Cognizant starts China operations

By siliconindia staff writer   |   Tuesday, 22 June 2004, 19:30 IST
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CHENNAI: Cognizant Technology Solutions has started its operations in China. The US-based software company, which faced delays over legal issues, has appointed Henry Yang as head of its Chinese operations. In the first year, the company plans to recruit 70 to 100 employees, and it would be a mix of both Indian and Chinese. Alongside, it would also bring those recruited in China to India for a period of two to three months for a reverse familiarisation exercise. For some time now, Cognizant had been taking a hard look at China with outsourcing becoming the order of the day. , Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) is taking a hard look at China with a different mind-set. Cognizant felt that China could be explored from a `sourcing point of view'. Last year, talking to the Hindu , Cognizant CEO Lakshmi Narayanan (then COO and President) had indicated that Cognizant's entry into China could take six months or so. It had already teamed up with a local company to study the possibility of setting up a centre in China. It normally takes about four months to set up a software development centre in China. However, for Cognizant it took a little longer than expected due to legal processes. The company is now working out of a customer's premises, and will finalise a location for its China centre in about 10 days, he said. Cognizant joins software firms in India such as Satyam Computers, NIIT and Tata Consultancy Services in having a China centre. To begin with, key positions will be filled up with locals. To integrate the company's China operations with Cognizant's way of doing business, including its onsite/offshore model, processes maturity, programme management and business culture, the company would send a few people from India for the integration, Chandrasekaran said. The projects that Cognizant is executing in China are for a multinational client in the financial services vertical. Cognizant is looking at China as a development base that would help service its multinational customers locally - especially in China and Japan. Till mid-May this year, Cognizant has hired approximately 1,900 professionals globally, of which, over 1,500 were in India.