MindTree to invest $100 million in Hyd

Company to recruit 1,000 people by 2007

Bangalore-based IT services company, MindTree Consulting, today announced that it would be investing $100 million in Hyderabad, over a five-year period starting 2005.

A quarter of the investment would be made in the creation of infrastructure while the rest would be used in employee related expenditure. MindTree expects to recruit close to 1,000 people two years after it starts operations in Hyderabad.

Ashok Soota, chairman and managing director, MindTree Consulting, said, "We will have a fully running facility from March 2005. Of the $100 million five-year investment, $25 million would be capital expenditure and $75 million would be spent on salaries. We will be employing 250 people in this centre initially."

The company plans to double the headcount within a year of its operations and then double it again the subsequent year. The Bangalore operations of the company have close to 2,000 employees.

"MindTree is into IT and R&D services. The Hyderabad centre will be involved in both these services, where there will be application development for new customers and application sustenance for existing customers," said Soota who was once vice-chairman at Bangalore-based IT bellwether Wipro and also served a stint as the CII President.

Initially, MindTree plans to conduct its operations in a plug and play (ready-to-occupy) rented facility that will cover around 30,000 square feet.

"We later plan to operate from our own centre that will come up in around 20 acres of land," Soota said. The company is at present scouting for land and has not identified any location yet for the setting up of its campus.

Senior state government officials are understood to be taking senior officials of MindTree to prospective locations around the city where land is available.

"Hyderabad was a natural choice for us because of the large pool of talent, that can work on both IT and R&D services. Besides, airport connectivity to international destinations is an added advantage," Soota said. "We are looking forward to work with the Andhra Pradesh government," he added.

J C Mohanty, principal secretary for information technology, said that with the revision of the IT policy in January 2005, the conditions regarding employment to be generated per acre, for reimbursement of land cost by the government, would be modified.

MindTree earned revenues of $50 million last year and grew at an annual rate of 60 per cent. The company, which was hit hard during the tech slowdown in the US, is targeting a growth rate of 60 per cent this fiscal also.

The company earns close to 60 per cent of its revenues from the US, 20 per cent from Europe, nine per cent from India and 11 per cent from Japan and Middle East region.