The Hindu Business Line : Dell to start off with desktops at Chennai

KEEN ON GROWTH: (From left) Mr Dick Hunter, Dell Vice-President, Cutomer Experience and Cutomer Support; the Minister of Communication and IT, Mr Dayanidhi Maran; and the Managing Director, Dell International Services India, Mr Romi Malhotra; outside the Dell's Customer Care Centre in Gurgaon on Friday. - Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , Nov. 17

Reaffirming his support to the growth of the IT industry by means of tax benefits and better infrastructure, the Union Minister for Information Technology and Communications, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, on Friday said that he had written to the Finance Ministry seeking extension of tax holiday for the sector beyond 2009.

At an inaugural function of Dell's customer contact centre in Gurgaon, Mr Maran said that in the coming years, he expected Dell's headcount in India to increase to 20,000 from 13,000 at present.

He said that the BPO industry employed more than five lakh people and the Ministry had received over 70 new plans for setting up back office operations and call centres in the country over the last 12-18 months.

Further, he added that ITES sector had generated a revenue of $ 8.4 billion in 2005-06, which was four times the revenue generated in 2001-02.

Mr Dick Hunter, Vice-President, Customer Experience, Dell, said that the company was investing $150 million globally in its customer care support centres, though he declined to reveal what percentage of this investment would be made in India.

As earlier announced, Dell's fourth customer contact centre in Gurgaon has a capacity of 800 people, which would increase, to about 2,500 in its next phase.

Commenting on Dell's manufacturing facility in Chennai, Mr Romi Malhotra, Managing Director, Dell International Services India said, "Initially, we would start with manufacturing of desktops, which contribute to 70 per cent of our revenues and then we would add new products to our portfolio."

He added that in the domestic market, the company had 45 per cent market share in the corporate sector. During the last quarter, the company's volume growth in the country was 83 per cent and in terms of revenue, it was 63 per cent. The Indian PC market is expected to grow from 5.4 million PCs in a year to about nine million.

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