Bad news for India

Hiring plans in the software development and technical support groups for the Austin, Texas outlet of data infrastructure software provider Pervasive Software Inc. were announced yesterday. The new jobs and development center have come to the Lone Star State at the expense of – believe it or not – India. Eighteen months after creating the development center in Bangalore, India, Pervasive Software management have shut it down, costing the city more than fifty jobs.

Pervasive president / CEO John Farr cited at the time of the announcement the increasing costs of labor, employee turnover, training and facilities themselves as reasons for shutting down the Indian operation. Eighteen months ago was also the approximate time of the Pervasive purchase of Austin-based data integration product producer Datajunction. The company plans to hire as many as twenty technical employees in Austin over the next several months.

The consolidation in Austin of software development, quality engineering and technical support for the full integration product suite is cited for the local employee growth. For those interested in applying, see www.pervasive.com/company/careers/ for a complete listing of all presently open positions and the resume submission process. The Pervasive closure in Bangalore is the third pullout by an Anglo firm in the past month; Apple Computer lost its center in Bangalore, and Powergen too left the country in June. The former gave cost considerations as justification for the move, the latter cited poor service quality. Meanwhile, Farr and company somehow hope to maintain ties in Bangalore: "We are consolidating technical operations for our integration product line in Austin and closing our Bangalore-based subsidiary this month, while still maintaining an India presence through our long-time development partner, Aztec Software.” Pervasive has installed local manager Jaisimha Muthegere as director of its India software operations.

Muthegere had earlier announced that Pervasive would establish a world-class research and development centre in India via recruitment of top-level engineers. Farr, seeking to score a few points with the Texan folk said, “We value the unique blend of technical sophistication and innovative spirit here in Austin and believe the technical talent we require resides here locally."