PCS to set up manufacturing facility in Goa

Goa’s IT sector finally has something to cheer about. After an
exceptionally long gap, ever since hardware giants like D-Link and Zenith set up
their plants on the Goan soil, Patni Computers Systems (PCS) is setting up its
facility in Goa. PCS is in the process of setting up a plant in the Mapusa town
in North Goa which is expected to go into production by February next year to
roll out PC as well as other products like servers, etc.

According to the company release, the Goa plant will manufacture all the
products of PCS including desktop compu-ters and servers and is expected to
employ between 25 to 100 diploma and degree holders. With a turnover of over
$188 million, Mumbai headquartered PCS is into hardware and software export. The
company has already explored the possibility of locating in Pondicherry, Noida
and Silvassa before zeroing down on Goa for its strategic location.

Giving the rationale behind choosing Goa for setting up its facility, Ganesh
Iyer, Executive VP, PCS Industries Ltd said, "Besides the central location,
Goa weighed high in terms of connectivity, logistics, electricity and even man
power".

The 25 year old company, which is mainly into PCs and desktop computers, has
also chosen Goa for the ‘cyberage’ scheme floated by the state government to
provide free computers to 10,000 students during this academic year PCS expects
to grab about 10 percent share of the cyberage scheme. The company has also been
participating in the e-governance process in the state and was at L1 during the
rate contract declared by Goa government for September and October this year.

It is also handling the IT facility management of Goa (Dabolim) Airport
together with the other 30 airports managed by Airport Authority of India.
Current installation of PCS computers in the state is to the tune of 1,000 and
the launching of manufacturing facility in the state is likely to increase this
number substantially.

The company having core competency in PC manufacturing has over 150 service
centers in the country. Financial institutions are the mainstay for PCS with
equipment as much as worth Rs 1,000 crore supplied to 23 nationalized banks
alone during last year. PCS also has a manufacturing facility at Jabalali in
Dubai to cater to the international market.

Niraj Naik

Goa

(CyberMedia News Service)