Satyam opens third development centre at China

Indian IT services provider Satyam Computer Services Ltd, has launched its third development centre in the Guangzhou Software Park, China. The modern 500-sq m, 100-seat facility is designed to scale up to 1,000 employees by 2008 end.

The development centre will serve as a near shore facility for Satyam''s customers based out of Hong Kong and Japan.

"China is strategic to our Asia Pacific operations," says Virender Aggarwal, director and senior vice president, Satyam APAC and MEIA. "With the middle kingdom emerging crucial in our North American de-risking plan, we are exploring all possibilities to ramp-up operations in China," he added.

The new centre in Guangzhou adds to the Indian IT company's presence in China, which includes operations in Shanghai, Beijing and Dalian. Staffed by mainly Chinese, the company has a team of 400 associates working with various organisations locally, across technologies such as Oracle, SAP, embedded and engineering services, Java, etc.

According to Raghavendra Tripathi, country head, China, "Guangzhou will be an ideal near shore location for our Hong Kong and Japanese clients who have invested in Southern China, given the rich local resources and proximity. We will be looking to further grow the team size to 1,000 by the end of 2008."

Satyam has been one of the earliest Indian entrants to the Chinese market since 2002, when it set up its first development centre was set-up in Shanghai with a staff of 10. With a growth plan of increasing headcount to 3000 associates and setting up of two more near shore centres in Dalian and Beijing, the Satyam says it will soon have the biggest footprint in the region to cater to its Asian customers.