Outsourcing company Cognizant Technology Solutions to set up new software center in India

Source: Iht.com

Software service provider Cognizant Technology Solutions plans to build a new center in India that will employ nearly 4,000 engineers, a top executive of the U.S.-based company said Tuesday.

Cognizant will spend 1.9 billion rupees (US$46 million, €34 million) through 2008 to set up the center near the eastern Indian city of Calcutta, President and Managing Director R. Chandrasekaran told reporters.

Global outsourcing companies are expanding their centers in India as they aim to cut costs.

Cognizant is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, but the company is run by Indians and offers most of its services from centers in India, where it employs some 33,000 people.

The new center will serve Cognizant's global clients across financial services, pharmaceuticals and retail sectors, told reporters at a news conference.

The company is also expanding operations in the southern Indian cities of Chennai, Coimbatore and Hyderabad. It plans to hire 7,700 additional engineers in India in 2007, Chandrasekaran said.

"We plan to hire 11,000 employees this year globally and nearly 70 percent of them will be in India," Chandrasekaran said.