Among those considering a bid is U.S. private-equity firm Texas Pacific Group, which has had a long relationship with GE, it said, adding that GE provided the financing for Texas Pacific’s first deal, its purchase of Continental Airlines. Other investment firms and outsourcing companies have looked at the business during the past year, including Warburg Pincus.

General Electric (NYSE: GE) , a pioneer in business processing in India, is looking to cash in on its giant offshore operations there, setting a price tag of as much as US$1 billion, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the situation.

It said GE is in talks to sell all or part of GE Capital International Services (GECIS), a division it started in 1993 in Delhi as part of GE Capital. The division employs 17,000 people, with 12,000 at four centers in India and another 5,000 at operations in Hungary, Mexico and China, it said.

Largest Western Operation in India
With revenues in 2003 of $400 million, the newspaper said it is the largest business-processing operation in India by a U.S. or European company.

Earlier this year, GE Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt told investors that GE could save as much as $1 billion annually by simplifying its organizations and outsourcing .

The move comes at a time when outsourcing by U.S. companies is speeding up and the industry is consolidating in India, giving the company an opportunity to profit from some of its investments, the report said.

GE could also save money by outsourcing more of its operations instead of having a captive unit, said John McCarthy, a researcher with Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass.

Texas Pacific, Warburg May Bid
“What GE does today, the rest of the world will be doing two years from now,” he said.

The report said that, while no deal appears imminent, discussions are continuing as potential buyers weigh the value of business and the terms of any transaction.

Among those considering a bid is U.S. private-equity firm Texas Pacific Group, which has had a long relationship with GE, it said, adding that GE provided the financing for Texas Pacific’s first deal, its purchase of Continental Airlines.

Other investment firms and outsourcing companies have looked at the business during the past year, including Warburg Pincus and one of India’s leading outsourcing companies, Wipro Ltd. For many, however, the price was too high, according to people familiar with the situation.

GECIS started out handling basic insurance claims and answering calls from customers of GE’s commercial- and consumer-lending units and has moved into developing sophisticated software for analytics , data mining and business modeling.

Most Clients GE Businesses
The majority of its clients are GE businesses, but it also works with major companies in the financial, transportation and retail industries.

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