Syntel plans 9000-seat Pune unit

The Nasdaq-listed IT consultancy and software services company Syntel is setting up a 9,000-seat facility in Pune, which will be completed in three phases. The first phase will be completed in early 2005 at an investment of around Rs 95 crore.

The US-based firm has around 2,700 employees in its three business development centres in Pune, Mumbai and Chennai. After the completion of the first phase, the company will employ 2,500 consultants at its Pune centre.

"Recruitments have begun in Pune. We will finish training our staff by the time the facility is ready in 2005. We will continue to operate in the other centres and will move only some part of our staff from there to Pune," said Ayan Chatterjee, senior vice-president, head of sales and relationship management at Syntel.

Syntel did not want to comment on the gestation period of the complete project.

The company, which began its operations in the US in 1980, has identified India as its main business development centre and now has more employees in its offshore centres in India than in the US.

Only 700-800 of Syntel's 3,500 employees are based in the US and this ratio will only look more skewed in the future when the Pune centre becomes operational.

The company added around 1,000 consultants in 2002-2003 and is now recruiting aggressively to fill up its Pune centre.

The company is also optimistic about their foray into the business process outsourcing (BPO) space sometime back. Though it has only one client at present, the company is in various stages of negotiations with its other clients in the financial services, healthcare and insurance verticals for BPO activities.