HONG KONG (AFP) - General Electric Co., a pioneer in business processing in India, is looking to reap up to one billion dollars from the disposal of outsourcing operations in the country.

The Wall Street Journal reported in its Asian edition Friday, quoting unnamed sources, that GE was in talks to sell all or part of its outsourcing business, GE Capital Services or GECIS, a division it launched in 1993 in New Delhi as part of its GE Capital unit.

A spokesman for GE said the report was "speculative" but would not confirm or deny it.

"The article is highly speculative. Even if we are having discussions with another company we would be bound by confidentiality laws," David Jensen, spokesman for GE based in the United States, told AFP by telephone.

The GE division employs 17,000 people with 12,000 at four call centers in India and another 5,000 at operations in Hungary, Mexico and China.

With 2003 revenues of 400 million dollars, GCEIS is the largest business processing operation (BPO) in India by a US or European company.

The newspaper said that while no deal appeared imminent, discussions were continuing as potential buyers weighed the value of the business and and terms of any transaction.

It said among those considering a bid was US private-equity firm Texas Pacific Group, which has had a long relationship with GE.

Other investment firms and outsourcing companies that have looked at the business during the past year included New York private equity firm Warburg Pincus LP and one of of India`s leading outsourcing companies Wipro Ltd.

The newspaper said GE`s move was coming at a time when the BPO industry is consolidating in India, giving the company an opportunity to profit from some of its earlier investment.

Additionally, it quoted John McCarthy, a researcher with Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as saying GE could save money by outsourcing more of its operations instead of having a captive unit.

GCEIS began handling 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 modelling.

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