Wipro sets up global services delivery from China

Indian outsourcer Wipro has set up a global services delivery center in Chengdu in southwest China, targeting customers in the U.S., Europe, and other markets outside the country.

The company already runs a services center in Shanghai with about 300 to 400 staff. The center, set up in 2004, is focused on local customers and on Chinese operations of multinational companies, Suchira Iyer, general manager at Wipro Chengdu, said Thursday.

The move by Wipro to open a global services facility in Chengdu reflects a growing trend for Indian outsourcers to set up global delivery facilities outside India. "The center is part of our strategy to have development centers worldwide, and to use local talent that is available across the world," Iyer said.

Indian outsourcing companies have to become global with the flexibility to offer services from a large number of countries, said Siddharth Pai, a partner at outsourcing consultancy Technology Partners International (TPI) in Houston.

Setting up operations outside India also helps outsourcers offer their customers assurances about business continuity and disaster recovery, analysts said.

The center at Chengdu has 100 staff with plans to increase the number to about 1,000 in a few years, Iyer said. Chengdu offers skilled staff at costs similar to those in India, she added.

The Chengdu center, though predominantly focused on foreign customers, will also address the local market, Iyer said.

Chengdu has a large number of universities, and there is large pool of skilled staff that Wipro hopes to hire, she said. The local government in Chengdu is also actively promoting outsourcing, she added.

The Chengdu center will provide IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) services, Wipro said.

The center will have an initial focus on testing and enterprise application services for the manufacturing, banking, financial services, and insurance industries. It will provide multilingual services in English, Chinese and Japanese, Wipro added.