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HCL Infosystems to set up 100 tech education centres

ICT major chalks out plans to expand its technology education business.

HCL Infosystems recently entered the IT education fray by launching HCL Career Development Centre (HCL CDC).

The company intends to set up 100 centres across the country in the next 12-15 months. HCL has ventured into the field of IT career development with an objective to meet the increasing demand for skilled professionals from organisations across the country.

Speaking to Express Computer, in Kolkata Rajendra Kumar, Executive Vice-President, HCL Infosystems Ltd said, “We plan to set up 100 HCL CDCs across the country in the next 12 to 15 months. We would be taking the franchisee route to expand our operations.”

At present, there are 25-odd HCL CDCs in the country out of which the company operates seven centres, namely in Agra, Noida, Pune, Coimbatore, Meerut, Delhi and Kolkata. HCL recently launched its first centre in the eastern region in Kolkata.

Kumar said, “We have targets to churn out some 50,000 industry-ready IT professionals in the next 3 to 4 years.”

Elaborating on its expansion plans, Kumar said, “About 90 percent of the centres will be set up on the partnership (franchisee) model and the balance will be owned and operated by the Company. We are also exploring the possibilities to set up centres in the overseas market especially in Africa, Middle-East and the SAARC nations. We will leverage our three-decades of expertise in the ICT arena in these nations. “

He however declined to divulge investment details or the kind of revenues HCL is looking from the IT education business at this stage. For setting up an HCL CDC facility investments to the tune of Rs. 15-20 lakhs are required depending upon the location and size of the centre.

Commenting on the plans, STM Eswar, Head, HCL Career Development Centre said, “HCL CDC courses have been designed keeping in mind the specific needs of modern day organisations. Our mission is to transform the students into industry-ready IT professionals who are ready to take on enterprise-wide IT deployment and integration assignments from day one.”

The company in the first phase will focus on expanding the network of its training centres.

HCL CDC is offering specially designed courses in high-end software, hardware, network integration and mobile technologies. HCL Infosystems has a long standing relationship with Nokia.

Quoting a CISCO-IDC study, Eswar said it is estimated that one-third of companies are not able to fill their demand for networking professionals. It has been estimated that of the annual demand of around 2 lakh-networking professionals in the country, only 60% of the demand is presently met. The deficit is further estimated to grow at a CAGR of 21 percent till 2010.

Eswar said, “A major chunk of the students will be absorbed by HCL itself and the balance will be provided placement opportunity.” He added that the content for the courses has been developed by HCL and the instructors for all the centres will be appointed by HCL directly.

— EC Team/Kolkata