cost for land). Genpact has recently received in-principle clearances to set up three SEZs in Bhopal , Bhubaneswar and Jaipur. It is also in the process of constructing a development centre on a 12-acre plot within the IT SEZ being developed by DLF in Gurgaon. Read the story on economictimes.com … 13 Feb 2007

Nasscom likely to set up self-regulatory body
"Global customers should find it easier to outsource activities if they have the assurance that India is a safe country. And this is the primary objective of this organisation," said Nasscom Chairman Ramalinga Raju. The SRO is believed to have been built by identifying the loopholes in the country's laws and then attempting to amend them, in a bid to bring them on par with global standards (such as US and EU laws). The SRO's objective is to raise the bar in data security and data privacy by including the best practices currently stipulated by certifications such as ISO17799 for information security by the International Organisation for Standardisation in Geneva , as well as data privacy and data protection laws worldwide. Read the story on rediff.com … 13 Feb 2007

Infy to acquire SME BPOs
IT major Infosys Technologies plans acquiring small and medium business process outsourcing companies (BPO) that fit strategically with the operations of its subsidiary, Infosys BPO. The company is looking for BPO firms in entire Asia (barring India ), Europe and the US . Read the story on andhracafe.com … 13 Feb 2007

PMO suggests integrated modern townships for IT-BPO Industries
The Nasscom Leadership Forum 2007 got underway here today on a positive note with the Union Minister of Information Technology and Communications Dayanidhi Maran reiterating that the Semiconductor Policy would be announced before the Union Budget. Inaugurating the Forum, Maran called for an increased cooperation with emerging IT-BPO markets such as China, the Philippines, Korea and other countries in Eastern Asia and Europe, where there is availability of necessary infrastructure and low cost of operations. Maran touched upon the need to take the pressure off big cities. Read the story on ciol.com … 10 Feb 2007

Novartis forms BPO pact with Genpact
India-based Genpact will provide the pharma division of Novartis with support in accounting and purchasing activities and manage this as a global shared service, Chris Lewis, Novartis' spokesperson told Outsourcing-Pharma.com. We believe this decision will enable us to better serve the needs of our core business,” said Lewis. He added that this project potentially affects a total of about 120 people in seven countries. In addition, Lewis said that this new outsourcing contract brings Novartis “into line with the strategies already adopted by many of our peers.” Read the full story on biopharma-reporter.com … 10 Feb 2007

Chrys Cap selling BPO to Essar Controlled Aegis
Private equity major Chrys Capital and other investors are selling credit and receivable management BPO Global Vantedge to the Essar-owned Aegis Communications for around Rs 100 crore. A formal announcement is expected shortly. Chrys Capital, which owns 75% in Global Vantedge, had set up the BPO in 2001. It’s headquarters are based in the US and it employs 1,500 people in two centres in Gurgaon. With revenues of around $180 million, Aegis BPO employs over 9,000 people in India and USA , operating from 24 centres and 18 cities around the world. Read the complete story on economictimes.com … 10 Feb 2007

BPO could be Infy’s biggest money-spinner
Infosys Technologies Ltd expects revenues from its business process outsourcing (BPO) segment to surpass those from its other IT services in the next couple of years. Already, Infosys BPO is growing at a faster rate than the company itself in the last few quarters. Its second-quarter results of FY07 showed healthy operating margins; revenues touched Rs 157 crore. It grew by 20.6% sequentially in the first quarter of this fiscal and by 22.6% in the second quarter. Read the full story on dnaindia.com … 10 Feb 2007

Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga & Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre launch Yogic cure for IT- BPO Professionals
The age-old practice of yoga might turn out to be the panacea for young IT and BPO professionals who are struck with what researchers describe as "techno-stress". "Youngsters working in the IT sector and in call centres are leading a stressful life. They have erratic work schedules. Their condition is being described as techno-stress," Ishwar V Basavaraddi, director of Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, said. The project, which was started in May last year, was conducted in collaboration with Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre in which 180 people were drawn from the two fields. Read the story on chennaionline.com … 10 Feb 2007

