Calcutta, Dec. 4: The Linde BOC’s global centre for excellence in Calcutta is considering expanding its portfolio to include human resources and IT-related finance functions for BOC and the Linde group. The centre now manages the information system for BOC in 70 countries. It also caters to the IT needs of the Linde group.

Calcutta has emerged as the principal centre of excellence among the group’s four global centres in the UK, the US, Australia and South Africa.

Of the four international centres, the one in South Africa has already been discontinued while the others are operating with skeletal staff. The Calcutta centre also caters to the projects from Singapore.

“We have had about four months of operations and the current headcount of 55 is expected to go up to 100 by the first quarter of 2007. The next year would be crucial for us and the recruitment and portfolio expansion will depend on the centre’s performance,” said Sudipto Mukherjee, director, information management, global centre of excellence.

The centre employs specialised personnel for high-end IT work with a minimum experience of three years.

The focus is on recruiting from the region. However, currently, the ratio between local and outstation recruitment is 50:50.

The centre, located at the company’s Taratolla headquarters, has a 120-seat capacity and has been equipped with the latest in wireless technology to cater to BOC locations around the globe.

A separate company, BOC Global Support Services Pvt Ltd, has been floated by the UK parent of BOC to execute the high-end services from the city.

The employees from the other international centres have been shifted to various projects, including the information management projects for the Linde group.

With the new Linde management, the group is expected to offshore the responsibility of its global information management projects to this centre.

“BOC, which has a strong brand recall value in the eastern region, stands for industrial gases. With this centre, the perception would include state-of-the-art IT applications,” Mukherjee added.

The centre has no immediate plans of servicing third-party clients.