Satyam focuses on China; to treble workforce

Information technology outsourcing company Mahindra Satyam today said that it will triple its workforce in China to 1,500 people by 2015 as part of efforts to better serve its global clients which have operations in the country.

Satyam and majority shareholder Tech Mahindra Ltd together have software facilities or 'global delivery centres' in Shanghai and Nanjing, the Indian software company said.

It will have a strategic focus on the engineering, manufacturing and telecom sectors, using China as a base to serve global clients.It will also explore strategic partnerships with Chinese companies to boost growth in the local market as well as to support clients in Japan.

India's outsourcing companies traditionally earn most of their revenue from the US and Europe. However, the recent economic turmoil in these two markets has led to many outsourcers looking to other markets such as China and Japan.

Mahindra Satyam, in its former avatar as Satyam Computer Services, had set up operations in China in 2002, among the first of the Indian IT majors to do so. Satyam Computer was majority taken over by the Mahindra Group after its promoter B Ramalinga Raju admitted a massive accounting fraud in the company in January 2009 (See: Satyam's Raju admits to fraud and resigns).

"China will be a critical pillar of our regional and global strategy. The region will increase its revenue contribution from 24 per cent currently in view of the size of Chinese economy and specific opportunities which we have identified," Rohit Gandhi, senior vice president for Asia- Pacific, India, Middle East and Africa, who is attending World Economic Forum in Tianjin, said today.