Recession is history: Infosys, Wipro plan new campuses

In clear evidence that Indian information technology companies which have left the impact of the global recession behind them, both Infosys and Wipro – bellwethers of the IT industry – have announced big expansion plans in Bangalore, India's IT hub.

Infosys is planning to pump in almost Rs2,960 crore into two new campuses. One campus will be 360 acres, which is almost four times larger than the present campus, and the other campus will be about 40 acres.

The Karnataka government cleared the proposals late on Monday. "The state high level clearance committee cleared the investment proposals of Infosys to set up two development centres at Sarjapur (a southeast suburb) and Devanahalli (in the northwest) near the international airport," state major industries minister Murugesh R Nirani told reporters.

Infosys director T V Mohandas Pai confirmed that the global software major had sought clearance to set up two more development centres in the city as part of its expansion plans. "If they have cleared the proposals, it is good. Yes, we have applied for clearance to set up two new centres," Pai told IANS.

The main software development centre and corporate headquarters of Infosys are located in the Electronics City on the outskirts of Bangalore, where about 16,000 professionals work. The $4.5 billion company has already acquired 365 acres of private land at Sarjapur and approached the state government for another 40 acres at Devanahalli.

The Sarjapur campus will be the company's second largest facility in terms of area after its Mysore campus, where its global corporate leadership centre and the world's largest training centre are located on 700 acres of land.