The Hindu Business Line : Cognizant development centre opens in Kochi

Kochi, July 11 Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, one of the leading providers of global IT and BPO services, has established its development centre in Kochi as part of the company’s plan to open more centres in tier-II cities.

The new centre, set up at the SEZ notified Muthoot IT Park, will focus on information, media and entertainment industry and build focused competencies, , Mr Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice-Chairman, Cognizant said at a press meet here on Wednesday.

The Kochi centre would expand into other industries of specialisations such as financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail and telecommunications over the time, he said.

The centre was formally inaugurated by Mr Scott Henry, Chief Information Officer of Arbitron Inc. Arbitron, which is the anchor customer of Cognizant, in the media and entertainment sector, will be serviced from the new centre. “Cognizant has been our partner of choice for applications outsourcing due to its deep domain expertise in the media industry, track record of global delivery, high standards of customer satisfaction, flexibility and responsiveness,” Mr Henry said, adding that Arbitron leverages Cognizant’s development centres both in India (Chennai and Kochi) and China.

According to Mr Lakshmi Narayanan, the company is expecting a revenue of $2.07 billion in the calendar year 2007 as against $1.42 billion achieved in 2006. Cognizant has recently announced its plans to further expand its infrastructure in India and earmarked an investment of $200 million through the end of 2008 on land acquisition, facilities construction and furnishing.

The company expects to build new fully owned techno complexes that would significantly increase the existing campus footprint with the addition of over 3 million sq ft and capacity for over 30,000 new employees.

Based on published reports and the company’s own research, he said Kerala is estimated to produce 25,000 engineering graduates each year, graduating from 85 engineering colleges and eight universities.