Sona Valliappa Group’s Rs 150 cr SCALE campus near Bengaluru to train GCC-ready workforce

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The Sona Valliappa Group, on December 15, launched the Sona Centre for Advanced Learning & Entrepreneurship (SCALE), positioning it as India’s first integrated campus designed to house Global Capability Centres (GCCs) alongside academic institutions to create industry-ready talent

The group will invest Rs 150 crore to develop the SCALE campus in Bidadi near Bengaluru, located about an hour from Mysuru. The facility will include advanced learning spaces, hot labs, innovation zones and a 2,500-bed hostel.

The campus is expected to be ready by June 2026.

The 105-year-old group said SCALE will focus on skilling students and professionals for emerging technologies, with a strong emphasis on AI, advanced manufacturing and GCC requirements.

The announcement was made at Sona Towers in Bengaluru, a site that hosted India’s first GCC by Texas Instruments in the 1980s.

SCALE founder Thyagu Valliappa said the initiative aims to provide students with direct exposure to industry through hands-on learning, leadership access and structured performance assessments. He said the campus will offer multiple training programmes supported by over 50 memorandums of understanding and more than 15 centres of excellence, in partnership with industry players and government stakeholders

The group has tied up with the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) to work with the state government to upskill more than 3,000 engineers across Karnataka. Training will be delivered by faculty and industry professionals, with a focus on skills that are currently in demand to improve employability.

SCALE will operate as a single campus integrating advanced learning programmes, finishing schools, a business school, a techno school and startup incubation facilities. The group said the model is designed around the principle of industry-led education, with experiential learning, live projects and applied research at its core.

The launch marks the group’s latest expansion in industry-linked education, building on its long-standing partnerships with companies such as Capgemini, JSW, Dassault Systèmes and TCS. Over the past 68 years, the group said it has created more than 100,000 jobs across multiple sectors.