Syntel to invest $20 million towards expansion in India

Syntel to invest $20 m for India expansion

Syntel India has opened up its second center in Chennai and would be opening a new facility near Chennai soon.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

CHENNAI: Syntel,Inc. global provider of custom outsourcing solutions, would be investing around $20 million for expansion of its India operations in 2005. "The investment plan so framed does not include the to be developed campus facility in Chennai, later this year," informed Syntel, Inc. COO, Keshav R Murugesh.

Syntel India recently opened up its 43,000 sq ft second facility in Chennai, which would house around 450 employees. He said that the Chennai facility would focus on verticals like banking and finance, insurance, telecom and automobile. "But, we would also start focusing on other verticals soon, such as retailing, healthcare and others," he added.

Speaking about further expansion plans of Syntel in India, Murugesh said, "We have recently acquired over 27.52 acres of land from State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) in Siruseri (near Chennai) for developing the third Syntel center in Chennai. The center would be ready for operation in the last quarter of 2005."

"In Mumbai, besides the IT development center, Syntel has opened a new BPO facility, which would house around 400 employees. This facility would be a data processing unit rather than being a voice-based BPO center," he observed. "In Pune, we are constructing a campus spread over 40-acre with an investment of $40 million, in three phases, which would occupy around 9,000 people in total," he added.

Syntel recently signed a joint venture with a Fortune 50 American bank for carrying out its offshore activity. "The BPO support, which would be provided from the Mumbai center, would be based on high-end data processing and involve a little of voice-related support", Murugesh observed.

Presently, the global employee status of Syntel is at around 4,500, of which, nearly 70 percent is staffed in India. According to Murugesh, the company would reportedly increase its global headcount to 6000 this fiscal. Syntel Inc had reported a revenue of $49 million in the last quarter and the overall revenue for the year 2004 stood at around $187 million. "And for this year, Syntel hopes to achieve revenue of $210 million by the end of 2005," he added.