"With this, we will have presence in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Britain," company managing director Murali Santhanam said. Scott Systems is essentially a recruiting arm of the US-based Mastech Corporation which offers a wide range of IT applications and solutions.

The company looks after the manpower needs of Mastech for its global operations. "Mastech is expected to post a turnover of $400 million this year, against last year's $197 million. We need quality manpower for such growth," Santhanam said.

Scott Systems is also launching a web-site devoted to recruitment of IT professionals by March 1999. The company has started recruitments from Colombo, vice-president (recruitment and corporate development) Milind Jadhav said.

"We add anincremental value of around 30 per cent to 40 per cent to these professionals via our virtual Mastech University enabling them to do various tasks," Jadhav said. Among other recruitment procedures, the company has given emphasis to quality. As Santhanam says, "A quality team through technical screening, identifying skills and tech counselling ensures high level of standard among selected candidates."

On an average, it spends around $4.8 million on training every year. "We have the lowest attrition rate of 10 per cent and during the last 10 years, not a single professional has faced lay off," Santhanam says.

In India, Scott Systems has offices in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta.