UK's Compass plans to boost India headcount as GCCs drive growth

By Praveen Paramasivam

Aug 19 (Reuters) - Compass Group CPG.L, the world's largest caterer, plans to boost its India workforce by up to 75% over the next three years as it adds more clients, including global capability centres, an executive told Reuters.

The UK-based company, which employs about 40,000 people in India across functions including food catering and facilities services, aims to double its India revenue every three years, said Vikas Chawla, managing director and CEO of Compass Group India.

Globally, it employs more than 580,000 people, and its peers include Sodexo EXHO.PA, Aramark ARMK.N and Elior ELIOR.PA.

Compass is sharpening its focus on global capability centres (GCCs), which made up over half its new clients last year, as multinationals expand in India to tap talent for finance, tech, and research and development.

Its clients include SAP SAPG.DE and Alphabet's GOOGL.O Google.

"GCCs will help us power ahead in a big way," Chawla said.

Its India business, which ranks third by meals served after the U.S. and UK and also handles clients in the manufacturing and education sectors, helped drive overall organic revenue growth up by 11% last year, when it posted revenue of $42.2 billion.

One of its India entities last reported annual revenue of nearly 15 billion rupees ($172.31 million), up about 34% from a year earlier, according to Tofler data.

($1 = 87.0520 Indian rupees)