CSC opens development centre in Chennai

IT services major Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) has announced opening of its new development centre in Chennai, its fourth in India. The company plans to hire about 5,000-7,000 professionals in India over the next two years.

The Chennai centre, a leased facility, will initially house 400 professionals and provide application and infrastructure services to its global clients. The company has already started recruiting professionals for its Chennai facility and would be looking for more experienced professionals.

Addressing a press conference, Tom Kenyon, president and managing director, Computer Sciences Corporation India Pvt Ltd, said Chennai was chosen as a strategic location by CSC due to its excellent educational system, talent base and quality of life.

The Chennai facility will begin operation on April 15. The company plans to ramp up to 1,000 professionals in Chennai by the year end and to 3,000 professionals when fully operational.

On building its own campus in Chennai, Kenyon said the company would normally consider the option of setting up its own campus in any location once it reached a critical mass.

With a staff strength of over 5,000, CSC currently operates out of three locations in India "� Noida, Indore and Hyderabad. The company management has chalked out a plan to ramp up to 10,000-12,000 professionals in the country over the next couple of years. Each location is likely to have a headcount in the range of 3,000 to 3,500 professionals.

He said India was strategically important for CSC and the company would continue to invest in its four locations in the country. Indian operations are the third largest for the US-headquartered $14.6 billion CSC.

Kenyon added that CSC India had been growing at 75 per cent year-on-year for the past four years. Its service offerings from India can be broadly categorised as application services, infrastructure services and business process outsourcing. Application and infrastructure services are fast growing service offerings of CSC in India. He said that about 1,200 professionals were working in the IT infrastructure services segment alone.

Padmaja Krishnan, director (marketing, planning and research), CSC India, said the company had opened Office of Innovation in its three centres. This initiative is aimed at infusing innovation with culture to deliver better business benefits to its customers.