Dalmias join the call center race, center coming up at NOIDA

After the Tatas, Munjals and the Jindals it is now the turn of the $ 250

million Dalmia Group to turn its eyes on the explosive call center market pegged

at Rs 850 crore by NASSCOM. Gujarat Heavy Chemicals (GHCL), a flagship company

of Dalmia Brothers, has ventured into IT-enabled services by setting up a

wholly-owned subsidiary Icon Data Management Ltd (IDML) to promote offshore

delivery of business process and customer contact center.

GHCL plans to invest Rs 275 crore over the next three years in its call

center initiative with seating capacity of 5,000 seats. The first phase of the

investment with Rs 15 crore is ready with a 210 seat facility at NOIDA. It will

look at the next phase of expansion only after it experiences 75 percent

capacity fulfillment. With 50 percent of its existing capacity full, IDML

expects the next phase of expansion within the next two months.

Said Shyam Vishwanathan, CEO, IDML, "Usually there are two main issues

for a call center start-up: funds and marketing. We do not have funding

problems. But as far as marketing is concerned we have adopted a three-pronged

strategy. The first strategy is to target intermediaries to get business. These

are medium-sized companies who are traditionally in the outsourcing business and

would give business to IDML. The second is to target niche consultants like iCRM

and the third is to take equity stakes in these niche consultants and the

medium-sized intermediary companies."

IDML is already working closely with iCRM promoted by Dr Jagdish Seth and Dr

Atul Parvatiyar. iCRM advises clients on CRM practices and has clients like Coca

Cola, Siemens and Motorola. In fact the company is looking at acquiring a 30

percent stake in iCRM within the next two months. IDML has also kept aside $ 5

million to acquire small and medium call center companies with 2,000-25,000

people.

IDML is very clear about its business strategy that it wants to provide the

entire spectrum of outsourced services. It will not work on an ad hoc project

basis. It will explore only those business propositions which has the potential

to either move up or down the value chain with the client. In other words, IDML

is looking at a few long-term relationships with its clients instead of having

many short term contracts with numerous clients.

While the low end of the services spectrum comprise mere data entry, the

highest end of the spectrum would be to provide advisory services. The idea here

is to deliver value through quality services to its clients and increase the

entry barrier to competitors particularly in China. Says Vishwanathan, "We

have a very short-term advantage of four-five years over China after which we

would see major consolidation taking place in the industry. It is during this

time that we have to build our value to our clients and increase the entry

barrier."

GHCL--a joint venture between the Gujarat Industrial Investment Corp and the

Dalmias-- is no stranger to the call center business with significant stakes in

DSS Mobile, a paging company in the country that operates domestic call centers

in India for General Motors, ESPN, Sony, and Thomas Cook among others.

However, the company anticipates a dearth a qualified agents to man the call

centers.

Opined Vishwanathan, "Poaching is a short-term approach and is not the

long-term solution. We are therefore talking to top call center training schools

in US to set up training centers in major metros of the country. These schools

would be the major feeder into our centers." Ultimately, he felt a

consolidated industry effort will be required to address the problem of

qualified call center agents.

(CNS)