LUCKNOW: US technology giant Microsoft is ready to open its maiden North India technology hub with 4,000 employees in Noida.
Sources said the decision to open a campus was taken at a virtual meeting between UP MSME & Export Promotion Minister Sidharth Nath Singh and Microsoft India Managing Director and Corporate Vice-President Rajiv Kumar on Monday.
“With Microsoft setting up a campus in UP, Noida and Greater Noida will become a major hub for electronics and IT in the country,” Singh said in the context of the Tata Consultancy Service also seting up a campus in the area. Tech giant Wipro already has a campus there.
The Noida centre will be the third major campus of the company in India, after its two centres in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, and the first in the north. The Hyderabad centre has 5,000 employees while the hub in Bengaluru has 2,000 members.
With Microsoft, one of the biggest global corporations, opening shop in the state, other sectors would also be drawn towards UP, Singh said. The minister told Microsoft that the state government had adequate land for the project. He also invited the team to visit the site.Microsoft, however, did not comment on the UP government’s announcement.
Claiming it to be a major boost to the state’s efforts to position UP as a major investment destination, Singh said the government would leave no stone unturned in assisting Microsoft and similar amenities would be provided to other investors.
The UP government has a plan to set up an electronic manufacturing park near the proposed international airport at Jewar (Greater Noida) and is expecting big-ticket investments in the future.
With the easing of restrictions after the lockdown, the Yogi Adityanath government has been making concerted efforts to draw global companies planning to withdraw from China following the Covid-19 outbreak to the state.
Keeping this in mind, Singh and Industries Minister Satish Mahana interacted with representatives of leading firms and industry chambers based out of several countries, including South Korea.