CHENNAI: New York-based Sutherland Global Services, a leading player in the BPO (business process outsourcing) space, is set to spread its wings further in Chennai. It will go in for a leased facility to accommodate over 550 seats. Dilip Vellodi, Chairman and CEO, said the new facility would be up and running within 75 days. Sutherland has five facilities in the city, employing over 6,500 people.

Mr. Vellodi told The Hindu over telephone from Manila that Sutherland was hopeful of kick-starting its operations in Kochi by August on a leased land rather than waiting for its proposed campus at Kalamasserry to come up. In January, the company had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kerala Government to set up a state-of-the-art service delivery centre and training infrastructure on a 25-acre land at Kalamasserry. The upcoming campus is expected to house 3,000 professionals over the next three years in the first phase. It will involve an investment of Rs. 120 crore.

The company's new facility in Manila went on stream on Monday with a formal inauguration by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, President of the Philippines. The company made its entry into the Philippines in mid-2005 and had ramped up its headcount to over 750 against a Phase 1 target of 500 professionals, he pointed out. Sutherland would double its headcount in the Philippines over the next six months.

Mr. Vellodi said Sutherland would also work jointly with the Philippines Government to set up a deemed university to educate and train people on various aspects of career in the BPO space by offering certificate courses. Sutherland was exploring different geographical locations, including India, to set up a network of such universities across the globe.

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