India’s major software services exporter, Tata Consultancy Services, is looking to expand its operations in China, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

The company has also raised its billing rates by about 3-4 per cent for existing contracts and over 5 per cent for new deals, as a move to counter the effects of the appreciating rupee against the US dollar and rising salaries.  

“The momentum for deals is positive and the company sees no adverse impact from the US subprime crisis,” Chief Operating Officer N Chandrasekaran said, speaking on the sidelines of Nasscom Quality Summit 2007.

Mr Chandrasekaran said, “Plans are on to open one more centre in China to be operational by March 2008.” The location has not been finalised and would be an addition to the existing ones in Beijing and Hangzhou.  The company plans to increase their headcount from 1,000 to 5,000 employees in China. “China poses great opportunities in terms of scaling up operations and greater retention of employees,”  Mr Chandrasekaran said.  TCS is also in the process of expanding its facilities in India - in Chennai, Mumbai etc. 

New faces on Board
Meanwhile, TCS, on Thursday, announced the induction of four new, whole-time Executive Directors on its board, reports PTI from Mumbai.

With this the TCS board of directors will have 12 members, including 6 Independent Directors.

The new directors are N Chandrasekaran, S Mahalingam, S Padmanabhan and P A Vandrevala, who are at present Executive Vice-Presidents. The TCS board of directors also appointed N Chandrasekaran as Chief Operating Officer of the company.