Cognizant to invest Rs 1,000 cr in Tamil Nadu in next 5 yrs

IT major Cognizant has proposed to invest about Rs 1,000 crore in Tamil Nadu over the next five years as part of its expansion plans. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the state government in this regard. "In the next phase of our growth in Tamil Nadu, we plan to invest approximately Rs 1,000 crore over the next five years to expand our delivery infrastructure in Chennai and Coimbatore," Cognizant Vice-Chairman, Lakshmi Narayanan said.

Earlier today during the Global Investors Meet organised by the state government, Cognizant Chief Operating Officer T Sridhar exchanged documents with senior government officials. Narayanan said the company had already invested over USD one billion in its operations in real estate and IT related infrastructure in the state. He said as part of signing the MoU, the company intends to develop world-class global delivery centres in Chennai and Coimbatore.

Currently, the company employs about 70,000 people across Chennai and Coimbatore. "When complete, the centres will have a capacity to accommodate approximately 17,000 to 20,000 professionals," he said. Cognizant, which began its journey in 1994 with revenue of USD two million, crossed USD 10 billion 2014.

It had about 175 professionals in one delivery centre in Chennai and has over 2.18 lakh across 100 delivery centres worldwide. "Today we operate from 16 delivery and operations centre in Chennai and Coimbatore, and continue to invest and expand our presence in the state," he said.