Indian outsourcer ICICI OneSource is setting up a delivery center in Belfast, the company said Tuesday.
ICICI OneSource, which provides business-process outsourcing (BPO) services in Mumbai, will set up the center in July, with a second center planned in Northern Ireland later this year. The two centers, with 200 seats each, will create 1,000 jobs in the United Kingdom over the next two years, the company said.
Customers want some processes to be delivered from onshore, even as other processes are delivered from offshore, said Ananda Mukerji, managing director and CEO of ICICI OneSource, in a conference call.
Some Indian outsourcers have already set up operations in the United Kingdom to serve clients in that country. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) of Mumbai announced in October that it would absorb 950 staff from U.K. firm Pearl Group, which outsourced its business processes to TCS. The Pearl staff are now part of a subsidiary in the United Kingdom focused on the insurance industry.
In 2001, HCL Technologies of Noida acquired 90% of the equity in the Apollo Contact Center in Belfast, operated by BT Group PLC in London, to offer contact center services to BT and other clients. By December 2004, the company acquired the balance 10% of the equity held by BT. HCL also acquired last year a contact center in Armagh in Northern Ireland from AnswerCall Direct.
The two centers of ICICI OneSource will serve two undisclosed customers in the United Kingdom, but will down the line offer services to other customers there as well, Mukerji said. “The two centers will position us for a lot of new business that required an on-shore presence,” he said.
ICICI OneSource currently gets about 50% of its revenue from the United Kingdom, with the rest from the United States. It already has a delivery center in the United States, and delivery centers in India.
The company, which is India’s fifth largest independent BPO services provider, had revenue of $124 million in its fiscal year to March 31 this year, and employs 8,000. It is focused on banking and financial services, telecommunications and healthcare.