CALL CENTER ASSOCIATION OF INDIA REORGANISES, BECOMES BUSINESS PROCESS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA.
Broadens agenda to emerge as voice of the Business Process Industry of India. Call Center Association of Association of India ( CCAI ) today rebranded itself as the Business Process Industry Association of India (BPIAI). The new name reflects the strategic intent of the organization to broad base its activities covering the total Business Process Industry (BPI). It aims to address issues concerning the entire spectrum of services rendered under outsourcing and offsourcing. These include Call Centers , Contact Centers , BPOs, LPOs, KPOs and the like. The new entity BPIAI will among other things focus on promoting India as the preferred BPI destination by facilitating dialogue and helping liaise with government and regulatory bodies with a view to remove any bottlenecks and influence policy making. Speaking on the occasion Sam Chopra, President, BPIAI said, “Our strategic partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry should help us create a strong and united BPI fraternity that works collectively for the betterment of the industry. As the industry grows, certain issues of critical importance pertaining to infrastructure, human resources, process security and the outsourcing backlash are bound to assume prominence. High on BPIAI ‘s agenda would be help evolve and address them,” he added.

The Indian business process industry has evolved significantly since its inception, and now is approaching maturity and offers a strong value proposition to its customers. According to recent estimates, this industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 31% to become US $ 27 billion by 2010. The CCAI was set up in the year 2001. Its membership comprises of BPOs and Service Providers in the BPI (small, medium and large scale). With an increasing growth in its services and activities, the CCAI has acted as a catalyst for “thought, plan and action” on all issues of concern to the Indian Business Process Industry. 06 Feb 2007

Hewitt Associates Inc refutes sale of its struggling HR BPO business
Speaking on Hewitt's quarterly earnings call, CEO Russ Fradin told analysts that HR BPO is an integral part of its overall business. "Despite the fact that we are no longer viewing HR BPO as the central growth engine of the company, it is a business that will continue to be an important part of our future," he said. Read the full story on cbronline.com … 06 Feb 2007

Tholons’ word against WB IT Minister’s - who knows best
Kolkata is next BPO hub says Tholons’ study. Read the story on financialexpress.com … 06 Feb 2007
IT minister Debesh Das says the state’s ‘employable talent pool’ fast depleting making difficult for companies to expand in WB. Detailed story on economictimes.com … 02 Feb 2007

10 reasons Rural BPO will take India by storm
The biggest of them is - it’s a $100 million opportunity. I have for long propagated Rural BPO but the transition has taken much time. Now that I exit the international business to focus on what I would love to do, it makes me smile to see the excitement and activity across small villages in India . There are so many examples of small successes that it’d take me a few hours to list all of them. In the interest of time and not at the expense of your time I will only point you to a few stories reported in the media. As I write this piece, I have had excellent meetings in the last week with entities ranging from Policy makers, Corporates and NGOs, all of whom have shown strong support to our ambitious project. I must thank my friends in the electronic (TV) media - they covered our ‘proposed initiative’ with great effort, and took our message far and wide. Consider this … P Krishna Mohan, a 24-year-old B.Com graduate from the village, quit his Rs 4,000 p.m. job in Hyderabad and joined the call centre almost immediately. This is just the beginning. Read my latest post for The 10 reasons here …

BPO takes the bar higher: Video Resumes and Video Games for new hires
In an unprecedented move by Noida EXL Service, a leading BPO firm conducted a gaming contest to evaluate the skills of potential hires. Not only that, they have successfully managed to connect with GenXt at their wavelength. Video Resumes, Video Games and Jobs – sounds like a good plan to me! Visit indiatimes.com to find out how they did it … 05 Feb 2007

The latest McKinsey-NASSCOM report: 'Operational Excellence: The Next Frontier in offshoring'
The McKinsey-NASSCOM report reveals that BPO service providers - having achieved maturity in practices like relationship management with clients and knowledge management - now need to work towards strengthening practices such as employee engagement, process improvement, recruitment, migration planning and workforce management. India ’s software services and BPO exports may touch US $75bn by 2010 if the current growth rate is maintained, says Karnik. This is significantly above the target of US $60bn set last year. IT and BPO exports are expected to grow by 33.47% to US $31.9bn in FY07 from US $23.9bn in FY06. The detailed story on indiainfoline.com … 05 Feb 2007

