Singapore dy PM visits Satyam centre

Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, visited Satyam Technology Centre here on Saturday. He was taken around the centre by Satyam chairman B Ramalinga Raju and the state minister for commercial taxes, K Vijaya Rama Rao.

The 120-acre hi-tech centre, one of the most advanced campuses among IT services companies in India, oversees the development work for many Fortune 500 global MNCs who are among Satyam's clients. The campus has a deer park, a golf course, training facilities and dormitories.

The Singapore leader's visit assumes significance as Lee, who is widely expected to assume prime ministership in the near future, recently outlined his plans to strengthen ties between India and Singapore, said a release here.

Satyam set up its Asia Pacific head quarters in Sinagapore in 2001, and within four years, expanded operations in nine countries in the region with development centers in five of them.Satyam Computers has a staff strength of over 650 working in the Asia Pacific countries with over 220 in Singapore.

Ramalinga Raju said: "Since we set up Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore in January 2001, Satyam has experienced exponential growth in the region, driven largely out of the Singapore office. Throughout this growth, we have benefited from the pro-active support of the Singapore government agencies and its leaders."