Overall, to treble its headcount in North America to 15,000 by December next year.
Aegis, a Mumbai-headquartered business process outsourcing (BPO) company, is set to become the largest Indian employer in the US in the next one year. The Essar Group company plans to treble its headcount in North America from the current 5,000 to around 15,000 by end-December 2011.
Of the 5,000, Costa Rica has 500 and the rest are in the US. The company operates out of New York, Florida, Missouri, Texas (three centres), Arizona and California.
“By trebling our headcount in the American region to 15,000 by end of 2011, and with a vast majority of them located in the US, we will be the largest Indian employer in the US. Even during recession, we doubled our staff there last year. We are an Indian company creating jobs in the US, too,” Sandip Sen, president (Americas) & Global chief marketing officer of Aegis told Business Standard.
Among Indian information technology companies, TCS has about 7,200 people in the US, including Indians sent there on H1B or L1 visas, according to industry sources. Infosys publicly stated the company employed 1,300 American citizens and permanent residents in the US. It plans to increase this by 1,000 in a year. Wipro's US headcount is expected to be in the same range.
Sen says Aegis is not under pressure to create large scale job opportunities in the US because of the recent protectionist wave. Instead, theirs is a conscious decision to gather a critical mass in the country, which will make its job of getting business from the large Fortune 500-600 companies a lot more easier. “It is also important for companies like us to prove to the US government that we are sensitive enough to understand the issues the country is facing at the moment,” he adds. As a part of the strategy, Aegis acquired a captive BPO centre of Sallie Mae, one of the biggest student loan providers, which was on the verge of closure this May, rendering all 200 people working there jobless. Aegis acquired the centre with all the associates. In five months, it has raised this to 900 people, after winning contracts from two large insurance companies.
Sen says local employees in the US are responsible primarily for handling American clients. Besides, there are about 5,000 people in various offshore centres in India and 15,000 in the Philippines who support the American clients.
