The Hindu Business Line : HCL Tech bags big order; to triple BPO headcount

HCL Technologies Ltd, plans to swell manpower in its business process outsourcing (BPO) business to 5,000 in 12-months time from the current level of 1,800, sources said. The BPO headcount was mere 450 a year ago.

According to market sources, the company has bagged a "significant" order for its BPO business from an US retailer, which could top the $160- million order from British Telecom that it had won earlier. Though the company did not make any announcement on this order win, market sources feel the contract has come from its existing client, Federated Department Stores that owns brands such as Macy's and Bloomingdale's.

Federated is one of the top clients of HCL Technologies' software services business. The company has set up two separate centres to service this new order at Noida and Chennai.

However, the workflow to its British Telecom project has stayed a bit cramped, tracking outsourcing backlash in the UK. Hence, the contract was likely to be stretched even as the whole of the promised work would come in at a slower pace, sources said.

The company's BPO deals kicked off with low-end operations, but has now started to offer some high-end solutions wherein the company employs doctors to evaluate test results that come from overseas, lawyers for re-mortgaging and financial experts for bond modelling.

The sales cycle for the BPO business continues to stay elongated in the face of opposition to job migration from the Western markets to emerging economies. However, company sources said that they were bullish on the BPO prospects as US customers were surer than their European counterparts in these strategic job-shifts. "We believe HCL offers pilots free-of-cost, hence the pipeline would always look robust, but how much of them get translated to order wins is a point to be noted," a technology analyst with a foreign brokerage said.

Meanwhile, the company's majority-owned BPO joint venture in Ireland is looking beyond telecom at retail and insurance. This entity had taken over the BT's Irish BPO operations. HCL's Irish operation has already recruited 100 professionals to address its growing retail BPO business.

Moreover, HCL BPO has integrated the small team from HCL Infosystems' BPO business, which it had taken over.

In its September quarter of the current fiscal, HCL BPO services narrowed its net loss to Rs 5.60 crore from Rs 8.80 crore.

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