Dell urged to set up manufacturing unit in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Sunday invited US-based Dell Inc, the world's largest maker of personal computers, to set up its manufacturing facility in this southern city.The chief minister urged Dell CEO Kevin Rollins to set up the proposed unit in Hyderabad and promised to extend all possible assistance.The chief minister extended the invitation during the inauguration of the company's new campus at Hitec City, a hub of IT companies on the city outskirts.Rollins is expected to make a formal announcement about setting up a manufacturing base in India during his visit to New Delhi Monday.Dell officials participating in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, had said Saturday that the company planned to set up a manufacturing unit in India.The 500,000 square feet campus, which has come up on 6.6 acres of land, has state-of-the art training labs and employee amenities such as a cafeteria, recreation rooms and a gymnasium."We have a strong team in Hyderabad committed to supporting our customers' needs," said Rollins."This team is helping grow Dell's global business, and strengthen our presence in Hyderabad and in India. Our new building is a monument to their achievements and a symbol of the great successes yet to come."The facility will house Dell's customer contact centre operations and a global development centre for IT projects that enable the company to deploy technology for competitive advantage and expand its business worldwide.These operations are currently being conducted from Dell's leased facility, also located in Hitec City, which opened in 2003.Reddy, who had laid the foundation stone for the new campus in December 2004, was all praise for completing the campus in a short period.The Hyderabad customer contact centre, opened in 2003, employs 3,000 people and offers businesses of all types of multiple services, including sales, customer care, technical support, e-mail support and global financial services.It is Dell's second of the three such centres in India; the first was in Bangalore in 2001. In March 2005, Dell set up its third centre at Mohali.The $53-billion IT major employs about 10,000 people in India.