The Hindu Business Line : Perot Systems on expansion mode

The company has acquired 7.2 acres of SEZ land, 2 km off Saravanampatti near here, for establishing its own facility. The first phase of this project is expected to become operational in 2009.

The company set up its BPO division here two years ago, in 25,000 sq.ft of rented space. The company plans to have its BPO, infrastructure services and IT services division at the upcoming location.

“We plan to retain our existing facility. The owned-premises would take care of our expansion plans,” its Managing Director, Mr Vardhaman Jain, told Business Line.

The company is upbeat about its growth prospects here. “We looked at Kochi and Pune as well, but it did not work out, because we were basically looking for SEZ land,” he said.

Having got the co-developer licence (for the SEZ land) last week, Perot is in the process of identifying architects and project managers to commence work on the site.

Stating that the company has for the first time proposed to have all its three divisions in a tier-II city, he said the Noida facility comprised the BPO and infrastructure service division, the Bangalore facility focused on BPO and IT services and the Chennai centre on BPO alone.

The proposed total built-up area of this project would be 7.5-lakh sq ft, he said and pointed out that about 3-lakh sq ft of built space would be ready by early 2009.

The company has plans to strengthen its team size. Asked to comment about the appreciating rupee and its impact on Perot’s bottomline, Mr Jain said the company had over the years automated its processes, improved man-hour productivity and managed to maximise capacity utilisation.

“The 10-12 per cent collapse has not impacted our bottomline so far. Further, 85 per cent of our business is non-call centre work and the compensation here is adequate,” he said.

While stating that Perot’s business model is still profitable, Mr Jain said the company was hedging in on long-term contract of say 3-5 years.