Cost advantage worked in Kochi's favour THE US-based BPO firm Outsource Partners International
has selected Kochi for its new service centre because
of the cost advantage compared to other Indian cities,
said Mr Clarence T. Schmitz, OPI's Chairman and CEO.
Addressing presspersons here after opening the company's
service centre at the Leela Info Park on Thursday, he
said Kochi's operations were cost-effective in terms of
spending on employees and infrastructure.
The workforce here was 40 per cent cheaper compared
to Bangalore and the infrastructure cost 50 per cent
less compared to that city.
The Kochi centre would hire about 2,000 people in the
next 18 to 24 months, but the company's headquarters
would continue to be in Bangalore, he said.
"The new centre in Kochi expands our global capability,
allowing us to support the rapid growth in demand for
our services. Our commitment is to provide clients a
unique onsite/offshore model that substantially reduces
cost as well as improves financial reporting. I am confident
that the new location will enable us to fulfil this
commitment to our clients," he said.
Asked about plans to open more centres in the State,
he said the emphasis would be on enhancing the capacity
here before looking at opening centres in other parts.
OPI, a BPO firm specialising in finance and accounting
services, started its Indian operations in 2001 at Bangalore
with 15 personnel and at present employs 600 people
in that city. OPI's nearly 900 employees operate through
seven US locations and shared service centres in Dallas,
Bangalore and Kochi. The firm is dedicated to outsourcing
finance and accounting functions such as accounts payable,
receivables, payroll, cash management, tax compliance,
general accounting and financial reporting.
On the performance of the company, Mr Schmitz said
the sales turnover at present was $40 million and the
target was to achieve $100 million by mid 2007. At present
the client strength was 40 to 50, including Cargill
and KPMG, and mostly in the US, the UK and Switzerland.
Mr Kishore Mirchandani, CEO of the Indian operations,
said that Kochi was selected following a search that looked
at quite a few Indian locations. "We find that Kochi
is a good destination in respect of cost and skill,"
he added.
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