Ness Technologies to increase headcount to 5000

By Devarchit Varma   |   Wednesday, 09 September 2009, 00:27 IST   |    2 Comments
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Bangalore: Ness Technologies, a provider of IT solutions and services will increase its headcount in India to 5,000 employees. The company currently has a workforce of about 3,000. "The company will add 600 new employees by March 2010 in the first phase, of which 300 are already added and are working in its new facility opened in Vrindavan Tech Village in Bangalore," informed Sachi Gerlitz, President and CEO, Ness Technologies. The time frame is not fixed for the rest of the additions. "The new additions will be done as and when we will get new projects and work streams, but these additions will see new employees added to our strength," said Satyajit Bandyopadhyay, President and Managing Director, Ness India. The headcount in India covers about 35 percent of its total workforce in different geographies. The operations in India primarily serve the U.S, Europe and Israel businesses of the company. Through these additions, the company looks to expand its business in India. "We want to target the Indian market, and software and financial services will be our prime focus," said Gerlitz. Ness Technologies has its operations across different verticals like IT solutions and services, healthcare and lifesciences, defence, retail, manufacturing and telecom. Some of its prominent clients include Google, IBM, Cisco, Lockheed Martin, Israeli police, Pfizer, Visa and ING Vysya. The global economic meltdown after the fall of Lehmann Brothers a year ago took the company in its course but the business model and global presence resisted the effects. The company had laid off about 600-700 of its employees. "Economic downturn had slowed the growth of the company, as some of our customers had consolidated the projects, and some even turned for in-sourcing. But we had the fortune to work in different geographies and with healthy pipeline, we were good enough to get back on the track on time," added Gerlitz. Gerlitz is bullish about the growth of the company as the worst is over for the market. "In our approach to customers and clients, we try to provide more offers. We have a tradition of investing in facilities and people, for increasing their technical and soft skills, so in a way it is growth for us," he said. Gerlitz today inaugurated the company's new SEZ facility "NesS-E-Zone" in Bangalore. A part of the 60,000 square feet facility is already operational and has facilities like ATM, book store and food court. "The facility will seat the newly recruited employees who will provide software product engineering services to our customers," said Gerlitz. The company has centers in Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore, of which the Bangalore center holds most of its employees.