Motorola on the lookout for BPO opportunities

A top level Motorola team will visit India shortly to scout for opportunities in the area of business process outsourcing. "We will visit India in August to see what are the opportunities for us in the BPO space," Simon Leung, senior vice-president, Motorola Asia Pacific Ltd, said at the sidelines of an analysts meet here.

Asked what is the work that Motorola would outsource to India, Leung said nothing had been decided so far. "We will first see some BPO operations in India and then take a final decision," he said.

If it decides to set up a BPO base in India, Motorola would join a growing list of multinational companies offshoring work to India.

Motorola, it is worth noting, already has a software development centre as well as a Centre for Excellence in India. "We see India as not only a large market for our products but also a base for development of software and location of BPO work," Leung added.

According to Leung, Motorola is also seeking to grow its automotive business in India. "We are talking to Tata Motors on what we can do together," he added, refusing to give any more details.

Automotive components account for almost eight per cent of Motorola's global turnover. It has a factory at Tianjin in China to make these products.

Motorola is the world's market leader in embedded telematics systems that enable automated roadside assistance, navigation and advanced safety features for automobiles. It also provides integrated electronics for the powertrain, chassis, sensors and interior controls. It accounts for almost eight per cent of Motorola's turnover. Motorola has identified India as a key market for the future along with China, Brazil and Russia. "India will be as big as China in the years to come, if not bigger," Motorola, Inc chairman and chief executive officer Edward J Zander told analysts.

(The correspondent's visit to Rosemont was sponsored by Motorola)