Sykes aims to treble India staff

BANGALORE: U.S-based Sykes Enterprises, which runs call centre services to Fortune 1000 companies, aims to treble its staff in India to nearly 1,200 by the end of this year, as it boosts operations in low-cost countries.

"Our clients that are looking to save costs, are now using our offshore (locations)," Marlene Avila, call centre director at Sykes' fully-owned Indian unit, told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry conference.

Foreign firms are flocking to set up back-office service units for financial claims processing and build customer support desks in India, attracted by its vast pool of low-cost English-speaking graduates and engineers.

Tampa, Florida-based Sykes, which has customers mainly in the technology, consumer and financial services industries, started operations in India's technology capital of Bangalore less than a year ago.

While reporting its quarterly results, Sykes said it will add up to 3,400 seats over the next 12 months across the Phillippines, India and Costa Rica as part of its expansion plans.

Computer-maker Dell and media giant AOL Time-Warner have in the past few years joined General Electric and American Express in setting up up their customer service units in India.