Genpact plans India's largest IPO in US worth $600 million
India ’s largest BPO company has finalised its IPO plans in the US markets. Genpact will raise between $500-$600 million. This will be the largest IPO by an Indian company in the US . ET had earlier reported that Genpact was planning an IPO. Now it is confirmed that the company is going ahead with its plan for a listing its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Genpact officials refused to comment. Pramod Bhasin, CEO of Genpact, refused to talk on the issue at all. Genpact board has already approved the issue and merchant bankers Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have been appointed for the issue. The detailed story on economictimes.com … 05 Feb 2007

Severe manpower shortage - BPOs look away from West Bengal
West Bengal government has indicated that the state may miss its target of cornering 15% of India ’s IT exports by calendar 2010. IT minister Debesh Das said the state’s ‘employable talent pool’ is fast depleting making it difficult for companies to expand in the state. “There are several IT/ITeS companies who are not getting employable manpower in the state making it difficult for them to expand or set up shop here. Unless this shortage is strategically addressed, we may not be able to meet our target of securing 15% of India ’s share of IT exports by 2010,” Das said. “Several companies have told me that they are refusing overseas projects in these verticals due to lack of trained manpower. We approached a MPO firm to set up a delivery centre in Kolkata, but they have given us a pre-condition of ready manpower,” said Das. The detailed story on economictimes.com… 02 Feb 2007

i-flex Solutions to acquire BPO firms in Europe
Mumbai-based i-flex solutions is in negotiations to acquire two companies-one in France and the other in Greece , early next fiscal. Both these acquisitions will be made in the financial BPO and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) segments. i-flex is increasing its focus on the BPO and KPO space. The software exporter has chalked out major plans in the BPO space and has incorporated new firm-i-flex Processing Services (IPSL), which will serve as the umbrella for all its BPO service offerings. The detailed story on myiris.com … 02 Feb 2007

India’s IT/ BPO exports to touch $60 billion soon
The country’s software services and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies can realise $60 billion in export revenues by 2010 if they reduce operational costs and improve profitability, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) has said. India is now the leading destination, having captured 65 per cent and 46 per cent of the global offshore IT and BPO markets respectively. Focusing on operational excellence is critical for the industry to maintain market leadership. The detailed story on telegraphindia.com… 02 Feb 2007

BPOs Beware. Top 10 list - Blogs biggest emerging threat to Data Privacy and Trade Secrets
A US court recently ordered Apple Inc to reimburse defendants for their legal fees. This important case is also seen by some as a landmark judgment lending authenticity to blogs as the emerging medium of news . Read my detailed post by clicking here … 31 Jan 2007

10 reasons why Blogs are THE next big BPO Opportunity
In a research initiative BPONews has uncovered the next big opportunity for BPOs - Blogging. And the irony is that most people in the BPO business (who we spoke to) are oblivious of the fact, or write it off as ‘thing’ for geeks and ‘not-for-business’ people. They could not be more wrong. The 10 compelling reasons …including a $3 billion a year opportunity. To read my detailed post, click here… 31 Jan 2007

Minnesota Lawmakers Push Call-Center Option Bill
Atkins scoffed at the idea that Minnesota can't regulate international commerce. "We do it all the time. If they are doing business here, they are subject to Minnesota law, and it doesn't matter if they are in Pakistan or India ." Versions of the "where-are-you" and "give-me-an-American-number" proposals have been pushed for at least a couple of years at the Legislature. Business interests are studying it, willing to work further with sponsors, but still haven't approved it, said Tom Hesse, vice president for governmental affairs of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. Fueled by increasing consumer concerns about the explosive growth of offshore call centers, and more specifically about the security of information transmitted to foreigners, Atkins and other Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) party members are pushing for legislation that would entitle Minnesotans to request an alternative U.S. call center if personal or financial information is being sought. The complete story at ecommercetimes.com … 30 Jan 2007

