Hyderabad firm Lanco to shift base to Gurgaon

Power producer Lanco Infratech is all set to shift its offices to Gurgaon from Hyderabad in a bid to better manage its upcoming power projects in north India and be close to the seat of power in New Delhi.

“This shift is because we are getting more and more projects in north India now. The entire engineering, procurement and construction business is located largely in the north. Also getting project finance becomes easier from Delhi,” said G Venkatesh Babu, managing director of Lanco Infratech.

Member of Parliament L Rajagopal is the founder chairman of the Lanco group of companies.

“In Chhattisgarh alone, we are going to invest Rs 4,000 crore. In Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, we are investing another Rs 8,000 crore,” Babu added.

Industry experts also feel the decision to shift to Delhi has come at the appropriate time. “Its a wise move. With all the ministries and departments located in Delhi, it will help to have a central command office near Delhi,” said a senior analyst from an accounting and consultancy firm.

Lanco has 8,000 mw of generation capacity under various stages of implementation across the country. Around half of this is coming up in the north Indian states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The company has 600 mw of operating capacity located in south India.

The company’s upcoming corporate office, spread over 100,000 sq ft in Gurgaon, will employ around 300 people, Babu said. The company already has a 60,000 sq ft office in the city.

Babu also added that the preliminary work for the proposed change was over and the new office would be ready by April-May. However, he declined to give the expenditure involved, saying it would not be huge.

Lanco Infratech currently employs about 3,500 people in offices spread across the country, up 600 per cent in three years. The company is planning to set up about 13,000 mw of power generation capacity by 2013.