Accenture’s withdrawal jolts outsourcing industry

When Accenture PLC, one of the largest consulting and outsourcing companies in the world, started operations in Bangladesh in 2013, it was seen as another sign that the country was fast becoming a popular destination for business process outsourcing or BPO.

Four years on, the outsourcing giant has shut up shop in Bangladesh, terminating all 556 of its local staff and sending a jolt through the outsourcing sector, which has an ambitious target of earning $1 billion annually in BPO services exports by 2021.

Accenture entered Bangladesh by acquiring 51% of shares in GPIT, a subsidiary of mobile phone operator Grameenphone.

Accenture Communications Infrastructure Solutions Limited, as the new company was called, hired most of GPIT’s staff, as well as taking on its existing work, the bulk of which was providing IT support services to Grameenphone.