Capgemini to double its workforce in India

BANGALORE, India -- Capgemini SA plans to double its workforce in India over the next 18 months and make the country its hub for delivering offshore IT and BPO services to corporate users.

"In terms of ability to scale number of staff and everything else, I don't think any other country can offer what India can," Aruna Jayanthi, vice president of outsourcing at Bangalore-based Capgemini India, said in an interview here earlier this month.

The Indian subsidiary has about 4,600 staffers now and plans to increase its head count to 6,000 by year's end and to 10,000 by the end of 2007, Jayanthi said.

Paris-based Capgemini has offshore service-delivery centers in other countries, such as China and Poland. But the Indian operation is its largest offshore unit and has already grown by 80 percent annually over the past two years, Jayanthi said. She added that about 60 percent of the work done in India is for U.S. customers.