Mumbai, April 21: Patni Computer Systems today announced plans to set up a knowledge park with a capacity of 17,000 in the outskirts of the city for software development.

This will be one of the largest software parks in the city, the company said.

The country’s sixth largest IT services company has been allotted 50 acres of land in the MIDC technology park in Airoli for this purpose.

The campus will include world-class facilities for software development, training, customer-care and employee recreation.

The first phase of the project will be completed in early 2005 with an investment of about Rs 230 crore to accommodate 5,000 professionals.

Chairman and CEO Narendra Patni said, “The knowledge park will meet the needs of the company’s rapidly growing business requirements by providing end-to-end information technology offshoring services for clients in the insurance, financial services and manufacturing verticals.”

“This will enable Patni to quickly ramp up operations to meet dynamic client requirements and also venture into new high-growth verticals,” he added.

Patni would also be investing in sales and marketing and is also intending to take a organic growth route, mainly in sectors like telecom and healthcare, he added.

CFO Deepak Sogani said the company has grown consistently at a compounded annual growth rate of over 40 per cent in the past five years due to an increase in deals with their large clients and better relationships with them.

“We expect to sustain this level of growth, which is far ahead of industry growth estimates. Our investment in the knowledge park will enable us to accommodate this high pace of growth,” Sogani said.

The company’s first development centre was established in Mumbai in the early 90s as part of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) scheme.

The knowledge park will have contemporary-designed buildings with widespread wi-fi connectivity and 24x7 utility back-ups.

Currently, Patni has multiple delivery centres across 6 cities, namely Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Gandhinagar and Noida.

Patni has a skilled employee strength of over 7,000, multiple offshore development facilities in six cities and 22 international offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Patni has recorded revenues in excess of Rs 1,130 crore for 2003.