HCL plans 100-acre IT city in Lucknow

Technology group HCL said on Monday that it will set up a 100-acre IT city in Lucknow, a move that will help create job opportunities for about 25,000 people in Uttar Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh government has awarded the project to Vamasundari Investments, the investment arm of HCL, the group said in a statement.

The IT City, to be set up at Chak Gajaria farms at a cost of Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion), would be developed with the help of technology giant HCL and would be established as an information and technology hub of Lucknow.

About 60 acres of the proposed IT city will be allotted to IT and ITeS, including a hi-tech skill development centre with a capacity to train more than 5000 people, it added.

The remaining 40 acres is intended for support infrastructure and initiates of social impact, it said.

"IT City shall play a crucial role in the overall economic development and boost up industrial growth of the state. Apart from this, it will directly create approximately 25,000 job opportunities for the youth of the state," UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said.

Ancillary support services required for setting up IT industry such as hardware manufacturing, telecommunication equipment and several others shall also create huge career opportunities, it added.

Yadav said the move will also stop the state's talent from migrating to other states in search of better career opportunities.

"Four decades ago, we dreamt of positively impacting the world with microprocessors and the journey then began in partnership with UP government...The development of IT City will further the momentum for innovation-led growth and social development in the state," HCL Founder and Chairman Shiv Nadar Foundation Shiv Nadar said.

Headquartered in Noida, the $6.4 billion HCL group offers indirect employment to one lakh people in UP. Of its total direct workforce of about 90,000 employees, about 30,000 work out of the state.

HCL also has a 46-acre SEZ campus in Noida. In its full capacity, the campus will seat 25,000 employees and generate export revenue to the tune of $1 billion.

The group also runs the Shiv Nadar Foundation, which operates Shiv Nadar University in Dadri, VidyaGyan Leadership Academies in Blandisher and Sitapur and Shiv Nadar School in Noida.