Cognizant to invest $200 mn to develop tech complexes

Information technology major Cognizant plans to invest over $200 million to develop techno-complexes in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Coimbatore by the end of 2008.

The investment will be conducted in phases. In the first installment, the company will invest $46 million in Kolkata to further expand its infrastructure to accommodate close to 4,000 employees.

The 20-acre, fully owned techno-complex is located in Bantala, an area designated as a special economic zone. Additionally, the US-based major will continue to lease additional new facilities in Kolkata to meet its growing employee strength.

Cognizant President and Managing Director R Chandrasekaran said, "As we plan for the next phase of Cognizant's growth, we are focused on building the scale to address the needs of our businesses around the world. Building larger Cognizant-owned facilities in India is a key part of our strategy. We expect our new construction programme will enable us to meet growing customer demand in North America, Europe, South America and Asia and continue to attract the industry's most talented people."

Cognizant will set up its second IT and business process outsourcing services infrastructure in Kolkata with an investment of close to Rs 188 crore by the end of 2008 for land acquisition, construction of facilities and furnishing.

This is expected to increase significantly Cognizant's footprint in Kolkata with the addition of over 500,000 sq ft of office space that could accommodate approximately 4,000 new employees. Cognizant will also continue to lease additional facilities in Kolkata.

Chandrasekaran said, "Our strategy to make ahead-of-the-curve investments in our people and infrastructure has established Cognizant among the top companies in the offshore outsourcing industry."

"Cognizant has scaled up to approximately 4,000 professionals in Kolkata and is committed to grow this centre, tapping into the rich talent pool in the eastern part of the country. The Kolkata development centre's focus on high growth industry segments and the discipline of high-quality execution enabled us to build stronger customer businesses," added Siddhartha Mukerjee, vice-president and head of Kolkata operations, Cognizant.

Cognizant, at present, has over 44,000 employees, who are committed to partnerships that sustain long-term, proven value for customers by delivering high-quality, cost-effective solutions through its development centres in India and on-site client teams.