Deccan Chronicle 24.08.2009
Stalin unveils CTS’ new techno campus
Deputy chief minister M. K. Stalin unveils the model of Cognizant’s techno-campus in Coimbatore on Sunday. Also seen are (from left to right) Vishnu Potty, vice president and head of Coimbatore operations, Cognizant. R. Chandrasekaran, president and managing director, A. Raja, Union minister of information technology and communications and Dr Poongothai, minister of state for information technology.
Coimbatore, Aug. 23: Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday inaugurated Cognizant’s new technology campus, said to be among the largest IT facilities in an emerging IT city in India. The first phase of the project, built at a cost of around Rs 180 crore has a capacity to accommodate over 6,000 professionals.
Located in Keeranatham village off Saravanampatti in Coimbatore, the sprawling 23-acre techno campus is part of a special economic zone (SEZ). Cognizant, a provider of information technology, consulting and business process outsourcing services, has grown from over 50 professionals to over 2,200 in Coimbatore alone. With over 50 global delivery centers, Cognizant has about 64,000 employees on its rolls.
Speaking at the function Union minister for communications and information technology A Raja said that the Indian software and service exports including ITES-BPO are estimated at US $47 billion in 2008-09 as compared to the US$40.4 billion last year, an increase of 16.3 per cent.
The ITES-BPO exports is expected to grow from US$10.9 billion in 2007-08 to US$ 12.8 billion in 2008-09, a year-on-year growth of 17.4 percent.
The minister said that the tax benefits under Section 10A and 10B of the Income Tax Act for software technology park units and export-oriented units in IT sector have been extended up to March 2011.
The special incentive package scheme to encourage investments for setting up semiconductor fabrication has received 18 proposals amounting to an investment of Rs 1,60,000 crore over 10 years.
