Bangalore: ITC Infotech India Ltd, the wholly-owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd has set up a joint venture (JV) "CLI3L" in association with US-based ClientLogic to make its foray into the fast growing Information Technology (IT) enabled services segment.

ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar said the JV, operational since June 2003, has about 650 people working at the call centre in Bangalore, servicing about six clients.

"In a year's time we should be employing about 1,500 people," he said.

ClientLogic is an American-based Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operator, who has over 33 call centres in Europe, North America and Mexico.

Stating that CLI3L will earn a revenue of Rs 48 crore to Rs 50 crore during the current fiscal year, Deveshwar said the 50:50 JV would break even during the current year.

ClientLogic vice chairman, president and chief executive officer Thomas O Harbison said about $ five million has been invested in the venture, with the real estate provided by ITC on a long lease.

Deveshwar declined to name the customers being serviced citing privacy agreement with their clients.

ClientLogic CEO of international operations Jules T Kortenhorst said, "In general outsourcing helps organisations within their country to save about 20 per cent to 40 per cent costs by improved processes, deploying technology among others… by taking this benefit to low cost human resources countries we can be able to improve that to about 60 per cent to 70 per cent".

ITC Infotech India Limited also plans to hire 2,300 professionals to touch a staff of 3,000 by December 2004, a top company official said.

"In the next three to four months, we should be closing at about 1,000 people from the present 700. We intend, by the end of next calendar year to touch over 3,000 people," ITC Infotech India Ltd managing director Sanjay Varma said.

After inaugurating the "ITC Infotechpark", a 36-acre campus in which ITC's cigarette factory was located a few years back, ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar said the company would achieve a revenue of Rs 150 crore during 2003-04.

Varma said ITC's share in the firm's revenues would dip to less than 15 per cent during the current fiscal from about 95 per cent when the company was started three years ago.

ITC Infotech, he said, earned 50 per cent of its revenues from Europe, 30 per cent from US, 10 to 12 per cent from the rest of the world including Japan and the rest in India, with ITC and Unilever being the domestic customers.

Varma said the company recently bagged a $ 54 million contract from US software product major Parametric Technology Corporation.

ITC Infotechpark has the potential to create 20,000 jobs and over a million square feet of knowledge workspace, officials said.

PTI