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Reliance enters the BPO space |
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Source: Offshoring Times |
| Reliance Communications Ltd, or RCom, is planning for a big expansion of its business process outsourcing BPO operations over the next two years, aiming to go to 30,000 employees in such operations, up from about 7,800 employees now, according to people familiar with the plans. RCom has picked Rajnish Virmani, former chief executive of Aviva Global Services, the offshoring arm of UKs largest insurance group, Aviva Plc., to head the expanding BPO operations. |
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| Virmani, who spent four years at Aviva Global, had managed some 7,000 employees in that role.
Virmanis appointment comes five months after RCom chairman Anil Ambani said that the company was planning to spin off its BPO business as a separate subsidiary. We are planning to create a global size business in the BPO space, he said at that time. |
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| In order to cater to the fast growing needs of its clients, Reliance BPO is poised to expand significantly from the current strength of 7,800 agents, said an RCom spokesperson.
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| A person familiar with the development, said the company is also actively looking to acquire small and medium sized BPO operations.RCom has BPO operations in Navi Mumbai and Chennai, with the Navi Mumbai facility having a seating capacity of 4,000 agents, the RCom spokesperson said.
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| Work is under way at the RelianceAnil Dhirubhai Ambani Groups sprawling headquarters in Navi Mumbai, where a special economic zone SEZ is coming up on an 18 acre that will be dedicated to information technology and related services. A large part of this SEZ is to be devoted to the BPO operations, this person said. |
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| Reliance BPO provides multilingual support in voice and back office services to clients in telecom, banking, financial services, insurance, utilities and other industries. The firm plans a geographic expansion of the BPO operations as well. |
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| Virmani set up Aviva Global Services business in India and Sri Lanka. |
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| The Indian BPO industry employs some 553,000 this year, up from 415,000 the year before. Exports from the sector grew from USD 6.3 billion Rs 27,752 crore then in FY 2005 06 to USD 8.4 billion in FY 200607. It is expected to grow to USD 10.511 billion in FY08, according to Nasscom, an industry lobby group. |
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| A Nasscom report said the BPO demand in the domestic market, too, has witnessed noticeable growth over the past few years. |
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