HCL is in for a long haul in Amaravati

‘Plan to recruit over 5,000 candidates from Krishna, Guntur districts’

HCL Technologies Vice-President Srimathi Shivashankar addressing the media in Vijayawada on Wednesday.

The HCL Technologies is betting big on the talented youth in the Vijayawada-Guntur region to provide opportunities that have so far eluded them as the information technology companies did not look beyond Tier-I cities justifiably due to their logistical advantages and availability of skilled manpower.

It is after bifurcation that IT majors like HCL have started digging into the huge pool of bright candidates passing out of the engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh every year.

Taking the lead, the HCL has just over a month ago signed an MoU with the State government for setting a state-of-the-art IT development and training centre in the capital region and it will be soon launching its training and placement programme at the Siddhartha College of Arts and Sciences before its full-fledged facility takes shape by June 2018.

Addressing the media persons on the sidelines of an industry-academia meeting organised by the HCL Technologies here on Wednesday, its vice-president Srimathi Shivashankar said 5,000 people would be recruited mostly from Krishna and Guntur districts over the next few years with the focus on fresh engineers and Class XII pass-outs.

Local talent

“We have already got the HCL Scholar Ambassador programme implemented in this region. It will enable and fast track partnering with the institutions in Vijayawada and Guntur to discover the potential of the local talent. Besides undertaking campus placements and recruiting through other channels, we are encouraging our employees hailing from this place to come back to work from their home town itself,” Ms. Shivashankar stated.

Ms. Shivashankar exuded confidence that her company would have the first-mover advantage among its peers and asserted that it (HCL) was here for a long haul on the back of an extensive skill enhancement programme aimed at harnessing local talent and leveraging the gender equal workforce.

Earlier, Minister for Information Technology, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Nara Lokesh said the government’s intention was to develop Rayalaseema and Visakhapatnam as manufacturing and IT hubs.

Amaravati had been chosen for the promotion of high technology manufacturing sector and IT and ITES companies, he said, describing the initiative of companies like the HCL as ‘creating the soul of Amaravati’.

HCL Technologies Executive vice-president V.V. Appa Rao also spoke.