Xchanging was a part of the business delegation of the British Prime Minister, The Right Honorable David Cameron MP’s visit to India in 2010. During the tour, Xchanging signed an agreement with Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KEONICS), a Government of Karnataka enterprise, to lease and jointly develop the centre on six acres of land in the then-developing SEZ in Shimoga. The centre is expected to set an example for zero energy building constructions in India with its energy efficient design that takes advantage of natural ventilation and lighting.
The centre was inaugurated in the presence of Hon’ble British Deputy High Commissioner of Karnataka - Mr. Ian Felton, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of Kuvempu University - Professor Dr. Syed Bari, and Professors of various colleges, industrialists, academicians and senior leadership of Xchanging including Mr. Ken Lever, CEO, Xchanging and Mr. Nimish Soni, Executive Director Offshore, APAC, Xchanging.
The British Deputy High Commissioner, Mr. Ian Felton, said “The UK’s ambition is to be India's partner of choice. The successful completion of this project in Karnataka follows the signing of an MOU during the visit to Bangalore of British Prime Minister David Cameron in June 2010. The UK and India are among the top investors in each other’s economies bringing significant long-term benefits to both. In 2011, UK India Bilateral trade grew by 26% bringing the total to £16.4 bn (£13 bn in 2010). The UK has the ambition to look beyond Bangalore and into tier 2 and 3 cities like Shimoga where both countries can benefit from collaboration and achieve excellence, for example, through setting up world-class facilities such as Xchanging and creating an impact by enriching the economy and lives of the region as well as in the UK. Following this visit to Shimoga, the British Deputy High Commission staffers are visiting other tier-3 cities including Chitradurga and Tumkur as part of the outreach programme to learn about the region as well as identify opportunities for collaboration”.
“India is a growth market for us and we have a significant commitment here,” added Mr. Ken Lever, CEO, Xchanging. “Today, with the centre and state governments creating favorable platforms and policies, tier-2 and 3 cities look well poised to continue growing as the sought-after destinations for the IT/ ITES industry. We are looking at expanding our base in Shimoga to enable us to leverage lower cost inflation and attrition. At the same time, we can tap into the local talent pool and developing infrastructure in building a stable and productive delivery centre with the competence to serve globally.”
Today, the over 500-strong workforce in Shimoga provides top quality, high-level technology and processing services to banking, financial and insurance clients across geographies. The employees at the site have sound technical skills, with many holding engineering degrees and advanced professional certifications. Xchanging, since its foray into Shimoga in 2008, is working closely with leading universities and education institutes in the region to increase the employability of students and make them industry-ready. Xchanging has plans to introduce certificate programme in BPO operations and software development in collaboration with Kuvempu University from this academic year.
Xchanging employs about 7500 employees across its offices in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, out of which nearly 3,500 are based in India. It has three of its top ten global processing hubs in Bangalore, Gurgaon and Chennai, and in the year 2010 it added a state-of-the-art processing centre in Solan, a tier-3 city located in Himachal Pradesh. The company set foot in India in the year 2001 and since then has continued to develop its operations in the country. |
