HLL, Capgemini ink deal for BPO Indigo

Hindustan Lever (HLL) has signed an agreement with Cap Gemini S.A, the parent company of the Capgemini Group, to take a 51% stake in Unilever India Shared Services known as Indigo.

According to a release issued by HLL to the BSE today, Indigo is currently a fully-owned subsidiary of the company providing BPO services to a number of Unilever companies, including the company, around the world.

"The partnership with Capgemini will bring world-leading financial BPO practices to the company and to Unilever. Indigo's domain knowledge and deep capabilities built in the FMCG sector coupled with Capgemini's BPO expertise will enable Indigo to leverage its strengths and offer services to customers outside the Unilever Group. The partnership arrangement will ensure smooth implementation of the company's transition into SAP as the ERP platform as well as in other on-going projects,' the release added.

Capgemini already has about 6,000 professionals in India (in Bangalore, Kolkata and Mumbai), and aims to reach the strategic objective of 10,000 employees in India by the end of 2007, the release added.

Indigo is a provider of financial shared services and Sarbanes Oxley compliance services to the Unilever Group throughout the world. It has operating centres in Bangalore and Chennai, and has nearly 600 professionals, including about 75 Chartered Accountants, working in the centres, the release said.

D Sundaram, finance director of HLL and chairman of Indigo, said: "The partnership with Capgemini brings global shared services skills and technology to HLL and Unilever. It also enables leveraging the current Indigo expertise and capabilities and represents an exciting opportunity for Indigo employees to extend the business outside of the Unilever Group."