Capgemini, Europe's premiere IT services group, has always derived the bulk of its business from its home region. For that reason, it was not one of the major beneficiaries of the first wave of US-led offshore outsourcing. This time around, Capgemini does not intend to miss out on the action.

The company’s acquisition of Indian firm Kanbay International, completed in early February, will double its workforce on the sub-continent from 6,000 to 12,000, or roughly 20% of the company’s total workforce. It plans to increase that number to 35,000 by 2010.

But the Kanbay buy is motivated by more than just extending the roll-call: 80% of Kanbay's customers are in the US, offering Capgemini another chance to make it big in America. And 80% of its customers are in the offshore-friendly financial services market, which has not historically been Capgemini’s strong suit.

Also, Kanbay’s sites are located in the cities where Capgemini is not present (Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai). “This really helps us in the war for talent in India,” says the head of its Rightshore service, Sanjiv Dodhia.

The strategy for the company’s offshore business, which is split equally between technology and consultancy on one hand, and BPO and offshoring on the other, has been dubbed the “collaborative business experience”. While the Western IT services companies are quick to point out that, for them, India is not just a back-office lot for their operations but a fully integrated part of the business, Capgemini has gone further in making India its ‘global technology hub’. 

“India is where we are building our technology gene pool, which serves all of our regions and all of our industry units,” says Dodhia. This is because there is no other country that can provide the sheer number of skilled personnel, he adds.

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