Indian based BPO to set foot in China

Mumbai, May 30: Indian based BPO, Effort BPO Limited, today entered into a joint venture tie up with a China based call centre Asia Star and Triple Three to establish a call centre in China.

The three partners will initially make an investment of 1 million dollars in the next three months. The joint venture company envisages Effort BPO holding a 51 per cent equity stake while Asian Star will own 24 per cent and Triple Three 25 per cent. The entity will be raising its employee strength to over 5000 within three years.

According to Efforts Director (Sales and Marketing) Rajnish Sarna, ''The new venture will be targeting about 1000 seats and will take over Asia Star's call centre business in Shanghai.'' According to a recent report on Redefining the competitive edge of companies in China by Frost and Sullivan, the Asia pacific region is fast growing as a global call centre hub for both local and international companies and China has the potential to capture a large segment of this relatively new outsourcing market.

CEO of Asiastar Gene Chu who was in Mumbai for signing the deal said, ''BPO business is still in its infancy in China and with this joint venture we can share the expertise of Indian BPO's and bring to use in our BPO operations.'' China has become an attractive location for international companies to set up or even outsource their regional call centres which in turn can cater out the mandarin and cantonese speaking markets like Hongkong and Tawain.

UNI