e4e plans third centre in India

Business process services and software engineering outsourcing company e4e, which has two centres in India, plans to open a third centre with a 500-seat capacity during the next fiscal (2007-08) in a secondary city.

e4e, which operates in the technical, financial and healthcare domains, has centres in Bangalore, Chennai, US and Scotland. Bulk of the work takes place in Indian centres where close to 3,200 of the company's staff strength of 4,000 are employed.

"We are intent on expanding our operations in India since the firm is based on a scaleable model. The third centre will be finalised in the third quarter of the next fiscal. We are keen on setting it up close to colleges. We are considering Pondicherry, Trichy and Coimbatore as the possible locations," e4e Inc COO Murrali Rangarajan told Business Standard.

To begin with, the third centre (of 500), will focus on data analytics and diagnostics. The seating capacity will be scaled up to 1,500 subsequently. "The availability of talent is immense in this part of India and we intend to build on it. Besides, we are growing between 32 per cent and 40 per cent year-on-year fuelling expansion," he pointed out.

In Bangalore, the company is consolidating its operations by moving into a single campus.

At present, the company operates out of six locations in Bangalore. "The Bangalore centre's staff work on all domains. We want to operate from a single campus as it will be advantageous to us from the logistical point of view," he said.

e4e services clients mainly in the US, which accounts for 95 per cent of the firm's market. In 2006, it acquired Omni Pros, a business solutions service provider based in Silicon Valley, California for the technology and financial services markets.

According to IDC estimates, the US offshore IT services market is set to double to an estimated $14.7 billion by 2009. "US markets will continue to drive our growth though the English-speaking areas in APAC are slowly picking up pace," Rangarajan stated.

He said that the company would continue to focus on organic growth. "However, we are also looking at acquisition of suitable companies if they come our way," he added.