Thiruvanthapuram-based privately-held IT services company UST Global is planning to increase its presence in the Latin American region.
The mid-tier firm which counts Costco, Wal-Mart, WellPoint, Aviva Investors, Bank of America among its clients started its Latin America operations last month.
The company opened its first centre in Mexico and is planning to hire around 5,000 people within two years in this region.
UST Global, formerly US Technologies, started its operations in India in 1999 and presently has around 8,500 people across various locations including 1,200 employees in the US.
UST operates four facilities in India -- Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Bangalore and Chennai.
“Our customers are targeting the emerging markets and want us to support them in these markets. Now, most of our clients are looking for an onsite, near shore and off shore model. Some of the players who have given work to large services players are ready to siphon work to us once we start operations fully ,” said Praveen Kumar P, Head Global RMG and head Chennai center, UST Global.
Apart from the opportunity created by the clients, the company is also looking at the domestic companies in these emerging markets.
“When we decided to start operations in Mexico, 60% of our clients already had a presence there. Currently, we have a strength of around 10 persons and will add 80 people in the next one month,” said Kumar.
“Of the hires in the Latin American region, 95% will be local hires. These countries produce around 6.5 million engineers every year,” he added.
Unlike other mid-tier companies, which have more than 100 clients, UST Global has got only 60 clients of which 95% are Fortune 500.
The company said due to the financial crisis, it was able to add only two logos in last two years and is actively participating in newer deals. It is expecting to add around 10-12 logos in the next four quarters.
“Our sales team is actively participating in many deals and is expected to add 10-12 logos from the Fortune 500 list into our kitty,” he added.
UST Global, which announced its entry into Banking Financial Services (BFS) in 2011, said it is seeing good traction from the sector. It is in the process of developing a software product for the banking sector and will launch it soon. The company has already launched a software product through its sister concern Transversal eNetworks (P) Ltd and is being used by many co-operative banks in India.
The company also said that it is looking to win deals worth more than $100 million.
While saying that India is a market, it added that it will not focus on the India domestic market. “We have global relationships with many MNCs who have captives in India, as part of our MSA we will work for them in India,” he said.
