Infosys not moving out of Bengal now: Gopalakrishnan

Infosys Technologies Ltd today said that "company is not moving its West Bengal project at this point and also not planning to set up new facilities". The company would focus only on expanding the existing facilities, with an investment of around Rs 600 crore, said S Gopalakrishnan, chief executive officer and managing director Infosys Technologies
 
Speaking to Business Standard at the sidelines of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII’s) two day event on ICT he said that “the project (in West Bengal) has went into trouble and we were also going slow due to the global economic slow down. “We have decided to go slow in any new projects and will focus only on expanding the existing facilities. We will consider going back to West Bengal, if only the government gives us new proposal."
 
He added, currently around 3.5 million sq.ft. of infrastructure is being developed in the existing facilities like Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and in others. “Capex for this year would be Rs 600 crore.”
 
It may be recalled that the West Bengal government recently announced that it “cannot proceed” with the proposed joint sector Kolkata Link IT township project near Rajarhat in North 24 Parganas district following allegations of land grabbing and the recent arrest of managing director of a firm, which is a private partner.

Commenting on company’s acquisition plans Gopalakrishnan said that there are always 12-15 deals are in the pipeline and large deals would be in the tune of around $50 million, total contract value. We would invest 10 per cent of revenue or $200-500 million for the acquisitions.”

“The company is looking at Germany, France and non-English geographies and consulting, BPO and Health care are the major segments.”

The company has a dedicated team which always looks at acquisition opportunities, said Gopalakrishnan.

He further added, the company would recruit 2,000 people over and above to its initial target of 18,000 for the current year.

Commenting on the industry, he said no sign of growth in margins and the environment continues to be challenging,” it will take some more time to reach 2007-08 level”. The industry has already seen the bottom of pyramid so going forward it has to look for upward growth. Pricing pressure still continues.”

“Banking, Financial Services and Insurance has started showing recovery, thanks to the various governments stimulus package. Manufacturing is still lacking behind due to the slow down in the automotive industry.”

“We are not able to predict short-term growth, medium and long term (3-5 years) growth would be 10-20 per cent.”

To boost the industry the government should develop business and IT parks where subsidised  land is available.