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Wipro BPO to expand
By agencies
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Friday, 30 June 2006, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Wipro BPO is planning to start a new center in Vietnam, making the company the latest to join a long list of companies exploring cheaper destinations to cut costs.
After Romania, this is the second global destination that the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) provider will be setting up operations in. While the company angles for large outsourcing projects, it believes a global footprint will help it achieve this.
"When you talk about an overall package, India is still the most cost-effective but we would like to be a full service provider with a global footprint," Wipro BPO chief financial officer Manish Dugar said.
Companies that have already taken the Wipro route, include ICICI OneSource, announcing its decision to explore China and Vietnam, IBM Daksh, having a presence in the Philippines, Genpact setting up a base in China and similarly, two BPOs, WNS, Quatrro and Office Tiger having a center each in Sri Lanka.
Wipro BPO plans to introduce its existing clients to the new site in Vietnam and then attract new customers there as well.
Most BPO companies are foraying into locations in Asia for cost benefits centered on people or infrastructure while the European forays have more to do with developing multi-lingual capabilities and expanding on the near-shore and offshore models.
According to industry experts, another reason for BPO service providers to look at cheap locations outside India is because India's tax advantage disappears in '09, while in countries such as Malaysia, China, Vietnam and the Philippines, it is valid for another 10 years.
Meanwhile, Raman Roy's Quatrro, after setting up operations in Sri Lanka, is said to be headed to the Far East. "Sri Lanka is at the same stage that India was eight years ago with good language skills available at low costs," Roy said.