HCL Technologies [Get Quote] BPO Services Ltd (HCL BPO), the BPO arm of HCL Technologies, said on Saturday that it would be expanding its staff strength to about 40,000 by 2009.

"The BPO arm started with 30 people in 2,000 and today the division has grown into a 5,000 people organisation. By 2009, the total strength of the BPO arm is expected to touch about 40,000," Chief Operating Officer, N Ranjit HCL BPO said.

In the 40,000 people, only about 3,000-4,000 employees will be working outside India and the remaining staff will be based at Indian cities.

Addressing an international conference on Emerging opportunities in infrastructure for IT/ITES services, organised by Infratech Infrastructure Services, he said revenue of the BPO arm is expected to grow by nine times by 2009. The current revenue of HCL BPO is $100 million.

Quoting McKinsey report, he said BPO sector was expected to employ about 800,000 people in the next 3-4 years and about 120 million sq ft of space would be created for IT/ITES sector.

"Last year we added about 200,000 ft of space and this year we will add 300,000 sq ft," he added.

"Several countries have been inviting us to set up development centres in their countries," he said, adding that "a recent delegation from the United Kingdom has asked us to look at the possibilities of expanding our presence in Northern Ireland."

"The operations in Northern Ireland are a joint venture with British Telecom and the joint venture employs about 800."

Ranjit said the company had recently bagged a largest ever BPO contract, which was valued at $165 million, from BT.

HCL BPO was the largest BPO in Northern Ireland and rated among the top employers.

"Mauritius have also invited and South Africa has asked us to set up a facility by assuring higher bandwidth and offering everything free for one year," he said, adding that "Mauritius can be a ideal location to address French speaking markets since there are a lot of French speaking people in Mauritius."

"We are looking at expanding our operations in Chennai and other places like Noida," he added.

Ranjit said HCL BPO was operating in three verticals -- telecom, retail and banking and financial services. "We are the largest telecom BPO services provider. About 3000 people are working for this vertical alone," he said on the sidelines of the meeting.

Currently, the United States contributes to 60 per cent of the revenue and Europe contributes the remaining 40 per cent.

Asked about recruitment, he said most of the people hired were graduates though the company recruited engineers and MBAs.

HCL BPO has nine development centres -- six in India, two in Ireland and one in Malaysia.