The Hindu Business Line : Raman Roy, Lankan co join to tap BPO opportunity

THE Sri Lanka-based diversified group, John Keells Holdings Ltd (JKH), and Raman Roy and Associates (RRA) today announced a joint venture to develop a BPO business in the Asian region, initially focusing on India and Sri Lanka, with an investment of $22 million.

"As a first step, the two parties have entered into an MoU. This partnership will enable JKH enter the BPO industry with the expertise of Raman and his team, who have played a pivotal role in the creation of the BPO industry in India," said Mr Susantha Ratnayake, Deputy Chairman of JKH, in a statement.

"We believe the industry has tremendous potential for growth and the combined resources and strengths of JKH and RRA will make this venture a success. It will also provide the much needed impetus to the nascent BPO industry in Sri Lanka."

When contacted, Mr Raman Roy said that RRA would hold 22 per cent equity in the project.

The joint venture is expected to set up operations initially in New Delhi and Colombo and thereafter in other select cities in India and Sri Lanka. "JKH has business interests in insurance, banking, packaging and even food processing sectors. Under the joint venture, we are beyond preliminary stages of discussion with customers who are in the technology, financial services and freight and forwarding domains," Mr Roy said, but refused to divulge the number of people who would be recruited.

Mr Roy - who was a veteran executive with American Express - was given the task of starting a call centre in 90s, and subsequently did the same for GE, before starting his own company, Spectramind. sold his company to Wipro two years later.

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