Satyam to expand to Vizag

Hyderabad-based Satyam Computers today announced that it will soon expand its operations to the coastal city of Vizag in Andhra Pradesh.

The proposed operations in Vizag would be a significant one and much of it would depend on the agreement to be entered into with the state government on the facilities and support for the same, Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Satyam Computers, said here on Tuesday.

The announcement of Satyam's Vizag plans was made jointly by chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and Ramalinga Raju at a press conference here today.

Maintaining that the Vizag city is going to be the second best IT destination in the state, chief minister said that a few more IT companies were expected to set up their operations in the city in the next couple of months.

The chief minister said that a separate policy for tier-2 cities in Andhra Pradesh would be announced in the new IT policy to be announced on January 1, 2005. He maintained that his government will not be behind any other state in providing facilities and other support to the IT companies.

Ramalinga Raju refused to divulge any concrete details on the size of the investment and the recruitment patterns for the proposed facility, saying that the negotiations with the state government on allotment of land and other issues were still at a preliminary stage and much would depend on these details.

According to J C Mohanty, principal secretary of IT department, the state government has identified around 1,000 acres of land at Vizag for IT operations.

Raju indicated that the Vizag operations could well become a stepping stone to expand Satyam's business in the Asia-Pacific region. The operations at the proposed new facility would extend to all the services from its stable, including BPO operations, according to Raju.