India’s fourth largest software firm HCL will invest $1 billion in the next five years to set up new units in Madurai and Tirunelveli.
At the Global Investors Meet 2015, HCL founder Shiv Nadar said the company had invested more than Rs 6,000 crore in Tamil Nadu till date and investments here would be a continuous process. HCL has a development centre each in Chennai and Coimbatore. “We will be setting up two more development centres in Madurai and Tirunelveli,” he said.
The company would be acquiring more than 60 acres of land in Madurai. The venture is expected to be rolled out in a phased manner.
Mr. Nadar, who started his speech at the meet in Tamil, said, “I belong to this place, I was born here and I grew up here.” He also indicated that in the coming years HCL would hire more than 20,000 students from Tamil Nadu.
HCL hires from campuses in the State every year. Students from SSN College of Engineering, run by the HCL Group, are also absorbed by the firm.
Robotics venture
The billionaire entrepreneur also said that HCL would soon venture into robotics.
“Our college has a tie-up with Carnegie Foundation,” he said.
HCL would provide training in skills for 20,000 students in Tamil Nadu to make them industry-ready.
Started as an IT garage start-up, the HCL enterprise comprises HCL Technologies, HCL Info systems, HCL Healthcare and HCL Talentcare , with annual revenues of $ 6.5 billion and over 100,000 professionals operating across 31 countries, including over 500 points of presence in India.