Accenture India headcount to go upto 35k
Company CEO William D Green, while being generous with his praises on the team here, stating jocularly – “this (the Indian operation’s growth) seems to be too good to be true, said that India is a key country for Accenture overall, a critical element in our Global Delivery Network in particular and integral to the company’s growth strategy.” Global IT major Accenture is all set to hike its headcount to 35,000 people in India by August 31, 2007 . In a first of sorts among MNC IT companies, this milestone will mean that the company’s Indian operations will overtake its US headcount (expected to be about 30,000 people in same period) and become the largest employee hub for Accenture worldwide. The complete story at economictimes.com …

Bacolod City (Philippines) to promote itself as a site for BPO
Bacolod City needs to promote itself as a site for outsourced back-office operations, Bacolod Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chairperson of the Bacolod Information Technology Focus Team, said. She also said that, aside from hosting call centers, she is also eyeing that the city will have locators for back-office operations like accounting, software development, engineering, architectural design, medical, legal and data transcription, computer graphics, animation, game development and design. Bacolod has been named by an international firm as one of the upcoming IT hubs outside of Metro Manila, mainly due to several benchmarks, including presence of ICT infrastructure, connectivity redundancy, accredited real estate, qualified and highly-trainable human resource, among others. The news story at visayandailystar.com …

Big ticket LPO - Centric & Fox Mandal join Hindujas in a mega deal
For Hinduja TMT, which recently completed the acquisition of US-based BPO Affina, it will mean a foray into the fast-growing LPO space. The three-way joint venture, Centric LPO, is likely to employ over 1,000 lawyers initially and aims to make India an outsourcing hub for international legal practices. It will be 40% owned by the UK-based outsourcing major and 60% by the JV between HTMT Technologies and Fox Mandal, with HTMT Tech holding the majority stake. Nasscom estimates the current addressable LPO services market from the US alone to be around $3-$4 billion. The complete story at economictimes.com … 29 Jan 2007

BARD University launches BPO Courses in Tiruchy and New Delhi
Bharathidasan University (BARD) has planned to offer diploma and certificate courses for persons aspiring for jobs in the BPO sector, from February, 2007. Talking to reporters on Thursday, BARD Vice-Chancellor C Thangamuthu said the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (IECD) of the varsity and New Delhi based Chauhan Knowledge Process Management Limited would jointly offer a three month certificate course in Call Centre Management and a six month Diploma course in the same stream. The courses would be conducted at Tiruchy and New Delhi . The idea is to cater to the rising demand for manpower in the BPO sector, while at the same time easing out the unemployment problem among youth with a minimum qualification of Plus Two. The complete story at newindpress.com …

Govt-Private coalition promotes Philippines as BPO destination to Europe
The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) announced that it has formed a broad government-private coalition that will push the country as a primary outsourcing destination for European companies. Dubbed IT Task Force Europe, the coalition will seek to tap Europe ’s outsourcing needs which are projected to hit $ 47 billion this year and grow to $ 152 billion over the next two years. Members of the coalition include the Board of Investments and Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions from the government and Soluziona, Common Quality Language, European IT Service Center , and the British Chamber of Commerce from the private sector. The story appeared in The Manila Bulletin Online …

BPOs get interesting attention from Ayurveda, IIMA & European lingo … some off-the-usual reporting today!

BPOs compete for IIM talent with salary as high as Rs 1 crore p.a
The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta have truly come of age. They are now directly competing with their counterparts in the US in terms of work profile and salaries offered. Investment banks are today offering higher positions even to IIM freshers for the first time. What‘s more is that these graduates are being offered salaries in the range of Rs 1 crore per annum, which is in line with the salaries offered to a graduate from a top B-school in the US. The news story at economictimes.com …

Ayurveda comes to the rescue BPO/ IT professionals in Bangalore
The decision to start an Ayurvedic centre in Koramangala in Bangalore by the Thrissoor-based Ashtavaidyan Thaikattu Mooss Vaidyaratnam Oushadhasala was mainly to cater to the unique health problems that information technology professionals face. For the last two years, we have been receiving a lot of young patients, between the ages of 25 and 40, with specific complaints like neck pain, headache, numbness in hands, et cetera. They also complained of giddiness once in a while. We found that though not all of them were IT professionals, they were working on computers throughout the day. Among them, there were a lot of BPO employees too. We were getting these patients not only at our Thrissoor head office, but I also encountered them when I went for consultation to Mumbai, Bangalore , and other cities. More on the story at rediff.com …

