Cognizant Technology Solutions has increased its real estate infrastructure expansion in India by nearly $200 million. The US-based company, which has large offshore presence in India, has revised its investment plan to a total of $700 million in real estate from 2011 through 2015.
This is to expand its campuses in India by an additional 10.5 million sq ft. This expanded programme includes expenditure on land acquisition, facilities construction and furnishings to build new company-owned IT development and delivery centres in regions primarily designated as Special Economic Zones in India.
In February 2011, the company announced $500 million of investment in its India infrastructure expansion through the end of 2014. However, at the beginning of calendar 2012, the company decided to expand its planning horizon for the India real estate programme to 2015 and beyond, said a company spokesperson. For the first quarter ended March 2012, Cognizant finished with $2.5 billion of cash and short-term investments. It spent around $60.5 million for capital expenditures during the quarter. “During 2012, we expect our capital expenditure to total approximately $370 million,” Ms Karen McLoughlin, Chief Financial Officer, Cognizant, told analysts while discussing the company’s financial results.
Cognizant ended the March quarter with around 1, 40,500 employees globally. Of this, nearly 105,000 are in employed in its India centres.
