BANGALORE, INDIA - Outsourcing firm Cambridge Integrated Services Group Inc. is planning to increase the number of staff it employs in Bangalore, India, from the current 300 workers to about 3,500 workers by the end of next year.

The new hires reflect an increasing demand for the company's services, and the increasing importance of the offshore model, Satyen Patel, executive vice chairman of Cambridge, told reporters Thursday in Bangalore.

A part of the Singapore-based Scandent Group, Cambridge handles process consulting and transaction processing for insurance companies, health care organizations and financial institutions.

"The demand for knowledge-based, transaction-processing services in the insurance, finance and health care industries has never been greater, with malpractice crises, increasing workers' compensation costs and expanding liabilities for companies all over the world driving growth for us," said Chris Sinclair, executive chairman of Cambridge.

Greenwich, Connecticut-based Cambridge currently employs 2,300 people. The company has a U.S. staff of 1,800 employees, 200 employees in Australia and 15 employees in the U.K., besides the 300 staff in India. By the end of next year, the company will likely employ 4,500 workers to 5,000 workers worldwide, according to Patel. "Seven out of 10 of our new hires will be in India, starting this year," Patel said. Some current U.S. claims management positions are also getting moved to India, he added.

Cambridge is also likely to set up new centers in Eastern Europe and China, depending on the customer requirements, Patel said. "A customer we are negotiating with, for example, wants us to support their Japanese operations out of Dalian in China," he said. "If we get that business we may have to set up operations there."