European lingo catalyzes European high-end-language-sensitive BPO work
An Evalueserve study estimates that the total addressable market for language-sensitive work will be worth $14.4 billion by 2010. According to the study, while the IT industry will account for nearly 50 per cent of this demand, the BPO and KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) segment are expected to account for the remaining 50 per cent. India will need some 1,60,000 foreign language professionals for its offshoring Industry (IT, BPO and KPO) by 2010. For the complete story visit ibnlive.com …

SC adjourns Morgan Stanley tax case till Jan 24
far reaching implications on taxation of BPOs expected with the verdict

The Supreme Court has adjourned the much-awaited Morgan Stanley tax matter till January 24, reports CNBC-TV18. The government will file an additional affidavit in the landmark case that could have far reaching implications on taxation of BPOs.

The news story at moneycontrol.com …
More on the same story at economictimes.com …

Kuoni takes visa facilitation BPO model abroad

World's largest travel company Kuoni Travel Group is betting big on VFS India, a visa facilitation BPO arm it started in India . Buoyed by rich dividends from VFS, Kuoni is integrating its wholly-owned Indian BPO subsidiary with its international network. “We have renamed the company as VFS Global Services and would use it as a vehicle to set up subsidiaries in other countries worldwide,” VFS COO Sanjay Bhaduri said.

Kuoni is encouraged by the fact that what was to serve as a small captive BPO meant to service visa processing work for diplomatic missions in India, is fast gaining acceptance and has picked up visa processing jobs from diplomatic missions outside India. VFS, which has logged a Rs 100 crore annual revenues within five years, is growing at 100%.
Now, Kuoni International wants to leverage the expertise of VFS to complete its basket of services in other countries.

The full story on economictimes.com …

Scandent to get off Cambridge Solution

The Scandent group, founded by Rajat Gupta of McKinsey and Ramesh Vangal of Seagram, is selling its majority stake in Cambridge Solutions in a transaction that could become one of the largest M&A deals in the BPO industry.

Investment bank Lehman Brothers is scouting for buyers for Cambridge which has a large BPO operation in the US . Some US-based funds such as Apollo, Fidelity and strategic players like EDS have already been approached by Lehman. An information memorandum has also been drafted for the prospective buyers.

The story reported on economictimes.com …

Nasscom sees 33% growth for IT, ITeS

Nasscom on Tuesday released its forecast for the Indian IT and BPO industry. The industry association has predicted a growth rate of 32.6% growth in total software and BPO export revenues, marginally lower than the growth of 33.3% in FY06. The industry is forecast to touch $31.3 billion in exports in FY07 compared to $23.6 billion in FY06. If the local software and BPO industry revenues are also taken into the account, revenues will likely touch $39.7 billion in FY07, and if IT hardware sales are also included, the total revenues will touch $47.8 billion in FY07.

“We have to double whatever we have achieved so far - so the figure is big, although the growth rate may be lesser than what we’ve grown so far. The three-year outlook is based on opportunities and challenges,” Mr Karnik said. On the other hand, if the total IT industry continues to grow at the same rate as it is growing today, it will be touch $100 billion by FY10, according to Nasscom.

The complete story on economictimes.com …

Rural BPO - GramIT taking BPO services to villages
Editor’s Favourite … Kudos to GramIT …we love this development as BPONews is also planning a similar initiative.

The village of Ethakota in India 's Andhra Pradesh state hardly looks like a place that has been transformed by the Information Revolution. To get there, you take a 10-hour train ride from Hyderabad , the nearest big city, then drive an hour on narrow roads past rice paddies, coconut groves, and ponds teeming with prawns and crabs.

