The Hindu Business Line : Unisys plans to step up investments

Mr Lawrence A Weinbach (left), Chairman, Unisys Corporation, and Mr Cal Killen, Vice- President, Global Sourcing, at a press conference in Bangalore on Monday. - - G. R. N. Somashekar

Bangalore March 28

UNISYS Corporation plans to step up investments and increase its workforce in India to around 4,500 in three years, half of them to be employed through partners, said the company's Vice-President, Mr Cal Killen, in Bangalore on Monday.

The company, at present, has four partners in India — NIIT Technologies, Hexaware, Tata Infotech and Caritor.

The Unisys Chairman, Mr Lawrence A. Weinbach, who is on his first visit to India, said the ramp-up in Indian employee base was mainly to meet the increasing client demands. Unisys, at present, has some 1,150 people in India of which about 1,000 are with partners.

"We expect to double the current employee base to around 2,000 by end-2005, which is expected to double again by 2008," he told a press conference.

The proposed hiring target implies an increase of about 50 per cent from the previous plans. Unisys had said last year that by 2009, it would employ some 2,000 people directly and 1,000 through partners.

It had planned to invest about $180 million over five years. Based on the revised staffing projections, Unisys' initial investment will be exceeded over time, Mr Killen said, declining to spell out the numbers.

"Our current expansion in India is an extension of our global sourcing strategy and is integral to growing our global capabilities," Mr Weinbach said.

Unisys recently set up a large development centre in Bangalore. Software development and maintenance, technical call centres and outsourcing were the key focus areas for the Bangalore centre.

Unisys cut its 2005 outlook in January after posting a fourth quarter loss. Mr Weinbach attributed the losses to the write-off in the last quarter on account of investments in its insurance-related services that did not pay off as anticipated, but he saw better days ahead.

Unisys was also looking at an outsourcing centre in Eastern Europe but that Asia would be the fastest growing region for the company, Mr Weinbach said.

Unisys has units in China and Malaysia for its Asian customers and serves global customers from the Philippines and India.

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