Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will invest Rs 900 crore in Pune to create a capacity of 20,000 seats over the next three years. Pune would then emerge as the largest facility of TCS.
S Ramadorai, chief executive officer and managing director, TCS, said that this expansion would happen in the TCS Sahyadri Park SEZ at Hinjewadi in Pune across 50 acres of land and would be developed in three phases. The first phase would house 7,000 people and will be completed in 2009. The second phase would see capacity for 7,000 people and the third phase 6,000 people. S Mahalingam chief financial officer and executive director, TCS said the company would invest Rs 400 crore in Phase I while Phase II and III would see Rs 250 crore investment each.
Ramadorai said that TCS had been growing in terms of revenue and people he added saying that the slowdown had not impacted the company. He said that campus recruitment was on and 22,000 offers had been made and they would be joining from April 2008 and work on the following years campus recruitment had started. ?It is not that there has been any unusual intake at the entry levels as TCS always has more people at the entry level and the number of trainees would always be high. There is also productivity improvement and optimal utilisation to cope with changes.?
The slowdown will play out in multiple ways and the cost pressures would lead to offshoring and it can throw up new opportunities for offshoring where cost structure can be optimal, he said.
Western India is a key location globally with major expansion plans in Mumbai, Nagpur and Ahmedabad, which will be IT SEZs. Nagpur will have a 8,000 seater facility by 2011 while Ahmedabad facility will be ready by 2010 and have 10,000 people. The focus was on expansion in Tier II cities. The company currently has a strength of 1,09,000.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the TCS Sahyadri Park, Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said, ?With 1,600 acres, the Hinjewadi IT park has emerged as the largest in the world.?
This covered the first three phases of the Hinjewadi IT park and land acquisition for the fourth phase had begun. An area of 1,185 acres is to be acquired in the fourth phase. Deshmukh said that the state had signed 95 MoUs with investments of 1,20,000 crore in the last two an a half years. He admitted power was an issue in Pune but the IT companies in Hinjewadi would not be affected as MIDC had made different arrangement for them.