India Taps into Grassroots IT Expertise

Satyam Computer Services Ltd plans to triple ITs staff base to 2,500 in China wIThin two or three years to penetrate into the growing domestic IT services market mainly in manufacturing and logistics sectors, the India' s fourth-biggest IT service provider said yesterday.

Satyam, which has a staff of about 700 in China, will recruIT people mainly for ITs Nanjing-based development center, the biggest outside India.

About 60 percent of recruITs will come from universITies, Hari Thalapalli, Satyam's global marketing and communications head, said during an exclusive interview wITh Shanghai Daily.

While the cost of talent in Shanghai or Beijing is 15 to 20 percent higher than that in India, in second-tier cITies, such as Nanjing, the cost is still at least five percent lower than India, according to Satish Kannan, Satyam China's HR head.

Satyam China's revenue growth rate, fueled by many manufacturing clients, is much higher than the global rate of growth (40 percent) but Thalapalli declined to reveal detailed figures.

China's IT services market has entered the "growth period" wITh a 24-percent annual growth rate until 2010, according to CCW Research, a Beijing-based IT consulting firm.

Satyam has adopted focused methods to attract fresh talent in China, such as the sponsorship of FIFA 2010 and the launch of intensive two to three-month training programs in China and India.