The Hindu Business Line : Satyam plans large campus in Chennai

SATYAM Computers plans to build a large campus on the outskirts of Chennai. This is to meet the company's growth plans in the next two to three years.

The company had started identifying potential sites for the campus at Siruseri on Old Mahabalipuram Road and at Mahindra industrial park, said a company official.

In Chennai, Satyam currently has about 2,000 associates operating out of five development centres. Considering the demand in high-end consulting and enterprise solutions business, the company expects that Chennai would have close to 4,000 to 5,000 associates in 12 months to 18 months, Mr Subu D. Subramanian, Director and Senior Vice President, Head SBU - Manufacturing, SAP and Engineering, told Business Line. The idea of a campus is to bring employees into a single large infrastructure rather than spread across locations, he said.

Meanwhile, to meet the immediate expansion plan, the Hyderabad-based software major is to have two more development centres in and around the city. One centre is coming up in 1.30 lakh sq. ft land on the Old Mahabalipuram Road to accommodate about 1,500 employees. It would be ready by July 2004. The company is also looking for a similar infrastructure for its second centre in the city.

Satyam will follow Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wirpo to have its own campus in outskirts of Chennai in the next two years. While Infosys plans a campus in 130 acres in Mahindra Industry Park at an estimated investment of Rs 1,400 crore, Wipro is planning a campus in about 80 acres at a cost of Rs 1,100 crore. Similarly, TCS is to have its own centre in Siruseri.

With all the software majors planning large campuses, the city will have about one lakh new software jobs in the next three to four years, Tamil Nadu Information Technology Secretary, Mr Vivek Harinarain, observed recently.