HCL Commits $1 Billion in Investments in Tamil Nadu Over 5 Years

As part of its expansion plans in Tamil Nadu, IT major HCL on Wednesday announced it would invest $1 billion (roughly Rs. 6,647 crores) in the next five years in the state.

"We will be allocating a billion dollar investments in next five years in addition to the investments we have already made in Tamil Nadu," HCL Chairman Shiv Nadar told reporters on the sidelines of the Global Investor Meet in Chennai.

Nadar, a native of Tamil Nadu, recalled how he began his journey in HCL with a small team in Chennai.

"As a first generation entrepreneur, four decades ago, we started HCL with a small team. Now we operate in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. We chose the area of doing research in Tamil Nadu...," he said.

"Today our global revenues are about Rs. 45,000 crores with about 1.10 lakh employees. Out of these, 75,000 are in India and 35,000 of the employees are in Tamil Nadu," he said earlier in his remarks during the inauguration of the two-day GIM.

"Having studied and grown up in Tamil Nadu, I chose to make investments here. We have two development centres in Chennai and Coimbatore with total investments of about Rs. 6,000 crores," he said.

On the future plans he said, "going forward we will spread out (setting up development centres) to Madurai and Tirunelveli. We will be allocating a billion dollar investments in next five years here in Tamil Nadu."

The SSN College of Engineering set up here in memory of his late father, currently has about 4,500 students, he said adding that 20,000 students would be selected and trained to enable them get job anywhere in the world.

Asked about the state government wooing investors through the GIM, he said, "it's inspiring".