Cognizant Tech plans Hyderabad unit

IT service provider Cognizant Technology Solutions India Private Limited today announced plans to build its own facility here at an investment of around Rs 140 crore by the end of 2008.

The company proposes to build a 5-lakh square feet office space to provide an additional capacity for over 5,000 new employees. Cognizant has a headcount of about 2,000 people currently deployed for the Hyderabad operations.

Laxmi Narayanan, president and CEO, Cognizant, told the media that the Hyderabad plans were part of the Cognizant's larger expansion programme at an investment of $200 million to create fully-owned techno-complexes in Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune.

The company was planning to build over 3 million square feet of office space to accommodate over 30,000 new employees in the cities, he added.

"Cognizant has grown faster than our competitors over the last several years, and our strong product pipeline reinforces our confidence in our future growth plans," Narayanan said.

According to him, the company's global revenues are expected to grow by 58 per cent to touch $1.4 billion from $80 million during the current calender year.

About 70 per cent of its revenues come from financial services and health care businesses while 86.89 per cent of the total revenues are being generated from North America alone.