'BPOs will not be affected by US ban'

Indian ITES and BPO to see 54 per cent growth

Indian Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) are likely to grow at the rate of 54 per cent, to reach $3.6 billion by the end of the year 2003-2004 and about $8 to $9 million by the end of the year 2009-2010 as per the estimates of Nasscom, said Chris Robinson, director QX.

He was speaking during the opening of the new office of its subsidiary, Quality BPO Services Private Ltd (QBS) at GNFC infotower in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

"India is least likely to be affected by the US banning outsourcing as more than 90 per cent of the outsourcing is done by private companies in the US" said Nirav Shah, director QBS. The company started operation in India in September 2003 with 15 staff, and an investment of around Rs 8 crore.

Within six months the company reported a turnover of Rs 4 crore and plans to achieve the break-even within the end of the next financial year. The company also plans to increase the headcount by recruiting around 200 more employees by the end of this calendar year. Most of the its clients are small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK.

"About 85 per cent of the UK and the US companies consider using BPO, while more than 50 per cent of the outsourcing is done through India." said Robinson. The company will mainly focus on accounting, software development and information technology consultancy services apart from helping UK companies in setting their offices in India.