 "TCS, Wipro to expand city headcount")
TCS, which operates in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on the city's outskirts, will inaugurate its new facility on December 10 to add a capacity for 3,000 employees. The foundation stone for Kalinga Park- Phase-II, the second phase of Global Software Development Centre (GSDC) was laid wayback in 2011.
"The new block of TCS is going to be inaugurated on December 10. Apart from TCS, Wipro is also expanding its city operations. Wipro has assured to add 1800 more employees by April 2016," said IT minister Pranab Prakash Das.
Presently, TCS has an employee strength of around 2500. By the end of December 2016, it plans to ramp up its headcount to 4000. The second phase expansion is spread over 4,00,000 square feet.
Similarly , Wipro would expand its city centre in a phased manner. It would add 1800 employees by April next year, 5000 in 2017 and 10000 more by 2019.
Wipro has an ambitious plan to set up a 28,000 seater centre in Bhubaneswar. The company had committed the state government to expand after a warning from the latter that it would take back the 26 acres of land allotted at a prime location in the city, if the project was delayed further.
The state government, in 2005, had allotted the land to Wipro in Infocity, the IT hub. The original plan was to construct five towers, which would house 11,000 technical associates.
Although Wipro commenced construction in 2007, it had gone slow on the work and lagged its peers Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tech Mahindra, which have set up full-fledged campuses in the city. Presently, about 200-250 associates are working in its facility in Bhubaneswar.
The Board of Approvals (BoA) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has already approved the proposal of IT major Wipro to co-develop a portion of the IT (information technology)/ITes (enabled services) Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Infocity, which is being developed by the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco).
Wipro will develop 26 acres of land allotted to it in the 69.15 hectare sector specific SEZ. Apart from site development, it will set up software development office building, among others.
"The teams have worked out a detailed engineering plan for the next phase. On receipt of the SEZ approval, we will apply for building plan approval with the state government and begin the construction for 4,000 employees immediately on obtaining the permission. The centre is planned for 28,000 employees with 2.8 million square feet of built-up space," T K Kurien, chief executive officer of Wipro, had said in the letter to Odisha's IT minister Pranab Prakash Das.
