The Hindu Business Line : Dell to expand to fourth location

DELL International Services today said it was scouting location for a fourth customer contact centre in the country, in line with its projected requirement of 3,000-6,000 additional seats over the next 12-18 months.

"We are planning to expand to a fourth location, which could be in north or western India. The exact location will be decided in the next couple of months. And the capacity of the proposed centre would depend on the location," Mr Romi Malhotra, Managing Director, said.

Dell currently has customer contact centres at Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chandigarh. All three locations offer multiple services to business segments, including sales, customer care, technical support, e-mail support and global financial services.

"At the Chandigarh centre, we have crossed the 1,000-mark, and are ahead of the hiring schedule," Mr Malhotra said, adding that the company hoped to increase its employee strength in India to 10,000 by the end of 2005.

He said estimates for the additional seat requirements were based on the projected number of calls and systems sales.

"The company also has contact centres in the US, Canada, Panama and El Salvador, besides in locations such as Malaysia, Japan, China, Australia, and India; although in terms of size, the India operations is the largest outside the US," he said.

"We also outsource services such as technical support and customer care to 4-5 vendors, depending on demand," he added.

Regarding PC sales, he said globally the company was focusing on the top-10 markets, including the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan. "India is not yet in the top 10 but figures in the top-three potential markets," he said.

Mr Malhotra said current regulations did not permit customers in India to order Dell PCs from the company's India site. "Internet sales is a part of retail and till Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is allowed in retail, we cannot sell through the Internet in the country. So while customers can go to Dell's US site, use their credit card to place an order, and clear it through customs on their own, one cannot order it from Dell's India site in Indian currency. Our direct model is losing out on this," he said.

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