HCL sets up Global Development Centre in Colombo

The new centre was inaugurated by Sri Lanka Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gopal Baglay, the Indian High Commissioner to the island nation, in the presence of HCL Technologies founder Shiv Nadar, and CEO C Vijayakumar through a virtual conference, a company statement said.

HCL plans to deploy about 3,000 people in the coming three to five years, of which 1,500 employees will start working in Sri Lanka in the next 18 months.

"HCL will also implement its Work Integrated Education Programme to foster growth by actively cooperating with local ICT and engineering institutions in order to develop and train the local talent pool," said the statement.

The company would help the local workforce "stay rooted" in their native place and also invite Sri Lanka expats to return home and be a part of this transformational journey.

Sri Lanka is accelerating as an emerging destination of choice for the global ITO and BPM market. The country is one of the best destinations for providing off-shore services for Information Technology-enabled Service (ITeS) as well as services related to finance and accounting, legal, insurance, banking, and telecommunications, as per the company.

HCL joined hands with the Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka in February 2020 to launch its local entity -- HCL Technologies Lanka (Private) Limited and set up its first delivery centre in the region.

Through this entity, HCL plans to provide services to global clients in the areas of Applications and System Integration Services and Infrastructure Services.