Tech consulting firm Accenture, which has lagged behind global rivals IBM and HP in capturing a bigger share of India�s booming IT market, will hire an outsourcing veteran and a recognised turnaround expert to revive the local unit�s fortunes.

Avinash Vashishtha , 49, and a veteran outsourcing professional will join Accenture India as chairman and country managing director next week. He will work with the current chairman Harsh Manglik until he retires in August this year. Till then, Manglik, 62, and Vashishtha will serve as co-chairmen of the company�s India operations.

With global revenues of nearly $24 billion, Accenture, the world�s second-biggest tech consulting firm, has lagged global rivals such as IBM in over $20 billion Indian market. It has also been late in building a large workforce in the country in order to compete better globally.

"Accenture now wants to make India the top bet, having realised that others including IBM have raced past," said a person familiar with Accenture�s India business. "By bringing Avinash, and not one of the global executives to head Indian operations, Accenture is making it clear that understanding of the local market is crucial," he added.

Vashishtha is not new to the business of outsourcing. Around mid nineties he helped Nortel, which went bankrupt last year; build its biggest offshore operations in India. Back then, he was a customer for India�s top outsourcing vendors including TCS, Infosys and Wipro .

Later, in 1999, he founded outsourcing advisory firm neoIT and advised customers such as Siemens , JP Morgan Chase, ABN Amro, Home Depot, and Stanford University on their offshoring strategies. Vashishtha is an engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur, Master in computer science from the University of Alberta with over two decades of experience.