Infosys to invest Rs800 crore more, eyes acquisitions

Mumbai: Information technology major Infosys Technologies Ltd plans to invest an additional Rs800 crore during the current fiscal, reports quoting Infosys sourcs said.

Infosys, which was planning to start an IT facility in West Bengal with an investment of Rs250 crore has, however, been stuck with the high cost of land on offer by the state government.

The company had asked the government for 100 acres of land at Rajarhat, on the northern outskirts of Kolkota, to set up a centre two years ago. The state government is yet to decide on the proposed project, expected to create employment for 5,000 people, an Infosys official said.

There was hardly any proposal from the West Bengal government for land, Infosys member of the board T V Mohandas Pai said in Kolkota on the sidelines of an HRD summit.

He said the state government has quoted a Rs5 crore an acre for land at Rajarhat, where it proposed to set up a centre, Pai said, adding it is not viable for the company.

Pricing of land seems to be the main hurdle with both the parties as Infosys was not agreeing on it.

"The project is neither on nor off. We take a long term view," Pai said.

Infosys, meanwhile, announced several strategic efforts directed toward deepening services delivered to Microsoft Corporation, including a new 400 seat capacity dedicated vendor offshore facility and a Microsoft Dynamics concept centre.

Infosys has also been named to the Fintech 100, an international annual listing of the top 100 global application and service providers that derive more than one third of their revenue from the financial services industry, for the fourth consecutive year.

Bangalore-based Infosys ranked 14 on the annual list by American banker and Financial Insights, up from 18 in 2006, the company said in a statement.