Indian call centers invade RP shores

The influx of call centers from India, the main rival of the Philippines in the BPO industry, is not slowing down with the opening of another Indian-owned call center at an Ayala-owned mall in Taguig City.

Allsec Tech, a Chennai, India-based call center operator, entered the country by acquiring Kingdom Builders Inc. (KBI), a local BPO firm. KBI's old site in Ortigas is currently being moved to its new location at the 3rd floor of Market! Market! mall in Bonifacio Global City.

The company is the latest addition to the growing number of Indian call centers that have set up shop in the Philippines. Among those which have blazed the trail are Firstsource Solutions and Genpact Holdings, both located at the Northgate Cyberzone IT park in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

Allsec's top executives said locating in the Philippines marked the "creation of another footprint" for the company as it expands its geographic distribution as a way of mitigating risk.

"We bought KBI with the specific purpose of expanding to the Philippines," said Adi Saravanan, founder and president of Allsec Technologies Ltd. "And we chose the Philippines because of its esteemed standing in the international BPO market."

The new 750-seat facility was built at the cost of $ 4.5 million, according to Saravanan. "It was up and running in just two months."

Backed by the powerful Washington-based Carlyle Group, the Indian firm bought the 150-seater Filipino call center with plans of utilizing it as its base for tapping markets within the Southeast Asian region.

Allsec Tech, which is currently into banking, financial services, payroll processing, claims management, and student loans consolidation, said operations in Manila will cater to the needs of existing and proposed customers from the US, Australian, and ASEAN markets.