Posted on October 09, 2012 11:00:19 PM
[ BusinessWorld Online ]
THE LOCAL UNIT of New York-based
business process outsourcing (BPO) service provider ExlService Holdings Ltd.
plans to expand in Metro Manila and to Cebu by next year, a senior company
executive said yesterday.
Jaideep Anil Pradhan, senior vice-president of
the Nasdaq-listed parent firm and country manager of EXL Service Philippines,
Inc., said the company plans to add at least 1,000 seats to its local
operations.
The company, which started operations
in the Philippines “four years ago,” now has two offices in the Mall of Asia
Complex in Pasay City that have a total of 1,722 seats and 1,800 employees, he
said.
“At least 500 seats will be up in Cebu
by first quarter next year,” Mr. Pradhan said in an interview yesterday on the
sidelines of the 4th International Outsourcing Summit in Makati City.
“Cebu has the biggest labor pool after
Manila and the people have superior language skills,” he noted.
“By the end of next year, we will be
putting up a center near UP (University of the Philippines) Diliman. That is a
minimum of 500 seats,” he continued. “With our two centers in the Mall of Asia,
we have captured the labor pool in the south of Manila; so we want now to
capture the northern part.”
EXL Service Philippines operates voice
and non-voice services for 13 US-based firms engaged in the “insurance, health
care, transport, travel and logistics, finance, and accounting” sectors, Mr.
Pradhan said.
“We have grown more than 19% from a
year ago -- much, much more than that,” he said.
“We are only a small company, so we
will grow much faster than the industry.”
BPO revenues grew by an annual 24% to
$11 billion last year, according to the Business Processing Association of the
Philippines
Aside from the Philippines, the
company operates in India, US, Czech Republic, Romania, Malaysia and Bulgaria.
Bulk of its operations are in India, with “about 15,000” agents, Mr. Pradhan
said. -- Cliff Harvey C. Venzon
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