Wipro to expand its footprint in Odisha

After a phase of lull, information technology behemoth Wipro has aimed to scale up headcount at its Bhubaneswar centre to 2,000 by April 2016, from around 300 at present. Wipro's development centre has been on a slow lane and the IT firm is making a vigorous bid to expand its presence to catch up with larger peers such as Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys.

Wipro chairman Azim Premji in his maiden trip to Odisha on Monday jointly took stock of the company's Odisha project with Odisha's electronics & IT minister Pranab Prakash Das, and the department's secretary P K Jena. Later, Premji called on chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Premji was tight-lipped on what transpired during his meeting with the chief minister. "Yes, I discussed Wipro's Odisha project and its expansion," he said, without divulging further details.

As Wipro plans to add a manpower pool of 1,700 in the next three to four months, four major accounts, including that of Electrolux, would be shifted to the Bhubaneswar centre.

Wipro has an ambitious plan to set up a 28,000-seater centre in Bhubaneswar. The company recently received a warning from the state government that if the project was delayed further the latter would take back the 26 acres of land allotted to the company at a prime location in the city. The state government had in 2005 allotted the land to Wipro at Infocity, the IT hub.

The original plan was to construct five towers housing 11,000 technical associates.

In a meeting later in the day, chief minister Naveen Patnaik requested Premji to set up a Global Training Centre at Puri-Konark marine drive for which land has been identified. Patnaik said the existing centre at Infocity could be expanded and he asked the company to consider setting up a second campus at a Infovalley being developed at the outskirts of the city where it can be allotted land.

The chief minister also proposed to Wipro to be a partner in the second Indian Institute of Information Technology to be established in Odisha at investment of Rs 128 crore under the public-private partnership model.

Patnaik said Wipro should take initiatives to make Bhubaneswar the hub of eastern India for IT and consulting activities.

The CM is also keen on Wipro-GE Healthcare to set up its healthcare facilities in Odisha. He urged Premji to consider opening the second campus of Ajim Premji University in Odisha.

Premji's Odisha visit was also marked by extension of philanthropic initiatives. The Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives (APPI) signed an agreement with the state government to reduce malnutrition in the state by 25 per cent in the next eight years. APPI would be investing Rs 250-300 crore on the initiative, said Premji.