Cognizant’s Americas business president, Surya Gummadi, shared the company’s plans to expand its operations in India, including in tier 2 cities such as Visakhapatnam, Indore, and Gujarat’s Gift City.
While speaking to PTI during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Gummadi explained that India has been an integral part of Cognizant’s strategy, including its recent tier 2 expansions.
“India has always been an integral part of the Cognizant strategy, and now it is an integral part of Cognizant’s AI strategy as well,” said Gummadi, adding that “the tier-two expansion is a key element of the strategy. And along with that, we are also expanding into the major cities.”
“We are expanding in Chennai, we are expanding in Hyderabad, we are expanding in Bengaluru and Pune as well,” Gummadi elaborated, stating the expansion depends on the client’s needs. “So, expansion in the major cities, plus doubling down on the tier two cities to talent into those cities, is something that we do.”
Gummadi shared that the bulk of the company’s associates who help clients with Cognizant’s AI solutions are based in India, though there are also some associates in the US and in the clients’ local countries. The company also has production centres in India.
Additionally, Gummadi discussed India’s AI readiness, stating that the country has always been at the forefront of navigating technological shifts and that its education system has already been pivoted to the AI era.
“We continue to recruit a lot of fresh graduates from Indian colleges, along with hiring in the US. We are seeing that shift in the educational system towards AI, and we are getting partially ready talent,” Gummadi noted.
As for the company’s GCC business, Gummadi emphasised that GCC has been one of the key components of the company’s strategy. He referred to Cognizant’s origins as GCC for Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, adding that Cognizant has helped many companies set up GCCs in India and other countries.
“Our GCC strategy is again four-pronged. We help clients set up greenfield GCCs, we operate it with them, or we build, operate and transfer the GCC. We also work with existing GCCs in helping them expand, sometimes,” said Gummadi.
“We also offer a catalogue of services for clients who may not need full service. We offer network infrastructure, real estate, talent, training and even recruitment as our services. In some cases, clients want to change their GCC model or carve it out, and we help there also.”
