EMC to add 600 jobs in India
Boston Globe - USA
EMC facility in India to get $150m
By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff
Data storage company EMC Corp., riding a wave of surging
demand in Asia, will pour an additional $150 million into
its facility in Bangalore, India's key high-tech center.
EMC's chief financial officer Bill Teuber, speaking during a
visit to New Delhi, said the money would be invested over
the next two years, along with a previously revealed
infusion of $100 million.
''We are very pleased with the progress in India in terms of
infrastructure and see a bright future," he said.
EMC employs 400 workers in Bangalore; the company plans to
boost that number to 1,000. But EMC spokeswoman Anne Pace
said the company isn't shifting jobs from high-wage America
to low-wage India.
''This is all about growth," Pace said. ''Any jobs being
created in India right now are not being created at the
expense of the US. We continue to hire in the US. We
continue to hire in Massachusetts."
Still, some of the 600 new workers will handle service and
support activities for EMC's US customers.
Pace said this will enhance the company's ability to provide
24-hour customer support by giving EMC a service facility
that will run at full strength during the hours when most
Americans are asleep.
Even so, the market for data storage gear in India itself is
growing fast.
''Obviously there's more growth potential there, because
they are so undeveloped," said Stephen Minton, vice
president of the worldwide information technology markets
group at research company IDC Corp. in Framingham.
Minton said that Indian demand for storage gear was climbing
10 percent per year.
So a strong EMC presence in the country meshes with the
company's goal to derive half of its revenues from outside
the United States, compared with 42 percent today.
But even though India's demand for storage is surging, it
begins from a narrow base.
IDC estimates that in 2004, India spent only $151 million on
the kinds of disk storage systems sold by EMC, compared with
$8.8 billion in US sales.
That's why Ray Paquet, storage analyst at research firm
Gartner Inc., believes EMC's Indian expansion isn't the only
reason for the investment.
Paquet said India's data storage market is too small to
justify an infusion of 600 more workers.
He believes EMC is following the industry trend of moving a
significant number of jobs to India, where wages for highly
trained computer workers are much lower than in the United
States.
''It's the entire trend in the industry," said Paquet.
''I don't think EMC is behaving any differently than any
other company in this regard," he said. ''Nor do I think
they should . . . The economics dictate it."
Hiawatha Bray can be reached at
bray@globe.com
