CHENNAI
DECEMBER 16, 2004
Sundaram Business Service (SBS), the business process outsourcing arm of Sundaram Finance Limited, has announced its expansion in Chennai with the setting up of a new offshore delivery facility. Its new 30,000-square feet BPO delivery unit can house 700 people and will go fully live by this month.
SBS focuses on non-voice support services. The division's offerings include accounting services, credit processing, deposit processing, employee administration and insurance-related processing services.
The new BPO unit is housed at a vastly refurbished unused facility originally belonged to Dunlop, the tyre company. Sundaram Finance acquired the property, at Patullos Road in the heart of the city, a couple of years ago in an open auction conducted under the auspices of Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) after Dunlop turned sick. The 22-ground property was acquired at around Rs.12crore.
Addressing presspersons here today, T. T. Srinivasaraghavan, Managing Director, Sundaram Finance, said SFL had "spent a few crores" to build a modern BPO facility in the once Dunlop-owned property without bringing down the original structure.
P. S. Raghavan, Executive Director, SBS, said the division had also expanded into Mumbai with a 50-seat facility in Navi Mumbai. It also had a small BPO outfit in Delhi. Mr. Raghavan said SBS had gone on an expansion mode since its engagement with the domestic clients grew. Further, the expansion was also necessitated by the acquisition of a couple of overseas clients, he added.
SBS had initialled multi-year offshore outsourcing deals with two overseas companies. One deal was with a leading 50-year-old mid-sized accounting service firm in Australia that specialised in areas of business services, taxation and super annuation funds. The other overseas BPO deal was with a leading chartered accountant firm in the U.K., Mr. Raghavan said. The ability to pierce the overseas markets had enthused SBS to set up marketing offices in Singapore, Dubai and London. "Our strategy is to maker further inroads into the overseas markets and establish a strong base there," Mr. Raghavan said. Within India, SBS would continue to mine deeper into its existing clients and expand the current outsourcing engagements, Mr. Srinivasaraghavan said.
Both were confident that SBS would end the current year with a business of Rs. 12 crores against Rs. 8 crores last year. They were hopeful that the business profile of SBS would undergo a change in the coming years and would comprise more non-SFL and overseas components.
Asked about the possibility of spinning SBS off into an independent company, Mr. Srinivasaraghavan said the need was not felt at the moment. Yet, he said SFL would keep the option open as business expanded. Asked if SFL had not found any dichotomy in running two businesses requiring different mindset and culture under a single entity, the Managing Director felt that the ethos of SFL was a common factor. |
