The chief executive officer of the Rs 640-crore global BPO outfit of HTMT Global Solutions Ltd, Partha De Sarkar, said on Thursday the state offers quality manpower and the company is happy with its centre in Durgapur. This came a day after Quatrro BPO Solutions Pvt Ltd’s Raman Roy said West Bengal has little economic and non economic benefits to offer to the BPOs,
Durgapur is one of the 11 centres of HTMT in India out of its 21 global centres.
While Roy rejected places outside Kolkata for the lack of proper infrastructure, HTMT feels that for their kind of BPO business, Durgapur is an ideal place.
HTMT has planned to expand its operation in the state once it shifts to its new campus, said De Sarkar. The company has around 80 clients, domestic and International.
HTMT will increase its employee strength to 2500 by the end of 2009, from the current 1500 working in its Durgapur centre.
“The quality of manpower is extremely good and the infrastructure is satisfactory. Durgapur’s geographical location has helped us to get young people from states like Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar,” said De Sarkar.
This helps HTMT to render better service to the customers of Bharti Airtel in Orissa, Bihar and Bengal, he said.
Bharti Airtel is the major customer of the 670-seat contact centre of HTMT. At present, HTMT operates from a leased property and will soon move to its own campus on 1 lakh sqft. This will help HTMT to increase the number of seats to 1000.
“When we first came here with an intention to set up the business, we found the cost of the land is prohibitive. It is perhaps one of the highest in the country. Rajarhat is expensive,” said De Sarkar.
But for HTMT, the situation changed when the state government told the company to move outside Kolkata to Durgapur. “We found this place good for our business,” he said.
HTMT has grown through acquisition. It is looking for companies engaged in non-voice business in the US and the UK.
“We have around $110 million cash set aside for the acquisition,” said De Sarkar. “We are not looking at the Indian companies as the valuations are high.”
