Mahindra Satyam may revive Gujarat foray

Less than a year since the previous management of the company chose to drop an information technology (IT) and IT enabled services (ITes) park project in Gandhinagar, Mahindra Satyam, the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services, has begun mulling a return to the state.

Three years after B Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced founder and chairman of Satyam Computer, announced the project, Mahindra Satyam dropped the project and surrendered the 26 acre-land to the state government.

“We are committed to come back to Gujarat,” said C P Gurnani, chief executive officer of Mahindra Satyam, on the sidelines of the Vibrant Gujarat IT Summit, a seminar on ‘Gujarat: Catalysing Inclusive Growth through ICT’, here.

“We used to have land in Gandhinagar, but the previous management chose to surrender it. We are talking to the government.”

However, Gurnani said the company “could as well be talking to private players” for a project in Gujarat. Talking about the kinds of projects the company could take up in Gujarat, he listed product engineering and product support centres as the potential ones.

Refusing to divulge investment details for the upcoming project in Gujarat, Gurnani said, “There has been tremendous growth in Gujarat from several standpoints. Apart from an improved international airport connectivity and broadband connectivity, the state has grown in terms of English education and availability of capital.” He said both Mahindra Satyam and Tech Mahindra were looking at expansion.

According to sources, land for the IT/ITeS project in Gandhinagar was purchased in July 2008 at a total cost of Rs 11.5 crore (Rs 44.23 lakh per acre). The total project cost was estimated to be around Rs 60 crore and Mahindra Satyam had paid Rs 11.5 crore for the land.