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CA plans development centre in India

Sanjay Kumar, the company's chief operating officer, is understood to be the prime mover behind the project.

CA (India), which was set up earlier this year to focus on the company's sales in the country, is already engaged in preparatory work for setting up the development centre, including identifying the best possible location.

Confirming the plans, Ian Hughes, country manager (India), is reported to have said that he expects Kumar to make a formal announcement during his visit to the country in December. (Kumar is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at IT-India '97, the country's largest IT event).

Kumar has begun speaking publicly about CA's plans for a development centre in India, including in a television interview to CNN recently. The company currently does most of its software development in the US and Europe.

In other parts of the world, including China, its developmental efforts are restricted to product localisation.

Hughes hinted that CA might opt for a city other than Bombay and Bangalore. Though CA (India) is headquartered in Bombay, Hughes said the city's high real estate and living costs would discourage locating its development centre there.

As for Bangalore, he said the city is "almost saturated" and facing a pressure on its infrastructure. CA's development centre, as and when it is set up, would function independently of the sales operations. "I do not see myself in charge of the development activities too," Hughes said.

With its headquarters in New York, CA is a leading player in the worldwide market for mission-critical business software - including software aimed at the mainframe segment. The company develops, licenses and supports over 500 integrated products which include enterprise computing and information management, application development, manufacturing and financial applications.

CA, which employs nearly 10,000 people in 160 offices across 40 countries, had revenues in excess of $3.5 billion in calendar 1996.

- Compiled from the Indian media

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