Indian American engineering services firm to double India headcount

From rxpgnews.com

India Business
Indian American engineering services firm to double India headcount
By By Aroonim Bhuyan, IANS, Feb 7, 2007 - 8:48:18 AM

New Delhi, Feb 7 - US-based engineering services company QuEST is going to double its Indian headcount from the current 750 to 1,600 in the next two years to see more 'made by India' products in its range.

'We are very optimistic about India's growth. As of now, we have 1,000 employees around the world and 750 of them are in India,' said QuEST chief Ajit Prabhu

'We plan to increase this to 2,000 in the next two years and obviously, the India figure will reach around 1,600,' Prabhu told IANS.

Mechanical, electronic and instrumentation engineers are the ones being targeted by the Bangalore-based company that started its Indian operations in 1998.

'Apart from India, we have 100 engineers in the US and 50 in Italy,' added the mechanical engineering graduate from Karnataka University.

Founded by Prabhu and another Indian American, Aravind Melligeri, in 1997, the Hartford, Connecticut-headquartered QuEST offers end-to-end product development and engineering solutions to major global companies.

The firm also supports product development initiatives for its customers by leveraging its global product development - business model through engineering centres established in North America, Europe and Asia.

QuEST's expertise ranges from concept design, detailing and analysis, to product realisation solutions in aerospace, civil structures, power generation, industrial products, oil, gas and transportation sectors.

'Our employee profile is young. Only 10 percent of our engineers have 25-30 years of experience,' said Bejoy George, QuEST's vice-president for marketing and business development.

The fresh recruitment plans follow an approval for a 300-acre plot in a special economic zone - in Belgaum, Karnataka. 'We are planning to develop an eco-friendly plant in the SEZ where other companies can come and work with our engineers and form joint ventures with us,' Prabhu said.

Stating that the company had a $35 million revenue turnover last year, of which $29 million came from its India operations, Prabhu said the company is now looking at a 50-60 percent growth in the next one year.