CSC to double India headcount

After majors like IBM, Accenture and Capgemini, it is the turn of the $16 billion California-based software giant Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) to expand its footprint in India.

The company plans to double its headcount in India in the next two years from 16000 to about 32000 people. This will include across the board from entry-level software coding, BPO work to complex technology and business consulting work.

The company plans to expand in tier II and tier III cities like Vadodara and Indore. It already has a few thousand employees in these places working on projects that CSC gets from companies in the US.

"We are looking at different models as compared to our competitors wherein we won't use India as a mere talent sourcing location. We will also look at areas like technology and business consulting and even setting up centers abroad using the India back-office model," says Padmaja Krishnan, director, planning and research, CSC India.

The company recently has boosted its Indian connection with a couple of acquisitions. It acquired Michigan-based Covansys Corporation, a technology consulting company, for $1.3 billion. Covansys has 8,000 employees across India.

In January, CSC acquired First Consulting Group, a California-based company that develops healthcare solutions for the global market. It has 600 employees in Bangalore.

Krishnan says with these buys, CSC gets a significant India presence.

CSC routinely gets huge volume of US government or federal jobs, which is why it is expanding at a time competitors are going slow. "The total US federal government work that is done by CSC is 35 per cent, more than other majors like EDS and IBM, and is expected to go up with the coming US elections," an industry expert said.