The village itself is a collection of simple brick houses and thatch-roof huts. Yet in a tidy office shaded by 30-foot-tall palms, 50 young people sit at PCs connected to the Internet via a long-distance radio link, doing business process outsourcing (BPO) tasks such as checking expense account receipts for Indian corporations and arranging job interviews for applicants in distant cities.

The story as reported on rediff.com …

Wipro back with $50-m war chest - on BPO deal street

More than four years after it acquired Spectramind, Indian IT services giant Wipro is scouting for buy-outs of up to $50 million in healthcare, travel, and finance and accounting space. “Within the BPO space, after Spectramind, we are now ready to look at acquisitions in the range of $20-50 million, particularly for transaction processing work.

Two verticals - healthcare and travel - are particularly exciting to us, and amongst the horizontals the targets are finance and accounting (F&A) as well as procurement,” Wipro chief strategy officer Sudip Nandy told ET. Wipro had acquired Spectramind eServices in 2002 for over Rs 400 crore. At that time, Spectramind’s annual business was $11 million with 2,500 employees.

Read the full story on economictimes.com …

UnitedLex Corporation plans expansion

Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) firm UnitedLex Corporation has said it plans to embark on a major offshore expansion in India, increasing its headcount from the existing 50 professionals to 500 in the next three years. The company, which offers services in areas of Intellectual Property, contract management and litigation support, has a centre in Gurgaon.

The company also announced a Series A financing from Helion Venture Partners. The company would use these funds for its expanding plans. While both the sides refused to comment on the quantum of investment that has been pumped-into the Series A financing by Helion Venture Partners, sources said that the combined stake of Helion and other Angel investors who have also invested in the company, is below 40%. With the funding, Helion Ventures' managing director, Sanjeev Aggarwal, and its Director Rahul Chandra, have joined the board of UnitedLex Corporation.

Read the full story on economictimes.com …

Legal-IP Service provider Pangea3 scouts for IITians

By 2016, it is estimated that 60% of all legal work, including patent prosecution, would be outsourced to India. The big business opportunity has led companies like Pangea3 to scout for talent beyond the legal fraternity. Mumbai- based Pangea3 provides end-to-end intellectual property (IP) services, which includes patent application drafting and supporting client's patent application and prosecution process.

It has been recruiting from IITs all over the country. "This year marks our first on-campus recruitment from IITs. So far, we have had only IIT interns working with us, who could take home the experience," Pangea3 co-CEO Sanjay Kamlani told ET on Friday, when he was here on a recruitment mission. At IIT-M, the company made a presentation, which attracted 150 students from various disciplines. Of this, 135 candidates took the tests. "We reviewed the list and short-listed 35 to meet. We got candidates from all backgrounds, BTech electrical, biotech, mechanical and chemical," he said.

Go to indiatimes.com for the story …

Firstsource acquires US Healthclaims Outsourcing Co

BPO firm Firstsource Solutions (formerly ICICI OneSource) has announced that it has completed the acquisition of BPM, a Delaware-based healthcare claims outsourcing company. The acquisition includes BPM’s two wholly-owned operating subsidiaries, MedPlans 2000 and MedPlans Partners. This is the second acquisition of a US company by Firstsource. In September 2004, it had acquired Account Solutions Group.

According to company sources, the acquisition will help Firstsource bolster its proposition in the healthcare vertical with enhanced capabilities in complex claims adjudication. “The healthcare vertical is one of our three focus verticals and represents a high growth area. This acquisition gives us enhanced capabilities in claims adjudication that is complimentary to our current capabilities. We also acquire marquee customers which provide a good opportunity to cross sell,” Ananda Mukerji , MD & CEO, Firstsource said.

The story appeared on economic times …

TCS to Provide Ecuador's Banco Pichincha with Outsourcing Solution

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has entered into a five-year contract worth over $140 million with Banco Pichincha, Ecuador 's largest private bank, to provide a comprehensive outsourcing solution. Fernando Pozo, the general manager of the bank, said, "We chose TCS as our strategic partner on the strengths of its end-to-end technology capabilities, reputation in providing certainty of results, deep domain expertise in banking and committed scale of operations in this region."

