Capgemini will expand its focus on China, going so far as to dedicate some of its Indian workforce to bolster its Chinese operations, according to the Times of India. “Currently 5% of Capgemini’s revenues of about 8.7 billion euro come from emerging markets such as China, Brazil and India , and the aim is to raise it to 10% by 2015,” says the Time of India.

This may be part of a strategy to diversify the company’s outsourcing capabilities beyond India. “A growing number of global technology companies are developing an Indiaplus-one outsourcing strategy, an effort to create an alternative to India in outsourcing,” says the Times of India. The paper reports that many companies are heavily dependent on India. Establishing presences elsewhere, such as China and Brazil, could help companies be more resilient to changes in one particular geographic region.

Phil Fersht, the founder of outsourcing focused analyst firm Horses for Sources (HfS), says that he’s been seeing all leading providers, including Accenture, IBM and Infosys, using multiple regions to support processes. “China brings some unique engineering skills to the table that may be scarce in locations such as India, so it makes sense to adjoin work across the two centers,” he says.

HfS has been skeptical in the past about China’s potential as a competitor for India for outsourcing due to the already high wages in China and India’s well established position in the outsourcing business. “When buyers think of India, they think of the jobs export destination,” Deborah Kops, a research fellow at the firm, recently wrote. “Whether that reputation is due to timing, compelling wage rates, undisputable demographics, marketing or luck is unimportant; truth is no other destination conjures up the same meaning in the minds of sourcing decision makers.”

However, in addition to the sort of cross-regional collaboration that Fersht points out, I expect there’s plenty of business in China itself to justify expansion there, and considering that Capgemini is using resources from its India workforce, it seems that it may be focusing on meeting regional demand in China and not building an alternative to India.

Regardless, Capgemini is increasing its overall global footprint. For example, last month Capgemini acquired Vengroff Williams and Associates to expand both its US presence and its share of the finance and accounting outsourcing market. Fersht wrote at the time: “There aren’t too many BPO acquisitions that appear to be as solid a fit as VWA into Capgemini, and the market for AR BPO is critical for future growth in this space.”

For an interesting read on longer reaching trends on global workforces, check out Jack A. Goldstone’s recent Foreign Policy article on why the “TIMBIs” – Turkey, India, Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia – will be the new BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China).