Tech Mahindra plans to expand its global seating capacity by another 30,000 in the next two years, taking the total capacity to 1.25 lakh, a top executive of the IT major said.
The expansion would mainly focus on three major cities Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Pune and three tier-II cities Visakhapatnam, Jaipur and Bhubaneswar, Tech Mahindra MD & CEO CP Gurnani said.
“In the next two years, we are looking at adding almost 30,000 seats globally. Majority of that would be in the six locations, three main centres (Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Pune) and three ancillary centres (Visakhapatnam, Jaipur and Bhubaneswar). About 1,500 people are working in Visakhapatnam currently. We have been allotted new land also (there). Similarly we have added another block in Bhubaneswar which is 600 people,” Gurnani told PTI.
Currently, the fifth largest IT Company of the country has a seating capacity of 95,000 globally.
He said research and development for innovation has been one of the key focus areas of the company in the last few years, prompting it to spend 2-3 per cent of the revenues for the purpose.
Gurnani added that Hyderabad is the largest centre of Tech Mahindra with over 20,000 employees.
“We have just invested $100 million in the last few months on an initiative at our Bahadurpally facility (Hyderabad) in the outskirts of the city to set up the innovation labs. Our tie-ups with universities and incubating start-ups are all part of this investment towards R&D and it will keep increasing.
“We are investing for the future and though you cannot show this in your utilisation rates, but we will render the results in the long run,” he added.
On the effect of the sliding oil prices, he said it may not show any immediate impact on the Indian IT industry.
Talking about the overall market scenario, he said Europe continues to be ‘subdued’ as some of the larger economies still feel the pressure of it.
On the acquisition of US—based Lightbridge Communications Corporation, Gurnani said, “Legal closure has happened and Regulatory closure will happen by January end.”
Last month, Tech Mahindra announced that it will acquire global network services firm Lightbridge Communications Corporation in an all-cash deal worth USD 240 million (over Rs 1,486 crore).