TCS executive director and chief financial officer S. Mahalingam (centre) with executive vice-president Ajoy Mukherjee (right) in Calcutta on Thursday. Picture by Sayantan Ghosh

Calcutta, Dec. 20: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will invest Rs 1,350 crore in its new software development centre at Rajarhat to make it operational by 2014-15.

Spread over 40 acres, the construction of the campus, which will enjoy the benefits of a special economic zone (SEZ), will be completed in two phases, creating employment opportunities for 16,500.

The first quarter of 2014 will see the first phase taking off with 7,000 seats. The second phase construction will be completed by the fourth quarter of 2014-15, adding another 9,500 jobs.

“Our growing presence in Calcutta continues to be of strategic importance for our overall business growth. We remain committed to working in close collaboration with all stakeholders in the state to help development of local talent and provide our customers with world class IT solutions from this location,” said S. Mahalingam, executive director and chief financial officer of TCS, today. He visited the construction site of the new campus.

TCS intends to take its headcount in Bengal from 18,000 to 35,000 in two to three years. Overall, it will hire 50,000 this fiscal and has already done 40,000 till now.

The company will bring in its strengths in all the verticals to the new campus, including telecom, utilities, banking, financial services and insurance. It will also facilitate application development, BPO and enterprise solutions development.

The plot of land was bought by the company during the tenure of the erstwhile Left Front government in 2008, following which the company applied for an SEZ status. It was declared an SEZ in 2009 although construction got delayed by a year and a half owing to glitches in securing clearances.

According to PTI reports, Bengal industries minister Partha Chatterjee today welcomed the company’s decision to invest here. “We are not against anybody, we are against the principle of forced land acquisition,” Chatterjee said on the sidelines of a CII-organised event here.

Mahalingam said the company had no cause to worry about the financial strain in Europe.

Despite the global market volatility, TCS would not slash its IT budget and was rather aiming to beat Nasscom’s industry growth estimates of 11-14 per cent. Its forex losses in the third quarter could hover around Rs 30-35 crore.

“Europe includes Benelux, Nordic countries, Germany and Switzerland. They have done well for us. Germany is a powerhouse. That’s where our operations are. The southern Europe is going through a crisis. We are not a big player in France,” he said.

Europe contributed 10.08 per cent to its business in 2011-12, while north America did 52 per cent.

“We have pointed out that the vertical under pressure is telecom, which includes equipment and service providers. Usually when one does bad, the other does well. But at this moment, both are spending less on technology. There is some amount of contraction at this time.”

“The IT budget is made up of hardware, software, networks, systems software and enterprise products. Indications are that the budget will remain the same but the components could change.”