The Hindu Business Line : Qatalys plans centre in Visakhapatnam

THE Qatalys group of companies, Texas, a mid-sized IT company, is planning to set up a centre in Visakhapatnam, according to Mr Telidevara Bhimasankara Rao, the Chairman, who hails from a small village near Kakinada in East Godavari district.

Mr T.B.S Rao, who was here to participate in the convention of management students of Gayatri College, said in an interview that he had discussed the issue with Ms Ratnaprabha, the IAS official in charge of the IT industry in the State, and a decision would be taken soon.

He said Visakhapatnam was growing in importance as a two-tier centre for setting up ITES (IT-enabled services) units and therefore "our company is also keen on setting up a centre here. Moreover, I want to do something for the development of the region where I hail from."

Mr Bhimasankara Rao, hailing from Ramachandrapuram village near Kakinada in East Godavari district, graduated from the JNTU Engineering college (Kakinada) in the early eighties. He worked for a few years in ONGC, and then in IBM and later served as the technical head in Satyam Computers.

One of the founder-directors of Visualsoft, he later quit that company to form his own, Qatalys, in the US.

The company currently had centres in Chennai and Bangalore.

"We are expanding our operations in Chennai in the Guindy industrial estate. We are a mid-sized company having clientele in the UK and the US," he said.

Mr Bhimasankara Rao said a small bio-tech unit had been set up in Visakhapatnam district by his company near Jonnada in 2003.

"We have spent roughly Rs 3-4 crore on the agro project. We are taking up tissue culture. Greenhouses have been set up. We want to expand the operations and take up export of high-value agri products," he said, adding the biotech unit was named Green Cascades.

On the outcry in the US against outsourcing, he said there was some resentment against outsourcing, but it would not have much impact on the growth of the industry in the country.

He said he would do his bit to develop Visakhapatnam as a preferred IT destination.