MANILA, Philippines—Essar-Group company Aegis PeopleSupport eyes to grow its revenues to $1 billion from $500 million and increase its local business process outsourcing (BPO) staff to 20,000 over the next three years, officials said Wednesday.

Essar director Anshuman Ruia said the group plans to “aggressively expand in the Philippines” to serve global clients, which are looking into outsourcing services to cut on costs with the current financial meltdown.

Aegis PeopleSupport has 8,000 local staff spread across Manila, Baguio and Cebu offices, said Bong Borja, president of Aegis PeopleSupport.

To augment its plan for staff increase, Aegis PeopleSupport plans to train 25,000 Filipinos under its BPO career training program “Aspire” and hire from the talent pool in the next three years, added Ruia.

The BPO training program is now being piloted in India and the Philippines last month, said Sudhir Agarwal, chief operating officer of Aegis BPO in India.

“We have a long-term commitment to invest in the Philippines and proof to this is our heavy investment on people,” said Ruia.

Aegis managing director and chief executive Aparup Sengupta noted the teams of Aegis and PeopleSupport have quickly “achieved full integration.”

Aegis acquired publicly listed PeopleSupport for $250 million in October last year, creating a 32,000- strong global workforce servicing telecommunications, banking, financial services and health care sectors, said Sengupta.

“We have fully integrated the company—emotionally, economically and culturally—in just five months. The integration will propel the company to offer clients cost-effective high-quality solutions from a broader geographic delivery platform,” said Sengupta.

Ruia said the acquisition venture in the Philippines has provided Essar with knowledge on the country's economic and business landscape, which he likened to India's development.