HCL to set up 5 tech hubs at Rs 1,000 cr each

Noida, Nov 1 (UNI) Country's fourth largest software exporter HCL Technologies today said it will expand the network of its technology hubs, with facilities in Bangalore, Chennai, Nagpur and Madurai which will entail an investment of Rs 1,000 crore each.

The company would generate employment for nearly one lakh people in the next 5-7 years in these tech hubs.

''While the Bangalore and Chennai hubs will come up in the second half of 2008, the Nagpur and Chennai facilities will start by end of 2009-2010,'' company Chairman Shiv Nadar told reporters here.

''Roughly to create a structure, investments around Rs 1,000 crore is required. Additional investments for technology will be made depending on the type of projects,'' Mr Nadar said adding that the company will make an investment to the tune of 250 million dollars over five years in its technology hubs.

The Chennai hub is similar to the Noida hub, while Bangalore facility is two-thirds the size of Chennai, he added.

The company is planning to start hubs in the cities of Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Manesar. It will also have similar facilities across the globe but Mr Nadar clarified that they will be of a smaller scale.

''Our facility in Poland will become operational by next month.

We are also looking at one of the US cities, but that will come later,'' said Mr Nadar. The hub at Poland will look after financial services, BPO, education segment products of the company.

HCL might take over some existing hub for its US facility, which is expected to house about 1,000 employees. Mr Nadar added that the Indian hubs will remain the mother hubs while the international hubs will provide value proposition to the company's operations.

The company's facility at Nagpur is a SEZ, spread over 172 acres and of which 32 acres will be residential area. The company said it would like the Maharashtra government to set up an incubation centre at the land. On the choice of venue, Mr Nadar said that the small percentage of IT hubs there along with the availability of manpower (just put it across nicely if u can that there are a lot of engineering colleges).

The Madurai facility is spread over 60 acres, with 10 acres for residential use. The company is also in talks with the Tamil Nadu government for smaller lands so that the company need not wait for the operations to start.

While the Bangalore hub will focus on financial services technology, the Chennai facility will cater to the lifesciences segment and Noida will look after the core technology (home entertainment, media and content), Mr Nadar said.

UNI