Indian IT sector dances to Latin American tunes

A good bit of Latin American flavour is spreading across India's $100-billion IT/BPO sector, with an increasing number of companies expanding into this region to serve their key North America clients better, given this geography's proximity and cultural affinity to the US market.

Starting from Mexico all the way up to Argentina, Indian IT companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro and Mahindra Satyam have been adding more muscle to their presence in these regions with even a mid-tier firm like Hexaware Technologies joining this list to start a near-shore destination.

If India has become the dominant offshore destination for the global IT industry, the Latin America region with a sizeable qualified talent pool provides that extra sense of comfort for US companies that outsource their technology requirements. The current spend on IT by companies in the region is estimated at $70 billion.

Infosys, India's second-largest IT services exporter, recently announced the opening up of a business process outsourcing (BPO) centre in San Jose, Costa Rica, with over 100 employees initially. It will provide key services in the strategic sourcing and procurement area for Procter & Gamble, the world's leading FMCG company.

Infosys also plans to expand the BPO offerings in Costa Rica for its global clients in areas such as finance and accounting, human resources management, analytics, legal processes, customer relationship services, marketing and supply chain management. Besides this, the IT major already has a presence in Mexico and Brazil.

Similarly, Hexaware has also announced the opening of its third global delivery centre in Saltillo, Mexico, and it currently serves over 30 customers delivering over 100 active projects.

Raghavendra K, vice-president and head, HR, Infosys BPO, said, "We look at areas which are strategic for our clients. Through the Latin America centres we are not only serving global clients but large Spanish and Portuguese-speaking markets. The region has a ready-made workforce with language skills. Latin America has a good education system so the quality of people is good who understands the local nuances as well as the business requirements."

... contd.

ALSO READ

Govt aims to bring down CAD to 2.5% by 12th Plan-end, says Montek

Raghuram Rajan not in favour of sovereign bond to finance CAD

Airfares: Travel agents to keep shutters down on Tuesday

Companies expand background check on jobseekers