Raju Bhatnagar

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the latest catchword of the IT industry and most Indian software companies are venturing into this space to get a piece of the pie. Cognizant Technology Solutions India, a provider of application and e-business solutions, plans to start its BPO operations by the first quarter of the next year. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cognizant Technology Solutions US.

Raju Bhatnagar, head of Cognizant’s BPO operations said, “Our Pune facility with 250-275 seats is already in place and the Bangalore facility with 150-175 seats will be ready by mid-January 2003. Once that is complete we will venture into the BPO sector. We will leverage our strengths in IT services to gain a foothold in the BPO space. In the first phase we are concentrating on building our own capacity.”

Initially, the company plans to provide voice and back-office support for vertical industries like banking, finance, insurance, financial services and healthcare. Elaborating on the company’s Kolkata venture, Bhatnagar said the company plans to launch its BPO operations in that city in the second phase. “We are constantly eyeing opportunities and would like to build up capacity and grow through acquisitions,” he said.

Unlike its peers, Congnizant is not immediately planning to hive off its BPO activities into a separate company. Depending on the scale of growth, it may later be turned into an independent entity. CTS works for a string of Foturne 500 clients, sourcing its entire software development work from its units in India.

“Our foray into BPO is primarily customer-driven. Many of our clients, for whom we deliver software services, wanted us to venture into BPO. An extension to the BPO business will help address the entire value chain of our customers,” said Bhatnagar.