Cognizant beefs up operations, will hire 1850

MUMBAI: Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation will invest $35m in India to expand its infrastructure and development centers. The company has announced the revenues for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2002. Revenues increased to $67m, up 54 percent from $43.5 m in the fourth quarter of 2001 and up nine percent sequentially from the third quarter of 2002.

Revenues for the full year 2002 were $229.1m compared to $177.8m in 2001. Laxmi Narayanan, COO, Cognizant said, " We continue to benefit from the broad market acceptance of the offshore delivery model which will fuel our growth in the years to come."

The company is expecting a good growth in the first quarter of 2003 as clients have continued to ramp up at a rapid rate. The company is expecting to generate revenue of at least $71m. Based on the strong ramp up of existing clients and robust pipeline of new clients it is expecting to generate around $305m this year.

Last year the company had invested around $15.2m in India and is planning to invest more than double this year. Most of the investment would be in the area of expanding of infrastructure and in opening of new development centers. It is also going to increase its strength from 6150 people to 8000 people by the end of 2003. The company generated most of the revenues from the healthcare sector and is expecting the same revenue mix this year also.