Xchanging Plc increasing back office operations in Karnataka

Xchanging Plc, a leading business process outsourcing firm in the United Kingdom, has taken initiatives to increase the capacity of its back office facility at Shimoga in Karnataka, India, to a 200-seat center. The company’s chief financial officer for India, Sri Krishna said that the firm will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard with the state government of Karnataka in the presence of the British Premier David Cameron and the Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yeddurappa on Wednesday.

David Andrews, Xchangin Plc founder and CEO, along with Nimesh Soni, the BPO firm’s India arm managing director, will also be present on the occasion.

According to a news report, Cameron, accompanied with a high-level delegation, will visit Bangalore on Wednesday. During his maiden visit to India after assuming office, will visit India’s second largest software exporter Infosys Technologies and the country’s defense major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bangalore on the same day. Krishna further said that Xchanging Plc would be the first MNC to establish a green technology-based hub in a tier-III site to augment its growth in India. He, however, refused to provide financial details regarding the new facility.

Another news website reports that the BPO firm based in London has been operating in Shimoga in a rented property from 2008 and had employed approximately 300 youths from the area. The new facility in Karnataka will be set up in a special economic zone (SEZ) and is likely to be the biggest rural BPO venture till date in India. In addition to Shimoga, the £750 million BPO firm also has offices in Gurgaon, Bangalore and Chennai in India.

The new venture by the London-based BPO firm is being seen as part of the company’s endeavor to make the best of the cost advantages that add to the business process outsourcing business by establishing its facilities outside major cities and towns where the operating costs are likely to cut into the cost arbitrage gains of BPOs.

Krishna said that Xchanging Plc offers non-voice back office facilities in different verticals, such as technology, accounting, procurement, human resources and other sectors – insurance, banking, retail, manufacturing and real estate. The BPO firm, with functional proficiency and domain understanding, employs over 8,000 professionals spread across 42 countries.