The Hindu Business Line : Keane plans to invest $25 m more in India

Mr Brian Keane, President & CEO. Keane Inc; and Mr Sandeep Bhargava, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Keane Worldzen, at a press conference in the Capital on Tuesday. - - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , April 6

IT outsourcing firm Keane Inc on Tuesday announced that it would invest an additional $25 million in expanding its BPO and IT service operations in India, and triple headcount to 5,000 in the next two years.

"Keane continues to experience strong client satisfaction with its offshore delivery and we are seeing increased demand for solutions that leverage application outsourcing, business process outsourcing, and offshore delivery to achieve significant cost reductions and business improvement," said Mr Brian Keane, President and CEO.

The company has 1,600 professionals in India, of which 1,300 are in application space and the rest in BPO.

The number is likely to rise to 5,000 in two years, of which 3,000 will be in application development and management and 2,000 in BPO, according to Mr Keane.

While the additional investment of $25 million would be pumped into organic growth, Mr Keane said that the company was also eyeing acquisitions in India.

"We have substantial cash reserves, although there is no set dollar amount, that I can quote for acquisition in India. But we are looking at acquisitions both in application and BPO space."

With its Advanced Development Centres in Gurgaon, Noida and Hyderabad, Keane India is strongly positioned to enhance the parent's offshore delivery capabilities, he added.

On the growing backlash in the US against outsourcing to low-cost destinations like India, he said: "It is not a small phenomenon, it is the hottest topic of discussion in Presidential politics. But the good thing is that we find no change in the buying behaviour of US companies."

"Outsourcing will continue and the debate may subside if there is job growth in the US", he said.