European IT and business process services company Steria expects to scale up its India delivery headcount to 8,000-9,000 employees by 2014.

Current staff strength

The Paris-headquartered company with a large offshore play currently has 6,000 employees on the India rolls.

“I don't think that the wage hikes will compromise the fantastic or competitive advantage that India has in terms of talent and expertise,” Mr Francois Enaud, Global CEO of Steria, told Business Line .

India, he said, currently accounts for only five per cent of our total group salary costs for Steria. “So even an increase of, say, 10 per cent in wages, will not make much impact when seen in the context of our overall salary costs. It is not dramatic. However, the situation may be bit different for Indian companies which have an overwhelming majority of their staff based in India,” he said.

Steria, he said, would continue to concentrate on the current delivery locations in India – Noida, Chennai and Pune.

The company recently reported a 3.5 per cent rise in its global consolidated revenue for first quarter 2011 at €429 million. As of March 31, 2011, the global headcount of Steria stood at 19,340, nearly five per cent higher than the first quarter 2010.

“We are accelerating our India hiring plans. A part of that is also because we are going to concentrate on India domestic market itself. We have proven capabilities in segments such as biometrics and transportation, and are keen to sign up local orders. But at the same time, we will be selective about the solutions we get to the Indian market,” he said.

Banking segment

Mr Enaud said that in the banking segment, the company would first bring identity access management solution. Similarly in the transportation segment, it plans to provide traffic management solutions, initially. “In transportation, we may not do back-office information system, in the first phase. We want to be extremely selective,” he said.

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