Dell caught in a bind over space crunch
By Our Corporate Bureau | 20 Dec 2003
Chandigarh: Dell Computer India's plans to expand to Chandigarh received a setback with the Chandigarh administration turning down its request for for 40,000 sq feet space at the Punjab Engineering College (PEC). Dell had asked for the space to be made available to it by April 2004 to enable it to launch its business process outsourcing (BPO) operations.
The Chandigarh administration had informed Dell that it was in a position to offer only 20,000 sq feet of space by April and another 20,000 by October next. Dell has 6,000 call centre seats in India spread across Bangalore and Hyderabad. The company was one of the first to move to India and set up a voice-based support centre in Bangalore in April 2001.
Dell had recently been caught in a controversy for its alleged stand against outsourcing call centre contracts to due to a backlash against Indian accents.
With space at PEC not likely to materialise it may have to revise its plans for the city since even the Chandigarh Technology Park is not expected to be ready till October 2004.