 MindTree to invest $ 30 million in Chennai
 MindTree Consulting, a leading international IT and R&D services company, has announced that it has chosen Chennai as the first city outside Bangalore to set up its development centre. MindTree will launch its operations in Chennai in August. A total of $ 30 million would be invested, including in the Special Economic Zone, to ramp up exports of products and applications to the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific countries.
MindTree's Chennai development centre, to be set up in Guindy, will start with 150 MindTree Minds and quickly ramp up to 300 by the end of the current fiscal. MindTree has plans of setting up a campus in Chennai that will seat 5,000 MindTree Minds. The company is exploring options of acquiring land for the proposed campus.
The Chennai campus will not only adhere to global standards but will also reflect the spirit of innovation that MindTree's campuses are known for, according to Subroto Bagchi, chief operating officer, MindTree Consulting.
"MindTree has emerged as one of the fastest growing IT companies in India. In order to sustain this growth, we need to expand our presence to other key IT hubs in the country. We find Chennai as the city most conducive to our needs. The city has a base of rich talent pool and continues to attract more from neighbouring states. MindTree, which has heavy focus on developing intellectual properties and works on some of the cutting-edge technologies, will benefit from the proximity of educational institutions such as the IIT that produce some of the finest engineers," said
Bagchi.
"Moreover, Chennai also has an impressive infrastructure that supports the city's rapid growth. The launch of MindTree's Chennai operations is a significant step forward in the journey to meet our vision of $ 231 million in revenue in 2007-08."
In April MindTree announced an impressive 85 per cent growth in revenue over the previous year to become the first IT company in India to cross $ 100 million in revenue in six years. MindTree expects to add about 1,400 people this year to the 3,200 it had at the beginning of the year. It has also set an aggressive target of 50 per cent growth this year.
Earlier this year, MindTree signed an MoD with the Orissa government to set up a development centre in
Bhubaneswar.
The Chennai facility would be a mirror image of the Bangalore centre, and is viewed with great importance in the organisation as the city has tremendous potential, said Bagchi.
MindTree Consulting is an international IT services company with development centers in India and the US. The company provides end-to-end project execution through a hybrid delivery model called OneShore TM.
 With clients ranging from Fortune 50 companies to enterprise software organisations, MindTree delivers global technology solutions and outsourced R&D services to innovative technology leaders around the world.
It has earned 35 licencees for Bluetooth Stack to a mobile operator client in the US, fetching an upfront payment of $ 1 million towards royalty for the initial orders, said S Janakiraman, Mindtree Consulting president and CEO, R and D Services.
"We see tremedous future in these new areas where we are the No. 2 player in the world," added
Janakiraman.
Historically, Indian software services companies have taken two or three times as long to reach the $ 100 million mark. MindTree's $ 100 million revenue represents about 80 per cent growth over the previous year.
"The IT Services business of MindTree experienced solid growth during the year. We acquired several new customers across the globe. Significant among them were Imperial Tobacco Group, Essilor and Burger King. Our differentiated horizontal offerings have helped us maintain the momentum. Practices such as data warehousing and testing have grown in excess of 100 per cent. Even as we grew in each of the geographies we are present in, we opened our offices in newer geographies of Continental Europe and Australia," said MindTree Consulting president and chief executive officer, IT Services, Krishnakumar
Natarajan.
 The highlight of the year was the number of high-end consulting engagements that MindTree was involved in during the year for large organisations such as IATA, DeBeers and Emirates.
"It was one of the best years for MindTree's R&D Services business, which has grown to become one of the largest R&D teams in India. During the year, R&D Services business acquired significant customers, for whom we offered high-end services and solutions in cutting-edge technologies.
For telecom major Nera, MindTree conceptualised and developed state-of-the-art satellite handset. MindTree won a global bid to offer its industry-leading intellectual properties in Bluetooth to NEC for the latter's cell phone," said
Janakiraman.
The ultimate goal is to become a billion dollar company, added Bagchi.
R Rangaraj
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