Cognizant to set up 3 technocomplexes in India

BANGALORE: Cognizant Technology Solutions will set up three technocomplexes

to consolidate its development facilities and invest in real estate in India.

These centers will be in Chennai, Pune and Kolkata. The company plans to have

over 600,000 sq ft of space for over 6500 employees in the three cities put

together.

Recently Cognizant announced it had ear marked $ 50 million to be invested in

India. Most of this investment would be in infrastructure and real estate, which

the company planned to set up within the next couple of years.

"Our high growth rate in revenue and headcount has made it necessary to

build and own new facilities rather than expand in leased space," said

Cognizant vice president, Calcutta operations, Siddhartha Mukherjee. He

continued, "Our new facilities will offer several tangible benefits, space

for the rapidly increasing number of new employees, consolidation of existing

offices and support personnel, creation of extensive facilities for training and

recreation, and a boost to our brand identity."

While setting up of the Pune facility is already on, the Kolkata facility was

recently initiated. The technocomplex would include the latest

telecommunications and networking infrastructure to service Cognizant's

customers in the US, Europe and Asia.

Its current headcount is 3,500 employees and is expected to increase to 4,500

by one year. Cognizant is listed as one of the "Best Small Companies in

America," by Forbes, as the top solutions provider. It is also listed as

one of the top 200 Hot Companies by Business Week and has been selected by

SmartPartner, a leading magazine for the IT services industry, as #5 in its new

list of "Smart 100" companies. Cognizant has been assessed at SEI/CMM

Level 5, the highest possible rating. Nasscom ranked Cognizant the fastest

rising and sixth largest software exporter from India for the year 2000-2001.