IT major Infosys Technologies plans to invest 3.6 billion in Kerala

India's IT major Infosys Technologies Ltd Saturday began construction of its first campus in Kerala, apart from a leases facility here, with plans to invest Rs.3.06 billion (nearly $75 million) for expansion in the state. The company wants to allow a capacity to seat 1,500 employees.

Infosys co-founder and board member K. Dinesh said: "We have plans to invest Rs.306 crore and set up a state-of-the-art campus, which would include facilities for work and recreation for our employees. We expect to create 8,000 seats at this centre over the next few years."

The firm has been operating in the state out of a leased facility in the Techno park campus since 2004

With the completion of its own new campus coming up near Technopark, Infosys will have two full-fledged operations in the city.

“This development centre has a world-class work environment designed to enhance productivity and efficiency. Infosys has also leased 40,000 sq. ft. of space in the Thejaswini Block at Technopark for expansion,” Infosys said.

V. S. Achuthanandan, the chief minister of Kerala said, “Kerala is emerging as a key IT destination in south India. Infosys ramping up its presence in our state is a reaffirmation of this fact. The magnitude of Infosys’ investment in its development centre demonstrates its long-term commitment towards Kerala and speaks volumes about the world-class facilities on offer here for its employees.”

Kerala woos small investors

Kerala prefers more small investors to a few big ones in a public-private infrastructure company being launched, as a large section of non-resident Keralites have shown willingness to invest in it.
State’s Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem, the chairman of the recently registered Infrastructure Kerala Ltd (InKel), said this message had already been conveyed to the investors at a meeting held in Kochi last week.
“When 26% of the paid-up capital of the company of Rs1bn would be with the government, a minimum of 26% should go to small investors. They could be both non-resident Keralites (NRKs) or people living in Kerala,” he said.
The government has decided to publicise the offer by tapping NRKs through road shows in all Gulf countries, beginning in the second week of April.
“Each share is worth Rs10,000 and the maximum number of shares that a small investor could have is 10. We are limiting this to 10 shares each because we want all people to take part in the development of this company,” said Kareem.
“It has also been agreed that big investors would come in only if we are unable to raise the Rs1bn,” he said.
He added that the state government had informed all Keralite organisations in the Gulf about this offer and they could get in touch with either the State Bank of Travancore or the State Bank of India to subscribe to the shares. The offer opens on April 23 and closes on April 30. “Every person desirous of buying shares can give it in writing to these banks and be served on a first-come-first-serve basis,” Kareem said.
InKel has also identified locations in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi for setting up basic infrastructure for investors interested in starting sunrise industries. – IANS