Cargill Business Services, the Indian subsidiary of Cargill, the largest privately owned company in the U.S., has opened a new 1,200-seater back office facility in Bengaluru, taking the overall staff strength in the technology hub to 3,200 people.
“We serve our internal stakeholders and work on finance, information technology, human resources, transportation and logistics and source to pay functions,” Lalitha Indrakanti, managing director of the centre, said in an interview. “Bengaluru is a global center for Cargill.”
Cargill, headquartered in Wayzata, Minnesota, is a provider of food, agriculture and industrial products and services. Cargill started Indian operations in 1987 and the Bengaluru facility, its biggest business service centre globally, was opened 2015.
India’s outsourcing industry helped Indians prepare for dealing with global stakeholders and markets, she said.
“If you are trying to cater to an Australian farmer or a trucker in U.S….the interaction depends on the kind of work they do. If at all anyone is equipped to do that it is India. Historically, the outsourcing industry has prepared us so much that we found change management tougher at the other end,” Ms. Indrakanti said.
“If you pick up anyone here [Cargill Business Services], especially the lateral hires, they have worked with global stakeholders. So our experience of working with global stakeholders is far more than others. That talent exists in India,” she added.
Cargill Business Services, after four years of its operations in Bengaluru, is looking for new sectors to ramp up growth.
“Now, we are looking at the next strategy to grow. What are the new things we should be doing... As part of this, we have been doing a strategy project for the last five to six months to identify areas of growth for the next two years. What we are trying to look at is what has been the industry historically doing….whether we have a similar organisation like us….and what are the functions they are supporting, what are we doing and where are the gaps,” she said.
“We believe that as a result of this, new functions will emerge like environment, health and safety, corporate ethics and compliance. There are various other core corporate functions that exist today that could be probably done from here.“
Cargill, the parent company, employs 1,55,000 people in 70 countries.