"This is the first BANCS implementation in Latin America and the first ever strategic outsourcing of such comprehensive nature in this region, demonstrating Banco Pichinchas clear vision to play on the same level as the best run banks in the world," said Gabriel Rozman, president of TCS Iberoamerica. TCS will also set up a new company in Ecuador , which will comprise over 500 personnel in the country, and supported by its offshore business process outsourcing (BPO) center in Chile and global delivery centers across the world.

Go to itnewsonline.com for the story …

UK Outsourcing Giant Acquired by US Equity Firms

A group of U.S.-based private equity firms has purchased UK-based business process outsourcing firm Vertex Data Science for $426 million. The purchase includes cash, the repayment of intragroup debt and certain liabilities of Vertex. Completion of the sale is expected by the end of March. Vertex also handles a large number of government contracts in the UK that are unlikely to move offshore.

Follow the link to crmbuyer.com for the story …

Fund Administration Ripe For Outsourcing

The confluence of continued growth in the fund market (in terms of assets under management, complexity and number of active funds), a dynamic regulatory environment and increased market competition has created an environment that is ripe for both business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology outsourcing (ITO) …

Read the story on mondaq.com …

HRAmerica pioneers HRO and BPO Offshoring

CHARLOTTE , N.C, January 16, 2007 - The practice of companies turning to offshoring in order to create a cost advantage is well-known. Along with this trend comes the “conventional wisdom” that offshoring leads to accelerated declines in quality. HRAmerica, an HR outsourcing firm offering comprehensive employee administration solutions, has joined forces with Caliber Point, a division of Indian BPO services giant Hexaware, debunking the cost-versus-quality myth. “With Caliber Point’s help, HRAmerica is reinventing itself in the global marketplace and pioneering a new way of doing business,” stated Vivek Khanna, a Caliber Point representative. “The result is two companies working seamlessly together as one. We’re like another (highly educated) team within the same company, working at a remote location and collaborating across a geographical distance.”

NVP leads $20mn investment in rising KPO Star Adventity

Adventity, the market leader in providing finance-focused and highly differentiated, strategic Knowledge Process Outsourcing (“KPO”) and Business Process Outsourcing (“BPO”) services, announced today that it has secured $20 million from an investment group led by Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), a global technology venture capital firm. Adventity will use this funding to expand its market presence and infrastructure, further build out its innovative service offerings and increase business development efforts. As part of the investment, Promod Haque, managing partner at NVP, will join Adventity’s board of directors. This NVP-led investment represents the first institutional round of funding for Adventity.

The full story reported on moneycontrol.com …

EXL Exercises Its Purchase Option for State-of-the-Art Infrastructure in Its Pune Facility Representing 1,000 Seats

EXL is pleased to announce that on December 6, 2006 , it exercised its option to purchase approximately 1,000 seats in its current state-of-the-art delivery center in Pune , India . The exercise of the purchase option required an infrastructure investment of approximately $3 million and provides EXL full ownership of its Pune delivery center that was previously under a lease agreement. "The purchased facility space is situated at Cybercity, Pune, one of the most modern and appealing IT Parks in India today. The delivery center is approximately 86,000 square feet. This is another step in EXL's continued investment in our physical infrastructure as we seek to provide services out of world-class facilities to our customer base," said Vikram Talwar, CEO and Vice-Chairman, EXL.

Read the story on Yahoo.com …

Top Financial and Telecom Companies collectively fined Rs 75 lakh by Consumer Court for unsolicited (tele-marketing) calls

Airtel, AmEx, ICICI in the dock; court takes TRAI to task, tells it to make ‘do not call’ registry. The Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has imposed a fine of Rs 75 lakh on the cellphone company Airtel, the ICICI Bank and American Express for making unsolicited calls, messages and telemarketing.

“It is very sad that these communications, SMSes and telemarketing create nuisance and disturbance to the day to day work of the consumers. These calls are made at odd hours and when the person is at a business meeting or some emergency. Receiving such calls not only harass but also unduly interferes with the right of privacy of a person, causing unnecessary financial loss to the subscriber when they attend to such calls even when they are on national or international roaming.

The full story reported on expressindia.com …