Posted on 11/15/2004 9:31:28 AM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) will hire several hundred new staff at its new Indian campus in the next year, its chief executive said on Monday, in a move aimed at strengthening its presence in Asia's fourth-biggest economy.
The world's largest software maker inaugurated the campus, its biggest outside the United States, at a ceremony on Monday. Microsoft employs some 800 people in product development and support services in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
India's low-cost, IT-savvy and English-speaking workforce is attracting a growing number of multinationals, such as International Business Machines Corp. (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , to set up shop in India or outsource work to the country.
The $12.5 billion software services industry has created some 550,000 software and 280,000 back-office positions, and the sector is growing at more than 30 percent a year.
"I am quite sure of hiring hundreds over the next 12 months," Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told reporters when asked of his plans for recruiting in India. "The work we are doing here is not low level. It's very high-level creative engineering."
Ballmer said plans to hire locally would not mean the loss of jobs in the United States.
"There are so many growth opportunities in our business that we can invest both in Hyderabad and, at the same time, continue making many more hires (at) our headquarters."
Infosys Technologies Ltd. (INFY.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) (INFY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) , one of India's leading beneficiaries of increased outsourcing of software work, announced an initial $8 million joint investment with Microsoft to develop products that would help businesses reduce technology costs.
Infosys, which said new products would support Microsoft .NET software, has rapidly expanded its Microsoft related business in the past five years and expects new software and consulting opportunities from the enhanced relationship.
Its stock rose $2.91, or more than 4 percent, or $68.81 in late morning Nasdaq trade. Microsoft climbed 44 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $27.33.
Microsoft's new 28-acre campus, part of a three-year, $400 million investment plan for India announced in 2002, will house its India Development Center and a global delivery center.
Separately, Ballmer said he expected $400 million in revenue from SharePoint, its real-time information product, though he did not specify the timeframe.
"SharePoint is the number one product at this point in the history of Microsoft," he said in a presentation to software professionals in Bangalore, India's IT capital.
"We expect $400 million revenue from that product line, faster than any other product in Microsoft's history."
Ballmer also said he had been misquoted in a recent report on making personal computers (PCs) available for $100 apiece in countries like India and China, where PC penetration is relatively low.
This frees up some labor in the US to do some real work.
Wal-Mart faced with a greeter shortage?
That explains why we haven't seen Gore2000 and Rusty Turkey around here lately! Hired trolls outsourced too?
This is holding down prices and inflation in the US and creating huge new markets overseas. This is a very good thing...but don't expect linear democrats to ever get it.
HP outsourced its tech support to India. Really nice people but damn if I can understand what they are saying. I just keep calling back until I get one that I can understand.
seems like Dell is using a tons of call centers in india....every time i have to call regarding a problem, i get a guy who answers the phone in a heavy accent, but always has an 'American' name like george, frank, john, etc.....like dell gives em a nametag when they show up for work and tells them to identify themselves as that name when they answer the phone....usually, they just recite soundbites off their sheet in front of them, and if you can't get something figured out within 30 minutes, they end up handing you off to a supervisor, who is simply someone who speaks English a little better to try to figure out what you need....if this doesn't help, they have to transfer you to another call center (like Duluth) in America where peoplke really speak English...of course this is over an hour later.....not that i'm upset about it or anything
"India's low-cost, IT-savvy and English-speaking...."
Having worked with Indian contractors I can tell MS that the cost is not as low as it might seem. They ARE IT-savvy, in a manner of speaking and they ARE English speaking, in a manner of speaking. But, that phrase 'in a manner of speaking' covers up a lot of very expensive problems. MS, like many, will only learn in the school of hard knocks.
"Microsoft to Hire Hundreds More in India "
Work that no American wants to do....
Sounds pretty smart to me.
Precisely. Low-end garbage jobs like landscaping, ditch digging, accounting and computer engineering.
I bet all those leftie Democrats in Seattle are happy now. The way I understand it, the Microsoft culture is profoundly Democratic.
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