Deutsche Bank in Indian outsourcing talks with TCS

Deutsche Bank is in contract talks with Indian IT company TCS about a major deal to outsource some of its business processes offshore.

Reports in India suggested the value of the deal could be as high as $1bn but silicon.com understands this figure to be wide of the mark and that talks are still in the early stages.

Deutsche Bank's existing $2.5bn IT infrastructure outsourcing deal with IBM, signed in 2002, would be unaffected by any agreement with TCS.

The bank's CEO, Josef Ackermann, outlined a substantial programme of IT infrastructure streamlining and consolidation last year as part of a €1.2bn round of cost-cutting.

The 'Business Realignment Program' included the transfer of around 1,200 jobs to cheaper locations overseas as part of various "smart-sourcing" initiatives.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the TCS deal saying it does not comment on speculation. A spokesman from TCS also declined to comment.

The contract speculation comes with all three of India's top IT companies - Infosys, TCS and Wipro - again posting a bumper set of financial results on the back of the continued boom in demand for offshore outsourcing services.

Bangalore-based Wipro was the pick of the bunch posting a better than expected 28 per cent increase in net profit of $456m for the financial year ended 31 March 2006.