India's fourth largest IT services company HCL Technologies is preparing to set up one of its largest development centres in Andhra Pradesh, involving an investment of over Rs 1,000 crore, said two officials close to the development.The Shiv Nadar-owned technology services firm is on the verge of signing an agreement with the Chandrababu Naidu-led Andhra Pradesh government to build its development centre close to proposed Greenfield capital city Amaravati, said one of the officials.
Talks with HCL Technologies are at an advanced stage, says one of the officials, adding, “This will be the first large investment by an IT giant to help Chandrababu Naidu's dream to recreate Cyberabad in residual Andhra Pradesh."
HCL Technologies declined to comment on the development in response to an email query sent by ET. “Talks have been on for a while, but there is no official confirmation or sign-off yet," said a person aware of the discussions.
“The proposed development centre, one of the largest facilities of HCL Technologies globally, will come up on over 30 acres of land near Amaravati in two phases, where the first phase will take off in a year or so,“ said another official, requesting anonymity .
For starters, Naidu, who headed undivided Andhra Pradesh as its chief minister during 1995-2004 succeeded in attracting technology giants including Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Dell, Deloitte, Infosys, TCS and Wipro among others to set up development centres in Hyderabad.
HCL Technologies has been expanding its footprint in tier-2 cities since the past few years. The first phase of a 100-acre IT city in Lucknow, which involves an investment of nearly Rs.1,500 crore, became operational last year.
Similarly, it has an establishment in Madurai, which trains and employs local engineers. The idea is to create more local jobs in these cities.
Hyderabad, which reported over Rs 75,000 crore of IT exports in FY16 and employing more than 4 lakh IT professionals, came under Telangana when it was carved out of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh in June 2014.
The residual Andhra Pradesh, which doesn't have a capital city, is currently building a Greenfield capital city at Amaravati near Vijayawada. “The facility will house 3,000 professionals in the first phase and another 3,000 engineers in the second phase," said the first official, adding that “proximity to several leading engineering colleges in and around Vijayawada will enable the technology services giant access to large pool of talented engineers."
The investment proposal of HCL Technologies is expected to come up before the ensuing meeting of the state investment promotion board (SIPB) for its approval.
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