Flextronics to create 4,000 direct jobs in Chennai over 2 yrs

Singapore's Flextronics is likely to create over 4,000 direct jobs in the Chennai region over the next two years through its investment in business process outsourcing (BPO) and manufacturing operations.

Flextronics plans to scale up its BPO operations in Chennai to a staff strength of about 2,000 people in under two years.

The $15.9 billion Flextronics plans to use Chennai to carry out in-house BPO work related to its back office (finance and human resources functions), said Peter Tan, president and managing director of Flextronics (Asia), at a press conference today.

The company already has around 208 people at its Chennai BPO (referred to as Global Shared Services Centre). The scale up in its BPO operations would take place by migrating work carried out in Mexico and Hungary.

The BPO operations' scale up would supplement the company main investment in the region: an industrial park in Sriperumbudur to make largely telecom equipment in the beginning. Flextronics is to invest $ 100 million there over a five-year period.

Between the BPO and the new manufacturing facility, Flextronics is likely to create over 4,000 jobs directly in the next two years.

Tan said that Chennai was chosen as the company's biggest manufacturing location ahead of Pondicherry (it already has an assembly centre there) and Bangalore.

A Flextronics media release said that it had selected Chennai for the manufacturing based on the area's resource of technical talent and infrastructure for efficient logistics and cost effective operations.

The industrial park planned by the company is spread over a 200-acre area in the SIPCOT Industrial Park in Sriperumbudur, and is located in the vicinity of Nokia's park. Both the parks have been given Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status.

An integrated industrial park of the kind planned by Flextronics would house its supplier base.

The supplier base , in turn, would bring in investments over and above the $ 100 million committed by Flextronics.