Narayan AmmachchiIndian outsourcing firm UST Global reportedly plans to build a global services center in Costa Rica, thus generating hundreds of jobs in the Central American country striving to curb unemployment. The delivery center will serve not only local clients but also clients around the world, reported the newspaper El Financiero, citing UST Global’s senior executive Gaurav Agarwal.
UST Global is the second Indian outsourcing firm to enter the Central American country in the past 30 days, after Cognizant, the second biggest outsourcer from the Asian country, launched its delivery center in San Jose in the second week of December.
Headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, UST Global has 12,000 employees across offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Malaysia and the Philippines.
In Costa Rica, UST will hire about 250 engineers — mostly software writers — but will raise the headcount to 500 over the next two years, according to the executives interviewed by El Financiero.
As part of its agreement with the government, UST Global will acquire two hectares of land in Alajuela — Costa Rica’s second biggest city after the capital San Jose — where it will build a huge business complex. The majority of global outsourcing firms operating in Costa Rica are in Heredia or San José, but reports say the government is trying to draw investors to second-tier cities.
According to the newspaper, Costa Rica is home to about 142 service sector firms, a majority of whom are offering software development, technical support, maintenance, server management, and network management services.
Indian companies are also contributing greatly to Costa Rica’s education and technology sector. Infosys, which entered the Central American country in 2012, has reportedly sent dozens of Costa Ricans to India to gain higher education in cloud computing.
The expanding service sector is generating many jobs for Costa Rica, which has, according to the ECLAC, the second highest rate of unemployment in Latin America.
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