Although the time frame has not been fixed with the plans yet to be firmed up, the centre is likely come up in the next two years with an investment of around Rs 15 crore and an initial staff strength of around a 100, Cognizant president and chief operating officer Lakshmi Narayan indicated.

Talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday, he said the company (which has its roots in Dunn & Bradstreet that set it up as a software arm in India) had totted up a turnover of Rs 87 crore in the first quarter of 1999, up 100 per cent from the corresponding period in 1998.

Lakshmi Narayan said revenues from Y2K projects had come down 26 per cent in Q1 1999 from 34 per cent in Q4 1998 and 49 per cent in Q3 1998.

Following its initial public offering on the US Nasdaq in June 1998 at $10 per share, the Cognizant scrip has hit a high of $48 and a low of $7. The scrip hit a low whencorporates worldwide announced cuts in IT-spend to the extent of 62 per cent due to the imminent Y2K snafu spelling a slowdown for software firms. Currently, the scrip was quoting around $20, Lakshmi Narayan said.

On the shareholding pattern, he said 65 per cent was held by the US-based Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation while 10 per cent was earmarked for employee stock options (some of it still to be vested). The rest is with the public and institutions.