The Hindu Business Line : Wipro BPO trims team — Revenues to remain muted for next two quarters

WIPRO BPO, which is transitioning from a predominantly voice-based outfit to a non-voice-driven business, has reduced headcount by 2,000 to 13,630 people, during the first quarter of this fiscal.

In the previous quarter, (Q4 of financial year 2004-05), the BPO had added a net of 1,333 people. The business also faced operating margin pressure and BPO revenues would remain muted during the next couple of quarters, said Mr Suresh Senapaty, Chief Financial Officer.The company also planned to set up an integrated BPO and IT services delivery centre in Eastern Europe to cater to German and French customers.

Though the company had such centres in Shanghai and Beijing, these catered to local customers only, the Chairman, Mr Azim Premji, said, adding the BPO business had been facing very high attrition levels which could not be allowed to continue. The job losses were a combination of the naturally high attrition rates and people being asked to leave. "The transitional challenges in our BPO business impacted revenues and profits growth during the quarter but we are convinced on the strategic direction and will pursue it, he said, referring to the move to get more non-voice business.

Wipro eventually hopes to have 40 per cent of its revenues from non-voice business - it is less than 20 per cent now. Wipro BPO contributed 11 per cent to the global IT products and services business revenues of Rs 1,730 crore during the first quarter of the current fiscal.

Mr Premji said the company should have reengineered the BPO business to focus on transaction processing and increasing productivity. "We are aligning the BPO with verticals to get synergistic benefit from our business divisions," he said.

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