‘India, a major anchor for information processing and Asia’s shipping business growth’

Japanese ocean carrier MOL, a shipping and multi-modal transportation company said that it sees India as a major hub for its shipping and back office operations. MOL’s wholly owned data processing subsidiary in India has announced opening of their largest information processing facility in Hyderabad. The 25,000 sq. ft. facility at Premier Mindspace Raheja IT Park in Hyderabad will house 450 information process experts.
 
Simultaneously, MOL has also announced revamping of its existing NKX service from Nhava Sheva, the work for which has already started. It has introduced two separate services, NCX and KPX covering ports of Nhava Sheva and Pipavav in India, including a direct service between China and Nhava Sheva.
 
Vice Chairman of MOL Masakazu Yakushiji inaugurated its newest and its biggest Information Processing facility in Hyderabad. Speaking on the occasion he said, “India and China continue to be a major growth destination for companies around the world and although it may be too early to predict, the shipping trade is expected to show some signs of recovery. India plays a key role in our information processing business and we have grown here rapidly. With our new facility in Hyderabad, we hope to strengthen our information processing competence as India has a strong knowledge talent pool which we can leverage consistently.”
 
Masakazu Yakushiji said “The world economy during FY2010 continued on an upward trend, although anxiety remained about the possibility of slowdown. MOL continues to show significant growth – it posted an increase in income of 100 billion YEN compared to the previous year, despite the ongoing appreciation of Japanese YEN and rising bunker prices. Our container shipping division has shown highly stable profit through middle and long term contracts.”
Talking about MOL operations in India Sundeep Sibal, Head of West Asia operations said “We started our back office operations in Mumbai in 2004 with concentration of 2 basic processes i.e.; Documentation and Audit. Today we serve over 44 diversified processes. The workforce has also expanded exponentially to 450 employees. We expect our India centres talent pool to touch over 650 in the very near future. Our newest facility in Hyderabad will become the largest centre for us with a capacity of 450 people.
 
“As part of BRICS, India is one of the leading emerging economies and hence an important market for MOL for the future growth. With Indian and Japanese governments concluding a “Trade Agreement” recently, both the countries expect much closer economic co-operation for mutual benefits and growth. MOL commenced operation in India with dedicated liner subsidiary in 2002. Since then the company has grown its business many folds. We have a total of 10 offices of liner and logistics in India now.
 
Besides this, MOL has offices for its other divisions such as MOL Information Technology, MOL Information processing services, MOL Auto logistics Ltd., Mitsui O.S.K. Bulk Shipping, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Maritime India, with a combined staff of 700+ excluding the Seafarers. This strong presence in India indicates MOL’s focus on this emerging market and how important it is for MOL’s future growth”, Sundeep Sibal added.
 
Talking about MOL’s business in India Michael Goh, Head of Asia Operations said over the last decade MOL has been systematically enhancing its service network for liner business in India, particularly from Nhava Sheva and Chennai. We have now announced the revamping of our existing NKX service from Nhava Sheva effective May 19. We shall have two separate services, NCX and KPX covering ports of Nhava Sheva and Pipavav respectively. The NCX service will offer a direct link between India and China.
 
“Our Customers will greatly benefit with this new service. The trade between India and China is poised to grow to US$ 100 Billion by the Year 2015 and I think we have the product in place at the right time to serve our Customers better. Our KPX service will offer an effective alternate gateway to our Customer in North India to avoid current frequent bottlenecks at Nhava Sheva for ICD cargo. We are also looking at opportunities to enhance our network from South & East India, which is one of the fastest growing regions in India. We are positive about the new International Container Transhipment Terminal at Vallarpadam.”
 
Michael Goh said, “MOL-IPS (India) has become and remains a key partner for achieving cost optimization targets, process standardization and to improve our readiness to respond to changing business environment and provide top level customer services. The new and expanded space at Hyderabad demonstrates the confidence of the Senior MOL management, which expects the 2 centres in Mumbai and Hyderabad to further enhance MOL’s competitiveness and add value to their stake holders.” Michael Goh added. MOL clocked US$700 million net profit for its fiscal year ended March 31. MOL’s net profit soared 358 percent during its 2010 fiscal year while revenue rose 14.5 percent to $18.6 billion. Operating income jumped nearly fivefold to $1.5  billion.

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