Las Vegas firm to set up IT unit in Agra

With the software technology park in Agra still a distant dream, IT entrepreneurs are not willing to wait.

On Tuesday, The Teton Group Inc, a Las Vegas-based IT and management consulting company, unveiled its plans to develop a data-outsourcing hub in Agra by forming a local partner company, which, according to company sources in Agra and the US, would become operational by November this year.

Talking to Business Standard on the phone from the US, Micheal Peltier, chief executive, The Teton Group, said before making its debut in India, the company had conducted detailed surveys in Noida and Delhi before deciding to establish its base in a "lesser exposed" area like Agra.

The city, he said, had immense potential for software professionals who had a desire to work for US-based companies but till date, had to shift to Delhi to get a job with a multinational.

He said a lot of promising software professionals were graduating from the engineering colleges near Agra and were going to Delhi, which was quite close and it was the company's target to tap this brooding talent by holding campus interviews, etc.

He said initially, the company intended to set up a couple of call centres and data-processing operations which should handle the voice and data traffic from the US and the UK in Agra, for which, it was planning to set up its own facility inside or preferably, on the outskirts of the city.

The first step in this direction should begin with the formation of a local partner company in collaboration with some Agra-based entrepreneurs, the process for which should be initiated by October-end following which, the local partner company would be responsible for beginning and expanding the company operations in cities like Agra and Lucknow, where software professionals were easily available, he added.

In the first year, he said, the Agra venture was expected to generate a business of approximately $300,000.