By IANS
Chennai : City-based Rs.6.71-billion ($170 million) non-banking finance company Sundaram Finance Ltd plans to rejig its business process outsourcing (BPO) group, said a top official.
The Sundaram BPO business group consists of Sundaram Finance’s BPO division Sundaram Business Services and a wholly owned subsidiary called Sundaram Business Services Ltd (SBSL).
SBSL owns 74 percent stake in another city-based BPO firm Professional Management Consultancy (PMC) and 40 percent stake in Gulf Outsourcing Services (GOS), a joint venture with Dubai-based ETA Star group.
“A sort of a holding company till date, SBSL would soon start offering BPO services and start client acquisition on its own,” T.T. Srinivasaraghavan, managing director, Sundaram Finance, told the media here Monday.
Asked whether Sundaram Finance would spin off its own BPO division in favour of SBSL and consolidate all the outsourcing operations under one head, he said: “Sometime in the future, reorganising the BPO business might be warranted. But there is no immediate decision on hiving off of any division.”
He also did not rule out merger of PMC with SBSL at a future date or acquiring additional stakes in the former.
The Sundaram BPO group has around 2,000 people on the rolls and is mainly focused on domestic outsourcing business.
Sundaram Finance is also expanding the operations of its BPO division by setting up a centre in Madurai in Tamil Nadu.
Set up at an outlay of Rs.50 million, the 100-seat Madurai centre will initially service a Mumbai-based life insurer.
“We have plans to increase the head count in Madurai to 500 later,” Srinivasaraghavan said.
The choice of Madurai is part of the company’s overall plan of getting into tier-II cities in Tamil Nadu.
“There are various of reasons for selecting Madurai and the one important reason is the availability of manpower. Madurai can attract people from other neighbouring districts,” he said.
Tiruchirapalli is the other tier-II city in Tamil Nadu where Sundaram Finance is planning to replicate its Madurai model.
A part of the TVS group, Sundaram Finance’s BPO business focuses on the financial sector. The TVS group is India’s leading supplier of automotive components and one of the country’s leading business conglomerates.
“Last year, the BPO division fetched the company around Rs.250 million. This year we will close with a revenue of Rs.300 million,” said P.S. Raghavan, executive director and head, Sundaram Business Services.
He also said GOS, the joint venture with ETA Star, will start its operations early next financial year (2008-09).
“Negotiations are on with couple of prospective clients,” he said.