The company is
also expanding its existing campus at Thoraipakkam, also
on the IT Corridor, by developing 1.5 lakh sq ft in six
acres acquired recently.
"We are evaluating a plan to enter Coimbatore. Our
plan is to have a development centre in the next 12 months
and take the headcount to 400 during the first year of operations,"
said Lakshmi Narayanan, president & CEO, Cognizant.
He said that the company's strategy to enter Coimbatore
is to tap the rich pool of technical talent from a number
of educational institutions (20,000 graduates from 19 engineering
colleges, 70 colleges and 14 polytechnics).
"It will be a global delivery centre at Coimbatore.
We will focus on applications maintenance, testing and IT
infrastructure services. We will also benefit from the presence
of traditional manufacturing industries, textile and retail
sectors," said Mr Narayanan.
Commenting on Cognizant's China operations, he said that
the company would have a 25-member team by April '05 at
Shanghai.
"We expect
our China operations to grow rapidly from '07-08. Our mindset
for China is to make it a part of our global delivery network,"
he said.
