TCS top officials meet Karunanidhi

Top officials of the information technology major, Tata Consultancy Services, called on Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi today at his office and discussed business prospects in the state.

Union communications and information technology minister Dayanidhi Maran was also present during the meeting.

S Ramadorai, CEO and MD, N Chandrasekaran, executive vice-president, and Ravi Shah, vice-president of TCS, met Karunanidhi at the secretariat. According to Ravi Shah, the TCS team briefed Karunanidhi about company's operations in the state and its expansion plan.

The state government had evinced interest in the expansion of IT services to tier II towns like Tiruchi, Madurai and Tirunelveli. TCS will be evaluating these options as part of the overall growth strategy of the state, he added.

TCS has a number of development facilities including dedicated facilities like an insurance solutions centre, a banking and financial services centre and an IT infrastructure management and business process outsoucing solutions centre, in Chennai. About 20 clients out of the top 30 clients of TCS are serviced out of Chennai.

The company employs about 14,500 people in Chennai and plans to hire 8,000 professionals during this year, taking the total staff strength in Chennai to 22,500 by the end of this fiscal year.

It is also putting up its largest facility, which will house over 20,000 people, in Chennai at an investment of $150 million (about Rs 668 crore) at the Siruseri Industrial Park, on 75-80 acres of land.

The first phase of this facility, with a seating capacity of 3,500, is likely to be ready by the fourth quarter of this fiscal year. By the second quarter of next fiscal year, this is expected to be ready with a seating capacity for over 20,000 people.

L K Tripathy, chief secretary, Syed Munir Hoda, secretary to chief minister, Shaktikanta Das, secretary - industry and G Chandramouli, secretary - information technology, were also present during the meeting.