WNS Global Services, Aegis & Genpact look to build out operations in China

Pure-play business process outsourcers from India have begun to make the trip to China as they look to globalise their service delivery network and take a slice of the fastgrowing Chinese market.

US-listed WNS Global Services, the country’s fifthlargest BPO, Aegis, and Genpact are all looking to build out their operations in China. In doing so, these BPOs are following in the footsteps of their larger information technology services peers such as Infosys, and Tata Consultancy Services, who have entered world’s secondlargest economy more than a decade ago but are far from calling it a success.

“We have 200 employees in China and two delivery centres. I could see us having multiple centres in China, just like we have in India,” said Keshav Murugesh, Chief Executive Officer of WNS, which opened a centre in Guangzhou earlier this year, adding to its existing facility in Dalian.

Having the option of deliv- ering services from China is proving to be a critical element in WNS’ negotiations with two new potential clients, said Murugesh, who expected those contracts to be signed this year. WNS employs 25,000 people and has annual revenues of close to US $ 500 million (Rs.3,000 crore).

The Essar Group’s BPO arm Aegis has also said it is also in talks to enter China and other SE Asian countries, as their centres in Philippines cannot cater to languages in the Asean region. The company is considering an acquisition in that region, an Aegis executive, who declined to be identified, said.

Even as WNS and Aegis are testing the waters, they will have to contend with Genpact, India’s largest BPO, which is by far the strongest Indian player in China, a market that TCS and Infosys entered several years ago. Started as a unit of General Electric, the company is now looking to boost its headcount in China to 10,000 by 2015, up from about 4000 currently.