Accenture to double Southeast Asia staff by 2009

Accenture Inc, a leading US consulting and technology services firm, plans to more than double its headcount in Southeast Asia to 50,000 people over the next three years, a top official said on Tuesday.

"We are presently 24,000 in the region and aim to ramp up to 50,000 by 2009," Chet Kamat, partner with Accenture and head of its India Delivery Centre network, told reporters.

Accenture has 126,000 employees in 48 countries. Its Indian operation accounts for 13 per cent of its global workforce and serves 170 clients, Kamat said.

"We also plan to hire more workforce and expand to new locations in India as the clients' demand keeps growing," he said.

With their growing presence in India, big multinationals such as Accenture, IBM and Electronic Data Systems Corp present stiff competition to Indian software majors such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Infosys Technologies Ltd and Wipro Ltd.