The Hindu Business Line : MS India to focus on high-end tech

Dr Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, with Mr Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Corp, at the inaugural of Microsoft's Hyderabad campus on Monday. - - K. Ramesh Babu

Manikonda Jagir (Ranga Reddy, AP), Nov. 15

MICROSOFT India Campus, the new facility coming up at Manikonda Jagir near Hyderabad as an extension to Microsoft Corporation's commitment of $400-million of investment in India, would focus on developing high-end technologies and play an important role in contributing to innovation at Microsoft, its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Steve Ballmer, has said.

The Microsoft India Campus, spread over an area of 28 acres, would house employees across its three units - the India Development Centre, the Global Delivery Centre India and the Sales & Marketing organisation. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, inaugurated the facility here on Monday.

Responding to queries after the inauguration of the new campus, Mr Steve Ballmer said India, as one of the world's faster growing IT markets, is a strategically important region for Microsoft and also key to Microsoft's mission of enabling people, governments, business and communities to realise their full potential. While he said that the new facility at Hyderabad was an extension to the already announced plan of $400-million investments, he did not quantify the fresh investments.

"Our India Development Centre plays an important role in contributing to innovation at Microsoft. The inauguration of our new campus in Hyderabad underscores our commitment to deepening our relationship with India and partnering with the Indian government and developer communities to create new opportunities for customers and for our industry," Mr Ballmer said.

Bullish on continuous availability of quality IT engineers in India, Mr Ballmer said Microsoft would go in for aggressive hiring for its Indian operations in hundreds in the next 12 months. The Microsoft facilities in Hyderabad currently employ around 800 IT professionals.

Making it clear that aggressive hiring of people for Indian operations would in no way slow down the hiring pace at Microsoft's headquarters, Redmond, he said Microsoft plans to hire 3,000 at Redmond in the next 12 months.

The Microsoft India Chairman, Mr Ravi Venkatesan, said setting up of a campus in Hyderabad was a significant deliverable in its `One Microsoft' India mission and brought all its operations in Hyderabad under a single roof.

The alignment with the product families of Microsoft enables its employees to gain greater understanding of its customer segments and deeper knowledge of the underlying technologies, which could lead to further excellence in innovation and customer relationships, the Microsoft India Development Centre Managing Director, Mr Srini Koppolu, said.