FTI establishes own campus in city

Hyderabad, Jan 23 (UNI) Franklin Templeton Investments (FTI), a leading Investment Management company specialising in Mutual Funds in the US with a presence in 29 countries, including India, today announced the launch of its new campus at Gachibowli in Hyderabad.

The 3,80,000 square-foot facility, built with an investment of over USD 40 million, will serve principally as a support centre to the operations and technology groups in Franklin Templeton's offices worldwide. The campus was expected to accommodate about 1,800 employees and will be equipped with amenities, including a gym, cafeteria and recreation area for the benefit of its staff.

As it plans to ramp up the headcount to 1,400 from 1,058 by September 2007, the company said it will start work immediately on the second phase of its Hyderabad campus to build an additional 2.29 lakh square-feet with another USD 18 million within one year.

Franklin Resources Inc President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Johnson told media here that the opening of the Hyderabad campus was an important milestone and a key strategic initiative.

Mr Johnson said India was its fourth largest investors globally after Canada, Germany and Taiwan. The company had an asset of USD 5.5 billion from Indian investors and had invested USD six billion in Indian Securities.

Jennifer Bolt, Franklin Templeton's Executive Vice-President of Operations&Technology said Hyderabad accounts for nearly 14 per cent of Franklin Templeton's headcount and 50 per cent of its global technology work was likely to come from India. The second phase will have an additional capacity of 1,000 rpt 1,000 employees, Mr Jennifer added.

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