Infosys plans to set up unit in Brazil

BANGALORE: India���s second biggest software exporter Infosys Technologies plans to open a software development and back office centre in Brazil later this year, as the company seeks to serve its US customers better by establishing a near-shore presence.

Apart from being a local delivery centre, the new unit will also help Infosys gain more business from the regional market, V Balakrishnan, chief financial officer of Infosys, told ET in an interview.

���Some of our US customers asked for a centre in Brazil, as the country falls in the same time zone,��� Mr Balakrishnan said. The centre is expected to begin its operations within next three-four months, and is expected to employ around 100 professionals initially across the functions of IT and back office projects.

Rival outsourcing companies TCS and Wipro already have centres in Brazil. While TCS has around 1,700 people in Brazil with development centres in Brasilia and Sao Paulo servicing around 30 clients, Wipro has a BPO centre in Curitiba providing shared services to AmBev, a leading brewery company. Brazil recorded IT exports worth $1.4 billion for 2008 registering 75% percent growth and employs around 1.7 million people in the sector. Infosys joins the likes of TCS and Wipro Technologies in having their operations in Brazil.

India���s top tech firms have started establishing local delivery centres in their leading markets in order to provide more comfort to their customers. China, Mexico and Eastern Europe are among locations where Indian tech firms have recently established delivery centres.

According to research firm KPMG, the near-shore advantage, linguistics and cultural affinity - across the key markets of North America are the top drivers for cities within the Americas region. The Latin American countries are leveraging the language advantages to provide call centre and back-office services to North American companies.