Finnish firm Lindstrom has taught Indian companies a new kind of outsourcing while expanding its own business fabric in India, one of the 21 countries it operates in, an industry sources said Friday.

At present, 200 to 250 new Indian companies are outsourcing their entire work-wear services, including stitching, laundering and maintaining to the 164-year-old Lindstrom every year.

Launching its unique operations in India in southern Tamil Nadu state's capital city Chennai in 2007, it is now scaling up business there, making it a garment outsourcing hub for its global clients.

Its business model is simple -- it designs, procures, maintains and rents out work-wear for corporate employees, even providing them their own lockers. It charges a weekly nominal rental for each employee, depending on the type of office wear and volumes.

"When we started in India, local business houses were skeptical, as there were no such service in the market then. Today we are servicing 500 companies here, growing at 50 percent every year. This year, we will be signing 200 new clients," said Lindstrom President and CEO Juha Laurio.

More than 77 percent of its customers are today Indian firms and the rest multinational corporations operating here, unlike in the first few years it started. Its clients range from small firms employing about 100 employees to companies in the retail, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and food sectors, having pan-India operations with hundreds of employees.

"Twenty percent of our customers give us 80 percent of our business and vice-versa," he said, indicating that large and middle-sized companies dominate its customers' list.

Globally, the 262-million-euro company has over 100,000 customers, with about 1.2 million office goers dressed in Lindstrom clothes everyday.

In India, it adds about 100,000 new pieces to its inventory every year. And to maintain this inventory, it has just about 135 employees, thanks to its highly mechanized laundering services and logistics expertise.

It currently operates in six cities across the South Asian country, including Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi, with plans to add two cities every year.

"We will soon add to our portfolio new services like maintaining carpets for shopping malls, pan-India retailers, hotels, hospitals and corporates," Laurio said.