After BPOs, IT major Infosys Technologies is entering into the lucrative legal process outsourcing

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(LPO) business to cash in on the growing, $200-million LPO market in the country.

The 139-acre green field Infosys Pune campus which employs 19,000 staff members has recruited 150 top lawyers to expand its LPO business.

“The process has begun and we are targeting a substantial amount of over

$200 million in the legal process outsourcing market in India, which is today growing rapidly,” Infosys’ board member and director, T V Mohandas Pai said. He said that within three-four years LPO business would grow to become a $1 billion market in the country.

He said Pune had more than 17 law colleges, churning out some of the best qualified law graduates in the country and, therefore, it made perfect business sense to concentrate on LPO in the city.

He said besides Pune, the company would also open LPO campuses in Bangalore, Chennai and Gurgao to establish a lead in the LPO business.

He said reputed law firms and big companies from the US, the UK and Europe had approached Infosys for legal services to cut costs in these countries. “We are expecting to generate substantial revenue in the LPO sector, especially from the US market,” he said.

“This market is growing rapidly. We will support the law firms and companies in their legal documentation, research, drafting of standard form documents and legal preparatory work,” he said. He said Infosys would undertake the legal in-house work of the companies.

According to him, the nature and variety of legal work was quite expensive in overseas markets and India had emerged as an efficient, reliable and cheap outsourcing market.

Each year about 80,000 graduates pass out of the country’s law colleges and a large number of them are from Pune, home to some of the top law colleges in the country. The city also has a large number of English speaking and practicing lawyers both at the Pune istrict Court and Bombay High Court.

Pai said there are about 50 plus players, employing about 4,500 staff engaged in LPO activities in the country. The Pune campus which employs 19,000 staff today would add 13,000 more in the next two years, which would make it the largest in the country. Till date the company’s total investment in Pune stood at Rs 1,050 crore. An additional Rs 500 crore would be invested within the next two years.

The Pune campus’ exports clocked Rs 7,270 crore for 12 months ending June 30, 2008.