The Hindu Business Line : IBM commences Coimbatore operations

Growth strategy
Plans lateral recruitment in a big way
Aims to increase the number of its partners
Earmarks $6 billion for investments in India

Coimbatore May 17 In looking to establish office at strategic locations, IBM India is no exception. But what seemed strange was the location of the company's office in Coimbatore.

Instead of looking for space in an IT park or a commercial building in the heart of the city, IBM has set up its office at the Business Centre at the Residency.

On the reason behind choosing the business centre in a prominent hotel, Mr Ramesh Narasimhan, Director (SMB), India and South Asia, said: "We are looking at logistics to start off our operations here. We will have a much larger operation very soon."

The company is planning to establish its offices in 14 new locations this year, including smaller hubs such as Madurai, Vizag and Kochi in the South.

Expansion plans

"We will be strengthening both - our reach (by setting up offices) and people," Mr Narasimhan said.

Though he did not specify the numbers that the company proposed to add to its rolls this year, he maintained that IBM India would look at picking up freshers and lateral recruitment in a big way. The company added 15,000 people last year, taking the headcount to 53,000 in 2006.

On the team size here, he said: "We have people travelling across locations all the time, addressing different markets and resolving issues. The establishment of a set-up is only to strengthen and build relationship with customers and partners."

IBM works with 1,500 partners nationally, including 200 in Tamil Nadu.

Mr Narasimhan indicated that the company would strive to increase these numbers. According to him, partners help strengthen IBM's reach, adding their own value, and aid in relationship building.

On the cost of establishing its office here, he said that $6 billion has been earmarked for investments in India.

"We will be using the funds from this corpus for setting up offices across new locations and for establishing a global delivery centre and software labs, among others."