Barclays Buys 50% Stake In Offshore Outsourcer

ComputerWeekly.com reports Barclays Bank is to acquire a 50% stake in Mumbai, India based Intelent Global Services, the business process outsourcing (BPO) arm of HDFC.

"Indian BPO companies need capital, brand and marketing muscle abroad to scale their businesses, and consolidation is expected to continue, according to Ravindra Datar, principal analyst for IT services and BPO at Gartner India Research and Advisory Services."

"Barclays already outsources some work to Intelenet, but currently that business accounts for about 100 of Intelenet's employees, said Susir Kumar, chief executive officer of Intelenet. Business from Barclays is expected to grow, although Intelenet will operate as an independent third-party service provider, 'rather than as a captive unit for Barclays', he said."