Car majors ramp up IT, finance ops in India

GLOBAL car manufacturers are ramping up their IT and finance operations in the country to support their global operations. While India has emerged as the low-cost manufacturing base for many car manufacturers, it is also now serving as a significant low-cost centre for their finance, IT and engineering services, sources said. Companies like Ford, Volvo, General Motors among others have outsourced some of their global operations to India. It is no longer surprising, that a global CEO based out of Detroit would have his promotions, salaries and bonuses handled out of India by a Bangalore-based accountant. And it is a trend that is on the rise. Ford India, for instance, is significantly ramping up its finance and IT units in the country. Ford Information Technology services (FITSI) the wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Motor handles critical IT and engineering services to support Ford operations worldwide. This unit has expanded rapidly with a captive employee base of 150 people and a third party headcount of about 530 people. Also, according to company officials, Ford Business Service Centre (FBSC) that handles the accounting services along with other functions such as banking, reconciliations, taxation, marketing & sales and purchasing support, internal control and audits now gives support to all Ford businesses in Europe, North America, South America, Asia Pacific and Africa. FBSC unit has just crossed the 1,000-employee mark this December. General Motors India has also seen a consistent increase in the outsourcing of finance and IT work into India in the last two years. Volvo India, the Swedish bus manufacturer, is also looking at making India the sourcing hub for its worldwide operations. The company plans to increase its R&D, engineering design activities and IT services sourcing from India. The company plans to increase the headcount at its engineering design office in India. “We currently employ 80 engineers at our engineering design office. We plan to employ another 100 engineers soon,” said Eric Leblanc, managing director, Volvo India. Daimler Chrysler R&D unit in India also handles a significant portion of the its global engineering services. According to industry sources, the growing outsourcing of work in the non-manufacturing sectors for global car manufacturers is on the rise due to the low costs and available pool of talent in the IT and accounting departments that India offers.

Courtesy: EconomicTimes
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