The India-based global information technology (IT) solution provider expects to officially open the center in September.
Initially, the center will have 50 software developers and the number of technical experts will increase to 250 in three years, said Rahul Patwardhan, NIIT Asia Pacific president.
He said that there are currently about 25 developers working on e-commerce related software and content development projects in the region.
Examples of such projects in Singapore include the development of an enterprise resource planning solution for the Defence Ministry, an online multimedia learning system for Nanyang Polytechnic, and a facilities management system for the Land Transport Authority.
Singapore alone contributed more than S$15 million to NIIT in the last two months, Patwardhan.
Last November, the company also started on a pilot project to wire up more than 90 schools in Malaysia to provide online multimedia learning.
"It is more cost effective to set up a center in Singapore compared to the US or Europe which typically cost two to three times more," Patwardhan said, when asked why Singapore was chosen to cater to the US and European markets.
"There is a huge pool of talent in the region, particularly in India and here." He added that the investment in the local competency center is basically the the cost of the people--between S$15,000 to S$20,000 per employee per year.
"Singapore has also taken a strong position on building an Internet-based society. That's the real motivation why we set up a center here," added Rajendra S Pawar, NIIT Ltd chairman.
Patwardhan expects the center to generate more than S$30 million in export revenue in 2002 by serving companies mainly in the US and Europe. He also expects the total revenue from Singapore to reach S$100 million in 2002 (including the S$30 million in export revenue from the center).
For the fiscal year ended September 1999, Singapore contributed S$50.7 million or 12 percent to the company's global revenue. Asia Pacific excluding India and Japan contributed S$72.6 million to global revenues.
Patwardhan mentioned that the company is looking for alliances, acquisitions or investments in Singapore and Asia Pacific for growth opportunites. "We hope to gain relationships that give us access to niche and new markets in the region."
Headquartered in New Delhi, NIIT operates in more than 30 countries through wholly-owned subsidiaries in the US, Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan and India.
NIIT's Asia Pacific headquarters was set up in Singapore in June 1995 with about 160 employees to date.
Its projects here include an interactive voice response system for the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore to allow the public to file their tax returns over the telephone. NITT also developed a Web-based system for the Singapore Sports Council to allow online booking and payment for the use of sports facilities.
Play video
There are currently no comments for this post.