H&R Block, a US multinational and global consumer tax services company, will set up its India Global Technology Centre at Technopark here.

The Kansas City, US-based company has revenues over $3 billion and has prepared more than 720 million tax returns since inception in 1955. It also has operations in Canada and Australia, with more than 12,000 retail tax offices worldwide.

First global centre

The Technopark office will be H&R Block’s first global technology centre in the country, according to Hrishikesh Nair, CEO, Technopark.

It will provide IT and IT-enabled services and host around 300 employees in the first phase on becoming operational. The centre is likely to expand the head count to over 1,000 in a couple of year’s time.

H&R Block will become the first US multinational to come to Technopark after Oracle in 2012. Senior officials of the parent company are expected to visit Thiruvananthapuram this month to sign an MoU.

“We have allotted 27,000 sq ft space in Technopark Phase 3 for H&R Block. The company is expected to start work immediately,” Hrishikesh Nair said.

This is the latest in a series of initiatives by the Technopark and the state government aimed at developing the capital city as a hub for frontier technologies such as Blockchain, artificial intelligence, cyber security, and fintech.

The concept of a ‘Knowledge City’ is being pursued within the larger Technocity. The latter is not planned as just another IT park providing basic IT infrastructure for IT/ITES companies, but instead as a Centre of Excellence.

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