Manpower to set up more offices

Global staffing major Manpower Inc is betting heavily on India. It plans to open 20 new offices over the next two years and double its headcount from 420 consultants to 800.

The company, which had just 70 consultants in the country in January 2005, expects to increase its revenues from India by over 150 per cent.

"The company has a three-year plan within which we want to significantly expand our presence in India. As part of our expansion strategy, we plan to be in all significant tier-II and tier-III cities," said Soumen Basu, executive chairman, Manpower India.

The company is tapping the tier-II and tier-III cities to service the increasing demand of the business processing outsourcing sector.

"The penetration into these markets is not client driven. On the other hand we are looking to create a large pool of candidates for the BPO sector," added Basu.

The IT and the BPO sector together is the largest growing business vertical for the company and comprises over 50 per cent of its business in India.

Manpower, seen primarily as a temporary staffing company, entered into a joint venture with Delhi-based ABC Consultants last year. This has led to increasing business from executive hiring.

"Even though both lines of our business are growing at more than 100 per cent, currently 80 per cent of our business comes from executive hiring and 20 per cent from temporary hiring against 40 per cent from temporary hiring last year," added Basu.