IBM expands Kolkata facility, plans to hire 3,000 at new centre

Mumbai: IBM India has expanded its global delivery capacity by opening its fourth facility in DLF IT Park, Rajarhat, in Kolkata. IBM also plans to hire over 3,000 employees at the new facility.

The new facility will help IBM scale up existing application services delivery capabilities in line with the growing needs, the company said.

"As a globally integrated company, IBM has oriented itself to lead in high-value creation and delivery of services led by our strategy of doing the right tasks, with the right skills, in the right places. Our new facility in Kolkata will further augment our vast global delivery network that spans three dozen countries, including India that deliver high value solutions to help our clients innovate globally." said Shanker Annaswamy, managing director, IBM India.

"We believe that the information technology industry will fuel the future growth for West Bengal. It will open up new opportunities for the talented workforce of the state. We welcome innovative companies like IBM to invest and partner with us in the development of our state. I am confident that this association will bring desired gains to both IBM and West Bengal," said chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee while inaugurating the facility:

IBM has been following an aggressive expansion policy. From 38,500 employees in December 2005, IBM's employee strength worldwide has gone up to 43,000 as of June 2006.

Kolkata houses IBM's second-largest pool of employees in India after Bangalore. IBM plans to ramp up its technical talent in areas such as SAP, mainframe, web technologies and business consulting at the new center.

Professionals working at IBM in India get to work with some of the best minds across IBM and the industry globally. IBM Global Campus, which is the largest online university of its kind, offers more than 20,000 learning modules including 3,500 e-learning and classroom courses plus books and other resources, the company said.

IBM has a long-standing relationship with IIT Kharagpur. It has set up of a deep computing visualisation lab and provided a research grant of $75,000 to the institute under its innovative academic programme. The company is collaborating with Jadavpur university and the University of Burdwan through its grants programme. The IT major has also tied up with Mysore University to offer BSc and MSc courses in technology.