The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Chief Minister inaugurates Kenexa’s Vizag facility

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Friday, Jan 04, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Chief Minister inaugurates Kenexa’s Vizag facility

Staff Reporter

Firm to employ 250 persons in the first year

IT exports stand at 52 per cent, says Minister
Pilot project to be launched at Pochampalli

IT’s happening: Chief Minister Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy after unveiling the plaque for the Kenexa Technologies in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.

VISAKHAPATNAM: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy inaugurated the Vizag-facility of Kenexa Technologies on a hill at Rushikonda on Thursday.

He said that the company would take 250 employees this year and the number would be increased to 2,500 in the next three to five years.

Referring to the scenic beauty of the sea from atop the hill, he said that those who came from outside (US) would fall in love with the place.

He mentioned about the huge IT potential of Vizag and left the meeting venue to board the chopper. He was accompanied by District Collector A.K. Singhal and MLA T. Gurumurthy Reddy.

Earlier, he was received at the helipad by Chief Executive Officer of Kenexa Technologies Rudy Karsan and its Managing Director Raghuveer Sakuru.

Minister for IT and Communications R. Damodar Reddy was present.

Brief speech

The Chief Minister came for the inaugural after seeing off Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

He was nearly two hours behind schedule for the inaugural and kept the guests, many of whom came all the way from the US, waiting for nearly three hours.

He drove straight to the newly constructed facility of Kenexa and inaugurated it. He walked down to the meeting venue adjacent to the facility and left after a brief address as he had to catch a flight to Hyderabad.

After the departure of the Chief Minister, the Minister for IT in a brief interaction with the media described Vizag as the fastest growing city in IT, next only to Hyderabad.

Mr. Damodar Reddy said that IT exports stood at 52 per cent, higher than the 48 per cent from other sectors in the State.

Even this growth rate was much higher than the national average of 38 per cent.

He said that while the number of IT jobs created during the Telugu Desam regime was a mere 85,000, it was one lakh during the last three years of Rajasekhara Reddy rule.

The plan was to create an additional 2 lakh jobs in the next one-and-a-half years.

Future plans

The Minister said that a pilot project would be launched soon at Pochampalli in Nalgonda district as part of the plans to take IT to the rural areas. The project would be extended to other districts in future. An animation city was planned on a 100-acre site either in Mahaboobnagar or Nalgonda district. All infrastructure required by the animation industry would be developed there.

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