Axed back office opns turn into big BPO projects

Mumbai, Oct 12: The global financial firms plunged in a full-fledged cost cutting drive and restructuring to focus on core operations as part of their crusade to survive the global economic crisis are now dropping Indian back office operations.

While insurance and banking majors like AIG and Citigroup, bailed out by the US government, have already sold some of their India units in the past year; other companies companies like UBS, American Express, BoA-Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse are expected to follow the suit.

These units which are now considered demode are being transformed into big outsourcing contracts.

Attracted by hefty long-term contracts top software firms such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant to private equity firms such as KKR and Blackstone interested are lining up to take up the outsourcing projects.

Apart from earning a fat check by running the services for the financial firm, sealing these deals are also being used by the buyers to attract more clients.

In 1990s the global firms set up the back office units to exploit the low cost, English speaking workforce of the country. However, as the years passed by the trend grew into something more complex and expensive, leading the firms to take this decision now, amid the financial crisis.

OneIndia News